Morning Panel
9:40 - 10:25 AM
Seniors as Mentors
Delve into the untapped potential of engaging seniors in mentorship roles, as we learn how to harness the wisdom and experience of the baby-boomer generation to empower young lives. We'll also discuss the critical supports and training needed to make these intergenerational mentoring relationships authentic and impactful.
Panelists TBA
Practice-Based Workshops
10:25 - 11:25 AM
Building an Expertise Ecosystem
Entering into a new role, switching to a new company, or being promoted to an elevated position is never easy. The learning curve can leave mentees feeling completely out of depth and overwhelmed. The key is to focus less on what they don’t know and more on what they do know. Let’s focus on what mentees do well because they possess a particular set of skills, both tangible and transferable. It may be hard to bring these transferable skills into a role sitting in one function. A very helpful tool we’ll explore to help mentees map all their skills and strengths into one place is an “Expertise Ecosystem”.
This session will teach mentors how to discuss their mentees’ skills and strengths—whether directly connected to their professional goals or more personal attributes—in order to easily define their expertise. We’ll take it a step further to include how understanding their skills and strengths can assist mentees’ with combatting feelings of imposter syndrome. Mentors will walk away feeling equipped to coach their mentees through their personal & and professional journey, centering their authentic selves in the process.
About the presenter:
As Founder and Principal Consultant/Coach of ELVYN TREE Coaching & Consulting, Alisa France-Hazle partners with BIPOC professionals and the organizations that need them, to maximize their capacity for leadership with social justice at its core. Alisa is a space curator, maximizer, and creative idea generator. With over 10 years of non-profit experience, Alisa has worked in a coaching and counseling capacity, both internally and externally, around professional development, management, and anti-racism and anti-oppression. She has appeared at various speaking engagements and conferences discussing equity, inclusion, and social justice in nonprofit management, organizational leadership and youth development. Alisa holds a Masters of Arts in Education Policy from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, with a minor in African American studies, from Howard University.
Keynote Fireside Chat
11:55 AM - 12:40 PM
Raising Capital Resources
MENTOR New York CEO Brenda Jimenez sits down with nonprofit consultant Rhea Wong to dissect the current landscape of fundraising—with a focus on strategies for small programs operating on tight budgets.
About the panelists:
Brenda Jiménez (she/her) is CEO of MENTOR New York. For the past 20 years, Brenda's expertise in executive leadership, fund development, board development, and organizational management has supported non-profit executives and boards to transform their organizations and increase their reach and impact. She was appointed CEO of MENTOR New York in December 2019 and led the organization through a time of pandemic and racial unrest — pivoting to expand services to those in need while continuing to support longtime partners. Under her leadership, Brenda has increased partner engagement and developed resources, tools, and services that have allowed mentoring programs throughout New York to serve more than 80,000 young people.
Born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, Brenda was raised in a military family stationed in Germany, Texas, and five other states. In her adolescence, her family settled in the Bronx, where she attended the prestigious Cardinal Spellman High School. Brenda received a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Seton Hall University and later pursued a master's in Public Administration with a Non-Profit Management concentration from New York University. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Executive Leadership from The Center of Leadership at The University of Charleston, WV.
Since her college days, Brenda's commitment to women's and children's issues has driven her service in the community and professional choices. From 2011-2016 she was Board President for AllCare Provider Services, Inc. and is the former Board Treasurer for Latinas United for Political Empowerment Political Action Committee (LUPE PAC). She currently has the honor of serving as co-chair of the MENTOR Affiliate Advisory Council (MAAC). Prior to joining MENTOR New York, Brenda worked for Big Brother Big Sisters of America (BBBSA) as an Associate Director of Agency Development; Girl Scouts of the USA as a Volunteer Development and Diversity consultant; and United Way of Essex and West Hudson as a Director of Public Campaigns, where she provided organizational development support to their local affiliates. Brenda has received numerous recognitions for her work, including four Stevie Awards for women in business and a Comité Noviembre, “Lo Mejor de Nuestra Comunidad”: “The Best in Our Community” Award.
Practice-Based Workshops
1:30 - 2:40 PM
TBA
About the presenter:
Tasha Grant (she/they) is a Black queer and non-binary multi-disciplinary arts and social justice educator, applied theatre practitioner, and cultural worker hailing from Newark, New Jersey. With a wealth of experience in education, activism, youth development, and the arts, Tasha has served as a facilitator, devised theatre director, teaching artist, high school teacher, and college lecturer.
As the founding Artistic Director of Maroon Theatre Project, a New Jersey-based social justice theatre collective, Tasha is deeply committed to fostering critical consciousness, activism, and healing in youth through the arts. She prioritizes queer, transgender, and non-binary youth of color, creating affirming spaces for multi-marginalized youth and reimagining theatre-making and education by focusing on young people's social-emotional development and providing them with access to social justice and political education. Tasha's work is rooted in liberatory pedagogy, and she believes in creating transformative experiences for young people through her unique perspective on the arts and social justice.
Aside from her work with Maroon Theatre Project, Tasha also serves as an editor for the American Alliance for Theatre & Education’s Youth Theatre Journal and is a member of Gamma Xi Phi, a professional fraternity for artists and creatives. Tasha holds a BA from Utica University in Psychology with a minor in Theatre, and an MA in Educational Theatre for Colleges & Communities from New York University.
Tasha is a dedicated advocate for social justice, using her extensive background in the arts and education to create meaningful change in the lives of young people. As a Black queer and non-binary femme, Tasha's work is deeply rooted in her identity and experiences, and she uses her platform to elevate the voices of those who have been historically marginalized.
TBA
About the presenter:
Cecily Mitchell-Harper is a NYS Licensed Social Worker with a passion and specialty for integrating research into practice, with a particular focus on developing transformative practices and processes to support programs that serve racially marginalized youth and families. She practices with an anti-oppressive, anti-racist and decolonial lens.
Cecily received her BA in Psychology from Wesleyan University, and her MSW from the University of Pennsylvania, School of Social Policy and Practice. As a seasoned Licensed Social Worker, Cecily has extensive experience practicing in various settings, including schools, human service organizations and research centers. Cecily has clinical experience providing trauma-informed therapeutic services to children and families including those involved in the child-welfare system. Additionally, Cecily has several years of experience providing technical assistance and evaluation expertise to strengthen program capacity and inform programmatic decision making in youth-serving non-profit organizations, utilizing an anti-oppressive, racial equity lens.
Cecily currently serves as the Director of Knowledge and Learning at Student Success Network. She also provides professional development training, coaching, and consultation services to youth-serving non-profit organizations. Her areas of expertise include creating healing-centered organizational practices and cultures to support holistic well-being, supporting direct service staff in their own healing from secondary/vicarious trauma, and utilizing a continuous improvement framework to support institutional change.
Additionally, Cecily is an active member of the NYS Chapter of NASW, where she serves on the NASW, NYS Revolutionize Leadership Team and provides continuing education and professional development for NYS Social Workers. Cecily has presented at various professional conferences and events, is a Certified Field Instructor for graduate Social Work students, and has received invitations to teach within schools of Social Work including Adelphi University School of Social Work and Mercy University.
Youth Panel
1:30 - 2:40 PM
Peer Mentoring In Action
The afternoon will feature a youth panel offering concrete examples of peer mentoring's transformative power. Hear directly from those who have been positively impacted and leave with actionable insights to enrich your own program.