Arizona Delegation Travels to BALLE Shift Capital Summit
This November, an Arizona delegation of thirteen community members will travel to Pacific Grove, CA to attend the BALLE Shift Capital Summit. Local First Arizona Foundation leader, current BALLE board member, and 2011 BALLE Fellow, Kimber Lanning, mobilized the delegation.
The BALLE delegation will focus on building relationships, both in Arizona and across state lines, nationally representing the great potential in Arizona, and sparking local action around leveraging capital for social change after the Summit’s conclusion.
“At the BALLE Shift Capital Summit, we will strategize together on how to accelerate the flow of financial and social capital to the visionary leaders who are doing critical work on the ground across North America.” BALLE
Why
Simply put, we need more capital flowing to the people and front-line organizations who are building stronger communities for all in Arizona. When asked what they hoped to get out of the Summit, delegation members gave the following responses:
“Bring tools and resources back to AZ that have focused on social justice finance — be proactive.”
“Broaden our perspective and scope of what is possible.”
“To receive information and ideas on how to take the community work I’m doing to the next level.”
“Opportunity to learn more about what’s working in other communities.”
“I want to build power, connect with institutions, and leverage resources for change with both grassroots movements and institutions.”
“To explore how economic and political structures interact with the natural world — how to make connections between rural and urban.”
“To challenge assumptions baked into the economic system — how we make capital available or don’t.”
“How businesses have been built has extracted communities. I want to move the conversation to creating businesses to solve problems and spark new ideas.”
“To learn how investments come to be — localized approach is critical — understand how capital is structured — how will this influence South Phoenix in terms of development?”
“How do we get more investments in local initiatives to change dynamics with capital.”
Who
- Thomas Barr, Executive Director, Local First Arizona
- Stephanie Cordel, Founder, All Voices Consulting
- Katelyn Harris Lange, Advocacy Co-chair, African-American Women’s Giving & Empowerment Circle & Leadership Search Specialist, Y Scouts
- Danny Knee, Executive Director, Community Investment Corporation
- Kimber Lanning, Executive Director, Local First Arizona Foundation (BALLE Board Member, 2011 BALLE Fellow, and delegation organizer)
- Joe Larios, Consultant, InSite Consulting
- Maria Teresa Mabry, Grants Manager, Mijente
- Jayson Matthews, Community Impact Director, Valley of the Sun United Way
- Ali Nervis, Co-founder, Archwood Exchange (not traveling to BALLE, but involved in pre and post-convenings)
- Sharifa Rowe, CEO, SROWE Consulting
- Keisha Tatem, State Conservationist, USDA
- Roy Tatem, President, East Valley NAACP
- Kathy Vang, Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona
- Cynthia Zwick, Executive Director, Wildfire
Next Steps
- Delegation members are committed to sharing information and tools from the Summit with the Phoenix community at large. We are working out the best way to do this. More to come.
- Connect with delegation members one-on-one to learn about the Summit and share what you’re working on.
- Phoenix was chosen from a group of over 20 cities to host Transform Finance’s flagship training next year. Transform Finance shares our belief that Phoenix is ripe for a complex dialogue around innovation and mobilizing capital for social change. Over the next six months, Transform Finance will host the Institute in Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Phoenix. The Institute will land in Phoenix next Spring (March 9–10, 2019) and bring local community organizers and social justice activists together with capital flows.
Sign up here to receive updates as we roll out additional details on the Phoenix Transform Finance Institute.
Katelyn Harris Lange is a current leadership search specialist with Y Scouts working to connect 10 million people to work that matters. She is a philanthropist involved in the African-American Women’s Giving and Empowerment Circle, Phoenix Sister Cities Board Member, and the current Diversity and Inclusion Director with Net Impact Phoenix Professionals.
