In a year in which DEI efforts have become a political target, diverse nonprofits, foundations and entrepreneurs gathered to seek solutions in Minneapolis.
MINNEAPOLIS — A three-day gathering inside Minneapolis Event Centers this week sought to lift up Black culture and champions of diverse causes, at a time when it’s been easy to feel defeated.
“My intention with this event is to have a love letter to this community,” said Lulete Mola, co-founder of The Black Collective Foundation. “This community changed the world five years ago, and today, there’s a spirit of defeat because of all of the changes that are going on around us.”
In a year in which countless DEI efforts – and investments – have been rolled back after becoming a political target, The Collective Sum event attracted hundreds of diverse entrepreneurs, leaders of nonprofits, and foundations with several days of keynote speakers, breakout sessions and networking that often doubled as therapy.
“People keep walking up to me and either crying or almost crying,” Mola said. “They say, ‘I’ve needed this. This feels like a family reunion. I feel seen. I feel cared for.'”
But that support and solace was far from the only thing attendees were seeking.
“I’m looking to share ideas and to find strength in one another for what’s ahead,” said Roxanne Battle, a former KARE11 anchor turned author and mental health advocate. “It’s difficult, I just stepped into a nonprofit role with the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota. I’m not even three weeks into the role and I’m already hearing about nonprofits folding and the lack of funding given the current climate that we’re in.”
That’s putting even more pressure on the groups that remain standing, especially as corporate layoffs and government cuts put pressure on them to deliver to support the communities they serve.
“We exist within this tension of we’re getting less support but we’re providing more support,” Mola said. “Which is why it’s critical to take care of those leaders in the middle that are navigating both.”
For the leaders who were able to make the time and space, the results were profound.
“It’s a different vibe and it just feeds your soul,” said Lasindra Webb, who works with Philanthropy Together in North Carolina, and spent three days absorbing all she could at The Collective Sum. “As a giving circle who supports nonprofits, we can take that information back to help build capacity of the nonprofits that we serve and also better serve and also better support our communities.”
“I think there’s a sense of healing that’s occurring because we know that we’re not alone and that there is power in numbers,” Battle said.
It’s a power that’s greater than the sum of all those in attendance.
“I think in a world of isolation and disconnectedness, it is revolutionary to build community, and that’s what we’re doing,” Mola said.