2022 SPARX Conference | Oct 25 & 27

Senior Partner, Dragonfly Partners
Co-Founder & Co-Facilitator, Securing the Roots

Allison is a people person with decades of experience in bringing folks together to build toward common goals. She is fueled by her own vision of collective liberation, and brings this into her work with others. Her sweet spot and area of expertise is in building up the power and skills of resource generation and mobilization, or fundraising, to meet the goals of community-based organizations. Most recently, she has co-created Securing the Roots, a six month fellowship to build people-power through a resource mobilization and reclamation framework.

In her work with Dragonfly, Allison loves to help groups and individuals connect with their fire and through an exploration of who they are and what they are invested in, opening up ways for them to reach their goals. With knowledge of organizational development, an eye toward strategy, and expertise in online engagement, she has been navigating the pandemic skillfully, bringing folks together even as we are physically apart.

Prior to her resource generation and mobilization work, she served on staff at the American Friends Service Committee, supporting social movements around the U.S. and globally. She also had the privilege of being a key organizer of the first U.S. Social Forum in Atlanta in 2007. Allison has served on the boards of directors for a number of Philadelphia-based organizations.

Allison received her BA from Earlham College and her MA in Sustainable Businesses and Communities from Goddard College. Born and raised in Philly and a member of the Kalmyk Mongol diaspora, she is always excited to investigate the intersections of food, gentrification, race, class, and story-telling in her spare time.

Fernando Chang-Muy is a lawyer, activist and strategic business and leadership  adviser.  He is the Thomas O'Boyle Lecturer in Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey School of Law. He also teaches courses at the Graduate School of Social Policy and Practice on topics such as US Immigration Law, International Human Rights and Refugee Law, and Non Profit Leadership.

He has expansive, parallel careers in immigration and refugee law, higher education, philanthropy, and leadership development:   He served as Legal Officer with both the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN World Health Organization (WHO), AIDS Program.  He also served as the first director of Swarthmore College’s Intercultural Center, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs, advisor to the Provost on Equal Opportunity, and lecturer on International Human Rights in the Peace and Conflict Studies.

He began his legal career as a Reginald Heber Smith Fellow at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia serving as Director of the Southeast Asian Refugee Project, providing free legal aid to low-income immigrants and refugees in Philadelphia. He is also past founding director of the Liberty Center for Survivors of Torture, a project of Lutheran Children and Family Services, established to serve newcomers fleeing human rights violations.

In addition to teaching, he combines his experience in academia and operations, as principal and founder of Solutions International, providing independent management consulting, facilitation and training to philanthropic institutions, nonprofit organizations and government agencies.  His areas of expertise include designing and facilitating large group, action-focused strategic planning processes, board governance retreats, staff internal communications systems, and resource development plans and individual donor campaigns.

He currently serves on the Leadership Council of the Philadelphia Cov-19 Fund, which has raised 18M for grants to local nonprofits. He recently joined the Board of Trustees of the Philadelphia Foundation serving on it Grantsmaking Committee.  In 2008, former Philadelphia Mayor Nutter appointed him as a Commissioner to the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations. He is former Board member of Philanthropy Network, The Philadelphia Award, The Merchants Fund, the Wells Fargo Regional Foundation and the Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Coalition. He is author of numerous articles on diverse topics dealing with immigration & refugees, public health, and management.  He is co-editor of Social Work with Immigrants and Refugees (2nd ed. NY: Springer Publication, 2016) and contributing author to diverse publications.  He is a graduate of Loyola, Georgetown, Antioch and Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation. He is a recipient of both the 2011 and 2018 Penn Law Public Interest Supervisor/Advisor of the Year Award honoring outstanding project supervisors. and advisors; and the 2016 recipient of the Law School Beacon Award, recognizing exemplary commitment to pro bono work by a Penn Law faculty member.

Chekemma is an energetic, thought leader whose career reflects a deep commitment to young people, non-profit excellence, and transformative philanthropic strategy. Her impact is evident in the outcomes she creates, and well documented by many professional accolades. She has been recognized by City and state as a member of the Philly Power 100 and Labor Power 100.  She was honored in the Philadelphia Business Journal’s 2020 Women of Distinction. In 2019, she was named as a Promise of America Awardee by America’s Promise Alliance. The Chronicle of Philanthropy featured Chekemma in their 2017 special report, The Influencers: People Quietly Changing the Nonprofit World. She was also honored by the Obama Administration as a White House Champion of Change. Chekemma has shared her insight and expertise with a range of international audiences, including appearances at the United Nations as well as statewide and national summits across the country. Her professional experience reflects a unique combination of education, workforce, youth development, policy reform, philanthropic investment, and systems transformation.

She now serves as the President of the Hamilton Family Charitable Trust.  She draws on her experience in research, social work, and systems change to inform strategic investment and achieve the philanthropic vision and mission of the trust. Chekemma serves on the Board of the Community College of Philadelphia where and chairs the Student Outcomes Committee. She was appointed by Governor Tom Wolf to the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Board and serves as Chair of the Youth Committee. She is also a member of the Delaware County Board of Managers for Juvenile Justice. Chekemma holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work and a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology both from the University of Pennsylvania

Amy Nieves (she/her) is Executive Director, for the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities which oversees the Mayor’s Commission on People with Disabilities, the Office of ADA Compliance and Constituent Services.  Together these offices work to make Philadelphia a better place for people with disabilities.  As a neurodivergent with hearing loss and as a person in addiction recovery, Amy has built her career as a statewide and nationally recognized advocate on the forefront of supporting families as a facilitator, keynote speaker, published author, and community leader.  Additionally, Amy is a Governor-appointed Council member of PADDC and PASILC.  

She completed her undergraduate degree at York College of PA in 2002 and is currently amid her graduate studies in Human Relations and Social Justice at the University of Oklahoma.  Amy has long advocated that equity, opportunity, and inclusion are rights for all people. She shared her own recovery story with the City of Philadelphia on the Department’s DEI Blog Post.

Michael O’Bryan is the founder of the organizational design strategy firm Humanature, and is a practitioner and researcher in the fields of community development, organizational culture, and human well-being. He is an advocate for human rights and social change with an approach that pulls from developmental-science research, including trauma theory, and his own hands-on, programmatic experience working in historically excluded communities.

At Humanature, he works with nonprofits, businesses, and government agencies on transforming how they understand and support human development, interaction, and performance. Past and current clients include NeighborWorks America, The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, New Jersey Community Capital, and the Strada Education Network. Michael is a Distinguished Resident Fellow at Drexel University’s Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation and a lecturer in city planning at the University of Pennsylvania’s Stuart Weitzman School of Design.

He is a recipient of the Pioneer Fund of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Neubauer Family Foundation’s Preventions in Crime and Violence initiative. Most recently, Michael was awarded the 2022 Diversity in Business Award by The Philadelphia Business Journal. Michael proudly serves on the boards of the Samuel S. Fels Fund, The Union Benevolent Association, The Ubuntu Center on Racism, Global Movements & Population Health Equity at Drexel University, and Project440.

Christine Robinson is a seasoned national and international thought leader with expertise in nonprofit and public sector systems, generative networks, and systems. She builds pathways to policy and system change for justice. She is a nationally recognized strategist in equity, vision articulation, and program development and design.

Robinson brings extensive experience in program evaluation, forming collaborative projects, and launching local, statewide, regional, and national initiatives on social justice issues. She has worked as an executive coach, consultant, facilitator, and strategist and creates initiatives across the US focused on nurturing a culture of wellbeing. She worked closely with staff across Los Angeles County, the largest county in the US, to develop an equity framework across more than 38 municipal offices.

Throughout Robinson’s career, she has utilized her expertise to make significant strides in a multitude of initiatives across several sectors. For example, she served as a consultant to the Obama Administration’s White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, which involved crafting a municipal strategy. She also served as an advisor to the H.W. Bush Administration Dept. of Treasury on economic security models for youth. Her focus areas included economic security and asset strategies, health and education disparities, human development, two- generation strategies, policy alignment, equity and inclusion, and place-based endeavors.

Robinson has served as a senior program staff member, director, and consultant to some of the nation’s leading foundations, including the Ford Foundation, as co-architect of the six-year initiative to close the racial wealth gap; the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, as coordinating consultant for the national childhood obesity initiative; the Pew Charitable Trusts; the Annie E. Casey Foundation; the Lumina Foundation; the Moriah Fund; and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Robinson prioritizes intersectional equity in all of her work. Intersectionality examines power dynamics, transcends communities, practices, and realms of society, and is grounded in application and training. Intersectional equity goes further by recognizing and valuing each person’s multiple identities. Equity can be exhibited through an open invitation to participate, unbiased access, co-creation with those directly affected in building strategies and programs, and the infrastructure of institutions, systems, and communities.

Robinson was appointed Director of the Division of School Age and Adolescent Health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and was intimately involved in establishing the statewide network of school-based health centers and the first violence prevention coalitions in the US. She facilitated the creation of the first multicultural HIV/AIDS coalition in the US and the first K–12 HIV/AIDS curriculum. She also designed a significant disability initiative and brings an abiding commitment to co-creation, inclusion, the inherent dignity of all people, and recognition of historically marginalized communities’ numerous intersectional realities.

Robinson studied at Vassar College, Brandeis University, and the University of Pennsylvania and is trained as a developmental and community psychologist. She was the 2017-18 Christopher Peterson Memorial Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania in Applied Psychology. She is currently a Lecturer and Senior Fellow at the University of New Hampshire's Carsey School of Public Policy, working with graduate students across the University.

Tiffany Tavarez serves as SVP, Technology Diverse Segments, Representation and Inclusion (TDSRI) for Wells Fargo. In this role, she leads the DE&I Council for Technology for global workforce outcomes, specific to representation, mobility and inclusion as well as develops and executes high impact, multi-channel communications strategy plans for internal and external TDSRI outcomes and brand awareness.

Most recently, she was SVP of Community Sponsorships and Strategy within Wells Fargo Wealth & Investment Management which followed her role as Vice President of Community Relations at Wells Fargo where she implemented the company’s corporate responsibility priorities within the Social Impact and Sustainability team in the Northeast region. Her career in inclusive philanthropy, program development & strategy and stakeholder engagement has included reputable organizations such as Exelon; Comcast; Temple University & the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage.

In 2019, she was named in the Philadelphia Business Journal’s Top Forty Under 40 and is currently named a Women of Excellence honoree by WDAS 105.3 FM. Her current civic engagements include serving as Commissioner for Pennsylvania Commission for Women under Governor Wolf; Chair, Board of Directors for Monument Lab; Member, Board of Directors for Esperanza and a Philadelphia Mayor appointee on the Board of the Poverty Action Fund. She is a first-generation college graduate who has earned degrees from both Temple University and University of the Arts.

Dr. Alandra Washington has over 25 years of leadership experience with both non-profit and philanthropic organizations implementing both place-based and national initiatives to improve equitable outcomes for children, families and communities. Joining the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in 2002, Dr. Washington has served in several roles including program officer and director of national programs. She currently serves as Vice President for Transformation and Organizational Effectiveness responsible for overall integration of program and operation initiatives that drives change toward organizational performance excellence.

She has served on the board of Women’s Funding Network, Association for Black Foundation Executives, Living Cities, GenerationOn, Aspen Institute’s Ascend Program Advisory Board, and Asset Funders Network Steering Committee. She currently serves on Monitor Institute’s What’s Next in Philanthropy Advisory Team and board chair for The Schott Foundation for Public Education.

https://kevawhite.com/ | keva.white@vipcomserv.com

Keva White is an educator by profession and entrepreneur by nature. With a master’s degree in social work, he spent several years working for community-based social service organizations before founding his own company, VIP Community Services. He develops and, with a cadre of other teachers, conducts courses for executives, trustees and social work and health care professionals on a wide range of topics dealing with diversity, equity and inclusion and cultural competence. His nationally sought-after signature program “Understanding the Culture of Urban Poverty” is particularly impactful to all who attend. Keva is a dynamic presenter with an embracing sense of humor who uniformly receives high marks for his teaching skills. He is a certified cultural and linguistic competence trainer for licensed substance abuse, social work and health care professionals and is a Part-time Lecturer at Rutgers University, School of Social Work.