In the face of COVID-19, global inequities are being laid bare and further exacerbated, devastating some of the most vulnerable and low-income communities. Immediately, nonprofit and social impact leaders who serve those disproportionately at risk stepped up in unprecedented ways, working on the frontlines often with a lack of resources to do so.
Join us as we bring together three leaders driving change in these communities, all recipients of the Global Response Fund, a partnership between the McNulty Foundation and the Aspen Global Leadership Network, to share how they are leading through the crisis and centering equity and justice in their work. How is the crisis exacerbating existing inequities, and how can this moment serve to reimagine solutions and structures for the future? How has proximity enabled these leaders to act quickly and effectively in the face of uncertainty? How do they find the moral courage to lead through the overwhelming challenges facing the communities they serve?
Joseph Kunkel
Joseph Kunkel, a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, is the Director of the Sustainable Native Communities Design Lab based in Santa Fe, New Mexico operating within MASS Design Group. As a community designer and educator, his work explores how architecture, planning, and construction can be leveraged to positively impact the built and unbuilt environments within Indian Country. Joseph is a Fellow of the inaugural class of the Civil Society Fellowship, a partnership of ADL and The Aspen Institute, and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
Ann-Gel Palermo
Ann-Gel Palermo is the Chief Program Officer of the Office for Diversity and Inclusion (ODI) of the Mount Sinai Health System and the Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion in Biomedical Education at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, as well as co-founder and Project Director, East Harlem COAD. Ann-Gel co-founded the nonprofit Harlem Community & Academic Partnership, Inc. in 1999, the East Harlem Emergency Preparedness Collaborative in 2013, most recently the East Harlem COAD (Community Organizations Active in Disasters), all of which utilize a community-driven and action-oriented approach to community-identified issues. Ann-Gel is a Fellow of the inaugural class of the Health Innovators Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
Carmita Semaan
Carmita Semaan is the Founder and President of The Surge Institute. Surge is transforming education by training, supporting, connecting, and elevating emerging education leaders of color in Chicago, Oakland and Kansas City with plans to be in 3 additional cities by 2022. Surge Fellows are challenged to walk fully and authentically in their experiences and purpose – to dramatically and sustainably impact systems that serve young people and communities through fresh ideas and innovative perspectives. Carmita is a Fellow of the third class of the Pahara-Aspen Education Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
