Building Economic and Climate Justice

Sunday, July 20-Sunday, July 27

Join us for a dynamic conference and hear from leaders who are shifting the flow of capital and power to support communities that face the worst of the climate crisis and the racial wealth gap.

Speakers

Mateo Nube co-founded the Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project. He is national co-chair of the Climate Justice Alliance, co-chair of the Justice Funders’ Board of Directors, and a board member of Grassroots International. Mateo was born and grew up in La Paz, Bolivia. Since moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, he has worked in the labor, environmental justice and international solidarity movements. Mateo works to usher in a just and equitable transition towards the economies that meet our needs, collaborating with communities on the frontlines of ecological disruption. He teaches communities the Just Transition framework, a unifying set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy. His areas of expertise include: political education & strategy development in service of democratizing capital, organizing private & community capital to effect positive change, and cross-class organizing. Mateo is the son of Barbara, fortunate father of Hayden and Nilo, and blessed to be partnered with Effie. He is a member of the Latin rock band Los Nadies.

Ed Dugger is the founder and Managing Partner of Reinventure Capital and has over 30 years of experience as a trailblazer in impact investing. Ed has played a pivotal role in launching some of the nation’s most successful African American-led companies, both private and public. His efforts helped these enterprises secure over $2 billion in capital, while creating more than 7,000 family-supporting jobs. In response to the ongoing racial, social, and economic inequities facing the nation, Ed launched Reinventure Capital in 2020 to focus on the vast, untapped reservoir of entrepreneurial talent among people of color and women who are often overlooked by mainstream investors. Ed has used his success in investing to build bridges between diverse local business communities. As an early advocate and practitioner of DEI, he served as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, where he co-convened several business leadership forums promoting inclusive business practices. Ed also partnered with the CEO of State Street Corporation to create The Business Collaborative (TBC), an innovative initiative that significantly increased sales between major corporations and businesses of color in the greater Boston area. Ed is a graduate of Harvard College and Princeton University (MPA-UP, School of Public and International Affairs). He is also a fitness enthusiast, photographer, family genealogist, and practicing Buddhist. For more on Ed’s journey as a lifelong advocate for racial equity, we encourage you to read: https://reinventurecapital.com/welcome-to-the-third-reconstruction. 

Dana Bezerra is Regional President of the Americas for CREO, which works to invest and catalyze $1 trillion of capital into climate and sustainability solutions toward the decarbonization transition. CREO families represent more than 25 countries, have invested $5b+ in climate and sustainability and $100b+ in companies and funds since 2019. Having begun her career in agriculture in California, Dana bore witness to experiences that left her with a lasting impression of the importance of social cohesion within a community – and the complicated relationship between communities and capital. At Merrill Lynch, Dana spent nearly a decade managing client money, where she gained an appreciation for the nuances of intergenerational wealth and learned to navigate complex financial transactions. Dana served as President of the Heron Foundation for 18 years, where she played a key role in rotating the foundation’s entire portfolio to align with Heron’s mission. Dana has been active in the leadership of CapShift and TILT as well as Duke University’s Fuqua Advisors. She has been a frequent guest lecturer at Columbia University and Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative.  

William H. Lamar IV is pastor of Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Washington, DC, where he has served since 2014. Prior to his tenure at Metropolitan, Lamar served congregations in Florida and Maryland; and from 2008 to 2011, he was the managing director of Leadership Education at Duke University Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina. Lamar has long been actively involved in community organizing and is currently the founding board chair of the Just Power Alliance, a collective of organizations that focuses on building a multi-racial, multi-class, multi-generational, and multi-faith world that is joyful and just for all. Rev. Lamar has collaborated with Repairers of the Breach, Poor People’s Campaign – A National Call for Moral Revival, Center for Community Change, and People Improving Communities through Organization to enact social and economic justice and to exhibit a real embrace of the beloved community. Lamar’s Washington Post op-ed from December 15, 2020, published after the Proud Boys desecrated Metropolitan by vandalizing church property, was a clarion call that culminated in a $3 million judgment for punitive damages against the white supremacist group for their criminality. His efforts to embody justice in community have been featured in The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR’s “All Things Considered,” MSNBC’s “The Reid Out,” and PBS’s “News Hour.” His book, Ancestors: The Names That Bless Us, Curse Us, and Hold Us, will be published by Broadleaf Books in June 2025. 

Minister of the Week

Rev. Viola Abbitt is the minister at Coastal Virginia Unitarian Universalists in Virginia Beach, VA.  Before that she served as the minister for two Unitarian Universalist congregations in New York State, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Poughkeepsie and the First Unitarian Society of Westchester. Rev. Viola was a contributor to the liturgical materials for the UUA’s Promise and the Practice of Our Faith Campaign and is one of the founding members of the Interfaith Coalition in Support of Human Rights. She served on the UUA’s Journey Toward Wholeness Transformation Committee; the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association Committee on Anti-Racism, Anti-Oppression and Multiculturalism; the board of Camp Unirondack in New York; and the board of UU Wellspring, Inc. She is also a member of the UUA’s Nominating Committee. Prior to ministry, Rev. Viola was the Director of the Office of the Ombudsman in New York State where she managed a program responsible for advocating for the rights of incarcerated youth in the juvenile justice system. Rev. Viola received an MDiv from Meadville Lombard Theological School, a JD from Fordham University School of Law, an MSLS from Long Island University and a BA from Binghamton University. In her spare time, Rev. Viola likes to be in nature and finds renewal being in proximity to just about any body of water. Rev. Viola lives in the Hampton Roads Area of Virginia and is an amateur photographer, a lover of games, autobiographical books, science fiction movies and all forms of dance and music. She has one adult son who also shares her love of music and has made a career of it. 

Children and teens at IA are enthusiastically welcomed into the Youth Program by friendly faces and engaging children’s staff who help to fill each day with fun and new experiences. The program is filled with engaging, age-appropriate activities and interesting topics inspired by the Island.

 In 2024, there were six children’s groups, each with experienced staff:

Find out more…

Registration for the 2025 Conference is full, and we have gone to a waitlist.

The registration link can be found here: https://starisland.org/program/ia/

Please register to be placed on the waitlist. I will contact those on the waitlist in order, if space opens up.

For further inquiry, please contact conference registrar Joy Greeley jdgreeley@yahoo.com.

IA Registration Policy