2025 Summit Program

Building Community Power, Growing Community Wealth

Saturday, April 26 and Sunday, April 27, 2025

Northern Virginia is changing fast. At this two-day gathering, local families, youth, workers, elders, and neighbors will come together with GMU faculty, students, and staff to activate existing networks of the next system in Northern Virginia, learn about and engage with active struggles around critical issues (housing, access to meaningful work, alternative entrepreneurship, and the digital economy, among others), and connect community members to local decisionmakers and institutions of municipal government, finance, and universities. Register today! 

SATURDAY

Merten Hall, First Floor

9:30am, Main Lobby - Check-in and coffee, tea, pastries 

10:00am, Room 1201 - Welcome by Dr. Ben Manski, Director of Next System Studies and Assistant Professor of Sociology

10:20am, Room 1201 - Keynote Address on “Food for Thought: Towards a Post-Capitalist Vision of Democratic Economy” by Professor Anthony Cook, Coalition for Racial Equity and a Democratic Economy (CREDE), Georgetown Law School 

Professor Cook will explore the implications of his work around Food Security and Community Wealth Building in divested communities for a post capitalist vision of democratic economy, a vision centering  ownership and control of food systems with local communities and disrupting the extractive, externality-generating consequences of national and multinational brands that prioritize investor profits over people, planet, and communities. 

11:30am, Room 1201, Community Roll Call + Offers & Needs with April Doner of the ABCD Institute and the Goldin Institute.

12:30pm, Main Lobby - Lunch Break (box lunch provided to registered participants)

1:30pm-2:45pm - WORKSHOPS, SESSION 1

Lived Experience as Community Assets with Yolonda Earl Thompson (LAZERA Ministries), Nandred Navarro (Fairfax County), Nairuti Shastry (Center for Economic Democracy), and April Doner (ABCD Institute, Goldin Institute) - Room 1202 

Unlocking The Full Potentials of Asian-American Entrepreneurship: Creating Jobs and Regional Resilience, Innovation, & Competitiveness with My Lan Tran (Virginia Asian Chamber of Commerce), Ms. Sung Hee Kim and President (Sagetopia) - Room 1203

Building the Solidarity Economy in Northern Virginia (part 1) with Matt Slaats and Jeff Elkner (Virginia Solidarity Economy Network) - Room 1201 

3:00pm, Room 1201 - PLENARY: Community Wealth Building and the Changing Realities in Our Region 

This special panel discussion gathers key community leaders in Northern Virginia to discuss the current crisis and its social, economic, and psychic impacts on our communities. Some key themes will no doubt include rising costs of living, public safety for immigrant communities, federal layoffs and their downstream effects on local business, labor, and schools, and attacks on the very concepts of diversity and equity. Together, will be looking to characterize the present moment and generate insights about how Northern Virginia can band together for a future that works for all. With: 

  • Yolonda Earl-Thompson, President, LAZERA Ministries
  • Stephanie McHenry, Chief Executive Officer, The Democracy Collaborative
  • Johanna Garay, Organizer, Seedbed of the Solidarity Economy (SECOSOL)
  • June Prakash, President, Arlington Education Association
  • Moderated by Dr. Eleanor Finley, Next System Studies 

 4:30pm - Adjourn 

SUNDAY

Horizon Hall, First Floor

9:30am, Main Lobby, Check-in and coffee, tea, pastries

10:00 am-11:20 am - WORKSHOPS, SESSION 2      10:00 am - 11:20 am 

Computing for the Common Good: Creating a path for coding in the public interest with Amanda Leach and Dhruv Deepak (Digital Commonwealth Project) - Room 1007 

Housing Finance: How It Works, Opportunities, and Tools For The Future with Joseph Davidson (MFX Ventures) - Room 1008 

Building the Solidarity Economy in Northern Virginia (part 2) with the Virginia Solidarity Economy Network - Room 1009 

Community Defense and Mutual Aid with Alessandro David Bovo and Steph Cathell -  Room 1010

11:30 a.m.-1:00 pm - WORKSHOPS, SESSION 3      

Tiny News Collective: Building Community-Centered Local News with Amy Kovac-Ashely - Room 1007 

Building the Solidarity Economy in Northern Virginia (part 3): Creating the Digital Commonwealth, Building Participatory Planning - with Dhruv Deepak (Digital Commonwealth Project), Ben Manski (Next System Studies), Kei Larios (NOVA Web Development), and Charles Wallace-Thomas IV, (Center for Economic Democracy) - Room 1008 

Beyond "Civil Disobedience:" Navigating the tense political climate we are living in with Robert Scott Purdue (GMU Communication) - Room 1009  

1pm, Main Lobby - Lunch (box lunch provided to registered participants)

2:15pm, Room 1001 - Closing Harvest with April Doner, ABCD Institute & Goldin Institute

3:15pm, Farewells and Adjourn