Social Justice Event Recap
Vital Stats from the Weekend
- What: 48in48’s 1st-Ever Social Justice Build Event
- When: June 11-13, 2021
- Where: Virtual
- Why: Awareness, Education and Action
- Who: 276 Volunteers + 40 Nonprofits Served!
Our event planning committee volunteers and the co-leads, Akila Srinivasan and Arti Badami from IBM, made the event a huge success – we could not have done it without them!
Speakers & Sessions
48in48 kicked off the incredible Social Justice Event weekend with Keynote Nathaniel Smith, CEO/Founder, Partnership for Southern Equity. PSE advances policies and institutional actions that promote racial equity and shared prosperity for all in the growth of metropolitan Atlanta and the American South. We also heard from Dr. Vicki Crawford, Director of the Office of the Morehouse College Martin Luther King, Jr. Collection and Endowed Chair of Civil and Human Rights. She walked us through the collection and helped us understand how Dr. King’s work relates to today’s events. Then Dontrese Brown, co-founder of Hidden in Plain Site, shared a virtual reality exploration of distinct, but easy-to-overlook sites around Richmond, VA, that tells the story of the Black experience throughout history.
Since the death of George Floyd and the social unrest that followed last summer, companies have been renewing their internal DEI practices and focusing on elevating levels of inclusion. Given that allyship is an important driver of inclusion and that 61% of American workers want to be an ally to marginalized groups (Harris Poll & Paradigm survey), it made sense to create a panel to discuss this topic in greater depth during 48in48’s Social Justice Event. The panel was moderated by Sharmila Fowler, DEI Consultant and Coach and included
- Iesha Berry, Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer at Slalom
- Joanne Wright, Vice President Enterprise Operations & Services at IBM
- Shalanda Martin, Sr. Manager Product Operations at Cox Automotive
- Jody Citizen, Sr. Manager Executive Relations & ECE/HUM at Verizon
Panelists were able to share personal stories and provide valuable insights on how to be a better ally, and more importantly, how to take allyship to the next level!
Watch the recorded sessions here!
- Opening Ceremony (including keynote Nathaniel Smith)
- Dr. Vicki Crawford: Exploring the Morehouse College MLK Collection
- Dontrese Brown: Between Space and Time
- Allyship Panel
- Closing Ceremony
- Short Social Justice Event Recap Video!
Winning Websites
- 1st Place: BLOOM, built by the Slalom Team
- 2nd Place: Hue You Know, built by the Cox Enterprises Team
- 3rd Place: Africa Institute of Medical Sciences & Technology/AIMST, built by the Cox Enterprises Team
- Honorable Mentions:
- Nick’s Place, built by the Slalom Team
- Metro Atlanta Reentry Coalition/MARC, built by the Cox Team
1st Place – BLOOM 
2nd Place – Hue You Know 
3rd Place – AIMST 
Honorable Mention – Nick’s Place 
Honorable Mention – MARC
Sponsors
- Verizon is our 2021 Platinum Sponsor – thank you!
- We also sincerely thank all of our sponsors for your support – we couldn’t serve all these incredible nonprofits without you.
- IBM – 6 years
- State Farm – 5 years
- Slalom – 4 years
- Cox Enterprises – 3 years
Creative Team Photos
Inspired to Volunteer with 48in48?
What’s next? The 2021 GLOBAL EVENT, October 1-3. Register now!
