Capital One’s sixth annual Reimagine Communities Summit—a free, half-day virtual event to be held October 6—arrives at a pivotal time for communities in North Texas and across the U.S. To empower our communities beyond the pandemic, the summit will bring together leaders to help organizations navigate challenges and seize opportunities for positive change.

“Over the course of the pandemic, nonprofit organizations continued to pivot to deliver services and more importantly, meet the evolving needs of those they serve,” Sanjiv Yajnik, President, Financial Services at Capital One, told Dallas Innovates. “We are taking deliberate action to keep our communities vibrant, which is why I am looking forward to the sixth annual Reimagine Communities Summit.”  

In advance of the Summit, Capital One conducted a national survey of more than 300 nonprofit and community leaders. Some key findings:

• The top skills that leaders are most interested in improving right now are emotional intelligence and empathic leadership (31 percent); upskilling personnel (31 percent); and effective crisis management (28 percent).
• The most pressing issue organizations are facing as a result of the pandemic are employees’ health and safety (28 percent); staff shortages (17 percent); a decline in financial donations (11 percent); and increased expenses (8 percent).
• The greatest needs for organizations’ clients right now are health and medical services (36 percent); education and awareness (30 percent); employment assistance (24 percent); and workforce development (24 percent).

Valerie Jarrett featured as keynote speaker

Valerie Jarrett

Valerie Jarrett, former senior advisor to President Barack Obama, will deliver the summit’s opening keynote on “Finding Your Voice: Leading Change in a Post-Pandemic Future.” Jarrett is also president of the Barack Obama Foundation and a senior distinguished fellow at the University of Chicago Law School.

Marty McDonald, founder and CEO of Boss Women Media, will open the event with Yajnik.

Other key speakers will include Evan Frazier, president and CEO of the Advanced Leadership Institute; Amanda Cage, president and CEO of the National Fund for Workforce Solutions; Daily Beast columnist, TED speaker, and playwright Wajahat Ali; and Dallas native Alan Cohen, president & CEO of the Child Poverty Action Lab—along with other leading non-profit and community changemakers and Capital One executives.

Navigating a Pandemic: Using Data and Analytics to Drive Impact in the Community

Alan Cohen

This noon keynote luncheon panel will wrap up the summit by taking a deep, revealing dive into data. Using data analytics and insights, nonprofit research, and forecasting, the speakers will reveal how nonprofits are pivoting to become future ready. 

The panelists will discuss how nonprofits are using data and analytics to make more strategic choices to drive impact in their communities amid the COVID recovery.

Alan Cohen will be joined on the luncheon panel by Shena Ashley, VP of nonprofits and philanthropy at the Urban Institute; Emary Aronson, chief knowledge officer & senior advisor to the CEO at the Robin Hood Foundation; and Melissa Bearden, senior director of consumer intelligence at Capital One. 

Part of Capital One’s Impact Initiative

Sanjiv Yajnik

This year’s program will virtually host more than 250 nonprofit and community leaders to help identify ways to close the gaps in equity and to help people gain better access to socioeconomic opportunity.

Go here for the detailed agenda and the full list of speakers.

“We recently celebrated the one-year anniversary of the launch of the Capital One Impact Initiative, our commitment to advance socioeconomic mobility by advocating for an inclusive society, building thriving communities and creating financial tools that enrich lives,” Yajnik told us. “When we have an ecosystem of corporations and community partners working together, we all win.”

Other sessions at the summit include: 

Getting past the pandemic to find economic recovery and new opportunities

Vu Le

Vu Le, founder and writer for Nonprofit AF and former executive director of Rainier Valley Corps, will be the featured speaker in a session on “Post-Pandemic Economic Recovery: Where Do We Go from Here.” The session will dive deep into how nonprofit leaders should rethink traditional fundraising strategies and donor and board engagement—by adopting new, innovative strategies to effectively drive change in organizations and communities.

A Time for Transformational Change: Advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion 

Wajahat Ali [Photo: Damon Dahlen]

Nonprofits, organizations, and individuals can learn actionable strategies to build a culture of inclusion and belonging to maximize outreach—both inside and outside organizations.

Wajahat Ali and Evan Frazier will be joined in this session by Chastity Lord, president and CEO of the Jeremiah Program.

Amanda Cage

The Future of Work: Advancing Workforce Equity in Your Community

The pandemic has been a game changer in how people work. This workshop will offer practical strategies from industry experts from some of the nation’s largest workforce development organizations. Amanda Cage will be joined on the panel by Plinio Ayala, president and CEO of Per Scholas; Gerald Eaton, CFO of SER Jobs; and Kerone Vatel, SVP of community impact and investment at Capital One.

Why Resilience Is (Almost) Everything

John Ficken

This session on crisis management, emotional intelligence, and empathetic leadership will feature John Ficken, founder and president of The Quotidien Group. Titled “Why resilience is (almost) everything: icebergs, the basement, and the letter A,” the session will offer an entertaining, provocative, and helpful look at how to be a better leader. Ficken will suggest “mind shifts” to help you triage what you can control and what you can’t, and offer simple tools to feel fulfilled, efficient, and productive as a person and as a leader.

How to watch the summit

Capital One’s Reimagine Communities Summit will be a free, online virtual event from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Central on Wednesday, October 6. You can find more info and register to attend by visiting the event website. 

Dallas Innovates is a media sponsor of the Reimagine Communities Summit, powered by Capital One.

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