Panels & Workshops

On Donald Trump’s 100th Day in office, YEO Network leaders from across the country will address the media about the significance of the weekend’s gathering, the essential role and their agenda for action in the months and years ahead.

Join members and friends of People For as we welcome convening attendees to Washington, D.C. for YEO’s 20th Anniversary Convening.

Our opening keynote speaker will frame the weekend for our members, putting into perspective this inflection point in history and charge them to action in defense of freedom, justice, and democracy.

In the wake of chaos and unprecedented divestment at the federal level, bold and innovative leadership at the state and local level will be even more important in delivering for communities in need. In this session, elected leaders discuss defending our values at home when Washington won’t.

The wholesale attack on the rights of women, Black Americans, immigrants, LGBTQ+ Americans and the working class cannot go unchallenged. In this session, experts in the fight for civil rights will share with members their insight on defending freedom in an anti-DEI era.

The access and influence of the rich has never been greater and the gaps between the wealthy and the working class has rarely been wider. In this session, we’ll discuss how we got here and how we can use policy to combat the influence of money in governing and delivering economic justice for our communities.

In this session, tech experts help us explore what the complex advent of artificial intelligence and big tech means for our communities, our nation, and the globe – and what young progressive leaders can do now to prepare.

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The COVID-19 pandemic and the far right attack on public education that has followed are forcing innovation from the school board to the classroom. In this session, veteran educators and public ed advocates explore these challenges and evidence-based practices that build equity, spur growth, and defends the freedom to learn for every student.

State and local policymakers are facing an onslaught of attacks on gender justice at both the state and federal level. But state policymakers have powerful tools to fight back and move forward. This session, hosted by the National Women’s Law Center’s State Gender Policy Collective team, will focus on 4 key ways state and local policymakers can and are leading in this moment: by using their (1) legislative authority, (2) investigatory authority, (3) strategic communications, and (4) litigation. After grounding the group in current threats and opportunities, we’ll move into breakout groups to share and brainstorm strategies across states. Come ready to connect with fellow policymakers, troubleshoot challenges and leave with new ideas for taking action back home.

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2024 taught us that bold, inclusive policies are not enough. How we message our work to a broad coalition matters. In this lunch session, communications experts with experience in politics and government give members tips on how to craft the message necessary to move our work.

In a follow-up to our lunch session, more of our partners in the communications sector explore navigating social media and the internet in the age of AI and the explosion of disinformation.

In an era where political violence has become more prevalent and more likely against elected leaders, elected leaders at every level have been forced to take additional steps to protect their mental and physical security. This session features experts on far-right extremism and elected leaders who have faced real threats of violence sharing their tips for remaining safe in uncertain times.

In this panel, we explore the efforts by the Trump administration and beyond to erase the lives and experiences of our trans neighbors. We also examine points of hope, how young electeds and allied organizations can fight back, and become allies in the struggle for trans freedom.

In and outside of government, bold voices for change are standing firm in the face of intimidation, demonization, and attack by increasingly more extremist, far-right forces. On the front lines of protest, the courts, and the halls of power, their bravery is shining a light and sparking a fire in others. In this session, we gain inspiration and courage from their stories of resistance.

YEO members will have the opportunity to sign up for 30 min small group Stage Presence and Authentic Voice trainings with Kathleen Turner.

After two decades, the YEO Network is still helping develop a bench of bold progressive leaders fighting for our values at every level of office. We’ll hear from members of the newest cohort of YEO members – Generation Z – about their hopes, fears, and vision for our future.

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In the Black Lives Matter era, members of the YEO Network have been on the front lines and at the cutting edge of solutions that fundamentally reimagine our systems of justice and public safety. In this session, we highlight some of that groundbreaking work with elected leaders, experts, and activists driving lasting, systemic change.

Our service and our fight didn’t begin in elected office and it won’t end there. In this session, YEO alumni talk about deepening your impact after leaving office.

As America nears 250, faith in our institutions and our democracy are at an all-time low. Is it time for a new contract with the American people? In this session, YEOs will be asked to imagine a new constitution that makes good on our nation’s promise and protects the American democratic experiment for future generations.

Powered by Faith for Black Lives and Democracy 2076

Join experts in reproductive justice to learn about important methods of access state and local leaders can make available and must protect in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade.

Powered by Pandia Health

Cities and America’s growing metropolitan regions are feeling the crunch of changing job markets, economic inequality, housing shortages, climate change, growing numbers of families on the brink, and seniors in need of care. In this session, we talk to elected leaders and experts finding bold solutions to emerging urban challenges.

Federal attacks on the rights of immigrants and the elected leaders bold enough to resist has redefined our fight. In this session, experts and activists on the front lines of the movement for immigrant justice share their call to action.

Located on DC’s historic St. Elizabeth’s campus, Sycamore & Oak is a shared vision between neighbors. Designed as a community hub and incubator for emerging Black entrepreneurs, it offers shopping, arts, culture, and entertainment year round for the neighbors and entire city. The 22,000-square-foot mass timber structure designed by world-renowned architect David Adjaye is also an architectural and sustainability marvel. Come learn about the community-driven process that made this project possible and about its use as a catalyst to spur deeper investment in historically neglected communities.

Throughout our history, change has been created by people of every religion and no religion at all coming together to promote justice, freedom, and democracy for all of us. For decades, the Far-Right has weaponized faith and religion to marginalize, exclude, and divide. In this closing fireside, leaders across religious traditions talk about the importance of faith in our moral movement and the protection of the freedom of religion in an age of white christian nationalism.