Level Up Conference 2026

Lighthouse Foundation’s 4th Annual Level Up Conference is a dynamic, solutions-focused, full-day convening designed to equip job seekers, working professionals, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and community leaders with the tools, relationships, and insight needed to navigate today’s rapidly evolving economic landscape. Through interactive workshops, skills-building sessions, panels featuring industry leaders, and a job fair, participants gain practical insight into workplace readiness, career pathways, and entrepreneurship.

The 2026 Level Up Conference will be held Saturday, April 18, at Venue Six10 in Chicago. While this event centers the wisdom and experience of Black LGBTQ+ folx, people of all identities are enthusiastically encouraged to attend!

Highlights include:

-An opening plenary featuring Black LGBTQ+ CEOs leading prominent nonprofit institutions

-A Black LGBTQ+ Joy as Foil to Turbulent Times, a panel spotlighting the wisdom of Black LGBTQ+ executives

-Three core programming tracks: Toolkit: Obtaining a Job, Advancing in your job, and Entrepreneurship; Launch: 18-24 year olds Building Dreams Together, a youth development track; Creating Joy in the Work, a dedicated philanthropy track

Additional elements include a job fair, dinner and drinks, evening music performances showcasing Black LGBTQ+ joy, and a closing panel featuring philanthropic and social justice nonprofit leaders discussing how to center joy in activism. From professional development and relationship-building to rest, reflection, and shared vision, Level Up serves as a strategic gathering point that affirms joy as critical infrastructure for effective, sustainable work and social change.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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Host or Publisher Lighthouse Foundation of Chicagoland