Sustaining Together Summit
About this Event
The Sustaining Together Summit is a one-day regional convening focused on advancing long-term solutions to economic inequality in Hampton Roads. Hosted in partnership with YWCA South Hampton Roads and presented by Dollar Tree Inc., the Summit brings together cross-sector leaders, community advocates, and policy experts to address the root causes of economic insecurity in our region.
Join us for a powerful day of learning, collaboration, and action. Together, we can build a more economically empowered future for Hampton Roads.
Throughout the day, attendees can choose between two programming tracks.
Foundations looks at the systems and history that shaped today's economic landscape, for those who want to understand how we got here.
Forward is practical and skills-focused, for those ready to act. Full breakout session details will be announced soon.
Support the Summit: Become a Sponsor
We welcome mission-aligned partners committed to long-term solutions to hunger in Hampton Roads. Sponsorship offers a unique opportunity to align your brand with cross-sector collaboration, local leadership, and community impact.
To learn more about our sponorship tiers, please contact [email protected].
Agenda
🕑: 08:00 AM - 09:00 AM
Checkin + Registration
Info: Start your day by checking in, enjoying a continental breakfast, and connecting with fellow Summit attendees before the program begins.
🕑: 09:00 AM - 09:30 AM
Opening Remarks
Info: Hear opening remarks from Michael C. Creedon, Jr., CEO of Dollar Tree Inc., alongside our event organizers from COUSIN and YWCA South Hampton Roads, as they welcome you to this year's Summit and set the stage for our theme, A More Perfect Union, a call to understand the systems that shaped economic inequality in Hampton Roads, and to build lasting economic power in response
🕑: 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Keynote Conversation: Jamelle Bouie
Info: Join us as Jamelle Bouie, New York Times columnist and Hampton Roads native, opens the day with a conversation on what it means to build a more perfect union, connecting his national reporting on American inequality to the region that shaped him.
🕑: 10:35 AM - 11:35 AM
FDN | How Economic Inequality Took Hold in America and Shaped Hampton Roads
Host: Timothy D. Goler, Ph.D. | Department Chair NSU
Info: From Reconstruction to redlining to urban renewal, economic inequality in America was engineered, not accidental. This session traces that history nationally and grounds it in Hampton Roads, including how environmental racism and land use decisions concentrated harm in the communities least able to push back. Attendees leave with shared context for everything that follows
🕑: 10:35 AM
FWD | Money on Your Mind: Shifting Your Financial Mindset for Long-Term Wealth
Host: Dr. Alicia Tetteh, LCSW, CFSW
Info: Financial literacy isn't just knowing the numbers, it's changing your relationship with money: the beliefs, behaviors, and cultural narratives that shape how you earn, save, and invest. This workshop explores the psychology of personal finance for communities historically excluded from wealth-building, with practical tools for a mindset rooted in abundance and long-term thinking.
🕑: 11:40 AM - 12:40 PM
FDN | Built to Last: The Legacy of Asian, Black, and Latinx-Owned Business
Info: Long before "minority-owned business" entered mainstream vocabulary, Asian, Black, and Latinx entrepreneurs in Hampton Roads were building enterprises that outlasted redlining, disinvestment, and unequal access to capital. This session traces that legacy, from the corner stores that anchored underserved communities to the multi-generation firms still operating today, and what their resilience can teach the region's next generation of owners.
🕑: 11:40 AM - 12:40 PM
FWD | Built Different: From Workforce Redevelopment to Workforce Empowerment
Host: Joshua Jones, Founder Neighborhood
Info: Workforce development has long told workers to adapt to the economy. This session asks the opposite: what if the economy adapted to workers? We examine the shift from traditional workforce redevelopment, training people for jobs that already exist, to workforce empowerment, building the agency and collective power for workers to shape their own labor conditions. Attendees leave with a framework for career development as a tool of liberation, not compliance.
🕑: 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Lunch Fireside: A National and Local Conversation
Info: Margaret Mitchell, CEO of YWCA USA, joins Michelle Ellis-Young, CEO of YWCA South Hampton Roads, for a conversation connecting YWCA's national mission to the work happening right here in Hampton Roads.
🕑: 02:05 PM - 03:05 PM
FDN | Boots on the Ground: The History of Organizing and Collective Power
Info: Change in Hampton Roads has never come without a fight. This session traces the region's long history of community organizing, from labor movements and tenant organizing to civil rights campaigns and present-day advocacy, examining who organized, what they won, and what they lost. Attendees leave with direct lines from historical movements to the organizing work happening today.
🕑: 02:05 PM - 03:05 PM
FWD | Make It Move: How to Advocate for Policy Change
Info: Policy shapes who gets hired, who gets housed, and who gets left out, and it's changeable, especially at the local level, where everyday people have the most leverage. This session demystifies the advocacy process, with practical tools for engaging elected officials, showing up at the right tables, and moving issues that matter. Attendees leave understanding how local government works in Hampton Roads and what it takes to turn community pressure into policy change.
🕑: 03:10 PM - 04:10 PM
FDN | Who Gets to Help: The Nonprofit Industrial Complex
Info: Hampton Roads has a robust nonprofit sector, but who does it actually serve, and whose power does it protect? This session examines how the nonprofit industrial complex, foundations, grant-making, and service organizations, has shaped community support in the region. Attendees explore the tension between charity and justice, and what it looks like when organizations are truly accountable to the people they serve rather than the funders who support them.
🕑: 03:10 PM - 04:10 PM
FWD | Charting Your Own Path: First-Generation Students and Professionals
Info: Being first generation means figuring it out without a roadmap. This panel centers first-generation college students and young professionals in Hampton Roads navigating institutions, financial systems, and professional environments not built for them, often while supporting family at the same time. Panelists speak honestly about what it took to move through, the tools and relationships that made the difference, and what they're building for the next generation.
🕑: 04:15 PM - 04:30 PM
Closing Remarks
Info: Closing remarks from our organizers.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 44.52 to USD 65.87
