2nd Annual Virtual Summit - Into the Depths: Exploring this Global Moment

Welcome to our Second Annual Virtual Summit! You will hear from Council team members, partners, and global issues speakers alike in this grand opening to our weeklong schedule of events!

At 4:00PM we will kick off with a land acknowledgement and performance, followed by an announcement from the Council team. Then at 4:30PM we will welcome Amali Tower, Executive Director of the nonprofit Climate Refugees, on how climate change intersects with displacement, forced migration, conflict, security, and vulnerability.

According to a World Bank Report, climate change could push over 200 million people to migrate in the next 30 years. Global surface temperatures have risen faster since 1970 than in any other 50-year period over the past 2,000 years. However, those who leave their countries because of climate change or disasters do not qualify for protection under international law, leaving them even more vulnerable. Together we will learn where the global governance framework for forced migration exists and what public "people-centered" actions we can all take to help address this issue.

Join us for this exclusive conversation with keynote speaker Amali Tower. This will be an opportunity to interact with Amali face to face, and engage in a discussion with a topic expert alongside other audience members. In this new virtual format, this 30 minute conversation is our way of connecting with our speakers post-event and diving even deeper into the details we want to learn most about. 

Join this event to see Cuban singer, songwriter, and record producer Descemer Bueno perform and discuss his artistry with Council CEO & President Betty Cruz. This is the Council's first Spanish language event! Audience members will have the option to listen to the program in its original Spanish audio, or select the English language interpretation audio at any point during the program. During the conversation portion of the event audience members are invited to submit their questions in the Q&A feature. Come see Descemer Bueno perform and talk to us about his experience as a Cuban artist and citizen!

During this conversation with democracy, technology, and human rights experts, we'll explore the state of democracy on and offline, both in this country and globally. We will also discuss the rippling effects of the United States' democratic institutions around the world, and the rights that have come under attack in recent years as authoritarian leaders and ideology continue to rise. This moderated panel discussion will touch on how we collectively define democracy, who benefits from it, and who is historically forgotten. In the context of the Summit's theme of Exploring this Global Moment, we hope to explore the ways in which we can encourage democracy internationally to promote civic dialogue and counter polarization.

Earlier this year, we hosted a conversation on the growing domestic terrorism problem in the United States and how right-wing extremism was ranked among the top global security threats in 2019. In part two of this conversation, we will dive deeper into this topic, focusing on extremism globally and the efforts of those working to prevent the spread of dis/misinformation. In conversation with technology and extremism experts, we’ll explore how vulnerable communities are harmed by misinformation online, and how misinformation can lead to increased polarization and extremism within and between communities.

Join us for this interactive talk where our panelists will be speaking on what it means to have a globally minded and compassionate workplace, and why it is so important for our young people who are beginning to enter the workforce.

Join us for this interactive talk where we will be going deeper on one of our five global issue areas.

As the fanfare surrounding the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan and the subsequent Taliban takeover of the country dies down, people are already moving on to the next notable news story. However, women everywhere, from Afghanistan to the United States, continue to face subjugation, oppression, and discriminatory practices; whether the international media is watching or not. The fight against women’s rights is much bigger than the present conflict in Afghanistan, yet we continue to fall short in our obligation to support and listen to women when claiming to work for their equitable treatment in society. Join us to hear executive director of the Arab Institute for Women (AiW) at the Lebanese American University Lina AbiRafeh speak on how we consistently fail in our fight for women’s rights, and what we need to do to start succeeding.

Invite only post keynote conversation with our speaker.