How can we shift movements for justice and equality that will lead to sustainable solutions for change?

To help us unpack this question at this year’s DemocracyXChange Summit (#DXC23), Maurice Mitchell, a nationally recognized political strategist and advocate for racial, social and economic justice, is joining us as a keynote speaker on Saturday, March 25.

In his recent essay, Building Resilient Organizations, Maurice examines the problems movements face today by identifying underlying causes and fallacies and analyzing symptoms of core problems. He presents a framework with recommendations, which can contribute to practical and urgent change by “building resilient organizations that are structurally sound, ideologically coherent, strategically grounded and emotionally mature.”

About Maurice Mitchell

Raised by Caribbean working-class parents in New York, Maurice began organizing as a teenager and never stopped. At Howard University, he organized against police brutality and for divestment from private prisons after police killed a classmate. He went on to work for several grassroots advocacy groups in his home state and became director of the NY State Civic Engagement Table. 

In the wake of the police murder of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Maurice moved there to help build the Movement for Black Lives. He went on to co-found and lead Blackbird, a movement anchor organization that provides strategic support to Movement for Black Lives activists across the United States. In 2018, Maurice took the helm of the Working Families Party (WFP) where he is applying his passion and experience to make WFP the political home for a multi-racial working-class movement.

Maurice addresses #DXC23 from 2 to 2:50 p.m. on March 25 at the Ted Rogers School of Management, Toronto Metropolitan University. He joins our line-up of keynote speakers, which include:

• March 23: Award-winning author Anand Giridharadas, whose recent book is The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy (2022);

• March 24, evening: Distinguished political theorist Nadia Urbinati will analyze the rise of the far right in Italy;

• March 25, morning: 2022 MOCA Award recipient Rajni Perera; and

• March 25, evening: Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Maria Ressa and author of How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for our Future (2023)

Thanks to the generous support of our sponsors, DemocracyXChange has been able to keep its ticket prices low at just $50 for general admission and $25 for students and seniors and virtual attendees.