Attending and speaking at my first BLD conference this year was so incredible - immaculate vibes, tons of connections, and so many actions/ideas floating around. After the experience of connecting with all of our PNW B’s, I knew I had to attend Champion’s Retreat. Champion’s Retreat is a conference hosted by B Lab to “provide a space to build community, regenerate, and catalyze movement building.” The theme of this year’s conference, held in Philadelphia, is “Humanity at Work” and each session so far has contributed to that theme in a unique way.Day 1 consisted of an afternoon B Local Leader’s Summit. I’ve been on the B Local PDX board for about a year now, and despite connecting randomly here and there with other B Local leaders, I haven’t been able to have many substantive conversations. That all changed yesterday. After some introductory information that covered the landscape of B Locals, we had 2 separate breakout sessions - one focused on board roles, and the other focused on impact areas. During the “roles'' breakout, I connected with other Communications chairs to share best practices and learn about their unique struggles. I came away with a profound gratitude for the B Local PDX board and community.Day 2 began with an Opening Plenary (def: a meeting or session attended by all participants at a conference or assembly, in case you, like I, had no idea what a plenary was). The most profound part of this session was an exercise led by Dr. Tiffany Jana, founder of TMI Consulting. This exercise invited participants to envision a 2035 where the initiatives and ideas of this year's Champion’s Retreat had come to fruition. Attendees then took to the microphones, and using present tense language, described the world that they lived in. Each statement was met with deep breaths and sounds of affirmation from the crowd; more than a few moved me to tears. Statements like “It’s 2035 and I have two teenage daughters who have full autonomy over their own bodies”, “It’s 2035, and Trans Day of Remembrance is now Trans Day of Celebration because trans people no longer experience violence because of who they are”, and “It’s 2035, and I am proud of and have confidence in my government because they have adopted a mindset of stakeholder economy that includes all stakeholders.”I started thinking about a conversation I had with my brother recently. He has 2 young sons, both under the age of 4, and he shared with me his vision for their future. He said that his vision is that in their lifetimes, people will no longer see a person sleeping on the street and keep walking. They’ll no longer see a person experiencing a mental health crisis, and keep walking. They’ll no longer see someone digging in the trash for food, and keep walking. Sitting in a room full of hundreds of people (business owners, investors, volunteers, entrepreneurs) all with a shared vision for the future that was full of hope and optimism was truly inspiring.Afternoon sessions have been no less inspiring. “Taking a Stand, Advocating and Acting for Social Justice as a B Corp'' was a panel session hosted by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. The main topics were around voting rights, sexual and reproductive health care, and LGBTQ+ rights. During the breakout sessions, all the way across the country in Philadelphia, I unknowingly sat next to another Portland, OR resident, Afrita Davis, founder of Model Integrity. I got to hear from Peter Barber, founder of Two Dudes Painting Company, about the efforts they take to encourage employees to vote, including making Election Day a paid day off. I heard from Esther Pang of Ecodeo about B Local NYC’s initiatives around voter rights education. I got to hear the tangible efforts of B Corps in our community towards the 2035 vision. All of this in just half of the retreat.I’m looking forward to attending sessions tomorrow around the proposed new standards for B Corp certification and climate justice, and to bringing all of these ideas and energy home with me. I have a multitude of “How can we….” statements in my head, but the foundational one now is “How can we make that 2035 vision a reality?” In the words of Jed Bartlett…”What’s next?”
