DreamWeek 2023 Panel series: DEI-Leading Racial Justice and Healing as Allies

This  panel will address the opportunities and challenges  of White leaders leading organizations committed to racial equity and healing. The focus would be how to advocate and also how to encourage other White leaders to take on the challenge.

Moderator: Kimiya Factory

Kimiya Factory 24, (She/her) graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Political Science and a minor in Legal Studies. While Leading/Co-Founding the movement #ChangeRapeCulture, Factory challenges Title IX policies regarding structural violence and sexual misconduct at institutions across San Antonio, Texas. She continues to advocate for Reproductive Justice as a National Speaker for Planned Parenthood.

Factory serves as the President/Executive Director of Black Freedom Factory – an organization that encourages Data-Driven Activism, #RedefiningProfessionalism for BIPOC LGBTQIA+ Communities/youth, and dismantling racial inequity across the State of Texas. Factory is actively working alongside advocates nationwide on issues concerning Voting Rights as the Central Texas Regional Organizer for Black Voters Matter. Her Participatory Action Research Focus areas include Police Accountability, and the School-to-Prison Pipeline in the interest of grassroots efforts for vulnerable populations. Factory is formerly a Participatory Action Research Fellow for Southwest Folklife Alliance and Identifies as a Queer Indigenous Afro-Latina. She is a recurring political commentator for SXSW, CNN, MSNBC, ABC News, The Grio and has been featured in The New York Times as well as local Texas news media.

The panelists

Francesca Rattray, Chief Executive Officer -YWCA

Francesca Rattray is CEO of YWCA San Antonio, whose mission is to eliminate racism and empower women. Ms. Rattray has devoted her 30+ year career to international and community economic development through microfinance, human services, and nonprofit training. Ms. Rattray believes that investing in women is the key to breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty, and YWCA San Antonio removes barriers for women, particularly women of color, to achieve self-sufficiency: child care, youth success, economic empowerment and health equity, along with advocacy for racial justice and gender equality. Ms. Rattray leads a team of empowered women with lived experience in the community we serve and who ensure that women and their families are safe, healthy, and thriving. Ms. Rattray received her MBA from Boston University and bachelor’s from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Ryan Lugalia-Hollon, CEO -UP Partnership

Ryan serves as the CEO for UP Partnership, an education and youth development backbone that seeks to ensure all young people in San Antonio are ready for their future. He has previously served as an executive director for Excel Beyond the Bell San Antonio and the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago’s Youth Safe and Violence Prevention department. Ryan’s first book, The War on Neighborhoods, was published by Beacon Press and tracks the devastating impact of mass incarceration on one Chicago community area. He is an active leader in the national StriveTogether network and serves as the Board Chair for the Children’s Funding Project.

Kara C. Allen, Chief Impact Officer- Spurs Sports & Entertainment

Kara trusts that communities have the answers and is an unapologetic believer in young people and the adults that uplift them. She is lucky to be called “mom” by some beautiful humans; her oldest is at UC Davis Medical School and her youngest is loving elementary school. She also really likes donuts, biking and getting people what they tell us they need to be great.

Kara serves community and Spurs Sports & Entertainment as Chief Impact Officer.