Conference on R.E.S.T.

Join us for a powerful and inspiring Legacy Awards Breakfast Ceremony as we honor local pillars, changemakers, and community leaders whose work continues to advance justice, equity, and transformation throughout our region. This special gathering will feature a dynamic fireside chat with Tarana Burke — activist, founder of the ‘me too.’ movement, and New York Times bestselling author.

Centered around this year’s Conference on R.E.S.T. theme, Where Is Your Fire?, the breakfast is a celebration of the people and organizations creating meaningful change in our communities every day. From advocacy and service to leadership and healing work, we will honor those whose passion, courage, and commitment continue to inspire transformation and strengthen the collective future of our region.

This year’s honorees include:
• Corporate/Nonprofit Legacy Award — REACH, Inc.
• Individual Changemaker Award — Michelle Reed, LGBT Life Center
• Chainbreaker Award — Monique Gatling, Virginia Pathways to Justice
• Laura Etta Davis Titus Transformation Award — Brenda Andrews, New Journal and Guide Newspaper

Come celebrate legacy, leadership, and collective transformation with us as we uplift the voices and visionaries shaping a more just future.

Individual tickets for the Legacy Awards Breakfast Ceremony are $60 and be purchases here
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Session Overview

From Redlining to Rising Tides: Heat Rising in Our Communities | Monique Gatling | 9:45-10:35AM
This workshop explores how historic housing discrimination and redlining laid the groundwork for today’s climate vulnerability. In coastal regions like Hampton Roads, rising tides, flooding, and extreme heat do not impact communities equally, they follow lines shaped by policy and power. Participants will examine the intersection of environmental racism, housing inequity, and infrastructure investment, and explore equitable solutions rooted in policy repair, community advocacy, and climate resilience. As temperatures rise, so must our commitment to justice.

Flames in the Frame: Music, Media & the Making of Movements | Dr. Da’von Boyd | 9:45 -10:35
Innovation and cultural expression are often forged in moments of upheaval. This interactive presentation explores how music, media, poetry, art, and photography have fueled social and racial justice movements across the decades. Together, we’ll examine how creative expression documents resistance, shapes public consciousness, and inspires lasting change.

Sacred Fire: Faith as a Catalyst for Justice Panel | Ltasha Shields, Rev. Erica Callicutt, Rev. Johnathan Foster, Dr. Da’von Boyd | 10:45-11:40AM
This panel explores how churches and faith communities have historically led the charge in organizing, mobilizing, and orchestrating social change. From the Civil Rights Movement to present-day justice efforts, faith spaces have served as hubs of strategy, sanctuary, and sustained resistance. Panelists will reflect on the legacy of sacred leadership, the evolving role of the church in equity work today, and how spiritual conviction continues to fuel collective action.

Fan the Flame: A Community Storytelling Circle | Donna Gill & Travis Young | 10:45-11:40AM
An interactive storytelling circle designed to center connection, reflection, and shared humanity. In this intimate space, participants are invited to share personal experiences and explore how community shapes resilience, identity, and belonging. Through guided prompts and collective dialogue, we’ll honor the power of our stories to build empathy, strengthen relationships, and remind us that we are never alone in the work of healing and growth.

Black Codes & Bold Repair| Erin Moore | 12:50-1:45pm 
This session examines how systems of control in Virginia—from Black Codes in Hampton Roads to inequitable infrastructure like Norfolk’s “Spaghetti Bowl”—have shaped lasting
racial and economic disparities, while also highlighting how Black innovators have
historically transformed crisis into groundbreaking innovation. Participants will explore how law, policy, and design have been used to restrict access and opportunity, and how those same arenas—from local organizing to STEM and emerging technologies—can be leveraged for repair. Bridging past and present, the session challenges attendees to confront structural harm, interrogate issues like algorithmic bias and AI ethics, and reimagine a future where innovation actively advances equity rather than deepens injustice.

Da Community Cookout| Zakkiyya Cunningham| 12:50-1:45pm
A community development model that supports people in historically marginalized communities to build a radical resource networks in their communities, centered around self-determination, mutual aid, and advocacy for increased economic development.

Forged in Responsibility: Men in the Movement | Dmitri Gatson, Lafayette Robinson, Eury Almonte, Anthony Clary, Antonio Neal | 2-2:45 PM
 This panel explores the evolving role of men in social justice and equity work, examining how traditional expectations of masculinity intersect with loneliness, leadership, and accountability. In a time of political uncertainty, panelists will engage honest dialogue about emotional literacy, community, and shared responsibility, inviting men, particularly men of color, to lead with purpose, vulnerability, and collective commitment

Fire in our Feet | HR Salsa | 2:50-3:40PM
An interactive workshop centered on salsa and bachata as powerful forms of
storytelling, connection, and cultural resilience. Rooted in Afro-Caribbean and Latin diasporic histories, these dances emerged from communities navigating struggle, migration, and marginalization — transforming lived experience into rhythm, movement, and joy. Participants will explore how salsa and bachata carry memory, identity, and resistance through the body, while also building connection and collective energy on the dance floor. Through guided instruction and reflection, we’ll experience how these dances keep the flame alive — turning history into motion and movement into a celebration of community and power.

Rest as Resistance: Reclaiming Joy as Justice | Dr. Elle Harris| 2:50-3:40 PM
Inspired by the work of The Nap Ministry and the teachings of Rest Is Resistance, this session reframes rest as a radical act of liberation. In a culture shaped by grind mentality, racialized labor expectations, and constant urgency, prioritizing rest and joy becomes a form of protest. Through storytelling, guided reflection, and shared dialogue, attendees are invited to examine how exhaustion is often systemic, not personal, and to consider what it means to reclaim their bodies, boundaries, and delight. Sustainable justice work requires both fire and rest, and this session creates space to honor both.