Conference founder Ed Walker passes gauntlet to new leadership
by Brother Love and S. Hale
This year’s CityWorks Xpo held Oct. 1–3 at Charter Hall in the City Market Building drew strong attendance as in the past due to its exciting agenda that traditionally involves an extremely innovative approach to community building with additional focus on developing cross-cultural relationships.
The conference draws a virtual who’s who of intellectuals who gather to immerse themselves in a lineup of presenters that offer engaging dialogue guaranteed to raise personal consciousness on many levels.
Among the many conference speakers was Vedette Gavin and project partner Derwin Dubose who discussed “New Majority Community” (NMC).
The venture focuses on “neighborhoods whose residents want to see change but don’t want to join in the traditional methods to produce that change,” explained Vedette. “They have an idea about what they want to see happen in their community, they just don’t know how to get it done,” she added.
Her engaging talk outlined how her organization develops a team joined by as many other conscientious residents as possible which in turn launches efforts to transform their community.
As Gavin points out, the term New Majority Community comes from the fact that in 27 years or less the US will be majority minority. Current studies show many faiths have already switched majority minority and many cities as well. “However when you look at the public sector only about 8% of the people working for our communities are people of color and the issue we have is there is still no progress made,” she added.
Gavin is a Shelia C. Johnson Fellow at Harvard. The Ohio native is a public heath practitioner and a preacher’s daughter who is incredibly focused and fired up on a mission of her own.
During an exchange with Josh McManus, another presenter, conference host Ed Walker, barrowing a quote from Harvard Business professor Bill George, said “Sometimes the longest journey we can take is the 18 inches between our heads and our hearts.” “Figuring out how we do that in our work and our practices is unbelievably important,” he added.
The gatherings that follow the morning activities are no less stimulating and many attendees continue the conversations at cooperating downtown venues.
During a surprise announcement that basically signaled his departure as head, Walker as (X)po founder said, “(X)po is continuing to do important work for Roanoke and it’s time to hand the reins to a new generation of leaders.”
Ariel Lev will be the new Project Manager. Lev, 27 is the director of two CoLab facilities, which are state of the art resource centers in Grandin Village.
With full support from both Walker and Amy McGinnis, one of the conferences chief organizers, Lev pledges under her watch to make the event more “community driven” and has plans for reducing the cost to attend. She also plans to hold events year-round that will lead into the annual (X)po.
“Roanoke’s future is its citizen’s future, so they should have a starring role in the creation and stewardship of that future,” Walker added.
McGinnis said, Walker created the event in 2011 because “he wanted a conference unlike any he could find elsewhere.”
Furthermore, she said Walker wanted a conference in his hometown of Roanoke that was fresh & new and not the regular mundane event. “(X)po is a co-creative and multidisciplinary idea exchange that brings together ‘placemakers, designers, innovators, entrepreneurs and technology people to network, inspire one another and enthusiastically support the advent of the next great idea in a fresh social setting.”
McGinnis will continue onboard searching for new presenters and attendees while engaging in other critical operations that will ensure the longevity of this most significant and multifaceted symposium.
