Economic Opportunity Institute is thrilled to invite you to join us – in person! – for this year’s EOI Changemakers Dinner!

Date: October 11^th, 2023
Time: 5:30 – 8:00pm
Location: McCaw Hall 321 Mercer St, Seattle, WA 98109

We can’t wait to celebrate the powerful work of our community and the significant policy strides we’ve made with you by our side. Don’t wait to RSVP at the link below; this year’s Changemakers Dinner is not to be missed!

Registration for Changemakers is now CLOSED! But we’d still love you to attend.

Just email our Events staff at events@opportunityinstitute.org to secure your spot.

Meet the Lineup for EOI’s Changemakers Dinner:

This year, our event will be hosted by the one and only April Sims, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO.

April (she/her) was elected President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO in October 2022 and was sworn in to begin her four-year term in January 2023. She is the first woman to be elected WSLC president and the first Black woman elected to the presidency of an AFL-CIO state federation. As President, Sims is the chief executive officer of the council, supervises all of its activities and staff, and leads Washington’s largest union organization representing more than half a million union members.

Sims’ lived experience is evidence of the power and potential of organized labor. The granddaughter of Louisiana sharecroppers and the daughter of a single mother, Sims has seen the power of unions to change lives. The Great Migration brought Sims’ grandfather to Washington, where his union job provided economic dignity for his family. Her mom’s union job pulled their family out of the cycle of poverty. As a young mother, it was Sims’ union job that allowed her to build economic security – and activated her as a leader in Washington’s labor movement.

Jaelynn Scott – Keynote Speaker

Jaelynn Scott (she/her), M.Div., serves as the Executive Director of Lavender Rights Project. Lavender Rights Project is a Black trans advocacy and movement building organization based in Seattle, Washington.

In her consulting, Jaelynn offers guidance to religious organizations and nonprofits as they work to lift Black LGBTQ leadership. With her background in operations and HR, Jaelynn specializes in transitioning organizations towards radical Black-centered praxis through reimagining policies and procedures. Originally from Jackson, MS, she considers herself a lifelong Mississippian-in-exile. She brings Black queer and trans southern ways of knowing and being to her organizing work.

Jaelynn is an ordained Buddhist minister. Her leadership is deeply rooted in maternal care, mindfulness, and discernment of wisdom from her southern Christian sanctified upbringing.

She lives in Tacoma, WA with her beloved partner and their two fur babies, Bodhi and Shabba.

Jaelynn is the recipient of the 2021 Local Pride Hero from Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the 2023 Lottie Cross Community Service Award, and 2023 Monica Roberts Advocacy Award.

Ariel Nicole Hart – Keynote Speaker

Ariel (they/them) is committed to working toward a world where Black babies and Black birthing people experience holistic wellness and genuine care. Unfortunately, in our current health care system, Black birthing persons and their children are much more likely to die or experience injury compared to their white counterparts. Ariel’s research examines the social and historical processes which have led to this current crisis and the new models of care being developed by Black birth workers.

Ariel is a Black, queer, non-binary MD/PhD student at UCLA who brings a Black feminist lens to medicine, medical sociology, and public health. Through their research, they hope to create health policies which support a future where there is global reproductive and intimate justice.

Troy Osaki – Poet

The grandson of Filipino immigrants and the great-grandson of Japanese immigrants, Troy Osaki (he/him) is a poet, organizer, and attorney. Osaki is a three-time grand slam poetry champion and has earned fellowships from Kundiman, Hugo House, and Jack Straw Cultural Center.

He was awarded a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry fellowship from the Poetry Foundation in 2022. A 2022-2023 Critic-at-Large for Poetry Northwest, his poetry has appeared in the Margins, Muzzle Magazine, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, and elsewhere.

He holds a Juris Doctor degree from the Seattle University School of Law where he interned at Creative Justice, an arts-based alternative to incarceration for youth in King County. He lives in Seattle, WA.

RSVP HERE

The event will include a cocktail hour with beer, wine, and n/a beverages, as well as dinner and dessert.

Questions? Comments? You can always reach out to our Events team at events@opportunityinstitute.org.

Thank you to our incredible sponsors!

COVID protocol

We respectfully ask guests to stay home if they have been exposed to COVID or are feeling unwell, and we strongly encourage masking. If COVID risk changes near the event, we will send guests an updated plan.