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Toward One Wisconsin: Statewide Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Conference to be held in the Fox Cities in April

Mai J. Lo Lee, director of the UW Green Bay Multi-ethnic Student Affairs Office, at the 2019 Toward One Wisconsin Conference.

Leaders, professionals and advocates from around the state will join together in the Fox Cities this April for Toward One Wisconsin 2023 (T1W 2023), a conference on equity, diversity and inclusion (DEI), according to a press release.

Held at the Hilton Appleton Paper Valley Hotel, the two-day event will bring together a variety of sectors, including private business, non-profit, government, health and education, to prioritize the work of DEI and to empower and employ the full talent of all who live here in Wisconsin.

“We need to be a beacon for talent, and this conference and us coming together as a community can help foster that,” Thinx Inc vice president of People and Culture Chakla Davis said in a statement.

T1W 2023 features two keynote speakers, the Rev. Traci Blackmon, organizer, spiritual leader and Associate General Minister of Justice and Local Church Ministries for the United Church of Christ, and Wajahat Ali, columnist, writer and public speaker. Additionally, attendees will learn best practices and success stories from the over 40 presentations within the four conference tracks (Workforce, Community, Education and Health).

“It’s a really innovative idea to focus on diversity, equity and inclusion for the whole state,” Special Olympics Wisconsin president and CEO Chad Hershner said in a statement. “It’s amazing to have all these different speakers, where people can deep dive into areas where they want to build their own knowledge.”

T1W began with a mission to foster and sustain a statewide culture that understands diversity, equity and inclusion are essential to Wisconsin’s continued excellence. Since the first conference, held in Milwaukee in 2019, T1W has brought together thousands of attendees from diverse backgrounds to have broad ranging conversations around the work of EDI and how to move from talk to action, according to the press release.

“I know there are pockets of greatness in the state of Wisconsin,” said Kathi P. Seifert, business leader and T1W 2023 conference co-chair. “But the beautiful thing about the Toward One Wisconsin Conference is that we can bring a lot of those great ideas together. Collectively we can do an even better job moving forward.”

To learn more about the conference, visit: t1w.org.