another jennifer

Philanthropy Friday: Recapping Social Good Summit 2016 in Tweets #2030NOW

· ·

“The great promise of our generation is not to connect the world with more technology, but to connect it with more humanity.”
This was the inspiring quote that opened the Social Good Summit last Sunday, September 18th at the 92nd Street Y in the upper east side of New York, NY. The event is described as “a two-day conference examining the impact of technology and new media on social good initiatives around the world.”
Held during the UN General Assembly week, it is an exciting time to be in the Big Apple, particularly if you geek out on global development like I do. It is a time when global leaders and world changers convene to talk about our global challenges, successes and solutions.

img_9159
My crew of world changing ladies.

This year, the sustainable development goals took center stage as we all imagined the world we would like to live in come 2030. It was a whirlwind two and a half day trip that allowed me to feed my soul with some of the most amazing world-changing women I know. It included two days of the Social Good Summit, a candlelight vigil for child refugees, rooftop drinks, lunch breaks for Turkish food, wine, catching up, texts from concerned friends and family about nearby bombings (thank you for making me feel loved!), heightened security, Secret Service, non-working smoke detectors, hugs, a mouse that made an appearance in our apartment and so much more that I couldn’t possibly describe here.
I took several pages of notes during the summit and tweeted as speaker after speaker talked about global issues from gender equality to climate change. And, of course, water and sanitation.
img_9126
My favorite (if I had to pick one) global goal.

There are too many presentations and speakers to name, from Olympic Refugee team athletes to social entrepreneurs, from inspiring teens to famous actors, from NGO leaders to the Vice President of the United States (and Syracuse alum) Joe Biden. I went through my notes and tweets and thought I’d just share a snapshot of what I took from the Social Good Summit here. It barely scratches the surface, but you can get a good feel of what this amazing event was like and, hopefully, you’ll find something that you want to learn more about. If you are interested in watching some of these presentations, they can be found on the SGS 2016 Livestream.
img_9161
Meeting up with Jeanine Atalay Harvey of ONE & Stephanie Sinclair, photographer & filmmaker of National Geographic & Too Young To Wed, outside the Social Good Summit

Chelsea Handler, who has a new show on Netflix where she can forget a format and talk about whatever she wants, encouraged us all to use our soapboxes if we have them, particularly during an election year.


I learned from Save the Children’s president, Carolyn Miles, that 50% of refugees are children and that a longer term investment that goes beyond humanitarian efforts is needed in order for these children to have a promising future.


There were several panels on climate change, which was describe as a slow onset problem, including one that was facilitated by Alec Baldwin.


Gender equality  and how it relates to healthcare, education and data was brought up quite a bit.


I was able to attend a candlelight vigil for refugee children that recognized the need to put #childrenfirst.


I found out about a “people’s report card” that makes it easier to find out how countries are faring with the #globalgoals.


The power of supporting women was a strong theme.


It was fun to see Sarah Collins, founder of Wonderbag, speak on the “revolutionary women” panel. Her product has given women and their families improved health by giving them an alternative to cooking all day on an open stove.



img_9139
Watching Biden from the digital media lounge.

And Vice President Joe Biden, who introduced himself as “Jill Biden’s husband,” talked about his goal to rid the world of cancer by 2030 with Cancer Moonshot.


It was amazing to be in the same building as Biden. I’ll leave you with his words on what we should be doing to make an impact in the world.

What kind of world do you imagine in 2030?

follow jennifer

archives by topic

favorite posts

Processing 2020 Through Patience, Perseverance, Pain, Perspective, Purging and Peace

On Blood Moons, Divorce, and Ultimate Happiness

The Broken Pieces

Living and Accepting Your Truth

Hump Day Haiku: #FightBackInHaiku