2025 INTERRUPT RACISM ™
IMPACT Summit - Speaker Proposal
60 Years of impact: Interrupt. Impact. Ignite. Inspire.
Presented by ESL Federal Credit Union
About the Urban League of Rochester
The Urban League of Rochester, NY, Inc. (ULR) was founded in 1965 in the wake of racial unrest and protests that crippled the Rochester community. The formation of the agency, as an affiliate of the National Urban League, was intended to address the material needs of poor and racially oppressed citizens by working toward economic empowerment, equity, and social justice.
Today, we continue our work to dismantle systems of individual, organizational, and structural racism. By partnering with local government to address inequitable laws, businesses and corporations to change policies, and the community to lead change efforts, we hope to improve equity across all races, genders, and populations in our community. Our vision is to create an inclusive region by increasing access, equity, and parity in economic development, education, and employment.
Summit Overview
This sixth annual summit is not only a milestone—it is a mandate. Sixty years after the signing of the Civil Rights Act prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, our nation faces an unprecedented assault on the very principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion—an assault that threatens to erase six decades of progress. Yet Rochester, the home of Frederick Douglass, must continue to rise. And the Urban League of Rochester, as this community’s civil rights organization, will continue to lead the way.
The INTERRUPT RACISM™ Summit is an immersive learning experience for both youth and adults. This year’s theme—“60 Years of Impact: Interrupt. Impact. Ignite. Inspire.”—will highlight the impact of the past six decades, ignite momentum for the work still ahead, and inspire the next generation to carry forward a legacy of justice and equity.
Topic areas
Urban League of Rochester seeks proposals for presentations, 60 minutes in length to be conducted at the Summit. Presentations should align with one of the four tracks:
1) Interrupt systems of structural racism and inequity that prevent all residents from expressing their full humanity.
2) Impact organizational policy and culture to promote inclusion and belonging of all staff, stakeholders, and consumers and measure data-driven outcomes in our region.
3) Ignite each person’s desire for justice and truth and recommit to the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion amid national pressure to retreat.
4) Inspire the next generation of leaders to join the conversation and continue the progress to shaping a future brighter than what we see today.
Target audience
The Summit is open to everyone working to create a community of belonging, fairness, and truth within families, organizations, and government that will interrupt and ultimately dismantle structures of exclusivity and bias.
We encourage proposals that speak to the challenges of the current day and hope for the future. Workshops should be appealing to different age groups, including youth, adults and seniors. Topics could cover:
•Current events and issues
•Diversity, equity and inclusion
•Civil rights and social justice
•Health and Mental Wellness
•Education
•Environment and climate change
•Criminal justice and policing
•Women’s rights
•LGBTQ+ rights
•Current events
•Free speech
•Law, politics, and executive orders
•Spirituality and Hope
•Other relevant topics
Review schedule:
The INTERRUPT RACISM Summit team will review submissions, and all applicants will be notified of the status of their proposals by Friday, October 17, 2025.
Additional information:
Please feel free to submit any questions about the INTERRUPT RACISM Summit and the proposal submission process to the Urban League at interruptracism@ulr.org
We welcome you to encourage others to submit a workshop proposal and help ULR promote participation in the INTERRUPT RACISM Summit on your social media platforms. We look forward to receiving your proposals by October 10, 2025.