Dear New Jersey Institute for Social Justice friend,
It’s time to register for the social justice event of the year!
The Institute’s Gala is the most celebrated social justice gathering in New Jersey, attracting leading voices from across New Jersey and the nation.
Wednesday, October 11
6:00 PM
New Jersey Performing Arts Center
1 Center Street
Newark, NJ
Learn about sponsorship and ad opportunities.
This year’s Gala theme is INVEST!
Our theme summons us to INVEST! in reparative systems that connect Black people and other people of color to reparative systems that create wealth, promote health, ensure justice, and harness democratic power from the ground up.
It calls on us to:
- INVEST! in community.
- INVEST! in advocacy.
- INVEST! in democracy.
- INVEST! in us, at the Institute, where we fight with you for racial justice every day.
At our Gala, we will recommit to investing in New Jersey’s Black and other communities of color so that all of us can win.
We will celebrate a stellar line-up of Honorees who embody what it means to INVEST!
- Stacey Abrams (National Social Justice Award): Political Leader, Author and Voting Rights Champion (accepting by video)
- Elise Boddie (Alan V. and Amy Lowenstein Social Justice Award): Nationally respected civil rights expert; James V. Campbell Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School; former Institute Trustee and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General
- Justin Jones (Social Justice in the States Award): Tennessee State Representative and member of “Tennessee Three” who stood up for democracy when colleagues tried to shut them down for exercising their First Amendment rights to protest gun violence
- Brian Maher (Community Builder Award): Founder of the Maher Charitable Foundation, dedicated to funding improved educational opportunities for children in New Jersey, including in communities struggling with disinvestment
- Justin White (Corporate Leadership Award): Advocate for human rights and gender equality; Fifth Generation Mars Family Member, Mars, Inc.
- George Sallie (Living Legend Award): Oldest living foot soldier from 1965 Bloody Sunday March for voting rights
Onward!
Ryan P. Haygood
President & CEO, New Jersey Institute for Social Justice
