$125 Individual Ticket
$1150 Reserved Table for 10

Questions? Contact Higher Ground at [email protected]

Formal African and cocktail attire

Event Schedule:
6:00pm Cocktail Hour featuring The Village Foodways
7:00pm Welcome, Fund-a-need, and Seated Dinner
8:00pm Village Leader Awards
8:45pm Grand March, Dancing, and Dessert

African-inspired Food

Main Plate:  Liberian Chicken w/ Gravy served over Jasmine rice with Black Beans and Ham Hock

Vegan/DF/GF option: Vegetables, Lentils, Chickpeas, Mixed Veggies, Saffron Rice & Raisins

Town Crier (Emcee)

Valerie Tutson
Storyteller, Cultural Artist, and Owner at Stories n Stuff and Executive/Festival Director and Founding Member of Rhode Island Black Storytellers

Val has worked as a professional storyteller and cultural artist and champion since 1991. She has traveled the world with her work in addition to working closely with many arts and cultural organizations at home in Rhode Island.

She knows the power of storytelling to create and sustain individuals and community. Her purpose has been to share the stories of the world with the people of the world to better know oneself and one another. She believes in the power of stories and storytelling to build bridges- across cultures, class, generations.

Honorary Event Co-Chairs

Lisa J. Raiola, MPH, President & Founder, Hope & Main
Doris De Los Santos, Director, Supplier Diversity & Sustainability, BCBSRI

Lisa is the founder of Hope & Main, a 501c3 launched in 2014 with a mission to empower an inclusive community of entrepreneurs to jump start and cultivate thriving food businesses that are the foundation of a more just, sustainable, and resilient food future for Rhode Island. Hope & Main provides affordable shared-use commercial kitchens; food-related business and technical assistance; access to markets; and connects members to funding and financing. In the past decade, Hope & Main has launched more than 500 food businesses. These businesses are 60% woman-owned and 45% owned by founders of color. As an engine of economic development, Hope & Main has created thousands of jobs and poured tens of millions of dollars into the local food economy. Lisa supports the work of HGI through her generous donations and sponsorship as well as her sisterhood with Henrietta White-Holder. It is through this connection that they have continued to work to support members of the community.

Doris is responsible for spearheading the integration of equity, equality, diversity & inclusion (EEDI) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives into the procurement process at Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island. Doris holds a NASS (National Association of Secretaries of State) Medallion Award and was honored with an Outstanding Alumni Award and inducted into the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) Hall of Fame. She sits on the BlueAngel Advisory Council at BCBSRI, supporting and guiding the company’s community programs most notably, the BlueAngel Community Health Grant program which addresses health disparities in Rhode Island. Doris has boundless energy and an unwavering commitment to equitable community service.

Paramount Chief Award

Barbara Papitto & The Papitto Opportunity Connection
“Carries a cane”

Barbara is founder and a trustee of the Papitto Opportunity Connection (POC), a non-profit private foundation. POC is dedicated to listening and working together with non-profit organizations committed to serving communities most in need in Rhode Island. It works to empower and create individual success stories by investing in education, job skills training, housing, healthcare and entrepreneurial ventures.

Barbara founded POC in December 2020 as a continuation of the longtime commitment she and her late-husband Ralph have made to creating educational opportunities and supporting children impacted by systemic injustice in Rhode Island. In 2008, Ralph and Barbara, founded a program to help inner-city children improve their reading skills and earn scholarship funds. The Read to Succeed program’s mission is to improve literacy for Providence’s underserved students by encouraging them to address their learning loss over the summer with the powerful incentive of a $1,000 college scholarship awarded to them each year for six years. Since it began, Read to Succeed has funded more than $2.2 million in scholarships.

Barbara received her BS in Accounting and her MBA from Bryant University. She is currently on the Board of Trustees of Salve Regina University in Newport, RI. She also serves on the board of ReFocus, Inc. and is a supporter of St. Mary Academy-Bay View. Barbara has also been active with St. Gabriel’s Call, an organization operated by the Diocese of Providence, that supports single mothers and their newborn children. Barbara’s prior involvements include serving on the Board of Trustees of Bryant University and as president of the former Nickerson Community  Center in Providence.

Kingdom Chief Award

Keith Stokes
State of Rhode Island Division of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
“Carries a cow’s tail”

In all of the various roles in his four decades of public service to Rhode Island, Keith W. Stokes is driven to create a community for all who call the Ocean State home. From elected city official in his beloved home of Newport to statewide office as a gubernatorial appointment on economic development to his service for the City of Providence, Stokes has sought to braid public dollars with private development to foster a beloved community.

Keith received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and his formative graduate work at the University of Chicago. Woven into the formal education are the stories of a generation of ancestors whispering long shared stories of a time before the American Revolution and the lens to see the present.

He has also been an Advisor for Rhode Island with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and served on numerous local, regional, and national business and public boards, including Preservation Society for Newport County, Touro Synagogue Foundation, Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission Historical Review Board, Rhode Island Black Heritage Society, Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, Quonset Development Corporation, Rhode Island Foundation, and the American Antiquarian Society.

His current passion is borne of a heritage that extends before the republic and grounds his roots in the land of Rhode Island. From his father, the cerebral and equally physical baseball, and from his mother, a grounding in history and a curiosity to learn more about his African, Jewish, and Caribbean family roots.

Recently, he was the lead researcher and author of “A Matter of Truth” publication for the examination and documentation of the role of the City of Providence and the State of Rhode Island in supporting a “Separate and Unequal” existence for African heritage, Indigenous, and People of Color.

Tribal Chief Award

Rosie Fernandez
Community & Public Affairs Manager at Cox Communications
“Carries a cow’s tail”

Rosie is a dedicated community, and public affairs professional who brings a passion for connecting people, purpose, and impact. As the Community & Public Affairs Manager at Cox Communications, Rosie leads charitable giving, employee volunteerism, and strategic partnerships that strengthen our local communities.

Rosie is a champion for civic engagement—coordinating community events, supporting nonprofit board placements, and helping employees get involved with causes they care about. Rosie also gives back personally, serving on the boards of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Rhode Island and Latino Dollars for Scholars, supporting youth development and educational access in her community.

A proud graduate of the University of Rhode Island and a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, Rosie brings both heart and energy to everything she does. Rosie is the proud mom of two daughters and an avid sports fan.

Clan Chief Award

Angela Bannerman Ankoma
Strategist, Equity Champion, Community Builder
“Carries a broom”

Angela is a nationally recognized strategist, equity champion, and community builder with over two decades of experience advancing racial justice, public health, and community-led philanthropy. She most recently served as Vice President and Executive Director of the Equity Leadership Initiative (ELI) at the Rhode Island Foundation, where she led a historic $8.5 million investment to strengthen a statewide pipeline of leaders of color. Under that investment, she also supported and provided guidance in launching a 3-year capacity-building program for Black- and Brown-led nonprofits, led by a colleague on her team. Angela also facilitated a process to invest $1.2 million in creating designated endowments for 14 long-standing Rhode Island-based nonprofits, organizations that are reimagining systems built on structural inequity and racism. Her leadership ensured these mission-driven groups could sustain their critical work for generations to come.

Angela has held senior roles at United Way of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Department of Health, where she co-directed the Health Equity Institute and led efforts to address social and environmental determinants of health. She was appointed by then-Mayor Jorge Elorza to Co-Chair the City of Providence COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Task Force, where she provided critical guidance and recommendations on the equitable use of $166 million received by Providence through the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund.

A proud graduate of Connecticut College, Angela holds dual master’s degrees from Columbia University in Social Work and Public Health. She is currently completing an Executive Doctoral Program in Health Leadership at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, with a research focus on the impact of COVID-19 on adolescents.

Angela’s leadership and service extend deeply into the community. She currently serves as President of the Providence Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and President of the African American Museum of Rhode Island. She is also a board member of West Elmwood Housing Development Corporation and was an inaugural member of Rhode Island’s Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee, helping guide more than $30 million in investments for prevention, treatment, and recovery across the state.

Her work has been widely recognized through numerous awards, including the NAACP Providence Branch’s Rosa Parks Award, NeighborWorks America’s Dorothy Richardson Award for Resident Leadership, and YWCA Rhode Island’s Woman of Achievement Award. She is also a recipient of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Award for Health Equity and the Providence Business News C-Suite Rising Star Award.

Village Supporter Award

Mitch & Luann Edwards
Longtime Supporters of HGI

Mitch is a partner at Hinckley, Allen & Snyder in Providence. He represents a wide variety of clients in complex business litigation. Mitch also leads the pro bono program at Hinckley Allen.

Mitch grew up outside of New York City and later went to college and law school in upstate New York. He later moved to Philadelphia before ultimately finding his home in Rhode Island. Mitch cares deeply about the community and has served on several non-profit boards, including the honor of serving Higher Ground International as vice chair since 2022. Mitch is proud to work with HGI to advance its important mission in our local and global community.

You’ll find Luann at the intersection of communication, people, and technology. It’s where the most interesting and fascinating opportunities exist: To help organizations amplify their work and engage with those who are most important to them and their mission. Luann is a strategic marketing communications consultant and the founder of Socially Professional, a social media consultancy based in Providence, Rhode Island.

Luann is energized by Higher Ground International’s work and how that work centers the cultures and unique individuality of those the organization serves. She is proud to support the HGI team by providing social media support and participating in other volunteer opportunities whenever possible.

Mitch and Luann live in Cranston, Rhode Island with their two children, Isabel and Elliott.

Proceeds from the event directly support Higher Ground in advocating for, empowering, and providing life-changing services to Liberians and West African immigrants, refugees, and other marginalized communities.

Become an Event Sponsor!

You can purchase an event sponsorship by clicking the link to purchase tickets. Or contact us at [email protected] for more information about joining us as a sponsor.

PRESENTING SPONSOR

THE TRIBAL CHIEFS

THE WISE ELDERS

THE TOWNSPEOPLE

THE VILLAGE SUPPORTERS