Our All-America City Award Finalists are the main attraction, but we’re thrilled about this year’s lineup of keynote speakers joining us in Denver, CO from June 26-28. Speakers, including leaders from the philanthropy, government, and the nonprofit sectors, will join us to speak about civic health, democratic participation, and grassroots organizing. Register today to hear from our speakers and learn from our finalists.
Keynote Speakers
The event’s opening ceremony will include a fireside chat with Cristin Brawner, Shamichael Hallman, and Evan Weissman, moderated by Matt Leighinger. This opening fireside chat invites attendees into a candid conversation with three leaders who are reimagining civic life from the ground up
Cristin F. Brawner, Executive Director, National Issues Forums Institute
Cristin F. Brawner leads the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI), a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization dedicated to equipping, empowering, and mobilizing people to use deliberation to take action for the public good. Her career has focused on helping communities and our democracy thrive by building partnerships, designing programs, and strengthening the civic infrastructure that enables people to talk, decide, and act together.
Before joining NIFI, Brawner served as Executive Director of the David Mathews Center for Civic Life in Alabama. Brawner also founded the Southern Deliberative Democracy Network and is a former Associate with the Kettering Foundation.
Shamichael Hallman, Senior Director of Civic Health and Economic Opportunity
Shamichael is a social, civic and tech innovator. As a ’23 Loeb Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, he explored how urban design and planning can make for socially inclusive cities. He has served as the Senior Library Manager with Memphis Public Libraries where he guided the reimagining of the historic Cossitt Library. His 2020 TEDx talk “Reimagining the Public Library to Reconnect the Community” garnered international acclaim. In 2021 he co-founded Libraries as Bridges which focuses on evaluating how libraries build social cohesion, promote civic renewal and advance the ideals of a healthy democracy.
Evan Weissman, Founding Executive Director, Warm Cookies of the Revolution
Evan Weissman is the founding executive director of Warm Cookies of the Revolution, a civic health club that blends innovative arts and culture with crucial civic issues. Prior to founding Warm Cookies of the Revolution, he spent 12 years as a company member of the collaborative Buntport Theater Company, who the Denver Post called “Monty Python’s anarchist grandchildren,” winning over 100 awards as playwright, director, designer, and actor. His work with Warm Cookies includes creating over 400 arts-based civic programs (live events, installations, videos, music, and books) including Tax Day Carnival, Sunday School for Atheists, Civic Stitch ‘n Bitch, The Huddle, The Living Eulogies Project, Eco-Disaster Fashion Show. Evan can be found giving talks and workshops at fancy universities, conferences, alleyways, and kindergarten classrooms.
Evan was awarded a Roddenberry Fellowship, a Kellogg Foundation Leadership for Community Change Fellowship, a Livingston Fellowship, as well as the Colorado Governor’s Award for Creative Leadership and Parr Widener Civic Leadership Award. He was Denver Commissioner for Cultural Affairs, and Creative-in-Residence at the Denver Art Museum. Evan is a US Ambassador for the Royal Society for Arts.
Evan teaches courses on nonviolent social change at Colorado College. He was the founding organizer of Colorado Bend The Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Social and Economic Justice, and co-founder of the Denver chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. He was a Jane Addams-Andrew Carnegie Graduate Fellow at Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy, and a graduate of Colorado College. Evan is horrible at drawing and swimming, among many other deficiencies.
On Saturday night, keynote speaker David Cicilline will help us celebrate the recipients of the prestigious Hall of Fame & All-America Leader Awards, and speak about his leadership of the Community Foundations for Civic Health Initiative.
David N. Cicilline, President & CEO, Rhode Island Foundation
David N. Cicilline is President and CEO of the Rhode Island Foundation, one of the country’s oldest and largest community foundations with over $1.5 billion in assets. The Foundation serves as Rhode Island’s most comprehensive nonprofit funder, creating lasting progress through civic leadership, fundraising, and grant-making.
Before leading the Foundation, Cicilline represented Rhode Island’s first congressional district in the U.S. House for 12 years (2011-2023). He previously served as Providence mayor for two terms (2003-2011)—becoming the first openly gay mayor of a U.S. state capital—and in the Rhode Island General Assembly for four terms (1995-2002).
In Congress, he was a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs and Judiciary committees, co-chaired the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus, and championed issues including economic equity, healthcare access, climate sustainability, and education.
Finally, Kat Calvin, Founder of Spread the Vote, will kickoff our closing ceremony, discussing her inspiring career dedicated to expanding who has access to opportunity, resources, and power.
Kat Calvin, Founder, Spread The Vote + Project ID
Kat Calvin identifies structural failures in systems and policy and builds solutions that work in practice.
She is the founder of Spread The Vote + Project ID and the co-founder of the Project ID Action Fund, organizations that have helped more than 15,000 people secure the identification required for jobs, housing, and civic participation. Through programs like Vote By Mail in Jail, her work has driven some of the highest voter engagement rates in the country among historically excluded populations.
In 2026, Spread The Vote was acquired by the National Civic League, marking a rare structural transition in the nonprofit sector. Kat now serves as a Senior Advisor to the League, where she focuses on advancing national strategies for civic infrastructure and participation.
She is now focused on this next phase of work as the co-founder of Abby Lab, an initiative designed to strengthen how resources move within civic and philanthropic systems by connecting movement leaders, funders, and institutions to accelerate practical, scalable solutions.
Join us in Denver, CO from June 26-28 for the prestigious 2026 All-America City Award Event and Competition. You’ll hear from these speakers and twenty finalist communities that will showcase their impactful initiatives under the theme “America at 250: Strengthening Civic Health and Building Trust. Register today!
