HealthSpark Sponsors GPLEX Attendance for I Choose to Win's Founder

HealthSpark Foundation was thrilled to sponsor attendance to the Greater Philadelphia's Leadership Exchange (GPLEX) conference, an initiative of the Economy League. This year's conference took place in New Orleans. GPLEX intentionally plans peer exchanges in peer cities to help conference attendees see the Greater Philadelphia region through the lens of another region. The conference featured a range of programming that introduced attendees to fresh insights and ideas, fostered new connections within and across sectors, and deepened the attendees' knowledge of Greater Philadelphia's most significant assets.

Earlier this year, HealthSpark provided a grant to Economy League to provide scholarships to interested MontCo individuals that would cover conference tickets, airfare, and travel. Admission to GPLEX is a competitive application process.

HealthSpark conducted outreach, with a focus on those connected from our previous networking events and into the Dr. Frank E. Boston Black Justice Fund (BJF), to support Emerging Black Leadership and the fund's main priority, which is to address the historical exclusion of Black leaders and Black community-serving organizations.

The Economy League received applications and three MontCo leaders were selected for a HealthSpark scholarship. Come conference time, two of those leaders were able to attend, one of them being Melonie Butler, Founder of I Choose To Win.

“GPLEX put me in the room to increase exposure for my organization, expand my network of Philly leaders and nonprofit professionals while also offering content and discussions that enlightened in both a tightly focused sense (facing the challenges and meeting the needs of our organization) and a broad sense (about how the work we're collectively doing is positively impacting the people of Philadelphia). I'm grateful to have been selected among the 200 delegates and honored to have the support of HealthSpark to make it happen,” Melonie said.

GPLEX participation aims to represent various geographic, demographic, sectoral, and industrial diversities of the area. We are thrilled that Melonie attended GPLEX's four-day learning convening of deep connection and shared learning. I Choose To Win will be able to utilize their connections to further the organization's mission to empower, uplift, and equip BIPOC women and girls to succeed in life.

HealthSpark Foundation's sponsorship of GPLEX scholarships for MontCo leaders signifies our commitment and alignment with our continued efforts to build leadership capacity and invest in leadership development for a more just and financially resilient social safety net in MontCo. HealthSpark will be convening conversations on this important topic in 2024 and we hope that you will join us.

To learn more about Greater Philadelphia's Leadership Exchange, click here.

Photos courtesy of Melonie Butler.