IMPACT Series

The IMPACT Series was created by the YAA in 2019 to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion through social change. It was imagined as a biennial conference featuring some the brightest minds and transformational figures in the field, with its second iteration, in 2021, reconstituted to reach and engage an at-home audience. Read below for more on the original IMPACT Conference and its follow-up video and webinar series, IMPACT 2.

The 2019 IMPACT Conference explored our roles in effecting social change to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion. Through a series of events and seminars, we heard alumni tell their stories about bringing about social change to advance diversity and equity, explored the historical and social context for DEI in the United States, and learned how we each in our own ways can be more effective as advocates for social change.

In the two years since our first IMPACT conference, the world experienced a pandemic revealing social inequities, a movement for anti-racism, and challenges to democracy itself. 

The 2021 IMPACT series – IMPACT 2: Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion – reflects the urgency of our times. We offered this series as an opportunity for the Yale family to find a way forward, utilizing the insights and expertise of Yale alumni and faculty already making an impact in the world on these crucial matters.

This entry in the Yale Alumni Association’s IMPACT series builds on the 2019 IMPACT Conference and 2021 virtual event series, both of which featured alumni thought leaders from all walks of life addressing ways that Yale and Yalies can lead the way in embracing and advocating for DEI. Create with IMPACT turns this conversation into an experience that brings words, music, and more to the Yale alumni community and invites you to explore creative work and the impact it has on your life.

Returning to in-person, IMPACT 3 focused on leaders and organizations who are taking big swings and making meaningful changes that advance DEI at a time when our world needs them more than ever. As we adjust to a reality changed by a global pandemic and fractured by competing visions of the future, these changemakers have continued to move forward towards a more equitable tomorrow.