Ford Hall Forum at Suffolk University presents:
Strategizing and Fighting in the Age Of Trump 2.0
Monday, February 10, 2025, 7 p.m.
As marginalized communities brace themselves for another Trump presidency, devising a plan to navigate the next four years will be crucial to their survival. This conversation, moderated by Jeneé Osterheldt, Boston Globe Deputy Managing Editor For Culture, Talent, and Development, will focus on developing strategies to cope with the ongoing political turmoil. She will be joined by Dr. Makeeba McCreary, president, New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund, and Segun Idowu, Boston’s Chief of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion.
Dr. Makeeba McCreary has been president of the New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund since September 2021. Prior to NCF, she was the Patti and Jonathan Kraft Chief of Learning and Community Engagement at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her work expanded the MFA’s annual community celebrations and established the Black Arts and Artists Curators Circle. McCreary also served as Managing Director and Senior Advisor of External Affairs for Boston Public Schools. She sits on the boards of directors for a wide range of local organizations.
A native Bostonian, McCreary has an Ed.D. in education from the Teachers College at Columbia University, a Master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.
Segun Idowu has served as the City of Boston’s Chief of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion, since January 2022. In this position, he is focused on making Boston a resilient, economically equitable, and vibrant city that centers people and creates opportunities to build generational wealth for all communities. Before this, Idowu served as the President and CEO of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, Inc. (BECMA), the chief advocacy organization for Black businesses across the Commonwealth. BECMA represents the over 2,000 Black firms that employ 17,000 Massachusetts residents and generate over $2B in annual revenue.
A lifelong resident of Boston, Segun is a proud product of the Boston Public Schools. Following his graduation from Boston Latin Academy, he earned his Bachelor of Arts in History, Phi Beta Kappa and Golden Key Societies from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.
Jeneé Osterheldt is a journalist who covers identity and social justice through the lens of culture and the arts. Her work centers Black lives and the lives of people of color. She is also the founder of A Beautiful Resistance, a multimedia platform and docuseries for The Boston Globe that centers Black voices and celebrates Black Joy.
The work is both joy and justice. Sometimes this means taking systemic racism, sexism, and oppression to task. Other times it means arts, joy, and space-making. It always means Black lives matter. She joined the Globe in 2018. In 2023, she was named deputy managing editor of talent, culture, and development.
A native of Alexandria, Va. and a proud graduate of Norfolk State University, Osterheldt was a 2017 Nieman Fellow at Harvard, where her studies focused on the intersection of arts and social change.
