Day 1
When Michelle Short was diagnosed with a brain tumor and faced placing her disabled son 250 miles away in care, she made a decision that will change thousands of lives: she’s building the facility that should have existed all along. Discover how one mother’s impossible dream is becoming a $20 million state-of-the-art residence project—proving that the most important innovations come from refusing to accept “That’s just how things are.”
Through a series of listening sessions with philanthropic foundations that fund in Idaho, Blossom Johnston, founder of Idaho Partners for Good, uncovered a sector at a turning point. With shrinking government support and growing community needs, foundation leaders are rethinking their role. This session explores how philanthropy is adapting, what it means for the future of Idaho’s nonprofit sector, and why systems thinkers and technologists should care.
While tech gets the headlines, nonprofits are quietly solving the problems that matter most. Blossom Pua Johnston has spent years strengthening Idaho’s nonprofit infrastructure through Idaho Partners for Good, while Michelle Short is building a $20 million vision to revolutionize care for vulnerable populations. Together, they discuss why the most important innovations often start not in boardrooms, but in the hearts of people who refuse to accept that suffering is inevitable. Moderated by Sheli G.
Mike Knittel, founder of REK Northwest and the City of Emmett’s IT Director, reveals how the city is revolutionizing local government through citizen-focused technology innovations, including their groundbreaking mini data center offering affordable enterprise-level services to local businesses and the new fiber optic infrastructure that’s positioning Emmett as Idaho’s next tech hub.

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Day 2

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