I Have a Dream Banquet & Ball

press release: Celebrating 34 Years of Community Impact

6 p.m.-11:30 P.M., Saturday, January 18, 2020, Monona Terrace

Cocktails and live music at 6:00 P.M.; Dinner at 7:00 P.M.; Program at 8:00 P.M.; Dancing from 8:30 P.M. – 11 P.M.

Attire: Black Tie

Live music provided by the Madison Marimba Quartet

Featured Disc Jockey: DJ Ace

2020 Guest Speaker: Quilen Blackwell’s background in renewable energy and community organizing is well suited in his role as president of the Chicago Eco House where they serve over 70 youth a week at three sites in Chicago and one site in Detroit. The Chicago Eco House has the mission of using sustainability to alleviate inner-city poverty through a scalable social enterprise program that converts vacant city lots into off-grid flower farms. Quilen’s organizing credentials include work abroad as a volunteer in the United States Peace Corps organizing rural farmers in Thailand as well as helping working-class residents of suburban Milwaukee attain affordable housing domestically. He later worked in the biofuels industry where he procured feedstock such as used cooking oil and soybean oil for biodiesel production. Quilen holds a bachelor’s degree with comprehensive honors from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and holds a master’s degree in environmental policy from the University of Denver.

Quilen graduated from East High School and received a Women in Focus Scholarship in 2003.  

Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, Women in Focus has been able to award over $500,000 in scholarships in the past few years. We are extremely appreciative of our sponsors as their contributions have truly made a difference in the lives of our scholarship recipients. Thank you so much! We encourage organizations and individuals to become sponsors of our Ball. Your financial assistance will enable WIF to continue to award substantial scholarships this year and in the years to come.