Category: Uncategorized

Solution Spotlight: Rethinking homeownership models to build generational wealth

Posted on by Brianna Provenzano

In many cities, the homeownership gap reflects not a shortage of aspiring buyers, but the long erosion of affordable homes for sale. In communities shaped by redlining, population loss, and decades of systemic neglect, the problem is often twofold: homeownership remains financially out of reach for many families, and the supply of high-quality, affordable homes has been hollowed out. In some neighborhoods, that dysfunction is compounded by hypervacancy, where abandoned or uninhabitable properties sit empty for years, dragging down surrounding values even as would-be buyers struggle to find homes they can realistically purchase.

NationSwell’s Solution Spotlight series is designed to surface the most innovative and promising (or proven!) initiatives and approaches that are creating results. Each installment offers a closer look at a unique, impact-driven model — how it works in practice, how it was brought to bear, and what it reveals about building durable change. Sourced from within the NationSwell community, the series aims to surface what’s working, why it matters, and how it can be adapted or scaled.

This feature spotlights two models that both show how reinvestment in overlooked areas can unlock exciting new opportunities for homeownership (and avoid the displacement of communities who have lived in those neighborhoods for decades.) 

Parity Homes — created and run by Bree Jones in West Baltimore — has stepped in to fill that gap by rebuilding not just individual homes, but also by rethinking the conditions that make ownership possible in the first place. 

And in Springfield, Massachusetts, the City of Homes Initiative — led by Way Finders and supported by MassMutual Foundation — is advancing a policy-driven pathway that transforms long-blighted properties into affordable homeownership opportunities for working families. 

More on both below…

Parity Homes: Rebuilding homes and markets in West Baltimore

“What we do in simple terms is we create both the supply and the demand to jumpstart housing activity in collapsed markets through social capital.— Bree Jones, Founder & CEO, Parity Homes

The Problem: Dysfunctional housing markets
In historically Black neighborhoods like those in West Baltimore, homeownership barriers aren’t driven by overheated demand, but by long-term market disinvestment. Thousands of homes sit vacant or uninhabitable due to decades of redlining, urban renewal, and predatory lending that displaced residents and restricted the flow of capital into Black neighborhoods. Legacy residents are often left with devalued homes and overdue maintenance, while new buyers have few affordable and livable options. Traditional housing markets — and financing systems — struggle to operate effectively in this context.

For individual buyers, the perceived risk of being “first” — moving onto a block without confidence that neighbors, services, or investment will follow — further suppresses demand, even where interest in homeownership exists.

The Solution: Community building for market revival
Founded in 2020, Parity is a development company and community-building model designed to address both sides of this problem at once. The organization acquires clusters of vacant properties, renovates them to a high standard, and pre-sells homes to cohorts of buyers — often friends, family members, or existing social networks — who move onto a block together.

By anchoring demand in trusted relationships rather than isolated individual buyers, Parity reduces the social and financial risk of moving into disinvested neighborhoods, helping buyers feel confident that they are not entering a block — or market — alone. Rather than treating homeownership as an individual leap of faith, Parity treats it as a coordinated act of collective entry which contributes to stronger community relations and richer social capital.

On the buyer side, Parity guides participants through a readiness program that prepares them financially, emotionally, and mentally for homeownership. On the community side, it supports legacy residents through key partnerships with organizations like the SOS Fund which connects residents with anti-displacement resources that help them address deferred maintenance and lock in property taxes as values rise.

Why it’s Different: Parity treats social capital as the primary catalyst for market revival. Rather than marketing homes to individual buyers in isolation, the organization intentionally assembles cohorts of prospective homeowners from existing social networks, guiding them through the buying process together. 

Parity recruits buyers through referrals, community outreach, and trusted relationships, then moves cohorts through a shared readiness process that builds financial preparedness alongside mutual commitment. And by pre-selling homes before construction and anchoring demand in groups that already trust one another, Parity reduces uncertainty for buyers, lenders, and the surrounding market. Parity’s core process of repurposing vacant houses also contributes to more sustainable construction, because it creates a much smaller ecological footprint than a new construction site would.

“We pre-sell all of our homes. The buyer goes through the entire construction process — they choose finishes, they’re invested. It’s not ‘build it and list it on Zillow.”

— Bree Jones, Founder & CEO, Parity Homes

Impact Highlights: In just a few years, Parity has moved from proof of concept to measurable, neighborhood-level impact, accelerating renovation timelines while demonstrating that coordinated reinvestment can revive disinvested blocks.

What began as a vision to cluster buyers and rebuild vacant homes has translated into measurable production and faster delivery, signaling that the model can scale:

  • 60+ properties acquired
  • 13 units completed on the first block; 20 more under development
  • Renovation timelines reduced from ~12 months to ~6 months

Key Enabler: Catalytic capital that de-risks early stage innovation

“Without JPMorgan Chase’s catalytic funding, I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this.”

— Bree Jones, Founder & CEO, Parity Homes

Parity launched with a $2M catalytic grant from JPMorgan Chase, enabling early proof of concept at a moment when traditional lenders were unlikely to back a market-revitalization model. That early capital helped to demonstrate viability, which in turn helped to attract additional partners.

The organization has since expanded through blended capital, including a $1M, 1% program-related investment (PRI) from the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and a $2M revolving construction loan from Baltimore Community Lending – increasingly leveraging debt to scale production.

Future Plans: Parity’s model is uniquely designed for housing markets experiencing hypervacancy like Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, East Cleveland, and Kansas City.  Parity has proven the ability to convert the most entrenched dilapidation and vacancy into ownership, rebuilding intergenerational wealth, and strengthening civic power at the block, neighborhood, and city level.

Lessons & applications for other leaders:

  • Design for community building, not just individual sales. Pre-selling homes to buyer cohorts before construction reduces risk for purchasers and lenders alike. By leveraging existing relationships to assemble and support buyers, Parity demonstrates that social capital can function as a form of investable capital when intentionally organized.
  • Build ownership pathways for a range of buyer profiles. Designing financing and readiness processes around actual lived circumstances expands access while strengthening long-term stability.
  • Fix underlying structural misalignment, not just the symptoms. Markets don’t fail accidentally — they fail when systems are misaligned. Pairing social driven demand with institutional lending, national philanthropy, policy, and construction innovation restores market function (rather than temporarily masking dysfunction).

“Our long-term theory of change is about building power—neighbors who know how to advocate for themselves and shape the systems that serve them.”

— Bree Jones, Founder & CEO, Parity Homes

City of Homes: Turning blight into pathways to ownership in Springfield

“We’re creating a new pathway for properties to go from being blighted to being assets for the community — and for families that didn’t have that opportunity before.”

— Keith Fairey, President & CEO, Way Finders

The Problem: Blight, disinvestment, and lost ownership opportunities
Springfield, Massachusetts is historically known as the “City of Homes,” but decades of disinvestment have left many single- and two-family properties abandoned or in severe disrepair. In turn, those properties depress surrounding home values, destabilize neighborhoods, and often cycle through the court-appointed receivership process where they are rehabilitated and often converted into rental units rather than preserved as ownership opportunities.

At the same time, hundreds of local residents complete first-time homebuyer education programs each year. Upon graduation, and with access to down payment assistance programs, they still struggle to uncover adequate, affordable inventory to purchase. This imbalance results in a glut of blighted homes creating liabilities for neighborhoods while scores of aspiring homeowners remain locked out.

The Solution: Connecting policy reform, redevelopment, and first-time buyers
Observing this disconnect, Way Finders created its “City of Homes” initiative (named for the city it serves), which relies on three coinciding solutions in order to create a new, equity-focused pathway for prospective homeowners: 

First, Way Finders works effectively within recent reforms to Massachusetts’ Affordable Homes Act — shaped by Way Finders’ own on-the-ground innovation in both process and partnerships — to appoint what are known as “special attorney receivers” to interrupt the automatic conversion of distressed properties into permanent rental stock. Traditionally, when properties entered into receivership proceedings, the assigned court-appointed receivers were private contractors or developers. But thanks to recent reforms, the law now allows for the appointment of “special attorney receivers,” who transfer the properties specifically to nonprofit developers like Way Finders for rehabilitation and resale as an affordable homeownership opportunity.

In addition to strengthening ownership pipelines, Way Finders simultaneously leverages its developmental capacity by working to acquire, rehabilitate, or rebuild the blighted homes themselves — often using local, BIPOC-owned contractors to do so. 

Finally, Way Finders taps into an extant first-time homebuyer education pipeline that it already uses to train 700–800 prospective buyers annually in order to connect that demand directly to newly restored inventory. Homes are then sold affordably to buyers earning roughly 80–100% of area median income, with mechanisms such as lotteries used when city-owned funding is involved.

Why it’s Different: By recognizing and slightly modifying how receivership works under Massachusetts state law, the model creates a durable pathway for blighted properties to return to community ownership rather than speculative rental properties. 

“This is such a slight tweak to an existing process that has such strong ripple effects… reminding us that innovation doesn’t always have to mean looking for a big flashy unicorn. It can be as simple as a shift in the way that we think about something that already exists.”
– Dennis Duquette, President & CEO, MassMutual Foundation

Impact Highlights: While still early in its implementation (the Massachusetts Affordable Homes Act was signed into law in August of 2024), properties are currently being rehabilitated in concentrated clusters, creating a multiplier stabilization effect within targeted neighborhoods. The special attorney receiver pathway is now codified statewide through Massachusetts’ Affordable Homes Act, expanding the model beyond Springfield, and early implementation demonstrates that long-blighted ownership properties can return to productive, affordable homeownership rather than converting to rental stock.

Keith Fairey, President & CEO, Way Finders, shared one recent anecdote from a blighted home’s former owner upon learning that it would be rehabilitated into a family home:

“We had a public event at a two-family home that had seen much better days… it was boarded up. The special attorney who helped convey that property brought the owner — someone who grew up in the home but couldn’t keep up with it.

I didn’t know how that would go… but he felt really bad that it was pulling down the neighborhood. He was glad to see that it was going to be somebody’s home again rather than sitting there in a very blighted and abandoned state.” 

— Keith Fairey, President & CEO, Way Finders

Key Enabler: Patient, flexible capital and systems-oriented philanthropy

“We don’t hold the solutions… we are a connector. We use our resources to bring folks together, to experiment, and advance ideas into action.”

– Dennis Duquette, President & CEO, MassMutual Foundation

MassMutual Foundation has played a catalytic role in bringing the City of Homes model to life. Over several years, the Foundation funded research by a retired housing court judge to prove viability, pressure-tested the concept with stakeholders across the city, and provided early, flexible capital to de-risk the pilot before other funders joined.

Beyond funding, MassMutual also convened stakeholder groups, supported statewide policy adoption, and aligned complimentary investments — including down payment assistance resources for Western Massachusetts — to strengthen existing ownership pipelines.

Future Plans: Scalable pathways for gateway cities
The legislative framework that underpins the City of Homes Initiative is now active statewide, with interest emerging from other “gateway cities” across Massachusetts — former industrial centers facing similar cycles of abandonment and disinvestment.

If scaled, the model offers:

  • A durable mechanism for transforming blight into ownership
  • Expanded pathways to household wealth-building
  • Stabilized neighborhoods where property value growth benefits working families rather than external investors

For MassMutual Foundation, the long-term goal aligns with its broader mission of strengthening financial resilience:

“Homeownership is such a key lever in building financial resilience and capability. It’s also foundational to establishing generational wealth over time.”

– Dennis Duquette, President & CEO, MassMutual Foundation

Lessons & applications for other leaders:

  • Slight policy shifts can unlock outsized impact. A targeted change to receivership rules created a new pathway without having to dismantle the entire system.
  • Pair systems change with tactical investment. Supporting first-time homebuyer programs and down payment assistance in tandem with reforms to structural barriers accelerates impact.
  • Patient capital matters. The City of Homes Initiative required years of dialogue, research, and early stage risk tolerance before it could be implemented.
  • Innovation doesn’t have to be “disruptive” to be transformative. Sometimes the most durable change comes from adjusting existing infrastructure rather than inventing something new.

The NationSwell Council on Workforce Innovation for a Changing World

Posted on by Brianna Provenzano

We’re living through one of the most profound shifts in the history of work. According to LinkedIn data, 70% of the skills used in most jobs will change by 2030, accelerated by Artificial Intelligence. AI and emerging technologies are transforming not only how we work, but how we design work – creating new roles, redefining old ones, and making evolving skills the currency of career growth in a more dynamic and rapidly shifting labor market.

Meeting this moment requires grappling with hard questions: What will the jobs of the future be? How are we teaching, training, and upskilling learners to ensure access to opportunity is inclusive — from early career to lifelong professionals? And perhaps most importantly, how can we harness this moment to drive workforce innovation that benefits all workers?

In the first quarter of 2026, the NationSwell Council kicked off a Salon series dedicated to exploring Workforce Innovation for a Changing World. The convenings that followed connected leaders across sectors on how we can prepare a workforce that thrives amid AI-driven uncertainty and where innovation expands access to opportunity.

We’re excited to present a curated collection of the insights and essential resources we’ve distilled from these conversations.

Key Insights:

  • Data is a major missing piece. The best existing data on in demand skills and jobs is still 12 months behind the market. A major challenge and opportunity exists in getting large employers to share and leverage their data to better inform the field.
  • Future-ready skills matter as much as technical ones. As AI reshapes entry-level work, adaptability, curiosity, empathy, and learning agility are becoming foundational.
  • We need broad AI fluency. From those in and looking to enter the workforce, to teachers, administrators and nonprofit professionals, broad AI fluency will be required to drive meaningful contributions from society on the path AI takes in the coming years.
  • Deep and broad partnership will be required moving forward. No single organization can keep up alone; collaboration across nonprofits, employers, funders, and government is critical to meeting this moment.
  • Hope is essential. Especially for young people and communities facing layered barriers, agency, belonging, and belief in possibility remain powerful drivers of economic mobility.
  • This moment in AI & workforce can’t be separated from the broader cultural context. As AI accelerates amid heightened attacks on our most vulnerable communities, there is an urgent risk of further embedding harm into systems at scale. From representation in the development of AI, to data, use cases and learning pathways, equity in AI design and deployment will be essential to building a future of broadly shared prosperity.
  • The Redesign of work is already here. We’re at a turning point. AI and automation are changing not just how we work, but what work looks like. Many entry-level jobs are disappearing, while new kinds of work are growing in the gig, creator, and hybrid economies. As the old idea of a “career ladder” fades, people are finding less traditional and more flexible ways to build their careers. This raises an important question: if early-career jobs are disappearing, how will people get their start? We believe we need to create new kinds of beginner roles and pathways that give people the same experience and mobility those entry-level jobs once did.
  • Learning and training must catch up to reality. We know that traditional workforce programs often assume linear journeys — start, train, promote — but today’s workers move fluidly between sectors, roles, and even employment forms. We discussed the need for real-time, responsive learning models that evolve as quickly as technology does. Ideas included reverse mentoring and volunteerism as a pathway for skill-building and cross-sector exposure. We also emphasized the importance of creating spaces where people can “fail forward” — building confidence and adaptability through experimentation rather than perfection.
  • Inclusion and belonging across generations. We recognized that demographic change is reshaping the workforce conversation. Workers over 40 are often excluded from AI and tech training, even as their roles shift most rapidly. To build a truly inclusive innovation economy, we must foster belonging and skill development across all generations. That means normalizing lifelong learning and supporting mid- and later-career professionals.
  • The opportunity for community-centered innovation. We talked about how communities can create their own “value loops” — local systems where entrepreneurship helps solve social problems and create lasting jobs. Instead of keeping nonprofits and businesses separate, we can build hybrid models that mix purpose with profit. We also emphasized the importance of skilled trades, which are still vital, less likely to be replaced by AI, and can help anchor stronger local economies.
  • Anticipating, not reacting, to workforce shifts. To get ahead of disruption, we need earlier, proactive interventions — particularly in regions already feeling economic shocks, such as the DC/DMV area. We discussed the need for early warning systems, scenario planning, and community-driven transition strategies that safeguard pathways before they collapse.
  • The promise — and responsibility — of AI. AI is ultimately amplified intention — it reflects and expands what we design it to do. It can help grow human potential, creativity, and equity, but only if guided with care and purpose. Without thoughtful guardrails, it could instead widen existing inequities. The real question is: who will invest in the work needed — the experimentation, retraining, and community innovation — to make sure the future of work benefits everyone?

Resources shared:

Five Minutes with… IBM’s Sara Link

Posted on by Brianna Provenzano

As artificial intelligence reshapes how institutions operate, many nonprofits and public-sector leaders are grappling with a pressing question: How can AI be deployed responsibly and equitably in service of the public good? 

At IBM, that question isn’t theoretical — it’s central to how the company designs, governs, and advances its AI strategy across sectors. In a new resource developed in collaboration with NationSwell, Responsible Use of AI for Social Impact, IBM outlines a practical roadmap for responsible AI adoption that moves beyond high-level principles and into actionable guidance for organizations navigating capacity constraints, ethical considerations, and rapidly evolving technology. The report emphasizes AI literacy; governance as an enabler instead of a blocker; and a clear focus on augmenting, rather than replacing, human capability. 

For this installment of Five Minutes with…., NationSwell spoke with Sara Link — IBM’s Global Head of Employee Impact — about what it takes to operationalize trustworthy AI at scale and why government and social sector leaders must be equipped not just with tools, but with the systems and confidence to use them well.

We asked Sara how IBM is reframing responsible AI from a compliance exercise into a performance advantage, what meaningful AI literacy actually looks like inside an organization, and what wild success for ethical AI adoption could look like five years from now. 

Here’s what she had to say:

NationSwell: What do you see as most distinctive about IBM’s approach to responsible AI, particularly for nonprofits and social impact organizations that face capacity constraints?

Sara Link, Global Head of Impact at IBM: It’s encouraging to see so many responsible AI principles circulating right now; that level of focus and intentionality is important. At IBM, our approach centers on making AI practical, understandable, and genuinely useful in everyday work. Our belief is that AI should help people do their jobs better — not replace them, overwhelm them, or create confusion.

One of the key insights in the report is that responsible AI has to be realistic for organizations with limited time, staff, and capacity. Nonprofits don’t have extra resources or margin for error, and in many cases they don’t have deep technical expertise in-house. So responsible AI can’t just live in a policy document — it has to be built in a way that reflects those constraints. That means designing tools and governance structures that are usable, accessible, and practical from the start, so organizations can adopt them confidently and integrate them into their daily work.

NationSwell: Augmenting rather than replacing human capability is central to IBM’s view of AI. Can you share an example of what that looks like in practice, either at IBM or with partners?

Link, IBM: In practice, we think about AI as something that helps bring work to life — whether that’s surfacing information, spotting patterns, or saving time on repetitive tasks. But at the end of the day, people still make the final decisions, especially when judgment, fairness, or context matter.

At IBM, for example, internal tools like AskHR or AskCSR help employees find answers more quickly and efficiently. They streamline the process, but they don’t replace accountability. People are still responsible for what happens next. The goal is to enable better, more informed decisions — not to obscure or complicate them.

NationSwell: The report emphasizes foundational AI literacy. What does “good” AI literacy look like inside an organization, and how does that translate into better outcomes?

Link, IBM: Good AI literacy means people aren’t afraid of the tools, but they also don’t blindly trust them. It shows up when leaders and staff understand what AI can support and where human judgment still needs to step in.

You can hear it in the kinds of questions people feel comfortable asking: Does this actually make sense? Should we double-check this before acting on it? For example, in a nonprofit using AI to screen applications or triage services, literacy shows up when staff know how to review AI recommendations, recognize when something doesn’t feel right, and understand that the final decision rests with them.

That kind of literacy leads to better mission outcomes. It reduces errors, helps guard against bias, and builds trust with the communities being served rather than simply automating decisions without oversight.

NationSwell: How does the report reframe responsible AI governance as an enabler rather than a blocker? What is one practical first step an organization can take?

Link, IBM: When you lay out clear rules, it actually becomes easier to move forward. Clarity helps people understand what’s acceptable and what’s not. Without that clarity, uncertainty can cause hesitation or lead organizations to avoid using AI altogether. One of the strongest findings in the report is that governance doesn’t slow adoption; it accelerates it by removing ambiguity.

A practical first step is to build a simple pause point into an existing workflow — a moment where a human reviews and signs off before an AI-driven decision affects someone. It doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be as straightforward as asking: Does this outcome make sense? Would I be comfortable explaining this decision to the person it impacts?

Over time, those small, repeatable checks turn responsible AI from a written policy into a daily habit. And that’s what enables organizations to scale AI safely and confidently.

NationSwell: If you could change one thing about how funders currently approach AI in the social sector, what would it be?

Link, IBM: First, it’s critical for funders to recognize the importance of investing in organizational capacity; that’s the foundation. I would encourage funders to focus not just on funding AI tools, but on supporting people’s ability to use AI well over time.

Investing in technology alone doesn’t create impact if organizations aren’t prepared to work with it. Right now, many nonprofits are expected to figure this out on their own. They may receive funding to pilot AI, but not necessarily the support for training, governance, or long-term learning that makes those tools effective and safe.

Through IBM’s AI for Impact program, which we launched in late 2024, we’ve brought nonprofits together to share how they’re using AI, what questions they have, and where they see opportunity. A recurring theme has been the need for funding that supports both the right tools and the training required to use them responsibly. And research from the IBM Institute for Business Value shows that skills are evolving rapidly — 57% of executives surveyed expect today’s skills to become outdated by 2030. That pressure is even more acute in the social sector, where resources are already stretched.

The funders making the biggest difference are supporting AI readiness, not just adoption — investing in training, shared standards, and giving teams time to learn and adapt, not just deliver. I’d also encourage funders to make their grantees aware of programs like AI for Impact. Many of these resources are free and can help organizations and their leaders build the knowledge and confidence they need to prepare for what’s ahead.

NationSwell: If responsible AI adoption truly takes root, what might wild success look like for the sector five years from now?

Link, IBM: The vision of success, to me, is that AI makes work easier and fairer — not more stressful or confusing. If we can eliminate that sense of overwhelm and instead empower people to use their skills more fully, that would be a meaningful outcome.

In that future, people would understand the tools they’re using and feel confident explaining the decisions those tools inform. AI would help nonprofits do more good without eroding trust or weakening human connection. Most importantly, technology would support organizations in serving communities better — not get in the way.

That’s what wild success looks like: better outcomes for communities, more efficient pathways to get there, and trust and connection preserved throughout the process.

NationSwell: What have you personally learned or found inspiring as you’ve helped lead this work around AI? How has this journey informed your broader leadership in the corporate impact space?

Link, IBM: For a long time, I’ve focused on capacity building for nonprofits and on how the corporate sector and funders can partner more closely with them, providing the right level of support so they can better serve their communities.

What’s been most inspiring lately is the openness I’ve seen when nonprofits come together — the willingness to share ideas, build relationships, and solve challenges collaboratively. There’s a real energy in the room when leaders from across sectors are learning from one another and exploring what’s possible.

I saw that firsthand at a recent conference after speaking on this topic: A healthcare employee approached me and shared that she and her colleagues had been experimenting with AI tools to solve internal challenges, and they were eager to bring leadership into the conversation to explore the potential more formally. She ended up connecting with another healthcare system that was further along, helping to broker a conversation between them.

That kind of openness — being curious about what’s out there and willing to imagine what could be possible — is what excites me most. It’s that spirit of shared learning and forward momentum that will ultimately drive meaningful change.

NationSwell: Is there anything else from the report — or from your leadership perspective — that you’d like to share?

Link, IBM: As someone who doesn’t necessarily have an engineering or a technical background, what’s been especially inspiring to me is realizing that you don’t need deep technical expertise to ask the right questions or to begin this journey of continuous learning. You don’t have to be an engineer to engage meaningfully with AI.

Personally, this experience has shown me how much further we can take our work by building our skills, staying curious, and asking thoughtful questions. When we approach AI as a tool for strengthening connections and building stronger partnerships — rather than something intimidating or purely technical — it becomes incredibly energizing. That mindset has been one of the most exciting parts of this journey for me.

NationSwell’s Look Ahead at 2026

Posted on by Brianna Provenzano

From shifting economic conditions to evolving expectations of leadership, 2026 will test how organizations adapt and lead. To ground these dynamics in real-world experience, we invited NationSwell members and Senior Advisors to offer their thoughts, predictions, and recommendations on the year ahead. Together, their insights surface some of the early signals and inflection points that will help impact leaders anticipate what’s coming and prepare accordingly.

Take a look at some of their predictions for 2026 below:

On the national and global shifts that will shape social impact work:

“With the collapse of international development budgets, we’ve shifted from a world with ‘more money than innovation’ to a world with “more innovation than money.” While multilateral agencies continue to grapple with existential funding crises, entrepreneurs on the ground have been solving problems faster, cheaper, more sustainably — and yes, at scale. The future of global development is already happening in the hands of entrepreneurs who didn’t wait for permission to build solutions. In 2026, we will double down investing in them.”

— Hala Hanna, Executive Director, MIT Solve

“The adjustments to the social safety net will reveal the start of new support and assistance mechanisms.”

— John Brothers, President and CEO, Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation; NationSwell Strategic Advisor

“Competitive health organizations will build new, real-world datasets—moving past secondary data to focus on primary data—to execute AI strategies. A major pillar is atomic care data between the caregiver and care recipient—the “last three feet of care.” Breakthroughs like this will begin to unlock a $6 trillion North American care economy, transforming health care, jobs, and the global economy.”

— Richard Lui, Director, Oscar-qualifying Caregiving Films; Principal, CAREGenome; Anchor, CNN & NBCU News

On the ethics and strategies needed to implement AI at scale:

“As one colleague put it, ‘other large economies are building infrastructure in AI for education, we’re building gardens.’ It’s time to get serious and focus on creating the policy to practice infrastructure when it comes to designing for a new era.

—Jean-Claude Brizard, President and CEO, Digital Promise Global

“AI is valuable to a point; but it lacks nuance. Scratch the surface and it starts to feel like the emperor’s new clothes. We’ve worshiped at that altar long enough, and now we’ll start to see a switch back (at least in media) where the premium value lies with the journalist herself. Facts are facts (if only we could agree on them) but analysis and commentary are hard. (As an example, I don’t need a journalist to tell me where the markets closed; but I do need a journalist to tell me why they closed where they did.) In the media, watch for an emphasis on the real—real dialog between real people, stories written by real journalists, art created by real artists, original photographs by actual photographers. The human touch (that seemingly still can’t be replicated by a bot), might just be the premium that makes us pay.

— Francesca Donner, founder & editor-in-chief, The Persistent

On the deep value in supporting and lifting up young people:

“In 2026, youth inclusion in the development of emerging technologies like AI, especially girls, nonbinary individuals, and historically underrepresented youth, will be critical to innovation in tech. Organizations that recognize this trend and move beyond superficial engagement to genuinely give young people a voice and opportunities in tech development, strategy, and design will be leaders. Collaborating with organizations such as Girls Who Code to involve the next generation as essential collaborators will help companies achieve real, equitable impact.”

— Tarika Barrett, Chief Executive Officer, Girls Who Code

“2026 will be a year for youth—for their voices and their leadership. As we look for new and different approaches to address the many issues we see across the country and around the world, the fresh perspectives of youth (long seen as naïve and idealistic) will emerge as both viable and essential, as young people assume more roles of leadership in business, government, and society. And we need to show up to support them.”

— George Tsiatis, CEO and Co-Founder, Resolution Project

On the continued importance of social connection and fidelity to community:

“In 2026, let’s stop dabbling and start scaling what actually works—then drop what doesn’t. Team up in bigger, braver ways with the people closest to the problems, not just the usual suspects. Pick a lane, put real money and energy behind it, and move now like this decade can’t wait.”

— Celeste Warren, Founder, Celeste Warren Consulting, LLC; NationSwell Strategic Advisor

“Opportunities that allow for community, collaboration and connection will be increasingly important. People want to co-create change and not just support it from the sidelines. This will lead to more collaborative funding models that use a mix of time, talent and money.”

— Beth Bengston, CEO and Founder, Working for Women

“As the world races toward the mass adoption of AI, people are increasingly turning to bots and machines for advice, counsel, and even companionship. But we have to ask ourselves, at what cost? This shift, while ‘efficient,’ risks eroding the very essence of human connection and the agency we have over the choices we make, the work we do, and the world we live in.”

— Kim Dabbs, Founder, To Belonging; NationSwell Strategic Advisor

“In 2026, the social impact field will be defined by how well we serve communities that continually transition and adapt, like military families. The organizations that succeed will invest in flexible, tech-enabled, community-led support that meets people where they are and scales belonging through trusted local networks.”

— Kathy Roth-Douquet, CEO and Board President, Blue Star Families

On the need to create balance and alignment amid tensions:

“As we look ahead, 2026 may be remembered as a year when situational stewardship quietly took shape across the social impact field. With many systems operating under assumptions that no longer fully hold, people are adjusting how they respond — prioritizing judgment, timing, and care. In that context, situational stewardship itself may be among the most generative conditions for meaningful impact, and offering grace in how we understand each other’s choices allows that work to be seen and sustained.”

— Dawn Karber, Executive Director, SkillsFWD at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors

“Social impact organizations must clearly tie mission outcomes to core business value to remain relevant, continue funding, and have influence. In other words, ‘good intentions’ will no longer be enough. The field is moving decisively toward value-creation first.”

— Maggie Carter, NationSwell Strategic Advisor

“2025 marked a year of great tension. We saw companies act more cautiously, despite impact leaders wanting to see companies be more courageous. In 2026, we expect to see a different tension arise. One where companies invest further in employee volunteering while nonprofits’ financial needs grow. This will demand that the two sides of the ecosystem come together to find paths to mutuality, especially as the UN marks 2026 as the International Year of the Volunteer.”

— Sona Khosla, Chief Impact Officer, Benevity

“During this year of corporate sustainability resets and uncertainty, focus on renewing your commercial relationships and business case. Use this ‘pause’ to make your plan to retake the offensive once this firefighting period is over.”

— Michael Kobori, NationSwell Strategic Advisor

And finally, the simple advice that will sustain us in difficult moments:

“Always hope. And move like you are not afraid.”

— Alesha Washington, President and CEO, Seattle Foundation

Investing in Rural Communities: Why the Delta Demands Bold Philanthropy

Posted on by NationSwell Team

Rural America is often spoken of as if it were a single place: a stretch of heartland, a scattering of towns, a flat landscape dotted with fields and farmhouses. In reality, the picture is far more complex — and far richer. Nearly 20 percent of the U.S. population lives in rural areas, and almost a quarter are people of color. These communities are home to deep cultural traditions, close-knit civic life, and an abundance of untapped talent and creativity that fuel the nation’s food systems, industries, and arts. Yet among the youngest rural residents, one in five grows up in poverty — the highest rate across all age groups nationwide.

This gap between perception and reality often obscures the nuanced beauty of rural life, leaving entire regions undercounted, misunderstood, and underfunded. Despite the fact that nearly one in five Americans lives rurally, these regions receive just 7% of philanthropic capital — leaving schools, housing, and infrastructure chronically underfunded.

Nowhere is this tension clearer than in the Mississippi Arkansas Delta, a region that embodies both the challenges and the possibilities of rural America. Long celebrated as the birthplace of the blues and a wellspring of cultural creativity, the Delta is equally defined by the resilience and ingenuity of its people — communities that have sustained one another through generations of economic and social change. Yet the Delta is also home to some of the nation’s most persistently poor counties, where pathways to steady work and economic security remain too few and far between.

“What’s struck me most is how much creativity, expertise, and leadership already exist in rural communities,” says Robert Burns, director of the Walton Family Foundation’s Home Region program. “When you start by listening, you quickly see that the ideas and solutions we need are already there. Our role is often simply to help remove barriers and expand access to the opportunities residents are already working hard to create.”

Burns notes that the Delta’s greatest strength is its people — and that funders must match that strength with humility and long-term commitment. “The Delta is a place of deep history, culture, and possibility,” he says. “But it’s also a region facing persistent inequities, including a significant wealth gap. That’s exactly where bold, community-led investment can make a real difference.”

While Burns emphasizes the talent already present in rural communities, Kim Davis, president of the King Foundation, underscores what it requires of funders: humility, proximity, and a willingness to shift power.

“I’m proud that I’ve been able to keep community at the center of this work,” he says. “At Walton, we lifted up the Delta and brought visibility to a region too often overlooked. And at King, we’ve doubled down on proximity — on wearing the jersey of community instead of playing the superhero, and on fueling local leadership with the resources and trust they deserve.”

For philanthropy, the Delta represents both a stark challenge and an extraordinary opportunity: to invest not just in infrastructure or programs, but in its already-existing wells of creativity, leadership, and cultural capital — and to help scale them into lasting engines of resilience and shared prosperity.

The Realities of Rural Investment

Despite the enormous promise rural America holds for investment, attracting and sustaining that capital is rarely straightforward. Communities often face infrastructure gaps, fragmented leadership, and logistical barriers that make it hard to scale solutions across regions. Agriculture is also no longer the primary driver of rural employment, meaning that investments must now also reach sectors like manufacturing, health care, and small business.

The stakes of these challenges are deeply human: “When you look somebody in the eyes who’s thrown in the towel and thinks nobody cares about them, it breaks your heart,” says Colby Hall, Director of Regional Economic Development at Craft Philanthropy. “But when you remind them that they’re here for a reason — that they have unique gifts and a path forward — that’s transformational work.”

The Delta region mirrors many of these more broad-based rural challenges, including persistent poverty, housing shortages, and childcare gaps that keep parents, especially women, out of the workforce. Yet despite these barriers, the region also holds great promise; proximity to midsize metros like Memphis and Jackson creates natural economic ladders, while the rise of remote work expands job opportunities for residents.

Ultimately, solutions in the Delta must be built with — not for — local people, which means investing in the workforce, supporting affordable childcare, and helping residents access training that connects them to emerging industries or remote work opportunities. It also means strengthening civic infrastructure: ensuring that there are strong backbone organizations, convening spaces for collaboration, and opportunities for communities to share lessons with one another across county lines.

“Rural communities are deeply familiar with performative or extractive forms of support, so it’s critical that funding be rooted in authenticity and trust,” says Anna Beth Gorman, CEO of the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas. “When funders listen first and partner closely with community members, the solutions are not only more relevant, but also more sustainable.”

Rethinking Scale

For funders accustomed to measuring success by the size of their impact, scale in rural regions can look deceptively small. As Dreama Gentry, president and CEO of Partners for Rural Impact, notes, clarity about what level of place you aim to reach is key. 

“In rural areas, much of the work happens regionally — but ‘region’ can mean different things depending on whether you’re focused on health, education, or economic development,” she says. “What matters most is aligning your definition of community with the outcomes you hope to achieve.

Being realistic about the number of people you can reach, she adds, is equally important: “A regional strategy might engage thousands, while a neighborhood effort could reach hundreds — but that might still mean 80% of local youth are benefiting. In rural contexts, depth of reach often matters more than raw numbers.”

Sherra Bennett — Senior Program Officer at the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation — builds on this point, encouraging prospective funders to remember that a grant that can seem modest in a metropolitan context can be transformative in a rural context.

“Sometimes funders focus on how many people are reached, but in rural places, it might be 50 or 75 instead of 5,000, and that smaller number can still create a ripple effect that transforms the region,” she says. “If you’re looking for scale in terms of volume of people, you can easily overlook the real amount of work and collaboration that’s happening in rural communities.”

Bennett notes that those scaling challenges extend to organizations themselves, which are often operating with very small staff and limited infrastructure. “They’re doing a lot with a little — stretching dollars, building networks, and leveraging informal systems to get things done,” she says. “What they need most is flexible, multi-year funding that builds capacity — not just programs,” she says.

What’s Already Working in the Delta

Despite the challenges it faces, there are also bright spots in rural regions that demonstrate what effective investment can look like. In the Delta region specifically, funders like the Walton Family Foundation are investing in education pipelines and place-based development; the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation has prioritized investment in grantees like Communities Unlimited, which emphasizes economic mobility and equity; and the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas is advancing opportunities for women and families. Other regional and national partners are supporting workforce development programs, broadband expansion, and the strengthening of civic infrastructure. 

The lessons are clear: the most successful programs are community-led, equity-driven, and built to last. Together, these efforts show that progress is possible when investment is rooted in local priorities and designed for long-term impact.

“People assume rural means limited, but I’ve seen rural leaders accomplish things with fewer resources that some larger institutions struggle to achieve,” Davis says. “They collaborate across silos, stretch every dollar, and create solutions grounded in lived reality. That ingenuity — born out of necessity — isn’t just admirable, it’s instructive for all of us in philanthropy.”

“If we can figure out how to unlock economic opportunity for rural people — give them purpose, dignity, and a fair shot — I think that’s the greatest domestic challenge we face as a country,” Hall says. “The development that’s coming will happen in rural America, and it’s critical that those benefits reach the people who’ve been left out for decades.”

NationSwell’s Place-Based Collaborative has unearthed several field-tested strategies for championing rural investment:

  • Let communities define “place.” Avoid one-size-fits-all boundaries; listen to residents about where meaningful change can take root.
  • Go beyond bricks-and-mortar. Proximity to schools or clinics doesn’t always mean access. In Greenville, Mississippi, for example, residents live near critical services but still face life expectancy as low as 63 years and labor participation rates around 60. Effective investments must address underlying barriers — from healthcare access to workforce participation — not just physical infrastructure.
  • Use data-driven, asset-based mapping. Tools like the Urban Institute’s rural typology help funders tailor strategies to local strengths, whether rooted in natural resources, emerging industries, or cultural institutions.
  • Account for variation across rural places. No two communities are alike: some are near metros, others are energy hubs or farming towns. Treat this diversity as an opportunity to customize strategies, not as a hurdle.
  • Map leadership and empower local champions. Pastors, superintendents, and grassroots organizers are often the connective tissue that builds trust and convenes coalitions.
  • Align on shared outcomes. Clear, measurable goals — such as third-grade reading proficiency or high school graduation rates — can unite divided communities and build internal alignment for funders.
  • Support backbone organizations. Strengthening civic infrastructure ensures progress outlasts any one grant cycle.
  • Invest in local talent. Hiring and skilling up residents, supporting affordable childcare, investing in transportation, and expanding pathways to remote work all build durable local economies.
  • Bridge federal funding gaps. More than 400 federal programs target rural America, but recent cuts to funding stand to blunt the impact these programs have. Funders can play a catalytic role by underwriting grant-writing capacity, supporting local planning efforts, or co-investing alongside federal dollars.

Building Capacity, Building Momentum

Momentum grows when funders act as conveners — not only bringing resources to the table, but also helping rural communities connect, share solutions, and collaborate across regions. Over time, this creates a stronger ecosystem of leaders and institutions that can sustain progress well beyond any one grant cycle.

“Rural communities are beautifully complex,” Gorman says. “Even when resources are limited, people find innovative and adaptive ways to meet challenges, build opportunities, and support one another. That blend of determination and ingenuity is both inspiring and humbling to witness.”

The Delta’s challenges are generational, but they are not insurmountable. With patient capital, authentic partnership, and a commitment to long-term outcomes, funders can help transform the trajectory of entire communities. Even for those who cannot commit decades of investment, there are catalytic opportunities — like building job training pipelines or strengthening early childhood systems — that can shift local economies and empower residents for years to come.

For too long, rural communities like those in the Delta have been treated as an afterthought in philanthropy. By investing in the Delta, funders are not just addressing inequality — they are fueling the resilience, creativity, and prosperity of a region that has always been at the heart of America’s story.

In offering her advice to prospective funders, Bennett encourages a wholesale attitude shift — moving away from eyeing the region’s challenges and toward an embrace of all the potential and complexity it holds.

“Avoid a deficit mindset,” she says. “The challenges are real, but so are the tremendous assets — the cultural wealth, the deep social bonds, the vision of what already exists. Rural communities don’t need saving; they need investment, sustainability, and patience.”

Now is the moment to show up, listen deeply, and commit boldly. The Delta is ready for partners who believe in its future.

Together: A recap of NationSwell Summit 2025

Posted on by Brianna Provenzano

On a crisp October morning in New York, more than 250 leaders came together for NationSwell Summit 2025, united by this year’s theme: Together — a call to move beyond silos and into shared purpose. Across the day’s sessions — which spanned across the challenges of childhood in the age of social media and community transformation to healing through sport, collective action, and the future of work — speakers returned to a single truth: our shared progress depends on partnership. 

The day’s conversations invited participants to reimagine how we govern technology, build workplaces that nurture every kind of talent, and invest in the local trust and shared purpose that make lasting change possible. Our Impact Spotlights served as powerful and emotional reminders of the good work happening in this community, and included: It’s Time to Make Connection a Cause, featuring Aaron Hurst, U.S. Chamber of Connection; What Teachers Are Telling Us, featuring Alix Guerrier, DonorsChoose; In This Lifetime — Structural Change, Strategy, and Belief, featuring DeRay Mckesson, Campaign Zero; Collaborative Action: Strengthening Public Health by Integrating CHWs featuring Barb Short, Sanofi and Denise Octavia Smith, MBA, CHW, PN, National Association of CHWS; Neurodiversity & The Future of Business, featuring Nathan Friedman, Understood.org; Opening Doors to the AI Economy, featuring Nicole Johnson, Cadence Design Systems and Cadence Giving Foundation; and Together in Action: Unlocking the Power of Corporate Philanthropy, featuring Dale Strange, Blackbaud.

In case you were not able to be with us in the room — or if you’d simply like to revisit the day’s events — we’ve recapped several Summit sessions below:

1. NationSwell’s Book of the Year: The Anxious Generation by Dr. Jonathan Haidt

Featuring: Dr. Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation

Moderated by: Margot Brandenberg, Ford Foundation

 “If aliens landed here and we didn’t understand them, would we send our kids off to play with them? Hell no. But that’s what we’re doing with artificial intelligence, and at warp speed.”

— Dr. Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation 

  • Technology has accelerated beyond our social evolution, eroding the very institutions that once bound us together. Humans are deeply social creatures who developed systems like democracy, education, and the rule of law in order to cooperate with each other at scale. But the rapid pace of technological change, especially through social media and AI, is destabilizing those social bonds faster than society can adapt.
  • The greatest threat posed by modern technology is that it makes us less reliant on each other. Where we once depended on relationships for knowledge, connection, and decision-making, we now turn to machines and algorithms. This erosion of interdependence undermines empathy, belonging, and the shared fabric of human life, especially among younger generations.
  • The smartphone marks a generational rupture unlike any before. The sharp divide between those who went through adolescence before versus after 1995, when smartphones became ubiquitous, has created the first truly distinct digital generation. Rates of anxiety, depression, and dysfunction rise steeply beginning with this cohort, particularly among girls.
  • Girls are being crushed under the social and emotional weight of social media, while boys are disappearing into digital addiction. Girls’ mental health suffers from social comparison, online bullying, and exposure to predatory or appearance-based content. Boys, meanwhile, retreat into gaming, pornography, and sports betting — activities that hijack dopamine systems and stunt social and emotional development.
  • Parents are caught in a collective-action trap, each feeling powerless to resist norms everyone privately disapproves of. Most children admit they dislike social media but feel compelled to use it to avoid being left out. Families acting alone feel “cruel” denying their kids phones; only collective, community-level norms can reset expectations and make restraint the default.
  • Four collective-action norms can restore real childhood and social connection:
  1. No smartphones before high school.
  2. No social media before 16.
  3. Phone-free schools.
  4. More independence, free play, and responsibility in the real world.


According to Haidt, these shifts would re-anchor children in lived experience rather than addictive digital feedback loops.

  • Passive screen time isn’t inherently harmful — but solitary, interactive screen time is. Shared story-based experiences, like movie nights, nurture imagination and moral reasoning. The danger lies in touchscreens that deliver rapid, isolated, reward-based stimuli — training children’s brains for distraction and consumption rather than focus and empathy.
  • Mothers have emerged as the unexpected vanguard of reform. Across political lines, grassroots groups of mothers have organized text threads, reading groups, and policy campaigns pushing for phone-free schools and age restrictions. This movement’s bipartisan momentum signals widespread cultural readiness for change.
  • AI poses the same relational threats as social media, but on a far greater scale and at warp speed. AI companions already draw teens away from human relationships. Unlike past technologies, AI evolves autonomously and exponentially, with little oversight or liability, amplifying the risks to truth, empathy, and social cohesion.
  • Children are not small adults, and AI should not be tested on them. While AI can be a powerful tool for adults, it risks replacing essential developmental struggle with servitude and dependency in children. Until its effects are understood, the safest role for AI in childhood is none.
  • Hope lies in collective resistance and community-based action. The success of parent-led campaigns to limit smartphone and social-media use proves society can move quickly when unified. If we can win this fight for childhood, it will build the civic muscle needed to confront even larger challenges — like AI — together.

2. The Power of Place: Community-Driven Impact in Action

Featuring: Tonya Allen, McKnight Foundation; Kwame Owusu-Kesse, Harlem Children’s Zone

Moderated by: Amy Lee, NationSwell

“Together is actually more than a theme. Given the times that we are in, it’s basically a survival tactic. The idea of togetherness is a prerequisite of the work; it’s where transformation endures — understanding that we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. If we want to move the country forward toward pathways of excellence, it is a requirement that we are in lockstep with one another.”

— Kwame Owusu-Kesse, CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone 

  • Trust and proximity are the foundation of lasting impact. Place-based work succeeds when leaders get close enough to hear the truth from those affected by their efforts. Community proximity creates accountability and keeps change grounded in lived experience rather than abstract theory.
  • Place is the true unit of change. Where a child grows up determines much of their economic mobility. By tightly weaving education, health, and economic programs within a defined geography, organizations like Harlem Children’s Zone prove that thriving neighborhoods drive generational progress.
  • Build from community assets, don’t fix perceived deficits. Effective place-based work begins with local strengths — aspirations, talents, and collective wisdom — rather than focusing on what’s broken. This approach unleashes creativity and ownership within communities themselves.

“Transformation happens in real places with real people. I think a lot of the time we think of transformation as abstract, and I think that is actually why we struggle with creating real change. We are so far away from the people and the places we want to help.”

— Tonya Allen, President of the McKnight Foundation

  • Transformative change requires matching the scale of the solution to the scale of the problem. Incremental fixes cannot close the wealth gap. Initiatives like the GroundBreak Coalition call on institutions holding capital — banks, governments, philanthropies — to redesign systems so wealth flows with “speed and justice” to those long excluded.
  • Power in place-based work means organizing people and organizing money. Communities can’t achieve lasting change through engagement alone; financial systems and resources must also be organized intentionally. Those in power have a responsibility to “rewrite the rules” so access to capital and opportunity is fair and attainable.
  • Collective accountability is the test of true partnership. When outcomes falter, real collaborators resist finger-pointing and instead share responsibility for results. Joint ownership of successes and failures keeps efforts aligned across the full cradle-to-career continuum.
  • Excellence is not negotiable in service of equity. Mission-driven work must meet the same standards of rigor and quality as any enterprise. Communities deserve world-class execution, not “good hearts” without capacity or skill — nonprofit should mean tax status, not lowered expectations.
  • Strong relationships and courage sustain collective impact. Partnerships endure when they’re built on trust strong enough to survive fatigue, turnover, and disagreement. Courage is required to challenge underperforming systems and refuse complacency in the face of inequity.
  • Lead with fierce, radical love, and guard your focus. Love, properly understood, is not sentimental but powerful and protective — it fuels persistence through difficulty. Staying focused amid distraction is an act of moral courage; every inch of lost focus, as one leader put it, “a child pays for.”

3. From Bold Ideas to Big Bets: Building Relationships that Move Impact Forward

Featuring: The Rockefeller Foundation and Big Bets Fellows; Jacob Hannah, Coalfield Development; Catherine Wilson, United Way of Greater Newark; Rey Faustino, One Degree

Moderated by: NationSwell Vice President of Partnerships and Community, Jordan Vaughn

  • Revitalizing communities begins with refusing to leave them behind. In West Virginia, a new generation of leaders is reversing economic decline by rebuilding from within. Through workforce development, sustainable business, and reclaimed infrastructure, communities once defined by extraction are becoming engines of renewal — proof that it is more than possible to thrive in rural America. 
  • A modern safety net must be built for the AI age. Millions of families are lost in a maze of disconnected systems, forms, and eligibility rules. The next frontier is digital public infrastructure that connects services across agencies — not to replace human care and labor, but to make processes faster, fairer, and more humane for all. When technology is designed with community at its center, it can open doors instead of closing them.
  • Microinvestment can turn residents into owners and equity into belonging. In Newark, New Jersey, local residents are being invited to invest directly in new developments, giving them the chance to not only live in revitalized neighborhoods but to hold a real financial stake in their city’s growth. The model reframes community wealth as something that’s built from the ground up, where homeownership and local investment become tools for dignity and shared prosperity.

4. A Framework for Collective Action

Featuring: Nick Cericola, NationSwell

“The fight for marriage equality, the anti-Apartheid divestment movement, the Montreal Protocol — none of these were solo victories. They were built on unlikely alliances that turned moral clarity into structural change — laws, treaties, new norms, even new markets.”

— Nick Cericola, Vice President of Insights, NationSwell

  • Effective collective action channels outrage into agency. Movements succeed when they give people a tangible role to play. Whether through organizing, storytelling, or investment, they transform moral clarity into coordinated effort — turning diffuse frustration into focused momentum.
  • We are living through a Renaissance in collective action. Across the U.S., cities like Tulsa, Houston, Baltimore, and Union County are pioneering cross-sector collaborations that integrate employers, educators, and community organizations. These are not loose partnerships but structured, disciplined systems built for long-term community outcomes.
  • Five models dominate today’s landscape of collaboration:
  1. Co-investment models pooling private funding with shared governance.
  2. Shared capacity platforms that centralize infrastructure.
  3. Learning, advocacy, and action networks aligning peers around common cause.
  4. Public-private partnerships marrying public oversight with private sector innovation.
  5. Place-based initiatives uniting stakeholders across a geography.

Each model balances tradeoffs between control, trust, speed, and innovation.

“The best movements don’t wait for perfect consensus — they build coalitions of the willing. They give people a role, a way to turn conviction and even outrage into agency.”

— Nick Cericola, Vice President of Insights, NationSwell

  • The right collective model depends on your goals. Choosing between approaches requires clarity — do you seek scale, legitimacy, deep local ties, or speed? Each configuration demands different governance, risk tolerance, and resource investment, and the best collaborations evolve as conditions change.
  • Enduring principles — shared purpose, clear structure, mutual value, and trust — anchor all successful collaborations. Though models differ, the underlying DNA remains constant. Trust is the most essential ingredient, enabling participants to move through the inevitable slow progress, repeated meetings, and political friction of long-term coalition work.
  • Systemic change is inherently slow, but it’s the only thing that works. Collaboration is messy and iterative, yet every meaningful societal advance has been collective in nature. The complexity of today’s challenges simply exceeds the capacity of any single organization, however powerful, to solve alone.
  • Collaboration itself is our greatest technology. When practiced with creativity and discipline, collective action becomes a living system — capable of adaptation, innovation, and scale. The question is no longer whether collaboration works, but what we will choose to do with it next.

5. Nothing Heals Like Sport

Featuring: Megan Bartlett, founder of the Center for Healing and Justice through Sport

  • Sport is one of the most under-utilized tools for healing and mental health. When designed around people rather than performance, sport can calm the body’s stress response, rebuild trust, and reconnect young people to joy. It’s not just play — it’s applied neuroscience in motion, capable of changing biology and behavior.
  • The real power of sport lies in regulating the nervous system. Sport helps young people move out of chronic “fight, flight, or freeze” states by creating safety and rhythm in the body. Regulation — feeling calm, connected, and safe — is the foundation for learning, love, and growth, and sport naturally provides it.
  • Movement, connection, and challenge are the biological ingredients of healing, and sport delivers all three. Patterned, rhythmic movement restores a sense of safety; connection with teammates and coaches builds trust, the antidote to stress; and appropriate challenge — neither too much nor too little — teaches resilience through safe struggle, not avoidance.
  • We must shift the focus of youth sports from winning to well-being. Too often, youth sports environments prioritize competition over care, leaving both kids and coaches dysregulated. To unlock sport’s healing potential, coaches must have training, resources, and community support that allow them to stay grounded and emotionally available.
  • Healing is relational — dysregulated adults cannot regulate dysregulated kids. Coaches and mentors are frontline healers, but they can only help young people recover if they themselves are resourced and supported. Investing in their regulation and mental health multiplies impact across entire communities.
  • With the right investment, sport can become a scalable system for social change. The infrastructure already exists — fields, gyms, parks, and millions of committed coaches. Through initiatives like the Move Fund, seeded by Nike, local coalitions are being equipped to harness sport not just as recreation, but as a public-health intervention that helps young people heal before they learn, achieve, and thrive.
  • When it’s done right, nothing heals like sport.The opportunity isn’t to reinvent sport, but to reimagine its purpose: as a powerful, ready-at-scale, evidence-based framework for rebuilding trust, resilience, and connection in a generation living under chronic stress.

6. Building a Workforce and Workplace Where All Can Thrive

Featuring: Carrie Varoquiers, Workday; Lisa Lawson, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Claire Casey, AARP Foundation

Moderated by: Utaukwa Allen, Google

“There are 48 million young people on the bridge of adolescence right now, and we should think of ourselves as the bridge-builders responsible for making sure they have what they need to make a successful passage across.” 

— Lisa Lawson, President & CEO, Annie E. Casey Foundation

  • Thriving workplaces are built through intergenerational collaboration. With five generations now working side by side, success depends on learning from one another rather than forcing younger employees to adapt to outdated norms. The most effective organizations cultivate “intergenerational agility” — a culture of mutual learning that values both experience and innovation.
  • Adolescence should be seen as a bridge, not a problem. Young people are often framed through a deficit lens, described as entitled or unmotivated, but this narrative is harmful and self-fulfilling. When we view adolescence as a stage of growth and potential — one that society must help young people cross safely — we create the conditions for confidence, purpose, and long-term success.
  • Skills-first hiring and new learning models are expanding access — but must be guided by purpose. The shift away from degree-based hiring has opened doors for untapped talent, while AI-assisted upskilling and apprenticeships are redefining what readiness looks like. The goal is not just speed to employment, but creating pathways to meaningful, family-sustaining work that centers human dignity.

“The marginalized worker — whether younger or older — has far more in common than we realize. Only a third of low-income workers over 50 will stay continuously employed through their 50s, and just one in ten will ever earn as much as they did before… We talk a lot about lifelong learning, but we forget about the worker. It’s time we practice what we preach.”

— Claire Casey, President, AARP Foundation

  • Mentorship and connection remain the most powerful workforce technologies. Bridging generations through mentorship builds confidence, soft skills, and community. Whether formal or informal, these relationships help young workers navigate new environments while reminding older ones of their enduring value and leadership.
  • AI should amplify our humanity, not replace it. Used well, technology can reduce administrative burden and free time for creativity, empathy, and collaboration. The challenge — and opportunity — is to design systems that strengthen connection rather than diminish it, ensuring that human relationships remain the core of productive, innovative workplaces.
  • The call to action: Be a bridge builder. Creating thriving workforces means linking generations, sectors, and technologies in pursuit of shared purpose. Every person, regardless of age or role, can help others cross into stability and possibility — because thriving, by definition, is something we achieve together.

8. AI and the Public Good: Who’s Governing the Future?

Featuring: Michael Kubzansky, Omidyar Network; Miriam Vogel, EqualAI

Moderated by: David Gelles, author of Dirtbag Billionaire

  • Public trust is collapsing, and literacy is the cure. Half of Americans report being more afraid than excited about AI. Those who understand it are more optimistic, suggesting that AI literacy — not hype or fear — is the foundation for responsible adoption and social trust.
  • Profit-driven systems won’t self-correct. Expecting companies to prioritize ethics over revenue misunderstands capitalism’s incentives. Governance must come from a mix of policy, investor expectations, and board accountability — ensuring AI’s social license to operate.
  • There’s still time to design responsible AI — but only if we demand it now. Responsible AI isn’t theoretical: it requires clear accountability, transparent testing, and leadership ownership. The companies that get this right will be the ones that earn both consumer trust and long-term viability.

Check out our recap video:

Growth with Purpose: Building the Skills and Systems of the Future

Posted on by Brianna Provenzano

At a time when technology is reshaping the workforce and climate pressures are redefining business, leaders are grappling with a central question: how do we equip organizations — and the people within them — not just to keep pace, but to thrive? During Climate Week, Kyndryl convened an event called “Growth with Purpose” that featured two dynamic panels focused on tackling that challenge from different but deeply connected angles.

The first panel, Skilling for a Secure Digital Future, examined how AI is transforming the very notion of being “future ready.” Panelists stressed that technical expertise alone will not suffice; adaptability, resilience, and human-centered skills remain just as critical. They spoke candidly about the paradox of AI adoption: the technology’s potential to unlock massive productivity gains is real, but its impact depends as much on mindset, culture, and trust as on tools themselves.

The second panel, Risk, Readiness, and Reporting in Sustainability Work, turned the focus to how businesses prepare for an uncertain climate future. Executives from finance, technology, and infrastructure underscored the growing importance of supply-chain resilience, the integration of sustainability into financial decision-making, and the role of trust and transparency in meeting investor and community expectations. As externalities like carbon and natural capital become priced into markets, sustainability is moving from a regulatory obligation to a driver of business value.

Together, the discussions revealed a common imperative: whether navigating the rise of AI or the realities of climate risk, organizations must balance innovation with intentionality. The future may be uncertain, but readiness, resilience, and principled action will be the measures of who thrives.

Panel 1: Skilling for a Digital Future

  • Being “future ready” means building systems of continuous learning. Panelists agreed that the future of work is not a fixed destination. Instead, it requires organizations and individuals to build habits of constant iteration and adaptation. One speaker even suggested professionals should aim to “make 20% of their jobs obsolete each year,” eliminating low-value tasks to create space for higher-value innovation and growth.
  • The biggest barriers to AI adoption are cultural, not technical. While AI’s potential is vast, many organizations struggle with implementation because of fear, discomfort, or uncertainty. Leaders stressed the need to normalize experimentation and failure as part of learning. Generational divides also surfaced: senior employees often use AI more effectively because of their experience and judgment, while younger hires may be more fluent with tools but lack context. Bridging these divides will be essential.
  • Workers need more transparency about which credentials actually pay off. Although 40% of U.S. adults have some college but no degree, only 12.5% of credential programs deliver meaningful wage gains. More transparency is needed so workers know which credentials are actually valuable. Panelists argued for clearer data and guidance so workers understand which pathways provide real mobility, and which don’t deliver on their promise. The same logic applies to skills: For example, Kyndryl is prioritizing mapping current vs. future skills and making that data transparent to employees — helping them visualize where the business is headed and how they can grow.
  • Human-centered skills will only grow in value. As technical skills shift rapidly with technological change, human skills — such as empathy, trust-building, problem-solving, and communication — are emerging as the most durable advantage. Panelists suggested reframing these as “higher-order thinking” skills, a label that better conveys their central importance in AI-enabled workplaces. 
  • Intentional AI use is the key to maintaining critical thinking. Overreliance on AI risks weakening workers’ ability to write, think critically, and craft narratives. Panelists encouraged organizations to set intentional guidelines: use AI as an accelerator, but not as a replacement for human judgment and expression. The financial incentives also matter: Skepticism about providers pushing AI use for profit is warranted, and workers and companies alike need to set their own intentional frameworks for adoption.
Panel members at Kyndryl's "Growth with Purpose" event.

Panel 2: Risk, Readiness, and Reporting in Sustainability Work

  • Uncertainty is inevitable, but principles must guide the response. Speakers emphasized that uncertainty has always been part of business, but climate change and resource scarcity magnify it. To remain resilient, companies are establishing clear principles — such as cutting emissions or increasing recycled content in supply chains — that remain non-negotiable, even as circumstances shift.
  • Embedding sustainability into the core business is no longer optional. Panelists described how sustainability leaders now work directly alongside CFOs and finance teams, reflecting the growing importance of environmental and social considerations to business value. Carbon pricing, regulatory frameworks, and investor demands are pushing companies to treat sustainability as central to strategy, not a side function.
  • Climate risk also creates business opportunities. Disruptions like floods, fires, or supply-chain breakdowns pose real threats, but they also spur demand for new services — from resilient infrastructure to risk management products. Companies that innovate around these needs can turn risk into opportunity.
  • Collaboration across the value chain is essential. No company can meet sustainability goals alone. Panelists highlighted the importance of embedding expectations across suppliers, engaging directly with high-emissions vendors, and even spurring innovation through competitions. They also stressed that collaboration must extend beyond the value chain — to startups, academia, industry groups, and policymakers.
  • Transparency builds trust with investors and communities. Trust emerged as a critical currency. Transparent reporting on emissions, risks, and progress not only satisfies regulators but also strengthens investor confidence and community credibility. As investors increasingly scrutinize how companies manage both transition risks (like shifting to renewables) and physical risks (like fires or floods), disclosure and accountability become differentiators.
  • AI is already helping sustainability efforts, but it must be paired with governance. From using drones to inspect infrastructure to crunching massive emissions datasets, AI is already proving valuable in sustainability work. Yet panelists stressed that AI must be deployed “secure by default,” with robust cybersecurity and governance in place. While the technology can handle scale and speed, empathy, trust, and human judgment remain irreplaceable for advancing sustainability goals.

Welcoming New Advisors to NationSwell’s Strategic Advisory Team

Posted on by Brianna Provenzano

Driven by our steadfast commitment to advancing bold, effective leadership across the impact sector, NationSwell continues to deepen the ways we serve our community, expanding the insights, expertise, and strategic guidance available to help members lead with clarity and drive meaningful change. That’s why we’re thrilled to welcome three exceptional leaders to our Strategic Advisory team: Kim Dabbs, Shannon Schuyler, and Celeste Warren (pictured left to right).

They join a distinguished group of NationSwell Strategic Advisors who bring real-world experience to the challenges and opportunities facing today’s impact leaders. Together, this group supports our members across some of the most strategic and exemplary work and needs in the sector, including building resilient organizational cultures, embedding impact into business strategy, the practice of impact leadership in organizations, architecting strategies that are differentiated and built to last, and leading on issues ranging from workforce innovation to diversity and inclusion to corporate responsibility.

Kim, Shannon, and Celeste bring deep expertise and a proven track record of leading transformational change across sectors. They will support our members in a variety of ways, including one-on-one consultations, roundtable conversations, and tailored guidance. Through these engagements, they will offer new opportunities to advance impact, strengthen strategy, navigate complexity, and accelerate our members’ most important work. Their involvement will help deepen the value of membership and expand what is possible for the leaders in our community.

We’re proud to welcome them into this remarkable community of changemakers and excited for the impact they’ll have in shaping the future of social good. Read on to learn more about their journeys and the expertise they bring to the NationSwell network.

Kim Dabbs

STRATEGIC ADVISOR
Areas of Expertise: Belonging and Purpose, Social Innovation, Organizational Culture, DEI, Identity and Purpose, Workplace Culture, Organizational Development

Kim Dabbs is the Global Vice President of Impact at Steelcase, where she drives social innovation and fosters inclusive environments. With a background as the Executive Director of the West Michigan Center for Arts and Technology and a residency at Stanford’s d.school, Kim brings deep expertise in creating equitable spaces.

 She is the best-selling author of You Belong Here: The Power of Being Seen, Heard, and Valued on Your Own Terms, which provides a framework for cultivating belonging. Kim is also the founder of To Belonging, a global community of changemakers exploring the intersection of identity and purpose. As a sought-after speaker, Kim has delivered keynotes at organizations like Google, Microsoft, MIT, and The Guggenheim, helping leaders create inclusive and impactful workplaces.

Shannon Schuyler

STRATEGIC ADVISOR
Areas of Expertise: Culture Activation; Aligning Purpose with Performance; Value Creation through Operational and Revenue Resilience; C-suite and Board engagement

Shannon Schuyler brings over three decades of experience transforming how organizations drive sustainable success through cultural innovation and purpose alignment. At PwC, she held multiple global leadership roles, including Chief Purpose Officer, Chief Sustainability Officer, Chief Diversity Officer, Climate Risk Leader, Corporate Responsibility Leader, co-Leader of CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion, and President of the PwC Foundation. She has guided C-suite executives and boards across industries in embedding purpose, values, and sustainability into organizational strategy, culture, and stakeholder engagement. Shannon has also served on nonprofit boards, leading strategic planning, pro-bono funding initiatives, and executive succession.

Her insights on the link between culture and strategy have earned recognition from Fortune, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Insider, and Fast Company. Named one of the 100 People Transforming Business and a World Changing Woman in Conscious Business, Shannon is a sought-after speaker and advisor who helps organizations align purpose, culture, and strategy to achieve lasting business and societal impact.

Celeste Warren

STRATEGIC ADVISOR
Areas of Expertise: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Organizational Culture, Talent Development, STEM Education, Leadership Strategy, Change Management

Celeste Warren is the Founder of Celeste Warren Consulting, LLC, where she guides organizations in implementing impactful diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies. With over 28 years of experience, she previously served as the Vice President and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at Merck, where she led global diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and developed diverse talent pipelines.

Celeste is also the co-founder of Destination STEM, Inc., a nonprofit focused on supporting students of color and students in need pursuing degrees in STEM. Her work has earned her recognition as one of Black Enterprise’s “Top Executives in Global Diversity and Inclusion” and Diversity Global Magazine’s “Influential Women in Global Diversity.” She was also named Chief Diversity Officer of the Year by the National Minority Supplier Development Council in 2024.

A published author and frequent speaker, Celeste’s diversity, equity and inclusion insights have been shared globally across major platforms, publications and conferences.

To learn more about our membership community, visit nationswell.com/membership

Stories of Consent: Advocating for Healthy and Safe Relationships

Posted on by NationSwell Team

One in ten high school students experience dating violence before graduation, and comprehensive sexual education has been linked to prevention. Young people are leading the charge in creating more accessible and inclusive education programs and tools. Two of our NationSwell Fellows, Emily Bach and Maya Siegel, are working to scale their efforts, which focuses on bringing consent-based education to high schools and universities. Here’s a closer look at their mission — and how you can help move it forward. 

NationSwell: Tell us about your work and why it’s important.

Across the country, programs that help young people build safe, respectful relationships are under threat. Title IX, the federal statute that protects sexual violence survivors, has been significantly weakened due to the dismantling of the Department of Education. Schools are increasingly being pressured to limit how teachers and administrators discuss healthy relationships. Funding for sexual violence prevention education has been drastically reduced, with further cuts looming. 

Stories of Consent is an organization devoted to community-based consent education, particularly in states and regions where governmental policies make formal consent education inaccessible – or entirely untenable. By sharing personal stories about what affirmative consent looks and feels like, we aim to make consent education more accessible, actionable, and relatable to young people. Our goal is to fill legislative and policy gaps to ensure that young people have the tools to form safe, healthy relationships. 

NS: You both have worked alongside high school-age youth to build Stories of Consent. What are some lessons from collaborating with these young people?

Currently, if consent is taught in schools, young people typically learn about it through legal language or punchy acronyms. They learn what actions could lead to jail time. In some states, they’re taught that consent is as easy as FRIES: freely given, reversible, informed, enthusiastic, and specific. This is a great foundation – but it can’t be the end of the conversation. How many of us pause to run through a checklist before kissing someone?

We are almost always navigating consent in the context of our relationships, interpreting various forms of communication. Young people know this, even when their education doesn’t reflect it.  They often turn to friends for advice on situations our education system fails to formally address. They learn about consent through public media and the internet. These facts reveal something important about consent education: even in states without mandates, consent education is happening – but it tends to happen on an individual or interpersonal basis. 

Stories of Consent acts as a structured space for young people to have conversations about how consent looks, sounds, and feels in the context of their lives. We offer some ground rules for engagement – like defining affirmative consent – but we also encourage young people to engage with the project on their own terms. They bring the questions. We help create a safe space to explore the answers.

NS: How is implementing your education programming with college students different from students in middle school?

The best educational programs adapt to meet the people they serve. This often (but not always) means that college students are looking for guidance on navigating consent in increasingly complicated situations. For example, most of us would agree that discussing the relationship between consent and alcohol use would be inappropriate in a middle school classroom. But with college students, it’s one of the most common and relevant topics of discussions. Our project is designed to address consent in the kinds of situations students are most likely to encounter, and it naturally evolves with those situations. 

Importantly, this dynamic holds true across different identity groups. Our stories have been used in a support group for transgender students, where a facilitator focused on stories from LGBTQ+ youth. They’ve also been used by feminist groups to examine the different expectations placed on women’s sexuality. We collect stories from people of different ages, backgrounds, identities, and experiences so students can see themselves in the stories — and find language that fits their own experiences.

NS: What do you hope your work will accomplish long-term?

Long term, our goal is to contribute to a cultural shift in how the next generation understands consent. For example, 50 years ago, the culture around drunk driving was vastly different. It was frowned upon, but not widely seen as a serious safety risk. That perception changed through advocacy – largely led by mothers – who highlighted its dangers and potential long-term impacts on others. As a result, rates of drunk driving have substantially decreased. 

Our goal is to foster a similar cultural shift around consent. We want it to be widely understood as necessary for any healthy romantic or sexual activity. We believe that shift will only happen when young people understand the human impact of practicing consent. 

NS: How can people get involved?

Visit storiesofconsent.com to read or share a story, or bring Stories of Consent to your school or organization. Teachers, students, school administrators, and community organizers can also reach out to us to host Stories of Consent exhibits at their schools. We provide the materials for free. Our contact information can be found at our website or on our Instagram page, @storiesofconsent. 

Additionally, we partner with SafeBAE to train young people to become educators in their communities through their Peer Educator Training. If you’re interested in becoming a peer educator or supporting one, visit safebae.org to learn more. 

Learn more about the NationSwell Fellows program: https://nationswell.com/studio/nationswell-fellows/

Innovative Philanthropy in Times of Uncertainty and Urgency

Posted on by Brianna Provenzano

Today’s challenges demand a new level of agility and creativity from philanthropy. Traditional models of giving are evolving as funders seek innovative ways to deploy resources, drive systemic change, and respond to urgent needs without sacrificing long-term impact.

On May 6, NationSwell convened senior leaders for a candid discussion on Innovative Philanthropy in Times of Uncertainty and Urgency. Some of the key insights that surfaced during the course of the discussion appear below:

Key takeaways:

Be in community; talk through the anxiety and surface needs among your partners and peers. Amid pervasive feelings of “stuckness” among funders and grantees alike, continuing to have tough conversations and be in relationship with those who can appreciate the unique difficulties of this moment will be an invaluable tool. Connecting with others who want to solve problems — even when the problems seem insurmountable — and conducting regular pulse checks with grantees can sometimes be the best antidote to malaise, anxiety, and fear. 

If your organization doesn’t have the right support to offer, help connect to those who do. Even when funders don’t have the right tools or expertise to directly support their grantees or partners, they can still play a valuable role by acting as connectors. By brokering relationships, making introductions, or spotlighting other resources to tap, funders can help ensure their partners get the support they need without overextending their own capabilities. Influence and networks can be just as valuable as dollars.

Adjust your strategy with the long view in mind — and stay true to it. Especially in times of uncertainty, crafting intentional and precise strategies around your funding philosophy and partnership strategies will help you to stay true to your mission, goals, and organizational identity. Once established, hold to the strategies you’ve crafted so thoughtfully and intentionally. Push through the inclination to “freeze”; move forward with confidence, clarity, and adaptability.

Explore “pooled funds” and strategic coordination with fellow funders. By sharing financial commitments, funders can support innovative or high-risk projects with less individual exposure, making it easier to pilot new ideas or respond to urgent needs. Pooled funds can also help to streamline support for nonprofit partners, reducing the administrative burden of managing multiple relationships and reporting requirements and allowing them to focus on driving impact.

Consider the value of forging fewer, deeper partnerships. Some funders are focusing on larger, more impactful strategic collaborations with a few key partners to maximize impact and efficiency.

When possible, support partners with multi-year, unrestricted grants. Knowing that funding is secure for several years makes organizations more likely to experiment, innovate, and take calculated risks that could lead to greater impact without the added pressure of fundraising. For funders, multi-year grants support a more strategic, long-term approach to philanthropy, allowing for deeper alignment with organizational values and mission.Engage your internal stakeholders. Actively bringing in employees, agents, and other internal stakeholders in partnership activities can help to deepen your organization’s relationships and extend the reach of your partnerships. Particularly in times of deep division, taking the time to forge and fortify deep personal connections will be a critical component of long-term resilience.