Aspen Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS)

Upcoming Virtual Conference: 2025 Collective Impact Action Summit The Collective Impact Forum (CIF) invites you to join us from April 29 - May 1 for our biggest learning event of the year, bringing together backbone leaders, practitioners, funders, partners, and more to explore how we can shape our collective future. Over three days and 40+ sessions, we’ll gather to dream boldly, expand our vision, and re-imagine what is possible for collaborative work. Early-bird savings end March 28. Register now to secure your spot at a discounted rate. You will leave inspired by the imagination and innovation of practitioners all over the world united towards collective action. We hope that you will join us! Register here: https://lnkd.in/g4iK2shR

As we dive into the New Year, we are thrilled to launch the Aspen Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS) ‘Convening Conversations Series’. This new communications series will feature stories that spark new ideas and explore transformative approaches to creating Belonging, Meaning, Wellbeing, Purpose (BMWP), and a better society for all, especially our youth and young adults across the nation. Check Out Our Latest Stories: https://lnkd.in/ef_VXN5B #OpportunityYouth #Belonging #BMWP #Storytelling #NewLaunch

💡 In Case You Missed It - Reflecting Back on 2024 + 2025 Spotlight Newsletter As we reflect back on 2024, let's take a look at transformative moments that sparked, inspired, and compelled dialogue and meaningful impact within our communities, networks and beyond. We're excited to share conversations, resources, thought-leadership and solutions that offer fresh perspectives to take into the new year and invite you to watch, listen, share and freedom dream. PS Check out the 2025 Spotlight Feature for latest launches and events!

Dear AFCS National Network and Community, As we step into the new year, we find ourselves in a time of profound change and uncertainty. In these unprecedented times, we are embracing this moment by standing in solidarity with our communities, young people and our mission to build a collaborative future where justice, dignity, opportunities, and prosperity are within reach for everyone. At the heart of our efforts is a deep belief in the power of community-led change. We know that when communities and young people have the agency to drive change, they can create a more just and equitable society. We unwaveringly uphold our values and commitments to the communities and populations we serve. Our present, past and future work remains embedded in our core values of: community & constituent-centered collaboration, equity, justice, diversity, belonging, respect, love, accountable impact, learning together, and creative action. Our team recently had the opportunity to visit The Legacy Sites. We came away deeply touched by the honest and profound representation of US history. After a conversation with Bryan Stevenson we were further inspired to deepen our work in truth-based narrative change. We believe we can go further together than apart. Only through genuine, trust-based collaboration can significant community and systems challenges be addressed and resolved. We will continue to work together—and with you—to uphold these values and commitments, and to pursue long-lasting, sustained change on some of society’s most difficult challenges. We are humbled by the strength and courage of the communities we support. Most importantly, we believe in a deeper love of humanity – which includes a greater compassion, empathy, and understanding for all people that is bigger than any one of us. Collective care and wellbeing are our shared responsibility, and we are unflinchingly dedicated to supporting one another. We are moved by your dedication, and support for each other, even when life’s challenges can test our collective strength. As we navigate the complexities of our current moment, we are committed to sharing resources, information, and tools as assets from and for our network to thrive. Let’s continue building this movement and future together. Thank you for your commitment to this work and the communities we serve together. Yours in community, The Aspen Forum for Community Solutions Team

💡 Friday Feature: Latest Blog, Fresh Tracks Delegation at the 2024 White House Tribal Youth Forum "Advocacy isn’t always about being in the spotlight; sometimes, it’s about creating pathways for others to shine. Even in a time of growing challenges and a shifting political landscape, this year’s forum highlighted the importance of Native youth voices. Grounded in cultural strength and lived experience, these voices are more essential than ever.” Read reflections from Andrea Wagner, The Aspen Institute Aspen Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS) Fresh Tracks Action who supported a delegation of 11 incredible Indigenous youth leaders to Washington, D.C., from November 13–16 for the #WhiteHouse #TribalYouthForum. Held on November 15, the forum convened #Indigenousyouth and federal leaders to engage in critical discussions on policies and challenges affecting Native communities, including mental health, climate change, and food sovereignty. Read more in the blog linked below: https://lnkd.in/eAPvndcP

💡 New Report: The Opportunity Youth Forum: Collaborating to Transform Local Systems and Amplify Youth Impact The Aspen Institute Opportunity Youth Forum national network is deeply committed to learning and impact. Each year, the Opportunity Youth Forum‘s external evaluators, Equal Measure, conduct an extensive assessment of the progress of #OYF, looking at the characteristics of collaboratives, and collaborative capacity; they also annually assess, progress made on systems-level changes in OYF communities which include: policy and funding changes, cross-system pathways, among other areas. This year we combine this data for the first time with data about changes in the numbers of opportunity youth in OYF communities, providing a comprehensive analysis of the local systems change approaches that have driven transformation and impact across OYF communities over the past five years. Read the Full Report: https://lnkd.in/gDfbTh-t #opportunityyouth #systemschange #communitysolutions #youthimpact #annualreport #learning #impact

In 2019, Prudential Financial committed more than $180 million through 2025 to support opportunity youth — young people aged 15-29 who are not connected to school, training or formal employment. The hundreds of millions of #opportunityyouth worldwide represent untapped potential for our workforce of today and tomorrow. Working with partners around the world, including The Aspen Institute, Prudential's support has helped connect opportunity youth to quality workforce education and training programs so that they can secure strong first jobs. Our work to expand access to financial security to more people in more places continues. Prudential has also supported our Aspen Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS)’s Opportunity Youth Forum network, which generates an estimated $2 billion return on investment annually. Our research has found that for every $1 spent on opportunity youth in our network, there is a $4.40 return to the community. “Prudential’s partnership and investment in the Aspen Opportunity Youth Forum has been compelling and catalytic. It has helped change the life trajectory for thousands of young people in the U.S., while also helping us deepen our support for the work happening in Newark [New Jersey] — in the company’s own backyard. Prudential has supported a movement for greater opportunity for the rising generation that simply would not exist without their unprecedented and thoughtful investment(s) across the globe,” says Steve Patrick, Vice President and Executive Director of the Aspen Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS). Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/gAGRpAaa

Highlights from the #OYFConvening Fall 2024 I Aspen, CO Our closing plenary, "A Call to Action: Philanthropy's Role in Building The Civic Infrastructure for Democracy" lifted up and explored examples of transformative grant-making with an emphasis on building and deepening the civic infrastructure for democracy. The Aspen Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS) holds a vision for the social sector that includes a different approach to philanthropy. Our vision for the sector is rooted in the desire to move from transactional grant-making to transformative community investments. Moderated by Steve Patrick, Exec. Director of the Aspen Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS), this plenary featured leaders from across the philanthropic community including Brenda Anibarro VP Learning & Community Engagement, Inatai Foundation, Elisha Smith Arrillaga, Ph.D. VP Research, Center for Effective Philanthropy, Deanna Mousseau, Youth Leader, Native Americans in Philanthropy and Steve Phillips, Political Leader, Author & Columnist, Democracy in Color. Drawing on research by the Center for Effective Philanthropy related to the scale and impact of Mackenzie Scott’s grantmaking, these leaders explored what it means to invest in the power of young people, communities, and community leadership, while forming authentic transformational relationships within philanthropy and across the social sector broadly. These leaders shared how they are working to shift the sector's focus from hyper-strategic and over-engineered grant-making, to making grants that are strategically rooted in community power building, trust building, and advancing a more inclusive democracy. #TransformativePhilanthropy #OpportunityYouth

📣 New Publication: Supporting Postsecondary Education Pathways for Rural Tribal Communities: Challenges and Opportunities, by Dr. Nichole S. Prescott, PhD, serves as a comprehensive landscape analysis, outlining how postsecondary pathways can be improved, providing examples of best practices in programming, and incorporating the voices of Indigenous #youth. Read the Full Report on our website, linked below: https://lnkd.in/ebhbEUnY The Aspen Institute Aspen Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS) Fresh Tracks Action

💡 Featured Article: Check out Nonprofit Quarterly latest's article, "Why We Must Center Belonging and Justice in Our Leadership" by Harry Harding and Madeline McNeely. Featuring thought-leadership by Monique Miles, Vice President at The Aspen Institute and Managing Director of the Aspen Forum For Community Solutions (AFCS) on Leadership, Belonging and Justice. “Belonging is about agency. It’s about a shared vision of transformation. We’re not setting the table and inviting people. We’re co-creating the table." For Miles, rooting justice and belonging deeply as foundational organizational values “is how we move from transactional to transformative.” Read More: https://lnkd.in/eHr7X-vk