04/15/2026
A huge thank you to all of the panelists, facilitators, and alumni who shared their time, expertise, and insight with our fellows this year. We are deeply grateful for your generosity and honesty in helping bring these conversations to life.
Across all of our panels, we explored how policy, power, and impact actually work in New York City—and what it takes to move ideas from concept to action.
In Policy, Problems, and Our Ecosystem, we learned how NYC policy is shaped not only by formal systems and institutions, but also by relationships, timing, and human dynamics that can determine whether ideas move forward or stall.
In Economic Justice in Our Community, we explored housing and climate justice across NYC—unpacking zoning, community organizing, and the tools that help local actors engage with and influence policy at the neighborhood level.
In Financing Change: Making the Ask, we reframed fundraising as a relational skill built on listening, clarity, and practice—where confidence grows through repetition and every conversation is an opportunity.
In our Capstones session, we explored how fellows can turn ideas into action through research, implementation, live demonstration, or personal and professional development—and how to continue refining those projects over time with support and structure.
Across every conversation, a shared theme emerged: meaningful change requires both a deep understanding of systems and a commitment to the relationships that shape them.
We are incredibly grateful to everyone who contributed to these panels for helping our fellows think more clearly, critically, and creatively about leadership and impact in NYC.
