Congratulations to Keami Harris, ECFC Chief of Equity and Strategy, as she joins 22 leaders from across the country selected for the Aspen Institute’s 2024 Ascend Fellows!
On September 4, the Aspen Institute announced its 2024 Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows, 22 leaders from across the United States who are transforming systems so that our youngest children and families can thrive. The 2024 Ascend Fellows represent 14 states and the District of Columbia; are 82 percent leaders of color, including Black (55%), Indigenous (9%), Latina (9%), and Asian-American (9%); and work across systems and sectors to do the following and more:
- Ensure new parents, children, and their families have access to mental and behavioral health services,
- Expand access to early care and education in rural and immigrant communities and invest in the early childhood workforce across the country,
- Apply lessons from Indigenous communities to home visiting and well-being across the lifespan,
- Build family stability to help keep families together and children out of child welfare systems, and
- Expand guaranteed income and other sources of capital, so families can determine their own paths.
The 2024 cohort demonstrates a deeper investment in leaders in the South, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, and Texas. These leaders recognize the need to address systemic injustice and value a model of leadership that works alongside those most proximate to the problems they are trying to solve.
With the addition of the 2024 cohort, the Ascend Fellowship is home to a national network of more than 160 of the most promising leaders our country has to offer – leaders well-connected, well-prepared, and powerfully positioned to build the political will, change systems, and drive the policy agenda needed for the prosperity and well-being of all children and families.