Innovative Leaders Leading the Way

Young people have the agency and power to shape their communities. Too often, though, they’re shut out of civic spaces, and as a result, systems rarely reflect their voices or visions. To flip the script, Clarissa and CalCenter are launching Shake the Future Up — a bold, youth-led campaign transforming civic participation into a movement of identity, action, and collective liberation. They’re building a powerhouse network of nonprofit and grassroots groups across Sacramento County to register 10,000 voters aged 17-35, while rallying youth organizers and adult allies through creative, community-driven outreach. Blending art, activism, and Americana-inspired visuals, Shake the Future Up reimagines what voter registration — and democracy itself — can look and feel like.

“As someone who came to the U.S. as a young immigrant and found my voice through civic engagement, I’m excited to join the Innovation for Impact Leadership Intensive. It’s a powerful opportunity to spark new ideas that will help the California Center for Civic Participation engage youth through art and creative activism, meeting them where they are and empowering them to lead change.”

Artists deserve fair, transparent, and equitable pay for their creative labor — and arts institutions have a key a role in making this happen. However, freelancers face inconsistent pay and opaque contracting that undervalue their work and push people out of the field. To overcome this problem, Patrick and the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council are launching their Building Fair Futures for Freelancers campaign. Through this campaign, they are leading the way to ensure nonprofit arts organizations in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania adopt and uphold fair pay standards. Informed by freelance artists and arts organizations, they’re also developing the Equity in Freelance and Contracted Work Checklist to make fair compensation accessible and actionable, while experimenting with creative engagement tactics that highlight freelancers’ real experiences and make it easy, fun, and rewarding for arts institutions to sign on. Building Fair Futures for Freelancers is shifting the culture of contracting in the arts toward fairness and transparency.

“I’m excited for the dedicated time and space to explore ideas alongside a diverse peer group with wide-ranging perspectives and social and cultural advocacy agendas. I’m eager to evolve ideas into concrete actions that can create lasting impact.”

Access to creative tools and civic engagement education is crucial in empowering folks to use their own voices to access their civic power. Yet community leaders, and especially educators, often lack meaningful, accessible ways to connect creative expression with civic engagement. To fix that, Jocelyn and The Womxn Project Education Fund are growing their A|R|T Lab — an established creative space for civic action — into a community hub where hundreds of people can learn, be inspired, and practice art activism that amplifies messages of real, democratic hope. Central to this effort are their I Am an Art Activist kits, filled with engaging resources designed to help young people feel empowered to make civic change through art. The kits connect teachers, librarians, caregivers, and community organizers with the A|R|T Lab’s resources, too. Through these kits and related programming, Jocelyn and The Womxn Project Education Fund are supporting dozens of artists in documenting their public activations, while building a vibrant ecosystem of creative civic participation across Rhode Island.

“I have followed and learned from the work C4AA has done over the years as an executive director, as it can feel isolating. The Center has provided visual and conceptual insights where it has been hard to know where else to turn.”

Fat liberation and representation matter — and everyone deserves to see their stories valued and supported. But fat community members and advocates are often excluded from mainstream platforms and are underfunded, limiting the reach of their powerful work. To spark a new reality, Tigress and NAAFA are launching their Fund Fat year-end fundraising campaign to raise $30,000, engage hundreds of new donors, and grow their networks of support. Through their campaign, they’re highlighting personal storytelling and a super-team of influencers from the fat community. The funds raised will support NAAFA’s critical work in 2026. At its heart, Fund Fat drives home a beautiful truth spoken by Tigress herself: changing the world for fat people is more important than changing fat people for the world.

“I am thrilled about the opportunity to refresh old ideas and spark new projects by sharing meaningful time with other dedicated leaders. I expect this experience to illuminate new pathways for my team, and I can’t wait to see the ripple effects of attending this intensive.”