The Ascend Community Proves That Together, We Are Truly Unstoppable

At the 2025 Aspen VisionXChange gathering, over 160 leaders demonstrated exactly why the Ascend Fellowship has become such a powerful force for family economic mobility across America.

Key Takeaways

• The Ascend Fellowship Network represents over 1,000 changemakers driving transformation for more than 15 million families nationwide
• Real leadership means treating entire communities of children "like we love them" rather than searching for single solutions
• Building unstoppable movements requires bringing diverse voices together, even when it creates productive tension and discomfort
• Values-based leadership means continuing to live your principles when there's pressure to abandon them for perceived safety
• The two-generation approach has unlocked more than $600 million in public and philanthropic investments over the past decade
• Ecosystems organized around shared ideas create collective impact that no single organization could achieve alone
• Hope emerges from understanding that our "engines are strong enough to get us there" despite facing significant headwinds
• Breaking cycles of division requires choosing grace with accountability over responding to intolerance with more intolerance
• Emergency response systems have been mistaken for actual safety frameworks in too many communities
• The most transformative leaders often work quietly to "keep their hand in the cookie jar" for the kids they serve

A Movement Built on Unlikely Partnerships

What makes the Ascend community genuinely unstoppable isn't just its size, though representing over 1,000 leaders is impressive. It's how these leaders have learned to build bridges across seemingly impossible divides.

Take Mayor Melvin Carter's approach in St. Paul. When he talks about his administration's philosophy, he gets right to the heart of sustainable change: "Every decision is made to benefit the decision maker. So for those of us who want the policies and resources that come out of city hall to benefit young people more, people of color more, seniors more, then the onus is on us to bring in a broader set of decision makers."

• Carter's cabinet hiring process involves young people, seniors, city employees, and community members sourcing candidates and conducting first-round interviews together
• When a newspaper noted his cabinet was the most diverse in the city's history, his response was telling: "We're a diverse city. How did you do it your way to a non-diverse all-white man's cabinet?"
• The administration built their budget collaboratively and raised the minimum wage to $15 with both Chamber of Commerce and labor leaders at the same table
• Public safety discussions literally include Black Lives Matter activists sitting alongside police union presidents
• This approach works because Carter grew up "on both sides of some of those lines" as both a young Black man and the son of a police officer

The magic happens when leaders stop treating different perspectives as mutually exclusive universes. As Carter puts it: "If that was true, then I literally wouldn't be able to exist." His lived experience navigating multiple realities gives him credibility with groups that typically can't find common ground.

Dr. Nate Chomalo, reflecting on his own biracial experience growing up in predominantly white spaces, noted how necessity teaches you to see other people's perspectives. This isn't just a nice-to-have skill – it's essential for creating the kind of solidarity needed for unstoppable movements.

The Ocean Metaphor That Changes Everything

Ann Mosley, Ascend's founder, offered perhaps the most powerful framework for understanding what makes movements truly unstoppable. She compared the Ascend community to an ocean, and the metaphor reveals why traditional approaches to social change fall short.

"We often talk about movements as waves of change, but what gives an ocean its power? What makes it unstoppable?" Mosley asked. Her answer unpacks three crucial elements that most organizations miss.

• Scale matters, but connection matters more: A single drop of water isn't unstoppable, but aligned drops moving with purpose become formidable
• The Ascend network connects to everything from the National Conference of Mayors to Head Start Centers across the country
• "We're playing chess, not checkers" when it comes to activating networks of networks
• Critical mass without critical connection just creates noise – real power comes from strategic relationships
• The community has "changed the way institutions think about and act for families" by building these deep connections
• They've "transformed human services to focus on human potential" rather than just managing problems

The ocean's constant motion, even when it appears calm, mirrors how sustainable change actually works. "Progress isn't always visible, but that doesn't mean we're not advancing," Mosley explained. Waves are always forming, currents shifting, tides rising and falling beneath the surface.

• Even in quieter seasons, the Ascend community continues "deepening relationships, iterating on what works, laying the groundwork for the next greater transformation"
• There's "rest in this work, but never stillness" – a crucial distinction for leaders who mistake temporary setbacks for permanent defeats
• Vision Exchange gatherings serve as opportunities to "see where we need to build and where we need to rest in the trough of the wave"
• The community gathers energy collectively for "the next big push" rather than burning out individual leaders

Most importantly, oceans "respond to the ecosystem without losing their core." They adjust to gravitational pull, temperature, and wind without resisting these forces, remaining powerful because they're adaptable.

What Happens When Universities Stop Competing and Start Collaborating

Dr. Dan Porterfield's story about the American Talent Initiative provides a fascinating case study in how "ecosystems organized around an idea" can achieve what seemed impossible. About 130 top universities decided to stop competing against each other for low-income students and instead compete together to expand opportunity.

The results speak for themselves, but the process reveals how unstoppable movements actually build momentum over time.

• The initial goal seemed ambitious: enroll 50,000 more Pell Grant students in highly selective schools with high graduation rates
• University of Dayton created an innovative partnership with Sinclair Community College for dual enrollment, inspiring other presidents to examine their own community college relationships
• University of Michigan developed their "True Blue Pledge" for all-state tuition scholarships, leading other schools to create their own versions
• Working groups emerged organically – one for community college transfer students, another focused on veterans
• When COVID hit and enrollment dropped, the ecosystem approach helped schools weather the crisis better than they would have individually
• Washington University in St. Louis went from having the lowest Pell Grant enrollment (8%) to making dramatic improvements through steady, incremental steps

The Washington University story illustrates something crucial about how real transformation works. They didn't achieve change overnight – they went from 8% to 11%, designed more welcoming programs, partnered with St. Louis high schools, invested in financial aid, and hired dedicated staff. "Steady incremental steps," as Porterfield noted, prepared them to take a giant step when their endowment skyrocketed and they could invest a billion dollars in financial aid.

• Small consistent actions created the infrastructure needed to maximize unexpected opportunities
• The collaborative ecosystem meant presidents became "really good friends" who support each other during difficult times
• When federal attacks on university revenue streams intensified, these former competitors now "lean on each other a lot"
• The model proves that "building an ecosystem organized around a deeply humane and important idea" pays off in unpredictable but powerful ways

Redefining Public Safety Through a Parent's Eyes

One of the most compelling examples of values-based leadership came through Mayor Carter's approach to reimagining public safety in St. Paul. His framework completely shifts how we think about keeping communities safe.

"When we go to a political debate, anytime we talk about public safety, we're talking about police and prisons and prosecutors," Carter explained. "But if I say tell me about your kids' safety, you're going to tell me about seat belts and gates on the stairs and outlet covers."

• Parents instinctively focus on transforming environments so nothing bad happens in the first place
• They work to prevent emergencies rather than just respond to them efficiently
• Traditional public safety approaches mistake emergency response for actual safety frameworks
• St. Paul now has only two gun homicides in 2025 because they pushed hard on prevention-focused public safety
• The city starts every newborn with $50 in a college savings account – "if you don't want your child to have one, there's an application to fill out to not have it"
• They used American Rescue Plan funding to eliminate over $100 million in medical debt for residents

Carter's personal experience drives this approach. When his nephew got robbed at gunpoint, his sister had to drive around the block to give the young man courage just to walk his dog. "The notion that you think the threat of losing a couple of votes has anywhere on the radar scale compared to the threat of that happening to my nephew or my daughters" puts political courage in proper perspective.

The key insight: "How do I approach literally the children whose name I know, whose faces I see? And what does it look like for every child to get that treatment from their community?"

• This personalized approach scales because it's rooted in universal human values
• Leaders who stay connected to specific children they know and love make different decisions than those focused on abstract policy debates
• "Aggressively staying connected to the community that sent me" prevents the inside-city-hall worldview from distorting reality
• Sometimes maintaining allegiance to constituents means letting them "kick your butt" and listening instead of getting defensive

Learning to Defy While Building Bridges

Dr. Chomalo introduced a powerful reframe around defiance that helps explain how unstoppable movements maintain momentum under pressure. Drawing from Dr. Sha's work, he defined defiance as "to live in accordance with your values when there's pressure to do otherwise."

This definition transforms how we think about principled leadership in difficult times.

• Real defiance isn't about being the loudest voice in the room – it's about consistently living your values regardless of external pressure
• Carter's approach: "I'm never trying to be the loudest tweeter in the room. My goal is if I can quietly keep my hand in the cookie jar for those kids, I'm totally happy with that"
• Living values often matters more than declaring them publicly, especially when vocal declarations might undermine effectiveness
• The Whitney Young story illustrates strategic defiance: showing white funders agricultural education while secretly teaching calculus when they left
• Sometimes the most defiant act is refusing to respond to intolerance with more intolerance

The conversation revealed how leaders navigate the tension between standing firm on principles and remaining open to growth. Carter shared his struggle with maintaining hope while watching leaders "throw our trans kids and undocumented citizens under the bus" for perceived political gain.

• The challenge isn't just maintaining personal values – it's creating space for others to grow into theirs
• Carter reflects on his own "journey of critical consciousness" and how grace from others allowed him to evolve
• "If folks had been intolerant of me entering these spaces, I wouldn't be on the stage today because I would have given up"
• The goal is "grace with accountability" rather than giving up on people who haven't reached the same understanding yet

Engines Strong Enough for the Journey Ahead

The evening concluded with a story that captures why the Ascend community remains genuinely unstoppable despite facing significant headwinds. Dr. Chomalo shared Martin Luther King Jr.'s reflection on a flight from New York to London that took nine hours one way and twelve hours returning.

When King asked the pilot about the difference, he learned about tailwinds and headwinds – and internalized a powerful lesson about sustained movement work.

• Sometimes movements feel tailwinds of success and triumph, other times they face headwinds trying to slow progress
• The key insight from the pilot: "Don't you worry, the engines are strong enough to get us there"
• The journey might take longer than expected – "maybe 12 months, 24 months, four years" – but the engines are strong enough
• This isn't naive optimism but realistic assessment of collective capacity built over more than a decade

The Ascend community has proven its engine strength through concrete results: $600 million unlocked for two-generation strategies, 15 million families impacted, transformation of human services approaches across the country, and a thousand-strong network of leaders embedded in institutions from city halls to universities to community centers.

Governor Pritzker's opening message reinforced this theme: "We're building something that will withstand the storm and move us forward. And that all starts with you." The $500 million in 2Gen initiatives he referenced represents just one measure of what happens when unstoppable forces stay in motion.

As the evening wrapped up, the message was clear: "The question isn't can they stop us. The question is will we stop?" With engines this strong and commitment this deep, the answer seems obvious. This community isn't just talking about being unstoppable – they're proving it through the steady work of transformation, one family and one community at a time.

The Ascend approach offers a blueprint that any movement can learn from: build genuine relationships across difference, stay connected to the people you serve, live your values consistently under pressure, and never mistake emergency response for actual solutions. Most importantly, remember that individual drops of water become unstoppable when they align and move with shared purpose.