Washington, DC, Sept. 4, 2024 – Today, 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 – including Barbara DiGangi, University Settlement’s Director of Community Wellness Initiatives.
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.
“Reaching children and their families in their earliest years is vital to building intergenerational prosperity and well-being,” said Anne Mosle, vice president of the Aspen Institute and founder and executive director of Ascend. “I’m inspired by the commitment of these 22 leaders to transform the systems that our young children and their families experience. By embracing the power of change capital – financial, intellectual, human, and social capital – they are making the world work for children and families.”
At University Settlement, DiGangi is the founding director of Families Thriving, a leader in the effort to provide effective and accessible mental health and wellness supports to young people in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. A trusted partner of institutions including New York City Department of Education District 1 and Trinity Church Wall Street, Families Thriving offers community-based, multi-tiered mental health and wellness supports, including healing-centered social emotional support, two-generational services for youth and caregivers, and collaboration with educators. Families Thriving engages more than 5,000 members of our community annually.
“Our north star is to transform and destigmatize mental health in America. This means ensuring systems and community ecosystems are actively promoting emotional well-being rather than contributing to unhealthy cycles. Thanks to our incredible team and key partners including school District 1 and Trinity Church Wall Street , Families Thriving is making real progress toward that shared vision, starting with a key community pillar: schools,” said DiGangi. “If our mental health and education systems collaborated on innovative and holistic approaches to strengthen school communities in promoting and prioritizing emotional well-being, it could foster academic success, unlock possibilities, and ensure long-term intergenerational prosperity.”
“We’re witnessing this in action at University Settlement,” DiGangi continued. “Families Thriving is a model that’s working, and it can serve as a guide for reimagining our mental health and education systems. If we can scale impactful community-based organization (CBO) mental health partnerships with schools, it could significantly benefit our 1.1 million New York City public school students, their families, and school staff, and potentially provide a national framework. With antiracist and healing-centered approaches at the core of our work, we can stop perpetuating cycles of bias, harm and system involvement. We’d see a rise in emotional intelligence, community leadership, strong relationships between school and home, and academic success. I’m deeply honored to be named a fellow. Through this journey, I’m excited to explore how we can collectively scale and work towards our north star.”
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.
The Ascend Fellowship is an 18-month journey of thought-provoking reflection, inspiration, and action based on the Aspen Institutes 75-year history of leadership development and text-based Socratic approach. Over 18 months, Fellows participate in four Fellowship Forums, create and implement an action plan that furthers their vision to enable children and families in their earliest years, and check in regularly with peers and coaches.
Below are the 2024 Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows:
- Tess Abrahamson-Richards, Director of Data Sovereignty, Hummingbird Indigenous Family Services | Seattle, Washington
- Darneshia Allen, Training and Technical Assistance Integration Manager, ZERO TO THREE, | Benton, AR
- Jamal Berry, President and CEO, Educare, DC |Washington, DC
- Nia Bodrick, MD, General Pediatrician, Children’s National Hospital | Washington, DC
- Clinton Boyd, Jr., PhD, Researcher, Chapin Hall | Chicago, IL
- Sixto Cancel, Founder & CEO, Think of Us | Washington, DC
- Barbara DiGangi, Director of Community Wellness Initiatives, University Settlement | New York, NY
- Elizabeth Everett, Deputy Director and Public Policy Manager, First Five Nebraska | Lincoln, NE
- Shimica Gaskins, President & CEO, GRACE & End Child Poverty CA | Pasadena, CA
- Teresa Granillo, PhD, CEO, AVANCE | San Antonio, TX
- Kai-ama Hamer, Director, ParentCorps, Center for Early Childhood Health and Development, NYU School of Medicine | New York, NY
- Keami Harris, Chief of Equity and Strategy, Early Childhood Funders Collaborative | Upper Marlboro, MD
- Kenn Harris, Senior Consultant, National Partnership for Community Leadership | Groton, CT
- Priya Iyer, Founder & CEO, Our Roots | Oakland, CA
- Sarah Kuriakose, Associate Commissioner, Division of Integrated Community Services for Children and Families, New York State Office of Mental Health | Albany, NY
- Vance Lewis, Associate Partner, Promise Venture Studio | Oakland, CA
- Natalie Renew, Executive Director, Home Grown | Philadelphia, PA
- Demetrius Starling, Senior Deputy Director, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services | West Bloomfield, MI
- Madeleine Thakur, President & CEO, The Children’s Movement of Florida | Miami, FL
- Shannon Wanless, PhD, Executive Director and Associate Professor, Office of Child Development, University of Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh, PA
- Jennifer Wells, Director of Economic Justice, Community Change | Montgomery, AL
- Chelsea Wesner, Research Instructor, Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health, University of Colorado | Vermillion, SD
About the Ascend Fellowship
With the addition of the 2024 cohort, there are now 162 Ascend Fellows across the country building pathways to intergenerational family prosperity and well-being.
Through the Ascend Fellowship, we invest in a diverse cadre of 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
To date, Ascend Fellows have enacted transformative state policies, advocated for children and families as part of the United States Senate, led revolutionary nonprofits, and conducted groundbreaking academic research. Click here to learn more about the full network of Ascend Fellow alumni.
The Ascend Fellowship is made possible through the generous support of the Ann B. and Thomas L. Friedman Family Foundation, Bezos Family Foundation, Buffett Early Childhood Fund, Catto Shaw Foundation, Charlotte Perret Family Trust, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Doris Duke Foundation, the J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, Liz Blake Giving Fund of the Blake Family Foundation, Merle Chambers Fund, Patrice King Brickman, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
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About University Settlement
University Settlement partners with 40,000+ New Yorkers in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn every year to build on our collective strengths as we achieve healthy, stable, and remarkable lives.
For nearly 140 years, we’ve fought poverty and systemic inequality by building highly effective social services in collaboration with our neighbors.
Established in 1886 as the first Settlement House in the United States, we bring the values of that movement into the 21st century by meeting New Yorkers where they live, listening deeply to all perspectives, and creating space for responsive cooperation.
Joining with our neighbors to make stable foundations where people of all ages can grow and pursue their dreams, we build community strength.
We infuse a commitment to civic engagement, equality, and communal action into each of our programs, which include early childhood education, youth development, healthy aging, mental health and wellness, housing advocacy and benefits assistance, English classes for adult immigrants, community centers, and the arts.
#NYCisUS. What can we do together? Learn more at www.universitysettlement.org
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Ascend at the Aspen Institute is a catalyst and convener for diverse leaders working across systems and sectors to build intergenerational family prosperity and well-being by intentionally focusing on children and the adults in their lives together. We believe in the power of co-creation. We are a community of leaders — well-connected, well-prepared and well-positioned — building political will that transforms hearts, minds, policies, and practices.
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The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization whose purpose is to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve society’s greatest challenges. It is headquartered in Washington, DC and has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, as well as an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.
We are grateful for the generous support of the Ann B. and Thomas L. Friedman Family Foundation, Bezos Family Foundation, Buffett Early Childhood Fund, Catto Shaw Foundation, Charlotte Perret Family Trust, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Doris Duke Foundation, the J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, Liz Blake Giving Fund of the Blake Family Foundation, Merle Chambers Fund, Patrice King Brickman, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which makes the Aspen Institute Ascend Fellowship possible