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WE RISE & WIN TOGETHER DIGEST
SEPTEMBER 2026
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We Are the Founders:
Building the Future Seven Generations Ahead
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“Remember your greatness. Remember your North Star.
When things get hard that’s when we need our best.”
~Michael McAfee, CEO of PolicyLink
| | by Shirien Damra for Amplifier Art | PolicyLink Summit 2026: We Are the Founders | |
In the final week of August, under sunny skies just miles from the nation's capital, thousands of organizers, artists, educators, advocates, healthcare leaders, philanthropists, youth leaders, and movement builders gathered for PolicyLink Summit 2026: We Are the Founders. At a time when questions about democracy, belonging, and the future of our communities feel especially urgent, we were invited to do more than reflect on the state of our nation. We were invited to imagine what comes next.
From the Cherry Blossom Welcome Lounge to an opening block party filled with music, storytelling, art, and fireworks, the experience felt less like a conference and more like a gathering of people committed to building a future where everyone can thrive. Creativity flowed throughout every space. We moved between plenaries and performances, Homebase discussions and workshops, history and possibility. The summit was not designed for passive participation. It was designed to engage us, challenge us, and connect us to one another.
Guiding us through the week was Baratunde Thurston, whose warmth, humor, intellectual depth, and curiosity helped bring the summit's vision to life. He moved seamlessly between difficult truths and hopeful possibilities, helping participants navigate conversations that spanned generations, movements, and lived experiences. His enthusiasm was infectious, his facilitation thoughtful, and his ability to connect ideas left many of us engaged, inspired, and wanting more.
Throughout the week, PolicyLink CEO Michael McAfee and President Ashleigh Gardere challenged participants to move beyond observation and into responsibility. Their message was clear: democracy is not something we inherit and preserve from a distance. It is something we actively shape through our choices, our relationships, and our willingness to imagine a future that works for all of us. Again and again, they reminded us that this moment requires courage, creativity, leadership, and a commitment to one another.
Perhaps what made the summit feel so extraordinary was the people who filled the rooms.
It is rare to find yourself in a space where Indigenous elders, civil rights icons, immigrant advocates, Asian American leaders, democracy champions, artists, community organizers, policy leaders, and young visionaries are gathered not as separate voices, but as part of a shared conversation.
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Throughout the week, it felt as though we were sitting at a unique nexus of histories, movements, and generations. We listened to Indigenous leaders carrying teachings that predate the founding of the United States, civil rights leaders whose lives helped expand the promise of democracy, and advocates whose families and communities have spent generations fighting for recognition, dignity, and belonging. We heard stories of exclusion and resilience, of communities organizing for justice, and of people determined to ensure that future generations inherit a more inclusive democracy than the one they received.
The experience was a powerful reminder that the future is shaped not by any one movement or generation alone, but through the collective wisdom, courage, and imagination we bring to one another.
What emerged across every conversation was a common thread:
Our futures are interconnected.
Indigenous leaders asked us to think seven generations ahead. Civil rights leaders reminded us that freedom has always required courage and sacrifice. Advocates challenged us to expand our understanding of belonging and recognize that democracy is strongest when everyone has a place in it. And young people asked us to build a future worthy of inheriting.
Together, they reframed leadership not as power, but as stewardship.
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Baratunde Thurston returns with PolicyLink CEO Michael McAfee and President Ashleigh Gardere to explore why we should be the founders of a redesigned nation for all.
They discuss why we must own our power and birthright to do this work, how love and accountability must guide us, and the six essential founders’ capacities we must cultivate in ourselves and our institutions on this journey.
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Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times
by Skye Perryman
"Skye Perryman makes the case that defending democracy isn’t the job of lawyers or politicians alone—it’s a role for every one of us, seasoned and brand-new activists alike.
Drawing on her frontline experience challenging threats to democracy in courtrooms across the nation, Perryman combines gripping personal stories with practical “how-to” guides that empower readers to take action in their own communities."
Src: Penguin Random House
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American Indigenous Democracy:
A Call for Interdependence
by Katsi Cook and Oren Lyons
"For more than a thousand years, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy has practiced a living democracy rooted in peace, reciprocity, women’s authority, and responsibility to future generations. Their story helped shape the founding of the United States."
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Social Change
Now through October 24, Social Change is mobilizing voters in Georgia and Wisconsin.
Volunteer to phone-bank from anywhere or join for door-to-door outreach as they help communities get informed, get involved, and get to the polls.
Learn more
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Funding Resources
Building Bridges Learning Community Application
Due date: by end of day on September 28
The Building Bridges Project (Building Bridges: Cultivating Meaningful Cross-sectoral and Community-Based Partnerships to Improve Health) is working to strengthen partnerships between governmental public health, nonprofit, cross-sector, and community-based organizations to promote health and well-being.
This December 2026, Building Bridges will welcome its second cohort. The Learning Community will support up to 8 teams to strengthen relationships between state, local, tribal, and territorial (STLT) health departments and community organizations. This learning community centers on strengthening partnerships between the health department and community-based partners, not necessarily programs/projects.
Each team will be selected through an application process and will include individuals representing both STLT public health departments and community-based organizations. Over 8 months, each team will receive a $10,000 grant, along with peer, expert, and technical support to strengthen partnerships and shared work.
Connecting Champions for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in the Health Professions
RWJF seeks to fund one lead organization or consortium to serve as a national network-weaver for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) in the health professions. The selected grantee will connect and support leaders, organizations, and institutions across the ecosystem, strengthening relationships, aligning strategy and communications, and facilitating shared learning and collective action. By building the connections and infrastructure needed for collaboration, the grantee will help advance belonging, accountability, and systems change across health professions education and healthcare institutions.
Eligibility & Selection Criteria
- Applicants must be either public entities or nonprofit organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and are not private foundations or non-functionally integrated Type III supporting organizations. The Foundation may require additional documentation.
- Applicant organizations must be based in the United States or its territories.
- Applicants must apply as a single organization but may represent a consortium. Consortium-based applications must identify one lead organization that will serve as the primary grant holder and be responsible for grant management, coordination, and reporting.
- Demonstrate the ability to manage large, complex grants and coordinate work across multiple partners.
- Applicants must have the capacity to operate at a national level and engage constituents across the health professions ecosystem.
Deadline for receipt of Letters of Intent: September 24, 2026 (3 p.m. ET)
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