We are counting down the days until we welcome and convene our network at the Opportunity Youth Forum (OYF) Fall Convening 2025. We will be honored to convene our network for national conversations on themes that bring us together in our collective work and vision including, centering holistic healing systems, youth voice, culture, our democracy, narrative change, and belonging, meaning, wellbeing, and purpose (BMWP) interventions that positively transform and improve intergenerational outcomes for youth and young adults across the nation.
In the ‘Speaker Spotlight’ below, we invite you to learn more about our featured plenary speakers and lean into the wisdom of nationally renowned leaders in the Opportunity Youth (OY) movement that inform our present journey, and the future learning arc of our national network.
Plenary Speakers Spotlight│Meet The Speakers
Looking Back To Look Ahead│Welcoming Back
Dr. Shawn Ginwright is the Jerome T. Murphy Professor of Practice at Harvard Graduate School of Education. His groundbreaking work on trauma, healing, and the empowerment of African American youth has been instrumental in reshaping the discourse surrounding youth development. Dr. Ginwright’s introduction of the concept of “healing-centered engagement” in 2018 has revolutionized the field, providing an asset- based approach to addressing youth trauma and fostering resilience. His work has been cited in the New York Times, and he is a highly sought-after speaker on topics ranging from civic engagement and youth activism to the transformative power of healing.
Dr. Ginwright’s contributions extend beyond his academic work. He is a seasoned non- profit leader, serving as the co-founder and CEO of Flourish Agenda, Inc., a pioneer research lab and consulting firm dedicated to unlocking the power of healing and empowering youth of color, as well as their adult allies, to drive transformative change in their schools and communities. In addition, Dr. Ginwright has written numerous highly acclaimed books, including “The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves” and “Hope and Healing in Urban Education: How Urban Activists and Teachers Are Reclaiming Matters of the Heart.”
Keynote with Dr. Ginwright on Healing: The Foundation of Belonging, Meaning, Wellbeing & Purpose at the OYF 2023 Convening
Keynote with Dr. Ginwright on Healing Centered Engagement at the OYF 2019 Convening
Nat Kendall-Taylor serves as Chief Executive Officer at the FrameWorks Institute. Nat oversees the organization’s pioneering, research-based approach to strategic communications, which uses methods from the social and behavioral sciences to measure how people understand complex socio-political issues and tests ways to reframe them to drive social change. As CEO, he leads a multi-disciplinary team of social scientists and communications practitioners who investigate ways to apply innovative framing research methods to social issues and train nonprofit organizations to put the findings into practice.
An expert in psychological anthropology and communications science, Nat publishes widely in the popular and professional press and lectures frequently in the United States and abroad. His work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as Science Communication, Human Organization, Applied Communications Research, Child Abuse and Neglect, and the Annals of Anthropological Practice. He has presented at numerous conferences and organizations in the United States and around the world, ranging from Harvard University and the National Academy of Sciences to the Parenting Research Centre in Australia, the Science and Society Symposium in Canada, and Amnesty International in the United Kingdom. He is a senior fellow at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, a visiting professor at the Child Study Center at Yale School of Medicine, and a fellow at the British-American Project.
In Conversation with Nat Kendall-Taylor on Transforming Narratives in Partnership with Youth & Communities at the OYF 2023 Convening
Meet The Speakers│Featured Plenary Speakers
John Kania is a practitioner, researcher, writer, teacher, and speaker on how organizations and people can achieve change together. He is the Founder and Executive Director of Colletive Change Lab. Prior to that, he ran FSG, a nonprofit consulting firm and think tank working globally across issues and sectors to support social and environmental changemakers. From 2018 to 2020, he served as an Executive-in-Residence at national venture philanthropy New Profit, co-leading the launch of a systems change practice. John has explored with increasing depth what it takes to achieve change collectively. In 2011, he co-authored the article “Collective Impact,” which remains Stanford Social Innovation Review’s most-read article ever. The theory and practice of collective impact has spread across the globe, honed and enhanced by thousands of practitioners and initiatives. More recently, John’s practice, research and writing have focused on systems change, helping clarify for practitioners how to “shift the conditions that hold a problem in place.” John’s much-referenced article, “The Water of Systems Change,” (which includes the “Six Conditions of Systems Change” framework) is being used around the world today to bring clarity to systems change and to help people achieve collective potential.
Laura (Hughes) Cipolla-Stickles, MPH, Founder and Principal of Gusto Partners, LLC, believes in “Harnessing the power of the communities we serve by placing them at the center of their customers’ content development and storytelling.” She specializes in stakeholder and relationship leadership, creating diverse and inclusive environments for iterative learning, social change, and leading cross-sector collaboration. She is a strategic leader with a proven track record of scaling impactful models, having held leadership roles in public, private, and philanthropic sectors. She believes in cultivating a deep understanding of and working with communities to address their needs. Her superpowers are stewarding relationships across sectors with discipline and ease and combining strategic problem-solving with the power of persuasive storytelling to drive meaningful change.
Mya Skelton is an African-American writer and freshman at Belmont University. She enjoys writing about African American culture, religion, and the nuances of the human experience, drawing inspiration from her relationships and the lives of those she sees in the media. Her work balances extensive metaphor and overt language in order to build an image that can be understood by a multitude of different people- poetry enjoyers and non-poetry enjoyers alike. When she is not writing, Mya can be found curled over a good book, belting out a song, or enjoying a live stream from the comfort of her bed.
Toshi Reagon is a multi-talented and versatile singer, composer, musician, curator, and producer with a profound ear for sonic Americana. Her expansive career includes residences at Carnegie Hall, the Paris Opera House, and multiple festivals and venues nationally and internationally. A highly collaborative artist, she has worked with many musicians, choreographers, film and theater makers, including Meshell Ndegeocello, Urban Bush Women, Dorrance Dance, Nona Hendryx, Carl Hancock Rux, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Robert Wilson, and her band BIGLovely. Toshi co-composed music for two Peabody Award-winning films. She is a 2015 Art of Change Fellow by the Ford Foundation. A 2018 United States Artist Fellow, and an Andrew W. Melon Creative Futures Fellow Carolina Performing Arts.
In 2021, Toshi received the APAP Award for Merit in the Performing Arts and was a 2021 recipient of the Herb Alpert Award in Music. Toshi received an honorary doctorate from Emerson College in 2022. In 2011 she founded the Community festival Word*Rock*& Sword. Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon, co-created the opera Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower, premiering in 2017 at NYUAD Arts Center. Ongoing projects include Toshi Reagon and BIGLovely on tour, LongWaterSong Marine Mammal Meditations w/ Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Octavia’s Parables Podcast, Songs of the Living, and multiple collaborations and curated events. Toshi created the production company Wise Reagon Arts in 2018 to produce the opera Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower. New works include the musical You’re Having Too Much Fun So We’re Gonna Have to Kill You and EcoTones. Toshi’s music can be found on her website: wisereagonarts.com
An Ode to the Arts│Creatives Arts Spotlight
“Loving humans means writing poems & songs novels & plays, slogans, chants & protest signs.”
Meet the Artists and Performers│Welcoming Back
META4 Houston Coached by Outspoken Bean and Adam Mac, Meta4 Houston is the face of the youth poetry slam scene. Meta4 represents Houston to the world at slam competitions, including the International Brave New Voices festival. Each year hundreds of teens compete at the Space City Slam Series, vying for a spot on the Meta-Four team. The top six competitors at the final Space City Grand Slam earn a spot on the prestigious team. Meta-Four Houston takes the voices of youth to powerful new heights through one-on-one mentorship as well as local and national performance opportunities.
Emanuelee “Outspoken” Bean Emanuelee Bean, also known as “Outspoken Bean,” was the first poet to perform on Houston Ballet’s main stage with their production “Play.” He has been commissioned to write and perform a national campaign on diversity for Pabst Blue Ribbon and VICE, while creating and producing his own festival, Plus Fest: The Everything Plus Poetry Festival. Born in New Jersey and raised in San Antonio, Texas, Outspoken Bean serves as Houston’s poet laureate through 2023. In 2022, Bean received an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship.
Featured Artists and Performers│Primera Linea & the Trombone Shorty Academy
Primera Linea is a youth band from Havana, Cuba that fuses AfroCuban rhythms and New Orleans funk. Mentored by AfroCuban funk sensation Cimafunk and New Orleans superstar Trombone Shorty, Primera Linea has developed a dynamic live show and performed at many of Havana’s top venues, including the Fabrica de Arte Cubano (FAC), Tribe Caribe’s Black Box, La Guarida Rooftop, Guampara Music, Bar H and La Carpinteria. The name Primera Linea means “First Line,” as they were the “first” group of youth from their neighborhood to travel to New Orleans to experience and learn Second “Line” music and traditions, which is now a pillar of their music and identity. Antuan (bass), Camila (lead vocals), Daniela (trombone), Fabio (trumpet), Hollden (drums), Kevin (percussion) and Marlon (keys) are students at the Guillermo Tomas School of Music in Guanabacoa and range in ages from 12 to 18 years old. Primera Linea’s debut album will be released later this year.
The Trombone Shorty Foundation Alumni Band features the next generation of brass band musicians from New Orleans. Featuring alumni from Trombone Shorty Foundation’s programs, this group of talented young people helps carry the city’s cultural heritage forward. The Trombone Shorty Foundation Alumni Band has been mentored by professional musicians from groups like Rebirth Brass Band, the Soul Rebels, and New Breed Brass Band, and through this experience, they have gained invaluable performance experience while deepening their musical roots. Participants have performed across the country and internationally—including in Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, and Havana, Cuba —and have shared the stage with Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews during the Foundation’s fundraiser, Shorty Fest at the iconic Tipitina’s. Whether performing on local stages or representing New Orleans abroad, the Alumni Band carries the torch of the city’s iconic sound while adding their fresh voices to the next chapter of its legacy.
“Hard times require furious dancing.”-Alice Walker
Stay tuned for more on Featured Plenaries and Speakers!
Unable to join us in-person this year? We extend a virtual invitation to subscribe to our Youtube Channel to view all our featured plenaries online later this Summer. Follow us on our social media channels @AspenFCS for LIVE updates during the convening.
About Us
The Aspen Forum for Community Solutions (AFCS)
The Aspen Forum for Community Solutions plays an integral role throughout the opportunity youth movement, with a primary focus on supporting the Opportunity Youth Forum. The Opportunity Youth Forum was launched in 2012 to leverage the new visibility and momentum of the opportunity youth movement coming out of the White House Council on Community Solutions, which called for innovative, place-based, collaborative solutions to reconnect the 6 million opportunity youth in the United States at that time.
The Opportunity Youth Forum (OYF)
The Opportunity Youth Forum (OYF) is a network comprised of over forty local collaborations in urban, rural, and tribal communities across the United States that seeks to build and scale reconnection pathways that achieve better outcomes in education, employment and overall well-being for opportunity youth. Opportunity youth are young adults, 16-24 years of age, who are engaged in neither work nor education. Learn more about our opportunity youth work.
