EdRedesign

🎓 Join us in the Askwith Education Forum this fall at the Harvard Graduate School of Education for two conversations exploring cross-sector leadership and transformative civic experiences for young people.

OCTOBER 6TH EVENT:
Today's superintendents are navigating far more than academics—they're building cross-sector coalitions, engaging communities as true partners, and countering polarization while advancing equity.

🏫 The Modern Superintendent: School and Civic Leader
📅 Tuesday, October 6, 2026 | 4:30–6:00 PM ET
📍 Longfellow Hall, HGSE (and virtual)
🔗 Register: https://calendar.gse.harvard.edu/36YmkP6/5a5YUc2gOSz?source=edredesign

This conversation brings together leaders who've done it on the ground:

🔹 Russell Booker – CEO, Spartanburg Academic Movement; Joint Senior Fellow, EdRedesign, Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Initiative on Superintendent as Civic Leader; Former Superintendent, Spartanburg, SC.

🔹 Michael Matsuda – Executive in Residence, LMU School of Education; Former Superintendent, Anaheim, CA

🔹 Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell – CEO, Oakland Thrives; Joint Senior Fellow, EdRedesign, Initiative on Superintendent as Civic Leader, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Former Superintendent, Oakland, CA

Moderated by Jennifer Cheatham, Chair of the Initiative on Superintendent as Civic Leader, Harvard Graduate School of Education

OCTOBER 28TH EVENT:
As America marked its 250th anniversary, what if every high school senior spent a week immersed in a part of the country totally unlike their own? We'll explore how civic experiences can build connection, understanding, and lifelong civic agency.

🌎 A Civic Rite of Passage for Every Young Person?
📅 Wednesday, October 28, 2026 | 5:00–6:30 PM ET
📍 Longfellow Hall, HGSE (and virtual)
🔗 Register: https://calendar.gse.harvard.edu/36YmkP6/5a5YUc2ieBt?source=edredesign

Featuring:
🔹 Danielle Allen – James Bryant Conant University Professor, Harvard University

🔹 Allonah Ashworth – Alumna, American Exchange Project; Prairie View A&M University Class of 2026

🔹 David McCullough III – Co-founder & CEO, American Exchange Project

🔹 Jessica Osei – Alumna, American Exchange Project; Townson University Class of 2027

Moderated by Rob Watson, Executive Director, EdRedesign.

Both events are free and open to the public, available in person and virtually.

⏰ Reminder: Applications for the EdRedesign Cradle-to-Career Fellowship for Partnership Leaders close Tuesday, October 6, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. ET!

If you're a new or aspiring leader of a partnership, this is your moment to invest in your leadership—and in the children, youth, and families you serve.

Don't just take our word for it. Travis Williams, a former Fellow, expresses how the program shaped his leadership. Travis recently shared more about his journey and vision for cradle-to-career work in his TEDxJacksonville Talk.

🔗Watch the talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNCnh3LpXtc

This 18-month, tuition-free Fellowship helps leaders like Travis strengthen their ability to:

🌐 Lead across sectors, programs, and cradle-to-career models
📊 Use data while authentically centering youth and family voice 🧑‍🤝‍🧑
🤝 Align human, financial, and technical resources around shared goals
🧭 Lead partners without formal authority

Fellows engage in in-person cohort convenings, virtual learning sessions, peer learning groups, StriveTogether Training Hub modules, executive coaching, mentoring, and a community-based project—all grounded in real-world practice and created in partnership with Partners for Rural Impact, Purpose Built Communities, StriveTogether, and the William Julius Wilson Institute at Harlem Children's Zone.

🔗Apply at: https://edredesign.smapply.us/prog/2026-2028_cradle-to-career_fellowship_for_partnership_leaders_application/

This summer, 14 The Commit Partnership Summer Fellows transformed ideas into practical solutions that advance educational and economic opportunity across Dallas County.

We’re proud to highlight former Mindich Fellow Natalie Luera, a Harvard College undergraduate and former Leadership and Learning Associate at EdRedesign at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Through the fellowship experience, Natalie brought a systems-oriented perspective to her work with Commit.

Her capstone focused on helping Commit move beyond metrics alone to tell the human stories behind its impact. Through a storytelling and social media campaign, Natalie helped shape content that engages future fellows and highlights the people and purpose driving education equity forward.

Natalie’s project is a powerful example of what can happen when fellows are invited to connect their interests, skills, and professional goals to meaningful organizational priorities.

Read more about Natalie: https://www.commitpartnership.org/insights/latest-learnings/from-capstone-to-real-world-impact-celebrating-the-2026-commit-partnership-summer-fellows

Harvard's Center for Public Leadership
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Harvard University
Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School

From Capstone to Real-World Impact: Celebrating the 2026 Commit Partnership Summer Fellows Over the past two months, our summer fellows have turned complex capstone projects into functional assets that directly drive our work.

What does it take to prevent violence before it happens?

Join The EdRedesign Lab for a virtual screening of the latest documentary from DREAM ON and meet the people behind Orlando Kidz Zones and Peace Orlando — two efforts reducing community violence and improving the lives of children and families facing the greatest challenges.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A featuring experts in neighborhood transformation and community violence intervention, including representatives from the The University of Chicago Crime Lab, Harlem Children's Zone, and EdRedesign.

📅 September 11, 2026
⏰ 10:30–11:45 a.m. ET
💻 Virtual via Zoom

This event is free and open to the public. 🔗 Registration is required: https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jJeiuCbxQFWhv4-nxWeYfw

Harvard's Center for Public Leadership
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Harvard University
Harvard Alumni for Education
Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School
City of Orlando - Government

Applications are now open for the EdRedesign Fellowship for Cradle-to-Career Partnership Leaders!

This 18-month, tuition-free Fellowship is designed for new and aspiring leaders of cradle-to-career place-based partnerships who are committed to advancing equity and expanding opportunity for children, youth, and families.

Through immersive learning, executive coaching, peer networking, and real-world application, Fellows will strengthen their ability to:

🌐 Lead across sectors, programs, and cradle-to-career models
📊 Use data while authentically centering youth and family voice
🤝 Align human, financial, and technical resources around shared goals
🧭 Lead partners without formal authority

The Fellowship includes in-person cohort convenings, virtual learning sessions, peer learning groups, StriveTogether Training Hub modules, executive coaching, mentoring, and a community-based project.

The Fellowship is grounded in real-world practice and created in partnership with Partners for Rural Impact, Purpose Built Communities, StriveTogether, and the William Julius Wilson Institute at Harlem Children's Zone.

⏰ Applications are due Tuesday, October 6, 2026, by 11:59 p.m.

Learn more and apply: https://bit.ly/C2C-Fellowship-Application-2026

In the September issue of AASA, The School Superintendents Association's School Administrator Magazine, our Executive Director Rob Watson examines why the challenges facing high-poverty school districts require more than school-based solutions.

In “Cross-Sector Collaboration: Meeting Problems of Scale with Solutions of Scale,” Rob makes a compelling case for aligning education, healthcare, housing, higher education, workforce, philanthropy, government, and community organizations around shared outcomes for children and families.

When students spend only 20% of their K–12 years in school—and 80% in their communities—we cannot expect schools to address the effects of housing instability, community violence, limited healthcare access, and economic inequity alone.

Cross-sector collaboration offers a path forward: building the civic infrastructure, relationships, opportunities, and supports that help every child thrive from cradle to career.

🔗 Read his article in the flip edition on page 22: https://bit.ly/AASA-Cross-Sector-Collaboration

Harvard Alumni for Education
Harvard's Center for Public Leadership
Harvard Graduate School of Education

We’re thrilled to announce Sonali Nijhawan as EdRedesign's inaugural Chief Program Officer!

Sonali brings more than two decades of experience building service leadership and place-based initiatives in communities across the country, including leading the Stockton Service Corps and serving as Director of AmeriCorps under the Biden-Harris Administration. She has been a valued partner to EdRedesign since 2019, first through the By All Means Community of Practice and, most recently, as a By All Means Senior Fellow.

In this new role, Sonali will provide strategic leadership and oversight for EdRedesign's Program Team, guiding flagship talent development and field-building initiatives, including the Institute for Success Planning, the EdRedesign Fellowship for Cradle-to-Career Partnership Leaders, and the By All Means Senior Fellowship Program. Her appointment reflects EdRedesign's continued commitment to strengthening cross-sector, community-driven leadership as the organization enters its next phase of growth.

📰 Read the press release https://edredesign.org/news/edredesign-lab-appoints-sonali-nijhawan-chief-program-officer

EdRedesign Lab Appoints Sonali Nijhawan as Chief Program Officer The EdRedesign Lab serves as a catalyst advancing the cradle-to-career field by promoting cross-sector community-based systems of support and opportunity for all children, especially those affected by racism and poverty.

Day 3 of our Institute for Success Planning Workshop is off to a powerful start.

We began with Julie Allen (EdRedesign), who introduced the Creator Journalism Project and showed the series premiere of DREAM ON, highlighting the work of Communities In Schools of San Antonio. The story out of San Antonio captures what’s possible when cross-sector partners align around a shared vision—schools, organizations, and community partners working together to improve outcomes for children and youth.

From there, Andrea Ricotta (EdRedesign) led us into “But How Do We Know? Using Data to Understand and Grow Your Community’s Impact.” She introduced a “Rate Your Data Disposition” scale that sparked rich conversations around: How do we feel about the role of data in our work? What does success look like in our communities? How do we know we’re making real progress?

Communities explored multiple entry points for impact grounded in holistic student domains:
⚖️ Equitable access
💬 Social-emotional learning
🩺 Health and wellbeing
📚 Academic growth and success
🤝 Belonging, identity, and voice
🚀 Postsecondary and future pathways

We then moved into Access Your Throughline and Workbook Plan, where participants began drafting community vision and outcome statements—clarifying the throughline from shared aspirations to concrete, trackable results.

“All means all” asks a simple but profound question: What would it take for every young person to have a trusted adult in their corner, from cradle to career?

In our "All Means All: Building Navigation Supports Cradle-to-Career" panel, leaders and youth from Orlando, FL brought this vision to life. Abraham Morris (City of Orlando - Government) and Raysean Brown (Advance Peace) were joined by young people who shared how Navigator relationships reshaped their futures.

They described meeting Navigators from Advance Peace and the City’s Children, Youth, and Families Division—feeling uncomfortable and even annoyed at first—until trust was built and a real bond formed. Through Life Maps and consistent support, Navigators helped them imagine new possibilities, set meaningful goals, and see a path toward something bigger for themselves and their communities.

Their message to us was clear: this work is hard—for mentors and for youth—but perfection isn’t the requirement. What matters is a committed, consistent relationship.

We’re grateful to the Orlando team and youth leaders for centering lived experience, challenging us to remove barriers, and reminding us that Navigators are not just a program—they are a lifeline.