Over six months, you will engage in four virtual 90-minute executive sessions and at least one three-and-a-half-hour in-person session focused on design thinking, high-performing teams, disruptive innovation, and strategic persuasion. You’ll also be placed on an Action Team with peers from across the field, working together to turn ideas into action.

The future of human services is emerging all around us. Rapidly evolving societal needs, powerful social and digital technologies, and new methods of engaging with communities and families are upending past practices in human services and opening entirely new ways of generating outcomes. Now is the time for human services leaders to not just respond to this change – but lead into the emerging future.

The Kresge New Deal for Families initiative is a collaborative effort designed to reimagine and strengthen the future of human services in a time of increasing complexity and need. Convened by The Kresge Human Services Program in partnership with Leadership for a Networked World, founded at Harvard University, this initiative brings together a select group of leaders from across the human services ecosystem who are committed to advancing meaningful, lasting change.

To create lasting impact, Forge a Vibrant Future, and provide an opportunity to immediately apply concepts from the 2025 Human Services Summit,
Leadership for a Networked World and Change and Innovation Agency are launching the inaugural Leaders Activation Lab.
Selected human services executives will join Action Teams to design and test innovative solutions to address the sector’s most pressing
challenges and opportunities, focusing on:

The vision, creativity, and ideas that drive resilience and renewal are often fueled by uncertain and tumultuous times. Human services are no exception, and within today’s profound disruption and volatility lies an extraordinary opportunity to forge a vibrant future.

Amid a complex and volatile world, forward-thinking leaders in Human Services are embracing reinvention, turning challenges into opportunities, and building the capacity for change. These visionary leaders are not only shifting their perspective – they are redefining the future of social and economic mobility for generations to come.

Emerging into a vibrant new era of human services, the opportunities and challenges in advancing social and economic mobility have become more evident and dynamic. The impact of persistent health inequities, deep economic disparities, and rising environmental justice issues have shown that human services require broader vision and mindset, innovative services and solutions, and transformation in organizational capacity. Achieving this future state demands courageous leadership.