In the span of a few weeks this spring, the Emerging Leaders Network (ELN) staff found ourselves in two different cities, in two very different rooms.
We visited Washington, D.C. and New York City as part of our ongoing efforts to connect in person with network members and to highlight the work of grantees. We’d planned to connect members with each other, collect stories to share with the broader network, and maybe even feel more energized ourselves. What we encountered instead was a vibrant, creative community of leaders who gave us something that has been in short supply lately: hope.
In Washington, D.C., we gathered Emerging Leaders and guests at the Hill Center for an exclusive screening of “Undivided,” a new docuseries created by Emerging Leader and Stewarding the Common Good Fellow Jack Gordon. The series asks a question that is urgent not just in our nation’s capital but across the country today: What changes when we tell different stories of America? After watching that same question come alive on screen and listening to the audience grapple with it, we were reminded why this network exists.
In New York City, we gathered at St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery for “Preserving Dignity in Democracy,” a panel conversation on faith, civic power, and protecting the vote. With panelists including ELN Innovation Fellow Nia Alvarez-Mapp, Rev. Anne Marie Witchger, Diya Basu-Sen, and special guest NYC Council Member Harvey Epstein, the room leaned in. Instead of getting mired in despair, the panelists and audience created a conversation that felt both energetic and grounded. People spoke honestly about what makes it hard to engage in civic life, and what is at stake if we can’t support each other in showing up anyway. We left with a new appreciation for how broad and diverse the work of protecting democracy really is. Artists, caregivers, elected officials, poll workers — we all have a role to play.
We left with a new appreciation for how broad and diverse the work of protecting democracy really is. Artists, caregivers, elected officials, poll workers — we all have a role to play.
But as meaningful as both events were, the conversations we’ll carry longest happened one-on-one. Over coffee, during a quick walk, in a corner of a reception room, we heard singular yet consistent examples of why pluralism matters today.
Once we started talking about it, we couldn’t stop — and the people around us joined in. Emerging Leader Nagat Khalifa shared how she uses Dungeons & Dragons to teach her friends about interfaith cooperation and pluralism. We knew that pluralism happens in all aspects of everyday life but hadn’t considered its applications in fantasy life!
The conversations followed us outside the door too. On her way to our panel discussion in New York, Anne struck up a conversation with her cab driver about what brought her to the city. She shared examples of how Emerging Leaders were working across difference, and the two of them ended up talking about how their worldviews informed how they thought about community. On a whim, she invited him to the event and he accepted. The rest of the team assumed it was a polite yes, the kind you give someone before politely driving off for rush hour Manhattan fares. But he walked through the doors of the venue right on time, ready to meet the dedicated and creative leaders Anne had described. That, we think, is the ELN effect.
What we keep coming back to is this: the Emerging Leaders Network is not a program, but a living community of people who are doing some of the most important work in America right now. Quietly, locally, faithfully. Pastors and organizers. Fellows and grantees. People who have been in the network for years and people who are just finding their footing. All of them are showing up in their own neighborhoods and in their own ways, for the same reason.
As America marks its 250th year, questions about who belongs, who is protected, and who gets to participate in our democracy feel more fraught and urgent than ever. The Emerging Leaders Network exists because we believe those questions are best answered together. By people already embedded in their communities, already trusted, and already working. We’re just here to support them.
If that sounds like you or someone you know, we’d love for you to be part of this. Learn more and join the Emerging Leaders Network today.
