Aspen Institute Announces 2024 Ascend Fellows

Washington, DC – Today, the Aspen Institute announced its 2024 Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows, 22 leaders from across the United States who are transforming systems so that our youngest children and families can thrive.

The 2024 Ascend Fellows represent 14 states and the District of Columbia; are 82 percent leaders of color, including Black (55%), Indigenous (9%), Latina (9%), and Asian-American (9%); and work across systems and sectors to do the following and more:

“Reaching children and their families in their earliest years is vital to building intergenerational prosperity and well-being,” said Anne Mosle, vice president of the Aspen Institute and founder and executive director of Ascend.

“I’m inspired by the commitment of these 22 leaders to transform the systems that our young children and their families experience. By embracing the power of change capital – financial, intellectual, human, and social capital – they are making the world work for children and families.”

 With the addition of the 2024 cohort, the Ascend Fellowship is home to a national network of more than 160 of the most promising leaders our country has to offer – leaders well-connected, well-prepared, and powerfully positioned to build the political will, change systems, and drive the policy agenda needed for the prosperity and well-being of all children and families.  

Below are the 2024 Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows:

• Tess Abrahamson-Richards, Director of Data Sovereignty, Hummingbird Indigenous Family Services | Seattle, Washington
• Darneshia Allen, Training and Technical Assistance Integration Manager, ZERO TO THREE,  | Benton, AR
• Jamal Berry, President and CEO, Educare DC |Washington, DC
• Nia Bodrick, MD, General Pediatrician, Children’s National Hospital | Washington, DC
• Clinton Boyd, Jr., PhD, Researcher, Chapin Hall | Chicago, IL
• Sixto Cancel, Founder & CEO, Think of Us | Washington, DC
• Barbara DiGangi, Director of Community Wellness Initiatives, University Settlement | New York, NY
• Elizabeth Everett, Deputy Director and Public Policy Manager, First Five Nebraska | Lincoln, NE
• Shimica Gaskins, President & CEO, GRACE & End Child Poverty CA | Pasadena, CA
• Teresa Granillo, PhD, CEO, AVANCE | San Antonio, TX
• Kai-ama Hamer, Director, ParentCorps, Center for Early Childhood Health and Development, NYU School of Medicine | New York, NY
• Keami Harris, Chief of Equity and Strategy, Early Childhood Funders Collaborative | Upper Marlboro, MD
• Kenn Harris, Senior Consultant, National Partnership for Community Leadership | Groton, CT
• Priya Iyer, Founder & CEO, Our Roots | Oakland, CA
• Sarah Kuriakose, Associate Commissioner, Division of Integrated Community Services for Children and Families, New York State Office of Mental Health | Albany, NY
• Vance Lewis, Associate Partner, Promise Venture Studio | Oakland, CA
• Natalie Renew, Executive Director, Home Grown | Philadelphia, PA
• Demetrius Starling, Senior Deputy Director, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services | West Bloomfield, MI
• Madeleine Thakur, President & CEO, The Children’s Movement of Florida | Miami, FL
• Shannon Wanless, PhD, Executive Director and Associate Professor, Office of Child Development, University of Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh, PA
• Jennifer Wells, Director of Economic Justice, Community Change | Montgomery, AL
• Chelsea Wesner, Research Instructor, Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health, University of Colorado | Vermillion, SD

About the Ascend Fellowship

As Ascend Fellows, the 2024 Class will join a legacy of the most promising leaders our country has to offer. Ascend Fellows are at an inflection point in their career, and the Fellowship provides leaders with the space and connections that will accelerate their work.

Fellows will gather together in person four times over the next 18 months for Fellows Forums, the first coming in September. The Fellows Forums provide the space for leaders to inspire each other, strategize, and refuel, and each has a distinct focus:

• Forum I: Leadership & Values
• Forum II: Identity, Narrative, & Perspective
• Forum III: Courage & Integrity
• Forum IV: Purpose & Legacy

Each leader enters the Fellowship with a big idea about how our youngest children and families can thrive. Through their own dedication and collaboration with their cohort and the Ascend team, their ideas turn into action. Ascend also offers catalytic capital during the Fellowship to help make Fellows’ big ideas a reality.

The Ascend Fellowship is made possible through the generous support of the Ann B. and Thomas L. Friedman Family Foundation, Bezos Family Foundation, Buffett Early Childhood Fund, Catto Shaw Foundation, Charlotte Perret Family Trust, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Doris Duke Foundation, the J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, Liz Blake Giving Fund of the Blake Family Foundation, Merle Chambers Fund, Patrice King Brickman, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.