2024 Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows

Meet the 2024 Class of Aspen Institute Ascend Fellows, our second cohort focused on the prosperity and well-being of our young children and families. The 2024 cohort demonstrates a deeper investment in leaders in the South, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, and Texas. All 2024 Fellows recognize the need to address system injustice and values a model of leadership alongside those most proximate to the problems they work to find solutions to.

Barbara DiGangi
Director of Community Wellness Initiatives
University Settlement
Chelsea Wesner
Research Instructor
Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health, University of Colorado
Clinton Boyd, Jr.
Researcher & Executive Director
Chapin Hall & Fathers, Families, & Healthy Communities
Darneshia Allen
Training and Technical Assistance Integration Manager
ZERO TO THREE
Demetrius Starling
Senior Deputy Director
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services
Elizabeth Everett
Deputy Director and Public Policy Manager
First Five Nebraska
Jamal Berry
President and CEO
Educare, DC
Jennifer Wells
Director of Economic Justice
Community Change
Kai-ama Hamer
Director, ParentCorps
Center for Early Childhood Health and Development, NYU School of Medicine
Keami Harris
Chief of Equity and Strategy
Early Childhood Funders Collaborative
Kenn Harris
Senior Consultant
National Partnership for Community Leadership
Madeleine Thakur
President & CEO
The Children's Movement of Florida
Natalie Renew
Executive Director
Home Grown
Nia Bodrick
General Pediatrician
Children’s National Hospital
Priya Iyer
Founder & CEO
Our Roots
Sarah Kuriakose
Associate Commissioner, Division of Integrated Community Services for Children and Families
New York State Office of Mental Health
Shannon Wanless
Executive Director & Associate Professor
Office of Child Development, University of Pittsburgh
Shimica Gaskins
President & CEO
GRACE & End Child Poverty CA
Sixto Cancel
Founder & CEO
Think Of Us
Teresa Granillo
CEO
AVANCE, Inc.
Tess Abrahamson-Richards
Director of Data Sovereignty
Hummingbird Indigenous Family Services
Vance Lewis
Associate Partner
Promise Venture Studio

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