The Current
The Current
Short Reflections, Recaps, and Updates
The
Current brings you a short reflection or update
from our strategic design process—highlighting what we’re
exploring together, what insights are rising from participatory
discussions, and how these learnings are shaping the path ahead.
Explore the posts below to join us through the process!
Ecosystem Plan Update: Dream a Vision of the Future
April 2026
On March 18, 2026, the Ecosystem Advisory Team and Design Team gathered in San Diego for the third Ecosystem Plan convening, where we launched “Dream a Vision of the Future”– a statewide listening strategy rooted in relationships, community wisdom, and lived experience. This effort helps us understand what young people, families, and the workforce need to truly thrive, and is shaping a shared Ecosystem Plan that strengthens Expanded Learning as a platform for whole child, family, and workforce wellbeing.
We are currently piloting the EXL Statewide Listening Toolkit: A Flexible Guide for Decolonized Data Collection and Collective Meaning-Making. As we listen, we are also learning and adapting the toolkit in real time based on insights from communities across California. It will be released in late Fall as a shared offering to deepen relationships and support a shift from “power over” to “power with” in how we shape the future together.
Sound Waves: Elevating Voices Across the Expanded Learning Ecosystem
October 2025
As part of the Ecosystem Plan’s Strategic Design, Sound Waves invites the Expanded Learning field to share real-time insights that shape the future of our collective work. Designed as low-barrier opportunities for participation, Sound Waves make it easy for every voice to be heard.
During the Fall 2025 EXL Academy, each session began with a Sound Wave prompt. In “Beyond the Now: Strategic Partnerships for Sustainable EXL Programs,” participants reflected on why community partnerships matter:
Rooting in Roles for Collective Impact: The Ecosystem Plan Design Process
Join the Ecosystem Advisory Team!
As we navigate the complex, interconnected challenges facing our youth-serving ecosystem, it’s essential to pause and reflect on how each of us is uniquely positioned to shape change. One tool that helps ground and clarify my purpose in moments like these is Deepa Iyer’s Social Change Ecosystem Map. It reminds us that not everyone has to be the “hero”, in fact, sustainable change requires a diversity of roles and approaches. Whether you’re a builder, storyteller, healer, frontline responder, or visionary, your contributions matter. And so do the contributions of those around you.
Co-Conspiring Wishes for the Ecosystem Plan
June 2025
The Ecosystem Plan Update
In times like these, where our communities are being threatened by the very institutions that are supposed to protect them, the Ecosystem Plan becomes more than just a strategy, it becomes a collective commitment to building community, care, and power from the ground up.
As we continue to deepen our understanding of the work we must commit to as a youth serving ecosystem, what is beginning to emerge is that the Ecosystem Plan will be a living framework that maps out how we show up, not just in crisis, but with intention. The design process for the Ecosystem Plan invites us to imagine and co-create something different, something uniquely ours, rooted in co-conspiring wishes for a shared vision, and a network of care that no institution can take away.
The Ecosystem Plan Update: Welcome the Ecosystem Plan Design Team!
April/May 2025
We’re excited to welcome the
Ecosystem Plan Design Team! This dynamic and diverse group of
designers will help co-create the process and strategies we
center to develop Strategic Plan 3.0 also known as the
“Ecosystem Plan.”
But this is more than a strategic plan, it is a collective impact strategy for the Expanded Learning field. Together, we aim to position Expanded Learning as an essential part of California’s education, health, and human services ecosystem. We are so honored to collaborate with this incredible dream team as we join forces to shape the future of Expanded Learning in California.
ELO-P Academy & BOOST 2025: April’s Ebbs and Flows
The Current
In April, we held intentional space for the expanded learning field to shape the Ecosystem Plan through collective input sessions at the ELO-P Academy and the BOOST conference. These spaces were designed to convene and facilitate design cycles that build capacity and community. As a community, we explored Design Thinking to assess the current landscape of the expanded learning ecosystem, including challenges, opportunities, and fertile areas for growth.
ExL Ecosystem Plan Strategic Design
March 2025 Virtual Kick-off Recap
“Move at the speed of trust. Focus on critical
connections more than critical mass — build the resilience by
building the relationships.”
— adrienne
maree brown, Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing
Worlds
Co-creating futures that reflect the many forms of whole child, family, and community wellness is at the heart of The Ecosystem Plan ExL Strategic Design process. The collective wisdom, dreams, grief, struggles, and hopes expressed throughout this journey form a powerful force of interdependence—helping us grow, stay grounded, and act with purpose.
In March, we officially welcomed the broader youth-serving ecosystem into this work through our Strategic Design Virtual Kickoff. This gathering celebrated expanded learning as a vital partner in advancing whole child, family, and community wellness. It was a space where critical connections were nurtured—across experience levels, sectors, and relationships: from youth and adult, to colleague and colleague, organization to organization, and system to system.