The Current

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The Current
Short Reflections, Recaps, and Updates

The Current logoThe 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!

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Rooting in Roles for Collective Impact: The Ecosystem Plan Design Process
Join the Ecosystem Advisory Team!

Graphic with quote: “When we recognize that we do not have to shoulder everything on our own, and instead play a role within a larger ecosystem, we can begin to build sustainable movements rooted in solidarity, trust, and interdependence.” — Deepa Iyer, Social Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection"

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.

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Co-Conspiring Wishes for the Ecosystem Plan
June 2025

An ocean-themed graphic with the text: "“Uno Resuena” Quote (means “one resonates” in Spanish. It suggests a feeling of strong connection, mutual understanding or a feeling of shared identity) “If all our crises are connected, then all our wishes are conspiring.” - Cassie Thornton"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.

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The Ecosystem Plan Update: Welcome the Ecosystem Plan Design Team!
April/May 2025

An ocean-themed graphic with the text: "“Uno Resuena” Quote (means “one resonates” in Spanish. It suggests a feeling of strong connection, mutual understanding or a feeling of shared identity) “Liberated relationships are one of the ways we actually create abundant justice, the understanding that there is enough attention, care, resources and connection for all of us to access belonging, to be in our dignity and to be safe in community.” -adrienne maree brown"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.

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ELO-P Academy & BOOST 2025: April’s Ebbs and Flows
The Current

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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.

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ExL Ecosystem Plan Strategic Design
March 2025 Virtual Kick-off Recap

Strategic Design timeline

“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.