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.

This month, the Ecosystem Design Team began weaving their shared visions and co-conspiring wishes into a protective, proactive, and generative field. This force field honors our interdependence as designers of liberated futures for our youth, families, and communities. This collective approach helps us move together, rather than in isolation, and allows us to build multi-layered responses of solidarity and partnership.

Check out these co-conspiring wishes of liberated learning and thriving youth from the Ecosystem Design Team–

• I wish ALL children a safe adult, healthy home, joyful learning and caring community surrounding them.
• I wish for youth to be leaders in defining what wellness and joy access means to them. I wish for culture and creativity to be centered. I wish for pathways for youth that don’t center their potential, but instead center their unique and precious voices & visions — alleviating the pressure to succeed within the demands of the school or ASP system, but instead giving them the wings to fly into self-determined futures grounded in their dignity, sovereignty,  and wholeness. 
• I wish to build spaces for students to find their confidence and be prepared for everything, help them find their passions. Expanded Learning is a space that helps students to learn in different ways.
• I wish for Youth Power!
• I wish every child to thrive, not just survive!
• I wish the ecosystem plan will become a clear example of how multiple sectors can share resources and bolster existing systems of care in education, health, and social services.
• I wish for our youth and communities to have a wealth of knowledge and resources that they can tap into in order to live healthy, joyful lives. That we can intentionally grow together to create a community wide ecosystem of support for each other.

Let these interconnected wishes be a reminder that when institutions fail to protect us, our community connections and the relationships within them are our greatest shield.

On the Horizon: The Ecosystem Advisory Team

The next opportunity to join the EXLD strategic design journey is through “The Ecosystem Advisory Team”. This group will consist of 120+ people representing the broader range of youth serving sectors (i.e., housing, nutrition, health, human services, behavioral services, etc). Members of this group will attend three large convenings, build relationships across sectors and offer high-level input to the content and strategies for the Ecosystem Plan. More details will be released in July!

Sound Waves

A space for you to share your thoughts and shape the direction of the strategic design process in real time. Drop us a note, respond to a prompt, or ride the wave of dialogue and discourse– we’re listening.

Co-Conspiring Wishes Prompt

The Design Team wants to hear your perspectives and experiences! This helps us make the invisible, visible and increases our capacity to design brave and nurturing spaces of collective power. Please help us plant your co-conspiring wishes for liberated learning and thriving youth. What hopes or visions would you like to root at the heart of the Ecosystem Plan? Add a picture, quote or wish statement on our Community Padlet!