Making Space for Generation Next: Or Using Design Thinking and Career Imprints to Create a Next Generation Fellowship at 50CAN

Abstract

50CAN is a national education policy advocacy nonprofit committed to high-quality education for students regardless of zip code. Keeping to its organizational commitment to being "nationally led, but locally run," the organization's flagship institution is its network of effective locally-led state campaigns. Over the last few years, the organization has added education policy advocacy-based fellowships to the services it offers. This capstone examines my 10-month residency at 50CAN, where I worked to develop a young adult-focused policy advocacy fellowship aimed at bringing fresh blood into the policy advocacy space. To inform my approach, I drew from research on adaptive leadership, IDEO's Design Thinking Framework, Higgins' work on career imprinting, and Public Narrative. In my role, I worked across teams and initiated empathy-centered conversations to create a sustainable fellowship replete with stakeholder buy-in. Resultingly, the Next Gen Fellowship is design cycles to be a test case for 50CAN as they explore its next stage of strategic growth. Capstone findings reiterate the complexity of reverse engineering career imprints and the importance of place and organizational culture in the process. At the sector level, the results suggest the importance of succession planning in nonprofit spaces and implications about how organizations grieve.