Voices + Evidence: What’s Moving the Needle (Vol. 1, No. 2)
- Leaders Up
- 36 minutes ago
- 2 min read
By Crissy Chung
The Shift | Vol. 1, No. 2 – Future Proofing Our Communities
“Everything is so spread out. When you’re trying to help someone, sometimes it’s like silent communities — there are hundreds of languages spoken here, and people don’t realize the different gaps. There’s no resume workshop, no drop-in center, no hiring fairs. Thankfully, the library sometimes helps, but people don’t realize the gaps.”
“I wish there were more health centers and mental health services around my community. There are a lot of elderly people who don’t drive, so they have to take public transportation. It would be really beneficial to have those services nearby.”
“Everyone I knew growing up worked multiple jobs at a time, even while juggling school. People don’t really take care of their mental health — it’s all about being on the grind.”
These are some of the quotes LeadersUp has heard from past focus groups and interviews with young adults living in Los Angeles. Together, they offer a snapshot of a pattern we often see emerging — how systems designed to create opportunity frequently place it just out of reach.
It’s in these moments that I’m reminded why liberatory research matters. In traditional research, data is collected about people, not with them. Traditional research extracts stories; liberatory research restores ownership of lived experiences, aspirations, and dreams. It shifts our perspective from seeing young people as subjects to recognizing them as co-authors of evidence and co-architects of change.
When you ask a young person what economic empowerment really means, they’re not talking about GDP or policy frameworks. They’re talking about choice and being able to imagine a future that isn’t predetermined by zip code, financial status, or family background. They’re talking about seeing themselves in the opportunities being offered, and belonging to the future they’re being asked to build.
When we truly let young people lead, we begin to see what has been missing: the systems built to measure progress rarely reflect how people experience it. Liberatory research centers the lived wisdom of those closest to economic inequity — not as anecdotes, but as evidence that demands change and redesign.
Change doesn’t stem from a report or a dataset. It grows from creating conditions where everyone can reach their full potential. If we want to envision a future-proof community, we must redefine who is empowered to produce knowledge and who has the authority to decide what to do with it.
The next generation isn’t waiting to be included in the conversation. They’re ready and willing to lead it.
Crissy Chung is the Head of Insights, Research and Evaluation at LeadersUp, driving our research initiatives and insights collection strategies.
