Youth Rising: Fellows & Future Architects of Equity (Vol. 1, No. 3)

By Dr. Shane Nelson

The Shift | Vol. 1, No. 3 – Liberating Radical Imagination

Highlighting our fellows’ dreaming to dare: the radical action of self-belief

When students explore the labor market, they may explore sales, marketing, or finance roles that help them build essential skills. At LeadersUp, we create and sustain learning environments that support young adults in gaining stability and building capacity to do more, differently. We are inspired by new, radical realities where young adults embrace nonlinear paths and benefit from our active investments in at-promise talent.

For Kai Alexander, he transformed his childhood passion for building with Legos into a career in construction focused on radical affordable housing. In a recent conversation, he shared:

"I've been working since I was 16 because I hate sitting still. This past summer, I finished my first internship with Whiting-Turner as a Project Engineer Intern while also taking summer classes. After that, I started working full-time as an Administrative Assistant at Goodson Real Estate Co., maintaining my 3.78 GPA with 15 units. My schedule is packed, but I've learned that staying ready saves a lot of time later... My main goal is to build affordable housing for people of color and help reduce homelessness in the United States of America, one assignment at a time."

As an Evolve Fellow, Kai challenges us to think critically and imagine radical solutions that help students balance their development with wellness. With our layers of support and caring community, he has the foundation to thrive.

Fatima Rivera, an Equity Unleashed Fellow, is advancing her engineering skillset in graduate school. While most students would enjoy their last summer before starting, she took the risk and joined LeadersUp as a fellow. During our LAEEA launch, Fatima shared with the crowd: "As an engineering student, we typically do not see ourselves in the policy-making conversation. This experience helped show me that I can bring that power to my friends and community." When I asked Fatima how graduate school was going, she said it was moving smoothly. Her career aspirations remain radical; she wants to find new ways to educate her community about industry possibilities while working. She isn't solely focused on earning an income; she wants to make a scalable impact on the broader economic system to help everyone thrive. Her career extends beyond office work and project management; she's gaining experience designing solutions with the community at the center.

These two stories highlight the power of co-governance, where members of the working class and labor landscape work with existing government structures to achieve change. LeadersUp is rapidly and radically imagining how co-governance operates in our work to center young adults. Our LA Economic Empowerment Alliance is where you can see and contribute to this approach in real time. Both fellows in our programs, along with their cohort members, actively practice co-governance.

Co-governance is an idea that informs collective action. How do we, as an organization, do more than listen? How do young adults embrace their confidence and radical imagination to share their brilliance with us? The co-governance approach gives us direction on the journey that answers both key questions—that's what makes our work so powerful. We are learning, launching, and leading together through co-governance.

Radical career decisions can happen when the voice of self-authorship speaks over the counternarratives being told about you or your community. Fatima and Kai show us how stepping boldly into community-centered dreams unlocks new possibilities for professional growth.

---

Dr. Shane Nelson is the Director of Youth Engagement and Economic Empowerment at LeadersUp, merging critical research with practical actions for our portfolio of young adult programming.