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Rising Generation Collective

Catalyzing a norm shift in graduates’ job choices to develop the leadership we need

A young Black woman smiling sits at a table next to a white soman with short brown hair, both wearing red lanyards

Rising Generation Collective, incubated by Teach For All, is on a mission to inspire more of the most creative and passionate university graduates to take jobs in proximity to societal inequity and injustice, thus developing lifelong leaders for systemic change.

The world's challenges have never been more visible. Yet too few of the next generation's most talented leaders are making early-career choices that bring them close to these issues—choices that have been proven to shape priorities, shift beliefs and perspectives, and fuel a lifetime of meaningful impact.

We believe the fact that many of our rising leaders take jobs far removed from our world’s greatest needs is one of society's most under-recognized challenges. The Rising Generation Collective aims to change this.

What We Are Doing

 

Where diverse, promising graduates choose to begin their careers shapes the future of our communities. Through rigorous research with leading scholars, we are uncovering the forces driving college students' early job choices and using those insights to craft a compelling narrative that calls the next generation toward work that’s proximate to the challenges facing communities. By naming the issue and elevating its urgency, we aim to foster collective action towards inspiring and enabling many more young people to take public purpose jobs early in their careers.   

Rising Generation Collective works closely with university presidents and campus leaders to foster a culture in which reflection and intentionality around civic responsibilities and their implications for internship and job choices are part of the college experience, and public service is celebrated as a prestigious, respected career path that the next generation’s leaders are clear and confident in pursuing. We organize a Presidents Circle and a community of practice among university faculty and administrators to foster community and learning among those committed to tackling this issue, and we are also developing partnerships with corporations and graduate schools to provide an enabling environment for public service.

Rising Generation Collective is working to support and build an ecosystem of professional service corps—rigorous, prestigious, two-year programs that tackle urgent challenges in partnership with communities and foster leadership development. In fields ranging from mental health services to immigrant justice, from medical care to education, we aim to enable high-quality professional corps to develop the next generation of civic leaders while delivering immediate impact.

 

Modeled on what the Teach For All network has proven over 35 years—that creative, passionate graduates will choose purpose over other prestigious options when the path is clear and the support is real—Rising Generation Collective is seeding a coalition of corps united by shared principles: select the most determined rising leaders, place them where they can have immediate impact, develop their leadership, and cultivate their lifelong commitment to systems change.

Our Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

At the Academy, we don't just talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion—we live it.  We're committed to fostering genuine partnerships where everyone's voice can be heard. Here, lived experiences aren't just acknowledged, they're the driving force behind solutions that impact global education. Because when every child thrives, we all benefit.

Rising Generation Collective in the Media

Our Team

Ashley serves as a strategic advisor to the Rising Generation Collective team and to leaders across the Teach For All global network. Drawing on more than 18 years of helping to build Teach For All’s global network of partner organizations, she advises on public purpose pathway strategy, partnerships, and organizational development.

As Head of Public Purpose Pathways, Christian seeks to create pathways to jobs after graduation that empower the next generation of leaders to work on the front lines of our most urgent societal challenges. Christian drives this mission by catalyzing and supporting the development of professional service corps across diverse sectors. This includes supporting social entrepreneurs in launching and growing new professional service corps and forging partnerships with existing ones to support their scale and impact.

Jeet serves as a thought partner and senior advisor, guiding the strategy and priorities of the Rising Generation Collective. He connects the Rising Generation Collective with the Teach For All global network, ensuring shared learning and insights as both work to inspire young people to make early-career choices that bring them into close proximity with society’s biggest challenges. 

Myra leads the Rising Generation Collective’s work to foster a culture of reflection on civic responsibilities and implications for internship and job choices on university campuses towards this broader norm shift. In her role, she facilitates community and experimentation among university leaders committed to addressing this issue and forges partnerships with corporations and graduate schools that create more accessible pathways into public purpose careers. She also stewards the culture and learning of the team and contributes to fundraising alongside Teach For All’s CEO. 

Stephanie leads the Rising Generation Collective’s data and research partnerships to establish and update the fact base, develop and execute the learning agenda, and maintain and leverage relationships with researchers nationwide that support our work. This work supports the team in developing and testing new strategies and narratives aligned to the research base. 

Wendy conceived of and proposed the idea of Teach For America in her undergraduate thesis at Princeton University in 1989. She founded and led the organization for 24 years before leading the development of Teach For All to be responsive to the initiative of social entrepreneurs around the world who were determined to adapt this approach in their own countries.

Wendy provides strategic leadership and direction to the Rising Generation Collective team and supports the growth of our university and external networks, as well as relationships for funding and advocacy. 

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