Dear John,

Today we’re announcing the 2022 cohort of 50CAN’s National Voices Fellowship.

When I first envisioned the fellowship along with my colleague Ned Stanley and other members of the 50CAN team, we imagined a program to bring people of different geographies, politics, backgrounds and experiences together to collaborate in a microcosm of the country I wanted to live in: one where we navigate our divisions constructively to get big things done, for ourselves and for our children.

While we hosted our first cohort in 2018-19, the pandemic of the last two years looms large over our work today. Two years of disruption exposed both deep cracks in the foundation of our education systems and wild possibilities many never imagined. As such, the time for bold ideas, large-scale transformative thinking and people who convey these ideas and inspire the public around them has never been more necessary. This year’s cohort of fellows was selected because they have strong visions for what the education system of the future should look like, and they are willing to work to bring people together so the best possible future for the nation’s children has strong advocates here in the present. We’re excited to help them grow over the course of 2022.

At 50CAN, we know that helping the American education system of the future emerge will require us to couple a commitment to believing in better with the work of leaders–from local advocates to messengers to builders–who have the skills, drive and passion to harness ideas, develop consensus and turn them to reality over time. The fourth cohort of National Voices Fellows are very much these leaders and as you meet them in person or in the press over the coming months and years, I’m sure you’ll see that yourself.

A new education system that is open, interconnected and student-centered is what this moment requires of us–and we believe more voices and storytellers, including these ten phenomenal leaders, will help us get there.