Introduction

Welcome to the application for the inaugural 2025 Human Services Summit Leaders Activation Lab.

This 9-month program builds on the momentum of the Summit and provides a hands-on opportunity to translate insights into action. Selected human services executives will join Action Teams to design and test innovative solutions addressing the sector’s most pressing challenges and opportunities, with a focus on:

• Implementation of H.R. 1 – Developing new innovations in response to the changes Congress has put forward.
• Harnessing Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Designing novel strategies to overcome barriers to AI adoption in human services or harness its potential to improve capacity and outcomes.
• Economic Wellbeing – Activating new solutions to advance individual and community economic wellbeing.

Commitment and Benefits

Your responses will help us select participants for this year’s Lab, design the program, and form the Action Teams.

As a reminder, participants will meet for six 90-minute virtual sessions and one possible in-person session between January and August 2026. During these sessions, Action Teams will move through the design-thinking stages: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. Participants will also receive two individual coaching and consulting sessions to strengthen leadership and implementation capabilities.

Throughout the program, participants will receive support, guidance, and accountability to accelerate solutions for their organization’s most significant challenges. Together with your peers, you will develop practical strategies to lead, create, and execute innovations. You will gain access to world-class thinkers, researchers, and practitioners. And, you will strengthen your community of peers and partners across the country, increasing your resources and confidence as you navigate change and communicate your vision.

Application

This application will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. In the following sections we’ll invite you to share the challenges you would like to tackle, what you hope to achieve, your capacity to commit time and energy to the Lab, and how the Lab can strengthen your leadership and your organization’s mission. For this inaugural cohort, leaders will be selected based on their commitment to fully participate and contribute to the program; strategic alignment with one or more of the Lab’s focus areas; demonstrated collaboration; diversity of perspective; track record of transformation; innovation mindset; ability to mobilize change; and individual strengths.

Let’s get started!