This July, 35 leaders from the Thrive Leaders Network gathered in Detroit for three days of connection, candid conversation and shared problem-solving, and to welcome the newest cohort of Thrive Leaders into the community.

The Thrive Leaders Network combines an unrestricted award with programming for a network of national leaders from college access, success and pathways-focused organizations to support personal learning and leadership development. Participants are proximate to the populations Kresge serves, including Black and Latino/a youth and youth experiencing poverty.

The 2026 Summer Summit was built on a simple premise: the leaders themselves are the program’s most valuable resource.

“We designed the summit very intentionally to optimize and maximize the time that Thrive Leaders spent learning from one another and being in community together,” said Aditi Goel, the network’s facilitator.

That began with a no-agenda welcome dinner, a chance for leaders to unwind and for returning members to meet new colleagues before any formal session started. The following day, the group heard from Amanda Said Canto, Ashley Johnson and Cyekeia Lee on what it takes to lead, partner and create impact in Detroit. Policy experts from within the network offered their read on the national landscape and its implications for the work ahead. Kresge Foundation Board Member Kathy Ko Chin, CEO of Jasper Inclusion Advisors, shared reflections from a career as a CEO, adviser, board member and longtime advocate for building more equitable systems. The rest of the time belonged to the leaders, in small- and full-group sessions to trade best practices and consult on one another’s challenges.

Supporting leadership development

Several themes surfaced repeatedly: how to define and pursue impact under real resource constraints; how to partner more deliberately to reach scale and operational efficiency; how to draw on the talent already in house, including leadership teams and boards; and how to put AI and other tools to work for ideation and efficiency.

For Angel B. Pérez, CEO of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, the value of being in the room was the space it held for both strategic and personal questions.

“There is something profoundly valuable about being in a room with other CEOs who understand the unique weight of leadership,” Pérez said. “We learn from one another not only about strategy and organizational management, but about the deeply personal aspects of leadership that rarely have a place in board meetings or conference presentations.”

For Goel, that willingness to be honest about the hard parts is what defines the network.

“I am constantly struck by how each and every Thrive Leader is so honest, vulnerable, receptive, warm and always willing to help one another,” she said. “It’s truly beautiful to witness.” Leaders have told her repeatedly that spaces like this one (safe, trusted, candid, CEOs only) are rare, and that Thrive has sustained them both for the work in front of them during challenging times and for the journey ahead.

Goel sees room to grow the model, extending cohort-based support to leadership teams who aspire to the CEO seat. She is direct about what makes it work: stipends that treat leadership and personal development as essential rather than optional, and sustained investment in gathering people together.

“Welcoming a new cohort in a year like this one carries real weight,” said Caroline Altman Smith, deputy director of Kresge’s Education Program. “These CEOs are steering their organizations through genuine uncertainty, and they are still making room and time for one another. That candor is a gift to us, too — it sharpens our understanding of what the field needs and how Kresge can show up for it.”

Meet the newest cohort and the full Thrive Leaders Network.