April Shift Notes

Hi, Changemakers!

The last few months in the U.S. have felt like survival mode. I’ve been deep in self-care. For so many of the communities this sector was built to serve and co-create a more just world with, it’s been literal life-or-death survival.

Donald Trump’s policies have directly targeted the most marginalized—trans folks, immigrants, the unhoused, refugees, veterans, Black and Brown communities, people with disabilities, women—and also the people working to deliver the promises of this country to those groups: federal civil servants, nonprofit leaders, researchers, academics, even members of the military.

This isn’t the country any of us signed up for.

(And if it is the country you signed up for… there’s an Unsubscribe button at the bottom of this email.)

With last week’s tariff announcements, something in me cracked open a bit. I found myself thinking not just about the policies, but about the mentality behind them—and why we’re so divided to begin with. Two things helped spark that reflection:

📝 This op-ed from David Brooks called “How to Destroy What Makes America Great”,

🎧 and this podcast episode from The Optimism Institute about The American Exchange Project.

And it got me thinking: What sent me down this career path in the first place?

For me, it started with a simple, but powerful catalyst: being immersed in different. Immersing myself in the lives of people who weren’t like me—and who didn’t grow up where I grew up—changed everything.

It all started my junior year in high school when a friend invited me on a business trip to Venezuela with her family (my first time on an airplane!). I’d never eaten such fancy food, or seen poverty like the poverty I saw in the hills of Caracas. It left a mark on me.

Then senior year, I joined a group of fellow students and educators through my Lasallian Youth group (yep, Catholic school!) for a service-learning trip to the south side of Chicago. Over the course of a week, I sat in classrooms with students from entirely different racial and economic backgrounds, met with community organizers doing housing and violence prevention work, and experienced a joyful church service that looked and felt nothing like my own.

Both experiences left lasting marks on me, but I wasn’t called down this career path until after the next time I was able to immerse myself in different. I studied abroad in Ireland during the second semester of my sophomore year in college. I was 19 and thought, How different can it be? They speak English. (Spoiler: it was very different.) I visited seven countries and met people whose worldviews were wildly different from mine. And I came home with a new understanding: my experience of life isn’t THE experience of life.

That changed everything and led me to my career in public service.

And I truly believe: if more Americans had the chance to be immersed in a community different from their own, we wouldn’t be here. We wouldn’t see this level of fear, othering, or attack on difference.

That’s why I loved learning about The American Exchange Project—a nonprofit sending high school seniors on week-long trips to communities that are nothing like their own, with the goal of building empathy and connection across our divides. Sound familiar?

What about you? Have you had an experience that reshaped how you see the world?

I’d love to hear it—just hit reply.

Interested in working together in April? Book a call here.

Keep showing up. Keep shifting.

—Lynn

✨ Free Workshop: Place-Based Partnership Resiliency: Talent & Retention for Sustainability

I’m partnering with The Training Hub, powered by StriveTogether, to deliver this workshop that supports place-based leaders in building their partnership’s resiliency and increasing retention. 

I’m looking forward to collaboratively defining key factors in retention, analyzing staffing challenges by examining their underlying causes, and exploring emerging strategies for staffing to meet your partnership's needs.

There's still time to join us! If you’re a place-based leader, please consider joining us this Thursday, April 10th at 2 PM ET. All courses offered through The Training Hub are FREE and will support you to more effectively lead collaborative work. Register here, and share it with a place-based leader you know. 

We’re always learning at The Collective Shift Co.—and we love sharing what’s sparking us. This month, dive into these must-read/watch resources:

🤓 I’m excited to be attending and sponsoring the Collective Impact Action Summit virtually on April 29 –May 1, 2025. More information can be found on the Summit’s website. Hope to see you there! 

📖 Impact with Integrity: Repair the World Without Breaking Yourself by Becky Margiotta – I needed this book 20 years ago! And 13 years ago, and 4 years ago…but it’s in my hands now, and it will help me more fully step into my leadership, be accountable for my own participation in toxic culture, and sustain myself for the long-term in the sector. 

🎙️ IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson - I’ve been enjoying hearing their how-we-grew-up stories while they host famous guests and share advice to listener questions. Two episodes that I’ve enjoyed so far: Caretakers Need to Care for Themselves with Seth & Lauren Rogan–about caring for a parent with dementia–and Some Friendships Need to Go with Issa Ray–about the challenges and complexities of friendships through the years. 

Let us know what’s inspiring you—just hit Reply and share!

P.S. Interested in joining a community of fellow social changemakers in learning and growing? We’re launching a book club!! Get on the waitlist here. For those on the waitlist, thank you for your patience! 

P.P.S. Enjoying the content and want to support? I’ve set up a Buy Me a Coffee page.