Since our founding, we’ve been guided by a singular commitment: to provide young people with the tools to create positive change in themselves and the world around them. As we continue to pursue our mission, we’re excited to share two big announcements:
1. We’re expanding Take Action Lab! Beginning in 2025, we’ll be launching a new climate and environment-focused curriculum in a new country.
2. We’re officially unveiling our new branding and name – Tilting Futures!
Global Citizen Year will now be part of our new, larger Tilting Futures brand. As we move forward under this new name, Tilting Futures will continue to house Take Action Lab, as well as programming for Global Citizen Year Fellowship, Academy, and Take Action Lab alumni.
Tilting Futures was created with significant input from students, alumni, parents, partners, and donors. We believe Tilting Futures reflects our collective optimism that young people can transform themselves, their communities, and the direction of our wider world. We know that young people, when given the tools to turn their ideals into action, can create the new pathways, perspectives, and solutions our world needs. We invite you to watch this video to see Tilting Futures CEO Erin Lewellen’s reflections on this exciting evolution.
Charting innovative paths has always been part of our organizational DNA, and the foundation our founder built has enabled us to expand and grow while staying true to our mission. During our first 10 years, the Global Citizen Year Fellowship provided students with opportunities to expand their horizons and create meaningful connections during an eight-month immersion abroad. When the COVID-19 pandemic halted international travel, we did exactly what we ask our students and alumni to do every day: step outside our own comfort zones to reimagine what’s possible. In 2020, we launched our virtual Global Citizen Year Academy – which helped us reach over 1,500 students globally in two short years.
As we emerged from the pandemic, we created what is now our flagship program, Take Action Lab, which blends the best of our Fellowship program’s immersion experience with the Academy’s evidence-based curriculum. Since launching our first Take Action Lab site in South Africa in 2023, we’ve served hundreds of young people from 100+ countries. Today, word is out and demand keeps growing! With more than 15,000 applications in process, we knew we had to expand. Therefore, in 2025, we’re launching a second Take Action Lab site in a new country with a curriculum focused on climate and the environment. The new Take Action Lab site will run concurrently with our South Africa Take Action Lab, enabling us to serve twice as many students. Soon, we will be sharing more information about where the new Take Action Lab program will happen and when applications will open.
This momentum has been created by not only our students and alumni but also by the donors and partners who have made expanding our work possible. Because of our generous, passionate community of supporters, we are one step closer to democratizing access to immersive learning opportunities for young people worldwide. For our alumni, we will continue to offer new programming, including our recently launched Alumni Ambassadors program. We remain committed to supporting our global alumni community and amplifying your voices, stories, and impact.
As we enter this new chapter, we want to express our deepest thanks to everyone who made this possible: from the visionaries who launched our first programs to our alumni and the students and teams advancing world-changing work, and to our philanthropic partners and board of directors. We are proud to be supporting young people worldwide alongside you, and are immensely grateful for your steadfast support.
With deepest appreciation,
The Tilting Futures Team
