Futures of Democracy Strategic Foresight Think Tank |Democracy 2076
Quick Project Overview
Democracy 2076 convened a group of member based organizations to co-create a set of scenarios and identify emerging wedge issues using a strategic foresight process, in an effort to encourage imagining the future of democratic coalitions and civic life in the United States. As a Youth Representative to this process, I contributed a trauma-informed, Gen-Z lens to national scenario planning and identifying emerging wedge issues, to help cross-sector leaders consider how belonging, social fabric, and intergenerational trust shape democratic futures.
“Foresight is not prediction — it’s a practice of relational imagination. The future of democracy depends on our ability to listen across difference, hold complexity, and build what comes next together.”
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The initiative explores how political identities, coalitions, and civic institutions may evolve over the next 50 years — as the U.S. approaches its 300th anniversary. With rapid shifts in technology, demographics, discourse, legitimacy, and social connection, Democracy 2076 seeks to anticipate emerging dynamics that could strengthen or fragment democratic life.
My role centered on bringing early signals from younger generations — including the mental health crisis, declining institutional trust, civic imagination, shifts in relational culture, and the future of belonging — into long-term democratic futures work.
Learn more: https://www.democracy2076.org/coalitions-2076
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Conducted horizon scanning and trend synthesis on democratic resilience, loneliness, social cohesion, and generational trust
Co-designed long-term democratic scenarios exploring future coalition structures, governance, civic participation, and identity formation
Introduced trauma-informed and ecological belonging lenses into political foresight and civic design discussions
Surfaced youth-centered insights around social media ecosystems, political imagination, interdependence, and the future of civic infrastructure
Helped translate systems insights into narratives for cross-sector leaders and think-tank partners
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Contributions to Coalitions 2076 national foresight report
Strategic scenario frameworks for inter-generational civic coalitions
Signals & drivers map focused on social fabric, belonging, and democratic legitimacy
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Horizon scanning & signal mapping
Scenario design & strategic foresight frameworks
Narrative futures & social systems analysis
Trauma-informed and ecological belonging lenses
Impact & Learning
As a Strategic Foresight Youth Representative with Democracy 2076, I worked alongside a cross-generational cohort that intentionally brought together voices often seen as oppositional in today’s civic landscape — from reproductive justice organizers and Jewish leaders to Palestinian advocates, Mormons, and former MAGA voters. Through horizon scanning, signal mapping, and scenario design, we explored how belonging, identity, and narrative shape the future of democracy. This work taught me that foresight is not only about anticipating change — it is a relational practice of listening across differences, imagining beyond polarization, and holding the future as something we build with one another. It strengthened my conviction that democratic renewal depends on expanding who we see as civic actors and nurturing the emotional and relational infrastructure required to live with complexity, dignity, and shared agency.
