From Insight to Impact: Lessons from Harambee 2026 for Building Lasting Change

By Ali Knight, Tish Johnson-Jones, and Simone Hardeman-Jones

At the ABFE Harambee Conference 2026, leaders across philanthropy, nonprofit, and community systems gathered around a central question: what does it truly take to create lasting change? Across sessions and conversations, a set of themes emerged—grounded not in theory, but in lived experience, community voice, and the daily work of building a more just and inclusive society.

The reflections below, shared by Tish Johnson-Jones, GreenLight Fund Greater Newark Executive Director; Simone Hardeman-Jones, GreenLight Fund Twin Cities Executive Director; and Ali Knight, GreenLight Fund CEO, surface four core themes shaping GreenLight Fund’s work: patience and long-term investment, holding urgency and transformation together, centering humanity in transformative change, and community-centered system building.

1. Patience and the Power of Long-Term Investment

Tish Johnson-Jones

At Harambee, one speaker, Bishop Yvette Flunder, offered an image that hasn’t left me: the quiet, patient strategy of cicadas. For nearly two decades, they live underground—unseen, unheard, and seemingly inactive. But beneath the surface, they are growing, strengthening, and preparing. Then, at the right moment, they emerge—fully formed, in community, and impossible to ignore.

This metaphor that captures the quiet nature of meaningful progress connects to the work of Reading Partners, a GreenLight Fund Greater Newark portfolio organization.

Every tutoring session, every hour spent decoding words, building confidence, and nurturing a love of reading can feel small in the moment. Progress isn’t always visible. Impact doesn’t always show up quickly.

Yet these moments compound.

Like cicadas, our students are developing beneath the surface… one new word mastered, one passage read with less hesitation, one flicker of confidence where there was once doubt. Over time, those moments compound. Literacy becomes access. Access becomes opportunity. Opportunity becomes agency.

My takeaway is that meaningful change requires a long view. Our role at GreenLight Fund is to trust the process—to invest deeply and consistently, even when the results are quiet.

Transformational outcomes are cultivated, not rushed.

2. Holding Urgency and Transformation Together

Simone Hardeman-Jones

Selena Wilson, CEO, East Oakland Youth Development Center, shared in a session she led that after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the Bay Bridge was compromised. It couldn’t be torn down, too many people relied on it. So the region had to maintain what existed while building a new, stronger bridge.

This systems-level framing, for me, is the work.

We must hold two truths at once. We must respond to urgent needs. That is what ensures people can cross today. But if that is all we do, we are maintaining a structure that was never designed for everyone to thrive.

The tension is clear.

You cannot demolish the bridge while people are still on it. And you cannot claim transformation if you are only patching what is broken. Both must be true.

This “both/and” approach defines GreenLight Fund’s model. It is not simply about meeting a need today. It is about how solutions shift what is possible; creating proof points that a different way can exist and work.

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3. Centering Humanity in Transformative Change

Ali Knight

Across sessions at the Harambee Conference, a consistent thread emerged: meaningful, lasting change is fundamentally human—rooted in trust, relationships, and a deep recognition of dignity.

From the Scaling Deep session, led by Jayme Wooten of CLLTVICLY, came a powerful framing: “relationships move at the speed of trust, and change moves at the speed of relationships.” 

Scaling impact, then, is not just about reach or resources—it requires intentional investment in relationships. 

Trust—built through alignment, authenticity, and credibility—acts as the infrastructure that enables networks to move from intention to action.

Equally important is the reminder that humanity is not a monolith; difference can strengthen bridges rather than weaken them. 

During the Power Between Us session, led by Dr. Ranada Robinson, participants were called to ground efforts for progress—especially for those most marginalized—in the inherent dignity of all people. Building power across difference requires more than shared goals; it demands respect, humility, and a commitment to bridge-building. 

Extending the bridge metaphor, when rooted in dignity, relationships become the stepping stones toward power-sharing and inclusive prosperity.

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4. Community-Centered System Building

Simone Hardeman-Jones and Ali Knight

All of these reflections point to a shared imperative: systems must be reshaped with communities.

It is about building new tables where decisions are made differently. Constructing systems that are not just more efficient—but more just.

As we think about the imperative for our organization, holding urgency and long-term vision will be key to GreenLight Fund’s community-driven model having lasting, intergenerational impact.

This shift, from programs to ecosystems, is one where community voice and shared power shape solutions.

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From Insight to Action

The lessons from Harambee 2026 converge on a demanding truth: lasting change requires patience, courage, and discipline.

• The most transformative work happens out of sight before it becomes visible.
• We must keep the bridge standing while we build a better one. 
• The path forward depends on operationalizing trust, dignity, and relationships as strategies for change.

This requires us to:

• Invest in outcomes we may not immediately see
• Hold urgency and long-term transformation together
• Treat trust and dignity as core infrastructure
• Build systems in partnership with communities

For GreenLight Fund, and the broader field, this is a call to align how we work with what we believe, and to build a future where opportunity and prosperity are the norm, not the exception.