Faith leaders and institutions play an important role in this effort. Deeply rooted in local communities, they serve as hubs for connection, dialogue, and moral reflection, often enabling people from diverse socio-economic and political backgrounds to find common connection. Their ability to convene and inspire is grounded in centuries of traditions of gathering, ritual, and shared values. During a time when our democracy faces unprecedented challenges, these leaders have unique potential to guide us toward new visions of civic engagement. By leveraging their moral authority and trusted positions within communities, they can help shape a more inclusive and participatory democratic future - one rooted in the everyday acts of connection and care that sustain a healthy society.

Meet Dr. Rucha Kaur, Managing Director of Education and Community Development for the Sikh Coalition and social justice champion. Rooted in her Sikh values, Rucha really puts the community in community organizing, connecting with people across the country who are tapping into their own faith values to create change. Rucha lives in New Jersey but feels at home in many places thanks to all the relationships she has nurtured through her work.

Meet Ray’Chel Wilson, CFEI®, personal finance teacher and Founder and CEO of ForOurLastNames, a financial education platform launching in February 2024 that bridges the gap in financial literacy and investment opportunities for underrepresented groups. Ray’Chel beautifully applies her values of collective liberation to the work of financial wellness, asking how building wealth can be not just about individual benefit but value for the whole community.

Meet Sadaf Taimur, mother, PhD student, Dalai Lama Fellow, and passionate advocate, educator, and innovator. Sadaf previously developed a project to address gender discrimination in education in her native Pakistan. Now, she is engaged in action-oriented research on transformative sustainability education, which recently won her a Green Talents Award from Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Meet Yasmine Arrington, social entrepreneur and so much more. Yasmine started her organization ScholarCHIPS as a junior in high school, turning her own experience into a way to support many other young people. She has won tons of awards and been featured in TeenVogue, Essence, Forbes, the Washington Post, and more. Through university and divinity school, she continued to grow her organization and now runs it full-time. And if that weren’t enough, she also models and hosts a podcast, Millennial Minds.

Meet Reem Rahman, passionate mom and systems change expert, one of the folks behind the beautiful changemaking.net resource from Ashoka in our resource library. Reem brings her deep faith, curiosity, and commitment to everything she does, which now includes creating the most compelling homeschool we’ve ever heard of and writing a children’s book.

Meet Mark Basnage, educator, innovator, and founder of MakeKnowledge. Mark is perpetually pushing the boundaries of what education can and should be. He inspires us to imagine education that is more inclusive and relevant, and where learning means being engaged in positive change.

Meet Vipin Thekk, Senior Director at Ashoka and amazingly curious, spiritual, reflective, and energetic human. From Krishna to Integral Theory to evolution to the Bodhisattva vow, buckle up for this one, folks. We can always count on Vipin to take us on a stimulating ride through head, heart, and spirit.

We don't often tell them as innovation stories, but history is full of examples of faith communities and institutions developing new ideas for addressing social problems. All the destructive things done in the name of religion or by religious people and leaders notwithstanding, when one looks to where good is happening in the world, one will often find people of faith. From building social movements to building schools and hospitals, faith communities have been innovating solutions, often quietly, for the good of humanity for millennia. And they are still doing so today, though the scale of these efforts sometimes feels small under the weight of today's complex problems.

Until one learns about Akshaya Patra.