The primary goal of this project is to infuse and strengthen the influence of future-oriented thinking with those working to ensure that communities and Native nations across the rural United States are healthy places where everyone belongs, lives with dignity and thrives.

This cohort, which is sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, includes pre-selected future focused leaders from communities across the United States and includes 3 components:

  • Discover: Participants will be led through a series of learning opportunities that build their knowledge and skills as future focused leaders. Delivered as synchronous 3-hour virtual retreats over a 12-month time period, these bi-monthly retreats expose participants to a diverse set of futurists with unique information and models for building a better future. Retreats will include topics like: changing mindset to create the space for future thinking, trend sensing and tools for collecting signals, building an equitable future, and bringing future thinking into the participant’s work. Retreats will also include intentional time and structure to enable the cohort to engage in future-oriented visioning and solution-generation together. Participants will receive four hours of coaching to talk through skill development , communications strategies and future trends that impact participant’s focus areas. They will also receive assistance in developing a presentation of three trends that will impact their work in the future.

  • Nurture: In this cohort, participants will be assigned to a small mastermind group to foster connection in a more intimate setting. The mastermind groups are an ideal tool for connection, problem-solving, and ideation. Mastermind groups meet in the months between our bi-monthly Discover sessions.

  • Act: Participants will develop a short talk about trends that will impact their work and how their organization and the field can prepare for and harness these coming trends.That short talk will be recorded and can be shared. Participants will also develop blog posts about findings that will be shared with the field. The intention of developing and sharing a talk about trends is to raise participant’s visibility as well as the visibility of futurism tools as a key strategy for successful rural community development. 


Program takes place from 1-4 pm CST on the following dates: 

October 26, 2021

December 2, 2021

February 3, 2022

April 7, 2022

June 2, 2022

August 4, 2022

There will also be mastermind group meetings from 1-2:30pm CST on November 9, January 6, March 3, May 12 and July 14 that is 1 and a half hours long.  The expectation is that all participants can attend almost all of the sessions.

Questions? Watch the Q/A Session recording here. If you have additional questions, please email Trista.