One Young World Reflection

At the beginning of November, I had the absolute privilege of attending the 2025 One Young World Summit in Munich, Germany. I was accompanied by 20 other young professionals representing United Ways from across the world, as well as United Way Worldwide President and CEO Angela Williams.

The four-day summit hosted speakers and discussions focused on some of the most pressing challenges we face today. We wrestled with questions of what responsible technology looks like in the age of Artificial Intelligence, and how we can achieve peace and security when players operate with different sets of “facts.” As I listened, reflected, and shared opinions with my newfound colleagues, I reaffirmed my own belief in collective impact as a way to achieve United Way’s mission of advancing the common good.

In one of the most inspiring speeches of the summit, Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa stated, “Without facts, you can’t have truth, and without truth, you can’t have trust. Without these three, we don’t have a shared reality.” It is commonly held that there are 5 key conditions of collective impact, an approach that forms the basis for United Way of Chatham County’s Chatham Housing Collective (CHC) and Chatham Success Network (CSN) initiatives. One of those key conditions is a shared agenda, but a shared agenda must be built on a shared source of truth and can only be acted on once trust has been built.

The work we do here in Chatham County is committed to truth and trust, so that our community is sufficiently empowered for the hard work of systems change. In building and maintaining the CHC Community Dashboard, we are tending to a shared source of information about the state of housing in Chatham. In shifting toward greater power-sharing in our Chatham Success Network funding process, we build trust with our partners. And in facilitating both CHC and CSN meetings, we create spaces so that partners can build trust with each other, too.

Artificial Intelligence is poised to further permeate our daily reality, and technology has made communication faster and more accessible. However, AI also serves as a contrast to the deeply human relationships we cultivate through the CHC and CSN. Collective impact creates space for – and is dependent on – authentic connection and relationships, something that technology can never replace.

As we prepare to enter a time of reflection and renewal, of family time and tradition, we must remember that our humanity is our superpower. Our community is diverse in its strengths, yet united in humble collaboration.

As I sat in the main hall of the Summit, listening to CEOs, royalty, and changemakers from across the globe, something dawned on me: the credibility that got me to that room – sharing space with individuals I so admire – is the same credibility that can help me achieve whatever goals of my own I choose to pursue. It is an honor to be able to put that credibility toward elevating the collaboration of Chatham County.

One other quote has stayed with me from Maria Ressa’s speech: “Hope comes from action. When you act, you build hope because that action changes your world.” I hope you will act with me.