Co-Creating the Future: Young Leaders Summit — A Creative Activation

Co-Creating the Future: The Summit Wasn’t Just a Gathering — It Was a Creative Activation

On October 25th, young leaders from all over South Carolina gathered in North Charleston for our 2nd annual South Carolina Young Leaders Summit.

A few weeks ago, we shared the words they chose as they walked out the doors that day: Excited. Hopeful. Inspired. Ready. Hungry for more.

Today, we want to share why they felt that way.

When we designed this year’s Summit, we knew we didn’t want another space where young people were talked at. We wanted to create a place where they could reimagine, reshape, and co-create what leadership in South Carolina can look like - together.

Our Young Visionaries Committee - the students and young professionals who co-designed the Summit - put it plainly:
“We want to hear from young leaders, but not in a panel. Not a formal thing. Let’s do something that actually feels like us.”

And that’s the heartbeat of our work.
What we do matters.
But how we do it?
That’s where the power lives.

So we said, yes.
And, together, we built something unforgettable. 

An Art Activation Rooted in Courage, Creativity, & Community

We invited Dogon Krigga, a South Carolina-based Afro-Surrealist artist, graphic designer, and community organizer, to lead an interactive session that blended art, facilitation, imagination, and brave conversation.

Dogon uses a method they call digital collage facilitation - where ideas, emotions, questions, struggles, hopes, and aspirations become visual symbols, layered into a collective portrait of what’s possible when young people lead.

Dogon was joined by three brilliant young voices who helped shape and co-facilitate the session:

• Alandria Mustafa — Founding member of the Charleston Medic Collective & therapist, grounding us in community care and resilience.

• Millie Bennett — College student, artist, activist, pushing us toward knowledge, access, and justice.

• Courtney McClain — Activist and organizer, bringing energy, lived experience, and sharp insight into the conversations.

Together, they opened the door to a different kind of conversation: one rooted in truth, creativity, possibility, and the courage to dream out loud. 

Themes That Emerged

Throughout the session, young people named what they’re navigating, fighting for, and imagining. These themes rose again and again: 

• Cowardly courage

• There is no bravery without fear

• The personal is political

• Exile is no place for compassion

These weren’t slogans on a poster.
They are lived experiences - quiet truths becoming loud together.

As young people shared, imagined, questioned, and created, Dogon turned their contributions into a digital image - a visual record of their collective vision for the world they want to build: 

Words became symbols.
Feelings became color.
Ideas became shapes.
Hopes became something you could hold. 

Right there in the room, Dogon assembled a one-of-a-kind digital collage capturing the collective visions these young leaders built together. 

Every attendee took a printing of the collage home - a tangible reminder that what they imagine together can become something real. 

Here’s how Dogon described the experience:

“The Young Leaders Summit was an amazing opportunity to collaborate with the future. I was able to harness enthusiasm, intellect, and compassionate vision as a medium, and be in solidarity with creativity with a room full of bright minds. Together, we turned abstract concepts of community building into symbols. We arranged these symbols into a collage that encapsulated the spirit of the moment and the collective vision of a better future.”

It was art as civic imagination.
Creation as leadership.
A new kind of civic power unfolding in real time. 

This is What Makes Be The Ones…Be The Ones!

This session - equal parts conversation, creativity, reflection, and courage - is the embodiment of our approach.

Be The Ones doesn’t just run programs that teach civic engagement.
We build spaces where young people gather, imagine, experiment, reflect, connect, and build together.
We create the conditions where imagination becomes leadership, leadership becomes community, and community becomes power.

This is what sets us apart.

We believe imagination is a civic skill.
Creativity is a civic tool.
Co-creation is a form of power. 

And when you put young people at the center of all three, possibility expands - into something you can feel, something you can see, and something you want to be a part of. 

Why It Matters for 2026…And Beyond

This is why Be The Ones exists: to turn possibility into power.

And it’s why, next year, we are expanding our Young Leaders Programs in bold and intentional ways. 

Because we’ve seen what happens when young people are trusted to lead. We’ve seen what they build when they have space to gather, imagine, and create. We’ve seen what happens when they begin to see themselves — and each other — as part of something bigger.

What they experience in spaces like the Summit doesn’t stay contained in one room. It ripples onto campuses, into community, into their futures, and into ours. 

Now, we’re building what comes next: more opportunities for South Carolina’s rising generation to gather, learn, connect, create, and dream boldly about the communities they want to build. 

In the coming weeks, we’ll share more about our 2026 plans — and how you can help make them possible.

But today, as you look at the collage they created and you remember the themes they named, we invite you to be part of this next chapter - and join us in building what’s next.

👉Make a tax-deductible donation today to support the expansion of our Young Leaders Programs in 2026 👈

Thank you for being part of this growing movement and for believing in the power of young people who refuse to accept what is — and are brave enough to imagine what could be. The next chapter of leadership in South Carolina is already unfolding, and you’re helping build the future they’re daring to imagine.