The reproductive justice movement has faced profound changes, attacks, and challenges in recent years: the fall of Roe v. Wade, rising attacks targeting racial, economic, and LGBTQIA+ equity, and increasing authoritarianism in the United States. To confront these challenges and advance reproductive justice in a rapidly shifting landscape, we need a robust pipeline of leaders who have the support, connections, historical knowledge, and tools needed to make change during volatile times.
Collective Power for Reproductive Justice relaunched its Emerging Leaders Network this year to meet this critical moment. Formerly known as the New Leadership Network Initiative (NLNI), we have redesigned the structure and the curriculum – drawing on lessons learned from our past and acknowledging the challenges and opportunities of the present to support new leaders who are advancing reproductive health, rights, and justice.
Read on for insights and reflections from Collective Power’s Director of Programs, Desta Cantave, about the inaugural Emerging Leaders Cohort, how the Network builds on NLNI’s history and successes, and how the Network is moving forward to fuel the reproductive justice movement.
Starting From Our Roots: Where the New Leadership Network Initiative (NLNI) Started
NLNI began in 1999 and provided a space for emerging leaders in the reproductive justice movement to speak candidly about the full range of movement issues and coordinate around strategies. NLNI analyzed right-wing ideology, examined intra-movement and organizational power dynamics, and explored intersections with cultural issues. In the program’s earlier iteration, it took the shape of a biannual convening of new leaders. NLNI served as a fertile ground for growing and nurturing the reproductive justice movement.
Re-envisioning for Today’s Movement
In redesigning the Emerging Leaders Network program, we found it essential to develop a program that incorporated the lineage of the NLNI program, feedback from past participants, and adaptations that meet the needs of leaders working in the reproductive justice movement today.
Beginning in fall of 2025, we brought together three movement partners to serve on a Design Committee, which reviewed NLNI archives and surveyed alums for feedback. The Design Committee and I met virtually for three months and then came together for three days of in-person planning to create a program for and by Emerging Leaders.
Our findings moved us toward a new shape for the program: a year-long fellowship model in which Emerging Leaders Network fellows would engage in monthly cohort calls, in addition to biannual convenings, to deepen their learning and connection to one another. We also decided to establish strategic and political priorities for cohorts of the re-envisioned program, leading to our 2025-26 focal point on rural, small-town and place-based organizing.
Finally, we developed a final project for the cohort of fellows to further their leadership development – an anthology of their offerings to the movement. To support the anthology and the overall arc of learning, we’ve brought in an academic advisor to guide the fellows through the process. The published anthology–which will be available online–allows fellows to tell the story of their work and share their leadership and insights with their peers in the broader movement.
Introducing the 2025-26 Emerging Leaders Network
We are thrilled to relaunch The Emerging Leaders Network with refined goals and intentions, building on NLNI’s roots while meeting the moment with leadership development opportunities for a stronger, strategic, and effective movement. Today’s Emerging Leaders Network creates opportunities for deep and meaningful collaboration across the reproductive justice movement through a cohort model. The program supports relationship building among emerging leaders, creates deeper opportunities for sharpening skills, and provides the time and space for coalition building.
This year, the Emerging Leaders cohort focuses on rural, small town and place-based organizers, bringing support to a critical group that faces unique challenges in the current political moment. We selected and prioritized fellows for this group based on their lived experiences and wisdom with localized organizing – a crucial tool to uplift in our movement work.
Our 2025-26 Emerging Leaders fellows are working to:
- strengthen abortion and contraceptive access,
- advance LGBTQIA+ justice,
- organize for human rights protections,
- mobilize around climate and environmental justice,
- champion birth justice,
- and so much more!
Nearly 60% of the fellows’ work takes place in hostile states where abortion, immigration and trans healthcare access are under direct attack. Our 15 fellows are associated with 40 social justice organizations across 17 states nationwide. They are confronting the interconnected systems that police bodies, borders, genders, and survival. Their work makes one truth clear: there is no reproductive justice without LGBTQIA+, racial, gender, and immigration justice.
This cohort is not simply responding to a crisis, they are organizing against the structures that created it.
Early Reflections: Where We are Now
Now in our fifth month of the 2025-26 program, our 15 fellows have been meeting monthly since September. Our virtual calls addressed a range of topics including place-based harms and organizing strategies, navigating conflict and relationships in organizing work, and solidarity-based organizing strategies.
We convened fellows in New Orleans this past November to strengthen connections between members and facilitate deeper political education and conversations. We also heard from New Orleans-based organizers about their place-based organizing strategies, providing a unique perspective on the culture and lessons of organizing in New Orleans. We visited the Backstreet Cultural Museum to learn about the history of jazz parades, Mardi Gras Indians, and second lines. We also visited the Community Book Center – a local bookstore and community space.
Since returning from New Orleans, we’ve been drawing on learnings from our first few months together to brainstorm, pitch, and draft contributions for the anthology. The process has included robust feedback opportunities from peers, the facilitation team, and academic advisor. We’re already seeing a rich tapestry of contributions — from photo essays and personal narratives to research essays and strategy guides — all anchored by the role that “place” plays in their work. We will debut the anthology at the Collective Power 2026 conference in April 2026 to begin sharing the important perspectives and insights with our community.
The Emerging Leaders Network cohort at the convening in New Orleans
Emerging Leaders Network convening in New Orleans was facilitated by several movement partners and Collective Power for Reproductive Justice’s Programs Manager, Desta Cantave.
Build the Reproductive Justice Leadership Pipeline With Us
We are excited for what the future of the Emerging Leaders Network holds. At this critical moment, it is important to identify and cultivate the leadership in the movement to forge new ways of achieving reproductive justice for all. The Emerging Leaders Network is a space that will continue to adapt to meet the needs of a shifting political landscape.
If you are interested in learning about future opportunities to participate in an upcoming Emerging Leaders cohort, sign up to receive email updates. If you want to support this vital work and help sustain our movement, become a donor.