Advancing Learning at the Speed of Trust: Key Takeaways from the 2025 ASU+GSV Summit
Earlier this month, members of the New Profit team traveled to San Diego, CA, to attend the 16th annual ASU+GSV Summit — one of the largest and most influential convenings in the education and workforce learning sector. Over 7,000 attendees gathered to advance bold ideas, strengthen partnerships, and explore the future of education, spanning PreK-12, higher education, and workforce development.
Our engagement at ASU+GSV reflected New Profit’s commitment to field-building, portfolio support, and strategic partnerships. Key goals during our time there included deepening relationships with grantee partners, staying close to emerging trends — particularly around artificial intelligence (AI) — and identifying new opportunities to advance collective impact.
Several key themes emerged across the diverse and intersectional sessions we attended (see the full list below). Each of these learnings reaffirmed the core principles that guide our work: proximity as an asset, The M.I.C.™ as the method, and systems change as the goal for evolving our nation.
The insights we gained from ASU+GSV reminded us that transformational change requires both a grounded presence in communities and a forward-looking approach to innovation. Whether we’re exploring AI’s potential, supporting local leaders, or collaborating across sectors, our goal remains the same: to build a more equitable, human-centered future through connection, collective action, and systems-level change.
Key Takeaways
Across these conversations, a few major themes stood out:
- Proximity is Powerful:
The best solutions are those that center local communities closest to the challenges — parents, educators, workers, policymakers, students, and neighborhoods. Scale is important, but adapting to and from local contexts is necessary for meaningful impact. - Scaling Must Be Paired With Purpose:
Solutions can and sometimes should scale to catalyze widespread results — but not through a one-size-fits-all approach, reinforcing what our Education team recently shared in their Widespread Impact Report. Real transformation happens when scale honors community-rooted innovation. - AI as an Opportunity Driver:
AI holds the potential to be a powerful force for good and a driver of economic opportunity. Creating pathways for access to AI for all — and shaping its future use with that framing in mind — is required to ensure that all can benefit from the advantages the technology offers. - Agility is Essential:
Technology is evolving faster than ever, creating both intended and unintended consequences. Social and public sectors need to mirror that speed — centering agility, rapid learning, and adaptive strategy. New tools that gather real-time data and insights will be critical for sustaining outcomes and delivering stronger results. - AI is not a Replacement for Human Connection:
AI can be powerful for supporting our students in more efficient and effective ways. That said, young people still need human connection and relationships with their peers and educators in order to thrive, and AI cannot fulfill that need. As Alejandro Gibes de Gac of Springboard Collaborative shared during his panel, “The tech is the supporting actor, not the star of the show. The star is the relationship.”
Sessions We Attended
We made it a priority to show up with our community, attending sessions that highlighted the leadership of our social entrepreneurs and explored the intersection of AI, education, economic opportunity, and community-centered innovation, including:
- Paths of Opportunity: How We Can Achieve Extraordinary Learning for All (featuring Aylon Samouha, from grantee partner organization, Transcend)
- The Win-Win Workplace (with Dr. Angela Jackson, former New Profit leader)
- The Role of AI in Teaching: Teacher-Facing AI Solutions that Center Teachers in the AI Revolution (featuring Michelle Odemwingie from grantee partner organization, Achievement Network)
- Meet Me in the Middle: How Can AI Create a Thriving Middle Class? (featuring Korah Wiley from grantee partner organization, Digital Promise)
- Centering Humanity in the AI Age: A Promise To “Tomorrow’s Children” (featuring Alejandro Gibes de Gac from grantee partner organization, Springboard Collaborative)
- Invisible Wellness: Supporting Student Mental Health at Scale (featuring Aaliyah Samuel from grantee partner organization, CASEL)
- Beyond Band-Aids: Transforming School Environments to Solve the Teacher Retention Crisis (featuring Tommy Chang from grantee partner organization, New Teacher Center)
New Profit Community Gathering
To close out our time at the summit, we hosted a networking event to strengthen relationships with key partners, grantees, and funders. The goal was simple: create space for meaningful connection. In a sector where collaboration is essential but often rushed, this gathering allowed us to slow down, listen, connect, and build with intention. It was an opportunity to deepen trust, surface new ideas, and recognize the momentum already building across the field.
The insights we gained — especially around AI in education, scaling economic opportunity, and key drivers of innovation for all — have already been shared internally with our team to help inform and strengthen New Profit’s learning and investment strategies.
By engaging deeply at ASU+GSV, New Profit not only supported individual grantee partners but also contributed to field-wide learning and collaboration, ensuring that we stay close to the innovations that will shape the future for all learners.
Let’s Connect
If you’re interested in diving deeper into the conversations and themes that emerged from our time at ASU+GSV, feel free to reach out — we’d love to continue the dialogue and explore ways to move this work forward together.
