605. 2025 Social Impact Trends That Matter: Advocacy is Non-Negotiable. (Sixto Cancel)

Meet Sixto, the Founder of Think of Us and a nationally recognized leader. 🤝 He’s driving systems change in child welfare using tech, research, and policy to transform outcomes for youth and families. 🫂In this episode, Sixto breaks down why advocacy is essential for creating lasting change. He explains that vulnerable communities need advocates who bring lived experiences to the table, using data and stories to drive decisions. Advocacy isn’t just about making noise—it’s about harnessing these experiences to influence policymakers and push for real, systemic transformation. 🗣️Sixto talks about how Think of Us connects young people with foster care experience directly to lawmakers to help influence their decisions.💙Join us for this episode today. 🎧💡Learn:How Think of Us' work intersects with advocacy, including co-designing with those directly impacted.Misconceptions around advocacy that typically keep organizations from getting started.How Think of Us collected data from 27,000 young people to advocate for policy changes during the pandemic.How advocacy is not just an option but a necessity for impact organizations today.Episode Highlights:Understanding the Necessity of Advocacy (5:29)Misconceptions About Advocacy (12:28)Empowering Youth Through Advocacy (26:36)Confronting Social Issues in Education (20:39)Research and Lived Experience (33:34)The Power of Storytelling in Advocacy (36:46)“Keep your advocacy simple. It’s not about the number of people; it’s about being strategic. A smaller, capable team can be more agile and responsive, while a larger team may be slower to act.”- Sixto Cancel’s One Good Thing(30:17)Episode Shownotes: www.weareforgood.com/episode/605Transcript: https://otter.ai/u/d5RpcOu6iDaC73ruubu3sPdgK9c?utm_source=copy_urlJoin us at The Spread!Givebutter's biggest innovation event of the year is here — The Spread, built entirely around co-creating with nonprofits like yours. 💛We Are For Good is joining forces with GB to host in-person hackathon meetups on Friday, Oct. 2, in New York, Seattle, LA, Denver, and Indianapolis, so you can build alongside other nonprofits in the community.Learn more and save your free spot today. //Join the We Are For Good Community—completely free.Join fellow changemakers, share takeaways from this working session, and keep collaborating in a space built for connection, inspiration, and real impact: www.weareforgoodcommunity.comSay hi 👋LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / YouTube / Twitter