By Marc McAleavey, MSW
CEO, Health by Design & The Indiana Public Health Association; Founding Executive Director, Public Allies Indianapolis; Public Allies National Board member
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I was there when we started Public Allies Indianapolis. Nearly 20 years ago, we started building and planting what has become a vibrant garden of diverse leadership and impact. This was not with a blueprint, but with a burning belief: that leadership is already present in every community. It just needs to be recognized, nurtured, and unleashed. That’s what Public Allies has always done. It finds the promise in people who have been overlooked or underestimated and says, You belong in leadership. You belong at the table. You belong.
I’ve witnessed this power routinely transform lives. Not just the lives of the Allies, but of everyone and every community lucky enough to work beside them. I’ve seen first-generation college students grow into nonprofit directors. I’ve watched formerly incarcerated individuals step into city government, changing systems from the inside. There was a young leader who went from community college to the Ivy League. I’ve seen Black and brown youth, queer leaders, innovators from working-class neighborhoods—all stepping forward, not just dreaming of justice, but building it with the gifts of their hands, head, and heart.
Because Public Allies is not a service year, it is a soul year.
It is where courage is cultivated, trauma is turned into testimony, and difference becomes a source of strength. It is one of the few places in our civic life that still believes in people. It believes in people not for who they could be in some distant future, but for who they already are.
And so, I say this with every fiber of my being: when you invest in Public Allies, you are not funding a program. You are fueling a movement. You are protecting a pipeline of possibility that our country desperately needs.
We cannot afford to lose this. Not now. Not ever.
The next generation of leaders is not waiting to be found, they’re already here. And Public Allies is how we say to them: We see you. We need you. And we believe in you.