California Living Labs
For liberatory futures in education
A statewide initiative hosted by the National Equity Project that infuses belonging, purpose and agency into the future of learning.
Sign up for updates (opens in a new tab)
Equity grows here
The California Living Labs for Liberatory Futures in Education is a statewide initiative hosted by the National Equity Project that infuses belonging, purpose and agency into the future of learning.
Starting with young people and families least well served by the current system, the Living Labs brings them together with educators, researchers and community leaders to create something all too rare in education today: an enduring space where everyone builds trust, shares power, wrestles with hard questions and co-authors a new vision for secondary learners.
Here’s how it works, using the California poppy, our state flower, as a guide.
The stem
Carries nutrients to every other part of the plant. This is the CoLab: an intergenerational group, half youth and half adult system leaders, that holds the shared vision and feeds it into everything else we build.
Meet the CoLabThe petals
Open and become the bloom itself. These are our local Activation Labs, where ecosystem leaders, families and young people test the vision together and find out what it actually looks like in practice.
See our first Activation LabThe pollinators
Carry pollen from flower to flower. These are our catalytic collaborators: national thought leaders, futurists and researchers who cross-pollinate what we’re learning here with what’s happening everywhere else.
Meet our collaboratorsThe seeds
What the plant leaves behind, built to take root somewhere new. These are our knowledge products and policy recommendations, the parts that will grow into the future.
Read what we’re learning
Local wisdom informs statewide learning. Statewide learning strengthens local action. The process repeats and everyone flourishes. Isn’t science cool?
Our first Activation Lab: Oakland
On November 7, 2026, young people, families, educators and community leaders gathered at the Oakland Museum of California for our first Activation Lab.
Were you at the Oakland Activation Lab? Find the participant agenda, messages from the lab and resources from the day.
Open participant materials“The future isn’t something that just happens to us. It is something that we intentionally design together.”
Mariela Jimenez, Youth Organizer
What we’re learning
After each gathering, we share what we heard, what surprised us and where we’re headed next.
What we learned
Our first gathering in Oakland, built around a futures activity set in 2051.
Read the brief (opens in a new tab) Youth partnersWhat our youth partners told us
Reflections on influence, power and what real intergenerational partnership takes.
Read the brief (opens in a new tab) August 11, 2026 · CoLabWhat we learned
Naming adultism directly and practicing the partnership we want to build.
Read the brief (opens in a new tab) September 15, 2026 · CoLabWhat we learned
Our first session as a finalized CoLab, shaping the question for November 7.
Read the brief (opens in a new tab)Get involved
The future of education will not be authored by any one institution. It will emerge through the relationships we build, the wisdom we share and the futures we imagine together. What does that mean for you?
For young people
Trade tokenism for equal voice, shared decision-making and co-authorship of innovative ideas and prototypes.
For families and community leaders
Move from invited guests to local experts and full collaborators envisioning new possible futures.
For educators and system leaders
Participate in a safe-to-learn space to dream and test bold ideas and future-ready designs.
For business and industry
Contribute to future-ready visions by articulating the durable skills needed for economic mobility in the age of AI.
Stay in the know
Get Living Labs news and future Activation Lab opportunities through the National Equity Project newsletter.