Imagine a world where every young person can cultivate their purpose, unlocking their potential and transforming their communities. Purpose provides a compass, bolstering mental health, fostering resilience, and motivating healthy behaviors. Yet, despite decades of research on purpose, systemic barriers—a siloed ecosystem, underutilized youth voices, and limited practitioner tools—prevent its transformative power from reaching all youth.
This project represents a groundbreaking partnership between the Purpose Science and Innovation Exchange (PSiX) at Cornell University and the Purpose Commons. Together, these sister organizations aim to build a dynamic infrastructure to advance purpose science, foster collaboration, and amplify impact. Through three strategic pillars—building a purpose ecosystem, advancing purpose science, and communicating its power—this project addresses critical gaps in the youth development field.
Over two years of design work, we engaged researchers, youth-serving organizations, youth, and funders to shape our approach. PSiX anchors rigorous research, while the Purpose Commons ensures insights are co-designed with youth and practitioners. Initial experiments like the National Contribution Project demonstrate the effectiveness of our collaborative model, showing how research, youth input, and storytelling generate actionable insights and inspire broader engagement.
By fostering collaboration among researchers, youth, and practitioners, piloting convenings, and amplifying youth voices through storytelling, this project seeds the foundation for a thriving purpose ecosystem. It bridges research and practice to ensure purpose science evolves responsively, helping youth thrive and embedding purpose in the national conversation on well-being.
This project builds the infrastructure to create a world where purpose science is accessible, relevant, and transformative—unlocking youth potential and reshaping systems for generations to come.
