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Young People Will Pitch the Future of Golden at Systems Change L.A.B. Community Showcase
Golden’s founding pilot program demonstrates a new model for civic participation by bringing youth voices into community problem-solving from the very beginning.
GOLDEN, Colo. – Communities often ask young people what they think after decisions have already been made. The Golden Systems Change L.A.B. flips that model by inviting youth to help design solutions from the start.
On Friday, Aug. 7, 2026, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., community members, civic leaders, educators, and media are invited to attend the Systems Change L.A.B. Youth Pitch Night hosted in partnership with the Colorado School of Mines,, where up to 24 young people will present their ideas for strengthening community wellness in Golden. Event RSVP: https://luma.com/jxazh5sq ·
The event showcases an innovative approach to strengthening civic participation by engaging youth not simply as future leaders, but as leaders today. Rather than placing responsibility for solving the world’s challenges on young people, the Systems Change L.A.B. creates space for them to collaborate with university students, community mentors, business leaders, and elected officials who listen, learn, and help bring ideas to life.
Mayor Laura Weinberg serves as the program’s Civic Champion, and the program’s first act in any community, convening a cross-sector Systems Change Council of business, education, energy, finance, creative, academic, and community leaders, was carried out in Golden by Cuppari, Weinberg, and volunteer Council Director JJ Trout, a former Golden city councilor and the effort’s point person on the ground.
The Systems Change L.A.B. is a program of Dream Tank, the Colorado nonprofit founded by Heidi Cuppari that has spent a decade activating young people as designers of real-world solutions. Cuppari co-created the model with Rebecca Irby, founder and president of the PEAC Institute, whose international systems-change and peacebuilding work bridges local communities and United Nations civil-society spaces. The model was further shaped with insight from Mayor Laura Weinberg and prototyped with Brown University students, whose insistence that healing come first now informs everything the program does.
“I want the future of Golden to be designed by the residents who will be living in it.” said Mayor Laura Weinberg.
“If we don’t have the future in the room when we’re designing the future, what are we doing?” said Heidi Cuppari, founder of Dream Tank and co-creator of the Systems Change L.A.B.
“The Power of WE is ‘lo-bal’ change in action: local wisdom and global ideas coming together to create something stronger,” said Rebecca Irby, founder and president of the PEAC Institute
“Right now, Golden is grappling with a real need for change around how we address community problems head on, including racism. And the kids can feel that. And they can help build the community that they want to live in. This model is meant to shift minds and change systems by giving us a way to address real community challenges in real time.” – JJ Trout
The Youth Pitch Night culminates a one-day Systems Change L.A.B. experience that brings together:
- 12 Youth Dreamers (ages 8-14)
- 4 Golden High School Planning Interns
- 4 Colorado School of Mines Leadership Fellows
- 4 Dream Tank Youth Alumni Leaders
- 15 Community Leaders and Mentors
Together, participants tackle a real community wellness challenge and develop ideas designed to strengthen the lives of Golden residents.
Powerful Visuals and Story Opportunities
Media attending the event can expect compelling visuals and authentic moments throughout the evening, including:
- Youth presenters confidently pitching their ideas before an audience of community members and civic leaders.
- Colorful vision boards, sketches, prototypes, maps, and interactive displays created during the day’s collaborative design process.
- Cross-generational teams of youth, university students, mentors, and community leaders working side-by-side to develop solutions.
- Dynamic presentations that reveal how young people see the future of their community.
- Reactions from attendees as youth share bold, hopeful, and practical ideas for improving community wellness.
- Interview opportunities with youth participants, Mayor Laura Weinberg, Colorado School of Mines fellows, community leaders, and program organizers.
Why This Matters
Golden is the first city to pilot the Systems Change L.A.B., making it a national proving ground for a new approach to civic engagement and community problem-solving.
The model begins with young people’s passions, creativity, and strengths. It then connects them with adults who help transform those ideas into meaningful community action. What is being tested in Golden on August 7 will inform a larger 10-week Systems Change L.A.B. program in Summer 2027, culminating in a Local Action Blueprint presented to city leadership.
As communities across the country seek new ways to strengthen trust, participation, and belonging, Golden is demonstrating what becomes possible when young people are invited into the process from the beginning rather than the end.
Event Details
What: Systems Change L.A.B. Youth Pitch Night to the Community
When: Friday, Aug. 7, 2026
Time: 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Where: Colorado School of Mines, Labriola Innovation Hub
Golden, Colorado
Learn More
For event details and information about the Systems Change L.A.B., visit Dream Tank’s Aug. 7 Event Page.
About the Systems Change L.A.B.
The Systems Change L.A.B. is a Dream Tank program, co-created by Heidi Cuppari with Rebecca Irby of the PEAC Institute and developed through collaboration with youth, university students, civic leaders, educators, and cross-sector community partners, and shaped by a decade of Dream Tank youth, families, and volunteers. Learn more at wearedreamtank.org.
About Dream Tank
Dream Tank Foundation is a Colorado 501(c)(3) that has spent a decade activating young people ages 8–28 as designers of real-world solutions, through accelerators, fellowships, and community programs that pair youth vision with mentors who help build it. wearedreamtank.org
About the PEAC Institute
The PEAC Institute is a global peacebuilding and systems-change organization in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Through facilitation, education, advocacy, and coalition-building, PEAC connects local knowledge and community leadership with global networks and proven methodologies to turn complex challenges into collaborative action. peacinstitute.org
About the Colorado School of Mines Partnership
The Colorado School of Mines hosts the Systems Change L.A.B. at its Labriola Innovation Hub and supports the participation of Mines student fellows, who serve as team facilitators throughout the program, connecting university engineering talent with the next generation of community problem-solvers.
Community Support
The August 7 program is supported by founding sponsors and community contributions, a City of Golden special event grant, and by Golden’s cross-sector Systems Change Council, and The event is free and open to the public.
Event & Media Resources
Event details: wearedreamtank.org/aug7 ·
Event RSVP: https://luma.com/jxazh5sq ·
Photos, logos, poster, and program overview: golden-aug7promo.netlify.app ·
Program film: youtube.com/watch?v=0Pe03FCxcbY
Media Contact
Heidi Cuppari · heidi@dreamtank.co · 917-699-8351 · Interviews available in advance and on site with youth participants (with family consent), Mayor Laura Weinberg, program founders, Mines fellows, and community leaders. Minors appear on camera only with documented family consent; our team will identify media-cleared participants on site.
Golden Is About to Find Out What Happens When Young People Design the Future
Golden has a question it’s Mayor has been carrying for a while: what would it look like if the people who will inherit this city actually had a hand in designing it?
On Friday, August 7, we’re going to find out.
Dream Tank, in partnership with the PEAC Institute and Colorado School of Mines, is bringing the first-ever Golden Mini Systems Change L.A.B. to the Labriola Innovation Hub on the Mines campus. It’s a one-day experience where youth, Mines engineering students, and community mentors come together to tackle a real civic challenge, one identified by Golden’s own cross-sector Systems Change Council.
By the end of the day, teams will pitch their solutions to the community. Not in a classroom. Not to a panel of judges. To Golden.
What Is the Systems Change L.A.B.?
Dream Tank’s L.A.B. method, HEAL · DREAM · BUILD · PITCH, starts where most civic processes don’t: with the emotional readiness of the people in the room. We begin by creating space for young people and adults to feel safe, heard, and whole. Then we dream boldly, build together, and pitch real solutions to real decision-makers.
This isn’t a simulation. The Local Action Blueprint developed on August 7 goes directly to Mayor Laura Weinberg and Golden city leadership, and feeds into the full Golden Systems Change L.A.B. in 2027.
Golden is the founding pilot city for Dream Tank’s Systems Change L.A.B. model. What happens here on August 7 matters, not just for this community, but for every city watching to see what intergenerational civic design can look like at its best.
Two Ways to Be Part of It
Apply for the Full-Day Workshop (8:30 AM to 4:30 PM · Free) Youth, Colorado School of Mines students, and community mentors and leaders are invited to apply. Space is limited. Applications are free and open now. → Apply here
Come to the Community Pitch Night (5:30 to 7:00 PM · Free · No RSVP required) Hear what teams built. Ask questions. Help shape what comes next. The Pitch Night is free and open to everyone in Golden, no ticket, no registration required. → RSVP to save your spot
Sponsor the Future
At $5,000, your organization can name the design challenge. Youth and Mines engineers spend the day solving your question, and the results go to city leadership. This is what it looks like to put your mission in the room where the future gets designed. → See sponsorship opportunities
August 7 is one day. But the ideas that come out of it belong to Golden for years.
We’ll see you there.
A Story of Bravery, Belonging, and Becoming
Some stories do more than tell us what happened.
They remind us who we are.
In my recent About Boulder article, I share the story of my grandmother, Margaret “Maggi” Markey, and her path into civic leadership in Boulder County during a time of deep change. It is a story rooted in place, family, and public life, but also in something larger: the courage to step forward when your voice is needed.
The kind of courage that does not always announce itself.
The kind that begins quietly.
A hand raised. A question asked. A room entered. A line crossed between watching and participating.
At Dream Tank, we think about this kind of bravery all the time.
Because youth leadership is not just about big stages or bold titles.
It is also about learning to trust your voice.
About speaking even when you are unsure.
About stepping into spaces that were not built with you in mind, and bringing your whole self anyway.
This story matters to us because it reflects something we know to be true: change moves through relationships, across generations, and through ordinary people willing to act with extraordinary care.
It matters because so many young people are standing at that threshold right now, feeling the call to lead, to build, to protect, to imagine differently, while also wondering: Am I ready? Do I belong in this room? Will my voice make a difference?
Our answer is yes.
And stories like this help us remember that bravery has a lineage.
We inherit it. We witness it. We practice it.
And then, together, we carry it forward.
If you care about youth voice, civic courage, intergenerational leadership, and the living history of Boulder, I hope you’ll read the full piece.
Read the full article on About Boulder:
https://aboutboulder.com/blog/the-boulder-before-boulder/
Learning from the Systems Change LAB: When Color Became the Point
During Dream Tank’s two-week Systems Change Lab in Boulder, Brown University students worked alongside mentors and city leaders to design practical tools for civic systems change. As the cohort prepared to present their ideas to mayors, an unexpected debate emerged: Should their slides be colorful and expressive, or toned down to match traditional expectations of professionalism?
What seemed like a small design choice revealed a deeper systems pattern – the pressure to “flatten” creativity and personality to be taken seriously. With guidance from mentor and Nobel prize winner Rebecca Irby, students recognized this moment as part of the work itself. Systems change isn’t only about new frameworks and policies; it also requires questioning the cultural norms that shape which ideas are seen as credible.
The experience became a powerful reminder that youth leadership expands what leadership can look like. Imagination, empathy, and courage are not distractions from serious work – they are essential to building futures that are more human, inclusive, and possible. Sometimes, the color is the point.
Read the full story behind this defining moment from Dream Tank’s Systems Change Lab by Adrienne Markey…
