Navigating disruption by exploring the YMCA response

Working together to reshape the landscape of kids’ education

Derek Haoyang Li, the Founder and Chief Education Technology Scientist at Squirrel Ai Learning, one of the Time 100 most influential companies of the year in 2026, made a promise: ‘We want to help YMCA become a centre of education. We want to work miracles and help reshape the landscape for kids’ education’.

His company runs a network of after school learning centres where an adaptive AI tutoring system customizes lessons in real time, based on how each student responds. Last year, the platform reached 52 million students across 60,000 schools and learning centres, mostly in Asia.

Keynote presentation

“May we learn the lessons of injustice, hardship and failure, and act with determined hope for what is still possible,” said Dr. Marie Wilson during her keynote presentation. She spoke about leading with purpose through respect, listening, and honouring and acknowledging other experiences, including those of traditional knowledge keepers. 

Drawing on her experience as the Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner who led Canada’s national effort to uncover and acknowledge the legacy of forced residential schools for Indigenous children, Dr. Wilson shared examples of how to lead for reconciliation and transformation by working together in community.

Panel discussion

Ryan Bean, Archivist at the Kautz Family YMCA Archives in the University of Minnesota Libraries, then led a panel discussion asking how YMCAs in the Middle East and Latin America are responding to the world of disruption.  

Nicola Abuamsha, Operations Director at YMCA East Jerusalem, was poignant: ‘We went all in, and together we created something beautiful: we created hope, and that was actually the hardest part, because our own hopes were taking a beating. In all this, young people were never a target audience for us: they were us, and they are the organisation that is the YMCA. 

Oriana Ortiz Parrao, Programs, Strategy and Movement Strengthening Coordinator at YMCA Latin America & the Caribbean, was direct: ‘Simply, we are a place of belonging: people trust us’.

Keeping a ‘day 1’ mentality

Rick Buettner, Managing Director for Global Non-Profits at Amazon Web Services, shared the company’s approach: ‘We have always kept our ‘Day 1 mentality’, in being prepared to innovate, and sometimes to fail. We approach you in YMCA with both urgency and curiosity: we want to help you with the hard problems of data and AI, not the soft ones. This is not a transaction: it’s a partnership.’

Breakout sessions

Three rounds of breakout sessions were held on the following topics:

Session 1

1. Embracing the tension: leading through complexity in a world that won’t slow down. Presented by Tim Arnold

2. Innovation with guardrails: making AI work when your mission comes first, sponsored by AWS. Presented by Brendan Kelly, Hilary Noon, Ben Turnbull, Sasha Rubel

3. The Community Wellbeing Pillar: YMCAs unique global position. Presented by Carlos Sanvee, Sean Malone, Karen Friedman, Todd Tibbits, Peter Nasir

4. The organisations young people no longer need – and how to not be one. Presented by François Taddei, Casey Harden, Gurvinder Singh, Purity Kiguatha, Diana Carillo, Jacqueline Innocent.

5. Making sustainability part of everyday YMCA life. Presented by: Eleanor Blair, Ianne Christine Aquino, Jillian Law, Taylor Smith, Lloyd Wamai.

6. Roar of inclusion: a journey to empower people with intellectual disabilities through Chinese lion dance. Presented by: Tracy Law

7. What if YMCA became the world’s best pathway to work? Presented by: Shareena Hatta

Session 2

1. Leadership at a crossroads: what to keep, what to toss, what to transform. Presented by Renee Hancock, Mark Hulet, Gobika Srioranganathan, Stephen Butz, Tim Arnold

2. Staying with the community: how YMCAs sustain wellbeing in contexts of violence, instability and fragmentation. Presented by: Wahbeh Asfour, Victoria Trofimova, Oriana Ortiz Parrao, Tony El Mir, Mona Zaghrout, Helen Tefera, Peter Nasir

3. Sustainability within reach: how YMCAs can lead communities worldwide, a “State of the Planet” session. Presented by: John Fernández, Shakil Karim

4. Young people, AI and the future of work: what should YMCA do next? Presented by: Lucy Murdoch, Chad Nico Hiu, Jan Owen, Lesego Kobuwe, Maricris Saldarriaga, Rehana Merali Merchant, Amy Binny, Renata Ferrari, Yannick Vuylsteke, Magdalena Fulton, Mark Cameron, Kelly Bradshaw-Walsh, Santiago Mena López, Sarah Rapp

5. From crisis to culture: a people-first turnaround. Presented by: Sabrina Vatcher, Maya Giorbelidze

6. One Platform, Many Programs: Scaling YMCA Impact with PLAYBuilder. Presented by: Will MacKeen, Jenna Leslie

7. Putting human skills at the heart of education and youth policy worldwide: a roundtable discussion. Presented by: Martin Houghton-Brown

8. Supporting youth civic participation and advocacy. Presented by: Emily Greco, Tito Kiprono

9. The journey of Leo: how collaborative and creative care changes the story. Presented by: Anthony De Rose, Chi Hin (Isaac) Yeung, Sheridan Parsons

10. YMCA CEOs that said yes to AI – here’s what happened: real talk. Presented by: Lara Gilchrist, Shaun Elliott, Jamie Bruning-Miles, Ronn McMahon

Session 3

1. The ‘Movement Mindset’: see differently, lead differently. Presented by: David Paterson

2. What do young people need to build peace? From insight to collective action across sectors. Presented by: Dr Felipe Paullier, Jon Moyal, Jonathan Belolo, Vardan Hambardzumyan, Tere Stouffer, Maurine Kouba, Sarah Rapp, François Taddei, Øivind Mehl Landmark, Daniel Lopez, Gurvinder Singh

3. From infrastructure to innovation: enabling scalable digital transformation. Presented by: Elsa Welshofer, Maria Makowska, Ja’Rod Morris

4. Helping communities through crisis: YMCA’s role in disaster response and recovery. Presented by: Helping communities through crisis: YMCA’s role in disaster response and recovery. Presented by: Kazuki Yamane, Christian Kamara, Pious Mannah, Heriniaina Randriamalala, Alex Versluis

5. How can we build healthier, more hopeful communities together? Presented by: Glen Gunderson, Todd Tibbits, Jamie Bruning-Miles, Sean Malone

6. Making organisation culture visible: a lever for YMCA transformation. Presented by: Eric Trudel, Olga Lukina

7. Roots and Wings: building values-led youth leadership for the future. Presented by: Yirga Gebregziabher Assefa, Ethiopia Tilahun Abebe

8. The power of focus: strategic alignment in multi-level Movements. Presented by: Felipe Jurado, Antonio Merino

9. What difference does YMCA actually make? Measuring impact across the movement. Presented by: Brad Herbig, Pedro Fueyo, Lloyd Wamai, Kelly Bradshaw-Walsh

10. Y Careers in action: creating meaningful youth employment pathways. Presented by: Alexandra Ash