Navigating Forward

Navigating Forward Convening | September 9, 2026

Join us for an evening of insight, connection, and conversation.

Navigating Forward is an annual Groundswell convening that brings together community leaders, practitioners, and changemakers to explore how we respond to division and disconnection in our communities. The event centers on building bridges—across differences, lived experiences, and systems—through a combination of brief presentations and a moderated panel discussion on this year’s theme: Is Connection Still Possible?

The program is designed to be timely and relevant, engaging participants in dialogue about conflict, connection, and collective resilience. Alongside the formal program, the event also creates space for networking, relationship-building, and shared reflection over food and conversation.

Meet the Panel

Miguel Hernandez
Executive Director of OCCCO

Miguel Hernandez serves as Executive Director of the Orange County Congregation Community Organization (OCCCO), where he works with grassroots community leaders to advance equity, belonging, and systemic change. A Santa Ana native, he has been organizing alongside Orange County communities for more than three decades.

Shelley Hoss
CEO of OCCF

Shelley Hoss has led the Orange County Community Foundation since 2000, helping grow it into one of the nation's largest and most influential community foundations. Recognized for her nonprofit leadership and philanthropic vision, she has championed initiatives that strengthen opportunity and well-being across Orange County including a new focus on community power building.

Steve Kim
Executive Director of Project Kinship

Steve Kim is the founder and executive director of Project Kinship, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting people impacted by incarceration, gangs, and violence. Drawing on his own journey of recovery and reentry, he has built one of Orange County’s leading organizations focused on healing, hope, and transformation.

Guest Speaker

Principal Joe Lara of Gilbert High School in Anaheim is a self described relentless optimist.

In his time leading Gilbert, a continuation school, Lara has implemented a “pedagogy of hope, connection and most importantly, purpose” to transform student lives. As a result, graduation rates have increased, students have participated in civic engagement projects and helped implement restorative practices on campus.

This year Gilbert HS was given the Model Continuation School Award from the California Department of Education, their successful advocacy to OCTA for a more student friendly bus schedule was featured by Stanford and Principal Lara presented at the California Association of Latino Leaders in Education (CALLE) Conference sharing the transformational work happening in alternative education in AUHSD.

Principal Lara's care for students reflects his commitment to shifting alternative education from a deficit-based model to an asset-based Community Schools model leveraging the strengths, voices, and resources of students and their communities to create environments where every student can thrive.