Life Calling sparks a movement to center human connection in societal change, amplifying leaders and scaling proven solutions.

**The Rise of Human Connection**
Humanity stands at a defining moment. The Digital Age has revolutionized the way we live, offering extraordinary tools for connection, yet something essential remains missing. We are being called to recognize, elevate, and invest in human connection as the foundation of a flourishing future.

At Life Calling, we’re not showing up to a crisis—we’re showing up to an unprecedented opportunity. While disconnection is real, so is our ability to restore, strengthen, and prioritize what truly makes us human: our capacity for presence, compassion, creativity, and collective experience.

Just as the climate movement ignited global awareness and resources to protect the planet, Life Calling is shaping a movement to amplify and invest in human connection. This is h+1: The Human Connection Movement—a commitment to ensuring that as we innovate technologically, we also elevate the relationships, ideas, and experiences that define our shared humanity.

**Our First Step:** 
**Notes to Humanity**
To ignite the Human Connection Movement, Life Calling is launching Notes to Humanity (NTH)—a groundbreaking global archive, awareness campaign, and creative research endeavor. At the heart of Notes to Humanity is one fundamental question:

***"What does it mean to preserve your humanity in the Digital Age?"***

Through handwritten responses from diverse voices worldwide, this initiative serves as a living testament to our shared commitment to safeguarding human connection. It is a call to action, an invitation for deep reflection—an opportunity for people from all walks of life to articulate what it truly means to be human in an era that increasingly challenges our sense of self, community, and belonging.

**Our Second Step:** 
**Platforming and Funding Human Connection Organizations**
Our initial gathering of Notes to Humanity reflections has made one thing clear: People are longing for deeper connection. Awareness is only the beginning. Now, we must take action.Through h+1: The Human Connection Movement, we’re turning reflection into investment—directing resources toward solutions that strengthen connection to self, others, nature, and imagination. By identifying and supporting organizations already working in these areas, h+1 ensures that the wisdom surfaced through Notes to Humanity leads to real, measurable change. Our initial portfolio of human connection leaders reflects our commitment to scaling programs that create lasting change in how we connect to ourselves, each other, to nature and to imagination individually and collectively.

- We Raise Awareness
- We Unite & Convene Leaders
- We Platform Solutions
- We Fund their Growth

**Join the Movement**
We invite you to be part of this journey. You have a role in shaping this movement. This is where it begins. A single action. A global conversation. A lasting movement.

Hand in Hand Parenting

MHC is a coalition of passionate & influential organizations who have joined forces to end the stigma surrounding mental health.

The Mental Health Coalition is a nonprofit coalition of the most passionate and influential organizations, brands and individuals who have joined forces to end the stigma surrounding mental health and to change the way people talk about, and care for, mental illness.

Our mission is to catalyze like-minded communities to work together to destigmatize mental health and empower access to vital resources and necessary support for all. 

Mental Health Coalition

We believe that in community, we have everything we need. So we organize neighbors in teams that support one another like family.

What if when you needed folks to watch your kids, help repair your home, or spot you for rent, you knew you could count on your neighbors? That's the world we're working to at GatherFor. We organize folks living in the same neighborhood into teams of 4-5 called “Neighbor Teams.” These Neighbor Teams:

- check-in via calls and visits with each other each week
- meet in person once a month, and with $300 from GatherFor, to host any kind of in-person gathering they’d like
- build a culture of taking care of each other using the GatherFor workbook
- participate in a susu, in which they contribute $50-$100 each month into a common pot matched by GatherFor, with the whole pot then being given to one member of the team each month to use however they need (providing between $500-$1000 / month in financial support to each Neighbor)
- share local resources with each other through telegram groups
- join workshops open to the whole GatherFor community to learn about topics like finding housing in New York, navigating domestic violence, obtaining US citizenship, navigating conflict, telling a good story, or starting a business
- join other Neighbor Teams in the neighborhood for monthly Town Halls (with free food and child care) to discuss best practices from each team and to inform strategy for GatherFor in the Neighborhood

We’re piloting the approach with 50 residents of Brownsville, Brooklyn, who speak about their experience in this 90-second video: https://vimeo.com/530636958.

GatherFor

Thread leverages the power of relationships to support academically underperforming students through graduation and beyond.

For more than 20 years, Thread has been committed to radically transforming the social fabric of Baltimore to create a more deeply connected community where everyone thrives. Through courage and consistency we have learned that the key to Thread’s model is not just the connections we make, but the diversity of the humans who choose to build relationships with each other. By developing a strong network of individuals who accept and celebrate our differences, we are equipping the community–especially our young people–with the social capital needed to improve educational, economic, and health outcomes for everyone in our city.

Thread enrolls the lowest-performing ninth-grade students at the lowest-performing schools who face an abundance of challenges in and out of the classroom. We connect them with an intimate group of volunteers from diverse backgrounds and experiences to build relationships and support one another in achieving academic, professional and personal goals. Thread’s extensive network of programs and partnerships help our community overcome barriers, creating a layered system of support. 

Before Covid, most of the world was unaware of the epidemic of social isolation impacting our cities and the powerful benefits to be found in connection. Over the years, a growing movement of scholars and like minded groups have offered evidence that shows the impact of connection. The economist Raj Chetty established that connections across lines of economic class are a key determinant in breaking the cycle of poverty. In Bowling Alone, political scientist Robert Putnam showed the need for spaces where individuals can gather to practice bridging and bonding across lines of difference. Thread creates this needed “third space,” equipping young people with the tools, skills, and resources needed to complete high school, pursue a post-high school pathway, achieve self-efficacy, and, ultimately, experience economic mobility.

Join us and get involved at [www.thread.org](http://www.thread.org). 

Thread

Transforming lives and communities through entrepreneurship.

“Rising Tide Capital is a non-profit organization whose mission is to transform lives and communities through entrepreneurship. Headquartered in Jersey City, Rising Tide Capital provides high-quality business education, customized services, and year-round guidance in English and Spanish to entrepreneurs navigating the vulnerable early years of a business journey. Our vision is to build inclusive communities of resilient entrepreneurs catalyzing a thriving and sustainable economy for all.

Co-founded in 2004 by Alfa Demmellash and Alex Forrester, Rising Tide Capital (RTC) exists to expand economic opportunity and mobility with access to knowledge, social and financial capital. RTC has spent the past 20 years deepening its impact model in New Jersey across major cities and small towns and has grown through partnerships. Now working in more than 20 major cities across 15 states with 18 replication partners, RTC and its partners have served over 10,000 entrepreneurs from underserved communities nationwide.

Rising Tide Capital believes that supporting the entrepreneurial energy, creativity, and talent that already exists in every community, regardless of socio-economic profile, is essential for human connection and resilience. This work requires partnerships from individuals and institutions across sectors. It is a proven approach for building consistent, long-term economic resilience and lasting connections that foster local innovation. Rising Tide Capital delivers on its mission through a trio of core programs supported by corporate and private foundations and individual donors : The Community Business Academy (CBA), Business Acceleration Services (BAS), and Credit to Capital (C2C). Within 2 years of graduation from these programs, Rising Tide entrepreneurs experience an average 75% increase in business revenue and 56% increase in household income. Every dollar invested in Rising Tide Capital generates $5.89 in economic impact!

We unlock the value in the boats, while you and our partners unlock the power of the tide!

Please contact us to join our mission and become a supporter today!

Learn more:
http://risingtidecapital.org

Rising Tide Capital

For 50+ years, the Urban Libraries Council has served as an outcomes-driven network of nearly 190 leading urban public libraries.

For over 50 years, the Urban Libraries Council has served as an outcomes-driven research and innovations network of nearly 190 leading urban public libraries. ULC connects public library leaders and drives transformative change to enrich the lives of individuals and urban communities across North America.

Urban Libraries Council


Climb Hire provides social capital, community, and technical skills to empower overlooked talent to build careers.


Climb Hire is an equity-focused workforce development nonprofit founded in 2019 to help nontraditional talent launch into new careers in high-growth industries. By teaching in-demand technical skills while building soft skills and social capital, Climb Hire has helped hundreds of individuals—or “Climbers”—overcome the systemic and societal barriers that have kept them from economic stability and thriving careers.

Our model, based on Harvard economist Raj Chetty’s research, highlights social capital as the key to economic mobility. In addition to offering 225+ hours of training for in-demand learning tracks like paid search marketing and IT support, Climb Hire offers a rigorous, evidence-based social capital curriculum that equips participants with the networks, relationships, and interpersonal skills essential for career advancement. 

Climbers complete hands-on training in “pods” led by near-peer mentors, enabling them to build strong relationships and learn in community. After completing their learning tracks, Climbers join a thriving alumni community that offers continued support and camaraderie throughout their career journeys. Our alumni success team also provides ongoing career development coaching and assistance to ensure that each alum has the resources they need to succeed.

**What problem are we solving?**

As employers and education providers shift towards skills-based education and hiring practices, equipping learners with in-demand technical and 21st-century skills is essential for economic mobility. However, a major barrier to accessing these opportunities is the lack of social capital. In today’s labor market, who you know matters almost as much as what you know. The bulk of the jobs that hold enormous opportunities for economic mobility will be filled by people already in the “club” – the tightly-knit community of employees who know one another and refer each other into the most lucrative roles. 

We foster cross-class, cross-sector relationships so that our core demographic – adults ages 24-40, earning less than $35,000, often without college degrees – can build networks to access career opportunities. We’ve helped over 600 Climbers gain technical skills, career coaching, and connections for high-growth careers. Climbers see an average increase in their annual income of $26,000 after graduating from Climb Hire, helping them to access economic mobility.



Climb Hire 

We unite people and ideas in collective action to create opportunities to regenerate our world.

The RSA, Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, has been developing and leading social change initiatives for over 270 years with annual income of £13.2 million. We currently have 31,000 Fellows around the world committed to social change with 1250 Fellows across the United States. Our Fellows bring in 50% of our income through micro-donations, supporting a resilient and decentralized approach to social change. 

RSA US, an independent affiliate 501c3 organization of the RSA, has previously worked to accelerate solutions to inclusive growth, economic security and lifelong learning across U.S. cities. The RSA brings a unique convening power, weaving together grassroots and grass-tops stakeholders and creating a leadership mandate that unites public health, economic, cultural, and civic understandings of our crisis of disconnection. In the U.S., we are working as a field builder for social connection, supporting vital interventions, fostering organizational collaboration and allied action, enabling socially connected cities, and elevating thought leadership, research, and policy and practice change. 

In partnership with the [Chamber of Connection](https://www.chamberofconnection.org/) we are looking to create a world where Chambers of Connection exist in every city across the United States, providing a vital civic infrastructure for creating social connection policies, interventions and enabling a social fabric that bridges divides.

RSA US

An organization focused on providing human services. It received its nonprofit status in 2020.

Vita Story Club

Notes to Humanity h+1 Pilot Portfolio

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