Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.
Walter P. Paepcke, Aspen Institute Co-Founder
Aspen Institute
Blog Posts
Weave’s Social Trust Map Picks Up Three Awards
November 18, 2025
Weave: The Social Fabric Project
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Every week, you’ll get resources on how to weave our communities and restore social trust.
What if you knew the strength of trusting behaviors, trusting intentions, and trusting spaces in your own community? Not in your city, county, or your zip code, but in your own neighborhood? How might you use that information to create belonging and trust with your neighbors?
That’s what Weave’s Social Trust Map tells you in a four-minute, interactive experience on your phone. It shares stories of how people everywhere are quietly showing up for others where they live to restore connection and trust in our divided country. Then you pick your neighborhood on the map and see what strengths you and others can build on to weave neighbors into a tighter community.
This week, the international Webby Awards announced their picks for the best online, mission-driven work of the year. Weave’s Trust Map won three of their Anthem Awards – gold for best use of data, bronze for local community engagement, and the Community Voice award (chosen by popular vote) for offering opportunities to engage the local community in an important cause.
If you haven’t seen the Trust Map yet, explore it at WeavingTrust.org. You’ll be able to put yourself on the map as someone who cares about uniting our communities and country, and you’ll see opportunities to get involved in weaving work right where you live.
Share the map with your friends and colleagues and help Weave with its mission to create a strong new social fabric for America. When columnist and author David Brooks started Weave: The Social Fabric Project at the Aspen Institute, he aimed to heal us by inspiring a nation of weavers.
America’s rising generations—the youth and young adults best positioned to meet the country’s growing need for STEM professionals—are on the front lines of recent and rapid policy shifts within the federally-funded research and higher education ecosystems. Attracting and supporting their training and development at a time when uncertainty is high and alternative pathways abound will require significant and sustained coordination across STEM sectors. Whether situated in formal and informal learning institutions, industry, government, or civil society, we must all come together to support, reform, and enhance our collective investment in the future leaders of STEM.
This report, developed as part of the Aspen Institute Science & Society Program’s 2025 roundtable series, synthesizes insights from practitioners in K–12 education, higher education, science research, professional associations, science communication, and civic science.
Catalina Martínez Coral is a leading force for reproductive rights across Latin America and the Caribbean, guided by her belief that “the political is personal, and the personal is political.” As Vice President at the Center for Reproductive Rights, her leadership has driven landmark victories—from decriminalizing abortion in Colombia to securing justice for women and girls across the region.
When the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the United States in 2020, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and Aspen Institute Board Trustee Alex Azar faced the challenge of a lifetime.
Mike Wilkening’s work as a public servant has followed a simple philosophy: government in service of its people. In this blog, he shares more about his leadership approach and his position as an Aspen FSP Fellow.
