Moving forward with fresh ideas, powerful voices, and a shared commitment to inclusion, CPActive’s newest young changemakers are ready to make a mark.
After 12 weeks of learning, connecting, and building their advocacy and leadership skills, over 20 young advocates are emerging from CPActive Young Changemakers August 2025 with confidence and vision to influence and change their communities. Their journeys are as diverse as their aspirations–but together, they represent a bold new group of graduate leaders determined to reshape the future for people with disability.
What is CPActive Young Changemakers?
CPActive Young Changemakers is our online professional advocacy and leadership development program. It’s co-designed and led by young people with lived experience of cerebral palsy to equip other young people with cerebral palsy and similar disabilities with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to drive social change. Through self-paced learning modules, masterclasses featuring lived-experience special guests, and community-building, participants across the nation learn to find their voice, network, influence policy, and lead impactful projects in their communities.
Gains for the Grads
Several grads agree that this CPA scholarship-funded program has helped them find their voice – confident, purposeful, and strong. And appreciate that they’re not alone in their fight for change.
Kobe Wood said the learning experience was “a deeply reflective journey” for him. You may remember Kobe from CPActive’s recent Town Hall: ‘Stories that Made Us,’ where he shared ‘The Trudge’, his own powerful piece of writing. It came out of the program’s new practical experience initiative, which I loved helping to introduce for Young Changemakers.
It’s a real privilege to be supporting the participants in various ways, and an even greater joy watching many of them- Kobe among the first for the August grads pictured here—move into the CPActive Champion Network. Seeing their journeys unfold is incredibly meaningful.
How the Grads Tell It
When asked to share what she’d say to another young person thinking about joining Young Changemakers, Kaitlin Andrews said, “I would say join the movement, it will give you skills that you may not know about, and you are likely to meet some amazing people.”
Sign up to CPActive now to hear about the CPActive Young Changemakers program, and other ways to get involved in CPActive!
CPActive Young Changemakers Administrator
Kaylah McGilvray