MAY 7-9, 2025 | WASHINGTON, DC
To build a future where systems no longer unjustly impact families, we must imagine what’s possible, create bold solutions, and activate together to make our ideas real.
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Imagine
It starts with a vision. What could the future look like if we dared to think differently? By opening ourselves to bold ideas, we uncover new possibilities for change.
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Create
Turning ideas into action requires creativity and courage. This is where dreams take shape, solutions emerge, and the work of transformation begins.
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Activate
Change doesn’t happen in isolation. It’s time to move, to rally others, and to put our plans into motion. Together, we can make what’s possible a reality.
An experience unlike anything you’ve experienced before.
Join us in Washington, DC, May 7 - 9, 2025 for three days of reconnecting with our purpose and joy, building community with other creative disruptors, and accelerating bold solutions that advance a more just world. Untethered 2025 will feature curated topics that represent opportunities to advance for families in practical ways, Ignite Talks from people working on these issues, and Design Labs to identify bright spots that are ripe for acceleration.
Event Details
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May 8th
Busboys & Poets
2021 14th St NWMay 9th and 10th
Josephine Butler Parks Center
2437 15th St NW -
Nearest airport: Ronald Reagan Washington national airport
Nearest metro to busboys and poets: u Street/african Amer civil war
Josephine Butler Parks Center: street parking
Uber/lLft highly recommended -
Royal Sonesta
2121 P St NWWe have a block of rooms reserved under Imagination Factory at a discount rate for May 7th, 8th, and 9th. You can use the room block code: G050725ARKD when reserving your room. Click Here to book your room.
WE ENCOURAGE THE USE OF AIRBNB -
The program for each day is being designed as we speak (and as you read). Please check back for updates as we lock in our sessions, topics, and speakers.
Day1: Wednesday May 7, 2025
Where: Busboys and Poets, 2021 14th St NW, Washington, DC
When: 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Program: Our first night together is about connecting, having fun, and letting go of the professional identities that we put on every day. We will do an untethering exercise that will set the tone for the next two days. We’re also working with members of the Imagination Factory community to curate a one of a kind of performance that is befitting of the night’s venue. We will heavy hors d' oeuvres and drink tickets for the bar.
Day 2: Thursday May 8, 2025
Where: Josephine Butler Center, 2437 15th St NW, Washington, DC
When: 8:30am - 4:00pm
Program: Day 2 is all about the experience we want to create and setting up for the Day 3 Design Labs. We will provide coffee and a light breakfast as well as lunch. The day will follow this tentative flow.
Grounding Exercise: Being developed
Opening Session: We’ll present on the Creative Cluster project that emerged out of Untethered 2024. This an 18-month project designed to capture and spread the Family Keys pilot in Wisconsin. Family Keys is a bright spot innovation to prevent foster care entries dues to unstable housing barriers by investing existing funds into a housing support program. Speakers may include Dustin Koury (Wisconsin, DCF) and Cheri Williams.
Morning Sessions: Attendees will have a choice of multiple sessions that are design to help us go inward, self-reflective, and tap into our creativity. Topics being considered are a writer’s workshop, a nature connected wellness experience, interactive conversation on values alignment at work, design your life session, and others.
Afternoon Sessions: Being developed
Ignite Talks: These talks move us from the internal and experiential to the external and impact focus. We are actively developing these topic concepts and talking to possible speakers. These talks will set up the Day 3 Design Labs. Potential topics include:
“A World without Termination of Parental Rights”
“Enterprise Building: Moving Beyond Equitable Compensation”
“Economic Justice: Investing in Guaranteed Income”
Day 3: Friday May 9, 2025
Where: Josephine Butler Center, 2437 15th St NW, Washington, DC
When: 8:30am - 2:45pm
Program: Day 3 is all about the impact we want to have. The majority of the day will be spent in Design Labs. We will provide coffee and a light breakfast as well as lunch. The day will follow this tentative flow.
Design Labs: we will work in small teams on specific challenges within each of the Ignite Talk topics. We are looking for opportunities within these topics for a bright spot innovation that is ripe for acceleration, potentially as a Creative Cluster project.
Afternoon Session: We will do a brief session to summarize Day 2 and Day 3 and paint a vision of where we’ll go next as Imagination Factory and as a community.
Closing Ceremony: Being developed.
