FOUNDER + PRINCIPAL

Jonathan is the Founder and Principal of Transcendent Futures, an imagination, design, and action lab powering social change. Jonathan is also a Democracy Visiting Fellow at the Nonviolent Action Lab within the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University. 

Jonathan brings over a decade of experience in nonprofit, philanthropy, and political leadership roles. Some of these roles include Vice President of Programs at the Marguerite Casey Foundation, Executive Director of the UndocuBlack Network, and National Latino Vote Director in Senator Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 Presidential Campaign. Jonathan also served as an external advisor to the MacArthur Foundation’s $120M Racial and Ethnic Justice Fund of 2021. 

Jonathan is the board chair of Funders for LGBTQ Issues and serves on the boards of the eBay Foundation and Hispanics in Philanthropy. 

Jonathan earned a Master of Public Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School. Jonathan is an alum of several leadership development programs, including Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership’s Gleitsman Fellowship, Rappaport Institute of Greater Boston’s Public Finance Fellowship, and Rockwood Leadership Institute’s Leading from the Inside Out Yearlong Fellowship. 

Jonathan’s purpose is to co-create a world of joy, love, and freedom.

SUMMER RESEARCH FELLOW

Louise Engohang is a policy analyst and storyteller committed to advancing justice at the intersection of immigration, race, and social policy. Louise is working with Transcending Futures to support the Black Migrant Power Fund through research and data analysis.

Louise brings a strong foundation in local government, civic engagement, and global research. She has held roles with the City of Detroit’s Civil Rights, Inclusion, and Opportunity Department, where she supported racial equity initiatives, and served as a Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Fellow at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Her policy research spans international and domestic contexts—from analyzing the impact of mass incarceration in El Salvador to tracking the effect of pandemic relief funding on local economies in Southeastern Michigan.Louise has also supported refugee resettlement, senior services, and women’s advocacy through community-based volunteer work. 

Louise earned her Bachelor of Science in Political Science and Philosophy from Eastern Michigan University and is an incoming  Master of Public Policy student at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Louise intends to continue documenting the lived experiences of Black immigrants and create a more inclusive and equitable future for marginalized communities through public service and policy transformation.