From Participation to Power
The 10th annual COA Summer Institute welcomes Stacey Abrams, former Minority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives and Founder of Fair Count, and Jeanine Abrams McLean, president of Fair Count, in conversation with Frances Stead Sellers, associate editor of The Washington Post.
Stacey Abrams has spent her career working to expand participation in American democracy—from her leadership in the Georgia House of Representatives to her historic campaign for governor, and through her ongoing efforts to strengthen civic engagement nationwide. Alongside her sister, Jeanine Abrams McLean, she has helped build organizations like Fair Count to ensure that communities historically left out of the democratic process are seen, heard, and fully counted. Drawing on her background as a researcher, Abrams McLean has played a central role in shaping Fair Count’s data-driven approach, helping to identify undercounted communities and translate complex demographic insights into practical strategies for outreach and engagement.
In conversation with Frances Stead Sellers, Abrams and McLean reflect on what it takes to move from participation to power, and how sustained, on-the-ground work can lead to lasting change in who is represented and how decisions are made. They also discuss Abrams’s recent 10 Steps initiative, which offers a framework for understanding and responding to the forces that threaten democratic institutions. Together, they consider how a more complete and accurate picture of who we are can help build a stronger, more representative democracy.
The 2026 Summer Institute: Toward a More Perfect Union will mark the country’s 250th anniversary with a forward-looking series of conversations about the future of the American experiment. By late July, we anticipate that audiences will have encountered plenty of historical retrospectives and the predictable swing between overly patriotic and overly critical narratives. Our goal is different: To convene voices from across American culture—journalism, the arts, science, philanthropy, civic life, and beyond—and explore how the nation’s founding values have been, and continue to be, tested, reshaped, and reimagined. The Institute asks how these ideals can be stewarded, strengthened, and carried into the future.