An initiative catalyzed by CAS Strategies, in collaboration with #ShareTheMicInCyber and Girl Security
To build a digital ecosystem grounded in resilience, shared prosperity, and human agency, we must start where the real power lies: the infrastructure beneath it all.
Foundation Layer is a strategic collaboration to reimagine the core systems—technological, institutional, and societal—that shape how people access, experience, and govern the digital world. Not just what tech does, but what it prioritizes. Not just who it serves, but who it empowers.
This is cathedral thinking for the digital age—laying foundations we may not finish ourselves, but that future generations will rely on. It's long-view work, focused on depth, durability, and design choices that outlast any product cycle or policy window.
Because if we want a future worth inheriting, we have to build like it.
Rebuilding What's Beneath the Surface
What if the systems shaping our digital lives weren’t inherited—but intentionally designed?
We believe technology should be a force for collective empowerment—not extraction.
That digital systems should serve people first—centering agency, meaningful inclusion, resilience, and collective well-being.
And that the infrastructure beneath our everyday lives deserves more than patches. It deserves intention.
We’re gathering a cross-sector network of builders, organizers, technologists, researchers, and policy shapers to explore what comes after the current paradigm. If you care about the infrastructure that quietly governs who and how tech serves, who thrives, and what endures—you’re in the right place.
This work is about long-term resilience, collective stewardship, and pragmatic creativity.
This isn’t about blueprints or band-aids.
It’s about shifting the underlying architecture—together.
Why Now?
The pace of change is accelerating. But speed without alignment breeds fragility.
We’re convening to ask bold, necessary questions:
What foundational systems will the next era of digital life require?
How do we embed agency, accountability, and adaptability into the infrastructure itself?
Where do we redesign—not just regulate?
This isn’t about chasing the next trend. It’s cathedral thinking for the digital age—laying foundations we may not finish ourselves, but that future generations will rely on.
You won’t find pitch decks or punditry here. Just grounded imagination, deep work, and the beginnings of something enduring.
Let’s engage in cathedral thinking…
Led by Partners, Built for the Future
Foundation Layer is structured around five core pillars that support a more resilient, inclusive, and human-centered digital ecosystem. Each pillar is anchored by partners who are already leading transformative work in these domains:
Tech Infrastructure — Led by #ShareTheMicInCyber, rethinking the underlying architecture of data, code, networks, and hardware to center people, not platforms.
Education — Led by Girl Security, building pathways that prepare young people—especially girls and gender-diverse youth—to shape the future, not just survive it.
Institutions & Governance — Led by CAS Strategies, designing agile, accountable systems that uphold public trust and civic oversight in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
Future of Work — Led by Bridget Chan (New America), advancing frameworks that ensure economic participation, security, and dignity in the age of automation and AI.
This initiative is powered by a core team of organizers, technologists, and policy strategists—Camille Stewart Gloster, Lauren Zabierek, Lauren Buitta, and Bridget Chan—drawing on their leadership across CAS Strategies, #ShareTheMicInCyber, Girl Security, and New America. Each brings deep expertise and lived perspective to this long-term redesign.
We’re continuing to bring on strategic partners to co-lead each pillar, drive experiments, and shape a shared blueprint for the next era of digital infrastructure.
Interested in partnering or contributing to a pillar?
Want to Contribute?
We’re currently curating a small, intentional group of contributors —volunteers and partners.
People who think three steps ahead and build two levels deep.
If that’s you, let’s connect
This isn’t a moment. It’s a foundation.
Reach out and let’s explore.