For more than two decades, Robert "Bob" Ponichtera, Ph.D., Executive Director and Founder of Liberty's Promise, has helped young people discover their strengths, develop leadership skills, and realize their potential. Through Liberty's Promise, he has worked alongside immigrant youth, helping them build confidence, engage in civic life, and pursue opportunities that allow them to flourish.
Empowerment begins with a simple belief: every person has unique strengths and the capacity to shape their own future.
Yet too often, people are defined by their circumstances rather than their potential. When communities focus only on barriers, they can overlook the talents, aspirations, and leadership that already exist. But when people are encouraged, trusted, and given opportunities to grow, they gain the confidence to pursue their goals, develop their gifts, and strengthen the communities around them.
Across the Stand Together Catalyst Community, organizations put this principle into practice in different ways. While they work across diverse issue areas, they share a common belief: lasting change begins by recognizing people's potential and creating opportunities for them to flourish.
Liberty's Promise brings that belief to life by equipping immigrant youth with leadership opportunities, civic education, mentoring, and real-world experiences that help them build confidence and pursue their aspirations. By investing in young people's strengths and encouraging them to take an active role in their communities, the organization demonstrates how empowerment creates lasting change for individuals and the communities they call home.
Most recently, Liberty's Promise partnered with Stand Together Foundation to celebrate America's 250th anniversary through a youth-led T-shirt design competition that invited students to reflect on what America, civic participation, and belonging mean to them. More than a celebration, the competition demonstrated what can happen when young people are trusted to lead and empowered to share their perspectives.
We spoke with Ponichtera about why empowerment begins with believing in people, how encouragement unlocks opportunity, and why communities become stronger when every person has the chance to grow, lead, and shape their own future.
Empowerment is a word that's often used but not always defined. What does it mean to you?
Ponichtera: To me, empowerment starts with helping people recognize what they're capable of. Many of the young people we work with underestimate themselves. They may be new to the country, still learning English, or assume certain opportunities aren't meant for them. Our role is to help them recognize something different. They have unique gifts, talents, and aspirations. Once they begin seeing that potential in themselves, everything changes. They start imagining bigger futures and realizing they have something valuable to contribute.
Why is believing in someone often the first step toward empowerment?
Ponichtera: Many of our students don't have someone helping them understand how systems work or encouraging them to pursue opportunities they may never have imagined. Sometimes our staff become the first adults consistently telling them, "You can do this." That encouragement changes how young people see themselves. They stop thinking of themselves as outsiders and begin believing they have something meaningful to offer the world around them.
What are some of the biggest barriers that prevent young people from recognizing their own potential?
Ponichtera: Sometimes it's simply that no one has ever helped them see what's possible. Young people need someone who believes in them, encourages them, and helps them understand that their background or circumstances don't define their future. When that happens, they begin seeing opportunities they hadn't considered before and gain the confidence to pursue them.
How does empowerment change the trajectory of a young person's life?
Ponichtera: Empowerment isn't about telling young people what success should look like. For some, that's college. For others, it's becoming a skilled tradesperson, joining an apprenticeship, or pursuing another meaningful career. Our role is to help them discover what's possible, connect them with opportunities, and support them as they pursue the future they choose for themselves.
Liberty's Promise recently hosted a T-shirt design competition celebrating America's 250th anniversary. How did that event reflect the principle of empowerment?
Ponichtera: Nearly 300 young people from nine communities across two states and the District of Columbia participated. They reflected on America's founding ideals, shared their own experiences, and highlighted the constitutional principles that mattered most to them. The event wasn't really about selecting a winning design. It gave young people an opportunity to express their ideas, share their voices publicly, and demonstrate how they see themselves as part of America's story.
How has being part of the Stand Together Catalyst Community strengthened Liberty's Promise?
Ponichtera: One of the greatest benefits has been learning alongside organizations tackling different challenges while working toward the same goal of helping people flourish. The Catalyst Community gets you out of your own silo. It's also helped us become much clearer about our own mission, our leadership, and how we build a team that shares a common purpose. That clarity has made us a stronger organization.
If someone wants to empower another person, where should they begin?
Ponichtera: Never underestimate the impact of encouragement. Sometimes all it takes is recognizing another person's potential, telling them they did a good job, or simply helping them believe they're capable of more than they imagined. You never know how much that moment of encouragement can shape someone's future.
What gives you hope when you think about the future?
Ponichtera: I hope we continue raising our expectations for young people instead of limiting them. When communities recognize people's strengths instead of focusing on their circumstances, everyone benefits. Whether someone becomes a mechanic, a teacher, an entrepreneur, or an engineer, communities become stronger when people are empowered to become the best version of themselves.
About In Conversation
In Conversation is a recurring editorial series from Stand Together exploring the principles that help people and communities flourish. Through conversations with leaders across the Stand Together Catalyst Community and beyond, each installment examines one principle in action, drawing from original interviews, podcasts, media appearances, and public discussions.
Together, these conversations demonstrate how ideas like empowerment, contribution, belonging, human dignity, and opportunity help people thrive and strengthen communities.
