50CAN has always been the ultimate group project, built one state at a time through an unlikely collaboration of state leaders, national staff, parents, philanthropists, board members and strategic partners. When we set out to tell the story of our first 15 years, the only way to do it justice was to tell it through the voices of the people who made it possible.

What follows is an oral history drawn from two dozen interviews, capturing the good, the messy, the surprising, and the quietly transformative. These stories trace the thrill of early victories, the unexpected barriers to growth, the hard-won lessons of merging organizations, and the moment the entire playbook had to be rewritten.