Sprinkles Cupcakes, the company known for its sweet treats and iconic cupcake ATMs, is no more.
Candace Nelson, the company’s founder, ended 2025 by confirming that all Sprinkles locations were shutting down as of December 31.
In a video shared to Instagram and TikTok, Nelson said, This isnt how I thought the story would go. I thought Sprinkles would keep going and be around forever. I thought it was going to be my legacy.
Sprinkles has yet to make a formal announcement, but its Instagram profile appears to be gone and the store locator tab on its website now produces an error message. Fast Company reached out to the brand’s PR contact for additional details.
Nelson started Sprinkles in 2005, but has held no stake in the company since selling it to private equity in 2012. KarpReilly LLC announced an investment in Sprinkles shortly after.
That decision over a decade ago has led many social media users to question exactly how Nelson thought Sprinkles would live on and prosper under private equity ownership.
While Nelson asked people to share their special Sprinkles memory or story with her, many of the comments under her post instead take a vehemently anti-private equity stanceand blame her for the demise.
Below is just a sample of the types of comments Nelson has received:
Selling to private equity was the beginning of the end.
What did you expect? Private equity has literally NEVER made things better for customers only for board members’ and investors’ pockets.
You sold it to PE and expected it to not close?? What planet are you living on? I dont begrudge you for selling as thats entirely your choice but to think any PE firm cares about a company in the slightest is insanity.
Legacies cant be abandoned before theyre legacies.
PE fingerprints on many retail bankruptcies
In recent years, private equity deals have appeared to play a role in the dismantling of a number of legacy retail brands, including restaurants Red Lobster and TGI Fridays, and fabrics chain Joann Inc. Private equity firms have a reputation for stripping down companies parts and leaving them saddled with debt, sometimes leading to bankruptcy.
Fast Company has reached out to KarpReilly for comment and will update this post if we hear back.
Individuals in the comment sections also claim that Sprinkles employees were blindsided with only one day’s notice and no severance.
In response to one such claim on Nelsons TikTok post, a purported former employee wrote, Some of us don’t have backup plans we loved sprinkles and planned to be here forever.
Nelson responded to the above comment, Im so sorry this is heartbreaking.
The year 2025 was scary good for investors.It was scary because the U.S. stock market plunged to several historic drops on worries about everything from President Donald Trump’s tariffs to interest rates to a possible bubble in artificial-intelligence technology. In the end, though, it was a good year for anyone with the stomach to stick through the swings.S&P 500 index funds, which sit at the heart of many savers’ 401(k) accounts, returned nearly 18% in 2025 and set a record high on Dec. 24. It was their third straight year of big returns.Here’s a look at some of the surprises that shaped financial markets along the way:
Tariff tremors
Trump dropped the biggest surprise on “Liberation Day” in April, when he announced a sweeping set of tariffs that were more severe than investors expected.It immediately triggered worries about a possible recession and spiking inflation. The S&P 500 plunged nearly 5% on April 3 for its worst day since the 2020 COVID crash. The very next day, it dropped 6% after China’s response raised fears of a tit-for-tat trade war.The tariffs’ impact went beyond the stock market. The value of the U.S. dollar fell, and fear even shook the U.S. Treasury market, which is seen as perhaps the safest in existence.Trump eventually put his tariffs on pause on April 9 after seeing the U.S. bond market get “queasy,” as he put it, which sent relief through Wall Street. Since then, Trump has negotiated agreements with countries to lower his proposed tariff rates on their imports, helping calm investors’ nerves.Wall Street motored higher through a remarkably calm summer thanks to euphoria around artificial-intelligence technology and strong profit reports from companies. The market also got a boost from three cuts to interest rates by the Federal Reserve.Trade worries can still cause havoc in markets, and Trump sent stocks spiraling as recently as October with threats of higher tariffs on China.
Trump and the Fed
Another surprise was how hard, and how personally, Trump lobbied to get the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.The Fed has traditionally operated separately from the rest of Washington, making its decisions on interest rates without having to bend to political whims. Such independence, the thinking goes, gives it freedom to make unpopular moves that are necessary for the economy’s long-term health.Keeping interest rates high, for example, could slow the economy and frustrate politicians looking to please voters. But it could also be the medicine needed to get high inflation under control.As inflation stubbornly remained above the Fed’s 2% target, the central bank kept rates steady through August. This drew Trump’s ire even though it was his own trade policies that were driving fears about inflation higher.Trump continuously picked on Fed Chair Jerome Powell, even giving him the nickname “Too Late.” Their tense relationship reached a head in July when Trump, in front of cameras, accused Powell of mismanaging the costs of a renovation of the Fed’s headquarters. Powell, in turn, shook his head.Even though Wall Street loves lower rates, the personal attacks caused some queasiness in financial markets because of the possibility of a less independent Fed. Powell’s turn as Fed chair is set to expire in May, and the wide expectation is that Trump will choose a replacement more likely to cut rates.
Good but not first
“America first” didn’t extend to global markets. Even as U.S. stocks soared to another double-digit gain, many foreign markets fared even better.The technology frenzy that helped fuel gains for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite drove Korea’s KOSPI higher in 2025, enjoying its biggest gain in more than two decades. South Korea is a technology hub and companies including Samsung and SK Hynix surged amid the focus on artificial intelligence investments and advancements.Japan’s Nikkei 225 had a double-digit gain for a third straight year. Besides the focus on AI and the technology sector, the gains were boosted in October and November following national elections and plans for a $135 billion stimulus package.European markets also had a strong year. Germany’s DAX got a boost as the government announced plans to ramp up spending on infrastructure and defense, which could fuel economic growth in Europe’s largest economy.The European Central Bank spent the first half of the year cutting interest rates, which helped give financial markets across Europe a boost. France’s CAC 40 was a laggard, but still gained more than 10%.
Crypto’s ups and downs
Even with a reputation for volatility, cryptocurrencies still managed to surprise market watchers.Bitcoin dropped along with most other assets early in the year as Trump’s trade policies scared investors away from riskier investments.The most widely used cryptocurrency roared back as the White House and Congress threw their support behind digital assets and the Trump family launched a number of crypto ventures. Retail investors joined in by pouring money into bitcoin ETFs, stock-like investments that allowed them to benefit from the run-up in price without having to actually store bitcoin in digital wallets. Some companies, notably Strategy Inc., made buying and holding crypto the crux of their business and their stocks jumped.Bitcoin hit a high around $125,000 in early October. But, almost as quickly, digital assets tanked as investors worried the prices for shining stars such as tech stocks and crypto had jumped too high. As of Wednesday afternoon, bitcoin traded around $87,700, down roughly 30% from the peak and 6% below where it started the year.
What’s ahead?
Many professional investors think more gains could be ahead in 2026.That’s because most expect the economy to plod ahead and avoid a recession. That should help U.S. companies grow their profits, which stock prices tend to track over the long term. For companies in the S&P 500, analysts are expecting earnings per share to rise 14.5% in 2026, according to FactSet. That would be an acceleration from the 12.1% growth estimated for 2025.But some of last year’s concerns will linger. Chief among them is the worry that all the investment in artificial-intelligence technology may not produce enough profits and productivity to make it worth it. That could keep the pressure on AI stocks like Nvidia and Broadcom, which were responsible for so much of the market’s gains last year.And it’s not just AI stocks that critics say are too pricey. Stocks across the market still look expensive after their prices climbed faster than profits.That has strategists at Vanguard estimating U.S. stocks may return only about 3.5% to 5.5% in annualized returns over the next 10 ears. Only twice in the last 10 years has the S&P 500 failed to meet that bar.At Bank of America, strategist Savita Subramanian says the S& P 500 could rise by less than half as much as profits do in 2026. She said that could be a result of companies reducing stock buybacks, as well as global central banks implementing fewer rate cuts.__Reporter Damian Troise contributed.
Stan Choe, AP Business Writer
The past year was a landmark for AI proliferation, with sweeping implications for virtually every area of business and life. But with progress came peril. We saw cyberattacks explode in number and sophistication, outmaneuvering legacy security defenses to create record damage.
These trends will only accelerate from here, and its not enough for teams to simply brace for impact. Instead, organizations must anticipate whats ahead and reimagine their security stacks, thinking about how to preempt attacks and optimizing their workflows.
Thinking about cybersecurity in the new year, its critical to have a clear vision and get to work fast to meet the moment. Here are three trends to watch.
1. Eyes on the evolving threat landscape
In 2026, the mass personalization of cyberattacks will disrupt the classical kill chain model, which relies on observing and then reacting to stop threats. Attackers will leverage AI to understand business’s unique vulnerabilities and craft personalized, novel software for each enterprise. This means every organization will see a massive rise in sophisticated, tailored attacks that are not known to the majority of their current security tools, pitting them in a race against time to spot the attack and respond before sustaining widespread damage. Adding AI to reactive tools will help, but will be woefully insufficient to counter this new onslaught. Instead, this shift will require security teams to develop wholly new approaches to preemptively mitigate and avoid these highly personalized threats.
AI will also lead to the development of malware that can adapt and evade defensive measures, posing a significant threat to cybersecurity teams. These make it less likely that the novel attacks mentioned above will be detected before they can do large scale damage. AI-powered, autonomous malware will be capable of changing code and behavior to avoid detection, making it harder for security systems to identify and neutralize it. The emergence of autonomous malware will mark a new era in cyberthreats, where AI-driven attacks become increasingly sophisticated and resilient and put further stress on existing security solutions that rely on a detect and respond model to be effective.
Compounding these threats, the problem of deepfakes will significantly worsen. The proliferation of deepfakes will increase misinformation and social engineering, leading to major breaches and higher success rates for scams and theft. As AI technology advances, the creation of realistic deepfakes will become easier and more widespread. This will result in a proliferation of fake videos and audio recordings that can be used to deceive individuals and organizations, undermining trust and security. This will coincide and often be combined with a new generation of AI-driven email, text and social media-based attacks. These attacks are tailored to individuals and nearly indistinguishable from legitimate communication, enabling highly personalized, real-time social-engineering campaigns. Relying on humans as a last line of defense has long been a tenuous approach. Against threats this advanced, that approach collapses. Modern security demands automated, adaptive defenses that remove the burden from individuals.
2. Protect an expanding attack surface
IoT and IT devices (networking and security infrastructure) will become a bigger target for attacks due to the ease of creating and deploying attacks against them. The proliferation of smart devices in businesses and homes presents an opportunity for attackers to get persistent footholds from which they can pivot and launch attacks or wreak havoc and create disruption of operations. Bespoke and out of date networking and security infrastructure likewise will be exploited as AI can readily adapt attackers for different operating systems and software levels. With AI, it will be much more attractive for cybercriminals to develop and execute attacks on these devices, leading to an increase in security incidents.
AI itself is becoming one of the most attractive parts of the attack surface to exploit. Attacks on AI will increase dramatically, leading to significant data leaks and business process disruption. As AI gains ever wider adoption and is interwoven into all aspects of enterprise software, AI’s autonomous nature will be co-opted to enable the AI to function much like a human insider threat, where the internal AI models elevated access rights will be leveraged in large scale breaches. Robust security measures are needed to protect the rapidly expanding AI attack surface.
3. Cybercrime-as-a-service hits its stride
The era when a cybercriminals reach was constrained by their technical skill is long gone. Today, an AI-driven underground economy is reshaping the threat landscape, empowering financially motivated actors with unprecedented capabilities. These adversaries no longer need deep expertise; they can tap into a growing ecosystem of ready-made services, ranging from exploit kits and ransomware-as-a-service platforms to stolen credential marketplaces and initial access brokers.
Looking ahead to 2026, this cybercrime-as-a-service model is expected to reach new heights of sophistication. AI tools will enable even inexperienced attackers to execute complex, multi-stage campaigns with alarming precision. As a result, the traditional line between opportunistic hackers and highly organized cybercrime syndicates will continue to blur, driving both the scale and complexity of financially motivated attacks to levels weve never seen before.
Its time to reimagine cybersecurity considering the changes well continue to see in 2026. The world’s pre-AI reactive model of security will not work in an AI-first attacker world. Simply adding AI to these legacy tools will give a false since of comfort in the face of the onslaught that is coming. This is an illusion of improved security that will be painfully exposed in 2026. Enterprises need to think differently in a post-AI world about cybersecurity, transforming from a reactive posture into a preemptive strategy that anticipates rather than reacts to attackers.
Scott Harrell is CEO of Infoblox.
At this years Web Summit in Lisbon, Hayden Brown, president and CEO of Upwork, was asked which leadership skills are most in demand today. Her answer was immediate: The demand for soft skills is rising. As AI algorithms increasingly take over routine tasks, the qualities that cant be automatedcommunication clarity, the ability to work effectively with people, and conflict-resolution skillsare becoming essential for career growth.
This trend extends far beyond the tech sector. According to LinkedIns Work Change Report, 70% of skills used across most professions will change by 2030; AI will be the main catalyst. Against this backdrop, Ive become convinced that soft skills have no expiration date. They are what determine whether a leader can keep their team productive even during periods of radical change or crisis.
Ive identified five soft skills that draw a clear line between an average leader and an exceptional onesomeone truly capable of leading through transformation.
1. EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Imagine that one of your team members productivity drops threefold: They used to complete at least 15 tasks weekly, but now barely finish five. When evaluating the situation only through metrics, the leader might say: I see you’re working slower. Can you fix this? The answer will be predictable: Yes, Ill try harder. And nothing will change.
Ive noticed that how a leader makes an employee feel during a difficult moment directly affects their engagement, trust, and performance. If instead of assigning blame the leader asks, How are you feeling? it reveals the real reason behind the performance decline. Often it is personal circumstances, stress, or overload.
A leader with strong emotional intelligence can notice even subtle signs of worsening psychological well-being within the team and use empathy to understand what is actually happening. By identifying the root causes, they can find solutions that truly improve performance.
2. CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
According to the Workplace Peace Institute, American employees spend two hours weekly resolving disputes. Im convinced that many conflicts can be avoided if we learn to recognize them early.
But when tension does escalate into an open confrontation, the leader must turn that conflict into a productive conversation. They should help both sides structure their thoughts, guide them toward a compromise, and clearly explain the reasoning behind their decisions.
This is what effective conflict management looks likechanneling that energy into finding the best possible solution. To do this, a leader must separate people from the problem and avoid mixing emotions with arguments.
3. COMMUNICATION CLARITY
Grammarly research shows that 64% of business leaders link higher team productivity directly to effective communication. In my view, clarity is the soft skill with the strongest impact on outcomes. When a leader fails to articulate goals, expectations, or the task contextsuch as constraints or why the business needs this decision right nowthe team operates blindly. They complete the task based on their own interpretation rather than the original intent; that gap costs time, quality, and effort.
When people dont understand the outcome expected of them, they fill in the blanks with assumptions rarely aligning with reality. This affects the final result, but also team dynamics. Conflicts emerge, with a shared feeling that no one listens to us.
Once I witnessed a situation where, due to urgency, a manager assigned a task to a developer who was less busy but had less experience. The more experienced colleague reacted indignantly: Why wasnt this ticket assigned to me? Is something wrong with my work? The problem was that the manager hadnt explained the criteria for choosing the assignee; the lack of clarity left room for incorrect assumptions.
Its important to communicate not just what were doing, but also why were doing it that particular way. Whether its task assignment, delegation, or shifting priorities, its worth giving the team the full picture.
4. COACHING MINDSET
According to an analysis of 34 million U.S. managerial job postings, since 2007 employers have been three times more likely to look for leaders with skills in collaboration, coaching, and influence. At the same time, job postings have decreased wording usage for traditional leadership.
Today, valued leaders not only manage processes but also create conditions for their teams growth. And in this context, the coaching mindset takes center stage. A leader who possesses it can pose questions to people that stimulate them to seek their own solutions, rather than relying on directives.
A coaching mindset fosters autonomy and strengthens peoples confidence in their abilities, ultimately enhancing the entire team. Leaders should not deprive their teams of the opportunity to arrive at solutions on their own.
5. RESILIENCE
The modern world is full of uncertainty; leaders need to adapt to unforeseen changes, and also support others during challenging times. This is easier to do if they possess resilience and can stay calm under pressure, manage their own emotions, and recover quickly.
I lead a team of 90 people, mostly Ukrainians. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, my teamwhich suddenly found itself in dangerwas disoriented and scared. As a leader, I could not give in to panic, because I was responsible for my people. They came to me with many questions, and my actions, advice, and support helped the team get through those difficult times.
The good news is that resilience is not an innate trait, but it can be developed. A leader becomes more resilient by learning to pause, consciously choose their response to a situation, and avoid reacting to immediate triggers.
Teams that see a leaders resilience in challenging situations show six times higher engagement and innovation. This is no coincidence: People work more boldly and productively when they have an example of someone who doesn’t give in to anxiety and provides a sense of stability and security. Our team is proof of this.
Illia Smoliienko is the chief software officer for Waites.
Enhanced tax credits that have helped reduce the cost of health insurance for the vast majority of Affordable Care Act enrollees expired overnight, cementing higher health costs for millions of Americans at the start of the new year.Democrats forced a 43-day government shutdown over the issue. Moderate Republicans called for a solution to save their 2026 political aspirations. President Donald Trump floated a way out, only to back off after conservative backlash.In the end, no one’s efforts were enough to save the subsidies before their expiration date. A House vote expected in January could offer another chance, but success is far from guaranteed.The change affects a diverse cross-section of Americans who don’t get their health insurance from an employer and don’t qualify for Medicaid or Medicare a group that includes many self-employed workers, small business owners, farmers and ranchers.It comes at the start of a high-stakes midterm election year, with affordability including the cost of health care topping the list of voters’ concerns.“It really bothers me that the middle class has moved from a squeeze to a full suffocation, and they continue to just pile on and leave it up to us,” said 37-year-old single mom Katelin Provost, whose health care costs are set to jump. “I’m incredibly disappointed that there hasn’t been more action.”
Some families grapple with insurance costs that are doubling, tripling or more
The expired subsidies were first given to Affordable Care Act enrollees in 2021 as a temporary measure to help Americans get through the COVID-19 pandemic. Democrats in power at the time extended them, moving the expiration date to the start of 2026.With the expanded subsidies, some lower-income enrollees received health care with no premiums, and high earners paid no more than 8.5% of their income. Eligibility for middle-class earners was also expanded.On average, the more than 20 million subsidized enrollees in the Affordable Care Act program are seeing their premium costs rise by 114% in 2026, according to an analysis by the health care research nonprofit KFF.Those surging prices come alongside an overall increase in health costs in the U.S., which are further driving up out-of-pocket costs in many plans.Some enrollees, like Salt Lake City freelance filmmaker and adjunct professor Stan Clawson, have absorbed the extra expense. Clawson said he was paying just under $350 a month for his premiums last year, a number that will jump to nearly $500 a month this year. It’s a strain for the 49-year-old but one he’s willing to take on because he needs health insurance as someone who lives with paralysis from a spinal cord injury.Others, like Provost, are dealing with steeper hikes. The social worker’s monthly premium payment is increasing from $85 a month to nearly $750.
Effects on enrollment remain to be seen
Health analysts have predicted the expiration of the subsidies will drive many of the 24 million total Affordable Care Act enrollees especially younger and healthier Americans to forgo health insurance coverage altogether.Over time, that could make the program more expensive for the older, sicker population that remains.An analysis conducted last September by the Urban Institute and Commonwealth Fund projected the higher premiums from expiring subsidies would prompt some 4.8 million Americans to drop coverage in 2026.But with the window to select and change plans still ongoing until Jan. 15 in most states, the final effect on enrollment is yet to be determined.Provost, the single mother, said she is holding out hope that Congress finds a way to revive the subsidies early in the year but if not, she’ll drop herself off the insurance and keep it only for her four-year-old daughter. She can’t afford to pay for both of their coverage at the current price.
Months of discussion, but no relief yet
Last year, after Republicans cut more than $1 trillion in federal health care and food assistance with Trump’s big tax and spending cuts bill, Democrats repeatedly called for the subsidies to be extended. But while some Republicans in power acknowledged the issue needed to be addressed, they refused to put it to a vote until late in the year.In December, the Senate rejected two partisan health care bills a Democratic pitch to extend the subsidies for three more years and a Republican alternative that would instead provide Americans with health savings accounts.In the House, four centrist Republicans broke with GOP leadership and joined forces with Democrats to force a vote that could come as soon as January on a three-year extension of the tax credits. But with the Senate already having rejected such a plan, it’s unclear whether it could get enough momentum to pass.Meanwhile, Americans whose premiums are skyrocketing say lawmakers don’t understand what it’s really like to struggle to get by as health costs ratchet up with no relief.Many say they want the subsidies restored alongside broader reforms to make health care more affordable for all Americans.“Both Republicans and Democrats have been saying for years, oh, we need to fix it. Then do it,” said Chad Bruns, a 58-year-old Affordable Care Act enrollee in Wisconsin. “They need to get to the root cause, and no political party ever does that.”
Ali Swenson, Associated Press
Singles are drowning their Sunday blues with work, which experts warn isnt necessarily the healthiest coping strategy.
In a recent survey of 1,000 singles by Dating.com, 52% of those without a romantic partner said they spend most Sundays alone and 65% say its the loneliest day of their week. To cope, 74% say theyve turned to work to keep themselves busy, and 40% say they do so often.
Sunday is usually the quietest day of the week, and when you don’t have a family or anyone that you’re dating to spend time with, it’s a time that could feel very sad, explains licensed clinical social worker and resident therapist for Dating.com, Jaime Bronstein. A lot of people work to avoid being in their feelings, which is not necessarily recommended because it’s important to feel your feelings.
Bronstein adds that some employers may even put higher expectations on their single staff knowing they have fewer personal responsibilities occupying their time.
Sometimes people that are single feel like they don’t have a purpose, she adds. By working extra, they can feel like that’s their purpose.
Loneliness is on the rise, and bleeding into the workplace
Though dating in any generation has its challenges, Bronstein suggests its become more isolating in the digital age.
Its the rise of social media comparisons, seeing all the happy-looking couples, and then its all the dating apps, she says. Theres so much ghosting, people arent giving people enough of a chance because of the disposability factor and the ability to just find someone else, so theres a lot more rejection.
In 2023 loneliness and isolation was labeled a global health concern by the World Health Organization and an epidemic by the U.S. Surgeon General, but the challenge seems to have only gotten worse since. And its extended further, into individuals professional lives.
In a survey conducted in September by KPMG, 45% of respondents reported feelings of loneliness in the workplace, up from 25% just 10 months earlier. The data tells us theres been an increase in loneliness in the last year, says KPMGs vice chair of Talent & Culture Sandy Torchia.
Though its hard to pinpoint a precise cause, the research suggests that financial constraints have played a role, with 75% of respondents saying its becoming harder to afford social activities with colleagues outside of the workplace. Remote work may also be playing a role, as 67% of those who work entirely from home report feeling isolated at work, compared to 45% among all workers. Furthermore, while 84% of respondents said having close professional friends was very important for their mental health, that number rises to 93% among remote workers.
Lonely workers arent productive workers
It may be tempting to consider the loneliness-driven extra work hours on weekends a win for employers, but Torchia cautions that encouraging overwork isnt in anyones best interest in the long run.
Thats not an equation for success, because we want our employees to thrive. And for you to be able to thrive professionally, you need to be able to thrive personally, she says.
Even if theyre putting in more hours, those who use work as a crutch for managing loneliness are more susceptible to exhaustion, depression, and burnoutpotentially creating new challenges in their professional lives. Thats potentially exacerbated for singles, who already may be more prone to burnout due to money concerns: theyre often in a higher tax bracket, or spend more on housing or cost-of-living expenses when theres no one to split the bill with.
A happy, fulfilled, less stressed, less overwhelmed employee is going to be more productive and bring more value to your company, adds Bronstein.
Being lonely at work can make us more lonely at home
Whether in the digital or physical world, the workplace is where most people spend the largest share of their time, giving employers a unique opportunity to address isolation and loneliness among staff. Thats true for anyone, but potentially singles who may be loneliner in particular.
In the KPMG survey, for example, 29% of respondents said they were more productive when they had close friends at work. Torchia says organizations can promote workplace friendships by creating more opportunities for colleagues to connect over nonwork activities.
In the survey, 89% of respondents said company-facilitated interactions were very important, so there is an expectation for companies to play a role, she says. And then 91% said that their manager or another senior leader encouraged them to foster friendships.
The KPMG data is consistent with research from Gallup, which found loneliness affected 20% of Americans in mid-2024, up from 17% at the start of that year.
Younger people were also more likely to report feeling lonely, including 21% of millennials and 29% of Gen Z employees.
Employees have, progressively over the last several years, felt more detached from their organization, and it doesn’t have to be that way, says Gallups chief scientist for workplace management and wellbeing Dr. Jim Harter.
The emotion of loneliness isn’t just about having friends at work; it’s about having an opportunity to do your best, feeling like you’re making a contribution, having clear goals.
A weekly check-in with a manager is key to combatting employee loneliness
Employers likely wont step in to help staff with their dating lives, but Harter says managers can play an outsized role in helping them combat feelings of isolation.
Conversations with a manager and employeeeven just once a week and lasting for 30 minutescan establish the relationship between the individual and the organization and the contribution theyre making, he says. People feel a lot lonelier if they don’t feel like their work is making a contribution.
According to Gallups research, employees are less likely to feel isolated if they have clarity of expectations, feel recognized for their contributions, feel like someone cares about their development, feel connected to the organizations mission, and if they get the chance to do something theyre good at every day.
All of those things are really central to whether working people feel lonely or not, Harter says. When managers have a weekly meaningful conversation with employees, it solves for a lot of it.
Shares of Tesla Inc. are enjoying a premarket upswing on Friday as they head into their first trading day of 2026.
The rising stock price (Nasdaq: TSLA) comes despite low expectations for the EV maker’s fourth-quarter 2025 deliveries, which are expected to show a significant decline when compared to the previous quarter.
Here’s what you need to know:
Tesla stock is starting 2026 on a high note
In premarket trading on Friday, shares of Tesla were up around 2% as of this writing. The stock has been on an upswing for the last several months since CEO Elon Musk stepped back from his controversial job-slashing activities at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) earlier in 2025.
Those activities were widely seen to have done damage to the Tesla brand, especially among progressive-minded customers.
But Tesla stock has risen more than 46% since last summer, a sign that investors are once again excited about the company’s push into AI and automation.
Q4 vehicle deliveries are expected to dip
Tesla is expected to soon share its most recent figures for vehicle deliveries, and they’re not likely to be pretty. The company’s recently updated consensus data shows 422,850 total vehicles, down roughly 15% compared to the previous quarter.
That’s even lower than a FactSet consensus of around 440,000 vehicles cited by Barron’s.
If the deliveries data is so bad, why is Tesla stock still rising?
There could be a few reasons for that. For one thing, the deliveries were already expected to decline from the previous quarter, when consumers rushed to buy electric vehicles before the expiration of tax credits in September.
So while Tesla’s consensus estimate is even lower than some had predicted, the dip in deliveries was not a surprise. At the same time, some investors seem to be more interested in looking forward than backward.
Excitement around robotaxis may trump traditional fundamentals
Tesla’s share price moves have always reflected a mix of traditional metrics like sales and revenue trends along with a belief in the company’s forward-looking ambitions. Today’s share price increase could indicate that investors are more excited about what the company has in store for 2026 in terms of AI, automation, and robotaxis.
As reported by Yahoo Finance, analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities recently named Tesla as one of the top AI stocks for 2026. So while there is plenty of skepticism around whether Musk will ever deliver on his promises for self-driving vehicles, he and Tesla still have their share of believers.
Tech and AI stocks are generally up on Friday
Tesla’s premarket stock price rise on Friday may also simply be a reflection of broader investor optimism as we head into the first trading day of 2026.
A number of Big Tech and AI-adjacent stocks are enjoying a mild bump on Friday morning, including Nvidia Corp, Meta Platforms, Apple and others.
Whether or not it will last is anyone’s guess. But let’s not forget we still have 365 days to go.
Its been one full year of congestion pricing in New York City, and downtown Manhattan looks markedly different: 23.7 million fewer vehicles, traffic delays down 25%, and a 22% drop in air pollution, to start.
And thats just within the congestion relief zone. The program, which implements tolls on drivers who enter certain, once often-gridlocked areas of Manhattan, is even having positive effects outside of the streets that are subject to the toll.
Congestion pricing had a rocky start in New York City, and it continues to face lawsuits. But courts have consistently ruled in its favor.
One year in, its clear the program is overwhelmingly successful, says Kate Slevin, executive vice president of the Regional Planning Association, a nonprofit that pushed for congestion pricing. Heres a look at how congestion pricing has changed New York.
First, what is congestion pricing?
Congestion pricing is a way to mitigate traffic, and when it was implemented in New York City on January 5, 2025, it was the countrys first such program. Congestion pricing plans have been rolled out in cities around the world, though, including London, Stockholm, and Singapore.
The program covers a congestion relief zone that spans almost all of Manhattan below 60th Street and includes major routes like the Lincoln, Holland, and Hugh L. Carey tunnels and bridges that go into both Brooklyn and Queens.
Passenger cars with an E-ZPass that travel through that zone face a $9 toll during peak hourswhich are 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekendsand a $2.25 toll overnight.
Tolls are more expensive for commercial traffic, and vehicles without E-ZPass are charged a 50% premium
Those tolls are meant to both reduce traffic congestion in the city and raise funds for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the citys public transit system.
Environmentalists also backed the plan for its ability to reduce pollution by cutting traffic and ushering more commuters.
How congestion pricing has impacted commuters
Since January 5, 2025, 23.7 million fewer vehicles have entered the citys congestion pricing zone, compared to 2024. The number of drivers entering the zone is down 12%, meaning about 71,000 fewer vehicles every day.
Those numbers came in in December, and so they may be even higher now. (At the programs one-month mark, it already meant one million fewer vehicles on those streets.)
Between January and April, traffic delays inside the congestion relief zone dropped 25%and region-wide, including parts of New Jersey, declined 9%compared to the same period the year prior.
This has translated to quicker commutes. Morning commutes are:
36% faster through the Holland Tunnel
10% faster through the Lincoln Tunnel
21% faster across the Queensboro Bridge
23% faster across the Williamsburg Bridge
Commuters are saving as much as 21 minutes on a one-way trip. Some bus routes in the congestion relief zone have gotten as much as 25% faster, and school buses are facing fewer delays: Theyre on time 72% of the time, up from 58%.
Some residents had concerns that congestion pricing could push traffic from lower Manhattan into other areas like the South Bronx, and parts of New Jersey and Staten Island, making congestion (and air pollution) worse for those residents.
But none of those traffic impacts come to effect, Slevin says. Traffic is actually lower regionally, even beyond the congestion relief zone . . . that means this is a policy that’s not only good for the five boroughs of New York. Its also a regional policy.
Slevin does warn that in other congestion pricing cases, the traffic reduction benefits dont necessarily last. In London, after an initial dip, traffic crept back up, mostly from ride-hailing drivers and delivery trucks.
If traffic bounces back, the program will still raise money for public transit. New York City does have a plan to escalate the tolls as well, raising them from $9 to $12 in 2028 and then to $15 in 2031.
How congestion pricing is benefiting public transit
Along with easing New Yorks infamous gridlock, a goal of congestion pricing was to raise $15 billion for the MTA, which would go to new subway cars, buses, station accessibility, and so on.
Already, the state has allocated $1.75 billion of congestion pricing revenue to transit projects, including modernizing subway signals. Outdated signals are a major cause of subway delays.
The MTA is also already working on getting more than 400 new subway cars and 300 commuter rail cars, among other projects.
Public transit throughout the region is already dealing with more commuters: Subway ridership is up 9% year-over-year, and bus ridership up 13%. Regional rail has benefited, too, with the Long Island Rail Road seeing a 10% increase in riders, and the Metro-North up 7%.
It was pretty obvious that congestion pricing would reduce traffic and raise money for transit. But its been a bit surprising, Slevin says, how close it has come to the projections that were laid out over the years of planning, in the environmental documents and in the MTA studies. Its validating.
Less traffic means safer streets, cleaner air
New Yorkers are even breathing easier thanks to congestion pricing. A Cornell University study released in December found that air pollution dropped 22% in the congestion relief zone.
Thats specifically concerning PM2.5, meaning particles that measure 2.5 micrometers or less. These tiny particles can enter our lungs and lead to an array of health issues, including cardiovascular, respiratory, and neurological impacts.
A 22% drop means PM2.5 concentrations declined by 3.05 micrograms per cubic meter. If congestion pricing had not been implemented, researchers projected those lower Manhattan streets would see an average of 13.8 micrograms per cubic meter. (The Environmental Protection Agency recommends an annual exposure limit of 9 micrograms per cubic meter.)
Air quality improved outside of that zone, too, with average declines of 1.07 micrograms per cubic meter across the citys five boroughs and 0.70 micrograms per cubic meter in the broader region.
This tells us that congestion pricing didnt simply relocate air pollution to the suburbs by rerouting traffic, Timothy Fraser, one of the study’s authors, said in a statement. Instead, folks are liely choosing cleaner transportation options altogether, like riding public transportation or scheduling deliveries at night.
Less traffic has also meant safer streets when it comes to injuries and fatalities. Within the congestion relief zone, traffic injuries are down 15%, and pedestrian fatalities have dropped at least 15%. Thats on par with levels last seen in 2018.
New York Citys streets are even a bit quieter: Honking and vehicle noise complaints to the city are down 45%.
Whats next for NYC congestion pricing?
Congestion pricing faced an array of hurdles to get to this point.
Small business owners rallied against it, at least eight lawsuits from plaintiffs including New Jersey Governor Phill Murphy and the Trucking Association of New York contested it, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul even delayed its start.
Things were still challenging once the tolls began; after Donald Trump took office for his second term as president, he rescinded its federal approval, and ordered the city to halt the program.
The city fought back, winning court orders to soldier on.
The legal battles arent completely over. Some cases against congestion prices are still pending, and in November, Trump said he’d once again ask Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to consider killing the program.
Slevin remains positive, though.
For one, public approval is up. A March Siena College poll found that 42% of New York City residents want congestion pricing to stay, while 35% supported Trumps efforts to end it.
Compare that to December 2023, before the program started: Siena College had found then that just 32% New Yorkers supported the toll, and a whopping 52% were against it.
This is a pattern for congestion pricing programs around the world. People often resist them at the start, but once they see the benefits first hand, support grows.
Slevin even says anecdotally, she knows a few people who used to be against it in New York City, but are now congestion pricing fans.
Another reason to be optimistic is the fact that so far, all the courts have ruled in favor of congestion pricing.
I think at this point it will be hard to remove it, because it is delivering benefits for people. The money is going back into the public transit network. And our region absolutely needs the transit network to work for our economy to thrive, Slevin says. I dont think eliminating hundreds of millions of dollars for public transit spending is going to be very popular.
New York Citys streets could even see more improvements. With less traffic thanks to congestion pricing, that gives the city space to create more public plazas or improve bus service.
The city’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, already made fast, free buses and safer streets a key part of his platform, and so he may build on congestion pricings success.
The entire country has watched New York City implement congestion pricing and fend off Trumps attacks against it. Now, theyre seeing its success, and that could spur other cities to take similar action.
The Regional Planning Association has already fielded calls and interests from other cities, both in the U.S. and internationally.
It shows that cities can do big things to deal with their problems,” Slevin says. “And it gives inspiration to other cities across the country.”
If 2025 was the year purpose went quiet, 2026 is when the fork in the road will become impossible to ignore. Insights from the Purpose Collaborative, a 40-member network of impact-driven companies, predict what the year ahead will mean for responsible businesses.
On one path, companies move purpose from statements and discrete programs into the structure of the business: strategy, governance, KPIs, products, data, and even AI. On the other path, purpose gets quietly defunded, depoliticized, or pushed so far into the background that only a handful of insiders can see it. Both routes have real implications for long-term business success.
For companies that can integrate and connect purpose to actual business value, it will be a source of competitive advantage, helping them stand out from the AI workslop, says Caleb Gardner, managing partner of 18 Coffees. For others, it will fade into the background as they fight for survival.
Many of the experts we spoke with identified this bifurcation. Some organizations will double down on purpose as a discipline and driver of resilience. Others will keep doing the work with as little visibility as possible, hoping to avoid backlash in a polarized Trump era. The stakes are no longer about having a nice-to-have purpose platform” but about whether purpose becomes the backbone of the business or disappears completely.
Against that backdrop, we asked members what they see as the biggest trends, the hardest barriers, and the boldest steps leaders should take. Their answers point to a year defined by proof, participation, courage, and resilience.
A fork in the road: Structural purpose vs. quiet retreat
Members see a widening gap across sectors and regions. On one side are the companies treating purpose as a long-term operating system: one thats deeply integrated into strategy, measurement, and governance.
The dominant purpose-related trend will be the shift from Purpose as Story to Purpose as Proof, says Fabio Milnitzky, CEO of iN. Companies will move away from treating purpose as a slogan and toward treating it as a disciplined, measurable system that must demonstrate impact on people, planet, and profit.
Purpose will only be credible when it can withstand scrutiny from investors, regulators, employees, and communitiesand when it shapes what a company does and doesnt do.
Purpose will stop being a department and start being a discipline, says Joe Waters, founder of Selfish Giving. When companies embrace purpose in this way, every partnership, product, and story flows from a coherent set of values. Purpose will show up in hiring, investment decisions, access to capital, reputation, and resilience if (or when) a crisis hits.
There will be a bifurcation of companies that quietly remain focused on purpose and embed it deeper into the enterprise, and those who retrench in favor of prioritizing to focus on short-term business pressures, says Karimah Huddah, founder of illumine.earth.
On the other side are organizations scaling back external purpose work in response to political pressure, ESG and DEI backlash, and economic uncertainty. Purpose will move from public declarations to quiet, behind-the-scenes stewardship, says Jessica Marati Radparvar, sustainability communications strategies and founder of Reconsidered. With political, cultural, and regulatory uncertainty rising, companies will shift their energy inward.
For these companies, the work may continue, but it will be far from the spotlight. That may protect them from some political blowback, but it also risks eroding trust if employees and communities cant clearly understand what the organization stands for. Corporations may decide that they can cancel or reduce their purpose-based work based on the current political climate, says Marcus Peterzell, CEO of Passion Point Collective. In this environment, whether purpose is structural or superficial will matter more than ever.
From story to proof: Purpose balances performance and risk
If theres one global through line for the year ahead, its that purpose must prove itself.
Over the last decade, most large companies have adopted purpose statements, but relatively few have embedded them deeply into strategy, culture and governance, says Milnitzky. Pressure from investors, regulators, employees, and society will increasingly be: Show the proof. This means linking purpose to hard indicators such as retention, safety, inclusion, decarbonization, product portfolio, reputation, and total shareholder return.
Purpose has moved out of the brand book and into the boardroom. The organizations that lead will treat it as a performance system with clear inputs, outputs, and accountability, not as a set of inspirational words on a wall. That proof is not just about upside: Members see purpose moving squarely into the language of risk and resilience.
We’ll spend less time touting the business case for sustainability and move more proactively toward a steely, laser-focus emphasizing the financial and reputation risks inherent in ESG-related decision-making or inaction, says Sarah Riley, sustainable brand advisor at R&G.
As Riley notes, the challenge isnt convincing stakeholders that ESG issues existits cutting through fatigue, denial, and politicized narratives with honest assessments of whats at stake.
Resilience will be a dominant theme, says Neill Duffy, chief executive and Founder of 17 Sport. Around the world, people are living through instability that feels both relentless and unpredictable. Climate volatility, political polarization, economic pressure, and the erosion of institutional trust are no longer background noise, theyve become part of daily life.
Purpose, Duffy says, becomes a stabilizing forcesomething that keeps organizations principled when incentives reward caution and short-termism. It can also support communities not by shielding them from disruption but by helping them navigate with greater clarity and confidence.
The metric that matters most may not be return on investment, but something more human: Return on involvement. Brands that help people act on their valuesnot just advertise themwill win the decade, Waters says. Taken together, these perspectives suggest a new equation: purpose equals proof, resilience, and participation.
Beyond campaigns: Participation, community governance, and creator ecosystems
What does purpose-led participation mean in the year ahead?
Were entering a Participation Era, where purpose is defined by what brands help people do rather than what they say, said Fred Haberman, CEO of Haberman. With loneliness at an all-time high and trust in brand messaging at an all-time low, people are seeking real connection and meaningful experiences. The organizations that lead will use technology with intention to create more space for humanity: building micro-communities, inspiring acts of service, and helping people come together around shared impact.
Here, purpose is measured less by impressions and more by involvement: who shows up, what they do together, and how those experiences change behavior and community outcomes.
Participation is also about power. Instead of treating communities as audiences toconsult, leading brands will share in governance, says Melissa Orozco, CEO and chief impact officer of Yulu Impact Communications. Indigenous-led councils, youth panels, and lived-experience advisers will shape how purpose programs are designed and evaluated, marking the end of performative engagement and the rise of shared power.
That shift from feedback to co-ownership raises the bar on authenticity. It asks brands not just to listen, but to structurally redistribute influence over how purpose programs are conceived, funded, and evaluated.
Members also point to creators and influencers as catalysts in this ecosystem. Purpose will become far more collaborativeand more creative, too, says Carrie Fox, founder and CEO of Mission Partners. As nonprofits continue to face headwinds from shrinking government and corporate funding, we can expect to see a surge in cross-sector innovation, including deeper corporate-nonprofit partnerships, the formation of creative coalitions, and the development of new revenue-generating models designed to sustain mission-critical work.
Brands will move beyond hiring influencers to building purpose-centered ecosystems alongside them: codesigning programs, educational content, resources, and community-driven activations, and ideally doing this all with creators with specific lived experiences and a clear alignment to the brand’s products and purpose, says Stephanie Belsky, cofounder and CEO of Love of Good, Inc.
But this dynamic of influencers as collaborators only works if companies are as clear and committed as the creators they partner with. Influencers are increasingly choosing partnerships based on shared values, not just rates, Belsky says. Many brands still lack the internal clarity to meet that standard. This can erode trust. Audiences can instantly detect when a creator is asked to carry a message a brand hasnt embodied internally. Purpose work thrives when brand story, operational behavior, and creator messaging are aligned.
The message is clear: in the Participation Era, you cant outsource purpose to your partners. They will simply reveal whether its real or not.
Purpose under pressure: Polarization, caution and the courage gap
The political context for 2026 is impossible to ignore. Purpose Collaborative members point to Trump-era politics, ESG suppression, and culture wars as defining pressures. We’re entering a new era thanks to the rise of Trump-style politics and it’s one that seems outwardly to be stymieing sustainability efforts through green-hushing and straight-up ESG suppression, Riley says.
Political volatility, economic pressure, ESG and DEI pushback, and climate anxiety are creating an environment where many organizations instinctively pull back, speaking less, committing less, and protecting themselves from scrutiny rather than advancing their principles, Duffy says.
The continued polarization of social issues will remain one of the most significant barriers, Fox says. As issues become increasingly politicized during a midterm election year in the U.S., corporate leaders, celebrities, and public figures may hesitate to take clear stands, instead opting for softer, middle-of-the-road positions.
Taken together, these perspectives describe a caution culture in which organizations say less, do less, and hope to ride out the storm. But as several members warn, that instinct can undermine purpose at its core. The biggest challenge is courage, says Bianca Bello, strategy director at HelpGood. With Trump in office, the priorities of this country have shifted dramatically away from marginalized communities. Committing to purpose in 2026 will feel increasingly risky, and businesses are risk-averse.
Some argue that the riskiest move is trying to appease everyone. When we talk about bold steps leaders must take to protect purpose in polarized environments, the first thing I say is this: neutrality is no longer a strategyit is a form of erosion, Milnitzky says. In politically and culturally divided climates, purpose becomes fragile when leaders attempt to appease everyone.
Others frame it as a test of long-term consistency and a willingness to speak when others are staying silent. Think long-term about your purpose and be boldly consistent, and you’ll be rewarded for it no matter the political climate, Gardner says.
And in some cases, silence will no longer be neutral; it will be a risk, Orozco says. The brands that choose courage, and back it with transparency, consistency, and community investment, will win long-term trust and loyalty.
In a moment when the cultural and political ground feels increasingly unstable, the boldest leadership move is also the simplest: stay rooted in your purpose, Fox says. Set a clear strategy aligned with your values, and dont back away from it when the climate gets tough.
Filling the gap: When business becomes the backstop
Members anticipate that shrinking public funding and evolving regulation will widen gaps in the social safety net.
I hope that the biggest trend will be an aggressive search for ways to fill the services and funding gap of the federal dollars that have been taken away from public assistance programs, Bello says. Companies that value purpose should fund and lift up nonprofits and grassroots organizations working in local communities to fill this gap.
Here, purpose becomes less about nice to have programs and more about filling structural holes in healthcare, housing, education, climate adaptation, and community resilience. Corporate resources, relationships, and platforms can help sustain work that would otherwise fall through the cracks.
Against this backdrop, members expect more experimentation: new revenue models, cross-sector coalitions, and influencers mobilizing audiences at scale. We can expect to see a surge in cross-sector innovation, including deeper corporate-nonprofit partnerships, the formation of creative coalitions, and the development of new revenue-generating models designed to sustain mission-critical work, Fox says.
National politics doesn’t play out the same way at the local level, says Laura Ferry, president of Good Company. Invest in regional partnerships, local suppliers, community health, and small business ecosystems to make purpose tangible. Local impact builds broad, cross-partisan support.
In an era of national polarization, the local dimension of purpose may be where the broadest and most durable coalitions form.
Inside-out: Employees as the engine of purpose
When purpose is stress-tested, employees feel it first. Many members highlight internal culture, communication, and middle management as make-or-break factors.
Well see a renewed focus on internal communicationsnot just to defend new initiatives with solid business cases, but to reassure employees that the company hasnt abandoned its values, Radparvar says. Leaders will need to protect morale and culture at a time when being too loud puts a target on your back, but being too quiet risks letting purpose wither from within.
With the policy landscape shifting, companies are rediscovering that their most powerful driver is their own people, Ferry says. Expect a stronger push toward purpose-driven partnerships that energize employees, strengthen culture, and demonstrate values in action.
Middle managers are key to this effort, yet they are not always empowered to be champions of purpose. That middle-management bottleneck is wheremany purpose strategies stall. Without the tools, time, and incentives to act on purpose, even the strongest commitments can remain theoretical. And directives must come from the top. You must have leadership buy-in, says Phillip Haid, founder and CEO of Public Inc. If the CEO is not bought in, don’t bother as it won’t gain traction. Tangibly map out how the company’s purpose drives internal and external business results as it’s the only way to ensure the purpose is truly lived and sustained.”
Purpose is real only when it is lived inside the organization well before what’s declared outside of it, says Nicole Rennie, CEO and executive producer of FORWARD storystudio. Make space for employees to share their stories, their why, and the impact they feel they’re having. Invite them into the purpose dialogue early and often.
Purpose, AI, and the future of human work
AI runs through many of our members predictions as a force reshaping the logic and value of work.
The shift wont just be about more AI or smarter tools, says Sophia Story, chief revenue officer of 3 Sided Cube. It will be about how responsibly we use them. Ethical, transparent, measurable AI will become the new baseline, with teams doubling down on clear policies, real guardrails, and continuous improvement to make sure their tech is doing good, not just sounding good.
Over the last year, AI-enabled jobless growth forced companies to answer an existential question: What are humans actually for? Gardner says. Companies have justified centering purpose at least partly because they needed humans (who deeply care about their impact on the world) to be productive. If the narrative becomes about how AI can do the work better, purpose advocates may lose their most powerful business case.
Story points to data, regulation, and skills as three pressure points: Purpose-led data models only work when theres real clarity around governance, stewardship, rights, and what happens when things go wrong. Right now, thats still pretty messy. Regulation is another pressure point. New rules are landing fast. If organizations dont design in data ethics and responsible AI from day one, theyll end up scrambling to retrofit compliance later.
For some, purpose may become the lens through which AI is deployed. With purpose and AI working together, companies can accelerate advances that strengthen communities, address major social challenges, and expand human potential at a pace not seen since the rise of the modern web, says Kristian Merenda, partner at Carol Cone ON PURPOSE. But that will only happen if organizations slow down long enough to redesign systems, workflows, and habits. The biggest challenges will center on building responsible AI use policies, realigning systems, and redesigning workflows so organizations can use AI effectively and ethically to create both business and social good, Merenda says.
Importantly, make sure work isn’t muddled by the mire of AI-gloss, says Elliot Kotek, founder and CEO of The Nation of Artists. Ensure that real people and real stories feel represented and honored at the deep-gut, big feels level. There’s a strength that comes from those stories that realistically represent their communities that can’t be manufactured en masse, and audiences respond to that sincerityit’s that old adage that you always remember how someone, or something, made you feel.
AI will either hollow out the human business case for purposeor, if guided well, become one of the most powerful tools for scaling it.
Leading organizations will navigate barriers and emerge stronger
Across all these predictions runs a common idea: pressure is not just a threat to purpose but a test of whether its real. Let pressure clarify your purpose, not cloud it, Fox says. Leaders often describe this moment as heavy, dizzying, and uncertain. And it is. But as one nonprofit leader reminded me recently: diamonds are formed under pressure. The same is true for purpose. Under intense conditions, your purpose can either crack or sharpen.
In 2026, the purpose that survives will be the kind that is disciplined, measurable, participatory and brave. It will be embedded into structures and systems, not just stories. And it will be carried not only by enterprises, but by employees, communities, and creators who see themselves as part of something biggerand are willing to take on the mantle of participation.
2026 will be a good year for people who love to walk where cars once drove.
As climate change acceleratesand cities continue to grapple with congestion and air pollutionurban priorities have been shifting. In May this year, Parisians voted to close 500 streets to traffic across all 20 arrondissements. London is moving forward with plans to pedestrianize sections of the world-famous Oxford Street, as well as Regent Street, and Piccadilly Circus. Meanwhile, Barcelonas centuries-old promenade, La Rambla, is in the last stretches of a long-term redesign that will be completed in 2027, widening the pedestrian promenade and limiting access to residents vehicles and public transport.
The U.S. isnt exempt from the trend. Next year alone, half a dozen cities, from Bentonville, AR, to Houston, TX, will reduce or remove car traffic on some of their streetsnot for a weekend pilot or a seasonal experiment, but for good.
These projects matter in a country that still funnels tens of billions of federal dollars every year into new roads and highways. And they are particularly notable after the Trump administration recently withdrew previously awarded grants for some bike, trail, and pedestrian projects.
Ever since cars became dominant in the 1950s, urban thinkers like Jane Jacobs and Jan Gehl have argued for cities designed around people, not vehicles. The conversation is still timely. According to several experts interviewed for this story, the tides are shifting. I think we are certainly seeing momentum in the car-free or car-lite movement, says Ben Crowther, policy director for the nonprofit America Walks.
Here are six streets pedestrians can reclaim next yearno cars, or fewer cars, allowed.
[Image: courtesy Downtown Houston+]
1. Main Street in Houston, TX
Houstons Main Street, long a transit corridor, is being reinvented as a seven-block pedestrian promenade through the heart of downtown. The Main Street Promenade will feature shaded walkways, plazas, outdoor dining, and a series of flexible public spaces designed for lingering, not just passing through.
Led by Downtown Houston+ in partnership with the City of Houston, and designed by Workshop, the project builds on the success of the More Space: Main Street initiative, a temporary program launched in 2021 to test reduced vehicle access. Its permanent transformation is timed to welcome visitors for the 2026 FIFA Mens World Cup, but the redesign is meant to serve residents long after the crowds leave.
The streets physical makeover is substantial. Pedestrian space will be expanded across seven blocks, creating a continuous, safer corridor through downtown. Tree canopy will increase by more than 150%, with new trees added alongside shade structures and storefront awningscritical infrastructure in a city defined by heat. A series of outdoor rooms will support activities like casual dining and small events, while murals and public art installations will reinforce Main Streets identity. A raised street design and improved crossings aim to make the promenade accessible to people of all ages and abilities.
The new promenade is a fitting evolution for a street that has carried Houston through multiple transportation eras, from horse-drawn carriages to trolleys, cars, light railand now, pedestrians.
[Image: courtesy KC PWD]
2. 18th Street in Kansas City, MO
Kansas Citys 18th Street, the cultural backbone of the historic Jazz District, isnt becoming fully car-freebut its redesign marks a significant shift toward people-first planning. Like Houstons Main Street, the 18th Street Pedestrian Mall project has been years in the making before accelerating toward completion ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
Rather than banning vehicles outright, the project will remove curbs, gutters, and on-street parking to create a seamless corridor that is more akin to a shared street. Vehicular traffic will still be allowed at the center, but its dominance will be dramatically reduced. Replacement parking is being relocated to a new garage just south of the street, freeing up space for wider sidewalks, traffic calming measures, and safer, more accessible crossings.
The redesign also lays the groundwork for expanded programming like farmers markets and live concerts. A City spokesperson said it will also make it easier for the Jazz District to close three blocks of 18th Street for major events like Juneteenth, First Fridays, and Halloween celebrationssomething that was logistically difficult under the old street design.
The nuance matters here. Patricia Brownwho helped lead the pedestrianization of Trafalgar Square in London in the early 2000sargues that framing projects as car-free versus car-lite can be counterproductive. Were never going to have a car-free city, and we shouldnt, she told me. The real question is how you put people front and center and reduce vehicle dominance.
Kansas Citys 18th Street offers a case study in exactly that approach.
[Photo: courtesy Design Workshop]
3. A Street Promenade, in Bentonville, AR
In Bentonville, Arkansas, pedestrianization is less about reclaiming a single block and more about stitching an entire downtown together. At the center of that effort is “A Street Promenade“a linear, pedestrian-only plaza that is part of the citys broader “Quilt of Parks” initiative.
“A Street Promenade,” which just opened in November, has been remade from a vehicle corridor into a pedestrian promenade that links the town square with parks, local businesses, and civic spaces through a sequence of garden rooms and parklets. The promenade is designed for everyday use, but flexible enough to support markets, parades, and citywide events.
The project emerged from a Design Excellence partnership launched in 2018 between the citys Parks and Recreation Department, the Walton Family Foundation, and Design Workshop (the same studio behind Houstons Main Street transformation.)
The goal was never just to remove cars, says Conners Ladner, a principal at Design Workshop. It was about strengthening how people move through and gather within the city center.
[Photo: courtesy Qmunity District]
4. Post Street in San Jose, CA
In downtown San Jose, Post Street has become a template for how temporary street experiments can turn into permanent change. Once a conventional downtown roadway, the street was permanently closed to cars this spring following years of pandemic-era pilots. It now functions as a pedestrian-only corridor at the heart of the citys LGBTQ+ district, known as Qmunity. (Its the citys second major pedestrianization effortfollowing San Pedro Square, which closed in 2024.)
Earlier this year, the city unveiled a permanent street mural by local artist Danny Feliz Hanson and community volunteers. Next year, the city is planning further upgrades, including an artist-led initiative to transform the safety barricades at each end of the street into reflective, neighborhood-branded design features.
When the World Cup rolls around, Post Street will be a designated Entertainment Zone, but a spokesperson from the San Jose Downtown Association emphasized that the decision to pedestrianize Post Street wasnt driven by FIFA. San Jose began experimenting with temporary closures during the pandemic, and after tracking their impacts, the City Council voted unanimously in February 2025 to make the change permanent. Recent data shows consistent increases in foot traffic and visitor dwell time in the area since the closure.
[Image: Greektown Neighborhood Partnership/SmithGroup]
5. Monroe Street in Detroit, MI
In Detroits Greektown, Monroe Street is being reimagined as a civic space. The Monroe Streetscape Improvement Project, led by the Greektown Neighborhood Partnership and designed by SmithGroup, is transforming a four-block stretch into a safer, more walkable corridor that can flex between everyday use and large-scale events.
Backed by $20 million in funding from the state of Michigan, the project is branded as A New Greektown, and prioritizes pedestrians without eliminating access altogether. Wider sidewalks, curbless lanes, and designated pick-up and drop-off zones reduce barriers between street and sidewalk, while still accommodating transit and essential vehicles. More than 50 new trees, enhanced lighting, and signature district signage aim to improve both comfort and safety, especially during evening hours.
The redesign also leans into Greektowns role as one of Detroits most active entertainment districts. Eighty thousand square feet of granite paversmaking it the largest granite-paved street in Michiganwill create a unified surface for outdoor dining, festivals, and markets.
Integrated art and heritage installations will celebrate the neighborhoods history, while removable bollards will allow Monroe Street to become fully pedestrianized during programmed events. A spokesperson from the Greektown Neighborhood Partnership said that current plans envision pedestrian-only weekends, with flexibility to adjust based on what works.
Construction is unfolding in phases: the first segment is already complete, while the second phase is scheduled to wrap up in late 2026.
[Photo: courtesy Sunset Dunes]
6. Sunset Dunes in San Francisco, CA
San Franciscos Sunset Dunes marks a different scale of ambition altogether. Stretching across two miles, the 50-acre coastal park is billed as the largest pedestrianization project in Califonias historytransforming a former highway into a public park.
The shift began with a ballot measure passed by voters, asking whether a long-debated stretch of the Great Highway should stop functioning as a road and start functioning as a park. The answer was yes. The city officially opened Sunset Dunes as a park in April 2025, rolling out initial activations like bike infrastructure, public art, and wayfinding. Since then, the space has continued to evolve, with picnic tables overlooking the ocean, a rotating outdoor art gallery, and free weekly programming.
Whats notable is how explicitly the city is treating Sunset Dunes as a living experiment. A first round of community engagement wrapped up this year, focused on understanding how residents want to use the space and whats currently missing. The results will be published by the end of 2025, with a second phase of engagement launching in 2026 to shape a long-term vision plan, supported by landscape architecture firm CMG Landscape Architecture. The goal: to move from a repurposed roadway to a purpose-built coastal park, much like Crissy Field, a former military airfield that was transformed into a coastal park two decades ago.
A spokesperson from local nonprofit, Friends of Sunset Dunes, told me design priorities will center on access and restoration. Since the park runs alongside a sensitive dune system, planned improvements will aim to restore dune ecology, improve beach access for people with mobility challenges, and create a continuous promenade that feels like one park.
In the meantime, the programming will keep testing what works. In January next year, the nonprofit will launch weekly traditional Chinese dance classes designed for the neighborhoods large senior population. More temporary installations and pilot uses will follow as an intentional strategy to learn from the public before locking in permanent design decisions.
