When we first landed on this year’s theme for the annual convening, What Unites Us: Their Future. Our Work., I immediately thought that Eric Liu would be a perfect speaker for the occasion. For the last 15 years I’ve kept a copy of his book, The Accidental Asian: Notes of a Native Speaker, on my…
On paper, Dr. Robert George and Dr. Cornel West make an unlikely pair. “I’m an old-school, traditional conservative. Cornel is honorary chairman of the Democratic Socialists of America. That’s pretty far apart,” said Dr. George. But despite having opposing views on topics from politics to philosophy, the two share a long, close friendship that can…
When Liz Dozier arrived at Fenger High School, it felt like someone had dimmed the lights. At the time, it was known as one of most violent and underperforming schools in Chicago. During Dozier’s first year as principal, 300 arrests happened in the building. The school’s drop-out rate was 20%, and the graduation rate was…
Improving economic and social mobility in our communities is complex work and cannot happen in a vacuum. As the philanthropic sector continues to grapple with the best way to address these layered challenges, the default is often a siloed approach that provides restricted programmatic support to generate outputs rather than a broader collaborative approach to…
For hundreds of years, sailors have used the North Star to help navigate. The North Star is the only bright star whose position relative to a rotating Earth does not change. In many ways, the North Star was more instrumental for navigation than their individual daily tasks of washing the deck, measuring water depth and…
Over a decade ago, communities stood up and said we want something better for kids and families. From Seattle, Washington, to Spartanburg, South Carolina, place-based partnerships emerged to eradicate inequitable outcomes and transform the systems that perpetuate them. Ten years later, we know that change is possible. The roots of the StriveTogether Cradle to Career…