Announcing Bring Your Young Adult to Vote Day

It’s by now a well-documented fact: young adults just don’t show up for presidential elections. It’s unfortunate in any number of respects, not the least of which is because it’s their future being decided. Also, let’s face it, it’s not a great look for parents.

Once again, it would appear young people will be under-represented in the upcoming presidential election. In polling conducted by my firm, Tiller, 55% of 18- to 29-year-olds said they were very likely to vote in November or had already. That compares to 79% of Americans age 30 and up.

Social scientists have long speculated about the root causes of young adults’ under-participation in presidential elections: less flexible work schedules, difficulty registering, low belief in the system, uninspiring choices, lacking civics education, and even feelings of cynicism, alienation or a general malaise. How about this one as a contributing factor–desultory and insufficient parental role modeling, mentoring and encouragement?

As the father of three youngish adults, I spend too much time speculating about the things I’ve done as a parent that have contributed to any unhappiness. What I’ve concluded is that whatever is wrong, it’s a little my fault but mostly theirs. I think failure to vote is an example of this allocation.

Parenting is hard, but it got much easier when I decided to stop haranguing and started leading by example. As best-selling author Robert Fulghum once wrote, “Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.”

Which brings me to one of the unexpected joys of raising my kids: “Bring Your Daughter to Work Day” (since appropriately rebranded as “Bring Your Child To Work Day”). I loved having a full day of sporadic attention. I loved showing them the ropes of adult professional life and giving them a glimpse into its joys and frustrations. I loved having a partner on my arduous, soul-numbing three-hour roundtrip commute (hoping, in vain it turns out, to conjure up some slight sympathy). But what I loved most was the common shared experience and the opportunity to engage my kids, if even for a bit, in a substantive exchange about the nature of work and my relationship to it and the roles and responsibilities of being an adult and parent.

As my kids grew up and went on to have kids of their own those opportunities have been fewer and farther in between (unless you count watching football together on Sunday afternoon). But I have an idea for role modeling, reestablishing lines of communication and getting something good done in the world: “Bring Your Young Adult to Vote Day” – the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November every four years. It begins November 5, 2024.

Obviously, there is a lot to unpack in that concept. If you actually go to a polling place, you don’t bring your young adult, you accompany them. In some states the opportunity to vote lasts not a day but weeks. And voting by mail tends to be a solitary experience. Finally, many parents don’t live in proximity to their kids.

But there are lots of ways to engage with our adult kids around voting. They range from going to the polling place together (and grabbing a beer or latte afterwards), to filling out paper ballots together, or babysitting so your young adult parents can vote. And, then, of course, one can always default to the parental lecture.

The one thing all pundits agree on is that this will be a very close election. In the swing states, it could come down to a few thousand votes. The great paradox of the 2024 presidential election is that if they turn out in numbers, young people may never have a greater opportunity to shape the future. We can help.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, ”Democracy’s greatest threat is indifference’.” But in the context of this idea, I find Eleanor Roosevelt’s observation equally poignant: “It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.”

– Rob Densen, Tiller Founder and CEO

The Youth Vote: Now or Never

One of my favorite movies is Saving Private Ryan. Twenty-five years after its release, I keep thinking about the D-Day scene on Omaha Beach, with tens of thousands of young infantrymen leaving their landing crafts into a hellish, cacophonous tableau of bullets and artillery fire from strategically perched, well-entrenched German troops, the surf bright crimson with their blood.

That was my father’s generation. Sometimes I wonder if I’d have the courage to exit those landing craft. I’d like to think so but who knows.

This comes to mind because just like 80 years ago, a generation has an opportunity to rise to the defense of democracy. And all they have to do is vote.

Here’s the issue: Many Americans ages 18 to 29 have historically sat out presidential elections. While young adults’ 2020 presidential election turnout of 55% was a 48-year high and way up from 44% four years earlier, it badly lagged the 78% of Americans age 60 or older who voted in 2020.

With so much at stake, why aren’t young adults voting? We set out to understand more about that phenomenon, commissioning a poll of 3,221 Americans, of whom 572 were 18- to 29-year olds.

In our poll, just 55% of 18- to 29-year-olds said they were very likely to vote in November or had already. By comparison, 79% of Americans age 30 and up can be expected to show up on November 5. Equally as concerning is the fact that just 51% of 18- to 29-year-olds surveyed agree that they are “lucky to live in a Democracy.” That compares to 74% of Americans over the age of 30.

Why are so many young people turned off? When asked to choose from among a list of eight reasons people under the age of 30 have been significantly less likely than the general population to vote in presidential elections, respondents 18 to 29 cited “Feel My Vote Doesn’t Count” (21%), “A General Feeling of Hopelessness (19%), and “Feel Neither Party/Candidate Represents My View” (15%) as the three top reasons.

The bottom line: too many young people feel neglected, unvoiced, and even alienated and are bringing that disaffection to bear in a disinclination to vote.

I understand this Election Year Ennui. The last dozen years or so have hardly been confidence-building for lovers of American democracy, civil discourse and seamless presidential elections. Factor in the Great Recession, the COVID Pandemic and perceived shortcomings on government performance relative to a handful of issues so particularly critical to young people – from climate change to gun violence – and their cynicism is understandable.

As fitful as progress has been, the truth is that over time our democratic system has trended ever-forward toward freedom, equality, tolerance, justice, and advancing the common good – usually with a helpful push from voters who have chosen leaders committed to those values.

The one thing all pundits agree on is that this will be a very close election. In the swing states, it could come down to a few thousand votes. The great paradox of the 2024 presidential election is that if they turn out in numbers – as they did last year in Poland’s paliamentary elections – young people may never have a great opportunity to shape the future.

As Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, ”Democracy’s greatest threat is indifference’.” It really comes down to this: either vote or submit to the will of the people who do.

– Rob Densen, Tiller Founder and CEO

Ferguson Rises; We Must Too

Winner of the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival’s audience choice award, Ferguson Rises tells the story of Ferguson, Missouri in the aftermath of the August, 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown Jr., whose body lay in the middle of the street for four hours, most of those uncovered. Check out the trailer.

As wonderfully observed by Tribeca’s Deborah Rudolph, the film voices “the dreams and desires of (Ferguson’s) citizens to move beyond limited and all-too-common narratives of racism and division. The film reveals the humanity within the people of Ferguson, who represent all of us and the communities in which we live.

But first and foremost, the film is the story of Michael Brown, Sr. who, in the face of such a great and piercing loss, chose to find purpose in his pain, advocating for community healing and supporting other families across the country who have lost loved ones, using his platform to help them transform their lives.

Empathy Matters

Ferguson Rises is ultimately about understanding and compassion. We sit with a grieving father, with police officers, with community members who are outraged at this murder and with community members who are angry at the protesters. We see that they are all human, and ultimately, capable of growth and healing, and, perhaps, learning from each other.

The simple truth is that, in most communities, our experiences and perspectives are so different. Black, white, brown, or blue, the world looks very different depending on the lens through which it is viewed. We need to embrace and value our differences with understanding and acceptance. That is the foundational understanding on which this great society is built.

A Path Forward

This compassionate, compelling, brilliantly crafted documentary represents a unique opportunity for cities across the United States and around the world to stand arm-in-arm with the citizens of Ferguson to acknowledge their own racial challenges, declare their shared humanity, and publicly and empathically pronounce their commitment to do better.

We are proud to be working with filmmaker Mobolaji Olambiwonnu on the film’s activation campaign. Our hope is to use screenings of the film to bring communities together over the course of 2022 for honest, constructive, and facilitated conversations on social justice, and what can be done individually and as a society to develop better relationships and foster the awareness and understanding so critical to healing and acceptance.

At Tiller, we are committed to ending racism and to making our communities better and safer places to live for our children and ourselves. It all begins with a little understanding and reflection.

Some Hopeful Notes, as a Dark Year Winds Down

One of the bleakest years in our nation’s history has culminated, perhaps inevitably, in the most vitriolic Presidential election season that most of us can remember. What to make of it all?

These days, hope can be hard to come by. One could hardly be faulted for assuming that the American people had long since given up on such long-standing public virtues as truth-telling and respect for others – or had decided that such virtues are now irrelevant in a President.

However, assume that, and you’d be wrong. You’d be wrong too if you assumed that, among Americans today, concern for our fellow citizens were another casualty of our troubled times – or that Americans had wearied of trying to advance the collective good.

In fact, we took away quite a bit of hope from the findings of our just-released Civic Engagement Survey, which probed the views of 1,004 adult Americans all across the nation and the political spectrum regarding personal values and public action. What we saw is that, with a dark year (thankfully) winding down, Americans are still holding fast to cherished values – and are committed to helping move the country from here to some better place.

What a President Must Do
According to our survey – conducted in early October with the leading research firm Engine Insights – Americans still agree, by big margins, that it’s important for a President to tell the truth, respect the military, have a strong vision for the country’s future, and treat others with respect.

The problem, of course, is that our enduring embrace of core values hasn’t been well served by our increasingly fractious politics. Three of four say it’s hard to know what’s best for the country given the tone of today’s political discussion. More than eight in 10 say they are more frustrated about the state of the union than they were four years ago.

When it comes to the advancing the common good, Americans seem to know what they want in their leaders – but they aren’t waiting on them. More than half say they are engaged now in social and civic activities like volunteering, joining organizations, demonstrating, speaking out and posting opinions, and more. And the very engaged say they intend to keep all of that up, even if their Presidential candidate wins this year.

A Straightforward Prescription
But strikingly, Americans have an even simpler prescription for what ails our public life: The vast majority, Democrats, Independents and Republicans alike, say “the political climate would improve if Americans spent more time helping others.”

In this horrific year, America retains a sizable wellspring of civic concern, shared empathy, desire to make a difference – and plain decency. Whatever the future might hold, that’s a hopeful sign. But we need worthy leaders, in all spheres of our common life, to really make the most of it.

At this writing, it’s mid-October, and Americans have yet to render a final decision on our leadership for the next four, critical years. Yet, an 18th century French philosopher memorably observed that “every nation gets the government it deserves.”

So – what do we deserve? Our survey suggests an answer.

-Jim Marren, Tiller President

View survey highlights
Read press release to learn more about the full survey

Grief at Work

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s new book, Option B, has brought long overdue attention to the issue of grief in the workplace – and with good reason.

On a typical workday, the average American spends more than half of his or her waking hours at the office. For many, that means seeing co-workers more often than family and friends. We develop a close bond with our colleagues, socializing after work and even traveling together.

But what happens when an associate’s loved one passes away? What can individuals and organizations do to ease the transition back to the workplace for those in mourning?

While companies in the U.S. have recently made great strides when it comes to benefits such as paternity/maternity leave and volunteer days, there is one area that still needs a lot of improvement: providing support for the bereaved. And it’s an area where everyone in the organization can play a role.

After a loss, people need flexibility when it comes to returning to work. Lamentably, the standard for paid bereavement leave for an immediate family member is just three days. Some companies offer up to 10 days, but it is more common to receive no paid time off for bereavement.

Under the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act, there is no specific, mandated provision for bereavement leave — even when it comes to attending a funeral. In fact, only 60 percent of U.S. private sector workers get paid time off after the death of a loved one, according to the Department of Labor.

Even if three days were the mandated standard, is that really enough? There is no such thing as a mental deadline for being okay. Those hectic three days could be consumed by travel, logistics and funeral planning alone. Clearly, employers need to do more when it comes to grief.

In May 2015, Sandberg’s husband Dave Goldberg suffered a fatal heart attack and passed away at the far-too-young age of 47. In Option B, Sandberg and co-author Adam Grant write about what psychologists refer to as acute grief, intense and painful waves of emotion that last for roughly six months after the loss of a loved one.

For most organizations, providing six months off for bereavement leave is not practical, but, in many cases, granting employees up to one month could be doable. This is exactly what Sandberg, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the team at Facebook think. In February, it announced a new bereavement policy, giving employees 20 days of paid leave to grieve for an immediate family member and up to 10 days to grieve for an extended family member. Perhaps Facebook, already ahead of the curve in so many areas, will start a trend toward giving more time off for grief leave.

Creating a Culture of Understanding

But a more generous and accommodative bereavement policy is not the only way employers can help. It is critical for employees to return to a more caring and supportive workplace. In one poll conducted by Tiller and Comfort Zone Camp, 44% of workers who had lost a spouse said their workplace was not prepared to help them deal with their loss.

One way to support those in grief is to acquaint everyone with grief’s realities in advance. By getting in front of workplace grief instead of reacting to it, organizations can create a more supportive and communicative environment. Human resources departments regularly hold workshops on a range of topics – from public speaking, to diversity and inclusion, to workplace bullying – so why not offer a bereavement workshop?

These educational workshops can help sensitize an entire organization to the impact grief has on the bereaved, how to assist those going through difficult times, and what to expect when a bereaved employee returns to work. Grief counseling should also be offered as part of a benefits package.

The bottom line: if employees know they have the understanding and support of their organization, they will feel better about returning and re-embracing their workplace role – a key step in moving their lives forward.

At the same time, the benefits of creating a more welcoming and understanding workplace for the bereaved accrue to the employer as well. According to a study conducted by the Grief Recovery Institute, 50% of participants reported at least 30 lost days in which their value to the company was dramatically reduced because of reduced focus stemming from their grief. The economic toll is considerable. That same study found that over $75 billion is lost annually due to grief’s impact on workers. Less easy to quantify but just as important is the notion that giving employees the time and environment they need to find their footing after a loss is likely to lead to a more collegial workplace and more loyal and productive employees down the road.

Making A Difference…One Employee at a Time

Even as corporate practices evolve and progress, individuals in the workplace need to be aware of their own opportunity to lend support.

Oftentimes, the workplace can be a welcome distraction from the whirlwind of emotions and restlessness of being at home. Sandberg herself went back to work 10 days after the tragedy, and courageously shared her feelings with the world via a public Facebook post 30 days later. Yet, when the Lean In author returned to the office, she found that several co-workers “had a look of fear in their eyes” and one colleague admitted to feeling paralyzed around her, not wanting to say the wrong thing.

This uneasiness is all too common. In another poll conducted by Tiller with our client the New York Life Foundation, only 26% of individuals said they would be comfortable consoling or talking with a close friend, neighbor or close co-worker who lost a spouse or a child. At the same time, 75% of individuals who had suffered a recent loss said it “really helps” to talk with friends.

Co-workers are often friends as well, and small things can go a long way, including simply letting the bereaved know you’re there for them. Be sure to continue inviting bereaved friends to group lunches and happy hours; even if they don’t feel up to attending every single event. Just the offer itself can help someone get back on track. We can also show we care by offering to lend a hand with errands and small projects, especially for those with children at home. Additionally, checking in periodically throughout the following months (and not just a few days after that person resumes work) can go a long way towards making the bereaved feel more comfortable at work.

Clearly, there is no formula for dealing with loss in the workplace. But it is also clear that a lot of good could be generated by spreading awareness of the issue, fighting for more mandatory time off and above all else, being compassionate to our co-workers in need.

-David Spelman, Junior Consultant, Wharton MBA Candidate

Starting Over: A Plea for Mandatory Financial Literacy Education

With the nation watching, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ voice bellows out to thousands of his supporters (and opponents) at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. “This election is about the leadership we need to…[make] sure that young people in this country are in good schools and at good jobs, not in jail cells.” The crowd erupts, irrespective of partisanship. “…We have to invest in education!” Sanders shouts over the crowd.

“Invest in education.” We hear this exact or a similar term used by American politicians too frequently to quantify, but what does it really mean? In a recent (2016) Gallup survey, 40 percent of parents stated that they have “some” faith in the public school system; additionally, 29 percent of parents answered that they have “very little” faith, the highest this figure has been since Gallup first started recording it in 1973. Can we really throw money at an increasingly unpopular public school system and expect positive results? The American people are making a loud statement that is getting harder and harder to ignore: There is clearly something amiss with American public education.

Although the dissatisfaction with public education in America is nothing to celebrate, there is a silver lining: We have a powerful opportunity to broaden mandatory financial education, a topic that is critical to Americans’ ability to successfully manage the ongoing challenges that the American economy poses to themselves and their families – challenges that top the list of their most worrisome problems today.

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Levels of financial instruction at the public primary and secondary school level are highly uneven across the states, and today, young adults and near-adults have record low levels of financial literacy. In fact, only 18 percent of young millennials (ages 18-26) exhibit high levels of financial literacy.

Financial education outside of primary and secondary school classrooms is available to many young people. But it is hard to dispute that there are more distractions now than there have ever been in the past and between video games and the Internet, it takes a lot to motivate young people in modern America. Add in the outside cost of most financial literacy classes (like this one in Oklahoma) and any sensible parents would struggle to rationalize sending their children to a financial education program.

A logical first step to mend these issues is requiring financial literacy education in all public schools; there is a direct correlation between mandatory financial education and improved consumer behavior. Take three states (Georgia, Idaho, and Texas) that have already implemented mandatory financial literacy education for example. Within three years, credit scores of young adults who had participated in such instruction improved by 11 points in Georgia, 16 points in Idaho, and a whopping 32 points in Texas.

Some other states, like New York, require “personal financial instruction incorporated into other subject matter.” Though this may sound convincing, it is basically a bunch of buzzwords. How do I know? Well, I attended New York public schools for 14 years and could not come up with one instance of infused “personal financial instruction.” In fact, few students in these particular states receive any kind of financial tutoring, exemplified by the fact that these students perform no better on average on a financial literacy test than students in states with no legal requirement. It is hard to ignore how poorly implemented the current system is and there is no doubt that a significant reformation is needed.

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Some companies like ING are taking financial literacy education into their own hands. Through their Girls Inc. program, ING offers cost-free financial literacy classes and workshops for girls between the ages of six and eighteen. Nonprofits like Cornell University’s Act for Youth program engages teenagers, both male and female, in activities like lecture circuits and collaborative seminars designed to improve future consumer knowledge.

Though free programs like these offer concrete community benefits, it is time to finally take a stand and change the economic future of America. If we do not require financial education in all American public schools, we as a nation and more importantly in our communities are missing an opportunity to change our economic future.

– Sam Blunt, University of Michigan, Intern

Making New Citizens: Bermuda Searching for a “Pathway” Too

bermuda

Between Brexit in the UK and Donald Trump in the US, the global discussion about immigration rights and border control has made us all want to double check our passports. Interestingly, those issues have been vigorously debated just off the coast of the USA for much longer than the existence of Trump hair memes. Bermuda, a picturesque 21-square mile island about 600 miles off the coast of North Carolina, has been struggling with its own understanding of immigration and the implementation of immigration reforms.

In many ways, the conversation about immigration in Bermuda mirrors that in the US and in Europe – heavily focused on how to address and balance the interests of both long-time residents as well as newer arrivals. With increasing globalization, greater ease of travel, and economic and social pressures compelling individuals to range far beyond their home countries for greater opportunity – or even basic security – the conversation is not likely to abate any time soon.

The immigration issue in Bermuda is complex, and revolves around the inability of long term residents to apply for or receive Bermudian citizenship, or “status.” In 1989, the existing pathway to status was eliminated, leaving a gaping void in immigration policy. Bermuda is one of the few places in the world where such a void exists.

The process of creating a pathway to status has remained stagnant, resulting in tensions among citizens and non-citizens. Some non-Bermudian residents can become permanent residents (PRCs) and do enjoy certain freedoms that other non-citizens do not – such as working on the island without a work permit. But PRCs are still denied rights that should be granted to them as long standing members of the Bermudian community; they cannot vote, must pay a higher tax to purchase land, and their children have no long-term rights on the island. They are, in effect, second class citizens.

I have an Irish father and an American mother, and citizenship in both countries. I am Bermuda born and raised – and proud of it. Yet I remain unable to obtain status myself. I have always considered Bermuda to be my home, but it is hard to think that I will never be a citizen in the nation I call home nor truly a national in the countries to which I have citizenship. My children will have no rights to Bermuda, and it is sad to consider that I might not be able to raise them in the beautiful island that I call home.

I do understand the sensitivity surrounding immigration reform. Bermuda is a small island with limited resources and jobs available. It makes sense that people are very protective of who has a claim to the island and all that comes with it.

However, many of the people fighting to improve their legal standing are not strangers to Bermuda. In many cases, they are people who have become engrained in Bermuda, its culture and community over decades – like my father, who has now lived more of his life in Bermuda than in his native Ireland – and they deserve the chance to have the security that status provides.

And what’s more, in Bermuda, an independent, international Fiscal Responsibility Panel has produced an Annual Assessment of Bermuda suggesting that a more liberal immigration policy would help to boost the growth of Bermuda in terms of population and economy.

Again, I am struck by the similarities in the discussions in Bermuda, the US and Europe. The absence of a pathway to status in Bermuda is like building a wall between citizens and non-citizens. The economic benefits of providing “non-native” residents with status and security should encourage countries – Bermuda and the US alike – to welcome immigration reforms and to also encourage people to come to their country as a place of opportunity. Indeed, in a more connected world, people will remain inclined to move for economic opportunities or to escape political unrest. I don’t believe that stopping the flow of immigration matches the reality of the world we live in today.

I think that Bermuda, the US and the world at large, need to have an honest and educated discussion about the realities of globalization and the implications of providing long term security to a country’s long term residents who are not yet citizens. We need long-term solutions that are careful to respect the interests of the citizen population, while also respecting the rights of the newcomers.

I cannot help but notice that granting long term residents of Bermuda status is not a one-way street. There is so much more that comes out of being a citizen than just owning a passport. The implications range from improved human rights to a stronger economy to a more stable population, marked by more citizens, more people with rights, and more people with the freedom to exercise these rights within the Bermudian economy. In Bermuda, such solutions won’t help only one group or one side, but all of us – we are one Bermuda.

Perhaps, by addressing its own immigration problem, Bermuda can become a model for successful reform, and teach a lesson to the rest of the world. If Bermuda can achieve this, then maybe there is hope for similar changes to occur on a larger scale across the world.

– Aisling Gorman, University of Richmond, Intern

To Pee or Not to Pee – and Where? That is the Question.

In the early morning hours of Sunday, June 12, gunman Omar Mateen entered a gay club in Orlando and perpetrated the largest mass murder in American history. It was a tragic day for America and for the LGBT community.

And yet, in the days afterwards, the mass outpouring of support from across America was somehow hopeful and encouraging. And maybe not entirely unexpected.

Support for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) community is sky-rocketing. From 1999 to 2015, support for same-sex marriage spiked 25 points, reaching an all-time high in 2015 with 60% of Americans in support. And in 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage and in 2015 the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage across the country.

Twenty years ago, very few people would have ever thought the gay community would be this open, public and accepted. But today, celebrities and athletes alike are using their fame to raise awareness for the gay community as well as becoming role models for adolescents who struggle with these hardships.

But in the LGBT alphabet, not all letters are created equally. There is one community for which understanding and public acceptance has been slow to emerge: The Transgender Community – individuals whose gender identity (a personal conception of oneself as male or female) is not aligned with their biological sex (male or female identification at birth).

Hard to say how many individuals we’re talking about. The US Census Bureau does not ask for gender identity and therefore the official population of transgender individuals in the United States is unknown. But according to data from the Social Security Administration, since 1936, 135,367 people have changed their name to one of the opposite gender and 30,006 also changed their sex accordingly. The vast majority of those – 89,667 and 21,833 respectively, as measured by the 2010 Census — have done so in recent years. These are numbers that can only continue to grow as more light is shed on this community and more members feel free and safe to self-identify.

Ironically, much of the public unease with the transgender community has revolved around, of all places, the bathroom.

Here is the straightforward but difficult question everybody is trying to unravel: Which bathroom should transgender individuals use if they are biologically male but identify themselves as female and vice versa? Should they use the restroom that corresponds with their sex or their gender?

Unfortunately, as this issue unfolds, there have been cases of violence in public bathrooms involving transgender individuals and as a result many transgenders are feeling ostracized and in fear for their safety. One additional complication with loosening of bathroom rules is the risk of female safety. In early March, Christopher Hambrook claimed to be a transgender woman named Jessica to gain access to a women’s shelter. He was sentenced to jail for sexually assaulting several women. Women have been exploited, sexually assaulted and raped due to these “fake transgender women”.

In efforts to take control of this bathroom situation, North Carolina quickly approved its House Bill 2, also known as the “Bathroom Bill,” on March 23. Governor Pat McCrory refers to the bill as “common sense” while the White House called North Carolina’s law “meanspirited”. Part I of the bill states: Individuals must use the bathroom that corresponds with their “biological sex” stated on a person’s birth certificate.

But the exceptions the “Bathroom Bill” supposedly protects against are few and far between. The Obama Administration, a longstanding supporter of the transgender community, responded to a recent case at a high school in Reuters, Virginia that demonstrated gender discrimination against a transgender male student, sending a letter to all public school districts in the country telling them to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity.

To me, the issue is straightforward: the transgender community needs the same rights and support the gay community receives. Support comes from acceptance and acceptance begins with education and awareness. It will take time, but we will get there.

Often times there is a gap between what people think they know and the reality. We thought women were not responsible enough to vote, or that African Americans couldn’t fight for their country, or that an African American or woman could never serve their country as president. I have full confidence that the transgender perception gap will close as well. The nation will soon realize that female or male, black or white, gay or straight, everybody falls under the same umbrella. We are all human and deserving of respect.

– Diana King, New York University, Intern

Photo Credit: Ted Eytan

Child-Size Technology Supports a Global “Library For All”

Sometimes a path through a seemingly intractable societal problem is right in front of us – with the most straightforward tools at our disposal making all the difference.

Consider the problem of the persistent illiteracy plaguing children in emerging nations – a slow- moving tragedy that is forcing millions of people to the margins of global society, for want of adequate education.

Yet, every developing nation now has an opportunity to make a profound dent in its illiteracy problem – because of one person’s insight about the untapped potential of one of the world’s most accessible technologies.

Here’s the issue: Globally, 250 million children are not learning to read and write – even though 130 million of them have spent at least four years in school. Research shows, in fact, that the developing world is about 100 years behind developed countries in terms of kids’ education levels.

These children are literally a lost generation, with emerging yet still needy regional/national economies and societies unable to tap their desperately needed participation – a loss to the beneficial development of global society as well.

Multiple forces are impeding the development of strong educational systems in developing nations – but a particularly big factor is simply lack of access to good learning materials.

In 2010, Rebecca McDonald observed that reality first-hand – and her observation sparked an emerging global solution. In that year, Ms. McDonald, an Australia-based property and construction industry professional, and her husband moved to Haiti to help in the effort to rebuild following that nation’s devastating earthquake. There, she discovered schools with fewer than 30 books for hundreds of students, books considered so precious that they were kept under lock and key, rarely viewed and never taken home.

Ms. McDonald dove into the problem – and realized that mobile information technology could help fill the information void holding back so many kids. Thus was born New York City-based Library For All (LFA), which is now successfully offering a truly innovative, highly elegant solution to the global illiteracy problem – leveraging the fact that of the world’s 6 billion mobile phone users, 5 billion live in the developing world.

With no low-cost, flexible approach available to address the lack of access to books, Ms. McDonald’s inspiration was to develop a customizable digital library – globally scalable yet readily tailored to local realities – that takes advantage of online technology’s reach to deliver carefully selected learning materials to students and educators on mobile devices they already use, such as phones and tablets, virtually anywhere in the world.

Today LFA, with Ms. McDonald as CEO, serves thousands of students in Haiti, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cambodia and Mongolia – and offers the potential for nearly limitless growth in the years ahead. In fact, LFA wants to reach 5 million users globally by next year.

LFA is now looking to enlist more on-the-ground partner organizations to help bring its resources to their nations, with a strong commitment to leveraging its global platform in literally any country that wants it – and fast tracking toward its goal of educationally empowering many more millions of kids in the developing world.

Theodore Roosevelt famously counseled his fellow citizens to “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” It’s all too easy to despair of addressing a big problem for the perceived lack of a correspondingly big solution. Yet, a big lesson of Library For All is how much incremental progress against a problem we might achieve just by taking a fresh look at some of the tools we already have – and thinking about how to put them to work in a new way.

If all students in low income countries had basic reading skills by the time they finished primary school, 171 million people worldwide could be lifted out of poverty. For more and more of those students – thanks to Library For All – the way upward begins with just a few taps on a screen.

– Jim Marren, President

Photo Credit: Library for All

“Green:” An Issue with Only “One Side”

“Green” issues – and, more specifically, the societal discussion around the prospect of climate change – have at times been intensely polarizing. But the green landscape is fast shifting, and there’s been plenty of evidence recently that green is moving to a different place – a place where increasingly it will be untenable to sustain “two sides” on the issue.

Witness the “green encyclical” issued by Pope Francis in mid-2015, the first in the Catholic Church’s history to focus on the environment, which laid out a moral case for taking on the issue of climate change – raising concern for the environment to the level of an overarching spiritual value. Even more dramatically, the global effort to address climate change took a major step forward in December 2015 when nearly 200 nations meeting in the UN Climate Change Conference agreed to take sweeping long-term steps to ratchet down global carbon emissions.

It’s clear that a consensus is emerging about the need to meet the realities of a changing climate (even if the “how” remains sharply debated). That consensus will only help support positive, mitigating action – and raise the stakes in terms of the opportunity for business to get involved.

And yet – what’s striking is that, in many significant ways, business is already leading the way when it comes to mounting a meaningful response to climate change.

Consider the following (as reported recently by New York magazine’s Jonathan Chait): In 2014, the world’s economy grew without carbon emissions also growing – the first time that has ever been recorded. The use of coal is down by 21 percent since 2007. The price of solar generated electricity per watt was $101 dollars in 1975; today, it’s 61 cents. There were 10,000 solar panel installations globally in 2009; in 2015, 65,000. There were 200,000 electric cars in the world in 2012; in 2015, 750,000. In the U.S., 125,000 clean energy jobs have been added since 2013.

As it often happens, business and capital are finding their way to the economic opportunity that a social issue – in this case, the green issue – can generate. But there’s even more that business could be doing.

Business has an opportunity to support the emerging consensus around global environmental protection from the bottom up as well as the top down – and there’s no question that individuals are looking for this kind of support for their own environmental passions.

When we polled Americans nationally on this topic, 85 percent said that leaving their children a cleaner, more sustainable world is one of their greatest responsibilities as a parent. Eight in 10 Americans said they were looking for more opportunities to grow green, and nearly eight of 10 said that corporations have a responsibility to adopt green behaviors. The same number said it’s important for them to buy products from an environmentally responsible company.

Make no mistake: Consumers want to do business with green companies. For corporate America, this represents the very essence of enlightened self interest.

So what can – and should — businesses do:

First off, walk the walk. Be a true green business. Every company has an opportunity to do it. And the planet needs it.
Communicate your commitment to green behavior to customers.
Most importantly, understand what environmental concerns are embedded in the business you do with your customers – and then empower them to use your products and services in truly environmentally responsible ways.

When it comes to green, doing good by the world and doing well as a business couldn’t be more closely aligned. Every business has its own unique “green opportunity” – it’s time to look for it, understand it, and act on it.

– Jim Marren, President

Photo Credit: Mathias Rodriguez

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