NATIONAL COALITION CALLS FOR FRESH VISION OF GOVERNMENT AND NEW SOLUTIONS TO TOUGH DOMESTIC PROBLEMS
60 innovative organizations, business leaders will challenge candidates to support "outside of Washington"
solutions to domestic challenges
News Release
December 11, 2007
Washington, D.C. – Today, at a National Press Club event, leading nonprofit organizations and business leaders launched America Forward, a national coalition that will challenge presidential candidates of both parties to adopt a fresh vision of government that supports new, innovative "outside of Washington" solutions—with better results and fewer resources—to America's toughest social problems.
Former presidential advisor and U.S. News & World Report Editor-at-Large David Gergen, The Timberland Company President & CEO Jeff Swartz, Bain Capital Managing Director Mark Nunnelly, and New Profit Inc. President and Founder Vanessa Kirsch will co-chair America Forward, which includes social entrepreneurs representing more than 60 innovative organizations currently serving 10 million people in all 50 states.
"Americans are calling on their elected leaders and candidates to change the status quo by embracing innovative solutions to address our country's greatest challenges," said Vanessa Kirsch. "Organizations led by social entrepreneurs have these innovative solutions and are making a real difference in communities across America."
"With the right amount of public investment, social entrepreneurship has the potential to be as vital to the strength of our society as entrepreneurship is to the strength of our economy," Jeff Swartz added.
Political stalemates, ineffective government, and entrenched special interests have stalled the development of new ideas and innovative solutions to America's toughest domestic problems. But each day, social entrepreneurs—such as Eric Schwarz at Citizen Schools and Rebecca Onie at Project HEALTH—are creating and implementing innovative solutions that achieve greater results with a more efficient use of resources than government solutions.
"In the midst of a change election, voters are looking for new ideas to the same old problems that face the country," said Mark Nunnelly. "It's time that we focus on what works, and America Forward is presenting us with a new and exciting way to do that."
September 11, 2001 spurred millions of Americans to service—not just on the battlefield, but in communities and neighborhoods across the nation. The number of college students who volunteer grew by 600,000 from 2002 to 2005, a growth rate of almost 20 percent, and nearly 50 percent of college student volunteers reported volunteering 12 or more weeks a year.
Social entrepreneurs couple this service with results by bringing business discipline, accountability, vision, innovation, and a "can-do" attitude to nonprofit organizations that work in the public interest.
And their results-oriented work comes at a critical time, with one out of every 12 individuals employed in the nonprofit sector, and the sector outpacing the rate of growth of both ] government and the private sector.
America Forward will highlight the innovative solutions happening in the nonprofit sector and challenge candidates to focus on "what works" in moving the nation forward.
For example, Citizen Schools, co-founded by Eric Schwarz, engages volunteer "Citizen Teachers" to lead after-school "apprenticeships" that build the skills of middle school students. Citizen Schools' national network of 37 school-based sites connects 3,800 middle school students with more than 2,800 adult volunteers, and is setting a new standard for after-school time with a creative and effective learning model. Participating students are almost twice as likely as their peers to graduate from high school on time and go on to college, and an independent evaluation found that participating students do better in math and English and have higher attendance and lower suspension rates than a matched comparison group.
While policymakers struggle to address the health care crisis in this country, Project HEALTH, founded by Rebecca Onie and Dr. Barry Zuckerman, is working to improve the health and well-being of individuals in low-income communities at minimal cost. By using clinic-based help desks and after-school programs as a means of health intervention, Project HEALTH empowers doctors to address the full universe of factors impacting the health of their patients. At the same time, it also provides youth and families with the skills, knowledge, and advocacy necessary to improve their health outcomes. This year, Project HEALTH's corps of 365 volunteers will commit more than 80,000 hours and substantially impact the lives of more than 3,500 families in six cities.
As government programs fail to make progress in curbing drop-out rates, lowering poverty, providing adequate after-school programs, and increasing college opportunity, America Forward coalition members believe their inventive models and solutions can be scaled nationally to help millions of Americans.
Recently, leading columnists have said the following about America Forward:
Ron Brownstein, National Journal, November 9, 2007: America Forward's "goal is to promote more effective collaboration between government and a new generation of nonprofit leaders who call themselves social entrepreneurs and combine the charitable impulse to serve with the business school imperatives of planning, accountability and measurable results…. The social entrepreneurs are demonstrating that pragmatism and idealism can productively coexist. In the process, they might teach Republicans and Democrats trapped in stale arguments over domestic policy to do the same."
Gary Andres, Washington Times, November 29, 2007: "Thought leaders in both political parties hunger for creative and effective new approaches to vexing old problems…Leading these armies of effective change is a new generation of social entrepreneurs who think innovatively and act close to home. One group emblematic of this quiet revolution is America Forward, a coalition of organizations highlighting successful local solutions to this country's most daunting domestic problems. This group's thinking, results and approach can not only help people and communities, but also provide desperately needed intellectual ammunition for policymakers and elected officials whose arsenal is low."
Last week, Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama adopted many of America Forward's ideas to promote "outside of Washington" innovative programs and grow the untapped potential of social entrepreneurs across the country.
The specific ideas Obama referenced, a Social Investment Fund Network and an Office of Social Entrepreneurship in the Executive Branch, have been developed by the America Forward coalition to create a market for innovation in the nonprofit sector.
Over the last several months, America Forward has reached out to every candidate on both sides of the aisle to encourage a fresh vision in which government serves as a catalyst, not a roadblock, to grow and support innovative solutions. Throughout the 2008 campaign season, America Forward coalition members will meet with the candidates and their campaign staff to urge visits to local organizations run by social entrepreneurs and advocate for a domestic agenda that supports investment in the proven, innovative solutions tested and practiced by social entrepreneurs. Each day, these social entrepreneurs are moving America forward, community by community, child by child.
"The America Forward organizations make a difference where it counts," said Kirsch. "Their solutions for solving domestic problems can be applied nationally to have a greater impact on people around this country. By combining public resources with the effectiveness and impact of America’s social entrepreneurs, we can make great strides toward solving our most challenging social problems and moving America forward."
America Forward's Advisory Board includes:
America's Promise Alliance, Be the Change, BUILD, Citizen Schools, City Year, College
Summit, Computers for Youth, Echoing Green, GenerationEngage, Jumpstart, MY TURN,
INC., National Student Partnerships, New Leaders for New Schools, Peace Games, Project
HEALTH, Public Allies, Sports4Kids, Social Enterprise Alliance, U.S. Public Service
Academy, and Year Up.
For more information on America Forward, visit www.AmericaForward.org
