Over President’s Day weekend, the Fast Forward Fund will be launched at the Clinton Global Initiative University, amidst a gathering of those people who most inspire FFF: young adults making bold “Commitments to Action” that tackle the greatest global challenges we face today. While CGIU promises to catalyze a new generation of social entrepreneurs, FFF promises to create a new generation of social investors directing philanthropic capital and partnership to youth-led social innovation. Arriving on the heels of the awesome TED conference and just weeks into the new Obama Administration, the 2nd annual CGIU heralds a historic moment of global social change, imperative, and opportunity. While times like these compel us to look at our leaders for inspiration, CGIU & the FFF remind us that we must also look at each other, and at ourselves.
Who inspires you? When we think about who inspires social change, great names come to mind: historic leaders and heroes, philosophers and visionaries, activists and martyrs, writers and artists. But when you consider who really shapes your personal approach to making a difference in the world, very often it’s someone far closer to home: a working mom or step-father, a 2nd grade teacher, a wise co-worker, a childhood friend, your first love. Someone who’s life has personally touched yours.
An old family friend and mentor of mine, Don Gould, “Uncle Donny” to me, was a huge figure in my young adult life, at 6’4” literally towering over my 5’1.75” frame (all people under 5’2” know their height to an eighth of an inch!). He used to talk about needing both “a push and a pull” to create real social change, whether that plays out in your personal life, your professional arena, or the wider world around you. The push for change comes from the challenges, trials, problems and unsolved puzzles that keep you up at night. The pull comes from the opportunities, dreams, visions, hopes, and possibilities that get you up in the morning. Of all the lessons he taught me, this “push-pull” dynamic is the one I keep recalling as I consider what it takes to be an effective social investor, what it might take to drive the global social agenda today.
I see this push-pull dynamic emerge as a common theme underlying the successful social change-makers profiled in Elkington & Hartigan’s book, The Power of Unreasonable People. These social entrepreneurs transform global challenges (that’s the “push”) into market opportunities (that’s the “pull”), corresponding to the U.N. Millennium Development Goals. Looking through a Fast Forward Fund lens, these opportunities cultivate the field of social investments we’ll be considering as FFF builds up its portfolios this year in four areas: climate change and energy, global health, poverty alleviation, and human rights & peace.
As you consider social investment opportunities, ask yourself this: what is your push and what is your pull? What keeps you up at night, and what gets you up in the morning? Let us know! We want to hear from you. How you answer these questions may serve to guide you well in deciding where and how to direct your social investments, and guide us as we shape the Fast Forward Fund and prepare to launch at CGIU.
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It seems fitting to answer the questions begged by this post: the push would be threefold for me: One-it is the inequality that many Latin American immigrants are confronted with in the United States-from economic hardship due to language barriers and job availability to harassment under the law. Two-would be issues in Latin America, particularly in Central America where areas rife with conflict have led to an exorbitant amount of death and destruction that is to a large degree, vastly under-reported in the United States. Three- the issue of illegal immigration-while contentious still has its human face and casualties.
ReplyDeleteThe Pull: often there are things that can be done and in most cases a small effort can go a long way. For instance inequality issues in the U.S job market often stem from language barriers that can be helped with something as simple as low or no cost ESL classes taught at hours that would not interfere with work hours.
While it would be difficult to stop an entire conflict it is possible to alleviate the symptoms as well as some of the underlying causes fueling the hostilities. For instance, a coca crop substitution program in Colombia could help put the end to conflict in certain areas (the catch 22: how to make an area safe enough for one of these programs, a push that forces problem solving).
Illegal immigration is a highly contentious issue in the U.S. However there are things that can be done to help people once they have come into the United States, such as education programs that can help illegal immigrants understand their rights under U.S law and what programs they could or could no qualify for.
-Rachel F.
The social investments I make will be in the field of public health and medicine. My work in under-served countries and hospitals has made me want to provide better healthcare and preventative medical education to these countries and communities. My push would be for better healthcare facilities (hospital, clinics, and physicians), more education about diseases like AIDS, and more local awareness programs that focus on prevention rather than the management of an illness. While these goals seem quite broad, they can be achieved through some rather simple measures that must occur at the grassroots level. My pull would be to invest in organizations that provide support at this level. For example, my targeted investments would go towards youth who go into certain improvised districts and countries and distribute medicine, educate the people about HIV/AIDS and STDs, or provide other services in general. The task of improving the health in the areas should not just be carried out at the medical level but it can also extend to local development. Organizations that develop better sanitation and water facilities should also be encouraged. Last but not least, youth advocacy groups that prevent discrimination against autistic individuals and people with diseases like AIDS should also be invested in. The above mentioned would be my push and pull.
ReplyDeleteMy push is torture victims, war's innocent casualties. To think that this country of ours, arguably the best in the world, condones torture and injustice, ruins the lives of innocent people by calling them terrorists because of their countries of origin or religious backgrounds. To think that a human being could find him or herself in such a miserable personal state so as to physically humiliate and horrifically torture another. To read about this stuff is unreal and to imagine it is unstomachable.
ReplyDeleteBut the pull is real, too. We can bring justice to bear. While righting such wrongs is never truly possible, creating as much compensation is necessary. And setting legal precedents and media attention against such unacceptable acts can prevent them from occuring in the future. To make everyone recognize the humanity of everyone else is key. We are people, and we are really all the same.
What keeps me up night after night is the seeming inability of people to take responsibility and honor their commitments in the face of disasters that have been made by their own mistakes. Call it simply a lack of personal responsibility. I am driven by a need to end this habit of embezzling profits and property for the self. Many of the most highly paid people earnestly sacrifice their reputations and the credibility of their positions just to squeeze a few extra thousand dollars into their personal savings, all convinced that the little extra hidden money was somehow worth it. Whether they were sneaking around by failing to pay taxes or by building a massive ponzi scheme to curry favor, knowing that these individuals out there can’t take a moment to put their focus on being honest rather than helping themselves is a true “push” to get out there and fight for change.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I wonder why we even have to ask what someone’s pull is, because they should be willing to say it every day of their lives. Unless, that is, there is something about that pull that is unacceptable, that leads it to being hidden. These pulls that are left un-confronted until they detonate like a time bomb of ignorance and expose the person for what they are. People like Madoff have pulls like us all, but we can’t seem to notice exactly what kind of pull they have until it is far too late. My pull is that there can be a healthy skepticism of people’s motives, that we can be accountable and by being accountable we can inherently feel better about ourselves and our future, even if we have to admit to more shortcomings through added transparency. No one is perfect, more profits do not equal more respect or personal happiness, and if we can convey that to the wealthy just imagine the calming effect it could have on all of human society. To create a cultured understanding that regulation is not an evil but a means to keep a watchful eye out for those unacceptably “pulled” Madoff’s, who do succeed in striking down the infallibly rich, is myself responding to a pull of making a better world for my children to grow up in.
My push and pull are very closely related. As written above, I am pulled by the sheer amount of market opportunities available- but what really pushes me is the idea that there are so many opportunities for change. I will spend sleepless nights not pondering specific issues, but rather the vast amount of issues available to me, and how exciting it is that I have the potential to pursue any one of them. As is clearly illustrated in class, there are a vast number of fields in which to pursue social reform. There may be specific fields which I am interested in, but for now that is irrelevant, while I am young and the world is open to me. What really pushes me is both mine and other peoples abilities to affect which ever issue we choose to commit to. I may be pulled by potential market opportunities, but I am also pushed by the potential to pursue these market opportunities which is present in everybody.
ReplyDeleteThomas H
Are there problems and things that keep me awake? Of course there are. But, in my case the reason why I wake up in the morning and I do something is the more important one. I could say that for me push and pull are the same. Moral obligation that I feel to help/change/improve/do something is only one that really drives me is activism or any other way of dealing with social issues. If I am able to help, my obligation is to help. And I believe that everybody are able to help, the question is only do we want to…
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in a region where crisis, human rights violation, ethnic cleansing and struggle to survive were part of my daily life taught me to sensible to the injustices occurring not in my country but in the global aspect as well. It was my push to help poor people in Nicaragua this winter break and live in one of remote areas with them. My pull? Seeing happy faces of the family members, kids in particular- when realized that have a new house and a new place to play. Today? I wake up every morning with the idea that there is still lot’s to learn and experiment about society’s wheels and cogs. Ironically enough, I find this a great deal of fun!
ReplyDeleteMy “push” is an extension of Asher’s point: the issue of healthcare. I’m really interested in the issue of accessibility (or lack there of) regarding healthcare insurance and facilities (the fact that the U.S. has one of the highest percentages of people not insured is a great concern of mine). When I think of my “pull,” I automatically think about my current internship: people work everyday to guide and support people through this complicated and at times very difficult healthcare process. Knowing that there are people willing to provide such support not only gives me reassurance, but also makes me feel less pessimistic in general toward this issue.
ReplyDelete-Katharine Alexander
My "push" and "pull" are like my driving forces in my life; those forces that really keep me awake at night and wake me up in the morning. If someone asks whether such forces really exist, I would say YES, the do! But why? Why there should be both a push and a pull? Can it be possible that only one of the forces exist? Not really, because as we all know there are always forces of attraction and forces of repulsion and those two kinds of forces cannot be separated - they always appear together. If there is a problem that keeps you awake, then there is always the solution that would wake you up in the morning. As the day cannot come if there was no night, and as "Yes" would not mean anything if there wasn't any "No", so is the case with the "pull" force and the "push" force. Not only they come together, but they also cannot be separated. In order to have dreams and hope, there should be a challenge or a problem that needs our unreasonable dreaming and hope.
ReplyDeleteTo me, my "push" as a form of social investment will be in the health sphere. What would push me at night? Well, if you look around in the subway, in the street, or in the closest park, you will see all that many faces of people who cannot smile as they wish they could because they cannot afford a medication for their sickness; because they either cannot have a medical insurance, or the needed medicines are too expensive. Isn't that a really strong force to keep you awake at night? Don't we want to see happy faces by investing in the public health; in the smiles of our friends and relatives? More health education, more health provisions and more people that are willing to help is everything we need to pull the push. And what does wake me up in the morning? The hope, the idea that things can change and will change in the public health sphere and people would be able to smile more often is a strong pull force for me - even stronger than the push. And if the push is the problem, then a pull is needed as a solution in order to bring things again to a certain balanced state.
Ivelina D.
My Push comes from exposure to the myriad injustices in this nation; growing up in a household that actively discussed the environmental, political and social problems in the country and in the world, fostered an interest in many of these issues. The ridiculous waste, sickness and sadness in my country in particular is what pushes me: "how can a nation this wealthy be so archaic and unjust, ignoring reasonable solutions to serious social problems?" is what goes through my mind when I think about my Push
ReplyDeleteMy Pull is to inspire people. Few feelings are as raw and memorable as when you feel you've genuinely inspired someone. Maybe that's why I love public speaking as much as I do. Also, the knowledge that with blood, sweat and tears can come real, powerful social change that can improve lives.
To be honest, it’s usually my personal problems that keep me up at night, but then I manage to overcome them by realizing how lucky I really am. It is true that the people who have inspired me the most are neither historical figures nor artists, but people I came in contact with and who, unlike me, have not been very lucky. When I volunteered at Astor Home, a center for children with various problems in Rhinebeck, I had the opportunity to work with a really great kid. Josiah, who had been living away from his family for more than three years, was not only very bright and cheerful, but also extremely compassionate with everybody around him.
ReplyDeleteI think my push is the situation of underprivileged children in developed and developing countries. Children are the most innocent and vulnerable demographic group, and simply the circumstances in which they were born fundamentally influence their trajectories in life. My pull is therefore to try to impact in a positive way the livelihoods of at least a few children, and I would like to invest especially in programs that promote equal opportunities for children.
My mother has told me on more occasions than I can remember, "To whom much is given, much is expected." This was well before the Spiderman movies, mind you. She raised me with a curious notion of what I learned was termed "white guilt": responsibility. It's viewed nowadays almost as an antiquated liberal notion, this belief that we not only can, but should and even must help those less fortunate, born with fewer opportunities than ourselves. I was one of those kids that didn't want to be a fireman or an astronaut as a kid, but rather, I wanted to be the President. Because really, how better to effect change in peoples' lives than to be the President?
ReplyDeleteMy perspective has shifted now, but my fundamental aims are still there. I want to hold public office and enact policies that I believe will better the lives of the people I live around. The push, in other words, is the knowledge that a difference can be made, and the pull is the knowledge that I can equip myself with the intelligence and ability to make that difference, and that I am lucky enough to have been born with the opportunity to reach such a point.