Blog

Last week Kelly Ward, Director of America Forward, highlighted common ground between the McCain and Obama campaigns on the Public Innovators’ blog.

With less than 50 days until Election Day, the presidential candidates are working hard to point out their differences. By the tenor of this election, you’d never know there are issues on which the candidates actually agree! But there are, and policies that support the work of social entrepreneurs are among them.

This month Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) unveiled the Serve America Act of 2008—a landmark piece of legislation that proposes several America Forward policy ideas: a Community Solutions Fund Network to bring effective solutions to scale, a Commission on Cross-Sector Solutions to spur change within the federal government, and Serve America Fellowships to support future social entrepreneurs.

America Forward Coalition member Sports4Kids was featured last in The Washington Post. The story highlighted the organization's success in introducing safe play during recess.

Click here to read the article.

An article by Suzanne Perry in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, 9-15-08.

Click here to read this article.

We are excited to announce that Parents Academy has just joined the America Forward coalition! Founded and run by social entrepreneur, José-Pablo Fernandez, Parents Academy teaches Hispanic parents marketable technology skills that further their education and enable them to become full participants in their children’s education. To learn more about Parents Academy click here.

There is definitely something brewing in this country when Al Sharpton gets a standing ovation at the Republican convention. But it happened – we saw it! And it gets better – this very special event was sponsored by Newt Gingrich’s organization American Solutions for Winning the Future. Yep, you read that right—Al Sharpton got a standing ovation at an event sponsored by Newt Gingrich. And what’s more? It was an Education event, with people from both parties agreeing on the same principles for education reform. Incredible!

We’re getting great traction for the America Forward ideas at the Republican National Convention! Today America Forward had the distinct honor of serving on a panel about social entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility. Along with coalition organizations College Summit and Project HEALTH, we talked about the innovative solutions social entrepreneurs bring to the table and how Senator McCain, should he be elected President, could leverage these solutions to more effectively address the persistent problems facing our communities. We shared the stage with Adolfo Franco, VP for Global Regulatory Affairs at the Direct Selling Association and Policy Advisor to the McCain Campaign. Adolfo has worked extensively with the innovative organization AIDS Responsibility Project (led by social entrepreneur Abner Mason) and believes deeply in the power of social entrepreneurs and the impact of corporate social responsibility. He iterated Senator McCain’s commitment to leveraging the innovation happening in the nonprofit sector, and asked America Forward and the other organizations on the panel to send along more information. We’re planning to follow up the panel with a White Paper to the campaign highlighting ways to invest in what works, foster innovation in the nonprofit sector, encourage public-private partnerships, and bring all sectors together to more effectively and efficiently solve problems. Exciting stuff!