Rocking with the American Humanics Squad
On January 4, 1965, during his State of the Union Address, Lyndon Johnson outlined his vision for the Great Society, which included a declaration of “war on poverty”.
On the 44th anniversary of that auspicious act, I spoke with close to 1,000 college students, instructors and nonprofit colleagues at the annual American Humanics conference in Indianapolis.
Talk about a solid way to usher in a bold new year…and talk about a wildly motivated cohort of future leaders. I tell you what, I’ve spoken all over the country, and flat out— this upcoming generation is our salvation. They are wholeheartedly into the “what’s next” debate and I aim to help them find their voice. I love my generation, and I will continue to try to be part of the dialogue that helps them loosen their grip on the sector, so that this new generation (who have more of an economic stake in the race than we do) can begin to try new ideas, new tactics and…at times, entirely new economic and political approaches to solving really tough social issues that charity alone cannot even dent.
And that’s what 2009 is going to be about for me, the Kitchen and the V3 Campaign. It’s not going to be an easy road. Too many feel that the heavy political lifting is done, now that we have a new President (the first to get their first job at a nonprofit). We know that the real work of taking it down to the smallest community in America has just begun. Join us…and I’ll see you on the road.
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January 17th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Robert, I’m with you!
Let’s grab this chance for change with both hands and shake the system to create the new economics and politics we need for the 21st century.
As someone once said “the future is unwritten”. Let’s begin to write ours.
Mark
August 29th, 2009 at 2:30 am
“Join us…and I’ll see you on the road.”
Check me in! Let’s do something at last!