The Aspen Idea Summer 2014

summer-cover.indd 1 5/30/14 12:53 PM

On a remote island over 1,600 miles from the nearest continent, tropical rain fi lters slowly through volcanic rock into a sustainable ancient artesian aquifer. Drop by drop, FIJI Water acquires the natural minerals and electrolytes that give it its signature soft, smooth taste. Perfected by nature, it’s Earth’s fi nest water–for Earth’s fi nest thinkers.

THE WORLD’S FINEST THINKERSDESERVE THE EARTH’S FINEST WATER.

© 2

014

FIJI

Wat

er C

ompa

ny. A

ll rig

hts

rese

rved

. The

“Fi

ji”, “

Eart

h’s

Fine

st W

ater

” an

d bo

ttle

des

ign

trad

emar

ks, a

nd a

dditi

onal

tra

dem

arks

and

logo

s ar

e ow

ned

by P

aram

ount

Inte

rnat

iona

l Exp

ort,

Ltd.

and

affi

liate

s. F

W10

782

FIJIWATER.COM

DESERVE THE EARTH’S FINEST WATER.DESERVE THE EARTH’S FINEST WATER.™

FW10782_AspenIdeas_Summer_Ad_F.indd 1 4/14/14 5:16 PMUntitled-1 1 4/16/14 10:54 AM

FOUR PEAKS RANCH

970.925.8810 www.joshuaco.com

Luxury Real Estate ~ Rentals ~ Management ~ Ranches ~ Commercial

JOSHUA SASLOVE 970.948.3876 [email protected]

AspenIdea_Sum 14 JC.indd 1 4/25/14 10:55 AMFull_Page.indd 1 5/9/14 10:43 AM

2 T H E A S P E N I D E A S U M M E R 2 0 1 4

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////CONTENTS

F E A T U R E S

Bill Clinton and Kobe Bryant join the Aspen Institute to discuss access to youth sports. Photo by Eddie Perlas/ESPN Images.

52 | SPORT FOR ALL, PLAY FOR LIFEAspen Institute Sports and Society Program Director and ESPN Reporter Tom Farrey delves into the importance of access to youth sports and the mission of the program’s Project Play.

58 | THE INSTITUTE TEACHES TEENS TO LEADFrom using tools such as choreography and poetry slams to providing platforms for solving some of the world’s most pressing problems, the Aspen Institute trains a growing number of teens on how to make an impact in their own communities and, ultimately, on the world.

72 | WHY YOU DON'T HAVE THE FULL STORY ON DEVELOPING COUNTRIES On-the-ground experts are rarely heard from in Western media. The Institute introduced a Fellowship to change that.

T H E J O U R N A L

80 | ARE SMALL AND GROWING BUSINESSES THE KEY TO ECONOMIC PROSPERITY?Randall Kempner and Genevieve Edens offer why these private sector enterprises may be the best way to foster jobs in developing countries.

84 | CREATING FINANCIAL OASES IN BANKING DESERTSBill Bynum writes about his John P. McNulty Prize-winning solution to one of the most financially devastating remnants of civil rights inequality — banking deserts.

88 | PUBLICATIONSLearn about the scope of reports and publications released by policy programs at the Aspen Institute.

72

58

80

ASPEN FELLOWS TAKE OVER THE CABINET

SUMMER 2014

KOBE BRYANT & BILL CLINTON

JOIN THE FIGHT FOR YOUTH ACCESS TO SPORTS

O N T H E C O V E R

_PDF-TOC_5/27/14_MH-n.indd 2 6/3/14 9:20 AM

Full_Page.indd 1 5/1/14 10:02 AM


////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

4 T H E A S P E N I D E A S U M M E R 2 0 1 44 T H E A S P E N I D E A S U M M E R 2 0 1 4

10 | WHAT IS THE INSTITUTE?Who we are and what we do.

13 | AROUND THE INSTITUTEDiscover the latest news made by the Institute’s leadership, including a meeting with Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi, cutting-edge educational videos produced with new Trustee Salman Khan, the Jeff erson lecture for the National Endowment of the Humanities Institute given by President and CEO Walter Isaacson, and more.

26 | LEADING VOICES Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Smartest Kids in the World author Amanda Ripley, and other experts in public policy, academia, business, and the arts off er their views on what it will take to build a better future.

38 | LEADERSHIP + ACTIONFormer Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter writes about the Institute’s role in President Obama’s recommendations for clean energy reform; the Institute’s Education and Society Program Director Ross Wiener fi nds the unsung hero in the Common Core; and the Middle East Program’s Toni Verstandig and the Rockefeller-Aspen Diaspora Program’s Alexander Dixon discuss the value of diaspora investing.

13 26

96 112

92 | INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSLearn about the work of the Institute’s international partners, including its newest, Aspen Institute Mexico.

96 | OUR SUPPORTERSMeet the Trustees and friends of the Institute who fuel our programs. Read about the generous donations from the Harman Family Endowment Fund, Trustee Melva Bucksbaum, Chairman Emeritus Bill Mayer, and more. Celebrate the launch of the Justice Circle, the 50th anniversary of the Society of Fellows, and a tremendous contribution in honor of the Rodel Fellowship’s fi rst decade.

112 | FACTSGet to know the Institute’s programs.

124 | CONNECT WITH USContact our program directors, and join the conversation via social media.

128 | THE LAST WORDDirectors from 10 diff erent policy programs share their expert opinions on ways to aff ect the poverty crisis.

D E P A R T M E N T S

100

38

124

112


M A J A D U B R U L 325 East Hopkins, Aspen | www.majadubrul.com J E W E L R Y

How Will You Shape the

How Will You Shape the

How Will You Future?

Shape theFuture?

Shape the

© Jo

hn D

olan

14Institute.indd 1 5/4/14 6:47:14 AM



////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


THE INSTITUTE’S DIGITAL HIGHLIGHTSBeyond the pages of The Aspen Idea magazine, the Institute features news, blogs, video, audio, and social-media content every day. Here is a sample of what you can fi nd online.

TOP VIDE S

The Second Machine Age A Q&A with MIT’s Andrew McAfee: The research scientist and author

shares his predictions about how the advanced technology revolution will change the work force, the

economy, and our lives. aspeninstitute.org/mcafee

Why Women Are Essential to the Future of US Manufacturing Women are increasingly

outperforming men in acquiring advanced skills but are underrepresented in manufacturing, an industry

with hundreds of thousands of unfilled positions. aspeninstitute.org/womeninmanufacturing

FACEBOOK

Should college athletes be allowed to unionize?

WATCH: College Athlete Union Reps Kain Colter and Ramogi Huma at the Aspen Institute.Huma, president of the College Athletes Players Association, and Colter, former Northwestern Wildcat quarterback, speak to the media about their pursuit to radically change how college athletes are supported through their school careers.

WHAT'S ON TWITTER?

PINTEREST

Ascend at the Aspen Institute published a series of infographics on the two-generation approach to lifting families out of poverty. You can discover more facts about this and other programs’ work on our Infographics board: pinterest.com/aspeninstitute

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in Conversation With Damian Woetzel The author of The New York

Times best-selling novel Americanah

joined Aspen Institute Arts Program’s

director in a discourse on race and

gender. aspeninsitute.org/adichie

Marianne Williamson Talks Spirituality and Politics The acclaimed spiritual author, lecturer,

and congressional candidate spoke at

the Aspen Meadows campus in March

2014. aspeninstitute.org/williamson

Amanda Ripley and Walter Isaacson Discuss TheSmartest Kids in the World

The investigative journalist

for Time and The Atlantic discussed

her New York Times best-selling book

and why students in Poland have less

technology in the classroom and better

math scores. aspeninstitute.org/ripley

@ASPENINSTITUTE

Over 50% of baby girls born today will live to be over 100 years old. - Sen. Blanche Lincoln #WomeninMFG

@ASPENINSTITUTE

I used to say that we spend more money to market a hamburger than a presidential election, but not now. @Mark_Penn

@ASPENINSTITUTE

How do homeownership rates vary by race? #stateofrace

INSTAGRAM

Representing Partners for a New Beginning, former Secretary of State and Institute Trustee Madeleine Albright and Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson speak alongside Quartet Representative Tony Blair at the first meeting of the Initiative for the Palestinian Economy in Prague, Czech Republic.

THE ASPEN IDEA BLOG

Ste

ve J

oh

nso

n


Penney Evans Carruthc: 970-379-9133 o: [email protected]

Incredible Development Opportunity…

WEST ASPEN DUPLEX LOT $5,250,000

Designed by Aspen architect, Martin Mata. Rendering depicts an upscale and unique concept for development of

a duplex on this fl at, south-facing, view-oriented site. Across from Aspen Golf course, views of Aspen Highlands

and Pyramid Peak. A great neighborhood, close to town, schools and the bus. Golf and cross-country skiing.

WEST UNIT: 4 bedrooms, 4,540 sq ft + 470 sq ft garage EAST UNIT: 3 bedrooms, 4914 sq ft + 490 sq ft garage

— west aspen —

PEC AIDEA SUMMER 2014 FP.indd 1 5/1/14 4:14 PMFull_Page.indd 1 5/9/14 10:41 AM


Walter IsaacsonPresident and Chief Executive Officer

Elliot F. GersonExecutive Vice President,

Policy and Public Programs; International Partners

Amy Margerum BergExecutive Vice President,

Development and Operations; Corporate Secretary

Peter ReilingExecutive Vice President,

Leadership and Seminar Programs;Executive Director, Henry Crown Fellowship Program

Cindy BuniskiVice President,

Administration; Executive Director, Aspen Wye Campus

Dolores GorgoneVice President,

Finance and Information Technology; Chief Financial Officer

James M. SpiegelmanVice President,

Chief External Affairs Officer; Deputy to the President

BOARD OF TRUSTEES CHAIRMAN: Robert K. SteelBOARD OF TRUSTEES VICE CHAIRMAN: James S. Crown

BOARD OF TRUSTEES: Madeleine K. Albright, Paul F. Anderson, Mercedes T. Bass, Miguel Bezos, Richard S. Braddock, Beth A. Brooke, William D. Budinger, Stephen L. Carter, Cesar Conde, Andrea Cunningham, Kenneth L. Davis, John Doerr, Thelma Duggin, Sylvia A. Earle,

Michael D. Eisner, Brooks Entwistle, Alan Fletcher, Corinne Flick, Henrietta Holsman Fore, Ann B. Friedman, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Mircea Geoana, David Gergen, Gerald Greenwald, Patrick W. Gross, Arjun Gupta, Jane Harman, Hayne Hipp, Mark Hoplamazian, Gerald D. Hosier, Ann Frasher Hudson,

Robert J. Hurst, Salman Khan, Michael Klein, Yotaro Kobayashi, David H. Koch, Timothy K. Krauskopf, Laura Lauder, Frederic V. Malek, James M. Manyika, William E. Mayer,* Bonnie Palmer McCloskey, David McCormick, Anne Welsh McNulty, Diane Morris, Karlheinz Muhr, Clare Muñana, Jerry Murdock, Marc Nathanson, William A. Nitze, Her Majesty Queen Noor, Jacqueline Novogratz, Olara A. Otunnu, Elaine Pagels, Margot L. Pritzker,

Peter A. Reiling, Lynda Resnick, Condoleezza Rice, James Rogers, Ricardo Salinas, Isaac O. Shongwe, Anna Deavere Smith, Michelle Smith, Javier Solana, Shashi Tharoor,** Laurie Tisch, Giulio Tremonti, Roderick K. von Lipsey, Vin Weber, Michael Zantovsky

*Chairman Emeritus **On Leave of Absence

LIFETIME TRUSTEES CO-CHAIRMEN: Berl Bernhard,* James C. Calaway

LIFETIME TRUSTEES: Prince Bandar Bin Sultan, Keith Berwick, John Brademas, Melva Bucksbaum, William T. Coleman, Jr., Lester Crown, William L. Davis, William H. Donaldson, James L. Ferguson, Richard N. Gardner, Alma L. Gildenhorn, Jacqueline Grapin,

Irvine O. Hockaday Jr., Nina Rodale Houghton, Jérôme Huret, William N. Joy, Henry A. Kissinger, Ann Korologos,* Leonard A. Lauder,* Robert H. Malott, Olivier Mellerio, Eleanor Merrill, Elinor Bunin Munroe, Sandra Day O’Connor, Hisashi Owada, Thomas R. Pickering, Charles Powell,

Jay Sandrich, Lloyd G. Schermer, Carlo Scognamiglio, Albert H. Small, Andrew L. Stern, Paul A. Volcker, Leslie H. Wexner, Frederick B. Whittemore, Alice Young

*Chairman Emeritus

The Aspen Idea is published twice a year by the Aspen Institute and distributed to Institute constituents, friends, and supporters. To receive a copy, call (202) 736-5850. Postmaster: Please send address changes to The Aspen Institute Communications Department, Ste. 700,

One Dupont Circle NW, Washington, DC 20036.

The opinions and statements expressed by the authors and contributors to this publication do not necessarily refl ect opinions or positions of the Aspen Institute, which is a nonpartisan forum. All rights reserved. No material in this publication may be published or copied without the

express written consent of the Aspen Institute. ©The Aspen Institute All Rights Reserved

The Aspen Institute sets high standards to ensure forestry is practiced in an environmentally responsible, socially benefi cial, and economically viable manner. This issue was printed by American Web on

recycled fi bers containing 10% postconsumer waste, with inks containing a blend of soy base. Our printer is a certifi ed member of the Forestry Stewardship Council, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative,

and additionally meets or exceeds all federal Resource Conservation Recovery Act standards

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Karen Sommer Shalett

EDITOR EMERITUS Jamie Miller

PUBLISHER Jennifer Myers

SENIOR EDITOR Jean Morra

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Mary Cappabianca, Keosha Varela

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Sarai Johnson

DESIGN DIRECTOR Katie Kissane

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Paul Viola

ART DIRECTOR Karrie Sims

PROJECT MANAGER Mellie Test

CONTACT EDITORIAL [email protected]

ADVERTISING Cynthia Cameron, 970.544.3453,

[email protected]

GENERAL The Aspen Institute,

One Dupont Circle NW, Suite 700,

Washington, DC 20036, 202.736.5800, www.aspeninstitute.org

_PDF-Masthead_5/27/14_b.indd 8 5/27/14 4:27 PM

Full_Page.indd 1 5/5/14 1:37 PM


WHAT IS THE ASPEN INSTITUTE?

The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based inWashington, DC. Its mission is to foster leadership predicated on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. The Institute has campuses in Aspen, Colorado, and on the Wye River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It also maintains offices in New York City and has an international network of partners.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

_PDF-What_is_5/27/14_a.indd 10 5/28/14 1:49 PM

WHAT WILL CYBERSECURITY LOOK LIKE

in the year 2025?

PLATEAU

PEAK

CANYON Download the scenarios that will forecast a global PEAK, PLATEAU, or CANYON for innovation at Cyberspace2025.com

For 2025, 4.75 billion people online with 3.75 billion from emerging economies, could lead to three different global scenarios. Microsoft’s Cyberspace 2025: Today’s Decisions, Tomorrow’s Terrain looks over the horizon, beyond technical trends, and attempts to anticipate future catalysts for change and equip policy makers for tomorrow’s digital landscape.


13T H E A S P E N I D E A S U M M E R 2 0 1 4

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

AROUND THE INSTITUTEImmigrants started 28% of all new US businesses and employed one in 10 American workers in 2011. National service

programs return nearly $4 in

savings to society for every $1 spent.

Approximately 800 women and girls die every day from complications related to pregnancy orchildbirth, and 99% of these occur in developing countries.

Over 70% of workers making between $30,000 and $50,000 will save if they have a retirement plan at work. Less than 5% will save if they have to open an IRA on their own.

— The Aspen Institute Initiative on Financial Security event Working Towards a Secure Retirement: Strengthening Our Nation’s Savings System

Low- and moderate-income children with college savings between $1 - $499 are three times more likely to attend college and four times more likely to graduate from it.

— What’s in Your Piggy Bank? Webinar

— Aspen Global Health and Development’s Putting Women and Girls at the Center of the Development Agenda

worldwide don’t have access to a fi nancial system.

70% SAVEat work

5% SAVEon their own

— The Aspen Institute Congressional Program’s Latin America’s Changing Economies, Societies, and Politics: Opportunities and Challenges for the United States program in Cartagena, Colombia.

— The Aspen Institute Franklin Project — New York Ideas

_PDF-AROUND_5/27/14_MH_L.indd 13 5/28/14 1:50 PM


//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////AROUND THE INSTITUTE

An Investment in Climate ChangeIn partnership with the US Department of State, the organization Accelerating Market-Driven

Partnerships (AMP) has recently joined the Institute as part of the Global Alliances Program. An

impact investment initiative pioneered in 2012 by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the

program serves to facilitate partnerships and investments. “We are delighted for AMP to join the

Institute. It’s a natural fit as we expand our programs to incorporate implementation-oriented

initiatives in emerging markets,” said Elliot Gerson, the Institute’s executive vice president of

policy and public programs and international partners.

The program works to demonstrate that investments in advanced energy technologies

and climate resiliency can yield competitive returns, debunking the false choice between

achieving robust economic growth and addressing climate change. Advocating that a

low-carbon economy is critical to create and maintain stable and inclusive societies, the

program advises those seeking public-private partnerships on projects such as a $2.1 billion

development for energy-efficient, mixed-income, and mixed-use housing in São Paulo,

Brazil. “Having a home at the Aspen Institute enables us to accelerate our efforts to foster

innovation and build partnerships to increase the amount of capital invested to address

climate change,” said Executive Director Robert Foster. For more, go to ampglobal.org or

follow @AMPGlobal.

“We are delighted

for AMP to join the Institute.

It’s a natural fit as we expand our programs to incorporate

implementation-oriented initiatives

in emerging markets.”

— Elliot Gerson


//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


REWINDREWINDREWIND

Elected president of Honduras in December 2013,

Central America Leadership Initiative Fellow Juan

Orlando Hernandez is the first Aspen Global

Leadership Network Fellow to lead a country. “I

was already involved in politics, but during my

fellowship seminars I realized I needed to make a

bigger impact,” Hernandez explained. He has his

work cut out for him. Racked by drug violence,

Honduras has the highest homicide rate in the

world for a country not at war. In his first months

in office, Hernandez has made stemming the

spread of narco-trafficking and taking a stand

against gang violence his top priorities.

The Arts Program recently announced its

2014 Harman-Eisner Artists-in-Residence,

actor Alfre Woodard and dancer Charles “Lil

Buck” Riley. Woodard, who most recently

co-starred in the film 12 Years a Slave; is a

longtime activist who has worked to reverse

the spread of HIV/AIDS in South Africa; and

serves on President Obama’s Committee

“Having Alfre and Lil Buck as artists-in-residence allows us to celebrate,

promote, and further their work as citizen artists.” — Damian Woetzel, Aspen Institute Arts Program Director

Institute Fellow Elected President of Honduras

New Artists-in-Residence Announced

The Institute hosts a diverse range of events featuring experts in academia, business, philanthropy, culture, and the arts. Here, find a sampling of a variety of programs over the past six months.

Aspen Leadership Series: Conversations With Great Leaders in Memory of Preston Robert Tisch Presents: A Conversation With Ray Kelly

JUNE 12, 2014 | NYC

This series of discussions features inspiring and innovative leaders who are improving their communities and the world. Raymond W. Kelly has 50 years in public service, with the last 12 as police commissioner of the City of New York. One of the world’s most well-known and highly esteemed leaders in law enforcement, he spoke about the challenges of leadership.

Summit at Gettysburg: Our Unfinished Work

JUNE 4-6, 2014 | GETTYSBURG,

PENNSYLVANIA

One year after the Franklin Project’s initial launch, the Summit at Gettysburg highlighted how America can finally create a common expectation and opportunity for all young people to serve the nation.

American Consumers and Their Money: What Has Changed Since Dodd-Frank?

MAY 13, 2014 | WASHINGTON, DC

Nearly four years after the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, this dialogue explored the innovations and obstacles shaping today’s relationship between consumers and the financial services sector.

on the Arts and Humanities, striving to turn

around low-performing and high-poverty

schools through the arts. Riley — who has

performed with artists from Yo-Yo Ma to

Madonna — is a passionate champion of

arts education and has been working on

developing national arts education projects

at the Institute.

Alfre Woodard

President of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernandez

Ale

x P

itt

Co

urt

esy

of

the O

ffi c

e o

f th

e P

resi

den

t o

f H

on

du

ras



////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////AROUND THE INSTITUTE

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The Institute has embarked on an exciting partnership with the Khan Academy — an online

learning platform that in the past two years has reached over 100 million learners worldwide.

Members of the Institute’s leadership and invited guests are helping the platform reach its

goal to “change education for the better by providing a free world-class education for anyone

anywhere.” The partnership content, made possible thanks to support from the Kimsey

Foundation and Gilchrist Berg, has already diversified the Khan Academy offerings to include

lessons the Institute has created on American history and civics. Institute President and

CEO Walter Isaacson and Khan Academy founder Sal Khan together released two lesson

sets — one on the Declaration of Independence and another on Ben Franklin. Isaacson and

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Joe Ellis recorded lessons on the American Revolution and the

country’s Founding Fathers, and journalist Cokie Roberts developed a series on the Founding

Mothers. To view the lessons, go to khanacademy.org/partner-content/AspenInstitute.

Back to School at the Khan Academy

The National Endowment for the Humanities

recently awarded Institute President and CEO

Walter Isaacson the highest honor the federal

government gives in the humanities. Isaacson

delivered the 43rd annual Jefferson Lecture

at The Kennedy Center in Washington,

DC, this spring, joining a list of previous

winners such as Martin Scorsese, Arthur

Miller, and Trustee Henry Louis Gates Jr.

The best-selling biographer spoke about

the impact of innovators — from Leonardo

da Vinci to Albert Einstein — who fused

humanistic thought with scientific discovery.

This honor came shortly after the Louisiana

Endowment for the Humanities named

Isaacson its 2014 Humanist of the Year. Both

awards acknowledge Isaacson’s work as the

former chairman of CNN and the editor of

Time magazine, the latter of which awarded

Isaacson with its 2014 Lifetime Achievement

Award in June.

ISAACSON GIVES JEFFERSON LECTURE

CityLab Wins Folio AwardFor its inaugural forum, CityLab: Urban Solutions to Global Challenges won the

distinction of Best Conference from min + Folio’s FAME Awards. A partnership

between the Institute, The Atlantic, and Bloomberg Philanthropies, the second

annual conference will be held in Los Angeles on Sept. 28-30, 2014. Once

again bringing together more than 300 global city leaders — including mayors,

urbanists, designers, and city planners — the forum will focus on the key issues

facing cities globally. Plenaries, presentations, and break-outs will explore

topics such as redevelopment, public and private partnerships, health, and

urban infrastructure. For more, go to aspeninstitute.org/citylab.

Michael Bloomberg joins CityLab to discuss urban issues.

Sal Khan (left) joins Walter Isaacson to craft a Khan Academy lecture.

IFS Director Nominated to be Undersecretary of AgricultureOn May 8, President Barack Obama announced his nomination of the Institute’s Initiative on Financial

Security Executive Director Lisa Mensah to serve as undersecretary of agriculture for rural development

under US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. As an expert in identifying the best financial

tools to improve the economic security of the working poor, Mensah will “guide programs that support

community economic development and financing in broadband, telecommunications, distance learning,

telemedicine, entrepreneurship, and business development in rural America,” said Institute Executive Vice

President of Policy and Public Programs Elliot Gerson. Mensah founded the program in 2003, and since

then the program has been dedicated to helping bring about the policies and financial products that

enable all Americans to save, invest, and own. “I’m deeply proud of the work Lisa has done at IFS,” said

Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson. “Helping assure that everyone has a decent opportunity

and reducing wealth inequality are the political and moral imperatives of our time.” Patr

ice G

ilbert

Ele

na O

livo

_PDF-AROUND_5/27/14_MH_L.indd 16 6/3/14 9:07 AM

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

NEW REPORT RELEASED: OCEAN CONSERVATION IN THE 21ST CENTURYThe Institute’s Energy & Environment Program has released “The OceanCommunity Report,” a yearlong study into ways in which the marine conservation community can improve its effi cacy. With worldwide overfi shing of large fi sh and other wild fi sh populations, and arguably about 1 billion people dependent on seafood as their primary source of protein (more than 30% of their diet), new approaches must be adopted in order to provide true stewardship over the world’s oceans, ensure the viability of sea life as a sustainable source of food, and preserve and restore the natural function of marine ecosystems.

Two-thirds of the world’s fi sh stocks are either fi shed at their limit or overfi shed.Although the Convention on Biological Diversity goalwas set to protect 10% of the world’s ocean areas, only 1.8% of the world’s oceans are designated a Marine Protected Area.

Only 35% of these protected areas comprise “No-Take Zones,” where fi shing is prohibited.

An estimated 2.5 million new reserves would need to be created if the historical average Marine Protected Area size is maintained. Alternatively, create areas or networks of areas that are signifi cantly larger in size.

1.8% PROTECTED

35% “NO-TAKE ZONE”

Ocean conservation is at a turning point, where the community has developed an effective, collaborative approach that both engages political leaders and integrates fi nancial strategies and can provide evidence of the severe effects of long-term trends such as climate change and overfi shing on sovereign natural resources. Recent conservation successes have been signifi cant, with the number of protected areas increasing tenfold since the 1950s. To continue this progress, the ocean community must push its efforts to communicate the economic benefi ts of marine protection, identify opportunities for collaboration, end unsustainable government fi sheries subsidies, and provide training to business and political leaders. To learn more about how the Institute is supporting these developments, visit aspeninstitute.org/eep.

New York Ideas

MAY 6, 2014 | NYC

The third annual New York Ideas forum gathered cutting-edge innovators with a simple goal: to draw out the strands of genius from leaders whose work and passions are changing our world. Through interviews, panels, debates, displays, and break-out sessions, the forum showcased the trends, innovations, and technologies driving the business, political, and cultural landscape.

The Challenges of International Criminal Justice: Mass Atrocities, the International Criminal Court, and the Role of States

APRIL 10, 2014 | WASHINGTON, DC

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is the world’s only permanent international court with a mandate to investigate and prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. This program sought to understand the ICC’s role in deterring crimes and fostering peace.

Realizing the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women and Girls: A Breakthrough Strategy for Lasting Development and Prosperity

APRIL 9, 2014 | NYC

Approximately 800 women and girls die every day from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth, and 99 percent of these occur in developing countries. Additionally, over 222 million women have an unmet need for modern contraception. The Permanent Mission of Zambia to the United Nations and the Global Leaders Council for Reproductive Health partnered with the Aspen Institute Global Health and Development Program for a discussion on how sexual and reproductive health and rights are a priority in the post-2015 development agenda.

REWINDREWINDREWIND

Illu

stra

tio

n b

y K

ati

e K

issa

ne V

iola




LIFE REIMAGINED SEMINAR BEGINSAs we get older, we reach important transition points that prompt us to reconsider the next chapter in our life. The new Aspen Life Reimagined Seminar helps professionals between the ages of 45 and 59 navigate personal and professional transitions, refining their sense of purpose and honing the skills of self-leadership to make the best use of their time, talent, and treasure. “We all need time to step back and ask ourselves Socrates’ question: ‘How ought I to live?’” says Walter Isaacson, “especially when we reach life’s important inflection points. This seminar gives people the time, focused discussion, and extended reflection to help make the difficult choices about what’s next.” This four-day seminar weaves the classic Aspen Seminar method of text-based dialogue with the hands-on, purpose-driven methodology of the Life Reimagined initiative from AARP, allowing participants to reimagine richer lives and better communities. For more information, visit aspeninstitute.org/lifereimagined.

“We all need time to step back and ask ourselves Socrates’ question: ‘How ought I to live?’... especially when we reach life’s important inflection

points. This seminar gives people the time, focused discussion, and extended reflection to help make the difficult choices about what’s next.”

— Walter Isaacson

Scholarship Named for Keith Berwick Keith Berwick, the former executive director of the Aspen Institute Henry Crown

Fellowship, esteemed seminar moderator, and four-time Emmy-winning television

broadcaster, was recently honored with a scholarship created in his name at

Hampden-Sydney College. Berwick celebrated his 85th birthday by presenting

John Edward Wirges, a junior at the Virginia school, with the inaugural Keith

Berwick Endowed Scholarship for Enlightened Leadership. The scholarship is

given to a student at the college who best portrays the character Berwick has

displayed throughout his career. Berwick reminisced about his own experience as

the school’s first Albert Kunstadter Fellow. “I was thrilled at the opportunity to meet

Mr. Kunstadter, a self-made man who had grown up in the shadow of the factory

that he later owned and was the basis of his family’s fortune,” Berwick said. “Little did

I imagine that one day I would be the recipient of such an honor.”

Keith Berwick (left) and John Edward Wirges

Tod

d B

reyfo

gle

Co

urt

esy

of

Ham

pd

en

-Syd

ney C

olle

ge


//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


REWINDREWINDREWIND

The Aspen Institute Business and Society International MBA Case Competition

APRIL 4, 2014 | NYC

More than 1,000 students worldwide from 25 leading business schools competed for over $30,000 in scholarships. This program aims to communicate that social, environmental, and ethical issues are not at the periphery of business; indeed they are central to business growth in the 21st century. The top prize was awarded to the Wilfrid Laurier University MBA team.

The Aspen Institute Presents Rep. Keith Ellison on His Book My Country, ’Tis of Thee: My Faith, My Family, Our Future

MARCH 24, 2014 | WASHINGTON, DC

This discussion, moderated by Dan Glickman, former US Agriculture secretary and director of the Aspen Institute Congressional Program, and Mickey Edwards, former congressman and director of the Rodel Fellowship, provided insight into Keith Ellison’s personal and political philosophy, which he described as based on “generosity and inclusion.” Ellison is the first Muslim elected to the US Congress and the first African-American elected to the House from Minnesota.

United We Stand, Divided We Fall: Aspects of Transatlantic Relations With Austrian Ambassador Hans Peter Manz

MARCH 20, 2014 | WYE RIVER,

MARYLAND

The Wye Fellows were invited to join Austrian Ambassador Hans Peter Manz for a discussion on transatlantic relations within the European Union and between the EU and the US. During his distinguished diplomatic career, Dr. Manz served as foreign policy adviser to the chancellor of Austria. His former postings include Tehran, Bern, and New York.

According to the International Monetary Fund, the skills gap accounts for approximately

one-third of the US unemployment rate. At a recent convening featuring Chicago Mayor

Rahm Emanuel and Aspen Forum for Community Solutions Chair Melody Barnes, JPMorgan

Chase Chairman, President, and CEO Jamie Dimon announced an investment in the Forum’s

Opportunity Youth Incentive Fund as part of its $250 million Job Skills Initiative. The

partnership is targeted at helping young people gain the skills they need to compete for

jobs that can transform their lives and the lives of future generations through cross-system,

community-led efforts. “This work is about ensuring people are able to have the dignity of

work … and that they’re able to provide for their families,” said Barnes. “It turns their lives

around, and it turns communities around, too.” For more on this grant-making partnership, go

to aspencommunitysolutions.org.

JPMorgan Chase Supports Opportunity Youth

Can a fashion designer truly change the world? Paul Dillinger, First Mover

Fellow and Head of Global Product Innovation at Levi Strauss & Co.,

just might. The Business and Society Program’s First Movers Fellowship

supports intrapreneurs, or innovators who create new products, services,

and management practices that achieve greater profitability and positive

social and environmental impact. As the central focus of his Fellowship,

Dillinger created the Dockers WellThread line of stylish men’s clothes

through a process that puts environmental impact at the forefront of

design. The capsule collection, currently available in the US, Canada, and

Europe, is Dillinger’s solution to “throwaway” fashion. WellThread chooses

its fabrics and design with long-lasting wear and the ability to recycle in

mind. The line includes innovative details such as locker loops on khakis

for hang drying and uses 30 percent less water

and energy in the manfacturing process than

other brands. The company also works to improve

the finances and well-being of those who work in

the WellThread factories. “The design mind is still

delighted by these creative challenges that are put

to it,” said Dillinger. “But if we put these guardrails

on the activity, it actually has tremendous unlock in

terms of business potential.”

First Mover Fellow Transforms Dockers

The sustainable WellThread line, designed by First Mover Fellow Paul Dillinger (right)

JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon joins the Institute’s Melody Barnes and Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Co

urt

esy

of

Do

ckers

Ste

ve J

oh

nso

n




Aung San Suu Kyi Speaks to Institute LeadershipThe Institute’s Global Alliance Program, under Executive Director Mickey Bergman,

co-sponsored a delegation to Myanmar this spring. The trip aimed to foster social

entrepreneurship opportunities to address some of the country’s most critical needs,

including education, clean water, nutrition, and sustainable energy. Members of the

delegation, including Institute Executive Vice President of Policy and Public Programs

and International Partners Elliot Gerson, were invited to speak with 1991 Nobel Peace

Prize-winner and Chairperson of the National League for Democracy Aung San Suu Kyi

in the Yangon lakeside home where she had been kept under house arrest for almost 15

of 21 years between 1989 and 2010. (Aspen Seminar alumni will know her through her

1994 address in Manila, “Empowerment of a Culture of Peace and Development.”)

Suu Kyi’s message was firm. She said, “Yes, do focus on the opportunities afforded

by reform,” asking the investors in the group to provide critically needed jobs for young

people and to address the problems that trap so much of the population in poverty,

poor education, and ill health. But she also said not to ignore the remaining challenges.

She asserted they were still “enormous” and urged the delegation not to be “fooled” by

changes she called “superficial” — the bustle evident everywhere, the presence of new

Western logos such as Coca-Cola’s, and ubiquitous billboards announcing the arrival of

consumer mobile telephony. Suu Kyi warned investors to be cautious, indeed, before

making any large commitments to the country. The times, she said, were precarious and

could “tip either way.”

The opposition politician suggested that the political, social, and economic reform

had “stopped,” and argued that all that had occurred until now, including elections,

had been part of a “seven-point plan” by the former military government that was only

intended to move the country enough to allow foreign investment, but not too far to

allow the army to lose effective control. She did offer some “good news” for would-be

investors in our delegation: that indications of “which way the country would turn would

be clear within months” — pointing to proposals for constitutional reform for which she

and her political party are campaigning and the US government supports. The eyes of

the world, and the Institute delegation, will be watching.

DORGAN NAMED TO JUSTICE DEPT. COMMITTEEAttorney General Eric Holder selected

the Center for Native American Youth’s

founder and chairman, former US Sen.

Byron Dorgan, to co-chair the advisory

committee for the Justice Department’s

Task Force on American Indian and

Alaska Native Children Exposed to

Violence. Dorgan will serve alongside

Grammy Award-winner Joanne

Shenandoah and dozens of researchers

and leading children’s advocates from

Indian Country. The Task Force will

conduct four hearings and a series of

listening sessions across the US with

the hopes of dramatically decreasing

child endangerment. Thus far, Dorgan

chaired meetings in North Dakota and

Arizona, including sessions with youth

from the Gila River Indian Community

and Ak-Chin Indian Community.

ASPEN ACROSS AMERICACapitalizing on the success of the DC-based series Aspen Around Town, featuring programming such as The Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from The Birmingham City Jail” held earlier this year at the National Cathedral, Institute Vice President Eric L. Motley has just launched Aspen Across America. Institute-style conversations will be held all across the country in large and small venues, such as museums, libraries, concert halls, major research universities, small colleges, and homes. Stay tuned for an upcoming calendar release.

Aung San Suu Kyi meets with Institute Executive Vice President Elliot Gerson at her lakeside home in Myanmar.

Ivan

Mart

inez

Former US Senator Byron Dorgan


////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


REWINDREWINDREWIND

Policies for the Growing Refugee Crisis in the Levant

MARCH 5, 2014 | WASHINGTON, DC

According to UNHCR, the number of Syrian refugees has surpassed 2 million, with Lebanon receiving the lion’s share, followed by Jordan, Turkey, and Iraq. This program, organized by the Middle East Programs, dealt with the topic of the burden of refugees on regional social and sectarian constructs.

Foundations for Social Impact Bonds: How and Why Philanthropy Is Catalyzing the Development of a New Market

MARCH 4, 2014

The Aspen Institute Program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation and Social Finance US co-hosted an event to celebrate the launch of Social Finance’s latest white paper, “Foundations for Social Impact Bonds: How and Why Philanthropy Is Catalyzing the Development of a New Market.” Social Finance US presented the research findings, which was followed by a panel discussion that explored the catalytic role foundations have played in the market and what role they may play as the market matures.

Care Innovation Summit 2014

FEB. 27, 2014 | WASHINGTON, DC

The Aspen Institute and The Advisory Board Company presented the Care Innovation Summit 2014. The Summit convened policymakers, providers, and leading innovators to explore opportunities to drive higher-value care and better health for individuals and populations.

Illu

stra

tio

n b

y K

ati

e K

issa

ne V

iola

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////




In April, President Barack Obama nominated Henry Crown Fellow and former Aspen Strategy Group member Sylvia Mathews Burwell to succeed Kathleen Sebelius as the Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services. Upon confirmation, she joined Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx, and Secretary of Labor Tom Perez to become the fourth Aspen Global Leadership Network Fellow to serve in the US Cabinet. Just prior to press time, Rodel Fellow and San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro was nominated as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. When confirmed, he will bring the number to five Aspen Fellows serving in the US Cabinet concurrently. Institute Fellows enter the program having demonstrated a great deal of personal success and are continualy prompted to broaden and deepen the impact of their leadership on society. As they ascend to these new offices, they personify the central goals of the Institute’s Fellowship programs.

Aspen Fellows Take Over the Presidential Cabinet

“When talking about the Affordable Care Act, one of the things that’s very important is actually to start with where we are now as a nation

and what this is about.” — Sylvia Mathews Burwell

Vanity Fair’s New EstablishmentFor 20 years, Vanity Fair has published its annual “New

Establishment” list of leading innovators who shake the foundations

of their industries. This year, in association with the Institute, Condé

Nast presents its first summit in connection with the list, Vanity

Fair New Establishment Summit: The Age of Innovation. On Oct. 8

and 9, in San Francisco, Vanity Fair’s Graydon Carter and Institute

President and CEO Walter Isaacson will host an intimate audience

for in-depth conversations around ideas that can change the world,

including unexpected pairings, one-on-ones, and panel discussions.

The event will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

and culminates in a party that only such a glossy magazine could

produce. For more information or to purchase one of the limited

passes, visit vfsummit.com.

Max T

aylo

r


//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


REWINDREWINDREWIND

Book Talk on the Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits

JAN. 17, 2014 | WASHINGTON, DC

In MIT Sloan Professor Zeynep Ton’s game-changing book, she proves that it is possible to offer good jobs to workers, low prices and excellent service to customers, and great returns to shareholders all at the same time.

Aspen Wye Fellows With Michael Morell

JAN. 16, 2014 | QUEENSTOWN,

MARYLAND

Michael Morell served as deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency since May 2010. Following the announcement of Morell’s retirement from a long and distinguished career with the CIA, he provided a true insider’s view on the history of the agency and its role in the 21st century.

Paralysis, Dysfunction, and Gridlock in Washington — and Solutions for Fixing the Mess

DEC. 18, 2013 | WASHINGTON, DC

This event, a roundtable chaired by Rodel Fellowship Program Director Mickey Edwards and Congressional Program Executive Director Dan Glickman, featured the writers of the Boston Globe’s “Broken City” series/e-book discussing the many causes of dysfunction and partisan gridlock in Washington, as well as possible solutions.

A Ukrainian SeminarConsidered a well-kept, albeit unintended,

secret, a burgeoning number of Ukrainians

have been hosting the Aspen seminar

for nearly seven years in their homeland.

The Institute joined forces with the

Victor Pinchuk Foundation to promote

conversation among young Ukrainian

leaders in 2007, upon overcoming the

initial challenge of crafting an effective

and comprehensive forum in both the

Ukrainian and Russian languages. After

initial support from Victor Pinchuk himself,

the Aspen-Ukraine Initiative eventually

became self-funded. It now tackles an

even wider array of topics, including

business, civics, arts, and politics.

As the plight of Ukraine under Russian

occupation becomes a geopolitical crisis,

the need for a forum such as this is ever-

increasing. “The Seminar is thriving, its

alumni almost 250 strong, representing

the best and brightest of the country’s

emerging generation,” said Executive Vice

President Elliot Gerson, who started the

seminar in 2007. “Nowhere in the world is

there a waiting list as long and as deep to

take our seminar. And arguably there are

few places in the world today where Aspen

values of tolerance and the search for

common ground in support of the good

society are more critically in demand.”

In November 2014, the Initiative will host

its 10th Responsible Leadership seminar.

“Understanding the Values: Pursuit of

Consent in the Changing World” will

convene participants (ages 30 to 55) to

discuss — in part — Russia’s influence

on Ukraine and how this kind of political

integration will impact social change.

The Initiative conducts its forums utilizing

the Institute’s iconic Aspen Seminar

formula with lively roundtable discussions

centered on modern and ancient texts, all

translated into both languages. Participants

have long included those now shaping

Ukrainian civil society, including Oleg

Musiy, the country’s new minister of health;

Viktoria Siumar, deputy head of the State

Security Council; Kiev mayoral candidates

Lesya Orobets and Oleg Derevianko; Olga

Bogomolets, who recently campaigned for

the presidency of Ukraine.

“Nowhere in the world is there a waiting list as long and as deep to take our

seminar. And arguably there are few places in the world today where Aspen values of tolerance and the search

for common ground in support of the good

society are more critically in demand.”

— Elliot Gerson



////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////AROUND THE INSTITUTE

The Institute’s Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence has spotlighted the best of community colleges as it seeks to offer a resource to strengthen the rest. Joshua Wyner, the executive director of the Aspen College Excellence program, brought all he’s learned from the search for Aspen Prize winners to a new book, What Excellent Community Colleges Do: Preparing All Students for Success (Harvard Education Press, 2014). Recently, Inside Higher Ed’s Paul Fain interviewed Wyner, asking, among other things, “What are the most important characteristics of a top-notch community college president?”

Wyner: The most successful community colleges have great

leaders. Looking across the Aspen Prize-winning institutions,

a few characteristics stand out. First is a deep commitment to

student access and success, which enables exceptional leaders

to stay at an institution long enough to build a new culture and

confront the significant challenges associated with achieving

better student outcomes. A second common thread is the

willingness to take risks. A strong leader will close a gymnasium

or shut down a sports team — even if that decision is politically

unpopular — if that’s what is needed to have the space or

resources for a new tutoring center.

Also, great leaders publicly acknowledge and take personal

responsibility for closing big gaps in student success. That

can be risky for a president trying to “sell” the institution to

prospective students or state officials or employers, but it

can also help build a stronger base of support for reform.

Finally, great presidents are really visionary change leaders.

They understand how to rally an entire college, no matter how

decentralized, around a common goal. And they understand

that the community college cannot do this work alone — they

build new structures that connect the community college’s

efforts with the work of K through 12 schools, employers, four-

year colleges, and community-based organizations.

Lessons Learned

A DIGITAL PLATFORM TO CATALYZE NATIONAL SERVICEWith $2.1 million in support from Cisco Systems, the Institute’s

Franklin Project has joined with the National Conference on

Citizenship to establish a national service certification system

and technology platform that will enable colleges, nonprofits,

and social enterprises to generate civilian national service

positions. The online platform — due to launch in 2015 — is

expected to provide more opportunities for young people

seeking service positions, as well as the service providers that

need them. “We have the technology that allows you to bring

together the people who want to serve with the organizations

that can host,” said Franklin Project Director Jay Mangone.

“We’ve had a huge partner step up in Cisco, who is helping

us to create a technology exchange where young people,

organizations, and funders who can support their endeavors

can get matched.”

A New, New York Spot Christie’s Auction House is known for hosting some of the

most finely curated collections of art, artifacts, and objets.

Now, with the help of the Institute, it will host conversations

of the same caliber. In its New York flagship, Christie’s and

the Institute will create events together, including a cultural

concepts symposium. The Institute will also hold its own

convenings in the space at 20 Rockefeller Plaza, such as the

recent panel Stop the World, We Want to Breathe! On Slow

Art, Slow Food, and Slowing Down (Or Not) by Anna Deavere

Smith Works Executive Director Anna Deavere Smith.

Aspen College Excellence Program Director Joshua Wyner discusses his new book.

Jo

shu

a W

yn

er

by S

teve J

oh

nso

n; C

hri

stie

’s A

ucti

on

Ho

use

co

urt

esy

of

Ch

rist

ie’s

Au

cti

on

Ho

use


directed . discreet . intelligent

laura maggos + sarah burggraf

aspen real estate sales + luxury rentalsaspen colorado usa 970 544 6699 lauramaggos.com



////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////LEADING VOICES

The Aspen Institute invites leading experts in public policy, academia, business, and the arts to offer their views on what it will take to strengthen our country and build a better future. OVERHEARD

JEH JOHNSON SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Aspen Institute Homeland Security Group Washington, DC

“In the name of homeland security, we cannot sacrifice our values as a nation. We can build more walls, install more screening devices, ask more questions, expect more answers, and make people suspicious of each other, but not at the cost of who we are as a nation of people who cherish privacy and freedom, celebrate diversity, carry our flag at the Olympics, and are not afraid.”

ALAN ALDA ACTOR AND ADVOCATE

Aspen Institute Arts Program | New York

“[Science] is maybe the most

glorious human achievement.

To be divorced from it, to

have it be done by priests in

white coats, and for me to

not understand enough to

get something out of it, is a

waste. Science is the poetry

of the universe ... and it’s

a human activity, done by

people who have passion,

envy, desire — all the human

attributes that we have. I

want to see that I’m like them

and they’re like me, and I

want to latch on to what

they’re doing.”

WYNTON MARSALIS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER

30th Annual Awards Dinner | New York

“[Americans] will truly be great — we don’t need slogans —

because people sacrifice a lot for us to be here, and they

come together. Yes, we have a legacy of slavery, but we

have a legacy of overcoming slavery. That’s a legacy that is

in our music, and that was what was in the sound of Louis

Armstrong, and that’s what my father taught us.”

ZEYNEP TON AUTHOR OF THE GOOD JOBS STRATEGY

Economic Opportunities Program | Washington, DC

“I don’t take my children to places that don’t offer great

jobs. I don’t want [them] to see people at their most

disengaged. ... I want them to see that the society we

live in is one where people are treated with dignity and

respect. Often when we have poor experiences in the

service industry, we blame the person giving us that

poor service, like a cashier. ... [Yet] this person has to

memorize thousands of numbers and probably received

just a few hours of training.”

Ste

ve

Jo

hn

so

n

Ba

rry

Ba

hle

r

Cli

nt

Sp

au

ldin

g f

or

Pa

tric

k M

cM

ull

an

Eri

n B

aia

no

_PDF-LV_5/27_mh_kss_e.indd 26 5/28/14 1:55 PM

Connect with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and join the conversations.For more information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter at www.rwjf.org/twitter or on Facebook at www.rwjf.org/facebook. Watch us on Youtube at www.youtube.com/user/rwjfvideo.

What does a culture of health mean to you?Visit www.rwjf.org/2014AnnualMessage.

RWJF Aspen Idea Ad 140324.indd 1 4/2/14 11:31 AMFull_Page.indd 1 4/28/14 11:05 AM


//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

DEBORA SPAR

PRESIDENT OF BARNARD COLLEGE AND AUTHOR OF WONDER WOMEN: SEX, POWER, AND THE QUEST FOR PERFECTION

The Alma and Joseph Gildenhorn Book Talk Series | Washington, DC

“I’m not saying that all women should make the choice

to pursue their careers full speed ahead. I think it’s

fully legitimate to make different kinds of choices. But

we all have to make choices, and I think the beauty of

what feminism has done is that it’s given women this …

incredible candy store of options. You can have this, or

this, or this, or this, but you can’t have it all. And I may

make different choices than you. But we’re both going to

have to make choices.”

TOM COUGHLIN, NEW YORK GIANTS COACH

The Aspen Leadership Series: Conversations With Great Leaders in Memory of Preston Robert Tisch | New York

“What you have to be is

vigilant like any CEO for any

job. You’ve got to see the

areas where your attention

is needed. You can’t let

things slip. Someone is

allowed to behave in a

certain way, which is not

in the best interest of the

team, and you’ve got to do

something about it.”

MICHAEL NUTTER, MAYOR OF PHILADELPHIA

Aspen Institute Symposium on the State of Race in America | Washington, DC

“Many of our young African-

American men don’t see anybody

who is interested in their future.

We’ve shortchanged them

on education. … That kind of

disparity and no large, known

effort to fix it shows them that

nobody cares about them.”

CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE AUTHOR OF AMERICANAH

Aspen Institute Arts Program | New York

“I had many opportunities to get an American passport,

but I chose not to because I felt, in a slightly misguided

way, that I wanted to somehow be authentically Nigerian.

Which meant that I would travel with only a Nigerian

passport, and I would therefore be forced through the

various indignities that attend a Nigerian passport, such

as having difficulties in getting visas to different countries

and being harassed at different airports. I watch people’s

faces, and the minute I present my green Nigerian

passport, something happens. It’s a mask of distrust.”

Ste

ve

Jo

hn

so

nL

au

ren

ce

Ge

no

n

Eri

n B

aia

no

Ay

um

i S

ak

am

oto


//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


SEN. ORRIN HATCH, R-UT

Aspen Institute Initiative on

Financial Security | Washington, DC

“America cannot continue to ignore the financial

disaster coming our way if we do not get our public

pension debt crisis under control. … A federal bailout of

state and local governments is fraught with risk and

so-called moral hazard. … But saying that Congress will

not bail out a state or local government is not to say

that Congress should do nothing. Congress can, and in

my opinion should, enact policies that will help cities

and towns help themselves to get back to fiscal health

or avoid becoming unhealthy in the first place.”

RICHARD BLANCO, FIFTH INAUGURAL POET

Aspen Writers’ Foundation Winter Words Series | Aspen, Colorado

“The greatest gift at the

Inauguration was [to]

actually finally find a home.

[It was] the acceptance of

who I was — reading that

poem to America, for

America — that made me

question all these other

things about everything

that I was questioning. And

[it was] the idea that I was

home all along. And that

my story, my mother’s story,

your story, all of our stories,

are the American story.”

JULIAN BOND, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST

Aspen Around Town: The Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” | Washington, DC

“I’ve been fond of saying that I don’t believe there’s

such a thing as gay rights; they’re just rights.

There’s not such a thing as black rights; they’re just

rights. We all have these rights. And I knew too

many gay people from my earlier years, my high

school years, my college years, people who worked

with me in the movement, that I couldn’t say to

them, ‘Well, thanks for helping me; appreciate it,

but I’m not going to help you.’ Of course I couldn’t

say that, and I so felt bound to do it, so I did it, and

I was glad to do what I could.”

SEN. JOE MANCHIN, D-WVA

Washington Roundtable Series: No Labels: A Shared Vision for a Stronger America | Washington, DC

“Leadership is not putting

your opponent in an untenable

position that they can’t go

home and defend themselves.

That’s not leadership.

Leadership is basically saying,

‘I need you to work with me,

and I’ll tell you what: I need

to give you a position that

when you go home, you can

defend yourself and I won’t

use it against you.’ Now if

I can make my colleagues

understand that, and trust me,

I’ll get a lot more done.”

Da

nie

l B

ay

er

Ste

ve

Jo

hn

so

n

Pa

tric

e G

ilb

ert

Do

no

va

n M

ark

s

_PDF-LV_5/27_mh_kss_e.indd 29 6/3/14 8:29 AM


//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////LEADING VOICES

Clin

t S

pau

ldin

g f

or

Patr

ick M

cM

ulla

n


//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


At the 30th Annual Awards Dinner at the Plaza Hotel last November, former US Secretary

of State and Kissinger Associates Inc. Chairman Henry Kissinger received the Institute’s

Global Leadership Award. After sharing stories with Trustee Madeleine Albright about

their similar experiences as immigrant US secretaries of state, Kissinger discussed his view

of the geopolitical landscape with Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson.

WALTER ISAACSON: Mr. Chairman… You’ve been very good at creating strategic frameworks, and if you don’t mind me telling a story, about a month ago, we were at a dinner and somebody asked you what should we make of Syria, which had just conducted its chemical weapons attack on its own people. Obama had talked about a red line but didn’t seem to know what was going to happen next, and the Russians had done nothing. You said the Russians understand their strategic interest not to have terrorist Islamic radicals and chemical weapons sloshing around south of their border. So sometime soon Vladimir Putin will step in and try to defuse this situation and call for an international settlement. I was amazed, but not surprised, when three weeks later that exact same thing happened. Can you explain how Russia understands its strategic interest in Syria and what our strategic interests should be?

HENRY KISSINGER: Russia had a variety of interests in Syria. They don’t like UN resolutions that can be used as intervention in domestic affairs. But the fundamental interest they have is to curb or eliminate the nonstate organizations like Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and not out of an abstract consideration of stability. Instead, because there are 20 to 25 million Muslims in Russia, jihadists are bound to apply to Russia the same principles that they are applying or trying to apply to the rest of the world.

So whatever national differences exist about Syria as a state, Syria as a part of the Islamic world, it was not in the Soviet interest to see the radical element enhanced. And, therefore, I thought that if they stood by while we bombed Syria, it would have demonstrated their incapacity to affect the events. It would probably have produced an even more chaotic situation. And that was not in their interests. So I thought, at some point, before we made a military move, they would attempt to settle this.

Now, what is our interest? The way the Syrian issue has most frequently been presented in the US is that an evil dictator is oppressing

his people, that we have to punish the dictator, and enable the people to form a democratic society. But that is not the essence of what is going on. Certainly, Bashar al-Assad has done evil things. But the fundamental issue is between Shias and Sunnis, and between the various minorities like Druzes, Kurds, Christians — most of whom are on the side of the Shia because they’re afraid of Sunni domination.

So I have felt all along that if one really wanted to stop bloodshed in Syria, one should look for a solution. There’s no brilliant solution, but one should look for an outcome in which the various sectarian and national groups can be more or less autonomous and more or less self-governing. And that an absolute victory for anybody would lead to a bloodbath and would lead to the imposition of dictatorial rule.

This is why I have not been in favor of military intervention there. And I’ve also not been in favor of military intervention because in my somewhat extended life, by now, I’ve seen four wars that we entered with great conviction and found ourselves divided in a very brief period of time when we couldn’t bring them to an end. So I am reluctant to undertake military measures whose end we cannot describe.

ISAACSON: Do you think that we have been good in the US in the past few years in having a clear sense of our strategy and strategic interests in the region?

KISSINGER: The trouble in the Middle East or the challenge in the Middle East is that there are a number of revolutions going on simultaneously. There is the long-established conflict between the Shia and the Sunni. There is the conflict between the secular and religious orientation in each country. There is the fact that most of the states in the Middle East have no history as states but were created in the 1920s in the aftermath of World War I by the powers that concluded the European War. So we have found it difficult, and many others have found it difficult, to get an organizing idea of what one is trying to do.

KISSINGER TALKS GEOPOLITICS IN THE 21ST CENTURY



////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Clin

t S

pau

ldin

g f

or

Patr

ick M

cM

ulla

n

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger speaks in conversation with Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson at the Institute’s 30th Annual Awards Dinner.

ISAACSON: Do the interests of the US and Russia align or conflict in Iran more? And what should we be doing in Iran?

KISSINGER: The American nostalgia is to assume that foreign policy issues can be solved by conversion, which is to say that the other side suddenly changes its attitudes and therefore thinks that you don’t have to deal with the actual issue. My answer always is … if the crisis or the challenge has an objective basis, then it must be possible to express the need for resolving it in some concrete terms.

And that will be the fundamental issue with Iran. Are there no inherent conflicts of national interest with Iran as a national state — maybe the only genuine national state in the region, the one country that was conquered by the Arabs that did not adopt the language of the conqueror? From a purely national interest point of view, there need be no conflict between the US and Iran.

But the Iranian nuclear program challenges the stability of the region. And when it is coupled with a theological state that transcends the idea of national interest, then that is the essence of the immediate problem. So the test will be whether it is possible to reduce the Iranian nuclear program to a level from which it cannot break out rapidly, or at all. And that will require a serious discussion.

If we can settle the nuclear problem, then on the friction of national interest there is no real conflict between Iran and the US. Now, the Russian problem, they probably have concluded that the Iranian nuclear program is too far gone to reverse. And, at any rate, they have this concern that they become the principal target of Islamic outrage. So my judgment is that they would be delighted if the nuclear program could be abolished. But probably they are now focusing, as we seem to be, on seeing whether the limit can be established. And on that I think they will cooperate with us.

ISAACSON: How would you manage the rise of China so that they are allies or at least aligned with us in seeking a stable world order? Or is it inevitable that there will be some conflict that will arise?

KISSINGER: One has to understand the history of China to form a perception of their foreign policy. The Chinese have considered themselves for thousands of years as the Central Kingdom. They had few powerful neighbors at their borders. Until the end of the 19th century, they had ordered the nations of the world by a tributary system. They didn’t have a foreign ministry until the end of the 19th century. So when China enters the world, it does so with different premises from us.

At the same time it is often said that this is a situation that is analogous to the rise of Germany and the position of Great Britain. And there is some analogy to this. But to my mind, the outbreak of World War I is one of the greatest disasters — maybe the greatest disaster that befell Western civilization, from which it has never fully recovered. And none of the leaders who went into this war in 1940 would have done so had they known what the world would look like in 1980. And when you look at the sequence of events that brought them there, it was a series of escalating, seemingly minor crises, each of which was in time settled, but one of which got out of control.

It’s very important that we and China don’t slide into such a relationship. It is also important that China does not have the idea that we are a declining civilization, because that would make them more assertive in their conduct. But President Obama and the new Chinese president have proclaimed that they want to see whether it is possible to translate a potentially adversarial relationship into a cooperative one. I agree with that. And I think it should be attempted because we’ll get to confrontation soon enough if it doesn’t work.


HOST YOUR MEETING HEREOPEN YEAR-ROUND | EVENTS • BUSINESS • LEISUREUniting the mind, body and spirit at the Aspen Meadows Resort.

800.452.4240 www.aspenmeadows.comwww.facebook.com/aspenmeadows

www.twitter.com/aspenmeadows



//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////LEADING VOICES

WHO ARE THE SMARTEST

KIDS IN THE WORLD?Amanda Ripley, journalist and author of The New York Times best-seller

The Smartest Kids in the World, joined Walter Isaacson at the Alma and Joseph

Gildenhorn Book Series this spring to share hopeful lessons from Poland’s

educational revolution, why kids think it’s not cool to know math, and what skills

parents should better focus on with their children.

Ste

ve J

oh

nso

n


//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


WALTER ISAACSON: I’ve known Amanda Ripley for many years, and she and I worked together at Time magazine. She was one of the smartest, most interesting, exciting people I’ve ever worked with. So it’s my pleasure to have you here.

At Time, she picked up on the education beat just at the right time, when education was going through lots of transformations — the edu-cation reform movement, technology, and a sort of global sense that America had to compete on the global stage.

There’s an old-fashioned 20th century concept, which is: Why don’t you go out and actually see what’s happening. And Amanda did that. She went to South Korea, Poland, Finland, [to] actually follow Ameri-can students who go into those schools. And so this is one of the most interesting, smartest books about education. Welcome, Amanda.

AMANDA RIPLEY: Thank you so much, Walter. It’s a real pleasure to be here.

ISAACSON: I thought we would focus actually on one of your three countries, which is Poland, partly because it showed the most dramatic change, partly because, I guess, one in six kids live in poverty in Poland, which is somewhat comparable to the one in five in the US.

RIPLEY: One of the things that I learned in educational reporting is how valuable it is to hear from kids themselves. So one of the things that all three American kids I fol-lowed noticed right away was how old-fashioned their school facilities were and rather lackluster in most cases — even in Korea and Finland, which are very wired places. Tom’s school in Gettysburg, [Pennsylva-nia], for example, had a SMART Board — an interactive digital white-board — in every classroom, and his Polish high school had no SMART Board. They didn’t have a cafeteria. You know what I’m saying.

It’s sort of an aesthetic thing, and who knows what it means, but it is something you notice when you travel to these other countries, is that the facilities are often an afterthought, particularly true in Korea and Poland. But on average, they are not quite as enamored with shiny objects, I think, as we are.

And that’s not to say that iPads won’t revolutionize learning, but there’s no evidence that that’s happened so far. So that was one inter-esting thing that they noticed.

ISAACSON: The [Polish] minister of education was a guy named Handke. And he does an education reform that felt quite similar to what we’re trying to do here in terms of rigor and assessment. ... Explain that.

RIPLEY: Every country that’s really risen to the top of the world edu-cationally has run into a kind of economic existential moment where they are on the brink of becoming something really important and central to the economy of the world — or irrelevant. This is true in Finland in the 1960s; in Korea, obviously after the war; and in Poland more recently. In 2000, before the reforms kicked in, Polish 15-year-olds performed below average for the developed world in a test of critical thinking and math, reading, and science.

“Every country that’s really

risen to the top of the world

educationally has run into a

kind of economic existential

moment where they are

on the brink of becoming

something really important

and central to the economy of

the world — or irrelevant.”

— Amanda Ripley,

author of The Smartest Kids in the World

At the same time, this Minister Mirosław Handke that you mentioned came in, and he was actually a scientist. He didn’t have a lot of experience with the politics. And this, in retrospect, was seen as maybe a blessing because he may not have tried to do the things that he did had he known how hard it would be. But with this economic anxi-ety, they were able to get lucky and make a series of changes. There’s basically five things that they did very quickly.

So one was that they increased teacher training and professional de-velopment. As you all know, it’s very hard to say whether that’s a good use of money. It really varies quite a bit — and that’s true in Poland. They’re not sure how helpful that was. And then they instituted a more rigorous set of core standards for what kids should know. So this may sound familiar.

ISAACSON: It sounds familiar on the Common Core. But they were not only more rigorous, and I’m sorry to keep interrupting, but this

is important as we tried to do this in the US. There were not as many of them. It was fewer core standards [and] deeper.

RIPLEY: Deeper, right. So it’s more coherent. This is true in almost every top-performing education country. At some point everybody has kind of huddled up and come up with a list of more coherent, deeper, fewer things everyone should know at every grade level.

Now, usually that means leaving teachers a lot of autonomy about methods. And that is the next thing they did in Poland. They gave teachers a little more freedom to choose their own textbooks, curric-ulum, that kind of thing. It wasn’t a ton of freedom, but more than they had before.

Then the next thing they did was institute a series of standardized tests — although significantly fewer than we have here — to see how

kids were doing at different sorts of milestones along the way aligned to these standards.

And then the last thing they did — and this turned out to be the most important — was that they delayed tracking their kids. Most countries, including the US, divide kids up based on mobility at some point and give them different content, right?

In Poland, which is like many countries, they would send kids at age 15 to vocational schools or more academic university tracks. It turns out, all around the world, the longer you wait to do this, the later you keep all kids together, the better all kids do. It’s kind of counterintuitive in some ways, but it does seem to elevate the expec-tations of everyone involved.

ISAACSON: It’s also somewhat intuitive that if you’re told, OK, you’ve been left behind, you’re not going to be as good of a student.

RIPLEY: Yeah. On the other hand, you’d think maybe for the more advanced kids, that might hold them back, right, to keep everybody together.

And that’s not typically what you see. Anyway, they delayed this in Poland from age 15 to 16. And this was very controversial, as you can imagine, all these things were.



////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

So, again, hard to say what’s causing what here. But they saw this huge lift. So in 2003, Poland was then at average for the developed world, a signifi cant increase in their Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results. In 2006, they started to creep up, and up, and up. In 2012, they are above average for the developed world, well above, the US.

ISAACSON: Wait, go back, and repeat that. They are well above the US?

RIPLEY: Yes, well above the US.

ISAACSON: Having started well behind, and it’s only been a decade?

RIPLEY: Right, which is wild. And to me, this is it, the whole reason to talk about this stuff because it’s hopeful.

[Poland]’s a complicated country. This is a place that’s complicated and diffi cult, and by the way, spends dramatically less per student on K through 12 education.

And they continued. This is the other thing that I think sometimes people forget. This doesn’t just end. They again adjusted their com-mon core standards in 2009, giving teachers yet still more autonomy and making them even more, kind of, coherent. … Math is a particular weakness of Americans at every age level, including adults, compared to their peers around the world and at every socioeconomic level, which is interesting. This is not true with reading. So I think it’s im-portant not to exaggerate and say we’re really terrible at everything because we’re not. We’re pretty much average, and we’re a little below average in math and science.

And if you look at even our richest kids, our top quartile of most affl uent American 15-year-olds with educated parents, you know, SMART Boards all around and all these advantages, those kids score

The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, and NPR know Tim Estin as the ‘numbers’ guy. He's an award-winning Aspen broker for sales performance and author of the Estin Report – the primary market guide to Aspen Snowmass real estate. If you want to buy or sell a piece of the Aspen lifestyle, call Tim, just like the experts do.

Tim Estin 970.309.6163mba, gri Broker [email protected]

Tim Estin 970.309.6163 EstinAspen.com

below their affl uent peers in 26 other countries in math on the PISA.

ISAACSON: Wow.

RIPLEY: This, to me, is an undernoticed fact that I think should wake people up to the idea that while our poverty issue is real and wrenching and urgent, and while our gap in scores by race is heartbreaking, this is something that goes through our whole country — especially, in math. So I feel like you have to see the whole picture if you’re going to fi x it.

ISAACSON: I have a theory which I’ll put out. You could be a smart, well-educated, well-rounded person, and you would nev-er dare joke that you don’t know Picasso or Shakespeare. But you can say, I don’t the diff erence between a diff erential equation and a polynomial, or the diff erence between a gene and a chromosome, and somehow it’s socially acceptable for adults in this country to al-most be proud of the fact that they don’t know calculus or they can’t do math.

You sort of feel that Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson would’ve thought you were a Philistine if you didn’t keep up with math and science.

RIPLEY: I see it in my own kid, who attends public school in DC, and reading is like science. You know, there are levels and diff er-entiated groups and a lot of back and forth with the parents and everyone knows whether they do it or not, you’re supposed to read to your kid, right?

What is your role as a parent of a young child in math? You don’t know because no one is telling you, right? But in other countries, there is a role for parents to talk about numbers — to use numbers like puz-zles with little kids from the time they are very small. I don’t know what the answer is as to where that disconnect happened.


970.544.5800 510 East Hyman avEnuE, suitE 21, aspEn

Ryan Elston 970.379.3072

[email protected]

Ryan ElstonPartner/Broker, MBAAspen Associates Realty Group

lauREn mccloskEy ElstonChair, The Vanguard Chapter

The Aspen Institute

live the aspen idea.ASPEN ASSOCIATES

REALTY GROUP .COM

LocaL KnowLedge

FamiLy VaLues

dedication to exceLLence



ON LEADERSHIP+ACTION

In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama told Congress that if it did not lead on energy and climate legislation, he would use his executive powers to move the country forward. Four months after making that promise, the president issued his first comprehensive climate action plan. It contains more than 70 specific initiatives ranging from the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants to helping communities adapt to climate disruption.

Today, the president has 200 more clean energy ideas on his desk as the result of a project I’ve been privileged to lead at the Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE) in partnership with the Aspen Institute. In March 2013, I was invited to the White House at the suggestion of Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson, along with 13 other corporate CEOs, energy experts from academia, and environmental leaders. We spoke to the president and his team about what else they could do to move the nation closer to a clean energy economy.

We came away with the assignment to convene thought leaders from across the US to develop more ideas for the president in five areas of energy policy: doubling the nation’s energy productivity, financing renewable energy technologies, helping utilities develop new business models for the 21st century, ensuring responsible natural gas production, and developing alternative fuels and vehicles.

In the following eight months, we engaged more than 100 experts — including Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Executive Director David Monsma and Senior Fellow Jack Riggs — in five roundtables hosted on the Aspen Meadows campus. Many more took part in peer reviews. The result is a report titled “Powering Forward: Presidential and Executive Agency Actions to Drive Clean Energy in America” (poweringforwardplan.org).

The CNEE team returned to the White House in January 2014 to brief the president’s cabinet and, shortly thereafter, released “Powering Forward” to the public. Since then, we’ve met with leaders of several cabinet agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy, and we continue to add insight to the recommendations in our report.

What we found is heartening. President Obama has a toolbox full of authorities to act on energy and climate. Some powers have been delegated to the executive branch by past Congresses. Others have been established in precedent by previous presidents. Some leaders in

BY BILL RITTER JR.

At President Barack Obama’s request, Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson gathered former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter and 13 other top energy policy analysts for a White House meeting to help inform the direction of climate-related policy.

OBAMA POWERS FORWARDON CLEAN ENERGY

Offi

cia

l W

hit

e H

ou

se P

ho

to b

y P

ete

So

uza

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

_PDF-leadership_5-27-14_kss_e.indd 38 6/3/14 8:24 AM



pJ Bory broker/associate

970.319.2178 [email protected]

ColtEr smitHpartnEr/BrokEr


Luxury ProPerties. Luxury CLients.

LoCaL market knowLedge

Your dream home starts here! Whether you are looking to buy or rent a home or looking to get a return on your asset in Aspen/Snowmass, PJ at Aspen Associates can help you formulate the perfect situation for care-free ownership or rental experience.

Call PJ and his sale/rental team to start planning today.

Colter Smith has been involved in real estate and real estate development for over ten years. Born and raised in Aspen, Colter possesses an unparalleled understanding and appreciation of the area, proving time and again to be a true asset in such a competitive industry. Armed with a degree in finance and a decade’s worth of experience in development, construction, and design, Colter is an extremely motivated and sought after resource. He is considered to be a very hands on broker, working tirelessly in the service of his clients to achieve the absolute best result. As a partner at Aspen Associates Realty, he is passionate about his work and truly understands every aspect of home building, buying, selling and the meaning of valuable real estate.

top of mill luxury EstatE



////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Indeed, the administration implemented historic increases in fuel economy standards for vehicles of all sizes. In sum, it is fair to say that President Obama has done more to avert climate change than any of his predecessors, although presidents since 1965 have been advised that greenhouse gas emissions could produce irreversible changes in the climate.

I also don’t want to give the impression that “Powering Forward” steered clear of disagreements with the president. It did not. We disagreed, for example, with President Obama’s “all of the above” slogan regarding our nation’s energy policy. We argued that an indiscriminate energy policy is incompatible with his commitments on climate change.

But unlike many White Houses in the past, where advisers insulated presidents from new ideas, President Obama and his team are not only working overtime on their own ambitious clean energy agenda, but they are also requesting

input on how they can do even more. “Powering Forward” is one such set of recommendations, and our team felt privileged to submit them.

Bill Ritter Jr. was the 41st governor of Colorado and currently acts as the director of the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University.

Each summer, the Institute’s Energy and Environment Program convenes several high-level energy and water policy forums: one on domestic power generation, a forum on global oil and gas, and the Clean Energy Forum focused on transitioning to an economically viable future powered by clean energy. This July, with support from the Rodel Foundation and the Cynthia and George P. Mitchell Foundation, the Institute will establish a new forum to discuss regulatory policies and industry practices needed to ensure the environmentally responsible development and prudent production of natural gas. For more, go to aspeninstitute.org/epf.

Congress are pushing back with complaints that the president is overstepping his authority. After our research and work on this project, I would submit that the president is complying with the body of laws that contain clear statements of congressional intent. In essence, those laws state that climate change is an urgent issue requiring federal leadership.

In the Global Climate Protection Act of 1987, the National Environmental Education Act, and the landmark National Environmental Policy Act, Congress has repeated time and again the need to address environmental issues that are worldwide in scale and the importance of this nation’s stewardship responsibilities for the globe.

Among its many recommendations, “Powering Forward” includes some that would change the way the US government does business. We emphasized how, as the nation’s biggest energy consumer, the federal government can use even more energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies to reach economies of scale that lower the price of clean energy for everyone. We recommended that the administration begin using state-of-the-art full-cost analysis to count the economic, social, and environmental impacts of our energy choices — a process that would help ensure that national energy policy serves the public interest rather than special interests.

It is too early to assess the contribution “Powering Forward” will make to the president’s leadership on these issues, but the early signs are exciting. We recommended, for example, that the administration develop a national strategy to reduce methane leaks in the natural gas industry, a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz now has begun a series of stakeholder roundtables to help resolve the issue.

We offered ideas on how the administration can trigger more capital investment in clean energy from the private sector. Presidential adviser John Podesta now acknowledges that private sector investment was left out of the president’s plan and will be added.

In recounting the events of the last year, I do not want to leave the impression that the president has only recently begun tackling climate and energy security. On the contrary, he has been using nearly every authority at his disposal since the first weeks of his presidency, while opponents in Congress have been trying to take away his authority. He has established unprecedented goals for energy efficiency and renewable energy in the federal government. The US military, always a test bed of new technologies for the country’s economy, has long planned to obtain 25 percent of its energy from renewable resources by 2025.

We argued that an

indiscriminate energy

policy is incompatible

with [the president’s]

commitments on

climate change.


////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////ON LEADERSHIP+ACTION

THE COMMON CORE’S UNSUNG BENEFIT

BY ROSS WIENER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ASPEN INSTITUTE EDUCATION AND SOCIETY PROGRAM

The Common Core has started to take political flak from the right and the left. Conservatives worry about the overreach of federal incentives, while unions don’t want the standards connected to teacher evaluations. What is being lost? The standards’ significant emphasis on reinvigorating the democratic purpose of public education. Making good on this promise presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to redefine and reprioritize the special role that schools play in preparing students for active civic participation.

These new educational goals emphasize higher-level abilities: analysis and critical thinking, marshaling evidence and making arguments, collaboration and problem-solving, and communicating clearly. The stated focus of the Common Core — to prepare students who are “college- and career-ready” — advances one fundamental purpose of public education: preparing students for productive employment and economic self-sufficiency.

But Common Core is not just about college- and career-readiness. It is also deeply and explicitly focused on preparing students for the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. And while many skills are transferable across the domains of college, career, and citizenship, the commitment in the Common Core to the democratic mission of public schools goes much deeper.

The Common Core identifies three texts — and only three texts — that every American student must read: the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution (Preamble and Bill of Rights), and Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address. The foundational documents of American democracy are what bind us together as a people, and the only texts Common Core expects every single American to study; everything else students read in school is determined by local educators.

Acknowledging the explicit prioritization of the Declaration of

©iS

tock.c

om

/han

nah

gle

g


The world’s population has reached seven billion and is forecast to reach around nine billion by 2050. As the world’s population grows its need for water, food and energy will increase. Meeting this challenge will be difficult and will place demands on all of us. At Shell we are determined to help meet the energy challenge, supplying a broad mix of lower-emission energy sources. We’re making our fuels and lubricants more advanced and more efficient than before. With our partner in Brazil, we’re also producing ethanol, a biofuel made from renewable sugar cane. And we’re delivering natural gas to more than 40 countries around the world. When used to generate electricity, natural gas emits around half the CO2 of coal. Let’s broaden the world’s energy mix. www.shell.com/letsgo

Let’s find cLeaner sources of energy today, to heLp protect her tomorrow.

Let’s go.

— 1001 Fannin Street, Suite 500, Houston, TX 77002

TRAFFIC LEGEND zJob No: 1088856_A05Description: HardworkingLive: Trim: 8.375 x 10.875”

Bleed: Description: PrintPrepared by JWT/HoustonPrint Specs:

Media Issues: Aspen IdeasCreative Director: studioArt Director: studioCopywriter:

Account: Production: BennettVendor: TBDStudio: Please see initials

Filed:Output Size:

ROUTING SIGNATURE DATE O.K. CHANGE REVISION NUMBER

PRODUCTION

PROOFREADER

COPYWRITER

ART DIRECTOR

ACCT. EXEC.

TRAFFIC

1088856_A05_BABY_AspenIDEAS_8_375x10_875.indd 1 4/16/14 5:36 PMFull_Page.indd 1 4/28/14 11:06 AM

Independence and the US Constitution can recenter the political debate on the merits of Common Core. These documents are embraced across the country and across the political spectrum because they represent the common ground and shared commitments that unite us as Americans. Understanding them is at the core of why public schools were created in the first place. Closely reading and deeply comprehending these documents is essential to Thomas Jefferson’s vision that public schools should enable every American

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

“to understand his duties to his neighbors and country” and to scrutinize the actions of public officials “with diligence, candor, and judgment.” More recently, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote that “the better educated citizens are, the better equipped they will be to preserve the system of government we have. ... Knowledge about our government is not handed down through the gene pool. Every generation has to learn it, and we have some work to do.”

The foundational documents of American

democracy are ... the only texts Common

Core expects every single American to

study; everything else students read in

school is determined by local educators.

The Anschutz Medical Campus, located

in the Denver metro area, is a one-of-a-

kind medical campus that includes two

of the nation’s highest-rated hospitals, a

top medical school, and fi ve additional

health sciences schools. Here, curious

minds, skilled practitioners, groundbreak-

ing researchers and collaborative data

geeks are rewriting the future. So if your

passion is medicine, you’re in need of

world-class medicine or you’d like to

support what’s next in medicine, join us at

AnschutzMedicalCampusColorado.com

13001 E. 17th PlaceE. Colfax and I-225Aurora, Colorado

© University of Colorado 2014

©iS

tock.c

om

/selim

aksa

n


IN THE NEW WEST, THE GOOD GUYS WEAR THE MASKS.

Meet pioneering surgeon

Dr. Timothy Crombleholme

and team. As the Director

of the Colorado Institute

for Maternal and Fetal

Health at the Anschutz

M e d i c a l C a m p u s , h e

exempl i f ies our v is ion

of uniting patient care,

research and education to

make rapid advances in

medicine. And he’s just one

of the many giants who rub

shoulders here every day.

To find out more about what’s next, go to AnschutzMedicalCampusColorado.com

THE FRONTIER OF WHAT’S NEXT.



//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

In addition to calling for students to read and understand the foundational documents of American democracy, Common Core emphasizes the skills students need in order to apply this knowledge. For example, the high school English-Language Arts standards require students to:

• Analyze 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century foundational US documents of historical and literary significance (including the Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address) for their themes, purposes, and rhetorical features;

• Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal US texts, including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal reasoning (e.g., in US Supreme Court majority opinions and dissents) and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy (e.g., the Federalist Papers, presidential addresses); and

• Analyze seminal US documents of historical and literary significance (e.g., Washington’s Farewell Address, the Gettysburg Address, Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms Speech,” King’s “Letter from a Birmingham City Jail”).

The Common Core defines a literate American as having the ability to understand and evaluate the acts of government and to determine independently whether arguments accord with our government’s

structure, purpose, and history. The standards posit that a high-school graduate should be able to understand Supreme Court opinions and dissents and decide for him or herself whether the Court arrived at the right decision.

In addition to focusing on building students’ understanding of civically important content, Common Core articulates standards for speaking and listening that develop students’ ability to participate in democratic debate:

• Work with peers to promote civil, democratic discussions and decision-making; set clear goals and deadlines; and establish individual roles as needed.

• Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that probe reasoning and evidence; ensure a fair hearing for a full range of positions on a topic or issue; clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions; and promote divergent and creative perspectives.

These skills analyze, delineate, evaluate, communicate, challenge ideas, promote divergent perspectives are without a doubt valuable on college campuses, as well as in many modern, knowledge-economy careers. But the deliberate choice to define these advanced literacy skills by illustrating their application to seminal texts of American democracy highlights Common Core’s dual purpose of also preparing students for


//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


the increasing intellectual demands of citizenship in a complex world. Educating young people for citizenship should feature prominently in how we talk and think about the Common Core.

The standards do not cover all the content or address all aspects of civics education, and they certainly are not a panacea for all that ails civics education. But the Common Core makes an essential claim regarding American education: Preparing young people for government “of the people, by the people, for the people” means more than a course in government or civics, and more than basic skills in reading and math. To enjoy the privileges and shoulder the responsibilities of citizenship, young Americans must master the content and analytic processes needed to fully participate in democratic processes. While some of this is undoubtedly covered in good history and civics classes, the innovation of Common Core is to explicitly connect knowledge of the principles and rules on which American democracy is based with the development of the practical skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening, as well as in math, that students need to be discerning, empowered citizens.

Studying seminal documents of our democracy and the analytical approaches needed to deeply comprehend their meaning does not privilege any particular political position. Schools, of course, should never seek to impose or encourage fealty to any party or faction. Quite the opposite: Common Core envisions every American possessing a personal understanding of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution so they can make their own judgments about what these documents mean.

Educating young people for citizenship should feature prominently in how we talk and think about the Common Core. And citizenship should be part of how students are tested on the standards: At least one writing task on the high-school language arts assessment should engage students in analyzing and arguing an issue with reference to at least one foundational document of American democracy, among other texts. Taking these steps will not directly address the immediate political challenges Common Core is confronting right now. But these signals will make it more likely that states, districts, and schools implement Common Core in a way that reinvigorates the democratic purposes of public education, and this could ultimately pave a path back to bipartisan support for education policy.

This piece was fi rst published under the title “The Common Core’s Unsung Benefi t: It Teaches Kids to Be Good Citizens” on theatlantic.com.

Floral Arts for Weddings, Events & Everyday

300 Puppy Smith St. ~ Aspen, CO970.920.6838 ~ www.sashae.com

Floral Arts for Weddings, Events & Everyday

Sashae_AspenIdea_sum14.indd 1 4/27/14 7:28 PM

John Sarpa 970.379.2595 [email protected]

John Sarpa – my close connection with the Aspen Institute began 25 years ago when I co-chaired a group of dedicated leaders of various nonprofit organizations to successfully rezone the Aspen Meadows. That was a key step for the Institute in securing its long term presence in Aspen.

Since then I have been involved with millions of dollars of Aspen real estate developments and home purchases. Please let me help you make your real estate investment in the mountains so that you too may experience the mind, body and spiritual joys so unique to Aspen.



////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////ON LEADERSHIP+ACTION

THE HIDDEN POTENTIAL OF THE DIASPORA

Engaging diaspora communities has long been heralded as a strategic underpinning to drive economic growth in emerging economies. The rationale is clear: Diaspora yield significant capital resources, and they are willing to invest in perceived high-risk markets that hold personal and familial connections.

In 2011, as the Arab World was erupting in revolution, the Institute launched a public-private partnership to forge a new beginning with 10 Muslim-majority countries across the region. Driven by influential stakeholders at the intersection of business, civil society, and government, Partners for a New Beginning was sustained through this incredibly turbulent time by the resolve of Middle East diaspora communities in the US and across the world.

While North Africa wrestled with social unrest, the Partnership led an entrepreneurship delegation to the region consisting of leading diaspora early-stage investors. In Jordan, our partner Usama Fayyad, former chief data officer at Yahoo!, decided to return to his homeland to set up the region’s premier accelerator, Oasis 500. In Tunisia today, diaspora members are playing a key role in bringing large international investors to the table. These are just a few of many examples of diaspora members enduring risk to drive economic growth.

Despite the evident success of this model, the development community has lacked a coordinated approach to encouraging and facilitating diaspora-led social impact investment. Rockefeller Foundation President Judith Rodin recognized this gap as a profound opportunity. She approached the Institute to launch a breakthrough pilot initiative exploring innovations to unlock the potential of diaspora investment as an engine for economic growth in the developing world.

In February 2014, the Foundation and Institute together convened

the first high-level meeting with stakeholders from the public and private sector, including experts in diaspora relations from around the world. The meeting provided a forum to test possible solutions to address this gap.

As a result, the Rockefeller-Aspen Diaspora Program, which is housed at the Institute, is a unique collaboration between multiple policy programs: the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs, Middle East Programs, the Global Alliances Program, the Aspen Global Health and Development Program, and the Rockefeller Foundation’s work in impact investing. By leveraging the best practices and networks across these programs, this latest addition is uniquely positioned to help transform how diaspora communities engage and leverage impact investment back home.

Given that diaspora communities around the world send home three times more money than total global development assistance ($414 billion versus a projected $127 billion in 2013), the potential for this work is huge. The new pilot program is already working to establish a systematic, facilitated, and clear path for diasporas to invest in their communities at significant scale and in a sustainable way. At a time when the Middle East has witnessed unprecedented turmoil, the methodology established by Partners for a New Beginning, now being tested by the Rockefeller-Aspen Diaspora Program, indicates that diasporas are willing to invest when others won’t and stay patient when others don’t.

Toni Verstandig is chair of the Aspen Institute Middle East Programs and senior vice president at the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace.Alexander Dixon is the director of the Rockefeller-Aspen Diaspora initiative.

BY TONI VERSTANDIG AND ALEXANDER DIXON


TRUSTED FOR THE DECISIONS THAT MATTER MOST.thomsonreuters.com

© 2014 Thomson Reuters 1006659/4-14 Thomson Reuters and the Kinesis logo are trademarks of Thomson Reuters.


transforming the future of health care

The Mount Sinai Health System is committed to providing outstanding care, conducting transformative research, and advancing biomedical education.

Mount Sinai serves one of the most diverse patient populations in the United States and is a medical destination of choice for patients from around the world. The Health System combines the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai–ranked among the top 20 medical schools by U.S. News & World Report–and seven hospital campuses, along with 45 ambulatory facilities and 31 a liated community health centers.

Our scientists, physicians, nurses, and sta� work together to discover, develop, and deliver exceptional medical care and patient experiences–from preventive medicine to treatment for the most serious and complex diseases.

To learn more about Mount Sinai Health System, visit www.mountsinaihealth.org

The Mount Sinai Health System:Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai Beth Israel Brooklyn, The Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Queens, Mount Sinai Roosevelt, Mount Sinai St. Luke’s, and New York Eye and Ear Infi rmary of Mount Sinai



Sport for All, Play for LifeAspen Institute Sports and Society Program Director and ESPN Reporter Tom Farrey delves into the importance of access to youth sports and the mission of the program’s Project Play.

The Institute Teaches Teens to LeadFrom using tools such as choreography and poetry slams to providing platforms for solving some of the world’s most pressing problems, the Institute trains a growing number of teens to make an impact in their own communities and beyond.

Why You Don't Have the Full Story on Developing CountriesOn-the-ground experts are rarely heard from in Western media. The Institute created a Fellowship to change that.

52

58

72FEATU

RES

_PDF-Feature_cover_5_27_d.indd 51 6/3/14 8:18 AM


_PDF-SPORTS-5-27_MH_E.indd 52 5/27/14 4:54 PM


Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant and President Bill Clinton talk about the value of youth sports at the ESPN/Clinton Foundation Town Hall, presented with the Aspen Institute.

Ed

die

Perl

as/

ES

PN

Im

ag

es

Page_53.indd 53 5/29/14 10:51 AM


IMAGINE IF EVERY CHILD HAD A CHANCE TO PLAY SPORTS. TO KNOW THE CAMARADERIE

OF A TEAM, THE FEELING OF A GAME-WINNING SHOT, OR THE PERSEVERANCE TO SHAVE

SECONDS OFF A PERSONAL BEST. TO EXPERIENCE ALL OF THE BENEFITS — PHYSICAL, SOCIAL,

EMOTIONAL, COGNITIVE — AVAILABLE TO HUMAN BEINGS WHO SIMPLY MOVE THEIR BODY ON

A REGULAR BASIS. IF YOU WERE OR ARE AN ATHLETE, THINK ABOUT HOW YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN

SHAPED BY THE OPPORTUNITY. NOW IMAGINE THE BENEFITS TO COMMUNITIES EVERYWHERE

IF ALL KIDS PLAYED SPORTS, GIVEN THAT RESEARCH SHOWS THE ADOLESCENTS WHO DO

ARE EIGHT TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE ACTIVE AS YOUNG ADULTS THAN ADOLESCENTS WHO

DO NOT. IMAGINE CITIES THAT ARE HEALTHIER, MORE VIBRANT, AND GREENER WITH MORE

PARK SPACE AND TRAILS. HOW DO WE GET THERE?

Presented with

Ed

die

Perl

as/

ES

PN

Im

ag

es

_PDF-SPORTS-5-27_MH_E.indd 54 6/3/14 8:09 AM


OBESE

PHYSICALLY INACTIVE CHILDREN ARE TWICE AS LIKELY TO BECOME

AS ADULTS.

Opposite page, clockwise from left: Olympic track and field gold medal-winner Allyson Felix, former NFL running back Herschel Walker, MLB centerfielder Matt Kemp, and the Clinton Foundation’s Chelsea Clinton joined the Town Hall to discuss the challenges facing youth sports.

This is the question that informs the Aspen Institute’s Project Play, a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine youth sports in America. Launched in 2013 by the Sports and Society Program, the initiative has engaged more than 200 thought leaders from the realms of sports, medicine, media, business innovation, government, and philanthropy in events where breakthrough strategies can be shared, shaped, and scaled. In January, President Bill Clinton, Kobe Bryant, Olympic track and field gold-medal winner Allyson Felix, and other top athletes and leaders came together to join the Project Play conversation for a town hall meeting at the Clinton Health Matters Conference that ESPN turned into an hour of prime-time television.

Years from now, I suspect we’ll look back at the town hall as the day the issue of access to sports for all kids was placed on the national agenda. If you live in a middle- or upper-income area, it would be easy to think youth sports have never been bigger. Today, we place 3-year-olds in uniforms, 6-year-olds on travel teams, 9-year-olds in year-round training, and 12-year-olds on airplanes headed halfway across the country for tournaments we hope will ensure their place in the college scholarship pipeline. Lost in the mania is the fact that only three in 10 kids between the ages of 6 and 17 play sports on a regular basis, according to the annual survey of US homes conducted by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. Half don’t play even once a year.

President Clinton understands the hazards of a nation with sports haves and have-nots, where we sort the weak from the strong at ever-earlier ages, leaving many kids locked out or shutout. “I was always involved,” Clinton said. “Everybody I knew when I was young played team sports, even if we had to make up the games. I played softball and touch football, and not-touch football, and basketball. There were church leagues for people like me who [weren’t top athletes]. It was considered normal to play, and everyone participated whether they were very good or not. And I think that’s very important because the benefits flowed to everybody.”

The need to lower the barriers to an early positive experience is of absolute importance. Sport has been a tool of nation-building and child development for more than a century, originally promoted by Teddy Roosevelt and his contemporaries. But the way it is experienced has changed dramatically over the past generation. Clinton talked about spending years on the vacant lot behind the town cemetery in Hope, Arkansas, making up games with friends (and negotiating the playground politics). The era of sandlot ball is largely gone. Today, organized competition dominates, with adults making most of the decisions and holding tryouts that aggregate the “best” young athletes long before they grow into their body and interests.

Support has shifted away from in-town recreation leagues, as well as from school physical education, recess, and intramurals, often the only sport options for the economically or physically disadvantaged, the child of a single parent, the late bloomer, and the kid who needs exercise as much or more than any other – the clinically obese. One-third of all children today are overweight or obese, six times the rate of the 1970s.

FALLING SPORT PARTICIPATION

On balance, millions of kids are fleeing sports. In just one year, from 2011 to 2012, participation in team sports in any form — casual, regular, or frequent —

fell from 54% to 50%among children ages 6 to 17.

— SFIA Team Sports Report, 2013

Since 2007, the number of core participants at all ages.

DOWN21.7%

DOWN13.8%

11.6m 4.2m9m 3.7m

2007

20072012

2012

DOWN9.4%

18m 16.6m

2007 2012

— Designed to Move



“[Sports] made a huge difference to me because it made me feel comfortable with being with other people,” Clinton said. “A lot of kids are just uncomfortable in school. And you play a few games, and you’re not so uncomfortable anymore. It’s a way of belonging. It’s a way of having a common language without having to open your mouth.”

Bryant learned this firsthand, as the son of a basketball pro who spent much of his career in Europe. “I grew up in Italy, moved there when I was 6 years old,” he said. “When I got there, I didn’t know a lick of Italian. I’m trying to get to know these kids, but there are these cultural differences that exist, the language barrier being the first of them. So sports was a universal language. Through sports, I was able to make friends, hang out, and have a good time.”

By the time Bryant returned to the US at age 13, he also had the athletic foundation to become one of the greatest basketball players of all time. That’s because, in Italy, he was exposed to youth coaches who focused on developing fundamental skills, rather than chase second-grade Amateur Athletic Union national championships (Yes, those now exist here.). He also played lots of soccer, which helped his footwork, and pickup ball, a venue where creativity and experimentation are rewarded, not punished. Today, Bryant said, “I see a lot of kids getting burned out, and early — at 12, 13 years old. There’s too much pressure on kids to be the next greatest thing, instead of just letting them have a good time and have fun and play.”

The goal of Project Play is to give stakeholders, from parents to policymakers, the tools to build what we call “Sport for All, Play for Life Communities.” It’s a wildly ambitious thought exercise that keeps me up at night because it involves systems change, but one that all the right players have rallied around — from the US Olympic Committee to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Nike to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition.

At the town hall, the USOC introduced its first-ever vision statement for youth sports reflecting many of the themes expressed by Clinton and Bryant, and pledged to work with its 47 affiliated national sport governing bodies to anchor our disjointed sport system in the principles of age-appropriate play. At Google in February, a Project Play roundtable brainstormed four big tech ideas that could help kids get off the couch — without running them into the ground.

Next up: Our Aspen Institute Project Play report, due at the end of the year, will offer up a cross-sector plan of action and set of recommendations that will allow youth sport to serve the interests of all children in all communities. It is possible to build a culture of health through sports, because sport is the most attractive form of physical activity for kids. They just want to play, but they need access to the three P’s: People (trained coaches and administrators), Places (nearby parks and gyms), and Programs (appropriate to age, gender, culture, income level).

That, and maybe one less P. Parents who feel their only option, in loving their kid, is to join

the youth sports arms race.

Tom Farrey is director of the Aspen Institute’s Sports and Society Program. He is also an enterprise reporter whose work with ESPN has won the highest honors in broadcast journalism, including the 2014 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award and 2013 Edward R. Murrow Award. He is author of the book, Game On: The All-American Race to Make Champions of Our Children.

1980 19802010 2010

OBESITY RATES

“EVERYBODY I KNEW WHEN I WAS YOUNG PLAYED TEAM SPORTS, EVEN IF WE HAD TO MAKE UP THE GAMES. ... THERE WERE CHURCH LEAGUES FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME WHO [WEREN’T TOP ATHLETES]. IT WAS CONSIDERED

NORMAL TO PLAY, AND EVERYONE PARTICIPATED WHETHER THEY WERE VERY GOOD OR NOT. AND I THINK THAT’S VERY IMPORTANT BECAUSE THE

BENEFITS FLOWED TO EVERYBODY.” — PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON

Childhood obesity rates have nearlytripled. The percentage of children ages 6 to 11 who are obese increased from 7 percent in 1980 to 18 percent in 2010; among children ages 12 to 19, that figure grew from 5 percent to 18 percent.

- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

7%

6-11 YEARS 12-19 YEARS

18%

5%

8%

100

200

300

400

500

600

- Too Fat to Fight, 2012

Ed

die

Perl

as/

ES

PN

Im

ag

es



“EVERYBODY I KNEW WHEN I WAS YOUNG PLAYED TEAM SPORTS, EVEN IF WE HAD TO MAKE UP THE GAMES. ... THERE WERE CHURCH LEAGUES FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME WHO [WEREN’T TOP ATHLETES]. IT WAS CONSIDERED

NORMAL TO PLAY, AND EVERYONE PARTICIPATED WHETHER THEY WERE VERY GOOD OR NOT. AND I THINK THAT’S VERY IMPORTANT BECAUSE THE

BENEFITS FLOWED TO EVERYBODY.” — PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON



_PDF-kids_teens_5/27/14_mh_h.indd 58 5/28/14 12:01 PM


When the Aspen Institute launched in 1949, among other things, it set out to

bring values-based leadership to the executive suite through its signature seminar

program. Over the ensuing decades, not only did business leaders and politicians,

philanthropists, and policy experts gain access to this unique type of education,

but in recent years, so, too, have those set to inherit the innovations and issues

created by the generations before them. Many programs at the Institute concentrate

on the policies that affect the future for children and teens, but several projects

offer concrete experience to those who will have to find their own inspiration and

solutions to move the world into the future. We check in on the Institute programs

helping to shape the leaders of tomorrow by focusing on teens today.

INSTITUTE PROGRAMS GIVE HANDS-ON TRAINING TO THE NEXT GENERATION.

Clockwise from top left: Teens continue to be the focus of Institute leadership programs, including those such as the Bezos Scholars, Teen Socrates, the Aspen Challenge, the Arts Program’s Creative Movement Education Project, the Center for Native American Youth’s Champions for Change, Hurst Student Seminars, and the Aspen Writers’ Foundation’s Poetry Slam project.

Clo

ckw

ise f

rom

to

p: S

ou

rtesy

of

Bezo

s S

ch

ola

rs, C

rist

al L

og

an

, D

an

Davis

, E

rin

Baia

no

, V

incen

t S

ch

illin

g, C

rist

al L

og

an

, an

d G

arr

ett

Ed

qu

ist

INSTITUTE

TO LEADTEENSTEACHES

THE



Over the past year, the Aspen Institute Arts Program has been conducting a series of hands-on, replicable arts education workshops. The goal: to extend the impact of Turnaround Arts, a program launched in cooperation with the US Department of Education and the White House Domestic Policy Council with the aim of narrowing the achievement gap and increasing student engagement through the arts. The projects have brought Turnaround Arts students to New York City from some of the nation’s lowest-performing and highest-poverty schools. Students have hailed from as far as Lame Deer, Montana, the tribal headquarters of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, while others came from closer communities such as Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Roxbury, Massachusetts. Arts Program Director Damian Woetzel has convened these initiatives in partnership with the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, on which he serves. Elizabeth Diller, 2012 Aspen Institute Harman-Eisner Artist-in-Residence and a principal partner in Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the architecture firm that designed the High Line in Manhattan, helped conceive the first workshop in the series, the High Line Arts Education Project. Each student participant received a simple digital camera and spent one day learning about and interacting with the High Line, a reclaimed railroad corridor turned into a highly designed green space running alongside the New York City skyline. The invited teens were asked to look for hidden and overlooked elements within the park, and express what captured their interests using their own voices. Students were asked to limit themselves to taking 10 digital photos, and then to further curate those photos down to a presentation of the three that best expressed their understanding of the architectural marvel.

At the conclusion of the day, Diller and Woetzel invited students to present their work, offering suggestions to the young photographers. Back at school, students continued to refine and develop their portfolios, writing poems

The Arts Program Crafts Curriculum to Unlock Potential

Turnaround Arts students gather for a photographic exploration of the High Line in New York City. Opposite page: Actor Bill Irwin works with teens at The New Victory Theater for the Aspen Institute Arts Program’s Creative Movement Education Project.

Eri

n B

aia

no

THE INSTITUTE TEACHES TEENS TO LEAD



Eri

n B

aia

no



inspired by the photos they had taken, curating an in-school exhibit, and posting their work online on various platforms to serve as a project model for schools around the country. Beyond the artistic endeavor, which motivated the students to find and value their own voices, building a prototype of this project for replication offered an opportunity for each teen to take a leadership role in building an arts education curriculum.

The themes of curation, expression, selection, and empowerment were also woven through the Arts Program’s Creative Movement Education Project, convened in January 2014 in partnership with award-winning actor Bill Irwin and The New Victory Theater. Woetzel, Irwin, and National Dance Institute Associate Artistic Director Tracy Straus led students in a workshop on choreography, improvisation, and creative composition. Over the course of the afternoon, students developed their abilities to take different ways of expressing themselves – movement, music, words – and order them in original ways, applying critical processes including discriminating, distinguishing, and synthesizing material to make creative expression.

The New Victory Theater’s education department is now working in tandem with the Arts Program to create an arts integration lesson plan out of the day’s activities, which will meet recognized learning standards. The unit lesson plans will be published and distributed in classrooms around the country, along with video tutorials and instructions for classroom teachers.

“The takeaway that I look for in the kids’ eyes is possibility,” said Woetzel. “That they had something to say, they adapted, they learned, and they are able to approach their lives and their classwork and everything they do with that sense of adventure that really is the artistic habit of the mind. An education is incomplete without the arts in it, and we are working to develop the methods and the skills that integrate the arts into every classroom in America.”

By Aspen Institute Arts Program Staff

“There seems to be a storytelling gene inside of

human beings. It’s one of the central human crafts. These kids

tapped right into it.” — Bill Irwin, on the Creative Movement Education Project

Currently in its 10th year, the Bezos Scholars Program is a yearlong leadership development program for public high school juniors and educators. It begins with a scholarship to attend the Aspen Ideas Festival and continues through the following school year as Bezos Scholar teams return home to launch sustainable Local Ideas Festivals to transform their schools and communities in profound ways.

“Even after a decade, we continue to be amazed by what our scholars accomplish,” said Mike Bezos, vice president of the Bezos Family Foundation and Institute Trustee. “At first, they are daunted by the challenge, but once they find their passion and their voice, they realize that creating lasting change is within their grasp. To watch this transformation is absolutely inspirational.”

Scholar teams have mobilized communities around a range of critical issues, including water scarcity, environmental conservation, literacy, STEM education, arts education, access to healthier food, and more.

One example: After returning home from the Festival, Student Scholar Chris Sabbagh and Educator Scholar Naomi Brown had a big idea and a bold vision. Through months of hard work, that vision was realized as the duo stood in Fort Bend County, at the Texas’ Sugar Land Town Square welcoming hundreds of teens, families, and community members to the first-ever voter registration festival, called the Power of ONE. Their Local Ideas Festival was a culmination of the communitywide effort to register more than 600 voters and increase civic participation.

By the Bezos Family Foundation

THE BEZOS FAMILY FOUNDATION HAS AWARDED MORE THAN 150 GRANTS FOR LOCAL IDEAS FESTIVALS ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND IN AFRICA.

Bezos Scholars Create Their Own Aspen Ideas Festivals

Opposite page, clockwise from top left: Institute Arts Program Director Damian Woetzel encourages students to teach their peers. Galician Bagpipe Master Cristina Pato leads students to the High Line in New York. Architect and former Harman-Eisner Artist-in-Residence Elizabeth Diller teaches teens to focus their lens on the High Line, a project she designed. Two students perform at The New Victory Theater as part of the Creative Movement Education Project.


_PDF-kids_teens_5/27/14_mh_h.indd 63 6/3/14 8:15 AM


Thanks to a generous endowment from the Hurst Family Foundation, the Institute hosts the Hurst Student Seminars for high school and middle school students in the Aspen area. These four-day Great Ideas seminars utilize the classic Aspen Institute Seminars method of moderated text-based dialogue. Just like the original seminar created for adults, the middle school counterpart culminates in a performance of Sophocles’ Antigone. Attendees come from the public and private schools in the Roaring Fork Valley and are chosen by their respective schools based on high academic achievement.

Students come away from these seminars with a greater capacity for reflective thinking about responsible decisions, core values, and character. They also gain increased skills in cognitive thinking, speaking, and writing, as well as improved social and intellectual confidence. Students say time and time again that the best part of the seminars is that they get to meet thoughtful peers from their area, who they would not typically meet, except in a competitive sports environment.

“The best part of the seminar for me was getting to discuss concepts that I don’t normally discuss with people I didn’t know

that well,” said one eighth-grade student. “I loved getting to make new friends and open my mind.”

Prior to coming to the seminar, students prepare by reading a compilation of classic and contemporary texts. They are asked to think critically about them prior to and within the seminar experience. “It takes them awhile to understand that what matters is their openness, their willingness to share ideas and feelings, and their ability to take risks in trying to understand the authors and their peers,” said veteran Seminar Moderator Lee Bycel. “They quickly understand that this learning environment differs from school, as they are not graded or evaluated. This frees them to think about their own values, their own ideas, and how they have come to the thoughts that they have.”

The aim of the seminars is to prepare kids to assume leadership positions with the tools they need to make values-based decisions, including the confidence to speak up. “I liked that we were all brought together in an environment where there was little to no judgment,” says an 11th-grade student, “and people truly appreciated what I had to say.”

Aspen-Area Students Reflect in a Signature Institute Seminar

“I liked that we were all brought together in an environment where there was little to no judgment and

people truly appreciated what I had to say.”

— A Roaring Fork Valley-area 11th-grade student

The Hurst Student Seminar for high school students drew teens from across the Roaring Fork Valley, in and around Aspen, Colorado.

Cri

stal L

og

an



A cornerstone of the leadership training at the Aspen Institute, the Seminar comes in many forms. All based on exploration and discussion through readings, some use a long-held cannon of texts, whereas others diverge, informed by a topic or goal of those who gather. In 1993, Trustee Laura Lauder and her husband, Gary — the daughter-in-law and son of Institute Chairman Emeritus and Lifetime Trustee Leonard Lauder — founded the Socrates seminar with the hope of applying the Institute’s values-based approach to asking important questions on topics of innovation that stand to shape the future.

As the Socrates seminar attracted a larger and larger following, they saw an opportunity to extend the roundtable discussions to 13- to 18-year-olds in a diverse environment, offering scholarships for participation and devoted spots for local Aspen teens. For the tenth Teen Socrates, in February 2014, 25 teens came together on the Aspen Meadows campus from around the country to take part in the discussion titled Shakespeare Comes Alive: What the high drama in two of William Shakespeare’s works teaches us about ourselves and our world in 2014.

Over the course of three half-days, students discussed and analyzed two Shakespeare plays: Henry V and Romeo & Juliet. Shakespeare experts and moderators Ken and Carol Adelman led the teens through an exciting journey into the 16th century, complete with period hats and regalia.

After viewing selected movie scenes, participants engaged in a lively dialogue about one of England’s most beloved and greatest kings, young King Henry V, who faced overwhelming odds yet still won an upset victory in France at the Battle of Agincourt. His famous win is still celebrated in England today, and participants discussed Henry’s leadership skills and how he won the battle. “I loved learning about life lessons through Shakespeare,” noted one student. “I had no idea that I could relate my life to Henry V.”

Next, the students explored in depth one of Shakespeare’s most famous love stories, Romeo & Juliet, and examined the tragedy and underpinnings of gang violence and the plight of two teenagers in love. Students grappled with complexities of family dynamics and dissected the story from the standpoint of what it’s like to be a teenager in 2014.

In using the format to identify their values to shape their world now and in the future, the teens returned back home with a sense of their own ability to affect their surroundings. Whether they were considering the era in which Shakespeare lived or their own, they took away the idea that leadership matters.

By Cristal Logan, director of Aspen Community Programs

Teen Socrates Examines Values With a Modern Lens on Timeless Texts

Students gathered in full 16th century regalia to study Shakespeare and draw parallels back to their own lives at the February 2014 convening of Teen Socrates.

Cri

stal L

og

an




“And even though I never

thought I would share it, I ended up feeling a lot better after

I did.”

— Yaqui, a 12th-grader from

Glenwood Springs High School

Garr

ett

Ed

qu

ist



Add a sprinkling of hip-hop and a few good dance moves, and it didn’t take long for two teaching artists to win over auditoriums full of students expecting poetry to be dull. Myrlin Hepworth and Logan Phillips visited over 3,500 middle and high school students at a total of 13 schools in the towns of Glenwood Springs, Carbondale, Basalt, and Aspen — including two alternative high schools, a charter school, and a private school — offering spoken-word workshops and performing their poetry at all-school assemblies. “These poets brought more to our school in terms of cultivating spiritual health and well-being than most visiting psychologists or life coaches ever have,” said Aspen Country Day School English teacher Annie Garrett.

The program is an outgrowth of the Aspen Writers’ Foundation, which was founded in Aspen in 1976 as a cutting-edge poetry conference and literary magazine. Today, the Foundation is one of the nation’s leading literary centers and a stage for the world’s most prominent authors. Its programs employ literature as a tool for provoking thought, broadening perspectives, fostering connections, inspiring creativity, and giving voice. Since 2009, the Foundation has partnered with the Aspen Institute and deepened its commitment to reach out to area teens using programs such as the Poetry Slam.

Hepworth, the lead Spoken Word educator and 2013 recipient of the Arizona Humanities Rising Star Award, grew up in Lewiston, Idaho, the son of a Latina mother and Anglo father, often feeling that he didn’t fit in either culture. Phillips was raised 14 miles from the Arizona-Mexico border, majored in Spanish in college, and, subsequently, was professor of Latin American literature, culture, and translation at Universidad Internacional in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, where he co-hosted the first Mexican poetry slam in 2007. Both poets brought a multicultural awareness and sensitivity to their work with young people. In these Colorado schools — some with Latino populations greater than 50 percent — the poems they shared resonated with students, regardless of background: poems of identity, poems about immigration and deportation, poems of love and loss, and poems that ricocheted between Spanish and English.

Students were encouraged to take risks with their words and feelings, and to be courageous by sharing out loud. “Myrlin was good at getting us to open up about deep things because he opened up to us first,” said Coral, a student at Roaring Fork High School in Carbondale. “Because he showed courage, he inspired us to be brave.”

During this critical time of development for their students, these teaching artists helped prepare the teens to lead by securing their own belief in their abilities. At Aspen Middle School, seventh-grader Tyler said he “learned to be myself and to never give up,” and his classmate Fernando felt “valued and respected.”

“Myrlin believed in me,” said Roaring Fork High School student Anali. “He didn’t judge me and tell me my dream was impossible.

He made me feel like I had someone who actually cared about me. I didn’t feel alone.”

Thirty-two of the students, ranging from grades seven through 12, went on to perform original poems at the Youth Poetry Slam in Carbondale, an event that drew an audience of more than 200 — a huge crowd for this rural area. The winners of the slam competition were then invited to join Phillips, Hepworth, and Tony Award-winning New York performance poet Lemon Andersen at the historic Wheeler Opera House in Aspen for the culminating public event, the Aloud! High Altitude Poetry Jam. The audience of friends, family, and local poetry-slam enthusiasts heard the result of the week’s emotional creative process, which more often than not manifested in electrifying performances from both the students

and their teachers, who make poetry their life’s work. One of the final event’s standouts was a 14-year-old girl from

Basalt High School who had lost her mother to suicide just two weeks prior to the poets’ visit and her father to deportation some time before. Karyme’s poem created an opportunity for her to release her grief through the art of self-expression. Given the chance, she, like many other students, seized it. She wasn’t alone. “I put a lot of emotion into my poem,” said Yaqui, a 12th-grade student from Glenwood Springs High School. “And even though I never thought I would share it, I ended up feeling a lot better after I did.”

By Barbara Dills, marketing and promotions manager for the Aspen Writers’ Foundation

Aspen Writers’ Foundation Uses Poetry Slam to Empower Kids

Teens from grades seven through 12 participated in the Aspen Writers’ Foundation’s Aloud! High Altitude Poetry Jam at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen, Colorado. The event was part of a wider effort to empower Roaring Fork Valley teens through the use of poetry.




the youth met with several members of Congress, including Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Students from the initiative’s inaugural year even met President Obama and witnessed his signing of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act — an incredibly important piece of legislation in Indian Country — into law.

The Champions are trained in advocacy and fundraising, among other things, to help catalyze their impact at home. After a week in DC celebrating her son, one mother, who has rarely had opportunities to travel or leave their reservation, said, “This week is one of the best experiences I have ever had. … It changed my and my son’s life forever.”

“We are creating scalable impact across tribal and urban Indian communities by investing in youth,” said Erin Bailey, executive director of the Center. “These teens and young adults grow so much as a part of the Champions for Change initiative, and their leadership efforts take off when they go back home.”

Each Champion serves a two-year term on the Center’s Youth Advisory Board. Their efforts receive greater attention from the media, donors, and advocates who help expand Champions’ programs and grow their capacity for change. Champions join a pool of young leaders the program taps to speak at national events throughout the country, such as the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington and national Indian conferences. They also organize their own summits, participate in the United Nations, and so much more. “I think we are the future and the voice of our tribal nations,” said 2013 Champion for Change Dahkota Brown.

By Josie Raphaelito and Ryan Ward, program associates at the Center for Native American Youth at the Aspen Institute

For the second year, the Center for Native American Youth at the Aspen Institute has recognized young Native American leaders — ages 14 to 24 — making a positive impact in their tribal or urban Indian communities. Called the Champions for Change initiative, the project grew out of a partnership with the White House and has continued at the urging of retired Sen. Byron Dorgan, chairman and founder of the Center for Native American Youth. He created the cornerstone initiative to inspire hope among Native American youth, develop a network of local and national leaders, and, most of all, celebrate the good news coming from the youngest leaders of First American communities.

“Native American youth have had a more difficult road to travel,” said Dorgan. “Too often they have been left behind by government policies that made grand promises, but failed to deliver on education, health care, and more. These Champions for Change are making good things happen by their own initiative, and we salute them.”

The individuals selected as Champions lead life-changing community-based efforts in a wide range of issue areas including health promotion, peer-to-peer tutoring, leadership development, culture and language preservation, and early childhood literacy. Already viewed as leaders in their communities, the distinction these young people earn gives them a national platform to showcase their work and advocate for Native youth priorities. Once selected, the Champions are recognized through a series of events and meetings in Washington, DC. Helping to fulfill the Center’s mission, their voices elevate awareness and attract more resources to benefit the more than 2 million Native American youth living in the US.

They showcase their youth-led efforts during public events at the Aspen Institute and on Capitol Hill. In the initiative’s second year,

The Center for Native American Youth’s Ryan Ward prepares Champions to meet with Congress. The Center’s Chair Byron Dorgan addresses the gathered. Opposite page: clockwise from top leftt: The 2014 Class of Champions for Change include Danielle Finn (Standing Rock Sioux), William Lucero (Lummi Nation), and Elizabeth Burns (Cherokee Nation), Keith Martinez (Oglala Lakota Sioux).

Native American Youth Champion Change

THE INSTITUTE TEACHES TEENS TO LEADV

incen

t S

ch

illin

g. O

PP

OS

ITE

PA

GE

: (c

lockw

ise f

rom

left

) C

arl

ott

a C

ard

an

a, V

incen

t S

ch

illin

g



What brought together more than 350 high school students, their teachers, principals, and some of the world’s most provocative and visionary leaders and entrepreneurs in Denver and Los Angeles? The answer: the Aspen Challenge, a program fueled by a commitment to developing powerful and creative solutions for pressing 21st century issues, and engaging young people to do it.

This year, the Aspen Challenge, presented in partnership with the Bezos Family Foundation and with support from the Moriah Fund, expanded from one city to two. Students from 20 high schools across Denver Public Schools and 17 high schools across the Los Angeles Unified School District learned firsthand from a wide group of leaders about problems that have a local and global impact on their life. These leaders tackle some of the world’s toughest problems — from environmental issues to mental health and access to nutrition. They spoke candidly with the students about the pressing issues they are confronting and then challenged them to create innovative solutions themselves.

Equipped with tools and workshop experiences in design thinking, storytelling, and character, the students rose to the challenge, and in only seven weeks, combined inspiration, collaboration, and hands-on innovation to develop provocative solutions that have the potential to make a lasting difference. “The bar was set high by our pioneering teams last year, and the impact of their work continues to resonate in their communities and beyond,” said Kitty Boone, vice president of public programs and director of the Aspen Ideas Festival and Aspen Challenge. “We are thrilled to build on their momentum and see the impact of what the new teams designed this year.”

Three student teams from Denver Public Schools, representing CEC Middle College, George Washington High School, and North High School, won the top prize during the competition that took place on March 1, at the Cable Center. Judges awarded these

three winning teams an all-expenses-paid opportunity to attend and present at the 2014 Aspen Ideas Festival. At the Los Angeles competition this spring, Valley Academy of Arts & Sciences was selected to showcase its project at the Festival. Awards for Team Spirit, Best Exhibit, and Impact were given as well.

“Our students today will become tomorrow’s leaders, and how we prepare them to tackle the 21st-century challenges they will face will play a key role in how our future unfolds,” said Tom Boasberg, Denver Public Schools superintendent. “The Aspen Challenge is a tremendous opportunity for our students to learn from experts on a variety of issues and then put that knowledge to use, solving issues in their own communities.”

The team from Denver’s CEC Middle College chose Christopher Gandin Le’s challenge to improve mental health by creating safe spaces in the school and local community for people to share and express their feelings. The team, dubbed DNA (Denver’s Not Alone) created several community-sourced art projects, launched a community day of dialogue, and a peer mentorship program.

George Washington High School’s Positive Patriots also addressed Le’s challenge, launching the Vow 2 Be Happy campaign, which utilized an array of digital channels to encourage their peers to have a positive perspective on life. The team is also starting another campaign called Journey 2 Happiness and has established a mentoring program for younger students in their community.

North High School’s team, P.L.A.Y. Denver, addressed Darell Hammond’s challenge to leverage underutilized resources and unexpected spaces to make play available to every child, especially those living in poverty. To address this, the team is building a bike path that will connect the Northside Projects with the existing Denver Bike Path System, in addition to hosting community cleanup days, creating a biofiltration system to prevent erosion and toxic runoff in and around the path, and piloting a bike share program for young kids.

“The Aspen Challenge has given my students an opportunity to identify problems in their community and instigate lasting change,” said Ariel Smith, the AP psychology and civics, economics, and leadership educator at North High School in Denver. “In seven weeks it’s been amazing to see how much passion, commitment to their cause, and creativity my students have brought to the table.”

The inaugural Aspen Challenge was launched in partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District in 2013. Denver Public Schools is the second district to partner with the Challenge, and DC Public Schools, along with schools from the DC Public Charter School Board, will be the third partnership in 2015.

“The Aspen Challenge has given me inspiration through the ideas and creativity of my peers throughout Denver Public Schools,” said Denver’s South High School senior Geoffrey Wilson. “I now believe that, by changing one personal view, you change their whole world.”

By Natalie Lacy Travers, program manager for the Aspen Challenge, a program of the Aspen Institute

Clockwise from top: YouthBuild National Alumni Council President Jamiel Alexander addressed the Aspen Challenge participants in Denver, along with Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock. Students from 20 high schools in Denver and 17 in Los Angeles competed to create programs that would positively influence their own communities. D

an

Davis

The Aspen Challenge Charges Teens to Better their Communities




THE INAUGURAL CLASS OF NEW VOICES FELLOWS INCLUDES: (top row, from left) Jacques Sebisaho, M.D.; Jane Otai; Kassahun Desalegn Bilcha, M.D.; (second row, from left) Ola Orekunrin; Salif Niang; Mary Mwanyika-Sando, M.D.; (third row, from left) Mohamed Ali; Deborah Ahenkorah; Jeffrey Misomali; (bottom row, from left) Kennedy Odede; Regina Agyare

Ra

ch

ae

l S

tre

ch

er

_PDF-New_Voices_5/27/14_mh_f.indd 72 5/27/14 5:01 PM


The late BBC journalist Komla Dumor was known to quote a favorite proverb when discussing news coverage of Africa: “Until the lion learns to write, every story will favor the hunter.”

Dumor, a Ghanaian who, before his untimely death this year, presented the BBC’s Focus on Africa series, emphasized that far too much of the coverage of Africa is still fi ltered through a Western lens and fails to capture the dynamism and complexity of events unfolding across the continent.

This critique holds true for news coverage of much of the developing world, and particularly its discussion of international aid and development. All too often, people in developing countries are depicted as passive targets of Western-led development programs, rather than as the experts who are driving change on the ground.

Who better to talk about maternal health in Africa than an African doctor who is also a mother? Who understands the challenges of creating opportunities for young people in Africa’s urban slums better than someone who grew up there and built his own school?

Expanding the conversation to include authoritative new voices from the developing world is a challenge, but, will be increasingly important as the international community seeks to reach a consensus on the global development agenda beyond the 2015 Millennium Development Goals.

The need is clear, and especiallly in global health. A research

ON-THE-GROUND EXPERTS ARE RARELY HEARD FROM IN WESTERN MEDIA. THE INSTITUTE CREATED A FELLOWSHIP TO CHANGE THAT.

By Andrew Quinn, Director of Aspen New Voices Fellowship

study published in the spring 2013 volume of Global Health Governance found that, in a sample of 100 scholarly articles on global health, 77 percent of the authors came from countries in the developed world, including Europe, the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The Aspen Global Health and Development policy program, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, set up the Aspen New Voices Fellowship program in 2013 to identify and support developing country experts and to amplify their contributions to the global development debate.

FINDING A GLOBAL AUDIENCEIdentifying emerging leaders proved to be the easy part: There are African doctors, scientists, social entrepreneurs, and community organizers pioneering new approaches to development across the continent. The New Voices program is aimed at transforming them into global “thought leaders,” with communications skills and media access to bring their messages to a worldwide audience.

“I wanted to hear more experts from the developing world, especially around Africa, tell stories of their solutions to problems related to poverty, health, education, and the environment,” said John Donnelly, communications adviser to World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and one of the driving forces behind the New Voices program.

“It’s time we heard African voices speak about African solutions,

WHY YOU DON’T HAVE THE

FULL STORY ON DEVELOPING COUNTRIES



and to do that we need to give them media training that is widely available in the West.”

The inaugural New Voices class featured a cross-section of innovative thinkers, including Ola Orekunrin, a Nigerian doctor who established West Africa’s fi rst helicopter ambulance service; Salif Niang, a Malian entrepreneur who is developing new ways to produce and market nutritionally fortifi ed rice; Mohamed Ali, a former Somali refugee who is building youth empowerment programs in Mogadishu; and Deborah Ahenkorah, a Ghanaian activist who established the world’s fi rst prize for children’s literature produced by African authors and illustrators specifi cally for African children.

The 11-member Fellowship class gathered for its fi rst meeting in Johannesburg and embarked on a rigorous program designed to sharpen their development messages and build media skills. Experienced trainers worked with Fellows to explain how the international media works, how to construct a persuasive opinion piece, how to prepare for and take control of interviews, and strategies for eff ective public speaking.

Fellows were also paired with media coaches who helped them put their new skills into practice once they returned to their regular work, while the Institute’s Fellowship staff identifi ed opportunities for Fellows to place articles and deliver speeches to get their messages across.

“Africa’s expectant mothers face three main risks, what experts refer to as the ‘three delays’: delays in leaving the house initially, delays in reaching health

facilities, and delays in receiving care after reaching health facilities, many of which are understaffed with limited or even no supplies.”

— MARY MWANYIKA-SANDO, M.D., “IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, THE JOYS OF PREGNANCY COME WITH FATAL RISKS,” THINK AFRICA PRESS, JULY 26, 2013

COMMUNICATING BIG IDEASOver the ensuing six months, Fellows were featured over 76 times in media outlets and speaking opportunities, including op-ed articles at CNN and Al-Jazeera, in The New York Times, interviews for NPR and the BBC, and a speech on the TED main stage. By the end of the inaugural year’s measurement period, media appearances by Fellows had increased by 163 percent, compared with a cumulative baseline measure of two years prior to the program’s launch.

“Before coming in, I thought thought leadership was simply about big ideas: Thought leaders were people who had enlightening or groundbreaking ideas that shaped the most important conversations of our time,” said Ali, whose TED talk on breaking the link between unemployment and terrorism in Somalia has been viewed almost 700,000 times. “The program showed me that it’s more than just ideas, and actually demystifi ed what it means to be a thought leader,” he said. “You cannot become a thought leader until you understand the idea that you are trying to communicate.”

The Institute’s long tradition of cultivating values-based leadership has also been an important part of the New Voices program. Fellows held their second group meeting in Washington, DC, and spent several days at the Wye River campus, where they took part in a specially designed Aspen Seminar conducted by veteran moderator David Townsend, discussing works by authors ranging

Mohamed Ali speaks at TED Cities. OPPOSITE PAGE: (clockwise from top left) Salif Niang presents his fortified rice business to President Barack Obama. Regina Agyare teaches children from a rural village in Ghana to code. Niang (left) and Kassahun Desalegn Bilcha, M.D., pose at their farewell New Voices dinner in Johannesburg. Jacques Sebisaho, M.D., poses with his community on Idjwi Island, Democratice Republic of Congo. Desalegn Bilcha examines a young patient in Gondar, Ethiopia. Agyare offers rural children skills to which they wouldn’t otherwise have access. Jane Otai looks out over the Korogocho slums in Nairobi, Kenya.

“The responsibility is on governments and the donor

community to quickly strengthen health systems to cope with the next expected increase in patient numbers.

The battle against Africa’s AIDS epidemic is widely

seen to be at a turning point, but the logistics need

to be in place to carry the campaign to victory.”

— JEFFREY MISOMALI, “AS HIV DRUGS SPREAD HOPE,

AFRICA’S HEALTH SYSTEMS STRUGGLE,” HUFFINGTON POST,

OCT. 9, 2013

Ry

an

La

sh

/T

ED



“Urban slums worldwide will soon reach a tipping point,

with young people rejecting the lives that they

have been offered. Their power lies in their numbers

— more than half of the world’s youth shares their fate — and in their anger.

They will rise up, refusing to accept their status as second-class citizens of ever-expanding urban

settlements, and they will destabilize countries like

Kenya, undermining efforts to build more stable,

prosperous societies.” — KENNEDY ODEDE,

“AFRICA’S URBAN CHALLENGE,” PROJECT SYNDICATE, AUGUST 2013

Nin

a S

ch

wen

dem

an

nS

alif

Nia

ng

Rach

ae

l S

tre

ch

er

Jacq

ue

s S

eb

isah

oR

ach

ae

l S

tre

ch

er

Rach

ael S

trech

er

K.G

yab

aa P

ho

tog

rap

hy

_PDF-New_Voices_5/27/14_mh_f.indd 75 6/3/14 8:12 AM


from Aristotle to Nelson Mandela, and exploring the deeper foundations of their work as development leaders.

While in DC, the Fellows also inaugurated a new joint program with the World Bank titled DevSlam, a poetry-slam-style event featuring Fellows and Bank offi cials telling their own stories from the fi eld — and from the heart — about the challenges and triumphs of development work.

LIFELONG TRAINING FOR LEADERSHIPIn 2014, the New Voices Fellowship has been expanding. The new class numbers 14 and for the fi rst time includes experts from beyond Africa, including Jensi Sartin, a coral reef researcher and environmental activist from Indonesia; Myshkin Ingawale, an entrepreneurial Indian innovator whose company has delivered aff ordable medical technology to prevent anemia-related maternal and infant deaths; and Anick Dupuy, a Haitian public health expert whose work following the 2010 earthquake has concentrated on improving basic health services. They join 11 African experts on everything from malaria vaccine research to boosting agricultural productivity, and they will join the larger Aspen family as speakers at Aspen Ideas Festival Spotlight: Health.

“These unsung heroes can bring ‘ground truth’ to our development eff orts and guide us to ever greater eff ectiveness and impact,” said Peggy Clark, Institute vice president and head of Aspen Global Health and Development. “Over the next few years, donors and governments will make decisions to fund, or not fund, major investments in research, global health, and sustainability. The New Voices Fellows will give us insight into the most critical programs, solutions, and innovations based on their own experiences and research.”

For the Fellows themselves, New Voices

“We have come a long way since last year, when Mali almost disappeared from the map. And while there are

reasons to fear the risks that come along with this election, Malians have been waiting for this opportunity. This week’s election could be the opportunity for Mali to

not only get back on its feet, but thrive in peace.”— SALIF NIANG, “MALI VOTES FOR THE FUTURE,”

AL-JAZEERA ONLINE, JULY 27, 2013

“I, like generations of Africans, grew up and

continue to grow up without access to books that

represent our own stories, cultures, and realities. …

To be sure, it is great to be exposed to other cultures and

be inspired by them. But it is dangerous if this becomes

your only window into the world as a growing child. Reading about characters that look and live like you

and your family grounds you in who you are and gives you

permission to take pride in your culture and where

you are from.” — DEBORAH AHENKORAH,

“WHERE ARE THE STORIES FOR AFRICAN CHILDREN?” HUFFINGTON

POST, OCT. 23, 2013

is opening doors to reach decision makers and expanding the global conversation to include fresh, important perspectives.

“It’s a yearlong Fellowship, and you’re supposed to provide deliverables within the year, but what this really is, is lifelong training for leadership,” said Ghana’s Deborah Ahenkorah, whose Golden Baobab children’s literature project was one of 12 fi nalists for the 2013 Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship. “What I think I have done in the past year is build up my voice, build up my confi dence, build up my ability to communicate, so that in the rest of this year — and the years to come — whenever opportunities come my way, I will be ready to get out what I need to get out to shape the discourse.”

From top: Kennedy Odede at his organization, Shining Hope for Communities, in Kibera, Nairobi. Deborah Ahenkorah shows one of the children’s books created through the support of her orga-nization, Golden Baobab in Accra, Ghana. Opposite page: (clockwise from top) Jacques Sebisaho poses with his community on Idjwi Island in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Odede shows vis-itors around his school for girls in Kibera, Nairobi. Jane Otai leads a women’s reproductive health group in the Korogocho slum near Nairobi, Kenya.

“There are a variety of reasons why women in

traditional or less-developed societies give birth to many children: religious, cultural, economic, status, and lack

of adequate information. But one reason that seems so obvious once you think

about it — but which seldom tops the list — is the fear that

the children they do bear might not survive.”

— JANE OTAI, “IN AREAS WHERE CHILDREN DIE YOUNG, FAMILY PLANNING IS A HARD SELL,”

THE NEW YORK TIMES, DEC. 2, 2103

Rach

ae

l S

tre

ch

er

Rach

ae

l S

tre

ch

er



Nin

a S

ch

wen

dem

an

n J

acq

ues

Seb

isah

o

Rach

ae

l S

tre

ch

er


grow smart.Thanks to advanced breeding techniques, Monsanto has developed new seedless varieties of watermelon that still deliver that classic, sweet watermelon flavor. It’s just one way we’re creating better food choices for a growing planet. Innovation has never tasted so delicious.



Are Small and Growing Businesses the Key to Economic Prosperity?Randall Kempner and Genevieve Edens of Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs offer why these private sector enterprises may be the best way to create jobs in developing countries.

Creating Financial Oases in Banking DesertsBill Bynum writes about his John P. McNulty Prize-winning solution to one of the most financially devastating remnants of civil rights inequality — banking deserts.

Recent PublicationsLearn about the scope of reports and publications released by policy programs at the Institute.

80

84

88

The Aspen Journal of Ideas offers thought-provoking analysis and issue-defining information from the programs and partners of the Institute. A digital Journal, updated weekly, will soon launch at aspen.us.

_PDF-Journal_cover_5_27_14_d.indd 79 5/28/14 11:43 AM


_PDF-Journal_1_5_27_14_mh_kss_e.indd 80 5/27/14 5:05 PM


Are Small and Growing Businesses the Key to Economic Prosperity?

BY GENEVIEVE EDENS AND RANDALL KEMPNER | ILLUSTRATION BY SARAH JONES

The World Needs Jobs “What the whole world wants is a good job.” This was the main finding of a 2010 Gallup poll, conducted in over 129 countries.1 In most countries, the stability of formal, salaried employment is what distinguishes the middle class from the poor. Around the world, the poor hope for jobs, if not for their generation, then for their children.2 Recent evidence from South Asia suggests that it has been job creation, on a massive scale, that has led to a dramatic decline in poverty levels in the region.3

Since the financial crisis of 2008, the world has anxiously watched unemployment levels, and job creation has become a global concern. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates global unemployment at about 200 million, and projects the need for 600 million new jobs over the next decade to maintain economic growth.4 In addition, the ILO emphasizes the lack of decent jobs in developing countries, where an estimated 900 million workers earn less than $2 a day.

Families living in poverty in developing countries typically patch together multiple sources of income, whether from agricultural production, self-employment, or temporary employment at small firms. For this group, poverty is characterized not only by low income levels, but also by highly variable income by day, week, or season. Steady employment at a relatively higher wage rate can help alleviate poverty, providing a reliable source of income for a family to depend upon.

Over the past few decades, much of the policy emphasis in international poverty alleviation has centered on private sector development, especially micro-, small, and medium-size enterprises (MSMEs). But this catchall category represents a diverse group of businesses — from mom-and-pop shops to enterprises with more than 200 employees. More recent evidence shows that policymakers should begin to focus on the particular subsegments that have the most potential to grow, generate jobs, and foster economic development. These are small and growing businesses that have the power to scale and create jobs, provide access to new markets, and deliver goods and services to communities in the developing world.

Where are the Engines of Job Creation? Alongside the growing global concern regarding unemployment, policymakers have increasingly pointed to small businesses as the key to job creation. Certainly, evidence suggests that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the largest contributors around the world to employment. SMEs contribute to approximately 66 percent of total, full-time employment and generate 86 percent of new jobs in the formal sector. In low-income countries, the SME contribution to employment is even higher, at 78 percent.5

As enterprises grow, they provide not only more jobs, but higher-quality jobs. Evidence from household data in Ghana suggests that as companies grow, they also grow wages. Relatively larger, more formal firms (with 50 to 200 workers) offer higher wages, more stable income, and, in many cases, better working conditions.6 Jobs, however, in these types of firms are limited in many developing countries and not easily available to the poor. Although mainly small firms currently employ or engage the poor, the growing firms are the ones that can help them out of poverty by providing them with higher, more stable wages.

In the US, research has similarly identified that small businesses employ the majority of the population, only a small subsegment of these businesses create new jobs and economic growth. According to the US Small Business Association, 3 percent of firms account for nearly all of private sector job growth.7 By contrast, up to 80 percent of small businesses do not grow at all, even over multiyear

THESE PRIVATE SECTOR ENTERPRISES MAY BE THE BEST WAY TO CREATE JOBS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.

1 Clifton, J. & Marlar, J. 2011. Good Jobs: The New Golden Standard. Gallup Publishing 2 Banerjee, A. & Duflo, E. 2011. Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty. PublicAffairs. 3 World Bank. 2011. More and Better Jobs in South Asia. World Bank. 4 International Labor Organization. 2012. Global Employment Trends 2012: Preventing a Deeper Jobs Crisis. ILO. 5 Ayyagari, M., Demirguc-Kunt, A. & Maksimovic, V. 2011. Small vs. Young Firms Across the World: Contribution to Employment, Job Creation, and Growth. Policy Research Working Paper WPS 5631. World Bank. 6 Sandefur, 2006. 7Acs, Z., Parsons, W., & Tracy, S. 2008. “High-Impact Firms: Gazelles Revisited.” Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy.



time horizons.8 In emerging markets, there is much less evidence on the dynamics of job creation and firm growth. However, recent research from Endeavor using the World Bank Enterprise Survey Data shows a similar trend. They found a similarly small proportion of companies in emerging markets are growing quickly, while those fast-growing businesses account for a disproportionately large percentage of overall job growth. These businesses are called scaleups or gazelles. Regardless of nomenclature, these are businesses that grow at a fast pace, 20 percent over a three-year period.

The term “small and medium-size enterprises” covers a wide variety of business types, of which only a small percentage is relevant for job creation and economic growth. Most approaches to private-sector-led development do not adequately recognize this distinction, and many governments (including those in developed countries) provide incentives to small firms to remain small, restricting growth and productivity.9 Only a small fraction of firms will achieve rapid growth and create jobs and economic development.10 But those businesses with the potential and ambition to grow will have an outsize development impact.

The Small and Growing Business SectorThe data confirms that a subsegment of SMEs will have the most impact on economic growth and prosperity creation: small and growing businesses, those firms that are not replicating an existing product for an existing market, but instead are innovating to bring new products to market or to serve new customers. These firms have the ambition and potential to scale.

This segment has historically been overlooked by development policymakers and private capital markets alike. In developing economies, there tends to be a huge number of microenterprises, some larger firms, and very few small- and medium-size enterprises. This “missing middle” phenomenon is potentially caused by the difficulty that entrepreneurs face accessing the growth capital they need to scale, lack of access to human capital or markets, or a difficult regulatory environment.11

Because these entrepreneurs face significant barriers to growth, an industry has emerged to support the development of their businesses. The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE), an Aspen Institute program, provides a platform for the organizations that are unified in their focus on small and growing businesses. ANDE is a network of 200-plus organizations that propel entrepreneurship in emerging markets. The program’s members provide critical financial, educational, and business support services to small and growing businesses (SGBs) based on the conviction that SGBs will create jobs, stimulate long-term economic growth, and produce environmental and social benefits. Ultimately, we believe that SGBs can help lift countries out of poverty.

Because access to finance is the most visible gap that SGBs face, organizations have begun to specialize in providing capital to businesses in emerging markets in deal sizes from $20,000 to $2 million, that traditionally have been too small for private capital providers. The number of investment vehicles dedicated to this deal size has grown substantially in the past decade, including both

ANDE members and non-ANDE members. These investment vehicles have raised more than $2 billion to invest in SGBs, but the sector is still relatively small; emerging market private equity funds raised $177 billion in the same period, for example. The scale of the barriers to finance is even larger: McKinsey estimates a credit gap of $850 billion for SMEs in emerging markets.12

Although finance is critical for small business growth, equally important is access to knowledge, skills, and management capacity that entrepreneurs need to successfully take their businesses to scale. The number of capacity development providers, a diverse group of organizations that help entrepreneurs grow their businesses by providing nonfinancial support, has also expanded in recent years. More than a third of the nearly 70 ANDE members that provide capacity development services were founded in the last five years, and half were founded in the past decade.

These organizations want small businesses to grow, and to realize the positive social impact that scale will generate through job creation, ripple effects to its suppliers, and potentially social benefit for customers with new access to goods and services.

Social Performance of Small and Growing Businesses The supporters of small and growing businesses recognize that their influence lives beyond job creation alone. As these firms grow, they can positively impact their network of stakeholders, including clients, distributors, suppliers, and employees. In 2013, 22 ANDE members provided performance data on their portfolios of small and growing businesses. This data includes financial data, as well as information about the impact on SGB stakeholders.8 Hurst, E. & Pugsley, B. 2011. “What Do Small Businesses Do?” NBER Working Paper No. 17041. 9 Garicano, L., Lelarge, C., & Van Reenen, J. 2013. “Firm Size Distortions and the Productivity Distribution: Evidence from France” National Bureau of Economic Research Working paper No. w18841. 10 Schoar, A. 2009. The Divide Between Subsistence and Transformational Entrepreneurship, in Joshua Lerner and Scott Stern (Eds.), NBER Innovation Policy and the Economy 2009 11 Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs. 2013. Impact Report 2012: Engines of Prosperity. 12 Stein, P., et al. 2010. Two Trillion and Counting: Assessing the Credit Gap for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the Developing World. IFC and McKinsey.

Only a small fraction of firms will achieve rapid growth and create jobs and economic

development. But those businesses with the potential and the ambition to grow will

have an outsize development impact.



RANDALL KEMPNER is executive director of the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE), a global network of organizations that propel entrepreneurship in emerging markets. As executive director, he oversees the implementation of ANDE’s extensive program and advocacy agenda, including training programs for investing in emerging-market entrepreneurs; promoting investment opportunities in emerging market SGBs; and developing standardized financial, social, and environmental metrics for impact investment. Kempner has nearly 20 years of experience in the field of national and international economic development. Most recently, he served as vice president for regional innovation at the US Council on Competitiveness.

GENEVIEVE EDENS has five years of experience across private, nonprofit, and academic settings. She comes to ANDE from the international nonprofit ACDI/VOCA, where she supported projects in the Enterprise Development portfolio with a focus on the cooperative business model in East Africa and Latin America. Before moving to Washington, DC, Edens spent several years living in Tanzania; there, she worked for the coffee importer Sustainable Harvest, linking producers to high-premium specialty coffee markets. Edens also conducted research at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University on cultural differences in charitable giving. Edens is pursuing an MBA at George Washington University, and has a B.A. from Wesleyan University in African history.

Client Impacts Many ANDE members support SGBs that have a specific value proposition for the base of the pyramid, those 4 billion individuals who earn less than $2 a day and who lack access to basic goods and services, such as clean water, electricity, and health care. Many SGBs are creating innovative business models to deliver those services, such as providing off-grid electricity to rural communities or offering sanitation services to urban communities. As these SGBs grow their client base, they also grow their positive social impact. Among ANDE members’ portfolios, SGBs have reached more than 5 million clients and report an average compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of the client base is 70 percent.

Employment ImpactsThe businesses supported by ANDE members grow more quickly than typical businesses, but not all are the scaleups or gazelles that drive significant job growth. While the average growth rates are quite high, at over 50 percent CAGR, the median rates are much more modest. This suggests that even within the SGB sub-segment, there is a smaller percentage of businesses that are ready to take off and scale; when they do so, the effect is significant.

The average SGB employs 64 people full time, with a 58 percent average CAGR in the number of employees. But the median number of employees is 19, with 9 percent median CAGR. Average wage is $11,500 per year. Putting that wage in each national context, these SGBs pay above the average national wage (median 78 percent higher) and well above the national minimum wage (median 478 percent higher).

Supplier Impacts Forty-two percent of the data that ANDE has aggregated on small and growing businesses comes from the agriculture sector. In the typical business model, an enterprise purchases crops from hundreds of smallholder farmers. The enterprise aggregates, processes, and/or transports that crop to add value for the next actor along the supply chain. In this model, SGBs create access to markets for smallholder farmers and provide income for farming families that can be measured through the payments that the enterprise makes to its suppliers.

The typical SGB in the agriculture sector returns 78 percent of its total revenue to smallholder suppliers in the form of supplier payments. It purchases from 600 smallholder farmers per year and pays an average of $1,400 for their crops.

SGBs in the agriculture sector exhibit strong growth, reporting a CAGR of 54 percent. As companies grow revenues, they also tend to grow the payments they make to smallholders in their supplier network. Higher revenue growth is not only correlated to growth in total payments to supplier, but growth in the average size of payments to suppliers.

ConclusionANDE members strongly believe that if supported, small and growing businesses can be an engine of prosperity in emerging markets. But the empirical evidence is still relatively scarce for the sector. In many countries, firm-level data is not available or is inaccessible. Without data, we do not have a clear picture of which interventions might have the most impact on small business growth.

Despite several decades of entrepreneurship programs implemented by governments and development agencies around the world, there is surprisingly little rigorous research on effective ways to support small and growing businesses. Much of the existing research on entrepreneurship in developing countries focuses on smaller, informal sector microenterprises, and does not easily transfer to the SGB sector.13

Core to ANDE’s mission is increasing the effectiveness of SGB practitioners. Research into not just the impacts of small and growing businesses, but the effects of various types of interventions is critical to this mission. ANDE aims to support a more data-driven SGB sector that ultimately will create a long-term sustainable approach to prosperity creation. 13 Banerjee (2014), Roodman (2012)



_PDF-Journal_2_5_27_14_mh_kss_d.indd 84 5/27/14 5:06 PM


Creating Financial Oases in

Bank Deserts

BY BILL BYNUM, 2013 JOHN P. MCNULTY AWARD WINNER ILLUSTRATION BY SARAH JONES

t the same time, many speeches and lectures soberly acknowledge that the work of the movement remains unfinished — particularly around issues of economic justice.1, 2 In the areas of poverty, housing, and access to affordable financial services, the gap between African-Americans and whites, rural and urban areas, and the rich and the poor is far too wide. In 2014, as in 1964, nowhere are these disparities more glaring than in the Deep South.

This article describes key elements of the economic divide that persists 50 years after the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act. It then lays out best practices for addressing the challenges and concludes with an eye toward connecting historically underserved populations to affordable financial services in a nation that will continue to grow more diverse.

Poverty and IncomeAnalysis of the most recent census data reveals that Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana are among the most impoverished states in the country.3 Even greater concern is merited because the region also hosts a quarter of the nation’s counties in persistent poverty — defined as a county that has experienced poverty rates in excess of 20 percent for three decades in a row.4 Over half of Mississippi’s persistently poor counties are counties in which the majority of the population is African-American. In a state where 43 percent of the child population is African-American, one out of every two black children is growing up in poverty.5

Over the past several months, communities around the country have taken the time to pay tribute to, and reflect on, several seminal events from America’s civil rights era. Fifty

years after the assassination of Medgar Evers in Mississippi and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the commemorations exhibit a reverent mix of awe

and gratitude for the sacrifices made and important gains achieved.

Housing InequalityHomeownership levels in the Midsouth could be considered middle of the road relative to other states;6 but, the manner in which individuals purchase homes in the region exacerbates the financial challenges facing area residents. Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas have the first, third, and fifth highest rates of high-cost lending in the country. Among African-Americans, the rate of high-cost mortgage lending in the Midsouth significantly exceeds the national average. One out of four mortgages made to African-Americans in Mississippi, and one out of five in Louisiana are high-cost loans, according to the 2011 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act Data. These rates are the second and fifth highest in the country and substantially surpass the rate of high-cost lending to African-Americans nationwide (8.7 percent). These high-cost mortgages translate into less money available to save for college or an emergency.

High-cost loans are also more likely to result in foreclosure.7 When foreclosures occur, particularly in low-income communities, the spillover effects are stark. Nearby homes lose value, resulting in a loss of wealth for families. In minority communities, families lose, on average, $37,000 simply for living close to a foreclosed home.8

Financial ServicesThe Midsouth is home to the highest rates of unbanked and underbanked households in the country. An underbanked

A

1 Jordan, Vernon. “Medgar Evers Tribute.” Jackson, MS, June 12, 2013. 2 Lewis, John. TRANSCRIPT: Rep. John Lewis’ speech on 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. August 28, 2013. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/transcript-rep-john-lewiss-speech-on-50th-anniversary-of-the-march-on-washington/2013/08/28/fc2d538a-100d-11e3-8cdd-bcdc09410972_story.html 3 Annie E. Casey Kids Count Data Center. Population in Poverty. September 2013. datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/52-population-in-poverty?loc=1&loct=2#ranking/2/any/true/868/any/340.4 U.S. Treasury CDFI Fund. Persistent Poverty Data by County. April 2, 2012. www.cdfifund.gov/what_we_do/persistentpoverty.asp (accessed April 10, 2014).5 Annie E. Casey, September 2013. 6 CFED. Assets and Opportunity Scorecard Homeownership Rate. 2012. scorecard.assetsandopportunity.org/2014/measure/homeownership-rate. The Most Unbanked Places in America. 12 2011. cfed.org/assets/pdfs/Most_Unbanked_Places_in_America.pdf 7 Bocian, Debbie Gruenstein, Wei Li, and Carolina Reid. “Lost Ground: 2011: Disparities in Mortgage Lending and Foreclosures.” Center for Responsible Lending. November 2011. www.responsiblelending.org/mortgage-lending/research-analysis/Lost-Ground-2011.pdf 8 Bocian, Debbie Gruenstein, and Wei Li. “Collateral Damage: The Spillover Costs of Foreclosures.” Center for Responsible Lending. October 24, 2012. www.responsiblelending.org/mortgage-lending/research-analysis/collateral-damage.pdf



household is defined as a household with a bank account that also uses the services of an alternative financial service provider such as a check casher, payday lender, or pawnshop. Over 40 percent of Arkansas’ households are unbanked or underbanked — more than in any other state.9 Racial disparities contribute heavily to this imbalance. Seventy-two percent of black households in Arkansas are unbanked or underbanked, in contrast to 33 percent of white households. Nationwide, the split is characterized as 55 percent of black households and 20 percent of white households.10 In Mississippi, 31 percent of African-American households are unbanked, compared with 5 percent of white households. The gap is nearly nine percentage points wider than the gap between white and black households at the national level.11 Five of the 10 most unbanked counties or parishes in the nation are in the Mississippi and Louisiana Delta.12

Access to Bank BranchesA prominent indicator of the economy’s rebound from the Great Recession is growth in earnings by the nation’s financial institutions. In 2013, the annual net income for FDIC-insured banks totaled a record $154.7 billion, compared with a loss of $10 billion in 2009. At the end of December, bank earnings had increased in 17 of the last 18 quarters.

Despite this robust profitability, bank branches have closed at high levels — disproportionately in low-income areas,13 resulting in the emergence of “bank deserts” in many rural areas, inner cities, and communities of color. A bank desert is defined as a ZIP code with fewer than two bank branches.14

When banks leave low-income communities or avoid them altogether, residents in these underserved areas experience the negative effects of the alternative. Researchers suggest a correlation between the poverty of a neighborhood, a large population of minority residents, and the presence of payday lenders and other alternative financial service providers.15, 16, 17 Payday loans are short-term, small-dollar loans, typically less than $500 and with a repayment period of less than 30 days. Repayment often coincides with a borrower’s pay day, when the borrower’s bank account is debited for the amount of the loan plus fees. Once an individual takes out one payday loan, the likelihood that he or she will become a repeat borrower is high. In a study of 15 million payday loans originated in 33 states, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau found that the median borrower took out 10 loans over the course of 12 months, costing $458 in fees, not including the principal of the loan.18 Individuals who rely on such costly alternatives over the course of a lifetime could expend as much as $40,000 in fees that could have been saved by having a low-fee checking account.19

Residents also suffer a substantial loss of reinvestment benefits when banks leave a community. In low-income neighborhoods, there is a strong relationship between the presence of a branch and the origination of mortgages. Likewise, as branch access increases, the cost of mortgages decreases.20 In Appalachia, as the number of bank branches increased, the number of small business loans increased.21

Importantly, a depository offers a gateway to a savings account and a way to build credit and wealth through asset development. When lower-income families have an account with a depository, they are more likely to own assets — such as a vehicle, a home, or savings — which are some of the basic building blocks of economic security.22

Increasing Access to Financial Services in Bank Deserts For more than 20 years, Hope Enterprise Corporation (HOPE) has taken a data-driven approach to building a sustainable organization that can meet the financial needs of underserved populations. HOPE started out as a $1.5 million business loan fund that targeted distressed counties and parishes in the lower Mississippi River Delta region. Today it is a $280 million community development organization whose affiliates include a highly respected center that conducts policy research, analysis, and advocacy. Since its inception, HOPE has financed or leveraged over $2 billion in projects that have affected the lives of more than 500,000 individuals.

HOPE has generated these results by adhering to principles that are present in many high-performing companies: maintaining a deep knowledge of its target market, customers, and business environment through the constant gathering and analysis of data; using findings from this analysis to constantly inform and improve business practices; fostering a culture that encourages innovation; and emphasizing a high level of customer service. However HOPE is distinct from traditional banks and alternative financial service providers in its commitment to addressing the financial service needs of underserved people and places in an affordable manner.

HOPE’s primary financial service vehicle is the 29,000-member Hope Federal Credit Union, a federally regulated depository. Thirty-seven percent of the credit union’s members were unbanked when they joined HOPE, and seven out of 10 are minorities.

The high rate of unbanked members who join HOPE indicates a substantial market demand among families and communities that have been overlooked by the traditional banking sector and left with few options other than high-cost payday and subprime mortgage lenders.

9FDIC. “2011 Household Banking Status by State.” EconomicInclusion.gov Appendix. 2011. www.economicinclusion.gov/surveys/2011household/documents/appendix/2011-State-Summary-Unbanked.pdf 10FDIC 2011 11FDIC 2011 12CFED 2011 13FDIC. (2014, February 26). Statement by FDIC Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg on the Fourth Quarter 2013 Quarterly Banking Profile: www.fdic.gov/news/news/speeches/spfeb2614.html 14U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General. Providing Non-Bank Financial Services for the Underserved. White Paper, Washington, DC: United States Post Office, 2014 15Graves, Steven M. “Landscapes of Predation, Landscapes of Neglect: A Location Analysis of Payday Lenders and Banks.” the Professional Geographer 55, no. 3 (2003): 303-317. —. “State Ranks - PDL.” Usury Law and the Christian Right. 2008. 16Barr, Michael S., Jane K. Dokko, and Benjamin J. Keys. “And Banking for All?” In No Slack, by Michael S. Barr, 54-82. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2012 17Silver, Josh, and Archana Pradhan. “Why Branch Closures are Bad for Communities.” National Community Reinvestment Coalition. April 2012. www.ncrc.org/images/stories/mediaCenter_reports/issuebrief_bank%20branches_april%202012.pdf 18CFPB. Payday Loans and Deposit Advance Products. White Paper, Washington, DC: Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, 2013 19Fellowes, Matt, and Mia Mabanta. Banking on Wealth: America’s New Retail Banking Infrastructure and its Wealth Building Potential. Research Brief, Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 2008 20Ergungor, O. Emre. Bank Branch Presence and Access to Credit in Low-to-Moderate Income Neighborhoods. Working Paper 06-16, Cleveland, OH: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, 2006 21NCRC. “Access to Capital and Credit for Small Businesses in Appalachia.” National Community Reinvestment Coalition. April 2007. www.arc.gov/assets/research_reports/AccesstoCapitalandCreditforSmallBusinessesinAppalachia3.pdf 22Hogarth, Jeanne M., and Kevin H. O’Donnell. Banking Relationships of Lower-Income Families and the Governmental Trend toward Electronic Payment. Bulletin, Washington, DC: Federal Reserve Board, 1999

_PDF-Journal_2_5_27_14_mh_kss_d.indd 86 6/3/14 10:47 AM


WILLIAM J. (BILL) BYNUM is CEO of HOPE (Hope Enterprise Corporation/Hope Credit Union), a community development financial institution and policy center that ensures access to responsible financial services in distressed communities across Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. As chairman of the Treasury Department’s Community Development Advisory Board from 2002 to 2012, he advised Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama on community-development matters. His current board service includes the Corporation for Enterprise Development, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Millsaps College, Mississippi Children’s Museum, William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Community Advisory Board. In 2013, Bynum was awarded the Aspen Global Leadership Network’s John P. McNulty Prize. ED SIVAK serves as chief policy and communications officer for HOPE (Hope Enterprise Corporation/Hope Credit Union). Sivak established HOPE’s policy arm, the Mississippi Economic Policy Center, which conducts research and analysis on issues affecting low-wealth families and communities. Sivak holds a Master of Public Policy from Georgetown University, and a Bachelor of Arts in History and English from Marquette University.

HOPE responds to this demand by intentionally focusing on underserved markets. Over half of HOPE’s members earn less than $35,000 a year. HOPE’s payday loan alternative product costs $160 per year, compared with the $1,335 in annual fees associated with a typical payday loan in Mississippi.

In 2013, 94 percent of mortgages closed by HOPE were made to minority, female, and low-income homebuyers. During the year, 86 percent of HOPE’s home mortgage loans went to first-time homebuyers. An annual survey of HOPE mortgage borrowers indicates that 49 percent report living in safer neighborhoods, and 41 percent report improved outcomes for their children in school since purchasing a home.

Similarly, a high percentage of HOPE’s commercial lending benefits historically underserved and economically distressed populations. During the year, 86 percent of all commercial loans closed, by dollar, went to businesses located in high-poverty areas. This rate was nearly 40 percentage points higher than the regional bank average for lending in economically distressed communities. The average annual wage at companies financed by HOPE is $28,217, compared with the poverty wage for a four-person family of $23,050 and the minimum wage salary of $15,080.

Since 2008, HOPE has expanded its presence from six to 23 service locations. In two communities, HOPE preserved access to

banking services by acquiring facilities left behind following the closure of the only bank in town. In the census tracts where these branches were located, the percentage of minority residents was 42 percent and 62 percent, respectively.

In 2013, HOPE partnered with the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB), a historically black university in the heart of the Arkansas Delta, to pilot a “microbranch” that emphasizes self-service through technology. Designed to lower delivery costs and reach people in low-density areas, this model builds on the increased use of mobile and online banking, and the high concentration of smartphones among low-income people. Members use an ATM, on-site computers, smartphones, tablets, and other electronic devices to join HOPE, open accounts, check account balances, transfer funds, and pay bills. HOPE employs UAPB students who help members navigate the technology and otherwise address their financial needs. The students also conduct outreach to connect residents and businesses with HOPE products and services, and to build partnerships with local organizations. A high percentage

of the staff, students, and alumni at UAPB are underserved by traditional financial institutions. HOPE plans to learn from this model and replicate it at other colleges, universities, and community colleges across the Midsouth with similar demographics.

Where Do We Go From Here? At a meeting of financial, business, and government leaders in Jackson, Mississippi, the president of the Atlanta branch of the Federal Reserve Bank warned that the effectiveness of the Fed’s monetary policy is undermined when large segments of the population exist outside the financial system.23

Nearly five decades earlier, in his final presidential address to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (titled “Where Do We Go From Here?”), Martin Luther King Jr. put forth this impassioned call for economic justice: “Let us be dissatisfied until the tragic walls that separate the outer city of wealth and comfort and the inner city of poverty and despair shall be crushed by the battering rams of the forces of justice. Let us be dissatisfied until slums are cast into the junk heaps of history and every family is living in a decent sanitary home.24”

As America’s population grows more diverse, it is vital that steps be taken to ensure that historically underserved populations have the tools needed to support their families, communities, and the nation’s economy. HOPE’s experience in one of the country’s most diverse and distressed regions offers clear evidence of the benefits that can be achieved through economic inclusion.

By combining sound business principles with a commitment to ensuring that everyone has access to affordable, responsibly structured financial services, bank deserts can be converted into financial oases, providing more people with a steady rung to help them climb the economic ladder and achieve the American dream.

This piece was co-authored by Ed Sivak.23Lockhart, D. P. (2012, July 13), www.frbatlanta.org/news/speeches/120713_lockhart.cfm 24King Jr., Martin. (1967, August 16), The Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute: mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/where_do_we_go_from_here_delivered_at_the_11th_annual_sclc_convention/

When lower-income families have an account with a depository, they are more likely to own assets — such as a vehicle,

a home, or savings — which are some of the basic building blocks of economic security.



THE ASPEN JOURNAL OF IDEAS

Recent Publications

“THE OCEAN COMMUNITY REPORT: BUILDING AN ALIGNED AND SUPPORTIVE OCEAN CONSERVATION COMMUNITY”Energy and Environment Program

This Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Program’s report focuses on the success and effi cacy of ocean conservation and marine protection planning, based on a yearlong study of strategies for building a more coordinated and aligned marine conservation movement.

“TOWARD THE NEXT PHASE OF OPEN GOVERNMENT”Communications and Society Program

This report originated from the 2013 Forum on Communications and Society, or FOCAS. Written by Panthea Lee, the report is a series of six essays that examine the current barriers to open government and provide creative solutions for advancing open government eff orts.

“CHILD TRUST FUNDS: RENEWING THE DEBATE FOR LONG-TERM SAVINGS POLICIES”Initiative on Financial Security

In 2003, the United Kingdom embarked on a bold national program that ensured that each child born in Great Britian from September 2002 onward would receive government funds to open an account that matured at age 18: the Child Trust Fund program. This paper highlights the success of the Child Trust Fund and renews the debate on children’s savings accounts in the US.

“PERSONAL ACTION, COLLECTIVE IMPACT”ASCEND, The Shriver Report

Aspen Institute Vice President Anne Mosle contributed a chapter to “The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Pushes Back From the Brink.” She speaks to the power of two-generation approaches, the valueof social capital, and the potential for “life skills” to equip the next generation with the skills they need.

The Institute’s policy programs regularly release reports featuring the expert opinions and research in their issue area gathered at convenings throughout the year. To fi nd these and other publications, go to aspeninstitute.org/publications.

“LEVERAGING LEARNING: THE EVOLVING ROLE OF FEDERAL POLICY IN EDUCATION RESEARCH”Education and Society Program

As transformative reforms such as the Common Core State Standards and educator evaluation roll out amid a rapidly changing demographic landscape, the need for getting high-quality research on timely topics into the hands of practitioners grows all the more urgent. This report aims to answer how federal policy can better calibrate the current rigor-relevance balance in education research to improve meaningful uptake by the fi eld.

“WEALTHWORKS TOOLKIT”Community Strategies Group

This toolkit is a 21st-century approach to local and regional economic development. WealthWorks brings together and connects a community’s assets to meet market demand in ways that build lasting livelihoods.

_PDF-PUBLICATIONS_5_27_14_MH_KVD_E.indd 88 6/3/14 8:07 AM


“EARLY POSITIVE EXPERIENCES: WHAT IS AGE-APPROPRIATE?”Sports and Society Program

The Aspen Institute Sports and Society Program convened more than 25 national leaders from the realms of sport, medicine, health, education, and beyond to consider the prospects of anchoring our disjointed sports system in the principles of age-appropriate play, with an eye toward meeting the needs of today’s children — all of them. This report is part of the program’s Project Play initiative, working to reimagine youth sports in America.

“ASSET BUILDING THROUGH CREDIT”FIELD at the Aspen Institute

This paper presents the fi rst set of fi ndings from the Asset Building Through Credit Pilot program, a demonstration that explored the use of a secured credit card, teamed with credit coaching, as a tool to help entrepreneurs to build their credit. Citi Foundation contributed fi nancial support to this pilot.

“SPORTS PARTICIPATION RATES AMONG UNDERSERVED AMERICAN YOUTH”Sports and Society Program | Prepared by Mike Sagas and George B. Cunningham of the University of Florida’s Sport Policy & Research Collaborative

The purpose of this research brief is to review and describe the most relevant and recent data on the topic of sport participation rates among American youth by various historically underserved populations. Specifi cally, data is aggregated and summarized by social class, race, gender, and disability status.

“TWO-GENERATION PLAYBOOK”ASCEND

How do two-generation approaches work? What are the core components? Where are the opportunities emerging? This booklet of infographics off ers a brief visual introduction to two-generation approaches. It is designed to be a tool you can use to communicate about the power of these strategies in your work.

“THE WEIGHTLESS MARKETPLACE: COMING TO TERMS WITH INNOVATIVE PAYMENT SYSTEMS, DIGITAL CURRENCIES, AND ONLINE LABOR MARKETS”Communications and Society Program

This report, by rapporteur David Bollier, examines our rapidly changing global marketplace. Due to the proliferation of the Internet and mobile devices, as well as changing relationships between producers and consumers, friction is being drastically reduced in commerce. Commerce not only has the ability to be targeted and instantaneous, it has essentially become “weightless.”

“INNOVATIONS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD”ASCEND

This brief highlights key themes from the fi rst in a series of early childhood forums on two-generation approaches sponsored by Ascend at the Aspen Institute. Themes include engaging parent voices to inform programs and policies, essential program design elements, emerging issues around health and well-being, and leveraging philanthropic impact.

“SKILLED TRADES PLAYBOOK: DYNAMIC PARTNERSHIPS FOR A NEW ECONOMY”Economic Opportunities Program

This report is a playbook for how businesses and community colleges can work together to fi nd, train, and place workers in the skilled trades.

_PDF-PUBLICATIONS_5_27_14_MH_KVD_E.indd 89 5/27/14 5:04 PM


THE ASPEN JOURNAL OF IDEAS

“GATEWAYS TO TWO GENERATIONS: THE POTENTIAL FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAMS AND PARTNERSHIPS TO SUPPORT CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS TOGETHER”ASCEND

This report focuses on how leading early childhood programs support families’ educational success and economic security. The models outlined stem from an ongoing series of convenings around early childhood and two-generation approaches. They also take into account the perspectives and resilience of families as well as the importance of partnerships.

“THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN DEFENSE”Aspen Strategy Group

This volume of essays, by some of America’s most experienced and perceptive leaders, tackles the core question President Obama and Congress need to address in the coming year: What is the right defense strategy for the US at this transformative time in our history? The principal essays and policy papers were prepared for the Aspen Strategy Group’s discussions on the Aspen Meadows campus.

“ADAPTING FOR THE GLOBAL DIPLOMATIC ARENA: A REPORT OF THE ASPEN INSTITUTE DIALOGUE ON DIPLOMACY AND TECHNOLOGY”Communications and Society Program

This report, by rapporteur Shanthi Kalathil, examines how social networks, peer-to-peer technologies, and mobile applications can change the landscape of diplomacy, particularly in the uses of soft or smart power.

“CONSERVATION INNOVATION IN CONTEXT”Energy and Environment Program

This report from the Conservation Innovation Roundtable, convened in partnership with Chesapeake Conservancy, is part of ongoing work by the Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Program to explore conservation in the 21st century. As awareness of the interdependency between the natural world and human well‐being increases, traditional conceptions of economic growth and conservation are changing as well.

“VOICES OF NATIVE YOUTH REPORT, VOLUME III”Center for Native American Youth

This summary of the organization’s 75 outreach roundtables with 3,000 Native youth highlights positive stories of youth leadership and priorities such as racial equity, suicide prevention, and increased awareness of Native American communities.

“ALARMS UNHEEDED”Justice & Society Program

More than 100 Congressional committees and subcommittees assert jurisdiction over the US Department of Homeland Security, creating unnecessary complexity and overlaps. This report off ers suggestions for how to move forward, given that the recommendations of the Hart-Rudman Commission, which less than nine months before the 9/11 attacks called for Congress to streamline oversight of homeland security, were neglected by the federal government and the media.



“TOOLS FOR TEACHERS: USING EVALUATION TO SUPPORT MASTERY IN ACADEMIC WRITING”Education and Society Program

The fi fth Tools for Teachers installment explains what the Common Core says about mastery in academic writing and explores how rich tasks can facilitate meaningful discussion of students’ knowledge and skills. Like all Tools for Teachers modules, it includes a PowerPoint presentation and a facilitator’s guide designed for instructors.

“ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEM DIAGNOSTIC TOOLKIT”Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs

The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs created this toolkit, with the support of the UK Department for International Development. It provides methodological guidance on assessing the current state of entrepreneurial ecosystems, and off ers a set of resources and tools that development practitioners can use.

“INNOVATIONS: BRIDGING THE ‘PIONEER GAP’”Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs

The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs and Village Capital say there is a pressing need for a more holistic, evidence-based approach to leveraging the potential of incubators and accelerators and to understanding what makes them successful.

“SCALING CLEAN ENERGY: LESSONS LEARNED AND NEW APPROACHES”Aspen Institute Clean Energy Forum

The Energy and Environment Program of the Aspen Institute convened the fourth annual Aspen Institute Clean Energy Forum, bringing together a broad cross-section of emerging energy, fi nance, and policy experts and entrepreneurs for an in-depth conversation on the future of clean energy. Insights from the Forum are summarized in the report.

“MEETING THE TALENT CHALLENGE”Business and Society Program

This coverage of a recent symposium focuses on the changing market of the MBA and how business schools are preparing future business leaders to work in ways that align company activities with the long-term health of society.

“HIGHER EDUCATION AND SOCIAL IMPACT: WINNING THE TALENT WAR, FOR GOOD”Impact Careers Initiative

This Impact Careers Initiative report highlights the colleges and universities that are developing social-sector leaders and supporting impact careers.

“MICROBUSINESSES, GAINFUL JOBS”Economic Opportunities Program, FIELD program

The smallest businesses have created most of our net new jobs during the past decades. But are these “good” jobs? FIELD’s research with microenterprise workers examines this question, asking is a $10 median wage enough? How important are stable schedules, supportive bosses, and the chance to develop skills?



////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS

COMMEMORATING THE FALL OF COMMUNISMAs festivities to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the end of communism began in earnest across Eastern Europe, the Aspen Institute Prague held a special event in June at the Czech Senate. An international delegation evaluated the social, political, and business impact of the geopolitical changes that took place a quarter-century ago, where the region stands today, and how to prepare for the future. “Today, the results of that ‘Big Bang’ remind us of both the enormous progress those countries have made in becoming an inseparable and indistinguishable part of the world of liberal democracies,” said Michael Žantovský, president of Aspen Institute Prague and ambassador of the Czech Republic in the United Kingdom, “It also reminds us of the chasm still separating some of the not so fortunate European nations from the liberties, the standards, and the security their citizens long for as keenly as Czechs, Hungarians, Poles, and Slovaks did 25 years ago,” The event welcomed over 200 participants and speakers, including former US Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Former Prime Minister of Slovakia Iveta Radicová, and

former US Sen. Joe Lieberman. Drawing from history and the events of the day, such as those transpiring in the Ukraine, speakers addressed what challenges lay ahead for the region and how to deepen their democratic footprint.

ASPEN INSTITUTE WELCOMES NEWEST GLOBAL PARTNER IN MEXICOMexico City is now home to Aspen Institute México, the Institute’s ninth international partner and its fi rst in Latin America. An event celebrating the inauguration of the Institute’s newest partner attracted leaders and thinkers from across Mexico, including Gov. of Banco de México (Mexico´s Central Bank) Agustín Carstens; Minister of State Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong; Mexico City Mayor Miguel Ángel Mancera; and Grupo Salinas President and new Institute Trustee Ricardo Salinas. The presidents of Mexico’s three main political parties, Gustavo Madero (PAN), César Camacho (PRI), and Jesús Zambrano (PRD), gathered together to discuss the direction Mexico should be taking as it forges a path into the future.

Juan Ramón de la Fuente, former Secretary of Health under President Zedillo, president of the International

GE

RA

RD

MA

LIE

/AF

P/G

ett

y Im

ag

es

The Institute’s nine International Partners conduct independently developed and supported programs, conferences, and seminars on region-specifi c issues, global challenges, and leadership development. In the latest news, Aspen Institute Prague commemorates the 25th anniversary of the fall of communism; Aspen Institute Germany turns 40; The Aspen Institute Japan names a new president; Aspen Institute Italia awards the Cossiga scholarship; and the fi rst Latin American-based Institute launches in Aspen Institute Mexico.

GLOBAL REACH

Aspen Institute Prague celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fall of communism in June

with a conference that looked toward the future of democracy for Europe.

INTERNATIONAL_5/27/2104_g.indd 92 6/3/14 10:34 AM

Our ManifestOCelebrating Our 20th Anniversary

We believe your mother was wrong. The world does revolve around you.

We believe if we can also be gardeners, math geeks and watch guards, our clients can take naps, vacations and us at our word.

We believe that when trust is there, it’s palpable. And when it’s not, people talk about it a lot.

We believe just hanging out at The Aspen Institute will give you ideas.

We believe that what gets a property sold in real life is the lion-hearted devotion of one broker.

We believe that working collaboratively rather than competitively with each other makes us smarter, stronger and way less paranoid.

We believe you should give it a rest and let us do the overwhelm.

We believe real estate is in our DNA, or somebody’s putting something in our drinking water. We eat, sleep and dream it.

We believe a bowl of apples and a new welcome mat should not be called staging. They should be called a bowl of apples and a new welcome mat.

We believe Aspen is a soul-saving place, or we’d all have left for the beach by now.

We believe matters of money and real estate can be gnarly, overwhelming and complicated. Luckily, they can also be understood, reasoned with, and put in their place.

We believe wondering if you hired the right broker is a sure sign you didn’t.

We believe – buyer or seller – you should get what you want, be ridiculously well-informed and feel sinfully indulged the whole way through.

We believe mountains don’t disappear, rivers don’t stop moving, and that there will never be another Aspen.

We believe that your broker should make you happy.

We believe size matters, which is why we stayed small.

We believe dogs should be included in every activity.

We’ve been serving homemade pie every Friday for 20 years, and we believe you should know this.

BJ AdAms • Amy FeldmAn • GAry FeldmAn • Gus KAdotA • mArK lewis • Kristen mAley • leAh moriArtydouG nehAsil • lucy nichols • cAsey slossBerG • michelle sullivAn • melissA temple • KAren toth • tArA turner

Aspensnowmassproperties.com • 970.922.2111 • offices in Aspen and snowmass



////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Association of Universities, and, now, the president of Aspen Institute México, calls his new post a place “to analyze, reflect, and discuss issues that remain locally relevant, but also have global significance.” De la Fuente chaired the March event, which consisted of two days of panel discussions about the status of political, social, and economic reform in Mexico.

With government, corporate, and young leaders in attendance, the event established the Mexican Institute as a place to hold open, plural, and inclusive debates among party leaders, public servants, legislators, academics, business leaders, and young people. One of its main objectives is to foster the development of young leaders and their networks, promoting values and principles of democracy, such as freedom, the rule of law and economic efficiency; and to expand their relations with rising leaders from other countries in the region. The activities are divided into seminars, policy and public programs, and leadership initiatives.

ASPEN GERMANY TURNS 40The Institute’s first international partner, Aspen Institute Germany, will host a transatlantic conference in Berlin to honor its 40th anniversary from Oct. 8-10. In light of the NSA-data mining scandal and certain US foreign policy decisions made about the use of drones, Guantanamo, and the Iraq War, they will host “Germany and the USA: Do We Still Need Each Other?” Speakers, such Vice Secretary-General of NATO Alexander Vershbow, Aspen Institute Executive Vice President Elliot Gerson, US Ambassador to Germany John B. Emerson, and several German dignitaries will address the countries’ differences, as well as their needs for an ever-evolving alliance. The conference will consist of five panels on transatlantic values, security, trade, energy, and the digital revolution, with each focusing on the past and future of German-American relations.

COSSIGA SCHOLARSHIPBRINGS STUDENTS TO ITALYAspen Institute Italia has paired with the Associazione Francesco Cossiga to honor the legacy of the late Francesco Cossiga, former president of Italy and honorary chairman of Aspen Institute Italia. A scholarship in his name supports a student from one of the 10 countries in which Aspen has an affiliate for a Master’s degree at any Milan university. The second recipient of this scholarship award,

ASPEN INSTITUTE ESPAÑAMadrid, Spainaspeninstitute.es

INSTITUT ASPEN FRANCEParis, [email protected]

ASPEN INSTITUTE GERMANYBerlin, [email protected]

ANANTA ASPEN CENTRE New Delhi, India(formerly Aspen Institute India)admin@ anantacentre.in anantacentre.in

ASPEN INSTITUTE ITALIAMilan and Rome, [email protected]

THE ASPEN INSTITUTE JAPANaspeninstitute.jp

ASPEN INSTITUTE MÉXICOMexico City, [email protected]

ASPEN INSTITUTE PRAGUE Prague, Czech [email protected]

INSTITUTUL ASPEN ROMÂNIABucharest, [email protected]

CONTACT OUR INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSTeisuke Kitayama

Laurel Zigerelli, is a recent graduate of Georgetown with a B.S. in Foreign Service. Zigerelli is an American student with plans to pursue an International Management degree. NEW PRESIDENT FOR INSTITUTE IN JAPANUpon the 15th anniversary of The Aspen Institute Japan, founding President Yotaro Kobayashi has passed the reigns to the newly named Teisuke Kitayama, chairman of the board of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). Kitayama is hardly new to the Institute, having served as an auditor of the board since 2009. Kitayama has recently introduced Aspen-style Seminars to the SMBC leadership education team with great success. He takes on the position at a critical time as the Institute begins to expand its activity from offering over 20 Seminars on enlightened leadership. In addition to serving on several other corporate boards, Kitayama also served as vice chairman of Japan Association of Corporate Executives and is playing an important role for Japan’s educational reform as vice chairman of the Central Council for Education in Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture. Kobayashi will remain on The Aspen Institute Japan board as honorary chairman.

INTERNATIONAL_5/27/2104_g.indd 94 6/3/14 9:05 AM

Whitman Fine Properties~ Up And Coming properties in the Aspen reAl estAte mArket! ~

r e A l e s tAt e • s A l e s • r e n tA l srr ee AA ll ee s ts tAAt et e ss AA l e sl e s rr e n te n tAA l sl sWendalin Whitman • Office 970.544.3771 • Mobile 970.948.5932

whitmanfineproperties.com • aspen-luxury-rentals.com

“Please contact me “Please contact me “Please contact me with any questions with any questions with any questions

about these about these about these properties or to list properties or to list properties or to list your Aspen asset.”your Aspen asset.”your Aspen asset.”



//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Charles “Lil Buck” Riley joins Alfre Woodard (pictured on page 15) as the 2014 Harman-Eisner Artists-in-Residence.

In recognition of the late Sidney Harman’s role in returning the arts to the heart of the Institute’s work, the Harman-Eisner Artists-in-Residence program will be expanded with a grant of $1 million for the establishment of the Harman Family Endowment Fund. Its central goal is to develop scalable community engagement models, particularly in education, and to empower artists to explore their role in addressing social challenges. “This generous support will allow an even deeper commitment to expanding opportunities

HARMAN FAMILY GIVES $1 MILLION TO THE ARTS

The Institute is grateful for the support of Trustees, Society of Fellows members, and friends who enable it to grow and expand its mission, sustaining it for decades to come.

OUR SUPPORTERS

for the Institute’s artists-in-residence to create educational impact in their work,” said Arts Program Director Damian Woetzel.

Past artists-in-residence have included Woetzel, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, director/producer Julie Taymor, architect Elizabeth Diller, artist Chuck Close, opera singer Jessye Norman, and now-Institute Trustee and actress/playwright Anna Deavere Smith. Actress Alfre Woodard and dancer Charles “Lil Buck” Riley were recently named the 2014 Harman-Eisner Artists-in-Residence.

21ST ANNUAL SUMMER GALADATE: Aug. 9, 2014

DINNER CHAIRS: Joan Fabry and Michael Klein

HONOREES: Doris Kearns Goodwin and

Richard N. Goodwin

LOCATION: The Doerr-Hosier Center,

Aspen Meadows campus

For more information, go to aspeninstitute.org/summercelebration or call Melanie Levine at 800.410.3463.

SOCRATES BENEFIT DINNERDATE: July 5, 2014

DINNER CHAIRS: Laura and Gary Lauder

HONOREE: Leonard A. Lauder

LOCATION: The Doerr-Hosier Center, Aspen Meadows campus

For more information, go to aspeninstitute.org/socratesdinner or call Melanie Levine at 800.410.3463.

2014 ANNUAL AWARDS DINNERDATE: Nov. 13, 2014

DINNER CHAIR: Mercedes T. Bass

HONOREES: Lynda Resnick and

Reed Hastings

LOCATION: The Plaza Hotel, NYC

For more information, go to aspeninstitute.org/annualdinner or call Melanie Levine at 800.410.3463.E

VE

NTS

Ale

x P

itt

_PDF-oursupporters_5/27/2014_mh_g_3.indd 96 6/3/14 7:52 AM

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


OUR SUPPORTERS

Gina Murdock (left), and her husband, Trustee Jerry Murdock, introduced The Murdock Mind, Body, Spirit Series on the Aspen Meadows campus. The first event of the series featured Deepak Chopra (right).

A STUDY OF “SIGNIFICANCE”

Ric

card

o S

avi

The Murdock Mind, Body, Spirit Series — a new public speaker series in Aspen,

Colorado — was launched in January with an inaugural event featuring Deepak

Chopra. The Murdock Series will reflect the Institute’s founding principles of

“nurturing the whole individual” by bringing a range of experts, innovators, and

leaders to the Aspen Meadows campus to share the latest revelations about the

link between mindfulness, physical activity, and emotional well-being. The series

is generously underwritten through 2018 by Gina Murdock and Jerry Murdock, a

Trustee of the Aspen Institute.

A NEW SERIES DEBUTS

The Aspen Global Leadership Network is undertaking a

worldwide assessment of the projects launched by its nearly

1,900 Fellows in 46 countries. The findings from the “Hite Global

Leadership Study” — named for Society of Fellows members

and lead underwriters Sharon and Larry Hite — will enable the

Institute to identify the best practices for launching successful,

scalable, and sustainable social-impact projects in order to build

a stronger support system for these entrepreneurial leaders.

Led by expert global strategist, senior Institute moderator, and

Henry Crown Fellow Stace Lindsay, the findings from the “Hite

Study” will help each Fellow fulfill his or her mission to drive

positive change around the globe and ultimately rise from

“success to significance.”

Powerful Impressions.Bright Colors.

Exquisite Natural Fabrics.Exceptional Fit.Great for Travel.Evening, Day andCasual Separates

Designed by Nina McLemore

675 E. Cooper AvenueAspen

970.429.8454

New York, Vail, Chevy Chase, MD,Palm Desert, San Francisco,Seattle, Nantucket, Cleveland, Easton & Chestertown, MD

www.ninamclemore.com



//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

ASPEN IDEA: What made you decide to make this gift to the Aspen Global Leadership Network?

BILL MAYER: The Institute is many different things to many people, and I think that is great. It’s an impartial forum for discussion on the most important issues of society. The place has been described as a spa for the mind because it educates. And the Institute’s leadership programs develop better-balanced citizens in society. The role we play in developing leadership through the Aspen Global Leadership Network is so important too, and I wanted to signal my support of this program for years to come.

AI: What motivated you to decide to announce this gift now?

MAYER: A lot of us don’t pay enough attention to the issue of estate planning and what’s going to happen with whatever assets we have. My motivation is to help to support the program by furthering its endowment in the long run. Of course, others choosing to give would be a great by-product of my contribution too.

Clin

t S

pau

ldin

g f

or

Patr

ick M

cM

ulla

n

Chairman Emeritus and Scholars & Scholarships Campaign Co-Chair Bill Mayer has announced an extraordinary bequest of $4 million to support the Aspen Global Leadership Network. With his planned gift, Mayer joins other members of the Aspen Heritage Society who have included the Institute in their estate plans. We ask Mayer why this, why now?

BILL MAYER BEQUESTS A LEGACY

Carol Dopkin is a long time Fellow of the Aspen Institute

Carol created an Idea when she came to Aspen to introduce

Real Estate with Horse Sense It has been a successful

competitive edge – establishing relationships with clients looking

for all types of properties from condos to large ranches

The Realtor With Horse Sense!

With expertise, Carol has guided hundreds of clients to

the homes of their dreams

Carol Dopkin and Astrid – adopted by Carol

and now blazing trails.


www.CarolDopkin.com

Add some horsepower.


//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


OUR SUPPORTERS

TRUSTEE ENDOWSARTS PROGRAMMelva Bucksbaum, an Aspen

Institute Trustee and longtime

supporter of youth and arts

programs at the Institute,

has established The Melva

Bucksbaum Endowment

Fund with a gift of $1 million

to the Institute’s Scholars &

Scholarships Campaign. The

gift will provide enhanced

support for the Arts Program

and enable the Institute to

engage more artists across

the country, as well as launch

new arts initiatives and

collaborations within and

beyond the Institute.

In January, the Institute introduced the Justice Circle,

a group of two-dozen leading executives, attorneys,

and philanthropists committed to furthering the work

of the Justice & Society Program. Circle members

have so far contributed more than $200,000 to

support the programming, but nationally renowned

trial attorney Steve Susman, who co-chairs the Justice

Circle along with fellow attorney Tristan Duncan,

stresses that this is far more than a fundraising

effort. “The Justice Circle is dedicated to creating

valuable activities, thought-provoking discussions,

and challenging projects for its members.” Two such

events have already taken place — the first in New

York, exploring the tension between privacy rights

and public safety; and the second in Los Angeles, on

law and the recovery of art expropriated and looted

during the World War II. To join, call Justice and

Excutive Director Meryl Chertoff at 202.736.5849.

THE JUSTICE CIRCLE LAUNCHES

waterlawthe world’s most precious resource

deserves a law rm focused only on water

PATRICK | MILLER | KROPF | NOTOwww.waterlaw.com 800.282.5458

ASPEN • BASALT • DENVER • PHOENIX • TULSA

Imagining & Achieving Sustainable Water Solutions for the Future

Co

urt

esy

of

Melv

a B

ucksb

au

m



OUR SUPPORTERS///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Society of Fellows Summer Receptions

Summer Opening Reception

Wednesday, June 18, Walter Isaacson on Collaborative Creativity

Vanguard Chapter Summer Reception Monday, July 14

Society of Fellows 50th Anniversary Celebration

Sunday, Aug. 3, dinner and program

Society of Fellows Summer Symposia

Dvorak, Mahler, and the New World Wednesday, July 9 - Thursday, July 10

Common Standards: A Way to Reinvigorate the Democratic Purpose of Public Education? Tuesday, July 22

Ukraine: What is Russia Doing? Monday, Aug. 4 - Thursday, Aug. 7

Society of Fellows Lunch and Evening Discussions

Summer lunches and evening discussion reception speakers

include: Lynne Cheney, Robin Lenhardt, Nancy Pelz-Paget, Alice Walton, Carrie Walton Penner, Leonard Lauder, and

Edith Ramirez.

50 YEARSSOCIETY OF FELLOWS

UP

CO

MIN

G E

VE

NT

S

Dan

iel B

ayer

Fe

ren

c B

erk

oF

ere

nc B

erk

oP

ow

ers

Art

Cen

ter

This year, the Society of Fellows program celebrates its

50th anniversary. This important program has provided

both an access point for individual engagement with the

Institute and vital financial support. Founded in late 1964,

the mission of the Society of Fellows was to “sustain

and strengthen” the Institute’s programs. Among the 33

members who joined that autumn were Herbert Bayer,

Elizabeth Paepcke, and Paula Zurcher. Over the past

50 years, the Society of Fellows program has raised

over $40 million in unrestricted support for the Institute.

Additionally, Fellows have contributed to special projects,

ranging from capital improvements and scholarships to

new programs. Here are some highlights of the decades

gone by — and Fellows who joined and have stayed with

us through the years.

JOIN THE SOCIETY OF FELLOWSThe Society of Fellows is an engaged community of supporters who

actively participate in the Institute’s programs, act as advocates

and ambassadors, and help sustain the Institute’s mission. For more

information on joining the Society of Fellows, please contact Peter

Waanders, director of the Society of Fellows, at 970.544.7912 or by

email at [email protected].

Buckminster Fuller Dome on the Aspen Meadows campus

Detail of Kimiko Powers by Andy Warhol, Synthetic polymer silkscreen & ink on canvas

Mortimer Adler

Albert Einstein

Andy Goldsworthy

_PDF-SOF50_5/27/14_mh_d.indd 100 6/3/14 7:48 AM


///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

At the start of the Society of Fellows in 1964, Fellows were invited to

audit any session or event held at the Institute. The first summer, the

topical focus was Technological Change and Social Responsibility, and

included R. Buckminster Fuller and Thurgood Marshall. By the end

of the decade, the new president, Joseph E. Slater, proposed a new

programmatic direction with a series of “thought leading to action”

programs in communications and society, the environment, education,

justice and society, and international affairs. The number of Fellows

grew to approximately 100, contributing over $125,000 annually.

The second decade of the Society of Fellows began with a summer

workshop conference, Television as a Social and Cultural Force. It

was followed by seminars on Women and Men: Changing Roles,

Relationships, and Perceptions, and Monotheism and Moderation,

led by president of the University of Notre Dame Father Theodore

Hesburgh. Many Fellows attended the burgeoning Institute

programs, notably the Justice and Society Seminar co-founded by

Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun. Membership in the Society

of Fellows experienced rapid growth, climbing to more than 200

members during its second decade. Annual giving rose to nearly

$300,000 during this time.

By the eighties — under the leadership of the new president,

Colin W. Williams — the Society of Fellows program matured into

members-only summer seminars. Each multiday offering would

address various topics. In 1986, the seminars’ overarching theme

was Ethics in Society, and explored government, media, business,

environment, and law. The 1993 seminars featured rights and the

democratic process, health care issues, the deficit dilemma, a federal

budget exercise, and Russia and US policy. Programs included

morning sessions, afternoon activities, and evening social events.

By the Society of Fellows’ 30th year, the program had 300-plus

members and raised more than $500,000 annually.

Through the turn of the 21st century, Fellows continued to provide

important financial support and engaged participation in the Institute.

A weeklong summer seminar drew as many as 20 experts and 125

participants. Subjects included The Social Contract, philanthropy, arts

and society, and faith and power. New membership levels were added,

including the Gold Leaf, Chairman’s, President’s, and Aspen Leaf

Societies. In 2003, former Time magazine managing editor and CNN

chairman Walter Isaacson became president and CEO. Many Fellows

first saw the new direction for the Institute when they attended the

2004 festival, Einstein: A Celebration. By its 40th year, the Society of

Fellows program raised over $1.3 million annually.

The Institute has grown exponentially, bringing new energy and ideas,

while honoring the Society of Fellows’ role as a central part of the

Institute community. Fellows have helped achieve the leadership’s goal

to open the Institute to a broader audience and improve the facilities,

with projects such as the art installation by Andy Goldsworthy. While

public events like the Aspen Ideas Festival have expanded the public’s

awareness of the Institute and its work, donor-exclusive programming

has widely expanded. With the addition of the Vanguard Chapter for

younger supporters, membership grew to over 1,400. The Society of

Fellows raised $3.5 million in 2013 alone. Examples of current offerings

are outlined in our Upcoming Events calendar.

About 35 people from all around the world

attended Mortimer Adler’s seminar How to Think

About God. Mortimer had each participant write

what their faith (or lack thereof) was: atheist,

agnostic, believer, member of an ecclesiastical

institution, or uncommitted. At the end of the

seminar, which I think lasted four or five days, we

wrote down our answers to the same question.

Interestingly almost everyone, certainly the

majority, had changed his/her affiliation!

— Paula Zurcher | Joined 1964

Matthew and I first experienced the Institute

by attending a seminar in Japan led by John

and Kimiko Powers. A considerable amount

of reading was assigned beforehand and

discussions took place each morning. Each

afternoon there were visits to cultural sites

or participatory demonstrations. Imagine

this, Matthew Bucksbaum (and his fellow

industrialists) conscientiously arranging live

flowers by the strict rules of ikebana.

— Carolyn Bucksbaum | Joined 1976

When I became CEO of Hilton International

Co., I decided it was time to broaden my

brain beyond hotels. I signed up for a two-

week executive seminar moderated by Bill

Moyers and his wife, Judith. From Mortimer

Adler’s presentations to our very diverse

group’s production of Sophocles’ Antigone, it

confirmed my suspicion that there was a world

beyond hotels — and I could find it in SOF.

— Curt Strand | Joined 1987

When we initially joined the Society of Fellows

it was a small, similarly minded group of

Aspenites, rather social, mostly conservative,

many of them already friends. It was not like the

Society of Fellows today, which is much larger,

more diverse, and still very interesting. In a

way, it mirrors the changes in Aspen and in the

Institute. Under Walter Isaacson’s leadership,

the Institute has grown, all for the better.

— Richard & Sylvia Kaufman | Joined 1995

In 2011, we launched The Vanguard Chapter of

the Society of Fellows with the goal to create

a portal for a younger generation to engage in

the work of the Institute. In 2013, we opened

our Vanguard Washington Chapter in DC, and

are working on our San Francisco chapter this

coming year. With well over 300 Vanguard

fellows coming from all over the world, we are

building an incredible network and the next

generation of leaders for the Institute.

— Lauren McCloskey Elston | Joined 2011

20

04

-20

1419

94

-20

04

198

4-1

99

419

74

-19

84

196

4-1

974

Detail of Kimiko Powers by Andy Warhol, Synthetic polymer silkscreen & ink on canvas

_PDF-SOF50_5/27/14_mh_d.indd 101 6/3/14 7:47 AM


//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////OUR SUPPORTERS

TEN YEARS OF GIVING TO THE RODEL FELLOWSHIP

The success of the Rodel Fellowship’s mission — to foster nonpartisan and values-based discourse

among the country’s rising political leaders — was reaffirmed and secured with another extraordinary

gift from the Rodel Foundation and Budinger Family, who have been the lead underwriters since the

Fellowship’s founding a decade ago. The latest $4 million contribution will sustain the Rodel Fellowship

through 2019, at which point, the Budingers expect to provide an additional $1 million each year through

2025. “The Rodel program hopes to show participants that no ideology has all the answers,” explained

Institute Trustee Bill Budinger. “Each ‘side’ is necessary and deserves respect; and finding merit in the

other side’s arguments is the highest form of statesmanship.”

OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS, RODEL FELLOWS HAVE GROWN IN THEIR OWN POLITICAL STATURE.

SEVERAL REFLECT ON WHY THIS PROGRAM HAS BEEN SO MEANINGFUL THROUGHOUT THEIR CAREERS.

The Rodel fellowship program was the best

professional development I have had in my

career ... a unique space that enabled us to let

our guards down ... and seek common ground

without compromising our core beliefs.

Tom Perez US Secretary of Labor Class of 2005

This program has made a tremendous

impact on my professional career, as well as my

personal life. ... We learned to appreciate how

much we have in common, as well as our shared

goals to make the world a better place.

Pam Bondi Attorney General of Florida Class of 2011

_PDF-faces_05_27_14_mh_kss_f.indd 102 6/3/14 7:38 AM

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


The Rodel Fellowship

is in some ways the best

last hope of this country,

giving us the opportunity

to cut through the yelling

and fi ghting that passes as

American politics today. …

This mighty fellowship is like

a life raft on a rocky sea.

Eric GarcettiMayor of Los AngelesClass of 2006

The program is really

about restoring civility and

solution-oriented thinking in

a new generation of leaders.

We might have entered the

program as Democrats and

Republicans, but we left

it having learned all over

again that while we may

have differences, those

differences can be building

blocks for answers to tough

present-day problems.

Anthony FoxxUS Secretary of Transportation

Class of 2011

The best fellowship program

I have ever participated in. ...

[It] has broadened my outlook

for opportunities to work

collaboratively on real solutions

on a bipartisan basis.

Erik Paulsen Member of US CongressClass of 2005

THE RODEL FELLOWS’ FIRST-EVER REUNIONMembers from the nine past classes of Rodel

Fellows, the Institute’s Fellowship for young

political leaders, came together with former

Congressman and Rodel Fellowship Director

Mickey Edwards in Washington, DC, this

past winter, for the fi rst time. As a result of

the generous support of Society of Fellows

member David Nevins, the reunion brought

elected offi cials together from both sides of

the aisle to attend Transcending Partisanship,

a moderated discussion about challenges

facing political leaders, an expert panel

on foreign policy, and a series of private

roundtables. The political leaders, who include

former Republican National Committee Chair

Michael Steele, cabinet members Anthony

Foxx and Tom Perez, Rep. Erik Paulsen

(MN-03) and Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (AZ-09)

have each grown in their political stature since

their induction into the Fellowship. As they

ascend to higher levels of offi ce, they bring with

them their commitment to forgo partisanship in

hopes of moving the country forward.


//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


Ann Friedman, Samia Farouki

Society of Fellows members gathered in Washington for the third annual SOF Day in DC, which culminated in a reception at the Swiss ambassador’s residence. The following day, the Board of Trustees met to discuss the Institute’s priorities.FACES

SPRING BOARD OF TRUSTEES RECEPTIONWHO: Donors, Trustees, and Society of Fellows members, including retired Supreme Court Justice and Trustee

Sandra Day O’Connor and new Trustee Mike Bezos, gathered in Washington, DC. WHAT: Friends of the Institute

attended a reception hosted by the Swiss Ambassador Manuel Sager, and his wife, Christine, in honor of the spring

Board Meeting and Society of Fellows Day. The event concluded the 2014 Society of Fellows Day in DC program,

which was fi lled with engaging panel discussions on some of the Institute’s policy work and leadership initiatives.

WHEN: April 10, 2014 WHERE: The residence of the Swiss Ambassador WHY: The purpose of the Society of

Fellows Day in DC is to foster relationships between the Institute and its diverse pool of friends and supporters and,

also, nurture their relationships among one another.

Sylvia Earle, Paul Anderson, Berl Bernhard

Mike Bezos, Patrice Brickman, Fred Malek

Dre

w B

urd

ick

Jane Harman, Robert Hurst

Alma Gildenhorn

Christine Sager

Elliot Gerson, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor


//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


Liz

Daly

ASPEN SANTA FE BALLETP R E S E N T S

SUMMER SEASON 2014DANCE FOR KIDS!

DiavoloJuly 5

DIAVOLOJuly 5 - 6

ASPEN SANTA FE BALLETJuly 17 & 19

JUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FEJuly 22

DANCE FOR KIDS!Batoto Yetu and ASFB Folklórico

July 26JUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FE

August 5STARS OF AMERICAN BALLET

August 8BALLET WEST

August 16

All shows take place at the Aspen District Theatre

OFFICIAL HEALTH CLUB AND SPA OF ASPEN SANTA FE BALLET Les Dames d’Aspen, Ltd.

OFFICIAL SPONSORS FOUNDATION SPONSORS PREFERRED HOTEL SPONSORS GOVERNMENT SPONSORS MEDIA SPONSORS

Tickets: 970-920-5770 or online at aspensantafeballet.comSEASON PRESENTING SPONSOR

PHOT

O: S

HARE

N BR

ADFO

RD

ASPEN ASPEN ASPEN ASPEN ASPEN ASPEN ASPEN ASPEN ASPEN ASPEN ASPEN ASPEN ASPEN ASPEN ASPEN ASPEN ASPEN ASPEN ASPEN SANTA FESANTA FESANTA FESANTA FESANTA FESANTA FESANTA FESANTA FESANTA FESANTA FESANTA FESANTA FESANTA FESANTA FESANTA FESANTA FESANTA FESANTA FESANTA FESANTA FESANTA FESANTA FESANTA FE BALLET BALLET BALLET BALLET BALLET BALLET BALLET BALLET BALLET BALLET BALLET BALLET BALLET BALLET BALLET BALLET BALLET BALLET BALLET BALLET BALLET BALLETP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T SP R E S E N T S

SUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMERSUMMER SEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASONSEASON 201420142014201420142014DANCE FOR KIDS! DANCE FOR KIDS! DANCE FOR KIDS! DANCE FOR KIDS! DANCE FOR KIDS! DANCE FOR KIDS! DANCE FOR KIDS! DANCE FOR KIDS! DANCE FOR KIDS! DANCE FOR KIDS! DANCE FOR KIDS! DANCE FOR KIDS! DANCE FOR KIDS! DANCE FOR KIDS!

DiavoloDiavoloDiavoloDiavoloJuly 5July 5July 5July 5July 5

DIAVOLODIAVOLODIAVOLODIAVOLODIAVOLODIAVOLODIAVOLOJuly 5 - 6July 5 - 6July 5 - 6July 5 - 6July 5 - 6

ASPEN SANTA FE BALLETASPEN SANTA FE BALLETASPEN SANTA FE BALLETASPEN SANTA FE BALLETASPEN SANTA FE BALLETASPEN SANTA FE BALLETASPEN SANTA FE BALLETASPEN SANTA FE BALLETASPEN SANTA FE BALLETASPEN SANTA FE BALLETASPEN SANTA FE BALLETASPEN SANTA FE BALLETJuly 17 & 19July 17 & 19July 17 & 19July 17 & 19July 17 & 19July 17 & 19July 17 & 19

JUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FEJUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FEJUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FEJUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FEJUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FEJUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FEJUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FEJUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FEJUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FEJUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FEJuly 22July 22July 22

DANCE FOR KIDS!DANCE FOR KIDS!DANCE FOR KIDS!DANCE FOR KIDS!DANCE FOR KIDS!DANCE FOR KIDS!DANCE FOR KIDS!Batoto Yetu and ASFB FolklóricoBatoto Yetu and ASFB FolklóricoBatoto Yetu and ASFB FolklóricoBatoto Yetu and ASFB FolklóricoBatoto Yetu and ASFB FolklóricoBatoto Yetu and ASFB FolklóricoBatoto Yetu and ASFB FolklóricoBatoto Yetu and ASFB FolklóricoBatoto Yetu and ASFB Folklórico

July 26JUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FEJUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FEJUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FEJUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FEJUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FEJUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FEJUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FEJUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FEJUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FEJUAN SIDDI FLAMENCO SANTA FE

August 5August 5August 5STARS OF AMERICAN BALLETSTARS OF AMERICAN BALLETSTARS OF AMERICAN BALLETSTARS OF AMERICAN BALLETSTARS OF AMERICAN BALLETSTARS OF AMERICAN BALLETSTARS OF AMERICAN BALLETSTARS OF AMERICAN BALLET

August 8August 8August 8August 8BALLET WESTBALLET WESTBALLET WESTBALLET WESTBALLET WESTBALLET WESTBALLET WEST

August 16August 16August 16August 16August 16August 16

All shows take place at the Aspen District TheatreAll shows take place at the Aspen District TheatreAll shows take place at the Aspen District TheatreAll shows take place at the Aspen District TheatreAll shows take place at the Aspen District TheatreAll shows take place at the Aspen District TheatreAll shows take place at the Aspen District TheatreAll shows take place at the Aspen District TheatreAll shows take place at the Aspen District TheatreAll shows take place at the Aspen District TheatreAll shows take place at the Aspen District TheatrePHOT

O: S

HARE

N BR

ADFO

RDPH

OTO

: SHA

REN

BRAD

FORD

PHOT

O: S

HARE

N BR

ADFO

RDPH

OTO

: SHA

REN

BRAD

FORD

PHOT

O: S

HARE

N BR

ADFO

RDPH

OTO

: SHA

REN

BRAD

FORD

PHOT

O: S

HARE

N BR

ADFO

RD

SEASON PRESENTING SPONSOR

_PDF-faces_05_27_14_mh_kss_f.indd 107 5/28/14 3:08 PM

LocaLs representing

buyers and seLLers of

reaL estate in aspen,

snowmass and

the roaring fork vaLLey

for over 20 years

Chris Flynn

Ryan Elston

Scott Davidson

Tony DiLucia

Colter Smith

Monica Viall

Cally Shadowshot

PJ Bory

Paul Kurkulis

Dean Gresk

Ryan Thompson

Jonathan Feinberg

Ashley Chod (not pictured)

(970) 544-5800 510 east hyman ave. suite 21, aspen

ASP

EN A

SSO

CIA

TES

REA

LTY

GR

OU

P . C

OM



Red Mountain

Red Mountain residence with expansive views from Aspen Mountain to Mt. Sopris. The home includes six bedrooms, seven plus bathrooms, a gourmet kitchen and more.

Offered for $14,950,000

pictuRe peRfect

Set in Red Mountain’s exclusive Pitkin Reserve. This classic yet contemporary six-bedroom home features elegant interiors and breathtaking views of Aspen Mountain.

Offered for $13,750,000

ASPEN ASSOCIATES REALTY GROUP .COM

a. sCOtt DaviDsOn 970.948.4800 [email protected]

CHris Flynn 970.618.5267

[email protected]

tOny DiluCia 970.379.4275

[email protected]

p119_Aspen_Associates.indd 1 5/5/14 11:39 AM


//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

FACES

30TH ANNUAL AWARDS DINNER WHO: Hundreds of Institute supporters including Barbara Walters, Oscar de la Renta, and Trustees Henry Louis

Gates Jr. and Leonard Lauder, were invited to join President and CEO Walter Isaacson and other Institute leaders

for an evening of celebration. WHAT: The 30th Annual Awards Dinner WHEN: Nov. 7, 2013 WHERE: The Plaza Hotel,

New York City WHY: Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger received the 2013 Global Leadership Award

for his lasting impact of the country’s foreign policy and legendary jazz musician Wynton Marsalis was honored

with the Henry Crown Fellow Leadership Award for his professional and philanthropic achievements. In addition to

conversations with both honored guests, the event featured Marsalis playing with members of the Jazz at Lincoln

Center Orchestra. The band ended the evening by playing Marsalis’ mother’s favorite song, “Embraceable You.”

Henry Kissinger and Wynton Marsalis were honored at the 30th Annual Awards Dinner, chaired by Mercedes T. Bass. Both honorees sat in conversations with Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson.

Leonard Lauder

Henry Kissinger and Jacqueline WeldHenry Kissinger and Jacqueline Weld

Clin

t S

pau

ldin

g f

or

Patr

ick M

cM

ulla

n

Barbara Bantivglio, Laurie Tisch

Barbara Walters

Amit Bhatia, Francis Hoffman

Michael Eisner, Oscar de la Renta

Ann Korologos,Madeleine Albright


//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


The 2014 Winter Socrates Seminars drew participants from all over the world to the Aspen Meadows campus to discuss how innovation is affecting our world.FACES

2014 WINTER SOCRATES PROGRAM WHO: Young, emerging leaders from a wide range of backgrounds convened in the mountains of Aspen, Colorado, for four

days of enlightened discussion with industry leaders including Stephen Balkam, founder and CEO of the Family Online

Safety Institute; Esther Dyson, chairman of EDventure Holding and founder of HICCup.co; and Jeff Rosen, president and

CEO of the National Constitution Center. WHAT: The 2014 Winter Socrates Programs WHEN: Feb. 14-17, 2014 WHERE:

Participants stole away for some skiing and other winter activities, returning to the Aspen Meadows campus for seminars

throughout the weekend. WHY: The aim of the Socrates Program is for its participants to explore contemporary issues.

These seminars focused on digital technology and its impact on modern life, wellness as a personal responsibility, and the

recent conundrum of cyberterrorism and online privacy. Guests were treated to a surprise guest appearance by former

Mayor Michael Bloomberg in conversation with Rosen on leadership in governance at the opening reception.

Michael BloombergLawrence Williams, Beth Slater

Dominik Knoll

Ric

card

o S

avi

Nicole Nice, Matthew Cutts

Amy Sandoz, Mark Fairfi eld

Esther Dyson

York Forsyth

Jennifer Ratay, Jonathan Sper

Bryan Cooke, Quentin Hodgson



//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Aspen Institute Trustee Lynda Resnick joined Gwen Chanzit, curator for the Denver Art Museum’s Herbert Bayer Collection and Archive and modern art, to discuss the Bauhaus-trained artist’s legacy in Aspen. FACES

HERBERT BAYER EXHIBITION OPENING WHO: The Annual Aspen Institute Holiday Reception marked the opening of the Resnick Gallery exhibit The Legacy

of Herbert Bayer: Recent Gifts and Loans to the Aspen Institute, curated by local gallerist David Floria. WHAT: Aspen

Institute Trustee Lynda Resnick joined Gwen Chanzit, modern art and The Herbert Bayer Collection and Archive of the

Denver Art Museum curator, in conversation to discuss the Bauhaus-trained artist’s legacy in Aspen. WHEN: Dec. 29,

2013 WHERE: Guests toured the lower-level gallery space of the Aspen Meadows campus’ Doerr-Hosier Center, which

will house rotating exhibits of work by Bayer, who helped establish the Institute’s physical structures and philosophical

image. WHY: “The exhibit illustrates the breadth of Bayer’s career and the infl uence that his time in Aspen had on his

creative output,” said Floria of the various media featured, including gifts such as “Belle Nuit Géometrique,” a gift of

Lynda and Stewart Resnick, and “Geometry of an Illusionist,” a gift from Ronald and Jan Greenberg.

Jerry Finger, Kendra Gros, Marcia Martin, John SarpaLissa Ballinger

Tom James

Jackie Wogan, Karen and Jim TuckerJackie Wogan, Karen and Jim Tucker

Mary Hayes

Dan

iel B

ayerBob Steel,

Stewart Resnick

David Floria, Robert Blaich

Alan Fletcher, Judith Steinberg, Peter Rispoli, Donna Di Ianni

Gwen Chanzit

Lynda Resnick, Michael Klein, Joan Fabry



//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////FACTS/PROGRAMS

SEMINARS Seminars help participants reflect on what they think makes a good society, thereby deepening knowledge, broadening perspectives, and enhancing their capacity to solve the problems leaders face.

Aspen Seminar participants gather together to consider the political, economic, and social problems faced by the world's leaders.

THE ASPEN SEMINAR ON LEADERSHIP, VALUES,

AND THE GOOD SOCIETY

The Aspen Executive Seminar challenges leaders in every

field to clarify the values by which they lead and to think

more critically and deeply about their impact on the

world in a moderated, text-based Socratic dialogue. aspeninstitute.org/aspenseminar

JUNE 21-27 | WYE RIVER, MD

AUGUST 16-22 | ASPEN, CO

SEPTEMBER 6-12 | ASPEN, CO

OCTOBER 11-17 | WYE RIVER, MD

OCTOBER 25-31 | WYE RIVER, MD

NOVEMBER 15-21 | ASPEN, CO

NATURE, SOCIETY, AND SUSTAINABILITY

Nature, Society, and Sustainability frames leadership

decisions in the broader context of our engagement with

the natural world as we balance the tensions between

a vibrant human social and economic ecology and

environmental sustainability. aspeninstitute.org/natureseminar

AUGUST 3-7 | ASPEN, CO

ASPEN LIFE REIMAGINED SEMINAR

The new Aspen Life Reimagined Seminar helps professionals between the ages of 45 and 59 navigate transitions and discover what’s next in work and life, refining their sense of purpose, and honing the skills of self-leadership to make the best use of their time, talent, and treasure. This seminar is in partnership with AARP’s Life Reimagined Institute. aspeninstitute.org/lifereimagined

JULY 28 - 31 | WYE RIVER, MD

AUGUST 7-10 | WYE RIVER, MD

SEPTEMBER 8-11 | WYE RIVER, MD

LEADERSHIP AND CHARACTER

Leadership and Character takes up where the Aspen Executive Seminar leaves off, looking at the internal context of making leadership decisions and exploring the competing tensions that form our internal moral compass. aspeninstitute.org/characterseminar

OCTOBER 23-27 | ASPEN, CO

Dan

Davis

_PDF-FACTS_5/27/14_kss_g.indd 114 5/28/14 10:48 AM

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


HOW TO SIGN UP

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT THE INDIVIDUAL PROGRAMS LISTED ABOVE.

THE SOCRATES PROGRAMThe Socrates Program provides a forum for emerging leaders (ages approximately 28–45) from a wide range of professions to explore contemporary issues through expert-moderated roundtable dialogue. aspeninstitute.org/socrates

SUMMER SEMINARSJULY 4 – 7 | ASPEN, CO

The Future of Internet Freedom, Free Speech and EntrepreneurshipModerated by former FCC chair Julius Genachowski

The Moral Limits of Markets: Can Markets do Social Good? Moderated by Clive Crook, columnist and member of the editorial board at Bloomberg View

Supreme Court Decisions in the 21st Century Moderated by Former Solicitor General Neal Katyal

How is Big Data Changing Our Lives? Moderated by PBS NewsHour’s Hari Sreenivasan, and Department of Veterans Affairs CTO Peter L. Levin

Trade, Trust, and Energy: Maximizing the US Relationship With Latin America Moderator: Latin America policy expert Julia E. Sweig

Socrates Benefit Dinner Honoring Leonard LauderJULY 5 | ASPEN, CO

Aspen Mexico Salon Heroes and Villains, Winners and Losers: Leading Business, Politics, and Civil Society in the 21st CenturyModerated by MIT’s Leigh HafreyOCTOBER 2-4 | VALLE DE BRAVO, MEXICO

Senate SocratesThe Future of Privacy and Transparency: Surveillance in the Age of Snowden and Manning; The Aspen AcademyModerator: Jeff RosenOCTOBER 23 | WASHINGTON, DC

OCTOBER 24-26 | WYE, MD

New York SalonNovember 13-14 | New York, NY

ASPEN ESPAÑA SEMINAR: Transatlantic Values at a

Crossroads: Contemporary Leadership Challenges

In collaboration with Aspen Institute España, this

seminar probes the specifically European context of

contemporary leadership in the midst of the uncertainties

within democratic capitalism, nationalism, and culture. aspeninstitute.org/espanaseminar

OCTOBER 23-26, 2014 | RONDA, SPAIN

ASPEN ROMANIA LEADERSHIP SEMINAR

In collaboration with Aspen Institute Romania, this

seminar explores the specific leadership challenges

facing business, government, and civil society in a post-

communist environment. aspeninstitute.org/romaniaseminar

NOVEMBER 13-16, 2014 | PREDEAL, ROMANIA

JUSTICE AND SOCIETY

This seminar brings together individuals from diverse

backgrounds to discuss what justice means and how

a just society ought to deal with issues ranging from

criminal justice to entitlements in dialogue, led by

preeminent judges and law professors. aspeninstitute.org/jss

JULY 16-22 | ASPEN, CO

WYE ACADEMIC PROGRAMS

In a longstanding collaboration with the Association

of American Colleges and Universities, these seminars

engage faculty, senior academic administrators, and

college presidents in an exchange of ideas about liberal

arts education, citizenship, and the global polity. aspeninstitute.org/wyeseminars

WYE DEANS' SEMINAR: Citizenship in the American

and Global Polity JUNE 8-12 | WYE RIVER, MD

WYE FACULTY SEMINAR: Citizenship in the American

and Global Polity JULY 19-25 | WYE RIVER, MD

CUSTOM SEMINARS

Custom Seminars enable organizations and companies to

develop one-day or multiday seminars relevant to their

day-to-day operations. aspeninstitute.org/customseminar

aspeninstitute.org/socratesseminars

Young leaders discuss modern issues during a Socrates seminar.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


Freedom of thought and debate has been the cornerstone of groundbreaking ideas, technological breakthroughs, and confl ict resolution for centuries. Booz Allen Hamilton, a leader in consulting and technology for 100 years, is proud to be an original and continuing underwriter of the Aspen Ideas Festival as it celebrates its 10th anniversary of exploring ideas that catalyze change. See our ideas in action at boozallen.com/aspen

Innovative ideas.

Diverse perspectives.

Provocative dialogue.

BA14-108_Aspen Idea Magazine Ad_042514Final.indd 1 4/25/2014 8:40:24 AMFull_Page.indd 1 4/28/14 10:57 AM

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


An AGLN Fellow offers what Nelson Mandela's legacy means to her work.

LEADERSHIP

THE ASPEN GLOBAL LEADERSHIP NETWORK

Each Aspen Global Leadership Network program, inspired

by the Henry Crown Fellowship Program, is developing a

new generation of civically engaged men and women

by encouraging them to move “from success to significance”

and to apply their entrepreneurial talents to addressing

the foremost challenges of their organizations, communities,

and countries. Today, there are nearly 1,900 Fellows in

46 countries.

THE HENRY CROWN FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMThe flagship leadership programaspeninstitute.org/crown

THE AFRICA LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE (ALI)/EAST AFRICATanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenyaaspeninstitute.org/ali

THE AFRICA LEADERSHIP

INITIATIVE (ALI)/MOZAMBIQUE

aspeninstitute.org/ali

THE AFRICA LEADERSHIP

INITIATIVE (ALI)/WEST AFRICA

Ghana and Nigeria

aspeninstitute.org/ali

THE AFRICA LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE (ALI)/SOUTH AFRICAaspeninstitute.org/ali

THE ASPEN INSTITUTE-RODELFELLOWSHIPS IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIPElected leaders in US governmentaspeninstitute.org/rodel

THE ASPEN TEACHER-LEADERFELLOWSHIP PROGRAMaspeninstitute.org/teacherleaders

THE CATTO FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMEnergy and environment leaders aspeninstitute.org/catto

THE CENTRAL AMERICA LEADERSHIPINITIATIVE (CALI)Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica,Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvadoraspeninstitute.org/cali

THE CHINA FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMaspeninstitute.org/china

THE INDIA LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE (ILI)aspeninstitute.org/ili

THE LIBERTY FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMSouth Carolinaaspeninstitute.org/liberty

THE MIDDLE EAST LEADERSHIPINITIATIVE (MELI)aspeninstitute.org/meli

PAHARA-ASPEN EDUCATIONFELLOWSHIPEntrepreneurial leaders for public educationpahara.org

JULY 28-AUG. 1The Aspen Action Forum is an annual event designed to connect Fellows from the Aspen Global Leadership Network with other action-oriented leaders from Aspen Institute programs and partners.

The Institute cultivates entrepreneurial leaders and encourages them to tackle the great challenges of our times through social ventures. Spanning various geographic and issue areas, we host 17 different Fellowships.

_PDF-FACTS_5/27/14_kss_g.indd 117 5/28/14 2:04 PM

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

For over 60 years, the Aspen Institute has convened the world’s leaders to pause and reflect on the critical issues of our time.

This summer, we invite these leaders to do more than just reflect. We invite them to move “from thought to action” at the Aspen Action Forum.

Learn more at www.AspenActionForum.org.

MAJOR FUNDING PROVIDED BYTHE RESNICK FAMILY FOUNDATION

ADDITIONAL SPONSORSHIP PROVIDED BYDavid M. Rubenstein

Michael Klein and Joany FabryThe John P. and Anne Welsh McNulty FoundationMargot and Tom PritzkerGillian and Robert Steel

The Danny Kaye and Sylvia Fine Kaye Foundation The Ithaka FoundationThe Liberty Fellowship The Rodel Foundations Irja Brant and Alireza IttihadiehW. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

July 29 – August 1, 2014 • Aspen, Colorado

www.aspenwyeriver.com • (410) 820-0905 • 600 River House Drive, Queenstown, MD 21658

Each site has its own distinct guest rooms, conference facilities, dining room, and health amenities. Miles of quiet country roads with beautiful water views provide a perfect place to hike or jog at the end of a full day of meetings.

With a total of 51 rooms,Aspen Wye River offers two conference facilities on 1,000 pastoral acres.


////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


POLICY PROGRAM FELLOWSHIPSBorn from the myriad policy programs at the Aspen

Institute, the Policy Leadership Programs seek to

empower exceptional individuals to lead with innovation

in their chosen fields. These individuals then become

more effective change agents who can influence the

institutions and fields in which they work (or lead) to

create better outcomes for society.

Policy Program Fellows work together and individually to create change.

THE ASCEND FELLOWSHIP

Founded by the Institute’s Ascend Program, the Ascend Fellowship targets diverse

pioneers paving new pathways that break the cycle of intergenerational poverty.

aspeninstitute.org/ascend

FIRST MOVERS FELLOWSHIP

Founded by the Institute’s Business and Society Program, the First Movers

Fellowship seeks to help the business community live up to its full potential as a

vehicle for positive social change.

aspeninstitute.org/firstmovers

NEW VOICES FELLOWSHIP

Founded by the Institute’s Global Health and Development Program, the New Voices

Fellowship cultivates compelling experts to speak on development issues.

aspeninstitute.org/newvoices

Rach

ael S

trech

er

Kim Coates Broker Associate

970.948.5310

[email protected]

514 E. Hyman Ave. 970.925.7000 masonmorse.com

Contemporary Aspen Condo Top floor unit, extensive remodel, quiet location, 3 blocks from the center of town. Wood-burning fireplace. Designed for easy living. Lots of light. Furnished. 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 925 sq. ft. $1,158,000

Uniquely Aspen – Mixed Use Charming historic Victorian. Flexible zoning – residence, business or a combination of both. Excellent access to the Music Tent, Hall and the commercial core. 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, 912 sq. ft. $1,050,000

KCoates_thrid Aspen Idea.indd 1 5/19/14 2:38 PM

_PDF-FACTS_5/27/14_kss_g.indd 119 5/28/14 1:16 PM


////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////FACTS/PROGRAMS

W

Institute Trustee and Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright speaks at a Middle East Programs event on the Levant.

POLICY

ANNA DEVEARE SMITH WORKS AT THE ASPEN INSTITUTE aspeninstitute.org/adsworks

ASCEND, THE FAMILY ECONOMIC SECURITY PROGRAMascend.aspeninstitute.org

ASPEN FORUM FOR COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS aspeninstitute.org/solutions

ASPEN GLOBAL HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT aspeninstitute.org/ghd

ASPEN INSTITUTE FRANKLIN PROJECT aspeninstitute.org/franklin-project

ASPEN NETWORK OF DEVELOPMENT ENTREPRENEURS aspeninstitute.org/ande

ASPEN PLANNING AND EVALUATION PROGRAM aspeninstitute.org/apep

ASPEN STRATEGY GROUP

aspeninstitute.org/asg

BUSINESS AND SOCIETY PROGRAM aspeninstitute.org/bsp

CENTER FOR NATIVE AMERICAN YOUTHcnay.org

COLLEGE EXCELLENCE PROGRAM

aspenccprize.org

COMMUNICATIONS AND SOCIETY PROGRAM aspeninstitute.org/c&s

COMMUNITY STRATEGIES GROUP aspeninstitute.org/csg

CONGRESSIONAL PROGRAM aspeninstitute.org/congressional

ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES PROGRAM aspeninstitute.org/eop

EDUCATION AND SOCIETY PROGRAM aspeninstitute.org/education

ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT PROGRAM aspeninstitute.org/ee

GLOBAL ALLIANCES PROGRAM aspeninstitute.org/gap

HEALTH, MEDICINE, AND SOCIETY PROGRAMaspeninstitute.org/health

HOMELAND SECURITY PROGRAM aspeninstitute.org/security

INITIATIVE ON FINANCIAL SECURITY aspeninstitute.org/ifs

JUSTICE AND SOCIETY PROGRAM aspeninstitute.org/justice

MANUFACTURING AND SOCIETY IN THE 21ST CENTURY aspeninstitute.org/mfg

MIDDLE EAST PROGRAMS aspeninstitute.org/mideast

PROGRAM ON PHILANTHROPY AND SOCIAL INNOVATION aspeninstitute.org/psi

PROGRAM ON THE WORLD ECONOMY aspeninstitute.org/pwe

ROUNDTABLE ON COMMUNITY CHANGE aspeninstitute.org/rcc

SPORTS AND SOCIETY sportsandsociety.org

Policy programs and initiatives serve as nonpartisan forums for analysis, consensus-building, and problem-solving on a wide variety of issues.

Ste

ve J

oh

nso

n



////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////FACTS/PROGRAMS

Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson speaks with National Security Advisor Susan Rice at Washington Ideas Forum.

PUBLIC

ASPEN IDEAS FESTIVALThis weeklong, large-scale public event

— co-hosted by The Atlantic — brings

some of the world’s brightest minds

and leaders to Aspen every summer

for enlightened dialogue on the

planet’s most pressing issues.

aspenideas.org

WASHINGTON IDEAS FORUMPresented in partnership with The Atlantic and the Newseum, this

Washington, DC-based event features

leading figures in public policy

discussing the most important issues

of the day.

NEW YORK IDEASThe Institute and The Atlantic host an

annual event featuring cutting-edge

innovators in discussion on the state of

the global business landscape.

ASPEN WRITERS’ FOUNDATIONThroughout the year, the Aspen Writers’

Foundation encourages writers in their

craft and readers in their appreciation

of literature by hosting festivals,

readings, and other literary exchanges.

aspenwriters.org

ASPEN SECURITY FORUMOn the Institute’s campus in Aspen,

the Aspen Security Forum convenes

leaders in government, industry, media,

think tanks, and academia to explore

key homeland security and counter-

terrorism issues.

aspensecurityforum.org

THE ASPEN CHALLENGEWith the Bezos Family Foundation, the

Aspen Challenge provides a platform,

inspiration, and tools for young people

to design solutions to some of the

most critical and complicated problems

our society faces.

theaspenchallenge.org

THE ASPEN INSTITUTE ARTS PROGRAMThe Arts Program was established to

support and invigorate the arts in America

and to return the arts to the Institute’s

“Great Conversation.” It brings together

artists, advocates, educators, managers,

foundations, and government officials

to exchange ideas and develop policies

that strengthen the reciprocal relationship

between the arts and society.

aspeninstitute.org/artsprogram

ONGOING PROGRAMS IN NEW YORKThe Institute hosts a variety of pro-grams in New York City, from book talks and benefits to roundtable discussions, forums, and The Aspen Leadership Series: Conversations with Great Leaders in Memory of Preston Robert Tisch.

ASPEN COMMUNITY PROGRAMSThe Institute offers residents of

Aspen and the surrounding Roaring

Fork Valley communities a variety

of programs throughout the year,

including speaker series, community

seminars, and film screenings.

aspeninstitute.org/aspenevents

ONGOING PROGRAMS IN WASHINGTON, DCFrom September through June, the

Institute’s DC headquarters hosts the

Alma and Joseph Gildenhorn Book

Series, featuring discussions with

major recent authors. Concurrently, the

Washington Ideas Roundtable Series

focuses on world affairs, arts, and culture.

aspeninstitute.org/events

Public conferences and events provide a commons for people to share ideas.

Max T

aylo

r fo

r T

he A

tlan

tic


Human SustainabilityProviding a wide range of foods and beverages, from treats to healthy eats

Our goal to deliver sustained value

Environmental SustainabilityFinding innovative ways to minimize our impact on the environment and lower our costs through energy and water conservation as well as reduced use of packaging material

Talent SustainabilityProviding a safe and inclusive workplace for our employees globally and respecting, supporting and investing in the local communities in which we operate

@PepsiCo pepsico.com facebook.com/PepsiCo

Follow Us On:

Performance with Purposewith Purpose

PEP_AD14_Aspen_Ideas_v2.indd 1 4/23/14 9:54 AMFull_Page.indd 1 4/28/14 11:05 AM


////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////FACTS

CONNECT WITH US

TO CONTACT INSTITUTE LEADERSSEMINARSDirectorTodd [email protected] aspeninstitute.org/seminars

HENRY CROWN

FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMManaging Director of Henry CrownFellowship Program Tonya Hinch202.736.3523 [email protected]/crown

DONATIONS, SPECIAL EVENTS,

AND BENEFITSSenior Development Manager Leah Bitounis 202.736.2289 [email protected]

ASPEN GLOBAL LEADERSHIP

NETWORKVice President,Deputy Director of Leadership Initiatives Abigail Golden-Vazquez 202.736.2537abigail.goldenvazquez@aspeninstitute.orgaspeninstitute.org/leadership

ASPEN COMMUNITY PROGRAMSDirector

Cristal Logan

970.544.7929

[email protected]

aspeninstitute.org/community

PUBLIC PROGRAMSVice President,

Aspen Ideas Festival,

Director

Kitty Boone

970.544.7926

[email protected]

aspenideas.org

Vice President,

Director

Jamie Miller


POLICY PROGRAMSDirector of

Administration, Policy and Public

Programs

Donna Horney

202.736.5835

[email protected]

aspeninstitute.org/policy-work

ASPEN ACROSS AMERICAExecutive Director of National Programs Eric L. Motley202.736.2900 [email protected]

SOCRATES PROGRAMINTERNATIONAL PARTNERSVice President,Director Melissa Ingber202.736.1077 [email protected]/socrates

aspeninstitute.org/international

THE SOCIETY OF FELLOWSDirector Peter Waanders970.544.7912peter.waanders@aspeninstitute.orgaspeninstitute.org/sof

HERITAGE SOCIETYTo learn more about planned giving opportunities, please call Susan Sherwin 202.736.1088aspeninstitute.org/heritagesociety

MEDIA INQUIRIESDirector of Communications and Public Affairs Jennifer Myers [email protected]

OFFICES

HEADQUARTERSSuite 700, One Dupont Circle, NWWashington, DC 20036-1133202.736.5800

ASPEN CAMPUS1000 North Third StreetAspen, CO 81611970.925.7010

WYE RIVER CAMPUS2010 Carmichael Road, P.O. Box 222Queenstown, MD 21658410.827.7168

NEW YORK OFFICES477 Madison Avenue, Suite 730New York, NY 10022212.895.8000

Dan

iel B

ayer

_PDF-Connect_5/27/14_kvd_e.indd 124 5/28/14 2:06 PM

ASPEN SALES & RENTALSA H E I D I H O U S T O N C O M P A N Y

Note: Although the information herein is believed to be reliable, it shall be incumbent upon Purchaser to research and investigate all aspects of the subject property to Purchaser’s own satisfaction.

520 EAST HYMAN AVENUE • POST OFFICE BOX 12368 • ASPEN, COLORADO 81612 • 970-925-6866 888-925-6866 • FAX 970-925-8391 • WWW.ASPENSALESANDRENTALS.COM

Sense of Home

5 Bedrooms • Walk everywhere • Price $7,488,000

1 hour to Aspen • water & mineral rights • Price $15,900,000

8 minutes to Aspen • 6 Bedrooms • Price $5,600,000

Aspen Core Contemporary Home

Saddle Ridge Ranch • 1,230 Acres

Aspen Log Home • Next to National Forest

ASR Ideas ad 4/24/14_Layout 1 4/24/14 9:09 PM Page 1



////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

FOLLOW US

HOW TO CONNECT WITH THE ASPEN IDEAS FESTIVALTo join the conversation on Twitter during the Aspen Ideas Festival, go to twitter.com/aspenideas or @aspenideas.

To download the Aspen Ideas App on Google Play or iTunes, visit http://as.pn/apps.

In honor of the 10th anniversary of the Aspen Ideas Festival, aspenideas.org got a refresh. Stop by whether you are planning to go to the Festival or just keep up with it from afar. You’ll find daily updates, live feeds, videos, blog content, and more, covering all the action on the Aspen Meadows campus and beyond.

Join our friends at facebook.com/AspenInstitute.

To learn how to reach individual policy programs on Facebook, go toaspeninstitute.org/socialmedia.

Follow the Aspen Institute with @aspeninstitute. To follow individual Institute

programs and directors go to

twitter.com/AspenInstitute/lists/aspen-institute.

See the Institute’s people, places, and things on Instagram.com/AspenInstitute.

Watch videos of the Institute’s events and panel discussions at

Youtube.com/AspenInstitute.

See what the Institute is pinning at Pinterest.com/AspenInstitute.

Join our LinkedIn Group to read more from the Institute at

linkedin.com/company/The-Aspen-Institute.

Find some of the Institute’s longer publications, including the magazine, at

scribd.com/AspenInstitute.

E-NEWSLETTERSign up for the Aspen Institute biweekly e-newsletter at aspenInstitute.org/newsletter. MULTIMEDIA CHANNELFind videos of many of the Institute’s panels and discussions, many of which are invite-only at aspenInstitute.org/videos.

PUBLICATIONSTo find Aspen Institute publications, some of which are available for purchase through Google Checkout or otherwise downloadable for free, go to aspenInstitute.org/publications.

THE ASPEN IDEA MAGAZINETo find and share this issue online, go to aspeninstitute.org/aspenideamag.

THE ASPEN IDEA BLOGAspen Institute directors, experts, and guest bloggers offer insight into the work of the organization ataspenInstitute.org/blog.

THE ASPEN JOURNAL OF IDEASThe Institute will soon launch a digital collection of thought-provoking analyses and opinions on critical issues at aspen.us.

To find the Institute’s photos, go to Flickr.com/AspenInstitute.

THE INSTITUTE ONLINE

_PDF-Connect_5/27/14_kvd_e.indd 126 5/28/14 11:00 AM

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

A GOOD LIFE DESERVES A LASTING LEGACY.

WHAT WILL YOURS BE?

Charitable giving is one very important way to make a difference, and by supporting the Aspen Institute you can help extend your impact on our programs for generations to come.

Please contact Kristin Robinson at (202)701-3252, kristin.robinson@

aspeninstitute.org for information on options for your family and the benefits of membership in The Heritage Society.

aspeninstitute.giftplans.org

LEGACY

Experience America’s Premier Classical Music FestivalROBERT SPANO Music Director ALAN FLETCHER President and CEO

www.aspenmusicfestival.com

970-925-9042

ASPEN MUSIC FESTIVAL AND SCHOOLJune 26 to August 17, 2014

_PDF-Connect_5/27/14_kvd_e.indd 127 5/28/14 2:06 PM


THE LAST WORD////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

JOSH WYNER | Executive Director of the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program

“A central predictor

of poverty is failure to

complete college. For

colleges to graduate more

low-income students with

job-ready skills, boards of

trustees, policymakers, and

others must recalibrate

their expectations so

college presidents’

success is defined less

by exclusivity of their

institutions and more by

how much they contribute

to social mobility.”

MAUREEN CONWAY Executive Director,

Economic Opportunities

Program

“Of the approximately

46 million poor individuals

in the US, roughly 11 million

are working adults. In

today’s economy, the poor

need more than a job to

escape poverty. Policies that

would enhance the chances

of working people not

being poor include raising

wages, supporting paid-

leave policies, improving

education and training,

expanding access to

child care, and facilitating

sufficient retirement saving.”

What one idea has the

greatest potential to address the crisis of poverty in America?

Q

RUTH J. KATZ | Director of the Health, Medicine and Society Program

“Access to health care

keeps people out of poverty

and allows them to work,

educate their children, and

build stronger communities.

Expanding Medicaid, which

already spares some

3 million Americans from

poverty, is the tool to use.

That’s shrewd economic and

social policy, and the right

thing to do.”

LISA MENSAH | Executive

Director, the Aspen Institute

Initiative on Financial

Security

“Help people hold on to

their money by building

long-term savings in a

financial institution, in an

account whose contributions

can be matched by a tax

credit. Saving for goals such

as financing an education,

a home, or retirement

helps people move from

just ‘getting by’ to ‘getting

ahead.’”

STEVE PATRICK | Executive

Director, Aspen Forum for

Community Solutions

“Collective impact, a

strategy designed to

solve complex issues

using cross-system/sector

collaborations, can be a

game changer for the war

on poverty. The Aspen

Forum for Community

Solutions is employing

this strategy through

the Opportunity Youth

Incentive Fund, intended

to deepen pathways to

good jobs for formerly

disconnected youth.”

ERIN BAILEY | Executive

Director, Center for Native

American Youth

“Invest in tribal and urban

Indian communities to

ensure that children of

the First Americans have

access to opportunity.

Elevate stories of success to

change the dialogue, compel

resources, and create

scalable change.”

ANNE MOSLE | Executive

Director, Ascend

“If you want a family to

succeed, you can’t give one

family member a balloon

and leave the other with a

dead weight. Programs and

policies that address the

needs of children and their

families together can harness

the family’s full potential,

start a cycle of opportunity,

and put the entire family

on a path to educational

success and permanent

economic security.”

JANET TOPOLSKY | Director,

Community Strategies Group

“Economic developers

work hard to ‘create jobs’

and ‘land new companies,’

competing across towns

and country in a zero-sum

game to the tune of $80

billion annually. But many of

the jobs aren’t great, don’t

last, or do little for upward

mobility. What if we reward

economic developers instead

for collaborating within

their regions to help people

and firms already there do

better? Change the goal of

economic development to

reducing poverty.”

ROSS WIENER | Executive

Director, Education and

Society Program

“Mass education fueled

American growth in the

Industrial Era; it will take

new approaches to prepare

today’s young people so

they can create innovation

and opportunity that we

can’t yet imagine. We

need to reimagine public

education with the goal

of actively engaging and

authentically inspiring every

young American to work

hard and succeed in school.”

WE ASK OUR EXPERT DIRECTORS TO WEIGH IN ON ONE OF THE MOST PRESSING ISSUES OF OUR TIME.

©iS

tock.c

om

/Bra

nd

yTa

ylo

r

_PDF-the_last_word_5/27/14_c.indd 128 5/28/14 2:07 PM

With over three decades of experience, we provide clients with an exceptional level of service and commitment.

This is the perfect time to sell your home! Activity is high and interest among buyers is strong.

Let us put our expertise to work for you.

Ask the Bineau Team about Aspen/Snowmass Real Estate

Jim 970.920.7369 or Anita 970.920.7362

[email protected] www.aspenfineproperties.com

Jim & Anita BineauBroker Associates

“We recently purchased a home in Aspen that Jim and Anita Bineau had listed. From the very first moment we arranged for a showing, their professionalism shown through. This was not always an easy transaction and without their assistance and helpful “can do” attitude it would not have happened. Thank you Jim and Anita for making our dream come true!

—Pamela Ross

AspenIdea JAB Sum14.indd 4 4/28/14 3:47 PMFull_Page.indd 1 5/5/14 12:00 PM

GORSUCH


The Aspen Idea Summer 2014

Documents

Transcript of The Aspen Idea Summer 2014