We just came back from our 33rd ACE trip last week -- this one in Orlando, featuring Tony Gonzales (R-TX-23), a moderate freshman on the powerful Appropriations Committee who represents the largest district in the U.S. that is not a single state. He visited Darren Soto, a moderate 3rd termer serving on the Energy & Commerce Committee. Over the course of the day in FL-9, Reps. Soto and Gonzales built close connections and learned much about the leading ecosystems of manufacturing, agriculture, transportation, and technology in Central Florida. Among the stops were: a citrus packing facility, a ride on the SunRail commuter train, a helicopter excursion with the South FL Water Management District to look at the headwaters of the Everglades and restoration projects, a community college advanced manufacturing training center, a new semiconductor plant, the Lake Nona V.A. Hospital, and the construction site of Orlando Airport's new terminal -- and that's all in one day!
Read MoreEngage in a discussion with author Alexander Polikoff, in conversation with Alden Loury, WBEZ
The nation’s current racial reckoning has brought forth a third chance to achieve racial justice for African Americans. Reconstruction failed to bring about justice. The Civil Rights Movement failed to bring about equality. A new book, A Brief History of the Subordination of African Americans in the U.S.: Of Handcuffs and Bootstraps, provides a thorough but succinct history of racial oppression in America.
Join us to hear why the authors believe that knowing and understanding this history is a critical first step to making this third chance different, enabling the nation to achieve meaningful and lasting racial justice.
Read MoreSquare One Foundation is piloting The Civic Action Capstone Project
To effect change, community leaders must have the ability to scan issues, place them in a wider economic, demographic and educational context, develop viable alternatives and understand the levers of power and how they can be moved. Today’s civic leaders must understand where decisions are made and who makes them, as well as the factors that impact those decisions in order to leverage their own power to influence policy. The Civic Action Capstone strives to open doors and break down silos to support an inclusive vision of community leadership.
Read MoreThese are extraordinary times filled with despair, uncertainty and precarity. A global pandemic has not only laid bare the vast and growing inequity of our economic system but the fragility of our public institutions that serve the most vulnerable members of our community. The long-standing racial injustice in this country was exposed by the fact that the highest incidence of COVID-19 fell on our black and brown communities and was compounded by the murder of George Floyd in May. The depth of pain and anger have ironically given us hope that this can be a moment of change. The Square One Foundation is sharpening its focus and responding to this upheaval with an urgency and recognition that too many people have been left behind for too long.
Square One Foundation is approaching this moment in three phases: Survival, Rebuilding and Resilience.
Read MoreThe Square One Foundation is proud to be a part of this statement published by Crain’s Chicago Business.
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