Courtney Martin set her iPhone down where she could see it. She had to keep an eye out for a possible text from her husband, who was with their daughter at the bed and breakfast where the family of three was staying while in Camden, Maine.
Martin, an author, speaker and activist, was in town for PopTech 2014, a social impact conference that drew 600 creatives together around the theme of rebellion. As a new mother, Martin arrived at the Camden Opera House with a different perspective than the one she had on stage a few years earlier for her popular TED talk, which focused on feminism and drew on the way her own mother inspired her path to where she is today.
MORE: Why America Needs Rebels to Tackle Its Challenges
During that talk, Martin said that we need a range of people and solutions to advance the work of the mothers and grandmothers who have worked so hard to make life better for their children and grandchildren.
In an interview with NationSwell about the solutions that excite her most, the editor emerita of Feministing.com started by pointing to the way the web has created a cost for sexism.
“We’ve really figured out how to get people galvanized, in a sense shaming sexist actors into changing,” she says. The innovation in digital tools, such as online petitions and apps like Hollaback! (which has partnered with New York City to allow victims of sexual harassment to upload their experiences in real time versus dealing with the process of filing a formal complaint) is providing new and more effective ways to battle anything that falls short of equal treatment.
But now, Martin says that the question is how to keep that engagement going beyond the click of a button. “We need some kind of larger strategic goal and plan and way to work together collectively.”
Organizations taking us in the right direction include UltraViolet, a community that launches campaigns for equality — from petitioning congressional representatives to reauthorize and expand the Violence Against Women Act to organizing a rally that was part of what led Facebook to name the first woman to its board of directors.
Martin also points to Make It Work, a community committed to the idea that Americans should not have to choose between earning a good living and spending quality time with their family. Instead of preaching to the feminist choir, the organization works to make these topics accessible to everyone, like through their Make It Work quiz on what television show characters we channel “when work and life get crazy.”
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Martin explains that, despite the way she and her husband have been able to pursue freelance careers that allow them to spend more time with their daughter (who has been on 38 flights and counting), balancing it all can still be a challenge.
“I still have this deep conflict between doing what I love and being with who I love and how do I make it all work?” she says. “It’s ridiculous we’re so far behind on those issues and yet it’s been so difficult over the last decade to make a change.”
Fortunately, the window of opportunity to make major change in areas like maternity leave policy opens wider as elections approach. And with that timing in mind, there are organizations hard at work.
One such group is SPARK (an acronym that stands for sexualization, protest, action, resistance, knowledge), which empowers girls to be their own activists. Breaking the “protect our girls” mold, the organization elevates the voices of young women to discuss their own experiences. Martin, whose first book was Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: How the Quest for Perfection is Harming Young Women, points to SPARK as a solution that inspires her, emphasizing the value of teenage girls expressing how they relate to their own body versus women trying to advocate on their behalf.
Martin, who embodies the rebellion theme printed on stickers and tote bags in the room where she sat, says that she is also thrilled by a cultural shift in what defines a feminist. “For a long time the narrative has been let’s get men involved so they can help women,” she says. “But now we see they have a self interest in the liberation of men and women because were all constricted by these roles.”
Starting with her own husband, Martin points to men who have inspired her by adopting this issue as their own: Jay Smooth, who has put his voice to use not only through his hip hop radio show but also against misogyny; Michael Kimmel, a leader in masculinity studies who is also the founder and spokesperson for the National Organization for Men Against Sexism; and Jimmie Briggs, who started an organization called Man Up, which aims to involve young male advocates to advance gender equality.
Eleven months into motherhood, Martin says her daughter has only made her more passionate — radicalized even — around the issue of work-life balance. “I look at Maya and I just think I want the most equal, fascinating, safe world for her possible and I will do anything to make that happen,” she says.
As she pursues that world, Martin will support the solutions that are out there, while also putting into practice points she made at PopTech that took off in the Twittersphere, including showing up as her whole self and trusting her own outrage.
Tag: Calls to Action
Former New York Times Executive Editor Says Our Courts and Prisons Are Failing Us
It takes a lot to lure a longtime New York Times journalist and former executive editor away from The Grey Lady. But the “pressing national need for excellent journalism about the U.S. court and prison systems” and a belief that the time has come to launch a national conversation on how to reform our criminal justice system drew Bill Keller to The Marshall Project, where he now serves as editor in chief.
In an email interview ahead of the NationSwell Council event “Reforming the American Prison System,” which Keller will join as a panelist, he discusses the “vicious cycle” of the system, the “lack of public urgency” around the issues and the one question not enough people are asking.
Why do you believe this country needs a media outlet like The Marshall Project focused exclusively on our criminal justice system?
Three reasons. First, there is a pretty broad consensus, across the political spectrum, that the criminal justice system is wasteful, inhumane and largely unsuccessful at its primary mission, which is making us safer. Second, the economic trauma of the media industry has meant cutbacks in the staff, space, airtime and commitment devoted to investigative journalism and to reporting on complicated policy issues like criminal justice. And, third, this feels like a moment when the conventional wisdom about these issues can be moved, from a lock-em-up-and-throw-away-the-key mentality to something more thoughtful and strategic. This opportunity is created in part by a surge of conservative support for reform and the coming of age of a generation that was not raised on high crime rates and fear-mongering.
You’ve made it very clear that The Marshall Project is a journalistic organization — not an advocacy group. But it does have a mission. So how will that shape the stories you tell?
Our mission is to create public awareness and a sense of urgency about the dysfunctions of the [criminal justice] system and to test the potential of various reforms. It will guide our choice of targets — an emphasis on stories that have been under-reported or misunderstood and a preference for stories that will have an impact. Our reporting will be shaped by the traditional standards of high-quality journalism: accuracy, fairness, independence and impartiality. I hope our work will combine eye-opening reporting with engaging writing.
Why is now the appropriate time to launch The Marshall Project, and how does the 2016 presidential campaign play into your plans to participate in a national conversation?
The political climate has shifted, with a growing conservative discontent with the status quo and a millennial generation that seems to have a less fearful, less instinctively punitive mindset. Neil Barsky, the founder and chairman of our venture, likes to say that in 2016 every serious candidate should feel obliged to have a criminal justice plank in his or her platform. Just as candidates are expected to have positions on taxes or the Middle East, they should be expected to have views on policing, courts and incarceration. We’d like to help push these issues into the 2016 spotlight.
When you look at the host of systemic problems facing our courts and prisons, which ones really stand out to you?
There are so many problems in the system — from policing to prosecution to incarceration to parole and reentry, that it’s hard for me to choose one or two. What stands out to me above all is the vicious cycle of it — the way the system scoops up young (mostly) men (mostly) from distressed communities, uproots them from family and community, does little to prepare them for a non-criminal life, and then deposits them back in those same communities.
More broadly, what do you see as the most innovative solutions in this country when it comes to prison reform or criminal justice?
We plan to take a hard look at programs that claim to work, so I won’t attempt to prejudge. The largest share of creative energy seems to be focused on diverting non-threatening people from the path to prison (drug courts, mental health treatment, etc.) and assisting reentry of those who leave prison.
What are some of the challenges that stand in the way of local solutions for criminal justice scaling across the country?
A lack of public urgency, in large part because the Americans with the most political influence are less likely to be exposed to the system in any direct way, and a system of incentives (political and financial) that tends to protect the status quo. And — although this, I believe, is beginning to change where criminal justice is concerned — a polarization of American politics that makes it extremely hard to enact reforms.
What question is no one asking with regards to criminal justice in this country?
Not enough people are asking: What is the criminal justice system for? My answer would be, first and foremost, it’s to keep us safe, and if you proceed from that answer, you have to judge the system severely wanting.
Ever Wondered What To Say To A Homeless Person? Here Are 5 Things to Say And 5 Things Not to Say
When you see a homeless person, what do you do?
Most of us tend to have the same response: We avoid eye contact and walk a little faster. But you might also ponder the situation, thinking to yourself, What’s his story? How did this happen to her? How long have they lived on the streets? Maybe you even wanted to help, but didn’t know how to start a conversation.
Should you decide to talk to one of the more than 600,000 homeless individuals in the United States, what you say is vitally important. Utter the wrong thing, and you make a person in crisis feel less than human. Make the right comment, however, and you just might provide the help that he or she so desperately needs. Here’s what the experts advise saying and what’s better left unsaid.
What to Say
“I don’t have money, but is there another way I can help you?”
“This is an especially good thing to say if you’re uncomfortable handing over cash or don’t have any to offer,” says Jake Maguire, director of communications for Community Solutions, a national organization dedicated to solving complex problems like homelessness and poverty. Undoubtedly, money is something that a homeless person needs, but often there is a specific thing that can quickly help that individual out of a dire situation. Shaun Gasson, a 32-year-old homeless man in Portland, Ore., says that someone once asked him if he needed clothes. Not only did the generous soul leave him three bags of nice clothing, but also gave him a bike and some money.
You might also consider asking the person if she or he is actually homeless. Kara Zordel, executive director of Project Homeless Connect, a San Francisco agency that links the homeless with resources in the city, says that she often will say to a person on the street: “I see you sitting out here every day, and it makes me wonder where you sleep at night.” This allows Zordel to do a better job of helping others. Sometimes a person isn’t homeless and doesn’t need a place to sleep, but might be in desperate need of something else. In that case, Zordel often hands out pairs of socks or granola bars, along with her agency’s business card. Greg Staffa, a homeless man in Farmington, Minn., suggests filling plastic baggies with nonperishable raisins or chewing gum, which will definitely be consumed.
“Did you catch the game?”
Athletic events are often shown on televisions in shelters. “Talking about sports can be one of the most interesting, neutralizing things,” says Robert Marbut, a homeless advocate in San Antonio, Texas. So while the game you’re referencing depends, of course, on your locale, bringing it up is like talking about the weather — sports is a topic of conversation that you don’t have to be of a certain class to experience.
“Good morning.”
Or say “hi” or “hello” or try to acknowledge the person in some way. “It’s good to hear kindness,” says Joe, who has been homeless in Portland, Ore., off and on for the past 16 years. Regardless of what your greeting may be, it’s important to look the person in the eye when speaking. According to another Portland man, Troy Thompson, who has been homeless several times despite being a skilled carpenter (when he can’t find work, he can’t afford to pay rent), one of the many difficult things about being homeless is that you feel less than human. “It’s like being invisible,” he says. Adds Marbut, “The non-homeless person almost never looks the homeless in the eye. If you just look a person in the eye and sort of nod, it’s the most respectful thing you can ever do.”
“How are you doing? Would you like to talk?”
These questions are great because they’re open-ended, Zordel says, giving the homeless person a choice either to brush off a deeper conversation or engage in one without judgment or pressure. Don’t be surprised if the individual isn’t interested in chatting, though, says Joe. “You’re getting into people’s personal lives. Maybe they don’t want to discuss that with a complete stranger.” If, however, the person is open to talking, this can lead to a real conversation — and maybe even provide a way for you to offer help. But even if you’re just having a casual exchange, you could be satisfying an important need: social connection. Many who live on the streets battle the feeling that they’re inadequate or nonexistent to the rest of the world. Having a real conversation can reduce those sentiments.
“I will keep you in my thoughts.”
Offering a wish of good will can be a powerful thing to someone who’s homeless, says Gasson. And for those that are religious, saying a prayer for the person can provide some comfort. “When somebody prays with you, it just makes you feel a little better,” he says. Which is the exact feeling you hope to give to someone who’s without a home.
What (Definitely) Not to Say
“Why don’t you get help?”
This assumes the person hasn’t already tried to get help. It also infers that homelessness is that individual’s own fault or a result of his or her own failings. Most homeless people are not chronically on the street. Instead, they’re living there temporarily because of an awful situation — whether it is because of a job loss and a resulting downward spiral, a flight from an abusive partner or an exorbitant rent increase while on a fixed disability or Social Security income. These individuals may have already tried a dozen different ways to get help, only to hear that they don’t qualify for a specific assistance program, for example. Or, they might not be aware of existing resources, in which case you could actually make a huge difference by pointing them in the right direction. Tell them about charitable groups like the Salvation Army, Safe Harbor or any local agency or nonprofit that works with the homeless. Or call your town’s 311 hotline and request a visit from an outreach or social services worker, suggests Maguire.
“Here’s a dollar. Please don’t use it to buy alcohol.”
If you choose to give someone money, it must be given without strings. Yes, a person who is homeless may use your gift for something that doesn’t necessarily help his situation, but your generous action could also provide an opportunity to start a conversation — and eventually lead to an opening to approach with more substantive help. “Not everyone is ready to receive what they need today,” Zordel says. “But we can take the first step together, engaging and building a trusting relationship…without expectations of the individual.”
“Why don’t you go to a shelter?”
To some homeless people, the conditions at some shelters are worse than on the street. Shelters can be loud, dangerous or require quiet times that don’t align with a person’s sleep habits. Plus, in many parts of the country, particularly big cities, there may not be enough beds available for the homeless population, adds Jenny Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness in San Francisco. For example, “There’s one shelter bed for every five homeless people in San Francisco,” she says.
“You don’t seem like you should be homeless.”
This is another common utterance, Friedenbach says. And while it may be well intentioned, a statement like this reveals your prejudice against homeless people. It conveys to the person that, for the most part, you presume the homeless to be smelly, or drug addicts, or mentally ill. Whereas the only thing that really connects all homeless people is the fact that they’re impoverished and don’t have access to subsidized housing at the moment, says Friedenbach.
“Get a job.”
Homeless people hear this comment most often. But it fundamentally misunderstands and refuses even to consider what the person is actually going through. Many homeless people suffer from mental illness or other conditions that prevent employment. Or they’re on the streets because they once had a job, but suffered an injury that ended their ability to work.
Case in point: Just before becoming homeless in 2009, Staffa was making $20.20 an hour in a union job in Farmington, Minn., working for an employer he had been with for nine years. An on-the-job injury ended that, Staffa says, right in the middle of the Great Recession. For three years after that, he lived out of his car. The impact on his psyche, he says, was damaging. “Several friends of mine tell me ‘just find a job and everything will be fine.’ But I have to find myself again.”
“If I had a job, I wouldn’t be out here,” adds Joe while panhandling in Portland, Ore.
Watch: Dr. Jim Withers Makes House Calls to the Homeless
Ask the Experts: How Can We Fix Early Childhood Education?
Consider this: The future success of every child is in many ways determined before he or she turns 8. During those early years, how that child learns and develops — mentally, emotionally and socially — is critical. This isn’t a theory. It’s a fact, based on decades of research on the positive effects of quality early-learning experiences on children’s lives. It’s no wonder then that educators, politicians, researchers and families have honed in on early childhood education as a means to invest not only in the future of America, but also to help deter and improve any number of complex social issues.
But despite our ever-increasing understanding of the benefits of early learning, as well as the negative repercussions of neglecting it, high-quality early education programs are not mandated, which means they’re expensive and exclusive — and out of reach of most Americans.
So how can we expand and improve access to early childhood education? We can start by understanding more about it. With this in mind, NationSwell convened a panel of experts to discuss the issue in depth and explore possible solutions. Read on for their thoughts, and then join the conversation by leaving your own ideas in the comments box below.
What is early childhood education, exactly?
The very definition of early childhood education varies greatly among organizations, schools and governments. The National Association for the Education of Young Children, the world’s largest advocacy organization devoted to early childhood learning, defines it as high-quality programs — emphasis on “high quality” — geared toward children from birth to age 8 (or third grade). Increasingly, many colleges are expanding their early-education programs to include learning techniques for infants and toddlers. However, many states, as well as the federal government, focus early-education initiatives primarily on preschool or prekindergarten (3- or 4-year-olds).
Currently, the education system in the United States does not support universal preschool, placing the financial burden on families. President Obama has pushed for more funding for early childhood education, and many states have taken the initiative to create programs that increase access to early education, especially for low-income families, but we still have a long way to go to ensuring equal access to all demographics.
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Why is early childhood education so important?
Research has shown that much of what you need to succeed in life is established before you enter kindergarten. During that time, the human brain undergoes rapid development; it’s a period when a child builds cognitive skills — the foundation for reading, math, science and academics — as well as character skills, social-emotional growth, gross-motor skills and executive functioning, which includes everything from impulse control to problem solving.
“There’s an explosion of activity in the first five years of life, more profound than any future years,” says Rhian Evans Allvin, executive director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. “If we can capitalize on that and maximize the support and learning opportunities, then we really stand a good chance of setting young children on a trajectory of success.”
Academic achievement, of course, is one of the main benefits of early childhood learning. According to Libby Ethridge, president of the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators, an advocacy organization, children who attend early-learning programs demonstrate higher levels of school achievement and better social adjustment than those who have no formal early education. They’re less likely to repeat a grade or be placed in special education classes, since learning issues can be identified and mediated early. Children who have had formal early-learning experiences are also more likely to graduate from high school.
Other benefits go far beyond academics. According to Steve Barnett, director of the National Institute for Early Education Research, an organization based at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., a lack of formal early-learning experiences has a negative impact on the entire country — economically and socially.
“We pay for failing to invest in our kids in terms of the high cost of school failure — one in 10 middle-income kids failed a grade and will repeat, and one in 10 doesn’t complete high school — the high costs of prisons and the criminal justice system, and the high cost of poor productivity in the workforce,” he says. “There’s even some evidence that we pay for it in the high cost of health, since health problems are often rooted in early childhood experiences.”
Experts agree that supporting early childhood education is a win-win for everyone. “It’s not just a cliché that we’re investing in our future,” Barnett says. “These are the people who are going to be paying for our Social Security. These are the people who will be defending our country.”
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What demographics benefit most from early-education programs?
Every child benefits from early learning, whether it’s practiced in a formal school setting or at home with parents or caregivers. However, research — most notably the HighScope Perry Preschool Study, which tracked the lives of 123 young children born into poverty — has shown that kids from low-income and disadvantaged communities have even more to gain from early education.
In this study, which began in 1962, 3- and 4-year-olds were divided into two groups: One received high-quality preschool programming and one did not. By age 40, those who had attended preschool had higher earnings, were more likely to hold a job, had committed fewer crimes and were more likely to have graduated from high school than adults who did not attend preschool.
Those are pretty remarkable results. And yet, according to Evans Allvin, low-income communities have the least access to high-quality early-learning experiences, despite the fact that many programs, such as Head Start and Educare, were designed to help this population receive preschool education.
“What’s important is that there are quality opportunities for all kids, and that’s really a huge barrier right now,” Evans Allvin says. “Arguably, the children who most need high-quality learning have the least access.”
The middle class also misses out on early educational opportunities. According to Ethridge, well-off families can afford to send their children to high-quality preschool programs or have the time to stay home and interact with their children. Low-income families, on the other hand, can take advantage of government-supported programs. But the middle class is often stuck somewhere in between.
“I’m not saying all the children in poverty’s needs are being met and serviced, but we’re making strides,” Ethridge says. “But children in the middle class, whose parents both tend to be working, are really struggling to find the money to pay for high-quality, early-education programs.”
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How can we make early childhood education more accessible?
Experts say that Americans are talking more about early childhood education than ever before. But so far the discussion isn’t translating to an increase in programs or attendance. According to The State of Preschool 2013, an annual report by the National Institute for Early Education Research, only 28 percent of the country’s 4-year-olds and 4 percent of 3-year-olds were enrolled in a state-funded preschool program in the 2012-13 school year — the same percentage as 2012. In fact, the actual number of 4-year-olds enrolled dropped by 9,000 between 2012 and 2013. Overall, the 2012 Current Population Survey found that nearly half of all 3- and 4-year-olds did not attend any preschool — public or private — between 2010 and 2012, a statistic that’s held steady since 2006.
So what do we need to provide families with more early-education programs? First thing’s first — money, and lots of it.
“The fundamental problem is one of economics and culture,” Barnett says. “Good early care and education requires a lot of adults — so there are not too many kids per teacher — who have a good education and are also reasonably well compensated, in order to get the quality you want. You put those things together, and it’s expensive. The idea that there is a cheap option here is just false.”
Some states have made significant strides. Oklahoma offers every 4-year-old free access to a year of high-quality, full-day, year-round prekindergarten, including home visits to some disadvantaged households. New Jersey has had Supreme Court-mandated preschool programs for 3- and 4-year-olds in the Abbott urban school districts since 1998. And New York City is gearing up to deliver on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s promise of universal pre-K by the start of the 2014-15 school year.
Ethridge, who is also a professor at the University of Oklahoma, says that in her state many of the public preschools still have extensive waiting lists. “Because it’s not mandatory, they don’t have to provide enough for every child,” she says.
Does that mean that universal preschool is the answer? The experts are torn. Barnett claims that it’s the only way to ensure that every child — regardless of demographics — gets access to high-quality early learning. But Barbara Bowman, the Irving B. Harris professor of child development at the Erikson Institute, a Chicago-based graduate school, weighs the pros and cons.
“There’s a group of people who say it’s better to make it available to everybody, like public education, so it’s easier to get funded,” she says. “On the other hand, some people say we should focus on the students who need it the most — low-income kids or those who speak another language or those with special needs.”
Whether it’s universal or not, there’s no doubt that early learning programs should be the country’s top educational priority — regardless of cost.
“The response is always we don’t have enough money, but the truth is it’s not that much money in terms of the government budget,” Barnett says. “What are our priorities going to be?”
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Ask the Experts: How to Bring Fresh, Healthy Food to the Neediest Families
We are a nation where rolling plains are covered in fields of wheat and corn, where rivers are filled with tumbling salmon, where orchards abound and valleys are filled with row upon row of vegetables. And yet millions of families live within our borders with empty cupboards and hungry children. In 2011, about 18 million households in the United States were described as “food insecure” — having limited or uncertain access to safe, nutritious foods — according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “More importantly, households with children are nearly twice as likely to be food insecure,” according to a recent analysis by the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Share Our Strength, which noted that about 4 million American families have children who lack access to adequate nutritious food. For children, food insecurity heralds a lifetime of future problems, including deficits in health and academic achievement.
Simply providing government assistance isn’t enough. A 2012 study at the Harvard School of Public Health found that people participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), often referred to as food stamps, eat less healthy diets — with fewer whole-grain products and more potatoes, red meat and sugary soft drinks — than people who didn’t receive SNAP benefits. The study didn’t make clear exactly why this is so, but part of the problem has to do with access. Many residents of low-income neighborhoods, urban or rural, don’t have easy access to grocery stores or other fresh-food options — the so-called food desert problem.
It’s an issue that’s received a lot of attention, but so far, few scalable solutions. So NationSwell asked the experts to weigh in on this question: How can we bring healthy food to our neediest neighborhoods? Read below for their hopeful responses, and then leave your thoughts in the comments box below.
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Moving to the Suburbs? 5 Ways to Survive Urban Sprawl
Living in the suburbs gets a bad rap. Many would say for good reason: People who live in the far-flung suburbs are less socially connected, less happy and not as healthy as those residing in cities. Suburbanites also have less economic opportunity and spend a bigger chunk of their income on housing and transportation (how’s that commute working for you?). As a recent survey by the nonprofit coalition Smart Growth America puts it, metro areas with “more compact, connected neighborhoods are associated with…a better quality of life for everyone in that community.”
We’ve been debating the pros and cons of suburban existence for some 60 years in the United States — ever since the term “urban sprawl” entered the popular lexicon. But if you ask Robert Bruegmann, a professor of art history at the University of Illinois at Chicago and author of “Sprawl: A Compact History,” suburban living is neither an American phenomenon nor a new one. Bruegmann cites evidence of people living in the suburbs during the Ming Dynasty and in ancient Rome — then, as now, sprawl was prompted by the desire for space and privacy. Bruegmann also argues that while sprawl is no perfect solution, its social and economic benefits vastly outweigh its problems.
It’s a lively and ongoing debate, well worth exploring, but meanwhile, half of the American population currently lives in the suburbs, according to the U.S. Census, either by choice or by circumstance, and they’re not likely to be heading back into the city anytime soon. So what can we do now to infuse our sprawling suburbs with the same sorts of social, psychological and economic advantages that make cities so alluring? Below are five ways to bring vibrancy to life in the ’burbs — including some advice on how to deal with the long commute.
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From the Battlefield to the Farm: How Two Iraq War Vets Found Their Passion as Foodies
Steve Smith and James Jeffers, both 38, first met serving with the United States Army at Fort Hood, Texas, in the tense years after the 9/11 attacks. They became fast friends, but when they received different assignments, they set off on their separate ways. Over the years, their paths would diverge and cross, until eventually the two friends would come together back home in Texas and forge an unexpected business partnership — as farmers. The two veterans had a lot of healing to do after their tours in the Middle East, and they found comfort, sustenance and a revived sense of serving their community by digging their hands into the dirt around their homes in a Dallas suburb.
The first time Smith and Jeffers reconnected, it was pure coincidence. Smith had briefly left the Army before being recalled in 2005 to serve as part of a security force at Camp Buehring, a staging base in Kuwait for soldiers headed north into Iraq. Smith accompanied convoys into that country. Jeffers, meanwhile, had made the Army his career; a natural leader, he had risen quickly to the rank of sergeant first class. He ended up at the same base in Kuwait, before heading into Iraq. On the last night of Smith’s tour, he happened to go to the gym, where he looked up and spotted Jeffers. The two men pledged to do a better job of staying in touch before parting ways again.
Both Smith and Jeffers served two tours in the Middle East, but Smith says his friend had a tougher time by far. Jeffers served his second tour in Baghdad on Haifa Street, the contentious two-mile line between the Sunni and Shiite populations in the city. The U.S. Army and the Iraqi National Guard patrolled the median, constantly trying to maintain order in an area that had become known as “Grenade Alley.” “I loved what I did,” Jeffers says. “I loved being in the Army and I was good at it.”
But the experience left him scarred. While on patrol he encountered car bombs, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), rocket-propelled grenade attacks and firefights with insurgents. Shrapnel scarred more than half his body and numerous concussions led to an eventual diagnosis of traumatic brain injury (TBI). His cognitive functions were becoming clouded. Jeffers says he realized he needed help after he got back stateside and began forgetting how to do simple, everyday tasks like reading or making coffee. He says he’d forget to put coffee grounds in the machine one day and then fail to put water in the reservoir the next — he broke three coffee makers. After being diagnosed with TBI, he was faced with a decision: either stay in the Army and likely be relegated to a desk job, or leave it for an uncertain future. Rated at 100 percent disability, Jeffers reluctantly chose to leave the Army he loved.
He sought out his old buddy Smith, who was working in construction, and they reconnected. He told Smith he couldn’t just sit around and collect his disability check. Over in Iraq, Jeffers had done more than fight battles; he had built up communities and provided basic services to people who needed them. “‘I have to have a purpose,’ he said,” Smith recalls. The two friends came up with an idea to start a green home-renovation business in Dallas, but bad luck struck again as the recession hit and the housing market slowed.
Smith was also dealing with his own health issues. He had developed a rainbow of debilitating food allergies, including lactose intolerance, while in the Army, and he was trying to mitigate the symptoms through lifestyle changes — namely by eating a totally organic diet. Smith plowed the yard around his Oak Cliff, Texas, home, and he and his family began growing their own food.
Inspired by his friend, Jeffers decided to tear up his own yard and go organic, too. It turned out that gardening was just the kind of work he needed. “I fell in love with it immediately,” Jeffers says. “It was peaceful, quiet and I was working on my own.” Reading was recommended as therapy for his TBI, and he found himself voraciously reading organic gardening books.
The two men also began holding regular evening get-togethers with their neighbors, which they called “firepit nights,” Smith says. Oak Cliff is an eclectic neighborhood near downtown Dallas, a mix of pre-World War II homes and mid-century moderns, and a mix of residents that include lawyers and chefs, carpenters, brewmasters and artists. Gathered around the fire, the guys would hold “cool brainstorming sessions,” Smith says, “where the energy of the fire and maybe the beer” fed dreams and plans.
It was around the firepit that Smith and Jeffers came up with an enduring plan. They wanted to share their enthusiasm for gardening and their passion for fresh, locally produced food with a wider audience. So they decided to try to scale up their home growing efforts and launch a real urban farm. They used every square inch of their own land for planting, and supplemented it with community gardens around town, friends’ yards and rooftop planters — all told, about an acre of harvestable land, growing Swiss chard, tomatoes and kale. Smith and Jeffers went through a training program with the Farmer Veteran Coalition, a national program that helps veterans launch new careers in agriculture. They toured small-scale farms run by vets in other parts of the country to learn what works and what doesn’t.
Smith and Jeffers’ vegetable beds thrived. They sold their freshly harvested crops to local groceries and restaurants. They wanted their operation to have as small an environmental footprint as possible, so they strove to make it a closed-loop system, selling their produce to restaurants, then in turn taking the restaurants’ biodegradable waste to use as compost and fuel oil. They called their new venture Eat the Yard.
Eat the Yard is still a small operation, and its long-term profitability remains a question mark, but its founders have big dreams. The food movement is just taking hold in Dallas, and Smith and Jeffers are planning to ride the wave. A local developer, Brian Bergersen, and his partners have undertaken a $65 million renovation of the cityʼs derelict Farmers Market. Taking inspiration from Seattleʼs iconic Pike Place Market, they plan to turn the Dallas location into a food and community center complete with market stands, residential housing, a beer garden and restaurants. Smith and Jeffers have met with Bergersen and have plans to include a two-acre urban farm as part of the project. They say the farm will not only produce vegetables, but will also serve as a “learning farm” for Dallas schoolchildren, many of whom live in the low-income neighborhoods nearby. “If itʼs not on a cheeseburger from McDonaldʼs, they donʼt know what it is,” Smith says, but the Eat the Yard farm will teach kids how to grow fresh food and what it tastes like.
They also want the farm to serve as a resource for other veterans who are struggling to make the transition back into civilian life. Smith says he wants them to learn what gardening can do for them — what he calls “dirt therapy.” The idea is to bring other vets on the farm and teach them the ropes, which will eventually allow them to build their own farms — along with other veteran outreach networks — in their own communities.
“The Army has a culture of passing on knowledge,” Jeffers says. “A tradition that before you leave you should bestow what you know on the next generation. Itʼs the same thing with farming.” Passing on their knowledge is a way to serve their community, and creating a learning farm, Smiths adds, “is a way to share the gospel with everybody.”
Smith still works full time in construction, but Jeffers spends his days on the farm. “The biggest thing for me is that itʼs meaningful work. I needed that,” he says. “I am very passionate about this and without this I would be a lot worse off.” He has persistent memory problems and occasional vertigo. But being out in the garden, where there is always something to do, no matter the season, has been the catalyst that helped heal his friend, Smith says. “It has done wonders for me,” Jeffers says. “For veterans, no one needs to stamp them ʻBroken. Needs Fixing.ʼ They need something to do. They need to continue their service.”
7 Summer Supercamps You’ll Wish Were Around When You Were a Kid
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Big Bets: 8 Game-Changers Shake Things Up to Solve Our Country’s Challenges
We know about the challenges.
We know that too many young people are struggling to find employment and a ladder up; that too many children fail to receive the sort of education they need to flourish in the 21st century world; that more young people should be given the opportunity to partake in some form of national service — and that too few actually do.
At NationSwell, we are deeply concerned about these problems, and we are always grateful to find a smart report or analysis of the challenges. Developing a true and deep understanding of a problem is the first step in solving it.
But it’s what comes next that truly excites us — and defines our mission.
It’s the innovators, the pioneers, the change-makers who not only understand these national challenges and all of their complexity, but who also dare to solve them. At NationSwell, we are ever-focused on finding them, telling their powerful stories and driving action in support of their efforts.
Who are these leaders, what are their visions for change, what motivates them — and what, exactly, are the big bets they are making to advance our country?
NationSwell sat down with eight innovators at the Gathering of Leaders, an annual event held this past year in Napa, Calif., hosted by leading venture philanthropy organization New Profit, for a series of extraordinary conversations in which we posed some of those very questions.
The answers we got were as varied as they were illuminating — and, to us, heartening. If the odds are anything like Vegas, some of these risk-takers will fail and some will succeed. But, in thinking creatively and acting boldly, what these men and women are doing to tackle our biggest national challenges demands our consideration — and participation.
We invite you to watch and be part of the conversation as we present the NationSwell series: “Big Bets”.
All the best,
Greg Behrman
Editor-in-Chief
NationSwell
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The Broadway Theater Company Giving Troubled Teens a Second Act
I am the pain you feel when you can’t express yourself.
I am a swift kick to the stomach of injustice.
—Christopher Thompson, co-author of Stargate Theatre Company’s production of “Behind My Eyes”
Last summer, on his first day on the job as an actor and writer for the Stargate Theatre Company in New York City, Christopher Thompson contemplated quitting. While many might consider getting paid to create performance art a step up from janitor’s assistant — his previous summer job — Thompson initially thought otherwise. Fear consumed the 17-year-old from Flatbush, one of Brooklyn’s less fashionable neighborhoods; he worried about being mocked for his grammar, handwriting and morbid humor. “I was afraid of people finding my form of expression really bad, really effed up,” says Thompson, who bears a resemblance to the Cat in the Hat with his lanky frame, long striped-knit cap and mischievous grin. He remembers feeling “extremely defensive” and thinking to himself, “This is awful. Why am I here? I’m not a talker, but I need the money.”
Thompson’s bumpy path to the stage began after a brief stint in New York’s notorious Rikers Island prison. Police arrested him last year for punching a classmate; it was his first offense. He contends that the kid he slugged during lunch harassed him about his black skin, but Thompson acknowledges that he has “anger problems.”
An alternative-to-incarceration program recommended Thompson to Stargate, a pilot project founded last year by the prestigious Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC), which produces Broadway and Off-Broadway plays. The unconventional Stargate theater troupe pays “court-involved” and at-risk teenage boys (most participants have committed low-level crimes) to stage a performance piece in a quest to reduce recidivism, teach literacy and provide work experience that looks far better on a CV than time in jail. The cast members — who applied to be part of the program — worked for a minimum of 12 hours a week for six weeks last summer to develop an autobiographical show, which they performed at New York City Center – Stage II, a sleek theater in Midtown Manhattan. After the premiere in August 2013, the teens returned to high school, though they reconvened for an encore performance of the show in October.
“We’re hiring these young men to be members of a theater company,” says David Shookhoff, education director of the Manhattan Theatre Club and an acclaimed director, most recently of the Off-Broadway hit “Breakfast With Mugabe.” “Their job is to write and to perform and to operate as an ensemble.” Shookhoff believes Stargate’s seven charter members learned to be timely, collegial and cooperative, valuable traits in the workplace.
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Shookhoff, 69, conceived Stargate in 2010 while brainstorming over poached eggs with Evan Elkin, 52, then an executive at the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit policy research group in New York, and now a consultant specializing in criminal justice reform. Trustees at their respective organizations had a hunch that MTC and Vera would find common ground so they set up their key innovators on something of a blind date. “By the time breakfast was done, Stargate was hatched,” recalls Shookhoff, who favors a professorial gray beard and tweed jacket. The Leon Lowenstein Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on education, provided the seed money for the venture, and Stargate is in talks with other major funders to underwrite its second season this summer.
Elkin, a psychologist, believes the teenage years are an opportune time to introduce underprivileged kids to theater. “We forget to recognize that adolescence is this great moment where you sort of are figuring out . . . your own identity and the roles you want to play,” he says. “There’s this tremendous parallel process in theater.” Creating a play in a therapeutic environment, he suggests, helps young people with criminal pasts reflect on their decisions and envision overcoming the barriers they face. As one of Stargate’s grant proposals puts it, the program “engages difficult-to-engage youth.”
At the same time, Stargate empowers its players to run the show. The seven members of the first season, for instance, signed off on the firing of three cast mates who missed several rehearsals. “Young folks who have been in the system are not accustomed to having a voice and setting the tone,” observes Elkin, who watched the actors “get in touch with themselves” while crafting a “lyrical piece of art.”
Stargate’s teachers are successful show business pros, who include four-time Emmy-winning writer Judy Tate and guest artist Lemon Andersen, a convicted crack-dealer-turned-monologist who has appeared in several Spike Lee films. Rehearsals are held in the same studios used by stars working on recent Manhattan Theatre Club productions, including Mary-Louise Parker, Debra Messing and Sarah Jessica Parker. Tate, the program’s artistic director, considers it critical for the aspiring thespians to get a taste of a thriving theater company. “When the kids come to the studios of Manhattan Theatre Club and see the photos on the walls of all the productions that have happened, it creates an environment of professionalism,” she says. “They get to go home and say, ‘I’m paid as a writer. I’m paid as an actor.’”
Research on the efficacy of theater as an intervention for juvenile offenders is limited. A study of adult inmates from 1980 to 1987 found that those who had participated in arts programs were nearly 50 percent less likely to return to prison within one year of release compared with the general population of parolees. Juvenile offenders in an arts program in Washington State detention centers, according to a 2003 evaluation published in The Journal of Correctional Education, caused fewer disruptions “at a statistically significant level.”
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Stargate’s admittedly small sample of teens, who were 16 and 17 years old when they joined the program, are performing well; no graduates with criminal records have been rearrested and several improved their grades. The cast have been invited back this summer to serve as paid recruiters and mentors for new cast members.
Anecdotally, Tate witnessed her young colleagues experience Prospero-worthy transformations. She singled out Thompson; she described him as “very, very shut down” at first and prone to hold his shoulders “up to his ears” and to mutter into his chest. Tate advised him to change his posture if he hoped to reach an audience. “Your head must be held up because you’ve got to project your voice,” she recalls telling him. “And one day,” she continues, “he was sharing a particularly beautiful piece of writing, his shoulders went down and his head went up and he spoke out into the world.”
Thompson credits a coaching session with Lemon Andersen — Stargate brings in accomplished guest-artists to inspire the cast — as a revelation. “He taught us that you have to keep chipping at that wall, chipping at that wall. It’s not about being cool,” recalls Thompson. “It’s about showing who you are.” He adds that he now relies on writing as an outlet. “I love writing now. Even though my friends think it’s cheesy. ‘Hey, I get my emotions out there, you don’t.’”
Several weeks of theater exercises, writing sessions and rehearsals culminated in “Behind My Eyes,” a show based on their disappointments and dreams, performed before peers, parents and even probation officers. Shookhoff, Stargate’s co-founder, remembers jumping out of his seat at the end of the show — and he wasn’t alone. “You know, standing ovations are kind of cliché on Broadway. There’s almost a sense of obligation,” he says. “A true standing ovation is what we experienced at the end of the Stargate performance, where the audience simply leapt to their feet, cheering and screaming, laughing and applauding, because they had been so deeply moved.”
Before the finale, the cast forms a circle to represent a whirring, buzzing time machine. Each performer rotates into the spotlight to answer the question, “What if we . . . got blasted 20 years into the future?” On the stark stage decorated with black cubes and a backdrop emblazoned by the performers’ writing, a future pilot fantasizes about flying through the “clouds and moist mist with rushing winds. I’m surrounded by 432 passengers and their lives are all in my hands.” A would-be transportation czar visualizes a revamped New York in 2033, where “the subway tunnels no longer have rats because I fixed them up with the help of ‘Extreme Makeover: New York City Edition!’”
And Thompson, who mumbled through initial rehearsals and nearly quit Stargate, envisioned a promising future. “Everything I do,” he said with confidence, “will lead up to my master plan!”
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