Over the last decade, local leaders have passed myriad ordinances — from increasing minimum wages to gun safety regulations — only to have conservative state legislators nullify them. David Toscano, provides ideas for controlling state preemption without letting states become a patchwork of local laws.

The knowledge, practices and methods pertaining to road safety have primarily evolved from the Western world. This knowledge is out of touch with the existing situation and realities specific to low- and middle-income countries. Their ineffectiveness translates into crashes, injuries, and deaths that could be avoided had they been adapted in a context-specific manner. Indian non-profit, SaveLIFE Foundation, through its scientific, quantifiable and well-documented Zero Fatality Corridor (ZFC) Model, makes a compelling case for considering cultural empathy to adapt standard methods and practices to a local context. By significantly improving the efficacy related to rule adherence, crash avoidance, faster medical assistance and greater engagement, the Model has led to a decline in crashes, injuries, and fatalities, thereby saving more lives across roads in India.

Not accommodating the female body in the design of products has led to a world that is less hospitable and more dangerous for women. Karen Korellis Reuther, 2022 ALI Senior Fellow, explores how we are excluding half of humanity in our built world and how we can deliver design justice for women.

The world-wide spike in energy prices, instigated by Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, has resulted in calls to “drill baby drill” by some, and celebrated by others as an accelerant to efforts to transition to a greener future. Who is right? Are they both right to some degree? Joseph Aldy, Professor at Harvard Kennedy School and former Special Assistant to the President for Energy and Environment, gives his views on our current energy crisis.

Social innovators and entrepreneurs of color often highlight challenges they face in making connections with funders, champions, and sponsors. These result in barriers that hamper development and advancement of their creative work. Dr. John Brothers, President of the T. Rowe Price Foundation, talks about the evolution of the Foundation’s approach to philanthropy, leading to the creation of Moonshot, an innovative, multi-year program designed to bring Baltimore’s entrepreneurs of color together with the global investment management firm’s network of investors and sponsors.

Anyone who is interested in a presidential appointment must navigate a complicated process in order to be confirmed by the Senate. Sarah Bloom Raskin explains what it entails and tells why she withdrew her name from consideration for a post on the Federal Reserve in 2022.

OPINION COMMENTARY:

As the United States falls behind other developed nations in building a workforce that fuels competitive innovation, Ruthe Farmer, founder and CEO of a non-profit fund focused on diversity and inclusion in tech proposes a plan with a high return on investment: low-income students in their last mile of earning a technical degree.

OPINION COMMENTARY:

Emily Weinstein and Carrie James, researchers from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, encourage parents and caregivers to assess when and why kids might be most vulnerable to social media – and how social media may also make teens feel connected and supported. Effective interventions require “tuning into the particular” and challenging assumptions.

Impact performance reporting has been too influenced by mainstream financial reporting, trying to boil everything down to numbers, metrics and scores. Sarah Gelfand and Laura Budzyna, impact specialists, highlight the critical importance of also integrating qualitative information so the field does not lose the nuance that would ultimately make it better impact investors.

OPINION COMMENTARY:

Jennifer Carlson, a professor researching the significance of guns in American society, interviews gun sellers across the country and discovers a “democratic crisis” of political culture. She learns that their attitudes range beyond the National Rifle Association’s agenda.

OPINION COMMENTARY:

The House Select Committee’s hearings to investigate the January 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol uncovered an extensive plot to overturn the 2020 election, coordinated election interference at both federal and state levels, and potential dereliction of duty by some senior officials, all before a global audience. Vivian Lowery Derryck, a member of the inaugural 2009 Advanced Leadership Initiative cohort, worries that the never-ending saga of Donald Trump, his legal issues and potential 2024 presidential bid, will overshadow the successes of this investigative milestone in American history.

THE IMPACT OF THE WAR IN UKRAINE SERIES:

OPINION COMMENTARY:

Russia’s “information war” in Ukraine is the latest example of how networked disinformation can deepen divides, harm people, destroy trust in institutions, and threaten democracy. Lisa Macpherson, a 2019 ALI Fellow, argues that America should take a more active role in supporting the free press it guaranteed its citizens in the First Amendment.

OPINION COMMENTARY:

Urban heat islands, compounded by the effects of climate change and environmental neglect, have a disproportionate impact on disadvantaged communities. David Cifrino, a 2022 Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Senior Fellow, uses Dorchester’s Columbia Road greenway as a model of our opportunity to bring about environmental justice.

Aligning the economic interests of shareholders and senior management with equity incentives is a foundational principle of American capitalism. Can the same principle also be harnessed to address wealth inequality in America by extending “ownership culture” to a broader cross-section of America’s workforce?

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION IN SOCIAL IMPACT SERIES:

OPINION COMMENTARY:

We are just beginning to understand the transformational potential of digital technology to help solve some of “the world’s most pressing problems.” Chris Lewis of the digital rights organization Public Knowledge calls on social impact leaders to join with academic, civil society, and advocacy groups to grow a movement to build a better internet for all.

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION IN SOCIAL IMPACT SERIES:

The education technology market is booming around the globe, with software tools aimed at organizing and delivering academic content dominating the market beyond hardware. Julia Freeland Fisher, Director of Education Research at the Clayton Christensen Institute, calls for the edtech market to refocus its purpose on providing connection, not just content.

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION IN SOCIAL IMPACT SERIES:

Employed with care, artificial intelligence can benefit us. Professor Frederic Lederer proposes a framework to determine AI's usefulness in two areas: predicting future criminal misconduct and developing safer weapons systems for the military.

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION IN SOCIAL IMPACT SERIES:

Dr. Alex Hanna from the Distributed AI Research (DAIR) Institute explains some of the causes of gender and racial bias in AI and discusses using a community- and value-based approach for AI development to improve equity outcomes.

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION IN SOCIAL IMPACT SERIES:

Digital innovation and open-source technology have evolved and matured over the last two decades and are now being applied to various uses beyond their traditional applications to business and industry. In this article, Heifer International’s Product Manager, Antoinette Marie, explores various use cases for technology to address the sustainable development goal of Zero Hunger using a collaborative and multi-stakeholder approach with smallholder farmers.

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION IN SOCIAL IMPACT SERIES:

Many of the greatest leaps in technological advancement have emerged from a desire to improve the quality of life for underserved members of society. The article questions and addresses how sustained efforts to develop inclusive and accessible tech might lead to further progress for humanity as a whole.