Elliot Davis, 2022 Harvard ALI Fellow and arts leader, examines the Embrace Memorial recently unveiled in Boston. Davis explores the historical significance, artistic elements, and controversies surrounding the monument.

Nina Khrushcheva, great-granddaughter of Nikita Khrushchev, former Premier of the Soviet Union, discusses how Hollywood’s “soft propaganda” about Russia and Russians may hinder diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine – and how reading Russian literature may provide important clues to the Russian mind.

FUTURE OF WORK SERIES:

Millions of people languish at the margins of the workforce despite nearly two open positions for every unemployed job seeker. Kate Markin Coleman, 2017 Harvard ALI Fellow, offers principles for a data-based, stakeholder-driven, collaborative approach to modernize the nation’s workforce development system.

FUTURE OF WORK SERIES:

The world is facing a shortage of workers. Wieteke Graven, the founder of HPP, summarizes the employment situation in the Netherlands, and details how HPP is helping employers to shape the future of work.

OPINION COMMENTARY:

Studies suggest that too many young people believe what they are learning is not interesting and has no connection with life beyond the classroom. Courtney Welsh and Scott Hefter suggest new models and programs that would allow youths to structure their own curricula.

SOCIAL EQUITY SERIES:

How can investing in gang members transform our communities? Michelle Caldeira and Mark Culliton discuss the counterintuitive approach that Uncornered takes to address violent crime.

SOCIAL EQUITY SERIES:

Closing the racial wealth gap is a generational challenge. Khamla Erskine, the executive sponsor of The Fellowship Initiative, details how JPMorgan Chase is bridging the divide, one community at a time.

Author, immigration reform advocate, and pro bono lawyer, Linda Dakin-Grimm, discusses how her faith influences her work and one of her many successful asylum cases reuniting a family from Guatemala separated at the U.S. border.

SOCIAL EQUITY SERIES:

How does a leading wire and cable manufacturer become a source of transformation for at-risk students? Burt Fealing from Southwire and Ethan Rouen from the Harvard Business School describe the 12 for Life program and how it has partnered with communities and achieved collective success.

SOCIAL EQUITY SERIES:

Police practices and racial bias remain joined in a tortured dance that many times leads to tragic consequences. How does creative and thoughtful leadership resolve this historical relationship and produce equitable and fair outcomes? Former Chief of Police Renée Hall discusses the continuing struggle to align effective police practices with meaningful solutions.

SOCIAL EQUITY SERIES:

OneGoal reimagines secondary educational support by visualizing not just what its students plan to achieve but also who they become on their educational journey. OneGoal’s leadership seeks not merely to change the educational support system, but to change how society views the gifts each student develops along the way.

OPINION COMMENTARY:

Like many from countries where poverty and unemployment run high, a large number of young people in Upper Egypt feel hopeless. Ahmed Elmoursi proposes setting up training academies in the region to address the skills gap and provide the needed bridge between school and work.

INNOVATIONS IN ORGAN DONATION SERIES:

Across the globe, the need for organ transplantation has far outpaced the supply of organs. Mary Sauer shares her personal story and describes pioneering innovations that could solve the organ shortage crisis.

INNOVATIONS IN ORGAN DONATION SERIES:

In the United States, the number of people on the transplant waiting list and those who die waiting for an organ continues to rise. James Lytle explains why policy changes are not, by themselves, likely to solve this crisis and why technological advances are necessary to save lives.

There is currently an intense political divide in the United States regarding the integration of environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) factors into the investment decisions of public and private pension funds. The key issues are whether ESG factors are appropriate considerations in furthering optimal financial performance and whether it is appropriate for plan fiduciaries to consider potential collateral social or environmental benefits in making their investment decisions. David Cifrino discusses the history, fiduciary law, financial performance and regulation associated with ESG investing.

As the nation pauses for our annual Martin Luther King Day celebration, Harvard Divinity School legend, Dr. Preston Williams is keeping Dr. King’s enduring legacy alive. After five decades of service to Harvard and a lifetime of service to humanity, Dr. Williams is hopeful about America’s racial future.

FUTURE OF WORK SERIES:

Quality jobs that provide local living wages and equitable access to career pathways have become a critical part of the “future of work” conversation. Richard Kane and Barry Puritz of the Harvard Business School Club of New York’s Skills Gap Initiative, and Kenneth Adams, President of the LaGuardia Community College, discuss the creation of a non-degree program that is providing life-changing career pathways for individuals from low-income communities.

FUTURE OF WORK SERIES:

Among younger workers, labor unions are gaining popularity. Steven Greenhouse explains how this movement has become more democratic than it was a generation ago, and he provides policy recommendations for the future of work.

Eric Collins, founder of Impact X Capital and host of the UK The Money Maker, discusses how black entrepreneurship and business ownership is a pathway to black empowerment. He gives us his advice on how we can be disruptive visionaries and boldly create the world we want to see.

College completion drives economic outcomes for Black and Latinx students in the US. Students from vulnerable communities can realize their college goals with “right fit” educational experiences. Lesley Poole, CEO, and Vincena Allen, Chief Growth Officer, of The SEED Foundation discuss their approach to ensuring college success for underrepresented students.