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Wes Moore: Eliminating barriers to economic opportunities

SxSW EDU On Demand: Wes Moore, CEO of Robin Hood, interviewed by Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief of WorkingNation
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Even before the COVID-19 pandemic began to take its toll on the economy, millions of Americans were already struggling financially, living just one pay check away from financial crisis.

Wes Moore is the CEO of Robin Hood, one of the largest anti-poverty organizations in the country. In this SxSW EDU interview, Moore joins WorkingNation Editor-in-Chief Ramona Schindelheim for an open and honest conversation about poverty in this country, and how nonprofits, businesses, educators, and the civic leaders can work together to fund and create job training and education opportunities to improve living standards for these Americans.

Wes Moore with Ramona Schindelheim on Eliminating Barriers to Economic Opportunities

Wes Moore, CEO of Robin Hood, joins WorkingNation Editor-in-Chief Ramona Schindelheim for a conversation about eliminating barriers to economic opportunities. More than 38 million people live in poverty in the United States. That’s nearly 12% of the nation’s population. Another 30%-93.6 million-live close to the poverty line.

“One of the most heartbreaking things about poverty is our level of toleration of it. The fact is that we don’t have to exist—our society does not have to exist— with the kind of poverty levels we have. We have chosen to.”

Wes Moore, Robin Hood CEO

The numbers before COVID-19 were already staggering. More than 38 million people live in poverty in the United States, nearly 12 percent of the nation’s population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Another 30 percent—93.6 million—live close to the poverty line.

38.6 million people have filed for initial unemployment benefits since mid-March, when the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders began. The official jobless rate was 14.7 percent in April and is expected to be much higher for May when it is released next month.

A report from the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University forecasts that if the unemployment rate stay above 10 percent for a prolonged period of time, the poverty rate could reach 15 percent. The same report projects a 20 percent jobless rate could push the poverty rate to 16.9 percent, the highest level since 1967. Children and working-age adults are at the greatest risk of falling into poverty, according to the report.

Funding early childhood and K-12 education, job training programs, and programs that provide health, housing, and economic security are key to eliminating barriers to economic opportunities for vulnerable populations. That is the mission of Robin Hood.

Moore is also the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Other Wes Moore. His the second book, The Work, was also a bestseller. And his latest book Five Days: The Fiery Reckoning of an American City will be available on June 23.

You can watch this SXSW EDU session, Eliminating Barriers to Economic Opportunities, as well as other SXSW EDU 2020 videos on their YouTube channel. You can also discover SXSW EDU On Demand featuring virtual editions of sessions from 2020 speakers in their online schedule.

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.