As part of Aspen Challenge, high school students from across the country visited Aspen this summer to present solutions for some of the most critical problems humanity faces.

Back to School with the Aspen Institute

As millions of young people head back to school, we're gearing up as well. Across the Institute, so many programs are focused on education, so today, we're highlighting a few of them as we prepare for another year of our own kind of school work. Have a look.

🏫 The nearly 140 four-year colleges and universities that are members of our College Excellence Program’s American Talent Initiative set concrete goals to increase socio-economic diversity. They’ve added over 18,000 students from lower-income backgrounds since their beginning in 2016–the equivalent of adding six small-sized colleges!

📚 American youth face an acute crisis of belonging, marked by increasing alienation, anxiety, and absenteeism among students, that jeopardizes their educational experiences, mental health, and future success. Our Education & Society program recently published this brief with key recommendations on how schools can foster student belonging so every child feels valued, understood, and connected.

🌎 Young people, especially students, want to act and lead on behalf of the planet. That’s why Aspen Institute’s This is Planet Ed initiative and The Nature Conservancy worked directly with youth leaders to co-produce a Youth Climate Action Toolkit, which provides strategies, ideas, and real-life examples to inspire climate action at the local level.

Keep reading to see upcoming events and dive deeper into our work on education, leadership, and more.

Economic Opportunity

Values Aligned Investing with Justin Rockefeller & Erika Karp

September 9, 2024

Virtual

Join Erika Karp (Executive Director of the Finance Leaders Fellowship) on September 9th for the first of three webinars: Values-Driven Investing with Justin Rockefeller. Justin Rockefeller is Cofounder & Chair of The ImPact (a global membership community of families aligning their assets with their values) & Trustee at Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Education

Shelved Voices: How Book Censorship & Bans Impact Everyone, Everywhere

September 22, 2024

Washington D.C. + Virtual

This program by the Aspen Institute Arts Program kicks off Banned Books Week 2024 with three segments exploring the history of book banning, the current state of literary access in the US, and how we might catalyze inspiration for protecting and expanding access to the written word for all readers.

Trust & Tech

Aspen Cyber Summit

September 18, 2024

Washington D.C.

The Aspen Cyber Summit brings together leading national and international voices from government, industry, and civil society. Since its inception in 2016, the Aspen Institute’s premier annual technology and cybersecurity conference hosts the biggest names in cybersecurity and national security, including White House and administration leaders, members of Congress, Fortune 100 executives, and academic and nonprofit thinkers.

Leadership

Bloomberg CityLab

October 14-16, 2024

Mexico City, Mexico

The eleventh Bloomberg CityLab, the preeminent global cities summit organized by Bloomberg Philanthropies in partnership with the Aspen Institute, will convene more than 500 mayors and leading policymakers, innovators, and creatives.

Around the Institute

Rising Generations

Looking for lesson plans?

To help students think critically about artificial intelligence reporting, Aspen Digital published a media literacy lesson plan geared toward high school and junior college students.

Rising Generations

The Unlocking Opportunity Project

The College Excellence Program’s Unlocking Opportunity Project just released new tools aimed at helping community colleges improve post-graduation success at scale, including an enrollment analysis tool to help colleges visualize and analyze their enrollments to improve their programs’ value.

Leadership

Introducing Leading Voices

Leading Voices is our new video series by leaders, for leaders. Hear from National Geographic Fellow Dan Buettner and Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani at the Aspen Ideas Festival about their lessons from a life of leading. Published every Wednesday on Instagram and Linkedin.

Climate

Climate Solutions by Frontline Communities

At the 2024 Resnick Aspen Action Forum, Civil Society Fellow and winner of the 2024 McNulty Prize Gloria Walton shared how The Solutions Project is empowering and amplifying the work that frontline communities are already doing to solve the climate crisis, recognizing their inherent knowledge and understanding of their unique needs.

Leadership

Bold Innovators, Global Impact

Initiatives by the Aspen Global Innovators Group have significantly advanced health equity and leadership, fostering local solutions to global challenges. Check out their recent impact report to learn more about the transformative work led by their programs around the world.

Rising Generations

Kaya Henderson, the new executive vice president and executive director of the Center for Rising Generations at the Aspen Institute featured in the Washington Business Journal.

Societal Trust

On NPR's 1A, Jenn White spoke to Tom Wilson, president and CEO of AllState; Dan Porterfield, president and CEO of the Aspen Institute; and Julia Dhar, behavioral science lab leader at the Boston Consulting Group as part of this year's Aspen Ideas Festival.

Economic Opportunity

Labor Day reflections: Maureen Conway, vice president and executive director of the Economic Opportunities Program at the Aspen Institute writes in The Hill about why it's important to remember and celebrate regulation on Labor Day, while Matt Helmer, managing director of the Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program, called for more employee ownership in FastCompany.

Economic Opportunity

Ascend at the Aspen Institute's impact was featured by El Paso Matters.

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