Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Meet the Change Leaders: Tim Shriver

Tim Shriver on the Braver Angels podcast
Podcast: The call the unite
Youtube

Tim Shriver leads the International Board of Directors of the Special Olympics and serves together with 6 million Special Olympics athletes in 200 countries to promote health, education, and a more unified world through the joy of sports.

Shriver joined the Special Olympics in 1996. He is a leading educator who focuses on the social and emotional factors in learning. He co-founded and currently chairs the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the leading school reform organization in the field of social and emotional learning.


He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Co-Chairman of the National Commission on Social and Emotional Learning, President of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, Member of the Board of Directors for the WPP Group, LLC, and a co-founder of Lovin’ Scoopful Ice Cream Company.

Shriver earned his undergraduate degree from Yale University, a Master’s degree from Catholic University, and a Doctorate in Education from the University of Connecticut.

Shriver is the founder of “The Call to Unite and The Dignity Index." The dignity index was created to help us learn about the principles of dignity and how they can be applied in our families, communities, workplaces, and country.

He has produced four films, is the author of the New York Times Best Selling book Fully Alive—Discovering What Matters Most, has written for dozens of newspapers and magazines and has been rewarded with degrees and honors, which he happily accepted on behalf of others. Shriver and his wife, Linda Potter, reside in the Washington, D.C. area and have five adult children.

I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Tim Shriver for the CityBiz “Meet the Change Leaders” series.

Watch to learn the full extent of the important work he does to bring us together as a country: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgfJifvbp74&t=3s



Read More

woman enters a building to vote
a group of people outside a building

Political Accountability Begins Before Election Day

In a response video circulating on September 22, Brandon Herrera, the Republican nominee in Texas’s 23rd Congressional District, described his remarks about mothers and children as “a bit crass” but said “the sentiment stands”. His response renewed a question that extends beyond one candidate: what responsibility do parties bear before voters make their choice?

Elections are supposed to make politicians accountable. Candidates ask voters to judge their records, their positions, and their conduct, and voters ultimately decide who will represent them. But that familiar picture of democracy leaves out an important part of the process: much of the work shaping the general-election choice happens earlier. Parties recruit candidates, political organizations support them, donors help finance them, and influential political figures give them credibility. Herrera’s candidacy offers a revealing example of how that process works.

Keep ReadingShow less
Nigeria flag, elections, ballot box, casting vote.

Nigeria flag, elections, ballot box, casting vote.

Getty Images

As Nigeria Prepares to Vote, Years of U.S. Democracy Support Face a New Test

For years, American institutions helped Nigerian civic groups train election observers, track political violence and challenge false information. As Nigeria approaches its 2027 elections, the organizations that developed that expertise face a different question: how much of the work can they sustain with less financial and technical support?

Dauda Garuba, director of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD West Africa), sees the change as part of a broader shift in American foreign policy. But he also believes it invites an uncomfortable assessment of Nigeria’s elections.

Keep ReadingShow less

Taxpayer-Funded, Closed to Millions: The Growing Push to Reform Kentucky’s Primaries

More than half of America’s military veterans identify as independents, not Democrats or Republicans. Yet in many states with closed primary systems, those voters are barred from participating in taxpayer-funded primary elections. Because veterans swear an oath to defend the Constitution, not a political party, a growing coalition of veteran-led organizations is advocating for open primaries and other electoral reforms designed to expand voter participation and strengthen representative democracy.

In Kentucky, veterans have emerged as leading voices in a nonpartisan campaign to open the Commonwealth’s closed primary system. Their efforts come as the state's electorate shifts: independent voters are the fastest-growing segment of registered voters.

Keep ReadingShow less