2020 GlobalMindED
The Future of Work is Diverse, Inclusive, Just and Equitable
GlobalMindED closes the equity gap by creating a capable, diverse talent pipeline through connections to role models, mentors, internships for low-income students, returning adults, First Gen to college and inclusive leaders who teach them, work with them and hire them.
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In honor of Labor Day, this week we look at the nature and meaning of work. Today, we look to Nanne Kennedy - Sheep Farmer and Entrepreneur, Meadowcroft Farm, Washington, Maine
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Nanne Kennedy - Sheep Farmer and Entrepreneur, Meadowcroft Farm, Washington, Maine ILO Photo/John Isaac
Nanne Kennedy creates local jobs by hiring local artisans who turn brilliantly colored-yarns into high fashion. Like most people from Maine, Nanne Kennedy grew up being deeply connected to the land.
“When I was very young, my father would send me out into the fields and I would wander around the farm exploring the forest and mapping out the old stone walls. I loved the farm house and I love the land I grew up on.”
Nanne is the owner-operator of Meadowcroft Farm in Washington, Maine where she raises sheep and lambs that produce high quality wool for apparel. When the animals are sheared, all the wool is spun by hand and dyed using an innovative solar dye process that is environmentally friendly.
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As part of the back to the land movement of the 1970’s, Nanne wants to improve her environment and leave the planet better than she found it. ILO Photo/John Isaac
As an entrepreneur, Nanne knew the high cost of running a farm and had to “figure out the puzzle” of how to keep the farm as a going concern. As a solution, Nanne turned to her artistic side and started designing sweaters and blankets, which are then produced by local artisans who work from their homes in this rural community. These final products, along with small batch yarns, are available at local markets and on her Seacolor Yarnery website .
Although Nanne admits that she “hasn’t made a ton of money or added a great deal to the gross national product,” she is clearly proud that as a farmer she has been able to provide for her family and her community. “I've put my kids through private school. I put them through college. We haven't suffered and we get to live in this beautiful place. And along the way, I've kept a lot of local people in business.”
As any farmer will tell you, running and managing a farm, the land and the animals, creating business opportunities is more than a full time job. “There’s been so many times that I feel so tired, so worn down. My body is breaking and I can’t move,” Nanne says with a slight weariness in her voice.
But farming and love of the land is in her blood. “I’m trying to preserve some of the pastoral integrity I knew growing up,” Nanne says. Raised in “a camping family” on a farm in Maine, Nanne’s ethic to preserve and protect the natural world started early. “You always left the campsite better than when you found it,” she remembers. “I knew I wanted to leave my people, my neighbourhood and my planet a little better than I found it.”
While earning a degree at Bowdoin College in agriculture and resource economics, Nanne saw Maine’s traditional resource industries – farming, fishing and forestry – slowly crumbling.
“I was part of the back to the land movement in the early 1970s,” Nanne says. “I chose to stay here, which was totally insane,” she laughs “but it made sense to me.”
Besides running her flock of more than 100 sheep with her border collies, Nanne also offers a residency for aspiring sheep farmers, apprenticeships during lambing season, and has an Airbnb on her property. She creates local jobs by subcontracting much of the knitting and crocheting of her designs to her small network of artisans.
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“I’m just the farmer today. In a thousand years I want someone on this land who loves it as much as I do, taking care of the whole cycle and the community.” – Nanne Kennedy ILO Photo/Kevin Cassidy
As a farmer, Nanne is a committed advocate of sustainable agricultural practices that support both her business and the environment. Instead of relying on petroleum products and chemicals for the dyeing process, Nanne built a solar-powered dye system that utilizes seawater, eliminating chemical salts and acids.
The water that is captured during the process goes to irrigation. “What I do has to be environmentally appropriate,” says Nanne. “Clean water, clean air, and clean soil are our infrastructure. We should be creating solutions to help farmers protect and regenerate the land.”
Like many other businesses, the Covid-19 pandemic hit Nanne’s farm hard. In the first months of the crisis, Nanne says she lost most of the income she needed to get everything into production for the busy Christmas season.
“I usually sell at farmers’ markets and here at the farm,” says Nanne, but for now, her “face-to-face” business will have to go online. “I do everything for my customers, and they love me back with their purchases of our products,” Nanne says. “Writing an email or posting on Facebook isn’t the same as meeting and getting to know my customers but those are the strategies I am relying on in the short term.”
Looking to the future, Nanne remains a strong advocate for changing how agriculture and farmers are perceived and valued. “We only get paid for our products,” Nanne says “but we don’t get paid for being good stewards of the land. That is a public good and it is not valued.”
As a member of the New England Farmers Union, she has been invited to Washington DC to work on family farm issues. One of her ideas: keep farms as farmland by creating a pension system for farmers. “Instead of having to sell their farm when they retire and seeing it divided into housing lots, with a pension system, farmers wouldn’t have to sell.”
“People love the idea of agriculture and there is a lot of romance around it,” says Nanne. But she points out, you do not have a farm without a farmer. “I’m just the farmer today, I'm the steward who is on this land today,” she says. “In a thousand years I want someone on this land who loves it as much as I do, taking care of the whole cycle and the community.”
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Join the US Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition, GlobalMindED, and our distinguished guest panelists as we celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month in honor of the many accomplishments of our Hispanic community and further promote pathways to continued success. The purpose of the webinars is to inspire linguistically and culturally diverse students to cherish, nurture and revere their primary culture, heritage, and language so they can realize the short- and long-term personal, educational, and professional benefits of being multilingual.
Hispanic Language Heritage: Retention of Heritage Culture and Language(s)
Date: September 17, 2020 at 4:00 PM ET
There are many benefits to being multilingual, multiliterate, and multicultural in today’s
global society. Knowing more than one language from birth, acquiring a new language through
school, or learning languages later in life can provide lifelong tangible benefits including cognitive, economic, educational and sociocultural.
Panelists:
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Dr. Cristina Alfaro, Interim Associate Vice President for International Affairs, Professor of Dual Language Education, San Diego State University
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Luis Benitez, Vice-President, VF Corporation
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Clotilde Dedecker, Apple Corporation
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Joe Garcia, Head Councilman, Ohkay Owingh Tribe
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Dr. Joel Gomez, President and CEO, Center for Applied Linguistics.
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Hispanic Language Heritage: Language Assets for Career Preparedness
Date: September 24, 2020 at 4:00 PM ET
Multilingualism opens career opportunities in the public and private sectors and can raise occupational status and earning potential of individuals who are proficient in more than one language. In this webinar, the panel will discuss how multilingualism can shape career paths and share how language skills have influenced their career trajectories.
Panelists:
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Honorable Carmen Cantor, U.S. Ambassador to Micronesia
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Oscar Fraire, CU Denver Business/Management Information Systems, Class of 2022
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Patty Lopez, Senior Platform Applications Engineer, Intel Corporation
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Adrian Rosado, President and Founder, Cultural Clarity Experience
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In case you missed the Back to School in Times Like No Other sessions, here are links to our YouTube channel:
Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable: A Conversation on Race, Isms, Justice, Moving Forward and the Role White People Need to Play: Ryan Ross; Associate Vice Chancellor: Student Affairs, Equity, and Inclusion, Colorado Community College System leads the conversation with Clifton Taulbert; President and CEO, Freemount Corporation and Roots Java Coffee, Javon Brame; Dean of Students, Arapahoe Community College, Chelsea Williams; Founder & CEO, College Code LLC, and Representative Leslie Herod; Legislator, Colorado General Assembly
Equity in Engineering Programs: Priming the STEM Pipeline During and After COVID-19: Dr. Dora Renaud, Sr. Director of Academic Programs & Professional Development, SHPE: Leading Hispanics in STEM, Melanie Suarez, Student, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Mechanical Engineering, Nicolas Valencia Diaz, Student, Florida International University, Biomedical Engineering, Sophia Plata, PhD Student, University of Southern California, Environmental Engineering
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To view the recent Rural sessions, please see our YouTube channel:
Native American Business Opportunities, Tribal Economic Development and Post-secondary Education/Workforce Participation: J.C. Whorton, Jr.; Consultant, Lecturer, Author and Adjunct Faculty, University of Colorado Boulder, Don Kelin; President, Fox Professional Services, Rocky Mountain Indian Chamber of Commerce, Matt Rantanen; Director of Technology, Southern California Tribal Chairmen’s Association, Tribal Digital Village Network Initiative, and Melvin Monette; CEO, Indigenous Education, Inc.
Fortifying Native Students, Faculty and Communities During and After COVID-19: Ron Lessard (Mohawk); Acting Exec. Director, White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education leads panel including Diana Cournoyer; Oglala Sioux Tribe, Executive Director, National Indian Education Association, Michael Chamberlain; Special Assistant for Rural Outreach, US Department of Education, Carrie L. Billy; President & CEO, American Indian Higher Education Consortium, and features a performance by Ava Rose Johnson; Student and Musician, Native American Music Awards Winner
Rural Innovations in Education During COVID-19: Anne Trujillo; Anchor 7News, Denver moderates the panel which includes Tina Goar; Executive Director, San Luis Valley BOCES, Dr. Robert Mitchell; Asst. Professor of Leadership, Research, and Foundations, UCCS, Luis Murillo; Principal, Skoglund Middle School, and Samantha Yocam; Superintendent and Principal, Kim School District
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THE FLYOVER NATION
Energy's Role in a Troubled Heartland
By J.C. Whorton
A unique and timely discussion of the challenging issues facing the country’s troubled Heartland.
Since the beginning of westward expansion into the Heartland’s vast regions, natural resource development has played a historic role in shaping its communities. Today, domestic oil and gas development offers one of the strongest prospects for the Heartland’s present and future prosperity as well as the nation’s re-emergence as a dominant player in the global energy economy.
The U.S. is now the world’s largest producer of crude oil and natural gas, two circumstances that are universally disrupting international geopolitical order. The earth has a finite supply of natural resources and a rapidly growing and over consuming population.
As America positions itself for a very uncertain and constantly evolving global marketplace, will the Heartland become America’s “great connector” or “great divide”?
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J.C. Whorton is a senior level energy and financial professional with over forty years of essential experience. Having a ranching and Native American heritage, Mr. Whorton is a strong advocate for rural education and economic development initiatives.
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Links to read about Inclusive Leaders, many of whom are African American and people of color:
Curated sessions from GlobalMindED 2020 YouTube channel:
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From the Center for Positive Organizations:
From the Economist:
From Forbes:
From Harvard Business Review:
From the World Academy of Art & Science and UN; Geneva Global Leadership in the 21st Century econference:
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Listen here for an interview with Pam Newkirk, GlobalMindED speaker and author of Diversity Inc.: The Failed Promise of a Billion- Dollar Business.
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Responding to Crisis
The 30-Day Justice Plan
As the reset of America is underway, understanding the role you can play in a system of change can be difficult, but we encourage you to listen, learn and be active. To start, instead of, say, a juice cleanse, feed your brain and move yourself with this practical plan over the next month. Here's our guide of what to read, watch, listen to and do in order to be part of the solution.
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Your copy should address 3 key questions: Who am I writing for? (Audience) Why should they care? (Benefit) What do I want them to do here? (Call-to-Action)
Create a great offer by adding words like "free" "personalized" "complimentary" or "customized." A sense of urgency often helps readers take an action, so think about inserting phrases like "for a limited time only" or "only 7 remaining!"
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GlobalMindED and the SDG Impact Fund are delighted to announce GlobalMindED's Donor Advised Fund. 2020 is the 75th Anniversary of the United Nations and the 25th Anniversary of the Beijing Women's Declaration and Action Platform. Many from around the world are thinking of 2020 as the gateway to our most vital decade for delivering equity, the Sustainable Development Goals, and a world where all can thrive. Our key time for these outcomes is 2020-2030.
GlobalMindED DAF and the SDG Impact Fund are a powerful combined force for good as the 2019 year comes to a close and we reflect on the gratitude and the commitments we make to the causes we care most about. The DAF offers immense power and flexibility for giving prior to the year's end as you plant seeds of generous intention for 2020 and the decade ahead.
When you contribute to GlobalMindED, you support First Gen students. We have served more than 400 students by connecting them to role models, mentors, internships and jobs. Your generous support will allow us to take our work 10x and reach these talented students at scale who lack the resources and support we provide. Your support also helps teachers who can't afford the conference fees, faculty at colleges which are under resourced and students who persist at those universities despite food insecurity and/or housing insecurity.
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Meet GlobalMindED Founder, Carol Carter as interviewed by Tim Moore on his podcast Success Made to Last: From Success to Significance
Listen to Part 1 of Carol's interview
Listen to Part 2 of Carol's interview
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Recent GlobalMindED Newsletter Profiles:
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Since 2006 when the flagship TGR Learning Lab opened its doors in Anaheim, CA, TGR Foundation has had a lot to celebrate, including its most recent milestone of one million students impacted by TGR EDU: Explore, alone.
Developed in partnership with Discovery Education, TGR EDU: Explore is a free digital resource library that offers interactive web experiences, lesson plans, training videos and tools for educators, students and families to explore new disciplines and gain skills for a modern and expanding workforce.
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As you start the New Year, are you looking for ways to re-engineer your classroom culture? Check out Designing the Future: How Engineering Builds Creative Critical Thinking in the Classroom. The associated website has lots of activities, projects, and resources you can implement immediately. Our fall workshops using the book as a roadmap for change have been highly successful. Start designing the future today - try using the customized Study Guide for a book study in your PLC. Or contact ProjectEngin or Solution Tree to learn how you can bring professional development based on Ann's book to your school, district, or conference.
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