As the Chief Operating Officer of a San Francisco-based non-profit, I had the privilege of attending the Clinton Global Initiative America earlier this summer in Denver, CO. The Clinton Global Initiative is a convening hosted by the Clinton Foundation, started and led by Former US President, Bill Clinton. The Foundation’s work is focused on finding solutions that promote economic recovery in the United States. I heard some incredible thought leaders present cutting edge ideas, concepts and data that furthered my belief in the power of small business to be a catalyst for social change. These concepts don’t readily connect to each other nor do they tell the story of how small businesses can improve the wellbeing of America’s children, but I think you’ll agree with me that these connections are undeniable and important for us, collectively, to start making.
Do small businesses reduce poverty in the U.S.?
A researcher out of Harvard, Raj Chetty, showed social mobility data that literally plotted on a map how concentrated poverty is and how many communities exist where if you’re born poor; you’re likely to stay poor. There was hope, however. The Harvard researchers identified five characteristics that certain communities have to improve social mobility: less segregation, less income inequality, better schools, greater social capital, and more stable families. Small businesses promote these characteristics when they are successful—they generate well-paying jobs with the potential for advancement, their tax revenues generate income for their local schools, they bring the social capital of community and family into our local communities and they provide a stabilizing force in families both by providing steady paychecks and by acting as community anchors across the country
Read, Sing and Talk
This is the mantra that Secretary and Dr. Clinton are laser-like focused on in their initiative Too Small to Fail. The Clintons shared research that shows that very poor children typically hear 30 million fewer words addressed to them by age 3 than higher-income children. Can you believe that? 30 million fewer words! This gap in hearing words translates directly into a gap in acquiring words. Typically, an average child from a low-income family has acquired 500 words by the age of 3, compared to 700 words for a child from a working-class family and 1,100 for a child from a professional family. I posit that small businesses are a critical literacy agent in our communities. Small businesses, their owners and employees, promote literacy from a financial, technological and problem-solving point of view every day. They need to in order to stay in business. These skills, challenges and opportunities, translate into more conversations that take place in front of our nation’s children and ensure that more of our children are acquiring 1,100 words by the age of 3.
The Genius behind Behavioral Economics
Lastly, I was literally on the edge of my seat during a discussion of behavioral economics. This line of sociology demonstrates that our most limited resource as humans on this planet isn’t actually time or money, as often thought, but rather our brains’ capacity to process information. Focusing on removing barriers to healthy behaviors is something that small business can do! There are small businesses popping up like Pact.com and Mint.com that are trying to influence positive, healthy behaviors by removing people’s resistance to creating a healthy lifestyle (Pact) or saving money (Mint). And there is a litany of such companies addressing everything from childhood literacy to safe parenting. Small businesses have a direct impact on America’s children by innovating to create new products, programs and exercises to engage our children’s ears from a very young age.
What does all of this mean for your small business?
The Clinton Foundation connects, NGOs, governments, and individuals everywhere to work faster, better, and leaner; to find solutions that last; and to transform lives and communities from what they are today to what they can be, tomorrow. While it’s unconventional for a foundation to support initiatives without the corresponding financial support required to implement those initiatives ( and I have to admit I was a sceptic of the approach) but the power in the work this foundation is achieving is quite remarkable…and will have lasting impact on small businesses and America’s children long into the future.
So the next time you find yourself explaining what your small business does (-typically a mission-charged sentence that most entrepreneurs can say in their sleep-), I urge you to first stop and think about all of the things that your small business can (and may already be doing) for our greater good. From reducing poverty to enriching the lives of LMI families, your small business has the power to catalyze lasting positive change.
Not one of us is stagnant in our community contributions; our efforts generate real outcomes whether we are directly witnessing them or not. What does your small business mean to America’s children? More important, in what ways can it grow to positivity impact our collective future?
Watch the inspiring CGI Recap video here!