EMAIL DETAILS

Per our conversation, I was thinking of a joint op-ed by you and me possibly timed for the end of the school year and maybe keying off of Baltimore a little bit. Something like (very, very rough bullets - needs a lot of work):

-It is the end of the school year and not too early to think about the next school year.

-And as we look at a year where there was unrest in the streets of Ferguson, MO and Baltimore, MD, we are reminded that a common root cause of disaffected youth is the lack an ability to dream of a better life. We wonder why kids would take the extreme step of destroying their own neighborhoods. It is because they have lost hope and don’t believe that others care about them or their future. This isn’t a problem fixated in the U.S. inner city though - all around the world youth without hope are taking up arms in their own countries because they don’t believe there will be jobs for them in the future.

-Sometimes the problem seems so daunting to those of us that are just watching looting on our TVs and we don’t know how to help.

-We are each involved in organizations that tackle that problem from different angles but at their core deliver the same thing - the ability to dream.

-One of the core programs of WFP is providing school lunches to children around the world, particularly in the developing world. The nutrition provided in the school lunches gives children the ability to learn without hunger pangs and allows them to dream of a life where they can better themselves through education. (I am sure WFP USA has better way to describe.)

-In the U.S. the problem isn’t hunger as much as it is underserved school kids who don’t have access to programs that spark their creative energies. 826 provides programs for students to come out of their shells, learn to express themselves and realize that they have the power to better themselves through education.

-Whether it is kids in Wards 7 and 8 in DC or in a refugee camp in Kenya, their struggles are the same, a lack of hope and a belief that no opportunities for advancement exist. All it sometimes take is giving kids the opportunity to take a pause from the daily stress - by taking a break for lunch or sitting down to write a story - that allows them to dream and imagine a better life.


Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC
1010 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Suite 705
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-1880
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com <x-msg://59/eschwerin@obblaw.com>
P Consider the environment before printing this email.