The Bold Idea Background The Bold Idea brings together practitioners, academics, policy makers, and funders from both within and beyond the AlumniCorps network for dialogue and action over a three-year period. Inspired by previous issue-based projects undertaken in AlumniCorps' early years, like the Tuberculosis Initiative (1997-2002), the Bold Idea enables AlumniCorps to mobilize the resources, strengths, and experiences of the hundreds of partner organizations and thousands of program alumni within its network to build capacity around a social issue. In doing so, the Bold Idea offers an opportunity both to make a defined, palpable impact on an issue of public interest and to advance the development of AlumniCorps’ network by cultivating established relationships and inaugurating new ones. For the first iteration of the Bold Idea, AlumniCorps partnered with Appleseed, a network of public interest justice centers with locations in the United States and Mexico, to embark on a two-year pilot focused on immigration and forced migration issues. Our goals for this pilot include building connections between and among each of our own partner organizations, raising awareness about key immigration issues, and learning and adopting best practices about network-based approaches to social issues. With generous funding from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, AlumniCorps and Appleseed launched the Bold Idea with a kickoff convening in October 2017 to bring together members from our combined networks and establish a set of priorities for the initiative.
The Kickoff Convening: Crafting a Roadmap
The kickoff convening, held in Princeton on October 16-17, 2017 brought together 29 participants from nonprofit and public interest organizations, as well as direct service practitioners, academics, and policymakers, for two days of discussion, learning, and planning.
Attendees at the Bold Idea's kickoff convening held October 16 -17, 2017
The agenda for the first day included presentations by subject-matter experts on the current federal landscape of immigration policy and the local impact of these policies on vulnerable communities and the direct-service organizations that work with them. The speakers included Adriana Abizadeh, the Executive Director of the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund; Emily Butera, the Senior Program Officer for Migrant Rights and Justice at the Women’s Refugee Commission; and Prudence Beidler Carr, the Director of the American Bar Association’s Center on Children and the Law. The convening also provided opportunities for the The convening in full swing on October 17, 2017. Kef Kasdin '85, President & participants to engage with one another and brainstorm Executive Director of Princeton AlumniCorps, addresses the attendees, who included Deirdre "Dee" Flaherty (far left), President of Appleseed. potential avenues of collaboration. The discussions culminated in a series of immediate project priorities for further engagement, with the aim of strengthening the budding partnerships between the different attendees while expanding the circle of participation as this iteration of The Bold Idea moved forward. These priority areas, supplied by our network members at the convening and reflective of their interests and preferences, encompassed the categories of connection and education, as detailed on the next page. 7
