THE GMC

WHAT MOTIVATES US

The Young American Leaders Program (YALP) grows out of a deep concern and a great hope uncovered by Harvard Business School’s ongoing project on U.S. Competitiveness.

The concern is that the local, shared resources which drive American prosperity are not keeping pace with global standards. Our work force skills, schools, and infrastructure, for instance, are not improving as fast as we need or, in too many cases, are deteriorating. As a result, an unsustainable divergence has gripped in the U.S. economy; the many Americans who rely on such shared resources are struggling, even as firms and individuals who can tap global opportunities are thriving. Prosperity is being generated but not shared. Our hope springs from the local level. In cities and towns across the country, we see local policymakers, business people, nonprofit leaders, educators, clergy, and others coming together across sectors to build skills, improve schools, restore infrastructure, and so on.

YALP is an effort to fan the flames of local sparks like these. The Program aims to develop leaders like these. The Program aims to develop leaders who understand such cross-sector collaborations for shared prosperity and can implement them more effectively and spread them more rapidly than in the past. The aim of YALP has even greater urgency in a time of pandemic and a long overdue racial reckoning. Today, the inequities and divisions in America’s communities are painfully clear and damaging. Our country desperately needs young leaders who can come together across boundaries not only to restore our communities but also to reimagine them.