The Commons

I attended the launch yesterday of “Get Schooled,” a new, five-year public engagement effort funded by the Gates Foundation in partnership with Viacom and several other corporate partners. Viacom committed an extremely rare 30-minute “roadblock” on all of their properties to broadcast a short film to officially launch the initiative. The film showed how the education of three people in crucial support roles for three very prominent people in the United States – Barack Obama, LeBron James, and Kelly Clarkson – enabled them to excel at their demanding jobs.

Over the next five years, Viacom, Gates, and their other partners will devote many more resources to reaching out to young people to reiterate the Gates Foundation’s primary message – that graduating from high school and college is crucial to their, and our, futures. While I am often skeptical of these types of efforts – too often gauzy, feel-good, and naïve – this one avoids most of the pitfalls of many others that have come before. This program has an edge that I think will appeal to kids. It’s directed at them without pandering to them. The “Get Schooled” video made it clear that staying in school – and working hard while there – isn’t easy, or even expected, for a lot of kids. Future efforts also promise to make it clear that, too often, adults’ decisions (or lack of vision and courage) are an impediment to those kids who are determined to do the right thing.

For more information, go to www.getschooled.com.

- Rodney Ferguson, Managing Director & Principal

Tags: Gates Foundation, Get Schooled, higher education, interactive, nonprofit communications, nonprofit marketing, resources, trends