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NationSwell is a new digital media company focused on high-quality stories about American renewalโabout the new innovators, pioneers, and builders who are doing the most creative and impactful things to move America forward. Weโre focused on identifying them, telling gripping stories about them, and mobilizing support behind them.
Like you, we are frustrated by Washingtonโs dysfunction and the fixation on it. We believe there is more to the story of America todayโand if we shift the lens and look beyond Washington, we will discover that the solutions to our national challenges are all around us.
Weโre inspired by the people who are rolling up their sleeves and the things they are doingโto spur advancements in education and environmental sustainability; to make government work better for citizens; to engage more people in national service; to support our veterans and their families; to revitalize our economy and advance the American dream; and more.
In the mid-1980s, New Orleans was in a downward spiral, in part because of its longstanding political corruption and failing education system, but also because the once-thriving Louisiana energy industry tanked as soon as oil prices fell to $10 a barrel. Statewide, one out of every eight people was unemployed. Economic hardship drove residents toward opportunities in more prosperous places such as Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, New York, and Boston. The exodus was most prevalent among 23-to-35-year-olds, the very demographic that could have provided the fresh ideas and innovative businesses essential for growing the stateโs economy and addressing its pressing social issues.
Brad McIlquham was tutoring at-risk youth in Durham, N.C., when a former co-worker gave him the educatorโs equivalent of the Social Network pitch. What if, instead of teaching at most 50 kids a year, you could help bring personalized tutoring to 100,000, or a million kids? McIlquhamโs co-worker, Jose Ferreiraโwho had taught SAT and GMAT prep with McIlquham at Kaplanโwas proposing an upending of the traditional โteach to the middleโ classroom model. When teachers instruct students of varying ability in the same class, some students get bored, while others struggle. And often, teachers donโt discover which students have failed to understand key concepts until their tests get graded. But by then, theyโve already fallen behind.