 |
|
|
|||||
As the global migrant crisis continues to dominate our airwaves, Welcome.US has triggered a dramatic impact on U.S. immigration, resettling 800,000 refugees across all 50 states. The organizations co-founder and CEO, Nazanin Ash, shares how her team developed an effective and efficient model, unlocking a nonpartisan community of 2 million volunteers, supported by corporate partnerships with the likes of Meta, Google, and Uber. This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by the former editor-in-chief of Fast Company Bob Safian. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with todays top business leaders navigating real-time challenges. Subscribe to Rapid Response wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode. You’ve said that newcomers resettling can bring big economic benefits to the U.S. economy. That’s kind of the opposite of a lot of political rhetoric, people worried about their jobs, and the cost of supporting newcomers. What are you looking at differently? Wow, so many indicators. I mean, let’s start at the top. Over 50% of our billion dollar companies were founded or co-founded by newcomers, many of them refugees. Scaled immigration pathways of the last three years are estimated to contribute $9 trillion to our economy over the next decade. You have thousands of communities, rural and semi-rural communities, across the country that have been losing population year over year, and are eager to reverse that decline. There are enormous needs. I mean the Census Bureau estimates that we require net immigration of nearly one and a half million a year just to sustain our economy. So, we not only have the capacity to welcome, we have a need to welcome. You’ve gotten support from corporate partners, Meta, Google, Uber, others. What’s been the role of business in Welcome’s efforts? Yes. So this has been an extraordinary public-private partnership. We partnered with the private sector to build the civic infrastructure that would scale these new pathways. That included designing a campaign. We did that with assets from Accenture’s Droga5 partnership. We did that with resources from Goldman Sachs. It was carried with airtime from Comcast, and then distributed to our target audience with Google Ads. They provided massive technological support for our sort of many to many, our B2C strategy, that allowed us to quickly scale. And then the framework of technology that they helped us create was not only our matching platform and our online sponsorship hubs, but it was also the framework that allowed us to scale flight credits, and housing credits, and matching grants, and rideshare credits from Lyft and Uber. It wasn’t a, “Write us a check and go away,” partnership. It was a deep collaboration that was about bringing our collective efforts to build a seamless infrastructure and journey that wrapped around sponsors and newcomers, and provided them the support they need, and empowered them to do this work. How did you build these relationships with all of these organizations? I mean, I know you have something called the Welcome.US CEO Council. It’s got like 40 of the biggest name CEOs. Is that where you started? Do you start at the top of these organizations? How did all that come together? We launched in the crucible of the Afghan evacuation. When the U.S. faced this extraordinary challenge of resettling 80,000 Afghan newcomers on a government resettlement infrastructure that had resettled just 11,400 refugees the year before. So, that’s when we developed this public-private partnership with government. We were like, “This is a problem that’s way too big for government to solve alone.” But we felt like if we tapped into innovations of the private sector, willingness of the American people, we could find much more capacity. And indeed, when we went to these CEOs, and asked them to help, not a single one said no. These leaders know exactly what the challenges are. Peter Zaffino, CEO of AIG, wrote about this in 2015. He talked about unmanaged migration as one of the top five things CEOs should be concerned about as risks. He talked about the benefits if it’s managed, and the risks if it’s not, and he’s talking about global instability, and security, rise of authoritarian regimes. David Risher looked at our methodology, and he was like, “Oh, I see what you’re doing. This is like what Airbnb, and Lyft, and Uber did. You are not trying to reform government systems from the inside. It’s a whole new business model that you’ve built alongside.” And now, those are lessons we can carry into the traditional system. I think they were deeply inspired to see how communities engaged, right? Like the social cohesion, the bridge building, the community-driven aspect of this work is so important for the moment we’re in. So what’s at stake for Welcome.US right now? We feel passionately about continuing to grow this extraordinary movement of welcomers. So, we are pivoting our technology, our campaign, our systems, our infrastructure, to help Americans volunteer, and serve as citizen guides for the 8.5 million green card holders who are eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship, but haven’t done it yet. There’s paperwork you have to file, you have to pass an English test, you have to pass a civics test, you have to pay a fee. Those are barriers that can be overcome if you have a friend, and a guide, and a welcomer who’s walking alongside you, and helping you through it. So, we’re excited to get the word out. We’re excited for all these policymakers to be educated on what their communities have been experiencing, and we feel really confident that these are the solutions that should rise, and will rise. Can I ask you, why do you do this? I do this work for a number of reasons. My parents came here from Iran as exchange students, and they intended to pursue their education and return. They had me accidentally, they were still undergraduates when they had me. The Iranian Revolution happened in the last year of my dad’s PhD program, and so they decided to stay. And if you look at what is happening with women in Iran today, you know what my future would’ve been otherwise. So, that led to a career of trying to remove those barrier of human potential for others. And I have deep faith in the American people. I come to this with a tremendous amount of patriotism, because we were the first nation with a written constitution that conferred human rights and human dignity on the basis of personhood, and not on the basis of citizenship. You get emotional about this. I mean, you really feel it. Yeah. We’re built on this idea that we’re a place for strivers. We’re a place for people seeking freedom, and opportunity, and self-determination. And our sponsors talk about how their experience as welcomers reintroduced them to that value. One of our sponsors shared a story once, it’s Leslie Sperry. She’s part of a sponsor group in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and she sponsored a Congolese family who had spent three generations in a refugee camp, and she was walking the father, Meshack, after she had visited the family to see how they were doing. And she tells the story of how he threw out his arms and said, “I’m free.” And for her, it was this shock, and reminder that, yeah, that’s what we have to offer, freedom. And how incredible to be able to offer that to the next generation of new Americans. These welcomers are having a generational impact in someone’s lives. They’re putting them on a completely different trajectory. Just as my life was put on a completely different trajectory. What an amazing thing to do as a country, and as Americans.
Category:
E-Commerce
The list of Rite Aid drugstores marked for closure continues to grow at a furious pace after the ill-fated pharmacy chain filed for bankruptcy a second time. In a court filing last week, the company said it would move to close 151 additional locations in 10 states, its largest batch of closures since the Chapter 11 process began three weeks ago. Three earlier filings had disclosed a combined 210 closures, as Fast Company previously reported. That means the list of stores that are expected to shutter on an accelerated timeline is now over 360more than a quarter of Rite Aid’s fleet of 1,277 locations. Fast Company reached out to Rite Aid for more information on when the stores are expected to close. According to the filing, interested parties have until June 2 to object. Sold for parts Every Rite Aid store will eventually close or be sold to another entity, but many customers and employees have faced uncertainty about the fate of their local Rite Aid locations in the interim, as the company has not publicly shared many detailed updates. On May 15, Rite Aid reached deals to sell off most of its pharmacy assets, including agreements with Walgreens, Albertsons, and others. Notably, pharmacy giant CVS will hoover up prescription files for 625 Rite Aid locations, but it will only take over 64 physical stores in three states: Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. As for Rite Aid’s remaining assets, interested parties have until June 13 to submit a bid, with an auction planned for June 20. But at the rate these stores are closing, there may not be many Rite Aid stores left by then. The full list of 151 Rite Aid locations marked for closure on last week’s court filing is below. These locations join previous waves of closures announced here, here, and here. California 10120 MASON AVENUE CHATSWORTH CA 91311 535 ROBINSON AVENUE SAN DIEGO CA 92103 220 EAST GRAND AVENUE EL SEGUNDO CA 90245 11961 VALLEY VIEW STREET GARDEN GROVE CA 92845 740 OTAY LAKES ROAD CHULA VISTA CA 91910 2300 HARBOR BOULEVARD SUITE G COSTA MESA CA 92626 7239 WOODMAN AVE VAN NUYS CA 91405 6639 WATT AVENUE NORTH HIGHLANDS CA 95660 2555 MAIN STREET OAKLEY CA 94561 1260 WEST CAPITOL AVENUE WEST SACRAMENTO CA 95691 4300 ELVERTA ROAD ANTELOPE CA 95843 806 RAMSEY STREET BANNING CA 92220 1660 E 1ST STREET BEAUMONT CA 92223 680 SOUTH STATE STREET UKIAH CA 95482 575 M STREET CRESCENT CITY CA 95531 80 RANCHO DEL MAR APTOS CA 95003 57701 29 PALMS HIGHWAY YUCCA VALLEY CA 92284 1701 AIRLINE HIGHWAY HOLLISTER CA 95023 1730 SOUTH MAIN STREET WILLITS CA 95490 580 BAILEY ROAD BAY POINT CA 94565 855 MONO WAY SONORA CA 95370 3650 ADAMS AVENUE SAN DIEGO CA 92116 490 SOUTH MAIN STREET FORT BRAGG CA 95437 16642 SOLEDAD CANYON RD CANYON COUNTRY CA 91387 811 TUCKER ROAD TEHACHAPI CA 93561 18993 COLIMA ROAD ROWLAND HEIGHTS CA 91748 894 OAK VALLEY PARKWAY STE B BEAUMONT CA 92223 1300 WEST F STREET OAKDALE CA 95361 1988 FREEDOM BOULEVARD FREEDOM CA 95019 8508 PAINTER AVENUE WHITTIER CA 90602 1317 EAST PACHECO BOULEVARD LOS BANOS CA 93635 3795 WEST SHIELDS AVENUE FRESNO CA 93722 8015 LIMONITE AVENUE RIVERSIDE CA 92509 9532 WINTER GARDENS BLVD. LAKESIDE CA 92040 Delaware 18898 REHOBOTH MALL BLVD REHOBOTH BEACH DE 19971 24892 JOHN J WILLIAMS HWY MILLSBORO DE 19966 400 PEOPLES PLAZA NEWARK DE 19702 4607 STANTON OGLETOWN ROAD NEWARK DE 19713 1120 SOUTH CENTRAL AVENUE LAUREL DE 19956 Idaho 43 WEST PRAIRIE SHOPPING CTR HAYDEN ID 83835 1810 WEST PULLMAN ROAD MOSCOW ID 83843 451 DEINHARD LANE MCCALL ID 83638 2107 BLAINE STREET CALDWELL ID 83605 Maryland 2855 SMITH AVENUE BALTIMORE MD 21209 6402 GOLDEN RING ROAD BALTIMORE MD 21237 101 REISTERSTOWN ROAD PIKESVILLE MD 21208 6300 YORK ROAD BALTIMORE MD 21212 New Hampshire 5 MILL RD. UNIT G DURHAM NH 03824 72 LAFAYETTE ROAD NORTH HAMPTON NH 03862 58 CALEF HIGHWAY LEE NH 03861 New Jersey 7 WEST LANDIS AVENUE VINELAND NJ 08360 865 ROUTE 45 PILESGROVE NJ 08098 424 ROUTE 9 BAYVILLE NJ 08721 332 RARITAN AVENUE HIGHLAND PARK NJ 08904 220 MATHISTOWN ROAD LITTLE EGG HARBOR NJ 08087 130 EAST MAIN STREET PENNS GROVE NJ 08069 76 SMITH STREET PERTH AMBOY NJ 08861 3258 BRIDGE AVENUE POINT PLEASANT NJ 08742 52 EAST BROAD STREET BRIDGETON NJ 08302 531 US HIGHWAY 22 EAST WHITEHOUSE STATION NJ 08889 1070 NORTH PEARL STREET BRIDGETON NJ 08302 3553 WASHINGTON ROAD PARLIN NJ 08859 151 ROUTE 94 BLAIRSTOWN NJ 07825 220 ROUTE 70 TOMS RIVER NJ 08755 New York 209 MOUNT ZOAR STREET ELMIRA NY 14904 149 MARKET STREET AMSTERDAM NY 12010 1679 BEDFORD AVENUE BROOKLYN NY 11225 158-02 UNION TURNPIKE FLUSHING NY 11366 1030 PINE AVENUE NIAGARA FALLS NY 14301 272 HOOSICK STREET TROY NY 12180 604 ROUTE 9 WAPPINGERS FALLS NY 12590 9302 3RD AVENUE BROOKLYN NY 11209 165-02 BAISLEY BOULEVARD JAMAICA NY 11434 1000 NORTH CLINTON AVENUE ROCHESTER NY 14621 3700-06 JUNCTION BOULEVARD FLUSHING NY 11368 1863 CENTRAL AVENUE COLONIE NY 12205 33-01 30TH AVENUE ASTORIA NY 11103 3823 NOSTRAND AVENUE BROOKLYN NY 11235 405 ERIE BOULEVARD WEST ROME NY 13440 343 MEADOW DRIVE NORTH TONAWANDA NY 14120 113 DOWNER STREET BALDWINSVILLE NY 13027 21-25 BROADWAY LONG ISLAND CITY NY 11106 2063 BARTOW AVENUE BRONX NY 10475 605 TITUS AVENUE ROCHESTER NY 14617 1820 TEALL AVE SYRACUSE NY 13206 4854 COMMERCIAL DRIVE NEW HATFORD NY 13413 7118 3RD AVENUE BROOKLYN NY 11209 6900 4TH AVENUE BROOKLYN NY 11209 1950 FULTON STREET BROOKLYN NY 11233 1924 GENESEE STREET UTICA NY 13502 961 PORT WASHINGTON BLVD. PORT WASHINGTON NY 11050 4374 BUFFALO ROAD NORTH CHILI NY 14514 12208 N.Y. STATE ROUTE 16 YORKSHIRE NY 14173 5380 WEST TAFT ROAD N SYRACUSE NY 13212 Pennsylvania 1505 7TH AVENUE BEAVER FALLS PA 15010 4770 MCKNIGHT ROAD STE A PITTSBURGH PA 15237 25 EAST PIKE STREET CANONSBURG PA 15317 115 PERRY HWY STE 146 HARMONY PA 16037 1334 WINDRIM AVENUE PHILADELPHIA PA 19141 1913 EAST 3RD STREET WILLIAMSPORT PA 17701 7719 MAIN STREET FOGELSVILLE PA 18051 2901 CARLISLE ROAD DOVER PA 17315 1430 BALTIMORE STREET HANOVER PA 17331 760 BROAD STREET MONTOURSVILLE PA 17754 1184 TEXAS PALMYRA HIGHWAY HONESDALE PA 18431 2 KIRBY AVENUE MOUNTAIN TOP PA 18707 24 EAST AVENUE WELLSBORO PA 16901 2 CUMBERLAND STREET LEBANON PA 17042 1786-I COLUMBIA AVENUE COLUMBIA PA 17512 525 PENN AVENUE WEST READING PA 19611 1513 EAST MAIN STREET WAYNESBORO PA 17268 2067 ROUTE 116 SPRING GROVE PA 17362 452 SOUTH LEHIGH AVENUE FRACKVILLE PA 17931 65 NEWBERRY PARKWAY ETTERS PA 17319 1105-09 N. 63RD STREET PHILADELPHIA PA 19151 3382 ROUTE 940 MOUNT POCONO PA 18344 813 THIRD AVENUE NEW BRIGHTON PA 15066 847 MIDLAND AVENUE MIDLAND PA 15059 1021 FIRST AVENUE CONWAY PA 15027 15 SOUTH MAIN STREET SHENANDOAH PA 17976 40-42 WEST MARKET STREET YORK PA 17401 16401 OXFORD AVENUE PHILADELPHIA PA 19111 123 SOUTH 69TH STREET UPPER DARBY PA 19082 762 CHESTER PIKE PROSPECT PARK PA 19076 175 WILSON ROAD BENTLEYVILLE PA 15314 6531 ROUTE 22 DELMONT PA 15626 1516 JEFFERSON AVENUE WINDBER PA 15963 360 EAST MAIN STREET MIDDLETOWN PA 17057 3106 E PLEASANT VALLEY ALTOONA PA 16601 818 US ROUTE 15 NORTH DILLSBURG PA 17019 200 SOUTH BEST AVENUE WALNUTPORT PA 18088 4 BALLAST LANE STEWARTSTOWN PA 17363 241 NORTH FIRST STREET LEHIGHTON PA 18235 504 MARION LANE BRODHEADSVILLE PA 18322 600 CHESTNUT AVENUE ALTOONA PA 16601 601 WEST PIKE STREET CANONSBURG PA 15317 1241 BLAKESLEE BLVD. DR. S#2 LEHIGHTON PA 18235 623 SAINT CLAIR AVENUE CLAIRTON PA 15025 Virginia 525 WEST 21ST STREET NORFOLK VA 23517 2040 ATLANTIC AVE CHESAPEAKE VA 23324 40 TOWNE CENTRE WAY HAMPTON VA 23666 515 NORTH MAIN STREET SUFFOLK VA 23434 6908 MAIN STREET GLOUCESTER VA 23061 13554 CARROLLTON BLVD CARROLLTON VA 23314 240 SOUTH BATTLEFIELD BLVD CHESAPEAKE VA 23322 975 HODGES FERRY ROAD PORTSMOUTH VA 23701 Washington 900 EAST MERIDIAN SUITE 23 MILTON WA 98354 22117 SE 237TH ST MAPLE VALLEY WA 98038 3282 BETHEL ROAD SE PORT ORCHARD WA 98366 1509 AUBURN WAY SOUTH AUBURN WA 98002 3840 BRIDGEPORT WAY WEST UNIVERSITY PLACE WA 98466
Category:
E-Commerce
Lego just announced its first book nook: Sherlock Holmes Baker Street. I was guessing this was coming sooner than later, with Lego’s ever-increasing focus on the adult market and the growing popularity of book nooks. The design is fantastic, full of the fine details you expect of high-quality book nooks, which are miniature dioramas that are designed to fit between books on a shelf. But, unlike those, you can actually take this off the bookshelf, unfold it into a three-building Victorian London street, and play with it. [Photo: Lego] Conceived by Japanese artist Monde in 2018, book nooks often depict a street, a room, or some other structure inspired by a theme from a real book. Originally, people made their own but they quickly became popular on social media, so companies in Japan and China started to sell kits. These precious windows into literary realities are very intricate and complex to build, usually with LED lights to illuminate the scene at night. People who build them find them relaxing. [Photo: Lego] Since adult Lego fans mostly buy sets to chill, it makes sense that the Billund, Denmark-based toy company decided to make its own version. It has been doubling down on a trend that began in the late 2000s, when it released the huge 7,500-brick Millennium Falcon, a massive set that started the Ultimate Collector Star Wars line of sets that catered to grown-up Lego fans (like me) by appealing to their childhood fetishes. [Photo: Lego] The success of these earliest complex sets spurred the company to release other lines, like Lego Architecture, which allow people to build anything from Frank Lloyd Wrights Guggenheim Museum to Ludwig Mies van der Rohes Farnsworth House. Last year it launched a Botanical Collection line, which got deeper into the adult-oriented relaxing space, and iconic pop culture objects in a line aptly named Lego Icons. This is where you will find the Sherlock Holmes Book Nook, available for pre-order for $120 for shipping on June 1. [Photo: Lego] They are playable! When folded and placed in-between books, the book nook offers a view of a street flanked by precious buildings full with architectural details, and a cobblestone street. You will notice that the façades dont run parallel to each other, but converge towards the back in a faux one-point perspective, a design conceived to create an optical illusion that makes it look deeper than what it actually is. Theres Sherlock and Watson minifigs, plus Irene Adler, Paige and Professor Moriarty. I just wish Lego had included LED lighting, too. [Photo: Lego] Unlike assembled wooden or carton book nooks, you can take the Lego book nook out of the bookshelf and unfold it to form a perfectly straight lineup of three buildings. Not surprisingly, the designers found ways to make the set fully interactive. Theres even a secret hideout for Moriarty, which you can operate by turning a chimney in the buildings roof. You can peek intoHolmes’ study by pushing open the top floor wall of 221B Baker Street. Theres also a bookshelf in a book nook in a bookshelf inside the window display of the book store in one of the buildings, which you can access by rotating its cylindrical window display. The kind of clever infinite loop that can open real portals between our reality and Sir Arthur Conan Doyles universe.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||