Last week, former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said he was joining the Emerson Collective as a managing partner, aiming to look for ways to help “disconnected youth,” kids ages 17 to 24 years old who are not in school, not working and may have criminal records, reports the LA Times.
Duncan and the Emerson Collective will “focus first on Chicago,” noted this release. The Emerson Collective is a Limited Liability Company (LLC) based in based in Palo Alto and focuses on education, immigration and social justice. It is supported by Laurene Powell Jobs, who serves as the organization's president. “The immediate goal [of Duncan’s work] is to provide job opportunities for young people today in Chicago and to help forge a safer, surer path from home to school to work for at-risk kids,” said the release.
In addition, Duncan will support the XQ Institute and the XQ Super School Project, an Emerson Collective project that proposes to reimagine high school. The program includes a grant competition open to all communities; nearly 700 applications have been submitted. The first grants are slated to be announced in the summer.
Duncan is opening a Chicago office for Emerson and is already hiring.
Another high-powered force also said last week that he’s joining Emerson: Peter Lattman, formerly deputy business editor at the New York Times, wrote in a note that he will “oversee Emerson’s media initiatives and help develop its strategy around supporting and investing in journalism and other content.” He plans to stay in New York.
