Sarah Morgenthau, president and CEO of the “I Have a Dream” Foundation, joins J.D. Durkin at the New York Stock Exchange after ringing the closing bell to discuss the foundation’s mission, education equity, and long-term workforce readiness.
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J.D.: All right, time now to say hello to our third and our final guest on the show. But certainly not the least. Just rang the closing bell. Sarah Morgenthau is the president and CEO of the "I Have a Dream" Foundation. Great to have you here. Congratulations on doing the bell today.
Sarah: Thank you very much. And it's great to be here on such a historic day with going over 50,000. My hope is that this will incentivize everybody to give to Ihaveadreamfoundation.org
J.D.: Absolutely. So talk to me all about your top priorities. And for anyone a bit unfamiliar with it, what are the real core tenets of the Foundation?
Sarah: You know, "I Have a Dream" Foundation is an education nonprofit. We work in low income communities around the country, first grade to first job. It's about the social and emotional learning support about, you know, skills based and mentorship, really mentorship and long term relationships so important. You know, in this time when, you know, isolation is really at a crisis point.
J.D.: I love that phrase first grade to first job. Any particular success stories? I'm sure there are countless, but things that really stand out to you as being really proof of the undeniable success, the amazing work you and the Foundation have done.
Sarah: You know, that's what keeps you going, because, you know, the education crisis is real. But when I hear the stories, I've met Bobby Daniels in Atlanta who came out of a housing project and now is a lawyer in Atlanta doing great things. In fact, he'll kill me. But I told him I think he might be the next Barack Obama. Chanel Frazier was in the Bed-Stuy community of Brooklyn. She met someone named Paul Tudor Jones and Jeff Goodell. Wow. And heard in sixth grade about financial spreadsheets. About hedge funds. Went home to her parents first. You know, she came from a family who hadn't, you know, gone to college before, hadn't, you know, was intergenerational poverty. She told them that's what she was going to do. And then she ended up 15 years at BlackRock.
J.D.: Wow. That's incredible. Yeah. The modern workforce is always evolving. How do you ensure the foundation is always staying one step ahead in terms of job readiness and job preparedness for for people in the foundation in the program to ensure that the workforce they enter to, they are as prepared as they can be for what that looks like?
Sarah: 100%. You know, these kids are the workforce of the future. You know this the United States of America. We need to have our kids prepared. All kids. So we're working on financial literacy. We're working on AI. And, you know, on top of that, we're working on literacy. You know, The Wall Street Journal had a report that our math and reading scores are at an all time low for the United States of America. We can't let that happen because these kids are important. They are a workforce of our future. And also we're talking about competition on the global stage. So the United States needs to stay strong.
J.D.: Sarah, before I let you go, where can people go if they want to find out more?
Sarah: Ihaveadreamfoundation.org. Please come and see us. Please come and visit us. These kids need you. We need you. And it's an exciting time.
J.D.: Sarah Morgenthau, president and CEO of the one and only "I have a Dream" Foundation. Congratulations. Thanks a lot for joining us on the show.
Sarah: You're very welcome