
Keynote - 2011 Inaugural National Poverty Summit
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Mark Shriver is the senior vice president for strategic initiatives and senior advisor to the CEO at Save the Children, which works to ensure a fair start for all kids in the United States, including the one in five living in poverty. Shriver’s career fighting for social justice in advocacy and service organizations, as well as elective office, has focused on advancing the right of every kid in America to have a safe and vibrant childhood. He is also the author of New York Times and Washington Post best-seller A Good Man: Rediscovering My Father, Sargent Shriver, which is a story about discovering the true meaning of his father’s legacy. The book received the 2013 Christopher Award. Shriver discusses what he learned from his father and the three guiding principles – faith, hope, and love – which comprise the DNA of a successful career, a happy family, and a meaningful life. He can also address the issues facing today’s children and the programs that are making a difference.
An Innovative Model for American Education. Shriver developed Save the Children’s early childhood development, literacy, and health programs in the United States. Under his leadership, the programs expanded to 220 schools in 17 states, benefitting 165,000 children, including more than 400 children at four Head Start centers. Independent evaluations show that 68% of children demonstrated major improvement after participating in the literacy program, performing better than children from other long-standing programs on a commonly-used vocabulary test. In the literacy program, children improved their reading as much as if they attended an additional five months of school, and the number of children reading at or above grade level more than doubled from the start of the school year to the end.
A Lifetime Advocating for Kids. Mark Shriver was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1994–2002. He was the first chair of the Joint Committee on Children, Youth and Families and was appointed chair of the Children and Youth Subcommittee of Maryland’s House Ways and Means Committee. He was repeatedly recognized as Outstanding Legislator of the Year by prominent advocacy and civic organizations.
In 2005, Shriver created Save the Children’s domestic emergency response programs to ensure that children are protected when disaster strikes and are provided safe haven and reunion with their families. He led a national coalition that convinced Congress to create the National Commission on Children and Disasters, and he served as its chairperson for the life of the commission. Shriver also founded the innovative Choice Program, which serves delinquent and at-risk youth through intensive, community-based counseling. Shriver subsequently created The Choice Jobs Program, a private non-profit that trains, places, and supports former Choice clients in jobs, as well as The Choice Middle Schools Program, a model for keeping at-risk middle school children in school.
More about Mark Shriver. Shriver has been widely covered and published in the national media, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The Washington Times, TIME, Newsweek, The Colbert Report, Morning Joe, TODAY, Fox and Friends, NPR, ABC, and CNN.
A Good Man. Shriver’s book, A Good Man, is a tribute to his father – the man who was the driving force behind the Peace Corp, the Job Corps, and Head Start, and, in his presentations, Mark Shriver recalls how after a lifetime searching for the path to his father’s success, he turned his aim to the hunt for his father’s joy. Shriver’s message is an important reminder of what’s important in life, and a prescription for how individuals, companies, and mission organizations can make a lasting difference. His message is uplifting, and his speech is full of poignant and funny anecdotes. He also describes the three guiding principles that can be applied to anyone: faith, hope, and love. According to Shriver, these comprise the DNA of a successful career, a happy family, and a meaningful life.
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