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August 2, 2021August 12, 2021

Kamilah Collins: Conversations about Community and Resilience

On this episode of The Hunt Institute’s Sages & Seekers Podcast, Kamilah Collins shares the tools for discovering our social identities and explains how we can use that knowledge to better understand and collaborate with others.

Kamilah Collins is President of Collins Collaborations, and she has over twenty years of workshop facilitation, program management, and community engagement expertise. She provides creative and practical strategies to increase our capacity for change while amplifying diversity. Her passion for connecting people and strengthening communities shines through in every engagement. Her enthusiastic communication style and commitment to advancing equity transforms minds, hearts, and organizations around the country.

Collins said, “These social tensions are challenging, especially if we can opt out. It’s fantastic that you have a choice, it’s unfortunate that others don’t.”

What is Hunt Sages & Seekers?

The Hunt Institute Sages & Seekers Podcast shares the stories of innovative social leaders and the resilient communities that have shaped them. The series explores guests’ personal experiences with social issues ranging from inequity in the arts and school segregation to climate change and police violence. Through conversations with these agents of change, listeners gain insight into the history of these matters and discover how we as a global community can work to correct them. Follow us on SoundCloud at Hunt Sages & Seekers Podcast.

To read more about the Hunt Institute’s work to develop future-focused solutions to some of the world’s biggest problems, please click here. For the latest news on the Hunt Institute, follow our social media accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. We invite you to listen to our Podcast called Sages & Seekers. If you are considering engaging with the institute, you can donate, or sign-up for our newsletter by emailing huntinstitute@smu.edu.

August 2, 2021August 12, 2021

Chris Kelley: Conversations about Community and Resilience

On this episode of The Hunt Institute’s Sages & Seekers Podcast, Chris Kelley discusses the Rwandan Genocide, its causes, how Rwanda has moved forward, and what we can all learn from this story. In the spring of 2019, Kelley published “Rwanda: 25 Years Later: A Primer on the 1994 Rwandan Genocide and What’s Happened Since Then.”

A Senior Fellow in the Institute, Kelley has more than 35 years’ experience in the journalism, interactive content and strategic communications fields. He is a passionate advocate for partners, working with them to develop influential content in all media formats (print, video, web, and social media) that inspires targeted audiences to action. Kelley is an expert in media relations and story-telling, having worked 27 years for Dallas-based A.H. Belo Corp., where he served as editor of DallasNews.com, website of The Dallas Morning News, and as a news reporter for 18 years. His video productions have received wide acclaim.

A relentless problem solver, Kelley, after accepting a voluntary severance arrangement from A.H. Belo Corp in 2006, formed The Kelley Group to bring his communications skills to select non-profits, humanitarian organizations and visionary corporations to expand the reach of their message effectiveness, using both traditional media and New Media formats to inspire a greater audience worldwide to take positive action on society’s challenges.

Focusing on human causes and social justice issues, Kelley is an expert in media relations and crisis communications, and through his media consultancy he has partnered with the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, Refugee Services of Texas, SMU, the Lighthouse for the Blind (Envision Dallas), the Deaf Action Center, and Alliance for Greater Works, among other institutions that engage in what he describes as having a big difference to make but needing some help to make it more efficiently and effectively.

In the conversation, Kelley said, “Rwanda is proof that through hard work, and with forgiveness, people can work through difficult issues.”

What is Hunt Sages & Seekers?

August 2, 2021August 12, 2021

Janeil Engelstad: Conversations about Community and Resilience

On this episode of The Hunt Institute’s Sages & Seekers Podcast, Janeil Engelstad discusses the power of collaboration, self-reflection, and gratitude.

Engelstad is the Founding Director of Make Art with Purpose (MAP), an organization that produces collaborative artist-led projects that address social and environmental concerns. MAP projects include communities as partners in the production of the work, directly engage the audience to participate beyond the role of passive observer and ignite creative collaboration from museums, schools, government, business, NGOs and other partners. Her podcast, MAP Radio Hour, conversations at the intersection of art, design, science, politics and justice is hosted by Creative Disturbance and ARTECA/MIT.

In the conversation, Engelstad said, “In sharing our stories, we find our commonality and where we meet as humans.”

What is Hunt Sages & Seekers?

July 26, 2021February 16, 2022

Lessons from Summer Internship: Worry Less and Dream More

Many of our student workers were able to spend this summer participating in various internships outside of the Hunt Institute. Students often return from these experiences with a fantastic arsenal of newly acquired skills, ideas, and perspectives. This summer, the undergraduate marketer in the Institute, John Morgan, spent six weeks working as a program specialist at Lakeview Methodist Conference Center just south of Palestine, Texas. John graciously shared the following about his experience:

Take a moment and think back to your youth. Think about times when you were running around your backyard pretending you were anywhere else. Think about walking down the aisle in the grocery store begging your parents for a toy or a snack. Think about how upset you were when a sibling or friend had something you didn’t, and that thing seemed like the most important thing in the world.

These instances, along with many others from our childhood, can seem cringeworthy or laughable in retrospect, but I think it’s important to remember the mindset with which we would approach life as children. That innocent, worry-free worldview often escapes us as we mature and are confronted with reality. However, every now and then, it may make sense for us to embrace the youthful spirit of having a goal in mind without focusing on the complications in accomplishing it.

This summer, my daily routine for six weeks consisted of facilitating games, setting up activities, and entertaining armies of third through fifth grade kids. This can certainly be a daunting task, but the relationships that my coworkers and I formed with these kids were ultimately what kept us sane. While it isn’t fun to constantly remind elementary campers not to wander into a live archery range or swim too far in the lake, it was easy to fall in love with the genuine excitement and enthusiasm with which they approached every moment. It’s fair to say that I learned as much from them as they learned from me.

One memorable moment from my experience surprisingly came from a response on one of the camper surveys at the end of the week. Despite the various misspelled words –“dogball” instead of “dodgeball,” for example– and no shortage of blunt feedback from these kids, many of the most meaningful responses came from the question, “What did you learn about yourself this week?” It was here where a kid, one who I had seen blossom from a state of homesickness on the first day to pure joy by the end of the week, answered that he learned that he needed to worry less and dream more. Reading this and knowing what this camper had gone through in those five days, I couldn’t help but shed some tears.

After forty days in the middle of East Texas, I have returned to reality with the strong notion that it might be beneficial for us to take that third grader’s advice: worry less in our pursuits in order to dream more.

Here at the Hunt Institute, we strive to serve as a hub to develop future-focused solutions to worldly challenges. As the undergraduate marketer, I have the privilege of witnessing and showcasing the Institute’s impactful projects and initiatives. We bear a responsibility to help improve the world around us, and therefore we must continue to think big, allowing ourselves to dream instead of listing the barriers in front of us. In the fulfillment of our aspirations, let’s choose to worry less and dream more.

July 21, 2021August 12, 2021

Janette Monear: Conversations about Community and Resilience

In this episode of The Hunt Institute’s Sages & Seekers Podcast, Janette Monear explains the vital relationship between the environment and community and how we can work to save it.

Janette Monear is President and CEO of the Texas Trees Foundation, a private nonprofit focused on urban forestry, green infrastructure and sustainable design. She is a frequent speaker at local and national conferences, and she co-produced and wrote the narration for the Telly award winning Public Television documentary “Spirit of the Trees.”

Under Monear’s direction, the Foundation created two major studies, State of the Dallas Urban Forest Report and The Dallas Urban Heat Island Study which helped transition the environmental focus for the City of Dallas.

As a visionary and social entrepreneur, she has integrated a model for the Texas Trees Foundation that provides a diverse portfolio of funding through nontraditional revenue streams for projects and programs that bring public and private partnerships together. Monear’s creative vision, collaborative commitment, and passion for trees have helped to transform the landscapes of North Texas and beyond.

Janette says, “There’s a sorrow because you will never see what I saw, that was so beautiful, until we change some things around. That sorrow is what drives the movement for climate change.”

What is Hunt Sages & Seekers?

July 14, 2021February 16, 2022

Mapping the Social Enterprise Ecosystem: a student’s perspective

Scott Zuo is a student at Southern Methodist University

One of the fantastic opportunities for a select number of student researchers is to work directly with the Executive Director of the Hunt Institute, Dr. Eva Csaky. Our team members engage with the Global Development Lab pillar of the Institute, the Social Enterprise Program (SE), or the Inclusive Economic Consortium (IEC) initiative or work on a cross-cutting communication team. On occasion, there is an overlap with one or more providing an opportunity for team members to be exposed to some of the initiatives in other areas such as the Inclusive Economic Consortium (IEC) and the Social Enterprise Program. Undergraduate Research Analyst Scott Zuo’s work, where the SE and IEC intersect, represents one example of this kind of opportunity.

Beginning in the spring of 2021, Scott has been working with Dr. Csaky and other team members on research involving inclusive economy best practices. Scott’s first project involved building and updating a database of such best practices, using examples based on FinTech Awards and case studies from the IFC and UNDP. Scott and the team analyzed each of these examples through a variety of lenses, including collaboration, building access, sustainability, innovation, and more.

Ultimately, the database aims to serve a variety of purposes. For one, since a similar exercise had been done a few years prior, cases included in the initial database that no longer exist in 2021 represent opportunities for updating with new case studies. Secondly, these best practices can contribute to a global map of the social enterprise ecosystem. The examples also serve as useful models through which a framework can be developed for effective business models in the inclusive economy space.

When asked about his experience working on this project, Scott said, “The analyzing process inspired by Dr. Csaky really improved my ability of critical thinking as well as knowledge related to globalization.”

Improving the student experience at SMU is one of the benefits student workers can lean into when they work in the Institute. Undergraduates and Grad students alike can apply to positions posted on SMU’s HandShake. It is a competitive process to be chosen to join the team due to the high level of interaction student employees have with Affiliates, community partners, and leadership in the Hunt Institute.

Stay tuned to the Hunt Institute Digest for future updates on this exciting work and other projects with impact. To hear what student employees in the Hunt Institute are saying about their experience >> CLICK HERE.

July 8, 2021August 12, 2021

Clyde Valentín : Conversations about Community and Resilience

In this episode of The Hunt Institute Sages & Seekers Podcast, Clyde Valentín tells us how creativity can be used to tell stories and empower people to make their own culture.

Clyde Valentín was born and raised in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. He is the Co-founder and former Executive Director of Hi-ARTS (formerly known as the Hip-Hop Theater Festival). He is the inaugural Director of Ignite/Arts Dallas: People, Purpose + Place the community engagement initiative at SMU Meadows School of the Arts. The mission of Ignite/Arts Dallas is to challenge the imaginations of students and citizens to envision more just and vibrant communities through art and culture experiences. Clyde was a 2015 Community + Culture Fellow of the National Arts Strategies’ Chief Executive Program.

Valentín is an advisory committee member of the Latinx Theater Commons and has served as a consultant or panelist for numerous national arts organizations including Creative Capital, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP), YouthSpeaks/Brave New Voices, the New England Foundation for the Arts, Theater Communications Group (TCG), the National Association of Latino Arts & Culture (NALAC), the National Performance Network (NPN) and AlternateROOTS. He most recently joined the Local Advisory Board for Year-Up DFW and the Board of Texans for the Arts, the statewide advocacy organization for public funding in the Arts in Texas.

Clyde says, “Although I had that living memory as a native Brooklynite, I also was able to ride the wave of that creative growth.”

What is Hunt Sages & Seekers?

July 8, 2021July 8, 2021

Cross-Sector Collaboration for a More ‘Just’ Justice System

Anna M. Clark is a fellow of the Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity at Southern Methodist University and the co-founder of the Inclusive Economy Consortium — Anna Clark, Hunt Institute Fellow and the co-founder of the Inclusive Economy Consortium, wrote this post in response to the June ImpactNights™ event

The Hunt Institute, in partnership with the Inclusive Economy Consortium, dedicated its final ImpactNights™ program of the academic year June 17, 2021, to “Freedom Day” with an expert-led look at the obstructions in our justice system that hinder economic freedom for a significant number of black and brown Americans. With the highest incarceration rate in the world, the U.S. penal system creates barriers to economic inclusion for entire families. While making Juneteenth a national holiday represents progress, America cannot achieve an inclusive economy until it puts more justice into our criminal legal system.

The economic ramifications of mass incarceration are substantial. In the U.S., one in two adults has had a family member who is or has been incarcerated, and jail and prison populations have quadrupled since 1980. This represents the highest incarceration rate not only in any Western democracy but also in the world. The U.S. incarceration rate is also highly unequal, with men of color disproportionately represented, and most of them being poor. Families of incarcerated people also suffer significant economic hardships and risk not being able to meet basic needs, which can result in homelessness.

The cascade of harmful economic and societal consequences of incarceration on communities of color is undeniable and rising. According to 2009 data, almost 70 percent of black men who did not finish high school had been imprisoned at some point before age 30, in contrast with 14.7 percent in 1979. Even as incarceration rates climb, increasing evidence is coming to light that not all who are incarcerated deserve to be, and that even once released, returning citizens experience permanent punishment due to the many collateral consequences of incarceration. Such facts are indicative of systemic problems in our criminal legal system that can only be resolved through committed action across sectors.

Justice is a communal effort. To this end, we invited Yulise Waters, Deputy Director of Lone Star Justice Alliance and Hunt Institute Fellow, to facilitate a cross-sector conversation with committed voices for justice. Sharing insights and experiences from their varied perspectives, panelists included Richard Miles, the executive director of Miles of Freedom, which he founded after being exonerated from a wrongful conviction that led to spending 15 years in prison; Tiara Cooper, a LIVE FREE Texas organizer with FAITH IN TEXAS; and Brent Reaves, the president of Smokey John’s, Inc. and an advocate for private-sector leadership on this issue. Click here to watch the program.

For information about ways you can help bring about transformative justice in America, get in touch with one or more of these organizations:

• LONE STAR JUSTICE ALLIANCE, a nonprofit legal organization that improves the lives of youth and emerging adults in the justice system. Contact Yulise Waters: ywaters@lsja.org

• FAITH IN TEXAS, a nonpartisan, multi-racial, multi-faith grassroots movement of people united in values working together to achieve economic, racial, and social justice for all people. Contact Tiara Cooper: tcooper@faithintx.org

• MILES OF FREEDOM, a non-profit organization whose programs support re-entry and rehabilitation for incarcerated people and youth mentoring programs. Contact Richard Miles: richardmilesmof@gmail.com

• Smokey John’s BBQ, a family-owned restaurant committed to faith, mercy, community, and great food. Contact Brent Reaves: brent@smokeyjohns.com

Special thanks to Yulise Reaves Waters, Esq. for her contributions to this post.

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ImpactNights™ is the physical manifestation of the Inclusive Economy Consortium where we connect, share, and act. This event is about like-minded people coming together to share experiences and knowledge from the local, national, and international community within the Consortium to share their best practices and expertise. Monthly discussions are around pressing social issues facing our society. All of this is designed to get collective action for a more inclusive economy. Follow us on Eventbrite to be the first to know when event details are published so you can register to join the conversation.

This event is generously sponsored by Target Corporation and hosted by the Inclusive Economy Consortium, an initiative of Hunter & Stephanie Hunt Institute for Engineering & Humanity located in Lyle School of Engineering at Southern Methodist University.

Mark your calendars to join us in the Fall of 2021 to be a part of the conversation to CONNECT – SHARE – ACT!

June 29, 2021February 16, 2022

Valecia Harris, Hunt Institute Social Enterprise Graduate Program Consultant & Manager

Valecia Harris is an MBA candidate at Southern Methodist University in the Cox School of Business, specializing in Strategy and Entrepreneurship. She serves as President of the Graduate Entrepreneurship Club, Vice President of Program Development for Graduate Women in Business Club, and Vice President of Consulting Club Online Master of Business Administration (OMBA) Engagement. She also serves as a member of the Energy Club and a member of the Student Honor Council. Valecia has been recognized as an award recipient for the Cox Legacy and Cox Dean’s Circle Business Leadership Center.

Valecia has 19 years of experience in the captive lending financial service industry. She held several leadership roles at GM Financial Services where she advanced to Assistant Vice President overseeing dealer compliance operations. Her latter position included aligning strategic priorities with the company’s core values while mitigating risk. Valecia was part of several social and rewards and recognition initiatives at GM Financial, such as being a member of the first Diversity and Inclusion Council, implementing corporate initiatives for rewards and recognition employee programs, and performance enhancement development. Valecia’s career has pivoted into the entrepreneurship field. She is a new business owner of a faith-based direct-to-consumer retail business that focuses on fashion and lifestyle products. She was selected as a 2021 finalist for the Texas Business Hall of Fame Foundation for her extensive leadership skills, contribution, and commitment to supporting the Texas entrepreneurship ecosystem.

At the Hunt Institute, Valecia is the graduate Program Consultant and Manager for the Social Enterprise (SE) program, where she works to develop and scale SE in order to address key barriers faced by early-stage social entrepreneurs, including capacity constraints and a need for strategic guidance, by connecting social entrepreneurs to critical resources.

When asked why Valecia was drawn to the Hunt Institute she responded, “What drew me to the Hunt Institute is the amount of work invested in supporting social entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial initiatives that create, inspire, and influence sustainable and inclusive economic development. I am excited to be part of a team where I can lend my knowledge and experience in developing strategies and supporting innovative solutions that generate transformational impact.”

June 21, 2021February 16, 2022

HunTalks: The Gambia Energy Project

Mohammed Njie has a mission to bring clean energy to The Gambia. Since his first day at the Hunt Institute, he has been working to make this vision a reality. Mohammed is a senior at Southern Methodist University double majoring in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in the Lyle School of Engineering. He was the first Student Social Entrepreneur in the history of the Hunt Institute Social Enterprise program. He is recognized as a Grand Challenges Scholar, winner of SMU’s Big Ideas, and is also part of the SMU Incubator. Mohammed was born and raised in The Gambia in West Africa. After graduating high school, he constructed his first electric car. His childhood helped solidify his life mission from a young age: helping to close the energy gap between the Global North and South, starting in The Gambia.

The limited energy sector in The Gambia leaves the majority of the country’s population in need of electricity. The demand for energy in the Gambia far exceeds the available supply. For more than three decades, the national utility company NAWEC has struggled to meet the ever-growing demand. Of the 48% of Gambia’s population that has access to electricity, they experience frequent blackouts because the supply is unreliable. The Gambia has one of the highest energy production costs, not only in Africa, but in the whole world ($0.32/KWh). The high costs are mainly due to the importation of expensive diesel that is used as fuel for generators by the national utility company. The rest of the 52% of the population do not have access to a grid that supplies energy, resulting in no access to electricity. This leaves two categories of customers in the Gambian electricity market: (1) Urban Gambians with unreliable access to electricity and expensive tariffs, and (2) Rural Gambians with no access to electricity at all.

Mohammed discusses his motivation, saying, “Energy infrastructure is at the foundation of economic, environmental, and social growth. The Gambia, the smallest country in Africa, lacks this essential infrastructure but has the desire and resources to support it. Janta is the solution that will bring clean, reliable energy to the Gambia to facilitate the country’s growth and development. The need for energy in The Gambia is necessary now more than ever given the effects of climate change on agriculture, the country’s most important industry. This makes our venture a necessary and worthy cause.”

In this edition of HunTalks™, Mohammed shares his journey to make this vision a reality as a student employee in the Institute. Click on the video above to hear him share about his colleagues in the Institute and how they have contributed to his success.

Previous posts about Mohammed Njie:

December 15, 2019: “2019 Social Enterprise Cohort”

February 28, 2020: “Mohammed Njie – Travel Feature”

July 1, 2020: “Hunt Institute’s First Student Social Entrepreneur”

November 9, 2020: “Innovation in Tintinto, The Gambia”

December 15, 2020: “2020 Social Enterprise Cohort”

April 13, 2021: “Illuminating Tintinto | Hunt Institute’s Project for SMU Giving Day 2021”

April 14, 2021: “2021 SMU Giving Day: The Power of One Person’s Vision”