On Wednesday, September 23rd, Founder and CEO of the Millennial Action Project (MAP) , Steven Olikara, participated on a virtual panel hosted by Social Innovation Summit. The panel included Melody Barnes, Former Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council and current Director for Policy and Public Affairs at the UVA Democracy Initiative, as well as Joe Goldman, President of Democracy Fund. The panel was moderated by Pamela Norley, President of Fidelity Charitable.
The event began with each panelist introducing themselves and how their organization interacts with both democracy and philanthropy. Steven Olikara noted that he founded MAP after he began his career as a musician in Milwaukee, WI, where he first began to notice the deep racial and political divides in his community, as well as worsening partisan polarization. Combining his passions for music and strengthening democracy, Steven explained “jazz is a call and response art form like democracy should be a call and response political system.”
Melody Barnes contended that democracy relies on citizenship that is inclusive, as well as democratic liberal principles and rule of law. Melody also noted that democracy values economic growth and opportunity, and that we have to be educated in the mechanisms of our government.
Joe Goldman contended that democracy is a complex system, and there isn’t one solution to fixing democracy. According to Goldman, “our democracy is failing, it is undeniable that we have turned a corner.” However, he also noted that his organization, Democracy Fund, works towards fixing democracy in multiple ways, including by giving away more than $200 million, promoting free and fair elections, preventing abuses of power, mitigating political violence, enforcing power to the polls, transforming journalism, and adopting structural reforms.
The panel concluded with questions from the virtual audience. Steven emphasized the importance of philanthropy, and noted that public funders shouldn’t be afraid to get engaged in democracy.