Alan Khazei builds movements. First, it was expanding service through City Year, which later became the brainchild for AmeriCorps (which has facilitated 1.2 billion hours of public service!). Then it was expanding social entrepreneurship through Be the Change. Now Alan is spearheading the group Democracy Entrepreneurs, which just hosted its first Democracy Entrepreneurship Summit at the Harvard Kennedy School. Inspired in part by seeing his own family divided by the 2016 election, he’s working “to get underneath what is going on in our democracy” and to support organizations in this space.

In this episode, Alan talks about the importance of service — "not as a Democratic idea or a Republican idea... but as an American idea," about his work to expand service opportunities with Presidents George H. W. Bush and President Bill Clinton, and about his hopes for the future of Democracy Entrepreneurs.

Episode Notes:

• Alan’s Boston Globe op-ed, The rise of the democracy entrepreneurs, Nov. 2018

• Democracy Entrepreneurs on Twitter

• National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service Interim Report

• McCain, Obama find common ground on national service, CNN, Sept. 2008

• John McCain understood the common call to service that makes America truly great: John Bridgeland and Alan Khazei, Cleveland.com, Sept. 2018

• Did Twitter Kill the Boys on the Bus? Searching for a better way to cover a campaign, Peter Hamby, Shorenstein Center at Harvard University, Aug. 2013