Anthony Jewett

2006

Anthony Jewett

Bardoli Global Initiative

Houston, Texas, United States

The Bold Idea:

The Bardoli Global Initiative is named after the site of an historic 1937 intercultural exchange between Mahatma Gandhi and the prominent African American leaders who helped to inspire the American civil rights movement. Its mission is to “transform the face of America abroad” by using culturally-relevant marketing strategies in combination with partnerships across multiple sectors in order to drastically increase the number of African American students who go abroad each year to 150,000 by the year 2017. Although American college students live in a society whose economic and social realities increasingly demand intercultural competencies and international exposure, just 2 percent of eligible U.S. undergraduates study abroad each year, with a full two-thirds of those who do so going to countries in Western Europe. Trends in studying abroad have remained relatively unchanged over the past decade. Eighty-three percent of all these students are white and most are female humanities majors. While African Americans represent 12 percent of the total U.S. college population, over the past 10 years, they have consistently represented only 3 percent of students participating in education abroad programs. Only approximately 0.5 percent of U.S. students abroad come from the 108 Historically Black Colleges and Universities across the nation. These statistics have serious implications for the economic and social status of African Americans domestically as well the images of Americans of color abroad.

Biography:

Anthony received his bachelor's degree with honors in International Affairs from Morehouse College and has pursued graduate studies at Bank Street College of Education and the School for International Training. He is also an alumnus of the Teach For America national service corps, during which time he spent two years as an elementary school classroom instructor in the South Bronx, New York City. Anthony has a lifelong commitment to intercultural exchange, which has led him to learn five languages and travel extensively on five continents.

Moment of Obligation: Why did you want to create your new organization?
Like a lot of people, I saw international exchange as a key area of need for my people and thought that somebody should do something to fill it. I remember walking around in Beijing, PRC, amazed and yet humbled by the realization that a Black kid like me from a housing project in Florida could travel all the way around the world and have my mindframe transformed by the experience. I noticed though, that no one was really approaching the issue of education abroad and international leadership for African American students in a specific, comprehensive, and cohesive enough manner. So, I thought, “well, I guess that means I should.”

Gall to Think Big: What has given you the ability to take on deeply entrenched social problems?
I am compelled each day by a deep confidence in my work ethic and abilities, the conviction I have about the necessity of this cause and its potential for broad social impact, the AMAZING people I am surrounded by who believe in this as well, and the ever so slight bit of naiveté that keeps me from knowing any better.

New and Untested: Describe what’s innovative about your new work.
At the most fundamental level, the innovation in our work lies in the fact that we’re even doing it. While there have been earnest efforts to tackle this problem, they have been fragmented at best. No other independent organization focuses solely on international exposure for African American students, let alone using a social enterprise model. We see Bardoli Global Initiative as not just an organization, but as the instrument of a social change movement.

Seeing Possibilities: What do you believe are the most important qualities to do social change work?
Moral compass, tenacity, conviction, optimism metered by realism, willingness to go at it alone at times, and a fundamental belief that though things may be good, they can always be made better.

Which musical artists/albums get you going?
I love virtually all music, but I am a hardcore neo-soul/hip-hop/R&B fan at heart. Anything by Brandy, Jay-Z, Jill Scott, India Arie, etc. is what I love. I’ve picked up a few things in my travels as well like Magic System (popular in all of Francophone Africa), Coco Lee (the beauty from PRC), Caesaria Evora (Cape Verde), and Buena Vista Social Club (Cuba). Vintage Nirvana and some Andrea Boccelli are good too. The song that gets me up and moving when I need to work on something related to a cause though is “Let’s Get It Started” by Black-Eyed Peas. Quite a hyping effect it has.

What books do you recommend (pleasure, work and anything in between)?
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, Ordering Your Private World by Gordon MacDonald, The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Dubois, Good to Great by Jim Collins, Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, and The Chomsky Reader by Noam Chomsky.

Which websites do you visit often (work and/or personal)?

• economist.com
• se-alliance.org
• nafsa.org
• myspace.com

Any last words, thoughts or advice to other social change leaders?
Think big…what’s the point otherwise? Be ambitious, but be realistic. Be the first to admit that you don’t know everything but surround yourself with the people who do and be good to them. Dare to be different. After all, it’s okay to be obsessed with doing “good”. No matter what anyone says, you really can save the world. And finally, never stop trying to become qualified enough for your job.