The Concord Coalition
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Next Challenge: What is your idea for a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to mineral oil? |
NOTE: This challenge is open to US college students and recent graduates. No other submissions will be accepted.
The generation of Americans in college or just beginning their professional lives will be the one facing the greatest impact of a large increase in the national debt. However, it is difficult to make the case to individuals that they have a tangible, individual economic stake in seeing the national debt problem addressed, especially when the solutions sometimes seem to involve tangible economic "pain." The Concord Coalition wants to hear ideas on how to best engage younger Americans on these issues.
At The Concord Coalition, we have engagement tools, such as an interactive budget exercise and chart presentations, and we regularly facilitate forums with policy experts and former members of Congress. However, we find that large numbers, like the $22 trillion total national debt, can be difficult to grasp at an individual level. When you hear a number that big, it almost seems unfathomable, and dividing that number into a per-person portion of the debt isn't an accurate way to describe the impact the debt has on each of us as individuals.
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This project was funded in part by grants or donations from:
The Richard C. Munroe Foundation
Peter T. Paul
The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation's Geoffrey E. Clark and Martha Fuller Clark Fund
Paul and Sandra Montrone
New Hampshire Senator Daniel E. Innis
Tell us how to better engage younger Americans on the subject of the national debt. Specifically, answer the following questions in detail:
- How should we connect with this target audience in a way that resonates? What will most effectively capture their attention? Explain what media avenues, in-person events, and student groups we should use for our approach.
- Then, how can we put the national debt into perspective for this younger audience? How can we accurately make the national debt feel tangible and pressing?
Your idea must be inexpensive enough to replicate at scale. (ex. at multiple locations or campuses across the country)
Here's an example of making a large economic issue feel tangible/pressing: Recently, economists devised a metric to explain the state of Venezuela's worsening economy. Instead of simply pointing to an inflation rate of over 1 million percent to highlight the dire economic conditions, they framed it in terms of how many calories a person could purchase in a single day if they spent 100 percent of their income on the cheapest available calorie. At minimum wage, a person in Venezuela can purchase 900 calories, compared to 200,000 calories in one day on minimum wage in the United States. The normal person needs approximately 2,000 calories a day, so people trying to live on minimum wage in Venezuela are literally starving.
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Submissions will be graded on the following criteria:
- Practicality
- Creativity
- Clarity
will share $1,000
will share $400
will share $200
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Vartika Parekh | |
| $83.30 |
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Byron Louw Pennsylvania State University | |
| $83.30 |
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Gina Thompson Arizona State University | |
| $83.30 |
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Joey Latimore University of Houston-Downtown | |
| $83.30 |
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Sarah B Bennington College | |
| $83.30 |
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m . | |
| $83.30 |
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Francis Daniel Santia Harvard University | |
| $83.30 |
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Brooke Zampell University of California, Los Angeles | |
| $83.30 |
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Mike Wang Johns Hopkins University | |
| $83.30 |
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Eric Johnson Michigan Technological University | |
| $83.30 |
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Sumana Mahata UCSD | |
| $83.30 |
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Will Skura Keene State College | |
| $23.50 |
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Karen Miller West Virginia University | |
| $23.50 |
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Alyssa Binder university of central florida | |
| $23.50 |
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Donna McNeill Penn Foster | |
| $23.50 |
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Karl R Georgia Institute of Technology | |
| $23.50 |
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Micaela Mersch Simpson College | |
| $23.50 |
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Zachary Jones University of Central Florida | |
| $23.50 |
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Jordan Patterson Duke University | |
| $23.50 |
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Dhruv Maniyar University of Massachusetts | |
| $23.50 |
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Katie Morris University of Central Florida | |
| $23.50 |
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Jennifer Miller Walden University | |
| $23.50 |
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Zariah Loni Minnesota State University Moorhead | |
| $23.50 |
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Francesca Genera University of California, Los Angeles | |
| $23.50 |
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Brittny Ellis University of Miami | |
| $23.50 |
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Dr. Janelle Christine Simmons Liberty University | |
| $23.50 |
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Alex Crile Simpson College | |
| $23.50 |
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Joshua Martin Illinois State University | |
| $23.50 |
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McKenna Melville University of Central Florida | |
| $7.10 |
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Chloe Landsverk Simpson College | |
| $7.10 |
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Sam Stephens Simpson College | |
| $7.10 |
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Jason Jimenez University of Central Florida | |
| $7.10 |
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Emma Hurst University of California, Los Angeles | |
| $7.10 |
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Max Cassidy Massachusetts Institute of Technology | |
| $7.10 |
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Chris Tran Iowa State University of Science and Technology | |
| $7.10 |
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Sagari Raju Vatchavayi University of Minnesota | |
| $7.10 |
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Aria Smith Arizona State University | |
| $7.10 |
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Brooke Hill California State University | |
| $7.10 |
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Trevor Blacks University of Florida | |
| $7.10 |
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Anh Tran University of Central Florida | |
| $7.10 |
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Maya Neverd Belhaven University | |
| $7.10 |
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Whitney Warr University of Central Florida | |
| $7.10 |
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Sarah Lopez Amherst College | |
| $7.10 |
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Jane Gloth Towson University | |
| $7.10 |
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Andrew Anderson UCF | |
| $7.10 |
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Unknown Solver | |
| $7.10 |
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Gurpinder Deol George Washington University | |
| $7.10 |
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Madison Ansbro California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo | |
| $7.10 |
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Wilson Baker University of Central Florida | |
| $7.10 |
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Tanaquil Miller California State University | |
| $7.10 |
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McCartney K University of California at Berkeley | |
| $7.10 |
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Michael Rinker Portland State University | |
| $7.10 |
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Hellen Davis San Jose State University | |
| $7.10 |
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Gibran Santa Cruz Ruiz Oregon State University | |
| $7.10 |
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Kathleen Petrucelli Fairleigh Dickinson University | |
| $7.10 |
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tom hol Simpson College | |
| $7.10 |
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Krissa De Vera Florida Atlantic University |