Embracing Proven Solutions
Country First isn't about specific policy prescriptions - and that's because neither party nor perspective has a monopoly on solutions and good ideas. We're all about creating an environment where thoughtful, durable, and proven solutions can be discovered, debated, and embraced.
>> We've collected a selection of inspiring proven solutions to big challenges by creative, resourceful Americans across the country. Do you now of another great example? Use the form on this page to let us know about it so we can bring more attention to those solving problems in spite of our leaders making it so difficult.
✓ REAL OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL
Too many families struggle to afford basics like childcare, education, and housing. Healthcare continues to spiral out of control without wages keeping pace. These are the problems both parties must tackle, and we won't solve them by sticking with the same party playbooks that got us here. We must use commonsense AND creativity, and we cannot worry about who gets the credit.
Let’s work to ensure that every kid — whether from the inner city or rural heartland, from a depressed town to an affluent suburb — knows in their bones that anything is possible in America. Let’s be the country that believes opportunity is both limitless and renewable — there’s enough to go around. And let’s strive to make this true for everyone — no matter who they are, or where they come from.
INSPIRING EXAMPLES
Organization: Score (https://www.score.org/about-score)
Location: Nationwide
Challenge: Apprenticeship programs are important because they provide a structured, hands-on learning experience that prepares individuals for skilled jobs in high-demand industries. By combining classroom instruction with on-the-job training, apprenticeships help bridge the skills gap and provide a pathway to well-paying careers. Furthermore, these programs also help businesses develop a pipeline of skilled workers, which is critical for their long-term success and growth.
Proven Solution: SCORE, the nation’s largest network of volunteer, expert business mentors, is dedicated to helping small businesses get off the ground, grow and achieve their goals. Since 1964, it has provided education and mentorship to more than 11 million entrepreneurs. SCORE is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Thanks to this generous support from the SBA and because of the selfless contributions of our more than 10,000 dedicated volunteers, it can deliver most of its offerings at no cost.
Organization: Trackers (https://trackerspdx.com/)
Location: California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado
Challenge: Programs that provide opportunities for students to engage in learning outside of the traditional school day have been shown to have positive impacts on academic performance and other outcomes, but can be hard to come by.
Proven Solution: Trackers is a team of expert educators, and a community. It is made up of compassionate individuals who believe kids (and adults) should have real adventures in the natural world.
Trackers is a family organization. We are not simply limited to one family. Like a true village, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, aunties and uncles, grandmas and grandpas from many different kinds of families work side-by-side for the greater good. We value instilling care and respect for the natural world and the community we serve. With Trackers you often get the feeling of "old friends that just met".
Organization: Guardian Gym (https://www.guardiangym.org/)
Location: Maryland, California
Challenge: Expanded learning opportunities: Programs that provide opportunities for students to engage in learning outside of the traditional school day have been shown to have positive impacts on academic performance and other outcomes, but are difficult to come by. Examples include after-school programs, summer camps, and mentoring programs.
Proven Solution: Guardian makes training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu accessible for youth in order to increase their self-confidence, provide self-defense skills, connect them with mentors and a positive peer group. The program's primary focus is to reach the youth during the time that they are most at-risk, which for many students is the after school hours. Guardian’s overarching goal is to inspire others around the world to start similar programs, so that every kid in the world who wants to train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu whether it be at a Guardian academy, or one of the thousands of facilities around the globe that has the capability to train martial arts. There are currently Guardian locations in the Bay Area, Baltimore, and Mancora (Peru), which all provide Jiu Jitsu to youth at ZERO cost to their families.
✓ CLIMATE & CONSERVATION
The natural world is our most important asset. In more recent years, the evidence that we face urgent challenges to protect the environment has become indisputable, and it’s clear the time to act is now. We must work together to mitigate the impacts of climate change and encourage conservation of the natural world.
Humankind has built awe inspiring civilizations, created life-saving technologies, and even put a man on the moon. There's no reason we can't tackle this challenge, too, and in a non-partisan way. Country First aims to discover proven solutions to our environmental and conservation challenges by bringing together businesses, environmentalists, global leaders, NGOs, and people like you.
✓ MENTAL HEALTH
Mental health matters just as much as our physical health, yet too often it is ignored, misunderstood and neglected. It is one of the biggest public health issues of today, impacting all aspects of society. We must change the conversation on mental health, tackle the stigmas, and encourage more people to talk openly about mental health. We want to ensure that everyone’s understanding of the need to keep mentally fit is on a par with what we know about the need to eat healthily and to exercise.
INSPIRING EXAMPLES
Organization: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (https://www.afsp.org)
Location: Nationwide
Challenge: Saving lives and offering hope to those impacted by suicide.
Proven Solution: Educated hundreds of local communities about suicide and how to prevent it and connecting those impacted to suicide with each other to advocate for suicide prevention.
Organization: Treatment Atlas (https://www.treatmentatlas.org)
Location: Nationwide
Challenge: Helping individuals find the best treatment options for a loved one's addictions.
Proven Solution: ATLAS was created to help people search for and compare addiction treatment facilities to find high-quality care for themselves or their loved ones.
✓ CULTURE OF SERVICE
America’s civic health is in significant decline. We need to cultivate a greater sense of “we," which will require our nation to build bridges that span America's demographic divides and socioeconomic faultlines. One powerful idea to rebuild our civic bridges is encouraging a culture of national service -- an expectation and opportunity for young people as they come of age to perform a year or more of military or civilian national service. Such service would bring young people from different backgrounds, income levels, races, ethnicities, and areas of the country together in shared experiences to solve public challenges as they form their attitudes and habits early in life. Many would discover that they are leaders—the kind of leaders who could work across differences to get things done.
Join the conversation below.
Embracing Proven Solutions
Country First isn't about specific policy prescriptions - and that's because neither party nor perspective has a monopoly on solutions and good ideas. We're all about creating an environment where thoughtful, durable, and proven solutions can be discovered, debated, and embraced.
>> We've collected a selection of inspiring proven solutions to big challenges by creative, resourceful Americans across the country. Do you now of another great example? Use the form on this page to let us know about it so we can bring more attention to those solving problems in spite of our leaders making it so difficult.
✓ REAL OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL
Too many families struggle to afford basics like childcare, education, and housing. Healthcare continues to spiral out of control without wages keeping pace. These are the problems both parties must tackle, and we won't solve them by sticking with the same party playbooks that got us here. We must use commonsense AND creativity, and we cannot worry about who gets the credit.
Let’s work to ensure that every kid — whether from the inner city or rural heartland, from a depressed town to an affluent suburb — knows in their bones that anything is possible in America. Let’s be the country that believes opportunity is both limitless and renewable — there’s enough to go around. And let’s strive to make this true for everyone — no matter who they are, or where they come from.
INSPIRING EXAMPLES
Organization: Score (https://www.score.org/about-score)
Location: Nationwide
Challenge: Apprenticeship programs are important because they provide a structured, hands-on learning experience that prepares individuals for skilled jobs in high-demand industries. By combining classroom instruction with on-the-job training, apprenticeships help bridge the skills gap and provide a pathway to well-paying careers. Furthermore, these programs also help businesses develop a pipeline of skilled workers, which is critical for their long-term success and growth.
Proven Solution: SCORE, the nation’s largest network of volunteer, expert business mentors, is dedicated to helping small businesses get off the ground, grow and achieve their goals. Since 1964, it has provided education and mentorship to more than 11 million entrepreneurs. SCORE is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Thanks to this generous support from the SBA and because of the selfless contributions of our more than 10,000 dedicated volunteers, it can deliver most of its offerings at no cost.
Organization: Trackers (https://trackerspdx.com/)
Location: California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado
Challenge: Programs that provide opportunities for students to engage in learning outside of the traditional school day have been shown to have positive impacts on academic performance and other outcomes, but can be hard to come by.
Proven Solution: Trackers is a team of expert educators, and a community. It is made up of compassionate individuals who believe kids (and adults) should have real adventures in the natural world.
Trackers is a family organization. We are not simply limited to one family. Like a true village, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, aunties and uncles, grandmas and grandpas from many different kinds of families work side-by-side for the greater good. We value instilling care and respect for the natural world and the community we serve. With Trackers you often get the feeling of "old friends that just met".
Organization: Guardian Gym (https://www.guardiangym.org/)
Location: Maryland, California
Challenge: Expanded learning opportunities: Programs that provide opportunities for students to engage in learning outside of the traditional school day have been shown to have positive impacts on academic performance and other outcomes, but are difficult to come by. Examples include after-school programs, summer camps, and mentoring programs.
Proven Solution: Guardian makes training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu accessible for youth in order to increase their self-confidence, provide self-defense skills, connect them with mentors and a positive peer group. The program's primary focus is to reach the youth during the time that they are most at-risk, which for many students is the after school hours. Guardian’s overarching goal is to inspire others around the world to start similar programs, so that every kid in the world who wants to train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu whether it be at a Guardian academy, or one of the thousands of facilities around the globe that has the capability to train martial arts. There are currently Guardian locations in the Bay Area, Baltimore, and Mancora (Peru), which all provide Jiu Jitsu to youth at ZERO cost to their families.
✓ CLIMATE & CONSERVATION
The natural world is our most important asset. In more recent years, the evidence that we face urgent challenges to protect the environment has become indisputable, and it’s clear the time to act is now. We must work together to mitigate the impacts of climate change and encourage conservation of the natural world.
Humankind has built awe inspiring civilizations, created life-saving technologies, and even put a man on the moon. There's no reason we can't tackle this challenge, too, and in a non-partisan way. Country First aims to discover proven solutions to our environmental and conservation challenges by bringing together businesses, environmentalists, global leaders, NGOs, and people like you.
✓ MENTAL HEALTH
Mental health matters just as much as our physical health, yet too often it is ignored, misunderstood and neglected. It is one of the biggest public health issues of today, impacting all aspects of society. We must change the conversation on mental health, tackle the stigmas, and encourage more people to talk openly about mental health. We want to ensure that everyone’s understanding of the need to keep mentally fit is on a par with what we know about the need to eat healthily and to exercise.
INSPIRING EXAMPLES
Organization: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (https://www.afsp.org)
Location: Nationwide
Challenge: Saving lives and offering hope to those impacted by suicide.
Proven Solution: Educated hundreds of local communities about suicide and how to prevent it and connecting those impacted to suicide with each other to advocate for suicide prevention.
Organization: Treatment Atlas (https://www.treatmentatlas.org)
Location: Nationwide
Challenge: Helping individuals find the best treatment options for a loved one's addictions.
Proven Solution: ATLAS was created to help people search for and compare addiction treatment facilities to find high-quality care for themselves or their loved ones.
✓ CULTURE OF SERVICE
America’s civic health is in significant decline. We need to cultivate a greater sense of “we," which will require our nation to build bridges that span America's demographic divides and socioeconomic faultlines. One powerful idea to rebuild our civic bridges is encouraging a culture of national service -- an expectation and opportunity for young people as they come of age to perform a year or more of military or civilian national service. Such service would bring young people from different backgrounds, income levels, races, ethnicities, and areas of the country together in shared experiences to solve public challenges as they form their attitudes and habits early in life. Many would discover that they are leaders—the kind of leaders who could work across differences to get things done.