The Social Contract

Vision & Foundations

The Vision

These are tempestuous times when the country is divided as never before in modern history and when the premises of the social contract are being put to the test by the challenges of the 21st century. In that context, the Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity, in collaboration with the Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley and facilitated by the Consensus Building Institute, brought together a distinguished, diverse group of organizational leaders and academics to craft a vision where:

  • All Americans experience economic security and belonging, even as automation and AI continue to transform the labor market and the nature of work; and
  • The benefits of security and belonging arise from new and renewed social and economic bonds among citizens, businesses, governments, and communities.
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Liberatory Education

Embraced Identities

Enabling Technology

Communities of Belonging

Healthy Planet

Healthy Democracy

The participants

This vision reflects a year of preparation and dialogue among a diverse group of 16 leaders in economic and social policy, social activism, religion and spirituality, worker agency and voice, automation and the workplace, innovation in education, and place-based community development. 

Click on the pictures for full bios.

Wendy Ake

Director Just Public Finance project
Othering & Belonging Institute

Rev. Jennifer Bailey

Co-Founder
People's Supper

Rob "Biko" Baker

Executive Director,
League of Young Voters

Whitney Kimball Coe

Director of National Programs
Center for Rural Strategies

Sarita Gupta

Director of the Future of Work(ers) Program
The Ford Foundation

Darrick Hamilton

Pioneer
Field of Stratification Economics

Dr. Gisèle Huff

President
Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity

Rob Johnson

President
Institute for New Economic Thinking

Livia Lam

Director
Workforce Development
American Progress

Richard McGill Murphy

Editor in Chief
Director
ServiceNow

Dr. Manuel Pastor

Distinguished Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity
University of Southern California

John a. Powell

Director of the Othering & Belonging Institute and Professor of Law, African American, & Ethnic Studies at the University of California

Anne Price

President
Insight Center for Community Economic Development

William M. Rodgers III

Professor of public policy & chief economist at the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University

Scott Santens

Board Member of the Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity and Editor of Basic Income Today. UBI Advocate.

Andrea Saveri

Education futurist who makes the future actionable through research-based foresight, highly creative engagement experiences

The Continuing Dialogue
Press Release
Gisele Huff

Convening of Interdisciplinary Group of Distinguished Experts Develops A Vision for What Our Society Should be a Generation From Now

Automation, Opportunity, and Belonging: Vision and Foundations for a Better Society is intended to spark and inform dialogue on long term goals for social change among activists, philanthropists, and business and government leaders. September 07, 2021 01:27 PM Eastern Daylight Time SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today, the Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity in

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September 7, 2021
Podcast
Rob Johnson

Podcast: On Developing a Vision for a Better Society

Gisele Huff, education policy specialist and president of the Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity, along with john a. powell, director of UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute, talk about the motivations and process behind the soon-to-be-released report, “Convening on Automation, Opportunity, and Belonging: Vision and Foundations for a Better Society.”

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July 7, 2021
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Wendy Ake

Wendy Ake currently directs the Othering & Belonging Institute’s Just Public Finance project. She also consults on the Institute’s application of the targeted universalism policy framework and inclusive strategic philanthropy. Wendy’s work explores exclusive economic structures and the potential of inclusive transformational economic systems. This work is oriented around systems of credit and debt particularly in the context of austerity and financialization. Currently, this work is applied in the context of higher education and student debt, and the realm of public finance in the age of austerity. Prior to joining the Othering & Belonging Institute, Wendy was a researcher with the Global Justice Program at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University and served on the editorial board of Kirwan’s journal Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary in Global Contexts. She has worked with a number of community-based organizations and advocacy campaigns targeting issues associated with forced migration, refugee rights, internally displaced peoples, environmental politics, democratic media, and social movement building. With formal training in economic geography, physics, and ecology, she has participated in multiple research areas including educational approaches to teaching physics and writing/literacy to address students underrepresented in the field, global food policy, climate change, forced migration, and strategic philanthropy.

Rev. Jennifer Bailey

Rev. Jennifer Bailey is an ordained minister, public theologian, and a leader in the multi-faith movement for justice. Named one of 15 Faith Leaders to Watch by the Center for American Progress, she is the Founder and Executive Director of the Faith Matters Network, a Womanist-led organization equipping community organizers, faith leaders, and activists with resources for connection, spiritual sustainability, and accompaniment. Rev. Bailey is Co-Founder of the People’s Supper, a project that aims to repair the breach in our interpersonal relationships across political, ideological, and identity differences over shared meals. Since 2017, the People’s Supper has hosted over 1,500 dinners in
135 communities. Rev. Bailey is ordained in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Rob "Biko" Baker

Rob “Biko” Baker is the Executive Director of the League of Young Voters, and a nationally-recognized leader. Baker is a pioneer in running city-level, data- driven voter turnout campaigns that dramatically increase the voter participation of young urban citizens. A leading voice on field campaigns targeting young African American voters, Baker serves on CIRCLE’s research advisory board and is a board member of the New Organizing Institute. He is a well known communicator around elections, as well as cultural and political issues including gun violence and voting rights. In addition to being a former contributor to The Source, he has appeared on C-SPAN, Fox News and CNN. A popular and powerful speaker at conferences and events, Baker has interviewed luminaries Cornel West, Russell Simmons, and Howard Dean, and has been on panels with many of the nation’s strongest progressive voices. Baker holds a Ph.D in History from UCLA.

Whitney Kimball Coe

Whitney Kimball Coe is the director of National Programs at the Center for Rural Strategies. In that role, she leads the Rural Assembly, a nationwide movement striving to build better policy and more opportunity for rural communities across the country. As an organizer, speaker, moderator, and writer, Whitney has shared her perspectives on community and civic courage with audiences around the world. She has been featured on stage at the Aspen Ideas Festival and the inaugural Obama Foundation Summit, and as a guest on the radio program On Being with Krista Tippett. She writes a regular column for her local newspaper, the Daily Post Athenian, and has participated in Citizen University’s Civic Saturday Fellowship program. She holds a M.A. in Appalachian studies from Appalachian State University and an undergraduate degree in religion and philosophy from Queens University. She lives in her hometown of Athens, Tennessee with her husband Matt, and daughters, Lucy and Susannah.

Sarita Gupta

Sarita Gupta is the Director of the Future of Work(ers) Program at the Ford Foundation. She leads the team that oversees Ford’s efforts to actively shape a future of work that puts workers and their well-being at the center. Sarita joined the Ford Foundation with more than 20 years of experience working to expand people’s ability to come together to improve their workplaces, their communities, and their lives. She has deep expertise in policy advocacy, organizing, and building partnerships across the workers’ rights and care movements, having served as the Executive Director of Jobs With Justice and Co-Director of Caring Across Generations. She is a nationally recognized expert on the economic, labor, and political issues affecting working people, and is widely acknowledged as a key leader and strategist in the progressive movement.

Darrick Hamilton

Darrick Hamilton is a pioneer and internationally recognized scholar in the field of stratification economics, which fuses social science methods to examine the causes, consequences and remedies of racial, gender, ethnic, tribal, nativity, etc. inequality in education, economic and health outcomes. This work involves crafting and implementing innovative routes and policies that break down social hierarchy, empower people, and move society towards greater equity, inclusion, and civic participation. Professor Hamilton’s scholarship and practice aligns closely with the work and objectives of the John Glenn College of Public Affairs and The Ohio State University’s Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity. In addition to serving as Kirwan’s executive director, Professor Hamilton holds a primary faculty appointment in the Glenn College of Public Affairs, with courtesy appointments in the departments of economics and sociology in the College of Arts and Sciences. Professor Hamilton was born and raised in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, NY. He is a graduate of Oberlin College and earned a PhD in economics from the University of North Carolina; he completed postdoctoral appointments at the University of Michigan and Yale University, respectively. He is frequently cited in the media, consults with various public official and serves as an advisor to several nonprofit organizations.

Dr. Gisèle Huff

Dr. Gisèle Huff is president of the Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity. The loss of her son Gerald to pancreatic cancer in 2018 spurred Dr. Huff to apply her talents and energy to a cause they both shared – concern about technological unemployment, the growing economic divide and the potential of UBI to help address these challenges on a broad scale. Dr. Huff served as San Francisco University High School’s director of development for twelve years,
and the Executive Director for the Jaquelin Hume Foundation for over twenty years where her return on investment for launching blended learning is legendary. During her tenure funding initiatives and raising awareness for education reform, she has held numerous board positions, including founding member and chairman of the Board of Directors of The Learning Accelerator and the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, member of the Board of Directors of iNACOL and the Advisory Board of Education Reimagined. Her substantial policy proficiency includes the Advisory Board for Harvard University’s Program on Education Policy, the advisory committee for the National Charter School Research Project at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, and the Executive Committee of the Digital Learning Council. She is the recipient of the Thomas A. Roe Award and the iNACOL Huff Lifetime Achievement Award. She earned a Ph.D. in political science, with a concentration in political philosophy, at Columbia University.

Rob Johnson

Rob Johnson serves as President of the Institute for New Economic Thinking. Johnson is an international investor and consultant to investment funds on issues of portfolio strategy. He recently served on the United Nations Commission of Experts on International Monetary Reform under the Chairmanship of Joseph Stiglitz.
Previously, Johnson was a Managing Director at Soros Fund Management where he managed a global currency, bond and equity portfolio specializing in emerging markets. Prior to working at Soros Fund Management, he was a Managing Director of Bankers Trust Company managing a global currency fund.
Johnson served as Chief Economist of the US Senate Banking Committee under the leadership of Chairman William Proxmire (D. Wisconsin). Before this, he was Senior Economist of the US Senate Budget Committee under the leadership of Chairman Pete Domenici (R. New Mexico).
Johnson was an Executive Producer of the Oscar winning documentary, Taxi to the Dark Side, directed by Alex Gibney, and is the former President of the National Scholastic Chess Foundation. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of both the Economic Policy Institute and the Campaign for America’s Future.
Johnson received a Ph.D. and M.A. in Economics from Princeton University and a B.S. in both Electrical Engineering and Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Livia Lam

Livia Lam is a senior fellow and the director of Workforce Development at American Progress. Previously, Lam served as the legislative director for U.S. Sen. Patty Murray. Other political appointments include the House Committee on Education and Labor, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, U.S. Labor Department, and U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell. Lam has also worked for the Learning Policy Institute, co-authoring several pieces on community schools, equity, and accountability in education. At SEIU 775NW, Lam worked with Congress to help incubate the SEIU Healthcare NW Training Partnership. Lam holds a doctorate in urban and public policy from the New School, as well as a master’s degree in public administration from Seattle University. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in human services from Western Washington University.

Richard McGill Murphy

Richard McGill Murphy is editor in chief and director at ServiceNow, a software company that provides digital workflow solutions to organizations worldwide. A journalist and social anthropologist by background, he runs a research and publishing program at ServiceNow that studies how emerging technologies are shaping the future of work.
Earlier in his career, Murphy worked as a reporter and human rights advocate. He started his journalism career as a war correspondent in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation. He went on to cover politics, business and
popular culture for the New York Times, Fortune, the New Republic, VH1, Town & Country and many other outlets. As editorial and program director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Murphy led a team of researchers and advocates that fought for press freedom in more than 150 countries worldwide. He later served as editor in chief of Fortune Small Business magazine and managing editor of Voices on Society, a McKinsey & Company publication that covered trends in international development.
Murphy studied literature at Harvard College and social anthropology at Oxford University, where he earned a doctorate based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork in urban Pakistan.

Dr. Manuel Pastor

Dr. Manuel Pastor is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. He currently directs the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) at USC and USC’s Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII). Pastor holds an economics Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and is the inaugural holder of the Turpanjian Chair in Civil Society and Social Change at USC.
Pastor’s research has generally focused on issues of the economic, environmental and social conditions facing low-income urban communities – and the social movements seeking to change those realities. His current research culminates in his latest book, State of Resistance: What California’s Dizzying Descent and Remarkable Resurgence Means for America’s Future.

John A. Powell

John A. Powell is Director of the Othering and Belonging Institute and Professor of Law, African American, and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He was previously the Executive Director at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at the Ohio State University, and prior to that, the founder and director of the Institute for Race and Poverty at the University of Minnesota. john formerly served as the National Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He is a co-founder of the Poverty & Race Research Action Council and serves on the boards of several national and international organizations. john led the development of an “opportunity-based” model that connects affordable housing to education, health, health care, and employment and is well-known for his work developing the frameworks of “targeted universalism” and “othering and belonging” to effect equity-based interventions. john has taught at numerous law schools including Harvard and Columbia University. His latest book is Racing to Justice: Transforming our Concepts of Self and Other to Build an Inclusive Society.

Anne Price

Anne Price is the first women President of the Insight Center for Community Economic Development. She has spent more than 25 years working in the public sector on issues ranging from child welfare to hunger to workforce development and higher education. Anne’s work has been featured in the New York Times, The Nation, The Washington Post, The Mercury News, Citylab, the Stanford Social Innovation Review and other publications. Anne holds a BA in Economics from Hampton University and a Master’s Degree in Urban Affairs and Public Policy from the Milano School of Management and Urban Policy in New York City.

William M. Rodgers III

William M. Rodgers III is professor of public policy and chief economist at the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Social Insurance, and serves as the Academy’s Board Chair. Rodgers also serves as Treasurer for the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. He is a Non-Resident Fellow at The Century Foundation and has served in many public capacities, including on President Obama’s Department of Labor transition team, and as chief economist at the US Department of Labor from 2000 to 2001. He served on the US Board of United Way Worldwide and currently works on the Board of Trustees of McDaniel College. Rodgers’ expertise on compensation, pay equity, diversity and inclusion, labor market and general economic trends is frequently called upon by journalists for articles in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune Magazine, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, and many other publications. He is a frequent guest on numerous television and radio talk shows: MSNBC, Yahoo Finance and CNBC. At the state level, Rodgers serves on the Governor’s Restart and Recovery Commission and the Public State Bank Board. Locally, he sits on Hopewell Borough’s Planning Board and Economic Development Committee.

Scott Santens

Acknowledged by Andrew Yang in his book The War on Normal People as one of those who helped shape his thinking, and described by historian Rutger Bregman as “by far, the most effective basic income activist out there,” Scott Santens has lived with a crowdfunded basic income since 2016 and has been advocating around the world for UBI since 2013. He’s currently serving on the board of the Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity and is the editor of Basic Income Today, a daily UBI news hub. As of February 2020, he is serving as Senior Policy Advisor to Mike Broihier.

Andrea Saveri

Andrea Saveri is an education futurist who makes the future actionable through research-based foresight, highly creative engagement experiences, visual maps, and artifacts. She partners with diverse stakeholders —public and private schools, universities and foundations — to bring long-term horizons into focus, imagine possible opportunities and create strategic pathways to transformation. Her work explores possibilities for shifting education from a market-driven narrative with transactional systems, to a narrative of societal flourishing with relational systems that support self-discovery, creative human potential and collective wellbeing. A former Director at Institute for the Future, Andrea holds degrees from Harvard and UC Berkeley.