We are pleased to announce this year’s winner of the John P. McNulty Prize, Mehrdad Baghai of the Henry Crown Fellowship.
Mehrdad is being honored for creating High Resolves, which delivers learning experiences to inoculate students against hatred and galvanize them to take action in their communities. Co-founded with his wife Roya, High Resolves is bringing immersive, experiential citizenship education to thousands of youth across Australia, North America, Asia, and South America.
“Around the world, we are seeing a rise in hateful discourse in communities and at the highest levels,” said former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, chair of the McNulty Prize jury. “High Resolves is tackling these pressing issues head-on by training the next generation to resist propaganda and division and stand up for what’s right. It is a program we urgently need right now.”
What began 13 years ago in a single school, is now in over 350 schools across Australia, and expanded to hubs in Oakland and New Orleans, and in Canada, China, and Brazil. In Australia alone, the program has engaged over 200,000 young people, or 4 percent of all high school students, and is on track to reach 50 percent of all Australian high schoolers in the next five years, impacting the next generation at an unprecedented scale.
For more on the inspiration and methods behind High Resolve’s unique program and mission, check out Mehrdad’s impact story and read the announcement press release.
Please join us in congratulating Mehrdad and the other Laureates by using #McNultyPrize on Twitter and Facebook!
The McNulty Prize award ceremony will take place on November 7. Tune in on the Aspen Institute’s Facebook page for coverage of an interview with Mehrdad and Aspen Institute President and CEO Dan Porterfield, as well as a live Q&A with Mehrdad before the event.
