
Bush family's nonprofit Points of Light aims to double American volunteerism by 2035
Points of Light, a nonprofit founded by the bush Family, aims to double the number of U.S. volunteers from 75 million to 150 million within 10 years.
The initiative seeks to counteract federal funding cuts to nonprofits and AmeriCorps programs, with Points of Light planning to raise and spend $100 million over three years to support the goal.
Neil bush, Points of Light's board chair, emphasized the significant impact volunteers have on communities, highlighting the organization's mission to make volunteering easier and more impactful.
Experts like Susan M. Chambré note that while the goal is admirable, it may be unrealistic given the plateau in volunteer participation rates since 2002, though Points of Light is researching volunteer motivation and the use of technology to connect volunteers with opportunities.
Points of Light is focusing on engaging young people by involving them in the co-creation of volunteer programs, as highlighted by the appointment of a youth engagement manager to their board.
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Daily Mail
16 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Wall Street titan slams Trump's mega-bill
Billionaire Ken Griffin has sided with Elon Musk in his attack on Donald Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill'. The Citadel CEO warned the act will 'add several trillion dollars' to the national debt, which will soon surpass $37 trillion. Unlike Musk, who called the bill a ' disgusting abomination,' Griffin criticized the legislation in more conciliatory terms. 'The bill will unquestionably add several trillion dollars,' Griffin said Thursday at the 2025 Forbes Iconoclast Summit in New York City. 'The challenge with the legislation is there's not enough tough decisions... around how we're going to put our fiscal house in order.' Griffin made his concerns known about runaway government spending after the Congressional Budget Office estimated the GOP budget bill would add $2.4 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years. Much of this comes down to the bill's extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, which will decrease the revenue coming into the government. Griffin, who voted for Trump in the 2024 election, did not say he disagreed with the extension of the prior tax cuts. But he did take issue with even more tax relief for businesses. 'The continued reduction in tax rates for small and medium enterprise businesses; I'm not sure what we're going to achieve with that,' said Griffin, who is estimated to have a net worth of $44.5 billion. Griffin cast the bill, which is still winding its way through the Senate, as poorly thought out and dangerous to the nation's finances. 'You cannot run deficits of 6 or 7 percent [higher than GDP] at full employment after years of growth. That's just fiscally irresponsible,' said Griffin, who is worth $44.5 billion. 'There are a lot of question marks in the bill as to why we're continuing to increase our tax cuts when we have a fiscal deficit of this magnitude,' he added. approached Griffin's team and the White House for comment. Griffin also warned that if America's leaders fail to reign in spending, they risk a total collapse of US bond markets. Last week, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon sounded a similar alarm , predicting that at some point, investors will lose confidence in the US government's ability to service its debt. 'US default prices are probably the same as Italy or Greece,' Griffin said in reference to credit default swap markets where investors can bet on countries failing to meet their debt obligations. The consequences of a default - i.e. the country running out of money to pay its bills - would be 'catastrophic' for the US and the global economy, former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said. The stock market would almost certainly crash in such a scenario, with investors around the world coming to the understanding that the US - thought to be the most stable government in the world - could not fulfill its financial obligations for the first time in its nearly 250 years of existence. Back in April, when Trump unveiled and quickly paused his wide scale Liberation Day tariffs, multiple reports suggested that his U-turn was prompted by the major sell off in US bonds. Trump appeared to acknowledge this market turmoil at the time, saying: 'People were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit out of line.' Griffin didn't limit his criticisms of the administration to uncertainty on US debt or the big beautiful bill, which Trump wants passed by the Fourth of July. He also slammed the president for his ongoing trade policy, largely governed by historically-high tariffs. He said the tariffs have 'really taken their toll already on our economy' and have called 'into question American exceptionalism.' His firm Citadel has already cut its estimate for US economic growth by about half since Trump took office in January. As a parting shot at the president, Griffin decried Trump's decision to tear into Walmart CEO Doug McMillon for warning customers that the big-box retailer may have to increase prices thanks to tariffs. 'Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected. Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, 'EAT THE TARIFFS,' and not charge valued customers ANYTHING, Trump posted to Truth Social in May.


The Guardian
28 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Single Black women on Covid five years later: ‘The pandemic taught me, no regrets'
It was business as usual for Jordan Madison in early 2020. Her commute included taking a bus from Silver Spring, Maryland, to her job in Bethesda. Madison, 25, was working at the time on her license to become a clinical marriage and family therapist, and worked part-time at Instacart to earn extra money. By March 2020, the world had shut down because of the Covid-19 pandemic. 'The first two weeks, I was like: 'OK, this is nice. I don't have to leave my house. This is a nice little vacation. We'll probably go back to work in like a month or so,'' Madison remembered thinking. In the following weeks, there were mask mandates and social-distancing requirements in grocery and retail stores. Gathering places – restaurants, shops, clubs and bars – were shut down. Schools were trying to figure out how to provide education online and churches were engaging their parishioners virtually. Zoom replaced in-person meetings and friends connected through FaceTime. The pandemic also laid bare the health and wealth disparities in the US, as Black people were three more times likely to be diagnosed with and die from the coronavirus. They were more likely to be essential workers – those who worked in transportation, healthcare, grocery and retail stores and meat factories – and, as a result, most likely to be exposed to the coronavirus. At the same time, as businesses were forced to close, unemployment increased in Black communities, and Black entrepreneurs, unable to get access to funds set aside for small businesses, struggled. For single Black women, the pandemic was a mix of isolation, loss of community and social connections and a return to the foundation of family. It was also an opportunity to create something new, reflect on the future and tap into the things that mattered most. When the world didn't open up by the end of April, Madison says, she 'felt like we were in a movie' and 'like life was paused'. 'Every single day was the same day. All the days started to blend together,' said Madison. 'It became hard to separate work. I was used to going into work, and so while I appreciated not having to get on public transportation, it was a lot to just be in your house all day, every day, and then be scared to be around other people.' Even though she grew up as an only child, Madison admitted, the first few months of the pandemic felt 'pretty isolating'. It was hard not being able to go out and do the things she usually did with her single friends. She eventually went home to New York, where she quarantined with her mother and grandmother until the end of June. During the time she was with her family in New York, a racial reckoning occurred in the US after the deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd. Madison said she had wanted to join the thousands marching and protesting police brutality, but also needed to be safe while living with her mother and grandmother. 'So many people died in isolation,' she said, 'or, you couldn't celebrate or honor their lives because people couldn't have funerals. So I just remember being really, really grateful that, yeah, this sucks, but my life is not being torn apart the way that other people were.' Kailyn Townsend was one of those who couldn't celebrate or honor her loved ones the way her family had been accustomed to or wanted to during Covid. Her maternal great-grandmother died in April 2020, a month into the pandemic, and a few months later, in June, Townsend's father's mother passed away. 'I was able to make it to my great-grandmother's funeral, but it was kind of weird because everybody was socially distanced,' the Memphis native remembered. 'We didn't get to do a lot of the traditional things that we do [at funerals].' Townsend says she didn't make it back home to her paternal grandmother's funeral because she missed her flight due to the protests over George Floyd's murder. 'There was a lot going on that year, and I was very isolated,' said Townsend, 30. Townsend, a graduate of Howard University School of Law, was months into a one-year clerkship at the Small Business Administration when the pandemic hit. After her clerkship ended, it took her several months to find another job. 'It took a toll on my self-confidence, on my morale. I ended up filing for unemployment, so I had some money to stay afloat, but it was just a lot of uncertainty and worrying about if I would ever find a job or what that would look like,' Townsend said. But it was during this time that Townsend explored her creative side and nurtured her inner artist. She learned after her grandmothers' deaths that they had never gotten to pursue their artistic interests: playing the piano and writing poetry. It inspired her to begin writing her own poetry. When Townsend got a new position in the federal government, she realized she was no longer interested in a career in the legal field. But it wasn't easy to leave. She had moved to the big city from the deep south, gotten a law degree and passed the bar and was expected to climb the corporate ladder and be a big success. But after four years at the job, she moved back to Memphis and is now looking for a position in the creative arts. 'The catalyst was the deaths of those matriarchs in my family,' said Townsend. 'They left without any or many people knowing that they had an artistic or a creative side. I don't want to die and people not know the things that I'm interested in or the things that I want to put out into the world.' The deaths of two people close to her during and after the pandemic also prompted Napiya Nubuya to rethink her future and what mattered most to her. The 35-year-old founder and CEO of the Next IT Girl had only been in Atlanta a little more than a year before the pandemic hit. 'I loved being downtown. I loved being in Midtown. Loved riding the scooters. I was outside. I was having a good time – trying all the new things, going all the places. I just loved being out in Atlanta. I was excited to be in this new city,' said Nubuya, who is from Charleston, South Carolina, and described the beginning of the pandemic as a loss of freedom. 'I think as soon as the pandemic had happened, I was just like: 'What do I do? What is life now like?' I was also trying to find my community, my tribe before the pandemic.' Nubuya's employer had cut her salary 25% because of the uncertainty of the pandemic. At the same time, her rent increased by hundreds of dollars. She didn't have friends nearby and she missed home. Eventually, the IT professional got a new job, but it required her to work long hours as technology skills became more in demand during the pandemic. 'I took a very hard hit in my work-life balance. I was averaging probably 50 hours a week,' remembered Nubuya. 'The mental strain was starting to weigh on me.' So Nubuya, who turned 30 just a few months into the pandemic, relocated back to South Carolina in the fall of 2020, where she had family and community. She used the opportunity of social distancing, office closures and remote work to travel, visiting places such as Arizona, New Mexico, Tanzania and Kenya. 'I was traveling all the places that were on my bucket list because I was like: 'I'll never get this time back again.' I felt like this was my Eat, Pray, Love,' she said, referring to the 2006 memoir by Elizabeth Gilbert about traveling through Italy, India and Indonesia after a difficult divorce, which was adapted into a film in 2010. Nubuya said: 'I had the independence to create the spaces and opportunities I wanted to be in. It was doing what I wanted, when I wanted, going to places, waking up late, eating what I wanted. There was this sense of independence.' In December 2022, Nubuya took a leave from work to help care for her father, who had stage four metastatic stomach cancer. He died in January 2023. Months before learning of her father's diagnosis, Nubuya had been at the side of a good friend and member of her non-profit who was also struggling through a cancer battle; she died in May 2022. Burned out, Nubuya said, she couldn't go back to work in a corporate environment. Instead, she reluctantly stepped into a leadership role at the non-profit she had founded in 2015, Next IT Girl, which focuses on introducing girls of color to the IT profession. Nubuya said she had never imagined that she would be an entrepreneur. She was content with 'getting my check every two weeks, my benefits'. But she looks back now and realizes that she had been running from her calling. While the pandemic was one of the scariest times in history, the step away from 'normal' life gave some an opportunity to reflect and reconnect, travel, write books and explore new ideas. Nubuya's burnout and personal tragedies during the pandemic gave her the push to leave corporate America. The isolation of the pandemic helped Townsend leave an unfulfilling career in the legal field. And the pandemic gave Jordan Madison the time and space to start her own virtual mental health practice (Therapy Is My JAM). 'The pandemic taught me the importance of valuing community. Isolation is deteriorating to your mind, to your body, to your work,' Nubuya said. 'The pandemic taught me, no regrets. Do what you feel, and take chances. You can get back up, but don't take your last breath with any regrets.'


Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Wealthy family's extraordinary 914-word job ad seeking a nanny who 'doesn't talk too much' for 16-month-old twins
A high-profile family based in London 's elite Kensington Park neighborhood has posted a jaw-dropping 914-word job listing for a Head Nanny in New York - and it's not your average childcare gig. The ad, posted on Hampton Domestics, is filled with a laundry list of demands seeking an experienced caregiver for the family's 16-month-old twin girls. But the most surprising detail? The nanny must 'avoid excessive talkativeness' and be able to 'read a room'. In other words: no chatterboxes, please. Currently based in Kensington in the UK, the family is preparing to relocate to a luxury home in Sands Point, New York. Whoever secures the role will need to be flexible, discreet, and ready to travel on short notice. The position demands a 13-hour workday, Monday through Thursday, with the nanny expected to arrive Sunday night and leave Thursday evening - essentially living in for most of the week. Not only will this head nanny be responsible for the twins' daily care, but they will also oversee a team of other nannies and household staff, acting as the top-level manager of the children's routines, development, and environment. 'Demonstrating constant flexibility and adaptability to the family's needs and preferences' is a central tenet of the role. So is 'maintaining a clean and safe environment for the children to play and learn in', with specific reference to following a daily list of cleaning tasks and a weekly cleaning schedule. This is not a job for someone seeking creative control or autonomy. The ad makes it explicitly clear: 'You will not have the freedom to dictate their schedules, plan activities and outings, or organize playdates at your discretion.' Instead, the successful candidate will need to follow instructions from the parents -particularly the mother, who is described as 'actively involved and well-informed on a daily basis'. And while the nanny is expected to 'possess the ability to be proactive and use your own initiative', they are also warned to remain 'open-minded, highly adaptable, and flexible, even if you possess a wealth of experience and knowledge'. Applicants should have at least five years of nannying experience, preferably with a bachelor's degree in childhood development. Training in Montessori methods is 'preferred,' and being bilingual in English and Spanish is seen as an added bonus. The list of soft skills is no less demanding: excellent communication, sound judgment, discretion, and an ability to anticipate needs are essential. Also emphasized is the need for a calm and easy-going personality - along with the physical stamina to care for 'energetic and active children', including the ability to lift up to 50 pounds. The ad even outlines expected competencies such as critical thinking, initiative, and attention to detail, as well as 'trustworthiness and integrity' and the ability to both work independently and thrive as part of a highly coordinated team. Applicants must also be certified in CPR, up-to-date on vaccinations, and authorized to work in the United States. A valid driver's license and a squeaky-clean driving record are musts, as is the flexibility to travel domestically and internationally. Meal planning, developmental milestones tracking, maintaining supply inventories, and daily communication with the parents - these all fall under the role's umbrella. And on top of everything, the nanny must navigate the delicate social dynamics of working alongside other childcare providers without 'unnecessary repetition', meaning that delegation and coordination are key. If that wasn't enough, the job description underscores that the nanny should 'read the room' and assess 'what the family needs at any given time.' In essence, be everywhere, anticipate everything, and remain invisible while doing it. And yet, despite the lengthy list of qualifications, the job ends on a warm note: 'If you are a compassionate and experienced nanny with a genuine love for children, and you thrive in a dynamic and high-profile environment, we invite you to apply.' Hampton Domestics regularly posts job ads from wealthy families looking for staff. previously reported how a Sag Harbor family was searching for a summer chef who isn't looking for the next and brightest in the culinary market, but rather one that can follow directions - specifically, their weekend breakfast lineup. 'Breakfast on weekends should include a spread of bagels (from Goldbergs), lox, egg sandwiches, cream cheese, and fruit grilling/prepping prepared foods (ie. Steaks from Red Horse, salmon, salads, burgers etc.),' the posting read. Goldbergs is a Southampton staple that started in 1949 that have a large presence on Long Island. While Red Horse steaks come from Red Horse Market, which claims to have the 'finest cuts [of meats] in the Hamptons'. Vincent Minuto, who owns Hampton Domestics and wrote a domestic staff handbook, has helped wealthy families find staff for years. He previously told The Daily Beast: 'Nobody wants to work for just the summer. They want full-time, year-round jobs [for] between $40 and $50 an hour.' Despite the odd requests, specific demands, and the need to always be a 'yes-man', most of the jobs on the site come with high-paying salaries, medical benefits, and paid time off.