Airbnb Open Homes: A Tourism Platform Becomes a Disaster-relief Network
BY emilyludolph July 18, 2019When a 7.1-magnitude earthquake bucked through the Mexican states of Puebla and Morelos on Sept. 19, 2017, it caused the walls and foundations of schools, apartments and offices a hundred miles away in Mexico City to tremble and, in some cases, topple. Residents watched the buildings teeter and knew they needed to leave immediately. Thousands of miles away, alerts flickered on in the security-response offices of Airbnb, which now operates three hubs—Annapolis, Md; Capetown, South Africa; and Singapore—to monitor intelligence reports of global disasters. As news reports of the Puebla earthquake rolled in, the disaster-response team deployed a process they call “hitting the button,” activating the Airbnb Open Homes network. The home-sharing tourism company, usually aimed at helping visitors enjoy a weekend away, had converted its infrastructure into an evacuee-housing network. Across Mexico City, Airbnb hosts received the Open Homes alert, letting them know they were near the disaster zone and asking them if they’d like to volunteer to shelter evacuees from the earthquake. About14,500 hosts and guests received the notification, enabling communication for those trying to find temporary housing outside the rubble of the catastrophe zone. It was the first time the Open Homes network had been activated in Mexico. Eighty one hosts signed up to house evacuees. Kellie Bentz, head of Airbnb's disaster-relief efforts. Kellie Bentz pilots these relief efforts for Airbnb, using the platform’s infrastructure to connect hosts who want to help people in need. “In a disaster, there is a 72-hour window when media is super high and people are trying to take action,” Bentz told From Day One. “This falls into the bucket of donating in kind, which is volunteering your time and space.” To date, Airbnb Open Homes has helped people from 61 countries and housed nearly 25,000 people. The seeds of the Open Homes program were planted in the wake of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, when Brooklyn-based Michelle (“Shell”) Martinez invited neighbors from flood-damaged New York City neighborhoods including Dumbo, the Rockaways,and the Lower East Side, to camp out in her 6,000-sq.-ft. loft on higher ground. Airbnb sent out an urgent notification about the offer to its network in Brooklyn, and soon it was Martinez’s email inbox that flooded. “Half of it was other hosts saying, ‘How do we do this? My house is empty too,’” recalls Shell (who has since used the Airbnb platform in controversial ways). As wave after wave of storm refugees navigated dark streets to arrive at Martinez’s apartment, Airbnb engineers in San Francisco worked around the clock to recode the platform for something it had never done before: make apartments available for free to those in need. The impromptu program that lodged 20 storm refugees and FEMA workers on day beds in Martinez’s apartment has since grown into Airbnb’s multi-country disaster-response network, Open Homes, which Bentz sees as a natural pivot for social good. Bentz cut her teeth on disaster response after Hurricane Katrina, when she founded a relief program called Hands On New Orleans, and later as the leader of global-crisis management at Target. In her role at Airbnb, she expected to focus on the escalating intensity and number of climate-change-related disasters. But she has been surprised to see that the program has a part to play in other kinds of emergencies, including mass-casualty events. Her most powerful memory is of the Pulse Nightclub shooting in 2016 in Orlando. Working with JetBlue, Uber and the Florida Department of Emergency Management, Airbnb set up at the airport in Miami as friends and family of victims, mostly from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, flew in to visit loved ones in the hospital or to recover remains. “Most people who showed up at the airport that day didn’t think about where they were going to stay. They just got on a plane,” recalls Bentz. “It’s much more than providing that roof; it’s in a moment that they need something and they don’t have to think about it.” Bentz works with other shared-economy companies like Lyft and Uber to understand how they can use their own platforms to connect people who want to help with those in need. She coaches them to make sure tech companies understand the issue before creating a solution. “The key for businesses to think about is not, ‘What is the solution I think the community needs?’ It’s what do you have to offer and where are you meeting a local need, versus trying to fit a square peg in a round hole just to do something good,” she says. The Open Homes platform has since extended beyond disaster relief to include refugees from mass- migration movements and medical stays, so families and patients can easily access hospitals that aren’t close to home. “I think it’s wonderful and amazing and I get chills,” Martinez says of how big the program has grown. “But I’m also not surprised. This is who people are: always looking for ways to contribute and ways to help each other out. If you make it available and you make it easy, then we want to do our part.” Emily Ludolph is a senior editor at 99U and an alum of TED Conferences and Vassar College. She has published in the New York Times, the Atlantic, Narratively, Artsy, 99U, Quartz, and Design Observer
Is Elite Generosity Just a Cover for a Rigged Game?
BY emilyludolph June 26, 2019As a journalist and iconoclast, Anand Giridharadas has been stirring up the status quo lately by confronting one of the great economic disparities of the 21st Century. “The extraordinary elite helpfulness of our time is how we maintain the extraordinary elite hoarding of our time,” he says, summing up a central theme of his bestselling book, Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World. Giridharadas, who spoke at the From Day One conference in Brooklyn last week, raises provocative questions about esteemed individuals and organizations: the billionaires, philanthropies and Fortune 500 companies that claim to be making the world a better place. But are they fighting for equality and justice, he asks, or just trying to make the best of a system that’s rigged against the same people the benefactors purport to help? Or worse: to obscure their own role in the system? Giridharadas, a Time editor-at-large interviewed at the conference by fellow Time editor Lucas Wittmann, sees our current state of society and business as one marked by drastic extremes. “We live in a time of extraordinary generosity,” he acknowledges, embodied by a prevalent commitment by billionaires toward giving, as well as major new philanthropies and businesses that devote enormous budgets to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and often mobilize their workforces toward community service. At the same time we witness this display of largesse, however, we live in a state of rampant wealth and income inequality. Winners Take All points out that Americans born in 1984 have been siphoned into two groups: those from the top of the family-income ladder, with a 70% chance of doing better than their parents, and those close to the bottom, who are pushing against a 35% chance of exceeding their parents’ economic status. That split is extraordinary, says Giridharadas, given the technological revolutions of the last three decades, including the internet, wireless, genomics and artificial intelligence. “It takes a tremendous amount of rigging and walling off for that much innovation to fail to translate into progress for that many people,” he says. In fact, after much research, Giridharadas now sees those two trends—extreme generosity and drastic inequality—as two sides of the same coin. According to this theory, the rise of billionaire foundations, CSR departments and CEOs on the boards of nonprofits are ways for the winners of the capitalist economy to subtly keep their hands on the tiller of social change to make sure it doesn’t upset fundamental power equations. Giridharadas was interviewed at the event by his fellow Time editor Lucas Wittmann The alternative would be political change, via legislation to provide more concrete benefits to the have-nots. Example: while more and more companies offer paid family leave, the U.S. is the only industrialized country in the world that doesn’t guarantee it by law. Instead of real, across-the-board programs that would address economic inequality, the so-called winners “have managed to defang change, to push these facsimiles of change that have managed to change very little,” Giridharadas said. There’s a lot to be learned from history here, he said. America has come a long way from the days of John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie. When those prototypes of one-percenters first attempted philanthropy, America was wary. At the start of the 20th century, when Rockefeller tried to create the first foundation, Congress raised obstacles, Giridharadas said. Political leaders were wary over the exertion of power through giving, as well as the prospect of reputation-laundering through philanthropy. The skepticism wore away over time, allowing philanthropy to grow to a $400 billion industry in the U.S. But times are a-changing. “There is a reckoning happening, in which we are starting to reclaim a bit of that intelligent skepticism from a hundred years ago,” Giridharadas said. Fair enough, but what should people do if their work in Corporate America involves the very thing he’s questioning? Think beyond your pay grade, he suggests, as some tech workers have notably done lately. The first thing to do, Giridharadas recommends, is get up to speed on what your company’s footprint in Washington looks like. Companies spend many millions a year on government lobbying. Those D.C. colleagues, said Giridharadas, may be “overruling the good effect you’re having on the world, maybe by the factor of a thousand.” A company may be “virtue signaling” about one thing and creating a mess somewhere else. Employees should push for their right to know what issues are being lobbied and seek an annual report how much is being spent to do it. Meanwhile, billionaire spending doesn’t need to stop cold turkey. There’s a space for philanthropy in places like foreign aid—like the Gates Foundation’s work on malaria—and experimentation and innovation, where government typically moves slowly. While the present power imbalance feels daunting, even for those on the inside, Giridharadas sees evidence that society can change when he looks at historical reform movements like women’s suffrage, social security, and child-labor laws. The question he asks is: “Do we have what it takes to do what is next, which is to usher in the age of reform? “ Emily Ludolph is a senior editor at 99U and an alum of TED Conferences and Vassar College. She has published in the New York Times, the Atlantic, Narratively, Artsy, 99U, Quartz, and Design Observer
How 'Believe Chicago' Connected AT&T With Its Neighbors
BY emilyludolph March 04, 2019In the city of Chicago, the twin plagues of gun violence and unemployment determine the experience of many who live and work in neighborhoods far from the sparkling high rises of downtown. In this other part of the shining city, gun violence is so high that the Wall Street Journal reported last year that Navy medics are prepared for tours of duty by training at the trauma unit at Cook County’s Stroger Hospital. The number of homicides has dropped over the last three years, down from 771 in 2016 to 561 last year. But that positive trend—shaped by nonprofit groups, religious congregations, local activists and government programs—can use all the help it can get. Now it’s getting it from a new source: AT&T. Eileen Mitchell, president of AT&T Illinois The world’s largest telecom company (2018 revenues: $170.8 billion) launched a new program last October called Believe Chicago to focus on injecting opportunity into 19 Chicago neighborhoods with the highest rates of unemployment and violence. It’s not a random selection—many of AT&T’s local employees live or work in those very neighborhoods. “When we did the research and saw how many employees and retirees we had living in these neighborhoods, how many stores we had, we determined that we had an obligation to step forward,” says Eileen Mitchell, president of AT&T Illinois, one of the state’s largest private-sector employers. AT&T has a history of volunteerism and community service within its workforce, but at a time when the relationship between big companies and big cities can be contentious, AT&T wanted to build a sustainable, employee-driven program in partnership with Chicago's neighborhoods. So AT&T's managers fanned out. Across the city, headquarters staff met with employees in stores, call centers, and equipment garages. “The magic started to happen when we went out and talked to our employees,” recalls Mitchell. “They were very close to the issue and there was an extreme amount of enthusiasm for the idea that we needed to get involved. The conversations that we had informed and inspired the work that we did and the program that we built.” One of the program's initiatives is Learn Chicago, which provides skills training for young people, including in retail stores From there, AT&T went even deeper into the communities, convening organizers and activists, and asking them to gather residents who could share their perspective of what was happening around them and where there were gaps in services and support. One of the biggest gaps? Economic opportunity. Well, Mitchell reasoned, one of the most powerful opportunities a large company can leverage is hiring. This led to one of the pillars of the Believe Chicago program: skills training and connection to job openings. Last month, AT&T hired their 500th employee from the 19 neighborhoods who came up through the Believe Chicago program. The programs milestones will be celebrated on March 15 with the debut of a documentary entitled, Beacons of Hope: Stories of Strength from Chicago, launching on the AT&T Audience Network. With early support from company executives including John Donovan, CEO of AT&T Communications, the Believe initiative has grown in just a year into a national program with offshoots in New York City, Dallas, Atlanta and Detroit. More than a dozen additional cities are planning to launch their own Believe efforts later this year. The Believe program joins a variety of job-skills programs that AT&T supports, including Girls Who Code and All Star Code. Eileen Mitchell’s passion for Believe Chicago is built from her three-pronged background: 12 years as an AT&T executive, a stint as Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel’s chief of staff, where she became familiar with the challenges facing neighborhoods, and a year volunteering for the archdiocese of Chicago to develop an office of violence prevention. “All institutions have different assets that they can bring to bear,” Mitchell says on the role that corporations should fill in local communities. “The violence issue in Chicago is not one person’s to solve. Government can’t do it alone. Private enterprise can’t do it alone. And the faith community can’t do it alone. The real power comes when government, the private sector and the faith community can all come together with one goal in mind: to lift these neighborhoods, to invest in them, and to create opportunity that doesn’t exist.” That corporations are just one integral piece of the health of local communities in which their employees and customers live and work points to a key tenet of the program: sustainability. The program may still be young, but by focusing on community partnerships, job growth, and training, Believe Chicago has its eyes on a commitment to the Windy City that will extend many years into the future. Emily Ludolph is a senior editor at 99U and an alum of TED Conferences and Vassar College. She has published in the New York Times, the Atlantic, Narratively, Artsy, 99U, Quartz, and Design Observer
How a Grocery Chain Grew a Local Program into a Core Value
BY emilyludolph February 21, 2019The supermarket chain Wegmans is beloved for a lot of things, including being one of the best companies to work for. Among U.S. grocery chains, it typically ranks No. 1 with customers too. In Brooklyn, N.Y., where Wegmans plans to open its first store in New York City this fall, anticipation has been building for years. Yet the family-owned company, based in Rochester, N.Y., has a lesser-known but equally impressive status: as a standard-setter in sustainability. Wegmans has made it a company-wide effort, from reduced emissions to zero waste. At the company's zero-waste pilot store in Canandaigua, N.Y., the level of recycling has reached 82.6%, with the company's other stores close behind. What's striking about the company's commitment is that it didn't start with a long-term vision, but with a small, local initiative. Jason Wadsworth, who oversees Wegmans’ sustainability program, can trace the DNA of its success to a small program that was never expected to roll up into a program that now directs business choices at the company. The industry-leading initiative started out as a program to donate unused, perishable food. Wadsworth told From Day One how the little program scaled up, providing a case study for anyone in a company trying to get a similar campaign off the ground. Wegmans has been running the Perishable Pick Up Program for the last three decades, predating the sustainability program, which is now 12 years old. For years, food-pantry trucks have rolled up to the loading docks of local stores as frequently as three to seven days a week or to distribution centers at the end of a reverse-logistics chain. The program donated 8 million lbs. of food in 2017, including bakery products and nonperishables like dented cans. Workers at a Wegmans pick out perishable items for donation, including baked goods As food pantries start to shift their requests toward healthier options, Wegmans upped their produce donations of fruits and vegetables to match. “We did it because it’s the right thing to do, first and foremost,” says Wadsworth, who credits the values of the late Robert Wegman, the company's former chairman—"doing the right thing, caring, and making a difference”—with setting fertile ground for the donation program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 11.8% of households in America, or 40 million people, are "food insecure," meaning that their regular eating patterns are disrupted because they can't afford enough food or live in "food deserts." Though Wegmans has expanded to nearly 100 stores in recent years, the Perishable Pick Up programs remain local, run by each store with local partners. Besides the benefits to local communities and the reduction of food waste, Wadsworth pointed out that there's a business case as well. “Those folks you would be donating to today may not be your customers; they may not be able to afford it. But at some point, they will be able to afford it when they get back on their feet.” In short, the Wegmans Perishable Pick Up Program is a window into the trait that makes the company a good local actor: long-term thinking. Twelve years ago, the company set the more ambitious goal of zero waste. Now, in addition to pantry donations, unused products are composted or taken to farms for animal feed. The program is built on several business cases, including responding to consumer affinity toward sustainable companies and avoiding the expense of unused-food disposal. The sustainability program is not yet cost-neutral, since R&D on programs like composting require large up-front costs, but that’s Wadsworth’s eventual goal. “We shouldn’t pay more for sustainability,” he says. The program has had unexpected benefits as the company expands into new states where regulations may require sustainability practices. New York is the second city where Wegmans has met an existing food-waste ban, which prohibits supermarkets and large restaurants from putting unused food in landfills. Thanks to its long-term investment in processes like the perishable-donation program, Wegmans is set up in advance to comply with such regulations. For the many companies dealing in food and beverages (manufacturers, groceries, wholesalers, caterers, and farmers), the EPA has created a step by step guide on how to build a donation-logistics program to help reduce food-waste’s role as the single largest contributor to municipal landfills, not to mention saving the energy and water needed to break down food waste for other purposes. For anyone interested in pushing their organizations into sustainable or other value-driven policies, Wadsworth suggests starting local. “Typically, we start with one store and it morphs until eventually it becomes a company program,” he says. True, not every company is family run, with decades of long-term thinking, but Wadsworth still believes it’s possible to change a big company by launching a program in a local branch. “Just do it,” he says. “You’ve got to start somewhere.” Emily Ludolph is a senior editor at 99U and an alum of TED Conferences and Vassar College. She has published in the New York Times, the Atlantic, Narratively, Artsy, 99U, Quartz, and Design Observer