September 2018 Newsletter

Friends,

Each month, we send this letter in an effort to keep you in the loop of our work, and also garner more interest and support around the programs we hold dear. If you work for or know of an organization working toward our shared goals, please reach out to us directly.

Here are some recent updates:

Fred and Kim Kagan in Chicago

This Monday October 1, GPD will welcome Fred Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute and Kim Kagan of the Institute for the Study War to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs where they will join a panel alongside Jennifer Cafarella (ISW) and Katie Zimmerman (AEI). The topic of discussion is ‘The Collapse of ISIS and Its Aftermath’ and will take place from 5:30pm-6:30pm CT in the Conference Center of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. It will also be available on livestream here.

iLEAP welcomes Iraqi Fellows

This September, a small cohort from The Iraq Leadership Fellows (ILF) program, led by Nussaibah Younis, underwent custom intensive leadership training at Seattle-based iLeap. The ILF program hand selects ethical, accomplished and ambitious young Iraqis from across the country, and equips them to become politicians and civil society leaders with the skills and partnerships they need to reform and redefine Iraqi politics.

Both ILF and iLEAP are GPD Stardust grantees. To learn more about becoming a founding member or a sponsor of the ILF program, please reach out to John directly.

ICYMI: Faysal Itani + Nate Rosenblatt released a report on Syria

This month, the Atlantic Council released a report “US Policy in Syria: A Seven-Year Reckoning” written by Faysal Itani and Nate Rosenblatt. GPD is a longtime supporter of the work of the Rafik Hariri Center at Atlantic Council.

“Despite the American defeat of ISIS, the Syrian conflict will continue to drive radicalization in the Middle East. The regime’s survival in western Syria will not address its dysfunctional political economy, sectarian character, or severe repression of much of the Syrian population.” -Atlantic Council report on the state of the Syrian conflict

West Point’s Lieutenant-General (Ret) Ken Hunzeker visits Chicago

At the invitation of the Veterans Leadership Council, a professional network for veteran leaders, Lieutenant-General Ken Hunzeker visited Chicago this September and met with with several Chicago-area GPD friends and stakeholders to discuss veteran entrepreneurship and his work as the Distinguished Chair of the GPD Partner organization, Center for the Study of Civil-Military Operations at West Point.

Ken served with distinction for 35 years in the United States Army, including commanding the 1st Infantry Division, US Army V Corps and serving as the Deputy Commander of forces in Iraq.

Syria Direct Welcomes New Managing Director, Expands Reach

Please join GPD in warmly welcoming Syria Direct’s new Managing Director, Haley McCoin. We’re grateful to her predecessor, Justin Shuster, for his years of support to GPD and wish him all the best in his next endeavors.

Haley will help oversee Syria Direct's latest reporting project, a month-long series on Syria's internal displacement crisis. In partnership with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the project will work with a team of six internally displaced Syrian journalists on the ground: two in Idlib province, two in the Turkish-occupied north, one in the SDF-held Euphrates River city of Tabqa and one in Rukban, a remote desert displacement camp on the Syrian-Jordanian border. The goal of this project is to both inform readers and at the same time train aspiring young journalists to produce objective, well-rounded coverage of the war’s impact on their own communities.

GPD invests in Chicago Public Schools

As part of GPD’s new partnership with the Seminar Network, GPD Committed $30,000 this month to the Youth Entrepreneurs program. GPD’s investment will sponsor the costs of one CPA School’s programming for the 2019-2020 school year. Youth Entrepreneurs is an engaging elective class and alumni program that teaches students, particularly those who live in communities with fewer resources, the skills and knowledge of business ownership as well as the important human value that will guide them to success – in the workplace and in life.