Executive Order -- Using Behavioral Science Insights to Better Serve the American People

Post date: Oct 1, 2015 9:46:22 PM

Executive Order -- Using Behavioral Science Insights to Better Serve the American People

BARACK OBAMA

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

Executive Order -- Using Behavioral Science Insights to Better Serve the American People

EXECUTIVE ORDER

- - - - - - -

USING BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE INSIGHTS TO

BETTER SERVE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

A growing body of evidence demonstrates that behavioral science insights -- research findings from fields such as behavioral economics and psychology about how people make decisions and act on them -- can be used to design government policies to better serve the American people.

Where Federal policies have been designed to reflect behavioral science insights, they have substantially improved outcomes for the individuals, families, communities, and businesses those policies serve. For example, automatic enrollment and automatic escalation in retirement savings plans have made it easier to save for the future, and have helped Americans accumulate billions of dollars in additional retirement savings. Similarly, streamlining the application process for Federal financial aid has made college more financially accessible for millions of students.

To more fully realize the benefits of behavioral insights and deliver better results at a lower cost for the American people, the Federal Government should design its policies and programs to reflect our best understanding of how people engage with, participate in, use, and respond to those policies and programs. By improving the effectiveness and efficiency of Government, behavioral science insights can support a range of national priorities, including helping workers to find better jobs; enabling Americans to lead longer, healthier lives; improving access to educational opportunities and support for success in school; and accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy.

NOW, THEREFORE, by the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, I hereby direct the following:

Section 1. Behavioral Science Insights Policy Directive.

(a) Executive departments and agencies (agencies) are encouraged to:

(i) identify policies, programs, and operations where applying behavioral science insights may yield substantial improvements in public welfare, program outcomes, and program cost effectiveness;

(ii) develop strategies for applying behavioral science insights to programs and, where possible, rigorously test and evaluate the impact of these insights;

(iii) recruit behavioral science experts to join the Federal Government as necessary to achieve the goals of this directive; and

(iv) strengthen agency relationships with the research community to better use empirical findings from the behavioral sciences.

(b) In implementing the policy directives in section (a), agencies shall:

(i) identify opportunities to help qualifying individuals, families, communities, and businesses access public programs and benefits by, as appropriate, streamlining processes that may otherwise limit or delay participation -- for example, removing administrative hurdles, shortening wait times, and simplifying forms;

(ii) improve how information is presented to consumers, borrowers, program beneficiaries, and other individuals, whether as directly conveyed by the agency, or in setting standards for the presentation of information, by considering how the content, format, timing, and medium by which information is conveyed affects comprehension and action by individuals, as appropriate;

(iii) identify programs that offer choices and carefully consider how the presentation and structure of those choices, including the order, number, and arrangement of options, can most effectively promote public welfare, as appropriate, giving particular consideration to the selection and setting of default options; and

(iv) review elements of their policies and programs that are designed to encourage or make it easier for Americans to take specific actions, such as saving for retirement or completing education programs. In doing so, agencies shall consider how the timing, frequency, presentation, and labeling of benefits, taxes, subsidies, and other incentives can more effectively and efficiently promote those actions, as appropriate. Particular attention should be paid to opportunities to use nonfinancial incentives.

(c) For policies with a regulatory component, agencies are encouraged to combine this behavioral science insights policy directive with their ongoing review of existing significant regulations to identify and reduce regulatory burdens, as appropriate and consistent with Executive Order 13563 of January 18, 2011 (Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review), and Executive Order 13610 of May 10, 2012 (Identifying and Reducing Regulatory Burdens).

Sec. 2. Implementation of the Behavioral Science Insights Policy Directive. (a) The Social and Behavioral Sciences Team (SBST), under the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) and chaired by the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, shall provide agencies with advice and policy guidance to help them execute the policy objectives outlined in section 1 of this order, as appropriate.

(b) The NSTC shall release a yearly report summarizing agency implementation of section 1 of this order each year until 2019. Member agencies of the SBST are expected to contribute to this report.

(c) To help execute the policy directive set forth in section 1 of this order, the Chair of the SBST shall, within 45 days of the date of this order and thereafter as necessary, issue guidance to assist agencies in implementing this order.

Sec. 3. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to a department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) Independent agencies are strongly encouraged to comply with the requirements of this order.

(d) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

BARACK OBAMA

THE WHITE HOUSE,

September 15, 2015.

Fact Sheet: President Obama Signs Executive Order; White House Announces New Steps to Improve Federal Programs by Leveraging Research Insights

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

Fact Sheet: President Obama Signs Executive Order; White House Announces New Steps to Improve Federal Programs by Leveraging Research Insights

“Adopting the insights of behavioral science will help bring our government into the 21st century in a wide range of ways - from delivering services more efficiently and effectively; to accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy; to helping workers find better jobs, gain access to educational opportunity, and lead longer, healthier lives."

— President Barack Obama

Today the White House will announce new actions to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of Federal programs by leveraging research insights about how people participate in, engage with, and respond to programs. Announcements include: an Executive Order, new guidance to Federal agencies to make government forms simpler and easier, and a report from the Social and Behavioral Sciences Team.

The report features the Social and Behavioral Sciences Team’s first year of projects, which have made government programs easier to access and more user-friendly, and have boosted program efficiency and integrity. As a result of these projects, more Servicemembers are saving for retirement, more students are going to college, more Veterans are accessing their benefits, more farmers are obtaining credit, and more families are gaining healthcare coverage.

The Federal Government administers a wide array of programs on behalf of the American people, such as financial aid to assist with college access and workplace savings plans to promote retirement security. Americans are best served when these programs are easy to access and when program choices and information are presented clearly. When programs are designed without these considerations in mind, Americans can incur real consequences. One behavioral science study found, for example, that a complex application process for college financial aid not only decreased applications for aid, but also led some students to delay or forgo going to college altogether.

Behavioral science insights—research insights about how people make decisions—not only identify aspects of programs that can act as barriers to engagement, but also provide policymakers with insight into how those barriers can be removed through commonsense steps, such as simplifying communications and making choices more clear. That same study on financial aid found that streamlining the process of applying—by providing families with assistance and enabling families to automatically fill parts of the application using information from their tax return—increased the rates of both aid applications and college enrollment.

When these insights are used to improve government, the returns can be significant. For instance, the Federal Government applied behavioral science insights to simplify the process of applying for Federal student aid and has made college more accessible to millions of American families. Similarly, the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which codified the practice of automatically enrolling workers into retirement savings plans, is based on behavioral economics research showing that switching from an opt-in to an opt-out enrollment system dramatically increases participation rates. Since the implementation of this policy, automatic enrollment and automatic escalation have led to billions of dollars in additional savings by Americans.

More Details on Today’s Announcements

Today, President Obama signed an Executive Order that directs Federal agencies to use behavioral science insights to better serve the American people. The Executive Order directs Federal agencies to identify programs in which applying behavioral science insights can yield substantial improvements; develop strategies for applying behavioral science insights to programs, and, where possible, for rigorously testing and evaluating the impact of these insights; recruit behavioral science experts to join the Federal Government; and strengthen agency relationships with the research community.

The Executive Order directs Federal agencies to take action in four areas in which prior research and practice indicate that behavioral science insights can play an especially strong role in program outcomes:

  • Streamlining access to programs: Agencies should look for opportunities to help qualifying individuals, families, and businesses access programs and benefits by streamlining processes that may otherwise limit participation.
  • Improving the presentation of information: Agencies should look for opportunities to improve how the government presents information to consumers, borrowers, and program beneficiaries by giving greater consideration to ways in which information format, timing, and medium can affect understanding.
  • Structuring choices carefully: Where programs and policies offer choices, agencies should carefully consider how the presentation and structure of those choices, including default settings and the number and arrangement of options, can empower participants to make the best choices for themselves and their families.
  • Considering a full range of incentives: Where policies create incentives to take specific actions, such as saving for retirement, agencies should consider how the frequency, presentation, and labeling of benefits, tax credits, and other incentives can more effectively and efficiently promote those actions, with a specific focus on opportunities to use nonfinancial incentives.

The Executive Order also formally establishes the Social and Behavioral Sciences Team (SBST), a group of experts in applied behavioral science that translates findings and methods from the social and behavioral sciences into improvements in Federal policies and programs for the benefit of the American people. The SBST is chaired by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and represents a dozen member agencies across the Federal Government, as well as offices within the Executive Office of the President. SBST also receives critical support from the General Services Administration. The Executive Order charges SBST with providing advice and policy guidance to Federal agencies in support of the order.

To assist with implementation of the Executive Order, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) and OSTP are issuing guidance on how agencies can use behavioral science insights to make Federal forms simpler and easier for the American people to complete. The guidance document suggests ways agencies can prioritize modifications to forms that substantially impact the public and agency operations. SBST will support these efforts by providing examples of behavioral science insights that agencies can use to improve Federal forms, working directly with agencies on form redesign, and facilitating interactions between agencies and research experts who can assist in the review and drafting of improved forms.

In addition to these Federal actions, universities, non-profits, and researchers are announcing expanded efforts to work together to use insights from the social and behavioral sciences to improve programs.

Releasing Results from the First Year of Social and

Behavioral Sciences Team Projects

Today, the Administration is releasing the first Social and Behavioral Sciences Team (SBST) Annual Report, which contains the results from SBST’s initial portfolio of projects with Federal agencies. SBST projects have already resulted in substantive reforms to Federal programs that serve over one million people. The results, summarized below, demonstrate the power of behavioral science insights in improving program outcomes.

Promoting Retirement Security

  • A single email that highlighted the three steps needed to enroll in a workplace savings plan, and conveyed the potential value of making even small contributions, nearly doubled the rate at which Servicemembers signed up. To promote participation in the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), a retirement savings plan for Federal employees, SBST and the Department of Defense (DOD) launched an email campaign that sent approximately 720,000 non-enrolled Servicemembers one of nine email variants that notified recipients of the opportunity to participate in the TSP. Compared to no message (the business as usual practice), the most effective message nearly doubled the rate at which Servicemembers signed up for TSP. Emails informed by behavioral science insights led to roughly 4,930 new enrollments and $1.3 million in additional savings in just the first month after the emails were sent. DOD is now scaling up this intervention by sending periodic emails to Servicemembers about the benefits of TSP.
  • Asking Servicemembers at a military base to make a decision about whether to enroll in a workplace savings plan led to a significant increase in enrollments. To further promote saving, SBST and DOD prompted Servicemembers, during an orientation briefing upon their arrival after transferring to a new military base, to make a “Yes” or “No” choice about whether to contribute to TSP. Of those not already enrolled, 8.7 percent of Servicemembers signed up for TSP during the pilot, versus 2.9 percent on average at three comparison bases, and 4.3 percent during a comparison time period at the pilot base. Based on the success of this pilot, DOD is committing to applying insights from the pilot to bases and installations with higher troop concentrations.
  • A reminder message with clear and concise instructions for how to re-enroll increased Servicemember re-enrollments in a workplace savings plan by 22 percent. To assist nearly 140,000 Servicemembers who were required to re-enroll in their Roth TSP in order to continue making contributions, SBST and DOD redesigned an email that alerted Servicemembers of the requirement to re-enroll. The redesigned email led 22 percent more Servicemembers to re-enroll in TSP within a week—3,770 more re-enrollments than among those sent a standard message. Based on this result, DOD immediately scaled up the successful messaging in subsequent outreach reminding Servicemembers to re-enroll in TSP.

Improving College Access and Affordability

  • Sending eight text-message reminders led to a nearly 9 percent increase in college enrollment among low-income students. To help students enroll in college, SBST and the Department of Education’s office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) provided technical expertise to researchers and the nonprofit uAspire on messages notifying college-accepted high-school graduates of required pre-matriculation tasks for their respective colleges. A series of eight text messages to low-income students reminding them to complete these tasks led to a 5.7 percentage-point increase in college enrollment (from 66.4 percent to 72.1 percent), representing 8.6 percent more low-income students going to college.
  • Reminder emails to Federal student-loan borrowers who missed their first payment led to a 29 percent increase in the number of borrowers making a payment. To help Federal student-loan borrowers stay on top of their payments, SBST and FSA sent a reminder email to over 100,000 borrowers who had missed their first payments. The reminder email led to a 29 percent increase in the fraction of borrowers making a payment in the first week after it was sent, from 2.7 to 3.5 percent.
  • Sending a low-cost, timely notice to borrowers about alternative repayment plans led to a four-fold increase in applications to these plans. To increase awareness of income-driven repayment (IDR) plans among student-loan borrowers, SBST and FSA sent an informational email about IDR plans to over 800,000 borrowers who had fallen behind on their payments. The low-cost, timely message led to a fourfold increase in applications for IDR plans, with 4,327 applications for IDR made within 20 days of the email being sent.

Improving Economic Opportunity

  • Highlighting to Veterans that they earned an education and career-counseling benefit led nearly 9 percent more Veterans to access the application for that benefit. To increase Veteran uptake of education and career-counseling benefits, SBST and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) sent notices informing Veterans of their benefits and the steps needed to apply. Relative to simply notifying them of their eligibility, highlighting to Veterans that they had earned the benefit led nearly 9 percent more Veterans to access the application for the benefit.
  • Personalized letters to farmers that included a tailored set of action steps to apply for a loan increased the number of farmers obtaining a loan by 22 percent. To improve economic outcomes for small-scale and specialized farmers, SBST and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) collaborated on a campaign to increase knowledge and utilization of loan options. Farmers who were sent a personalized letter with a customized set of action steps for applying for a microloan were 22 percent more likely to obtain a loan, representing an increase from 0.09 to 0.11 percent.

Helping Families Get Health Coverage and Stay Healthier

  • Sending reminder letters to individuals who had started to apply for health insurance led to 13 percent more completed applications. To assist individuals and families with obtaining health insurance, SBST and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sent one of eight behaviorally designed letter variants to each of more than 700,000 individuals who had already begun the health insurance enrollment process but had not yet completed an application. Those sent the most effective version of the letter were 13.2 percent more likely to enroll in health insurance than those sent no letter, with enrollment rates of 4.56 and 4.03 percent, respectively.

Improving Government Program Integrity and Compliance

  • Asking vendors to confirm the accuracy of self-reported sales figures led to an additional $1.59 million in fees collected by the government in a single quarter. To improve the accuracy of sales figures self-reported by government vendors, SBST and the General Services Administration (GSA) redesigned an online data-entry form to include a signature box at the top of the page in which the user was asked to confirm the accuracy of self-reported sales. Because vendors pay the government a small fee based on those sales reports, this change led to an additional $1.59 million in fees collected within a single quarter. Based on this result, GSA is permanently changing the form to incorporate a signature box.
  • Simplifying a debt-collection letter had no effect on overall payment rates, but led to a 45 percent increase in the use of online payments. To increase debt recovery from individuals with outstanding non-tax debt, SBST worked with the Department of the Treasury’s Debt Management Service (DMS) to simplify a collection letter. No difference in payment rates was observed, but changes such as shortening the web address for making an online payment led 45 percent more individuals to pay online, representing an increase from 1.5 to 2.2 percent. DMS has now permanently shortened the web link in the collection letter.
  • Sending medical providers a letter illustrating their unusually high drug prescribing rates in comparison with their peers had no measurable impact on prescription rates. As part of on-going efforts to reduce inappropriate prescribing of controlled substances, SBST and HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sent providers with unusually high billing patterns a letter comparing their prescribing rates with the prescribing rates of their peers, as well as educational information about proper prescribing practices. No measurable impact was seen on prescription rates. The null result has prompted further exploration into the design and timing of the communications, and new approaches are now being piloted.

Facilitating Cost-Effective Government Program Operations

  • Sending letters that included a personal appointment time to dial in to a call center and discuss transferring securities accounts to an online platform led to 23 percent higher call-in rates. To determine if letters could encourage security holders to transfer accounts to an online platform, SBST collaborated with the Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of Fiscal Service to design outreach to accountholders. Letters that included a personal appointment time with a call center led to 23 percent higher call-in rates than standard letters, representing an increase from 10.6 to 13.0 percent, respectively. Account conversion rates remained low for both groups, however. Based in part on this result there are no further mailings planned.
  • Introducing a prompt to Federal employees when the employees submitted a single-sided print job increased double-sided printing by 5.8 percentage points. To encourage double-sided printing, SBST and USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) created a dialog box that asked employees to change their default printer setting to double-sided after employees had initiated a single-sided print job. This prompt increased the likelihood of double-sided printing by 5.8 percentage points, from a baseline of 46 percent. Based on this finding, ERS plans to change the default setting of all printers to double-sided.

New Social and Behavioral Science Team Projects and Actions

Being Announced by the Administration

More than 20 new projects are planned for the second year of SBST. Brief descriptions of these projects are included below.

Improving Retirement Security

  • The Department of Defense’s Defense Finance and Accounting Services (DFAS) and SBST will identify effective strategies for helping 2.5 million retired Servicemembers access their retirement account statements online. DFAS and SBST will send communications to retired Servicemembers, encouraging them to reactivate an online account so that they can easily access their retirement account statements and better manage their finances.
  • The Financial Literacy and Education Commission (FLEC), which includes the Departments of the Treasury (Treasury) and Labor (DOL), as well as other agencies, will collaborate on a demonstration project to encourage civilian Federal employees to save more through their Thrift Savings Plans (TSPs). Many Federal employees are currently contributing below the rate at which they can maximize their employer match. FLEC will send communications to encourage employees who are participating in TSPs to increase their savings.
  • Treasury and SBST will work to increase savings contributions of new Treasury employees in the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). Orientation materials in 2016 will encourage new employees to consider increasing contribution rates in TSP to maximize their employer match, and to review the funds to which they will allocate their contributions.
  • The Social Security Administration (SSA) and SBST will explore project opportunities to help the public with making informed decisions about when to claim their Social Security retirement benefits.

Expanding Access to Higher Education

  • The Department of Education (ED) and SBST will collaborate to identify the most innovative and effective strategies for communicating with millions of student loan borrowers. This collaboration will include a series of pilots to ensure that borrowers know about their repayment options and are able to successfully repay their loans. Pilots will include an email campaign to make sure that borrowers in income-driven repayment plans are aware of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
  • ED will work with SBST as part of ED's ongoing efforts to make information about college financial aid more widely available to students and families. This collaboration will aim to more effectively connect younger students and their families with information about the availability of Federal financial aid for college earlier on, in order to assist with financial planning for higher education and to promote college access.

Improving Economic Opportunity

  • The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and SBST will collaborate to help ensure that children retain access to nutritionally balanced, low-cost, or free lunches. This pilot will test new strategies for improving outcomes in the annual process of verifying student eligibility for low-cost or free meals under the National School Lunch Program, which serves 30 million low-income students every year. The pilot is designed to strengthen the integrity of the process while reducing barriers to access for eligible children.
  • DOL, SBST, and State Unemployment Insurance Agencies will collaborate to provide unemployed workers with enhanced job-search support. State Unemployment Insurance Agencies in Colorado, Indiana, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Utah have committed to developing new approaches within their unemployment insurance programs in order to help claimants return to work.
  • The Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy (MC&FP) and SBST will collaborate to help over 100,000 military spouses access the My Career Advancement Account scholarship. This benefit can help military spouses obtain professional licensing, certification, training, and associate degrees that can lead to employment in promising sectors and ease the challenges of relocating.

Improving Health Outcomes

  • The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and SBST are announcing a multi-year collaboration to embed behavioral science insights and rigorous evaluation in priority country programs to end preventable child and maternal deaths. In one example, SBST and USAID are collaborating with the USAID Mozambique mission to send text reminders and educational messages to patients co-infected with TB and HIV in order to boost patient attendance at doctors’ appointments and adherence to treatment regimens.
  • MC&FP, Warrior Care Policy (WCP), and SBST will collaborate to support family members and others caring for wounded, ill, or injured Servicemembers. The purpose of the project is to increase awareness and utilization of peer forums established to give caregivers the opportunity to share information and resources with one another while providing and receiving social support.
  • The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and SBST will work together to increase the number of patients who enroll in “Blue Button,” the patient portal of the VHA electronic healthcare record (EHR) system. Informational outreach will help enable Veterans to access their health information on demand and manage their healthcare more effectively.
  • The Defense Health Agency (DHA) and SBST will collaborate on a suite of projects to improve Servicemember health outcomes. These projects include a pilot to increase beneficiary utilization of online secure messaging with the beneficiary’s healthcare team, and a pilot to increase rates of preventive measures such as mammograms and colon-cancer screenings.
  • MC&FP and SBST will work to encourage Servicemembers, their families, and survivors to better utilize the military OneSource eNewsletter, website, and call center, which provide information and resources related to health and finances.
  • HHS and SBST will conduct further analysis of the impact of sending flu-shot reminders to 100,000 Medicare beneficiaries during the 2014 flu season. The mailers included a tear-off calendar reminder and appointment-planning template.
  • The Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) and SBST will work to increase uptake of patient engagement tools such as patient portals and secure messaging. The goal of this effort is to increase the number of patients who use online portals to view, download, and transmit their health records and communicate online with their clinicians.

Addressing Energy- and Environment-Related Challenges

  • The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and SBST will work to increase uptake of insurance in flood-prone areas under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), in order to reduce the risk of detrimental flood impacts. Outreach materials will be redesigned to present information more clearly.
  • The General Services Administration (GSA) and SBST will work to increase the energy efficiency of government buildings, reduce building-related energy expenses, and increase employee health and well-being. This series of pilots will focus on sustainability approaches, including increasing access to daylight within work spaces and aligning facilities-management practices with people’s needs.
  • GSA and SBST will work to improve uptake of renewable fuels in the government fleet. This pilot will better deliver information to drivers about optimal fuel use to meet the high sustainability standards set by Executive Order 13693, Planning for Federal Sustainability in the Next Decade.
  • The Department of Energy (DOE) and SBST will provide tailored reports on home energy usage to help families save money on their energy bills and purchase more energy-efficient appliances. DOE and SBST will test the impact of making various types of information—such as the Home Energy Score and recommendations for home energy improvements—more available to home buyers and home sellers.

Improving Government Program Integrity and Compliance

  • GSA and SBST will send tailored alerts for government surplus goods to over 40,000 registered bidders to help match potential bidders and items for sale on gsaauctions.gov. Better connecting public demand for unused government goods and improving the functionality of the auction process benefits the Federal government (sellers) and American public (buyers) alike.
  • SSA and SBST are sending recipients of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) information about reporting requirements. This pilot is sending program recipients communications to clarify reporting requirements in order to increase accurate reporting and reduce payment errors.
  • The National Science Foundation (NSF) will connect SBST to cutting-edge scientific expertise in the social and behavioral sciences. NSF, which supports basic research in science and engineering, will connect its network and vast knowledge base to SBST. NSF’s commitment ensures that SBST will be able to leverage the latest findings from social and behavioral science in order to translate these findings into improvements for Americans.
  • The U.S. Census Bureau and SBST will work to improve the Bureau's communication and increase engagement with the American Community Survey. This pilot will update outreach materials so that they are clearer and help people follow through on completing the questionnaire.

Supporting Commitments

  • The Behavioral Science & Policy Association (BSPA) is launching a “Behavioral Science and Policy Series” to identify promising avenues for applying behavioral science to public policy at the Federal level in order to improve Americans' lives. Through this series, by September 2016, working groups will deliver white papers that propose particular applications of behavioral science that can be applied, tested, and implemented at the Federal level in the near term. Research centers and organizations that have committed to participating and contributing to the Series include:
    • The Brookings Institution
    • Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for Behavioral Decision Research
    • Duke University’s Behavioral Science & Policy Center
    • Harvard University's Behavioral Insights Group
    • ideas42
    • MIT’s J-PAL North America at MIT
    • The Kahneman-Treisman Center for Behavioral Science and Public Policy at Princeton University
    • Stanford University’s Longevity Center and Institute for Research in Social Science
    • University of California, Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy
    • University of California, Los Angeles’ Interdisciplinary Group in Behavioral Decision Making
    • University of California, San Diego’s Rady School of Management
    • The University of Chicago Booth School’s Center for Decision Research
    • The University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Research on Consumer Financial Decision Making
    • The University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business
    • The University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
    • The University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics at the University of Pennsylvania
    • The University of Southern California’s Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
    • The University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management
    • Yale University's Center for Customer Insights

Remarks by the President at Launch of the My Brother's Keeper Alliance

Remarks by the President at Launch of the My Brother's Keeper Alliance

Lehman College

West Bronx, New York

2:56 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Hello, New York! (Applause.) Give Darinel a big round of applause for that introduction. (Applause.) Thank you so much. Thank you. Everybody, please have a seat. We are so proud of Darinel. We want to thank him for being such a great role model for other students here in New York and around the country.

I want to give a shout-out to a friend of mine who happens to be your Assemblyman -- Michael Blake. (Applause.) Where’s Michael? He is around here somewhere. There he is. You got to stand up, Michael. (Laughter.) We're still teaching him about politics. (Applause.) When the President introduces you, you got to stand up. (Laughter.) Get some TV time. (Laughter.)

So Mike grew up in tough circumstances, as well. He worked hard, went to a good college. He joined my campaign, worked in the White House. Now he’s in public office to make sure that other young people like him have every chance in the world. So we couldn't be prouder of him. It's great to see. (Applause.)

So I'm getting practice for Malia and Sasha leaving home. I’ve got all these incredible young people who worked on the White House staff who are now doing all kinds of great things.

I want to thank all the members of Congress and elected officials who are in the house. You’ve got a couple of proud Lehman graduates -- Eliot Engel -- where’s Eliot? (Applause.) There he is. And Jose Serrano. (Applause.) And we've got some more folks -- we've got three other folks from the New York delegation -- Gregory Meeks -- (applause) -- the always dapper Charlie Rangel -- (applause) -- the outstanding Yvette Clarke. (Applause.) And visiting from Florida -- Frederica Wilson. (Applause.) But they all share the same passion that I do, and that is making sure every young person in this country has opportunity.

That’s why we’re all here today. Because we believe in the idea that no matter who you are, no matter what you look like, no matter where you came from, no matter what your circumstances were, if you work hard, if you take responsibility, then America is a place where you can make something of your lives.

And I want to thank Lehman for hosting us here today. And our community college system -- the CUNY system -- our public education institutions, they are all pathways for success. And we're very proud of what they do.

Everything that we’ve done since I've been President, the past six and a half years -- from rescuing the economy to giving more Americans access to affordable health care, to reforming our schools for all of our kids -- it’s been in pursuit of that one goal: creating opportunity for everybody. We can’t guarantee everybody’s success. But we do strive to guarantee an equal shot for everybody who’s willing to work for it.

But what we’ve also understood for too long is that some communities have consistently had the odds stacked against them; that there’s a tragic history in this country that has made it tougher for some. And folks living in those communities, and especially young people living in those communities, could use some help to change those odds.

It’s true of some rural communities where there’s chronic poverty. It’s true of some manufacturing communities that have suffered after factories they depended on closed their doors. It’s true for young people of color, especially boys and young men.

You all know the numbers. By almost every measure, the life chances of the average young man of color is worse than his peers. Those opportunity gaps begin early -- often at birth -- and they compound over time, becoming harder and harder to bridge, making too many young men and women feel like no matter how hard they try, they may never achieve their dreams.

And that sense of unfairness and of powerlessness, of people not hearing their voices, that’s helped fuel some of the protests that we’ve seen in places like Baltimore, and Ferguson, and right here in New York. The catalyst of those protests were the tragic deaths of young men and a feeling that law is not always applied evenly in this country. In too many places in this country, black boys and black men, Latino boys, Latino men, they experience being treated differently by law enforcement -- in stops and in arrests, and in charges and incarcerations. The statistics are clear, up and down the criminal justice system; there’s no dispute.

That’s why one of the many things we did to address these issues was to put together a task force on community policing. And this task force was made up of law enforcement and of community activists, including some who had led protests in Ferguson, some who had led protests here in New York -- young people whose voices needed to be heard. And what was remarkable was law enforcement and police chiefs and sheriffs and county officials working with these young people, they came up with concrete proposals that, if implemented, would rebuild trust and help law enforcement officers do their jobs even better, and keep them and their communities even safer.

And what was clear from this task force was the recognition that the overwhelming majority of police officers are good and honest and fair, and care deeply about their communities. And they put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe. And their loved ones wait and worry until they come through that door at the end of their shift.

As many of you know, New York’s finest lost one of its own today -- Officer Brian Moore, who was shot in the line of duty on Saturday night, passed away earlier today. He came from a family of police officers. And the family of fellow officers he joined in the NYPD and across the country deserve our gratitude and our prayers not just today but every day. They’ve got a tough job. (Applause.)

Which is why, in addressing the issues in Baltimore or Ferguson or New York, the point I made was that if we’re just looking at policing, we’re looking at it too narrowly. If we ask the police to simply contain and control problems that we ourselves have been unwilling to invest and solve, that’s not fair to the communities, it’s not fair to the police. What we gathered here to talk about today is something that goes deeper than policing. It speaks to who we are as a nation, and what we’re willing to do to make sure that equality of opportunity is not an empty word.

Across the country and in parts of New York, in parts of New Jersey, in parts of my hometown in Chicago, there are communities that don’t have enough jobs, don’t have enough investment, don’t have enough opportunity. You’ve got communities with 30, or 40, or 50 percent unemployment. They’ve been struggling long before the economic crisis in 2007, 2008. Communities without enough role models. Communities where too many men who could otherwise be leaders, who could provide guidance for young people, who could be good fathers and good neighbors and good fellow citizens, are languishing in prison over minor, nonviolent drug offenses.

Now, there’s no shortage of people telling you who and what is to blame for the plight of these communities. But I’m not interested in blame. I’m interested in responsibility and I’m interested in results. (Applause.)

That’s why we’ve partnered with cities to get more kids access to quality early childhood education -- no matter who they are or where they’re born. It’s why we’ve partnered with cities to create Promise Zones, to give a booster shot to opportunity. That’s why we’ve invested in ideas from support for new moms to summer jobs for young people, to helping more young people afford a college education.

And that’s why, over a year ago, we launched something we call My Brother’s Keeper -- an initiative to address those persistent opportunity gaps and ensure that all of our young people, but particularly young men of color, have a chance to go as far as their dreams will take them. It’s an idea that we pursued in the wake of Trayvon Martin’s death because we wanted the message sent from the White House in a sustained way that his life mattered, that the lives of the young men who are here today matter, that we care about your future -- not just sometimes, but all the time.

In every community in America, there are young people with incredible drive and talent, and they just don't have the same kinds of chances that somebody like me had. They're just as talented as me, just as smart. They don't get a chance. And because everyone has a part to play in this process, we brought everybody together. We brought business leaders and faith leaders, mayors, philanthropists, educators, entrepreneurs, athletes, musicians, actors -- all united around the simple idea of giving all our young people the tools they need to achieve their full potential.

And we were determined not to just do a feel-good exercise, to write a report that nobody would read, to do some announcement, and then once the TV cameras had gone away and there weren’t protests or riots, then somehow we went back to business as usual. We wanted something sustained. And for more than a year, we’ve been working with experts to identify some of the key milestones that matter most in every young person’s life -- from whether they enter school ready to learn, to whether they graduate ready for a career. Are they getting suspended in school? Can we intervene there? Are they in danger of falling into the criminal justice system? Can we catch them before they do? Key indicators that we know will make a difference. If a child is reading by the third grade at grade level, we know they’ve got a chance of doing better. If they aren’t involved with the criminal justice system and aren’t suspended while they're in school, we know they’ve got a chance of doing better. So there are certain things that we knew would make a difference.

And we’ve looked at which programs and policies actually work in intervening at those key periods. Early childhood education works. Job apprenticeship programs work. Certain mentoring programs work. And we’ve identified which strategies make a difference in the lives of young people, like mentoring, or violence prevention and intervention.

And because we knew this couldn’t be the work of just the federal government, we challenged every community in the country -- big cities, small towns, rural counties, tribal nations -- to publicly commit to implementing strategies to help all young people succeed. And as a result, we’ve already got more than 200 communities across the country who are focused on this issue. They're on board and they're doing great work. They're sharing best practices. They're sharing ideas.

All of this has happened just in the last year. And the response we’ve gotten in such a short amount of time, the enthusiasm and the passion we’ve seen from folks all around the country proves how much people care about this. Sometimes politics may be cynical, the debate in Washington may be cynical, but when you get on the ground, and you talk to folks, folks care about this. They know that how well we do as a nation depends on whether our young people are succeeding. That's our future workforce.

They know that if you've got African American or Latino men here in New York who, instead of going to jail, are going to college, those are going to be taxpayers. They're going to help build our communities. They will make our communities safer. They aren’t part of the problem, they're potentially part of the solution -- if we treat them as such.

So we’ve made enormous progress over the last year. But today, after months of great work on the part of a whole lot of people, we’re taking another step forward, with people from the private sector coming together in a big way. We’re here for the launch of the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, which is a new nonprofit organization of private sector organizations and companies that have committed themselves to continue the work of opening doors for young people -- all our young people -- long after I’ve left office. (Applause.) It’s a big deal.

I want to thank the former CEO of Deloitte, Joe Echevarria, who’s been involved for a long time. He has taken the lead on this alliance. Joe, stand up. You've done an incredible job. (Applause.) Just like the My Brother’s Keeper overall effort that we launched last year, Joe and My Brother’s Keeper Alliance -- they're all about getting results. They’ve set clear goals to hold themselves accountable for getting those results: Doubling the percentage of boys and young men of color who read at grade level by the third grade. Increasing their high school graduation rates by 20 percent. (Applause.) Getting 50,000 more of those young men into post-secondary education or training.

They’ve already announced $80 million in commitments to make this happen, and that is just the beginning. And they’ve got a great team of young people who helped to work on this, a lot of them from Deloitte. We appreciate them so much. We’re very proud of the great work that they did.

But here’s what the business leaders who are here today -- and Joe certainly subscribes to this -- will tell you, they’re not doing this out of charity. The organizations that are represented here, ranging -- as varied as from Sprint to BET -- they’re not doing it just to assuage society’s guilt. They’re doing this because they know that making sure all of our young people have the opportunity to succeed is an economic imperative.

These young men, all our youth, are part of our workforce. If we don’t make sure that our young people are safe and healthy and educated, and prepared for the jobs of tomorrow, our businesses won’t have the workers they need to compete in the 21st century global economy. Our society will lose in terms of productivity and potential. America won’t be operating at full capacity. And that hurts all of us.

So they know that there’s an economic rationale for making this investment. But, frankly, this is also about more than just economics; it’s about values. It’s about who we are as a people.

Joe grew up about a mile from here, in the Bronx. And as he and I were sitting there, listening to some incredible young men in a roundtable discussion, many of them from this community, their stories were our stories. So, for Joe and I, this is personal, because in these young men we see ourselves.

The stakes are clear. And these stakes are high: At the end of the day, what kind of society do we want to have? What kind of country do we want to be? It’s not enough to celebrate the ideals that we’re built on -- liberty for all, and justice for all and equality for all. Those can’t just be words on paper. The work of every generation is to make those ideals mean something concrete in the lives of our children -- all of our children.

And we won’t get there as long as kids in Baltimore or Ferguson or New York or Appalachia or the Mississippi Delta or the Pine Ridge Reservation believe that their lives are somehow worth less.

We won’t get there when we have impoverished communities that have been stripped away of opportunity, and where, in the richest nation on Earth, children are born into abject poverty.

We won’t be living up to our ideals when their parents are struggling with substance abuse, or are in prison, or unemployed, and when fathers are absent, and schools are substandard, and jobs are scarce and drugs are plentiful. We won’t get there when there are communities where a young man is less likely to end up in college than jail, or dead -- and feels like his country expects nothing else of him.

America’s future depends on us caring about this. If we don’t, then we will just keep on going through the same cycles of periodic conflict. When we ask police to go into communities where there’s no hope, eventually something happens because of the tensions between societies and these communities -- and the police are just on the front lines of that.

And people tweet outrage. And the TV cameras come. And they focus more on somebody setting fire to something or turning over a car than the peaceful protests and the thoughtful discussions that are taking place. And then some will argue, well, all these social programs don’t make a difference. And we cast blame. And politicians talk about poverty and inequality, and then gut policies that help alleviate poverty or reverse inequality. (Applause.)

And then we wait for the next outbreak or problem to flare up. And we go through the same pattern all over again. So that, in effect, we do nothing.

There are consequences to inaction. There are consequences to indifference. And they reverberate far beyond the walls of the projects, or the borders of the barrio, or the roads of the reservation. They sap us of our strength as a nation. It means we’re not as good as we could be. And over time, it wears us out. Over time, it weakens our nation as a whole.

The good news is, it doesn’t have to be this way. We can have the courage to change. We can make a difference. We can remember that these kids are our kids. “For these are all our children,” James Baldwin once wrote. “We will all profit by, or pay for, whatever they become.”

And that’s what My Brother’s Keeper is about, that’s what this alliance is about. And we are in this for the long haul. We’re going to keep doing our work at the White House on these issues. Sometimes it won’t be a lot of fanfare. I notice we don’t always get a lot of reporting on this issue when there’s not a crisis in some neighborhood. But we’re just going to keep on plugging away. And this will remain a mission for me and for Michelle not just for the rest of my presidency, but for the rest of my life. (Applause.)

And the reason is simple. Like I said before -- I know it’s true for Joe; it’s true for John Legend, who was part of our roundtable; it’s true for Alonzo Mourning who is here, part of our board -- we see ourselves in these young men.

I grew up without a dad. I grew up lost sometimes and adrift, not having a sense of a clear path. And the only difference between me and a lot of other young men in this neighborhood and all across the country is that I grew up in an environment that was a little more forgiving. And at some critical points, I had some people who cared enough about me to give me a second chance, or a third chance, or give me a little guidance when I needed it, or to open up a door that might otherwise been closed. I was lucky.

Alex Santos is lucky, too. Where’s Alex? Alex is here. Stand up, Alex. (Applause.) So Alex was born in Puerto Rico, grew up in Brooklyn and the Bronx, in some tough neighborhoods. When he was 11, he saw his mom’s best friend, a man he respected and looked up to, shot and killed. His older brothers dropped out of school, got caught up in drugs and violence. So Alex didn’t see a whole lot of options for himself, couldn’t envision a path to a better future. He then dropped out of school.

But then his mom went back to school and got her GED. She set an example. That inspired Alex to go back and get his GED. Actually, it’s more like she stayed on him until he went back. (Laughter.) And I know, because just like I was lucky, I also had a mom who used to get on my case about my studies. So I could relate. But this is what Alex says about his mom: “She made me realize that no matter what, there’s a second chance in life.”

So, today, Alex is getting his GED. He’s developed a passion for sports. His dream is to one day work with kids as a coach and set an example for them. He says he never thought he could go to college; now he believes he can. All Alex wants to be is a good role model for his younger brothers, Carlos and John, who are bright and hardworking and doing well in school. And he says, “They matter so much to my life, and I matter to theirs.”

So, Alex, and his brothers, and all the young people here, all the young ones who are out there struggling -- the simple point to make is: You matter. You matter to us.

It was interesting during the roundtable, we asked these young men -- incredible gifted young men, like Darinel -- asked them, what advice would you give us? And they talked about mentor programs and they talked about counseling programs and guidance programs in schools. But one young man -- Malachi -- he just talked about, we should talk about love. (Applause.) Because Malachi and I shared the fact that our dad wasn’t around, and that sometimes we wondered why he wasn’t around and what had happened.

But really that's what this comes down to is, do we love these kids? (Applause.) See if we feel like because they don't look like us, or they don't talk like us, or they don't live in the same neighborhood as us that they're different, that they can't learn, or they don't deserve better, or it’s okay if their schools are rundown, or it’s okay if the police are given a mission just to contain them rather than to encourage them, then it’s not surprising that we're going to lose a lot of them.

But that's not the kind of country I want to live in. That's not what America is about. So my message to Alex and Malachi and Darinel, and to all the young men out there and young boys who aren’t in this room, haven’t yet gotten that helping hand, haven’t yet gotten that guidance -- I want you to know you matter. You matter to us. You matter to each other. There’s nothing, not a single thing, that’s more important to the future of America than whether or not you and young people all across this country can achieve their dreams.

And we are one people, and we need each other. We should love every single one of our kids. And then we should show that love -- not just give lip-service to it, not just talk about it in church and then ignore it, not just have a seminar about it and not deliver.

It’s hard. We’ve got an accumulation of not just decades but, in some cases, centuries of trauma that we're having to overcome. But if Alex is able to overcome what he’s been through, then we as a society should be able to overcome what we’ve been through. If Alex can put the past behind him and look towards the future, we should be able to do the same.

I’m going to keep on fighting, and everybody here is going to keep on fighting to make sure that all of our kids have the opportunity to make of their lives what they will. Today is just the beginning. We’re going to keep at this for you, the young people of America, for your generation and for all the generations to come.

So, thank you. God bless you. God bless all of you. God bless America. (Applause.)

END

3:27 P.M. EDT

For Immediate Release

May 04, 2015

For Immediate Release

For Immediate Release

September 15, 2015

September 15, 2015