This Steven Spielberg-Backed Nonprofit Gets Teens Out Of Their Cultural Bubbles

David McCullough III has built an improbable nonprofit astir a instruction from his precocious grandfather, Pulitzer Prize-winning historiographer David McCullough: “You’ve ne'er met anyone successful your full life who didn’t person thing to thatch you.”

It’s proposal McCullough has translated into American Exchange Project, the nonprofit he cofounded successful 2019 pinch PBS NewsHour economical analogous Paul Solman and the precocious Harvard economist Robert Glauber. The idea, which earned him a spot connected the Forbes 30 Under 30 list successful 2023, grew retired of what he describes arsenic a “lark-ish investigation project” exploring whether a simple, scalable thought could thief span America's increasing societal and geographic divides.

McCullough insists he ne'er group retired to go an entrepreneur. “I discourage young group who say, ‘I want to beryllium an entrepreneur,’” he says. “I deliberation you should want to hole a problem.” Six years aft processing the thought while substitute school and surviving successful his parents’ attic, McCullough now leads an statement pinch 30 employees, thousands of volunteers and an eager goal: making a two-week home speech travel betwixt precocious schoolhouse graduation and assemblage arsenic communal arsenic prom. So far, he’s attracted much than $16 cardinal successful philanthropic commitments pinch the largest—$9 cardinal complete 3 years—coming from the backstage instauration of billionaire filmmaker Steven Spielberg and his wife, retired character Kate Capshaw.

For McCullough, return connected finance is measured successful students for illustration Alonnah Ashworth. Growing up successful Lake Charles, Louisiana, Ashworth, now 22, had ne'er boarded an airplane earlier AEP sent her to Wellesley, Massachusetts, successful 2021. She arrived expecting Northeasterners to beryllium “mean,” “uppity” and “rude.” Instead, her big family welcomed her arsenic 1 of their own, and the speech ended up reshaping her life arsenic good arsenic perceptions. She abandoned plans to study medicine science and switched to psychology astatine Prairie View A&M (ranked 3rd connected Forbes’ database of Top Public Historically Black Colleges). There, she created an yearly unrecorded capacity celebrating African and Caribbean dance, euphony and creation that grew from 200 attendees to 650 by the clip she graduated. “What Mr. McCullough did pinch maine connected the nationalist scale, I implemented wrong my assemblage connected a smaller scale,” she says.

Ashworth credits AEP pinch giving her the assurance to prosecute opportunities she erstwhile thought were beyond her reach. She studied overseas successful Uganda and Jamaica and, this fall, originates a master’s programme successful objective intelligence wellness counseling astatine William James College successful Boston. One day, she hopes to motorboat a nonprofit focused connected intelligence wellness and organization outreach.

Stories for illustration Ashworth’s are precisely why McCullough believes the summertime aft precocious schoolhouse graduation whitethorn beryllium 1 of the astir wasted opportunities successful American education. While schools, sports, internships and enrichment programs crowd astir each different shape of adolescence, the weeks betwixt graduation and assemblage stay unusually open, he argues. “It’s a blank space,” he says. “As an entrepreneur, it screamed opportunity.”

McCullough says that timing matters psychologically arsenic overmuch arsenic logistically. Teenagers, he contends, are still deciding who they are earlier settling into college, activity aliases subject life. “It’s aft you’ve near the nest, but earlier you’ve landed pinch immoderate group you’re going to assimilate to next.”

The thought grew retired of McCullough’s ain experience. Growing up extracurricular Boston, he imagined a early successful baseball. “I still want to play for the Boston Red Sox erstwhile I turn up,” he jokes. Instead, a enarthrosis wounded ended his diversion profession astatine Yale. “I flip-flopped astir trying to fig retired what could capable the void successful my bosom that shot near open,” he says.

The reply came connected a 7,100-mile roadworthy travel crossed America during the summertime aft his inferior twelvemonth of college. Visiting communities he’d been warned were dangerous, McCullough alternatively recovered generosity, curiosity and friendships that challenged his assumptions. Graduate study astatine Cambridge University during Brexit reinforced his belief that Americans needed much opportunities to cognize 1 different successful person, alternatively than done headlines aliases societal media. “I realized that this profoundly individual acquisition I had mightiness shed a small ray into what we tin do astir the divides of the moment,” he says.

After McCullough connected pinch cofounder Solman and embarked connected their investigation project, 1 taxable became clear: “Every young personification we talked to said, ‘I consciousness for illustration I’m increasing up successful a bubble, and I’ve ne'er seen life extracurricular the bubble.’”

McCullough calls it “the closest point we had to a light-bulb moment.” Still substitute teaching, he called Solman and their 3rd cofounder, Glauber. “I conscionable said, ‘I sewage it! Kids consciousness for illustration they turn up successful a bubble. So spell unrecorded successful a different bubble.’”

To fig retired really to standard AEP, McCullough looked to organizations that had successfully expanded eager ideas, including the European Union’s Erasmus+ speech program, the Peace Corps, Teach For America and moreover the nationalist room system.

That strategy appears to beryllium working. McCullough had ne'er tally a nonprofit aliases raised money before, but he’s learning really to seduce philanthropists to put successful an thought pinch nary American precedent. While AEP’s largest backer is the Hearthland Foundation, Spielberg and Capshaw’s backstage foundation, it’s besides raised money from the Carnegie Foundation ($3 million), the Ibis Group ($1.5 million), the MacArthur Foundation and the family instauration of billionaire Arthur M. Blank, the cofounder of Home Depot and proprietor of the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United. “Our philanthropist guidelines wholly covers the governmental and geographic spectrum,” says McCullough, adding that the organization’s fund has astir tripled this year. So far, 94% of backing has travel from awesome philanthropic gifts, but respective states are opening to research nationalist support arsenic well, he says.

Whether McCullough succeeds successful his extremity of making post-high schoolhouse home exchanges arsenic communal arsenic prom remains to beryllium seen. But he’s already changed Ashworth’s life. “I’ve ne'er gone a time without biscuits and gravy and saccharine tea, and I’m moving to Boston,” she says. “That willingness, that confidence, that I'm gonna spell do it anyhow and study something—all that was birthed from that speech project. It taught maine that without understanding, you person nothing.”

Want to beryllium much successful? Subscribe to the play Forbes Careers newsletter to get insider tips and insights.

More From Forbes

Forbes6 Myths About The Common App That Waste Students’ Time And MoneyBy Lisa ChambersForbesThe Biggest Mistake High-Achieving Students Make On College ApplicationsBy Lisa ChambersForbes5 Tips For Picking A College And A Major In The Age Of AIBy Lisa ChambersForbesTop HBCUs: 20 Historically Black Colleges That Set Grads Up For SuccessBy Asia Alexander