{"id":39294,"date":"2025-09-03T14:02:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T18:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=39294"},"modified":"2025-11-03T10:57:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T15:57:36","slug":"straighttalk-tackles-myths-and-solutions-to-economic-mobility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/straighttalk-tackles-myths-and-solutions-to-economic-mobility\/","title":{"rendered":"StraightTalk tackles myths and solutions to economic mobility"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is it possible to pull yourself up by your bootstraps? Furman University\u2019s StraightTalk 2025: Bootstraps \u2013 Myths and Solutions to Economic Mobility<\/a> will dive into this question, exploring the challenges that make it difficult to break the cycle of poverty.<\/p>\n

The speaker series kicked off Sept. 2 with its first session, and the next two will be Sept. 9 and 16, from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. in McAlister Auditorium on Furman\u2019s campus. It is open to the public, presented in partnership between the Riley Institute<\/a> at Furman and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI@Furman<\/a>), in collaboration with campus partners and Hollingsworth Funds.<\/p>\n

\"An

David Trone ’77, founder and owner of Total Wine & More and three-term U.S. Representative for Maryland’s Sixth Congressional District, joined the Riley Institute’s StraightTalk discussion on Sept. 2. Photo by Jeremy Fleming, Furman University.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe know there are barriers and systems in place that make it very difficult for many low-income households to achieve economic mobility,\u201d said Julie Meredith, the Riley Institute\u2019s director of the Center for Critical Issues, who arranged the StraightTalk series. \u201cHow do we make the economic growth that Greenville is enjoying accessible for more people in our communities?\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s session, \u201cA Look at Education,\u201d featured Melanie Barton \u201984, deputy chief of staff and senior education advisor for South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, and David Trone \u201977, founder and owner of Total Wine & More, a three-term U.S. Representative for Maryland\u2019s Sixth Congressional District and a former Furman trustee.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are deep economic divides in this country,\u201d Trone said. \u201cEducation is the foundation of how these problems can be solved.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A

Riley Institute Advance Team member Lily Robins ’26 from Winston-Salem, North Carolina connects with an attendee of the StraightTalk education discussion on Sept. 2 at McAlister Auditorium. Photo by Jeremy Fleming, Furman University.<\/p><\/div>\n

Session two, on Sept. 9, takes \u201cA Look at Work\u201d with guest speakers Chandra Childers, a senior policy and economic analyst with the Economic Analysis and Research network at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.; Ray Lattimore, founder of Marketplace Staffing; and David Lominack, commercial market president of South Carolina for TD Bank.<\/p>\n

Session three, on Sept. 16, takes \u201cA Look at Place\u201d with keynote speaker Raj Chetty<\/a>, the William A. Ackman Professor of Economics at Harvard University and director of Opportunity Insights. He\u2019s joined by Terril Bates, CEO of the Greenville Housing Authority; Tiffane Thompson Davis, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer at Michelin North America; Shannon Lavrin, city manager for the City of Greenville, South Carolina; and moderator Gage Weekes, president and CEO of Hollingsworth Funds.<\/p>\n

Entry for the public is $15 per session. There is no charge for Furman students, faculty and staff. To learn more, visit the StraightTalk website<\/a>. Tickets may be purchased on Eventbrite<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Furman\u2019s Riley Institute and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute invited thought leaders, business heads and decision makers to explore the changes needed to create upward economic mobility for all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":401,"featured_media":39290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3498,85,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovation-lab","category-olli-at-furman","category-riley-institute"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39294"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39295,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39294\/revisions\/39295"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}