Mark Shriver
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Mark Kennedy Shriver is Vice President and Managing Director of U.S. Programs for Save the Children. He leads programmatic and advocacy efforts to improve the early childhood development, literacy, physical activity and nutrition of children living in impoverished rural communities across the United States. He also leads Save the Children's domestic emergency programs to ensure that the unique needs of children are incorporated into disaster preparedness, response and recovery plans. Previously, he served two four-year terms as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates and was Maryland's first-ever Chair of the Joint Committee on Children, Youth and Families. During his legislative service, he was repeatedly recognized as Outstanding Legislator of the Year by prominent advocacy and civic organizations. In 1988, Shriver founded the innovative Choice Program, a public/private partnership that serves delinquent and at-risk youth through intensive, community-based counseling and job training services. Shriver has been widely published in the national media, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, and Newsweek, among others. He serves as the Chairperson of the National Commission on Children and Disasters and is a member of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's National Advisory Council. Shriver received his undergraduate degree from The College of the Holy Cross in 1986 and a Master's degree in Public Administration from Harvard University in 1993.

Shriver is the son of Sargent and Eunice Kennedy Shriver. He and his wife, Jeanne Ripp Shriver, are the proud parents of Molly, Tommy and Emma. The family resides in Bethesda, Maryland.

Blog Entries by Mark Shriver

With Our Future on the Line, the Time to Invest in Kids Is Now

(97) Comments | Posted April 11, 2012 | 11:20 AM

Our nation's economic future is uncertain; we face increasingly aggressive global competition; lagging academic achievement is dragging down economic output; and almost two-thirds of Americans think our nation is on the wrong track.

We know the bad news all too well. The good news is...

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For Needy Kids, Spring Doesn't Bring Baseball Games and Vacations

(30) Comments | Posted March 30, 2012 | 8:01 AM

For many of us, the arrival of spring means a new baseball season, taking short-sleeve shirts out of storage, a spring break trip, and studying for final exams. And for Randy, of course, it means the American Idol finals.

Not all Americans see as much change in their lives when...

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A Rising Tide in Fight Against Childhood Poverty

(5) Comments | Posted February 29, 2012 | 12:45 PM

Earlier this month, The Huffington Post partnered with Save the Children's U.S. Programs for an amazing series of blog posts about the nearly 1 in 4 kids living in poverty in the United States today.

Artists like Julianne Moore, Jennifer Garner,

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Obama Shifts Forward as Education Gap Widens

(10) Comments | Posted February 13, 2012 | 9:09 AM

The New York Times on Friday led with a story about a new Stanford University study that found the education gap between kids from wealthier families and ones struggling with poverty widened to a giant chasm over the last generation.

Specifically, since 1940, the...

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Get Off Our Butts!

(14) Comments | Posted February 1, 2012 | 7:58 AM

This post is part of a series on childhood poverty in the United States in partnership with Save the Children and Julianne Moore.  Moore leads the organization's Valentine's Day campaign, through which cards are sold to support the fight against poverty in the U.S. To learn more or to purchase the...

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The Solution to Poverty: Kids Cleaning Toilets?

(1139) Comments | Posted December 2, 2011 | 4:33 PM

At a campaign stop in Iowa Thursday, former speaker Newt Gingrich, making an argument against century-old child labor laws, said: "Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works ... [s]o they literally have no habit of...

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Happy Thanksgiving

(29) Comments | Posted November 21, 2011 | 9:12 PM

This is my first Thanksgiving without my dad.

Not a day goes by that I don't miss him greatly, but not a day goes by that I don't thank God for blessing me with such a role model.

When I announced this spring that...

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It's Not How We Measure Poverty, but Whether We Act

(0) Comments | Posted November 4, 2011 | 12:56 PM

The Census Bureau is set to roll out a new way of measuring poverty in the United States, according to a front-page story in today's New York Times. Instead of counting how many families are living below the federal poverty line, the Bureau will now also take into...

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No Child Left Behind in Booneville, Kentucky

(51) Comments | Posted October 14, 2011 | 3:33 PM

Since its inception in 2001, No Child Left Behind, the centerpiece federal education law, has injected long-needed accountability into our education system and invested in kids and schools that weren't meeting standards. As a result, over the last decade, the bi-partisan law helped millions of kids who, otherwise,...

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Education Nation Changes the Conversation

(144) Comments | Posted September 26, 2011 | 8:45 PM

NBC News' Education Nation campaign launched this week with teachers, business pioneers, a former president and other leaders gathered in New York City to engage in a dialogue about education in America today. The event spans all of NBC's news programming and also convenes a three-day Summit on...

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The Highest Poverty Numbers in U.S. History

(2) Comments | Posted September 13, 2011 | 1:35 PM

The number of Americans living in poverty jumped to a historic high this year according to new data released today by the Census Bureau.  Bearing the brunt of this crisis are 16 million kids in America, almost one out of every four and the highest number of kids since...

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The Fracture and the Future

(0) Comments | Posted September 9, 2011 | 11:45 AM

The eyes of the nation will peer solemnly across Lower Manhattan, rural Pennsylvania and Northern Virginia on Sunday. While millions of Americans will remember and reflect, many will also look beyond 9/11 to contemplate the decade that followed.

Indeed, 9/11 was not only a singular horrific event, but it...

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As Washington Tightens Its Belt, Kids Get Squeezed

(21) Comments | Posted August 19, 2011 | 11:13 AM

In a matter of weeks, the Congressional Deficit Super Committee will convene to consider some of the most dramatic spending cuts in our nation's history.

The battle lines, political maneuvering and cast of characters will be predictable. Seniors groups, defense contractors, corporations and state and local governments will line up...

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Let Them Eat DVDs?

(2) Comments | Posted July 27, 2011 | 11:45 AM

Anyone who remembers the effort to reclassify ketchup as a vegetable, Barbara Bush telling Katrina survivors that they were better off in the Superdome or Wall Street executives crying poverty at $500,000 salaries, won't be surprised to learn the latest "Let Them Eat Cake"...

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Pre-School for All: The Time Has Come

(74) Comments | Posted June 16, 2011 | 1:55 PM

The conversation about education reform in America often takes place in the realm of 4th-grade reading aptitude, middle school math and science achievement and SAT scores. Last week, on Capitol Hill, we expanded the conversation to the place where all of a child's potential hinges: the first five years.

The...

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President Obama Delivers For America's Youngest

(37) Comments | Posted May 27, 2011 | 3:48 PM

The seemingly permanent budget wars have been churning along all spring, with Republicans pulling and Democrats pushing, and with what seems like not enough getting done for the American people. However, just before official Washington raced home for the Memorial Day weekend, something really fabulous got done for America's youngest.

...
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As Tornadoes Strike, Congress Drops the Ball

(43) Comments | Posted April 28, 2011 | 2:58 PM

Tornadoes of historic proportions are turning towns across the Southeast into trash heaps. Families are homeless, hundreds of people are dead, kids and families are crowded in shelters and the devastation will scar the region for years.

Americans are watching in horror and, in a sign of the times,...

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Japan: What if It Happened Here?

(1) Comments | Posted March 21, 2011 | 3:27 PM

In a strange turn of events, a mind-numbing humanitarian crisis caused by this month's massive 9.0 earthquake, an enormous tsunami and hundreds of aftershocks has been nearly overshadowed by a growing crisis from damaged nuclear power plants along Japan's northeast coast.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of survivors -- men, women...

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A Little Love for Ben Bernanke

(6) Comments | Posted March 4, 2011 | 9:27 AM

When we think of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, the words "mushy," "maternal," or "big spender" usually don't come to mind. That's why it was downright amazing this week when Bernanke waded into an education issue that too often gets mischaracterized as an agenda item of the "mushy, maternal big...

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The Lessons of Christchurch

(3) Comments | Posted February 26, 2011 | 10:32 AM

The images from New Zealand this week shocked the world, as we witnessed extraordinary devastation to that nation's second largest city. As much as we are focused on the relief and recovery efforts, this event is also a reminder of the need for better protections from catastrophes like the one...

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