Author Archives: Rita Ferrandino

The “Rising Billion” and Your Business Model

What would your company look like if your content or app could reach 1 billion more people than you are reaching today? And what if that group was a self-driven, DIY-inclined audience who are not only consumers of your product, but potential improvers and collaborators? A new book, “Abundance: The Future is Better Than You […]

May Government Relations Update

Your Ticket to the 2012 Elections With another election season in full swing, Rita Ferrandino will be in the middle of all the excitement. In addition to her work with Arc and as the CEO of Chicago Educational Publishing Company and as a founding partner of Arc Capital Development, Rita also serves as the Chair of […]

April Government Relations Update

Education Cuts in the Florida Budget Rita Ferrandino authored a blog post for Sarasota Patch examining education spending in the recently signed $70 billion Florida state budget. Rita notes that while the budget “ostensibly provides a $1 billion funding “increase” for K-12 education, that hardly offsets last year’s cut of $1.3 billion, let alone provides […]

March Government Relations Update

Tracking State Legislation Many state legislatures are currently in session, which means it is an important time to stay abreast of legislative developments in states in which you do business. Whether you have a lobbyist who is tracking proposals for you or you are monitoring the news on your own through local Web sites (such […]

February Government Relations Update

State of the Union During his 2012 State of the Union address, President Obama made education one of the focuses, looking specifically at four issues: college affordability, teachers, dropouts and job training. College Affordability: The President urged Congress to stop interest rates on student loans from doubling in July, to extend the college tuition tax […]

Welcoming the First Lady to Sarasota

On January 26, I had the pleasure and honor of welcoming First Lady Michelle Obama to Sarasota as part of the Host Committee, as she continued her efforts to promote health and wellness among children.  Mrs. Obama’s visit to Sarasota was part of a three-city visit through Florida on the 26th, and Sarasota’s inclusion shows […]

January Government Relations Update

Making It Easier to Do Business in America Entrepreneurs who want to do business with the government are often all too familiar with competing bureaucracies, overlapping agencies and other red tape. On January 13, President Obama announced a plan to streamline business in America by merging six departments: the U.S. Department of Commerce’s core business […]

December Government Relations Update

Impact of the American Jobs Act on Education The Department of Education released two interactive maps that display the American Jobs Act’s estimated impact on every state and school district in the nation. These maps and the downloadable dataset behind them can be found here, while the full report, which includes a state-by-state appendix that […]

Reinventing American Education

Last year’s documentary “Waiting for Superman” helped to refocus attention on our country’s education system, which, for too long, has been widely (and often correctly) perceived as falling behind the rest of the world.  But instead of focusing on just “catching up,” we should turn our attention to once again being a leader – leadership […]

November Government Relations Update

Broadband Access in Schools The government recently released a report on broadband access in schools. View the data map here and find more information here. Early Learning Thirty-five states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico submitted applications in October for $500 million in competitive grants under the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge. […]