Rosie Rios, Chair, America 250
Interviewer: Maryam Banikarim, Managing Director, Fortune Live Media; Co- chair, Fortune MPW Summit 

Most Powerful Women Summit 2024: America’s 250th 

Conferences

Now, remember we are going to take audience questions. So I'll start the conversation, but get ready to ask your questions, Rosie, what should we know about America? 250. 1st of all, thrilled to be here. I haven't attended this event since before the pandemic. And I got to tell you, I feel like I'm back at home. So, thank you. Thank you so much. Hi, Patty. So I've got to ask you all this question. Who remembers the bicentennial of 1976? Right? Thank you. So do I, I was 11 years old and I remember it like it was yesterday. It's not an event. It's a feeling. And if you remember July 4th, as I do, July 4th, 1976 born and raised in Hayward, California, it was a cloudy night, but those fireworks were never brighter. I was never more proud to be an American. And as 1/5 grader, I just felt like the world was my oyster. My parents came from Mexico in 1958 to find a better life in California and I am living the American dream. So when I think, thank you. Thank you. So when I think about this. This is not a moment. It's a movement. It's a journey that our country has never taken before. And I'm privileged and thrilled to take the lead. Ok, I can feel the passion in your, in your voice, right? But let's talk about the fact that America is pretty divided today. Do you think something like America 250 can bridge that divide? Absolutely. And look, it's already happening. So, you know, when I took this song, I was appointed onto this congressional commission which is established by legislation, 24 members, 16 of them are private citizens, eight of them are standing members of Congress four from the Senate, four from the House. 24 equally Democrat and Republican. And thankfully, no political ideology has made its way through any of our conversations. We're a fully functional commission and in fact, we just approved our full programming this last march and we're hitting the ground running. The beauty of this is I think twofold. One is we want to make sure that it's all partisan bipartisan nonpartisan two is when I became chair officially two years ago, September of 2022 I made two pledges. One, it has to be community based, it has to be sea to shining sea. We established, we pledged to establish 56 state commissions. So every state, the District of Columbia and the five occupied territories all had to establish their own state commissions. Because if you think about our history, right? Look back to 1776 Alaska was Russia. Hawaii was its own kingdom. California was Mexico and Spain. We doubled our footprint with the Louisiana purchase with France, Texas had at 1.6 different flags flying over it and, and all through all of that is in and slave experiences. So every state has to tell their own story. Today we have ready for this 53 state commissions established. Only three left and all have executive orders on the governor's desk to move forward. So any 2nd 56 the other pledge that I made ready for this, I wanted to be, I will, we will be the largest bipartisan bicameral congressional caucus on the hill. Why is that important? Because we're a congressional commission. So to have this bipartisan port with congress was very important for anyone in those congressional caucuses. They're very hard to establish and even harder to grow. The average size is 20 to 40 members. Just to give you some context. The adoption caucus. How safe can that be? It's one of the largest caucuses at 145. We are at 216. Crazy. But here's the beauty of it. Almost exactly half Democrat, half Republican. I couldn't have tried to do that. So the two metrics that I wanted to use two years ago are actually happening. I think people really want this to happen. What's the timeline? Because here we are and you have a road map ahead of you. Well, it already started. So I mean, look, the two things you're always going to hear from me is awareness and action. If you were to go on the street right now and ask people what's happening of historical significance in 2026 for our country. Barely anyone would say it's the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. But here's, here's why it's important. So, first of all, I mean, we are the oldest democracy in the world, right? This is again, that journey, this is that, that movement, not the moment. So we, we literally started this public initiative last July 4th. Our first big event was in the great State of Wisconsin. Nice purple state. We launched with Major League baseball at the Milwaukee Brewers against Chicago Cubs game called America's invitation. That's basically inviting the American public to take this journey with us. You can go on our website right now, American fiftyf.org and submit your video on your memories, your ideas, what you want to think about for 2026. So that already happens. In addition to that, we just finished our pilot program, our first big trophy program which is called America's Field trip. America's field trip is a national student competition for grades three through 12, asking the question, what does America mean to you? Here's the beauty of it. The award recipients, 75 get to choose from these backstage experiences, most of which had never been offered to the public before. So we just finished that. And by the way, the National Park Service along with Smithsonian National Archives Library was also part of our commission. So they're the ones who are offering all these great experiences. So I did the field trip with some of these kids this summer. It wasn't just the tour of the Statue of Liberty. We went up to the crown, we went to Ellis Island and no one else was there. We were hosted by the CEO of Bny Robin Vince for lunch where he took us to the Markets Room, the trading floor, the Cybersecurity Command Center. We ended the day at the New York Federal Reserve getting an overview of monetary policy and getting into deep storage. And I'll tell you I can summarize that by saying there was one high school young woman who came up to me and she said, I feel like I won the golden ticket, but this is better than Willy Wonka. So our goal is to buy those memories, right? Those those generational experiences that we'll never see again. Kind of like the memory you shared from me. Absolutely. Again, any questions I want to turn on the lights so I can see if we have any questions from the audience. OK. Um While you come up with your questions because I know you have them. Let's talk about the role the business can play in America 250 A, you have a lot of power in this room. How can we help? Well, thankfully, we are federally appropriated, but I made it clear to Congress, look for every dollar that we get. I want to match that one for one and it has to be a public, private partnership. There has to be skin in the game. Thankfully again, and BNY was our major sponsor for America's field trip. Uh Goldman Sachs Facebook. Um Walmart is major sponsor for one of our upcoming initiatives called our American Story. You can go online American fifty.org and you can actually nominate whose story you think should be preserved in perpetuity at the Library of Congress. So we're taking this nomination process now all the way through next July 4th and then we're going to get on the road. So Wal Mart is sponsoring these air streams. We're getting out, we're going to all parts of the country. We're going to tribal nations, the Deep South rural America, faith based communities, farming, farming, parts of our country and, and bury those stories that we know have never been told. And again, we want to find those stories of main street. We want to find maybe it's your uncle who served in the Vietnam War. Maybe it's your grandfather who remembers World War. I, I maybe it's your mother who came here by herself like my mom did and raised all nine of us as a single parent and sent all nine of us off to college. So those stories should be remembered and should be preserved. So that is our goal with these three initiatives already out the gate, you can already participate in every single one of them. OK. I know we have a question over there. Thank you so much and thank you for all you're doing. I'm I'm curious about um there are 22 pieces that, you know, in the declaration of inde independence. Excuse me, you talk about all men being equal. And so we're in a room full of women. And um and in addition to that, we're now living in a time where even the concept of freedom is so politicized. And so I'm curious for you with those two things. How is the commission thinking about um you talked about sea to shining sea, but how are you thinking about those who were almost explicitly not included? Yeah, absolutely. And that's a really great point. There's a reason why we're the oldest democracy in the world. It didn't just happen overnight. First of all, the American Revolution did not end in 1776 right? It took two continental Congresses for EPPS to form our government. And then it wasn't until 12 years later after 1776 where the constitution was ratified. And then it was the following year in 1789 when George Washington became president, our kids a lot of kids don't know that story, how long it took for us to have and be that oldest democracy in the world. That's why this isn't a one and done. This isn't a moment. This is that journey and perhaps a journey again that our country has never taken before. And it's not just again, you know, look, I mean, my goal is to make this the most comprehensive and inclusive celebration and commemoration this country has ever seen. But let not forget. I mean, us here for anyone who knows me. I'm the one who led, initiated and led the efforts to put the portrait of a woman on a Federal Reserve notes for the first time in us. History. That hasn't happened yet. We just kind of bypassed what happened in 2020. What happened in 2020 of historical significance for our country for this room here, more than anyone. It was the 1/100 anniversary of the 19th Amendment. It kind of came and went right in 2020. A lot of people don't realize that was, that was probably it for us in terms of a historical milestone for women of that significance. There's not another one like that. I want to reclaim that the National Women's History Museum is one of our national resource partners who's making sure that women's history is included in this. This is 51% of the population. And again, look for me, this is as much about the future. As it is the past, we've been trying to plant those seeds of inspiration for this next generation of leadership to understand why they've been given this gift. If you look at the typical profile of a millennial, post millennial, they don't trust institutions, they're very cynical, they're very pessimistic. So giving them something to believe in everything that we're doing is actually a lot of it is geared towards them. A lot of it is thinking about again, how to inspire this next generation. Let's not forget those other three passages of the Declaration of Independence that is so important for all of us, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. My goal in 2026 is to make as many Americans as possible, feel like this is a land of opportunity all over again. Ok. That's the last word from Rosie Rio. Thank you for joining us.