Champions of Change

Engage and Connect

President Obama is committed to making this the most open and participatory administration in history. That begins with taking your questions and comments, inviting you to join online events with White House officials, and giving you a way to engage with your government on the issues that matter the most.

Thumbnail from a video where a boy and a man are sitting together.

Latest News

  • Colombian-American Leaders Visit White House on Colombian Independence Day

    Posted by Luis Miranda on July 30, 2012 at 8:12 PM EST

    Colombian American Leaders Briefing

    Dan Restrepo, Dario Gomez, Kevin Whitaker, Alejandra Castillo, and Gustavo Arnavat speak on a panel titled "Promoting Exports and Trade Opportunities for Small Business," July 20, 2012. (Photo by the White House Office of Public Engagement)

    In recognition of Colombian Independence Day, the White House hosted nearly 100 Colombian-American leaders on Friday July 20, 2012 for a policy briefing on both international and domestic issues, highlighting the strong relationship between the United States and Colombia as well as the important role Colombian-Americans are playing as a growing sector of the Hispanic community in the United States.  As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had stated about the 202nd anniversary of Colombia’s independence, “this year also marked a historic year in U.S.-Colombia relations as we reinforced our already strong relationship with the May 15 entry into force of the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement.”

    Key White House and other Administration officials joined the Colombian-American participants for this important exchange. Ricardo Zuniga, the recently appointed Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs in the National Security Staff, delivered welcoming remarks highlighting the importance of the relationship between the United States and Colombia, from our shared common values, to our long history dating back to Simon Bolivar and George Washington’s exchange on their common struggle for independence.  In addition to the important social and economic partnership, Zuniga also discussed President Obama and Colombian President Santos’ announcement of a high-level strategic security dialogue, and the extension of U.S. non-immigrant visas from 5- to 10 years, making it easier for more Colombians to visit the United States for business and pleasure.

    read the rest
    Learn more about , Foreign Policy

  • The Nation's First High Speed Rail

    Posted by Dan Richard on July 30, 2012 at 6:08 PM EST

    Dan Richard is being honored as a Champion of Change for his time and effort developing innovative ways to help grow and expand the transportation industry.  

    America’s economy cannot outgrow its transportation system. It is well known that roads, bridges, ports, airports and transit systems must be kept in good repair and upgraded. But more than that, America will continue to grow and must find new ways to provide for the movement of people and goods.

    California embraced the notion of a passenger high speed rail system more than 30 years ago. During the ensuing years, the state took small steps to establish an organization to design and construct such a system – common in other parts of the world, but still elusive as a transportation mode in the U.S.

    read the rest
    Learn more about Additional Issues

  • Committed to American Innovation, American Jobs, and Environmentally-Friendly Mass Transportation

    Posted by David Bennett on July 30, 2012 at 5:58 PM EST

    David Bennett is being honored as a Champion of Change for his time and effort developing innovative ways to help grow and expand the transportation industry.  

    Proterra is a quintessential American story. Our world-leading EcoRide™ 35 foot battery-electric fast-charge transit bus was designed and developed in the United States by Dale Hill, a bus industry veteran with an entrepreneur’s sensibility. Since its inception, Proterra has made strides that have taken transit bus technology from a platform mostly built in the 1950’s to a platform that today satisfies the environmental and efficiency goals that the U.S. Federal Transit Administration hoped to achieve in the year 2030. Think of it: the EcoRide achieves 23 miles per gallon diesel equivalent efficiency, carrying 68 passengers – five to six times greater than a diesel hybrid or CNG bus and potentially more efficient than the passenger car you drive today.

    read the rest
    Learn more about Additional Issues

  • Improving Efficiency through Simple Technology

    Posted by David Barger on July 30, 2012 at 5:53 PM EST

    David Barger is being honored as a Champion of Change for his time and effort developing innovative ways to help grow and expand the transportation industry.  

    I am humbled and honored to be a White House Champion of Change. When I think about change, especially through the lens of transportation, I can’t help but think how much aviation and the airline industry has changed and modernized over the past 100 years. We’ve morphed and evolved – through innovations in materials, technologies, aircraft look and feel, fuel efficiency… you name it. In this industry, you never know what’s next on the horizon. Constant change is a given, and it’s one of the things that I love about being in aviation.

    read the rest
    Learn more about Additional Issues

  • Telling the Big Story of America’s Rivers

    Posted by Jerry Enzler on July 30, 2012 at 5:43 PM EST

    Jerry Enzler is being honored as a Champion of Change for his time and effort developing innovative ways to help grow and expand the transportation industry.  

    Our country was founded by river people, and still today hundreds of thousands of people owe their jobs to river borne commerce. The people who move the nation’s goods on our rivers today are the descendants of the early flat boat shippers, steamboat pilots, engineers, and towboat deckhands. RiverWorks Discovery (RWD), a nationally recognized education outreach program, tells this story to children and their families and shows how those who work the river are also concerned about river culture and conservation.

    read the rest
    Learn more about Additional Issues

  • Building Pedestrian Friendly Environments

    Posted by Bob Sloane on July 30, 2012 at 5:35 PM EST

    Bob Sloane is being honored as a Champion of Change for his time and effort developing innovative ways to help grow and expand the transportation industry.  

    In the last few years, walking has come to be recognized as one of the best - and certainly the cheapest - methods of maintaining personal health. Both older and younger generations are moving into places where they can walk during their regular daily activities. People are being reminded that a benefit of walking is that you see and experience things you’d miss using other modes of travel. Walkability has even become a way to market real estate.

    read the rest
    Learn more about Additional Issues

  • Funding Transit Projects Responsibly

    Posted by Phillip A. Washington on July 30, 2012 at 4:50 PM EST

    Phillip A. Washington is being honored as a Champion of Change for his time and effort developing innovative ways to help grow and expand the transportation industry.  

    Denver’s Regional Transportation District (RTD) is known for taking innovative approaches toward completing transit projects. Our Eagle P3 project and Workforce Initiative Now (WIN) program have resulted in the largest transit public-private partnership in the country that includes a unique workforce development program embedded in the project. RTD utilized the expertise of financial and legal advisors to prepare and distribute a Request for Proposals to design, build, finance, operate and maintain two complete commuter rail lines, a segment of another rail line, and a commuter rail maintenance facility, and to supply the commuter rail vehicles needed for the Eagle P3 (Public Private Partnership) project. In just three years, RTD was able to bring this innovative project from concept to contract, last year executing a 34-year agreement with a comprehensive team of private partners.

    read the rest
    Learn more about Additional Issues

  • Becoming the Change

    Posted by Jason Roberts on July 30, 2012 at 4:33 PM EST

    Jason Roberts is being honored as a Champion of Change for his time and effort developing innovative ways to help grow and expand the transportation industry.  

    Wow. When this all began I never dreamed my work would start a national movement in urban revitalization, or that I would be receiving this incredible Transportation Innovators Champion of Change award from the White House and the Department of Transportation.

    read the rest
    Learn more about Additional Issues