Who do you picture when you imagine someone experiencing poverty today? A newly arrived immigrant? A Black single mother? A rural family? What about a white child? Most Americans living in poverty are white—18 million individuals.

After 20 years working to foster diversity, equity and inclusion in a variety of leadership roles, Elise James-DeCruise joined the Ad Council as our chief equity officer in early 2021. As we reflect on how her first 100 days laid the groundwork for her role, we thought we’d use the opportunity to share her learnings in an effort to help other organizations set themselves up for authentic, tangible success.

On January 5-8, 2022, CES 2022 returns and the Ad Council is proud to be participating in three virtual panels at this year’s event. We’ll explore everything from eliminating bias in advertising to the future of brand partnerships and influencer marketing. Read on for more about where to find us at CES.

As we near the end of a year like no other, our industry finds itself at yet another turning point in the ongoing fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. We have made so much progress, even though we continue to reckon with systemic inequities, a mental health crisis and so many other issues. And yet there is still so much to be done.

As Gen Xers born between 1967 and 1981 move through their forties and fifties in a time of uncertainty, conflict and progress, the ways we think about how to reach this demographic has changed dramatically. To explore the ways we can authentically connect with Gen Xers now, I was eager to dig into CANVAS8’s “Snapshot of Generation X” report. Here are my key takeaways.

Employers should double down on vaccination, boosters and other safety measures to strengthen protection and business resilience.

Four years ago, after stints at Wayfair and Criteo, Andrew Horwitz became an account manager at Pinterest, where he has worked with us on nearly 20 campaigns, including our work this year to address the rise in bias and hate crimes against the AAPI community. We sat down with him to get his advice on driving impact and how social media can be a force for good.

Rebecca Murga is a writer-producer-director and U.S. Army veteran who recently directed veteran-focused spots for two current Ad Council campaigns, End Family Fire and Caregiver Assistance, all while advocating for women and veterans through her work with AFI, Heart and Armor, Veterans in Media and Entertainment other programs. (Since August, she has also worked in extraction efforts in Afghanistan.)

New PSAs remind the more than 6.5 million-strong community of military veteran caregivers that there are resources to help support their journey

Honoring Verizon Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg and hosted by Terry Crews, Stephanie Ruhle and Kenan Thompson, the event raised a record-breaking $6.4 million for national social good campaigns

Now in its 17th year, this successful campaign has contributed to the more than 900,000 children and youth that have been adopted from the U.S. foster care system.

The campaign encourages historically underserved communities to connect with a health care professional about self-monitoring their blood pressure