This website features the work of Bob McKinnon.
Bob is a writer, designer, podcast host, children’s author and teacher. What unites all of his work is the desire to help others move up in life – just as others have helped him.
There are few people in the world who know more about issues like social mobility and a good life than Bob – as he has experienced it from so many different perspectives.
He himself moved from the bottom of the economic ladder to the top – a climb that only happens for 10% of Americans. He is the son of a former bartender who raised three children largely by herself in various row houses in Chelsea, Massachusetts and trailers in rural Pennsylvania. He is a proud former recipient of food stamps, welfare, Medicaid, Pell grants, student loans and numerous other government benefits. His educational and professional success would not be possible without the kindness and efforts of countless teachers, mentors, social workers, friends, family, non-profit workers, and individuals – many of whom will never know their impact on his life… and an incredible amount of good fortune. Through his writing and work, he hopes to pay tribute and thanks to all those who have helped him and others move up in life.
He now directs The Social Mobility Lab at City College of New York. Its mission is to discover new ways to accelerate and expand opportunity for our students, their families and the communities they represent. The Lab funds and reviews research on social mobility and then translates that knowledge into programs and practices to help others move up in life. One of their first initiatives is “Ideas for Moving Up” – which is a collection of one hundred key findings from social mobility research that can directly inform people’s life journeys and will be launched in the fall of 2025..
In between, he has worked with government, foundations and non-profit organizations to help millions of people overcome barriers in their journey towards a good life. Specific projects include working with the White House Office of Drug Control and Prevention to reduce teen drug use and redesigning the food stamp program for the State of California to alleviate the stigma associated with the program for those eligible to receive it. — the latter of which was particularly rewarding as Bob himself felt the sting of that stigma as a child.
Through his teaching and research, he has talked to and learned from thousands of Americans about their own dreams and aspirations, including a national research study among two thousand Americans to better understand their beliefs about “The American Dream,” and what contributes to it.
As a follow up to that research, Bob created a quiz, What’s Your American Dream Score, — also the basis of a curriculum created by PBS Learning — that has allowed almost a million people to reflect on the factors that have helped or hindered their journey.
His award winning NPR podcast, Attribution with Bob McKinnon, features interviews with leading academics studying social mobility and features discussions with well-known storytellers who have written about their own journeys, such as Dave Eggers, Stephanie Land, Nicholas Kristof, Deepak Chopra, Run DMC and Maria Konnikova, among many others.
He has written books and articles to help to engage audiences of all ages on these questions about “how we end up where we do” and what contributes to a good life. These include his New York Times best-selling children’s book, Three Little Engines -a modern retelling of The Little Engine that Could story and two follow up children’s books, America’s Dreaming and America Gives Thanks.
His writing and work have been featured in The New York Times, CBS Sunday Morning, Esquire, Parents, The Boston Globe, PBS, NPR, Fast Company, The Huffington Post and The Kelly Clarkson Show among other outlets.
If you’re interested in connecting with Bob for a school or library visit related to his children’s books, please contact allyson@bookedauthors.com. For all other speaking inquiries, please email Les Tuerk at les@brightsightgroup.com. As an example of his talks, please watch his commencement address at Penn State University below:
For all other inquiries, please email dorothy@galewill.com.