A very Breaky opening session last night, featuring Ned Rimer, co-founder of Breakthrough's buddy-program, Citizen Schools, and Alexis McGill, activist and lifelong friend of former Breakthrough National Program Director Tara Phillips.

Ned spoke about what it takes to make a good idea work, focusing on all the trial and error it took to get Citizen Schools off the ground (along with Breakthrough trustee and Citizen Schools co-founder/CEO Eric Schwarz).

Alexis has a history as Russel Simmons' political guru, and she talked about her work in turning political engagement into a product like hip-hop.  She traced her work on Simmons' Hip-Hop Summit, Diddy's "Vote Or Die" movement, and her continuing efforts to turn "the hip hop generation into the next NRA."

Fascinating.