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Joe Waters

Greenville, South Carolina

Joe Waters is the co-founder and CEO of Capita. Capita is a think tank dedicated to exploring how the cultural and social transformations of our day affect young children and their families, and fostering new ideas and policies to ensure a future in which all people flourish. Under Joe’s leadership, Capita has launched initiatives focused on supporting the development of more worker-owned child care businesses, helping policymakers and systems leaders better meet the needs of Gen Z parents and their families, and bringing strategic foresight tools to policy and program planning for child-serving systems. His commentary on issues facing families has been published by Investor’s Business Daily, The Hill, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Nonprofit Quarterly and other outlets. He has served as a long-time member of the Board of Directors of the Felician Center, which helps those who struggle to meet their basic needs in South Carolina’s rural Pee Dee region and of the Greenville Chorale. He graduated from Furman University (BA, history) and earned a master’s degree in divinity from Duke University. He and his wife Molly Benedum, a family physician, live with their family in Blowing Rock, North Carolina.

Stories Featuring Joe Waters
May 25, 2023
Announcing Ascend Fellowship Impact Fund Awardees for the Class of 2021
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May 2, 2023
Discovering Ubuntu in South Africa
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July 26, 2022
Early Learning Nation: The Early Years Climate Action Task Force: “A Natural and Necessary Focus”
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July 19, 2022
Chronicle of Philanthropy: To Increase Their Impact, the Early-Childhood and Climate Movements Need to Join Forces
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June 15, 2022
Ascending at the 2022 Aspen Ideas Festival
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April 19, 2022
The Need to Create Child-Centered Climate Policies
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January 21, 2022
Aspen Institute Announces 2021 Ascend Fellows
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Ascend Fellows are a community of values-driven leaders who share an unwavering commitment to our shared goal of intergenerational family prosperity and well-being.