I was nervous the first time I met my future brothers-in-law as they quizzed, prodded and pushed me about my intentions regarding their sister.

Almost 25 years later, there are hazy details of shaky anecdotes, hesitant acceptance and sweaty palms, but I clearly remember a single question and answer from that encounter.

I shared as a reporter I was trained to be skeptical, ensconced in a world of whys, but that I remained a perennial optimist. “I’m a glass half-full person,” I said defaulting to a cliché befitting the nerves I was feeling.

They smiled at each other before one said to me, “We’re engineers, so we don’t look at glasses as either half-full or half-empty. We look at them and say, ‘Why did they build the glass twice the size it needed to be?'”

Professionally, I’ve always appreciated the engineering or pragmatic approach to society’s challenges as it provides the perfect arc for a storyteller (beginning, middle and an end). However, history has shown us America has struggled to engineer its way out of generations of equity gaps in some of its most foundational areas.

This is the space the American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact is entering. Whether it’s in education, the environment or in the job market, there remain distinct challenges and a lack of opportunity for certain segments of our population.

There can be no American dream if there’s fitful sleep because bills can’t be paid, jobs can’t be earned, or skills can’t be learned.

So, the Institute is unapologetically aspirational.

Our mission is to close equity gaps around America and we will use world-class talent and resources to amplify our socially-impactful investments and partnerships. We will invest in visionary entrepreneurs who are tackling some of society’s greatest challenges.

“I think companies like American Family Insurance have to express their deep essence to the world,” said the Institute’s Executive Sponsor Peter Gunder, who is also the head of Business Development at American Family Insurance. “We inspire, protect and restore dreams and we do that through our actions. I think the Institute is a window into our soul as a company. We really do care about communities.”

Communities are at the core of the Institute’s work. We want to find those people throughout America working tirelessly to close equity gaps in their neighborhoods and make a positive social impact.

We realize this is a marathon, not a sprint.

I’ve called the Institute’s goal, a “Mission to Wow,” but the “Wow,” is never to be interpreted as a “Wow, look at what the Institute has done.” Instead, it’s a “Wow, look at the extraordinary people around this country who might define their own efforts as ordinary.”

They’re working in areas where it would be great if their friends, relatives or neighbors existed in that proverbial glass that was perfectly constructed for them not just to survive, but to thrive.

However, that’s not reality. There are people who don’t have that perfect Hollywood ending.

Yet.

We want to empower the social impactors in America to continue restoring and inspiring dreams. We’ll invest in some and share the stories at this site of others.

We live in a glass half-full world and hope others hang out there as well, trying to envision a future without equity gaps.

I know my brothers-in-law would agree that would be a perfectly engineered solution.