Social Entrepreneurs in New Profit’s portfolio are creating new pathways to economic mobility, which they’re designing in deep partnership with their constituents. Below, these leaders share a few insights on the importance of being grounded in the communities they serve, and what’s possible when we adopt new approaches to creating impact.
Sheila Sarem, the Founder and CEO of Basta, an organization working to close the opportunity gap for first-generation college graduates, asks us to get closer to each other to expand our understanding of excellence: “For somebody who has never met a first-generation college student before, what might their first impression be? If they meet lots of first-generation students over time, their impression of what a first-generation student is, what they bring to the table, and their unique value shifts. So, what we value as a society starts to shift when we’re proximate.”
Indeed, to do this work requires that we recognize the assets and expertise of the people most impacted by the systems in our country. Kathleen St. Louis Caliento, President & CEO of Cara Collective, which helps people who are experiencing poverty develop the skills and confidence they need to get and keep good jobs, told me that “proximity is so important because … we can’t purport to know what’s best for people.” We must not work in a way that “implies [constituents] owe us gratitude, but in a way that works for them and aligns with their career goals.”
Investing in proximate leaders and solutions, then, is not only the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do. Jerelyn Rodriguez, Co-Founder & CEO of The Knowledge House, a nonprofit committed to building a diverse pipeline of tech talent from low-income communities, puts the impact imperative simply: “Proximity is why we’ve been able to do what we do and be successful at it. I’m surrounded by the population that I want to serve, which means I’m always hearing the feedback and seeing the problems up close.”
And we’re not the only ones seeing what’s possible when we take new approaches. Employers are also seeing that brilliance comes in different forms. As Sandee Kastrul, co-founder of Inner City Computer Stars (i.c.stars) told us, “[Business leaders] go in thinking they’ll just be talking about leadership with the next generation, but leave thinking, “Oh my gosh! [These students] asked better questions than my management team. How do I hire them?” That’s the power of proximity.