Seeking Growth

Whatever it Takes: The Geoffrey Canada Story

Author: Paul Tough 

Who should read it: Company Founders, Entrepreneurs, Managers, Educators, Parents  

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I am excited to recommend this book because there are so many great take lessons and, best of all: it’s a ‘feel good’ book.  This should be on the 'Parents’ recommended reading' list for our kids’ schools because of the important lessons about parenting and education.  For entrepreneurs it’s highly inspirational for making the impossible possible with commitment and focus, and by applying sustained innovation and analytical discipline.  Finally, it’s a great example of the power of social entrepreneurism: a growing movement that I think will make transformative changes in our society.

The book is about an experiment, called the Harlem Children’s Zone, funded largely (2/3) through private donations. The project delivers an array of interventions and educational services to parents and students within a 10 square block area of Harlem. The aim is to eradicate the education/achievement gap between the poorest and the richest social economic groups in the community.  Canada insisted on taking a random allocation of students, to prove that his model would work for everyone. His goal is to build a replicable model so, once developed, it can be implemented everywhere. It’s hard to imagine a more ambitious or transformative goal for our society.   He is looking to wipe out poverty in one generation by giving every one of the kids the preparation, desire and opportunity to go to college.

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The Palo Solo Project (and that affiliate button)

I have always wanted to tie this blog in with another passion of mine – social entrepreneurship.  

The Palo Solo Project is a registered 501-C that I launched with a friend of mine, Francesco Mantica. We use Facebook and social networking to connect families in developing countries – specifically Nicaragua – with families/donors here in the US.   The money is used primarily for education so that we can,  over time, move the village one rung up the economic ladder and get the residents engaged in the global economy. My goal is to learn how to market and sell charity as a product like other goods and services are sold in our society.  If properly priced and packaged, I think a lot can be done here.  I am on a number of non profit boards and am amazed by the need for and lack of business skills in the sector.  With the affiliate button, 4% of every purchase you make (10% for Kindle downloads) goes to families in Palo Solo.  If you made all your Amazon purchases though our links, we would get 4% of everything you spend, and it would cost you nothing.  All of the proceeds go to help the families. If we make enough, we plan to spend some on buying keywords profitably which would multiply a portion of your gift (let’s see – we will keep you posted). 

A little bit about Palo Solo: This is a typical rural village in a developing country.  The literal translation is “the lonely stick”.  and it has 50 families with about 250 people.  It is about 1 hour from Managua and borders a ranch/farm I purchased down there about 7 years ago which has become a decidedly not-for-profit (profitless?) enterprise, though that wasn’t the goal.   Nicaragua is one of the poor countries in the Americas alongside Cuba and Haiti.