“I’ve found my people”

Yesterday I attended the Education Pioneers Metro DC Showcase. Education Pioneers is focused on building the field of leaders to close the talent gap and transform urban education. Their program places students from top graduate schools in summer internships at education organizations around the country. Education Pioneers is a fantastic model for developing human capital for social impact, and Founder Scott Morgan has been a great adviser to ProInspire.

During the event, Scott shared a comment from someone who was part of the Education Pioneers program a few years ago. She said “I’ve found my people” and this stayed with him ever since. This statement was echoed by other Education Pioneers Fellows and Alumni who spoke yesterday. It made me think about the importance of building a community to address society’s greatest social problems. I suppose this is what conferences, blogs, and social networks are supposed to do, but rarely do I get the feeling of “we are all in this together” from those. How do you effectively create the kind of camaraderie, network, and support to create social change that programs like Education Pioneers and Teach for America do?

This community is something we are trying to build with our Inspire Fellows program, but can it be even bigger? Not just Fellows and Alumni, but the whole system of people trying to use their talent to make a difference.