Nonprofit Utopia Podcast

At Your Service

By the time Crystal Sowemimo graduated from college, she had at least 5 years of volunteerism under her belt.  As a high school senior,  she served as a tutor and mentor to at-risk refugee children in Houston, Texas. As a college student, she worked in broad based coalitions to advocate against sweatshops; engaged other youth in voter education and registration campaigns and started a public interest group. She currently lives in Chicago, and is actively working with a number of issue campaigns. Crystal works for Holsten Human Capital Development as the Community Outreach and Development VISTA, where she builds resources for the Workforce Development team for their North Lawndale site. She plans to go to law school in the near future and pursue a career in law, focusing on issues that impact low income communities.
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Connecting the Dots

In 1993 Dan Bassill and founders of a new Chicago tutor/mentor program (Cabrini Connections) decided to also create the Tutor/Mentor Connection. The T/MC’s goal was to "collect all that is known" about tutoring/mentoring and education-to-careers in a "library" of knowledge that anyone can draw from at any time to help kids from a poverty neighborhood get the adult support they need to move to careers. Since that time, Dan has developed an extensive database of maps, visualization tools, and a 4-pronged strategy, to arm thousands of youth development professionals along with business and philanthropic leaders, with information they can use to strengthen tutor and mentoring programs in Chicago and other cities. Today, Dan continues to support this strategy as CEO of Tutor/Mentor Institute, LLC.
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Let the Sunshine In

When Shelby Parchman started his job as Director of Programs at Sunshine Enterprises, his charge was to create 200 businesses along the 61st Street Corridor in Chicago’s Woodlawn community.  Since that time, he has expanded  the vision to include businesses in under-served communities on Chicago’s Southside, Westside and Southwestside.  Using the evidence-based Rising Tide Model, Sunshine Enterprises operates the Community Business Academy and the Business Acceleration Services initiative to help small business owners transform communities throughout the City of Chicago. Read Six ways to make sure you don't tank your business plan http://www.chicagotribune.com/bluesky/originals/chi-business-plan-tips-bsi-ngux-story.html
 
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Diamonds in the Rough: Creating Sustainable Businesses in Tough Markets

Upon first glance, the North Lawndale community does not seem to be a place budding entrepreneurs would look to start a business. Indeed, there are challenges on every front. Where others see problems, Dr. Dennis Deer and Rodney Brown see potential.  Tune in to find out how they are working with local businesses and residents, one by one to revitalize the business climate in North Lawndale.  Dr. Dennis Deer, CEO of Deer Rehabilitation Services, Inc., will talk about the relationships between mental health and economic development. Rodney Brown, Vice President of the Board of Directors for New Covenant CDC will share lessons learned from his work with the chamber of commerce and business development center.
Call in live at (347) 884-8121. You don't need an account to listen, but, if you want to participate in an online chat, open a listener-only account at https://secure.blogtalkradio.com/register.aspx?type=listener to participate in a live chat.
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