In the past year, I have learned a great deal about myself and the way in which I want to live out the rest of my days. I know in my heart that I have made the right steps in putting together a first rate program and laid a foundation for long term growth and relationships in both the professional and private spheres of my life. Things are by no means perfect, however. In fact, I am in a crisis.

We have lost a major funding source which has made it possible for me to at least feed myself and build a part time staff over the past year. Nevertheless, I am thankful for the opportunity and realize that from change comes more opportunity. I must stay focused on the big picture. I can no longer accept the status quo in education. We are bringing fundamental change to the way in which we educate our students and the daily machinations of creating that change are sometimes difficult to measure at first.

This is the dilemma… there must be some criteria for measuring progress and this is most often done through standardized testing. But with 40% of the students in Texas that DO pass these tests still NOT ready for college and feedback from employers saying students are ill prepared for work, it’s difficult for me devote energy to that idea.

I see how politicians can become corrupted by the lure of staying fiscally alive vs living by one’s core principles. You start by thinking, “I can compromise here and there as long as I can get most of what I believe in done”. Then, in order to sustain and grow your aspirations, you make more compromises until well, you are assimilated by “the Borg”.

I may be oversimplifying here, but after 2 years without a paycheck along with bouts of no hot water and sleeping on an air mattress, “the Borg” starts to look kinda sexy. I currently earn ⅓ of the salary I used to… Now, with the prospect of a major part of that disappearing, it’s a little disheartening.
But this is not a pity party. We’ve come too far already for that. I know that we have a sustainable and scalable business model for educational empowerment in place. In fact, now that we have this model in place, we also know that there are other potential partners better suited for what we have to offer.
I went to the mat for our current major funding source and came up short. But now, with the proper infrastructure in place and taking students through the E4 Youth sequence of Engagement, Education, Employment & Entrepreneurship, our students will measure up by whatever standards we impose on them – standardized testing or otherwise.

We will continue to m0ve forward and serve.

Former student and now an E4 Youth Mentor, David Frias is an example of the transformation we take students through.