This is the year of 2008 and we are in the year of a world of change. Even though, we have a new leader who symbolizes “change”, there are also many other local heroes that have not been recognized in our communities. The unrecognized heroes are also known as social entrepreneurs; they help resolve local issues in their area to make social changes. They are very unselfish people that take out time of their very busy schedules to help others. Several social entrepreneurs are more concerned about helping improve their communities for the better, rather than worrying about gratification. Social entrepreneurs are just as important as being a President is, because they both take on a large responsibility as a leader. There numerous local social entrepreneurs in the city of Oakland, I have chosen a specific social entrepreneur, Latronda Lumpkins because she has personally helped out her city.
Everyone has a past that they have to deal with, whether bad or sad, they have to continue on living with it. Latronda Lumpkins, a social entrepreneur, chose to deal with her problems in her past by not letting them affect her day to day life negatively. Latronda was born and raised in Oakland, Ca, to the community that she now works to give back to. She knows the struggle of being a teen in this new generation, because she grew up in the Foster Care System. A place that is really not for kids, because the way they mistreat the children is immoral. Latronda says “There are different types of families that exist, I just so happen to grow up without the privilege to grow up and share moments with my biological parents. That was just the way it was. I learned to become a woman early and deal with it. By walking through and not around my obstacles I made it out the Foster Care and not the other way around.” Breaking down how she uses her life in foster care as a format how to handle any day situations. Growing up without her real parents, she decided to break the cycle by becoming married and a mother of three from the ages of six to a five month old baby and making sure her family is stable. From her personal experience she is able to relate with the youth from her past and know that there is hope for them to become successful, because she is a living example. Latronda did not allow growing up in the Foster Care be her excuse for not becoming a successful woman in life. Latronda made through her high school years and had dreams of college. In the year of 1998, she earned her MSW from UC Berkeley and she also received a Non-Profit Organization Certificate from Cal State Hayward in the year of 2000. Latronda Lumpkins has also worked as a Child welfare worker for Alameda County Department of Children and Family Services. Latronda knows that she had a problem, but also was aware that she was not the only one facing her problem. Latronda knew what she wanted to do in life and that was to create a safe place to help teens who are afraid to speak out about their problems just like she used to. She understands that you can not make it alone in this world and every one needs a helping hand.
The majority of social entrepreneurs builds up non-profit organizations to socially change their community and is also have assistance from other local social entrepreneurs that are running in the same race to get to the same goal of improving the streets of their city. In the year of 2001, Pivotal Point Youth Services was just a small non-profit program in Oakland, CA for youth at threat of living unsafe lives from ages 16-24. Pivotal Point’s goals are to decrease teens from having low self-esteem, ending up in jail, becoming homeless, staying out of gangs and any other issues that can cause them to be in harm’s way. PPYS was founded Latronda Lumpkins, and received help by three other entrepreneurs of the community Umar Goodspeed, (her husband) Lamont Lumpkins, and Tia Sears, each taking on different responsibilities to keep Pivotal Point functioning. Today, they have expanded Pivotal Point by reaching out and connecting with other Alameda County non-profit organizations such as Project Independence of the Tri-City Homeless Organization Coalition. By interviewing them, while at work found out that they all feel that, the highest at risk teens (mainly minorities) are facing are poor education, teen parenting, and unhealthy living environments. PPYS makes available services such as job training program, entrepreneur classes, teen parenting aid, and teen housing aid created for the misguided youth. Alameda County teen pregnancy is at its highest level ever in the year of 2002 it was at 45%, but over the years with PPYS help of teen pregnancy aid in the year of 2006 the percent dropped to 42.9%. Due to that, it has affected the high school drop out rates to jumble from 49% in 2004 to 37.4% of 2008, a serious problem that Pivotal Point realized that needs to be faced. The reason for the drop out rate is, because teens are not prepared to take care of themselves and a child, while struggling to remain in school and school is usually eliminated out of the picture. So they also have teen parent and teen housing aid for those of any circumstance need the financial assistance. PPYS helps the teens to balance out the two by providing a GED program that is available for anybody who has not completed high school. Allowing them to then pursue their education, following up with a six week job training program to learn the necessary skills to become employed and stay employed. PPYS presents a place of hope, that the youth can make a change as well by holding entrepreneur classes for six weeks and two days out of the week to teach them the skills of becoming an entrepreneur and owning their own business just like them. I can personally vouch that PPYS really does makes a difference, because I attended one of the entrepreneur programs and they taught us hands the steps to become our owner of our own business. We even were able to be apart of the 2007 Black Expo, were the students of the group were able to share a booth and sale our products from our business. It was hard to get it started, but PPYS started us off with $200 each and business cards. It was a great experience for me to sale my custom design jewelry& accessories called “Embodied” to several people that I can you use to expand my career in the future as a reference. We all learned the value to be able to use our voices to make something work in a positive way and have a positive outcome. All these youth need is a place of guidance to direct them in the right path and Pivotal Point does just that by providing life skill services.
Even though there is only one Pivotal Point Youth Service, they do as much as possible to connect out with the Oakland. The community, is what keeps Pivotal Point alive, because of the consistent feedback they give by being apart of PPYS. By PPYS helping the neighborhoods of Oakland, it causes the community to help them selves, and that causes them to help one another creating a circle of change. Latronda Lumpkins and the other social entrepreneurs of PPYS make PPYS more than an organization; they embody a family based environment. So it is as if it just family helping out family, the way it is suppose to be. For example, Latronda Lumpkins, even though she is a mother of three, she is like the mother figure of Pivotal Point, because she takes care of the program as it her own child. There are many others who are seen as the dad, the big sister or just a friend that are there for the teens to feel comfortable to come and ask for any advice no matter the situation. Because, many of those teens of Oakland are products of battered homes, single mothers, single fathers, incarcerated parents, violent environments, in foster care, homeless, abused, and in drug abuse environments. A Pivotal Point teen speaks out “ I look up to Tia, Ms. Sears, like a big sister, because I can ask for advice from her, when I can’t even talk to my own sister, who doesn’t take out the time to listen” shows that PPYS is there for the teens in many ways. Born into a world full of negativity and that is all one could know, but one would be afraid of a better outcome of life could be. Today’s youth is just sometimes scared of change; because they are so use to suffering that they feel it is normal to continue suffering. Many teens do have to be guided, because they feel alone and want to give up in the world. PPYS’s social entrepreneurs are aware, since they know from past experience of what is to be alone and misguided until somebody helped them. Pivotal Point was not a way to escape karma, for them it was a way to give back from their hearts. From a personal view, PPYS is changing their city day by day, by working on the community’s personal issues to make those issues eliminated.
After researching about the work that Social Entrepreneurs take on, I realized that they are very persistent about their goals. I admire them for their diligence to help others, while still having their personal issues. Some social entrepreneurs may be compared to Philanthropist, for they both believe in the same cause to help the world one step at a time. The difference between a philanthropist and the entrepreneur is the philanthropist only gives money to organizations for a worthy cause. Yet the social entrepreneur doesn’t look for the reward and is around during the process to view the effects of the funding to change the community. Over the years Pivotal Point has worked through the issues that face the minority teens of Oakland, CA to decrease those rates to complete a mission to create a safer environment. Pivotal Point Youth Services Leaders are a magnificent example of a how social entrepreneurs should act. There should be more organizations like PPYS that would make a bigger impact on the fight the process of socially changing the streets of Oakland. By Pivotal Point giving out to the community and help making a difference with the people, the people are also making a difference in the world. Change starts by an individual, in this case it would be a social entrepreneur, who becomes conscious of the set backs in their community and find ways to resolve them. To me social entrepreneurs are undercover heroes that need a cape in honor for all their outstanding changes.
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