Welcome to Growing Greatness. This work is both personal and professional. Having been a top student in middle school, entering high school opened my eyes to an institutional structure that brought to light many social injustices. The more inequity and injustice I saw, the less I could I sit still and watch. My initial response was to run away from home, get a mohawk and become a rebellious punk-rocker. I soon realized this did not solve problems of the homeless, drug- addicted, mentally and emotionally struggling people. I realized that my own rebellion did not solve those problems and instead caused significant difficulty with family, friends and school.
At 19, I went the other extreme. I got married, bought a house and had kids.
I found this had a whole new set of problems that just looked different. What was missing for me in both sets of circumstances was a direction and a purpose. I was living in REACTION to life and trying to fit myself IN to boxes I did not create. I discovered that both situations were inauthentic and I was not living an intentional life sourced from my purpose and passion.
Years later, on my journey and discovery of my own leadership I found myself working for my local United Way, specifically with a youth leadership and advocacy project called Jovenes SANOS. I found a sense of greater purpose and community that has been an immense source of joy and fulfillment both personally and professionally. I have been able to transform my professional learning and personal transformation into tangible skills, tools and capacities that have created a completely new way of being for myself. This Do Kit is the culminating product of decades of personal transformation since my years of teenage angst.
The synthesis of directing Jovenes SANOS and participating in the establishment, development and organization of Leadership for Community Transformation, while at United way, help me to see my own greatness. We are deeply thankful for the opportunity to share what we have learned. We have created this “Do-Kit” with the intention of being a part of your community’s POSSIBILITY! This work would not have been possible without those at United Way with Jovenes SANOS, Leadership for Community Transformation and our partnership with Harbourton Foundation.
Growing Greatness focuses on leadership skills and capacity building. We believe everyone is a leader.
Our Growing Greatness “Do-Kit” develops skills and provides engaging ways for community members to engage in community change, revitalization, social justice and policy-making processes. We celebrate YOU as your adventure begins! Thank you for joining us on this journey, for caring enough to grow yourself, to challenge the status quo and to step into the unknown. Here’s to possibility, to being unrealistic, to creating new relentless legacies and most of all to GROWING THE GREATNESS IN US ALL.
growing-greatness.com 