housing Archives | Tony Loyd

Top Twelve Popular Podcasts 2018, Emily Hunt Turner, All Square

December 28, 2018 Tony Loyd

All Square is a craft grilled cheese restaurant and training institute that breaks down barriers for those with a criminal record. Note: Between now and the end of the year, we’re counting down the top twelve popular podcast interviews of 2018. It is a people’s choice award, determined by the number of downloads. This interview originally aired on January 29, 2018. Since this interview aired, All Square has opened at 4047 Minnehaha Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55406. A criminal record can be a barrier to employment, housing, benefits, and voting. With barriers to employment and housing, there is a high rate of recidivism. One study across 30 states found that 67.8% of released…

The Terrifying, Magical Life of a Social Entrepreneur, with Emily Hunt Turner, All Square

January 29, 2018 Tony Loyd

All Square is a craft grilled cheese restaurant and professional institute that breaks down barriers for those with a criminal record. A criminal record can be a barrier to employment, housing, benefits, and voting. With barriers to employment and housing, there is a high rate of recidivism. One study across 30 states found that 67.8% of released prisoners were rearrested within three years of release. Recidivism is a large problem impacting millions of people, including the loved ones of those with criminal records. Nearly one-third of American adults have been arrested by age 23. Arrests fall disproportionately on men of color. One out of every 106 white men is behind…

165, Paul Polak | Be Curious, Leap In and Learn

May 1, 2017 Tony Loyd

Paul Polak is the founder of iDE. At the age of 80, he has launched three new social enterprises. Paul was born in Czechoslovakia near Germany. His father watched as refugees began to pour across the border. Paul says, “The conventional wisdom in 1938 was that Hitler was a joke and all this stuff would blow over. If you accepted that conventional wisdom, you’re no longer around to talk about it.” One key to Paul’s success is, he is willing to leap into areas where he is ignorant. But, he emphasizes that forward motion is not enough. “Jumping in assumes an active curiosity and learning.” Paul first job after graduating…

Be Curious, Leap In and Learn with Paul Polak

May 1, 2017 Tony Loyd

Paul Polak is the founder of iDE. At the age of 80, he launched three new social enterprises. Paul was born in Czechoslovakia near Germany. In 1938, his family watched as refugees poured across the border. Paul says, “The conventional wisdom in 1938 was that Hitler was a joke and all this stuff would blow over. If you accepted that conventional wisdom, you’re no longer around to talk about it.” Paul’s father was willing to challenge the status quo. He moved his family to Canada in 1939. This lesson of challenging conventional thinking was an important life lesson for Paul. One key to his success is, he is willing to leap…

Julius Ibrahim, Ending Homelessness with Heart, Head and Hustle

138, Julius Ibrahim, Second Shot Coffee | Heart, Head, and Hustle to end Homelessness

December 14, 2016 Tony Loyd

Julius Ibrahim is tackling homelessness one espresso at a time. In her book, Work on Purpose, Echoing Green alumni Lara Galinsky offers this formula: Heart + Head = Hustle By heart, she means your emotions. By head, she is referring to your skills and abilities. And by hustle…well, every entrepreneur knows exactly what that looks like. Julius Ibrahim is a beautiful illustration of heart, head and hustle. As Julius entered university in Central London, he was confronted daily by those who were sleeping on the sidewalk, in doorways or parks. These folks are referred to as “rough sleepers.” This was a significant “heart” moment for Julius. He wanted to apply…

120, Paul Bradley, ROC USA | Housing Security for Mobile Home Owners

November 2, 2016 Tony Loyd

ROC USA is a non-profit organization with a mission of making quality resident ownership possible nationwide. When Paul Bradley was studying economics in university, he became interested in cooperative business models. “It immediately appealed to me,” he told me. “By its structure, it’s a more broadly distributing form of business ownership. Resources are shared more broadly among workers, among members and among consumers of the cooperatives.” Paul was also interested in development work, spending time in Central America. When he returned to his home in Concord, New Hampshire, he found the opportunity to work in development work in his own neighborhood. He worked with the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund…

Disrupting Community Development with Alexandria Lafci

089, Alexandria Lafci, New Story | Disrupting Community Development through Story-Driven Crowdfunding

May 27, 2016 Tony Loyd

New Story is disrupting community development. They accomplish that through a story-driven crowdfunding process for building homes. But, they’re not just building houses, they’re creating communities. And, in the process, they are changing the donor experience. To explain all of this, we’re joined today by Alexandria Lafci, a cofounder and the head of operations for New Story. There’s so much to love about Alexandria and New Story. First, New Story is targeting communities one at a time. For example, they started in Leveque, Haiti where they moved 152 families from living under blue tarps, to living in lovely homes. And, by building that many homes, they were able to create a community….

047, Sammie Rayner, HandUp | Social Good in Your Neighborhood

February 19, 2016 Tony Loyd

When it comes to social good, we often think we have to do something world-changing. In his book All the Trouble in the World, P. J. O’Rourke said Everybody wants to save the earth; nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes. If you think about it, that’s human nature. We love the grand gesture, the transformational speech or the disruptive technology. In the meantime, we pass homeless people on the street and we wonder what to do. I understand this feeling well. I’ve often been torn while thinking about how best to serve: do I give a homeless person cash, perhaps enabling them to practice alcoholism? Or, do I…

045, Francesco Piazzesi, Echale a tu casa | Housing As Community Development

February 15, 2016 Tony Loyd

Francesco Piazzesi uses housing as a means of community development. He grew up in the construction equipment industry. He noticed that the brick mason who spent his days building houses went home to a tin shack with a dirt floor. In many countries around the world, including Mexico, 2/3 of the houses built are built by the owners. The homeowners gather whatever materials they can afford and, step by step, over many years, they build their house. These houses are often not safe or sanitary and the vast majority have dirt floors. These houses also are not desirable, therefore, the homeowners do not build wealth to pass along to their…