But the real work this summer at Calvary and LAYC, both VPP investment partners, was found between the lines of newspaper stories about gang warfare in Washington's Latino community. More than six young men were killed or wounded this summer as rival gangs marked or protected their territories within walking distance of the two organizations. Because several children and staff members at LAYC and Calvary were related to, or had worked with, some of the young men who were killed, teachers and colleagues had to provide immediate intervention and counseling.

Under the leadership of the Columbia Heights/Shaw Family Support Collaborative, Calvary's executive director, BB Otero, and LAYC leader Lori Kaplan are actively participating in a youth violence and truancy task force working with police, community and public school leaders, and youth workers to defuse the situation and to develop positive alternatives. Both organizations extended their summer programs beyond mid-August (and beyond their summer funding streams) to insure that young people had a safe place to go during the day until school began.

At Calvary, the toddlers and young children who usually play with water hoses and toys in the yard in front of the building were restricted to indoor play for most of August out of fear that violence could break out on the street at any time. Several 10- and 11-year-olds came to the center dressing and behaving in ways that imitated older gang youth in the neighborhood. With support from police and the team at the District’s Department of Mental Health, Calvary staff led discussions on personal choices, fear, and safety. Younger children were assured that their parents would keep them safe and older children were encouraged to discuss their concerns and ways to insure their own safety.

The problems facing many of Washington's Latino residents, says BB, are primarily anger, despair, and lack of access. Many of these children and youth came to the city from Central and South America to escape poverty and war. Many were separated from their parents and live with relatives or friends. As these children become young adults, they have strong feelings of abandonment. They are angry and ill-prepared to live and work in this society. Many of these young men turn to gangs, seeking camaraderie, acceptance, and a sense of power and protection.

The process of addressing these issues includes finding older men to intervene with the troubled young adults, says Lori. She notes that the task force efforts will extend into the school year. "We're adding a layer of services to wrap around specific kids we know are at high risk. We'll be proactive with the schools and work together."

It is important for us at VPP, and for others who have a stake in LAYC and Calvary, to remember that the real work of many human service organizations is to address matters of daily survival. That these impressive organizations and leaders also manage to build programs, constituencies, and legacies along the way is a testament to their considerable commitment and moxie.

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LAYC Launches Strategic Planning Process

This summer the Latin American Youth Center began planning its future with the guidance of the Monitor Institute, the nonprofit practice of the Monitor Group, a strategic planning firm based in Boston. Monitor, a consulting firm that focuses on the top management issues in a wide variety of industries and in multiple disciplines, has made a significant commitment to serving nonprofit clients. The company has worked with several grantees of New Profit Inc., a Boston-based venture philanthropy organization. Monitor will help the LAYC planning team evaluate current and future business opportunities, address challenges to future growth, and determine how to better track and measure outcomes of LAYC’s programs.

VPP is providing the funding to LAYC for this undertaking. VPP staff members are also working closely with Monitor and LAYC to create a more comprehensive approach that incorporates the development of a multi-year financing strategy and social outcome measures into the planning process.

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This fall See Forever also gains a development director. Nadine Hathaway, a fund-raising consultant who has worked for several local nonprofits and was a nonprofit advisor with the Peace Corps in Lithuania, will help See Forever build the revenue stream it needs to accomplish its ambitious education and expansion goals.

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That soft-spoken man was Robert G. Templin, Jr., president of Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC), and those electric moments last spring illustrate why he decided to take the job one year ago. “I was attracted to NVCC not because I wanted to be a college president again, but because I looked at making a social impact by helping people move towards economic opportunity, homeownership, and being a community stakeholder,” says Bob, an advisor to VPP and a former senior fellow at the Morino Institute. Last fall he rolled up his sleeves and put to work much of what he learned while helping to lay the groundwork for VPP. NVCC has 64,000 students spread across six campuses. “I have a battle fleet here,” he says. “And if I can get it to turn just a few degrees, I can affect tens of thousands of kids…that’s scale!”

Upon arriving at the college Bob learned that the school had fallen victim to the state's deficit: his $125 million budget was being cut by $9 million. Bob decided that it was no time for business as usual. He trimmed his budget by $10 million, using the extra $1 million to create an entrepreneur fund to bankroll creative initiatives that increase college revenue and become self-sustaining in two years. Ideas under consideration include dramatically increasing ESL course offerings for the host of foreign nationals who are clamoring to learn English, and increasing training and retraining opportunities for nurses, who are in short supply in this region. Bob notes that prior to his Morino days, such counterintuitive thinking would probably not have occurred to him.

Bob says his approach to the challenges at the school are greatly informed by the work he did at the Morino Institute and VPP. For example, he is looking carefully at the impact of the school's efforts on its students. "It's not enough to send kids to college. We need to make sure they survive and go into the right fields that are likely to get them into the job market. Health care is a good example-entry-level jobs are plentiful, require minimal training, pay well, and offer many opportunities for continuing education and career advancement." For example, he says, it's quite feasible for a phlebotomist to progress to lab technician or become a lab administrator earning $40,000 a year.

Bob Templin's road to NVCC has been quite a journey. He was a quiet, unassuming kid who was told by his high school counselor that he wasn't college material. But when he drove his girlfriend (now his wife), Carla, to her courses Hartford Community College in Maryland, he decided to sign up for a few classes. He says he was scared to death, but "out of that fear came a transformation. I wanted to become a great teacher." He became dean of instruction at one community college for eight years and then president of Thomas Nelson Community College in Hampton, VA, from 1986 to 1994.

Early in his career, Bob developed a knack for crossing boundaries and bringing together people who would not ordinarily work together. That skill allowed him to use the college in Hampton to convene workers, employers, and students to help bring modern technology to traditional manufacturing to keep the region competitive. Several years later, the governor asked him to bring that same sort of thinking to Northern Virginia, where Bob headed the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT - that curious bronze, twisting building near Dulles Airport). Bob met Mario Morino during his CIT days and joined the Morino Institute when the state's political winds were no longer favorable.

As a fellow at the Morino Institute, Bob's boundary-crossing abilities and knowledge of children's issues and immigrant communities proved invaluable. These are the same strategies that Bob uses at NVCC, bringing public schools, nonprofit organizations, and employers together to create opportunities for his students. "Bob has a keen sense about the cultural, racial, and political sensitivities in this region," says Mario Morino, chairman of VPP. "He is trusted by many people in a variety of sectors, and his early efforts on behalf of VPP to talk to local nonprofits and foundations to understand their needs and concerns were more valuable to us than most could imagine."

Bob has another remarkable attribute that has prepared him well for the job of running NVCC: he and Carla are the parents of 14 children! Years ago, Carla became passionate about helping children in poor countries with serious medical and developmental problems. Over the years the couple rescued, nursed, and adopted 11 children from several different countries. Bob and Carla have spent countless hours in hospital waiting rooms and wading through miles of immigration forms and red tape. These experiences certainly add to his skill and dexterity in maneuvering in and understanding many different environments. He says that part of what drove his work with technology companies and educational institutions was the realization that the opportunities that he was helping to create “still left out people like my children.”

Earlier this year, Virginia’s attorney general introduced legislation to bar undocumented immigrants from attending state colleges and universities. Bob felt that this flew in the face of NVCC’s history of serving immigrant students, most of whom are legal residents. So Bob testified before the General Assembly, noting that if the bill were to pass, it would mean that his daughter, who graduated from Centreville High School and is a pharmacist assistant in the Navy awaiting deployment to the Middle East, would not be able to attend NVCC when she returned from duty. (Because of a glitch in the immigration process some years ago, she is not yet a permanent U.S. citizen.) Some legislators were chastened by Bob’s comments, and Gov. Warner vetoed the bill. Bob believes that his decision to speak out will make a difference for thousands of foreign-born high school students in the region who know that if they study, there will be colleges for them to attend. Bob’s actions demonstrate another important VPP maxim—“Leadership can make a difference.”

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Last fall VPP also entered a co-investment partnership with the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation (EMCF) to support the work of Asian American LEAD. According to AALEAD Executive Director Sandy Dang, this collaboration of supporters has been very successful in providing her with well-coordinated tools, dollars, and management coaching that have helped her move quickly toward several of her organizational goals.

There has been a growing interest by other foundations, especially some of the newer organizations, in exploring co-investments that leverage the VPP investment approach. Although the concept of co-investment is still embryonic, we believe that the idea of co-investment offers great potential to make grant-making efforts more effective while offering grantees greater support and lower costs of fund acquisition.

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Sanford Newman, executive director of Fight Crime, brought those safety concerns to the attention of Congress last week and called for increased funding for Child Care Development Block Grants and for 21st Century Community Learning Centers. Newman’s organization has also released a report on the merits of Head Start, urging more funding to prepare preschool children from low-income families to succeed in elementary school. School success, the report says, starts children on a path that is less likely to lead to risky behavior. Other reports by Fight Crime include a recent study that outlines ways to identify and address bullying, a common behavior that can lead to violence and suicide.

On September 5, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids hosted its first annual awards dinner. VPP Chairman Mario Morino served as chair of the event, which honored Edward A. Flynn, Massachusetts Secretary of Public Safety; Erika Harold, Miss America 2003; Charles E. M. Kolb, President of the Committee for Economic Development; and Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano for their work in championing the needs of children. The event featured a number of riveting perspectives on crime prevention and was a powerful demonstration of the value of Fight Crime’s work. There was a great showing of support for Fight Crime from VPP investors, board members, and other close to VPP, including Katherine and David Bradley, John Burton, Lyles Carr, Jack Davies, Al Dwoskin, Mark Ein, Raul Fernandez, Josh Freeman, General Atlantic Partners, Miles Gilburne and Nina Zolt, Richard Hanlon, Rick Kay, Harry Klaff, Lori Mody, Lori and Nigel Morris, Brig Owens, Gabriela and Doug Smith, and George Vradenburg. We are very grateful for their support of this great organization.

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