Ignite partners
with Urban Soccer
Leadership Academy
(USLA). The ThinkBig
program helps
at-risk children
discover their purpose,
build supportive
relationships, make
healthy choices and
become engaged
citizens.
Force business. Clarence was asked to
partner with United Way to present
their training as part of an initiative
to improve some of the dilapidated
housing and poor educational conditions
on San Antonio’s East Side. It
was funded by millions of dollars
through the city and by the Obama
Administration.
“Quite honestly,” he says, “I was able
to witness once again the impact of
generational poverty on an individual
or on a community — and how people
trapped in it often display feelings of
helplessness, marginality and dependency
or what I call hopelessness.”
The “Change Your Mind, Change
Your Life” classes resounded deeply;
Star Force created their own measurement
tools that first time around.
“The findings regarding the amelioration
— or ‘improvement effect’ — for
our program’s participants were off the
charts,” says Clarence. “Ninety-two
percent of the individuals who went to
our programs within a three-to-sixmonth
period improved their lives.
They went to school; got a degree.
Eleven percent of the individuals
actually opened up their own
businesses. I’m talking about people
who were chronically unemployed,
underemployed or on drugs. So it had
some remarkable results. I was invited
to Washington, D.C. to talk about the
program. To be perfectly honest, what
the program is — is presenting the
Thank you ANONYMOUS PARTNER for making this story possible to share.
Ignite partners with the New Braunfels Food Bank. In ClearPath’s workforce development, low income individuals
build spiritual, social and psychological capital which reduces barriers in their pursuit of thriving lives.
gospel in a secular setting.”
Clarence says that because the 40
hours of instruction focus so much on
one’s purpose and meaning in life,
people in the class begin to ask their
own questions and invite the speakers
into a conversation about more spiritual
truths.
The truths are like breadcrumbs,
leading the listeners to hope.
While Star Force created its own
success measurement tools at first,
Ignite has since reached out for
third-party oversite. Ignite partners
with the University of Texas San
Antonio School of Nursing to give
ratings. The first six-month period,
which is comprised of three phases,
earned tabulations which all point to
success. “Phases one, two and three
were all around the 90th percentile,”
says Clarence. Phase one measured
social and psychological capital; Phase
Two, employment hopefulness; Phase
Three, the elimination of barriers for
self-sufficiency.
“Critical to the success of the
program,” points out Clarence, “is that
we’re not just informational. There is a
relational component. The people that
come through our program become
family. There’s an extensive follow
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