Watch What Crappens - Feed Drop: Real Good by U.S Bank

Episode Date: April 26, 2022

Hey - it's a special preview of the Real Good podcast.  In this fourth episode of the third season, the hosts talk to CEO of Summit Academy OIC Louis King about what it takes to lift someone from poverty into the middle class, the dignity that comes along with a job that can provide for a family, and the value of community-based training programs. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, Prime members, you can listen to watch what crap ends at free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. Get ready for a double load of Queen of Hearts. It's me, Jujubee, and I return to guide sexy singles through some ronchi blind dates. Cameras off. Voice only. Launching during pride. Queen of Hearts takes Miami by storm, with Daeders' Cupi from Tampa Bayes, Just Chas, and Brittany Brave to name a few. Follow Queen of Hearts on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. We're gonna do a little something different in the feed today. We wanted to share an episode of a podcast called Real Good. It's a show that started at the beginning of COVID

to highlight nonprofits doing work on the ground to help with the pandemic, but the big message of that season was that most of the problems people are facing COVID weren't new when it hit. and their intersectional problems concerning race, class, and gender, and a lot more. The third season is out now, and they're highlighting the people fighting systemic inequality everywhere.

So you're about to hear an episode of the podcast, and it's going to be about providing equity and job opportunities with Lewis King. And if you like what you hear, go listen and subscribe to Real Good, wherever you get your podcasts. This is Real Good by US Bank, a podcast about helpers. Being poor is hard work. You learn how to get the hustle, the hookup. You never can get your footing and focus on stability, opportunity,

and prosperity. And in 20 weeks, we give you the three things that the people on this call take for granted, in education, skills, and a social network. And that is really what the game is today. If we're going to move the needle, and I think unified this country as well, because so many people feel left out. I'm Faith Saley. Welcome back to another season of Real Good. This show started out because we had a desire to find the bright lights in a dark time to give the mic to people doing important work for underrepresented communities at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. What we saw was that the

problems the folks on the ground were working to solve weren't the results of COVID. They were deep-seated, intergenerational, and intersectional issues that were merely being highlighted by the virus's impact. So we brought in our scope to find people who were working to change the way the world worked for disadvantaged communities, to speak to the people leading are working to change the way the world worked for disadvantaged communities. To speak to the people leading the way toward a more equitable future, let's hear their stories. This week, our guest is Lewis King, President and CEO of Summit Academy OIC. To say that our economy isn't quite set up for the success of black communities and people of color would be a wild understatement.

Money is security, a measure of success, a way to provide for our families. But the systems in place to provide high-paying jobs advantage those already in power. People who tend to be white. In a world where people of color often need to jump through hoops to make an equal living. Folks like Lewis King are offering opportunity, dignity. Happy New Year, Faith. How are you? I'm okay. I'm all things considered, I'm okay.

Just okay. And how are you? Yeah, same. Good. Doing okay, all things considered, but optimistic as always, you know me. I do. I do. And I know it's been, I've almost known you for two years. That's crazy. Yeah, we were, we were brought together and we've seen each other in person once

in the two years. I know. We were brought together for a show about COVID-19 and now we're at COVID-22. And we have, you know, we were brought together for a show about COVID-19, but of course, we broadened our discussion out to societal inequities and the people working for underrepresented communities. And you and I have spoken so much about the lessons to take into a post-COVID world, but we're not in a post-COVID world.

We're in a new era of the pandemic. And so as you and I talk here in the beginning of 2022, as you know, we're now at COVID case numbers higher than what we saw when you and I originally met. And I just wonder, how do you look at the conversations we've had over the past couple of years and take those lessons into a new era of the pandemic? I think it was such a powerful question. For me, Faith, I think it just reinforces

the interconnectedness of us all. You know, it's just our shared humanity. I mean, this pandemic has done nothing, but made me appreciate how it hasn't discriminated against anyone. It is something that is part of our shared existence, our shared humanity. And in a really strange way, although we have all been quarantined and separated and

interacting with each other over a screen, I feel a different level of proximity intimacy, maybe. Because we've been invited into each other's homes into I remember one of our conversations I think you were you were actually doing it from your daughter's bedroom or something you know what I mean like so were you Greg I was in my daughter's bedroom as well right so my I guess my point in all of that is I just feel there's a there's a certain intimacy and proximity and a level of understanding of each other that have happened in ways that we haven't had before. Like we're no longer titles, we're first names and all of these things I think if there

is a silver lining that's probably been it for me. You know it's interesting that you point out that COVID doesn't, of course, discriminate because when you and I first started talking in the spring of 2020, we were talking about how COVID was disproportionately affecting communities of color. And I don't know that that's especially true right now. I think it remains true for this reason, faith. I think it, it continued to highlight, particularly for those. And as I think about my business and the industry,

that man and other businesses, where you are forced to interact with the public, disproportionately, people of color in particular are on the front lines. Yes. They are in industries that require far more personal human interaction. And I don't have the statistics to validate

or dispute what you just said. But I do know that disproportionately, those folks who are working on the front line who tend to be more often than not people of color, that there's going to be a disproportionate impact. That's absolutely right. That the effects and the impact of color that there's going to be a disproportionate impact. That's absolutely right. That the effects and the impact is felt disproportionately by people of color.

And those people are often the kind of workers that, of course, you make a perfect segue. Those people are often the kind of workers that our friend and guest today, Lewis King, works with and helps educate and elevate. Is that fair to say, Lewis? And it's fair to say. And is it fair to call you my friend already? Please do. Thank you.

Thank you. Lewis and Greg. There's no idea I'm everybody's friend. Then we're lucky. Lewis and Greg, tell me how y'all have connected. Great. Wow. Do you want me to go? I don't even know. You know, Lewis is somebody. And first of all, Lewis, let me say, thank you so much for it's so great to have you on. And to be able to share your

story and your work with our listeners and with faith. You know, Lewis and I are both the product of the Atlanta University Center faith, so you'll appreciate that. Lewis faith is always an Atlanta connection. There's always an Atlanta connection, congratulations to your Georgia Bulldogs. I don't know if you're proud of them or not,

but I'm still celebrating the breaks. Are you still celebrating? But Lewis went to Morehouse, I went to Clark, and so we shared that, and so, you know, in the work that we were both doing in the community in and around here in the Minneapolis St. Paul area. Our paths just continue to cross, and, you know, we've always just been such incredible supporters of each other in the work that we were jointly doing and independently doing. Lewis is a pillar in our community and somebody who has really catalyzed community who has created opportunity for those who were left out of the opportunities in an equitable way. And we as an organization through every company I've ever worked for,

we've been supporters of the work. And I know he'll talk about it, of the work that Lewis is doing to really help close the labor market gaps and to close disparities in the labor market. So I'm just honored to have him on and please have him on and excited for you all to hear his story. And for me, you know, Greg's always kind of been there. And then the fun out finally he went to Clark.

And we got to know each other. And then he went from target to US bank. And I don't make my career trying to have a zillion partners. I don't have a few. And US bank is one of them. And Greg has always been there. So it makes the job fun.

He understands kind of the same right of passage I went through from teenage to adult and I don't have to explain it to him. I am gonna ask you to explain it to me. I want to know about your rights of passage and how you came to be doing what you're doing. But before we dig into that, let's explain to folks a little bit about what you do. You are the president and CEO of Summit Academy.

And then it only took a teensy bit of research to realize that you just got promoted. Like you still have new promotion smell. It's, you are also the president and CEO of OIC of America. Is that right? Right. I am president and CEO of OIC of America. Let's pause if you, if you don't mind because it took me a minute to figure out what OIC stands for. And you can say it better.

Opportunities industrialization centers got ited by Reverend Leon Sullivan in 1967, out in Philadelphia, we, uh, black folks were eating all the tasty cakes, but they couldn't drive the tasty cake truck. They couldn't work in the tasty cake bakery, and they couldn't sell tasty cakes out of the tasty cake store. So Dr. Sullivan says, stop eating tasty cakes and they did. And it brought tasty cakes to their knees. And they said, what do you want? He said jobs. He said, they said, what can you do? He said nothing. And so they sold them a jail and abandoned jail for a dollar. And he started the first, uh, OICC, which really played on the words, right? What

do you people work? Work. OIC, right? It's all the duties and just the inflation centers, right? So at their HAA, they went up to 150 across the nation. We're now at 31 and 19 states. To give you an example, we have five in Connecticut. Imagine that for North Carolina, for Pennsylvania, three here in the Twin Cities, and then spanned it throughout in rural and urban, red and blue states. I've been running summit, which is the largest in the nation at 15 million.

I was president and CEO until January 15th. Oh, wow. Louis, 15 million. What? 15 million dollars annual budget. Wow, okay. And when you say running these places, these are educational centers?

Vocational training schools, some offer GED programs. We also do youth programs as well. The main thing is to put people to work. At Summit, we believe the best social service program in the world is a job. We offer 20 weeks of training at no out of pocket costs. Plus, we give you about $3,000 pocket money while you're there.

We started that during COVID. And we're a dominant trainer in construction, IT, and we also have a healthcare component, and we have a STEM district so that we can get the workers of the future prepared to go forward today. So you just answered one of my questions when you mentioned your 20 weeks training program

because I saw that you wrote a guest essay in the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal and the sentence it began with before I hit the paywall, it was a real cliffhanger. You said 20 weeks is all it really takes to take someone from poverty to middle class. That's astonishing. Well, or maybe it's not.

Let me give you an example. Right. In construction, we help build all three stadiums. Guys coming in with averaging 70% of people are unemployed. Average income, 10 but so many of you go into a union job. Today you're at $20 an hour. We just placed app developers with US bank thank you Greg at $65,000 a year. They did the training from home, they'll work from home, and it is life changing.

You know, I mean, being poor is hard work. You learn how to get ahead, you learn how to get the hustle, the hookup. You never can get your footing and focus on stability, opportunity, and prosperity. And in 20 weeks, we give you the three things that the people on this call take for granted, and education, skills, and a social network. And that is really what the game is today. If we're going to move the needle, and I think unified this country as well, because so many people feel left out. I want to find out how you got into this game. You have a background in the military, right?

I could call you Major King. I'm gonna be an old, I'm an old Major at 62, but here is the deal. I went to Morehouse and then I became a lieutenant that spent 10 years and boosted and it was a blast, but there I learned of course order, discipline, but also how to do good staff work. But wait, can we pause?

Because you're just talking about going into the military like it was your obvious choice to make. Why? Oh, no. Yeah, so where did, let's go back before more house. Where did you grow up and what did you want to be? What did you want to do? Who was around you?

I grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, I lived in Braden. I was first man in my college to go to college. I'm from a family of Merchant Marines. I left it, my mother at 14 to go live my grandmother. We lived in the projects with my mom. When I moved in with my grandmother, I went to a high school to had 2,000 black kids,

and I lived in a subdivision that is biggest from rich field to the Brooklyn Park boundary with number of black homeowners. I do not understand Minnesota. When I got out to play and I called my grandmother up and said, I figured out where white people go when they die. Okay, everybody else go together to hell. White people go to Minnesota.

I mean, I've never seen anything like this. I went to college in Atlanta. So imagine, my whole life, until I graduated from college at 22, was black. And that went from the housing projects to blue collar working class to parent household families that own their homes to more housework. That was spikedly and all those guys walking around and all the rich guys, all right, and there I was.

And how did that shape you, do you think, that you were always surrounded by people who look like you? So the biggest thing is, they taught us who we are. You had to study the history of the Black Church. You had to study African history. That is, before it came to the United States. You had to study the civil rights movement as it began, and you know that the first black college

changing state was found in 1837 before we were emancipated more housing however, however, we're found in the 1867 before a poor whites had public education. This is who I come from. And then they tell you you're supposed to go out and leave. Period, don't just make money. You have a responsibility. you're supposed to go out and leave. Hmm. Period. Don't just make money.

You have a responsibility. So they did that, and then I put on boots, and well, and the reason I went to Army, because again, I was partying so hard, I blew my academic ride, and had to join our OTC. Oh, okay. Yeah, join our OTC, and it was fun. I mean, you get to have weapons and run around in the woods and tell people what to do

And I was good at it. I was number one cadet for Georgia Tech and in AU Center and You know, I said well, let's ride this on out and get paid to do it You found your superpower. You know, it's funny about that Lewis is I don't know if you've ever God rest his soul, but Colin, General Colin Powell tells a very similar story. He was a pretty average student in college if you follow his story. And he found his true gift as he talks about it in the military.

Yep. That was something he was good at. And this notion of the responsibility of leadership and how important that is in our community, you know, that actually came out in how important that is in our community. That actually came out in the research that we did recently, Faith. I think we talked about it the last time. We were on and we talked about this wealth study we did. And so often, African Americans talk about the responsibility of community, and how they feel a disproportionate responsibility to community and representing the community

So I think that's so powerful Lewis that you you pointed that out to It's funny you mentioned cold and power because I got a sign that you you're up I was a battalion adjutant the the admin guy and I got there and The picture the core commander the three star wasn't on the wall anywhere. This was October 1986, most of you weren't born yet. And so I kind of went around and I looked for the picture and I found it. It was under a stack of papers on my desk and it was a black three star general, Colin Powell. Wow. And since I was the rear detachment commander, the unit was in the field.

I was in charge. It made me really excited. I had this picture up in five minutes around the entire post. Of course, the next month, Iran Contra broke and he came back to be the national security advisor. And some I met him years later when he was here doing some stuff with our Ericsson and South Minneapolis, but he was my hero since I was 26 years old, when he was a three star.

And so I did the Army thing, and then I got assigned here because I had to dispute my branch manager and what was supposed to be a three year tour, turning to 30 years. I was supposed to go to Northwick State, turning the 30 years. I was, you know, I was supposed to go to Northwick State, but I ended up at the University of Minnesota to teach ROTC. And it was the first time I lived in an American city as an adult because I went off to college at 17.

And then to the Army, and it was really funny because Labor Day of 86, a vacation in East Berlin, got here October 1st, and by November 14th, the Berlin Wall was down, and my life changed forever. You had a degree in political science and government, right? Right. I imagine that being in the military

was a real crash course in what actually happens on the ground from decisions made in government that you'd been studying. So, the biggest thing you learn in the military is the 4-level as an officer which is the executives of the Army, right? It feels the sergeants running the Army and logistics to do the work. Is that there are four levels of operation. I think it is a serving me well here.

As political scientists, you studied everything from Martin Luther to municipal government, branches levels, special governmental units, like the Met Council. You understand all of that stuff and politics. But the military taught you that there's political, strategic, operational and tech considerations. Most soldiers are operating at the operational and tactical level. Go out and do the job. Whereas strategic is always about tomorrow and positioning and

political never try to make sense of it. It's all about favor relationships and influence. Not much changes from the third grade. And so you've got to make sense of politics and get logical out of it. You're gonna go mad. You'll never be successful. Well, you got to understand is what's the emotional based underneath it. And then how do you, how do you deal that either in your favor or to counter it? And that's what I, outside of how to do good staff work, fighting is, it's, it's fundamental, you know, it doesn't change much, except for the weapons. But the staff work and the

political nature of the game, that's what I brought here and has served me well. And because of that, I've been able to track a track top talent who want to come and work for a place that has a very strong environment and they've been able to be very successful. Tell me, tell me more about that. What do you, what do you think it is that you learned from your time in the military

that makes you such a successful leader at summit? Are you saying that that kind of X factor is the emotional, sort of your intuitive understanding of people's emotions and what they need to be inspired? No. So at the political level, you have to shape the external environment. If you listen to what politicians and what they're saying on television all the time, they're really trying to

influence the mindset of the people. All right. That's policy. That's politics. Okay. Strategic, are you in the right place at the right time? Do you have partners like Mortensen and US Bank? Did you choose IT before it got hot? Did you bet your money on infrastructure and repair an infrastructure before tornadoes that traveled 200 miles on the ground, which ain't natural showed up. I mean, did you position yourself, right?

Now that you got all that set, that you're in position, you have all the support you need, can you win? Good operations boil down to processes, procedures, protocols, everybody knows what to do, and everybody's training. Then the technical piece, do you actually run the play correctly? And we have been able to attract people who are results oriented.

You know, who wants to go, you know, be on a team where the coach isn't thinking about winning or hasn't prepared you to win? Who wants to fight any business? Who wants to work for a business that doesn't know if it's going to make payroll or not? You're always looking over your shoulders. So it's the job of the chief executives to ensure that the environment is favorable. Which is why the YSB got governmental relations. And you know, people are out there in community affairs. Oh, that's political. Then strategic, you know, do you have drive-throughs?

Do you have ATMs? Do you have of I heard Andy, says they weren't doing enough online, right? When you went to holiday party, Greg. That's the CEO of US Bank. Yes, the CEO in the society. Yeah. pandemic hit, US Bank right in there, right? I think it's a, you know, it's an important point that you're making Lewis and I, particularly this notion of being strategic because one of the things I think it's important for our, our

listening to the story, is that we're going to be able to do something that we're going to do. And I think that's what we're going to do. And I think that's what we're going to do. And I think that's what we're going to do. And I think that notion of being strategic, because one of the things I think it's important for our listeners to appreciate is the strategic pivot that you and Summit Academy have made recently, because the history of Summit,

if I'm not mistaken, had really been, and you touched on this in the beginning, is really to do job training and skills development around construction. And a few years ago, you and the leadership team made a strategic decision that we actually needed to prepare the workforce of the future, and that we needed to stand up an IT,

a digital capability. And what I think is so powerful about that is it allowed for companies like US Bank and others to really support you in ways that were and continue to be aligned with our need. You are continuing to fill a need in the marketplace. And this notion of, and I don't know if this is because of your military background or just your leadership capability, but this notion of being nimble and responsive is something that I think has served you and the organization incredibly well.

You nailed it. We operate in two spheres. Your area of influence, which the things you're doing today, and your area of interest, which the senior people get paid to think about what's coming tomorrow. So we got into construction early because I wanted to deal with the black men who are not good marriage material because they don't have jobs and all they know is the game game, right? So if they've been to jail, how do you get a craft for them that pays good money and is forgiving construction?

And construction had all of the affirmative action goals and they'd all show up and go, they tried and couldn't find any. And I said, don't worry about it, I'll tighten you right on up. And Greg, you remember, it was much gnashing of teeth, but we got them now. Now everybody's happy. When I looked at the when I looked at it in about 2017, we

could begin to see the flip coming. And we decided to get in with the time and data and start doing some IT. That was just exploratory. Then you guys came along, and that really compelled us to go in all in, and that's when we decided to do the STEM district faith and start with kids as young as five, and bring them up in a system so that they see other people in front

of them and they are following those people. So, Lewis, it's always about seeing other people in front of you, isn't it? That's like you finding that picture of colon powell. How do you make someone see that, hey, come to summit summit give us 20 weeks and you're not gonna be able to sleep till 11 but we're gonna change your life. Right and people coming three flavors, fully ready, not ready yet, never ready, all right?

That's just it. So what you have to do is build an ant trail. What is an ant trail? If you put a piece of bread on the floor, one ant shows up, you come back an hour later as a zillion of them. You wouldn't get all of his friends, right? So he's the trusted messenger,

and that's the way that people work. There was a book called, What Color's Your Parachute by Richard Bolts. It's said your next job is not your roller decks. It's in your social network. And we take that for granted. So when they call white people privilege, people go, I'm not privileged, I work hard.

Well, you are privileged and you don't know it because you were born into certain social networks that I'm not blaming you for, but you need to know that you're benefiting from that. That's why the C-speed looks the way it looks. It's not that everybody else is stupid and their geniuses. No, they just know each other, and they take care of each other, which is human nature.

All right, that's thing one. Thing two, don't despair. We have had it much worse. In fact, we're winning. We're making great progress. We didn't get free till 1865 by 1916. We began to great migration, which led to the birth of the black middle class in 1954, Brown v. DePica Casas within 11 years, the voting rights act, 43 years later, 43 years later Barack Obama, and 12 years after he was loved Kamala Harris, the other side should be nervous. This is real. We now have political power in a way, there's no turning back, which is why I ought to push about the secretaries of state.

But we've been there before too. We know about voter suppression. This is nothing new. So we're where we were 100 years ago, mother nature and the marketplace are demanding people at a rate faster than we're producing them. The birth rates have gone from four children per family down to two.

Tech is exploding. Look at this call. Two years ago, only the super rich, the military, the corporations were doing Zoom calls. Today, I do it with my college and high school graduates. This takes connectivity, security, all types of things that prior two years ago. We didn't need much like Instacart door dash uber those things are not going back in the box So this happened a hundred years ago when they went from a grarian to manufacturing Didn't have enough workers and now here we are again, but we're in a Juneteenth moment. And what do I mean by that? And Juneteenth, the slaves in Texas did not know that they were free. Today, the people don't know that the opportunity exists.

So we got to double down on the ant trail, seeing is believing. And we also have to expand to be young, urban, and get out into the rural areas because they are the same issues and they are isolated economically and socially and we're being pitted against each other. So, what you've outlined is this, is this moment being one of hardship for many, but also one of huge opportunity. And what area of the economy are you both seeing as the biggest opportunity for workers in marginalized communities?

So if you follow one thing strategically, you win. You can't be Mother Nature. So infrastructure, when a hurricane starts in New Orleans and exits in New York, whether you believe in climate change or not, there's a monetary cost to that. And if everybody was busy, you didn't have enough workers

to do the construction projects prior to the disaster, there's more opportunity. When a tornado stays on the ground for hours and travels 200 miles and destroys everything in its path, who puts that back together? Just start there. Never mind who builds the charging stations for the electric cars, never mind who produces the wind turbines or the solar panels. Just putting it back together is an opportunity, all right? That's a big deal.

And then- And are those skills that people are learning at some of the Academy? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, our house is a house. You know what I'm saying? If you learn construction, you'll eat for a lifetime. I came home the other day, and my basement was flooded.

The plumber made all kind of money. Happy New Year, you know, hot water heaters, my basement was flooded. The plumber made all kind of money. Happy New Year, hot water heaters, wash machines, everything. We teach those skills. It's interesting, because when I went to the Summit Academy website, and I was looking at the frequently asked questions, it, you know, you talk about privilege.

This is not a question I would have thought would appear on a website where people are going to find out about education. One of the questions was if I have a felony or criminal background, can I still apply for a program at Summit? And of course, as you know, the answer is, yeah, apply to one of our construction programs, probably not a IT or healthcare field. You know what I mean?

Cybersecurity or healthcare, but we got a place for you. I mean, you know, and many of those barriers are coming down now, right? You know, Greg's been with me, you know, seeing me with years. I've always focused on the work and the ability to make money and bring it home, take care of your family, take care of the kids, set a good example. That's what the fight with black folks

has always been about in this country. We were brought here to solve a labor shortage and robbed of our wages because of that labor shortage. And then after we got free, our vote was suppressed so we couldn't make laws that would allow us to play in the game in the banks, red liners, and dead. It's always been about money. Money is at the core of the debate in the United States of America. And the racism thing really is a cloak for the green. You got to make up things about me once you rob me. You got to say I'm lazy. I'm not to be trusted. I can't do this. Well, every time they say we can't do something, we produce astronauts and presidents in general offices and people like Greg and all kinds of folks, what are you talking about?

As we've talked about in numerous times faith and and what that looks like for us in particular as a bank in the work that we're doing with the access commitment and the support for small businesses because you know the things that Lewis is talking about are rarely large corporations, or most people in this country work for small businesses or entrepreneurs. And I think this shift that you're seeing, it's not really a labor shortage in my mind, it's really a labor shift. It's people who are deciding to work differently, people are deciding that the real opportunity for them is to leverage their skills in ways that benefit them directly, that allow them to create jobs in their community.

And large corporations like US Bank and others and the work that we're doing through our access commitment is to make sure that we are funneling and distributing resources to those small businesses so that they can be successful. So they can grow and scale and create jobs, as Lewis said earlier, the best social program in the world is a job. And so, you know, through the access commitment, if we can help and small businesses typically

need a couple of things, certainly they need capital. They need capital and resources. But they also need capacity. They also need the ability to build structure and to do the work to the operational and tactical work that Lewis was talking about. But the piece that I would underscore too that he emphasized that's so powerful was they also need networks. They need access to the networks because that's how business gets done in this country. It gets done through relationships, it gets done through the networks. So so much of the work that we're doing through our programming is not only making sure

that we funnel resources, but that we create access to networking and those relationships that are so critical. That's part of the access commitment and also the rebuild and transform fund. Is that right Greg? Yes. Yeah. You know, which is, it's actually the impact. It's the impact fund and that impact fund is specifically channeling resources to, you

know, third party community development financial institutions or CDFIs as most people refers to them. And some of it is straight capital to so that those organizations can make debt capital available to small businesses, but the point that you're underlining faith that's important is also there are dollars to make sure that those organizations can also create opportunities for networking and relationship building as well. You know there were very powerful words on the Summit Academy website that say we do not accept defeat. We challenge cynicism, despair,

despondency, and the status quo. And I wonder, Lewis, are you feeling those challenges from inside as well as outside? Like when prospective students come to you, do you have to sometimes help them push back against cynicism and despair? So we found, we formed our ant trail, meaning most of the people who come to us come to us via word of mouth, all right. And they've been told, if you see Mr. King, take your head

off, pull your pants up and smile. I did. Right. Yeah. So. But feino is true. But you actually have to see this in action. Like, if you see Lewis, and I'm sorry, I'm interrupting, and please don't lose your thought, because if you go see Lewis, what's the two-stay stand-up meeting that you used to have when we were in person? Like, if you watch the way that these attendees and students react, and like, they really do, I mean,

these are hard as of the hardcore, you know, people who come to this organization and they almost, you know, react in ways that is incredibly powerful and. Respectful. Respectful. Respectable. Yeah. They want to be told. They want to paint a picture. Who are these people? Are these mostly people in their 20s? But every change is 26. Let's talk about the guys, right? Every change is 26. He's been to jail, been out on the block. He cannot People in their 20 every ages 26 the air and let's talk about the guys right every ages 26 He's been to jail been out on the block He cannot go back out on the block with the 18 years

That would be like you going back to high school hanging out All right, or even back on the college campus with these little kids He comes down. There's nothing wrong with him. He can pass the test He's got ID in his pocket. He knows what to do So it comes in sits in the orientation tries to blend in to the crowd and that's game on don't ever try to blend in try to stand out All right, so everybody gets that from day one and they go on to do really well We have over 70% Completion 90% plus placement rate.

They get over 20 bucks an hour. If you got two people in the house, they're in the middle class and put a superstars over in the IT program, 65 a year, if you got anybody in the house making 20 grand, y'all over 100,000, what's the problem? The thing that's so powerful that Lewis just touched on that I hope people get from this is,

he just shared a couple of statistics and metrics. And I think that's really been for us at the bank and our partnership and relationship with Lewis and the entire team at Summit, is they get results and they get measurable results. And Lewis, as you can tell, is so inspiring and his ability to articulate the mission and the work that he does. But at the end of the day, faith, none of it matters if you don't get results. And that's what's been so powerful

about our relationship is this is a leader and an organization that is actually producing results. And, you know, I just remember so many programs and I don't know, Lewis, if you're speak to some of the specific programs, but there was a program that he and the organization started some time ago faith called 1000 GEDs. And the whole purpose of the program was to actually take many of these same men and women that Lewis is talking about. And there were some really compelling statistics here in the Twin Cities of how many people didn't even have a GED and how that was such a barrier in terms of their ability to go forward and create a vibrant future for themselves. In this program, what you as bank was one of the founding underwriters was really getting

out of very specific issue and I'm just, Lewis would love if you would just take a moment to talk about that or other programs where we could really sort of measure the results of the work that he was doing because I think that's really important. Yeah, so here's what we found out. 72,000 people in Hennamon County when we did the Ren exercise, didn't have a GED. Think Minneapolis faith, most of the listeners here in national Lewis I'm making sure they have content. Okay, you have 72,000 adults walking around with no high school diploma or GED. Now inside of that group, we found out there are people working at your local gym.

They're working at the quick trip. They're doing all kinds of jobs with no high school diploma or GED. So great, the one miscalculation we They're doing all kinds of jobs with no high school diploma or GED. So, grade the one miscalculation we met made was we underestimated the number of people that you walk around who have jobs. Every day with no high school diploma, GED, I bet you have the people coming to the program, have a job, but they can't get promoted, can't go anywhere, they're stuck. So instead of just letting them do it at their own pace, faith, we bring them in.

They're there from 830 to 230, 10 weeks. If you finish, if you finish the 10 weeks, you have a 95% chance of passing your GED. The theme throughout this conversation today is this piece of the puzzle which is the social network. It keeps coming back to, it's so much bigger than learning skills. It's so much bigger than being given alone, right, or some kind of temporary financial support. It's everything. It's, you know, and Greg made a good point. If you're a stockbroker and you get a book that doesn't have anybody in it, it's going to buy it.

You're not going to go for it, right? That's why evaluations on businesses look at your client base. Yeah. Okay. It's the same thing in life. Greg, of course, you're right. These societal changes historically have taken a long time and

We're in this moment when political and economic history seems to have changed speeding up But but workforce equality is not gonna happen overnight. Yeah It you know even 20 weeks seems super fast But but we have a long way to go. So what are first steps at companies and educational systems that individuals can take right now to kickstart progress towards the long-term goal of equality in the workforce?

Well, it's simply making the commitment faith is to having great intention around the work in understanding that this is not about a destination. The work is the journey or the journey is the work. However you want to think about that. And the intention is what's important now. And the intention has to be tied to your core business operations,

which is why we started the access commitment to begin with. When we started to think about our core competency as a financial services institution, and what we could bring to the table to help to close some of these racial wealth disparities, this notion of creating access and opportunity and closing the racial wealth gap is a place where we could make a difference. And the second component of it, faith, is you have to have a system of

holding yourself accountable and where stakeholders, whether they be your employees or external stakeholders, can also hold you accountable to progress. Because it's one thing to have intention. It's one thing to make public statements about what you're going to do. But if there's nobody, we operate in a society where accountability is critical. And if nobody's holding you accountable, there's no incentive to make progress or to make change. And so we are going to be publishing the middle of,

some later this spring, we are actually going to be putting out, publicly, our theory of change, which will include, you know, our broad and specific metrics around the access commitment, our key initiatives and how we're measuring success, are we actually accomplishing the things that we set out to do? And I think nothing else matters.

It's not about outputs, it's about outcomes. And so those are just a couple of things that companies can do is to make sure that you've got real intention around it and that there are systems for the broader community and all stakeholders to hold you and your efforts accountable. I think those are a couple of things that I think are important in the short term. Lewis, you talked about how just so much of the story of suppression, if not all of it, the story of suppression of black people comes down to money.

And the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the number of black Americans in the workforce has grown faster than the group at large. But the median wage growth for black workers has grown three times slower than the total workforce. What do we do about that? To what Greg said earlier, you can't just bring people in, put them into Louis jobs

and then don't really integrate them into the culture of the organization. You gotta take them to lunch. You gotta take them to half hour. You gotta take them golfing. There's gotta be at least one black face in the locker room at the country club Because that's where the deals are done on the golf course, and if I'm not there

I'm not a member. I'm left out of all the deals and the CEO comes out and makes these proclamations Then goes back to the C-suite where everybody looked just like him and they all look at him going We want to be you you out of your mind if you think we're bringing other people up in here Hard as I work to get this job and I got all my people behind me this way to take my job We got the crack it. So what will it take it will take leadership? It will take risk taking it'll take the things that you hear Greg talking about but more than anything What we've demonstrated is that if you open the door, we'll hold the door open, the ant trail will come in, and we'll produce people like Chanel and

those other Fortune 500 folks and the first independence, you know, the banks got together to bring a black bank to town, and we'll grow a black indigenous and indigenous black middle class in Minnesota that we have been around here. We have to have people for people to see so that we want to do it. I want everyone to know that Lewis King was just CEOing while giving us an answer. It was completely multitasking like a boss. Didn't get bored. Look, I know we don't have that much time left.

I want to ask you, Lewis, what makes you most emotional about what you do? When you see a person coming in, it has nothing. They're putting their hopes in you. And you know, when they go back home at the end of the dance, you either taught us something or you didn't, you either got them a job or you didn't. So to see them later, to hear their stories where they had no hope, they were just down and out.

And now they're doing something that's bigger than them. That's that to me all day long every day. You know, I got a family, I got to take care of them. But this is what this is what I was built to do. And it's a blast. It is a 100% blast to see somebody able to take care of the families and not have to rely on handouts and charity or crime. When are you going to run for president? Greg, wouldn't you vote for president King?

I think I already did write his name in and a couple of elections already. King has such nice. I think I already did write his name in and a couple of elections, all right. Listen, Lewis, I completely understand why you were named one of 2021's most admired CEOs. Thank you for challenging cynicism, despair, despondency, and the status quo. And Greg, will you just keep introducing me to your friends?

Always, always my friend. And this was such a pleasure to have, Lewis, it was such a pleasure to have you on. It's such a pleasure, Lewis. It could not be more grateful. This was awesome. Thank you for having me. Have a wonderful day. Thank you, Major. I know. Thank you, Major King. Thanks so much for listening to Real Good by US Bank. If you like what you heard, listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

See you next week. Celebrity beef, you never know if you're just gonna end up on TMZ or trending on Twitter or in court. I'm Matt Bellasai. And I'm Sydney Battle, and we're the host of Wonder e's new podcast, Disantel. Each episode explores a different iconic celebrity view, from the build-up, why it happened, and the repercussions.

What does our obsession with these feuds say about us? We're starting off with a pretty messy love triangle between Selena Gomez and Justin and Haley Bieber. A seemingly innocent TikTok of Selena talking about her laminated eyebrows. It snowballed into a full-blown alleged feud. But it doesn't seem like fans are letting up anytime soon. Despite both Selena and the Bieber's making public statements denying any bad blood. How much of this is teen jealousy and lovers quarreling, and how much of it is a carefully crafted narrative designed

to sell albums. Follow this and tell wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wondering app.