RM: Do you find [this type of mentor-mentee relationship] a lot in the Edson Program?

 

CK: I think yeah, especially with the social ventures. We’re all in the same boat, we’re all in the trenches and trying to dig ourselves out, relying on each other.

 

HT: We have a listserv with which we email each other and it’s really helpful because sometimes you don’t think of something and someone else does…it helps you out.

 

RM: You were both talking about your teams a little bit. Can you tell me a little more about them, how they came together?

 

CK: Sure. Mine was just friends, actually. Youth Re:Action Corps, I wrote the business plan right after I got back from the Yucatan three years ago, and sat on it for a while and just shortly before the Edson Initiative came up I thought, “Well, I mean, may as well, let’s go.” And I was applying for jobs in Red Cross, and all these national organizations and then we received the support so we jumped in. Our team is a marketing student, a finance student, and an accounting student. There were four of us.

 

HT: There are five of us in the [Brightest Crayon] venture: myself, two are co-workers who work with me at the City of Tempe at the Adaptive Recreation Program, and two are friends who are business students. And one of them, Dora, heard about Edson and came to me because I’ve always been the person that comes up with these ideas. So, we just formed our team based on that.

 

RM: What was that process like for you both in applying [for the Edson Grant]?

 

CK: Ours was very ad hoc. Very, “the application is due in four days, and we’re all passionate about this idea in my head and let’s go.” And it’s worked out. We modified the business plan and sent it in.

 

RM: And how did you learn about the program?

 

CK: Through the State Press.

 

RM: What about you (Hieu)? The application process and learning about Edson?

 

HT: It was fine. We had a business plan, we wrote it last year, the first year of Edson, but we just never turned it in, which was a bad thing, but we had a base and I just kind of went over and updated the information, worked out more of the planning. Patrick [Duran] (Program Manager for the Edson Initiative) came to speak at one of my clubs, and it renewed my interest.

 

RM: Tell me a little bit about what you did with the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative, the development of your project, a brief history. And I know your (Courtney) project has been in existence for a little while longer than yours, Hieu. So, from that perspective as well.

 

CK: Yeah. We were funded last year for the first time. I mean, the office space obviously is a huge value - we have all of our board meetings here, all of our advisory board meetings, our college board meetings, we have a ton of boards we work with, all volunteers. And, I think the mentorship has been the most phenomenal experience for us. We had Lattie Coor, and you can’t get a better human being, let alone a mentor for a project like this, so that was valuable. They do bring in guest speakers to the Edson Office, so you get baseline info. A lot of it’s for-profit based, but they’re trying to bring in a more social side. But they provide basic accounting and how to finance, and where you can look for investments and grants.

 

RM: You said you had volunteers that work on your program in addition to the people that are the team. So, how do you recruit those people and get them excited about it?

 

CK: We have college mentors that are out on site with all of our 85 high school students who are in the program. So, we have four college mentors for each site, twelve mentors total. And we recruited through ASU – “We’re empowering young people to change the world, do you want get involved?” And we had more applications than we could take in, so we held an interview and went through a big panel and got the twelve we were looking for. They range from undergrads all the way up to Ph.D. students.

 

HT: That’s pretty cool. The biggest thing about Edson that helped us? Probably the office space because not only are you sitting there, but you have other people who are with you and you can just easily ask them a question if you have a problem. It makes everything seem more real: you come to the office, you work. You have board meetings in the office. Patrick has been a great help, he’s the coordinator. He’s constantly on us to do things, but it helps. It’s like you’re not completely alone in doing your business.

 

RM: Right. And how do you feel, this is your first year launching your program? How are you feeling about it and the direction it’s going?

 

HT: You know, you’re excited when you first get the grant and you’re excited when you’re filling out the paperwork. When you print something out you’re really, you know, “I’ve accomplished something.” And then there’s a whole level of stress, “What do I do next?” “I don’t understand this line in the tax code.” It’s just a growing experience, and I wouldn’t trade it, and am really excited to see where we are in May when we launch our first program.

 

RM: Can you tell me a little more in depth about your programs and what you’re doing that you’re particularly excited about?

 

CK: Sure. Ours, like I said, launched in October. Mesa Public Schools actually called us in March when we were two months into having an office and being here full-time.

 

RM: And how did they. . .

 

CK: They found out through a press release, actually, and that’s my alma mater in there, so “Mesa Public Schools!” But they called from the district level and said, “Hey we heard about what you’re doing and we want to be the first program in the nation to launch this, and can we?” And I pushed back in my chair and said, “Give me, like, at least a month to think about it this,” and they said, “How about a week?,” and I was like, “Okay! So let’s go!” And they came back with some financial investment for us, and said “we’ll support you in this and get it off the ground,” and so they did. So, we launched seven months after we started. We got our 501c3 status, we got all of our accounting, legal services, I mean, haphazard, crazy, mess of getting everything off the ground, websites and graphic designs…

 

RM: How did you do that?

 

CK: I think I was lucky. I worked, and I still do actually part-time as the executive director at Books for a Better World, which is another non-profit organization, and when I was 18 I launched a for-profit company of my own, so I had this, I guess baseline knowledge of how to do something. In October, we recruited high school students, got them in, and then we started in January putting all the college mentors out. The students start with identifying who they are as a team - and its [high school] sophomores, juniors, seniors - looking at what the problems are they see in our community and how can they can positively affect them? And then we walk them through this whole process of, “How do you identify problems effectively?” “How do you brainstorm possible solutions?” “How do you timeline?” “How do you budget?” “How do you write proposals?” “How do you write press releases?” How do you become social entrepreneur, essentially. And they’re given real-world titles - president, project director, administrative director, blog director. They have business cards, and they function like a social change organization in this core team.

 

So some of the success stories: two weeks ago, a student [noted] there was a green light at their high school but no green arrow. It takes thirty minutes to get out of the high school, it’s the only way out and students run the red, and walk across the red, because they’re trying to get across. There’s an elementary and junior high on that same street, the traffic is crazy. They went down to City Council, did a huge presentation, and wowed city council. They couldn’t believe that young people were taking a stand to do something in their community. They pushed it right through the Transportation Commission, they received some phone calls from the commissioners themselves, and next week there will be the Transportation Commission to get it changed. Another team at Westwood High School [noted that] they have a lot of students that don’t have health insurance, their parents don’t have health insurance, so on April 22 nd they’re putting together a day where volunteer doctors, dentists, and physicians come in and hold a day of health for the students - check-ups and all that stuff. It’s more their success than ours this year. And there are other projects too doing great things.

 

RM: That’s really exciting. And with The Brightest Crayon, where are you in your initiative?

 

HT: We’re really at the beginning stages where it’s really crazy, with the articles of incorporation, filing for taxes, getting the program up and running. I’ve delegated the things that we need to do. I have two of our members, Andrew and Vanessa working on programs and activities. What are we going to do in the future? Picnics, [events], all of that. Dora is our marketing person and she’s going to handle our website, all of our graphic design. And then Kari is doing our accounting. So basically what I’m doing right now is hoping for the best, getting it to the corporate status, and getting non-profit status.

 

RM: And how has that process been for you?

 

HT: It’s been really easy thanks to Courtney for the articles of incorporation. And right now we’re looking for an accountant to help us with 501c3. Other than that we’re okay.

 

RM: How are you going about that, are you putting out ads?

 

HT: No, no, no. Hopefully word of mouth, referrals, we’re saying, “hey, well we need an accountant,” and just listening to people when they talk. The other day at work, I was talking to one of our participants and he’s like, “Oh I’m an accountant for a non-profit,” and I’m like, “Oh, really?”

 

RM: How do you see your programs growing in the future and how do you see yourselves sustaining them?

 

HT: Well, right now we’re just focused on a specific region: the Kyrene School District. Because that’s where we’re (ASU Tempe campus) located, it’s easy for us to find people. Eventually we hope to branch out and expand our program Valley-wide. Because the Edson Grant is only for this year typically, what we’re going to have to do is find a lot more partnerships as well as sponsorships. What we’re doing is we’re looking with a friend of mine who has her own non-profit for people with disabilities, and we work with the city, and another non-profit, so we’re hoping to partner up with them.

 

CK: We’re looking, we have Mesa Public Schools. We’ll be in all six of their schools next year. We’re possibly working with another local foundation to launch statewide.

 

CK: A foundation out of San Jose is looking to support our program and what we’re doing. If that works out then we’ll be in California next year. We’ll also be in Tempe, Chandler and Gilbert through connections with local corporations. So we’re expanding far more rapidly than we ever thought we would. We’re in one International Baccalaureate High School (a program in 113 countries) in Mesa, Westward High School. We hope to expand to others and I’m looking to pursue taking it to an international setting, to connect all IB High Schools around the world so youths are connected together in this movement of young people changing the world. We’ve received grants from Intel and SRP. Network PC Engineering, the Rodel Foundation, the Edson Initiative again this year, so financially we’re catching up and we look to hire additional staff, get office space, and to do more program development, so that we can roll out a full year program when our first school year rolls over.

 

RM: Did you have to apply for those grants?

 

CK: Yeah. Absolutely. Highly competitive. I’m finishing one today. We’re in the finals for The Social Venture Partners Grant, which is up to $150,000, and another one which is $100,000. We’re in the final national competition, so getting out there and writing the grants we know we can get or have a good shot at getting, and scrapping those that we don’t.

 

RM: And how do you hear about them or learn about them?

 

CK: Arizona Community Report, published by the Center for Non-Profit Leadership and Management, that’s a great resource for grants, and just word of mouth, and talking. I can’t tell you how many meetings I had with Intel and APS and SRP. All over the map. And the Arizona corporate and I think charitable sector in Arizona is very small and once you’re in, you know people, and “Oh you met with Helen Rosen, oh, did you meet with so-and-so?” “Yeah I met with Don Budinger.” Then people start talking to each other, and then people start calling you. That’s when it gets really exciting.

 

RM: What has been the most challenging for both of you in your initiatives and your work?

 

CK: I think initially for me, time and we started on $1000 dollars. So how do you get a national non-profit running off of $1000 dollars? My Mother got me a BMW for graduation and I sold it to sustain this and I’m still working two other jobs, and eighty hours a week here. You do what you have to do and I think that was a challenge for us, just getting everything up and running. And we had so many opportunities so quickly we had to figure out how to channel those effectively. A good challenge, but a challenge nonetheless.

 

RM: How has it been motivating everyone else in your team to stay involved and to dedicate so much time, so much of their resources to it?

 

CK: It’s like she (Hieu) said, you don’t hit roadblocks, they’re just things you know you have to get through and you get through them because you’re passionate about what you’re doing.

 

RM: Are there particular learning experiences or things that have taken place in this initiative that you can apply your life or to the program?

 

HT: I think just using the resources that you have. You don’t expect them to be there, and when they are you just have to grab them and just start working with them. So with networking, I was really surprised at that. You always hear about people talking about networking and how important it is. You don’t realize it until after you’re actually using it.

 

RM: How do you feel your project or the Edson Initiative in general is contributing to ASU?

 

CK: We’ve interviewed our college mentors and we’re doing a promotional video right now, and to hear their feedback and what their getting out of it was phenomenal. Just being able as an ASU student to go into the community and work with young people to affect positive change in the world. They’ve gotten just as much out of it as their students have. So that’s been exciting. And a lot of our board members and advisory board members are professors or deans or in [the President’s] Office, so we have a lot of people helping.

 

HT: In terms of ASU, I think The Brightest Crayon will bring people with disabilities more to focus at ASU, because most people don’t really think about people with disabilities and what they need. The Brightest Crayon will really bring it to the forefront: that these people are just like us, they want to have fun, and be social.

 

RM: And what about the community? What kind of impact do you think your program is having or will have in the greater community?

 

CK: I think in the future, I mean immediately the student projects are impacting the community independent of ourselves, and then our extension could be that we’re empowering more people than just ourselves in doing good things. And in the long term, you think about the educational system right now, and high schools, and what are young people, how are they encouraged to be social entrepreneurs, and how are they taught to be effective social entrepreneurs? And we hope to be those people in the organization teaching those skills so that by the time they reach ASU or another university or enter corporate positions, that they’ve understood the community in which they live in and they’ve effected positive change in it.

 

HT: For The Brightest Crayon, it’s more about bringing people together with children with disabilities and their parents. We want to provide a social net for them, so they can have a place to just be a normal kid. That’s what The Brightest Crayon should be.

 

RM: Is there anything that you would change if you could do it all over again?

 

CK: We’ve been very lucky. Very lucky. And I think we were in the right place at the right time and everything that ASU is doing with social embeddedness and The New American University, we caught it. A lot of people told me to read the book, “The Tipping Point,” it’s like we kind of caught the wave of young people and individuals thinking about what young people are doing in the communities.

 

HT: I think with receiving the Edson Grant, it focused me to a whole new dimension. I never thought of myself…well I thought of myself as an entrepreneur, but I didn’t think that I’d be going into this direction so quickly and so fast, so I’m really thankful for the opportunity, and it’s really made me kind of grown up.

 

RM: What suggestions or advice might you have for aspiring Edson student entrepreneurs or for those who haven’t even considered applying?

 

HT: It’s completely not out of [reach]. When I look back at what we were, it seemed like we were kind of ragtag but we were able to get the grant. So if they’re not even thinking of applying [what are they doing]? Whatever idea you have just go with it. The worse that can happen is that you don’t get it. But if you do you’ve just started a whole new movement.

 

CK: Yeah, I think there’s no greater time than when you’re in college or you’re a grad student or you’re young. Period. To do something that you are passionate about and to take that risk. Ten years from now you may not have the opportunity. I love what I do, and I wouldn’t trade it, and I’d take the risk all over again.

 

CK: And I would think, for the organization and for every other, to strategically plan and really, really, really strategically plan and think about, it’s not about getting to May or August, it’s about where do you go after that. The Piper Trust, they don’t fund organizations less than three years old, but you bet I’ve talked to them now so that in three years I can walk back in there and can send them updates quarterly and say, “Hey this is what we’re doing,” you know, keep in front of people. You have to look at that long term kind of strategy and network as the day is long. If they say you need to talk to these five people, you talk to those five people.

 

RM: Do you have any upcoming events?

 

HT: On May 21 st is when we’re going to launch our first big activity. And before that we’re just going to start getting volunteers, signing people up for programs.

 

BD: As far as the high school students, do you sense that they are really enthused about these programs, and like, “wow this is something new!”?

 

CK: You know, it’s incredible too, because I mean I was a high school student and you think, five years later, “Oh I know what high school students need,” but we went in and we did focus groups to learn what high school students wanted out of a program like this, and what they wanted. They didn’t want another club, they didn’t want another community service program, and they wanted something that they were in control of. Hearing students say, “six months ago I didn’t think I could do anything to effect change in the community, and now here I am with a team of people and we’re doing something. You know, and it may not be much right now, but you watch us in five years, and see what we’re going to do.” I mean, that’s cool. That’s something that they haven’t found in high school yet.

 

HT: The Edson program had really been great and what I’m really surprised about is the amount of interest in The Brightest Crayon. When we first thought of it we thought of it just specifically for that group with families with children with disabilities. But now it’s kind of spread all over the ASU community and to random people who seem to be interested in the program. And to us that’s great because it’s really opening other peoples eyes to the needs and the wants of kids with disabilities.

 

RM: Thank you both very much for sharing.

 

CK and HT: Thank you.

 

To learn more about the work of these and other Edson Student Entrepreneurs and the variety of ways that ASU is leveraging its resources in partnership with the community, visit ASU in the Community at www.asu.edu/community.

Date of Interview: March 15, 2006