Speaker 1: Hello, my friend. It is good to be with you
Speaker 1: once again on Love Someone, my One Heart at a
Speaker 1: Time podcast series. What we're trying to do besides entertain
Speaker 1: you is inspire you, Inspire you to change the world
Speaker 1: one heart at a time. I am so happy to
Speaker 1: have Hattie Mitchell with me today, the founder and the
Speaker 1: principle of a very very unique elementary school in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: Her story begins many, many years ago. She was a
Speaker 1: girl of nineteen. Actually, as she describes it, it started
Speaker 1: way before that, when she was but a child with
Speaker 1: a very tender heart for the plight of the homeless population.
Speaker 1: I'm going to let her share her story from the beginning,
Speaker 1: but before we get started, I need to thank our
Speaker 1: sponsor today. This podcast is made possible by my good
Speaker 1: friends at the Home Depot. Given how often I'm at
Speaker 1: my favorite home Depot, they are good friends. Now I
Speaker 1: know them all by name. When I'm in need of
Speaker 1: an appliance, I'm in the appliance department. When I'm in
Speaker 1: a planting mood, and I'm always in a planting mood,
Speaker 1: I'm in the garden department. This year I discovered just
Speaker 1: how good the Home Depot is with carpets as well
Speaker 1: selection installation special orders. My new friends in the flooring
Speaker 1: department were beyond helpful in choosing the carpet and then
Speaker 1: seeing that it was installed perfectly for my niece Sharissa.
Speaker 1: She and her husband Nick are expecting a baby any
Speaker 1: day now. The carpet we purchased was for the nursery
Speaker 1: of my soon to be born great nephew, and with
Speaker 1: the purchase just more than six hundred dollars, the installation
Speaker 1: was free, really, no fees at all. The home depot,
Speaker 1: more saving, more doing. So Hattie Mitchell, welcome to love
Speaker 1: someone with Delilah. Do you know how I found my
Speaker 1: way to you? Hattie?
Speaker 2: No, I was not told the story.
Speaker 1: Okay, this is a fun story. I have a big
Speaker 1: family and at home right now, I only have four children,
Speaker 1: but I have many that are grown and gone. And
Speaker 1: Blessing is my little genius. Nothing slows this child down,
Speaker 1: nothing in life slows her down. And she came to me,
Speaker 1: I don't know about a month ago, and she said, Mom,
Speaker 1: I want you to watch the story. And it was
Speaker 1: your story. And I said, that's really touching. I'm really
Speaker 1: blessed that you wanted to share that with me, and
Speaker 1: she said, no, I want you to watch it because
Speaker 1: I want you to get to know the woman. She said,
Speaker 1: I want you to do a podcast about her. I
Speaker 1: want other people to hear what she's doing. I want
Speaker 1: other people in other cities to hear what she's doing
Speaker 1: and maybe they'll understand how important it is and help
Speaker 1: more kids. And I'm like, you're amazing. Yes, So I
Speaker 1: said to my fourteen year old daughter, who is in
Speaker 1: ninth grade, you know what, I am naming you the
Speaker 1: assistant producer for my podcast. For this series, you get
Speaker 1: to track this young woman down. And she did, and
Speaker 1: she did.
Speaker 2: She's incredible.
Speaker 1: She did. She found a way to you. She came
Speaker 1: to me just jumping and screaming and saying the lady
Speaker 1: that started the Creed Academy. She got back to me, mom,
Speaker 1: and so she turned it over to my sister, who
Speaker 1: is the producer of the show. And now here we
Speaker 1: are together.
Speaker 2: Well, you have a wonderful family, obviously a wonderful story,
Speaker 2: and blessing is already a blessing to many, but just
Speaker 2: hearing that story is even a blessing to me. It's
Speaker 2: very encouraging.
Speaker 1: So tell me how how this all started the Crete Academy,
Speaker 1: which you've been doing for how many years now?
Speaker 2: Well, I've been working on it for sixteen years. We've
Speaker 2: been open for two.
Speaker 1: I was a long pregnancy girlfriend. Oh yeah, Logancy.
Speaker 2: Things good things take time. I was born, I always say,
Speaker 2: with this deep sense of empathy and compassion for people
Speaker 2: who are homeless, very very specific, deep and just a
Speaker 2: sense of connectedness, a sense of responsibility to this very
Speaker 2: specific group of people. I don't know why. I sometimes
Speaker 2: wished I, you know, did not feel the way that
Speaker 2: I feel when I see people on the streets. But
Speaker 2: from the time I can remember, and my mom tells
Speaker 2: me stories, you know, I was five years old and
Speaker 2: I would tap her while she was driving and I'd say,
Speaker 2: you know, give the man standing under the overpass five dollars,
Speaker 2: give him a banana. Do you have anything that translated
Speaker 2: into you know, in college, I would drive around with
Speaker 2: blankets in the back of my car, not alcohol like
Speaker 2: you know most college students. I had blankets, and I
Speaker 2: would give out blankets to people on the streets. So
Speaker 2: I've always just felt that there was some inequity, just
Speaker 2: a systematic issue with people living on the streets. I
Speaker 2: felt it was wrong. It was really unbelievable for me
Speaker 2: in America to see people not in homes and just
Speaker 2: there was like a moral obligation on my end to
Speaker 2: do something. There was a moment, however, where everything shifted
Speaker 2: and this passion and this sense of empathy just kind
Speaker 2: of transformed into this vision for this school. And that
Speaker 2: was when I was nineteen years old. I was volunteering
Speaker 2: downtown LA at Union Rescue Mission and I had finished
Speaker 2: volunteering and walked outside and I looked down and there
Speaker 2: was this little girl crawling on the sidewalk. And I
Speaker 2: was shocked. I was hurt, I was sad, I was angry,
Speaker 2: and I thought, this little girl has limitless potential and
Speaker 2: extremely limited options. If she's to make it in the world,
Speaker 2: if she's to become anything, she will be in a book.
Speaker 2: She's one in a million because of the circumstances that
Speaker 2: she is born into. And I knew if I saw one,
Speaker 2: that there were more. And I knew the fact that
Speaker 2: I was looking at a little girl crawling on the
Speaker 2: sidewalk in a country and in a city with such
Speaker 2: wealth and resources, there was something wrong with our system.
Speaker 2: There was something wrong with what we were doing. And
Speaker 2: you know, I didn't know much about the world, but
Speaker 2: I knew I wanted to do something about kids living
Speaker 2: on the streets, kids in homelessness, kids in poverty, And
Speaker 2: in that moment, just watched that little girl all but
Speaker 2: five minutes, I said, I'm going to open a school.
Speaker 2: I think the answer. You know, I don't know much
Speaker 2: about the world, but I think the answer is a
Speaker 2: good education.
Speaker 1: So backup, Hattie, how old were you? You said you've
Speaker 1: had this, this burning in your heart.
Speaker 2: I was nineteen and you.
Speaker 1: Were nineteen, and you saw this little baby crawling I'm guessing, hands.
Speaker 2: And knees, yes, six months old.
Speaker 1: On the sidewalk, and instead of looking away, you looked
Speaker 1: into the heart of the matter and said, at nineteen
Speaker 1: years old, I'm going to open a school.
Speaker 2: Right, I'm going to do something. No, I couldn't look away.
Speaker 2: I had a moral obligation. I felt I had something
Speaker 2: to offer it. And even if I didn't, I had
Speaker 2: a moral responsibility to at least try to do something
Speaker 2: because we weren't doing enough as a society, as a
Speaker 2: human you know, kind, we were not doing enough if
Speaker 2: there were kids living on the streets in America.
Speaker 1: So you're nineteen years old. This this idea a school
Speaker 1: begins to germinate in your heart and in your mind
Speaker 1: and in your spirit. Then what happened?
Speaker 2: Then nothing happened for a long time. It felt like
Speaker 2: fourteen years there.
Speaker 1: Well, something was happening.
Speaker 2: I mean, things were happening, like a seed.
Speaker 1: Growing underneath the earth. If you don't see what's happening, right,
Speaker 1: but it was happening, or you wouldn't have opened Creep.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I said, okay, well, you know, I have
Speaker 2: to be strategic about this. I can't just go open
Speaker 2: a school. What do I need to learn? What do
Speaker 2: I need to do? And the natural first step to
Speaker 2: me was, well, get in a classroom. So I decided, Okay,
Speaker 2: I'm going to major in education. I will get my
Speaker 2: teaching credential and I'll teach. I'll learn firsthand what goes
Speaker 2: on in the classroom on the day to day, and
Speaker 2: then I'll go from there. And from there I went
Speaker 2: on to learning about policy, and I went back to
Speaker 2: school for my masters. I interned at the White House
Speaker 2: with the Obama administration, and I worked on federal policy.
Speaker 2: And then I came back to LA and I worked
Speaker 2: as an administrator at a school in South Central. From there,
Speaker 2: I went to Louisiana. I worked on state policy, So
Speaker 2: really I just took on various jobs to try and
Speaker 2: figure out and understand the system, the education system, serving
Speaker 2: kids in poverty, serving kids in the inner city, what
Speaker 2: that looks like all the way from the highest level
Speaker 2: at the federal government to the lowest level, you know,
Speaker 2: in the classroom. And I think that we're you know,
Speaker 2: looking at just the system as a whole. I sort
Speaker 2: of spoke about that, you know, when I first saw
Speaker 2: the baby on the sidewalk, which was like, you know,
Speaker 2: I don't know much about the world, but this doesn't
Speaker 2: seem right to me. And you know, as I've gotten
Speaker 2: older and learned more about the social injustices and inequities,
Speaker 2: it's very clear that in America especially, we have a
Speaker 2: system that really bites up and spits out our low
Speaker 2: income people. Our minorities are black and brown people, especially
Speaker 2: the men, so you know, from boys to men. And
Speaker 2: as you said, it's like, if you don't end up
Speaker 2: in this cycle of poverty, you're likely going to end
Speaker 2: up in prison or dead. Those are the options. And
Speaker 2: we can't undo and disrupt this system that's been in
Speaker 2: place for so long because much of it derives from
Speaker 2: slavery and from segregation and years of racism. But what
Speaker 2: we can do is try to address the issues here
Speaker 2: and now and look to dismantling some of these cycles,
Speaker 2: which is why I chose the school. So, yes, I'm
Speaker 2: passionate about serving people who are homeless. I stayed away
Speaker 2: from adults, and I'm staying away from building more houses,
Speaker 2: and I'm staying away from building more institutions, whether that
Speaker 2: be you know, hospitals because of the mental ill or jails.
Speaker 2: I'm looking at serving kids so that we can break
Speaker 2: this cycle, so they have a chance, because it's a cycle,
Speaker 2: and it's the system is doing exactly what it was
Speaker 2: intended to do, and it's to keep black and brown
Speaker 2: people oppressed and coming in and out of prison and DCFS,
Speaker 2: you know, Department of Family and Children's Services or ending
Speaker 2: up dead. And I want to see that completely changed.
Speaker 1: So it took you six sixteen years, you said for
Speaker 1: Crete to actually be birthed. What did it tell me
Speaker 1: where the name comes from?
Speaker 2: Well, my husband and I we actually were researching names.
Speaker 2: Most of the Latin names were already taken by private
Speaker 2: schools and charter schools. So we look that the Greek language,
Speaker 2: and I really wanted something that meant to create, and
Speaker 2: so Crete means to create. And the philosophy behind the
Speaker 2: name is that if you come to our school, you
Speaker 2: take hold of the resources and the education that we provide,
Speaker 2: you can create your own future, despite what your trajectory
Speaker 2: may have been, you know, had you not had any
Speaker 2: interventions or because of the circumstances that you were brought into.
Speaker 2: So it's really our children creating the future that they
Speaker 2: want for themselves.
Speaker 1: So tell me who makes up your student body at Create?
Speaker 1: You're in Los Angeles, Yes, who makes up your student body?
Speaker 2: So we have one hundred and eighty students. We have
Speaker 2: far more boys than girls, which is not out of
Speaker 2: the norm for charter schools. Usually there's more boys. We're
Speaker 2: sixty six percent African American. I remember these numbers off
Speaker 2: the top of my head. Thirty percent Latino, two percent white,
Speaker 2: two percent other, twenty percent homeless, four percent foster. We
Speaker 2: are ten percent gifted, ninety two percent free and reduced lunch,
Speaker 2: which is actually lower than the surrounding schools.
Speaker 1: So ninety two percent of your students would not be
Speaker 1: eating probably if not eating at your school.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and we serve three meals a day for those students.
Speaker 2: And then we are about twelve percent special ed meeting
Speaker 2: students requiring special and additional support for various disabilities.
Speaker 1: And who is this very charming principle that I see
Speaker 1: in the video hugging the kids every day?
Speaker 2: Oh, that would probably be me? Or is it a man?
Speaker 1: No, it's a beautiful woman that I saw in the
Speaker 1: video that you know the kids.
Speaker 2: Name, Oh, that would be me. That would be it.
Speaker 1: Of everything that I learned about you, Hattie when I
Speaker 1: was researching you, the thing that there's so many things
Speaker 1: that I just I love you. I just love your heart,
Speaker 1: I love your passion, I love what you're doing. I
Speaker 1: love that you're not taking no for an answer. But
Speaker 1: the fact that you know each child by name, that
Speaker 1: you know their stories, you know their family's stories. That
Speaker 1: that was what touched me the deepest. Because a lot
Speaker 1: of people think that they can change the world through
Speaker 1: policies or politics, and maybe they can, but I believe
Speaker 1: and the whole reason I do what I do is
Speaker 1: that we're going to change the world one heart at
Speaker 1: a time. And absolutely that comes through relationships and When
Speaker 1: I saw the video Hattie of the kids running up
Speaker 1: and hugging you, and you calling them by name and
Speaker 1: knowing their story and looking in their eyes and seeing
Speaker 1: the for who they are, I said, this young woman
Speaker 1: is going to change the world because you love each
Speaker 1: child individually.
Speaker 2: I do very much to a fault. I always say
Speaker 2: I have one hundred and eighty three kids. I have
Speaker 2: two of my own and one hundred and eighty one
Speaker 2: at my school. But yeah, I mean that's where it starts.
Speaker 2: It starts with a true, a true love for humans,
Speaker 2: for humankind, and even deeper love for children, which you
Speaker 2: know I kind of expressed. I love every single one
Speaker 2: of them. I want the best for them. I treat
Speaker 2: them like my own because they are. They're a part
Speaker 2: of me and an extension of what I believe about
Speaker 2: the world and how they should be able to experience
Speaker 2: it for themselves.
Speaker 1: There's a woman that I hope you can meet one
Speaker 1: day named Jan Haynes. Known her for over thirty years.
Speaker 1: But Jan runs my ministry, my foundation in Africa. Not
Speaker 1: a foundation, it's a in GEO and we, just like you,
Speaker 1: our hardest for children. Our mission is to be a
Speaker 1: voice for forgotten children both here in America, kids in
Speaker 1: foster care, and in Africa, in West Africa, kids in
Speaker 1: refugee camps. And Jan spends about six months eight months
Speaker 1: out of the year in Africa, living and working and
Speaker 1: just completely immersed in what we do. And I knew
Speaker 1: probably the first or second year after we had hired
Speaker 1: her for this position, I had gone over and I
Speaker 1: watched her at the school, and she knew we have
Speaker 1: three hundred and eighty kids. We take care of orphans,
Speaker 1: and disabled kids and kids with special needs. She knew
Speaker 1: each one by name. Wow, I'm so proud of you
Speaker 1: and the work you do. Pattie. Let's just take a
Speaker 1: break for a moment, have a sip of water, take
Speaker 1: a breath. There's so so, so much more. I want
Speaker 1: to know, so much more. I want our listeners to hear.
Speaker 1: We will be right back. How can we get the
Speaker 1: word out about Crets so other cities can see this
Speaker 1: and see how good the students are doing and how
Speaker 1: they're developing and learning and growing.
Speaker 2: Well, First, thank you for the kind words. You know,
Speaker 2: I really do think that we were all put here
Speaker 2: for a very unique purpose, a purpose that only we
Speaker 2: could fulfill. You know, each one of us, and that
Speaker 2: purpose is always outside and greater than ourselves, and it
Speaker 2: definitely includes the people around you and the things that
Speaker 2: you care most about. So, you know, one, I always
Speaker 2: encourage people to dig deep and find, you know, their
Speaker 2: own passions to figure out because we all have it.
Speaker 2: So thank you, you know, for your for your words,
Speaker 2: because it is a lot and I you know, do
Speaker 2: need that encouragement, so I really appreciate that. In terms
Speaker 2: of getting the word out, I think, you know, I
Speaker 2: always invite people to the school for tours if they're local.
Speaker 2: We're on Crunchha on sixtieth Street, so kind of right
Speaker 2: in the heart of Hyde Park in LA And for
Speaker 2: those who aren't local, just you know, visit our website
Speaker 2: because we tried to put as much information and videos
Speaker 2: and content about what we're doing so people are aware
Speaker 2: not only of the school, but of the things we're
Speaker 2: doing so that they can hopefully do some of the
Speaker 2: same things in their communities to support this really vulnerable
Speaker 2: but important population of kids.
Speaker 1: Well, I know, it's it's taught news now, especially on
Speaker 1: the West coast throughout California, Sacramento. Oh my gosh, the
Speaker 1: homeless population is like quadrupled in the last two years
Speaker 1: in San Francisco, in Portland, Oregon, in Seattle, Washington, the
Speaker 1: homeless situation, the camps, the cholera outbreaks, the you know,
Speaker 1: just the enormity of the problem. If people could grab
Speaker 1: hold of this clearly isn't a solution to the homeless problem,
Speaker 1: but it is a solution to breaking the cycle for
Speaker 1: the kids that you can get into a school like yours.
Speaker 1: I believe that each one of those kids in your school,
Speaker 1: because of your love and your teachers, and your you know,
Speaker 1: healthy meal programs, and the fact that you know everything
Speaker 1: I've read, you look at the child holistically, and you
Speaker 1: try to meet their basic needs first before you try
Speaker 1: to educate them. You make sure that the they've got
Speaker 1: a good night's sleep and food in their belly, and
Speaker 1: their health issues taken care of. Hattie, that's priceless. And
Speaker 1: all those kids, you're one hundred and eighty one other
Speaker 1: children besides your two biological children. They're going to have
Speaker 1: a shot at a different life because of that school.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and I do think this is an answer to
Speaker 2: the homeless issue. I think we've been looking at the
Speaker 2: issue all wrong, which is why it's quadrupled. Building more
Speaker 2: housing is a band aid on a bullet wound, building
Speaker 2: more medical facilities, Incarcerating individuals who are homeless, making it
Speaker 2: a crime, you know, arresting people. That that's not the answer.
Speaker 2: The answer started back when they were five and when
Speaker 2: they needed to get to school so they could learn,
Speaker 2: so that they could go to middle school and do
Speaker 2: well and then go to high school and get a
Speaker 2: good job or go to college. Unfortunately, the cycle of
Speaker 2: poverty perpetuates itself, and so lots of little things happen
Speaker 2: over the course of a child's life that create more
Speaker 2: and more barrier barriers for their success, and it becomes
Speaker 2: at some point insurmountable. And so I don't think the answer. Yes,
Speaker 2: it's helpful to have more housing, and yes there's a shortage,
Speaker 2: et cetera. But what I always tell people is the
Speaker 2: work we're doing today you will see the results in
Speaker 2: twenty years when there are less people on skid row,
Speaker 2: when there are less individuals experiencing homelessness, when the poverty
Speaker 2: rates go down, when educational attainment increases in that neighborhood,
Speaker 2: you know, specifically, because the answer is breaking the cycle.
Speaker 2: The answer is not giving someone a home. You can
Speaker 2: give them a home, but you have to teach them
Speaker 2: how to stand on their own two feet and give
Speaker 2: them the resources to do so. So I really believe
Speaker 2: that this is the answer. It's breaking the cycle at
Speaker 2: the root so that people have a ounts to dream
Speaker 2: and be and do something.
Speaker 1: Can you describe to our listeners how to exactly what
Speaker 1: the Creed Academy is?
Speaker 2: Oh? Absolutely so, Bililah, you sort of touched on it.
Speaker 2: But basically we look at basic needs first, which is
Speaker 2: unheard of because schools are all about achievement and test
Speaker 2: scores and performance, and we say all of that set aside.
Speaker 2: What's most important is that when you come to school,
Speaker 2: you are fed, you are mentally and physically in a
Speaker 2: position to learn. So what that looks like is counseling
Speaker 2: offered at the school, dental cleanings, vision screenings, medical exams.
Speaker 2: We offer clothes, three meals a day after school, care, transportation,
Speaker 2: housing for parents. And this is all on the basic
Speaker 2: needs side, so all within our wellness program. That doesn't
Speaker 2: even touch on the academics, which is our first and
Speaker 2: foremost you know, priority, It's what we are school, it's
Speaker 2: what we offer. But my belief is we've gone, like
Speaker 2: with many things, we've gone about educating our kids all wrong.
Speaker 2: And we assume that the kids coming to school have
Speaker 2: two parents at home, they've gone to college, they do
Speaker 2: their homework with their kids, They take them to the
Speaker 2: doctor and the dentists regularly, they provide counseling when the
Speaker 2: family goes through traumatic experiences. They get a good night's
Speaker 2: sleep and they have a good breakfast, you know, when
Speaker 2: they get to school. For our kids in poverty, for
Speaker 2: our kids experiencing homelessness, almost none of those things are true.
Speaker 2: You're lucky if one of those things are true. And
Speaker 2: usually it's a single mom. The kids may or may
Speaker 2: not know their father. They're either deceased, incarcerated, or walking
Speaker 2: around somewhere and they're not sure who it is. The
Speaker 2: parent works an hourly job, they may or may not
Speaker 2: have medical insurance, and they're struggling just to make ends meet.
Speaker 2: So that child cannot learn at an optimal level when
Speaker 2: they get to school. And that's where we've kind of
Speaker 2: blown up this idea of when you get to school,
Speaker 2: it's all about math and science and write reading and writing. Now,
Speaker 2: when you get to school, we're checking in with you
Speaker 2: to make sure you're ready to learn. Once you're ready
Speaker 2: to learn, it's all about math, science and everything else.
Speaker 2: But until then, I can't expect you to perform or
Speaker 2: even want to, you know, learn without making sure your
Speaker 2: basic needs are first met. On the academic side, we're
Speaker 2: exposing our kids to things that you know, our middle
Speaker 2: class and affluent families get exposed to like piano classes
Speaker 2: after school, in ballet and chess and sports, social groups,
Speaker 2: et cetera. We have all of that during the day.
Speaker 2: So for an hour every single day except Wednesdays, we
Speaker 2: have our Genius Hour, and that's when kids get to
Speaker 2: choose an enrichment class that they want to go to
Speaker 2: for eight weeks. So we have chess, culinary art, horticulture,
Speaker 2: a comics class, we have art, a steam class, so
Speaker 2: science and technology engineering, we have dance. And we're not
Speaker 2: just you know, providing kids with the four core subjects,
Speaker 2: but we're also making sure that you know, our creative kids.
Speaker 2: Our dancers are singers, we have a theater class. You know,
Speaker 2: those kids are getting what they need so they can
Speaker 2: be successful, and so they can develop a zest for
Speaker 2: education and for life, so they have something to hold
Speaker 2: on to to take them through, you know, for the
Speaker 2: next twenty years and really through those hard times that
Speaker 2: they will they will have.
Speaker 1: And where does the funding for create Where do you
Speaker 1: find your funding for doctors to come and do exams
Speaker 1: for eye screening for the meal program.
Speaker 2: Well, our funding, most of it comes from the state.
Speaker 2: We are a public school, so we're funded just like
Speaker 2: any other public school, goal through attendance, So it's based
Speaker 2: on our attendance and it's provided by public funds. In
Speaker 2: addition to that, I've been very strategic about partnering with
Speaker 2: organizations that are doing the things or providing the services
Speaker 2: that we need. So all of the things that I
Speaker 2: mentioned are actually free at no cost to us. We
Speaker 2: have partnered with organizations that provide dental screenings and vision
Speaker 2: screenings and physical exams, and you know, we're helping them
Speaker 2: meet their quotas by providing the students and so it's
Speaker 2: a win for both of us. So we've developed several
Speaker 2: partnerships both with nonprofits but also universities.
Speaker 1: And how many hours a night, Hattie, do you sleep?
Speaker 2: Well?
Speaker 1: It depends, be honest, because if you're a mama with
Speaker 1: two kids, even though I know you have a wonderful husband,
Speaker 1: and you're the first one they are greeting kids in
Speaker 1: the morning, and you're working all these relationships, with these
Speaker 1: partnerships that you've found. You must get by on like
Speaker 1: six five six hours sleep.
Speaker 2: Some nights. You know, when I the first year of
Speaker 2: this school, I was working sixteen hour days. Now it's
Speaker 2: about twelve to fourteen.
Speaker 1: Oh, now you've really slowed down.
Speaker 2: But you know it's I'm passionate, so it doesn't bother me.
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't if I had a superpower. I
Speaker 2: was asked the other day, if you've had a superpower,
Speaker 2: what would it be. My answer was that I would
Speaker 2: not require sleep. I think it's such a waste of
Speaker 2: time and I don't understand why I have to do it.
Speaker 2: I wish I could be awake just doing what I
Speaker 2: love to do, which is being with people and you know,
Speaker 2: serving my kids in my family.
Speaker 1: See, if I have one, it would be to be
Speaker 1: a clone, so that I could actually that's.
Speaker 2: Good, we could.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if I had like two or three clones, I
Speaker 1: could actually sleep and take care of my kids in
Speaker 1: Africa and I care for that's true. And you know,
Speaker 1: maybe go see a play now and again.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true. I do try to get six to
Speaker 2: you know, eight hours of sleep a night. I'm just
Speaker 2: I'm one of those people that needs sleep. It sucks.
Speaker 2: I wish I didn't, but I really do. So I
Speaker 2: work from you know, six thirty to about five thirty
Speaker 2: six thirty, so that's my twelve hours. And then when
Speaker 2: I get home, it's yeah, I get two hours with
Speaker 2: my kids, and I want to make them meaningful. I
Speaker 2: have the first two hours of the day in the
Speaker 2: last two hours of the day with them, so I
Speaker 2: shut it off and it's all about them. And then
Speaker 2: when they go to sleep, I pick back up. I
Speaker 2: get on the phone, I'm on an email, you know, internet,
Speaker 2: et cetera. And I work till about eleven twelve if
Speaker 2: it's a late night, one or two. But so sometimes
Speaker 2: six hours, sometimes five. It just depends, you know, how
Speaker 2: it goes.
Speaker 1: I know how it goes. And I'm so proud of you.
Speaker 1: I'm so proud of you. I just pray that God
Speaker 1: sustains you, that he continues to bring people into your
Speaker 1: life who will catch a hold of your vision and
Speaker 1: help to birth create schools or you know, like minded
Speaker 1: schools across the country.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, that's my hope. I mean, you articulated it very well.
Speaker 2: That's the hope is to get this model just right
Speaker 2: to where I can say, you know, this works, this
Speaker 2: really works, and this is how you do it, and
Speaker 2: people can go and do it for more kids. I mean,
Speaker 2: there's just no reason why any kids should not have
Speaker 2: a chance here. There just isn't.
Speaker 1: There's a woman I've become friends with named Kim Bigoki,
Speaker 1: and Kim started a project quite by accident. She's a
Speaker 1: police officer, and she was volunteering at the women's prison
Speaker 1: near where she lives, and she threw out this question,
Speaker 1: if one person could have done something to change the
Speaker 1: trajectory of your life, what would that have looked like?
Speaker 1: And one of the women in prison answered the question.
Speaker 1: She sat down and she wrote out a very thoughtful answer,
Speaker 1: and then she went to other women in the prison
Speaker 1: and had them write out their answers to that question.
Speaker 1: If one person or one circumstance would have been different
Speaker 1: to change the trajectory of your life, what would that
Speaker 1: have looked like? And what Kim realized through this, you know,
Speaker 1: quite by accident and asking that question, was that it
Speaker 1: might be too late for them, but they could use
Speaker 1: that story to impact young people, to change the trajectory
Speaker 1: of their life. And so when these women and men,
Speaker 1: now it's in the men's prison, have opportunities they speak
Speaker 1: to at risk youth and say, if one person had
Speaker 1: told me what prison was like, if one person had
Speaker 1: told me that I had value, if one person had
Speaker 1: told me that I have great worth, I might not
Speaker 1: be here. And I think, Hattie, what you're doing is
Speaker 1: truly the answer to the IF project. You and your
Speaker 1: teachers and your volunteers, and the dance instructors and the
Speaker 1: chess instructors and this science instructors I saw making rockets
Speaker 1: with the young boys. That is the answer to the
Speaker 1: big IF question.
Speaker 2: I agree.
Speaker 1: If one person had said you're really smart, you could
Speaker 1: actually be a rocket scientist.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 1: That will change the trajectory of that young rocket scientist's life.
Speaker 2: That's right. I couldn't agree more. I think it takes
Speaker 2: one person believing in you, just one, because that then
Speaker 2: sparks the idea that perhaps there is something there. And
Speaker 2: on the flip side, it could take one person, you know,
Speaker 2: really discouraging you in your life. It could be a teacher,
Speaker 2: It could be a parent that changes that trajectory. There's
Speaker 2: so much power in our relationships and in our words,
Speaker 2: which you know, goes back to what we talked about
Speaker 2: early on, just people loving and ensuring the security and
Speaker 2: stability of the people closest to them. I think that's
Speaker 2: the only way back to really restoring humanity and dealing
Speaker 2: with this issue because clearly everyone you know in that
Speaker 2: story and in the prison, everyone around them, you know,
Speaker 2: gave up on them at some point, and then they
Speaker 2: gave up on themselves.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you for being here, thank you for taking
Speaker 1: this time, and thank you for starting uh, thank you
Speaker 1: for seeing that baby on the street and deciding in
Speaker 1: your spirit you were going to change things and then
Speaker 1: doing it. Because a lot of people I think are
Speaker 1: inspired to do something, but then life gets in the way,
Speaker 1: kids get in the way, work, school, blah blah blah,
Speaker 1: and they never they never follow through. And you did.
Speaker 1: So thank you.
Speaker 2: Thank you. No, you don't have to thank me. I'm
Speaker 2: doing what I'm supposed to do, but thank you.
Speaker 1: Hopefully more people will look up the Crete Academy and
Speaker 1: reach out and connect with you and start more schools
Speaker 1: and do more great work for kids.
Speaker 2: I hope, so I would be wonderful.
Speaker 1: Isn't it amazing how open Hattie was to listening to
Speaker 1: and four that whisper in her heart. She heard it,
Speaker 1: she listened to it, and she let it guide her steps.
Speaker 1: Tatty took the necessary steps to get the degrees, to
Speaker 1: get the education, to get the experience to volunteer, so
Speaker 1: she understood the situation from the inside out, so that
Speaker 1: she had the credentials to do what that whisper in
Speaker 1: her heart was telling her to do in starting this school,
Speaker 1: so that her efforts would have the greatest impact possible.
Speaker 1: If you are a young person just starting out in
Speaker 1: your life, I hope Hattie's work inspires you to listen
Speaker 1: intently and when you hear that whisper in your heart,
Speaker 1: that urging to tell you to try something, to go
Speaker 1: out on a limb, then take action to lay your
Speaker 1: own foundation to self fulfillment and service to others. If
Speaker 1: you are in act too of your life, or maybe
Speaker 1: even later in that greater production of life, I hope
Speaker 1: Hattie's story inspires you too that you can take action today,
Speaker 1: right now, and that the well being of another takes
Speaker 1: root in your heart will bless you because it will
Speaker 1: make it difference in this world. In fact, those actions
Speaker 1: that you do to change the world for good begin
Speaker 1: a ripple effect that lasts far longer and become far
Speaker 1: stronger than anything you or I could have ever imagined.
Speaker 1: It is never too early if you are very young,
Speaker 1: and it is never too late to change the world
Speaker 1: one heart at a time. Do check out Crete Academy
Speaker 1: at crete cr ete academy dot org and then join
Speaker 1: me next time when we release a new edition of
Speaker 1: our podcast, Love Someone Delve