Today we’d like to introduce you to Ishmael Pruitt.
Ishmael, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born into a split family that included two very different households. One that include structure and stability and one that included violence and limited financial resources. As a result of this upbringing, I learned that a person’s opportunities to success is enhance with access to resources, support, and self- esteem. In my undergraduate years at Sacramento State University, I became a student leader. One that connected peers and creatively developed programs to address the needs to the campus community. I realized that this same strategy could be effective in the Sacramento County. In 2015, after graduation, I started working towards building my own platform. I decided to partner with Armoni Easley to address the issues faced by historically under-served communities. We see the community as a large art project that needs the unique skills and knowledge of everyone one in the community. If we all come together we can collectively make the community a better place.
My organization’s role is to unite the community members and equip them with the optimistic mindset to be productive contributors to society. The organization was officially launched in 2016 and within a year, I decided to relocate to southern California to pursue a master’s degree in Higher Education. I felt that the best way for me to learn how to run a large nonprofit is by working for a large nonprofit institution, a university. Since my relocation, I continued my work in Sacramento by establishing mentorship programs, facilitating community events, leadership seminars, training curriculum, and public speaking. In Los Angeles County, I have worked to establish my network among other community leaders, facilitated leadership workshop series, and mentored many first-generation college students. This has been done while working as a full-time employee of CSU Long Beach and being a full-time graduate student. At this moment, I am proud to announce that an LA County team has been established and a lot of great services/ program are being developed for implementation within Long Beach and various parts of Los Angeles.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The process has certainly been a learning experience. I think the first things is establishing a team of people who not only believe in the vision but are also not looking for immediate financial compensation. A lot of people want to help address these issues but they also have their own financial obligations.
To add, we started this company without any formal training on running a nonprofit. From the legal aspects, grants, contracts, liabilities, everything has been through trial and error. I have been fortunate to connect with some great mentors who have coached us in the process thus far. However, there is still a lot to be learned. Constantly seeing how the unresolved issues disproportionately affect communities of color has been enough fuel to keep me going while balancing other obligations. Lastly, relocating to a new part of California required that I establish an entire new network and intentionally work to understand issues in the county and uniqueness of the community. While a lot of the issues are similar, the method of addressing them has to be recreated to fit the community,
We’d love to hear more about your organization.
We like to think of ourselves as a one stop shop for community rebuild. We do not want to limit ourselves to addressing on specific issue because there are so many. For example, a lot of our current work is geared towards bridging the academic achievement gap. However, research shows that the gap comes from the K-12 school, the student’s self-efficacy, familial background and socio-economic status to name a few. Therefore, we must be open and prepared to tackle these various areas if we truly want to be successful. Beyond this we are working to help with individuals experiencing homelessness, promoting mental health, and advance social mobility. Our organization is literally like art to us. As it is difficult to place limitations on art, we are choosing to not restrict the possibilities.
Another initiative we have created is “Positive Images Events For A Cause” (yes, a very long name). Our goal is to create spaces for positive people in the community to come together in a social setting in an effort to raise money for causes in the community. We have held skate nights, movie nights, and events partnered with Sacramento Kings to hold a game night. Majority of the funds go towards scholarships.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
The community buy-in has been unreal. People have leaped at the idea of supporting our efforts. Word has traveled in a rate that we have not been able to keep up with. We constantly have more people requesting to volunteer than we are able vet and accommodate. I am also extremely grateful for my business partner armoni who has held it down in Sacramento and keeps the momentum going. To add, Melissa James from MJD Consulting has been clutch with helping create our operation systems.
Contact Info:
- Website: projectoptimism.org
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/projectoptimisminc/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ProjectOptimismInc/
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