communitydevelopment

Voting rights activist and entrepreneur Stacey Abrams discusses her book "Level Up," creating opportunities for people to start small businesses and running again for governor of Georgia.

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The harder the problem, the bigger the reward... and real estate developers who can solve affordable housing problems can do very, very well. Enter today's guest, Evan Holladay, who reached 1,300 units before the age of 30 through a combination of focus, relationship-building, and a deep understanding of the rules of the game. In this high-level episode, you'll learn how Evan and his team apply creative financing techniques to multimillion dollar projects; how they takes advantage of tax credits and grants and put together public-private partnerships; and why patience and persistence can lead to huge profits in the development game. Whether you plan on getting into bigger deals in the future or not (Evan wants 100,000 units!), this episode will inspire you to start thinking like a big-time investor, strategist, and leader. In This Episode We Cover: Listening to "what fires you up" when getting started Evan's apprenticeship for a student housing developer What a public-private partnership is Using tax credits to make a profit building affordable housing How he creatively finances big multifamily deals How he manages risk Why “it’s more valuable to control real estate than to own real estate” Why development is such a big opportunity in markets where "it's too expensive to invest where I live!" And SO much more! Links from the Show BiggerPockets Forums BiggerPockets Shirt How to Invest In Real Estate With Only $1,000!? BiggerPockets Podcast 353: Turning $5K Into $5K/Month and Retiring at 40 with Tim Rhode LoopNet Check the full show notes here: http://biggerpockets.com/show414 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a February 2017 column, David Brooks wrote about "the Fallows Question, which I unfurl at dinner parties: If you could move to the place on earth where history is most importantly being made right now, where would you go?” The Fallows question is based on the life and work of Jim and Deborah Fallows. Jim is a national correspondent at the Atlantic; Deborah is a writer and linguist. When Japan looked like the future, they moved there to watch it happen; when software was eating the world, they moved to Seattle and Jim dove inside Microsoft; when China was on the rise, that was where they made their home. It’s a reason, when asked, that I’ve always named Jim Fallows as one of my few must-read writers: His journalism is thick with a wisdom that only comes from having immersed himself in many, many different lives. Over the past few years, however, the Fallows have believed the story is happening, well, here. They came to believe that the story America is telling about itself to itself — a story of national decline, of bitter political polarization, of rural resentment and coastal elitism and tribal identity and spiritual malaise — is wrong. And so they got in their plane (yes, Jim is a pilot too), and they spent years traveling the country, trying to see it more clearly by seeing its places more precisely. It has left them with a sense of hope that feels almost alien in this age. Their new book, Our Towns, is a travelogue of this journey and what it revealed to them about America. In this conversation, we talk about the optimism it left them with, as well as what they’ve learned designing their lives around adventure and travel, why they spent their honeymoon in a work camp in Ghana, how to make life feel longer, whether our political identities are our true identities, why Americans hate the media, and the reason libraries are more important than ever. I’ve always admired the Fallowses’ for both their work and their wisdom, and it was a pleasure, in this interview, to get to explore both. Deborah's recommended books: Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville Journals of Lewis and Clark edited by Bernard DeVoto James's recommended books: Grant by Ron Chernow Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Insurgent educator Stephen Ritz is truly one of the most inspiring game changers I have ever met. A South Bronx elementary school teacher and administrator, he has faced and overcome tremendous bureaucratic, political, and socio-economic odds to catapult generations of young, underprivileged at-risk students to unimaginable academic success and upwardly mobile employment — all while simultaneously reclaiming and rebuilding the Bronx from the inside out. The modality leveraged to serve this end? Food. Specifically, growing food. The personification of triple bottom line values and a staunch advocate of project-based, experiential learning, it all began when Stephen accidentally began growing plants in his classroom. The unexpected result was a level of student engagement even this maverick educator could not have predicted. So what began by fluke soon became Stephen's passion. It wasn't long before his Bronx classroom featured the first indoor edible wall in the entire New York City Department of Education — a wall that routinely generates enough produce to feed healthy meals to 450 students while also training the youngest nationally certified workforce in America. Stephen's classroom farm would soon expand, both in the classroom and out, spreading across a community in desperate need for healthy food options. Under his spirited leadership and the tireless efforts of his student and community growers, vacant lots and rooftops across the Bronx — fairly characterized as an urban food desert — have been literally transformed, now boasting bountiful gardens that have produced more than 30,000 pounds of vegetables. Food that feeds his students and the greater borough at large. In the Bronx public school system, student attendance and graduation rates are historically abysmal. But Stephen's passion and engagement with his students resulted in attendance skyrocketing from a mere 40 percent to 93 percent daily. Not to mention it helped create 2,200 youth jobs. And now he is committed to building the first ever independently financed National Health, Wellness and Biodiversity Center in a 100+ year old reclaimed Bronx public school library. The staggering success of Stephen's non-traditional teaching methods have captured the world's attention. His work has been featured in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, ABC, CNN, NBC, NPR and beyond. Accolades include being one of three Americans named a 2015 Top Ten Finalist for the prestigious Global Teacher Prize– teaching's Nobel Prize. He received the United States EPA Award for transforming mindsets and landscapes in New York City. And in 2014 he and his 4th and 5th grade students were invited to, and fêted by, none other than the White House. After viewing Stephen's super inspiring TEDxManhattan Talk, ranked in the Top 25 Food / Education TED Talks of all time, I knew I had to have him on the show. Stephen followed this up with another stunning TEDx Talk: And if that's not enough, this beautiful Upworthy short on Stephen and his work is sure to bring a tear to your eye: Stephen Ritz is the teacher you wish you had. The teacher every kid deserves. A true paradigm breaker,