October 1, 2024 • 22 mins
Imagine transforming unused spaces into life-changing opportunities. In our latest episode, we sit down with Dr. Glennell M Lee Pruitt, president of Jarvis Christian University, to uncover groundbreaking solutions for community investment. Learn how the university is breathing new life into empty dormitories by offering housing to young adults aging out of the foster care system. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in innovative strategies for community development and higher education, as Dr. Pruitt emphasizes the power of "fishing differently" through non-traditional solutions and impactful community partnerships.
We also explore the broader landscape of generating revenue for community initiatives without sacrificing social impact. From utilizing unused university acreage for housing to the inspiring story of a church building apartments above its sanctuary, this episode highlights the necessity of bold, outside-the-box thinking. Dr. Pruitt shares insights from the "Fishing Differently" conference, where leaders from various sectors come together to tackle community problems. With a focus on inclusivity, representation, and leveraging technology, this episode offers a fresh perspective on fostering a more equitable future through collaborative and innovative community engagement.
jarvis.edu
This program is brought to you by:
Arc Integrated
Be sure to visit BizRadio.US to discover hundreds more engaging conversations, local events and more.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Joel (00:00):
What if investing in each other could change the world?
I'm Joel Skeen with bizradious,and this is the Mindful
Marketplace.
Welcome back to part two of theconversation I'm getting to have
with Dr Glennell M Lee Pruitt,who is the president of Jarvis
(00:20):
Christian University.
If you didn't listen to partone, please go back and do so.
We got to talk with Ms Pruittabout really just her background
in education, what she'switnessed in working with
students who come fromdisenfranchised areas and
neighborhoods and the way thatthey can really be transformed
(00:40):
through care through community,through education, informed
through care through community,through education, and can
really go on to do someincredible things.
I'm excited to get to dig inwith her further on really the
innovative ways that heruniversity is not only serving
its current students, but who isreally investing in their
community and in their localcommunity for the future and to
(01:02):
solve social problems in thatlocal community.
This is the Mindful Marketplaceon BizRadio US.
If you have not heard us before, this is the show where we
interview people who arequestioning the assumption that
there's just one bottom line inbusiness and who are getting out
of the two-pocket thinking thathas dominated the way we view
social good and social change.
It's where we learn how toconnect our businesses and money
(01:25):
to our values and our communityand ourselves.
So, glenel, so happy to haveyou here with us again today.
Thank you so much for your time.
Dr. Pruitt (01:34):
Thank you, good to be here.
Joel (01:36):
Yeah, I'm grateful to get connected with you.
Just so the audience has alittle background, you and I got
connected through someone who Irecently had on the show
earlier this year.
His name was Sidney Williams jr, Um and he is hosting.
He and I met through um, agroup called neighborhood
economics, who's focusing onlocal investing, impact
(01:58):
investing and communityinvesting, especially into, like
, entrepreneurs who come fromdisenfranchised communities.
Um, he made sure that he wantedto make sure that I talked to
you, because I know that the twoof you are working together on
this upcoming conference calledFishing Differently.
I'm wondering if you couldshare a little bit about what
does Fishing Differently mean toyou?
Dr. Pruitt (02:18):
To me, fishing Differently means looking at
problems and looking atnon-traditional ways of
resolving them looking aroundyou, seeing what the needs are
in the community where you are,and then finding ways of
partnering with those in thecommunity and those, obviously
(02:38):
who may be outside of thecommunity, in ways of addressing
those issues.
And so it's a non-traditionalway of solving problems and
thinking about how problems canbe solved.
Joel (02:56):
What's one of those key pieces of thinking that you feel
like could be expanded could?
Dr. Pruitt (03:03):
be expanded here in the area where I am in, a rural
area, is housing, and I think oncollege campuses so often and
this would be an example offishing differently.
Covid impacted how we dobusiness, and COVID impacted how
(03:26):
students see higher education,because they realize, oh, I
don't really have to be on yourcampus to earn a degree, I can
stay home, I can work and stillearn my degree, my degree, and
(03:46):
so what we as presidents do iswe're sitting in our offices and
we're looking at emptybuildings that can house people.
As we partner with thecommunity, one thing that we are
working on I'm excited about isthe ability to provide housing
for young people who age out ofthe child care system, child
(04:10):
protective services.
But what happens to those youngpeople when they turn 18?
Usually that's it.
So I'm sitting on a collegecampus with all of these empty
dorm rooms.
When we could provide housingfor those young persons in a
safe environment, they can earntheir degree and then, of course
(04:31):
, they can return to theircommunities and then what
continue to invest in their owncommunity because they have the
skill sets to do it.
And so, you know, looking atthose kind of situations is
thinking differently.
That not only helps theinstitution, of course, because
your empty buildings can befilled, but it also helps those
(04:54):
individuals who, in mostinstances, when they age out of
the child protective serviceagencies, they have nowhere to
go and they don't have a backup,and so those are one of the
things that I'm excited about.
Joel (05:09):
Yeah, so you guys are actually utilizing the dorm like
the dormitory style housingthat you have in order.
That's kind of going empty.
To solve another problem, whichis what happens to kids who
have been in and out of fostercare their whole lives, and
where do they go?
Dr. Pruitt (05:25):
And where do they go ?
Joel (05:27):
Yeah, that's really incredible.
Are they able to access the?
Are they able to partake in theeducation as well?
Dr. Pruitt (05:35):
Well, that's really the primary purpose.
The primary purpose of what weare working to do is to help
them earn a degree.
You can earn an associate'sdegree, a bachelor's degree, and
, if you stay long enough, youcan earn a master's degree
before you leave.
And so it's not just providingthat, but it's also, as I said,
(05:58):
provide opportunities for them,not only in housing that they
need, but also a leg up ineducation Right.
So when they leave here, whenthey decide to leave, then
they're able to have that degreewith them.
Joel (06:13):
You know.
You mentioned earlier differentassets that the university has.
You mentioned the housing thatyou have, the beds that are
there, the building that peoplecan live in, but earlier you
also mentioned the land that was, that are there the.
You know the, the building thatpeople can live in, but earlier
you also mentioned, you know,the land that was originally
donated to you.
You said that there's a.
You know you guys have a goodamount of acreage and a lot of
universities do.
(06:34):
I'm just wondering, like, whenyou're thinking about expanding
the way you think of universityassets that could be community
assets, what are some other waysthat we could expand that
thinking it could be communityassets?
Dr. Pruitt (06:46):
What are some other ways that we could expand that
thinking?
I would still deal with thehousing, because when you enroll
, I'm in rural East Texas and Iride around where I see and
there's a need for betterhousing situations, not just for
that population of young peopleI talked about, but for
(07:07):
community people.
And so what is next on my plan,taking into consideration now
I'm a new president right, and Ihave all of these wonderful
ideas is rural housing on theacreage that we have.
So we sat on about 400 acreswhere the campus is, but we have
(07:30):
other acres across the highwaythat is not being utilized.
Joel (07:36):
Oh, okay.
Dr. Pruitt (07:37):
Yes, and so that plan is to develop a housing
opportunity for those personshere and utilize that which
helps us as a small institution,because then it generates
alternative income.
Because there is what they'resaying a demographic cliff, or
(08:05):
there is a numbers issue,because people are not having
babies like they used to haveand a lot of young people are
not choosing to come to college,and so you have to think of a.
You have to fish differently inorder for an institution to
survive in the higher edenvironment currently.
Joel (08:24):
Yeah, and that's what I really resonated with the
Fishing Differently conferenceon was kind of breaking down
this barrier that we havementally in our world, which is
that if something generatesrevenue, then that revenue
really has to be used togenerate more revenue and more
revenue and maximize that adinfinitum, forever and ever and
(08:45):
ever.
And that's the only reason thatit can exist.
And then over here we try togive a little bit of that back
and we give a small percentageof that back and we donate it.
But there's this idea that ourgiving and our revenue creation
are these two separate thingsand they shouldn't kind of mix
pockets in that way.
And what I love about what youruniversity is doing is saying
(09:06):
like, no, even though we're auniversity, we can figure out
ways to generate revenue for theimpact we want to have in the
community.
Dr. Pruitt (09:15):
Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.
Joel (09:19):
You know, I I the cause.
The fishing differentlyconference isn't just about how
schools can do that, though it'salso about how a lot of ways,
how churches can do that, thatthere are churches who also sit
on these assets that could beused for the community.
Could you, you know if someonewas out there kind of
considering going to thisconference or wondering, like
what is this about?
(09:39):
Why should I go to that?
Could you speak a little to whoshould go to these, to this
conference?
Or wondering, like what is thisabout?
Why should I go to that?
Could you speak a little to whoshould go to this conference?
Dr. Pruitt (09:45):
You know I can and interestingly enough, joel, I'm
also an ordained pastor.
I pastored for 25 years and Igave up pastoring when I became
president last year.
And let me tell you a storythat I heard at the Fishing
Differently conference last yearthat blew my mind right, and I
was still pastoring at the time.
There was a church in thecommunity that was locked in.
(10:10):
But they wanted to do somethingdifferent.
They knew that housing wasneeded in their community, but
they had no more acreage, theyhad no more land, so they built
apartments above the church.
(10:31):
Who would have thought of that?
You know, who would havethought that a church would
think well, you know what, wecan't go to the left, we can't
go to the right, north or south,but we can go up.
Well, you know what?
(11:05):
We can't go to the left, wecan't go to the right, north or
south, but we can go up.
And so those are the kind ofpersons you meet, those are the
kind of stories that youcommunity problem.
And so I think for thisconference everybody could
attend.
You know, community organizers,preachers, teachers, anyone in
any area who understands that wecan no longer operate business
as usual, and I think that's theopportunity that this
(11:28):
conference gives us.
Joel (11:31):
Well, yeah, and to me it's about collaboration too,
because it's one thing for anyone of us individually to
understand that things should bedone differently, but it's a
whole other thing when weactually get together and
collaborate around sharedinterests and around things that
we know will benefit ourcommunity but that no one person
(11:52):
can do all on their own.
I'm wondering if you can speakany to the collaborations that
you've seen come out of that, orjust the importance of that
collaboration.
Dr. Pruitt (12:04):
Well, one thing that this conference does it brings
various persons to the table whocome from federal government,
who come from the philanthropyspace, who come from, of course,
education and religion.
But what it does, it allowspersons to sit in a room
(12:26):
together to really kind ofproblem solve, because you're
able to talk about differentissues that you have in common,
but you didn't even know eachother.
And so then you're able to sayto each other, well, I can't do
this, but I can do this.
And persons can say to you well, I can help you do this because
I've done it before.
And that means that there's alot of networking that takes
(12:50):
place, there's a lot ofconnecting that takes place and,
to be honest, I was at theconference last year and I'm
still connecting with people whowere there last year.
Who says, look, can Jarvisbenefit from this?
And that is what this is aboutconnecting with people.
And people want to help you,but they have to know that you
(13:15):
exist.
And so for me, as I shared withyou earlier, for me being at
the conference, first of all itgets Jarvis' name out there and
people know that we exist, andthen I'm able to connect with
people that can help us do somethings just a little bit
differently and make adifference.
Joel (13:34):
What would you say to someone who's maybe they're I
don't know, maybe they're astudent, maybe they're an
adjunct professor, maybe they,maybe they're in a?
Uh, and I'll let me there.
You, you said you, uh, you know, the school started as an
elementary school.
What if they're in um anotherschool?
But let's say that I'm eitherat a church or a school, um,
what would you say to someonewho sees that, yeah, hey, my
community could, you know, usesome help with housing, and I
(13:57):
know that we've got some assets,whether it's land, whether it's
space, whether it's a kitchenthat a local business could use,
whether it's anything like that.
I guess, what would you say tosomeone as far as if they wanted
to move forward and to try tomake an impact in their
community?
You know, I guess, what adviceor what encouragement would you
give them?
Dr. Pruitt (14:21):
Do it.
You know, do it and you maystart out small.
You know, when you're talkingabout uh impacting the community
, there may be a couple of youngpeople who are great at uh you
know putting meals together, butthey don't have a place to do
(14:42):
it.
Just let them do it Right.
You can be the foundation forpersons to move forward with
their dreams if you just do it.
And I'm of the opinion, and Isay it here at Jarvis all the
time, and I try to surroundmyself with people who have some
(15:04):
crazy ideas and I say look,let's try it.
And then if it doesn't work, itdoesn't work.
As long as it doesn't kill usor kill the students, let's try
it.
And I think so often whatpeople need to hear is just do
it.
We give them a lot ofinstructions and we talk a lot
about why things can't be done,but sometimes people just need
(15:26):
to hear try it.
Or let's do it and let's seewhat happens.
Joel (15:31):
So, before we head out today, I guess the last thing
I'd like to ask you when itcomes to you know, this is a
really kind of innovative way ofthinking about it, even though
it's a very simple way, I think,of thinking about it, of seeing
a problem, seeing whatresources you have to solve that
problem and just getting outand doing it.
But it does feel like there'ssomething innovative about it
because of that two pocketthinking that we've sort of been
(15:53):
stuck in for a long time future, of the ways that universities
and other institutions canimpact their own local
communities.
I guess, what do you see as apotential future.
Dr. Pruitt (16:14):
What types of problems do you think we could
make a dent in?
I think connecting communities,especially in communities that
have various challenges, I thinkit's going to be artificial
intelligence.
Joel (16:32):
Oh yeah.
Dr. Pruitt (16:33):
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
I just came back from apresident's immersion in Silicon
Valley at NVIDIA, and I don'tknow if you're familiar with
NVIDIA, but they make thesechips for autonomous driving
cars and they're all around.
(16:54):
They're a trillion dollarbusiness, computer tech business
, and I was in the room of about50 presidents four Black
presidents, two from HBCUs, onefrom an urban area, me from a
rural area and what I'm afraidof is, if we don't begin to
(17:21):
think differently about how,especially educational
institutions, not only have aresponsibility to those persons
who come here, but we also havea responsibility to the
communities, regardless of howlarge and small they are, where
we're located, of how large andsmall they are where we're
(17:44):
located, then we're going tofind ourselves not only behind,
but the communities around usare going to be left behind, and
so, for me, I think one of thelargest challenges is going to
be how do we collaborate usingthe word that you used earlier
and how do we address thetechnological inequities that
(18:07):
exist, where there's going to bea system where some will have
the exposure and some will not,and what happens to those who do
not?
And so for me personally, as thepresident here, is, as we go.
We bring the community alongwith us.
We partner with them to bringthem along with us, and so, as
(18:31):
we're beginning now to delveinto how we address issues of
artificial intelligence, I wantthe community to come with us.
I want to walk hand in hand sothat those high schools and
those young people can haveearly exposure, so that
businesses can learn how can youleverage this technology in
(18:54):
order to be more efficient inwhat you're doing, and so I
think that I think that's goingto be a big issue.
Joel (19:01):
And so I think that I think that's going to be a big
issue.
Yeah, whenever we're askingquestions of you, know what a
cost to something is?
I think we always have to ask.
You know, like I was talkingwith Kevin Jones, who's an
impact investor, and he wastalking about the cost of doing
good in your investments, butthat also there's a cost to not
doing good.
And it sounds like what you'resaying is you know, while there
may be a cost to the investmentthat we need to do in our
(19:25):
communities, there's also a costto not investing into those
communities, and even though we,whenever we help someone, we
should be asking that question,it sounds like what you're
saying is who's being left out?
Dr. Pruitt (19:36):
Who's being left out ?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and that's aquestion that I always ask,
because when I'm in the room andjoy so many times I may be the
only female in the room.
I'm definitely the only blackperson in the room, and so you
know what the question?
The first thing I ask myselfwho should be in this room too,
(20:05):
myself, who should be in thisroom too, and if they're not in
the room, I should say somethingso that the next time you do
this, I don't want to be theonly one in the room, because
that doesn't help anybody.
We need to bring other people inthe room.
You know Hispanic people needto be in the room.
You know females, same genderloving people need to be in the
(20:25):
room.
You know that should berepresentatives of everyone, and
I often think about thatbecause it goes back to a
discussion we had in the lastsession about the caste system
in higher education, and so whenyou feel like that is the case,
I believe your obligation ifyou feel that is the case, is to
deal with it and bring everyoneand give them an opportunity
(20:50):
for exposure and expansionthemselves.
Yeah.
Joel (20:54):
Well, I had such a great time talking with you today here
.
I'm so glad that we got to getconnected and I'm looking
forward to learning more fromyou through the Fishing
Differently conference.
And so everyone go out thereand make sure to check out
Jarvis University.
Ms Glennell, Emily Pruitt, thepresident, thank you so much for
your time today for all of youout there yeah, for all of you
(21:16):
out there listening, you know,make sure to subscribe on all of
the different podcast networksiTunes, Spotify, iHeartRadio,
Stitcher, Buzzsprout, YouTube.
Wherever you listen andwherever you consume your
content, Make sure to subscribeand hit that like button for us.
And until next time, rememberwe are each other.
What if investing in each other could change the world?
I'm Joel Skeen with bizradious,and this is the Mindful
Marketplace.
Welcome back to part two of theconversation I'm getting to have
with Dr Glennell M Lee Pruitt,who is the president of Jarvis
(00:20):
Christian University.
If you didn't listen to partone, please go back and do so.
We got to talk with Ms Pruittabout really just her background
in education, what she'switnessed in working with
students who come fromdisenfranchised areas and
neighborhoods and the way thatthey can really be transformed
(00:40):
through care through community,through education, informed
through care through community,through education, and can
really go on to do someincredible things.
I'm excited to get to dig inwith her further on really the
innovative ways that heruniversity is not only serving
its current students, but who isreally investing in their
community and in their localcommunity for the future and to
(01:02):
solve social problems in thatlocal community.
This is the Mindful Marketplaceon BizRadio US.
If you have not heard us before, this is the show where we
interview people who arequestioning the assumption that
there's just one bottom line inbusiness and who are getting out
of the two-pocket thinking thathas dominated the way we view
social good and social change.
It's where we learn how toconnect our businesses and money
(01:25):
to our values and our communityand ourselves.
So, glenel, so happy to haveyou here with us again today.
Thank you so much for your time.
Dr. Pruitt (01:34):
Thank you, good to be here.
Joel (01:36):
Yeah, I'm grateful to get connected with you.
Just so the audience has alittle background, you and I got
connected through someone who Irecently had on the show
earlier this year.
His name was Sidney Williams jr, Um and he is hosting.
He and I met through um, agroup called neighborhood
economics, who's focusing onlocal investing, impact
(01:58):
investing and communityinvesting, especially into, like
, entrepreneurs who come fromdisenfranchised communities.
Um, he made sure that he wantedto make sure that I talked to
you, because I know that the twoof you are working together on
this upcoming conference calledFishing Differently.
I'm wondering if you couldshare a little bit about what
does Fishing Differently mean toyou?
Dr. Pruitt (02:18):
To me, fishing Differently means looking at
problems and looking atnon-traditional ways of
resolving them looking aroundyou, seeing what the needs are
in the community where you are,and then finding ways of
partnering with those in thecommunity and those, obviously
(02:38):
who may be outside of thecommunity, in ways of addressing
those issues.
And so it's a non-traditionalway of solving problems and
thinking about how problems canbe solved.
Joel (02:56):
What's one of those key pieces of thinking that you feel
like could be expanded could?
Dr. Pruitt (03:03):
be expanded here in the area where I am in, a rural
area, is housing, and I think oncollege campuses so often and
this would be an example offishing differently.
Covid impacted how we dobusiness, and COVID impacted how
(03:26):
students see higher education,because they realize, oh, I
don't really have to be on yourcampus to earn a degree, I can
stay home, I can work and stillearn my degree, my degree, and
(03:46):
so what we as presidents do iswe're sitting in our offices and
we're looking at emptybuildings that can house people.
As we partner with thecommunity, one thing that we are
working on I'm excited about isthe ability to provide housing
for young people who age out ofthe child care system, child
(04:10):
protective services.
But what happens to those youngpeople when they turn 18?
Usually that's it.
So I'm sitting on a collegecampus with all of these empty
dorm rooms.
When we could provide housingfor those young persons in a
safe environment, they can earntheir degree and then, of course
(04:31):
, they can return to theircommunities and then what
continue to invest in their owncommunity because they have the
skill sets to do it.
And so, you know, looking atthose kind of situations is
thinking differently.
That not only helps theinstitution, of course, because
your empty buildings can befilled, but it also helps those
(04:54):
individuals who, in mostinstances, when they age out of
the child protective serviceagencies, they have nowhere to
go and they don't have a backup,and so those are one of the
things that I'm excited about.
Joel (05:09):
Yeah, so you guys are actually utilizing the dorm like
the dormitory style housingthat you have in order.
That's kind of going empty.
To solve another problem, whichis what happens to kids who
have been in and out of fostercare their whole lives, and
where do they go?
Dr. Pruitt (05:25):
And where do they go ?
Joel (05:27):
Yeah, that's really incredible.
Are they able to access the?
Are they able to partake in theeducation as well?
Dr. Pruitt (05:35):
Well, that's really the primary purpose.
The primary purpose of what weare working to do is to help
them earn a degree.
You can earn an associate'sdegree, a bachelor's degree, and
, if you stay long enough, youcan earn a master's degree
before you leave.
And so it's not just providingthat, but it's also, as I said,
(05:58):
provide opportunities for them,not only in housing that they
need, but also a leg up ineducation Right.
So when they leave here, whenthey decide to leave, then
they're able to have that degreewith them.
Joel (06:13):
You know.
You mentioned earlier differentassets that the university has.
You mentioned the housing thatyou have, the beds that are
there, the building that peoplecan live in, but earlier you
also mentioned the land that was, that are there the.
You know the, the building thatpeople can live in, but earlier
you also mentioned, you know,the land that was originally
donated to you.
You said that there's a.
You know you guys have a goodamount of acreage and a lot of
universities do.
(06:34):
I'm just wondering, like, whenyou're thinking about expanding
the way you think of universityassets that could be community
assets, what are some other waysthat we could expand that
thinking it could be communityassets?
Dr. Pruitt (06:46):
What are some other ways that we could expand that
thinking?
I would still deal with thehousing, because when you enroll
, I'm in rural East Texas and Iride around where I see and
there's a need for betterhousing situations, not just for
that population of young peopleI talked about, but for
(07:07):
community people.
And so what is next on my plan,taking into consideration now
I'm a new president right, and Ihave all of these wonderful
ideas is rural housing on theacreage that we have.
So we sat on about 400 acreswhere the campus is, but we have
(07:30):
other acres across the highwaythat is not being utilized.
Joel (07:36):
Oh, okay.
Dr. Pruitt (07:37):
Yes, and so that plan is to develop a housing
opportunity for those personshere and utilize that which
helps us as a small institution,because then it generates
alternative income.
Because there is what they'resaying a demographic cliff, or
(08:05):
there is a numbers issue,because people are not having
babies like they used to haveand a lot of young people are
not choosing to come to college,and so you have to think of a.
You have to fish differently inorder for an institution to
survive in the higher edenvironment currently.
Joel (08:24):
Yeah, and that's what I really resonated with the
Fishing Differently conferenceon was kind of breaking down
this barrier that we havementally in our world, which is
that if something generatesrevenue, then that revenue
really has to be used togenerate more revenue and more
revenue and maximize that adinfinitum, forever and ever and
(08:45):
ever.
And that's the only reason thatit can exist.
And then over here we try togive a little bit of that back
and we give a small percentageof that back and we donate it.
But there's this idea that ourgiving and our revenue creation
are these two separate thingsand they shouldn't kind of mix
pockets in that way.
And what I love about what youruniversity is doing is saying
(09:06):
like, no, even though we're auniversity, we can figure out
ways to generate revenue for theimpact we want to have in the
community.
Dr. Pruitt (09:15):
Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.
Joel (09:19):
You know, I I the cause.
The fishing differentlyconference isn't just about how
schools can do that, though it'salso about how a lot of ways,
how churches can do that, thatthere are churches who also sit
on these assets that could beused for the community.
Could you, you know if someonewas out there kind of
considering going to thisconference or wondering, like
what is this about?
(09:39):
Why should I go to that?
Could you speak a little to whoshould go to these, to this
conference?
Or wondering, like what is thisabout?
Why should I go to that?
Could you speak a little to whoshould go to this conference?
Dr. Pruitt (09:45):
You know I can and interestingly enough, joel, I'm
also an ordained pastor.
I pastored for 25 years and Igave up pastoring when I became
president last year.
And let me tell you a storythat I heard at the Fishing
Differently conference last yearthat blew my mind right, and I
was still pastoring at the time.
There was a church in thecommunity that was locked in.
(10:10):
But they wanted to do somethingdifferent.
They knew that housing wasneeded in their community, but
they had no more acreage, theyhad no more land, so they built
apartments above the church.
(10:31):
Who would have thought of that?
You know, who would havethought that a church would
think well, you know what, wecan't go to the left, we can't
go to the right, north or south,but we can go up.
Well, you know what?
(11:05):
We can't go to the left, wecan't go to the right, north or
south, but we can go up.
And so those are the kind ofpersons you meet, those are the
kind of stories that youcommunity problem.
And so I think for thisconference everybody could
attend.
You know, community organizers,preachers, teachers, anyone in
any area who understands that wecan no longer operate business
as usual, and I think that's theopportunity that this
(11:28):
conference gives us.
Joel (11:31):
Well, yeah, and to me it's about collaboration too,
because it's one thing for anyone of us individually to
understand that things should bedone differently, but it's a
whole other thing when weactually get together and
collaborate around sharedinterests and around things that
we know will benefit ourcommunity but that no one person
(11:52):
can do all on their own.
I'm wondering if you can speakany to the collaborations that
you've seen come out of that, orjust the importance of that
collaboration.
Dr. Pruitt (12:04):
Well, one thing that this conference does it brings
various persons to the table whocome from federal government,
who come from the philanthropyspace, who come from, of course,
education and religion.
But what it does, it allowspersons to sit in a room
(12:26):
together to really kind ofproblem solve, because you're
able to talk about differentissues that you have in common,
but you didn't even know eachother.
And so then you're able to sayto each other, well, I can't do
this, but I can do this.
And persons can say to you well, I can help you do this because
I've done it before.
And that means that there's alot of networking that takes
(12:50):
place, there's a lot ofconnecting that takes place and,
to be honest, I was at theconference last year and I'm
still connecting with people whowere there last year.
Who says, look, can Jarvisbenefit from this?
And that is what this is aboutconnecting with people.
And people want to help you,but they have to know that you
(13:15):
exist.
And so for me, as I shared withyou earlier, for me being at
the conference, first of all itgets Jarvis' name out there and
people know that we exist, andthen I'm able to connect with
people that can help us do somethings just a little bit
differently and make adifference.
Joel (13:34):
What would you say to someone who's maybe they're I
don't know, maybe they're astudent, maybe they're an
adjunct professor, maybe they,maybe they're in a?
Uh, and I'll let me there.
You, you said you, uh, you know, the school started as an
elementary school.
What if they're in um anotherschool?
But let's say that I'm eitherat a church or a school, um,
what would you say to someonewho sees that, yeah, hey, my
community could, you know, usesome help with housing, and I
(13:57):
know that we've got some assets,whether it's land, whether it's
space, whether it's a kitchenthat a local business could use,
whether it's anything like that.
I guess, what would you say tosomeone as far as if they wanted
to move forward and to try tomake an impact in their
community?
You know, I guess, what adviceor what encouragement would you
give them?
Dr. Pruitt (14:21):
Do it.
You know, do it and you maystart out small.
You know, when you're talkingabout uh impacting the community
, there may be a couple of youngpeople who are great at uh you
know putting meals together, butthey don't have a place to do
(14:42):
it.
Just let them do it Right.
You can be the foundation forpersons to move forward with
their dreams if you just do it.
And I'm of the opinion, and Isay it here at Jarvis all the
time, and I try to surroundmyself with people who have some
(15:04):
crazy ideas and I say look,let's try it.
And then if it doesn't work, itdoesn't work.
As long as it doesn't kill usor kill the students, let's try
it.
And I think so often whatpeople need to hear is just do
it.
We give them a lot ofinstructions and we talk a lot
about why things can't be done,but sometimes people just need
(15:26):
to hear try it.
Or let's do it and let's seewhat happens.
Joel (15:31):
So, before we head out today, I guess the last thing
I'd like to ask you when itcomes to you know, this is a
really kind of innovative way ofthinking about it, even though
it's a very simple way, I think,of thinking about it, of seeing
a problem, seeing whatresources you have to solve that
problem and just getting outand doing it.
But it does feel like there'ssomething innovative about it
because of that two pocketthinking that we've sort of been
(15:53):
stuck in for a long time future, of the ways that universities
and other institutions canimpact their own local
communities.
I guess, what do you see as apotential future.
Dr. Pruitt (16:14):
What types of problems do you think we could
make a dent in?
I think connecting communities,especially in communities that
have various challenges, I thinkit's going to be artificial
intelligence.
Joel (16:32):
Oh yeah.
Dr. Pruitt (16:33):
Oh yeah, oh yeah.
I just came back from apresident's immersion in Silicon
Valley at NVIDIA, and I don'tknow if you're familiar with
NVIDIA, but they make thesechips for autonomous driving
cars and they're all around.
(16:54):
They're a trillion dollarbusiness, computer tech business
, and I was in the room of about50 presidents four Black
presidents, two from HBCUs, onefrom an urban area, me from a
rural area and what I'm afraidof is, if we don't begin to
(17:21):
think differently about how,especially educational
institutions, not only have aresponsibility to those persons
who come here, but we also havea responsibility to the
communities, regardless of howlarge and small they are, where
we're located, of how large andsmall they are where we're
(17:44):
located, then we're going tofind ourselves not only behind,
but the communities around usare going to be left behind, and
so, for me, I think one of thelargest challenges is going to
be how do we collaborate usingthe word that you used earlier
and how do we address thetechnological inequities that
(18:07):
exist, where there's going to bea system where some will have
the exposure and some will not,and what happens to those who do
not?
And so for me personally, as thepresident here, is, as we go.
We bring the community alongwith us.
We partner with them to bringthem along with us, and so, as
(18:31):
we're beginning now to delveinto how we address issues of
artificial intelligence, I wantthe community to come with us.
I want to walk hand in hand sothat those high schools and
those young people can haveearly exposure, so that
businesses can learn how can youleverage this technology in
(18:54):
order to be more efficient inwhat you're doing, and so I
think that I think that's goingto be a big issue.
Joel (19:01):
And so I think that I think that's going to be a big
issue.
Yeah, whenever we're askingquestions of you, know what a
cost to something is?
I think we always have to ask.
You know, like I was talkingwith Kevin Jones, who's an
impact investor, and he wastalking about the cost of doing
good in your investments, butthat also there's a cost to not
doing good.
And it sounds like what you'resaying is you know, while there
may be a cost to the investmentthat we need to do in our
(19:25):
communities, there's also a costto not investing into those
communities, and even though we,whenever we help someone, we
should be asking that question,it sounds like what you're
saying is who's being left out?
Dr. Pruitt (19:36):
Who's being left out ?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and that's aquestion that I always ask,
because when I'm in the room andjoy so many times I may be the
only female in the room.
I'm definitely the only blackperson in the room, and so you
know what the question?
The first thing I ask myselfwho should be in this room too,
(20:05):
myself, who should be in thisroom too, and if they're not in
the room, I should say somethingso that the next time you do
this, I don't want to be theonly one in the room, because
that doesn't help anybody.
We need to bring other people inthe room.
You know Hispanic people needto be in the room.
You know females, same genderloving people need to be in the
(20:25):
room.
You know that should berepresentatives of everyone, and
I often think about thatbecause it goes back to a
discussion we had in the lastsession about the caste system
in higher education, and so whenyou feel like that is the case,
I believe your obligation ifyou feel that is the case, is to
deal with it and bring everyoneand give them an opportunity
(20:50):
for exposure and expansionthemselves.
Yeah.
Joel (20:54):
Well, I had such a great time talking with you today here
.
I'm so glad that we got to getconnected and I'm looking
forward to learning more fromyou through the Fishing
Differently conference.
And so everyone go out thereand make sure to check out
Jarvis University.
Ms Glennell, Emily Pruitt, thepresident, thank you so much for
your time today for all of youout there yeah, for all of you
(21:16):
out there listening, you know,make sure to subscribe on all of
the different podcast networksiTunes, Spotify, iHeartRadio,
Stitcher, Buzzsprout, YouTube.
Wherever you listen andwherever you consume your
content, Make sure to subscribeand hit that like button for us.
And until next time, rememberwe are each other.
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.