August 22, 2024 • 33 mins
This podcast was brought to you by JC Charity Services – positivity is THE competitive advantage and as a Jon Gordon Certified Power of Positive Trainer, I would love to bring that competitive advantage to your organization – you can find me at www.makingourworldbetter.com or jay@jccharityservices.com – so let’s connect and talk about it.
In this episode of Making Our World Better, host Jay Clark sits down with Luke Hostetter, the Executive Director of City Year San Jose-Silicon Valley. Discover how City Year is elevating students and shaping the next generation of education leaders, unlocking the potential for our nation to achieve new heights.
Luke shares his extensive experience in K-12 education, spanning over 15 years, including his impactful tenure as an award-winning principal in Philadelphia. Learn about City Year’s mission to serve high-need schools and communities, and the dual impact of their program on both students and young professionals.
To learn more about City Year, visit www.cityyear.org.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Affecting change in public education by elevating students and the next generation
of education leaders can unleash the ability for our nation to reach new heights,
as you'll hear from Luke Hostetter, Executive Director of City Year San Jose,
on this episode of Making Our World Better.
(00:21):
Welcome to the Making Our World Better podcast, where you will find motivation
and encouragement through lively conversations with inspirational people who
every day are making our world a better place.
Now, here's your host, Jay Clark.
Welcome to the podcast. I am Jay Clark. And what a cool opportunity to have
(00:41):
a conversation with Luke Hostetter, Executive Director of City Year San Jose-Silicon Valley,
an organization working toward its belief that all students can succeed. seed.
Luke's career in K-12 education spans more than 15 years and began with his
own year of service with City Year.
Prior to joining City Year, Luke was an award-winning principal and educator
(01:03):
in Philadelphia schools, including serving as the principal of one of the largest
and most diverse schools in Philadelphia,
CCA Baldy Middle School, from 2015 to 2023.
Under his leadership, Baldy was was recognized as a Title I Distinguished School
and ranked as the number one middle school in Philadelphia due to exceptional
(01:24):
student growth, school climate, and achievement.
In 2021, Luke was the recipient of the Lindback Award for Distinguished Principals.
He's also served as an educational consultant and coach for school teachers and school districts.
And now he lives in the Bay Area and most importantly, is the proud parent of
two young girls. Luke, thanks for joining me this afternoon.
(01:44):
Jay, I appreciate it. Happy to be here. And I've never had an introduction like
that read about me on a podcast before, and it feels good.
I always like to make people uncomfortable with long, gushing intros,
but I know that City Year is a national organization all over the place and
everything else, but introduce us to City Year and talk about your mission.
(02:06):
Absolutely. City Year is a national service organization that serves for 17
to 25 year olds to do good in schools and communities that have high needs.
I think that's the most basic way to explain it. I have a very intimate understanding
of the program because I was a City Year Corps member.
(02:26):
So I was one of the individuals who after college...
Wasn't sure what my career path or where it was going to take me and needed
to have a year to really figure that out.
And so I did City Year in Philadelphia in 2008 and reflecting on it now really attribute the program,
the experience that I had working in schools that had exceptional need,
(02:48):
the teachers and principals I worked alongside to give me what I needed to figure
out my career path and what I wanted to do next.
And so it's a great program. We often talk about our dual mission,
where we are serving as our core members are serving in school as near peer
mentors and supports for students at critical point in their life where maybe
(03:10):
they don't have that adult or mentor figure to look up to and help them.
So we support them academically, socially and emotionally.
And so we're making a difference there. But then the core members who sign up
to the program are also getting professional development and experiences that
are going to springboard them on to their career, too.
Well, and it's awesome because you must be on a brochure or something somewhere
(03:34):
because you're like the mission accomplished guy for the organization.
I think that's why I got hired in this role, perhaps.
That's one of the reasons. There are others, I'm sure, too. But definitely,
I think that experience of being a core member and having the ability to tell
that story has allowed me to be able to connect with the organization,
but also the young people who just started with us on Monday last week to start
(03:57):
their year of service, too.
So it does help to understand the challenge of a year of service.
Well, I'm all for anything that gets more young people into education as a career.
And sure, you'll talk about that some more as well. all, but I know Citywide
is, you know, like we say, it's an international organization now.
(04:17):
You're all over the place, having a branch in a black-owned town in Denver. Yes.
South Africa, the UK, amazing.
And, you know, I know you work with hundreds and hundreds of schools,
which means there's hundreds of unique situations,
but I'm sure you have challenges in San Jose that are unique to you that hopefully
(04:37):
we'll touch on in a second, but what are some of the commonalities that you
see among all these things that city addresses?
Yeah. Anywhere. Yes, so many. I think that for our, I'll speak about the U.S.,
for our public education system,
it has really been designed to serve a certain group of people that often have
(05:04):
the privilege and opportunity to access education.
High-quality education based on your zip code and where you live.
And what our program does universally is work exclusively in areas that are
underserved and underrepresented.
And so part of our mission is to be an agent of change,
(05:24):
to be able to have our young people work in communities that have exceptional
needs, where test scores are lower than their counterparts, parts just oftentimes
several blocks or miles away.
And we are a resource for teachers, for students, for schools to be able to
(05:46):
give that additional support.
So I think universally, our program does that for students that we work with,
is to address the systemic issues that have existed in the inequities in our
education system here in America for so long.
And then from a core member standpoint, what's universal about our program anywhere
you go is the experience that you have as a young person when you sign up for this program.
(06:10):
You're placed in a diverse team. You're meeting people from all different backgrounds
and walks of life that are coming together with a like-minded mission to do good in schools.
And so personally, the experience allowed me to meet some of my best friends.
I tell the story that the best man at my wedding was someone I served alongside
(06:31):
in my year of service at City Year. That's a great story.
So you make these lifelong friendships with this common mission of making change.
And that's really exciting. And I think no matter where you go across the country,
every city or site, you will feel the energy enthusiasm of young people who
are in our program and the young people who benefit from having a core member next to them. Right.
(06:54):
So it's almost like you've got this whole spectrum of people.
You're serving the students, but you're really serving these people that are
interested in education and serving as a core member,
which that had to have, obviously, had a profound effect on you if suddenly
you're a Title I, you find yourself as a Title I principal in a tough spot, right?
(07:18):
I mean, so talk about that transition from going from a core member to being
in a leadership role in one of those schools. tools.
And I will say that my story is not unique. I guess it's unique to me,
but it's not unique to the experience that a lot of our core members have, which is.
40% of our members who finish their year of service go into education.
(07:40):
Wow, that's awesome stuff.
Yeah, so the alumni who come out of our program oftentimes stay connected within the education system.
And that's part of our mission is to be agents of change across the system.
And so I'll tell some stories about people I've met here in the San Jose region
who are making that impact and difference from and often inspired by their year of service.
(08:01):
But for me personally, it was, you know, that year of service where I was commuting
across the city of Philadelphia an hour and 15 minutes each morning and afternoon to go to my school.
I was a team leader. And so I had a group of young, they weren't younger than
me, same age peers that I was now responsible for leading in their year of service,
(08:23):
designing their schedules, working with teachers.
I was able to gain skills that no job.
Could have provided for me. The ability to communicate across different stakeholder
groups, the opportunity to manage and support people through challenges that
they're having as an 18 to 25-year-old in their first job.
And I think that exposure and opportunity allowed me to see some incredible
(08:48):
teaching, see some incredible teachers.
It also showed me the opposite, where there were students that were,
you know, not getting the exposure to excellent teaching.
And it made me think like, hey, I think I could do this. I think this could
be, you know, a career for me is to get into teaching.
(09:09):
And so I tell this story to the core members all the time.
I was a person who took advantage of every alternative pathway to get to a principalship
to get to teaching that I could.
I took advantage of all the systems that were allowing me to get certified and
to get into this career path.
I was a business major in college. So I didn't really know what I was going
to do after my year of school.
(09:30):
And so after city year, I got into an alternative teaching program.
I taught in some of the toughest schools in Philadelphia for eight years.
And similar to that city year experience, I saw excellent school leadership in that time.
And I saw school leadership that was not in the benefit of students in their communities.
And I said, you know what? I think I can be a school leader.
And so I took advantage of another
(09:51):
alternative pathway program to get my principal certification. Nice.
So I took it, you know, along the way, there are, you find in where there's
need, there's opportunity to say, okay, there's a need to have excellent leadership
in our schools. How can I do that next?
And so through that, I was inspired to lead a school at the privilege of leading
(10:12):
a beautiful, diverse school in Northeast Philadelphia for eight years.
As you mentioned in the intro, that really taught me so much about myself,
taught me so much about our education system and who it serves and how it's
been designed and how we can, within our own, and this is a City Year lesson too.
(10:35):
As an individual, you have agency in making change. And there were opportunities
within that school leader role to see in real time the difference being made
for students and families in our community.
That was really powerful and has inspired me now to come back to the organization
where it all started and do that.
Hopefully repeat that cycle all over for this next group of four members.
(10:56):
That's so awesome. And there's a couple of things in there that really stuck
out to me. One being all the things that you learn experientially that you would
never learn in a classroom.
I tell people that are in college all the time, it's like, you know,
your classwork is important.
I get it. But man, get out there and make connections and learn from people
doing what you want to do in life.
(11:17):
And that's just a great example of it. And another thing that I love about what
you're doing is, is you're kind of affecting that educational ecosystem on both
sides, right? Right. I mean, you're serving the young students.
So, you know, heaven knows when you're transforming and their path,
how that's going to ripple across their whole family.
But then you're serving on the other end of it.
(11:39):
The people that are going to be those future leaders, you're kind of shaping them, too.
So that's that's something super cool. The city is doing.
Yeah, that's that's by design, Jay. And I think that we have a term for that called ripples.
And City Year, a ripple is that the impact that is being made and where you
see it extending into other areas of the community and life.
(12:02):
And so we call that ripples.
And yeah, me coming back to City Year certainly is a ripple.
And what we're seeing in our program now, so in San Jose, we've been here for 30 years. Yes.
And we have core members who started last week who were inspired to join our
program because there was a core member in their classroom when they were a elementary school.
And so they say, I remember in California, we have yellow jackets.
(12:26):
City Year nationally mostly has these red jackets. In California,
we're special. We have the banana jackets.
So I had a City Year in my classroom growing up, and that's inspired me to come
back and make a difference for another young person.
And that is, you know, the beauty and essence of this program when it's functioning
at its highest level is that we're able to have this impact over generations
(12:50):
and generations of people who've been inspired to do it and to teach others, to lead others.
And City Year is not just a program where our core members are in education.
We have alumni who are in some of the top tech jobs in Silicon Valley right
now who are making change within those organizations,
whether it's at the executive level or it is someone who is in the community
(13:13):
impact department of one of the tech companies out here, too.
And so our our our program has had an impact across all different sectors.
And I like to think of that impact as being largely for good always.
That that's fantastic. Well, and when you when you talk about San Jose and Silicon
Valley, where you are, people like myself who aren't there probably have this
(13:35):
perception that, you know, it's ground zero for high tech.
It's you know where everything's happening cool which
means that's got to spill over into the schools right so
the school's just got to be the most awesome schools ever but
that that can't be the case i mean otherwise
yeah you wouldn't need city here there right
(13:57):
i mean that's something that we are
in constant conflict with in this region which
is you are right next
door to the most exceptional wealth in our country right
and i think as a result you make the assumption that oh the schools that are
in this region must be recently constructed have state-of-the-art technology
(14:21):
every student has like unbelievable access to the metaverse and good and like
all those things that you associate with so it's not like that.
Yeah, right. The system is designed for certain individuals and folks to benefit,
and it's designed for others to have to constantly focus on progress and access.
(14:44):
And we find that in our work, there's a real advocacy that we can have and a
power in that advocacy in our region because the distinction between the have
and have nots is so profound. Yeah.
But there's also within that, there's opportunity to innovate and there's opportunity.
And that's, I think, the spirit of this region is about innovation and it's
(15:07):
about bringing new ideas to the
table and thinking outside the box and designing new ways of operating.
And we're committed to doing that in an education space that often is the last
sector to adapt and adopt and be efficient with those practices.
And so I for all the reasons that you mentioned, this this generational impact
(15:30):
that our program has and the power that's that's within that is part of what
excites me about being in an area where that spirit has led to the largest companies
in the world being successful.
Well, why can't that happen in a space of education? Why can't that happen with
the right investments in our work, too?
And just the entrepreneurial attitude and the right kind of leadership.
(15:53):
Yeah, it's both inspiring and frustrating.
I would say that, you know, when you drive into work,
you drive past all of the high profile names and organizations in this region
on one side of the road and on the other side of the road,
you are seeing the hardworking people that are in our school districts and systems
that are looking for their opportunity and looking for their chance to get a leg up.
(16:17):
And we like to think of ourselves as an organization that's able to find a connection
between both and bring people together in the spirit of moving progress forward for all.
Well, and this is obviously working. Otherwise, these schools would not continue
to welcome you and work with you.
So, you know, what does it take for you to maintain these partnerships?
(16:39):
I mean, by now you're well enough established and you have the brand recognition.
But even still, there's got to be some challenges in keeping this all going.
Yeah. The most distinct challenge for us is continuing to have young people
ready, willing to serve.
(16:59):
It is a, in so many ways, a difficult year. It is...
To be able to do a year of service, and I think in some people's minds,
take a year off from the progression of, you know, I've finished college,
I want to jump right into career.
Can be challenging to recruit people to say, sign up and do this work alongside us.
(17:23):
And so a lot of organizations that are like ours have had a challenge in getting
young people to sign up and do a year of service.
And that is one of the areas that we are really focused on is our recruitment
of people to do this work alongside of us and to find value in it.
And I believe in this generation that's coming through.
I mean, what they've been able to activate in all of us for change around the
(17:50):
social sector is inspiring.
And I am eager to get them excited about the opportunity to have direct service
in communities that have need.
But I would say that's a challenge. Our region is also the most expensive to
live in the country, which provides when you are doing this type of work to
be able to live, thrive, survive, it's harder here.
(18:12):
And so how do we connect with folks that are in this region of San Jose,
Silicon Valley and are able to do their year of service while living at home?
How do you connect with people who are out of state who want to come here and
get the professional networks and connections to the organizations that we partner
with? I'll give the example of one of our strongest partners in this region
(18:33):
is the San Francisco 49ers and Deloitte.
And we've been able to forge partnerships with both of them to support with
the professional learning of young people in our program.
And Deloitte actually reserves a job every year for someone who completes our
program to move directly into that field too.
And so we want to make our city year a not just a year where you're making a
(18:57):
difference for the lives of students, but it's really setting you up for your
career or college or what you're hoping to do after your year of service.
That is so cool. And I've heard of both of those organizations.
Most people probably have. But you talk about the way the system is set up.
So if you could design the perfect school for your two daughters,
(19:21):
what would that look like? Oh, wow. Yeah. Jeez.
That's a great question. So my daughters are five and three years old.
And that is similar to a lot of the students that we service to the year in
San Jose, Silicon Valley, where we're in kindergarten, first and second grade.
And you can't help when you're a parent, walk into a school and just imagine
(19:43):
your kid and what they and how they are experiencing.
You know, if my kid was in the school or in this area, what would it look like
and feel like for them? And if I was designing a school and now that I've seen,
you know, all the trajectory, I want safety.
I want caring teachers and adults who first and foremost are there to support and grow,
(20:12):
not just my kid, but other kids and design their classroom spaces to be supportive of all learners.
I want a school that's diverse. I don't want a school that is,
you know, singular in culture or color or I think that there's a real value
in being able to go to school and learn alongside people who have differences
(20:33):
than you and to find spaces for,
you know, to make connection.
And that was my experience in school, too.
And I think I also want my kids to go to a school that's clean and new.
And, you know, we've experienced a lot in my career as a school principal.
(20:53):
Facilities challenges were one of the prominent issues in the Philadelphia School District.
And, you know, just simply having new spaces and buildings for students to learn
and that are able to foster their creativity and innovation and to have the
right adults to be ready to do that in the classrooms, too, and to do it with a caring touch.
(21:18):
It's really all that I want for any student in our area is to have that type
of experience, but particularly for my kids, too.
And I think you have to be thoughtful now with what looking ahead,
what are the next 15 to 20 years going to look like for our students?
And what are going to be some of the greatest challenges that we are going to face?
And how are we preparing and educating this next group of young people to be
(21:40):
the leaders to address those challenges?
And it puts a heavy burden. And I think we can all think of,
you know, climate change and economic opportunity and mobility is like.
And so how are we positioning our education system to prepare young people to
be the leaders in those spaces?
And I think oftentimes we're, you know, people will say teaching to the test.
Right. We're teaching to.
(22:00):
And is that test the test of life that our young people are going to face when they get out?
I don't think so. So, yeah, filling in a bubble on a multiple choice test might
not be the, you know, the North Star.
What the problems of tomorrow are presuming for our young people.
So I'd hope a school has the forethought and a system has the forethought to
(22:22):
really think about, you know, education as the tool that's going to solve some
of these critical issues that we're going to be facing.
Yeah. And you touched on this a little bit earlier that I'd love to go back
to. And that's the profound, and I mean profound, impact that leadership has
in these different situations.
I mean, I worked in education for a few years. My daughter is a teacher.
(22:45):
The impact a teacher can have is just a good principal with strong leadership
really can be a tipping point for a school.
I mean, you've obviously lived this in Philadelphia winning principal awards and everything else.
You've seen it intimately. But I think that applies in any industry,
nonprofit, for-profit, anywhere.
(23:06):
So across your career, what are some of the leadership principles that you've
leaned on that helped you succeed that you think could really help other leaders?
That's a great question. It's a great question. Yeah.
I think humility comes to mind.
Vastly underrated, isn't it? Yeah. I think that being humble enough to know
(23:31):
where you need help as a leader and to name and call it out and ask for it.
And I can't always say that I was the most humble leader in every position that I had.
I think there was this thought that I needed to present, especially getting...
I started to be a principal when I was 28 years old.
I'm going to say, that's a lot harder when you're younger, right?
Right, because you're in a position, I need to show everybody I'm the man.
(23:55):
Exactly. Like, I think the story I always tell is I was managing people,
teachers, exceptional teachers who were teaching longer than I'd been alive.
And I think that there was this assumption that I needed to have all the answers
and I needed to be able to, like, in that moment, address your need,
(24:17):
your concern and come up with it.
And I found a real power in having the humility to say, I don't know,
but I'm going to find out for you.
I had a real power in saying, I'm not, or I found real power in saying,
I'm not the one who's best positioned to solve this, but let me help connect you with who can.
And to use that to define the
(24:39):
teams that I would seek to build and to really find where there are opportunities
across the team to have a difference of perspective and opinion and to value
diversity and to avoid a like me bias in how you build your other leadership around you.
That is a tremendous pitfall to any leader who is going into a hiring practice
(25:05):
and trying to build out a team and is attracted only to what feels comfortable.
Like embrace the discomfort of
someone who thinks differently from how you think and find value in that.
And lastly, and this is something that I've put a lot of thought and detail
to, I'm in the final dissertation phase of my educational leadership doctorate.
(25:26):
And my topic and focus is around trust and how you build as a leader,
how do you facilitate and build trust? And what are the key components of.
From a leadership standpoint, establishing that across a group of people,
specifically in a school, because there's going to be so many times and opportunities
where you're going to have to lean in and trust the people that you're working with.
(25:48):
And so what values are you bringing to your work that is allowing for trust to be able to be built?
And then when it's broken, how is it repaired?
Or can it be repaired? And so, yeah, I would center some of the lessons around that, around humility.
Vulnerability, I think, is connected to that humble piece of being vulnerable
enough to say and name when you need support and how people can support you in doing it.
(26:12):
And that's all connected to just the knowledge of self, knowing your blind spots.
The last point I'll make, and this is something that I'm continuing to do across
my team currently in this new leadership role, is you need to have people who
are able to give you feedback,
and are willing and not intimidated by the positionality of where they stand,
(26:36):
but are willing to say, you know, there's a better way to do that.
Or this is a blind spot for you.
And to give clarity to your decision making process.
And that's something that I'm always reflecting and thinking on and haven't gotten perfect yet.
Right. But I don't think I'm supposed to. I think other people in a leadership
role, I think as a leader, you're not just supposed to have all those answers.
(26:57):
You're supposed to find where you can get.
That guidance from the people on your team and that's another i love that because
that's one of my big things with with leadership is having the ability to take
that feedback right yes yes it is all part of it too so i love all this and
it and i cannot wait to read your dissertation,
(27:19):
so yeah me too i hope that i hope that gets published it's it is sold this month
we're picking it back up god bless you better you than me anyways as i i want
to respect your time and wind down here.
I always like to have my, my fab four questions here at the end.
And my first one is what is something you will read, listen to,
(27:39):
or watch today? Oh, that's a good question.
Read, listen to, or watch today. I today will be, we're in an election season
and I was started my career as a history teacher.
And so I have my news sources that I go a roundabout just to check and triangulate
(28:00):
and make sure I'm getting all the facts that I need.
So I think we're in an era where you need to have facts. And I have my roundabout
news sources that I go through.
And I, from that delineate, what is the most important information that I have?
So definitely going to be reading my news sources.
And then I always listen to the daily from the New York Times on a pretty regular basis too. Nice.
(28:23):
And with a five and three-year-old, you might throw an episode or two of Bluey in there, right?
That's true. Oh, yeah. Bluey is on repeat, always.
So is there somebody that you could point to who's been a role model for you in your career?
Yeah, my mother. She...
(28:44):
A real impact on the way that I think about education and made some,
when we were very young, some value-based decisions on where we went to school
that were centered around desegregating the school system that we were part of.
And that decision for growing up, and this is a whole nother podcast we get
into, we were part of a Quaker meeting.
(29:06):
And one of the callings they had in that space was to desegregate Richmond Public
Schools, which is where I'm from. And as a result, I was one of a handful of
white students, school from kindergarten to eighth grade.
And now that I've worked in various different sectors, focusing primarily on
public education in large cities, I find real value in that story and what I
(29:31):
was able to learn from that experience.
And her decision to at a time that was, you know, really hard because,
I mean, you sending your kids across the city to go to a different school and
not really, you know, having all the information about what it's going to look like and feel like.
But to do it on principle was important and has allowed me, I think,
to understand why I do this work today. So definitely my mother.
(29:55):
I love that answer. One of the better ones. So outside of City Year,
is there an organization that
you really admire the work they're doing or want to give a shout out to?
Yeah, I would give a shout out to our partners in East Palo Alto at Ravenswood City School District.
It's a new partnership that we have. And I think what's been so refreshing about
(30:20):
working with Ravenswood City School District is Because there are sometimes
you go into a partnership and you're the ones that are having to come to the
table with all the answers.
They're a partner who comes and they help solve collaboratively the challenges
that come up with implementing a program like ours.
And beyond their work with us, it's just a really cool example of what's possible
(30:43):
in our region when people pull together the resources and resources.
Thought leadership to make change and a difference. So check it out.
Ravenswood City School District, they're doing incredible work in East Palo Alto.
Sounds awesome. Might need to be a future podcast guest.
Anyways, the last one, and maybe most importantly, if somebody wants to learn
(31:04):
more about City Year, support the work you're doing and just find out more,
maybe even become a core member, what's the best way?
Yes, yes. Cityyear.org. Go to our website, learn more about our program.
You know we can include some specific links to
san jose i will share you know we are a national organization
(31:25):
so if you're listening to this and you are in a different part or if you're
a parent you're listening to this and you're thinking about what do i want my
kid to do next we have sites all around the country the best one is san jose
silicon valley let me repeat great place to be but go to our website learn more
about how you can sign up and make a difference in a community near you.
(31:45):
Cityyear.org. We will put that in the show notes. Luke, this has been fabulous.
I think something else that you guys deal in is hope and you're providing hope
to people like me that, you know, the future isn't as grim as it's made out
to be and that there are great people out there doing great work,
which is why I started this podcast.
So keep up the great work. And like I said, I can't wait to read your dissertation.
(32:08):
I appreciate it. I appreciate the time with you. and thank you for putting a spotlight on the good.
I love that this is the theme of the work that you're putting out there and
you're able to celebrate the organizations like ours. So thank you. Thanks for having me.
Music.
Thanks for listening. And thanks to Luke for sharing his passion for public
(32:30):
education and the leadership insights he's learned over his career.
This podcast was brought to you by JC Charity Services.
Positivity is the competitive advantage, and as a John Gordon Certified Power
of Positive Trainer, I'd love to bring that competitive advantage to your organization.
You can find me at makingourworldbetter.com or jay at jccharityservices.com.
(32:54):
Let's connect and talk about it.
To learn more about City Year and how you can help them with their mission, visit cityyear.org.
If you enjoyed this podcast, we'd be grateful if you'd share it with a friend.
Until next time, I hope you're inspired to find a way to make our world better.
Music.
Affecting change in public education by elevating students and the next generation
of education leaders can unleash the ability for our nation to reach new heights,
as you'll hear from Luke Hostetter, Executive Director of City Year San Jose,
on this episode of Making Our World Better.
(00:21):
Welcome to the Making Our World Better podcast, where you will find motivation
and encouragement through lively conversations with inspirational people who
every day are making our world a better place.
Now, here's your host, Jay Clark.
Welcome to the podcast. I am Jay Clark. And what a cool opportunity to have
(00:41):
a conversation with Luke Hostetter, Executive Director of City Year San Jose-Silicon Valley,
an organization working toward its belief that all students can succeed. seed.
Luke's career in K-12 education spans more than 15 years and began with his
own year of service with City Year.
Prior to joining City Year, Luke was an award-winning principal and educator
(01:03):
in Philadelphia schools, including serving as the principal of one of the largest
and most diverse schools in Philadelphia,
CCA Baldy Middle School, from 2015 to 2023.
Under his leadership, Baldy was was recognized as a Title I Distinguished School
and ranked as the number one middle school in Philadelphia due to exceptional
(01:24):
student growth, school climate, and achievement.
In 2021, Luke was the recipient of the Lindback Award for Distinguished Principals.
He's also served as an educational consultant and coach for school teachers and school districts.
And now he lives in the Bay Area and most importantly, is the proud parent of
two young girls. Luke, thanks for joining me this afternoon.
(01:44):
Jay, I appreciate it. Happy to be here. And I've never had an introduction like
that read about me on a podcast before, and it feels good.
I always like to make people uncomfortable with long, gushing intros,
but I know that City Year is a national organization all over the place and
everything else, but introduce us to City Year and talk about your mission.
(02:06):
Absolutely. City Year is a national service organization that serves for 17
to 25 year olds to do good in schools and communities that have high needs.
I think that's the most basic way to explain it. I have a very intimate understanding
of the program because I was a City Year Corps member.
(02:26):
So I was one of the individuals who after college...
Wasn't sure what my career path or where it was going to take me and needed
to have a year to really figure that out.
And so I did City Year in Philadelphia in 2008 and reflecting on it now really attribute the program,
the experience that I had working in schools that had exceptional need,
(02:48):
the teachers and principals I worked alongside to give me what I needed to figure
out my career path and what I wanted to do next.
And so it's a great program. We often talk about our dual mission,
where we are serving as our core members are serving in school as near peer
mentors and supports for students at critical point in their life where maybe
(03:10):
they don't have that adult or mentor figure to look up to and help them.
So we support them academically, socially and emotionally.
And so we're making a difference there. But then the core members who sign up
to the program are also getting professional development and experiences that
are going to springboard them on to their career, too.
Well, and it's awesome because you must be on a brochure or something somewhere
(03:34):
because you're like the mission accomplished guy for the organization.
I think that's why I got hired in this role, perhaps.
That's one of the reasons. There are others, I'm sure, too. But definitely,
I think that experience of being a core member and having the ability to tell
that story has allowed me to be able to connect with the organization,
but also the young people who just started with us on Monday last week to start
(03:57):
their year of service, too.
So it does help to understand the challenge of a year of service.
Well, I'm all for anything that gets more young people into education as a career.
And sure, you'll talk about that some more as well. all, but I know Citywide
is, you know, like we say, it's an international organization now.
(04:17):
You're all over the place, having a branch in a black-owned town in Denver. Yes.
South Africa, the UK, amazing.
And, you know, I know you work with hundreds and hundreds of schools,
which means there's hundreds of unique situations,
but I'm sure you have challenges in San Jose that are unique to you that hopefully
(04:37):
we'll touch on in a second, but what are some of the commonalities that you
see among all these things that city addresses?
Yeah. Anywhere. Yes, so many. I think that for our, I'll speak about the U.S.,
for our public education system,
it has really been designed to serve a certain group of people that often have
(05:04):
the privilege and opportunity to access education.
High-quality education based on your zip code and where you live.
And what our program does universally is work exclusively in areas that are
underserved and underrepresented.
And so part of our mission is to be an agent of change,
(05:24):
to be able to have our young people work in communities that have exceptional
needs, where test scores are lower than their counterparts, parts just oftentimes
several blocks or miles away.
And we are a resource for teachers, for students, for schools to be able to
(05:46):
give that additional support.
So I think universally, our program does that for students that we work with,
is to address the systemic issues that have existed in the inequities in our
education system here in America for so long.
And then from a core member standpoint, what's universal about our program anywhere
you go is the experience that you have as a young person when you sign up for this program.
(06:10):
You're placed in a diverse team. You're meeting people from all different backgrounds
and walks of life that are coming together with a like-minded mission to do good in schools.
And so personally, the experience allowed me to meet some of my best friends.
I tell the story that the best man at my wedding was someone I served alongside
(06:31):
in my year of service at City Year. That's a great story.
So you make these lifelong friendships with this common mission of making change.
And that's really exciting. And I think no matter where you go across the country,
every city or site, you will feel the energy enthusiasm of young people who
are in our program and the young people who benefit from having a core member next to them. Right.
(06:54):
So it's almost like you've got this whole spectrum of people.
You're serving the students, but you're really serving these people that are
interested in education and serving as a core member,
which that had to have, obviously, had a profound effect on you if suddenly
you're a Title I, you find yourself as a Title I principal in a tough spot, right?
(07:18):
I mean, so talk about that transition from going from a core member to being
in a leadership role in one of those schools. tools.
And I will say that my story is not unique. I guess it's unique to me,
but it's not unique to the experience that a lot of our core members have, which is.
40% of our members who finish their year of service go into education.
(07:40):
Wow, that's awesome stuff.
Yeah, so the alumni who come out of our program oftentimes stay connected within the education system.
And that's part of our mission is to be agents of change across the system.
And so I'll tell some stories about people I've met here in the San Jose region
who are making that impact and difference from and often inspired by their year of service.
(08:01):
But for me personally, it was, you know, that year of service where I was commuting
across the city of Philadelphia an hour and 15 minutes each morning and afternoon to go to my school.
I was a team leader. And so I had a group of young, they weren't younger than
me, same age peers that I was now responsible for leading in their year of service,
(08:23):
designing their schedules, working with teachers.
I was able to gain skills that no job.
Could have provided for me. The ability to communicate across different stakeholder
groups, the opportunity to manage and support people through challenges that
they're having as an 18 to 25-year-old in their first job.
And I think that exposure and opportunity allowed me to see some incredible
(08:48):
teaching, see some incredible teachers.
It also showed me the opposite, where there were students that were,
you know, not getting the exposure to excellent teaching.
And it made me think like, hey, I think I could do this. I think this could
be, you know, a career for me is to get into teaching.
(09:09):
And so I tell this story to the core members all the time.
I was a person who took advantage of every alternative pathway to get to a principalship
to get to teaching that I could.
I took advantage of all the systems that were allowing me to get certified and
to get into this career path.
I was a business major in college. So I didn't really know what I was going
to do after my year of school.
(09:30):
And so after city year, I got into an alternative teaching program.
I taught in some of the toughest schools in Philadelphia for eight years.
And similar to that city year experience, I saw excellent school leadership in that time.
And I saw school leadership that was not in the benefit of students in their communities.
And I said, you know what? I think I can be a school leader.
And so I took advantage of another
(09:51):
alternative pathway program to get my principal certification. Nice.
So I took it, you know, along the way, there are, you find in where there's
need, there's opportunity to say, okay, there's a need to have excellent leadership
in our schools. How can I do that next?
And so through that, I was inspired to lead a school at the privilege of leading
(10:12):
a beautiful, diverse school in Northeast Philadelphia for eight years.
As you mentioned in the intro, that really taught me so much about myself,
taught me so much about our education system and who it serves and how it's
been designed and how we can, within our own, and this is a City Year lesson too.
(10:35):
As an individual, you have agency in making change. And there were opportunities
within that school leader role to see in real time the difference being made
for students and families in our community.
That was really powerful and has inspired me now to come back to the organization
where it all started and do that.
Hopefully repeat that cycle all over for this next group of four members.
(10:56):
That's so awesome. And there's a couple of things in there that really stuck
out to me. One being all the things that you learn experientially that you would
never learn in a classroom.
I tell people that are in college all the time, it's like, you know,
your classwork is important.
I get it. But man, get out there and make connections and learn from people
doing what you want to do in life.
(11:17):
And that's just a great example of it. And another thing that I love about what
you're doing is, is you're kind of affecting that educational ecosystem on both
sides, right? Right. I mean, you're serving the young students.
So, you know, heaven knows when you're transforming and their path,
how that's going to ripple across their whole family.
But then you're serving on the other end of it.
(11:39):
The people that are going to be those future leaders, you're kind of shaping them, too.
So that's that's something super cool. The city is doing.
Yeah, that's that's by design, Jay. And I think that we have a term for that called ripples.
And City Year, a ripple is that the impact that is being made and where you
see it extending into other areas of the community and life.
(12:02):
And so we call that ripples.
And yeah, me coming back to City Year certainly is a ripple.
And what we're seeing in our program now, so in San Jose, we've been here for 30 years. Yes.
And we have core members who started last week who were inspired to join our
program because there was a core member in their classroom when they were a elementary school.
And so they say, I remember in California, we have yellow jackets.
(12:26):
City Year nationally mostly has these red jackets. In California,
we're special. We have the banana jackets.
So I had a City Year in my classroom growing up, and that's inspired me to come
back and make a difference for another young person.
And that is, you know, the beauty and essence of this program when it's functioning
at its highest level is that we're able to have this impact over generations
(12:50):
and generations of people who've been inspired to do it and to teach others, to lead others.
And City Year is not just a program where our core members are in education.
We have alumni who are in some of the top tech jobs in Silicon Valley right
now who are making change within those organizations,
whether it's at the executive level or it is someone who is in the community
(13:13):
impact department of one of the tech companies out here, too.
And so our our our program has had an impact across all different sectors.
And I like to think of that impact as being largely for good always.
That that's fantastic. Well, and when you when you talk about San Jose and Silicon
Valley, where you are, people like myself who aren't there probably have this
(13:35):
perception that, you know, it's ground zero for high tech.
It's you know where everything's happening cool which
means that's got to spill over into the schools right so
the school's just got to be the most awesome schools ever but
that that can't be the case i mean otherwise
yeah you wouldn't need city here there right
(13:57):
i mean that's something that we are
in constant conflict with in this region which
is you are right next
door to the most exceptional wealth in our country right
and i think as a result you make the assumption that oh the schools that are
in this region must be recently constructed have state-of-the-art technology
(14:21):
every student has like unbelievable access to the metaverse and good and like
all those things that you associate with so it's not like that.
Yeah, right. The system is designed for certain individuals and folks to benefit,
and it's designed for others to have to constantly focus on progress and access.
(14:44):
And we find that in our work, there's a real advocacy that we can have and a
power in that advocacy in our region because the distinction between the have
and have nots is so profound. Yeah.
But there's also within that, there's opportunity to innovate and there's opportunity.
And that's, I think, the spirit of this region is about innovation and it's
(15:07):
about bringing new ideas to the
table and thinking outside the box and designing new ways of operating.
And we're committed to doing that in an education space that often is the last
sector to adapt and adopt and be efficient with those practices.
And so I for all the reasons that you mentioned, this this generational impact
(15:30):
that our program has and the power that's that's within that is part of what
excites me about being in an area where that spirit has led to the largest companies
in the world being successful.
Well, why can't that happen in a space of education? Why can't that happen with
the right investments in our work, too?
And just the entrepreneurial attitude and the right kind of leadership.
(15:53):
Yeah, it's both inspiring and frustrating.
I would say that, you know, when you drive into work,
you drive past all of the high profile names and organizations in this region
on one side of the road and on the other side of the road,
you are seeing the hardworking people that are in our school districts and systems
that are looking for their opportunity and looking for their chance to get a leg up.
(16:17):
And we like to think of ourselves as an organization that's able to find a connection
between both and bring people together in the spirit of moving progress forward for all.
Well, and this is obviously working. Otherwise, these schools would not continue
to welcome you and work with you.
So, you know, what does it take for you to maintain these partnerships?
(16:39):
I mean, by now you're well enough established and you have the brand recognition.
But even still, there's got to be some challenges in keeping this all going.
Yeah. The most distinct challenge for us is continuing to have young people
ready, willing to serve.
(16:59):
It is a, in so many ways, a difficult year. It is...
To be able to do a year of service, and I think in some people's minds,
take a year off from the progression of, you know, I've finished college,
I want to jump right into career.
Can be challenging to recruit people to say, sign up and do this work alongside us.
(17:23):
And so a lot of organizations that are like ours have had a challenge in getting
young people to sign up and do a year of service.
And that is one of the areas that we are really focused on is our recruitment
of people to do this work alongside of us and to find value in it.
And I believe in this generation that's coming through.
I mean, what they've been able to activate in all of us for change around the
(17:50):
social sector is inspiring.
And I am eager to get them excited about the opportunity to have direct service
in communities that have need.
But I would say that's a challenge. Our region is also the most expensive to
live in the country, which provides when you are doing this type of work to
be able to live, thrive, survive, it's harder here.
(18:12):
And so how do we connect with folks that are in this region of San Jose,
Silicon Valley and are able to do their year of service while living at home?
How do you connect with people who are out of state who want to come here and
get the professional networks and connections to the organizations that we partner
with? I'll give the example of one of our strongest partners in this region
(18:33):
is the San Francisco 49ers and Deloitte.
And we've been able to forge partnerships with both of them to support with
the professional learning of young people in our program.
And Deloitte actually reserves a job every year for someone who completes our
program to move directly into that field too.
And so we want to make our city year a not just a year where you're making a
(18:57):
difference for the lives of students, but it's really setting you up for your
career or college or what you're hoping to do after your year of service.
That is so cool. And I've heard of both of those organizations.
Most people probably have. But you talk about the way the system is set up.
So if you could design the perfect school for your two daughters,
(19:21):
what would that look like? Oh, wow. Yeah. Jeez.
That's a great question. So my daughters are five and three years old.
And that is similar to a lot of the students that we service to the year in
San Jose, Silicon Valley, where we're in kindergarten, first and second grade.
And you can't help when you're a parent, walk into a school and just imagine
(19:43):
your kid and what they and how they are experiencing.
You know, if my kid was in the school or in this area, what would it look like
and feel like for them? And if I was designing a school and now that I've seen,
you know, all the trajectory, I want safety.
I want caring teachers and adults who first and foremost are there to support and grow,
(20:12):
not just my kid, but other kids and design their classroom spaces to be supportive of all learners.
I want a school that's diverse. I don't want a school that is,
you know, singular in culture or color or I think that there's a real value
in being able to go to school and learn alongside people who have differences
(20:33):
than you and to find spaces for,
you know, to make connection.
And that was my experience in school, too.
And I think I also want my kids to go to a school that's clean and new.
And, you know, we've experienced a lot in my career as a school principal.
(20:53):
Facilities challenges were one of the prominent issues in the Philadelphia School District.
And, you know, just simply having new spaces and buildings for students to learn
and that are able to foster their creativity and innovation and to have the
right adults to be ready to do that in the classrooms, too, and to do it with a caring touch.
(21:18):
It's really all that I want for any student in our area is to have that type
of experience, but particularly for my kids, too.
And I think you have to be thoughtful now with what looking ahead,
what are the next 15 to 20 years going to look like for our students?
And what are going to be some of the greatest challenges that we are going to face?
And how are we preparing and educating this next group of young people to be
(21:40):
the leaders to address those challenges?
And it puts a heavy burden. And I think we can all think of,
you know, climate change and economic opportunity and mobility is like.
And so how are we positioning our education system to prepare young people to
be the leaders in those spaces?
And I think oftentimes we're, you know, people will say teaching to the test.
Right. We're teaching to.
(22:00):
And is that test the test of life that our young people are going to face when they get out?
I don't think so. So, yeah, filling in a bubble on a multiple choice test might
not be the, you know, the North Star.
What the problems of tomorrow are presuming for our young people.
So I'd hope a school has the forethought and a system has the forethought to
(22:22):
really think about, you know, education as the tool that's going to solve some
of these critical issues that we're going to be facing.
Yeah. And you touched on this a little bit earlier that I'd love to go back
to. And that's the profound, and I mean profound, impact that leadership has
in these different situations.
I mean, I worked in education for a few years. My daughter is a teacher.
(22:45):
The impact a teacher can have is just a good principal with strong leadership
really can be a tipping point for a school.
I mean, you've obviously lived this in Philadelphia winning principal awards and everything else.
You've seen it intimately. But I think that applies in any industry,
nonprofit, for-profit, anywhere.
(23:06):
So across your career, what are some of the leadership principles that you've
leaned on that helped you succeed that you think could really help other leaders?
That's a great question. It's a great question. Yeah.
I think humility comes to mind.
Vastly underrated, isn't it? Yeah. I think that being humble enough to know
(23:31):
where you need help as a leader and to name and call it out and ask for it.
And I can't always say that I was the most humble leader in every position that I had.
I think there was this thought that I needed to present, especially getting...
I started to be a principal when I was 28 years old.
I'm going to say, that's a lot harder when you're younger, right?
Right, because you're in a position, I need to show everybody I'm the man.
(23:55):
Exactly. Like, I think the story I always tell is I was managing people,
teachers, exceptional teachers who were teaching longer than I'd been alive.
And I think that there was this assumption that I needed to have all the answers
and I needed to be able to, like, in that moment, address your need,
(24:17):
your concern and come up with it.
And I found a real power in having the humility to say, I don't know,
but I'm going to find out for you.
I had a real power in saying, I'm not, or I found real power in saying,
I'm not the one who's best positioned to solve this, but let me help connect you with who can.
And to use that to define the
(24:39):
teams that I would seek to build and to really find where there are opportunities
across the team to have a difference of perspective and opinion and to value
diversity and to avoid a like me bias in how you build your other leadership around you.
That is a tremendous pitfall to any leader who is going into a hiring practice
(25:05):
and trying to build out a team and is attracted only to what feels comfortable.
Like embrace the discomfort of
someone who thinks differently from how you think and find value in that.
And lastly, and this is something that I've put a lot of thought and detail
to, I'm in the final dissertation phase of my educational leadership doctorate.
(25:26):
And my topic and focus is around trust and how you build as a leader,
how do you facilitate and build trust? And what are the key components of.
From a leadership standpoint, establishing that across a group of people,
specifically in a school, because there's going to be so many times and opportunities
where you're going to have to lean in and trust the people that you're working with.
(25:48):
And so what values are you bringing to your work that is allowing for trust to be able to be built?
And then when it's broken, how is it repaired?
Or can it be repaired? And so, yeah, I would center some of the lessons around that, around humility.
Vulnerability, I think, is connected to that humble piece of being vulnerable
enough to say and name when you need support and how people can support you in doing it.
(26:12):
And that's all connected to just the knowledge of self, knowing your blind spots.
The last point I'll make, and this is something that I'm continuing to do across
my team currently in this new leadership role, is you need to have people who
are able to give you feedback,
and are willing and not intimidated by the positionality of where they stand,
(26:36):
but are willing to say, you know, there's a better way to do that.
Or this is a blind spot for you.
And to give clarity to your decision making process.
And that's something that I'm always reflecting and thinking on and haven't gotten perfect yet.
Right. But I don't think I'm supposed to. I think other people in a leadership
role, I think as a leader, you're not just supposed to have all those answers.
(26:57):
You're supposed to find where you can get.
That guidance from the people on your team and that's another i love that because
that's one of my big things with with leadership is having the ability to take
that feedback right yes yes it is all part of it too so i love all this and
it and i cannot wait to read your dissertation,
(27:19):
so yeah me too i hope that i hope that gets published it's it is sold this month
we're picking it back up god bless you better you than me anyways as i i want
to respect your time and wind down here.
I always like to have my, my fab four questions here at the end.
And my first one is what is something you will read, listen to,
(27:39):
or watch today? Oh, that's a good question.
Read, listen to, or watch today. I today will be, we're in an election season
and I was started my career as a history teacher.
And so I have my news sources that I go a roundabout just to check and triangulate
(28:00):
and make sure I'm getting all the facts that I need.
So I think we're in an era where you need to have facts. And I have my roundabout
news sources that I go through.
And I, from that delineate, what is the most important information that I have?
So definitely going to be reading my news sources.
And then I always listen to the daily from the New York Times on a pretty regular basis too. Nice.
(28:23):
And with a five and three-year-old, you might throw an episode or two of Bluey in there, right?
That's true. Oh, yeah. Bluey is on repeat, always.
So is there somebody that you could point to who's been a role model for you in your career?
Yeah, my mother. She...
(28:44):
A real impact on the way that I think about education and made some,
when we were very young, some value-based decisions on where we went to school
that were centered around desegregating the school system that we were part of.
And that decision for growing up, and this is a whole nother podcast we get
into, we were part of a Quaker meeting.
(29:06):
And one of the callings they had in that space was to desegregate Richmond Public
Schools, which is where I'm from. And as a result, I was one of a handful of
white students, school from kindergarten to eighth grade.
And now that I've worked in various different sectors, focusing primarily on
public education in large cities, I find real value in that story and what I
(29:31):
was able to learn from that experience.
And her decision to at a time that was, you know, really hard because,
I mean, you sending your kids across the city to go to a different school and
not really, you know, having all the information about what it's going to look like and feel like.
But to do it on principle was important and has allowed me, I think,
to understand why I do this work today. So definitely my mother.
(29:55):
I love that answer. One of the better ones. So outside of City Year,
is there an organization that
you really admire the work they're doing or want to give a shout out to?
Yeah, I would give a shout out to our partners in East Palo Alto at Ravenswood City School District.
It's a new partnership that we have. And I think what's been so refreshing about
(30:20):
working with Ravenswood City School District is Because there are sometimes
you go into a partnership and you're the ones that are having to come to the
table with all the answers.
They're a partner who comes and they help solve collaboratively the challenges
that come up with implementing a program like ours.
And beyond their work with us, it's just a really cool example of what's possible
(30:43):
in our region when people pull together the resources and resources.
Thought leadership to make change and a difference. So check it out.
Ravenswood City School District, they're doing incredible work in East Palo Alto.
Sounds awesome. Might need to be a future podcast guest.
Anyways, the last one, and maybe most importantly, if somebody wants to learn
(31:04):
more about City Year, support the work you're doing and just find out more,
maybe even become a core member, what's the best way?
Yes, yes. Cityyear.org. Go to our website, learn more about our program.
You know we can include some specific links to
san jose i will share you know we are a national organization
(31:25):
so if you're listening to this and you are in a different part or if you're
a parent you're listening to this and you're thinking about what do i want my
kid to do next we have sites all around the country the best one is san jose
silicon valley let me repeat great place to be but go to our website learn more
about how you can sign up and make a difference in a community near you.
(31:45):
Cityyear.org. We will put that in the show notes. Luke, this has been fabulous.
I think something else that you guys deal in is hope and you're providing hope
to people like me that, you know, the future isn't as grim as it's made out
to be and that there are great people out there doing great work,
which is why I started this podcast.
So keep up the great work. And like I said, I can't wait to read your dissertation.
(32:08):
I appreciate it. I appreciate the time with you. and thank you for putting a spotlight on the good.
I love that this is the theme of the work that you're putting out there and
you're able to celebrate the organizations like ours. So thank you. Thanks for having me.
Music.
Thanks for listening. And thanks to Luke for sharing his passion for public
(32:30):
education and the leadership insights he's learned over his career.
This podcast was brought to you by JC Charity Services.
Positivity is the competitive advantage, and as a John Gordon Certified Power
of Positive Trainer, I'd love to bring that competitive advantage to your organization.
You can find me at makingourworldbetter.com or jay at jccharityservices.com.
(32:54):
Let's connect and talk about it.
To learn more about City Year and how you can help them with their mission, visit cityyear.org.
If you enjoyed this podcast, we'd be grateful if you'd share it with a friend.
Until next time, I hope you're inspired to find a way to make our world better.
Music.
Popular Podcasts
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
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.