As the CEO of the non-profit Open-Door America, Bill Simpson is a foremost expert on something no one wants to talk about, Intergenerational Poverty. Bill traces back decades to the root problems in Baltimore and details how and why poverty is getting worse, not better.
Bill believes that government is well intentioned but highlights why things like drugs and lack of jobs, all related to poverty, continue to feed this downward spiral. He discusses his interactions with Bill Clinton, the evolution of the Welfare System and how it has “tamped down” a potential insurrection. Bill’s experience and background enables him to take us into the daily lives of people who live in poverty and what drives them. Bill details the church’s role as the largest recipient of charitable, non-taxed dollars and their impact on public assistance. He discusses the issues faced by other non-profits, why mass incarceration has failed and many more reasons, all based on historic facts, that find us where we are today.
One might question “how is this related to commercial construction?” Bill explains how poverty, beyond being a humanitarian issue, is a problem that impacts everyone in the inner city Baltimore and beyond. Bill describes how Open-Door America is a successful template that satisfied the need of the construction and other industries by identifying a viable workforce, with what today’s young men and women need to begin to change intergenerational poverty - a Living Wage Job.
This interview successfully pulls back the curtain on the real “street problems” faced by those less fortunate. He identifies traits that are consistently evident in those most prepared to change, focusing on them first.
It made me ask myself, “how would I have coped if I was born into this environment”? And now, has forced me to ask, “how can I help by providing jobs?” After listening, you might be inspired to produce your own answer.