Struggle to Scholar: "Improve Your Tomorrow" Builds Academic Success.

Growing up in a single-parent household, Michael Lynch found his way to higher education through football. A tragic loss to gun violence transformed his perspective, driving him to uplift his community. Set against the backdrop of financial struggles, Alejandro Galicia Cervantes' journey from street vending to academic passion began with an encounter with Michael and the IYT program, sparking a love for education. Their stories remind us of the power of mentorship and opportunity in shaping lives. Together, they illustrate how adversity can be a powerful catalyst for change.

Education is more than just a path to personal success; it's a vital tool for uplifting entire communities. By fostering a college-to-community pipeline, "Improve Your Tomorrow" is reshaping futures for young men of color. With powerful stories like Moses' dream of becoming an Army officer and Rogel's mentorship journey, we showcase how support systems can break generational cycles and open doors to new possibilities. This episode underlines the importance of parental involvement and community engagement in educational success, highlighting initiatives that create culturally affirming environments for families.

Despite funding challenges, organizations like IYT remain steadfast in their mission to support young men of color. With impressive graduation rates and college attendance figures, they continue to harness the power of education, mentorship, and internships to drive change. Alejandro's personal journey from high school struggles to graduating from UC Davis epitomizes the influence of a supportive community.  "Improve Your Tomorrow" celebrates the relentless dedication of those working to break barriers and build brighter futures for the next generation.

To learn more about the organization visit the website HERE.

Chapter Timestamps

(00:00) Overcoming Adversity Through Education and Mentorship
(07:47) Building a College and Community Pipeline
(13:21) Guiding Youth Towards Success Through Mentorship
(20:41) Enhancing Parental Engagement in Education
(29:11) Empowering Youth Through Education and Opportunity
(35:48) Empowering Young People Through Mentorship
(44:59) Balancing Work, Family, and Leisure
(49:40) Supporting Improve Your Tomorrow Through Engagement

Thank you so much for listening to this nonprofit story! We appreciate you. Please visit the website to sign up for our email updates and newsletter. https://www.nonprofpod.com/ And if you like, leave me a voicemail to comment on the program, leave a question for us to ask in the future or a message for me, Jeff Holden. I may even use your voice mail message in a future episode of one of our incredible local nonprofit organizations. https://www.nonprofpod.com/voicemail. Thanks again for your support in listening, commenting and sharing the great work our local nonprofits are accomplishing.

Transcript

Alejandro Galicia Cervantes: [00:00:00] Think about my parents. My dad has a fourth grade education. My mom barely graduated high school. I think more about my brother dropping out of high school because we needed more money and more income during OA. And the, the bravery it took for him, but also I think about my sister and how she dropped out of community college.

Not because she wasn't, she didn't have the aptitude or the capability, but because she was pushed out. And so by the time I came around the youngest of three and got introduced to IYT, it was the first time for my family generationally we're, we found an advocate. To advocate for us and the public education system,

Jeff Holden: welcome to the nonprofit Podcast Network here. Our purpose and passion are simple to highlight the incredible nonprofits that make our communities stronger. Each episode is [00:01:00] a chance for these organizations to tell their story in their words, sharing not just what they do, but why it matters to the people they serve, to their supporters, and to all of us who believe in the power of community.

Through podcasting, we hope to amplify their voices, inspire connection, and give them one more tool to reach the hearts of donors, partners, and neighbors alike. This work is made possible through the generous support of our founding partners, captrust, offering fiduciary advice for endowments and foundations serving Sacramento, Roseville, and Folsom, and online@captrust.com and Western Health Advantage, a local not-for-profit health plan that believes healthcare is more than coverage.

It's about caring. From supporting the American Heart Association to making arts and wellness accessible for all. Western Health Advantage truly delivers healthcare with heart. Learn more@westernhealth.com. This [00:02:00] episode, I'm focused on the incredible work of two young men who prove that education is the fastest path to breaking the cycle of generational poverty.

Their organization begins with students as early as sixth grade and stays with them through college graduation. Providing mentorship, leadership training, academic support, and parental engagement. With more than 11,000 young men served across six states and eight regions. They've built a powerful brotherhood and pipeline of opportunity breaking barriers and building futures for young men of color.

They're showing that with the right support, every student can transform not just their tomorrow, but the future of their families and communities. Despite funding challenges, they remain steadfast in their mission, achieving remarkable graduation and college attendance rates, the organization is improve your Tomorrow more affectionately known as [00:03:00] IYT, and I'm speaking with co-founder Michael Lynch and program alumnus Alejandro Galicia Cervantes, who overcame adversity to achieve both academic and entrepreneurial success.

Michael Lynch, Alejandro g Cervantes, welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. 

Alejandro Galicia Cervantes: Excited to be here. Thank you for having me. 

Jeff Holden: I'm really looking forward to this conversation, guys. Michael, I wanna start before the organization because your story is one that's so familiar to many young men of color and men that you work with.

It shows familiarity and authenticity, and you've been where they've been. Tell us that story if you would. 

Michael Lynch: Yeah, I mean, you know, Jeff, I grew up in communities where there were tremendous talent. There was very little opportunity like for us to thrive, you know, single parent home, raised by a phenomenal father, but single parent homes bring a lot of different challenges with that.

So, but for me, you know, my story really began to take shape. You know, when I went to Valley High [00:04:00] School in South Sac, a place where it was. An opportunity for me to be able to thrive. But for so many folks, like it wasn't, football was my catalyst. That was the thing I was gonna be able to do to get to the next level.

That's how I saw a better life. That's how I saw college. But for a lot of my peers who maybe didn't have the same support system, you know, I had a phenomenal father, you know what? My mom was gone. I had a phenomenal father, right? Who was there, who was consistent, and that was my cornerstone. And football propelled me to be able to go to the next level.

You know, where it kind of all started was early college. Sophomore, freshman, sophomore year in college. I was, uh, playing football at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. And I got a call, one of my friends was shot and killed back home. Oh wow. Right on. Um, right on Stockton Boulevard. And, you know, that was one of those moments where I knew I wanted to come back and change my community.

'cause unfortunately so many of my, you know, friends and peers didn't get opportunity to live a full life. 

Jeff Holden: You know what a blessing, to have that purpose, that early on [00:05:00] too. Did you continue with football four or four years of school? 

Michael Lynch: I did as long as I could. Okay. I mean, I'm looking at you, it looks like you're still playing some ball.

I was, uh, I was at UNOV for my first two years of college, and I transferred to Humbolt State. They gave me a scholarship to continue to plan. I got to my senior year at the end, but NFL wasn't knocking on the door, so I was like, you know what other opportunities were out there for me to create like some impact.

Alejandro, how about your 

Jeff Holden: story? Tell us a little bit about yours as well. 

Alejandro Galicia Cervantes: Yeah, of course. So I'm originally from LA if that hat helps. I come from an immigrant background. I have a family that's mixed status, and so we just work as three vendors. They, they do, they're eros, they're, they're selling ice cream.

I grew up, you know, waking up at 6:00 AM setting up my little ice cream cart. I had. A car that was like three times my size. I was pushing it up and down parks right after school. So I would wake up at 6:00 AM get my cart ready, my parents would drop me off to school and then they would pick me up and drop me off [00:06:00] at a park.

And then, you know, I would go around, walk around with my little car. So. And I did that ever since I was like 12 or 11, ever since I was old enough and strong enough to push a cart. I've been doing that and it's the same story for my entire family. So we're very much hardworking, resilient family. But one thing I, I never really took the time to understand was just my, my upbringing, right?

So we lived in the valley, in La, LA County. I lived in a red light district. So I didn't know that not everybody lived five minutes away from a, from a strip club. I didn't know that a lot of people when they were walking back from their middle school or elementary that they didn't walk past sex workers.

I didn't know that if you live right next to a liquor store, there's a lot of people that are using or actively partaking in drugs. And so this is, this is just my everyday walk. From, from my [00:07:00] house to my elementary up until my middle school. And then we moved to Sacramento, south sa, south Sacramento, around oh eight when the financial crisis was happening.

We just weren't selling anything. Our home, we were renters, but they pushed us out because they, they, they had to sell their, their property. The whole street was remodeled and redeveloped. And so we were looking around on a house for like a couple months. Then there was just array of opportunity to go to South Sacramento when there was not a lot of street vendors around, and that was the first time in my family we were financially secure and just going from like working 6:00 AM to like 9:00 PM every single day since I was 12 to now, only working over the summers.

Really completely changed my outlook on, on education. And so when I think about my parents, my dad has a fourth grade education. My mom barely graduated high school. I think more about my brother dropping out of high school because we needed more [00:08:00] money or more income during oh eight. And the, the bravery it took for him, but also I think about my sister and how she dropped out of community college.

Not because she wasn't, she didn't have the aptitude or the capability, but because she was pushed out. There was no cultural attention to her and, and the way that she interacted with, with the community college campus at the time. There was no IYT for her. By the time I came around the youngest of three and got introduced to IYT, it was the first time for my family generationally where we found an advocate to advocate for us in the public education system.

And so I was very much that kid that was in and out of classes, not really doing homework, not really like staying engaged in the curriculum because for me. School was just a means to graduating high school. It really wasn't a means to getting a career. Mm-hmm. And so when I got introduced to Michael, a lot of my friends started to join to join IYT.

An easy way that [00:09:00] they bring kids in is through either a PlayStation, Xbox, or like pizza. So that's how they got my two best friends into the program. And then my two best friends invited me in. They said like, oh, you should apply. It's a really cool program. And then it wasn't until like I met Michael at Library again.

Michael's really big, right? So I'm like half his size looking up like, oh, hey, how's it going? And there he, he just asked me a question, you know, getting to know me, whether it was a good fit for me to be in the program. And then he asked me like, what do you wanna do with your life? And at least for myself, that was the first time somebody asked me that.

Michael Lynch: Mm-hmm. 

Alejandro Galicia Cervantes: And I started thinking, and I may, I said an answer that I'm too embarrassed to say right now, but that really got me thinking. Then a few months later we went to Stanford as, that was my first introduction with like university. I completely fell in love with it. I was like, that's, that's where I want to go.

And I went from being, what was it, like a 2.1, 2.3 student [00:10:00] about there the very next semester to 4.1. That's awesome. And then 

Jeff Holden: never went. I never looked back. We're actually just a little, he's a little bit ahead of us 'cause I'm gonna have you introduce the program and it's become an acronym. Everybody calls it IYT, but it really stands for Improve Your Tomorrow.

Michael Lynch: Right. 

Jeff Holden: So tell us about the genesis of where that came from, knowing that the quickest way to break the generational poverty gap is really through education and you clearly picked up on that. In your couple of years realizing that the NFL wasn't knocking on your door, I gotta do something else here.

Right? So that education was appropriate to bring it back to Sacramento. Tell us about that. What, what was the genesis? 

Michael Lynch: Yeah. You know, for me, actually started with sports again. I graduated college, I got an internship. To work like in the state capitol for senator member Wilma Carter. It was called the SAC Semester Internship Program.

I'm actually back home at this point. This is 2011, and I'm sitting on the [00:11:00] couch watching SportsCenter and I'm seeing this, I don't know if you all remember the Phenomenal Corner for the Raiders. I'm hoping one day he hears the story so he can be like he, he can give us a call, but Corner named ndi. Owa.

He was a all pro coroner, like from the Raiders and I'm watching him on our ESPN like, and he's like taking this group on a. This group of kids on a college tour from Oakland, like to Washington DC Not that at that moment, you know, like, like what? Like that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna be able to go back to my old high school, like my old neighborhood and be able to take other young people, like to college, like to an exposure.

'cause in like high school, for me, the only exposure because. The college was through football camps. I got a chance, you know, I was being recruited, so I got a chance to go participate in camps and we got the chance to stay overnight in schools, like for football camps. It wasn't like in an academic setting.

It wasn't me as a student, it was me as an athlete. So like, like the light bulb moment was watching Nandi Owa take those group of kids on the college tour from Oakland to dc. You know, I called my best friend, Michael Casper, said, man, we should [00:12:00] start a program like at Valley High School. You know, we're both from and said help to get kids right to college.

And it wasn't two years later until we actually like met with our high school counselor or Mr. Ortiz. We said, listen, we want to create this program. No idea what we're doing because it, it, like, it didn't start as this, you know, grand vision of what it is today. It's the simplicity of how can we go back to where we're from to be able to help get other folks at the time just to college, not to through college.

Right. That IYT is, but the mission for us is really simple. It's to increase the number of young men of color to attend and graduate from college universities because Jeff, you said it, the Beth path to economic mobility. We're at the Beth path to create economic value, the Beth path, to be able to uplift a group of people.

Through education. Mm-hmm. So to improve your tomorrow is if you get an AA degree, if you get a bachelor's degree and your family otherwise doesn't have it, you are improving your tomorrow. 

Jeff Holden: That's right. You've made a significant leap. Exactly. And you'll probably continue to pay that forward every step you can.

Michael Lynch: Exactly. It's generational at that point. Yes. So, you know, [00:13:00] I, I think about my, my work now, listen, you know, we are, it's 400 years of racial inequity. You know, we're, we're not gonna solve that over the course of 15 years. But I see my work now at generational, like I know that Alejandro's kids. Will be in a better place.

Right. He did largely because of his ability to take advantage of something. I used to complete his education at uc U Davis, and then his. Not only his kids will be impacted right. By their grandkids. Mm-hmm. So from a, a decision that Alejandro made as a 15 to 16-year-old Right. To join something he knew nothing of, but to take part in not a police education is economic life will be changed.

And you can argue that all the other health externalities mm-hmm. Regarding, uh, like, like what education provides Right. To a community. 

Jeff Holden: Tell me a little bit about these pipelines. 'cause you, you use a couple of phrases, school to prison pipeline, or college to community pipeline. Give us a little bit about those, because obviously diametrically opposed and we prefer the, you know, the latter [00:14:00] versus the, the former.

Michael Lynch: The school to prison pipeline is a really simple one. I mean, if you're arrested one time, like on campus, if you're arrested as a young person, your likelihood to be involved in the criminal justice system drastically increases. Mm-hmm. Drastically. You know, just one time arrested. One time 'cause exposure.

Exposure to a network. If you're arrested and you're now in the incarceration system, even like for two nights in the juvenile hall. Your network begins to change your opportunities begin to change your perception, like your friend's perception of who you are, the school's perception of who you are, because now you are a kid that's been formerly incarcerated, so there's so many labels come on.

Mm-hmm. Therefore, you're just much more likely now Right. To be able to happen. And that like those arrests on campus, those incarceration points are, are concentrated within communities of color in particular concentrated within communities of poverty. So like that's the school right to prison pipeline that so many young people are on.

Like for us, the College of Community Pipeline is, listen, we know what happens on the other side. Like what if we brought young men who [00:15:00] were, who are from that same community back in the same school that they were from, to be able to help, to be able to serve. Mm-hmm. But right to serve as, and what, what we call college access mentors and, and not only our young men, but young folks who are from that community to come back and serve.

So we're taking right, this next generation of leaders that's still being trained, right, to come back. And then you know what? That provides us hope. Joy. It provides all those things that you need to be able to see 

Jeff Holden: and not to mention the confidence. Exactly. That I can do this. You're amongst peers. Yep. I mean, it doesn't get any better to see all of you progressing.

Yeah. You know, all of people, whatever that class is, whatever that group is, whatever that neighborhood is exactly on how you're able to change so many in just the advent of the education of one. 

Michael Lynch: Can an example of what happened today? Absolutely. The company is so phenomenal. We're talking about this college community pipeline.

So today I'm at the office and I see one of the young men I haven't seen in a while. He's a senior in college now at Sac State. His name is Moses, and you know, I'm talking, I'm like, Mo man, how are you doing? You know [00:16:00] what you been doing? He started in 10th grade, like at Valley High School, and now he's a senior at Sac State.

He's been working for I yt for his entire time in college. I'm talking to Moses. I'm like, what do you wanna do afterward? He's like, oh, you know, really? I'm at ROTC, like, and I want to become, I wanna be an army officer. After graduation, I was like, Moses, lemme walk. Let me walk you down the hall real quick.

I walked him down the hall to meet gel. Been at IYT since ninth grade. He went to Sonoma State, was an ROTC, like he works for IYT as a program manager, but he's an officer like in the Army, so I connected them too. I said, Moses, you need to meet gel. This is exactly what you're doing. Like your paths are very similar and like to walk away and hear the excitement in Moses' voice.

He's talking to someone who went to the same neighborhood, very similar challenges, wasn't a part of the same program, and, and now he was able to connect his life path to someone else who's walked that. 

Jeff Holden: It's powerful and that's perfect because that alignment now, that guidance, now that mentorship beyond your [00:17:00] educational process of mentorship becomes career mentorship.

Exactly. By. The same space that he wants to get into, which is so amazing that it just coincidental, you know, that just happened to, to happen. How, how cool is that? Yeah. Your program is really disciplined. Tell us a little bit about the process, the pillars, the numbers. We'll talk a little bit about the numbers of markets you're in and, and the men that you've had go through the program.

Mm-hmm. And how that all works. But I think a lot of people hear about it and they're like, huh, wait, these guys are sticking with you for. How long? Yeah, so, so walk us through that, because that's an amazing process, the way that this thing works. 

Michael Lynch: Yeah. The discipline part was intentional. We want, and not only do we focus on like young men and young men of color, it's really broad and diverse, but it's young people who have like below a 2.0 GGPA folks who have behavior attendance issues and folks who are not shown up to school as often as they should.

So it's a, it's a sub-market mm-hmm. Of young people who need a little more support and love. Not that they're not capable, they're not have all [00:18:00] the tools to be successful, they just need a little more support. At the time to be able to get to where they want. But for us and how we sort of do, it's up to 12 years.

Young men can start as early as sixth grade all the way through college completion. That's a big part of it. So through middle school, through high school, whether you go to a local college or a far away college, you stay with an IYT Brotherhood, and that was really intentional. And there's a handful of support services around that.

So like one is they meet with their mentor twice per month required to attend a study all after school. They're required to attend workshops after school. They get to going these phenomenal college experiences, some that are overnight, where some that are during the day, they get to have participate in internships in their, like their parents.

They get engaged and that's really critical to make sure that the mom and dad and grandmother, whoever is the family at the home, that they know what's going on is, oh, they know what this young person needs to do to be successful. 

Jeff Holden: So I'm gonna look over you. Alejandro, when did you come in? 

Alejandro Galicia Cervantes: I came in ninth grade.

Okay. So I did my freshman year, I was around like [00:19:00] 297, something out of 300 in terms of my class ranking. And then I went on and joined my ninth grade and I stuck around all the way through the end of college. I ended up graduating from, from my high school in Valley High, went on to go to uc, Davis graduated from uc, Davis.

Then I'm still coming back around. It's, you know, the program model ends at the end of your college career, but it continues on with the networking, with the connections, with opportunities. I think that's a main point that I want to hammer on is a lot of kids like myself that grew up with, you know, a pretty predetermined path.

We just weren't exposed to other opportunities, so we were never given the chance to, you know, realize our full potential. And so when there's like Chance Encounters at the IYT headquarters where like a lot of the brothers have similar paths, that only happens because they created a space where those relationships and those opportunities could happen at any moment.

Jeff Holden: [00:20:00] Tell me, now that you've graduated uc Davis. Mm-hmm. And you look back on the experience of IYT. What do you think was the greatest benefit, the greatest part of IYT that allowed you to get all the way through the process? 

Alejandro Galicia Cervantes: It was the label. There's, I was very much the angry kid. I was like, had a lot of resentment from, you know, my upbringing, I mean.

I didn't really have like parental advocates that knew how to navigate the public education system. So it's, it is not so much that they didn't care about me, it's just that they didn't have the tools or awareness or knowledge to know how to best advocate for myself. Mm-hmm. And so when I go over and I meet with my mentor that when I was a, a freshman in high school, he was my senior.

It was like he played football, he played baseball. And so there was already a connection of trust and confidence. So then I have one of the people that I used to look up to be my mentor and bring me up in terms of my [00:21:00] confidence. And then when teachers like introduce you or like they call you to the side, they know, oh, like that's an IYT student.

Or like, oh, like, you know, let's talk to your mentor before. Things escalate towards whether it's remedial or, or punitive like punishments. Mm-hmm. There's just an inherent difference in the way people treat you. And I think for me, I was very much like, Hey, that was like a 2.0 student where like a lot of teachers didn't really give me a second look.

And the moment I started to be to apply myself because I was introduced to this entirely new perspective of where I could be. Then folks around me started to put me in this box. That really just motivated me to be more, more in my studies because there's a constant reinforcement, whether it's at the mentorships, the one-on-ones with your mentors, whether it is like the Saturday study halls, whether it is like the college tours, there's, there's just constant reinforcement that you do belong here and like you don't have to change or code switch or like be somebody that you're not just to make yourself fit in this [00:22:00] higher education places.

That typically, at least you never seen, at least for myself, I never saw any of my family go through those spaces. 

Michael Lynch: That's what gives me, Jeff, is he already had it in him. Yeah. There's nothing like, we didn't teach him, like, just needed someone to turn the key Yeah. Mm-hmm. Right. To put a little fire behind it or some exposure to be able to truly become like the person he is today, 

Jeff Holden: as so many of our youth do and have, they don't have the opportunity you're providing it.

I'm, I'm looking, I'm, you came in a little tired since we started talking. I know it's not the coffee. You have lit up man. Mm-hmm. And I, I'm so excited to see how excited you get about it. How does it feel looking at a Alejandro here and knowing he's, he's one of your proteges, he's one of the people that's gone through the program.

Michael Lynch: It, it's, uh, gives me a lot of encouragement and it, it gets me excited. I remember, I remember him as a 15, 16-year-old sophomore. I remember that conversation we had in the library and right to see kind of his journey. I mean, Alejandro will also hope to run my campaign for city council a couple years ago.

I mean, he, he has been just a part of each journey and I have seen his growth and [00:23:00] it's. It's remarkable. I mean, I seen him on stage with President Barack Obama and Right. To be able to hold his own and, and ask questions. So all this is coming from a kid who, who didn't really see, well, at least what we, we, not just me rapper, we saw in them.

It's, it gives me the fire to keep fighting the fight. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah. 

Michael Lynch: To right to serve another 11,000, 300 young brothers like we have served so far. 

Jeff Holden: I was, you just answered the question for me. Did you say 11,000? 

Michael Lynch: 11,300? Yeah. Since what, April? An amazing 

Jeff Holden: number. 

Michael Lynch: Yeah. We'll, we'll serve another like 6,000 this year.

Jeff Holden: And that's coming across eight different markets, so to speak. 

Michael Lynch: Correct. Eight, six states. Eight regions. 

Jeff Holden: Amazing. Just amazing that it's grown out of Sacramento to blossom into so many different areas. And, and that's just the beginning. Just 

Michael Lynch: the beginning. Great. That's just, 

Jeff Holden: and, and we're gonna get there in a second too, 'cause I'm excited about it.

I don't wanna pass up the opportunity for you to explain the four pillars, because I think it's important for people to understand, yeah, it's a disciplined program, but no, it's a disciplined program and there's a process and you have to [00:24:00] follow the process. Tell us a little bit about that. 

Michael Lynch: There's a I big portion of like leadership development.

Like that's the pillar to be able to help to make sure that we're both providing the exposure and the tools to become leaders. Other ones like college access and advising. Mm-hmm. We are a college access advising program, so that's critical to make sure that if your path is a four year, if your path is a two year, if your path is a like a CTE Pathway, career college, we're gonna help to make sure that you have the pathway to be able to get there.

Another one big one is mentorship. It's the ability to have another adult or young adult care about you outside of your family. Hold you accountable, like for your own goals, but also provide the tools like and exposure. Then the the other fourth one's around parents parenting game. Make sure the families engage you, you know.

Of our families. Parents, right. Did not have good experiences in school. Once their children go to school, they have the same like perception of what it is. So we have to be able to bring parents along in the process to ensure that they can have all the tools to advocate for their child. 

Jeff Holden: Would I be incorrect [00:25:00] in assuming that sometimes that may be the hardest part of it is getting the parental engagement.

Michael Lynch: Yes, correct. I take it back out of all the process leadership pillars maybe, but you know, but like it's not. It's difficult once the parent is presented to it the right way. I mean, for example, I, I was in Marin City. Was it in like May, you know, we were doing our graduation celebration, Marin City, and if you all don't know, like it's in Marin County, but it's 1200 apartments.

Average income is $12,000. Mm-hmm. Almost a hundred percent black in Marin City. A hundred percent of the parents were out the graduation celebration. 

Jeff Holden: That's incredible. 

Michael Lynch: A hundred percent. So it's not that parents don't want to be involved in the process, but they have to at some point that they have to be invited in, but also invited in a way where it's culturally affirming.

Jeff Holden: Right. I think you just answered the question right there. And I could see Alejandro's head shaking the whole time. Yes. Yeah, yeah. I know you want something to say, so, so yeah, share that. 

Alejandro Galicia Cervantes: No, totally. I would say that they get you in with pizza and like games. That's how they got me. And [00:26:00] then next thing you know, you're doing study halls and then before you know it, like they put you in front of a.

Of a group of people and ask you like, oh, okay, like, can you share your story? And so I find it funny when he mentions a lot of like leadership opportunities, because for me that was the starting point of my, like, of me taking up ownerships of, of my own life and then taking up this opportunities and with a really positive tone, right?

So I remember the first time they had me like. It was like a little award show because they always celebrated people that increased their GPA regardless of how much the increase was. As long as you increased it, you were celebrated. And so I go up, I'm like really nervous. I'm fidgeting, right? It was my first time ever like speaking in public and then, you know, a few years later.

From those experiences and like multiple and multiple opportunities to speak in front of people, I was able to be prepared and trained. So when, you know, I had the Obama conference, I was able to stand my own, but that only came from really IYT introducing me and putting me in front of people. But I think one of the most [00:27:00] beautiful parts about IYT is the parent engagement, right?

Like, again, going back to the story about my parents. Not, it's not so much that they, they, they didn't know, they didn't really care about my academic achievement. 'cause it is the opposite. They always tell me, do your homework as soon as I came back from, from work. Right. But the thing was, they just didn't have a way that they were like, culturally welcome in, in like, I guess like the, the parental advisory roles.

So I look at them from where they started, where like they were really apprehensive from even attending any meetings to now where like they're advocating for my, for my nephews. They're going to meetings, they're going to the, the meeting with the counselors asking for specific classes. Right. And I think the most beautiful part was.

When I graduated from uc, Davis, it was like 103, 114 degree weather. My graduation got canceled, like mid stage. Right. And then the very next day, IYT held like a graduation ceremony for college grads. [00:28:00] And my parents were elated. My whole family was there and it was like the most beautiful moment and something that even though my college felt a given, IYT was still there to, to provide that for my family.

Michael Lynch: Mm-hmm. 

Alejandro Galicia Cervantes: Where they felt okay and comfortable of being there. And, you know, I, for my parents, they're monolingual. And so there's even a language barrier that a lot of schools don't take into consideration. Language access is very invisible, and so our team makes it a, a point to be bilingual and, you know, be being able to like, have language access with parental outreach.

Jeff Holden: And Michael, you said something that, that struck me. Really, really relevantly. They don't get asked. They don't get invited. The assumption is. It's not gonna happen. You start asking that one parent sees another parent whose child is doing better. Well I want that for my child. Everybody wants the best for their children.

Well, I want that for, and it just snowballs to hear that you had a hundred percent is amazing. That's amazing. And what a sense of pride. Talk about [00:29:00] breaking a generational cycle. There is right there. You know, that's the first step in the right direction. One of the things we, we talk about with. All of our executive directors, CEOs, leadership for the organizations is collaboration.

Who do you find that you tend to collaborate most with, let's say in, in the nonprofit world, the ecosystem of nonprofits? I, I know it's a lot. And, and you're a Sierra Health fellow as well, right? Correct. Correct. So there's one of the steps already when she, he and Sierra Health, I mean the, the entire foundation, that's a huge alignment.

Michael Lynch: Yeah, we're, we're fortunate to have a lot of strong partners within Sacramento. Ster Foundation is like one of our strongest partners and largest funders. But outside of funding, I mean, it's technical assistance. It's the relationship aspect. Chet is a personal mentor, so a bit like when I'm having a challenge, I'm a calling Chet and say, Hey man, like here's what I'm experiencing here.

Like what? Mm-hmm. Like what should I do? So like that's a big part of it. Our school partners are like really [00:30:00] big for us. I mean, we, we can't do the work, you know, we're, we're not, the model is like based on a school campus. So our school partners and our principals, our district partners are really important for us to be able to execute, like the work.

And then, you know, I think about some of our funders, like Roter Brothers Trust mm-hmm. And others who have invested a significant amount of IY to over the course of time to make sure that we have the infrastructure in place, we have the services in place to be able to execute. I know we were talking one about like Frank Washington.

I know Frank would, Frank's not gonna want to hear his name mentioned, but Frank is also, Frank is a chair like of our, our capital campaign. Up into fundraise, like right when we started, well, we'd never done a capital campaign before. Yeah. So I think we have some folks like that who just really bought in, like to the work and, and wanna do whatever we can to help to unlock more stories like Alejandro's.

Jeff Holden: Well, and you have some incredible advisors on that advisory board. I, I don't want to name them all because I'm gonna forget somebody and then it's gonna be rough, but, but to your point, Frank is amazing. He's absolutely amazing. We'll be back right after we hear from the people making this [00:31:00] program possible.

Scott Thomas: Hello, this is Scott Thomas with CAPTRUST in our Sacramento office. I specialize in working with local nonprofits and associations annually. We survey private and public nonprofit organizations across the country to better understand challenges they see in today's environment. In our more recent survey, we hear concerns about proper board governance, mission aligned investment, and how to implement alternative investments.

If you would like a copy of the survey or to discuss your organization, look me up, scottThomas@captrust.com. At Western Health Advantage, 

Jeff Holden: healthcare isn't just a service, it's a shared value. As a nonprofit leader, you need a health plan that understands the important of mission-driven work. Western Health Advantage is a local not-for-profit health plan that supports organizations like yours with affordable, flexible coverage options for your team.

What truly sets them apart is their commitment to community supporting [00:32:00] nonprofits like the American Heart Association, Sacramento Ballet, and the Crocker Art Museums Pay what you wish Sundays with access to top tier providers and dedicated local support. Western Health advantages more than a health plan.

It's a partner in your purpose. Explore your options today@westernhealth.com. Western Health Advantage Healthcare with Heart designed for those who give back funding. How is the organization funded? You know, where does the money come from? You mentioned the router brothers as As one of them of course, but Sure.

What about in the grand scheme of things? What does it look like? 

Michael Lynch: Yeah, so Mo, most of our funding comes from program service income, so earned income, and we charge school districts a price per student to be able to implement the program. The other large component was, and still kind of is AmeriCorps.

AmeriCorps, you know, was a large funder all the way until like recently. Yes. Then it's a combination of sponsorships and corporations as individuals commit over [00:33:00] like a giving plan. 

Jeff Holden: How do you work around that? AmeriCorps change of which so many organizations I speak with are, and, and, and to all of your credit, nobody has come in here with their head down and said, we're done.

Nobody. We'll figure it out. We got it. We've got this, this, this. It wasn't everything. And in the majority of cases it wasn't even half. And I applaud that because the programs you are responsible for are so valuable. That the commitment is so great. No, we got this. We'll figure it out. So how about yourself?

Yeah, 

Michael Lynch: well also just recognize that like non-top nonprofits are tough, like business models, like your client receives the service like for free, whereas like your customer, who's not the client, also most businesses, your customer, your client are the, the same, like for non nonprofit is enough. So for like AmeriCorps, AmeriCorps helped to provide a large subsidy.

To provide some of the people power that we needed. Some of the college access mentors, like Alejandro mm-hmm. Was talking about to be able to do [00:34:00] the work. They, it took away that funding and we weren't the only, there was 1100 programs across the country that got the funding cut. Mm-hmm. Because of nothing they did.

Nothing that we did is who we serve and who we chose and, and the values that we chose to stand on. So how was going. We're still, we're still navigating it. We lost nearly $5 million this fiscal year. Mm-hmm. And you know, so we're still navigating, you know, we know we had to do some operational expenditure.

Like any business, we have a reduction of expenses. We changed some of our staffing structures able to do, but we're still serving, you know, we actually increase some, our young men that we're serving, we're serving like in more schools and we're gonna do a better job, but we gotta. We're having to do a better job, like with less.

Jeff Holden: Yes. 

Michael Lynch: But we have a phenomenal team and some phenomenal parents and brothers and partners. So we're gonna, we're gonna continue to figure it out 

Jeff Holden: knowing that you have that fee for service from the schools. Really helps. Yes. Because that's where a lot of people can get stuck. Forget the AmeriCorps, just the funding cuts in general for nonprofits, they're, I, [00:35:00] I do see a difference where some people come in 'cause they don't have a fee for service, they don't have anything underneath their grant money.

Yeah. And they are concerned. They've gotta learn a whole new model quickly or they will be in. In trouble. What's the budget you work with typically? In a year? Yeah. Or has been about 18 

Michael Lynch: million this year. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. Significant budget. Yes. Significant budget. Congratulations. Thanks. Tony. What? 13, 14 years. 

Michael Lynch: 12 years since 12.

April 6th, 2013. Okay. And you know, during COVID we like doubled and tripled. 

Jeff Holden: So that is, if you were business general's fastest growing, you would definitely be Exactly one of the fastest growing. Exactly. That's a huge number. Congratulations. 

Michael Lynch: And we're the, like, we're the largest organization in the country.

We have a college access focus for young men of color. There's nobody bigger. In fact, we're the, we're the only national college access program. They just focus on young men of color. 

Jeff Holden: Oh, I'm so, I'm thrilled to hear you say that too, because this program, obviously it's agnostic. You can get it anywhere.

That gives it the opportunity to play into Wisconsin or into Minneapolis. Now they can share it with any of these other [00:36:00] markets. Say, here's what I'm telling you about. You gotta hear this guy. You gotta hear what the story's about. You gotta hear an example like Alejandro. Awesome. This, this is a fun question and I have some ideas, but I can't infuse them because it's your answer.

If money were no object, and somebody said, here Michael, we, we need to make this thing different. If you give me the right answer, I'm giving you a blank check. What would it look like? What would the organization look like 

Michael Lynch: besides skill? 

Jeff Holden: Maybe in addition to scale and, and I know you, you've got something going on here, a massive capital project.

Michael Lynch: If I had a blank check, I would want to be able to provide a guaranteed income for our college students to be able to help them to be able to focus on, like, provide a strong incentives for our completion. Have them treat college like, like their career so they can be able to have a better chance of completing college.

Like, and I would wanna make our team [00:37:00] right. The highest pay and performing team in the country 

Jeff Holden: and for the students that go through the program. You graduate 98, 90 9% of your high school students consider it. Everybody. 99.6%. They all, they all make it. Yeah, they all get out. Now, I'm sure that once they scatter and get to their college, it's a little harder to track, but.

How are you doing relatively speaking with those that you do know about? 

Michael Lynch: I think for us we're, we're doing a phenomenal job of high school graduation. I would argue best in the country. You know, we're doing a really good job getting them to college. About 80% attend college. We're doing an okay job, but get them graduating.

If you enter a university, like with IYT, within six years, about 60% of our guys graduate is higher than a national average. But there's nothing where I'm gonna hang my hat on and be like really proud of, because that means we're losing 40%. Mm-hmm. 40% who start off at a university. Aren't graduating. So for IYT, like that's our next hurdle.

Mm-hmm. The first hurdle was making sure they graduate high school. We have that done getting into college, a far [00:38:00] majority who want to go to college and we're able to get there. The next step is how do we do a much better job and supporting them through college. 

Jeff Holden: And some of that might be what you just talked about, that guaranteed income.

'cause they're working so much just to get themselves through school, so will suffer sometimes. And they say, well, I'm making some money. I'm making okay money. And yeah. They just can't complete. 

Michael Lynch: And I would couple that with an internship. I mean I, you know, like this, this summer we had probably about 50 or so, like of our college, college students interning around.

I see a dramatic difference after an internship where they have done something professionally for eight weeks, 25, 35 hours. And then when they leave that internship. Their future and college makes a whole lot more sense. They're not just going just there just because they're going there for a reason now.

Jeff Holden: Yeah. They get it. They know what it looks like. Exactly. They felt it. They say, okay, I really liked, or I really didn't like, I wanna do something else. Alejandro, what, what led you down the path that you took to go to uc Davis? 

Alejandro Galicia Cervantes: It really just happened through opportunities. So IYT was the biggest opportunity and you know, when I [00:39:00] graduated from uc, Davis, that that was, I could look back in my life and look at all the different dots, connect and, oh, start with IYT.

So I would not have gone to university if it wasn't that. But I think a lot of other opportunities that I went to. Gave me like internships. My very first internship was as a junior in high school, interning at a lobbying firm at the Capitol. I, I remember I had to ask my mentor, like, how to tie a tie. It was literally my first time doing any professional work.

And so, you know, I got out from class. I would take the light rail into the capitol and I would do my internship and, you know, it was just a desk job. I was. Organizing opposition letters, four letters going into the capitol to give comment alongside the lobbyists that I was shadowing. And I think for me, like just seeing a professional job for the first time and like being immersed in it really completely changed my outlook in life.

And you couple that [00:40:00] with me being infatuated with Stanford and like the college life and the college students and just how different it is from back home. It really did just open up my eyes to university, and so I handker down. I started studying, doing my homework, and then eventually, you know, I went from being the 297th rank out of three hundred and thirty, two hundred forty to like the, the 20, 27th or 29th.

Uh, basically, yeah, I, I climbed all the way up to the rankings. You know, we had a lot of prep around. Those college essays, like how to tell your story because at least for me, I look around and they all have similar stories for me, I didn't realize just how unique and special my story was and until I started to learn and go through this workshops around how different it is that other people grew up with.

Mm-hmm. And so had I not gone through that, I would've thought everybody had the exact same lifestyle and. Had I not gone through those [00:41:00] workshops, I would have written a completely different essay because I didn't value my life experience because I didn't think it was unique. Mm-hmm. And so when I did get into university, I completely flourish.

I love studying. I, I discovered politics. Michael introduced me to political campaigns when he was running for City Hall, and he basically just. He was like, Hey, do you wanna be my field director? I was like, yeah, of course. What does that mean? And that's pretty common in IYT where they just like throw you in the water.

But I think that's the only, that's the best way to learn and IYT is a safe space where you could fail. Yeah. And you know, with his race, that really made me fall in love with political campaigns. And a few years later I started my own political firm. And we had 10 campaigns and you know, we're extremely successful.

Now we're going into the, the next cycle, you know. With a really high level of confidence and a political sphere that I [00:42:00] look around at my political operators and my colleagues in the field and they by no means look like me. And so we're entering spaces where traditionally young men of color have not been in.

And it only started because I was given opportunities early on and I was invested in. And again, I was very not, I was very much not okay that people gave a second look to until I wait, T came into my life. 

Michael Lynch: He's been on a lot more successful campaigns now. Yeah, yeah, I bet. I bet. Right? 

Jeff Holden: Because you're still sitting here talking to me, but what you're doing is I think far greater and you have much more scope than you would've just at City Council.

Michael Lynch: I'm in my purpose, definitely. Mm-hmm. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah. And you still have plenty of time. So let me ask you, I don't want to go completely off the funding thing because you've got the College Success Center. Tell us about that. I mean, there's a capital campaign out there, you're three outta $4 million close to it.

Michael Lynch: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: And I think people kinda want to hear, what, what is this thing? And maybe that may not be the full blank check, but maybe there's somebody out here who's gonna, who's gonna say that? Yeah. You know, I need to [00:43:00] give something to that, 

Michael Lynch: like the, like the reason behind it was for years, you know, we have our, our young brothers have always asked us, Hey, listen, when, when, when IYT can't program in the evenings, like we're on the weekends or we're having trouble getting access to our classroom, like during the summer, where do we go?

Sacramento And Sacramento County region does not have a dearth of like youth development spaces. Mm-hmm. There's not a robust community aspect where like youth, young people, especially young men of color, have a safe space, right. To be able to go. So like the vision behind it was to create something where on those evenings, on the weekend, on the evenings, during the weekday or, or on the weekend or during the summer, they have a place to go where they're welcome, where they're love, they be able to get, like, they get a chance to eat, they get a chance to be able to bond and build one another, and they get a chance to be able right to learn.

So the call success center were built with that in mind. We bought a building in November of 2022, and you know, we've been in this process for the past couple of years to raise $4 million to like, to renovate the [00:44:00] bottom mm-hmm. Of our, from our current building to, to, to create a dynamic like innovative, engaging space like for young men of color to be able to see themselves in a space, but also be able to learn and grow, like, and develop.

Jeff Holden: This truly is a college success center. This is where you go and it has rooms for, for media of sorts. All your technology is there. There's meeting rooms, there's huddle rooms, there's, I would imagine presentation rooms. The schematic is there on the website. I'll let you give that in just a, you know, a bit when we wrap up.

But I think it's such a unique concept and a way to do it with easy access for where it is in the confluence of freeways that. You gotta get there. Correct. You're, you're 75% of the way there, so it's just a matter of a little bit more to push it over the edge, which is really amazing. 

Michael Lynch: Only $1 million.

Jess, so many of your listeners have a million dollars you want to be able to do y'all. Feel free, we would love it to be able to put your name on the [00:45:00] building too. Yeah, 

Jeff Holden: that's right. And that building does 

Michael Lynch: have some visibility. It does high visibility. It's right off of Highway one 60. I mean, it's easy for, it's, it's a five minute walk from a light rail station.

It's a high transit right there. Yep. In El Paso. It's. It's, it's, it's a high traffic corner, like of our community to be able, highly visible. 

Jeff Holden: You forgot the one part that makes it most visible. It's just down the street from Costco. There we go. Just down from Costco. It doesn't drive to Costco, right? You see 

Michael Lynch: Costco from a building.

Jeff Holden: That's right. Yeah. Let's go now. The other side of it from, from the big vision down to greatest need. What is the greatest? As you see it today. 

Michael Lynch: Yeah. The greatest need is to be able to raise money, like for our college access mentors. Like with AmeriCorps, like we lost a tremendous amount. We lost millions of dollars.

Mm-hmm. Overnight. Right? Because of a decision. Mm-hmm. Like an administration. So for us is to be able to provide robust mentoring to saying that. Helped Alejandro become the successful young man that he is today. We had to raise money for college tax mentors. We have to raise money for College Shores.

Mm-hmm. We have to raise money to make sure, right. That our young men can eat [00:46:00] after, after school. We have to ensure that all of that is packaged in a way where like our team is taken care of, but also the young person and their families are supported. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. And that's what those AmeriCorps mentors did?

Correct. It's 'cause they were funded by the program. Yeah. Once those go away, you have to replace 'em with, with fee-based, you have to pay 'em. Exactly. There's a salary. 

Michael Lynch: Exactly. So there's still, so AmCorp members are still employees of IOYT. Like they were still paid like through IYT payroll, but they were, they were partially subsidized, like through a grant.

So yes, a grant from AmeriCorps provided a portion of their salary. It's only a portion of, it was never all, it was a portion of it. Mm-hmm. And now that has gone away. We no longer have that subsidy, like to support all our college access mentors here in California. 

Jeff Holden: Do you have the ability for volunteers to step in and support, or are they just too short term, not as much commitment?

Michael Lynch: Yeah. Some I, I, I, you know, like we're thinking about how do we create more of like an industry mentor model in particular for our college students. We're still early on in like. The design phase around that, but our middle school and high school structure aren't built. [00:47:00] Mm-hmm. To be able to have like volunteer, it's not like a Big Brothers Big Sisters kind of requires a a significant time commitment too.

Mm-hmm. It's often that I thought might be the difference during the school day. So the program happens during the school day, these pullout sessions, the mentor sessions are pullout sessions, so we're gonna pull you out PE. Gonna come, you're gonna talk to me for 20, 30 minutes and we're gonna go through wellness.

We're gonna go through your grades, we're talk about family, we're gonna talk about things you kind of care about. And those sessions happen consistently all throughout the, at the school year. 

Jeff Holden: You just mentioned something. I do want you to be able to address it because we actually did something on the impact fund at the SEC Region Community Foundation.

I screw that up so many times. Right. And get 'em backwards or screw 'em up. And Linda 

Michael Lynch: used 

Jeff Holden: to always correct 

Michael Lynch: me 

Jeff Holden: when I 

Michael Lynch: used to say 

Jeff Holden: regional, right? Right. Wellness is one of those pieces. And make no mistake, if you are not healthy, you cannot study well. So just go a little bit on that because that is a part of the program you want people to understand your health is everything.

'cause if you aren't taking care of yourself, you can't be taking care of anybody else [00:48:00] 'cause you're not gonna get where you need to be. 

Michael Lynch: Yeah. We think about like his eight dimensions of wellness. Mm-hmm. And. I would argue that 94% of adults, right, don't know what the eight dimension, but these are important.

Yes. Like to your, like your wellbeing, sort of how you show up. So for us, a part of what we do is we, we teach our young men like the language, like what the eight dimensions of wellness is. How does it play into how you, uh, show up in school? And a big part of wellness is housing. A big part of wellness is what you put into your body, like what you consume, whether you're positively consuming food or you're negatively Right.

Consuming. Substances. Mm-hmm. So for us, that's all part of the education, to make sure that they're making good choices that inform their wellness. And a big part, and especially a growing part, like post COVID is like their mental health. So it's assigning language when they're feeling Right, depressed or anxious, or they're having other symptoms.

And for us, like our college as mentors aren't therapists, right? So we triage 'em. So schools always have a tremendous amount of resources as far as, so for us it's a partnership with the school to say, Hey, listen. Right, this young person [00:49:00] having a really tough issue. Here's some of the things that we talked about.

You know, can you talk to him tomorrow about these? And then even triaging some of our, we have therapist partners, like who we have worked with in the community to be able to provide a referral for a family and a young person, you know, when they're experiencing some challenging mental health moments.

Mm-hmm. 

Jeff Holden: I think that is the most often overlooked element of the big picture. You said mental health, which is one of the biggest parts of it because we tried to, it's easy to dismiss. We try to dismiss it. It's not as accepted much more today than it was even five, 10 years ago. Still a long way to go. And especially when you have people with so many situational elements that impact their day-to-day lives.

When you're worried about where you're gonna live, when you're worried about what you're going to eat, when you're forget healthy. I'm not worried about eating healthy. I'm worried about eating, and I'm not worrying about where I'm gonna live. I'm worrying about will it be, you know, a wall or a door, you know, that I [00:50:00] slam and sleep in the backseat of a car.

You know, it's just all these things, all these 

Michael Lynch: challenges and, and I'll never forget having a conversation with one of our young men that we had. We had asked this question around, we were having discussion like, you know what, what's the most common sound you hear at night? Oh boy. And for him it was like, it was sirens.

Mm-hmm. Sirens and bullets. Yep. And like that's the sound that you hear, like that's the most common sound here. Like he lived on Mac Road and Center Parkway. So like you think about all that, how you, how do you show up to school? You're not able to sleep. Right. The full, 'cause you're being interrupted by all these different set.

So like, it, it's, it's much, it's much more than just this young person showing up to school ready and prepared to learn. Mm-hmm. If they're not ready, prepared to learn mentally if some of their trauma and, and the other issues aren't taken care of, it's impossible to try to understand algebra. Yep. Not impossible people do all the time.

Almost makes it a lot more difficult. Makes it much harder. Right. Right. To be able to do rather, if you provide some of these right support structures in place and, and [00:51:00] like this network of folks who have to exist around a young person. Right. To be able to make sure that they're okay to show up. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm.

Michael Lynch: And to be them best selves in school. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah. We're gonna take a real hard right turn here on this one, and we're just about wrapping up. What does Michael Lynch do in his downtime? How do you leave? That's great question. Some of it behind, that's a great 

Alejandro Galicia Cervantes: question. I've seen his schedule. I don't know if he has a lot of downtime.

Well, I can see what, 

Jeff Holden: he's the first person I've gone to. It doesn't go to his email, it doesn't go to an admin email. It goes to calendar at calendar at IYT and I'm like, calendar, 

Michael Lynch: what do I do? Right. So I'm, I've been married 12 years. My wife is a corporate attorney, so her schedule is kind of crazy now two, and I got two kids, nine and six.

Oh, you got your hands full. So you know like my free time is is spent like playing soccer with my son. My son loves soccer, like he thinks lion messy. Is right next to Jordan. It just, right. So I spend my time, I get on day. He's not alone with that at all either. Right. [00:52:00] Playing, but playing soccer with, with him, you know, spending time with my daughter, doing whatever she wants to do for the day.

But I like, love to work out. I love to read and, you know, that's kind of my getaway. Yeah. I'm, I'm reading this. Crazy book right now by personal ever called Trees. So I've been like stuck in this book for like the past week. Every time when I get home, my kids ask me to do something, I'm like, I'm reading.

You get lost in the world. So I do that and all the travel, you know, when we're able to be able to do it. We just came from like Bodega Bay this weekend with some friends. We're going to a Hawaii here in a couple weeks. My wife is a finalist on the Scrabble game show. 

Jeff Holden: You're kidding me? 

Michael Lynch: Yeah. So she just got the call two days ago, so she's gonna film in London.

So I'm like, I'm coming with you. She's going 

Jeff Holden: to London for the filming? Yes, she's to 

Michael Lynch: London for the Scrabble game show. How cool is that? Wow. You know, she may like, she may, and she's like, we've been playing Jeff for, and we've been together 17 years. We've been playing for 17 years. She had been beating me for 17 years consistently, and I leave frustrated every time.

Probably 90% of the time she [00:53:00] beats me. And we had, you know, we had, we were watching TV six months ago and saw scowl game show like, Dre, like you should apply, should apply. We'll this process and. Now we're gonna London in a couple weeks. 

Jeff Holden: You're gonna get a cut. A ton of Scrabble things Exactly. In email now that you've said that, because everybody knows, but you can't feel bad about losing, you're competing against a world class player.

Well, 

Michael Lynch: you know, I think, you know, it makes me feel a whole lot better now. Yeah, I would. All the times I have lost to her. But yeah, I'm, I'm excited for it. So that's what I do for fun. That's great. Play games with my wife and spend time with the kids and like to read and work out. 

Jeff Holden: How does, uh, somebody learn more about Improve Your Tomorrow?

It's 

Michael Lynch: really simple. Prove your tomorrow.org. Go to the website, uh, check us out if you're interested and like you want to get involved, tell folks to be able to go to the contact page, fill in a comment, and to be able to send it over and we'll make sure, 

Jeff Holden: or if you wanna send $1 million check, 

Michael Lynch: if anybody has $1 million checkout, just let us know.

We'd love, we are great stewards of your resources. 

Jeff Holden: Michael. Alejandro, I can't [00:54:00] thank each of you enough for sharing the incredible story of IYT. You are a, a testament to the success of it. Your enthusiasm for it gets me excited. The changes that education brings to the communities, to families and the confidence and inspires in people like yourself.

Alejandro, you know, the individual, the, the young men of color who go through the program, that is second to none, and I too am a big believer in education as breaking that, you know, cycle of poverty, that generational cycle of poverty. Uh, keeping these guys engaged for 12 plus years and ale, he and I were speaking before when you were, uh, had gotten here and he said, you know, I, oh, I'm gonna be involved forever, 

Michael Lynch: lifelong.

Jeff Holden: That's a tremendous compliment to everybody. Congratulations to you, to the team who's gotta be working a whole lot harder today than they were just six months ago. And I, I'm gonna see if I can get this out right. Lead with love and all that you do. If that's not us right, then who? 

Michael Lynch: There you go, Jeff. Well said.

Jeff Holden: Yeah. 

Michael Lynch: Well said. I 

Jeff Holden: got it right. You 

Michael Lynch: got it right. [00:55:00] Good. You got it right. 

Jeff Holden: Good, gentlemen, thank you so much. 

Alejandro Galicia Cervantes: Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. 

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