Paul Calistro lecture

Paul is the executive director of the West End Neighborhood House. The West End Neighborhood House is one of the 1.5 million non-profits in the United States. Hospitals and Universities are the largest nonprofits in the country. Non-profits serve the gap between the public and private services. Paul works 60-80 hours to week, but loves his job due to its flexibility. The West End Neighborhood House has served the Irish, Italian, African American, and Latino communities. The nonprofit has 60 employees, 250 volunteers, and has produced over 500 houses in the last 10 years. They provide services for foster children, food closets, financial counseling, and tutoring. The goal of the organization is to solve problems in the community.
Paul had a problem with payday lenders due to their exorbitant, 350%-1600% interest rates. He contacted Wilmington Trust to see if they were willing to lend $250- $500 for 15%. They denied this request because it woudn't produce profit. In response, Paul created a pool of money, banks make the loan and the nonprofit determines who gets the loans and guarantees them. The banks were convinced by Paul's intelligent plan, confidence, and past success. He understood that banks need to meet federal CRA requirement and used this program to allow banks to do so. The program also gives poor people financial counceling and help with their credit score. This program has been successful and five states have followed suit. He was innovative to solve a problem he saw in the community and now families have access to affordable loans. He thought outside the box to formulate a solution that neither the government nor the private sector couldn't solve.
Foster children had nowhere to go once they turned 19. They didn't have a family, income, or driver's license. The nonprofit took an entrepreneurship approach to solve this problem. Paul got the housing from a hospital with excess housing, used CRA money to hire young people to do the work, and used CRA money to hire young people to do the work, and used federal money to fix up the housing. Paul matches up volunteer organizations to help on the project and affect social change. Paul's most important leadership characteristics are creativity and innovation. He uses nonconventional techniques to solve problems. Paul delegates responsibilities and treats each department head with "CEO-like" powers and freedom. He allows volunteers to help in a way that interests them such as coaching a hockey team or teaching kids how to fly model airplanes. The organization is run like a business with dedicated employees who understand how big of a change that they can make. To be successful you need to establish relationships and have successful outcomes.