067, Teresa Goines, Old Skool Cafe | Start Where You Are

"Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." Arthur Ashe

Teresa Goines is a great example of this Arthur Ashe quote. She started with what she had. Her story starts with her heartbreak as she watched children being discarded into a justice system that was not designed to make them successful adults. When she started working on the Old Skool Café, the only assets she had was her tiny apartment a group of at-risk youth and her community. It took her 8 years move from that apartment into the Old Skool Café’s current San Francisco location. And she still works hard every day to make the supper club a success.

Old Skool Café is a youth-run supper club that creates jobs for youth coming out of incarceration, foster care, abusive situations, or other youth who are at-risk. Teresa and her staff create a safe space where these young people can learn and thrive, while making money. The youth not only

Social Entrepreneurship Quotes from Teresa Goines:

“The root cause that I saw is a breakdown of the family and the community around young people.”

“I can’t have my opened to this and not do something about it.”

“I have a mother’s heart.”

“As human beings, we all want to survive, we all want to belong, we want to feel like our life has meaning and purpose, and we want to be loved.”

“I wanted them to learn how to get those needs met in healthy ways.”

“We need to make our own money so that we don’t have to be reliant on programs and funding that the state can cut.”

“The culture is one of encouragement, respect and honor.”

“We don’t do it all. I’m a big believer in collaboration.”

“Just start taking steps.”

“I got over feeling dumb. I asked a lot of questions.”

“Ask for feedback.”

“Every time I ran into an obstacle, I asked people for help.”

“Don’t wait for perfect circumstances to do something to make a difference.”

“All of us are here to make a difference.”

“Life’s too short to not be living in our passion.”

Mentoring Giveaway:

Throughout the month of April, we’re giving away ten one-on-one mentoring calls to help you launch or grow your social enterprise. We’ll be drawing each week. To enter, go to http://tonyloyd.com/coaching

Social Entrepreneurship Resources: Old Skool Café: http://www.oldskoolcafe.org Enter to win a one-on-one mentoring call! http://tonyloyd.com/coaching Try Audible and Receive Two Free Audiobooks: http://tonyloyd.com/books