Kevin Youngblood & the power of planting trees

Jeremy sits down with Kevin Youngblood this week on Givers, Doers, & Thinkers.

Kevin served during Desert Shield and Desert Storm and won eight medals. He was the mayor of Carl, Georgia, and has started several businesses, including Odysseyware, an educational software company focused on reaching at-risk students. Most recently, he helped Grand Canyon University launch their Canyon Ventures program—an innovation center for startups in the valley—where he serves as the Entrepreneur-in-Residence. The goal is to help these businesses grow from a napkin idea to sustainable revenue as quickly as possible. Through this role, Kevin realized that a lot of startup founders struggle with selling their ideas, selling their products, and bringing in revenue. To respond to this need, he launched Youngblood Works, which provides sales training, mentoring, and customer acquisition services to young entrepreneurs.

Jeremy and Kevin chat about creating sustainable solutions and innovations from scarcity, the importance of planting trees, businesses, and churches within civil society's poorer communities, as well as his work with Local First Arizona and the impact of local banks on economies. Kevin is truly a jack of all trades, and as Jeremy notes, he might be Phoenix's most interesting man.

After that: Why is visual identity important? How do nonprofits benefit from it? What are a few easy ways you can improve your nonprofit's branding? American Philanthropic's director of creative services, Emma Baugher, addresses these questions and more during this week's practicality segment. 

You can find Givers, Doers, & Thinkers here at Philanthropy Daily, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Buzzsprout, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

We’d love to hear your thoughts, ideas, questions, and recommendations for the podcast! You can shoot Katie Janus, GDT’s producer, an email anytime!

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