As I reflect on my first 30 days at Breakthrough Central Texas as Director of Philanthropy, without hyperbole, I can say that I have found my place. My “why” is so seamlessly integrated into the work that I do every single day.
The all-staff meetings start with the call and response: “Hey, Breakthrough!” It’s a great way to get everyone’s attention, but more to the point, it’s a signal that we are bound together in a shared experience, equal parts of a community. At my first all-staff, we did an exercise: “Why Breakthrough?” Our assignment was to connect with people outside of our internal work teams and share our why’s. What stood out to me was the underlying reason that so many of us are doing this work is because we have a lived experience that ties us in a meaningful way to the people we serve.
In sharing some of our stories, we learned that many are the first in their families to earn a college degree. This is remarkable. While many organizations, notably in the social good sector, endeavor to reflect the communities they serve, so few seem to achieve this ideal. At Breakthrough, the staff of passionate, dedicated experts are multicultural, with a broad spectrum of identities that are truly reflective of the communities we serve throughout Central Texas. Not just at the direct service level either. Our diversity is apparent throughout the entire organization – from our executive team to our board of regents. Representation is not just a buzzword, it’s simply our reality.
For me, my why derives from my lived experience as a woman of multiple and historically marginalized identities, most notably as an Asian woman and as a trans-racial adoptee. Growing up, my world did not look like me or sound like me. My early identity was entirely formed out of my adeptness at assimilation.
It was not until I went to a large public university in an equally large, diverse city, that I began the process of embracing my identity as a multicultural, ethnically diverse person. My experience taught me that access to education is the great equalizer because it provides a path to independence of thought, achievement, and ultimately liberation.
The foundation of our mission is the creation of systems-level change that addresses systemic and structural barriers as we build the path to and through college (or other postsecondary education pathways) for first generation students. As we have been privileged to witness, when this happens, the individual student achievement literally transforms an entire family, thereby impacting their trajectory for generations to come. With this, an entire community is uplifted. Therein rests the second part of my Why Breakthrough: real world, positive and progressive change that makes equality look and feel more achievable. Education attainment has the power to unite us in the beauty of our differences as equal and whole human beings.
Hey, Breakthrough!
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