Hello, hope all is great and that you had a wonderful Superbowl Sunday! That game went down to the wire. The Bengals had a storybook feel, but the Rams’ talent won out in the end.

This week on the podcast ([link removed]) I interviewed an outstanding young social entrepreneur, Darius Baxter. Darius is the co-founder and CEO of GoodProjects ([link removed]) , an anti-poverty organization in his native Washington D.C.

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Some of you know that I started a non-profit in 2011, Venture for America, that I ran for 6 years. Darius and I have a lot in common, though his trajectory is a lot more impressive than mine.

Darius grew up in tough circumstances with a single Mom in Washington D.C. He credits playing football with developing his grit and getting him a scholarship to Georgetown. His time at Georgetown led him to working on the Bernie campaign and to social entrepreneurship. GoodProjects is now a multi-million dollar organization and Darius has received awards and accolades for his work.

GoodProjects has a very clearly defined mission – to elevate the income of 500 families in D.C.’s largest public housing project to $80,000 a year; the average in the community is only $14,000 per year, significantly below the poverty line. GoodProjects does this in part by pairing families with Family Success Coaches, who help partners access opportunities and sustain a positive mindset.

According to Darius, having someone knock on your door and tell you that you can achieve a goal leads to more confidence and better actions. Darius compares it to having a personal trainer; you push harder, sometimes harder than you thought possible. The growth mindset is a huge part of staying optimistic and breaking through.

Said Darius, “There are two types of people out there: energy-givers and energy-takers. You want to be an energy-giver.”

Darius is a big believer in the potential of Web3 technologies to fight poverty. “Poverty is a social construct that doesn’t need to exist . . . financial technologies that have been created recently, [like] cryptocurrencies and the utilization of Web3 is . . . how we can do it, it obviously allows us to do it at a much quicker and more efficient pace.” I love Darius’s vision and want to help make it a reality not just for his community but for millions.

It was phenomenal sitting down with Darius – I hope that you listen to the convo. And if GoodProjects is the kind of cause that you’d like to see succeed, you can support them here ([link removed]) .

I like to think big while keeping my eye on the steps in front of me. Let’s move the world forward, one family – or one neighborhood – at a time.

- Andrew

Friday is the livestream premiere of my Forward Tour event in New York City! You can watch and chat with me live. Click here ([link removed]) to join us, it will be a really fun event. Have a great week!

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