RISE OF THE REST...
The beginning of 2018 was an extremely busy time at Love City. We opened Porkland, we finished a total renovation of the gym, and opened the renovated front room of the Mackin building as the Social Impact Incubator. The goal of the incubator was to hold entrepreneur training classes based on a curriculum that we had received from some nonprofits in Chattanooga, TN. We had worked on the renovating the room for weeks. We had a hard deadline of May 9, the room had to be finished. On May 9, a group was coming to visit. It was Steve Case and a group of other investors and entrepreneurs touring the middle of the country on a bus. They were going to cities meeting with and highlighting entrepreneurs that were not based in either New York or California. Steve Case’s goal was to show that while 80% of the entrepreneur startup capital in the country went to start ups on the two coasts, there was a ton of entrepreneurship that was happening in the rest of the country.
We had worked steadily on the room renovation for a couple of months and on the evening of May 8, we worked late into the night to put on the finishing touches, putting together furniture and laying down carpet tiles. The next morning the tour bus pulled up in front of the Mackin and a whole group of investors, CEOs, business leaders from Louisville and across the country as well as reporters from around the world gathered in the newly finished front room of the Mackin. Shawn and I stood up at the front ready to give a presentation on Love City, when we were just overwhelmed by the Spirit. Shawn started crying, and then I started crying. We couldn’t believe we were standing in front of all these amazing people. While Shawn tried to catch his breath, Steve got up from the crowd and came up front and gave Shawn a hug. Shawn dried his eyes and started to tell everyone just how honored we were to have them come visit.
The team working to finish the front room renovation prior to the Rise of the Rest Tour visit.
We then told them all about Love City and what had been happening in the community. After we finished the presentation, we all walked over to Porkland where we had samples of our food ready for everyone to try. Steve and Shawn even played a round of foosball before they all had to get back on the bus for their next stop. As he was getting on the bus, Steve stopped and said, “Shawn, Inga you should come on the bus with us. We’re heading to the Speed Museum for a pitch competition of startups, you should come with us.” We jumped on the bus with them and rode over to UofL. Steve and his team ushered us into the museum. While Steve met with the event coordinators, his team showed us to some seats to the right of the stage. There must have been close to 500 people sitting in the main atrium of the museum facing the stage. Soon Steve came out to greet the audience and open the pitch competition. As he was giving his introduction, he talked about all the places they had visited around Louisville that day. At the end of his talk, he said, “and if you want to see a real example of true entrepreneurship you should look no further than Shawn and Inga Arvin from Love City.” And then he asked us to stand up so the crowd could see us. We were quite shocked as we rose from our seats, a little overwhelmed by the attention. The applause died down and we sat back in our seats and watched the pitch competition. A health care startup won the competition and the prize. After the program ended, we said our goodbyes to Steve and his team and made our way back to Love City.
The new book by Steve Case releasing September 27
The long-term effects of the visit of the Rise of the Rest tour to Love City are still being felt to this day. The next day an international journalist that had been traveling with the tour, was so impacted by the visit to Love City, she came back to do a story about the community and Love City. It was picked up by news outlets worldwide. Some representatives from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative were also on the tour, they reached out a few weeks later wanting to learn more about what we do. Through that introduction we met the founders of The Primary School in Palo Alto CA, on which we are modeling a lot of Mighty Oak Academy. And tomorrow, Love City will be one of the entrepreneurs/organizations featured in Steve Case’s new book, The Rise of the Rest: How Entrepreneurs in Surprising Places are Building the New American Dream.
We are excited to be mentioned in the book, but even more excited and honored to have been able to build lasting relationships from a visit to Love City over 4 years ago. Love City has grown a lot since that visit, but the fundamentals have not changed, we love people, and we build community. It’s the people that matter and through love we hope to foster our very own rise of the rest.
If you are interested in pre-ordering The Rise of the Rest follow this link: vltn.vc/ROTR
CLASSROOM SCHOOL SUPPLY NEEDS...
We do need help with specific school supplies for our classrooms to get ready for school. We have set up an Amazon wishlist to make sending supplies easy. Just click on the link below to select items from the list and they will be shipped directly to the school.
Mighty Oak Academy Supplies Wishlist
If you are interested in volunteering or to find out more information about supplies needed please email: info@lovecityinc.org or call (502) 272-078.
Please consider partnering financially with Love City. We are looking for sponsors for students at Mighty Oak Academy as well as partners to help fund construction of our new preschool. Click the button below to donate today.