What's Possible in One Generation

Camelback Ventures was inspired by a desire to end a vicious cycle. I have a one and a half year old son, Langston. Before he was born friends would ask if I had thought about school for him—that’s the rat race in New York City. After being asked so many times I just decided to investigate—the computer screen showed that at the nearby public school 33% of the third graders could read.

My first thought was to think about moving—I’m fortunate to have the means to have better choices. This choice would not be anything new. My parents moved before I started school so that I could go to a good school in a livable community. Previous generations made similar choices. I wanted the cycle to end.

As someone who has spent much of his adult life in teaching, advocating, lawyering and just giving a damn about educational inequity and the systemic issues that go along with it, I felt deflated realizing that while our society can be proud of its accomplishments, we really do have so much further to go.

Months later while reflecting on my own entrepreneurial experiences, I asked myself what will I do so that one generation our children aren’t faced with the same choices? I wanted to do everything and then some, but then realized that mobilizing the talents of others was more powerful than anything I could do alone. Camelback Ventures is my effort to do just that.