August 3, 2006 Issue                                       

©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Hiller fights poverty in U.S. and South Africa
by PAULA M. RILEY

Len Caldwell stands proudly beside Lestine Banks (left) graduate of Metropolitan Career Center’s STRIVE program, and Karen Burgess, executive director. For 30 years Caldwell has been volunteering with MCC serving as a resource for program development initiatives.

This is the 15th in an ongoing series of articles by Paula M. Riley on Chestnut Hill volunteers.

Volunteers are motivated by many different objectives. For Chestnut Hill’s Len Caldwell, his is quite clear – to alleviate poverty. For the past 30 years, Caldwell has focused his volunteer efforts, first in Philadelphia and then in South Africa, working towards this goal.

“The key answer to alleviating poverty is getting people sustainable jobs,” Caldwell explains. Since the mid 1970s, Caldwell has been working with the Metropolitan Career Center (MCC) to do just that. A non-profit workforce development organization that started in Germantown, MCC offers an alternative for adults with limited access to academic resources. Through education and individual support services, they help thousands of Philadelphians secure and maintain jobs.

When MCC first opened, they targeted welfare mothers who lacked the skills necessary to enter the workforce. These women received job training and more importantly, soft skills training to secure entry-level positions. Over the years, MCC has significantly extended and enhanced their programs but remains committed to the ultimate goal of helping individuals obtain jobs.

Caldwell began his involvement with MCC as the result of his friendship with founder John Rice. Since then he has become an active donor, developed new programs and served on the board as strategic planning head, program and development member, finance committee member and board chair.

Though now retired, during most of his 31 years as an executive with First Pennsylvania/Core States Bank, Caldwell served as MCC’s critical connection to the private sector. He organized and led groups of employers who meet regularly to provide MCC invaluable insight. They offer suggestions for curriculum, recommendations on soft skills training and the specific criteria for their hiring decisions.

Caldwell’s involvement with the local employers led to his role as chair of the MCC Employer Advisory Committee. In the late 1990s, this committee evaluated the market’s demand for technology skills. Learning a great deal from the employers interviewed, Caldwell led the establishment of MCC’s Computer Technology Institute (CTI), where students can earn an Associate in Specialized Technology Degree in 15 months. Though Caldwell and the team experienced many growing pains, CTI is now a thriving, competitive institute leading graduates to Bachelor degrees and technology careers.

Listening to these employers was not the only way Caldwell came to understand what programs would work best for MCC. He is constantly researching and evaluating programs across the country to develop strategies to enhance MCC’s offerings and introduce new programs.

One such program is STRIVE. Started in Harlem and featured on CBS’s 60 Minutes, MCC now runs this four-week workforce development program targeted for male ex-offenders and at-risk youth who receive job and soft skills training for transition back into the workforce. Imagine a drill sergeant in a business suit lecturing young men on the importance of promptness and how to calmly resolve issues with a manager. It was Caldwell’s strategic planning and more importantly, his success in securing funding, that brought STRIVE to MCC, where it has been providing 10 courses each year and affecting over 250 ex-offenders and at-risk youth.

“Len really steps in at any time on any project that he feels he can add value,” says Karen Burgess, executive director. “From the beginning, he has brought strategic planning and visionary skills to the organization.”

Witnessing many MCC graduations, Caldwell is awed by the barriers graduates overcome to stand on that stage. He has maintained relationships with graduates who have experienced continued success; thus strengthening his belief that the best avenue for alleviating poverty is obtaining sustainable jobs.

Over the years, he has grown more and more interested in the elements of poverty and exploring workforce development. This interest took him to South Africa. After leaving his banking career, he began consulting for Reinvest South Africa in 1999 where he was developing strategies to channel money from social investors into development programs in South Africa.

Intrigued by what was happening in the country at the time, Caldwell visited South Africa with MCC board members and supporters. A team of 14 traveled the country exploring job programs and development efforts. This trip changed his life.

Having witnessed first hand the impact of MCC’s workforce development programs and having spent his banking career supporting domestic and international enterprises, Caldwell was perfectly poised for this new adventure. He became completely immersed in poverty alleviation efforts in South Africa. The key to success, Caldwell knew, was not just empowering individuals to obtain sustainable jobs but the creation of sustainable businesses to provide such jobs.

Since 2000, Caldwell has made nine other trips to Africa. He has worked with individuals, government representatives and private investors to develop strategies for the formation and support of small and micro enterprises, housing and community programs. Caldwell readily admits he is not an ‘implementer’ as he knows his strength lies in his strategic thinking and finance expertise. “The common thread in all these projects is money,” he says. “I understand finance, and I can speak to anyone about the financial benefits of these initiatives.”

To assist with these projects, Caldwell has developed a large network of African organizations as well as government experts. His efforts include participating in national and international forums related to social investment and enterprise development.

Though this poverty initiative will affect many countries, his heart remains with South Africa. “I have become mesmerized by the country,” he insists. “South Africa captures Americans in a way nowhere else in the world does … I think as Americans we like to witness a peaceful transition to majority rule, and perhaps we are drawn there because it’s a country of such great hope.”

Hope is what draws Caldwell to South Africa, and yet it is hope that he leaves behind. His efforts to alleviate poverty in South Africa and Philadelphia have resulted in the development of individuals’ work skills and the creation of new enterprises. More importantly though, he has created hope in the hearts and minds of countless men and women who previously had no hope.

For more information, visit www.metropolitancareercenter.org.