"It's time you started your career."

That's what someone said to me last week.
Saying something noncommittal like usual, I was too stunned to actually reply.

Every day I try to validate what I do. The business of community development and poverty alleviation is hard enough, especially when working in conjunction with a bent, if not broken, education system. There can be many forces in opposition, telling you you're too young (or old) and weak and ineffective to change such an overwhelming problem.

But what if there's a different way of thinking? That's what the Springfield Promise Neighborhood has tried to do from the very beginning.

Rather than dreaming smaller in a world of limited resources and even less money, we dream bigger. And look where it got us - we were just approved to take on 11 new AmeriCorps VISTA positions starting this summer. I am lucky enough to become the VISTA Leader, or a person to help the other VISTAs do their jobs better.

I've learned so much already about leadership and entrepreneurship (in the most general sense). I'm still trying to work through complexities and hope to continue to work through them by writing.

But I've started. So there.