We Bought a School: Mike Skirpan, Executive Director, Community Forge

In 2017, Mike Skirpan and seven friends bought an elementary school. Johnston Elementary in Wilkinsburg, Pittsburgh had been closed for five years. They negotiated the price, took out a loan, and scraped together some collateral. Mike's share was lent to him by a former student with one condition: please get out of tech and do this.Why does a tech ethicist buy a school? Mike grew up in a small family with a single mom. Friends were his emotional safety net. He became the ultimate socialite, hanging with the chess club and captaining the soccer team. Years later he watched his hometown split into silos while his own industry accelerated the isolation. The mantras from day one: relationships first, break down Pittsburgh silos.They fixed the building themselves. Friends sanded staircases and laid floors. Community Forge was solvent within a year and threw more than 100 events annually. It grew into a nonprofit built on four pillars: social capital for everyone, pathways into the economy, training in the tools of the future, and wellness.The next act is a modern-day Elks Lodge. The ground floor is becoming a social hall with a 130 seat theatre, coffee shop, and social clubs. The question behind it all: what is the third space for this generation?Charlotte reports from the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, where one pilot flew a cluster of party balloons to 20,000 feet like the movie Up. Aaron comes clean about the day he was shown the door at Target.00:00 Introduction00:47 Balloons, Minneapolis and an incident at Target11:56 Welcome, Mike12:48 Origin Story: Small Family, Big Friend Network16:29 From Tech and Philosophy to Community Work21:56 Founding Community Forge24:37 Buying the School28:52 Who Rented the Space31:34 Four Elements of a Healthy Community36:29 Social Hall: Third Space for This Generation42:05 Reflection: Third Spaces---The most creative artists in America right now aren’t in galleries. They’re in your neighborhood. How We Connected is a front-row seat to the social artists rebuilding human connection. Hear inspiring stories about roller skating crews, bad art clubs, jousting societies, city saunters, Georgian dinner parties, catch-playing challenges, midnight runners, and picnic societies. Hosted by Charlotte Massey and Aaron Hurst, co-founders of the US Chamber of Connection.Aaron Hurst is the co-founder of the US Chamber of Connection. He’s a longtime entrepreneur focused on purpose and community. He founded Imperative and the Taproot Foundation and wrote The Purpose Economy. Charlotte Massey is the co-founder of the US Chamber of Connection and leads community programs nationally. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and former organizer and founder, she works at the intersection of civic life and entrepreneurship.Connect with Uswww.chamberofconnection.orgMike Skirpan, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Community ForgeMike grew up in a small family in the Mon Valley outside Pittsburgh. He became the ultimate socialite of his school. He studied philosophy and economics, earned a PhD in computer science, and teaches technology ethics at Carnegie Mellon. In 2017 he and seven friends bought a shuttered school. They renovated it themselves. Today Community Forge is a hub where neighbors find social capital, pathways into the economy, training, and wellness support. Next year the ground floor becomes a social hall with a 130 seat theatre and cafe. He met his wife swing dancing, so there will be dance classes.Learn more: https://www.forge.communityHeylohttps://www.heylo.comHeylo is a community-management platform built for real-world groups of every kind, giving leaders a clean, branded home base to run events, manage members, communicate clearly, and handle payments without friction. It brings scheduling, RSVPs, waivers, announcements, topic-based chats, and membership tools into one place so clubs, teams, and interest groups can stay organized and connected without the noise of traditional social platforms. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.