ACT’s Annual Meeting: Breaking Through with Innovative Solutions

How One Man Is Making a Difference

The time has come to “shut up and build something.” ACT annual meeting speakers frequently referenced this statement from Joichi Ito, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab. It describes one of the ways the lab, which is among the world’s foremost technology/media think tanks, operates.

Keynote speaker Bill Strickland explains how the centers and programs he's developed have transformed the lives of youth and adults.

It also defines how Bill Strickland, the meeting’s keynote speaker, runs his organization. As president and chief executive officer of the Manchester Bidwell Corporation, a Pittsburgh-based jobs training center and community arts program, Strickland is on a mission to help disadvantaged children and adults throughout the world.

“It’s time we stop analyzing the problems and start building the solutions to solve them. We don’t need more task forces or committees to study the issues. We need to act,” he said.

Strickland’s solution is a series of educational programs and training centers that offer children and adults opportunities for a better future. He and his staff work with corporations, community leaders, and schools to create environments that transform and empower lives. They help the people society often ignores—at-risk students, high school dropouts, welfare recipients, and the homeless.

“What we’ve done over the past 30 years is to convert the people society views as social liabilities into assets,” he said. “We believe—and evidence has shown—that it’s all in how you treat people that drives their performance and behavior.”

Strickland learned that lesson in high school. Growing up in a high-crime Pittsburgh neighborhood, Strickland was a faltering student until he met Frank Ross, a high school art teacher who changed his life. “One day at school I noticed the art room door was open, and Mr. Ross was at the potter’s wheel making a bowl. He turned around and asked if he could help me.”

Ross did indeed help Strickland. He taught him how to work with clay and mentored him through his teen years. He helped him gain entrance into the University of Pittsburgh, where Strickland graduated with honors. He also introduced him to the power of art to unlock imagination and instill confidence. While in college, Strickland founded the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild to bring arts education and mentorship to inner-city youth in his neighborhood.

Ross changed Strickland’s life when he took him and other students on a field trip. “We toured famous houses, including one designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. What fascinated me most was the light that poured in. I committed myself to building a similar structure, and I did.”

That structure—located in the same innercity neighborhood where Strickland grew up—houses art studios, galleries, classrooms, and a concert hall for arts and music programs that serve students and adults. The building is filled with natural light, fresh flowers, and artwork, because “we believe that beautiful environments create beautiful people,” he said.

His organization has since established other facilities, including the Bidwell Training Center, which partners with corporations and agencies on career training programs in fields ranging from horticulture to medical that lead to entry-level employment. Staff work with employers to create a direct alignment between the skills taught and those that companies need.

The organization also recently launched the National Center for Arts and Technology (NCAT), which replicates the Pittsburgh model in other cities, including San Francisco, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Grand Rapids. More centers are in the works.

“My goal is to have hundreds of these centers throughout the world. The model works. More than 90 percent of students who participate in our programs graduate from high school, and a high percentage of those go to college. These are kids who could easily have ended up in a lot worse shape,” he said.

Strickland encourages organizations like ACT, as well as legislators and other leaders throughout the country, to build environments that help people become productive and successful citizens.

“It’s time we take all the liabilities in this country and turn them into assets. Get them off the social balance sheet so they can contribute something, and then we can save our country.”

More than 200 people participated in this year’s annual meeting, which featured a new multimedia format that focused on audience interaction and involvement.