Earnest Gates, Executive Director, Near West Side Community Development Corporation
I was sitting with a good friend the other day who asked me whether or not, and if so how, I was reflecting during this journey. In all honesty I told him that, “Unfortunately I haven't been.” In the conversation that followed and the questions he asked, he got out of me how I have reflected in the past and why reflection is useful.
The form it has taken for me has been twofold- writing and sitting quietly. During both of which I would think about events and experiences. More than that however, my friend pushed me to voice and put words to why reflection is valuable. To reflect is to take a moment and recognize what has happened, to create the silence and stillness necessary to become aware of what is happening.
Reflection is the necessary slowing down of thought and action to help us realize where we are in order to learn from where we were to figure out where we want to go and how we want to get there. Perhaps, in essence, reflection is the recognition of our story.
Earnest Gates knows this. For Mr. Gates, the Executive Director of the Near West Side Community Development Corporation, reflection is no trivial matter. Reflection- the recognition of what has happened and what is happening- becomes the history, the memory, of the West Haven neighborhood of Chicago. Memory and history become the shared story that defines West Haven.
Chad Bliss, Founder & Executive Director, Cob Connection
When discussing the blog and the journey recently I find myself saying that I don’t know when it will end. There aren’t any criteria, there are no metrics, there’s no quantifiable data. What happens if after meeting 60 people I still have no idea what I want to do? 60 sounds nice but there is no way to make sure I find my passion or the issue I’m ‘most’ passionate about.
This is the conclusion I’ve come to. When something doesn’t let me sleep like the earthquake in Sichuan didn’t let Aron Solomon sleep, when I feel something that presents an asymmetry in heart or head- something that “doesn't fit” like we'll hear from Chad Bliss, I’ll know I’m on to something. Finding passion isn’t a matter of numbers or thoughts. Finding passion is less measurable than data yet just as tangible, just as necessary.
So goes the story of Chad Bliss, Founder and Executive Director of Cob Connection. 
Something didn't fit...
Peter Ireland, Associate Director of Social Enterprise, Inspiration Corporation
There is an adrenaline rush when developing new projects (like this blog). At least for me. The flurry of excitement has come with lessons learned. As one example, I've learned time management is key. Setting the time aside to do something makes it real and putting the time on my schedule makes me accountable to do it. Managing my time also allows me the needed structure to remember my mission.
Peter Ireland is also developing a new project. As Associate Director of Social Enterprise at Inspiration Corporation 
Mr. Ireland is in the midst of fulfilling Inspiration Corporation's mission by opening their second social enterprise, a restaurant in East Garfield Park, which will be akin to Cafe Too in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago.
“We’re starting a new project in East Garfield Park