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their journey as undocumented immigrants, navigating the worlds of housing and food insecurity – homelessness and hunger - social, educational, health and justice inequities for years to come. Despite these many barriers, Dr. Londoño would persevere, ultimately earning his doctorate in engineering, enjoyed a successful corporate career in New York and California, as well as entrepreneurial ventures also in New York and California’s Silicon Valley. Having enjoyed professional and entrepreneurial success, Dr. Londoño transitioned to the non-profit sector in 2003, taking the reins of the LIFC Foundation in New York as its first President and CEO, where he led a dramatic turn-around of that organization, which built housing for the poor, many of whom shared his and his family’s trajectory and lived experience. Now more than 20 years since diving head-first into the non-profit sector, he’s never looked back and is passionate about helping BIPOC communities to be resilient and thrive. Having lived on both coasts, Jhon, his wife and 2 sons now call Colorado home, and his journey leading organizations that serve low-income, disadvantage and BIPOC communities has continued, including previously as Director at Focus Points Family Resource Center in Elyria- Swansea and most recently as Vice President at Warren Village in Denver. “The RTL Foundation’s mission and vision resonates deeply with me. Our innovative approach to empower BIPOC-led nonprofits to be transformed in our first-of-its kind incubator
spoke to me as I met and got to know our founder, Richard Lewis, and our impactful Board of Directors during my journey to being named inaugural Executive Director. Personally and professionally, this innovative, and itself entrepreneurial endeavor, further ignited my passion for building things – much as I did as an engineer in silicon valley and the corporate sector, as an entrepreneur, and as a non-profit leader since 2003. The entrepreneurial DNA runs deep in many non-profit and social entrepreneur leaders of color – many of them simply don’t know it. Many believe entrepreneurship lies only in the domain of the for-profit world, that entrepreneurs are those who toil in their garage to launch the “next Google”. Nothing could be further from the truth. By definition nonprofits and social enterprises are innovative – always looking for better ways to fulfill their missions; they’re profoundly efficient with minimal resources – like their for-profit entrepreneurial peers, they wear many hats, and are experts at multi-tasking; and they quickly pivot to re- invent themselves in the face of adversity and rapidly changing conditions – as we all witnessed with how quickly, and effectively, non-profits of all sizes, and especially those serving BIPOC communities, re-invented themselves during the Covid-19 pandemic,” says Jhon. “We are tapping into their entrepreneurial DNA, providing the resources and platform for them to experiment, to fall down fail (yes, failure is a part of the journey), and to rise again and re-invent
23 The Acumen
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