Citizen Inc. Q&A: Tyrone Bledsoe

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SBJ Podcasts

Tyrone Bledsoe, founder and CEO of Student African American Brotherhood, aka SAAB, is the guest for Citizen Inc., Episode 5, from SBJ Podcasts. The following Q&A is from the show, co-hosted by Springfield Business Journal’s Eric Olson and United Way of the Ozarks’ Greg Burris and recorded at ADsmith Studio.

Eric Olson: Can you begin with an intro of SAAB – what you guys do and who you serve?
Tyrone Bledsoe: We have been Student African American Brotherhood for 31 years. This work started on the campus of Georgia Southwestern State University, which is [former] President Jimmy Carter’s alma mater. We moved here in June 2020, right in the middle of COVID. That relocation conversation started about three years ago when the question was posed and I thought it was a joke (by) Brian Fogle. He was introducing me to make some remarks at a reception. He said, “It’d sure be nice, Dr. Bledsoe, if you’d consider moving your headquarters here.” I was like, really, where did that come from? Two days later, Wes Pratt calls me and says, “How much square footage do you need?” I said, hold up; slow your roll. We actually did a study, (and) the last piece of the puzzle to move here was Clif Smart – when I saw Clif was excited about this.

Olson: What is the cause and the mission with the students?
Bledsoe: We have a threefold cause: the education-to-career piece; making sure that our country, society, recognize the talent these young men bring to the table; and we want to recognize that everyone that enters the door of SAAB, they’re invited to that space regardless of background. Now, we have Black, Latino, white, Pacific Islanders, we have men from Vietnam and Cambodia, Alaska – started there three years ago. We have a mantra that says, “Savings lives, salvaging dreams.”

Olson: What are some of the programs you guys have seen success in for the students?
Bledsoe: Eric, I’m glad you mention the word program. Now, we’re in all five high schools in Springfield and all four colleges – Drury is the last we’re working with now to get onboarded. So, I tell the principals and the superintendent, Dr. [Grenita] Lathan, for the young men, it’s not a program; it’s a family. For us, it might be a program. You’re not going to get a gang member to join a program, but you can get him in a family. That’s what he wants.

Greg Burris: How do (students) respond to the idea of going through your program and getting engaged and connected with the community?
Bledsoe: It’s all over the place. Some of the young men recognize it, but some don’t. We have to make them realize you are important to this community. It’s a reciprocal process. The community wants to invest in you, but you have to also invest in the community. We’re really big on student voices. If I’m talking to a CEO, how do you give your employees voice? What does that look like? At what point does an employee feel they have voice and really do matter beyond the work they do and getting a check? It’s bigger than that.

Olson: I wonder if that’s a challenge for CEOs, for some businesses, to get down to that level.
Bledsoe: It is a challenge for a lot of CEOs, and I think that challenge is more what kind of vulnerability does one feel to be human. Just treat people like they matter, and I think you get the best out of them in terms of morale and productivity, etc. That’s what I’ve experienced.

Olson: So, you’re sending these guys out into the community. The businessperson is always going to look at the bottom line. For you and SAAB, what’s the return on investment you see in getting students out there?
Bledsoe: The return on investment is we want this talent. We want this talent to stay here. I get the question a lot on panels: What can we do to keep young men here, keep our talent here? You got to get them connected. I don’t think it’s about race. It’s about do I feel valued in this community? Do I feel that sense of validation in this community?
Burris: We call it community ownership.
Bledsoe: Exactly.