A Big Bet on Social Innovation

Pinkerton tapped into the new thinking by reaching out to several of those deeply involved in the field. At one point, Executive Director Joan Colello invited Sister Paulette to a Pinkerton board meeting to discuss youth development. “It wasn’t codified. It wasn’t anything,” said Sister Paulette; but her views nonetheless reflected a deeply-felt philosophy that was mirrored by the work of Cahill, Murphy and others in the field. “We’ve always worked with young people and families on the margins, and we’ve always [seen] the best in them. We always believed that change happens through caring relationships. We believed that young people are not going to think well of themselves unless we first think well of them and have very high expectations and help them achieve all that they can be. That was our approach to the work. . . . And Joan admired the work we did.”