The Supply is a collection of visionaries, storytellers, leaders, innovators, thinkers, connectors here and abroad, poor and rich, young and old, who believe that education is transformative and can unlock the solutions to today’s human plights.

The world has engrained in us a perception of education that feeds into what we like to call the supply and demand model. We get an education to “advance” in society. However, at The Supply, we believe that education is a call to action, that our education enables us to radically transform the communities around us, locally, nationally, and globally. That contrary to common belief, supply does not meet demand. Rather, supply collides with supply, creating a more beautiful world.

We are all The Supply. Join us.

We often think of education as a one-size-fits-all band aid. Four walls, a chalkboard, and some books, and we have the cure to global poverty.

Yes, education is undeniably the best investment anyone can make. No one will ever question that. However, what we want to ask are the hard questions. Education for whom? For where? And for what purpose? We don’t simply want to be a charity that gives education for the sake of giving education or plant schools for the sake of planting schools, but we want to be a partner with communities to collaboratively learn and figure out what the educational needs are.

Yes, The Supply exists because we are moved by the stories of the plights of slum communities and challenged by their desperate fight for an education. We can do everything we can to share their stories, financially invest in low-cost community secondary schools, and wrap our minds around creative curricular designs.

But, in the end we know that the real change will come from within and all we really need to do is activate these next set of leaders who will transform the cities of tomorrow.

Read our core values and see how it shapes the work we do!

DAVID KIM

David Kim is a portfolio manager specializing in fixed income investments at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. David received a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

CHRIS KO

Chris Ko serves as a Program Officer for the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, helping manage Home For Good, LA’s 5 year plan to end chronic and veteran homelessness. He has enjoyed seeing different approaches to social change, being an officer at a mentoring and tutoring program in West Philadelphia, a volunteer abroad in Ghana, and an economic development policy aide for LA Mayor Villaraigosa. The Coro Foundation also named him a Public Affairs Leadership Fellow through which he worked on projects for the DA, SEIU, local NPR, and a school board member. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania and still misses the trees and rivers of Richmond, Virginia where he grew up.

ANDREW MEANS

Andrew Means, MPP is the lead quantitative analyst for the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago. In his role at the Y, he
uses data to improve operational efficiency and capture the impact of the organization’s social mission. In addition to his work at the YMCA, Andrew consults a variety of for-profit and non-profit organizations and is the founder of Data Analysts for Social Good. Prior to joining the YMCA, Andrew helped found a real estate investment fund for affordable housing and received his Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago. He lives in the Bucktown neighborhood of Chicago with his wife, Tovah, and their dog, Laney.

WILLIAM SANKEY

William Sankey is currently an Associate Project Manager at Jones Lang LaSalle working on the $850M Madison Square Garden Transformation project. Prior to working full-time with JLL, William completed a Masters of Urban Planning degree with a double concentration in real estate development and urban design from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. For his undergraduate studies, he attended Yale University and earned a B.A. in Architecture (2009). During his summer and winter breaks, he has pursed pre-professional experiences. In 2007 and 2009, he worked for APD Urban Planning and Management in Jacksonville, FL where he has contributed significantly to neighborhood and city development plans for New Orleans, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; Augusta, Georgia; Anderson, South Carolina; and Jacksonville, Florida. In 2008, he assisted project managers at JLL on projects valued at a combined $120 million in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park and the Chapin School on the Upper East Side.

EDDO KIM

Eddo serves as the founder and CEO of The Supply and will serve as the board chair for 2013. Find out more about Eddo here.

All founders of nonprofits these days seem to have this cathartic moment of travelling to a third world country and deciding to leave their high-paying corporate jobs to do something “meaningful” with their lives. For me, The Supply has been the story of my entire existence. Growing up in a pretty typical Asian household, I somehow developed a skewed idea of what education was intended for. Education became a simple math formula in which educational inputs led to amazing outputs of lucrative career opportunities and salaries. I naturally worked hard to ensure these opportunities.

However, when I got to college, I was confronted with poverty and inequality. I couldn’t wrap my mind around the gaping disparity between the Ivy League tower and its surrounding community. It was simple, all the graduates flocked to New York City to fulfill their “dreams” and saw West Philadelphia as a temporary “liability” and “sacrifice” they had to make while attending this prestigious school. Curiosity got the best of me as I decided to spend my last few years at Penn immersing myself in West Philly, participating in as many of the service learning programs I could find. It was rewarding. I was beginning to readjust my understanding of the purpose of education.

Fast forward to July 2010. There I was sitting in a metal-sheeted classroom in Nairobi listening to the story of a man named Muscort. He had been one of the lucky ones to receive a sponsorship to finish secondary school and college. A college degree in Nairobi is worth a lot. Yet, he decided to forego those “opportunities” to come back and establish a community primary school for orphan and street children in a slum community. He was using his education to give the gift of education to those who could not have it. His story not only inspired me but shed the last remnants of misperceptions I had about the purpose of education. The purpose of education was exactly this call to action.

On the plane ride back, I remember thinking, “if this man could defend these children, then surely I can do my part as well.”

From these experiences is where The Supply is born. However, The Supply is not limited by any construct or definition. It is more than an idea, more than an organization. It is my life, and my hope is that it will be yours as well.

eddo@thesupply.org

@eddokim

We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, color, sex, age, veteran status, or disability. It is our intention that all qualified applications be given equal opportunity and that selection decisions are based on job-related factors.

Want to get hands on experience while working towards a cause that you are passionate about? Join us at The Supply where we bring passion into our everyday work!

Current Full-Time Openings