Social Entrepreneurialism at Work

“I believe in trusting men, not only once but twice - in giving a failure another chance.” - James Cash Penney, Founder of J.C. Penney

In early 2009, Signature Community had a lot of residents who were suddenly unemployed through no fault of their own. We were in the throes of a terrible economy, and a good percentage of the population was unemployed or underemployed. Our resident base tends to be a little less educated, lower income and younger than the general population, so they were hit somewhat harder than most.  

We realized we had some significant choices to make at Signature.  We could start mass evictions and try to re-lease the apartments to better paying residents.  Or we could work with what we had and make what we had work.  Fortunately we chose the latter and made what I feel is one of Signature’s greatest contributions to society. 

And so was born “Signature Works”.  Signature Works gave any resident who was behind on their rent the option to come into one of our offices at 9am any day and be granted a full day’s work - any work - in exchange for credit against their past-due rent.  Signature Works was a huge departure from the norm in the apartment rental industry and the way that landlords typically operate.  Concerns were raised that we could be taken advantage of and the program would get out of control.  Fortunately, only the best in people arose out of Signature Works.  Working together as a community and taking short-term hits paid off in the long run.

I am humbly proud of the opportunities that Signature Works gave to hard working, smart people that unexpectedly wound up in difficult situations.  My favorite story is about the young woman who lost her job at Toyota just after the gas pedal recall in 2009.   She was a resident in one of our lowest priced apartments, but with no commissions coming in she couldn’t pay the rent.  She heard about Signature Works and was at the office at 9am the next morning.  We put her to work in the office and quickly realized that she had a talent for sales, so she started leasing apartments. Soon she became a valuable part of our leasing team and ultimately made it to our corporate office in New York City to head our national leasing program.  This all happened because we gave a resident a chance, and she ran with it.

I look back now a few years later, and, although we did have some problems, I am proud of the overall outcomes and hope that someday I will be able to create a legacy program that extends substantially beyond our own properties.

The other day someone sent me this link: Schwab Foundation’s Social Entrepreneurs of the Year.  I was encouraged to see that so many of the programs developed by these trailblazers have a similar tenet to Signature Works.  Give people a chance and a few tools, then set them loose.  Although some will inevitably fail, others will soar beyond our wildest dreams. 

It’s great to see people creating opportunities for other people to change the world!