The Truparity Challenge: Bridging the Gap, Building the Future.
- drnmanyika
- Jan 24
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 21
Sometimes we speak to the wind, and it carries the message to the unlikeliest of ears.
I was 8,149 miles away in Zimbabwe when my wife received an unexpected call from Alan Dickson’s office. Dickson, co-founder of Ruddick Corp, the former parent company of Harris Teeter supermarkets, wanted to know if I was available to accompany him to Atlanta. He was heading there to tour the revitalized East Lake Community, a neighborhood once known as "Little Vietnam" due to its extreme crime and urban decay. But what intrigued him most was an idea I had only shared with a few.
This idea wasn’t just about urban renewal—it was about scalable, tech-powered solutions that could bridge knowledge and resource gaps, empowering historically disadvantaged Americans to thrive in a rapidly evolving economy. It was about ensuring that renewal wasn’t just inclusive but actively owned and driven by everyone.
The Roots of a Vision
During our flight to and from Atlanta, GA, on his plane, I learned that Dickson had been introduced to the unconventional ways Nexus Global Serve - my organization - was serving disinvested communities.
Rather than offering traditional after-school programs, we pioneered a robotics initiative in seven Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, designed to ignite interest in STEM careers - a proven pathway to upward mobility. Our innovative approach caught the attention of NASCAR's Smith-Ganassi Racing, where former World Heavyweight Champion Evander Holyfield had an interest. As a result, our organization's logo and colors were proudly displayed on the No. 42 car at prominent Nascar races including the Nationwide Series on May 23, 2009 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, bringing visibility to our mission on a grand stage. Our impact also attracted the attention of global music superstar Will.i.am, who visited our projects in February 2010. I had also envisioned Brookstone School, which opened in 2001 and has spent over two decades equipping under-resourced students academically, socially, and spiritually for lives of leadership and service.
Most issues affecting urban poverty are deeply interconnected. Educational outcomes are shaped by housing instability, an area that was of mutual interest for Dickson and me. Charlotte is a hyper-gentrifying city, and the obvious solution seems to be building more affordable housing. But that approach alone isn’t sustainable - nor does it address the deeper systemic challenges caused by concentrated poverty, such as high crime, public safety concerns, and capital flight from these communities.
Dickson was intrigued by a challenge I had posed to a small gathering of leaders a few months prior. I had suggested that most charity and philanthropy efforts fail to make a lasting impact because they lack a "BHAG" - a Big Hairy Audacious Goal, as coined by Jim Collins. The problems we faced were simply too big for small thinking. If we wanted real change, we needed bold, scalable solutions that could attract the level of investment required to make a difference. That’s what Dickson wanted to hear more about.
Introducing Truparity: The Equity Track
I believed we needed to reframe the problem. The focus shouldn't just be affordable housing - the real issue was Charlotte’s well-documented lack of upward mobility. According to ForCharlotte.org "The city of Charlotte ranks dead last (50th out of 50) among America's largest cities in upward mobility. This means that for a child born in poverty in Charlotte, it is harder to escape poverty than in any other major U.S. city."
If we solved that, renewal wouldn’t displace people - it would include them. As my late friend Harry Jones, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Manager, once said - we needed to make Charlotte "a city of hope and opportunity for all."
I shared with Dickson my vision for Truparity: The Equity Track, a project designed to equip young people with the knowledge, skills, and resources to transition from what I call the “Exonomic Zone” - a non-economy of systemic exclusion—into the mainstream economy.
Truparity’s Three Core Components
An "Equity JROTC" Program
Modeled after the military’s Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC), this structured program would provide discipline-driven pathways to economic participation.
A Virtual Learning Platform
Delivering Employment, Income, Assets, and Debt (EIAD)-focused education to 9th-12th graders.
Offering industry-standard training on mortgages, property acquisition, and financial management.
Integrating equity-building concepts into career and life choices.
Providing early exposure to housing and asset-building knowledge before students enter the workforce.
A Rewards Program to Build Equity
Partially funded by social impact donations.
Sustained by a for-profit arm, such as a TruPARITY Mortgage Lending Platform created for this purpose.
The KIP Strategy: Knowledge, Investment, Partnerships
Truparity would be built on three foundational pillars:
Knowledge – Equipping participants with the financial literacy and economic understanding they need to succeed.
Investment – Creating pathways for participants to acquire assets and achieve economic mobility.
Partnerships – Engaging cross-sector collaboration to sustain and scale the initiative.
This regenerative social enterprise model would:
Deepen knowledge about economic mobility.
Drive investment into underrepresented communities.
Forge partnerships across ideological and policy landscapes to ensure broad adoption.
A Vision Delayed, Not Denied
Sadly, Alan Dickson succumbed to cancer in May 2012, before Truparity could be implemented. Shortly afterward, I was invited to join the Affordable Housing Cabinet formed by another unexpected champion for the poor, developer John Crosland Jr. He too was battling a health issue and passed away in 2015. While I wish these two remarkable men had lived to see Truparity take shape, their role was never to build it alone. They nurtured an idea that will require transformational collaboration - the kind of partnerships and innovation that we have seen in our lifetime with projects like ChatGPT.
That’s why this isn’t just my project - it’s a challenge. I also don’t believe it should be limited to Charlotte; rather, it’s a model that can be implemented across the United States.
The Truparity Challenge: Who Will Build the Future?
Meanwhile, I will be posting The Truparity Challenge across all my platforms, including the website for The Issachar Coll3ctive, where it will be featured as the inaugural project on its Challenge Board inviting social impact partners to join, lead, fund, and collaborate in this bold endeavor. Making it happen will need:
Technology companies to develop the TruPa OnTrack Learning Platform & App and the TruPa OnTrack Game, an edutainment tool combining interactive learning with financial literacy.
Corporations, social investors, banks, and philanthropists to fund content creation, staffing, and administration.
Sponsors to support students, schools, and districts in gaining access to Truparity’s resources.
Social impact partners to help build the TruPa OnTrack Investment Program, ensuring long-term sustainability.
A Future Worth Fighting For
Dickson and Crosland are gone, but the vision. Now, more than ever, we need bold, technology-driven solutions to close the economic equity gap. If you believe in a future where economic mobility is attainable for all, I invite you to be part of this journey. Let’s build a future where renewal doesn’t just change skylines - it transforms lives.
Are you ready to take the Truparity Challenge?
Comments