Navigating Local Challenges in Wealthy Communities

Father-daughter duo Mike Bontrager and Stephanie Almanza join Phil and Grace to share their approach to building both for-profit and nonprofit ventures in their local community that are rooted in trust, partnership, and shared goals. Mike offers insight into how he found success in the financial industry by putting trust ahead of profit and how that principle has informed his philanthropic and entrepreneurial ventures in his hometown of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. The two also discuss how they chose to invest locally and the way they work in partnership with other community nonprofits, city government, and their neighbors to help build a thriving community.

Additional Resources

Square Roots Collective

Voices Underground Project

Praxis Labs

The War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the Struggle for America’s Soul From the Revolution to the Civil War by Andrew Delbanco

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein

How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith