Hello, welcome back to the 10 Blocks podcast. My name is Steven Ide. I'm a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and contributing editor to City Journal.

Today we're going to be talking about the DoFund, a New York City-based social service agency.

The DoFund works at the intersection of some of the most, you know, really pressing challenges that we face today,

homelessness, prisoner reentry, workforce,

development. And just to kind of frame why the Doe Fund is so important, one of the things that I've

always thought makes New York City an interesting place is that you often come across really

creative and talented people who probably could have succeeded in any field, Wall Street,

entertainment, but instead decided to devote their talents starting a any field, Wall Street, entertainment, but instead

decided to devote their talents starting a social program, a school, or some program working

with disadvantaged populations. Famous examples there would be places like the Harlem

Children's Zone, Success Academy. The Doe Fund is really in that same rank. For more than three

decades, the Doe Fund has served over 30,000 individuals dealing

with problems such as reentry and homelessness. And it really stands out in its promotion of work,

not just as something that's economically necessary, you know, because people need money, but more

importantly because work is part of a full human life. To go into all that, I have two of

those creative and talented individuals, Harriet Carr McDonald and Jennifer Mitchell. Harriet Carr

McDonnell is the President Emeritus of the DoFund, along with her late husband, George McDonald,

Harriet helped start the organization over 30 years ago and lead it from its earliest years when it was providing paid work to only about 70 men experiencing homelessness to the major multi-service organization that it now is.

Jennifer Mitchell is the current president and CEO of the Doe Fund.

She's now in her second stint at the Doe Fund.

She worked there earlier in her career.

She took the helm earlier this year,

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