Meet Our Fellows Blog Series: Tony Guidotti
If there is one thing I like, it's learning. As a child I was a voracious reader, and now as an adult, my principal design aesthetic is tall shelves full of books. For me, each one is a repository of knowledge. To get rid of a book is to pass on the opportunity to know the wisdom contained between its two covers. I read before bed and often before work. Among my favorite parts of vacation is having near unrestricted reading time.
This isn't just leisure though, I'm a classic "to-do list" guy. If I see a problem, I add it to my list and then either find a way to fix it or a way to support those who are already working on a solution. There are a lot of challenges in the world. When faced with injustice or suffering or even non-optimization which renders harm upon individuals, our duty is to act, and to act you have to know. Thus, I read.
This turning point, realizing that I am called to act and dedicate myself toward a better world, occurred when I turned 18. I quickly went from not wanting to go to college to triple majoring in economics, justice and peace studies, and international studies at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. After graduating, I spent a year working as a humanitarian missionary, serving each month in a different country across the developing world. Returning to the United States, I spent the next few years working as a minister with teens in a diverse post-industrial community north of Seattle. I came to South Bend in 2018 through Notre Dame, where I received a Master of Global Affairs degree with dual concentrations in sustainable development and public policy.
Each step in my journey gave me a different perspective on the obstacles impeding the common good. Along the way I did a lot of reading, seeking to distill the wisdom of the past into solutions for today. Wherever I was going to work following graduate school, it needed to give me the opportunity to learn and to apply myself toward advancing the cause of the human condition.
I applied to enFocus because among my colleagues who were dedicated to building a stronger local community, enFocus' name came up often. As someone who reads hoping to find pathways toward a better tomorrow and makes econometric models in the hopes of informing better governance, working with an organization ordered toward applying an entrepreneurial spirit to local civic challenges was the perfect fit. Having studied policymaking at the national and international levels, enFocus provides me the opportunity to experience policymaking at the local level and to help implement national policy in the local communities while retaining a focus on integral human development.
I am blessed as an enFocus Fellow to work with the City of Nappanee and the Northern Indiana Workforce Board as they innovate to serve the people of Northern Indiana. I have already learned a lot and read a ton toward helping my project partners find opportunities to serve their constituents and clients. I look forward to even more opportunities in the future to problem solve in Northern Indiana through my fellowship.
Learn more about the 2020-2022 enFocus Fellows weekly in our Meet Our Fellows Blog Series.