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I grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in st. Louis Missouri but thanks to hard work and the help of a lot of people tremendous opportunities have come my way I was able to go to law school I opened one of the largest african-american owned law firms in Los Angeles run by a woman I was able to start a non-profit and give back to my community I get to appear almost nightly on national news shows where I get to stand up for issues and speak out on things that interest us the most and just last week that was backstage at a talk show and I heard this investment banker he was yelling into his cell phone there's no profit in nonprofits he scoffed he stopped me in my tracks I almost laughed then I thought about the food banks providing food to hungry families the nursing agencies providing prenatal care to single low-income moms so pro bono agencies providing free legal services and other supports of families I even thought about the smiling faces of the kids in my nonprofit when they received their free brand-new backpacks filled with school supplies but most importantly I thought back to one hot summer day in st. Louis when I was 12 years old see it can hit 95 in st. Louis without thinking twice and with the high humidity it can feel like steam is rising up from the sidewalks especially if you've been standing four hours in a long line like my brother Rodney and I were waiting for cheese now see neither one of us would have been out there but our grandmother heard that they were giving away free cheese to families like ours and the housing projects all over the country so grandma sent us out to get it Rodney was mortified but see grandma had been shot in a domestic violence situation when she was 32 she was at her best friend's house and she and her best friend found themselves raising my siblings and me so they needed all the help they could get there wasn't any work for folks in wheelchairs in those days no handicap ramps no special services and my grandmother's disability check didn't go far enough to make ends meet so Rodney and I stood in that line waiting for cheese probably melted cheese given that heat and humidity somebody in that line said this was government cheese but they were wrong do you call the government when you're in need isn't it the folks in your local communities that you look to maybe the person sitting next to you the church down the street your neighbor or loved one maybe even people in your community that you don't even know but who have come together in a non-profit to do good it wasn't the government that put food on our table it wasn't the government that taught kids like me and after school programs or taught me how to open my first bank account or get my first job and it definitely wasn't the government that taught me how to swim on the other side of town it was nonprofits and why does everybody call them non it's when we all profit see as a kid I didn't know that word and I couldn't appreciate how much nonprofits had done to improve my life and when I was pushing my grandmother around in that big iron wheelchair I wasn't thinking how great it would be to help others I was thinking I want to go outside employee like the rest of my friends and sometimes I was even thinking why me but see my life today would be a big surprise to that 12 year old little girl but not to my grandmother she knew she was laying a foundation for me that would be like bedrock when I needed it most and did I ever need it when my son marty was diagnosed with autism I was completely devastated it took me a while before I could even say the word without weeping and some days I couldn't get out of bed but gradually thinking back to that line I realized that when my grandmother sent Rodney and I out to stand in that line for cheese it wasn't just about putting food on the table it was to teach us invaluable lessons about humility generosity and resiliency and thinking about my grandmother strength I was able to summon my own I knew I had to be at my strongest when I felt at my weakest I thought about what would my grandmother do and I went to work I read everything I could I talked to health care providers educators teachers parents anyone that would provide information I learned that autism was the fastest-growing childhood disability in the country impacting one in 64 children I learned that african-american and Latino kids are diagnosed two to four years later than their typical peers and I learned that thousands of kids right here in our own Los Angeles community suffer to access services just because of the color of their skin and the more I learned the more passionate I became about trying to find a way to help others see I wasn't looking to become an autism advocate but autism advocacy found me and when I had done as much as I could do to help others and I was trying to figure out what was the next step I remembered the cheese see I was too young to learn the name of that nonprofit that had managed to bring all of that yellow cheese into my neighborhood but I never forgot the faces of the staff and the volunteers that passed it out they were doing good and they knew it I'll never forget the joy that I saw in their faces so when it became my time it was almost like second nature for me to start a nonprofit I call it the special-needs Network it turns out families were hoping for the services that we would bring and now after 10 years we've helped 50,000 kids and families right here in our Los Angeles commune some may say arriva it's just one nonprofit but we've touched the lives of millions of kids and families across California and we've helped to elevate the issue of autism in underserved communities we've elevated that issue to a national level that nonprofit proves that that investment banker was wrong there is profit in nonprofits so if you are passionate about a cause if you care deeply about a a group of people who you know are working to change the lives of others do something get involved and when you've done all that you can do individually find a group of people and start a non-profit the impact that you will have on the lives of others it's immeasurable the efforts that you can make to change the lives of others will change you in ways you can't even imagine and if you get stuck and you're wondering what the next step should be do like I did remember the cheese thank you [Applause] [Music]