We Bought a School: Mike Skirpan, Executive Director, Community Forge

In 2017, Mike Skirpan and seven friends bought an elementary school. Johnston Elementary in Wilkinsburg, Pittsburgh had been closed for five years. They negotiated the price, took out a loan, and scraped together some collateral. Mike's share was lent to him by a former student with one condition: please get out of tech and do this.

Why does a tech ethicist buy a school? Mike grew up in a small family with a single mom. Friends were his emotional safety net. He became the ultimate socialite, hanging with the chess club and captaining the soccer team. Years later he watched his hometown split into silos while his own industry accelerated the isolation. The mantras from day one: relationships first, break down Pittsburgh silos.

They fixed the building themselves. Friends sanded staircases and laid floors. Community Forge was solvent within a year and threw more than 100 events annually. It grew into a nonprofit built on four pillars: social capital for everyone, pathways into the economy, training in the tools of the future, and wellness.

The next act is a modern-day Elks Lodge. The ground floor is becoming a social hall with a 130 seat theatre, coffee shop, and social clubs. The question behind it all: what is the third space for this generation?

Charlotte reports from the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, where one pilot flew a cluster of party balloons to 20,000 feet like the movie Up. Aaron comes clean about the day he was shown the door at Target.

00:00 Introduction

00:47 Balloons, Minneapolis and an incident at Target

11:56 Welcome, Mike

12:48 Origin Story: Small Family, Big Friend Network

16:29 From Tech and Philosophy to Community Work

21:56 Founding Community Forge

24:37 Buying the School