{"id":3765,"date":"2026-04-09T16:38:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T16:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/?p=3765"},"modified":"2026-07-06T16:51:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T16:51:48","slug":"summit-academy-restoring-belief-building-momentum-opening-doors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/2026\/04\/09\/summit-academy-restoring-belief-building-momentum-opening-doors\/","title":{"rendered":"SUMMIT ACADEMY: Restoring belief, building momentum, opening doors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On a recent segment of Radio KFAI 90.3FM\u2019s popular show The Conversation With Al McFarlane<\/em><\/a>, the discussion turned from opportunity to something deeper, perception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love the motto,\u201d Al McFarlane began. \u201cThe best social service program in the world is a job. You coined that phrase. What does that truth look like in the lives of the people you\u2019re training?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But before Leroy West, president and CEO of Summit Academy OIC<\/a>, could fully answer, McFarlane widened the lens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor a long while when the marketplace wouldn\u2019t hire our people, they had an excuse,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2018We can\u2019t find them.\u2019 And then, \u2018they don\u2019t want to work.\u2019 They said it so much that we started saying it about ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He continued, reflecting on how deeply those ideas can take root.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019d see our own people and write them off even quicker than outside society did. So somehow, we\u2019ve got to break that mental picture, that limitation we\u2019ve put on ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turning back to West, McFarlane asked the question many in the community are still grappling with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow do you deal with that? The baggage individuals carry, but also the baggage in the community that reinforces the idea that our people are not capable, not willing, not able. How do you break that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

West met the moment directly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re actually saying it correctly,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen, I would say 15 years ago, we had to battle a lot of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, he explained, those perceptions showed up in real ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were placing students with an employer and then\u2026 not hitting the ball,\u201d West said. \u201cThen we hear all these things like, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re not going to hire you because of those\u2026\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sentence trailed, but the weight of it did not. Assumptions were shaping outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is where Summit Academy began to intervene, not just with training, but with proof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo again, it\u2019s all 20-week training,\u201d West said. \u201cAbout 80 percent of our students come to us, they were unemployed before they even started.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many arrive carrying more than unemployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey were either on some type of county assistance, or transitioning from prison, or they had to report to someone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd now you come to Summit, we want to provide you with skills so you\u2019re able to get that job or have that career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, deliberately, he shifted the language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLet me change it, because we want to start talking about a career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That shift is central. It pushes back against the very myths McFarlane raised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you do that, now nobody [is] able to dictate your life,\u201d West said. \u201cYou become self-sufficient.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He described what that looks like in real terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou start to own your own home. You begin to go out to eat, take your family on a vacation. You start doing some of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that way, Summit is not only preparing people for work. It is quietly dismantling the idea that they were ever incapable in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo we say the best social service program in the world is a job,\u201d West said. \u201cYou have that career right now and you take away all those other things that you leave behind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those in Minneapolis ready to take that step, Summit Academy is inviting the community in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prospective students are encouraged to register and attend Summit Academy OIC\u2019s upcoming Open House on April 9, 2026<\/a>. The event offers a chance to explore classrooms, learn more about career training programs and the GED pathway, and speak directly with instructors and staff committed to student success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attendees will also be able to connect with the admissions team and begin the registration process on site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Summit, students can earn industry recognized credentials, receive job placement support, and complete training in an accelerated timeframe, all at no cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because as this conversation made clear, this is about more than access to jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is about restoring belief, building momentum, and opening a door that too many have been told was closed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On a recent segment of Radio KFAI 90.3FM\u2019s popular show The Conversation With Al McFarlane, the discussion turned from opportunity to something deeper, perception. \u201cI love the motto,\u201d Al McFarlane began. \u201cThe best social service program in the world is a job. You coined that phrase. What does that truth look like in the lives of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3766,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[2498,38,2499],"class_list":["post-3765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-leroy-west","tag-minneapolis","tag-summit-academy-oic","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Summit.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3765"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3767,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3765\/revisions\/3767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}