American Idea Foundation

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Celebrating the Impactful Life of Urban Specialists’ Founder, Bishop Omar Jahwar

Celebrating the Impactful Life of Urban Specialists’ Founder, Bishop Omar Jahwar

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By: AIF Staff

On March 11, 2021, the people of Dallas lost a pillar of their community with the passing of Bishop Omar Jahwar. Few make such a big impact in such a short time as Bishop Omar and fewer still embody the awesome power of redemption better than he did.

Bishop Omar was one of the founders and leaders of Urban Specialists, a Texas-based organization dedicated to promoting positive change in inner-city communities and to reducing destructive and violent behavior. Bishop Omar’s life was a personal testament of transformation, as he went from a juvenile criminal offender to one of Texas’ first gang-interventionists to receiving the White House’s Achievement Against the Odds Award. As all those who knew Bishop Omar mourn, they should take comfort in the fact that he is undoubtedly looking down saying: “There is a time for grieving, but then the work must go on.”

Upon his passing, American Idea Foundation President and former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, who struck up an unlikely friendship with Bishop Omar — one that spanned almost a decade and one that transcended race, socioeconomic status, and party affiliation, offered the following statement:

“At first glance, it wouldn’t seem that a Congressman from Janesville and a preacher from Dallas would have a lot in common, but I was honored to call Bishop Omar a friend. He taught me a lot about redemption and the power of community. I’ll miss his personality, his passion, and his unwavering belief in every person’s inherent goodness.

“Bishop Omar lived his work. He showed me, and the people of Dallas, that real change happens one person at a time. Bishop Omar’s legacy will live on through the ongoing work of Urban Specialists and through all the people he saved during the course of his ministry. The best way we can honor Bishop Omar’s life is to draw inspiration from his example and be a catalyst for positive change in our communities.”

In a Forbes column entitled The Gangster, the Preacher, & the Speaker of the House, Bishop Omar summarized his work succinctly: “This is my role. I tell these young men, ‘There are landmines in this field, this gang life, but if you allow me to lead you, brother if you take my hand, I can show the path around the mines, and you can cross unscathed.’”

He continued, “What we do in communities is we attempt to bring social change through individuals who are closest to the problem, those who can actually deliver help from a hand-to-hand point of view. I recruit guys who’ve lived that lifestyle in some of the roughest zip codes in the nation, and I’m asking them to become front-line soldiers fighting for one idea: that urban life does not have to be stunted by violence and a sub-culture of abuse.”

In 2016, the impact of Bishop Omar was made abundantly clear in a video entitled: Become a Hero, which was a part of the Comeback video series that focused on transformative efforts underway in our communities. 

Speaker Ryan first met Bishop Omar during his travels with Bob Woodson travels as he was looking for inspiring examples of individuals and organizations tackling pressing issues in our communities. Almost immediately, it became clear that Bishop Omar and the Urban Specialists were making a difference and developing a model that could be exported to other cities around the United States. In 2018, as Speaker of the House, Ryan continued to draw lessons and inspiration from Bishop Omar, visiting Urban Specialists to discuss their efforts to combat multi-generational poverty and reduce gang violence in Texas.

The efforts being undertaken by Bishop Omar and his organization were highlighted in National Review, which summarized their efforts in the following way: 

““Urban specialists” are Pastor Omar’s team of mentors, largely former gang members, who have returned to the neighborhoods they grew up in to try to steer the newest generation onto a better path. Pastor Omar insists that the best people to solve social problems such as gang violence or drug addiction are those who experienced those problems and overcame them….

“Pastor Omar’s urban-specialist model has proven itself in Dallas. The Dallas Independent School District works with Pastor Omar to get urban specialists into schools across the district, and he has an enthusiastic supporter in Dallas police chief David Brown. And he believes that the model can be applied anywhere — from schools to courtrooms to corporate America.”

Bishop Omar’s work was hands-on and sometimes, it was messy. But Bishop Omar lived a purpose-driven life. He created force-multipliers in communities, developing a network of mentors who could meet young people involved in gangs and criminal behavior and speak to them from a position of shared experiences. He saved lives. He prevented violence. He promoted hope and optimism. He made an impact that will reverberate for years to come.

Where others saw problems, Bishop Omar saw solutions. Where others saw dead-ends, Bishop Omar saw ways to turn around. The American Idea Foundation joins his family, his friends, and all those touched by Bishop Omar in grieving his passing and honoring his decades of service to others by drawing inspiration from his amazing work.  

Paul Ryan discusses efforts to better fight poverty, offers advice on reducing polarization, & assesses the first months of Biden-Harris Administration

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Date: March 12, 2021

Janesville, WI – In the Fall of 2020, former Speaker of the House and American Idea Foundation President Paul Ryan was named an Honorary Fellow at the Tommy G. Thompson Center for Public Leadership. The Center, located at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, works to elevate the policies and solutions that were the cornerstones of Governor Thompson’s decades of service to the state of Wisconsin. Earlier this month, Speaker Ryan had the opportunity to talk with the Thompson Center’s Executive Director, Dr. Ryan Owens, about the policy issues that he has been focusing on since leaving the House of Representatives in 2019.

During the podcast, Speaker Ryan discussed the need for revitalizing civil society – the institutions and spaces between citizens and their government. He touched on ongoing efforts by the American Idea Foundation to highlight locally-implemented, evidence-based solutions that tackle problems like persistent poverty and the skills gap. Speaker Ryan also provided some guidance to younger Wisconsinites who are looking to make an impact in their communities.

You can listen to the Tommy G. Thompson Center Badgercast featuring Speaker Ryan by clicking here.  Some excerpts of Speaker Ryan’s answers (which have been edited slightly for clarity) follow.

A continued focus on tackling poverty:

“You mentioned Janesville, my home town. My downtown Janesville office is where the American Idea Foundation is based and that’s the Foundation that I built to focus on poverty solutions. During a lot of stages in my career, I spent a lot of time working on understanding poverty — specifically stubborn, multi-generational poverty, and understanding the policies that alleviate poverty. Near the end of my tenure, I was able to put into law through the tax code and other mechanisms, some policies that I think are really going to make a difference in the poverty space.

“And so, the American Idea foundation is really focused on advancing these poverty solutions, getting them out into the country, and building solutions that can be scaled, replicated, and repeated so that we can really put a dent in poverty and go at root causes of poverty and focus resources so that we can really make a big difference. [We can make a big difference by] making sure the Evidence Act that we wrote is well-executed and by building a big database of poverty solutions that people who want to fight poverty can go to for support and assistance. We believe in all of this… using data, analytics, and random controlled trials to measure what works and then scaling and repeating, and then making sure you don’t repeat mistakes.”

Policies that will spur economic opportunity:

“We need lifelong learning. We need people to get skills for the jobs of tomorrow [because of the] technology displacements that are occurring. And so, one of the things that we’re focused on is how do you get people into school and get their skills acquired and get them to stay through it. There is a big problem with people not graduating with their Associate’s degree, but if you can get an Associate’s degree in the 21st century, you can often get yourself into a proven career.

“Another thing that I’m really enamored with is this Catholic Charities [approach of] case management navigators that help people who are deep in poverty. [These navigators] find people where they are and then bring services and knowledge to them. Every person has a case manager that helps them build a plan to get out of poverty and work themselves out of poverty and stay out of poverty. I work with the Laboratory for Economic Opportunity (LEO) at Notre Dame and we’re running trials on this right now in places across the country to really figure out how best to do this kind of service so it can be scaled and replicated using technology, data, and analytics….

“In the 20th century, the War on Poverty was basically a bunch of government programs run by government bureaucrats and they kind of missed out on a lot of innovative ideas and proper incentive structures which have really moved the needle and so that’s the kind of thing we’re trying to incorporate. We’re essentially using free enterprise principles and applying them to the problem of poverty and I think we’re going to get a difference in outcomes.”

Advice to younger Americans on the perils of polarization and seeking out diverse perspectives:

“The reason I’m concerned [about polarization] is it’s getting so out of control and it’s being digitized and monetized with 21st century social media technology…. I try and tell young people to identify and see the fact that when you have an online presence or when you just go online, you’re inevitably going to go into some ideological cul-de-sac and you’re probably going to be just getting reinforcing views and today, media and technology, just more or less tell you what you want to know.

“We have moral relativism. We have algorithms and we have all of these sites that feed you what you’re already biased toward and that confirmation bias is now digitized and there are a lot of people who make a lot of money feeding that….”

“There’s not a great answer to how do you reduce polarization or how do you get people to reintegrate into society, other than we’ve got to find ways to revitalize civil society, which is where we live our lives and is the space between ourselves and our government. How do we, as individuals, get involved at a human level, at a personal level, with people who don’t think like us and who don’t look like us and who aren’t like us, and build lasting relationships and get a sense of empathy and a sense of understanding?

“The thing I always tell young people is don’t lead with emotions. You have two ears and one mouth, use them in that proportion and just really work on trying to understand the perspective of another person. Walk in their shoes and hopefully they’ll do the same to you and you can develop a better understanding.”

Assessing the first two months of the Biden-Harris Administration:

“I’m a little concerned… I like [President Biden]. He’s a nice person. He is an agreeable guy. He does deals. I’ve done agreements with him myself so he is naturally not opposed to finding common ground with people on the other side of the aisle and getting agreements done. The team beneath him is maybe less so.

“The thing that makes me a little concerned at this moment is on the COVID-19 bill. Ron Klain, his Chief of Staff, and others said: “Look, we made the mistake in 2009 when we tried to get Republicans to work with us on a stimulus and it took too long and then we finally did it on our own. We just want to learn from that mistake and try and cut to the chase and just ram it through….” They really didn’t ask for our participation in 2009. I remember then-Rep. Chris Van Hollen having one, 30-second conversation with me, which was: “Are you going to support this or not?…”

“This was different because COVID is a pandemic that everybody believes is a crisis that needs attending to and you had Republicans offering solutions and going down to the White House to say: “You know we agree on you know half of this stuff. Let’s work together….” Instead, they chose reconciliation which is a way of avoiding having to work with the other side and ramming it through. If you can’t get bipartisanship on something like COVID and getting the economy out of the COVID-19 pandemic, I don’t know where else you are going to find bipartisanship in this day and age. I really think they whiffed on this one…”

Issues of common ground in 2021:

“Well, I think the thing that everybody more or less agrees on is that there is a challenge and a great power struggle with China. We call this “decoupling” and that’s going to happen. I think most Republicans or Democrats who look at this issue see it similarly, which is, we have to protect ourselves and our technology from cyber-attacks, from China, and from their competition. We want the free world to be able to stay free.

“When you look at all the technologies that are rolling out there — whether it’s artificial intelligence, machine-learning, the Internet of Things, cryptocurrencies, all of these things, it’s really important that the free world is led by America and that America leads in these cutting-edge technologies because if China takes over and dominates, then they can they can really intimidate the world. They can become a ubiquitous surveillance state and it gets kind of scary at the end of the day, so where I think America has to lead – and Republicans and Democrats agree on this, is in sort strategic decoupling with China. That, to me, is a pretty big deal and I think infrastructure and some other sort of meat and potato issues, you’ll see some people coming around on.”

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Ryan & Heitkamp discuss bipartisanship in polarized time with Gov. Mitch Daniels of Purdue University

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Washington, DC – Last week, as part of Purdue University’s Presidential Lecture Series, American Idea Foundation President Paul Ryan joined a conversation with former Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) entitled: “American Democracy: Where Do We Go From Here?”

The discussion was moderated by former Governor of Indiana and current President of Purdue University Mitch Daniels and featured questions from various student organizations on the key policy challenges facing our nation. Speaker Ryan talked about efforts to reduce polarization, expand pro-growth economic policies, and address the major issues facing communities around the country.

Watch the entire conversation here, read a recap from the Lafayette Journal & Courier, or check out some of Speaker Ryan’s comments (edited lightly for clarity) below.

On revitalizing civil society and meeting the unique challenges of the 21st century digital landscape:

“I taught a class on political polarization last semester at Notre Dame and if you dig deep into this, there have always been different anxieties [in society] and what the digital and social media platforms do is they really drudge these up and give life to these anxieties. And the problem we now have is that you can make money on it. You can become famous. You can make money and monetize polarization and anger and those darker kinds of emotions. They’re good for hits. They are good for clicks. They’re good for ratings and they can be monetized and what I would call “political opportunists” can seize that, jump on that, and ride that.

“This is a new challenge to self-governance in our democracy the likes that we’ve not really seen before which means each of us, not just political leaders but community leaders, civic leaders, business leaders, and academic leaders have got to work much harder to try and overcome these challenges and to revitalize civil society. [Civil society] is that space between ourselves and our government, where we actually lead our lives, leaders have to get us to put our tablets and our phones down and work with one another.

“We need to experience one another and get people out of their comfort zones, out of their homogeneous societies, and integrate with one another. These are the things I work on at my American Idea Foundation, a poverty fighting organization that seeks to try and bridge gaps, to get suburbanites into the deep-inner cities and get people from inner cities out to the deep rural areas to try and get people to cross-pollinate and find common ground so that we can find solutions. Long story short, we’ve got to find ways to revitalize civil society, put aside these new challenges, and pick leaders that endeavor to do so versus those who try to ride the division to the top.”

On how leaders can reduce polarization:

“You need to articulate a political philosophy and a view of life as a leader that seeks to unify and inform and inspire people. What I mean when I say that is this: I served in Congress for 20 years and I had a pretty big Hispanic population in Racine and Kenosha that I represented. I always did town-hall meetings and I always had an interpreter and when I would then go in the rural areas, people would give me a hard time about that and I would just ask them to come join me. I would try to explain to people how we are a melting pot, how when my Irish ancestors came over and during the famine, they could only do jobs like being firefighters, policemen, or construction workers and we were not really well received either and we need to change that, but I think there’s a history of this and it’s just been accelerated by technology.

“I think it is really incumbent upon leaders to try and articulate a vision of inclusion, assimilation, and that shows our common goals, our common humanity, a common theme of opportunity and renewal. We want a free society that is safe and prosperous and full of opportunities and this is what people are seeking.”

On bringing down the cost of health care:

“I offered the alternative to Obamacare and I offered [a replacement bill] through the House of Representatives a couple of years ago. I would do refundable tax credits, which means a type of voucher to buy health insurance for everybody. It would have more for the poor, less for the wealthy, and I would change the way the insurance rules work so that you would get more affordable insurance.

“I would have risk pools that covers the people with real, big illnesses, so if government just bumps up and pays for the people who have catastrophic illnesses, you can dramatically lower the price of insurance for everybody else. A tax credit goes really far and everybody can get affordable care. I could go on and on but I’ll leave it at that, plus transparency in pricing and quality so you have true competition.”

On why the debt should matter to younger Americans:

“This is existential. It will affect your generation, your prosperity, and your ability to have a good life and a good economy. It really kind of does come down to healthcare. If you look at our healthcare entitlement programs, those are the greatest chunk of our unfunded liabilities and we have an important social contract that needs to be met. The government made promises to people like my mom, who is on Medicare and Social Security, so the question is: How do you keep these promises? How do you fulfill the mission of these programs without totally bankrupting the country and driving us into debt?

“I think the best answer is reforming these programs by bringing more market-based solutions to them which brings more choice, more competition, and brings down the costs. I’m proud of the fact that when I ran the House and when I was Budget Chairman, every session the House passed a budget that balanced the budget and paid off the national debt. It had reforms for Medicare, important reforms to Medicaid, tax reforms, budget reforms, and spending caps. There’s a way to do this. The problem is we could never get it anywhere else but the House of Representatives in those days.

“It is really hard for politicians to touch the “third rail” of embracing these reforms. This and immigration reform are the two big ones that got away from me [as Speaker of the House]. I think if we address these two issues, we will have a great 21st century for America.

“My last comment is getting healthcare right, which is using market-based solutions in my opinion, but I think the way to do this, politically speaking — and I hate saying this because I always thought this was a political punt, is a Commission. Something like the Greenspan Social Security Commission or the Base Closing Commission. I was on Simpson-Bowles and it was declared dead on arrival just about the minute it came out with its results by President Obama and Speaker Pelosi. We need a commission that requires an up or down vote on its findings by both houses of Congress that cannot be filibustered. I think, frankly, this is the best political path to getting this done. Mitt Romney, and I think he’s got a Democratic Senator on it, has a bipartisan bill to do just that and it’s in the Senate and has been introduced in the House by the Problem Solver Caucus, so that to me is the best political solution that’s available right now.”

On Trump bringing the “Forgotten Man” and dangerous conspiracies to the Republican Party:

“First, I’d say those groups are disgusting vile groups that have no place in the Republican Party. Period. End of statement. If you asked me who the Proud Boys are or who the Oath Keepers are two years ago, I would have never heard of them. They should be disavowed, they need to be disavowed, and I completely disavow them.

“I would say that one thing President Trump did do though is he brought a lot of disaffected blue-collar workers into the Republican party. I can just tell you from running around Wisconsin, which is not unlike Indiana and North Dakota, you had the Forgotten Men and Women who felt that globalization, technology, trade, whatever had passed them by in the 20th century. My own town of Janesville: We started with a GM plant which shut down and everybody wanted to have a new, great-paying job in our town, only [to have their wages] be replaced by 30 to 40% of the salary they were making, People are really upset about that and he spoke to them and he brought them into the Republican Party. So, I can speak from these personal experiences that he brought a lot of disaffected, blue-collar workers into the party.

“He also brought those elements you mentioned and he breathed life into and gave some kind of normalcy to [these groups], which is totally wrong. This QAnon thing is just a crazy conspiracy theory, Frankly, I think we have a real problem with conspiracy theories now [and that’s] partly because of Donald Trump and because of the way the internet works, and the way these things start pinging around the universe before the truth gets out. Leaders have a responsibility to tamp those down and that’s where he would miserably fail on that front.”

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