My passion is to make a difference in the world, which is why I founded Ortega Counseling Center, to help injured workers back on their feet by finding schools so they can train and get the jobs they love. (Just like I did when I was injured and found myself with no options but to transform my life through education.) My passion for making a difference was reinforced when I met Vania Masías, a professional ballerina with a heart for her people -- to provide hope and social transformation to marginalized kids in Lima, Peru.

I met Vania last in August when I was in Peru on a learning tour with a group of entrepreneurs to listen and learn from Peruvian entrepreneurs on best business practices founded on social impact.

Vania Masías is an internationally acclaimed professional ballerina, having been in the main roles of classical repertoire. She also performed as a modern dancer in Europe and the Caribbean, danced at the Irish National Ballet, and performed for Cirque du...

Too many of America’s children grow up without the skills needed to thrive in the twenty-first century. Low levels of performance among the most disadvantaged create long-term problems, particularly in an economy in which higher skill levels are more and more valued and the wages available to less-skilled workers are deteriorating. Inequality persists.

In the photo above, I am in 9th grade, posing with the neighborhood gang's graffiti. I grew up in Downtown LA in an 800-square foot apartment building. The kids in my neighborhood were routinely involved in drugs and gangs. Teen pregnancy was a huge issue. My family was on welfare. Ours was a five-kid, one-parent household. And I was a direct beneficiary of the programs where the city reinvested in at-risk youth programs.

When I was in 12th grade, I was hired to work at a courthouse, and I was paid through the Joint Training Partnership Act which aimed to keep at-risk youth off the streets. The courthouse positioned me in a job...