Lionel and Irene Harris have supported Compass since first learning about the organization at our annual Breakfast Benefit in 2017. After working for 23 years in investments at Fidelity, Lionel recently transitioned to a new role as a Human Resources Strategic Advisor in the areas of diversity, inclusion, and employee engagement. Irene has a background as a radiology technician, and spent nearly as a decade as flight attendant for various airlines. She has taken an active role with a number of local and international nonprofit organizations.
Lionel is a native of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Irene has lived in four countries – Singapore, Japan, Dubai, and the United States – in as many decades. They live in Boston with their sons, Ian and Clay, and their daughter, Cailey.
We recently connected with Lionel to learn more about what drew him and Irene to Compass and what they want others to know about the organization.
Compass: How did you first learn about Compass? What was it that initially sparked your interest in the organization?
Lionel: I was invited to the annual Breakfast Benefit back in 2017 by my friend Joe Lu. I had never heard of Compass, but I realized right away that a bunch of people I respect and like were already involved – so it seemed like it would be good to learn something more.
What really did it for me was the client speaker at the event. I remember her getting up there to talk about her experience, and what she was saying really resonated with me. I grew up in Virginia Beach. We didn’t have a lot of things, but we always had enough. We had a helping hand – some government assistance for food and things like that, and some neighbors who always helped out. I could make a pretty good argument that a lot in my life could be substantially different if I hadn’t had a helping hand at various points. I’ve had the pleasure of helping out people from all walks of life throughout my years in Boston. What I heard that morning, and what resonated for me, was how important it is to have that help when you need it, and for it to be provided with dignity and respect.
Compass: Would you say that this idea of a helping hand is what connects the different organizations you and Irene are involved with? What are the things that you look for when you think about supporting an organization?
Lionel: A helping hand is definitely the common theme – we support organizations that offer a helping hand to mothers of color here in Boston with the challenges and inequities they face, to young adults who have fallen through the cracks and need that help to break into the workforce, and to mothers and children living in the most dire circumstances around the world who need basic medical care to make it to the next day.
Another thing that ties these organizations and Compass together for us is impact. You can see the impact – lives saved, or the economic impact. And they are organizations that are thinking about systems change, with this idea of how can we actually work our way out of business, to where what we do isn’t needed anymore because the problem no longer exists.
Compass: Would you say there is anything about Compass that sets it apart from other organizations you’ve come across?
Lionel: Compass talks about the racial and gender wealth gaps. I’ve taken the chance to read a lot more about that – including the “Color of Wealth” report from the Boston Fed. There’s this whole series of things, like the GI Bill or redlining in housing, that have advantaged certain groups of people over others and created such inequity. Compass is an organization that gets at the heart of this inequity, and at the perverse incentives in the way that subsidized housing and other assistance are set up – that if someone does better, they end up behind where they were.
I was reminded of this too when I attended the event that Compass put together at Fidelity last month with Stephanie Land, the author of “Maid.” Her story was a reminder of the barriers that we put in front of families who are poor – the web of paperwork that was required for her to just apply for certain benefits, the legwork to prove that you are poor, how demoralizing that is, how hard it can be. I began to see how what Compass does with families in housing – that instead of losing your benefit when you earn more money, that money can be put into an account to help you create a pathway forward – is needed in all our systems.
Compass: What would you say to someone else who is thinking about supporting Compass? Why should someone give and get involved?
Lionel: For a lot of us, life is so busy. You see inequities and injustices out there, and sometimes you wonder “what can I do about all this?” It falls to each of us to do our part and right the wrongs that we see out there in the world. I’ve got my set of causes that resonate with me, my values, my motivations, my interests. Each person should have a mission statement about what they’d like to do – what can I do? We can all do something.
Find organizations that are just so clearly in the right, like Compass. In terms of what Compass is doing, how you’re doing it – it’s so clearly having an impact on people who need it. It makes so much sense.