USD President's Report and Honor Roll of Donors 1995

fourth and fifth grade. and announced to the sixth-graders that he would establish a scholarship to pay for their college or vocational educations. lust as important. he vowed to keep in touch with each of the students during the six years until high school graduation. He wanted to give these youngsters the gift of personal involvement that his parents had so richly bestowed upon him. lust as his mentors had encouraged !ones to achieve. he hoped to encourage this inner-city class. which. if statistics were to be believed. would lose up to half of its students before high school graduation. His program was dubbed Project I Believe. !ones kept his end of the pledge. maintaining close contact with the students and raising money from private sources to fund the scholarship. The students kept their end of the pledge by defying the odds. Of the 57 students who participated in the program, 85 percent graduated from high school. and of those. 65 percent have gone on to college or vocational school. !ones·education at Harvard was a success as well. and was followed by several years learning real estate investment management with the largest firm in the industry. By working in that corporate environment. !ones rounded out the skills he needed to achieve his ultimate dream - to create a company that would actively foster business development in the inner city. With start·up capital from longtime mentor Sol Price. Williams founded Citylink Investment Corp. The company's first project has been to design and finance a master plan for redeveloping the City Heights neighborhood, which has one of the highest crime rates and lowest home-ownership rates in San Diego. The plan features an urban village with a police station/community center at its core. surrounded by a park. a retail business district. and new and refurbished homes. Funded by !ones· company. the construction of the police station/community center has begun, and the city will reimburse CityLink when the construction is complete. !ones has worked with numerous community groups and individuals to develop a plan that residents can support and participate in. because their involvement will make or break the project. he says. That participation will include an opportunity to invest in the community through increased home ownership or by investing in the urban village itself. Taking his parents' lessons to heart. !ones believes communities can fight back against decay by creating a partnership of business. government and resident involvement. "In our society. we need to arrive at a better balance to permit business and government to function efficiently. but at the same time to allow the individuals who occupy the neighborhoods to do their part to maintain them," he says. "It's that nurturing. that caring and that balance that creates sustainable neighborhoods. sustainable cities and sustainable democracies."

hen recounting the milestones in his life. William D.!ones '80 doesn't point to his personal accomplishments. He points instead to the individ· uals who have guided him over the years. There were his parents. who stressed the importance of taking responsibility for one's community and family. then set an example through their own actions. Tm blessed with having a mom and dad at home who cared a lot about me.'' !ones says with warmth. "I don't think there was a football game. baseball game. speech contest or any significant event that when I looked out in the stands. my mother or father was not present. They arranged their lives in order to make that happen." There was former City Councilman Leon Williams. who took high school senior !ones under his wing in 1972 and encouraged his growth in city government for the next 15 years. More important to !ones. Williams became his father away from home. So influential was Williams that he convinced !ones to forgo a scholarship to UCLA so he could enroll at USD and continue working in Williams· City Council office. He wanted !ones to get a practical education and a college education at the same time. ': !ones took Williams·advice and counts that decision as qne of his best. "I was able to be close to my family.'' he says. "I was able to work for a man who was very gifted intellectually and who had the highest degree of integrity. t'.\nd being able to attend the University of San Diego was a treat. The small classes and the personal attention I received from the faculty and staff were more than I ever expected in a college environment. I was getting mentored on all levels: at home. at college and in a job environment." !ones earned a degree in economics and then. at 27. succeeded Williams as councilman for San Diego's 4th District, becoming the youngest city council member in any major American city. From then on. countless individuals encouraged !ones to set noble goals. He gained nourishment from mentors at e~ery stage of his life and in turn set goals that have nourished the people and the community he cares about. !ones' hallmark is that his goals stress long·term change over,short·term gain. :fhafs why. in an extraordinary move after five successful years on the San Diego City Council - including a year as aeP-uty mayor - !ones chose not to run for re-election. He elected instead to go back to school. "It was a very difficult decision because things were going very well.'' !ones says. "But I determined that the healthiest move I could make would be to strengthen my eaucation and to develop more skills in the business community." Before he left town in 1987 to pursue an MB.A. degree at Harvard, !ones made one more extraordinary move. He visitea.Kennedy Elementary School. where he had attended

. ' ' • f" \ -~ 4

' -7 .J . J, I • ,.•• 1!~ I• :,,,,,,_ ' \ I. ' .. ~., . '. t.! I f ~- ·, (Ji ,~ l ' , ~\. •• •.• 'f · I l , ' t f •· . : ! I 'f ' , '. ' I ' , ,. .. ,,, ' , I I ... , I . ' , l

President and CEO Citylink Investment Corporation San Diego, California Secretary, USO Board of Trustees