Ted Alling is the Southeast U.S. and Caribbean regional honoree for the 2022 YPO Global Impact Award. The award focuses on YPO members making impact outside the organization that is both sustainable and scalable, affecting people, prosperity, peace or our planet.
What’s next?
That’s the question serial entrepreneurs Ted and Kelly Alling were faced with in 2015. Alling had sold off Access America, a USD500 million logistics startup that would eventually merge with UPS subsidiary, Coyote Logistics, and they had just finished a sabbatical year living in London with their three kids.
Now they were back in their home base of Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA, and while Ted was — and is — still heavily involved in the logistics startup scene through his venture capital firms, LPG, Dynamo and Brickyard, they were looking to focus more of their attention on giving back to their community.
When the pair took a tour of Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy, Kelly, no stranger to philanthropic work as a former resource manager for Habitat for Humanity, found their answer: They would open an all-boys public charter school.
Opening its doors in August 2018, Chattanooga Preparatory School (Chatt Prep) serves at-risk, low-income boys in the Chattanooga area. The school was designed to provide unique and impactful educational opportunities in a supportive environment that promotes academic excellence and inspires leadership.
Currently more than 300 students are enrolled in grades 6-9. They began with just an inaugural sixth grade class, adding an additional one each year until they reach 12th grade and top out at 500 students through a lottery system.
Building the men of tomorrow
Ted and Kelly’s vision was to set the bar high with Chatt Prep. So much so, that they took an exploratory year to tour schools around the country, particularly paying attention to high-performing charter schools. They traveled from Los Angeles to Atlanta to Chicago to Newark, New Jersey, and various cities in between to glean as much as they could and bring best practices and ideas back to their own community.
“You have to set goals so high that other people laugh,” says Alling. “Kelly and I have always been goal-oriented in business and with the school. If it’s a really clear vision and mission, people rise to the challenge, and we’re seeing that.”
Their vision and mission were direct responses to the inequities they saw within their city.
“Kelly and I both want to help people believe in themselves. We like helping other folks achieve their goals,” says Alling. “Seeing how smart these kids are — and they are so bright — but they have just been stuck in some bad systems. Your zip code should not define your outcome.”
Harnessing impactful resources
Early on, the Allings drew on their entrepreneurial strengths and experiences to set Chatt Prep up for success.
“Working together, we lean on each other just like a startup,” says Alling. “You want co-founders with complementary skills. I’m good in certain areas, and Kelly is very good in others. I’m a good dreamer, and she’s great at making things happen and executing.”
— Ted Alling, Southeast U.S. and Caribbean regional honoree for the 2022 YPO Global Impact Award share
They were strategic in setting up school leadership, bringing talent in from across the country, like their CEO Brad Scott, who began as the head of the school and came from a background founding and leading successful charter schools in Texas.
They also knew community buy-in would be key. Leveraging their large network in Chattanooga, particularly within the startup community, they set up a mentor program that has paired more than 200 community members with students. Mentors are there for emotional and academic support, but they also go above and beyond, attending their mentees’ athletic and extracurricular activities, and in one case, even purchasing braces for a student. Anything to ensure that Chatt Prep’s young men succeed in life.
“I can’t believe how committed our mentors are,” says Alling. “It’s neat to see so many people invested in the school and in these young people. They are developing these wonderful, deep relationships.”
Alling also harnesses his startup connections to provide opportunities that, regardless of socio-economic status, any teenager would dream to come across.
This year, a dozen students are working with professionals from Y Combinator company Juni Learning and learning to code Python. While Alling knows coding is becoming more common in schools, he’s proud of the unique approach Chatt Prep is taking. He says, “it’s not just learning coding. It’s working with people who work in that industry, which is super innovative. Some of these kids are crushing it; they could go off in three years and have high-paying jobs in tech if they want to.”
Beyond startups, Alling calls on his professional connections, including those within the YPO community to come in for the school’s “Grit Speaker Series.” Past speakers include NFL quarterback Peyton Manning, entrepreneur and digital media expert Gary Vaynerchuk, and the first Black chess Grandmaster, Maurice Ashley, who extended his visit to spend time with and coach Chatt Prep’s chess club members.
“Once your brain is exposed to something, you can never go back,” Alling says of all the external influences he works to bring in. “We’re all about exposing these kids to so many different things. Ultimately, we just want to give these kids the same opportunities our own kids have.”
Encouraging pride and creativity
When Alling thinks about moments that show him the work they are doing is making true impact, a specific day comes to mind: the celebration of the 2020-2021 Royal Readers, a group of 12 young men who read more than 1 million words throughout the school year. To celebrate this impressive feat, they were given the royal treatment. Donning special jackets and T-shirts, they arrived at school in a Hummer stretch limo, walked their own red carpet, and were celebrated at a school-wide pep rally before spending the day at an arcade.
“To see the boys get so excited for themselves and for the school to be excited for them and celebrating their achievements, it is a cool thing to see,” says Alling. “At Chatt Prep, it’s cool to be smart and seeing that actually coming to fruition was awesome.”
Not only is it cool to be smart; it’s cool to be creative.
“A lot of our innovation is led by our students. That’s the culture of our community. Kids are coming up with ideas and we say, yes, run with that,” says Alling.
One such project is the Achieve More Podcast, created by the Chatt Prep Media Club, where they spotlight students and local and national leaders alike, including a recent episode featuring Jimmy and Dee Haslam, philanthropists and co-owners of the Cleveland Browns football team.
“Encouraging that kind of ownership leads to some really neat stuff,” says Alling. “I see some of our ideas spreading throughout the community, where even other public schools are taking notice, and it becomes an ‘all tides are rising’ situation in Chattanooga.”
From the rigorous academics to athletic opportunities and extracurricular activities that go above and beyond, the Allings hope their Chatt Prep students leave feeling both prepared and inspired.
— Ted Alling, Southeast U.S. and Caribbean regional honoree for the 2022 YPO Global Impact Award share
“We would love, by the time our students leave, to identify a big problem they want to take on, and then really go after it hard. Whatever it is, be happy going after it, don’t settle, but strive for greatness,” he says. “Kelly and I talk a lot about how great it’s going to be when one day our Prepsters introduce us to their spouses and kids, and we talk about the community that Chatt Prep is building and will foster in the future. That’s what we’re really excited about.”
Not only is the culture of Chatt Prep spreading throughout the community and preparing students for success once they graduate, it’s also impacting Alling’s worldview and his opinions about what people in leadership positions such as himself can do to move the needle in the communities that need it most.
“We hope what we’re doing can motivate other executives to take some chances, get outside their comfort zone and make a difference in their communities,” he says. “I think a lot of us have more free time than we think and bigger shoulders where we can take on more than we currently do.”
