Showing Up for Our Community: An Interview with Tony Hopson, Sr., President and CEO of Self Enhancement, Inc. (SEI)
Diversity Outreach manager Ari O'Donovan recently sat down with the President and CEO of Self-Enhancement, Inc. (SEI), Tony Hopson, Sr. The transcript of that interview follows.
This blog post is part of our “Stronger Together Oregon” blog series that focuses on communities of color in Oregon.
Tell me a bit about yourself. What is your background and professional path?
I was born and raised in Portland. My whole family has been here all my life. My parents migrated from the South. They lived in the city of Vanport. I was born in 1954 right after they got flooded out of the Vanport area. I have deep and historical roots in the Vanport community. I went to Jefferson high school and grew up during the ‘60s civil rights movement. Challenged by many of the issues that were facing Black folks across the nation, I was looking at everything happening on TV – Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, all of that. I always felt like you can be a part of the problem or a part of the solution. So, I grew up playing a lot of basketball as an athlete at Jefferson. I won the state championship in ‘72 and I had the opportunity to see how the Black community galvanized around our team and our successes.
For many years when I was growing up, Jefferson was the hub for the Black community as part of the Albina community. So, all things Black were coming through Jefferson. For us to win the state championship in ‘72 was really important. It was important for me to understand that in the midst of all the racism, and all the cheating, and the fact that we were an all Black team in white America, we were still able to pull that off. I learned a lot of lessons about how far down you have to dig and how focused you have to be to become successful in white America. It also taught me what you could accomplish when enough Black folks get on the same page and work together.
Later, I went on to play college basketball and joined the Portland Trail Blazers Rookie Camp in ’77 after they won the championship. And then I came back to Portland and looked for opportunities. I was someone who grew up thinking I was going to the NBA and that was my goal. I finally realized that probably wasn’t going to be my future. I felt like being involved here locally with some things would help place me into the job market. I went into Portland public schools after getting degrees at Willamette University in sociology, and psychology, and getting my counseling certification. When I started getting involved with Portland public schools, there were still a lot of challenges around moving Black students out of inner NE Portland to other schools. I had a job with the title of integration services coordinator – Title 7. My job title meant that they put people like me in white schools to help support the Black students who were being bused into those schools. I did that for several years, then I started a program called the Achievement Athletic Motivation Program, which was similar to SEI, but within the district. Some years later, I started SEI.
How did you start Self Enhancement, Inc. (SEI)?
SEI grew out of my involvement with athletics. I was involved with a lot of camps. Most of these camps I was involved with were teaching kids how to play basketball, they were warehousing kids, and in some cases making money. Back then, Basketball Congress International (BCI) existed and they had traveling teams of basketball players. But, in the early ‘80s Black students didn’t get picked to join these teams because they were all run by white coaches who would only pick white players, and then cherry-pick the top two Black kids to put on those teams. When I started SEI, I wanted to teach kids how to play basketball, and I wanted to teach them about life. I wanted to provide academic support in a way we could teach kids that the things they learn in sports are transferable to the classroom, and different career areas. So, our camps were basically turned into week-long summer school. That’s how we started our basketball camps. We put traveling teams together so that our kids could have the same opportunities that white basketball players got. That’s where we started in ’81. I raised some money, put a staff together, and came up with the concept. All of it was very spiritual as well. I tell folks, I believe I was always led by the Spirit to do what I do. Really, sometimes I feel like I didn’t have a choice. If I had made it to the NBA, SEI may never have existed. I had my plan for my own life and God had another plan. I’m glad that God ultimately led the way with his plan and it worked out for me.
Starting the camps quickly became more than that because we had gang issues that started to manifest in NE Portland. In our camp we had three individuals involved in the first drive by shooting. I tried to get one teen gang member to leave the gang life and come join us, but he wouldn’t do it out of respect for me and the fact that he was the main breadwinner in his family. He died in a tragic drive-by shooting shortly after that. We then got resources to take a summer camp program and turn it into a year-round effort. Out of that tragedy came the growth of SEI. We moved into the school system including Jefferson High school, middle schools, and then elementary schools. We were off and running at that point with many different services for different schools at different levels.
What are some of the best SEI programs and resources you provide to community members?
First of all, I think it’s important to understand that Black people are very relationship-oriented. At SEI we pride ourselves on staying connected to relationships. It has gotten more challenging with COVID-19, but if you can’t connect with people that way, it’s very difficult to have success. We always understood that for us to be successful, we had to be authentic, and we had to provide resources on the ground where our kids and families are. I tell folks, “Show me an at-risk kid, follow that kid home, and you’ll probably find some at-risk adults.” We don’t have a youth problem in the Black community, we have an adult problem in the Black community. If you’re going to give services to kids, you have to provide them to the whole family. Go home and provide services to whichever adults those kids are coming home to.
We have wraparound services for children and families in our community. We have all kinds of services that encompass that including our in-school services, after-school services, our summer program, parent involvement services, post high school services, I mean you name it and we do it. That’s because in a multi-service approach, whatever a family needs, or a kid needs you want to be in a position to provide that. There is no kid or adult that never falls down. They all get to a point when they are at the end and can’t get something done. The difference is when you fall down, is there someone there to pick you up and tell you that you’re ok, and give you love, and then show you how to take that next step. For many kids, they have parents or a coach who can do that. But, for a lot of kids, they don’t have that at all. They’re home life isn’t right, and they’re not connected to the school situation. SEI’s coordinators, who are like mentors with caseloads, are responsible to be there for our kids. If a kid has a recital and doesn’t have anyone who can come show support, then it’s the coordinator’s job to show up as if they are a close family member, and in some cases the parent. At times our coordinators act as parents to our kids.
We train our people to understand that they each have the roles of instructor, mentor, and parent, in that order. You can’t just show up for a kid and try to act like you’re the parent. Some kids won’t have that. But, you can show up and give them instruction. When the relationship grows, you can begin to mentor them, and once that is accomplished you can step into that parent role. At that point, you can help kids do the right thing. Out of their respect for you, then hopefully they begin to follow your instruction. We have 24/7 case management, supportive relationship building, and we provide an individual success plan for each kid. We are always trying to do more and more for our kids.
How have things changed at SEI during the COVID-19 pandemic?
When we talk about the new normal, what folks need to understand is that there is no normal. Things are going to change all the time, and if you are not flexible enough to deal with that, you’re going to struggle. COVID is not going away. It will continue to be front and center, and if you’re looking for a way to get comfortable with how it used to be, that’s not coming back. We have been trying to get folks and our staff to understand that. We have to come up with ways we can continue to provide our services with the flexibility to know that on any given day something may happen that forces us to do it differently than how we are doing today.
“At SEI we want to be at least one stable and consistent place where kids know they can be safe. They can get whatever they need to stay safe, stay positive, and continue to move forward.” - Tony Hopson, Sr.
To learn more and raise awareness about SEI, and associated services, please visit their website. Follow SEI on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for updates.
