MINDSET DEVELOPMENT NETWORK
Creating Power Through Opportunity
MINDSET DEVELOPMENT NETWORK
Mindset Development Network’s (MSDN) primary programs focus on: 1) Establishing self-reliance through supporting grassroots organizations, 2) Educational support for marginalized communities, and 3) Research and development of the causes for and solutions to the condition of women and youth in marginalized communities. MSDN has developed relationships with communities in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Haiti, Belize, California, Mississippi, etc.. In each area, MSDN works with the community to identify specific projects and activities to assist them in becoming more self- reliant.
HISTORY
Mindset Corporation was founded in 2004 and incorporated as a 501c3 non-profit that same year. Its founder, Maceo Lott, was a long-time entrepreneur in the Los Angeles area and had become increasingly concerned with the declining conditions in the community. He had experienced the 1965 Watts riots, the 1992 Rodney King uprisings and the crack cocaine epidemic - all of which had devastating impacts on the African-American and larger community. As the daily news, on more than one occasion, reported the finding of newborn babies in dumpsters, Baba Maceo (as he was affectionately called) decided to use his meager resources and somewhat extensive network toward engaging the youth in more productive ventures.
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During this period (1990 - 2004) Baba Maceo’s primary business venture was journalism; the production of a small community free paper called the LA Capsule, later changed to Mindset. At its height the distribution reached about 15,000 (mostly placed in local businesses for customers to access). He was basically a one-man show: writing, layout for print, selling ads, designing and distribution of the final newsprint. There were some contributing writers, but the bulk of the work was done by Baba Maceo during his normal twelve-plus hour days.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
It is instructive that Baba Maceo’s maternal grandparents, Nelson and Janie Ballard, were landowners in South Madison County, MS in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They had nine children and 180 acres to tend. “There were no public schools for Black children, therefore, (Grandpa) Nelson, with the help of his neighbors, built Spring Hill, a one-room school, to educate his children and his neighbors’ children.”
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Maceo’s mother, Bessie Ballard Rozelle, moved to St. Louis during the “great migration” like most of her nine siblings (except one, Seth Ballard). There, young Maceo, as did many other members of the community, learned of the tireless, charitable work ethic of “Aunt Bessie”. She taught piano lessons, shared her humble living space with those in need, and produced an endless list of programs and activities at her church. The work ethic of Baba Maceo has its roots in this family lineage.
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