What sets Sustainable Lives apart?

I have been developing Sustainable Lives for many years. This website is the first public expression of an idea which draw from a lot of different disciplines and the work of a lot of people attempting to solve some of the worlds most difficult problems.    The resources page is the most active part of this site and I continue to add resources to it as they are relevant to the Sustainable Lives idea.

A lot of people wonder how this is any different from any other organization that does the same sorts of things.

My primary interest is not to replace already existing entities or replicate what other people have already done. I want to fill in the gaps so that those who have no faith in traditional education or occupations can learn, grow and create their own. I want to help solve some of the social problems that exist by creating organizational systems which people can interact with for free. I want to make these free organizational systems financially solvent through carefully structuring the entire organizational entity.

In all honesty, what sets this Sustainable Lives apart from other organizations is that it will do what it does and it will be financially solvent without much outside funding.

I needed to come up with an idea that would make funding possible without the aid of society at large or government because there is an over all lack of value for the poor: both in pocket and in spirit.

So, what sets this idea apart: why is it so difficult to figure out? It’s hard because I’m trying to set up a business which solves social needs and big problems like poverty without leaning on traditional non-profit business structures. I’m trying to create an organization that fills some social needs in ways traditional non-profit agencies can’t and solve some of the underlying issues which create harmful societal issues like drug addiction.

This is a work in process because it isn’t just recreating something that exists, it is creating something that already exists in completely different ways.

Author: Victor

I’m a social worker by training, with a Master of Social Work from Syracuse University (2024). Before that, I served in the United States military and deployed to Afghanistan in 2003–2004 with a forward surgical medical team. Over the years, I’ve moved through a lot of different worlds. I’ve been involved in small nonprofit art and cultural organizations. I spent about a decade working in residential programs with people who have developmental disabilities, across different ages and levels of need. I drove a cab for several years and later ran my own small taxi company. I spent a year driving a semi over the road, mostly to see the country and understand it from the inside. When I came back home, I drove for Uber before returning to the human services field and finishing my education. Outside of work, I’m an improvisational musician, I study martial arts, and I’m almost always writing in one form or another. All of these threads—care work, systems, movement, listening, making things—shape how I think about people, sustainability, and what it actually means to build a life that holds together over time.