Jason Janz co-founded CrossPurpose in 2008, influenced greatly by spending his childhood and adolescence in poverty.  His passion for social entrepreneurship and serving the poor is satisfied through his role as CEO, where he builds our staff team, sets the organizational culture and raises funds.  When he is not working, Jason enjoys bike riding and hanging out with his family.

CrossPurpose means “a contrary aim.”  We wanted to model a different way, a more dignified and holistic way, of walking with our neighbors all the way out of poverty.

We approached this challenge holistically because while poverty shows its effects financially, the solution is often relational and spiritual.  This informed what is now the mission of CrossPurpose: “to abolish economic, relational, and spiritual poverty through career and community development.”

To this end, we doubled down on building social capital with our families and lived by the maxim, “There is no significant change without a significant relationship.”  For the last ten years, our weekly family dinners have been the place where lifelong friendships have been formed between our families, volunteers, donors, and staff.