WEBVTT 00:00:02.658 --> 00:00:10.107 - Good afternoon. Is it on, Tyler? Sorry, I forgot to check with you. Good afternoon, everyone. Hey, Wilson. 00:00:10.107 --> 00:00:17.139 - Sorry. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to our weekly celebration of service here at Rotary. My 00:00:17.139 --> 00:00:24.100 - name is Tracy Ivanovich, and I'm honored to serve as your president. Please silence your electronic 00:00:24.100 --> 00:00:30.366 - devices if you would. And Tyler, if you would bring up the slides real quick. No worries. 00:00:31.298 --> 00:00:37.706 - And by the way, you may have noticed we have our new theme. We got the flag, the create lasting impact. 00:00:37.706 --> 00:00:44.114 - If you do not get your free pen, as we know, nothing's in the world's free. But if you did not get one, 00:00:44.114 --> 00:00:50.398 - please pick one up on your way out. That is the theme for this year. And so as I told you guys on the 00:00:50.398 --> 00:00:56.190 - first day, oops, a little slow here. As I told you all on the first day, I was going to start 00:00:56.482 --> 00:01:02.124 - highlighting some of the clubs around the world. And so the one that I picked today is in Helgoland, 00:01:02.124 --> 00:01:07.711 - Germany. And every time I look at that, I think it's a Lego land. It is an island in Germany. I did 00:01:07.711 --> 00:01:13.520 - not realize there were islands in Germany, so that was good for me to learn. It is two and a half hours 00:01:13.520 --> 00:01:17.822 - by ship. It is inhabited by 1,300 people, and the Rotary Club has 25 people. 00:01:18.146 --> 00:01:24.945 - So that's pretty amazing. They said that they have a very strong bond and they're very focused on helping 00:01:24.945 --> 00:01:31.616 - the kids in the high schools learn about plastics and taking care of the plastic problems that we have. 00:01:31.616 --> 00:01:38.094 - They also want to end those plastic problems and they deliver food services to elders by handcart. I 00:01:38.094 --> 00:01:44.572 - guess that's Island Uber, the hand carts. And then I thought it was quite interesting also that they 00:01:44.572 --> 00:01:45.534 - partnered with 00:01:45.634 --> 00:01:52.516 - another another club down in Lower Saxony to send aid to Ukraine. So it just brings about how we all 00:01:52.516 --> 00:01:59.126 - how we impact the world in different ways from different clubs. And I find it quite interesting. 00:01:59.126 --> 00:02:05.054 - On that note, I would like to ask Connie Shekalis to come up and share the reflection. 00:02:13.858 --> 00:02:21.725 - Thank you, President Tracy. Speaking of having an impact on others, I would like to give you some quotes 00:02:21.725 --> 00:02:29.367 - from our founder, Paul Harris. Success is not measured by wealth, but by the positive impact you have 00:02:29.367 --> 00:02:34.686 - on others. So today, I am going to ask for volunteers to do this week, 00:02:34.978 --> 00:02:43.881 - something that's unhumiliating, brief, and easy, and then report back to me. Here's my contact information 00:02:43.881 --> 00:02:52.202 - if you want to take a screenshot. Report back to me how it went. So may I have some volunteers? Oh, 00:02:52.202 --> 00:03:00.772 - good. Steve, thank you. Okay. All right. Give an extra big tip on a purchase or tip when tipping isn't 00:03:00.772 --> 00:03:04.766 - expected. Another volunteer. They're very easy. 00:03:05.218 --> 00:03:13.193 - Yes, thank you. Give someone a LinkedIn recommendation. Oh, here's one of my favorites. This is super. 00:03:13.193 --> 00:03:21.168 - You don't have to talk to anybody on this one. Volunteer. Oh, thank you, Tim. Push the mulch away from 00:03:21.168 --> 00:03:28.988 - a tree's trunk in a public space. Don't go into somebody's yard, because the mulch isn't supposed to 00:03:28.988 --> 00:03:33.246 - be touching the trunk. Volunteer. Oh, thank you, Elan. 00:03:33.602 --> 00:03:42.855 - Let me pick a good one for you. Well, you'll be good at this. Compliment a stranger. Tracy, would you 00:03:42.855 --> 00:03:52.200 - like to volunteer? I'd really like to volunteer. Introduce two people you know who might enjoy meeting 00:03:52.200 --> 00:04:02.814 - each other. Another volunteer. This one is really fun. I tried this, and it turned out that it was another Rotarian. 00:04:03.522 --> 00:04:12.798 - Rex, would you like to volunteer? Oh, Judy, this one's really fun. Pay for a stranger's coffee or something 00:04:12.798 --> 00:04:21.472 - else. And I have one more. Any volunteers for this last one? Super easy. Thank you. Make eye contact 00:04:21.472 --> 00:04:27.742 - with five people and smile. So, Eddie, I have, I have others. Oh, Steve. 00:04:30.370 --> 00:04:42.326 - Steve, take some old towels to the Bloomington Animal Shelter. Do you want one? Oh, you'll do the shelter? 00:04:42.326 --> 00:04:53.499 - Okay, so Steve, pick up some trash. Yeah, probably a lot of you do these anyway. And I think that's 00:04:53.499 --> 00:04:58.974 - it. Oh, I have one more, if anybody is dying to, 00:04:59.106 --> 00:05:09.422 - Yes, yes, thank you. I don't think I said this yet. Talk my conversation with a cashier. So, yeah, so 00:05:09.422 --> 00:05:19.536 - I try and tell you, oh my gosh, okay, I think that's all. I can't think of any other nice things to 00:05:19.536 --> 00:05:26.110 - do. Oh, wait, no, I forgot to turn the page. Put something nice. 00:05:26.338 --> 00:05:33.944 - something good in a bag to take to goodwill another day. Oh, and here's why these are so good. Somebody 00:05:33.944 --> 00:05:41.403 - volunteer. You'll do a second one. Snail mail a handwritten note to a fellow rotarian about something 00:05:41.403 --> 00:05:48.789 - you admire in them, giving them an example. And yeah. Okay. Anybody else? I've got two more. Martha, 00:05:48.789 --> 00:05:50.398 - are you volunteering? 00:05:50.914 --> 00:05:58.660 - Okay, remember something any person did that impressed you. Send them an email telling them something 00:05:58.660 --> 00:06:06.481 - you learned from them. And here's my last one. This is super easy. And you probably, Amy, text a quick 00:06:06.481 --> 00:06:13.923 - compliment to a colleague, friend, or family member. And don't forget to let me know how it goes. 00:06:13.923 --> 00:06:19.998 - All right. And with that, Peggy, if you would come up and introduce our guests. 00:06:21.442 --> 00:06:31.086 - Well, Peggy's coming up. I will just say that having worked in New York City, it freaks people out when 00:06:31.086 --> 00:06:40.544 - you look them in the eye and smile. So I'd love to do that. So good afternoon, everyone. And I'm here 00:06:40.544 --> 00:06:50.558 - to introduce our guests today. When I say your name, guest, would you please stand so we can recognize you? 00:06:51.298 --> 00:07:06.365 - First of all, is Stacey Govenay. Okay. Stacey is a guest of Steve Wicks and is at Beltrace Senior Living. 00:07:06.365 --> 00:07:18.590 - Next, somebody we know and know a lot, but I'm looking, looking, looking, Ann Bright. 00:07:20.226 --> 00:07:32.486 - Oh, hiding. Yes. Good to see you, Anne. And one more, Kelsey Haislip, also a guest of Steve. And Stacey 00:07:32.486 --> 00:07:44.392 - is also with Beltrace. Thank you. And our guests, if you want to know more about Rotary, please ask, 00:07:44.392 --> 00:07:46.750 - particularly Steve, 00:07:48.770 --> 00:07:57.594 - And we hope you will come back again. All right. And now, uh-oh. There we go. So we have some birthdays 00:07:57.594 --> 00:08:06.334 - to celebrate. Fred Dunn on the 20th, Dick McCaig on the 25th, Charlie Osborne and Ashley Wesley today. 00:08:06.754 --> 00:08:13.678 - and Ellen Stroman on the 19th. And then I know Tyler's is coming up Sunday, but we'll see that next 00:08:13.678 --> 00:08:20.603 - week. And then from anniversaries, this is the second week we've had no anniversaries. So there you 00:08:20.603 --> 00:08:26.142 - go. And from an announcement standpoint, okay, it's a little slow. There we go. 00:08:26.850 --> 00:08:34.220 - Surprise, surprise. We still need some sign up members for the Hoosier Hills Food Bank on the 31st. 00:08:34.220 --> 00:08:41.810 - And I know we had some people after I sent the push email out, but we still need some more. So please, 00:08:41.810 --> 00:08:49.254 - please, please help us with that. And then if you could, we sent a note to Aaron Davis. He is on his 00:08:49.254 --> 00:08:50.654 - way. He's at home. 00:08:51.042 --> 00:08:57.792 - He was able to get out of rehab. Every time I say he's out of rehab, that's therapy, just to be clear. 00:08:57.792 --> 00:09:04.673 - And he is home. And then lastly, Barcelona, baby. This year, this coming year's international conference 00:09:04.673 --> 00:09:11.357 - will be held in Barcelona, which is so fitting after the World Cup. So we are very thankful for that. 00:09:11.357 --> 00:09:17.910 - Now we have a very special celebration. Don't put that food in your mouth, Lynn Schwartzberg. Don't 00:09:17.910 --> 00:09:20.990 - put that food in your mouth. You're coming up. 00:09:21.186 --> 00:09:31.310 - And we'd like to also bring up a special guest. Do you want Bob Salzberg? Where is he? There he is, 00:09:31.310 --> 00:09:41.738 - over here, for our Paul Harris Award. Well, as you know, Mike is resting and recovering. So I am going 00:09:41.738 --> 00:09:49.534 - to do a very, very simple Paul Harris presentation. You don't get all the... 00:09:49.762 --> 00:09:58.808 - fun and games and insults. You just get me the regular stuff. The presentation of Paul Harris fellow 00:09:58.808 --> 00:10:08.213 - recognition is the Rotary Foundation's way of expressing its appreciation for a substantial contribution 00:10:08.213 --> 00:10:17.170 - to the Rotary Foundation. The Paul Harris fellow is named after the founder of Rotary, Paul Harris, 00:10:17.170 --> 00:10:18.782 - the investment of 00:10:18.914 --> 00:10:26.145 - to the Rotary Foundation and service to our community are the dividends Paul Harris Fellows provide 00:10:26.145 --> 00:10:33.448 - through their giving and service. Today, I am so happy to present the Paul Harris Fellow designation 00:10:33.448 --> 00:10:40.968 - and pin to current member Bob Salzberg. His support of the Rotary Foundation will continue all the good 00:10:40.968 --> 00:10:48.126 - work Rotary does all over the world and in our community. Bob has been a member of our club for 38 00:10:48.258 --> 00:11:13.660 - Years, I believe. Oh my gosh. And I'm happy to present Bob with a Paul Harris pin plus one. You are 00:11:13.660 --> 00:11:17.470 - quite welcome. 00:11:17.570 --> 00:11:25.654 - You sure can. Thanks. Congratulations, Bob. Thank you. And I was like that, you know, as you think about 00:11:25.654 --> 00:11:33.584 - our theme for this year, create lasting impact, Paul Harris, the contributions to International Rotary 00:11:33.584 --> 00:11:41.515 - Foundation, as well as the Bloomington Rotary Foundation, really help us drive that impact everywhere. 00:11:41.515 --> 00:11:46.750 - So thank you again, Bob, for all that you do. And with that, Jimmy, 00:11:47.074 --> 00:12:09.595 - we'll come forward and introduce our guest speaker today. Good afternoon. Thank you. Eddie Riel Jr. 00:12:09.595 --> 00:12:16.126 - is the executive director of 00:12:16.962 --> 00:12:24.745 - South Central Community Action Program and has been since October of 2021. Prior to that, or prior to 00:12:24.745 --> 00:12:32.757 - taking leadership, Eddie worked with SCAP, focusing mainly on community and client services and building 00:12:32.757 --> 00:12:40.692 - strong community relationships. In his spare time, Eddie likes to spend time with his wife, Misty Shaw, 00:12:40.692 --> 00:12:46.110 - and their puppies or dogs, Peaches and Pepper. So without further ado, 00:12:46.434 --> 00:13:06.066 - Eddie Rio Jr. Okay. Okay. You guys can hear me. Okay. Um, so this is could do this, right? Or, okay. 00:13:06.066 --> 00:13:12.286 - Okay. Cool. Okay. Gotcha. Okay. 00:13:16.034 --> 00:13:26.034 - So I'm Eddie. I'm with South Central Community Action Program. Show of hands. Are you familiar with 00:13:26.034 --> 00:13:36.734 - who we are and what we do? That's great. So my job's done. I can go ahead and eat. But in all seriousness, 00:13:36.930 --> 00:13:44.620 - You know, thanks for inviting me. I'm honored to be here. I'll do my best to, uh, explain what we do. 00:13:44.620 --> 00:13:52.761 - Some of our programs do a deep dot, not a deep dive, but, um, go into some of those things. And if there's, 00:13:52.761 --> 00:13:59.999 - I'll, there's room for questions. Um, and I can see afterwards to chat. So cool. Okay. Hold on. 00:13:59.999 --> 00:14:05.502 - So in 19, 1964 in the sixties, uh, Lyndon Johnson, um, went and visited. 00:14:05.698 --> 00:14:14.688 - rural Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. And he got to see poverty firsthand. He actually grew 00:14:14.688 --> 00:14:23.590 - up in poverty. His father was a tenant farmer. And so he understood poverty, but poverty changes from 00:14:23.590 --> 00:14:32.405 - year to year. And it was especially bad in the rural parts of Appalachia. He wanted to show what the 00:14:32.405 --> 00:14:35.198 - war on poverty would look like. 00:14:37.314 --> 00:14:45.116 - So in 1964, he signed the Equal Opportunities Act. And that included programs like Head Start, included 00:14:45.116 --> 00:14:52.618 - Community Service Block Grant, which funds community action, very exclusively community action. And 00:14:52.618 --> 00:15:00.120 - the war's been going on for 60 years. So SCAP's a part of a national group of agencies known as the 00:15:00.120 --> 00:15:06.046 - American Poverty Fighting Network. In Indiana, there are 21 community actions. 00:15:06.242 --> 00:15:14.073 - serving all 92 counties and we're all over the country. Every county is represented by a community action. 00:15:14.073 --> 00:15:21.830 - We're primarily funded through federal and state grants, but it's kind of crazy the last couple of years, 00:15:21.830 --> 00:15:29.295 - right? Not going too deep into what's going on federally or statewide. There are other priorities for 00:15:29.295 --> 00:15:32.222 - funding that this administration wants. 00:15:32.450 --> 00:15:39.464 - And we have to remind them that the war against poverty is still going on. And that's why we're here. 00:15:39.464 --> 00:15:46.959 - Let's see. So our core counties are Morgan, Monroe, Brown, and Owen. Our mission is to provide opportunities 00:15:46.959 --> 00:15:54.111 - for all people to achieve personal and economic independence to strengthen our community. We serve more 00:15:54.111 --> 00:16:01.950 - than 4,000 families annually, more than 9,000 individuals. I mentioned our core counties, we've actually expanded 00:16:02.786 --> 00:16:10.307 - housing-wise into Clay Sullivan, Jasonville, Indiana. We're in Indianapolis, Indiana. We're in Plainfield. 00:16:10.307 --> 00:16:17.757 - We're providing vouchers for people to have affordable housing. So every year, not every year, I'm sorry, 00:16:17.757 --> 00:16:24.927 - every three years, right, Jesse? Every three years, we work with the Indiana Community Action Poverty 00:16:24.927 --> 00:16:29.566 - Institute to figure out what are the top needs for our community. 00:16:30.338 --> 00:16:37.158 - Thing about CSBG, Community Service Block Grant and Community Action, we get to cater that money that 00:16:37.158 --> 00:16:44.179 - we get from the feds through the state to serve our community the way that we see fit. And the top needs 00:16:44.179 --> 00:16:51.199 - right now are quality and affordable housing, good jobs with adequate wages, benefits and opportunities, 00:16:51.199 --> 00:16:57.150 - utility affordability and assistance, food assistance. Food assistance is something that 00:16:58.082 --> 00:17:05.501 - the last few years has kind of jumped up into the top five in affordable, accessible childcare. A lot 00:17:05.501 --> 00:17:13.066 - of our programs do things directly for these things and some of them more adjacently. So I'm gonna kind 00:17:13.066 --> 00:17:20.486 - of go over through each program. I'm not gonna describe each program in great detail, but our biggest 00:17:20.486 --> 00:17:27.614 - program is Head Start. It's about half our funding. By the way, we're about a $15 million agency. 00:17:27.810 --> 00:17:34.873 - So Head Start, we serve ages birth to five with the Early Head Start program and a Head Start program. 00:17:34.873 --> 00:17:41.867 - And because it's in Health and Human Services, we are able to serve a family holistically, the entire 00:17:41.867 --> 00:17:48.862 - family, not just the children. If we were in the Department of Ed, we would only be able to serve the 00:17:48.862 --> 00:17:56.062 - children. So this gives us an opportunity to do family development, to teach life skills and job skills, 00:17:56.062 --> 00:17:57.022 - to help folks 00:17:57.314 --> 00:18:07.035 - manage their way through poverty. Our next biggest program is energy assistance. We provide energy assistance 00:18:07.035 --> 00:18:16.313 - to over 4,000 families. Let's see. I snuck my dog into one of these pictures, the one on the left there. 00:18:16.313 --> 00:18:25.327 - That's Peaches. And we don't do it alone. Federal and state funding happen, but I know that Liz Irwin 00:18:25.327 --> 00:18:27.006 - is part of Rotary. 00:18:27.138 --> 00:18:36.015 - And Duke Energy has been a big partner in a lot of our energy assistance efforts. It's gotten harder. 00:18:36.015 --> 00:18:44.805 - Electricity rates have gone up, and the benefits have stayed static. So we're hoping we are going to 00:18:44.805 --> 00:18:52.638 - see a small increase, but it's not enough to cover inflation and the cost of electricity. 00:18:55.522 --> 00:19:02.864 - One of our smaller programs, which kind of go hand in hand with energy assistance is weatherization. 00:19:02.864 --> 00:19:10.206 - It's a real interesting program. We go in and audit homes, and we figure out what their energy needs 00:19:10.206 --> 00:19:17.476 - are. And it can be something as simple as getting some new insulation in there. We replace furnaces 00:19:17.476 --> 00:19:24.382 - for free. Families have been able to reach out to us, and we've been able to keep their houses 00:19:24.546 --> 00:19:33.665 - safe and affordable for them. A lot of times when it comes to heating and cooling needs, if these things 00:19:33.665 --> 00:19:42.783 - fail, then typically, you know, it's a road to housing instability. So I haven't been executive director 00:19:42.783 --> 00:19:51.555 - for very long, but I've been with the agency for over 27 years. I was a lot less grayer and a little 00:19:51.555 --> 00:19:53.118 - skinnier too, but 00:19:53.634 --> 00:19:59.155 - I started off in Head Start, worked with families directly there, cut my teeth doing client services. 00:19:59.155 --> 00:20:04.729 - Then I moved into our housing choice opportunities department where we provide vouchers for folks. You 00:20:04.729 --> 00:20:10.304 - probably think that Bloomington Housing Authority manages the vouchers in town. They do, the majority. 00:20:10.304 --> 00:20:15.879 - We have a small number here in Bloomington, but we specialize in the more rural communities that don't 00:20:15.879 --> 00:20:21.346 - have housing authorities. A lot of times the rural communities have way less resources, and you know 00:20:21.346 --> 00:20:23.294 - this, than a city like Bloomington. 00:20:23.490 --> 00:20:30.237 - Um, I, uh, when we started, when I started this program, it was in total disarray and we were actually 00:20:30.237 --> 00:20:36.788 - in danger of losing the program back to the state. Uh, but we turned it around and, you know, we've 00:20:36.788 --> 00:20:43.470 - expanded our territory. Uh, I really enjoy this work. Uh, I miss it. Um, I told someone here that I'm 00:20:43.470 --> 00:20:50.086 - helping out with some inspections for Bloomington housing authority, but it's being allowed to be in 00:20:50.086 --> 00:20:51.134 - someone's home. 00:20:51.714 --> 00:20:58.793 - and getting them to trust you and talk to you about what their needs are, it is something that doesn't 00:20:58.793 --> 00:21:05.804 - like come right away. You have to build a relationship. So this was a good opportunity for me to kind 00:21:05.804 --> 00:21:12.815 - of hone my skills into what leadership means to me, which is building relationships. The last several 00:21:12.815 --> 00:21:19.756 - years, we've been handling the point in time count to help with counting homeless folks. So that way 00:21:19.756 --> 00:21:21.406 - we can bring funding to 00:21:21.826 --> 00:21:29.319 - to the city of Bloomington. You guys recognize Mayor Kerry there. I asked when we did the pit count 00:21:29.319 --> 00:21:37.037 - to send me into the camps, send me someplace that is a little harder. And my staff threw us a softball 00:21:37.037 --> 00:21:44.531 - and paired me up with Kerry. So, and I believe that day it was raining and it was miserable, but we 00:21:44.531 --> 00:21:50.750 - had a nice overhang and it was, we got to talk to a lot of interesting folks, but, 00:21:50.914 --> 00:21:59.203 - I do like going into the weeds to help folks. So I will keep pushing to say, hey, you know, don't baby 00:21:59.203 --> 00:22:08.054 - me, just send me out there. Let's see. Okay, sorry. Okay, Covering Kids and Families is our health navigation 00:22:08.054 --> 00:22:16.584 - program. As you guys know that there's been drastic cuts to Medicaid. Over 100,000 individuals, including 00:22:16.584 --> 00:22:20.286 - children and senior citizens and other folks, 00:22:20.386 --> 00:22:26.864 - are going to be losing their Medicaid coverage. The cool thing about Covering Kids and Families, it's 00:22:26.864 --> 00:22:33.151 - a different source of funding, so we're able to help all kinds of individuals, not just low-income 00:22:33.151 --> 00:22:37.342 - individuals. So we've been, we had the program several years ago, 00:22:37.474 --> 00:22:45.558 - And then we lost it. And then when I became executive director, I wanted to bring it back. And I believe 00:22:45.558 --> 00:22:53.411 - that health insurance and medical debt is something that encumbers a lot of Hoosiers. And I wanted to 00:22:53.411 --> 00:23:01.265 - see if we can turn the page on that. So it's a fantastic program. And Kaylee Smith, who is the person 00:23:01.265 --> 00:23:06.654 - on the left of the younger, the dark haired lady, she is our manager. 00:23:06.850 --> 00:23:14.923 - I'm amazed on how much empathy and caring that she has for her community. It's just fantastic. So a 00:23:14.923 --> 00:23:23.237 - lot of our programs I just mentioned are funded through different funding streams that is in Community 00:23:23.237 --> 00:23:31.310 - Service Block Grant. And I mentioned that we get CSBG money and we decide what to do with that. And 00:23:31.310 --> 00:23:36.638 - it rests in our Growing Opportunities Family Development Program. 00:23:36.802 --> 00:23:44.962 - Some of you who are familiar with SCAP may remember that we used to have a greenhouse and we grew lettuce, 00:23:44.962 --> 00:23:52.894 - hydroponically, basil. It was a fun project, but it was very hard to manage and it's not something that 00:23:53.986 --> 00:24:00.401 - can make money for the agency unless we upscaled it. And we looked at that, but we were like, hey, this 00:24:00.401 --> 00:24:06.447 - can't happen. We need to pivot from that. There were two things that I really liked about Growing 00:24:06.447 --> 00:24:13.109 - Opportunities was the name, the branding. We kept the branding and their manager, Erin Logsdon, a fantastic 00:24:13.109 --> 00:24:19.710 - person. She's helped a lot of folks. And I'll talk about some of these things. We have a building economic 00:24:19.710 --> 00:24:23.966 - empowerment program where we teach people about energy saving needs, 00:24:24.194 --> 00:24:31.460 - climate resilience, and when you finish the program, we give them a $500 micro-grant. So that way they 00:24:31.460 --> 00:24:38.937 - can reinvest in themselves. A housing stability income supplement program, which is through the Community 00:24:38.937 --> 00:24:46.273 - Foundation, it was a Lilly Gift Aid Grant. We are providing a housing supplement for people who qualify 00:24:46.273 --> 00:24:54.174 - because Bloomington is so expensive. And we're adjacent to working with people struggling with homelessness and 00:24:54.786 --> 00:25:02.072 - I'd like to believe that we provide resources to prevent folks from falling into homelessness. So that's 00:25:02.072 --> 00:25:09.427 - an exciting program. It's brand new. It's $2 million over the next five years, around 2 million, I think. 00:25:09.427 --> 00:25:16.435 - I can't remember the specifics. I'll take the money when they offer it. So, our Thriving Connections 00:25:16.435 --> 00:25:23.582 - program, which some of you may have heard about, is a program that connects people in the community to 00:25:23.970 --> 00:25:32.658 - Provide resources and give them life skills to navigate the hidden language when it comes to success 00:25:32.658 --> 00:25:41.431 - and opportunity. Things when you're growing up in generational poverty, you may not know how to apply 00:25:41.431 --> 00:25:44.958 - for a bank loan. You may not know how to 00:25:45.282 --> 00:25:52.388 - get funding to go to college. And there are a lot of middle-class folks, a lot of folks who have the 00:25:52.388 --> 00:25:59.423 - time and are willing to spend that time with the Thriving Connections family, and they build a real 00:25:59.423 --> 00:26:06.600 - relationship. They end up becoming friends, and it's a natural bond as opposed to a caseworker coming 00:26:06.600 --> 00:26:11.454 - in trying to teach folks stuff. Duke Energy, the last several years, 00:26:11.586 --> 00:26:19.449 - sponsored us to replace medically necessary food and medication for people during inclement weather. 00:26:19.449 --> 00:26:27.934 - I don't want to say how much it was because I don't quite remember, but it was tens of thousands of dollars. 00:26:28.098 --> 00:26:35.954 - But what was really cool was that not only were we able to help out individuals who lost their own personal 00:26:35.954 --> 00:26:43.664 - medication, which is a little bit easier to replace if you have insurance, but if you need the medication 00:26:43.664 --> 00:26:51.011 - right away, can't really wait for insurance to provide it for you. We were able to provide medicines 00:26:51.011 --> 00:26:57.630 - and things like insulin for pets, for folks who lost their medicines for their loved ones. 00:26:57.954 --> 00:27:05.062 - Those aren't really easy to replace. My wife and I have had a diabetic cat, a couple of blind dogs, 00:27:05.062 --> 00:27:12.384 - all kinds of health stuff, like anxiety and whatever. And luckily we can afford that for our pets. And 00:27:12.384 --> 00:27:19.847 - if we lost our power, we would do whatever we could to replace that medicine, but that's not the reality 00:27:19.847 --> 00:27:24.894 - for a lot of folks. So thank you Duke Energy for helping us with that. 00:27:25.058 --> 00:27:32.174 - We also have individual development accounts and basically what that is is that you do some 00:27:32.174 --> 00:27:39.985 - family development and we will match your deposit up to a certain amount and you're able to use that 00:27:39.985 --> 00:27:48.029 - money to pay for transportation, transportation costs, to better your education, for jobs, for housing, 00:27:48.029 --> 00:27:52.670 - to buy a house, to do rental deposits and things like that. 00:27:53.442 --> 00:28:00.593 - We are constantly trying to figure out how to help people in new ways. And luckily I'm surrounded by 00:28:00.593 --> 00:28:07.672 - really smart folks who help us figure out what those programs are going to look like. So one of the 00:28:07.672 --> 00:28:15.247 - craziest things that happened when I first became executive director is the city of Bloomington approached 00:28:15.247 --> 00:28:22.398 - me and was just like, what can you do with $500,000? And I was like, I want to forgive medical debt. 00:28:22.562 --> 00:28:31.012 - That $500,000 turned into a million in our first year. And we expanded medical debt to cover all this 00:28:31.012 --> 00:28:39.379 - other stuff like childcare rears, rental deposits. I wanted to work on menstrual equity. I felt that 00:28:39.379 --> 00:28:48.078 - there was an attack on women's health and I wanted to do whatever part that I could to make that happen. 00:28:48.078 --> 00:28:51.806 - So we identified menstrual equity as being a 00:28:51.970 --> 00:28:59.441 - Cause contributor to poverty and I'm very I'm very happy to do that my wife She like, you know, I asked 00:28:59.441 --> 00:29:06.625 - her about all this stuff and she's she gave me one really good piece of advice and I've shared this 00:29:06.625 --> 00:29:13.880 - with other folks It's like don't cheap out and buy the cheap tampons like buy the good stuff, right? 00:29:13.880 --> 00:29:21.854 - and Whenever I talk to anybody about menstrual equity as it's like buy the good stuff. Do not do not cheap out 00:29:22.530 --> 00:29:30.191 - But no, it's been exciting. So that million dollars turned into one point nine million dollars. This 00:29:30.191 --> 00:29:35.198 - came out of a local income tax increase and it's it's going away. 00:29:35.394 --> 00:29:42.819 - We'll find funding. We grabbed some funding from Duke. They gave us a little bit, but it's much smaller 00:29:42.819 --> 00:29:50.101 - than the 1.9 that we got. I know that we are working with the city of Bloomington to receive the last 00:29:50.101 --> 00:29:57.526 - of the ARPA funds, and we're gonna focus some of that ARPA funds on some of these things here, but it's 00:29:57.526 --> 00:30:05.022 - been a great partnership. This was under John Hamilton at first, and I worked very closely with Beverly. 00:30:05.282 --> 00:30:13.287 - Jimmy's mom and Then when the new administration came in, you know, they found it worthwhile and and 00:30:13.287 --> 00:30:21.291 - gave us some more money So but money's tough and there's a lot of priorities that the city needs And 00:30:21.291 --> 00:30:29.375 - you know, we're happy to help who we did So Child care is one of the major needs we have a head start 00:30:29.375 --> 00:30:32.862 - program that serves low-income families and 00:30:32.994 --> 00:30:39.580 - We can't serve all of our low-income families. There's still a need out there. So we are opening up 00:30:39.580 --> 00:30:46.233 - a child care center. This is in conjunction with Sun Hill Development Corporation, the nonprofit arm 00:30:46.233 --> 00:30:52.819 - of the Bloomington Housing Authority. And we built this really cool child care center that has some 00:30:52.819 --> 00:30:59.998 - apartments up top. And this has been several years under several different directors from BHA and from SCAP. 00:31:00.194 --> 00:31:06.939 - But I got to be there at the finish line. So I'll take the credit, right? So I'm there. I'm there in 00:31:06.939 --> 00:31:13.750 - the picture. But it's a need. And a lot of folks will tell you that you're a fool for trying to start 00:31:13.750 --> 00:31:17.022 - a child care center, especially in this climate. 00:31:17.218 --> 00:31:24.507 - there's a need out there and we're gonna try it and we're gonna succeed and we're going to expand when 00:31:24.507 --> 00:31:31.868 - we get there. Because of our success with Head Start and the Summit Hill Development Corporation, we're 00:31:31.868 --> 00:31:39.299 - in talks of opening up a micro center, a childcare micro center in Spencer, Indiana. We're still waiting 00:31:39.299 --> 00:31:46.942 - on some grand funding there. But if you don't have childcare, you can't go to work, you can't go to school. 00:31:47.650 --> 00:31:54.771 - We need to make this happen, and we did. And the driving force behind this, the constant through line 00:31:54.771 --> 00:32:01.822 - was Stacey Edwards, our Head Start Director. She's going to have a newish title to encompass all the 00:32:01.822 --> 00:32:09.083 - childhood programs, but I really appreciate her work on this project. Expanding childcare was a passion 00:32:09.083 --> 00:32:13.342 - of hers, and I'm glad to share that with her. So, I'm sorry. 00:32:13.698 --> 00:32:20.423 - The Chandler Center, the Reverend Dr. Marvin Chandler Center is named after a local black leader. And 00:32:20.423 --> 00:32:27.016 - he was a musician. He was a pilot. He was a reverend. And he contributed a lot to this community. I 00:32:27.016 --> 00:32:34.137 - remember just this past summer, there was a lot of hoopla surrounding changing murals in town and whatever. 00:32:34.137 --> 00:32:38.686 - And I was just like, you know what? I'm going to paint my own mural. 00:32:38.882 --> 00:32:46.877 - So, I didn't paint this personally. This mural was painted by Quasar Martin, an artist in Indianapolis. 00:32:46.877 --> 00:32:54.564 - He is famous for the Caitlin Clark mural, Tyrus Halliburton. He's done stuff all over Indianapolis. 00:32:54.564 --> 00:33:02.406 - He was at the NBA All-Star game, the tip-off in New York, the WNBA All-Star. I told him, I shared the 00:33:02.406 --> 00:33:07.710 - story of Reverend Dr. Marvin Chandler, and he was like, we'll do it. 00:33:08.034 --> 00:33:15.500 - You know, we paid him, but compared to what he gets paid for his other stuff, he did it for a song, 00:33:15.500 --> 00:33:23.115 - basically. So we're very happy to honor the Reverend Dr. Marvin Chandler and his family. He lived not 00:33:23.115 --> 00:33:30.655 - too far away from here. You know, he was at Second Baptist. That's where he served his community. So 00:33:30.655 --> 00:33:37.150 - we're happy to have his name right next to the Crestmont neighborhood, and his name is 00:33:37.250 --> 00:33:46.173 - escapes me and I feel really bad. But the good Reverend there and yes, Ernest Butler. So yeah, so Reverend 00:33:46.173 --> 00:33:54.679 - Butler and Reverend Dr. Marvin Chandler, our neighbors post in heaven and in Bloomington, I guess. So 00:33:54.679 --> 00:34:03.101 - it's something that we don't get to because of the nonprofit stuff that we do and working with folks 00:34:03.101 --> 00:34:06.270 - in poverty, we don't get to celebrate 00:34:06.434 --> 00:34:14.439 - with art very often. So this was something that we're very happy to add to what's beautiful here in 00:34:14.439 --> 00:34:22.443 - Bloomington. Finance through the First Financial Bank Foundation. Some testimonials. I'll read them 00:34:22.443 --> 00:34:27.486 - real fast. But these are real families, people that we helped. 00:34:27.586 --> 00:34:33.108 - Um, thank you so much for all your help. My family and I are eternally grateful. You guys have been 00:34:33.108 --> 00:34:38.905 - an answer to my prayers. You've really made our Christmas because you guys, my kids won't be celebrating 00:34:38.905 --> 00:34:44.482 - Christmas in the shelter, right? We helped them find housing. We have a new home to go to. I'm about 00:34:44.482 --> 00:34:50.169 - to cry. You have no idea how much you're saving me from years of pain. Uh, this is someone who applied 00:34:50.169 --> 00:34:56.574 - for some help with dental stuff. And then they went in for a visit and found out that they needed emergency dental. 00:34:57.218 --> 00:35:04.257 - Procedure or or they would lose all their teeth and They told me on the phone that they were in so much 00:35:04.257 --> 00:35:11.161 - pain that you know, they they contemplated ending their life But we were able to help them please let 00:35:11.161 --> 00:35:18.336 - me know when the checks ready I will stop I'd pick it up I will also submit the other bill on this coming 00:35:18.336 --> 00:35:23.006 - Monday. You're truly a lifesaver It's a season for giving thanks and 00:35:23.106 --> 00:35:29.433 - And that is the purpose of this email. I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you and the rest of 00:35:29.433 --> 00:35:35.947 - the staff for everything you all have done for me and my wife. I stopped by the office today and picked 00:35:35.947 --> 00:35:42.212 - up the Kroger gift cards you gave us. They are greatly appreciated. I also appreciate what SCAP did 00:35:42.212 --> 00:35:48.852 - to relieve my family of all their medical debt. During the snap freeze, we were able to help out a subset 00:35:48.852 --> 00:35:52.798 - of some of our families. One was Hoosier Action stepped up and 00:35:53.122 --> 00:36:00.254 - gave us $28,000 to feed families right when the government shut down. And the Community Foundation out 00:36:00.254 --> 00:36:07.247 - in Owen County gave us 60 grand to help out everyone who were served energy assistance in that area. 00:36:07.247 --> 00:36:14.725 - The cool thing about the Owen County one was that we partnered with the local grocery store. So we weren't, 00:36:14.725 --> 00:36:20.126 - not only were we able to help families, we were able to help a local business 00:36:20.290 --> 00:36:26.674 - Um, that also, uh, did a 10% match for, so that way we can serve more families. Uh, Oh, it's amazing. 00:36:26.674 --> 00:36:32.996 - I continue how much you helped me and my family by speaking up yesterday. Thank you. When my husband 00:36:32.996 --> 00:36:39.317 - got sick, I didn't know how we were going to pay for everything. Thanks to you guys, we finally have 00:36:39.317 --> 00:36:45.201 - breathing room and water. So, um, you've caught me. You've asked me to speak and probably the 00:36:45.201 --> 00:36:47.454 - most uninteresting part of my life. 00:36:48.130 --> 00:36:55.565 - I miss the case work, I miss working with families, but I know that my role now is to help my employees 00:36:55.565 --> 00:37:02.928 - fall in love with the mission and help families in the future. I still sneak out and do some stuff for 00:37:02.928 --> 00:37:10.220 - folks when I can, but I know that my role now is to look at spreadsheets, to talk to you guys, to eat 00:37:10.220 --> 00:37:17.726 - free lunches. So I'm very happy to take questions at this point. Does anyone have, go ahead. Okay, okay. 00:37:19.586 --> 00:37:29.595 - Oh, that's for later. OK. Thank you very much. And I'm sure glad you opened by talking about your experience 00:37:29.595 --> 00:37:38.777 - in the beginning of the war on poverty. My first job was in Eastern Kentucky. I've actually visited 00:37:38.777 --> 00:37:46.398 - the home where Lyndon Johnson made the war on poverty famous. We still, of course, 00:37:46.754 --> 00:37:54.798 - have not conquered poverty. But this is a friendly question. Not a bad one at all, because I've worked 00:37:54.798 --> 00:38:02.607 - with the poor. Do you think the poor take advantage of us in these programs? The same is said about 00:38:02.607 --> 00:38:10.807 - refugees right now. Oh, well, they're taking all our money. What is your opinion on that question? Well, 00:38:10.807 --> 00:38:15.102 - they are definitely not taking advantage of resources. 00:38:15.202 --> 00:38:23.722 - They are accessing resources just like the rest of us do. Corporate America takes resources. You get 00:38:23.722 --> 00:38:32.243 - a break on being a homeowner in some respect, right? I mean, we all take advantage of tax breaks and 00:38:32.243 --> 00:38:41.438 - resources that we can to help our families. It's just for families who are in poverty, they just, especially 00:38:41.438 --> 00:38:43.294 - generational poverty, 00:38:43.682 --> 00:38:51.886 - they don't have a lot of resources, and for people to criticize about them trying to better their lives, 00:38:51.886 --> 00:38:59.934 - it's not a fair comparison. The money that we spend on corporations, on the military, and I'm speaking 00:38:59.934 --> 00:39:07.826 - as myself, not as the director of SCAP, so don't go telling our congressman or governor or whatever. 00:39:07.826 --> 00:39:12.670 - We should be spending more money on people who need our help. 00:39:17.986 --> 00:39:25.342 - Thank you for coming today and for all that the agency does on behalf of the children and the families. 00:39:25.442 --> 00:39:31.490 - My question to you, I have two questions. First one of the counties you mentioned, which one has the 00:39:31.490 --> 00:39:37.539 - greatest need for service and which one are you able to provide the greatest need for? And secondly, 00:39:37.539 --> 00:39:43.527 - I'd like to know more about your public relations and how you're getting the word out to the people 00:39:43.527 --> 00:39:49.456 - in need. Yes. So our biggest county, two biggest counties are Monroe and Morgan. There's a lot of, 00:39:49.456 --> 00:39:54.366 - you know, Monroe is obviously city Bloomington. It's very expensive to live here. 00:39:54.466 --> 00:40:02.198 - There's a large population in Morgan. Brown and Owen are smaller, right? Because it's more spread out, 00:40:02.198 --> 00:40:09.930 - it's more rural. But we, looking at our energy assistance, looking at our housing concerns, Monroe and 00:40:09.930 --> 00:40:17.662 - Morgan top that list. Now we have someone who just recently retired from Brown County and she was very 00:40:17.662 --> 00:40:23.742 - active in getting people housed in Brown County. And probably a disproportionate 00:40:23.874 --> 00:40:32.163 - compared to the population. So we do serve a lot of folks for housing in Brown County, people who find 00:40:32.163 --> 00:40:39.728 - it very expensive to live there. As far as our public relations go, Jesse Erie is here. She's 00:40:39.728 --> 00:40:47.937 - our communication and advocacy person. We are working to get our name out there because it's not just 00:40:47.937 --> 00:40:52.766 - our agency, but nationwide community action doesn't get the 00:40:53.218 --> 00:40:59.563 - the top billing in a lot of places. People hear about United Way, they hear about all these other nonprofits, 00:40:59.563 --> 00:41:05.677 - but we're just as big and we've been doing the work for a long time. But if you wanna connect with Jesse, 00:41:05.677 --> 00:41:11.560 - I also have cards and I can stick around and talk afterwards if you wanna help us out with the public 00:41:11.560 --> 00:41:17.501 - relations. So thank you. Thank you for the work you do. A couple of questions. First is, it's been two 00:41:17.501 --> 00:41:23.038 - or three years now, but the Monroe County School Corporation had a referendum to try to improve 00:41:23.298 --> 00:41:30.177 - daycare and child care. I guess first question is you can comment on how that's going from your vantage 00:41:30.177 --> 00:41:37.188 - point and what needs still exist. And then the second question is, you know, lots of other people working 00:41:37.188 --> 00:41:43.935 - in the same spaces that you are. Tell us some of the government and not for profit agencies with whom 00:41:43.935 --> 00:41:50.615 - you work closest. Sure. So getting back to the first question, we need universal child care. I mean, 00:41:50.615 --> 00:41:51.806 - this is something 00:41:52.034 --> 00:41:58.248 - along with mental care, it needs to happen. And thank you MCCSE for doing their best to do that. So 00:41:58.248 --> 00:42:04.711 - that's changed how we wanna serve folks. And like the new childcare center that we're opening up, we'll 00:42:04.711 --> 00:42:11.360 - focus on early childhood, three and under. We still serve some four to five year olds, and we work closely 00:42:11.360 --> 00:42:17.574 - with MCCSE to make that happen. We've had partnerships with them in the past, and we would be happy 00:42:17.574 --> 00:42:19.998 - to explore partnerships in the future. 00:42:20.098 --> 00:42:28.494 - but the more the merrier. And we are very happy that we can access funding to serve more families here 00:42:28.494 --> 00:42:36.646 - in Monroe County. As far as organizations that we work closely with, they probably have spoken here 00:42:36.646 --> 00:42:44.879 - before. We work closely with Forrest at Beacon, Emily at New Hope. I'm close with Katie Broadfoot at 00:42:44.879 --> 00:42:49.118 - Pathways, formerly Monroe County United Ministries. 00:42:49.250 --> 00:42:57.888 - We've worked closely with the city of Bloomington, obviously, the community foundation here in Bloomington 00:42:57.888 --> 00:43:06.446 - and in Owen County. We recently got some money to help out some folks in Morgan through the Morgan County 00:43:06.446 --> 00:43:14.680 - Foundation. We're on a bunch of committees. A lot of us are trying to think of in Bloomington. Jesse, 00:43:14.680 --> 00:43:18.878 - can you, anyone that I missed in Bloomington? Yeah. 00:43:20.354 --> 00:43:28.637 - Monroe County Smart Start, the Indiana Recovery Alliance. Basically, we can't do it all. And we will 00:43:28.637 --> 00:43:36.838 - do whatever we can to form partnerships with the organizations. Right after COVID, we had access to 00:43:36.838 --> 00:43:45.203 - CARES Fund that was very specific to Community Service Block Grant. And when I became director, I was 00:43:45.203 --> 00:43:50.206 - left with a big sum of money. But I had to spend it in like, 00:43:50.498 --> 00:43:56.689 - in like six months. And I figured out with our state grantors how to make that happen. What we did was 00:43:56.689 --> 00:44:02.940 - we met with other organizations like Beacon, like New Hope, and we couldn't give them cash because cash 00:44:02.940 --> 00:44:09.191 - would have been more paperwork and we just didn't have time to do that. But what we found out was like, 00:44:09.191 --> 00:44:15.321 - hey, what are your needs are and we'll buy it for you. And this was, this is what we started with our 00:44:15.321 --> 00:44:20.190 - financial equity. We did a lot of stuff with that. We, you know, we worked with, 00:44:20.482 --> 00:44:30.289 - Path for You, which is an IU health program that helps people with contraceptive sexual health. 00:44:30.289 --> 00:44:40.913 - But basically, I bought Beacon, like a new water fountain that they needed because the old one was beat 00:44:40.913 --> 00:44:49.086 - up and was getting a lot of use. And we bought New Hope, an electric lawnmower. 00:44:49.410 --> 00:44:56.466 - There's some B-roll, like photos and videos of them making me get on that thing. And I almost went off 00:44:56.466 --> 00:45:03.386 - without me. So I'm glad that that's probably buried somewhere. Pathways, Mackham at the time, we did 00:45:03.386 --> 00:45:10.374 - a lot for them. Hoosier Hills Food Bank, I think we spent $20,000 or $30,000 buying them food, asking 00:45:10.374 --> 00:45:17.430 - them what they needed so that way they can distribute. Mother Hubbard's Cover was another organization 00:45:17.430 --> 00:45:19.006 - that we did that with. 00:45:19.138 --> 00:45:24.757 - Um, it's like I said, we can't do it all. And I like to say, um, I love writing the check and taking 00:45:24.757 --> 00:45:30.320 - all the credit. So I'm happy that they're out there doing the work. And I just, I just did the easy 00:45:30.320 --> 00:45:34.270 - left of, of, um, making sure that they had funding to do those things. 00:45:37.538 --> 00:45:44.760 - Years ago, I was on the board for SCAP. I remember when the hydroponic project was in place. 00:45:44.760 --> 00:45:52.915 - It's not now, is that right? No, it's not. We sold the hydroponic stuff to People's Market. That's where 00:45:52.915 --> 00:45:56.254 - I wanted to know where it went. Thank you. 00:46:02.530 --> 00:46:07.781 - Thanks, Mike. So it's fascinating to me. First of all, it's wonderful that the community supports as 00:46:07.781 --> 00:46:13.032 - much as we can. I still, and I've been here seven years now, I still get entirely confused. And I've 00:46:13.032 --> 00:46:18.492 - worked closely in CASA, with New Hope, with Beacon. And when you said, you know, you love to take credit 00:46:18.492 --> 00:46:24.003 - for writing the checks, I'm still trying to figure out who is getting credit because who actually, you've 00:46:24.003 --> 00:46:29.254 - got so many different housing programs, but I'm a homeless person. Do I go to Beacon? Do I go to New 00:46:29.254 --> 00:46:30.398 - Hope? Do I go to you? 00:46:31.074 --> 00:46:39.718 - I thought Heading Home was going to be part of the solution to bring that all together to try to create 00:46:39.718 --> 00:46:48.195 - more clarity. Heading Home is a partner, too. We work with Heading Home. We helped finance their last 00:46:48.195 --> 00:46:52.766 - conference. Everyone in poverty has a different story. 00:46:53.058 --> 00:46:59.116 - someone who goes to Beacon who has been homeless for a while is something, someone different than someone 00:46:59.116 --> 00:47:05.402 - who just lost their job and is, and can't figure out how to pay for rent, right? So all of our organizations, 00:47:05.402 --> 00:47:11.517 - we work together, we do referrals both internally and externally. I'm on the South Central Housing Network 00:47:11.517 --> 00:47:17.289 - Board and I work closely with Emily, I work closely with Forrest, Leon, and we try to problem solve, 00:47:17.289 --> 00:47:21.918 - but to be honest, it's just, you know, there can't, there's not a one stop shop. 00:47:22.338 --> 00:47:28.548 - Uh, and, um, you know, I joke about taking the credit. I mean, We were just out here trying to, uh, 00:47:28.548 --> 00:47:34.944 - spend money that was given to us the right way. And, um, I'm very happy to be working in the community 00:47:34.944 --> 00:47:41.340 - where I have a lot of trusted leaders that I can rely on that I can trust because the cares money that 00:47:41.340 --> 00:47:42.334 - we distributed. 00:47:42.466 --> 00:47:49.930 - That would have been very difficult if I had to vet every single person that I was talking to. I already 00:47:49.930 --> 00:47:57.180 - knew them for years, working with them in a different capacity. So New Hope and Beacon, they all kind 00:47:57.180 --> 00:48:04.431 - of funnel through you? No, it's a collaborative affair. Heading home is a different way for us to all 00:48:04.431 --> 00:48:11.966 - connect. For example, New Hope works with homeless families, so children. Beacon is mostly single adults. 00:48:12.066 --> 00:48:19.335 - And we helped with the point in time count. We helped with funding to prevent homelessness. We don't 00:48:19.335 --> 00:48:26.532 - necessarily help folks who have been homeless off the street though. We have done that too. So it's 00:48:26.532 --> 00:48:33.872 - a lot of different organizations that have different specialties. And we just happen to have a lot of 00:48:33.872 --> 00:48:39.198 - different programs because of being a community action program. So, yeah. 00:48:39.426 --> 00:48:45.713 - Sure. So no, that's that's helpful because I think we hear so many of the different names and it's like, 00:48:45.713 --> 00:48:51.940 - well, who's doing what? Yeah. And there are unique situations. And so thank you for that. And the other 00:48:51.940 --> 00:48:57.988 - thing about our program, I don't have to fundraise. I don't have to sing for myself or typically I'm 00:48:57.988 --> 00:49:04.574 - federally funded. Right. So I get to that's a different thing. It's a different it's a different singing. And 00:49:05.090 --> 00:49:11.320 - And it's, yeah, it has its own challenges. But when you hear from Emily, when you hear from Forrest, 00:49:11.320 --> 00:49:17.489 - I mean, they have specific asks, right? And down the road, especially when we do non-federal funded 00:49:17.489 --> 00:49:23.842 - stuff like the Child Care Center, there might be asks in the future. But when you leave today, I'm not 00:49:23.842 --> 00:49:30.442 - gonna ask you to break out your checkbooks. But at some point, we may ask the community to do more because 00:49:30.442 --> 00:49:32.478 - it's tougher now than it's been. 00:49:35.746 --> 00:49:42.643 - I've long been a fan of Head Start programs nationwide. I can't think of a better use of our tax dollars. 00:49:42.643 --> 00:49:49.214 - Can you talk a little bit more about what your Head Start is? It's half of what you do with your $15 00:49:49.214 --> 00:49:56.176 - million overall budget. How many children, how many centers, and how many of the four counties, et cetera? 00:49:56.176 --> 00:50:03.007 - So it's just McRail, and we have our main centers, four classrooms, and we have some classrooms in North 00:50:03.007 --> 00:50:04.894 - Smith Pike, and then we have 00:50:05.122 --> 00:50:12.039 - Um, the, uh, at first United downtown, we have a Head Start program there. Jesse, do you know off the 00:50:12.039 --> 00:50:18.821 - top of your head? I want to say it's over 220 kids, but I am not a hundred percent sure. It's hard. 00:50:18.821 --> 00:50:24.382 - It's just like when we introduced, we need the microphone. Sorry, Michael. Sorry. 00:50:26.946 --> 00:50:32.642 - It's hard to keep track because sometimes we do have program changes. And I did, sorry, if I can add 00:50:32.642 --> 00:50:38.338 - when MCCSE did introduce free preschool, we did do a redesign in our program so that we could better 00:50:38.338 --> 00:50:43.978 - serve that under three group that wasn't being served by MCCSE. So we did increase those spots just 00:50:43.978 --> 00:50:50.238 - last year, right? So it has changed a little, but yeah, it's probably around 220, 240. Something around there. 00:50:50.498 --> 00:50:59.276 - At one point it was around 300, but there are other child care programs, affordable child care programs, 00:50:59.276 --> 00:51:08.053 - and we're happy to have them here. And our new center will serve 28. But it's not a head start, so yeah. 00:51:08.053 --> 00:51:16.496 - Are we filling the need with all the programs? So post-COVID, at first it was very difficult to find 00:51:16.496 --> 00:51:19.422 - families, to find teachers, right? 00:51:19.746 --> 00:51:26.434 - And at some point it was just like, hey, we have a lot of kids, we have no teachers. Then we have a 00:51:26.434 --> 00:51:33.591 - lot of folks who can apply for teaching and there's less kids. It's been interesting, but we're fulfilling 00:51:33.591 --> 00:51:40.614 - our grant. I mean, that's what we've been asked to do. We're serving the exact number of kids that we're 00:51:40.614 --> 00:51:45.630 - supposed to be serving. We end up serving a lot of special needs children. 00:51:46.146 --> 00:51:53.650 - in collaboration with MCCSC and other service providers. We could do more. This is why we're opening 00:51:53.650 --> 00:52:01.228 - up a childcare center, which is going to have some affordable slots, but it's also going to be market 00:52:01.228 --> 00:52:08.880 - price for some families because how else can we pay our bills? We have to, for families who can afford 00:52:08.880 --> 00:52:12.446 - the upper threshold, they'll be helping finance 00:52:12.610 --> 00:52:20.166 - some of the families who couldn't afford child care. But we would like to mix in more Head Start, more 00:52:20.166 --> 00:52:27.576 - of that programming into affordable child care, but we had to start somewhere and that's where we're 00:52:27.576 --> 00:52:34.913 - at. I just wanted to relate a story about a person who is a direct recipient of your program. I met 00:52:34.913 --> 00:52:41.662 - them about the family about 30 years ago. The mother was a peasant from El Salvador and she 00:52:41.954 --> 00:52:48.616 - escaped the troubles there with their two children who were small. And I found out about the kids, their 00:52:48.616 --> 00:52:55.087 - big brothers, and they were at Fairview. And I kind of helped entertain them on the weekends and that 00:52:55.087 --> 00:53:01.559 - sort of thing, and helped get them help with these various Head Start and these other programs. If we 00:53:01.559 --> 00:53:08.094 - hadn't had this here, I don't know what would have happened to them. But the daughter, the little girl 00:53:08.094 --> 00:53:11.710 - who I knew since she was five, Nick Sennett is her name, 00:53:11.874 --> 00:53:20.220 - She was a serious student, and because of this aid, she, of course, graduated from high school, and 00:53:20.220 --> 00:53:28.649 - then she got a 21st century scholarship at IU, graduated from IU, got a job in LA and San Diego, and 00:53:28.649 --> 00:53:37.662 - then now she's living in Boston, got a damn good job there, owns her own home in Boston, which ain't cheap. 00:53:38.466 --> 00:53:46.415 - She's a real success story. And the stuff that they went through there, they're just amazing. They could 00:53:46.415 --> 00:53:54.213 - not have done it. And she's a responsible tax paying citizen and somebody I'm very proud of. She would 00:53:54.213 --> 00:54:02.012 - not be there in that position had it not been for programs like yours. Thank you. I actually was their 00:54:02.012 --> 00:54:07.614 - family advocate. I remember the name, Xenette. And I'll relate the story. 00:54:07.810 --> 00:54:14.840 - when I first started, and I'm trying to teach this to my employees now, you have to have boundaries 00:54:14.840 --> 00:54:22.151 - with families. And I fell in love with these two kids. And then all of a sudden they would call me just 00:54:22.151 --> 00:54:29.392 - randomly, like at night, I would worry about them because, you know, they had some issues and I missed 00:54:29.392 --> 00:54:36.493 - a call and I like, I drove to their house and they're like, we just wanted to wish you a good night. 00:54:36.493 --> 00:54:37.758 - And then one day, 00:54:38.274 --> 00:54:44.207 - One day they showed up on my doorstep on a Saturday. I don't know how they found out where I lived. 00:54:44.207 --> 00:54:50.258 - Uh, and they just wanted to say hi. And I'm like, I love this family, but I, I need, I can't, I can't 00:54:50.258 --> 00:54:56.251 - develop these relationships over and this is how you burn out. Right. But, um, working with a lot of 00:54:56.251 --> 00:55:02.302 - immigrant families, when I first started a lot of Afghan families, um, before nine 11 and it was, uh, 00:55:03.106 --> 00:55:09.350 - It's been a fantastic experience. And like I said, it's something that I miss. Thank you for sharing 00:55:09.350 --> 00:55:15.532 - that story. That name, it just was like, yeah, I remember that family. May I ask you, since most of 00:55:15.532 --> 00:55:21.900 - your funding is federal, how burdensome is the reporting you have to do to the federal government? And 00:55:21.900 --> 00:55:28.638 - under this administration, has that changed in any way? It costs time and money, right? But I've always been 00:55:29.154 --> 00:55:35.165 - someone who's like, hey, tell me where the goal posts are and I'll meet you there, right? And it's to 00:55:35.165 --> 00:55:41.058 - serve families and serve families responsibly, we need to have robust reporting. And it's not how I 00:55:41.058 --> 00:55:47.009 - necessarily like how to spend my time. I'd rather dream. I'd rather dream big about new programs and 00:55:47.009 --> 00:55:53.197 - share them with my staff, but it's just part of the job. And as long as they don't turn off the faucets, 00:55:53.197 --> 00:55:58.206 - I'm happy to do any form of reporting that they need, because at the end of the day, 00:55:58.338 --> 00:56:05.404 - It feeds back into the system where we get that data and we're better able to serve our families. So, 00:56:05.404 --> 00:56:12.471 - but yeah, I, I would love it if I didn't have to do any reporting, but it's just part of the job. One 00:56:12.471 --> 00:56:19.399 - last question. Yes. I'm following up a little bit about the financial side. So let's say going back 00:56:19.399 --> 00:56:23.902 - to the pandemic, right? You had a big surge of money. Okay. Now. 00:56:24.226 --> 00:56:31.825 - It's pulled back, perhaps. Can you just clarify? Sure. This happened. And then also, I'm not asking 00:56:31.825 --> 00:56:39.651 - you to look real far out. There's a lot of uncertainty there, but maybe what you're budgeting yourself 00:56:39.651 --> 00:56:47.250 - for, say, the next 12 months. Sure. So there were certain plots of money that were available to us, 00:56:47.250 --> 00:56:48.542 - CARES, ARPA, and 00:56:48.674 --> 00:56:56.455 - Yes, we were able to help people, but we had to help people in different ways. I mean, we weren't holding 00:56:56.455 --> 00:57:03.795 - classrooms. We weren't visiting families in their homes as much. I mean, there were changes that we 00:57:03.795 --> 00:57:11.502 - had to make. And then when things became better, health-wise and society-wise, different funding sources 00:57:11.502 --> 00:57:17.374 - through the Biden administration happened. And luckily for us and flat funding, 00:57:17.506 --> 00:57:23.826 - is basically to us, that's an increase, right? So flat funding has happened with small increases and 00:57:23.826 --> 00:57:30.083 - we're always looking for additional funding. One thing that we've been good at recently was working 00:57:30.083 --> 00:57:36.653 - with places like the Community Foundation with the city of Bloomington. This was money that we had never 00:57:36.653 --> 00:57:43.411 - had before and we were able to create brand new programs with that. We have the trust of our state grantors 00:57:43.411 --> 00:57:45.726 - and they've given us money to expand 00:57:45.954 --> 00:57:53.737 - a lot of our programming. A lot of this is relationship building. I know that in my lifetime and in 00:57:53.737 --> 00:58:01.675 - the future, I can't do this without both sides of the aisle. And in Indiana, we know that one side of 00:58:01.675 --> 00:58:09.613 - the aisle has a lot more folks, right? Bloomington's fantastic, and people here are generous, and I'm 00:58:09.613 --> 00:58:14.750 - able to do things that I can't do in other communities, probably. 00:58:14.850 --> 00:58:22.855 - I know that if I want our agency to exist, we need to work with both sides of the aisle. And typically 00:58:22.855 --> 00:58:30.238 - it's different language. It's not, it's not that they don't want to like, you know, your local 00:58:30.238 --> 00:58:38.243 - representatives, state house. These are people who live next door to a lot of these folks and they're, 00:58:38.243 --> 00:58:41.118 - they are interested in helping with. 00:58:41.570 --> 00:58:47.837 - but they don't like to hear about poverty. So I use different words like, you know, we're providing 00:58:47.837 --> 00:58:54.542 - people with opportunities. We're providing people with roads to prosperity. They love the story of someone 00:58:54.542 --> 00:59:01.059 - pulling themselves up from the bootstraps and we're providing resources to allow that to happen. I hate 00:59:01.059 --> 00:59:07.827 - cryptocurrency. Okay, I hate it. I made some money off of it and I'm happy with that, but I don't typically 00:59:07.827 --> 00:59:08.830 - invest in that. 00:59:09.058 --> 00:59:16.181 - For a lot of people, they see the crypto millionaires and billionaires, and they say, hey, this is a 00:59:16.181 --> 00:59:23.375 - quick way to make money. And there's a lot more risk to it. And for someone who's low income, there's 00:59:23.375 --> 00:59:30.710 - a lot of risk there. So when I talk to certain politicians, I won't name names, I talk about how I want 00:59:30.710 --> 00:59:31.486 - to educate 00:59:31.682 --> 00:59:38.653 - people on the pitfalls of cryptocurrency, I realized that you like it. I realized that you can make 00:59:38.653 --> 00:59:45.694 - money off of it. I realized it's a road out of poverty for some folks that are, I don't say poverty, 00:59:45.694 --> 00:59:52.038 - a road to prosperity. So we've created programming. We're working with the Luddy School to 00:59:52.038 --> 00:59:59.079 - do some rudimentary phishing cryptocurrency stuff, along with AT&T's donation of $100,000 in laptops 00:59:59.079 --> 01:00:01.310 - that we're giving out to folks. 01:00:01.442 --> 01:00:10.570 - Um, you know, it's, uh, you got, you gotta bring everyone in. You gotta bring everyone to the table. 01:00:10.570 --> 01:00:19.880 - Um, and not everyone's going to listen, but, you know, that's why I got hired. This is, this is my job 01:00:19.880 --> 01:00:29.279 - now. So thank you. All right, Eddie, thank you so much for such an enlightening talk. Um, it's one more 01:00:29.279 --> 01:00:31.358 - slide. And I, hold on. 01:00:31.586 --> 01:00:38.362 - Can we get them by? If it's not on there, it's fine. It's just my dogs. So I felt my dog. It's okay. 01:00:38.362 --> 01:00:45.205 - I'd like to thank everyone who helped pull the meeting together today. The volunteers, Bill Oates for 01:00:45.205 --> 01:00:52.116 - the greeting, Peggy Frisbee for introductions, Jimmy for the introduction of our guest speaker, Leslie 01:00:52.116 --> 01:00:59.093 - Kutzinkau for the Zoom team, Connie for a great reflection, Glenda for doing the reporting, and Michael 01:00:59.093 --> 01:01:01.374 - for the camera and mic operation. 01:01:01.506 --> 01:01:07.842 - Alon, as always, for a photographer. Lynn, for volunteering on the Paul Harris Award. And Jill is our 01:01:07.842 --> 01:01:14.116 - executive assistant. And last but certainly not least, our upcoming birthday boy, Tyler, for all the 01:01:14.116 --> 01:01:20.327 - audio work. Our next meeting will be here in the Georgian Room on July 28th. Wendy Goodlett will be 01:01:20.327 --> 01:01:27.036 - here, and she'll be our special guest following in the theme discussing the housing crisis and a monumental 01:01:27.036 --> 01:01:28.030 - bipartisan act. 01:01:28.290 --> 01:01:35.108 - So it's going to be fantastic. Please join us. And with that, if you are able, please stand for the 01:01:35.108 --> 01:01:41.994 - four-way test. Of the things we think, say, or do, first, is it the truth? Second, is it fair to all 01:01:41.994 --> 01:01:48.948 - concerned? Third, will it build goodwill and better friendships? Fourth, will it be beneficial to all 01:01:48.948 --> 01:01:51.198 - concerned? And fifth, is it fun?