- Welcome everybody. Thank you for sticking around. The time is now 3 p.m. and welcome to our closing
- session. We really hope that you found the 10th annual Monroe County Childhood Conditions Summit sessions
- to be enlightening, informative, and really useful for your work, your family, your community member
- hat, whatever you're bringing here today.
- We do know that there are some folks that might have to leave early, some folks that have left early
- already, but we are really grateful for everybody that's here in this room who's both willing and able
- to join us here. Our shameless housekeeping reminder that before you leave, please do fill out that
- evaluation form, drop it in the little bin on the registration table where it's designated below. If
- you don't have an evaluation form at this point, you can scan the QR code,
- It'll be available. It's on your table tents. It's also in your program. And in this final hour together,
- we want you to have some time to reflect on all of the things that you've learned throughout the day,
- how it relates to the conditions that you are currently experiencing, and to share and connect with
- the people that are at your table. So you may want to consolidate at some point over the course of this
- hour. We are not coming up with action plans. We're not tasking anybody with one more thing to do.
- when we know that you're already at a lessened capacity, or many of us are at a lessened capacity in
- many ways. But as a recap, this morning we talked about the guiding principles of MC3, so the SSNREs,
- the safety, stability, and nurturance in our relationships and our environments, the social ecological
- model of impact. Again, these are on page two of your program.
- But when we think about the spheres of influence and what impacts us, we know that each one of us here
- in this room is going to have an impact on a different level of the SEM. And we're going to influence
- conditions differently depending on what our specific roles are in the community. And it's not productive,
- I don't think, to think that even in the best of times that every single person in this room can be
- impactful or influential at every single level all the time. We're not doing all things at once.
- But if we do think about all of the influence and all of the different roles that we have in this room,
- or the influence and the roles that the people in our networks have, just how are we using that to move
- towards better conditions for youth? I think that I can safely say that all of us here in this room
- have a collective interest in the well-being of young people, and we are stronger together, especially
- if we can maintain our relationships at all level of the SEM.
- whether that's interpersonal relationships between organizations and also between communities. I don't
- think that we have to look very far to consider some really heavy conditions that are shifting and changing
- really rapidly in our community right now. Things like SNAP benefits, the longest government shutdown
- in history, funding sources that are changing, sometimes in the focus, sometimes in the way that we
- talk about programming, and sometimes eliminating jobs altogether.
- And while this is really heavy, I think that it's impacting us all, either personally, our friends,
- our family members. I know that it's impacting a lot of people that I know, our employers, the institutions
- that we're relying on. So we do want to acknowledge that that's the context of what the conditions are
- right now. And these are the conditions that are impacting our ability to collectively impact young
- people, families, and the community at large. So even though MC3,
- The future of that is even in flux, but we thought it was important to take this last hour for connecting,
- not necessarily making plans, but understanding the conditions that each other are facing. There's those
- big ones that I mentioned, but I am sure that there are all sorts of things that are going on in all
- of your different contexts, all of your pockets of the world that aren't necessarily a headline in a
- newspaper.
- welcome Tara. Yeah so we're gonna do some discussion activity together in just a little bit and our
- goal for this is to give you a moment before you move out of here and into the other parts of your lives
- where other things will be on your mind and taking up your attention and energy give you a moment to
- reflect on your experiences today
- Maybe you were fortified in things that you already felt comfortable with and learned before or knew.
- Maybe you had chances to share that with other people in your sessions. Maybe you had experiences or were
- given chances to connect to ideas that were new to you. So just a moment to reflect and synthesize that
- before we move on and start thinking about other things. And then the second thing we'd like to accomplish
- in the rest of our time together is connection with each other. So in our table conversations in a little
- bit, you'll get a chance to share about your different sessions. You may be seated with other people
- who went to different sessions, and they may have some insights that they gained from their sessions
- that you guys can share around the table.
- The third thing we'd like to accomplish is to give you a chance to share about how conditions have changed
- for you. As Melanie mentioned, a lot of funding changes have changed conditions for a lot of organizations
- in this room, and I think it'd be good for us to kind of get updated on what those changes mean at a
- practical level for different folks who are here. So those are the three things that we want to accomplish.
- Reflection.
- sharing of what your experience was today, and then sharing about changes and conditions within your
- organizations or the ways that you impact childhood conditions. So we're going to put up some discussion
- topics that we'd like for you to consider. But before we get into the sharing amongst your table, we're
- going to ask that you take just a couple minutes to just have quiet reflection, because some folks need
- a few minutes to
- to gather their thoughts and to reflect back on the day. So we'll take a couple minutes to just be quiet
- together. And then Melanie will ring a bell and let us know that it's time for us to move into discussion.
- And then we'll ask for you to share with those that you're seated nearby. If you're at a table with
- just a few people and you'd like to join in with more people, just add yourself to a table and join
- into a larger conversation if you like. And then when we're done,
- in discussion in our table areas, we'll offer the opportunity for anybody who wants to share back to
- the whole room. So we'll pass the mic around. And if anybody wants to share,
- a main takeaway from either your table discussion or something from your day. You can do that in a minute
- or two. Or maybe some of you are just feeling a word or a phrase or a parting thought that's more brief.
- So you'll have a chance to share back if you'd like as we pass the mic at the end of the day.
- And of course, if you don't have anything you want to share at the mic, you don't need to take the mic.
- We'll just keep passing it on. But that'll be a chance for us to hear kind of where everybody is as
- we're concluding our time together. So Melanie will talk us through our discussion
- discussion topics already there. So the plan one or two minutes of self-reflection. So this morning
- we asked the question of what would it look like if we did have optimal conditions for youth development
- in our community and what would it look like if our community was the best place to be a child.
- So the questions that we'd like you to talk through are up here on the screen, and we'll leave them
- up, as well as this rough schedule. So the questions of what are some takeaways from today? What are
- some things that you learned or heard about? What are some perspectives or experiences that were shared
- in your sessions? Using things that you've learned or people that you've met today, where does it feel
- realistic or possible for you to have an impact? And what are your own conditions in your work or life?
- How are things changing and impacting your ability to support youth and families?
- So like Tara said, wait a couple minutes. I'll time us, and then I'll ring a bell, and then you can
- engage in discussion. So a couple minutes of quiet reflection. We've got paper on all the tables. There's
- also some sticky notes. If you need a pen or anything, just wave us over. But two minutes of reflection,
- and then we'll hop into this discussion. OK.
- Let's bring it back together for the whole room for a little while. It was fun walking around and hearing
- some of the discussions each of you guys were having. You could probably use this time to keep talking
- for a long time. We'd love to hear what main ideas kind of came up. We think it'd be really valuable
- for you to hear from each other in the room.
- You may want to keep on the topic of conversation you have with your table people. So if you haven't,
- you can take a chance to exchange contact information. Or in the coming weeks, Melanie will be sending
- out a contact list of everybody who was OK with sharing their contact information. So that'll be a good
- place for you to look back through the list and see if there were people you wanted to connect with
- again. But for now, let's hear from those of us who stayed, those of us who have main takeaways, either
- from the sessions
- or from your discussion here at the tables. Or maybe you want to share about changing conditions in
- your own work. So whatever's meaningful to you, we'll pass the microphone around. I'll come down. Melanie
- has one too. And we'll just pass it around. If you have something to share, you can take a minute or
- two. Or if you just have a word or a phrase or something that you're parting with today. And we'll do
- that for a little while. Any takers on starting?
- I feel like in my work I'm working directly like with people or schools day to day new programs education
- kind of boots on the ground which I bet many of you are as well. So it's nice to almost take a step
- back and get the big picture whether it's a data walk with the trends and seeing how that work has played
- out over the years. And I always always always appreciate the advocacy and economic sessions that.
- show what this work can do, will do, and how we can plug in and feel a part of that bigger picture.
- So thank you for those. Thank you. Thank you, Melanie. I'm Greg Moore with Sylvan Learning. And we've
- had an opportunity to help just a small pocket of kids in the county over the last 20 years I've been
- involved. And we were talking about the incredible changes we've seen with the youth.
- and just the pressures they feel now and the difference in their social skills and their interactions.
- So I take heart by everyone in this room and the resources you bring to bear. But I think what cautions
- us a little makes us wary is that these kids are not always availing themselves.
- to the resources they have. And so we talked a lot at this table about conflict resolution, how they
- go from zero to 10 without any skill set in between to be able to take that down a level. And we think
- a lot of that is just the social interaction skills are not where they need to be. So I think everyone
- in this room plays a valuable part in trying to help them as they work this out. Thank you.
- I'll share a takeaway as other people are thinking. I was in the TC panel, one with the youth. And I
- know a lot of people might think that kids who live through hard things may have some cracks and be
- broken in some ways. But man, those kids showed their strengths. They showed how they've developed assets
- through tough things. They used a phrase that we are more than our circumstance. And that's a really
- key takeaway for me. At our table over here,
- with a couple of community groups. We were talking about in the years of birth to 18, we often have
- a lot of compassion for the things people are going through and we give them a lot of grace. But then
- when they turn into adults, all of a sudden the compassion we show them turns to shame and guilt for
- not doing things differently. And I'd like
- you know, for us to figure out a way to help bridge people into adulthood, understanding that they've
- lived through difficult conditions, and sometimes our life circumstances are not based on our individual
- choices. And when we can move out of that blame and shame space, we can see people as being more than
- maybe the assumptions we make about them. I'm wondering if others of you have perspectives on that to share?
- know I've been walking around with a camera all day and not talking to people much. But I will say that
- I was in a vulnerable position as a youth and came to Youth Services Bureau shelter as a 16-year-old,
- and then later obviously went to work in this field. So they're not their circumstances. But
- their circumstances and you guys helping them through that will, will,
- inspire a lot of them to go back and do the same thing. So I just want to let you guys know that it's
- really important what you do. Thanks for sharing. Hi, everybody. My name is Winnie. I'm an MCY student
- councilor.
- member, if you guys didn't know already. So as a youth myself, I just want to thank you all for being
- here, because you guys are the resources that we come to as youth. And I can't imagine me being here
- without a lot of your support. I know a lot of youth members of our council aren't here right now. But
- as a group, we really look up to you guys for our support. I know that some people in this room have
- shared experiences.
- of coming to these resources. And I wanted just to say that in our group, we've talked about how we
- can conflict and resolute. But also, I just want to say that a lot of people feel bad, like pity, for
- some of our youth members that don't have the same opportunities as some other kids. But I just want
- to say that, like,
- As somebody that does come from low income, that does come from these opportunities that aren't always
- given to these children, we are so incredibly fulfilled. We don't compare ourselves to other kids and
- think that, oh, they had things that we didn't have. They were like, oh, stuff like that. And sure,
- there are some kids out there that have those thoughts occasionally, because it's in our daily lives.
- But we are so fulfilled by what we do have.
- and the resources you have given us. So I just want to shout out Melanie and everybody who came to this
- meeting, because you are the difference you make in our daily lives. Hi, everyone. I just wanted to
- give a quick
- rundown of our takeaways. I feel like our group talked a lot about just the gaps between organizations
- and sort of like we have a saturation of resources in Bloomington. But generally, I feel like we really
- just talked about how we could pair together better and that these spaces are super just great in doing
- that. We can talk about what resources each of our organizations have and how we can pair. For example,
- I run the Monroe County Youth Council and we were talking about how we could potentially pair with an
- organization like Girls, Inc.
- And I just think that it's really encouraging to be in this space and talk to other people and kind
- of band together with one another in this, but also just really provide that space. And so it's really
- encouraging to hear all that. Hi, I'm Lee Muser. And one thing that we were talking about in our circle
- is that the presentations really invited participants to lean into vulnerability. It's a ripe time.
- for us to be feeling into and moving into challenge, the challenges that we're all experiencing.
- And that, yeah, there's just a showing up of increased vulnerability and a willingness to show that
- aspect of our humanity.
- So I think I've been thinking a lot about community and are seeing my TC youth up there talking about
- their relationships and seeing how they're what they're absorbing from an intentional community and
- that they're finding a way to feel safe enough to develop their sense of selves but also recognizing
- that that gives them the safety and the ability to push out of their
- safe zones and engage with people who don't think like them or don't have experiences that are similar
- to theirs and how important that is to them. I just felt really proud of them and it kind of reminded
- me that, yeah, I need to keep pushing because I tend to kind of want to be in my safe spaces. So they
- were pretty inspiring.
- I just want to say that Judge Gavin, when he was saying that how this got started, was saying that,
- you know, some of the, that he knew people that were, you know, CASAs, and then he also knew people
- that were in the child protective services, but they didn't know one another. And so the whole purpose
- of starting
- this MC3 was so that people could come together and network together. And I'm distressed to hear that
- there may not be funding for next year. And so somehow I think it's really important for the Bloomington
- community to still continue to come together from our various areas. And so I just would
- You know, I think we have such wonderful people working in all different areas. And I guess I had lunch
- with one person that said, you know, one of the things that was missing in all of the things that we
- do have is some kind of helping people get transportation, because even the broadest aspect of, you know,
- public transportation still can't get people to their jobs at night or full-time job. And then family,
- you know, you can't get back home to your family. So, you know, we still have, we have a lot of work
- to continue and we have a lot of work to still do. I just want to say, you know, a lot of things that
- impact child conditions are going to happen up at the State House starting soon. And I just encourage
- people to be part of that process. There have been a lot of people that have been incredibly loud and
- obnoxious and aggressive that have not had children's best interest at heart.
- And I think that those of us that do and that work in the field need to be loud and obnoxious and aggressive.
- I'm just going to say that.
- I know that we're focused on conditions in Monroe County, but one of the big takeaways for me following
- directly from what you said is how can we build meaningful and lasting partnerships starting with those
- that are closest by kind of in the regional area, and how can we expand those partnerships across the
- state? I don't think that I have the answer, but I have this burning question.
- Any other thoughts? I just want to make sure I'm not missing anybody. Does anybody have any leftover
- parting thoughts, things that you'd like to share among the group? All right. Thanks for those who were
- willing to share back from their tables and share
- what you were thinking about today. Melanie, you want to wrap us up? Sure. Maybe you can get us out
- a couple minutes early. Our closing thoughts were just there are many ways to take care of ourselves
- and our community and our children right now. And for some of us, that might mean stepping into a new
- space. And for some of us, that might mean stepping back to become more fortified in the ways that we
- do engage. And any of those versions are OK.
- whatever you're feeling right now. And our collective survival really depends on our ability to collaborate
- and connect. And sometimes we just need each other personally, and sometimes we need each other
- professionally. And I know that I have changed roles, and I know people personally and professionally,
- and it's been very helpful to have all of those networks over time. So just no matter how the conditions
- change, none of us have to be here alone. Each piece adds to our collective impact and our ability to
- impact the kids that we're working with in our community and our world. So I think those are my closing
- thoughts. Shameless plug to please fill out your evaluation form. Thank you so much for being here,
- though. Really, really, it means a lot. I mean, this is my first time being a part of the executive
- planning part of this. So I just really appreciate everybody's willingness to share and stick around
- until 10 till 4 on a Thursday.
- Thank you so much. Congratulations to you. Thank you, Melanie. Thank you for leading us.