- Thank you for coming to our 130 session. I'm so excited for you to see who we have for you today. We
- have a group from Thriving Connections. Some of us affectionately call it TC. Thriving Connections is
- an intentional community that is formed around the idea of eliminating poverty.
- big feet, and we're going to get to hear about that today. Many of us know that poverty as a financial
- condition creates a lot of stress, a lot of risk factors. And we're going to use today to highlight
- some of the things that TC does to provide protective factors for their youth, to provide conditions
- that develop their assets. And they're going to get to share a lot with you today. But before we get
- started, I'd like to recognize, are there any
- TC, former TC, or SCAP people in the audience. Hi, friends. Hi there. Glad you guys are here. Thanks
- for coming. I'll give you a rundown of how we're going to use our time, and then I'm going to turn it
- over to our moderator. We're going to have a few parts to our time. River's going to moderate some questions
- to our youth that are here. And they'll answer from their perspective and their authentic experience.
- And I'm so excited for you get to hear from youth.
- at the Childhood Conditions Summit. And then we're going to take a break.
- The panel can come off the stage, get a drink of water, take a little bit of break, and those of us
- in the audience can use that time for some reflection and to see if we have any questions that we want
- to ask them. Because then we'll wrap up our session with a Q&A. We'll pass the microphone around, or
- if you'd rather, write your question down and give it to me or to Asia, who is going to be helping pass
- the microphone. She's in the back in the blue sweater. We'll be passing microphones around or sharing
- questions that you might have
- for the youth. So let's get started. I'll pass it over to River for some introductions. Hello. I go
- by River Washington. I've been a part of Thriving Connections off and on since I was 11. So that is
- about, it'll be 17 years coming up soon here. I have been, I forgot everything I was gonna say.
- I love that. So I've been a part of this off and on for a long time. I was part of the youth community
- initially.
- And then I transitioned into being our first second generation team lead within our community.
- And from there, I kind of dipped in and out and became a volunteer youth coordinator, which is where
- I got to meet many of our young members of our community. And I'm very glad to get to meet some of them
- today. So let's go ahead and start with introductions.
- My name is Daisy Rogers. I'm 18 years old. I'm a freshman at IU currently. Yeah. My name is Bella Jester.
- I'm an eighth grader at Chinorth Middle School. I'm 13 years old, and I participate in sports
- like volleyball, cheer, and track. Hello. My name is Matthew Woods. I am 13 years old, and I go to Jackson
- Creek Middle School. Hi.
- And I want to give a shout out to my mom for introducing me to TC and Mary for helping me find my talent
- in poetry. Hi. My name is Evan Allen. And I'm 11 years old. And I go to Fairview Elementary. And I want
- to give a shout out to Asia and my mom for Asia letting me do this and my mom pushing me to be able
- to do this. All right. Let's go ahead and get started with our first question.
- I remember how to read, I have a brain. I'm not nervous at all. So my first question, as they have rehearsed
- more than I have, what is Thriving Connections? What's it like and what do you guys do there? Thriving
- Connections is a community full of wonderful people who helped us push out of our shell
- from being maybe nervous to talk to other people, from being scared to talk to people, and really pushing
- ourselves to be able to communicate with each other nice and well? I think Thriving Connections, it's
- a great community. It fosters personal and I guess communal growth and empowers the members to strive
- for just financial
- For me, just look at the name driving connections. Basically, it's a space where people from different
- social and economic levels meet to create a community that fosters community and provides resources
- to help people out of poverty.
- For me, Thriving Connections is a place where they help you with educational stuff. And it's a place
- where people come together and you have dinner. And after dinner, parents will have a meeting about
- stuff. I don't really know what they have a meeting about. And the kids will go back to the back and
- do something educational, like Matthew said, poetry.
- As a former member of the youth community, I will say that when we started, it was kind of a Wild West
- daycare where we ran amok. And eventually we transitioned into having what we call service learners
- and having a structured program, which if you've ever taken children from recess to learning, you know
- is like fighting the system itself. And so I'd like to ask if there's anything that our youth has learned
- from our service workers, because they do a lot of good work with them.
- If there's any takeaways you guys have had, any ways that they've mentored you guys and helped foster
- stuff. I'd say the service learners really helped us transition from being more of the playing around
- to being able to go from transitioning, like you said, from somewhat recess to learning time. We'd have
- this huge part where we'd all talk. We'd have fun. We'd eat.
- And then going to the learning rooms was really hard at first, but then later on it was easier. And
- I like how there's different sections. The youth would be anywhere from three to 10 years old, I believe.
- And they learn about more creative stuff. And we do stuff like poetry.
- that will bring our minds off of stuff that we had from school earlier on in the day. And being able
- to talk to people while we're doing this really helped build ourselves. For me, I think TC having service
- learners is a great way to mix having fun and learning. Because we always do an activity that's somewhat
- fun, but also has learning elements to everything.
- service learners are like people that want to like that take a class from IU to be like teachers or
- social workers or like therapists and they come to TC and they get to interact with us and they are
- like okay so they are
- We get to meet a bunch of different service learners. We're not just meeting the same service learners.
- We get to meet a bunch of different people and meeting a bunch of different races and different people
- and getting to know other stuff. Like religions and different type of religions, knowing not to judge
- people based on how they are, how they look, how they think. We all kind of get together. And it's like
- having one open mind to everyone.
- everyone doesn't just have different thoughts, or everyone does have different thoughts, but no matter
- what they are, we all kind of connect. It's like connecting dots. I think for me, for the past two years,
- I have been older. So I think I've saw the service learners more as peers and mentors as well, going
- through college applications and just thinking about college.
- helped mentor me a lot. And yeah, with all of what they said, teaching people just to accept people
- from different backgrounds and all. Got you. Doing my job for me, answering some of the questions I
- have next.
- Evan answered kind of what the service learners are. And Daisy has kind of touched on our next topic,
- which is what are some ways that the service learners have, their mentorship has affected you guys?
- Besides the, as Matt kind of pointed out, they've helped us learn empathy and not just tolerance,
- but empathy. So basically service learners teach us different stuff. So like with acting, I've taken
- on acting and every,
- Every year closer to Christmas time we'll go to a play and sometimes there was one time a service learner
- was in the play and that's really sparked my spark sparked my talent for acting or like horseback riding.
- And branching off of what he said some of the service learners really helped me find out that
- some of the poetry that I made when Mary did the big poem program for TC, it showed that some of the
- poems I made didn't only connect to me, but connected to other people in the vicinity of when I told
- my poems. For me personally, service learners have helped me.
- have opened me up to different opportunities and different lifestyles and how I could be something different
- from a firefighter or a doctor. And they have just really opened me up to different career options.
- When I was applying for college and all, Indiana is not where I wanted to go at all.
- But seeing all the service workers and just hearing about all the different opportunities at IU, it
- definitely helped. And now I'm at IU, so I think I'm really grateful for them for that. I know we touched
- on it a little bit. For some of you, is there any way that Thriving Connections has in itself cultivated
- and nurtured and fostered a talent that
- you either didn't know you had or an interest that you didn't know that you were interested in or helped
- you further in something you liked. Basically what I'm doing right now, public speaking. When we did
- the Black History Month presentation with the poster boards and sparked my talent for public speaking,
- I'd say Thriving Connections really helped with also my public speaking, because I was a talkative person,
- but it was more towards people that I knew, in which now I'm able to speak in front of crowds of people
- that some I do know, some I don't. And it also helped because of the talent show in TC when I sang.
- in front of everybody in TC, which also kind of helped open singing for me. Because I wouldn't really
- sing outside of the people in my family. And another thing was poetry. And yeah. I think with all of
- TC's different opportunities and just things, I guess, I
- It definitely, I ran track all through middle school and high school. And it definitely helped foster
- that. I don't know if there's like, I mean, yeah, it just, oh yeah. Well, for me, my mom has always
- been an active member of TC. So seeing her leadership and how she kind of
- ran the program, it really inspired me to be more of a leader towards the little kids and work into
- my responsibility in leadership. Yeah, and also I want to mention that somebody else in this group,
- Katie, really helped us learn to be a leader and also showed us that leading doesn't only take determination,
- but it also takes perseverance because you have to
- know when to, you know, whenever to lead and whenever to sit back and wait your turn? I want to thank
- my mom because it helps because one of my talents is I like working. So my mom usually, how do I say
- that? You can take your time.
- Oh, like when we go to church together, I used to be scared to go up and speak. My mom would go up and
- speak and sing sometimes. And that showed me that I don't have to be afraid to go up and speak and talk.
- Because maybe not everybody is thinking about how bad you're going to do. They're probably thinking
- about something else in their life.
- or probably even thinking about the words instead of how you're doing. Are there any ways that Thriving
- Connections as a community helped you build the skills to build a community outside of TC? Yeah, it's
- helped me find new friends. It's helped me change my groups of people and how to shift from
- not only being to where I change myself around a group of people, instead I'd stay myself and see how
- that would work out, because in TC, no matter what service learner you're around, no matter what member
- of, like all the members of the youth, if you're around them, you could stay yourself and be perfectly
- fine. They wouldn't look at you differently, and yeah.
- Like something that my mom does say, and a lot of people in this room say, is that changing
- your surroundings. Like if you're hanging out with the wrong crowd of people, that could just change
- your surrounding. Like TC has helped me find better, positive ways to introduce myself to new people.
- like not just staying in one group all the time, going out and finding new people. So not being afraid
- to meet new people and try new things. I think watching my mom build her little community inside of
- TC, like with even Eliza and J'Kae being her best friends, I've watched all of them grow up basically.
- And I think it's taught me just,
- how to just connect with anybody and everybody. All right. The next question we have is, how has it
- helped you break down barriers? It really helped me break down the barriers of being able to talk in
- front of a crowd of people. It helped me break barriers on speaking my mind to people, speaking how
- I felt after school, how I feel after
- certain people say different stuff to me at school and it also helped me like break down barriers of
- like I said singing from the talent show and also like show my talent and not be like scared to show
- it because people may not like it. People may do like they may like it but it's like at TC they don't judge.
- Like Matthew said, one TC tradition is the talent show. And I've always been naturally shy. And showing
- my talents or my skills in that talent show have really helped me get out of my shell and broken down
- that barrier for me. Well, breaking down barriers like opening up to people and not being afraid to like
- Not keeping everything in and not just like being able to talk to someone instead of being like just
- putting everything down and trying to handle it yourself, like talking to someone could help. And like
- that's really helped with talking to people and like being able to talk, being able to talk, like being
- able to talk and open up to people has helped with a lot of issues.
- like opening up to different crowds of people say you didn't really fit in with the cool group of kids,
- but you're like, say like during P.E., you're in a group with a few people that you may not know that's
- a part of quote unquote the cool kids section, and being able to like open up to them to like talk to
- them, not be like followers, and being able to like become like somebody of all natures like,
- Breaking down the barrier for me is horseback riding. I was really, really scared to do it. And TC helped
- me with being able to pay for it, number one. And number two, not being afraid to get close to a horse,
- because they are really big. They're quite big.
- So it sounds like what I'm hearing from you guys generally is it's helped you first and foremost get
- into some of your interests, but also Thriving Connections has helped you foster Thriving Connections.
- Forgive the pun, I wrote that down earlier. But I know Evan touched on it a little bit, and it's been
- touched on a few times through some topics. Thriving Connections has some extracurricular funds that we use
- who do certain things. You talked about the horseback riding and plays. Is there anything other than
- those things that you guys have got to experience through this that you wouldn't have normally been
- able to experience? Oh, running track in high school. I mean, with track, I never saw it as a sport
- with tons of equipment or anything like basketball or football where you need to purchase everything.
- But with even the extracurricular funds,
- when I needed new spikes, that was a thing that helped because spikes, they carry very easily. And it
- just helps, I guess, break the barriers of actually being able to wear the right running shoes to run
- instead of not. Well, for me, I
- participate in a lot of sports. And one sport in particular that the extracurricular fund has helped
- me be able to do was cheer. And cheer's a lot. And there's a lot of supplies you need to be a cheerleader.
- So things like palms and spandex and things like that, they can run up a lot of money. And
- the TC extracurricular fund has broken that barrier for me.
- Or like when I did horseback riding, the TC Extracurricular Fund helped me pay for that because horseback
- riding is really fun, but it does take a lot of equipment. And like, what if I had fall down and got
- hurt? That's also going to cost a lot. And the boots. Boots also.
- does kind of round up to a lot of money. So the TC extracurricular fund helped me find something that
- I was good at and I still like it to this day. The extracurricular funds helped us be able to go to
- the YMCA, my whole family. And me going there really helped me step outside of the house more instead
- of being on the couch playing video games all day.
- I'd say that really helped. And it also helped my sister, Michaela. It helped her get into gymnastics,
- which is something that she was really passionate about at the time. And yeah. I personally have experienced
- through the funds, I had never been to a play before. And I actually got to go see Huckleberry Finn.
- That's not the cartoon, if I remember correctly. And that was an amazing experience. I did want to kind
- of switch from,
- that to, sorry, I'm dyslexic, so give me a second. So we've talked a bit about poverty, so I feel like
- we should kind of dive into that and the struggles that happened to come with that. Even as a young
- person, you can experience stress because of poverty. Is there any particular experiences you guys feel
- comfortable sharing about stresses that you've had to experience with growing up
- dealing with poverty? I personally think growing up in poverty, I guess I would thank my mom-in-law
- for this, but I don't really know if I really realized that I was in poverty until I was way older a
- few years ago, basically. And I don't know.
- It definitely feels different seeing other kids experience things that you can't. But I think it definitely
- just helped create different opportunities and helped me build new experiences that are just different.
- Poverty, sometimes you can't always think about being in poverty. It's a bad thing because it can help
- you think as a different mindset. So help not being like,
- Well, sometimes if you haven't experienced something, you would just want something to be handed to
- you. Sometimes you have to work for stuff. And sometimes it can help you realize that sometimes you
- don't have the stuff that you need, but you have to think about the bigger picture, and you know one
- day you will get there. Yeah, and I'd say I didn't.
- noticed that we were somewhat close to poverty, because my mom would like spoil us a lot. And I'd say
- I didn't notice until like two years to last year. And I'd say, yeah, we did. I'd say, I'm really, shout
- out to my mom, first of all, because she really did spoil us. We got a whole bunch of stuff. Every Christmas,
- we'd get what we want. And yeah.
- Well, for me personally, I have to thank my mom for this. But personally, I never really thought about
- where I would get my next meal from because I always knew that my mom would provide for me. And so that's
- never really been a stress for me. But maybe sometimes when I wanted something and I may not have the
- resources for it,
- kind of taught me resilience and how to problem solve. Yeah, you kind of like, everyone grows up normal.
- And normal is just kind of like your starting place. So when you grow up a certain way, it's hard to
- realize that you're technically different. Your normal is different than everybody else's different.
- And so you kind of get into this situation where you don't realize you have less, per se.
- less resources financially, and certain things just become like, that's Tuesday. My go-to saying is,
- that's a Tuesday, dog. I don't, oh man, the bills are high, okay. But you learn different things. You
- learn different skill sets. It's not always just about your financial security. You can be emotionally
- impoverished or
- I'm not gonna get political, but we know what I'm talking about. You can be emotionally impoverished,
- you can be empathetically impoverished, and you can, some people don't know how to work hard. And you
- come out of a situation where you've got all these resources, and suddenly, I've known people who, like,
- they start school, and their parents start around, and they're like, I don't know how to function. I
- drive in this town, and it makes me so mad when people don't know how to function. So is there anything
- that you guys know
- that you've learned through this sort of experience that you feel like has, in a weird way, made you
- better off? I think resilience definitely. I mean, in high school, I guess that's when I first really
- started noticing that people were all under different circumstances. And I would see friends or just
- other, like my peers,
- grouping up and like, oh, let's all go to Florida together. Let's all do this together. And I don't
- know if I really noticed, but when I would be like, oh, mom, this, blah, blah, blah, she'd be like,
- if it was important enough to me, I think my mom made it work, which was always great. But when sometimes
- stuff didn't work out my way, I guess, I just
- did other things and just learned to be resilient. So again, about working harder, sometimes you have
- to run the extra mile when someone wants to stop. Sometimes you have to run the extra mile and work
- harder than a lot of other people.
- Because not having the money, you're not going to have some of those advantages. But it can also sometimes
- teach you something about how to run the extra mile or work harder or thrive to get something. And I'd
- say thriving connections really helped us thrive to find connections and being able to connect to different
- people and not just the same group of people over and over again.
- Well, I think being in poverty has really taught me independence, because I have naturally
- been an independent kid because of my mom. And it has also taught me how important mindset is. And you
- have to think glass half full, because thinking negatively won't change your situations. Nice.
- stigmas you've experienced as growing up in poverty, and possibly what are some stigmas you have towards
- people who aren't in the same sort of circumstances? So thinking back, I'd say during my elementary
- years, now that I'm in middle school, I noticed that when I would be asking my friends if we could do
- something, like go to birthday parties and stuff like that,
- I guess I've changed now because I kind of seen that I was kind of a jerk. I would kind of bring it
- to where, say somebody would be like, oh, I can't go because I have to do this, or I can't go because
- my parents can't afford that. I guess I'd be like, oh, dang, they're just boring. But now I kind of
- see their stand of view and see that not everybody has it. I think, personally, I have
- I don't think I have any stigmas towards people in different financial situations than me. Growing up
- in elementary, middle school, high school, I knew I was on free and reduced lunch. And I don't think
- people really talked about being on it, but I definitely heard, oh, people will make fun of people.
- Oh, you're poor. I mean, I didn't really.
- I didn't really know what it all meant, I guess, but I also just didn't really talk about it. Nice.
- I have to say with the free and reduced lunch, I always was like, I eat for free. You're the idiot.
- Why are you paying? That said, what are your thoughts on people who have
- more stable financial situation. I don't know if we've kind of gone over that enough or not. I feel
- like people who have a more stable financial situation that sometimes that they can be less educated
- about poverty and how it can affect people's mental and physical health. So I think everybody should
- get more educated on poverty.
- Sometimes when someone has a higher income than you, you would want to, sometimes when people think
- they have a higher income than you, they just think they can buy their way through life. When really
- it's about working hard and fighting through a lot of things. Even when things get tough, you have to
- know how to fight through it. And I'd say,
- Touching on what Bella said, some people may, like in higher financial statuses, may have gone through
- poverty at least once or twice. But that's a maybe. Say like, if you were born outside of poverty, you
- might have noticed and felt bad. But not all people are like that. So yeah.
- I also agree with what Bella said. With the education and not understanding, I think being in a lower
- financial situation definitely teaches you empathy. And I guess when you get older, you can start to
- notice that other people don't think like that, I guess. And I mean, it's...
- It's not anything negative towards them. I guess it's just how your experiences shape you and just build
- things that some people don't have. It's almost like a first impression thing, because if you run into
- somebody that was in a higher financial status and they were nicer to you and you were in poverty, you'd
- have that good impression, like, oh, they actually care.
- and they actually see what I'm going through. They may not know what it feels like, but they see what
- we're going through. And if you run into somebody that's like, oh yeah, no, you're not cool because
- you can't afford this and that, it's more like you have a bad impression against them and stuff.
- All right. It looks like we're wrapping up on that one. Is there anything you would like the people
- in this room to know about our community in general?
- notes here on the phrase you are more than your circumstances. Did you guys wanna elaborate on that
- concept? Yeah, so it depends on who you are as a person. If you're in poverty and you're more of like
- the positive side of it and you're thinking highly, you're thinking about, like Evan said, the bigger
- picture, you'd have more of like a positive vibe to you and to like everyone around you. But if you're
- not really,
- thinking positive about the situation you're in and thinking that, oh, I could get out of it someday.
- Someday I'll do really good. And you don't have that mindset, then you may go downhill. It's almost
- like a roller coaster. If you're on the ride, and say you're on the ride of poverty, when you get off,
- you notice that maybe being in poverty, you had a lot more fun than you did outside of it because you
- could connect to a whole bunch more people. Even outside of poverty, you were able to connect to the
- people. And you may notice that, oh, wow, I kind of miss those times. But during the ride, you may not
- like it. You may like it. It depends on the person you are. If you don't like roller coasters,
- then yeah. I think that saying is definitely really impactful.
- with everything you do, if you're just thinking that you're in poverty, I won't say it totally eliminates,
- but it eliminates kind of room for just growth in other areas when that's all you think about. But also,
- growing up, I think it makes me just kind of want to give back. As I'm older,
- in my career. OK. For me, I want the people in this room to leave. Instead of the mindset that poverty
- is just a line, I think that poverty is a spectrum. And some people on the spectrum can be more fortunate
- than others. But I think that everybody should be more educated on poverty, because you can all
- Always learn more about something. Nice. I have spent this whole time up here trying not to turn this
- into church and say amen a lot, because they've made some really good topics, points. It's time kind
- of now for questions, if we'd like. Or is it time for questions? Sorry. Don't pay attention. So I guess
- we're going to take a break real quick. We're going to get ready for some questions, if any of you guys
- have any questions after our break. All right. Thank you to the TCU.
- Thank you guys. Oh my goodness, could a program be any more appropriately named than Thriving Connections?
- We're going to take a 10 minute break for the youth to just get a drink of water and chill out a little
- bit, get off the stage. And this will give us some time for some table talk amongst those that we're
- sitting with to maybe talk about the highlights,
- Did they say things that you expected? Did they say things that you didn't expect? What were
- your impressions? So let's, for the next 10 minutes or so, just have some table talk. And then when
- we get back together, we're going to have a Q&A. The kids will come back up on the stage. And we'll
- have a chance for you to ask some questions directly to them.
- So Asia and I'll walk the microphone around. And if anybody wants to take the mic and ask them a question,
- we can do it that way. Or if you don't want to speak your question and you'd rather write it down, you
- can pass it to me or to Asia, and we can do that.
- Remember that they're 11 to 18 years old when you're asking the question, please. But man, the wisdom
- that they've shared with us already has got me thinking about lots of things. So let's take 10 minutes
- to think and reflect and share amongst our tables, and then we'll bring the kids back up. Thanks. Thank
- you for that time and conversation. It was fun to walk around and hear what you guys were thinking about.
- They've given us an example of how Thriving Connections provides protective factors and develops assets
- in youth. You were likely thinking about ways your programs do that, too, or ways you can add elements
- to the things that you influence to develop assets in the youth that you work with. Maybe you have some
- questions about their experience or comments about
- how they responded to some of the questions. So I'm going to come down and bring the microphone around.
- Asia's got a microphone. And if you would rather have yours read, Leanne here can come grab them. And
- Asia's got a few to read as well, I think. So you guys can, we'll have the mics out here so you guys
- can pass them around as needed. So Asia, you want to get us started?
- Is there a service or program or any programming that you haven't been provided that you think would
- be beneficial? I'd say for me, that would be, I actually don't know. I think as an older kid in TC,
- it was always like an effort to make
- No, there's always an effort to make programs for the older, older kids of TC high school level.
- And I mean, I think that would be great for the future high schoolers. I personally think nationwide
- free health care would be great.
- Hi there. No, I think you all did great. I really just have a question. I'm not as familiar with, or
- I'm not familiar with Thriving Connection. So I'm just curious how the program works. How do people
- become involved, and how do they, how often do you meet? And just all, basically the logistics of it
- all. OK, so we meet every Thursday and, we meet every Thursday and,
- I guess we start with the dinner, and then there's programming. I'm actually also not sure what the
- adults do, but I know for the youth, they separate it by age range and just do academic and fun programming
- to help the kids. Yeah, Asia, do you want to give any of the background from an organizational point
- of view? Yes.
- Thriving Connections is a program through SCAP, South Central Community Action Program. So you can find
- our link through the SCAP link. Is it SCAP.org? InSCAP.org, I-N-S-C-C-A-P.org. That'll give you all
- the information you need about Thriving Connections and all the other programs that SCAP provides for
- the community.
- I also want to add that it's mainly on Thursdays but sometimes we had like events that we would do on
- like Saturdays Sundays and stuff like that like trunk or treat for Halloween. We'd go like sometimes
- on Saturdays sometimes on Sundays and we also. So we also do back to school programs where we also do
- back to school programs where we usually meet at.
- we'll all get together and we'll go to like, and they'll have backpacks and stuff that we need for school
- and that'll also help. And last time we had back to school, they had haircuts. So that helped a lot
- and I appreciate it. I think we have a question here. This question is for
- A couple of you guys shouted out your moms, and I don't know if they're here, but I just wanted to know
- what motivated you all to get involved. Hi, I'm Evan's mom in the black. So for me, what motivated me
- is actually just to change my life and come out of poverty and provide my children with the resources
- and the things that they need to be successful and hopefully avoid
- living in poverty as adults, building skills. And I'm not ashamed to say, when I first heard of Thriving
- Connections, I was actually coming out of a domestic situation and living in The Rise and just around
- found the positive ladies there. And they were like, hey, there's this group. We're going. And when
- we first went there, it didn't seem real because everybody was very friendly and extremely friendly
- and just like, we are here. This is no judgment. And you're like, mm.
- Because when you're in poverty, you are thinking that people are always judging you. But as you go,
- and you come, and you have dinner, and the kids are gone. First of all, as a parent, you're like, wait,
- dinner, and the kids are gone after that? And we're like, woo, no kids, you know? But in that process,
- you're like, learn. Like, they offer us, like, credit building classes, or like,
- Just any different things that we need and we bring up and we're like, Hey, we're interested in this.
- They foster that environment like they empower the parents, which in turn empower the kids. So that's
- why it's like, it's a, it's a amazing pro. I'm so glad that I started my family and I have been a part
- of it for eight years and I have
- My life has did a 180. So I'm very thankful for it. It's just like having that village and that supportive
- environment has helped me. So to see my son up here, I'm sitting in the front crying because it's showing
- me that it has also empowered and helped him and changed his life. And I know that he will have a better
- life and have more skills to do that because we went through this program. So.
- I will say we would tell people when they come in, we're not a cult, but that would make us seem more
- like a cult, so we don't do that. Do we have any other questions? I just want to say that I am just
- so proud of all of you. I was involved as an ally with Thriving Connections for over a decade. And I
- have seen these guys when they were really tiny. And I am just floored by how
- articulate you are and how respectful you are of your parents and how able you are to talk about the
- program. And for me personally, I mean, our, my husband and I were involved together and he came from
- a place where his mom was not able to provide, you know, wasn't sure where the next meal was going to
- come from.
- And, you know, he is in a place where we now have adequate resources. And we really wanted to be together
- with families. And it was so enriching for us. We came from the other side. And in Thriving Connections,
- your question was, you know, how does it run? They pair families that are trying to work their way out
- of poverty with individuals who have enough resources.
- We're called allies and they are the team leaders. They are the captains of their own ship and make
- their own direction. And it has just been so enriching for me to be involved. And I wish I was still
- able to be there. I have family needs that I can't do that right now. But I am just floored by how articulate
- and wonderful both the moms and
- the kids. And I would encourage any of you who would like to, you know, serve as allies. It's a very
- enriching experience. And also your church can be involved. The meals were often provided by teams of
- people from various churches. And it really is so important
- gathering around a table together enhances relationships, creates connection. And so if, you know, even
- if you can't be involved on a weekly basis, you could get a team of people from your church or from
- your community that can provide meals for the family. They come in and the family comes in and it is
- so important just that time together, the family not having, the working mom not having to come in
- do their own meals. So I just, you know, anyone who would like to be involved is just so wonderful.
- So anyway. I do really want to say two things off of what Angela said. We are technically a secular
- group, but we are very welcoming to any group that wants to help us. You don't bite the hand that feeds
- for sure, especially if you're cooking. We love it. And as I stated during the intros that I am a second
- generation team lead,
- I wasn't going to get too into it, but I was the first second generation captain. And Angela's husband,
- Gerhard, he was one of my direct allies on my ship. And it was really great because we share a sense
- of humor, and more so than I've shown today. And he was fascinating because he is, I always like to
- brag that I got to know the economics chair at IU because that's who he was.
- and to learn more about where he came from because he was German was an incredible part of our program.
- I got to learn more about his culture. I got to learn more about economics in general. I still don't
- understand what a dollar is worth, but hey. And so it is an incredible program that really helps. And
- if you can add anything and want to add anything to a program, you're more than welcome to come in
- And at the very least, steal some dinner and have a conversation. We welcome everybody, at least for
- dinner. So of course, come in if you'd like. Looks like Asia has another question. I have a question.
- I would like to ask you all about the topic of reciprocity. What does reciprocity mean to you? How has
- Thriving Connections impacted that? And just to please give some examples of some
- reciprocity opportunities that you all have been involved in? I'd also love it if one of my daughters
- would speak to that. I have a question. What does reciprocity mean? Oh, OK. Yeah, I can't remember my
- ABDs, so somebody else take that one, please. Well, basically, driving connections, like a huge pillar
- it is like we get notations and stuff like that and we like to give back. So I think once every year
- we make blankets to give to the homeless shelter for the cold winter and so that people have something
- to keep them warm throughout the winter. And also we bake cookies. We bake cookies once a year for the
- service learners and like
- people who are involved with DC, and we just like to give back to those who give to us. Well, branching
- off of Bella, we do make blankets every year. And personally, for me, I definitely enjoy making cookies
- for the service owners, just knowing that, yes, they've helped us, and also that we're saying goodbye
- to them, but it's not always going to just be goodbye.
- Because I also noticed that a few of the service learners that we haven't seen in a while had came back.
- And one of them said that they're going to keep on coming back because they like seeing us all grow
- and seeing our growth throughout the years of TC. And yeah. It kind of goes along with what Bella said.
- Like all the different organizations that help us,
- I don't really even think about it like that, but like when we, like we'll make toys for the pet shelter,
- we'll make cookies for IU, like we just, I think it's really fun to give back. I think one of the things
- that Thriving Connections teaches through its reciprocity is, well I guess not teaches, it sort of makes
- instinctive the idea of gratitude. We're always very thankful
- for those we have with us, for those who we have had with us, for those we've yet to meet. And I lost
- my train of thought. But yes, gratitude is very important to us. We always talk about what we're grateful
- for at the end of meetings. We always thank each other and talk about what's new and good in our lives.
- And we try to stay in the moment. And that's an important part of our community.
- So I, too, want to say I think all of you are awesome, and I see you as future leaders, whether you
- stay in this community or go elsewhere. I am thinking, though, that we've heard family. We've definitely
- heard family members, and we've heard thriving connections. But is there someone in the community that
- you felt was a mentor or instrumental in your current path? I could say my big brother.
- or I'm in the Big Brother Big Sister program and my big brother Desmond, I get to hang out with him
- and I know I can talk to him about anything and everything and we have a really big connection and I
- like being able to see him every month. I also seen one of my principals here and I'd say seeing her
- in the hallway, always being like positive towards everybody, seeing how she greets people, kind of
- really showed me to stay positive.
- I think that's what we have for that question. Do we have another one ready? Yeah, so AJ asked about
- reciprocity, giving back to people who've given to you, and I'm thinking of wondering about how you
- will, I'm sure you will be, and maybe how you already have paid it forward to others that you may come
- into contact with at school,
- other people that you see, that you recognize are struggling and how that impacts you or how you might
- demonstrate compassion. Yeah, so one of my friends at school, I'm not gonna name drop, he was telling
- me how he was going through a really rough time and he had always been coming to school and he was always
- trying to give me something.
- and I ended up giving him this, I remember it was like this goody bag that I got from one of my teachers.
- I ended up giving it to him, because he always tried to give me something throughout the day, and me
- knowing that he was going through some hard stuff at home. And yeah. Me personally, I think the easiest
- way to show reciprocity is through kindness.
- kindness doesn't cost anything. So just being kind to everyone around you and those who give to you
- always makes a difference because you never know how important that person is or how they will affect
- your future. So you should always be kind to everybody you know. Yeah, with compassion, I think just
- being in the community like this
- It teaches you to be compassionate for people under all different circumstances. Even if you don't relate,
- I feel like just like what Bella said, just giving them kindness, compassion, that just goes a long
- way. And I think that coming from less fortunate situations,
- It always teaches you to have compassion for people and to not be rude when you see somebody on the
- street who's less fortunate than you. Because you should always remember where you came from and how
- far you've got. Looks like we have another question over here.
- OK, I have a specific question for Daisy, actually. So Daisy, you just graduated, and you're at IU now.
- So what does your role look like in TC, since you're no longer really in the youth section, but you're
- also not a parent yet? What does that look like for you? I mean, being in college now, it definitely
- takes up a lot of my time.
- When I can, I definitely will still go to TC and engage with the youth and with my mom. I just help
- her think of stuff to do. Currently, I have not been as involved as I want to be yet. But just getting
- settled into college and coming when I can, that's my start.
- Coming from what you asked, Daisy, since my family isn't a current member of TC, my mom's actually running
- the program now, I kind of am growing into that leadership role. And I come to TC every single week
- to help my mom with little things, like getting the food prepared, getting the little kids in a certain
- place, and just
- really going into that leadership role since I grew up with my mom showing me how to be a leader and
- stuff like that? I like volunteering at the events that TZ has. I don't know actually how recently it
- was. It might have been like a month ago. But with the poverty simulation they just started doing last
- year, I just help out when and where I can. And yeah.
- I will also say that now that you're 18 and once you get a more stable placement in college, you are
- more than welcome to come and join as a captain. Are there any parting thoughts? Asia, do you have anything
- you want to add? I just want to say how proud I am of these babies.
- I want you to know how much I've been sitting here crying because you all gave me the honor of teaching
- you to write poetry last year, if you remember. And I'm just so blessed to hear you speak and who you
- are becoming. So thank you so much, and thanks to you for your moms and for Thriving Connections. That's
- all I have to say.
- And I also want to thank you because you really did bring out one of my newest talents. And I have been
- writing a lot of poetry because of you and because of the program that you did. So I really want to
- thank you for whenever you came in and did the program. And I'm looking to see you again if you're up
- to it. Asha, did you have anything to add before we wrap up? Just how proud I am of these babies. Can
- we give these babies a round of applause?
- I think this is most of their first time doing anything like this, sitting in front of a group of people
- this large. And it speaks to the drive that TC instills in you. All these babies, all I had to say was,
- hey, look, I want you to do this. And we lift them up.
- so much of our community here today to support them because that's what TC does. It's been a huge part
- of our lives and we're more like a family. I want to say that I recently, I previously was volunteering
- with all of them and it's been about a year or so since I've done that and I didn't know you could learn
- that many words in that amount of time. They've done really good, they've become really good
- public speakers, and I just want to say as a closing statement that from someone who's gone from youth
- to upper youth to a community member, it is, I'm very in and out because of circumstances, but I will
- never forget this place. It has deeply impacted, I can tell not just me, but them as well, as well as
- the parents. There are crying fests every Thursday night, it seems like.
- This is a very important community to not just me, but all of us. So thank you for your time. And we
- hope you guys have a wonderful day. Let's thank them again. Thank you, TC, River, Daisy, Bella, Evan,
- and Matthew. Thank you to all of you who cared about this topic and cared to stay. For me,
- Asking TC to come to this session was a way for us to see something that's working, a way that we can
- build connection in our community. And so I'm really pleased that they were willing to put in the effort
- to do that for us. Evan, you got something to add? I'm really glad to have this opportunity to do this,
- because being able to do this will also be able to open up a lot of doors for all of us to be able to
- do public speaking like this again.
- I'm really excited to have the chance to be able to do this. I just want to say that if you came here
- and if you guys aren't
- involved with TC at the moment, I think that if you are in those more fortunate situations, or even
- if you're in those disfortunate situations, that you should get yourself involved with TC, because Diving
- Connections is really a great program, and has lifted me up, lifted my family up, and lifted everybody
- on this stage up. And I also want to say thank you to everyone that did come here to listen to us speak,
- give you guys some information about TUC and how they've impacted our lives. I think we have a few more
- thoughts. Daisy or Evan, did you guys have something? I see microphones moving. Yeah, I mean, I think
- I don't even remember when I first started coming to TUC. It was definitely near the time I moved to
- Bloomington.
- like eight, nine years ago, definitely. And it's just been a wonderful experience. And I just want to
- thank everyone involved. And like what Bella said, encourage anyone to be involved. Good, good. You
- get the last sentence, Evan. OK. I wanted to say, if you do choose to join TC, we'll be welcoming you
- with open arms. Fantastic. Thank you.
- Well, thank you for welcoming our TC friends into our session. Thanks to all of you. We love your feedback
- to know what was useful to you or what you'd like to see and future opportunities to gather. So if you
- want to leave a feedback form, we've got a box in the back. We have 15 minute break until our 3 o'clock
- closing session. So if you have a chance to do the feedback form, you can leave it in the container
- in the back. We have time for drinks.
- and breaks, and we'll come back together at three.