Ep 122 | Achieve Escambia: The resource concierge?

SPEAKER_01 0:00

That brings the right people together to the table, especially in the nonprofit world. Everybody is working really hard, and we just want to make sure that we're working smartest and hardest together.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every student in Itcambi County. You'll meet the real people behind the title and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success. We've all had that should have known moment. You know the kind when you're well past a moment in your life that you struggled your way through only to find out later that there was a person or an organization that could have made that challenge more bearable. My next guest is the executive director of Achieve Escambia, a sort of community resource concierge for Escambia County. Today she's going to share how they could be the shortcut you've been looking for when you want to help out your neighbor or need a resource yourself. At the intersection of education and business communities, Emerald Coast Native and Teacher at Heart, Ruthie Noel. Thanks for being here. Thank you so much for having me. I am just thrilled. I'm really excited to learn more about this organization. But my first question for you is kind of a tricky one. I hope that's okay. I feel like you can handle it. Oh, bring it on. Okay, here we go. So a person in a Scambia County has hundreds of nonprofits and Google to look them up. Why would they need achieve a Scambia?

SPEAKER_01 1:38

That is a fantastic question. If you have been overwhelmed by the tidal wave of search returns that happens when you Google something or confused by what's an ad and what is truly local, sometimes the best thing you can do is have a human to connect with on the other end of your question. And so what I like about Achieve a Scambia is that I say all the time, my job is mostly to connect the dots. I feel like you're a matchmaker. That, oh, I like that too. Okay. The my Jane Austen heart is happy from that. And it is, I think, important to remember too that sometimes people think they're looking for one thing, but what they actually need is another. And Google's not going to know that. So if it's a conversation you can have with a person to dig a little deeper into why you are looking for a resource, what exactly kind of help do you need? Then it can kind of spider web from there into what are all of the resources available that are much more tailored to that specific set of circumstances.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

That's true. Because when I think about finding even just like an event that I want to go to and then planning going to set event, there's a lot of cognitive labor that goes along with that. So if, and that's in best circumstances, right? So if I imagine for a moment that I'm a parent with a child who needs, who has a need, and I don't even know what they need, I only know what the problem is. Like, how do you search by problem? And then there's the emotional and cognitive labor on top of that that really would prevent me from being able to sift through all those resources successfully. So, okay, you sold me.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

I like it. And I'm just envisioning myself in that situation where, like, where is my moment as a busy mom to do that? And it's, you know, maybe well, I'm in the Starbucks drive-thru or somewhere else, and it's on my phone, and I put that down, and the next thing comes up, and then oh, I didn't circle back to that. And so it is easy to think, oh, I've thought about this problem. And I maybe I have done a quick Google and maybe, maybe somebody mentioned something once, but then life continues and your day goes on. And just have again having a person on the other end of that to say, I'll follow up with you, or I'll send you a reminder. I would imagine is super helpful.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

That's the goal anyway. So tell me how it works. Like paint a picture for me if a parent has a problem. They don't know what they need, they just know we have this problem. We think it could be, you know, worthy of some outside support. What does that look like for the parent when they come to you? Sure.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

So I will say that that's probably a secondary or or like an additional benefit of Achieve a Scambia exists in our community is this ability to connect the resources. It's not our primary function. Like 211, for example, through the United Way, they exist to be kind of that one-stop shop, let me get connected. But it is where some folks end up, or you know, they hear about some of the collective action work that we're doing. And so they'll reach out. And so what that would look like is they're going to reach me and either email, cell phone, text, however, that might happen. And I'm just going to ask some questions about what they are looking for, what do they need help with? How old is their child? What, you know, sort of circumstances are they experiencing. And then really just based on several years now of what the work that we called mapping moving trains, of figuring out what are the assets in our community, what are the resources available. And for me, then it would be connecting them with the right person at that agency, if it's an agency at the nonprofit, if it's a nonprofit, or or just honestly a friend who knows or has been through something similar. So I would say it's we're not just a place parents come to get referrals. Again, that's sort of a secondary part that we have the benefit of playing because we are in this collective impact work together. What would you consider your primary function? So the primary function of Achieve a Scambia is to facilitate that collective impact work. And so what that means is bringing the right organizations and individuals together around a specific focus area for our community. And that really the primary function of that is breaking down the silos because there's a lot of people doing really good work in their lane and kind of head down and doing the thing they know they need to do. Achieve a Scambia is where we hold the space to intentionally look up and look around and be in awareness of each other and figure out how we can work better together. So that's really the primary purpose is that convening agency, the one that brings the right people together to the table, especially in the nonprofit world. Everybody is working really hard and we just want to make sure that we're we're working smartest and hardest together.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

So if there were two organizations, for example, that are for fentanyl overdose awareness, then you might do what to connect them.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Oh, sure. So actually, this would be uh a whole other topic, but we do have a collective impact effort for health across both counties. It's called Achieve Healthy Escarosa. And so if I am an awareness of those two organizations, my first question is, hey, do you know about each other? And then if not, or or if they do but don't have a dedicated intentional time and space to work together, I would point them to Achieve Healthy Escarosa, Aher, and say, this is uh the collective impact effort to improve health in our community. And there are a myriad of resources that come together in those spaces. So where Achieve Escambia is focused more specifically on child well-being and education outcomes, a her, Achieve Healthy Escarosa is the one for health across both counties. Um, and so even just for some organizations, especially focused on a like a niche topic like that, knowing that there are other people working in that same space and when do they meet and how can I get connected, you know, uh is what brings people to the table instead of just being on the outside looking in.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

You called it mapping moving trains, which is way nicer than herding cats. But it still brings me to the question, how do you do that? Because new nonprofits are popping up all the time. Nonprofits are not known for their organizational skills or certainly their marketing abilities. So sometimes they not only exist in the silos, they exist in the shadows and people don't know about them. They're not able to reach the people that they want. So how do you reach them?

SPEAKER_01 8:02

That's a really great question. So I think absolutely number one is word of mouth. That is where trust and recommendation comes in, where if we've got folks that come together for our convening meetings who find value in them and you know, would would recommend to a friend or a colleague if they are in awareness. And so a lot of times a nonprofit, you'll have people come to you and say, Hey, I want to start a nonprofit, or hey, I just started a new nonprofit. Um, to which I would say, great, get yourself a mentor, like exactly to your point about, I mean, a nonprofit. Uh my favorite quote is that that is a tax status, not a business plan. Oh, yes. Can you say that louder for the people in the back?

SPEAKER_00 8:45

Because people who have these hearts, they're such big hearts. And I'm so grateful that there is something like Achieve a Scambia to connect those hearts to one another because all boats rise, like, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:58

That's right. That's right. That's exactly right. And then again, just pointing to some of the infrastructure that exists in our community that you wouldn't see on a billboard necessarily. But um at Pensacola State College, we have an entire Center for Nonprofit Excellence. And they, uh, Andrea Krieger and her team there invest in creating programs and even a certification track for people in the nonprofit space where professional development is kind of few and far between if you have the budget for it. And they have created series of like individual lunch and learns and workshops all the way through a brand new or in the first year cohort of organizational excellence certification. So that if you are a nonprofit that either already exists or you're thinking about starting one, get connected to the PSC Center for Nonprofit Excellence because they're going to have everything you need from like your legal responsibilities and the compliance that you need to know about to your fundraising strategies and your hiring practices. And, you know, how do you keep your mission moving forward? When again, you do have to pay attention to the business of your organization. So even that existing in our community is news to folks who maybe just went ahead and and you know filed to get your 501c3 or something like that, or are thinking about it. I would absolutely say go there first. Or the United Way is another great one to see what already exists because maybe there's one that's already out here and you don't have to create a whole brand new one. You can team up and bring your talent and your time to one that's already already functioning. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

I'm getting the impression that your brain is like a dot connecting machine between this conversation and the one that we had off mic, is it within Achieve a Scambia? Is there an actual database that lives outside of your brain that has all of these community resources printed or published somewhere?

SPEAKER_01 10:51

So I would say I've got some great distribution lists. Um, forward-facing as far as community resources go, or for families specifically, the Escambia Children's Trust absolutely has that on lock. They put out a family resource guide every year and it is printed and it's online and it is available in English and in Spanish. So if it's a parent looking for a resource for their child, that is absolutely my number one recommendation. Look at that resource guide and see what's out there. If it is a nonprofit looking to get connected or to get started, then I would direct them for that again, that like organizational development piece for the business of their nonprofit, go to the PSC Center for Excellence, Nonprofit Excellence. If you're looking to just network and get connected to other people, other players in that space, whatever your niche is, that is where Achieve a Scambia comes in. We have, again, these collective action networks, the CANS is what we call them. And they are focused on, we have one focused on kindergarten readiness in our community. And so that is pretty much anybody in the zero to five space, education, health, development, care, whatever that may be. If there is a goal or a metric that indicates kindergarten readiness down the line, that is where our community comes together to talk about what services are available specific to that population. And then we do the same thing with um college and career access in our local college access network. So achieve is uh there are a couple of places to get plugged in. Again, depends what you're looking for or what your kind of niche is. But that's what that's I love doing that. It's herding cats, it's air traffic control, just getting people to the the right place where where they are going to be able to plug in and make the biggest difference. That is the part that is exciting to me. You've been doing this for four years. So I've been with Achieva Scambia a little over one year. One year. I've been in the nonprofit space for about five. Okay. And yeah, I was kind of corporate before that and teacher before that. So I'm all over the board. But again, that I think that helps understand like when people ask a question or they think they're looking for one thing, that kind of helps me dig a little bit deeper to get to that sort of root cause of like where where what's the real question here, or what's the real need, what that you're trying to fill, or a gap that you're trying to close.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

Exactly. You have a really good like viewpoint. It's like I picture you, you know, like in the soccer stadium, the the box where the rich people look down and they see the whole field, you know, like I would love that.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Right. Take a box seat. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

Right. You have you have box seats to the Scambia County resources. So as somebody who is a parent, used to be a teacher, has worked in business, has worked in nonprofit, you're here now. What resource or resources do you feel like every parent, hands down, needs to know about? Are there like just some things that are undervisible that you feel like parents should absolutely have on their speed dial?

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Oh my gosh, that's a great question. So I think parenthood is interesting, right? Where it's like you, your season of life or how the age of your child really determines what do you need right now. And so I would say if you have a kid under the age of eight, there is an incredible resource here provided to our community through an organization called Ready Kids. The name of the resource is Ready Rosie. And I know Ready Kids has been on the show. So shout out to Christy Craig and her incredible team, just increasing kindergarten readiness. But that resource is free for parents and it is for children zero to age eight. So even though Ready Kids is hyper-focused on four-year-olds, that resource is digital. So it's free. It comes to their phones, it's a link to videos, just quick and easy things that you can do based on your child's age and development that will be building their skills. It is, it is, I would say, very evidence-based and it aligns to the standards of our curriculum. And it's also available in English and in Spanish. So, like that is a treasure trove because you don't have to have anything other than your phone. You don't need scissors and paper and glue and glitter and that sort of thing to have a meaningful conversation and learning moment with your young child. And so I would say if again, if you've got a zero to about second or third grade, Ready Rosie is an incredible resource. If you're looking a little bit older or, you know, the other kind of end of the spectrum, what achievist Gambia serves in high school students, there's a website called Fast Web. And that is where you can start looking at scholarships. Like, because what I would say to families who are preparing for, you know, high school graduation and what's coming next, whatever that might be for your student, scholarships are absolutely underutilized across the board. It's the nation, it's the state, it's here locally. There's just money left on the table. And so I know that's kind of the two extreme ends of the age spectrum for parents. And then the last thing that I would say in that here locally is that we do have Parent University Pensacola. That is an incredible resource. We are so fortunate to have that here in our community. And that is very much driven. Their curriculum is decided upon and driven by the parents. So the parents are the ones coming and saying, here is what we would like to learn about to be better, as uh Michael O'Neill puts it, the CEOs of their household. You know, what kind of training and development is available for them as the leaders of their household? You get invested in when you work in a corporate setting to be better at your job. And that's what Parent University does for families here locally.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

I love that. And you have another resource kind of on your hot list, right? Reach higher. Do you want to talk about the FASTF awareness?

SPEAKER_01 16:39

Oh, I would love to. Okay. So to kind of piggyback off of the idea of Fast Web is a great website. It is a national website. And so that's just a great place to go. They have scholarships for all kinds of things. It's need-based, it's merit-based, might be because you have blue eyes. There's all kinds of reasons that people like to give scholarships to lots of different things, might be college, might be a trade school, um, vocational, again, just whatever is coming after high school. There are resources available to help make it more affordable. And in that vein of thought, our local college access network, the LCAN, we are going to be leading the charge on Reach Higher, which is an initiative aimed at increasing the enrollment of underrepresented students. But the way we want to do that is through what's called the FASFA, which is an awful acronym. It is a government form that gets you free money for college. So that's what I'm, I don't know exactly the wording we're gonna use, but I'm gonna say free money for college because that's what gets left on the table, where that is an opportunity that seniors in high school and older start the process of, you know, getting your financial aid paperwork in order. And that is a door opener. So whether your family makes a lot of money, has a high income or a low income, FAFSA completion is important. And there's just a lot of misunderstanding and myth busting that we're going to be doing around that. But the goal is to get as many high school seniors as possible completing that FAFSA, and particularly the ones that have the greatest need, because unfortunately, what we see in the data is it is underutilized. And the families who could benefit the most tend not to do it. It's again, it's not fun. It's a government form, it's a it's paperwork, and we want to be here to help and to support that. So the exciting thing is that that's not, you know, an achieve a scambia project in a bubble, in a silo. That is happening in partnership with the school district, with Pensacola State College, with the University of West Florida, with the city of Pensacola. And that again is where when we bring leaders and decision makers from different sectors of our community together to focus on one problem and say, we don't have enough students filling out their financial aid applications. What can we all do to make that more accessible and increase those numbers together? And so that's where having those metrics for our community are important, where that is how you call people to the room and say, is this something that's important to you? Is this something that's on your list of priorities? If so, come join us. We're not asking you to do more work. We're asking you to do the work you'd be doing, but have partners to do it with you.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

I think it's pretty obvious how this matters to the community. All of the, I mean, I think you've dropped like six names, you know, like several organizations. I can really see why Achieve a Scambia is such an important player on the team that is our community. But what I would love to close with is why does this work matter to you?

SPEAKER_01 19:39

Oh my gosh. Uh, I love this work. I think I have one of the most interesting jobs. I think this is important because number one, as a teacher, as a mom, this is the right thing to do. When the grown-ups are working better together, it's going to benefit the kids. And that's just across the spectrum. And so achieve is important because it gives us that opportunity to know each other, to get in the room together and say if you're if kindergarten readiness is important to your organization, important to your values, important to our community, then it it deserves the time and attention to get together and strategize. How are we going to do this? This is not one single entity's job, or they'd have figured it out by now. So it's going to take some teamwork. So I think number one, it's the right thing to do for children. And then number two, kind of going to the inception of Achieve a Scambia, this is also an economic issue. Our local economy is going, you know, already does and will continue to require a trained and literate workforce. And that starts in utero and goes all the way through. So it's never too early. It's also never too late, but it's easier the earlier the better. So I think that what we saw when Achievus Gambia was first started was the investment of our business community. So our local businesses, the large employers, Navy Federal Credit Union, Florida Power and Light, Baptist Healthcare, Ascension, HCA, Florida West Hospital, our city, our county, everybody at those top-level leaders saw the need to help the school district and to help our families get connected to the resources that they need so that we're able to sustain the local economy that we have, the businesses that we have, and attract new ones to our region. And so that's like number one question in economic development is can your community support with their infrastructure? And number two is do you have the workforce? Do you have the talent? So this is absolutely a talent pipeline conversation that that again just starts, you know, our tagline is cradle to career. And so it's the right thing to do for kids. It's the right thing to do for our community.

SPEAKER_00 21:47

Oh, that's amazing. I I think I could just absorb all of your passion and energy all day, all day. Can you tell people where they can connect with Achieve a Scambio and if it's a different answer, what they need to do in order to kind of start that conversation if they think they or their neighbor has a need?

SPEAKER_01 22:05

Oh, absolutely. So to connect with Achieve a Scambia, you can visit our website, which is achievescambia.org. And you can also email me directly. It's Ruthie R-U-T-H-I-E at achievescambia.org. That's probably your best bet. Just shoot me an email if you have a question. Again, if you're looking for a resource for your family, if you're a parent looking for a resource, I highly recommend the Escambia Children's Trust Family Resource Guide. Also, calling 211 is a great resource that connects you to the United Way. And they have the back end of the mapping moving trains as well, all at their disposal. But if you want to get connected, you're interested in this collective impact model and the work that Achivascambia exists to do in our community. I would love to hear from you. Again, Ruthie at achivascambia.org is my email address.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

Thank you. Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Escambia County Public School.