Changemaker Kyle Van Frank, Executive Director, One Classroom

Belonging is not a poster on the wall. It's a child hearing their name called at an awards ceremony and knowing, in their bones, that they matter. 

In this episode of Agency for Change, Lyn sits down with Kyle Van Frank, executive director of One Classroom, to talk about what it really takes to create inclusive Catholic schools where students with intellectual and developmental disabilities learn alongside their neurotypical peers.

Connect with One Clasroom at:

·       Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/oneclassroom

·       Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/oneclassroom

·       LinkedIn – https://www.instagram.com/oneclassroom

·       Website – https://www.one-classroom.com

Transcript

Welcome And Why Belonging Matters

Kyle Van Frank 0:00

Authentic collaboration is a nonprofit's only path for success.

Announcer 0:08

Welcome to Agency for Change, a podcast from KidGlov that brings you the stories of changemakers who are actively working to improve our communities. In every episode, we'll meet with people who are making a lasting impact in the places we call home.

Lyn Wineman 0:32

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Agency for Change podcast. This is Lyn Wineman, president and chief strategist of KidGlov. Today I want to talk to you about belonging. And I want to talk to you in a different way about belonging because our guest is Kyle Van Frank. He is the executive director of a great nonprofit out of St. Louis called One Classroom. And their mission is to provide a pathway for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities to attain a Catholic education alongside their neurotypical peers. And I think most of us would say that yes, kids of varying disabilities should be able to go to school together. But I didn't realize the complexity of making that happen. And One Classroom is raising the funds, providing the pathways, providing the tools

One Classroom’s Mission And Model

Lyn Wineman 1:30

and resources for schools and families to make this a reality. So give this one a listen. Kyle, welcome to the podcast.

Kyle Van Frank 1:39

Thank you. I'm so excited to be here.

Lyn Wineman 1:41

It's great to have you back. You are one of our few second timers, but it was really important for you to come back because you are with a new organization now. And that organization is One Classroom. It's a great nonprofit with a mission to provide a pathway for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities to attain a Catholic education alongside their neurotypical peers. That says a lot, but tell me more before we get into how, I wanna know why this work matters and what is the gap you are filling.

Kyle Van Frank 2:19

That's a great question. You know, not just Catholic schools, but a lot of private education across our country. Just historically and traditionally, has not had pathways for young people who learn differently.

Lyn Wineman 2:19

Yeah.

Kyle Van Frank 2:19

So we are in existence because a family here in St. Louis didn't want their kids to go to school different places. They wanted both of their children to have a Catholic education. Catholic education is very ingrained in the culture here in St. Louis. There a hundred twenty Catholic schools here.

Lyn Wineman 2:19

That's a lot of Catholic schools.

Kyle Van Frank 2:19

And so yeah, we exist because many schools, it's not that they don't want children with disabilities to be there, it's that they've never served and educated children with disabilities. They don't know how, they don't have the resources. And so, our organization exists because we knew there was this gap. And we needed to be funding an education to fill it.

Lyn Wineman 2:19

Oh, I love that. Kyle, you know, one of my very favorite about that story is a family, just a regular family, right? They saw a need, they felt a need, and they did something about it. And I think it's so easy to see a need and say "We should do something about that." But your founders actually did and look at the legacy they created. So, kudos to your organization and that family for making it happen. So, now let's talk a little bit more about this. So because I'm gonna guess that a lot of families with children who have intellectual and developmental disabilities, they may not even realize this option exists for them, whether it may be St. Louis or any other community. What does the path to One Classroom typically look like?

Kyle Van Frank 2:19

Typically, get a phone call from a family who usually heard about us from another family.

Lyn Wineman 2:19

Uh-huh.

Kyle Van Frank 2:19

The disability community, it's a very close knit interwoven community, so it's often a parent, maybe the child with autism who knows another parent, maybe through a therapy provider, another community resource they utilize, and they say "Well where is your child going to school? Oh they go to a Catholic school? How was that possible?"

Lyn Wineman 2:19

Yeah.

Kyle Van Frank 2:19

And then connect us—connect the family to us. And so, we talk to the family, learn about the student, learn what school is there, their home, their school, and then we get the ball rolling. Sometimes, families just want information, resources, and advice, and they wanna make the first step. Some schools want us to make the call, which we're happy to do and facilitate a meeting with the school. So it's really—it's sort of different. There's families, sometimes schools call us because a family has , you know, come to their doorstep and they know about us and are looking for resources and education.

Lyn Wineman 2:19

That—I mean, there's a lot going on in a school setting. I mean, schools and teachers have so many responsibilities, right? I mean, you—I think about historically, you know, the one-room schoolhouse with one teacher teaching all the kids and all the chaos of all of that. And it just feels like the requirements today on schools and teachers are very high, so what does it look like when One Classroom comes in to support a school and a family and a student or a group of students? What is that process like?

Kyle Van Frank 2:19

That's a great question and I have to—before I answer it, say I love that the one-room schoolhouse is what came to mind. If you've seen our logo, the inspiration for that was actually the Winslow Homer Snapping the Whip painting. And so—

Funding Support Staff And Training

Lyn Wineman 6:22

Oh wow.

Kyle Van Frank 6:23

That inspired Tony Armitage and LeeAnn Armitage, our co-founders, that painting and that image of all of the children playing together outside that one -room schoolhouse together. So I just love that that that's what came to mind.

Lyn Wineman 6:36

That's fantastic. And I have seen your logo, and we'll talk about why in a little bit here.

Kyle Van Frank 6:41

Yeah. But so the, you know the resources that are delivered, oftentimes, you know, finances are the first barrier. And so we grant about $600,000 annually to students.

Lyn Wineman 6:55

That's a lot of money.

Kyle Van Frank 6:56

It's a lot of money. We're blessed to be able to have generosity of our donors. 100% of those funds are our annual donor, you know, donations that are made to One Classroom. And we're just, you know, extremely blessed by the support of our community that allows us to do that. Those dollars support about 34 schools in our area, so that 140 students with 30 unique diagnoses can attend those. So it funds support staff, you know, maybe a paraprofessional or maybe a special education teacher who can modify curriculum. But oftentimes, yes, money is a challenge, it's a need, it's a barrier. But oftentimes, even when the funds are present, day one of school comes, and the general education teacher, who no matter their background, probably has only ever had one, maybe two special education courses, right, in their—

Lyn Wineman 7:52

Yeah.

Kyle Van Frank 7:52

And they were probably topic classes where they learned what Down syndrome is and what dyslexia is, but didn't learn any strategies. And so we have a full-time programming director who does seven to nine hundred hours each school year on the skills, doing coaching, on-site support, workshops, continuing education. We also invest $25,000 annually in behavior support therapy from board-certified behavior analysts who can go in and provide suggestions for teachers, educators on behavior strategies. So we partner with local universities and offer free continuing education through Webster University and St. Louis University here in town and all sorts of different topics for principals, teachers, paraprofessionals. So our goal is to provide support for schools. Some schools we hear from them once a year when it's time to apply for a grant, and then they rock and roll.

Lyn Wineman 8:53

Yeah.

Kyle Van Frank 8:54

Other schools, we might visit them once a week and everything in between. We want to provide as much care and support as needed so that students can be successful.

Lyn Wineman 9:03

You

Stories That Show Real Belonging

Lyn Wineman 9:04

know, Kyle, as you go through that list of things that you do and services you provide. I mean, I I think a lot of us hear the idea of, you know, providing access to the schools sounds like a great idea. And it is a great idea. I think probably very few of us realize the complexity of making it happen, which is is really a very big deal. So I'm really curious, kind of learning about the why and the how. I love stories. Can you take us to a specific moment or story that really speaks to the meaning of this work?

Kyle Van Frank 9:49

There's really two that I feel like have come up lately here at the end of the school year, just really good, you know, heartwarming stories where you're like, okay, that's what it's really all about.

Lyn Wineman 10:00

Yeah.

Kyle Van Frank 10:00

We could talk, you know, reading intervention and behavior support, and you know, all of the nuts and bolts for hours, and those are important, but it's often the simple things. So there's a student at one of the schools we support, they were having their annual awards ceremony at the end of the school year, and they award a virtue award to a student who has embodied the virtues and values of their school, being kind, being respectful, generous to your peers. And one of the students we support who has a rare genetic disorder was one of the recipients. And mom took a video, it's actually on our social media, and it is— and it's an amazing video of her sprinting down the aisle to go receive the certificate. And she stands watching the principal. And when he says her name, she looks back at mom towards us in the camera, and just the look in her eyes, hearing her name be recognized. And to me, that's true belonging. This is not just, you know, who's present because it maybe made us feel good or we thought that would be the nice thing to do. She's integral to the community. She's a leader in the school.

Lyn Wineman 11:11

Yeah.

Kyle Van Frank 11:11

They can't imagine their school without her.

Lyn Wineman 11:15

That's so cool. Yeah, you— Kyle, you just gave me goosebumps here. If you and I were in the same room together, we're doing this over Zoom. If we were in the same room together, you'd be seeing goosebumps. But that was the first story. You said there were two.

Kyle Van Frank 11:29

Yeah, another young man, he's unfortunately bounced around to several schools, just you know, schools that weren't able to serve his needs. And finally, you know, mom found us and we were able to get him into a school where he is loved and supported and celebrated, and his growth in just a year. I mean, it's night and day. And mom texted us the last week of school. He got to go on his first field trip. And the grin from ear to ear of him sitting on that bus, again, it's the little things. We could talk about all of the social, emotional, and academic—

Lyn Wineman 12:06

Right.

Kyle Van Frank 12:06

—which have also been tremendous and are important, but he got to just be one of the kids. So it's really special moments where kids, you know, get to be a part of a community and understand something that I think neurotypical folks like you and I sometimes take for granted, which is belonging.

Lyn Wineman 12:24

Right. Right. We do take it for granted. And I mean, it's even, I think, a word that we throw around a lot and don't really think about what it would mean to a young man who's never been on a field trip before, right? And I think back, it's been a long time since I was in school, but think about how hard it was the few occasions I had to change schools, right? Even as an adult, you know, how difficult it is to change employment and be with a different group of people. And who am I gonna go to lunch with? Who am I gonna, you know, chat with and going through that experience and getting to a place where you feel that belonging and enjoy the little things that some of us take for granted. There's a lot of life lessons in there, Kyle. A lot of life lessons for all of us. So when I think about you and the work that you do, I know, Kyle, that you are at the intersection of faith. You are at the intersection of disability inclusion, of Catholic education. I'm really curious because I know you are very good at your job. And I know you're raising these funds, a lot of funds to make this work happen.

Making The Case To Donors

Lyn Wineman 13:44

I'm really curious, what is the case that you make to donors about, you know, about this situation and the intersection of those three causes?

Kyle Van Frank 13:56

Yeah, it's a gift in a lot of ways, right? That we're able to approach individuals that might be passionate about Catholic education, or they're passionate about serving people with disabilities, or they're passionate simply about education itself. And what we talk about a lot in some of our narrative pieces on social media when we're talking face-to-face to donors is when someone supports One Classroom, they're giving a child a gift of normalcy, of constancy, of appreciation, of love. And so belonging, right? Again, not to miss, you know, overuse that word, but there's a great, because I know you love research, there's a great professor and researcher at Baylor University, Dr. Erik Carter, and he has studied belonging and talks about the 12 dimensions of belonging. When you think about a place where you were really valued in your life, really appreciated, where you sort of had the cheers effect, right? You walked in and everyone's— everyone gave you a norm, right?

Lyn Wineman 15:04

Yeah, right. Because it's not just everybody, the song says where everybody knows your name, but it's like everybody knows your name and they're like cheering you on, right? They're accepting you for who you are and they're cheering you on.

Kyle Van Frank 15:18

Yeah. And for so many, and again, it's not a criticism, but for for most people, they don't have a personal relationship with a person with a disability. And so, so often, people with disabilities, there's fear. We're afraid to approach them, to talk to them, to get near them. There's a fragility that we project that I can't approach this individual the way I would someone else in my life. And I— we watch the students we support, how much it means to them to get a high five in the hallway.

Lyn Wineman 15:50

Yeah.

Kyle Van Frank 15:51

To have a buddy, to have a friend. And so that's one side of it, right? Is —it's children that don't know what it's like to just simply be known and loved, which is our deepest desire, right?

Lyn Wineman 16:03

Mhmm.

Kyle Van Frank 16:03

And especially in a Christian organization, to— we always say to help students, not just know who they are, but whose they are. But on the flip side of that, for students without disabilities, I actually think the benefits are even greater for those students.

Lyn Wineman 16:20

Right.

Kyle Van Frank 16:22

It's forming great leaders, it's forming responsible young people, people who know understand empathy, kindness, things that can't be taught in a textbook. But again, every one of us want our children to develop those types of soft skills.

Lyn Wineman 16:37

Yes.

Kyle Van Frank 16:37

There are natural, organic ways for that to happen.

Lyn Wineman 16:40

I think about the learning of how to accept, not only accept someone who is different, but value and you know, learn what special talents, skills, personalities, aspects they bring into your community. And I think that's something that's probably difficult to do without experience and something that will serve someone their entire lives in a very beautiful way. So I think that's

Aligning Fundraising With Marketing

Lyn Wineman 17:17

great. Alright, Kyle, you know that I love marketing. You know that I love research, you know that I love marketing because I'm in nonprofit marketing. I talk a lot about fundraising. And I have heard you talk before about how fundraising and marketing can be great tools for a nonprofit to further their mission. And I'd love for you to talk more about how that works at One Classroom.

Kyle Van Frank 17:44

Yeah. Well, I think you know, a nonprofit, I don't like to compare fundraising to sales, but it's our closest one-to-one from the for-profit industry.

Lyn Wineman 17:55

For sure. I think there's a lot of similarities there for sure.

Kyle Van Frank 17:59

Yeah and I don't think you and I could talk about a successful for-profit entity that has misaligned sales and marketing.

Lyn Wineman 18:07

A hundred percent, right? They have to go together. But yet, I also have worked with a number of for-profits and nonprofits where there's some dysfunction and tension between those two areas, right?

Kyle Van Frank 18:23

Yeah. And I— and so I think though that the path for success for nonprofits is aligning those two initiatives.

Lyn Wineman 18:31

Yeah.

Kyle Van Frank 18:32

We, I mean, we're a small team at One Classroom. So for us, to a certain extent, there's an ease of proximity. So we're able to ensure what we're working on, we do a late summer campaign, and we're working on putting the finishing touches on that before it launches in July.

Lyn Wineman 18:51

Yeah.

Kyle Van Frank 18:52

And it's really, you know, easy for our, you know, part-time marketing person and our full-time development person to hop on a call, plan everything out, make sure that all of the visual identity is the same, that the language is the same, that the messaging is all the same across all the platforms, across the phone calls that are going to be made, the letters, all of those things. But we know that it's hard on the inside, I think, for nonprofits, because we're like, oh, if we say the same thing on social media—

Lyn Wineman 19:25

Right.

Kyle Van Frank 19:26

—and in email and on the phone and in paper, we're gonna annoy people, we're gonna wear them out. And the reality that we— I think we all have to take is look in the mirror and say, okay, they're not all listening.

Lyn Wineman 19:37

Right.

Kyle Van Frank 19:37

Right.

Lyn Wineman 19:38

Sadly, they're not all listening, at least not with the same intensity that we are.

Kyle Van Frank 19:44

And not everyone is catching everything. And we are one of several organizations that are telling them, calling them, marketing to them. And so it requires consistency to be able to break through, to resonate, to be— to build an element of understanding and comprehension, even.

Lyn Wineman 20:09

Yes.

Kyle Van Frank 20:09

So for us, it's an essential. Our marketing and our fundraising teams are— they're blurred. Yeah, we have titles, but—

Lyn Wineman 20:17

Yeah.

Kyle Van Frank 20:17

—very much our marketing person is working in fundraising, or fundraising person is working in marketing. And so we just— I don't— I would say the biggest is we don't have conversations separate of each other.

Lyn Wineman 20:28

Yeah.

Kyle Van Frank 20:29

When a blog post is written, our development person knows about it, right?

Lyn Wineman 20:33

Right

Kyle Van Frank 20:33

It's seen, posted. That's now a new story they can take to donors. And vice versa, if a development person is, you know, meeting with a donor and here's a great story, it immediately goes to marketing so that we can we can be sure that we're we're you know keeping a good open channel of communication.

Lyn Wineman 20:50

You know, Kyle, on that same note, I have been invited to speak this year at a conference in Washington, D.C. called the Bridge Conference for Nonprofit Fundraising and Marketing. And I find it fascinating that it's called The Bridge because it's bringing those two areas together. And a friend of mine who has been to this conference before told me, "Lyn, you'll be able to feel the tension in the room between the marketers and the fundraisers." So I'm really hoping that I can help, you know, alleviate some of that tension. But I'd love to hear your advice too, for that nonprofit leader who's like, "I can't get my fundraising and my marketing on the same page." How are you doing it, Kyle? Because I know you've been successful at this at multiple organizations now.

Kyle Van Frank 21:45

I think that we all, every nonprofit, from the one with a budget less than $100,000 to the one who has a hundred million dollar budget.

Lyn Wineman 21:55

Yeah.

Kyle Van Frank 21:56

We're all spread thin. We're all feeling the pressure at all times.

Lyn Wineman 22:00

Yes.

Kyle Van Frank 22:02

And so I think it's sometimes, we become siloed out of this sort of guilt of well, there's already so many meetings. There's already so many projects. But I think that as a leader, you have to prioritize formal occasions—

Lyn Wineman 22:18

Yeah.

Kyle Van Frank 22:18

—for development and marketing to connect. If you're a big organization and you're blessed to have you know a chief marketing officer and a chief development officer, those two should meet once a week. And you as their you know executive understand the cadence of when should you be popping into those meetings. But there has to be consistent and constant dialogue between the two. But I think that you know that tension I when I started grad school we read an article about this idea of a culture of philanthropy.

Lyn Wineman 22:48

Mhmm.

Kyle Van Frank 22:50

And the author talked about her first you know job is in development 30 years prior to writing this article. And they were taking your tour of this beautiful nonprofits facility and the programming offices and the marketing offices and the operations and finance offices. And then they walked down these stairs past a big boiler around the corner and there at the end of the hall was the fundraising office. I think that dynamic has changed a little bit in nonprofits and that—

Lyn Wineman 23:20

Yeah.

Kyle Van Frank 23:20

But there is sort of this element of "Oh, here comes the fundraising." Right?

Lyn Wineman 23:27

Right.

Kyle Van Frank 23:28

I think that there has to become you know, ending the conversation of especially for an organization like us, this is easy for us. A hundred percent of our budget is fundraised. We have no—

Lyn Wineman 23:38

Yeah.

Kyle Van Frank 23:40

So for us there's not really a question of programs versus fundraising.

Lyn Wineman 23:44

We're all in this together, yeah, for sure.

Kyle Van Frank 23:47

But I think if you can find a way to articulate that in any organization it's really important that every member of the team understands their role in fundraising and that might not be making an ask but asking is such a small part of fundraising.

Lyn Wineman 24:02

Right.

Kyle Van Frank 24:03

So how can you engage the rest of the staff in thinking and reporting the things that people actually usually enjoy doing more than asking anyway. And I think that's an easy way if marketing can get excited about thanking people, reporting that impact narrative, I think it's a way to sort of buy in in a way that then creates sort of natural collaboration.

Lyn Wineman 24:25

Yeah, you know, Kyle I always think about if you turn your focus away from all of the little things that are happening internally and you put the focus on the impact, the benefactor and then the person you're asking to donate, you know, what is the thread that ties them all together? What is the importance of this? Because I know this might sound soft and fluffy but really you are giving someone a gift by inviting the opportunity to participate. And I think when you, for me, from a marketing standpoint, and when I do have my fundraising hat on or my sales hat on, that's always where I have to go. I'm inviting someone to participate in something.

Catholic School History And Access

Lyn Wineman 25:19

So anyway, well Kyle, I know that you came to this work through your own Catholic education experience. How does that personal history change the way you think about what One Classroom is building?

Kyle Van Frank 25:36

That's a great question. I grew up going to Catholic schools where we always had a great supports. We didn't have students with really significant disabilities but I grew up with several friends who had more mild to moderate learning differences like dyslexia and dysgraphia, dyscalcula and we had reading and math interventionists, we had school counselors and so I just sort of grew up thinking that's the norm.

Lyn Wineman 26:03

Mhmm.

Kyle Van Frank 26:03

And then got out into the world and realized that was a real rarity and it was a real gift.

Lyn Wineman 26:10

Yeah.

Kyle Van Frank 26:10

And so, for me, I think about the childhood that I grew up in that I don't want, you know, anyone to be denied of that. It was so special. I loved it and anyone I— and I don't just believe, we know that the church— the Catholic church teaches us that we're not to deny anyone who seeks an education. Catholic schools have this beautiful history in our country as being some of the first institutions to educate women, some of the first institutions—

Lyn Wineman 26:39

I did not know that.

Kyle Van Frank 26:41

Many many cities, the first school that educated young women, especially in the Midwest, New England were Catholic schools.

Lyn Wineman 26:51

Wow.

Kyle Van Frank 26:51

First schools often to integrate in the South before the law required it were Catholic schools. And so to me this is such a natural progression in the history of Catholic education for our country to say, "Who's missing from the table? Who is not gaining access right now? How do we open the doors wider for students who need additional support to learn?" So, I think for me, it's just important because it changed my life, it made me who I am. And I know that there's so many students, regardless of their learning ability, who it can change their life

Strategy Upgrades And Clear Messaging

Kyle Van Frank 27:34

too.

Lyn Wineman 27:34

Yeah. Kyle, I want to go back to one thing and actually since you talked about history, we mentioned the one -room schoolhouse, I mean one of the reasons you and I know each other so well, I mean we've developed a friendship over the years but you've also been participating in KidGlov's brand impact accelerator that helped you make some refinements to messaging and the logo, but I'm curious would you share a little bit about what that experience has been like?

Kyle Van Frank 28:04

Yeah, it's been a game changer for us. We are— we just celebrated the end of our 10th school year as an—

Lyn Wineman 28:12

Congratulations.

Kyle Van Frank 28:14

Thank you, thank you, and it's amazing to see what's gone, you know, grown from the Armitage's dining room table, supporting three students at one school to again 140 students at almost 35 schools next year. And, you know we are really transitioning from startup mentality to long-term sustainability.

Lyn Wineman 28:37

Yeah.

Kyle Van Frank 28:37

And so, conversations about marketing strategy and, you know, multi-channel alignment and those types of things just haven't been on the to-do list or the map. And so, this has really been an opportunity for us to say, okay, it's our first time really talking about strategy, messaging, goals, audience, all of those things that I think, some of them have been floating sort of up—

Lyn Wineman 29:03

Yeah.

Kyle Van Frank 29:03

We maybe knew them but we didn't have them on paper. We didn't have the plan and so sometimes, we were really broad or maybe scattered and not as targeted and intentional as we needed to be. So it gave us a roadmap to be able to, in such a a wonderfully succinct and clear way, walk through the process really begin to hear from our community and use their insights, our own insights, and collaboration to say, "Who is One Classroom? What makes us special? What makes us stand out?" because the feedback from our community is that everyone loves us but we also know, our particular organization, not a lot of people know about us in the area. So how do we take this great market feedback, these five -star reviews—

Lyn Wineman 29:52

Yeah.

Kyle Van Frank 29:52 Kyle Van Frank 29:52

—and get them out into the world and so it's given us a really clear direction for that and an opportunity I think to enter the next 10 years so much stronger than where we're ending it.

Lyn Wineman 30:04

Kyle, I'm so excited for you and we don't give grades in the accelerator but if we did, A plus to you and your team and I really am excited to see where you go in the next 10 years with this strategic foundation.

How To Help And Final Takeaway

Lyn Wineman 30:21

So, Kyle, for people who've been listening , who want to donate, want to help out, want to find out, how do they find out more about One Classroom?

Kyle Van Frank 30:31

It's a great question. It's— our website is probably the best and it's O N E dash classroom. I always spell out the one, but it's one-classroom .com. We're also on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, one- classroom, but our website is the best place. As a part of this process, we were just talking about we've done some great, great upgrades in the last nine months to our website so there's a lot of great information, whether you're a parent, an educator, or if you're a supporter that wants to learn how to get involved and engaged.

Lyn Wineman 31:04

That's awesome. That is awesome. We will have those links in the shownotes as well. Alright Kyle, I'm gonna ask you my favorite question and you have answered this once before but all of our listeners know I am inspired by motivational quotes. I would say I am a collector of quotes and I would like one more Kyle Van Frank original to inspire our listeners.

Kyle Van Frank 31:31

Yeah, the one that was coming to mind, and I think as we've made our way through the conversation it's resonating with me is authentic collaboration is a nonprofit's only path for success.

Lyn Wineman 31:45

Can you tell me more? Elaborate. I love it, but elaborate.

Kyle Van Frank 31:50

Yeah, you know, as we're talking about whether that's internal, is your CFO talking to your development office? Talking to your marketing office? We have to collaborate and not just as a buzzword but are there formal opportunities, you know, I'm a working genius person. I love that KidGlov is a working genius.

Lyn Wineman 32:08

Yes, we love the Working Genius. Remind me of, remind me of your geniuses, Kyle.

Kyle Van Frank 32:15

Wonder and invention.

Lyn Wineman 32:16

Of course, of course. You are a big picture thinker that likes to come up with ideas. Galvanizer has to be in your competencies too.

Kyle Van Frank 32:26

Yes, yep.

Lyn Wineman 32:27

Okay, alright.

Kyle Van Frank 32:28

So, but I think about, you know, that knowing who's on your team really understanding how do people collaborate because collaboration is big, right? That's a big picture thing. How do we collaborate externally with the people we serve? With other partners? With our donors? So I really think about, you know, maybe another way to phrase this is a nonprofit's not just a mouthpiece we're also a set of ears.

Lyn Wineman 32:54

Ooh, really nice, Kyle. That is—I think you've just given us a bonus quote there, a bonus —that's great. I've never heard that, either of those, and I think that's fantastic. Kyle, I have loved this conversation and, before we go any further, since we mentioned Working Genius, and I've talked about Working Genius before I think on the podcast but anybody who's interested, it's a great work style assessment from Patrick Lencioni. If you just Google the table group or Working Genius, you will find it. It's very accessible. We find it to be an extremely helpful tool. Alright, Kyle I always love talking with you and I'm a little bit sad that this is coming to an end but as we wrap up our time together I'd love to know what's the most important thing you'd like our listeners to remember about the work that you're doing?

Kyle Van Frank 33:49

I think it's that every child wants to learn, wants to grow, wants to develop, but it's going to look different for every child. And so I think that whether it's your own child, it's a friend's child, whether you're an educator or someone hearing about this for the first time—

Lyn Wineman 34:10

 Yeah.

Kyle Van Frank 34:10

—it's that children want to belong they want to learn and we just have to be patient loving and understanding so that they can all do so at their own rate, their own pace.

Lyn Wineman 34:23

Kyle, that is beautiful I have really loved this conversation and I just want to say I fully believe the world needs more people like you, more families like the Armitages who, you know, see an issue and make a difference and more organizations like One Classroom. Thank you so much for taking time to share today. Thank you so much for having me.

Announcer 34:50

We hope you enjoyed today's Agency for Change podcast. To hear all our interviews with those who are making a positive change in our communities or to nominate a changemaker you'd love to hear from, visit kidglov.com at K-I-D-G-L-O-V dot com to get in touch. As always, if you like what you've heard today be sure to rate, review, subscribe, and share thanks for listening and we'll see you next time.