Communities In Schools Builds Relationships That Creates Graduates

We sit down with Laura Meyer, Executive Director of Communities In Schools of Southern Nevada, to learn how relationship driven support inside schools keeps students engaged and on track to graduate. We also share what’s happening on Water Street and how local businesses can plug into real, measurable help for kids and families. 
• updates on the Fiesta site and what to expect next 
• new Water Street openings including Coffee Class, Better Buzz Coffee, and Chic And Cozy Consignment 
• summer events, watch parties, and district business activations 
• what Communities In Schools is and why it started as a nationwide dropout prevention model 
• how CIS places full time site coordinators on campuses to remove barriers to attendance and learning 
• how Title I schools and feeder patterns guide expansion for continuity of care 
• key outcomes including a 97% graduation rate for students on the CIS caseload 
• wraparound services and partnerships that connect families to food, clothing support, and mental health referrals 
• ways businesses can help through sponsorships, volunteering, mentoring, and career exposure 
• Fill The Bus school supply drive details and how to participate 
Reach out if you want to share your story: Derek.allen@cityofhenderson.com 

Transcript

Welcome Back And What Changed

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Welcome back to Bob Catholic. How are you doing, Tiffany?

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Hi guys. How everyone, it's been a little while.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

It has been a little while. We have been uh working overtime in other places, not so much here and on the on the air. So we're we're coming back at you. We're glad to be back and uh bring some more uh good content and good interviews for you. Hopefully you enjoyed today's interview. Uh we are changing it up a little bit, a bit, and not uh not necessarily a business, but working with uh a nonprofit organization who works in the schools and a little bit of an education twist to to redevelopment and what we do. So it's a cool uh cool opportunity. We'll kind of share with you a little bit um about the organization before we hear from their executive director, Laura Meyer. Um shout out to Laura and her team for uh letting us come and meet with them.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

But uh yeah, they're such a valuable asset for our school children and our um families in need around the valley, but also in the redevelopment areas.

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Yep. So we'll hear a little, I'll share a little more about them here in a

Water Street Updates And New Openings

SPEAKER_00 1:34

second. But before we get there, we wanted to give you an update on on redevelopment, things that are happening. The questions we get a lot of, uh, I know um the question I get a lot asked a lot, and probably Tiffany does too, is you know, what's going on with the Fiesta site?

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Yeah, and so and what are the new businesses?

SPEAKER_00 1:52

And what are the new businesses and what's going on on Water Street, and and so we have we do have actually a lot going on. Um unfortunately, we don't have a lot to report about the Fiesta site, other than you know, we are we are working with uh developers and trying to develop get someone uh good in there to develop the site and make it a a great uh location for new location for uh East Henderson area. So there is more to keep progressing, yeah. It's progressing.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

It should be a formal announcement, we hope this summer.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Sometime so in the near future. We'll we'll keep you up to speed on that one.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

But uh and for the new businesses, we had the grand opening celebration for the coffee class at 37 Southwater last week.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

It was super fun. There were actually people that camped out overnight just to get the swag bags and free giveaways.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

We got campers on Wall Street.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

It's beautiful though. They've done a great remodel to the building, they've really brought their like modern upscale brand to the old historic townhouse building, so it's a really nice renovation. And they're about to open their second floor uh cocktail lounge too in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for that. Awesome. Also, Better Buzz Coffee is nearing completion of their construction, and they're expected to open in probably the first week of July.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

And they're at the corner of Water Street and me.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Yeah, right next to Raisin Cane's. Yeah, so that's another popular. Both of those are very popular.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

We love our coffee, and there is lots of down here. So come check it out.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Come check it out. Come check out the wonderful pastries and food at the coffee class, too. Yeah, they have homemade pop-tarts that you cannot go wrong with getting. They're my favorite.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

We want to recognize you know, in terms of we have a lot of food, we have a lot of coffee, we have a lot of uh entertainment on Water Street, but we uh recently we just got kind of a retail, new retail space, a consignment store that uh is on Water Street that is trying to add to the to the mix and uh another uh venue for uh for you to come check out and some of the uh cool furniture and other stuff that they have on consignment for sale. So good.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Yeah, chic and cozy consignment. They used to be located on the Eastern. Yeah, they have great furniture and home decor there.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

So they're at 119. 119.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

There's a lot to check out. So next time you're coming down here for dinner or coffee, stop in and cruise through there and see what she has to offer.

Summer Events And Watch Parties

SPEAKER_00 4:20

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

So I'll also touch on um, you know, we're getting to the hot season, we're over 100 degrees, so our our events taper out a little bit, but during the Stanley Cup finals, we there's a watch party, it's most of the away games. So double check our events calendar, but um, there should be watch parties for all away games during the Stanley Cup finals.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

I was insane. We've got one tonight, so yeah. But by the time this will go out. Yeah, by the time this comes out, it'll be over.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

That's I why I fumbled a little bit on now.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

And hopefully we'll be up too well by then.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

Yeah, hopefully we sweep them and we don't need a game five watch party, but stay tuned just in case.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Just in case.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

And then in a couple weeks, we have the Juneteenth festival on June 19th. Um, and then after that, we have Fourth of July. Um, it's at Heritage Park, it's not downtown, but it's a great celebration. Um, there's fireworks at nine o'clock, tons of activities for the kids and the family. And this year they have country singer Colin Ray headlining it. So it's it starts at six o'clock at Heritage Park on the 4th of July.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Well, there'll be a lot of there's a lot of activities going on this uh this month around the valley, not just in Henderson, but around the valley celebrating the 250 years of US America. And so check out those activities that are coming up. It should be pretty exciting.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

I was also gonna mention, um, you know, as as our outdoor events taper down, a lot of our businesses in the Water Street District really increase their events. So check their their websites out. Chinita's venue is doing a uh drive-in movie night every Monday in their venue where you bring your fiend bag, bring your blanket, bring your chair, and come watch some classic movies on their big screens.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

Yeah, they've recently upgraded their A B and their sound, everything over there, and it's a fun experience.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

Pretty fun. Even better. I'm in for that.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

So it's much better than going to the drive-in sometimes, sitting outside in the drive-in. Right. It's fun, but it's hot.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

Fun family night, and then someone else can do the cooking of dinner for you.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Even better. Awesome. A lot coming up. So keep your ears and eyes open, and uh we'll definitely keep you uh appraised of all that we uh we know about that's happening here on Water Street and in our in our redevelopment area. So excellent.

Why Communities In Schools Matters

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Well, today we had the great opportunity to sit down with Laura Meyer. She's the executive director of communities and schools, which is a nonprofit organization here in the valley. And actually in Nevada, they have um four areas of Nevada that they work in, three in northern Nevada and then southern Nevada. They have 75 schools here in southern Nevada. And um Communities and Schools is a resource organization where they go into schools and provide have resource rooms for kids who um who need uh maybe some extra help in terms of um either learning education-wise or in wraparound services. But we'll talk a little more, you'll hear a little more about that from Laura uh in our conversation. But uh it was a great opportunity. And the reason we uh several reasons we got involved uh with this uh with communities and schools is one, it was part of my project in school. Yes, I got back to school, so I got to learn a lot about them as part of my a nonprofit class I took. But uh, but also they uh they have three uh resource rooms here in the city of Henderson in our in downtown redevelopment area and uh at Robert Taylor Elementary, CT School Elementary, and at Basic Academy. And so uh it was exciting to hear that they have those uh resources available for our students um in these areas, and so we want to make sure that uh we wanted to get their story out there, uh, what are what all you know about about communities and schools and ways that you might be able to help uh help them help them out in their uh mission to help our students and help our families to be successful and to graduate. Ultimately, our goal is to have kids graduate graduate school and uh go on to college and uh get a good education. So uh so it was a great opportunity uh to sit down with Laura and and to hear about them. And so with that, go ahead and sit back, relax for a minute, and let's have our interview with Laura Meyer.

What CIS Is And How It Started

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Welcome back to Redevelop That. We're here today with Laura Meyer with Communities in School. How are you today, Laura?

SPEAKER_03 9:00

I'm fantastic. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 9:01

I'm doing great, thank you. It's a Friday, so I I'm enjoying it.

SPEAKER_03 9:06

That it is a Friday in a short week, which is lovely.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

Yes, even better. But uh, we're grateful. Thank you for the opportunity to come and meet with you and uh and uh learn a little bit more about what your uh your nonprofit does and um what the impact it has on our community. Probably I don't know if a lot of people know about community in schools, and so that's why I want to make sure that that your message gets out there and what uh how you help um not just the schools and the the kids in the schools, but how you really impact, make an impact on the community. And I'll I'll uh I'll be up front. I I have done quite a bit of background uh research with uh with your pro your uh with your organization, um write some papers and stuff on it through school, but uh and so that's what got me interested in in learning more uh more about uh who you guys are as an organization, but also getting your message out there um and sharing that with others. And so maybe to kind of start off with that, I was like, what is community and schools and how did you guys get started?

SPEAKER_03 10:03

Yeah, yeah. So communities and schools is a nationwide dropout prevention program. Um we are located in states all across the country. Um CIS of Southern Nevada is one of the four affiliates that run across the state of Nevada. We're also in Welcko, Winnemucca, and Reno. Um our national organization started, they're about to have their 50-year anniversary next year. Um, and it was founded by a man named Bill Milliken, who was living in New York at the time and was noticing a bunch of kids that were not in school that should have been in school. And when he started talking to them and getting to know them and building relationships with them, he realized that it was not um it was not school that was causing them to not be engaged. It was issues that were they were having outside of school. Um, and so he really started to work to address those barriers that kids were having to fully engaging in school. Ultimately, his kind of ethos is that it's not programs that change lives, it's relationships that change lives. Um and so communities and schools grew from there. Um, what we do, the crux of what we do is we put a full-time site coordinator onto public school campuses. Their job is to work with the schools, the students, and the families to build strong relationships that allow them to identify any barriers that kids are having to coming to school, whether it is regular basic needs stuff, they're dealing with um food insecurity, they don't have the right uniform, those kind of things, or is it that they're disengaged because they are feeling unsafe at school and they need that person there that's making them feel safe and seen and heard. Um, and so that's really what we do for dropout prevention is we work to keep kids in school and on track to graduate. Um, we work in K-12 schools because we know that dropouts don't happen your senior year of high school. Right. It's like along the way we we fall behind and we become disengaged. And so that's really how we got started and how we have grown over the last 50 years.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

So here in the state of Nevada, you said you're in four different areas. You're in southern Nevada and northern Nevada. Uh we know you said Winnemucca and Elko are the four areas. And so here in southern Nevada, how many, so maybe well, statewide, how many schools are you in?

How Schools Are Chosen To Serve

SPEAKER_00 12:46

And then how many schools are you in on average? I know it it fluctuates a little bit. We you were talking a little bit beforehand here that um that number uh adjusts each year. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 12:56

And so yeah, no, don't let me mess up the statewide number. I think we're in 117 schools across the state. Um in southern Nevada, we're in 75. Yeah. So southern Nevada is the oldest affiliate in Nevada. We turned 20 last year. Okay. So um we're the oldest and we are also the largest. We serve about 100,000 kids school-wide, um, and then we case manage over 5,000 students a year.

SPEAKER_00 13:25

Yeah. That's amazing. That's a lot of schools to be in, and a lot of, you know, it takes a lot of resources to fund and uh you know stock all those schools. So that's amazing to be able to be there. So how do the, I mean, how are you how are the schools I won't say selected, or how do you determine what schools you would like to be in?

SPEAKER_03 13:45

So we've we've kind of evolved that over the years. Um initially, when we first started, it was very much word of mouth. Principals would have our site coordinator, they would love the program, they would either move to another school and bring us with them, or they would tell another principal about us. Um, as we've grown, we've tried to get more strategic with how we grow. First of all, we look at Title I schools. So schools with um student populations that just have very high needs in general, right? Um but then we also look at feeder patterns because when we're working with a student who may be dealing with a barrier that's happening outside of school, right, within the family. They have a family member that's dealing with a health issue that's creating transportation problems and getting to school, right? We know that all of their siblings are dealing with the same thing. And so if we can be in a feeder pattern, we can have that kind of continuum of care for the family. And additionally, we can support those students as they transition great like school levels, right? Which that's one of the times that kids are really most vulnerable is in those transitional periods.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Yeah.

Graduation Results And Early Warning Signs

SPEAKER_00 14:57

So in terms of the the success rate uh of the program, you know, you're you you're only able to really case manage, like you said, about around 5,000 students, even though you you have impact on up to 100,000. You know, in terms of the success of the program, what kind of success have you guys seen over the years?

SPEAKER_03 15:17

So our our number one metric for success is high school graduation, right? That's our goal is to get kids across the finish line. Um both in the 24-25 school year and in the 23-24 school year, we had a 97% graduation rate. Um, last year we had about 700 seniors on our caseload. 97% of them graduated. Most of the students that we work with are not on track to graduate when we start working with them. So um huge, those that's our highest graduation rate to date. Um, we're super proud of that. I keep saying we are going to get to 100 and we will get there. Um, I don't have the rest of my outcomes in front of me, but so one of the things that we do is, and we can get into kind of the the real details of how we do the work, um, but we case manage and we set school-wide goals around three early warning indicators for dropping out. So attendance, behavior, and coursework.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Right.

SPEAKER_03 16:18

And then we collect data on those outcomes all year long. And so we really work at the school-wide level to reduce chronic absenteeism, which that supports every student in the school when we're able to do that. Um, and we've had really um significant success post-COVID with some of our schools that have very high rates of chronic absenteeism, really working in partnerships with the schools to get those rates down and get kids back in school.

SPEAKER_00 16:47

Yeah. No, that's amazing. I mean, just that one, you said that one indicator, just having a 90%, 97% graduation rate for those that uh that you work with is I think a huge tell of how successful the program is and what uh you know what that means. And um, and as you kind of mentioned earlier, uh that it's not just about uh you know the the educational part of it, but uh being in school. Uh that it's about creating those relationships with the families um and with uh and trying to to work with the families to help the students that stay in school and to receive the education and the resources they need. So what time I mean in terms of the um not just classroom resources, uh I know you guys provide do you guys provide outside resources also to to help those students when they're not in school.

Wraparound Services And Community Partnerships

SPEAKER_03 17:39

Yeah, so absolutely. So what we do and what we really work to do is connect students and families to all of the resources that exist around the community that are often challenging to navigate if you're trying to figure it all out on your own, right? And so we bring partnerships into schools. We do things with Three Square, we have emergency food giveaways with them that are open to the entire community. So schools become a hub in their community for everyone to access resources and not just the students on campus. Um, we also work to connect students and families to services that exist outside of the school walls that they may need help with. We help make referrals to mental health providers, we have partners that do vouchers for um for clothing and things like that. So if families need um additional support for the whole family, they can get those vouchers and go shopping. And so we really try to thoroughly assess the needs of the students we're working with, kind of align that with the resources that already exist in the school, right? So that we're not duplicating effort. We're really building on what schools are already offering and then grow that support as we see needs kind of ebb and flow depending on what's happening in the world.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

And that's amazing. You know, that and I guess that's kind of transition a little bit, you know, just to kind of our audience, my audience is you know, with the redevelopment agency, is you know, we work with our business community and our our residents in our um economically challenged areas of the city of Henderson. And um I know you have three locations within within those areas right uh today, Robert Taylor, um C D Sewell, and and Basic Academy. And you mentioned earlier before we started recording that uh one of those schools is going to transition to another school, but um but it's still the opportunity to to be in those uh parts of our city that you said are that are underserved and um economically challenged and is a big part of why I came here today to to kind of get your story out there to our to our parts of our community. And so you know you talk about b uh partners that you have partnerships with um with groups that help facilitate and who bring together the resources you need to be able to meet the needs of the

How Businesses Fund And Support Students

SPEAKER_00 20:08

students. You know, and so how does the business community help in that process?

SPEAKER_03 20:13

The business community helps in so many different ways. We have phenomenal business partners. I could go on all day. Um, our so we have we have business partners that fund our program. Um so part of the way that we operate is the schools that we're in provide a portion of the funding needed for our program. And then we have sponsors that come in on the back end and do the philanthropic match. Tons of people from the business community help with that, in particular in schools that are in their neighborhoods, right? Or schools that they have connections to. We work with the business community on school events and getting sponsorships or restaurants to come in and do things for school events. Um we have a we have a partnership with a business that comes in and brings like all the chefs from their business in and does big events for teachers and students. And um we also in our high school program, we run uh a program called Academy, which is college and career readiness. We do things like uh mentor matchup where students apply, they talk about what they want to do in their career, and we partner directly with businesses to let them shadow, give them a better understanding of what the career looks like. Um we do a junior career speaker series where businesses come in and talk about what they do, how to get started. Tons of kids that are interested in the trades, interested in cosmetology, interested in this year. Um mortuary science was a big interest, which is fascinating. So, like it's a broad coalition of business uh partners that we work with. With. We have businesses that come in and volunteer. There's just there's so many ways that we work with the business community to support this work.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

That's amazing. That's a that is a really uh surprising, you know, the different business categories that you're involved in. And you know, mortuary being what the kind of a unique one that you don't ever think much about it, but uh it's a you know, it's a science in and of itself, and uh it's a career path that is out that's always needed.

SPEAKER_03 22:30

And yeah, it's not going anywhere. So kids are very interested in it.

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Unfortunately, it's uh one of those careers that uh yeah, we'll always need. And so uh so that's amazing. Uh and so yeah, and that's and the the the the partn those partnerships, that's uh an incredible way. And I don't know if you know how you know how many businesses know that, you know, especially within our area of the city, uh, to be able to that they could be a part of that. And so that's a great opportunity that we'll have to share that message with uh with our businesses, and if they're looking for opportunities that uh they can always reach out to you and bring their resources to to our schools and our uh our classrooms in Henderson there. So that's uh that's great. Um I know that in terms of an organization, you mentioned a little bit about funding, of how that funding comes about. That's so the school districts and the schools help contribute uh resources through classrooms and some funding for for uh space on on campus and then through other don uh donors and uh philanthropic um

Fill The Bus School Supply Drive

SPEAKER_00 23:34

uh groups that help supply and fill in those gaps on the other end. Um I know you guys hold a lot of fundraising events. You know, what do those events look like? What you know, what do you guys get involved in that help uh help bring the community into what you guys do and help them become a part of the process?

SPEAKER_03 23:54

Um this is very exciting because we actually have one coming up, and this is one of the um fundraising events that we have that is one of our more successful fundraising events and engaging businesses. So our big for CIS of Southern Nevada, our big fundraiser of the year is fill the bus, which is our annual school supply drive. Um we collect school supplies for one full day at two locations, and I have that information for you if you want it. Um but we do school supply drive that basically stocks our resource rooms for the year. So the resource rooms in 75 schools, it allows us to um gather those supplies so that students don't have the barrier to the cost of school supplies, right? That's another thing that we work really closely to make sure we're able to provide. Um, we have that is also a fundraiser for us, so we have sponsorships available for that event that help support our program throughout the year. And also we work with businesses who will do like local drives at their business. We've got boxes for collection. They can bring them to fill the bus the day of and drop it off. Um, it's always a really fun event. It's always very busy all day. Um, we're out at it's on July 23rd this year. Okay. We are out at Rainbow and 215, the Walmart that's out there. We're there from like 6 to 3 on July 23rd. And then we're also at Envy Energy that day. They're one of our big business partners. Um, we're at NV Energy from 10 to 3 p.m., uh 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at their West Sahara, 6226 West Sahara. Uh-huh. Um, and that is our big event of the year.

SPEAKER_00 25:47

Sure. Yeah, that's a that's a uh I remember reading about that and you know the impact that that has and being able to fill those buses is pretty uh amazing uh the amount of community res uh community uh input that comes from that and the resources that they're collected. That's cool. We'll have to we'll have to see if there's a way we can uh contribute to that out our out our way.

SPEAKER_03 26:10

So absolutely let me know. We are more than happy. We're looking for collection sites right now to get people involved. Um and again, I mean we it brings in enough school supplies for 75 schools for the year. It's a huge need for our program.

SPEAKER_00 26:27

So we'll try to find a way to get our water street district involved. We have a we actually have a water street district business association that's made up of business owners with not necessarily just on in downtown Henderson, but in the kind of surrounding part of Henderson, that maybe we can get them involved. That could be a function. Yeah, we'd love that.

SPEAKER_03 26:44

Would love that. We can definitely make that happen.

SPEAKER_00 26:46

Yeah, excellent. Well, this is you know, you guys uh have an amazing program here that you're uh that you're building, and I know that uh your desire is to be in as many schools as possible, and a lot of that always comes down to just sheer resources and funding uh to be able to be in those schools and uh to be able to get the the principals uh to grant you some of the a little bit of space and um and so maybe looking to the future, what is you know, what is the future of CIS?

The Future Goal And How To Join

SPEAKER_00 27:16

What do you guys, what's your hope and uh dream to to become in the future?

SPEAKER_03 27:21

Well our ultimate goal, our ultimate goal is to be in every Title I school across CCSD. Um figuring out how to do that is what we are doing right now. I mean, I think that everybody's aware that schools are dealing with significant budget issues, and so working with all of our partner schools to figure out what that looks like and how we can support each other in our growth. Um, we've been working actually really closely with all of our partners and the business community on um how to fill the gap for schools during this time. Um we have um some really great opportunities with our amazing development team, some campaigns that we're running, um, and really looking at strategically where can we have the biggest impact as we continue to grow and uh really figuring out how to fill those gaps. It's really exciting. You know, CCSD just released their strategic plan. So there's a lot of very exciting things happening across the district, um, working really closely with our partners to assess their capacities for expansion because you know we work with Future Smiles and Goody Two-Choos and iCare for Kids and all these great service providers, and we we will have to scale together to meet all of the needs. And so really getting strategic about um about that work and about how we make sure that every kid that needs our support um is able to access it.

SPEAKER_00 29:09

Yeah. And I think it's only going to become more and more uh vital in the future to have kids who are graduating, um, kids who are ready for you know the next stages in in life. And here within our valley, especially, I I learned just the other day we were had a meeting and we talked about, you know, what's you know, what's the in the nation, what's the number one tech spot. And Las Vegas actually popped up as an in that top five, if not, I think it was the top one. Like we are the kind of one of those next uh tech hubs uh that are up and coming and growing. And so we're gonna need uh need students, we're gonna need uh educated individuals who can fill those spots and build that community, build that uh sector of our uh economy that you know which is exciting for us. I I don't know how long you've been here in Nevada, but I I was actually born and raised here, and so for the longest time it's always just been you know the casinos and the service sector, and you know, that's really what drove our economy. But it's super exciting now to see the the um the how much our economy has started to uh broaden and and bring in a lot more uh you know other industries into the area and and we're our reliance so heavily on on the gambling and service sector is still there and it's always going to be there, but it's exciting to see that we have other opportunities to to grow as a community. And um I think programs like yours where it's only bringing that um that gap in education to students who maybe otherwise wouldn't make it all the way to graduation now are able to graduate and be able to know that hey, you know, there's a way, there's a place for me uh to be able to uh provide and uh be a part of the future of our valley and our community.

SPEAKER_03 30:54

So yeah, I think you know that's one of the things that um in particular in our high school programs, but it really happens across all of our schools. Um we get the opportunity to connect kids to the community. In our academy class, we do service learning projects where kids build a whole project that has a direct impact on the community. They go out, they run it. Um, so many of our students have told us that they hadn't considered volunteering until they went through that program. They get to see how, um, like even working with individual entrepreneurs, right, who want to come in and do mentorship for our students, they just they get a um they get a firsthand experience on how you can have an impact on your community, not only as a student, but after you graduate through your career, in business, in whatever you want to go into. And I think that what is really unique about our model and the way that we work is um we we make it really, it's really tangible how we're all connected. And it's important for all of us that we have educated kids graduating who are connected to Nevada, right? We want them to stay here or go away and get a great education and then come back to Nevada. But we want um we want that um we want that population here because we are growing and because there is so much opportunity, and we want um kids to really understand that connection and really understand that after high school they can come back and do the same thing and just grow that kind of coalition of support that says, what kind of community do we want to provide for kids so that they thrive, so that our community continues to thrive?

SPEAKER_00 32:57

Yeah, and it's it's something you know that we sometimes forget. I think on being on the West Coast here is like as a community, as a city and uh as an area, we're actually fairly dare say young. Uh, you know, we're only a little over a hundred years, uh in Las Vegas is only a little over a hundred years, and Henderson's only, we're only about 80, and so we're as a community, we're a fairly young community. And so we, you know, what we see back east sometimes where these communities have been doing for hundreds of years, and the philanthropic uh efforts that they contribute to and um be are a part of, we're now just growing here, and and so you know, to your point of having those students learn about that opportunity of being, you know, that philanthropy here within our community, um, and then be able to grow that and be a part of that into the future so that it's a legacy. There's a legacy of philanthropic work that's gonna take place into the future to support all these programs and all these wonderful opportunities that we have to to build our uh build our areas and that um so yeah, that's amazing to have them be able to be a part of that and learn that aspect of you know you know of philanthropic work of not you know nonprofits and fundraising and and being able to uh to see how it works on the front front lines and uh understand that. So that's cool. That's a great program. And so uh excellent. Um all right. What haven't we covered? What uh what else do you want to make sure that we know know about you before?

SPEAKER_03 34:35

I don't know if there's anything that we haven't covered.

SPEAKER_00 34:41

We covered a lot of ground here in a very short period of time, and it's been great.

SPEAKER_03 34:44

We have covered a lot of ground. I mean, I think I think um for folks that want to get involved, we're always looking for people to partner with. Um and we are able to work with people directly to figure out what their capacity is, where they're interested in fitting in. I feel like I've been kind of all over the place with the ways that people can get involved. And so I think that would be something that I I really want to make sure that people understand is that um there are so many ways to get involved, both uh across the valley, right? If you just want to support the organization. Or I mean, we have people who they support Chaparrell because they went to Chaparral, right? Which I think is another really fun thing about the work that we do is um getting to connect people back to what where they came from, right? And getting them to invest back into the district that they're a product of. And so we just welcome any interest and any opportunity, and we're super happy to work with folks to see um how we can connect them to the mission and how we can get people involved because again, it really is us creating um creating a movement of people who recognize the value in educating young people and the value in supporting our school district and understanding that a strong school district makes a strong community. And we are um I think one of the unique things about working with us is we do have such a great relationship with our schools that we're able to find those opportunities for people to to people to for people to fit in um wherever they would like.

SPEAKER_00 36:30

Excellent. There's a place for everybody. Yeah. There's a place for anybody and everybody to be a part of and to be included. So that's amazing. That'll be awesome. Great opportunity. We're excited to to see how we can uh uh get our businesses involved and be a part. If they're not already, maybe they are maybe they already are, but uh and maybe we'll get them to invite them to be even more involved. So that'd be uh be an excellent opportunity. But well, thank you so much for uh taking a minute to sit down with us and uh talk about all these wonderful opportunities and exciting things that you guys have going on. And so maybe just for our listeners, what's your website?

SPEAKER_03 37:06

The website is csnevada.org. That is our statewide website, but you can find information specific to southern Nevada on that website.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

Okay. So if that they want immediate information, then go there and then uh we can uh if they need more, we can get in contact with you.

SPEAKER_03 37:25

So yeah, absolutely. I can give you contact information to drop on your website. I can send you information about fill the bus, whatever you guys want to include. I am happy to do that.

SPEAKER_00 37:36

Excellent. Well, thank again, thank you so much, Laura, for your time. And uh we uh look forward to uh future opportunities to meet with you and see how things are going. Keep things how things are growing in the future.

SPEAKER_03 37:47

Awesome. Thank you so much.

Website Details And Closing Updates

SPEAKER_00 37:51

Welcome back with our interview with Laura Meyer. Hopefully you enjoyed that interview and uh hear a little bit more about communities and schools and some of the great work they're doing. Uh it's pretty pretty amazing program, pretty amazing success they have uh in terms of the number of students they've held, the number of schools they're at uh statewide and here in southern Nevada. Uh it's it's pretty exciting. And um, sometimes I I know I get in my little bubble and I don't see I don't hear and see a lot of these uh organizations like community schools uh around the valley. And so to be able to be introduced to groups like this and to hear about what they have going on and all the activities they're involved in is is truly amazing. Uh amazing work they're doing.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

And the wonderful difference they're making in our community.

SPEAKER_00 38:40

Yeah, it really is. You know, just the not just to the students themselves, but to the families. You know, the wraparound services they provide is uh is a great testament to the to their program of it's not just about the students, it's about the families. Um when families are are successful, the students can be successful. So we we applaud uh Laura and her group out there uh doing the hard work in our schools, uh, along with a lot of our other nonprofit organizations in the valley that are working so hard to you know to bring uh resources, much needed resources to our underserved communities throughout the valley.

SPEAKER_01 39:19

Our silent heroes around the valley. They need recognition. What they're doing is great. It's also a great, great thing to get involved in yourself or as a business.

SPEAKER_00 39:29

Yeah, there's great opportunities, as Laura mentioned in the in our interview, that they have their uh big uh school drive, the fill the bus uh event that's coming up here at the end of the, I think it's the end of summer, around July, end of July. Um if you want more information about that, you can go to their website, which is CIS.org, I believe, if I recall. Or CISnevada.org.

SPEAKER_01 39:58

So nevada is filled out.org.

SPEAKER_00 40:05

Uh go check out their website and uh find out where you can get involved. Uh they're always looking for great businesses to partner with, looking for uh new new people to contribute and uh free donors and great opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 40:21

And it looks like fill the bus here locally starts July 23rd and runs through the first week of August before school starts through August 7th.

SPEAKER_00 40:36

So yeah, if you want to if you want more information, like you say you can go to their website or you can reach out to us uh here at our office uh by email.com. You can uh reach out and see what we can do to help you connect, uh connect you guys to this great organization. So uh we're grateful again to war and all her group and her efforts and their time to sit down with us and share their story. Which

Host Wrap Up And Listener Invitation

SPEAKER_00 41:08

uh we're always about the story, so we're always looking for good stories. So anyone, anyone out there that uh businesses in our redevelopment areas or someone that's contributing to one of our redevelopment areas, maybe not directly involved, but maybe indirectly uh is contributing to the success of our redevelopment uh efforts. We would love to hear from you. Uh we'd love to hear your story. Uh reach out. Like I said, my email is Derek.allen at cityfenderson.com. You can always go to our website at city of Henderson.com slash readabol that, and you can reach out through our website also and get in touch with us. But we are uh excited and we always look for uh great opportunities to come meet you, meet new business owners, meet new businesses, uh, get to know you and uh see how we can uh help out. Uh we have a lot of uh exciting uh programs coming up, hopefully in the near future, redevelopment programs that may become available to to be able to help and assist businesses directly. And so keep your we'll uh we'll keep you up to date on that also as uh as we get closer when more information about those programs become available. And so, yeah, a lot of exciting things happening, a lot of uh exciting events, and we uh look forward to a great summer here in uh in downtown Henderson. So come check us out.

SPEAKER_01 42:30

Come back, watch for our next episode.

SPEAKER_00 42:32

Yeah, see who it is. It's gonna be a mystery.

SPEAKER_01 42:36

Great interviews on the horizon you'll want to check back for.

SPEAKER_00 42:39

Check back. So thanks for listening, and until next time.