Scratchwerk ^EDU
"Scratchwerk ^Edu," hosted by Ronnie King, CEO of Scratchwerk Tech and founder of the MyVillage Project, is a dynamic podcast at the nexus of Black communities, technology, business, education, and current events. Each episode dives deep into the role of emerging technologies in promoting equity, enhancing workforce development, and reshaping education.
Join Ronnie as he explores how technology can be leveraged to uplift and empower marginalized communities through insightful discussions with experts, activists, and innovators. From the practicalities of tech entrepreneurship to the impact of community-led initiatives, "Scratchwerk Edu" is an essential resource for anyone interested in the intersection of technology and social change.
Learn about the success of tech incubators such as "Coding in Color", which has trained over 2,000 students in emerging skills and secured over $800k in funding to support young Black tech entrepreneurs, and discover how initiatives like the MyVillage Project Community Fund has united organizations and disbursed over $4M to support 220+ Black-led nonprofits across the country. Tune in to be informed, inspired, and involved in reshaping a more equitable tech future.
Scratchwerk ^EDU
Conversation with Mia Jones - Walking with Purpose from City Council to Healthcare
Mia Jones is a force of nature whose mission to serve Jacksonville's underserved communities has shaped her remarkable career from city council to the Florida legislature and now healthcare leadership. Her approach to creating change reveals a masterclass in relationship politics – not the partisan kind, but the human connections that transcend political divisions when addressing community needs.
Jones shares fascinating behind-the-scenes stories of how she strategically built alliances to pass meaningful legislation. Now as CEO of Agape Community Health Center, Jones faces the challenge of providing care regardless of ability to pay while navigating complex funding structures. Her innovative approaches to creating sustainable funding streams reveal both creative problem-solving and deep commitment to community health.
What resonates most powerfully is Jones's reminder that strong communities take care of their own. Her parting wisdom draws from historical examples of community self-sufficiency. In today's uncertain landscape, her message couldn't be more timely: use your insurance while you have it, get preventive care, and contribute to organizations serving your community. The strength to weather any storm comes from within.
Hey, hey.
Speaker 2:Hello, how are you, hey Neil, Hello, hello, let me try to get me a background here. Hold on one second.
Speaker 1:Now you know, it's just audio now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, Boom yeah. We just looking at you so we can see your face while we talk. I did not know that. And it's cute too y'all, If we keep this part of the recording. Honey, she cute too.
Speaker 2:Hey, literally I got up this morning and I was getting ready to throw my scrubs on and I was like, oh crap, I got up this morning and I was getting ready to throw my scrubs on and I was like, oh crap, I got a and they recording. Put some clothes on Mia so yeah.
Speaker 3:I got dressed for y'all, I know I'm glad you did. You look so pretty, your hair, everything, everything. And we manifested you really, because we've been talking to a lot of um, omegas, and the last call I was like, come on now, let's get a couple more aka's, and then what do we have today?
Speaker 2:hey, anytime, anytime. I was with the deltas last week, a week before last so you know whatever. I can do. Y'all know.
Speaker 3:Well, we're happy to have you, for sure, I have your bio here. Did you send me your bio?
Speaker 1:You know T I like the whole concept where we might do the ChatGPT bio for everybody, just to see what comes up.
Speaker 2:We could actually Really.
Speaker 3:I got your bio from Ioana, but let me see what ChatGPT says about you. We did that for Senator Hill. It was pretty good. Oh, wow, I know, beware, get ready. Have you done this before, mia? No, just put in ChatGPT. Okay, have you used it at all?
Speaker 2:A little bit. I gotta find me some classes. One of my friends was trying to work with me on how to ask the questions and that kind of thing, so I've used it for a few things. But yeah it, I'm slow on like responding to people because I have this twerk in my head that it's got to be the perfect response.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:And so she told me to start trying to use it for that and just type in what I'm trying to say and let it create it. And so I've been working on that. So, yeah, I'm technologically challenged. I'm technologically challenged, but I am praying that the Lord is going to fix that for me and put me in a different space so that it makes my life easier.
Speaker 1:I know that chat GPT can go through a document and give me bullet points, but I only know the basic way.
Speaker 2:So if it's in a PDF, then I'm trying to convert it to Word so I can cut and paste it and put it in the chat. Gpt and I'm like Mia, it's another way. It's an easier way to do this, so I'm trusting God. He's going to do it, because he's got work for me to do.
Speaker 3:You know what's funny is ChatGPT began your bio with your birth year, your entire birth date. Would you like for me to include that, or should we? No, I was just going to add a little color to you and the computer issues.
Speaker 2:What Born in 1968., that's right?
Speaker 2:Hey, no, but I'm reminded. I remember when my mom got ready to retire and computers were just really, you know, getting there and she was like, yeah, when you graduating. So I told her when I was graduating undergrad, she put her papers in the Friday before my Saturday graduation. She put her papers in the Friday before my Saturday graduation. My gift to her and my dad was I had gotten accepted into grad school on a free ride. So when they got there and they're looking around like you have not packed anything, and I said, oh yeah, I extended my lease and, by the way, I had it in a little box and she opened it up and she said I put my retirement papers in. I said keep reading, mama, it's paid in full. But in her mind she needed to still have income coming in and I'm like, okay, lady, if you want to keep working. And she went back for a year just so she was working while I was in school and I was like no, don't send me no money.
Speaker 2:I got it seriously.
Speaker 3:I love that yeah for her baby girl. So what did Jack GPT say to her? Seriously, I love that. Yeah, yeah For her baby girl, mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:That's true. So what did?
Speaker 3:ChatGPT say to her All right, let me tell you what it said. Scratch Work EDU listeners. Today we have Mia L Jones, who is a distinguished public servant and healthcare advocate with a career spanning various leadership roles. Jones graduated from Florida A&M University with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting in 1991, followed by a Master of Business Administration in 1992. She began her public service career in 1992 as an Equal Employment Opportunity Assistant in Jacksonville's Office of Equal Employment, serving until 1995. She then joined Duval County Public Schools as Supervisor of Affirmative Action and later became the Director of Minority Business Affairs.
Speaker 3:In 2003, jones was elected to the Jacksonville City Council, representing District 10, where she served until 2008. During her tenure, she chaired and participated in various committees, including rules, economic, community and international development, and public health and safety. She also served as council liaison to several boards and authorities. In 2008, jones was elected to the Florida House of Representatives for District 14, was elected to the Florida House of Representatives for District 14, serving until 2016. She held positions such as ranking member on the House Select Committee on Healthcare, workforce Innovation and Health and Human Services Committee. Jones was also the Democratic leader pro tem from 2012 to 2016.
Speaker 3:After her legislative service, jones became the chief executive officer of Agape Community Health Center, inc. A federally qualified health care center in Duval County. Under her leadership, agape has expanded health care access to underserved communities, addressing health disparities and providing quality care to uninsured and underinsured residents. In 2024, jones was honored with the Jacksonville Jaguars Inspire Change Changemaker Award for her significant contributions to community health and her dedication to public service. Jones's career reflects a steadfast commitment to public service, health, equity and community development in Jacksonville. Mia Jones, per Chat, gpp.
Speaker 1:That's pretty good. That's pretty good, Mia What'd?
Speaker 3:you say about that. I like it. I mean it covered everything. There you go, uh-huh, but you're praying about it.
Speaker 2:Boom, I'm praying about it.
Speaker 4:Hey.
Speaker 3:Okay, one question. I said we're interviewing Mia Jones today and I need a bio. She's from Jacksonville, florida, that's just in case it was another Mia Jones. And then, boom, now they did not say you graduated from Raines High School. I'm going to add that. And they also did not say that you are a member of Alpha Kappa, alpha Sorority Incorporated. I'm going to add that.
Speaker 2:All right, hey you know, I got cussed out about not putting that in my bio, not putting AKA in my bio, when I first ran for office.
Speaker 3:Leah, how could you miss that? Those were votes.
Speaker 2:Maybe I didn't miss it but I grew up in a Greek family, and so I believe that if I was not financial, I didn't know what. You didn't see me walking around wearing pink and green. You didn't see any tags on my car. None of that Got it. And I don't know if you ever knew Betty Sessions and Delphina Carter. They pulled me to the side one day and they said now you need to straighten this out because I was featured in Onyx Magazine Nice and they said oh, we are so proud of you. However, you are an alpha, kappa, alpha woman for life and I don't care if you are not financial, that's right. You better straighten it out.
Speaker 3:I need the non-financial members of sororities and fraternities today to put on a shirt today and just enjoy yourself.
Speaker 1:Don't tell that to my brothers. They mess around and not pay their dues. That's not okay over here, brothers.
Speaker 2:No we need them paying their dues. We need them engaged. We need them remembering why they did what they did.
Speaker 3:All of this is true, but it didn't mean you were not a brother or a sister hiding in the Onyx magazine because you didn't pay something. So if y'all doing something special, now shout us out.
Speaker 2:That's it.
Speaker 3:That's it Okay. All right, Mia. So that's a lot of your bio.
Speaker 2:You put out what you want to and keep in what you want to.
Speaker 3:Well, first tell me, is there anything missing? Is there anything that you know that you've done, that you felt was substantial and it wasn't added?
Speaker 2:I don't think I heard it say anything about fighting for Medicaid expansion reminded me on Saturday that she came with a group of people about food deserts and I challenged them to go and write legislation and come back. And they did, and I carried it and passed it. And what it did was it allowed the recipients of SNAP and food stamp benefits to be able to use those at farmers markets across the state so that they could get fresh fruits and vegetables, as opposed to having to, you know, do what they were doing, which was buying a whole lot of processed foods and all of that kind of thing. But it's not necessary.
Speaker 1:That's a big deal.
Speaker 2:Those are things and actually it made me say that I want to go back and look at some of my legislation and document that chronicle it, and because there have been some really good things I had. It was a time that God just kept sending people to me whose license had been suspended and I was like what the heck? And then they would keep driving and then they, you know, get another ticket and they license. And then they would keep driving and then they, you know, get another ticket and they license. And I happened to be in an event and there were some judges there Judge Ariz, I think, he's retired now and we were talking about it and I said I don't understand this.
Speaker 2:He said, oh, you're talking about the snowball, we call it the snowball. And I said what do you mean? He said well, people get the ticket, they can't pay it. They got to drive to get to work or do whatever. They keep driving, they get caught again, they get another ticket, they get more fees added and that snowball just continues. He says, and it's not a way out. And I was like, oh, challenge him. I said, can you write me some legislation and let's see if we can do something about this. So when you hear people say that they're paying their tickets in partial payments that was my bill and I thought literally that it was just going to be a pilot, but you don't ever know and when you're looking at everything that's going on right now, this is really a good time Know that things are going to get better because the people who are up here their families, are here okay and just to explain for our listeners up here, she's showing that the families are lower it's going to literally show them because it's going to start to touch them.
Speaker 2:So it's going to be that legislator whose child ended up on drugs and now they got to raise their grandkids and they're in their 70s or 80s. That's a real example. That person came back the next year and all of a sudden was the biggest proponent for second chances for kids Wow, and I had to ask the question why? What happened? I mean, I know I was fighting with you and he said Mia, I'm raising my grandson and he's a good kid, he just got into some little trouble, he just needed a second chance.
Speaker 3:Little trouble. Look different now, huh, little trouble looks different when it's your people.
Speaker 2:Even that snowball looked different because the speaker of the house at the time, their family had a worker who was a single mom and she rode the bus to work for them every day and I guess she helped with their kids and their parents and whatever. And he and his brother decided to buy her a car, make sure she on time, make sure she could help them more, whatever. And they bought her the car, they gave her the keys and she said, oh, I can't take that. And they said what do you mean? It's paid for, free and clear. We're going to pay the insurance. She said, oh no, my license has suspended. And so when I walked into the speaker's office to present the bill to him and to ask that he approve it being put on the agenda and I had the provision in there that it was a pilot program he took pilot program out and it passed with no issues. But they were touched by somebody who was in that situation.
Speaker 3:And so when we look at everything that's going on right now, and so when we look at everything that's going on right now, when you hear people on the news saying I didn't think it would touch me.
Speaker 2:We're going to see more and more and more of that You're going to see taken and the actions that they are not standing up against.
Speaker 3:Mia, with all the things that you've done, I'll admit that even hearing some of the bills that you've passed and things that have happened, I feel badly that I don't know Even the elected officials. I know I don't know things like that about happened. I feel badly that I don't know even the elected officials. I know I don't know things like that about them. I know that they're good people. I know that they're fighting hard. I know that you know when they're running for something people may say, oh, they don't do anything or they do do something. But how is there, why don't we know all the amazing things that happen under a particular elected officials kind of timeline? That's something going on right now that we could be discussing. Where is that it happens?
Speaker 2:For me. I can say the reason it happened is because the way I was brought up I mean, my dad was at the Y helping families and doing that for over 32 years. My mom was an administrator in the school system for over 30 years Kids would end up at our table because their parents put them out and we never knew who was going to be eating dinner with us and if they were staying overnight. Okay, that's just, that's the family that I grew up. That's my roots and so, even being elected, when I was elected, I didn't have somebody around me that was good at recording and telling the story and it wasn't a big deal for me because I wasn't doing it for the story. I was doing it to help the people and as long as I could help who I was trying to help, I was good. So you look at the Legend Center and the Bob Hayes Sports Complex. The Bob Hayes Sports Complex was funded originally. Before I got there it was the Bob Hayes soccer field. I'm making plans for six months down the road and I went to Bob Hayes' mom and I said I would love for you to be a part of this event when we name this soccer complex after your son. She cussed me out. My son didn't play soccer. Why the hell would somebody want to name a soccer complex after him? Mm-hmm, I said you are absolutely right and I will correct that that's how it became the Bob Hayes Sports Complex. But I even went as far as to make them redesign it so that it is a full football field. So that it is a full football field, you can cut it into two junior fields and then you can cut it into quarter fields for the smaller kids. Okay, at that point she was okay and she came to the ribbon cutting.
Speaker 2:But the Legends Center wasn't on anybody's radar. That was just contaminated land over there. Nobody was getting ready to do anything and you'll remember when the storms came through in 2004 and they came down Edgewood and a lot of prop Jenkins got torn, a lot of houses, roofs got tore up, a lot of houses, roofs and things were torn up. It was right before the Super Bowl and we were talking. I got the call and they're like I was on Beach Boulevard, I was at JCCI so you know this a long time ago At JCCI in a meeting. I'm like why is my phone blowing up? They know I'm in a meeting. Hey, your district has been hit hard by this storm.
Speaker 2:I scurry home, I'm trying to get to the house and they're like you're not going to be able to get to your house. I'm like I grew up in this neighborhood, I can, I got some back streets, I can go on and I can get there. I grew up in this neighborhood, I can, I got some back streets, I can go on and I can get there. And I was able to get to my house. The chief for the area sent an officer to come and get me and then we went to where they staged on us one and I was like well, I don't want to stay up here with y'all, y'all just talking and no, take me out in the community. And he did. And I said well, let's go to the hurricane shelter. All my life, I thought Raines Rebought were hurricane shelters. Come to find out they had been decertified. Nobody ever told us. So people were literally bringing seniors to the schools, telling them to sit on the bench and somebody would be there to open the door shortly.
Speaker 1:And nobody coming.
Speaker 2:Nobody was coming. So at first I wasn't able to get what I what it created for me was a vision of a medical needs multi-purpose facility in our community, because I'm like, well, where are we supposed to go? They said downtown. So we supposed to go to the homeless shelter Wild. No, we, not we going to come up with this. And I started going around the city, going into Georgia, looking at facilities and identify what I wanted it to be.
Speaker 4:Didn't have any money.
Speaker 2:But back then they gave each council member a million dollars your first year and so I took a portion of it and had the building designed. So we had architectural renderings and all of that. And who was that? Dick Gregory, a promoter who I had met one time called and said hey, I'm being in Jacksonville with Dick Gregory. You got something you want him to come to. Sure, you know he's about health, you know nutrition. Bring him out here to the Bob Hayes Sports Complex on Valley. He came, he came, he told John Payton off in front of all them people, and I had gotten the architect to blow the renderings up and we had the renderings out there for the ribbon cutting of a sports complex.
Speaker 2:The media was there. We didn't have any money to build this thing. Every time hurricane season came around there was a reporter that would tell the story about how the Northside didn't have a hurricane shelter and how I had been trying to get one. And when John Payton went in for reelection to the editorial board, that was one of the questions they asked him and they said are you going to finally give Councilwoman Jones the money to build the medical needs and hurricane shelter? And he said yeah. And then he called me and said did you pay these people? I said no, they've just been telling the story for three years.
Speaker 2:Every hurricane season they would tell the story, they would call me, I would tell them we don't have anywhere to go and that's how that facility got built. And then it has an indoor walking track. Because if you go out to Lonnie Miller Park you know we want our seniors to walk, we want the community to walk exercise. There are still signs on Lonnie Miller Park to this day that say do not disturb the dirt. So if you're telling me don't disturb the dirt, you're covering yourself from liability. So my thing was okay.
Speaker 1:Well, my seniors can walk inside the facility and so that's why there's the indoor walking track in there, because I wanted them to have a safe place to walk. That's amazing. Now that needs to be recorded. We talk a lot about just knowledge repositories, just databases of stories that you know. Again, the general public may or may not know, but we have to record those types of things and connect that back to our community so that they understand how things became and you know what they really really mean. Now it's more than just a, you know, a park or a building or whatever those things are. So I'm glad we've been able to talk about this.
Speaker 1:You know, mia, one of the things that I've always admired about you has been you know the stuff that was in your bio, those significant kind of policies and things that have come from you know city council kind of policies and things that have come from you know city council, state and especially at the state level, just knowing the way that the lines are drawn and you know the party lines, I guess talk to us a little bit about how to even get meaningful legislation passed, both when you was there and particularly now you know, because when I think about it, even on a city level, you know there's a lot of great ideas floating around in our community, a lot of folks saying we should do this and we should have that, but actually getting it to the point where there's some legislation on the books for us to vote on in a way that empowers communities I know can be a difficult thing to do, you know, even from the outside, so I'm sure from the inside you have a different perspective.
Speaker 1:And what's your thoughts on actually getting things going from concept to vote on all levels?
Speaker 2:What I learned and I've shared a little bit with you of that was that you've got to get To know the people. Ok, you can have an idea it's not a good idea to tell everybody what your idea is or whatever but you kind of lay out what you want your plan to be. Kind of lay out what you want your plan to be, and then you start getting to know people listening to people, finding out what's important to them, watching them in a committee meeting OK, let's see how they're going to vote on that. Hmm, they might be a good ally. And then you build that relationship. It could be as simple as one dinner. It could be as simple as eating in the cafeteria.
Speaker 2:Back in the when I first got first few years I was in the legislature I remember that there was a mother in City Hall and she would have to leave work every day to go and give her son his insulin. And I was like let's go to lunch. She said no, I have to go to my son's school and give him his insulin. I said why? I'm sure it's a whole bunch of diabetics at the school. What do you mean? And she said no, you know the rules say you got to. You know. Just I said do you give him his insulin at home? She said no, the doctor trained him on how to do it.
Speaker 2:I said okay, well, I had seen some bills pass the previous year and I got with one of the Republican members and I said this is what I want to do. I want kids to be able to self-administer, because their doctors teach them how to do it and they do it every day at home. And I said what I need is I need you to carry the bill. We'll co-sponsor you. Carry the bill because it was that important to me. I didn't want anything to get in the way of it. I didn't want them to think of diabetes as a black disease. I wanted them to see it as this is something that's going to help families. And so he said OK. I said I need a prop. He said what I said we need a prop. He said OK. He found a little five-year-old little white boy with spiked hair. They put him on a cute little outfit, had his little tie on. They brought him to the meeting. He told his story and he showed him how he self administers.
Speaker 2:And I sat back and I said I love that so it's really getting to know people, their stories, what they've been through and touching them so they know it relates to them. Now I'm not there. Now I know things are a lot different. If there was a way for us to get turned the internet down, was a way for us to get turn the internet down, at least Not off. Turn it down. Help our elected officials and remind them on a regular basis.
Speaker 2:All politics is local. All of this stuff you see going on in Washington, or you let them do that. All of this stuff you see going on in Washington, or use, let them do that. Take care of the business of the people on the level that you're on. But remember, we look at the cuts that are being made in DC. Well, a lot of the money in Tallahassee is there and available, because we take a small portion of Tallahassee money and then the federal government will give us a match that then increases that money and then we have the money to do the things that we need to do.
Speaker 2:So if they're cutting up here, we can't afford to cut on the state level in the blind or blindly and then turn around and cut on the local level blindly, because you don't know what this impact is going to be up here and you're only going based on what you know. The past has been so. In the past, the state has handled it. In the past, the feds have handled it. But if everybody is cutting at the same time, you just in this flux. You're just in this flux and then all of a sudden, the issue that you have is going to be huge rather than okay, well, we got that cut, we can fill this gap. And so everything from people losing their insurance most people get their insurance from work you cut all of these government workers and many of them if they're two income families, a lot of times both of them work for the government.
Speaker 3:Mia, are you finding these cuts to be impacting you at Agape?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. How so? Absolutely. So we have a mandate as a federally qualified health center not to turn anybody away. We provide services regardless of their ability to pay. So the more people who don't have the money to pay, the more people who are going to come through my door. But if the federal government isn't giving me the funding, if the state isn't giving me the funding because they're getting the matched funding from the feds, if the city is not going to give me the money and I need the city's intergovernmental transfer six figures to send to Tallahassee to then turn around for them to get millions from the feds and then send me more back All of that impacts.
Speaker 2:So imagine, as an organization yeah, that money works for us to support the uninsured. Well, if you cut Medicare, which is another program that we depend on, because when our seniors come in and that's what they got, we take them, usually that will help to offset the care of the uninsured. But if you reduce that, that's less money for me to have for the uninsured and it's less money for me to provide the service to that senior. If you reduce Medicaid and you reduce the number of people that are on Medicaid, then those people go to becoming uninsured, okay. And then you've got Medicaid getting smaller, so that little bit of money that we get from Medicaid gets smaller, and so now I've got a bigger hole to fill.
Speaker 1:Mia the and I am not as well versed in this kind of health space, but, you know, for the purposes of sky type stuff, to that we as communities can start thinking about at least implementing that could support this in place of federal funding and state funding. You know what do you? Have you thought about it? Have you seen any other things you know in other countries, maybe even in terms of, hey, we need to figure out this on a community level.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely Stepping into this position. One of the things that has been on my list is for this to be an organization that has perpetual funding. So, regardless as to how much we get each year, yes, we use that, whatever, but that we have a pot of funds that are there that are just building interest. We're rolling that interest over back into it and we keep allowing it to grow almost like an endowment. To grow almost like an endowment. But you're doing it with a high-yield savings account where you're getting 4%, 5%, and if I put a million in and I'm getting 4% and 5%, I do that. I'm able to pay for a position. Okay, I'm able to pay for a position. Okay. And regardless as to whatever else is going on, I can pay for that position. And that position is not having to be paid for all at one time, it's incremental as the money is being built and growing.
Speaker 2:Our organization, our board, is required to be made up of 51% patients. So when you think of a nonprofit organization and you think of boards, you think of them having members from Bank of America, First Union, Florida, Blue, the hospitals, all these different places. I can only have 10% of my board from the hospital or healthcare industry. So 51%, that's patients. Now they can go and ask their friends, family, whatever, for small gifts Can you give me $100? Can you give me $50? Can you give me, you know, on a monthly basis, $25?
Speaker 2:Those are things that I'm now having to try to put in place so that kind of like the you see the kids on TV and they, for years they would say, oh, if you give this much money, you're able to do this, that and the other. Creating that story so people understand every little bit helps. It could be $25 and I'm hearing a patient in the pharmacy and the pharmacist is saying it's going to be $25 for your medicine and they're saying they don't have it. Well, they tell me I have to see them. They don't tell me I have to give them the medicine. So we try to raise money and put money aside to be able to help to fill that hole.
Speaker 3:Mia, is that 51% because it's the FQHC or why is okay?
Speaker 2:It's because we are what they call a 330E organization. 330 is the healthcare service area, but E is everyone, so the 330H, which is homeless. They don't have the same requirement.
Speaker 3:Oh, wow.
Speaker 1:Is it ever? You know, obviously I'm sure that was extremely advantageous at whatever point we set it up. You know you set it up like that. Have you ever thought about this? Is this is no longer an advantage? But you know what's going on at the federal level and the state level and you know, is there a for profit solution that is now maybe more advantageous?
Speaker 2:I mean the requirement.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So and I understand why they did. Ok, it's almost like a secret shopper. Ok, so you want board members who are actually receiving the service and can tell you this isn't working. This is working. This is not a good provider. This is a good provider. This is working. This is not a good provider. This is a good provider.
Speaker 2:The staff was this way, the facility was this way and I believe they did that because they recognize that if you have a board and I learned this at the school board if you have a board of people who are making decisions for others, but it's not something that they live live, then the level and the quality and the expectations are diminished. I won't say intentionally, but it's just the reality of things. So they are looking for the patient member to be able to be that voice. So I don't tell my staff who my board members are. So when they come in, they don't know, unless they go out, how many staff going to go out there. Read your website, see who your board is. They're not so unless they do that, your board is. They're not so unless they do that when that board member walks in and they're trying to get an appointment or they're calling and trying to get an appointment and they can't get through. I get a phone call and I try to walk them through the process so I can learn what's actually going on, Versus just going and fixing it. Just going OK, here's your appointment, we got you straight, We'll see you tomorrow. Ok, because that's not the real world of the patients. So right now we are testing out doing Saturday clinics because a new patient with us was having to wait three to four months to get a new patient slide.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Now, mind you, I can't pay what the hospitals pay. I can't pay for what some of the private offices can pay. So it's a constant battle of okay, I really need this provider, I need this doctor. How are we going to pay for it? So then we have to go out and look for grants. So then we have to go out and look for grants, but you don't want to get a grant. I had to learn this. All money is not good money. I didn't always think that way. I get one time money. I start a program up, it starts going good, and then the money runs out, that's it. I got patients now that are depending on that.
Speaker 3:Okay, those are the that's it.
Speaker 2:I got patients now that are depending on that. Ok, those are the types of things that, as I'm trying to come up with what would be an alternative to the government money, that I'm having to think through, that I'm having to try to come up with ideas, identify support, looking for that plan that would allow us not to have that to worry about Now. Diversification has been our biggest benefit and I'm glad I thought about that early, because when I came we only got money from the feds. That's it. And that first year I remember going to the city, which was interesting, since I had been escorted out Like no, we don't need you to stay for two weeks, we are accepting your resignation and you can leave today.
Speaker 3:Now don't try to skip the real stories. Now, that's the podcast.
Speaker 2:What happened.
Speaker 3:Now Okay.
Speaker 2:Well, you remember, I used to work for Mayor Brown and I was the first health commissioner for the city of Jacksonville. I was still in the legislature, which is a part time job Most of those people have job so it was a part time job and I worked for the mayor as a special assistant to the mayor and director of boards and commissions.
Speaker 1:I forgot about that. That's right, that's right.
Speaker 2:So in doing that I'm having to. I'm playing both sides of it, state and local which I'm glad I had the opportunity to do it. I appreciate him thinking enough of me to bring me in because I learned so much. It's one thing to be on the city council, but you don't see what the administration is having to do, and that's why it's important to have you know the different compartments of government. You need your legislative component, you need your legislative component, you need your executive component, you need the judiciary component, because everybody plays a role and, just like in life, everybody has a different perspective based on what they're responsible for. And so when Mayor Brown did not get reelected, everyone had to submit their letters of resignation and then the new administration would decide if they wanted to keep anyone.
Speaker 3:You couldn't even do the two weeks.
Speaker 2:No, no, they said pack your stuff Bye-bye.
Speaker 2:Pack your. I had Republican friends like you're going to be good. We've been telling them you're good to work with, you're just going to be about doing it. Thank you for your service. Pack your bag. I went and got me some boxes, packed my stuff up and went home, got my two weeks check and it was okay.
Speaker 2:Then I had to turn around and go to them because this was my idea of we got to diversify our revenue and go to rest his soul, sam Moussa, who was chief of staff or administrative chief of staff, whatever he was at the time and say, hey, sam, I need to meet with you. And he's like okay, neil, what you want to meet about, I need to meet with you. He's like okay, neil, what you want to meet about? I said, well, I'm over here at Agape and we're providing health care services for our most needy population. And you may remember, some years ago the city stopped giving money to the FQHC because y'all felt that it was the responsibility of the state. Remember, we're a consolidated government. We're the only consolidated entity in the state of Florida.
Speaker 2:So every other municipality, their county has money, their city has money, then they have the state money and then they have the federal money. So when, with us being consolidated city and county, when they were looking for ways to cut the budget, that was one of the places they cut. They said we're not paying for the health department. The state can do that. Wow. So she said, okay, we'll meet. And we met and we were able to carve out funding.
Speaker 2:Unfortunately, it's every year I have to go back, as opposed to putting it where it needed to be, and that's why I say it's a learning process. If I had known that, as health commission, I could have taken care of that while I was there, but I didn't know Right, okay. So it's things like that that I think that as we are traveling this road, this journey that we're on, we have to document what's taking place. We've got to look for what was good in it, what was bad in it, and there were a lot of good things and we just need to go ahead and start finding ways for us to implement. So, even if it's and I've been derelict in doing this being able to say okay to churches, every church got somebody who need help, healthcare help.
Speaker 2:Can y'all provide A hundred dollars a month. Can y'all put us in your budget? Ok to organizations. Can you put? Or can you help me to create a way to market to them? Because they all got insurance, they all they good. This isn't their area, this is not touching them yet. Okay, hey, we fund this. I will tell you. I've been here nine years. I have one volunteer doctor Now, you know, doctors volunteer at a number of organizations in our community.
Speaker 1:The volunteer doctor doesn't look like me. You know we're coming up on time, but I really want to know why you think that's the case I got to ask.
Speaker 2:I believe that we look at organizations that have been around for a long time and we want to be able to say, oh, I volunteer at Volunteers in Medicine, I volunteer at we Care, I volunteer at Salzbacher, and those are larger organizations, they have a different face in front of them and, as a result, that's where we go.
Speaker 3:I hate that, mia, and I hope that if we have any listeners in medicine nearby or not nearby, come here and help Agape Community.
Speaker 1:Health. Yeah, we got to fix that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't like that at all, mia. There are so many themes in what you've been sharing today. What I've heard is, if you grow up around service, you're going to serve. If you are doing great work, it doesn't matter. People will still ask you to pack your bags and walk up out of there, and that there are funding challenges and health care challenges right now ever present. No matter how hard anybody's been working, that's impacting our community. Before we wrap up, I do want to know on the health side, of course, we know on the news that there's COVID or if these, you know, like big outbreaks and things like that. But from a community perspective, what are we? What are you seeing in terms of people who are coming in? Is there anything? If you had to do just an off-the-cuff PSA, a public service announcement for people just to kind of hear what you all have been getting into your clinics, or advice you would give what is really going on in our community from a health perspective?
Speaker 2:Honestly, the message that I would share is if you have insurance right now, use it. Go get your annual checkup. We have taken things for granted for so long. Even people with insurance don't always use it. We wait until we get sick, and so, with the climate being what it is right now, I encourage people go and get those checks. Go and identify what your baseline is, where you are, and create that relationship with a provider's office, because so many people don't have a primary care provider, so many people don't get an annual check.
Speaker 2:We have to teach our children, and you all have done an amazing job and continue to do an amazing job educating our kids and exposing them educating our kids and exposing them but we have to create for them a roadmap of how do I make sure that I'm healthy years down the road, and so teaching them that you need to do an annual, you need to go to the dentist. It's an awful thing to see people come in and they don't have teeth. It affects the entire body, okay. It's an awful thing to know that somebody could have gotten help, but they didn't. And now they're unemployed and they don't have that insurance, okay. So that's what we are all about. We want to be preventative, we want to try to get in front of the curb.
Speaker 2:Our numbers, historically, are so bad that as a community we got a long way to go. But we got to start somewhere and so we've got to change our messaging. We've got to have these talks. You know time is out for chit-chat. Our time together, our time with other groups, needs to be spent with valuable discussions on health, on finances, on community growth and sustainability, on finances, on community growth and sustainability. I'll leave you with this. When I look back over decades, I say the best time that we had was when we were segregated. We owned our own grocery stores, we owned our doctors work for themselves, we had pharmacies, we had hotels, we had entertainment venues, we had our schools. Our teachers taught our kids. At that point, when you are taking care of yours which a lot of communities do with no problem when you're taking care of yours and not trying so hard to get what somebody else has, we as a community are strong.
Speaker 3:Period.
Speaker 1:And that is the message.
Speaker 3:That's it right there. Drop the mic.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Thank you for the opportunity you guys no, thank you.
Speaker 1:I want I wanted to say too as well you know you've always been a big supporter of all the stuff that we've been doing. You know, way, way back, even when it was uh, just a fund at the community foundation and uh, matter of fact, I don't know, we, we gave uh agape. The first, one of the first checks that we sent from the fund went to a gap. It was like a thousand dollars. I might have bought him some, some chips in the lobby, but we did all we could. But we appreciate a gap. They're supporting us.
Speaker 2:You brought the young people in that we could talk to them and share about the program.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, love it and.
Speaker 3:I love that you shared that, ronnie, because I think, based on what Mia just said and even that example of we had a few dollars and we took it over there like we gave it to them, I think for our listeners, y'all, we have to take care of ourselves. We have to take care of each other. If there is no ever-present message right now, you no ever present message right now, you can turn your TV off or on. There shouldn't be one of us walking around that doesn't think we need each other and that we need to take care of ourselves and one another. We cannot wait on other people to take care of us. Beg people to take care of us, beg people to see us. We're here and you know exactly how to plug in.
Speaker 3:Go support somebody who looks like you today, like literally today. Like when you hear the song, I like the song. Y'all like the song at the end of the podcast. I love it, mia, you got to hear it. You'll hear it when the song goes off. Y'all go support each other. That's all. That's my little tidbit for today, mia. Thank you so much Thank you.
Speaker 2:That's my little tidbit for today, Mia. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3:Appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Thanks for inviting me. I appreciate it Anytime.
Speaker 2:I'm here.
Speaker 1:Hopefully we didn't waste the outfit, you know, even though it's all audio.
Speaker 2:It's all good, oh yeah, just giving somebody a little time, I might decide to go to dinner or something you know that's right.
Speaker 3:I think you should All right.
Speaker 2:Thank you, take care, all right, bye-bye.
Speaker 4:Anytime. I guess that endurance is bliss. Take me back to before the noon Rewind. Take it out of queue. Innocence can be a human's game. Signed up for the hall of shame. I wish I knew how much I missed not knowing that we're all screwed when we play our roles and ignore the problems. I like to be way more patient. Stay up. I feel so outdated. How can we look the other way? Sun is out, but the sky is gray. What would happen if I took a chance? It's always hard at first glance. I don't wanna, but I know I gotta do it. The truth is hard to swallow. I think I knew how much I missed that moment that we're all screwed when we play our roles and ignore the problems. I wish I knew how much I miss not knowing that we're all screwed. I wish I knew.