Living Boundless. How A Large Non-Profit Scales With The Right Plan

Some support systems feel like a dozen moving parts that never talk to each other, and families pay the price in time, stress, and constant coordination.  Mark Beaver is in the host chair for this episode and brings in Chris Wolf, Chief Operating Officer at Boundless.  Together, they unpack what it looks like when an Ohio disability services nonprofit designs care around the real world instead: home life, school years, health needs, work goals, and community belonging.

We talk about how Boundless grew from its Franklin County roots into a statewide footprint by doing something deceptively simple: looking for service gaps and building solutions where the need is greatest. Chris walks us through residential supports like respite, in-home care, group homes, and supported living, plus day and community integration programs that help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) find social connection, skills training, and employment. If you’re a caregiver, a professional, or someone planning for a loved one with special needs, this is a grounded look at what services actually look like on the ground in Ohio.

A big focus is whole person integrated care: blending primary care, dental care, therapies, behavioral health, and strong care coordination so families aren’t left juggling providers and paperwork alone. Chris also shares how Boundless thinks about nonprofit sustainability, measuring impact with both stories and numbers, and the staffing realities that make direct support deeply meaningful. Plus, stay to the end as Chris and Mark realize they share many tastes in music!   We're talking heavy .. HEAVY metal here!!   

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Transcript

Boundless And A New Sound

SPEAKER_01 0:04

When you hear the word boundless, what comes to your mind? Andy Keeler, our firm's founder, lives by the mantra, whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve. That isn't Andy's quote, however, it's Napoleon Hill's. And I'm not Andy Keeler, I'm Mark Beaver, and if you're a regular listener of the podcast, you probably know I'm a regular on the show. I'm sitting in again in this episode to learn more about an organization that helps give people with intellectual and developmental disabilities the freedom and opportunity to live boundless lives. Also, if you're a regular listener, probably noticed the music was different this time than usual. That can be credited to today's guest. In addition to being a talented musician, Chris Wolfe is the Chief Operating Officer at Boundless. Chris, welcome to the podcast. Hey Mark, thank you. So before we dive in on Boundless and everything you guys do, um, give me a little bit of background about the song that we just listened to and your musical background.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Yeah, so uh my family likes to get on me a bit that I continue to find avenues to uh take one of my first loves, music, and and find a way to sort of put it into uh jobs. Uh I've consistently done that over the last 20 years. Um for whatever reason, someone needs a song, someone needs some music, and I am always the one to volunteer. And and I've had the opportunity to even bring back uh players that I've played with in the past to studios to record songs and things of that nature, that nature for conferences, et cetera. So I'm always finding a way to to take that passion, that creativity and do do something with it.

SPEAKER_01 1:36

That's great. Keeps it fresh, keeps it going.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Yeah, absolutely.

Chris Wolfe On Music Roots

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Well, uh, let's pivot a little bit and I want to learn a little bit more about the the organization that you help lead, Boundless. What what is Boundless uh and what what is the vision for that organization?

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Yeah, sure. So So Boundless is an organization that is close to, goodness, I think 45 years now, 45 years old, 45 years young. Um, and it was started actually as uh part of the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities. Uh so it was part of the public sector. And a little over 20 years ago, uh they privatized that organization and said basically, you want some separation between those who are doing the work and those who are overseeing the work or authorizing and paying for, right? So uh thus uh Boundless was formed. It was actually called Franklin County Residential Services. About 10 years ago, um, Franklin County Residential Services needed a new CEO. And that was a gentleman named, that is a gentleman named Patrick Maynard, that is our current CEO. And at that time, um, he took the opportunity to really look across uh the services that we were doing and trying to understand were there still gaps in the community that that Boundless could be a part of, could fill and make impact. And so uh he took it upon himself to bring me in as a consultant at the time. Uh, and we did some really great work with the team there building strategic plans and sort of outlining what it was that we thought the vision could be for Boundless and how it could make a greater impact, not just to Franklin County, but to Ohio and beyond. And we are goodness supporting folks that are in at least 60 of the counties. We have offices now in uh seven counties from the one that was started 10 years ago with uh Dr. Maynard. Um, and we support roughly 6,000 people a year with over 3,000 employees. Um, and that is a tremendous difference from the maybe 500 folks we were supporting on the residential side in Franklin County. So uh tremendous change, tremendous growth. Uh happy to go through some of the programs we do now if you're interested.

What Boundless Is Today

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Yeah, that'd be excellent. As you were uh talking about that, and and listeners, if you caught our last episode, we we talked with a couple of uh attorneys that specialize in helping families with special needs planning. Uh and and some of that is getting families connected to organizations like you so that they're getting these services. But yeah, what are some of the services that you offer? Sure.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

So um so uh Boundless for sure does uh residential uh services. And so that breaks into a lot of different areas uh from respite care to in home care to specialized institutional settings, uh, as well as supporting people in apartments and group homes and just all kinds of different settings, right? So um it's where we started. It's one of the most uh the most tough things that we do is that residential support. It's 24 hours a day, typically seven days a week. Um, but a large amount of folks that we support, well over a thousand, still live at home. Okay. And we provide those supports right to families, those natural supports so that they can kind of keep that family intact and get all the kind of care and love they need from family. And then we are able to come in and sort of augment that care. So that's our balance at home program. Um we love that program. We want to see that one expand a lot. We think keeping families together, making use of those natural supports is the way to go. Um, for those then who um want a different kind of setting, we go into things like group homes or supported living where people might rent an apartment, they might find roommates, and then we provide those services there. Wow. Um after residential, you get into then, well, what do people do during the day? Do they do folks with intellectual and developmental disabilities work like everyone else? Do they go and enjoy the community like everybody else? And the answer is yes, they do. They're just like everybody else. Um, and so we have programs that then happen throughout the day for those that uh are looking for social engagement, looking for uh more vocational training, looking for jobs. And so we provide a lot of those programs in our community integration programs. Wow. Um and then from there, we've done some really interesting work around whole person integrated care, where we have brought clinical services into the fold, where we opened up our own health clinic and brought dental and primary care in because we saw that as a serious gap in the community, where um IDD providers like ourselves absolutely provide these types of residential services, these types of day and community integration care. Um, but what we were seeing was this sort of lack of integration that occurred for folks that had other types of um needs, whether those be chronic uh conditions that uh might need a primary care provider to oversee, or rather health conditions that they could really use some extra supports, just like lots of folks around anxiety or depression or things of that nature. Um so we wanted to really be able to develop that as well.

Residential And Day Program Supports

SPEAKER_01 6:18

The the community aspect of it that you mentioned, I have to imagine that's a really big deal for these families to have that community involved. And um how how do families get connected to Boundless typically?

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Yeah, so typically uh in Ohio in particular, um, we have a strong local system of county boards. And so um the county board system, uh, access, we're that intermediary group that will connect families to providers, connect families to different funding streams and things of that nature. So typically it is through those types of relationships. We've have super strong relationships, as you can imagine, with all the county boards, Franklin County in particular, um, having been here in that county the longest. And so that's usually where a family starts their journey is with a Franklin County, a Licking County, uh Cuyahoga County, a county board of DD. Um, we then also try to do lots of of outreach to uh other folks. We we work with with with families that might also engage with different systems and not just the county board. So lots of different ways, but it usually starts in that kind of with that avenue.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Okay. So you mentioned that you you started out of the county board and and grew into to what it is today. And you it sounds like you're continuing to add more and more services to these families. How do you go about figuring out which services to focus on or not not focus on in some cases?

Finding Gaps And Building Programs

SPEAKER_00 7:40

Sure. No, that's that's a great question. So um, you know, being a part of Boundless, what's really been fantastic about that is that it takes its responsibility um seriously with regards to looking for gaps and impact to community. So working for a nonprofit, you know, our our goal isn't obviously profits, it's what we call sustainability. Now, sustainability takes money, takes the the books to work out adequately. Math still works for nonprofits as they do for for-profits, the same exact way. But we get to throw in another measurement. So not only are we able to be sustainable, what kind of impact are we making? Right. And being a part of Boundless has allowed me to be a part of an organization that is very dynamic and take and take seriously how it goes and sees those gaps and says, what can we do about that? Nobody is moving in that direction. Sometimes people aren't in that direction because the funding is light. Sometimes people are in that direct are in that uh area because it's not a well-known or publicized space of impact. One of the things that we developed a little over five or six years ago was what we call our multi-system youth program. And how that came to be was we had been recognizing, seeing stories, certainly in local papers, but also recognizing this within the parent groups that we engaged with and just the community at large, that there were families that loved their children, loved their 14, 15, 18-year-old son or daughter, and wanted them to stay with them and be part of their family. But because of an intellectual developmental disability, sometimes also because of autism or some other behavioral health challenges that might also be occurring, lots of things happening all at once, they weren't able to provide a safe environment, not only for their son or daughter, but potentially for themselves and for other members of the family. And so years ago, what you saw were stories, uh, every once in a while, headlines of families that had to have their son or daughter go out of state. Um, or potentially they had to give up custody. Because the way that government funding works, there's sometimes some complexities and some challenges with the rules. And so years ago, uh in Ohio, as and in lots of other states, if you really wanted to try to get the treatment or intervention that you might need for your son or daughter, it may require you to actually give up custody so you could trigger funding that would be available to that is very expensive but necessary, right? So we immediately immediately moved into this space and said, how can we provide these types of services here in Ohio? First of all, how can we partner with other um stakeholders in this area and do something about this? And we found a very strong partner several years ago in the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities who also said, yes, at least in our county, we're going to try to do something about this. And we'd like to do this with you. So several years ago, we were able to start probably the very first multi-system youth program um for individuals that were under the age of 21 that were at risk of being not only placed outside of the home, but placed outside of the state. Um and through that, that advocacy and and successes that we had with it, the the idea of it grew. And eventually the state um put together a program to sort of target this group of folks and to s assist families. And eventually, quite honestly, I would tie um one of our governor's main initiatives, Ohio Rise, which has been incredibly successful, as targeting this group in a huge way, like only the governor can, and say families do not need to give up custody. Families need to have other avenues and other ways to get these supports. And so, quite honestly, starting out as maybe the very beginning or one of the few at the very beginning, it was amazing to see we saw the need, we we tried to make impact, we spread the word, the word spread on its own. It brought more and more people together, and eventually we have uh a pretty strong program going in Ohio, period, not just with Boundless, but other providers now doing these types of services.

SPEAKER_01 11:50

And you said you you're serving you know thousands of families across the state and several, you know, multiple, multiple counties across the state. Uh I imagine that that need is even larger than than what you're serving. You're you're growing to meet as much of the need as you can, but it's uh it's a pretty big one that's up.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

Yeah, yeah. And I think that's the other thing that's important with Boundless. Um you know, we do try to we do try to understand what the gap is. And the other thing we don't try to do is go into an area that is flush with something and do more of it. Yeah. Um, you know, there are lots of amazing organizations, for-profits and nonprofits, that serve uh this sector and other social service sectors and health sectors. And the idea of being a good partner, knowing what you do well, going into a community and understanding what they need, not simply, well, what we do is this, we're in this community, so we're gonna do this now. There's lots of that. What's missing, right? And so, yeah, the needs are are are are great. Um, but more importantly, it's about trying to find, just as we did with the Franklin County Board of DD, how do you find other partners out there, whether those be payers, whether they be providers, and what are the gaps of those communities that are perhaps unique or different for that particular part of Ohio?

SPEAKER_01 13:07

So, with the various services that you provide and constantly looking at what are some of these service gaps that we can fill, what what are a couple of the things that Boundless has their eyes on right now as maybe a big need that's in the community or something that gets you most excited?

SPEAKER_00 13:25

Yeah, so it's work I've been doing for probably 15 to 20 years. Um, so it's it's not new to me, uh, but it is still fairly unique uh that Boundless is one of the very few organizations that is licensed and certified across many different gambits of care. So it's pretty traditional for a provider that provides care in lots of different ways to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to rest on those sort of traditional legacy services, some of the residential programming I talked about, some of the day community integration program, those are programs that have been around. They've evolved and they've improved and they've adjusted with the times, but they've been around for a very, very long time. One of the things that we picked up on immediately around the multi-system youth was they were multi-system, right? And so systems like to sort of silo things, right? And but people aren't siloed, are they? People are whole people, right? And so the concept of whole person integrated care is something that we we talk a lot about at Boundless. And what we attempt to do is bring in these other elements, whether it be primary care, whether it be dental care, uh OTPT speech and language, um, behavioral health, psychiatry, therapies, things of that nature, and sort of say, hey, you know what? The person that we're supporting here in a day program, in a residential program, in a respite program, in again, some of those traditional programs, these are whole persons. And they need support at all of these areas. And what we know, looking at gaps in the community, is not all providers out there understand how to support and and really benefit this unique population with its unique needs. And so what we do a lot is we we braid funding together and we integrate professional teams together to really provide a more whole person integrated approach when it comes to the care and thoughtfulness around the planning for the individual.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

So I can I can imagine for those families, they've they've already got a lot to try to manage. Yeah. I mean, any family's got its own challenges, but when you've got all these different providers, all these different places, and it might be you have a list of all those providers for one child and a whole different list for the other ones, and you're juggling back and forth. Um, to have that integrated thought process, I would imagine that's a big deal for them. Simplify the process as much as you can. Uh it's still complicated, but uh I would think that would be a big deal.

Whole Person Care And Coordination

SPEAKER_00 16:01

Uh absolutely. So one of the things that we really love seeing, uh, so our clinic, which is in Worthington, Ohio, um uh certainly serves lots of folks who have intellectual disabilities, who have autism, who might have some behavioral health needs as well. But it's it's we we invite the entire family. And so what we see are parents and other siblings using our it's a it's a beautiful facility. We have top doctors there. Um I myself get my own care there, right? This is a full-fledged clinic. Um and uh one of the folks I work with, I think said it really nicely. They said, you know, there's a lot of environments out there that um are created for everyday people and are inviting to folks with disabilities to come in, which is which is wonderful. We want more and more of those. What we were able to do at Boundless on our Worthington campus was to create a space that was specifically folks with disabilities and invite everyone else to come into it, right? So just a little bit of a reverse on that. Um, and I think that's a nice way to say it. Um, you did say something though that I think is really, really critical. Um it can get complicated. Um, it can it can get complicated as you're trying to blend and braid and integrate systems. Um, it is so critical to have uh what's called coordination of care or care coordination to happen, that somebody can sort of whether it's sit in the middle of a wheel, kind of like a spoke, and and and sit there with that family and sort of say, this is what's happening across all these areas, let me make sense of it. And let me make sure all these other areas are aware of each other. Yeah. Um and so that's critical, and that is part of what we do on that whole person integrated approach is to make sure that the families are not only informed, but all the different that the web of support that's out there are aware of each other, right? And then honestly, what I wanted to say uh uh kind of as you were summarizing some of that was what you can't lose sight of is in the end, it is a complex system, it can be a big system, it can be an overwhelming system. And we're really um pleased with you know our analysis, our gaps that we try to serve, the impact that we make, but you have to make it seamless to the to the family and seamless to the individual. They they can't experience like it's gotta be what is it, sort of a duck on the on the water, right? They look like nothing's going on on top, and you look under that water and their feet are going a million. So we need to be the the propeller, if you will, right? But that family, they just have to, it has to make sense to them. It has to be easy. Um, and I know it's relative, but we really strive to try to um, we don't always succeed, but you take a very complex government funding stream and program, you want to make it so it's easy.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

So, Scott, our our producer probably knows from previous episodes that we've done talking about the the work that we do with families. And uh, I know I've I described the wealth management process as this you know complicated web of different elements and they're all connected to each other, just like I was thinking of it as you were talking. They're all connected to each other, and and when you make a change in one, it it changes three other ones at the same time. So you have to know what the ramifications are of that. So when I think of how how you work with families and integrate these different processes and systems, um, I'm already thinking my head spinning, you know, and you and you say something about government entities and it spins even faster. Right. Uh so these families that are just trying to go day to day, you know, get their kids through school and get them to activities, uh that's just another layer. I I would have to think that's such a extremely valuable thing for them, let alone the services themselves, obviously extremely valuable. But just knowing that we have somewhere we can go, it's gonna make things easier for us, uh, make it faster, make it more seamless. I I don't know that you could even really put a price tag on that. Uh and there isn't, you know, necessarily, but uh, you know, just thinking of that from a parent parental perspective, uh, that's huge. That's such a big deal.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

It is. And I think, you know, uh to go a little bit of maybe try to continue that line a little bit more, I think what we want to recognize as a society is that families, um, families of individuals that we're supporting, um, whether it's mom, dad, aunt, uncle, grandparents, siblings, cousins, um how do we create an environment and and a support that not only improves the day-to-day uh perhaps abilities of the person to better regulate themselves, to learn something, to understand, how do we help the parents and the ways that they interact with their kids uh or their child to improve on how things happen in the family or happen in the family home? But more importantly, by supporting the way that we do through these programs and through Medicaid and through public funding, you're allowing and supporting uh mom and dad and siblings to continue their lives and to continue to make impact in their communities and to work and and do the things that you want you want people in our communities to do. So, you know, there there can be a lot said about the investments that we make in supporting people with intellectual disabilities, autism, behavioral health needs, things of that nature. Um, but when you really look at how that then allows other members of the family to continue their life and to continue to um to make things beneficial to our communities, we would lose that if those folks weren't able to really kind of um uh reduce their stress, um, spend all of their time trying to understand how to uh educate or support their loved ones. Instead, they have professionals who've done this for years coming in and saying, also saying, that's okay, you're doing a pretty good job. You know, we we've seen this. Don't don't be too hard on yourself. Here's some other ways we can do this. And in fact, there are some ways we can do this while you go and maybe take care of the other siblings or you. Go and maybe do work or you do other things. I just think that's really, really critical.

Measuring Impact Beyond Stories

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Yeah. Something that you said earlier. Um, and it maybe this is pivoting a little bit uh to a question towards the, you know, you as the executive of this organization, uh, you said when we're looking at these gaps that are in the community and we want to make sure we're we're making an impact. You know, what's what's kind of the impact from filling those gaps? How do you go about measuring something like that? Um, I've I've been on some boards of some nonprofits that had struggled with that a little bit of saying, here's sort of a measurable of you know how much of an impact we're making versus just anecdotal, this is a nice thing that we're doing. So, how how do you guys navigate that?

SPEAKER_00 22:41

Yeah, that's a great question. Um so for our board, um, I can say that our board greatly appreciates um stories. Um they may be one-off stories, like you said, um a lot of time and energy in a program for one story, but our board really recognizes that this is one of many. Yeah. And so story and storytelling is is critical. It is quite honestly how um not only our board, but most people in the community, when you start telling the story, you start putting some elements of the person's lives and some characteristics that they recognize maybe in people that they love or even in themselves, you know, it just it it uh it reaches people in a different way that's important. So stories are important. Um we even make a habit of bringing uh at board meetings, uh we'll invite families or the individual themselves to come and talk about what boundless means to them. And that's a way of of making sure our board feels very connected to the mission and and why they put the time and energy they do in a volunteer basis to support boundless. Um but as you start to evaluate where you're putting your resources, um some ways that we measure it that are a little bit more maybe quantitative. Um certainly you look at numbers. Yeah. Right. So you sort of say, what goodness, we have a we have a program here that folks come into and we engage the community with them. We get into vehicles and we go to games or we go to movies or we go to the parks or we go to places they can volunteer and learn training skills and all those types of stuff. And we have 80 to 100 people that show up every day. And they show up every day for 200 plus days out of the day. Like, okay, so that's a quantitative, you know, this is obviously the program is speaking to folks. We have these lives that we're impacting. Um so you can certainly look at it from sort of that quantitative perspective as well. I think you also look at sort of partnerships. Who else really thinks this is a wonderful program? So the individuals themselves coming, their families will think about it. Are we uh are we um are we meeting an expectation of perhaps a county board system, a job and family services group, um an Adams Board, a local hospital? Like how is it that that these organizations that also have, you know, plans that they put together about how they're trying to make impact, how are we a part of that? And and and are they do they see us as a partner as well? It's another, you know, sort of how many partners do we have that sort of touch the lives of the folks and how we engage with them is just another way to sort of measure impact. Yeah. So we can go into some other quantitative things. You certainly look at investment. We talked about sustainability. Is this a program that is uh highly sustainable, which means it's maybe even exceeding just sort of expectations and has a little bit of a margin? Is it uh a loss leader, one that we feel very strong about, that we feel it makes a lot of impact, but it doesn't necessarily generate a sustainable thing. At Boundless, you know, being as large as we are, we absolutely accept that we'll invest in programs that do not make money because we are not only trying to make money or trying to make impact, which goes back to your question. So if our board is excited, if the community seems excited, if we have partnerships that say this is good stuff, keep it up. Um, and if we have certainly folks using the program, um we continue to lean into that.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

So staying kind of on on that theme from from the operational side, and um, you know, Boundless is is a fast growing organization. Uh so I I would imagine there's a lot of nonprofits out there looking to you guys and saying, Man, I would you know wish we had a little bit more of of what they've got going on, uh, even if they're in different different sectors, different different areas. Um, you know, how what are some things that you see uh as as the operating chief operating officer to say, you know, these are some of the keys we think um to help us achieve the mission that we've set out for, what are some of the keys that that help your organization get so effective in doing those things?

SPEAKER_00 26:49

Well, I would tell you one of the the challenges that we try to address that any uh organization like us that's out there of any size will tell you it is around people and staffing, right? So, you know, I talk about our primary care docs, our medical directors, um, we talk about our professionals, um, folks that have been doing this kind of work for decades and our administrative and executive levels, um critical, right? Critical to sort of the overall strategy, the sustainability of the organization. But when it really comes down to it, um, we're an organization that relies very heavily on folks that uh honestly make a little under$20 an hour. That's the bulk of the people that we hire. And that is a very difficult group to uh bring in and find and want to be even in this in this organization, um, or I should say in this industry. Um I often say that our bigger biggest competitors are sort of like the manufacturing side of it. Um I always like to say I don't want the competitors to be within my trade, in my industry. I want them to be outside of. So I want to be the the top in my in my industry.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

Um, but in the end, all of us in that industry and all of us adjacent to the industry, um, it's it's trying to find staffing. It really comes down to that. And you know, being uh significantly uh uh having a significant size has allowed us to try to address that problem in more unique and different ways. Again, very appreciative that I am trying to solve that problem working at boundless and perhaps an organization a tenth of our size. You just have a few less levers that you can pull and less things that you can execute to try to make that happen.

SPEAKER_01 28:30

So some of that scale is very helpful.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

Yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

Yeah. And I would think, you know, kind of the comparison of you know, manufacturing industry to to what you're you're looking for, and and uh maybe some competitive advantages would be, you know, the the actual vision emission itself and and the culture uh that you've created and um being a part of something that is making that impact directly in the community.

How Families Get Connected

SPEAKER_00 28:56

Yeah, absolutely. It listen, it is a really, really tough job. Manufacturing is not uh an easy job either, but it is really tough working with folks, um, working with folks who have a hard time maybe communicating their needs or being understood by you and me. Um but the reward is huge. Now it takes a certain person, um, it takes a certain person to be in manufacturing, it takes a certain person to be in all the different industries. And so you have to be very conscientious. Not everybody can do this work. Um it isn't it isn't like that. Um but it is so rewarding, and we do see folks that really lean into the mission and the vision of the organization. Um one of the things that there was a there was a a little bit of a focus group we did, goodness, I want to say this was uh going on six years ago now. And it was trying to understand a little bit about retention. And so a group came in and did some focus groups and did some surveying. And basically what they said was as soon as you can get a staff member linked in to that individual that they're supporting, as soon as they build a connection, as soon as that person that they're supporting makes some kind of uh connection with them and they see that, that they smile because they walked in the room because they've now recognized them. They're someone that's part of their life. They comment about how they do something in the home, maybe it's preparing a meal, or the way they get them ready to go uh out into the community by getting them into the vehicle or just just something that seems perhaps not even that relevant. But they made that connection and you realize wow, and if I wasn't here, maybe someone wouldn't have done it. Yeah. And and that you what the focus groups basically said was, yeah, as soon as that happens, that that person is very likely to stay for a very, very long time if you treat them well and and and do what you need to. That's great. Make that connection. Make that connection. They're not, they're not basically they also said they're not here for you, Chris. They're not here for you, but they're actually here for the person they're serving, right? But you know, keep building that connection, kind of understand how those things uh are are really unified. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:04

If families are are hearing all this and saying that is exactly the kind of thing that we want for our family, how do how do people get in touch or connected to Boundless?

SPEAKER_00 31:14

Yeah. So um if you're trying to get in touch with Boundless, um, you certainly can go to our Boundless website, um, which is imboundless.org, um, has a lot of really great information. Um, we are a fairly large, extensive uh company, meaning lots of programs. And so you can kind of do a deep dive in there and try to understand. You can do some searching that might really help you understand if we've got something that really seems to resonate. So that's a great place to learn a little bit more about us. Um, we also have a podcast that you can find out there. So look for the Boundless Podcast. We've got great music. We know great music, we know that. Uh so you'll learn a little bit about that. If you're trying to make a referral, you can directly contact us. The website's got all of our information. We have an intake department that's all set up and ready to roll. Um, if you are looking for certain services that are set up for folks with intellectual and developmental disabilities in particular, you would probably want to start with your county board. Um, that's a lot of the ways that we get information or we get contact with folks, is a great place to start. And they'll be tremendous. They have wonderful staff there that do what's called service coordination. They're best at connecting families to the things that they need, right? But if even if you're not sure, should I contact the county board first? You can always contact us first and we'll say, yeah, here's what we do. And if you're interested in some of this, let's get you over to the county board so that we can have that partnership and work. Great. Yeah. That's excellent.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

Well, I I can't help but uh ask you a couple of other questions. We we started the podcast on the the music and and got your background there. But uh what are what are some things maybe right now that you're you're listening to or some all-time favorites uh when it comes to music for you?

SPEAKER_00 32:54

Okay, well, so some things to know about my background on music. Um I am a heavy metal headbanging guy. Right? I know this is not just interesting. I know as guys are gonna say a video of this, I probably don't look like that guy. Um, but that is absolutely I was uh I was an 80s uh guitarist, and so that was the classic time where you had you know Eddie Van Halen and you had you know anyone from the English side from Maiden and Priest and all that stuff. So I still love that stuff for just nostalgia. Um I will drop a crazy name for folks out there. If you want your mind blown, check out Ingve Malmstein, right? So Swedish rocker from he's still around. I've seen him live. He's he definitely has a different bent. Um what I listen to these days, very different. And there isn't a lot of that kind of music around, to be honest with you. Um, so some other bands that I like. One one band I I love tremendously is is uh Wolf Alice is out there. Got to catch them a few different times. So uh I would definitely say take a look at Wolf Alice, Band of Skulls, another good group.

SPEAKER_01 33:56

Great. Well, yeah, I wasn't expecting that, but uh you guys might not be expecting that. I I'm also a metal head. Oh, okay. Um I even get into death metal and um death core for more stormtroopers of death. We've lost some people already. Yeah. Um, but uh but yes, I was at the gym this morning, had my concept. And the more intense the better. The more intense the better.

SPEAKER_00 34:21

That is a good uh combination with training and and and heavy metal.

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SPEAKER_01 34:26

It goes hand in hand for me, but uh well that that's great. Well, Chris, thank you again for stopping by and giving us a lot of great information about a great organization. Loved hearing everything that you guys have to offer uh families across all of Ohio. Yeah, thanks, Mark. I appreciate the time. And if you're interested in learning more about Boundless, you can go to their website, iamboundless.org, or you can reach out to me. My email is mark.beaver at kanwealth.com. I'm Mark Beaver, and this is an episode of Financial Opportunities Uncovered, a podcast brought to you by Keeler and Nadler, Family Wealth. The opinions expressed in this program are for general information purposes only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations. It is only intended to provide education about finance, tax, retirement, and related planning topics. To determine which investment strategies are appropriate for you, consult your finance, tax, or legal advisor prior to implementing. Any past performance discussed during this program is no guarantee of future results. Any indices referenced for comparison are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. As always, please remember investing involves risk and possible loss of principal. Please seek advice from a licensed professional. Keeler and Nadler Family Wealth is a registered investment advisor. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where Keeler and Nadler Family Wealth and its representatives are property licensed or exempt from licensure. No advice may be rendered by Keeler and Nadler Family Wealth unless a client service agreement is in place.