Dr. Shawn Ashworth on Brooklyn Park and Community Reinvestment

Like all jurisdictions, Anne Arundel County has communities facing complicated social and economic issues. But we also have something rarer: people who keep showing up. On this episode of the Pittman and Friends podcast, County Executive Steuart Pittman sits down with Dr. Shawn Ashworth - a retired educator and licensed therapist who decided that retirement wasn’t the end of service, it was a rewire toward the community work she couldn’t ignore. We talk about what she’s learned from 31 years inside schools and what changes when you step outside the system to meet families where they are. 

We get specific about Brooklyn Park, why poverty and high arrest rates still shape daily life, and why “consistency” can matter more than one-time charity. Dr. Ashworth breaks down Food 4 Thought Community Outreach Services and its core pillars: housing, health and nutrition, counseling, and jobs. We also dig into community schools and why making the school a true neighborhood hub can lift attendance and outcomes, especially when families can access tutors, mentors, wellness supports, and county resources in one place. Wellness Wednesdays at Park Elementary becomes our case study, from cooking and dance to workshops on ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and practical health services. 

Then we zoom out to larger solutions: ENOUGH, Governor Wes Moore’s initiative to confront poverty through aligned institutions and resident-led work, plus the Two-Gen Brooklyn Park pilot roadmap designed to move families from crisis to stability with accountability, childcare support, and a path toward economic mobility. We close with the Community Reinvestment and Repair Commission (CRRC), where cannabis tax revenue is funding boots-on-the-ground nonprofits in zip codes most impacted by historic drug arrests, and why impact and partnerships matter when dollars are limited. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Welcome back to Pittman and Friends Podcast, and I am here with my friend Dr. Sean Ashworth. And I was trying to think of what title to use, and there were so many. I'm not even going to give you a title. You can title yourself, but we will get into what many of your titles are. So welcome.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Thank you for having me. I'm excited.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Yeah. Yeah. We're going to have fun. We had a little conversation before this, and it went on for a long time. We could talk for we could talk for hours. Yes. But let me start with. Most people know that you were you were with the board, you were with Anne Ronald County Public Schools for 31 years. We said that together. That's pretty good. That that's a long time. So why don't you first tell us how you got where you are. You're, you know, you're a doctorate. Tell us about what your doctorate is in, what your career has been like in Anne Ronald County Public Schools, and what you decided to do when you retired.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Yeah, well, I have to tell you a funny story. I went to college to be a physical therapist, and my mother said, you need to take some education classes just in case. And I'm like, education? I'm not doing that. I'm not backing up. And here we are, 31 years. I completed with Ana Ronald County Public Schools, started out as a special education teacher. And I feel like five years.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

And you after it was in education, right?

From Schools To Community Work

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Educational leadership. Okay. Okay. Yes, got my master's in school counseling, got some certifications in drug prevention counseling. Uh I'm also a practicing therapist. So I've done a little bit of everything. And it's the joke in Ana Rundel County is I've done every role except school psychiatrist. I've been a PPW, I've been a principal of a comprehensive school, alternative school, I've been an assistant principal, I've been a pupil personnel work, I've worked in the equity office. Yes. So I've worked a number of jobs, and I think that's why what led me to work in the community.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

All right. But right now your main focus is Brooklyn Park. Yes. Tell us about Brooklyn Park.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

I love Brooklyn Park. Uh Brooklyn Park became on my radar radar as I was working with Anonta County Public Schools. It was one of the schools, well, one of the areas that I supported. And I think it was COVID when I realized there weren't a whole lot of people.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

But the interruption is just for people who are listening who don't know where Brooklyn Park is. It is the northern end of Ana Ronaldo County, and it's got some of the highest levels of poverty.

Food For Thought In Brooklyn Park

SPEAKER_01 2:30

High levels of poverty, um, high arrest rates. That's uh we're doing some work there with enough. And just a population of people that I'm gonna say are at hope. And they need people organizations to provide them assistance, to help them realize their hope for themselves, for their families, and in that community. And so I've been there since 2018, right after COVID, serving, I always tell people I I fill a 26-footer up of food, clothes, toys, uh, toiletries, a whole lot of purposeful partners, and go down and serve there in that community, Park Elementary, right next to Brooklyn Park Library, and uh with a uh a grant and some enough funding. Now I'm there every Wednesday doing wellness Wednesdays, bringing programming to parents and families.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

And so you created an organization called Food for Thought, yeah?

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Yes, yes, and that's community outreach service.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

And the four is a actual number four.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Four, the number four, and it stands for what I hope to eventually get to, but it's housing, uh uh health and nutrition, counseling and um jobs. Yes, yes, yes. And you remembered.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

I remember. Well I wrote it down. I had housing, health, food, and jobs, but simple.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Yes, that's it. That's what the four stands for.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Uh-huh. And it's Brooklyn Park-based and and particularly um working within the schools, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:56

Yes, working with the community schools. I love our community schools, and I love my community manager at Park Elementary.

Why Community Schools Raise Outcomes

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Now I'm going to do another interruption, which is community schools for people who don't know what that is. That is a s that is a program really that was set up as part of the blueprint for education, but something that's been done in different ways across the country and and even here in in Maryland, where schools with the highest levels of poverty, we've increased the numbers. You can tell me how many, if you remember how many community schools designated in Anorondo County we now have, but the purpose is to really connect the school as a local institution, as a government institution, within community.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

They are the hub.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

They are the hub. They are the hub of the community. And to not only serve the students, but also their whole families.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Absolutely. They are the hub. We're probably up to 40-something community schools. Park Elementary is one of the elementary schools that has the highest amount of poverty. And and I'm there because I want to help. That's a community in need. And so, yeah, we're doing some great things at uh Park Elementary School, and really for all of Brooklyn Park. When Food for Thought goes in and serves, we serve the entire community. It's not just Park Elementary School. Anybody, and I believe there's five community schools in Brooklyn Park.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

So there's a coordinator in each of those schools too.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

There's a community manager in each one of those schools, and each one of those schools has a responsibility to cover so many tenants of health, home, you name it. But the big part of it is to connect with outside resources. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

In the community, in county government.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

In the county government as well, yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

And Dr. Bedell would be very upset with me if I did not point out you get what you pay for, and the test scores in the community schools of Vanderono County have increased at a higher rate than the overall test scores of everybody.

Wellness Wednesdays Programs That Stick

SPEAKER_01 5:44

You know why? Because what I love about community schools is it allows their budget, allows to bring in those extra resources and student services and tutors and mentors and social services uh positions to support families. And so when that happens, then there's an effort for those families to get their kiddos to school. Because now I want now I want to be there. Now I feel comfortable. And that's what I love about what we're doing on Wellness Wednesdays. We're we're getting about 55 people out every Wednesday.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

Every Wednesday.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Every Wednesday they're coming out. And why? Because they want to be a part of community.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

So what do they do when they get there?

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Well, it depends on which Wednesday they come. First Wednesday, we have Chef Sam, so you can come out and learn some healthy cooking and we get to eat. Uh second Wednesday, we have someone coming in and doing salsa dancer or ballroom dancing. Third Wednesday. Oh look, we're having fun too. In line dancing.

SPEAKER_00 6:36

Well, I know because I was in the salsa dance, I was in dance comp a Latin dance competition at Maryland Hall. It was one of the scariest performances I ever did. Yeah. I took classes. It was a lot of fun. I'm not much good at it, but it's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

The families are having a ball. Our instructor, Mr. Kevin, is doing a phenomenal job. We just started boxing this month. So we have someone coming in and doing boxing okay. Politically correct. Self-defense.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

Oh, I shouldn't be talking about myself, but that just brought back a memory. My dad sent me to a boxing class when I was a little kid. And you know, I like punching things like with gloves, and I remember getting for Christmas one of those little things where you punch it, it's on a s on a spring. But he sent me to boxing class, and after one class, I said, I don't like this.

ACES Training And Local Resources

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Well, the families in Brooklyn are loving it. The kiddos are loving it. And then we um have yoga, and then what we have begun to do is since we have such a wonderful large audience of families, we are starting to insert workshops for families. So um last month we had Chesapeake Art Center. They came in and they did something for 25 kids while the parents listened to an ACES presentation. So so what is ACES? ACES is a training on adverse childhood experiences, and it really enlightens people. And what I saw in the Brooklyn Park families with some aha's, right? You never realize that, oh yes, I had alcohol going on in my family. There was abuse. You kind of just those things happen and you either do well or you don't or you settle somewhere in between. And so it was a really great presentation. Our families had some really good feedback about it as well. And so what we're trying to do, since we have a concentrated number of families coming, is to bring resources to them. And so next Wednesday I have someone coming in. She is a gastronologist, and so we're bringing like those people in. We've had UMUC come in and do a flu clinic. Any resource that I think believe, or not even I think, I'm just trying to make our get our families aware of what's happening in our county and what supports they have access to.

SPEAKER_02 8:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

And want them to know that they have access to, so we're bringing it to them.

ENOUGH And Purposeful Partnerships

SPEAKER_00 8:48

Okay, so we're in Brooklyn Park, we're working in the school system, we're working with community schools, we've got your organization that provides services as well. And then comes Governor Moore, who says we need to confront poverty in communities in a targeted way where we engage the residents and engage all of the local institutions and then invest in the solutions and opportunities. Yes. So that is called enough. And tell us what you know about that.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Enough to me is what I what I love to say is purposeful partners. Because that's what it is. It's taking all of those government entities, those community organizations, churches, all kinds of folks, and bringing them together and doing a consorted sort of purposeful partner effort to bring all of those resources and opportunities for families. And so our our very own Dr. Brown, Pam Brown, and Pam Brown, partner. And the partnership for children within families, they serve as the quarterback. And Food for Thought Community Outreach serves as one of the lead nonprofits in this work. So a lot of the work I'm doing in Brooklyn is also enough work. It's engaging families and creating opportunities for them to support.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

I know Brooklyn Park is the lead one where we've gotten the most resources from the state and fought like you know what to get it. But we also have in West County and Indianapolis, we have enough groups that are starting. And hopefully they will get to the point where they're.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

Yes. We're doing a phenomenal job. You got Cheryl Menendez, you've got lots of great people who are, whether it's housing, homelessness, youth, community, you you got it. We we are trying to cover now, we're trying to address early childhood, trying to get some child care over at Lor Lord Keesa in because it's not just Brooklyn, it's Brooklyn and Pumphrey. Um we're trying to get some traction over there as well and some program.

Two-Gen Roadmap From Crisis Up

SPEAKER_00 11:44

Okay, I'm looking at a slide here. And this slide was from Dr. Brown's pre budget presentation, which was last week, where, you know, they come and they asked for things in the budget, and she was talking and sort of educating us all about enough in Brooklyn Park and the things that are and she had also told us, and I was very interested in this, and I've written about it in my weekly letter, this idea that, you know, we're always trying to get investment of capital. There's a lot of money in this world and in this country. We all know where it is, way up at the top. And if we can convince that capital that communities like Brooklyn Park are a wise investment, then we solve start to solve a lot of problems. And I know that she's been working with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a group about flourishing. And now there's this one slide that's part of it, and it the slide's titled From Crisis to Flourishing: the Two Gen Brooklyn Park Pilot Road Map. Does that ring a bell?

SPEAKER_01 12:39

It does, it does. And that is all about supporting families with a stipend for housing or some sort of monthly stipend for families to rise above their circumstances and to get out of the I just have enough. Um, and to use that that money to save and and or to plug it into some housing and support.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

Yeah, I've got this this roadmap. It looks like a like a board game, the slide. And it starts with crisis immediate instability, and then it goes to intake and assessment where goals are set, and then case management with identifying resources and coordinate financial requirements and wealth infrastructure, uh making a plan, and then there's the financial glide path where they start with assistance and start to to have a plan to get become self-sufficient.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

It's all about accountability.

SPEAKER_00 13:35

Yeah. And then there's the two-gen momentum, two generation, where they're working with the children. Yes. As well as it's the whole family. Yes. And then there's the child care voucher so that the family there can be a breadwinner.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Yes. Somebody can go to work and then have some decent, cost-efficient child care.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

Yep, yep. And the things that they track are housing stability, economic growth, and school attendance. That sounds to me like um Impact. Something worth doing. Yeah. Yeah. And I know that they've got families already in it through the partnership.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Yeah. At the same time, you're working at the global level in the community to get investments.

Cutting Red Tape For Families

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Here's the thing about nonprofit, enough, and all the partnership and all the work that we're doing in our community is to really sit back and say, how do we help our families to be more sustainable? We can go in and give, give, give, give, give, give. But what's the true impact? The true impact is being able to see family A pay their bills every month, not necessarily not get on one of the food lines, but to limit the amount of times they have to get on the food lines. What I hear out on the streets is they're at the pantry because they need the free food or the free diapers so that they can put money in their in their home, money, gas in their car, pay the insurance. And so what Dr. Brown and what we're talking about with the two gen is really not just giving, but teaching our families how to be economically stable. And that's the key. That's the important. Give, give, give, but we gotta teach them. We gotta teach them how to make it work for themselves.

SPEAKER_00 15:06

You know, it's funny you hear people say, well, you know, poverty is a choice. You know, people just gotta pull themselves up by the bootstraps. Well, the system is set up so that it's really, you know, you just i i we all want people to be able to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and be independent and be and have wealth and all of those great things. And and everybody wants that for themselves.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Absolutely. And so sometimes our system is the setup. It's the bureaucracy in the rules, in the laws, in the you gotta have this before you can have that.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

And sometimes the system is even the government programs are you know, so hard to get through. I mean, people spend so much time just trying to navigate the system. And yeah, yeah. And so hopefully by doing this effectively, we can come up with the solutions, the things that need to get fixed in the system. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

I hope so.

SPEAKER_00 15:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Let's cut the bureaucracy.

Rewired Retirement And BWI Outreach

SPEAKER_00 15:57

Yeah. So so it sounds to me like looking at you and your life and your career that you didn't retire.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

I rewired.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

You rewired? Okay. You you found you found the place, or you had the freedom maybe to be able to step out and find the place where your skills were most use useful.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

I remember growing up living in the projects in New York. And so I knew what that was like. Uh and then of course I went to school and learned all this great stuff, and you know, I actually started really doing this work here in Anarchal County is feeding people at BWI Airport. And when when COVID closed, I was doing that three years in a row, 11 o'clock at night, with volunteers bringing them food, the iPad to write the resume, the button-down shirts for them to go on their resume. At BWI Airport, I don't like to, you know, broadcast that loud because that there were many nights where our law enforcement would tell us we couldn't be there. And I'm like, as long as people are there and they're hungry, I'm gonna be there. And so I was for three straight years, 125 people every Thursday night. Um and then COVID hit.

SPEAKER_00 17:06

Were some of those people who worked at the airport?

SPEAKER_01 17:08

Some of those people worked at the airport. And so I had a VA, I have a VA uh friends who would twice a month make a hot meal, and I would take that along with the snack bags and the socks and the shirts and everything they asked and go up, and then when COVID hit and the airport closed, that's what took me to Brooklyn. I was like, I know where I'm going. Everyone is going to Annapolis, tumbling over each other. I'm gonna go to Brooklyn where there aren't a lot of nonprofits serving. And what I've learned is consistency is what our families need. And that's what I've tried to do with the part. I call them all the purposeful partnerships who joins in with Food for Thought. Or I because I call everybody. You wanna come, you want to set up a table? Sure, come. But it's all a we can't do this work alone. We've got to do it in partnership, and we cannot fight for dollars and money to do it by ourselves. We've got to come together and get this work done.

Getting Investors Into The Neighborhood

SPEAKER_00 18:02

Yeah, yeah. And we've got to convince the people. We've got to convince I I spent a lot of time in my earlier career when I was a community organizer going after the banking industry. There was this thing called the Community Reinvestment Act that said that you couldn't red line certain neighborhoods and not invest in them. So we would go after them and use the law and that as a handle to pressure them, and then we would use public pressure. We were out protesting sometimes. But then the next phase was to sit down with them and make friends and introduce them to the opportun the investment opportunities. Yes. And I was in Des Moines, Iowa, where you could buy a house for thirty thousand dollars and the houses weren't in great shape. But but we convinced them that the people who would buy those houses were people who were gonna pay their mortgage. And actually they did. Those weren't the mortgages that, you know, the ones who got legitimate loans, not from the scammers, but legitimate bank loans. Um, and they got loan counseling and all that. And I feel like we're that that's what this we're we've gotta convince the investors, the people with the money, you know?

SPEAKER_01 19:02

They gotta come out to the neighborhoods to see.

SPEAKER_00 19:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

They don't I think that's the missing piece. They stay at the top and they don't come down and walk the neighbors to see, oh wow, there's poverty here. There's opportunity here. And so I I would 100% and agree. I always say that about all our wonderful, famous stars, people that come from, you know, our local communities. Why they don't come back? How come they don't come back and help board that building and op uh take the boards off the building and create an opportunity for a family to live there? So Yep, yep.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

Well, I'm glad to see that that you're doing that work, and I'm really glad that our government institutions are on board. You know, we actually had a cabinet meeting in my first year in Brooklyn Park, and we wanted all of the departments to be there. And so transportation was there, and we talked about the need for more transit and the needs there, and the school system was there, and the different different players. And I feel like, as I'm in my last year, that one of the most important things is to leave it is for that work to be set up to succeed.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

I hope so. Please, please, please.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

We need a community center in Brooklyn. Well, that's underway. That's underway.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

It is, it is, it is.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

Yeah, I mean, and that, you know, so we did a community center in Severn, another high poverty area right next to Mead Village, and then invested in Mead Village and have invested in other things in the area. And I believe that those investments are gonna pay off when you look in five and ten years, that the kids who grew up going to that community center are gonna be better off more opportunity, more production, more of all those things. And so the if we continue to have leaders like you who are gonna put that as a priority. Well and that'll only happen if the public cares enough to elect people who have this as a priority. Yeah. And I I feel like COVID actually brought some people to their senses. Like they saw they saw the food lines. Yes. And and you know, when I was in political science classes, they used to tell me that you don't talk in politics about poor people and poverty. You talk about the middle class because more people are in the middle class and they're they're the ones who vote, right? Poor people don't vote. You can't run for office on fighting poverty. Well, I think that's changed. I I think that all people have a heart and all people understand when I go to the bond rating agencies and say that this is that we should be a triple A, you know, that we're a thriving community, you know. I talk about our social safety net and and that one of the threats that one must consider, just like climate change and everything else, is is poverty to an economy. Yes. Right? It destroys the economy.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Absolutely. Agreed.

What Brooklyn Park Needs Next

SPEAKER_00 21:46

Yeah. And you're right, Colin. So what's next? What's what if you think about Brooklyn Park and what you do and you're five years out, what do you want to see? What do I want to see in Brooklyn Park? What do you think is what do you want to see that you think is uh there's a chance of actually seeing but

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Well definitely I want to see the community center come. What I what I realize with Wellness Wednesdays, I have families who are coming out just to be a part of community. So absolutely we have to have that community center. We absolutely have to have some more transportation and opportunities for our families to get around, low-income housing for our families and childcare.

SPEAKER_02 22:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:33

There are no child care centers in in Brooklyn. And so we need to have that so our people can go and work, make an income, but they need to be able to have some place to take their kiddos.

Cannabis Revenue And Repair Grants

SPEAKER_00 22:42

Okay. Now I almost forgot the big part of why I wanted you on here. Because I got so I got so involved in Brooklyn Park. We got about six minutes to do this. So tell us about the community reinvestment and repair commission that you're on. What is it and what's it doing?

SPEAKER_01 22:59

I love the CR for short, CRCC, the Investment Repair Commission. That commission was formed, I believe it was maybe now two or three years ago. Legislation changed. State legislation. State legislation changed the cannabis legislation. And what that legislation says is all of the sales of cannabis in our state and then drillable down to our county comes back into the counties. And I thought, ooh, some of the tax revenue. About what, eight or nine percent. Last year was the very first year. We gave out about$1.8 million to nonprofits who Just in Anorundal County. Just in Anna Rundel County. They are boots on the ground doing the work. And what we saw was we had 108 applications in our first year. And of course, you know, we had more money requested than what we have, but$1.8 million is a lot of money to do some work. And so we're hoping by the end of this year we'll be able to see the impact by some of those organizations who reap the benefits. We're in year two. Again, to organizations, boots on the ground, addressing mental health, housing, uh, homelessness, youth, education, after school program. And so we are excited.

SPEAKER_00 24:26

So where's it where's it gonna go?

SPEAKER_01 24:28

There was a lot of back and forth in our first year, right? It was money that was supposed to go back to those communities that were impacted on the war drugs. Well, a lot of folks in those communities moved, right? So how do you how do you figure that out? And one of the uh things is that we also are looking at the arrests.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

Just for people who are listening. Yes. We're talking about arrests, arrests left, right, and we're gonna be able to be a people, incarcerating people for something that is legal now.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

And and at least uh, you know, science and medicine has decided that maybe it shouldn't have been such a detriment to the high arrest rates that were happening across our county. Trevor Burrus, Jr. And the communities where most of the the the highest number of those arrests took place because police were pulling people over, smelling something and then throwing them in jail, were aware.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

So we've a black and brown communities. Black and brown communities. We've identified zip codes within An Arundel County. And it's interesting you say that because we did some public meetings and there were some community people from South County. And they were like, oh, there's a lot of drugs down in South County. Why aren't why isn't that not one of the zip codes? And we had to explain. It's not about do we know if there's a lot of drugs in that particular area, but what were the arrest rate records? And we're addressing, though, I think we're in about eight or nine zip codes within our county, those areas again, high black and brown families, and also high arrest in those communities. And so what I love about it is we are providing opportunities for communities, Laurel, um, Severn, Annapolis, Brooklyn Park, northern part of the county, west part of the county, who normally don't receive funding. You know, we I have to say, and I even when I was an educator, Annapolis always gets a lot.

SPEAKER_00 26:12

And I will say that South County does have high levels of poverty, does have a lot of these things. The partnerships but communities of hope is South County. Absolutely. Yeah, investment. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

But CRC isn't necessarily yeah. I'm gonna say yes. State law was written in a way where we have to honor state law. Absolutely. They don't have the arrest data that supports it.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

Okay. So this is serious money.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

It's big m it's big money.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

It's impactful money. It can be. Uh huh. Right? If if the nonprofits who are reaping the benefits, if they do what they say they're gonna do.

Choosing Nonprofits And Measuring Impact

SPEAKER_00 26:46

How the decisions get made. You have all these applications, far more than there are, you know, is money for because there's a lot of need. We have a committee, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:54

We have a commission. Um we have some commissioners who will be pulling those applications together over the next month and reviewing them. And really what we're looking at is how impactful will that nonprofit, if they're saying gonna go in and do housing or after school programming, how many families are they impacting? How many people are they impacting? The other thing we're looking at is how are you doing some purposeful partnership? You trying to do this work alone, or do you recognize that you are partnering with three other organizations because the work you're doing is so important? And with partnering, it expands the opportunity and access for communities to be supported. So I, you know, I tend to be at a lot of tables. So I'm not sure if I'm gonna be uh on any committee reviewing applications. Um but I I know our commissioners, as they did a year ago, will do it again, and those identified nonprofits who support it will you know, win again.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

And we've contracted with ACDS Rental Community Development Services. I love them. Who also Yeah, well they do housing and community development and they do the community support grants, they do the the casino money grants at LDC, and and so they're very well set up for managing grant programs. And you've got to do this professionally or else it gets political, right? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 28:14

And ACDS is absolutely a professional organization that that does this work well and has taught me some things in this commission work of what we need. I know some people were sort of uh fussing about the length of the CRC application and the requirements, especially for some of our newer nonprofits. And you know, we're we're gonna be looking at that as a commission, but then we also know there are some state regulated where we have to have certain documents, we have to have certain information, and we're gonna make sure that we are obeying state laws first, then we'll look at, okay, let's see where we can get you in.

unknown 28:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

Well, I I just want to say th as we wrap things up, thank you for engaging in all these things. I know it's mostly volunteer. It's um it's hard. The higher up you go in it, you know, you chair a committee and then people are yelling at you that you don't like the decision you made and all of those things. And we wouldn't be able to do it without people like you, and we wouldn't be able to do it without the nonprofit sector. Yes. Some people some people don't understand why the government is is contracting with nonprofits. Well, the government contracts with for-profits too. The government does things on its own. There's a lot of ways to get things done, and we know that nonprofits are efficient and they're inside the community. So it's really efficient way to solve these problems, in my view.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

We're trying our best. We're trying our best.

SPEAKER_00 29:37

Well, I'm gonna let you have the last word.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

And I know exactly what the words are gonna be. Well, you're listening to Pittman and Friends podcast. If you like what you hear, please hit the subscribe button, share with a friend, and join us for the next episode.