Erin Phillips: Power2Parent

Erin Phillips is the Co-Founder and CEO of Power2Parent, one of Nevada's leading parent advocacy organizations. Since helping launch the organization in 2014, she has worked to empower families, defend parental rights, expand educational freedom, and promote civic engagement. Under her leadership, Power2Parent has developed programs including the EmpowerED Choice Scholarship, Patriot Camp, the Spark of 1776 initiative, and the Fatherhood Project.

In addition to her nonprofit leadership, Erin serves as Chair of Pioneer Technology & Arts Academy Nevada and was appointed by Governor Joe Lombardo to Nevada's Statewide Coordinating Council for the Regional Professional Development Program. Erin is a frequent speaker, media guest, and advocate on issues affecting families, education, and parental involvement. She and her husband Matt live in Las Vegas and are raising five children.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Welcome to Lipstick and Legacy, a podcast where your story matters and your journey has purpose. Together we lift and inspire our communities one story at a time. Welcome, Erin.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Thank you for having me. This is so fun.

SPEAKER_03 0:12

I know, I'm so glad you're here. So today I have Erin Phillips, and she is the co-founder and CEO of Power to Parent, one of Nevada's leading parent advocacy organizations. Since 2014, she has worked to empower families, expand educational opportunities, and encourage civic engagement. So there's a lot of things here on your list. So, Erin, I have been following you probably since you started. Yeah. I was a first-year teacher in about 2013. And that's when I noticed you come on the map. So tell me a little bit before we get started on Power to Parent, where you're from, kind of what you were like as a kid. Like who's Erin Phillips?

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Oh, yeah. Wow, that's a big question. So um, so I actually was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I'm not originally from Las Vegas. Uh my family moved around a lot when I was a kid. I lived there for about two years in Albuquerque, and then we moved to Tex Arcana, Texas, and then moved again to um Cheyenne, Wyoming, and then to Las Vegas. So my dad's job just moved him quite a bit. And so we ended up in Las Vegas. Um, and I did the rest of my schooling here. And um, so it was probably, I think I was like nine or almost 10 years old when we moved here. So I was still pretty young. I still feel like I'm a native.

SPEAKER_03 1:32

And here is Las Vegas.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Yes, in Las Vegas, yeah. And so we ended up at a church um when I was in high school, and that's where I ended up meeting my first like real boyfriend, and we dated for a year and then broke up. And then after high school, we went to um UNR up in North and Reno for college, and um, about four years in, almost almost my last year of college, my boyfriend from high school and I ended up dating again, and then we ended up getting married after college. So that was my yeah, my my high school sweetheart became my husband, which is yeah, that's fun.

SPEAKER_03 2:08

So tell me a little bit about your family growing up. Was uh were you conservative? Were they politically involved? Were they in church? Like what kind of family were you raised in?

SPEAKER_00 2:16

So we were we were definitely raised in church, so we always, you know, no matter wherever we moved, we would find a church right away and plug in. My parents would get involved and serve, and that was a big um part of our family culture. My my parents, we I don't remember talking about politics that much. You know, I was born in 1980, so I remember my parents watched the news. I remember actually my dad would listen to to K N PR, so we'd listen to the radio. Uh, and and so we that was the only news back then, really on the radio, was NPR. So we'd listen to Christian radio or NPR, and so I I heard a lot of news. I was always really interested in the news. I remember like Reagan. I mean, it's I was little, but I remember stories about Reagan, like when Reagan got shot. I just I have memories of it. So it's possible it's like, you know, I saw the news story later in life and then kind of feel like I remember it. But I definitely have memories of things from the news like that. Um, and so I was always more interested. I remember this really distinctly. We would go on road trips because we weren't like wealthy. We didn't, I don't even think I went on an airplane until maybe high school. But we would do a ton of road trips as a family. I have two younger brothers, so we would the five of us would do all these road trips, and I would stay up, and my mom would want to fall asleep while my dad was driving, and my dad would want to like drive through the night to get where we were going. And so I would end up sitting in the front seat, my mom would sleep in the back, and I would stay up with my dad, and we would listen to the news, and AM radio was on all the time on those trips. So I just remember like a Rush Limbaugh being on and some different conservative type of uh commentators like that. Uh, but again, we weren't really talking about politics. I don't remember having those like really deep discussions about any of those things at the time. And so yeah, but that my family definitely was um good church-going family. And I mean, I remember I wasn't even allowed to listen to secular radio, and I laugh about this now, but I remember the first time I heard a secular radio uh song, which was the Beach Boys. I went to Girl Scout Camp. Oh, and so Girl Scout Camp, they put on a really scandalous. Yeah, and I don't my my mom wasn't there and I was like, what is this music? It's wondering. I love the Beach Boys, so yeah, that was that sort of the the gist of my family growing up.

SPEAKER_03 4:29

So a lot of people have an idea of what Las Vegas is like, especially when they're not from Las Vegas. I went to college in Utah and I always had those questions like, You live in Las Vegas? And I mean, I know that sounds ridiculous, but even as an adult, I've had those questions. What is it was it like for you being raised in Las Vegas for part of your life? And what did the community look like for you?

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Yeah. So I'm when I moved here, I think I said I was like nine or ten years old. I think it was in third grade. So I was still in elementary school. I I remembered very distinctly. I we moved over by Chaparral High School. So if anybody is familiar with that area. Yeah, it was more on the east side, and uh it wasn't a great area at the time. And I don't know if my parents just didn't really know Vegas, so we just moved where my parents found a house, I think, at the time. But I mean, you know, I remember going to the skating rink on Boulder Highway, and so that was kind of my hood over there. And we walked to school, we walked through the chaparral parking lot to George Harris Elementary School. So, you know, I I just remember, you know, I was a kid and I remember we moved from Cheyenne, so it was like scorching heat when we moved here, you know, it was probably 55 degrees when we left Cheyenne, Wyoming in the middle of summer, and we came here and you know, obviously Cheyenne's a much smaller town. There's rodeo and all these different, like sort of like different, definitely a different culture. Uh so it was so culture shock, I think, in some ways. Uh my neighborhood was definitely different in Cheyenne, you know, much just I don't know, much more small. It just there's no big city really uh aspect there. So yeah, that that part was a c was a culture shock for me. But I I loved it. I mean, I made friends and I felt like you know, I um, you know, played sports. I grew up playing soccer and so got really involved playing soccer. And then, you know, we moved over towards kind of like Angel Park by the time I was going into middle school. And um, and so I remember, you know, kind of kind of like that area of town was was really being just being built. So there was nothing past, you know, really. I'm trying to think what maybe Durango or something like that. Barely nothing past that, yeah. So yeah, Angel Park was kind of the edge of the city at that point. So it's kind of cool for me, like from like the 90s, being able to see Vegas grow so rapidly. And that was the big story back then, is that just the the the growth was, I think we were the you know, growing the fastest in the country at one point in time.

SPEAKER_03 6:53

And and I think people don't realize there there is a community, and there are people I've been here four generations, so my kids would be fifth. Yeah, and like my mother was raised at the um corner of fifth in Fremont, and her parents ran a swimming pool. And my grandfather helped um house and feed them in during the the building of the Hoover Dam. And so there's a lot of history here. It really is the Wild West. It is, you know, it is for sure.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Well, I remember going to camp, like in high school, we'd go to church camp, and the kids that would come from like Texas and New Mexico and Arizona, they'd be like, You guys live in Las Vegas, you know, like you guys live in hotels, and you know, they couldn't wrap their mind around the fact that there was an actual city and that we had very little to do with, you know, we don't rarely ever go to the strip, you know. Yes, and it was hardly a part of our life at all.

SPEAKER_03 7:38

One thing I've noticed about Vegas as an adult is that there's so many people moving here, often from California and um back east and whatnot, and everybody's looking for community. And so there's a lot of groups um out there. What do you think is the best way to find a community in a city that's very new for many people?

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, my personal experience has been just finding a good church home. I mean, honestly, you know, I remember when I very first had my my very first son and I had a job and I decided that you know we were gonna, I was gonna quit my job, I was gonna stay home, and that was a huge decision because it wasn't something that I really wanted to do ever prior to seeing his like little cute face when he came out. I was like, wait a second, like I can't leave you, you know? But but I I really felt like my church community, I mean, if I hadn't had that, because I really went through like some kind of like identity crisis, you know, when you're a first you're a new mom, you're learning everything new, everything's new anyways. You don't know if you're doing it right or not. And but I had this community of moms that came around me and a group called Moths, actually, that was huge. Then I ended up, you know, being a part of that group, being on leadership team for m for that group, and then leading it for a few years after that. So when my kids were little, I wasn't, I wasn't working a traditional job, but I was, you know, I had responsibilities. I had a community of moms around me. Um, and I really had a purpose. And I I felt like it was developing a lot of leadership skills that I was going to need down the road. Obviously, when Powered Parent came along, um, I I was in that space, learning and growing in that way. So I a church to me, uh a mom's group, especially for moms, you know, a lot of those moms groups are at churches because there's just a there's a different level of like um like there's a community aspect of it, but it's just a it's a deeper purpose than just the candy. Is that if you find quality people who are, you know, kind of really looking for the same thing. And like-minded. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:33

I find on um Facebook and social media I I have a uh I'm in a lot of mom groups, and it's interesting how everybody is searching for connection and community. And I just want to scream at the top of my lungs, just go to church. If your kid needs friends, you'll find it there. If you need a meal because you just had surgery, you will find it. Just go to church. You don't even have to believe what they're teaching, just go to church. Yeah, bring your kids to church. Yeah. So I completely agree. The best way to find community um in a new place or an old place is to get out, get your kids to church. Yeah. And you'll find that community. Absolutely. All right, tell me a little bit about what Power to Parent is, how it started. Yeah, what does that look like?

SPEAKER_00 10:13

Yeah. So as I mentioned, I was a stay-at-home mom. Um, we I was getting more involved. My oldest was about in third grade. And so I I had been told by a friend, I actually ran into a friend at a basketball game with our our boys for playing sports together. And she was like, Do you know what's going on with the sex education in schools right now with with Clark County School District? I was like, No, I haven't heard any of this. My oldest is only in third grade, you know. So she was telling me that there had been some kind of movement by some outside organizations to make some changes to the sex education curriculum. And at the time I didn't know what that meant. Um, I did grow up here for the most part, so I did take sex education in fifth grade, you know, and I and then I had it again in high school, ninth grade, I believe is when it came again in health. Uh, beyond that, I didn't know much about what was going on in the district.

SPEAKER_03 10:57

And it was pretty basic. I mean, it was the maturation program basically. Separate the boys and girls in fifth grade. You get your packet that had some hygiene items and things, and they just told you the mechanics, basically.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Exactly. And it was, you know, everyone was embarrassed and it was silly and silly, and yes, but you got some decent information you moved on, right? So I was like, oh, that's interesting. So I just remember her mentioning that, and then about a year, maybe not quite a year later, they she had called me back and said, Hey, listen, there's a bill, and this was about 2013. So that's the year you said already, that was correct. And um, so I was like, wow, I wonder what's going on with this. So I ended up starting to get involved with my trustee. So the, you know, every every there's a district, the uh this Clark County School District is broken up into um like A, B, C, D, E, F, I think. And our district is humongous, and all of them are, unfortunately, because our county as a whole is the fifth largest school district in the country. And and so, yeah, we represent we have these very, very large areas that represent, you know, lots of different kids. And so, unfortunately, that's not really, I mean, that's part of the problem, right? We it would be better to have smaller, broken up district, but that's a whole nother conversation. Uh, but that being said, I started getting involved with my trustee district meetings because they would that that trustee would have meetings with just our district. And my sister-in-law Angie, who had been a former teacher, knew more about it and she had already been going and had been involved. So I actually just started going with her because we lived in the same district. And so through that process, I learned a lot, but I also um found out about there was um a a meeting that we got a big email for because we had been going to these trustee meetings that was an invite-only meeting, and it was uh in regards to sex education. It came from our trustee at the time who was Carolyn Edwards, and so I was like, that's interesting. These things were sort of connecting. So I was like, well, I better go to that meeting because I'm curious about what is happening and what they wanting are wanting to teach. And so I I ended up RSVP using my sister's actually sister-in-law's RSVP, um, because I didn't actually get the invitation she did. So I used hers and I RSVP'd. She was supposed to go with me, and I ended up showing up and she ended up not being able to go. So I was sitting in the parking lot. I remember sitting in the parking lot. It was at Spring Valley High School, this meeting, and then my phone was almost dead. And I was like, Angie's not gonna be here. I don't really want to go to this meeting. My phone's gonna die, you know. But I was like, I had this overwhelming, just almost like there was something attached to me. Yeah, that was pulling me out of my car into this meeting. Like I literally just felt like like audibly like you have to go in, go in. So I did. I went in and it was really strange. The room was really strange. I didn't really recognize anybody. Um, there was a lot of like administrators, school district officials. Um, and as people were kind of like starting to introduce themselves, there was like special ed teachers and the school counselors. Um and one girl recognized me. She's like, Oh, hey, I I remember you from middle school, which was really interesting. I was like, Oh, you know, I do have a kid in the district. She's like, No. I said, Oh, why are you here? And she's like, Oh, I'm an attorney with the ACLU. I was like, hmm, that's interesting. So there were just these little red flags kind of as I was in this meeting. And then they close the doors and start the meeting, and the the guy comes up to the front and he's like, Oh, I'm I'm from an organization called Cegis. I'm here from New York. Um, SEGUS is stands for uh Sexuality Information Education Council of the United States. That's the name of this organization. And he's like, and we have this guide, it's called uh comprehensive sexuality education K through 12 guide. And we all got a copy of it, you pass it out to us. And you open the guide, and it's I'm going through and it's like um, they called it a menu of options, and I think that's probably a good way to describe this guide. And it would essentially break up what they felt like kids should be learning about sex education into categories. So one of the categories, just to give you an example, was like sexual fantasy. That's a category. And so I don't remember all the categories off the top of my head, but there was like six or seven of them. And then it would break down each topic into what they felt like was appropriate for a grade level. And I remember this one um part of the guide that it talked about masturbation, and and it was the in the kindergarten through third grade section where they wanted to introduce and talk to these kids about what that meant and kind of what that was. And and and the big thing was the and I was recognizing at the time and have learned since is the real value um with these groups is consent. And that that's so they'll talk about consent as being really big, but and and having no um, they don't want any moral stigmatization on sexuality. Um and they'll say things like children are sexual beings from birth. So this is the language that it was coming out of this, these conversations I was hearing, and I was like, this is really bizarre, yeah, and completely not appropriate.

SPEAKER_03 15:37

Was this new for the district at that point?

SPEAKER_00 15:39

This was like a brand new they were introducing it to at this invite-only meeting. The other thing that I found was really shocking and I was really disturbed about. I was the only parent at this meeting. The only parent That's interesting. So invite only, like I mentioned. Um, I I think it went out to the list of a few people who had been involved with this particular trustee's meetings, which wasn't maybe only a handful of parents. Right. But it was clear that there wasn't um a push to really let parents know what was going on. There was one other grandparent there. Um, and she was the only person in this meeting besides me that had children in the district that wasn't a teacher or a yeah, and she was a retired teacher from the district. So I was I was literally the only parent in this meeting that had a student in the Clark County School District and and was there just to listen and hear what was going on. So the other thing is I've I have a degree in psychology, and so I the interesting, I was flipping through this thing. Again, I had no my phone had died, I had no service, I couldn't look anything up, I couldn't, you know, so I was just kind of left to my own devices here, just my jaw on the floor. And I looked at the task force, I'm like, who's writing this guide? Like curious, who's where's this coming from? Yeah. Um, and there was a quite a few people on there who were from Planned Parenthood. Uh, and then the other big one was the University of Illinois. And I just happened to know because the Kinsey Institute, uh, Alfred Kinsey is a well-known psychologist. They he's considered a psych psychologist, but he's done a lot of really disgusting experiments on babies and children. And I mean, honestly, I don't know how much you'd want me to go into that. I mean, your audience could look it up, but Alfred Kinsey, John Money, all of these like these really highly sexualized, which I I would actually call them like pedophiles, frankly, but they're still lauded and their research is still used as these, you know, kind of like up-and-coming, and not really not upcoming, but like um breakthrough scientists that use their the institute at at the University of Illinois. I just happen to know that. So I was like, okay, there's too much here for me. I mean, just in general, without having even looking anything up that I know is wrong. And so I I they split us up into groups in that meeting, and we had to basically go through each of the in our little groups, go through each of the topics under our category. We got a category. And I think ours was marriage and family, something like that. Of course, they wanted to talk about same-sex marriage extensively through that, and and um not just talk about it like this is a thing that happens, like glorifying it. Um, there was a lot of interesting points that were like um uh that sort of said like religion, oftentimes the religion of the families causes a lot of dissonance, right? Because the kids think there's shame behind because there's some moral connection.

SPEAKER_03 18:21

Exactly. And I'm like, yes, there is you're welcome, yes.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

Yeah, right and wrong. It's real.

SPEAKER_03 18:28

There is a compass, yes.

SPEAKER_00 18:29

Exactly, and that's the thing that you could see really clearly that they wanted to completely erase all those lines. Like, there is just no, there's nothing that's considered wrong. It's it's all about you personally, how you feel, and and again, that value of consent.

SPEAKER_03 18:43

So during this time, and this is when you kind of came into my scope. I was a first-year teacher, but it was 20 years after I'd gotten my teaching degree. I was, you know, just starting teaching, and I went um as a first-year teacher. The principal puts out a list of different meetings they need liaisons for. And so I was like, she goes, We don't have this one filled. Can anyone do it? It it fulfills one of your requisites to like get your credits that you need to get your license. I was like, I'll do it, you know, that's fine. I don't, I'll do whatever. So I go to the equity and diversity and inclusion meeting, and it's after you, you know, I've taught all day and I'm exhausted teaching first graders. And I go down to East Las Vegas and go into this room, and there's a whole department that I was completely unaware existed in our in our school district. And there was a liaison from every school in the district, and they sit us down and they start talking about equity, diversity, and include all the things. And I'm given this paper, and I'm supposed to match pronouns with what they mean. And I'm like, I teach first grade, first of all. I'm trying to get people to like read and write. That is my job. And also, I don't have paper in my classroom, right? So, like, we're rationing paper, and I'm having to buy my own paper and I make like $30,000 a year, you know. And there's an entire department of people being paid to give me this form to write little lines about what a buy and try and whatever is. And after about 15 minutes, I felt really uncomfortable with the laughing and this is so fun. And let's all talk about our experiences with these types of students and how important this is. And I just got up and I walked out. I was like, I am not doing this, right? Like, I'm not, I should have said something hindsight. Like, what are we doing? But I I didn't. I was just kind of offstruck and went back to my principal. I said, I I can't do it. It's like kind of goes against my moral grain or something. And she's like, Okay, I'll appoint somebody else. I don't like they just have to do what they have to do, right? And then you came onto the scene, okay? And so that's kind of everyone has their little perspective of the pie. So after this happens, you go to the you go to this meeting, you see like this weird research that they're that they're using and and how all this new curriculum, yeah. What happens after that?

SPEAKER_00 21:12

So I started asking questions, you know. In fact, I called, I I called my trustee the next day and I said, listen, I have some concerns I wanted to ask you. My my biggest concern is why are we using this organization that to bring in this type of curriculum to our district from New York? And you know, I said, I she's like, Well, it's you know, the one of the foremost ones out there. And I said, Well, I do think that um it feels um really sort of political. Honestly, I said, when you have someone who's written a guide that's from Planned Parenthood, I think you're gonna get a lot of pushback from parents. And then she just started screaming at me. And I've known this woman now for a little bit. I mean, I didn't come into the meetings, it's not like I didn't have a relationship with her. And she just like went in and I was like, Okay, something is bigger here. I I've like completely struck a nerf. So I said, I just wanna know when this is gonna be implemented. And how we can make sure more parents know about it. And she just she did not like that. She did not like that. So I I can't remember who told me to do this, but I ended up calling curriculum and development, which is which is through the district. Yes, through the district. Ended up speaking to a woman who, I mean, she's still around and she's actually with the Department of Education now. But called just naively, you know, sort of asking some questions about our current sex education, how to get material on what we have, you know, why why would someone think that there's gaps in our sex education? So I was just asking questions as a parent. Um, and it became clear, I think, that she didn't want to answer all my questions and that maybe I hadn't she felt like I had an ulterior motive, which of course I did, you know. My ulterior motive is like, how do we protect our kids from having this horrifying curriculum? Come into the district. And so then I was asking, why are we having these meetings that are in by only? It feels like the district is hiding things from the parents. Right.

SPEAKER_03 22:50

Why wouldn't it just be an open forum? Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:51

Like let's let everybody know about it and just come and and see what they want to teach and take, you know, have a town hall or whatever. So then they were like, Oh, you need to probably call this person. So everyone was just shuffling me around. I ended up getting in touch with another trustee who at the time you probably rem remember her, uh, Patrice 2. And she actually called me on the phone and she was like, Hey, I heard you had some information. And, you know, I'm just kind of like, what's going on? I'm talking to like these elected officials now. I'm just this like stay-at-home mom. And she was like, I didn't even know about this. So as a trustee, she didn't even know about this meeting. I didn't know about this organization being brought into the district. So that was a bit really eye-opening. So that was actually a really um nice kind of pivot point because she knew more what to do at that point, you know, like these are the people that's gonna be like, and she's like, I wasn't even include like she's got some questions probably at this point as well. Exactly. She's and you know, I'm showing her the guide because I now have a copy of it. So what happens is we start just calling people. I had called my friend who originally told me about the sex education thing in the district. Um, she knew people more in kind of like the political space, so she was calling people. So we get this group of parents who's now kind of like everyone's kind of like, wait, what's going on? And so I start making copies of this guide. I mean, it's like a you know, it's a hundred plus pages, so it's a big document. We're, you know, this is pre-sort of like a lot of the electronic stuff transmission. I mean, like in 2013, 14. We start emailing it to the parents and people started getting upset. And so what we ended up doing was we organized a bunch of parents to come to the next school board meeting and bring the guide that they a lot of them had printed out that we sent and just read portions of that at a school board meeting. And you know, in the meantime, I was emailing and calling the you know, the superintendent, and not we were uh asking pay other parents to do that, like email the superintendent and ask why they're using this guide, ask why this is the company that they're bringing into the district, and then show up to the meeting. So we ended up bringing like 300 parents to the school board meeting, and this was the first time. I mean, remember, like I always say uh we were sort of the domestic terrorists before it was cool. I don't know if your audience would remember that reference, but you know, the attorney general uh under um Biden called uh a lot of the parents who didn't go to the school board meetings the domestic terrorists, it was in a memo and had issued an apology, apology for that. But um, but they were like following parents and and you know, watching their online activity. I mean, the FBI was involved, so it was just wild. Insane, yeah. Yeah, because you know, parents didn't want this radical sex education being talked about kids. So I would say we were the kind of the first the first in line to be the the domestic terrorists. So but we did we brought all these people there, they couldn't even fit them all in the building. In fact, it was capacity they had people standing outside.

SPEAKER_03 25:30

What was the reaction of the trustees at that moment?

SPEAKER_00 25:33

So the obviously the trustee who was my trustee was um uh extremely unhappy and was arguing to keep this guide, but every other trustee was kind of why were they so dead set on doing that?

SPEAKER_03 25:43

Had there been a lot of money invested already? Like what what was the purpose? Why did she care so much?

SPEAKER_00 25:48

I I have to this day, I have never gotten the answer to that. I I because I felt like before this situation happened, this particular trustee I thought was doing a really good job. She was holding these meetings for parents, she was keeping people informed, she was helping uh explain the budget, you know, things that a lot of people are.

SPEAKER_03 26:04

But if I had 300 parents show up to a meeting and tell me they don't like what I'm doing, I'd say, oh, maybe I need to do something else. Yeah, I need to pivot. Did you have opposition and on the other way?

SPEAKER_00 26:13

Absolutely. I mean, so she dug in for sure, but then on the other side of things, we had a lot of outside organizations.

SPEAKER_03 26:18

So what about parents?

SPEAKER_00 26:20

Parents, parents for the most part, were on your side of this. Yeah, they were on our side. The the biggest thing we got in the beginning from parents was you guys are being you know picky or well, or like you're just lying, or you're you know, you're you're exaggerating this. They aren't they're of course they're not gonna teach this to kids. So they just didn't believe it. Yeah, they just thought we were fear-mongering, you know what I mean? So that was more of the pushback in the very beginning. But once so after that very first meeting where we brought these 300 parents, the superintendent actually pulled the guide. And he ended up calling my team, my team. I'm saying my team, but it was me and like five other moms.

SPEAKER_03 26:54

Yeah. My team, my tribe, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:57

Yeah, it was really just the few of us who had gotten really involved in the beginning and and decided to organize. But um, he came, called us in, and we had a meeting. And so anyway, the he issued an apology to parents, and and it was on the news and it was printed in the paper. I mean, it was a big deal. So we were like, yes, I mean, that was we're so empowered, you know.

SPEAKER_03 27:14

Oh, we made a difference, we've impacted, we can go home now. Right. Yes, like we're done.

SPEAKER_00 27:18

That's off my back, yeah. But we realized that unfortunately, because of my research, now looking at this guy, looking at this organization, going down that rabbit hole, unfortunately, what I found was really disturbing, and it was very well funded by outside organizations who had it wasn't about sex education day, it was about social engineering. That was that was a hundred percent the goal of these groups. And Planned Parenthood was one of them. Um, CIS was a subsidiary of Seekers, was actually um, so Margaret Sanger, who was the you know founder of Planned Parenthood, had been the president of Seekers at one point in time. Um, I found some information about Hugh Hefner being um in 1969, uh giving up a huge amount of money of his own personal money to uh start sex education programs in the public school system. So think about that, why he would want that, of course. So so as I began to do the research, right? I mean, it was just people didn't believe me. They're like, no. I'm like, it's it's all there. You can go find it yourself. This is actually just factual information. But unfortunately, I just began to began to know too much. And it was like, why are these groups trying so hard to create customers, you know, for of our kids? Yes. And they are grooming them. That's just that was just pure and simple when they were being groomed.

SPEAKER_03 28:29

So that was the first step. What was over the next few years? Take us forward a little bit. You keep going with this because now you know too much. You've seen all of the stuff, you're seeing these groups, you're seeing this opposition growing. Yeah, what was kind of the next big thing?

SPEAKER_00 28:44

So we filed officially as a 501c4, which is really hard. Very hard. And and we didn't know, I mean, we didn't know what we were doing. I mean, I have a degree in psychology and political science. Like I wasn't, I had no nonprofit experience at all.

SPEAKER_03 28:57

It's a completely different why did you feel that was important?

SPEAKER_00 29:00

So we we ended up filing as as a C4, which um allows you to do more advocacy, like lobbying and activism, and because that's really what we were doing, as we were like engaging elected officials, um, being involved with like lawmaking and policy. Because what started to happen was when we stopped that and brought such a huge spotlight on it in the district, uh, a lot of people had started to talk, oh, we need to change state law. So these parents can't bully us and push back and stop us from this agenda. So then we had to start learning what it meant to be a lobbyist, and then there were other issues. We we realized like the big overarching issue was parental rights.

SPEAKER_03 29:36

So that was that was kind of the the recognition as like I don't want my kid to see this or do this, I want to opt out of this. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

You should have the right to do that, and we realized at the time that almost every single state in the country at that point, other than I think we were there's only five at the time that had not changed their laws to an opt, it's it's an opt-in system. So we were the five that still had opt out. So we always say, um I'm saying it incorrectly. I always I'm not getting it right. I get them backwards. So opting in is when you give express permission for your child to learn.

SPEAKER_03 30:08

Right, you get the permission slip and you sign it. Yes, they can do this. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

So you're so so you you're you've opted in. Yeah, um, we say opting in keeps parents in, right? So it keeps them in the loop because I mean, you know, you have a lot of kids, I have a lot of kids. You lose things in the backpack, it doesn't make it home. So if you have an opt-out system, then they can send the form home, say that they've informed the family. If you don't see it and and say, I'm going to opt my child out expressly and opt them out, then they'll teach it to them requirements. Right.

SPEAKER_03 30:36

It's like having a field trip. You didn't send in the forms, they take them anyway. Exactly. Right.

SPEAKER_00 30:40

Of course. I mean, that's a great example because they wouldn't do that. They would never do liability.

SPEAKER_03 30:43

They won't give your child an aspirin.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

Not at all. You know, absolutely not. So so we just were saying, like, parents have to be able to give express consent before their child learns it, and we should be able to view the curriculum so that we can decide if it's something we want our kids to learn. And that was a big sticking point because they're like, well, there's copyright. We weren't even allowed to see as parents that they were showing our kids at school and they were teaching our kids at school. So we recognize this issue of parental rights. We had to just empower parents to advocate for their kids because it took our this large group of parents to come show up and say, no, we're not okay with this. We had to have a big strong.

SPEAKER_03 31:17

Well, and I I feel like with groups of people like this, it's like herding cats. Like we all have the same, but well, I don't agree with you on this, but I agree with you on this. And you're, you know, trying to like round up a big group of people that all have the same interests that can be difficult and you definitely need like some leadership. What are some other things that were big parental rights issues, especially in this state? Yeah, it's a good question. But nah but nationally too.

SPEAKER_00 31:41

Yeah. So the opt-in for sex education was a big one. Um one big issue we dealt with was parental notification for abortion.

SPEAKER_03 31:47

Tell me a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_00 31:49

This is such a tough one because in Nevada we we had a parental notification law on the books from like 1980 something, and it got the immediately after it was passed, it was enjoined. So essentially it was um not allowed to be enforced because the Democrats sued, and so that's how that happened. And so that that law was never able to be enforced. Well, so this was um, I think 2015-ish. This was coming back up as uh we were trying to get parental notification for abortion pass, working with um other groups like Nevada Right for Right to Life and some other groups, and just recognizing that parents should absolutely be informed if their daughter is going to be having a medical procedure, regardless of the medical procedure.

SPEAKER_03 32:28

And who could take them? Could they could take themselves?

SPEAKER_00 32:31

They could take themselves. Teacher? Anybody can take them. There, there's no there's no um boundaries around who like if you are a girl and you are able to get pregnant, you are able to obtain an abortion in Nevada without your parents being told.

SPEAKER_03 32:47

Is that still the case?

SPEAKER_00 32:48

That's still the case, unfortunately. And and so parental notification, by the way, a lot of people don't realize is a lower burden than parental parental consent. So, so what we were pushing for was only parental notification. So at least you as a parent say, okay, she's still gonna do it, but this is what they're doing. I mean, maybe you have an opportunity to take her to counseling, or if you don't want her to do it or something, um it talks some sense into her. I mean, but you could have a 12-year-old that's being taken by your neighbor, you know, I and and and basically what we we argued and had continued to argue is if a if a if a child is pregnant, you know, 12 between let's say 12 and 16 or 11 and 16, something like that, because 16's the age of consent in Nevada for sex, but they can't consent under that a crime has been committed if they are pregnant. So all these laws do is is they they cover up a crime, they protect the person.

SPEAKER_03 33:32

They enable and that's the thing. I you know, people like to put this on right and left, and it's like, why is this a political issue? It should just be a moral as a parent, you have you know the say over you you you manage your children.

SPEAKER_00 33:47

Yes, and and I unfortunately, this is what happens in this space is that you get, you know, these parental rights issues are very common sense. Majority of parents believe in them and believe that should be, you know, the right of the parent. But then you get into this space where there's all this millions and billions of dollars being funneled in by outside organizations like Planned Parenthood and other groups uh in that same space, ACLU, all these organizations left-leaning that want to stop those laws because they want these children to be able to make these decisions. It's very bizarre. And and then the parents lose, you know, and so it's just a lot of like messaging and a lot of just funding that to change the laws because they have more expensive lobbyists they can pay them for, you know. Honestly, and that's what we were up against. I mean, this is a really like a David and Goliath situation where we were just like these parents who were like, no, we know this is right, and we know this is you know, what we're saying is right, what you're there, these people are doing is wrong, and we need to you know fix it, and we're going up against this giant that has been doing it is so well funded. So that so that parental notification, um, just there's so much legally about that. But um, after uh Roe v. Wade was actually um uh the the decision came down from the Supreme Court and put back to the states, constitutional yeah, went back to the states, and that actually allowed that enjoined law that had been on the books to uh to be enforced essentially in Nevada. But of course, right away there was a lawsuit brought by these organizations, these left-laning organizations. So it had never been enforced, and then there was just a ruling that came from the Nevada Supreme Court uh that um essentially ruled in favor of having no parental notification. And so there's a there's a question on the ballot. Oh my gosh, it's I believe it's question six. I want to make sure I I have that correct before I leave here, but um, this is going to be going on the ballot, which essentially is is going to enshrine abortion rights, is what they call them in our constitution. What people don't realize is we already have uh the right to abortion in Nevada up to 29 weeks, and then um beyond that, if there's the life and health of the mother, which is just uh can be anything basically. So you you can have already an abortion up to birth here in Nevada without parental consent, regardless of your age. Um, I mean, really not even informed consent because there's so many things they're not even requiring these these ladies to know or to say when they go in. And so all this does is enshrine it in the constitution so that it can never be changed in the law, like we can never decide to change anything, and so including having no parental consent or parental notification. So it's really, really bad. I mean, and I know people think like, oh, we don't want to lose our right to abortion. I I know there's people out there that feel like, well, there has to be a lot of people. That's not what this is. No, it's not but we have the right, yeah. This is not, this doesn't change that right. And so even if you're pro-abortion, this is bad. I mean, I almost always tell people when there's a uh you know a ballot initiative that that changes the constitution. You rarely, rarely want to change the constitution because that just it's just like a it's very, very hard to undo.

SPEAKER_03 36:53

You know, if anything, if you ever find out new things, I always vote no on all, I usually just go down and just say no, I don't want any, you know, changes. Exactly. Uh so there was a meeting um I went to, I was standing on a corner of Sahara and Lindell, somewhere over there, and I think it was during COVID. Yeah. And was it mask mandate? Yeah, we were talking about the math and and getting kids back into back into the classroom, which is as a teacher, oh my gosh, I'm seeing these kids who can't do anything. It is, I am like blown away. Blown away. As a substitute teacher, I walk in and I'm like, oh my gosh, this destroyed these kids. Um, you unionized.

SPEAKER_00 37:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:32

I'm and that I got a t-shirt, I paid $20 and I got the shirt. Uh what did that mean?

SPEAKER_00 37:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:38

For people.

SPEAKER_00 37:39

I mean, we we obviously couldn't like officially unionize because you know, we but what we were really trying to accomplish was we we recognized that there was such an outsized influence of the teachers' unions. And it was keeping our kids, first of all, locked in their rooms, essentially over COVID. It was hurting these kids. It was what it was the main uh obstacle to getting our kids back into classrooms was the teachers' unions. Um, and I saw it with my own eyes, I saw it firsthand. They fought, they fought tooth and nail to keep our kids out of the classroom. It was unbelievable to see. I mean, we were I we had done um a freedom of information act uh request, a FOIA, um, from the county coroner's office because we we knew there were so many kids that had had been like hurting themselves, killing themselves because of the anxiety and depression and isolation. And we were saying this at meetings like you have to let these kids back in schools, like they have no sports, they have they have nothing to look forward to, they're losing hope. They these kids are literally dying. And we were being told that we are fear mongers again, once again. So I did a FOIA request and I poured over like 21 of these names of kids who had within like that year who had killed themselves and had, you know, died by their own hand. And I was going through like matching them up with the Facebook pages of the parents just to verify that they were Clark County School District students and just reading these devastating posts from parents who had lost their child to suicide. And I mean, this I like I probably have PTSD from this, honestly, it was just a horrible thing that we had to do. But even bringing that to the district at a meeting and talking to trustees, we were told by, you know, like Linda Cavassos and other trustees that that we were um we were lying and that we were we were manipulating parents that to try to um emotionally manipulate people into getting kids and so that teachers could get sick and and because we didn't care about teachers. Yeah, I'm just this crazy stuff. So so that yeah, that that situation was really hard. But that we had a couple of different protests, we called them, and we realized like we needed a parent union to to go up against the teachers' union because frankly, there's more parents. There's more parents, and but we're just not as well funded.

SPEAKER_03 39:48

And that was that's been the biggest issue is or more spirit than money, right? Yes, we have more heart.

SPEAKER_00 39:53

Well, and the thing is, I mean, if you know anything about teachers' unions, you know, it's it's such a conflict of interest because they they take money from these teachers and they put them into these political races and to the in, you know, in these um people who will end up getting elected into the legislature who can then turn around and help give more money to teacher salaries. And that's what happens every every session. And so they're getting these people elected, they're using the teachers' money, you know, which is essentially it's a public service, right? They're being paid through our tax dollars. So our tax dollars are going into these political, you know, packs to get these people elected who will continue to support what the teachers want. And they they do not have the kids' interest in mind, they have the teachers' interest in mind, right? And unfortunately, like there's I mean, my mom just retired from teaching from the district, like there's a million great teachers out there. And the good ones wanted to be back in the classroom, and that and so that's the thing that's frustrating is it's like what the teachers union is doing is saying we hate teachers and we don't support teachers, and really the majority of the teachers were actually on our side because they're parents too, usually. And they see the damage that's doing these kids.

SPEAKER_03 40:58

Yes. And I remember again as a first-year teacher going to those onboarding um things with the district, and the union members would walk around your tables and you're supposed to fill out this form. And I didn't know anything about this. And I was like, You're gonna take money from me every month or whatever. I'm only making like 30 grand a year, first of all. And they're like, Well, don't you want our attorneys? And I'm like, Well, what are they gonna take? My 30 grand a year? Like, I don't even have anything, you know. But it felt like bullying until you, and I just was like, I don't I don't want to do that, you know? But it was a high pressure situation. It wasn't like fill it out if you want, no big deal. It wasn't that. Let's move forward a little bit. Um, just for the consideration of time, tell me where Planned Parenthood is today.

SPEAKER_00 41:42

Planned parenthood or power to parent. Power to parent.

SPEAKER_03 41:45

You can tell me where planned parent where Planned Parenthood is well.

SPEAKER_00 41:49

We can talk about that too. Um, okay, so I will um yeah, fast forward, that's a really good because we we dealt with another big issue with the gender diverse policy. And we can get into that.

SPEAKER_03 41:57

That was I've been to those meetings along the way. Big win for parrot for um sports, right? Huge recently. Huge. What, yesterday or the day before?

SPEAKER_00 42:06

Yeah, it was yesterday. And then also um in the previous school year, we were our organization was a part of helping change the policy for the NIAA for NATO, um, that initially said no, we aren't going to necessarily allow these transgender students to compete. So there's still some wishy-washiness in there, but but this Supreme Court uh decision was a was a massive win. So that's been a big thing we've been involved with, just protecting kids in the school and safety. But so fast forward, we realized, you know, we were really playing whack-a-mall with all these issues. You know, we didn't have the funding um to go up against a lot of these like very, very well-organized groups. And we were a lot of us, again, were parents. We'd go to these meetings and you know, we're taking time away from the soccer games and not making dinner for our kids and trying to figure out childcare so we can go to like three, four, and paying for copies of things and paying for all the stuff that goes along with it. Yeah, yeah, we were losing money, you know, like we were just we that we we just were doing this because we wanted to protect our kids and because it was right. But we'd go to these meetings and we'd have activists there that were essentially we found out were being paid by some of these organizations to be there and didn't have kids and oh, frankly, hated kids, hated families, and was just really, really devastating feeling all the time. Just felt right dark. So we were like, you know, we need to be more proactive. How do we how do we be more proactive and fundraise in a in a way that can help us sustain and grow the organization? And so we we actually transitioned to a 501c3. So we have both still because we still are involved politically on some things on our action side. But our 501c3 is where we had have operated for the longest from, and we began to build programs that were, you know, parent advocacy is a program that we have where we have an issue. If a parent has an issue with their child school, we try to help walk through the channels with them, help them get the help they need to find. And then we'll step in sometimes and do face-to-face advocacy if we need to. But um, you know, one of our other big programs that we recently started, well, it's been about two years, is our fatherhood project. And so we have a fatherhood project program that's a peer-to-peer support program for dads. And it's a 10-week program. It was actually developed at Mass General Hospital as a Harvard Medical School. And so it's it wasn't something that we we developed ourselves. And so we purchased this program. And now we partner with a lot of different groups in the community, like Hofer Prisoners and Vegas Stronger, Foster Kinship. We have a few other partners, and then we're continuing to grow and get funding for that program because this is a way for us to empower parents, right? Empower these parents to be the parents that they're supposed to be. When you have empowered empowered parents, especially dads, and the the data on uh intact families, but but specifically involve fathers, whether they're in the home or not, is unbelievable, it's so undeniable how important fathers are. We have this huge fatherlessness pro problem in our country and especially in certain communities, and we see that in the violence, in the you know, truancy problems, kids not graduating from high school, you know, all these different issues. And so when parents, if we want people who can protect their kids, we want empowered parents, this is a way that we felt like was a proactive way to do that. And so that was one of our programs we started. Um, another issue, especially out of the COVID situation, we we really started to champion school choice because we feel like this idea of education freedom is if your school isn't working for your kid and they're not learning, they should be able to move to a a school in a classroom that works for them. And that was, you know, that's something in Nevada that's been really, really sparse. And so the, you know, since COVID, the charter schools have grown considerably. Hugely. Homeschools have um the percentage of homeschoolers has grown.

SPEAKER_03 45:35

What's that doing to the district? I know that the district's freaking out, kind of they're closing schools. They're, you know, we're we always need teachers, and all of a sudden they're surplusing teachers. What what is is it causing them to scramble a bit? Yeah. Like what does that look like?

SPEAKER_00 45:50

And you know, it's interesting because we've been telling the district for years, like you have to um make sure that you're listening to these parents, and because they these parents that you're not listening to are leaving the district, they're gonna leave. And and frankly, it became part of our mission in COVID is that if you guys are gonna actually help kids, we're gonna help families leave this district. And and since that, since that 2010 to 20 time frame, the district's lost 20% of their enrollment, which is massive because we're talking about per pupil funding. So every kid is a dollar sign for that. So it is, you already said they're having to close schools, which is, I mean, even 20 years ago, you know, we couldn't build schools fast enough here. Right. That's been the biggest issue, is because of the growth of the city and we couldn't even build and you know, overcrowding and all this. And now they're having to close schools and consolidate some of these schools because they don't have the funding and they don't have the enrollment. And so, you know, I hate to say it because I, you know, I we've utilized public school, you know, of course. All my family has, and we've we've utilized all of the options out there, but public school was a big part of that for my family. And we had a great public school, but part of that was because you had involved parents at that school who were on campus or volunteering, and I know that that isn't happening at all every school. And unfortunately, like that we know the number one indicator for success in school for kids is parent engagement, is that parent involvement. And so, again, back to the kind of proactive program side, that is a big part of what we're doing is empowering parents to advocate for their kids, but being involved, you know, the how do we be involved? Like, how do you know your child's teacher? We try to give parents those types of information. What kind of things do you ask at a conference and these other, you know, things that you should know as a parent?

SPEAKER_03 47:25

So being in the classroom, one thing I've really noticed a big change since um COVID is Chromebooks. Yeah. Um, we're on them all the time. Yeah. And I I give them some grace because I'm a substitute. So they might say, Today you're just gonna do this because you know, the person, the teacher was sick or whatever. But I'm like, these little ones are not writing, like they're not holding small manipulatives, or not doing rug time. I don't see some of those old school um principles and like ways that we used to do things. If I got hired today, I'd still do rug time in first grade in kindergarten, like definitely doing that, doing small manipulative things. And I'm just really seeing so much, and I'm hoping that trend turns around with the Chromebooks. There was such a push to get them in the schools, and now I'm like, it's just everything is on the Chromebook.

SPEAKER_00 48:10

And I'm like, It's actually devastating. And um, there's a a great author, John Altman, and he wrote a book called The Anxious Generation, and you can see the data that we have now that just the our kids are actually they're they're they're getting worse. They're they're learning less, they're retaining less. And this is the first time in history where we haven't seen growth. Um, and and it starts, you can see, like around 2010, and it corresponds to when kids have one-to-one technology in the classroom. It's actually, it's actually one of the things that I have been reading and thinking about so much recently because it's like, how do you, how do we go backwards? You know, we've given these kids, every kid has a device. And there was a point in time where I had told my kids, teachers, like, hey, my kids aren't gonna bring Chromebooks home. They they have to stay at school, you know, like because they are coming home every day in the backpack, and then the kids, they're like, Oh, yeah, we monitor these things. Absolutely, my kids were learning things on YouTube, watching things that I absolutely would never allow them to watch at home. And and I had no control over it. Like, you can't put chronic controls on these devices because they're monitored by the school. So there's just there's so many huge, huge problems with devices.

SPEAKER_03 49:17

But like doing a math problem on a computer is much different than doing it with like right beans. Right. You you need those connections. And I I don't know the words, but I just know that's the truth. And it's like they're not making those like writing connections and like counting and just those really like I just want bait, I just want education to go back to teach them to read and write. Yeah, that that's all I need. Yeah, and the rest of it we'll figure out because that's how you know it's been forever.

SPEAKER_00 49:44

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 49:45

So you have as you know, grassroots, yeah, stay-at-home mom. You figured out a way to impact your community in a huge way. Thank you. Like you're a big deal, like a huge deal. And I appreciate the work you've done because sometimes I'm just like, you know what, I'm so glad she's doing it. It's exhausting. And I know you're exhausted from it, but I'm so grateful for you. Uh, how do you feel about the impact you've made? Yeah. And what would you say to parents, especially women, to encourage them? I I see some of these teachers, I see some families, moms working two, three jobs and just trying to get by. How can you stay involved and how can you impact your community if you have very little time and just really not a lot of energy?

SPEAKER_00 50:32

Yeah. Well, first of all, I think connecting with an organization like ParentParent is is a great way to do that because, you know, obviously I'm not doing this on my own. Um, I have an incredible team now. It's so a little over 10 years. We really celebrated our official 10-year anniversary this year. Incredible in 2026. And, you know, that that's a big milestone for us. And we have all these proactive programs now. Like, I mean, I didn't even talk about our Patriot camp, um, our constitution bowl. Uh, we have a we have a scholarship for families that can access um some funds for for private school for low-income families. So we have a lot of resources that we have over a decade have developed and grown and found sources of income and revenue to try to help pay for those things. So, so those are the families actually that we we serve mainly, you know, is these families who are again just trying to like raise their kids and do their best. And like you said, working all these jobs and they don't maybe this school is not working for their child and they don't know what to do. You know, we have been able to talk about what is school choice look like for that for every family. You know, what are your options if this isn't working for you and you can't afford to send your kids to a private school or whatever, you know? So I think connecting with power to parent is a really great way to do that. Is it national?

SPEAKER_03 51:42

Are there other groups in other states?

SPEAKER_00 51:44

So this is a hard question for us because we, you know, we started it and then over COVID, we had all these outside states coming and saying, we want to start Power to Parent. So we actually there was a time where we had, I think five different states had chapters of Power to Parent. And um, the only one that still exists right now that it's really operating is Utah. And Utah started a group called Utah Parents United. And then it was actually a gal who had been on our board here, moved to Utah. And she started it. And she wanted to call it Power to Parent, but we were just in this space where we were like, we don't really have the infrastructure to stand up other chapters right now at this point. And then we try when we try to do it, it didn't really go well just because it's this work is really difficult because every state's laws are really unique. Every state's you know needs are really unique, right? And so, you know, what we're doing here, it's you have to be really passionate about it and be able to. I mean, we didn't none of us took a paycheck for the first seven years of running a basically a full-time job job. And you know, we we wouldn't have done that if it wasn't just because we wanted to you cared right and help the kids in the city and obviously our own kids. So um, so that being said, Utah Parents United is still very active and we do a lot with them. Um, there's an organization called the Parental Rights Foundation that we're affiliated with now. Um, and then we have another affiliation with a school, it's called um School Boards for Academic Excellence, which is a great organization that helps kind of give resources and train and and um identify candidates for school boards. So we have affiliations with other organizations that are doing work, but we as you know a power to parent, we are Nevada based.

SPEAKER_03 53:14

Right. Yeah. Well, I think this is a really good kind of a call to action or just a reminder that we can all do something where we are. We can do something. I can follow you on Facebook and get information. That's the biggest thing, is just getting the information and thinking about who's saying it, what they're saying, why they're doing it, and finding the truth. I think that's really important. So I don't have to do everything, and I really appreciate that you've taken this on. And as a parent of a lot of kids and as an educator as well, it's definitely impacted our community.

SPEAKER_02 53:49

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 53:50

I have one last question for you. What do you want your legacy to be?

SPEAKER_00 53:54

Hmm. Wow, that's a really big question. Um, I I think my my legacy, I hope, is that I that I advocated for my kids. You know, that my kids would know that that was why I did everything that I did. It was to protect them and empower them and give them the best opportunity. Um, and in doing that was able to help a lot of other families as well.

SPEAKER_03 54:22

Yes, every child in this city has definitely been impacted, and and that is a legacy you will leave. Thank you, Erin, for coming on today. I appreciate your time.

SPEAKER_00 54:30

Thanks for having me.