The Power of Community-Driven Change

Joe Woodward, Director of Wichita Operations for Stand Together Foundation, leads local efforts to advance bottom-up solutions for economic mobility. His work focuses on strengthening families and neighborhoods, fostering innovation in education, and empowering community members to help one another overcome barriers.

In this episode of Let’s Get Personal, Joe shares his own educational journey and evolving career path. He also offers insight into how Stand Together supports innovation through strategic partnerships  and community-driven solutions.

To learn more about Stand Together's work in Wichita, visit ANFWichita.org and  StandTogether.org/Wichita .

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:02

Hi, I'm Livia and I'm Kristen. Through our work at Learning Lab, which talk, we get a front road speak to innovation and personalized kindergarten through 12th grade learning. On this podcast, we share stories of how educators and parents are helping kids discover their passions so you can do the same for a child you love.

SPEAKER_04 0:20

Time to dive in.

SPEAKER_03 0:22

Let's get personal. Hi everyone, and welcome to Let's Get Personal, real talk about reimagining education. Today in the podcast studio at Learning Lab Wichita, it's a joy and a pleasure to have Joe Woodward, who is well, you go way back, Joe, at this point, but currently uh know him as the director of Wichita Operations for Stand Together. So thanks for being here, Joe.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Great to be with you guys.

SPEAKER_04 0:47

We're just really excited to have you here. The reason Learning Lab exists is because of Stand Together. So we love Stand Together. We do. They they made us. They made it happen. Can you just tell us a little bit about Stand Together, a little bit about what you do for your job?

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Yeah, absolutely. So uh first of all, I'm so proud of you guys and all the success at Learning Lab. So, like our vision locally is for WitchTaw to be a model for the American dream. And that's really what Stand Together is about is our founding principles, showing that those principles are still the best way for us to solve our big problems. Um, Stand Together is made up of some of the most successful business leaders from across the country, um, business, sports, philanthropy, entertainment, folks who are like, we still believe in the principles of America and let's apply those to solve big problems.

SPEAKER_04 1:38

I feel like Stand Together is one of Wichita's best kept secrets. I mean Stand Together Wichita, because um I just really believe in how you guys are going about bringing people together to solve societal problems. Can you give any specifics about what type of thing you're doing so people can understand?

SPEAKER_03 1:57

Before you answer that, Joe, I can I back you up because I think it will make more sense when he talks about the work. You talked about principles. Like we believe in these principles. Talk about those, and then talk about the Wichita work and and how those two things connect.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So as we think about the Declaration of Independence, one of the best documents ever written. It talks about some of our core principles. So one is the dignity of every person, um, and two is the agency they get to play in their life to pursue happiness, not only for themselves, but for others as well. This idea of because we have dignity, we have freedom, and because we have freedom, we have agency, and all of these different things um work together, applying those principles is the more difficult part.

SPEAKER_02 2:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

And so uh when a lot of times, again, it's like applying them is I think where where that where they become more clear. As we see things locally like an increase in crime and foster care and uh education performance is is lagging and affordable housing is getting worse and people see big problems, typically they look for big solutions. Typically top-down, whether government services or professional social services. Really, our our belief is that there's a social entrepreneur in all of us that um you know, parents are some of the best folks positioned to innovate education. Educators starting new learning environments, like that's a model for that. But you see similar things happening in healthcare. You see similar things happening, battling cycles of poverty. People closest to the problem are actually the ones best positioned to innovate. And so what's fun about the principled approach is you see the same things in housing and education and healthcare, all of these things. There's like a it looks different, but it's the same underlying principles in all of it.

SPEAKER_03 3:44

Yeah, yeah. We really like the one about dignity. The principle, the principle of dignity. I think just to reiterate what you said, that's what Learning Lab, that's what our work is really focused on is we want every kid to have an education that works for them. There are the people in the spaces who can do that for them. To believe and empower the people to do the work is the most like highest form of love, if I can say that, right? To to trust and believe in people. Um, and that is what I always unpack when it comes to dignity. And so it's cool to see it show up in so many different um areas of our community that we do want all to be better and we want every person to thrive. At learning lab, we just get to focus really focused on education, but all the other things you mentioned obviously touch our work too.

SPEAKER_04 4:31

So very cool. Very cool. So, did you want to say anything about the witch taw work that you're doing?

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So um Harvard came out with a with this amazing study. Um, and they asked the question, is the American dream still alive and well? And the answer is, well, it kind of depends. It depends on where you grow up. So um as in our efforts to make Wichita be a model for the American dream, that we can be the people who solve problems bottom up together, right? Um, like how would we how would we measure that? And so we we lean a lot on some of the work from Harvard and again their study um over the last 20 years, they literally got every single American's um tax returns and social security numbers uh supposedly anonymized. We'll we'll believe that when we see that. But they asked the question if you're born poor, what are the parts of the country where kids born poor don't stay poor? It's not a life sentence. And so they ranked cities and neighborhoods based on upward mobility. And what they found was, and again, like how much money you make is easy to measure. It's not actually what matters most. But what they found is the things that lead to upward mobility are things like the health of your family, the health of your neighborhood, the innovative nature of your education environment, and like the connectedness of your community. So actually, all the things we actually care about, like strong relationships, healthy communities, actually lead to things that that show the American dream is still alive and well. So anyway, that really organizes our strategy pretty well. We've got a family strategy, a neighborhood strategy, and a community strategy. And in each of those, we are focused on innovating solutions for the human essentials. So those seven human essentials being um health and wellness, education, safe and affordable housing, um, access to fair credit, economic opportunity, which includes entrepreneurship and job training, um, you've got social capital and relationships, and then lastly, transportation. So all of those things. So if we want to see people empowered, we want to see people contribute, but frankly, we need more tools so that we need fewer services.

SPEAKER_03 6:39

Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Um we have a partnership with United Way locally, and they run the largest call center for folks experiencing poverty. There's like 20,000 people a year who call 211 in Wichita asking for help. And uh it's interesting. We're we're getting customer feedback based on on their work. And what's cool is like the nonprofits in Wichita actually do really good work when they have capacity to serve.

SPEAKER_03 7:02

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

But less than 20% of people who call for help are actually able to get the help they need because the professional sector is just completely overwhelmed. So what we've got to do as a city is we've got to activate the army of normal folks, the families, the schools, the teachers, the the neighborhood leaders, the church and business and recovery groups and sports teams, and like where we actually live our lives, like communities of mutual benefit. How do we activate those sectors to bring the solutions bottom up, or some would say inside out?

SPEAKER_03 7:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

We're working with uh Kevis Harding and Steve Fellmeyer on affordable housing on the north side, and they're doing amazing work that we think can really be a model for the rest of the country. And it's interesting when you think about like what is needed to solve these problems, it's not only social entrepreneurs, but you also need a policy environment that allows people to innovate. And so our friends over at Americans for Prosperity have been working closely with folks like Kevis Harding to remove barriers so he can build more and innovative housing at scale.

SPEAKER_04 8:07

I am really impressed with some of the innovation that's happened in the housing area um since even five or ten years ago in Wichita. Um so it's cool that Stand Together is a part of that. And I think the north part of our community is a place that really needs it. You know, Joe, I worked for United Way and during COVID, I uh had to answer the 211 phone lines because we were just getting such a volume of calls. And I cannot express how frustrating it was to not be able to connect someone with a resource that they needed, and it happened like every other call.

SPEAKER_03 8:41

I mean, she I didn't realize it was so low of the less than 20% were getting what they needed.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

And the Wichita 211 is like one of the best in the country. Like we've got all these different KPIs, they're operating it so well, and again, the nonprofits who actually have capacity to help, they they do a great job. Yeah, but it shows like you know, 10% better is not gonna solve the problem.

unknown 9:02

Right.

SPEAKER_03 9:02

Well, and like the nonprofits that are doing the work, they are you could they're solving the the symptoms, if you will, right? There's root causes underneath, and I think that's what you're talking about with the initiatives is like how do we go before somebody gets to this point? What is the problem that we could work to resolve or or improve so that there are less people over there will always be people who need help, but how do you how do you lessen that volume? How do you and not that the solution needs to be more nonprofits like that's that's not the answer? It's definitely not the answer.

SPEAKER_04 9:35

Um I I remember looking at studies about Wichita and how much duplication there are in certain areas. It's it's not in every area, but the housing is an area where they addressed it. They looked at where are these nonprofits duplicating and they've reduced a lot of that duplication and really collaborated. And that collaboration piece, I feel like is something probably Stand Together is really effective at is bringing these partners together and figuring out how they can maximize their impact.

SPEAKER_00 10:03

Yeah, it's a big deal. Like um when you can bring people around a shared vision, you know, here's what we're trying to go solve, and then you give folks the freedom to innovate in their own way. That's when that's when you get the best. If you get the collaboration and you get the innovation, um, and oftentimes you get one or the other. It's either collaboration with top-down control or it's isolated innovators who are trying really hard and not making a difference. But you you mentioned uh some of the work in affordable housing. One of the students at Learning Lab.

SPEAKER_04 10:33

Yeah. One of our favorite stories.

SPEAKER_03 10:38

Oh, it's so fun.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

So there's a there's an end to that story, okay?

SPEAKER_03 10:41

So um so recap it quickly, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

Learning lab student. Her name is Brindley.

SPEAKER_03 10:46

She goes to Creative Minds, which is a Wichita Public Schools micro school in our space.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

Such an impressive student, uh-huh. Even more impressive parents. Yeah, for sure. So the teacher who is facilitating all of this, it's so cool. She sees a problem and she says, I'm gonna be the people. I'm gonna I'm gonna do something about this, right? And so she rallied her class to do a fundraiser for people experiencing homelessness. And she's like, we're gonna build a tiny home. Her dad had the skill set, he was in construction, like, we're gonna build a we're gonna build a tiny home. And nobody wanted her tiny home.

SPEAKER_04 11:19

I know. Because tiny homes can't just go anywhere in which it's all their regulations.

SPEAKER_03 11:25

Which I don't think people think about. I mean, I just remember them sharing some of like the barriers they were running into, and I was like, I would have never thought about this. Never.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

It's outside the box, you know. And what's cool is we were able to connect her with um Kevis Harding, who actually did want her tiny home.

SPEAKER_02 11:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

And we were able to um provide some funding to help finish the build for it. And so they built this beautiful tiny home on Estelle Street, literally, and I this is this is just it's it's incredible. I I know the woman who lives on that street who is experiencing homelessness, her and her her and her children. She worked with an amazing organization called Family Promise. Now she's living in one of those beautiful homes.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

I love it. Um that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

It's just it's incredible. And it's it is she's actually living in a two-bedroom, and there's a tiny home behind it that's more as a better fit for like a single individual without children. But it's just um, but again, nobody wanted the tiny home because the regulatory environment made it pretty hard. Um, Dr. Harding built the home with Brindley's help and with some funding, but then it sat there for six months waiting for regulatory approval. Um but then just this past week, there was a big win in Topeka, where essentially the new law of the land is you basically have 15 days to get one of these approved, or else it's automatically approved. And it is now by right that if somebody wants to build a tiny home in their backyard to solve homelessness one person at a time, not only with a roof over their head, but with a supportive community around them, now that's actually legal.

SPEAKER_02 12:57

And now people who want to do the change can do it.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

So it's it's incredible. It's so cool. And I'd say it all started with Brindley.

SPEAKER_04 13:03

I believe it. That's so awesome. Yeah, and just to clarify, she decided she was gonna build this home and figured out how to raise some money. And then Joe and Stan Together came in and connected her with some some further donors. But without her little idea and her drive to get this house, she had a cardboard carnival and she raised$2,000 to start the pot. Yeah, it was such they were so creative, such a great I so appreciate that you were interested and pass that along to people working in that area because what a cool experience for Brindley. If I were seven-year-old Brindley, I would think, well, now I can do I can do any problem. I could do anything. Look at me. I house the homeless.

SPEAKER_03 13:42

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

I mean, seriously, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:44

Yeah, it's amazing. Well, let's like go back in time a little bit. Joe, talk to me about Joe as a kid, as a student. What was your education like?

SPEAKER_00 13:51

Yeah, um, I mean, I like to say that, you know, I've kind of been able to live the full arc of the American dream in Wichita. Like all those things that we talk about, like family, neighborhood, community education. I just had, I had, I was so blessed. Two amazing teachers for parents, great family. Um, I grew up, I went to USD 259 for elementary school, went to Sunrise for middle school and high school, and then Wichita State for undergrad. And I would say that what all of those instilled in me was maybe two, two sides. One is um the the Midwest values that all of us hold so so dear. Treat people well, don't think you're smarter than than you really are. Let's let's have some some values and some virtues here. But also like, let's go get some stuff done. Let's go, let's be entrepreneurial. And I was always in an environment looking back where it's like, yeah, let's let's go do it.

SPEAKER_03 14:39

Yeah. What was your so what then what did that earn like what did that look like for you, for you to go do it?

SPEAKER_00 14:45

Yeah. So I started the lawn mowing business in eighth grade, started some different ministries in in college. But it was always this, and I I think it was just um my mom is like super entrepreneurial. And she's big ideas. I've learned a lot of that from her.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

My dad's amazing too. But just this idea of you see a problem and you try to go make a difference on it. Yeah, it's just I think that's ac actually pretty core to the culture in Wichita.

SPEAKER_03 15:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

And so I just had a lot of opportunities to go to go do that.

SPEAKER_03 15:11

That's awesome. So tell but carry your lawn mowing story forward. What did you do with that little not that you not that you it's your bug, but like I feel like that had to have planted a seed in your mind for the future.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

Yeah, it's it's hard to kick some of this stuff.

SPEAKER_03 15:26

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

So I I just I learned so much, and this is like kind of core to the Learning Lab's philosophy that like you learn by doing, you learn experiential. Yeah. And so I, you know, you go to college and you take a class about business, but you learn a whole lot more about business running a business. For sure. Yeah. So I just had this great experience, and I wanted to have have more kids to help have that experience. Um, and then I also realized like how blessed I was. Like I had a dad who was off in the summers because he was a teacher. So he could like drive me around for my lawn mowing customers and like run my business with me. My grandpa had a few rental properties. So I had all of these advantages to go to go do it. And so, well, what about that kid who doesn't have a dad at home to drive him around or doesn't live in a neighborhood where people pay to get their lawn mowed? How do we like bring opportunities to more students? That was kind of the whole idea of what we started about a decade ago called student startup.

SPEAKER_03 16:15

Wow. How long ago?

SPEAKER_00 16:16

It's been nine years. Yeah, 2017. It's wild. I figured we would have changed the world by the time.

SPEAKER_04 16:22

You've mowed a lot of lawns. It's crazy 2017 was nine years ago. I know that's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

It it is, it is. And so, so yeah, this idea of like helping more kids run businesses. It started with lawn mowing, expanded to babysitting, and now people are doing all sorts of stuff. Yeah. And learning lab's been a great partner in that.

SPEAKER_04 16:40

So for people who don't know what student startup is, describe that.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we we call it the internship for entrepreneurs. Um we've got a sort of a junior varsity program where students start by um volunteering their time. We have a 50-yard challenge for middle school boys who do lawn mowing businesses, some girls too. And we've got a student sitters apprentice program for young ladies who want to start babysitting businesses. And what's fun about it is you do free work. So the young ladies do free babysitting for foster families in a group setting. The young, the young men do free mowing for the elderly and the widows. So you've got the orphans and the widows, which is kind of a fun combo. And then while they're doing their training, they're doing the work for free. And then at the end of their 50 hours of training, they get brand new equipment to go start their business.

SPEAKER_04 17:25

Oh, wow. I don't think I knew that. That's neat.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

It's it's been really fun. And several learning lab students have been involved in that. And then they have the tools to go start their business. So whether it's a lawnmower or a bike, a bicycle trailer for some kids, or whether it's like your CPR certification or your babysitter launch kit.

SPEAKER_02 17:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

And then we have a uh, we're launching this summer um an entrepreneurship gig board where customers can say, Hey, I want this thing done, uh, whether it's video editing or lawn mowing or I need some somebody to babysit some kids. And then students can go bid on those jobs and they have ratings and reviews. And so that it's really this opportunity like to experience the marketplace. Yeah. A lot of the work we did together, Lydia, at YE. Yeah. Um, with Market Day, that's right. Being able to do that every day. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:08

So talk about that. You guys were coworkers. We were, which is cool. And so you you worked at Youth Entrepreneurs, which has now transitioned to become empowered. But how did you, Joe? We know Lydia's story. So, Joe, how did you get to YE and what about YE appealed to you?

SPEAKER_00 18:26

Yeah, yeah. Well, it's funny. I this is this has been a minute.

SPEAKER_04 18:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

But I remember meeting you first week on the job. We were in Detroit for the big summit.

SPEAKER_03 18:35

And I think YEDU.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

Connor was there with your first time.

SPEAKER_03 18:38

Yeah, with Crew, and he was like that tiny, squishy little baby. Yeah. Connor had to carry him. Like we were in this conference hotel, and Connor was doing like laps around up and down those wonky elevators. Because he was just there all the week while I was leading the sessions and went to the Henry Ford Museum with crew. Crew got to go there. It was just, yeah, a long time ago.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

That was a that's a blast. It was cool. It was cool. So um it's kind of the pathway to get there. So grew up in Wichita lawn mowing business. My first real job was actually at Coke in college. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 19:13

That's a pretty good first job if you had to pick one.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

Oh my goodness. They were so patient with me. I had to learn so much. Um, but uh yeah, when I was 20, I started as an accounting intern with Coke and did that for a couple of years, went full-time.

SPEAKER_04 19:28

And uh Did you think you would be an accountant, Joe? I mean, I'm sure you have that skill set, but I just feel like you would your soul would die.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

Well, I was gonna say, Joe and I wouldn't. It was an accountant too.

SPEAKER_03 19:40

We have this in common. You'd be like, nah.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

Yeah, I actually I like to tell a little soapbox story on this one. I remember going to college and I'm like, man, I love business. And so I'm gonna major in business management because I want to be in charge. And I had an advisor who said, Hey, just so you know, I like I know you I know you well enough to know that when you graduate, you need to get a job. And she said, um, nobody wants to hire a 22-year-old to be a manager.

SPEAKER_03 20:06

That's fair. That's true. A really wise advice.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

She said, if you want to get a job, and she's like, I'm not, I'm actually not supposed to tell you this. But all college degrees are not created equal. There's actually three degrees in the business school that employers actually hire at in in large numbers. And she said, accounting, MIS, which is like an IT degree, or finance. And she's like, if you want to get a job, I'd highly suggest you pick one of those three majors, and then you find a company that will help you kind of blossom and find find your gift, find, find your role, but you gotta get your foot in the door. You gotta know how to do something. Yeah. So out of those three options, I I chose accounting.

SPEAKER_04 20:39

You know, it is funny how much you guys kind of have in common. True. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:43

In your career, well, and I do think I do think when you when you can tell the story, because I think you are a good storyteller and knowing you as a coach and as a coworker to be able to like rally somebody behind something. I think there is something to like knowing the numbers and like having the logic that accounting and finance give you for the numbers behind a business puts you in a better position to really like flourish from there. Right. But it's like, yeah, if you can't, if you can't figure out how the money flows in a business, that's gonna be really challenging to go to build up a leadership trajectory, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 21:19

I wish I had an accounting degree without having to experience it.

SPEAKER_03 21:24

I can we can teach you together and make you feel confident of you for maybe four years. So I would have to teach when I was teaching accounting, it was like always my first hour class. And teaching high schoolers at 720 in the morning debits and credits and teach. I mean, I was doing my best.

SPEAKER_00 21:45

The only thing maybe, yeah, teaching accounting is a whole nother wow. It's true. That's big.

SPEAKER_03 21:50

It's true. But I remember having a a teach because I got my degree in finance, but my accounting professor in college was like, no, you're really good at this. You should be an accountant. And I was like, no, thank you. And then when I was teaching, that's what I got my second degree and was accounting. I was like, maybe Nancy Weatherholt was right. Maybe this is what I should do. And then I still am not going to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_04 22:07

So do you feel like, are you grateful to that professor for giving you that tip?

SPEAKER_00 22:11

Oh, 100%. And if there's if there's students listening, I think there's two principles we can pull out here. One is like to listen and have the humility to like take take advice.

SPEAKER_04 22:21

For sure.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

And I think the other one is that what you like is important, but success in life is about solving problems for other people.

SPEAKER_01 22:29

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:29

So if you only think about what you like and what you're good at and you don't think about market demand, um you might actually, you're you might actually get a degree in a hobby, not in a not in like a professional.

SPEAKER_04 22:41

I mean, and that's such good advice. You know, we talk about this all the time because we are trying to help kids identify strengths and interests and all of that, but maybe we don't talk about that part enough. Like I mean, I'm sure if we were career counseling a high school student, we would. But it is true, you have to look at the marketplace when you're picking a major. I have a senior in high school this year. So bless her. She's trying. Do you want to guess what she's majoring in, Joe?

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Uh sociology.

SPEAKER_04 23:09

Oh, that was a very close philosophy.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:14

You know, there's lots of jobs out there for we listen. Um I don't have to coach everybody on this podcast the same way I'm coaching Kristen to be like, no, it's gonna teach her critical thinking. And like I'm gonna get her a job on the PBM team because that's all. I love it. But you saying that, Joe, makes me think about it. I don't know how to say it. The e key guy, I k I G A. You know, we've we've talked about this together. It's your sweet spot, right? It's like, what does the world need? What are you good at? What brings you joy? I don't remember all the buckets, but it, you know, in economics terms, you can talk about it as like comparative advantage. Like you have to figure out where you fit in. And that can always like that will change and fluctuate depending on where you are and what group of people you're with. But yeah, you can't just go out and be like, no, I'm I don't care what anybody needs. It makes me think about at Market Day. I think I've told this before. I had a kid who was convinced that FL Schlegel High School students wanted to buy Mexican candy at Market Day. Dead set, didn't do any market research. And I was like, Christian, I believe you. But have you asked your peers, like in comparison when there is pizza and chicken and waffles and these hot, hot Cheetos and cheese burritos? These things were disgusting. But um and he was like, no, no, no, they they will love it. He didn't like sell any. And I was like, buddy, like you have to think about how you fit into this larger puzzle. Anyways, it's a good story. He's the best.

SPEAKER_04 24:42

Okay, so you got your internship at Coke, and then what happened?

SPEAKER_00 24:45

Well, okay, so there's two versions of the story. One version of the story.

SPEAKER_04 24:48

Two versions according to who?

SPEAKER_00 24:51

The two versions that have uh that have elements of truth in them. One version of the story is that I was a really good B plus accountant on my best day. And they were very help happy to help me find another job inside of Coke. The other version of the story that I like to tell is I liked accounting so much. I wanted to tell more people about it. So I wanted to recruit accountants.

SPEAKER_04 25:14

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

And so you both of those have an element of truth to them. So um so I did three years, three years in accounting, and then I moved over to the college recruiting team, recruiting accountants, which was so fun. And you know, again, there's there's a there's a I think there's a principle here that when you're young, you oftentimes don't really know what you like and what you're good at. You actually have to get exposure. Yeah. And so I would have never guessed that I wanted to be in recruiting. But once I got in that world and I saw what recruiters did, I was like, oh, that's kind of cool. I think I would like that.

SPEAKER_03 25:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:43

Um, and so you start with where there's market demand.

SPEAKER_03 25:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:47

And then you can find kind of the other parts of the sweet spot when you can. So I did five years of recruiting and internship programming, which was really transformative for me. Um, I'm a I'm a I'm a learner, but I'm a slow learner. And so, like when I went through the intern program, I learned a few things. The second year was was good too. But after like leading it for five years and getting to hear Mr. Coke and other other leaders in the community talk about applying these principles, it's like by the end of that, it's like it started to sink in.

SPEAKER_04 26:16

I bet you no wonder you're such a PBM expert. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:21

Knowing the terms is one thing, applying it is is the real hard part. And that that's a daily challenge. But um, my only my only sort of frustration was although Coke is literally the land of opportunity, you can start as an accountant and do anything, or start in IT and do anything, or like it's it's great. Um but at the end of the day, there was only so many spots. Yeah. So we'd we'd go recruit and we'd have 2,000 great applicants. And based on the resume, we would interview a thousand of them. Oh my gosh. That's a lot. It's it's a lot. So we'd hire 500 people a year. Um so the thousand folks we'd interview and then we'd bring them in. And so you just kind of it's that you lose people every time. And at the end of the day, we'd have 400 people that were a really great fit with our values, very talented, and we'd have 250 spots.

SPEAKER_02 27:08

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:09

And what I what I was really intrigued by um with youth entrepreneurs at the time, now empowered, is they were helping students understand how to create value in any sector. Um, so like it there, there is like sort of a an unlimited game here where any student can find their path to contribute, a kind of a bigger pie. And so I was really intrigued by that. And the then the work that Stand Together was doing. So a couple of years at YE and Empowered, and then coming to Stand Together, it's just like, how do we how do we expand our ability to apply these principles, solving problems, but also seeing people flourish? Cause like the definition, and then I'll stop preaching. Like the definition of empowerment is contribution.

SPEAKER_02 27:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:49

Like when you're able to contribute, you flourish. And that we want to see more people contributing.

SPEAKER_04 27:54

Yeah, absolutely. So to me, I feel like there's like a common thread in a lot of your experiences is that you want to help others help themselves. Uh so you know, even your your student startup, you big example, the recruiting, like that's what you were doing. And you have um kind of a heart for young people. So can do you you particularly care about foster care. Is that true? Can you talk about that a little bit?

SPEAKER_00 28:21

Yeah, yeah. And I I think there's a this is a good example of one of those big problems, and the solution is really complex. So um foster care in Sedgwood County is not only three times the national average, but it's up 50% in the last decade. So it's bad and it's getting worse fast. That's fast. It's it's it's it's brutal. So there's more than 1,500 children who's who are in state custody. And when I grew up, I as a as a follower of Jesus and reading the Bible, caring for the orphans a big deal. And so just like my church and our culture, it was like, man, foster care and adoption was just normal. Like I it was like you couldn't be a pastor unless you'd adopted a couple kids. It's not really true, but it felt it felt that way. It felt that way.

SPEAKER_03 29:06

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

And so I had heard stories of like a church in Alabama who just adopted, like, they just took all the foster care kids. There was like 500 kids, and they just it was a big church, they just took them all. And there's a you know, there's a church in East Texas, um, Possum Trot, Bishop Martin, they did the same thing, they just adopted all the kids.

SPEAKER_03 29:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

But I I spoke with one of the leaders in that, and they said, Well, I asked, What what what'd you learn through that? And they said, Well, they came in faster than we can pull them out. And we never got upstream. And so when we see things in Wichita like foster care is up 50%, one way to address that is to recruit 50% more foster care families. Right, right. Which is probably a part of the short-term solution. But only about so but as you look deeper, like what's actually happening here, it's not a better system that we need. We need less people dependent on the system. And there's there's a it's it's complex because only about 25% of the kids in foster care are there because of abuse, which is the role of government. Safety, right? Like that's bringing the guns, protect the kiddos.

SPEAKER_02 30:14

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

But but uh the vast majority is poverty-related neglect. It's uh homelessness, it's addiction. And the reality is like what that what what you need there is not coercive power, you need um relational empowerment. And it's just hard for the state to be that.

SPEAKER_03 30:33

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 30:34

And so what you need is you need the community to do that. And mentors of mine who are a lot older, like, yeah, that's how it used to be. 50 years ago, there was a grandma in every neighborhood that made sure all the kids were taken care of. And we've professionalized that in an unhealthy way. So, anyway, to get to your question though, um, my wife and I, um, so we have the the privilege of of adopting two kiddos, and we are just we're so blessed. We're so happy.

SPEAKER_03 30:56

They're so cute. We're I just can't even believe it.

SPEAKER_00 30:59

You know what's fun about adoption?

SPEAKER_03 31:00

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 31:00

Is you can brag on the good looks of your children with no shame. They are so good looking. And they share none of my DNA.

SPEAKER_04 31:10

How old are the kiddos?

SPEAKER_00 31:11

Yeah, uh our daughter's six and my son's two.

SPEAKER_03 31:14

I just can't believe that. Yeah, that is crazy. I remember having the baby shower for Belle.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:20

Like that's right. That's how it was there. That's so crazy. Um, anyways.

SPEAKER_00 31:25

So so we we've done the like again, it's it's a both hands. So kids need to be adopted. There's like 85 kids in Wichita waiting to be adopted. And that's that's that's not acceptable. Um, but what we really need to do is again, how do we solve these problems? These kids are not orphans, they actually have parents. And to solve foster care, the best way to do that is to go upstream and empower families. And so we've made a lot of investments in different church-based initiatives, housing initiatives, workforce initiatives. And so Andrea and I um volunteer with a group called Safe Families for Children. And it's like voluntary respite. It's like we just watched a kiddo for a mom recently who needed to go to the hospital for a surgery, and she had nobody who was safe who could watch her kids. She was actually experiencing homelessness herself, and she just needs somebody to watch her kids for a week.

SPEAKER_03 32:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:11

And that's developed a friendship, which has been so fun. And so is this idea of if we all just take what we have and do what we can, um, you know, we're not looking to adopt any more kids, but we can help other people take care of their own kids.

SPEAKER_04 32:24

Is that similar to like the Faith Builders? I encountered that um uh a number of years ago, and I just think it's like the most innovative solution to that problem. And I've seen that work for families.

SPEAKER_00 32:37

Faith Builders is phenomenal. It's tell me more.

SPEAKER_03 32:39

I don't know that I know that.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

Yeah, so Andrea Dixon is a I mean, she's a real social entrepreneur. She serves over 500 women a year who are in really tough spots, and she pairs them up with families who will watch their kids while they get back on their feet.

SPEAKER_03 32:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 32:52

And one of the things we're we're working on with with Andrea's team is how do we bring more tools to play for those moms so they can really get out of the situation.

SPEAKER_04 33:00

Yeah, I mean, that would be the thing that I see. You know, my sister-in-law, she lives in Topeka and she kind of did her own faith builder situation. She has a little boy and he's about eight years old. And since he was two, she just knew the family. And there were times when his parents couldn't care for him, so she would take him in and she's paid for schooling and done, you know, all the things that he needs that his family could not provide. But yet he's still living with his biological mother and has brothers and sisters, and it's just such a good solution to that problem. And if we would all look around in our lives for those people, a better, better world.

SPEAKER_03 33:40

So when you think about Well, tell me about what are you excited about that you're seeing when it comes to foster care in Wichita?

SPEAKER_00 33:48

Yeah. Well, it starts with a paradigm shift from this child welfare mindset to a child and family well-being. And we're seeing that shift happen. And what's so cool is it's cross-sector. The folks at DCF, the folks at in the county, and the folks at the churches and the nonprofits, like people are actually orienting around this shared vision where we're going to strengthen families to make foster care less necessary. And oh, by the way, if we can, you know, if there's less foster care, the ones who need foster care will have a better experience.

SPEAKER_02 34:19

Right.

SPEAKER_00 34:19

Because they'll be less overwhelmed by by the by the system. And so we're we're really excited about that. Um, you know, uh our one of our partners is Care Portal, and they are a care sharing technology where vetted agents, so police officers, teachers, social workers, coaches, whoever, who see a child in need, you know, imagine being a teacher, and I'm sure that's hard to imagine. Imagine being a teacher and you see a kid come to school in the same clothes four or five days in a row. Yeah. You can tell something's wrong. What do you do? You're not a social worker. You don't you know most teachers they only have one option is to call the government.

SPEAKER_04 34:56

Sure. And and we're required to call the government for certain things. Yeah, you know, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

Yeah, and so the uh care portal gives another option. So if it's not a safety-related thing, it's like, oh, what's going on with this family? Oh, their washer and dryer broke. That's why the kids come to school and or like, hey, this kid is doesn't have healthy food. Oh, they don't have a refrigerator. There's some actually really simple things. So teachers are able to put that need into the care portal, and then a local church within walking distance of that family can deliver that physical need to build a connection and then hopefully help them on their path to stability. Care portal says there's not a lack of care, there's a lack of connection. There are so many people who want to help, yeah, they just don't know where to start. And care portal can help with that.

SPEAKER_03 35:44

Yeah. It makes me think about like the easy button, right? Like what's the easy button that yeah, to make it super easy for people to do something.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

That's right. And then you start to see things like comparative advantage applied. Like that's a big lofty principle. But actually, who has the comparative advantage to raise kids? Usually their parents. Yeah, that's true. Right. Who has the comparative advantage to support families? Usually the community-based institutions close to them.

SPEAKER_03 36:06

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 36:07

Who has the who has the comparative advantage to support those institutions? Well, sometimes it's the business leaders and the philanthropists and the professionals who don't usurp the social fabric, but they they work through the social fabric. They support those so that everybody can kind of play their role. And then what I think is happening is we're getting a better view, not only for vision, not only for like bringing some connection and capabilities, but we're actually starting to measure family well-being. There's a Harvard study that basically measures thriving. And then what are those gaps at an individual level? We call it customer-first measurement. So being able to really understand what are the individual needs of each family, and then we can get more innovators. Like, so like today, if anybody's like really smart and wants to solve problems, we need more innovation when it comes to transportation. We need more innovation when it comes to like grocery delivery, we need more innovation when it comes to like housing. All of those are big complex issues that there won't be like one solution. We need more people working on it.

SPEAKER_04 37:09

Interesting. When I think about foster care in terms of education, I just always think about the hierarchy of needs. And you know how kids have to feel safe, they have to have food, they have to have sleep, and all of those things they need before they can even learn one thing. So I just always think about how do we educate kids that aren't having those according to me. But yeah, it's tough.

SPEAKER_00 37:31

It's really tough. And it's really unfair to teachers to put so much on their plate.

SPEAKER_03 37:36

Yeah, yeah. No, you could preach on that for a while. I used to keep a drawer full of just snacks in my desk drawer, and kids didn't have to ask, and if they were hungry, they knew that I always had some food, and it was never enough, truly. But um, you can't teach a hungry kid. You can't reason with somebody when they're hungry. That goes for adults. I was gonna say that too. That goes for everybody. Um so talk a little bit. We've talked about a couple of things that Stand Together is doing in Wichita, but what does the education priority look like in Wichita from from your side?

SPEAKER_00 38:11

Yeah, I mean, I I'd say a couple things. So one is like what is the purpose of education? So in the same way in our foster care work, the networks that we've been investing in, we we have to start with why. You know, like start uh who is it, Simon Sinek? Yeah, like what what are we actually here to do? Are we here to make sure kids have a bed and breakfast and like stay alive, which is important, or are we here to to see that families are flourishing, children and families flourishing? So when it comes to education, um, our view is that education should be about helping students be empowered by discovering their gifts, developing them into useful skills, and then applying them to create value for themselves and others. So, like with that as the goal, well, the challenge is every kid is different. So individualism and the dignity of each person, that's another principle we have to apply. And so when you have this North Star goal, when you have uh like every person is unique, what what you need is you need a bunch of solutions.

SPEAKER_04 39:06

Um Do you work for Learning Lab, which Todd Joe? You're speaking our language.

SPEAKER_03 39:13

You know, we've recently like boiled this thought down into a belief statement of all kids deserve an education that works for them, like works like actively works for them, works to meet their need. Like it's it's exactly that discover, develop, apply, um, personalizing it. That's that's our newest, like, no, that's the hill we will die on. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 39:33

I love that. Well, and even, I mean, you guys are a great example of this. And you're bringing people cross-sector who believe in that vision. Yeah, that's public, private, religious, micro schools, like homeschools. Like you, you're bringing everybody together. That's right. All of us that vision. Yeah, I mean, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 39:48

I mean, we haven't found another place that has all of those perspectives on education in one in one space. We're pretty proud of it.

SPEAKER_00 39:56

Yeah. I mean, and so we when we think like at a meta-level, like for which ought to be a model of the American dream. I mean, you guys are doing it. Like, there's a movement in in education that people are already coming here to see what's happening at the learning lab. And what learning lab is becoming is is a place to demonstrate what's happening. Because so much of this movement is invisible.

SPEAKER_03 40:18

That's right. That's true. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:20

We're we're sparking an education revolution. That's right. That's also our. Yeah, you're welcome to join us. Let's do it, right? Let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 40:27

So there's this, there's this. Um, we need more options, and then we need to help people access those options. So empowering families to find the right choice. Because there's a lot of privilege for um folks who have options. Like I think about growing up, my best friend, um, his dad understood individualized education. And his him and his four siblings all went to different high schools.

SPEAKER_04 40:48

I love that amazing. Yeah. We have families that have like two different but yeah, I think it's so great to look at your individual children. They're all different. No matter how they were raised, they all have different needs, you know. We have kids that come, we have families come looking for the right solution. And that's something that I think people don't know that we do because we just kind of have our finger on the pulse of what's going on in Wichita's education sector. Um, but we have families that come to us, they have kids with a learning difference, they have kids that have anxiety, they have kids that just have a very specific interest they want to explore, or families want to homeschool but want resources and want to kind of build their own education, which we think is super cool and it's a trend we're seeing. So yeah, if people are looking for the solution, send them our way. And we we don't know everything, but we don't try to help. I wish we don't.

SPEAKER_03 41:42

Oh gosh, we don't. We are figuring it out as we go, but we are we love to learn. Um, and then I think what we can share back, go circling back to the social entrepreneur point that we were talking about earlier. Like, we also can I share gaps of like, no, we had a family who reached out about a high school student who has autism. There's not great high school, like curated, tailored environments for kids with autism here at Wichita. So now, as we talk to education professionals and be like, hey, is that something you're passionate about? Would you want to start? Like, so we can kind of do it both ways to say, yes, here's a match, or hey, here's a gap, and learning lab can be a place and a connection point to help you as a potential founder.

SPEAKER_00 42:21

Well, I just had this experience uh over the weekend. You guys work with the is it educator resource center? Yeah. Is that what it's called?

SPEAKER_03 42:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:29

Yeah. Um a friend of mine actually Entrepreneur Resource Center.

SPEAKER_03 42:32

Entrepreneur resource. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:34

Which is like somebody who wants to start a new learning environment, like the toolkit to go do that, right?

SPEAKER_03 42:39

Yeah, yeah. Especially on the like legal and compliance side, which is always like one of the initial hurdles, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:45

Yeah. We uh a friend of mine is starting a uh hybrid school that's classical education on the West side.

SPEAKER_03 42:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 42:54

Like there was a gap in. There was like there they've got some hybrid models, uh-huh. They've got some classical models, and they've got some, but like nobody was doing classical hybrid west side.

SPEAKER_04 43:06

That's right. That's right. You should you should want to know more about it. Because we just want we like to like go visit everywhere and learn what's going on.

SPEAKER_00 43:13

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they already have like 30 students who have signed up and it's incredible.

SPEAKER_04 43:17

30. That's pretty good. It's wild. Are they starting this? They're opening up.

SPEAKER_00 43:20

No, they're they're recruiting and they're starting in the fall, is my understanding. Awesome.

SPEAKER_04 43:23

And so I can't do the families that we could possibly refer, you know. Let's go, right?

SPEAKER_00 43:27

So I was chatting with uh Tamra on the EduPremio Resource Center team because this friend of mine was was feeling like the we're gonna go do this thing. And it feels really complicated. Yeah. And it's like, well, hey, it it'll be hard, but there are some things that are actually simpler than you might expect. And then there's resources that can help you. I think about a human action model, Lydia. Uh, we I talk about it all the time, Joe.

SPEAKER_03 43:49

These four people are like enough with the human action model. If you're not familiar, it's the it's the framework that people do not take action until three things are Present. So one, is there a sense of unease? Second, is there a vision of a better state? And third, do they believe they can actually attain that vision? And so we we see this in practice so much with people who come through here, families with kids, because they may have a vision of like this is what I want for my kid. But if there's if that doesn't exist, then there's no way for them to actually do anything about it. Um, or if you're a founder, right? If you lack business knowledge, like that feels like an immense barrier to making the vision happen. So no.

SPEAKER_04 44:32

That's one of our biggest challenges, I think, is that educators care so very much about education, but they don't care about business. And so we have to figure out how we can bridge that gap. So we have more better different solutions. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:47

Yeah. Um talk a little bit about a newer, a newer um partnership for Stand Together here in Wichita has been the Army of Normal Folks. Talk about that a little bit. Share with the people.

SPEAKER_00 44:59

Yes. So it's really uh like there's already a movement that's happening. And we want to reduce the friction to help more people get in the game. And so um, again, people see big problems, they want to make a difference, but there was a study that was like only one in three Americans actually is contributing in their community to the level they want to.

SPEAKER_03 45:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:20

And there's a lot of reasons for that. There's a lot of there's a lot of friction, there's a lot of disillusionment, there's a lot of just competing priorities. And a lot of times people will volunteer and they won't see the impact, right? So, you know, it's what Army of Normal folks does is it's service clubs that help give people easy on-ramps to contribute. So there's three components. Um, they have a service concierge that says, Kristen, what are you passionate about? It's back to that sweet spot we talked about with our career. Same thing with contribution. Like, what what are your passions? What are your skill sets? And then how do we pair that with a real need in the city? Um so one is the service concierge. The second one is the reality is like when we serve, we build relationships. And so we do these army activations um every month or two where we say we're gonna go serve together, whether it's building a habitat for humanity home or fixing up bikes with bike walk wichita, or building beds for care portal families who don't have beds, which by the way, laws on the books. If you don't have a bed for every kid, that can put your kid in foster care, which is insane.

SPEAKER_04 46:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:24

But it's one of those little things that community members can do to help. And so uh service concierge, army activations, and another very real thing is um these initiatives do do cost money.

SPEAKER_03 46:34

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 46:35

I think about one of our favorite investments is a group of former gang members at Hope for the Hood who are rebuilding their neighborhoods and helping people connect to resources. Like it's amazing.

SPEAKER_04 46:45

That's like the best story, too. You gotta love a redemption story. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 46:49

And again, back to comparative advantage. Like they are way better than social workers at helping people get out of hard places.

SPEAKER_03 46:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:56

And it's just it's it's amazing. But that that does require um funding. And so Army of Normal folks does giving circles where folks can contribute as little as$10 a month or as much as they want to. And then again, it's sort of the stand-together model where you get a bunch of business leaders together to pool their resources to solve problems, that should be for everybody. And so these giving circles allow everyday folks, 20, 30 folks at a time, to say, hey, we're gonna pool our dollars and we're gonna solve a problem together. And we know that takes some money. And so whether it's a monthly contribution, which is optional, not required, or whether it's uh a service activation, or whether it's just finding that unique way for you to serve individually, Army of Normal folks are trying to lower the transaction costs of serving.

SPEAKER_04 47:39

That's awesome. I'm excited to see the impact of that. I signed up, I'm in the Army.

SPEAKER_00 47:43

Let's go.

SPEAKER_04 47:44

I think I have to.

SPEAKER_00 47:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 47:46

But I gotta double check.

SPEAKER_00 47:47

Well, if you haven't done it yet, the cool kids are doing it. Go to ANFWichita.org and my guy Trey Hightower will give you a world-class experience at you.

SPEAKER_03 47:58

You know, um, all this talk about, I don't know why this just came to mind, but here's another framework for you, Joe, that I think you'll appreciate. I'm drawing a picture on my paper. He's like, here she goes. Um when I think about social entrepreneurs, your your point about Benny Santa Bañez and the Hofer to Hood uh team made me think about this. When it comes to social entrepreneurs, I think what they have a comparative advantage in that we don't talk about enough is that people have trust in them because they've been there, right? So like Benny can go and sit with the people. Why? Because Benny has lived that life, right? And the the bottom-up nature of our work is people who are closest to the problem, you can you can trust them. So trust is three parts. Let me teach you another. Everybody get your notes out. Let me teach you, let me teach you another three part. I did not make up this framework. This is from um uh Nicole Gillespie.

SPEAKER_00 48:45

But I was gonna guess Brene Brown.

SPEAKER_03 48:46

Um listen, I learned it from Susan David. Do you know Susan David? No. Okay, we can just get all rabbit. Listen to my emotional agility podcast that we do. Um trust is three parts. So number one uh is empathy. Do I believe that you care about me as a person? The second part is integrity. Do you do what you say you're going to do? Do you have honor? Do you have follow-through? Right. And then third is can you actually it's capacity or ability. Can you actually do the thing that you say you're gonna do? So when I think about social entrepreneurs who are thriving and really making great impact on those three like spectrums, they're like like blossoming and flourishing because they've been where the person is. Benny can sit with people and they can feel his empathy. Why? Because he's been where they've been. He they they know that he will do what he says he's gonna do and then he can actually do it. There's a lot of people who can kind of do the first two part or like maybe like have a lot of empathy, but if I can't follow through, then people who are in crisis or are struggling aren't going to have trust in you. It's just gonna feel like a like a band-aid on the street.

SPEAKER_04 49:56

I feel like also the flip side happens. Like they have the ability, but they don't have the trust and the empathy.

SPEAKER_00 50:02

And what's so fun about how we're created that we don't have all the gifts is that that would like that requires us to work together.

SPEAKER_02 50:10

Right.

SPEAKER_00 50:10

And so you see folks like Benny, who has the trust and the integrity, and then um other partners are able to support him to grow his capacity. Yeah. Like in the last 12 months, they've helped like 150 people get jobs. That means plus get housing.

SPEAKER_04 50:27

Think about the impact of a hundred people having a good job, a good stable job. That's really cool. Yeah, I love what you said about gifts too, because um you know, we just can't one person can't do it. And so that's why that's why you started an army.

SPEAKER_03 50:43

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 50:44

That's right, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 50:45

Okay, this is always my last, or this is always my last question, and then you can share maybe what else ever else you'd like to say. But you, Joe Woodward, yeah, in your work, maybe. What are your non-negotiables? What are the things that like this is the hill you will die on? There's no wavering. What are the non-negoties? That's what my son says. It's a non-negoti.

SPEAKER_00 51:06

Well, I I mean, the the the the simple answer is like we have to be principled. I mean, that that is, but let's let's go a little more specific.

SPEAKER_02 51:15

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 51:16

There's a lot of vanity philanthropy out there where it's actually more about the giver than the receiver.

SPEAKER_02 51:23

100%.

SPEAKER_00 51:24

And we that is a non-negotiable. That if we're not actually helping people improve their lives, it's like if we're not actually helping people, like good intentions are not good enough.

SPEAKER_02 51:34

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:34

If people's lives are not transforming, and so that's that's obviously important. Um and then, you know, like how we do it. Yeah, you know, like so the work itself is important, but how we do it, if we're, you know, practicing our principle of openness, you know, there are people who have very different belief systems. Um, you know, there are folks that are like far left and you've got far right, whatever that means these days, and everything in between, but who can align on different issues to actually solve solve problems. And so this idea that everybody has a seat at the table to contribute, let's make sure we're actually making a difference for the people we're serving. I think those are those are some of the non-negotiables. Those are pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_04 52:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:20

That there is a movement in Wichita, and obviously you guys are doing this, but anybody listening, like Wichita is on its way to be a model for the American dream. It's gonna be hard sledding, though. Yeah. It's gonna take each of us taking what we have, doing what we can to help every person thrive. And uh, I think that's a pretty pretty good uh goal to shoot for.

SPEAKER_04 52:38

I love it. We're all in. That was a great note to end on, Joe. Thank you so much for your time today. It's fun lady.