Let's Get Personal : the Learning Lab Podcast

Building Community Through Education and Culture with Shane Carter

• Kristin • Episode 26

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When Shane Carter came to Wichita in 2025 to start his role as executive director of The Kansas African American Museum, he was no stranger to educational programming. 

While leading the Lincoln Community Center in Troy, Ohio, Shane started and grew a successful and effective after-school program. Now, he’s bringing that same energy and vision to TKAAAM’s educational programming and outreach efforts.

On this episode of Let’s Get Personal, Shane shares about his background as an athlete, coach and nonprofit executive — and why he believes community-centered education can change lives. He also shares how TKAAM is enriching culture and connection. 

Learn more about The Kansas African American Museum at https://www.tkaamuseum.org/.

SPEAKER_06

Hi, I'm Olivia, and I'm cooking. Through our work at Learning Lab, which is a we get a front road speed 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_05

I didn't dive in, but let's get it personal.

SPEAKER_06

Hi everyone, and welcome to Let's Get Personal Real Talk about reimagining education. Today in the Learning Lab studio, we have Shane Carter, who is the executive director at the Kansas African American Museum. And we are just so excited that you're here, Shane. So thanks for joining us.

SPEAKER_00

Yes, good morning. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_05

Now we're glad you're here in the studio and we're glad you're in Wichita. Amen. We were lucky enough to have you out for a tour of our space a couple months ago and immediately thought this guy has got something good happening over there.

SPEAKER_00

We're trying, we're trying. I'm thankful for the opportunity. You know, um, a lot of responsibility at T CAM, but a great staff and uh looking to grow partnerships and collaborations like this and build exposure to what we do at TCAM. And so uh kudos to you guys for offering this and to the learning lab and the way that you guys do things. Uh, very impressed by this space and the organization. And every time I walk in here, there's kids and young people running around having fun and learning, and that's really exciting.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. Before we started recording, Shane was like, there's just something different here every time. Today we have a video, a production crew here recording, and we're having morning meetings. So yeah, it looks different than the last time you were here, and I'm sure it will look different the next time you're here. So thanks. We're happy to have you.

SPEAKER_05

Well, you moved to Kansas for this T Cam role. Yeah. So tell us how you found the role and what appealed to you, and maybe then some things about T CAM.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, absolutely. So, you know, what really got my family in this part of the country, my brother Lance played basketball at Tabor College, and I was a strong component of uh not only him finishing his higher education, but really I thought it would be wise for him to get away from Ohio a little bit. And so, as uh we started planning for college, opportunity came up at Tabor. He pretty much got on a Greyhound bus, what, 12 or 13 years ago and came out here with a bag and kind of a new start. And I supported him the best I could. So I started coming out to this part of the country to really, as he'd get into tournament ball and they were able to make it to the national tournament to come out and watch his basketball team. And then I was crazy enough to buy a piece of real estate in Hillsboro, Kansas. And it was a ran-down house that I thought we could really turn around and we did. And so I'd come out twice a year, probably for about five, six years, 2000, probably 13 into like 2018. And Wichita was just, I was always fond of it in that it was number one, the only place metropolitan-wise I could get to from Hillsboro and kind of the Heston area where my brother had ties and friends and family. And I came out the a short story, would be after he graduated college, um, he moved to Heston to run the Heston recreation, their commission there. And I came out to do a little strategic planning with him and his board to really look at facilities and programming and were there opportunities for growth there. And I had some success in the Lincoln Community Center in Troy. And so I thought some of the programming made a lot of sense. Um, educational programming, recreational programming, um, some social opportunities. And so after I got done doing that work, I just traveled over to Wichita, put in my phone something as simple as Wichita and African-American history. And previous I'm previous to that, I knew that Hattie McDaniel was from here and I knew some of the history, um, had heard, not about the Dockham sit-in, but I had heard about the role that this city played in civil rights. And so started looking into that history. T Cam popped up as well as the Carl Brewer Center and Chester I. T CAM was uh, I was really fond of it. I I thought that the location spoke to the history of what the African-American community, where they're where they started at, they're on the West End on Water Street, and took a tour of the facility. Sure enough, the the uh director role had come open briefly after. And so I asked my wife for her permission. I said, Hey, babe, you know, is there an opportunity where if this role came open, would you be willing to move out to Kansas? I kind of staged it as we could raise our kids together, my brother and his wife and my wife. And so, and my wife was like, I think that would be a great opportunity. Let's pray about it. Neither one of us were, I guess our roles we were very comfortable in. My wife worked for the county. I had ran the Lincoln Community Center for about 13 years, had built up a lot of programming, and really felt like there was an opportunity for the center to stand on its own two feet without me in the lead role. I would call it succession planning. Like we started that about two years prior to 2025 of, hey, if Shane would hit get hit by a train, if you move on, what would that, what would that look like? And really put some good people in place. And so at my wife's blessing, um interviewed for the role virtually the first interview. And then the second interview, I was really impressed by the professionalism of the board, all of the different um sectors of business the board was in. You had folks in EcoDevo, um, you had people within nonprofit leadership, legal, accounting. And so I guess here I sit almost, what, 11 months later? Um, took the role. Actually, we're coming up on a year. I took the role May the 12th. Exciting. Yeah, yeah. And the short of it is, I'll tell you, I they called me on that Saturday after we had interviewed, like on a Thursday or Friday. I was just landing in Chicago, and um Eddie Watson, our board chair, he was like, you know, we'd like to offer you this position. I said, let me call my wife and let her know that this is a thing. And so uh it's really uh serendipity and a God thing. Well, I get off that flight, and one of my mentors, Tom Zafranski, who was a vice president internationally for Hobart Food Equipment Group, he's like, Shane, what are you doing coming into Chicago? Looks like you're heading home. And I said, Yeah. And so we sat down and kind of broke bread and fellowshipped, and I explained to him I was thinking about leaving Troy. And he ex he kind of not only did he confirm what my thoughts were, he said, you know, sometimes you have to get into not only a bigger pool, but you have to get outside of your hometown to really, you know, discover not only your own talents, but to be able to grow. And so we had some really good conversation, and I called back our board chair and just said, Hey, I'd like to take the role, but I know there's a lot of work to do, so I'd like to get started in like two weeks. And I'm sure our board was like, okay, you know, um, seems seems a little aggressive, but I came out two weeks later, got started, and then my family, um, my wife uh Rachel finished her role with the county, and my daughter Stella um finished up her school year. And so my family's been here since August. I started May the 12th, and I really I prayed about this role because I thought that TCM really had the opportunity to impact the state at a higher level and to really bring culture awareness and history awareness to all of the awesome things that have happened here in Wichita and throughout the state.

SPEAKER_06

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. No, I love that. That's amazing. Um so you're you're really brought here because of your brother's journey. Or like he was the kind of the the you know the the critical point that that pushed it. What was your education experience like leading up to that moment? Like your childhood getting you to that point?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so I grew up in Troy, Ohio, graduated, um, smaller town, about 30,000 people north of Dayton. Went to the University of Wisconsin, um, studied business there in a minor and sociology and history. Um, but and was a student athlete, played football there, was very thankful for um, was on an athletic scholarship there, got a great, great, great education. I'm so thankful for relationship and the networking that came from that. Um, and I took that and actually went back to Troy and started running the Lincoln Community Center and started a small construction business that I'm very proud. We've been in business since 2013. And that became a way for me to um organically create a what I call a job re-entry program. And so I was able to take uh both convicted felons, folks that were um GED or non-GD educated, and really start employing them in a way of um meaningful employment, like from carpentry, hanging drywall. So our business back home, we do all types of well, construction, residential and commercial, but really wall-on-floor coverings, doors, window trim. And so we've been in business, like I said, since 2013. And I've had two employees with me, both who, when I met them, one was homeless, the other um had just got out of prison. He had been in prison for two and a half years uh on a drug conviction. And so both of those gentlemen have been with me for now, I guess it's 13 years. I'm very proud of that. And my mother manages that business back home in Ohio.

SPEAKER_03

Nice.

SPEAKER_00

And so that's really been my my employment has been, I guess, occupation-wise, run the Lincoln Community Center and growing that from a neighborhood center to what I call a regional hub with over 60 programs. And then from a construction standpoint, I've always uh dabbled in residential and commercial construction as a way and a method to take people I would meet at the Lincoln Center and give them meaningful employment. Along the way, a lot of coaching, coach football, coach basketball, um, at all levels, high school, um, college, uh, youth, a lot of youth work. And so I would say that over the last 13 years, I really feel like those roles have provide have provided experience that hopefully are meaningful for my role as a director at the Kansas African American Museum.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. Are you are you still coaching at all?

SPEAKER_00

I'm not. You know, I just had a so I I was at a uh a church picnic actually last night. Um my brother invited me up to this church at in Heston, Kansas, and a gentleman who works at Heston College, um, they're actually their president, is kind of talking about sports and talking about life and kids and all that good stuff. And he was like, Do you still get the itch? And I said, Yeah, the itch doesn't go away. It's not, you know, and I think I will tell you, there's enough work um at the Kansas African-American Museum that when I go home I am tired. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_05

It's preventing you from that.

SPEAKER_00

It is, it is. But I will, you know, Stella's nine years old, my daughter. I was able to coach her basketball team this past, I guess, winter. I'd love it, yeah, that that was fun. That's that's enough for now.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Um, but I will tell you, you know, as things get worked out, I'm sure that there's gonna be that that fall evening where if there is some free time, I'd love to volunteer. And it may be a YMCA team, it may be working with young people here.

SPEAKER_05

Zip football, that's you say you're gonna walk outside in the fall.

SPEAKER_00

I played football, but uh, yeah, and I I chose football over basketball my senior year, had offers in both, but it was one of those things where um, just to be really honest, Barry Alvarez was the coach of Wisconsin, and he came to my home, and his honesty and straightforwardness with my family is what won me over. He was so critical and honest, didn't promise me anything. He promised me that if I had, you know, got good grades, kept my nose clean, I'd get a first class education. And that's that was a promise that held through. Um, but nothing beyond that, not playing time, not being all big 10, being a professional, all the things that an 18-year-old you think of, yeah. None of those came up.

SPEAKER_05

And so And you liked that?

SPEAKER_00

I did because I had well, my father was born in 1937, and he was a very, and at that time he was alive, he was a very strict, regimented, blue-collar. Um, coming from a family, you know, I've had two of my brothers play professional sports, and one was as an NFL Hall of Fame receiver. My I think my yeah, I mean, we come from a pedigree of athletes. Sure. But my father really pressed education. And so I think that what happened was when when Coach Alvarez came in our room, came in our living room and sitting there just being honest and frank with us, there were no promises. There were no, hey, we're gonna make sure that your parents are taking care of it. Was hey, you're gonna come to Madison, Wisconsin, we're gonna work extremely hard and we're gonna get a first-class education, which you can get a really, really good job with. And I was like, you know what? I know my parents, that resonates with them. Yeah. And I wanted to do what my parents thought was right. And so yeah, that box was checked right away. I mean, I think Coach Alvarez probably got on a plane, and then an hour later I was like, hey, let me come up to Madison. And from there we we kind of we had our destination picked.

SPEAKER_06

I really admire that being the narrative that he shared with you because you're that's so true. You see so many college athletes that I mean, there's just a there's a finite amount of time that you can play at that level where it's whether it's college or professional. And so it is important that you develop yourself as a person. It is. Um I really admire that.

SPEAKER_05

I have a junior daughter that's in the recruiting process right now, and like it's just interesting to hear other people's stories because it is I keep trying to tell her you're a human first, you're not a gymnast first. You know, you need to think about after college and you can't put your whole worth in what this deal happens. That's right.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and I think I will say this, ladies.

SPEAKER_06

So you're very wise.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so I guess I'll tell you that. Well, and the other piece, the whole NIL thing, that's that's that's changed all college athletics, especially division one level. For sure. So I that was still a level where legally you weren't gonna be paid, your parents couldn't get a job, you weren't gonna get a call. Yeah, I'm so well I wanna so oh sorry.

SPEAKER_06

No, I was just gonna ask, like, what did you learn from being a student athlete? Because we've talked about how sports really shape like how you interact as a person and that productive struggle and failure, and like that, that's kind of been a good narrative. We have a wrestling academy here, yeah, as you know, and that's kind of what we talked about before. But what did you learn as a student athlete that you've been able to carry forward through the Lincoln Community Center and then um here with T CAM?

SPEAKER_00

That's a great question. Um, I will suggest that every skill that was meaningful to be a successful student athlete, and I'll kind of hit on what I'd call the top five that I think I took away from, um, has helped me not only in business, but it's helped me build teams. It's helped me close the door and say, hey, I want to hire that individual, recruit and retain uh the talent. And so the first one I would suggest would probably be the ability, just time management.

SPEAKER_05

For sure.

SPEAKER_00

That's that's the one that is amazing.

SPEAKER_05

It is we see in kids, even these wrestling kids, they're little. I mean, they're elementary, middle school age boys, but when they come in here, like they're getting down to business.

SPEAKER_00

And popping right to the mat or whatever it is. So I think time management. The other one I would say is, and it's all it's said differently, but it's it's strain or sacrifice or being able to push your body beyond the limit you think you could go to. Um, I always talk to my daughter and she's like, you know, we get to that drill where it's like, I'm tired or I'm done. I was like, you got to get one more, right? What's that one more look like? And I think in business, it's tough because you have to manage closing your computer and going home. Or do you want to open one more email or start one more project? And so I do know that I have that ism that I try to fight of like it's just that work ethic of relentless effort. And so balancing that is a double-edged sword. Sure.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I think the leadership and I would put that in with teamwork because you can't just lead, you know, whenever, like in wrestling or golf or these individual sports, which I was never good at, it's me versus you, mono emano. But most of the sports I played, it was like, yes, I have to do my part and lead and do the tough end, but I also have to be there to help you up.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And I have to be able to say, hey, this foxhole mentality, I've got your back. If he comes this way, I'm gonna take this hole. If he goes that way, you're gonna take that hole. Yeah. So I think that is really important. And then what I'm really learning, like, I think the word would probably be perseverance or toughness beyond just kind of it's like, okay, yes, you'd have to, you have to strain, but on these tough days, you know, you have life, you have death, you have divorce, you have all these things, right? And I still have to come in and be that individual and perform. And so sport is taught sports has taught me more literacy, I think, is so important. So I can't take away the ability to read and write and match.

SPEAKER_06

Sure, of course.

SPEAKER_00

But the the the ethics that come from being on team-involved environments is really, really important to the success of our children. And I would suggest that in an adult standpoint, if you haven't worked on teams and then you come out of the cubicle or you come out of college, and now you say, Hey, we're gonna have a team meeting and we all have these goals, it becomes kind of tough or foreign. And I've noticed that I always hire student athletes. I'll leave it at that. If I get an opportunity and somebody says, Hey, I coach that individual, or hey, he was a he was a bench, you know, he was a bench guy for me, wasn't a star, but he always showed up to practice, yeah, never missed anything, was always there for his teammates. That's probably the individual when I have an opportunity to hire, I'm gonna take.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. Speaking of hiring, like I'm fascinated that you designed your business around these folks that maybe wouldn't have other opportunities. Um what I mean, what what motivated that in you?

SPEAKER_00

That's a great question. So I'll preface that by saying, um, and I say this humbly, I felt like I was really, really connected with my community throughout Southwest Ohio. And so that would be the metro area of Dayton, the suburbs of Troy and uh Pickwood and Sydney and Centerville. There's probably like seven, eight cities that kind of thrive off of um more of the the metro of Dayton. And one thing I learned is I could I could find out how to get a kid's uh, let's say, tooth pooled, or we could figure out how to get beds, or we could figure out how to get instruments. The one piece I kept running up against was I'd call a business owner, landscaping company, uh manufacturing, you name it. Obviously, education, they have their limitations with felons and things, but I would call and say, hey, I've got this guy that I promise you I would get. Same same to the student athlete. It's no different to the student athlete that just graduated from University of Cincinnati beyond higher education and criminal record. But I've got this guy, he's he's clean cut as he can be. He may be a little rough around the edges. He needs this job very badly. He's gonna rely upon it, he's gonna show up early, he will not miss a day. I've already tested him in my own market. So my own market back then would have been okay, um, I'd maybe come to my board of directors and say, I've got a maintenance opportunity here at 10 hours a week. They're not gonna be in the building around kids. Here's the background check. We've ran it. I want to give this guy an opportunity. And that took a lot of faith in my board and believing in me. But I would test them and I would vet them well. Drug test, uh, explain to them, hey, we need, you know, uh my expectations were, you know, some type of shaving and grooming are important. We got to come to work dressed for success and we got to be early. And kind of those principles. And so after I would do that, I would call friends that I trusted and say, is there any way you can give them an opportunity? Every now and then in construction world, you know, yeah, well, go ahead and send them or make sure he's got a tool belt and bring them. But when it came to sustainable wages, long-term work, not with unemployment in the winter, like in other words, not laying them off in the winter, the ability to actually grow in the company, any type of 401k, the things that people need to raise families, I always run to a dead end. And so I was like, man, what does this look like? And I never went for state or federal funding. I probably should have it, it'd probably allow me to grow my program. But what I just started realizing was some of these houses, similar to the one I built in Hillsboro, Kansas, if I call a contractor to arrive with his truck and trailer, I've got a gentleman sitting right next to me with the same skills. And if I can provide those tools and remove the transportation barrier, there's something here we can actually build and grow on. So in my own selfishly, not well, not selfishly, but what my agenda was to build the equity in our business and our real estate to allow for us to keep doing this long term. But it was a guy, and he won't mind me tell you, a guy named JJ Shutt, who I absolutely love and admire. For him, it was we met, um, he was on a bike. I just purchased a house kind of fresh out of college. And one of my mentors, Dick Steinemann, who runs a soup kitchen, said JJ, we'll meet you there at nine o'clock. Met JJ, we kind of hit it off. And for probably six or eight months, he's riding his bike back and forth at this job site. Then it went to, okay, he got his own vehicle and got his license. And so he's with me now. Um, he's been with me. I don't, besides a text message this afternoon of, hey, Shane just checking in, we don't really, he knows what to do. And I actually heard something I can I can attest to, not at the same level, but I was reading some of the teachings uh between Chase Coke and his father about if you had a business in which everybody knew what to do, they didn't have to ask what to do. I I saw Chase speaking on that, and I would suggest that within Carter's Complete Services, my two guys that are felons that are trying to raise their families, they don't really need direction. They have the skills, they know what I expect of them, they have access to funds to buy the materials, they can call the other contractors. So I think what I built there was something that I said, you know what, I don't want to keep telling these people referring you, because they get frustrated too. I went to an interview, man, didn't get a job. Went to an interview, didn't get a job. And so what I look back, my only regret there is that I wish I would have probably looked out to state funding and we could have, we could have scaled this at it. And it's not too late, sure, but we could have scaled it and probably helped more people. Um, and it wasn't easy. It's not like we're over here getting rich, and it's not like uh there was a plan. I mean, it was me taking my salary out of my check and and to my wife, I'll speak. There were multiple times where um she allowed me to borrow tap into her retirement and I'd say, hey, babe, this is a good deal. I believe in this. And she'd be like, I think you're crazy as heck, you know? And so um, yeah, just young entrepreneurs trying to figure it out really.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, I'm just impressed because I feel like so many people care about other people, but so few people do something about it. It's making me think of have you heard of the human design model?

SPEAKER_01

I have.

SPEAKER_05

Do you know what your type is?

SPEAKER_00

I uh yeah, well, back. I've had multiple sessions like that. Is this the one that has the numbers to it, the Enneagram or no? Totally different number.

SPEAKER_06

What is your Indian number though? Uh I'll have to go back and check with I think she's we think of whatever personality evaluation.

SPEAKER_05

Can we just have a partner that does the human design model? I'm just thinking you're probably a manifester, but we're gonna have to manifest. I'd love to participate.

SPEAKER_06

So you you're here in Wichita, and what what would you want to share about the museum and the plans for the museum? And what are you excited about as you're I mean, you're almost finishing your first year, so like you've got a little bit of momentum, but what are you excited about?

SPEAKER_00

I'm excited about, you know, when I I go out in the community and give discussions both on the history, um, on potential programming, on our future. I feel like we have tremendous upside um, not only in Wichita, but throughout the state. If we were to run a survey with the I know they what they say, there's 400,000 plus in the metro area here somewhere. This is a guess. But I would, I would, I would hint to say I believe maybe 20% of folks that I talk with, and maybe in the entire metro area, have have reference to the museum, understand the museum, know what we do. And so I think we have tremendous upside. I think that the the saturation point of people understanding what we do is something I'll continuously work at. It'll be kind of the overall vision, right? Of how do we grow what we do, which is to make the African-American experience resonate with all Kansans. And I think it's a, you know, as you you think to your mission, it sounds easy, but it's it's it's it's difficult because to do that throughout the state well is going to take uh growing our capacity, um, really working with our partners, understanding how uh people retain information and read and really believe in and what the historical and cultural values are. And so really excited about our growth. Our location currently is, you know, hopefully our listeners do know at 601 Northwater has awesome historical value. So it's a church that was built in 1911, was torn back down because the the state the state fire marshal said that the bricks didn't meet fire code. Then the church congregation rallies in 1916 and they start on weekends and evenings rebuilding it, and they finally finally finish in 1917. The brief history of what they call the old West End or West in Maine. It is awesome. I mean, there was St. Paul Church, which has been this community for 151 years, Calvary Baptist, which is now the building we're in, is going on 148 years. They're out on Hillside. Um, and then it keeps going to there were black hotels, there were small businesses, and there was a Frederick Douglass school that was in operation there in the early 1900s. And so that historical uh information is so important. I believe it's my job to capture that, to be able to curate that and tell that well. Um, I think it brings a lot of self-pride and self-esteem and confidence to not only the African-American community, but to all Americans, to be proud of what Wichita and the state of Kansas was as a free state. The importance of many um, I look at like business owners, Mr. Charles McAfee who's an architect here. His great-great-grandfather, Jacob McAfee, owned land. When you read uh The Descent on Wichita, you read African-Americans in Wichita, even prior to the 1900s, he owned land here. Uh, they farmed land. Um, and then you think about Mr. McAfee, who is now has his children. They're second generation architects that grew up right here in Northeast Wichita. Um, I think about Jackson Mortuary, fifth generation um mortuary business here that they're celebrating 100 years in July. So the rich history of African Americans, not only throughout Wichita, um, I know we all talk about, well, not all. I thought we all are aware of the Dockham sit-in. That's a story that, in my role, I have to be able to tell the entire country because so many times Greensboro gets the credit for the first successful sit-in. And so I guess what I'm excited about is the amount of growth that the museum will and can take on here the next year or two. We know we want to celebrate where we're at, but where we're going to our new facility at 201 North Maine, I think really gives us the outreach of opportunities that we can provide both educationally, culturally, socially, um, and provide what I'd call a hub for downtown Wichita to partner in music and arts and and youth programming and summer opportunities and camps, um, allow for seniors and for the the older generation, if you will, to really feel compelled to come in and share their stories that haven't been told. And then, as I shared with you, that's not just in Wichita. As our name hits, the Kansas African-American Museum, we have an obligation throughout the entire state. And so when I think about that daunting task, I know number one, I've got to get good rest at night. And I know that um in any growth segment, and this is I can't take credit for this quote. This is a quote from Scott Sante, who was kind of a mentor. He ran an organization called Illinois Tool Works as their CEO. And when the Lincoln Center, we were growing and busting at the seams. I had about four staff members. I remember I had about a hundred kids in an after-school program on the stage. And he I remember he walked in, him and his team, and he said, Shane, you know what the worst thing during a growth segment is? And I said, No, what's that? And he said, lack of capacity because you can't grow. And I took that comment, you know, and I all every day I'd hold it to my head at the Lincoln Center as we went through dynamic growth, right, with staff and programming. But when I look at TCAM, we've got three full-time members, we've got four part-time members, and what we're able to do with this small, mighty staff is amazing. And I want to give credit to our staff and our board of directors. It's my job as the leader to balance that out and be able to create meaningful growth and to not um overstep you know staff boundaries and their roles and responsibilities, but think with strategy, how can we continue um to grow the organization? So we have a goal of having the new facility open by June of 2028. So we've got about two years here of a lot of not only continuous fundraising for our listeners, we're we're still actively in our campaign fundraising, but really I believe that function before form, the functionality of all of our programming, really working hard the next two years to have that laid out so that when we get into this new space, it's not recreating the wheel, it's actually taking what you're already doing well and putting it into a different brick and mortar.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. So you so you mentioned the programming at TCAM that you're doing right now, like yeah, tightening all that up, feeling really good about it, the form of that. Talk about that a little bit more. Maybe specifically around like the education and how do you bring kids into this conversation? Um, I think typically kids are like, you know, hit our history is boring or it's not very interesting. But how do you, yeah, how do you bring in people into seeing why this history matters and and all of that? That's a great question. Especially for kids.

SPEAKER_00

That's a great question. So we've created kind of three tracks, if you will. I actually have a field trip right after this that I'm facilitating. I'm excited about junior high kids. So it's I will tell you the junior high and high school kids, you've got to have a whole nother twist.

SPEAKER_06

100%.

SPEAKER_00

Let's focus on them birds.

SPEAKER_06

So you're getting here.

SPEAKER_00

So this group I have today, I'm gonna kind of talk about all three tracks and I'll make it, I'll try to make this brief. Junior high kids. We're on a team's message this morning, and our staff's like, hey, just a reminder, you got middle school kids today. And I'm like, I'm feel I'm facilitating, I'm excited about it. I'm not a musician, I'm not a percussion guy. Okay, but I love the drums, and the and the the drums have been a very much so kind of an uh a level set or an equalizer to create just kind of some softness and having some fun. And so our museum, our general education program, if you'll call it, I think it appeals to really the K to six junior high kids, we start to lose them. So that that general ed program, now that I'm facilitating it, I try to make it fun and exciting. So it's you know, coming in in the morning, how's everybody doing? Let's get stretched, let's get ready to roll. Do I have any musicians in the room? A lot of times at that age, a lot of them have hidden talents, or they're like proudly, yes, I am. Getting them to be able to come out and lead, it's kind of part of that whole deal from the student athlete. And if as soon as you're able to create that, that synergy, it's crazy how the room changes. And so our general education program, it's really allowing for young people to get in and kind of use their skills and strengths. A basic little seven-minute, I'd call it, program. It's a video program. Probably need to condense that a little bit. I'm learning from this this first year. And then we get into a scavenger hunt and talking about the exhibits and they're able to go explore. I think we make that relevant by making it cool. Little short spurts, as you guys know with that age group, right? So it's five minutes here, five here, or seven, seven, seven, that little kind of just kind of creating that little dynamic and then being able to, for me, bringing back kind of my past experience and why history is important to me and creating some relevance that they may believe in. And I think one of them pieces, the historical of it, is the Dockham sit-in, teaching them that young people. So high school age and college young, young adults were involved in that sit-in, and then bringing that back to the forefront of what can you do. In other words, in your seat, where you sit right now as a young person, how can you lead? How can you change Wichita? How can you change the world? And I believe that that builds some, it spawns, if you will, curiosity to a young person of wow, you know what, maybe there is a different piece of history that I'm that I'm excited about. Um so that's kind of the the general education program. Now, the museum literacy program that we've seen a lot of success in more of our, I'd call it really K up into third, fourth, fifth grade, is allowing the young people to come in and actually handle artifacts, put on the gloves, create um both their labels, their exhibit, and then there's some public speaking at the end of it. And so I think the engagement of those two programs has really created some excitement for our educators. I did go to the Kansas Department of Education and their social studies and history and humanities workshop and really start to build some relationships throughout the state with some of our educators. And that's helped tremendously. And then the third program is a cultural presentation that I put on that really talks about uh the history of the exodusters arriving here in Kansas, um their role out in Nicodemus and western Kansas as far as building up not only that civilization, but building that small town that still today is on our National Historical Parks. And then what that looked like in Wichita, the relevance of Mr. Robinson signing the founding documents for for the city of Wichita, the the fact that there was a strong African-American population that was part of this community when it was, when it first started, and what that looks like today, and and celebrating that history is what really we focus on the cultural presentations and then running that through uh through Brownburst Board Education and through Dockham and really coming into the 20th century. And so those are those three programs I believe have been, we've seen an uptick in them, not only because of K Officer promoting them in our office, but I think that we've created some energy. I believe we create some excitement, and I believe engaging the listeners opposed to them sitting on the other side of the table just listening.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, yeah. We like to talk about how Wichita is full of people, places, and things to learn from. So I love that that's that's your work, right? It's bringing those stories to the surface. And it'll be it'd be really cool to see how we get more. There's just so many untold stories. There's just, you know, you don't I think if in any of our family histories, there's stories that you would want shared or passed along. And so for your work, how do you like help the kids pull those pull those out or like how are they interviewing their neighbors or their grandparents or whatever? I think that's really fun. It is.

SPEAKER_00

And I think that what next, like the next layer to this, so our staff, we'll come back and meet again in probably October. This was us getting together, thinking strategically, kind of right in the beginning of the school year. What do we need to do to make this important we'll make this important history exciting for young people?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I'm sure we'll have what's nice, we've have feedback from the arts partners. So Ella Monique and her team. Yeah, they're there. We love them. We do too. We do too. We love working with them. And Esther, um, they're there again today with some field trips and then tomorrow. Yeah. And so that honest feedback of hey, what did your what did your teachers like? What did they not not like? That Google review form is good is telling us wonders. And it'll allow us to be able to implement some of those changes that I'm not, I'm not an educator. I'm not, you know, nor do I want to be, but I want to listen to educators because every day they're in the classroom fighting for our young people.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And that insight is what I need to be able to make sure that when they come in, they have a quality program at TCAM.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. So most of your programs are on site there at the museum.

SPEAKER_00

Well, yes, but good question, great question. But I would share with you the focus of creating these kind of three tracks was for us to be able to take that both remote. So a virtual option, which I must be honest with you guys because I have an obligation. I don't like that option a lot. Um, I think there's a disconnect. And since COVID, I've tried to not lean into that. I don't mind, you know, teams meeting with staff, but if we want to make young people excited about history, there's nothing worse than watching on a screen. I think that's a it's hard, yeah. It is. It's the it's the phone, it's the TV. And so, yes, we have the opportunity to travel. Um, and I also have written a few grants that I'm working really, really hard on to supplement next school year because my my goal would be that we hire an educational coordinator.

SPEAKER_03

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00

I train that person, walk alongside he or she, and then we kind of divide and conquer, or as they feel more comfortable, um, I think that there's an opportunity where maybe they handle all of the on-site. And maybe I'm doing the traveling because there is a beyond the education, there is an outreach and a network piece. For example, when I go to Kansas City here next week, it's not just to connect with potential funders, it's to look at education, to look at, and so I think the traveling for at least the first year to really do the statewide outreach, I would like to be the one doing the on-site if we're away from TCAM and allow our educational coordinator handle, you know, at the museum. And I think that that piece also takes some of the travel burden away from whomever that new part-time staff member would be.

SPEAKER_06

Can I offer some ideas so I can get them out of my brain? Yes. Um, I'm just really captivated by this idea of how do you crowdsource stories. So when I was teaching, I taught in Kansas City, Kansas, and our English as a second language teacher partner with an English teacher. And so it was focused around kids who we had over 52 countries represented in our building of a thousand kids. Wow. So we had lots of lots of different cultures, but they did this humans. Have you heard of humans of New York? I've not. Okay. So it's a Facebook, like it's a Facebook. I'm sure it's on a it's like a blog. Okay. Um, but this person, he's a photographer and a journalist, goes around and just like stops people on the street and like captures their stories. And the stories he, and obviously he's in New York, but I feel we did it, the kids did it for their communities in Kansas City. So they had the pictures of these people that they were interviewing, their stories, and then they did this showcase. But I feel like for teachers, I worked in curriculum development too. This is like my this is my this is my problem.

SPEAKER_00

This is a good problem. I need this.

SPEAKER_06

But like I think you could come up with really cool projects where it's like, how do you crowdsource stories from across Kansas? It doesn't require your team to travel. But if you made a way that the kids then are going out in the community and interviewing to your point, then it's not virtual. Then it means you're going and you're sitting in front of the person. Um who did the work for you. And then they're just submitting the videos or they're submitting there, there's a submission and then there's a way to showcase it.

SPEAKER_04

I love that.

SPEAKER_06

Um, and then the second thought is, and we could, I'm happy to, I'm happy, I could do this all day, Shane.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, we're going to we're going to have more discussion. You don't get off that email.

SPEAKER_06

But you know, all of I don't know how to do this in AI. Uh-huh. Um, but you know, there are different chat functions, um, or there's different education tools where it's like, hey, uh, talk to me like you're George Washington and they're interviewing George Washington, right? It'd be really cool to figure out how you do that with famous African Americans from Kansas. And maybe that's already in the works. I just think that would be a really I don't know how you do it.

SPEAKER_00

I think we can figure that out. But you know, that that's that's the nice thing about technology, right? If you have a plan and you put the right people in place, you can make it happen. Yeah. I like that idea. I also that came up um well, the opportunity, Langs and Hughes. So uh Langson Hughes spent time with his grandparents up in Lawrence. He speaks to it in the poem, not only The River, spending time at the library, et cetera. A lot of young people have no clue. One of my favorite poems is i2 Sing America. And so my oldest brother Butch, um, I think I wanted to, I never forget this. I'm going to college, and this is when the old huge iPods, like the big white iPods, I'm like, I want an iPod so bad.

SPEAKER_04

Everybody did.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and I remember this. He didn't give me an iPod. He got me the two-volume book of Langston Hughes and then put a little sticky in there on the iTunesing America. And that was kind of the dream that he felt like our ancestors had, that and that his grandmother worked as kind of a servant for a very affluent family in Troy where we grew up. And he said, I want you to think about that, how far we've come, right? And so the point of it is I remember as a young man, I'm like, this makes no sense. Like, you know, you give me the poem, I'm getting ready to go to school. But I kept that book throughout college and reference it a lot, a lot of times to with myself and with young people. To speak to the youth today and try and get their attention with a hard bound book could be tough. If you had Langston Hughes speaking as a young man growing up in Lawrence, yeah, what the river meant to him in the library, I think all of a sudden it's an attention grab, right? You're not hearing my voice, you're hearing a historical part.

SPEAKER_06

And you can ask him questions and yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I mean, that's the cool thing about your organization is that it's local. And so it's that whole like relatable piece. Yes. We always talk about like touching it, seeing it. You have to like experience it to believe it. But if you have these kids across the state doing research or whatever, however, you can get them actually thinking about their ancestors or their community, that would be cool. Yes.

SPEAKER_06

And I think the timing of it could be really fun. Not, I'm not gonna do that, I'm not putting any timelines on you in any way, but it's America's 250th birthday, right? That birthday represents different things for different communities. African-American population, of course, has their own um date for when they felt what it was to be an American. Um, so how do you I mean you can tie those threads together and really kickstart it in a way of what does the American dream mean? It means every person in this country, um, you know, what is it, what are the words? Pursuit of happiness, life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Right? Like what does that mean for each of them? And um, gathering those stories from each community is really important.

SPEAKER_00

So I like the timing in that um, number one, you I appreciate you allowing my brain to think today because I love to I love to explore and look what we can do.

SPEAKER_06

I told you this podcast we were gonna be like, we're gonna talk about something that we didn't plan.

SPEAKER_00

I like the idea of now that I've connected with the uh Canvas Department of Education, I'd like the idea of maybe it is a a small sub subgroup within throughout the state within this school year. So in other words, maybe it's a September-October project that could be presented in Zoom.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. So um yeah. We're gonna talk about this more, she's not we will. We're gonna get we our schools would love to participate in the learning.

SPEAKER_06

And really, like I think you know, you set it up in a way that allows for cross-collaboration across different content areas and school buildings, and you're gonna have like it's a captivating project. It's a project that teachers would want their kids to engage in. And I think that's that's the hard sell to your point of talking with junior high and high schoolers. It's like, how do you hook them? Well, they're this type of work hooks them because it makes them. We've talked about this recently. I think like the importance of kids having a role. So being a leader, being a storyteller, being a problem solver, being a creator, that that er at the end of it, right? That's what they need. And so this kind of work transitions the education from being a passive experience to like, no, you are the leader as we're doing the drums or as whatever um the programming is that you're that you've planned at TCAM. It's that same concept um that teachers get really excited about.

SPEAKER_00

So I like it. I like it. We got further discussion later on.

SPEAKER_06

Okay. Um I don't really know what I want to ask next, ask next.

SPEAKER_05

Well, sometimes I I'm interested. So when you and this is a complete like change of topic. Yeah, do it. But um when you were in Troy, you did that, you referenced it just briefly that you had started an education program in the community center. And so can you just share about that experience and how what you learned is pertaining to what you're doing now?

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely. It is the program I'm most proud of by far because I've watched, I was, I was there long enough where I could watch a kindergartner go from my program in pre-K kindergarten on to being a freshman in college. So that means that I watched, if you will, um junior high kids go on and be lawyers, doctors, engineers, astronauts, et cetera. Um, our alumni list, which one day, and and I pray that I can do it before I before I leave this earth, our alumni list is it's loud and long and proud. And it's it's all different colors and walks in life of whites, blacks, Latinos, Indians, et cetera. Number one, what I'll tell you is when I created the educational program in 2011, we didn't have transportation. So I was transporting these kids in my own suburban, which was our our insurance guy said it's extremely wrong and legal and exposure and liability. And I kept doing it. And I told him I did. I said, hey, until we find a way to get them here. So the first fundamental step was I had to figure out we had this location, and we had, like I said, we had a stage and a gymnasium as we grow that we would put a tarp down in the gym because we had so many kids. It was a free program. What I will tell you, and she's still a mentor of mine, a lady by the name of Melissa Klepps, who runs the Troy Foundation. I I met with her, it would have been October of 2011. I said, we've got about 50 kids that I just started in September that are coming here every day. They want a healthy snack. And that was kind of the that was definitely the the, if you will, that was the the trick, right? Hanging that, dangling that cookie, getting them in the building. And back then, I'll tell you, we were doing whatever we could. We'd had a volunteer that sometimes would have a crock pot and just do goulash or whatever we could, but they wanted real meals. They were hungry. They had ate in 11 o'clock and I'm receiving them at four o'clock, and they're growing kids. So the food and transportation component became huge. And what we started off very easily was with just all volunteers. I had three staff members who didn't have a lot of support. Well, Melissa Klepps was so important because I told her, I said, this program is going to help me get young people out of poverty. I absolutely need the funding to be able to do this. And we we didn't have a program prior. So I requested$48,000 the first year. I had broke down the math. And I think if she had the ability and we had the report, her distribution committee would have given us every dollar. I believe that. First year, I think it was$20,000 they gave us. What I did was went through, and every quarter, I would take the report cards, black out the names, and I would send that to the to the foundation. And you could see it. It'd go from D's to B's, D's to A's. And these kids were just achieving an extremely high level. It gives me goosebumps, makes me extremely happy. Um, I can think about, I still have the letters in my safe of like a young man named Trayvon write me a letter saying, I'm so glad my family moved here from Dayton. I watched my cousin get shot and my mom wanted a better opportunity, and now I'm here at the Lincoln Center. I have everything. It's like he's like it's talking to like it's uh Disney. It's like, no, we just have air conditioning finally and some meals and a basketball, right? Sure. And so that was year one, and the Troy Foundation gave us probably half our request. Year two, I'm serving 112 kids every single day. We've gone and purchased a van and literally we're making seven, eight trips to get these kids to us. They're walking to us, but we're getting them, it's just the place to be. And so that was about$48,000 or$50,000 the Troy Foundation underwrote to fund the program. And even at that return on your investment there, we're serving 112 kids and we're offering field trips and we're doing CrossFit on site and we're going to pumpkin patches and we're going to the Underground Railroad and we're going to KoSai, which is like exploration place. We're doing everything we can. And I think we're being really fiscally responsible. Well, as the community is catching wind of that and that program's growing, um, it just took off like wildfire. And sure enough, as you, as I shared with you, people walk in and they see the need, and you've got 120 kids in your building, and you've got them up on the stage, you've got them in the gym, you've got them in little rinky-dink classrooms, and Troy Schools uh support us with Chromebooks, which was awesome. So we could have Chromebooks for everybody. But that educational program, as I shared with you, took folk, young people that were struggling. Some were kicked out of school. We had an alternative program where if you got kicked out, the superintendent could refer you and you'd come in and work with our staff during the day. Took a lot of young people and propelled them on to great opportunities educationally, occupationally, skilled trade, career prep, all of that. I'm most proud of the fact that when folks would come to our organization, we just found a way. It didn't matter if you were living with grandma and you wanted to play on a traveling team or if you got picked for the national gymnastics team. We just found a way to get you the resources you needed and see you through the finish line. And so that program's still going on today. Um, when we added on our facility to 2021, the focus was four classrooms. And so now they're broke down in colors, and you've got kind of your pre KK, your first and second, third and fourth, then fifth and sixth, and the junior high kind of have their own deal. Um, and so it's just a program that grew organically, didn't have a curriculum person. Like you, but the schools came alongside and really supported and were able to say, hey, here's the need. We put a waiver together that allowed the students and/or the parents and/or guardians to allow us to get access to grades. And we just rolled and we took we took each individual as its own circumstance. And we provided and tailored our program to what the needs were of that individual. And that organization gave me the freedom and and and not only uh responsibility and trusted uh for myself and our team to to lead in that way.

SPEAKER_05

You just don't see that um community partnership with schools everywhere. So I think that's like a nod to that school district too. But also I'm wondering what you think you were doing that helped those kids be successful. Because I mean, there are programs all over the country that are after school programs, but what did you do differently?

SPEAKER_00

The piece there's three pieces to that puzzle. Um, the first is you got to remove the financial barrier, which includes everything. That's transportation, that's the school supplies, that's that's replenishing school supplies when needed, that's preparing them with them at the beginning of the school year. So it's all the programs around that that supported. So you start off the third Sunday in August, back to school bash, you get every piece of school supplies, materials, shoes, haircut, backpack, everything you need is already ready for you. We started off, it was like a Ford assembly line in 2011. Then it turned into all right, we got your name, we know what school you go to. As much as you may not like the color of the backpack, we're doing 500 of these. We're gonna give you this color. And you know, naturally, kids just say, I don't want that color. So it turned into an organized, well-oiled machine. So we started off with the beginning of the school year, you get all everything you need. And then you're able to sign up for the after school program if you're in that school district. So now we've got you there. What I think is really important for our listeners and for anybody is the gap between school, after school, and our program, that's when the bad stuff happens. That's when kids are getting into trouble, that's when young people find a way to sneak into homes when parents aren't there. So we remove that. And then after the after school program, it was really important for us that we said, hey, let's make sure that if we have CrossFit, if we have um we're gonna grow produce, if we're gonna do any type of math club, that we don't make it an hour after the program. Let's make it right after the program. Parents appreciate that. And then the kids don't get lost in the weeds, also. And so I think the financial barrier, the grassroots approach, and then building up the ecosystem of programming out of the after-school program that support mental health. That's one piece I didn't speak to. So a partnership with Dayton Children's. We had a mental behavior health specialist on site full-time. So we weren't worrying about, hey, if a children's dealing with this today, let's go ahead and check in with, you know, Mrs. Nancy or whomever that may be and make sure that they're doing, you know, that we're we're accountable for what they're dealing with potentially. Um and so I I can't, I can't really give it. We were very blessed, the support of the community, the support of the school district. Um, we were able to do that through multiple superintendents. And I really will say that um even now, um, working with Chris Piper, and then prior to that we worked with Eric Herman, all of our superintendents bought in and they provided access to the resources that we needed to support the young people. And so I will tell you that I think the Lincoln Community Center's educational programming is a model for other programs, whether if it's boys and girls clubs, YMCAs. I think what we've done there to really make it sustainable and to track our successes, and you got to celebrate the small wins. All the small wins, if a kid, a young person has gone from a D to a C and they're a C student, that's the best we can get out of them. So let's celebrate that. And so we did a good job of that and having um you got to bring the parent with them. The wholesome piece of that is like if you're gonna be in our program, there's a mandatory parents meeting. And if you can't come because grandma is in a wheelchair, then Mr. Carter or our educational corner, we're gonna come to you. But we got to run through what the expectation is and that someone else wants this spot. So if you're not showing up, there's a point where we have to, we have to reconcile. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Well, I hear that you just from what you're saying, of like why I think it was successful, is you offered a personalized experience, like you said, like we're gonna look at this kid, and then moving from a D to a C is growth, it is forward, right? You gave food, shelter, safety. And the I I imagine that through all of this and what you're sharing is like you created a sense of community and belonging. And what do kids need more than anything? They need to feel like they belong.

SPEAKER_04

That's right.

SPEAKER_06

Um, and so I think through all of that, I mean that's that's what I hear you saying. That's why that's my hot take of why it was successful.

SPEAKER_00

It is, and I I will say there's a piece I heard this the other day, just to relevant make this relevant to Kansas, and might have been Ed O'Malley, somebody at the Kansas Health Foundation was saying, like, we have our nonprofit leaders, our educational leaders, our coaches. We have to empower and equip those leaders to know where the resources are to make the impact on our communities.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And I say that here, I don't I don't have all the relationships here in Kansas that I will have as I grow, but I will say there in Troy and in that region, we were able to even build up like what I would call a random acts of kindness fund. And that was through the Duke Foundation, who um one of my good friends, Race Robinson, still runs that. And what that did was let's say us three are sitting down and we're having kind of our weekly check-in. And they won't share with me, but they share with you that, hey, at home, unfortunately, you know, I'm sleeping on the floor. Or, you know, we just don't on the weekends, we're running out of food. We would sit down as a staff and say, hey, you know, we're not giving out gift cards, we're not giving money. We will purchase this food and put it in your home. We will go get a bed and bring it to your house. We will make an appointment at the dentist so that way you can go. And so that, I mean, I always say this, you know, there's um there's no romance without finance. And I I don't I don't say that in a loose way, but I mean we got it to in order to really get embedded and to get somebody uh the well-being they need, that the totality of the human being, it takes finances. And so I will say the investment that local foundations made and entrusted not only me and our team, um, allowed us to make a more wholesome approach at impacting the young person.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, for sure. It reminds me a little bit of the Panda organization. Oh, yes. Oh, Nikki. Very similar move. Yeah, great.

SPEAKER_00

Nikki does she does great work.

SPEAKER_05

I I don't know her yet, but I want to know her.

SPEAKER_00

She's a dynamic individual. Yeah, that's all she is.

SPEAKER_06

Yes, 10 out of 10. Um, so how can schools or other organizations, just to bring it back to Wichita with TCAM, how can other like Learning Lab or so on, how can we um connect with TCAM? What does that look like?

SPEAKER_00

That's a that's a great question. So I want to make it easy. The first part is that any type of educational support, any type of program we can provide, um outreach in the schools, um field trips on site, us coming to Learning Lab, you can email us at infotcam.org. Okay. T cam I'm sorry, tcamuseum.org. So tkaa museum.org. Um that'll come into our inbox, our general inbox, and we can from there be able to direct. I think the other piece is I'm very accessible and I I I prefer to communicate. Um obviously an email or a call to me, and you've got a packet here. My my email is simple shane.carter at TKAA Museum.org. Um so that's the easy way to email or call. I think the other piece would be I always challenge our listeners. I think they should, if you haven't been to the museum, come down. And and we have some free passes that I'd love to leave here at Learning Lab. So that way there's an opportunity that your parents and kids are like, hey, this summer, stop down. Um we know the Sunflower Summer program is important. We want folks to utilize that because I know that a lot of our um, I think have been over at Aviation Museum, he's been working really hard this past year with legislation to make sure that our attractions are getting that support. So we want to make sure that they do register for Sunflower Summer, but back to access. If a grandmother or mother doesn't know about the program, the deadline passes, they don't like messing with phones and internet. There's that piece. Um, so come down to the museum is the best way we can really get you ingrained in what we do. And then I think the third piece is, and I would say kind of a call to all of our listeners, is I'm actively looking for partnerships and collaboration. And so I think that as the point person, I would love to discuss what that looks like for that organization or for that daycare or for that youth facility, because it's not as easy as getting in the van and bringing 20 kids down. I understand that. And so as we morph and we we pivot here to be able to provide outreach with another person on staff, I think in the meantime, I'd like to have the dialogue of what can TCAM offer both in our educational and cultural programming, and then how does that all work so that we're not um we're not straining a small nonprofit or a daycare or a community center or any organization to come down and see us because of transportation?

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Okay, I have two questions, but what are your questions? Go ahead. Okay. My first question that I like to ask people, and then the second one is kind of just for funsies. Um, what are your Shane Carter, you as a person and professional.

SPEAKER_00

That's right.

SPEAKER_06

Um, what are your non-negotiables? What are the what are the hills that you'll die on?

SPEAKER_00

That's a good one.

SPEAKER_06

You will not compromise.

SPEAKER_00

I I have to just say that uh the integrity and that the whole I think it's just to be honest. Um and I'll say that this is the simple slogan that I that I really believe by. If we can be honest, not only is it the right thing to do, it'll save us all time.

SPEAKER_04

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00

And so I think the honesty piece, that integrity piece, that's my non-negotiable, because I believe if somebody can't be honest, it'll I'll struggle to work with them and to coexist in the same space.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Um, the other piece is, and I know it's it's one that we're struggling with our, well, take that back, but with our young people, is I believe that we have to empower the young people. I believe that so many times we make an excuse, I'll go get this for you, or let me show you how to do this when really they have the power at their fingertips to do it. And so I believe in empowering the next generation, not doing for them, not telling them, um, yes, we can put a hook on the line the first time, but if you can tie a knot the second time, you can catch the fish.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So I think that's really important. And I I I and my principles, I call that um teaching young people to be producers because we have to consume and we have to utilize things, but how do I produce? And then I think the third one that's really, really um within the nonprofit world is I operate in an extremely transparent world, maybe sometimes to a fault, because um what I want to do is I I've learned in leadership is if I can bring everybody along at the same time, it takes away from these compartmentalized conversations.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And I I've worked for a board of 13, I work for a board of 16 now. And so it's like for me, if I can just be honest, it saves us all time and it's my obligation. And then if I'm able to communicate at a transparent level, it may not be the best news that you wanted to hear, but we're all good at the same time, and now we can decipher together, opposed to um there's a discussion that I had with Nikki, and I had a discussion over here with Jeremy, and now they come in with more information. And so I I would stick to that. Um, it would be trustworthy, teaching young people, empowering them to be producers. And then I think the transparency piece, and I I will lead like that the rest of my life, and um that way I don't have to remember what I said.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And and I ultimately move too that know that as an organization, we're all on the same page and we're on level footing.

SPEAKER_05

No. It's like you were prepared for that question.

SPEAKER_06

Most of the time, people are they really have to think about it. Yeah, yeah. That's good. Um, my second question that's just for fun, because you're not a Wichita native.

SPEAKER_04

No.

SPEAKER_06

Um what do you think about Wichita so far? What are your hot takes? What are you like, Wichitans? I need you to hear somebody who's not from here say this.

SPEAKER_00

I I got you on that. That one I haven't thought about it for this, but I've thought about so the first the first thing I'll say is this. Okay, when I said I was moving to Kansas, and mind you, Ohio's a lot like Kansas. It's just rural, and we've got our little small metros, and you know, it's not we're not New York or Chicago or LA. Um, all of my friends and family are like, oh, you're going out to Kansas, like what's out there, Dorothy? Or yeah, you know, what's tornadoes tornadoes? Yeah. And they're they're serious about it. They're joking, but they're serious. Which at all to me, um, now being here coming up on a year, I guess, there's a whole bunch going on. And so what I've had to do is I've had to professionally and personally kind of use that no-word and block off my calendar. Um, I don't have FOMO. I don't, you know, I don't need to be. I know what I have to do for my family, what I have to do for TCAM. And then there's hopefully the other leisure activities. And so I would just say from from a Wichita now, a newbie, a transplant, a lot going on here. Yeah. There's always things to do.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I think it's very, very family oriented. I come from uh back home. A lot of the activities that Rachel and I would do, my wife and I, it was like we had to find a sitter where I found myself here in Wichita, it's like kid friendly. You can bring it, bring your kid. We've we've built this for the kids in the family.

SPEAKER_03

That's right.

SPEAKER_00

So I think that's really important. I also would suggest that um I've only been here a year, but the amount of development and the amount of movement that's going on just from like Douglas and this corridor, biomedical, sure. Um, what's going on? I know with obviously the Orpheum, what's going on with our our building, um, the recent information uh with Chase Coke and his his development, all of all of those projects, it's exciting to be on the front end of that to see what that looks like in the end and how does it impact quality of life. Um, you know, as a from a museum standpoint, we know that quality of life, uh, people want to be able to go and take in the amenities, right, of a metro. And so I think that uh Wichita is really pressing hard on those items. Um I know the 1% sales tax, a lot of people were one way about it. I don't have an opinion either way, but I think that there's a lot of good things that are going on, um, regardless of what's going on with legislation there. And then the third piece I would say, I'm just learning this, is that you can get to a lot of cool cities real quick.

SPEAKER_06

That's right.

SPEAKER_00

So you can get to a Tulsa, you can get to a Dallas, yeah, Oklahoma City. I was very impressed by Oklahoma City. I thought that was a cool city. You can get up to KC. Sure. You have a day you could travel to Colorado. I mean, so there's uh we're out in the middle of nowhere, but there's a lot going on. Yeah. The arts and culture scene is very cool. I think there's a lot of people doing some really neat things. And I would suggest that uh as a nonprofit leader, um, I think that there's a lot of really, really uh outstanding leaders in the nonprofit space. I see folks that are really committing their time to they they care about their mission. You can see that. Yeah. Um, the things I talked about at the beginning of this podcast, I see people straining both within their programming, trying to make a good fundraiser out of an event, um, making sure they're connecting with people. So it's a really small, connected, uh, small, small, big city.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, yeah, that's so true. For sure. Well, Shane, we are glad you made your way to Wichita. We are sure. Very glad. I it is so interesting to hear about all the things you've accomplished, and I can't wait to see how that translates to the work that you're doing at TCAM. And I am excited to visit. I've never been there. I'm ashamed to say.

SPEAKER_06

So now Lydia and I need to do the full study. Well, I feel like because we're from here, which to maybe to your point, Shane, right? Like you, it's just right there, but you people just haven't made the time to go. I haven't taken the or take a field trip.

SPEAKER_00

Do you have to? And I haven't taken the full study at this, but if I looked, I would bet you, because we have zip codes obviously on our sign-in. I would guess that 80% of our visitors, unless it's a special event, are from Tulsa, Dallas, OKC. They're not playing. Yeah, they're coming from other places. And usually whether it is, they'll say, hey, I was in town for a training or for a bowling tournament. And I saw the African-American Museum. And so one of the part of our strategic plan we're developing now is how do we get Wichitans and Kansans to appreciate what we're doing and how do we make it relevant? Because one of the things I'll tell you in this museum world right now, and and and from an arts and culture standpoint, we have to be constantly reinventing it, reinventing ourselves and being innovative just to stay relevant. If not, I I say this uh by no means, you will become a dinosaur or a museum. Like the museum will become a museum. And so, how do you stay relevant? How do you create programming? Um, and I really can appreciate what um Molly and her team at Wham are doing. I think they're creating some really neat programming spaces like after hours and inviting young people in. And so it's uh it's good to be here. I'm thankful. Thank you guys for the opportunity. Um TCAM, obviously, we we appreciate platforms where we can talk about what we're doing, and from a leadership standpoint, I'm grateful to share my story.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. Well, thank you, Shane. Thanks, Shane. Let us know how we can support you as time goes on. Yes, ma'am. Thanks so much for being on today. Yes, ma'am.