Transforming Futures: Foster Care, Education, and Opportunity with Alexis Ramsey

Attorney Todd Perkins speaks with Alexis Ramsey, Executive Director of We Care Foster Care, about the foster care crisis, the foster-care-to-prison pipeline, and how education, mentorship, and housing can help vulnerable youth build self-sufficient futures.

What happens when children in foster care age out of the system without the support they need to succeed?

In this episode of Perkins for the People, Attorney Todd Perkins sits down with Alexis Ramsey, Executive Director of We Care Foster Care, to discuss the realities facing youth in foster care, and the innovative programs working to change their trajectory.

Alexis shares her journey from a 25-year career in education, including teaching in Detroit, Malawi, Beijing, and Hanoi, to leading an organization focused on helping foster youth build stable, self-sufficient lives.

The conversation explores the challenges many foster children face, including trauma, educational barriers, and housing instability, and the community-driven solutions that can help break cycles of poverty, incarceration, and homelessness.

About Alexis Ramsey:

Alexis Ramsey is the CEO and Executive Director of We Care Foster Care, a Michigan-based nonprofit dedicated to supporting youth in foster care.

Before leading the organization, Alexis spent 25 years as an educator, beginning with Detroit Public Schools and later teaching internationally in Malawi, China, and Vietnam while working alongside organizations such as USAID and the United Nations International School.

Throughout her career, Alexis has been deeply committed to advocating for children's access to quality education and supporting the development of the whole child. Her work now focuses on creating pathways for foster youth to achieve education, stability, and independence.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

The Foster Care Crisis in America

Children in foster care often face significant barriers that impact their long-term success.

Alexis explains that:

• Only 38% of youth in foster care graduate high school, the lowest graduation rate of any special population in Michigan.
• Many youth who age out of the system lack stable housing or career opportunities.
• Studies estimate that up to one-third of foster youth experience homelessness by age 21.

These statistics highlight the urgent need for programs that support foster youth beyond basic placement.

What We Care Foster Care Is Doing to Change the Outcome

We Care Foster Care focuses on helping youth build a roadmap to self-sufficiency through three core initiatives:

Education & Workforce Development

Providing tutoring, GED programs, and career training opportunities that prepare youth for stable employment.

Health & Wellbeing

Supporting the emotional and physical health of youth who have experienced trauma.

Agency & Advocacy

Helping young people develop confidence, independence, and the ability to advocate for themselves.

Connect with We Care Foster Care

Learn more or get involved:

Website
 https://www.wecarefostercare.org

Facebook
 https://www.facebook.com/wecarefostercare

LinkedIn
 https://www.linkedin.com/company/we-care-foster-care

Instagram
 https://www.instagram.com/wecarefostercare/

TikTok
 https://www.tiktok.com/@we.care8

YouTube
 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMiNnxSRf8yCjC7YaJmJ86g

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Not every kid gets to have dance customs. Not every kid gets to join the basketball team. Not every kid gets to, you know, be tutored by their parents or by somebody else who cares. To give those educational opportunities and those life skill opportunities that the rest of us take for granted. Every child deserves that.

SPEAKER_03 0:25

Welcome back. And we are at Perkins for the People podcast. And this is the start of Women's History Month. And I couldn't think of any better guest than to have to than to have today is Alexis Ramsey. And you're going to know about her. I'm sure you're going to know about her work when you hear her talk. But this is a young lady who I have not known too much, just meeting uh transiently, uh, but I know her through other people. And what other people, I guess that's the best marketing is when you hear what other people have to say about a person. That's the true story, especially the good part. Um, you know, we always hear bad things about people, but this is not one of those days. This is not one of those occasions. This is uh uh the salt of the earth. And I uh you are going to be impressed how this young lady has taken her life and her pathway, which was not where she is today, but taken her pathway and used her skills, her heart, her love for the people to give it back to the kids and to our community. I want to introduce you to Alexis Ramsey and please tell us something about yourself. I I got some questions for you, but I want to, I want us, I want the audience to know who you are, where you know, where you grew up. So let me I guess I'll start. Where'd you grow up?

SPEAKER_00 1:45

I grew up, uh, I started in Detroit. Um I actually was born in Florida. Okay. Um, and then I moved to Detroit and lived there for I think through early elementary school. Then we moved to Lavonia, the east side of Lavonia, then the west side of Lavonia, and then um, yeah, I went to Lavonia Stevenson, then went to the University of Michigan, moved out to Ann Arbor, and then when I started working, I moved back to Detroit.

SPEAKER_03 2:09

Okay, so so we'll start.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Especially it's in Detroit.

SPEAKER_03 2:13

Absolutely, absolutely. But you're a Detroiter first. Detroit first. Um, I believe you have the heart of the city and just some of the things I've watched and seen you do, and um, you know, it's one of those things like your parents used to always say, you're always on your best because you never know who's watching. And for people who've watched you, you have been really on your best.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

But my mom literally has that sign and she gave it to my son. It's in his room.

SPEAKER_03 2:36

Well, you know, some of you said something else I'm gonna bring up a little bit later that you said that I tell people all the time. I I'll I'll say that to towards the end, but let's start at the University of Michigan. Okay. What was your major?

SPEAKER_00 2:48

I majored in pure mathematics and microbiology. So I wanted to go into genetic engineering. And um, so I did that and I absolutely loved it. I was an organic chemistry TA, which was pretty unusual for an un undergrad, the uh Learning Assistance Center, and I did tutoring. Um, but I really liked working in the lab and teaching and working with working with students. So I surprised my mom and said, um, my senior year, actually, I think I want to um, you know, also get an education degree. And I was just about to graduate, and I'm like, I've already talked to my counselor, it's no problem. I have so many math credits and so many science credits. I I think we can get it all into one semester, and then I'll do my student teaching. So I have, you know, degrees from LSNA at Michigan and then also the School of Education.

SPEAKER_03 3:39

Okay. Well, congrats on that. Now, you said something about pure math. I I just, you know, I knew that you had done that. Could tell us what is pure math? What that's different than just regular math.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Okay, so um, there's applied math and then there's pure math. So pure mathematics is to me, it's it's the art of math. You know, most people don't realize that most mathematical concepts, they're they're created without any application, with the exception of calculus. So for example, imaginary numbers. I mean, math is it's it's artwork, and I I wish it was taught that way. So back in the day of um, you know, the Pythagoreans, there were there was a brotherhood there. And um the square root of a negative number was realized, but it hadn't been like discovered yet. So it was very secret, and the Pythagoreans would actually um, you know, kill your family, kill everybody to keep the secret that there might be a problem with the Pythagorean theorem. And it wasn't until much later that they learned about square roots of negative numbers, which are actually imaginary numbers, and they weren't used for hundreds of years later, and and then they were applied for things like electrical engineering.

SPEAKER_03 4:52

You know, that is one of the things I, you know, I asked the question, you know, I don't know what the answer is gonna be. As a lawyer, you know, you've always taught only ask questions that you know the answer. And but, you know, from the podcast, I love asking questions like what you just told us. I mean, I'm sure you're gonna have people in our audience who are gonna be looking that up, the Pythagorean theorem and all of those things that they're gonna look up. And you know, the way that you speak about something that people really don't pay a lot of attention to sometimes and don't understand how it impacts life, but the joy that you have that your true teacher at at the at the heart of it.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

So can I tell you one other thing? Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so here's a question. Do you think mathematics is created or discovered? Not to put you on the spot.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

Well, you know something I think that it's both.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

I agree.

SPEAKER_03 5:37

Yeah, I think it's both.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

It's an incredible, like, theory of knowledge question. And so I I love to tell people that, you know, we make math kind of a joke, like, oh, I'm terrible at math, you know, oh, and parents, as well at parent teacher conferences, oh, I'm terrible at math too. Like it's a punchline. But actually, it's the most powerful problem-solving tool that we have at our fingertips. It's the only universal language. And if you have the privilege to go to school, which people don't realize, going to school is actually a privilege and that there's many people in the world who don't have that opportunity. It is the only subject that everyone takes. Not everyone takes English. Everybody's history is different, not everyone takes science or has the opportunity to have arts, but everyone takes math. It's the universal language.

SPEAKER_03 6:24

You know, I I oftentimes talk about, you know, the law and um sort of a soft science or the science that's more of an art. And it's rare that you hear people, well, you have to know a lot about math to understand the art side of it, because there's so much under people understand it's just the objective part of math. It's just two plus two is gonna always equal four, not necessarily when you consider other aspects of it being an art. But let me go back to what you you said something about a privilege, because most people believe that it's a right for me to have an education, particularly in America. It's a right for us to have an education. Um, and uh you said it's a privilege. Uh, you know, many people would disagree with you as far as it being a privilege. Why do you say it's a privilege? At least in America.

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Well, I have the um, you know, the blessing that I've been able to teach all around the world.

SPEAKER_03 7:15

Right.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

Um, so I after I taught in Detroit public schools for I think it was four years. So I tried taught at Murray Wright, and that was amazing. Um I loved those kiddos. And then I went with um Leon Sullivan, uh Reverend Leon Sullivan, his group with USAID to teach in Malawi and Southeast Africa. And when I went there, it was the first democratically elected president in Malawi. And what he did is he offered free primary education to all of the citizens. But what he didn't realize was because it had been a dictatorship before that and it had been an English colony, um, Malawi was very close to um, you know, the the slave islands. And um, so a lot of historical um hardship there. Um it is known as the warm heart of Africa. But so when he offered free um primary education, 35-year-olds showed up for kindergarten class because they didn't have the opportunity to go to school before that. So um, you know, it was amazing. We would be teaching and working at a teacher training college, and there would be hundreds of people to show up for for kindergarten class, sitting underneath a baobab tree, sometimes just using dirt to um, you know, on a stick because there weren't enough notebooks or or ripping notebooks in half. Not everyone in in the world gets to go to school.

SPEAKER_03 8:39

Well, you know, that's that's amazing because I think in our country we take a lot for granted that we do have. And um to hear that, because you know, that country is is a fairly impoverished country. Uh, and for that that leader to say, look, I want to make education available to our citizens, um, I think that's a a yeoman's effort. And how long did you spend there? And what would you say the success of that idea was?

SPEAKER_00 9:10

Um, I worked at USAID for um a year and uh worked on the national curriculum for math and science there. So I mostly was at the teacher training college and then going and visiting schools, and then I found out about um international schools. Okay. So I worked with uh an international school and I actually taught the president's kids after that. Um and I think it was successful. I wish I would have stayed in Malawi a little bit longer. I then moved on to China and then I moved on to Vietnam. But um it it was the poorest country in the world um that wasn't at war when I was there. Um so there there were efforts, um, but I'm sure there's still a long way to go.

SPEAKER_03 9:56

Yeah. So now does that program continue? Is it are they continuing to offer education as they could? I believe so. Okay. Yes. No.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

And it's not through USAID, though.

SPEAKER_03 10:06

Right. I understand that. But it just really just to get them started and to get that program moving along. Um, so you've taught, would you say that you all over the world, would you say that?

SPEAKER_00 10:17

Um, a lot of Asia. So then um I I taught at the international school there for two years in Malawi and then moved on to China. I lived in Beijing for eight years. I was there during um the lead up to the Beijing Olympics and then after.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Um, and I taught at an international school there. Uh it was an English medium school, so it was for multinationals, ambassadors, etc. Did that, and that was pretty standard um international school teaching, but it introduced me to things like the international baccalaureate, which we have that here in America, but also IGCSE and A level, so the British system. Um, and then I moved to uh Vietnam and worked with the United Nations International School, and I worked there for 10 years.

SPEAKER_03 11:05

Okay. And so now you went from um your first jaunt into Southeast, was it is it Africa or Southeast Asia? Southeast Southeast Africa. Southeast Africa. And the poorest country in the world, like you said, that it's not at war. And then you move on to other places where you're teaching the most prominent uh people's children and being able to grasp and educate not only them, but you're you're gaining an education yourself and different systems of education. Yes. So now, how long was it? How did you find your way back? Because you got a family. And um, how did you find and you and your family find your way back to the States?

SPEAKER_00 11:47

Well, I did meet my husband. He's from California, but I met him in Beijing.

SPEAKER_03 11:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

And um, and then my oldest son was born in Beijing, and my youngest son was born in Thailand, um, in Bangkok.

SPEAKER_03 11:59

Um you missed Bangkok after my body.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

I was just close to Vietnam. So that's why I was born there. But here's something interesting. When you're teaching in an Asian school, I could be taught teaching um, you know, the president of LG, and when they would come for parent-teacher conferences, neither the mom or dad would ever turn their back on me. They would walk back thanking me backwards out of the classroom because of being their teacher and their their child's teacher and helping um, you know, give their their child an opportunity in life. So it's a very different respect etiquette. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:35

Sort of a reverence for educators that we don't always see here.

SPEAKER_00 12:39

No.

SPEAKER_03 12:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

Um, and then education and poverty look very different all around the world.

SPEAKER_03 12:46

I mean, tell me explain if you could.

SPEAKER_00 12:50

So part of the reason why I decided to to move overseas, it was just gonna be a 10-month sabbatical.

SPEAKER_02 12:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Um, from I loved teaching at Murray Wright. I loved my Detroit. I love my Detroit public schools. Matter of fact, when social media started, they were the first people I found who were my kiddos from Murray Wright. Um, because it was just supposed to be 10 months. And I remember when um I told the kids that I was moving to Malawi for a year, they walked out of my class because I was just another person who, you know, they had believed in and invested in, and then left them. So that's why they were the first people to find when I got onto social media when that was invented. Um, so I I had That's tough. It was. Um, so I had taken uh some kids to the homecoming dance, and it was one of the kids I took was the first um child who I ever had a call CPS about um abuse and neglect. So once they came back um after they had gone through the system, I took them and a few other kids to the homecoming dance.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

And when we were leaving the homecoming dance, there was a drive-by shooting. Um, so we were delayed. Um, actually had a kid lay on top of me when it because I walked out the door and didn't know it was happening. The kid laid on top, knocked me down, laid on top of me, so I didn't get hurt, got all the kids together, drove um the first parent home, and one parent yelled at me because they were so late coming home. Um, and tried to explain, you know, well, we this this is what happened. Um, and then we were driving, and then there was a body in the road. And so I stopped and a human body. Yeah, a human body in the road. And my friend had a cell phone and she called the police, and then the police arrived, but they were actually responding to something that was happening at the bar. So they had us go on, and then I got yelled at by the next parent, and then um dropped off the last kid, and that was the kid who had moved from one family member to the other family member. And when we knocked on the door, no one was there, and the dogs were barking, and we'd been in a drive-by. There was a body in the road, there was no way I was gonna leave this child, you know, just there. Um, so it had been quite intense. Quite intense.

SPEAKER_03 15:11

Murray right? Okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

So I ended up having a friend come and we got that organized. And um the next day, I the the next Monday at school, there was the flyer on the wall that said, you know, teach in Africa. And um, I taught, you know, almost all, I I think all African American um kids at Murray Wright. Right. And matter of fact, do believe I've taught my first white child in Africa, which I think is a little iron funny and ironic. Um, but um, so I saw this flyer teach for Africa, and um I applied, and I thought, there's no way I'm gonna get this, but you know, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna check it out. I wanna learn more African culture, and I want to bring that back to the to the city to my to my kids and an opportunity. Oh, here's one other thing. I had taken some kids out of um the city limits. Um, you know, this was a long time ago. Things are a little bit different. Yeah. And I remember driving with the students and them looking out the window and they had never passed the Detroit city line before. And that's not much different today.

SPEAKER_03 16:19

Well, you know, I grew up on the north end and on the north end of Detroit, uh, over where Northern High School used to be. And so this the building is still there. I I can't recall where the school is, what the name of the school is, but you know, we used to oftentimes uh joke with each other of people who hadn't really gone past ham traffic.

unknown 16:38

Right.

SPEAKER_03 16:38

Uh, you know, and that was sort of like when we were playing the dozens or, you know, making fun of each other as kids. Um, it was a very real um situation. Some kids hadn't never been to Northland. If you know, today it's no longer in existence, but it was one of the outlying malls in our city, which yeah, no, you know, but for our our listening audience, uh never been to a grocery store. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

Because of the food desert of Detroit. Yeah. You know, so that was a big inspiration about going overseas was to to to go and travel and bring stories back.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

So, um, and what one one of the most eye-opening things, going back to the original question, was how poverty looks different.

SPEAKER_02 17:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

When um I I I moved to and I was in a teaching in a village in Bembeki, not even the main cities in in Malawi, just a a village. It was 10 kilometers just to get to the main road where the teaching college was. And there were funerals regularly, usually about malaria, and it cost five cents to get malaria treatment. But people were dying because they didn't have five cents in the villages to get the treatment for Malawi. But there was joy and there was happiness, but the poverty looked so different. Um, the children had purpose and they had belonging. So a child might walk, you know, five kilometers to go get water at the bow hole and bring it back, but that was a contribution to the family, a meaningful contribution to survival, to the village, to the community.

SPEAKER_03 18:18

Let me ask you this. Would do you attribute the difference in our culture in the in America society to what you were experiencing there? Why the joy where we wouldn't have the joy here?

SPEAKER_00 18:33

Again, I think it's that purpose and belonging. Everyone had a had a job to do that was the e even little kids had jobs to do that were meaningful to the betterment of the family and that part as well. The family. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

There there was there was the family that usually a mom and a dad, but then also there was, you know, grandma who lived in the same traditional housing, and the auntie and the cousin, and they lived together and and they ate together and they farmed together, and they went to school together once there was primary education.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

There was purpose and belonging, belonging and family family.

SPEAKER_03 19:14

You know, and and I've seen I I I've seen what the deterioration of the family structure can do just in clients that I've represented. And um, you know, I I do see that as um in in our culture that we don't have the respect for the presence of the family like other cultures do. And it's not something that's always been that way, but I think that we're experiencing that now, and that could be one of the reasons and that someone uh should research and find out. But I definitely think that's a factor.

SPEAKER_00 19:47

So America's very young as well. People don't realize that's true. America's very young, so these cultures have thousands of years of of centering in family. So that was very true in Asia as well.

SPEAKER_03 20:03

So you're uh so I have you in Lawi, then China, then Vietnam, somewhere you stopped over in Bangkok to have to have a child. To have a child. To have a child, and then you somehow found your way back here. How did that happen?

SPEAKER_00 20:22

Well, you you had said something earlier as well about um, I can't remember exactly what what you said, but oh, about teaching kids here and in an urban environment, and then also teaching kind of the other extreme presidents, kids, and what have you. So you need to know that every time I got on that plane, there was guilt.

SPEAKER_03 20:43

Plane going back to overseas.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

There was there was guilt of, okay, I I would can, you know, justify it to myself saying that, okay, here I'm teaching, these are going to be the future leaders, these are going to be our ambassadors, multinational leaders, they're going to be our presidents, um, you know, telling my stories, teaching these kids, you know, that's that's what the impact versus here, you know, you know, I I felt like I maybe had a little bit more of, you know, someone who believes in you. And, you know, to give you the opportunity of to see the beauty of math. Um, where the kids internationally, you know, they're gonna, if they're not successful, it's it's kind of on them. They've had all the opportunities in the world. So there was a lot of guilt. Um, and so it was hard to go. And then COVID happened. So um, COVID, of course, hit Asia first.

SPEAKER_03 21:34

And 2019 instead of 2020.

SPEAKER_00 21:38

And uh, so I was talking to my mom, you know, they're thinking COVID is gonna be here in America as well. And she's like, We're watching it on the news, it's all over there. I'm like, Yeah, but they're saying here it's gonna be there too. And then we we got to the new year to 2020, and the school said, You you can make a decision. The the board. Are going to close and you can either stay, but it might be years. We don't know how long it's going to be. Or you can go. We were already teaching remotely. So as long as I was willing to teach on Vietnam time, we could be anywhere in the world.

SPEAKER_02 22:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

So it was a hard decision. And we made the decision in about a week. So the boys and I moved came back and it was uh Chinese New Year, I think it was just after maybe it was a little after that. Um, and we moved back and my husband stayed because we'd been living overseas for 20 years at that point. We had a dog, we had a house, all of our stuff. Um, so he stayed, and the boys and I went. We didn't know if it was just gonna be for like two weeks or if it was gonna be um, so it it was quite a while. It was quite a while. But that night I didn't know that I wouldn't ever go back. I mean, I've been able to go back since then.

SPEAKER_02 22:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:58

So that was really pretty traumatic as well for the kids. They didn't get to say goodbye to their friends, to their teachers, to the people that we knew there.

SPEAKER_03 23:07

Um and how old were they at the time?

SPEAKER_00 23:10

Atticus was in kindergarten. Jasper, I think, was in fourth grade.

SPEAKER_02 23:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

Mm-hmm. So we came back here. So I would work, I went stayed at my mom's house and was working in the basement, talking to Vietnam in the middle of the night, teaching classes. And um, so that went to the end of that school year, and then the United Nations School helped work with all the embassy families all over the world that were displaced. So I I worked with that and helped build that platform. While other families, you know, so I'd be talking to Japan one night, and then I would be talking to the somewhere in the Middle East, and then I'd be talking to New Zealand all hours of the night. And um then my mom has the nonprofit. Um, she was one of the founders for We Care Foster Care, was formerly called for the seventh generation. Right. So they were going through that name change.

SPEAKER_03 24:01

Um and I remember it a long time ago. I've been to some fundraisers when she's had them all throughout the city, and um, you know, she has, I mean, her heart is, I mean, she's a lawyer. Today she's a judge, and for many years she served as a referee. And um, you know, but she always had the idea of social justice, social impact, um, equity, uh, all of those things. And, you know, obviously that's been poured into you. And, you know, this is, and I, you know, I'm I'm sort of making like if we had a tagline underneath the show right now, this is it right here. I mean, we needed to hear your story where you've been, but now what you're doing and how you got there, um, you know, just you know, this is what I would marvel at, what you do and what you're trying to do and grow this, I think it's an idea. Um, just like the the the president of Malawi, um, you know, the democratically uh elected president, giving that privilege of education to his citizens. You're doing something here that you've also been transformative with this organization. So let's talk about the organization and how you got in there and then let's hear what it's all about.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

Okay. So um I helped with the kind of name change. My mom uh was, like you said, one of the founders, as was Lorraine Weber. She was a referee as well, and I believe she was the court administrator. It started under the uh Metropolitan Bar Association and then became its own 501c3. So they were kind of in that process. It hadn't been too many years where it was its own 501c3. And um, so I volunteered at first, and uh it was a matching system. So they really believe, and we still believe that you mean by matching system that people would help kids in foster care and child protection if they knew how.

SPEAKER_03 25:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 25:52

So the idea is if you're a dentist, well, maybe you offer uh, you know, dental work for one child in protective services or foster care. Um you're a orthodontist, you do one set of braces pro bono. Um, maybe you are um a journeyman, you know, there could be uh something wrong with someone's house, and that's what pro that's what's preventing a family reunification. So maybe you'll fix one set of pipes that people would help. We could match gifts and talents that people have with children and families that are in need. So that was the original um piece of for the seventh generation in we care foster care. We still do that. Um, and when I was asked to volunteer and I was learning more about foster care specifically, I learned that kids in foster care have the lowest graduation rate in the state of any demographic. So the state's average, I believe, is 84% at just a regular decennial kid, the 84% graduation rate. But kids in foster care, it's 38%. So after there's abuse and neglect and trauma or human trafficking or whatever happens, it's not easy to be taken from your parents. After you've gone through all of that, the chances of you graduating from high school cut go down precipitously. So once I saw that, I mean, as an educator of my backgrounds, I'm like, okay, this this is this is my language. This is as as long as we can put education into our mission as well, um, along with the amazing matching system. Um I I was all in.

SPEAKER_03 27:34

So and so is that when they you were elevated to it's the director uh and made it, they made a the organization made a decision. Hey, you're you're our person. Uh and you have the vision to take it from where it's at to another level.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

Yes. So I that hasn't been easy, I'm sure. It has not been easy. The first thing um I I'd been out of teaching here in America for a while. So I'm like, okay, we're gonna take a bad thing and we're gonna make it great. So COVID, right? People are used to Zoom and online classes, and we're gonna do this and we're gonna be able to fill in the gaps. I had the blessing. I've worked with Dr. Cotton from um Wayne State University and Math Corps. Um, I helped build the bridge program there before I moved overseas. So I'm like, okay, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna do math, filling in the, you know, filling in the gaps with these kiddos, uh, all the stuff that he taught me. We're we're gonna, we we can do this. Oh, it was a complete failure. Kids with, you know, the parents, the foster parents were like, oh, this is a good idea. Yeah, we'll we'll we'll sign up for these classes. The kids didn't want to spend any more time on the computer doing online classes beyond what they were already doing in school.

SPEAKER_03 28:45

But that didn't deter you though.

SPEAKER_00 28:47

Oh, no, it didn't. So um then I learned about uh residential foster care.

SPEAKER_03 28:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

Um, and it it was hard because remember, we're still on lockdown at this point.

SPEAKER_03 28:56

Oh, this is still in the 2020, 2021 time period. Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_00 29:02

So um then once we were able to kind of go back into some classrooms, residential foster care, some have schools on campus. And even if they were not able when they were doing online schools, um I was able to come in and do some after school programming. And that was, you know, very nice because all of the kids there, you know, you have a captive audience. You know, I had to earn my kids in foster care are um not the most trusting for a lot of reasons. For a lot of reasons, right?

SPEAKER_03 29:29

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 29:30

So um, you know, but I showed up every single day.

SPEAKER_03 29:33

Yeah, you know, on time. I I got it, you know, self-love. Before we get off of this, no, we're we're not off of anything right now, but you said something about failing, and I saw something, and I teach when I mentor children, I I taught one year and I know the difficulty before I went to law school. I just know how difficult it is to teach and to expose young people to new ideas. Um, but you said never fear of failing. You said that, and I always say that. And you know, I tell people embrace the idea that you could fail, but don't give up. And, you know, that's it was interesting. You said that just now, and it came out organically. So I just wanted to at least take that point and saying, because I know you didn't give up because I've seen what's gone on since that time, how the organization has grown, and where you're you're trying to take it and continue to take it. So so as far as going into tell us, we care, uh well, we care what is the goal, what is the mission, and and tell us that and how it may have changed from when you got in there and now you're running that organization.

SPEAKER_00 30:40

We want to give kids in foster care and the child protection system, you know, educational opportunities, uh and and the the things that going back to education, the things that other people just take for granted. Right. Right. Not every kid gets to have dance lessons. Not every kid gets to join the basketball team. Not every kid gets to, you know, be tutored by their their parents or or or by somebody else who cares to give those educational opportunities and those life skill opportunities that the rest of us, you know, take for granted. Every child deserves that. Every child deserves to be in a safe, loving, nurturing, you know, crime-free, drug-free home environment.

SPEAKER_03 31:23

Now, are you as we care also working and coordinating its resources with other nonprofits?

SPEAKER_00 31:29

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 31:30

So how does that work? Because I know sometimes I've I've worked for nonprofits and done some pro bono work for nonprofits, and they seem to be disconnected. They seem to be on, you know, all trying to do great things, but they're not coming together and using that synergy and and pushing a lot, using a lot more power.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

There's a reason for that.

SPEAKER_03 31:50

Tell me.

SPEAKER_00 31:50

We're all chasing after the same dollars.

SPEAKER_03 31:52

And those dollars are dwindling.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

So they're asylum.

SPEAKER_03 31:56

Right. Well, in the new administration, let me ask you about that. So I was gonna jump to that, you brought it up. So we're we're here. Um in this new national administration or the new presidential administration, has it been more difficult to raise money or acquire uh resources to operate?

SPEAKER_00 32:14

It has been. So fortunately, we care foster care has not gone after any state or federal funding, but it doesn't mean our partners haven't. Right. So um it has been hard. We've had to lose a few contracts because um, you know, we we get paid as well for giving our services to to partners, and then they didn't have the funding. So we cover most of the cost, um, but in some instances we just weren't able to fill in the gaps. Um but we have a new plan, another plan. Have you ever heard of a social business?

SPEAKER_03 32:52

Well, it sounds like something for profit.

SPEAKER_00 32:54

It is for profit. Okay, but um, he microfinancing, he invented microfinancing, he was the leader of Bangladesh, um, and he won the Nobel Peace Prize and he came up with the i concept of a social business. So a social business operates like a for-profit business. However, so let's say, let's say you decide to donate a thousand, uh, invest $1,000 into the social business. You'll get your $1,000 back. It might be whatever the agreement is, uh, you know, a year, five years, 10 years, whatever it is, you get the money back, but not one penny more. All of the profit goes to the social cause. So our idea, okay, so what I've also learned, I'm really proud of what we're doing with education. But have you ever Maslov's hierarchy of needs? If you're wondering where you're gonna sleep at night, if you're wondering where you're gonna get your next meal, how, I mean, even with a teacher like me, I can do my own market. How are you gonna think about linear functions if you don't know when you're gonna get your next meal or where you're gonna sleep?

SPEAKER_03 34:00

So is that the goal?

SPEAKER_00 34:01

That's what the direction we're moving in. Education is important, but without having housing, which we're desperately need, low income and moderate income housing, without having food, still living in food deserts, if those basic needs aren't met, how can you focus on education? And that's been a big learn learning for me. You know, as passionate as I am about education, those needs have to be met. And so many kids in foster care walk right into homelessness when they hit 18. So that is the direction we're moving in a social business model. So we've just recently partnered with a company called Ideas to Action, um, and they build container houses.

unknown 34:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

And then we've also partnered with Interplay Learning. So we're integrating educate, you know, your classical math, English, science, all of that with skill trades. So um, some of my kiddos, I can't give them a screwdriver right now, but I can put on a VR headset and they can get certified in OSHA 10 and OSHA 30. They can start exploring basic electric, they can start exploring um HVAC, um, plumbing through VR uh integration. That combination, we then have to work to with a community in the city. We can't just move our container houses and our workforce development, our education programs, and just you know, show up and start building in a community. You have to be invited in. So I'm I'm so pleased that we have been invited into the Island View community under Pastor Barry Randolph at um the Church of Messiah.

SPEAKER_03 35:39

Now, where's that located?

SPEAKER_00 35:41

That is um just on Jefferson, actually, off East Grand Boulevard.

SPEAKER_03 35:44

I mean, I I know, but I want them to know because he's been, you know, your mom's been a big pro uh she can she laud him as a superstar. He is a superstar. You know, he's been doing a lot in the community in that basement and just teaching over the years, and it's good to see that you're taking, you know, these what otherwise might be people would say disconnected uh positive entities and bringing them together for I I think in the business world you might say soup to nuts, uh, education, residential, and a pathway to some success for these kids. That's right. Because oftentimes, you know, I don't do a lot in the juvenile system, but I do enough to see that after these kids turn 18 and this nothing, you know, we did our part and here you go, and you walk off into the streets.

SPEAKER_00 36:30

So that's where we want to scoop them up, right? And and two, you know, the 18-year-olds, I I have a teenager myself. You know, they're they're challenging. So it's a little harder to find a family when you're hitting that like 14, 15, 16, you know. So, you know, working with DHHS, working with the residentials that are there, working with the foster care communities, we would like to have a place where the kids can come, get GED, workforce development training, um, and then apply those skills immediately to skilled trades.

SPEAKER_02 37:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 37:07

Okay. So then they work in the factory. So we're looking at building a microfactory where we can build these container houses. And we'd love to have a process of a rent to own so that we can get, you know, actual home ownership. Containers are um useful because they're already have a structure. So you don't the framing is a little bit easier. There's corrugated insulation that you can put in. It's a really great place to start applying skill trades. And then we'd like to connect with unions, we'd like to connect with small businesses in these skill trades and funnel kids into that in young adults into that pathway. However, with the social business, maybe not everyone wants to be an electrician. Maybe not everybody wants to be a plumber. Okay, well, a lot of our kiddos have children themselves very quickly.

SPEAKER_01 37:57

Right.

SPEAKER_00 37:58

So we need child care. And that's where that social business comes in. As we're getting renting units and we're and generating profits, well, then you can come to the social business and say, okay, well, I really want to go into um, you know, childcare and I want to start a daycare. We need that in our community.

SPEAKER_02 38:16

Right.

SPEAKER_00 38:16

So then that community can say, okay, yeah, we're gonna invest in that. And now, you know, this person is getting training and opening up our own child care facility. And I want to be uh I want to be a barber.

SPEAKER_02 38:29

Right.

SPEAKER_00 38:29

So I want training in that, and that's how the social business model works.

SPEAKER_03 38:35

So let me ask you, all these things, you know, we could talk for hours, and I am um completely amazed. I I was at one of your recent fundraisers, and I I I knew that you were in this sort of cottage industry, as people say, but I didn't know how revolutionary what it is that you're trying to do. How can people get involved with you know fundraising, just support of a very noble cause, and we, you know, we cannot let this, you know, subside or the energy stopped. So, first, how can people get involved? Tell us about yourself because you are too humble. You know, we had to talk about you, we have to pry the history out of you because you like to talk about your organization, not yourself, but tell people how they can get involved.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

Well, they can visit our website, which is www.wecarefostercare.org. We're also all over um different social media platforms.

SPEAKER_02 39:32

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 39:33

So that's one way. Um, we are definitely looking for volunteers. We've just launched this this year um the Interplay Learning, and I encourage people to check that out. It's pretty amazing. Um, so we're looking for contractors, we're looking for people in the skilled trades to volunteer sometime to work with our kids. So if they are, if one of our young adults is working in plumbing, well, I need some plumbers that are willing to take a call, a Zoom call, we'll organize all of that. Um, so they do the work, they do the the activities, they do the VR, but then they wanna, I have some questions. I want to be able to make those connections to consult with a plumber. But then also that builds that relationships, right? And it's start introducing them to other people in the community. So we definitely need volunteers for that.

SPEAKER_03 40:23

And you said volunteers, let's say, for instance, I'm I'm a lawyer, I don't have any skilled traits. Is there something that, you know, and not even a lawyer, but just you know, uh someone who's retired, how can they get involved? Can they are they useful?

SPEAKER_00 40:36

So do you remember that whole matching system?

SPEAKER_03 40:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 40:39

Whatever your gift and talent is, we can use it. Okay if you have a dance studio. Well, maybe you can help one kid who's in foster care in your area and you allow them to have classes at your dance studio.

SPEAKER_01 40:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:53

It it it really doesn't matter what you do. So it can be in-kind donations, it can be um service donations, financial donations are also um welcome.

SPEAKER_03 41:04

Well, how do how is it that you are able to sustain yourself and you don't have state and or federal funding? And and how could people support financially? Because I know that the finances are all all ultimately what keeps it operating.

SPEAKER_00 41:20

So um we're always looking for monthly heroes. Monthly her heroes are those recurring donors. $10 a month, $20 a month pays for students to take these programs. Um you can also do sponsorships for our events, all of this you can find on our website. And that's how we're funded. We're we're funded by the community. Wow. And that's how we really want to keep it. So I hope people will consider that.

SPEAKER_03 41:47

I certainly do. I I just I'm amazed at um your journey, where you're gonna go, and you know, the energy that you bring with the wealth of experience that you've had, that you're bringing all those things back to our kids in our community. Because you're predominantly in the Detroit area right now. So um would you consider what you're doing with the pastor? Is that sort of the test model um that's being uh that's hope that you hope to bring to other different areas in the Detroit com Detroit area community?

SPEAKER_00 42:18

That is. We're also looking at um potentially opening a a new school. So I'm really hopeful about that. Oh wow, that's yeah, that's that would be great.

SPEAKER_01 42:26

That would be great.

SPEAKER_00 42:27

Uh in a school that isn't just school for the child, but school for the whole family.

SPEAKER_03 42:34

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 42:34

You know, there's there's a lot of kids that, you know, mom hasn't doesn't have a high school diploma or or access to, you know, some of the we have a working name for it and it's kind of the block right now.

SPEAKER_03 42:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 42:53

And developing and this isn't uh gentrification, this isn't pushing anybody out. This is everybody who is on that block and listening. What can we do to build up the block? One block at a time.

SPEAKER_03 43:07

At a time. So if you had um, I think we're running, I see our producers over there. Um, if you had one statement to leave to the community, what would you say?

SPEAKER_00 43:20

Our young people are all of our responsibilities. There's the old saying, right? It takes a village. And now with social media, with technology, we're more isolated than we've ever been before. Education is not valued. Kids don't go to school. I mean, they're they're they're looking at their phones in classes. Right. Uh families are going out to dinner and no one's talking to each other. They're they're looking at their phones, sitting at the same table. It takes a village and we need to come back to looking at each other in the eyes and working together. Together, we can do anything. Together we can.

SPEAKER_03 44:00

I totally agree. And I think about when you said that, you know, these young people are more isolated than ever have been before. And they need to have those arms wrapped around them and uh and know that the support is there. So I want to thank you. Thank you for being our having me. Oh no, this this was this is just the beginning. I will be it I I I am gonna become a monthly hero. I didn't know, yeah, absolutely. And I encourage our audience to do that.

SPEAKER_00 44:26

Um And this is just the beginning. A social business is a new concept.

SPEAKER_03 44:31

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:31

And I'm really excited about it.

SPEAKER_03 44:33

So when that gets up and running, we're gonna be inviting you back, say within within the 12 month period. So it would be good to have you back. But thank you for coming on.

SPEAKER_00 44:41

Thank you so much.