Episode 7: Beyond the Books: A Conversation with Dr. Cheryl Wyatt

In this episode of So, Let’s Talk Columbus, Michael talks with Dr. Cheryl Wyatt of Success by Third Grade about how early literacy is about more than reading. It’s about the community coming together to strengthen the systems, supports and partnerships that help children thrive. Whether you’re new to Success by Third Grade or a longtime champion of the movement, this conversation offers fresh insight into the exciting work happening across Franklin County to create stronger futures for our students.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Remember a couple years ago uh meeting your sister and realizing at that time that you're a twin.

SPEAKER_02 0:07

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:07

What was that like growing up?

SPEAKER_02 0:09

Oh, being a twin is amazing.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

What's your sister's name?

SPEAKER_02 0:13

Cynthia.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Cynthia.

SPEAKER_02 0:14

Cynthia. Uh being a twin is amazing. I don't know if everybody else thought it was amazing. Uh we often laugh. We're three minutes apart and we're fraternal.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Who's first?

SPEAKER_02 0:26

She is, but I think that she pushed Columbus out the way.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Welcome back to So Let's Talk Columbus. I'm Michael Wilkes, Vice President of Community Engagement at United Way of Central Ohio. Today we're talking about something that affects every child, family, and honestly, the future of our entire region. But it's something most people don't actually see. As a society, we tend to focus on student outcomes like test scores, reading levels, and whether kids are, quote, on track, end quote. But today we're going to talk about what actually drives those outcomes. We're talking about systems. Because when a child isn't reading by third grade, the instinct is to ask, what went wrong? But the better question is, what about the system made success harder than it should have been? And that's exactly the work happening through United Way's Success by Third Grade movement, a community-wide effort to align schools, families, and resources so more kids can succeed. And to help us unpack this, I'm joined by someone who leads this work every day, Dr. Cheryl Wyatt, Vice President of Success by Third Grade at United Way of Central Ohio. Cheryl, welcome.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Before we get started, I'd like to get a little bit about you. I know that recently you've just completed your PhD, which is why I referred you as Dr. Wyatt. What drove you to that degree? And tell us a little bit about yourself.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

Sure, thank you, Michael. So my degree, I have a doctorate in educational leadership and administration from Youngstown State. Penguins. Go penguins. I'm still trying to figure out and understand the penguin. But we accept the penguin because I have a doctorate degree from Youngstown State University. A part of what drove that, really, my doctorate degree is a lifelong accomplishment for a journey. Started out many years ago, really setting my height on becoming a doctorate. And some of that really stems from my mother. My mother was brought up in a small town in southern Ohio, had the opportunity to go to college, but in that day and time, because my mother was born in 1937, she had older siblings, and my grandmother told her that she could not go. And actually, she was had a full scholarship to Central State University, which is a historically black university here, and could not go because she had to go to work and support my uncles and my aunts. And my mother made a very strong commitment early on that no matter who she had as children, we would all be college educated. So I have three sisters, all of us college educated, all of us advanced degrees. I'm the only one with the doctorate. Then the other two have said you can clearly have that area of time. But I'm very grateful. I'm very grateful for a mother who, although did not have the opportunity, made it a point to extend to her children to make sure she had one.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Great. Now you grew up here in Columbus and you came to us from Columbus City Schools.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

I did.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

What attracted you to come to United Way and help lead this work?

SPEAKER_02 3:40

So grew up in Columbus. I always say, I have a point of pride. I grew up on the south side of Columbus, and I always say that great things came out of the south side of Columbus. I also had the ability to grow up in a neighborhood called Southfield. And Southfield at that time was a very amazing group of people and parents, and some had children, some didn't, but it really shaped how I see the world, how I see and understand community. And so, in hindsight, in my professional journey, I think back to those foundational pieces, and I'm sure we'll talk about that some of that today, the importance of foundation. And when you begin with a strong foundation, young people have the ability to kind of build on that. And so, to your question about what got me to United Way, my journey is interesting. I'm a licensed professional clinical counselor, um, and I still hold my license, although I don't practice. And through that licensure, I had the opportunity to work with families who were facing some significant traumatic events, some very chaotic lifestyles and situations that they were going through. I also had the opportunity to work with females who were adjudicated for felony crimes. And then certainly had the opportunity to work in a large urban school district. But in all of those situations and exchanges, it allowed me to understand that I interacted with various young people in various stages. And within those stages, there was intersectionality of systems. And depending on the situation in that young person and the system or multiple systems that they were engaged in, it really either led to positive outcomes or some negative outcomes. And so I think in hindsight, this issue of systems or this intrigue of systems and systems work, and how can we as a society and our own systems work more effectively and efficiently to be able to support families and students really kind of drew me here because a lot of the work at United Way, and certainly the work that we do with Success by Third Grade, is centered in systems change and scalability and recognizing that we have amazing partners and community leaders in Columbus. Sometimes we're misaligned. And if we can figure out how to align that work, we really do position everyone to be successful.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Great. And how long were you with CCS?

SPEAKER_02 6:24

I was with Columbus Cities for nine years.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Nine years. That's a good chunk of time.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

Good chunk of time.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

I'm sure you learned a lot.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

I learned a lot.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Well, we're happy to have you on the United Way team, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Uh Cheryl, your work sits right at the intersection of schools, families, and community systems. And I think that's where this conversation really gets interesting. And so before we dive in, uh just ground us a little bit more. Uh, when you describe success by third grade to someone new, how do you explain it?

SPEAKER_02 6:52

Thank you, Michael. Success by third grade is a community-wide movement that connects early childhood, school districts, family supports, and community together to address barriers that hinder students from reaching third grade proficiency. United Way serves as the backbone by aligning community partners and strengthening those systems. And we work to develop scalable and systematic strategies that really help to close that gap. One of the, I think, bold moves of our board of directors when they took a look at how, as a United Way, do we make the most impact in our community, and the board made a decision to move towards a collective impact model. And this collective impact model is a model that was developed by individuals by the name of Mark Kramer and John Kania. And the framework really says that we have societal complex problems that require an alignment of diverse organizations coming together to fix it. And so for United Way, that societal complex problem is that young people in Franklin County are not reading proficiently by third grade. And so for a board of directors to understand that, to take who we are as a United Way, and then to exert that to make sure all of our organizations and our systems are aligned together, I think is a phenomenal move, bold move, but I think one that certainly will pay dividends in the future.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

And so what is it about third grade that makes that such a pivotal year?

SPEAKER_02 8:45

So third grade sits as this academic milestone where young people move from learning how to read to reading to learn. And when those foundational literacy skills are not developed to the level that they need to be developed, then there are other challenges that begin to show up later on. And so for third grade, it is a recognition that even by a young person at third grade, there are several systems that a young person is already in and engaging in, because literacy in education doesn't start or end at the school door. That process begins in systems, family systems, neighborhoods, environment. It also plays out on influences, and we see this in Franklin County around housing instability and poverty. And so a part of what makes third grade so important is that if we can be able to put strategies in place early on and build on foundations, we're able to change trajectories. And when we change trajectories, we are able to open up opportunities that may or may not have already existed.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

So it's really about the big picture. I mean, a lot of people hear third grade reading and they think this is about curriculum, teachers, maybe tutoring, but that's not really the full story. When we say that this is a systems challenge, what do we actually mean by that?

SPEAKER_02 10:16

Yes, when we refer to systems challenge, we mean that the issue is not caused by one person or one organization or one isolated factor. It is the result of multiple interconnected parts working together, and in some cases not working together. It's the recognition that complex community issues like third grade literacy are influenced by networks of systems, including schools, families, healthcare providers, community organizations, and each system has its own role, its own priorities, its own limitations, but they all contribute to the outcome that we see.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

So a lot of people would assume that uh reading outcomes should be solved by the schools alone. Seems that you have a very different opinion on that.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

I do. I believe that reading outcomes cannot be solved by schools alone because literacy development is shaped by a broad set of experiences, environments, and systems that begin long before a young person enters the doors of formalized education. The reality of it is it's community-wide outcomes that influence the alignment of multiple sectors and systems. And absolutely, schools have a critical role to play in developing high-quality instruction and intervention and assessment, excuse me, and an assessment, but they cannot independently address all the factors that impacts a child's ability to read successfully.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

And so, what are the biggest misconceptions people have about why kids fall behind?

SPEAKER_02 12:02

There are several.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

So, as I'm listening to you talk, I'm also thinking about all of the other community issues that might be going on at the same time. So let's talk a little bit about what's happening outside the classroom that most impacts reading success at the community level.

SPEAKER_02 14:17

Michael, I think you you hit on it. It's environments, it's relationships, positive or negative, it's it's resources, it's access to resources or limited access to resources, because our young people are don't operate in one ecosystem. And when you think about young people, particularly from birth up to age 18, where societally we say that they are adults. Although I would argue. And I'm sure any parent who has adult children would argue that, not necessarily completely adult, but we we live in this space where we recognize or we assume that school is their primary role and job because of their age. We don't understand or often negate that there are other systems that are impacting the lives of young people. And quite honestly, even with family, there are familial situations that are occurring that influence how a young person sees themselves, influences how a young person views their own confidence, how they show up, influences how they engage, what that looks like. And then we think about relationships and the influence of relationships, particularly at a school level. Do I have someone? Do I have, they talk about a trusted adult, do I have someone who believes in me, who sees me, and can hold me accountable, who cares enough about me that if I need assistance or I am struggling, will come and say, pull me to the side and say, let's talk a little differently about what's happening with you.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

That sounds like the counselor in you.

SPEAKER_02 16:03

It is, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 16:04

So, you know, when you and I are in the office, we talk a lot about intersectionality. Uh, one of those things recently is we've been chatting about the high rates of evictions that we have across the community. And so, how do things like housing, food, and health show up in that child's ability to learn? I know that right now that the eviction epidemic is really rooted on the West Side, which is an area in which we are focused in our work with success by third grade. So, talk a little bit about those issues.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

So, Michael, I'm glad you said that because when we think about housing, we think about food, we think about health and health care access or limited access, we separate them from academics. But they all are a part of an interconnected system. Because if a young person does not have stable housing, if they do not have access to food, if they do not have access to the right health care, we then expect them to show up strong academically. And I would challenge us as a community to really think that through and pull it out from an adult example or a child example and bring it into an adult example. I'm sure we would all like to believe that we show up to employment 100%. The reality is we don't. Somewhere along the way, hopefully, we learned how to navigate and manage and access resources to be able to support. But if you think about your own daily life, if a family member is sick, if something has happened to a spouse, if something, if you're if you're a parent and you're working through a child's illness, whatever the illness is, if there is an unexpected accident or incident, that those life situations impact us in ways, and oftentimes day of job and employment is probably not high on the priority list of what I need to now handle and deal with. And I think you take that example and then you put it back in the child's world, and we have some expectations on children that they have to show up and then departmentalize or categorize their life. And the reality of it is we bring our whole selves to the table. And so when you think about these other societal conditions, it becomes important to look at academics as one of them, but not the only one.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

So, uh, Dr. Wyatt, you are a data-driven individual. And so tell us about what the data tell us about uh the where the real barriers are.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

Well, definitely regarding our young people and their readiness for kindergarten or even being able to read proficiently at third grade. We know that in Franklin County, about 35% of our children are entering kindergarten and they're not demonstrating readiness.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

That's countywide.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

That's countywide. Which means that there are two-thirds of our children who are entered who are entering kindergarten not fully prepared. And you take that stat and then you balance it with the conversation that we're having around all of the other societal conditions, the environmental situations that young people are going through. We then take a look at the data and in 2020-21 school year in Franklin County, Franklin County saw an average between 38% and 75% of third graders who were not proficient in ELA.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

That's within different districts?

SPEAKER_02 19:49

That's within different districts. So there's a range. So this range is between 38% to 75% of our third-grade students who are not proficient. The next data point really talks about in 2022 where many of our urban school districts in Franklin County fell below 30%. So what does that say? It says we have a challenge. It says that our young people, at least on an assessment space, are not showing up ready, ready for kindergarten and/or are proficient by third grade. What makes the work of United Way so important and for success by third grade is that we come to the table with a 100-year history of all of the conditions and factors we've talked about before. And so when you have young people who are navigating life, you have families who are navigating in and out of systems, you have systems that are fragmented, you have systems that are misaligned, not for the lack of organizations working extremely hard to be able to better the lives of families and young people, but it does bring up the need for the work that we have. And I go back to the board of directors and their really innovative foresight to say, how do we do this differently? And how do we understand who are the experts within our areas, within our county, how we bring them together in a different way, how we bring school districts into the table and really be a valued and committed partner to the school districts and say, we recognize you cannot do this alone. We also recognize that there are situations that are beyond their control. Housing is beyond the control of the school district. Where and how our public transportation lines up is out of the hands of the school district, although it is it impacts them on a daily basis. And so a part of our work with United Way and a part of our us taking a look at community is understanding how do we show up in community, how do we show up and bring our experts. Expertise to the table, how do we listen? And then how do we begin to engage in strategies that are practical, that make sense, and that help support our families and our students so that our young people can show up to learn?

SPEAKER_00 22:14

So you've come from Columbus City Schools, as you've stated, and for a long time, much of the attention in our broader community has been about Columbus City Schools. But what I'm hearing is that it's much broader than CCS. What are the other districts that you have selected that you're focusing this work on?

SPEAKER_02 22:32

Yes, it is broader. We are also working with Columbus, sorry, we're also working with Groveport Madison School District, Whitehall City Schools, Reynoldsburg City Schools, Southwestern City Schools, and Westerville City Schools.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

And how did those school districts get selected? Did United Way select them, or did they choose to work alongside this community effort?

SPEAKER_02 22:56

No, they chose to walk alongside, and the story is told. This is prior to me coming, but the story was told we were hoping to get at least one school district. And so we made an invitation and we said, we recognize and understand that you all have young people who are not meeting third grade proficiency. And we also recognize and understand that you all cannot do this work solo. And we want to partner with you, bringing our expertise, bringing our resources, bringing our understanding of the work and community and it related to social conditions, and how do we partner with you in a way that makes sure that every young person is on a pathway to success by the time they end third grade? And so for those school districts, they said yes.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

United Way is a large funder in the community, a funder of nonprofit. So how has United Way aligned its funded network to support the work that you're leading?

SPEAKER_02 23:57

Yes. So currently, United Way as a funded partner has over 60 nonprofit organizations and over 80 programs that we have worked over the last few years of aligning with Success by Third Grade. And what that alignment looks like is taking a look at organizations who are addressing child well-being, home and family stability, and young people feeling safe and supported at school. That also involves focus areas that have really evolved out of our work. And three of those focus areas involve what we call pre-K to K transition. So some of those funded partners are in that early learning childhood space, in that transition space, that out-of-school time space, that space that is working with social and emotional supports and learning and academics and supporting young people in that way. A part of that alignment is then also talking with the districts around who are those funded partners who are working directly with the districts, and are the districts clear on who those organizations are and how those organizations are working in support of the larger district goals. And that has been a tremendous amount of work that our network directors have done in each of our school districts, ensuring that our partners understand what are the needs of the district, where and how they support those needs, and then how are we working more intentionally and collaboratively together to ensure needs get met. One of the things that we are doing in general is what we call resource mapping in our districts. And what that does is it takes a look at who are your current partners, where are they in your district? Is there oversaturation or not in certain areas? And then how are you talking with the partner so that they are very clear of the services that they are rendering to students and how that is supporting. Then we create what we call community partnership networks, and we bring not only those funded partners together, but also organizations who may not be funded partners to really talk about where and how their resources are being deployed and how do we do that in the efficient way and in the effective way. But our funded partners help us with not only systems reach but scalability because those funded partners are the experts in the work. And we serving as a backbone organizations make sure that they have the tools and the resources that they need. Some of that is funding. The other part of that is clear organizations and accountabilities of the work that they're doing, as well as being able to have conversations with our district leaders to understand that you have individuals here who are working collectively to ensure that your young people and your families are thriving. And how do we make sure that district and community partners are aligned better?

SPEAKER_00 27:09

I'm assuming that prior to United Way serving in this world as a backbone organization, that that kind of convening across organizations was just not happening in the community. Correct. Cheryl, as I listen to you, it becomes very clear to me that this work is about alignment as opposed to adding something new. It's not about a new program. It's about uh getting a whole bunch of diverse individuals all focused on the same thing and working in the same direction. Uh, as I uh listen to you in the office and have heard you give community presentations, I've heard you talk about the Wagner Road uh elementary school example in Reynoldsburg. Uh, why is this a great example of where the tool already existed, but the results weren't there? Uh why is that?

SPEAKER_02 27:55

I really appreciate you bringing up certainly Reynoldsburg School District and Wagner Road specifically. It's a good example around United Way serving as a backbone. And so, as a part of our work in our districts, we meet with the leadership team. And in those conversations with leadership team, we had a principal at Wagner Road at the time. And as a district, they provided financial support for young people preparing for the English language assessment that were considered at risk. A part of the concern that the principal had is that she had what we call near-proficient young people who were close to proficiency, but because of the financial constraints that the district had, there was a decision that the district had to make on where those funds would go. So they reached out to United Way to be able to ask us if we could support them with the near-proficient young people who were already had subscriptions to what we call Alexia subscription. So it's a literacy subscription that individuals in the school had that were reserved for the at-risk, but not necessarily for those individuals who are proficient. So in conversation, we made a decision that said this is actually a wonderful opportunity to see if these young young people, based on a very aligned, structured format that young people had on a daily basis and with family engagement and involvement, would this help move the needle? And so in bringing those systems together and bringing the conversations together, and quite honestly, what ended up being a very practical solution to a very complex, what people thought was a complex challenge, we were able to provide the Lexia subscriptions for the additional students. And as a result of that, not only did those young people advance on their ELA, but when we took a look at the data, Wagner Road had a 12-point gain in proficiency, and they went from 42% to 54%, where 63% of the students met or exceeded their Lexia usage goals.

SPEAKER_01 30:11

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 30:11

And so it's a perfect example around getting the right people at the table to discuss what the challenges are and being able to come up with solutions. And as a result of that, the superintendent of the district, when the results were given, is now finding additional funds and resources to be able to replicate this in other schools.

SPEAKER_00 30:35

So what changed when access and consistency improved?

SPEAKER_02 30:41

When access and consistency approves, there's a couple of things that change. One at the core is trust. When as an organization, we show up consistently districts of the nonprofits begin to trust us. And it opens up the opportunity for creative thought, for solutions, and to be able to recognize and understand that it is not the responsibility of just one person to figure it out. But when you collectively bring minds together, you understand what the challenge or opportunity is, and you work towards that in a very consistent manner, we are able to not only identify opportunities that may not have been identified before, but now we're also to take, we're also able to take a look at that information, be informed by it, and then add to it.

SPEAKER_00 31:41

So that's that's fascinating. Um, what does that tell us about how systems either enable or limit success? We've talked a lot about uh systems earlier, so tell us a little bit more about that.

SPEAKER_02 31:55

When systems are aligned and functioning in a forward-facing manner as a community, as a county, as a city, we can accomplish great things. And a part of that system alignment is a recognition of intentionally engaging and creating the supports and the systems that allow opportunities for not only students and families to thrive, but for organizations to awaken to the possibilities of what they can do. Because sometimes in organizations, and particularly nonprofit, it can feel contained. But when you put systems together, going back to the collective impact model, to solve societal problems in a unified and aligned way, we maximize the expertise and the opportunities of outcome. And I think that is the real power, not only in systems work, but in alignment.

SPEAKER_00 33:06

So I'm here you're saying that it's not that uh so that systems were fragmented, it's not that they were failing per se. Um, how often do you see situations where the right people and tools are already in place, but outcomes still aren't happening?

SPEAKER_02 33:22

We see it often, where right people, right tools are in play. And a part of what begins to happen is a recognition that if we sometimes pause, step back, and hear and understand the issue and the concern. I share with staff all the time, you know, everybody has a board of directors, everybody has a CEO, everybody has a mission and a vision. And so there are times where we allow that to lead us individually versus sitting down together and understanding what's the concern? Where, how can I utilize my expertise and bring my skill to the table? And I think a part of that growth that we are in, not only as a united way and as a collective impact movement, but as a community, is you can still have your mission and your vision. You can still have all the priorities of your organization, and you can lend all that collectively together to make sure that we figure out various types of outcomes that are different. The other part to that when I go back to trust and relationship building is being brave enough and bold enough to try. Because at the end of the day, we can try or not try. We are going, children are living in our world, and as a community, we have a responsibility to decide how are we as the adults going to impact and influence their world, and depending on what we do, has a strong impact on who and how we shape what they become. And I don't know that we often sit in that space as honestly as we should as the adults.

SPEAKER_00 35:19

Carol, that's such an important shift that nothing new had to be invented. The people were already there, the tools were already there, the system just needed to work better. Uh, but I want to zoom out for a second because this isn't just about individual kids or even the individual schools. You know, why should the broader community care about third grade reading? Um, and as you think about that answer, you know, I have for years have heard that the uh prison bed space is often predicted or planned based on third grade reading. Is that a is that true?

SPEAKER_02 35:58

It's true. And to sum it differently, Michael, the reality of it is we either pay now or we pay later. And a part of that payment is a decision on educational outcomes and economic mobility, being able to reduce social costs. And when I say social cost, I mean all of those other isms and all the other stats. And when we take a look at when young people are not reading proficiently by the time that they end third grade, we set a trajectory of increased chronic absenteeism. We set a trajectory, unfortunately, of young people being less likely to graduate from high school and receive any type of post-secondary education, which then directly impacts our community. It also impacts where and how they're living, what does that look like, and not just for their generation, but for future generations. And so when we think about the broader community, it is not an othering. And if we make a decision not to do anything, we've made a decision to do something, and so in this work with Success by Third Grade, it's recognizing and understanding that you and I together is what makes Franklin County.

SPEAKER_01 37:37

Right.

SPEAKER_02 37:38

It's we all share space, we all share agency. The question becomes, how will we do that?

SPEAKER_00 37:46

I recently heard Dr. uh Gina Ginn from Columbus Early Learning Centers who gave a presentation that you and I were both present for, and she said something like the state of Ohio invests about $350 for every young person in is it pre-K or kindergarten? But we spend $108,000 a year for every person that's incarcerated in the state of Ohio.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

Right.

SPEAKER_00 38:11

Um I it's gonna be a long time before I forget that statistic. And if that in and of itself is not a reason for us to be committed to this work, um just curious to get your thoughts of what happens if we just don't get this right.

SPEAKER_02 38:26

We widen the gap of inequity. If we don't get it right, we fail our young people every day because our young people are the future. Every day that they live is tomorrow is their next future day. And if we don't get this right, then we have to bear the burden of long-term impacts that may be felt in education systems beyond our lifetime and in the lifetime of our young people, and so whether we understand it or not, we are interconnected as a human race and we are interdependent upon one another. And when we take a look at our young people who are in ages from zero up to 18, they look to us to help set up structures and systems that are going to be able to advance them in a way. And when we make the decision not to engage, we've actually made a decision to engage.

SPEAKER_00 39:37

You know, as I listen to you, I think about the greater Columbus economy and what pride we have in our city, that we are a growing city, that we are attracting employers, uh that we're a standout in the Midwest. But if we really don't get this right, uh we could really hamper our own economic opportunity in addition to just failing people on a personal level. Uh, and that that really concerns me. So I really appreciate this uh kind of deep dive because it's not really an education issue, it's a community issue, it's an economic issue, and it's a future of Columbus issue. I agree. Well, as we're getting ready to kind of close the conversation, how can people plug into United Way's efforts?

SPEAKER_02 40:22

Michael, I appreciate that. I think there are several ways they can plug in. One, and the most important is to stay informed. Our website is a wonderful place to begin. On our website, we also have what we call a success by third grade dashboard, and it gives the story of what we're trying to do and how that works. I think the other way is volunteer opportunities. And at a practical level, there are also ways to, if you know of a young person or a family who has a child that is in K or pre-K to 12th grade, ask about how they're doing. Inquire around their attendance, inquire around if there are things that they can do, and maybe reading to their young person daily or creating fun activities and things that can be done. Not only because our work as a community is individual as well as collective. And advocate. Understand what is happening in the world around education, understand what is happening in the world around housing and housing insecurities, and that every decision we make as a community, there's influence within the educational system.

SPEAKER_00 41:44

Got it. So you can give, you can advocate, and you can volunteer, and you can go to liveunited centralohio.org. There you go. So it's not about asking more for families, it's about ensuring systems are able to support them. And Cheryl, this has been such an important conversation because I think what people are starting to see is that this work is both simple, but it's also really complex. The simple idea is let's make systems work better for families. The complexity is in the execution, aligning schools, nonprofits, data, and community support around the same goal. But when it works, it makes a tremendous difference for all. And I want to thank you, Cheryl, for joining us today.

SPEAKER_02 42:26

Thank you, Michael.

SPEAKER_00 42:27

Thanks for listening to So Let's Talk Columbus. If this conversation made you think, share it. If it challenged you, good. And if it made you proud, even better. Until next time, remember there's not a problem Columbus can't fix.