This week the Talk Wealth To Me crew sits down with Daniel Romero, director of the San Diego Military Family Collaborative (SDMFC) and the Dads Corps - two programs within the incredible nonprofit organization SAY San Diego. We discuss the many struggles that military families and veterans incur through their military and post-military careers including personal financial difficulties due to high cost of living (especially on the coasts), dealing with deployments, preparing for civilian life and much more.
Collaboration among many organizations allows the SDMFC to support those who lack things that most of us take for granted while they protect and serve our country. Daniel is one of the good ones!
This week the Talk Wealth To Me crew sits down with Daniel Romero, director of the San Diego Military Family Collaborative (SDMFC) and the Dads Corps - two programs within the incredible nonprofit organization SAY San Diego. We discuss the many struggles that military families and veterans incur through their military and post-military careers including personal financial difficulties due to high cost of living (especially on the coasts), dealing with deployments, preparing for civilian life and much more.
Collaboration among many organizations allows the SDMFC to support those who lack things that most of us take for granted while they protect and serve our country. Daniel is one of the good ones!
[inaudible] Welcome to Talk Wealth To Me, a safe space podcast, where we chat about anything and everything related to personal finance, the information contained in this podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes only. It does not constitute as accounting, legal tax or other professional advice.
Chase Peckham:Welcome to another edition of Talk Wealth To Me, There are so many worthwhile nonprofit organizations out there and San Diego has many, but there is an organization in San Diego called the San Diego Military Family Collaborative(SDMFC) through a large nonprofit called Say San Diego it's been around for 50 years and they work tirelessly to help our military community, both active duty spouse and veterans, which we have a very large veteran community in San Diego. Today, we sit down with the director of the SDMFC Daniel Romero, whose leadership has been unmatched in the nonprofit sector. Especially with our service men and women. Tell us about, say San Diego. It's a very Large, non-profit been around a really long time in San Diego. Uh, the SDLC has worked with them off and on, uh, here and there. Uh, for many years, it's so many worthwhile programs we used to do, uh, out in the community. We would do those, uh, Saturday communities where we'd have a booth out there and, uh, where people could walk around. And it was just fun. First, give us an idea of Say San Diego, and then we'll talk about the programs that, that you run within it.
Daniel Romero:So are we live?
Chase Peckham:We are always recording. I love it. I love it. When people ask that,
Daniel Romero:There you go. So yeah, with regard to say San Diego, uh, we're a nonprofit that's actually been around for 50 years now. And, um, this, this, this has been a crazy year to start with, but, uh, say is 50 years old. They started as a small kind of grassroots organization or nonprofit. And, um, we're all about advocacy. So the safe portion stands for Social, uh, Social Advocates for Youth, um, S A Y and then obviously it was local to San Diego. So from 50 years back have grown to work with various individuals, including youth, children, adults, and families. And then in time has spanned over across different, uh, communities in general. So when we say communities, it looks like, uh, from some of the work that I accomplished working with the military and veteran connected community, uh, the communities look like immigrant refugee, uh, Latino, Hispanic, um, black African-American, and the list kind of grows and grows. Obviously there's different, uh, pockets of, uh, folks around San Diego. So a lot of the work is really intended to build up an individual to help them achieve their highest or fullest potential. And so, um, you know, the, the work that we do kind of, um, is, is two fold. We, um, try to provide them with skills or access to opportunities. So we're really big on equity. Um, and then also making sure that we have the right community partners that can helpfully help support them, whatever their challenge may be. So, um, SAY has grown kind of from afterschool programming advocacy, and now you see there's now 30 plus programs we work with. Um, as I mentioned, the various populations, some of them are reflective of kind of supporting families through aspects of like parenting, but there's also wellness counseling. Uh, you name it, there's a lot of different facets to say. And so the side of the house that I sit on is really once again, on the, the military and veteran connected side. And so my programs would look like a family parenting wellness, um, and then you're all familiar with some of the work that we do in the San Diego, Military Family Collaborative, which is grown once again, out of grassroots, six organizations, 10, 10, and 10 years ago, and some change. Um, and now, you know, every year we, we touch base on that upwards of, you know, 150 to 200 organizations. So it's a great opportunity to continue to kind of grow, to allow different organizations into the fold. And, uh, you know, there's no secret handshake. It's just an opportunity for folks to get connected.
Chase Peckham:That is fantastic. And of course, we're very familiar with the San Diego, Military Family Collaborative. We've been a partner for upwards of six or so years if maybe even more time is flying by, especially in COVID land. I don't even know what day it is today. And obviously all these organizations that come together, they all have their unique niche to help support a very large community that we have here in San Diego, in the military community, which is across the board. And when you reach how many and not meaning individuals necessarily, but how many different facets of the military community does the collaborative touch?
Daniel Romero:Yeah. So it's a great question. I mean, with regard to understanding the community, I mean, the longer you're here in San Diego, you, you get a sense that, you know, we are a military town and there's presence, you know, drive 10 minutes, one way you'll find a base, you know, it feels like, um, and so we wanted to really create an inclusive environment. So, you know, obviously having an On Base partners matters, you know, in terms of getting a sense of what's happening on a day to day of boots on the ground, but it didn't stop there. Um, and I think that, you know, that's why the collaborative was sort of San Diego, military family collaborative was created to, to also sure that there was a place in space where On Base providers could work with the community at large. So community at-large looks like non-profits sometimes, um, representatives specifically for, you know, varying capacity. So they might have counseling as their background. They might be financial experts or work on financial emergency financial assistance housing. Um, who else do we have out there? I mean, there's, there's just a wealth of different knowledge bases. Um, and so, you know, it's not necessarily just one sector that the non-profit community focuses on. It's, it's more gathering as many of those folks as and bringing them into these conversations as possible. Um, and, and another important piece too, is, is not only to have on base for community support, but also government, um, support. And so who do we bring into the fold in that capacity? I mean, we have a lot of the local legislators have their Aids come through. So Scott Peter's office oftentimes brings a, a rep into the mix. Um, we're really making sure that the County and in the various facets, whether they be child welfare services or, I mean, even, even groups that are, you know, there for like wellness or Live Well, um, you know, making sure that the County such a large, vast organization, you know, having the different, um, six different, um, centrally, I mean, we, we see that they have such a presence across the region, making sure they're well of what's happening in their own communities. Um, but yeah, no, it's, uh, you know, it's been a labor of love. I came into the fold, my predecessor, Joe Burley had done tremendous job giving life to the collaborative and some framework. And I've just tried to kind of, you know, bring in more partners, more folks to the party so that there was more people aware. And I think one of the, the other things to be mindful of is that not all the partners are there solely dedicated for, you know, the military. Um, the County is a perfect example. You know, they're just entities in the region that need to know more about this community. I mean, you look at the active duty presence of San Diego might be what, 8% to 10% of the population. But I mean, like when you really think about six degrees of separation is really like one to two degrees of separation in the San Diego in terms of knowing, you know, the audience. And, and I grew up in San Diego as a San Diego, and I can tell you that, you know, I'm, I'm a civilian, I didn't have a past career in, uh, in, in the military, but I think there's this sense that, you know, but to an extent of kind of what the needs are, what the resources are, but until you kind of take time to go into collaborative, like, SDMFC, you get to see, like, there's just such a, a spectrum of support out there. And it's just a matter of hopefully guiding a family to one of these, you know, organizations for one of the barriers they might be facing.
Felipe Arevalo:It's so true that, you know, San Diego is such a military town. I mean, we've had podcasts episodes where we're like, Oh, hold on. The jets are flying over Chase's house. Uh, and we had to pause and wait for them to fly over and then, and then carry on. I get the helicopters here all the time.
Chase Peckham:They really did. They widened their flight path the other day. Didn't they?
Felipe Arevalo:The guest was like, wait, what was that? This is San Diego. They're there, they're everywhere, but you're right. It's a very, you know, myself as a, as a civilian as well until you start working in the space and talking to families regularly, um, then you start to understand better in our case, like the financial difficulties and challenges that, that the military and their families face, you know, from changing, you know, permanent change of station. And now the spouse has to uproot their career and start over in a new part of the country world. Um, so it is interesting to see, you know, to learn as, as we've started working more within that community to learn more about, you know, the different challenges that are more specific to that demographic.
Daniel Romero:Right? Yeah. I think, you know, I think the average person, the average civilian out there knows what they know from the news or from media, a movie, you know, and well, when, uh, I can, I can share, you know, we intern, we use interns all the time, you know, and we asked them, you know, what do you see as barriers for this community? The number one response is always, you know, like that deployments are hard on the family and it's true, you know, and it can take shape in various ways and fashions, but the second thing always goes to like PTSD. And it's like, you know, if that's the extent that you think the community has, you know, challenges with, then it's an eye opening experience for them to kind of be in front of, you know, the SDMFC. And, and to understand that, you know, might be childcare issues that they're just really not aware of. It might be, um, you know, food insecurity. I mean, I think it's a very eye-opening experience for a lot of these. A lot of them are social workers, and then they're not knowing going into their internships, just that, you know, for some military families, they just are not going to be able to qualify for things like food assistance through Cal Fresh Cal snap because of their BAH, which is, you know, it's its own quandary in itself. And I know there's been a lot of advocacy on it with some of our local legislators, but I mean, these are real issues that the families are facing. And it's important to know who's stepping up into the fold in the community to address those needs because it's not being done with policy, then someone, you know, needs to be able to support. So, I mean, for food insecurity, we've seen STEP, take a major step in helping to address that need, you see, Courage to Call step up. And you've seen a USO SD Mom, I mean, can list these for days there's this, you know, that type of need in terms of, you know, expecting unexpected, s eeing how COVID 19 has impacted military families and civilian families alike. I mean, everyone has been touched by this, but I think that there's this, u h, there's this kind of mindset that, you know, t he military h as always taken care of, but that's just not the case and duty station by duty station. I mean, your dollar stretches only so far.
Chase Peckham:And that's exactly why I wanted to have you on Danny. Is there are so much that the civilian world doesn't see and you're right. And I had that very thought when I was young and I met all these either it was Marines or Sailors around town and I'd see him in PB bar and grill or whatever it might be. I just figured these guys, it must be a great career. Like they have a lot of money, but if you could, you brought up BAH, could you explain BAH a little bit to people and what that is for our listeners. And then to kind of, if you can describe what some of the real struggles would be with most of our, a lot of our Ssailors and young Marines.
Daniel Romero:Sure. So, um, you know, as a part of a service, uh, BAH or basic housing allowance, so allows, um, you know, uh, a service member and their family, um, when they have a family, um, an opportunity to have essentially like a stipend, a stipend, so that they have the ability to secure housing on, but with that, a lot of the government assistance programs that are out there, they take those dollars into consideration when an individual is seeking out extra support. So I brought up Cal fresh Cal snap. It's an a it's, uh, food stamps would be a layman's terms to this process. And, um, you know, when you're making qualifications, you usually do it based off the house household size, and then the income of that household. Well, with BAH they may, as a service member, have a certain salary. And I, you know, you can look up the salary tables that are there from an E1 from an entry-level, um, ranking all the way to officer's the O rankings. Um, a lot of the folks that we see, you know, are in the E2, three, four, you know, E6 or below is very common, um, to, to be seeking out additional support in a place like San Diego where the, the housing market or the cost of living is just so high, so that if they chose not to be in, let's just say military housing, because, you know, your BAH has just a nice way of just sliding into, you know, those requisites of getting, um, that particular housing. They wanted to do that on their own, which a lot of folks do in San Diego they'll, they'll seek up their own housing. I mean, the rents right now are ridiculous. I don't have a great way of sugarcoating that, so the BAH doesn't really, I mean, like it gets tapped and it gets spent. And so when now you're folks for basic assistance programs, and then you're including that, I mean, it's, it's dollars that they really don't see, it just goes to housing. So, right. It's really challenging for them to actually be qualified as those dollars, push them over the income thresholds to qualify them for certain public assistance programs.
Chase Peckham:A lot of the programs that the SDMFC has. I mean, you talked about food, you talked about diapers, things that we, a lot of us take for granted. I mean, this really has everything to do with financial related and stretching the dollar as fast as these young families can, because they might spend anywhere from what one, maybe six months to three years here, and then they're off again. And then we'll, you talked about deployment of, well, talk a little bit about the support of the spouse, the families that get left behind when the sailor or the Marine goes overseas and takes off and what kind of support they need. I mean, I would imagine both emotionally and financially.
Daniel Romero:Yeah. So, um, you know, I'll start with just kind of painting a picture that in this region, and yeah, as you mentioned, it's not uncommon for someone to spend, you know, three years in the region. And, um, and we see that it really, I mean, with working with kind of families in general at SAY San Diego, you see the there's either two camps. Usually one is one that wants to know their local community get involved on the get-go others. Is that, is it really worth the investment of time because I'm only going to be here for a certain amount of years. So now got to keep that mindset, um, as you think about, well, how did they construct their social connections around them? So some may plug into their local schools if they have children, some might seek out, you know, spouse clubs. Um, but in, in terms of, you know, spouses, there's this large kind of spectrum. Once again, of those who kind of are learning, maybe they're just new to being a part of a military family, to those who are really seasoned and actually very resourceful on, but it's really easy to get caught in the cracks, so to speak. So, um, if I relocate or PCS into the region, um, I'm probably pretty familiar with groups like USO because they're national, um, and might be a great starting point, but, you know, once again, how much time and effort are you going to dedicate to kind of creating this, this support network around you? So, um, you know, what we see in the community is that, and it's been something indicative of COVID-19 that there's been fewer opportunities to allow spouses to congregate in different places in spaces because of those, um, those at-home restrictions. Um, so, you know, we SAY San Diego offers a playgroup and it's intended to obviously bringing kids into the fold, but it's actually to create social connections for parents, but because we haven't been in person or at our facilities, we we're working remotely. It's it's that these are the domino pieces that are falling, falling into the cracks, where we're having fewer opportunities for spouses to get connected to other spouses and why that's important. And so now this is once again, painting a picture of, you know, if I were a spouse and I meet another spouse at a playgroup, or just, you know, a club activity, maybe I'm pregnant, maybe I am pregnant, but I already have a kiddo. Um, and so when I go into delivery and my husband is deployed, um, who's taking care of the other child, you know, and if I don't have another connection that, you know, a play group or a club or activity affords, then I'm like, Oh my goodness, I'm I going to have to deal with, you know, CWS or CPS in terms of, you know, am I going to know what's going to happen to my child because, you know, they can't be with me in that hospital room. So it's important to have those type of support networks. And, you know, with COVID-19 restrictions it's been hard to kind of create that facet. And so what we see as a lot of social isolation right now, and social isolation is a slippery slope that depression may follow. And you can imagine what the other consequences may be. So in terms of spouse and support, I'm sure I've brought you on this long kind of, you know, uh, journey, but you can see how quickly it is that you might be in a situation where spouses, do you feel the isolation, they don't get the extra help or support, and they don't know how to navigate resources around them. So, you know, it's important that groups like the collaborative exists so that if I ran into said spouse and understood that her need was emergency financial assistance, well, now I should have at least four or five contacts for her to go to same, could be said of food insecurity, housing. I mean, you name it, they're going to deal with it. And they're oftentimes going to have to deal with it without having the ability to reach out to their spouse, to get confirmation of, yeah, go that route or please, you know, make that connection. They have to do this alone. And that's why, you know, spouses are oftentimes forgot about, but they're, they're one of the most, uh, resourceful individuals that I've met, you know, in terms of getting to know the community because, um, you know, it's, it's really important for them to learn who can be of, uh, of the additional support as a guide or helping them learn a process because there's some really complex systems out there. Um, so yeah.
Felipe Arevalo:No, that's great. And it's something where I didn't have any kind of. Civilian all along, but my wife grew up in a military family. Uh, my father-in-law was a retired Marine, so she grew up as a kid moving every, so every so many years, yeah. Dealing with deployments, you know, as a kid, you know, dad not being there for prolonged periods of time. And she remembers that. So I pick her brain about it as much as I can and she's outgoing type of personality. So she said, when they moved her first instinct was, let me go say hi to everyone. And because they were moving to other military and often in times living on base, everyone's moving. So they can, but it was hard when they moved somewhere and they didn't move on base. They moved somewhere like Indiana, but they lived out in the community. Um, whereas like, hi, I'm here. And everyone's like, no, I don't. This is not how we usually deal with things. So it is like, uh, like you mentioned with a whole bunch of people deciding not to live on base. Um, like I see in, in, in my neighborhood, sometimes people move in like, Oh, there's a military family. I, you can kind of tell after a while. Um, and then you start seeing them leaving in the morning in their uniform and you're like, you see, I was right. Um, but there is right now with COVID like that lack of, you know, being the socializing, um, is there like a virtual, at least here in San Diego connect groups type things available to these families?
Daniel Romero:Yeah. You know, and I think it's, you know, so it's, it's, it's, it's, it's being mentioned, but it's like, how far does that message resonate? Or because this is a community where like, you, you show up and then they start seeing like the name recommendation of, you know, this group shows up, they might be at like housing fairs or like community fairs, perhaps they've been invited on base to, you know, just be a resource. Um, and so without that visibility, you, you lose credibility too, as a, as a community partner. And, and, you know, if you think about the timeframe, once again, the one to three years in this place in space, and we've been in COVID restrictions for almost a year right now. And so.
Chase Peckham:Coming up on the anniversary.
Daniel Romero:One of, one of those, one of those, yeah. One of those three years is gone. Um, so, you know, it's important that, you know, the virtual offerings pop up. I I've seen that our audience is now connected via Facebook. We have a few other, um, social media platforms. Our last convenient actually talked about groups that, um, that, that spouses and others can connect to. So we brought out the Naval Officer Spouse Club, we brought out rev white and team red, white, and blue, um, talked about FRGs. Um, and, and so there are opportunities, but like you have to have the understanding or the, the no, with all to kind of figure out who's there to connect you to begin with. And so with social media, it helps. Um, but you have to be connected or you have to be kind of looking for it. It's not necessarily something that would fall in your lap. So an example is that our office and facility it's tucked away in Murphy Canyon, right behind a Popeye's and people don't naturally just understand that like we're, but they go to get Popeye's and they're like, what's that building? And they come and check it out. So we get dropped in.
Felipe Arevalo:The gas station.
Daniel Romero:Yep. So, I mean, like we have the visibility there, but because we're not in our facility right now, we're just that building that's there. And no, one's really there to, to open that door, so to speak well, literal door. So, um, you know, with good of, of being virtually connected, you know, with our SDMFC offers a military transition spouse edition course, and it's intended, it was created just for the fact that with transition from active duty to civilian life, the message wasn't going back to the spouse or, or, you know, that they, as a family unit would talk about their transition, but all the information was directed on the service member. So our workshop is kind of just a, give a 30,000 foot view of what to expect for transition allows them to meet warm contacts, you know, from VA, from healthcare, et cetera. And these are a lot of the same providers who do the virtual tat briefings right now. Um, but you know, this, this year with COVID, we've seen that instead of it being local to San Diego, we're getting folks from Virginia. We're getting folks from Florida from the state of Washington and actually the last one had from, from Pacific Samoas. You know, so the messages are getting out there. I don't know how, but social media is a powerful tool.
Chase Peckham:Sure is.
Daniel Romero:But you have to be looking for it or, you know, be really diligent to get connected.
Chase Peckham:In the military as a S it's a small group in a very large scale, right? I mean, do people, they hear about things and that's a great segue you just made for me. So thank you so many people in San Diego, it's a great place, right? It's beautiful. They get, it's kind of like college students. They come here and they want to stay. And that tends to be when kids are stationed here and they served their time, the transition and the realities of going from, especially when it's kids that are going in at 18 years old, and they're coming out at 22, 23 years old, and now they're going to be a civilian, and they're going to work in the civilian world. It's a whole new world for this family. Right. And you mentioned transitioning for the spouse or for the family. A lot of times, these, even the active duty, they might get all this information about transitioning, but their minds were really half the time, not in it. Right. They're just like, I got to finish out my thing. I got to figure out what to do. And a lot of it just goes right over their head. And so they get out like their eyes bigger than saucers going, what do I do now? How does the collaborative help that group?
Daniel Romero:So, I mean, that, that workshop that I mentioned, you know, it was open to active duty and to the spouse, you know, so both can attend. Um, it's, it's a challenge in, in, you know, we do have partnerships with those On Base providers that help support, you know, the TAPS program. And, you know, I don't think t here's a magic bullet i t's, b ut it's just emphasizing the importance of starting that transition early and actually having steps to kind of fall back on. And, and I know that with, y ou k now, the TAPS programs that are out there, Transition Assistance Programs, u m, you know, the, when the process in the past was supposed to be started, and it looked like a six month window, and then it was always predicated on the, you know, the CO o f the commanding officer as to giving time for that particular workshop series. But now there's more of an emphasis to start the program sooner. Um, you know, is it a perfect process? No, but I think that's why you need, you need community around it so that they understand, you know, that there, there are some complex systems, you know, and like I'm in these briefings now on a regular basis, understanding healthcare in, in civilian terms is complicated enough.
Chase Peckham:Oh yeah.
Daniel Romero:And you're taking it from the military lens to the veteran lens is even more complicated. Um, and these are, these are typically, um, benefits that, you know, you take time to get to understand, but, you know, for military or active duty families, and this has been a benefit, that's always benefit. You're asking about packages that they haven't considered before, so that there's dollars connected to it, which could seem like a lot of money to a civilian. Maybe they're like, wow, these are the best rates I've ever seen, but they're not, they're not in that mindset.
Chase Peckham:Right.
Daniel Romero:As, as you mentioned, Chase. And so, you know, having them understand that these are, you know, some costs that you're going to incur because, you know, you're taking off the uniform and, um, some of them are very seamless transitions sometimes it's not though. And so, you know, something like employment, thinking about their next steps, um, in terms of how to kind of be in a stable environment, telling them that it's great to think about school, but you also, if you're going to stay in San Diego, you're still going to have to have, you know, have the ability to pay for rent. And, you know, you're going to get some of that benefit from your residual checks, but you're also going to have to think about, you know, being a breadwinner again for your family or having your spouse as well in that fold. So a lot of tough decisions. Um, so I guess to put a bow on your, your question, it, you know, there's, there's a lot of different groups that come through the collaborative that they have specialties, they might be in employment assistance. They might be in healthcare. They might be in education they can actually point, you know, someone through line to help them navigate resources. But you know, that, that th they have to take that first step of coming to a convenient or reaching out to myself or one of my staff to help be pointed in the right direction. And so, um, you don't know what you don't know is a common phrase around the community. And I think that, you know, it takes the community at large to be the support layer for those folks.
Chase Peckham:So many of the people that we work with when they're transitioning and they're getting out, and we're trying to put a civilian budget together, and you mentioned insurance, and you mentioned healthcare and all those kinds, things that they need to think about. And the biggest one of those things is is career thinking, well, I do this in the military. I'll just transition into this in the civilian world. And that doesn't always pan out that way, right. That they don't do their research quite as well. And so it can be a shock into like, what do I do? And the collaborative is so good with helping with career readiness and placement and working with those organizations that are part of that are fantastic. I want to transition to another group that you work with because it's not just military. We work with in this town, I believe in, and I don't have this number in front of me, but San Diego itself has more non-profits than a lot of the rest of the country. Uh, and you work with a group that is really dear to my heart, honestly, because we don't hear about these kinds of groups, but dads, dads core, talk to us about that. We always hear about support with mothers and single moms and dads. You just don't hear of that.
Daniel Romero:Yeah. You're. Right. Um, so say San Diego, um, you know, the organization that I represent, we, we have the different communities. And in, um, that we work with and fathers are something that, you know, we understand on a larger landscape, there's only so many resources that are aimed at them and that they qualify for the Chase. You painted a beautiful picture of, you know, like there are so many supports for mom and they're aimed at mom, and that's not a bad thing.
Chase Peckham:No.
Daniel Romero:The more supports out there, the better.
Chase Peckham:Absolutely.
Daniel Romero:But, um, you know, we, we, we talked with the County partners, you know, child welfare services. We talk with folks who are new fathers in, they're just like, I don't know where to start. So in San Diego, you look at the landscape of, um, you know, nonprofits that are out there. There's, there's huge numbers of them. There are only few, I would say less than a handful, and I can count all of them on one or two hands that actually points services directly at dads. So Dads Corp was a program at SAY, San Diego that came around in 2008, and it was called dads on duty. Then it started working with, with fathers to help them with some parenting skill. And then in 2011 or 12, uh, Dads Corp took shape. And it was an opportunity to bring more parenting, uh, specific skills for dad, but also allow them to get connected to, uh, other supports. And so there was more wraparound services to help with like legal services, because none of them are ever pointed at dad. I just got to say that blanket statement there never, I mean, dads walking into a, you know, if the paternity suits out there, this card are already stacked against them. So, um, there, there's not much, you know, and this is, this is not necessarily just a San Diego issue. This is kind of a across across the States. Um, and so we were able to utilize federal dollars to kind of get Dads Corp on steady foot. And it worked with individuals who are military connected, veteran, connected civilians. So, um, great opportunity for dad to get additional supports, being guided through different systems, had case management support, wraparound services. And then what happens to a lot of nonprofits, we lose funding. So we lost the federal contract. And then it was like, well, does the program continue or not? And then, you know, I got into this job and four and a half years later. Um, the program has survived off gracious donations, um, some private foundations, but it wasn't able to scale up to the way that we were. And, you know, that's not a bad thing. It allowed dads still to congregate to have a meal with their child, which was something that's predicated on Dads Corp. We wound up even cooking meals for, for our fathers because our budgets got so slim And we, we mastered things like, uh, spaghetti, uh, macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets. And the staff, you know, are, are definitely cuisine experts at this point. Um, but you know, it, it was our way of keeping the program alive. And so with four plus years of hard work and sweat, we were able to then reapply for federal dollars and most recently received it. And.
Chase Peckham:Congratulations.
Daniel Romero:And thank you. It's a great opportunity. It's a five-year contract to bring in a needed service to the region. And, um, and you know, the, the biggest thing about Dads Corp is that it's, it's, it's there for dads of different walks of life. You don't have to, you know, come from the military, you don't have to come from Veteran, but there are folks who are representative that, um, it's, it's intended for community fathers, the languages shouldn't be a barrier to getting them help or support, but Dads Corp is going to be rolling out this April of 2021 for the next five years. And, um, it's our intention to get dad parenting skills it's our intention to get a dad, um, some, uh, financial stability, um, through different various workshops and employment, um, placement. We're also bringing in healthy relationships, even if families aren't together, if they're co-parenting, or if they're single headed households, there's a lot of skills that still need to be incorporated a dad in. So, um, yeah, we were hoping to reach, you know, hundreds of fathers through this process. Um, you know, it's been a great initial showing from the community. We're starting to open houses for dads to get more information on the program. Um, and so, you know, after your please feel free to reach out to me, and I'm sure my contact information will be in some way listed, um, on this. But, um, yeah, I mean, it there's no, once again, no secret handshake, you know, this is a very open-ended project, um, but we want to make sure that dads understand that, you know, with this type of program, we're hoping that they will see all of the program through. Um, so we're always making contingencies if there's active duty audiences, and they're a little scared that they won't have the ability to see all the classes through our case managers are already making, um, plans that if classes are missing, if they're missed that, there'll be opportunities to make them up. Um, we'll be staggering cohorts, so that there'll always be a cohort to slide into. Um, and so, yeah, it's a really great opportunity, um, trying to bring San Diego Financial Literacy Center into the fold too, to help impart your knowledge on, uh.
Chase Peckham:We're excited.
Daniel Romero:On financial literacy, et cetera, because, you know, dads are challenged in understanding their finances, understanding how to navigate even taxes are scary. I don't know. I'll just tell you right now from my own.
Chase Peckham:There's not like they just give you a handbook when you have a child, right. They don't say like, here you go, dad, this is what you gotta do.
Daniel Romero:We had a previous facilitator, say, you know, they didn't issue that in the field of the field manual. So I don't know where to start. So.
Chase Peckham:That's right.
Daniel Romero:You know, and it's also for expectant fathers, I should mention. So, I mean, that.
Chase Peckham:That's great.
Daniel Romero:Can be working on your first child. You could be scared to death. That's fine. There's others who were there. And I should've mentioned Dads Corp is not clinical in nature. It's intended to be kind of peer based learning. It's intended to bring out dialogue because dads have experience. You need to have a dad to be doesn't. He has the right kind of questions that he needs to ask to get experience out of the audience. And so, um, it's a great opportunity.
Chase Peckham:Well, Danny, I remember what was it? Four and a half or so years ago. And we were all down in, uh,
Daniel Romero:Liberty station.
Chase Peckham:Yeah. Liberty station. And it was announced that you were taking over and Joe was leaving and we were like, man, you had some shoes to fill and you did a he. You're doing a hell of a job.
Daniel Romero:Thank you. Um, yeah, that was, uh, that was my first day. And didn't, didn't expect to be on stage and they said, Hey, you want to say something to the audience?
Chase Peckham:I remember that really well. You're like, yeah, thanks.
Daniel Romero:Thanks, Be glad to be glad to, I have no idea what I'm doing here.
Chase Peckham:I'm going to get to know you all.
Daniel Romero:That's right. I mean, it's, uh, but it's those types of opportunities. And I, and I gotta be honest. I mean, this is a, I was kind of.
Chase Peckham:You had Kat with it for a while to help out.
Daniel Romero:I did who is invaluable, Kat Brown shout out to you. I know that she is no longer around us locally, but she's doing a tremendous job, but, um, it's, you know, I've been in the nonprofit sector for 15 years now. And, um, you know, this is honestly, you know, I laugh that I fall into my jobs. I just say, why not? Why not me? And I just go into them and, uh, you know, not knowing what I know now. I mean, it's been an experience to be a learner to understand they're such gracious and compassionate people in this field place in space in San Diego, it's, it's a really a sped place. And, um, you know, it it's groups like your own, um, and others that I think, you know, that we, we can, we could be, you know, on each other's turf or very territorial in nature, but this community isn't, it's like, how can I help? And then they'll give the shirt off their backs to others. And so it's, uh, it's been really a pleasure to work for this community and I hope to continue to be part of it moving forward.
Chase Peckham:So do we Dany, thank you so much for being with us today and a further success to you. And, uh, we'll see you, uh, I guess a little less than a month.
Daniel Romero:We'll be glad to have you for those who have never gone to a convening. I mean, they're all virtually right now for SDMFC. And so, uh, yeah, San Diego financial literacy center will be asked to come help support some conversation around finances, taxes and more so, um, great opportunity for you to kind of see the work from your own self. So it's always the fourth, Friday of every month at 10, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM on and credentials are always listed on our website.
Speaker 1:Thanks a lot. We appreciate it bud.[inaudible].