Our Community, Our Mission
Our Community, Our Mission
Ep #307 – How the Compassion Impact Center Streamlines Access to Resources
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
On this week's episode, we talk with the key players of the new Compassion Impact Center. The Center is a bold step toward replacing a fragmented system with a single location where people can actually get help. Instead of sending individuals and families through a maze of referrals, the Center brings key services together under one roof at the Topeka Rescue Mission's Children's Palace, creating a true front door for those experiencing homelessness or housing instability. By combining efforts like Impact Avenues and Moving Ahead Partnership (MAP), alongside the resources of United Way of Kaw Valley, the goal is simple but powerful: make it easier for people to be seen, known, and connected to the right support without endless searching.
Launching April 7, the Center represents more than a new program, it’s a shared commitment from community partners to work differently. Built on insights from a person-centered design process and guided by data-driven strategies, the Compassion Impact Center focuses on trust, coordination, and meeting people where they are. It also reflects the real cost of meaningful change, requiring funding, staff/volunteer time, collaboration, and perseverance through challenges like community resistance. At its core, the Center is about turning compassion into action and creating a clearer, more effective path to stable housing.
To learn more about TRM, Click Here!
To support TRM, Click Here!
Prayer And Welcome
SPEAKER_04Heavenly Father, thank you. Uh thank you for the joy of today, the sunshine, um, the ability to just laugh at ourselves and each other. Uh Lord, we are so grateful. We're grateful for the partners that are with us today as we talk about things that can feel very overwhelming and so very, very necessary. Lord, we are we are grateful that we are not in this alone and appreciate so much that you are guiding all of this work. Um, I would just ask that all of the listeners hear the pieces that they need to hear and potentially it moves them to be responsive and supportive and um just be a part of what this solution could actually be. We ask all of this in Jesus' precious name. Amen.
SPEAKER_03Hello, everybody. Thank you for joining us for an edition of our community, our mission, a podcast of the Topeka Rescue Mission here on Green Day or March 17th, 2026. And uh this is podcast number 307. I am your host today, Barry Fieker. And uh we have Lamanda Cunningham, Marin Crable here, which is our normal folks here on the podcast, and uh also a couple of special guests here today. We're gonna go ahead and introduce, and that is Skyler Blakely, who's Senior Program Administrator, Housing Services Division, City of Topeka, State of Kansas, Shawnee County, and goes on and on and on. So, Skylar, welcome for your first time on our podcast.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_03You're welcome. And we're gonna talk about why you're here in a minute. We have Brett Martin, who is Vice President of Community Impact of Call Valley United Way, or United Way of Call Valley, or whatever the latest is. And also the chair of the all hands on deck campaign to end chronic homelessness. So welcome everybody. So why are we calling it Green Day today? It's because it's 90s band?
Green Day And St Patrick’s Day
SPEAKER_0290s rock band? Is that what we're talking about? Yeah, we're talking about Green Day. Oh, yeah, that'sn't a Green Day. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_03Okay, well it's still pretty cold outside, but the grass is green, but it is also St. Patty's Day. It is St. Patrick's Day for some other folks. And so Research and Development Department, they did not want to leave any of this out today. And so we're going to have a couple of special emphasis about Green Day today on the 17th of March. But before that, it's also known as another special day. It's National 3D Day. 3D Day. Okay. So does anybody have a clue what 3D Day is about? No.
SPEAKER_04I mean, I know what 3D is, but I don't know why you would have a day for it. Well, then read what he wrote.
SPEAKER_03So for those of you who are puzzled, how about our special guest here today? Anything about 3D today? I understand they're coming out with 3D televisions. Have you heard about that?
SPEAKER_02I have not.
SPEAKER_03No, I haven't either. But yes, I have. Actually, I just watched it last night. But it was in 2D because they couldn't show you 3D without you actually being there. But best basically we see things in two dimensions. And so three dimensions are this cool stuff that they've come up with, and there's a lot of science to it that's going to be able to actually have three-dimensional televisions which the it will walk outside of your TV. It's kind of like the 3D glasses thing without the glasses.
SPEAKER_04Okay, there's some of this that is just creeps me out. Me too. Yeah. I mean, it's like I don't need anyone else in my living. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Is it a lens that's over the T. It's a it's yeah, something like that. I mean, I kind of got lost in the YouTube video about it, but uh and I fell asleep. You fell asleep, you know, next thing I know, my iPad was laid right flat in my face.
SPEAKER_00So you were probably watching an AI video that's not even accurate, right? This is probably right.
SPEAKER_03Very true. So anyway, um we uh we do experience the world in three dimensions, but when we watch it on a screen, we see it in two dimensions. So it's like what kind of gotten used to, but how cool would it be if we intertwine the real world and the make-believe world together? Okay, I don't either, actually. So anyway, um there's more to that. Just be ready for it and be really willing to pay a lot of money for 3D device. And then one day you can get them at thrift stores.
SPEAKER_04I know, that's exactly right.
SPEAKER_03So St. Patrick's Day, uh, this is that day. Um there's already been a parade in Topeka, Kansas that happened over the weekend. It was beautiful weather out. I guess there was a ton of people there. Yeah, and I I did my traditional avoid downtown Kansas Avenue so that you don't get stuck in traffic. So uh but St. Patrick's Day is a worldwide uh uh recognition of wearing green. What's the deal about wearing green? Skylar, you you are here in green today. Brett, you're here in green. And there's a couple other greens in here today, but not quite to the degree that they're green, especially Skylar. So, Skylar, what's the deal?
SPEAKER_01I was told to wear green so I didn't get punched.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01Apparently we're not doing that anymore.
SPEAKER_03Well, Brett, don't pinch her together.
SPEAKER_02It's an easy poking people on Facebook, like you don't poke people anymore and you don't pinch anymore, right?
SPEAKER_04Yeah. There's just no fun anymore, right?
SPEAKER_03So does nobody really understand the value of the green on St. Patrick's Day? Seriously? You've been doing it all these years and you just want to do it so you don't get pinched?
SPEAKER_02Well, I mean have the you have the shamrock, right? Okay, you're getting warmer. Every photo you see of Ireland is green.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Right? So I think that's I think that's certainly part of it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So it's a it's a religious holiday, the Catholic Church. Um and I'm gonna get in trouble here. I'll probably get into some theology. People are gonna write in. Do people ever write in about what we're doing? To represent the shamrock, the the Holy Trinity. Yeah. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Shamrock is what color? Green. Green. Okay. Um Does anybody know when it was established? No.
SPEAKER_04I think it might be that.
SPEAKER_03What?
SPEAKER_041726.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I know that's what Schuyler said.
SPEAKER_04Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_03Sorry. It was a little before that. That's when St. Patrick was established. But it was actually AD 385 to 461. You remember that. Okay. I do. I do.
SPEAKER_00And I'm in between them.
SPEAKER_04I'm not going to make it out today. I looked at I looked up to you, Barry, at that point, as one of my elders.
SPEAKER_05Thank you, Mary.
SPEAKER_03He didn't teach you well.
SPEAKER_02Barry had hair in 385.
SPEAKER_03Exactly. He did. Well, that's when he was born. He didn't have any hair then either. So but one other thing before we get into some really cool conversation today is that it is corned beef and cabbage day. Corn beef and Lamanda, you're grimacing. No.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I I don't mind cabbage, but not a corned beef gal.
SPEAKER_03Okay. All right. So where did that all start?
SPEAKER_00In Ireland.
SPEAKER_03It's traditional Irish corned beef and cabbage recipes, salt pork, bacon. I have no idea, but it's a big deal. It was started in the mid-1800s. Well, it makes sense.
SPEAKER_04Think about that. How else would they have had to preserve meat? Yeah. It had to be pickled or brined or salted or something.
SPEAKER_03On St. Patrick's Day. Why is it so special?
SPEAKER_04Aaron Ross Powell Because by then it was ready.
SPEAKER_02So welcome to our community our mission. And you add the salt and then you go those days after.
SPEAKER_04Exactly. And then it's ready to eat again.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. On the dot.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_03You can come to this podcast for facts or we'll make them up for you if we don't know.
SPEAKER_04Well, and notice Rhett says slaughter, I say butcher.
SPEAKER_03So anyway. Yes. So all that aside, thank you, Alec, for helping us get going here today with these wonderful things to be able to talk about. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
All Hands On Deck Vision
SPEAKER_02Like these people. Trevor Burrus, Jr. This is not what I planned. Exactly.
SPEAKER_03Now, there's something that has been in the works not quite as long as St. Patrick's Day and all these other things in its regards to the homeless and uh trying to see if maybe we could find a solution to what we call chronic homelessness and maybe see if there's a way to end it. And so, Brett, uh a number of people in this community have been working on this campaign to end chronic homelessness called All Hands on Deck. And you have uh you got the uh dubious honor of being the chair of that. Right. Um how long ago and what's it about?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so when we talk about All Hands on Deck, we talk about an official uh launch um almost uh 15 months ago uh in November, just a few hundred feet from here at Great Overland Station. But the work had been going on for some time in terms of thinking about how it is that we can better intervene with uh strategies and partnerships and dollars to uh end chronic homelessness in Topeka and Shawnee County. That that work, of course, um you were doing some of that work uh at the same time that the city consultant was doing uh the work with the larger community engagement pieces. Uh but you know, for the last, you know, a little over a year and a half or close to a year and a half, uh we've been more diligent and targeted in our work and pulling people together and uh looking for uh solutions to ensure that we have more individuals who are housed in our community, fewer people suffering uh and more uh opportunities uh for people to thrive.
SPEAKER_03Bert, there's uh there's an idea to do a thing and then there's a strategy to do that thing. Yeah. Talk a little bit about the city consultant innovation system team that was brought together, and then uh and then what what has been uh discovered and what's kind of the the game plan.
uman-Centered Design For Solutions
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so you know, in a lot of this work, we oftentimes discover things uh along the way when we bring people together. Uh sometimes people say that um uh the uh journey is more valuable than the destination. And while I think the destination here was critical in understanding those key recommendations that came out of that group, for the individuals who were around those tables, uh there was a lot of trust and relationship building on that journey, bringing together cross-sector partners who maybe hadn't come to the table before to talk about ways that they could better intervene, that they could better work together, that they could better understand, that they could better really uh identify their biases toward um uh groups or individuals and come up with um a collective solution for uh individuals and the folks who were a part of that innovation team, uh, I hear them continue to talk about it today, the value of the process, the value of the journey. And uh so I think that was I think that was really key. I think another piece of this approach that gets lost uh sometimes when we're talking about this is that the consultant came in and applied a human-centered design approach to this. And I think that's really important to understand because a human-centered design puts the individuals you're serving at the center and then builds the system around it. And sometimes we can build systems that aren't around the people we serve, and it ends up being a really good idea, and the strategy looks good and the data looks good, but it doesn't put that person at the center. And um I love that that was part of this process. I think that's really key, and I think that's going to be part of our success moving forward, is that it really did center the individuals who have lived experience, what I like to call our context experts in this in this work. And so um I I I think there's um I think there's value in that journey. I also think there was value in the destination and the sort of recommendations that came out of that.
SPEAKER_03Lamanda, as uh CEO of Topeka Rescue Mission, obviously already in this work. Mission's been in it since 1953. You served on the innovation team. Um there were some recommendations that came out of that. And how how long was that innovation process? And then what were the top three or four recommendations that came out?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um so we had a couple of different teams that went through the process of um the consultant work uh with Brianna, and it lasted around nine months, and we had a core team and we had an auxiliary team. The core team was meeting every week um from anywhere between two to four hours. I mean, we we had to designate a lot of time and focus to this, and the work consisted of um everything from literature reviews where everybody on the teams brought forth um different research from everywhere and found commonalities and what were major differences, what were outliers, um, and really started with kind of this wide scope of homelessness. What's the definition of homelessness and all of these things? And so then each week what started to unfold was um really bringing a lot of us everywhere from business owners, nonprofit people, government. Um, we had a couple of attorneys on there. I mean, it was just wide backgrounds to really look at this broadly and then say, we know the end goal is for us to look at what is happening in our community and what are the needs of our community. Um so we started off big and broad, and then over the course of time, through the literature reviews, we also did different case studies. We looked at um developing. So not only did we survey and interview people, we developed the surveys and interview questions. We didn't take a survey that was done in another state and applied it to Topeka, we generated the own questions that we wanted to ask uh the people that we were serving, the people doing the work, people that um had no clue about homelessness in our community to really make sure we were taking in as much as possible every perspective of all of the stakeholders in our community. And so uh that was no easy feat. Um through that also was some pretty heated discussions, um, misconceptions, places where um, including myself, we really had to reflect on what we weren't educated on um and be able to bring that to the table to say, this is my opinion, but I'm not sure that's a fact for Topeka or for Shawnee County. And I think all of us learned things as we truly did the work instead of just bringing forth what we thought was happening in our community and what was needed. And so at the end of that nine months and all of the interviews, the questions, the research, the dialogue, um, setting aside biases, uh, picking up new facts that replaced new thinking, um, came forth a couple of different recommendations. One was it was determined, hey, we need a multidisciplinary team to continue this work. And even myself, with that recommendation, um, you know, we were the leading people that are right in the midst of homelessness in a lot of facets, from our food distribution to our housing department to sheltering 250 plus people a night. But I even told them TRM cannot lead this. TRM needs to be a part of this, but it can't just be our own perspective. And so the recommendation was we need a multidisciplinary team that can focus on solely this work from a community perspective, not one entity. Um, and so that was a blessing because about that time um was where all hands on deck started to take off. And so that complemented the work that was done through the city innovation team. Um, another recommendation that came forth was uh we needed a one-stop shop. We'll put a pin in that for right now. We're gonna talk more about that in just a moment. And then kind of these two different parts of our housing continuum that we didn't have, and that was a Safe Rest shelter and um kind of this tiny transitional um homes, basically, uh, for that next step. And so those were the four main things. We need a multidisciplinary team to continue this work so that it's not one agency representing community perspective. Um, and looking at the need for a one-stop shop, we realized that we've created some pretty robust systems. What was sad is the systems were robust against our people. And um, so that birthed out the one-stop shop of how can we stop individually working and come together so that people have barriers removed. And that was the one-stop shop. And then looking at our housing continuum and realizing we don't have a place for people to jump straight from streets um when they aren't that far along in their healing um to go to TRM or even housing. Um, and then this transitional type tiny home um option for people that need the next step but aren't quite ready for certain things.
What A One-Stop Shop Means
SPEAKER_03Aaron Powell So that was kind of the um first steps out of the recommendation by the innovation process, knowing that there's a lot of other components to that. But a big one uh that you mentioned we're gonna talk about today is the one-stop shop. Miriam, what is the definition of a one-stop shop from your perspective? What does that mean?
SPEAKER_04Aaron Powell It's that place where you can come and get access to so many of the things that you need versus having to go from place to place to place to place. So partners all come together working collaboratively and then are able to serve multiple needs that people who come to us have. And it just it's more effective and efficient, not just for the people that are coming for the services, but for partners to work together more effectively. Once you know people, you communicate better, right? You you make it a priority to know who the other partners are and how they're assisting guests that we serve, right? And that then improves the system in and of itself. So to me, it it has a two-pronged kind of benefit for the people that need the services, but also for the service providers, taking them out of their offices and getting them into the mix with other people that are serving the same people. So maybe we should communicate.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, for sure, for sure. Skylar, um city of Topeka, I don't know that many people know about all you guys do over there in the housing division. Um certainly it's been a greater education for me. Um it's been a good one. One of the programs, well actually two, want to kind of highlight, is something called EAS. Want uh you to talk about that, but also a one-stop shop type um activity called Impact Avenues. So tell us a little bit about EAS, what your involvement is in that at the city level, your personal involvement. And then also talk about the one-stop idea of both of those, but in particular what's called Impact Avenues.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, thank you. Um the EAS program was designed to become a centralized area where everyone who was needing rental assistance, whether that was someone who's at risk of becoming homeless or they currently were homeless, um, we were able to recognize that that was a barrier for individuals to go down to nonprofits to ask for rental assistance and to call them. There were limited hours. Um, so it is a coordinated effort with the Housing Services Division for everyone and anybody who needs that assistance to call one place. Um they are doing assessments with them, directly connecting them to resources, and it is a way for us to see the bigger picture. Um we have really aligned all of the stars here with Built for Zero and the all hands on debt campaign with the data div the data-driven approach with what Built for Zero brings to the table.
SPEAKER_03Pause for a moment. Built for Zero. What is that for people who haven't heard that term?
SPEAKER_01Um that is a data-driven approach to end chronically homelessness in um the United States. Kansas became a Built for Zero state um last year, so we are beginning to build on to what we call case conferencing. Um, it puts the people at the center of the work. Uh we are able to identify the inflow and the outflow of who is coming into our community, who is leaving our community. Um, it gives us a starting point, honestly.
SPEAKER_03So the difference would be helping people, which is a good thing. But understanding who you're helping, how you're helping, who still needs help, who hasn't been helped yet. That Bill for Zero template is a national, actually international now to try to end homelessness, which what they say ending homelessness, there's always going to be homeless with us. But if it can be rare and brief if it occurs and non recurring, which I think uh uh has many different interpretations. Interpretations of one is if somebody comes out of homelessness, they don't have to go back in. So you have to have systems for that. But you have to be able to count that and measure it and uh no small tasks. So the city of Topeka is overseeing this national, uh, international, national, statewide, local um objective to make it rare, brief, and non-reoccurring or end it. So it works well with with the all hands. So um EAS, um equity access shelter is what that stands for, and it's a place that people can contact who are in need of housing. Yep, a real person. A real person, actually talk to a person. And then on that end, um, do you house people?
SPEAKER_01Yes, we do. Um that program specifically is due to our partnerships as well. So we very much work with the community. Um, that waiting list is held with our team. We are checking in with them, trying to remove barriers while they are waiting there to get them ready to get that assistance that they may need. Um our nonprofits are the agencies that have the rental assistance funding. Um so EAS connects them to those. Um, they screen them for the specific type of grant, um, they screen them for the income piece of it and really make them eligible. So it should be a seamless process.
SPEAKER_03Okay. So it sounds like cool, we're done. You guys got it all. So do we have all the resources we need to make that happen?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03We do? Yes.
SPEAKER_01So we're I I would say we we need everyone um on the same page. Um we have a lot of resources to people. Nope. I would say that we need all of all of everything in that same breath. I always ask people how much do we need? And we don't have that that answer either.
EAS And Built For Zero Data
SPEAKER_03Aaron Powell So that's part of Bill for Zero is determining that. Uh things called point in time count. There's a lot of um different tools are being used to say, okay, let's go beyond good stuff and take good and make it better so that we can resolve something with a goal, Brett, ending it at some point. Bill for Zero, ending it. Um I think that from a just very basic level, is it okay that we have homeless people living on the streets in America? And no, it's not. So what do we do about it if it's not okay? So um want to unpack what's called impact avenues, um, what that is. It's kind of like a one-stop shop already for a particular population of people experiencing homelessness. And then Brett, I'm gonna come to you, so get prepared for this big one. Um I'm gonna ask you, talk to us about the journey um that uh we've been on to get to a one-stop shop, which was announced a couple of weeks ago. So, Skylar, what's Impact Avenues? And what does the city do with that?
SPEAKER_01Uh Impact Avenues was a program that modeled Impact KCK um back in 2019. So we are going to finish our year seven when the school year concludes. Um, it this is a program that uh works with the McKinney Vento homeless families. So school-aged children are experiencing homelessness, um, they do not have an adequate place to sleep at night. They are identified in our program as somebody to apply a lot of supports to. Um, we want to prioritize the child's education while we're working with their guardians to get them into services and connect them to our 40 plus agencies on getting them back on their feet. Um, that program comes with education. It has four housing-focused courses that we teach. Um, what we offer our partners also are a big piece in that. And we do 12 months of intensive case management. Um, we walk alongside of the family to reduce barriers and to give them the skills that maybe they haven't learned yet, or maybe they need a little toucher on it. So um, our program is great in a lot of ways, but I will say that it doesn't work without our team. It doesn't work without the partners that we have there to support our families. Where do those partners come from? Those partners are in our community. Um I don't know how to answer that question. It's anybody who we feel that there's a need that's exposed to us, um, it's my job to try to fill that gap. Um we have agencies that are on public housing, they have transitional housing programs, Evergies there, um, our nonprofits there, mental health, employment, anything that you can think of that you might be needed to keep you housed, we want to make sure they're connected to that.
SPEAKER_03So in schools, all the districts around Topeka, Kansas, um, there are teachers, principals, paras, um, coaches, janitors that have uh been um informed, trained on how to spot student homelessness. Yes. And so they do that, and then that gets reported within that school district, and then you guys get a call.
SPEAKER_01Yep, we we call that wraparound services. And so we do get a call, we get a referral. Um, you're able to do that on our City of Topeka website under Impact Avenues. Um we want to give as much supports as we can to our families. Um that program comes with a lot of we call it, we call it, we got some work to do. So if we I can identify a family, we're gonna walk alongside them, we pair them with the navigator. That is going to help you through the entire housing process, but also a lot more. So we do know that when things are a little unstable, we're asking you to work on your mental health. You don't have a place to sleep at night. We're gonna work on that first. So it is individualized to the family. Um, we set goals with them, we are able to help them with utility assistance, um, transportation, rent, anything that will make them successful, we want to try to figure out a way to get them connected to that.
SPEAKER_03What's the magnitude of understood student homelessness in Topeka? Um you guys receive about there's uh a child in uh in one of the school districts is experiencing homelessness. What's the volume of that?
SPEAKER_01I would say on average for the school year we get about 40 referrals.
SPEAKER_0340 referrals. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Do you think that's 40 referrals per month on that program?
SPEAKER_03Because yeah, I was just gonna say we're probably um there's the magnitude is more than just 40 folks.
SPEAKER_01So it's estimated there are about 500 children that are homeless.
Impact Avenues For Student Homelessness
SPEAKER_03Aaron Powell Okay. Just let that sink in for a moment, folks. Five hundred kids who are trying to go to school, who have no place to live, maybe the Topeka Rescue Mission, Hope Center, uh, but maybe in a car, maybe couch surfing. Not a lot that we've discovered of families living on the streets, generally the outreach teams, Lamanda, I'm sure this is still the same way. If there is a child who is living in a tent somewhere with somebody, that gets attended to right away. Correct. Yeah. So that that's not okay. Right. That that's not coming back next week and see if you're doing okay. We're gonna deal with that, whatever it takes to get that child safely somewhere else, uh, hopefully with the family, with them. Okay, so it's kind of like a one-stop shop. Um uh Brett, take it to that next level. Uh we've known about Impact Avenues. We're gonna talk about MAP here in a minute, that is kind of another one-stop shop and how these are coming together. But what's been the journey that um and some of the complications um to get to where an announcement was made um here at the Topeka Rescue Mission two Mondays ago. Is that right? Two Mondays ago. Um and uh about uh a one-stop um resource center uh that is going to be operational, gradually operational throughout the rest of 2026, uh that's going to be starting on April the 7th. So um took a little bit of time to get to that. In your words, without hours and hours of explanation, which it could be involved. What was the journey to get that done? It was a little more complicated than than uh people might imagine.
SPEAKER_02Aaron Powell Yeah, I would I would I would say, first of all, um there are reasons why communities don't undertake this work uh because it's hard and the journey is long. I think probably eight, eight and a half years ago when several of us went on the bus to um Avenues of Life in Kansas City, Kansas, and looked at that model, we got back on the bus and came home, and a lot of us were imagining what that would look like here. Um and we were really happy to see uh Impact Avenues uh continue that work. But I think all of us were hoping that it would move beyond um student homelessness, which is the which is a space we're in today. When we started this work with All Hands on Deck, our vision was that there would be a one-stop that would serve all people in Topeka and Shawnee County. Uh, and building on the trust and relationships and models and systems that we had built, whether it was through Impact Avenues or whether it was through MAP, that all of this would come together. Uh Miriam, you were talking about that earlier, about the one-stop. The research has shown for years that there needs to be a no-wrong door approach. The problem is there's hundreds of doors. And the thing that the one shop brings is one or two doors, and everybody's around that table. That's the beauty of the impact.
SPEAKER_03That's a great explanation. If you're out here and you don't know where to turn and there's a hundred doors to go through, where do you go? Yeah, right. And and and often sometimes you go there and it's not the right door.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and and how do you get to that door? Right. And how do you get to five doors in one day or five doors in one week? Um and so bringing all of this together in one or two doors in uh a building is very much the vision that this community has cast. The difficulty of that, of course, is uh that we have experienced over the last 14 15 months has been uh location. Over and over and over again. We have uh looked at data. We have worked with uh Washburn students on a research project. We have worked with our partners across the community to find uh a location and uh trying to understand what really would best serve the individuals that we're wanting to reach, uh, make sure it's uh proximity to bus stops and services and things like that. And uh it has been a long road of no's, not here, not in my backyard, not in the backyard of my business, not in the backyard of my neighborhood. Uh but uh we have had a partner from the beginning that said, yes. Um and that was uh that was to be a rescue mission, and that's why two weeks ago, Monday, we uh had a press conference uh here to talk about the one-stop being at the children's palace. And so um again, I would just reiterate uh there are reasons why communities don't do this, because it's really hard. Uh and uh you have to have some grit, you gotta have some resilience, and you have to have people who say yes. Otherwise, uh to get to your original point, you just talk about an idea and it remains an idea. And uh that's I think where a lot of communities get stuck. Uh and I can see why.
SPEAKER_04You know, Brett, it's so interesting that you talk about the yes, because you'll remember years ago when we were just envisioning Pine Ridge, right? And it's what John Johnston said from the beginning. All you have to have is a yes first and then figure out what that yes means. And I think that that is so profound, and it has shown to work over and over when you don't enter the conversation with a no. Right. You enter it with a yes, and then you figure out what that yes can encompass. Yeah. And I think that's that's a beautiful thing when it can work, and it's incredibly difficult to get people to say yes.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, and I think you're absolutely right. Skyler would say when she was talking about the importance of partners, those partners have to say yes on top of all of the other work that they do. They have to say yes to come and provide those services to families under one roof. It's the same with MAP. You have to have partners who come and say yes. And if you don't have those partners that say yes, then it's just an idea that you toss around and talk about that never becomes a concrete reality for people in the community.
Location Battles And The Power Of Yes
SPEAKER_03It's just another door that's empty. Right. When you get on the other side, if it's a maybe or a no, a yes means a solution, a yes means a commitment, and a yes may not be able to be resolved today, but the goal is to get it solved. And that I think that's what Impact Avenue is. I remember when we were exploring this years ago, is that uh out of KCK they said only agencies and partners can come with a yes. If you're um an agency, whatever that agency might be, that's coming with no, we don't do that, stay home. Don't come. Don't tie up space, come with a solution. Now that may mean that there's a gap until we find an agency that can do a yes. And Skylar, I guess that's still the the uh the goal, right? Come with a yes. Now, yes may not be happening today, but it may take some time that eventually it's gonna be a yes. So Laman, I want to talk to you about the yes of Topeka Rescue Mission. Uh but uh another one stop that has birthed out over the last five years is something called MAP. And so some people have heard about that. Um it started out um through the pandemic to where we Topeka Rescue Mission had to get smaller, more people in the streets. How can we take services out to where the unsheltered are, as that was a growing population with showers and food and resources, and it grew and grew and grew to today about 19, 20 different partners that are all coming with their yes, Dormont Vale, Medical, Kansas State University with the Animal Health Street Dog Coalition, um speak of rescue mission, clothing supplies, the food, um, to be able to do a one-stop for the unsheltered homeless. And so also recognizing with this growth and now the new uh joint adventure between MAP, which was Mobile Access Partnership, which is now the Moving Ahead Partnership, uh, because it's not going to be mobile now, in uh partnership with Impact Avenues, bringing all those resources together. You need a roof. You need to be inside. Now, fortunately and thankfully, the Salvation Army has uh allowed us to be there. Um this is our fourth winter there, I believe it is, um, be leaving there and coming to the Topeka Rescue Mission again on April the 7th to be a two-year commitment to have a one-stop shop to where Impact Avenues, the Moving Ahead Partnership, working with Topeka Rescue Mission and others, will be able to have this resource center. So it's the one or two doors versus 50 to 100 doors that people then can find a place to be. And so um uh had to have a name for it. And so we announced a name called the what, Lamanda? Compassion Impact Center. Compassion Impact Center. That's interesting. Compassion strategies, impact avenues, a center. So what's TRM's role in this? Um say yes, y'all, cause come on in, no problem. We got plenty of space. A little more complicated than that, right? Just a little. And and and I think that that you know, we talk about commitment and a yes and a place and all that, and w we do not want to leave people thinking this can just be done for free. It cannot be done for free. This is a costly endeavor, and and and for all the agencies, not just for the rescue mission or compassion strategies, which is another organization, which is the umbrella organization for uh MAP, um, and then also what it costs for Impact Avenues. It also costs the agencies time. Uh Stormont Vale, when they pull off and take their mobile unit, uh, or Kansas State does, or ERG does, or whoever does, it's costing them time that they would be in the office to come do this. And that's that's amazing. That's one of the reasons probably doesn't happen in a lot of places, and people are looking at Topeka right now, saying, How are you pulling this off? How is that possible? Because it cost everybody something. But why? It's because of the people who are depending upon this in our community wanting it to happen. So, Lamanda, CEO, four years next month. Uh, you have been with the mission almost five years because you came on board before CEO. Um This was no small decision for Topeka Rescue Mission, although Brett made it sound like it was. It's always been yes. Well, yeah, it was always the yes, but but it wasn't just aye, y'all come. So talk about the journey.
SPEAKER_00I think saying yes from a partner perspective has always been easy. And from TRM's viewpoint, um, we we talk a lot about, and I agree, you know, the partner saying yes, and it takes everybody to say yes, and what does that look like? But the reason TRM says yes is because we are focused on why should the person we're serving say yes? Um this is not just about partnerships figuring out our strengths, our weaknesses, what we can bring to the table, what we can't, crucial conversations. Our hearts should be aligned that whoever says yes from a partner's viewpoint, it is because we are devoted to being a place that is trustworthy, hardworking, um, steadfast in it with the people's journeys, regardless of how long it takes. That is what then determines those we serve to say yes to us. And when I look at the dedication of not only city staff, but partners that are involved in Impact Avenues, they are devoted to being a program that people are comfortable to say yes to and to accept the help, which is no easy thing for any of us. I mean, there's six or seven of us sitting around this table, and I'm not sure any of us, and we're all close, would just start up a conversation saying, Did you know I'm really struggling with this right now? And yet we expect people to go to Impact Avenues or MAP or TRM's front doors. It's not just about our yeses. We should be dedicated to being a place that people are comfortable, and it might not be the first time, it might not be the second time, but that eventually they say yes to. So when TRM looks at the work that's been done with Impact Avenues, not only do they say yes to the bigger concept of what our community needs, they're a place where people say yes to them. Same thing with MAP. Um, you know, I came on just right as you all had kind of founded all of this, right? And we're saying, okay, we're gonna embark on this. And to see where it's come from to where it is now, it's a place where people every day say yes. And that day they may only be saying yes to a shower. Um, that is not any less successful than if they are to say yes through a whole transition that takes 90 days or 120 days. Um, at that same map day, you might see somebody saying yes to a shower, yes to food, and yes to talking to a grit navigator, or yes to talking to street dog, or yes to talking to whatever the partner is. So saying yes from a CEO's perspective of TRM, that was easy because it's needed in our community. I had participated in the City Innovation team, but more importantly, I saw Impact Avenues and MAP being a place that vulnerable people said yes to. That's what changes it for me. Um, I don't want to be a part of something that's just flashy. I don't want TRM to be a part of just joining something that's good. There's a lot of good stuff in our community, doesn't mean it's good for people. And so what has been a challenge, and I joke, but I'm serious, that might have me bald by the end of the year or gray is how do we Well surely we'll make you cry. Yeah, I do that every stinking day. Um, is what are we saying yes to? And how do we say the yes? And at what time frames do we say the yes? And how do I get other people to understand that we need to say yes? Um, and that has been a journey. And so um when we first found out um that let's help was such a great partner um with kind of this pilot last year, Pat Yancey and um their team, just incredible, Michelle, everybody at Let's Help, um, they they served their purpose, but that wasn't going to continue. Um I knew, hey, we need to be able to say yes to this because what happens to Impact Avenues, what happens to map? Um so I brought it back to the board and was trying to show how it aligns to our mission and our vision internally. But then also trying to be transparent with them of, hey, there's some things from our internal operations that are going to need to pause for this greater good that needs to happen. And so that took a lot of discussion, a lot of questions, a lot of prayer, a lot of pausing and then coming back the next month and diving into this again. So when I say it's been a process for myself, our team, our board, between you and Brett, you all came presented to our board a couple of times, it's really been thought out. It's been prayed over. It is not something that TRM feels like this is mission drift to host because it's a lot of the same families that we're serving. But it was an opportunity for us to say if we have the proof through the innovation team, in addition to wise people like yourself, Barry, that has done this for decades, that this is what our community needs. And then you've got great programs such as Impact Avenues and MAP doing the work, but that it could be done better coming together. That is so irresponsible of me as a leader to say no just because I couldn't have everything figured out in 30 days before a press conference.
SPEAKER_03I think you've kind of unpacked that. There's a lot of moving parts here to consider that it's not just, hey, TRM's always done this kind of stuff, so you just all come here because there's many adjustments that have to occur within the current operations of TRM to make this happen.
SPEAKER_00And, you know, something that a lot of people don't know was I had a lot, me personally and our team, um, a lot of conversations publicly and privately through the City Innovation Team Time and afterwards, where TRM stood ready to pivot to whatever our community needed. Now we completely are under the governance of whatever the Lord is asking us to do, first and foremost. Uh, but we've never wanted Work of Homelessness to be the TRM show. We've never wanted to be the first person every time to do XYZ. That's not our hearts. Um we see ourselves as part of a bigger team. And um, quite frankly, if you look back to when I first started, there were a lot of pleas from myself where I was saying, please get involved in this work. And so um, one of the reasons why when you and Brett launched um AHOD and there was this discussion of this, we intentionally were still a partner with Impact Avenues. We were going for our career in readiness program, we were still a great partner of um MAP and providing volunteer services, recruitment for that, all of that. Yet we intentionally set aside because all of this talk was happening all over our community. Um and if there was another organization or entity that would step up and lead the charge on a safe rest shelter, or lead the charge on tiny homes, or lead the charge on a one-stop shop, we would have helped follow suit. Um, I've I've offered manuals for shelters, I've offered um lots of things throughout the the four years that I've been CEO. But then when it got to a point of thinking that impact avenues and map would somewhat be limited if someone didn't take a risk on hosting them, how can you do that? I I can't do that.
SPEAKER_03And so to breastpoint about the the journey is uh sometimes more valuable than the destination. Um we could have maybe expedited this uh sooner if we would have just said, okay, Tapik Rescue Mission, Children's Pallots is going to be it. But we learned a lot of things, a lot of due diligence in this regard about where maybe it could have been but shouldn't have been, or a lot of community discussion around all of this to make these decisions. Um so this journey is not over, uh, but it definitely has been rich and valuable and complicated and um created some nights of no sleep and on and on and on.
SPEAKER_04I was gonna say, have those stopped? Yeah.
Trust Building And Housing Wins
SPEAKER_03Skylar, uh I want to go back to this. Uh so uh Impact Avenues um and um Compassion Strategies map are uh we piloted um over at Let's Help this last summer to see how we could do this together. What's your vision for going forward with Impact Avenues and how at this one-stop shop, being involved with MAP in Topeka Rescue Missions Facility, what's the value in your vision for that?
SPEAKER_01Well, to to see it all come together and it's time, it's it's been a learning experience. Um when I first started in this position, I was given this program to kind of run with um Impact Avenues, and I saw really great things happening with the families that were able to access that. Um it was a light bulb in my head that we need to allow more of the community to have this. Um I was pushing for um more people to come down there, and it's not as easy as just saying it's open to everybody. You say that over and over again, but what does that actually mean? What is a one-stop shop? What are you doing here? Um and it's taking that time to individually walk next to the person or the family and saying, what are your needs? Rather than here's all these people, it is very overwhelming of a system to navigate. Um so I think it's important that we are all on the same page and we're building our agency team first. We're learning more about what each person does and honestly making sure that the people don't fall in the gaps is what we're doing. To Miriam's point about it's not just serving the people, it's knowing what our pieces in this work. It's knowing what we're duplicating, what barriers that we're creating for others. Um, a question that I have asked many people is do you know how to navigate public transportation in Topeka? A lot of the agency workers here don't. But we're asking every day for somebody to get on a bus and just go to work. They don't know it takes them two hours to get from the southwest side of Topeka to where our impact center was at Garfield at that time. We don't have phones, we have limited supports, and it kind of opened up a lot of questions on what are we asking people to do? And to Lamanda's point is that trust is very important here. So to come in there at that point and to see a gym full of agencies and to see five, six families come, hood on their head, just completely wiped out, down in the dumps, and they just have no light in their eyes to see that and to get to walk over to them and introduce yourself and say, Here's what I can help you with. They're all in the same room together. The agencies are quite literally yelling across the gym, I can take care of that bill, I can do this, here's what I can do. And that person walked away with a house that day just because of that place that we were able to allow. So my whole my whole feeling about getting more services to people really opened a lot of doors when we were able to pilot with MAP. There was a whole set of there's a whole nother piece to this that we were able to connect. Um and when we were at Let's Help, um Impact Avenues was still inside. And we were asking people that were unsheltered in in their community, and it is a wonderful community if you have not ever been to MAP. Um, they are very protective of their um their friends and their family down there, and an outside person has just shown up and I walked outside. Eyes are shifting, they're like, Who's this person? Um so it it just took one by one introducing myself and saying, Hey, come inside, but not many people did. And you ask yourself, well, why did why didn't anybody come in? I've got I've got help for them here. They don't know what it is, they're not ready to take that step. They don't know you. They're not ready, they don't know me. They're here for a shower. I'm not here to do work sometimes or even know what I need to do. Um, people have been failed over and over and over again. Asking them to do another thing, to get back up on their feet and to trust you, that's one thing. To give them resources and say, hey, here you go, free for all, go get help. That's another. So when we were under the same roof, quite literally, because of the winter at Salvation Army, that was such a cool experience to get to put the partners under the same roof and map, they're hustling. They're running all over the staff, the volunteers, and it is an incredible thing to witness. And I wanted to be a part of it more. So now I'm walking alongside of our neighbors in the map community, as well as those who are coming to Impact, trying to figure out how do we make the pieces fit when we have them all here now? They're all under the same roof. So, to your point about why didn't we just do this sooner? It's a question of what do we need and what do our neighbors need. Um, I a night so I wouldn't be able to sleep either. I'm drawing out maps. What does that actually look like? We have to prioritize the flow of it, a place of safety, trust. Um, and it's really somewhere for someone to come down there and to to be themselves and to meet them where they're at and not push, push, push. This is I will say this so many times. Housing, once you get somebody in housing, that is when the work starts, especially when they have struggled so long to get into housing. Um just this weekend I moved an unsheltered individual in. He had quite he got my heart. Um, he walked by me one day, and it happened to be because of his dog that I noticed him. And Jenny, um a director of map operations, she said to me, I don't think if you had noticed him, he would be in housing today. So it just takes a conversation and it takes that trust. He many, many times said, I don't I don't want to do that today. And then we came back the next time. Without that space and that trust, we can't continue to move people forward.
Shared Risk And Real Hope
SPEAKER_03Well, that's really well said. And another thing you said too, it's where the work begins. Um yes, there's a lot of front-end work here, but just getting somebody into a house and saying, we're done, that's not where it ends. That's really where it to keep them there, to help them there, to help them flourish there. It's a new world to them to be in a house, especially people who have been on shelters for five, ten, twenty, twenty-five years. To be in a place where you actually have a roof over your head, maybe a bed to sleep in, running water, those kind of things, which we all take for granted until you don't. And that's a whole new world. And people sometimes will say, well, they ought to just be grateful and just, you know, live happily ever after. No, it's a whole nother system they need to learn. So that's when the work begins to stay with them, and that's a another level of what we're doing. Well, we could talk about this all day long, because there's a lot of all day long stuff. Brett, I want to ask you a question. United Way coordinates uh multiple different uh initiatives or helps to coordinate or involved in coordination, at least, in multiple different important community initiatives. When you bring agencies together, when you bring programs together, when you bring individuals together from all kinds of different avenues, different uh passions for a common goal, what is the risk in that?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. There's a lot of risk. Um there is a risk. Anytime you anytime you say yes to something outside yourself or your program, there is loss. Um and the risk is that I come here and I say yes to this group of people, and my success is contingent on our collective success. And it's not just me running my program, and it's not just me and my agency, and it's not just me and my budget, and it's not just me and my clients. I'm putting myself out there, and uh our success no longer just depends on me and my team, it depends on the collective. And there's a sense of loss there, and there's a sense of a loss of control because the locus of control shifts from me, my individual agency and my program to something external that we all contribute to. And there's power in the yes, and the reason why there's power in that yes is because I'm saying I'm willing to give this up for the greater good, for the collaborative, for the community. And it takes it takes stepping out in faith or wanting to take a risk to be able to do that. And we're a sector, the nonprofit sector, that's somewhat risk averse at times because our funding is so um so volatile at times, and we're trying to we're trying to manage so many loyalties and trying to manage so many relationships, whether it's donors or grantors or corporations or people we serve or staff or boards or councils or whatever that is. And for us to step out there, um, that's a significant risk. And when people say yes to that, it certainly opens up opportunities, but you recognize that my success depends on everybody else around this table. And um there's something powerful to that. There's also something frightening about that uh at times. And when United Way decided to say yes to all hands on deck, um that's arguably one of the biggest risks I've taken in a decade at United Way. What if this fails? Right? What if the partners who say yes halfway through say no? What if we don't get there? What if, what if, what if? But we don't know unless we try.
SPEAKER_04And maybe the bigger question is, what if it does?
SPEAKER_05Right, right.
SPEAKER_04That's the other piece, right? Yeah. What if it does work? What if this works? Right.
SPEAKER_02And and and you you have to focus there. Right? You have to focus there. Um otherwise, uh the yeses don't come, the resources don't come, the people don't come. Um and so I certainly think that there's I certainly think that there's a risk to it, but I also think there's something about casting a vision for a community far beyond your own walls that makes this really unique. Um Lamanda, to your point, it also requires the people we serve to cast a vision for themselves, to believe that this is for me when it hasn't ever. Right? You've heard me say this before. It's a difference between optimism and hope. Optimism says things are going to be good tomorrow because things have been good in the past. Hope is things are gonna be good tomorrow and they ha weren't today, and they weren't yesterday, and honestly, they weren't in recent memory. That's a risk. That's a risk. But when but but when people have that hope and programs have that hope, it multiplies, it leverages, and that's why we're that's why we're at where we are today is because of that hope, because of that vision, because of that yes. And what excites me most about this is what's next?
How To Help And Stay Involved
SPEAKER_03What's next? Well said. I like the uh military term when some soldier is wounded and the rest of the platoon says, No one left behind. Um, we're gonna go in. We're not gonna let that person die out there, we're not gonna let that person suffer out there. And there's a risk to that. And so, Skylar, when you notice the guy with the dog, uh, you took a risk. Risk of being rejected, a risk of wasting time, a risk of this isn't gonna work, a risk of I don't want to go into housing, whatever the case might be. But you took the risk because you care. And there's so many people in this community that care. And so this is a risk because we don't want any neighbor left behind. We don't want people to have to continue to believe, because maybe they've learned to believe this, that they're not they don't matter because they do matter. And um, if it was your son or your daughter or your mom or your dad or a brother or a sister or just somebody you care about, they all matter. They really do. You may not know the person, but they matter to somebody, and you get to be a part of taking a risk with what we're doing here together, um, with which is being called the Compassion Impact Center at Topeka Rescue Mission with Compassion Strategies, Moving Ahead Partnership, Impact Avenues to be able to come together, the all hands on deck is one piece, not the whole piece, but one piece of taking a hundred doors and maybe whittle them down to a couple that people can come in and when they walk out, eventually they walk out with these people meant yes. And so I'm gonna be a yes also. So thank you all for being a part of this. Um more to come. Um rescue mission. If you want more information about TRM, you can go to TRMonline.org, trmonline.org. And there's a special place on the website that if you want to donate to the Compassion Impact Center, you can specifically designate your dollars there. Or if you just want to give generally, just give there. Or if you want to volunteer, and you could be a volunteer at MAP and doing what we're doing. There's just so many opportunities for people. And uh maybe if you're a regular listener to um our community, our mission, it's something that you uh then can pass on to someone else. Help them to understand a little bit more about why this community is saying yes, taking a risk on behalf of our neighbors that we don't want to leave behind. So thank you for joining us today. And uh know that you are a part of our community, our mission.