Sound United Presents
Sound United Presents is a community-centered podcast that highlights the authentic stories of entrepreneurs, professionals, and everyday heroes. Each episode features guests who discuss their victories, challenges, lessons, expertise, insights, wisdom, and "One-Word." Our goal is to Empower with Sound.
Sound United Presents
Community Catalyst
In this episode, we present Sarah Lowry, a dedicated advocate for healthier, more connected communities. Growing up in Hubbard, Ohio, Sarah shares how her upbringing and diverse experiences have shaped her journey. From her early career to her work in public policy, Sarah offers insights into the power of collaboration and the ongoing efforts to strengthen the Mahoning Valley.
In This Episode, We Discuss:
- Growing up in Hubbard and the Mahoning Valley.
- Outdoor spaces for health and connection.
- The path from academia to advocacy.
- The Healthy Community Partnership’s mission.
- Balancing life and leadership.
- A vision for equity and collaboration.
- Sarah’s “One Word.”
So press play and be moved by Sarah's inspiring story. Ladies and gentlemen, Sound United Presents... Sarah Lowry!
Be sure to subscribe wherever you vibe with podcasts or visit our website. www.soundunitedpresents.com
Sound United Presents is a community-focused podcast powered by Sound United Podcast Studio. Produced by Kimberly Gonzales and D. Lee Scott
Hello, ladies and gents, welcome to Sound United Presents, a diverse and inclusive podcast focused on local entrepreneurs, professionals and unsung community heroes. Within each episode, our guests will candidly share their stories filled with triumph, failures, humor, lessons learned, insight and some nuggets of wisdom. I'm very excited about this and I hope you are too. Let's get started. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, whatever time it is. Thank you for hitting the play button on this episode of Sound United Presents. We are in the comfy conversational confines of Sound United Podcast Studio and I'm your host, d Lee Scott, and today we have a wonderful guest. I will say this We've been talking about getting her on the show. I want to say 2020, like early 2020, maybe late 2019. And then it was all set up for season three and, of course, if you hear the trailer, you'll understand all that stuff. But we have her here for season four and I'm ecstatic about that.
D. Lee Scott:And so y'all know I like to kind of give introduction on how I met this person or descriptives of that person in some way, and with this person here, I have to say there's certain words that you think of, that, that you know, flash in front of your mind and when you think about people and I will have to say that community collaboration, fairness, commitment a lot of C's going on here in my intro and just all around good people connecting fairness, and I don't think I've ever seen her mad, like even pissed. You know now that I think about it. I don't think I've ever, and those are the ones that you know. If they get pissed, it's a thing, but I've never, never, seen her angry, but just all around good people. And if there's something happening in the community that is impactful to the community as a whole, there's a chance that you have seen her or in some way, some part of it, she was a part of it, and so, ladies and gentlemen, I'm ecstatic to do this introduction. Sound United presents Sarah Laurie Welcome.
Sarah Lowry:Yes, thank you so much for inviting me and having patience through all of the challenges of the last several years and we're finally here. We're here, and I can assure you I do get angry. I've just learned over the years how to channel that anger into some of those other words that you used as descriptors.
D. Lee Scott:Yeah, I was like. I don't think I've ever seen her pissed or angry. Huh, Okay.
Sarah Lowry:I would say that you know, maybe someday you will, but I'm going to try to keep that in check. We'll see how it goes.
D. Lee Scott:I could imagine it may come out in some of the questions, like asking you, like, how do you not get you know? But let's take a second for you to you know. Just tell the audience about yourself, Introduce or reintroduce yourself to our audience.
Sarah Lowry:Sure, so I'm from the Mahoning Valley, from you know, grew up, live in, educated, supported by the Mahoning Valley. So I grew up in Hubbard in Trumbull County and I live now in Youngstown and have for quite a few years now lived in the city of Youngstown and throughout my time in community service have had the pleasure of working and serving and supporting both counties. So I have dual citizenship, since I'm from Trumbull and my family's still there and I live in Youngstown, now in Mahoning. So you know can go back and forth. They allow me to pass.
D. Lee Scott:You got your Valley passport?
Sarah Lowry:Yeah, I got my stamp several times and, you know, just really am grateful for what we have here and we do have quite a lot of good things here and I'll probably touch on this a little more later but really am always very fond when traveling elsewhere. Coming back to the valley, because we have such beautiful scenery and green spaces which really, to you know, maybe this will be the running theme throughout. You know, how do you not get mad Dealing with all of the challenges that we deal with here and I do think it is coming back to those spaces that are beautiful, open, public spaces, to be open and available to more people, because these are challenging times and we should have ways, healthy ways, you know to deal with those things. So lots of my out of work activities tend to center around the outdoors.
D. Lee Scott:So hikingwatching, biking, I was going to say don't forget biking.
Sarah Lowry:No, I didn't want to lead with that because I'm sure it will come up quite a few other times. But doing those sorts of things outside in the sunshine, even when it is 90 degrees with 90% humidity? Angry weather, as I call it Angry weather, because there's angry winter weather and you wish for the other when you're in you know the opposite so take advantage.
D. Lee Scott:So how was life growing up in Hubbard or the Mahoney Valley?
Sarah Lowry:You know, I feel like this is true and probably not unique to Hubbard and certainly not unique, you know, even to small towns in Ohio. But when you're younger and you're growing up you have a countdown when you graduate high school and get out, and to some degree I guess that I did but didn't get super far. You know living in Youngstown, so you know a 20-minute bike ride from the north side of Youngstown to Hubbard I have found recently side of Youngstown to Hubbard I have found recently Sundays during bike riding season, I've started riding from the north side of Youngstown to the Hubbard Farmer's Market on.
Sarah Lowry:Sundays, which is delightful. I've seen that on your Insta. Yeah, you know motivated. There's reward at the end, right. So even when it's you know hot and it's a bit of an incline to ride, right. So even when it's you know hot and it's a bit of an incline to ride, there's good, healthy food at do things like the farmer's market and they have a kind of a shop, small thing that they do around the holidays and there's a lot of you know very creative people doing you know really good things. You know they are running their own businesses in some instances and just seeing, especially within the last few years, you know these kinds of small, small business or entrepreneur centered markets. You know where people are making things, whether that's you know food or you know some kind of craft. Just seeing those small communities because they are small, they can create that kind of intimate atmosphere that really supports those you know small businesses in a way that brings others from nearby into those spaces.
Sarah Lowry:So and of course, you know, with a little bit of distance you start to realize the things that you had that you just assumed would always be there and didn't really recognize the significance of.
Sarah Lowry:So when I was a kid going to Harding Park in Hubbard all the time and it was just. You know we have nothing else to do, so I guess we'll go to Harding Park. But as an adult, you know, having a friend who's recently moved to Hubbard and they go with their child to the woods and just, and they go with their child to the woods and just seeing all of the different kinds of plants and wildlife that are in you know these woods, in this, you know little park in Hubbard, like I didn't notice that when I was a kid. So coming back to you know these spaces as an adult, you see and experience them in different ways. So while I was younger certainly like many, you know teenagers have the countdown to get out. But then you realize, you know, maybe it wasn't so bad and you know, maybe that's why I didn't run super far away.
D. Lee Scott:That's a very tight knit community, too Quite. I got a few friends shout out to Mike Kajari and the Foxes and Chris and Michelle Fox and yeah, it's very, very, very tight knit. I used to go out there frequently because there was um progressive printing.
Sarah Lowry:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
D. Lee Scott:With Mike Padenich and I would go out there and, uh, they had a golf scramble or whatever it was, and they always, um, and now I know why they wanted me there because it wasn't for the golf, it was probably for the comedy.
Sarah Lowry:Oh well, you know you need a little, you need to add some things into golf.
D. Lee Scott:Yeah, it definitely wasn't that. So there's video footage from many years ago of me golfing for the first time. But for what I made up in poor golfing, I excelled at comedy.
Sarah Lowry:Hey, so everybody was getting something that they needed.
D. Lee Scott:Right, right, right. So growing up in Humber you talked about wanting to get out. Did you have a? Was there a career or something you wanted to get into?
Sarah Lowry:So it's funny, I was drawn to the sciences as a kid, which, as we continue talking, will be kind of how did that happen then? So very much, you know one of my early you know kind of childhood role models, I guess, was Dana Scully from the X-Files, and so there is a thread that makes sense later. But you know she was very you know science and evidence based and very rational and very matter of fact, and you know she was the foil to, you know David Duchovny's, you know Fox Mulder, who was very.
Sarah Lowry:You know lots of creative thinking and you know so had a real interest you know in the sciences and you know I remember you know going through kind of the usual phases of interests that kids go through, so dinosaurs and archaeology and paleontology and then space, and you know astronomy and you know wanting to be an astronaut. And then you know middle school happened and you know growing up happens and there's still, you know, some discouraging of, you know, girls and young women continuing to pursue the sciences. You know as a career pathway, continuing to pursue the sciences you know as a career pathway. So there's a little bit of I wouldn't say overt saying this is not for you, but you just you got that sense that you didn't belong here.
Sarah Lowry:Yeah, so started to drift away from that. And you know middle school, high school, sometimes your focus is less on the academics and more on relationships of various kinds. And so, while I would say I never completely left behind, you know that wanting to be the Dana Scully, you know very, very rational, very like let's investigate, let's learn more, let's figure this out, let's problem solve. Those things I think carried through but certainly did not continue to pursue the hard sciences in the way that, as a kid, my interest in my bookshelf would have you think.
D. Lee Scott:You grew up and you went to Hubbard High.
Sarah Lowry:Yep.
D. Lee Scott:Is it Hubbard High School?
Sarah Lowry:Yeah, Is it Hubbard High School, or is there? Yeah, it's.
D. Lee Scott:Hubbard High School Eagles. Okay, okay, I just wanted to make sure. So you do that and your time there was wonderful, I presume. Right, it was all right, yeah, all right, okay, yeah.
Sarah Lowry:Found. Found some you know extracurriculars. Interestingly. Spent some time in my senior year doing video productions, which was fun and interesting.
D. Lee Scott:Okay, Did you know yeah yeah, and marching band.
Sarah Lowry:you know which is his own interesting little subculture.
D. Lee Scott:What'd you play?
Sarah Lowry:So I started out playing the clarinet. I knew it.
D. Lee Scott:I just had a pick.
Sarah Lowry:Well, so when you know in middle school there's a lot of choices, right. So when you know in middle school there's a lot of choices, right. So the first kind of separation was are you doing choir, Are you doing band? So I'm going to do band. What are you going to play Clarinet? Okay, so take lessons do clarinet, become pretty okay at clarinet. Now it's high school, so are you going to continue Marching band? Yes, Okay. And then you realize you're on a large open field with this woodwind instrument, even though there are many of us, like you, can't really hear it.
Sarah Lowry:So a friend of mine, that's so true well, right, the flutes, you can hear the clarinets. I mean, I guess they provide you know kind of that, um, like a musical bass not like a layer, but like a layer yeah, an undertone, um, but she said well, you know, have you considered the trombone?
Sarah Lowry:and I'm like, well, that's not anything like a clarinet. There's no keys, it's. It's a brass instrument, you know, not not a woodwind, but sure, why not? So switch to trombone. Um, and it was a lot of fun each continuing. You know the kind of subgroups in high school, so marching band is its own thing, but then within marching band, like the clarinets have a little mini culture and so on and so forth, and the trombones were just a little rowdy and fun my uh, my son played the trombone okay um, and I actually played the trump.
D. Lee Scott:They wouldn't let me play the drums. Okay, because I didn't have the, the patience, because in a baptist church, you know, I want, I want to do all of it. So you know you're looking at, I wanted to speed things up or slow down. It's like you should play the trombone. So I did play the trombone, okay, and you know, the most the funnest thing I liked about the trombone was just doing it.
Sarah Lowry:Oh, yeah, for sure, that was it. Yeah, all the time, but you could hear the trombones.
D. Lee Scott:Very important, yes yeah, what did you so? Was there any other group shoots or band? Yeah, so some science stuff.
Sarah Lowry:You seem like so interestingly, no, so by high school it was, you know, becoming more interested to some degree in, I guess, like civics, a little bit of history and languages.
Sarah Lowry:There was a French club that didn't do a whole heck of a lot but met and still keep in touch with a lot of the people that were also involved in that kind of language learning space, which I think is connected, you know, at present to a continued interest in language learning and linguistics.
Sarah Lowry:You know, the study of language, which is does have a certainly a science and scientific component to it, but also just a curiosity about the rest of the world and why things are the way they are and how people communicate successfully or through challenging situations. You know, if you're learning a language and you know bits and pieces of it and you're trying to speak to somebody else, you know who might have bits and pieces of it and you're trying to speak to somebody else you know who might have bits and pieces of your native language, like you find a way, and that kind of creative problem solving is very interesting to me. So learning French, like I know you know enough French where I could survive if I was, you know, dropped in France and oh nice, I'd be dead in the space where you should practice. But very often when folks in my experience anyway, and I don't think I'm unique here like they figure out, oh, you're not a native French speaker, they will switch and try to accommodate.
Sarah Lowry:in a lot of cases you know English, so I was like oh, I really wanted to practice my French, but I understand like the goal of communication is the successful, you know, communicating of information. So if I'm a business owner and you are trying to buy something from me, this is not language learning time. This is I want to sell you something. Or, you know, if you were the buyer, I want to buy something. So, the goal is to facilitate that transaction, not necessarily to have language learning time, so I understand.
D. Lee Scott:French. I took French in high school. No intentions of traveling. There was Chinese, spanish and French and Deshawn chose French so I could talk romantically to females in school.
Sarah Lowry:That was the only reason I did it and I kicked myself.
D. Lee Scott:When my daughter signed up, she had a chance to take, you know, some classes I said take. I wish I would have known, then, right, spanish. But I totally took French because you know, je t'aime, right, je t'aime.
Sarah Lowry:Je t'aime.
D. Lee Scott:Je t'aime, je t'aime, je t'aime, je t'aime Je school. You know, you having these ideas about university, college, right, what as you? Where'd you go to college?
Sarah Lowry:YSU twice.
D. Lee Scott:YSU. Okay, and as you're going through, you know you're about to exit the high school years. What I mean? What was the plan? What'd you sign up for?
Sarah Lowry:Well, you know and I again don't think this is unique to me, but there was a panic moment. So you're graduating high school and the world is now open in ways that it wasn't. I understand that that's not necessarily true for all people, but you know, there is this. You get to the end of the road that you're currently on and there's, like, all of these choices, you know, do you stay on the same path? You know, do you choose? You know, somewhere else, how do you make that choice? If you go one way, who's coming with you? Who's who are you leaving behind? Like it?
Sarah Lowry:You know, it's a lot at 18 years old, but I knew, and when I was growing up, my mom went back to school to finish her degree in English. So I was exposed to and around English literature, linguistics and language learning and all of these different things. So, more or less figured out. Well, if I can't think of anything else because, again, at this point, it did not seem as though my path was going to take me down a road towards physics or astronomy or anything like that.
Sarah Lowry:Though, yeah, forensic sciences were big when I was entering college because of all the CSI you know crime scene investigator spinoff shows.
Sarah Lowry:Everybody was going to be a forensic scientist. Did not go down that road either, but figured, having a good foundation in communication and I'd like to read. But beyond just liking to read, you know, as a hobby, more or less reading was of interest because you got to see and learn other people's stories and you know, again, that curiosity about you know how do other people in other places like you know what else is out there? So ended up at YSU studying English with a minor in linguistics, again that you know, having an understanding about how do we put all these sounds together to make words that allow for us to successfully communicate very complex ideas Like how does that happen?
Sarah Lowry:And there's all of these different languages, that people do the exact same thing. And yet you know, unless you take the time to study, say, french or Chinese or whatever else, like you can't have successful communication, else like you can't have successful communication. So it was just lots of you know, questions and curiosity about how do humans interact with each other. So that, I guess, is how I ended up making the decision and the fact that they want you to declare a major. So like there's a very practical part of this like you need to make a decision.
Sarah Lowry:So I'm like, all right, well, this is easy, we'll just do this. And I'm really glad that I did um, because you know, I, I there are you know kind of popular culture jokes. You know, if you major in um, you know social sciences or humanities, um, or you know english majors end up at starbucks um oh god, I remember that at Borders.
D. Lee Scott:Yeah that was a running joke at Borders.
Sarah Lowry:Yeah, or a bookstore. You know Starbucks or bookstore. But I will tell you, you know, in my, you know time since graduating with my master's from YSU, I've met English majors doing all sorts of different things. So don't believe what they, you know. What you see on the internet, you know, question you, question. Be a little skeptical, but that foundation in communications, both written and verbal communication.
Sarah Lowry:I'm really glad that I ended up choosing English and linguistics as a major because it really helped me understand how good communication happens. And part of that also led me to, you know, near the end of my undergraduate and beginning my graduate degree, having that panic moment. You're going to graduate again and then you're going to have to, you know, find a job and, like you know, support yourself. So, trying to think a little more practically and using that interest in communication and human interaction to spend some time taking classes to learn how to teach English to speakers of other languages, which is, you know, can be a very practical and interesting way to make a living and also, you know, travel the world, meet new people, do a whole bunch of neat stuff. So there was at, you know, at some point, learning and wanting to think about how to use these kind of quick decisions, declaring a major towards something that is going to lead to something else after a point.
D. Lee Scott:And make you very diverse and a nice skill set. Yeah, to be able to adapt to different opportunities.
Sarah Lowry:Yeah, and I will say I don't know that I spent the time really thinking about how all of those dots connected until just now, so I'm glad that we're doing this.
D. Lee Scott:Yeah, see, there's always something going on here. How do you? Okay Cause? My next question is this isn't like you didn't take a political science or anything like that, you just you, just. Next question that now I'm very interested in.
Sarah Lowry:I was interested.
D. Lee Scott:but I'm very interested in this Because you've had some public policy, community impact. I'm sorry, and so that's kind of the realm of where you are now, and then I think back as you talk about navigating through. What was the catalyst to move into that?
Sarah Lowry:So that's an excellent question, and I hesitate to say this because I know this is now public, but I took not one political science class my entire time.
D. Lee Scott:Get out of here.
Sarah Lowry:When I was at YSU.
D. Lee Scott:So there was no sprinkle of.
Sarah Lowry:Not, so I did take classes that certainly talked about public policy and social impact.
Sarah Lowry:That certainly talked about public policy and social impact but did not, through the political science department or program, take a class, which is very ironic given the fact that for six years I worked for United States Senator Sherrod Brown, his representative in Northeast Ohio, and continuing on now with the Community Foundation. That my role includes, you know, civic engagement and education and advocacy, and yeah, so it is a very valid question to ask. So how did this happen? So I will say you know, kind of going back to you know, growing up in Hubbard In you know K-12, you learn about the water tables and you know how the water cycle and like all of these natural cycles and systems you know as a part of your basic science education. And I don't remember this, but my mom tells the story that one day I came home and scolded my parents because they were using fertilizer on the lawn and didn't they know that that fertilizer is terrible for the water tables and the plant and animal life? And how could you do this? And this is terrible.
Sarah Lowry:So having an awareness early on of the impact of the actions that we take and the decisions that we make on ourselves and others that we don't know, but also life, you know, even beyond human life. So you know how are those decisions impacting everything is, you know, small as a lightning bug to you know, as large as a, you know, an owl or a hawk, because of what we are doing and choosing to do, and our you know little square space of lawn, you know, is impacting all of these other creatures. So had an awareness of. I think you use the word fairness as one of the non-sea starting words.
D. Lee Scott:Yeah, there's a lot of them in here.
Sarah Lowry:Adjectives and so just had that awareness about fairness and how, you know again, interactions between and decisions made by people impact other people and other life and how can we make better decisions for ourselves and others. So from a very, very early age, you know, kind of had that awareness age, you know, kind of had that awareness. I will say, when I was so graduated with my undergraduate and had a panic moment because the way, a lot of the framing, so you have an English degree, you know, even if you, you know, also study linguistics and say, you know, teaching English as a foreign language teaching was kind of the central piece to that and I didn't know that I wanted to, you know, go be a teacher. I did not go through, like, all the certifications to do that, so I wasn't, you know, I didn't really want that to be the path, but I didn't know what other path there was Right, because they really kind of focused in on that as the path so kind of stumbled across again because of my mom had a similar like now, what do I do? Moment.
Sarah Lowry:And there was a program at YSU called American Studies. It was interdisciplinary, so it included English and history and business and art. You know lots of different kinds of disciplines and really looked at how do all of these elements come together to make American society and culture and identity and how do all of these elements come together to create the society that we are living in. You can imagine, in the course of those two years, lots of examination of you know, current American culture, challenges, history and a lot of you know kind of looking at social impact and challenges throughout history. And at that time it was, you know, 2010, 11. And there was a lot of shifting politically in Ohio and the country that's the Affordable Care Act. You know lots of you know discussions and debates about. You know what kind of country and society do we want to be? So it was actually a good time to be studying this kind of stuff because it's happening live in front of you.
Sarah Lowry:So, having that as the backdrop to this, you know, opportunity to be a student but also, through that time, as a graduate student, I was a graduate teaching assistant. So I taught an undergraduate course called American Identity, which really looked at how do we understand ourselves as Americans in relationship to other Americans, but then as Americans in relationship, you know, to others in you know other places across the world, and it was really fascinating because we had classes. They were fairly large, like 40 students. There were general education classes and there were students who were, you know, like 16 in Youngstown Early College with students who were 60, you know coming back or auditing the class. And so as we're talking about, say, you know the civil rights movement in the United States and you know students are asking questions like people movement in the United States and you know students are asking questions like people are in the class who actually lived through it yeah, you could talk about and share that experience and that it was just it was.
Sarah Lowry:It was a really beautiful thing to be able to see and, you know, to support that kind of dialogue and deepening of understanding in a way, you know, that might have made a light bulb or two go off about like, hey, you know, these things happened. However, many years ago before you know, the 16 year mean led me to wanting to be more involved in some kind of you know career that helped serve and support communities to. You know, build on those good things that happened over time. While we are seeing the continuation of challenges and the you know shifting of you know who is in charge and who can make decisions and how does that impact other people?
D. Lee Scott:Wow. So when did? When did the opportunity with the Senator come? Was this, was this a natural flow into that? So we're, talking to Senator Sherrod Brown yeah.
Sarah Lowry:So this is um, this is this is a fun story. So while I was finishing my master's work, um, the, there was a class it was called humanities in the community. Um, and I actually, many years later, had the opportunity to teach the class as a part-time instructor and I'm heartbroken for all sorts of reasons that the American Studies program is no longer active at the university, because that class really helped me see and understand how the humanities you know, so you know all of those different disciplines like show up in the world and not just as, not just on college campuses, like there's real application for poetry and art, and you know political science and philosophy. You know all of these, all of these different disciplines, english of course. And during that class, and you know, finishing up that program, there was expectation for the successful planning, development and implementation of projects. So that's how I got thrown into. How do you do event planning?
D. Lee Scott:How do?
Sarah Lowry:you engage with all of these different stakeholders, you know how do you put something together, how do you evaluate and all of the stuff that still drives me kind of crazy, but you know it gets a little bit better each time. But, like you were saying, I remember you know planning some of those early events and feeling similarly, the butterflies and needing to kind of take a minute because you know all of that energy leaves you feeling a little swimmy, needing to kind of take a minute because you know all of that energy leaves you feeling a little swimmy. So during that time met someone who was working with the university in the city of Youngstown and you know, had a, you know connections in Cleveland and what I say to folks you know who ask, you know, career advice. I don't completely believe that it is one or the other, what you do or who you know. I think it's both and if you are doing good work, people take note of it and will tell others and help open doors and to offer support.
D. Lee Scott:Absolutely.
Sarah Lowry:So it's kind of a meritocrat is who you know. So it's a blending of the two.
D. Lee Scott:What's the saying? It's not who you know is what who you know knows, right yeah.
Sarah Lowry:It's that. So somebody you know the person I was mentioning who has all those connections. You know I got to know them through this process or, you know, finishing up school because my academic mentor was good friends with them and this individual is having their I believe it was their kitchen remodeled and was trying to get a hold of their contractor. You know whose name was John, and kept calling and not getting a response, calling and not getting a response, and then finally got a response and it turns out he was calling the wrong John and the John he was calling worked for Senator Brown and happened to say to this person like you know, we're really looking for a new outreach person in Northeast Ohio and we would love for them to be from Youngstown. Do you know anybody?
Sarah Lowry:So that's how that happened.
D. Lee Scott:And.
Sarah Lowry:I remember very distinctly two moments in those kind of getting connected to that job, pacing around Wick Park on the phone, you know, kind of talking about why am I interested? So that question, you know how, you know why are you interested in this position? What do you know about Senator Brown? What do you know about public policy? And just you know, pacing off that nervous energy.
Sarah Lowry:You know, walking around Wick Park in the summer in my graduate work, you know, learning more about and getting more involved in trying to make the world a better place. There was a community organizing group here and you know, got connected with them and you know they had a training program week long. They called it. So I, you know, was graduated and didn't really have anything else to do and I'm like, well, maybe you know, I'll learn something or meet someone. You know, you never know. So go, you know, to this week long training program. And you know one of the issues that they were really looking at was, you know, consequences of, like the big banks, you know, and how they take advantage of this. You know they take advantage of folks, you know, through home loans, student loans, you know all of these different things where you're saddling people with debt in ways that they can't really, you know, climb out of because of, you know, fees and all sorts of other things.
D. Lee Scott:Oh yeah, Like that predatory lending stuff.
Sarah Lowry:Yep. So you know it was. You know this is 2012. So not you know, too far outside of. You know 2008 and the, you know financial recession and all of that.
Sarah Lowry:So we did an action at a bank in the Columbus area and you know we were very quickly escorted out of the bank itself. So we had a little rally out out front and I was asked to speak about my experience as a recent graduate now with like 1000s of dollars of debt and what does that mean to me and my you know future prospects for, like buying a house, you know. You know having us, you know being being a successful. You know young adult starting a career very quickly got escorted away. You know being a successful. You know young adult starting a career very quickly got escorted away. You know we kind of climbed back onto the bus and, you know hightailed it back to where we're having our training and we're, all you know, very energized and you know talking about, you know what that experience was like.
Sarah Lowry:And I get a phone call and it was Senator Brown's office and they said well, you know, we're very interested, would you be interested in, you know, taking the job? And I'm like, well, I just got kicked out of a bank. For you know telling my story about student loans and student debt and they're like oh no, no, that's fine. Currently, the ranking member on the banking committee has been working for years to try to work with financial institutions to be more fair and equitable in their policies and practices for folks and causing less harm in the way that we have seen with the predatory lending and piling on of fees and different things that make it very difficult for people to work and raise a family and buy a house and do. All these things that you know, we know are milestones and a part of what is expected, as you know the American dream really.
D. Lee Scott:So give me so you're doing this working in Senator Sherrod Brown's office. I'm sure it was eye-opening in a lot of different ways.
Sarah Lowry:Kind of briefly tell me like, what was that experience like? It was very difficult at first, and the most important thing that I learned in that process is it is not my responsibility to know the answer to all the questions. It is my responsibility to know who to ask for the answers, which is difficult in a transition from. So, if you, as you move on, you know, especially in an academic field of study, you become more of an expert in an area, so there is an expectation that you know the answers. You become more of an expert in an area, so there is an expectation that you know the answers. And I guess, to some degree, like that might be a flawed line of thinking, but anyway, there you feel like, as you become more deeply invested in something that you are then responsible for knowing, so to very quickly be thrown into a space where you know I'm listening to the concerns of dairy farmers, but also you know military personnel like and you know local governments from places I've never been to before, like it's a lot and there's no way for me to know the answer to all of these different things, especially the degree of detail and nuance that is necessary to actually address the problems that are being described to you. So it was very overwhelming, you know, as a 20 something to be put into these places.
Sarah Lowry:But that's the other interesting thing I learned in this process is there's a lot of 20 somethings that are kind of, you know, making things happen. So there's that. But yeah, it was very overwhelming, but I learned a lot about how you know. Again, it's not my responsibility to know all the answers. It's okay to say I don't know. Let me get back to you and find the right person who does know the answer, to successfully answer that question, that question. So, like that shift of thinking, I still use it Because, as you kind of mentioned, my career has, you know, as the representative for Senator Brown's office, like there's no way for me to know everything about everything.
Sarah Lowry:Ohio is a very diverse state. Similarly, at the Community Foundation there's no way for me to know everything about everything. The community foundation there's no way for me to know everything about everything. So just knowing and having an understanding that my somebody, I think, flippantly said that oh, you're like the fairy dot connector you just have a magic wand and you walk around, you know, making all these connections um.
Sarah Lowry:I just thought that was cute. But it is like my job isn't necessarily in, you know throughout, you know postgraduate, you know what I've done so far isn't to necessarily know all the answers, but to help whoever it is I'm talking to and working with get the answer that is actually going to help solve the problem.
D. Lee Scott:Okay, so three words to describe your experience with Senator Brown's office. That's a surprise question. I just I'm like, no, some time in there, but you become part of the. When did the community foundation? Because originally I was going to say, hey, the healthy, but that's a part of the community foundation, so I want to be perfectly clear that you come to the community foundation of Mahoney Valley. I'm going to put that in there, yes, Was this well after, or did you just?
Sarah Lowry:Yeah, was this well after, or did you just? Yeah? So it was late 2017, early 2018, you know that. You know the Community Foundation was looking for someone to lead this new initiative, the Healthy Community Partnership, and at the time you know I'd been with Senator Brown's office.
D. Lee Scott:You know they kept me around for almost six years, oh wow.
Sarah Lowry:Okay, yeah, so 2012 to 2018.
Sarah Lowry:So I had that itch, like you know, wanted to do something else, and the thing that really got me thinking is and while I value and I think that this is really important and it's funny because I'm actually going back to wanting to do more of this working with Senator Brown's office, I had the opportunity, through covering seven counties in Northeast Ohio, to see how other communities are coming together to solve problems and tackle challenges that, while they are different than what we are experiencing here, in some ways there's a lot of common threads.
Sarah Lowry:So seeing how other places are addressing things, say, like food security, helped me get a better understanding of what could we try here, based on what you know I'm seeing elsewhere. But the challenge was in working with you know my responsibilities with Senator Brown's office. You know, having seven counties with many you know different cities and townships like it's very difficult to develop the kinds of relationships that let you get deep into an issue. So it was very much like trying to put out fires, solve problems, do the best that you can to really lean into supporting you know that community or you know that group as best you can, but understanding that you have all of these others that you need to get to. So wanting to shift from kind of a pebble skipping across the pond, you know being very surface level, to wanting to go deep and reading and getting a better understanding of the healthy community partnership and really focusing on the two counties that I grew up in.
Sarah Lowry:I went to school in where all of my friends and family are. You know, somebody said and I think that this is very true that it was kind of a call to come home. So I listened to the call.
D. Lee Scott:So you were at the community foundation and then, through all your talent and skills and personality and all that, they formed this healthy community partnership to address some things that we'll talk about in a little bit, and you were selected as the one to lead that. Yes, which actually brought me on as part of it too, with all our other wonderful partners yes. So I'm going to move ahead just a little bit and talk about HCP. So what are the initiatives?
Sarah Lowry:Because I want to make sure we get that to bring the community together to go deeper into some of these challenges to people's health and well-being. Data collected through the county and city health departments and Mercy Health, their community health assessment process, the three areas that kind of rose to the top where a community response seemed appropriate are healthy food access, parks and green spaces and active transportation. So with each of those three areas we want to see folks having more regular and reliable access to affordable, healthy foods, more regular and reliable access to welcoming and well-maintained parks and green spaces, and regular access to transportation options that fit individuals' needs and they can do safely. So how do we design the physical environment so that, whether you are walking or rolling or cycling or riding the bus or driving a car, like however you are traveling, you should be able to do so safely and like, really putting people at the center of design rather than efficiency?
D. Lee Scott:people at the center of design rather than efficiency. And how long? Because I want to talk about the role change a little bit. You've brought a lot of people together during your time. There are a lot of people, a lot of partners and even those who aren't partners, right? Just, you've done that. How long did you that time frame of doing that until you took on your new role, which I'm going to ask you a question about?
Sarah Lowry:Sure, so um, I started with the healthy community partnership and the community foundation, um. So in that role in uh February of 2018, um continued um until last November, exclusively supporting um the work of the healthy community partnership as its director. So November of 2023 was the official role shift. Now, you know, as I have said to others, it's not as though I have completely let go of the Healthy Community Partnership, but it's just as I have said, you know, to various different partnership affiliated groups. It's like HCP plus.
Sarah Lowry:So we're bundling more things in to help support the work of the partnership with the role change.
D. Lee Scott:And then this role change.
Sarah Lowry:Yeah. So the community foundation had a lot of shifting and changes happen. Last year, with the announcement of Sherry Harrell's retirement, who served as the leader of the Community Foundation for 10 years, I believe, and Casey Krell, who was the director of donor services and supporting organizations, kind of stepped into that role as president as Sherry was retiring and with that brought eight or so years of grant making and you know community connections and experience. So it's always nice when leadership has experience doing the work of others on staff so they know what it's like and can help you. You know it's not the. You know you don't have to know all the answers, but you have to know who to ask, and Casey is great because she has all of that experience.
Sarah Lowry:So my new role is to make sure the community foundation is walking the walk and not just talking the talk, and what I mean by that is, and to use another cliche, that we are putting our money where our mouth is. And, to use another cliche, that we are putting our money where our mouth is. So if we are saying health is important, our investments, following are the grants that we are issuing to community partners, following up with what we are saying is a community priority and then working and we've been in the middle of and are really putting into practice recommendations through a rather rigorous strategic planning process you know, really making sure, as we are identifying and listening to the community about other priorities that are coming out, are we then also being a true community partner? And, of course, you know, making sure that our investments show that these things are important, because, you know, we want to fund the organizations that are doing that work. But are we doing more?
Sarah Lowry:And we want to be more than just a check writer. We want to be a partner, because the community foundation, like we all, live here. You know we have, you know we have a stake in the success of the Mahoning Valley in ways that you know other organizations and residents do. So we want to be more than just a check writer. We want to be a partner. We want to, you know, walk with people who are doing, you know, this work. We want to support them, we want to show up, we want to be present, we want to be visible Beyond just, you know, here's a grant to do the work.
D. Lee Scott:What's your vision, since you've been doing this for quite some time? You know as far as the. Since you've been doing this for quite some time, you know as far as the how do you envision the Mahoney Valley's health landscape in the next 10 years? I won't be hard on you saying the next year, because I know it's a lot of work. Yeah, in the next 10 years, what's your vision Like? What do you see?
Sarah Lowry:So what we learned fairly early on with the Healthy Community Partnership is this kind of intense, trust-based community work takes time. So I think 10 years is realistic to see change. And I will say certainly the partnership and the community foundation and all of our partners want to see change result in better health outcomes. So our blood pressure, fewer instances of chronic illness. You know, we want to see people being healthier. We want to see not just better physical health but mental health too.
D. Lee Scott:Yeah.
Sarah Lowry:Um, both of those things are really important in making sure that people are, you know, we're not just talking about absence of illness, but we're talking about people's just talking about absence of illness, but we're talking about people's feeling as though they are, you know, living a purpose-filled and prosperous life, which means that they are physically and mentally feeling fulfilled. So certainly want to see those things. But I think the other thing that makes a partnership different from some other efforts is we are also measuring how we are working together. So a couple of those adjectives you threw out in the beginning, you know, community connection, collaboration. We want to see more of that in not just the work of the partnership but other kinds of efforts that are coming together around large systemic community challenges.
Sarah Lowry:Health is one of those things. But we also know, you know, employment, education, housing. You know all of these other things are kind of larger issues that not any one organization can solve or, you know, address in a meaningful way to affect the number of people who are currently being impacted by these things. But we need a more collective, collaborative, connected approach.
D. Lee Scott:Yeah yeah, change gears a little bit. So, with with community and community change, there's a lot of systems and a lot of systems that you know. We'll just say in your space there's a lot of systems and a lot of things to do, a lot of demands right, a lot of meetings and a lot of this. How do you balance all that with your personal life, like the demands of the career and just your personal life?
Sarah Lowry:Well, we talked about biking.
D. Lee Scott:Which I'm all for.
Sarah Lowry:Yeah. So I will say a word that I struggle with, that I think is an important one, is boundaries. This kind of work can, and in a lot of ways does, become all-consuming because, like I said, we, myself included at the community foundation are doing this work in service to the community, but we're not separate from the community.
Sarah Lowry:We are the community too, so, as we're talking about these things like we're impacted by it all, you know, in the same way I shouldn about these things like we're impacted by it all. You know in the same way, I shouldn't say the same way we are impacted also by the systems and the injustices and you know the imbalances that we are trying to correct. You know through the work of the partnership and other efforts, and we know that and I do want to kind of clarify like not every person is experiencing these how these systems work in the same way and there's a very critical part, you know in what does the valley look like in 10 years? And I do think we need to spend more time really thinking about equitable approaches to addressing these issues. I'm really thinking about equitable approaches to addressing these issues.
Sarah Lowry:There's a graphic of a baseball field with people standing on boxes and talking about equality is giving everybody the same number of boxes, but you still have people who can't see the game.
Sarah Lowry:Equity is recognizing that not everybody's starting at the same place and addressing that by giving them more, you know, more, more height to stand on to actually see what's going on, and there's a version of that that I really like that takes the fence away so that everybody actually has access, and that's what I want to see. We need to take the fence away so that everybody has access to what they need to thrive in the way that they should and how they choose to thrive.
D. Lee Scott:That's a lot of boundaries, though the boundaries so happen in boundaries.
Sarah Lowry:So, as I'm talking about taking away fences, we're talking about boundaries, not allowing you know so these things, because it is life, right, like what we're talking about, these systems, you know this, this is life, we're all you know in this mix together. But understanding that you know the you know oxygen mask approach, like you have to help yourself first so that you can help others, and that's a very difficult thing, I'll say, for myself to internalize. It's easy for me to say it to other people.
Sarah Lowry:Oh yeah, but it's very difficult to internalize because you know again throughout this whole conversation, like just having an awareness of the decisions that I make or anyone makes or doesn't make impacts others.
Sarah Lowry:So like really wanting to serve and support others, is this very central tenant to how I operate and just becoming more clear, especially as I get older and have, you know, more aches and pains and less energy you have to take care of yourself if you're going to actually do the work to support others. So, as I was saying very early on, we are very fortunate to have these kinds of green spaces, these little oases where we can go to recharge. Not everyone has the access that they should to these spaces and you know the partnership is working on that, but there are some of those spaces and really making sure your question about boundaries, to set aside on purpose time to go to those spaces, not as a part of a work function, but just to be there and to be present and not to fill up every night and weekend with community events, because you can very easily oh, yeah, sometimes you try not to and up every night and weekend with community events because you can very easily, oh yeah.
Sarah Lowry:Whether you I mean, sometimes you try not to and you still do it anyway. But it's really important, I think, for anyone who's doing this kind of you know work with, and for a community to make sure you take care of yourself as you are taking care of others.
D. Lee Scott:What nugget of wisdom would you give the 18 year old Sarah Lowry?
Sarah Lowry:Take a political science class, maybe an economics class. Joking aside, I would say I actually don't really have any regrets. I think, because I didn't walk into post high school with a clear I'm going to do X, that I was going to be disappointed because I didn't have. In some ways, you know, folks have like I'm going to be.
Sarah Lowry:you know, this very specific career path is where I'm going and then things happen and you have to deviate or delay and there's disappointment Because I didn't have that. I really allowed myself to kind of let the river carry me. And you know, when there was a opportunity to jump out of the kayak and onto the shore, like do it, um, but and I mean using the river analogy, like getting better at seeing where it's going and knowing where I want to go and being able to steer a little more clearly, but like in the in when I was 18, I do think I guess the nugget of wisdom is just, you know, be comfortable with the unknown and explore because you don't know where you're going to end up. And that's part of, I think, the beauty of you know life. When you have the ability and I again I recognize that not everybody does, but when you have the ability to, you know, use that time to figure things out, like really use it.
D. Lee Scott:Okay, you ready for another challenging question? Yeah, use it. Okay, you ready for another challenging question? Yeah, it is a classic here and I always explain it that I feel like everyone has that one word that you know closely defines them or something that they stand on or or clearly defines them, and it can. It's fluid. One year it could be this, one year it could be that, but as of now, what is your one word?
Sarah Lowry:I would say today, my one word is partnership.
D. Lee Scott:Interesting Explain that.
Sarah Lowry:And I say that because someone yesterday was saying something about looking at definitions and a couple of the definitions that they were looking at was one was collaborate and one was partnership. And they said I don't understand why they're separate. And they are separate because they're different. You can collaborate with somebody and not be partners. To be a partner, I think, is you are going to stick together through the difficult things. There is a shared understanding of where you're going and why. There are shared values and commitment. And I think that for the valley to do what it needs to do in a lot of different respects, more partnerships need to happen that are based on and have an understanding of the need for partnerships to really truly be authentic, with shared values and a vision and an understanding that that partnership, like any relationship, may change over time, but as long as there is that core commitment and that partnership is understood in that way, that is how we see the progress that we need.
D. Lee Scott:That's probably one of the most diverse. That's an interesting one, the one where, like you know, sometimes you empower or you see resilience and bam, that's good.
Sarah Lowry:I think what I've learned, and I think what others are learning, is, in this moment in time and in communities like ours, if we don't come together I just heard somebody say it Last week at Grace AME hosted Amaha Salisi Sorry if I got that name wrong from Gem City Market in Dayton and you know they're having a discussion about. You know, a similar community led co-op opportunity here and you know the if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Like that. Just I've heard it a million times, but I think it's really important in this moment that we internalize that. And there's a lot of urgency and wanting to act out of a sense of urgency which leads us to wanting to continue to go alone. And we can't do that because we're going to go alone and stay disconnected and that doesn't help in the way that we need. We need to be together and we need to go together.
D. Lee Scott:Okay, hmm, I got some more hard questions for you. Very brief, though. These aren't long at all. This is the random question thing. These are ones that you have no idea that I just sit and randomly think of all right. So if you could have one fictional character as a best friend, who would it be?
Sarah Lowry:oh man, that's a very good question, you know. So another kind of childhood always looked up to thought she was super cool was miss frizzle from the Magic School Bus and I have actually had the pleasure of meeting some real life Miss Frizzles. So I think that she is somebody who is comfortable in being herself and inspiring other young learners to be comfortable being themselves and explore without fear is somebody I'd want to hang out with.
D. Lee Scott:Okay, if you could have one superpower, but it can only happen while you sing it. Oh man, what would that superpower be?
Sarah Lowry:This is an interesting twist on the superpower question. I mean, without thinking very hard, I'm tempted to say invisibility, because if I'm singing I want to be invisible, because I don't want people to know that that's me doing that.
D. Lee Scott:Right right.
Sarah Lowry:I can do a lot of things. Singing is not one of them. So the icebreaker question what's a skill or talent that you wish you had? That's one, but I guess I I'm gonna stay with, you know, invisibility, so that you can carry a message, um, and have the message be heard without the person behind it being seen, because sometimes the person who's saying it influences the message and the message isn't heard in the same way.
D. Lee Scott:All right, Every woman should own a.
Sarah Lowry:A bike.
D. Lee Scott:Three words that would describe your younger self.
Sarah Lowry:Ambitious, curious, and I feel like I need another word that ends with an O-U-S Imaginative.
D. Lee Scott:Okay, last one If you could be a fly on the wall, I like to say if you could be a ladybug on the wall.
Sarah Lowry:I like that better.
D. Lee Scott:If you could be a ladybug on the wall of any historical event.
Sarah Lowry:Oh man.
D. Lee Scott:Just one. What event would it be?
Sarah Lowry:The March on Washington with Reverend Dr Martin Luther King. I want to be a ladybug on one of the signs that they were carrying when they were marching on Washington.
D. Lee Scott:And because it's a ladybug, nobody would kind of shoo you off or nothing. It'd be like a good luck thing, ladybug's a good luck.
Sarah Lowry:Right.
D. Lee Scott:So how can people stay connected with you or HCP or the community foundation?
Sarah Lowry:Yeah, so um the community foundation, I mean, uh, the foundation's number and my email there is all over the place.
Sarah Lowry:Um so phone is probably less good cause. You know, in order to do community impact work uh, impactfully, you can't be in the office all the time. So I'm going to say email is probably best. So my email address is, you know, very easy to find on the Community Foundation's website. The foundation has a Facebook. The partnership also has a Facebook and an Instagram. So I know many of us are connected to social media, so that's an easy place, um, but for direct connection, um, email is best and it's very easy to find. It's um slaury at cfmvorg. Okay.
D. Lee Scott:You got a lot of love in the community, including over here in this chair. You do amazing work and um I'm glad we finally made this happen. I really, truly am.
Sarah Lowry:I'm so excited Folks.
D. Lee Scott:I hope that you enjoyed this episode and, again, on behalf of Kimberly Gonzalez, who is my co-producer and making this thing sound nice and crispy, thank you for hitting the play button and thank you for listening in to Sound United Presents Signing out. This episode was produced by the Sound United Podcast Studio, led by Kimberly Gonzalez. Photography and video content produced by the D5 Group, and be sure to visit our website, soundunitedpresentscom, where you can catch up on all the episodes and get some behind the scenes content. I'm Deshaun Scott. Thank you for listening. Ready to launch a podcast or create standout audio content? Sound United Podcast Studio has everything you need Studio rental, consulting, content development, marketing support and we even offer remote editing services. And we can help you whether you're local or nationwide. So book your discovery. Call at wwwthesounducom. That is wwwthesounducom. Or do it the old-fashioned way and call 330-238-7157. That is 330-238-7157. It's time for you to empower with sound.
