Session Voices: Mary Collins - Big Work at the Local Level

In our final episode of this season's "Session Voices" series, we talk (again) with Mary Collins, of UM's Center for Children, Families and Workforce Development. Mary talks about the many steps left to codify and implement new policies, now that the session has ended, and the ways in which communities can work together to implement these changes. We discuss the power of local coalitions, particularly Early Childhood Coalitions (ECC's) -- what they are, why they exist, and how you can get involved in one in your own community (or help create one).  

Guest Bio: 

Mary Collins has worked in a variety of social service settings where she provided counseling, advocacy, and supportive services to children, adolescents, and adults. She worked for the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) in a variety of leadership positions focused on improving Montana’s behavioral health system. In her role at the Center for Children, Families and Workforce Development, Mary works to support Montana's early childhood system. Her efforts are targeted at bolstering the capacity of Montana's Early Childhood Coalitions to support community-driven systems change.

mary.collins@mso.umt.edu

Organizations/resources mentioned in this episode: 

The Montana Early Childhood Coalition: https://hmhb-mt.org/mtecc/

UM's Center for Children, Families and Workforce Development: https://www.umt.edu/ccfwd/

Zero to Five Montana: https://zerotofive.org/

To contact your federal representatives: https://mt.gov/govt/congressional_delegation

"Session Voices" was hosted and produced by Emily Freeman, with music by Caroline Keys. 

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Transcript

We finally made it to the other side of Montana's sixty-ninth legislative session and what a journey it's been.

0:07

Together we've learned, laughed, and maybe even cried a little.

0:11

In this final episode of Session Voices, we'll chat once more with the guest who helped us get things started, Mary Collins from the University of Montana Center for Children, Families and Workforce Development.

0:21

Mary and I will recap some successes of the session and dig into what lies ahead and the ways in which each one of us can build connections in our own communities to continue the work at a local level.

0:32

I'm Emily Freeman and you're listening to Session Voices, a special mother love podcast series from Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies, the Montana Coalition.

0:41

So the session is over.

0:42

Yes, it is.

0:44

Is it relief?

0:45

What are you feeling?

0:47

It feels OK, we can get back to focusing on other things that maybe aren't all quite as all consuming.

0:55

It moves at quite a pace, especially toward the end.

0:58

It's can be very hard to keep up, and it is still not entirely over.

1:04

We're still waiting for the governor to make his moves, so still some calls going out and advocacy asks related to different things, so.

1:14

Get that, get stuff over the final hump.

1:17

But yeah, it certainly feels quieter in Helena.

1:19

I don't live far from the Capitol and it is noticeable.

1:23

What do you feel like were some successes for families in 0 to 30 to 5 years of parenting, or some successes this session from your perspective?

1:32

I think Medicaid expansion passing really pretty just handily.

1:37

It wasn't a lot of fanfare or craziness that happened related to that happened early on in the session, and that's just such a win for families and kids here in the state.

1:49

And then with childcare, there was a lot of work done to hold back some bad bills that really would have impacted.

1:58

Childcare providers and just the ability to ensure that we have good quality standards in Montana.

2:05

So that's been positive.

2:07

There's been some good forward momentum on getting some more benefits to childcare workers that might help stabilize that workforce.

2:14

We've had a long-term investment made for early childhood, for the first time ever in Montana, a special account set aside for Some long-term funding to invest in the system and schools.

2:26

We've had some good positive gains with some money invested in how do we actually pay teachers better and make sure we have teachers in classrooms in Montana.

2:36

Those are all good wins.

2:38

How long until we see or feel those changes on the ground in our normal life?

2:44

It's interesting, like something like Medicaid expansion.

2:47

It's the win is That status quo remains, right?

2:50

The win is that we won't see changes, and that's also pretty easy for folks on the receiving end of that to manage.

2:58

And then there are other pieces where it takes time, a bill has passed to provide the best beginning scholarship for childcare workers, and that takes time where even though there's money set aside and whatnot, you know, you have to work with the department, you have to write administrative rules.

3:14

So you have to get a program set up.

3:16

And so all of that takes at least several months.

3:20

And so there is certainly work to be done and folks who were major leaders and advocates in some of these bills now enter this next phase where you do a lot of collaboration with the departments or, you know, administrative state to say, OK, how do we actually enact this bill now in terms of getting money out the door and what does a program look like?

3:39

It will vary.

3:40

And then I imagine there's some communication that needs to be done.

3:44

I think it's easy for us to forget that not everybody pays attention to the session.

3:49

And so somebody who's just running a childcare somewhere in Montana, who will benefit from what are hopefully, knock on wood, gonna become laws, communicating to them.

4:00

Here's some cool opportunities for you and for Your employees.

4:03

And so who does that communication?

4:07

The state, I say that with air quotes.

4:10

I used to work for the state, and I always kind of laughed when people would refer to me in that way, because I would just think I'm just a person.

4:17

But there are guideposts, right, in terms of how this process rolls out or when you write an administrative rule, which is basically The state's sort of playbook for we'd have a bill, and now we write down how are we actually implementing this.

4:32

There are processes in place where they have to have public comment, they have to post notices, but most people even working in that system, that did not always feel inherent or obvious, right?

4:43

And I think for average folks just going about their day, they're probably Not looking at administrative rule, public comment notices.

4:51

And so really it's a lot of work on also just the different orgs and coalitions and folks who are involved in that session of really still carrying that torch to communicate with folks who are impacted to say, this is what's upcoming, or these are still opportunities for you to weigh in.

5:08

It really isn't all hands on deck.

5:10

There's a lot of work that happens after a bill gets signed.

5:15

Correct me if I'm wrong on, on this take.

5:17

And I admittedly, I was more tuned into what was going on this session than last.

5:22

But it feels to me like some of the bills that were passed last session, it almost felt like nobody had given any consideration to how they would actually be implemented and what that burden might be on a local level.

5:35

For example, bills that impacted how teachers can do what they do, and that added burden on teachers who already have enough on their plate.

5:44

Did it seem like this year in committee meetings, there was more of a question of, OK, I hear your idea.

5:51

How is that going to be implemented?

5:52

I think it's always a mixed bag.

5:54

Part of it is how engaged are the impacted people during the legislative session, and that can really vary and depend.

6:03

I think legislators try to say, OK, what would be the ramifications of this if it were passed and thinking through all those possibilities and It's really the job of bill sponsors and other advocates who are really pushing for those to understand that and be able to answer those questions and think through them.

6:19

But there's always things that come up that maybe just weren't anticipated.

6:25

I think the last session.

6:27

The early literacy programs, the legislation that was passed that helps school districts be able to expand preschool, early literacy programs, essentially preschool and school districts.

6:38

I took a lot, there was a lot of just like grassroots, OK, how do we actually do this in our communities?

6:44

Because yeah, it might say one thing on paper, but in terms of how that plays out for how you hire it, how you staff it, how you fund it, where in your building do these kids go?

6:53

How do you let parents know this is happening?

6:56

How do you Run a testing program to get kids screened, all of those pieces.

7:01

There was a lot of just organizing on the back end afterwards by communities and coordinating with one another to try and learn like lessons learned across communities.

7:10

How do we do this?

7:12

Yeah, because the legislators themselves have the benefit of hours and days' worth of mulling it over and talking about it.

7:18

And then you have these overworked, probably teachers and administrators who are already staying after.

7:26

The school day to prep for the next one or take care of paperwork or whatever it is and then you're saying, hey, here's this big new program.

7:34

Figure it out like surely you've got enough bandwidth between the end of the school day and when you shift into Dealing with your kids and dinner.

7:40

Yeah, for sure.

7:43

A lot of work.

7:44

Given how much uncertainty there is about funding for different programs on a federal level, different programs, different departments, things that that would trickle down to the state, what is the work that can be done locally?

7:58

Rather than sitting around on pins and needles wondering if your state funded or federally funded program is even going to exist in a few months, are there ways that on a local level, work can be done to support these early parenting years?

8:13

Yeah, I think I'd be remiss to not make the plug of calling and emailing your federal folks.

8:19

It does make a difference in terms of the amount of volume they hear about a particular issue.

8:25

But that's not always, that just doesn't always feel impactful for a lot of folks.

8:31

And I think and now that session is over, your local representatives, your state representatives and senators are back in their communities.

8:41

And now is the time where they are not full throttled during session, in hearings in committees all day every day, and now is the time that they should be engaging with their communities.

8:53

And so, I think it's ask folks to talk, give them a call, ask them a coffee.

9:01

They work for you, they work for their communities, and to just make the outreach to your local legislators now.

9:10

And asking them to meet with a group, maybe it's a group at your church, maybe it's your book club.

9:17

It's a group of parents that you know, and just ask them to have a conversation, get to know you, get to meet you, and there doesn't have to be, you know, a big agenda about it either.

9:27

Some of it is just, hey, I want to talk to you, I want to get to know you, I want you to know who I am, and I think particularly this year there will likely be a special legislative session in the fall to deal with federal cuts, and so the idea that by the fall we will know what we're working with.

9:47

That, yes, that federal budgets will be a bit clearer that the president just released his budget, and there are major things in there related to programs like Medicaid, and they're wide-reaching.

10:00

And so while it might seem overwhelming to read that budget or understand all of the pieces in it.

10:08

Knowing that your state representatives are likely going to come back and have to make decisions about funding that we thought we might have, but we now no longer have, how do they know right now, and before they get there in that special session, what matters to you and your community.

10:26

And so just being able again have those conversations, reach out, say, hey, I'm not sure what's happening with this, but it's really important to me.

10:35

That my kids continue to have XYZ, that childcare is still a priority for me, that I need affordable health care for my kids, whatever it might be.

10:45

And with a special session, how long is that?

10:47

And is it everybody?

10:49

Presumably it's all the legislators, but is it also all those peripheral folks, the journalists, the lobbyists, who shows up for this special session and what's it like?

10:58

Every legislator, right, comes back.

11:00

And yes, we'll certainly have coverage and all those different folks, but it is much more targeted.

11:05

Our legislators allotted 90 days every biennium to meet, and they used 85.

11:11

They have reserved 5 days for themselves.

11:14

And so, yes, it is a special sessions are brief and targeted.

11:20

It won't be like, oh, we're bringing new policy bills.

11:23

With the special session, it really will be to amend our state budget.

11:28

How do we have a balanced budget based on what comes down from the federal level?

11:33

And are those really long days?

11:34

I would imagine they will be.

11:36

Those aren't easy conversations to have.

11:38

It took 85 days to get to that point this go around, and so 5 days is, yeah, there's a lot to talk through.

11:46

So getting back to local efforts in this work that we do in this world of Early childhood and just sort of social services, public health, any of these spaces.

11:56

There are a lot of acronyms and specialized language, and those of us who are in the world, we listen to these things and we read articles, and we know what all these letters mean, this whole alphabet soup.

12:07

One of the terms that we hear a lot is ECC.

12:10

What does that acronym stand for?

12:11

And then what is that?

12:13

Does that mean?

12:14

Yeah, and ECC is an early childhood coalition.

12:18

And it really is a group of local partners who collaborate with one another to positively impact kids and families in their community.

12:27

Partners often include folks like those working at public health departments or local healthcare providers, libraries, schools, childcare providers, community organizations, and also just parents and caregivers.

12:41

Montana has over 20 active operating ECCs and they really run the gamut.

12:47

There are communities that have a few hired paid staff that run robust programming.

12:55

And they might have monthly meetings with 30 to 40 partners, right?

13:00

They're a well-oiled machine and bringing folks together, and they've got some more resources through different grant funding, where they can provide programs like running community events, so it could be a story hour at the library, providing the resources for that to happen, all the way up to providing doula services and parent aid programs in schools.

13:21

That's more on the robust end.

13:23

You have an actual paid coordinator, that's their job is to bring all these people together, run a strategic plan and to put out and build out resources and programs and initiatives that can positively make a difference.

13:37

And then there are communities who have a part-time volunteer, and they might have a budget of $5000 a year.

13:45

You can't do a whole lot with that, but at the heart of every ECC really is that.

13:52

Partner collaboration is just being able to facilitate that space for local folks, including parents, caregivers, families, to show up and hear from one another, like, what's going on in your world, what kinds of resources do you have, what sorts of challenges are you experiencing, and how do we share information with one another, so we're all not operating in a silo, and we can potentially find ways where we can Leverage each other's resources, capacity, expertise to navigate what we need to in order to serve kids and families.

14:25

That partnership idea is for and by the people in a given community.

14:30

So it's not like a top-down big program being handed out.

14:34

It's not at all.

14:35

It is grassroots of grassroots.

14:37

And I imagine different communities have really different needs even within that early childhood parameters.

14:43

Yeah, there are ECCs that are super focused on like home visiting doula services.

14:49

There are ECCs that are really plugged into the issue of childcare.

14:53

There are others that are really focused on perinatal mental health.

14:57

It's driven by the community, and it might be, oh, we have other partners who do this other body of work really well.

15:03

It's not a need, but this is a need in our community, and this is what we're going to focus on.

15:09

So it really is a matter of just hearing from folks in the community.

15:14

About what is needed and not replicating efforts if there isn't that opportunity to sit around and talk and say, what are you doing in the community?

15:22

What services are you providing?

15:23

Oh, OK, maybe we don't need to provide that, or maybe we should provide more of that if we're hearing from you that your service is already at capacity.

15:32

So just that opportunity to make time to sit down and check in with that shared goal.

15:38

Of improving opportunities and outcomes for those people in this phase of life.

15:43

Yeah, and really acknowledging that from the perspective of a parent or a child, they are navigating all of you.

15:50

And so how do you acknowledge that and potentially find ways where you say, hey, we can make this easier, or we could help each other out.

15:58

What's we have some sort of resource that we're having an event.

16:02

That we might not have a touch point with these particular parents or kids, but you do over in your program.

16:09

So can you share this with them?

16:10

It can be as simple as that, but really just like, how do you work with one another to make it, yeah, easy and accessible for parents and kids to get supports they need.

16:20

And that feels like a nice opportunity to invite a legislator.

16:25

A lot of legislators are not in that season of life with little kids or babies, some of them are, but I would say the vast majority are not, and it's probably not on their radar what young families in their community are lacking or are wanting, and so bringing them just either to listen or to talk or some combination.

16:44

Might be a really nice space to do it.

16:46

That's nonpartisan, just a neutral kind of space.

16:50

Yeah, and even if you are not involved in your ECC, they're a great place to make that ask.

16:57

Could you help facilitate this?

16:58

It's like, I would love to get a group of parents together in our community where we could just sit around a table and talk to our legislator about whatever topic or subject.

17:08

And with legislators, is it only ever appropriate to connect with the legislator in your district, your area, or if you know that there's a legislator somewhere else in the state who is on a certain committee or has a certain interest area, would it ever be appropriate?

17:26

To reach out to them so that they're getting a bigger picture of statewide needs when they are sitting on that committee, working with people from all over the state, or is it really just, no, just deal with your local people and expect that they will communicate that to the larger body.

17:40

No, fair game.

17:42

It's all fair game, yeah, I think especially if there's a particular legislator who, especially long term ones recession after session, they're really focused on a particular issue.

17:52

I think about someone like Melissa Romano, it's like she is focused on schools, like how can she improve school funding and school resources in Montana.

18:02

To be able to, if that's the issue, you that feels important to you or your community chatting with them and also saying, what do you need to hear from communities outside your own, right?

18:13

Or what's your advice?

18:14

What could we do with our local representatives that would make a difference on this issue from their perspective.

18:21

Contact who you want to contact.

18:23

Don't draw a line for yourself.

18:24

And summers may be a nice opportunity to do that because a lot of people travel around the state for one reason or another.

18:30

And you could just reach out and say, hey, we'd love to have you come to our ECC meeting if you're ever coming through Dillon or Helena or wherever you live, and yeah, you just never know who's traveling where in the summertime.

18:43

And we also have the gift of Zoom.

18:46

It's a great point.

18:47

Just say, hey, would you be willing to hop on a call for 30 minutes?

18:51

Yeah, that's a great idea.

18:53

So how would someone find out if there is an ECC in their community?

18:57

It varies from community to community.

19:00

information is disseminated locally, and especially if you're new to the community, you may not know that, oh, there's a particular billboard down at a certain cafe, and that's where all the information lives.

19:11

Or in my case, there is a daily newspaper put out by the printing shop.

19:17

And you pick it up in different locations in town, but unless you know that, you don't know that.

19:22

So yeah, how do you recommend people poke around to find out if there's an ECC or even maybe consider being a part of creating one?

19:30

If there is, go to Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies website.

19:34

If you just Google HMHB Montana, and then MTECC, so Montana Early Childhood Coalition.

19:42

That is the group that Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies has convened for a long time, where all of the coordinators, the leaders of those local coalitions come together, so it's that next tier, right, across the statewide level.

19:56

And on the website, there are listed all of the ECCs that we at least know about and who are active.

20:04

And there's one pagers for each ECC on there that tells you who the coordinator is, contact information, and information like their mission or their vision statements, or just give you a sense of sort of like, oh, what is the work that they're about or that they focus on.

20:22

All of that information is housed on that page, and so that's a great starting point.

20:28

We'll put that link in the show notes.

20:30

And if there isn't one in your community and you're interested in starting one.

20:37

I would say first, reach out and just start to talk to people, talk to your local health department, your school, your childcare providers, to say, is there interest in this?

20:48

Would you like a space to come together to talk with other folks who want to do positive things for kids and families in our community?

20:55

And then On that same web page, there's contact information for folks, including myself, and also folks at Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies, 0 to 5 Montana, who are available to help.

21:07

and maybe especially looking for an ECC in a community that's similar to yours in some.

21:14

way.

21:14

Maybe rural, maybe having to do with population density, or maybe something about the demographics of that area that kind of match yours.

21:22

It might be useful to call one of those ECCs and say, hey, I'm in a kind of similar community.

21:28

Can I pick your brain about how this came to be and what you might Recommend as you're doing that work of reaching out to public health, the school, different partners or stakeholders, don't be disheartened if if the school says, you know what, love this idea, our teachers are maxed.

21:45

Don't be disheartened, find the next person.

21:46

Maybe it's the librarian.

21:47

You may find those partners in unexpected places.

21:50

It may not always be the one that on paper looks like an obvious partner.

21:54

You might find there's one local childcare that's just super motivated to do more of this kind of work or A church that has a lot of young families and is looking to do this work.

22:04

So, don't be disheartened and also think outside of the box for who those partners might be.

22:09

Yeah, 1000%.

22:11

And there is nothing that says getting 5 people together is not worthwhile.

22:16

You're not going to go 0 to 60, and it's not a failure if you don't have.

22:21

30 plus folks coming together.

22:23

If you start small, that's also really powerful too.

22:27

I was preparing for this conversation, and I listened back to the episodes of all of the session voices and was really struck by just the theme of relationship building and storytelling that came through in every single conversation.

22:41

When you think about how do I engage, how do I make a difference, what does this look like?

22:46

I don't know where to start.

22:48

Just getting together with people in your community and different partners working in different spaces, and just starting to talk to one another, just starting to share what your reality is from your point of view, asking what things look like for them.

23:01

Where do they feel like your community really thrives?

23:05

Where do they feel like, man, we really struggle in this area and it would be great if we could do A, B, C, or D.

23:13

Just starting that work is the foundation of advocacy.

23:17

Civic engagement can be really simple at its core.

23:20

That's relationship building and storytelling and conversations and It's OK if you don't fully understand how the government works.

23:28

Maybe some of us took a civics class at one point in our early schooling.

23:34

I have no memory of anything like that.

23:36

And so no shame if you're an adult who doesn't fully understand how it all works, you do understand relationship building and storytelling.

23:44

Like we all, as humans, those are our sort of core ways of functioning.

23:49

So that can be the work you do.

23:51

Yeah, there are people who get paid to do the nitty gritty policy work.

23:56

There's a reason it's some people's full-time jobs, and I just think even Being able to hear from folks to say it would be amazing if You know, and whatever that is, and you don't have to know what that means in terms of, is that a new law?

24:14

What kind of legislation would that look like?

24:17

But just being able to say like, if this were to happen in our community, it would make a huge difference, and this is why, and this is what I can tell you from my perspective.

24:26

That's where it starts.

24:28

Part of the struggle is OK, but where do I put that?

24:31

You might have those conversations with a couple of friends or you might just have that with your spouse or your partner, but knowing where to channel those ideas and like, how do I get this out there in the broader world.

24:44

And that's what I think is really powerful about an early childhood coalition is it can provide that space where you can have that conversation with a broader group of folks.

24:53

And then those groups are tied into other spaces at state levels and with other partners like healthy mothers, healthy babies who are working on a state level.

25:04

I know people that do policy work or who do policy work themselves.

25:08

And so that through line is there.

25:10

And you don't have to be the one that follows it all the way there, but just a matter of being able to know where that space is in your community, where you could have that conversation or ask somebody, what do I do with this idea?

25:21

Yeah, because the other interesting thing is, there may be a program that does that, that you just don't know about.

25:27

Just sort of circle back to our conversation about how are things implemented and communicated once they're decided.

25:33

There may be something that you're wishing existed in your community and you talk to enough people, and you find out, oh, that is a program like the state has that program or this organization has funding and has that program, and let me connect you to them.

25:46

Because there are so many different organizations and individuals doing work in this area around our really big state, and they don't always have the capacity to have a big marketing or communications strategy where they're making sure that everyone in every pocket of every county understands that this is available.

26:04

So getting into a group of people to just share knowledge about what's out there.

26:08

I think sometimes meetings.

26:11

can be overwhelming when you just get a million ideas.

26:14

Maybe there's some kind of best practices for early childhood coalition type meetings where how do you get from the giant white board to recognizing, OK, we have to triage these, what are the ones that are achievable, that Have broad enough interest or concern among this group, and that we think actually could move forward.

26:36

And it sounds like maybe that's where those statewide early childhood coalition meetings come in handy, because you can sort of pick the brains of other groups and say, hey, how do you get from this point of 100 big ideas to identifying the 2 or the 3, or even the one that you're going to all collectively try to advance.

26:53

Yeah, I would Just how the coordinators of these coalitions as being really adept leaders, and it is frustrating though, like we hear from our people, but we can't do anything.

27:06

There isn't money for this, or we don't know how to solve this because our county commissioners just won't vote to increase funding for whatever it may be.

27:16

But there is, like you said, support behind that, and whether it be the coordinator of that coalition or a member or just somebody who is looking at how do I engage in UCC to do this, he said, reach out, that link that we'll put in the show notes has contact information for different folks and There are people whose jobs, like myself, who we are here to help navigate that and help folks on a local level figure out how to do that work and try to bring them extra resources and capacity so they can do it and connect into the spaces that might be available on a statewide level that could make a difference.

27:52

And just sharing ideas because there may be things you haven't thought of.

27:56

You may be from a community where Applying for grants, whether it's private foundations or federal money, that's the way nonprofits operate.

28:05

You may be from a community where spaghetti dinners at the Elks Club are where people get some of their operating funds or funds for a program.

28:13

And so being kind of nimble with how you think about funding, is it a big community yard sale and the proceeds go towards a certain program you're trying to get started.

28:24

Mining for resources is not going to look the same in every town.

28:29

No, and I think in this work, you always have to be creative in terms of how you find solutions and Unfortunately, I think the political climate we're in right now is going to make that even more of a reality.

28:43

Folks who already don't have a lot of resources to begin with are probably going to have fewer resources to do a lot of this community-based work.

28:51

And so we have to be creative, and we have to work with one another.

28:55

Scarcity mindset can be the death of so many good things, but it's hard to get out of when you are just trying to figure out how to make it work in your community.

29:04

But People are here to help, and I often in my job.

29:09

Just do a lot of listening and a lot of thought partnership with folks of just trying to hear what's happening in your community.

29:17

And brainstorming with them about what might be possible and also just trying to be that dot connector where you're like, oh, this community over here, 8 counties away, also just had this issue.

29:29

I'm going to connect you with them.

29:31

This is what they did about it, and that's not possible for everybody to be able to do that, but it's our job to be those people.

29:38

And so, yeah, lean on us, tap in.

29:41

And it's OK not to know.

29:42

But so just the way we were talking about with, like on a legislative level, sharing what the need is, it, there's no expectation that you're going to tell your legislator what the path is to addressing it.

29:53

And so too, it's OK to have a big idea and say, I don't really know how we'd make it happen.

29:59

I think this would be cool for our town.

30:01

And then, like you said, reaching out to someone like you or that statewide early childhood coalition and saying, What's the path here?

30:09

What are the steps that you would recommend?

30:11

And I love that idea of thought partnering.

30:14

Sometimes that's all we need, right?

30:15

It's not someone to say, here's the solution, here's the money, because that's probably unrealistic at first.

30:20

But to say, here's this idea I have, can I just kind of bounce it off of you and talk it through together?

30:28

Especially people for whom that is their way of clarifying where they stand on something.

30:33

And to bring it back to the legislative session, that's part of what happens in committees, an idea and then another perspective and then a counter perspective and just that process of talking something through.

30:46

With another person.

30:47

You don't have to do this all in isolation.

30:50

It's most often through collaboration and partnership.

30:54

It is all of these solutions start in that way, right?

30:59

It takes one person to say, hey, what if we did, and that's how things begin, but it doesn't happen in a vacuum and I just want to, yeah, really emphasize that there is an infrastructure in Montana to plug in on a local level in a way that it makes its way up to a state level through early childhood coalitions during session, it's a lot of partnership and hands on deck to get a bill moved across.

31:25

You don't do that with your one coalition or with your one organization either.

31:29

You have to be in relationship with folks to really attack things from all sides, so it happens at every level.

31:37

It's like connecting with people, talking to people, and trying to get a shared vision, a shared goal for folks to buy into is what it takes.

31:46

Thank you so much for making time to talk and wrap up the session together and, you know, share some ideas for how the work can continue.

31:53

Yeah, yeah.

31:54

Thanks for doing this series.

31:55

It's been cool.

31:57

Mother Love is a project of Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies, the Montana Coalition, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the health, safety and well-being of Montana families in the 0 to 3 years of parenting.

32:07

Visit us at hmHB-Mt.org to learn more about who we are and what we do.

32:13

Views and opinions expressed in these interviews do not necessarily represent HMHB as an organization.

32:19

If you have feedback on the podcast or an idea for a future episode, we'd love to hear from you.

32:24

You can email us at stories@hmhb-Mt.org.

32:29

Thanks for listening.