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[MOTIVATIONAL MUSIC] - Hi, everyone, Steve Adubato.

Welcome to the next half hour of an important compelling conversation about leaders in the not-for-profit and philanthropic community who are making a difference every day.

Particularly, as it relates to black-owned not-for-profits, black operated not-for-profits in the inner city disproportionately.

We kick off with Nadine Wright-Arbubakrr, who's been with us many times.

She's the president and founder of Nassan's Place.

We'll tell you who Nassan's in just a moment.

Kareemah Harris-Baker joins us for the first time, a nominator and donor at a great organization, a grant giving awarding organization called SparkNJ.

And finally, A'Dorian Murray-Thomas, founder and chief executive officer of SHE Wins, incorporated a really important organization making a difference every day.

And also elected as an Essex County Commissioner, formally, they were known as freeholders.

Now there are commissioners.

Great to have you all with us.

A'Dorian, let's kick this off.

First off, tell us about your organization and the difference you're making every day with your colleagues.

- Thanks, Steve, it's such a pleasure to be here, especially with my colleagues.

If I had to talk about SHE Wins, I first, have to talk about the young people who make and drive our organization.

I created the organization as a young girl myself, 19 years old for young women affected by gun violence.

They use their stories to become agents of social change in their communities.

Today, those girls who started with us as middle schoolers are now in high school, college, creating organizations, creating campaigns that other young girls affected by violence and issues are not just affected by these issues, but literally game changing their communities, so that other young ladies don't have to share those same stories - And it's not a story for you, it's a reality for you.

You are personally connected by gun violence.

Just please share with everyone.

- My father was killed when I was seven years old, literally on his way to go pay my school tuition.

And I created, SHE Wins because I knew that the thing that stopped me from becoming caught up in the same systems that affected our community when other young people were affected by gun violence, or having support systems like those from my mother and my community.

I wanted to create an organization that mirrored the supports that I had, and some of the ones that I didn't have, which was in community with other young women who shared that experience.

- Thank you, A'Dorian.

Nadine, Hassan's Place is what and why?

- Well, thank you again for having me, Steve.

Nassan's place is inspired by a mother's love for her son and a mother's persistence, or I wanna say opportunity, to make sure that children within her own community got the type of services that they needed when she couldn't find them in her own community for her child who had autism.

My son was diagnosed with autism back in 2006.

And when I got the diagnosis, I knew nothing about autism.

I live in Essex County, born and raised in the city of Newark, and currently reside in the city of East Orange.

I couldn't find a support group.

Honestly, I was just looking for respite, a mental break, 'cause it was very overwhelming.

So I decided in 2012, it took about six years after this diagnosis, to no longer be a part of a problem that was plugging urban inner cities.

But to be a solution and create a nonprofit that will help families like mine get those access to services, support anything to be able to get our children out into the community, and also educate our community along the way.

'Cause there's a huge stigma associated with autism in the black and brown community that no one was talking about.

- Please check out our previous interviews with both, A'Dorian and Nadine.

SteveAdubato.org is up on the screen.

Now, let me ask you, Kareemah, your organization SparkNJ, the website is up right now.

You carefully, you and your colleagues, select organizations making a difference and provide grants to them.

The two folks we have here have been recipients at different points in time of those grants.

Why is an organization like SparkNJ so important?

- Good morning, everyone.

I think it's so important because there is clearly a disparity between organizations, excuse me, that are black and brown led versus others doing work in the community.

And the founders saw a need to provide funding to programs that were providing support to underrepresented and excluded communities, because access to funding was so limited.

So in seeing that there was a need for funding, the founders of this organization were specific in the requirement for these organizations to be black old, black led, doing work within American communities.

- A'Dorian, let me ask you, as you listen to your colleagues and particularly Kareemah talk about the disproportionate challenges of not-for-profits led by black men and women in this case, obviously both women, it's challenging for all of us who lead non-profits, particularly the money side.

What are a couple of the challenges that are even more challenging for you as a leader, as a nonprofit, than it would be for me or anyone else leading a nonprofit?

Describe a couple of those challenges because it is more challenging.

- Yeah, I'd say firstly a lot of, and I think in some ways you could apply this to small businesses too, but let's start with small nonprofits.

Firstly, when you're thinking about the more competitive grant, typically, there's expectations and in fact, requirements, on what your minimum operating budget should be to even be eligible for a grant.

And so when it comes to being able to have a grant that's able to be fully funded, you're often ineligible for the grants that would actually help you be able to be fully operational to the extent you'd like.

Secondly, when it comes to staffing, and you know, unfortunately this is also kind of connected to the first piece about funding.

A lot of these organizations like ours, and I know you know, Hassan's Place is sometimes in a similar space, are often volunteer based.

- That's right.

- And so when you're looking at the capacity that you need to make it fully funded, you have certain grant requirements that are looking for full staff, full-time, and X numbers of FTEs, when if you actually had the funding, you'd be able to do that.

And that's part of the reason why you're ineligible for the funding you're applying to.

And so it ends up being this kind of catch 22.

What's beautiful though is that even with a little, organizations like ours do a whole lot.

- That's right.

- And lot things and generations and families are transformed.

And if we had the resources to get to our next level, things catalyze to a whole different point.

And that's why SparkNJ and these community-based philanthropic organizations are such game changers.

Because they meet folks where they are, help them get to the next level.

- Along those lines, both of you, A'Dorian and Nadine are recipients of the Russ Berrie Award for making a difference.

Russ Berrie, we longtime partners with them, they recognize folks for many, many years, several decades, who are making a difference every day in the community with cash grants.

Along those lines, Nadine, number one challenge that you and your not-for-profit faces every day is.

- Funding.

One of the biggest.

One of the biggest pieces for us, you know, I concur with what A'Dorian was saying is that, you know, grassroots organizations who are on the ground actually doing the work day in and day out are always not as recognized as some of the national organizations.

One of the challenges that we have is that, you know, the programs that we provide for the children that we serve are specialized services.

So it does cost a lot more to bring in staffing to help our children on the autism spectrum, and to bring in certain types of therapeutic therapists in.

And a lot of times, you know, people look at and say, oh well you're paying a lot for salaries.

Yeah, we don't have the luxury of having 20 kids to one individual on a summer camp, which is what the state say you can have.

But 20 kids, we may need to have to hire at least eight or nine staff.

Some of those being one-to-ones for some of our children.

But one of the biggest issues for us is, getting the funding that we need.

- Right.

- People understanding why we need it.

And a lot of people don't get it.

Like why are your budget for staffing so high?

Because the need is so high to give these children a quality education or quality experience.

- We've put up the websites, we'll continue to put up the websites of every, not not-for-profit as well as SparkNJ foundation organization making a difference.

Kareemah, let me ask you something.

For SparkNJ, how the heck do you make it not as complicated and cumbersome for the not-for-profits who seek funding to do their important work?

Please, Kareemah.

- I think to the point that the ladies made the process for accessing the funding can be tedious and cumbersome.

And sometimes we don't have, or organizations don't have the manpower, they don't have the wherewithal or even information about how to access the information.

So unlike other organizations, SparkNJ does not require formal RFPs.

We don't require that.

- Request for proposals.

Request for proposal.

- Exactly.

- I'm sorry.

- Request for proposals.

Yes, we don't require formal request for proposals because you've already bid in the community showing that you're doing the work.

And with the trust-based philanthropy is really about redistributing power, decisionmaking too.

The folks who are actually doing the work.

We trust that you're gonna do with the funds what you say you're gonna do with the funding.

So it's really about an interview between the nominator, the person who's familiar with the organization that's doing the work, gaining that information, and then making the recommendation based on our experience with the agencies about the work that's being done to the select.

- Well said.

Hey, A'Dorian, let me come back to you and ask you this.

I keep saying that your organization and Nadines are making a difference every day.

And I happen to know only because we've known each other for a long time and I know the work of each organization, but the folks watching right now, they go, well, Steve keeps saying, making a difference.

They're making a difference.

Tell folks how you know you're not solving all the problems, but that you know you are making a difference, particularly with some young women in the community in Newark who are the victims and are suffering because of gun violence.

Please.

- You know, I think of a young woman who came to our organization after her father was murdered, when she was in her mother's womb.

When she was 10 years old, she came to us, she said, I'm here because I wanna get my family out of Newark.

Those are the words she said.

Over the next few years what she would learn through her own service as a young person.

Helping teach other young people in elementary schools how to read, giving out food and clothes to women and families who are displaced in homeless shelters.

Literally participating in community cleanups and workshops at other schools for other young women.

She would learn that the solution wasn't getting herself or her family out of Newark.

Newark is a beautiful and incredible place.

The solution was tapping into her own power, figuring out the issues that were affecting her community, and how she could use her power to alleviate those issues.

That same young woman went off to go into college, is also an older sibling of a younger sibling who has autism and is an incredible supportive family member for her family of that young person with autism.

It ends with our solutions lives in the evidence of the young people themselves, who frankly do incredible things with finite resources And use their stories to create change within their schools, within their homes, and within other young women living in and out of our communities.

- You know, as we take this break, I'm gonna come back to Nadine and ask her the same question.

How she knows that Hassan's Place is making a difference.

But I wanna say this.

So people often ask, and I won't get on my soapbox, they'll say, what's your metrics?

Like how many and how do you know?

And I think if you just listen to A'Dorian just now, she talks about one young woman whose life was positively impacted by the work of your organization of SHE Wins.

How the heck do you measure that?

How do you quantify that?

I'm getting on my soapbox and I'll get off quick.

That is not a metric, that's a human being.

That's a family, and it could have gone very differently if SHE Wins did not intervene to be helpful.

So on that point, we'll take a quick break and three extraordinarily powerful, impactful women of color making a difference every day.

We'll be right back.

- To watch more Think Tank with Steve Adubato, find us online and follow us on social media.

We're back making a difference.

I promised I'd come back to you, Nadine.

I asked A'Dorian how she knows her nonprofits making difference and Hassan's Place.

One example, one concrete example that you know you're making a difference, please.

- How I know is when a parent comes to me and say thank you.

Thank you for giving us back an opportunity to be a part of our own community by providing a summer camp in the city of Newark.

Nassan's Place partners with the city of Newark for the last three consecutive years.

One of the biggest challenges for children and families living with that diagnosis is finding a full day quality program.

And Nassan's Place partnered with Newark, so that we could offer these parents the same types of programs as any other atypical child within their own community.

And having a parent say, I feel comfortable, I feel safe knowing that my child is with people who truly understand their disability.

Thank you for allowing me to be able to hold my job and not have to worry about if I'm going to lose it.

Because I'm keep getting calls from people who may be keeping my children, because they really don't understand the diagnosis of their disability or how to deal with them.

So having those stories where families are saying, we can live again, we can still exist in our communities with a diagnosis of autism.

Because you're providing the services and the resources that we need makes it better for us.

So hearing those stories and honestly seeing the faces of those families when they drop their children off.

I mean it's not easy when you have to drop off a nonverbal autistic child, who has challenging behaviors, and you don't know who is going to come in contact with them and how they are.

And they know if they come to Nassan's Place, we're gonna have trained professionals who truly understand the disability and the needs of our children.

- Thank you, Nadine.

Kareemah, let me ask you, do these leaders come to you?

You find them?

What, how does this work?

- Well, the denominators are community members are aware of different organizations.

And we actually bring the names and the programming back to a group of selectors who determine which of the programs should be awarded the funding.

So it's basically based on the information you have about the organizations in the community, your familiarity with the work, and we suggest them to our selectors who make the decision on who's going to receive the brand.

- Thank you.

A'Dorian, let me try this.

You're not only lead a not-for-profit, but you're an elected official in Essex County.

So I'm curious, you have a unique perspective on this.

What do you believe the role of government leaders, elected leaders, appointed leaders, Leaders in government, every level, local, state, county, federal, to support not-for-profits like yours, like Nadine's?

Is it all private philanthropic funding or should some of that funding come from the government, please?

- I think it's a both end.

And I think that governments have to understand that our citizens, just like our everyday organization leaders have the answers.

You can't come to Essex county board of commissioners meeting or a Newark school board meeting where I formally was, or perhaps a board meeting where Nadine is, right?

And not see a parent and community member with the questions and the answers by young people too.

So the same thing goes to government services.

I'm really proud to be elected representative on a county commission where we have vendors, vendors who are coming to make sure that our families are not displaced in the winter by providing homeless shelters.

Members who are making sure that our families have food to eat through food emergency services that are based in community-based organizations that are led by nonprofit leaders like ourselves sitting here on this panel.

And so government has to be in partnership with the people.

That's one.

And two, they have to do that, because they know that our people just like our young people, just like our parents, just like our families have the answers.

I'll say this, I had the pleasure of hosting and my SHE Wins hat, not my government hat, but a reunion Friendsgiving brunch for our young women just a few days ago.

'Cause we're at that point where we have alumni.

Girls who graduated high school, graduated college, even into their career.

- Hold on, you keep track of them.

- Oh, absolutely, 1000%.

- Go ahead, I'm sorry.

- When you're in SHE Wins, you're in SHE Wins family forever.

And these young girls, interestingly enough, are in the areas of service, not unlike those of us here on this call.

They're in nursing school to become medical professionals.

Some of them are mental health aids at local hospitals.

All of our young people, interestingly enough, within SHE Wins who are in their careers, are doing the work of service.

What does it look like to have governments, community organizations, communities at large that understand that the people in their community want to be of service, they want to be a change, they just need a seat at the table.

- I'm curious about this as we listen to A'Dorian.

For you, Nadine, I often think about this.

If A'Dorian had not started SHE Wins, if you had not started Hassan's place, not convinced such organizations would exist.

Question.

To what degree is the leadership of Nassan's Place highly personal for you?

- Wow, you know, it's interesting that you asked that question because I had a parent say to me, about a week ago.

I don't know what we would do if Nassan's Place did not exist.

She said, you have given us an opportunity to be a part of our community.

You've given us an opportunity where our kids can come out and be who they are without judgment, without stares.

You've given us an opportunity to not shy away from when people ask us what's wrong with your kid.

And now we are able to explain it, except without being annoyed.

Because when you have someone staring at your child who's going through some uncharacteristic behaviors that they're not familiar with, you know, as parents we become defensive.

And with autism parents, we become even more defensive.

So now parents, you know, one of the things I think is so important is that to educate.

Because we used to be ignorant people.

Ignorance is just not knowing that when someone's child is maybe going through an involuntary meltdown is what I call it, is that we explain to them that child had something called autism.

You know, people are telling me, you know, parents are saying, Nadine, you've given me temperament.

You are allowing me to better understand that I can't be angry with the world, and I can't feel sorry for myself.

I gotta do something about it.

You did something about it within our community.

Our kids get to come out and have fun.

They get to be a part of the community in which we live in.

And that's an amazing feeling.

I smile when I think of these children and these families.

- I'm gonna take that as a yes, it's personal.

- Yes.

(Steve laughing) - So, you know, Kareemah, I'm curious, when you and your colleagues at SparkNJ nominate, make decisions about who receives a grant and who doesn't, how important is it to see, feel, experience, the commitment and passion, and one of my favorite four letter words, grit, and people like A'Dorian and Nadine.

How important is it, beyond all the X's and O's and the budget, justification, and everything, the metrics, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

How important is that what you just heard?

Please.

- I think the great is paramount.

It's funny, right?

Because success often is due to the perseverance of the people trying, you have to keep at it, because failing is a part of the process.

But when you keep going and your commitment to the work that you're doing shows through, and it's evident in the stories that the ladies have shared about the young women and the families that they provided the service to.

That the programming is meaningful, that the service provided is meaningful.

And that comes through, even in having discussions with the leaders of the organizations, and having discussions with the people who've experienced the programming.

When you hear those success stories, that's what lets you know that the the folks leading the organizations are compassionate about the work and committed to the work.

- Hey, A'Dorian, way, way, way before your time.

- Hmm.

- I'm a student of leadership, and one of the great leaders in the world during a pretty well-known and tragic war, World War II, Winston Churchill, and Hitler was doing his sick thing throughout Europe.

He said never, never, never give up, not an option.

- Can't be.

- For you it's not an option, is it?

- Absolutely not.

And Steve, you know, you and I come from the same city, city of Newark, a city of grit, a city of resilience.

I know Kareemah's from there too.

And Nadine as well from Newark area.

- Now Nadine's from, are you from the Oranges, Nadine?

- No, I was actually born and raised in Newark, New Jersey.

I'm proud of it.

I called Newark my home, but I live in East Oranges.

But I was born and raised in Newark.

- That's right, that's right.

- You moved to the suburbs at the East Orange.

- I moved the block in from East Orange.

- Right on the border.

I'm just teasing.

Only 'cause we know the geography.

Go ahead, A'Dorian, your point, go ahead.

- So, we're all family here.

This a Newark, East orange, Essex room.

And so we come from a city where we've built a lot, sometimes outta nothing.

But let me tell you what the all lot was in though.

The all lot was in our families.

The all lot was in our communities teaching us to be resilient.

So yeah, we can't give up 'cause we don't know how to.

We have parents and grandparents who taught us that forward was the only way.

And and that's the same spirit that anchors the work that I do when SHE Wins.

The work of my young women, who by the way motivate me far more than any accomplishment, any title because it's their thriving.

Not just their surviving, but their thriving as young adults, as young leaders, and young community members that catalyzes and shapes and frankly shape transforms what we're able to do today for the next generation.

We have SHE winners who are now college students, who mentor the SHE winners that are eighth graders and ninth graders now.

This is a multi-generational impact, and it comes from being from a city like ours where we're taught that forward and progress is the only way.

- That's A'Dorian Murray-Thomas.

Just by the way, keep an eye on her, all right.

She may be going other places as well.

To you, A'Dorian to Nadine, thank you for joining us again.

For the first time, Kareemah Harris-Baker, thank you so much.

An important conversation, three leaders making a difference every day, particularly where it matters most.

I'm Steve Adubato.

Those are three great leaders.

Thanks for watching, we'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] Think Tank with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Celebrating 30 years in public broadcasting.

Funding has been provided by The Russell Berrie Foundation.

Holy Name.

The North Ward Center.

Kean University.

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

PSEG Foundation.

New Jersey Children’s Foundation.

Valley Bank.

And by The Adler Aphasia Center.

Promotional support provided by The New Jersey Business & Industry Association.

And by BestofNJ.com.

The North Ward Center continues to expand their services and outreach in Newark, from the childhood years to the golden years, Offering programs like preschool, youth leadership development, Casa Israel Adult Medical Day program our Family Success center, as well as a gymnasium.

And most recently Hope House, a permanent home for adults with autism, supporting and nurturing our autism community with Hope House 2 coming soon.

The North Ward Center.

We’re here when you need us.