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(bright inspiring music) - Welcome to Business Forward.

I'm your host, Matt George.

Joining me tonight, Jonathon Romain.

He's got so may titles at Art Inc, I don't even know what they are anymore, but he's the Associate Artistic Director for Art Inc. And Laurie Weaver, president of Impact Central Illinois.

Thank you for coming on, both of you.

- Thanks for having us.

- Thank you.

- Well, this is the second show of three that we're talking about impact giving, and I know there's other terms for it, but you know Laurie, you've been on before, and we talk about how an idea came to fruition, which then came to hundreds of women collectively coming together to make change in Central Illinois like I've never seen before.

So let's start with you, and just talk about impact, and I know, I guessed that you're around 300 people now, just by the grants itself.

Is that accurate?

- Yeah, 315, this past given year.

- That is crazy.

- So we just gave grants away in June, and yeah.

- So the model is that it's just women.

- Mm-hmm.

- And the model is that they donate an amount, and it's relatively small, so to speak, I mean, it's still, it's, what, 100 a month average, or 90 a month?

- It's $1100.

$1000 goes directly towards the grants, and then 100 goes toward administrative.

- And all that.

So 315 people.

And I remember over five years ago- - We're going into our fifth giving cycle, so it's only four years.

- Isn't that crazy?

- Yeah.

- So, I remember you going and, correct me if I'm wrong, you went to Texas?

- Yeah, we did.

- And you saw- - Austin.

- Austin, Texas.

And you saw a model, and you were blown away.

- Yeah.

- And you came back, and somehow you implemented it, which is just crazy.

- Yeah.

- I'm so proud of you.

- It was exciting.

- I mean, that is just unbelievable.

It's funny because I was talking to your husband, Chuck.

We were in, he said now it's fun, because now I go out, and everybody wants to talk to Laurie.

(laughing) - [Laurie] All the women, anyway.

- All the women, anyway.

- Yeah.

- Oh, that is just great.

But it's been, you know, it's a roller coaster, too.

And when you talk about process, and the thing that I love about what you do the most is the vetting process, because the vetting process is really that buy-in from all women, right?

- It's where we learn the most.

It's where you sit around a table with 20 other women, and you push up your sleeves, and you try to understand what not-for-profits are trying to accomplish in your community.

And you compare them with who else is doing it, and how much will this cost, and can they really pull it off?

It's where you learn.

- And am I right in saying this, the collective giving model?

That's the right term?

- Yeah.

- I said it earlier, and it didn't sound right.

But I think okay, the collective giving model.

- Yeah, women coming together and pooling their money.

I don't write a lot of checks to not-for-profits for over $100,000.

- Isn't that neat?

- But I can with 314 other women.

- That is great.

So, I'm experienced in the process, because Children's Home was a recipient.

We were the first recipient.

And I think at the time, you might have had about close to 100 women, or maybe even more- - Yeah, we had 130.

- [Matt] 130.

- 'Cause you were our sole recipient.

- And it was just an honor, and going through the process, the CEO, or the director, whoever it is, they have to really be part of the whole process going through, and that leadership piece is very important.

And when you sit there, and you look at the scope of all these non-profits, isn't it pretty cool to see all of the ideas that people have?

It's entrepreneurship within social service.

- Yeah.

And it's humbling.

Because- - Oh, good word.

- Because these are the people, you know.

We hopefully are empowering them, but they're the ones.

Jonathon, Nicki, they're the ones, you are in the trenches.

- [Matt] Yeah.

- And so it's very humbling to learn about the work that's being done in the trenches.

- In last week's show, I was talking to Jami Truelove, and also Andy Thornton, and one of the things that we were talking about too, is if you do not receive the grant, use it as a learning experience, and hone in on tightening it up.

- [Laurie] Yeah, Andy can speak to that.

- He does.

That's what we talked about.

- Yeah.

- So you sit there, and you have now, 300 plus women that are sitting here, all smart, all business leaders.

And they're looking at, it's free advice.

- Oh yeah, yeah.

And marketing.

- And marketing.

- I think Jonathon, John Rokie, who I think you're gonna speak with down the road, and Jonathon, have both expressed to us, that getting on the stage, and getting in front of 315 women, you know, John would say that's the gift.

That the grant money is the icing on the cake.

But having 315 women read and understand what you're trying to accomplish.

- I think that was probably the most fun piece of it for me, too.

Is to look out in the crowd.

I remember, we were at the Hult Center, and one of the, after we received it, and talking, and you sit there, and you look at all these people's eyes, knowing that they had a piece of what we're implementing.

- Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

- [Matt] And it's hard to describe it- - And they feel ownership.

- Another good word.

- They feel like they gave you, gave Children's Home, $130,000.

Because it wouldn't have happened without each one of them.

- That's exactly right.

That's so cool.

Jonathon, here's what's fun about this show.

And I told Laurie this a couple months ago when I ran into her, I said a lot of people have a lot of ideas.

And I don't care whether it's for-profit, or profit, there's a lot of entrepreneurs out there.

But what Laurie did with Impact, and now all these women and what they're doing, and what you and your wife Nicki have done, may be the two most amazing slash, I could give you 50 words.

It's so impressive that when I sat down with each of you, before it came to fruition, and where it's at now, it's mind-boggling, and I'm blown away.

It's impressive.

So explain, before we go into the grant, why don't you tell the journey of Art Inc, and where it's gone from year one to where you're at now?

- Well, when we first started my center, I think what Laurie did is more miraculous than what we did.

And the reason I say that is because she started something from scratch, that she had never done before.

And so she was in a territory that was so unfamiliar to her.

- It's true.

- And then to be able to turn it, and manifest it into what it is today- - [Matt] It's crazy.

- It's nuts.

(Matt laughing) It's nut.

And where- - I agree.

- Where her path and my path differ is that when people come along and see what we are doing now, they just see what we're doing now.

But what Nicki and I are doing is really an evolution of over 25 years, because I've had galleries from Peoria to Chicago to Oak Park, Reiger Park, and every gallery got bigger and bigger and bigger, and each one of those galleries, I went in, and I revamped them, renovated them, with my own hands.

- Yup.

- And so what that did, over the course of 25 years, it prepared me to take on old abandoned school building, just from the perspective of being able to fix everything in that building.

So if you think about the hardest thing that you will have to encounter when you buy one of these old buildings is that it's heavy on maintenance.

- [Matt] Right.

- But if you can do that, and you've been doing it the vast majority of your life, it's not that complicated.

- Well, it's not that complicated, but I'm gonna push back a little on this.

I mean, that building's a monster.

So when you sit here, I remember.

I remember getting a tour, before you even opened the doors.

And I'm walking through there, and you're saying we're gonna do solar here, we're going green here, we're gonna do this here.

I go, how are you gonna do it?

And you had your son, and you went in there, rolled up the sleeves, I mean, I bet you you saved a million dollars just off sweating.

- Easy, easy.

But again, and this is not hyperbole when I say this.

That was the easy part.

That was really the easy part.

- For some.

(laughing) - Well right, right.

If that's not your wheelhouse, that's not your wheelhouse.

But you know, I'm very hands-on.

- [Matt] Yeah, I get it.

- I know how to mess with electricity, plumbing, all of that.

That's simple.

Let me tell you the hardest part of what we did.

It's what Nicki did.

Because she took on the responsibility as executive director, and it's similar to what Laurie had to do, because she didn't know anything about that.

And so she spent, while I was painting the building, and tearing down plumbing, and putting up PVC, Nicki was behind that computer 80 hours a week.

- [Matt] Right.

- And she did it for three years before she even got paid.

- Yeah.

- And she literally had to take an accelerated crash course in nonprofit executive class.

And so I didn't have to go out of my wheelhouse.

I was comfortable, and I'm still comfortable in everything that my role encaptures in this process.

She had to go 180 degrees out of her wheelhouse, because she's an artistic person.

- [Matt] Right.

- And now she's an executive director, and I might add, one of the best.

- [Matt] Right.

- You know what I'm saying?

- Well, the program design piece, program management piece, people think it's easy.

Here's 50 grand, we're gonna do an after school program.

- Oh god, it's not.

- It is starting a new business, and if you had, at Children's Home, you had 54 programs.

That's 54 businesses.

- Right.

- So every time you scale, and you add a business, a program, it's a business.

- And let me tell you this.

And the difference between a for-profit and nonprofit, you are scrutinized in that nonprofit.

- [Matt] (laughing) Right.

- By a million people.

- Right.

- So, and that's where the challenge with most people starting a nonprofit comes, because they can never, and I'm not saying everyone, but the vast majority of the people who start a nonprofit, they can never meet their obligations to those third party funders, because when they come in, and they want to know what's happening with the money that they entrusted you with- - Yeah.

- Mm-hmm.

- You have to have full transparency and that comes with a heavy burden, and a heavy lift, and boy, when the state audits you.

- [Matt] Wow, don't even go there.

- They don't play, man.

- They don't.

I mean, in one year, we had 22 audits.

- [Jonathon] Right.

- So people don't understand that.

- [Jonathon] Yeah.

- So that's interesting.

Anyway, how many years now have you been in business?

- Five years.

And I just evaded your question.

I'm sorry.

I just talk about how- - I got you fired up.

- Yeah, yeah you did.

- [Matt] I know how to get you fired up.

(Jonathon laughing) - So, as I stated, I'm an artist.

As you and Laurie know.

And I've been doing it since I came home from prison.

And in addition to being an artist, I've had galleries.

But from my first gallery that I opened, it separated me from a lot of artists, because it made me more visible, and then people were very familiar with my past, and so consequently, it led to a lot of people asking me to speak.

And so in doing so, because I was connected to the streets, because that's where I came from, and then the perception was that I had overcome those obstacles, and I was hugely successful, even though that wasn't the truth.

I was struggling.

But it looked like it.

But what I was good at was talking to the young people.

I was so good, in fact, that whenever I stopped and left, there was always a yearning for more.

I wanted to give them more.

They wanted more from me.

And so from the very beginning, and this is 25 years ago, I've always felt like man, it's heartbreaking to go talk to some kids who need your help, and all you get is an hour for it.

And it reminds me of a time I was speaking at a prison in Chicago, a juvenile prison.

When I walked into the room that I was speaking at the GED graduation, it was a little kid in there.

Man, this dude looked like a bag of nails.

And I gave my presentation, and then when it was over, a man walks up, he said, would you mind talking to my son?

He would really like to talk to you.

I said yeah, of course.

So I went over to the table, and it was the guy, the little kid that I saw when I walked in, that I thought was a bag of nails.

I thought he was a menace.

And he looked at me with crocodile tears coming out of his eyes, and he said man, I wanna change my life.

I just don't know how.

And there I am.

I gotta leave.

- [Matt] Right.

- I never see him again.

- Right.

- And can you imagine?

- Yeah.

- Being asked by a man who's drowning to help me, and you have to walk away from him?

- [Matt] Yeah.

- Man, that's the most heartbreaking feeling in the world.

And so, in the back of my mind, from that moment forward, I've always been trying to figure out, how can I have a more sustained impact on the lives of some of these young people that I come into contact with?

And then you know, the building that I have on Sheraton, it's 15,000 square feet.

I told you, every facility got bigger and bigger.

And so I thought I could do it in that building.

But, my operation as an artist really just consumed all of it.

You've seen it.

And so I wasn't able to share the space with that part of what I wanted to do.

But when I passed Greenly, and I saw it was for sale, and I had went into other schools that people had purchased, so I was already familiar with the fact that these schools cost nothing.

Because they basically give them to you.

- Right.

- And I was like, okay.

This might be what I'm looking for.

And for six months, I sat in the parking lot, I would drive down there, and just imagine what I could do, how I could do it.

And then that's when I wrote up a proposal, before I wrote up a proposal, I went to the boss, and said hey, do you think we can get a school building?

And that's the wife.

And she was like sure, let's do it.

(Matt laughing) And so I think because she came into it with open arms, it actually fulfilled a part of her desires in her life as well, because this is what she wanted to do, too.

And so that's when we moved forward on it, and it was a process, it was a journey, a lot of challenges.

But we overcame those challenges.

And then from that moment, when I wrote the proposal, it took three years before we got the building.

- Really?

- Yeah.

- [Matt] I don't think I knew that.

- Yeah.

- So now fast-forward to today.

We're sitting here talking about impact, and what is the scope of the program that you applied for and then received?

What are you doing?

- So it's a piece of a larger project that we're doing, so we're gonna buy another building, another school building, and we're gonna turn it into a production studio.

And when I say a production studio, what I mean is imagine these old classrooms, they're giant.

Tall ceilings.

Every classroom will be a different set, like what we have here.

This will be a classroom.

Another classroom will be maybe a kitchen where you can do a cooking show.

- Right.

- Another classroom could be a living room slash dining room where you could do a sitcom.

Another classroom will be a newsroom.

- [Matt] I got you.

- Right?

And when I tell people this, I don't want to mislead them.

Don't think Michael Mann, don't think Steven Spielberg.

Don't think even Tyler Perry.

What I want you to think of is the worst, crappiest movie you've ever seen on Netflix.

(Matt laughing) I can get the kids to do that.

(Matt laughs) Now imagine we start teaching these kids how to build TV sets out of cardboard, which we're already doing.

- Right.

- And eventually, they graduate to ultimately building a real television set in one of the empty classrooms, and then we have them put on their own production.

So we have them go get their friends that's gonna be in the production, get other friends that's gonna have them write the production, get somebody else that's gonna direct the production.

And who cares what the end result is?

- [Matt] The outcome's irrelevant.

- It's irrelevant.

- Yeah.

- The process.

We're teaching these kids how to start with nothing, and create something.

And that is transferable to no matter what they do in life, and what we asked for this grant for was the money to get our lighting, and because a lot of it is digital.

And the funds that we're going to use to make this happen, it doesn't cover things that don't have a life expectancy that will outlive the bond that they're using.

So we have money coming from the capital building.

- [Matt] I got you.

- So that's what we're doing.

- I got you.

So that's a lot of kids that could funnel through there, I think, what, a couple hundred, or more?

- Well- - Eventually more.

- Really, absolutely more.

Well, just with our program, we see 150 kids a day, in our program, which we will definitely, they will be a part of this.

But then also Peoria Public School, and I'm speaking beyond, before I even talk to Dr. Karaten, but I'm sure they're gonna wanna have their kids- - Well, why wouldn't they?

- Participate in it.

Quest, they're gonna wanna have their kids participating.

And then what about all of these young creatives in Peoria that wanna do YouTube stations, they wanna do TikTok things.

All of the opportunities, they're not just for Illinois, but for Central, not, I mean, for Peoria, but for Central Illinois.

Because our reno costs will be so competitive that you can't go to Chicago and do that.

- No, no.

- You know what I mean?

So it's so many avenues for opportunity for Peoria with this project.

And it's something that can grow beyond anything we can imagine.

- You know, I think, and Laurie, this is probably one of the reasons why your group funded this, but one of the things that drives me nuts with schools and stuff right now, is cutting PE and cutting the arts.

And I know it's all cash.

I get that.

But at the same time, I truly feel they're the most important things that are in schools.

The PE piece, there's an obesity piece tied to that.

There's a mental health piece tied to that.

But the arts, and the creative piece, it's so important to our kids.

- Oh, absolutely.

And when you think about the best schools in the country.

The reason that they're the best is because of the options they provide.

- That's exactly right.

- For the kids.

- [Matt] That's exactly right.

- So the best schools in the country, they have art.

- And what a fun way to incorporate all of the STEM topics anyway.

You know, he's talking about helping kids build a set.

You think you can build anything without knowing math?

You know, measurements and technology.

I mean, this is a world of technology.

I mean, I just think it's a really great incubator for- - I think too is a lot of the women that are part of your group that River City Construction is an example.

Leanne Skews is one.

She is a female CEO.

She's a boss.

And what you're talking about in building is trades.

- Absolutely.

- Sure.

- 100%.

- Right?

And so there's a gap in people wanting to get into the trades business, just like there is in just about every business right now.

So I think that piece hit me right there, thinking what you're doing is the talent that you have, and you think it's not a big deal, but when you can do everything you do to prep a building, and to get it going, I can't even change a light bulb.

(Jonathon laughing) But what you're doing, if you teach these kids to do it.

- [Jonathon] Absolutely.

- At Children's Home, we had a kid.

I'll never forget.

He went to, there was someone in town that mentored this kid, and he taught him roofing.

- [Jonathon] Right.

- And then he got a job at one of the bigger places here in town.

- His life changed.

- It's life-changing.

- Life-changing.

I mean, you know, aside from the skills that these kids will learn through this process, a child that is a part of a production that they can then see themselves in on a screen, whether it's YouTube, internet, Facebook.

That they can share with their friends and their mothers and their family.

Can you imagine how much confidence that will inject in them?

- Not only that, think about this.

All of our kids are doing too much of this anyway.

Just think if you, they're not gonna stop doing that.

- [Jonathon] Right, right, right, right.

- But if they do it, and they say, mom, check this out.

- Right.

- Or grandma, check this out.

- Right.

- You know?

- Right, absolutely.

Absolutely.

And the thing about what Laurie has done with Impact, what Nicki and I have done with Art Inc, what we're getting ready to do at the production studio.

Guess what?

All of those things that I just mentioned, you have to apply the same process.

The thing changes, but the process stays the same.

And if we can start teaching the process of how to make something happen, it's transferable to no matter what they do.

Because the process is the same.

There's no difference when I sit at a canvas and begin a painting than when I bought this empty building, and had to transform it into what I consider one of my greatest pieces of art.

- That is a great way of putting it.

Interesting.

Well, what you and Nicki are doing is really phenomenal.

I mean, it is, it impacts the kids.

The best part of this talk today, for me, was the kid needed you, which means kids need you.

- Absolutely, absolutely.

- And I know that feeling.

And it hurts when- - You can't be there.

- Someone stops by your office, and you say you have a meeting.

- [Jonathon] Right, yeah.

- It's stupid, actually.

If you think about it.

- I get it.

And you know, unfortunately, you can't save everybody.

But you know, before we close, I would like to talk about another element of Impact that I think is extremely important.

- [Matt] I don't have time.

- Oh, okay.

(laughing) - But I appreciate it.

- That's okay.

- So keep going.

You and Nicki are doing a great job, Art Inc. Laurie, thank you for everything.

- Thank you.

- You and all the women.

- Thanks for having us.

- Are doing, it's just been an awesome experience, and I love it.

Thanks for coming on.

I'm Matt George, and this is another episode of Business Forward.

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