Production and distribution of City Club forums and ideastream public media are made possible by PNC and the United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland, Inc.. Good afternoon and welcome to the City Club of Cleveland, where we are devoted to conversations of consequence that help democracy thrive.

It's Friday, May 3rd.

And I'm Kristen Baird Adams, president of the City Club Board of Directors.

On behalf of City Club CEO Dan Waltrip, the staff and board, it is my honor to introduce today's forum featuring the five extraordinary trailblazing women to my right.

Last month, billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott announced she was gifting $640 million to more than 360 nonprofits out of 6000 that responded to an open call for applications.

It was another round of jaw dropping and transformative gifts that Scott pledged to donate following her divorce from Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos.

On the receiving end here in Cleveland are four nonprofit organizations providing an even more powerful catalyst for equitable community impact.

Across Cleveland.

Each of these organizations shares a mission that aligns with Scott's goal to advance the voices and opportunities of individuals and families of meager or modest means and groups who have been met with discrimination and other systemic obstacles.

This work has never been more important.

Joining us here today are the leaders of these four organizations.

Phyllis Harris, executive director of the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland.

Jazmin Long, president and CEO of Birthing Beautiful Communities.

Just Jill Rizika President and CEO of Towards Employment.

And Denise VanLeer, executive director of the Fairfax run of Renaissance Development Corporation.

Moderating the conversation is City Club Board Member and senior vice president for Advancement at the Cleveland Foundation.

Leta Obertacz.

If you have a question for our panelists, you may text it to 3305415794.

That's 3305415794.

And the city club staff will do its best to work it into the second half of the program.

Members, friends and guests of the City Club of Cleveland.

Please join me in welcoming Phyllis, Jazmin, Jill and Denise and of course, Leta.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Thank you so much for being here.

I want to just start off and let you all know that we didn't coordinate our outfits today and we didn't mean to leave Denise out.

We all said usually none of us wear this color.

So it's meant to be.

It's serendipity.

And I hope you are as excited as I am today to be with these powerful, amazing and impactful leaders.

I feel a little nervous.

We have local member comedian Molly Shannon from SNL.

I just kind of want to do this.

The whole time I did it.

I won't do it again.

So let's let's get going to our panelists.

Have a few questions for you.

How did you feel when this happened?

A few words.

What was your initial response?

Well, I came into it while going after Rosa, who is our managing director at the LGBT community Center, was reading the email that we sent to the entire staff.

I was late to a team meeting at I was probably on a call with one of you or something, and so I kind of like saunter up to the second floor knowing I'm late and the team is already there meeting and g v caller is sitting at the table, leaned over her phone and reading the letter with that was sent to myself and Don R and, and I was, it was just so calm and surreal.

And one of our team members went and got one every time we get a donation, you know, that we, we were, we worked hard on it and that, you know, tells us that the community believes in what we're doing and is willing to invest with us.

We ring a bell and some someone ran and got the bell and we celebrate it.

And so we'll we'll talk a little bit more about, you know, the process.

But we this we've been we've been working towards this for many years.

And so it really feels like we're being seen, we're credible in terms of our leadership and the work that we do.

And so it was a great moment right?

So calm is not.

How I would characterize our, but the email came to myself and to Dora.

Have you heard from earlier?

And usually, you know, you see the heading and it's an email and you're thinking it's never going to be it's an email.

It's never going to be.

Yes.

Because if it's this kind of impact, you're going to get a phone call.

Right.

And so actually, her office is right next to mine and we opened it.

And I think, you know, and there was squealing and dancing and high fiving.

And the the other piece is that there was a message in there that said the money will be transferred to your account on file on March 14th, which is my birthday.

So best birthday ever.

So, yes.

Well, for us I got the email and even though we had applied, I got the email and I guess I was stunned.

So I looked at it and I was like, Is this real?

And so I asked the staff person, she's like, Oh my God, is this real?

And so like, we did apply.

And so literally it took us a minute.

It really did take us a minute.

I'm like, We got to cause somebody.

This is this trip.

It was wonderful.

We were stunned and reached out to our finance manager and he said, Is this real?

It was wonderful.

We were stunned.

We really were stunned.

But after we got over there, I also had COVID, so I wasn't feeling that well.

And so I actually didn't talk to somebody there to the next week.

And she's like, I'm glad you're feeling better.

But yes, you'll get the check and I was like, Oh, this is awesome.

But yes.

So I was like, Phyllis, I was not late to a meeting, but I was sitting in a meeting doing something I shouldn't be doing, which is checking emails, and I see the word embargoed until whatever the day was embargoed into it.

I'm like, Oh, that looks like good news to me.

So open this email and all I can say is I screamed in this office and so my coworkers are like, Okay, what's this is a money scheme.

That's a network discount.

Okay, that's the money stream.

And so I just got so excited.

We were laughing, we were crying because I did not think we were going to get this.

I mean, you know, 6500 somebody applications for this grant and for us to be awarded out of 361 is just absolutely out of this world.

And I'm a you have to celebrate in the moment.

So I said for everyone that was in their office, cancel your day.

Like cancel your day.

Whatever the meeting is, we're going out, we're going to lunch.

We're going to have a good time.

We are going to celebrate this incredible win that we all worked so hard to get.

And that is exactly what we did.

We left the office, we shut it down.

We went and sat at a restaurant for a couple of hours and just had lunch and really celebrated.

And we're with one another because this was a team effort to get this opportunity.

Fantastic.

So I'm sure you've all noticed everybody is talking about an application process.

And here in this area, we have been blessed by having about six other nonprofits who have been gifted money from Mackenzie Scott.

So from 2020 to 2023, there are other charities who have received dollars or any of them in this audience today.

Yes, Legal Aid's right there.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So that was the first round of gifts from 2020 to 2023.

Now there is this new portal and website yield giving, yield giving.

Mackenzie Scott's new organization means to add value by giving up control to add value by giving up control.

Manifest that right.

That's hard.

That's hard.

So tell us.

Lovely panelists, powerful women.

What was this application process like?

We need to know.

Jasmine.

Okay, so first of all, I want to thank my colleagues, Emily and Shantel, who really worked on the application process for us.

There was of course, the actual grant proposal, right?

But then we had to make a video.

And I will tell you, this is why I had seen another organization's video for The Square, and that's when I said we didn't get it, because I'm very cognizant about putting moms and babies on display.

So when we do a lot of promotion at ABC, we really never put our moms and babies on display.

So the video was just me and my colleagues really talking about what we do.

But I guess that speaks to impact, right?

Because just from our words, we were able to get this funding, but I really wanted to be thoughtful.

We spent a lot of time thinking about what we would write about, how we would display ourselves, how we would talk about what we do.

And then on top of that, like we were in North Carolina for a Bank of America conference.

GENTILONI And we met with another organization that was kicked out of the process because you had to do reviews.

And if they were so many steps that if you missed one step, you were kicked out.

And so I was so proud of my team for just continuing to stay on top of everything that was required of us to even stay in the process.

And I'm sure all of us were really happy for that.

So it was a very lengthy process.

We found out a year after we applied.

So you almost are again and some of them will share their experiences.

But I did not even budget for this because I just truly thought it was not something that was going to happen for us.

So Denise saw the same with us.

It was very different and thanks to Alicia memory and on my team.

So we, we worked together to put it together, but it was a lot of steps and I compare it to a common playground.

I don't know if any of you have ever built Build a Kaboom, but you never know what's going to happen until you get to the next step.

So you didn't know, so you had to keep on going.

But as Jasmine said, they wanted short answers.

So you really had to think about how you were relaying what you did and the impact so that, you know, that was the first thing.

And then you waited.

Then you would get an email that said, congratulations, you're moving to the next round.

And I think the think that I the thing I appreciated about it the most is that we got the opportunity to review five other organizations applications.

And then you also got the feedback from the five organizations that reviewed your application.

And so it was it really some of the reviews pointed out or maybe we didn't say this good enough or that was I think that was the best part of the whole thing, but it was very different.

I appreciate it that it wasn't 5000 characters.

The answers were very short, but yes, it just kept going on and on and on and it was just very different from anything we've ever done.

Yeah, very unique.

So I think two things to highlight from our process.

But first, a call out to a Dora Schmidt who led the process with Laura Desmond's and the rest of the team support.

But I think the two things, one is that peer review.

So the idea that others who were applying had a chance to look at five other applications and give feedback and really valued grassroots commentary in terms of making those decisions.

So that was one piece of it.

The other piece is that this was a an opportunity when they if you in terms of the questions that they were asking, what they really valued was making sure that this is an organization that's rooted in community, that they wanted to invest in an organization that was truly having a community impact.

A lot of the larger philanthropy that we see are opportunities that are talking about scaling, scaling in other communities.

Here's a model.

How can you do that in ten more cities, right?

You see so many organizations doing that.

And this was an investment that said, we want to value work that's going on in your community.

How can you deepen it and get greater impact in your own community?

So we really valued just the whole opportunity.

And again, to be able to that to benefit from it is very exciting.

I have a similar story in that.

What was the tagline for Mackenzie Scott.

To get to add value by giving up control.

To add value by giving up control.

I have no idea what the process was like.

I'm like that.

But the here's what I know, here's what I know.

I have an I'm I have.

An amazing team.

And part of that is our team is going after Rostow, who works with Lane Ryan, our consulting team that helps us strategize around the funding that we seek from foundations.

So mostly the grant funding aspect.

William Marianne is our development director and handles the rest, but definitely Gulnara is paying attention.

And so we knew that the process started in May of last year and where my board leadership comes in, in terms of their support and how much they believe in the work that we do and our leadership collectively as a team.

When we would go and we were working out what our 2024 budget would be, we would say to them, we're going to do this, that, this.

We were working with strategy design partners around our strategic plan.

We knew that we wanted to build capacity around our staff and we were making moves and we would say, But don't worry about it because we're going to get $1 million from Mackenzie Scott every meeting to the point that we had to believe it.

Earlier today I sent a text message to some folks on my team and I said, who's the who's the the the artists that that painted the mural by our building.

That means so much to us.

That mural says Dream big.

The artist says, Lisa, I'm going to miss most of her last name, Quinn or Quinn.

And we look at the mural every day that we're in that building and we see people come and take their photos.

But we dream big as as an organization about what what we are worthy of.

And so the process, you know, the technical aspects, please reach out to Garner quickly for that part.

But but, you know, we are working with the fact the point that I want to get across is we are worthy of investment.

We are worthy of a gift like this, not our first transformational gift, but certainly a transformational gift that we continue to need as we continue our work going forward.

And so this started 50 years ago.

We're celebrating as an organization 50 years as one of the first LGBTQ centers established in the nation.

Be proud, Cleveland.

We're third.

Right?

And so so this process started when the.

First people were bold enough to be out and start gear.

The magazine that we started and and and transformed and in the magic that was made in the basement, in the people who worked for years in the basement before we moved to to the center where we are now.

And so that's all part of our process and part of the legacy of the folks, some of which are in this room who invested in the center.

So thank you to the due diligence of my team of Gonzales Lane Ryan, but also the work that my team does and the great leadership that my board has.

We're worthy, all of us, of these types of gifts.

We are grateful to Mackenzie Scott and yield open call for sure.

And let's keep it up.

Let's get to work.

So before COVID times, you and I got together and Phyllis and I were texting last night trying to remember where we met.

No idea.

I can't think of the restaurant's name.

However, the conversation was that you wanted to build up your development chops and your development staff.

Yes.

And you have.

And you all have.

So congrats on that because you see the value of doing that.

So I there's something really different about the Mackenzie Scott gifts.

I believe the gifts are coming and one check and the gifts are unrestricted.

Yes, that's so let's talk about that.

How is that a game changer?

What are you going to do with this transformational gift?

And what do you want to share with the group about that challenge?

So I think everybody in this room can understand the value of what that means to get something of that size and certainly relative to our budget in one lump sum and the opportunities that that represents.

So on the the first the first step in doing this obviously was working with our board and thinking about how to be the best stewards of these resources and thinking about the stability and making sure that we are in a healthy place to continue to have great impact.

But the fun stuff more was then thinking through.

We really wanted to have a participatory process and get as many voices into the process as possible.

So that means actually, you know, we're not making any really, really quick announcements or decisions, but we are thinking in terms of some short term, medium term and long term impact.

We just feel very energized by we had an all day staff retreat actually just this week on Monday, which had already been planned.

So it was perfect timing.

And we spent a lot of that time brainstorming and thinking again about priorities, about feasible, about what could be, you know, easy to execute, what's going to be the highest impact that needs a lot more research, maybe demonstration piloting, so that we can figure out, again how to have maximized the impact to our communities.

Just to share some of the ideas, I mean, ranging from thinking about how members of the community come to us in the start of their journey.

And many are housing unstable, unstable or coming from shelters or from places where they don't have access to clean clothes.

So ideas from do we need a washer and dryer in our suite, you know, for to to to help people feel more comfortable and take care of that immediate need to thinking about what are the career pathways of the future that we haven't even thought about yet, that we need to begin investing in exploration and in partnerships and on our capacity to be able to deliver new ways for people to connect to family sustaining wages and careers.

So our board obviously is very going to be very involved in the process.

We have an alumni council that will also weigh in.

So it's just an exciting time.

And the goal is to really balance how we can.

There's so many immediate needs that we can be do something in this short term, but that we're really investing and thoughtful about and strategic about what the next investments will be.

So what about you?

Yes.

So we actually well, first of all, I want to say thank you to a board member who alerted us to the opportunity and when it was due.

So Walter Saillant, he's not here, but thank you.

But we started actually planning when we applied.

So we do physical development, so we always have big ticket items.

We also do programs.

So we always had a plan A and then when Mackenzie Scott comes in, we had a plan B, so that's how we did it.

We really didn't change from so this was at the board level what we should do, the priorities, what will be most impactful.

So we did start when we actually applied, we thought about what we would do with those dollars.

And so our dollars are already now we, we own an office building where Catholic Charities in the county is one of our tenants.

And so some capital repairs there.

We also do a program for low income seniors that own their homes that can't afford to do maintenance.

So we will use some of the dollars there.

Also, we adopt families at Christmas in the neighborhood that they actually can't afford to have Christmas.

So some of the dollars will go there as well as workforce programs and computer literacy.

Those.

Yes.

So it's important, I think to note that as a grassroots organization, BBQ really goes above and beyond for the clients that we serve.

So even in the last fiscal year, we provided a little over $100,000 in rental assistance, really anything that the clients could potentially need.

And so these unrestricted dollars give us the flexibility to do the things that are immediate need for the clients that don't have restrictions around them.

You know, as a younger kind of, they would say start up nonprofit, a lot of the grants that we get sometimes have very specific parameters around them and we get a lot of government funding as well, which make it hard to really, you know, do what the clients actually need.

So these dollars will allow for us to do really anything that is needed for the clients.

Additionally, as Jillian, I laughed about, you know, just among 200 of a few of our closest friends, we are in a capital campaign for our birth center.

And one of the things that you know, the other thing that foundations will say to you besides scalability, they'll talk to you about sustainability.

And so what I wanted to do and talk to my finance people and my board share is like, we're going to use a million of this because we only thought we were getting a million.

So the other million out of sight, out of mind, we're going to actually establish an endowment for the organization because long when I'm not at the organization, I want this organization to be here in perpetuity and that's how you start to see real sustainability for an agency.

So I'm very excited.

And the other thing that I did, because that money all came in one tranche, I reached out to my bank and I said, Can you increase the interest rate on our money market account so that we stay here and they did increase our percentage rate?

So I hope all of you ladies did that as well because that is another smart way to help just bring in more income for the agency as that money sits in our bank.

Perfect.

Well, I there are elements in everything you all said that was discussed in our first strategy meeting to discuss what we are going to do with this amazing, unrestricted gift.

Yesterday.

And we are and we are we want to have it is a transformational gift.

And the idea is to create impact.

So we want to do something where we can be really impactful right off the of out the gate, if you will, but not without really taking time to think it through.

And so we had a conversation about three buckets around how gone are things, you know, we can start using these funds, unrestricted funds strategically.

We talked to our my chair, our finances here and director of finance is here today to to listen and learn and build ways to to think about how to have the most impact in the most significant way.

So that is potentially some direct support.

We are I mentioned a strategic plan.

And so we have our sort of like guideline about what we're going to be doing next.

Our east side presence is already happening, happening.

We get to enhance that and think about that strategically.

Our 50 off 50th anniversary is happening next year, so we get to plan starting tomorrow.

It's actually May 8th is the actual date.

But, you know, our celebration will be later.

But for me, oh, I have one year we have one year to plan our 50th celebration.

We have an endowment that we established when we acquired and our our building and so we understand the importance of that.

And so we'll be considering that there are things that we want to do in terms of an organization that has had the kind of growth and need for infrastructure and capacity.

And so we decided that we would take our time.

We don't have to rush the decisions that we are going to make together with board leadership and staff leadership and input and input from the information that we receive through our strategic, strategic planning process that allow for us to come up with the four goals that we have.

And then we know that there's some more information that is going to be really critical to our direction going forward soon.

And that's through the community health need.

There's an LGBTQ community health needs assessment that is wrapping up that will be able to learn so much from and then use that information.

So data driven opportunities, strategies, thinking about our 50 years allows for us to think about how do we take this gift to help us maintain for 50 more years?

And so and what does it say and how how loud, invisible do we want to be about it so that we encourage people to continue to invest in this way?

So this is not something that is one and done for us.

I mean, we celebrate it.

I bought some lunches and then I'm sorry I didn't take you off calls for the day, but.

But, but let's go out.

But we also really want to take our time and think through this in a way that is as meaningful.

And I know that we also have a budget.

It's time for budget review and, you know, to begin to put together our draft budgets for 2025.

And so we have a timeline to be able to present something to the our community stakeholders by September about how we're going to strategically use this money.

So we have a due date about when they come come to the to the board to say this is it.

And with our recommendations.

But certainly we're going to take our time and figure it out because there's so much that can happen.

And it's important.

It seems like.

To try to just add one more thing.

So we forgot this, but there's absolutely no reporting with this process.

You know, for me.

No, no, no homework.

We're just going to watch and celebrate and honor you by how.

We know how to report.

Right?

We know how to report.

So I'm there there likely will be some reporting that's built internal around, you know, ensuring that we are, you know, paying attention.

Yes, that's correct.

That sounds like, you know, measure.

Measure twice.

Cut.

Once you're doing it, you're working on your strategy data making decisions based on data.

Yeah.

With the Mackenzie Scott gifts through yield giving, she has given about $17 billion to 2300 nonprofits since around 2020 2022.

Giving us a stats say that there's $500 billion given to nonprofits in 2022, $500 billion were given out.

Just remember that 80% of those dollars are from individuals.

Make sure you are always talking to everybody around you.

It's just a reminder in that we as individuals can make a huge difference in our nonprofit.

With our nonprofit friends in this area.

We are I have to go to the Q&A.

It's 1230.

Thank you, Dan.

We're about to begin the audience Q&A for our livestream and radio audience or just joining in.

I'm Lita Albertus, senior vice president for philanthropy at the Cleveland Foundation and moderator for today's conversation.

Joining us today is leadership from four organizations that received gifts from Mackenzie Scott's latest round of historic philanthropic giving.

Phyllis Harris, Executive Director of the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland.

Jasmine Long, President and CEO of Birthing Beautiful Communities.

Jill Ruzicka President and CEO of Towards Employment.

And Denise Van Leer, Executive Director of Fairfax Renaissance Development Corporation.

We welcome from everyone City Club members, guests, students and those joining us via live stream at City Club Talk or Radio Broadcast 89.7 W WKSU Ideastream Public Media.

If you'd like to text a question for our panelists, please text it to 3305415794.

That's 3305415794.

And City Club staff will try to work it into the program.

May we have the first question, please?

Q Scott, afternoon.

So good to see so many friends on stage and give you the opportunity to share your voices.

So this is a huge opportunity for your organizations to have value added.

How do you ensure your current donors that a the money gets put to good use but they continue to give and support your organization and not view this as a reason to stop giving?

Yes.

Yes.

Don't stop.

I'd like to jump in because I neglected to mention this earlier, but to that point, towards employment, as others are, is actually organizing its very first, we call it a capacity campaign.

We have been in the quiet phase and actually, again, among friends, we're about to go public, the first to know.

So we have had a strategic plan vision outlined in the strategic plan.

And then this campaign, which has laid out a longer term vision to see how we can grow our impact.

So this really gives us an opportunity to accelerate the work around that strategic plan and the goals of that campaign.

As you know, campaign moneys come in through pledges and over three years, that's very different than getting one lump sum.

So the vision for expanding impact has been already built into our DNA and how we've been operating going forward.

The idea of this campaign was to allow us to move forward.

This allows us to accelerate that.

It also just gives us just a little bit more room and flexibility to bring more voices into the conversation.

So the need is great.

One of the things that Jasmine mentioned is when people, again come to programing, we're a workforce organization and it's about jobs and skills, but they come with many other needs.

They come from the communities.

They come out of it facing a range of what we call social determinants of work, whether it's the stable housing, transportation, child care, criminal justice involvement and all of those things need to be supported.

And how is it in any one of our organizations, they show up for one service.

You can align those supports so that they can continue to move forward for the reason they originally came to you for.

And so it's coordination, it's collaboration.

But sometimes you just need a fund to be able to respond to that.

So I wanted to echo one of the things that we have had an opportunity to pilot is a is a special fund to help pay off season, finds that people get through the criminal justice system and that then causes people to lose.

Their driver's license.

That so how would you back in.

In just so many ways and so how do we build that how to but how do we also partner and think about how that kind of thing can be sustainable?

So there please don't please don't think that all our needs are met.

Please keep coming to the table and talking with us.

I'll piggyback on that.

And just to say that this whole concept of making sure we use the money.

Right, making sure we do this correct, that's actually nobody's business.

And furthermore, I mean, seriously, if we were selected of 6500 whatever agencies and we put the hard work and talked about how we would spend these dollars, if McKinsey's got to entrust us to do the dollars correctly, then the community should trust.

Us to use these dollars correctly.

We all care.

So deeply and we are also committed to the communities that we serve it to, whatever population we serve, whatever neighborhood we serve, to make sure that we provide exactly what is needed to make our communities thrive.

And so I think that is really important to know and we should really shift the narrative around that a little bit and to continue making sure that philanthropy understands that we need there's a whole range of needs in Cuyahoga County alone.

And so this money and it's funny because it's $2 million, but at the end of the day, you know, BBQ's budget is $5 million and so these are drops in the bucket.

When you really think about the expansive needs of our community here.

I also appreciate that.

Perspective and I and I feel like when we discuss this because it is a common concern that I really believe in the funding community and individual donors.

We're not going to take it for granted that they understand this, and we will do our part in educating folks about how nonprofits operate and the challenge that we face as nonprofit leaders that you all know, you know that you can't stop investing in these organizations, especially when we receive these types of gifts.

We all talk to folks, talk about being in the quiet phase of a campaign and we're in a quiet phase of our campaign.

One of the things it's really quiet right now, but we're working hard.

And that gift allows us to really, again, strategize in a way to have impact, both for the community, but for our organization and its sustainability.

And so part of that is looking at what if we take into the two to account that there that the number of anti LGBTQ attacks and legislation against our rights and protections, we're going to need to to invest.

We're going to we're going to I'm in a constant there's a constant campaign.

So this is a comprehensive campaign.

So we'll raise the 2.7 or $3 million that we typically raise for our operating.

And then we're going to add a little bit more to it to get to about $10 million.

That's very brand new, but not so much now.

You know, in the in the in the early stages of figuring this out, it coincides with what we're doing in terms of our organizational redesign to build capacity and succession planning.

I've been serving as executive director of the Center for 12 years.

I'm thinking 15 is a good year.

You know, like so over, you know, three, three years of really, you know, focusing on this this campaign to raise money around sustainability.

I have a stellar staff and team.

And so, you know, really, I'm thinking, again, strategically expecting that the at least the foundation community and we'll do our part like we are today with these opportunities and educating our stakeholders that this is the time to invest.

We know that you don't like investing in sinking ships, and we're not doing that.

We got it.

Okay.

Thank you.

Yes, right.

Yeah.

You're.

Years ago, I worked with someone who said fundraising is never done, and it stuck with me ever since.

We are going to work forever.

And then after we work, our organizations keep going without us because we've worked so hard.

Next question.

Good afternoon.

I'm Eliana Gorman with Amnesty squared STEM High School.

I was wondering during last question, you guys talked about investing in the community.

One of the ways that one would be able to is employment and outreach.

How have you guys been able to pilot or start programs that are investing in employment and outreach?

So I'll take that.

So we we actually officially so we've always helped people get jobs, but we officially started a workforce program back in 2012 and it just continues to grow is a huge need in the communities that we serve.

People need jobs.

People need training.

People need all the things that they need to be able to apply for a job, to have this to even know how to apply for a job.

So in the communities that we se computers or access to computers or they can't afford the Internet.

So, you know, you have to think about all of that and help people get to where they need to be.

So the need continues to grow and we always need dollars to help.

Do those things for those people.

So our program has grown.

We collaborate with everybody because you just have to.

Nobody can do it all by themselves.

So that's something that's very important to us.

And I'm sure I know Jill, but everybody has towards that.

But yes, right.

But, you know, it's it's it's a huge need and it's it's getting harder and harder and we get and more request.

So we always get more requests than we have funding for.

So, yes, so Jill, the workforce, thank you.

So thank you for that that question.

And so because we've been talking about so many needed community supports, I'm just going to share another part of our work.

So in thinking about certain phrases, there are a couple of different phrases that we always try to keep in mind.

And one is that talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not.

And the other one is it's not just about fixing the worker, but also fixing the work.

And so I just wanted to share that the work we are working individually with jobseekers and addressing challenges, building skills, connecting to employers, providing coaching and wraparound services so they can advance.

But they're doing that within a system, and it's a system that is not working very well.

And so some of the work also is with employers and thinking about what is their approach to hiring and retaining more diverse talent.

Right.

Whether they are struggling to find workers, are they taking a look at themselves?

Are there policies and practices that could be changed to again, do a better job of attracting or training and creating more opportunities for the talent that we have?

And then there's work sort of at the policy level as well.

So I just wanted to make sure that we raised that, that working at the systems level and policy change can help really magnify impact.

And that's an important part of our work as well.

I think in terms of the center.

Yesterday we had a dissemination is that what we call it, on our with our young people who participated in a program for a year and a half where they learned participatory community based research.

So they each present it's seven of 11 who started the program.

So attrition was very little in comparison for high schoolers who are staying with the program for a year and a half where they're learning about research.

And one of the questions as they presented their projects to us all was, you know, how many of you are interested in research now?

And many of them raised their hand.

They were so, you know, smart about their projects and the impact that they wanted to have based on the research and the data that they were going to.

So that's one of the ways we invest in young people.

We have a of a life skills program because we realize that many queer young people are pushed away from their homes and and maybe missed that step about some of the basics that some of us take for granted that my son knows over there he better know about checking in and things that, but we take it for granted.

And so we've developed the program.

One of our team members, Ray Jackson, saw the need and developed a program that is has taken off and to really give young people the skills.

And we truly one of the things that came up in our strategy meeting yesterday was from our from our board leadership is how do we invest in the people that that we work with?

We hire a lot of young people.

There's a whole bunch of Joneses and a whole lot of interns that come through and might be an opportunity to look at paid internships for our program.

But anyway, so we invest in that way.

Sometimes it's one by one around leadership development.

Sometimes it's through the, you know, Gonzales and the program team looking at our programing through the lens of social determinants of health about what people need to build up their strength so that they can be productive and civically engaged, you know, young people and take on the leadership.

We are part of a movement around change.

We're part of the nonprofit sector and have values and mission.

And so we we want to teach young people this.

We want to invest in in giving them the skills to be self-sufficient.

I think this is like almost a planted question because the other part of our McKinsey's got video was really talking about how important it is for communities.

Yes, we are HHS, Health and Human Services Agency, but we're also Workforce Development Agency because we hire, we train, we hire and we employ.

So we are a dual agency.

And I will say the way that our organization works, about a fourth of our staff is former doulas who were inspired by either receiving services from the organization, who wanted to help their community, who now serve as administrative staff members.

And so seven was kind of hinting at this, but with that comes an additional layer, a needed supports around professional development and access and all of these things that we have to support to really build my team up to ensure that these are some of the most highly qualified staff persons here in northeast Ohio.

I want to have the best possible folks working for me and I'm willing to build them.

MM.

And I want to add to Bill, I love being with her and to be able to build them up, to be dynamic.

I was in a meeting yesterday with one of my Wednesday with one of my coworkers and she was like the intimidate person I was exposed to and she's like, got me together.

And I said, Boom.

That's how I know I'm effective, right?

When I can see they are like, Jasmine, you're, like, really struggling to make this decision.

Do it.

Okay.

And I can do it.

So really training people, providing them with the skills needed, investing the black women that work with me, that I'm supporting, that I'm ensuring make at least $20 an hour, that I'm paying a livable wage, that we're taking care of health insurance when needed.

And it was so funny, our benefits person, when we got this grant, that was the other thing.

Right now we're able to pay for our employees health insurance and MRI benefits person who was saying we were going to have to change our policy.

And she said, God is good.

And so that was just such an incredible moment to be able to do these things are to some unconventional but I know as dual as I know as a black woman what we're dealing with, we're probably taking care of each other, our staff, we're taking care of our family members at home.

We're taking care of extended family members, children, husbands and all of these different things.

And so if we can take a little stress off at work and reduce that kind of toxic stress, then I know that we're making a difference.

So it's very important to invest.

And your staff is very important to help bring in young people to build them up as well.

Great.

Yes.

And now everybody in this room is here because you're interested in philanthropy.

You're a philanthropist.

You're a civic leader.

Just remember to take time to also help mentor people who are younger than you and people within your building or people who are at other nonprofits.

One of our famous fabulous mentors is Cecilia Render.

You're up next.

I didn't know.

I though she had a similar story really quickly before Cecilia.

I asked her question as a new executive director, I got an opportunity to provide training for the city of Cleveland police officers in advance of the gay games and dropped that in the basement into my lap.

And there was all these small politics happening around it that I was naive to and didn't understand.

And I'm thinking, I'm new, I'm going to do this right.

My brother is a city of Cleveland police officer, activist.

Asked me lots of questions about that all the time.

And I stand with him and his professionalism and I saw it as an opportunity to say, here's how you want to engage with LGBTQ people around this monumental event that is about to happen.

This is back in what's happening.

This is 2013 and I sent emails to folks and I asked for some money to be able to cover the costs of my leaving my organization as a new ID to go and do this.

It's 2000.

I started 2012.

2013.

Yes.

Who answered that call?

How was it as it was not in there.

It was not.

It was not.

We were in Cleveland in and and it was 20 $500.

Other people said no, and I'm a superstar because of this.

Thank you.

Your question, lady.

Well, I guess all of this kind of ties into.

It because Jasmine talked about it earlier and.

Mackenzie Scott basically.

Does trust philanthropy.

And so how can we, as the philanthropy funding group.

Move more.

Towards becoming what do we need.

Do.

To help you or you to help us understand how that's what's going to help.

Us move forward together?

You guys are having, you know, similar conversations with one another.

I mean, when you look at the diversity of our organizations in terms of how long we've been around, what we do, how we do it and how we report out the data, I think this really is a moment in time for Cleveland and to help move things forward.

So I think the trust, but also for us as nonprofit leaders, also work with our other nonprofit practitioners to say, hey, guys, even if it's not a, you know, a significant or a super fancy annual report put out, annual report out, you know, we can do it both ways.

It doesn't have to be just some philanthropy.

We can also, as nonprofits and the nonprofit industry, also do our part as well.

And I think one other thing for the funding community is to if you could talk to us and and and get our perspective on people really need and I know depending on what bucket you fall, in some ways you might not be able to do that.

But but that would be very helpful to make our relationships better and more impactful.

Can I if I could just one of the thing I think because it characterizes our characterizes I think across our organization and that is hiring people with lived experience who reflect either have graduated from our programs, who live in the neighborhoods that we are working in.

And so that also is a big feeder into a trusted relationship in the sense that we are working with community interest for the community and that we have the community voice guiding our work.

Yeah.

Part of that trust is relationship building and as fundraisers we're always building up our relationships.

So it's not about just reaching out to somebody saying, Hey, I need can I have this money from you know, they know it's coming because you've been having conversations, you've been sharing the highs and the lows of your organization throughout the journey.

Jennifer Her pulse tells me that all the time morale.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

You know, teaching is challenging work.

I did it for 40 years.

And we have some state legislators who behave as if they really hate children and their families.

So my question to you, Miss Harris, is do you do any training or any professional development for educators to to help us make sure that the LGBTQ population, that they know they're worthy of being loved?

Yes.

Yeah, I really do.

I really do appreciate that question.

Thank you for that question.

And one of the but it gives me an opportunity to talk about some of our services at the center.

But one of them that we are proud of is our advocacy and training and research.

I think we're going to get that get this right.

Education and advocacy programing.

Again, I you know, I'm I'm filling, I guess, nostalgic.

Nostalgic.

I know that there's this 50 years coming up.

And so I think about my part in the in this 50 years and coming to the center and prior there was a training program where they did LGBT 1101 or LG.

I don't even know if they got to the T training by then.

And I didn't understand what was going on because nothing was going on with it.

And we have since built an incredible training program where we are able to provide training to health and human services organizations.

Medical professor knows teachers.

We actually have training in in the schools for the students in Lorain County, but also provide training for teachers.

We've been to pep for training any one of there are lots of organizations here that has received some of our training.

We during COVID, we pivoted we like many people did, and we're able to provide our training through a online virtual type process that is self-paced.

And so, yes, where did you go now?

We would love to get to you to provide this training because we have gotten to the T in a way that is that is important and should be highlighted.

And everyone and, you know, the way that we appeal to folks is like if you're a professional and your job is to serve people, that means trans people, too.

And so if you want to be the best professional you can be, take our training, check us out.

LGBT, Cleveland or click on the the tab that talks about our training and get in.

We'd love to support you.

So continue following our four nonprofits on their journey.

Remember, fundraising is both an art and a science, and sometimes there's a little magic sprinkled in it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Phyllis Harris, Jasmine Long, Joe Rosica, Denise Van Lier for joining us today at the City Club today.

And of course, thank you, Toledo, for moderating today's conversation.

And of course, thank you to all of you for being with us today.

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We'd also like to welcome students joining us back again today from M.C.

Squared STEM High School as well as guest tip guest tables.

We love it when they come.

As well as guest guests at tables hosted by birthing beautiful communities, the Cleveland Foundation.

Deaconess Foundation, the LGBT Center of Greater Cleveland and Towards Employment.

Up next, at the City Club of Cleveland on Friday, May 10th, we will hear from author Leah Rothstein on how our communities can begin to undo segregation damage.

Evelyn Barnett, co-founder of Third Space Action Lab, will moderate.

Then on Friday, May 17th, Jodie Rudoren, editor in chief of The Forward, will join us in conversation with Andy Geronimo, director of the First Amendment Amendment Clinic at Case Western Reserve University's School of Law.

And the complexities that journalists face have faced in reporting on the war abroad and antisemitism here in the United States.

You can get your tickets and learn more again about these programs and others at City Club.

Talk.

And that brings us to the end of today's forum.

Thank you to our members, guests and friends of the City Club.

I'm Kristen Baird Adams.

And this forum is now adjourned.

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