1 00:00:01,640 --> 00:00:05,800 To the average passer by, Parkway Drive in Fresno, CA 2 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:09,120 might look like a bunch of motels clustered on a service 3 00:00:09,120 --> 00:00:12,560 Rd. by the freeway. But to an entire community of 4 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:16,280 children and families, that cluster of motels is a 5 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:20,080 neighborhood, and the rooms in those buildings are their homes. 6 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:26,440 I tend to have this very optimistic, very colorful lens 7 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:29,400 in which I see this community because I love it so deeply and 8 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:33,200 I walk it regularly. That was Richard Burrell and the 9 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:37,120 community, this community that he loves so deeply is one that 10 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:40,400 he knows very well because it's where he spent many years of his 11 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:43,600 own childhood. And that history there gives him 12 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:46,840 the ability to see that neighborhood through two sets of 13 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:49,320 eyes if we were visiting him now. 14 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:55,760 I would be walking you to some of the best tacos, Taco places, 15 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:57,800 restaurants that exist in Fresno. 16 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:01,560 What other folks would see is the gang culture that exists 17 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:04,040 here. What I would be describing to 18 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:09,160 you are mothers who are doing their absolute best to take care 19 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:12,200 of their children. What most folks see is sex 20 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:15,640 workers. Parkway Drive has seen decades 21 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:19,400 of disinvestment and you can see the results of that every day. 22 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:23,600 And and to be totally like just blunt and clear. 23 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:27,560 Parkway Drive is an active crime scene, non star. 24 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:29,920 There is always something going on there. 25 00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:31,440 Always. Still today. 26 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:34,800 Yeah, I just came from there. Yes, still today, like right 27 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:40,720 now. I've lived on and in the motels 28 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:44,320 along Parkway Drive through various part parts of my life 29 00:01:44,320 --> 00:01:48,560 right as a child, as an adult dealing with some unresolved 30 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:55,400 trauma, and for the last 12 to 13 years as an adult who is 31 00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:59,480 facilitating conversations that as as a community, will help us 32 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:01,880 heal. These conversations that Richard 33 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:05,680 is referring to and a lot of other high impact youth 34 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:09,160 programming all happened under the umbrella of a nonprofit 35 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:12,480 Community Center Richard started in 2012 called Live Again 36 00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:15,840 Fresno. I refer to this as a sacred 37 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:18,160 space in the middle of a neighborhood that doesn't hold 38 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:20,880 much sacred. Now, Richard is building off of 39 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:24,040 his long history in Fresno to help reshape its future. 40 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:28,040 Welcome to Path Breakers, a show about what it takes to cut 41 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:31,840 through the noise and red tape and all of the other obstacles 42 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:34,760 to progress. I'm Tracy Pearson and I work on 43 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:37,280 the communications team with the Kresge Foundation. 44 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:40,320 And I'm Jamie Bennett. I work at the intersection of 45 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:42,840 arts, culture, and equitable community development. 46 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:46,080 On each episode, we talk with a different path breaker who's 47 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:48,400 forging new ways forward in their community. 48 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:52,400 On this episode, Jamie is talking to Richard Burrell about 49 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:55,840 making physical and emotional space for the generational work 50 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:59,160 of Deep Healing. Yep, as you may have guessed 51 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:02,720 from the way Tracy phrase that, I got to host this one solo 52 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:05,320 while Tracy was off on a well deserved break. 53 00:03:09,640 --> 00:03:11,600 Richard, it is great to be with you today. 54 00:03:11,640 --> 00:03:14,760 As we kick off, would you just mind introducing yourself? 55 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:16,960 Give us your name. Tell us your title, your 56 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:19,680 affiliations, and where you're calling in from today. 57 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:21,440 Absolutely. Thank you. 58 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:24,200 My name is Richard Burrell. I'm the Executive director and 59 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:29,040 founder of Living in Fresno. We're calling in from the dead 60 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:32,560 center of Fresno, Parkside Jane Addams neighborhood. 61 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:36,520 I, you know, I feel a little guilty admitting this, but I've 62 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:39,960 never been to Fresno. But just, you know, for folks 63 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:43,040 that are like me who haven't visited, tell me just a little 64 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:45,400 bit about Fresno. What, what is this place? 65 00:03:45,400 --> 00:03:49,960 What is there? First of all, we are dead center 66 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:54,200 middle of California could not get any more central in the 67 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:59,440 Central Valley than Fresno. Fresno has a very rich and 68 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:02,880 unique history to it, whether you're looking at it through the 69 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:07,200 Native American perspective or or the farmers and multiple 70 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:09,880 immigrant immigrant groups that have come here and contributed 71 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:13,840 to the culture that exists. Or on a smaller scale, the 72 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:17,640 specific neighborhood that living in Fresno operates out of 73 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:22,400 and partners with folks in. We are in the Parkside Jane 74 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:24,360 Addams neighborhood. This neighborhood was 75 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:30,080 established in the early 50s and before the creation of 76 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:34,880 Interstate 5, like, this was a place where, like, Nat King 77 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:38,200 Cole, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, The Beatles, The Rolling 78 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:42,360 Stones, Elvis Presley, like, they all were here in this place 79 00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:45,800 less than half a mile away from where I'm at right now, at this 80 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:49,120 place called the Hacienda. That culture that existed 81 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:53,040 created this, like, very rich and vibrant community. 82 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:55,720 Yeah. It also was the beginning of 83 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:59,960 this sex, drugs, rock'n'roll thing happening in Fresno. 84 00:04:59,960 --> 00:05:05,400 Once airline travel got more efficient and the Interstate 5 85 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:08,880 was created, the rock'n'roll left and the sex and drugs 86 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:09,960 stayed here. Wow. 87 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:14,600 And is that history? And like if I wanted to learn 88 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:17,360 more about that history, is there a book? 89 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:20,480 A documentary? I am so glad that you asked that 90 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:22,880 question. It took a lot of discipline for 91 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:24,920 me to not mention this documentary. 92 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:30,400 It's called Motel Drive in that that that film is 8 years of our 93 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:34,280 work here in this community, working with this neighborhood. 94 00:05:34,280 --> 00:05:38,560 It also this film is important because it shows one family, a 95 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:43,000 husband, a wife and his son who lived almost their entire life 96 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:44,840 here in the motels on Parkway Drive. 97 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:49,680 It is intense. It is a very hard to watch film 98 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:54,360 that does a phenomenal job at capturing what real life is like 99 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:58,000 through the eyes of one family and and highlighting the 100 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:02,760 importance of place to base organizations and leadership who 101 00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:06,840 stays in close proximity to to their community members. 102 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:08,920 How did? You arrive on Parkway Drive. 103 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:11,560 Did you grow up in Fresno? I was actually born in the Bay 104 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:14,800 Area. I was born in the foster care 105 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:18,960 system to a mother who was only 15 years old. 106 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:24,320 My mom's foster mother at that time had learned that my mother 107 00:06:24,320 --> 00:06:27,040 was pregnant from an Indigenous man and kicked her out. 108 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:31,840 So we went from home to home to home to battered women's shelter 109 00:06:31,840 --> 00:06:34,720 to battered women's shelter all over the Bay Area. 110 00:06:35,280 --> 00:06:40,040 I had a really hard time at one point in my life, just endured a 111 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:43,960 lot of abuse, and then I got shipped off to Montana to go 112 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:48,120 live with my grandfather. That was probably the most 113 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:52,400 beautiful time in my in my childhood that I could remember, 114 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:55,200 and it taught me a lot of the core values that I hold on to 115 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:58,560 today as far as being present and emotionally available. 116 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:03,160 When my mom had sent back for me to come back to California, this 117 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:05,080 is where she brought me to. To Fresno. 118 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:09,040 This is to Parkway Drive to Motel Drive where I'm at today. 119 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:12,560 And so I didn't know any different as a kid. 120 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:16,600 Drug addiction knows no prejudice nor does poverty, 121 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:18,600 Right. So like everyone is kind of in 122 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:21,600 the same boat and it didn't matter what race, ethnicity, 123 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:23,880 color you were, we were all just struggling. 124 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:27,720 And so as far as I was concerned as a little kid, I lived in an 125 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:31,040 apartment complex where all these different things happened, 126 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:32,800 right? And it was normal. 127 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:37,200 Then there became a time in my adult life we had moved away and 128 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:39,480 obviously life goes on. There was a time in my adult 129 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:44,200 life when I had this inner struggle, had spent 20 years 130 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:51,600 raised up in gang culture and 100% not just identified, but 131 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:56,960 like believed in the cause. And then I started having kids 132 00:07:57,080 --> 00:08:01,160 and I wanted to be a father. But to me, this was this like 133 00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:07,320 magical, mythical thing that I had heard about and not seeing 134 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:09,400 movies, but it didn't exist in my neighborhood. 135 00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:12,240 It, it didn't exist anywhere in my life. 136 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:16,760 I wanted to be that thing. I just didn't have the tools or 137 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:22,840 the vehicle to get me there. And so I knew that not like I 138 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:25,840 couldn't carry a firearm or be an active gang member and be a 139 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:29,200 father at the same time. It was ACC to a counselor in 140 00:08:29,200 --> 00:08:31,360 prison who actually, like, taught me this lesson. 141 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:36,080 I was a very big man. He was a very relatively small 142 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:38,360 man. And he scared the shit out of 143 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:40,799 me, to be honest. I sat down, cuffed up. 144 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:45,280 He asked me my name and what I did. 145 00:08:45,560 --> 00:08:46,840 I said my name is Richard Burrell. 146 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:48,400 It's in your file. I'm a father. 147 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:52,680 And he slammed his file shut so hard that it made me jump. 148 00:08:53,680 --> 00:08:56,600 And he started tearing up and said you cannot be. 149 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:02,040 You cannot be. Your children are at home and 150 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:04,640 you are here. You cannot be a father. 151 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:09,200 A father, Richard, is a highest title a man can carry. 152 00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:13,840 You are not that. You may be at some point today, 153 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:18,720 you are not. And I cried, I'm in a level 4 154 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:21,480 prison getting ready to get shipped to another maximum 155 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:24,880 security prison. And that man's words stung. 156 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:27,640 They were true. They stung so bad. 157 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:32,040 And when I was being escorted back to my cell, like I held on 158 00:09:32,040 --> 00:09:34,440 to that was like, man, I want to be a father, though. 159 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:40,080 And so when I was paroled from prison, I didn't know, like, 160 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:43,080 where does a father start? What? 161 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:46,520 What do I do? And so I started seeking out 162 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:50,920 like mentors and, and folks in the community who I could see 163 00:09:50,920 --> 00:09:54,360 that they were doing a good job at being a dad. 164 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:56,520 And I started asking them questions and spending time with 165 00:09:56,520 --> 00:10:01,000 them. But during that challenge, the 166 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:05,520 inner conflict of like identifying as a member of this 167 00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:09,120 specific gang for so long and wanting to be this thing that I 168 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:13,520 had no idea what it was, created a bunch of inner conflict that I 169 00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:15,480 just started self medicating and drinking. 170 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:20,880 And so that there was a period of my life, probably about a 171 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:24,120 year, where I came back to the motels and I lived there and 172 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:28,080 then was able to find some help and, and get myself on my feet 173 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:31,760 and figure out how to move forward to learn about emotional 174 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:34,000 intelligence and to actually like take the steps towards 175 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:40,520 becoming a father. Then in 2009, I went and sat on 176 00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:42,440 a mountain. It sounds crazy, but I sat on a 177 00:10:42,440 --> 00:10:46,280 mountain for a few months just seeking out, calling out to 178 00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:51,800 creator, calling out to God, saying like, I I want to do 179 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:56,480 better. How where right, Like what do I 180 00:10:56,480 --> 00:10:58,600 do? I had this very beautiful 181 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:01,680 mountaintop experience that's probably a whole nother podcast. 182 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:05,320 And then I came back home to Fresno and I understood exactly 183 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:08,160 what I was supposed to do. I didn't know anything about 184 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:13,720 A5O1C3 nonprofit CBO, like that was all a foreign language to 185 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:15,040 me. What I did know is that there 186 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:18,160 were forty children who are living out of motel that had 187 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:20,520 these huge, huge challenges in front of them. 188 00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:24,520 And so I decided that I would take, I worked at this glass 189 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:29,000 plant called PPG that I would take a portion of my work check 190 00:11:29,560 --> 00:11:31,720 and I would invest it in the lives of those children. 191 00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:35,720 And so we started an after school lunch program there and 192 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:39,280 then an art program and then a music program in the middle of 193 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:42,120 all the things. The Parkway Drive is federal law 194 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:45,480 enforcement is on the scene off in Fresno Police Department is 195 00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:51,640 on the scene off all day. And I've heard local leadership 196 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:56,120 from law enforcement say there's no way to stop it. 197 00:11:56,200 --> 00:11:59,440 Once they take folks out of leadership, it's a vacuum, 198 00:11:59,440 --> 00:12:00,840 right? It's just the next folks that 199 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:03,840 are willing to rise up and take over that spot. 200 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:07,560 And so it's very challenging. And Richard, for folks that sort 201 00:12:07,560 --> 00:12:11,160 of aren't familiar with what today is an organization, your 202 00:12:11,160 --> 00:12:15,880 work, just take us a step back. What why are 40 children living 203 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:18,520 in a motel? Just talk to us a little bit 204 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:21,760 about those motels and, and what the community is that's there. 205 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:24,680 Yeah. So I can talk about what was, 206 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:29,480 what isn't, what will be. So what was what was was 207 00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:34,760 absentee owners who owned the motels along Motel Drive but 208 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:37,760 didn't live here. So for the Fresno Inn, which 209 00:12:37,760 --> 00:12:40,640 doesn't exist anymore, it's the southbound on Rapid Clinton in 210 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:43,600 99. Now, the folks who own that were 211 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:47,480 a plastic surgeon, a tax attorney and some other wealthy 212 00:12:47,480 --> 00:12:51,520 man who lived in Lai only know this because I tried to track 213 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:54,320 them down to talk to them about things that were going on there, 214 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:56,080 right? So for the most part, it was 215 00:12:56,080 --> 00:12:58,960 folks who didn't live here didn't have any interest at all. 216 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:04,240 And what was happening, it was in some cases revenue for them 217 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:06,760 and others a tax write off because the business was failing 218 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:13,920 and falling apart, right. But on a much smaller scale and 219 00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:17,880 and dealing with real life, these were some of the most 220 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:23,040 corrupt and inhabitable places where families actually lived 221 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:27,080 for very long periods of time. So in these motels, which are 222 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:32,360 depicted in the film Motel Drive, you have families who 223 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:36,840 lived in, I mean, just utter chaos and squalor. 224 00:13:37,120 --> 00:13:42,680 There was literally raw sewage that poured out into parking 225 00:13:42,680 --> 00:13:46,040 lots where children played at. And it took me about a year to 226 00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:49,080 get to a place where the mothers who lived there trusted that I 227 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:52,760 wasn't a social worker or undercover police officer to 228 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:55,240 where I finally, like, cultivated a relationship to 229 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:58,560 ask, hey, why do the kids play where the raw sewage is pouring 230 00:13:58,560 --> 00:14:03,600 out? Mary's response was, where else 231 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:07,760 are they supposed to play? There's 27 high level sex 232 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:10,160 offenders registered to 90s who lived there. 233 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:13,000 Of course, we're going to let them play here. 234 00:14:13,520 --> 00:14:16,200 So it made more sense for the moms to like, let their kids 235 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:21,120 play where this entire 4 units of raw sewage poured out into a 236 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:27,480 parking lot, in their words. And they would prefer to do that 237 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:31,520 instead of dangle their children in front of the windows of these 238 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:34,520 known sex offenders. It was the harsh reality of that 239 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:37,320 place. Folks were not supposed to live 240 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:40,800 there under the conditional use permits for longer than 28 days. 241 00:14:41,200 --> 00:14:45,640 The average stay for families in the motels along Parkway Drive 242 00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:49,440 was three to five years. That was on average. 243 00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:55,560 Some stayed there, as many as 7 to 9, very challenging. 244 00:14:56,200 --> 00:15:01,120 That is what was what is happening today is you have 245 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:05,400 Fresno Housing and the city of Fresno making substantial 246 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:11,360 investments in improving the way that the entire landscape along 247 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:15,160 Parkway Drive looks like. So they've bought the motels, 248 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:17,880 they have renovated a handful of them. 249 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:22,000 Fresno Housing is just completed, the second brand new 250 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:28,160 low income sustainable long term housing apartment complex on 251 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:31,920 Parkway Drive. So you have Promesa, which is 252 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:35,720 already full Manzanita, which is leasing up and will be open in 253 00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:38,120 June. Yeah, it's, it's, it's 254 00:15:38,120 --> 00:15:43,160 incredible to work and partner, work in and partner with this 255 00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:46,840 community for as long as I have and see this much change come in 256 00:15:46,840 --> 00:15:50,680 just the past three years. Listening to you talk about this 257 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:55,640 and listening to talk about the work, I'm remembering a a sermon 258 00:15:55,640 --> 00:16:01,080 that a pastor gave who sort of said all you can do is the next 259 00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:06,040 right thing, right? And we've been talking in the 260 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:09,360 series with a bunch of folks who lead organizations and lead 261 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:13,400 programs and have sequenced and scaffolded programming. 262 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:16,320 And you have outcomes and theories of change. 263 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:21,160 And it seems like you sort of came into this community, 264 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:25,000 joined, rejoined this community and said, let's going to do the 265 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:29,080 next right thing. And how do you sort of go from 266 00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:33,080 looking at that thing in front of you that you need to do and 267 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:36,840 turning it into this sort of structured program, this 268 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:39,440 organization getting national funding from the Kresge 269 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:41,640 Foundation? How do you go from that sort of 270 00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:45,440 spontaneous be with the person and turn something into 271 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:49,600 something that exists in that language of CB OS and nonprofits 272 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:53,120 and all of that nonsense? Yeah, so that's a great 273 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:55,240 question. It's making me smile right now 274 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:58,920 because initially I got told, I mean, for years that I was doing 275 00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:02,160 everything wrong and I was doing it backwards because the model 276 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:05,839 that existed, which I didn't have this great education, 277 00:17:05,839 --> 00:17:07,640 right, Like this huge education behind me. 278 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:12,079 So I didn't know about it, but the model that existed was you 279 00:17:12,079 --> 00:17:16,640 find the funding, right? You create your 5O1C3, you find 280 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:19,400 the funding, you get your staff, you get your building and then 281 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:22,480 you connect to the people. Why did it backwards? 282 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:26,200 I connected to the people with the people for over 2 years 283 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:30,000 paying everything out of my own pocket and then created the five 284 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:34,120 O 1C3 and then found the funding and then created jobs for the 285 00:17:34,120 --> 00:17:39,400 people from the community right again, our bodies heal just like 286 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:41,400 our communities from the inside out. 287 00:17:41,720 --> 00:17:46,960 So to speak to a community and say I see you, I love you, we 288 00:17:46,960 --> 00:17:51,480 eat, shop everything in the same place and then go hire folks 289 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:54,480 from some other place to come facilitate the healing made 290 00:17:54,480 --> 00:17:57,360 absolutely no sense to me. Yeah, it's I can't. 291 00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:02,880 I mean, the thing, maybe the the most painful thing that I've 292 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:06,000 heard you share today is that people thought that starting 293 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:10,800 with people was backwards and that, you know, anytime you 294 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:13,680 start with a pile of money looking for a problem to solve, 295 00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:17,640 you've already gone wrong. I, I believe so and, and so like 296 00:18:17,720 --> 00:18:20,880 just to double down on that, we have monthly community meetings 297 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:23,320 here. And if you didn't know any 298 00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:25,160 better, you would think it was just a party. 299 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:30,280 Very loud music, excellent food, very diverse crowd from all over 300 00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:34,440 the community gathering right? And we sit and we eat and we 301 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:40,040 play Lotteria and bingo. We have fun games and, and our 302 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:43,240 team and some other folks are are in the crowd in the 303 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:45,280 community that we walk alongside with. 304 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:49,000 And they're asking questions while we're sitting down at 305 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:54,360 family style cookout style meals to figure out what is the next 306 00:18:54,360 --> 00:18:57,880 right thing that we need to do? Is it getting a school bus stop 307 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:00,280 moved? Is it crosswalks? 308 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:06,240 Is it advocating for sidewalks? Is it addressing air pollution 309 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:09,920 because of the significantly higher percentage of kids in 310 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:12,800 this neighborhood who suffer from chronic asthma, right? 311 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:15,080 What is the next right thing for us to do? 312 00:19:15,360 --> 00:19:18,960 And as a community, that voice is elevated and we walk forward 313 00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:23,840 in that. There's AI have a a sort of 314 00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:27,360 community organizer elder that I've learned a lot from who said 315 00:19:27,360 --> 00:19:30,280 that the only three things you need to organize any community 316 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:34,000 are music, food in children. And it sounds like, you know, 317 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:38,320 Parkside Jane Addams has the three of those in spades. 318 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:41,040 So it's going to do just fine. You, you've said a couple of 319 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:44,280 times you've talked about healing and the need to heal 320 00:19:44,280 --> 00:19:50,240 from the inside out, and you talked about the issue of trust. 321 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:54,000 And how do I know that you're actually here to help me in the 322 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:57,520 way I need to be helped and not to take my kids away and not to, 323 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:00,760 you know, kick me out, not to do these other things. 324 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:05,880 There's so much trauma and so many different kinds of trauma 325 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:09,360 that folks that you work with have been experiencing. 326 00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:13,880 How do you deal with that sort of trauma as you think about the 327 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:17,000 next right thing, as you think about building the programming, 328 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:19,560 as you think about developing this campus? 329 00:20:20,120 --> 00:20:23,120 Yeah, We actually have a room here that's called the Refocus 330 00:20:23,120 --> 00:20:25,200 Room. It's a small office. 331 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:29,840 It has like sensory toys and and journals and coloring books. 332 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:35,800 And what I've learned is that when we are given the 333 00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:40,680 opportunity to enter a space that is safe and we give 334 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:45,480 ourselves permission to feel safe, repressed or unprocessed, 335 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:50,880 traumas will come up. And so that room serves a very 336 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:55,080 specific purpose for our young people here who come here and 337 00:20:55,080 --> 00:20:57,680 they're able to have some quiet time for. 338 00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:00,440 So for a child who had been living in a motel three to five 339 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:03,160 years at a time, like there is no privacy there. 340 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:08,080 So the luxury of having a quiet room to yourself is huge. 341 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:12,400 And so that young person being able to access a room with a 342 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:16,480 comfortable chair to themselves is disarming in itself. 343 00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:19,160 And then we have staff who comes in and sits and talks with them, 344 00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:22,640 helps them work through some of the stuff, the hardship, 345 00:21:22,640 --> 00:21:25,880 identify whatever the challenge is to the challenge could be. 346 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:27,320 I haven't seen my mom in two days. 347 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:30,480 I haven't eaten in the last day because I haven't been at 348 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:35,800 school, whatever The thing is. And and to be quite honest, like 349 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:39,400 more times than not, a young person will enter that room 350 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:42,920 because they've disrespected somebody here on staff, cussed 351 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:45,680 at them or just done something super offensive. 352 00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:51,000 And so it's their choice to enter that room, which then 353 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:56,000 after a 5, seven minute time by themselves, two adults like 354 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:58,280 staff will go in there and sit and work through a script to 355 00:21:58,280 --> 00:21:59,520 help them figure out what's wrong. 356 00:22:00,360 --> 00:22:03,480 We help the young person to identify exactly what the 357 00:22:03,480 --> 00:22:07,920 challenge is, right? So it's identify it, deconstruct 358 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:10,360 it. What are our options towards 359 00:22:10,360 --> 00:22:12,120 healing that? Like, what are the avenues 360 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:16,240 reconstruction. Then the most important part is 361 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:19,280 reintroduction to tribe or reintroduction to family. 362 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:23,760 And what that looks like is Little Richard apologizing to 363 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:27,120 Miss Janessa, our program manager, who I may have cussed 364 00:22:27,120 --> 00:22:32,360 out or whatever, Right. And so for our young men here, 365 00:22:32,360 --> 00:22:34,680 that's a, that is super important. 366 00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:40,240 The context and the language for which they view and speak to 367 00:22:40,240 --> 00:22:45,040 women that's modeled here in the community is very vulgar, very 368 00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:50,960 disrespectful. The assignment or the what's 369 00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:55,000 being asked of the young man is did you hurt anyone by your 370 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:57,240 Lang, by your words or your actions here today? 371 00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:00,600 Yes, so they take accountability. 372 00:23:00,760 --> 00:23:03,240 I said whatever it was to Miss Janessa. 373 00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:07,000 Do you want to heal that? Yes. 374 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:10,360 My bad. Does not cut it. 375 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:14,080 I apologize. Not even close. 376 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:22,160 The language that we suggest to them is Miss Janessa, I said 377 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:24,800 this thing that was offensive and disrespectful. 378 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:28,360 When you're ready, will you please accept my apology? 379 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:33,000 I have not yet seen one young person, male or female, work 380 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:38,080 through that entire phrase. They get as far as I am sorry 381 00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:43,480 for what I did when you are ready, and then they break into 382 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:48,400 tears. The vulnerability that that 383 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:52,360 comes in that moment of saying I, I love you and I know I did 384 00:23:52,360 --> 00:23:56,000 something to hurt you. I'm accepting accountability for 385 00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:57,960 it. When you're ready, will you 386 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:00,480 please accept? Like they can't get there. 387 00:24:01,120 --> 00:24:04,800 It's usually just like drowned out by tears and don't want to 388 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:07,840 be nurtured. This is how we heal. 389 00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:14,640 So it wasn't necessarily on the staff member or on our team to 390 00:24:14,640 --> 00:24:16,680 like address that or to carry that. 391 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:19,600 It was to help facilitate a conversation to figure out like 392 00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:23,320 what the actual cause to this thing was and then leave it on 393 00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:25,960 the individual to say like, yes, I'm choosing to accept 394 00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:28,760 accountability and I want to walk towards healing. 395 00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:32,160 I want this relationship. I want reciprocity. 396 00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:35,400 I want like to know when to be known. 397 00:24:36,120 --> 00:24:38,800 And I know that I can't do that by pushing everyone away from 398 00:24:38,800 --> 00:24:41,280 me. And so we understand as adults 399 00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:45,600 who have endured healing and done some of the inner work, 400 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:50,000 right, that like those moments can be very intense for the 401 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:52,480 person because like the vulnerability and the fear of 402 00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:54,520 rejection and, and all of that, right? 403 00:24:54,520 --> 00:25:01,600 Like we need to just be as open and as comforting as we possibly 404 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:03,400 can. Understand this is probably 405 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:04,960 something that's very new to this person. 406 00:25:06,360 --> 00:25:10,280 Richard I I'm sure there's a better someone has said it in a 407 00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:14,120 better way, but you know, my experience is that often times 408 00:25:14,120 --> 00:25:17,360 the only way through is through and you got to do it. 409 00:25:17,360 --> 00:25:19,880 You got to do the work and you got to get through all the steps 410 00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:22,440 and you know, there aren't shortcuts and there isn't going 411 00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:24,840 around. Talk to me about your 412 00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:28,360 organization. How many people does it take to 413 00:25:28,360 --> 00:25:32,360 make sure kids got lunch, got a place to like, you know, you 414 00:25:32,360 --> 00:25:37,240 must be a gazillion dollar thousands of people entity doing 415 00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:39,280 all of this work. That's the dream. 416 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:41,960 Yeah, right. My favorite Bob Marley quote. 417 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,040 I won't even get into that. There's a quote where Bob Marley 418 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:46,560 talks about, like, numbers. This man asked him about him 419 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:50,360 being wealthy and being rich. And Bob Marley says you you're 420 00:25:50,360 --> 00:25:53,360 talking about numbers. Numbers never end, which means 421 00:25:53,360 --> 00:25:56,240 you're forever chasing them, right? 422 00:25:56,480 --> 00:25:58,800 I am wealthy because of my relationships. 423 00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:02,200 And so I can start like at the relationships that are the 424 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:04,440 closest to me. It would be our staff, our team 425 00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:08,080 here, which is comprised mostly of moms from the community. 426 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:13,600 There are 12 folks who are on staff here who do an an amazing, 427 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:18,160 I mean incredibly amazing job from art, music, social, 428 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:20,680 emotional groups, all the curriculum that's taught here, 429 00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:22,760 meals that are cooked every day by us. 430 00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:25,720 They do an amazing job, including transportation. 431 00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:29,200 We have drivers who go to the neighborhood, pick up kids and 432 00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:31,240 bring them here just to make sure that they're safe, that 433 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:38,160 they're never risking exchanging their personal safety for a hot 434 00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:40,120 meal or to connect with a mentor or tutor, right? 435 00:26:40,120 --> 00:26:43,280 We make sure that we pick them up for free, they're here for 436 00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:45,400 the duration of program, and then we take them back home. 437 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:50,480 And then we have our community members, the moms, grandmothers, 438 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:54,120 and fathers from this community who show up and actively support 439 00:26:54,120 --> 00:26:57,280 everything that we do here. We understand that it literally 440 00:26:57,280 --> 00:26:59,720 takes a village. And so the village is showing 441 00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:01,480 up. The village knows that they are 442 00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:04,520 seeing, they are heard, they are known and they are always 443 00:27:04,520 --> 00:27:08,560 welcome here. I have an incredible board for 444 00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:11,720 the for a living in Fresno. The board very active in 445 00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:15,240 everything that we do. And then we have folks like 446 00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:19,880 Kresge and, and some of our other community partners here, 447 00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:22,720 including the Central Valley Community Foundation that do an 448 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:25,880 amazing job at making sure that there are resources made 449 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:29,040 available so that we can can continue to do the work that we 450 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:31,080 do. That's amazing. 451 00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:34,400 And you talked about a lot of construction that's happening. 452 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:38,000 So talk to talk to me a little bit about the construction, 453 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:39,760 what's what's going on, what's being built. 454 00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:46,400 So the goal was creating the organization and then creating 455 00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:50,200 the space and then creating jobs for people from the community 456 00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:55,520 and then art, music, garden and then buying the land that we're 457 00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:58,920 on, which is state of California and walking a Rambula. 458 00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:02,720 State Assembly member walking a Rambula allocated $1,000,000 out 459 00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:05,160 of the California State budget for us to buy the piece of land 460 00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:07,960 that we're on right now. So it was, and then buy the 461 00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:13,040 place and then build a new building, which we're literally 462 00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:15,720 a few weeks, weeks away from, like the beginning of that. 463 00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:18,880 Now we're at the final end of our permitting phase. 464 00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:23,960 I needed to raise 1.3 million. I'm like 900 and something into 465 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:26,000 it. And so like, we're almost, 466 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:29,280 almost, almost almost there. Yeah, yeah. 467 00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:32,520 And so this place where we're at right now is a Ethiopian church. 468 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:34,320 It was owned by an Ethiopian church. 469 00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:36,640 We've totally outgrown this space here. 470 00:28:36,680 --> 00:28:39,400 We know that we need a much larger space to meet up for our 471 00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:42,920 community. And we need a kitchen that will 472 00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:45,360 help us scale the meals that we do daily. 473 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:47,520 Right. And so one of the most beautiful 474 00:28:47,520 --> 00:28:52,360 things about this Kitchen 1 is that like it's day near 475 00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:58,920 restaurant almost commercial space 2 is that our kids, our 476 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:02,840 young people from the community will be helping us to create the 477 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:05,720 meals there. From the outside looking in, 478 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:09,280 from the inside looking out, the notes that they're taking, the 479 00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:11,680 measurements that they're writing down, the ingredient 480 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:14,920 list that goes into the the journals or the books that 481 00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:17,320 they're writing is a cookbook that they will take home. 482 00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:21,720 We know that there's two very different groups of young people 483 00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:23,520 that come here. For some of them, their parents 484 00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:26,440 are involved in sex work or drug activity in the neighborhood. 485 00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:30,680 For a much larger percentage of the young people here, their 486 00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:32,240 families are migrant farm workers. 487 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:36,000 So they as well might not see mom and dad for a few days at a 488 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:40,560 time while they're up working Salinas, Watsonville, Gilroy in 489 00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:43,080 the fields. And so making sure that they 490 00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:46,960 have a cookbook, right, so that they can support their siblings 491 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:50,320 that wasn't handed to them, they literally helped to write the 492 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:53,040 thing, gives them so much ownership in it. 493 00:29:53,760 --> 00:29:57,160 Richard, we've, we've had a, we've talked with a couple of 494 00:29:57,160 --> 00:30:00,360 folks in this series who are involved with campuses. 495 00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:03,360 There's someone who's working with HB CU campuses. 496 00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:05,440 There's the Marygrove campus in the middle of Detroit. 497 00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:09,000 It sounds to me like with all of these buildings and all of 498 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:12,360 these, all of these physical spaces going on, that that you 499 00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:14,160 all have something of a campus there. 500 00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:17,520 Can you just Orient me, give me the map of sort of what are all 501 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:20,400 of the places that make this up? Absolutely. 502 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:25,920 So 1145 W Hedges. This is our headquarters. 503 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:28,640 This is this is where a lot of the magic happens at. 504 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:33,400 I love this space because we are in the neighborhood, but not of 505 00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:36,720 the neighborhood. Parkway Drive and all of the 506 00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:40,560 beautiful and wild stuff that exists there is right across the 507 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:43,720 street, like just down across the intersection. 508 00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:48,600 We are at the end of a cul-de-sac, which creates a 509 00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:52,440 space where whatever happens here, like folks from the 510 00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:56,520 neighborhood who may be a threat, that threat isn't seen 511 00:30:56,520 --> 00:31:01,120 here or felt here. Because when you are here, you 512 00:31:01,120 --> 00:31:03,480 feel like you're literally in a different place. 513 00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:08,680 The new building that will be built here is just to the South 514 00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:11,560 of this building. So again, this was a building 515 00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:13,440 that was owned by an Ethiopian church. 516 00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:16,760 This space will be strictly admin. 517 00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:19,200 We're undergoing A remodeling here in this building. 518 00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:22,800 And to add to that, we also have smaller satellite size 519 00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:27,800 throughout the community. So there are large, 2 very large 520 00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:34,800 mobile home parks that house a huge Wahaka population. 521 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:38,440 And so we utilize their community spaces there. 522 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:41,320 They call them clubhouses, clubhouses at those places. 523 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:45,200 And we've also created jobs for folks from there, one as a way 524 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:49,200 to say like we totally value your input. 525 00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:51,680 We want you at the table with us. 526 00:31:51,840 --> 00:31:54,240 And then also the language barrier that exists, right? 527 00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:58,160 Most folks from Oaxaca, they may understand Spanish, but they 528 00:31:58,160 --> 00:32:01,840 speak Mishteko, one of the two, one of the higher low dialects. 529 00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:05,120 And so making sure that we have folks on our team they can like 530 00:32:05,560 --> 00:32:10,680 clearly and concisely like translate what it is that we're 531 00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:12,280 trying to say is super important. 532 00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:17,960 And lastly, because we have like a very beautiful zoo house in an 533 00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:21,960 amazing park just across the street here that is our third 534 00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:25,920 satellite site. So every Thursday from the hours 535 00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:29,720 of three to six, the Zoo, Chaffee Zoo, shuts it down to 536 00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:32,560 public and opens it up just to our young people from the 537 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:35,680 community. They've given us an education 538 00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:38,600 space there and a green space which we share in meals there, 539 00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:42,400 help with homework, and then they're amazing staff helps our 540 00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:45,480 young people learn about the different exhibits that exist 541 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:47,360 there. How to care for what goes into 542 00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:49,440 it is amazing. That's fantastic. 543 00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:51,480 And I even let your you've done it again. 544 00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:53,040 I love that you don't see a dead end. 545 00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:56,240 You see a cul-de-sac. So I just, I love everything 546 00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:59,880 about the way you roll. I totally love it, but there are 547 00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:03,200 two things that really are striking to me about your work. 548 00:33:03,560 --> 00:33:06,160 Which is. One, you're really doing 549 00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:09,320 generational work, you're really talking about mothers and their 550 00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:14,360 kids, and we're talking about a 20 year time horizon, not a 12 551 00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:17,280 month one. And the other thing is that 552 00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:22,360 you're really inviting people to see multiple truths at the same 553 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:26,080 time, right? To see the sex workers and to 554 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:31,600 see the mothers, to see the the dad who's crying and to see the 555 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:36,440 systems that cause him to feel unsafe and to be unfed. 556 00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:40,680 How do you reconcile? How do you deal with the tyranny 557 00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:44,480 of time that's so much about philanthropy and nonprofits 558 00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:47,520 tries to impose? That is such a challenging 559 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:50,600 question. I think, to be totally honest, 560 00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:54,720 Kresge has been the first foundation, the first group of 561 00:33:54,720 --> 00:34:00,600 people to actually give me a platform to string together 562 00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:05,240 words. To try to sum that up, so often 563 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:08,840 in philanthropy you're given this one year, 2 year funding 564 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:15,600 cycle where you're expected to scale or franchise the work that 565 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:19,719 you're doing rather than cultivate and harvest 566 00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:23,159 relationships. In my experience, it takes a 567 00:34:23,159 --> 00:34:25,920 year to start to build a relationship. 568 00:34:26,840 --> 00:34:29,719 It takes another year after that to build trust. 569 00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:34,960 It probably takes another year or two after that to organize 570 00:34:34,960 --> 00:34:39,400 people around an idea and maybe another year to like activate 571 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:44,360 them around that idea. And so to expect actual change 572 00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:46,920 in a one to two year funding cycle is challenging. 573 00:34:47,719 --> 00:34:51,400 Unless unless the goal is to franchise and just have a bunch 574 00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:55,080 of flags planted in a place to cultivate. 575 00:34:55,080 --> 00:35:00,560 Actual change takes time. Yeah. 576 00:35:00,600 --> 00:35:03,360 How can I move on and scale when we haven't finished with those 577 00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:06,960 forty children yet, right? The work is still there. 578 00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:09,760 They're still growing. This was the question that was 579 00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:13,480 asked by a Kreski board member. I'm short of millions of dollars 580 00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:15,720 falling on your head today, Richard. 581 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:19,040 What is your plan for scaling and sustainability? 582 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:24,160 Jamie, I started sweating because I said this is my answer 583 00:35:24,160 --> 00:35:26,520 with respect to my colleagues here on this panel. 584 00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:29,920 We all need money like we need money to do what we do. 585 00:35:30,440 --> 00:35:34,440 But scaling to to us as an organization doesn't look like 586 00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:37,800 bigger, shiny, brighter. It doesn't look like 587 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:41,080 franchising. It looks like deepening 588 00:35:41,080 --> 00:35:45,840 relationships. It looks like that that's that's 589 00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:50,880 scaling the work in a way that promotes health and healing and 590 00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:55,520 sustainability has to do with more relationship than it has to 591 00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:59,120 do with revenue. It has to. 592 00:35:59,920 --> 00:36:02,720 I've watched cities just like the city of Fresno go through 593 00:36:02,720 --> 00:36:06,760 huge budget deficits and shut down community centers at at 594 00:36:06,760 --> 00:36:10,360 city parks that feed children who don't have access to food. 595 00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:14,240 Like they shut those down. The CB OS and nonprofits around 596 00:36:14,240 --> 00:36:17,000 those community centers and around those parks stepped up, 597 00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:21,880 had those centers open and they implemented curriculum, 598 00:36:22,240 --> 00:36:25,600 resources, art, music, gardening, right. 599 00:36:26,760 --> 00:36:30,320 Because of the relationships that existed within that 600 00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:33,400 community. The resources continue to keep 601 00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:36,600 growing and thriving. If we focus more on the 602 00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:43,320 relationship part and stop focus on like who else is competing 603 00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:47,320 for this grant, right? If we focused a lot more on the 604 00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:53,320 relationship building, that's long term scalable, right? 605 00:36:54,840 --> 00:36:59,200 Healing that actually happens. That is needed if we're going to 606 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:02,080 address what's going on in the community. 607 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:04,840 Look at the symptoms, of course, right? 608 00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:08,640 Identify what the symptoms are, but let's start to like move 609 00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:12,520 towards what is causing this or what has caused this in the past 610 00:37:12,880 --> 00:37:17,840 so that we can work towards healing as a community, as us. 611 00:37:19,720 --> 00:37:25,200 Yeah, Well, Richard, I, there's a, there's a another person in 612 00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:29,320 the Kresge orbit called Mindy Foleylove who's done some. 613 00:37:29,320 --> 00:37:33,640 Really amazing work around collective recovery, around root 614 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:35,440 shock, around the kind of analysis. 615 00:37:35,720 --> 00:37:39,640 And I'd love to sort of bring her into conversation with you, 616 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:44,680 ideally over tacos on the Strip, listening to some music, 617 00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:48,000 walking, walking along Parkway Drive, getting another Jane 618 00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:51,720 Addams neighborhood. But before we adjourn so we can 619 00:37:51,720 --> 00:37:54,840 do that, I want to close with just a lightning round of 620 00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:58,160 questions. Just a different mood, a 621 00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:01,160 different part of your brain. I'm just going to sort of rapid 622 00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:03,680 fire ten of these things for you. 623 00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:08,000 So, Richard, if you and I went to karaoke tonight, what song 624 00:38:08,000 --> 00:38:11,800 would you sing? Oh my gosh, I was just singing 625 00:38:11,800 --> 00:38:13,600 this the other day. I don't know the name to it. 626 00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:16,440 Making my way downtown, something something. 627 00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:17,720 I was just singing that the other day. 628 00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:21,880 I love that. When you wake up in the morning, 629 00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:25,080 coffee, tea, or something else? Coffee for. 630 00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:28,640 Sure, awesome. What's the best thing about 631 00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:32,800 being a girl dad? My gosh, there's so many things 632 00:38:36,120 --> 00:38:37,440 I wouldn't even know where to start. 633 00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:42,480 I don't Waking up to breakfast on Sunday mornings that they 634 00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:46,000 made getting I love you text throughout the day and 635 00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:49,200 throughout the week. Being able to drop my beautiful 636 00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:51,000 children off in the morning time. 637 00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:54,720 The way that it leaves my cars, my truck smelling like all their 638 00:38:54,720 --> 00:38:57,000 different perfumes and whatever else going on. 639 00:38:57,160 --> 00:39:01,840 Yeah, I love it. I love that this may be the 640 00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:03,960 easiest question asked today. Who's going to win the next 641 00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:05,240 Super Bowl? 49ers? 642 00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:09,120 What's the first book you remember reading? 643 00:39:09,680 --> 00:39:15,120 First book I remember reading was a Father Richard Rohr book 644 00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:21,040 called Breathing Underwater. I I still subscribe to the I 645 00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:23,600 read every day the Center for Action and Contemplation. 646 00:39:23,600 --> 00:39:27,720 Yes, amazing. Father Rohr, So thank you for 647 00:39:27,720 --> 00:39:30,520 that. Who's who's someone who broke a 648 00:39:30,520 --> 00:39:33,880 path that allowed you to become the man you are today? 649 00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:36,200 Who's a path breaker? Who made way for you? 650 00:39:37,440 --> 00:39:43,200 Richard Allen Berry Rick Berry. He is an incredibly passionate, 651 00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:48,160 talented, gifted man. He is an incredibly great model 652 00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:53,680 for how a husband should be. Exemplary father, great 653 00:39:53,680 --> 00:39:56,320 community member and mentor. I love him. 654 00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:00,600 If we walk down to your office right now, what tabs would be 655 00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:03,360 open on your computer? None. 656 00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:07,720 Absolutely none. That's the safest. 657 00:40:07,720 --> 00:40:11,800 Way what? What's your favorite recipe they 658 00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:14,040 make in the kitchen? Peanut butter cookies. 659 00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:17,040 Peanut butter cookies. If you could travel anywhere in 660 00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:18,880 the world, where would you go tomorrow? 661 00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:25,000 Back to Montana. And finally, if you could write 662 00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:28,680 an official motto for Fresno, what would you make the motto of 663 00:40:28,680 --> 00:40:35,120 the city of Fresno? We love hard. 664 00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:43,320 Richard, I can't thank you for taking time away from everyone 665 00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:46,920 to have this conversation today. Tracy is going to be so mad that 666 00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:50,600 this is the one she had to miss. And I just, I really do look 667 00:40:50,600 --> 00:40:53,280 forward to picking up this conversation, hopefully in 668 00:40:53,280 --> 00:40:56,200 Fresno over tacos. So just, Richard, thank you so 669 00:40:56,200 --> 00:40:58,400 much for taking the time today. Thank you. 670 00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:05,160 It's been an honor. Richard Burrell is the founder 671 00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:07,600 and executive director of Live Again Fresno. 672 00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:11,640 We've put links to Live Again Fresno, as well as the Motel 673 00:41:11,640 --> 00:41:14,600 Drive documentary that we spoke about in the show notes. 674 00:41:15,920 --> 00:41:18,800 Path Breakers is produced by the Kresge Foundation, which was 675 00:41:18,800 --> 00:41:22,560 founded in 1924 with a mission to promote human progress. 676 00:41:23,040 --> 00:41:26,320 Today, Kresge works to expand equity and opportunity in 677 00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:29,880 America's cities. Read the stories of all of this 678 00:41:29,880 --> 00:41:33,000 season's Path Breakers and learn about our grant making and 679 00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:36,520 social investing work in Detroit, Memphis, New Orleans, 680 00:41:36,520 --> 00:41:40,120 Fresno, and cities across the US at kresge.org. 681 00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:43,200 To hear more stories from the Path Breakers, be sure to 682 00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:46,360 subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. 683 00:41:47,720 --> 00:41:50,320 Our producers are Juliet Hindley and Zach Rosen. 684 00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:52,440 Managing editor is Krista Yankee. 685 00:41:52,720 --> 00:41:56,160 Our show art is by Rochelle Baker and Creative direction by 686 00:41:56,160 --> 00:42:00,160 Alejandro Herrera. Special thanks on this episode 687 00:42:00,160 --> 00:42:04,320 to audio engineer Keith Little for the tape sink in Fresno, and 688 00:42:04,320 --> 00:42:07,440 special thank you also to my colleagues on the American 689 00:42:07,440 --> 00:42:10,840 Cities and health programs for lifting up Richard and speaking 690 00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:13,400 his name as a truly phenomenal path breaker. 691 00:42:14,240 --> 00:42:15,520 We'll talk to you all next week.