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You ready? Who's ready for some more culture of health, prize? Who's ready?

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Come on, more, more.

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All right. So, we're going to start the afternoon. We have our folks watching

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at home again with us. Welcome. Welcome back to Rebel with Johnson Foundation. So, we're going

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to start the afternoon. We have a terrific panel for you all to hear from today. Representatives

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from all the prize communities. And to start it off, I want to bring out our fierce of heart

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in public health, Sherry Johnson, once again, to a host of panelists.

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Sherry?

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Thank you, Joe.

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I am beginning to feel like Oprah, some are cousin at least.

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So welcome back.

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This part of our day together is called Courageous Conversations.

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And we are going to have the opportunity to learn from the latest

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culture of health prize winners about how they are

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entering into challenging difficult conversations about things like racism and root cause and structural oppression and systematic oppression and how they're not only having the conversation, but probably more importantly how they're taking the results of those conversations toward action.

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So in these conversations today we'll be hearing about the perspective of residents from all walks of life in these five communities.

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and we are going to use the conversation to help us think about moving forward

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inclusively together.

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So I'm happy to introduce our panelists today,

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but before I do that, we're going to show a brief video,

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a compilation video of some of the stories

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from the prize-winning communities this year.

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These five communities are bringing residents together

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to bridge divides and open dialogues

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about challenges in the present that arise from the past.

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These are hard conversations about historical rocks

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at the heart of today's disparities.

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What has to happen is an acknowledgement of the trauma.

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We've really had to work hard on this relationship

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and a lot of it started by forgiving

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how they treated our native people.

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We need to be able to talk with each other and support each other.

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These are honest conversations about deeply rooted injustices that linger in our institutions.

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There are no systems, healthcare, education, economics, criminal justice that are not affected by racism.

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Well, I'm very concerned about just walking around black.

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We're really entering this work of desperate outcomes by addressing the root cause of systemic racism.

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These are important conversations about creating opportunities for every.

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Our Latino community has increased greatly.

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As a more acceptance of our community,

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of our language, of our culture.

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Health equity has expanded here,

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making sure that people are getting what they need.

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These conversations are happening everywhere.

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Every living, breathing, human being

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has something to contribute to the discussion about health.

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It's an important moment to have hard conversations

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about health equity, about transportation equity,

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in churches, on buses, and around kitchen tables.

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Kitchen table conversations are a way for community residents to get together.

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So let's people with different perspectives learn from each other.

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It's a very vibrant community.

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Our role is to make sure that it's accessible for all people.

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And these conversations involve the leaders of tomorrow.

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Maybe that's an opportunity for us to start another action project.

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Remember that we have a lot of allies?

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Well, the youth council is the one important goal between conversation between us and our youth.

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I've started in the city council meetings, and I actually had to see that the table with them.

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The journey to better help for all begins with an invitation.

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This all goes to helping better our community.

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An invitation to everyone everywhere to start a conversation.

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You have to invite them to the table

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and create the space that gives voice to their experience

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until we deal with racial inequity.

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Till we make sure everyone has a safe place to live.

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Those are things that we have to talk about.

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We've got a long way to go

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We're willing to have hard conversations and we're committed to moving it forward.

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So I will introduce the panelists and then we'll jump into a courageous conversation.

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So starting at the end there, we have Kim Campbell, who is Assistant County Administrator for Broward County.

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She was a key player in Broward County's dismantling racism initiative.

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And that's training the community to develop a common language and an analysis about systemic and institutional racism.

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We have City Manager Renee Mendez from Gonzales, California.

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He spent 20 years in state and local government and has implemented youth and community

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engagement initiatives to ensure that all voices are heard.

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We have Reverend Stacey Mills from Greenville County, South Carolina.

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He's the senior pastor at Mountain View Baptist Church, a church that is using its place

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and platform in the community to encourage resident engagement and empowerment.

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We have Eudalia Contreras from Lake County, Colorado, and she is the Resilient Lake County Coordinator for Lake County Bill de Generation.

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And in that role, she organizes residents in Lake County's manufactured housing communities to build health and health equity.

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And we have Chandler O'Connell who is representing Sikka Alaska, a community that has done significant work around recognizing and addressing the impacts of historical trauma is a community catalyst for the Sikka Conservation Society and the Sustainable South East Partnership.

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So we are about to feast on knowledge and passion through this courageous conversation, so I'm going to start with a question for all of the panelists to answer.

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So tell us how your community is creating the opportunity to have challenging conversations and what kind of issues are you talking about.

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So in Broward County, we realized that across all of our systems, we were having issues with access to care and services and we were having issues with disparate outcomes across all the systems, education, economic and employment, health outcomes.

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Just you name it there there was a very very strong disparity across people of color and we have a very diverse community, you know 30% black 28% Hispanic and so the human services department and the children services council came together looking at that data and saying as the two largest funders of services in our community that we really need to do something about this and you know what we realize is that in order to get to the crux of the issue we have to deal with the

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of the issue, which is internalized,

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racism, institutional racism, systemic racism,

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and have bold conversations about what that means for us in our communities,

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so that we can actually impact the services and the communities that we're trying to serve.

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And so first we contracted with the People's Institute for a Survival

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and Beyond Out of New Orleans to do a two-day workshop for us

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around establishing the Common Language and Analysis about racism

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in our community, and then moved on to the Race Equity Institute, which is who we have

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under contract now.

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We've trained over 2,000 people in Breyer County in this analysis, and we've established

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an infrastructure of support such that once folks are exposed to this information and material,

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they have a place to go to deepen their analysis and talk about the challenges that they're

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continuing to experience day in and day out with racism.

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Good afternoon itself for the city of Gonzales, it was like our mayor talked a little while

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ago about really listening to what our community wanted for themselves and a regression

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of cornered records.

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I know it came from somewhere moving at the speed of trust so for us it was really following

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that pace and being intentional about it and really allowing ourselves to listen.

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There's a real instinct that we actually listen to in government or bureaucracy, if you always

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want to just if I explain what you're doing or not doing, but it's really important to

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listen and we started working with your youth. Are youth put together a form where they

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ask us to prioritize certain things in our council step forward in our school board as well.

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There was a real intentional relationship with our school board, many of our small communities,

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the city councils or your city organizations in your school boards are really the

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the fact of public agencies, non-profit agencies,

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that's what everybody does.

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So it's really important to really strengthen that relationship.

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So that started our efforts on youth engagement.

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We also started supporting our local community groups.

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Get out of their way.

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It's really fun that we have public facilities,

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but we don't open them for the public

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because they've analyzed and they do a bunch of other things.

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So we figured out how to provide the public facilities

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back to the public.

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So we started developing that trust.

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We worked, we partnered with our county health department and others on health and all policies and again the key there was having somebody having the courage to allow somebody else to meet it and get bringing that information back to see the leadership.

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So with the county health department, our community group was put together a really developed plan and then we started being intentional and consistent in the work that we do.

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Be careful about your wish for because you might get it and it's not always pleasant when people really tell you what they want

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So we are not shine away from that and we're embracing that and then we're also having meaningful engagement with their private sector

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Not only the big companies because that's kind of sexy, you know, you have a big ribbon cutting

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But our small businesses those are the foundation in the core in the in the council really made that a priority

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So we set up a small business development program, especially exclusively just for our small businesses.

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And I'm happy to report that we have a portfolio of over a million dollars and small loans out available to our businesses.

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And many of our businesses are not going to scale on what they're doing.

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So we're reinvesting back. So we've let, so that's created the trust that we need to have the difficult conversation with community,

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healthy youth achievement, sustainable economic, equitable economic development, and among other

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issues.

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Thank you.

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You daily.

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So, in Lake County, I'm working on health equity before my time there were the health

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equity learning series for our community, and I think we quickly realized that we can't address

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health equity without talking about racial equity.

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And so how do we do that without pressing people, bringing them, bringing in mostly people

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of color to talk about their experiences, because that is retraumatizing and it's just

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not fair.

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So we brought in consultants from outside that were neutral to our space to our community

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and just made it community events, a dinner, made sure that we did have interpretation and

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kind of breaking down those barriers so that all people could attend and could be present

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in these conversations.

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I think also at the something really cool that we did at the organizational level, a lot

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of us participated in what's called racial caucasine.

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So there was the white group and then people of color group and there was just a lot of the internalized

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and I think that is going to really help us move forward in this work.

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Thank you.

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So thank you for Greenville City and County.

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We have this wonderful opportunity where we're watching

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Economic Growth and our city is exploding and it's almost

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the Dickens tale of two cities.

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You've got this amazing, wonderful main street and wonderful things

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that are happening and whether intentional or unintentional

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there is the question of quality of life for all residents.

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So we are able to, with a rather sophisticated in many ways,

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network of nonprofit organizations come together

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and have very intentional conversations about how we

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place services from education to transportation and

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housing that will meet the needs of all the residents.

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enterprise and commerce can be our friend, but it can also drive us in ways that our harming

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our residents who have been there for many years. And so I think our colleagues around the table

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and who are at home will agree that we have a great opportunity to maximize this growth and then

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turn the conversation to include people who would not ordinarily be invited to the table.

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So I'm from Sikka, which I am very grateful for, I'm grateful to be a guest on Tlinga

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I need Tlinga Land.

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And I think that we face a lot of challenges as we all do, and the ability to have difficult

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conversations with people who have been your neighbors who will be your neighbors for generations

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is a really important skill.

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So it's not just about having a conversation but asking how to have it in a good way.

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And I think Sikka has a lot of examples of that, but there's also places where we sometimes fall in down.

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And so I wanted to honor a story today of a grassroots movement in Sikka that's happening right now.

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I'm sure many of you are familiar with the move by states and cities from Columbus State and indigenous peoples day.

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Well, in Alaska, we have a similar example of a...

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The last day, which marks the transfer from Russia to the United States of the territory of Alaska.

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And I say transfer, given the Russians didn't really have claim to Alaska.

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And for particular, where that ceremony took place, it's linked to people who have never seen it.

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That territory, and they weren't invited to that transfer ceremony.

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And so, growing up in Sica, this has been a day of celebration.

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A day to have pride, a Alaska pride, a big parade, a community party,

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A complete with a re-enactment of that transfer ceremony in period costumes, the cannons going

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off, and it's really just like this clear example of colonization and a failure to reckon

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with the multiple meanings of experience and what is our shared collective experience.

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And so for a lot of people in Sikka, like that is a day of morning, and it's a day that is painful,

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and not only marks last, but also marks the U.S. area of colonization, which was particularly

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And so, there has been a grassroots movement to establish that day as reconciliation day.

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And to tell that story in a different way, there has been a morning ceremony held the last

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three years to coincide with the reenactment ceremony.

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It has been so beautiful to see it grow, to see how that has built new relationships

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in the community and invited the new people into that conversation.

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And there is not consensus yet.

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there is that we still had two ceremonies this year,

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but the media coverage has been so thoughtful,

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new people are learning about the place they call home

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and the multiple layers of meaning that we have.

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And so I just wanted to honor that story

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as it's like work that's being done

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by individuals giving their own time and energy

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to be more honest about our communities.

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And I think that will lead us in a better path forward.

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Thank you.

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I told you it was going to be a feast.

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So the second question I'm going to narrow

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to three communities but certainly if someone has something you want to add in, please do.

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So how have these candid conversations informed your efforts and what are some of the things

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that you've seen happen or actions taken as a result?

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So, Broward County, can you start Kim?

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Yeah, so I feel like the stars are aligned in Broward for this work.

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There are so many people from the grassroots level all the way up to elected officials who

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have bought into in our support of of Broward becoming an anti-racist community and Broward County

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government becoming an anti-racist governmental entity, which is so exciting.

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And so we established the first Office of Equity and Community Investment and our

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procurement processes will run through the lens of race equity and for the human services

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department, that's over $86 million across multiple systems of care and providers in our

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community. The School Board of Broad County has designated over 250 equity

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liaison in the schools. The City of Fort Waterdale is considering policy in their

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community planning process currently to address issues of race equity and equal access

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in the city of Fort Waterdale. There's implicit bias training happening in addition to

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today anti-racism workshops that really spoke, sorry, that really focuses specifically on

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racism and the history and legacy of racism in Broward County so that people who live

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there understand the community in which they live. We're dealing with affordable housing

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concerns relative to access and supporting those communities that have difficulty accessing food

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and accessing transportation.

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I mean, there are just so many accomplishments.

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The public health department having trained 75%

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of their staff are ready through the race equity work.

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I mean, I could go on and on.

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There are so many accomplishments.

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We've reduced the number of black and brown children

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coming into the child welfare system

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in the last nine months using a race equity lens.

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By 100, I mean, you wouldn't even believe it.

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So it's just very exciting work.

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It's long-term transformational, deep and lasting community change that's legacy leaving for the folks who will come behind us, and I'm just so incredibly honored to live and work in a community that recognizes that the time is now to address this, because we've spent millions and millions and millions of dollars funding services that we haven't seen the kind of outcomes that we really wanted to see.

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And I think that this is it.

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You know, Desmond Tutu has a quote where, you know, he's talking about people floating down

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the river and, you know, I always conceptualize social workers at the bottom of the river

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pulling the people out and nobody's asking the question, well, what's happening at the

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top of the river that's causing all these folks to be floating down?

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And the reality is that it's institutional systemic racism.

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And so if we can get this right, we can change our world.

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Well, Greenville is nowhere near that level of work and seeing those kinds of results, but I'm proud that we are beginning a conversation, and it's almost like what our colleague has said here, that the stars have aligned.

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I believe that when you start turning the dirt, you have to prepare yourself for what you're going to uncover, and it's not always brick and mortar, but you,

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Some spirits have been buried and the attitude and the mindfulness of those people who are uncovering the dirt to make way for new opportunities

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have to remember that the labor and the love and the people who lived in those communities before the bulldozers came.

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That laughter is still in the air and we have to reckon with that.

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So what we've done is studied ourselves and we're beginning to look closer at who Greenville is

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and what is our responsibility, so the Southern Economic Mobility Network study showing us that

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a child born into poverty in our community is in the 94th or 96th percentile in terms of likelihood

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of getting out of that. That presents a challenge to us, and it's not just one institution's

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responsibility, it's the school system, it's the church, it's higher education, all of us have to

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to come together and rather than bifurcating these ideas on it as one, the spirit of a person

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is what makes them show up well or not well in society and so it's our responsibility to

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inform people and give them a better lens to see themselves and so that our society is going to be a

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better place to welcome them. The racial equity institute has given us the same kinds of challenges

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that, is it the water or is it the fish?

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So if you're riding by and you're seeing that a few fish are floating, belly up in the water,

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is it what's causing that?

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And so we can't blame the children who are acting out what the society has given them

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as their lens to see themselves in their own identities.

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So it's coming together and we have a wonderful opportunity to join our efforts.

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It's the beginning of a conversation that will take time and painstaking efforts to come out of our corners and to admit and face the ideas that have shaped the society to be what it is right now

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We cannot ignore anyone's past and to say that we should forget and move on is a disinjustice to all of us

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So I don't know what to follow those two, right?

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For us, I didn't see it because I was over the years.

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It's been about racing, the expectation,

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and the community racing is on expectation.

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And there's been early on there,

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it was where you race the expectation,

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fairly folks behind.

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No, you don't leave anybody behind.

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But you begin to really think about the possibilities.

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So things like our youth engagement,

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this year Council approved, but you saw the banner

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college bound for solid seniors and just celebrating what their future. So that's been something

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that's been really intentional in partnership with our school district. But looking for those

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nuggets, you can go look up Gonzalez. We have the demographics. We have it's predominantly Latino

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Spanish-speaking community. Our educational achievements maybe are not what they should be,

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but our kids are still accomplishing amazing things because there's incredible support never.

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So we won't get there. There's a lot to be done there. We've done our Gonzalo's grocery and we started years ago preaching.

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Of course everybody wants to save the world. How does that food on my table? How does that pay the bill?

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How does that give me the work? How does that provide daycare to our children? It doesn't.

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So we had a re-learn, we had to go in and ask and make it relevant.

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So, you'll see our climate action plan and, of course, on this goes green, has an incredible

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equitable equity lens to it.

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It makes it meaningful to your community and, by the way, you don't need a lot of money to

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do this.

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We've been real fortunate to use a lot of the information that's out there, the county health

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department, and so, wealth of data and information, we don't need to commission another

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study.

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United Way, we partnered with the United Way of Monterey County, they did an incredible

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look at sort of aspirational, whether people aspire to be want, what are they want

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community. Nothing surprising came from that, but it was real clear message and we all call

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to action. We're looking at our own internal assistance from our audiences, talked about the

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climate action plan, our health element, but we're also adjusting our job descriptions, we're adjusting

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our evaluations, all the little things so we in the future hire and bring together the right people

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to continue this work. Yeah, it's a part of the work, you need to be able to develop systems

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engineering. But how do you make it relevant? How do you connect with their schools? How do

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you provide opportunities to our community? How do you talk to our community? Police. Public Safety.

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That's an incredible, incredible. We opt in here about the negative. There's an incredible social

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connection if we don't shy away from the difficult conversations when it comes to public safety.

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Which they're happening everywhere. You have to meet them head on. So we've been doing a lot of that.

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We addressed broadband for all.

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We realized that a lot of our community did not have access

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to reliable service.

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So, the council recently approved the contract

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where everybody in Gonzalez starting in 2020

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is going to have available access to the broadband

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and no cost.

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So, no service.

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So, I got the white thing.

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I think I'm over my two minutes.

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But, you know, I can, I can just go on

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and I don't like everybody else's account as well.

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Thank you.

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Thank you.

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So the third question I'm going to ask

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Clinton Lake County to reflect on.

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So how have these candid conversations that you've

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described empowered residents in your community

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to take action?

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It's been really, really amazing to see.

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A lot of my work is mostly in manufactured home parks.

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And we have two parts that we've

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And one of them, we started conducting surveys, doing

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canvassing the residents to a huge role in that.

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We let them our organization is all community led work.

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And so this is in March and Metaville.

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There's still a lot of snow and cold.

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We were doing that in the ladies where you had their clipboards

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and we're going and wouldn't give us the clipboard back.

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Finally, when we got the clipboard back, we're done.

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We got many surveys.

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So it was really cool to see them just take that on and own it and do the work and connect

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with the rest of the residents.

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And not too long ago they were asked by our Department of Human Services to come back

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and take part in conducting surveys for other folks and creating the survey and trying

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to get more people enrolled in the basic needs to be able to participate in these things more

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because just like you said, talking about making the world

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the better places is amazing, but that means

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maybe going, giving up time to go to a meeting.

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So compensating people for that.

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We have another park where it's a big group.

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They are showing up.

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But again, we're making sure there's

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dinner provided, there's childcare,

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and that there's interpretation for everybody.

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And they're just seeing them step up,

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And even sometimes, I think you said it really well,

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sometimes uncovering some of this might not be pretty.

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Sometimes they question me on stuff and I'm like, wait, wait.

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But that's what we want.

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So I think there's a lot of examples of people taking those challenging

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conversations and then finding ways to take action

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or finding ways to apply their unique skills and abilities

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to the challenge ahead of them.

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So we might all have a different type of tool,

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but like finding where you can, you can stick it in and get to work, and to the example of that morning ceremony and reconciliation day that was a grassroots example of those are indigenous leaders and community allies taking their own time all of busy jobs on their on their lunch breaks to get together have dinner together make a plan and follow through and that's one example and it intersects with others there's a local movement to protect the hearing and those are building new relationships as well.

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So I just first off want to say that the community is finding ways to apply their own skills

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and their own time to the things that they care about.

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I'd also be remiss not to mention the Sika Health Summit Planning Day.

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The Sika Health Summit Coalition is the body that applied for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Prize.

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And for the last 12 years they've hosted a community day where people can come together

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and pick two community health goals.

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Something that they think will make the community a healthier and more well placed.

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And that spans everything from putting local fish into local catheterias to doing a choose

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respect mural to making the community a more bike and walk friendly place.

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In the last couple years I've seen a really cool shift where I think we're getting closer

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to the questions of equity and there are a couple of years ago at the health summit they

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the goal that was chosen was let's have a series of community conversations on historical

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trauma. Let's become a more trauma informed community. And then this past year,

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Doug mentioned in his speech, youth came out and expressed their needs. And then took that

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challenge and created team center. We also had the other goal last year was...

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So addressing elder services in town. So sort of really looking at the people that make up our community and what we need to be healthy and these are all these different elements. And finding where to start. So I think that moving that work forward, the real goal is how to make that planning day as equitable and accessible as possible. So the people who get those goals chosen, who receive some seed funding and coaching and support and volunteers, that those really reflect what we truly need as a community to address.

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disparities. Thank you. I know Renee has some interesting stories to share offline, also about engagement,

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so check with him. So the last question is for everyone. What is one piece of advice that you would

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give to a community wanting to have the types of courageous conversations that you've had?

379
00:30:50,820 --> 00:30:58,640
So it's hard to just pick one thing because they're so much. So this work isn't for the

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of heart rate. It takes bold action. You have to be audacious. And you have to keep going.

381
00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:16,360
So I am a product of the child welfare system. And I was adopted by a Swedish mother and a

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German father who also had an adopted Native American son. And this multicultural family

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worked towards race equality, my whole life, and my parents are still living both 89, and

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they were reflecting on this lifetime of reaching into communities of color to establish

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relationships, and I started the conversation about how we need to move from equality to equity,

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and they didn't have a frame of reference for that, they didn't understand what I meant, and so I explained

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what race equity is and they felt like I was discounting their decades of work towards equality.

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And so I said, oh yay, we have an opportunity to talk about white fragility. Let me tell you

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what that's like. And so I slow walked them through what that is and we ended at a really

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great place of course because we have trust and a foundation of a relationship. And so I tell you

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that story to illustrate that you are never too old to learn something new and you are never too

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to participate in the work of dismantling racism. It really is the call of our time. So be bold and

393
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audacious in action and fearless in the face of adversity and keep going. Keep going.

394
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How is that the following year is done? Which is pretty amazing, awesome. You know, but

395
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yes, it's really hard. But isn't this why we are in this career? Isn't this why we do what we do?

396
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And so, to me, is don't be afraid to start, do not be afraid to start. Listen, I'm sure my wife is watching this.

397
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You don't listen to my home, but listen. But listen, right?

398
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You don't need to know everything to get the conversation started.

399
00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:15,660
You don't. And sometimes we get so stuck, I'm going to have all these reports, we need to have all this data.

400
00:33:15,660 --> 00:33:20,220
You know, there's the playbook that we have to follow, but all of us are falling in different playbooks.

401
00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:23,980
Some of you are creating your own playbooks because they fit.

402
00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:29,520
You're moving, you're maneuvering, you're flexible, you're not afraid to take the step.

403
00:33:29,980 --> 00:33:31,660
What's going to take you?

404
00:33:32,340 --> 00:33:37,680
And be committed to it once you start be committed to it and you've heard it here.

405
00:33:38,300 --> 00:33:44,680
Seek out every aspect of your community, no matter how challenging it is, no matter how painful it could be.

406
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It could be sometimes you can walk away through me like, oh, we just went five steps back

407
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But that's what this working is right. This is why we do what we do and I can't assure you that you're going to know exactly

408
00:33:57,560 --> 00:33:58,700
Where you going to end up?

409
00:33:59,340 --> 00:34:07,600
But if you do this you will end up in a much better and richer place that I can assure you and I might not be around to see it

410
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But I think we're on this journey

411
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And you're all on this journey and if you continue to community step up and do it, a little

412
00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:17,380
things, it'll be better.

413
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It'll be better.

414
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Thank you.

415
00:34:25,140 --> 00:34:30,840
I would say, remember that this work is also a form of privilege.

416
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I heard that in it it was like, yep, that is very true.

417
00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:42,900
So when bringing somebody in or starting those conversations, yeah, you may have to be a little

418
00:34:44,300 --> 00:35:06,180
I think we would get further, I always remember, in our county, we celebrated Fiesta Spatria as with a very big parade, and horses, colors, and a couple asked me that was visiting our community about undocumented people and the question that we hear a lot. Why don't people just become legal?

419
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And so, yeah, that was my first, well, but because I had done a lot of internal healing

420
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and I had been in this work.

421
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I was able to respond and bring them in and hopefully they won't ask anybody else in that question.

422
00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:29,060
So yeah, that's what I would say.

423
00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:32,440
Just, yeah, we have the privilege of being in this work.

424
00:35:34,240 --> 00:35:43,060
So, I'm a Black Baptist pastor and everybody in the room has been on edge about whether I was going to take too long to make a point.

425
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So now you can relax, I'm showing up now.

426
00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:49,520
Yeah.

427
00:35:52,660 --> 00:35:53,840
Here's the closing.

428
00:35:56,560 --> 00:36:04,220
Seriously, I'm a bi-vocational, and I think I have one of the best privileges in the world to work for.

429
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a four-year comprehensive public collegiate institution graduating, or giving degrees or awarding

430
00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:16,920
degrees to people who didn't think that it was possible for them to be able to go to college.

431
00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:22,020
I want to put that out there and then I want to put out there the fact that I serve a wonderful

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historic church that's 112 years old and I'm the third pastor in that 112 year history and I've

433
00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:42,720
there for 22 years and the pressure of needing to raise my own family brought me into the marketplace

434
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to understand what a wonderful former state representative said at our church a couple of weeks

435
00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:56,280
ago at an environmental justice forum and he said that if you're not at the table then you're

436
00:36:56,280 --> 00:37:03,660
them in you. And if you're not willing to show up in the room, regardless of how other people

437
00:37:03,660 --> 00:37:09,900
think about you or the psychoanalysis that you've had of yourself that keeps you from showing up,

438
00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:15,440
you've got to get rid of all of that and realize that now is the perfect time for you to emerge

439
00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:23,040
into these spheres of conversations and influence and have your say. Regardless of whether people welcome

440
00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:27,740
you are not, you go into a room if there's not a seat at the table bring your own because

441
00:37:27,740 --> 00:37:32,920
you have to be present and represent the lived experiences that you've had.

442
00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:39,200
Now is that time, our country has been polarized and we have an opportunity to speak up

443
00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:45,100
and allow our voices to be heard, a church prior to this, I don't know of one that has

444
00:37:45,100 --> 00:37:49,980
gone outside its walls to do what we've done and it's almost by accident but I believe

445
00:37:49,980 --> 00:37:53,780
it's by divine inspiration that we have now the charge

446
00:37:53,780 --> 00:37:57,380
to build the community that wants built our church

447
00:37:57,380 --> 00:37:58,860
112 years ago.

448
00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:00,520
And we're going to do that intentionally,

449
00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:03,040
but it takes all of us coming to the table

450
00:38:03,040 --> 00:38:05,060
and being willing to share our truths.

451
00:38:06,340 --> 00:38:06,500
Thank you.

452
00:38:16,070 --> 00:38:18,050
So I don't know if I'm qualified to give advice,

453
00:38:18,790 --> 00:38:21,210
but I think that one thing I would offer

454
00:38:21,210 --> 00:38:25,570
is this idea of going slow to go fast.

455
00:38:26,190 --> 00:38:31,850
And in the work of decolonization, in the work of community building, trust has been broken,

456
00:38:32,110 --> 00:38:35,690
repeatedly, not just by institutions and governments that buy individuals.

457
00:38:36,670 --> 00:38:40,250
And trust has to be earned more so when there's been that betrayal.

458
00:38:41,090 --> 00:38:43,890
And we are not entitled to someone's trust.

459
00:38:45,290 --> 00:38:47,690
So yeah, go slow to go fast.

460
00:38:49,110 --> 00:38:54,730
And I ever since I moved home, I've been thinking about generational change and just where

461
00:38:54,730 --> 00:38:59,890
are we going to be in a generation's time and putting in the time for those relationships

462
00:38:59,890 --> 00:39:02,010
and continuing to show up when it's hard,

463
00:39:04,130 --> 00:39:06,290
when it's when you're building towards transformational

464
00:39:06,290 --> 00:39:11,850
relationships and not just transactional relationships. I think know that it takes time,

465
00:39:12,090 --> 00:39:18,910
know that it's slow, but at some point when trust, it has been earned when trust is built

466
00:39:18,910 --> 00:39:22,310
when there is a real relationship there, we can transform our communities.

467
00:39:22,310 --> 00:39:23,810
So, wow,

468
00:39:30,860 --> 00:39:37,700
didn't add getteria a couple of times so far today, so thank you all for the wisdom that you shared.

469
00:39:37,900 --> 00:39:45,800
We have time for some questions from the audience and I'm not sure if we have the capability of getting questions from our colleagues on webinar,

470
00:39:46,580 --> 00:39:48,820
but their microphones going around.

471
00:39:49,700 --> 00:39:50,320
So please,

472
00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:54,740
and there's a question here in the front, sir.

473
00:40:00,800 --> 00:40:24,500
One of the challenges that I've experienced as a grassroots advocate, who's now been engaging in philanthropy, is often the work of collaboration is a spouse for communities that are in lower classes of the economic world to collaborate together.

474
00:40:24,500 --> 00:40:31,900
But what I've realized is that there's a need for philanthropy or wealth, in many cases,

475
00:40:32,420 --> 00:40:36,440
to do self-evaluation, reflection, and evolution put in themselves.

476
00:40:37,100 --> 00:40:44,500
What experiences have you all had in that work of engaging wealth, philanthropy, and

477
00:40:44,500 --> 00:40:49,120
the change in evolution that they need to do just as much as communities that are on

478
00:40:49,120 --> 00:40:50,420
of the disparities.

479
00:40:52,850 --> 00:41:00,630
So, in Broward, we have a homeless population, not unlike every community in the country.

480
00:41:01,370 --> 00:41:06,210
And in the downtown Fort Lauderdale corridor, there was a very large encampment.

481
00:41:06,810 --> 00:41:14,050
And we needed to go about the business of abating that encampment in a way that respects the humanity

482
00:41:14,050 --> 00:41:16,570
of the people who were living in it.

483
00:41:16,570 --> 00:41:23,090
And government didn't alone have the resources to handle that and neither did the nonprofit sector.

484
00:41:23,430 --> 00:41:25,690
And so we partnered with our business community.

485
00:41:25,950 --> 00:41:31,830
There's a huge, very wealthy business community in Fort Lauderdale that builders and whatnot.

486
00:41:32,250 --> 00:41:34,670
And they were being impacted by this encampment.

487
00:41:34,930 --> 00:41:45,310
And so, you know, we sort of leverage their discomfort with the encampment to get their buy-in and participation in the abatement process.

488
00:41:45,310 --> 00:41:56,750
And so we have really leaned on them to expand our pool of landlords available to rent units that are affordable to folks who have previously experienced homelessness.

489
00:41:57,550 --> 00:42:03,710
They leverage relationships with people who own furniture companies to donate furniture to furnish these apartments.

490
00:42:04,510 --> 00:42:15,290
And the list goes on. We found a role for the business community to play that actually allowed them to contribute towards elevating the humanity of people who were really struggling in our community.

491
00:42:15,290 --> 00:42:20,450
community. It was a really great partnership. They established formally the Business Council

492
00:42:20,450 --> 00:42:25,270
on Homelessness. And it's not the only area in our county that we're experiencing this

493
00:42:25,270 --> 00:42:29,650
issue. And there are other parts. And so we're going to take the show on the road, so to speak.

494
00:42:29,970 --> 00:42:35,310
And so, you know, I feel like it's a really great depiction of a three-way partnership

495
00:42:35,310 --> 00:42:41,610
between government and on-profits and the business community. If you ask them and you leverage

496
00:42:41,610 --> 00:42:44,870
resources, you can get them to cut a check.

497
00:42:45,190 --> 00:42:46,170
You can get them.

498
00:42:46,490 --> 00:42:47,010
I don't know.

499
00:42:47,010 --> 00:42:50,190
It has some interesting philanthropic collaboration.

500
00:42:51,910 --> 00:42:57,850
So, my colleague, Katie Smith, who's here in the front row here, is the executive director

501
00:42:57,850 --> 00:43:03,650
of the Greenville Partners for Philanthropy and the narrative around Philanthropy in our

502
00:43:03,650 --> 00:43:08,430
community is being challenged and changed at the same time, and it's having an open-minded

503
00:43:08,430 --> 00:43:16,250
individual like Katie who's leading and gathering those leaders in those foundations and

504
00:43:16,250 --> 00:43:22,410
private family ran foundations and other foundations that exist in our community and really have

505
00:43:22,410 --> 00:43:30,850
a large capacity of wealth to share and the culture of philanthropy has to be changed and that's

506
00:43:30,850 --> 00:43:36,690
what's happening in these discussions and you know while we don't have these wonderful celebratory

507
00:43:36,690 --> 00:43:44,250
moments, we're thanking God for this opportunity to bring exposure to the need for the change.

508
00:43:44,550 --> 00:43:51,030
And so when we have gatherings that are intentional around the types of philanthropic

509
00:43:51,030 --> 00:43:56,310
endeavors that we're proceeding to go after, that's where the difference is being made.

510
00:43:56,850 --> 00:44:00,810
And it's a person like Katie who's a jewel in our community that makes that happen.

511
00:44:00,810 --> 00:44:13,430
Yeah, I'm going to have a little bit more to that as a small community, you know, we have a lot of businesses there, but what we've done I think well with our leadership is partner with others to have the relationships.

512
00:44:15,170 --> 00:44:28,390
So our higher education or junior college and our university that's there. They already have partnerships built in. So we are at the table. We've also created we combine cities.

513
00:44:28,390 --> 00:44:31,530
See, if you're small and you're intentional,

514
00:44:31,790 --> 00:44:34,370
you gotta be willing to roll up your sleeves and do the work.

515
00:44:35,090 --> 00:44:37,050
And if you do the work for others, they come.

516
00:44:38,650 --> 00:44:41,270
And so you provide the impact you need

517
00:44:41,270 --> 00:44:44,210
to our big philanthropy and our big companies to support.

518
00:44:44,650 --> 00:44:46,070
So that's how we've been able to leverage,

519
00:44:46,630 --> 00:44:47,510
just creating these partnerships

520
00:44:47,510 --> 00:44:49,870
with other communities and universities

521
00:44:50,490 --> 00:44:52,730
to be able to connect at a different scale.

522
00:44:54,430 --> 00:44:58,550
See a question here and I'm, is there another question?

523
00:44:59,070 --> 00:44:59,310
Definitely.

524
00:45:06,290 --> 00:45:20,470
Hi, Marjorie Anacent with the NAVACP. Congratulations, seriously, to all of you. And on a very personal level, this is incredibly exciting to see.

525
00:45:20,930 --> 00:45:35,690
And I'm just, I can't help but wonder with the extraordinary work that you all are doing to engage your communities very substantively, right, very substantively, and over time, to make the kinds of changes,

526
00:45:35,690 --> 00:45:37,910
that you want to see in your individual communities.

527
00:45:38,410 --> 00:45:51,130
To what extent are you able to share examples, lessons learned with other communities around you, or perhaps within your state?

528
00:45:52,470 --> 00:45:58,370
So are the goals of helping to increase that similar kind of engagement in other areas as well?

529
00:45:59,740 --> 00:46:11,780
I can speak a little bit, something that I recently learned in doing community organizing and community engagement and two different manufactured home parks.

530
00:46:12,860 --> 00:46:29,420
I wondered when we had never tapped into really when we had and when I say we, like I remember before being in any of this work before having children, I would remember the question being asked whether it was at schools or other organizations.

531
00:46:29,420 --> 00:46:33,420
And how do we get the Hispanic voice here?

532
00:46:33,760 --> 00:46:36,940
And let's go to this place, this certain place.

533
00:46:37,580 --> 00:46:41,680
And I don't know, but I'm wondering if that's

534
00:46:41,680 --> 00:46:45,220
why this certain place has less people involved

535
00:46:45,220 --> 00:46:48,420
because they were so many times and haven't

536
00:46:48,420 --> 00:46:50,700
because this work takes a very long time.

537
00:46:50,860 --> 00:46:52,780
So haven't seen much change.

538
00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:55,280
So they're kind of like, I'm kind of done.

539
00:46:55,280 --> 00:47:02,400
And this other group that we hadn't tapped into is a much bigger, much involved group.

540
00:47:02,600 --> 00:47:08,740
So just being thoughtful of that going into a community, what are we being clear?

541
00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:11,940
This could take a long time. What are we going to accomplish?

542
00:47:12,500 --> 00:47:15,200
Careful of the unintended consequences as well.

543
00:47:15,200 --> 00:47:25,020
I think one of the things that we don't do well, that we need to do well, is tie those

544
00:47:25,020 --> 00:47:30,820
professionals who work in our communities and also live in our communities to awaken

545
00:47:30,820 --> 00:47:34,740
them to the fact that we live here, as well as we work here.

546
00:47:35,220 --> 00:47:41,020
And so the expertise that you have in your day-to-day work doesn't stop when you leave the

547
00:47:41,020 --> 00:47:50,380
So, organizations in your community after hours could use that expertise and so, like my colleague said,

548
00:47:50,940 --> 00:47:57,960
Roll your sleeves up and go to work and decide that you want to leave your community better for the next generation.

549
00:47:58,400 --> 00:48:04,300
The church where I serve, we've had at least three generations worshiping at the same time.

550
00:48:04,300 --> 00:48:13,420
Our oldest deacon died in March, and he was just shy of his 103rd birthday, and he was attending church every week,

551
00:48:13,840 --> 00:48:18,300
and would be there before most people, and attend Bible City twice on Wednesdays.

552
00:48:19,460 --> 00:48:23,460
And our connection to the generation that's coming behind,

553
00:48:23,940 --> 00:48:29,060
every child that I was asked to bless or dedicate back to the Lord,

554
00:48:29,060 --> 00:48:42,580
I would include him because his longevity was so important to the community not just the community where we live, but the community of faith that these young people can benefit from his presence.

555
00:48:43,060 --> 00:48:57,080
And I think that we've got to have less scripted conversations and meet people where they are, have coffees outside of work time and decide to be intentional about how we make a difference in our community.

556
00:48:57,080 --> 00:49:03,320
We can't wait for county council and city council to vote on things and our voices not be heard

557
00:49:03,320 --> 00:49:09,700
We've got to show up and be intentional about that you strategy that we use to get work done during work hours

558
00:49:09,700 --> 00:49:16,520
Use those strategies to get things done in our communities where we live, where our children play, where we mow our lawns

559
00:49:17,580 --> 00:49:20,120
We live there, so we've got to take care of the earth where we live

560
00:49:21,060 --> 00:49:26,400
I have to give a shout out to Gonzalez because the mayor shared that I mean that's how y'all do work there

561
00:49:26,400 --> 00:49:31,980
You have coffee, you're just together, and then you do what people ask you to do when you have coffee with them.

562
00:49:32,180 --> 00:49:39,080
We do it. I'm going to add a couple of things. You know, sharing what, it's hard to pause to share with others what you're doing.

563
00:49:39,460 --> 00:49:44,460
So this is a great example obviously, sharing in the application process and so forth.

564
00:49:44,880 --> 00:49:51,400
But the other thing that we've done locally is we get out of the way. A lot of times you talk about city attorney and your processes.

565
00:49:51,400 --> 00:49:55,120
Well, if you created the processes, you can kind of change the processes, right?

566
00:49:55,200 --> 00:50:02,220
Most of them in our, and so, in our prime example, one of our partners here, Jean, we've been struggling

567
00:50:02,220 --> 00:50:03,920
for years to connect with their seniors.

568
00:50:05,740 --> 00:50:10,820
She's done a phenomenal job of connecting in a year and a half with a few thousand dollars

569
00:50:10,820 --> 00:50:14,880
through a community grant program that we created, and we were done at, you know, we're talking

570
00:50:14,880 --> 00:50:18,860
about staff time, we're talking about process, what we're leaving out, and something we just

571
00:50:18,860 --> 00:50:23,740
get in the way. And I think our council and our mayor and our school just get out of the way.

572
00:50:23,900 --> 00:50:27,420
I mean, obviously you still have to follow the law and all that kind of stuff.

573
00:50:27,720 --> 00:50:30,120
But there's a lot of flexibility at the local level.

574
00:50:30,760 --> 00:50:33,620
And I think if you really go back and look at what you're doing,

575
00:50:33,620 --> 00:50:35,300
you can figure out a way to make a work.

576
00:50:38,500 --> 00:50:41,860
See, a question here and then a question in the fire right.

577
00:50:42,540 --> 00:50:45,660
Hi, I'm Jasminearies with the town of the Inville,

578
00:50:45,660 --> 00:50:48,580
test, culture of health winners.

579
00:50:54,720 --> 00:51:01,200
So, I'm really impressed by is the amount of focus on policy amongst our new winners.

580
00:51:01,640 --> 00:51:03,000
So, congratulations to you guys.

581
00:51:03,720 --> 00:51:11,460
And I really wanted to know how or what the process looks like for the tax increases that

582
00:51:11,460 --> 00:51:13,320
helped you all get to where you are now.

583
00:51:13,320 --> 00:51:18,960
like what does that process look like and how long did it actually take you to get the tax

584
00:51:18,960 --> 00:51:24,380
pass and to convince I guess maybe your residents that you know they may need to pay more

585
00:51:24,380 --> 00:51:30,220
in order to have a better quality of life and then if there are any other policies that you

586
00:51:30,220 --> 00:51:35,440
all adopted that, that helped. Yeah so the first time we tried to get the transportation

587
00:51:35,440 --> 00:51:41,320
third tax pass we were partnering with the 31 municipalities in Broward County that's a lot of

588
00:51:41,320 --> 00:51:45,360
in our county and the voters didn't go for it.

589
00:51:45,580 --> 00:51:50,980
I think there are a myriad of challenges as to why they didn't pass it.

590
00:51:52,220 --> 00:51:56,200
But like I said in the segment where I gave my advice about keep going and don't quit.

591
00:51:56,380 --> 00:51:57,920
We went back to the drawing board.

592
00:51:58,100 --> 00:52:02,520
We decided as a county to put it back before the voters as a county

593
00:52:02,520 --> 00:52:04,760
certax and not partner with immun disabilities.

594
00:52:05,060 --> 00:52:08,520
And we did a very targeted outreach and marketing campaign.

595
00:52:08,520 --> 00:52:16,140
and really try to illustrate for the residents how passing this tax would be a benefit for all of us,

596
00:52:16,140 --> 00:52:19,800
even those of us who don't necessarily access public transportation.

597
00:52:20,320 --> 00:52:30,700
You know, just the just the myriad of ways that dollars can flow into our community and the way we can increase access to the entire community by the people who just don't have access now.

598
00:52:31,320 --> 00:52:36,640
And you know, I think the passing of the tax really speaks to the spirit of the people who live in Broward.

599
00:52:36,640 --> 00:52:42,380
We actually really care about each other, and we recognize that if we don't all experience

600
00:52:42,380 --> 00:52:44,820
a high quality of life, then none of us really does.

601
00:52:45,040 --> 00:52:47,060
We all suffer in some way as a result.

602
00:52:47,400 --> 00:52:52,060
And so just not quitting, leveraging our relationships, and really trying to illustrate

603
00:52:52,060 --> 00:52:55,420
to the community that this is in the best interest of all of us.

604
00:52:56,020 --> 00:52:58,900
We have, I'm going to talk about two tax measures.

605
00:52:59,100 --> 00:53:02,780
One was more of a regional county-wide transportation tax.

606
00:53:02,780 --> 00:53:08,000
in California, if you have a specific tax, that requires a two-thirds vote.

607
00:53:08,560 --> 00:53:12,060
So if you say you're going to get a tax for a particular use, that requires two-thirds.

608
00:53:12,480 --> 00:53:15,240
A general purpose tax, 50% plus one.

609
00:53:16,780 --> 00:53:19,660
So the first one of the transportation tests has failed twice before.

610
00:53:20,480 --> 00:53:25,200
We roll up our sleeves and we spend a lot of time tying the money to the local level

611
00:53:25,200 --> 00:53:27,280
as opposed to the countywide infrastructure.

612
00:53:27,980 --> 00:53:29,850
So there was much more of an emphasis of that.

613
00:53:30,630 --> 00:53:34,090
And it passed by less than a percent, but it passed.

614
00:53:34,670 --> 00:53:35,610
Because it's a high threshold.

615
00:53:35,670 --> 00:53:38,650
Two-thirds is a significant threshold, particularly.

616
00:53:39,230 --> 00:53:43,370
Our own local tax, again, I talked about the speed of trust.

617
00:53:43,370 --> 00:53:47,850
Moving that the speed of trust is, it was a general purpose tax

618
00:53:47,850 --> 00:53:49,610
to continue to do the work that we're doing.

619
00:53:50,110 --> 00:53:54,190
It was a general tax, but we talked about youth.

620
00:53:54,250 --> 00:53:57,330
We talked about our facilities like our pool and some of our community

621
00:53:57,330 --> 00:54:03,830
assets. We talk about those things. We did not talk about, and then we set up an advisory committee,

622
00:54:03,950 --> 00:54:07,870
which is common. We set up an advisory committee that advices the Council on how to use

623
00:54:07,870 --> 00:54:13,330
that tax every year. That was the, we also, that is funding or community development grant

624
00:54:13,330 --> 00:54:17,790
and a few other things. And I'm happy to report that other than the first, it's generating

625
00:54:17,790 --> 00:54:25,750
for us about $600 or $700,000 a year now. Other than the first year for 75,000 was used in public

626
00:54:25,750 --> 00:54:31,290
safety, all the dollars has been in existence now for five years, have gone to all this kind of work.

627
00:54:32,450 --> 00:54:34,770
And it's being used to fund some of the broadband for all of this, you know, that's

628
00:54:34,770 --> 00:54:36,030
some of the other things that we're doing.

629
00:54:36,370 --> 00:54:41,170
So it's not being plugged into public safety, it's not being plugged into a normal city business.

630
00:54:41,830 --> 00:54:44,170
So I think that's not worth credible with the community.

631
00:54:45,370 --> 00:54:51,190
And I think in the future we position really well to maybe go after other revenue sources.

632
00:54:51,970 --> 00:55:03,110
So I want to answer this question or time in here with a disclaimer, so I am not a city administrator or a county administrator as it relates to the tax formulas.

633
00:55:03,850 --> 00:55:15,450
I will say that you got to know that Greenville is in a very conservative market where taxing is not something that's going to happen to easily.

634
00:55:15,450 --> 00:55:24,390
So, our situation is more that the people want the progress, but our elected officials may not necessarily want to go in that direction.

635
00:55:25,330 --> 00:55:32,810
So, we've just had to convince our county and city elected officials that this is something that is necessary.

636
00:55:33,110 --> 00:55:39,690
And some of the money that exists can be redirected and used to especially enhance transportation.

637
00:55:39,690 --> 00:55:43,470
And but what I wanted to mention is that there are other fees.

638
00:55:43,590 --> 00:55:48,510
Greenville is growing tremendously developers are all over the place wanting to come in.

639
00:55:48,650 --> 00:55:55,110
And so tapping some of those fees that come with the development is key to accomplishing

640
00:55:55,110 --> 00:55:59,990
some of these goals and passing that back into the community rather than just making those

641
00:55:59,990 --> 00:56:01,410
coffers of fat and rich.

642
00:56:01,410 --> 00:56:01,690
Yep.

643
00:56:03,720 --> 00:56:07,160
There was a question towards the back of the room earlier.

644
00:56:11,460 --> 00:56:14,480
Other questions before we wrap up the panel.

645
00:56:18,380 --> 00:56:18,820
Listen to me.

646
00:56:18,880 --> 00:56:19,440
I don't question.

647
00:56:20,800 --> 00:56:24,740
As you can just talk a little bit about the conversation.

648
00:56:24,740 --> 00:56:26,120
The different conversations are.

649
00:56:26,120 --> 00:56:33,960
If they were able to just talk conversations in your effort to purchase the land and start developing

650
00:56:33,960 --> 00:56:36,120
the area around your community.

651
00:56:36,120 --> 00:56:37,540
I'm in around your church.

652
00:56:38,640 --> 00:56:40,900
So, thank you, thank you for that question.

653
00:56:41,660 --> 00:56:45,000
Difficult yes, but necessary absolutely.

654
00:56:46,860 --> 00:56:50,620
There's a multi-million dollar park that's coming to our community.

655
00:56:51,920 --> 00:56:54,380
The Greenville Hospital System at the time now, Prisma,

656
00:56:55,040 --> 00:57:01,040
invested millions of dollars in developing this wonderful swamp rabbit trail

657
00:57:01,040 --> 00:57:03,600
that flanks our property as well.

658
00:57:03,600 --> 00:57:26,520
And we knew that our community was going to change and it was incumbent upon me to impress upon the congregation how important it is for us to participate in that process that if we did not get out ahead of this then our neighbors would change and we would not have a say in what the neighborhood would look like.

659
00:57:26,520 --> 00:57:35,920
So at 1.400 to 500 families lived in the immediate neighborhood around our church, today less than 10 live there.

660
00:57:36,840 --> 00:57:42,040
And they lived in Shanty-style duplex quadruplex, droplets, homes.

661
00:57:42,680 --> 00:57:48,080
And now we get the opportunity to come back and improve what the neighborhood looks like.

662
00:57:48,080 --> 00:57:56,120
We can have a cultural center in our neighborhood and pay homage to those families that lived there before and invite them to come back.

663
00:57:56,120 --> 00:58:15,120
It was difficult to change the mindset, how can we do this and individuals who come from high poverty backgrounds did not feel that they could compete or be involved in this high stakes investment.

664
00:58:15,920 --> 00:58:25,680
But once we showed them that while an individual might not be able to afford to purchase this property collectively we can do far more than you think.

665
00:58:25,680 --> 00:58:32,060
So we were able to pull our resources and buy first 10 houses, then we bought 12 houses.

666
00:58:32,440 --> 00:58:39,160
And now we master together are doing a master plan for 27 lots in our community.

667
00:58:39,760 --> 00:58:41,380
And that is significant.

668
00:58:41,640 --> 00:58:46,160
We did that also around health insurance and insurance.

669
00:58:46,920 --> 00:58:52,140
There was an insurance national recognized insurance company that came to us wanting to

670
00:58:52,140 --> 00:58:53,620
ensure our employees.

671
00:58:53,620 --> 00:59:00,320
And I challenge them and said, well, if you account our members as employees, then we'll do

672
00:59:00,320 --> 00:59:01,360
business with you.

673
00:59:01,360 --> 00:59:03,700
And they went back, they said, well, we've never done that before.

674
00:59:04,000 --> 00:59:06,720
And I said, well, if you want our business, you're going to have to think about that.

675
00:59:06,960 --> 00:59:11,520
So they went back, and they came back and said, if you'll give us one check, we'll do it.

676
00:59:11,520 --> 00:59:19,320
And I told our members, well, we will ensure you, if you'll pay your premiums to us, we'll

677
00:59:19,320 --> 00:59:20,040
write one check.

678
00:59:20,080 --> 00:59:23,020
And as long as you're faithful, we're going to be faithful in sending this.

679
00:59:23,020 --> 00:59:27,800
So now we have people with cancer policies and life insurance that have never had it before.

680
00:59:28,060 --> 00:59:30,560
And it's just re-tooling how you do business.

681
00:59:31,900 --> 00:59:33,240
That's how you do.

682
00:59:37,620 --> 00:59:38,080
Yeah.

683
00:59:38,380 --> 00:59:43,160
You're hearing all the wows and the ooze and the eyes, which is really, I mean, I think

684
00:59:43,160 --> 00:59:48,700
we could keep wowing and owing and eye the innovation that's happening through heart,

685
00:59:49,560 --> 00:59:55,500
through knowledge, through preparation, to make our communities some place where we all can thrive.

686
00:59:55,500 --> 00:59:59,840
So thank you all for sharing if there are no other questions.

687
01:00:00,140 --> 01:00:07,620
There is another question. Thank you. One quick question for Pastor Stacey. What was the conversation

688
01:00:07,620 --> 01:00:14,840
about gentrification around the redevelopment in that area? Because that's one of the issues that we face

689
01:00:14,840 --> 01:00:21,860
when there's new development happening in an area that's been somewhat blighted, somewhat neglected.

690
01:00:22,240 --> 01:00:28,980
So what was that conversation like? Great question. First of all, no one wants to talk about the G-word,

691
01:00:28,980 --> 01:00:35,620
know you avoid that as if it's there's some stigma to it but the truth is

692
01:00:35,620 --> 01:00:40,280
is happening and you have to be willing to step to the table to uncover it and

693
01:00:40,280 --> 01:00:44,280
then talk about solutions for that so we were very intentional about

694
01:00:44,800 --> 01:00:49,580
holding on to our property when we first bought it our idea was that we needed a

695
01:00:49,580 --> 01:00:54,760
new worship facility date modernize it but then we were like whoa what's

696
01:00:54,760 --> 01:01:01,080
happening around our community and how can we participate in slowing the

697
01:01:01,080 --> 01:01:01,780
gentrification.

698
01:01:02,100 --> 01:01:06,980
I remember one individual who came to meet with me in my office at

699
01:01:06,980 --> 01:01:13,700
bought a half of a lot between several of our full lots and

700
01:01:13,700 --> 01:01:21,120
proposition to say that if we swapped lots with him and took a

701
01:01:21,120 --> 01:01:27,620
billion dollars to build a new facility outside of the city limits that they were willing to

702
01:01:27,620 --> 01:01:33,280
go to the closing table almost immediately to do that. And you know as a pastor I had to choose

703
01:01:33,280 --> 01:01:41,980
my words very carefully with him and make him aware that that was not going to happen to think

704
01:01:41,980 --> 01:01:51,180
that the years and years and I'm getting emotional because when I think about the domestic workers

705
01:01:51,180 --> 01:01:58,880
who gave into the coffers of our church that made it possible for us to purchase the land.

706
01:01:59,300 --> 01:02:18,660
I told him you have no idea what has gone into our ability to buy this property and we're going to hold on to it and be intentional about what comes into this neighborhood so that people will understand you do have an opportunity to have a say about what your neighborhood looks like.

707
01:02:18,660 --> 01:02:26,880
And time out for all of the neighborhoods that produce great people being pushed to the outer bounds of our counties.

708
01:02:27,540 --> 01:02:37,920
In gentrification as a problem, we need to slow it and we need to figure out how to engage in those conversations and welcome neighbors to have those hard conversations.

709
01:02:43,540 --> 01:02:44,980
Question here.

710
01:02:45,440 --> 01:02:47,260
I would say, hold on, change is coming.

711
01:02:50,610 --> 01:02:56,770
So I've been very inspired by the videos showing a lot of work that's been doing to get

712
01:02:56,770 --> 01:03:01,530
jobs for people who have been incarcerated or have like criminal histories, and I work

713
01:03:01,530 --> 01:03:07,030
in like the DV field and I see a lot of like criminalized victims and then like criminal charges

714
01:03:07,030 --> 01:03:13,830
have huge barriers for accessing services and housing and jobs, and I'm just wondering,

715
01:03:13,830 --> 01:03:20,810
I mean, I've just seen so much like racism and classism within this criminal justice system that I just

716
01:03:20,810 --> 01:03:26,390
create so many inequities for these like criminalized victims and just criminalized humans.

717
01:03:26,590 --> 01:03:30,630
And I'm just curious like what those conversations looked like for that work.

718
01:03:30,950 --> 01:03:33,750
Like did you have to, I don't know, dismantle some of those things?

719
01:03:33,910 --> 01:03:38,070
Like did those conversations like in addressing those issues come into play?

720
01:03:38,130 --> 01:03:42,530
Or was it more just like a political choice to work on that?

721
01:03:42,530 --> 01:03:43,550
decide to take a mark?

722
01:03:43,890 --> 01:03:46,130
That seems like a Greenville question as well.

723
01:03:47,150 --> 01:03:51,630
Jerry Blassengame is a tremendous asset to our community.

724
01:03:51,910 --> 01:03:56,570
Having had experience with incarceration himself,

725
01:03:57,150 --> 01:03:58,510
coming out and being determined

726
01:03:58,510 --> 01:04:01,530
that he wasn't going to let his experience be

727
01:04:01,530 --> 01:04:03,310
the narrative for others.

728
01:04:03,730 --> 01:04:06,530
And so it had to involve all of what you've described,

729
01:04:07,030 --> 01:04:10,170
very high level conversations, grassroots conversations,

730
01:04:10,170 --> 01:04:18,570
to the fact that we have policy change in our community, at the state level, to Morrow, there

731
01:04:19,410 --> 01:04:24,290
is a expungement workshop that's taking place, that's being led by one of our senators in

732
01:04:24,290 --> 01:04:29,050
our areas, Senator Carl Allen, giving him a shout out in case he is watching this back

733
01:04:29,050 --> 01:04:35,990
at home, which is tremendous, so it's bringing there are many spokes to the will, and all

734
01:04:35,990 --> 01:04:46,450
those power entities have to be pressed, not asked, pressed to change. And as this change

735
01:04:46,450 --> 01:04:52,810
begins to sweep, the benefits are those are citizens who are returning to our community.

736
01:04:53,030 --> 01:04:59,050
I heard this in another city visit a few weeks ago in Columbus, Ohio, that we've got

737
01:04:59,050 --> 01:05:05,090
to stop referring to people as formally incarcerated, but these are returning citizens

738
01:05:05,090 --> 01:05:11,850
to our community and when the laws change about what is illegal specifically around drugs,

739
01:05:12,610 --> 01:05:18,710
you have to understand that people who have been incarcerated behind those laws that are

740
01:05:18,710 --> 01:05:23,890
now changing have to be dealt with and an opportunity to come back into our society and

741
01:05:23,890 --> 01:05:29,110
to go to work and earn a living certainly is a discussion about quality of life and who has

742
01:05:29,110 --> 01:05:35,390
those rights and I would say to you every living, breathing, human being has the right to

743
01:05:35,390 --> 01:05:36,290
equality of life.

744
01:05:43,090 --> 01:05:47,390
So we are going to wrap up the feast of knowledge and wisdom.

745
01:05:47,830 --> 01:05:54,810
We went from decolonization all the way to the present day, de-gentrification, and we are going

746
01:05:54,810 --> 01:06:01,870
to continue the conversation at your tables and then have some report out after your conversations

747
01:06:01,870 --> 01:06:02,570
at the table.

748
01:06:02,570 --> 01:06:05,550
So please join me in another round of applause

749
01:06:05,550 --> 01:06:07,130
for the Culture of Health Leaders.

750
01:06:14,660 --> 01:06:15,860
You guys can stay for a minute.

751
01:06:16,020 --> 01:06:17,000
Oh, guys can stay for a minute.

752
01:06:17,140 --> 01:06:19,060
I'm going to thank you while you're all still here.

753
01:06:19,180 --> 01:06:21,040
This was a wonderful, wonderful conversation.

754
01:06:22,100 --> 01:06:25,640
I want to thank all of our folks who were tuning in at home.

755
01:06:25,660 --> 01:06:26,720
You've got some work to do.

756
01:06:26,720 --> 01:06:29,360
You've got to get the party ready for these ambassadors

757
01:06:29,360 --> 01:06:31,360
that are coming back from your communities.

758
01:06:31,820 --> 01:06:33,600
So thank you for tuning in.

759
01:06:33,640 --> 01:06:35,080
This was a terrific conversation.

760
01:06:35,080 --> 01:06:40,900
And Sherry meant, next we're going to pivot to tabletop conversations.

761
01:06:41,240 --> 01:06:46,720
There should be a facilitation guide at each of your tables, and reflect on what you

762
01:06:46,720 --> 01:06:47,300
heard today.

763
01:06:47,580 --> 01:06:53,200
I heard that sometimes these courageous conversations can be uncomfortable, and that's okay.

764
01:06:53,520 --> 01:06:54,520
That's where we get some progress.

765
01:06:55,060 --> 01:06:58,040
I know if I was at a table, I think about Pastor Stacey.

766
01:06:58,240 --> 01:06:59,800
If you're not at the table, you're on the menu.

767
01:07:01,260 --> 01:07:03,560
I might spend a lot of time thinking about that one.

768
01:07:04,520 --> 01:07:12,540
So have those conversations a lot to process here and then you know have a wonderful afternoon as well.

769
01:07:12,720 --> 01:07:14,520
So thanks again Sherry and a terrific panel.