chapter 19 of fantasy fairies and ghosts volume 2 by Various this LibriVox recording is in the public domain the carriage of the minister of foreign relations awaited him all night before the house of Mosh Turpin a storm had come on the rain had fallen in torrents but the faithful footmen of his excellency nailed to his post like a soldier in a breach still waited when the last lights were extinguished not seeing his dear master come he thought that his excellency might have gone back to his hotel in another carriage he went back and called the valet de chambre his excellency said the valet came in at nightfall and is sleeping is sleeping said the footman but in what condition is he ah that must be the devil's own secret there are things like that which are never to be told to living soul yesterday at nightfall rolled up in my cloak i was about slipping into the wine shop to play at batgammon i was descending the staircase i saw something stir and then rolled between my legs that mewed like an enraged cat then grunted our good heaven if his excellency knew it i should be discharged and ruined something that grunted yes alas yes like his excellency when the roast meat is burnt or when he is too much burdened with affairs of state the footman trembled the valet de chambre made a sign to impose silence and continued thus yes yes it was i am sure of it his excellency in person who passed between my legs and the side of the staircase a moment afterwards i heard him tumble about chairs and tables and open and shut with great violence the door that led to his bedchamber i did not dare to follow into so private a place nevertheless two hours afterwards uneasiness and i know not what instinct urging me i overcame my natural timidity so far as to go and listen at the door the minister snored in his bed as he is in the habit of doing when his brain labours in the most important affairs of state i very naturally concluded from that that some serious political event was about to take place and if you will listen to me we will go and post ourselves at the door of the chamber in which his excellency is reposing so as to be near him as soon as he shall be pleased to awake the two servants put this honest project into execution cinnabre slept whistling like the barrel of an organ they listened to him with profound respect saying to each other in a whisper indeed our master is one of the greatest statesmen that ever lived as soon as the following day broke a great noise disturbed the quiet of the hotel an old peasant woman very meanly dressed had addressed herself to the porter to ask immediate admittance into the presence of her dear little zak the porter had replied in a tone which admitted no reply this is the hotel occupied by the great and powerful minister cinnabre commander of the order of the green spotted tiger with 20 diamond buttons and no one here knows among the servants any person of the name of little zak at these words the peasant woman exclaimed with the greatest joy that the minister cinnabre was the same little zak that she took the liberty of claiming at the cries of the woman and the oaths of the porter who wished to oppose her entrance all the inhabitants of the hotel hastened to the scene of action and the disturbance increased every minute when the valet de charme came down to drive away the people who disturbed the slumber that his excellency needed so much they had just driven away the poor woman treating her as if she was mad but she seated herself on a stone bench in front of the minister's hotel and began to weep bitterly the passes by were not long in crowding around her and all were astonished to hear her relate that the minister cinnabre favorite of the prince and first dignitary of state was no other than her own legitimate son the spectators took her for a mad woman as the servants at the hotel had done meanwhile she kept her eyes fixed upon the windows that looked out upon the street suddenly she arose clapped her hands together and exclaimed bursting with laughter but there he is there he is did i not tell you that my cherished little one my only son my beloved little zak was here good morning good morning lovely child wilt thou not recognize the mother who nourished thee the spectators were not a little surprised to see a little dwarf striped with the insignia of the green spotted tiger moving and dancing about at a window on a level with the floor and all began to cry out hold that is little zak oh little zak oh the mandrake the serving people came out to join the gathered crowd and the clamor they raised was not a bad imitation of a revolution good heaven exclaimed the valet de champ what hideous little monster just appeared at the bedchamber window of his excellency what does that mean how did that ugly dwarf get into the hotel he ran leaping four stairs at a time he arrives but the minister's door is locked on the inside he knocks nobody answers what is he to do in this extremity meanwhile the crowd increases in the street the appearance of the dwarf on the balcony of the minister was talked of throughout the neighborhood simple curiosity ended by degenerating into a riot the court and apartments of the hotel were invaded in the twinkling of an eye the faithful valet de champ not being able to allay the storm would have sacrificed himself to save his master he knocked vigorously at the room door he broke it open to save sinabre in spite of the perils that surrounded him no sinabre he ran through the rooms of the hotel he called out he supplicated no voice answered his entreaties what then had become of sinabre whilst waiting for him to be found the tumult had been gradually stilled nothing was heard from without but the ringing and imposing voice of a woman scolding the rabble and by force and energy succeeding in sending each one to his home like schoolboys caught in mischief the valet de champ who still sought sinabre with admirable perseverance finally discovered two long slight and meager legs projecting from a silver vase sky exclaimed he with deplorable lamentations do not those legs belong to my honored master alas excellency what are you doing there sinabre did not answer the valet hastened to assist him but it was too late the favorite minister of prince basanoff had ceased to live at the cries of the disconsolate valet all the people in the house went up into the bed chamber sinabre properly disposed was laid upon his bed and covered up at this moment appeared mademoiselle rosin shown the fairy canoness behind her came the mother of little zack old lyza a sad spectacle was presented to their wondering eyes death seemed to have a face the ugliness of sinabre his face was pale but a slight smile hovered upon his lips and his brown hair flowed about his head in wavy curls the fairy canoness passed her hand softly over his head a line of fire sparkled under her finger like phosphorus alas said she with a deep sigh the learned prosper alpinus prophesied well fatality has had its course and poor sinabre has sorrowfully expiated his ridiculous greatness the mother of little zack would no longer recognize him in this pitiful state only when the fairy had affirmed to her that the little body extended on the bed was really all that remained of sinabre she had a fit of covetousness and walking about the chamber of death her eyes sparkling with avidity she began to say i ought then to inherit immediately all these fine things that belong to my son no replied mademoiselle de rosin showing all is ended your destiny was not to become rich you must console yourself and leave but continued the old peasant woman let me at least carry off in my bag the body of my son the pastor of our village has in his cabinet many singular animals he will have little zack properly stuffed and i will place him in my room with that broad green ribbon and that sparkling plate which covers his chest that cannot be interrupt the fairy go from here my good woman and wait for me in the courtyard i will soon join you and i will leave you at parting a sure means of providing yourself against misery for the remainder of your days when ol' lyza had obeyed this injunction the fairy approached the bed upon which sinabre was laid poor little zack said she in a low voice nature has shown herself unjust towards thee for thou didst not deserve more than another to be brought into this world stupid and ugly as i found thee i gave thee a precious gift i inconsiderately thought that provided by my enchantments with the faculty of being taken for the handsomest the most intelligent and witty of men thou wouldst apply thyself to justify this favour by trying to deserve it by labour but thy narrow mind did not understand the duties imposed upon thee by my protection thou couldst only descend to the bottom of the scale of beings by all the acts of thy life thy ignoble death is the fatal expiation would that i could resuscitate thee in the form of some graceful insect some wandering mouse or greedy and playful squirrel i should like still to protect thee but thou art subject to the power of the severe alpinus and there is no means of bringing thee back to life fair well then little zack fair well sinabre may earth rest lightly on thee on ending this funeral oration the fairy rosa belverde disappeared like a dream now after a few moments after her departure prince basana notified of the death of his minister came pale and trembling followed by seven chamberlains more pale and trembling than himself he looked at the little body and said sobbingly oh sinabre the seven chamberlains repeated in a single voice oh sinabre everybody wept the prince asked his physician how sinabre could have died so suddenly my lord gravely answered the remedy giver his excellency owes his death to the cessation of the faculty of respiration this accident is the result of suffocation produced by the element into which your illustrious minister allowed himself to fall but the prime cause of his death is the order of the green spotted tiger with 20 diamond buttons how exclaimed basana of measuring the physician with a look in which anger was fulminating yes my lord i repeated continued the physician the plate of the order has affected the chest and the strain of the ribbon produced by the 20 buttons has injured the vertebral column the vital organs thus attacked have been subjected to inflammation which has reacted upon the brain he has had a sudden fever accompanied by unequivocal symptoms of alienation since the gracious minister losing his head lost his equilibrium to such a point as to voluntarily precipitate himself or fall by irreparable misfortune into that silver vase which your highness had given him as a mark of your high satisfaction physician said the prince you are an accursed babbler congratulate yourself that i do not deign to understand the unbecomingness of your language as for you gentlemen added he turning towards the seven chamberlains it is to you that i confide the care of ordering the obsequies of my minister let us give a few tears to his sad fate and let us go to dinner if you please for i am dying of hunger at these words the prince gave utterance to several groans and covered his face with his pocket handkerchief the chamberlains chorus the sobs and also drew out their handkerchiefs then they left in order not to give their respective dinners time to cool before the door of the hotel they met ol lisa who bore upon a flat basket a bunch of golden yellow onions of extraordinary size good prince said she to his highness by my onions they are my support honey is not sweeter than my onions bass enough admired lisa's onions chamberlains said he to the gentleman that escorted him lend me a knife for i have an outrageous desire to taste the flesh of that vegetable oh gentleman that is a delicious dish continued he his eyes sparkling with pleasure it seems to me whilst munching this good woman's onions that i see the ghost of my faithful sinabre rise from the tomb to say to me dear prince buy and eat these onions the safety of the state depends upon your appetite old lisa immediately received an order for the general furnishing of onions for consumption in the palace the prince added to this a gratuity of several pieces of gold thus was accomplished the promise that the fairy rosa belverde had made to the mother of little zak the poor peasant woman saw herself sheltered from misery for the remainder of her days the internment of the defunct minister took place with a splendid pomp worthy of his rank the prince led the mourners and the members of the order of the green spotted tiger followed the procession in full uniform all the bells were set in motion and as there was no cannon in the country the commencement and close of the ceremony was announced by the explosion of two pieces of firework the people wept that day and everybody agreed in saying that the prince and the state had met with an irreparable loss this dear readers and you my beautiful ladies this is the time for mutual separation at this thought alone the author of these tales feels moved to deep sadness he would had many other things worthy of remembrance without doubt to relate to you concerning the adventures of the minister sinabre for it is in his eyes the drollist story that he has ever kept in his memory if nevertheless he excuses himself from going on it is that he fears before all exhausting the patience or the goodwill of those who hold this book in hand nothing is more disagreeable than to trace the words last chapter so that before writing it the author earnestly begs you not to judge too severely the capricious wanderings of his imagination if at times you have smiled or if you have been strongly moved the end which he had in view has been realized the story which closes this book might well have ended at the death of the little sinabre but is it not a thousand times more agreeable to terminate it by a happy marriage let us return back then toward our friend balthazar and his betrothed the pretty candida the professor mosh turpin whom the deep study of the mysteries of nature must have prepared against all surprise could not recover from his stupa in thinking of the strange events which had brought him into disgrace with prince barnesaf and his deprivation of the sublime office of director general of phenomena his imagination was so disturbed by it that at times he seriously doubted his own existence he was at first singularly astonished when the student balthazar presented as his uncle dr. prosper alpinus who verbally confirmed before him the deed of gift that he had signed of his domain balthazar become rich appeared to him a young man endowed with the most brilliant qualities and he put no bounds to his esteem when he found himself led by his future son-in-law on visiting the country house of alpinus into the cellar filled with the most exquisite wines the enjoyment of which was assured to him by balthazar for continuing his experiments on the contrary properties of wine and water the union of balthazar and candida was immediately fixed for an early day all those who obtained the favor of being invited to it admired the extreme beauty of mosh turpin's daughter the fairy rosa belverde who assisted in the costume of a canoness had herself dressed the bride whose most seductive ornament was a crown of hundred leaf roses dr. prosper alpinus illustrated this family festival by the most delicious marvels of his art never had the bowers in his park resounded with more harmonious concerts when night came trains of magic fire were lighted above the great trees myriads of luminous insects sparkled amid the foliage like movable stars and the perfume of the earth enameled with flowery meadows filled the air with barmy breezes balthazar candida and their friends acknowledged the power of alpinus mosh turpin who had become nobly exhilarated laughed wept sung danced about suddenly a sound of bells vibrated in the air a butterfly transparent as flame came and lit on the shoulder of prosper alpinus prosper alpinus arose dear balthazar and you good candida my friends said he in a grave voice whose accent penetrated all hearts with a soft melancholy this is the moment for us to separate forever he approached the new couple and murmured several words in their ears balthazar and candida threw themselves into his arms and wept the crystal shell drawn by two white unicorns and driven by the silver pheasant slowly descended from the sky on an azure cloud farewell farewell exclaimed prosper alpinus seating himself in the marvellous chariot which gradually arose and was lost high up in the air like a shooting star balthazar and candida lived happy days together in the bosom of peaceful obscurity solitude with love is a divine gift faithful love triumphs over misfortune and death and what is death to him who is awaited by another soul beyond this life for him the tomb is the cradle of heaven end of chapter 19


So just as we start every episode of the nonprofit show, we like to extend our sincerest gratitude and appreciation to our presenting sponsors. Thank you so much for being a part of the show and being partners with us. But what I like to really say is these sponsors, they're not just here for the show, they're here for you. They're here at every single corner, nook and cranny of the world to support and elevate your cause and your mission around the globe. So check them out. They're doing good work, but they're really here and exist to serve you and the good work that you're doing. So thanks for being a partner with us. Julia Patrick joins me every morning and this was her wonderful idea, CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy. And I'm Jarrett Ransom, co-host. She's trying to strip me up and say like, if I can stick with the show. I'm listening to you. I'm Jarrett, the nonprofit. Sorry. CEO of the Raven Group. It's not my first rodeo, Julia. So I could just kind of roll with the punches. No worries. So we're thrilled to welcome Nancy Maldonado with us this morning or this afternoon, depending on which part of the country you're tuning in from. Nancy is the CEO and president of the Chicano Federation. Welcome Nancy and thanks for joining us. Good morning. Yeah, it's morning here in San Diego. So yeah, thank you for having me. I'm excited to have this conversation. Well, we're thrilled to have you join us to talk about your work, what you're doing. And so let's dig in because we only have 30 minutes and we have a lot of questions for you. And so first and foremost, kind of give us a picture about the Chicano Federation and how it started and what it does. Yeah, absolutely. So I love the history of the organization. Chicano Federation is 52 years old. For 52 years we've been serving the San Diego community. And really how the organization started, 52 years ago was in the midst of the Chicano movement and there was a lot of things happening with our Latino community and a lot of discrimination and racism and really just a lot of injustices. So what happened is there was a number of groups that came together that knew that they would have a stronger voice if they were all united under one umbrella. And that's how Chicano Federation was formed. And interestingly enough, some of the major issues that the organization was rallying against at the time were issues like police brutality and voting rights. So it's interesting that in some way it's a couple circle in terms of those are still some of the issues that our community is fighting against again 52 years later. And not that it ever went away, but those are some of the top issues that are still at the forefront of our community and the challenges that we face. So over the years, then the organization shifted into direct service because we recognized or are they, I wasn't a part of it then, but they recognized that our community had some real needs and especially in San Diego, looking at things like affordable housing, the cost of childcare. So as the organization identified what some of those main needs were, they developed programs that would help our community with support so that they would have the systems and the programs in place to help. So yeah, we have a number of different programs now, but that's really kind of the history of the organization and how it can be. Amazing. So I love that it really was a federation and that pulled everybody together. I think that's fascinating. And that's bold because we talk a lot about this with our guests and on the nonprofit show. Ego gets in the way and to- A lot. A lot and to get people to say, okay, yeah, we'll give up some of our power to piece it together with a larger umbrella group. That's pretty bold. It is really bold. And I think another thing that's important to mention is that a lot of the times it was led by women. So you talk about bold, there was some pretty fierce women that led the charge for Chicano Federation over its history. I love that, I love that. So now, five decades into the future, talk to us about what the mission and service actually looks like today. Yeah, so as you can imagine, a lot has changed in 50 years, but really our goal is to invest in our under-resourced communities and investing in ways that are meaningful to our communities. So looking at what the needs are, if they're changing, like I said, so we do surveys often, we track what the community is needing and we really ask the question is like, how can we best help our San Diego community? And in San Diego, as in so many other parts of this country, affordable housing is an issue. So we have affordable housing, we own nine apartment buildings in San Diego and we're able to offer those at below market value rates, subsidized childcare, right? So we all know that the cost of childcare, well, not all of us, but for those of us who have children, the cost of childcare can be prohibitive to people wanting to work or go to school. And so we recognize that. So we have a number of different programs that help with childcare and help make it affordable for families. Early childhood education, a lot of what we do is focused on children, zero to five because we recognize how formative those years are. And then if we can help with planting that foundation, we can make a big difference in the rest of someone's life. But in addition to that, we also understand how important it is to support the parents of children, zero to five, right? We have a nutrition program for children because we know children can't learn if they're hungry. We help women to start their own business because we believe in entrepreneurship as a way to change systems and structures that have been in place for a really long time. And then advocacy, of course, we still out there advocating around the issues that affect the lives of the people that we serve. So you're saying 52 years the Federation's been around in the San Diego area. And then over time, really the mission and the services have changed. And I think that's really important to make note of because often, too often I hear individuals of, well, this is our mission and we can't change it. We do one mission, we stick with it for the long haul. And this is a great example of how it started as the Federation and then it really moved to provide services to the community in the ways of which the community has told you through these evaluations of what they need. Am I understanding that correctly? Absolutely. And then as you can imagine with COVID, that shifted even more. So let's talk about that because first of all, I think exactly to echo what Jared just said, not enough organizations go back into their communities and ask them what it is they need. So that's super cool that you've done that. But now we have this pandemic on top of all these other issues. Paint the picture for us. What's happened to your services with this last year?  And I always say this, that just because I'm a member of the community doesn't mean I speak for them. They are very capable of telling us what they need. All we have to do is ask and listen. And I think that's a lot of times where we fall short is let's keep asking like how can we be of service to you? How can we best help you? And that's something that I really strongly believe in and we have done throughout the time that I've been at Chicago Federation. So with COVID, as you can imagine, so before COVID, we worked very closely with about 10,000 families each year, almost overnight that doubled in terms of the need and people were calling us and wanting services and I have to give so much credit to my team because immediately they shifted. They shifted and they were all in, right? As soon as the stay at home order went into place, my team, we gathered around and we said, this is our time to step up, not our time to fall back. Yeah, good. Yeah, our team never worked from home. They always went into the office because we're considered essential because of the services that we provide. I think it was one week after we already organized our first distribution and we were distributing diapers, food, gift cards because we understood that people needed this. I'll even show this story with you. So we have some of our affordable housing is for seniors and our first priority was to protect them and keep them home. And if you remember, there was a very instant shortage of toilet paper. Yeah, right? And our senior residents needed those essential supplies. So we had team members running out to liquor stores because they were allowing you to buy one roll at a time, running, going to all the liquor stores to buy as much toilet paper as we could and we were on a group text letting each other know, go to this one, right? Cause they would only sell you one and that's how much my team shifted and really proved that, you know they were there to serve our community and do everything that we could. And so I just, you know I've got to give just them all of the credit because they really stepped up at a time where San Diego needed them. Talk about activation, right?  How do you make up your team? So on average we have about 65 employees. Okay. And they are running into liquor stores for toilet paper. Like that is the moment. I love it. You know, I'm so curious about this because what is the profile of your staff? Like are they, I mean I would imagine they're probably younger people who don't remember a time of crisis in their lives. We've been so fortunate and had so much success in this country that maybe they don't even have grandparents that lived through the depression or that they would have any links to some of those stories. Could they recognize quickly? I mean, you said it was a week but could they recognize quickly that this was a crisis? Not necessarily in terms of having lived through a crisis but I will say this that a lot of our team is Latino or Latinx and come from immigrant parents or have that immigrant story. And I think that just comes this spirit of resiliency and of acknowledging that we're here in community to serve our community. So I think there's a lot to be said for that and that there is some history there in terms of whether you believe in intergenerational kind of trauma and those effects and the power that that carries. And so I do think that while they've never experienced something specific to this health crisis they understand what it means to step up and be there for your community. Wow. So now I wanna kind of shift to the other communities the other communities that you have in that part of Southern California. What happened to the other communities? Did they, could they still support you or were they just like, yeah, we can't do advocacy. We're putting everything towards healthcare. What did that look like? Actually, it's been really interesting. So one of the things that we started advocating about really, really early on during COVID is the impact that a Latino community that COVID was having on our community in terms of infections and deaths. We were very vocal about the lack of response from San Diego County. Originally it was not having enough information in Spanish and then it was, what we believed is that enough wasn't being done to protect our community. And so in terms of advocacy, we were very vocal about that. And as you know, with working with nonprofits you always run a risk of whether people will support that advocacy or whether they'll think, gosh, that's a little bit too much for us. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and I have to give so much credit to our San Diego community in terms of our donors our sponsors or supporters, they really rallied around us and applauded everything that we were doing. So much so that we were able to form the San Diego Latino Health Coalition and it's a group of nonprofits and other organizations that came together to do everything that we could to support and protect our Latino community in San Diego. And the funding, the support, just the outreach, people, companies calling us and saying, what can we do to help? Was really honestly overwhelming in terms of feeling supported. Yeah. Now, this is the big question, will those organizations come forward or follow you forward? You know, not that this is like going away tomorrow but every day we keep hearing, what did I hear this morning on the news? Something like 21% of the American public has had their first dose of the vaccine and that those numbers are just going up, you know, every day. Are these some of these newer supporters gonna keep marching with you? I think so. I mean, I think that our team does a really good job of, you know, we always say that we're, we don't want transactions, we want relationships. And so we try to form relationships with anyone who ever supports us. And so, you know, I really do believe that a lot of the people who came forward or companies that they were in it for the right reasons. And I'm gonna be optimistic and believe that they will continue to be in partnership and collaboration with us, especially as we move into a recovery. Because now more than ever is where we need advocacy to ensure that we have an equitable recovery. Because this is what matters. Did we learn anything from this? And if so, what are we going to change moving forward? Because normal wasn't working for everyone. In fact, it wasn't working for most people. And it certainly was not working for our Latino community in San Diego County. So how will we change moving forward? You are preaching to the choir community. I was like, have you been watching Jared Ransom? Jared Ransom. Oh my gosh, so much of that. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. It is just our sector, our, you know, world humanity at large was due for a reset. I'm, you know, really sorry that it came in the form of so many, you know, pandemics. And I use the word, you know, plural because there was so much unrest going on in 2020, even as you started this conversation by saying the same things we're fighting for now is what started us 52 years ago. And that is just, you know, it's, to me, it's crazy beyond belief that that is still something that we come back to. But, you know, I like to look at the silver lining. I love that you do too. And it's looking at, okay, what have we done because of the pandemic that we will continue to do thanks to the pandemic if we might be so bold to actually give it gratitude to say, this is what it has done. It is formed alliances. It has deepened relationships. It has helped us gather, you know, additional advocacy groups to help us really rally around these solutions. And that is so pivotal when it comes to the recovery. And I was listening to a podcast, not ours, but another one.   And I think we're experiencing that now, right?  But it's a slow roll into a new way of collaboration, a new way of doing business, a new way of engaging all of these amazing relationships that have come forward for you. Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, to your point, this has been a disrupter and we have to acknowledge that. And there has to be change that comes from this so that we never end up in a situation like this again because our community, you know, we've been tracking really closely how impacted the Latino community has been not just in San Diego County, but across the country. And it's no accident, right? This was the perfect storm because everything that we knew about this virus was that the closer you are in contact with other people, the higher, you know, your chances of contracting it. So when you look at who our essential workers are, when you look at who's living in multi-generational housing, these are all issues that need to be addressed and fixed. And the other thing that I will add is that we've been very strong advocates for our undocumented community. And we were one of the only organizations that has been providing flexible financial assistance to our undocumented community in San Diego. Because as we all know, they were left out of a lot of the relief that came down. And the unfortunate thing is they are literally the people that kept this economy running during this pandemic. That to me is wrong on so many different levels. So, you know, I think even that bringing that to the forefront and not letting that die down not letting that just be swept under the rug is we owe a debt of gratitude to our undocumented community that really provided all the food and the services and everything that we needed during this pandemic. Absolutely. So with that, what does this remaining 2021 look like? I mean, I love all the things that you've had to say. And I see that your leadership has pulled through a lot of opportunity. I can't imagine that you as a CEO have had a chance to even breathe let alone be strategic and think, you know when you're in the middle of a crisis you're just hopping and popping. So what do you see for the rest of the year? So I think that what we're looking at right now is looking ahead to think of the things that maybe people have thought of but aren't really providing solutions for, right? So I think that there is a lot that's going to I don't want to say there's a cliff coming but in terms of mental health, right? That's something that we're really anticipating coming to the forefront in the next year the years to come, right? Because we all know that the impact is going to be felt for a really long time. So we're really looking at mental health how can we support our communities? We're also really looking to again like the financial assistance like there's been a lot of rent relief but what about mortgage assistance, right? There's people who haven't been able to pay their mortgage and the other thing that I will say that again to your point about looking at the silver lining of this is our community in terms of community members really roast the occasion in terms of advocating for the things that they needed coming to the city council and the county board of supervisors meetings and sharing their stories and their struggles and what they needed that's something that we really want to continue to do because as we all know those that are closest to the problems are also closest to the solution. We need to listen, we need to lift up their voices we need to elevate them and we need to make sure that this platform that we've created for them to really advocate and speak about the issues that are affecting their lives that we continue to elevate them because that's who's going to drive this that's who's going to drive policy that's who's going to drive changes is the community. And so we see our role is really just taking that and continuing to run with it. Don't let this die down. All of this advocacy and this passion and this energy that we've seen over the past year in terms of advocacy, we need to elevate that. If I was Oprah, I would have said tweet, tweet again, Julia.   I mean, Jared, tell me what you think, but I feel like this could be applied to those folks in the Midwest that were running the animal shelters. I feel like this could be applied to the gentleman we had on from Texas that was working with all these nonprofits and trying to build a coalition. So much of what you said is the stuff we need to be hearing.  But I think you have this like tale of history that maybe has given your organization a lens that a lot of new organizations can't ever get until 15 years old. And I think too, you know, that and it's the ego. So often we see it in our own way.  And I would have, you know, my whole tweet tweet with Oprah it would have been those. And I'm gonna ask you to say it again because I wanna write it down, but it was like those that are closest to the issue are also closest to providing a solution. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, those that are closest to the problem are closest to the solution. And we've seen that time and time again. So let's keep lifting and elevating those voices because those are the ones that are really gonna bring about change. Really the power already belongs to the people. It is already within our community. We just have to elevate that. Yeah, yeah. You know, it might be a really cool idea to and I'm not trying to put you on the spot but I'm putting you on the spot is to have you or somebody from your team come back and talk to us about how you have engaged in that, you know, that data piece with your community and how you do ask some questions and find out what it is that they're looking for because we and our nonprofit sector man we fall down on that. We do not ask our clients enough what it is we need. We project onto them our boards, project onto them and oftentimes our boards do not look, think or live like our clients. And so then that's like a whole nother, you know, problem. And so I would love that. And I'm gonna take it further, you know, in particular with the undocumented community, I would love to know how to elicit their response so I was working on a project as you know, I live in or maybe you don't, I live in Arizona, a border state. We have a really large Latinx population and I was working on a project that required, you know, surveys and feedbacks from the individuals and many of them were undocumented and we're not willing to provide feedback because of the fear of the unknown. So if there's something that we could learn from you and your team, I personally would be interested in that because I'd love to hear their voices. And I know whether you're a border state or not, many communities have the same issue of, you know, not going to the voices that really need to be heard. And how do we, I'm gonna say not just ask their, you know, feedback, but how do we build relationships with these communities? And I think part of that is our 52 year history, right? And that we have earned the trust of the community and I'll add this one thing, I know we're almost out of time, but I think with nonprofits also, we so often wanna give things, right? And one of the things that we advocated for so much during this pandemic is that people don't need things, they need financial assistance. And I think that that also helps to build trust when we actually listen and provide the things that people are asking for. You know, we saw across the country, these lines to food banks, what our community was telling us was I don't want to wait in line for four hours for a bag of food that we may or may not eat. I need money to be able to buy my child medicine or to really buy the things that we need and we listen and we figured out a way to, you know, we were lucky enough to get a donation that was really for flexible financial assistance. And that's how we continue to build trust is that we listen and we respond. Yeah. Wow, I have so enjoyed this and I'm just so sad to say that our time is up because I've learned so much and you really echoed so many things that we're hearing or observing in the nonprofit sector. My family calls me Julia, not Julia. So today I am Julia Patrick. Is it Patrick's Day? Yes. No, I mean, it's weird, but that's really true. I'm CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy, been joined by the nonprofit nerd herself, Jarrett Ransom. Let's call me Jarrett O'Ransom today. Jarrett O'Ransom, oh my God. Okay, last seat, we will do that. Jarrett O'Ransom, more importantly, we've had Nancy Maldonado, CEO and president of Chicano Federation. Amazing, amazing work. More importantly, really exciting framing of the work and that so many of us in the nonprofit sector can learn from. I really enjoyed this. We're getting you back, sister, because we have so many more questions. So be ready. Yes, I'd love to. Thank you so much for having me today. Oh, it's been really fun. Hey, there's a really interesting thing that I wanted to bring up. The nonprofithr.com organization, they have a report coming out. It's the 2021 Outstanding Nonprofit Women to Watch and this is something that they do every year and it's gonna be really interesting to see. It's across the landscape of our nation and I think it'll be really fun. So check them out, nonprofithr.com. Again, thank you to our sponsors. Without you, we would not be here. I'm joined by this great mind and talent, Nancy Maldonado. We are very, very honored that you continue to share this journey with us. Wow, great episode. What say ye? Yeah. Thank you so much. This was wonderful. It really opened my eyes to so many topics, so much that I believe we need to dig deeper into. We're still very much scratching the surface. So thanks for all that you're doing, Nancy, and for sharing your insight and wisdom with all of us today. Of course. Thank you guys again for having me and for inviting me to your show. Well, it's been lovely. And as we end every episode of the nonprofit show, we'd like to remind everyone to stay well so you can do well. We'll see you back here tomorrow, everyone. Thanks.


Collaging is a major component of the tumor microenvironment and plays a crucial role in cancer fibrosis, with its biosynthesis regulated by cancer cells through various mechanisms. Collaging influences tumor cell behavior through integrins, discoid endomain receptors, tyrosine kinase receptors, and signaling pathways. Exosomes and microRNAs are closely associated with collaging in cancer. Hypoxia intensifies cancer progression, and other extracellular matrix substances interact with collaging to influence cancer cell activity. Macrophages, lymphocytes, and fibroblasts play a role with collaging in cancer immunity and progression. Changes in collaging content within cancer cells and matrix cells contribute to a feedback loop that influences prognosis, recurrence, and resistance in cancer. Nanoparticles, nanoplatforms, and nanoenzymes exhibit promising therapeutic options for diverse cancers, and the emerging understanding of collaging structural properties and functions will guide the development of new strategies for anticancer therapy. This article was authored by Shu Aishu Aishu, Wenquan Wang, and others. We are article.tv, links in the description below.


This is an interesting new initiative that's becoming more widespread in bars in Israel. It's called Screen Break and what this is is we're currently at a venue in Jerusalem. I'll give you this little wooden box into which you can place your smartphone. So the venues have this on hand and the idea is simply to allow patrons to enjoy some digital decompression time. So they're handing these out here.


Hello, and welcome back to theCUBE's coverage of AWS Public Sector Summit, live for two days in DC in person. theCUBE is here, there's an expo floor, there's people face to face, down here at Adriana Gascona, who's the founder and CEO of Girls in Tech, CUBE alumni, friend of theCUBE. We've known her for a long time, watched her success, really making an impact. Great to see you, thanks for coming on. Wonderful to see you, John. Thanks so much for having me. You know, one of the things that Sandy Carter talks about, Max Peter talks about, all of the Amazonian leadership talks about it, is skills training, okay? This is a big deal, okay? So getting talent in to the industry is critical, and also diversity in women in tech and underrepresented minority groups are key. This has been like a constant focus. You've been successful in convincing folks about tech, and working hard. What's the update? Wow, so the reason why we're here, not only is Sandy Carter our amazing chairman of the board, six plus years, but we heard so many pain points from several of our partners, as well as our good friends over at the White House and the Department of State and many other public sector agencies, that there is a deficit. It's been very difficult to find diverse groups of talent, and talent period to join their companies and populate those important IT jobs, STEM jobs, whether it's very, very technical, or more data-driven, or more sort of design focus, product development focus across the board. It's been very hard for them to find talent for those jobs. So Girls in Tech has partnered with AWS to create an initiative called the Next Generation Public Sector Leaders, and really focusing on creating awareness on career development opportunities for up and coming talent, diverse talent, that is curious and interested in job opportunities and educational opportunities within the public sector. So it has multi-tiers, right? And it's something that we've devised based on the need and based on a lot of data and a lot of interviews from a lot of our partners and within the APN network. And we're doing a mentorship program, which is a six month long program matching these amazing public sector executives, really accomplished leaders, as well as our members from around the world to connect and expose them and provide that nurturing, fostering mentality so that they can succeed in their careers. So eight of us is getting behind this mission. And public sector is really fast growing, changing. You're starting to see a lot of public-private partnerships go on. So not just the old school public sector business. I mean, the pandemic has shown the impact of society. So what does that do for the melting pot of talent that you've seen anything out there? And how does that relate to this? Has that helped you at all? Or what's that mean for the mission? So there is a melting pot of talent. I just think we need to do a better job of creating awareness and really knowing where that talent lives. Like what are the blogs that they read? What are the videos that they watch and listen to? Where are they, right? And we need to do the hard work in investigating and understanding, taking a more empathetic approach to really finding out how we can access them, what their needs are. What are the things that pique their interests within these jobs within the public sector? And customize it and market it so that they'll be eager and excited and it'll be more appealing to them. So I looked at the press release, I just want to get your reaction to something you got. Evening with the experts, it's an in-person event. Yes. When is that, is that here? Is that going to be on your own event? What's that about? All the events that are going to be in person will be in DC. There will be some virtual events as well. Our mentorship program is all virtual, six month long program with curriculum and matchmaking on a platform that we use. The evening with the experts, which is a panel discussion with experts from AWS and beyond the APN network. We'll talk about challenges in technology, opportunities within career development and also jobs. We'll do recruitment like on the fly type of activities as well, speed interviewing, speed networking. We also have a few other programs, our webinar, which is about the next gen public sector opportunities and this is more about the challenges that people face, that companies face and the new technologies that will be launched very soon and we're doing a widget on our jobs board to highlight the new career opportunity, new job opportunities from all of the public sector partners we work with. So very comprehensive. It's very comprehensive. So on the six month guided mentorship program, how does someone get involved in applications? What's that going on there? It will be an application process and we will promote it to anyone who signs up to our newsletter. So go to girlsintech.org, sign up for our newsletter and we will be posting and sharing more information on how do people get involved. But we'll definitely send custom EDMs essentially promoting to the people who are here at the conference and also through our girls in tech DC chapter as well. So I have to ask you, I know you've been really busy and very successful. You've been out and about. What's the trend line look like? Well, not for the last two years though. We've been in lockdown. Now you've been working hard though, I've seen it. Have not, not and about, now you are. Yes, not and about. What's the temperature like now in terms of the pulse of the industry relative to progress? What are you finding? What's the current situation? Progress for women in tech in the industry. So since I started girls in tech in 2007 we've made a lot of progress. I would say it's a lot slower than I thought it would be but you do see more and more women and people representing BIPOC actually apply for those jobs. We, it is astronomically different than 2006, 2007 when I started in my first startup. There's a lot more mentorship, there are a lot more organizations out there that companies are more accountable with ERG groups and they're changing their policies, they're changing their training programs, they're having more off-sites. There's now technologies that focus on tracking productivity and happiness of employees. So that, like all of that did not exist or I should say none of that existed. It was rare. You know and so we worked hard, we worked hard but it takes a village, it takes a lot of different people to create that change and now one of girls in tech's mission is not just providing that education, that community, that mentorship, we want to get the corporates involved. We want to teach the corporates about DE and I training, the importance of diversity, different tactics to recruit, so on and so forth and it's been so amazing, so inspirational. I love, I started working more on partnerships and having our monthly calls with partners because I love it. I love collaborating and having. It's going to recruit a good peer group around you too to accelerate and create more territory of awareness and impact, more people can get their hands involved and I think to me that's what I think, you're starting to see that with podcasts and media, people are starting to go direct, tell their story, apps are out there now, as you mentioned. I feel like we're on a crossover point coming soon. Totally thinks it's different, but it's still a lot more work to do. A lot more work, we just scratched the surface. I know, I know, we just scratched the surface but we're so excited to be here. AWS is a huge supporter, thanks to Sandy Carter and her team, it's been an amazing experience. Sandy's got great vision and she takes risks so she's actually got the Amazonian concept of experiment, try something, double down if it works and that's great to see that you guys have extended that relationship with her and the team. I like this idea of the fellowship cohort model or that program you have, the mentorship program. I think that's super cool. That's something I think will be very successful. It's been successful so far. We typically oversell our mentorship, our mentee spots. We only have 500 spots and last one we had over 2300, like a crazy amount so we know that our members are really hungry for it around the world and we know it'll just be as popular for the public sector. So what's next for you? What's the vision? What's the next step? Was events are coming back in person? We're here in person. Yeah, there's just so much going on. I wish I could clone myself and we're busting at the seams and I think the things that are really exciting to me are being able to produce our programs internationally specifically in developing countries. So we're working, we haven't made an official announcement yet or anything but we are working on expanding in African countries with AWS. They are doing some efforts and making some movements there. So places like Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, we are looking to create chapters there for girls in tech and then expand our programming. We're also, as mentioned earlier, we're working a lot with corporations to provide DE&I training. So training about policies, inclusive leadership, making sure they have the tools and policies to succeed and for their employees to feel comfortable, safe and productive in their work environments. You're going to great to see you. Congratulations, girls in tech.org. Yes. The URL, check it out, a great mission, very successful making progress. Any stats you can throw out there that you can share? Yeah, of course. What's going on before you wrap it up? Yeah, so right now girls in tech has 58 active chapters and 38 countries with over 70,000 active members and by the end of the year we will have close to 100,000 active members. So hopefully we'll see you next year and that number will double or triple. Sign up, tell them John sent you. No, don't say that because you won't get out. Great to see you. Thanks for coming on. Nice to see you too. Thanks so much, John. Great to have you on. Cube coverage here at AWS Public Sector Summit in Washington DC. It's a live event. We're face to face. We had some remote guests. It's a hybrid event. Everything's being streamed. I'm John Furrier with theCUBE. Thanks for watching.