Good afternoon, everyone. We're going to give folks just a minute to log on and we will get started in just a moment. Thanks for joining. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you all for joining this really important webinar today and happy Earth Month. Welcome to our greening NYC nightlife webinar. I'm Jose Sogard, Deputy Director for the Office of Nightlife. For those of you who don't know, we are a liaison between the city and the nightlife industry of businesses, workers, performers and patrons. As always, if you have any issues or questions about your role in nightlife or anything that's going on with your venue or your events, please always feel free to reach out to us at nightlife at media.nyc.gov. Today's webinar is part of a series of courses we created called night school or nightlife industry training and education. This is a new series to share resources and trainings for nightlife owners, workers and patrons with sessions for how to best engage with city agencies, learn tips for proactive harm reduction, addressing quality of life issues and more. You can find out more information at nyc.gov slash night school. That's and that's N-I-T-E as you see on the screen, and we will also put a link in the chat. Today, we're happy to share with you a new resource and partnership with Future Meets Present who are working to design and visualize a sustainable future. They are here today to present you some tips and strategies for how you can get started or go further to reduce the climate impacts of your venues and events. We're so excited to have them here today and to be kicking off this partnership with them. Before I introduce them to conduct the presentation, just a few quick housekeeping notes. First, please use the Q&A feature in the Zoom to let us know any questions you might have throughout the meeting. And after the presentation, we'll have some additional time for Q&A as well. The meeting is being recorded and live streamed to Facebook and a recording will be available to share with anyone you know who would like to view the training at a later time. Again, you can always visit nyc.gov slash night school. That's N-I-T-E school as you see on the screen to find information on other scheduled trainings as well as previous webinars that have been part of this series. So now without further ado, I would like to introduce my colleague, Amir Jandali is the CEO and founder of Future Meets Present, and I'm sure you will find his energy and enthusiasm as contagious as we do. So thank you so much for being with us here, Amir, today. The floor is yours. Please take it away. Okay. There you go. All right. Audio coming in. We got my video. Let's see. Can we get my video going over here? Sorry, my video. We in. All right. Oh my God. Amazing. Here we go. First of all, thank you. That was such a beautiful introduction. This is so, so awesome. Let's see. We got 20 people on the call right now. Thank you everyone for joining. This is super cool. My name is Amir. Let me get my screen share going here for you. Oops. Excuse me, guys. Sorry. We actually just finished troubleshooting this. Let me share my right screen with you. There we go. All right. Are we in? Is this good? Can you give me a signal? Yeah, that looks great. Okay, amazing. Welcome everybody. This is super cool. I'm very, very excited and honored to be sharing with you what you will find to be both a little bit of a personal journey of mine and a share a discovery of how I found sustainability to get out of the silo of the granola conversations exclusively about exclusively about solar panels and how does it live and help us turn up a sustainable future. So what we have here is actually I asked AI to show us what is the vision of a sustainable future of nightlife look like. So we're going to start here with this vision.  So the theme of today, the real objective, my friends, is to demystify. It can be so easy to think about sustainability as just big broad topic that's just so hard to grasp. But the theme is to demystify climate solutions. And here's the agenda. So we're going to do a quick welcome and a survey poll. I'm going to introduce myself and future meets present and how this came to be. I'm going to introduce you to greenhouse gas emissions and demystify that world. We're going to look at global climate goals, the inflation reduction act. And how the global climate goals tie in with New York City regulations and vision. So we're going to start really high level demystifying climate solutions and then contextualize that for New York City nightlife. And then we're going to take a look at the nightclub of the future which you got a glimpse of on the first slide. Finally, our call to action today is to join the future meets present nightlife pilot program. Here's some keywords and concepts to get us started. First gas emissions, I'm sure we've all heard about them, but quite simply, ghd emissions are planet warming gases. They're emitted through virtually any human activity. The most common greenhouse gases are CO2 methane, not just oxide fluorinated gases and water vapor actually pretty interestingly enough now CO2 is the one that we hear most about, because it's the most abundant, but they're all really especially methane because, although that gas is not as abundant as CO2 methane warms a lot more than CO2 so a little we're going to get pretty nerdy to here just to set your expectations not not too bad don't worry. So that's greenhouse gas emissions. Next up we have net zero.  We're using our greenhouse gas emission checkbooks. It's a term that defines a future state where we're not emitting more emissions and we're able to draw down so human activity causes emissions. In the future we want to get to a point where we're able to balance, pull down emissions at the same rate and we're emitting them. So that's net zero and if this is already new, it's not new to you. That's the validation. If it is new to you. Let it serve as the mortar between your bricks to help help you grasp these concepts so next up we have 1.5 degrees Celsius, which is the unanimously agreed upon threshold of warming. Our collective goal as a species, as humanity is to keep warming global warming below this limit by 2050. We've already reached 1.1 degrees Celsius so clock is ticking. Which means it is time for urgent action, which to me means it's a time for immense opportunity. That's I'm incredibly just in awe by this moment that we get to see everything in our economy transform. So, finally, this is not a term that's discussed too often, but for those of us for those of us on the call today, I want us to think beyond net zero, not just balancing our checkbooks. But I want us to think about how to be draw down aligned and we're going to nerd out about this a little bit more in a few slides as well. But it's not enough just to balance our checkbooks. But how do we align ourselves with that future state where emissions are going down and draw down aligned is a business strategy that goes beyond net zero and utilizes all of an organization's economic social political capital to shift global culture to 1.5 degree scenario. And this is particularly important here for nightlife because we are culture makers where the sources of it people come to nightclubs to celebrate to loosen their ties to enjoy to dance. It's a source of life and nightclubs nightlife can be an incredibly powerful lever to shift culture towards a 1.5 degree scenario so it's a little bit of keywords and concepts for you and now we're getting off to a little bit of a rocky start here is a lot of concepts but we're going to bring it down home. So, before we get started, I want to get to know you if you could take a moment please and scan our QR code. We have a few questions we'll just you have a moment there just at least pull it up, and then get some questions asked for us so I'm going to give a huge shout out to my amazing interns Clara and Rhea who put these survey questions together. I'm super stoked about that. And also can we check is the chat feature working. We said we know if the chat features working. It is. Yes. Oh, Rhea. Okay, there we go. Hi. Okay. Amazing. All right, cool. Now we're in the flow of things great. We can chat phones panelists Emily amazing amazing. I mean by hosts hosts and panelists okay cool well I can call some of them out but the chat is working that's great. So if you got a chance to get to the QR code amazing we I want to hear from you. You can put in the chat and I'll read out a couple of these. What motivated you to come today. Hey Mitch. It's amazing. Awesome. Yeah what motivated you all to come today. I'm sorry if you're like putting the QR code stuff into want to make change in the night likes. Thank you Sean. I care about the world. Yes, planning for Earth Day events and climate week want to bring more community together. Love it. Yeah, we'll take another moment I'm going to keep going but please keep letting me know in the chat. What you're why you're motivated to come today. We need to make impact cool yes to learn and grow and make the world a better place. Cool. Right. Love it love it love it. Okay, so a little bit about me want to introduce myself and like why am I even here talking to you right now what does this make sense why am I the person to be delivering this message I'm from. I'm living small town in southern New Mexico called Las Cruces. It's a beautiful place when I left Las Cruces about 80,000 people. Lovely town. Beautiful met mountains in the background amazing place to grow up my family owned an Italian restaurant. So growing up I always kind of had a blurred sense of what a stranger was there was no such thing as a stranger everybody was family. And now I move to New York City I'll tell you more about this in a little bit but I have the honor of teaching into universities here at Parsons and at John Jay I teach social entrepreneurship at John Jay and also sustainable business models at the graduate school level at Parsons. And on one hand we give students permission to feel and permission to create a for purpose company. On the other hand, we analyze the role of private sector and reaching climate goals. So this is what I'm up to now in addition to running an annual event during New York City Climate Week, this is the marketplace of the future. We're one of the longest running consecutive events in climate week history. And for those of you didn't know, New York City Climate Week is the largest one on the planet, we're the official vision partner for climate week. And yeah so it's a little bit of what I'm up to now. My background started here in the nightlife scene, Las Cruces, New Mexico. This actually is an El Paso. This is a music festival called Sun City Music Festival. And it was a beautiful time of my life is amazing. I was so honored to share the stage with artists such as Chris Lake I opened for him twice. Not that bottom picture that you know that was all him I let him take one down by himself but the middle picture. You know Chris Lake open for him. There I also got to open for other amazing artists like Avicii actually bless him before he passed away. Well as Eric Marillo super house legend and hip hop icon little john so that was my life for about five years full time this is what I was doing. And 2013 I won best of the best of the El Paso Las Cruces region best of the best nightclub DJ was really amazing honor. And so that that was the life right so this is my personal context now it connects with this webinar today. So it's my personal context and then one night. I had an experience that would come to change everything I watch this documentary called bag it about single use plastic bags and, and I think it was just, it was a heartbreak moment for me. And something I talked to my students all about. It's really important that we just slow down here for a moment and recognize that heartbreaks lead to breakthrough. And, and three in the morning I'm watching this documentary about plastic bags and it was a heartbreak moment for me I learned obviously about single use plastics and the amount of ending up in the ocean and the animals that are being harmed and that kind of thing but the biggest thing for me the revelatory moment was, how did I not know about this before. How was I at the store yesterday and no one was reminding me to bring a reusable bag. What's up with that and then suddenly it felt like the apocalypse and now the Greek definition of apocalypse my friends is not the end of the world it is simply lifting of the veil. And my veil was lifted and I saw the world for what it was and what it could be. I say it kind of felt like Hogwarts was real, all because of this documentary three in the morning. And so that heartbreak galvanized me to do something and that's when I moved to New York City, and I got my masters in design for social innovation. And I was suddenly in a whole new world that I never would have thought I would be and especially not one sitting behind a sewing machine, because in grad school, we had an assignment and it was designed a tool to solve a social issue. So sitting there and thinking about various ideas and finally it hits me. I want a solution to plastic bags. And I want it to be a symbol of self expression. I wore a lot of lift strong bracelets at the time I didn't have any bracelet that said anything about tote bags but I didn't want a bracelet that just said bag. I wanted a bracelet that was a bag. I wanted a bracelet tote. So I googled it. And it was a great thing. How often do you Google something and get no results, never. Right so I worked on it until until eventually I created it so you can see here, and I'll get my background going on but you can see I got this wrap around my wrist. And then it opens up into a tote bag, useful bag right. So it's really out of recycled materials super easy to use machine washable you go like this, and then pull it back together.  So that's what that started all because of that documentary that I watch it three in the morning right so the conditions were perfect. For me to be experiencing this heartbreak about some semblance of normalcy in the world that suddenly was no longer normal. It's a heartbreak that is a heartbreak when something that you think is normal isn't anymore. And I trust it we're all here in this call because we've experienced our own heartbreaks and that's super important to recognize super important to honor because the whole world is undergoing its own heartbreak right now. And we're here, because the nightlife sector can be an incredible opportunity for breakthrough. And that gets me breaking hype. So moving on from there, ended up selling several bags, I think we broke around 1000 units people really love them. And it was awesome. So now you have a DJ in New York City, getting his masters in design, thinking about how to intervene in the world and like what's my role and how do we shift the needle and how do we move culture towards I didn't know like zero at the time or draw down or any of that kind of stuff but I just, I knew I was like called by something right. So I'm walking down the street in Times Square. And I see an ad by Adidas these shoes parlay for the oceans these shoes are made out of ocean plastic and I look at this and I'm like dang, these guys are making materials out of products out of recycled materials too. So I'm not the only one thinking this way. The big boys are thinking about this too. Obviously this is what's going to be normal in the future. So what I'm looking at is not so much an ad but what I'm looking at is an indicator of what it looks like when the future meets present and that just dawned on me right there and that became this hashtag that I would use. What's the name of my company so what does it look like when the future meets presence. And every time I would look and see ads like this or news articles like this, a plastic band sire foam, Oregon State banning sire foam or the largest offshore wind farm is approved in Virginia or US renewable energy surpasses coal. These are all signs indicators of what it looks like when the future meets present. So now this is this context of contexts, if you will, it's kind of my mother, my mother world view. And it all is really centered around this oversimplified graph. Now we talked about greenhouse gas emissions we talked about drawdown. This is a chart showing two scenarios again oversimplified but for the sake of this conversation imagine a chart showing rising greenhouse gas emissions and falling greenhouse gas emissions we implement solutions to climate change. Logically speaking at some point those emissions will start going down that moment it's a moment in time that moment is called the moment of drawdown when someday we're going to open up our phones in the morning we're going to look at Apple and it's going to say, we have reached drawdown that is the moment in time in which emissions peak and begin going back down. And you see net zero by 2050 all over the place this is what we're talking about everyone in the world is galvanized around this idea. Let's dive into this a little bit more right. So if we're thinking back to our agenda. That was the intro about me origins of future meets present demystifying climate solutions and dream demystifying greenhouse gases okay. So let's jump to this right here it's common metaphor for green gas gas emissions in the atmosphere is a bathtub. Quite simply you can think of it that way. And our objective is to not let that bathtub overflow, or in this case overflowing means warm up to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Where is that water coming from. There's six main sources energy transportation food and agriculture industry buildings and then other other simply represents leaky pipes and infrastructural issues like that. But the five other ones are the main sources of emissions the main economic sectors that are creating all of the world's emissions. And if you think about it. There's a little flip there. Nothing we do on a day to day life in our day to day lives escapes these categories.  Industry, we're thinking about the stuff that is getting moved around the plastics the metal concrete cement glass electronics, all the things like that stand for represent are represented by industry food and agriculture how we're growing our food our soils health, that entire ecosystem. We have energy, the electrons that are flowing through our cables the ones that are allowing you to see and hear me right now, buildings are built environment where humans spend most of our time. These are the categories, the sources of greenhouse gas emissions right so hold that framework in your mind. Now take a step back. So what are the sinks of those emissions of those are the sources of the water in the bath. What is the sinks, what are the sinks look like, simply highest order categories we have three sinks land ocean and engineered land sinks plants literally breathe co2 we learned that in elementary school and oceans, although might, you might not think of it are a tremendous carbon sink 70% of the earth surface is water. And the phytoplankton that is on the surface of the ocean has enough carbon capture potential to match all of the world's rainforests and forest combined. So between land and ocean we need these ecosystems to be healthy and thriving. So they can pull emissions out of the atmosphere because we're emitting them so much. Now we're at a point where land and oceans alone can't can't can't do it alone. We need engineered sinks as well. Now this is a very emerging industry it's not enough to move the needle by any means, but this is a huge tremendous potential in the coming decade for direct air capture and literally sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. This is great, great, great, great, great. I'm also just checking in the chat please like if anybody has any questions or anything along the way you know just want to like gut check and make sure we're all good and moving forward to the same pace together. So let me go next year. Here's an oversimplification a simplified chart of the sources and sinks. I'll let you take a look at that for a moment. Now moving on. This is right here is probably about as nerdy as we're going to get so don't, you know, don't worry. Keep your hat on tight. Yeah, take a look at this. It's a little bit more of a granular zoom into the sources of emissions, right we're starting really high level, then we're going to bring it down to night clubs. So right like look at an industry you got 20% 21% of global greenhouse gas emissions coming from industry got waste chemicals cement cement, 3% transportation flying so the entire aviation industry represents 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions cement represents more emissions than the entirety of the aviation aviation industry you really think of it that way. Start to be able to contextualize these solutions and see the raindrops from the cloud it's not just this big scary idea anymore but you can look. I mean, this is very exciting because inherent to knowing the sources of emissions is knowing the sources of solutions. That's the beautiful reminder of this moment in time where all of these sectors of the economy get to be transformed. Those same categories reflected global in a global landscape and in America. And while the categories are the same, the nuances and the proportions of them will be different based on the infrastructural needs and the cultures, etc. So there's global emissions there's USA. Now there's New York State. And here's New York City. It's tremendous right when you look at you mean New York City I mean it makes sense we're nothing but buildings here. So 70% of our footprint comes from buildings. And now you are empowered with a context and a framework to be able to make sense of this content. So when you see headlines like. Apple says more suppliers committing to renewable energy, or the largest US offshore wind farm is approved in Virginia you know exactly where they fit into the pie. I hope that gives you a little bit of peace of mind that you can move through the world now with these new context lenses. And then you will look and see everything Oh that comes from industry Oh that comes from energy this is building so that's food and agriculture great. I want you to be extra empowered by following up that that inquiry, following that context up the observation up with the inquiry of like great well then who's working on it. You know we don't want to be the fetus here and think that like oh my God everything's submitting emissions for us, it's who's working on it. And how do we turn them up. What does that look like. I'm going to show you all now what I look to as one of my sources of truth this is draw down. We heard the term earlier but this is a nonprofit site. They're the world's leading resources for resource for climate solutions so take a look at this you explore project drawdowns website bill screen recording here earlier. You can scroll down you can look into the sectors. And as we described them earlier, you see energy food and agriculture industry transportation buildings, we see the sinks land and ocean sinks we see engineered sinks. And then of course we see solutions around health and education because what's the point of doing all this if we're not uplifting society. So draw down his website, scroll through an entire library of solutions that you can see everything from composting efficient aviation, electric trains electric cars, force protection, etc. Now, last thing I'll show you and then we'll move into into contextualizing this for the nightlife. Let's go on a little thought experiment for a moment imagine that same chart of rising greenhouse gas emissions that splits into various scenarios. High, medium, medium, high and low. So what we want to look at is what's the desired future that we want that net zero future that future where all of those solutions that we just saw on the previous screen where all these are normalized. If we just shift our perspective might we see indicators that that future is not far off in time and space but is right here all around us. Might we look and see compost programs and electric vehicle charging stations and all these policies and everything that we're doing right here on this call might we see that all of those are indicators of that future expressing itself right in front of us. So if that's so how are we going to actually get there. If you haven't heard of this already, the inflation reduction act is the largest investment in climate action US history is the most significant climate bill in US history leading to a 40% reduction in emissions so this is this is tremendous and this was past last year has been worked on for the last couple of years it's more than $300 billion that have now been mobilized to address these climate solutions, address these climate actions and implement solutions so here's a quick snapshot of another pie chart. I'll just let you look at this for a moment see where all this money is going 64 almost $65 billion for renewable energy and clean energy investment tax credits. $36.85 billion in clean manufacturing 13.17 for clean hydrogen. We see some for commercial vehicles and EVs, EV charging. So here's a quick snapshot of the emission reduction potential by the inflation reduction act. So by 2035. We will see that if the target by 2030 is 50% by 2035 inflation reduction act will take us to 40% not all the way there, but huge huge potential. And that money is waiting to be given to people ready to implement those solutions. That's one of the reasons why we're here to taking us from global level inflation reduction act. And now scoping it to New York State. This is New York State scoping plan and it is a body of strategies that will help New York City, New York State and New York City obviously reach its net zero goals and here's some of the highlights from the scoping plan I want to share with you. High level goals, take a look at that. It identifies actions needed for New York to receive 70% renewable energy by 2030 and 100% zero emissions electricity by 2040. It's moving, the gears are turning. A couple of more highlights. Achieving deep decarbonization is feasible by 2050. Every sector will see significant transformation over the next decade and beyond, which will require critical investments in New York's economy. Everything is about to transform. To me that is tremendously exciting energy efficiency and end use electrification are central parts of any pathway that achieves New York State's emissions limits. So this is important because I want to take us as nightlife people out of the traditional ending plastics that can it's low hanging fruit and it's great and super important to get rid of straws and cups of course we have to remember that night clubs are building buildings. And so we need to reframe that in our minds that now if we're really looking at systemic climate action as a nightlife as someone in nightlife you're in a building so think about how your building can start reducing its emissions and let that cleaning of your own house be a galvanizing source to shift culture. So we see here approximately one or two million efficient homes must be electrified with heat pumps by 2030. This is this is true for commercial real estate as well. What else that's really great to know the cost of an action exceeds the cost of action by more than $150 billion. So these reduction strategies result in improvements in air quality, increased active transportation energy efficiency interventions, low moderate income homes, which generate health benefits. It all makes sense as a principle that we live by a future meets present, which is true solutions are irresistible. And these are some of the indicators of that and finally hundreds of thousands of jobs will be created 211,000 jobs expected to be created in growing sub sectors by 2030. Okay, turning up nerdiness one more for those that now got activated by how buildings can play a role by 2030 heat pumps will be the majority of new purchases for space and water heating. One to two million homes, 10 to 20% of commercial space using heat pumps by 2030 hundreds of thousands of additional homes to commercialize buildings becoming efficiently electrified each year. The 2050 vision for building sector sees 85% of homes and commercial building space statewide electrified the diverse mix of energy efficient heat pump technologies and thermal energy networks. And now zooming in a little bit more to this the scoping plans like 400 pages so yeah we we we come through with a fine tooth comb but if you look down here under the strategy be nine. This is y'all. This is us right here right now, scaling up public awareness and consumer education. So we're doing so the process already started right. Okay, now taking a step back. Remember those drawdown solutions we talked about a little bit earlier. This is an element where we can have the rubber meet the road and answer the question. What does it look like when the future meets nightlife. So, our body of recommended strategies, the solutions that we see fitting into this picture artist follows high efficiency heat pumps, green and cool roofs, building retrofits smart thermostats reduce plastics, building systems, composting photovoltaic solar panels, reducing food waste so the club of the future will have these solutions integrated into their operations. And they will also serve as a galvanizing force for the culture and community around it, because that's what we do period anyway. So this is what it looks like when the future meets nightlife and that there is money out there out here to pay for it. So there's 1.8 billion ready to scale up solar 6.8 billion ready to reduce building emissions. Here's some examples that we sifted through and found around the world cafe 1001 in London is a sustainable cafe and club that is powered by renewable energy sources and uses eco friendly materials in its construction. It also has a focus on sustainability in its food and drink offerings using locally sourced and organic ingredients whenever possible. Omnipolis hot. A beer hall that uses only renewable energy sources and donate a portion of it of their profits to environmental organizations. Finally, silo London UK zero waste restaurants that operates on a closed loop system, meaning everything that uses reuse or recycled in some way they even mill their own flower on site and use local seasonal ingredients. And there's plenty of options and models around us in New York City like the house of yes which is really awesome. In Bushwick, they've eliminated single use plastics and have partnered with oceanic global to reach to gain an oceanic standard certification so no plastics in their environment they even have little recycling bins, a little recycling capsules for cigarette butts and that kind of thing but it's a common understanding. It's a common sentiment that now what we've done our stuff with the plastics and what do we do next. That's what we're really here to to demystify and to to support you in doing and so a quick snapshot of our of our network as future means present. We work with New York City passive house with block power who specializes in in installing these heat pumps. Alloy development is an amazing company we just had on a panel discussion. They're building New York City's first fully electric skyscraper. What we call is this company that's creating amazing beautiful looking wall tiles that are actually batteries, they're set on your wall really beautiful and their batteries for capturing energy from solar panels on your roof. Carbon Quest is a company that is installing carbon capture inside buildings for electric heat pumps, I mean for gas burners so that they capture the carbon emissions from those gas burners before they enter the environment. That's a huge shot of people in our network that can support and people in our network that can support by signal boosting what you're working on impact hub New York City be social change Earth Day Initiative Climate Week NYC the carbon Almanac and draw down labs are collective community of partners, all working towards the same goal. So if that's not enough. It's really important to remind ourselves that 20 21% of customers will go out of their way to eat at a sustainable restaurant. And customers are demanding it. It'll increase your competitive advantage, opening and reaching new segments and increasing your employee retention hiring and working and acting on these things is simply the right thing to do. So here's a quick checklist for you feel free to take a screenshot take a picture of this these are things that you can do right away if you're a club owner. If you work in the nightlife sector, if you have someone's ear, you can speak directly into their ear, looking for stop all single use plastics compost everything. Get a smart thermostat install heat pump. Your restaurant add non meat menu options. Add sustainable alternative labels on your menu. Convey the ethos of your beliefs through your storytelling brag about everything you're doing or going to be adopting. I love this join bartender competitions or even focus or events focus on sustainability and highlight the carbon impact of each meal. Just salad if you go into any just salad around the country now you'll see there's the salad there's the price tag and then there's the emissions label. So super cool. Last thing your call to action right now is to join the FMP pilot program. We're partnering with a nonprofit called protecting America that exists to create pipelines for that federal funding to reach small businesses and policymakers. So, we're still in the early stages here but we're looking for champions that want to step forward that want our support that would like to turn their work into a case study. Let us work with you to hold your hand to map out the levers that you need to pull in order to become draw down aligned. Let us create a roadmap together let's come up with an awesome case study and let's scale this up. There's several offices of nightlife around the world so New York City can be the leader we already are. And I think we can really make something amazing amazing happen together super super stoked. So that's going to wrap it up for us today. We have an exit interview and exit poll. Please if you would be so kind as to pull your phones back out and scan this and answer some questions for us. But that's going to conclude our program today. Appreciate you all holding the space being here together for opting into this call. Thank you for being with me on this on this journey and allowing me to share what has become a really beautiful integration of the all the things that are beautiful in my life in our lives so very very cool moment to be alive. Yeah, I guess we'll stop there there's some stuff in the chat aerial hey awesome I love it. Thanks so much Amir. All right, and thanks to everyone for coming today I think we'll take a minute to see if anyone has any questions. And Amir I guess while we're waiting to see if there's any other questions. Is there a way that folks can reach out to you to get connected to the the pilot you're, you're working on. Yeah. For those of you who would like to stay connected to our night school webinars, we're putting that link in the chat as well right now. Great. Okay, I'm still not seeing any other questions so we'd encourage you guys to get connected to future meets present. Please take the the post webinar survey that's on the screen right now on the QR code. I just want to thank everybody for coming. You know we hope you've been able to take away some helpful information from the session and then you can really start to take some steps to put some of these tips and resources into practice so as always feel free to contact us at nightlife at media dot nyc dot gov or follow us on social at at nyc nightlife gov. So thanks everyone for coming today we'll leave the meeting running for just another minute so folks can pull down any other links or other info from the chat they need. Yeah, this is great we're getting some awesome questions. I love it. Yeah, are there any carbon calculators for drinks just like, like just salad before cocktail that is a great question. This is so good and thank you thank you all for your question it's the the the the main objective here honestly this is our this is our pilot to you know this is our first time, exploring together with the office of nightlife and presenting this information this way and it is intended to be treated as a primer code. As we hear the questions and thoughts and see what happens during this pilot program. You know the objective is to be able to come back and do an updated presentation with these questions, the answers to these questions integrated. But it'll be awesome the theme today was demystification so I really hope that that landed. Do you feel demystified Jose. Very. I'm usually feeling mystified. Okay. Okay, someone else asked for the PDF version of these slides I can absolutely do that yeah. That was Alex thank you Alex are there any data available through NYC or elsewhere that details how many buildings with nightlife businesses committed to this work. I don't think so. We don't have any sort of report where it's like cool all the clubs either the ones that are going green. Do we have anything like that. No not yet I think that's part of why we're initiating this partnership in this pilot. Thank you Diara that's such a good question we're going to say is there a way to like, keep the stuff in the chat that log. Yeah we have the full log. You have the full log perfect. So dump your questions everybody this is super helpful for us. Beautiful note here by a fellow DJ friend of mine. So glad this webinar is happening. This was very informational I don't have a question just want to add as a dd in the life industry. That is the incentives for applying sustainable practices isn't just for earth. It's for us. Having greener spaces in nightlife will help us all feel better without dancing and piles of trash or seeing the afterfall the next morning.  Thank you Jessica to go back to that as our closing slide. I see some folks starting to drop off I think just want to thank everybody again for coming and thank you so much Amir for your enthusiastic and energetic presentation we're so excited to be engaging with you in this partnership and look forward to more to come. More to come. Thank you.


Hi everyone, welcome back. We'll get started. Okay, so we have several scriptures talking about the Lord, you know, saying, just like how we see the Lord saying, you know, do not fear, do not fear, do not fear. Like every time he comes and we see that the Lord says, meeting people do not fear, if you're not. Similarly, we also have scriptures where he says, do not remember or do not dwell on the past. Do not remember the former things. Don't consider the things of Isaiah 43. I will do a new thing. I will make a road in the wilderness and deserts in the desert, rivers in the desert. The Lord is saying that I will do some new things, some impossible things, which will actually change the circumstance, right? So, which will bring hope and healing. So, we see that, right? Isaiah 61 verse 7, you know, instead of your shame, you shall have double honor. And instead of confusion, they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore, in their land, they shall possess double everlasting joy shall be theirs and so on, right? So, we see the Lord reminding of not holding on to the past, right? Okay. Any questions on that? So, now, while we see that, okay, these things are the reality, it requires some amount of work from our side. Now, it requires some amount of effort from our side in order to appropriate this truth and apply it, okay? But once we apply it, we see that, okay, this truth is capable of breaking down any kind of strongholds that we might have in our minds, right? Any kind of wrong thinking, wrong ideas in our minds are set right, right? Because our thinking is renewed. Then, if there is any kind of lie apart from the truth, any kind of lie that we are believing, holding on to, the truth sets us free from that, right? Truth gives us a discernment and sets us free from that, right? So, this isn't something that we ought to do. We cannot escape from it, right? We ought to do that even as we go through life, right? Okay. Any... Asad, this, I say, do not remember the form of things. So, this is only applicable when we get the forgiveness, when we repent. Only in that case are, because of our sins are forgiven, so we should not remember or in that case. So, for our own sins, right? So, I don't stress this. Since God has already... So, we say, we don't remember. So, don't bring it to memory. Don't continue to dwell on those things in the past. Let's just read the answers. So... This is a lot, who makes... I'm just reading 16. It says, who makes for the chariot and the cause, and then it goes on, they do not know the form of things. So, he's talking about... See, the context is that he's talking about people who are actually well-planned to, and he's talking about elements of it. Now, it is applicable for us, and this proof is that we say, you are reminding me of the response. We can apply it in the sense of what has already happened, what has been done on the cross, and therefore, whatever things for which we have asked for forgiveness, and what has already done it, he's already moved it out of the way. So, do not again go back. So, that is one way of applying it. It is a done thing. It's already been done. It's already been washed, mixed. So, don't revisit. Don't remind yourself. Don't control the forms. But the other thing is also, as we go through this, maybe certain things have happened, maybe it doesn't require forgiveness from your side in the sense of even taking this, asking God for forgiveness. These are the things that have happened, which have hurt us, or offended us. You want to say, okay, you've already dealt with it. Don't go back. So, that was it, guys. There is already something that I want to be dealt with in terms of the leasing of forgiveness, in terms of even repenting. So, in that case, in that case, it won't be anything. In what case can we understand, what other things can we understand? This is for me. Yeah, we can't use this to justify it. We can use this to justify something saying, okay, God is not asking you to deal with it. And don't go back to let that past continue. Even as a reason, as whatever we last made, don't go to revisit and remind yourself of it and anchor yourself to it. Don't remember it, because the Lord will... He comes from a place of having dealt with it. So, if you've not dealt with it in terms of either asking forgiveness or releasing forgiveness, then there's no point. There's no way of moving forward. Yeah, you want to ask something? This is a one-person-share-experience like this. He's a believer. He's when the Bible grows and so on. And he went away from God. He came back. He asked for forgiveness. So, that's all. But after some days, he felt like guilt and wherever he goes, the thoughts will come. But he didn't want to go back. Now in the prayer life, everything is there, but the thoughts are disturbing him. He became very stressful. So, don't you talk to that believer? So, the thing is that, maybe it's because of the intensity of the deed which was done. So, the thing is this. So, that seems to be louder or that seems to be bigger than the truth of God's forgiveness. So, maybe in his emotions, he's still not come out of it. He's still not set free in his emotions. So, the only way to deal with that is to point that person back to the truth. This is already done. There's no point in revisiting what is already done. Now, already done in a sense, God has already cleansed, forgiven, healed. There's no point in going back to it again. So, you look at the life of Paul, the Apostle Paul, even before he came to know Christ, he did a lot of things. He did a lot of things which were, he was a murderer. He put people in prison and prisoned those days, no sense of justice. Families were maybe separated, etc. He persecuted the church in all these kind of ways. And he was there when Stephen was being stoned. So, he's seen murder and killing upfront, very close. So, I always think, these things come to haunt him after becoming a believer. But the fact is, what Jesus did for him, he just accepted it so fully so that he could actually walk in freedom and wholeness and just do the things. He understood grace. So, even for this person, you just need to have an understanding of grace and saying, God has healed, forgiven in His fullness. It's not like holding something against you. So, when He does not hold, we have no right to hold it against ourselves, no matter what it is. No matter what it is. If God has forgiven and forgiveness, we receive by faith. We receive by faith in Him. So, yes, there will be challenges like this sometimes. But we need to get back to God's Word and say, okay, and deal with it. Say, this is under the blood of Jesus. This has already been dealt with. So, I will not think about it or let my prison be affected by it. Yeah. Sir, in case the situation may be the influence of demonic... See, Satan doesn't want you to walk free. It can be a demonically energized, these kind of things. Maybe it comes like a dream.  So, that's why we need to get fully healed. Fully rooted in the love of God. Understand God's love that it's unconditional. And when He loves us, He loves us fully, not like human love, and also our identity. We have changed and this is what has happened, etc. The thing is, when a person is an unbeliever and has done something and has come. Now, whatever is done as an unbeliever, it's easy to say, okay, I came to the cross. I was forgiven of all my past. I'm a new creation now. But as a new creation, when you mess up, and it happens consistently, frequently over a period of time, then it becomes a struggle for us. But for God, it's nothing. For God, it's nothing to heal. He's the same God. But for me as a believer, I'm thinking, I was like that, and God changed me. After changing, I've done this with God, really forgive, with God, really love. As a human being, I have all these reasonings. But with God, He's the same God. His love is still the same. He never changes. So that's the thing. That's what we struggle with as human beings. But we need to come to the truth. So the thing is when we come to the truth and receive fully, that places us in a place of strength. It puts us in a place of strength. Grace always does that. So our identity, our righteousness and everything puts us in a place of strength where we can live our lives. Everything, our thinking pattern, our behavior, everything is affected by that or influenced by that. To live as an overcomer. So that's very necessary. If I don't deal with it, then it will always come back to trap me and put me in prison. So yeah, that's okay. Any other questions? Yeah, yes. Nina. Pastor, these references, Isaiah 43, what we are looking at, do not remember the former things. We have, so, I mean, we've kind of been touching on, mostly on wrongs that we have done and, you know, in the past. Which we have, we need to come out. But the, here, the, I mean, God, I mean, in this particular context, I'm sure, of course, that is definitely there, that we always have to come out of that. But here it is talking about, this is the Lord, this is what the Lord says, he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who did all that. Forget the former things. So is it also that we can look at, okay, we can, we don't only need to look at the past victories also, because God can do even something greater. You mean that also, here? Oh, don't, don't settle and look at the past victories. Just enough, I mean, that's not just it, I mean, the Lord can do so many, because he says, I mean, after he says, who drew out the chariots and horses, army and reinforcements, he's talking about them. Then it says in 18, forget the former things, do not dwell, because I'm doing a new thing, it springs up, do you not, I'm going to make a way in the desert and stream to the wasteland. So is that also, I mean, apart from the negative, I'm saying. Yeah, so the thing is, if the past victory or past accomplishments kind of hold me back, then definitely I think we need to not allow that to happen. If it's the former things, when you're looking at it, even if it's a victory, that is holding me back. Normally, when we look at former, when you say former things and let's say we're talking about victory and accomplishments and things that actually turn out to be a testimony about the Lord, as a testament to the Lord's faithfulness, goodness and his power in our lives, then these are good things. We can always remind ourselves that as, like the God himself says to Joshua, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. So he's reminding himself of he's actually, the Lord is reminding of the former things that he did in Moses' life and he's saying that as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. So when it's a testimony of God's goodness and faithfulness, these are things that actually enable us to go further forward. Put our faith in him knowing that God who did this will do it again in my life. But if there's an accomplishment or something that is holding me back or that's making me complacent. Now I don't know practically how this could happen but maybe I'm attributing it to my strength and the arm of flesh rather than God. Then in that case I could just become complacent or I could just dwell in that and that actually prevents me from doing other things or I can't think of a practical incident but if it does not help me move forward, then yes, then really I should not consider those things. Okay, okay, thank you. Anything else that you can think of? Okay, so let's look at chapter 6 then. Okay, 6 talks about staying emotionally whole. So there will be an overlap of whatever we have studied in the past the 10 steps that we looked at and the 4 steps which dealt with the lifestyle change. There will be some overlap so I'm just going to quickly go through this. So the first thing is about so we're looking at how do I sustain this? The Lord heals me. The Lord delivers me. Now how do I walk in that healing or sustain that in my life? Okay, so which means that as a human being I'm going to face I'm going to face some situations which refer to the past like Francis just said I'm going to face some of those things or I might face some new pressures new challenges, new trials which actually test that very thing, identity just like Satan did and are you really if you're the son you will do this if you're a child you will do this and are you the child and you did this things like that I might have to face you call yourself a son call yourself a minister, a pastor and look at the words you spoke to your wife things like that So we need to in order to hold on and walk in that healing and hold us we need to have some things some spiritual disciplines and in our lives So these things first one would be to renounce the lie How do we know something is a lie when we know the truth then so how do we know the truth there is truth there is truth you can use the mic So the thing is truth we know what truth is because it's defined by God defined by Jesus because he says I am the way the truth and the life so Jesus is the truth and Jesus defines what truth is he's a reference point for us for truth so you can always go with the word for what truth is and also truth goes beyond the facts of life in the sense that's the thing the facts can say this far and no further but truth takes us higher it is supernatural so what is even restrictions to the natural truth takes us beyond that okay so anyway so truth we we would be able to identify truth when we have God's word as the reference point God's standards as the reference point okay and so which means that's why scripture talks about okay let there be a rich deposit of the word of Christ in your heart right and then there will be an overflow of that so truth of God's blood also the Holy Spirit enables us he will lead us into all truth Jesus said this is one of the things that the Holy Spirit does that he will lead you into all truth progressively right he's a teacher he's a guide he's a counselor he will lead us into all truth means that it's a journey ongoing journey of being led into the truth so the Satan does exactly opposite of that Satan is called the father or the author of lies okay and lies can be very deceptive especially when it's half truth right so when truth is mixed with lie when it always becomes very very difficult so that is why we need the Holy Spirit and we have God's Spirit in us to discern the lie and then to show us what the truth is okay so let's look at the words of the Lord Romans chapter 8 31 and 32 Romans 831 says then Jesus said to those Jews who believed him so which means these Jewish people they came to the Lord so he's telling them if you are a true word you are my disciples indeed which means you're going to stay with the word stay with my teaching, stay with my instruction if you abide in the word you are my disciples indeed verse 32 and you shall know the truth so when you abide in the word you're going to know the truth what the truth is and look at that last part and the truth shall make you free okay so lie has a way of imprisoning I have as a way of constraining restricting right the truth has a way of liberating us right and releasing us into freedom okay so so that's the thing so walking with Jesus walking with Jesus where we are abiding in his word is a way where we constantly can be discerning the lies okay so renouncing the lies would be discerning the truth and discerning what the lie is so we need to once we know that something is a lie don't let it deal with you I mean don't let it dwell with you let the truth dwell let not the lie stay there so it can be in many forms you know it can be about ourselves it can be about God it can be about the neighbor it can be about your future right so when you know today this thing does not have any basis does not have any scriptural basis okay it's then you know it might be it might look so big but it still does not have a scriptural it's like a big balloon might be blown so much right might look so big it's even you know the balloon is so big that it's you know you can't see beyond the balloon it's so big but still the truth of God's it's like that you know whatever you prick that balloon there is a pin then it goes you know you realize oh it was it was a smoke screen it was something that was blocking but it had no weightage right it had it had no no solid quality to it because it was a lie right so that's the thing so Spirit of God is in us we are anointing we have received 1 John chapter 2 verse 20 27 especially you know it says the anointing which you have received from him abides in you that you do not need anyone to teach you okay so here you know this is the thing you know teach what okay so he's actually specifically talking about discerning the false teacher or the antichrist right so he's saying you do not need anyone to teach you anointing teaches you concerning all things and it's true it's not a lie and just as it has taught you will abide in him when you read through 1 John 2 in context you realize that he was talking about discerning what is false and what is of the truth okay so renounce the lie that means that means how do you how do you renounce the lie how do you renounce it sorry by speaking it you tell yourself you know this is a lie okay you tell yourself this is a lie I'm not going to think on these lines anymore it might be so attractive it might be so I don't know so it might seem like your own thought but you decide saying okay this is a lie I renounce it I push it aside I'm not going to entertain this line of thinking I'm not going to entertain this discussion this is a lie I renounce it okay I'm not going to act on it that's how we renounce it right I'm not going to act on this suggestion I'm not going to act on this invitation it's a lie so I the door is closed okay and be very clinical about it right clinical you know very surgical and saying okay I cut it off okay so then you realize that the lie loses its power the more we reason the more we entertain that is when we realize that hey it's it's gaining in power right how James talks about that right that whole pattern of falling into temptation right there is this whole thing of maybe we can just very quickly look into that okay James after one right okay he says verse 14 each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed okay so there is enticed that word is snare or trapped so he's drawn away by his own desires it means that he has actually thought about it and maybe he's reasoned with it he's drawn away and he's enticed and when desire is conceived it gives birth to sin and desire and sin when it's full grown brings forth death okay so that's the thing so we are drawn away by our desires there is some time where we are when we have our reasoning and analyzing and considering which is fine but when you know that something is not of the truth we have to renounce it okay the second thing is to speak blessing and cancel curses okay so we speak blessing over ourselves we speak blessing over the ones even over those who have wronged us speak the blessing of God speak the promises of God speak the word of God and pronounce that blessing cancel every curse I recently had a very interesting conversation with a couple and so that person both of them are want to really very passionate about God want to see God's power in their lives and want to see God's transformative power in their own lives and through them right so so much so they've been praying about certain things okay so suppose somebody has told anything negative okay which is contrary to God's promise so the husband comes and tells the wife you know I'm going to tell you something but you rejected in God's name okay you rejected in Jesus name this is what I'm going to tell you so that person says I was having this conversation and this person said that you know what we are doing etc you know that will never happen that opportunity will never come that opportunity will never highly unlikely we don't have any chance of you know maybe going to this place or doing this okay then the wife says I rejected in Jesus name he's actually passing out that information whatever someone has sold but even in that you know the spouse is rejecting you know we've worked out a strategy okay we're not going to entertain anything that is not of God so I'm going to cancel you know everything that was pronounced as a curse as a negative blessing I'm going to cancel that so which means that when it comes to cancelling curses when you speaking blessing we understand right we declare cancelling curses we do the same thing we just cancel those pronouncements that were made over us like for example when I was growing up my grandfather that is my father's father he always said don't give if it means okay carrying some plates and putting it on the table we used to meet in their house every afternoon every Sunday afternoon for lunch so he'll say don't give this guy you know these glass glass tumblers or glass you know the plates he's butterfing us he'll always drop it he'll break it so don't give it to him so I believe that about myself and I'll say okay don't give it to me I'll break it as I'm growing up then I think it was my mother who said no no no you'll be fine just go do it don't say you can't so I had to tell myself I'm actually careful so I will not take up any other big responsibilities like that what if I fail what if I drop it so I had to tell myself I can't so I had to cancel those negative things that were spoken over me so maybe some things were spoken over our lives right and it does not have any it does not have its root in truth right cancelling this all the curses so like when Jesus Christ died on the cross for us are they not cancelled on that time or do we have to speak it again sorry the thing is this so he took our sin and the consequence of sin on the cross but still we how did we enter into life by believing by receiving and every time we did sin we go back repent of it and we renounce it yeah so the thing is which means that every curse he has taken upon himself everything every negative blessing every curse he has taken upon so that is cancelled in the sense in Jesus name but for some reason if we still see an outworking of it if you see symptoms of it we don't know the good thing to do is to cancel it to say that I reject it it will not have anything to do with me it ends at the cross it is under the blood so I cancel it that's the thing so what we are doing is actually saying this is what happened on the cross you are going back to that and so it stops it does not have any power you are reaffirming the truth that's it that's it there any way like after they become the believers the people who are believers also what we can I mean how we have to consider if these curses are working in their lives from generation I mean how we no one family asked me about their family they are my relatives only it was there from their four fathers like in their family one person used to die so from the generation in their grandfather one died and their father and their sister so he have a family now so he is asking what if something happens now in my generation because they were believers only but what they used to tell is because of the sin that my grandfather did it came on to father so he died and his father also used to have some illegal things doing and it came came on her sister came on his sister same position and then now he was asking what if now he have a family he have two kids so I mean we believe that everything I mean all the sins and curses were taken in the curse but their believers only that how we can I don't know it's because of the curse or somehow it's happened but it's happened from the generations some doorway some legal axis so the thing is this so I don't know about the past we can't really assume something he did wrong she did wrong we can't say and it's not right for us to think so the only thing that this person needs to do is to be strong in the truth that if there is fear if there is fear then it brings places that person on very shaky ground there's no person maybe sometimes there is faith and then but if that fear comes over and still thinking okay will it happen will it not happen so the person has to be absolutely sure of what happened on the cross now and not think about how did the previous previous deaths happen because there are too many factors too many factors yes generations they did but this is the truth that we have been set free from the empty ways of our forefathers and every curse has been dealt with every curse that we see Utonomy 28 versus 15 onwards till the end of the chapter it's you know it covers every curse I think very exhaustive list maybe that person can go there and say okay Christ carried this on the cross for me it has no it will have no effect on my life okay and I close that doorway whatever doorway was opened I close it in Jesus name say it has no legal access and by the blood of Jesus every doorway is closed and be strong about it in faith you know we absolutely aggressive in faith about it because this is what has happened this is his inheritance long life is his inheritance right to fulfill the plan and purpose of God is God's will and desire so to be absolutely sure of God's wish and desire for him as a believer right now we don't know whether the previous generation did that or not we don't know and there's no point in just visiting going there right what they did right what they did wrong but this person can be absolutely grounded in the truth and be sure of it and exercises authority and say you know this is I will walk in confidence I will walk in faith I will not give in to fear because fear is an open doorway doesn't come from God yeah there's another thing like is there any possibility that like because of not knowing the identity who we are in Christ and what Jesus did for us in the cross because of not knowing all these things is there any possibility that these things to enter in our life like satan tries to hit the truth every time because I mean he want us to not to know the authority what we got is there any possibility like for the believers also because of not knowing what they are capable of and what they are and is there any possibility for continuation of these curses or any beautiful thing is that the Lord has called us to intimate relationship with him right and in that intimacy in that walk with God he will he brings about a revelation right about himself about us and so on okay so this lack of information or this lack of revelation about my own authority and all the inheritance that I have at my disposal yes it places us as an advantage but if I am actively seeking the Lord seeking the heart of God the Lord will reveal like you know all this it you know it's from a place of intimacy it's from a place of walk with the Lord that we have this and it's all there in Scripture right so which means the person reads it and then says hey that's me you know Second Corinthians 517 okay I see it and then I say okay that's me it's just that the person has to really you know stake it and then make it part of their lives and apply it in their lives so that's not so lack of information lack of revelation does place us in you know that thing but that is why the grace of God covers as God covers and God also takes us to a place of knowledge and understanding even as we grow in the knowledge grow in the understanding of it that we make sure that we don't forget it parallel of the so the word comes but because of persecution we release it you know we don't hold on to it because of the difficulty right or because of the cares of the world the cares of the world lust for other things you know worries choked the word says so God is constantly speaking giving revelation understanding but you know yeah so the short answer is yeah it could be because of I mean I may not walking in the revelation that he is you know giving me and revelation is possible when we walk in journey with him all the time yeah speaking out blessings and cancelling these all curses through our words what we can say like it's because of we to remember things and we should not forget these things that's why we are speaking out these these and all or there is any other so every time we say speak it out speak it out declare it so what we see when we especially when we learn about faith and what we see is that the Lord has actually put in the principle of speaking what you believe what you believe in your heart to actually declare that speak that out and there is what is called heart mind ear connection like an ENT you know ear nose throat something that infects the whole thing you know you feel some richness and then affects your hearing and all that so yeah there is that connection heart mind throat voice connection which which is why the Lord says you know Mark 11 23 says have faith in God and then he goes on to talk about okay this is the out working of your faith that you will speak to that mountain because of faith in him so there is this principle of declaring speaking and even the what the spirit of so sorry the sword of the spirit being the reema word of God you know which is again how do you use it of course I think about it I meditate on it but I also speak it out yeah so yeah sorry can same death pattern can be of course same like same circle in generation like what the previous our forefather generation dealt with is the same we are also going through is it because of the curses same difficulty same kind of like same challenges same financial losses same see most of these patterns are because it could be also because of learned learned what do you call yeah so we like for example no we kind of learn those things from our from the previous generation it's a learned habit okay like for example how do I how do I treat the women in the house okay maybe the you know the men folk of the previous generation they this is how they dealt so it's it's not I learned this I became a habit nobody taught me saying okay this is how you need to do it but I observed and I learned it and I'm passing it on you know I'm behaving the same way right so so it could be and also maybe spending patterns financially you know this is how it was and I saw that and maybe I didn't even think too much about it but I learned it myself right so I started living that way and so so it need not be a very deeply spiritual thing but it can even be learned behavior just by observing and you know like for example like if if the parents don't have a great marriage let's say there's always conflict at home always this thing this so the child comes to certain conclusions like about marriage and it's like that it's just a thing that I absorb in life and I pass it on or I make some decision I'll never things like that so it could be that also so specifically about the manner in which they die okay so one two things one we also know that genetically certain things are passed on okay so maybe they are thrown to certain kinds of diseases and it's because there's been passed on but there's something that is greater than that which can break that which is the yeah which is the the blood of Jesus and what he has done for us on the cross so so the thing is it can end there it need not affect you you need not pass on to the next generation so so that's how it is so what are we doing about it right so that's the thing like people might say okay that person passed off like that the grandfather passed on and then saying so it's as if you know that's expected the assumption is that yeah this will carry on but you don't have to you can say you know it stops it stops here it doesn't affect me because I'm a recipient of you know so maybe the other thing is like like Anand asked okay what if they were all believers you know didn't they have access to the truth didn't they live it out like that so I don't know you know I don't know how they built with it but as far as me and this generation goes this is what I can do I can decide now that I have the truth now that I have the revelation I choose to walk in the authority of it and the reality of it yeah okay so so we you know as people we need to be careful what are we speaking what are we declaring over our family or ourselves and so on and change that right yeah okay third one is guarding against negative emotions okay we'll stop here with this guarding against negative emotions okay see emotions are part and parcel of life okay so emotions are let's say our response to what we experience what we hear what we see okay we laugh we feel happy maybe we smile it's a response to something that we have experienced something maybe it's a trigger in our mind and something that we think about and it's we feel that emotion it could be it could be happiness it could be sadness etc okay but when it's negative emotion and if it's going to be part of our life over a period of time okay so we know that negative emotions can happen as a trigger okay and in fact it need not be a bad thing in the sense you there is a sense of it shows you that maybe there is a sense of injustice you know you feel anger you feel you know some kind of you know anger because something did not go right you did all the right things and then this person you know so it just shows you that justice was not done there's injustice so because of which we feel we feel anger now is that good or bad what do you think this anger holy anger which is coming because of something that didn't go well that didn't go right okay it's a sense of so it shows you that there's injustice so you feel that but what do you do with it so that's the thing so what do you do with that emotion because it's an emotion it shows you something it's an indicator right something is not right but what do you do with it emotion do I throw the plate you know at the person or yeah that's the thing right so my action in response to that emotion matters and do I continue to harbor that emotion that's the thing you know because Ephesians 4 talks about anger right I think we've read that verse many times Ephesians 4 okay it says verse 26 be angry and do not sin do not let the sun go down on your anger on your wrath okay so it's indicated it shows you something is not right but let it be an indicator to show you fine something is not right but don't sin because of that and don't let the sun go down on your wrath so what does that show us time okay deal with it yeah so we don't have to say okay I have to wait till sun down you know it's just to show us that you be prompt about dealing with it right okay okay we'll stop here and then we'll continue I guess we'll again touch upon this guarding against negative emotions right okay okay thank you God bless


But I would like to say welcome and thank you for joining us today for another episode of the nonprofit show. During our Chitty Chat Chat, we were just talking with Amy Sutton, the CEO of Crossroads for Hope, and we are excited to talk more with you here soon, Amy. Julia Patrick joins me today. Julia is the CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy. I'm Jarrett Ransom, CEO of the Raven Group, also known as the non-profit nerd. And we also want to extend our deepest appreciation to our presenting sponsors. What started as a two-week venture has turned into almost a two-year venture thanks to these companies and sponsors for truly investing not only here in us and our shows, but really the sector at large. So they continue to step up and they continue to lean in to help you do more good and to forward your mission and your community. So thank you and please join me in thanking our sponsors that continue these conversations, just like the one we're about to have now as we dive deep in with Amy Sutton. Again, Amy is the CEO and joins us from Crossroads for Hope. Welcome, Amy. Thank you very much. It's exciting to be here. So, Amy, tell us what Crossroads for Hope is. We are an organization that empowers individuals to take control of a health crisis caused by cancer and to move through that crisis to become empowered and activated to take control of their health while being in care. And we do that by providing resources, programs of support, programs of well-being and ultimately hope that help restore an individual's whole being and family. Wow. So that's a heavy lift. That's a big, big concept. And I'm really hopeful that you'll share the story of how this big idea came about because it seems to me that at the time Crossroads for Hope was started, this was somewhat of a unique approach. Talk to us about what that origination story is. So, thinking back to 2001, the women on the screen there, Eunice Jablaki and Brown, Lin-Arnold and Nancy Doud all had professional and personal connections to cancer and saw the need for there to be a place, a safe place that people could turn to access professional, emotional and social support services when they were loved one face to cancer diagnosis. And that vision, I always say, they had the harder job than I do because they were taking a vision, an idea, and through their passion and commitment to that vision and idea, they made it a reality. They convinced the community to mobilize around what they could see possible in terms of access to services in their local community. So they called it Hope Springs, that's how they started, and very early on they were guided to affiliate with a larger organization, which they did, and that organization gave them structure and kind of a foundation of their program. And so fast forward, you know, I'm sitting in this role as a steward of that vision, which really is our promise to the community that access to these types of services will always exist. And that is our chartered mission, and that's our founding belief. And so now my job is to figure out how to take that vision and make it relevant for the times at hand that we're dealing with and the challenges that our members, people with cancer and their family members are going through today and into the future. Now, Amy, you shared with us earlier. You are in New Jersey and where does Crossroads for Hope serve? Where demographic are geographically, really? Where are your boundaries? So interesting, when we ended a 20-year relationship with the national organization, we had had a very limited jurisdiction, Six Counties in New Jersey, and that ended this past year in February. And so we're serving all of New Jersey and beyond. We have found interest in our programs, for example. We run a conference for school professionals called Strengthening Our Schools, which is coming up, and we have representation from almost all 50 states and beyond outside the country. So our work resonates with a lot of people in a lot of places, and our job is to serve the need wherever it is. Yeah, that's fantastic. I feel like over the last couple of years, and Julia knows this, I say there have been pandemics plural. And I think a health pandemic, because I myself have heard of way more people being diagnosed with cancer. And I don't know if the times have changed because of social media, that it's become much more talked about and much more of a conversation piece. But I, one, news travels faster now with our internet and our technology. But I can imagine the individuals, the families, and truly that ripple effect that Crossroads for Hope is able to assist with. So I commend you and your team for all the great work. Yeah, thank you.  And now, while there's a lot of advocacy going on, not in every community. There are communities of color, for example, where cancer is not discussed. And there's a burden created because of that. And so there's still work to be done to make sure that people have the ability to talk about what's happening to organizations and individuals that can help. And reduce the barriers to access to health care, which still exists, because people don't want to talk about their cancer. Or go for screening. The pandemic has created huge burdens in terms of screening. People are not going for screenings. Yes. But, you know, diagnoses have, or diagnoses, I don't know, the plural term, have decreased. And the reason for that is because of the decrease of patient visits. But I'm curious if we could, let's talk about what a typical day for Amy and Crossroads for Hope really looks like, because as you just shared, you just opened the floodgates for serving, truly anyone, anywhere. So what does this typical day look like? Well, you know, it's changed since I came here 10 years ago. When I first started, everyone on the staff reported to this position. So I used to joke that I had to care about everything from the light bulb going out to how to scale our organization and our reach. But we've done an amazing job of building an organization that's prepared to do what we are doing right now, which is growing and to meet the needs beyond our geographic borders. And so now I'm focused on really how are we putting in place the infrastructure that's needed to serve and serve well and be there when we're needed most, as well as, you know, systems change. So we're focusing on programs and scaling our programs, as well as, how can we help support health care transformation and the move to person and family-centered care? There's a role for psychosocial support services. And so we're looking at ways to integrate those types of resources in people's lived environment, as well as within clinical workflows so that people have access as early as possible. I often tell people when there's a cancer diagnosis before treatment ever starts, the response is emotional. You are scared. You are fearful for your future. Will I survive? What will happen to my family? And so therefore, you need to ensure that resources are available to help people process that, put that in the right place so that they can engage in treatment decision making and the care that they're going to be engaging in through their course of their cancer treatment. And that's what we do. We help people gain their footing so that they can move through the journey empowered and activated to participate with their health care team. So, you know, what you've just said is really in so many ways gut wrenching because it's such a tough situation. One of my favorite quotes is heavy is the head that wears the crown. Where do you find leadership? Where do you get that reinforcement so that you can be dealing with these heavy, heavy topics day in and day out? First of all, I have an incredibly supportive family and they have allowed me to follow the things that I'm passionate about. And so with that backing, I can go out into the world and do the things that I care about because they care about me and my health and well being and I care about theirs. I also have an amazing staff and board and I look for thought leaders to help continue to encourage me and push my thinking on how to solve problems. So I receive support from a tremendous amount of people and they tell me when I need to kind of step back and am I on course? Or and I think the thing that keeps me grounded most of all is remembering why we're here. This is about serving people and that first and foremost is the most important thing. Everything we do is about that. When we talk about building infrastructure, it's so we can serve more people. When we talk about growing, it's to serve more people and make sure the vision of our founders is realized wherever it's needed. That's so important.  This is why we exist. This is what we have to keep at the forefront of every conversation so that we continue to make decisions moving towards towards that goal. What about, you know, since the COVID pandemic? Again, plural pandemics, but focused on COVID here. You know, how has some of that changed? Or if we want to bring up that word pivot, you know, but really how have your services, your support? Just talk to us about some of the things that you've had to put into place. Well, I think what's really important is not what happened at the point at which we had to shut our doors because the governor had shut down the state. It was all the work that happened before that. All the discussions we had about what needed to be in place for this organization, things like technology and was a key part of a lot of those discussions. So for us, it really wasn't a pivot. It was a leaning into our strategies. For example, we've been talking about as part of our strategic plan, how we were going to grow. And one of the ways we're going to grow was to address vulnerable populations and health disparities. Well, what did we see in the pandemic? Right. We saw communities that did not have access to care. We saw communities that were concerned about vaccines and clinical trials. Right. This is been going on in the community for years, but we've given a lot of thought and had already started to implement programs that were relevant for the times at hand. And so strategic planning is about a process that never ends. It's constantly looking at today and tomorrow and what's ahead and making sure that you're addressing both. I have often say I have one foot in today and one foot in the future always because that's what you're always building for. So for us, we were had already normalized a lot of discussions about our strategic initiatives with our donors and funders. And so when when the pandemic hit, we actually a lot of the things we were working on were relevant and we were able to access funding. We might not have otherwise been able to access. So in a weird and strange way, a terrible situation became an opportunity to serve in a bigger way because we were able to get funding to do the work at hand. That is so beautiful. And I love, love, love it. Julie and I have heard so many individuals that and I'm sure you have too. Amy, you know, they just they really just panicked. Many pushed the pause button or as I would say, like, you know, took a seat on the bench and they're like, well, we're just going to wait, wait this out and some of them might still be waiting. And what you said, you know, we didn't really pivot. We leaned in and that I think, you know, to see your opportunity, to see this as a greater opportunity of possibility and to lean into those options, that is why Crossroads for Hope is so successful and able to serve in a bigger, greater way. Well, we always start with the needs of the people with cancer and the family members. So in thinking about the pandemic, we knew that they would be disproportionately affected. Yes. And we were right. And so we literally shut our doors, our physical doors on March 16th, 2020.  And we did not have a break in service. And we have continued to work throughout. And and so so for me, I guess my advice to folks is, don't wait until the disaster, right? Use this opportunity to say, what did we learn from this? And how do we take this forward in our plan? You know, I'm good. I'm so curious. And this might seem like a super bizarre, kind of like metaphysical question. But, you know, I wonder because you're dealing with cancer, because it's a moving target. We have so many unknowns, so many changes, so many different types of cancers that just as an overall approach or mindset, you have been more flexible in leaning in. So versus, let's say you're the CEO of the same size budget, but maybe a cultural organization or something that deals with non-medical related issues. I wonder, is it you that has has the team that had this idea? Or do you think it's because the ecosystem with which you live has kind of forced you to always be, as you said, so beautifully one foot in the future? Yeah, so I think it's a combination of things. I have a I happen to have a background in emergency management. I also have a background in human resources, organizational development and change management. And I've worked in industries such as hospice and I've worked down in cancer and again, you know, disaster response with the Red Cross. And so I'm used to being in situations where we're providing I'm in an organization providing services to people in crisis. To be able to do that, you have to be pretty grounded, right? And understanding what value you add. You know, we're led by social work. Social work is about social justice. It's about advocacy. It's about helping people navigate and connect to resources. It's providing support. All things you need when you're facing a crisis, right? So I think it's a lot of different things that that. But but having said all that I learn, you know, I have sitting here with me books that that thought leaders that I work with give me and help me think through things before I'm in that situation. So I read, I talk to thought leaders. I get advice. I draw my own experiences and I look to the needs of the people that we serve and all of those things inform our work and can inform other people's work. We've all just been through what cancer patients admit, right?  You get this diagnosis and there's a lot of uncertainty and there's worry for the future and there's isolation and there's anxiety. And we've all experienced that over the last two years. And so we need to take these experiences and say, what do we do with this personally and professionally? And that's what I encourage people to do, take this experience that we've been through and and build it into the DNA of your organization for the future. Yeah. OK, I'm just going to witness to you when the floods come, I want to be in your boat. I got a big boat. I got a big boat. People are big, but I really think that I love it. I love what you said. It's really super interesting, super interesting. I mean, Jared and I are so fortunate. We speak to so many different leaders, so many different folks around the world daily as we were sharing before we got going in the Chitty Chat Chat. And to me, it's so fascinating to see kind of like what that background stewardship approaches and mindset of the leaders. I mean, that's how you go forward or not. Yeah, I just I really encourage people. I mean, I think that we started as a very small organization, grassroots, and we did this, not me. We did it as a community, as an organization. And I just have to believe that if we can do the things we're doing today, others can do that. Anything is possible. I have on my I don't know if you can say it says possibilities because I believe that you have to surround yourself with the right people that encourage you and support you in that thinking to help you realize your goals. And I think what you've done or what I gathered from much of what you shared already, Amy, is that you have been a total sponge to absorb others' information. And so it doesn't sound like you're a reactive person.  What can I gain and how might I be able to use this in the future? So having that groundedness in your position as well as in the the organization in which you serve has really proven for your leadership and guidance with the organization in a very sound way, because, Julia, I'm thinking back now to so many of our previous, you know, guest. You are very grounded, Amy, and we I mean, we've had leaders in tears essentially because they didn't have that baseline or that fundamental knowledge, that core knowledge that you, I'm guessing, naturally have gained and absorbed over your years. Julie and I are lifelong learners as well. And we're constantly reading and pulling from other pieces, you know, in other sectors, you know, so it's not just nonprofit leaders. It's all all individuals in all different sectors. So I think that has really positioned you to be where you are in this very sound manner. But yes, you need a big boat. Yeah, I'm fast, you know, I think that we've seen such amazing things as we all have. But Jared and I, because we do this every day and when the rubber hits the road, it's that leadership thing that I have really become fascinated by, because, you know, you can look at all of these amazing organizations across our country doing amazing things. And you can become very much, I will admit to this, a philanthropic snob, where I somehow have these prejudices that are like, well, that's more important than that. You know, and yet you can see organizations that have amazing results because of leadership when maybe they really aren't an organization that we need right now, but they have the leadership. And so this kind of goes into our final question for you. And it's somewhat of a big thing. But we ask this question a lot to folks. And that is we'd love to know how COVID has impacted your fundraising. You mentioned this earlier that it actually provided you some new pathways. Where is that going in the future? Yeah. Well, I feel that, you know, when the pandemic first hit, we had to make some really important decisions. And were we going to rush our fundraising strategy? You know, what we're going to accelerate some things? What would be the impact on our fundraising? And when I told the board that I felt that this was going to be a long term situation, we had to lean into it and give it all we had really, in a sense. It meant that we needed to take a bit of a step back and make sure, number one, we checked in with our donors to make sure they were OK. We were checking with members to make sure they were OK. And we started the dialogue. We weren't asking necessarily for money right off the bat, but we were creating a dialogue about our approach and what we were doing to keep people informed of the work that was going on. But first and foremost, we care about the people that support this work. So we needed to make sure everybody was OK. We also had to reenvision. You know, we don't do a lot of events anymore, but we had a couple. And we had to reenvision that and we and my board had to be OK if they didn't perform at the levels that they were. But we looked at a very diverse strategy and approach, starting with checking with people that care about this mission and making sure that they're OK. And that's what it means when you enter into a relationship with donors and funders, right? You have a shared interest and a shared commitment to one another. And I think that paid off for us because it really helped establish even stronger the relationship we had. So then that opened the door for conversations around funding. I think it's a it's a it's a really interesting time because we did apply for a PPP loan. We received two of them along the way. And it did what it intended to do. It kept us going so that we could continue to operate when there was gaps in our fundraising coming out of that. I think everybody's thinking about what will come next. But I am encouraged for the future. I I know that there's people still suffering and who are not employed or underemployed. And and I know there's people suffering due to the pandemic. But there's still opportunity to get your message out there to people who care. And I really encourage people. The best thing you could do is talk about the work that you're doing, the impact that you're having in whatever type of charitable work that you're doing and value the relationships.  You've heard so much about that. And it is those leaders that truly invest in the value of relationships and not focus on the transaction. And I have seen that through and through individuals that focus on the transactions versus the human relationship night and day stories, night and day. It makes all the difference. Yeah. Wow.  I just have really, really enjoyed this. And, you know, there are days when we don't get to see the best of what is out there. And you are one of these people that has really shed a light on how a leader can be in an incredible time of duress with a topic that has an incredible amount of duress. Really interesting perspective that you shared with us. And, yeah, Jarrett and I are going to be in your boat for sure. Here's Amy's information. Really an interesting organization. Check them out. Like so many nonprofits that are grassroots. They have an origination story that's very personal. And then they've navigated two decades moving forward. It's super, super interesting. And then you just lop this like little thing called the pandemic on top of it. What a recipe. What a recipe.  Really, really interesting conversation today. Jarrett, don't you think it's really interesting when we get to have leadership discussions? Oh, it's fascinating. And this is this is a discussion is, you know, as I was saying, cancer is so prevalent right now. And so to have this as a resource beyond your certain geographic, you know, area so that this is allowed for so many other families and individuals, you know, navigating these uncharted territory, you know, sometimes for the first time leadership is everything and it means so much. So I know I have several people to share your information with as well as the episode. So thanks for what you do and you and your team. And I cannot wait to see, you know, how you close up this year and begin next year. I know there's so much on the horizon. So thank you for all you do. Thank you both very much. And I want to commend all the other charities and their leadership for the hard work they're doing each and every day in communities across the country. Yeah, it's an amazing thing. It really is. Well, I'm Julia Patrick, CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy. I've been joined by the nonprofit nurse herself, Jarrett Ransom, CEO of the Raven Group. I always like to call Jarrett Ransom the nonprofit nerd, but really, she's my nonprofit nerd. So right in your pocket. And just, you know, it's funny. I was on a conversation yesterday talking about you, Jarrett.  And I was like, oh, no, it's the nonprofit nerd.  But anyway, hey, as part of the nonprofit nerd's ecosystem, our our amazing sponsors that we have that are with us each and every day and as Jarrett witnessed in the very beginning, a lot of these folks were with us in the very, very beginning. And they have stayed with us this entire time, which is pretty profound and amazing. Hey, before we log off, this is really cool. We got somebody that wrote in no questions. Just want to say thank you. Yeah. Thank you. I love that. Thank you very much. Hey, everybody, we like to end every episode with our mantra. And that is to stay well so you can do well. We'll see you back here tomorrow, everyone. Thanks, Amy. Have a great day.