Good evening. We'd like to call the Durham City Council meeting to order Monday at 7.01 p.m. Monday the 19th of September and certainly want to welcome all of you like feel for us this evening. We just take a moment for solid meditation, please. Thank you. I recognize Councilman Davis. Madam Clerk, could you call the roll please? Mayor Bell. President. Mayor Pro Tem Cole McFadden. Councilmember Davis. Councilmember Johnson. Councilmember Moffitt. Councilmember Reese. And Councilmember Shul. We have three proclamations that we'd like to present this evening. The first is Constitution Week and Constitution Citizen Day Proclamation. And that's Ms. Linda Hester. Join me please. President General Davis here. Where is our founding fathers in order to secure the blessings of liberty for themselves and their posterity. Diller Dane established the Constitution for the United States of America. Where is that the culmination of months of deliberation, debate, and compromise on September 17th 1787. The Constitution of the United States of America was signed in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Where September 17th 2016 marks the 229th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution of the United States of America by the Constitutional Convention. Where as through all these changes over the years the Constitution's foundation has endured and adapted remains the supreme law of our land. Where as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day celebrated on September 17th each year during the celebration of Constitution Week, September 17th through September 23rd. Where as the adoption of the Constitution and the independence guaranteed to American citizens whether by birth or by naturalization should be celebrated by appropriate ceremonies and activities during Constitution Week. Now therefore, I, William B. Bilbell, Mayor of the State of Durham, North Carolina do have our proclaiming September 17th through September 23rd 2016. As Constitution Week and September 17th 2016 as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day in Durham encouraged and called upon the residents of Durham to observe this day bringing together government, civic, social, and educational leaders to conduct ceremonies and programs that bring together community members to reflect on the importance of active citizenship. Recognize the endurance strengths of our Constitution and reaffirm our commitment to the rights and obligations of Citizenship in this great nation. With my hand, Corporate of the City of Durham, this is the 19th of September and I know we said September 17th but it's still good we're doing it in the 19th, right? Okay, so I'm going to present this to you for any comments you may have. Thank you. We, the, of the General Daily Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution would like to wish you a very hearty Constitution Week Constitution Day was on the 17th. We celebrated it here downtown Durham and Center Fest by ringing our bells at four o'clock p.m. which is when the Constitution was actually signed. It was a wonderful celebration. We will be celebrating all week because it was signed into law that September the 17th through the 23rd, so we're good, was going to be designated as Constitution Week. We will be going into schools and we will be having various activities with kindergartens up to fifth graders and our wonderful partners in high schools. So thank you for allowing us to come and again happy Constitution Week. It's dangerous to offer the microphone to me. I always like to say thank you so much. My name is Fran Ferrell and I have been coming here for years getting the proclamation but I always want to encourage everyone to actually read the Constitution or try to learn something in detail about it that you may not have known just the details. So I just wanted to share one little thing with you that may be a little bit new because we all hear lots of people saying we're going to just change that amendment. That just needs to be changed. I can change that. Well okay that's a great idea. This is what it takes to have an amendment to remove one or to put one in. It's under the fifth article of the Constitution. Two-thirds of both houses have to agree on the amendment to propose it. Once it is proposed it must be ratified by three-fourths of all the states and that's not just one person changing or making an amendment. That answers why the first ten amendments were done at the time the Constitution was written and here's your first test question. It is called the Bill of Rights. You need that right and since that time in 229 years only 17 more amendments have been added. So that was for your edification. Have a happy Constitution Week. Patricia. The next proclamation recognizes the Durham Literacy Day proclamation presented to Ike Thomas with Ike President Board of Directors Gail Faulkner Hudson past President of the Board of Directors and Lizzie Perlon the Executive Director. Where is the Durham Literacy Center of Durham North Carolina was founded 30 years ago by concerned residents of Durham who believe strongly that the ability to communicate verbally and to read and write were basic human rights. Where's the Durham Literacy Center was established to provide basic English literacy services to Durham adults, immigrants and out-of-school youth who desired to improve their literacy skills. Where's the Durham Literacy Center since 1985 has served over 16,000 Durham residents and trained over 2,500 volunteer tutors and where's the Durham Literacy Center through a universal call for social justice and understanding between people of different cultures and nationalities has stressed that we care for our neighbors. Where's the DLC exemplifies the American dream and the citizens that citizens can bring positive change and solve problems communally when we work together. Where's the DLC helps adults and out-of-school youth to gain their reading and writing skills, English language skills, computer skills, educational credentials and job readiness skills that are needed to achieve economic security, stable housing, food security, adequate health care and generally well-being. Where's the DLC has been an integral part of this community for three decades, resulting in millions of dollars of interest income, increased tax revenue and more productive community. Where's the Durham Literacy Center will continue to serve as a leader in literacy in North Carolina for years to come. Now therefore, I will enable the city of Durham North Carolina to lip our proclaiming September 29th, 2016 as Durham Literacy Day and Durham and encourage all residents to celebrate the profound impact of volunteerism and literacy that empowers residents to achieve their potential while making a difference in lives, families and neighborhoods and witness my hand in the court facility of Durham today the 19th of September and I'm going to present this to who am I going to present it to? I'll find it to the director. Thank you Mayor Bell and thank you city council members for proclaiming this day Durham Literacy, well September 29th Durham Literacy Day and the reason we chose that day is because we are having a large celebration at our organization and all are invited as we unveil a new mural that we had made on the outside of our building and it is a pleasure to serve the community of Durham and I believe all of us here will know that literacy is a basic human right and we appreciate the support of the community and our volunteers. Thank you so much. I'll make sure I have one. We're taking pictures. Brian Haynes, as you probably recall we've had a new honor that we are presenting to citizens of the city of North Carolina, Durham, North Carolina. It's called the Neighborhood Spotlight and I recognize those individuals who have been esteemed to have done certain services in the community. Brian is one of the persons that we are representing tonight. He's a recipient of Neighborhood Spotlight for the month of August 2016. The Neighborhood Spotlight was initiated again to recognize community members that have gone above and beyond while volunteering their time to serve their communities. This month Brian was nominated and selected because of the wonderful work he has done in the Birchwood Heights neighborhood including but not limited to maintaining the community garden and sharing fresh vegetables door to door. That's nice with neighbors. Volunteering his time and resources to build a temporary path and bridge over the creek when the old bridge broke and his overall support of the Birchwood Heights community. Again on behalf of Durham City Council and certainly your fellow residents we want to congratulate Brian for this recognition as being the Neighborhood Spotlight winner for August 2016. And the award reads this certificate is awarded to Brian Haynes in recognition of valuable contributions to the Birchwood Heights community, volunteering with the community garden and sharing vegetables door to door community members building a temporary path and bridge over the creek for neighborhood residents after the older bridge fell overall support of the community center in the Birchwood Heights neighborhood and it's signed by the city manager Tom Bonfield and myself. And this is a neighborhood improvement services so why don't come up and everybody get in the picture. And some residents are here too Mr. Mayor. Oh was that right? Residents in Birchwood Heights. Can all the residents stand and maybe we can get a big picture on the whole group there.  Well this is my father Whit Haynes and Linda Haynes my mother. I'm Brian Haynes of course uh thanks for this award and uh all of this it's overwhelming. I was just happy to have those things done. That's why this is just a nice bonus. This is Lisa the president of our home ownership center. So can we do this here? Okay well let me get it. I want you to get the middle of it. That works. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Mayor while the while the folks are leaving I just wanted to say real quick how much I appreciated the Constitution Week booths that were at the center fest this weekend and the period dress was really neat. They had quotes from the Founding Fathers in tweet form that you could pull out of their hands to have little statues, little corporate statues. I know that's something that Thomas Jefferson would have appreciated because he was always very pithy and Alexander Hamilton would have hated because he was very long winded. I will make one complaint which is that I did not appreciate how you had Thomas Jefferson standing up very importantly and Alexander Hamilton kind of squatting at his feet. I know Hamilton was was rolling in his grave if he knew that what had happened so we'll talk about that maybe for next year. Thank you so much. It was great. Let me ask of their announcements by members of the council. I recognize Councilman Reece and Councilman Davis and the Mayor Pro Tem. Thank you Mr. Mayor. As you know it is my practice periodically to highlight the performance of our city employees who go above and beyond the call of duty. Today I wanted to talk just very briefly about a visit that I made out to the home of the Durham resident who has been having some pretty bad stormwater problems and flooding in his basement over the last couple of years. Most recently we had some really heavy rains earlier this year as you may recall that caused some problems and this resident had been working with our stormwater engineers for quite some time and had gotten a little bit frustrated not so much at the engineers but at the whether or not the city was at fault and what the issues were etc. And so he asked that not only that the stormwater engineers come to his house which I believe they had mostly worked over the phone and over email at that point but also a member of the city manager's office and if possible a member of the city council accompany the engineers at this meeting at his home. And our deputy city manager Beau Ferguson went along that trip and I held off until about Thursday afternoon. I didn't see any of my colleagues step into the breach and so I volunteered to accompany our staff down there. I won't go into the specifics of the concern that the resident raised but what I will say is this is that I was incredibly impressed by the two stormwater engineers who went with us to the home. They talked to this resident in clear non jargonese language really explained the situation to him in a way that anybody could understand gave him some really great advice about different technology he might install on his home helped him or talked to him about the process he had already undergone to apply for flood insurance. And I was impressed not only by them and also by our deputy city manager Beau Ferguson he and I talked about this later and what he told me was you know people in the city when they get frustrated with with the city with our staff often all they want to do is have someone who will listen to what they have to say and speak to them like people and our staff really rose to that standard that day. So I just wanted to thank our deputy city manager Beau Ferguson as well as two of our great stormwater engineers Graham Summerson and Dana Horn call. They really prove that our city staff is some of the best in the country. So thank you. Starley recognize Councilman Davis. Thank you Mr. Mayor. I too want to sing the praises of some people. Last Saturday we had a housing resource fair at the Holton Center and there was it was a combination of people who have worked with the housing task force of transformation in 10 and Matt Pro Tem and I chaired that task force but they worked also and did a lot of planning with people from that community as well as volunteers from several places but I really want to single out Jacob Lerner who's on our staff who did a great deal of the legwork to try to bring people together to do some wonderful planning and to execute that program on last Saturday which ended up being a good time for people people who want to be homeowners to learn more about mortgages about preparing for home ownership repairing their credit and being able to go through the long-range process of going from renters to homeowners. So I want to thank Jacob particularly. I want to thank Steve Hopkins who is one of the co-facilitators for pack one and they worked real closely with the task force to try to bring about that event that took place and I'd like to thank Constance Stansel and other members of the neighborhood improvement services for the great work that they did to help us to bring about that program and also the staff at Holton. So thank you for a good event and we look forward to the next opportunity to help people to become homeowners. Thank you. Thank you Dave and Eddie didn't mention he was out there doing the Zoom but they had a DJ there and Eddie was in line doing something. But I thought it was a great turn. During the time I was there I was really impressed with the persons and attendants and the people who volunteered for the information. I recognize Mayor Pro Temp. Yes I had the opportunity on Friday to work very hard not hard. It was a delightful day. I attended veterans stand down and reminded them that the city will honor veterans day as a holiday and so many of them did not know that so I challenged the Durham County to do the same. I don't know if that was in order or out of order but I did it anyway and then congratulations to the inspections department for their pig picking. The food was delicious and the proceeds are for the seven stars campaign. Then I went to the Kip ribbon cutting. It is a college prep school now occupying the old Holloway street building and that was really a hardwarming event as well and right after that I went to 1206 Alma Street to see this family get into their habitat for housing home and that was hardwarming. Then I left and went to Duke University for the sickle cell workshop and I hope that people understand that there is still no cure for that disease and the only way that we will find a cure is that our elected officials who have the power to do so will allocate more funding for research for it but it was a hardwarming day a tiresome day but I survived it. Thank you. Thank you. I recognize Councilman Mark. Thank you. Excuse me. I have two things. One I wanted to just add a little bit about habitat. Steve and I were both there as well and I think one of the things that I really appreciated about that particular home is it's being built by Durham United which are the employees of the city and the county and I think that's a fabulous thing. The other thing I had a neighbor stop me they had a medical emergency firefighters from station two responded and this man who's a professional just said I hope that I do my job half as well as they do. They just were very complimentary of station two. Any comments? During our next meeting which is October 3rd I hope that we will so schedule it so that we will not be here very long because that is a national holiday my birthday. Let me recognize the people who applauded me on that. They're from Jesus Church right? Stand up. They are trying to redevelop the area where their church is and they the Saturday come and just join us tonight. Thank you for being here. Okay. Any other comments? This is a good weekend for our centerfest also. Looks like they did a super job. Recognize the city manager for our times. Thank you Mr. Mayor. Good evening everyone. I've got a few priority items and then after council acts on them I'd like just brief a few moments for a few other comments. The agenda has already been modified but the following public hearing items were deferred to the October 17th 2016 city council meeting. Originally that was agenda item number 11 comprehensive plan amendment for South Point Trails 2. Gender item number 12 zoning map change South Point Trails 2. Gender item number 14 consolidated annexation Copley Farm. Gender item number 15 consolidated annexation Ellis Road Commercial. Gender item number 16 consolidated annexation 742 to Abron Drive. And agenda item number 17 2015 Durham comprehensive plan evaluation and assessment report. It's been probably moving second Madam Clerk. Will you open the vote? Open the vote. All those voted against it. Close the vote. Do you have it? Okay. That passes 7-0. Thank you Mr. Mayor. The last council meeting council member Moffitt asked if I could at the beginning of this meeting give a brief report on some training that the staff has recently completed in late August and early September. All of the leadership team of the city and all of the department directors in conjunction with the Durham County leadership completed phase one training of racial equity phase one training. This training was conducted by the Racial Equity Institute out of Greensboro. This was each of the the workshops was a extensive two-day training session and I can say that we've had quite a bit of conversation about the sessions since we participated and it has generated quite a bit of conversation amongst leadership in the organization. We hope by the end of the year to continue this training so that all of the assistant department directors and other departmental senior leadership at that level can participate in the phase one training. We also anticipate and hope that we will complete the phase one what they call phase one debriefing in phase two training as a part of the various components of that training. And I really would just say at this point even though it's fairly early in our thinking and talking about this that clearly the awareness the heightened awareness right off the bat has been something that has been very beneficial in and of itself but as an organization we are committed to more than just the awareness and the responses and the changes that might take place as a result of that awareness but we are going to begin exploring what systems or what evaluation of systems that we need to make and take as it relates to our internal organization and then as well some of our external processes and systems as well as a result of the training. So we're very appreciative of certainly the council's support and encouragement of our participation and look forward to continuing to respond and report back to you in small and maybe large ways about what impact it's had on us as individuals as well as our organization. Thank you. Thank you for that report. I recognize the city attorney for any prior times. Thank you Mr. Mayor. No priority items and likewise city clerk. Thank you mayor. No items. Thank you. We're perceived with the agenda first part of the agenda is concerned agenda which may be approved for the single vote if a council member pulls an item or someone from the public pulls an item we discuss it later in the agenda. Item two is the approval of city council minutes. Item four is recreation advisory commission appointment. Item six is a contract for professional engineering services for the you know river outfall and lift station analysis and upgrade. Item seven is a contract SW dash 49C dash RFQ for consultant project manager. Item eight is contract amendment for south SW dash 24 ATT for as built drawings. Item 18 is an item that can be found on the general business agenda as a public hearing. It's been a proper move. Madam clerk we open the vote and close the vote. The consent agenda passes seven zero. Thank you. Move to item 18. Mr. Mayor can I speak please? Is Frank White in the chamber tonight? Okay. Just want to make a move through the public hearings. General and business agenda public hearings. Item 18 proposed economic development incentive agreement between the city of Durham and all my group incorporated. Good evening Mr. Mayor, members of council, Mr. Manager Darrell Solomon office of economic workforce development. This evening I have a very brief presentation on a proposed agreement for job creation incentives between the city of Durham and ALMAC group incorporated. We do have someone from ALMAC here, Donna Christopher as well. A little bit about the company to begin. ALMAC provides contract development and manufacturing services to companies within the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors. Their global headquarters is located in Craig of on UK with their US headquarters in southern Pennsylvania and Singapore is their Asian headquarters. Currently the company employs approximately 289 individuals in Durham and globally 4500. They've been located in Durham since the mid 1990s and they've experienced growth since. So this is an existing company that we're looking to retain in this area. A little bit about the project. Again this is an existing company and they are located over off of technology drive near the Lowe's home improvement and off of Rocksboro road in Ben Franklin area. They are looking to expand their three main functions here at their Durham location clinical services diagnostics and clinical technologies. The company anticipates 102 jobs created over a five year span. This incentive agreement if it's past would be 77 jobs within three years of council approval. Capital investment which is not being incentivized but which is required in order for payment would be 6.1 million over the five year period and then just over five million within three years of council approval. And then the average wage for these positions is seventy thousand three hundred with full benefits. The financing the proposed offer is up to a thousand dollars per job again for 77 jobs for a total not to exceed seventy seven thousand and we would pay that in one lump sum. And then all jobs must be created in order for the company to receive the full amount of 77 thousand. There is no proration. The conditions again the creation of 77 jobs within three years of council approval. The completion of a minimum of five million one hundred seventy nine thousand of capital investment within three years of council approval. They are dedicated to using the NC Works career center as a source for recruiting and then also inclusion of a Durham based business plan to encourage the usage of local contractors. And then incentive incentive is necessarily the company has indicated that if this is not incentivized here then they do have options elsewhere primarily at their U.S. headquarters and then the state of North Carolina is also proposing an incentive requiring a one to one local match. So they would chip in the seventy seven thousand in addition. And then why this makes sense for Durham taxpayers. There are seventy seven high paying jobs within the growing industry. There is a potential for continued growth in Durham if the company were to stay here. And then recruitment of a great corporate citizen again they are wanting to hire local through usage of the NC Works career center. And then we would be talking with them as well to support the Durham youth work internship program is basically the presentation at this time. Well thank you this is a public hearing I would ask first of their questions by members of the council recognize the mayor pro tem. Thank you first of all for answering the questions that we raised earlier. But of the 18 jobs requiring only a high school degree they are are they full time positions. They are full time so they are eligible. Okay all the employees and they would have been a fit as well. Yes. Okay. So the second chance employee employers. I would assume it depends on the it would depend on the position and the background. Okay. Thank you. Other other questions by members of the council. If not I recognize Ted Connor and Steve Hopkins. Ted. You have three minutes initially. Three minutes. Thank you mayor. Mayor mayor pro tem members of the Durham city council. Good evening. I'm Ted Connor. That was a fast three minutes. I think it was Steve reset that for me. Anyway I'm Ted Connor with the Durham Chamber of Commerce and I always like to start off by saying what's its context to economic development in this project. And one of the things I like to say a key to successful economic development is working to attract and develop job opportunities for a broad range of a community's residents. In this case the Durham Chamber is particularly sensitive to the wishes of Durham's elected bodies both the city council and the board of county commissioners. To the needs of the community to the job needs of the community to it. And our goal is really to attract career opportunities that are really oriented towards our all of our residents those with college degree and those without a college degree it's important we provide that broad range of job opportunities. And tonight we are blessed and honored to have the opportunity to support Almex expansion here in Durham that will create that broad range of jobs supportive of Durham's job creation desires. And it is nice to see this potential expansion take place in northern Durham still within the city limits still within the urban core but not out in RTP and it's it's just great to see this site which is also served by go Durham that will be very accessible to all of Durham's residents. And in preparation for many of the jobs being created this we can we can accomplish preparing our residents through completing a training program called Biowork which you've probably heard about which is provided by Durham Technical Community College. Biowork is a course residents can take to prepare them for a career path of life sciences work could be logistics R&D manufacturing. Durham Tech also offer offers other courses to students to gain additional job skills to enhance their career opportunities and their career path. And joining us tonight is Beth Payne who is the Dean for the college's corporate education certification and customized training programs. So she is the one that I rely upon to provide this training and education for our residents and to help Durham residents gain the needed education and training the college has allocated the Durham some of the Durham County sales and use tax revenue it receives to a program called Durham Connect which provides funding support for Durham residents who are Durham public schools graduates and allows them to take courses at the institution it could be a college prep course it could be any type of prep or a certification program but allows the students to have the opportunity to learn what they need for career opportunities and allow them to have a career path enhancement and also prepares them for jobs such as the wonderful jobs created at ALMAC and I just am really excited to witness ALMAC's growth and expansion here in Durham it will be a contributor to our current and future economy strong supporter of our life sciences cluster here in Durham and I thank you for your support tonight thank you recognize Steve Hopkins Steve you have three minutes thank you uh good evening everybody my name is Steve Hopkins I live at 609 East Main Street and I would love to support this uh contract the only concerns that I have and PAC one has if uh how many get I know you say it's going to create 77 new jobs but how many of them are going to be actually Durham residents you know and to our clarification are you willing to hire extra fenders because we do have a going extra fenders population and we need to find jobs for them too or they're going to be back doing our reaping habitat in our neighborhoods uh so those are the concerns that we have thank you thank you let me ask are there other members of the public who would like to speak on this item this being a public hearing that director fleck didn't know anyone else asked to speak I would declare a public hearing to be closed matters back before the council recognize councilman shul thank you mr mayor I was first of all I was just glad to hear that Beth Payne is a dean that was new to me but that's great Beth um I know you're a great dean Darrell uh thank you for for presenting this and it's been great uh and now that since Kevin's gone you I know you've had some new you and Grace and others have new responsibilities in this area but I really appreciate your stepping up to the plate um Steve asked two questions one I think you answered in terms of the second chance employment but uh could you describe the answer his other question concerning Durham employees opportunities to get these jobs thank you very much yes I mean as far as the the opportunities for Durham residents as Ted Conner with the chamber mentioned there is a a swath of different types of opportunities um 18 of them will be um positions that do not require a college degree the others will so there will be opportunities that provide full-time benefits um and they will be using the NC works career center will be working with Donna Christopher to get the HR contact so that we can meet with in our team from NC works career center can meet with them so that we can get every job posted and um and these 77 are the only the ones that would be incentivized they would also have other opportunities that probably are not included but then that down the road as well thank you very much thank you mr mayor any other questions comments recognize councilwoman johnson and moffitt thank you mr mayor um I just wanted to say that I have um been in conversation with the city attorney's office and with other folks on council about whether we could require local hiring for some of our jobs incentives agreement so that is something that the city is looking into guaranteeing that a certain number of those jobs um would be available to Durham residents and I hope to have um more information about that as we move forward the manager and I were in Charlotte this past week uh financial infusion conference but if I recall Tom the deputy city manager wants to sell them said something about them having some type of requirements relative to number so that's another place we might be able to look at at that thank you recognize council moffitt yeah the um language that you used just caught my ear and I'm curious about it was that they have to create 77 jobs what does it technically mean to create a job and they create it and then they have to retain it for at least one year great thank you just briefly thank you mr mayor I want to thank you I want to respond to mr hopkins just briefly just follow up a little bit on what councilmember johnson said um unfortunately um based on what I know and based on what the city attorney has told us there are some constitutional prohibitions to creating a flat requirement um that a certain number of new new jobs created by um throughout an economic incentive program be a designated for Durham residents but what we can do and what I think we we what I hope we will do uh in the weeks and months ahead is craft a policy that will permit us to add an additional incentive uh for economic developers who want to come in and bring their businesses here that here is the incentive package that you get it's comparable to what you're going to see um in other places we also have other great things about Durham that we think will push us over the top but in addition if you create a new job and it is filled by a resident of Durham uh for that 12 month period as you mentioned uh that there would be an additional incremental incentive on top of that uh and I think that gets us around some of the constitutional legal issues around requiring um some kind of a portion of new jobs created be allocated to Durham residents and still gets us down there where we want to be so I just want to explain that thank you thank you are there other recognize the mayor pro tem and Daryl I just like to thank you for working with this employer uh and thank you for choosing to be in the great city of Durham the best city in north carolina thank you very much and I move that I move you have to close it's closed okay I move the item then it's been properly moved in second madam clerk will you open the vote close the vote the motion passes seven zero thank you are there other items to come before the council if not we're adjourn at seven forty five p.m. thank you


Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Liz Wade. And I'm Joshua Leo. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no matter where in the world they live. It is Holy Week in Cuenca, a city in Ecuador. During this week, people prepare for the Christian holidays of Good Friday and Easter. Many people go to church. People who are very traditional even go to seven different churches in one day. People also prepare special food. They especially make finesca. It is a tasty thick soup served in a round bowl. Today's Spotlight is on finesca. There are many good foods in Ecuador, but finesca is a special holiday food. It represents many different traditions and symbols. Cooking and eating finesca is often a family tradition. Jesse Franco is from Ecuador. He shared his thoughts on finesca with Spotlight. My mom used to prepare the finesca, but now she is too old. My older sister also knows how to prepare it. It is expensive with all the ingredients and quantities. I hope my sister prepares the finesca this year and invites me. People in Ecuador only eat finesca during Holy Week. Holy Week is the week before the Christian holiday of Easter. It is the most important holiday for many Christians. This celebration happens every year in March or April. Easter is a time when Christians remember Jesus' death and resurrection. Jesus' story comes from the Christian Bible. Jesus lived on earth more than 2,000 years ago. But the Christian Bible says that Jesus was not just a man. He was also God. He taught people about the love and peace of God. The authorities killed Jesus. But the Christian Bible teaches that three days later, he rose again from the dead. In this way, Jesus overcame sin and death. During Holy Week, people remember the suffering that Jesus experienced when he was killed. Then, at the end of this week, they celebrate his resurrection with the joyful holiday of Easter. It is a day of celebrating with traditional events and special food. People are full of happiness because they remember the new life that God gave them. Christians around the world have different traditions during Holy Week. Finesca is one of these traditions. Finesca is a kind of soup. It is made with many different foods. People use many different kinds of vegetables, such as sweet orange squash and corn. They also use many kinds of grains, like rice. And Finesca is famous for having many beans in it. These small seed-like foods are very healthy. Many kinds of beans grow in Ecuador. To cook Finesca, people must first cook all the vegetables, grains, and beans. They prepare each of these one at a time. They also prepare special fish called salt cod. Then they mix everything together. They add milk to make the soup into a thick liquid. And at the end, people add the fish to the soup along with eggs and plantain bananas. Marcelo Gudino is a spotlight listener. He says, The Finesca soup is one of my favorite dishes. In Ecuador, it is an old tradition to eat this food. We join with the family and everyone helps in some task. It takes a lot of work to make this soup. Finally, all together we give thanks to God and enjoy it. Making Finesca takes a lot of work and preparation. But preparing Finesca can be a fun family event. All the members of a family will join together to help make the soup. Each person has a job. One person may help by taking the corn off the corn cob. Another person may take the skin off of the potatoes. Others may cut vegetables or cook the food. Leila Pujol has a website about Ecuadorian food. She now lives in the United States. But she says that preparing Finesca is a very important custom for her family. On her blog, Leila's recipes, she says, As a child, I experienced all the local customs around Easter and helped prepare Finesca. Usually, the children had the job of peeling all the fresh beans and grains. I try to do the same with my children now. I want to make sure that they understand the real meaning of this holiday. I want them to learn about the customs that I grew up with in Ecuador. I have found that food is a great way to teach children about traditions and customs. Especially if you involve them in the preparation of the food. After the hard work of preparing the soup, everyone enjoys eating it together. People think Finesca tastes great. But for some people, it is also part of the spiritual preparations for the Easter holiday. For the 40 days before Easter, some Ecuadorians do not eat any meat except fish. They do this to remember the suffering of Jesus. So, Finesca is made with fish as part of the fast before Easter. Some people also say that the fish has a symbolic meaning. It is an ancient symbol for Christ. The fish stands for the name Jesus Christ, God's Son, Saviour. Many people think that the grains and beans are also symbolic. Some people add exactly 12 different grains to their Finesca. Some Christians believe that these 12 grains represent the 12 disciples or followers of Jesus. Holy Week is also around the time that farmers harvest many crops. This may be another reason why people eat Finesca at this time. During harvest season, poor people would gather many grains and beans. They made Finesca because it is a very filling and healthy soup. The thick soup would fill people's stomachs until they felt full. The people would then give thanks to God for providing for them. These stories about Finesca are part of Ecuadorian tradition. In Ecuador, there are many traditions and cultures. They mix together the same way Finesca is full of many different foods. Mixed together, it tastes good and is very special. When people eat Finesca during Holy Week, they give thanks to God for all the many different but good things He gives us. The writers of this program were Rebecca Skipper and Rina Dam. The producer was Rina Dam. The voices you heard were from the United States. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to this program again and read it on the Internet at www.radioenglish.net. This program is called Ecuadorian Finesca Soup. You can also leave your comments on our website or you can email us at radio at radioenglish.net. You can also find us on Facebook. Just search for Spotlight Radio. We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye!


You know Rita, I think that it's really an interesting thing that, dare I say, you're not dealing with a glamorous topic.  Some tough conversations and some complex conversations and a platform that is still rife with myths and misperceptions about who the players are that are involved. And yeah, so all of that makes it a, you know, it's not an easy one to punch with awareness and getting the message out because too often we still have to dig deep and help people understand what's underneath this notion of every child deserves a family. Oh, well, who are these families. Well, why do they do that, you know, and who are these children and why do they act that way. So all of that. And we can elevate it up and bring it up to a simple human conversation but underneath we still have to understand the complexities. Are your, when you use the word complexity and I think that's a wonderful word for this. I mean, COVID alone has got to change so many things but are you seeing structurally and just socially that you're getting new problems or new conditions that you're, I mean this isn't like a one one track problem. I mean, are things changing a lot. You know that they're constantly in flux and child welfare is famous for a pendulum swinging back and forth, and how we think about and how we do business and how we react at a policy level but yes, COVID has made an impact. You know, as, as, as too many adults continue to be involved with substance abuse issues. That's one of those presenting factors for why children go into the foster care system and and the lack of resources for people who are involved in substance issues, COVID pressed a series of economic issues, food insecurity issues, you know, deeper kinds of substance abuse and depression issues, and our children themselves have so many. As a result, right collateral depression or or mental health issues, because of the circumstances they're in not because they're born that way but because of the circumstances and the trauma they've experienced. Yeah, all of that feeds into it. And how do we respond as a country to make sure that we've short up systems to help and, and quite honestly we don't always do the best job with that. Well, you know, it's, it's, it's a Herculean task to be waving this flag and taking it across the nation and really North America. And I'm doing all the things you have to do to run an organization fundraise manager team we're going to get a little into that even more. Welcome everybody to another episode of the nonprofit show. You've joined us hopefully all week because it has just been riveting. We have had the Dave Thomas Foundation for adoption with us on all week for one of our rare nonprofit power weeks we only do this a few times a year and we're pretty selective about it because it's really an opportunity for Jared and I to drill down, along with our viewers from all over the world. We'll pick a topic, a thought and then move that through for five consecutive days. We have done that with one of the powerhouses of our nonprofit leadership sector, Rita Sornan and again the Dave Thomas Foundation for adoption. Such an interesting thing Rita, we were talking about this earlier. Every day I've left the episode thinking we were going to have one conversation and then it has just spurned so many other ideas throughout the day. And it's been riveting to see. Sometimes when we talk with really high level organization such as yours Rita. Frankly, some of the world that they live in is so far beyond the normal scope of what the nonprofits are doing 1.8 million nonprofits in this country of ours, and they're not all winners. But yours is a winner and yet I feel like you've given us things that even the smallest nonprofit can learn from. And I did not expect that. No, I really didn't. So that's been one of the joys, just one of the joys. Again, here's Rita's information with the Dave Thomas Foundation for adoption. Most often, I will put somebody's personal email in this night at this point I better not Rita. It's fine with me I love communicating with folks know. Well, you can check out the their website it's amazing it has a lot of really interesting components resources. And dare I say Rita, not for just the topic of adoption and foster care but really for nonprofit management. And that's what I think is a magical thing and why we have you here. Again, I want to thank all of our presenting sponsors who joined with us and supported. I'm this amazing conversation that we've had all week with Rita Stornan and her team at the Dave Thomas Foundation for adoption. Okay, you know Rita. This is Friday. This is asking answered. And I've got to say I've never done this before but I'm asking the first question. I'm Joe, I'm Julia officially. I'm unmasking myself from Phoenix, Arizona. And this is something I've really been thinking about Rita you deal with a heavy subject that's difficult and pressure field. How do you combat compassion fatigue, and not become overstressed. That's such a great question and it's applicable to any nonprofit manager I think because every nonprofit manager is dealing with an issue that's heavy that's loaded. That's important. But but for us when I think about you know my first default is no matter how whatever pity party I might be having for myself. I think about our children in foster care and what they experience every day and the profound trauma they've experienced, and that will always trump my sense of, well I'm overwhelmed will know, no I'm not overwhelmed compared to what our children experience, but I can't also negate feelings that I have sometimes of sadness or, or frustration or anger at a system that moves too slowly on behalf of children so I then look at the success stories and, and if folks are interested on our website we've got lots of videos of success stories of families that have said yes, you can video lesson share our story. And they're amazing and they're uplifting and, and it exemplifies the human condition in so many ways that that a child who had to have her brother in a hotel room all by herself, when they were abandoned, was able to find through one of our programs, a family and now she can just act like a normal teen and not like a mother to her brother. Those kind of stories remind me that there's a light at the end of this tunnel, that there is something good in every day, no matter how much bad you may see, and that it's my responsibility to stay energized to stay positive to stay forward and to stay heartfelt about this because if I go off the deep end, then you know we've lost. Right now, do you have any practical advice for us like do you take walks or do you read or do you exercise like what are some of the things that you do maybe, maybe even in the office but off outside of the office to reinvigorate yourself outside I am a what a professional walker. And during COVID I started listen you know what would I started listening to podcasts which I hadn't been doing before and so I'd alternate my favorite music look I'm a 70s music lover I'll alternate my, my favorite music with the with an uplifting podcast or sometimes crazily a true crime broadcast brain thinking right so yes walking. Look I was a literature major a way back when and so fiction I will always get absorbed into a book and fiction someday I may actually write something I love writing. So those kinds of things that are very personal to me yes but walking walking walking walking I can walk off the worst of day at no time. You know, I think that's great and I appreciate that because I think you know we have this the great resignation going on we have an aging of leadership in our country. We have compassion fatigue, and you mix all of those up and it's a recipe for vast swaths of leaders just to say, yeah, can't do it. I've been hearing more and more nonprofits and not just little tiny ones but significant size nonprofits where the leadership comes in and it's like, here are my files here's my laptop I'm sorry, I can't do any more. My family is asking me to stop. It's gotten to that point and so I'm trying to ask more leaders this question, you know what do you do, because it's, it's so important and I appreciate you being transparent and honest about it because it's tough thing and you know I think as a leader we're always like, if I'm above this I can you know I'm the leader and it's like yeah, no we have those moments and it's, it's, it's really brutal so. Okay, well thank you that's a great way to get started it helps me and I know it will help a lot of our viewers. We've got Tina from Lexington Kentucky he's written in. How much time do you spend with your board chair outside of the normal board meetings and governance. It is a good question and and it probably differs for everyone, but for me and if you haven't heard anything else during this week communication is critical. I think looping your board chair into into anything so that there's never a surprise, developing a robust relationship with the board chair is important. There's a very fine line, of course, between micromanagement and and need to know and communication, very fine line but I think that that I've always had great relationships both with my board and my board chair because I'm open, transparent and communicative and how often we have quarterly board meetings and then we also have quarterly committee meetings I think I've got six active committees. The board chair blesses heart sits on all of those committees and so we're we're in communication on constantly. We have a formal monthly meeting that we have that sometimes we may spend 10 minutes in it other times we may spend an hour depending on what's going on. So there's a lot of communication but it never feels like he's questioning or micromanaging, it's really information sharing. Now, can you add to that what your term limit is for your board chair, and I'm interested to ask you if you have like a board chair elect, or did you have like do you have a path so everybody knows what that cycle is going to be what does that look like. Yeah, our board terms are two three year terms, and then our our officer position so the board chair, he can serve up to two two year terms in that he or she in that position, and then we do have a vice chair. So the expectation typically but it doesn't always happen that way is that the vice chair is there learning and a part of the process and then can move into a chair position. Do you use an emeritus board system where by you move off your termed out officers or board members into another board. We have not used it as robustly as others have when Mrs. Thomas was still alive she. Mr Thomas was of course the original board member, he moved into an emeritus position Mrs Thomas sat on our board for quite some time. She moved into an emeritus position so we've utilized it for Thomas family members but we have not utilized it in general something for us to continue to think about. Interesting. Well Tina, I hope that helps you. The thing I'm hearing. And again, for the whole week communication, just because you're not sitting in front of them doesn't mean you don't have some sort of, you know, email threads are following sending off information. Yeah, is your board chair in your community. He's in South Carolina. Okay, yeah. So that that even makes it more of a profound effort I mean you have to really make sure that you are actively building that relationship in that communication stream. And there's ongoing communication with the board as a whole between meetings as well particularly during coven. I made sure that every other week every three weeks there was a, there was a fairly substantial email that went out the board members to let them know how we were doing what was going on how the staff was feeling what risks we might, we were perhaps mitigating because they needed to know that to absolutely so there are times when there's more communication than others. Tina's like, Lady, I just had this one question, but I got to add another question. Do you use a digital board portal. We do we use board effect. I don't know if that's one. Oh, yeah, good. Yeah, and we started that maybe five years ago and so absolutely they've gotten at first they weren't as keen on using it but they've gotten used to because that's where you post all of our board materials and collateral information. So anything in terms of nonprofits and their roles and responsibility of nonprofits, a collateral materials on what's happening in child welfare and you know, all those kinds of things get posted up there some use it more than others but it's there available to them. Good good for you.  If you started that five years ago. That's that's remarkable. Because, yeah, good for you. That's really, really important. Okay, so now we go to James in Orange County, California. Do you use virtual meetings with your board and does this work. Do you have any suggestions for helping us make our virtual meetings more productive and engaging. Again, great question prior to coven. No, we would allow a board members to join on a conference call before we all got expert at Facebook or at, you know, FaceTime and teams and zoom. But, and, but I have a board that really is committed to attending in person and they come from all across the country so we have nearly 100% participation pre covered. As soon as COVID hit of course we switched to a virtual meeting, but what we also did and I think this is important because I sit on other boards where this isn't the same. As soon as we switch to a virtual meeting and we won't be meeting in person again until March of next year we're looking forward to hopefully that's we can reconvene. We took what was a two and a half hour meeting down to an hour and a half, because we wanted to make sure that people didn't lose interest they didn't get fidgety in their seats. I sit on another board where we have four hours in meetings and I get fidgety fidgety and I, I, I lose in track sometimes during a four hour meeting so one, I think it's important to shorten them if you can. We found we were much more efficient, quite honestly, we made our committee meetings much more efficient in order to respond to a shortened board meeting and that's been effective all around. Will I continue with shortened board meetings when we can meet in person probably not because that relationship time that that getting together time the extended conversation that people might be willing to do when you're face to face that you're not as willing to do virtually. I'm not going to go back to two to two and a half hour meetings, but what we found is a much more robust and effective committee system will stay intact and those we probably will keep virtual because they're again because we're spread throughout the country it's easier to have committee meetings virtually. Now I would imagine by doing this, the virtual aspect it really put pressure on the use of your board portal. Yes, right I mean in order to truncate your meetings. You're going to have to have gone somewhere right. Exactly. Exactly. Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. And it's been, you know, and now also, you know, we recently moved into a new building we've got a little bit more enhanced technology so when we do meet in person, we probably will institute rather than a phone conference where you can't see someone probably institute that visual for those people who can't attend. Now when you have your board meetings, because you have folks coming in from across the country. I'm assuming these are like a two day event I mean they're probably pretty managed right over a period of time not just a typical, you know, five to seven five to nine board meeting kind of thing. Right right and you know every now and then we try to have certainly a dinner before a gathering before so that we can have some of that informal get together time or something afterwards. We do keep it pretty efficient though so people can get back on an airplane and get out of there at the day of the board meeting. Again we don't extend this into a two day meeting it's it's we keep it pretty tight. And they seem to want it that way now on my board is unique because because of our relationship with the Wendy system. We have a percentage of our members who are sweet sweet sweet Wendy's executives we have a percentage of our members who are franchisees, and then a percentage of our members who are what we call outside the Wendy system they're the kind of experts that sit on any board that add value to to the conversation for us in the child welfare system and research and data and that kind of thing. And then Thomas family members so it's a it's a unique structure I think that may be a little bit different than some boards as well. Is that something that's dictated through your bylaws or is that just something that you have naturally gravitated towards it initiated through the bylaws and and early on it was almost exclusively Wendy's sitting on the board. And so we've been able to evolve that over the years to say that again this can't just be Wendy's responsibility, even at a governance level. And so we've been able to really shift it toward making sure we have lots of outside representation on the board as well. Now, again, James, I've like amplified your question. Sorry about that but that's kind of good. I'm hearing from boards across this country that are saying, we really liked the virtual component. And I'm hearing this from board members who say, you know what, I can be in I can be present. I don't have to block out so much time. Now on the opposite hand, I'm hearing from staff management and even even the board officers are like, we need to get back in person because we're not gelling as a group. We're not meeting that serendipity of, well I know so and so or let me make this introduction or, and so I'm wondering what you are seeing, especially since your folks have to travel in. I'm hearing from my board members that they're anxious to be back together in person, but I'm wondering to if as we get back in person and continue to assess the success that we had for almost two years virtually, if there might be a hybrid that you know we need four times a year perhaps at least one of those is a virtual meeting or two of those are virtual meetings. So, you know, yet to be determined, but I think I want to really, really get feedback from the board honest feedback of what, what is going to work best because virtually you're right, we had virtually 100% participation for those for that time when other times you know we'll have one or two or three people that just can't make it. It's such an interesting change with the overall workplace. Yeah, I mean how we get things done. Exactly. I mean even parent teacher conferences are now digital I mean, you know, so I mean it's it's across the board in our, and our culture, how we how we navigate this. Okay, Tara from El Paso, Texas writes in. How would you describe your leadership style. What works for you and where would you make changes. Yeah, yeah, that's a tough one to think about because it's a mirror. My first knee jerk response to that is look, I work really hard to hire excellent people. And so I trust them to do their job. I am not a micromanager, but I need to know. So, again, it's that fine line between and growth has changed that a lot when we were just a staff of five. My fingers were in everything I approved everything I saw and oversaw everything. I can't do that now that we're a staff of 50 plus. And it so it's been a gradual evolution for me on what is my leadership style and what's important. It's important for me to trust my team to do the right thing to work as hard as they can, and to get results. Now, do we have accountability of course do we have performance management of course, but how can I guide them there. How can I help emerging leaders also lead. I want everyone to be able to grow as leaders in this organization or grow as leaders in the next organization that they grow go to, but feel as if they've gotten that from this organization. So, I think, I think that's it I'm not a micromanager I'm hands off, but I'm certainly a need to know because we protect so many brands, right. Our name is Dave Thomas we protect the Dave Thomas brand. We work with the Wendy's company we have a program called Wendy's wonderful kids. I have to protect every day that brand. And this notion of protecting the brand of what is childhood is so critical to me because making childhood a priority in this is something we strive to do every day. So what goes out the door and how it represents us is certainly something that I have eyes on all the time. What would I change. I probably might be a little bit more deliberate in when when we're onboarding new people of making sure that they understand the history and, and we do that now but as we've grown so quickly. We're understanding the history and the culture of who we are and why we're here that they do understand the date on the story and they, they do share our same values about permanency is for everyone, I believe people have that coming in the door, but making sure that's much more routine every day and what we do so that this organization feels solid as as a culture. I don't know, know what else I would change that's I think about that. You know that's interesting because my observation from talking with you in this short period of time. And I've spent a lot of time on your website reading you have some really cool. I would call benchmark kind of articles if you will that show the trajectory of your growth and, and it puts it in context of I think American culture really well. With an organization that's changing or has changed so much and continues to change the cultural aspects got to be kind of a heavy lift. It's a heavy lift and you know pre covered before we purchased this building we have grown so much we were actually split between two buildings. The program team was in one building and everybody else was and we were close, but it could have been 100 miles away because you know groups gel in the space that you're in. We're so looking forward in June, before COVID hit June of 2020 to coming back together and redefining who we were that got further just sort of blown away by covered when we were in our individual cases, right, and just didn't have that opportunity through email or video communication to figure out who we are as a company culture so that's why coming back to the office this year in particular and next is so important to me to really begin to redefine and to address those major social issues that occurred over the past couple of years, and how they impact us and how they impact the folks that we work with so it's going to be a major portion of what we're facing in a good way. Over the next 12 to 18 months. Well, I would be, I would imagine that because you are so research oriented and I would use the words research open. You're going to start to get a lot of data points that come into an amplify what maybe you were hearing or you were feeling but again it's like almost another push of change. That's, that's going to be coming at you and we're not through this. It's going to be a pandemic. I mean, it's, it's so I would imagine it's going to be a rocky road, just from the amount of knowledge that you're taking in and trying to regurgitate back out or figure out solutions for those issues of just staffing policies. We are, we took a really serious look at ourselves. Should we offer some sort of hybrid flexibility for for teams, we found we could work really well from home to our advantage and maybe to our disadvantage. So can we offer and we are we're going to offer some flexibility. You know what are those covert related policies that will continue to evolve internally that that the staff feels comfortable and one thing that we did is took continual steps through surveys with staff as well. How are you feeling about this what do you think about this so that it didn't feel like management was just making decisions in absence of input. Ultimately we have to make those decisions but I think that can be translated to things beyond coven to which we weren't doing before I wasn't really taking pulse points I was talking with staff it wasn't really asking what do you believe about this how do you feel about that so that's something that will continue to evolve. I think you're not alone I mean it this period of of our our history has changed the way we behave in so many ways and as you know my my co host Jarrett ransom always says you know the nonprofit sector was due for a major shakeup and it will it will ultimately be our finest time. I think so too. And we might not know it right now we might not be like opening ourselves up to it in a you know come at us way but ultimately it will help. Jamison from Los Angeles writes. Where do you get new ideas strategies and inspiration. Also is there a process that you go to to find thinking time rather than working time that allows for strategic thinking. Well I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt you absolutely. I mean phenomenal and that second question I'll answer first. I can't stress strongly enough that I don't care how busy your day is I don't care what you have to manage that you have got a block time that no one can interfere with and it shouldn't just be lunchtime right if you figure out what day of the week or what time of the week that you can think best you can close your door and react best. Absolutely I block time on my calendar now is it immutable no sometimes I have to I have to break through that but absolutely block time on my calendar that is for just that strategic thinking planning writing, whatever it is that will help enhance my day and my effectiveness. It's absolutely critical that's the number one thing I think that and a change that I've made over the past few years. Ideas strategies inspiration look I get them from other folks, I get them from the children we serve. They're the strongest voices in this right. There's a common phrase in any cause I think nothing about me without me. How can we, how can we do the best job if we don't have the voices of youth who've been impacted by this so making sure that we're listening to those voices and incorporating their thoughts, but talking to other. I've got a crew of colleagues across the nation that I've, I've just built over the past 20 years that I depend on and, you know, I just had one of my quarterly check ins with one of those and we're in a similar situation and a number of ways with just little, you know, nitpick things that are going on and to have someone else to be able to share that and talk about it and hear her incredible ideas about something so I get the best of ideas certainly from my staff of course they're they're a talented amazing and and you all had the opportunity to meet one of them this week that's just one. They're all that amazing. So staff, but colleagues really help with those inspirations and ideas and then I do a lot a lot a lot a lot of reading you know I'm on everybody's list serve. And that's part of that that time to just sit and explore either news or or or other published pieces and get ideas and strategies from from them as well. And the board members look you cannot go through a committee meeting or a board meeting without somebody saying have you thought about this. And rather than being defensive and thinking here we go again you know board member has another great idea. No, it might be another great idea so being open to those great board ideas to I love that it might be a great idea. That's hilarious. Well yeah I mean I think that's one of those things is that we can get in our own way and we can be resistant to ideas that aren't ours. As a leader I think that's really hard and I'll tell you read it. I see this a lot with high performing founders founders of organizations that links into founder syndrome. I mean it's it's kind of one of those things that a lot of times we will see these higher level leaders not be so collaborative or even have an open heart and mind to take in new information and so it becomes quite a stumbling block. Well this has been amazing amazing amazing transformative for me transformative for Jared ransom, the nonprofit nerd we talked about this offline every day. And most people might be surprised to know but you know Jared and I were 20 years in age difference we don't socialize in the same circles we don't work together on projects we really only work together on this and we. We don't come together really except for this show. I think that's one of those things that also keeps it fresh, but every day afterwards we've been texting or calling and saying did you. Could you believe this did you hear that you know it's it's so it's really been a transformative in so many ways and that's the power of this very very rare nonprofit power week and that's what we call it that so that we can get that engagement. We've got several episodes that kind of follow an arc and that tied together all about strong leadership of nonprofits from the origination story with Mr Thomas and the wins when Wendy's franchise and business model, all the way through to this amazing work that we've done so how CEOs and development directors work together was riveting impacting change with policy, fabulous we learned a lot about that. Again, meeting the leader in the champion, we've been blessed to have five days of this. And it's been subtle but it's been a really great tutorial on what it takes to navigate through. And then again the power of collaboration I would say Rita that's been a thread throughout the week. Yeah, yeah. Listen, it has been my honor, and my pleasure to work with the two of you to get to know the two of you better. And just to have that you've made me think about things that I haven't necessarily had the opportunity to chat about in this way so it has been, believe me, a blessing for me. Every day we were like, is she going to show up because this is a heavy left. But we are thrilled it's been really amazing. Again, you can find all these episodes in our archive, Vimeo, Roku, Amazon Fire TV YouTube our own website, the nonprofit show.com, the American nonprofit academy.com. Here's Rita's information, really a powerhouse. I would try and connect with her on LinkedIn, first and foremost, absolutely, so that you can see what she's responding to and what she's thinking about it's fascinating and so that's a great way to learn how a powerhouse works in one of the most venerable organizations in our country. Again, the Dave Thomas Foundation for adoption really needs to be on your radar I don't care what it is you're doing there's so many lessons I think we can get from something like this. And again, we want to thank all of our presenting sponsors without you, we wouldn't have had this opportunity of really profound discussions for an entire week with Rita and the foundation. Wow. Okay Rita, you're off the hook for releasing me. Well we've already kind of asked you on the slide, can we get Jill back. Absolutely. Talk about the relationship between marketing and development. We haven't had anyone on that that could talk about running, leading both of those divisions in the same place and we thought that was really profound. It would be great. Yeah, it was really neat.  I am so honored that that our paths crossed and that we were able to get you to talk with us with such intelligence and such vulnerability I've learned a lot. And it has really made me love the nonprofit sector in our country, even more. Thank you. Good things happen in this country and good things happen with nonprofits it's a uniquely American situation. I travel all over this world talk with people all over the world and this is one of the marquee aspects of our culture and so it's people like you who lead us through this and it's really amazing so I thank you. Thank you. Thank you thank you thank you. It's been great. Hey, as we end every episode, and especially this week. We want to remind our viewers to stay well. So you can do well. We'll see you back here on Monday. Thank you Rita.


It's like five o'clock in the evening or just after five. We were at the mall Walking around for about an hour. So just trying to get some steps in It's like 97 degrees outside. So it's a little warm and toasty We're gonna go now we have a gift certificate to the Olive Garden and Italian restaurant And we're gonna go have dinner early dinner with the old folks so That's all right. I can so tell it's Monday Good morning, everybody. It's Monday July 22nd. I think it's just after nine o'clock At this point. It's probably like 9 20 or 9 30. I don't know. I've tried to film this intro like four times and just yeah It wasn't working so anyway I am out early-ish this morning, although not as early as I wanted to be to grocery shop We're having more people over for dinner tomorrow From California this time Masonic Lodge people so I need to get some groceries because Bob wants to grill chicken and I think we're out. So We're out of a number of things our new house, I love our new house, but There's just something about being up here in Oregon. The sun is just so much brighter Holy cow and Our bedroom faces just the right way that despite window treatments on the windows You know, I get blared in the face with Sun super early in the morning. So I have trouble sleeping most days So I'm gonna get a sleep mask rather than hang blackout curtains, which I really don't want to do So I'm gonna get a sleep mask and I need groceries and Maybe some melatonin because I'm out and that might help me sleep some too Anyway, I also have to edit last week's vlog today and I need to film a video for a YouTube collab I'm doing with some friends So it is a busy busy Monday. I guess I better stop chatting and get to it, huh? All right, I'll be back. Okay. So here's a fun fact about me About I don't know 15 years ago. I had surgery on both my feet. I Think I've mentioned it before probably a million times, but I don't know Anyway, I had bunion surgery Tendon issues cysts got extra bones in both feet. Anyway I'm having some issue with my heel spurs. They're a bit tender and I've been doing a lot of walking so I vaguerated it I don't really want to go in for more cortisone shots. I'm just dealing with it anyway Got my tennis shoes on in the house, which I normally don't do but they have orthotics in them and I am gonna have to go out again in a bit to go get the mail and I just I really don't want to be bothered putting my shoes on again. I know it's a lazy thing, but There you have it. So shoes are staying on and while I'm in the house for a little bit It's just the way it is. All right, I'll be back morning. It's Tuesday morning, July something I Just knew like two minutes ago. Now. I don't know. Let's see What is the iPad say? It doesn't say anything, but there we go July 23rd Anyway, I spent the morning Getting some chores started. I'm working on laundry cleaning the bathrooms and getting social media done not necessarily in that order Got my posts done and everything else checked on the Etsy store checked on patreon I was on the computer pretty late last night getting a scheduled post up on patreon for a long watercolor tutorial it's just over 40 minutes and That took like forever to get set up, but it's done and it's scheduled to go live to patrons only on Saturday So fun fact the 27th Anyway, I got all that done and Now I have to do dishes. I really want more coffee But I'm not going to have any because that much caffeine is not great for my blood pressure So that's a thing Anyway, it is a warm ish, but overcast day today. Of course I do live in Oregon. So, you know We expect it could be 90 degrees out and not be sunny. So it's just the way things are up here And yeah, today is no different Work on some of the glare here It's a glaring There we go. That's a little better So anyway That's all that's going on at the moment We do have company coming over here later tonight for dinner But I think I'm just about ready I need to sit with my coupon book and cut my coupons finally and Go through a couple of other things that are on the table. So I'm gonna sit and do that now I don't know if I'm gonna get any art done before they come. I guess we'll just see how the day plays out I'm not expecting people until around four o'clock ish five o'clock ish But that doesn't mean somebody won't show up early. It doesn't mean I won't get wrapped up another thing. So I don't know. We'll see. All right. I'll be back It is Wednesday morning 8 21 a.m. July 24th. Don't get excited I've been checking a computer anyway, I'm about to Chat with some friends. I've got to finish my morning coffee Yesterday We had friend and we had some old friends over for dinner another sort of business friend dinner thing so I didn't get a ton done, but I did start a color inspiration journal I was Culling some magazines and harvesting some magazines for images and I found this one in Southwest art magazine Which I picked up for I think like 25 cents or something at the library And I really love the composition, but also the colors. So I decided to find images That I'm likewise inspired by and start sort of a color inspiration journal From them and making notations on the image and where it came from Finding paint colors in my stash that's either standing alone or mixed together Are similar to the painting or what I'm inspired by by the painting and then I just added or added a random Stamping mark here at the bottom by my thumb. So I'm gonna keep doing that. In fact, I've got a stack of images I'm gonna add to that if it's something you'd like to see a video on let me know and It will just be sort of an art inspiration and when I need inspiration for Colors and composition for a page or a painting and I'm really just not wondering where to go I can look at that journal and go. Hey, you know what? I remember. I liked that one. Let's do that I also made out of some old readers digest book covers. I made Some paper clip storage books You can't really see the strips too much. There we go There's two of those on the page where you can store some of the decorated paper clips. I've been making I Do think I'm gonna fill these up with paper clips and then sell one or both of them in my Etsy shop If they're not listed at the time of this video airing and you're interested damn me or email me and I Didn't make a paper clip or tag yesterday because of having people over somewhat a bit behind so I got to do two today of each And that's about it. I think for right now I need a really really really need to finish my coffee Yeah, cuz that's a thing. I'll be back for 20 So I spent a good portion of the day talking with my friends but while I was talking to them I was doing art and stuff and I finally said I gotta go. I gotta do the dishes. Anyway Have something that was drying on the sink. So I need to bring it upstairs. I do Repurpose and recycle and reuse whatever I can and try to keep things out of the landfill And at least temporarily and try to reuse it at least once so I do have a stash of these up here They make great paint buckets water buckets pallets That sort of thing anyway, I got Quite a bit done and I've already turned the computer off for the day, which is Which is great. I got Two paper clips and two tags done today Let me show you a paper clip drawer This is one of the two tags. I did tags paper clips. What are these? Hello? This is the other one As I've done so far in this round of doing tags for July I did this one And then that one paper clip tag book and I wanted to show it to you when it was full I was showing my friend Vicki Brown from SC Table Studios and she says You're gonna do a tutorial on that, right? So I guess we're doing a tutorial on this which means I need to go pick up another Readers digest book to get so I can get the cover. So that's what this is from This red thing is a elastic hairband from Dollar Tree. You can usually get them in packs of like I don't know six or ten of them For a dollar. So I usually have these around four books and then I filled it with paper clips From that drawer. I just showed you the collection These are all ones I've made In the last month or so And it's a great way to store them and I do think that I'm going to Offer this one up for sale. So if you're interested, let me know And what else have I done? I think that's all I've done right now and I Need to probably do laundry I Have some new rubber stamp inventory coming in for the Etsy shop and I paid for that today So that's on the way Yeah, answered a bunch of questions Hold on. We're gonna be in the dark. There we go my stash of empty containers So yeah, so it's been a busy day. I got a lot of stuff done I got Etsy orders out early this morning and They were stuff I could get into the mailbox here and didn't have to go down to the PO box. So That's all good. I think I'm gonna do laundry now and then I guess to figure out what we're gonna do for dinner Oh, I guess that's a thing All right, I'll be based somehow. I knew it was too good to be true being able to turn my computer off at four o'clock You know Okay, I think those questions are answered Maybe should we go downstairs? Maybe do another load of laundry Maybe and then I'm gonna finish watching Mike Deacon's vlog because you know Yeah, that's a thing. All right, I'll be back for those wondering My heel feels much better this week. My heel spurs the swelling and inflammation went down so much and it's so much better I get the occasional twinge, but nothing like it was so yay So if the husband's not too exhausted tonight, then and he says you want to go walking. I'm gonna say yes I would like to go walking So anyway, and we don't go walking tonight. I will make sure to Go shopping or something so I can get extra steps in tomorrow So although Lord knows I've been up and down the stairs enough today Although, you know, I could use a few more steps. All right, that's it for now. I'll be back. Good morning, everybody It's Thursday morning, July 25th 826 a.m. Don't get all excited. I checked already I'm trying people. I'm really trying Anyway, we're headed upstairs. Obviously and I'm gonna do the quick social media thing and Then I'm gonna head out. I've got some errands I want to run and I Have a hair appointment at 11 so I've got to get the Whiteness covered up So I'll bring you with me when I can I'll be back Okay, so one thing I haven't done In a while is well six weeks I think it's been five or six weeks since I've been on the side of Portland is check to see if craft warehouse has quilling supplies if you don't know what quilling is it's the art of Bending and curling paper and creating images and objects out of that. So I've been making a few embellishments here and there with it and I have an idea for a fall thing Actually a takeoff on something I did a long time ago that I haven't done in a while and some little Quilling pieces for it would be would be a good idea I also just you know, don't always like ordering everything online Contrary to popular opinion my husband So I was wondering if craft warehouse had quilling supplies I know Hobby Lobby does but it's really far from my house Craft warehouse does they don't have a ton, but they have me enough. So that works. So yay I did get some fabric for some the upcoming fall project and another little thing. I want to try and Yeah, I'm gonna go grab some breakfast now because I haven't eaten yet We were out of breakfast bars and I didn't feel like making toast because hello lazy We didn't have any fruit to put my cereal so I'm gonna go like get some breakfast and then head over to the hair salon I'll be back Hair is done errands are done I found the local Goodwill there was one a half a mile from the beauty salon and while it's not the best Goodwill I've ever been to I did find what I needed for an upcoming YouTube video and Crofters warehouse had more stuff for an upcoming video and I also got a few things at Dick Blick for more Videos and art, you know, it's what I do. I think it's time to go home now and have some lunch It's 1 12 and I am start all the way to get a breakfast bar on the way to the salon I'm hungry. So all right, I'll be back. Good morning. It's Friday July 26th, I think I think 9 50 a.m. I only know that cuz hello. I'm looking at the clock in the car And if that's accurate, it's 9 50 a.m. I'm headed out to the grocery store about an hour later than I intended But I was answering some family tree information questions from my sister and her husband Elizabeth and Philip We're working on something interesting and if it works It'll be pretty exciting. So we'll see what happens and anyway For those that don't know I'm second generation America My grandmother was born in Jello, Italy and Her husband was born here, but his parents were from Pisa and Luca So, yeah, thank you at least on my dad's side and my mom's side We've been here for a long time on the mom on my mom's side. Anyway So we're working on something interesting and I was giving the information. I could and in the meantime, I am going to Go to the grocery store because beck is coming over for dinner and I don't think we have anything to cook So that's a thing. All right, I'll be back plans to do other things today, but we just did another load of kitchen purging. So the back of my car is going to be full again and We purged coffee cups barware Platters and just randomness that we kept finding we haven't yet moved to the China cabinet or What's going to be the bar? We're just gonna go there yet and it's you know Both of us can only take so much purging in one day and the back of my car is only so big so Every weekend until we have enough purge to move furniture around and we are going to just keep doing what we're doing I think that we're just about ready to empty out the furniture and move it around but That's gonna be left for another day, but we got a great deal of purging done We're down on our coffee cups by at least half our barware by at least half some platters some things that we forgot we had to be honest and Very cool. Yay progress Hey guys, it's 427 on Saturday and I've been doing some sewing after we got back from Donation and purging some more unexpectedly today, I don't think that we were gonna do it today, but Things happen Anyway, I decided to work on the charity bear pattern, which I shared that I found the other day and it is a Stuffed bear pattern that is a free pattern online. I'll put the link for where you can find it in the description below and it's Intended for you know making little stuffed animals to donate to children, especially like in children's hospitals and And that sort of thing there's a whole blog post about it. I'll link it below Anyway, I thought I'd give my hand at it I do like to make little things like that to just sort of have around and you know give away or Need I'm kind of toying with the idea of making a bunch of them and taking them to the local children's hospital or something Anyway, we'll see I thought I'd give my hand at it. I tried they recommend polar fleece, so I'm gonna try that next but I tried Some flannel and felt which is what I had and I did find doing the eyes on these ones with embroidery floss was best These this I printed the pattern 65% of the original size because I wanted to make it like a smaller bear. So this is the one and Then this is number two so there's a lot of options for our faces and You can put the heart on his belly or you can put a belly or then there's different size bellies Anyway, he's a pretty cute pattern. So I'll be making more of them Anyway, I think that's it for now. I also added one more page in the color inspiration journal today if you want to see the other pages that I've done follow me on Instagram or Twitter or Over in my Facebook group a life of art and self expression because I do share stuff that I'm doing daily creatively every day over there The link for all the places you can follow me and different places You can support the free content here on YouTube are all in my link tree list of links, which is in the description below I'm gonna add a few more images to my color inspiration book and then I think I'm gonna call it a day So yeah, I Think that's it for this week. I Hope it's been a good one for you. It's been a good one for us and Yeah, go out be inspired do something fun I don't know what we're gonna do next week, but we're gonna see what we can get up to and stay out of trouble That's the trick, right? All right, so that's it for now Don't forget to go out and do something nice for yourself because you deserve it like share and subscribe And that's it for this week. I will see you next week. Bye guys


One of Cal's greatest swimmers of all time, Ryan Murphy in 6. Look at that. Good evening, Golden Bears. My name is Camero de Willis with CalTV Sports, and today I am here at the Speaker Aquatic Center to interview Ryan Murphy of the Golden Bears. So, Ryan, you've had an excellent year so far. You've earned Pac-12 Swimmer of the Year Award and a gold medal at the FINA World Championships. How is the overall transition going from college level training to world championship level training? Yeah. I mean, the guys on our team, a lot of us have international aspirations, so it makes it a lot easier to make that transition from international season to collegiate season when we have a bunch of guys that are motivated to do big things on the international level. So, Ryan, today you swam a 47-2 and then 100 fly, and your best is 46-8. What did you do differently, and what was your game plan today? I think I'm just a lot stronger than I was when I went my best time. I think our weight coach, Joel Smith, has been doing a lot of great things with us, and I think that's really translating into the water well for me. Awesome. And my last question is, how did you initially start swimming, and what are your plans for the future? So, when I was half a year old, we moved from Chicago to Florida, and because the weather in Chicago is so bad, my parents love the weather in Florida, so we're always down at the community pool. So, I just started out in summer league because that's what my brother and sister were doing, and then just gradually evolved in the year on swimming, and then when I was in seventh grade, I ended up giving up other sports and just completely honed in on swimming, and here I am today. Wow, that's so awesome. Well, thank you so much for being with us here today. Thank you so much for watching. This is CalTV Sports. CalTV Sports and Selena Lee. Thanks for being with us today. Thanks for having me with you. So, a couple weeks ago, you actually won Queen of the Pool, correct, at Cal Poly San Luis Pismo? Yes, that's correct. Well, congratulations. That's a great way to start the season. Some would say that you and your teammates are well on your way to success. We were wondering what a success looked like to you in the pool. A success to me would be executing the goals that I set every single day in practice and just showing up, being a good teammate and doing the best that I can on each day. I completely agree. That's great.  So many emotions. I'm excited. I'm anxious. I'm nervous, giddy, grateful. Just a lot of emotions. And it's pretty cool just to be representing not just yourself, but your school, your coaches, your teammates. So, something bigger than yourself. That was such a great answer. I love that you threw in the grateful thing to be here. And I'm grateful to interview you as well. So, I have to ask. So, typically swimming and height go hand in hand. However, you're only 5'2", and you're killing it out there. Which, congratulations with that. Has your height ever been an obstacle or a setback in your career? I think people have doubted my swimming abilities because of my height, but I never saw it as a disadvantage. I just try to focus on the things that I can control and what my strengths are. Well, that was a great answer, honestly. Good luck to you. Thank you so much for watching. This is CalCV Sports. Go Bears!