From Client to CEO: Rachel Banning's Full Circle Journey at Rainbows United

[0:00]  Our next guest states, "Rainbow showed up the day my daughter was born. Now I get to lead the same organization that once carried me." Really a start of a full circle and within a mission. Rachel, I appreciate you joining us in here on the Heart and House podcast. And if you could take us back to 2000, what happened the day your daughter was born that changed everything that leads you to where you're at today?

[0:39]  Yeah. So, Mia was born on a Thursday night in the middle of a thunderstorm. Um, we made it to the hospital and um my husband super nervous on the way there. We hit every construction site and um pouring down rain and red light along the way. um she was actually one day late. So we were 40 weeks in one day and had a very typical pregnancy and um just she we had a horrible labor and she sustained a a birth injury. Um and we knew we were going to be dealing with significant um developmental delays and disabilities uh for the rest of her life pretty much from the time she was born. So um she was born at 10 o'clock at night and 10 o'clock the next day um Rainbows United came to the NICU and um started the intake process to help us on our journey. Um they provided um physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy um and really just kind of guidance into this whole new world that we had never never really known and um didn't speak any of the language at all. Um but yeah, that was that was day one for us.

[1:55]  Yeah. And now you're running the organization.

[1:59]  I serve as president of of Rainbows United. Yes. And

[2:02]  how cool is it? What What did it What did it mean to you to receive care from Rainbows before even ever dreaming of leading it?

[2:10]  Yeah. Um well, again, Rainbows, they were there from the first day, and we really had no idea what life was going to look like. I' I'd never really known anybody with any type of an exceptionality before our daughter was born. And so, um, helping us navigate the very complex, even the hospital, how to how to be able to take her home and care for her at home, um, in a way that was, you know, we weren't just confined to our house. getting her out into the community to do activities and and be among her peers and eventually in school, her classmates. Um, rainbows, we we all we learned that through rainbows. So, um, very very grateful, very humbled to be leading their organization. Um, they have seen me with my hair on fire and, um, they just continued to to walk alongside us. So again, just incredibly honored and humbled to be to be serving as the president.

[3:12]  How cool is that? Um, you know, the experience of never understood standing this organization even existed to realizing, oh my god, this is so good

[3:23]  and now leading it because ideally you want other people to realize how good this organization is. Yes.

[3:29]  Right. because as you mentioned, it was for you in a time where your your hair was on fire. Yeah.

[3:33]  But look where you're at today and just so excited with a smile on your face. What did you want to do prior to getting here? Like what were you doing before meeting Rainbows?

[3:41]  Yeah, great question. Um I was actually a fashion major um when Mia was born and so I um had to pivot pretty quickly um lived in the Midwest. I was not going to see um you know fashion week very often and um I loved designing um ball gowns, bridal gowns and costumes. Um and the costumes really came into play when you have to work around a wheelchair. Um so Halloween really much really became a a big part of um of of that inner

[4:17]  fashion

[4:17]  inner creativity. Yeah. And um I pivoted very quickly to um a political science. I needed to be able to understand how and to navigate complex health systems and special education system. So I kind of tease everyone or myself I guess um that I went from being the life of the party to the buzzkill.

[4:36]  Um so yeah

[4:39]  and you got a lot of different just moments with Rainbow, right? Daughters born. What else happens with Rainbow that you also were able to experience on your journey with them? Yeah. So, um Mia received services until she passed in 2013 um at Rainers United. And um seven years after she was born, we adopted our son Dylan um through the foster care system and he's on the autism spectrum. And so he was um at Rainbows when when we were he got the phone call that he needed a a place to stay and took him home. Um, we went to go pick him up on crazy hair day at Rainbows and he had purple spiky hair and um, the minute I saw him I was like, "That's got to be the kid." Um, and and it was and we tease him that when he walked into our home that it literally jumped to life. Um, because my house just was never the same after after he came that first day with us. So, yeah. and just dealing with some of these experiences like how does this shape you lead? I can only imagine just it allowed you to be a better leader without even probably knowing but today you lead with so many different things you've learned from both of them your daughter and your son.

[5:56]  Yes, our children I think are our greatest teachers and um

[6:00]  very very real um put things into perspective very quickly for us. Um

[6:07]  no filter.

[6:08]  Yeah, it's um we've Dylan. Mia taught me patience and um it is a good thing she you know came before Dylan because when he came I needed every bit of patience that she taught me and he took me from you know there again becoming my next greatest lead uh greatest teacher um was just learning how how his mind works and it's just it's it's different. He's he sees the world very differently than than I do and than a lot of people do. But um it's a really beautiful lens too that he sees it from.

[6:48]  So cool. And I love to talk about your leadership. It truly just as you mentioned stems from the kids. Um the excitement that you have for the organization that you lead. It's always been there and I can only imagine it just even heightened when you get to this seat. But you're also doing some amazing things. You're bringing AI into disability services, not to re to replace people, but to serve them better, which I think it's pretty pretty dope. You don't hear that often. What are some of the things that your organization is doing on the scale of AI? I can imagine right now it's early adopters, but anything even that you're wanting to see in the space?

[7:20]  Yeah. Well, living in Witchah, we are really fortunate to be able to have such innovative um companies that um that contribute to our community. Um, one of them is, um, helping us with PowerBI and being able to take our, um, financials and bring them to life. Um, so many times we sit down at a board meeting and we're looking at a an income statement or a balance sheet and they're numbers on a page. And what PowerBI is doing is being able to show us trends very quickly um, of how revenue or expenses are are trending. Um, creating forecasts that feel um you know nobody knows what the future's going to bring but we can look back at our history and say over the course of time in you know the third quarter this always happens or this seems to always be a trend so that we're prepared for it

[8:16]  um in second quarter uh we start preparing for that. So um again kind of very dry material but very exciting um to be able to have some indicators and data points to drive decision making. Um it helps us feel very empowered and also it gives us an opportunity to say we're going to try something for 3 to 6 months and and be able to keep the data going

[8:43]  and then pause and look back at how did that go before we take the another three to six months. Um because that that look back is just critically important too.

[8:54]  And you're probably realizing how important data really is. Like yeah data we always hear data is very important but now when you're talking about the AI world data is really key. If you don't have the data it's hard to implement a lot of these AI tools. So I love it. There's some there's some um organizations they'll probably feel a little left behind because of data or just maybe just tech in general. Do you feel like there's anything that you can mention to them if they're scared or they're on the edge? What do you think?

[9:22]  Yeah. Um, you know, an Excel spreadsheet, it graphs, too. It it it's probably not as exciting and it but it actually probably if it's a good starting point. So if you're exporting out of um just your financials, you know, software into an Excel spreadsheet and um charting just even like what your revenue, what types of revenue do you have? Um where can you grow the entire pie, not just one slice of it. Um I think is can be done pretty basically, you know, in a basic manner as well. Um, but even um I'm really proud right before I got to this position. Um, Rainbows had done a really deep dive into um each of their programs and um we have a binder that's program analysis and and it's updated annually and it it just tracks you know what funding, what outcomes we saw, how many children and families were served, what their um like overall experience was um positive, negative um greatest opportunities for you know change um things that it just it's just a a snapshot of each of our programs and we use that to make quick decisions um because all of the data is in one spot. Um and so I'm I'm really grateful that they had the foresight to start collecting the data even if they didn't quite know how to use it. Um, and I think once once I came to to this position, um, just being able to acknowledge all of the hard work that went into that, you know, activating them was the the really exciting part to say, well, now we're going to use this to drive decision making. Um, and there's some been some hard decisions um, but but really good decisions for the organization as well. If the Heart and Hustle podcast has ever sparked any idea or made you think differently, do us a favor. Make sure to guys share this, post it on LinkedIn, or even text that nonprofit friend that you just have. Whatever works. This is what keeps the conversation going and allows us to just grow this community together. Seriously, we appreciate you. That's so good. I I love that you got set up with the data. I think that's always important. Um, a lot of organizations I've taken over an organization that didn't have data and it's like it's a 30-year-old organization that almost feels brand new because you're having to start from scratch, you know. But I also think that when you think of from what we do on the nonprofit level in reality, you always got to be creative. You have this neverending to-do list. How do you stay creative during these times?

[12:16]  Well, I I'm a big believer in block scheduling. So if I don't set aside time to think creatively. Um

[12:23]  yeah.

[12:24]  So our our leadership team um we have we meet weekly and each meeting has a different theme around it. So we might have a report meeting um twice a month and then we'll have one strategic planning meeting at the end of the month. Um and we also have a team development meeting. Um, so we we intentionally set aside time to step into that discovery zone together and that exploration zone together. And it also helps hold us accountable to one another. Um, and so that's something that I've really enjoyed. Um, not every meeting do we walk away with, you know, a a great plan forward, but it it encourages us to try again the next time. um because we just they're just set that meetings that we have. So um

[13:16]  have you tested out any like chat GPT for those moments where you want to get creative and and think outside the box?

[13:22]  Yes. Um well I love chat GPT. I'm just waiting for it to figure out how to fill my Instacart. Uh if it would just dump my

[13:34]  micro and grocery list into the um macro count and grocery list. That is funny.

[13:40]  But yes, um we will sometimes if we're just stumped on something, you know, it's nice to be able to just pop something into the the prompt and see what it says and then

[13:52]  we can either debate, you know, for or against it. Um

[13:57]  yeah,

[13:57]  so it is kind of a good uh thing to get us kind of knocked off center a little bit sometimes.

[14:02]  And sometimes the ideas that it gives you, you're like, I've never thought of that, but it makes so much sense, right? like you just became a smarter just just using it. And I love that you you say, "Yeah, sometimes we got to go to it

[14:12]  because

[14:14]  at the nonprofit it's always going, right? Every day is a new day. Every day there's a new problem. We got to worry about funding. We got to think about how we're going to fund. What does that look like?" Right? There's so many different avenues to think of. Sometimes not even having the team to right output a lot of these things.

[14:30]  So yeah, coming back to I always say that AI is not that it's decreasing people right now. So it it will take an organization from like 20 make it feel like it's 50, right? Not 20 and try to come back because in reality you still need the manpower to be able to output everything that is giving you.

[14:46]  So I'm happy you guys using it. Yeah, I I have a lot of excitement and affinity for for it. Um in the way that like for even for individuals with disabilities, um predictive text is a big, you know, if they have a hard time um and we see a lot of like

[15:03]  communication being done on a device and it's just that predictive text makes a conversation go so much quicker than if they had the individual had to type out every single word. And um it just I I see connection points of connection through you know AI um not necessarily just between me and chat GPT but just being able to communicate with other people if I don't if you know I don't have a voice.

[15:33]  Yeah

[15:34]  AI can help give me a voice. So

[15:36]  I think we all have to set a boundary and that's where people kind of have that fear is like it's you know controlling all these things but I think we just have to put that boundary in. what is your boundary? Um, especially trusting AI and keeping human eye on on everything.

[15:48]  Mhm. So, um, well, it's it's not perfect. You know, it's not going to do critical thinking. Um, it's only going to be as good as the prompt that I put into it. And then whatever access that it's going to draw from, which

[16:04]  I don't know where it draws from. Um the probably the the boundary, you know, Rainbows is I I think you probably figured this out already. I'm highly emotional about this organization and it it's not going to give me the emotion that I um that I'm going to be able to articulate to to talk to um our families, our donors, our community.

[16:33]  It it AI is not going to give me that. It might help, you know, find me a synonym for donor relation, but um I really want people to feel connected to the community and and so that boundary is not I'm not going to be able to use that tool.

[16:51]  Correct.

[16:51]  To to create that connection.

[16:53]  Like you said, the story that you have, Chad TPT can never replace that,

[16:58]  right?

[16:58]  You know what I mean? that the uh life experience that someone speaks from

[17:04]  with emotion, with compassion, with empathy, all these different things. Yeah, 100%. I do agree and and I love that you you've dipped your toe in it clearly utilizing understand what the boundary is and uh Rainbow is is better because of it. you know, we'll continue to to get better because of it. Especially where we just talked about being able to ha I don't know how big your organization is, but just saying let's say organization of 50 that it feels like there's just more people working at this organization without having to actually pay a huge overhead for that.

[17:35]  Yeah.

[17:36]  Right. Like how cool is that? Because sometimes we want to get a new person, but we just probably can't pay all that money.

[17:42]  But if I can implement a little bit of AI and that cut back on anybody, but we feel like we grew,

[17:46]  right? or not, right?

[17:48]  And the data, I can imagine that what you're experiencing when you talked about the data point of what where where you guys are using AI that you feel like, wow, we've grown. Look at us.

[17:56]  You know, we got a forecast. We know what we're we're looking at here. It's exciting things when you can kind of see that and implement that technology, which is pretty cool.

[18:04]  Um, what's the first 24 hours look like for family who calls Rainbows for help?

[18:08]  Well, we recognize that when they call, it's taken a lot of courage to pick up the phone and make that phone call. Um, so we do everything in our power to get to them immediately. Um, we if you have a child that maybe is um 18 months and not walking yet um and and their brother or sister walked when they were, you know, one year old um

[18:30]  we're probably going to encourage you to come in and get screened. um we provide screening services and then work with you from that from that day um to get you connected to if it's not our services that is required to get you connected to another um community resource.

[18:49]  Um and then the followup comes to make sure that you didn't have any problem accessing that. So, I really do feel like Rainbows wraps their arms around a family and just kind of doesn't carry them, but we just walk with them to make sure that they have everything that they need to be able to to see to their child's development.

[19:09]  And that's good. Yeah. Yeah. Just I can imagine that there's a huge need. Is this organization something that just local? Is this something that um you guys are looking to expand? Tell us more about where we can find rainbows. Yeah. So, Rainbows is local in Witchaw, Kansas, Sedwick County, um Butler County, and Sumar County. So, it's pretty pretty tight-knit to Witchah. Um I've not seen another organization similar to Rainbows in the in the nation. So, I do feel like what we're doing is very unique, but I do think that there are other organizations who do screenings in, you know, Florida or um Texas. There's we're not the only people doing screenings. Um, early intervention services we know is so critical for children. If we can get them um, screened and start services quickly, they're more likely to keep their progression on the right on the not right trajectory, but on the milestone calendar that we're following um, for childhood development. And I think one of the things that makes Rainbows just again kind of what we do um here in Witchah is our community. Our community really invests in Rainbows and make sure that we have all of the resources that we need to be able to serve 4,000 families a year. Um some children walk with us for a short time. Maybe they just have a speech, you know, delay. um some type of sensory that's just kind of hard to kind of work through to get to that next developmental milestone. And then some of the families are like mine where we're with rainbows for years. Um yeah,

[20:56]  so birth to um 21.

[21:00]  So do you guys have like different programs that you guys offer um to have these kids? Like how many programs are you guys

[21:05]  having right now going on at the time?

[21:08]  We have nine different programs. Um, our infant toddler services is our early intervention program. We also have targeted case management and that's that's probably again I want to say just truly humbled to be part of this organization because their targeted case management when Mia's final journey um came, I just had to call a case manager. I didn't have to call 10 different people. The case manager called the 10 different people for me. And that was very very just therapeutic for me. Um to not have to continue to say, "My daughter has passed. What do we need to do?" Um and then she came back at the a couple days later and said, "Here's all of the forms. I just need your signature." And um they just handled everything from beginning to end. Um so very grateful for our targeted case management services. We also also have specialized foster care um for children with very um medically fragile, medically complex children who need um foster care in a more comprehensive way. Um and require just a little bit more than what a a regular foster care setting would provide. Um and then we also have Rainbows Academy. It's our um preschool and prek program that we do here at Kids Point. And um we are blessed to be able to have a very inclusive environment. So we have children with special needs and their peers. Um so typically developing children and um children with exceptionalities all in one classroom. And that to me is probably the just embraces every part of our colorful rainbow that we have because we're teaching um typically developing children compassion and patience and um just where else is that going to be found?

[23:05]  Yeah. Yeah. No, that's why you said there's no other organization like you guys in you know in the country. Um that is very unique and listen I've spoken to a lot of people kind of in this this space but yeah no one's mentioned anything like that. I I love that you continue to just pour back into others, right? Because at one moment

[23:23]  when life really hit, someone poured into you.

[23:26]  And I can imagine that as you know, now you're pouring into others because of that moment. There still has to be someone that's pouring into you. There still has to be that leadership thought in your head that's like, man, I'm so thankful someone taught me this or said this that resonated with me to allow you to be where you're at today. Do you recall who and what that was? I think any leader will tell you it's different people at different times and you on different days you pull from every single one of them and then um

[23:59]  I've had several I've been very fortunate um to be surrounded by some really incredible people and I I think the thing that um I encourage other leaders is um to continually surround yourself with with people smarter than you and people with more passion than you and people whose views you don't understand yet. And um that that's the only I mean that's the only way you're going to continually develop is by having experiences that others are kind of giving you, gifting you, if you will. So

[24:32]  Okay. And for someone's listening right now who just never really thought about disability services, what should they what should they know? What are some things to really start to think about?

[24:40]  Yeah. Well, caregiving is probably the most intimate form of communication and care that that can be seen, whether you're caring for an aging parent or a child. Um, it it requires vulnerability on both ends. Um, and being able to ask for and receive help in a way that is genuine and authentic. Um, to me just is a one of the most beautiful things that you can do every single day. And very few people I think actually take time to celebrate that and just acknowledge that was one thing, but then to celebrate it is a whole different. And you don't have to be perfect. Um I absolutely was not perfect. Um Rainbows, you know, we are here to help and support. We're not perfect either. Um but you're not alone in that journey. And so I think that definitely just reaching out and showing up with your your genuine self is is really all that's required. Well, the we'll take it from there. the I think about my daughter who was non-verbal, non-ambulatory and um she let you know whether you were she was happy to see you or and sometimes she wasn't always happy to see certain people.

[26:05]  I love it. And when we talk about communities, how can they actually show up for u show up better for families navigating some such complex needs? I think just acknowledging just in acknowledging, you know, you say hi to your neighbor, you say hi to, you know, um I always remember people who would acknowledge Mia and then I would become Mia's mom and and so I really appreciated that they acknowledged her. Um and then, you know, I'm I'm part of her. I was behind the wheelchair. But sometimes people would just talk directly to me and not to her. And I would just kind of look at them like she she has opinions even though she can't tell you what they are. I guarantee she's going to figure out how to let you know if she likes something or not.

[26:53]  Yeah.

[26:54]  Um so just showing up.

[26:56]  Yeah.

[26:56]  Yeah. That is huge. I I experienced that with my nephew, believe it or not. Like my nephew um not talking um you know and he's seven, eight years old. So on the spectrum, right, of autism and um normally what I see is that yeah, when they're usually that family members would just kind of acknowledge everybody else and as you mentioned and probably wouldn't really give too much attention. So my thing when I walked in is I made sure I went to him and they both I have a niece and a nephew and I went to both of them and show them love, right? Like

[27:29]  yeah,

[27:29]  they're not talking to me but they know what love looks like. Right.

[27:32]  Right. And I tell you what, the whole time he wanted me to just hold them like this like a little baby. this seven, eight year old kid just want me to hold them like this. And my sister was like weird. He never

[27:42]  does that.

[27:43]  Yeah.

[27:44]  But I can imagine it was just like, "Wow, this man just came and and just showed me love and I was playing cards with him because it is they they have feelings. They maybe they can't express in words, but as you mentioned through through actions, through emotions, they can do that. So a lot that you mentioned is just to

[28:01]  Yeah.

[28:02]  show up for them, have that conversation.

[28:04]  Yeah.

[28:04]  Yeah. We'll do the rest.

[28:06]  I love that. I love that. Rachel, this has been a really good conversation. I'm going to put you in the hot seat, though. Are you ready for the hot seat?

[28:10]  I am ready.

[28:12]  All right. What's to one moment you wished your daughter could have seen because, you know, she would have been proud.

[28:18]  I think the day I walked back into Rainbows, um I I felt her so strongly here and I I know she was watching at that moment. Um, it felt just like the first day of school when I took her to Rainbow's little preschool. Um, I was scared, I was nervous, I was excited. She was scared, nervous, and excited. And I felt that exact same way when I walked in my first day in this role. So,

[28:47]  that's that was so easy. That was too easy. Oh, I love it. Now, you know, and then you say the preschool, how you took it to the preschool and it's like, damn,

[28:54]  life really was a full circle for you that you get to experience all this from a different point of view, but also be able to help these parents because you've experienced that. Like,

[29:05]  it can't get better than that. Like definitely the right person for the right seed. Uh you deserve you definitely deserve it. What What is your blind question to the next leader? I know you said you were a little excited about Yeah. My blind question to the next person is um I was kind of inspired by your background. Um

[29:22]  love it.

[29:23]  How do you know your worth if it's if it's something that's not tangible? Like how do you how do you know what your worth is?

[29:30]  And

[29:31]  wow, that's a good question.

[29:33]  Okay, they ask. How do you know your worth? Listen, that's people going to think it came from me, but I'm going have to tell them it was Rachel from Rainbows. Rachel from Rainbows. I believe Rachel, thank you so much. Where can people find you, connect with you? Um but not just yourself, but also the organization.

[29:47]  Yeah. So, rainbowsunited.org is our um website and then we're on LinkedIn and Facebook and Instagram and that's where you can find me.

[29:59]  I love it. Well, Rachel, thank you so much for your time here. It was definitely a pleasure to get to know more about what Rainbows is doing. It's always cool to speak to other nonprofit leaders that are making huge impacts right in our own backyards. And sometimes it's not that we need the recognition, but the resources that we get to share really gets to change people's lives because conversations like this, you know, changes lives. So, thank you so much, guys. My name is Ephrain. This is Rachel. We'll catch you guys on the next one. Latest.