From Four Clients to 48 States: Cathe Dykstra’s Blueprint for Scaling Social Impact

[0:00]  What I saw in her face is that she actually believed I could help her. Like she had hope. And I went home and told my husband, I can't leave because counting on me. Yria and Carl are counting on me. And I will not I I might fail at life. I might fail in my work, but I'm not failing Olyria. And that recognition that, you know, we are our brother's keeper and our seniors, like we do have a way to help others.

[0:35]  That meant that I had to stay. Um, and that was a long time ago, but uh I I still stay in touch with her. She's lovely, college graduate, uh, homeowner, you know, all the good things. Um, and that she believed I could help her meant that I had to believe that, too. Welcome back to another episode of the Heart and Hustle Podcast. Listen, Kathy, you worked with over 20 240 million household data points. Sorry. You've been you helped reshape what family looks like in America. But take me back.

[1:23]  who poured it into you before you started pouring it into others? Yeah. So, I grew up in a family that valued family. Um, I have a sister. Uh, we're only 17 months apart, so kind of what my mom used to call twins the hard way. Um, and and there was this a sense that we were a team, you know, we were a community. And I often tell people like the the first team you were ever on, the first community you're ever part of was your family. And if that's broken or dysfunctional, you can imagine how people feel when they come into a workplace and somebody says, "Well, we're just like a family here. I don't want that." But if we rebuild family, then it means something different. And I grew up in a family that valued that and we did things together and uh we had inside jokes and we protected each other

[2:12]  outside of the house. We might be, you know, your biggest uh adversary. My sister was my biggest adversary inside the house, but outside the house, we were a team. And that sense that you're part of something bigger than yourself carries over into how you interact with the world. And I was very blessed to have that. What an amazing and not every family has that, but to see we talked we just talked about it, right? myself. I didn't have that, but I'm in a space now with my wife, but we're saying, "Hey, we're we're a team, you know, because kids can definitely turn you two on one another." That's really when you got to be a team. So, I love that your your parents instilled that within you so early and and that you continue to just I'm pretty sure lead with that as well. I think that's the biggest thing. Just because you didn't have it doesn't mean you can't

[2:58]  create it. There you go. So, if you know what you want it to look like. So, I've been blessed to not only have had that as my background, but to be able to create that sense of family at our organization so that people who didn't uh come into this maybe not having a family of support and understanding, look, we're going to give you unconditional love, but we're also going to hold you accountable because that's love, too. And those two things together make for a really good relationship. I already know this is going to be a great conversation and but I want to kind of get into before the CEO, before that title, before uh innovation. Who is Kathy? Like let's go back maybe middle school, high school. What were the seeds of this mission already probably

[3:44]  starting to look like back then? So, I don't know how many of your listeners are Baptists, but I grew up Baptist. I was a sunbeam. You're a sunbeam from ages three to five. And there's a song about Jesus wanting you for a sunbeam. And the whole idea really is at that tender age, you're already learning to be a servant leader. Um, now I was painfully shy as a child. Like painfully shy. Don't have that problem anymore. Uh, but if so, so this desire to be a servant leader and and active in the church, I met a medical missionary and I thought she was just the coolest thing ever. Then I found out I was about eight that there are a lot of shots involved and at eight shots are just not cool. So you know so you start looking

[4:31]  for like how can I be meaningful to others in a way that makes their lives better and really by extension makes mine better, makes stronger communities. And I've always been focused on that. Uh I was very driven as a kid. I I might not have spent much time, you know, interacting with other people, but by golly, my grades were good. And so I was very focused on that even from an early age, like how do I how do I contribute?

[5:02]  I remember you saying last time we were having a conversation, you were mentioning that uh families are like the Legos of society. I feel Can you kind of break that down? Yeah. So, um, so in my mind, uh, that is that, you know, when you look at when you're building Legos, you you lay a foundation and then all those little pieces together build something bigger. Um, we build modular housing, too. I'm sure we'll talk about that, but that's also like Legos. So, a lot of my world is like Legos. So, that that smallest unit, that littlest Lego is family. And so, if you've done that right, then you're building on a strong foundation and building um from material that is strong and that that gives you everything you build is better. And so when families come into our

[5:49]  program, helping them recognize that they are a family. I've had people say, "Well, no, I'm just a mom with with a child that that's not a family. Oh my god, yes it is. That's a family. Guy and his dog. That's a family." I don't want to define family for other people. I want them to know that they can define it for themselves and strengthen it so that it is the fabric of society.

[6:15]  I love that. I love that. I love how how you put that together like that. And and was there a moment in your career where you just knew like this is the work I'm really meant to do. A lot of times people don't find it until later in their lives. Did you find it early? What was that moment look like? Uh it was I actually it was later in my life. I was already doing what I consider to be very meaningful work.

[6:38]  Um, but then I was introduced to a very small organization that was serving four people and was trying to figure out whether to to just fold and the board members were looking for somebody who could take it to scale, make it sustainable. And I stepped into that and it looked better than it was. That's hard to imagine, but it did. Um there there was a little book cooking going on and that's never good. Um but they were nuns and so they weren't worried about that. And uh so uh I had this moment where I had to make a decision like I could go back to what I was doing or I could persist. And that was I'd been there for less than two months. They had not filled my job where I was. So I knew

[7:27]  that was still an option. And this young woman came in and she was 18 years old with a four-year-old son who she had come out of foster care. She was absolutely terrified. And she came to us seeking help getting a college education while she raised her son. And what I saw in her face is that she actually believed I could help her. Like she had hope. And I went home and told my husband, I can't leave because Alyria is counting on me.

[8:04]  Yria and Carl are counting on me. And I will not I I might fail at life. I might fail in my work, but I'm not failing Olyria. And that recognition that, you know, we are our brother's keeper and our fers like we do have a way to help others. that meant that I had to stay. Um, and that was a long time ago, but uh, I I still stay in touch with her.

[8:31]  She's lovely, college graduate, uh, homeowner, you know, all the good things. Um, and that she believed I could help her meant that I had to believe that, too. Yeah. What a beautiful place to be in, right? People go and they go and, and of course, we all get these jobs to financially support our families or our needs. Um, but when you go into the nonprofit space, it is not like the for-profit, right? You could probably go for the forprofit and make double what you're making. But when you go home and you said you were able to help an Olivia and a Carl, like that's what people do it for. That's the purpose is, man, I'm I'm helping. It's not about me. It's about those that I can help become a better version of themselves because you were blessed. You had a good family, you know, a good husband. You got a good job. Why would we not want to see

[9:18]  someone else win? and you're in a beautiful place where you can help someone else win. And those people, you know, the best thing I heard actually was um another nonprofit leader that works with homelessness. She said, "The biggest myth is that these people that stink, that are dirty, that are, you know, lost everything, sleeping on the streets, can't become a CEO because I've seen those same people become a CEO."

[9:39]  So, it's not like when you help a homeless, you're just helping one person. you're helping multiple people because when that person changes their life, you're guaranteed they'll go help somebody change somebody else's. And I can only imagine that Carl and Olivia are out there changing somebody else's life. So, and it's all to you. It's a seed you planted so early on in their lives. Well, and I've had really good help. I've had great board members and great staff. But, um, but but getting to see that is probably my life's greatest blessing.

[10:08]  So cool. Yeah. So cool. I I love this. What's what's one thing that your younger self would truly be proud of and maybe one thing that she'll call you out on? Let's see both sides. The great thing that she's like, "Man, I can't believe you did it, Kathy." And the one thing she's like, "Come on, Kathy. You could you could do better."

[10:25]  Um, uh, let's see. Well, my younger self, you got to remember, she was painfully shy. I don't know that she would actually speak up to tell me anything. Well, that I think so. um the recognition that you don't have to be a medical missionary to be a missionary. You don't have to go to another country to be a missionary. It isn't even about uh sharing your faith with others. It's about living it out yourself. Like we're not a faith-based organization, but I'm a faith-based CEO.

[10:58]  And everybody has to know that to know that, right? So um so so that you can live you can live as a missionary in what you're doing where you are doesn't matter you be the janitor doesn't matter whatever it is you're doing you can live your life as a servant leader. Um I think she would be really proud to see that I finally figured that out. Um um I think that my younger self well I mean I have plenty of things I'd like to tell her like care a whole lot less about what other people think. a whole lot less. Um, and I think that she might she might want me to take a little more time for myself, a little more self-care. That would probably be her her message to me, you know, like you can't pour out of an

[11:47]  empty picture. So, remember, I love that. Remember to fill your own picture. Yes. Keep pouring out on others. That happens so often. Yeah. That's so and that's good leaders. That goes to show the good leader. And I know you mentioned about, you know, your staff and the volunteers and all those people that really kind of help uh steer that car in that right direction. But you're that engine. You're that thing that keeps it moving. Uh and and probably never turning it off, right?

[12:14]  Even when you're sleeping, you're probably dreaming of what can I do next. You know, while you're sitting there laying like, "God, let me go to sleep right now." You're still thinking because that's what a leader does. Yeah. And um I do agree. A lot of the times our CEOs, our business owners, it can't be turned off. That's who you are 24/7.

[12:32]  You have to take time for yourself, as you mentioned, to re-energize the mind. I'm actually in in a situation now, not a situation, but I'm in I'm in a project now where I'm helping leaders. Um, I'm creating a 30-day mindset journal because of that reason because I know what it feels like when you're like just pouring, pouring, pouring. And I I actually uh I made a video where I'm just pouring into all these cups and by the end of it, it's like, who poured into mine? Right. Right. You know, and and but they still expect you to show up tomorrow, Kathy. They do. And pour even a little bit more out of out of an empty glass.

[13:05]  I know you're tired, but just one more question. Yeah, exactly. I know you've got other things to do, but could you do this, too? Um, you know, but that's why you've got to be able to prioritize. And you've got to be able to prioritize on the fly. Like there could be something that pops up and you're like, "Yep, no, I was on my way to do this thing, but this thing I got to do first." And it's it's being able to to sort that out in your own mind that makes it easier to live it out for everybody else. One of the biggest one of the best things and I think I already had it in me, but one of the best things I actually was able to do a class that I took was an impro improv class because as leaders we improvise. Yeah. A lot. But it's such a good tool that I think a lot of us have and don't really tap into. Yeah. You know, but you mentioned improvising.

[13:47]  Yeah. You have to because you know what happened was good yesterday may not be good today, right? So you got to pivot. Plus, you don't know what kind of issue you're going to run into in the nonprofit world. Yeah. You know, especially when it comes to donations, when it comes to um getting volunteers. What does that even look like on your end? Is that something that you guys are succeeding in? Is that something that you guys feel like could probably AI could take over on that? Like what are your thoughts on it? So, uh we do a really good job, but that the more pe the more support we have, the more people we can help, right? And so, uh we've doubled our budget four years in a row. Uh which means at this point and we don't have an endowment. So there's no like I'm gonna take that out of the endowment like I'm gonna take a break and take it out of the endowment. And at this point we're looking at a this year is a $20 million operating budget just for programs and services. That's not or

[14:36]  anything else. That's just for programs and services. And so that means that we've got to be really good at communicating what we do and why it matters. Because I don't want people, I know this sounds crazy, but I don't want people to give us money. I want them to invest in our mission because I want them to see that they're going to get a return on investment. Yep. From what they're doing with us and it's going to pay dividends in the community for generations to come. And if you look at it that way, it it feels different um than to say, you know, oh, I'm gonna, you know, here I got a little extra. I'm going to give you some money. I don't I don't I don't want it to be a gift. I want it to be an investment. Now, part of that is from my economics background and we you and I, you know, we talked a little bit about

[15:22]  that before, but um you know, it's just the whole idea that when you invest in a mission, you should be able to expect a report on the outcomes and that return on investment. And we deliver on that because I think it matters. If the Heart and Hustle podcast has ever sparked any idea or made you think differently, do us a favor. Make sure you 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.

[15:58]  Seriously, we appreciate you. And you know what? People get very upset when they don't see that. And I tell you, I'm in a I tell you a perfect example. I take I've taken over a nonprofit about a year ago and um I'm dealing with a lady now. She's donated for the last actually it started with her her dad and then the mom and then now the kids have taken over it. The dad has passed away. Mom has passed away and we still have a scholarship on their behalf. But they were like I haven't had no tax receipt, you know, no no receipts. I have I don't even know who's receiving these these uh scholarships. I don't know anything. Like she was just so upset. She says I know we donated for the last 5 years. We've had other people and you can't tell me how much we donated who and I'm like oh my god how bad does it feel for you know now I'm sitting at this you know what it feels like right? you feel like wow it's on me now even though I was not sitting there

[16:46]  but now everything falls back on you so it's implementing these things and it is helping these people to understand where are their dollars going they'll be more happy to give if you can give them as you mentioned what is the outcome of it who's receiving these kids hey matter of fact come come to the uh award ceremony and you hand out the scholarship it makes them feel very in tune with what they're actually doing so I love what you mentioned there right and in your situation one of best things you've got going for you is direct communication.

[17:14]  You might not have been there then, but you're there now. Speak the truth like, right, and you don't have to get upset. You You don't I don't I don't yell. I I'm just not that person. Yeah. I agree. I agree. Directly, you know, and when you when you do that, people don't have to figure out what you mean because they heard you. Say less words and be very direct in what you say. I agree. I um I want to this nonprofit is not something that is just local. Maybe it started off locally, but we're talking about now scaling it nationally. What was that turning point for you where it stopped being a local impact and became local mission? Yeah. So, uh we we were local until about 2008 and I took over in 2005. Um and uh we

[18:03]  started having all these people started talking about us to other people which is always great right that's your that's the web um and then so people started calling us and saying you know how how did you do it and and I I want to do something like this in my community and in the beginning we just like shared uh like oh we did this but then we started to get confused about what did we tell this group and what did we tell that group and did we tell them all the same and it became really important to codify that. And so in 2008, we launched the affiliate network, which is our subsidiary that helps other nonprofits replicate our work in their community.

[18:42]  Okay? So, it's not me doing it in West Sacramento, California. It's raised the bar doing it in West Sacramento, California, but with our database, our support, our program model, our technical assistance, all those things, which means I don't have to be responsible for the campus in West Sacramento, California, but local people are, and I always think it's better if you can get local people involved, right? So, that's that started the the switching things over. And then we went upstream in about 2011 12. We started, you know, this is like, okay, we're not ever going to be able to build enough housing to house all the families that we serve because we're primarily in in the people that

[19:30]  live with us. They are single parents. They're full-time college students or in a training program. They're raising their kids. They're preparing for careers, not just an entry- level job. And that's a it sounds like a niche, but it sure is a whole lot of people. Um, but we knew we would never be able to build enough housing for everybody. So, we went upstream to figure out, okay, how can we help people who just need a thing instead of people who need all the things and and start doing that work.

[19:58]  And that spread really rapidly working with colleges, universities, employers, other property owners. And right now, we're in 48 of the 50 states. And it's not the 48 you would think because everybody thinks, "Oh, that's the continental 48. You don't have Hawaii and Alaska. We got both Hawaii and Alaska. We don't have Dakota and Vermont. Wow. Why not? So, I'm going to take a trip to see the leaves change color in Vermont. Pick me up a couple families then. But, you know, uh the whole idea is again back to if we're strengthening a family or we're strengthening an individual uh who does not yet have a spouse and children and you know, other people that they're responsible for. We're preparing them to be a good family by giving them that, you know, strengthening them early,

[20:45]  right? So, it's investing in what I think is our greatest resource, which is human capital and you're really like innovative. You talk about the things that you were doing two years, two, three years after you're already kind of scaling, but then you had this great idea of let's also get some digital tools. Let's talk about self-navigation. Um, and that's really visionary, right? thinking in a space that's kind of often behind. Um, what was the idea behind that? You know, it's funny. I if I I could line up all the people who told me that's a dumb idea and it's not going to work.

[21:21]  And I heard him. I heard them. I I'm like, "Okay, that just helped me know that that wasn't the person I was going to go to for advice next time." Right. Absolutely. So, one of the first things was um was the database was understanding that in order for us to accurately and and really fully communicate outcomes, we needed to understand what they were ourselves. And we look for a database for forever and couldn't find what we were looking for.

[21:47]  So, um a a national foundation, the Humanana Foundation, helped us build our database. It's about a $ 1.7 million database at this point. Oh my god, that's good. tracks over 250 fields of information for every household served. Uh um helps us track all their self-sufficiency scores on the Arizona self-sufficiency matrix, which is a very objective way to assess the self-sufficiency of an individual or a family. But it also helps us see their government benefits and how as they improve in education and in workforce and in health and mental health and food security and all those things, their government benefit usage comes down and they become more self-sufficient and financially independent of of other

[22:34]  people telling them how to spend their money. Um, so that was a big piece of it. But also sort of tandem to that was the whole idea that we everybody's not going to ask us for help. Some people first of all aren't going to ask anybody for help. Second of all, ask other people for help and not and not know, you know, are they're going to turn to Google. So what if we build out a platform that is very user friendly that is uh in multiple languages that helps people find exactly what they need based on who they are first. So it filters you get fewer results but the results you get are more accurate. Um what if we did that? And so we did that first just for Louisville.

[23:22]  And it was really kind of funny because I was telling the first lady Basher, uh, of the first lady of the state, I'm like, "We're just going to do Louisville and then when other cities are ready, they'll come and we'll help them." And she said later, she said, I was just shaking my head going, "No, they're going to want you to do it because if you're good at something, people people will ask you to do it." So, our myky.info myky.info is statewide and now other states have asked us to do it. And the cool thing about it is it filters based on who you are. But everything in it is free. So if you put something in there that meets a need of yours, you know, you're not going to be surprised when you get there when they say, "Oh, well, we'd love to help you, but that's $100.

[24:07]  It's not going to happen that way." Um, and and that has been a way to help the whole Commonwealth and now other states have a a way for people to find it themselves. Now, here's one of the really important statistics on this. When people find it themselves, they're more likely to follow through because they did it. I agree. They did it. I didn't do it for you. They did it. And so, they're invested in the solution.

[24:32]  And so, we really appreciate that we're giving them a tool as opposed to giving them an answer. Yeah. I I could a thousand% agree with that. It's like when you give somebody advice, right? When you give somebody advice, it could be to the tea on how they can get from zero to 100, but they don't accept it.

[24:52]  It was free, but when they had to work for it, oh, it's something more meaningful. Oh, I get to hold on to this, right? So, it's Yeah, I I could see why they will continue to do that. I really feel like you're an innovator. You you truly have uh thought ahead years, and I I love that. Um, and I can only imagine you're probably receiving a lot of DMs, maybe messages. What has been the most surprising that you've gotten from someone that has been impacted by Family Scholar House?

[25:17]  Um gosh, I mean, I have doctors and lawyers and uh PhDs that teach in social work schools and all these nurses and all these teachers and wow. Um but I think one of the coolest things is seeing the second generation, the children of our graduate, okay, come back. We uh every year when we do our affiliate institute, we do a training for all of our affiliates. There are now 20 locations across the country. Los Angeles to Raleigh, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, all all these places. Um when we do our affiliate institute, we bring in some of the children and they actually beg to come because they want to talk about how it changed their lives to have their family's life changed when their mom joined the program. It's

[26:06]  usually their mom. Sometimes it's their dad. Um, and that is like the fruit that you would never expect to see from the tree. And and to live long enough to get to see it, to see these young people and what they're doing and that they're great parents and great partners and great community leaders and homeowners and business owners and it's just really powerful. Um and and uh I short story I we were doing something and handing out Christmas meals and some of the kids had come by to help hand out Christmas meals to the families that had come behind him and u and one of them said, "Well, I don't know how I'd ever thank you." And I said, "You just promised me that, you know, you'll you'll speak at my funeral." And um and he's just he's a

[26:54]  really sweet kid and u not not a kid anymore. He's way taller than me. He's he's a football player. He's in, you know, he's in college. And he came around later and he said, "Miss Kathy, I would be devastated." I said, "Devastated? Why?" She He said, "When you die, I'll be devastated." And it I you know, I was just It was flippant and I shouldn't have done it. And I saw it.

[27:19]  I saw in his eyes like I'm part of his family. Yeah. He isn't just part of mine. I'm part of his. And uh that's such a blessing. How many times you get goosebumps? Like I can only imagine when you Right. That's that's I can only imagine that's the thing when you start to see the kids come back like oh my god like I almost forgot that you know I did that. Um and that's what's so cool about the nonprofit because people will come back and thank you later on and says hey I remember when you did that and when you hear the story on the other side on how they've they've uh escalated their lives you know how they've really grown into them you know left all the drama all the baggage behind whatever that may look like. Yeah. Oh, that's that's so cool. I always look at life as at some point someone's writing your story. When do you get to write your story? And Kathy,

[28:08]  you've been that person to help others write their story. Yeah. You've allowed people to grab the pencil back, right? And say, "Hey, whatever happened in the past, that's okay, right?" You know, let that be the past, but let's look forward. Let's see how we can help you and navigate, right? whether sometimes they had do it on their own, but you've kind of created that without even having to talk to them personally. Right. So, I think it's it's so cool and um man, just kudos to really what you're doing, you know? I just love this work. I love it when people are doing fun, you know, like um in 2022, we birthed our own parent company. So, we had all these programs that were up under Family Scholar House and it got really complicated. So, we were watching Google and Alphabet and Facebook and Meta and said, you know, if they can do it, why

[28:57]  couldn't we? So, uh, we found the right lawyer, right attorney in Louisville, and he said, more nonprofits should consider this. It's usually only healthcare nonprofits that do it. But by birthing our own parent company and then making all those programs siblings, we were we were able to more fully focus on each one of them individually, put leadership in place for each of those subsidiaries. Now, that may not seem very innovative to business leaders because they do that kind of stuff all the time in the nonprofit space. You know, like nonprofits don't think that way. if they don't think about how can we down the road now that we're already in it change our corporate structure in a way that better represents what we do so that we can communicate it more fully

[29:46]  and that didn't seem that innovative to me. Turns out it kind of was. So something cool that you're saying you've you've tapped into a little bit and I knew we were get to that section is that you're doing modular housing. Oh yeah. Why now? And how are people reacting to it? Uh, Legos. In the beginning, they Legos. Um, so, uh, so I I love the developers I've worked with in the past, and we are actually a developer in Indiana and Kentucky, a nonprofit developer. Um, but I got tired of projects costing more than they said they would, taking longer than they said they would. Then when you get it built, uh it's timber and stuff can happen like mold uh because you've got organic material. And uh I was introduced to

[30:34]  someone and they were explaining what they did. Um his name is Robin Bartto Brown. He lives in London, England. I do not live in London, England. In the beginning, I would say London. There's a London, Kentucky. And people were thinking, "Oh, just down the road." Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Cross pond. So, uh, so he and I were communicating mostly by email because of the time difference. And he said, "Look, I'm just going to come see you." And I said, "Okay." So, he came over for a visit and we sat down and walked through all the possibilities. And uh, one of the things I've really encouraged with my staff is don't be afraid to innovate. You're not going to get in trouble for it. Even if it doesn't work out, don't be afraid because if you don't if you're afraid to do anything, you're not going to innovate at all. the creativity dies in that environment. So, as we listened, I

[31:23]  said, "Okay, I need to bring in a few other people." Brought in a few other people to hear what I heard, and they're hearing the same thing. And I said, "Well, what would it take for you to do our next campus modular here in Louisville, Kentucky?" And he said, "Well, we'd need to build a plant." I said, "How much business do you need to do that?" And he said, "Probably one or two projects." I said, "I'll give you two projects. Let's go."

[31:47]  So very quickly we we have he's built out the factory. They're building Sersburg Scholar House right now which will be for Sersburg, Indiana. Still part of the Louisville MSA but in Indiana. And then the medical center campus for downtown Louisville adjacent to the hospitals is next to together those are 96 modular units. Now here's what's cool about that. They're steel. They're green steel. They're steel from a forge just south of Chicago. So reclaimed steel now being put into housing. So I have less organic material and the price is the price. How about that? Like buying Legos. Legos cost. So no change orders. So there's there's cost certainty. It's faster. 85%

[32:36]  of it's finished in the factory. So cold weather and rain and snow and ice don't affect building. And then when you get it out into the environment, you just finish it out. And that takes about 10 days. So I've been accused in the past of popping up out of the ground. By the time they get them built and then delivered, it takes about 10 days for them to pop up out of the ground. So that's going to be so fun. And we're doing time-lapse photography on all that. It's going to be cool. I'll send Oh my god, this is so cool. So, right now it's in the works. We got some that are going to be popped up. Yeah. So, Sersburg Scholarhouse, you setting is putting it on the site. Zipping is is attaching everything vertically like all your MEP, your mechanical engineering and plumbing. Um, that will happen in

[33:25]  June and moveins in July. Wow. I can't wait to see this. I I think they're really cool. I've seen them and I've told my wife like why won't we just buy some property and you know 50 60,000 here where I'm living at and let's get some mod a modular home. They look really nice when I see what they actually they actually look like. It's actually the nicest thing I've ever built because all the finishes are so good. Um because when you're doing it in the factory you have a climate controlled environment so you're not in a hurry to get it done before it gets cold or rains or you know it's just taking your time. Yeah. It's just different. But also not having cost, not having change orders, not having the price change over time. That's a real good.

[34:08]  So happy. So I love it. I love it. But why do you think that home ownership um or what does home ownership actually do for generational confidence that renting just can't? We were talking about building multif family uh modular and uh we together me and Robin Barton Brown who's the CEO of MMYUS we started looking at well if this is so great why can't we build single family homes because the reason that traditional developers don't build scattered site single family homes is there's no economy of scale. You got to do a little bit of concrete here and a little bit of concrete here and a little bit of roofing here and a little bit of roofing there. And so you get economies of scale inside the factory. Um so working with our mayor, Mayor Greenberg is fantastic, innovative, creative, wonderful leader.

[34:54]  Um there's a lot of infill lots in Louisville. And the the challenge with a an infill lot is like if that house was was torn down because it was, you know, no longer worth living in, um, then the neighbors on both sides have like this missing tooth between them. And it and it it brings down their property values to have vacant lots, but it also means there's a it's a there's a missing piece. And so we looked at what what if we built single family homes for those infill lots and then strengthened that neighborhood which is its own little community so that you have more homeowners, people who know each other, people who care about each other and you

[35:41]  know people who plant gardens and are part of PTA and neighborhood block watch and all those sorts of things and we can do the economies of scale in the factory and then make that happen. So, we're working on that. And we also just found out last week that we'll be helping build um modular single family homes for uh the folks that um experienced the floods in eastern Kentucky. So, they lost their homes in floods and now they're going to have a steel frame house not going to flood down a river.

[36:14]  Um heavy and that opportunity. you're on another level like the things that you're doing like you've taken it beyond where I I thought you were. You know, that's so crazy and I love it. I absolutely love it. I don't see why we can't put those Legos together in lots of different ways to deliver on the need for affordable, attainable workforce housing across the country.

[36:40]  And that's why the uh the young man that came back and said he would be devastated if you were to to pass away is because who the hell is going to have this drive, Kathy. Your drive is like no other. 20ome years and you still have this drive. Like I almost feel that it's 20% work for you and 80% fun. Like that's what I'm seeing right now. You're just having a blast. Dig what you're doing. Yeah, I do. I I love my job. I love the people I work with. I love the people I get to help. I don't think of them um I think of them as family. I I I know that sounds crazy. We've said that word a lot, but I don't mean it. Um it it really is the highest calling to me to be able to help families, be a part of their families, have them be a part of mine, and then create that sense of community together that comes from strong Legos.

[37:25]  you ever feel that because you have this such a business mindset um you know do you feel that leading with a business mindset in the nonprofit world has that ever rubbed folks the wrong way that you come in with this different mindset? Um I found it most people who mention it say how rewarding it is. Um you know uh there's nothing wrong with being a chili supper run out of the fellowship hall but we're not I love it. We're not that.

[37:52]  Um and so we we approach it as an you're investing in our work. We're delivering a return on investment to you for that investment. And when you look at it that way, uh people prioritize you like it's not most people give to four to seven, sometimes even more organizations in a year, but we become a a charity of choice because they get something back for it. Yeah. Um and they can actually see the difference that they make.

[38:22]  And and so I it's really not been too much of a rub except every now and again um you know if you're making a decision that is from a business perspective that is not what other people would expect a nonprofit to do. Like for instance you're saying you know this this employee relationship is not working out. we'll help you find somewhere else to be, but you're not the right leader for this at this time. And they're like, "Oh, but you're a nonprofit. You have to take everybody." And that's not the case. You don't have to do that. You want people to be in the right in the right fit. Um, and that might not be here. That might be somewhere else. I want to talk about another innovation piece because you're so innovative. I don't even know where this innovation

[39:09]  comes from at times. Uh Kathy, but AI, you guys are working with AI. What are some of the things that you're doing within your nonprofit that AI has um I would say helped because people think AI is taking over things and it's not. It's really just helping. It's a resource. It's a tool um helping people scale a little faster than they would have in the past. What is your thoughts on AI and how you guys implementing as organization? Yeah, I see a lot of people who are afraid of it and afraid.

[39:35]  Yes, we're not very scared. We're not afraid to harness the positive power. We do want to make sure we're protecting ourselves from things that might not be positive. One of the first things we did is with our database, we started looking at how predictive analytics would help us use the information in our database to better serve households. Let me give you a really simple example. If people live more than 15 miles from where they work, they're unlikely low-income low-income households. If they live more than 15 miles from where they work, they're unlikely to keep their job for more than a year. Okay? I I don't have like sit around with Google and figure out all the distances, but if you've got a system that will help you figure that out, then you know to check on those people. How's your transportation holding up? Are you still on taking the

[40:24]  bus? Are you still on a bus route? Do you need help figuring out how to arrange for other more reliable transportation? Those sorts of things. That seems like a little thing, but last year we served 106,04 households across 48 states. I don't want to sit down and use Map Quest to figure out how far it is for everybody to get to work. So, I need a system that'll do that. It also reminds us to check on folks. It knows Yeah, it's looking for patterns and those patterns are not ones we might actually see with the naked eye. So, that's one of the things we've done with it. Another is streamlining all the things that every business does, writing job descriptions. Uh, really funny, my husband, uh, I was telling him, you

[41:13]  know, how easy it was to use, uh, Chat Genius to write job descriptions, and he's like, so he's a deacon in the Episcopal church, and he said, well, I don't see how that would work for me. And so I asked Chat Genius to write a job description for an Episcopal deacon that was in a parish, a small parish that did not have a priest. Boom. Less than 20 seconds, I had that thing back.

[41:36]  I sent it to him. I said, "Tell tell me how accurate it is." And he was like, "It's exactly right." You know, I'm like, "Yeah, see." So, so why would we spend a lot of time doing something that AI can do for us really quickly because then we can prioritize that time differently because yes, time is a valuable resource and it is finite. You got 24 hours. I got 24 hours. I won't waste any of my 24 hours.

[42:09]  Agree. I'm sure you don't either. So, I don't want to be writing a job description with a blank piece of paper and and a a sharpened number two pencil when I can get Chat Genius to do it for me. Why not? I love it. And when it comes to AI, um especially on the website, is there anything that you guys are incorporating within the website that makes people's lives a little easier when they're researching for information on the website? Yeah, so it it notices patterns and picking up on patterns. it's it's more likely to spit out the results faster because if you've looked for one thing and now you're looking for a different thing, it's making that correlation between those things and and trying to help narrow that down. And that's something that we could easily do as humans. We we could do that. We couldn't do it on this scale. I could sit with you and do it

[42:57]  and that might take us 30 minutes to get it figured out. I couldn't do it in 30 seconds or less and then do it for, you know, right now we're hitting about 18,000 clicks on the myky.info just for conducting a month. Wow. And go back and look for the same thing over again. So, they've already looked like so this is these are new people and new things. There's there's a lot of dope uh tools out there and Francis um which is is put together by Keenan. we'll have to talk on the you know offline but he he created something that was so powerful that helps continue with the engagement and and and he seen it because he's been in the medical space for 10 plus years on how AI how communication is so important and how do we communicate as we continue to evolve

[43:46]  right we went from mailing letters to now we're in emails to now we want to get to people's personal phones because that's engagement is changing the way that people receive things are are are changing so you're just ahead of the game And I actually totally love it. Um, I've got so much more I need to learn though. I'm Oh my god. But you're doing so good. And and I just looked at the time and I'm thinking to myself like we're already almost an hour in here. 45 minutes in here. Um, I'll leave you with this right here. This is my last question before we get into that.

[44:14]  Actually, two questions. I think we got two questions and we'll get into that blind question. How do you personally protect your energy and time as a CEO? I know we talked about a little bit offline, me you for those that are watching, how do you continue to protect that energy? Well, First, the time. I mean, we talked about how valuable that is. You've got to be able to prioritize and you have to know, you know, what are the things that you need to do and what are the things that you can delegate.

[44:39]  And delegating is not a bad thing. You might be giving it to somebody who can give it more focus. They they might actually be getting a better person to do it than you because you've given it to somebody who has more time for it. Um energy is an interesting piece there because for some of us um it is draining to do all this and for others of us it is energizing to do all this and I I'm I'm kind of at that crossroads. Some of the stuff can be draining, some of it can be energizing. It's making sure that you prioritize yourself. I'm a pelin person.

[45:15]  Okay. Okay. Um and so I make a point I'm on my pelin every day. That is how I manage my crazy. You want me to do that? Everybody wants me to do that. Are you got you got the music blessed just going one of these right here classes and all the things. Um and but but that so between you know the the bike and other things like meditation and stretching and Pilates those are things where I'm investing in my body but I'm more investing in my mind because those are times when my mind can be free. Um there's a there's a couple of really good books, but one of them talks about um deep boredom and the idea that creativity comes when your mind is able to stop thinking about all the

[46:05]  other things and be open to whatever bubbles up. Making sure that you've got time for that, that becomes really important. Kathine, I do believe um when it comes to uh what you mentioned, just taking care of the body that it's automatically going to spark the mind. Yeah. I tell you what happened the other day. This is a true story, okay? I've been working out since January, okay?

[46:26]  Cuz I told I'm about to be 35. I'm going through this midlife crisis, you know. So, I told myself I needed to come into the 35, the best version of myself. Okay. So, me and my neighbor across the street, I told him, I said, "Hey, man, I got to start working out. He has a workout in his his garage. He wasn't using it." So, um, we started January just last week. I wake up at 8 o'clock in the morning or this past weekend and I, you know, used a restroom and I I looked past the mirror and I just kind of stand up straight. I'm like, "Wow, I look good. It's 8:00 in the morning. I'm going for a run." And I went running around the neighborhood and my wife's like, "What are you what are you doing?"

[46:59]  And I'm like, "I'm going for a run." But it's the mindset when you start to do those things. Ideally, you're going to see the change within your body. You're going to see the way that you you maneuver, how you talk to people. But mentally, you're just feeling better and you're doing things that you would never do. You're more confident, right? So, I love that you're into that and now it makes so much sense how you have all this innovation, creativity, and the energy. Could you take care of the mind and the body? Movement is medicine and and you know, that's one of the things that I think some people just don't understand. You don't feel good and then move. You move and then feel good. So, even if it's just a a walk around your house, you got get up and do something and you'll feel better about your life.

[47:41]  Well, Kathy, unfortunately, we got to start wrapping this up. What's one way I'll leave you this last question before we go to the blind question. What's what's one way something or Yeah, let's say how can someone that is listening right now get involved whether they've got time, money, or just heart. There are all kinds of ways to get involved and we even have volunteers who are virtual only. So, the best way is to go to one of our websites, uh, either familycolorhouse.org or familybrands.family, either one of those, and take a look and see what we've got and see where you'd like to plug in. Even if you're a social media advocate, which means you follow us on social and then repost, share, like, that is a way to volunteer and be a part of what we're doing. Um, because we're

[48:29]  all doing it together. So, that's That's certainly a big piece of it. Um, and and if you're in one of those 48 states, um, look for us because we're there. It may be under FSH Works or FSH Affiliates. It could be under one of the other brands, but but but we're there to help. We're not there to it's it's not about making money. It's about helping communities.

[48:53]  Um, so that's a big piece of it. I'll leave the right straight blind question. No thinking. And if your legacy could be summarized in one dinner table conversation between a parent and their child, what would you want that child to say about you, Kathy? She was an ordinary person who did extraordinary things. Oh, Kathy, that was so good. Kathy, just straight from the heart. I love it. Kathy, what is your blind question to the next leader that we have here on the question? My blind question. If you could immediately solve one world problem, one world problem, what would you choose?

[49:29]  I love it, guys. And we end on that blind question. Kathy, I want to say thank you so much for your time. Thank you so much for your innovation. Thank you so much for what you're doing, not just for your community, but what you're doing for our country. You you've scaled this in the last 20 plus years. And thank you. And I'm pretty sure you have another 20 plus years in you. You're going to continue to change lives for so much. Guys, this has been the Heart and Hustle podcast.

[49:52]  This is Kathy. We thank you for watching. Don't forget to share, repost, and like. Missing all your wrestling. I catch you guys in the next one. Later. Thank you.