Unlocking Hidden Opportunities: How Nonprofits Can Help People Discover What They Don’t Know

[0:16]  Welcome back to another episode here on the Heart Knowledge Podcast. I have Miss Erin in the house. How you doing, Miss Erin?

[0:21]  I'm doing great, great to see you.

[0:23]  Erin, let people know what organization you're you're working with and what is your role with them.

[0:32]  Sure, my I am the executive director of Charting Careers, which is an organization in Annapolis, Maryland. We work with young people and their families, helping them to discover their own power and reach their goals.

[0:41]  I love it. What gets you into this line of work?

[0:44]  I It's been quite a journey for me. I haven't had a straight path like some people have. Mine's been a wandering, exploring path. I grew up in the Dallas, Texas area and went to some really great schools and that pulled from really diverse populations and didn't realize how lucky I was with my educational background until later in my life when I went to become a teacher and taught in rural North Carolina and got to see how many of my students who were very bright but were who were reading at a first or Second grade level, even though they were in sixth grade. And it wasn't because they weren't smart, it was because the system was sort of not set up to support them properly. And that really just ignited my passion for supporting young people, especially young people whose families might have had extra struggles in life, and really making sure every young person has an equal playing field and supporting the whole child because, as a teacher, you can only do so much in the classroom, and you take a year to get to know.

[1:14]  Mm-hmm.

[1:45]  a young person and their family and then they move on. And so I wanted to do something where I got to know the whole child, but also got to stay with them for the long term. So that's what at Charting Careers were very relationship focused and stay with kids for a long time.

[2:16]  Mm. Yeah. Erin, I love that. But I would also tell you, like, I would just ha literally before I got on with you today, I had a conversation with my friend. I I talked to you a little bit about it before we got on on. October second, I have an event, and it is me as a president to my old high school's foundation. I was a kid that barely graduated, that was adopted, that was in sexual abuse, that was hard headed, that probably spent a lot of time in the office, or in ISS. And I said it it means a lot to me this event because this is the first event where I feel that everything when someone contoured me out, I am showing up and say thank you to every single person that actually seen me for who I was. So in this d that day, I am calling all my old bosses, you know, all old teachers that I felt I remember maybe at that moment and seeing eye to eye with them, but those words of encouragement and those words that allowed me to feel seen. matter so much, Erin. Like those seeds were truly planted in my life. Some other folks may have watered them. and it is how do we continue to give back to the little Ephraims, the little, you know, Erin's and all these individuals that may at some point in their lives didn't feel seen at that table. And saying, hey, we created a table for us, you know, that you you you are. So you saying that it it is so true. We people don't know what they don't know. So we can give them the opportunity to know and we can help them their lives.

[2:48]  Yep. Yep. Right.

[3:20]  just so much better because of it. I love it. I love that you're in this space. How long did you say you were teaching? How long did you teach for?

[3:28]  Yeah, I taught for three years in North Carolina and then I taught for a couple more years in Atlanta, Georgia, w at a a cool charter school called Drew Charter School. And then I worked for KIPP, the Knowledge is Power Program Charter Schools in Atlanta as well, where I was doing teacher coaching and professional development for teachers there. And so just getting to be another side of education. And beyond that, have worked in and out of schools and even in educational policy now for my whole career. So I love it.

[3:28]  Yeah.

[3:42]  I taught fifth grade for a while, all the subjects, and then I also taught sixth grade science and social studies, which was very fun. Yeah.

[3:57]  What were you teaching? Okay. Yep. Fifth grade. I mean, those are two interesting years actually. You got that fifth grade that is thinking they're grown because they're going to middle school. But then the sixth grader that is now new to this middle school and probably really dealing with a lot of emotions and dealing with lot of things. I actually heard that there's a huge gap because of middle school. Like at in elementary, your parents are there, they're at all the opportunities, all the events. And then middle school, they kind of almost lose that. Did you see that happening at sixth grade?

[4:29]  We are. They are, they are. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I think it's such an important time. Middle school, that's part of why I loved it. I remember middle school as just such a weird time in my life too. And having teachers who really invested in me or different adults that I trusted who I could go to. And I think we believe so much so at charting careers, we start with kids when they're in second grade and then work with those same young people to and through college or career. And I think part of what we've realized is when we're matching young people with mentors, we need to make sure it happens before middle school. Because in middle school, you're going through so much change and transitions that having some trusted adults already connected with you before you go into this journey of independence of a lot of different challenges with getting confronted with substance use stuff at school possibly or other bullying challenges, making sure we're really pouring into kids so that they can develop that confidence and that self-sufficiency.

[5:01]  shorting careers, is that something that's just more local or is this something that's also nationwide?

[5:33]  It is, it's local, yep. I mean, we follow a lot of what other organizations are doing in terms of that investment in young people. I think what makes us different is the extent to which we invest in the young person's family unit. So in addition to our after-school programming and mentoring, we also work really closely with parents and caregivers because we know to support a young person, you can support them so much better if you're in a relationship with their family. And so we do family nights, but we also do parent cafes where parents to get together. once a week and support each other and then do more intensive support of families who are struggling a bit more, whether that's with social emotional, with emotional stuff or financially, we really pour into them as well.

[6:18]  Is this in partnership with a school or is this you guys have your own location and you guys are doing all this work out of it?

[6:40]  I don't Mixture. So we we're here in Anarundel County, Maryland, and we partner really closely with Annerundel County Public Schools. It's a huge school district, so there's I think over 84,000 young people, but we focus in Annapolis, which is a cluster of elementary schools that feed into two middle schools that go into one high school. so we work very closely with the school. Some of our programming happens at the schools, and then some of it's done in the communities where our students live, or in we have some Churches or faith-based organizations that are very generous with their space for us. And so we do a lot of programming in those partner spaces as well.

[7:02]  Love it. Yeah. It's all about partnership and community building. Seems like you guys are truly at it. how many kids are you guys serving?

[7:12]  It is. Yep. Yep. We have 106 on our list this year. and so that includes we have 35 students who are in that college career age and then all the way down to the second graders. so it's yeah, it's really, it's really awesome to see it growing. Go yeah, sorry, go ahead.

[7:22]  Wow. Have you seen anybody? No, no, no. I I it is pretty awesome seeing growing. And I was gonna see I was gonna ask, is it have you guys seen that individual that started in second grade and has been kind of growing with you guys?

[7:32]  Yeah, we haven't been around long enough yet to have a second grader, but we do have students who started in middle school that have now graduated from college. And it is my favorite thing to see happen to see this young person, you know, growing from being this little tiny middle schooler up into this young adult who has graduated. One of our students, she went to Elmira College, played basketball there, and is now part of the Chesapeake Corps here, where she's an environmental science major, and she's helping give back to the community by working to help protect the environment. So I'm just so proud of her. It's it's honestly when we have our older kiddos come back and we get to see them and have them speak to each other or share out for the next generation, it just makes you feel all the positive impacts that the whole community has provided together.

[8:20]  Yeah. Your Y gets ignited every single time you hear those stories, I can imagine. Yeah. you No, nope, go ahead. I like the stories.

[8:28]  It does, yes. Yeah, yeah. We have another young oop, go ahead. I was gonna say we have another young man who is, you know, he just like me, he's kind of getting a path that isn't as direct to what he wanted to do. But he's changing career paths and was in college for one thing and decided to study something else. but he just came back at our scholarship and awards night to share about his journey with studying abroad and travel and how much for him it was how much his eyes were open by meeting people from different backgrounds and getting that bigger world view, and how a of the students that we work with are in tiny neighborhoods where kids haven't even seen a lot beyond Annapolis. And so for him to get to challenge his peers to go see the world and you know get your paradigm shift exploded. So

[8:36]  I love it. Yeah. I I wrote down because we're gonna put a pin on this one because I have one question before we get here. But direct path, you mentioned a couple of different times, and I really want to get into it because I I love it. I think there's a lot to learn about. You don't need a direct path, and so many times we want this, it gets to be this way. We'll come back to it. But you mentioned that the organization is not old yet to see the second graders. How long have you guys been in existence and how does this come to life?

[8:44]  Yeah. Down. Yeah, so we opened our doors in 2018 as our own nonprofit. it was a program underneath another nonprofit that was shutting its doors. They had given some of their programming to another nonprofit, and then the the adults didn't want to drop the kids who were part of this charting careers program, and so they started charting careers. So when we began, it was with a cohort of kids that have been part of that other organization. and so it's actually my sister was helped do the founding paperwork and

[8:52]  Got it.

[10:09]  And I was on the founding board with her and then a year or so later we needed an executive director and I applied and so then she stepped off the board and I've been the executive director since two thousand and nineteen. So

[10:22]  So this is also your baby. You you you you love this just as much as everybody else does. Love it. And you got to see this really grow. That's why you mentioned that. let's go back to that direct path. I think that there's something to learn there. I could imagine that you've learned along the ways on all these different detours that you've taken. Do you think it's important sometimes to accept the indirect path? Cause so many times as students, we feel like it's this is the way.

[10:54]  I do, yep. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yep. No, I I really love for me I l I like to be an explorer and kind of wander and find what's interesting. And I think for me, I've really had to kind of trust that it works out. And even in my job, my role has changed every single year. 'Cause we started off with I don't know, thirty kids with fifty four thousand dollars and we've grown now to a hundred and five kids and a much larger budget and a lot of staff. So each year is different and also fundraising that's a big part of my job. And when I started off, things would make me very anxious because I'm like I have to fundraise everybody's salaries and it's make sure we don't drop programming for any of our kids, but to see how It's really a kind of a trust a process, believe in in the community and that yeah, you're not doing it alone. And so I think for me going into it at first feeling like so much of the weight was on my shoulders, but now realizing how it's my whole board, it's my whole staff, it's our whole community, it's the parents and the kids and and knowing that we've got each other. And I think too for our young people, I think so many people get stuck in this. well, this is what is expected of me. And so if we can break out of that.

[11:27]  Mm-hmm. Hmm. Yep, yep.

[12:00]  And really just think about what is my journey gonna look like and who are the people who can support me in my journey. And like you mentioned, that seed planting, just kids understanding how they can build that community of support around themselves, as well as just try things because you don't know what you're gonna like until you try it and you hate it or you try it and you love it. So having them feel like it's okay to make mistakes, it's okay not to like things, but you do have to put yourself out there and meet new people and And and be open to to new things. Yeah.

[12:00]  Yeah. What wh what do you what lessons you've learned taking that indirect path? What are some of the lessons that you that just come back to you and say, Man, I learned this because whether I failed or I succeeded or I took a risk or whatever that may have looked like for you?

[12:01]  Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Well, I think as a younger when I was younger, it was, you know, thinking I wanted to be a vet and then doing that and realizing I love animals, but I don't like seeing animals getting cut up for surgeries. And it was like that is clearly not my path. And then I think with my job now, it's I've learned so much from rejection too. So I think I've had to the resilience factor of knowing that there are lots of things that are not gonna work. And that usually that ends up

[12:02]  Mm.

[13:16]  being a good thing that those doors closing sometimes is really helpful. so I think that's what I've been sitting with lately, that when I'm feeling that rejection or knowing we didn't get that grant or these people said no, that that's okay because there's gonna be more opportunity too.

[13:33]  Yeah. And not only that, right, Erin, it could be a no for now. Doesn't mean it's a no forever. Right? yeah, I love it. I love those are all good things. And I think when people think of failure, it hurts. It seems very bad. or but it's really not. There's a if you look at it from a different mindset of what did I learn or what can I take from this moment, realize and there's actually a lot of value in that. and there's a lot of value in in taking risks.

[13:46]  Exactly. Exactly. Yes. Totally. It does, yeah. Right. Yeah.

[14:00]  I love how you also mention, and I say this all the time, is people do not know what they don't know. Sometimes they don't even realize what they have in their own backyard. and it is being put yourself out there, it is finding the right people, it is finding the right resources because there are all the possibilities for someone to succeed, but if no one has told them about it, how do they know? So you guys are truly out there. What does it look like to be out in the community? Are you guys boots on the ground, showing up at community events? I know you mentioned like the schools and the churches. How else are we getting the word out there for this program?

[14:42]  Absolutely. Yep. There are Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So we have we have staff who live in the same communities where our students live whose job it is to just be a support within the community and also help identify families that meet might need some extra support. we're in the communities you know, Annapolis is a fairly small town. So we have a lot we go to a lot of events that are in neighborhoods and meet people where they're at. I think too our organization really took off during the pandemic because you know, schools and and big systems, there's certain things they can't do because of red tape, whereas as a small, nimble nonprofit, we could still go in to put into neighborhoods. So we were delivering computers and desks and checking on our families and dropping off food because we had that flexibility. We just massed up and did it. And so I think that's one of the things I love most is that ability to be flexible and innovative because we're working outside the traditional system.

[15:25]  Yeah. I I would second that as well. having this organization that is tied to the school but becomes its own entity. you are right. We could do a lot more things without having to go through a school district. Do you feel and I I I have someone now on the board that was the school secretary for thirty five, thirty six years. now that she's on the outside, I'm like, you really get to do the things that you probably always wanted.

[15:40]  Right, right, right.

[15:55]  Because now you're outside these four walls. is this what you wanted to do outside those four walls? Cause I can imagine being an educator and realizing I'm o I'm so limited at times on what I really could do and want to do. Is this that thing that you wanted to do when you were inside those four walls?

[16:26]  Right. Yeah. It is without even knowing it. because I I did not have a c as I mentioned, I didn't have a clear vision of like this is what I want to do. But now that I'm in it, I love it so much because I love to learn and I love like meet new people and explore and innovate and be creative. And so I always knew I would do something creative with people, but the Each year we are doing something different because our organization's designed to fill gaps and if there's somebody else doing something, we don't need to do it anymore. And so you'll every year we we shift a bit to see what we can do better and how we can meet those needs. so I in hindsight I would have said yes, I can see myself doing this, but it was not a for know, a planned, a planned event.

[16:58]  When you talked about fundraising, a lot of people kind of maybe struggle in this area. I mean or have a focus of fundraising more than ever because of what's happening at a government level. So everyone's trying to figure out what can I do different? What are some of the things that you guys do for fundraising that has been successful for you guys?

[16:58]  Yep. Yep. Yeah, so we have really tried to think about how to have a diverse funding stream because we know we can't we don't wanna be too dependent on any one funding stream because one thing we've definitely seen serving in the communities where we serve is that there's been so many organizations who've come in the past and promise things and then when their funding gets cut and then they stop and they just kind of disappear. So we ha said to ourselves, we're not gonna be one of those organizations that promises things and then leaves. And so to have

[16:58]  Yeah.

[17:40]  Diverse funding streams is very important. So we do a lot of grant writing. We have a a volunteer who helps us tremendously with that. But we're writing grants for the federal, state, county, city governments. And then we also are always looking for corporate sponsorships and then individual giving. And I think for me, I had formal training and fundraising, but it's so different when you're actually doing it. And I think some of the most helpful advice I've received is that it's no different than any other kind of relationship. That I I wanna, it you're helping people fulfill their own personal passions too. So it's really finding that match of people for whom they're looking for something to give to and invest in. And so you're not asking them for money, you're asking them to invest in this really meaningful work and to have them be a partner with you. And so I truly feel that all the people who are giving their their meet, you know, their gifts to us. are people I wanna be in a relationship with. We're not gonna take money from people that we don't have similar values to and who don't respect the students and families that we're serving. So it's very much a give and take and a true relationship with our donors and supporters.

[18:51]  Yeah. Hell yeah, Erin. I totally agree. Relationships matter during this process more than ever. and being part of the organization that I'm in today, where they haven't really, I guess, kept up with these relationships. And you can tell. But then also running into people that say, hey, I've always wanted to give back, but no one's ever asked me. Like it happens a lot, right? but that also means that your ducks have to be in a row. Like the foundation of your organization really has to be

[18:51]  Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah, it does, yeah.

[18:52]  you know, doubting your I's, crossing your T's. Do you feel that the organizations nowadays are missing that? Or is it easier nowadays as well with some AI? Like where do you feel being in the space about organizations that may need this?

[18:52]  See it, I mean it's really hard because you have to be your organization has to be good at so many different things. And I think we made a mistake that a lot of organizations make when they're new that we cared so much about our programming and investing everything we had into our students and families, which is wonderful. But then for a bit, we're like, wait, we didn't build the infrastructure we need to be sustainable. So the last few years we've been trying to say, okay, we've we've been this this this ship that's sailing, now we need to like make sure everything in inside the ship is is stable and I think in terms of fundraising You know, we're still we don't have any fundraising staff. So it's you know, I'm at the executive director, so that is part of my role, but we rely on a lot of volunteers. And it's easy to have some things slip through the cracks, even well-intentioned. So, you know, for instance, maintaining and properly stewarding those relationships with donors, it can be easy sometimes to forget to thank somebody or to, you know, like we have somebody helping with thank you cards, but then they're on vacation. So I think I think that part can be very hard because

[18:53]  Yeah.

[20:43]  People go into this work for their passion for the mission. And then there's a lot of logistical, not exciting s times of data tracking and kind of the non sexy stuff behind the scenes.

[21:06]  Yep, yeah. You are so right. It I am truly in that non sexy stuff right now. And people would never know that this is what happens on the back end. do you also agree that being into nonprofit, you have to have business savvy skills? Because ideally it's a business and people do not realize that they think we're just doing charity work.

[21:30]  No. Yeah. Absolutely. I think that's had to have been one of my biggest shifts in my mindset too, because I started off thinking we don't need to brag about what we do. People will just see the good work that we do and that should be enough. And I realize it's not like you have not that you have to be braggy, but you really have to work on selling what you do and getting the word out there and marketing it. And so for me, I think that's been the place I've had to grow the most is understanding how much we have to promote ourselves in order to you know, stay relevant in order to gain new volunteers and new people. so yeah.

[21:54]  If you could if you had this magic wand that allows you to just maybe enhance, fix, implement one thing today within your organization, what is it?

[22:02]  I think for us it would just, you know, again, it's comes down to funding because I think we've got I ha I feel like we've got great staff, we've been doing great work. It's just, you know, we have a we have to make people part-time or we have to do stuff with such limited resources. So my magic wand would be to not have that funding be the limitation for how many kids we can serve or how many families we can partner with for the work.

[22:20]  Love it. And then for those that may be in a time of, hey, we definitely need these services. How do they get involved? How does that journey look like for them so that they can also understand what it looks like?

[22:39]  Yep. So on our website, it's just chartingcareers.org. We have a section for families or students who are interested in joining. And so people could just email somebody on our staff. you know, even on our website we have all of our email addresses too. So just reaching out to join. we do have right now we're focused just on Annapolis area because transportation we try to do so much in person, so we're not able right now to serve too broadly, but certainly if somebody's living in here in Annapolis or in Arundel County. they can reach out and we can work to support them in the ways that we can.

[23:14]  Love it. Erin, are you guys on social media? Could they see some of the stuff that's going on on social?

[23:18]  Yeah, they absolutely could. We're on Facebook and my like LinkedIn and sort of all the kind of common places to be online. Yeah.

[23:27]  Erin said, I don't I don't take care of that part. Or do you? 'Cause I mean as a non

[23:36]  I do I'm definitely involved. Doing some Facebook posting this morning, even though I know that's not all the that's not where everybody is. The younger generations are more on other places, but but still we have we find a lot of yeah.

[23:45]  Yeah. You'd be surprised. Yeah, you'd be surprised. I I posted something as we're getting ready for our event and it was just more like, Do you remember a teacher or a friend or someone that just kind of made an impact, you know, nominate them here at the Hall of Fame and two hundred and thirty six comments in the last two days. And I'm like, Holy crap and then and then we got ten nominations out of that. You know, I just put the website. So I was like, yeah, you know, sometimes you don't realize that one post, you know, at the right time truly was

[24:07]  Yep. Yep. That's amazing. That's amazing. Holy cow. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And then who's friends too? Cause I we we just had some students, we took some students to this leadership development training in Florida. And when they got back, we posted some pictures of them in Florida. And because they were in it and they shared it with their family and some of our staff shared it. It's just so cool to see how all those networks lead to new followers and new people interested in the work. so it is fun to watch that on social media.

[24:30]  Makes a difference. It is. And I'm always about holding people accountable, Miss Erin. So what does it look like for Miss Erin in the next three years, whether personal or, you know, maybe just work? What does that look like for you? What are those goals that you want to accomplish?

[24:53]  Yeah. Yeah, for me, I think I want to help build an organization that is truly sustainable and not dependent on any one person. And so I'm we've been really trying to be really thoughtful right now about how do we make sure we have a really deep bench of staff and volunteer and board members so that, you know, heaven forbid ha something happened to one of us or somebody decided to move on, that we've just got so many great people who understand all parts of the organization, then that this is just moving forward no matter who's here and who's running it. I think. For me, as someone who always likes to do new things, I I haven't yet been like a college-age teacher before. So I think it'd be fun at some point in my career to go do a little bit more of that or even in combine with what I'm doing right now. And then personally, you know, I'm a parent of three, and I have to say, like the self-care piece is challenging. And so I think in the next three years, I'm trying to do a better job of

[24:55]  Yes.

[25:54]  just helping myself do things that make me take care of myself the way that I want to have all of our students and staff do it as well. So I've been doing meditation. I've been learning a lot about meditation and yoga. So so

[26:06]  Love it. Yeah, have it turn it off. You know, I am trying to get there, but you know, if you ask me to meditate, my brain, my wife likes to say that I have a squirrel brain that just starts to bounce all over the place. And it's because you know, I always say that this is who we are, right? Erin, like this is truly you. You you are this person likes to give, that likes to stay busy, that likes to just

[26:18]  Yeah. Right. Yes.

[26:30]  feel like you're you're doing something, I guess, with your time. and if you really think about it, it is a lot. You are mother, you are wife, you are business owner, you are y you know, community leader. Like you really play a lot of roles. And sometimes it is hard to just say, How do I turn it off? Someone asked me that the other day, Ephraim, when do you turn it off? I was like, good question, actually. I don't know that I I've done that. But I do love hiking. So I try I just told myself, you know what? I got to go and do more of that.

[26:45]  Yep. Yep. Yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[27:00]  Because how the heck are we going to continue to pour into others, Erin, if we're not pouring into ourselves? so you you you're on to the right, you know, space there. How do I pour into myself so I can continue to fertilize the future and plant those seeds and water them and all that good stuff?

[27:26]  Absolutely. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. And I think too for me, I was the same way with meditation where I'm like, I can't sit still. My brain is and I listened to this guy named Jeff Warren who has ADHD and some other neurodiversion and and so it was just really cool to have him do guided meditations for people who can't sit still. So I started meditating while I was biking. and for me it's been a I a lot of times have to do walking meditation or other things where I'm not just sitting still. So that's been again that like winding path. It's not been an easy path for me either. but good for you for hiking and getting out there and the nature healing is so great too. So yeah. Yeah.

[27:52]  Really? find that thing, trying to find the thing. Erin, we thank you so much for your time. We thank you for just giving some insight on what you guys are doing in the communities and you as a leader just showing up for those that don't even realize it yet. And when they come across realizing that, man, there's people out there that do care about me. So Erin, just thank you for the conversation today. Thank you to your whole organization for doing this since 2018. and my name's E Fran. This is Erin. We'll catch you in the next one. Latest.

[28:17]  Thanks so much for having me. Bye.