October 16, 2023 • 21 mins
Piper Phillips Caswell has dedicated her career over the past 40 years to improving the lives of people with behavioral health and developmental disabilities through her diverse experiences as an educator, school administrator, program director and non-profit CEO. Her passion is motivated by her commitment to social justice and equal access to services. She has served on numerous non-profit boards including PHILLIPS Programs for Children and Families (before her appointment as CEO) for 14 years.
As CEO, Piper establishes program goals, provides leadership to the Board of Trustees, represents PHILLIPS in local and regional advocacy activities, oversees the organization's development efforts, mentors, and sets the vision for and executes the strategic plan. Currently, she is advancing the development of social enterprise businesses that will employ adults who encounter barriers to employment with the goal of their operation becoming employee-owned.
PHILLIPS’ innovative career and technical education offerings around the emerging industries of hydroponic vertical farming and additive manufacturing have developed under Piper’s leadership. Looking towards the next 50 years of program emphasis, she is committed to advancing career and technical education and workforce development for youth and young adults with behavioral health issues in order to end the cycle of poverty and unemployment for this population. Piper is a native of the Washington, DC region and earned her BA from George Washington University and her MS from Johns Hopkins University.
As CEO, Piper establishes program goals, provides leadership to the Board of Trustees, represents PHILLIPS in local and regional advocacy activities, oversees the organization's development efforts, mentors, and sets the vision for and executes the strategic plan. Currently, she is advancing the development of social enterprise businesses that will employ adults who encounter barriers to employment with the goal of their operation becoming employee-owned.
PHILLIPS’ innovative career and technical education offerings around the emerging industries of hydroponic vertical farming and additive manufacturing have developed under Piper’s leadership. Looking towards the next 50 years of program emphasis, she is committed to advancing career and technical education and workforce development for youth and young adults with behavioral health issues in order to end the cycle of poverty and unemployment for this population. Piper is a native of the Washington, DC region and earned her BA from George Washington University and her MS from Johns Hopkins University.
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(00:00):
M and T Bank Prison CEOs.You should know powerd by Iheartasha. Let's
meet Piper Phillips Caswell. She isthe president and CEO for Phillips Programs for
Children and Families, a nonprofit thatdoes some incredible things within the DMV.
We're also going to be speaking withPiper about all the new things coming out
of this original nonprofit that's been aroundfor more than fifty years. Before we
(00:23):
do all of that, I firstasked Piper to talk a little bit about
herself, where she's from and herorigin story. Well, actually, I
am a native of the DC region. I grew up in Falls Church City
in Fairfax County and went to undergraduateat George Washington University and Johns Hopkins for
my master's degree. Well, wonderful. We don't have everything in common,
(00:46):
but I can tell you that I'man old False Church kid and I went
to middle school and high school inthat area, and I have very fun
memories. That's when the life wassimple, Piper, Seven Corners was the
big mall, and if you wantto do a day trip, if you
went to Tyson's Corner and the Farrell'sice Cream for your birthday, you know,
and I was in middle school beforeTyson's Corner opened up, so that
(01:07):
was very exciting. Well, listen, we have a lot to talk about
it. I am thrilled to chatwith you because not only are we going
to talk about the Phillips Programs forChildren and Families, and I think that
a lot of people are going tobe introduced to what you've been doing for
a very long time there, butyou also have some other nonprofits and some
incubation that's going on with other newthings that are happening that we're very excited
to talk with you about. AndI know that you're jacked up about it
(01:30):
too, So we're going to talkabout all of that. But in this
series, we also like to givepeople context about what happened before the big
stuff, and I like to chatabout you know, hey, he came
out of school and he did thisand that and that and this. So
before you came up with the Phillipsprograms for children families, what were you
doing? What did you come upwith? Well, I actually didn't start
(01:52):
Phillips programs. That was started bymy dad, who was a clinical behavioral
psychologist. And this was before therewere there was a federal law that said
that all children are entitled to afree and appropriate public education, and if
that's not available, then you know, students can be referred out to private,
(02:13):
non public special education programs to meettheir needs. I have always been
interested in educating those who encounter difficultythriving in your more general education settings.
If you want to go way wayback, when I was in fourth grade,
(02:35):
I founded my own little school inthe backyard and Falls church, originally
called Piper excuse me, Peter PiperSchool. And I'd go around on Saturday
mornings and gather up neighborhood kids.And the criteria for admission into the Saturday
morning school was that you had tobe in a grade lower than mine.
(02:57):
Oh my gosh, so early entrepreneurialsills at a very young age. Yeah.
So I've been in the pretty muchin the special education arena for many,
many years. Dad was a visionarythen, obviously, so it was
yeah, when did he start this? How far back do we go?
(03:17):
We were founded in nineteen sixty seven, seven years before the federal law.
So it was a much needed andnovel opportunity for some of these families whose
children were still at home and werenot able to attend school. Did your
dad ever tell you the origin thatepiphany? Why he started this? While
(03:38):
he came up with the idea,well, you know, I think he
got to it gradually. He startedwith some summer camps for some of these
children. He was a clinical psychologist. He had patients and there were several
of them who had these children,most likely on the autism spectrum, who
were not attending school. He feltthat something needed to be done about that,
(04:02):
so he kind of gradually got tothe idea of opening a school,
and he went and bought a littlehouse in McLain and it started with four
students in the fall of nineteen sixtyseven, and within about two or three
years they were up to I thinkabout seventy five students and we've been pretty
(04:25):
much thriving ever since. We havefour schools now in the Loyal Virginia suburban
Maryland. We'll give people a littlebit more context in the second to all
that, and then when did youjoin officially? When were you full time?
And this was your baby? Well, in terms of being the CEO,
I've been here for a little bitover ten years. I actually started,
(04:46):
I hate to say fifty years ago, when I was nineteen and a
student at GW, and I haddone some internships at the school and actually
volunteer work in high school, andI was hired as a floating aid in
classrooms, and so I switched toworking full time and went to GW part
(05:10):
time, and that was nineteen seventythree. Well, listen, Nate,
I'm up there with you in Ate, So don't worry about that at all,
Piper. But I'm curious because Ialways had this fascination about children working
for their parents who have owned areally successful business that dad encourage. You
were you interested? How did thathold dynamic work? That's a really good
(05:32):
question. Well, I think Iwas always interested in working with children,
and you know, I had asort of a natural opportunity here. I'm
one of four children, and youknow, my dad founded it, but
that was not his job. Heworked at GW, and on Sunday mornings
(05:55):
he would take the four of usdown to the one house and then subsequently
ought a second house as the programexpanded, and our job was to clean
the school on Sunday mornings, andso you know, I got you know,
exposure to it starting, you know, probably about middle school. And
(06:16):
but I also in the summer Iworked for head Start. I volunteered for
Headstart. There were other things thatI you know, I was always doing
something related to working with with childrenand children that had some you know,
additional needs. Did he ever shareor did you have that thought, you
know, Dad's made it, there'ssomething special going on. Did he ever
(06:38):
share when that that actual moment wasthat we might be onto something pretty special
here? No, I don't thinkso. He was a very humble man
and not one to kind of youknow, he was busy with all of
his entrepreneurial incubation of different different things. He had his fingers in many pies,
(07:00):
but this was probably his most successfulendeavor in terms of things that he
did on a volunteer basis. Well, you've kind of taken the mantle over
and all that what you just said, and we're going to chat a out
about that. Why don't we dothis just to give some context to people
about filter program for Children and families? Can you tell us what the mission
statement is of the nonprofit? Yes, Well, we work with children and
(07:23):
their families who have behavioral health anddevelopmental disabilities, and we do that through
education, through advocacy, and throughfamily support services. And we've been doing
that now for fifty six years.All right, let's do this. If
we were to introduce this nonprofit toa lot of our listeners for the first
(07:46):
time, we're saying, wow,this sounds exciting. Never heard about you.
What's the thirty thousand foot view aboutexactly what you do do? We
work with children with the behavioral healthneeds that are unable to thrive in public
school settings, and we do thatthrough several different avenues. Obviously academic because
it's schools, social, emotional,behavioral support in learning how to sort of
(08:13):
navigate through those arenas, and thenwe have a pretty robust career in tech
education program as well that provides ourstudents in middle school and high school with
opportunities to work in both authentic settingswithin the community as well as the specific
pathways that we have developed. Nowtoday, we don't have enough time to
(08:37):
go over all the programs because thereare really so many. When I got
on the website last week and whenI knew I was gonna interview, my
gosh, this is unbelievable. Notonly the handful of schools, and I'd
like you to talk about the citiesthat they're in, but all the programs
that you have is incredible. Sotell people where the schools are located and
maybe leve to shine a spotlight onsome of the programs that not necessarily the
(08:58):
most important, but some that you'reroudof. So we have schools in Annandale,
Fairfax, Leesburg, and Laurel andeach of those serves students from either
all or a combination of students comingfrom northern Virginia, from suburban Maryland as
(09:18):
well as the District of Columbia andactually even even further into southern Maryland.
And within those the Career Tech Educationprogram. We have a building trades program
our students in that it's called BuildingFutures build houses. It takes them about
four years to build a house,and in fact, we have a wall
(09:39):
raising this fall on the third housethat they're building. We also do vertical
farming, so this is urban agriculture. It's really an emerging industry that has
you know, tremendous environmental, socialkinds of impact. And the kids love
it because the produce that's grown growspretty quickly. If it's microgreens, it
(10:03):
can grow within two weeks, andyou know leafy greens and edible flowers and
so there's a lot of you know, excitement around that because you see the
impact of what it is you're doingpretty quickly. We have several culinary arts
programs and actually one of those islocated along with the hydroponic farms, so
(10:28):
the students within the culinary arts programare able to use the produce that they're
growing in the you know, thefood that they're making. And then we
also have a three D design andprint and it program that is part of
our career tech ed pathway but alsohas branched into serving young adults in some
(10:54):
earn and learned fellowships that has helpedpave the way to build the confidence and
confidence for some of them to thenmove on, like into a community college
where they can expand on those techpathways that they're interested in. Well outstanding,
Thank you for sharing all that.You know, something that really garnered
my attention, And I've talked toa lot of nonprofits over the last couple
(11:18):
of years here at iHeart with acouple different series, including this one,
and the one thing I've been gatheringover the last five ten years is that
trade schools have been disappearing by thedozens, especially in the DMV and specifically
in the DC area, which Iwas a little shocked about, but it's
happening out there, and a lotof it just has to do with funding
and money. So I am thrilledthat part of the things that you offer
(11:41):
are doing that because we need moretrades calls, because folks, I'm telling
you right now, you might notknow this, but depending on what trade
it is, actually pays very verywell into the six figures with some trades.
So I'm thrilled, Piper that you'redoing that. All right, Well,
let's do this. I know thatyou've got other things that are incubating,
as it were, and I knowthat you're always coming up with new
(12:03):
ideas, new nonprofits and other things. So let's share with our audience of
the other things that you've got percolating, because there's a lot of fun things
that are currently going on and thefuture are going to be coming up,
So tell us all about it.You know. I think one of the
interesting things of coming out of thepandemic and people's you know, growing awareness,
(12:24):
is that there are a lot ofindividuals that encounter barriers to employment for
a variety of different reasons, andmany people that fall under this sort of
the broad umbrella of having a disability, are you know, two to three
times more likely to be unemployed andunderemployed and often working in fields that may
(12:48):
not be of interest to them,and that are you know, not traditionally
ones that they can really grow inand and sort of move up the pain
And we're discounting a lot of peoplethat have a lot of skills and could
be contributing, you know, moreso than kind of what they're sometimes relegated
(13:13):
to. So that was a challengethat Phillips has been looking at for a
while. We see our students reallymaking great progress within the career tech ed
pathways that I described, and thengraduating, finishing school and having a difficult
time finding a job and being ableto sustain it, and so we really
(13:37):
felt we needed to develop a newmodel, and so through through that process,
we decided to found a new nonprofit, Spring Forward Ventures, and their
mission is to incubate employment social enterprisesfor people who encounter barriers to employment,
but really particularly targeting those with behavioralhealth needs that are often overlooked in terms
(14:01):
of kinds of programming and many ofthe programs that are out there and they're
valuable and good programs, they don'tnecessarily address the needs of this particular population,
and so we said, instead ofcomplaining about it, let's do something
about it. So we founded anew nonprofit, as I said, and
(14:24):
we have two businesses that are beingincubated by Stringforward Ventures. One of them
is actually hydroponic farming, and weare we've received a us DA Urban Agriculture
Innovative Production Grant and some others aswell, and are looking to find land
(14:46):
in which to put up high techgreenhouses where this will this will be our
first showcase within the hydroponic farming arena. And then as well, we are
incubating a second business that is operationalnow and that's one we call call Spring
(15:07):
Forward Feeds, and that is ameal production company. And what really makes
these stand out is not necessarily theindustry, but the fact that the work
environment is a human centered design workenvironment, work setting that is really geared
towards and with the employees to bea work environment where they are able to
(15:35):
thrive, and that is often abarrier. So that framework, we call
it every employee that's really based onthe practices of Phillips over the last fifty
six years and what makes our schoolprograms in unique and allows our students to
thrive in the school environment where thatwas a difficult thing for them to do
(15:58):
otherwise. And then within that,once these businesses are financially sustainable, they
will convert to employee ownership and thatfor us is just the end all be
all. If you will that beable to have the opportunity around wealth building
(16:18):
and a voice and choice in thework environment that you're in is not a
model that is really around right now, and we hope and expect to be
able to provide some consultation around thatfor others that are looking for workplace solutions
for different kinds of individuals. Well, Piper, it's all thrilling to hear
(16:41):
and companies being born out of othercompanies with great ideas, and it's so
layered, and it's so smart,and it sounds like it's well thought out
too, with a lot of greatexecution by you and your staff. Speaking
of which, with all these programsand the schools and all of it,
I know those aren't free. Sowhen it comes to so funding, I'm
sure we're all super curious. Howdoes funding work for all of these things?
(17:04):
Right. Well, we we doneed to do a lot of fundraising
around different aspects of the programs,and you know, we're we are able
to We're in the midst of afive million dollar capital campaign right now,
and you know, we're we areable to I think really uh touch people
(17:30):
that have either these experiences you know, themselves or within their families and understand
the roadblocks that have made it verydifficult for family members to be able to
be uh employed and employed well whatwhat you call good jobs and so uh.
(17:53):
The the differences is that these businessmodels around the businesses that we're incubating
are not dependent on fundraising once they'reup and up, you know fully operation
also it's over a couple of yearperiod and it's really that seed funding that
is needed to do all the developmentwork and and get get the business up
(18:17):
and up and operation. Also,we are you know, definitely interested in
talking with people that are intrigued bythis. We have a lot of you
know, we have a lot ofsupport, We have a lot of you
know, opportunities in both you know, within state and local support as well
(18:42):
as individual and individual really is theprobably the most important one where we are
able to to uh you know,raise the greater amount of funds. Very
good. Well, we should alsotell our listeners too that we're just getting
the tip of the iceberg here.You know, if you go on the
website, which Piper is going togive it a second, in the social
(19:03):
media channels, the amount of informationthat you can gather by your beautiful websites.
By the way, whoever designed it, they're just wonderful, Piper.
It's easy to navigate. There's somuch information and education on there. It'll
give you criteria and how to donate. There's a nice donate button on there,
so I want you to check thatout too. And we're going to
chat again with Piper. Two.We're going to see if we can hook
(19:23):
up on the Public Affaircial Community CEto talk a little bit longer about this
and all the different programs and theschools that everything's going on. But if
anybody's intrigued, if they want toknow more about it, or maybe they
fit into the criteria joining the school, the programs, volunteering, donate,
or they'd like to be a corporatesponsor. What's the website and then the
social media channels. So website forPhillips programs is www dot Phillipsprograms dot org
(19:48):
and the website for spring Forward Venturesis www dot spring Forward md as in
Maryland dot org and all of ourI guess it's now x Graham. Yeah,
Instagram are are on our web pagesfor you know, easy access to
(20:14):
be following all the things that we'redoing, and donate buttons are on the
websites. Outstanding. Well. Youknow, I'm sure that over the years
that your dad has been proud ofthe legacy that you've taken on here and
moving Phillips to the next level.It's really extraordinary. I knew about you
guys, but interviewing you in theselast twenty minutes, I'm pretty blown away
(20:37):
by the incredible things that you andyour staff have done. And I know
there's more to come too, soI'm looking forward to talking to you once
again. But I really appreciate yourtime. I know how hard you're working
and I know how busy you are, so thank you so much and continue
success. We really appreciate you joiningus on the on this series and CEOs
you should know, thanks so muchfor your time, Piper, Thank you
(20:59):
appreciate it. Our community partner Mand T Bank supports CEOs you should know
as part of their ongoing commitment tobuilding strong communities, and that starts by
backing the businesses within them. Asa Bank for communities, M and T
believes in dedicating time, talent,and resources to help local businesses thrive because
when businesses succeed, our communities succeed.
M and T Bank Prison CEOs.You should know powerd by Iheartasha. Let's
meet Piper Phillips Caswell. She isthe president and CEO for Phillips Programs for
Children and Families, a nonprofit thatdoes some incredible things within the DMV.
We're also going to be speaking withPiper about all the new things coming out
of this original nonprofit that's been aroundfor more than fifty years. Before we
(00:23):
do all of that, I firstasked Piper to talk a little bit about
herself, where she's from and herorigin story. Well, actually, I
am a native of the DC region. I grew up in Falls Church City
in Fairfax County and went to undergraduateat George Washington University and Johns Hopkins for
my master's degree. Well, wonderful. We don't have everything in common,
(00:46):
but I can tell you that I'man old False Church kid and I went
to middle school and high school inthat area, and I have very fun
memories. That's when the life wassimple, Piper, Seven Corners was the
big mall, and if you wantto do a day trip, if you
went to Tyson's Corner and the Farrell'sice Cream for your birthday, you know,
and I was in middle school beforeTyson's Corner opened up, so that
(01:07):
was very exciting. Well, listen, we have a lot to talk about
it. I am thrilled to chatwith you because not only are we going
to talk about the Phillips Programs forChildren and Families, and I think that
a lot of people are going tobe introduced to what you've been doing for
a very long time there, butyou also have some other nonprofits and some
incubation that's going on with other newthings that are happening that we're very excited
to talk with you about. AndI know that you're jacked up about it
(01:30):
too, So we're going to talkabout all of that. But in this
series, we also like to givepeople context about what happened before the big
stuff, and I like to chatabout you know, hey, he came
out of school and he did thisand that and that and this. So
before you came up with the Phillipsprograms for children families, what were you
doing? What did you come upwith? Well, I actually didn't start
(01:52):
Phillips programs. That was started bymy dad, who was a clinical behavioral
psychologist. And this was before therewere there was a federal law that said
that all children are entitled to afree and appropriate public education, and if
that's not available, then you know, students can be referred out to private,
(02:13):
non public special education programs to meettheir needs. I have always been
interested in educating those who encounter difficultythriving in your more general education settings.
If you want to go way wayback, when I was in fourth grade,
(02:35):
I founded my own little school inthe backyard and Falls church, originally
called Piper excuse me, Peter PiperSchool. And I'd go around on Saturday
mornings and gather up neighborhood kids.And the criteria for admission into the Saturday
morning school was that you had tobe in a grade lower than mine.
(02:57):
Oh my gosh, so early entrepreneurialsills at a very young age. Yeah.
So I've been in the pretty muchin the special education arena for many,
many years. Dad was a visionarythen, obviously, so it was
yeah, when did he start this? How far back do we go?
(03:17):
We were founded in nineteen sixty seven, seven years before the federal law.
So it was a much needed andnovel opportunity for some of these families whose
children were still at home and werenot able to attend school. Did your
dad ever tell you the origin thatepiphany? Why he started this? While
(03:38):
he came up with the idea,well, you know, I think he
got to it gradually. He startedwith some summer camps for some of these
children. He was a clinical psychologist. He had patients and there were several
of them who had these children,most likely on the autism spectrum, who
were not attending school. He feltthat something needed to be done about that,
(04:02):
so he kind of gradually got tothe idea of opening a school,
and he went and bought a littlehouse in McLain and it started with four
students in the fall of nineteen sixtyseven, and within about two or three
years they were up to I thinkabout seventy five students and we've been pretty
(04:25):
much thriving ever since. We havefour schools now in the Loyal Virginia suburban
Maryland. We'll give people a littlebit more context in the second to all
that, and then when did youjoin officially? When were you full time?
And this was your baby? Well, in terms of being the CEO,
I've been here for a little bitover ten years. I actually started,
(04:46):
I hate to say fifty years ago, when I was nineteen and a
student at GW, and I haddone some internships at the school and actually
volunteer work in high school, andI was hired as a floating aid in
classrooms, and so I switched toworking full time and went to GW part
(05:10):
time, and that was nineteen seventythree. Well, listen, Nate,
I'm up there with you in Ate, So don't worry about that at all,
Piper. But I'm curious because Ialways had this fascination about children working
for their parents who have owned areally successful business that dad encourage. You
were you interested? How did thathold dynamic work? That's a really good
(05:32):
question. Well, I think Iwas always interested in working with children,
and you know, I had asort of a natural opportunity here. I'm
one of four children, and youknow, my dad founded it, but
that was not his job. Heworked at GW, and on Sunday mornings
(05:55):
he would take the four of usdown to the one house and then subsequently
ought a second house as the programexpanded, and our job was to clean
the school on Sunday mornings, andso you know, I got you know,
exposure to it starting, you know, probably about middle school. And
(06:16):
but I also in the summer Iworked for head Start. I volunteered for
Headstart. There were other things thatI you know, I was always doing
something related to working with with childrenand children that had some you know,
additional needs. Did he ever shareor did you have that thought, you
know, Dad's made it, there'ssomething special going on. Did he ever
(06:38):
share when that that actual moment wasthat we might be onto something pretty special
here? No, I don't thinkso. He was a very humble man
and not one to kind of youknow, he was busy with all of
his entrepreneurial incubation of different different things. He had his fingers in many pies,
(07:00):
but this was probably his most successfulendeavor in terms of things that he
did on a volunteer basis. Well, you've kind of taken the mantle over
and all that what you just said, and we're going to chat a out
about that. Why don't we dothis just to give some context to people
about filter program for Children and families? Can you tell us what the mission
statement is of the nonprofit? Yes, Well, we work with children and
(07:23):
their families who have behavioral health anddevelopmental disabilities, and we do that through
education, through advocacy, and throughfamily support services. And we've been doing
that now for fifty six years.All right, let's do this. If
we were to introduce this nonprofit toa lot of our listeners for the first
(07:46):
time, we're saying, wow,this sounds exciting. Never heard about you.
What's the thirty thousand foot view aboutexactly what you do do? We
work with children with the behavioral healthneeds that are unable to thrive in public
school settings, and we do thatthrough several different avenues. Obviously academic because
it's schools, social, emotional,behavioral support in learning how to sort of
(08:13):
navigate through those arenas, and thenwe have a pretty robust career in tech
education program as well that provides ourstudents in middle school and high school with
opportunities to work in both authentic settingswithin the community as well as the specific
pathways that we have developed. Nowtoday, we don't have enough time to
(08:37):
go over all the programs because thereare really so many. When I got
on the website last week and whenI knew I was gonna interview, my
gosh, this is unbelievable. Notonly the handful of schools, and I'd
like you to talk about the citiesthat they're in, but all the programs
that you have is incredible. Sotell people where the schools are located and
maybe leve to shine a spotlight onsome of the programs that not necessarily the
(08:58):
most important, but some that you'reroudof. So we have schools in Annandale,
Fairfax, Leesburg, and Laurel andeach of those serves students from either
all or a combination of students comingfrom northern Virginia, from suburban Maryland as
(09:18):
well as the District of Columbia andactually even even further into southern Maryland.
And within those the Career Tech Educationprogram. We have a building trades program
our students in that it's called BuildingFutures build houses. It takes them about
four years to build a house,and in fact, we have a wall
(09:39):
raising this fall on the third housethat they're building. We also do vertical
farming, so this is urban agriculture. It's really an emerging industry that has
you know, tremendous environmental, socialkinds of impact. And the kids love
it because the produce that's grown growspretty quickly. If it's microgreens, it
(10:03):
can grow within two weeks, andyou know leafy greens and edible flowers and
so there's a lot of you know, excitement around that because you see the
impact of what it is you're doingpretty quickly. We have several culinary arts
programs and actually one of those islocated along with the hydroponic farms, so
(10:28):
the students within the culinary arts programare able to use the produce that they're
growing in the you know, thefood that they're making. And then we
also have a three D design andprint and it program that is part of
our career tech ed pathway but alsohas branched into serving young adults in some
(10:54):
earn and learned fellowships that has helpedpave the way to build the confidence and
confidence for some of them to thenmove on, like into a community college
where they can expand on those techpathways that they're interested in. Well outstanding,
Thank you for sharing all that.You know, something that really garnered
my attention, And I've talked toa lot of nonprofits over the last couple
(11:18):
of years here at iHeart with acouple different series, including this one,
and the one thing I've been gatheringover the last five ten years is that
trade schools have been disappearing by thedozens, especially in the DMV and specifically
in the DC area, which Iwas a little shocked about, but it's
happening out there, and a lotof it just has to do with funding
and money. So I am thrilledthat part of the things that you offer
(11:41):
are doing that because we need moretrades calls, because folks, I'm telling
you right now, you might notknow this, but depending on what trade
it is, actually pays very verywell into the six figures with some trades.
So I'm thrilled, Piper that you'redoing that. All right, Well,
let's do this. I know thatyou've got other things that are incubating,
as it were, and I knowthat you're always coming up with new
(12:03):
ideas, new nonprofits and other things. So let's share with our audience of
the other things that you've got percolating, because there's a lot of fun things
that are currently going on and thefuture are going to be coming up,
So tell us all about it.You know. I think one of the
interesting things of coming out of thepandemic and people's you know, growing awareness,
(12:24):
is that there are a lot ofindividuals that encounter barriers to employment for
a variety of different reasons, andmany people that fall under this sort of
the broad umbrella of having a disability, are you know, two to three
times more likely to be unemployed andunderemployed and often working in fields that may
(12:48):
not be of interest to them,and that are you know, not traditionally
ones that they can really grow inand and sort of move up the pain
And we're discounting a lot of peoplethat have a lot of skills and could
be contributing, you know, moreso than kind of what they're sometimes relegated
(13:13):
to. So that was a challengethat Phillips has been looking at for a
while. We see our students reallymaking great progress within the career tech ed
pathways that I described, and thengraduating, finishing school and having a difficult
time finding a job and being ableto sustain it, and so we really
(13:37):
felt we needed to develop a newmodel, and so through through that process,
we decided to found a new nonprofit, Spring Forward Ventures, and their
mission is to incubate employment social enterprisesfor people who encounter barriers to employment,
but really particularly targeting those with behavioralhealth needs that are often overlooked in terms
(14:01):
of kinds of programming and many ofthe programs that are out there and they're
valuable and good programs, they don'tnecessarily address the needs of this particular population,
and so we said, instead ofcomplaining about it, let's do something
about it. So we founded anew nonprofit, as I said, and
(14:24):
we have two businesses that are beingincubated by Stringforward Ventures. One of them
is actually hydroponic farming, and weare we've received a us DA Urban Agriculture
Innovative Production Grant and some others aswell, and are looking to find land
(14:46):
in which to put up high techgreenhouses where this will this will be our
first showcase within the hydroponic farming arena. And then as well, we are
incubating a second business that is operationalnow and that's one we call call Spring
(15:07):
Forward Feeds, and that is ameal production company. And what really makes
these stand out is not necessarily theindustry, but the fact that the work
environment is a human centered design workenvironment, work setting that is really geared
towards and with the employees to bea work environment where they are able to
(15:35):
thrive, and that is often abarrier. So that framework, we call
it every employee that's really based onthe practices of Phillips over the last fifty
six years and what makes our schoolprograms in unique and allows our students to
thrive in the school environment where thatwas a difficult thing for them to do
(15:58):
otherwise. And then within that,once these businesses are financially sustainable, they
will convert to employee ownership and thatfor us is just the end all be
all. If you will that beable to have the opportunity around wealth building
(16:18):
and a voice and choice in thework environment that you're in is not a
model that is really around right now, and we hope and expect to be
able to provide some consultation around thatfor others that are looking for workplace solutions
for different kinds of individuals. Well, Piper, it's all thrilling to hear
(16:41):
and companies being born out of othercompanies with great ideas, and it's so
layered, and it's so smart,and it sounds like it's well thought out
too, with a lot of greatexecution by you and your staff. Speaking
of which, with all these programsand the schools and all of it,
I know those aren't free. Sowhen it comes to so funding, I'm
sure we're all super curious. Howdoes funding work for all of these things?
(17:04):
Right. Well, we we doneed to do a lot of fundraising
around different aspects of the programs,and you know, we're we are able
to We're in the midst of afive million dollar capital campaign right now,
and you know, we're we areable to I think really uh touch people
(17:30):
that have either these experiences you know, themselves or within their families and understand
the roadblocks that have made it verydifficult for family members to be able to
be uh employed and employed well whatwhat you call good jobs and so uh.
(17:53):
The the differences is that these businessmodels around the businesses that we're incubating
are not dependent on fundraising once they'reup and up, you know fully operation
also it's over a couple of yearperiod and it's really that seed funding that
is needed to do all the developmentwork and and get get the business up
(18:17):
and up and operation. Also,we are you know, definitely interested in
talking with people that are intrigued bythis. We have a lot of you
know, we have a lot ofsupport, We have a lot of you
know, opportunities in both you know, within state and local support as well
(18:42):
as individual and individual really is theprobably the most important one where we are
able to to uh you know,raise the greater amount of funds. Very
good. Well, we should alsotell our listeners too that we're just getting
the tip of the iceberg here.You know, if you go on the
website, which Piper is going togive it a second, in the social
(19:03):
media channels, the amount of informationthat you can gather by your beautiful websites.
By the way, whoever designed it, they're just wonderful, Piper.
It's easy to navigate. There's somuch information and education on there. It'll
give you criteria and how to donate. There's a nice donate button on there,
so I want you to check thatout too. And we're going to
chat again with Piper. Two.We're going to see if we can hook
(19:23):
up on the Public Affaircial Community CEto talk a little bit longer about this
and all the different programs and theschools that everything's going on. But if
anybody's intrigued, if they want toknow more about it, or maybe they
fit into the criteria joining the school, the programs, volunteering, donate,
or they'd like to be a corporatesponsor. What's the website and then the
social media channels. So website forPhillips programs is www dot Phillipsprograms dot org
(19:48):
and the website for spring Forward Venturesis www dot spring Forward md as in
Maryland dot org and all of ourI guess it's now x Graham. Yeah,
Instagram are are on our web pagesfor you know, easy access to
(20:14):
be following all the things that we'redoing, and donate buttons are on the
websites. Outstanding. Well. Youknow, I'm sure that over the years
that your dad has been proud ofthe legacy that you've taken on here and
moving Phillips to the next level.It's really extraordinary. I knew about you
guys, but interviewing you in theselast twenty minutes, I'm pretty blown away
(20:37):
by the incredible things that you andyour staff have done. And I know
there's more to come too, soI'm looking forward to talking to you once
again. But I really appreciate yourtime. I know how hard you're working
and I know how busy you are, so thank you so much and continue
success. We really appreciate you joiningus on the on this series and CEOs
you should know, thanks so muchfor your time, Piper, Thank you
(20:59):
appreciate it. Our community partner Mand T Bank supports CEOs you should know
as part of their ongoing commitment tobuilding strong communities, and that starts by
backing the businesses within them. Asa Bank for communities, M and T
believes in dedicating time, talent,and resources to help local businesses thrive because
when businesses succeed, our communities succeed.
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