May 22, 2023 • 25 mins
Everyone has something to contribute. Sometimes, it takes a little help to find your talent, your passion, your purpose. Easterseals Redwood CEO Pam Green explains how this new partnership serves the disabled, veterans and those economically challenged. Easterseals Redwood is expanding their services in Walnut Hills to serve residents on both sides of the Ohio River.
https://www.easterseals.com/redwood/
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Episode Transcript
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(00:06):
This week on iHeart Cincy. Andthere's no cost involved, none at all.
Everything that we do is at nocost to veterans. Today you'll meet
Pam Green. She heads up EasterSeals Redwood, which helps tristaters with disabilities,
people experiencing economic challenges, and veteransget the support that they need to
(00:27):
thrive and work and live. EasterSeals Redwood is a new collaboration joining Cincinnati
and Northern Kentucky nonprofits with a centralmission expanding their services and building now for
the future. Now on iHeart Cincywith Sandy Collins. Thank you for joining
me today. I appreciate that PamGreen is a president and CEO of Easter
(00:49):
Seals Redwood, and Pam is niceto meet you. Nice to meet you.
You know, we've heard of GoodwillEaster Seals at least my whole life
that I'm aware of. But Iknow about the Goodwill part, but I
don't know much about the Easter Sealspart. And now I see that the
Easter Seals Redwood has this plan toput in place, and now you've piqued
my interest. So what is EasterSeals Redwood and what the mission is?
(01:14):
Please? Sure? Sure? SoEaster Seals is one of the largest charities
in the United States. We were, actually, I'm very proud, founded
in Ohio and nineteen nineteen to servepeople with disabilities in their community versus in
an institutional setting. So as theneeds of people with disabilities have grown and
(01:34):
changed, I'm really proud of theway our organization has adapted. So in
Ohio, for example, in Dayton, Goodwill and Easter Seals are the same
organization. In Cincinnati, Easter Sealsand Goodwill are separate organizations, but we
collaborate on lots of things to helppeople with disabilities gain employment. I think
disability services is just like any businessand that we believe consumers deserve choice.
(02:00):
Last year, we were approached bythe leadership at Redwood, which is one
of the leading nonprofits in northern Kentucky, certainly the leading disability services provider in
my mind, and like Easter Seals, they were looking at how are we
going to evolve to meet the needsof the growing number of people with disabilities
(02:22):
in our community. And so theyapproached us and said, you know,
coming out of the pandemic, isthis the right time for us to talk
about how we can do more togetheron both sides of the river than either
of us could do separately. Soour boards spent nearly a year kicking the
tires and seeing if this was theright thing for the agencies and most importantly
(02:44):
for the people we serve, andwe decided to get married, and so
we did August first. It wasofficial and Easter Seals Redwood is one agency
you know, we want to honor. Redwood has been in northern Kentucky for
seventy years. We changed our nameto honor the heritage of both organizations,
so it's now one place Easter SalesRedwood. So you're going to be building
(03:08):
onto the building there in Norwood,a huge from your press release, a
twenty six million dollar campaign to expandyour services and double your building size.
There. Where is the campus inWalnut Hills. It's in Walnut Yeah,
so Easter Seals has bad facility inWalnut Hills. We've been there since nineteen
(03:30):
ninety four and the majority of ourwork in Southwest Ohio is focused on helping
people with disabilities, veterans, andpeople who are economically disadvantaged get the skills
and supports that they need to succeedin employment. So as a piece of
that. We operate a social enterprisebusiness that prepares people for their own job,
(03:54):
and so it is a clinical kittingoperation, so we build test kits
for clinical trials. And a coupleof years ago, our customer came to
us and said, you know,look, you do great work, but
this is a lab operation and weneed your facility to look a little bit
more like a lab. It's moreof a light industrial environment. So we
started looking at what would that looklike if we upgraded this facility. Our
(04:17):
customers tell us that they can helpus grow. They have more business to
send us. We're in a city, so we've kind of got like a
fixed footprint, so we need tobe on transportation lines. What are we
going to do At About this sametime, the YMCA contacted us and they
were going to close their branch onMelrose Avenue, which actually backs up to
(04:41):
our property, and it was importantto them that that building remained an asset
for the community of Walnut Hills inthe city versus selling it to a developer.
So we bought the Melrose y andwe are now, as you said,
it's a twenty six million dollar campaignto double the footprint of our facility
on Gilbert Avenue. So we're renovatingthe why, we're building a new addition
(05:05):
to connect the two buildings, andwhen we're done, we will grow the
footprint of our production center by morethan fifty percent. We're also opening Veterans
Center for all of the vets inour community and quite frankly for the organizations
who serve them. And then we'realso building a state of the art construction
(05:29):
lab. We have several construction trainingprograms and so we're going to take the
old gym and turn it into aconstruction lab. So this is pretty really
exciting. Yeah, this is prettyambitious considering and we're just coming out of
COVID and this is a multimillion dollarattempt to expand it's pretty bold. That's
very cool. If you just joinedus on Sandy Collins and this is iHeart
(05:49):
CINC. My guest today is PamGreen. She's the president and CEO of
Easter Seals Redwood. They're serving thousandsof clients with disabilities and other challenges on
both sides of the Ohio River,providing individualized support for those who want to
work and need training or support todo so. And they're hiring workers in
their own business in Walnut Hills.Tell me about the veteran services and how
(06:15):
you know what opportunities are there forcurrent military and veterans as well. Yeah,
so, Easter Seals has been servingveterans since World War Two. Many
of our affiliates do a lot ofmed therapy and as you can imagine,
following the war, we had veteranscoming home with lots of physical, debilitating
injuries, and so our therapists wentto work helping those folks. In Cincinnati,
(06:40):
we launched our Veterans program just overa decade ago. We were concerned
about what was going to happen whenthe veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan started coming
home. I come from a militaryfamily. It was very important to me
that we never have another generation uphomeless veterans, and we started talking about
(07:00):
what do we need and I thinkyou know one of the things that we
talked about at Easter Seals a lot. It's actually the name of our campaign
is the power of work and thepower of purpose. And I think for
veterans coming home, if they're notimmediately connected to employment and community, a
sense of purpose and contribution and value, there's a bigger opportunity that something bad
(07:26):
might happen to them. There's alot of veterans who've been overprescribed for pain
or for mental health issues that developsubstance abuse issues and trauma, and how
can we be there to help them? So we launched a veteran employment program.
And you know, Sandy, oneof the things people talk about a
(07:46):
lot is I think people get alittle cynical about can you really create change?
And I am so proud. Whenwe started our veteran employment program,
the unemployment rate for veterans was significantlyhigher than it is for the civilian population.
And I'm talking about nationally, notjust in our community. And Easter
(08:07):
Seals and other organizations around the countryreally banded and said we're going to address
this, and right now the unemploymentrate for veterans is lower than civilians.
So we have had tremendous success,and that's because nonprofits, the Department of
Veteran Affairs, and employers all workedtogether to say, these folks have put
their life on the line for us, and we're going to make sure they
(08:30):
succeed coming back. So for thosewho continue to experience challenges, vets don't
like asking for help. I thinkbeing self sufficient resilient as a part of
the identity, and so we findthat often when people finally call us,
the problem is bigger than it wouldhave been if we'd been involved earlier.
(08:50):
So we talk about registration frustrations.So a veteran finally says I need help,
and they get the courage up tomake that first call and they call
you directly. Yes, they willcall us absolutely directly, but we'll say
that that first call was maybe tothe VA or someplace other than Easter Seals
(09:11):
and they say, okay, youknow, you need to come in with
your d D two fourteen and thenyou know, we'll get you all registered.
So they show up and they're like, okay, you also need this
piece of paperwork and this piece ofpaperwork, and you need to go to
this place, and so they getsent all over the place, and we
call it registration frustration. So theyjust disengage. So our team is very
(09:31):
committed to working with the veteran servicecommunity to help them get the services that
they need in one spot. Sowe're reserving space in our facility for other
agencies that serve veterans to come inand help. So, for example,
if there's a mobile veterinary clinic,you know, can you do one day
a week at our facility to helpus who have service animals. Oral healthcare
(09:54):
is a big challenge that's often notcovered by their benefits. Can we get
an oral health council to have theirvan there once a day. Can we
have a rep from the VA thereto help them walk through the benefits process.
That's really a huge thing. We'regoing to have a gaming facility for
younger vets we host to host somegaming competitions. We're going to have a
(10:18):
workout facility, showers, a foodpantry. It's just a place for vets
to drop in to feel valued,and if you're a vent who's thriving,
to come volunteer to help those whomay need a little help. And there's
no cost involved for the vet,none at all, None at all.
Everything that we do is at nocost to veterans. When we started our
(10:39):
employment program a decade ago, oneof the things that we said from the
get go is that this program willalways be majority funded by philanthropy and contributions
from the community. We love governmentfunding, it's really important. It's what
we pay taxes for. But governmentfunding often comes with a lot of legibility
(11:00):
restrictions, and quite frankly, wewant to serve every vet regardless of where
they are in their cycle, andso we need unrestricted funds to do that.
And so I am so proud ofthis community. For ten years,
the community has stepped up to helpus do that. We do a big
event every year. It's calleding ona Ride. It's uh, it's going
to be coming up soon. Andum, it's a motorcycle ride. Is
(11:26):
that a motorcycle? Right? Sothere's a motor I'm looking at your shirt.
It's motorcycles and bicycles. We're upat Whitewater Park. And then I
think this year we are actually organizingone of our board members, I believe,
is going to be organizing a separatemotorcycle ride. So stay tuned for
the details on that. I think. Just so you folks care, I
have my Harley David's in short ontoday while we're while we're doing this,
(11:48):
is any of that information available nowfor like on your website? Yeah,
listen to us do that, andthen we'll go back to some of the
other questions that I have. What'swhat's the website and the phone? Though
our site is www dot Easter SealsRedwood all one word Easter Seals Redwood dot
O rgep okay and then the phonenumber of it is listening right now and
(12:11):
wants to call and reach out absolutely, they can call into our main number
is five one three to eight onetwo three one six. Talking with Pan
Green, She's the president and CEOof Easter Seals Redwood. We're going to
talk more here in just a momenthere on iHeart Cincy. Sometimes when we
talk about inclusion, people limit theirthinking to race and gender and sexual identity.
(12:35):
Disability is often the last thing peoplethink about when they think about inclusion,
and when you come to Easter Seals, I mean that's what inclusion looks
like more. iHeart Cincy Coming upnext, This is fifty five KRC an
iHeartRadio Station. Welcome back to iHeartCinc. A tri state public affairs program
produced right here in Cincinnati. Forthis iHeartRadio Station, What's the solutions?
(12:58):
An opportunity is found right here inyour own backyard. I'm Sandy Collins.
My guest today is Pam Green,the President and CEO of Easter Seals Redwood,
serving thousands of clients with disabilities andother challenges on both sides of the
Ohio River, providing individualized support forthose who want to work and need training
or support to do so, andthey're hiring workers in their own business in
(13:20):
Walnut Hills. You really have thisambitious campaign. I know you're wanting to
raise twenty six million. You're closeto that, right, Yeah, we
are absolutely thrilled. We've raised twentyfour point seven million, so we're down
to just a little over a millionto go, and a piece of that
(13:41):
will be to, as you mentioned, to significantly renovate and expand our campus
in Walnut Hills on Gilbert Avenue.Then we also want to dedicate a portion
of the funding to some program enhancementsthat we're working on, and then also
to our sustainability through endowment. Youknow, we know that because of the
(14:03):
advances in healthcare, there are morepeople with disabilities. So whether it's children
who are born prematurely that now live, whether it's better diagnoses because of more
knowledge in the medical community, orwhether it's seniors who quite frankly, are
living longer. The reality is isthat one in four of us will experience
(14:24):
disability before we leave this earth,and we need to be there to meet
those needs. So if the numberof people with disabilities is growing, by
golly, we better be growing too. I think one of the we talk
about programmatically, one of the thingsthat we're talking about a lot at Easter
Seals. Right now, one inevery forty four children, one in every
twenty nine boys will be diagnosed onthe autism spectrum by the time they're eighteen.
(14:48):
Yeah, it's it's stunning. Andautism is a spectrum disorder. So
there are people with autism who havelots of different challenges. And for an
organist zation that a lot of itswork is an employment. You know,
right now we're at full employment.Mail workforce participation is at the lowest rate
it's ever been. Let me stopyou there. You say, right now
(15:11):
we're at full employment. What doesthat mean? Yeah, that means that
basically everyone who wants a job hasone to your organization. Okay, great,
now, I know I'm talking aboutnationally. Like, if you talk
to workforce experts, they'll say thatwhen your unemployment rate is you know,
three percent or below, you're atfull employment. So our country is at
(15:31):
full employment. So we have tostart thinking about what can we do to
bring more people into the workforce.And so when I think about people with
disabilities, the rate of employment forpeople with disabilities is it's only about thirty
percent of what the employment rate isfor people who do not have disabilities,
and many want to work, butthey do need extra support. So what
(15:54):
can we do to help bring morepeople with disabilities into the work force and
how can we support employers in providingopportunities for them. We really hope through
this campaign that we'll be coming outof it with some pretty exciting initiatives around
disability employment. Do you have anassessment tool for clients to see if they
(16:18):
are capable of being helped at EasterSeals. We believe that almost everyone can
work in some capacity with the rightskills and support for families of people with
disabilities, for you know, theparents that entrust us to provide training for
(16:38):
their children. Safety is quite franklyone of the biggest concerns and the fear
of failure, and so we buildour programs vary on a very customized level
for each individual person. If personcomes to Easter Seals for aliment supports,
(17:00):
the first thing that we want todo is to find out what are they
good at, what are their skills, what are their interests, and then
from there to help them explore whatopportunities might be available. So, for
example, with young people, wemay do summer career exploration where they go
out and they visit a number ofdifferent job sites to kind of figure out
what they want. We have somereally great programs. It's called Work and
(17:25):
Grow. We just opened a newone at the Cincinnati Museum Center where folks
work a couple of hours a day. They're paid to do work at the
site, and then the rest ofthe time is spent on the things that
young adults want to do. Sowhether it's doing some life skills training with
staff or doing something fun like goingto a restaurant and figuring out how to
(17:49):
budget and how to take care ofyour personal funds. And so we really
try to meet people where they arein their employment journey. And I mean,
I'll tell you I have two daughters. Neither of my daughters have disabilities.
However, the one thing that Ireally have in common with the parents
of so many of the people thatwe serve is my children aren't able to
(18:10):
do so much more than sometimes Igive them credit for it because I'm their
parent. I see their limitations andI want them to succeed, and sometimes
that you know, they blow meaway constantly with what they're able to do.
And I will tell you that forthe parents of the folks that we
serve, it's the same thing.I think about a story. This is
(18:30):
probably more than a decade ago,and we've done some travel training for a
young man with autism and he gota bus pass for the very first time,
and someone called his mother because theysaw him on the other side of
town. So of course she panickedand she's like, where are you What
are you doing. He's like,Mom, I'm good. I'm learning how
to use the bus routes so thatI can work on any side of town
(18:52):
where I get a job. Andof course that was a terribly frightening moment
for her and for us, quitefrankly, because we didn't want him just
going out billy once he had abus pass. But it was also one
of those things that's like, Okay, he's growing up and he's able to
do more than maybe I thought hecould. And you know, we obviously
teach people about personal safety and thosethings, so it is just people with
(19:17):
the disabilities have amazing talents. SoI like to share the story. You
know, I think everyone in Cincinnatiknows and should be proud that our hometown
grocer Kroger is a big employer ofpeople with disabilities. So during the pandemic,
I'd say we have about sixty folkswho are working in Kroger stores throughout
Greater Cincinnati and northern Kentucky. Duringthe pandemic, not one of the people
(19:40):
that we serve who continued to workgot COVID. Wow, they went to
work every day. They were onthe front line as essential workers. These
are people that are you would thinkwould be at higher risk. And to
me, what that said is peoplewith disabilities observe and follow rules, that
they are cautious and that they arecommitted to their work. And so I
(20:07):
just think that's such a beautiful exampleof what the possibility in the strengths of
employing people with disabilities is. Weall need a purpose and that's why the
veterans must love your programs, becausewhen they come back from their deployments or
their service and they don't have thatmission anymore, they don't have somebody guiding
them, they feel lost. Andthat's exactly when we all need that,
(20:30):
we all need to feel valued,and it's wonderful that you provide that training
and all that support. My guestis Pam Green, the president and CEO
of Easter Seals Redwood, and theyjust combined their forces last August with a
common mission now to help folks withdisabilities, veterans and others who need their
(20:51):
help. So this is called theRegional Impact Center, which is what you're
going to call this? And whendo you expect it to be completed?
Because I know with all of thedelays in the supply chain and the construction,
if you talk to anybody in thistown, it's like, well it
was supposed to be done this week, but it's going to be two years
from now. So when when doyou expect this to be finished? Yeah,
(21:12):
So we started work this past Iguess about six months ago, and
so we're doing it in phases becausewe have to stay open and continue to
serve our customers. So our goalis to be finished by August of twenty
twenty four, and so we arewell underway. Our production center was completed
(21:33):
a couple of weeks ago, andso now we're moving on. The Veterans
Center will be next and then finallywe'll be doing the addition and the renovation
of Melrose So's. It's a prettyexciting time and I can't see enough about
our staff because, like I said, we're trying to stay open and work
and you know you mentioned you know, veterans and working in Easter Seals,
so in our production center. Thewonderful thing about our clinical kitting business is
(22:00):
that it provides employment opportunities to allof the people that we serve. So
whether you're a veteran, whether you'rea person with a disability, whether you're
a single mom that's you know,trying to get some income to stabilize your
life and better provide for your family, there's a place for you at Easter
Seals as an employee in our kiddingwork. And those folks have they have
(22:21):
kicked it, I mean through thegoal post, out of the park,
throughout this process. And so Ithink the other thing that is beautiful about
that is that when you come toyou'll have to come over sometime. The
fantastic thing about our businesses is weall talk about inclusion and what that looks
like. Sometimes when we talk aboutinclusion, people limit their thinking to race
(22:45):
and gender and sexual identity. Disabilityis often the last thing people think about
when they think about inclusion, andwhen you come to Easter Seals, I
mean, that's what inclusion looks like. And you can't tell what label people.
I mean, obviously some people theirdisability is visible. But when you
go out on that production floor,almost everybody there came through one of our
(23:07):
programs, and it's not easy tofigure out who's who based on the work
they're doing. Everybody works together,and it is we think it's a model
for what others can do. I'lltell you, seetee. One of the
things we used to have the signin our building, and it says independence
is a myth. We are allinterdependent, and I think that that's sort
(23:30):
of one of the things that wecan learn from people with disabilities, whether
it's stamina, a physical challenge,you know, a learning disability. Folks
with disabilities recognize that we're better ifwe help each other. And I think
that's such a beautiful lesson for theworld. Quite frankly, help being willing
(23:52):
to accept help doesn't mean that Iam helpless. It actually means I'm strong
enough to accept help. So Ithink there's um I will tell you I've
learned so much from the people thatwe serve. Ham Green, President CEO
of Easter Seals Redwood. If youwant to make a donation, I'm sure
she'd love to talk to you.Go to the website. You can also
(24:14):
call them at five one three twoeight one two three one six. I'll
repeat that number for you if you'rea veteran. Find out about their new
Veteran Services Center which is going up, and the current opportunities that they have
for for anyone who needs this kindof help. The number five one three
two eight one two three one six. Good luck. I will come over
(24:37):
and let me know about that motorcycleride I do. I do. It's
a lot of fun and when youcan help a charity, it's even better.
If you missed any of this programtoday, you can hear it on
your web browser at iHeart dot comand on your device on the iHeartRadio app,
(24:59):
including your smart TV as well.Just look under podcasts search for my
name is Sandy Collins. The archiveis right there. Talk full of interesting
people in stories and opportunities for peoplehere in Cincinnati, northern Kentucky, and
Southeast Indiana to reach me here sendme an email. iHeart Cincy at iHeartMedia
dot com. iHeart Cincy is aproduction of iHeartMedia Cincinnati,
This week on iHeart Cincy. Andthere's no cost involved, none at all.
Everything that we do is at nocost to veterans. Today you'll meet
Pam Green. She heads up EasterSeals Redwood, which helps tristaters with disabilities,
people experiencing economic challenges, and veteransget the support that they need to
(00:27):
thrive and work and live. EasterSeals Redwood is a new collaboration joining Cincinnati
and Northern Kentucky nonprofits with a centralmission expanding their services and building now for
the future. Now on iHeart Cincywith Sandy Collins. Thank you for joining
me today. I appreciate that PamGreen is a president and CEO of Easter
(00:49):
Seals Redwood, and Pam is niceto meet you. Nice to meet you.
You know, we've heard of GoodwillEaster Seals at least my whole life
that I'm aware of. But Iknow about the Goodwill part, but I
don't know much about the Easter Sealspart. And now I see that the
Easter Seals Redwood has this plan toput in place, and now you've piqued
my interest. So what is EasterSeals Redwood and what the mission is?
(01:14):
Please? Sure? Sure? SoEaster Seals is one of the largest charities
in the United States. We were, actually, I'm very proud, founded
in Ohio and nineteen nineteen to servepeople with disabilities in their community versus in
an institutional setting. So as theneeds of people with disabilities have grown and
(01:34):
changed, I'm really proud of theway our organization has adapted. So in
Ohio, for example, in Dayton, Goodwill and Easter Seals are the same
organization. In Cincinnati, Easter Sealsand Goodwill are separate organizations, but we
collaborate on lots of things to helppeople with disabilities gain employment. I think
disability services is just like any businessand that we believe consumers deserve choice.
(02:00):
Last year, we were approached bythe leadership at Redwood, which is one
of the leading nonprofits in northern Kentucky, certainly the leading disability services provider in
my mind, and like Easter Seals, they were looking at how are we
going to evolve to meet the needsof the growing number of people with disabilities
(02:22):
in our community. And so theyapproached us and said, you know,
coming out of the pandemic, isthis the right time for us to talk
about how we can do more togetheron both sides of the river than either
of us could do separately. Soour boards spent nearly a year kicking the
tires and seeing if this was theright thing for the agencies and most importantly
(02:44):
for the people we serve, andwe decided to get married, and so
we did August first. It wasofficial and Easter Seals Redwood is one agency
you know, we want to honor. Redwood has been in northern Kentucky for
seventy years. We changed our nameto honor the heritage of both organizations,
so it's now one place Easter SalesRedwood. So you're going to be building
(03:08):
onto the building there in Norwood,a huge from your press release, a
twenty six million dollar campaign to expandyour services and double your building size.
There. Where is the campus inWalnut Hills. It's in Walnut Yeah,
so Easter Seals has bad facility inWalnut Hills. We've been there since nineteen
(03:30):
ninety four and the majority of ourwork in Southwest Ohio is focused on helping
people with disabilities, veterans, andpeople who are economically disadvantaged get the skills
and supports that they need to succeedin employment. So as a piece of
that. We operate a social enterprisebusiness that prepares people for their own job,
(03:54):
and so it is a clinical kittingoperation, so we build test kits
for clinical trials. And a coupleof years ago, our customer came to
us and said, you know,look, you do great work, but
this is a lab operation and weneed your facility to look a little bit
more like a lab. It's moreof a light industrial environment. So we
started looking at what would that looklike if we upgraded this facility. Our
(04:17):
customers tell us that they can helpus grow. They have more business to
send us. We're in a city, so we've kind of got like a
fixed footprint, so we need tobe on transportation lines. What are we
going to do At About this sametime, the YMCA contacted us and they
were going to close their branch onMelrose Avenue, which actually backs up to
(04:41):
our property, and it was importantto them that that building remained an asset
for the community of Walnut Hills inthe city versus selling it to a developer.
So we bought the Melrose y andwe are now, as you said,
it's a twenty six million dollar campaignto double the footprint of our facility
on Gilbert Avenue. So we're renovatingthe why, we're building a new addition
(05:05):
to connect the two buildings, andwhen we're done, we will grow the
footprint of our production center by morethan fifty percent. We're also opening Veterans
Center for all of the vets inour community and quite frankly for the organizations
who serve them. And then we'realso building a state of the art construction
(05:29):
lab. We have several construction trainingprograms and so we're going to take the
old gym and turn it into aconstruction lab. So this is pretty really
exciting. Yeah, this is prettyambitious considering and we're just coming out of
COVID and this is a multimillion dollarattempt to expand it's pretty bold. That's
very cool. If you just joinedus on Sandy Collins and this is iHeart
(05:49):
CINC. My guest today is PamGreen. She's the president and CEO of
Easter Seals Redwood. They're serving thousandsof clients with disabilities and other challenges on
both sides of the Ohio River,providing individualized support for those who want to
work and need training or support todo so. And they're hiring workers in
their own business in Walnut Hills.Tell me about the veteran services and how
(06:15):
you know what opportunities are there forcurrent military and veterans as well. Yeah,
so, Easter Seals has been servingveterans since World War Two. Many
of our affiliates do a lot ofmed therapy and as you can imagine,
following the war, we had veteranscoming home with lots of physical, debilitating
injuries, and so our therapists wentto work helping those folks. In Cincinnati,
(06:40):
we launched our Veterans program just overa decade ago. We were concerned
about what was going to happen whenthe veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan started coming
home. I come from a militaryfamily. It was very important to me
that we never have another generation uphomeless veterans, and we started talking about
(07:00):
what do we need and I thinkyou know one of the things that we
talked about at Easter Seals a lot. It's actually the name of our campaign
is the power of work and thepower of purpose. And I think for
veterans coming home, if they're notimmediately connected to employment and community, a
sense of purpose and contribution and value, there's a bigger opportunity that something bad
(07:26):
might happen to them. There's alot of veterans who've been overprescribed for pain
or for mental health issues that developsubstance abuse issues and trauma, and how
can we be there to help them? So we launched a veteran employment program.
And you know, Sandy, oneof the things people talk about a
(07:46):
lot is I think people get alittle cynical about can you really create change?
And I am so proud. Whenwe started our veteran employment program,
the unemployment rate for veterans was significantlyhigher than it is for the civilian population.
And I'm talking about nationally, notjust in our community. And Easter
(08:07):
Seals and other organizations around the countryreally banded and said we're going to address
this, and right now the unemploymentrate for veterans is lower than civilians.
So we have had tremendous success,and that's because nonprofits, the Department of
Veteran Affairs, and employers all workedtogether to say, these folks have put
their life on the line for us, and we're going to make sure they
(08:30):
succeed coming back. So for thosewho continue to experience challenges, vets don't
like asking for help. I thinkbeing self sufficient resilient as a part of
the identity, and so we findthat often when people finally call us,
the problem is bigger than it wouldhave been if we'd been involved earlier.
(08:50):
So we talk about registration frustrations.So a veteran finally says I need help,
and they get the courage up tomake that first call and they call
you directly. Yes, they willcall us absolutely directly, but we'll say
that that first call was maybe tothe VA or someplace other than Easter Seals
(09:11):
and they say, okay, youknow, you need to come in with
your d D two fourteen and thenyou know, we'll get you all registered.
So they show up and they're like, okay, you also need this
piece of paperwork and this piece ofpaperwork, and you need to go to
this place, and so they getsent all over the place, and we
call it registration frustration. So theyjust disengage. So our team is very
(09:31):
committed to working with the veteran servicecommunity to help them get the services that
they need in one spot. Sowe're reserving space in our facility for other
agencies that serve veterans to come inand help. So, for example,
if there's a mobile veterinary clinic,you know, can you do one day
a week at our facility to helpus who have service animals. Oral healthcare
(09:54):
is a big challenge that's often notcovered by their benefits. Can we get
an oral health council to have theirvan there once a day. Can we
have a rep from the VA thereto help them walk through the benefits process.
That's really a huge thing. We'regoing to have a gaming facility for
younger vets we host to host somegaming competitions. We're going to have a
(10:18):
workout facility, showers, a foodpantry. It's just a place for vets
to drop in to feel valued,and if you're a vent who's thriving,
to come volunteer to help those whomay need a little help. And there's
no cost involved for the vet,none at all, None at all.
Everything that we do is at nocost to veterans. When we started our
(10:39):
employment program a decade ago, oneof the things that we said from the
get go is that this program willalways be majority funded by philanthropy and contributions
from the community. We love governmentfunding, it's really important. It's what
we pay taxes for. But governmentfunding often comes with a lot of legibility
(11:00):
restrictions, and quite frankly, wewant to serve every vet regardless of where
they are in their cycle, andso we need unrestricted funds to do that.
And so I am so proud ofthis community. For ten years,
the community has stepped up to helpus do that. We do a big
event every year. It's calleding ona Ride. It's uh, it's going
to be coming up soon. Andum, it's a motorcycle ride. Is
(11:26):
that a motorcycle? Right? Sothere's a motor I'm looking at your shirt.
It's motorcycles and bicycles. We're upat Whitewater Park. And then I
think this year we are actually organizingone of our board members, I believe,
is going to be organizing a separatemotorcycle ride. So stay tuned for
the details on that. I think. Just so you folks care, I
have my Harley David's in short ontoday while we're while we're doing this,
(11:48):
is any of that information available nowfor like on your website? Yeah,
listen to us do that, andthen we'll go back to some of the
other questions that I have. What'swhat's the website and the phone? Though
our site is www dot Easter SealsRedwood all one word Easter Seals Redwood dot
O rgep okay and then the phonenumber of it is listening right now and
(12:11):
wants to call and reach out absolutely, they can call into our main number
is five one three to eight onetwo three one six. Talking with Pan
Green, She's the president and CEOof Easter Seals Redwood. We're going to
talk more here in just a momenthere on iHeart Cincy. Sometimes when we
talk about inclusion, people limit theirthinking to race and gender and sexual identity.
(12:35):
Disability is often the last thing peoplethink about when they think about inclusion,
and when you come to Easter Seals, I mean that's what inclusion looks
like more. iHeart Cincy Coming upnext, This is fifty five KRC an
iHeartRadio Station. Welcome back to iHeartCinc. A tri state public affairs program
produced right here in Cincinnati. Forthis iHeartRadio Station, What's the solutions?
(12:58):
An opportunity is found right here inyour own backyard. I'm Sandy Collins.
My guest today is Pam Green,the President and CEO of Easter Seals Redwood,
serving thousands of clients with disabilities andother challenges on both sides of the
Ohio River, providing individualized support forthose who want to work and need training
or support to do so, andthey're hiring workers in their own business in
(13:20):
Walnut Hills. You really have thisambitious campaign. I know you're wanting to
raise twenty six million. You're closeto that, right, Yeah, we
are absolutely thrilled. We've raised twentyfour point seven million, so we're down
to just a little over a millionto go, and a piece of that
(13:41):
will be to, as you mentioned, to significantly renovate and expand our campus
in Walnut Hills on Gilbert Avenue.Then we also want to dedicate a portion
of the funding to some program enhancementsthat we're working on, and then also
to our sustainability through endowment. Youknow, we know that because of the
(14:03):
advances in healthcare, there are morepeople with disabilities. So whether it's children
who are born prematurely that now live, whether it's better diagnoses because of more
knowledge in the medical community, orwhether it's seniors who quite frankly, are
living longer. The reality is isthat one in four of us will experience
(14:24):
disability before we leave this earth,and we need to be there to meet
those needs. So if the numberof people with disabilities is growing, by
golly, we better be growing too. I think one of the we talk
about programmatically, one of the thingsthat we're talking about a lot at Easter
Seals. Right now, one inevery forty four children, one in every
twenty nine boys will be diagnosed onthe autism spectrum by the time they're eighteen.
(14:48):
Yeah, it's it's stunning. Andautism is a spectrum disorder. So
there are people with autism who havelots of different challenges. And for an
organist zation that a lot of itswork is an employment. You know,
right now we're at full employment.Mail workforce participation is at the lowest rate
it's ever been. Let me stopyou there. You say, right now
(15:11):
we're at full employment. What doesthat mean? Yeah, that means that
basically everyone who wants a job hasone to your organization. Okay, great,
now, I know I'm talking aboutnationally. Like, if you talk
to workforce experts, they'll say thatwhen your unemployment rate is you know,
three percent or below, you're atfull employment. So our country is at
(15:31):
full employment. So we have tostart thinking about what can we do to
bring more people into the workforce.And so when I think about people with
disabilities, the rate of employment forpeople with disabilities is it's only about thirty
percent of what the employment rate isfor people who do not have disabilities,
and many want to work, butthey do need extra support. So what
(15:54):
can we do to help bring morepeople with disabilities into the work force and
how can we support employers in providingopportunities for them. We really hope through
this campaign that we'll be coming outof it with some pretty exciting initiatives around
disability employment. Do you have anassessment tool for clients to see if they
(16:18):
are capable of being helped at EasterSeals. We believe that almost everyone can
work in some capacity with the rightskills and support for families of people with
disabilities, for you know, theparents that entrust us to provide training for
(16:38):
their children. Safety is quite franklyone of the biggest concerns and the fear
of failure, and so we buildour programs vary on a very customized level
for each individual person. If personcomes to Easter Seals for aliment supports,
(17:00):
the first thing that we want todo is to find out what are they
good at, what are their skills, what are their interests, and then
from there to help them explore whatopportunities might be available. So, for
example, with young people, wemay do summer career exploration where they go
out and they visit a number ofdifferent job sites to kind of figure out
what they want. We have somereally great programs. It's called Work and
(17:25):
Grow. We just opened a newone at the Cincinnati Museum Center where folks
work a couple of hours a day. They're paid to do work at the
site, and then the rest ofthe time is spent on the things that
young adults want to do. Sowhether it's doing some life skills training with
staff or doing something fun like goingto a restaurant and figuring out how to
(17:49):
budget and how to take care ofyour personal funds. And so we really
try to meet people where they arein their employment journey. And I mean,
I'll tell you I have two daughters. Neither of my daughters have disabilities.
However, the one thing that Ireally have in common with the parents
of so many of the people thatwe serve is my children aren't able to
(18:10):
do so much more than sometimes Igive them credit for it because I'm their
parent. I see their limitations andI want them to succeed, and sometimes
that you know, they blow meaway constantly with what they're able to do.
And I will tell you that forthe parents of the folks that we
serve, it's the same thing.I think about a story. This is
(18:30):
probably more than a decade ago,and we've done some travel training for a
young man with autism and he gota bus pass for the very first time,
and someone called his mother because theysaw him on the other side of
town. So of course she panickedand she's like, where are you What
are you doing. He's like,Mom, I'm good. I'm learning how
to use the bus routes so thatI can work on any side of town
(18:52):
where I get a job. Andof course that was a terribly frightening moment
for her and for us, quitefrankly, because we didn't want him just
going out billy once he had abus pass. But it was also one
of those things that's like, Okay, he's growing up and he's able to
do more than maybe I thought hecould. And you know, we obviously
teach people about personal safety and thosethings, so it is just people with
(19:17):
the disabilities have amazing talents. SoI like to share the story. You
know, I think everyone in Cincinnatiknows and should be proud that our hometown
grocer Kroger is a big employer ofpeople with disabilities. So during the pandemic,
I'd say we have about sixty folkswho are working in Kroger stores throughout
Greater Cincinnati and northern Kentucky. Duringthe pandemic, not one of the people
(19:40):
that we serve who continued to workgot COVID. Wow, they went to
work every day. They were onthe front line as essential workers. These
are people that are you would thinkwould be at higher risk. And to
me, what that said is peoplewith disabilities observe and follow rules, that
they are cautious and that they arecommitted to their work. And so I
(20:07):
just think that's such a beautiful exampleof what the possibility in the strengths of
employing people with disabilities is. Weall need a purpose and that's why the
veterans must love your programs, becausewhen they come back from their deployments or
their service and they don't have thatmission anymore, they don't have somebody guiding
them, they feel lost. Andthat's exactly when we all need that,
(20:30):
we all need to feel valued,and it's wonderful that you provide that training
and all that support. My guestis Pam Green, the president and CEO
of Easter Seals Redwood, and theyjust combined their forces last August with a
common mission now to help folks withdisabilities, veterans and others who need their
(20:51):
help. So this is called theRegional Impact Center, which is what you're
going to call this? And whendo you expect it to be completed?
Because I know with all of thedelays in the supply chain and the construction,
if you talk to anybody in thistown, it's like, well it
was supposed to be done this week, but it's going to be two years
from now. So when when doyou expect this to be finished? Yeah,
(21:12):
So we started work this past Iguess about six months ago, and
so we're doing it in phases becausewe have to stay open and continue to
serve our customers. So our goalis to be finished by August of twenty
twenty four, and so we arewell underway. Our production center was completed
(21:33):
a couple of weeks ago, andso now we're moving on. The Veterans
Center will be next and then finallywe'll be doing the addition and the renovation
of Melrose So's. It's a prettyexciting time and I can't see enough about
our staff because, like I said, we're trying to stay open and work
and you know you mentioned you know, veterans and working in Easter Seals,
so in our production center. Thewonderful thing about our clinical kitting business is
(22:00):
that it provides employment opportunities to allof the people that we serve. So
whether you're a veteran, whether you'rea person with a disability, whether you're
a single mom that's you know,trying to get some income to stabilize your
life and better provide for your family, there's a place for you at Easter
Seals as an employee in our kiddingwork. And those folks have they have
(22:21):
kicked it, I mean through thegoal post, out of the park,
throughout this process. And so Ithink the other thing that is beautiful about
that is that when you come toyou'll have to come over sometime. The
fantastic thing about our businesses is weall talk about inclusion and what that looks
like. Sometimes when we talk aboutinclusion, people limit their thinking to race
(22:45):
and gender and sexual identity. Disabilityis often the last thing people think about
when they think about inclusion, andwhen you come to Easter Seals, I
mean, that's what inclusion looks like. And you can't tell what label people.
I mean, obviously some people theirdisability is visible. But when you
go out on that production floor,almost everybody there came through one of our
(23:07):
programs, and it's not easy tofigure out who's who based on the work
they're doing. Everybody works together,and it is we think it's a model
for what others can do. I'lltell you, seetee. One of the
things we used to have the signin our building, and it says independence
is a myth. We are allinterdependent, and I think that that's sort
(23:30):
of one of the things that wecan learn from people with disabilities, whether
it's stamina, a physical challenge,you know, a learning disability. Folks
with disabilities recognize that we're better ifwe help each other. And I think
that's such a beautiful lesson for theworld. Quite frankly, help being willing
(23:52):
to accept help doesn't mean that Iam helpless. It actually means I'm strong
enough to accept help. So Ithink there's um I will tell you I've
learned so much from the people thatwe serve. Ham Green, President CEO
of Easter Seals Redwood. If youwant to make a donation, I'm sure
she'd love to talk to you.Go to the website. You can also
(24:14):
call them at five one three twoeight one two three one six. I'll
repeat that number for you if you'rea veteran. Find out about their new
Veteran Services Center which is going up, and the current opportunities that they have
for for anyone who needs this kindof help. The number five one three
two eight one two three one six. Good luck. I will come over
(24:37):
and let me know about that motorcycleride I do. I do. It's
a lot of fun and when youcan help a charity, it's even better.
If you missed any of this programtoday, you can hear it on
your web browser at iHeart dot comand on your device on the iHeartRadio app,
(24:59):
including your smart TV as well.Just look under podcasts search for my
name is Sandy Collins. The archiveis right there. Talk full of interesting
people in stories and opportunities for peoplehere in Cincinnati, northern Kentucky, and
Southeast Indiana to reach me here sendme an email. iHeart Cincy at iHeartMedia
dot com. iHeart Cincy is aproduction of iHeartMedia Cincinnati,
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