January 7, 2024 • 29 mins
Megan discusses the services of Vista Maria. What began as a home for girls and women in need has evolved to encompass mental health services, foster care and adoption, independent living, and secure care for the survivors of human trafficking, plus education, after school care and advocacy for the welfare of children.
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(00:01):
Welcome to Light Up the D,a focus on what's happening in our community
from the people who make it happen. Here's your host, iHeartMedia Detroit Market
President Colleen Grant. Good morning andwelcome to Light Up the D. I'm
so excited about our guest today.It's Megan Zambiazi. She's the chief executive
officer at Vista Maria in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. Meghan has over thirty years
(00:25):
of experience in clinical and behavioral healthleadership and administration. She joined Vista Maria
in April twenty twenty three, andprior to Vista Maria, Meghan served as
the senior executive vice president of Operationsand Strategy at Hope Network in Grand Rapids
and also served in various roles atpine Rest Christian Mental Health Services. She
earned a bachelor in Psychology from MichiganState University as well as a master's in
(00:48):
Arts in Counseling Psychology from Western MichiganUniversity. She also holds a master's in
Business Administration Integrated Management from Michigan StateUniversity. So quite a background. I
must say welcome, Meghan, Thankyou for joining us. Oh, thank
you Colleen, I'm really glad tobe here. So Meaghan, I,
you know, we got to sharewith anybody who's listening the funny story,
which was we're sitting here talking andyou're telling me that you were a vocal
(01:11):
major at Syracuse, right, andthat you went to interlack In and before
that you went to Blue Lake FineArts Camp. And I was like,
oh, that's funny. I wentto Blue Lake on Fine Arts Camp.
And you're like, when did yougo? And start talking and it turns
out, if anybody's listening, innineteen eighty five, both Megan and I
were at Blue Lake Fine Arts Campwith what like a hundred other people?
(01:34):
Maybe? Right? Really, Imean, what are the odds? Yeah,
and by the way, I didn'ttell you I lived in Indiana at
the time. Funny. Yeah.And here we are today, sitting,
as Fay would have it, acrossfrom each other, sharing funny stories about
how we used to sing and dancewhen we were little. That's right.
And so what a wonderful surprise lifeis sometimes, you know, absolutely,
it really is. So I'm sograteful that you're here with me today because
(01:57):
today we get to hear about awonderful organization that you work with, Vista
Maria, And so why don't wejust start by sharing with everybody what Vista
Maria does, what your mission is, how you help people, and then
we'll go from there. Yeah,that sounds great. Well. Vista Maria
really has been part of the Detroitcommunity for about one hundred and forty years.
Wow, I know, I know. We were founded in eighteen eighty
(02:21):
three by the Sisters of the GoodShepherd, and we came over on a
mission the Sisters did to serve ofvulnerable girls and young women. They've done
that all over the world. Actually, we were one of many our missions
throughout the world. They're based inFrance. So we started down on West
Grand Boulevard right downtown Detroit, andafter a while really we filled up.
(02:45):
We all grew our space quite abit. So in the nineteen forties we
were gifted thirty seven acres of landby Henry Ford and Clara B. Ford
as part of that big swath throughDearborn you know that starts down at Greenfield
Village and kind of moves up.We're up at the very tip top of
that and we've been there now sincethe early nineteen forties. Caring for young
(03:07):
girls and families. Wow. Sowhen we talk about the services that you
provide to young girls, how doesVisto Maria help the youth in their care.
Yeah, we do a lot ofdifferent things as time has gone on
over the years. I mean,I think we're most known probably for our
residential care, so the twenty fourto seven care of young girls ages eleven
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to seventeen, and we've done thatfor many, many years. And as
you drive by our campus, that'swhat probably what you'll see, our buildings
and other kinds of things that arethere to care for the girls. But
we also serve a lot of peopleout in the community, so we are
actually a very large foster care andadoption agency here in town. So we
serve people of all ages, soboys and girls and their families from the
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time that they're small all the wayup. If they need our support and
we're looking to help them return backhome, we're also to find a forever
home. That's what we need todo there. So describe what an typical
day looks like at the Visto Mariecampus. What are the kids doing?
You know, you mentioned that youhave living facility there twenty four to seven.
(04:13):
What else is going on? Ohgoodness, you know, we really
we have the kids on campus allthe time, both the kids who stay
with us and then all the kidsand their families who are coming in from
outside as well, So there's alot of activity happening. But for the
kids who are with us on campus, it's much like a normal high school
would operate. We have two schoolsactually on campus as well. One is
for the youth that stay with ustwenty four to seven, and then we
(04:35):
also have a community school that isthere as well, and that operates much
like any high school. Would youwalk in there, it's a little smaller.
We have smaller individualized class sizes andyou know, more specialized focused educational
opportunities for them. But we alsohave extracurricular activities and sports and you know,
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posters all over the place and noiseand all the things that usually happen
on campus. So on any typicalday, that's usually what's happening. After
school. We have there's homework tobe done, you know, chores,
tasks, things of that nature,and also some really fun extracurricular activities that
we organize for the kids. Sowe've got a lot going on at any
given moment. Yeah, and Iunderstand that you also provide on campus and
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community based transitional living too. Tellus about each program. Yeah, yeah,
absolutely, So the on campus transitionalliving, we have twenty dorm style
apartments actually that are right there,and those are for youth that have hed
out of the foster care system,okay, or who have are from the
community but are perhaps homeless and needa safe spot to be while they're trying
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to get some things figured out.We have additional supports available to help them
get benefits that they might be eligiblefor, apply for college, apply for
a job, learn how to drive, find a car, for all the
practical all the things that you haveto be able to do when you are
a young adult, right and alot of kids that come to us really
have not had the supports maybe toget those things figured out. So they're
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with us at Vista Maria to kindof get to that next step, and
we're helping them to get to theirnext goal. So we have twenty of
those spots there. We also havemany things available on in the community for
kids who maybe don't want to beright on campus and they're ready to be
out out and about, but theystill lead to extra support. We're looking
for things like phost homes. Sothose are families who say, hey,
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I could take a young adult inmy home and help them out for a
while. We can have that availablefor them. We can also help support
them in an apartment, so whereverit is that they're most comfortable, we're
out there trying to help them getconnected and ready for their next step.
So I understand that Vista Maria hasa trauma informed approach. Help us understand
(06:46):
what that means. Yeah, absolutely, So. A lot of the kids
that come to us, they've experiencedsome sort of trauma, whether that be
an abuse or neglect. They mayalso be survivors of human trafficking, and
they have a lot of things goingon and obviously it takes a lot of
time to heal from those things.And so a trauma informed approach really helps
us meet somebody where they're at,understanding what's happened for them, why they're
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in our care, and how wecan view life maybe through their lens a
little more. So. We adaptexperiences, for instance, like things like
loud noises for instance, might beparticularly bothersome for a child. Maybe particular
colors or sensory kinds of things helpsoothe them and make them feel a lot
better. So we have sensory rooms, for instance, all over our campus.
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Each child receives a sensory kit whenthey arrive with us, and we're
able to give them something individualized tothem that helps them calm down and feel
like they can be at peace.It's interesting, actually all of us benefit
from that kind of approach because wealso provide sensory kits for our staff because
everybody it's stressful work, right,so we can all use little fishes and
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gadgets and things to kind of keepourselves calm. So we have all those
things available for us as a whole. Which that's been a really helpful approach
for everyone. Yeah, I couldimagine how that that does help everybody.
You know, you're all trying tohelp everybody get through the things that are
happening to people. Yeah, yeah, precisely. So it's a lot to
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care for people who have that happeningfor them, and then you know the
caregiver too needs to be cared foras well. Yeah, it takes a
special person, it really does,no question. Why don't we talk a
little bit about some of the successstories that have happened at Vista Maria,
can you give me some examples,I know, car for Z and the
Wrap Around Programmer a couple of thingsthat come to mind. Yeah. Absolutely.
So we actually have one of theyouth in our campus. I really
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was working hard. She was ina apartment, had a job, really
working hard to get to her nextstep. But we found out that I'm
really spending a lot of cash onUber to get from point A to point
B. As you know, inthe Metro Detroit area, transportation is a
huge issue, so hard, andit's so expensive. Right now, they
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get a car, you know,Oh my goodness. So the stipend that
many of our youth get from theState of Michigan, they do give a
certain amount of money they can beused for a used car. Unfortunately,
used cars have got a lot moreexpensive, and so it's really hard to
get something that's reliable and can getyou from one place to another. So
(09:24):
we were talking over that and tryingto figure out what could we do to
help out this young woman who reallyjust needed to boost, you know,
and we wanted to see her reallyspend that money or save it in something
to get somewhere else. So wecontacted a wonderful community group called Female It's
spelled p h O E m Al E. And just to make sure
(09:46):
I get out there. They area wonderful group of women who really came
to came up to the forefront andsaid, you know, hey, we
think we can help, and theywere able to help us find and secure
a car a reliable one fantastic wayfor her to be able to get get
around and get started on her life. Wow, that's amazing. And the
(10:07):
Wrap Around program tell me a littlebit about that as well. Yeah,
the Wrapper Around program is something relativelynew to us. We've had it for
a few years, but it isa fantastic way to support families and any
of the kids who are coming toour Vista Meadows Academy, which is the
community school that we have on campus. So those families may have a child
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who needs some additional either help oractivity or something to kind of help them
stay on track. So this programmeets with the families and comes around them
literally. I mean that wrap aroundidea, I just kind of think of
arms reaching around you, you know, like, what do you need to
be successful? We have activities thatwe help hold on our campus and off
campus to do fun things with them. But we also provide all sorts of
(10:52):
other skill building kinds of things tohelp families get together. It's funny.
I kind of looked at that,and I have two grown adult sons,
and I thought, oh gosh,I could use that. You know,
I've been really helpful, right diessomebody say, hey, try that conversation
this way, Yeah, that mightwork better, or hey we can help
out with this kind of homework,you know. And you know we know
all that math, you know,so whatever that is. We try to
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cover around those families to help thembe more successful and keep them again on
that path that they want to beon. Yeah. So you had mentioned
Vista Meadows. Yeah, yeah,so I understand that you have you know,
you offer academic services on campus,as you originally mentioned, and Vista
Meadows is just one of the two. What is what what you know tell
us about the other one as well? And what does each school offer,
(11:37):
like what are their unique qualities?Right? So, we have these two
charter academies that are on campus.They actually are kind of stacked into two
story building, one right above theother. We have a charter school partner
that operates those for us, andof course our staff are in there as
well, kind of mixing in andhelping out with all the youth. Clara
B. Ford Academy is the onethat serves the girls that are on our
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campus twenty four to seven, andthey again high school curriculum, but very
individualized, small classroom settings, sowe typically have we're meeting the kids where
they're at. Again, a lotof the kids that come to us and
care have had other things happening intheir lives that really have been the primary
focus. So they may not havehad much time to spend on school,
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so they may be a little bitbehind. They may need additional support,
They may need some encouragement to discoverthat hey, you know, you actually
are really good at reading or scienceor math or whatever that is. So
we spend some extra time with themkind of getting them to the place that
they want to be, as wellas a lot of the other, you
know, extra things that come alongwith typical high school experiences. So Vista
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Meadows Academy is very similar, butthat is for kids in the community.
So any child who's in the communitywho wants to be with us can enroll
and be part of Vista Meadows verysimilar, small our class sizes, individualized
approach, they have some They actuallyhave a fantastic basketball teamball. Also it's
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the fun stuff that they do.We get a lot of family support from
them as well, So it's reallyit's really kind of neat to see that
happening. We keep both of youknow, populations are separate, given that
the girls that are with us needto have their own space, but but
really it's it is a fun highschool atmosphere for both. So how do
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people How do people get involved?If someone wants to help vister Maria and
the youth in your care, especiallyduring the holidays, how can how can
they learn about it? What kindof opportunities are available? Oh yeah,
oh gosh. We have so manyways for the community to get involved,
and we are so lucky. Wehave some great volunteers who've been regulars with
us for many years, but wealways can use more. We love to
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have community involvement, and most importantly, our kids love it. I always
like to tell people our kids arenot typical teenagers in that way. They
love to see adults coming in andspending time with them. So many ways.
I would first direct people to ourwebsite Christamara dot org and there's a
lot of detail there, but afew opportunities. One is you can do
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everything from just coming with your companyand volunteering for the day. You can
clean up from you know, ourthirty seven acres and upkeep and we have
a lot of wonderful volunteers that helpwith that, help paint a room,
help make things fun for our kids. We also have more individualized approaches,
so we have mentors who come inand spend time individually with one on one
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with a particular youth and they getto know them on a weekly basis and
they can do anything with them.Sometimes it's crafts or reading or homework help
or you know, watching a movieor whatever. It is just to spend
time together and have fun. Lotsof volunteer opportunities available for anyone who wants
to be involved. So you mentionedmentoring, give us an idea because I
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know you can be a foster parenttoo. Are what are the differences between,
if somebody is considering being a volunteerwith you, between being a mentor
and a foster parent and what arethe eligibility requirements of each? Yeah?
Yeah, so being a mentor reallyis a commitment. We want mentors to
come in on a weekly basis ifpossible, and spend one on one time
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with their mentee and so it sortof relationship building sort of thing. And
that is with the kids that arestay with us twenty four to seven.
So you're there on campus with otherpeople around, but you have a relationship
with one child who's been identified asreally needing some additional support or attention,
which frankly is all of them.All of our kids really need and love
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that from mentors. So the otheropportunities that are for volunteering are are there
as well. We have other kindsof volunteer activities they're not even mentoring that
happen with our youth. But fosterparenting is another option, and we always
have room to talk with potential fosterparents. There are two different opportunities there.
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One would be if someone's, gosh, I'm kind of interested in being
able to help kids come into myhome, that would be you could be
a respite foster care provider. Andthose are typically shorter term engagements. Maybe
a child or children need someplace tobe for a weekend to give the caregiver
or break, and so it canbe a smaller commitment like that, or
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we have many wonderful foster parents whostay with us for years and they care
for multiple children and care while theirfamilies may be getting some things figured out
and stabilizing and finding some other thingsso that they can welcome their family member
back. That is a possibility aswell. So if somebody's interested in being
a mentor or foster parent or volunteeringin any way, where may they find
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out more information or how might howmight they reach you? Yeah? Absolutely,
Vista Maria dot org is really yourbest place to go. We've got
all the information you need right there, and we have wonderful coordinators who are
happy to kind of pick up andgive you more information and detail there.
The website's excellent though it does havea lot of detail there. They can
give you a good idea of whatyou might be looking for. Okay.
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Well, and you know we talkabout time, talent, and treasure.
Yeah, and if you don't havethe time, but you got the treasure,
absolutely we'll take the treasure too.We want to see if there's anybody
out there who says this touches myheart. I want to help some youth.
And let's say they have a monetarydonation that they can make. Why
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don't we talk about what that meansto your organization when somebody donates. Oh
gosh, I mean, really arewe have the most wonderful donors. Honestly,
I've been so impressed by how generouspeople are and how much that means
to them. I'll just give youa couple of examples. We have a
wonderful boutique, it's called the VistaMaria Boutique. And many of the kids
that come into our care have nothad opportunities really to even have anything that
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ever belonged to them right. Somany don't have any luggage, for instance,
or they may not have clothing thatis brand new to them where that
fits them properly or whatnot. Wehave a boutique that is full of donated
brand new items that you know,can be all sizes, all different kinds
of colors or shapes, shoes.We have a wonderful you know group called
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Lace Up Detroit that donates all ofour shoes and comes in twice a year
to fit the kids. It's amazing. They just had their a wonderful event
called Boots and Bites just a fewweeks ago. That is super fun and
you know, the girls get topick what they would like. So have
all sorts of opportunities there for people. And can you give us an idea
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of if somebody, if somebody wereto donate like twenty five dollars, like,
what might that be able to getsomebody for, you know, in
the organization. Yeah, absolutely,so twenty five dollars if mister Maria can
go a really long way. Imean that could be you know, books
for a child who really has aspecial interest in that particular genre. It
could be you know, a specialyou know, stuffed animal or something that
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helps them feel safe and secure.It can be I can go down the
list of so many things, youknow, Colleen, that would be meaningful
to them. But we have manymany opportunities for giving in that way.
So yes, long list of thosethings too on the website right now,
giving that it's the holiday season.Yeah, things go a long way that
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way too. We have wish listsand whatnot. We always make sure our
kids have things to open for theholidays. Yeah, it's super important and
you can find that on vistamrio dotorg. We're speaking today with Megan Zambiazzi.
She is the chief executive officer ofVista Maria. So, tell us
about some of your annual fundraising events. Megan, can the public attend?
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What are they? When are they? How can we get people involved with
some of the things that you're doing. Yeah? Absolutely, we have many
wonderful events, we really do,and it's one of the things that I've
been so excited about. We havea variety of ways to get a involved.
So they're everything from full scale galasreally you know, so if you
if you're the fancier type and youlike things, we have a wonderful gala
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every year. We also have golfoutings. We have more casual events like
the Dolly Drive, which is superfun that takes place, you know,
in the fall, and it's usuallyat a really fun venue that benefits our
foster care youth and we typically willyou bring toys or donate that goes towards
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the kids, Christmas or our holidaylist. I love it. What are
some of the unique partnerships you havein the community. Oh, we have
some wonderful partners for sure. SoI mentioned Female which is one of the
wonderful groups. Lace Up Detroit isanother one I think I mentioned you did.
Yeah, that is a yeah.Yeah, they're a fantastic group of
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women who come around us and provideour kids with brand new, fashionable shoes.
I mean, you should see thesethings. They're really nic I love
the different colors and shapes and sizesand they fit them exactly, so they
have something that the kids like andwant to wear, and they even come
out and have fun with them atthe same time. It's fantastic. I
love that. And then you havewomen in finance, Yes, we do.
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We have so many wonderful, wonderfulgroups that will come and spend time
with us. I can't say enoughabout our philanthropic support. It's been tremendous.
That's great. Earlier we had talkedabout volunteers, and I get this
picture in my head of your thirtyseven acres and like just the management of
that and you know, all thepeople involved in all the services that you
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provide, whether it's for the peoplewho are staying twenty four to seven or
the people who are coming and goingand each day. Can you tell us
a little bit about your volunteer program, like how many people are we talking
about, and are there organizations thatvolunteer on a regular basis, give us
a picture of that whole part ofyour Yeah, asusually, well, you
know, one of the things.We have some wonderful volunteers. I mean,
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it's just amazing to me how manypeople have with us for so long
and have done that. Just thispast week actually, we had a group
from Ford come out and every yearthey come out and decorate our campus and
make it beautiful. So I knowthey really which is a trick because it's
big, right, they do alot of work for us, but they
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make our spaces really beautiful and specialfor the kids and for the staff as
well, so we really appreciate them. It's a group of Ford engineers who
have done this for so many yearsright now. I love that it's their
thing. It is their thing.They've done a great job. It's really
super fun. But there are somany opportunities to get involved if you would
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like that. So we have awonderful volunteer coordinator. You can do anything
from outdoor things as groups. Wehave many corporate groups that come through and
they do proud various projects for usto things on a more individual basis.
Lots of different ways that you canbe there. That's great, and we'll
just remind you. All you haveto do is go to vister Maria dot
org and you can find ways thatyou can help as well. Hey,
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what is what is the coming yearlook like for you? What are some
of the goals that you have?What do you want to see happen?
What's what's gonna Well, you know, I'm really excited. I think,
you know, post pandemic. Ithink we're finally kind of coming out of
that space a little bit more andwe can get out a bit more,
which has been really fun, youknow for all of us. So many
things happening. We have a familyengagement model that we've been really working with
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and that gets families more involved rightfrom the get go that we are super
excited about launching more fully. Sothat's when really a child comes into our
care and anyway we reach out immediatelyto them and provide parent mentors in other
ways, because it's not just thechild we're caring for. We're trying to
get them back into their families assoon as possible. Okay, and the
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families often need a lot of supporttoo. Sure, this is a great
way for us to you know,involve them fully there. Yeah, So
we also are working on helping ouryouth kind of transition faster from foster care.
So for instance, if they areout and want to be more independent,
we are trying to find ways tohelp them get out into the community
(24:08):
faster and to be more successful.So that that's a lot of the other
things that you know, our teamis really focused on right at the moment.
So how many how many youth doyou currently serve? Would you say
on an annual basis? Well,you know it changes every day, that's
right. So today on campus rightnow we are serving about seventy five youth
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and in care and then out inthe community. We have a much broader
number obviously too, because we touchedall those foster care you know families as
well as all the youth as servedin our schools as well. Right,
bigger number. And are there anynew programs or services you think are coming
up in the coming years? Ohgoodness, you know, we really are
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looking to do what we can andkind of post pandemic to really support families.
That's probably our biggest push right nowis how do we help families feel
secure and ready to tackle all thechallenges have come with having a youth at
home now and that happens for allof us, right We're all kind of
in that space. So a lotof our stuff is focused on that right
(25:12):
now is how do we reach outand help? So we do some intensive
things obviously on our campus, butwe want to be out in the community
more often and trying to figure outhow can we reach out and help families
be more successful there as well.I love it so megan in the beginning
when I introduced you, we talkedabout a lot of different degrees you have
and previous history that you have inthe basically the behavioral health field. How
(25:37):
did you end up working with kids? Oh? Goodness, I love kids,
I really do you know? Myparents both were behavioral health people.
Really yeah. So my dad isa psychologist and my mom is a special
education teacher and speech therapist. Soour home and at any given moment when
I was a kid was filled withother kids people. It was just very
(26:00):
common. Wow. So my firstjob actually was teaching autistic twin boys to
swim in our family pool. Thatwas my first job, yes, wow.
And they were delightful, a littleafraid of the water first, but
once we got him in there,they loved the pressure. You know,
(26:21):
water is so therapeutic. How oldwere you when that happened. I was
twelve? You twelve? Yeah,Oh my gosh, you were thrown into
the deep endry. It's just kindof it's in my DNA. That's really
something. So you helped at twelve, you were helping two autistic kids learn
to swim right, and then andthen what happened, like, how did
this progress to you? You know, I really I took a little bit
(26:41):
of a detour. I was actuallya music major for at the very beginning
of my academic career for college.I thought I wanted to do that,
but then you're back towards psychology andthe entire time, really I'd always work
with people. I really love people, especially kids and families. But that's
what I've been really drawn to.So I was a therapist for many years,
(27:03):
working with families, but with youthspecifically absolutely mostly girls. You know,
that was probably this kind of myniche Yeah, and did that work
for many years. And then Iwas an accidental manager, if you will.
Just had somebody say to me,hey, do you want to take
a managerial job? And I'm like, I don't know for all that,
(27:26):
but really, you know, Ithought, well, that sounds like an
interesting challenge. And I always liketo do things to kind of make things
better for people i'm serving, andthat's why they had approached me about it.
So I thought, well, I'lltry it for a year and see
what I think. And I lovedthat as well as you know, love
working with the kids and families.So this is a great spot for me
to be in. I get towork with kids and families, and I
(27:48):
get to help lead this wonderful organization. Yeah, that seems like all your
background has kind of led you tothe perfect spot. Yeah, it's really
something. Yeah, I'm really happyto be here. So you've been doing
this since April to twenty twenty three, Meghan, what is your favorite thing
about what you do? Oh?Goodness, I love the kids. You
know. I'm a therapist by background, so and I worked with kids and
(28:10):
families for years before I was fortunateenough to be part of this mission.
So it really is so rewarding tosee the smiles on their faces and to
see them improving, you know,to see them getting better, and it's
great to see them getting more independent. I love it when we have these
stories with the kids getting cars orgoing out and getting jobs and doing all
(28:30):
those things. Oh oh gosh,because I remember what it's like for them
as they come in. You know, it's so hard. Sometimes also seeing
families succeed and you know, feelingmore confident in bringing their loved ones home
or you know, making those familiesstronger. So that's really rewarding work.
So by far, that's probably myfavorite part. That's great. Our guest
(28:51):
today has been Megan Zambiazzi. Sheis the chief executive officer over at Vista
Maria in Dearborn Heights, Michigan.Megan, thank you so much much for
joining us today. Thanks so much, Colleen, great to be here.
This has been Light Up the D, a community affairs program from iHeartMedia Detroit.
If your organization would like to geton the program, email Colleen Grant
(29:12):
at iHeartMedia dot com. Here areall episodes on this station's podcast page.
Welcome to Light Up the D,a focus on what's happening in our community
from the people who make it happen. Here's your host, iHeartMedia Detroit Market
President Colleen Grant. Good morning andwelcome to Light Up the D. I'm
so excited about our guest today.It's Megan Zambiazi. She's the chief executive
officer at Vista Maria in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. Meghan has over thirty years
(00:25):
of experience in clinical and behavioral healthleadership and administration. She joined Vista Maria
in April twenty twenty three, andprior to Vista Maria, Meghan served as
the senior executive vice president of Operationsand Strategy at Hope Network in Grand Rapids
and also served in various roles atpine Rest Christian Mental Health Services. She
earned a bachelor in Psychology from MichiganState University as well as a master's in
(00:48):
Arts in Counseling Psychology from Western MichiganUniversity. She also holds a master's in
Business Administration Integrated Management from Michigan StateUniversity. So quite a background. I
must say welcome, Meghan, Thankyou for joining us. Oh, thank
you Colleen, I'm really glad tobe here. So Meaghan, I,
you know, we got to sharewith anybody who's listening the funny story,
which was we're sitting here talking andyou're telling me that you were a vocal
(01:11):
major at Syracuse, right, andthat you went to interlack In and before
that you went to Blue Lake FineArts Camp. And I was like,
oh, that's funny. I wentto Blue Lake on Fine Arts Camp.
And you're like, when did yougo? And start talking and it turns
out, if anybody's listening, innineteen eighty five, both Megan and I
were at Blue Lake Fine Arts Campwith what like a hundred other people?
(01:34):
Maybe? Right? Really, Imean, what are the odds? Yeah,
and by the way, I didn'ttell you I lived in Indiana at
the time. Funny. Yeah.And here we are today, sitting,
as Fay would have it, acrossfrom each other, sharing funny stories about
how we used to sing and dancewhen we were little. That's right.
And so what a wonderful surprise lifeis sometimes, you know, absolutely,
it really is. So I'm sograteful that you're here with me today because
(01:57):
today we get to hear about awonderful organization that you work with, Vista
Maria, And so why don't wejust start by sharing with everybody what Vista
Maria does, what your mission is, how you help people, and then
we'll go from there. Yeah,that sounds great. Well. Vista Maria
really has been part of the Detroitcommunity for about one hundred and forty years.
Wow, I know, I know. We were founded in eighteen eighty
(02:21):
three by the Sisters of the GoodShepherd, and we came over on a
mission the Sisters did to serve ofvulnerable girls and young women. They've done
that all over the world. Actually, we were one of many our missions
throughout the world. They're based inFrance. So we started down on West
Grand Boulevard right downtown Detroit, andafter a while really we filled up.
(02:45):
We all grew our space quite abit. So in the nineteen forties we
were gifted thirty seven acres of landby Henry Ford and Clara B. Ford
as part of that big swath throughDearborn you know that starts down at Greenfield
Village and kind of moves up.We're up at the very tip top of
that and we've been there now sincethe early nineteen forties. Caring for young
(03:07):
girls and families. Wow. Sowhen we talk about the services that you
provide to young girls, how doesVisto Maria help the youth in their care.
Yeah, we do a lot ofdifferent things as time has gone on
over the years. I mean,I think we're most known probably for our
residential care, so the twenty fourto seven care of young girls ages eleven
(03:28):
to seventeen, and we've done thatfor many, many years. And as
you drive by our campus, that'swhat probably what you'll see, our buildings
and other kinds of things that arethere to care for the girls. But
we also serve a lot of peopleout in the community, so we are
actually a very large foster care andadoption agency here in town. So we
serve people of all ages, soboys and girls and their families from the
(03:51):
time that they're small all the wayup. If they need our support and
we're looking to help them return backhome, we're also to find a forever
home. That's what we need todo there. So describe what an typical
day looks like at the Visto Mariecampus. What are the kids doing?
You know, you mentioned that youhave living facility there twenty four to seven.
(04:13):
What else is going on? Ohgoodness, you know, we really
we have the kids on campus allthe time, both the kids who stay
with us and then all the kidsand their families who are coming in from
outside as well, So there's alot of activity happening. But for the
kids who are with us on campus, it's much like a normal high school
would operate. We have two schoolsactually on campus as well. One is
for the youth that stay with ustwenty four to seven, and then we
(04:35):
also have a community school that isthere as well, and that operates much
like any high school. Would youwalk in there, it's a little smaller.
We have smaller individualized class sizes andyou know, more specialized focused educational
opportunities for them. But we alsohave extracurricular activities and sports and you know,
(04:56):
posters all over the place and noiseand all the things that usually happen
on campus. So on any typicalday, that's usually what's happening. After
school. We have there's homework tobe done, you know, chores,
tasks, things of that nature,and also some really fun extracurricular activities that
we organize for the kids. Sowe've got a lot going on at any
given moment. Yeah, and Iunderstand that you also provide on campus and
(05:19):
community based transitional living too. Tellus about each program. Yeah, yeah,
absolutely, So the on campus transitionalliving, we have twenty dorm style
apartments actually that are right there,and those are for youth that have hed
out of the foster care system,okay, or who have are from the
community but are perhaps homeless and needa safe spot to be while they're trying
(05:41):
to get some things figured out.We have additional supports available to help them
get benefits that they might be eligiblefor, apply for college, apply for
a job, learn how to drive, find a car, for all the
practical all the things that you haveto be able to do when you are
a young adult, right and alot of kids that come to us really
have not had the supports maybe toget those things figured out. So they're
(06:03):
with us at Vista Maria to kindof get to that next step, and
we're helping them to get to theirnext goal. So we have twenty of
those spots there. We also havemany things available on in the community for
kids who maybe don't want to beright on campus and they're ready to be
out out and about, but theystill lead to extra support. We're looking
for things like phost homes. Sothose are families who say, hey,
(06:25):
I could take a young adult inmy home and help them out for a
while. We can have that availablefor them. We can also help support
them in an apartment, so whereverit is that they're most comfortable, we're
out there trying to help them getconnected and ready for their next step.
So I understand that Vista Maria hasa trauma informed approach. Help us understand
(06:46):
what that means. Yeah, absolutely, So. A lot of the kids
that come to us, they've experiencedsome sort of trauma, whether that be
an abuse or neglect. They mayalso be survivors of human trafficking, and
they have a lot of things goingon and obviously it takes a lot of
time to heal from those things.And so a trauma informed approach really helps
us meet somebody where they're at,understanding what's happened for them, why they're
(07:11):
in our care, and how wecan view life maybe through their lens a
little more. So. We adaptexperiences, for instance, like things like
loud noises for instance, might beparticularly bothersome for a child. Maybe particular
colors or sensory kinds of things helpsoothe them and make them feel a lot
better. So we have sensory rooms, for instance, all over our campus.
(07:32):
Each child receives a sensory kit whenthey arrive with us, and we're
able to give them something individualized tothem that helps them calm down and feel
like they can be at peace.It's interesting, actually all of us benefit
from that kind of approach because wealso provide sensory kits for our staff because
everybody it's stressful work, right,so we can all use little fishes and
(07:56):
gadgets and things to kind of keepourselves calm. So we have all those
things available for us as a whole. Which that's been a really helpful approach
for everyone. Yeah, I couldimagine how that that does help everybody.
You know, you're all trying tohelp everybody get through the things that are
happening to people. Yeah, yeah, precisely. So it's a lot to
(08:16):
care for people who have that happeningfor them, and then you know the
caregiver too needs to be cared foras well. Yeah, it takes a
special person, it really does,no question. Why don't we talk a
little bit about some of the successstories that have happened at Vista Maria,
can you give me some examples,I know, car for Z and the
Wrap Around Programmer a couple of thingsthat come to mind. Yeah. Absolutely.
So we actually have one of theyouth in our campus. I really
(08:41):
was working hard. She was ina apartment, had a job, really
working hard to get to her nextstep. But we found out that I'm
really spending a lot of cash onUber to get from point A to point
B. As you know, inthe Metro Detroit area, transportation is a
huge issue, so hard, andit's so expensive. Right now, they
(09:03):
get a car, you know,Oh my goodness. So the stipend that
many of our youth get from theState of Michigan, they do give a
certain amount of money they can beused for a used car. Unfortunately,
used cars have got a lot moreexpensive, and so it's really hard to
get something that's reliable and can getyou from one place to another. So
(09:24):
we were talking over that and tryingto figure out what could we do to
help out this young woman who reallyjust needed to boost, you know,
and we wanted to see her reallyspend that money or save it in something
to get somewhere else. So wecontacted a wonderful community group called Female It's
spelled p h O E m Al E. And just to make sure
(09:46):
I get out there. They area wonderful group of women who really came
to came up to the forefront andsaid, you know, hey, we
think we can help, and theywere able to help us find and secure
a car a reliable one fantastic wayfor her to be able to get get
around and get started on her life. Wow, that's amazing. And the
(10:07):
Wrap Around program tell me a littlebit about that as well. Yeah,
the Wrapper Around program is something relativelynew to us. We've had it for
a few years, but it isa fantastic way to support families and any
of the kids who are coming toour Vista Meadows Academy, which is the
community school that we have on campus. So those families may have a child
(10:28):
who needs some additional either help oractivity or something to kind of help them
stay on track. So this programmeets with the families and comes around them
literally. I mean that wrap aroundidea, I just kind of think of
arms reaching around you, you know, like, what do you need to
be successful? We have activities thatwe help hold on our campus and off
campus to do fun things with them. But we also provide all sorts of
(10:52):
other skill building kinds of things tohelp families get together. It's funny.
I kind of looked at that,and I have two grown adult sons,
and I thought, oh gosh,I could use that. You know,
I've been really helpful, right diessomebody say, hey, try that conversation
this way, Yeah, that mightwork better, or hey we can help
out with this kind of homework,you know. And you know we know
all that math, you know,so whatever that is. We try to
(11:15):
cover around those families to help thembe more successful and keep them again on
that path that they want to beon. Yeah. So you had mentioned
Vista Meadows. Yeah, yeah,so I understand that you have you know,
you offer academic services on campus,as you originally mentioned, and Vista
Meadows is just one of the two. What is what what you know tell
us about the other one as well? And what does each school offer,
(11:37):
like what are their unique qualities?Right? So, we have these two
charter academies that are on campus.They actually are kind of stacked into two
story building, one right above theother. We have a charter school partner
that operates those for us, andof course our staff are in there as
well, kind of mixing in andhelping out with all the youth. Clara
B. Ford Academy is the onethat serves the girls that are on our
(12:01):
campus twenty four to seven, andthey again high school curriculum, but very
individualized, small classroom settings, sowe typically have we're meeting the kids where
they're at. Again, a lotof the kids that come to us and
care have had other things happening intheir lives that really have been the primary
focus. So they may not havehad much time to spend on school,
(12:22):
so they may be a little bitbehind. They may need additional support,
They may need some encouragement to discoverthat hey, you know, you actually
are really good at reading or scienceor math or whatever that is. So
we spend some extra time with themkind of getting them to the place that
they want to be, as wellas a lot of the other, you
know, extra things that come alongwith typical high school experiences. So Vista
(12:46):
Meadows Academy is very similar, butthat is for kids in the community.
So any child who's in the communitywho wants to be with us can enroll
and be part of Vista Meadows verysimilar, small our class sizes, individualized
approach, they have some They actuallyhave a fantastic basketball teamball. Also it's
(13:09):
the fun stuff that they do.We get a lot of family support from
them as well, So it's reallyit's really kind of neat to see that
happening. We keep both of youknow, populations are separate, given that
the girls that are with us needto have their own space, but but
really it's it is a fun highschool atmosphere for both. So how do
(13:30):
people How do people get involved?If someone wants to help vister Maria and
the youth in your care, especiallyduring the holidays, how can how can
they learn about it? What kindof opportunities are available? Oh yeah,
oh gosh. We have so manyways for the community to get involved,
and we are so lucky. Wehave some great volunteers who've been regulars with
us for many years, but wealways can use more. We love to
(13:52):
have community involvement, and most importantly, our kids love it. I always
like to tell people our kids arenot typical teenagers in that way. They
love to see adults coming in andspending time with them. So many ways.
I would first direct people to ourwebsite Christamara dot org and there's a
lot of detail there, but afew opportunities. One is you can do
(14:16):
everything from just coming with your companyand volunteering for the day. You can
clean up from you know, ourthirty seven acres and upkeep and we have
a lot of wonderful volunteers that helpwith that, help paint a room,
help make things fun for our kids. We also have more individualized approaches,
so we have mentors who come inand spend time individually with one on one
(14:37):
with a particular youth and they getto know them on a weekly basis and
they can do anything with them.Sometimes it's crafts or reading or homework help
or you know, watching a movieor whatever. It is just to spend
time together and have fun. Lotsof volunteer opportunities available for anyone who wants
to be involved. So you mentionedmentoring, give us an idea because I
(15:00):
know you can be a foster parenttoo. Are what are the differences between,
if somebody is considering being a volunteerwith you, between being a mentor
and a foster parent and what arethe eligibility requirements of each? Yeah?
Yeah, so being a mentor reallyis a commitment. We want mentors to
come in on a weekly basis ifpossible, and spend one on one time
(15:20):
with their mentee and so it sortof relationship building sort of thing. And
that is with the kids that arestay with us twenty four to seven.
So you're there on campus with otherpeople around, but you have a relationship
with one child who's been identified asreally needing some additional support or attention,
which frankly is all of them.All of our kids really need and love
(15:41):
that from mentors. So the otheropportunities that are for volunteering are are there
as well. We have other kindsof volunteer activities they're not even mentoring that
happen with our youth. But fosterparenting is another option, and we always
have room to talk with potential fosterparents. There are two different opportunities there.
(16:03):
One would be if someone's, gosh, I'm kind of interested in being
able to help kids come into myhome, that would be you could be
a respite foster care provider. Andthose are typically shorter term engagements. Maybe
a child or children need someplace tobe for a weekend to give the caregiver
or break, and so it canbe a smaller commitment like that, or
(16:26):
we have many wonderful foster parents whostay with us for years and they care
for multiple children and care while theirfamilies may be getting some things figured out
and stabilizing and finding some other thingsso that they can welcome their family member
back. That is a possibility aswell. So if somebody's interested in being
a mentor or foster parent or volunteeringin any way, where may they find
(16:48):
out more information or how might howmight they reach you? Yeah? Absolutely,
Vista Maria dot org is really yourbest place to go. We've got
all the information you need right there, and we have wonderful coordinators who are
happy to kind of pick up andgive you more information and detail there.
The website's excellent though it does havea lot of detail there. They can
give you a good idea of whatyou might be looking for. Okay.
(17:11):
Well, and you know we talkabout time, talent, and treasure.
Yeah, and if you don't havethe time, but you got the treasure,
absolutely we'll take the treasure too.We want to see if there's anybody
out there who says this touches myheart. I want to help some youth.
And let's say they have a monetarydonation that they can make. Why
(17:32):
don't we talk about what that meansto your organization when somebody donates. Oh
gosh, I mean, really arewe have the most wonderful donors. Honestly,
I've been so impressed by how generouspeople are and how much that means
to them. I'll just give youa couple of examples. We have a
wonderful boutique, it's called the VistaMaria Boutique. And many of the kids
that come into our care have nothad opportunities really to even have anything that
(17:55):
ever belonged to them right. Somany don't have any luggage, for instance,
or they may not have clothing thatis brand new to them where that
fits them properly or whatnot. Wehave a boutique that is full of donated
brand new items that you know,can be all sizes, all different kinds
of colors or shapes, shoes.We have a wonderful you know group called
(18:18):
Lace Up Detroit that donates all ofour shoes and comes in twice a year
to fit the kids. It's amazing. They just had their a wonderful event
called Boots and Bites just a fewweeks ago. That is super fun and
you know, the girls get topick what they would like. So have
all sorts of opportunities there for people. And can you give us an idea
(18:41):
of if somebody, if somebody wereto donate like twenty five dollars, like,
what might that be able to getsomebody for, you know, in
the organization. Yeah, absolutely,so twenty five dollars if mister Maria can
go a really long way. Imean that could be you know, books
for a child who really has aspecial interest in that particular genre. It
could be you know, a specialyou know, stuffed animal or something that
(19:03):
helps them feel safe and secure.It can be I can go down the
list of so many things, youknow, Colleen, that would be meaningful
to them. But we have manymany opportunities for giving in that way.
So yes, long list of thosethings too on the website right now,
giving that it's the holiday season.Yeah, things go a long way that
(19:26):
way too. We have wish listsand whatnot. We always make sure our
kids have things to open for theholidays. Yeah, it's super important and
you can find that on vistamrio dotorg. We're speaking today with Megan Zambiazzi.
She is the chief executive officer ofVista Maria. So, tell us
about some of your annual fundraising events. Megan, can the public attend?
(19:47):
What are they? When are they? How can we get people involved with
some of the things that you're doing. Yeah? Absolutely, we have many
wonderful events, we really do,and it's one of the things that I've
been so excited about. We havea variety of ways to get a involved.
So they're everything from full scale galasreally you know, so if you
if you're the fancier type and youlike things, we have a wonderful gala
(20:10):
every year. We also have golfoutings. We have more casual events like
the Dolly Drive, which is superfun that takes place, you know,
in the fall, and it's usuallyat a really fun venue that benefits our
foster care youth and we typically willyou bring toys or donate that goes towards
(20:30):
the kids, Christmas or our holidaylist. I love it. What are
some of the unique partnerships you havein the community. Oh, we have
some wonderful partners for sure. SoI mentioned Female which is one of the
wonderful groups. Lace Up Detroit isanother one I think I mentioned you did.
Yeah, that is a yeah.Yeah, they're a fantastic group of
(20:52):
women who come around us and provideour kids with brand new, fashionable shoes.
I mean, you should see thesethings. They're really nic I love
the different colors and shapes and sizesand they fit them exactly, so they
have something that the kids like andwant to wear, and they even come
out and have fun with them atthe same time. It's fantastic. I
love that. And then you havewomen in finance, Yes, we do.
(21:15):
We have so many wonderful, wonderfulgroups that will come and spend time
with us. I can't say enoughabout our philanthropic support. It's been tremendous.
That's great. Earlier we had talkedabout volunteers, and I get this
picture in my head of your thirtyseven acres and like just the management of
that and you know, all thepeople involved in all the services that you
(21:36):
provide, whether it's for the peoplewho are staying twenty four to seven or
the people who are coming and goingand each day. Can you tell us
a little bit about your volunteer program, like how many people are we talking
about, and are there organizations thatvolunteer on a regular basis, give us
a picture of that whole part ofyour Yeah, asusually, well, you
know, one of the things.We have some wonderful volunteers. I mean,
(21:57):
it's just amazing to me how manypeople have with us for so long
and have done that. Just thispast week actually, we had a group
from Ford come out and every yearthey come out and decorate our campus and
make it beautiful. So I knowthey really which is a trick because it's
big, right, they do alot of work for us, but they
(22:18):
make our spaces really beautiful and specialfor the kids and for the staff as
well, so we really appreciate them. It's a group of Ford engineers who
have done this for so many yearsright now. I love that it's their
thing. It is their thing.They've done a great job. It's really
super fun. But there are somany opportunities to get involved if you would
(22:38):
like that. So we have awonderful volunteer coordinator. You can do anything
from outdoor things as groups. Wehave many corporate groups that come through and
they do proud various projects for usto things on a more individual basis.
Lots of different ways that you canbe there. That's great, and we'll
just remind you. All you haveto do is go to vister Maria dot
org and you can find ways thatyou can help as well. Hey,
(23:00):
what is what is the coming yearlook like for you? What are some
of the goals that you have?What do you want to see happen?
What's what's gonna Well, you know, I'm really excited. I think,
you know, post pandemic. Ithink we're finally kind of coming out of
that space a little bit more andwe can get out a bit more,
which has been really fun, youknow for all of us. So many
things happening. We have a familyengagement model that we've been really working with
(23:26):
and that gets families more involved rightfrom the get go that we are super
excited about launching more fully. Sothat's when really a child comes into our
care and anyway we reach out immediatelyto them and provide parent mentors in other
ways, because it's not just thechild we're caring for. We're trying to
get them back into their families assoon as possible. Okay, and the
(23:48):
families often need a lot of supporttoo. Sure, this is a great
way for us to you know,involve them fully there. Yeah, So
we also are working on helping ouryouth kind of transition faster from foster care.
So for instance, if they areout and want to be more independent,
we are trying to find ways tohelp them get out into the community
(24:08):
faster and to be more successful.So that that's a lot of the other
things that you know, our teamis really focused on right at the moment.
So how many how many youth doyou currently serve? Would you say
on an annual basis? Well,you know it changes every day, that's
right. So today on campus rightnow we are serving about seventy five youth
(24:30):
and in care and then out inthe community. We have a much broader
number obviously too, because we touchedall those foster care you know families as
well as all the youth as servedin our schools as well. Right,
bigger number. And are there anynew programs or services you think are coming
up in the coming years? Ohgoodness, you know, we really are
(24:51):
looking to do what we can andkind of post pandemic to really support families.
That's probably our biggest push right nowis how do we help families feel
secure and ready to tackle all thechallenges have come with having a youth at
home now and that happens for allof us, right We're all kind of
in that space. So a lotof our stuff is focused on that right
(25:12):
now is how do we reach outand help? So we do some intensive
things obviously on our campus, butwe want to be out in the community
more often and trying to figure outhow can we reach out and help families
be more successful there as well.I love it so megan in the beginning
when I introduced you, we talkedabout a lot of different degrees you have
and previous history that you have inthe basically the behavioral health field. How
(25:37):
did you end up working with kids? Oh? Goodness, I love kids,
I really do you know? Myparents both were behavioral health people.
Really yeah. So my dad isa psychologist and my mom is a special
education teacher and speech therapist. Soour home and at any given moment when
I was a kid was filled withother kids people. It was just very
(26:00):
common. Wow. So my firstjob actually was teaching autistic twin boys to
swim in our family pool. Thatwas my first job, yes, wow.
And they were delightful, a littleafraid of the water first, but
once we got him in there,they loved the pressure. You know,
(26:21):
water is so therapeutic. How oldwere you when that happened. I was
twelve? You twelve? Yeah,Oh my gosh, you were thrown into
the deep endry. It's just kindof it's in my DNA. That's really
something. So you helped at twelve, you were helping two autistic kids learn
to swim right, and then andthen what happened, like, how did
this progress to you? You know, I really I took a little bit
(26:41):
of a detour. I was actuallya music major for at the very beginning
of my academic career for college.I thought I wanted to do that,
but then you're back towards psychology andthe entire time, really I'd always work
with people. I really love people, especially kids and families. But that's
what I've been really drawn to.So I was a therapist for many years,
(27:03):
working with families, but with youthspecifically absolutely mostly girls. You know,
that was probably this kind of myniche Yeah, and did that work
for many years. And then Iwas an accidental manager, if you will.
Just had somebody say to me,hey, do you want to take
a managerial job? And I'm like, I don't know for all that,
(27:26):
but really, you know, Ithought, well, that sounds like an
interesting challenge. And I always liketo do things to kind of make things
better for people i'm serving, andthat's why they had approached me about it.
So I thought, well, I'lltry it for a year and see
what I think. And I lovedthat as well as you know, love
working with the kids and families.So this is a great spot for me
to be in. I get towork with kids and families, and I
(27:48):
get to help lead this wonderful organization. Yeah, that seems like all your
background has kind of led you tothe perfect spot. Yeah, it's really
something. Yeah, I'm really happyto be here. So you've been doing
this since April to twenty twenty three, Meghan, what is your favorite thing
about what you do? Oh?Goodness, I love the kids. You
know. I'm a therapist by background, so and I worked with kids and
(28:10):
families for years before I was fortunateenough to be part of this mission.
So it really is so rewarding tosee the smiles on their faces and to
see them improving, you know,to see them getting better, and it's
great to see them getting more independent. I love it when we have these
stories with the kids getting cars orgoing out and getting jobs and doing all
(28:30):
those things. Oh oh gosh,because I remember what it's like for them
as they come in. You know, it's so hard. Sometimes also seeing
families succeed and you know, feelingmore confident in bringing their loved ones home
or you know, making those familiesstronger. So that's really rewarding work.
So by far, that's probably myfavorite part. That's great. Our guest
(28:51):
today has been Megan Zambiazzi. Sheis the chief executive officer over at Vista
Maria in Dearborn Heights, Michigan.Megan, thank you so much much for
joining us today. Thanks so much, Colleen, great to be here.
This has been Light Up the D, a community affairs program from iHeartMedia Detroit.
If your organization would like to geton the program, email Colleen Grant
(29:12):
at iHeartMedia dot com. Here areall episodes on this station's podcast page.
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