Episode 72: Beyond Basics and Mojo's Breaking and Entering

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Light Up to 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.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Good morning and welcome to Light Up the D. I'm
your host, Colleen Grant. I'm joined today by Pamela Good.
She's the co founder and CEO of Beyond Basics, a
nonprofit established to address literacy needs for Detroit's youth. Beyond
Basics provides intensive, one on one reading support across fifty locations,
helping thousands of students achieve grade level reading in as

(00:37):
little as six weeks, transforming their educational paths. More information
on this can be found at Beyond Basics dot org,
so you can visit after we talk when you learn
how amazing her organization is. Again, it's Beyond Basics dot org.
Please join me in welcoming Pamela Good. Welcome, Pamela. Thank
you for joining us today.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Hello Colleen, it's such a pleasure to be here with you.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
So one of the things I learned when we were
talking was that it wasn't originally established as a nonprofit
for literacy needs. What was the journey that Beyond Basics
took to get to addressing literacy.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yes, it was established really to bring academic enrichment programs
to students at Herman Rogers Academy, a school in Detroit.
Really stumbled on the school. There was a long time
coat drive at the school that my sons were attending,
and I delivered coats one day, and that was in
ninety nine, and my eyes were just open to a

(01:38):
lot of the extras that the students didn't have, and
so we established as Beyond Basics, which was to bring
those academic enrichment programs. So at that time it was
publishing publishing centers where we published students stories and hardcovered books.
We did art with a master's make a Difference days,

(02:00):
you know, reading buddies, things of that sort, and we're
pretty much solely volunteer based. That enrichment really became more
regular in the schools and we started to pay staff
to deliver that. But in that process we learned that
the kids could not read. And it was that challenge,
you know, we really you know, children need to be

(02:21):
able to read to be in school, and it took
us a few years to really develop a method that
gets some reading. You know intensively, but it requires one
on one tutoring.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
So you went in originally, this was nineteen ninety nine
m H. And what inspired you in the first place.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Well, I think when I went in, my eyes were
open to a very different community. Really hadn't been in
the neighborhood so much, and so I saw the need
all around the school, and I listened to the principal
and the teachers, and you know, they just talked about
how the kids didn't have extras, they didn't have art,

(03:03):
they didn't have music, and at that time, my son's
you know, the computers they had, you know, they had
lots of things, and and it struck me too. They
didn't even really want them to go outside for recess.
They didn't feel it was safe. And so I just
left there that day saying that I would do more.
You know. It's like I was just saying, Lord, they

(03:23):
need more than coats, you know, and I said, I'll
just do more. And with that, I think when there
is a need for others and you have a heart
to help, I think that you know, God goes before
and prepares the way, and my steps were ordered to
really establish this nonprofit.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
And so you spent a couple of years and then
all of a sudden you realize the real fundamental problem
that you've been brought there to address was literacy.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
Yes, it was absolutely a deal breaker in education, right.
I mean, the extras are wonderful, and we have those
weave in because they do help, you know, build vocabulary,
comprehension and things. But the kids needed to learn to read,
and we tried what was what really is still popular today,

(04:12):
which is a I call it a one size fits
all approach, and it puts kids in pairs or small groups.
I mean that works for kindergarten, first second grade, but
it doesn't work after you've missed it. And so that
third through twelfth grade, they really need an assessment that

(04:33):
pinpoints how far they are behind, not a normed you know,
put in proficiency buckets, but you need to know exactly
what grade level that child's reading at. And they need
one on one tutoring because they will not blossom in
a group.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
So how have you seen literacy of impact students' lives,
particularly in vulnerable communities over the years.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
Well, it changes their life. And you know, we've been
doing this so long that we have grown up adults
that talk about how it changed their lives. But initially,
I mean we see a child who say they're in
fifth grade and reading at a second grade level. You know,
they can't read at all, they can't participate in class,

(05:22):
And now they go back to the classroom after six
to ten weeks and they're able to actually be one
of the smartest ones in the class, right because they
can read. So we see that at different age levels,
because we also do work in the high schools, and
that's where you see a more dramatic initial impact as
those high schools.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
And how do they get to fifth grade not able
to read?

Speaker 3 (05:45):
Our system is just mind boggling that it still gets
perpetuated because people know what the flaws are in the system.
I mean, you can start seeing right now a movement
towards a science of reading, which is going back to
a system that actually teaches kids how to break down words.

(06:05):
But in the late seventies early eighties is when it
started being rolled out. The departments of education really moved
to a whole language approach, which works if you already
know how to read, because it helps you with how
to comprehend better. Right, But you cannot teach someone how
to read using whole language, and so we've had the

(06:28):
wrong curriculum. And so the last year and a half
two years, there's been a greater awareness around this, and
now you have governors in the state really mandating that
the schools use a science of reading curriculum and there
are about forty states now that have moved in that direction,

(06:49):
which is wonderful to see because now our kids are
going to start getting it. But in education and other pieces,
if you don't get if you don't learn to read
by third grade, there really is a reading program established,
like a reading class in school at four, fifth six
that you can go to to catch you up. You

(07:09):
sort of miss it. And we find that if you
miss it at third grade, you just get passed along.
And so I think there's a lot of little things
like that, and those are probably big things, or a
number of big things.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Those are like the key barriers right there.

Speaker 3 (07:24):
Yes to you. And I would think one other key
barrier is that they're not tying literacy to education and
so they really should be guaranteeing that every child gets
what they need to learn to read, and that isn't happening.
So the accountability of that, and one last thing that

(07:44):
really drives this home is that the assessments that are
given to kids are no longer one on one for
all the kids in the school. They really put them
in proficiency buckets, and so they're tested and they're put
in advanced, proficient or below proficiency. And with reading, you

(08:06):
really have to know how far a child's behind. You
need to know the grade level. Because a high school
child is below proficient is one thing. You think that
they're just a little behind because they speak clearly, But
they could be reading at a second grade level and
be in high school and just.

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Being a blow proficient bucket that is.

Speaker 3 (08:23):
With below proficient BAK and you would never imagine that
they were reading it just a second or third grade level.

Speaker 2 (08:29):
Wow, yes, how do you guys find out that somebody
is reading a second grade level?

Speaker 4 (08:34):
Like?

Speaker 3 (08:34):
What what we test them? It's a one on one
assessmant assessment. We really like the Woodcock Reading Mastery test.
It breaks down the individual components according to grade level,
so word id, word attack, you know, passage, comprehensive, things
like that, and it gives them an overall reading grade level.

(08:56):
And so it's like an X ray, like if you
were going to go have surgery, you would want them
to have an X ray, not one that was really
homogenized with a lot of other people who had X rays.
You would want to know exactly what that child needed.
And so it's so important that we do that because
we build a prescription for them off of that and

(09:17):
with the one on one tutor, we can deliver exactly
what they need. We don't have to be delivering what
other people need at the same time.

Speaker 2 (09:24):
So why don't we talk about why literacy is so
important for young people in their academic and personal lives,
Like you're trying to change their future. It sounds like
when you when you help them with their literacy.

Speaker 3 (09:39):
Well, literacy is so vast the impact of it because
if you're in school and you can't compete alongside the
other people in your grade, you start thinking that you
don't you're not able. And Harvard did a study and
they were saying that a child really develops an aversion

(10:01):
to learning around anything that's written because it really highlights
what they don't know. So you get kids that start
to isolate and they don't want to participate. And in
the words of one eleventh grade you know high school student,
you know when we assessed him, he was reading at
a first grade level, and he told me, he said,

(10:24):
I'm afraid to be away from my house in the
neighborhoods if my friends were to run off, because I
can't read the street signs to find my way home.
And so, but they don't talk about it because they
don't really identify it as not being able to read.
They just know they don't get something, and so dignity
is around it. There is higher incarceration in our nation

(10:48):
because kids do not have a place where they can
even get a job. You're not reading at a fifth
grade level, even you can't be employed. You know, you
can't even find the job, and so it really impacts
our kids. But it's gone on for decades and at
this point in time, it really is a national emergency,
I believe.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
So why don't we talk a little bit about the
structure of beyond Basics tutoring programs. You know, we talked
in your introduction that you can get students to achieve
grade level reading and as little as six weeks. How
do you guys achieve those results?

Speaker 3 (11:25):
Well, it's part of what we've been talking about. You know,
we know where to begin and so we do you
know that assessment, We have a prescription. We pair them
with a tutor and they work an hour a day,
five days a week, and that recipe there, I mean
in using the curriculum that we mentioned earlier. It's a

(11:46):
specific curriculum around phonics and decoding. Essentially, it teaches them
how to sound out words by breaking down syllables. But
with that method, we really don't meet children that can't improve.
Some of them improve at a slower pace, but very
few would have you know, a learning difference in the

(12:09):
way that would impede that. So this works whether or
not you're from vulnerable community with parents who don't read
right that. It could be situations like that, It could
be autism, ADHD, dyslexia, english language learners. All of those
are learning differences that impede people from moving forward. And

(12:30):
so this actually works in all of those situations.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
So can you give a story that illustrates the impact
beyond basics has had on a student's life. I bet
there are many.

Speaker 3 (12:42):
Yes, there are many. Oh, I think what you know,
I'll tell you stories that the impact of other kids.
So Jacob, we met him in high school. I think
it was around twenty two thousand and nine, we went
into Finny High School and it was our first high school.
Or are doing this? And he watched his friends and

(13:02):
he he really, you know, joined us beyond the reading
point of just mentoring and helping motivate some of the kids.
But he noticed how his cohorts, you know, his classmates
were learning to read. And he said, you know, he
sees all these other programs that are you know, college

(13:25):
scholarships are offered and stem classes and steam classes, and
he said, you know that just builds them up. But
at some point, if they don't get literacy, they will
hit a brick wall. And he's absolutely right. You know,
literacy is one of those things that once you add
it in everybody else's work blossoms. And so I used

(13:49):
to say, you know, you can have a stem and steam,
but without a stream that are I love that, they
will not blossom. But when we send kids back into
the classroom, the teachers now able to focus more on
classroom academics, right, and then we're able to actually graduate
kids and can go out and take advantage of those scholarships.

(14:10):
And so from Jacob's point of view, so I learned
about it from them, right. And one other story, if
you don't mind, I've had a couple young people, mostly
they were the boys that as they would get out
of high school, I would get a text or phone
call from them because they would end up in a

(14:31):
doctor's office or in a job interview or something. And
I remember the doctor's office and say, you know, ms Pam,
You know I was able to come to the doctor's
office by myself. I used to have to have my mama,
my going to go along with me, right. And so
the independence and being able to grow up and not
feel isolated and feel like you can navigate your world.

(14:53):
We have story after story after story. We've tutored over
ten thousand kids over the last I don't fifteen year
years whatever, since two thousand and eight. So yes, yeah,
and in the intents of one on one and so
they're out in the world and it does impact their
lives dramatically, I have.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
No question about it. We know that so many things
affect our vulnerable communities more than other communities. How is
literacy linked to social and economic equity?

Speaker 3 (15:23):
In your opinion, it's absolutely linked. And we all know that.
You know, with some of the trades you have to
be reading at a sixth grade level, some of them
at an eighth grade level. To even you know, you
could go to trade school, but if you don't put
the literacy piece in. And we've tutored adults. We were

(15:45):
part of a Skills for Life project with the City
of Detroit, and when we assess them, a lot of
them are reading at a fourth fifth grade level. So
you can be trained to do a particular job that
doesn't work by are reading, but you really can't get
the job unless you you know benchmark. And so it's

(16:07):
directly related to not being able to Well, let me
say it this way. I realize that everybody really hesit
in them that they want to take care of themselves
and their kids. Now they may be convinced that they
can't and therefore look like they don't want to, right,
it's kind of a defense, but they really do. They
want to be able to do that. But when you

(16:29):
can't read and you can't make that happen, they have
to find another way to manage. And so we have
like eighty percent of the people in jails can't read,
and so there's a direct correlation with that. And you know,
this is solvable, This is totally solvable. We should have

(16:50):
everyone doing whatever they can because it doesn't just stop
with that child and that family. We should have the
heart to do it just because of that they're suffering.
But the impact in our nation, the ripple effects of
it are horrible. We don't have a workforce now, but
we do have some supporters. General Motor supports us and

(17:13):
they help us tutor high school kids to help build
that workforce. So I say that illiteracy is connected to
almost every social ill in our nation. And when you
think that it's six to ten weeks and you can
change that, we should all be getting behind this as
soon as we can. Yes, yes, yes.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
So what are some of the unique challenges when addressing
literacy and vulnerable communities? Like what is the problem?

Speaker 3 (17:43):
You know, we have a model where we go where
they show up, because you really need to reach a person,
especially in vulnerable communities where they're already showing up, because
they're not going to have the capacity to get to you.
You know, it's like the adult literacy programs. If you're
established somewhere and that adult has to get to you,

(18:04):
the chances of that happening with any regularity is slim
and so especially if they can't read, but they won't
have transportation. You know, it's a presentive problem. So we
learned early on that the logistics really is our secret
sauce in the vulnerable communities. And so it's one reason
where we really haven't wanted to be part of after

(18:25):
school programs regularly because it is getting them to be
able to show up for that. So we partner with schools.
They give us a room right in the school. We're
in the school during the school day, and they help
us navigate. They tell us which kids that they'd like
us to work with, and we have a child that's

(18:46):
assigned for every hour that we have a tutor available,
and we have to navigate. In vulnerable communities a higher
percentage of absences, but we've learned to do that fairly well,
and we tutor other kids. It's in those absences, and
you know, we know the threshold of where we're being
able to help them or not. And and so yes,

(19:09):
it's the logistic piece of just getting that child in
front of you. In vulnerable communities, it's tough, So.

Speaker 2 (19:15):
You do collaborate with schools and communities to create opportunities
for them. Absolutely, yeah, And to meet them where they
they are supposed to try to get them to you.

Speaker 3 (19:28):
Yes, yes, yes, that doesn't work.

Speaker 2 (19:32):
Well, you mentioned general motors. What what role can businesses
and other local organizations.

Speaker 3 (19:36):
Show und us? But really it's the you know high
areas you know are it.

Speaker 2 (19:42):
Sounds like you know you you've actually done a lot of
different things to help to help kids and literacy sounds
like it's now kind of the focus. Yes, but what
do you what's coming up?

Speaker 3 (19:56):
Well, they're they're children everywhere that need it. So we
really need to speak out more and more about this
so that the students get the tutoring that they need
so they can participate in school. And so I think
that I'd love to see the states embrace it. I'd
love to see our state embrace it in a very

(20:18):
deliberate way so that we could be a beacon of
light for the nation. In fact, it's one of our
previous sponsors. He sins passed a couple of years ago,
but Wayne Weber would always say he wants be on
basics to be a beacon of light across the nation,
and we in Michigan could really flatten this curve around
literacy for K twelve in three to five years in

(20:42):
our districts, and that would be a beacon of light
for the nation because every state has this issue as well,
and so we hope that the virtual tutoring will go
a long way in helping us to connect with people everywhere.

Speaker 2 (20:57):
What do you love about what you do?

Speaker 3 (21:00):
My goodness, I love so many things about it, but
the kids and uh just I mean I love the
enrichment with the kids, you know, but to delight them
and to get them reading changes their life and changes
their you know, their future. I mean without us addressing

(21:21):
this and pretending to educate kids and graduating them, I mean,
we as a society of adults right now are killing
the futures of our children and we're pretending that we're
doing it, that we're not doing that. But the fact
is that illiteracy is such a high rate that we
need to address it. And so I love to see

(21:41):
when those kids get it. It's like the literacy lottery, right,
they happen to be a place where somebody can actually
teach them to read, and it it changes the rest
of their life.

Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yeah, and now you know, you don't necessarily that's not
the first thing that comes to mind like, oh, literacy
is like one of the main problems in the success
of people's future. You think of a lot of things,
but not necessarily. Literacy is such a crucial cornerstone to
everything else because when you think about all the other

(22:15):
issues we deal with as a community, whether it's food
and security, or lack of employment or like you said, incarceration,
all of those things, sometimes they're linked back to things
like as simple as youth illiteracy that ultimately leads into
adult illiteracy that causes all sorts of other socio and

(22:38):
economic issues.

Speaker 3 (22:40):
Yes, it's a silent epidemic that's been creeping up on
us for decades. And what it's producing is more visible needs.
And so it's twofold now. It is social services, basic needs. Right,
we have so many people that can't provide for themselves,
and it's literacy, and so we just need to get

(23:01):
to work. And and to your point, it's it's such
beautiful work, empowering somebody to carry on. And I don't
know if we have time for another story, but so
this is a student, high school student, and had you know,
his mother had some substance abuse issues and did her

(23:23):
best to take care of the kids and the family,
and you know, he was able to learn to read,
he was able to take advantage of one of those
scholarships and go to college. As soon as he graduated,
he got a job, he bought a house for them,
started taking care of the siblings, and it just broke

(23:44):
that generational cycle. So I look at it that, you know,
the this is a gift that keeps on giving because
it changes that life, it changes the family that that
child in immediately, and it changes the future generation. And
you know that their children will be readers. They're not.

(24:05):
They're able to navigate that space and they know how
important it is. And so investing in literacy really does
change the direction of a life, a family, a future
in our nation. And we just all need to come
together and triage this and get going. And I'd love
to see that happen.

Speaker 2 (24:24):
To literacy the gift that keeps on giving.

Speaker 3 (24:27):
Yeah, yes, it is, though the ripple effects of it
are generational forward and backwards. They can help that go. Well,
if you're in Detroit, there's forty seven percent adulta literacy.
Some of these parents can't read. They're trusting our system
by sending their kids to school. And if they don't

(24:48):
learn to read, shame on us. But when they do
learn to read, they can now read for their parents.
We see that with English language learners all the time.
You know, they're in school and they're parents, maybe they
don't speak English, and so they're navigating that for them.
But it can happen in generationally illiterate homes also, so

(25:09):
you can go backwards and help them with your literacy
and it goes forward by breaking that generational cycle.

Speaker 2 (25:15):
I love that. Yeah, thank you for the work that
you're doing, Pamela. Our guest has been Pamela Good. She's
a CEO and co founder of Beyond Basics. And if
you're interested in getting involved in any way, whether it's
by financially supporting Beyond Basics, or maybe you decided you
need to get some literacy training, or maybe you decided

(25:36):
you want to help and you want to actually tutors people,
then please go to beyondbasics dot org. There will be
a resources there to help you get involved, and Pamela
will be look looking forward to having you involved as well. So,
Pamela Good, CEO and co founder of Beyond Basics, thank
you so much for joining us today. We really appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (25:57):
Thank you. It's a pleasure being here you too.

Speaker 4 (26:00):
Hello everybody. This is Zach Audio, producer of Light Up
the Date, and for this part too, I'm interviewing a
very special guest producer of Mojo in the Morning, Lydia
jar Josa, to talk about Mojo's Breaking in on Ring.
How's it going, Lydia, It's going good, Zach, how are
you now? Tell me what is Mojo's Breaking Unering.

Speaker 5 (26:19):
Mojo's Breaking and Entering is a five oh one C
three that Mojo started I think about fifteen years back
with his wife Chelsea, and it's a charity that gives
back to families all across the country and we get
our donations, particularly from listeners and sponsors. It's really cool.

Speaker 4 (26:40):
That's awesome. How long have you been doing it?

Speaker 5 (26:41):
For three years? This will be my third year.

Speaker 4 (26:44):
How long has it been established for?

Speaker 5 (26:45):
Give about fifteen years? I told the exact year, but
I've been doing it for three years. It's a big blessing.

Speaker 4 (26:51):
That's awesome. Now, Lydia, could you tell me who is
on the board of Mojo's Breaking and Unering.

Speaker 5 (26:56):
It is myself, Mojo, Ryan Lash, who is the CEO
of RSL Medical. We have the Imagine Theaters CEO who's
Paul Glance, and also Anthony Laverde and Mojo's wife Chelsea.
We're all on the board. We also have a couple
of salespeople here at iHeart Angel and Carrie who help

(27:16):
a lot as well.

Speaker 4 (27:17):
How do you determine what is a good letter to pick?

Speaker 5 (27:22):
Now? That's hard. So I go through the letters and
I water them down a little bit as best as
I can, and then I pass along to our board
to decide, and then collectively we all decide who should
be the families that we are granting the wishes for.
And we also do some wish granting off the air too,
so sometimes they only hear nine or ten on the air,

(27:43):
but then behind the scenes, I'm also granting other wishes
as well.

Speaker 4 (27:46):
Now I want to paint a picture for the listeners.
Is this like a round table that you all are
sitting at reading letters or how does that go about?
Is email?

Speaker 5 (27:55):
Well, we do our board meetings together at a round table,
but when we're doing letters, we do it via text
or we're doing it via email as well.

Speaker 4 (28:03):
After you guys pick the families and you pick the letters,
what is a typical like shopping day.

Speaker 5 (28:09):
For you shopping. It takes forever, but it's the best
thing because what we do is we approach the families
who have written the letters for the nominated family, and
then we go through what they need, what they want,
and then I spend an entire day of what feels
like at Target and Walmart, sometimes just for one family,
just to make sure I'm picking out everything that they like,

(28:30):
because you want them to enjoy it.

Speaker 4 (28:32):
Absolutely, And how can people get involved with it?

Speaker 5 (28:36):
You can get involved by going to mojoswish dot org.
We have open donations there, or you can even write
a letter if there's a family that you know, or
maybe even a loved one or even yourself that you
want to nominate and write a letter there.

Speaker 4 (28:51):
Yeah, and that's actually my next question is who does
this help and what's it for?

Speaker 5 (28:56):
It helps families, it helps kids, helps actually sometimes some businesses.

Speaker 4 (29:02):
It can help anyone anyone in need.

Speaker 5 (29:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (29:05):
Absolutely. What's your favorite part about breaking dinery?

Speaker 5 (29:08):
I think granting the wishes, like when you hear them
on the air and how thankful and excited that they
are that they're going to have a great Christmas. And
sometimes it makes them feel like they have all their
worries taken away, even if it's just for that hour,
it makes a difference.

Speaker 4 (29:23):
Do you have a experience that was your all time
favorite in the last three years.

Speaker 5 (29:28):
That's tough one. I think what one got me the
most was Norah Chandler. Last year we granted her wish.
She lost her husband in a factory fire and she
didn't know if she was going to be able to
provide a Christmas for her kids because her husband was
the only one working. And we ended up going in
there and getting her kids everything, including a trip to

(29:50):
Great Wilflodge, which was their favorite out of all of it.
We even got them like new bikes, TVs, like Nintendo switches.
It was really cool.

Speaker 4 (29:58):
That's amazing. What's a website? One more time?

Speaker 5 (30:01):
Mojo's wish dot org.

Speaker 4 (30:02):
Lydia jar Josa, thank you so much for being here.

Speaker 2 (30:05):
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (30:08):
This has been light up the d A community a
fairs program from iHeartMedia Detroit. If your organization would like
to get on the program, email Colleen Grant at iHeartMedia
dot com. Here are all episodes on this station's podcast page.