May 27, 2023 • 30 mins
Kenyetta McGowens is the Program Administrator for Civic Hearts and Marcus Brewer is their development director. Previously known as Change Happens, they help at-risk youth excel in school, stay out of jail and get into great jobs. They also help families deal with hardships like HIV treatment (and prevention) and connecting folks with mental health professionals. They have been successful at helping people break the cycle of homelessness. They placed over 5,800 youth in after-school and summer enrichment and prevention programs and you can help them reach even more by going to their website: www.civicheart.org. They need volunteers – especially males to mentor boys and young men.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:06):
Welcome to Houston, PA, Houston'sPublic Affairs show, an iHeartMedia broadcast.
Our disclaimer says that the opinions expresson their show do not necessarily reflect those
held by this radio station, itsmanagement staff, or any of its advertisers.
My name is Laurent I am theTexan from France, and my guests
(00:27):
are here from Civic Hearts. CivicHearts Community Services is online at Civic heart
dot org. They're one of theorganizations in town. They concentrate on rerailing
youth whose lives have been derailed bypoverty, lack of access to books,
and all those things. So we'regoing to talk about educating people and helping
(00:49):
them come off of substance abuse alsoand be independently employed. That these are
all services that this organization can provide. They have a wide range in new
services that are really impressive. Oneof the reasons I wanted to have them
on the show is because I've recentlyfound out that if you pick ten random
kids out of hid's third grades,only three of them know how to read
(01:11):
at third grade level. That meansthat seven of them will look at the
book you hand them and they're justnot going to be able to do much
with it, except if there arepictures. Obviously, it's a bit of
a time bomb. All these kidsare going to grow up and they're going
to end up employed in remedial jobs. If you can't read, if you're
only functionally literate, it's very verydifficult, if not impossible, to access
(01:33):
any managerial jobs because the paperwork willstand in your way. It is just
a calamity. And I'm horrified becauseit makes me really, really angry.
We're the most powerful, richest nationin the world, at least as of
today. We don't lack the rawmaterial because there's nothing wrong with the kids.
They're perfectly smart and capable of learning. They just don't get the opportunity
(01:56):
to do it right. And that'sour fault. And it's not because we
don't have they're raw material to havegood teachers either. We figured that out
a long time ago, how toteach kids, and we're really really good
at it. We all know greatteachers, so that's not the problem.
And like I said, we havethe money, we could just build more
programs, and it turns out thatthat money often goes to funding nonprofit organizations
(02:17):
like Civic Hearts, Community Services becausethey pick up the slack. And the
reason these organizations can do that isbecause they can muster a small or a
large group of people that can developthe political will to do something and not
only talk about the problems, butactually higher teachers create programs and send them
in school and invite children and youthto join these programs. And once we've
(02:40):
done that, as you'll hear myguests discuss, the kids are fine.
All they need is boundaries mentors,and there's going to be a call for
mentorship. If you're interested in mentoringchildren or youth, you should go to
Civic Heart dot org to find outabout their opportunities. My guests are ken
Yetta McGowan's. She is the programadministrator for Civic Hearts, and Marcus Brewer
(03:07):
is their development director. Ken Yettaas a as a woman, aren't you
a little afraid of the fact thatall these babies that have born to us
our primary job are essentially they're oftenabandoned. I feel like I'm using these
big dramatic words, but that's whatit looks to me when I look at
the result of all these kids thatare born to mothers who are often unable
(03:30):
to even purchase the books that wouldallow them to have access to reading in
their homes because they've got two jobs, and even those two jobs are are
just barely enough to pay for therent, and very often paying the rent
means that they can't buy all thegroceries that they need because their rent is
(03:50):
inflexible, but the grocery bill isflexible. You could just buy less food
and eat less, but you'll getevicted if you don't do that. It's
we're we're kind of we're looking ata bit of a train wreck and it
seems completely unnecessary. And I wouldhave to agree this is a very sticky
(04:13):
situation because people, as Audrey Lloydpointed out, people don't live single issue
lives. The issue of struggling andeducation is connected to the issue of poverty,
of the issue of not having enoughfood or not have enough support.
And as civic heart, that's somethingthat we recognize and that is why we
are a hub almost in our communityfor people to come. And you may
(04:38):
come for this reason, but ifwe find out HI, I need this,
you know this assistance as well,we are here to offer it.
We're here if we don't offer it, we have wonderful partners who do,
and we're here to help you inevery aspect of your life and to support
you in every aspect, because it'strue it does seem sometimes like especially children
(05:00):
who are impoverished in children who growup in environments that aren't as wealthy,
they do oftentimes get forgotten and leftbehind, but not by us. We
remember them and we care about them. Yeah, you've created programs to basically
connect to the community, but alsoto connect the community to other organizations.
(05:24):
That's that's one of the hidden powersthat a lot of these nonprofit organizations.
Yeah, you can literally if you'redealing with someone who has a particular program
problem that your programs don't particularly address, you can contact you know, maybe
they need a bed, you cancontact the Houston Furniture Bank. And people
(05:44):
would just completely unaware that these servicesexist, and very often walking through the
doors of an organization like yours isthe only way that they will find out
that it exists. So, whatkind of programs do you administer? I
don't know who to ask. Y'allcan both chime in on this, but
it's if you go to the website, it's impressive. Civic Heart dot org.
(06:05):
Yell are really involved in a lotof different programs. So which ones
are the ones that are the mostimportant to the organizations, the biggest ones,
all the above, all of theabove, most important. Put all
the money in the same place,so to speak, well, because it
kind of depends on where that personis. You know what, if they
are the students, they're the kids, then it's going to be our youth
(06:27):
services. It's gonna be our mentoringprograms that are in school. It's gonna
be the after school programs. Itmay be our pregnancy drug or substance abuse
prevention pro obously substance abuse substance preventionprogram, Yeah, that we offer that
are that are in school programs.Um. If it's some of the adults,
it may be our chronically homeless wherewe help to find them affordable homes,
(06:49):
we provide case management for them formental health. And um we have
self sufficiency program. For that motheryou were talking about, so that has
to work two jobs, we havea self sufficiency program that will help to
train her, get her employed andto be able to make a better,
better wage and support her family.So what does that program look like?
For instance, I mean what ison the curriculum so to speak self efficiency.
(07:12):
Yeah, we partner with Houston CommunityCollege. Oh yeah, and so
they are the they're the ones whoprovide that piece that that certification for whether
it's warehousing, UM's the work lift, UM some of the construction and UM.
And there was a lot of researchthat went into this UH program to
ensure that we were training people injobs and fields that were that were needed
(07:38):
that are expected to grow UM.So that that program is a great one
and it's one that UM I thinksupports our community really well and allows people
to get training for free, youknow, if they need UH certain shoes
or uniform. That's providing skills.Soft skills are provided. Budgeting and knowing
(07:59):
how to make manage money is providedbecause we want to see families thrive.
What do you mean by soft skills? So you know how to interview?
What? How do you prepare forthat interview? What do you say?
How do you know all those things? Preparing your resume? Some of them
people have never put a resume togetherbefore, How to complete that application,
all those things that are vital thatsometimes stops someone from getting that job.
(08:22):
Yeah, you Marcus, you mentionedthat your your children are growing up in
houses that are full of books.I'm I can imagine that they know how
to interview because they have access tothat information. Also, the people that
have all those books are going totalk to them, to the children about
how you do that. I mean, it's a little bit like living without
(08:43):
sunshine in a way. I'm tryingto compare the disparity that is created if
you grew up in a home withoutbooks. It's huge. Yeah, yeah,
it's huge. You started. Youknow, we were talking earlier to
you know that the visual of arunning track, Yeah, everybody is on
the same starting line, but thedifference is when you start. So you
(09:03):
have some that are starting and they'reon the second turn, some that are
on the third turn before the kidsof colors start the race. So you've
already got people who are two tofour three turns in front of you on
that track and you have to tryto catch up. Yeah, that's kind
of how you're starting in life,you know, because you don't have the
word deficit, because you need tohear so many words by the time you're
(09:26):
three years old, and if youdon't hear those words, then you're starting
again. You're starting lack. Gotkids starting in elementary school, starting at
five, they are on other colors. They don't know that they're alphabet So
if they don't know those basic things, how can they read the book?
I just it's unimaginable to me becauseI was lucky and I know how to
(09:48):
read, and I have a passionfor reading, so I learned really quickly.
But you have to try to putyourselves in the in the shoes of
people who can't read. The closestI can get is to imagine what to
remember what it's like to be ina different country where I can read,
but I don't understand what I'm readingexactly. Oh my gosh. You can't
get anywhere, especially if you're ina Germanic country where the uh woonzazels tassa.
(10:11):
It's just just to imagine what that'slike. And then you go to
a restaurant and the menu is likethat except that senior language. That's part,
you know, That's the crazy part, is that you're we're talking about
being in another country being able tosee it, but if you're in your
country and you're looking at something andyou're not able to read whatever it says.
(10:31):
I mean as I mean to share. I grew up in a household
where my dad didn't read a write, you know, he didn't have a
third maybe a third great education,wasn't from the country, out of Louisiana.
And so they worked, you know, he and all my uncles,
they worked, you know, tosurvive and help to pay for everything that
(10:52):
was going on or they're in theirhome. But his thing was my brother
and I we hadn't you know,we didn't have a choice. You're going
to school because he understood the whyand how important it was and how much
harder he had to work, andhe worked hard and provide it very well
for us. I can I can'tsay that. Well, your your physical
proof that he was successful exactly,and your mom too and probably had something
(11:15):
to do with Yeah, your momtoo, you know. Yeah, I
had a lot to do with it. Yeah you went to college. Um,
so there was a different dynamic inthe house, but that but his
thing was always you're going to schoolbecause he understood the importance of it.
Yeah. I grew up the sameway. It was never questions like you're
gonna you're gonna graduate and you're goingto go to college or a vocational school.
But I mean, it's just it'sjust given and not everybody gets that
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opportunity, you know. That's whyour mentoring programs are so important, because
we have so many kids whose parentsdon't have the luxury of being able to
hang out with their with their child, with their son, or with their
daughter. They got to work inorder to make sure they have lights on
and make sure there's food and therefrigerator. So they can't go to every
game, they can't go to theall these different things. They can't buy
(12:00):
them all the things that they wantto be able to pay for their kids.
But so they're struggling. And that'swhere our mentoring program comes in.
Because I was fortunate enough that Iwas exposed to things within my family,
and my family members had different jobsand different companies and different different things like
that. Not everybody grows up ina family or friends like that, so
they don't get to see what thatpossibility could look like for them. All
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they know is what's in their zipcode, what's in there, you know,
their three block area. And ifyou look out your window and you
see a bunch of unkept longs andbroken signs and closed down stores, boarded
up buildings, there's little inspiration inthat, right and that's a different subject,
but it's the one that I'm interestedin, and that's the idea that
when we build projects or mini malls, everything, architects should have an eye
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on creating things that are actually beautifulbecause it inspires us to be better people
also to be happier. This ship, Yeah, you are listening to Houston
PA, Houston's Public Affairs Show.My name is Laurent and my guests are
here from Civic Hearts Community Services.There are online at Civic Heart dot org
civic heart dot org. My guestsare ken Yetta McGowan's. She is the
(13:16):
program administrator for Civic Hearts and MarcusBrewer is the development director for Civic Heart.
So Ken, yet, the ideathat you're bringing these kids into these
programs and you give them access tothe books and the mentors. How easy
is it to turn their lives around? Is it? I know it's challenging.
(13:37):
It easy is the wrong word.How fast can you turn their lives
around? All average? Right?Yeah, we're talking about people. So,
so our thing is helping people toempower themselves. We do what we
can, we do, we provideit, we get is here. It's
a matter of will you take it. So it depends on the person,
(14:01):
it depends on where they are andif they're ready for uh, you know,
to change their turn their lives around. And a lot of people are
a lot of people are tired,sick and tired of being sick and tired.
And then they come across us andwe we're here, We're ready,
We're here to help. And that'sjust the little nudge that they need.
That's the support that they need.UM. For example, I know our
(14:22):
MBKUM my Brother's Keeper is one ofour mentoring ship started that. Yeah,
and so we have one UM atJack Yates High School that program there and
work. UM. They get pairedwith mentors, they get it's specifically for
young men of color there, UM, and that's the population that's there at
that high school, and it's tohelp them succeed in high school and to
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think beyond that. And UM.Recently I was told that they have ten
of their UM mentors graduating, severalof them and the top fifteen percent of
their class. Two hundred thousand dollarsin scholarship ships earned for these young men.
And it's because they have support.You know, they have their parents
who care at home, but whomay be grinding away making sure that they
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have what they need, and thenthey have this outside support from us who
are saying encouraging them and saying youcan go here. You need luggage and
supplies to go to college. Wegot you. Thanks. You have great
partners like Walley. Yeah, we'rethe company who they've donated probably close to
sixty sets of luggage just to giveout, you know when and hygiene products
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to be able to give to kidsfor our mentors or kids in transition who've
you know, who may not beable to stay at home for whatever reason
and they're homeless, so some waysto put their stuff. Yeah. So
yeah, partnerships, it's partnerships.And like we you know, we're civic
Heart, We're the community Heart.That's what we're here to do is to
bring everyone together and to care enoughto bring everyone together to really affect the
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lives of people who are ready fortheir lives to change, but they just
need that little nudge. I thinkthat's really important because you're talking about in
inviting people to engage with your programs, and you're talking about successful people who
are sick of being sick all thetime and sick of being that's it is.
(16:15):
It's one of the main lessons I'velearned from doing the show for so
many years. The people that aremost successful when they engage with nonprofit organizations
are the ones that have made thedecisions for themselves. It is a demonstration
of that expression. I don't thinkI'm gonna miss this one up. You
can lead a horse to water,but you can't make them drink. Yeah,
and y'all are offering the water,but you're not leading anybody to it.
(16:37):
You're just inviting them to come by. So there's a sort of weeding
out process. It's kind of anugly way to put it, but you're
separating two different kinds of people,those who actually want to make a change
and are ready because they have madea decision for themselves, and the other
people who would probably also want tomake a change, but for whatever reason,
haven't made a decision. You know, substance abuse can definitely cloud you're
(17:00):
thinking. To put it mildly,it demonstrates one of the reasons why your
organization can be successful. You're dealingwith motivated people. Well, yes,
yes, and no, because wedo have those motivated. But the thing
about about Civic Heart is that regardless, we're not going to give up on
you. You may not be readyright now, but we're going to come
back and check on you to seeto make sure that you're still you still
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have the help that you need,even if you're not ready to go through
everything, We're not gonna leave youby yourself. So once they walk through
your doors, support them. You'regonna as long as we can keep up
with them, as long as theycan, as long as they can track
them and they know where they are, they're gonna they're gonna maintain that.
Our Chronically Homeless program, our Stairsprogram, I Reach, the Rescue in
Motion programs work with the chronically homeless, and it can be hard to reach,
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but we have excellent case managers whodon't give up. They keep going
back out and reaching back out andfinding because it's a process, you know,
it's a process to m change theway that you view life, to
change the way that you do life. It's a process and it's a journey.
So we're here to walk with youall the way from where you start.
(18:08):
You know, you may have tostop along the way and may trip
and fall along the way, butwe're here. We're here, We're a
helping hand, and we're gonna walkwith you all the way and beyond.
That's I mean, that's the onlyway we can operate. And to make
sure that we are doing what wesaid we were going to do. And
how successful are your clients? Alot of them are really successful. We've
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had some wonderful people come back andgive us testimonies about, you know,
how they have just thrived. Tammy, what's one of the graduates in the
Stairs program. She spoke at ourluncheon this last November and talked about how
she would not be where she isor have the relationship she has with her
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daughter if not for us, becausewe helped her to get sober, get
out, you know, get clean, and provide a case manage for her
mental health services, and then athome to be able to get you know,
to get a foundation going or youknow, fix those cracks in her
foundation. Now she's a he's atruck drivers, he's a long haul truck
(19:15):
driver. So she's able to makea great living now and she has a
relationship with her daughter. So youknow, I started the show talking about
how only three of our third graderscan read out of ten, so you
take ten third graders, and onlythree of them are going to be able
to read at that third grade level, which is it's just a catastrophe to
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have those kids so far behind onsomething so important. Obviously, if you
can't read, you can't do mathso well, you know, you can't
learn how to do math if youcan't read all the theorems and all that
you need to understand. But onthe plus side, you're demonstrating again that
if the people will engage with theprograms, most of them will eventually be
successful. It really is our natureto be part of the pack and to
(19:57):
want to be useful, right,um, And I feel like to go
back to the youth and the kids. I like to say there's nothing wrong
with the raw material, because thereisn't. They're just kids, right,
They're they're going to become what wepush them to become as a society.
And if we're just pushing them towardsbeing a sloth, well, but if
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you can get them in touch witha mentor who inspire them, if anything,
to inspire them to come back andhang out with them some of the
other kids, it really works.Why can't we get more people to volunteer?
Marcus I know that you wanted tocall for volunteers need mentors we need
if if they're somebody who calls inon this on your show and leaves that
answer, please let us know howwe can get more people to volunteer and
(20:38):
be mentors. But because I cantell you there is a drastic need we
have more mentor more mentees male.You know females are easier, yes,
right, but we need more moremen to volunteer um and provide that level
of exposure and awareness of a positivemale romande. Or you've just described the
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problem that big brothers and big sistershave greater uston have. They have to
match little boys with women very oftenbecause they don't have enough male mentors.
Right. I was a big formany years, and uh, it's it's
challenging, but it is rewarding.And you know, generally speaking, folks,
if you volunteer, you get awhole lot more out of it than
(21:21):
what you give in. It's justand there's part of it is because it's
just philosophically and spiritually, it's justgood for you to be useful, to
be helpful. But I think thatwhen you're mentoring, when you actually see
the difference you're making in a kidand you see it modify their behavior.
Maybe they'll start talking a little differently, or they'll they'll they'll talk about different
subjects. Then they just approach thingsdifferently. It can happen really fast too.
(21:48):
But us, guys, Marcus,the fact is we're just not as
engaged with kids. I think it'spart of it is nature right where we
don't think we a lot of sometimeswhen it talking to men men's groups and
asking this question that they don't thinkI won't be any good at that.
They just don't think that they cando it for whatever reason. They don't
(22:08):
think they have anything to offer.And it's great, and I might think
I was always telling them, howdo you know? How do you know?
Unless you try, unless you goand talk to somebody, you know
whatever that that you're doing. It'sa conversation with a teenager. You're just
talking to him. That can bedifficult. Though. The difference though,
(22:30):
it's not you're a teenager, whenit's you're a teenager. As I have
a teenager. That's the difference istalking to other teenagers is easy, yeah,
you know, because they'll listen.Other teenagers are listening, But your
own what are you talking about?Dad? You're wrong? Yeah? Oh
yeah, yeah, all right.And a lot of that is about developing
(22:51):
the relationship with that young person andthe trust with that young person. Um.
I've done some mentoring work myself,and it's just sitting down and being
there to listen when you know itmay seem silly to you, it may
seem small to you, but tothem, this is their world, this
is what's important. And giving themthe time and space, you know,
they want to complain about mom anddad and they did this, and listening
(23:15):
and saying hmm, have you thoughtabout it this way? Have you considered
this inu you know, just beingable to have kind of that hindsight,
you know, being beyond where theyare and being able to look back and
remember all the stuff that you maybedidn't do right, and being able to
help guide some people maybe in adifferent direction, or to help them get
(23:36):
some stable ground under their feet.And I think a lot of people have
it in them to do that,they just don't realize that. The vast
majority. I mean, I thinkit's really the exception. When someone doesn't
have it in them, there's probablysomething wrong with them medically, like and
that too can often be repaired ormodified. But it's just the average kid.
It's just going to become whatever youpush them to, becoming poor to
(24:00):
him, teach him how to bekind, teach him how to say hello,
goodbye, please, and thank you. And you're I'm exaggerating, but
you're kind of halfway there and inthe South. So yes, sir,
Yeah, that's fine. I agree. I like it, But I just
I feel like I'm literally here becauseI'm polite. That was the polite intern
(24:21):
that people enjoyed working with. Oh, he does a good job and he's
polite. I mean the idea thatjust being pleasant and polite, and which
was entirely taught by my parents.Right, that that luck. But it's
never too late. And we've talkedabout literacy, and well, Marcus,
you share that your dad was functionallyilliterate, and I guess his entire life,
but he could have learned how toread. Adults are it's not too
(24:45):
late now. If you're gonna pickup the piano at sixty, it's gonna
be a lot harder, but youcan still play the piano at sixty if
you're just beginning. However, it'snot true about reading. You can literally
learn how to t You could evenlearn how speed read at eighty if you
just go through the process. AndI can say that he did start with
my niece when she was born.She's thirty three. Now he's been gone
(25:07):
for seventeen years. But when shewas younger, she was learning. He
would read along with her. They'retrying to pick things out. So that
was his motivation with her because hehad more time then Yeah, to kind
of sit. So he learned howto read at the same time as as
his granddaughter. Yeah, that's well, so let's not be completely pissimistic,
(25:30):
especially since we were talking about programsthat engage the natural abilities of children to
be Um, you know, we'rea monkey see monkey do kind of species.
We in fact, that's why somany vocational training programs are important and
a great way to go for highereducation. We don't necessarily want to go
to college. If you want tobe a chef or a mechanic, you
really want a great mentor. He'sgoing to show you how to do that.
(25:52):
You don't you don't need to goto school, right, go get
to work. So I do wantto say that, so since we've called
for mentors, I learned from beinga big brother that one of the most
important commencements you make to this childis to show up regularly, like,
don't right exactly if you think you'regoing. The reason I don't do it
anymore is because I travel so muchthat I know for a fact, I
(26:15):
would constantly be calling him up tosay, I have to reschedule, I
can't make it. I'm going tobe back in two weeks. I'll see
you then. And that's not good. It's just because no matter what,
you know, a teenager especially isjust going to be in his head and
he's going to think, well,he just he's you know, he's just
too busy for So it is acommitment. It's a big commitment. That's
(26:37):
four hours a month is what weask, you know, a minimum of
four hours a month, and thatcould be in person, it could be
in virtual. Yeah, and nowyou want it to be in person,
but it's we want we don't wantthat to be the hinder and to say
you can't, but it really is. And it's the time. Whatever the
time the mentor and the mentee decidethey set the schedule. We don't determine
when and how and day and timethat they meet. It's all on them
(27:00):
on how they how they're going todo it. If they decide, well,
we'll meet once a month, goto an outing and that's our four
hours or five hours it will haveyou know, then that's that's on them.
But it would be the ideal wouldbe at least once a week you
kind of check in and see howthey're doing. Right, that's right.
So that's right. So you havea background check obviously for mentors, and
(27:22):
you have an orientation, right wedo, and uh, if I remember
my orientation. One of the mostuseful part of it was the list of
activities that they shared with us,which costs nothing or five dollars an under.
And we try to get tickets fromsome of them from the rockets or
tech or the tech they do.They do very well. I know.
That's the That's the thing it shouldbe said. The Texans, the Astros
(27:42):
are dynamos. You go to thosegames and a lot of those tickets have
been given away to to youth.Again, just expose them to excellence,
and they don't inspire. Their familiescan't necessarily go to those games. And
you know, if they're four kids, four people in their family, it's
one hundred and fifty two hundred dollars. Yeah, just for food. Yeah,
and include the tickets. So,but the point being that it's the
(28:04):
price of being a mentor is nota barrier because in fact, these organizations
tend to encourage you to do noninexpensive things. No, do things that
are fun, but that compel youto have a lot of conversations that you
know, go to park, justthe simplest things. It's very simple.
You don't have to slide on them, hang out, Yeah, just hang
(28:25):
out with them, talk to them, as you say, can you listen
to them? Although that's sometimes that'shard to What are you talking about?
Kid? What's this music? Youcall music? Were it just generations?
Repeat the same thing again. Youcan go to civic heart dot org civic
(28:49):
heart dot org to find out howto be a mentor. They've got a
really nicely designed website. By theway, you can, well, all
right, you had something to dowith designing it. Oh, we all
did. This is a new website. We're really excited about it. We
launched it on the twenty eighth,April twenty eighth, when we launched our
new name, we launched the website. Everything went Live that day. Yes,
(29:11):
we were called Change Happened previously.You will be Civic Hearts Community Services
for me because that's how I becameacquainted with the organization. So, folks,
once again Civic Heart dot org.You can also donate to their programs.
But take a look because they're highlysuccessful. Like all mentorship programs for
kids that are well run. Theyou can tell by the graduation rate of
(29:34):
the students that are in this program, and ken Yetta mentioned that their mentors
are helping children graduate in the toppercentile of their class. It literally unlocking
their potential and launching them into aprosperous tax paying live. That's what we
want. We want we want prosperouspeople that are going to pay a lot
(29:57):
of taxes so that we can havea lot of better programs. Thank you
so much for that, because yousee, if we make prosperous people,
we don't have to raise taxes.We just have more people paying that taxes
are really neat trick. If youhave any questions related to the show,
folks, you can send me anemail. I'm glad to point you to
(30:18):
the organizations or put you into contactwith all these people. My email addresses
Texan from France at gmail dot com. Texas Texan from France at gmail dot
com. It goes to Texas andyou can expect to get an answer.
And I want to thank you forlistening and caring about the issues that put
on this show. My name isLaurent. This has been Houston, PA,
(30:38):
Houston's public affairs show, Houston Strong.
Welcome to Houston, PA, Houston'sPublic Affairs show, an iHeartMedia broadcast.
Our disclaimer says that the opinions expresson their show do not necessarily reflect those
held by this radio station, itsmanagement staff, or any of its advertisers.
My name is Laurent I am theTexan from France, and my guests
(00:27):
are here from Civic Hearts. CivicHearts Community Services is online at Civic heart
dot org. They're one of theorganizations in town. They concentrate on rerailing
youth whose lives have been derailed bypoverty, lack of access to books,
and all those things. So we'regoing to talk about educating people and helping
(00:49):
them come off of substance abuse alsoand be independently employed. That these are
all services that this organization can provide. They have a wide range in new
services that are really impressive. Oneof the reasons I wanted to have them
on the show is because I've recentlyfound out that if you pick ten random
kids out of hid's third grades,only three of them know how to read
(01:11):
at third grade level. That meansthat seven of them will look at the
book you hand them and they're justnot going to be able to do much
with it, except if there arepictures. Obviously, it's a bit of
a time bomb. All these kidsare going to grow up and they're going
to end up employed in remedial jobs. If you can't read, if you're
only functionally literate, it's very verydifficult, if not impossible, to access
(01:33):
any managerial jobs because the paperwork willstand in your way. It is just
a calamity. And I'm horrified becauseit makes me really, really angry.
We're the most powerful, richest nationin the world, at least as of
today. We don't lack the rawmaterial because there's nothing wrong with the kids.
They're perfectly smart and capable of learning. They just don't get the opportunity
(01:56):
to do it right. And that'sour fault. And it's not because we
don't have they're raw material to havegood teachers either. We figured that out
a long time ago, how toteach kids, and we're really really good
at it. We all know greatteachers, so that's not the problem.
And like I said, we havethe money, we could just build more
programs, and it turns out thatthat money often goes to funding nonprofit organizations
(02:17):
like Civic Hearts, Community Services becausethey pick up the slack. And the
reason these organizations can do that isbecause they can muster a small or a
large group of people that can developthe political will to do something and not
only talk about the problems, butactually higher teachers create programs and send them
in school and invite children and youthto join these programs. And once we've
(02:40):
done that, as you'll hear myguests discuss, the kids are fine.
All they need is boundaries mentors,and there's going to be a call for
mentorship. If you're interested in mentoringchildren or youth, you should go to
Civic Heart dot org to find outabout their opportunities. My guests are ken
Yetta McGowan's. She is the programadministrator for Civic Hearts, and Marcus Brewer
(03:07):
is their development director. Ken Yettaas a as a woman, aren't you
a little afraid of the fact thatall these babies that have born to us
our primary job are essentially they're oftenabandoned. I feel like I'm using these
big dramatic words, but that's whatit looks to me when I look at
the result of all these kids thatare born to mothers who are often unable
(03:30):
to even purchase the books that wouldallow them to have access to reading in
their homes because they've got two jobs, and even those two jobs are are
just barely enough to pay for therent, and very often paying the rent
means that they can't buy all thegroceries that they need because their rent is
(03:50):
inflexible, but the grocery bill isflexible. You could just buy less food
and eat less, but you'll getevicted if you don't do that. It's
we're we're kind of we're looking ata bit of a train wreck and it
seems completely unnecessary. And I wouldhave to agree this is a very sticky
(04:13):
situation because people, as Audrey Lloydpointed out, people don't live single issue
lives. The issue of struggling andeducation is connected to the issue of poverty,
of the issue of not having enoughfood or not have enough support.
And as civic heart, that's somethingthat we recognize and that is why we
are a hub almost in our communityfor people to come. And you may
(04:38):
come for this reason, but ifwe find out HI, I need this,
you know this assistance as well,we are here to offer it.
We're here if we don't offer it, we have wonderful partners who do,
and we're here to help you inevery aspect of your life and to support
you in every aspect, because it'strue it does seem sometimes like especially children
(05:00):
who are impoverished in children who growup in environments that aren't as wealthy,
they do oftentimes get forgotten and leftbehind, but not by us. We
remember them and we care about them. Yeah, you've created programs to basically
connect to the community, but alsoto connect the community to other organizations.
(05:24):
That's that's one of the hidden powersthat a lot of these nonprofit organizations.
Yeah, you can literally if you'redealing with someone who has a particular program
problem that your programs don't particularly address, you can contact you know, maybe
they need a bed, you cancontact the Houston Furniture Bank. And people
(05:44):
would just completely unaware that these servicesexist, and very often walking through the
doors of an organization like yours isthe only way that they will find out
that it exists. So, whatkind of programs do you administer? I
don't know who to ask. Y'allcan both chime in on this, but
it's if you go to the website, it's impressive. Civic Heart dot org.
(06:05):
Yell are really involved in a lotof different programs. So which ones
are the ones that are the mostimportant to the organizations, the biggest ones,
all the above, all of theabove, most important. Put all
the money in the same place,so to speak, well, because it
kind of depends on where that personis. You know what, if they
are the students, they're the kids, then it's going to be our youth
(06:27):
services. It's gonna be our mentoringprograms that are in school. It's gonna
be the after school programs. Itmay be our pregnancy drug or substance abuse
prevention pro obously substance abuse substance preventionprogram, Yeah, that we offer that
are that are in school programs.Um. If it's some of the adults,
it may be our chronically homeless wherewe help to find them affordable homes,
(06:49):
we provide case management for them formental health. And um we have
self sufficiency program. For that motheryou were talking about, so that has
to work two jobs, we havea self sufficiency program that will help to
train her, get her employed andto be able to make a better,
better wage and support her family.So what does that program look like?
For instance, I mean what ison the curriculum so to speak self efficiency.
(07:12):
Yeah, we partner with Houston CommunityCollege. Oh yeah, and so
they are the they're the ones whoprovide that piece that that certification for whether
it's warehousing, UM's the work lift, UM some of the construction and UM.
And there was a lot of researchthat went into this UH program to
ensure that we were training people injobs and fields that were that were needed
(07:38):
that are expected to grow UM.So that that program is a great one
and it's one that UM I thinksupports our community really well and allows people
to get training for free, youknow, if they need UH certain shoes
or uniform. That's providing skills.Soft skills are provided. Budgeting and knowing
(07:59):
how to make manage money is providedbecause we want to see families thrive.
What do you mean by soft skills? So you know how to interview?
What? How do you prepare forthat interview? What do you say?
How do you know all those things? Preparing your resume? Some of them
people have never put a resume togetherbefore, How to complete that application,
all those things that are vital thatsometimes stops someone from getting that job.
(08:22):
Yeah, you Marcus, you mentionedthat your your children are growing up in
houses that are full of books.I'm I can imagine that they know how
to interview because they have access tothat information. Also, the people that
have all those books are going totalk to them, to the children about
how you do that. I mean, it's a little bit like living without
(08:43):
sunshine in a way. I'm tryingto compare the disparity that is created if
you grew up in a home withoutbooks. It's huge. Yeah, yeah,
it's huge. You started. Youknow, we were talking earlier to
you know that the visual of arunning track, Yeah, everybody is on
the same starting line, but thedifference is when you start. So you
(09:03):
have some that are starting and they'reon the second turn, some that are
on the third turn before the kidsof colors start the race. So you've
already got people who are two tofour three turns in front of you on
that track and you have to tryto catch up. Yeah, that's kind
of how you're starting in life,you know, because you don't have the
word deficit, because you need tohear so many words by the time you're
(09:26):
three years old, and if youdon't hear those words, then you're starting
again. You're starting lack. Gotkids starting in elementary school, starting at
five, they are on other colors. They don't know that they're alphabet So
if they don't know those basic things, how can they read the book?
I just it's unimaginable to me becauseI was lucky and I know how to
(09:48):
read, and I have a passionfor reading, so I learned really quickly.
But you have to try to putyourselves in the in the shoes of
people who can't read. The closestI can get is to imagine what to
remember what it's like to be ina different country where I can read,
but I don't understand what I'm readingexactly. Oh my gosh. You can't
get anywhere, especially if you're ina Germanic country where the uh woonzazels tassa.
(10:11):
It's just just to imagine what that'slike. And then you go to
a restaurant and the menu is likethat except that senior language. That's part,
you know, That's the crazy part, is that you're we're talking about
being in another country being able tosee it, but if you're in your
country and you're looking at something andyou're not able to read whatever it says.
(10:31):
I mean as I mean to share. I grew up in a household
where my dad didn't read a write, you know, he didn't have a
third maybe a third great education,wasn't from the country, out of Louisiana.
And so they worked, you know, he and all my uncles,
they worked, you know, tosurvive and help to pay for everything that
(10:52):
was going on or they're in theirhome. But his thing was my brother
and I we hadn't you know,we didn't have a choice. You're going
to school because he understood the whyand how important it was and how much
harder he had to work, andhe worked hard and provide it very well
for us. I can I can'tsay that. Well, your your physical
proof that he was successful exactly,and your mom too and probably had something
(11:15):
to do with Yeah, your momtoo, you know. Yeah, I
had a lot to do with it. Yeah you went to college. Um,
so there was a different dynamic inthe house, but that but his
thing was always you're going to schoolbecause he understood the importance of it.
Yeah. I grew up the sameway. It was never questions like you're
gonna you're gonna graduate and you're goingto go to college or a vocational school.
But I mean, it's just it'sjust given and not everybody gets that
(11:37):
opportunity, you know. That's whyour mentoring programs are so important, because
we have so many kids whose parentsdon't have the luxury of being able to
hang out with their with their child, with their son, or with their
daughter. They got to work inorder to make sure they have lights on
and make sure there's food and therefrigerator. So they can't go to every
game, they can't go to theall these different things. They can't buy
(12:00):
them all the things that they wantto be able to pay for their kids.
But so they're struggling. And that'swhere our mentoring program comes in.
Because I was fortunate enough that Iwas exposed to things within my family,
and my family members had different jobsand different companies and different different things like
that. Not everybody grows up ina family or friends like that, so
they don't get to see what thatpossibility could look like for them. All
(12:26):
they know is what's in their zipcode, what's in there, you know,
their three block area. And ifyou look out your window and you
see a bunch of unkept longs andbroken signs and closed down stores, boarded
up buildings, there's little inspiration inthat, right and that's a different subject,
but it's the one that I'm interestedin, and that's the idea that
when we build projects or mini malls, everything, architects should have an eye
(12:52):
on creating things that are actually beautifulbecause it inspires us to be better people
also to be happier. This ship, Yeah, you are listening to Houston
PA, Houston's Public Affairs Show.My name is Laurent and my guests are
here from Civic Hearts Community Services.There are online at Civic Heart dot org
civic heart dot org. My guestsare ken Yetta McGowan's. She is the
(13:16):
program administrator for Civic Hearts and MarcusBrewer is the development director for Civic Heart.
So Ken, yet, the ideathat you're bringing these kids into these
programs and you give them access tothe books and the mentors. How easy
is it to turn their lives around? Is it? I know it's challenging.
(13:37):
It easy is the wrong word.How fast can you turn their lives
around? All average? Right?Yeah, we're talking about people. So,
so our thing is helping people toempower themselves. We do what we
can, we do, we provideit, we get is here. It's
a matter of will you take it. So it depends on the person,
(14:01):
it depends on where they are andif they're ready for uh, you know,
to change their turn their lives around. And a lot of people are
a lot of people are tired,sick and tired of being sick and tired.
And then they come across us andwe we're here, We're ready,
We're here to help. And that'sjust the little nudge that they need.
That's the support that they need.UM. For example, I know our
(14:22):
MBKUM my Brother's Keeper is one ofour mentoring ship started that. Yeah,
and so we have one UM atJack Yates High School that program there and
work. UM. They get pairedwith mentors, they get it's specifically for
young men of color there, UM, and that's the population that's there at
that high school, and it's tohelp them succeed in high school and to
(14:46):
think beyond that. And UM.Recently I was told that they have ten
of their UM mentors graduating, severalof them and the top fifteen percent of
their class. Two hundred thousand dollarsin scholarship ships earned for these young men.
And it's because they have support.You know, they have their parents
who care at home, but whomay be grinding away making sure that they
(15:09):
have what they need, and thenthey have this outside support from us who
are saying encouraging them and saying youcan go here. You need luggage and
supplies to go to college. Wegot you. Thanks. You have great
partners like Walley. Yeah, we'rethe company who they've donated probably close to
sixty sets of luggage just to giveout, you know when and hygiene products
(15:30):
to be able to give to kidsfor our mentors or kids in transition who've
you know, who may not beable to stay at home for whatever reason
and they're homeless, so some waysto put their stuff. Yeah. So
yeah, partnerships, it's partnerships.And like we you know, we're civic
Heart, We're the community Heart.That's what we're here to do is to
bring everyone together and to care enoughto bring everyone together to really affect the
(15:52):
lives of people who are ready fortheir lives to change, but they just
need that little nudge. I thinkthat's really important because you're talking about in
inviting people to engage with your programs, and you're talking about successful people who
are sick of being sick all thetime and sick of being that's it is.
(16:15):
It's one of the main lessons I'velearned from doing the show for so
many years. The people that aremost successful when they engage with nonprofit organizations
are the ones that have made thedecisions for themselves. It is a demonstration
of that expression. I don't thinkI'm gonna miss this one up. You
can lead a horse to water,but you can't make them drink. Yeah,
and y'all are offering the water,but you're not leading anybody to it.
(16:37):
You're just inviting them to come by. So there's a sort of weeding
out process. It's kind of anugly way to put it, but you're
separating two different kinds of people,those who actually want to make a change
and are ready because they have madea decision for themselves, and the other
people who would probably also want tomake a change, but for whatever reason,
haven't made a decision. You know, substance abuse can definitely cloud you're
(17:00):
thinking. To put it mildly,it demonstrates one of the reasons why your
organization can be successful. You're dealingwith motivated people. Well, yes,
yes, and no, because wedo have those motivated. But the thing
about about Civic Heart is that regardless, we're not going to give up on
you. You may not be readyright now, but we're going to come
back and check on you to seeto make sure that you're still you still
(17:21):
have the help that you need,even if you're not ready to go through
everything, We're not gonna leave youby yourself. So once they walk through
your doors, support them. You'regonna as long as we can keep up
with them, as long as theycan, as long as they can track
them and they know where they are, they're gonna they're gonna maintain that.
Our Chronically Homeless program, our Stairsprogram, I Reach, the Rescue in
Motion programs work with the chronically homeless, and it can be hard to reach,
(17:47):
but we have excellent case managers whodon't give up. They keep going
back out and reaching back out andfinding because it's a process, you know,
it's a process to m change theway that you view life, to
change the way that you do life. It's a process and it's a journey.
So we're here to walk with youall the way from where you start.
(18:08):
You know, you may have tostop along the way and may trip
and fall along the way, butwe're here. We're here, We're a
helping hand, and we're gonna walkwith you all the way and beyond.
That's I mean, that's the onlyway we can operate. And to make
sure that we are doing what wesaid we were going to do. And
how successful are your clients? Alot of them are really successful. We've
(18:32):
had some wonderful people come back andgive us testimonies about, you know,
how they have just thrived. Tammy, what's one of the graduates in the
Stairs program. She spoke at ourluncheon this last November and talked about how
she would not be where she isor have the relationship she has with her
(18:55):
daughter if not for us, becausewe helped her to get sober, get
out, you know, get clean, and provide a case manage for her
mental health services, and then athome to be able to get you know,
to get a foundation going or youknow, fix those cracks in her
foundation. Now she's a he's atruck drivers, he's a long haul truck
(19:15):
driver. So she's able to makea great living now and she has a
relationship with her daughter. So youknow, I started the show talking about
how only three of our third graderscan read out of ten, so you
take ten third graders, and onlythree of them are going to be able
to read at that third grade level, which is it's just a catastrophe to
(19:37):
have those kids so far behind onsomething so important. Obviously, if you
can't read, you can't do mathso well, you know, you can't
learn how to do math if youcan't read all the theorems and all that
you need to understand. But onthe plus side, you're demonstrating again that
if the people will engage with theprograms, most of them will eventually be
successful. It really is our natureto be part of the pack and to
(19:57):
want to be useful, right,um, And I feel like to go
back to the youth and the kids. I like to say there's nothing wrong
with the raw material, because thereisn't. They're just kids, right,
They're they're going to become what wepush them to become as a society.
And if we're just pushing them towardsbeing a sloth, well, but if
(20:17):
you can get them in touch witha mentor who inspire them, if anything,
to inspire them to come back andhang out with them some of the
other kids, it really works.Why can't we get more people to volunteer?
Marcus I know that you wanted tocall for volunteers need mentors we need
if if they're somebody who calls inon this on your show and leaves that
answer, please let us know howwe can get more people to volunteer and
(20:38):
be mentors. But because I cantell you there is a drastic need we
have more mentor more mentees male.You know females are easier, yes,
right, but we need more moremen to volunteer um and provide that level
of exposure and awareness of a positivemale romande. Or you've just described the
(21:00):
problem that big brothers and big sistershave greater uston have. They have to
match little boys with women very oftenbecause they don't have enough male mentors.
Right. I was a big formany years, and uh, it's it's
challenging, but it is rewarding.And you know, generally speaking, folks,
if you volunteer, you get awhole lot more out of it than
(21:21):
what you give in. It's justand there's part of it is because it's
just philosophically and spiritually, it's justgood for you to be useful, to
be helpful. But I think thatwhen you're mentoring, when you actually see
the difference you're making in a kidand you see it modify their behavior.
Maybe they'll start talking a little differently, or they'll they'll they'll talk about different
subjects. Then they just approach thingsdifferently. It can happen really fast too.
(21:48):
But us, guys, Marcus,the fact is we're just not as
engaged with kids. I think it'spart of it is nature right where we
don't think we a lot of sometimeswhen it talking to men men's groups and
asking this question that they don't thinkI won't be any good at that.
They just don't think that they cando it for whatever reason. They don't
(22:08):
think they have anything to offer.And it's great, and I might think
I was always telling them, howdo you know? How do you know?
Unless you try, unless you goand talk to somebody, you know
whatever that that you're doing. It'sa conversation with a teenager. You're just
talking to him. That can bedifficult. Though. The difference though,
(22:30):
it's not you're a teenager, whenit's you're a teenager. As I have
a teenager. That's the difference istalking to other teenagers is easy, yeah,
you know, because they'll listen.Other teenagers are listening, But your
own what are you talking about?Dad? You're wrong? Yeah? Oh
yeah, yeah, all right.And a lot of that is about developing
(22:51):
the relationship with that young person andthe trust with that young person. Um.
I've done some mentoring work myself,and it's just sitting down and being
there to listen when you know itmay seem silly to you, it may
seem small to you, but tothem, this is their world, this
is what's important. And giving themthe time and space, you know,
they want to complain about mom anddad and they did this, and listening
(23:15):
and saying hmm, have you thoughtabout it this way? Have you considered
this inu you know, just beingable to have kind of that hindsight,
you know, being beyond where theyare and being able to look back and
remember all the stuff that you maybedidn't do right, and being able to
help guide some people maybe in adifferent direction, or to help them get
(23:36):
some stable ground under their feet.And I think a lot of people have
it in them to do that,they just don't realize that. The vast
majority. I mean, I thinkit's really the exception. When someone doesn't
have it in them, there's probablysomething wrong with them medically, like and
that too can often be repaired ormodified. But it's just the average kid.
It's just going to become whatever youpush them to, becoming poor to
(24:00):
him, teach him how to bekind, teach him how to say hello,
goodbye, please, and thank you. And you're I'm exaggerating, but
you're kind of halfway there and inthe South. So yes, sir,
Yeah, that's fine. I agree. I like it, But I just
I feel like I'm literally here becauseI'm polite. That was the polite intern
(24:21):
that people enjoyed working with. Oh, he does a good job and he's
polite. I mean the idea thatjust being pleasant and polite, and which
was entirely taught by my parents.Right, that that luck. But it's
never too late. And we've talkedabout literacy, and well, Marcus,
you share that your dad was functionallyilliterate, and I guess his entire life,
but he could have learned how toread. Adults are it's not too
(24:45):
late now. If you're gonna pickup the piano at sixty, it's gonna
be a lot harder, but youcan still play the piano at sixty if
you're just beginning. However, it'snot true about reading. You can literally
learn how to t You could evenlearn how speed read at eighty if you
just go through the process. AndI can say that he did start with
my niece when she was born.She's thirty three. Now he's been gone
(25:07):
for seventeen years. But when shewas younger, she was learning. He
would read along with her. They'retrying to pick things out. So that
was his motivation with her because hehad more time then Yeah, to kind
of sit. So he learned howto read at the same time as as
his granddaughter. Yeah, that's well, so let's not be completely pissimistic,
(25:30):
especially since we were talking about programsthat engage the natural abilities of children to
be Um, you know, we'rea monkey see monkey do kind of species.
We in fact, that's why somany vocational training programs are important and
a great way to go for highereducation. We don't necessarily want to go
to college. If you want tobe a chef or a mechanic, you
really want a great mentor. He'sgoing to show you how to do that.
(25:52):
You don't you don't need to goto school, right, go get
to work. So I do wantto say that, so since we've called
for mentors, I learned from beinga big brother that one of the most
important commencements you make to this childis to show up regularly, like,
don't right exactly if you think you'regoing. The reason I don't do it
anymore is because I travel so muchthat I know for a fact, I
(26:15):
would constantly be calling him up tosay, I have to reschedule, I
can't make it. I'm going tobe back in two weeks. I'll see
you then. And that's not good. It's just because no matter what,
you know, a teenager especially isjust going to be in his head and
he's going to think, well,he just he's you know, he's just
too busy for So it is acommitment. It's a big commitment. That's
(26:37):
four hours a month is what weask, you know, a minimum of
four hours a month, and thatcould be in person, it could be
in virtual. Yeah, and nowyou want it to be in person,
but it's we want we don't wantthat to be the hinder and to say
you can't, but it really is. And it's the time. Whatever the
time the mentor and the mentee decidethey set the schedule. We don't determine
when and how and day and timethat they meet. It's all on them
(27:00):
on how they how they're going todo it. If they decide, well,
we'll meet once a month, goto an outing and that's our four
hours or five hours it will haveyou know, then that's that's on them.
But it would be the ideal wouldbe at least once a week you
kind of check in and see howthey're doing. Right, that's right.
So that's right. So you havea background check obviously for mentors, and
(27:22):
you have an orientation, right wedo, and uh, if I remember
my orientation. One of the mostuseful part of it was the list of
activities that they shared with us,which costs nothing or five dollars an under.
And we try to get tickets fromsome of them from the rockets or
tech or the tech they do.They do very well. I know.
That's the That's the thing it shouldbe said. The Texans, the Astros
(27:42):
are dynamos. You go to thosegames and a lot of those tickets have
been given away to to youth.Again, just expose them to excellence,
and they don't inspire. Their familiescan't necessarily go to those games. And
you know, if they're four kids, four people in their family, it's
one hundred and fifty two hundred dollars. Yeah, just for food. Yeah,
and include the tickets. So,but the point being that it's the
(28:04):
price of being a mentor is nota barrier because in fact, these organizations
tend to encourage you to do noninexpensive things. No, do things that
are fun, but that compel youto have a lot of conversations that you
know, go to park, justthe simplest things. It's very simple.
You don't have to slide on them, hang out, Yeah, just hang
(28:25):
out with them, talk to them, as you say, can you listen
to them? Although that's sometimes that'shard to What are you talking about?
Kid? What's this music? Youcall music? Were it just generations?
Repeat the same thing again. Youcan go to civic heart dot org civic
(28:49):
heart dot org to find out howto be a mentor. They've got a
really nicely designed website. By theway, you can, well, all
right, you had something to dowith designing it. Oh, we all
did. This is a new website. We're really excited about it. We
launched it on the twenty eighth,April twenty eighth, when we launched our
new name, we launched the website. Everything went Live that day. Yes,
(29:11):
we were called Change Happened previously.You will be Civic Hearts Community Services
for me because that's how I becameacquainted with the organization. So, folks,
once again Civic Heart dot org.You can also donate to their programs.
But take a look because they're highlysuccessful. Like all mentorship programs for
kids that are well run. Theyou can tell by the graduation rate of
(29:34):
the students that are in this program, and ken Yetta mentioned that their mentors
are helping children graduate in the toppercentile of their class. It literally unlocking
their potential and launching them into aprosperous tax paying live. That's what we
want. We want we want prosperouspeople that are going to pay a lot
(29:57):
of taxes so that we can havea lot of better programs. Thank you
so much for that, because yousee, if we make prosperous people,
we don't have to raise taxes.We just have more people paying that taxes
are really neat trick. If youhave any questions related to the show,
folks, you can send me anemail. I'm glad to point you to
(30:18):
the organizations or put you into contactwith all these people. My email addresses
Texan from France at gmail dot com. Texas Texan from France at gmail dot
com. It goes to Texas andyou can expect to get an answer.
And I want to thank you forlistening and caring about the issues that put
on this show. My name isLaurent. This has been Houston, PA,
(30:38):
Houston's public affairs show, Houston Strong.
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