August 11, 2025 • 22 mins
Matthew Scruggs is the new Chief Executive Officer of the North End Community Improvement Collaborative. Scruggs was named CEO of NECIC in May of 2025 and shares how excited he is for the role and to help the community. Matthew was born near Pittsburgh, and has lived all over the country in working in the hospitality industry. NECIC, which was formed in 2008, has a staffing firm, business assistance center, elder program and two farms. Learn more about the organization, and Matthew Scruggs, on the podcast.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
CEOs you should know here from local leaders in the community.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Made possible by Witcom and HESSE. CPAs and Financial Advisors
are featured CEO this week.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
We're glad to shine the spotlight on the North End
Community Improvement Collaborative. We have their new CEO, just recently
named a few months back. Matthew Scruggs is with us
in studio. Good morning, great to see you.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Good morning, Thank you so much for inviting me. I'm
so honored to be here.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
I have heard the name. I haven't had a chance
to meet you. I mentioned a few months in the role.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I have to be excited, right, I am so excited.
I spent all yesterday on our farm, so one of
our two farms, so just really enjoying the work.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
All right, Well, let's learn about you and a little
bit about the organization. It's one of the things I
love about this program. We talk with local people in
the community, learn about their organization and about them. So
let's kind of get an overview of you. Know that
there are many people moving in new people moving into
north central Ohio. Maybe for the first time that they
got the radio. One they hear an acic North End
(01:07):
Community Improvement collaborative. Could you share with us a little
bit about what you guys do.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah. Absolutely. So we have a staffing firm, which is
our biggest revenue generator, so we provide staffing. We want
our staff to get hired on so we do workforce development.
We also have an elder program for the elders in
the community, so we do lunch every other week. So
if you have any aging parents at home, check out
our website. Great idea to get them to come. They
(01:32):
always love our bus trips. They're going to Kelly's Island soon,
so yeah, there's some great opportunities to get your seniors
out of the house. We also have our Minority Business
Assistant Center, So if you have a dream in your heart,
as Alan would say, give us a call because he
will help you make that dream of reality and start
your business. And then I think one of our coolest
things is our farms. We have two farms right here
(01:54):
in Mansfield. One is actually on the Ricky Prison property,
so we actually have a program where the prisoners are
learning to farm and then they get air certificate when
they're done, and so it's just a really cool offering.
We do anything that helps, you know, drive the economic
development of the North End to improve the life of
the residents.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Well, as we talk about the north end of Mansfield,
could you explain for those hey, where exactly is the
north end of town?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah, so that's a great question. There are arguments about it,
but we look at the census track and we are
definitely looking at the minority, underserved, under privilege. So the
people that are struggling maybe that need a little bit
of help to get their community together. We want to
make our Community Impact Center, which is at the corner
of spring Mill and Bowman, kind of the hub of
the community. So our goal is to move into that
(02:42):
and kind of make that our cornerstone of the community.
But you know, anything basically west of Main Street and
then north of Park is considered trictionally the North End.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
So good conversation this morning learning about the North End
Community Improvement Collaborative. Their new chief executive officer, Matthew Scruggs
is with.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Us in studio.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Yeah, so excited to be here.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I know, we're glad to have you this morning.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Now, as we learn about the North End a little more,
how long has the organization been in operation?
Speaker 1 (03:13):
So our founder at Danna West Torrent So I think
was on your program many years ago. She founded it
in two thousand and eight. She just saw the neighborhood
in the community that she loved kind of going down
hill and you know, needing some eyes on it and
some work. And so that's how she really started with
eliminating the blight in the community. So we started in
two thousand and eight under her guidance and her hard
(03:35):
dedicated work. And I was just so honored to recently,
like I said, take the helm of the ship and
carry it forward.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
I mentioned you taking over a few months ago. When
did you actually start? It was May fifteenth, all right,
I always remember those dates, right, Yeah, So we learn
about the North End and you mentioned you have a
lot of things happening. You mentioned they can give you
a call, go to your website. Could you we'll share
this again later. Could you share the information your website,
phone number, all of that. If somebody here's you talking
(04:03):
about a lot of the things you do to help
the community, how can they get more information?
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Absolutely so, if you can go to our website www
dot ncic Dashohio dot org, or you can check us
out on Facebook. We put a lot of information there.
And then there are links to call the officer. Visit
us at one thirty four North Main Street. If you're
looking for a job, just pop in during business hours
anytime from eight to four. Jackie would love to talk
(04:28):
to you because if you're looking for a job, she
has a ton of jobs open, so she would love
to talk to you in the office and get you
to phone an application.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
All right, well, that's good news there. Now, you and
I were chatting off you now the mics are on.
You guys are looking for somebody right now?
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Then? Currently right, yeah, we're looking for a finance director.
We need someone to carry that piece forward of the mission.
We have all the other key players in place. Down
the road, we'll probably need a fundraiser, but currently that's
something that we're I'm taking on just to help save
a little bit of our budget. But yeah, if anyone
knows anyone that's looking for a finance director position, that
is something that we're exploring.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
They can go to the website as well.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Well it's listed. Yeah, if you go to our website
and then click on staffing, that job should be posted.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
All right, terrific information.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
As we talked this morning with Matthew Scruggs again this
week's featured CEO. You should know he again is CEO
of any CIC North End Community Improvement Collaborative. All right,
so you mentioned all about the organization. We'll touch on
maybe some of the programs a little bit later on.
But people are probably wondering, let's learn about Matthew Scrugs
(05:30):
because just taking over a few months back as the
new CEO. But where was he born? You know, where
did he go to high school?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
College?
Speaker 3 (05:38):
So let's start at the beginning and tell us a
little bit about yourself.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
So I was born in a town called Clareton, Pennsylvania,
suburb of Pittsburgh, very similar story to Mansfield Steel Town.
Steell City Steel Mills pulled out. My brother in law
still works at the plant. It's a very small operation
to what it was when my grandfather was a security
guard there. Out of family history in the steel mill,
my family watched the town that they loved kind of
(06:04):
fall apart when the still mill left, and so we
ended up moving to Bethel Park, where I went to
high school and graduated from. And then I went to
a vocational high school for culinary I wanted to be
a chef. I actually wanted to work on cruise ships.
I go on a two week cruise every year still,
but I never worked on a cruise ship. I never
actually became a chef. I ended up going into hotel
restaurant management, and then I ended up working for Aramart
(06:27):
Corporation in food and beverage management stadium operations, and then
I worked for their convention center and cultural traction division
for a short time. So that's kind of how I
got into the world of hospitality and I loved it.
A few years back, I ended up in a role
in Dallas and I was working for Bronwyn Weber who
(06:48):
had a bakery that was on a television show and
won so many cake challenges, and then the producer was
actually telling me about Gordon Ramsay's hotel Hell filming in Loudonville,
and that's how I got to Mansfield the first time,
and living in Mansfield and working in Loudonville, and then
ended up working for a highest state in Worcester after that,
and then got a job at a nonprofit and that's
(07:08):
what kind of led me to the nonprofit world, which
ended up opening up the door to NECICE through a recruiter,
So that was kind of the elevator speech on how
I got here, and.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Yeah, it's terrific to hear now if you would, and
you don't have to list them all, but you told
me you've lived all over the count You listened to
a couple, right.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yes, So the order was, I went to school in Providence,
Rhode Island, to Johnston and Wells's main campus for culinary
and hotel restaurant management, and then I moved back to
Pittsburgh to open up the Steelers stam and I went Pittsburgh, Boston,
Fort Lauderdale, Dallas, Cleveland, Columbus, Houston, and then back to
Dallas and then Mansfield and then Worcester.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yeah, all over the place. As you mentioned, I'm sure
great stories everywhere. Right, Just talking with you off the air,
it sounds like you've had a lot of great experiences, right.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
I did. I was really blessed. I had a really
fun career working in stadiums and meeting all the celebrities
and and I'll ever forget I'm not a huge football person,
but working for the Steelers, I was watching a Super
Bowl commercial and I said, oh, Dad, that's Howie Long.
I just met him, and my dad looked at me
and said, how did you meet Howie Long? I said,
We rode the elevator together up to the press box
(08:15):
because I had to take mister Rooney's special halftime hot dogs.
And my dad was just so impressed. Because I knew
nothing about sports, I was probably one of the best
employees because I never really watched the game. I was
too busy focused on the revenue and the operations and
making sure that everything was being done right. But I
think that was probably one of the coolest moments with
my dad where he's like, oh my gosh, you knew
someone like by day, but I was doing a commercial
(08:37):
during the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Great story there again. We're learning about Matthew Scruggs again,
who is the CEO of the North End Community Improvement Collaborative,
our featured CEO you should know this week, don't know? Mary,
tell us a little more about the family.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Yeah, so, I actually have a husband named Jonathan and
a dog named Nikki. She's our favorite pug. We met
actually working at the hotel. He was the front desk manager.
I did something that I said I would never do.
I ended up dating and falling in love with an employee.
But for anyone that's worked in hospitality. You know you're
there morning, noon, and night. So typically you end up
(09:13):
finding your person at work, and so I did and
I as soon as we realized that we were falling
in love, I said, we have to find other jobs.
I cannot be the guy dating someone who he works with.
So we both found other jobs and then came out
as a couple. But I think you know, from my standpoint,
my life has changed so much better since I have
(09:34):
settled on and got married. I enjoyed my single years,
they were great. I'm living in all those cities, but
I really am happy to finally live in the same
place for eight years and have a garden that I
actually got to see grow. I planted so many gardens
in so many homes that I purchased or condos, and
then I would plant this beautiful garden, but I never
really got to see it grow. And over the past
eight years, I finally have gotten to see a garden grow,
(09:56):
which is the coolest thing ever. The only problem is
the dog really likes to and the flowers. Literally, as
soon as I plan it, she goes and stands in it.
So great story, all.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Right, So Matthew, I always ask what you like to
do in spare time?
Speaker 2 (10:08):
This and that.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Now I want to talk about you know, food and
things like that, but I'm sure traveling and things.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
So what do you like to do away for more?
Speaker 1 (10:15):
So? My favorite thing that we do every year we
disconnect for two weeks. This year we just planned sixteen
days in Hawaii. So we always we give about fifty
weeks a year. At our careers. We're always available. Even
if we go to the beach locally or take a weekend,
We're always available. We both have those type of jobs.
But for two weeks, I tell my boss, don't bother me.
(10:35):
I don't want to hear from you. I just I
turn off my phone and I go on big cruises
that no one can reach me, and I just disconnect
and recharge. I'm big into the spa. I'm big into
the dinners. I love the experiential cooking classes. That's how
I unwind. In the summer, we stay in Ohio because
it's so beautiful, the weather is perfect. We garden in
the backyard, and I do love to cook. It's my
(10:57):
therapy at the end of the day. That is probably
my favorite thing to do is come home and cook dinner.
When I have time. It's so hard right now because
I'm working long hours because the agency really needs a
lot of love right now.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
So what is your specialty? Your your favorite thing to cook?
Because you mentioned you off to school, you know, to
be a chef, and you mentioned what you've done with
your in your career, but just curious anything specially you
feel that you make this really well it's your favorite
to make.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Maybe there's more than one eye.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
So the thing I always excelled out with stocks, sauces
and gravies. I make a Thanksgiving gravy that people rave about.
One of my very dear friends, Sondra, told me that
my Horsehridish cream sauce that teaches it with a spoon
because it's just the perfect balance of just enough kick
but it's still not overly hot. I think the gravy
(11:47):
for Thanksgiving, though, I started two days ahead of time,
and I have to make a quagultive jelly that then
I turn into fat that then I make the roo
with and then you know, and it's just quite The
fresh herbs are definitely the the sage the fresh stage
that I cut and use in our portal and muscle
and get that really fine and then straight, and I
(12:09):
think that's probably where I really enjoy like soups in
the winter, any of that stuff. And I love to
make salmon in the oven and samon on the grill.
And Jonathan actually, who hates cooking. By the way, my
husband works for sortifighting his beef, so he is always
grilling and bringing home cuts of meat that I haven't
worked with since culinary school. I made a cool lot
(12:30):
in the oven. I'd made a cool lot since culinary school,
and I was like, oh my gosh, I haven't seen
this kind of meeting years and ended up being one
of his favorite cuts that I make now. So it's
been really a fun time to explore in the kitchen too, and.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Getting people hungry.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
And Thanksgiving maybe three months away, but that gravy sounds
pretty good right now.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
I will say to the recipe, you could post it
on your website.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
I love it, so it's great.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Matthew Scruggs, the voice you hear today, who is our
featured CEO this week. He again is the chief executive
officer of the North End Community Improvement Collaborative based in
Mansfield and helping people in the North End of town.
I do want to get back to work. Because you
talk about the farms and things like that. I want
to pose the question this way.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
You do a lot.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Is there something people don't know you offer in terms
of there Maybe you and I were talking about farmers
markets and different things. So is there things you do
that people maybe don't know you do for the community.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Yeah, I think that's a great question. I think some
of our farming is really interesting. I just had a
meeting with the Friendly House and you know, he has
this great summer program for youth, and he's like, how
can we get our kids involved in the farming. And
I thought it's a great opportunity there. So we're exploring
that for next summer. I think anyone that wants to
come to our teaching garden, you know, we're working on
(13:42):
getting that reopened. Anyone that wants to learn about farming
could certainly come down. We need help right now with harvesting.
We have volunteer harvest days. The other thing that people
I think don't know about is the elder program. I
think even though we put it on our website, I
feel like they think, oh, well, that's just for the
North End, and that's not the case. We have people
from all over Mansfield coming to that and one of
the things that you know, Deanna kind of left on
(14:05):
the desk when she was leaving the organization was this,
you know, this plan where it kind of said we're
our borders are way beyond the North End. And I
think that's one of the things that people need to
understand is you know, we are the North End Community
Improvement Collaborative, but we are working to improve the entire
community and not just the borders of the North End,
and to make Mansfield great, I think we're going to
(14:27):
have to go beyond those borders, and we already do so.
The staffing agency just isn't in the North End. So
if you need staff or if you are looking for
a job, you know you should consider us. We have
second Chance, which you know a lot of people don't
understand what second chance means, but you know, when you're
re entry, if you're coming out of the prison system,
we want to be able to help you find a job,
(14:48):
and we have employers that are willing to do that.
So we work very closely with those employees to help
onboard them so that they know how important showing up
on time and reliable transportation, you know, all the things
that you need to be success won't work. That's what
our staffing agency does. And I also think that if
you're like I said, if you have a dream in
your heart and you're sitting at work right now listening
to this and you're like I need to do something different,
(15:10):
reach out to Alan. He can help you explore starting
your business. You know. I think those are the things
that when people see us, they always think, like the
community meeting we had when they were talking about developing
the oc Hull site and we were able to get
all of those people into the room. We had about
eighty people show up with like a day's notice to
come and listen to the opportunity of developing that site
(15:32):
and what that meant to the North End. But there
were a lot of concerns too. So I think people
always see us as that driving force of getting the
community together to solve a bigger problem. That's the collaborative
piece of our work. But I think they don't see
us as the staffing agency, the farms the other things
that we do to help people. I mean, we're a
farmer's market that takes snap and EBT. So if you
(15:52):
you know are on assistance and need to get vegetables
and want fresh vegetables and experience a farmer's market, Come
on down and we can help you.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Can we share where the farmers market is held at
in kind of some time days of the week in times.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
So it is on Thursdays from four to seven and
it's at three eleven Bowman Street on the any Cic
Urban Farm. So if you put if you have a
Ways or any of those apps, if you just type
the any Cic Urban Farm, it's in there and it
will bring it right to us. And if you know
the addresses and you've lived here a long time, three
eleven Bowmen.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
And we're talking in August. How long does that run until?
Speaker 1 (16:31):
So through the end of September, So yeah, there's still
you still have two months. And this is the time
where corn is coming in, watermelon, all the great vegetables.
Tomatoes are in finally, so we're getting some really delicious tomatoes.
We actually in my car yesterday I dropped off all
the tomatoes to the grow up because we sell through
the Richland grow Up and so just seeing the beautiful
produce that we're harvesting right now, Kale, we have Farmers
(16:54):
Market week this week, so I'll be actually doing a
cooking demonstration at the Farmer's Market this week, but I
know this is going to air after that, but I'm
so excited. They've asked for more cooking demonstrations, So if
you follow us on our Facebook page, there may be
some more this fall if you want to come see
a cooking demonstration. And we do use all produce in
the vegetables and meat because we have a meat provider
(17:14):
that sells delicious meat chicken and Italian chicken sausage. It
all goes back to food, doesn't it.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Yeah, Well, they hear you talk about gravy and sam
and they may ask for more cooking demonstrations in the
near future. As we're talking today for just a couple
more minutes, great conversation, important information about the North and
Community Improvement Collaborative. We're chatting with their chief executive officer,
Matthew Scruggs are featured CEO.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
You should know.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Okay, So, and you mentioned housing. There was senior housing
planned for the former oc Hill Neighborhood property on Bowmanster,
which which is terrific news for the North End. I mean,
you got you have to be thrilled adding some housing
and you mentioned you know what, eighty or more people
showing up to talk about that.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
That's very important for the North End.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Yes, very and so we are planning to move to
the other side of that block, which would be the
corner of Bowman and spring Mill where our Community Improvement
Center is currently located. And so I think when we
move to that location and that development and fixing the
community garden, we're really excited to kind of bring that
as the town square, if you will, of the North
(18:20):
End and kind of make that our building block that
we're going to focus on to improve that block. And
energy attracts energy. So the more work we do and
the more we can develop in that area, the greater
it will be for the North End residence.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Matthew Scruggs, CEO of any C I see our guests today.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Let's talk about what you're proud of.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
You know, with probably could say everything I just mentioned,
because you have a lot happening, You offer a lot,
you're just you know, a handful of months into the role.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
You're excited.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
You know this is radio and you can see a
photo of Matthew on our website, but you're smiling, and
you know, you and I talking off the year getting
a lot of support from the community. Just talk about
what you're proud of. If you want to talk about
any goals and vision, you know you can share there.
But there has to be a lot to be proud
of with the organization.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Yeah, absolutely. I mean I'm only what ten eleven weeks
in and so I'm really proud of the team that's there.
We have a great, great core team. I could not
be more proud and excited to work alongside this group
of amazing professionals that show up each day to do
the work. I think the biggest opportunity for us is
the community center, which Deanna had such a big vision
(19:28):
for our community center. And while I would love to
think that I would be able to do that tomorrow,
it's just not in the cards. But I think doing
it in phases. So we actually talked to the architect
and we have phase one on paper. I just need
to finish raising the money for it so we can
move into that site. And then he's designed it so
that because that building that's there, the original bank building,
(19:50):
will be the cornerstone of that building. It's going to
be the lobby that you walk through. So we're developing
that in hopefully three phases. The first phase is just
us getting over there and having office and having the
community space, and then as we can add the offices on.
That's really important. But I think the thing I'm most
excited about is we may have had a little mission
drift during the time when Deanna left until when I
(20:12):
got there, and we did have some crossover, but she
had started her retirement and moved out of town, and
so I think during that time we really found that
we need to go back to the residence. So we're
actually in the month of August. People will have the
opportunity to come to five different dates and tell us
of the community platform where they see the biggest need
(20:34):
in the North End. We have so many amazing points housing,
economic development, transportation, youth programming, but where does the community
want us to focus. So we're actually doing community data
gathering nights so that the community can tell us by
just simply priority ranking. They're going to get three stickers.
And if you come in and you say that it's
youth violence is your biggest concern, then put all three
(20:55):
of your stickers on youth violence. But if you think
youth violence, housing and youth homeless. So the three biggest things.
Put your three stickers there. Once we get that data
over those five different nights, which will be over three
weeks in August late August, then we're going to start
to fix those greater issues. I think that's what I'm
most excited about, is to hear from the residents where
they want us to focus, because that's the part that
(21:16):
we need to get back to.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Well as I let you go, we shared earlier. But
if somebody wants more information about any CiCe, all the programs,
everything you offer, they want to get more information on
what you just talked about with some meetings in August.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
You have a job opening those kind of things. How
do they reach out? Website phone number.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Yes, anycic Dashohio dot org and our phone number four
one nine five two two one six one one.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Matthew Scruggs, our guests this morning, chief executive Officer of
the North End Community Improvement Collaborative. It was great to
learn about the organization, great to learn about your story.
Thank you for being with us and we wish you
continued success.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
The CEO you should know shares the background invasion of
area leaders.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Hi, I'm Aaron Bates, CEO of Wickhaman Hess CPAs and
financial Advisors, helping you plan, grow and thrive in your
business and in life. We are excited to highlight dynamic
CEOs from middle Ohio. Visit us at whitcomb dot com
CEOs you should know here from local leaders in the community.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Made possible by Witcom and HESSE. CPAs and Financial Advisors
are featured CEO this week.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
We're glad to shine the spotlight on the North End
Community Improvement Collaborative. We have their new CEO, just recently
named a few months back. Matthew Scruggs is with us
in studio. Good morning, great to see you.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Good morning, Thank you so much for inviting me. I'm
so honored to be here.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
I have heard the name. I haven't had a chance
to meet you. I mentioned a few months in the role.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
I have to be excited, right, I am so excited.
I spent all yesterday on our farm, so one of
our two farms, so just really enjoying the work.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
All right, Well, let's learn about you and a little
bit about the organization. It's one of the things I
love about this program. We talk with local people in
the community, learn about their organization and about them. So
let's kind of get an overview of you. Know that
there are many people moving in new people moving into
north central Ohio. Maybe for the first time that they
got the radio. One they hear an acic North End
(01:07):
Community Improvement collaborative. Could you share with us a little
bit about what you guys do.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah. Absolutely. So we have a staffing firm, which is
our biggest revenue generator, so we provide staffing. We want
our staff to get hired on so we do workforce development.
We also have an elder program for the elders in
the community, so we do lunch every other week. So
if you have any aging parents at home, check out
our website. Great idea to get them to come. They
(01:32):
always love our bus trips. They're going to Kelly's Island soon,
so yeah, there's some great opportunities to get your seniors
out of the house. We also have our Minority Business
Assistant Center, So if you have a dream in your heart,
as Alan would say, give us a call because he
will help you make that dream of reality and start
your business. And then I think one of our coolest
things is our farms. We have two farms right here
(01:54):
in Mansfield. One is actually on the Ricky Prison property,
so we actually have a program where the prisoners are
learning to farm and then they get air certificate when
they're done, and so it's just a really cool offering.
We do anything that helps, you know, drive the economic
development of the North End to improve the life of
the residents.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Well, as we talk about the north end of Mansfield,
could you explain for those hey, where exactly is the
north end of town?
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Yeah, so that's a great question. There are arguments about it,
but we look at the census track and we are
definitely looking at the minority, underserved, under privilege. So the
people that are struggling maybe that need a little bit
of help to get their community together. We want to
make our Community Impact Center, which is at the corner
of spring Mill and Bowman, kind of the hub of
the community. So our goal is to move into that
(02:42):
and kind of make that our cornerstone of the community.
But you know, anything basically west of Main Street and
then north of Park is considered trictionally the North End.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
So good conversation this morning learning about the North End
Community Improvement Collaborative. Their new chief executive officer, Matthew Scruggs
is with.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Us in studio.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Yeah, so excited to be here.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
I know, we're glad to have you this morning.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Now, as we learn about the North End a little more,
how long has the organization been in operation?
Speaker 1 (03:13):
So our founder at Danna West Torrent So I think
was on your program many years ago. She founded it
in two thousand and eight. She just saw the neighborhood
in the community that she loved kind of going down
hill and you know, needing some eyes on it and
some work. And so that's how she really started with
eliminating the blight in the community. So we started in
two thousand and eight under her guidance and her hard
(03:35):
dedicated work. And I was just so honored to recently,
like I said, take the helm of the ship and
carry it forward.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
I mentioned you taking over a few months ago. When
did you actually start? It was May fifteenth, all right,
I always remember those dates, right, Yeah, So we learn
about the North End and you mentioned you have a
lot of things happening. You mentioned they can give you
a call, go to your website. Could you we'll share
this again later. Could you share the information your website,
phone number, all of that. If somebody here's you talking
(04:03):
about a lot of the things you do to help
the community, how can they get more information?
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Absolutely so, if you can go to our website www
dot ncic Dashohio dot org, or you can check us
out on Facebook. We put a lot of information there.
And then there are links to call the officer. Visit
us at one thirty four North Main Street. If you're
looking for a job, just pop in during business hours
anytime from eight to four. Jackie would love to talk
(04:28):
to you because if you're looking for a job, she
has a ton of jobs open, so she would love
to talk to you in the office and get you
to phone an application.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
All right, well, that's good news there. Now, you and
I were chatting off you now the mics are on.
You guys are looking for somebody right now?
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Then? Currently right, yeah, we're looking for a finance director.
We need someone to carry that piece forward of the mission.
We have all the other key players in place. Down
the road, we'll probably need a fundraiser, but currently that's
something that we're I'm taking on just to help save
a little bit of our budget. But yeah, if anyone
knows anyone that's looking for a finance director position, that
is something that we're exploring.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
They can go to the website as well.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Well it's listed. Yeah, if you go to our website
and then click on staffing, that job should be posted.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
All right, terrific information.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
As we talked this morning with Matthew Scruggs again this
week's featured CEO. You should know he again is CEO
of any CIC North End Community Improvement Collaborative. All right,
so you mentioned all about the organization. We'll touch on
maybe some of the programs a little bit later on.
But people are probably wondering, let's learn about Matthew Scrugs
(05:30):
because just taking over a few months back as the
new CEO. But where was he born? You know, where
did he go to high school?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
College?
Speaker 3 (05:38):
So let's start at the beginning and tell us a
little bit about yourself.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
So I was born in a town called Clareton, Pennsylvania,
suburb of Pittsburgh, very similar story to Mansfield Steel Town.
Steell City Steel Mills pulled out. My brother in law
still works at the plant. It's a very small operation
to what it was when my grandfather was a security
guard there. Out of family history in the steel mill,
my family watched the town that they loved kind of
(06:04):
fall apart when the still mill left, and so we
ended up moving to Bethel Park, where I went to
high school and graduated from. And then I went to
a vocational high school for culinary I wanted to be
a chef. I actually wanted to work on cruise ships.
I go on a two week cruise every year still,
but I never worked on a cruise ship. I never
actually became a chef. I ended up going into hotel
restaurant management, and then I ended up working for Aramart
(06:27):
Corporation in food and beverage management stadium operations, and then
I worked for their convention center and cultural traction division
for a short time. So that's kind of how I
got into the world of hospitality and I loved it.
A few years back, I ended up in a role
in Dallas and I was working for Bronwyn Weber who
(06:48):
had a bakery that was on a television show and
won so many cake challenges, and then the producer was
actually telling me about Gordon Ramsay's hotel Hell filming in Loudonville,
and that's how I got to Mansfield the first time,
and living in Mansfield and working in Loudonville, and then
ended up working for a highest state in Worcester after that,
and then got a job at a nonprofit and that's
(07:08):
what kind of led me to the nonprofit world, which
ended up opening up the door to NECICE through a recruiter,
So that was kind of the elevator speech on how
I got here, and.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Yeah, it's terrific to hear now if you would, and
you don't have to list them all, but you told
me you've lived all over the count You listened to
a couple, right.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yes, So the order was, I went to school in Providence,
Rhode Island, to Johnston and Wells's main campus for culinary
and hotel restaurant management, and then I moved back to
Pittsburgh to open up the Steelers stam and I went Pittsburgh, Boston,
Fort Lauderdale, Dallas, Cleveland, Columbus, Houston, and then back to
Dallas and then Mansfield and then Worcester.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yeah, all over the place. As you mentioned, I'm sure
great stories everywhere. Right, Just talking with you off the air,
it sounds like you've had a lot of great experiences, right.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
I did. I was really blessed. I had a really
fun career working in stadiums and meeting all the celebrities
and and I'll ever forget I'm not a huge football person,
but working for the Steelers, I was watching a Super
Bowl commercial and I said, oh, Dad, that's Howie Long.
I just met him, and my dad looked at me
and said, how did you meet Howie Long? I said,
We rode the elevator together up to the press box
(08:15):
because I had to take mister Rooney's special halftime hot dogs.
And my dad was just so impressed. Because I knew
nothing about sports, I was probably one of the best
employees because I never really watched the game. I was
too busy focused on the revenue and the operations and
making sure that everything was being done right. But I
think that was probably one of the coolest moments with
my dad where he's like, oh my gosh, you knew
someone like by day, but I was doing a commercial
(08:37):
during the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Great story there again. We're learning about Matthew Scruggs again,
who is the CEO of the North End Community Improvement Collaborative,
our featured CEO you should know this week, don't know? Mary,
tell us a little more about the family.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Yeah, so, I actually have a husband named Jonathan and
a dog named Nikki. She's our favorite pug. We met
actually working at the hotel. He was the front desk manager.
I did something that I said I would never do.
I ended up dating and falling in love with an employee.
But for anyone that's worked in hospitality. You know you're
there morning, noon, and night. So typically you end up
(09:13):
finding your person at work, and so I did and
I as soon as we realized that we were falling
in love, I said, we have to find other jobs.
I cannot be the guy dating someone who he works with.
So we both found other jobs and then came out
as a couple. But I think you know, from my standpoint,
my life has changed so much better since I have
(09:34):
settled on and got married. I enjoyed my single years,
they were great. I'm living in all those cities, but
I really am happy to finally live in the same
place for eight years and have a garden that I
actually got to see grow. I planted so many gardens
in so many homes that I purchased or condos, and
then I would plant this beautiful garden, but I never
really got to see it grow. And over the past
eight years, I finally have gotten to see a garden grow,
(09:56):
which is the coolest thing ever. The only problem is
the dog really likes to and the flowers. Literally, as
soon as I plan it, she goes and stands in it.
So great story, all.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Right, So Matthew, I always ask what you like to
do in spare time?
Speaker 2 (10:08):
This and that.
Speaker 3 (10:08):
Now I want to talk about you know, food and
things like that, but I'm sure traveling and things.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
So what do you like to do away for more?
Speaker 1 (10:15):
So? My favorite thing that we do every year we
disconnect for two weeks. This year we just planned sixteen
days in Hawaii. So we always we give about fifty
weeks a year. At our careers. We're always available. Even
if we go to the beach locally or take a weekend,
We're always available. We both have those type of jobs.
But for two weeks, I tell my boss, don't bother me.
(10:35):
I don't want to hear from you. I just I
turn off my phone and I go on big cruises
that no one can reach me, and I just disconnect
and recharge. I'm big into the spa. I'm big into
the dinners. I love the experiential cooking classes. That's how
I unwind. In the summer, we stay in Ohio because
it's so beautiful, the weather is perfect. We garden in
the backyard, and I do love to cook. It's my
(10:57):
therapy at the end of the day. That is probably
my favorite thing to do is come home and cook dinner.
When I have time. It's so hard right now because
I'm working long hours because the agency really needs a
lot of love right now.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
So what is your specialty? Your your favorite thing to cook?
Because you mentioned you off to school, you know, to
be a chef, and you mentioned what you've done with
your in your career, but just curious anything specially you
feel that you make this really well it's your favorite
to make.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Maybe there's more than one eye.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
So the thing I always excelled out with stocks, sauces
and gravies. I make a Thanksgiving gravy that people rave about.
One of my very dear friends, Sondra, told me that
my Horsehridish cream sauce that teaches it with a spoon
because it's just the perfect balance of just enough kick
but it's still not overly hot. I think the gravy
(11:47):
for Thanksgiving, though, I started two days ahead of time,
and I have to make a quagultive jelly that then
I turn into fat that then I make the roo
with and then you know, and it's just quite The
fresh herbs are definitely the the sage the fresh stage
that I cut and use in our portal and muscle
and get that really fine and then straight, and I
(12:09):
think that's probably where I really enjoy like soups in
the winter, any of that stuff. And I love to
make salmon in the oven and samon on the grill.
And Jonathan actually, who hates cooking. By the way, my
husband works for sortifighting his beef, so he is always
grilling and bringing home cuts of meat that I haven't
worked with since culinary school. I made a cool lot
(12:30):
in the oven. I'd made a cool lot since culinary school,
and I was like, oh my gosh, I haven't seen
this kind of meeting years and ended up being one
of his favorite cuts that I make now. So it's
been really a fun time to explore in the kitchen too, and.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Getting people hungry.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
And Thanksgiving maybe three months away, but that gravy sounds
pretty good right now.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
I will say to the recipe, you could post it
on your website.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
I love it, so it's great.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Matthew Scruggs, the voice you hear today, who is our
featured CEO this week. He again is the chief executive
officer of the North End Community Improvement Collaborative based in
Mansfield and helping people in the North End of town.
I do want to get back to work. Because you
talk about the farms and things like that. I want
to pose the question this way.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
You do a lot.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Is there something people don't know you offer in terms
of there Maybe you and I were talking about farmers
markets and different things. So is there things you do
that people maybe don't know you do for the community.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Yeah, I think that's a great question. I think some
of our farming is really interesting. I just had a
meeting with the Friendly House and you know, he has
this great summer program for youth, and he's like, how
can we get our kids involved in the farming. And
I thought it's a great opportunity there. So we're exploring
that for next summer. I think anyone that wants to
come to our teaching garden, you know, we're working on
(13:42):
getting that reopened. Anyone that wants to learn about farming
could certainly come down. We need help right now with harvesting.
We have volunteer harvest days. The other thing that people
I think don't know about is the elder program. I
think even though we put it on our website, I
feel like they think, oh, well, that's just for the
North End, and that's not the case. We have people
from all over Mansfield coming to that and one of
the things that you know, Deanna kind of left on
(14:05):
the desk when she was leaving the organization was this,
you know, this plan where it kind of said we're
our borders are way beyond the North End. And I
think that's one of the things that people need to
understand is you know, we are the North End Community
Improvement Collaborative, but we are working to improve the entire
community and not just the borders of the North End,
and to make Mansfield great, I think we're going to
(14:27):
have to go beyond those borders, and we already do so.
The staffing agency just isn't in the North End. So
if you need staff or if you are looking for
a job, you know you should consider us. We have
second Chance, which you know a lot of people don't
understand what second chance means, but you know, when you're
re entry, if you're coming out of the prison system,
we want to be able to help you find a job,
(14:48):
and we have employers that are willing to do that.
So we work very closely with those employees to help
onboard them so that they know how important showing up
on time and reliable transportation, you know, all the things
that you need to be success won't work. That's what
our staffing agency does. And I also think that if
you're like I said, if you have a dream in
your heart and you're sitting at work right now listening
to this and you're like I need to do something different,
(15:10):
reach out to Alan. He can help you explore starting
your business. You know. I think those are the things
that when people see us, they always think, like the
community meeting we had when they were talking about developing
the oc Hull site and we were able to get
all of those people into the room. We had about
eighty people show up with like a day's notice to
come and listen to the opportunity of developing that site
(15:32):
and what that meant to the North End. But there
were a lot of concerns too. So I think people
always see us as that driving force of getting the
community together to solve a bigger problem. That's the collaborative
piece of our work. But I think they don't see
us as the staffing agency, the farms the other things
that we do to help people. I mean, we're a
farmer's market that takes snap and EBT. So if you
(15:52):
you know are on assistance and need to get vegetables
and want fresh vegetables and experience a farmer's market, Come
on down and we can help you.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Can we share where the farmers market is held at
in kind of some time days of the week in times.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
So it is on Thursdays from four to seven and
it's at three eleven Bowman Street on the any Cic
Urban Farm. So if you put if you have a
Ways or any of those apps, if you just type
the any Cic Urban Farm, it's in there and it
will bring it right to us. And if you know
the addresses and you've lived here a long time, three
eleven Bowmen.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
And we're talking in August. How long does that run until?
Speaker 1 (16:31):
So through the end of September, So yeah, there's still
you still have two months. And this is the time
where corn is coming in, watermelon, all the great vegetables.
Tomatoes are in finally, so we're getting some really delicious tomatoes.
We actually in my car yesterday I dropped off all
the tomatoes to the grow up because we sell through
the Richland grow Up and so just seeing the beautiful
produce that we're harvesting right now, Kale, we have Farmers
(16:54):
Market week this week, so I'll be actually doing a
cooking demonstration at the Farmer's Market this week, but I
know this is going to air after that, but I'm
so excited. They've asked for more cooking demonstrations, So if
you follow us on our Facebook page, there may be
some more this fall if you want to come see
a cooking demonstration. And we do use all produce in
the vegetables and meat because we have a meat provider
(17:14):
that sells delicious meat chicken and Italian chicken sausage. It
all goes back to food, doesn't it.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Yeah, Well, they hear you talk about gravy and sam
and they may ask for more cooking demonstrations in the
near future. As we're talking today for just a couple
more minutes, great conversation, important information about the North and
Community Improvement Collaborative. We're chatting with their chief executive officer,
Matthew Scruggs are featured CEO.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
You should know.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Okay, So, and you mentioned housing. There was senior housing
planned for the former oc Hill Neighborhood property on Bowmanster,
which which is terrific news for the North End. I mean,
you got you have to be thrilled adding some housing
and you mentioned you know what, eighty or more people
showing up to talk about that.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
That's very important for the North End.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
Yes, very and so we are planning to move to
the other side of that block, which would be the
corner of Bowman and spring Mill where our Community Improvement
Center is currently located. And so I think when we
move to that location and that development and fixing the
community garden, we're really excited to kind of bring that
as the town square, if you will, of the North
(18:20):
End and kind of make that our building block that
we're going to focus on to improve that block. And
energy attracts energy. So the more work we do and
the more we can develop in that area, the greater
it will be for the North End residence.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Matthew Scruggs, CEO of any C I see our guests today.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Let's talk about what you're proud of.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
You know, with probably could say everything I just mentioned,
because you have a lot happening, You offer a lot,
you're just you know, a handful of months into the role.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
You're excited.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
You know this is radio and you can see a
photo of Matthew on our website, but you're smiling, and
you know, you and I talking off the year getting
a lot of support from the community. Just talk about
what you're proud of. If you want to talk about
any goals and vision, you know you can share there.
But there has to be a lot to be proud
of with the organization.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Yeah, absolutely. I mean I'm only what ten eleven weeks
in and so I'm really proud of the team that's there.
We have a great, great core team. I could not
be more proud and excited to work alongside this group
of amazing professionals that show up each day to do
the work. I think the biggest opportunity for us is
the community center, which Deanna had such a big vision
(19:28):
for our community center. And while I would love to
think that I would be able to do that tomorrow,
it's just not in the cards. But I think doing
it in phases. So we actually talked to the architect
and we have phase one on paper. I just need
to finish raising the money for it so we can
move into that site. And then he's designed it so
that because that building that's there, the original bank building,
(19:50):
will be the cornerstone of that building. It's going to
be the lobby that you walk through. So we're developing
that in hopefully three phases. The first phase is just
us getting over there and having office and having the
community space, and then as we can add the offices on.
That's really important. But I think the thing I'm most
excited about is we may have had a little mission
drift during the time when Deanna left until when I
(20:12):
got there, and we did have some crossover, but she
had started her retirement and moved out of town, and
so I think during that time we really found that
we need to go back to the residence. So we're
actually in the month of August. People will have the
opportunity to come to five different dates and tell us
of the community platform where they see the biggest need
(20:34):
in the North End. We have so many amazing points housing,
economic development, transportation, youth programming, but where does the community
want us to focus. So we're actually doing community data
gathering nights so that the community can tell us by
just simply priority ranking. They're going to get three stickers.
And if you come in and you say that it's
youth violence is your biggest concern, then put all three
(20:55):
of your stickers on youth violence. But if you think
youth violence, housing and youth homeless. So the three biggest things.
Put your three stickers there. Once we get that data
over those five different nights, which will be over three
weeks in August late August, then we're going to start
to fix those greater issues. I think that's what I'm
most excited about, is to hear from the residents where
they want us to focus, because that's the part that
(21:16):
we need to get back to.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Well as I let you go, we shared earlier. But
if somebody wants more information about any CiCe, all the programs,
everything you offer, they want to get more information on
what you just talked about with some meetings in August.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
You have a job opening those kind of things. How
do they reach out? Website phone number.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Yes, anycic Dashohio dot org and our phone number four
one nine five two two one six one one.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Matthew Scruggs, our guests this morning, chief executive Officer of
the North End Community Improvement Collaborative. It was great to
learn about the organization, great to learn about your story.
Thank you for being with us and we wish you
continued success.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
The CEO you should know shares the background invasion of
area leaders.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Hi, I'm Aaron Bates, CEO of Wickhaman Hess CPAs and
financial Advisors, helping you plan, grow and thrive in your
business and in life. We are excited to highlight dynamic
CEOs from middle Ohio. Visit us at whitcomb dot com
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