Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The CEO you should know, brought to you by Roby
Foster Miller Eric Insurance. This week's CEO Michelle Geese, Superintendent
of Richland New Hope. This morning. We're excited. We're going
to learn all about Richland New Hope and we have
their superintendent with us via the telephone today. That is
(00:22):
Michelle Geese. First of all, Michelle, good morning, and thank
you so much for being with us. How are you today,
I'm great?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
Absolutely people have heard this name Richland New Hope in
the community for quite some time. Could we kind of
begin with a little history. How long has Richland New
Hope been around?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Richal New Hope has been around really since the sixties.
We started with our early intervention, our childhood program, our
school program, and then kind of moved into our adult
services system from there, kind of built from, like I said,
the school age program into the adult program.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Now, Michelle, for somebody maybe who has just just move
to Richland County, the mans Flood area and they're just
hearing the name Richland New Hope for the very first time,
can you explain what you guys do services you offer?
Kind of tell us about you guys.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah, We support all individuals that live in Richland County
that have any type of a developmental disability or delay.
There is an evaluation process to determine eligibility, but once
you are determined and eligible to receive services, then you
work with a case manager or somebody in our Early
Intervention program to work with you on what services you
(01:33):
need and want to come up with a plan that
just describes yourself and what services that you want and
kind of what you want out of your life, your
your life goals and dreams, and then we help support
the person of the family and trying to figure out,
you know, what that looks like in accessing other services
other partners in our community just kind of being a
(01:53):
part of that team. We deliver services in our Early
Intervention program, which is our smaller Children that's our zero
to three year old program where we actually deliver and
it's more of a hands on in terms of we
go into the family homes. We again author that plan
and deliver it whether it's a therapy or just some
support to the family to learn how to work with
(02:14):
their child and kind of give them the best opportunity
for a healthy, happy life. We support people pretty much
from birth through their entire life, which makes us a
little more unique among the other social service agencies. Our
services don't stop unless the person just doesn't have a
need to continue to be connected with us.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Now, Michelle, they want to learn more about services and
everything with you guys. They could visit your website. I'm
on there right now. Could you share with us the website.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yes, it's our New Hope dot org. That's r n
Ewhope dot org.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
And they can find providers, services and everything that you
guys offer by going to the website. The phone number
is four one nine seven seven four forty two hundred.
We are visiting again this morning with Michelle Ghee. She
is Superintendent of Richland New Hope this week's CEO. You
should know, so, how long have you overall been with
(03:06):
the organization.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
I've been with Richland New Hope for just about thirty
five years. I actually started with the organization right out
of high school, and I've worked in various capacities and
different levels of responsibility. I moved into the superintendent rule
just about seven years ago.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Now all right, now, I mentioned somebody learning about Richland
New Hope for the first time. Where is the office?
Where are you guys located at in the area.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Our administration office is located on Cleveland Avenue and our
case management office is located on Home Avenue. Either of
those locations. Somebody could just stop in if they have
a question, or just call our main number which is
four one nine seven seven four for two two two
and somebody will send them in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Now, Michelle, in terms of services and everything you guys provide,
I mean, who do you cover in terms of is
it just Richland County? Do you go any further?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
How does that work? Yeah, it's just Rishan County. We
operate on funding from our taxpayers as well as some
state and federal dollars, so it's all locally based in
the services are primarily delivered in Richland County. But of
course individuals can you know, potentially work outside of the community,
but services themselves are connected to their actual address here locally.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Michelle, as we continue, let's learn more about your staff
and I know to provide you know everything you guys do.
I'm sure you have a good amount of people that
work for you. How many people right now do you
guys have employed on staff?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
We employ almost two hundred staff. We have a large
number of staff that work in our residential department because
we actually operate group homes, two large homes, the Raintree
home that's over by the Why and then a smaller
home that sits behind that, and those homes are both
twenty four to seven, three hundred and sixty five days
a year, and those folks that live there need a
lot of support pretty much with all their daily living skills.
(04:58):
So it actually requires quite a team of professionals in
order to deliver that service. So we're always hiring our
direct care staff. We are in need of some great
nursing and we also have within the organization some administrative
positions that are open in our early intervention program and
looking for a couple good staff just to fill some
(05:21):
of those gaps.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Now, Michelle, somebody here's your voice and they would like
to inquire about working for rich LANDU hope. How do
they get that process started? Website? Do they stop it
and see you? How can they do that?
Speaker 2 (05:33):
They could do all the above. You could just stop
in and somebody can help you walk you through the process.
On a computer that we have. You could jump on
our website. There's a simple application there and the website
also will outline what positions we have open so we
will support anybody that's interested in coming and having interest
in talking about some openings and getting those applications filled out.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
And you are hearing this morning from Michelle Geese, who's
the superintendent of rich LANU this week CEO, you should
know the website ournew Hope dot orgon you can call
four one nine seven seven for forty two hundred for
more information. All right, Michelle, well, while I have you
for a few more minutes, let's step away from work
and find out a little bit more about you. We
(06:17):
found out you've been with your organization for quite some time,
but people may be wondering. Let's step back to the
very beginning and tell us where was Michelle Geese born.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I've actually lived in Mansfield, Richland County my entire life.
I'm actually living Lucas right now, but I've been at
Richland County resident forever. Graduated from Lexington High School back
in nineteen ninety, went to Ashland University and then received
my master's degree from Kaplan University.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Right now, Michelle, tell us, you know, you know growing
up going to Lexington off to college, did you did
you know, this is, you know, the kind of lone
of work you would be in. What would tell us
about going to college and where you are now.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Kind of fell into this field. Had a couple family
members that worked for Richland New Hope, including my mom,
So I would stop down at the workshop when she
was there and interact with people, or go out in
the community when folks were out and about, and it
just kind of was one of those things after high
school where you needed that first job and just kind
of landed at the sheltered workshop down four Street and
(07:20):
my career kind of grew from there.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Now, Michelle, I don't know married kids. To tell us
a little bit more about Michelle and the.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Family, Yeah, no children, but I am married to Brian Geese.
He's private business owner. Is a kind of a history
in his family in the field of construction. We've been
married for twenty five years this year. Like I said,
we live in Lucas, Ohio, which is my mom's side
of the family was from the Lucas area, so that
was not unfamiliar territory for us either. But enjoy kind
(07:50):
of the country living well.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Michelle, I want to ask you when you're not working,
what do you do in your spare time, either by yourself,
a husband, or what do you do? In terms of hobbies,
we enjoy.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Going out, golfing, a lot of outdoor activities, biking, hiking,
or just spending time with family. We have a pretty
large family, a lot of nieces and nephews, cousins, and
my parents and Brian's mom, but pretty large extended family
and just kind of spending time with them is a
lot of what we do in our spare time.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
All right, we are spending time for just a couple
more minutes with this week's CEO. You should know us.
We're learning about Michelle Geese, who's the superintendent of ritz
Lan New Hope, and about the organization. Let's circle back
to work, Michelle, Is there anything that people should know
that we haven't covered in terms of Ritchlan New Hope.
We talked about staff and services and you know everything
(08:42):
you guys do. Is there anything we've missed that you
want to make sure the public knows about?
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Yeah, I just want to highlight and like I said,
we offer services throughout the person's lifetime. That starts in
our early intervention program and then we support folks through
their school age and have a pretty extensive transition program.
We work very closely with the schools and helping people
just kind of decide what they want to do post
high school, help people find employment, work with a lot
(09:07):
of our different community provider agencies that we partner with
because they're actually the ones that provide the direct service,
So a lot of working relationships with them, and like
I said, our goal is just to get to know
people and figure out really what they want out of
life and kind of help them reach those goals and dreams.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
Michelle, before I let you go, you guys have a
big project and you have many partners with this, including
the City of Mansfield that Stircle Park for all. I
believe you're into the second phase. I know there is
so much excitement surrounding that. What kind of an update
can you give us on that.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeah, I'm super excited to share that we are really
close to having that second phase finished. All the playground
equipment has actually been installed in Fingers crossed that the
weather we'll cooperate over these next couple weeks and they
can get that safety surfacing put in because that's really
the last piece of that second phase. They're going to
need to do some final grading and planning grass, and
then the park is going to be ready to go.
(10:01):
So yeah, I think the many many partners of this
project and the donors, we will still continue to accept
donations because there's more we can do, but we're really
close now.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Michelle. For somebody again that is maybe new to the
area that they're not awhare, could you give us some
of the cool things that that park will feature.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yeah, the park does feature. We have a fully accessible
restroom which is one of the first, if not the
only restroom that has an adult changing table and lift.
That's in a community space in Richland County. There's pickleball courts,
there's a nice pavilion, there's a full outdoor exercise area,
there's outdoor ping pong tables in just a very nice
(10:41):
community space. And then moving into the big playground area
just has some really cool features and things that kids
aren't going to be used to seeing around here in
your traditional playground. There's just a couple of very neat
climbing apparatuses. In the little kid area, there's a nice
little train but the train station just to promote physical growth, socialization,
(11:02):
just somewhere where people can come and be part of
something without barriers. The sidewalk at least most of the
sidewalk has been put in, so there's a nice walking
path if you are just you know, wanting to get
out and kind of experience the park and be a
part of it.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Somebody maybe again it isn't aware tell them where that
historical park for all exactly is located at in Mansfield.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
It's off of Ridgewood, which comes off of Cook Road.
It's actually has a Hollywood address. It just kind of
sits back in that neighborhood, but it's it's fairly easy
to access, right across from Malabar Middle School.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
And again, Michelle, if you could, if somebody wants more
information about Ritchline, who hope they want to talk to somebody,
They want to, you know, talk about services and things
like that. How can they reach out to somebody within
your organization?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Yeah, just call our main number that four one nine
seven seven four four two zero zero. The receptionist will
kind of lead you in the right direction whether or
not you're interested in employment or you're interested in services,
or you have somebody that you think might be interested
in services, and we'll just kind of take it from
there and walk you through the process again.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Natyes ournew Hoope dot org and that number four one
nine seven seven four forty two hundred. Michelle Geese our
guest this morning, Superintendent Richland New Hope. Thank you so much,
Michelle for spending time with us and learning about you
and your organization. We appreciate your time and we wish
you continued success.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
Thank you very much, appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Michelle Geeze, Superintendent of Richland New Hope. The CEO you
should know rit a bio see a photo and here
the extended interview at WMA n FM dot com. This
is John Roby of RFME Insurance. It is said that
a good leader sets the bar high because he or
she wants to reach goals and make the best of
(12:48):
their teams. We're proud to introduce you to some of
the community's leaders on the CEO series