July 26, 2025 • 25 mins
Join Myneedsnetwork.org
Check out the research that fueled this project in the Journal of Participatory Research Methods:
TD Flenaugh interviews Mark Fafard about the challenges of supporting children with special needs and disabilities, emphasizing the importance of connecting them with necessary resources. Mark Fafard introduces the My Needs Network, a nationwide tool designed to help the disabled community access resources. The network, which started in Florida and is expanding, offers a free, easy-to-use platform for parents and organizations to connect and share information. Mark highlights the network's non-competitive approach, aiming to support existing organizations and promote their success. The network has around 30,000 users.
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
TD Flenaugh (00:04):
Special needs and disabilities, and many of our
children are facing disabilitiesand special needs, and we don't
always know how to put them onthe right track, how to make
sure they have all the resourcesthey need as they're growing
older, as they're shifting needsin their different phases of
(00:25):
childhood and even intoadulthood. This episode gives us
a resource to really helpconnect us and our families with
special needs and children withdisabilities to resources they
need so they're on track forlearning and stay on track for
success.
(00:48):
Hi. Thank you so much forjoining the Falling for Learning
Podcast. I am TD Flenaugh. Wehave this podcast to help
parents and caregivers withhaving the resources, strategies
and tools needed to make surethat their children are on track
for learning and to stay ontrack for success. Welcome Mark,
(01:11):
favorite, so how are you doing,Mark?
Mark Fafard (01:16):
I'm good. I'm good.
How are you doing?
Great. So I really want, I'mglad that you came on our show
to talk about your My NeedsNetwork. It's summer months. How
is the summer treating you? Whatdo you have going on?
It's good. We've had, there'sbeen a couple of good
conferences this this summer.
There's a couple more coming up.
(01:40):
A lot of things happen thissummer. It's been really good.
We've got, we have some buildsthat we're doing in the in the
My needs network platform, andmoving some projects forward as
well.
TD Flenaugh (01:51):
Okay, so we're going to get into the my needs
network that you're going totell us all about, and the
resources and the network thatyou're creating and but before
we get into that, we always liketo ask our guests, like, what
made you fall in love withlearning, what really sparked
your passion for learning whenyou're a child or youth?
Mark Fafard (02:13):
I would say it was a couple of things. Maybe
traveling a little bit overseasdid it? And that encouraged me
to Yeah. And that was shortlyafter I got out of the Navy, I
was spent some time overseas fora while, just kind of traveling
around on my own and also, andthen once I got into college,
(02:34):
that was where it really kind oftook off for me. I admired my
professors. I admired thecoursework and and the different
materials that we were, youknow, we had to read and review,
and so that was probably whatlaunched me into where I am now.
Wow,
TD Flenaugh (02:55):
so Well, thank you for your service. And so you're
saying you didn't, it wasn'treally, you didn't really get
into learning or school untilyou got older, and the traveling
was really so that that'ssomething that is interesting,
like some people get into itearly learning, but you're, you
(03:15):
know, you kept doing what you'resupposed to do, you Know, to and
got into the you said, navy.
Sorry I missed
Mark Fafard (03:23):
it. Yeah, the Navy and my parents, my parents
encouraged me as well to, youknow, over the years, to growing
up, and that was all that wasvery helpful also, but, but
really getting into the fieldthat I'm in now, it took, it was
probably more in college, wherethat, where it kind of drove me
into this direction.
Unknown (03:42):
Nice. So tell us about your field, like your education
background, and how you got intodoing the my needs network,
which you're going to tell usall about coming soon.
Mark Fafard (03:54):
So I Yeah, sure. So I have a, I have a background in
in research, predominantly inthe social sciences, you could
say, but mostly in the pub, inin health care, so for in and so
I was working as a researchmanager in 2016 and I was
(04:18):
working for an a clinic thatfocuses on medical complexities
for pediatrics. And it was therethat we just continued to come
across the need for improvement,to access accessing resources
within this within this medicalcomplexity sub population, okay?
(04:41):
And we would hear it over andover again, we're here to
conferences. We would see thisresults come through on on a
grant that we were working underas well. And so from there, we
took it, we myself and ourprincipal investigator, we and a
few other folks. On our team, webuilt out a independent research
(05:03):
study, you know, through theuniversity, and from there, we
were able to learn a lot moreabout those needs, categorize
them, identify theme,reoccurring themes, with with
those needs, and really dosomething with that, with the
research findings and kind ofvalidate, if you will, what we
(05:26):
had been hearing over the years.
TD Flenaugh (05:29):
Can you tell us more about the medical
complexity? So yes, I don't. Canyou tell us a little bit more
for the viewers and myself?
Sure,
Mark Fafard (05:38):
the other way you could put it would just be, end
of it. It was a pediatricoffice. So it was a pediatric
clinic, I should say, and it wasa variety of individuals with
disabilities or and differentvariety of severity types of
disabilities. And so the overallquestion was, what is it that
(05:59):
these parents and families needclinical, non clinical, to
improve their quality of life.
So that was our starting point.
That was a starting point. Theresearch that kind of got us,
got my needs network goingunexpectedly, and we also, but
today we also cover adults,pediatrics and adults.
TD Flenaugh (06:22):
Okay, so tell us. L about the my needs network. How
you know what it is? And then,how do you know? How does it
benefit the greater community?
Mark Fafard (06:34):
Sure. So my needs network is a networking service
provider designed specific forthe disabled community. It is
set to be a nationwide tool. Wehave gotten we we got started in
Florida, and so, of course, youknow to and we are in the we are
in the process of building outinto other states. So as of
(06:57):
right now, a lot of theresources are are in Florida.
But that doesn't matter. I mean,if you're out of if you're if
you're out out of state, or ifyou're in another state, we
still strongly encourage you to,you know, to use my needs
network. Connect with us on, youknow, through my needs network,
we can still help in, way in tohelp identify and find
(07:18):
resources. But so it's anationwide networking service
provider. And we it was foundedunexpectedly from the research
study, which is which we've nowpublished on. And it was a two
year study looking at how toimprove quality of life for
individuals with disabilities.
And so we, with all thatinformation that we had after
(07:41):
the two years, we decided totake it more of an entrepreneur
route and try to build somethingtangible that parents and
families could use right awayand and have it reflect the
findings in the research, whichwas for Parents and families to
have a free, easy to use toolthat helps them connect with
(08:04):
other parents, helps themconnect with other resource
providers and find resourcesspecific for people with
disabilities. So it's a network,and it's been building out, and
it's building out a network, andso it goes beyond a database, or
it goes beyond services within anonprofit, or anything of that
(08:30):
sort. It's, it's, it's muchbigger than that. So
Unknown (08:35):
Right? So bringing people together, resources
together with the people whoneed it. So if I give you a
scenario, I if I have a childwith disability who is now 24
and she's looking for a job, howwould I use the my needs
(08:56):
network?
Mark Fafard (08:58):
So there's a few different ways. So the one is,
you would, you would go into myneeds network, my needs
network.org, create an account.
It takes about one minute, oneto two minutes as an individual,
if you're a social worker, andmaybe a few more minutes, just
because we can help promote youryour business and and we want
your business to succeed as asocial worker or social working
(09:22):
service, so you create that andthen you create your listing,
and then or your account, andthen you're able to access
multiple tools to help youconnect with with that exact
need. So you would literallytake what you just said your
description, and you could copypaste that into different tools
(09:43):
and get that out to multipleorganizations all over the
country. It depending on the,you know, on the category of
need, you can also, and thenthere's also, you could also see
what the resources we have. In,in, in our database, which,
again, the database is afraction of what we do. It's a,
(10:03):
it's a important fraction, butit's a, it's a fraction that
that's not what we're defined asis, you know, we're not, it's,
it's a tiny piece. But then theother piece would be that you
can all if you're havingtrouble, you know, you know,
because time is of the essence.
(10:24):
Time is, you know, individualswith family members with
disabilities, we understand thattime is limited. And so it could
be the start could be as simpleas an email to our team, and
then we take it and startlooking from there. And we work
with the families. Until we'vewe have some resources to kind
(10:45):
of hand off to them.
TD Flenaugh (10:46):
Wonderful, okay?
And the, again, that is a rangeof disabilities, physical
disability, or, like, learningdisability, or or other kind of,
yeah, okay, correct?
Mark Fafard (11:00):
And anywhere in the anywhere in the country, it
doesn't really matter, rural,urban, just it doesn't
TD Flenaugh (11:04):
matter. And so I could just call, I mean, email
and get a call, or you guys willwork with me and my daughter, in
this case, to get res, you know,to connect her to resources to
finding a job or interviewing orsomething like that, and or I
could just go in create my own,like profile for my daughter,
(11:30):
and then she and I could worktogether, you know, through the
platform to to reach out todifferent resources. So there'll
be different people in thenetwork that will Yeah,
different companies or orwhatever that I could like, sign
up with per se, and then theywould be reaching back out to
(11:52):
me. Is that correct? The rewritemethod and the rewrite method
workbook or your go to resourcefor helping kids to learn to
fall in love with writing. Ithas the tips, tools, resources,
(12:15):
strategies and skill buildingactivities to help kids fall out
of writing Hoot and into lovingto write, get Your book set
today.
Mark Fafard (12:41):
Yeah, you'd be able to connect with them. And then
we could be doing and over, andit could be a combination of the
of both, idea that would be agreat way to do it, too.
TD Flenaugh (12:50):
Okay, all right.
And so,
Mark Fafard (12:54):
so for So, for example, a lot of times, you
know, over the years, we'veheard things like, oh, this
organization or or this Facebookgroup does the same kind of
thing, and you know, they thatyou're doing, and we, and we
typically say, well, great, ifthat's the case, if that's what
they're doing, is helping peopleconnect with resources, then we
(13:14):
need to add them on to my needsnetwork. We don't see them as a
competitor. We want to promotethem because they're, they're
working well, it's, it's, youknow, if it's a, if it's a
company that's been that's beendoing that, and people are happy
with that service, then we wantto promote that service. So
that's, that's so we're not,we're we don't see ourselves as
(13:37):
a competitor with a a verysuccessful parent Facebook group
or a very successful nationalnonprofit or local nonprofit, or
a local business or nationalbusiness, we want to put we want
to promote those businesses. Ifthat's working well, we want
them to continue. We want themto work even better.
TD Flenaugh (13:56):
Okay, alright, so that's an important distinction.
It's a network, and you're notin competition with others.
You're just really trying toconnect resources to the people
families that need it, make surethat those organizations that
offer services are known, andhave you know access to people
(14:17):
who need those sources resourcesas well.
Mark Fafard (14:20):
Right? Right? And then exactly. And then we do, we
do. There's a whole, a wholeother level of of support we
provide for those organizations,because, again, we want them to
be successful because they knowthat. They know the details of
the category of area that theyfocus on. And we want those
organizations to be successfulas well. So my needs network is
(14:42):
there to support them,
TD Flenaugh (14:43):
okay? So for our audience, you can go to which.
What is the website?
Mark Fafard (14:50):
Myneedsnetwork.org,
TD Flenaugh (14:52):
so my needs network.org, and it, if you are
a parent, you could registeryour child. Information in
there, right? And
Mark Fafard (15:03):
yes, and you don't even need, there's not even much
information you have toregister. You just just put in
an email. All we need is anemail address so you can receive
updates. And so we have a way tocontact you outside of the
network.
TD Flenaugh (15:18):
And if you have an organization, you also want to
register on there as well.
Mark Fafard (15:23):
Yes, yeah, and it's to the organization's best
interest that you put a littlebit more information in so you
can receive referrals, leads,promote yourself. It's kind of a
free it's some multiplemarketing tools for
organizations big and small.
TD Flenaugh (15:38):
Great. Okay, so about how many people do you
have working, you know, in yournetwork right now? People like
clients, per se, and then likeorganizations.
Mark Fafard (15:51):
We in our we have, we have around I have. I didn't
look at the numbers over theselast I haven't looked at the
numbers over the last week ortwo, but I want to say we have
about 30 to 40,000 visitors overthe last two months, and we have
(16:13):
Our database has about 15,000organization resources in the
you. In the in database and so,and then we work with several
partners on a regular basis. Wewere co owned by University of
Florida, and we and we keep,and, like I said, we keep
(16:39):
everything free and easy to use.
So there's no there's, it's notlike you hit a wall and now you
have to pay a subscription feeor to access it's it's not set
up that way. Our business modelis completely separate.
TD Flenaugh (16:51):
So you're mentioning that your research
about what you know that thatactually led to creating the my
needs network. There's like apeer reviewed publication or
something like that, that we canread as well.
Mark Fafard (17:10):
Yes, yeah, absolutely. So. So the the
research itself was done between2016 and 2018 and then we
switched in 2018 we switchedinto ways to to build and design
the something that reflected theneeds that came out of the the
needs and requirements that cameout of the research findings. So
(17:35):
for example, how are we going tobuild this and make sure it's
free? How are we going to makesure it's easy to use? What
types of tools need to be addedin into this to to be appealing
to parents, to where they caneasily connect or and
organizations. So. So from 2018we we switched into kind of
(18:03):
building, designing, validatingand and testing, and then in
2024 that's why our numbers are.
You know around that the 30,000users, that's why we're, I
wouldn't say it's on the lowerend, but for our standards, we
are because we need to benationwide. We want to be
looking at millions, but, butwe've really only started
(18:26):
hitting our marketing campaignsince this past January. Okay,
alright, so we're really kind offresh out of the gate, because
we've been building since 2018so when we published the
publication, it's a it's apretty good sauce publication,
but the publication covers it'sthe way we used our methodology.
(18:46):
It's called community basedparticipatory research, and we
use that in during the researchphase. And what that means is we
engage the community in theresearch component, in driving
the research itself, not justcollecting information from the
from the community. So, andthat's a kind of a brief
(19:09):
explanation of it, but, but wealso continue to use community
based, participatory researchmethodology after the research
in our builds, in ourimplementing, our validating and
and designs and even marketing.
So. So it was it we recentlypublished. The publication came
(19:33):
out earlier this year, and itcovers the past. Really covers
the history of mine, easenetwork from 2016
TD Flenaugh (19:41):
Okay, and so what's the name of the publication?
Again,
Mark Fafard (19:47):
it's a long title.
I will send you the link.
Unknown (19:50):
Okay, it will be in the show notes. Okay, yeah, alright,
um, what kind of advice wouldyou give to parents of. Uh, who
just really feel that their, youknow, their school, their they
just really haven't found theright resources they need to
(20:11):
help their kids go to whateverthat next level is, like, the
right middle school, or maybeit's the right after high school
learning program. What? Whatadvice would you give them?
Mark Fafard (20:25):
So I guess a couple of things when it comes to my
needs network, if you is to useit, it's, it's what you make of
it with my needs network. Myneeds network is kind of like an
empty house that was built foryou. It's, it's built for you.
It's just time for you to movein, move your furniture in, and
start living out of it. Startusing it. The more you use it,
(20:46):
the more functional it'll be.
And using it also includes theone on one, support the tools
and and getting in there. Itdoesn't take a long time to use
it. It just takes it just takesup email login and to get in
there and start utilizing theother piece outside of my needs
network. And I've kind of seenthis over the years. I feel is,
(21:07):
is talk to the other parents,the parent advocates. You see
those a lot out of children'shospitals, social workers,
those, they are, those, thosegroups of support, levels of
support, are very, veryvaluable. And they, they know
(21:30):
all kind. They're on top of allthe resources out there. The new
policy updates, they they stayup to date on quite a bit the
parent advocates are great,because then they can connect
pretty easily. And they kind ofthey understand where the parent
in need is coming from. They canrelate very easily.
TD Flenaugh (21:55):
Okay, that's wonderful. I want to circle back
because you said something aboutthe one on one support. Can you
tell us more about that?
Mark Fafard (22:03):
Sure, so, if so, going back to your example, I
think it was your daughter as anadult now, was looking for
employment with a mentalbehavioral disability. Was it
something along
TD Flenaugh (22:16):
those? Yes, no scenario, yeah.
Mark Fafard (22:19):
Okay, so, so if you were, if you were looking for
something along those lines, andyou could always send us an
email, tell us just exactly thatand where you're looking for
those resources, like your zip,the zip, zip code, or your that
general area, and we would beable to help provide that help
as well. So we it's easier forus to operate by email, because
(22:42):
then we can, we can move that,that sentence around without
having to change it, withoutgetting the the sentence getting
or the the need getting shiftedaround
TD Flenaugh (22:54):
I see what you're saying. Because if I'm telling
you, then just it's you may haveheard it wrong, or you may have
missed something. And if I emailyou, you could see all of the
things that I put I'm not it'snothing's left out and making
sure you really don't missanything. Yeah, okay, exactly.
Yes, exactly. Okay, so the oneon one support, yeah, once you
(23:16):
email they can contact you andhelp you really find what you
need. Yeah, and I really likethat is such a gem, reaching out
to those parent advocates at theChildren's Hospital in different
places so that you are, youknow, finding multiple ways to
(23:39):
reach to get the needs that youneed for your child.
Mark Fafard (23:44):
And one of the, and speaking of parent advocates,
one of the things that we'reworking on, it's, it's, it's
kind of, it's coming up on thepipeline. It's coming It's, it's
very it's, it's about this we'reabout to start building on this
now is creating a place inmoney's network where it's
(24:06):
easier for people to connectwith those family advocates all
over the all over the country,and also a place in my needs
network where family advocatescan better benefit and social
workers can can benefit in theirjobs. So, you know, what is it
that they need to do their jobsbetter? So we're there to kind
(24:29):
of support those familyadvocates again, so we can help
them, the more successful theyare, the more they're able to
provide for those in thoseparents and families in direct
need, absolutely we've been ableto find some discounted contract
work for them and also help setthem up in directions to where
(24:53):
they can find some financing orsome funding.
TD Flenaugh (24:56):
Okay, well, we really appreciate. You coming on
to our show, our audiencemembers, we thank you for
watching us and following us,and we're in our season three.
Make sure that you're doingsomething today that gives your
child the competitive advantage.
Thank you so much for joiningus. Mark,
Mark Fafard (25:16):
thank you. Thanks for having me. Thanks again
TD Flenaugh (25:18):
for supporting the following, for learning podcast,
new episodes go live everySaturday at 5pm you can watch us
on youtube.com, at falling forlearning, or listen on all major
podcast platforms, such asApple, Google, Audible, Spotify
(25:40):
and much more for moreresources, visit, falling in
love with learning.com we reallyappreciate you. Have a wonderful
week. You.
Special needs and disabilities, and many of our
children are facing disabilitiesand special needs, and we don't
always know how to put them onthe right track, how to make
sure they have all the resourcesthey need as they're growing
older, as they're shifting needsin their different phases of
(00:25):
childhood and even intoadulthood. This episode gives us
a resource to really helpconnect us and our families with
special needs and children withdisabilities to resources they
need so they're on track forlearning and stay on track for
success.
(00:48):
Hi. Thank you so much forjoining the Falling for Learning
Podcast. I am TD Flenaugh. Wehave this podcast to help
parents and caregivers withhaving the resources, strategies
and tools needed to make surethat their children are on track
for learning and to stay ontrack for success. Welcome Mark,
(01:11):
favorite, so how are you doing,Mark?
Mark Fafard (01:16):
I'm good. I'm good.
How are you doing?
Great. So I really want, I'mglad that you came on our show
to talk about your My NeedsNetwork. It's summer months. How
is the summer treating you? Whatdo you have going on?
It's good. We've had, there'sbeen a couple of good
conferences this this summer.
There's a couple more coming up.
(01:40):
A lot of things happen thissummer. It's been really good.
We've got, we have some buildsthat we're doing in the in the
My needs network platform, andmoving some projects forward as
well.
TD Flenaugh (01:51):
Okay, so we're going to get into the my needs
network that you're going totell us all about, and the
resources and the network thatyou're creating and but before
we get into that, we always liketo ask our guests, like, what
made you fall in love withlearning, what really sparked
your passion for learning whenyou're a child or youth?
Mark Fafard (02:13):
I would say it was a couple of things. Maybe
traveling a little bit overseasdid it? And that encouraged me
to Yeah. And that was shortlyafter I got out of the Navy, I
was spent some time overseas fora while, just kind of traveling
around on my own and also, andthen once I got into college,
(02:34):
that was where it really kind oftook off for me. I admired my
professors. I admired thecoursework and and the different
materials that we were, youknow, we had to read and review,
and so that was probably whatlaunched me into where I am now.
Wow,
TD Flenaugh (02:55):
so Well, thank you for your service. And so you're
saying you didn't, it wasn'treally, you didn't really get
into learning or school untilyou got older, and the traveling
was really so that that'ssomething that is interesting,
like some people get into itearly learning, but you're, you
(03:15):
know, you kept doing what you'resupposed to do, you Know, to and
got into the you said, navy.
Sorry I missed
Mark Fafard (03:23):
it. Yeah, the Navy and my parents, my parents
encouraged me as well to, youknow, over the years, to growing
up, and that was all that wasvery helpful also, but, but
really getting into the fieldthat I'm in now, it took, it was
probably more in college, wherethat, where it kind of drove me
into this direction.
Unknown (03:42):
Nice. So tell us about your field, like your education
background, and how you got intodoing the my needs network,
which you're going to tell usall about coming soon.
Mark Fafard (03:54):
So I Yeah, sure. So I have a, I have a background in
in research, predominantly inthe social sciences, you could
say, but mostly in the pub, inin health care, so for in and so
I was working as a researchmanager in 2016 and I was
(04:18):
working for an a clinic thatfocuses on medical complexities
for pediatrics. And it was therethat we just continued to come
across the need for improvement,to access accessing resources
within this within this medicalcomplexity sub population, okay?
(04:41):
And we would hear it over andover again, we're here to
conferences. We would see thisresults come through on on a
grant that we were working underas well. And so from there, we
took it, we myself and ourprincipal investigator, we and a
few other folks. On our team, webuilt out a independent research
(05:03):
study, you know, through theuniversity, and from there, we
were able to learn a lot moreabout those needs, categorize
them, identify theme,reoccurring themes, with with
those needs, and really dosomething with that, with the
research findings and kind ofvalidate, if you will, what we
(05:26):
had been hearing over the years.
TD Flenaugh (05:29):
Can you tell us more about the medical
complexity? So yes, I don't. Canyou tell us a little bit more
for the viewers and myself?
Sure,
Mark Fafard (05:38):
the other way you could put it would just be, end
of it. It was a pediatricoffice. So it was a pediatric
clinic, I should say, and it wasa variety of individuals with
disabilities or and differentvariety of severity types of
disabilities. And so the overallquestion was, what is it that
(05:59):
these parents and families needclinical, non clinical, to
improve their quality of life.
So that was our starting point.
That was a starting point. Theresearch that kind of got us,
got my needs network goingunexpectedly, and we also, but
today we also cover adults,pediatrics and adults.
TD Flenaugh (06:22):
Okay, so tell us. L about the my needs network. How
you know what it is? And then,how do you know? How does it
benefit the greater community?
Mark Fafard (06:34):
Sure. So my needs network is a networking service
provider designed specific forthe disabled community. It is
set to be a nationwide tool. Wehave gotten we we got started in
Florida, and so, of course, youknow to and we are in the we are
in the process of building outinto other states. So as of
(06:57):
right now, a lot of theresources are are in Florida.
But that doesn't matter. I mean,if you're out of if you're if
you're out out of state, or ifyou're in another state, we
still strongly encourage you to,you know, to use my needs
network. Connect with us on, youknow, through my needs network,
we can still help in, way in tohelp identify and find
(07:18):
resources. But so it's anationwide networking service
provider. And we it was foundedunexpectedly from the research
study, which is which we've nowpublished on. And it was a two
year study looking at how toimprove quality of life for
individuals with disabilities.
And so we, with all thatinformation that we had after
(07:41):
the two years, we decided totake it more of an entrepreneur
route and try to build somethingtangible that parents and
families could use right awayand and have it reflect the
findings in the research, whichwas for Parents and families to
have a free, easy to use toolthat helps them connect with
(08:04):
other parents, helps themconnect with other resource
providers and find resourcesspecific for people with
disabilities. So it's a network,and it's been building out, and
it's building out a network, andso it goes beyond a database, or
it goes beyond services within anonprofit, or anything of that
(08:30):
sort. It's, it's, it's muchbigger than that. So
Unknown (08:35):
Right? So bringing people together, resources
together with the people whoneed it. So if I give you a
scenario, I if I have a childwith disability who is now 24
and she's looking for a job, howwould I use the my needs
(08:56):
network?
Mark Fafard (08:58):
So there's a few different ways. So the one is,
you would, you would go into myneeds network, my needs
network.org, create an account.
It takes about one minute, oneto two minutes as an individual,
if you're a social worker, andmaybe a few more minutes, just
because we can help promote youryour business and and we want
your business to succeed as asocial worker or social working
(09:22):
service, so you create that andthen you create your listing,
and then or your account, andthen you're able to access
multiple tools to help youconnect with with that exact
need. So you would literallytake what you just said your
description, and you could copypaste that into different tools
(09:43):
and get that out to multipleorganizations all over the
country. It depending on the,you know, on the category of
need, you can also, and thenthere's also, you could also see
what the resources we have. In,in, in our database, which,
again, the database is afraction of what we do. It's a,
(10:03):
it's a important fraction, butit's a, it's a fraction that
that's not what we're defined asis, you know, we're not, it's,
it's a tiny piece. But then theother piece would be that you
can all if you're havingtrouble, you know, you know,
because time is of the essence.
(10:24):
Time is, you know, individualswith family members with
disabilities, we understand thattime is limited. And so it could
be the start could be as simpleas an email to our team, and
then we take it and startlooking from there. And we work
with the families. Until we'vewe have some resources to kind
(10:45):
of hand off to them.
TD Flenaugh (10:46):
Wonderful, okay?
And the, again, that is a rangeof disabilities, physical
disability, or, like, learningdisability, or or other kind of,
yeah, okay, correct?
Mark Fafard (11:00):
And anywhere in the anywhere in the country, it
doesn't really matter, rural,urban, just it doesn't
TD Flenaugh (11:04):
matter. And so I could just call, I mean, email
and get a call, or you guys willwork with me and my daughter, in
this case, to get res, you know,to connect her to resources to
finding a job or interviewing orsomething like that, and or I
could just go in create my own,like profile for my daughter,
(11:30):
and then she and I could worktogether, you know, through the
platform to to reach out todifferent resources. So there'll
be different people in thenetwork that will Yeah,
different companies or orwhatever that I could like, sign
up with per se, and then theywould be reaching back out to
(11:52):
me. Is that correct? The rewritemethod and the rewrite method
workbook or your go to resourcefor helping kids to learn to
fall in love with writing. Ithas the tips, tools, resources,
(12:15):
strategies and skill buildingactivities to help kids fall out
of writing Hoot and into lovingto write, get Your book set
today.
Mark Fafard (12:41):
Yeah, you'd be able to connect with them. And then
we could be doing and over, andit could be a combination of the
of both, idea that would be agreat way to do it, too.
TD Flenaugh (12:50):
Okay, all right.
And so,
Mark Fafard (12:54):
so for So, for example, a lot of times, you
know, over the years, we'veheard things like, oh, this
organization or or this Facebookgroup does the same kind of
thing, and you know, they thatyou're doing, and we, and we
typically say, well, great, ifthat's the case, if that's what
they're doing, is helping peopleconnect with resources, then we
(13:14):
need to add them on to my needsnetwork. We don't see them as a
competitor. We want to promotethem because they're, they're
working well, it's, it's, youknow, if it's a, if it's a
company that's been that's beendoing that, and people are happy
with that service, then we wantto promote that service. So
that's, that's so we're not,we're we don't see ourselves as
(13:37):
a competitor with a a verysuccessful parent Facebook group
or a very successful nationalnonprofit or local nonprofit, or
a local business or nationalbusiness, we want to put we want
to promote those businesses. Ifthat's working well, we want
them to continue. We want themto work even better.
TD Flenaugh (13:56):
Okay, alright, so that's an important distinction.
It's a network, and you're notin competition with others.
You're just really trying toconnect resources to the people
families that need it, make surethat those organizations that
offer services are known, andhave you know access to people
(14:17):
who need those sources resourcesas well.
Mark Fafard (14:20):
Right? Right? And then exactly. And then we do, we
do. There's a whole, a wholeother level of of support we
provide for those organizations,because, again, we want them to
be successful because they knowthat. They know the details of
the category of area that theyfocus on. And we want those
organizations to be successfulas well. So my needs network is
(14:42):
there to support them,
TD Flenaugh (14:43):
okay? So for our audience, you can go to which.
What is the website?
Mark Fafard (14:50):
Myneedsnetwork.org,
TD Flenaugh (14:52):
so my needs network.org, and it, if you are
a parent, you could registeryour child. Information in
there, right? And
Mark Fafard (15:03):
yes, and you don't even need, there's not even much
information you have toregister. You just just put in
an email. All we need is anemail address so you can receive
updates. And so we have a way tocontact you outside of the
network.
TD Flenaugh (15:18):
And if you have an organization, you also want to
register on there as well.
Mark Fafard (15:23):
Yes, yeah, and it's to the organization's best
interest that you put a littlebit more information in so you
can receive referrals, leads,promote yourself. It's kind of a
free it's some multiplemarketing tools for
organizations big and small.
TD Flenaugh (15:38):
Great. Okay, so about how many people do you
have working, you know, in yournetwork right now? People like
clients, per se, and then likeorganizations.
Mark Fafard (15:51):
We in our we have, we have around I have. I didn't
look at the numbers over theselast I haven't looked at the
numbers over the last week ortwo, but I want to say we have
about 30 to 40,000 visitors overthe last two months, and we have
(16:13):
Our database has about 15,000organization resources in the
you. In the in database and so,and then we work with several
partners on a regular basis. Wewere co owned by University of
Florida, and we and we keep,and, like I said, we keep
(16:39):
everything free and easy to use.
So there's no there's, it's notlike you hit a wall and now you
have to pay a subscription feeor to access it's it's not set
up that way. Our business modelis completely separate.
TD Flenaugh (16:51):
So you're mentioning that your research
about what you know that thatactually led to creating the my
needs network. There's like apeer reviewed publication or
something like that, that we canread as well.
Mark Fafard (17:10):
Yes, yeah, absolutely. So. So the the
research itself was done between2016 and 2018 and then we
switched in 2018 we switchedinto ways to to build and design
the something that reflected theneeds that came out of the the
needs and requirements that cameout of the research findings. So
(17:35):
for example, how are we going tobuild this and make sure it's
free? How are we going to makesure it's easy to use? What
types of tools need to be addedin into this to to be appealing
to parents, to where they caneasily connect or and
organizations. So. So from 2018we we switched into kind of
(18:03):
building, designing, validatingand and testing, and then in
2024 that's why our numbers are.
You know around that the 30,000users, that's why we're, I
wouldn't say it's on the lowerend, but for our standards, we
are because we need to benationwide. We want to be
looking at millions, but, butwe've really only started
(18:26):
hitting our marketing campaignsince this past January. Okay,
alright, so we're really kind offresh out of the gate, because
we've been building since 2018so when we published the
publication, it's a it's apretty good sauce publication,
but the publication covers it'sthe way we used our methodology.
(18:46):
It's called community basedparticipatory research, and we
use that in during the researchphase. And what that means is we
engage the community in theresearch component, in driving
the research itself, not justcollecting information from the
from the community. So, andthat's a kind of a brief
(19:09):
explanation of it, but, but wealso continue to use community
based, participatory researchmethodology after the research
in our builds, in ourimplementing, our validating and
and designs and even marketing.
So. So it was it we recentlypublished. The publication came
(19:33):
out earlier this year, and itcovers the past. Really covers
the history of mine, easenetwork from 2016
TD Flenaugh (19:41):
Okay, and so what's the name of the publication?
Again,
Mark Fafard (19:47):
it's a long title.
I will send you the link.
Unknown (19:50):
Okay, it will be in the show notes. Okay, yeah, alright,
um, what kind of advice wouldyou give to parents of. Uh, who
just really feel that their, youknow, their school, their they
just really haven't found theright resources they need to
(20:11):
help their kids go to whateverthat next level is, like, the
right middle school, or maybeit's the right after high school
learning program. What? Whatadvice would you give them?
Mark Fafard (20:25):
So I guess a couple of things when it comes to my
needs network, if you is to useit, it's, it's what you make of
it with my needs network. Myneeds network is kind of like an
empty house that was built foryou. It's, it's built for you.
It's just time for you to movein, move your furniture in, and
start living out of it. Startusing it. The more you use it,
(20:46):
the more functional it'll be.
And using it also includes theone on one, support the tools
and and getting in there. Itdoesn't take a long time to use
it. It just takes it just takesup email login and to get in
there and start utilizing theother piece outside of my needs
network. And I've kind of seenthis over the years. I feel is,
(21:07):
is talk to the other parents,the parent advocates. You see
those a lot out of children'shospitals, social workers,
those, they are, those, thosegroups of support, levels of
support, are very, veryvaluable. And they, they know
(21:30):
all kind. They're on top of allthe resources out there. The new
policy updates, they they stayup to date on quite a bit the
parent advocates are great,because then they can connect
pretty easily. And they kind ofthey understand where the parent
in need is coming from. They canrelate very easily.
TD Flenaugh (21:55):
Okay, that's wonderful. I want to circle back
because you said something aboutthe one on one support. Can you
tell us more about that?
Mark Fafard (22:03):
Sure, so, if so, going back to your example, I
think it was your daughter as anadult now, was looking for
employment with a mentalbehavioral disability. Was it
something along
TD Flenaugh (22:16):
those? Yes, no scenario, yeah.
Mark Fafard (22:19):
Okay, so, so if you were, if you were looking for
something along those lines, andyou could always send us an
email, tell us just exactly thatand where you're looking for
those resources, like your zip,the zip, zip code, or your that
general area, and we would beable to help provide that help
as well. So we it's easier forus to operate by email, because
(22:42):
then we can, we can move that,that sentence around without
having to change it, withoutgetting the the sentence getting
or the the need getting shiftedaround
TD Flenaugh (22:54):
I see what you're saying. Because if I'm telling
you, then just it's you may haveheard it wrong, or you may have
missed something. And if I emailyou, you could see all of the
things that I put I'm not it'snothing's left out and making
sure you really don't missanything. Yeah, okay, exactly.
Yes, exactly. Okay, so the oneon one support, yeah, once you
(23:16):
email they can contact you andhelp you really find what you
need. Yeah, and I really likethat is such a gem, reaching out
to those parent advocates at theChildren's Hospital in different
places so that you are, youknow, finding multiple ways to
(23:39):
reach to get the needs that youneed for your child.
Mark Fafard (23:44):
And one of the, and speaking of parent advocates,
one of the things that we'reworking on, it's, it's, it's
kind of, it's coming up on thepipeline. It's coming It's, it's
very it's, it's about this we'reabout to start building on this
now is creating a place inmoney's network where it's
(24:06):
easier for people to connectwith those family advocates all
over the all over the country,and also a place in my needs
network where family advocatescan better benefit and social
workers can can benefit in theirjobs. So, you know, what is it
that they need to do their jobsbetter? So we're there to kind
(24:29):
of support those familyadvocates again, so we can help
them, the more successful theyare, the more they're able to
provide for those in thoseparents and families in direct
need, absolutely we've been ableto find some discounted contract
work for them and also help setthem up in directions to where
(24:53):
they can find some financing orsome funding.
TD Flenaugh (24:56):
Okay, well, we really appreciate. You coming on
to our show, our audiencemembers, we thank you for
watching us and following us,and we're in our season three.
Make sure that you're doingsomething today that gives your
child the competitive advantage.
Thank you so much for joiningus. Mark,
Mark Fafard (25:16):
thank you. Thanks for having me. Thanks again
TD Flenaugh (25:18):
for supporting the following, for learning podcast,
new episodes go live everySaturday at 5pm you can watch us
on youtube.com, at falling forlearning, or listen on all major
podcast platforms, such asApple, Google, Audible, Spotify
(25:40):
and much more for moreresources, visit, falling in
love with learning.com we reallyappreciate you. Have a wonderful
week. You.
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