May 19, 2025 • 18 mins
What do NYC’s best after school programs offer and how can they help tap into a child’s potential? Our guest is Sheila Duke, Chief Executive Officer of Roads to Success, a nonprofit that empowers future leaders by helping young people discover their potential and pursue their dreams. Founded in 2001, Roads to Success serves over 7,000 youth and young adults annually. For more, visit roadstosuccess.org.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to get connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven Light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to get connected for the next few minutes, focusing
on education, especially for kids growing up in New York
City's most challenging neighborhoods. Why do they need high quality
after school programs more than ever, What kind of programs
do they need now and how can they help tap
into a child's potential. Our guest is Sheila Duke. She's
chief executive officer of Roads to Success, a nonprofit that
(00:35):
empowers future leaders by helping young people discover their potential
and pursue their dreams. Shila Duke, thank you for being
unget connected.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
You can find out more at roads twosuccess dot org.
I thought maybe you could just give us a brief
overview to begin, Sheila about what Roads to Success does
every day.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Road to Success as a nonprofit where we serve over
seven thousand children's citywide, really empowering them to find their
road to success by inspiring them and empowering them to
find where they see their future.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
You serve students ages four to twenty four. Tell us
about the kids you serve. Where are they from, why
are they in the program, how do they get there?
All that sort of thing.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
So we serve young people from the ages of four
to twenty four, like you mentioned, to discover their full potential,
to pursue their genes and open doors to brighter futures.
We do that through all of our programs that are
housed either in DOE schools and or community locations.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
We have bafter school.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Programs in elementary and middle schools that take up to
pre k to.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Eighth grade, and then we do.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Have some connections with high schools. But on the workforce
development side, this was.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
An organization that was founded almost twenty five years ago.
I think are about twenty five years ago. You became
CEO in twenty twenty three. You bring a wealth of
knowledge in the youth development field, building a career in
this field. Where did you get your start?
Speaker 4 (02:17):
I got my start actually at a local community center
where I live, and I continue to really find a
love and a passion to help children and families and
continue to align myself with like minded organizations similar to
Roads to Success. So I've worked at a variety of
nonprofits over the last twenty years, and I'm really fortunate
(02:41):
to be at Roaster Success, leading such a wonderful organization
with a powerful mission to help young people find their
rightful place, change trajectories for their families, while also creating
and honing their dreams.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
I know you are a native New Yorker. New York
is held up by so much any people doing this
kind of work. Why did you end up in the
after school space and say, not working in a school
as a teacher or something like that. Why is this
piece so important? Why did that become your focus?
Speaker 4 (03:12):
So I am a prodigy of like after school programs, right,
and so I see the power and the connectivity of
connecting with a young person outside of the classroom. I
do believe that there is a lot of additional supports
that young people need that span outside of the standard
(03:33):
curriculum of teaching, and so I really enjoy connecting with
young people in a place where they feel that they
can be themselves and not necessarily have to feel like
they're learning, but while also learning through the connection of
positive peers and role models that allow them to see
(03:56):
themselves in other dimensions outside the classroom.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
We're speaking with Shila Duke. She is chief executive officer
of Roads to Success. They are a nonprofit that empower
future leaders by helping young people discover their potential, pursue
their dreams, and open doors to brighter futures. Roads to
Success serves over seven thousand youth and young adults annually.
You can find out more at roadsdosuccess dot org. You're
(04:20):
listening to get connected on one oh six point seven
Light FM. I'm Mina del Rio connecting with students discovering
their potential. You've mentioned that a couple of times. I
just mentioned that what does that look like in practice?
What does that look like on a one to one
conversational relationship?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Thank you for asking.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
You know, now more than ever, young people are struggling
with social emotional learning, and I'll break that down in
a second, but that really is just the power to
connect outside of a virtual space.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Right. A lot of our young.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
People, through the global pandemic that just happen, really have
lost of positive connections in person, and so one of
the things that rose Success. We are really really trying
to ensure that all of our young people have certain
social skills that will allow them to be productive social
(05:18):
emotional learning, it serves as a meaning to recognize kind
of how to manage their emotions and crisis build relationships.
Are also being able to have their own sense of
self awareness and ability to create boundaries, and it really
affirms allows them to affirm their sense of identity and
(05:40):
belonging and belonging is one of our core values at
Rose's Success. And so that really means a lot that
our young people are really equipped with the skills that
they need to succeed. And this is something that is
maybe often overlooked, but understanding that it's very impactful if
they are given the skills at your early age to
(06:02):
be able to communicate and be self aware.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
And how does that What does that look like? I
wonder if you could give an example of, say what
that might actually look like if you have a reference
from somebody who, say seven, versus somebody who's seventeen.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
So social emotional learning in terms of being self aware
is the ability to cognitively.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Be able to have a conversation, agree to disagree.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
It looks like less you know, crime on the streets, right,
it looks like less mental health illnesses on the streets right,
allowing young people to be able to tap into their feelings,
be able to create boundaries, being able to articulate right
from wrong, and also identify when things are happening that
(06:51):
allows them to be able to kind of manage their
emotions in a better way. So that looks like someone
seven year old being able to tell a person in
a classroom that they're not feeling safe or they're not
safe right, or versus a seventeen year old who has
the ability to articulate triggers in their lives of things
(07:14):
that maybe happening to them that bring them to dark
places and or allow them to have an outlet or
vehicle to speak to another adult in a positive way
that helps them deal with whatever crisis that they're dealing with.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
You know what's interesting about this is I think even
as we become adults, this is stuff that not all
of us have a handle on. Right. You sometimes forget
to recognize I'm in a bad place right now, but
it's going to pass, and I just need to deal
with it right here. It's not forever, it's not going
to change my life. It's just a moment, right I
need to kind of understand what this is it takes
(07:52):
a while when you're a kid to realize there's something
on the other side of it.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Absolutely, I mean, and you see that now with recent arrivals.
We have different types of families that we help and
cultural norms and being able to assimilate to society, right,
it's difficult. It's difficult for young children to be able
to really be able to decipher the things that are
(08:20):
appropriate to them. And so a lot of our staff,
which we poll role models, are there as sounding boards
and oftentimes there's restorative circles and things that happen through
a lot of practices that we embed in our programs
to allow young people to be able to feel like
they're safe and that they can be heard and seen.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Are also equipping the skills that they need.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Tell me a little bit more about who leads the
programming who you just mentioned and the restorative circle. What's
the restorative circle?
Speaker 3 (08:53):
So restorative circles is the practice.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
It's almost like restorative justice, and it's just a way
to keep young people in their own space while also
trying to configure either a mindset a mind shift to
be able to get them on the right path to
doing things in other ways and oftentimes they do restorative
(09:16):
circles with young people that are having conflict so that
we don't necessarily displace them from program, but we work
with them to make sure that they are now in
an age appropriate way being able to be assimilated back
into whatever group project that is happening. A lot of
what we do happens right with our role models, who
(09:37):
are our employees and oftentimes they're college students.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Sometimes they are young people that.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Have grown within RTS that have actually attended a lot
of our.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Programs and now they're staff people.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
Right, so we have a lot of young people who
are come through the pipeline of RTS.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
You know, they are in person with our young fe people.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
All of our programs are in person from the hours
of three to six, and they leave them in a
variety of activities. Let it be dance, let it be
steam activities, groups and art. So there's a variety of
different things that transpire that allows young people to tap
not only into some of the things that they are
(10:23):
interested in, while also exposing them to things that they
would never have been able to be tapped into. Pad
in that then for the connection of RTS and their school.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
As someone who's had a career in this field. You
see probably similar patterns year after year with different kids.
Parents are doing this for the first time though it's
their kid, but they're doing it for the first time.
How can a parent or guardian help support a child
in after school success? In programs like this, we are.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
A real proponent of parents are the first teacher, right,
we have to also teach parents how to advocate for
not only themselves but for their children. Awareness is the
first step a parent. Awareness that there are things outside
the home and outside the classroom that they can take
(11:19):
advantage of is the first step in undergirding a parent's
ability to do more for their child. And I think
once parents understand that there's not a bad thing to
reach out for help or to acknowledge that there is
additional supports that a family.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Can have, it really does take a village to.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Raise a child nowadays, and so a lot of times
you try to empower our parents, say hey, that you
are your child's first teacher. We are here to support
you while also empowering your family to do more. Off
Sometimes we have a lot of first generation students that
(12:05):
we help, and so there are some parents that are
I would say not intimidated, but they are reluctant for
their children to be other places outside of their home.
And so we really try to work with families and
parents to say, hey, you're the first teacher, but we're here.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
To support you.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
One of the reasons we have these conversations on the
show is to bring more interest and more support. So
how can individuals and corporations even volunteer and or contribute
and volunteering what does that look like?
Speaker 4 (12:38):
We have so many ways that corporate partners and volunteers
can help Roaster Success mission. Really a part of what
we do that we have not spoke about is we
expose young people to experiences, right, and we think that
that is a vital proponent in igniting a dream. Seeing
(13:01):
themselves in someone who looks like them, who is in
a field that they aspire to be in, really makes
a difference. And so there are tons of avenues where
corporate partners can exchange real, live conversations with young people
(13:21):
in terms of maybe their pathway to their success, while
also bringing a young person or a trip or an
experience to life at their physical office location. We have
many opportunities within our Roads to Success where we create
panels and workshops where folks can come in and speak
(13:45):
to our young people. But we really do value, you know,
the ability for a young person to see things outside
of their school setting.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
And so that's the first way.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
We have a lot of events that transpire throughout the
year that really takes on the hands of volunteers to
help us do And so we have a large leadership
summit that happens in the summer where we have eight
hundred to like a thousand youth come in and explore
all different types of pathways. But we have these young
(14:18):
people every day from three to six, and so there's
volunteer opportunities. Let it be if you are a dancer
or an artist to come in and do workshops with
young people. In addition, there are college trips folks that
have connections to their institutions to come and try to
(14:38):
create experience for young people that way. So there is
an infinite ways of that corporations and volunteers can align
themselves with the mission and vision of RTS.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
There are so many opportunities for people to participate and
maybe somebody remembers when you were a kid, you saw
something you didn't even know existed. It really does open
up a whole window in your mind when you see
these things. It's fascinating even to think about today. Again,
I wanted to ask you, you know, you became CEO
a couple of years ago, what do you think are
(15:13):
probably the biggest strengths of the organization and what do
you want to grow?
Speaker 3 (15:16):
That is a wonderful question.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
I really do think right now, more than ever, young
people need pathways and they need guidance to get them
to their end goals. And so we're really working very
hard with our college and workforce development right. We want
to create college going culture within a lot of our
(15:39):
young people, but we recognize that college is not for everyone, right,
and so we are looking at also bolstering our alternative
pathways programs right to really ensure that young people when
they leave high school, they have a plan. And so
that is one area that we are looking to grow,
(16:00):
to connect with other like minded organizations that allow.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Us to reach these goals for these young people.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
And briefly, and just briefly, what would those alternative pathways
look like?
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Oh, alternative pathways?
Speaker 4 (16:13):
And it's like a young person who wants to become
an electrician or wants to see what the path of
city employment looks like. They may be someone interested not
necessarily going.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
To school, but they may want to become a pilot.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
And so there's specific tracks and certifications that a young
person can get that, just like a college degree, can
set them up for success. And so we want to
make sure that we are giving young people their options
and this helps families break the cycle of poverty. When
(16:53):
a young person is able to equip themselves with a certification,
a degree and then land a job, this now helps
a family. This helps a young person see their self
sufficiency while breaking down with any any barriers that may
(17:14):
have been.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
In place, because most of our.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Young people do come from underserved neighborhoods, and so there
are a lot of societal things that are happening that
contribute to a young person's I don't want to say failures,
but barriers to success.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
You can find out more and of course, of course
this all takes partnerships to make this happen. You can
find out more about partnerships and more about the work
of Roads to Success at roadsdosuccess dot org. Our guest
has been Shila Duke, Roads to Success CEO. Thank you
for being on to get connected.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
This has been get Connected with Nina del Rio on
one io six point seven light Fm. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website for
downloads and podcasts at one oh six seven lightfm dot com.
Thanks for listening.
Welcome to get connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven Light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to get connected for the next few minutes, focusing
on education, especially for kids growing up in New York
City's most challenging neighborhoods. Why do they need high quality
after school programs more than ever, What kind of programs
do they need now and how can they help tap
into a child's potential. Our guest is Sheila Duke. She's
chief executive officer of Roads to Success, a nonprofit that
(00:35):
empowers future leaders by helping young people discover their potential
and pursue their dreams. Shila Duke, thank you for being
unget connected.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
You can find out more at roads twosuccess dot org.
I thought maybe you could just give us a brief
overview to begin, Sheila about what Roads to Success does
every day.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Road to Success as a nonprofit where we serve over
seven thousand children's citywide, really empowering them to find their
road to success by inspiring them and empowering them to
find where they see their future.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
You serve students ages four to twenty four. Tell us
about the kids you serve. Where are they from, why
are they in the program, how do they get there?
All that sort of thing.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
So we serve young people from the ages of four
to twenty four, like you mentioned, to discover their full potential,
to pursue their genes and open doors to brighter futures.
We do that through all of our programs that are
housed either in DOE schools and or community locations.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
We have bafter school.
Speaker 4 (01:45):
Programs in elementary and middle schools that take up to
pre k to.
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Eighth grade, and then we do.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Have some connections with high schools. But on the workforce
development side, this was.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
An organization that was founded almost twenty five years ago.
I think are about twenty five years ago. You became
CEO in twenty twenty three. You bring a wealth of
knowledge in the youth development field, building a career in
this field. Where did you get your start?
Speaker 4 (02:17):
I got my start actually at a local community center
where I live, and I continue to really find a
love and a passion to help children and families and
continue to align myself with like minded organizations similar to
Roads to Success. So I've worked at a variety of
nonprofits over the last twenty years, and I'm really fortunate
(02:41):
to be at Roaster Success, leading such a wonderful organization
with a powerful mission to help young people find their
rightful place, change trajectories for their families, while also creating
and honing their dreams.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
I know you are a native New Yorker. New York
is held up by so much any people doing this
kind of work. Why did you end up in the
after school space and say, not working in a school
as a teacher or something like that. Why is this
piece so important? Why did that become your focus?
Speaker 4 (03:12):
So I am a prodigy of like after school programs, right,
and so I see the power and the connectivity of
connecting with a young person outside of the classroom. I
do believe that there is a lot of additional supports
that young people need that span outside of the standard
(03:33):
curriculum of teaching, and so I really enjoy connecting with
young people in a place where they feel that they
can be themselves and not necessarily have to feel like
they're learning, but while also learning through the connection of
positive peers and role models that allow them to see
(03:56):
themselves in other dimensions outside the classroom.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
We're speaking with Shila Duke. She is chief executive officer
of Roads to Success. They are a nonprofit that empower
future leaders by helping young people discover their potential, pursue
their dreams, and open doors to brighter futures. Roads to
Success serves over seven thousand youth and young adults annually.
You can find out more at roadsdosuccess dot org. You're
(04:20):
listening to get connected on one oh six point seven
Light FM. I'm Mina del Rio connecting with students discovering
their potential. You've mentioned that a couple of times. I
just mentioned that what does that look like in practice?
What does that look like on a one to one
conversational relationship?
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Thank you for asking.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
You know, now more than ever, young people are struggling
with social emotional learning, and I'll break that down in
a second, but that really is just the power to
connect outside of a virtual space.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Right. A lot of our young.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
People, through the global pandemic that just happen, really have
lost of positive connections in person, and so one of
the things that rose Success. We are really really trying
to ensure that all of our young people have certain
social skills that will allow them to be productive social
(05:18):
emotional learning, it serves as a meaning to recognize kind
of how to manage their emotions and crisis build relationships.
Are also being able to have their own sense of
self awareness and ability to create boundaries, and it really
affirms allows them to affirm their sense of identity and
(05:40):
belonging and belonging is one of our core values at
Rose's Success. And so that really means a lot that
our young people are really equipped with the skills that
they need to succeed. And this is something that is
maybe often overlooked, but understanding that it's very impactful if
they are given the skills at your early age to
(06:02):
be able to communicate and be self aware.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
And how does that What does that look like? I
wonder if you could give an example of, say what
that might actually look like if you have a reference
from somebody who, say seven, versus somebody who's seventeen.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
So social emotional learning in terms of being self aware
is the ability to cognitively.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Be able to have a conversation, agree to disagree.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
It looks like less you know, crime on the streets, right,
it looks like less mental health illnesses on the streets right,
allowing young people to be able to tap into their feelings,
be able to create boundaries, being able to articulate right
from wrong, and also identify when things are happening that
(06:51):
allows them to be able to kind of manage their
emotions in a better way. So that looks like someone
seven year old being able to tell a person in
a classroom that they're not feeling safe or they're not
safe right, or versus a seventeen year old who has
the ability to articulate triggers in their lives of things
(07:14):
that maybe happening to them that bring them to dark
places and or allow them to have an outlet or
vehicle to speak to another adult in a positive way
that helps them deal with whatever crisis that they're dealing with.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
You know what's interesting about this is I think even
as we become adults, this is stuff that not all
of us have a handle on. Right. You sometimes forget
to recognize I'm in a bad place right now, but
it's going to pass, and I just need to deal
with it right here. It's not forever, it's not going
to change my life. It's just a moment, right I
need to kind of understand what this is it takes
(07:52):
a while when you're a kid to realize there's something
on the other side of it.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Absolutely, I mean, and you see that now with recent arrivals.
We have different types of families that we help and
cultural norms and being able to assimilate to society, right,
it's difficult. It's difficult for young children to be able
to really be able to decipher the things that are
(08:20):
appropriate to them. And so a lot of our staff,
which we poll role models, are there as sounding boards
and oftentimes there's restorative circles and things that happen through
a lot of practices that we embed in our programs
to allow young people to be able to feel like
they're safe and that they can be heard and seen.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Are also equipping the skills that they need.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Tell me a little bit more about who leads the
programming who you just mentioned and the restorative circle. What's
the restorative circle?
Speaker 3 (08:53):
So restorative circles is the practice.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
It's almost like restorative justice, and it's just a way
to keep young people in their own space while also
trying to configure either a mindset a mind shift to
be able to get them on the right path to
doing things in other ways and oftentimes they do restorative
(09:16):
circles with young people that are having conflict so that
we don't necessarily displace them from program, but we work
with them to make sure that they are now in
an age appropriate way being able to be assimilated back
into whatever group project that is happening. A lot of
what we do happens right with our role models, who
(09:37):
are our employees and oftentimes they're college students.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Sometimes they are young people that.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
Have grown within RTS that have actually attended a lot
of our.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Programs and now they're staff people.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
Right, so we have a lot of young people who
are come through the pipeline of RTS.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
You know, they are in person with our young fe people.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
All of our programs are in person from the hours
of three to six, and they leave them in a
variety of activities. Let it be dance, let it be
steam activities, groups and art. So there's a variety of
different things that transpire that allows young people to tap
not only into some of the things that they are
(10:23):
interested in, while also exposing them to things that they
would never have been able to be tapped into. Pad
in that then for the connection of RTS and their school.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
As someone who's had a career in this field. You
see probably similar patterns year after year with different kids.
Parents are doing this for the first time though it's
their kid, but they're doing it for the first time.
How can a parent or guardian help support a child
in after school success? In programs like this, we are.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
A real proponent of parents are the first teacher, right,
we have to also teach parents how to advocate for
not only themselves but for their children. Awareness is the
first step a parent. Awareness that there are things outside
the home and outside the classroom that they can take
(11:19):
advantage of is the first step in undergirding a parent's
ability to do more for their child. And I think
once parents understand that there's not a bad thing to
reach out for help or to acknowledge that there is
additional supports that a family.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Can have, it really does take a village to.
Speaker 4 (11:42):
Raise a child nowadays, and so a lot of times
you try to empower our parents, say hey, that you
are your child's first teacher. We are here to support
you while also empowering your family to do more. Off
Sometimes we have a lot of first generation students that
(12:05):
we help, and so there are some parents that are
I would say not intimidated, but they are reluctant for
their children to be other places outside of their home.
And so we really try to work with families and
parents to say, hey, you're the first teacher, but we're here.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
To support you.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
One of the reasons we have these conversations on the
show is to bring more interest and more support. So
how can individuals and corporations even volunteer and or contribute
and volunteering what does that look like?
Speaker 4 (12:38):
We have so many ways that corporate partners and volunteers
can help Roaster Success mission. Really a part of what
we do that we have not spoke about is we
expose young people to experiences, right, and we think that
that is a vital proponent in igniting a dream. Seeing
(13:01):
themselves in someone who looks like them, who is in
a field that they aspire to be in, really makes
a difference. And so there are tons of avenues where
corporate partners can exchange real, live conversations with young people
(13:21):
in terms of maybe their pathway to their success, while
also bringing a young person or a trip or an
experience to life at their physical office location. We have
many opportunities within our Roads to Success where we create
panels and workshops where folks can come in and speak
(13:45):
to our young people. But we really do value, you know,
the ability for a young person to see things outside
of their school setting.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
And so that's the first way.
Speaker 4 (13:55):
We have a lot of events that transpire throughout the
year that really takes on the hands of volunteers to
help us do And so we have a large leadership
summit that happens in the summer where we have eight
hundred to like a thousand youth come in and explore
all different types of pathways. But we have these young
(14:18):
people every day from three to six, and so there's
volunteer opportunities. Let it be if you are a dancer
or an artist to come in and do workshops with
young people. In addition, there are college trips folks that
have connections to their institutions to come and try to
(14:38):
create experience for young people that way. So there is
an infinite ways of that corporations and volunteers can align
themselves with the mission and vision of RTS.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
There are so many opportunities for people to participate and
maybe somebody remembers when you were a kid, you saw
something you didn't even know existed. It really does open
up a whole window in your mind when you see
these things. It's fascinating even to think about today. Again,
I wanted to ask you, you know, you became CEO
a couple of years ago, what do you think are
(15:13):
probably the biggest strengths of the organization and what do
you want to grow?
Speaker 3 (15:16):
That is a wonderful question.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
I really do think right now, more than ever, young
people need pathways and they need guidance to get them
to their end goals. And so we're really working very
hard with our college and workforce development right. We want
to create college going culture within a lot of our
(15:39):
young people, but we recognize that college is not for everyone, right,
and so we are looking at also bolstering our alternative
pathways programs right to really ensure that young people when
they leave high school, they have a plan. And so
that is one area that we are looking to grow,
(16:00):
to connect with other like minded organizations that allow.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Us to reach these goals for these young people.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
And briefly, and just briefly, what would those alternative pathways
look like?
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Oh, alternative pathways?
Speaker 4 (16:13):
And it's like a young person who wants to become
an electrician or wants to see what the path of
city employment looks like. They may be someone interested not
necessarily going.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
To school, but they may want to become a pilot.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
And so there's specific tracks and certifications that a young
person can get that, just like a college degree, can
set them up for success. And so we want to
make sure that we are giving young people their options
and this helps families break the cycle of poverty. When
(16:53):
a young person is able to equip themselves with a certification,
a degree and then land a job, this now helps
a family. This helps a young person see their self
sufficiency while breaking down with any any barriers that may
(17:14):
have been.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
In place, because most of our.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Young people do come from underserved neighborhoods, and so there
are a lot of societal things that are happening that
contribute to a young person's I don't want to say failures,
but barriers to success.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
You can find out more and of course, of course
this all takes partnerships to make this happen. You can
find out more about partnerships and more about the work
of Roads to Success at roadsdosuccess dot org. Our guest
has been Shila Duke, Roads to Success CEO. Thank you
for being on to get connected.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
This has been get Connected with Nina del Rio on
one io six point seven light Fm. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website for
downloads and podcasts at one oh six seven lightfm dot com.
Thanks for listening.
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