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Sharon Price - Day One · Look Who's Talking

• 0:00
  Good morning, you are listening to
• 0:28
  Look Who's Talking. I am Cameron Minter. I am your co-host and our host is our
• 0:36
  Head Start Director, Jessica Cawthley. Good morning, Jessica. Good morning. What is going on in your life?
• 0:43
  You know, I'm in the building. I'm sleepy but I'm here. No, no, no, no, no, no sleep here. I can't be sleepy, Cam. No sleep here because we are
• 0:51
  introducing a brand new show. Yes, we are excited. This show is called Look Who's Talking. Look Who's Talking. And what's different about this show?
• 1:01
  What's different about this show? Well, we are speaking to a lot of different folks within the Head Start community, within our community, and
• 1:11
  seeing what's happening. And the Head Start community. This is more of a Head Start focused podcast. It is. And we are so glad. What you talking about?
• 1:22
  That you are listening to the show. What is going on? What has been going on with you this week, girl? This week, Cam, I can't think about this week
• 1:33
  because yesterday Tina done died. Oh, yes. A real true pioneer. Yes. And so what's your... Cam, I was devastated. I bet you were. What was your favorite song?
• 1:47
  I'm your private dancer, dancing for money. Do what you want me to do. Right, okay, okay. You know, no one ever talks about that song. It's always rolling on the river.
• 2:01
  That's right. That's right. And rolling on the river, that was well before my time. I know it was before your time too. But that's what made her famous.
• 2:10
  And I mean, what a historical figure. You know, it does something to me when these legends are gone. You know what I'm saying? It's something. It does something. It hits a little different.
• 2:23
  Yeah. That's all on the news this morning. Everyone's been talking about Tina. What's love got to do with it? What does love got to do with it?
• 2:33
  I mean, her songs, if you think about it, private dancer. Ain't nobody talking about private dancing. You know what I'm saying? What's love got to do with it?
• 2:42
  I mean, that is a different aspect of a relationship. And so, you know, she brought her own special sauce to the music industry and she would definitely be missed.
• 2:54
  Her sauce was saucing. Her sauce was saucing. And then when the movie came out, that was sad and phenomenal.
• 3:03
  Even now, the phrase, eat the cake anime. People talk about that. Eat the cake anime. That is in the culture now. It's a wonderful thing. But yeah, that's been a rough...
• 3:18
  But you know what? It's amazing how she took a situation that she was in that wasn't positive and flipped it. That's what I see from Tina Turner. And that is actually my affirmation for today.
• 3:34
  Oh, so today we're going to introduce a new segment and it is called The Coffee Break.
• 3:41
  Coffee Break.
• 3:47
  There we go. Let's let that sizzle in our spirit just for a second.
• 4:02
  So with today's coffee break, what I want to give you all is a positive affirmation. And that affirmation is one day at a time, one step at a time. There are so many things in life that we face that may, you know, we see it and it may become a barrier.
• 4:22
  But just take one day at a time and one step at a time and you can make it through it.
• 4:29
  Very, very good. That's very positive. You know, that's right. Give us a positive vibe this morning. I like being positive, Patty. Hey, that's a and then wrong with it. I promise you. I promise you.
• 4:43
  There is enough negativity around the world to keep us going. There is. And we have to get those negative thoughts out of our heads and quit speaking negativity into our own life.
• 4:54
  You know, sometimes you could be like, oh, I could have done that better or I don't like the way I look like, honey, on your baddest day, on your worst day, you still you still got it.
• 5:08
  There it is.
• 5:09
  You got it, girl. You got it.
• 5:12
  Well, on this very first show, we have a special, special guest in the house.
• 5:20
  Jessica, tell us who our guest is going to be today.
• 5:23
  Listen, honey, this person we have today is very close to my heart.
• 5:30
  She is, you know, we have with us, Sharon, I call her Sharon D Price, but Sharon Price, who is the executive director, the first female executive director for Community Action Council.
• 5:50
  Welcome to the show. Hello, hello.
• 5:53
  Glad to be here. Are you doing this?
• 5:56
  Listen, I'm ready. I am ready for this new show.
• 6:00
  I think it's going to be phenomenal talking about all of the things that's in the world of Head Start.
• 6:06
  So I'm excited to be with you guys. Are you wrecked about Tina as well?
• 6:11
  You know, I didn't think that I was going to be. But last night when I'm in my bed trying to settle down, I'm searching for the song, searching for the songs as if if I don't listen to them, you know, right then and there, I won't ever be able to hear them again.
• 6:28
  Sharon, what's your what's your all time favorite Tina Turner song?
• 6:32
  I don't know if I have an all time favorite, but I love her legs.
• 6:36
  Right. We didn't even talk about that.
• 6:39
  You know, so did you all see I think it was the 2008 Grammys where Tina Turner, you know, I think they were recognizing her and she brought out Beyonce and they were their legs were just legging.
• 6:55
  They were dancing.
• 7:00
  I don't know what I end up knowing was going to end up on Beyonce.
• 7:10
  But yeah, that was a powerful moment. Those are some heavy hitters.
• 7:13
  And this is a powerful moment today. Yes it is. You know, Look Who's Talking is I'm really excited about that.
• 7:21
  You know, I don't know if it's Look Who's Talking or Look Who's Talking.
• 7:26
  Either way, that's the show and we're about to get into it.
• 7:30
  So what are we going to talk with Sharon?
• 7:32
  Sharon, how long have you been with Community Action Council?
• 7:36
  Well, officially I've been with Community Action Council since 2009.
• 7:40
  But before that, I was a Head Start Director at a Child Development Center and we were partners with Community Action.
• 7:48
  So for over 19 years.
• 7:51
  So even before I came to Community Action, I was already at home, you know, because I was already invested in the Head Start program
• 8:01
  and everything that our program can and does do for children and families and helping people move toward that forward trajectory.
• 8:11
  I fell in love with that. I drank that Kool-Aid.
• 8:13
  Absolutely.
• 8:14
  Yeah.
• 8:15
  I want to ask you a question. Like, what was your first introduction to Head Start?
• 8:18
  Was it, you know, when you were a director or before that?
• 8:21
  Like, how did you, what is your first memory of Head Start?
• 8:25
  I was introduced to Head Start.
• 8:28
  Listen, before I was introduced to Head Start here, I was introduced to Head Start through my husband.
• 8:35
  My husband was in Head Start, a Head Start program in Louisiana.
• 8:40
  And he talks about that program like he went to Harvard.
• 8:45
  That everything about him and about his life and all of his successes started right there.
• 8:52
  He talks about Head Start till this day, at least monthly.
• 8:57
  There's always, you know, and he talks about his teacher. He remembers her name.
• 9:02
  He talks about, yeah, he talks about the meal service, all of the activities that they did and how they had expectations of the kiddos.
• 9:13
  You know, you didn't just get to do whatever you wanted to.
• 9:15
  They had expectations higher than, you know, maybe even your parents had them.
• 9:20
  But they expected you to be excellent and to be great and to know that you could do hard things.
• 9:26
  And he talks about it. I mean, Jessica, after graduation the other night, he was like, well, when I went to Head Start.
• 9:36
  That's amazing.
• 9:37
  You know, I love it because he's in the computer field right now and he's doing great.
• 9:43
  And he looks back and thinks that Head Start was started all of this for him.
• 9:49
  And, you know, we talk about it all the time and working.
• 9:53
  The work that we do is to get people help people get out of poverty so that we don't have all of this generational poverty going on.
• 10:02
  And it seems like it takes a long time because you've got to go through the process.
• 10:08
  Nobody typically unless something happens for you, you don't just snap your fingers and you're out of poverty.
• 10:16
  There's a process that you have to go through and using Head Start as that foundation, you know,
• 10:22
  and when you see that growth happening, you know, with the children and you're helping families move along at the same time.
• 10:30
  You know, because I don't have to tell you, you already know you can't if you don't do that whole family approach,
• 10:37
  you can't just work with children in silos because parents are the child's first teachers.
• 10:42
  And I think that a lot of people forget that, you know, that this is a partnership between us and the parents because we can't do it without them.
• 10:51
  They can't. It takes a village.
• 10:53
  Exactly.
• 10:54
  And I think, too, this is this is really pioneering for you because this is where your Head Start career started.
• 11:01
  My Head Start career started here.
• 11:04
  I started we're actually taping in the old National Academy school building.
• 11:10
  This is where I was a director for 19 years.
• 11:13
  I it is 360.
• 11:15
  And this is also when we were partnering with Head Start.
• 11:19
  I'm also a Head Start mom of two of my children were in Head Start.
• 11:23
  And I'll never forget I was talking to Debbie Dornbusch from Lexington Hearing and Speech and she was doing our speech screenings for the children.
• 11:32
  And this little kid runs up to me and he's talking to me and I'm talking back to him.
• 11:37
  And after he goes back with his class, Debbie says, you need to tell that kid's mom that he needs speech.
• 11:46
  I looked at Debbie and I said, excuse me.
• 11:49
  She said, that kid needs speech.
• 11:51
  You need to talk to his mom.
• 11:52
  I said, I am his mom.
• 11:54
  I'm the mama.
• 11:55
  That's my son.
• 11:57
  You know, and in that moment, you know, you can see how difficult it is because parents want that they don't ever want anything to be wrong with their children ever, ever, ever.
• 12:09
  And that is the beauty of Head Start because any of those things, even with speech.
• 12:15
  I remember that evening when I got home, I threw myself across the bed, slammed the door and fell out crying like I had lost my mind.
• 12:24
  What?
• 12:25
  Yes.
• 12:26
  I mean, it was just it was so I can understand and relate to parents when we have to have difficult conversations.
• 12:33
  But that in itself is the reason for Head Start because people can help you see things in your children that that maybe you don't see.
• 12:42
  Right.
• 12:43
  You know, a word that you said, and I just wrote it down on my paper is process.
• 12:49
  And that just really stood out to me because, you know, no matter what you're doing in life, there is a process that takes place.
• 12:59
  So I kind of want to ask you, you know, you have been a site director.
• 13:06
  You've been the Head Start director.
• 13:09
  And now you're the executive director.
• 13:11
  Can you tell us about, you know, those the process of, you know, the the your timeline?
• 13:19
  Sure.
• 13:20
  Well, before I was a site director, I was a two year old teacher.
• 13:24
  OK, so I started when we moved to Lexington, I started working right here at National Academy because I wanted to be in the same place where my child was because I didn't know anybody.
• 13:36
  And at that time, I was like, nobody can make any recommendations to me on what's best for my child.
• 13:41
  You know, it's the first time, Mom, too.
• 13:43
  And so with all of that.
• 13:45
  But that is where and I'll tell you, early childhood education was not anything that I was thinking about ever in my life.
• 13:53
  That was not I wanted to be a high school history teacher.
• 13:57
  That's I know I cannot believe that.
• 14:00
  That's that's hard to believe.
• 14:02
  That is what I thought that I was going to do with.
• 14:04
  That's not even your personality.
• 14:06
  But the process over time, you know, because I was discovering a lot about myself when I went to college.
• 14:15
  You remember, I didn't know I was poor until I went to college and I was like, I'm poor.
• 14:19
  I don't have, you know, because we didn't have money, you know.
• 14:23
  But when you go through that process and you realize that there are certain things that make you poor and other things that make you rich and going through that process.
• 14:33
  But I started as a two year old teacher.
• 14:37
  That was a job that was available.
• 14:39
  And that was a job that I took, you know, to be with my family or with my daughter.
• 14:45
  And going through that, I was like, you know what?
• 14:48
  I love what I'm seeing in these classrooms.
• 14:50
  I love when I see the lot, the eyes shine bright because a child's able to do something and cheering and encouraging and then helping families and parents to feel proud
• 15:01
  about their children's accomplishments.
• 15:03
  That's a big deal.
• 15:04
  And so just going on, you know, from the classroom, the two year old and I went to the three year old and I went to all of the classrooms.
• 15:13
  And I'm like, because in the back of my mind, I'm thinking there's something different for me, something different that's in store for me being in the classroom and working with children.
• 15:24
  But I think that I can also be very effective in a leadership role working for children.
• 15:30
  And so just taking that timeline to go through it.
• 15:35
  Last child went into kindergarten.
• 15:37
  It was time for me to leave National Academy, time for my next journey to take place, which took me straight to Community Action.
• 15:43
  And I hear the music and I know exactly what that means.
• 15:46
  But, you know, when I made that, when it was time to make that transition, I wasn't coming to Community Action.
• 15:52
  I was coming back home.
• 15:54
  That's great.
• 15:56
  We're going to continue talking with our executive director, Sharon Price, right after the break.
• 16:17
  This past year has highlighted the strength of Community Action Council.
• 16:20
  Every day, our staff works together to help families recover from this crisis.
• 16:24
  We're educating children at home and in person, helping parents who lost their jobs and helping households avoid eviction.
• 16:30
  Our work at Community Action Council has never been more important than it is right now.
• 16:34
  So why don't you join us?
• 16:36
  We have employment opportunities requiring a range of skills from entry level to advanced.
• 16:40
  Apply online at commaction.org.
• 16:44
  That's commaction.org.
• 16:47
  Community Action Council has funding available for those struggling to pay their utilities through the LIHEAP Spring Subsidy Program until June 2nd or until the funds are depleted.
• 16:59
  You must have an appointment to receive LIHEAP benefits.
• 17:02
  To schedule your appointment, dial 859-300-6960.
• 17:08
  That's 859-300-6960.
• 17:19
  I love Head Start!
• 17:21
  Children love Head Start and you will too.
• 17:23
  Community Action Council's Prep Academies are hiring now.
• 17:27
  Head Start is an early childhood education program for children from birth to age 5.
• 17:32
  Help us give more children the Head Start advantage.
• 17:36
  Teacher, what are you waiting for?
• 17:39
  Join our team of dedicated education professionals.
• 17:43
  Apply online today at comaction.org.
• 17:46
  What are you waiting for?
• 18:00
  You are listening to Look Who's Talking.
• 18:03
  We are here talking with Sharon Price, Executive Director of Community Action Council.
• 18:09
  When we left, Sharon was talking about the process of being a teacher, then a director, then the Head Start director, and now the Executive Director.
• 18:22
  I'm interested in knowing, Sharon.
• 18:25
  I know what I've gone through as Head Start Director.
• 18:29
  It's been a COVID experience.
• 18:34
  Nothing has been the same.
• 18:36
  So what I want to know from you is how has Head Start changed throughout the years?
• 18:42
  What do you see?
• 18:44
  Any barriers?
• 18:45
  The positives?
• 18:46
  Just any kind of change or the changes that you've seen?
• 18:50
  Oh my gosh, that is a loaded question.
• 18:52
  But what I can tell you is the thing about Head Start that has not changed is its foundation and its deliverance of hope and promise to children and families all across the nation.
• 19:06
  That is the rules and the regulations.
• 19:09
  Those things are going to change based on administrations.
• 19:12
  And some of them we love and most of them we don't like.
• 19:16
  Because there are a lot of rules. Sometimes we feel like we get caught up more in documentation and all of that.
• 19:24
  But that is a small price to pay for the goal, to reach the real goal.
• 19:32
  And the real goal for Head Start programs, not just here in Lexington and Kentucky, but all across the nation, is preparing children and families.
• 19:42
  And I never thought that I would be quoting Tupac, right?
• 19:47
  What?
• 19:48
  I don't know any of his songs or anything like that.
• 19:51
  But one of the things that he said that stuck out to me was we've got to teach children that there's more to life than poverty.
• 20:01
  And that connected with me because when I was growing up, I grew up on a farm, a small farm in Louisiana.
• 20:10
  And we did not have any money and I didn't know that I was living in poverty.
• 20:14
  I didn't know all of the things that I did not have because everybody around me was the same.
• 20:19
  But when I went to college and I got to see, oh, you know, the expansion of what you can see and feel is so much different.
• 20:31
  And so while the rules and the regulations are going to change, the foundation itself has not.
• 20:37
  And that is one of the things that I'm so proud of is that we have not forgotten about people.
• 20:43
  You know, people and circumstances.
• 20:47
  A lot of us are a paycheck or two away from being in a particular situation.
• 20:53
  And so I tell people all the time, you know, because people look at families that live in poverty or families that don't have as much as other people have.
• 21:06
  And, you know, can make some negative comment connotations about that.
• 21:10
  But what I say is don't hate the people that are in poverty, hate poverty, hate the reason that they are in poverty.
• 21:18
  You know, and let's work to do something about that, you know, because if you start anybody start thinking that.
• 21:25
  Well, let me not say that before I'm fired, before I get back to 710.
• 21:30
  I was getting on getting on my high. But I'm very passionate about what it is that that we do, because I think and you talked about it earlier is we have got to see the strength and the power and the promise that's in the children that we have.
• 21:48
  We saw it at graduation.
• 21:50
  You know, and I'll tell you, graduation is not necessarily for the children. Graduation is for that family. And we all dress up and we put our college caps.
• 22:02
  Well, we don't put the caps on, but we put our our gowns on because we want them to be used to see exactly expecting it.
• 22:10
  This expect expect yourself to move to the next process and you were able to do this because you know when people say well kids are just coloring a kid spend a lot of time learning learning is a big deal and it's hard.
• 22:24
  You know, but families get their children to the programs every single day and they have barriers that they have to overcome in order to make that happen.
• 22:33
  So this is not just an accomplishment for the child. It's an accomplishment for the family, and we want to celebrate that. See I was a head start grad myself but I don't remember like your husband but I when my granddaughter went through the head start program.
• 22:48
  I was really shocked with what she was actually learning. She was teaching you a couple of things.
• 22:54
  People talking about you know coloring and stuff but you know the self reliance and independence that was being taught.
• 23:04
  And, you know, I told the story once before but my wife, you know, she's very protective she's mother goose. But, you know, when my grandbaby would come by she would put her plate down and chop up all her sausage so she don't get you know all of that stuff and she's in class pouring
• 23:23
  milk and fixing her own plate and all this and here's my wife just catering to everything and my daughter and my grandbaby just sit back like yeah I yeah I need to cut in half.
• 23:35
  I'm like, girl I've been to your class I know what you know.
• 23:39
  Okay, and and being and teaching those those self help skills, the social the emotional part of it, all of those things are preparing them to be successful when they go to leave our program and they go to kindergarten, because you need to be able to it's important
• 23:56
  to be able to take care of yourself to know how to put your own jacket on to know where your jacket goes, you know, all of you think that those things are small things, but all of those things builds on to other things, and what the process, the process we're going to be
• 24:11
  doing, the process, you know, is for everything, you know just building upon each step along the way. So, and then also like I think it's so important that children can use their imagination and really come into who they are, not necessarily who
• 24:31
  you're preparing them to be because sometimes when you're so strict on a child do this do this, don't spill this, it takes that individuality away.
• 24:41
  Well, and that's one of the reasons that we buy a lot of napkins.
• 24:45
  Because we want to get your mouth out. It's not a big deal spilt milk happens. And if a child is learning how to pour their own glass of milk, and it's spilt milk happens that's not a big deal that happens every single day, and we expect it to happen
• 25:00
  because they're learning. Yeah. So you know I have a word of the year and it is elevation.
• 25:08
  I think process is going to be my number two word, because through this conversation I'm seeing so much and like thinking, oh my goodness, everything we go through is a process.
• 25:21
  You know when I became head start director. I literally thought I was getting pumped. I was like, I know you lied. I know this is not the job, but it's a process and I've become more comfortable in that.
• 25:35
  Tell us about how you know you become going from head start director to executive director that process what was that change like personally for you.
• 25:48
  Well, and we're talking about process because at some, sometimes I was, I would have conversations with myself to think, you know, maybe did I stay at National Academy was 19 years, did I stay at National Academy too long.
• 26:04
  You know, and then when I think back, I'm like, no, I didn't, because it's the process, everything that happened here was preparing me for the next step that prepared me for the next step, which once you get to the head start director, you know that's the
• 26:19
  largest program that we have. And so me spending time in, in the head start director role was definitely preparing me for, I don't think I could have skipped that and got to this. I don't think that I think everything, because you've got to learn.
• 26:38
  Everything is important right, but you've got different levels of importance and priorities and you learn how to do that that's not just something that you wake up, and you know how to do. It's that process where you learn okay, this is this is important, but that's important
• 26:54
  enough for me to take care of next month. Right, you know, and this is important for me to stop everything that I'm doing right this very second and take care of it.
• 27:03
  But the transition itself happened during COVID. So well, right before COVID started.
• 27:12
  The worst.
• 27:13
  The October before October started is when I was promoted to the executive director position. And so I'm going around and I had this big plan made out that I'm going to do all of these things and I'm going to go visit these people and meet all of these other
• 27:31
  people that I didn't know and get advice and wisdom from people that were already executive directors or in the field and you know political folks and all of that. And then in March.
• 27:48
  All of that. Yeah, that was important, but it wasn't important anymore, because now, I may not have had that one on one conversation with you, but now I have your cell phone number and I'm calling you and telling you what needs to happen.
• 28:01
  And we're going with it. And so it was incredibly challenging, because everything that we thought that we would be doing, we had to stop and pivot, and we had said pivot so many times because, you know, we had to then make sure that we were taking care of our community.
• 28:21
  So we went from classrooms, teaching in classrooms to parking lots distributing food. And so everything that I thought that this executive director position would give me like a year, you know I was in the honeymoon stage and I was like well, the first year, this is what I'm going to do.
• 28:38
  And in the first year, I did more than I ever thought that I would do. And my heart grew in a different way than I thought ever possible, you know to be able to look at people and know you're just the same as me.
• 28:57
  You are really the same as me, and I got to help you, because you never know when you're going to need to turn that back to me and doing things for people that cannot possibly pay you back is the greatest feeling.
• 29:16
  You know, it gives me the greatest joy. And then when we have graduations and we see, we look back on Head Start alum, and we see that they were in our Head Start program, and then they received the Head Start scholarship, and then they graduated from Fisk University, and now they're on their way to the Masters Program.
• 29:38
  And, you know, you see all of this happening. It's the process. It's the process, but it's also because the people in the Head Start program started by seeing the value in every single person that walked through that door.
• 29:54
  Well, Jessica.
• 29:55
  Elevation, Jessica.
• 29:57
  Elevation.
• 29:58
  Elevation.
• 29:59
  Taking it up a notch.
• 30:01
  Well that is our show. We've gotten through the first one, Jessica.
• 30:06
  Congratulations.
• 30:08
  This is the end of the show.
• 30:10
  Well, I was just getting comfortable and crossed my legs, because I can talk about Head Start.
• 30:17
  You know, Jessica says the benefits of Head Start are universal, which is different. When I was a Head Start director, I was a little bit different because I was like, if you don't like Head Start, then don't talk to me.
• 30:31
  When I come up, I want to talk to you, especially if you don't like Head Start, because this is what you're going to hear from me.
• 30:37
  Right.
• 30:38
  Let's talk. Let's talk about it.
• 30:39
  Let's talk. Look who's talking.
• 30:41
  Look who's talking.
• 30:42
  All right, that's one for the books. Look who's talking. Keep telling your friends about us. Share it.
• 30:49
  We'll be back.
• 30:51
  Thanks for listening.