Latest / find your cause / Heavenly Cynt Youth Org: Mentorship, Exposure, and Cindy the Cowgirl Teaches Kindness | EP. 192
Transcript
- speaker-0: All righty. So thanks everyone for tuning into this episode. Tonight we have Cynthia Manuel, who is the executive director of Heavenly Scent Youth Org. Cynthia, thank you so much for your time tonight. All right. So last time we spoke was a while ago, so there's a lot to catch up on. But before we do, we'd like to start with the mission of the organizations we're interviewing. So what is the mission of Heavenly Scent Youth Org? speaker-1: Thank you for having me. the mission of Heavenly St. Youth Organization, would say we empower youth through mentorship, literacy, life skills, sports, and positive community connections. speaker-0: Yep, yep, awesome. We're gonna get into all of that, but before we do, why you? speaker-1: The question is why not? But the why behind the organizations, I, my brother was killed in 98 to street violence. And so I now have a male child and I knew what I didn't want him to be exposed to back then. And so I created these spaces to where as he wouldn't be a victim of any street violence or what have you. And so with that, I've created these different spaces. And so. Now I'm the director at the youth organization at the church and I got my relatives. Now they're coming over. I'm taking them places. I'm doing things. I'm exposed them to different things outside of the neighborhood. And then it got so big to where I was like, you know what, let me create something. And so that's how we sent youth organization was formed. speaker-0: Yeah. And, think you touched on it a little bit, but the wanting to create this organization to create an environment for your kiddo to not experience what you experienced with your brother, which is horrible. Talk to me a little bit about that. like, why is that organization something that needs to be in place versus just letting, doing nothing and just letting whatever happens happen. It's good to explain like the baseline. if you were to do nothing, what would have likely been the outcome and and take it from there. speaker-1: So I got, okay, so first of all, being raised and born in Chicago, North London area specifically, it's a high crime infested community, of resources and not a lot of opportunities, right? And so seeing this for the most part, a lot of the children are single family, are single parent, deal with single parents. I'm all discombobulated. get really emotional. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: And so there is a lack of, so without resources and without proper guidance, kids will eventually spill into the streets, right? And so with the streets comes so many different things. And so I believe that my grabbing them while they're young and expose them to different creates opportunities. Cause I got this thing to, as I say, it's hard for a kid to dream what they can't see. Right? So now I'm in my vehicle and taking them places and we're doing things. And so now the mindset changes. Now it's like, okay, well, we have to do this otherwise Miss Cynthia won't allow us to do that. And so it's just the exposure has been so great and instrumental to these kids lives. speaker-0: Yeah. And in terms of choosing what to expose these kiddos to, you mentioned there's a lot of sports and life skills that you work on. What are some of the more popular ones recently and maybe how has that evolved since the inception? speaker-1: Thank you for asking. So I have now a Cindy the cowgirl mascot, right? This real. So with this mascot, and so I had the mascot someone donated to me and it's been sitting because I purchased a horse. I don't know if I mentioned that back then. So yeah, I purchased I purchased a real live horse, right? What? This is the part of me exposing kids to different I knew nothing about horses. They got paid probably $400 for the horse. This was during the pandemic, when we had inside. Who wants to be inside? Nobody, right? So I get this horse and I'm on a barn. I'm looking at the horse like, okay, what do I do? A friend of mine. Right? So a friend of mine, he pretty much taught me A to Z about the horse. And so I didn't have to pay for the horse because I was boarding on the, I was boarding at the space to where they needed children to come out and interact with the horses. So the horse, so It just worked itself out. And then on the weekends we would go out there. have us, they give the kids stifens to clean up and just teaching them everything about horses. And so it was so cool. So now the kids are in a different environment. And so as opposed to drinking water out of a faucet, we're out there drinking it out of a whale, right? So cool. Right. And so now with this exposure, the kids are like just totally different children. And then the same organization when they had like pony parties or petting zoo parties. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: They would have the kids come out and walk the horse from tree to tree and give them a stifling. so as well as teaching them life skills. So now we're learning gardening out there, our crops. It was just a dream come true. So with that being said, so someone gifted me a Calgary mascot, right? And so during the time when the bullying was happening on the news, the kids are being jumped on and being bullied. I decided to write a kid's book and it's called Cindy the Calgary Teacher's Kindness. And I'm happy to say that it is in Chicago's Oak Park Library. And so this kid talks about bullying. And so with this, with the two, I created this interactive demonstration presentation where we talk about the A to Z about bullying. And then I pop out and the kids go crazy. So the mascot is in the book, right? speaker-0: Wow. Talking about exposing kiddos to some really cool experiences. Yeah. Wow. And I feel like that's empowering too, because creating stories that they could share with others and just get excited about too. feel like that it's hard to measure the impact of that, but like somebody to be able to say I was able to grow XYZ plan or learn how to garden or learn how to ride a horse or board a horse or take care of a horse. Like those are some like confidence boosting. just overall great experiences that kids could have and will remember for the rest of their lives. Yeah. speaker-1: So as time went on, I ran out of funds and so I had to sell a horse. Nevertheless, I kept the relationship with the owner and so they have horses out there that I want to bring the kids out. They just, they support my vision and so it's been an awesome time. speaker-0: Yeah. So we've had the amazing opportunity because I'm based in Chicago, born and raised on the south side, as far south as you could go, Chicago limits in the Beverly area. so we've had the opportunity to interview a lot of nonprofits in the Chicago area. And I feel like since COVID, there has almost been a really unfortunate like, how do I explain it? the more of these really terrible stories you hear about what people passing away and getting shot and they're being violence in the Chicago area has almost like been created like a shell where people don't even feel or understand what it means as much anymore. And it doesn't resonate or doesn't hurt as much. There's not as much to feel like empathy or sympathy for what's going on. Have you noticed that at all or has that been a thing or is it more recent or and how do you fight that? speaker-1: So it is definitely a thing and it's almost sad to say that we are becoming desensitized with the violence that happened so often. Just yesterday, were having an Easter party, I'm sorry, Easter event outside in the park. And I think we heard about 10 shots. And after that, the police started coming out of nowhere, but everybody carried on like it was nothing. And some people was like, ⁓ it's everyday life in Chicago. And I was saddened by that because we kids out there. speaker-0: Yeah. And just, yeah, the mindset where it's that's everyday life that shouldn't be right. that's, and I feel like all these organizations like yourselves that are, that are moving the needle, it aggregated over time. I hope I'm hoping that we're moving towards that not being a norm. Right. Yep. Yep. Yep. So in terms of the program, the horse, the horses, amazing experience, your new mascot, amazing experience. How, how have the other programming is that you've speaker-1: Thank you. speaker-0: you've held over the past X amount of years developed and what have you seen resonate more with kiddos of different generations and this newer generation coming up? speaker-1: So I think the kids nowadays are more inclined to want to be a part of something as opposed to before. Like you just mentioned COVID. When COVID happened, people created businesses and now you got kids on the internet being content creators and streamers and all this other stuff. And so I think now is the time for us to pull the kids together and try to create something big, right? Because now we got their attention because now they see that they can get monetized for just about anything they do, right? As opposed to before. so I... I just noticed that even in my program, the kids are more electronically inclined, if that makes sense. And one, the help. so with social media and with technology, it's expensive to try to maintain or to keep up with. And so now you've got these kids that 13 or 14 is like, Hey, Miss Cynthia, I can do this and I can do that. And so it just helps out. So there's definitely growth with that. speaker-0: Yeah, yeah. Wow. I guess when you guys started originally, what was the first program that you did, like that you started with? speaker-1: So we started with mentoring. Yep. Small numbers. Yep. Definitely mentoring. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. And how have you been able to build like a mentor basis? Time has gone on and people that have gone through the programming and want to come back and continue contributing. Has that been an asset you've been able to pull on yet? speaker-1: Well, absolutely. So I have kids now they're in high school and in college that come back and they come back as mentors and they are telling their stories and pointing to the, to the smaller kids, let them know, Hey, I was once you and I lived in a very same area. do, you can make it. And I am an example of hard work, dedication and having someone who, who supported me, who showed me love and wanted the best for me in spite of how it looks. speaker-0: Yeah. Yeah. And do feel that that from previous alum of your organization lands differently than sometimes from adults? Or how do you see if there's a difference at all? speaker-1: You know what I think goes back to the exposure. Not a lot of teens are exposed to different. And so I think with my exposure opened and created more opportunities, even the diversity part. Most times in Chicago, North London areas is predominantly African-Americans. And so now with the exposure, I'm taking kids to, we're going to Naperville, we're going to Burr Ridge, we're going to Palos Hills. And so I'm exposing them again to different. so opening their brain makes it easier. for the transition in high school and college. speaker-0: Yeah. So yeah, that makes total sense. One thing that I've been thinking about a lot lately with some of organizations we've been interviewing is I think when I, when I started doing this, probably five, six, seven years ago, I also fell into this experience where, like you said, what they can't see, they can't dream. And, and one of the things that was just frustrated me a little bit was a very wrong mindset at the time where you just think about like, why, why can't people focus maybe on the future and make decisions that they know are going to help them for the long term, whether it's like saving money or working now for the future or making sacrifices in short term for the long term. And I feel like that was as I did a lot of mentoring and talked with a lot of organizations and met with a lot of organizations in person, one thing kept coming up, which is what I've been thinking about lately, which is Maslow's hierarchy of needs. which is like the psychological theory that like you have very basic needs that if they're not met, you're really not thinking about anything else, whether it's food, whether it's clothing, whether it's safety. And in my original, just non-educated opinion was just like, think about other things. But like I've personally never been an experience where safety has really been top of mind for me as an example. So have you. had experience with that with is it possible to make that shift or is it just like you need to solve the safety issue or the housing issue or the food issue or the job issue before even being able to connect with kids to maybe have more long-term change or long-term focus and decision-making? speaker-1: So keep in mind that the kids are only with us for a certain amount of time, right? And so we're pouring love into them, we're speaking life into them, we're giving them all the tools they need, but then at some point they have to go back home, right? So they go back home, whether it's toxic or not, whatever the situation is, they go there and then when they come back, it's like a repeated cycle. So think the best thing that one can do, as mentioned, was exposure, because with exposure, it opens their brains and it creates a space to where as you know what? Miss Cynthia does care. She's showing us something different despite how it looks at home. And so now I'm building the trust because I'm taking them out their house and into a different space and they're seeing different. And so now I've exposed them to different, it's sunny over here, but then back home is dark. so I feel the trust. Yep. Speaking of life as well. speaker-0: Yeah, absolutely. And I think like probably all of us could recall certain moments in our childhood where we experienced something that was so like moving or different or that we know it could say kind of change the trajectory of our life. And I feel like the more different things that you're exposing them to, the more chances of something like clicking and them like holding onto it being like, I'm going to be a horse trainer when I'm, is my career, or I'm going to be a farmer is my career or like a social media influence. So like being able to expose them to a lot of different things in a more trusted, safer, potentially environment that could have like something could click and then completely change the trajectory of their life. So yeah. Yeah. Wow. Well, how many years running have you been doing this for now? ⁓ 2016. Wow. I'd love to hear some stories of some of the kiddos that have gone through the program and some of the, the, the, the wins. I guess you could say you've had since, since 2016. speaker-1: Wow, 2016. So I had a kid, never forget him, I won't say his name, but I had a kid when he came into the program, he was bashful, self-spoken, and yeah, was really self-spoken. And as time went on, I noticed that he had a, he talked about nursing all the time, right? And so was like, man, I gotta do something. I gotta expose this kid to, so then we started taking trips to, I had called one of the local hospitals and asked if we can come in and give a tour for a career day or such. And so we did that. And so. when we were at the presentation, I noticed the kid, was locked in, right? Locked in. So long, shorter story. Now he is going to school to become a med student, I think he said. Wow. Not for bottomless, I believe he said. Yeah. But going back, he hadn't been exposed to anything like this. No one in his family had had any education or even college education. And so just that exposure opened something in his brain. And every day when he would come to the program, I would talk to him about it, like, you want to be? And so I just kept putting people in here. We have a career day and, speaker-0: Wow. Wow. That's amazing. That's such a cool story. Yeah. And that planted a seed and like, we'll never know what he'll grow up to be and to do in the people's lives. He'll be able to change because of that just very small experience that he's been able to have that you're able to provide through your program. speaker-1: Wow. Let me say this. Again, like I said, growing up in Chicago, most of our kids was anti-police, No police, all that good stuff, right? What I did was I developed a relationship with one of the local CPS districts, right? Now the cops would come with us in plain clothes. The kids had no idea they were cops, and so now we're here. One day we had a cops against kids basketball game. The same cops came with us. and plain clothes showed up in their police clothes and the kids was like, oh my God, Miss Cynthia, we didn't know that that was, they called them we didn't know that was 12. And so from that, and actually I have two kids that's on the police force. Wow. That just graduated from the academy. speaker-0: Jeez. What, what keeps you going? What keeps you doing this? This is 2016. What, like, what, what about this would you say, like gets you up in the morning and, and, and allows you to keep, keep moving. Obviously there's, there's hard times and there's easier times, right? But something you've been doing for what 10 years now, right? Is it 2026 already? That's crazy. Been doing for a decade, a decade. Yeah. speaker-1: The love for the kids and knowing how I grew up and I think the more I think about my brother's death, right? And so it's easy for a kid to go astray. And my mom was awesome. My father was awesome, but it's something in a kid's mind that have them go and do whatever it is they want to do. Right. And so intentionally I'm on these kids to where there's no idle time. Right. And so I've created all these spaces and so there's school and then it's the program, then there's home. So there's no idle time. So as long as I can keep doing it. feel like if I save one, then I've done my job. And so like I said, my son is 18 now and that's the love I have for the youth. speaker-0: Well, 10 years, yeah. And you've probably saved many more than one. And I'm sure your brother's looking down, being very proud of you. it's amazing work that you're doing. next 10 years. What is the trajectory look for the next 10 years of programming of what you're trying to do? Is now that your sons are going to be almost an empty nester? Are you tapped out or you want to keep it going? speaker-1: I want to keep it going. I envision having a community center, a funded community center, right? have a community center, but if it's not funded, you'll go down, right? A community center where I can operate and not have to worry about finances, overhead, anything like that. And also I'm in trade school, right? Because I understand our kids are, not all our kids are college ready, right? So I've been instilled in trade, trades in their little brains, even with my son for over 10 years. And so now I'm in trade school and so with the skills that I'm acquiring, I'm going to start like a trade program with the kids. speaker-0: Yeah, yeah. And not even that kids aren't college ready. It's like trade is getting so much more popular. you rather after high school start a job where you can make six figures versus have like multiple six figures in debt after four years of an education that might not even land, right? So it's, yeah, yeah. speaker-1: That's the is a lot of our kids are ⁓ reading at really low levels, right? And so even trying to get into a college or, it's just tough for a lot of them. So I don't want to discourage them with that because again, that's why I started my literacy tour with the mascot, to just get them in the mindset of reading because if you plan to see the world, right? And so, yeah, and so I'm just trying to think ahead to where as they don't get discouraged. no more than they already are. Because guess what? If you can't pass the test, let's try a treat. speaker-0: Yeah. Are there any certain trades that you've kind of looked at and are like, this could be a trade that we should definitely include, whether it's like plumbing or electrician or, or carpentry or anything that, that specifically jumped out or all of the above. speaker-1: I was in love. So I started with plumbing. I did plumbing. I did drywall. I just passed my electrical and now I am doing carpentry. So all of it. speaker-0: Yeah. Wow. Wow. Yeah. Those are, those are just great skills to have to. And again, at the very least building confidence that people could, could do this stuff themselves like that. That's a huge asset just to be able to do that stuff. Cause not a lot of people could do that right now. Yes. And these are jobs that AI could definitely not replace. You can't, can't, you can't ask you to fix your pipes. Yeah. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Well, it's so exciting. That's so exciting. So trades is going to be a big focus. speaker-1: What? speaker-0: for the next programming. Do you usually look for community partnerships? there businesses nearby or trade programs that you'd partner with or is that something that you'd learn yourself and then teach others and get the material for? speaker-1: So now I'm just going that this way, I know the ins and outs and of course, yes, partnering with organizations that's already established this deal to where as I can at least give my kids the insight on what they're about to get into. so yeah, everything for me is about preparation because again, a lot of our kids, it's already dark for them. And so now in my space, they see the light because I'm exposed them to the light. And now when you go out in the world or whatever you decide to do, Miss Cynthia has created, has planted a seed in you already. I teach cursor writing. You know how long cursor writing has been out of school? speaker-0: Yeah, yeah, it's hard to read let own write that nowadays too I feel like I feel like kiddo see that and like what is it? that a different language like no speaker-1: So I'm teaching young boys how to tie a tie. I'm teaching life skills. I'm teaching table etiquette. I'm teaching how to speak up and speak out. I got my own little Toastmasters little session that I got going on with the kids. speaker-0: Yeah. Wow. How do you choose what, to focus on? Or do you just spread it out throughout the year and have repeated like programming that that were successful and that you think had had an impact and just repeat it for the following year? speaker-1: Absolutely. So I do it in quarters. so a lot of it is me talking to the kids, seeing what the lack is. And then after that, I'm having them write down what they want to do, they're interested in, what they feel like they need. And so we're taking all of these thoughts and these surveys and putting it with the team and coming up with curriculums. speaker-0: Wow. Last couple of questions here, but have you measured how many people have gone through the programming or how do you do measuring at all for this over the past 10 years? speaker-1: Well, we do surveys. I do an intake form. I check on them. I check on them, probably every two, three years. I'm checking in with them. I'm sending out emails and things like that. Yeah. speaker-0: Yeah. This is amazing. People that are listening and want to get engaged, what type of engagement are you looking for and where could they find you? speaker-1: I am on social media, first name Cynthia, last name Manuel, and all of my hashtags, Cynthia Manuel, and also Cindy the cow, wait, is it Cindy the cow? Cindy the cowgirl, right? speaker-0: Check this out. This is amazing. speaker-1: yes, Cindy the cowgirl and what was the other question? I'm sorry. speaker-0: And then the type of engagement that you look for. people that are listening, maybe if they have trades programs or if they're looking to donate, like what types of engagements do you typically look for? Yeah. speaker-1: Well, I look for it all. Volunteering, donations of course, because you hear me, I don't get any funding, right? Let's start there. And so everything is out of pocket. So if I had funding, I can do so much more. I can reach so many more children. Sponsoring, like my work, like my Send It to CalGurl initiative. I'm trying to do this once a month at different parks. And so I like to have incentives for the kids, the kid who reads the book, the kid who can recite the kindness pledge. I want to, and then also I want to implement a life skill. So like I'm a CPR instructor, licensed CPR instructor. So at the events, I'm teaching the kids hands on CPR. And so we need food. need, of the kids don't have transportation and gift cards. Like I say, volunteers, I'm looking at partnership so we can continue to make these lasting impacts with these, with, these youth. speaker-0: Yeah, continue doing that. A kindness pledge. What is that? I feel like that would be a good way to start wrapping up. There's nothing cooler than something like that that we could all take away and maybe implement in our lives. speaker-1: Exactly. So the kindness plan is in the book and it says, plan to be nice, kind and treat others with respect. speaker-0: Yeah, boom. I think everyone could take that. Not only kiddos, right? That's something that we could all use nowadays. speaker-1: book is on Amazon. called Cindy the Cowgirl Teaches Kindness. My name Cynthia Manuel. So if you type in on Amazon, the book will pull up and the book helps me with programs. speaker-0: Yeah, teaches kindness. Alrighty. So folks that are listening, search that up and check it out. Well, Cynthia, is there anything we covered a ton? What y'all are doing is amazing. Is there anything that we missed or anything you want to leave us with before we wrap up? speaker-1: I think I would just say, please support me. You guys hear what I'm doing. You can go on my social media pages and see exactly what I'm saying. Verbatim, right? I just want to continue to point to these youth. And so not everybody gets the funding that they need to carry on with the program. And I like to think that my program is successful and I'm exposing kids to different. I'm really impacting lives. speaker-0: Yeah, no, I could definitely tell that. Thank you so much and happy 10 years this year. That's amazing. That's an accomplishment and we're cheering from you here at Grit and Zero Percent. Thank you so much for your time and people that are listening, reach out. We'll be sharing all the links below or in the notes wherever you find them. But Cynthia, thanks again for your time tonight and have a good rest of your Monday night. speaker-1: Thank you for having me. Good night, everybody. speaker-0: Good night.