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Community DC Debby Shore Sasha Bruce Youthwork · Community D.C.

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Speaker 1: Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
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Speaker 1: I'm your host Dennis Glascow. This morning, we welcome to
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Speaker 1: the program for the first time Debbie Shore. She is
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Speaker 1: the founder and executive director for the Sasha Bruce Youth
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Speaker 1: Work at Washington, d C and Prince George's County based
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Speaker 1: nonprofit that helps run away, homeless and at risk youth.
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Speaker 1: Here's my conversation with Debbie. I hope you enjoy it
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Speaker 1: as much as I did. Good morning, Debbie, Good morning,
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Speaker 1: first time on the show for you, and I'm so
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Speaker 1: happy to have you. Sasha Bruce Youth Work and what
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Speaker 1: you do since nineteen seventy four, that's a long time,
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Speaker 1: and you've done some incredible things over the last several decades.
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Speaker 2: When it comes to them, I'd love to hear about
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Speaker 2: the origin story. It's really remarkable, and you really tell
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Speaker 2: a neat story about the building blocks, about how you
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Speaker 2: feel about youth and why you got into this, and
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Speaker 2: that's highlighted on the website. But tell us about the
0:46
Speaker 2: origin story and how everything started.
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Speaker 3: I started my work with young people when I was
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Speaker 3: still in college and I had the opportunity to volunteer
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Speaker 3: for a very early organization in town that was doing
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Speaker 3: incredible creative work, innovative work with young people who were
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Speaker 3: having a very hard time in their lives, many of
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Speaker 3: them coming from long distances, some of them coming from
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Speaker 3: the city itself, And what we were really trying to
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Speaker 3: do is to sort through provides safety, help them, to
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Speaker 3: sort through how they could reunite with their families whenever possible,
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Speaker 3: and also to figure out how to improve those relationships.
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Speaker 3: So you're absolutely right that the original work that I
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Speaker 3: did and that was done at that early point has
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Speaker 3: formed the foundation for what this organization has built on
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Speaker 3: and become. And you know, now we're twenty five different
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Speaker 3: programs across Washington and Prince George's County. But importantly, we
1:54
Speaker 3: very much learned the importance of listening to young people,
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Speaker 3: to listening to what they have to say, to not
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Speaker 3: pathologizing their behavior, and to recognize that so much of
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Speaker 3: what they really wanted and needed was to resolve some
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Speaker 3: of the conflicts within their own families in order to
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Speaker 3: be able to create a pathway to you know, their future. Now,
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Speaker 3: we learned early on too that for some families it
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Speaker 3: just wasn't possible, and so pretty early on we recognized
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Speaker 3: that we were both helping to strengthen families and help
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Speaker 3: people to reunite, but also that we needed to provide
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Speaker 3: places for young people to grow up so that they
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Speaker 3: would have a stable place with all of the kinds
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Speaker 3: of supports that families provide, so that they could make
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Speaker 3: their way, they could change the trajectory into becoming a contributor.
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Speaker 4: For our world.
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Speaker 3: And you know, and along the way, I feel like
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Speaker 3: that we learned so much about how to align with
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Speaker 3: young people, how to recognize the strengths that they bring,
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Speaker 3: to start there and to build on that. And I
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Speaker 3: think that we've done that. We've gotten the opportunity to
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Speaker 3: do that in so many ways and places around the
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Speaker 3: city and Prince George's and I'm very proud of what
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Speaker 3: we're accomplishing these days.
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Speaker 2: Not standing DeBie, Well, this is a great segue, and
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Speaker 2: you're leading into this and my intro did not do
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Speaker 2: justice to well what you do. So for our listeners
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Speaker 2: that are being introduced as sojer Bruth Youth worked for
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Speaker 2: the first time ever, if you were to give a
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Speaker 2: thirty thousand foot view about exactly what you do, what
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Speaker 2: would you tell people?
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Speaker 3: I would tell people that we are a lifeline for
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Speaker 3: young people who are having some kind of difficulty making
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Speaker 3: their way through the schools, through their communities, and into
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Speaker 3: positive adulthood. And so we have outreach programming. We're going
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Speaker 3: into various communities that are particularly having a difficult time
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Speaker 3: and providing community services right there. We're also the shelter
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Speaker 3: and longer term housing entrants for young people who are
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Speaker 3: unstably housed and who are in so much at risk
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Speaker 3: of so much going awry, and so we have a shelter,
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Speaker 3: and we have longer term programming, and we have a
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Speaker 3: series of programs that help them through towards you know,
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Speaker 3: completing high school, getting work, dealing with mental health issues
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Speaker 3: that often come with having had some difficulties, serious difficulties
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Speaker 3: in their lives, medical issues. We kind of really try
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Speaker 3: to be a way for a young person into a
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Speaker 3: whole array of services that are easy enough to access
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Speaker 3: that they take advantage of them and they move.
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Speaker 4: Along in their journey.
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Speaker 3: And we have found it to be that we have
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Speaker 3: made so much progress in building this array of services,
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Speaker 3: and you know, it means that so many of our
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Speaker 3: young people are really doing incredibly well outstanding.
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Speaker 2: You know, I've talked to so many nonprofits in the DMV,
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Speaker 2: specifically in DC that help young people that you've mentioned,
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Speaker 2: and I know that you can service everybody. So with
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Speaker 2: the criteria when you mentioned young people, what are the
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Speaker 2: age ranges that you're working with?
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Speaker 3: So we work with twelve to seventeen year olds with
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Speaker 3: a series of programs, and then we work with eighteen
5:51
Speaker 3: to twenty four year olds with a series of different
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Speaker 3: programs because their needs are different. So it's twelve to
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Speaker 3: twenty four, and you know, we have a a series
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Speaker 3: of different sorts of things that we do. Obviously, the
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Speaker 3: intense family work that we do is typically young people
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Speaker 3: that are under the age of eighteen, but we really
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Speaker 3: try to help young people improve their family relationships even
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Speaker 3: if they're not in fact able to go home. These
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Speaker 3: are the essential relationships of our lives and it really
6:26
Speaker 3: can help to be able to grow into your fullness
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Speaker 3: if you resolve some of those issues.
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Speaker 2: So, Debbie, I know, as founder, executive director and your
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Speaker 2: great team that you're getting the message out there. One
6:37
Speaker 2: of the ways is with our megaphoney here at iHeart.
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Speaker 2: But when you're trying to reach these teams, I know
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Speaker 2: that they just don't drop in your lap. Sometimes you
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Speaker 2: have to go out and find them, or there's third parties,
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Speaker 2: all sorts of different ways. Can you tell us about
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Speaker 2: how you're getting your message out there and how people
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Speaker 2: are hearing about you so you can help.
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Speaker 4: Them, Thank you so much.
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Speaker 3: Yes, we have street outreach teams that are going out
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Speaker 3: every day and night and looking for young people who
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Speaker 3: can come into our drop in center. I didn't mention
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Speaker 3: how important the drop in center is because we're seeing
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Speaker 3: eight hundred nine hundred young people a year there. And
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Speaker 3: also we have a hotline which is five four six
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Speaker 3: four nine hundred and young people or families can call
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Speaker 3: and ask for our services and we will do all
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Speaker 3: that we can to get young people to get services
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Speaker 3: out to them or to invite them into the shelter
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Speaker 3: to do more intensive services with them and their families.
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Speaker 2: All right, I know that data is probably a big
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Speaker 2: part of your life along with your teams. About how
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Speaker 2: many on housed teams are out there? As we look
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Speaker 2: at the net that you've put out there, what kind
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Speaker 2: of data, at least the latest data that you have
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Speaker 2: of people that are on house or the need your
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Speaker 2: services currently.
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Speaker 3: There is some really good data. We often feel like
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Speaker 3: the data is limiting because the way that it is
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Speaker 3: counted doesn't include CouchSurfing, and so many of our young
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Speaker 3: people begin homelessness by CouchSurfing, and these are not always
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Speaker 3: safe and stable situations. There's often something that is being asked.
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Speaker 3: But anyway, so we understand that there are about four
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Speaker 3: thousand young people who need services each year or at
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Speaker 3: any given time, I should say. And one of the
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Speaker 3: things that we definitely know is that it takes about
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Speaker 3: a year to get into the housing that exists in
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Speaker 3: our city. And so we're talking about a big delta
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Speaker 3: of young people who we support enormously with our drop
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Speaker 3: in center to help them stay on the straight and
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Speaker 3: narrow while they are trying to get a stable work going,
8:57
Speaker 3: which they do often waiting for getting into a longer
9:03
Speaker 3: term housing situation.
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Speaker 2: Well, I love that you do that, and it's kind
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Speaker 2: of like there's a pre thing going on and then
9:10
Speaker 2: the actual execution of it. And I know there's a
9:12
Speaker 2: lot of nonprofits out there that also like to follow
9:14
Speaker 2: the young people or whoever they're working with about how
9:16
Speaker 2: they're doing afterwards when it comes to that, what kind
9:20
Speaker 2: of the system we set up allows you to do that?
9:22
Speaker 2: After you maybe how somebody for a little while, got
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Speaker 2: them back on their feet and maybe follow their trajectory
9:27
Speaker 2: to make sure that they're doing okay.
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Speaker 3: We see that we have about eighty percent of the
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Speaker 3: young people that we serve who are going on to
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Speaker 3: positive living situations and situations in which they are becoming
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Speaker 3: contributors in our world. And you know, what I would
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Speaker 3: say is that some of the others, we don't quite
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Speaker 3: have all of what we need for them yet, but
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Speaker 3: we know some of what they need, and so you know,
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Speaker 3: we're always iterating and trying to be we're responsive to
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Speaker 3: what some of the young people need. One of the
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Speaker 3: things is that you know, we do have sometimes of
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Speaker 3: young people who need more intensive either hospitalization or care
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Speaker 3: that would help them to deal with some of the
10:15
Speaker 3: deep traumatic experiences that they've had. But we feel like
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Speaker 3: we are, you know, you know, just doing wonderfully with
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Speaker 3: the statistics that we have and that we know of,
10:27
Speaker 3: and we're always working there. You know, we're we have
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Speaker 3: a data and monitoring team of people who are looking
10:36
Speaker 3: at how are our programs doing, how are they meeting
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Speaker 3: the the models that we've set up that suggest that
10:46
Speaker 3: we can this is the best way to do things,
10:48
Speaker 3: and so we're constantly learning so that we can improve
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Speaker 3: service and practice.
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Speaker 2: Well, let's talk about that before I get into all
10:56
Speaker 2: the many programs that you have, and I know it's
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Speaker 2: grown over the decades, which is really extraordin I'd like
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Speaker 2: to talk about your team and also maybe third parties
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Speaker 2: that you work with, because, as you mentioned, there's a
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Speaker 2: lot of different reasons why a young person would visit you.
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Speaker 2: There could be a lot of problems at home, they
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Speaker 2: could be unhoused, many many, many reasons that you know
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Speaker 2: more than I do. With that said, when it comes
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Speaker 2: to educators or psychologists or doctors, who do you get
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Speaker 2: to consult or work with to know about all these issues?
11:23
Speaker 2: Because I know you and your team can do at
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Speaker 2: all and you have to have professionals and also work
11:27
Speaker 2: with you. How does all that work in those relationships.
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Speaker 3: Well, one of the things that it has been true
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Speaker 3: is that we've always had helpers that are in the
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Speaker 3: mental health field, particularly who have been very helpful to us.
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Speaker 3: What we have done more recently is to bring those
11:44
Speaker 3: people in house. So we now have seven or eight
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Speaker 3: very skilled mental health professionals who are working within a
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Speaker 3: number of our programs, and in fact, we have found
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Speaker 3: to be particularly impactful because for a lot of young people,
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Speaker 3: they know that they need something, but getting to know
12:08
Speaker 3: a place that is sort of a little bit clinically,
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Speaker 3: you know, is in a different location when they're involved
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Speaker 3: in a crisis situation is sometimes a difficult matter. We
12:20
Speaker 3: find that when we can bring people close, it really
12:25
Speaker 3: works very well. Young people ask for help, they are
12:28
Speaker 3: getting help that they need. You know, this is also
12:32
Speaker 3: an area that I think we could grow, because of
12:36
Speaker 3: course the need is very large. But I'm very proud
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Speaker 3: of what we have done in the last number of
12:41
Speaker 3: years to make clear to our supporters and our funders
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Speaker 3: how important it is to have these services in house.
12:49
Speaker 3: We also have people who help people with jobs and
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Speaker 3: with building resumes and yeah, yeah, absolutely, and we help
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Speaker 3: them with education as well. The drop and Center connects
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Speaker 3: knows what the resources are. We bring some people in
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Speaker 3: to do tutoring. Sometimes it is you know, we're always
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Speaker 3: trying to build on these pillars that we know young
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Speaker 3: people need. Everyone needs educational support, workforce support, mental health support,
13:25
Speaker 3: life skills, and then of course housing. Yeah, and then
13:29
Speaker 3: you know, the other thing I would say is we
13:32
Speaker 3: all need allies and people who really care about us.
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Speaker 3: And I think a very unique aspect of SOSHA Brus
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Speaker 3: is just how much real authentic caring there is among
13:44
Speaker 3: the staff that we have. Yeah, I see flow white
13:47
Speaker 3: right here.
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Speaker 2: Well, you know, just acknowledgment and then also helping people
13:52
Speaker 2: and acts of kindness.
13:53
Speaker 3: You know.
13:54
Speaker 2: The one thing that I'm noticing that you and a
13:56
Speaker 2: lot of nonprofits that I talked to are doing lately
13:59
Speaker 2: is it's not just one thing. Whether you know, if
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Speaker 2: somebody is unhoused and you have a shelter, just taking
14:04
Speaker 2: care of them that way. It's going back to my
14:05
Speaker 2: conversation with you at the beginning about the follow up
14:08
Speaker 2: about things like education, about finding a job, because it's
14:13
Speaker 2: hard enough to take care of somebody that way and say,
14:16
Speaker 2: you know what we're done. Okay, that's good, we did that,
14:18
Speaker 2: but you and your team are following up so they
14:20
Speaker 2: can try and have an opportunity at a regular future
14:23
Speaker 2: that a lot of us take for granted, which either
14:25
Speaker 2: is extraordinary and also a lot of forward thinking there.
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Speaker 3: Absolutely, and that's exactly how we think of it.
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Speaker 4: You know. We we are trying to.
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Speaker 3: Provide all the different things that we all have needed
14:39
Speaker 3: in order to project ourselves into a successful life and
14:43
Speaker 3: provide that.
14:46
Speaker 4: With with the with.
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Speaker 3: Enough individual attention that it really gets at you know,
14:53
Speaker 3: what is what does somebody want to do? You know,
14:57
Speaker 3: if you if you've lived for a moment moment and
15:01
Speaker 3: you're not sure where your next meal is coming from, you're.
15:03
Speaker 4: Not always forward thinking.
15:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, we give young people a chance to settle in
15:09
Speaker 3: enough that they can think about, you know, who do
15:12
Speaker 3: you want to be in the world and how can
15:14
Speaker 3: we help you get there? And I'm just I'm so
15:17
Speaker 3: proud of how well we have done that and how
15:23
Speaker 3: much it matters. You know, our success rates are very high.
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Speaker 2: All right, Well that's outstanding. I didn't want to talk
15:30
Speaker 2: about your programs. I know that you can go over
15:32
Speaker 2: the twenty plus of them, but you do. Have you
15:35
Speaker 2: talked about the pillars and there's the get help now,
15:37
Speaker 2: there's a transitional housing there, systems involved, housing programs, and
15:41
Speaker 2: prevention programs. If you work with those four buckets, could
15:45
Speaker 2: you go over each one quickly for us and kind
15:46
Speaker 2: of what they involved when it comes to the sub
15:48
Speaker 2: programs that are involved in each one.
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Speaker 3: Well, you know, we think of ourselves as having gone
15:53
Speaker 3: upstream we started with, you know, immediately meeting young people
15:57
Speaker 3: on the street. We went upstream into communities, to schools,
16:02
Speaker 3: to community centers and built programming that supported young people
16:08
Speaker 3: staying in their communities, staying within their families, and leading
16:14
Speaker 3: healthy lives. And so then the next sort of phase
16:19
Speaker 3: would be when young people are immediately in need. So
16:25
Speaker 3: crisis services has always been very important to us. The
16:29
Speaker 3: longer someone stays on the streets, the longer they tend
16:33
Speaker 3: to So we want people to come into the drop
16:36
Speaker 3: in center as quickly as possible, and we want to
16:39
Speaker 3: offer shelter as quickly as possible. And then in the
16:43
Speaker 3: assessment process we can figure out, you know, what is
16:47
Speaker 3: it this this individual needs and how can we get
16:50
Speaker 3: them those services. But beyond that moment is to build out,
16:58
Speaker 3: in which we've done an array of services that house
17:03
Speaker 3: young people.
17:05
Speaker 4: Longer term, from two to three.
17:08
Speaker 3: Years, and then we have rapid rehousing programming that can
17:14
Speaker 3: go on even longer than that while they work towards
17:18
Speaker 3: building enough capacity to take on the rent themselves. So
17:23
Speaker 3: it is I think that describes the array that we
17:27
Speaker 3: have in each of the areas. We have a series
17:33
Speaker 3: of different programs which are mostly reflective of what we've
17:38
Speaker 3: really believe is needed or opportunities that came our way.
17:44
Speaker 3: So you know, we do we do some substance abuse
17:49
Speaker 3: prevention work, for instance, So you know that's something that
17:53
Speaker 3: is in the early stages. It's a primary prevention, but
17:57
Speaker 3: it's an important part of things.
18:00
Speaker 2: I'm glad you're tackling that. You know. The one thing
18:02
Speaker 2: that I'm also getting to B two is that it's
18:04
Speaker 2: not just a couple of weeks or a couple months.
18:06
Speaker 2: The way you've set up these programs for these young people,
18:09
Speaker 2: as long as it takes, is kind of how you've
18:11
Speaker 2: signed them up for.
18:12
Speaker 4: Right, exactly exactly true.
18:14
Speaker 3: That's what we what we see the need for, and
18:19
Speaker 3: what we're.
18:20
Speaker 4: Trying for all the time.
18:22
Speaker 3: There are we you know, importantly we are in an
18:25
Speaker 3: ecosystem of services of other nonprofits.
18:29
Speaker 4: We call upon them. But we really believe.
18:34
Speaker 3: And have found that it's true that having this primary
18:38
Speaker 3: relationship with someone in our organization helps to tie all
18:43
Speaker 3: those other things together. And so we really we emphasize that,
18:48
Speaker 3: we emphasize the building of relationships that are strength based,
18:52
Speaker 3: that look for the strengths and people, and that are
18:56
Speaker 3: very respectful of young people recognizing that in order for
19:00
Speaker 3: them to take advantage of the things that we want
19:05
Speaker 3: to be on offer to them, they have to find
19:08
Speaker 3: their resilience. They have to feel that capacity within them,
19:13
Speaker 3: and we know that it's there. It's just a matter
19:16
Speaker 3: of helping them to feel safe enough to look for it.
19:21
Speaker 2: Mind it, Yeah, I love that well, listen. Also important
19:25
Speaker 2: part of what you do is volunteering and also how
19:29
Speaker 2: you're funded with donations, and those are two big pillars.
19:31
Speaker 2: I'd like to talk about both of them. I know
19:34
Speaker 2: there's many ways to donate that I'd love for you
19:36
Speaker 2: to explain, because I know you know that a lot
19:37
Speaker 2: better than me. I'm on the website though, and you've
19:39
Speaker 2: given people a lot of ample opportunities to donate different ways.
19:41
Speaker 2: But how are you funded?
19:43
Speaker 4: Overall?
19:43
Speaker 3: We're funded by the combination of philanthropic support and government
19:48
Speaker 3: contracts and grants, and we are always looking for new
19:56
Speaker 3: relationships with people art. You know, there's no government contract
20:04
Speaker 3: that we have that we don't add to because we're
20:08
Speaker 3: you know, we're not. We're interested in providing the array
20:12
Speaker 3: that we think is necessary and so you know, we
20:15
Speaker 3: often need help there. And also it is really the
20:20
Speaker 3: most wonderful part of the work. When we are able
20:24
Speaker 3: to be creative, we are able to think through we
20:28
Speaker 3: really need more programming with families, you know, early intervention
20:34
Speaker 3: with families that are having a difficult time.
20:37
Speaker 4: For instance.
20:37
Speaker 3: We have a new program, new ish program that's doing
20:40
Speaker 3: that and has found incredible impact with that. And we
20:46
Speaker 3: were working with the police, with the OAG, the Attorney
20:50
Speaker 3: General's Office and DHS in d C and US. But
20:56
Speaker 3: you know, it's that those kinds of programs that we
21:01
Speaker 3: can imagine and then bring into you know, a fullness
21:08
Speaker 3: of in the world. It's just a wonderful aspect of
21:12
Speaker 3: having more partnership with private donors, private philanthropy. So we're
21:20
Speaker 3: really looking to change the balance of what we have.
21:25
Speaker 2: Well good and for all our listers, whether it's a
21:27
Speaker 2: single donation or they want to get a monthly thing
21:29
Speaker 2: or if there's a small, medium large business. The website
21:32
Speaker 2: sets it up. Could you go into the weeds a
21:33
Speaker 2: little bit more about how people can donate through the website.
21:36
Speaker 4: Yes, absolutely.
21:38
Speaker 3: The website set that you know, has numerous ways that
21:43
Speaker 3: you can very easily donate to us UH once regularly
21:51
Speaker 3: through wills and estates.
21:53
Speaker 4: We have something there.
21:55
Speaker 3: You know, we're we're uh, we want to bring as
22:00
Speaker 3: many people to a partnership with us. I mean, the
22:04
Speaker 3: other thing that is true is that we are very
22:07
Speaker 3: interested in having people come and volunteer, and sometimes those
22:12
Speaker 3: two go together, which is fine, and you know, they
22:17
Speaker 3: help us. We have a number of buildings. The buildings
22:20
Speaker 3: always need some work and help. We have birthdays. We
22:27
Speaker 3: have something that we call Tulip Palooza, which is one
22:31
Speaker 3: of our buildings has beautiful space around it, and we've
22:35
Speaker 3: now for three years. We now have fifteen thousand tulip
22:40
Speaker 3: bulbs and each year we intend to do five thousand more.
22:44
Speaker 3: And we have a we're working at a community center
22:50
Speaker 3: in Word seven that is providing a summer program and
22:56
Speaker 3: we really don't have any funding for it, but we're
22:59
Speaker 3: going to do it because it's the right thing to do,
23:01
Speaker 3: and we're going to you know, find volunteers and helpers.
23:06
Speaker 3: So that's the kind of thing. We've been in that
23:10
Speaker 3: community for about fifteen years, and sometimes we've had funding
23:15
Speaker 3: to do what we do and sometimes we haven't. But
23:17
Speaker 3: there was a commitment that I feel like I made
23:20
Speaker 3: that when people said, don't come here if you're just
23:23
Speaker 3: going to leave after you know, after the in a minute,
23:27
Speaker 3: we have stayed and it's called the Homes Richardson Center
23:32
Speaker 3: and this summer is going to be a launch of
23:35
Speaker 3: a new program there.
23:37
Speaker 4: So you know, we have many many ways.
23:40
Speaker 3: We have great community involvement. At the holiday time, people
23:48
Speaker 3: bring cheer and food and enjoy one another. So there
23:55
Speaker 3: are many ways for people to become involved with us.
23:59
Speaker 3: We are we recognize that we have limitations with what
24:04
Speaker 3: we can do. We're really happy to have people come
24:09
Speaker 3: and help us.
24:11
Speaker 4: Well, thanks for all.
24:11
Speaker 2: That, and we need them. Yeah, we need that. Yeah, absolutely,
24:14
Speaker 2: and we'll get the website. One more time to everybody
24:16
Speaker 2: at the end of our conversation. But one of the
24:18
Speaker 2: things that I think you've spearheaded with your passion and
24:21
Speaker 2: your team, DeBie, is that you know it's easy to
24:24
Speaker 2: stand pad in this world with the great programs you have,
24:26
Speaker 2: and funding, as you mentioned, can limit you. But it
24:30
Speaker 2: sounds like you're continuing with all these programs to reinvent
24:33
Speaker 2: yourself in Sasha Bruce, which I really admired because it's
24:36
Speaker 2: nothing easy to do, not easy to run a nonprofit,
24:39
Speaker 2: which we found on this show, but you continue to
24:41
Speaker 2: come up with new things and elongate what you started with.
24:45
Speaker 2: And it's really extraordinary. And I imagine that's something that
24:49
Speaker 2: if I'm gathering by our talk, that's something that you
24:51
Speaker 2: really are hammering down on that we have to continue
24:54
Speaker 2: to reinvent ourselves to stay up with the times. Would
24:56
Speaker 2: I be correct?
24:57
Speaker 3: And here's another thing that I want to say that
24:59
Speaker 3: I think that is very, very very unique about Sasha Burus.
25:03
Speaker 3: We have taken the centering of youth Voice, which has
25:09
Speaker 3: been such an important part of figuring out what really
25:13
Speaker 3: works with young people, to not only be what we
25:18
Speaker 3: can do for them, but what they can do with us.
25:23
Speaker 3: And we have an incredible youth advisory board called the CURB,
25:28
Speaker 3: and we have young people who, like flow, have benefited
25:34
Speaker 3: from services with us, and we have then opened up
25:37
Speaker 3: the possibility for them to become members of our staff.
25:41
Speaker 4: And that has been a beautiful journey.
25:44
Speaker 3: It's been a very very lovely part of what I
25:48
Speaker 3: feel like where we have stood on our values, we
25:52
Speaker 3: have you know, lived them, and you know, I think
25:57
Speaker 3: that the CURB is a tremendous opportunity for young people
26:02
Speaker 3: to make sure that we know what's important to them
26:06
Speaker 3: and how we can you know, improve they help us
26:12
Speaker 3: with a client satisfaction survey that we do every year.
26:16
Speaker 3: And then they're also great ambassadors. They can speak about
26:21
Speaker 3: the importance of the work and the impact of the
26:25
Speaker 3: work and have you know, the people pick up and
26:31
Speaker 3: listen in a way that they should.
26:34
Speaker 4: They are the experts in fact.
26:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's great.
26:38
Speaker 4: Listen.
26:38
Speaker 2: I only have a couple of minutes left, Debbie, so
26:40
Speaker 2: I want to get some final thoughts from you, to
26:41
Speaker 2: get the website and remind everybody how they can reach
26:44
Speaker 2: out to you. I'd just love to recap what we've
26:47
Speaker 2: talked about and once again a great education for our
26:50
Speaker 2: listeners here at Community DC. So for about a minute
26:53
Speaker 2: and a half, the floor is yours, please.
26:55
Speaker 3: I sincerely hope that this will open up some new
27:00
Speaker 3: relationships for us. You know, what I see now is that, unfortunately,
27:08
Speaker 3: the needs just continue to grow. We have more and
27:13
Speaker 3: more young people who are seeking out our services. We
27:18
Speaker 3: have more families that are seeking out our services, families
27:21
Speaker 3: who are just having so much difficulty in their lives,
27:24
Speaker 3: and they're they're you know, worried, deeply worried about their
27:29
Speaker 3: young person and we would so like to be able
27:33
Speaker 3: to meet this moment in any moment with the kind
27:38
Speaker 3: of response that I think that that would really make
27:42
Speaker 3: a difference. I believe that we make a difference when
27:45
Speaker 3: we can be there. So I sincerely hope that people
27:50
Speaker 3: heard of this work. We are always happy to have
27:54
Speaker 3: people come and visit us and to hear more about
27:58
Speaker 3: what we're doing. I think that we're a unique organization.
28:03
Speaker 3: Perhaps all of them are, but you know, we have
28:07
Speaker 3: our particular uniqueness that I think really stems from all
28:13
Speaker 3: of this work that went on to build really the
28:18
Speaker 3: the technology, the community of youth services. I feel like
28:23
Speaker 3: I was a part of the beginning of what is
28:26
Speaker 3: now acceptable accepted as advancing youth development approaches, and we
28:35
Speaker 3: have had we have infused that into the organization ever since,
28:40
Speaker 3: along with being family friendly and really seeing the families
28:45
Speaker 3: as being an asset for the young people, and of.
28:49
Speaker 4: Course support is needed there.
28:52
Speaker 3: So I hope that this has come across to new
28:58
Speaker 3: people for us, And thank you so much for having us.
29:02
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me. I sincerely appreciate
29:05
Speaker 3: the opportunity to talk about this in such a large
29:10
Speaker 3: and visionary way.
29:12
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Debbie, We're going to have you back to with
29:14
Speaker 2: low and I'd love for you to give the website
29:16
Speaker 2: and also the hotline one more time for everybody out there.
29:18
Speaker 3: The hotline number is five two O two five four
29:23
Speaker 3: six four nine hundred. That's two O two five four
29:28
Speaker 3: six four nine hundred, and the website is www. Sasha
29:34
Speaker 3: Bruce s A s h A b r uce nospaces
29:40
Speaker 3: dot org.
29:40
Speaker 2: By the way, if you don't mind me saying, the
29:42
Speaker 2: website is gorgeous. Your team have put it together very
29:44
Speaker 2: nicely and it's easy to navigate. A lot of video
29:47
Speaker 2: and colors and really great information. So once again, Debbie
29:51
Speaker 2: do nottstanding work. I'm glad we found you and I'd
29:54
Speaker 2: love to have you back and your team on community
29:56
Speaker 2: d seem glad we could spotlight you.
29:57
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for your time.
29:58
Speaker 2: We really appreciate it.
29:59
Speaker 4: Thank you.
30:00
Speaker 1: It