Latest / Look Who's Talking / Megan Martinez - Center Manager
Transcript
- 0:00You are listening to Look Who's Talking. I am Cameron Minter. I am your co-host and
- 0:21Jessica Coffie, our Head Start director, is your host. What's going on, Jessica?
- 0:25I feel like I needed a round of applause. You feel like that?
- 0:30Well, I'm going to have to get some of that in there. I'm going to have to get some of those.
- 0:34Hey, y'all. What is going on with you?
- 0:36Not much. How's your car treating you?
- 0:38My car? Yeah, your car.
- 0:42Yeah. You've had it for a while. How long have you had it?
- 0:44Yeah, I've had it for a while, a long time. However, I just went to take it to get an oil change.
- 0:50Uh-huh. And they said...
- 0:52You ended up spending $900. $900?
- 0:55Yes. But you know what? My little Honda is driving like a whole Mercedes now.
- 1:02So you're not looking for an upgrade? Oh, no. I don't want no car payment.
- 1:08Car payment is the devil. Right.
- 1:10No. You know what? I have a problem with feeling like I owe people money.
- 1:16And that's what a car payment makes me feel like.
- 1:19How do you feel about that house?
- 1:21Well, that's different. For me, that feels different because I'm used to paying rent.
- 1:27You know, a car payment comes, you know, when you need a new car.
- 1:33Right, right, right. Well, it's so funny because my car was, you know, it wasn't,
- 1:40it wasn't, you know, it was giving me the A to B. And like you said, that's the main thing.
- 1:45Get to A to B. You know what I'm saying? As long as I get to A to B, I'm good.
- 1:50But it started having some issues. So my wife got an upgrade. So I got her downgrade. Right.
- 1:56And I'm good with it. But my mom be like, did you get a new car yet? No.
- 2:02Well, why didn't you get a, I don't want one. No payment. But you need a warrant. No, I don't.
- 2:08I've survived years without a brand new car. Do you know I've never had, let me make sure I'm
- 2:14not lying, never had a brand new car. Really? Never ever had one.
- 2:17Okay. What do you define a brand new car? Brand new, like 11 miles.
- 2:21Right. So I've never had a brand new car. Right.
- 2:24But the cars that I've had feel like they were brand new to me.
- 2:28They were new for you? Yeah. That's all that matters.
- 2:30That's my definition. New to me. It's new to me. Are you like,
- 2:35I feel like you're like me. You might keep your car clean. I don't.
- 2:38I try. That's something like my house, spotless. My car looks-
- 2:47For me- Like it's, it might look like Oscar the
- 2:51Grouch. There's no trash in it, but like clothes, shoes.
- 2:55I'm in there over- Dust.
- 2:59Two hours every time I come to work. Right? It's like two hours. And I am not interested
- 3:07in being in it any longer. You know what I'm saying? So I'm interested in getting in my car,
- 3:12going to work, getting in my car and going home. That's it. That's all the car serves for me. So
- 3:19like the tent on one of the windows started coming off and I was like, dang, but every time I rolled
- 3:25a window down, it got a little worse and it got a little worse. I had to finally rip it off,
- 3:29but then I ripped it off, but there's this film that's left and I'm like, oh man, I forgot that out.
- 3:34Hey, all you have to do is TikTok that to see how to get off.
- 3:37Oh no. I just, but I'm only interested in getting in the car, go to work.
- 3:40Well, you know, it's, I guess it serves its purpose. You know, you don't want to make your car
- 3:47comfortable because then you'll want to stay in it longer. Yeah, I guess, you know, I have a bad
- 3:52habit of eating in my car and it's not that there's anything wrong with it, but it ends up on you. I
- 4:01mean, no matter how, yes, no matter how. Because you shouldn't be eating in the car. I know that's
- 4:06what I'm saying, but it's the you are supposed to be driving with two hands on the wheel. I know,
- 4:12I know. I know your heavy foot self ain't saying nothing about keeping the law. Speaking of heavy
- 4:20feet, someone was like, girl, I saw you driving down the street and you was going so fast. I don't
- 4:25think that I'm a fast driver, but apparently, yeah, you have confessed to see something that I don't
- 4:32see within myself. You have previously confessed this, confessed this in your confession. I mean,
- 4:37I don't think I'm going fast because you know, if you go five to 10 miles over the limit,
- 4:43it's within the law, isn't it? See, five won't get you a ticket or notice, but 10 might catch
- 4:51somebody's eye, especially if they're having a bad day. Yeah. Well, you know, that's you, you that 10
- 4:57over. I might be sometimes, but then get mad when I'm behind a slow drive. Oh wow. Now that, that,
- 5:05that holds true. I'm like, move. That holds true. You know what? I wish I could have a driver. I,
- 5:12I will put driving up on the shelf. Like, I don't like driving. Really? I don't. Like people,
- 5:20people in Lexington, I'm sure everywhere, but really in Lexington, it's a whole red light.
- 5:27It's been a red light for two to three seconds and they'll go right through it. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
- 5:34Oh yeah. Yeah. See other cities, they, they don't play that because they got them cameras. Yeah.
- 5:39And you go, you can do that if you want to, but we got you. I'm just like,
- 5:43and we, we are arguing about getting cameras on thing, but anyway, I digress. I, you know, I,
- 5:49I don't follow the law all the time. You know, the law is for the law break. I know, right?
- 5:54So, you know, even with seatbelt, I don't, you know, I don't have an automatic seatbelt. I got
- 5:59to put my seatbelt on and, you know, don't we all have to put our seatbelt on? It's, it's the law,
- 6:06but so is not speeding the law. Don't look, look how soon do you get with the law when you
- 6:12think that's the law. The seatbelt. Yeah. The seatbelt. You put the seatbelt on. Sometimes.
- 6:21The law is for the law break. Yeah. That's me. That's me.
- 6:25Cam. What? A seatbelt is important. Oh my God. I think, you know what I think it's time. It's time.
- 6:31It's time for a Coffie break.
- 6:33Coffie break.
- 6:41Okay. So for today's coffee break, I want to say staying positive doesn't mean you have to be
- 6:48happy all the time. It means that even on hard days, you know, that there's better days to come.
- 6:57You know, we can stay positive and not, you know, necessarily be happy. Yeah. Yeah. Happy is a,
- 7:06feeling joy is real. You know what I'm saying? Happy lets you, you're happy because of your
- 7:11circumstances, but you can have joy. You can be positive in your mind and then your thinking and
- 7:16then your everyday life as opposed to being happy. Yeah. Being dependent on somebody to make you
- 7:22happy. Exactly. Cause to me, no matter what the situation is, you can always find some type of
- 7:29positive to focus on. That's right. And in contrast, you can always find negative. Yeah.
- 7:36You just got to decide which one you want to be a part of. That negativity. Positive just,
- 7:42it feels better. It does. It feels better. What do they say about the muscles to frown versus the
- 7:48muscles to smile? I don't know. Does it take less? It takes less muscles to smile than it does to
- 7:54frown. So yeah, I agree. I just tested that out. I love it that that on the job experience there,
- 8:04but yeah, I mean, just being positive, it helps keep you focused on a positive trajectory.
- 8:12I think that's why it's important. I try to do daily affirmations because negativity can
- 8:18seep in so quick. It can. Like a flood. Okay. So those daily affirmations, those positivities,
- 8:28or even a simple, I'm going to do my best today. Say that every day. I'm going to do my best today.
- 8:34That's like positivity, speaking into yourself. Yeah. I believe in when you say those things in
- 8:41your mindset will keep you away from other things. Yeah. So yeah, I'm trying to do it myself. I'm
- 8:47trying to speak life, power of life and death. I feel it. All right. All right. What do we
- 8:54got going on the show today? So today we have Ms. Megan Martinez.
- 9:02Welcome Megan. And she is the center manager for our Fayette West location or catchment area.
- 9:09Yes. Yes. I am not used to this last name though, but I met your husband at last year's ball. He's
- 9:16a great guy. He's very low key compared to Megan, which is a, you know, that's a yin and a yang.
- 9:24You know, y'all both can be high strung. You got to have a yin yang. That's right. Relationship.
- 9:28There's all of relationships in life. That's right. Yeah. So welcome to the show, Megan.
- 9:35I'm glad you're here. Yeah. So let's talk about, you know, you being the center manager in your
- 9:41role. Can you tell the viewers or the listeners about what you do within the agency? So it depends
- 9:49on who I'm talking to. So one of my least favorite questions, to be honest, like with, I think of
- 9:54when I'm talking to my grandma, what do you do for work, Megan? It depends on what I, it's
- 10:00about the day. And it also depends on who I'm talking to. Like, do they know what Head Start is?
- 10:03Do they know what community action is? So I'm going to give you the grandma version. I'll give
- 10:08you the more in-depth version. Yeah. So the grandma version. Okay, grandma. Well, I work
- 10:13for a nonprofit. I'm a social worker and we're helping a bunch of kiddos and their families in
- 10:19this program called Head Start. We're getting kids ready for kindergarten to meet all their milestones
- 10:24and we're also helping their families. So I actually get to manage a community center
- 10:28and we get to help all the members of the community meet their needs. And so many different
- 10:32programs, but we also get to help those families. So that's my grandma version. Keep it simple.
- 10:37Now what's the real? The real version is every day is wild. So yeah, really all the screens. So,
- 10:43but that's kind of what I love about it. Every day is different. Totally different. So in every
- 10:48catchment area is different. So if you're familiar with community action and the Head Start program,
- 10:53there are different catchment areas, so different neighborhoods. So if you live closer to my area
- 10:57in the west side of town, we're not going to send you to a Head Start center all the way in
- 11:01Nicholas County. That doesn't make any sense. So my role is to make sure that those in my catchment
- 11:06area, so that west side of town, are pretty much taken care of. So for our Head Start families,
- 11:11we're making sure they have all those resources, making sure they have transportation to school,
- 11:15make sure that they have everything they need to be successful in life. So not just the kid,
- 11:20but the parents, the other siblings, the whole family. So for my specific role, that means I
- 11:25got to know my community. So I am out being the voice of community action in the Cardinal Valley
- 11:31and Greater Garden Side area. So I'm attending community meetings, gathering all the resources,
- 11:36all the programs that are going on to bring those back to our Head Start families and vice versa. So
- 11:41I'm also responsible for making sure that our community members know what we're doing at
- 11:45community action and with Head Start. Got you. So your catchment area has a high population of
- 11:51Spanish speaking. We do. Yes. So do you have the staff that speak Spanish? Tell us about that.
- 11:58I do. I have, I mean, I'm a little biased, but I have the best team in all of Fayette County.
- 12:03Do you speak Espanol? Un poquitocis. A little bit. But honestly, my team has been fantastic. So
- 12:10about half of my team is bilingual and they all have completely different backgrounds.
- 12:14So just because you speak Spanish doesn't mean you're all from the same place. So it has been
- 12:18a great thing. Just the diversity on our small little Fayette West team is fantastic. So we have
- 12:24that diversity there and being able to have those Spanish speaking staff has been a game changer
- 12:29because anyone who walks through our door, we have a high population of those who do speak Spanish.
- 12:34So we're able to navigate together as a team to serve anyone who walks in the door. That's perfect.
- 12:39That's awesome. So one of the things that we have been discussing before is making those connections
- 12:44with the services and people in your community that can help all meet the goals of the community. So
- 12:54you're in the Cardinal Valley. So tell me about some of the, you know, the people that you've
- 13:00reached out to in your neighborhood and the relationships and sponsorships. I don't know
- 13:06if they're sponsorships, but relationships you're building. So every year has been different. Like
- 13:12the relationships I've had since day one are some that you'd probably think of. So we have a library
- 13:17right down the street. That's a huge resource. Just in that library resource, we have ESL classes. We
- 13:22have those other programs and services that help our folks that are coming from other countries
- 13:27navigate and be able to pretty much acclimate to American culture. So we have some of those types
- 13:33of services, expected community relationships with libraries. We have different neighborhood
- 13:37associations. So I'm able to attend those meetings and get to know what's going on in our community
- 13:41there. We have a park right down the street. So our park association is pretty close with us so we
- 13:46can navigate and just be part of all of those park events that are going on. But recently we've
- 13:52expanded to different relationships that I wouldn't expect. So my favorite one, maybe not my favorite,
- 13:58but one of the unique ones is we actually have a partnership with the CSL Plasma Center across the
- 14:03street. So not one I would typically think of like Community Action and CSL Plasma. Like that usually
- 14:08doesn't go hand in hand, but they have actually offered to donate to some of our events. They
- 14:14sponsored a few of our Head Start families for the holidays so that they could have presents and
- 14:18other things that they may need. They've donated clothes. So, and that's just from the staff point
- 14:23from their community center. They want to give back to the community. So do they come over and
- 14:27say, Hey, I need your plasma today. They have a little bit. I've told them I'm terrified of needles.
- 14:33I do not think I'd be the best customer that they would like. However, we do have some families that
- 14:38come in looking for employment and they may not qualify legally to be able to apply for some jobs
- 14:42yet. So they actually are able to donate plasma. And I guess there's maybe, maybe not a stereotype,
- 14:49but I kind of already had a bias in my head of, Oh, like, I don't know if I, you know, should I
- 14:53encourage that? Is that something I want to do? But the staff out there have actually given us
- 14:58documentation and information that you're actually helping the Kentucky community right here. Like
- 15:03they use the plasma directly in our own community. And okay, that's pretty neat. So, you know, it's
- 15:07kind of a win-win and community partnerships are just kind of fun. Yeah. They're all over the place.
- 15:13So, so if someone came to Fayette West, like what, besides Head Start, what other resources or
- 15:20services would you introduce them to? Yes. So we have two other pretty much unique things for our
- 15:27specific location. The first one is if you've been to our tiny little building, the entire upstairs
- 15:32is our office space, sometimes a little crazy, sometimes wild, rarely quiet, but our entire
- 15:37basement has actually been turned into a pantry. So we're one of the God's Pantry pickup locations.
- 15:41Oh, that's great. So that's been a fantastic, great partnership with God's Pantry that we've
- 15:46had for years. And we also have a financial empowerment coordinator. So he is helping with
- 15:50financial coaching and does family engagement events to be able to share those savings and
- 15:55budgeting information. Good. That sounds great. We're going to take a quick break, but Megan,
- 16:02you've been here about three years. We want to know about your experience with Community Action
- 16:06Council. We'll get that right after the break. You are listening to Look To Talk.
- 16:36This past year has highlighted the strength of Community Action Council. Every day our staff
- 17:03works together to help families recover from this crisis. We're educating children at home
- 17:08and in person, helping parents who lost their jobs and helping households avoid eviction. Our
- 17:14work at Community Action Council has never been more important than it is right now. So why not
- 17:19join us? We have employment opportunities requiring a range of skills from entry level to advance.
- 17:24Apply online at commaction.org.
- 17:41You are listening to Look Who's Talking. Before the break, I asked Megan about her experience here
- 18:01at Community Action Council. So Megan, what about that experience here? Well, okay, Cam, before we
- 18:08talk about my experience, I need to rewind to the beginning of this entire episode here. This whole
- 18:13seatbelt thing, listen, that is safety 101. That's all we talk about with our, well, not all we talk
- 18:19about, but that's a huge portion of what we do with our families to talk about the importance
- 18:23of safety and come on. I know, I know, I know. I got a funny story because my mom, she's always,
- 18:31you know, saying that too. And you know, it's not that I'm, you know, against seatbelts.
- 18:36Yes, my mom is always saying that too. Mom's like, yeah, you need to put the seatbelt on. I said,
- 18:40yeah, yeah, yeah. So I got a ticket for not having my seatbelt on. And I just happened to tell my mom,
- 18:46she's like, good, I hope they put you in jail if you don't put the seatbelt on. I was like, really,
- 18:51mom, for real? For real, we're going to jail for the seatbelt. So yeah, I'm trying to be more
- 18:57conscious about it. And yeah, I'm working on it. Okay, good. Cause we need you to work on that.
- 19:03In T-way, let's talk about, Megan, how long have you been with Community Action Council?
- 19:09I have been here for about three and a half years. Three and a half years. How many positions have
- 19:14you been in since you've been here? This is my second one. Second position. What were you first?
- 19:18I actually came in as the financial empowerment coordinator. So a little different than what
- 19:23I'm doing now, but without that experience, I don't think I would be as ready for this position.
- 19:29Yeah. Yeah. So what made you change it up? Well, you know, you got to have a supervisor that's
- 19:35encouraging you to step outside your comfort zone. So when there was a vacancy at Fayette West,
- 19:40my supervisors were like, have you thought about that? And like, no, why would I think, why would
- 19:45I think about that? I've only been here for about a year. Like I'm, I'm happy with what I'm doing.
- 19:50I love Community Action. I'm sharing the love of all the financial education to our communities.
- 19:55And I know nothing about Head Start. So why am I going to step into an arena that I know
- 19:58nothing about? But and even, I mean, two years later in this role, I'm still learning about
- 20:03Head Start. I'm still learning, learning those policies, those procedures. I've been here 30
- 20:07years and I'm still learning. So and I give myself some grace and I give everyone that grace that
- 20:11they need. But it's been a great change of pace. And personally and professionally, it's allowed
- 20:16me to grow a lot more and learn more about my community. And my only only request was if I
- 20:23don't move into this role, I want that new financial empowerment coordinator to be under,
- 20:27you know, under Fayette West so I can still, you know, share that love and empower that person.
- 20:32So and here we are now that person is now at Fayette West. There we go. How about that?
- 20:36Just making those connections. I love it. I love it. So what is as a center manager, you,
- 20:44well, okay. Do you work with our Head Start programs? All the time. All the time. How many
- 20:53programs are you working with? Sure. So each catchment area, like I said, if you're in a whole
- 20:59another county or even the other side of Fayette County, they everyone has their own programs,
- 21:03their own centers. So Fayette West, we're overseeing three different centers. So two of them
- 21:08are direct managed. So we have the staff, we have the people, we kind of supervise and do everything
- 21:13for those centers. So those are the Prep Academy at Red Mile, which is off of Versailles Road,
- 21:17and the Prep Academy at BCTC up on Leastown Road. And we also have a partnership site with the Family
- 21:22Care Center. So they graciously allow us to serve 16 of their families to offer additional resources
- 21:28to help them kind of catch up with the other kiddos and be ready for success. That's awesome. So
- 21:33the center manager is connected because our centers don't just do Head Start. You do a lot
- 21:42more than just Head Start. Can you tell us about some of the other things that you might be doing?
- 21:47Sure. And ours is a lot more unique too, because Fayette West is one of the buildings where you
- 21:53walk in the door, you're not seeing all those classrooms, you're not seeing all those kids,
- 21:56unlike honestly, all the other centers in Fayette County, you walk in half the buildings,
- 22:00the community services, half of it is the classroom. So if you walk in and we tell people
- 22:04we do Head Start, they're like, well, where are the kids at? We're like, well, they're at, you know,
- 22:08and we explain, you know, that this is a little bit more of the processing in the office space,
- 22:12so we can serve other areas of the community here. So at our building, you know, we've got
- 22:16that pantry in the basement, we've got financial empowerment coordinator helping with other
- 22:20resources. But then it kind of is like the just the main location for all of our staff to kind of
- 22:26their home spot. So our team can come back home to the office to get that work done. But you know,
- 22:31it's not an office job. So it's a space to do some work. But then again, they're always in
- 22:36those different classrooms and Head Start centers. That's awesome. So that's what I wanted to make
- 22:42that connection. Like you said, most of the other centers have that direct manage center site there.
- 22:50And it's a little different for you. But you've got three other centers that you are managing or,
- 22:57you know, that are in your catchment area. In our catchment area. Yeah. So it takes a little
- 23:02bit more navigation then I mean, we're a team of about seven or eight. So if you got four of your
- 23:07staff already at the center, well, you got to make sure you got bodies in the building too. So we
- 23:10always have a two person role making sure we at least have two two bodies in the building to make
- 23:14sure that you know, for safety and that also, you know, we're doing more than just Head Start,
- 23:18we're helping out the rest of the community. So it's always a great thing just to kind of see
- 23:23where everyone's at each day. Yeah. So Megan usually has a lot of fun, innovative events for the
- 23:30families within their family engagement. So talk about some of those events that you all provide
- 23:36for the families. Yes. So the thing with having BCTC and Red Mile, we sometimes that means we
- 23:43have to have two events. So because they serve two different populations, sometimes it's the same,
- 23:47we'll do a big winter festival altogether as Fayette West. But then other times, you know,
- 23:51the needs are a little different. So we really try to tailor to what those families need. So we're
- 23:56actually having our big brainstorming session this actually this past week. And we were talking about
- 24:01one of our favorite events that we did kind of on a whim. We kind of tried it out and it was much
- 24:07better than we expected. So our end of year celebration for BCTC, we have such an increase
- 24:12in our diverse culture. So yes, of course, Spanish speaking means multiple backgrounds and
- 24:17countries that you may be from. But we have more folks that speak Swahili, Nepali background.
- 24:22And we wanted to somehow represent them and learn more about their culture. So we made it a
- 24:27multicultural end of year celebration. So we had permission to have this out at a park. So we were
- 24:33able to invite all of our families to bring an authentic cultural dish. And they brought the
- 24:38dishes. We had well, we an entire picnic table full right from the start. And then they kept
- 24:45coming. And they kept coming. We had three benches full of food. And I mean, we had so much food,
- 24:50I don't even know what I was eating part of the time. So it was fantastic just to learn that we
- 24:55had each of them kind of see what they brought and explain kind of the background if they could.
- 24:59Then it got a little crazy. We had so many bodies and so many people there. And we talked about
- 25:02some ESL programs and summer reading programs going on over the summer to engage them with
- 25:07their cultures all summer long. So just meeting our families where they are for family engagement
- 25:12and really tailoring it to what they need has been the most successful events that we've had.
- 25:16That's awesome. Because families do want to be a part and be involved,
- 25:22but they also want to share their culture. Absolutely. Yeah. So I think that's an awesome
- 25:27event. That's great. I didn't, this red mile one, I think I know which one that is. But yeah,
- 25:34is that the name of it now? Okay, very good. But that's bringing that community together
- 25:42and is joining together Community Action Council where we appreciate everyone's culture and
- 25:48different backgrounds and what they bring to the table. I think that's the richness of Community
- 25:55Action and the Head Start. You have so many cultures and a diverse group of people who
- 26:01do want to come together for the commonality of, you know, if it's Head Start, to promoting
- 26:08children to be in a realm of receiving the best educational services that will propel them to,
- 26:19you know, future opportunities. Absolutely. So Megan, what's going on next for your center?
- 26:26What's coming next? I mean, you hit us at a crazy time of year. This is the everything time of year.
- 26:33We are, it's mostly our preparation. So we are, we are so close to having every single kid ready
- 26:40to go. We're meeting with all of our families. Just yesterday, if you were in Fayette West,
- 26:44it was absolute bonkers. I mean, we had kids coloring in the lobby, almost coloring on the walls.
- 26:49We had three different families in at one time. Every office was occupied. So I mean, that's my
- 26:54favorite time of year, though, the busiest time when all of our families are getting excited for
- 26:57school. We're prepping for our open house and our parent orientation to introduce everything that
- 27:02our parents can expect for this coming year. We have our all staff meeting next week. So all of
- 27:06our teachers are coming back that have been off at BCTC this week. So excited to have their energy
- 27:11back and get ready for the school year. So we're just in prep mode and laser focused on seeing what
- 27:17our families are going to need from us this year. Well, that is awesome. And what again,
- 27:23contact information for your center or let's let's give that 233. Let's give that one.
- 27:30Okay. Well, especially if you don't know if you need any type of contact, we give them that 233
- 27:35number. So the main administrative location is 859-233-4600. All right, Megan. Thank you
- 27:44for being on the show. Thank you for having me. And you have been listening to Look Who's Talking.
- 27:52Tell a friend, share the show. We really appreciate it. See you when we see you.