Latest / ChangeMakers with Katie Goar / Episode 159: Meredith Lozar, Chief Impact Officer, Operation Homefront

Transcript

Episode 159: Meredith Lozar, Chief Impact Officer, Operation Homefront · ChangeMakers with Katie Goar

0:05
Speaker 1: This is Changemakers with Katie Gore, finding the right solutions
0:10
Speaker 1: for the affordable housing community.
0:13
Speaker 2: As we observe National Veterans Day and Military Families Month
0:17
Speaker 2: in November, I am honored to bring the changemaker for
0:21
Speaker 2: this week to you, Meredith Lozar, the Chief Impact Officer
0:25
Speaker 2: at Operation Homefront. They are a nonprofit that is helping
0:29
Speaker 2: military families and veterans for over two decades. On the
0:33
Speaker 2: housing side, they've been able to give over 700 families
0:37
Speaker 2: mortgage-free homes. So we're going to talk about the pressures
0:41
Speaker 2: that military families face, but we also get to talk
0:44
Speaker 2: about some of the solutions that Meredith is involved with.
0:48
Speaker 2: So with that, Meredith, welcome to Changemakers.
0:51
Speaker 3: Katie, thank you so much for having me. I'm so
0:54
Speaker 3: excited to be here.
0:55
Speaker 2: It is a great chance for so many of us
0:58
Speaker 2: to really honor and recognize the service piece, obviously, but
1:03
Speaker 2: then also to recognize the need. And so I can't
1:06
Speaker 2: wait to dive into this. Usually I like to start
1:09
Speaker 2: the podcast, though, just talking about you, how you got involved,
1:15
Speaker 2: because I want to learn more about the context of
1:18
Speaker 2: why this particular nonprofit and why this path is so meaningful.
1:23
Speaker 2: So would you be willing to start us off with
1:25
Speaker 2: a little bit about you first.
1:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. I love this work in support of military families.
1:32
Speaker 3: And the reason I love this work is because I
1:34
Speaker 3: was born into one. So we like to say that
1:37
Speaker 3: military children are drafted. And actually, they really are the
1:41
Speaker 3: only ones who still don't have a choice of service.
1:44
Speaker 3: They come into service. And I was that way. My
1:48
Speaker 3: father flew the B-52 in the United States Air Force.
1:51
Speaker 3: And later went on to fly outside of the Air Force.
1:54
Speaker 3: And then one day, many moons later, I married a
1:57
Speaker 3: Marine on a Wednesday night in between combat tours. And
2:01
Speaker 3: for the last 20 years, have lived the Marine Corps
2:05
Speaker 3: life and moved 14 times as a result of that service.
2:09
Speaker 2: Wow. 14 times. Most people don't move that often. Most
2:15
Speaker 2: people don't even leave a town often. where they've been
2:19
Speaker 2: born and raised. I mean, I don't know if that's statistically,
2:21
Speaker 2: but I'm, you know, pretty sure that's the trend, but
2:24
Speaker 2: 14 definitely beats whatever statistics are out there. How did
2:29
Speaker 2: you guys cope moving to new communities? Because it's more
2:34
Speaker 2: than just the logistics of the moving van. How did
2:38
Speaker 2: you cope with picking up and changing your community and
2:41
Speaker 2: your network?
2:42
Speaker 3: You know, that's such a great question, Katie. And I
2:44
Speaker 3: think it's one that people don't understand how much goes
2:47
Speaker 3: on behind the scenes. Because to your point, it is
2:50
Speaker 3: beyond the moving van and the packing paper. Those are
2:53
Speaker 3: the things we immediately think about are the boxes.
2:55
Speaker 1: And the unload.
2:57
Speaker 3: But there's also finding a new home. There's finding childcare
3:00
Speaker 3: and schools. There's finding a community, right? Establishing neighbors that
3:05
Speaker 3: may eventually become your new family of that specific geography.
3:10
Speaker 3: And for military spouses like myself, there's finding employment. And
3:14
Speaker 3: that's a piece of really the financial foundations of military
3:18
Speaker 3: families that we don't think about. I've moved 14 times.
3:22
Speaker 3: I've lost my job seven times. And so when we move,
3:26
Speaker 3: it's also thinking about the affordability of that community we're
3:30
Speaker 3: moving into and whether the spouse will have an income
3:33
Speaker 3: in that new geography.
3:36
Speaker 2: I have a person that I'm connected with on LinkedIn.
3:39
Speaker 2: Her name's Monica Fullerton, and she specifically has a business
3:44
Speaker 2: framework for spouses of militaries because it's that same thing
3:52
Speaker 2: of finding a job and trying to just get back
3:56
Speaker 2: into this. And it's the byproduct that you don't think
4:01
Speaker 2: of a lot because the two income family is needed,
4:05
Speaker 2: but it's not as easy as just hopping on Indeed
4:09
Speaker 2: or whoever the platform is to find a job. So
4:14
Speaker 2: a complexity of service that trickles through the entire family.
4:18
Speaker 3: It's true. And to your point, 77% of American families
4:24
Speaker 3: tell us they need two incomes to get by in
4:27
Speaker 3: today's economy. For military families, 31% of spouses are facing unemployment.
4:34
Speaker 3: It's an unconscionable number. So when we're looking at housing decisions,
4:38
Speaker 3: we're often having to base that decision on one income.
4:43
Speaker 3: And can we pay the rent or afford a mortgage
4:46
Speaker 3: on that one income? And in a lot of areas,
4:50
Speaker 3: the answer is no, or just barely. So we find
4:53
Speaker 3: that military families financially can be far behind their civilian peers.
5:00
Speaker 2: And then when you layer that there's not a lot
5:02
Speaker 2: of choice in the location that they are, when you
5:06
Speaker 2: think about being based in Honolulu or San Diego, You're
5:11
Speaker 2: talking about markets that are saturated in high costs. So
5:14
Speaker 2: that just has to exacerbate the problem when trying to
5:19
Speaker 2: find affordable housing. So this is this is a tough,
5:23
Speaker 2: tough part of military life. And yet I want to
5:28
Speaker 2: talk about how what you're doing to support, because I'm
5:33
Speaker 2: sure the need is much, much greater than you're able
5:37
Speaker 2: to do. There are some solutions and there is some support.
5:43
Speaker 2: So let's talk about this. You know, you spent your
5:46
Speaker 2: career supporting military families. You've worked with several organizations that
5:50
Speaker 2: have done that. But let's talk about maybe how Operation
5:55
Speaker 2: Homefront is now how you came to this particular nonprofit
6:00
Speaker 2: and what you guys want to accomplish.
6:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. So I've served as an executive leader in
6:05
Speaker 3: the military family support space. for quite some time. In fact,
6:09
Speaker 3: I started my career in pharmaceuticals, but I lost my
6:12
Speaker 3: job when we moved to Okinawa, Japan. And so I
6:15
Speaker 3: immediately said to myself, look, I'm willing to change my
6:19
Speaker 3: approach to my career, but I'm not willing to change
6:22
Speaker 3: the end state, which was to have a career as
6:25
Speaker 3: a military spouse. So I decided that it was my
6:28
Speaker 3: opportunity to give back to my community, help pave the
6:32
Speaker 3: way for someone else to maybe have a better or
6:34
Speaker 3: smoother experience And I moved into military affairs. And throughout
6:39
Speaker 3: that time, I've worked with families in financial crisis. I've
6:42
Speaker 3: led teams that have done that. I've designed strategies and
6:46
Speaker 3: enterprise-wide programs across the nation to support military families. And
6:51
Speaker 3: what brought me to Operation Helpfront was really the fact
6:54
Speaker 3: that it's the through line in my career. It brings
6:57
Speaker 3: together my financial counseling and advisory experience. with my military
7:02
Speaker 3: family programs experience into kind of one big gift, to
7:06
Speaker 3: be honest with you. So I'm so excited to be here.
7:10
Speaker 3: And we've had our housing program for almost 15 years.
7:13
Speaker 3: So it's been incredibly successful with a 90% graduation rate.
7:17
Speaker 3: And we can talk about some of those things. So
7:20
Speaker 3: we're really excited to be unlocking the door to housing affordability.
7:26
Speaker 2: It's interesting because a 90% graduation rate, I mean, that
7:29
Speaker 2: is a phenomenal result. And it's probably the level of
7:35
Speaker 2: service and support you guys are giving that's making that success,
7:39
Speaker 2: but it's also proving the need that people desperately need
7:42
Speaker 2: to have affordable housing and have the stability.
7:45
Speaker 3: What is the assumption.
7:48
Speaker 2: That I want to speak to first, like demystify some
7:50
Speaker 2: of this, because there's this assumption that military families have
7:55
Speaker 2: a certain level of financial stability. So first let's like,
7:59
Speaker 2: break of that myth for a little bit before we
8:01
Speaker 2: go on to talk about the need. Yeah.
8:05
Speaker 3: And I think that's such a great point, Katie. When
8:08
Speaker 3: we think about military families, I think the overwhelming assumption
8:13
Speaker 3: is that the government provides for our needs, that we're
8:16
Speaker 3: commensurately paid, that we have a housing allowance. The challenge
8:20
Speaker 3: there is that when you look at our income and
8:24
Speaker 3: In comparison to our civilian and commensurately educated peers, it
8:28
Speaker 3: falls far below. So you are looking at a lifetime
8:32
Speaker 3: of service, and I think that people are willing to
8:35
Speaker 3: volunteer for that service. But at the same time, it
8:38
Speaker 3: does not mean that you are always able to make
8:41
Speaker 3: ends meet. And as we talked about earlier, you're often
8:45
Speaker 3: living on one income. You must assume that your spouse
8:48
Speaker 3: is likely to be unemployed for a variety of factors.
8:52
Speaker 3: all those frequent moves, or perhaps lack of childcare in
8:56
Speaker 3: your location. So what we see is that for 41%
9:00
Speaker 3: of military families, they struggle to make it paycheck to paycheck,
9:04
Speaker 3: mainly with food insecurity. So when you think about things
9:08
Speaker 3: like basic needs, food and housing, that can often be
9:12
Speaker 3: a much bigger challenge for a military family than a
9:15
Speaker 3: civilian family.
9:17
Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. If you ask me to pick up my family
9:19
Speaker 2: and move to Japan, I honestly would not even know
9:23
Speaker 2: where to start. Like, even if you said, oh, here's
9:26
Speaker 2: a list of whatever, it's such a leap mentally and
9:31
Speaker 2: it's such a load to move a family. So we're
9:36
Speaker 2: talking about real life obstacles and usually it's left to
9:41
Speaker 2: the person who's not in service, I would assume, right?
9:46
Speaker 2: And so they're bearing the load of trying to do
9:49
Speaker 2: all the things. And it's a vulnerable time. I mean,
9:54
Speaker 2: moving is difficult regardless, right? But it's a very vulnerable
9:59
Speaker 2: time for.
10:00
Speaker 3: the families.
10:01
Speaker 2: Is there something that makes it particularly challenging that you
10:07
Speaker 2: can think of? I mean, we talked about the employment
10:11
Speaker 2: and we talked about childcare a little bit. Is it
10:15
Speaker 2: more just kind of like, D, all of the above,
10:18
Speaker 2: or is there something else particularly challenging?
10:22
Speaker 3: You know, I think it's D, all of the above,
10:23
Speaker 3: plus two things. And I'll tell you what those are.
10:26
Speaker 3: One is that oftentimes your service member is gone or
10:29
Speaker 3: can be gone at a moment's notice. So to pull
10:32
Speaker 3: the thread of what you're talking about, as a military spouse,
10:36
Speaker 3: you are often managing the home, the finances, looking for employment,
10:40
Speaker 3: raising the children by yourself, finding the childcare and the
10:44
Speaker 3: great schools and the sports, all of the things that
10:47
Speaker 3: we think about, you are often doing alone. And you
10:50
Speaker 3: may not know when your service member is returning. Our
10:53
Speaker 3: family has done multiple Iraq and Afghanistan tours and on
10:57
Speaker 3: top of other deployments and a lot of unknowns. Our
11:00
Speaker 3: daughter has gone to nine different schools. She's on her
11:03
Speaker 3: third high school. She has weathered many of those things.
11:07
Speaker 3: So there is a level of just continued stress.
11:11
Speaker 1: In the home.
11:11
Speaker 3: And I think that compounds the difficulty of moving so frequently.
11:16
Speaker 3: And there's one other thing that I think is so
11:18
Speaker 3: germane to our conversation today. And it's that when we
11:22
Speaker 3: receive orders to a new duty station, we receive orders
11:26
Speaker 3: to that one zip code and we are assigned a
11:29
Speaker 3: housing allowance for affordability and that one zip code. But
11:33
Speaker 3: what we often find Katie is that the schools in
11:36
Speaker 3: that zip code don't offer the programs our children need,
11:40
Speaker 3: whether that's special needs or advanced programs, maybe that zip
11:43
Speaker 3: code isn't overly safe. So the housing there is not
11:47
Speaker 3: somewhere that we want to leave a family when the
11:49
Speaker 3: service member may be gone and the spouse may be
11:52
Speaker 3: alone with the children. So many military families, in fact,
11:55
Speaker 3: nearly 80% of them live outside of that zip code
11:59
Speaker 3: and they pay more in rent and mortgage and all
12:03
Speaker 3: the things to be able to do that just to
12:06
Speaker 3: keep the family safe and have the educational opportunities their
12:10
Speaker 3: children deserve or need.
12:12
Speaker 2: I can't even imagine going through all of that and
12:15
Speaker 2: then also trying to hold down a job yourself. Like
12:19
Speaker 2: there's not enough sick days, vacation days to be able
12:22
Speaker 2: to navigate all that's needed to try to keep a job.
12:26
Speaker 2: So the complexity of this is really unreal. So tell
12:32
Speaker 2: us what types of housing programs Operation Homefront is doing
12:37
Speaker 2: to try to provide solutions.
12:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a great question. We have four different programs,
12:43
Speaker 3: and I want to highlight something that's very unique about
12:46
Speaker 3: what we offer. So for active duty military families, we
12:50
Speaker 3: receive a basic allowance for housing. It's meant to help
12:53
Speaker 3: us cover the rent. It doesn't for most families, but
12:56
Speaker 3: it is there. When we leave active duty and we
12:59
Speaker 3: transition to become a veteran family or just a single veteran,
13:04
Speaker 3: we lose that allowance. And what we often find for
13:08
Speaker 3: military families is, All the things that we've been talking about,
13:12
Speaker 3: the lack of military spouse employment, the expensive housing that
13:16
Speaker 3: we're often forced into as an active duty family means
13:20
Speaker 3: that our financial foundation when we leave service is not
13:23
Speaker 3: as strong as we would want it to be. So
13:26
Speaker 3: what we do is Operation Homefront jumps in with four
13:30
Speaker 3: different housing programs that are designed for families in transition
13:34
Speaker 3: or who have already transitioned to veteran family status. And
13:40
Speaker 3: there's a couple of different ways to describe it. So
13:42
Speaker 3: we'll kind of go the easiest route. The first are
13:44
Speaker 3: two apartment programs that we have. One is transitional housing
13:49
Speaker 3: in villages, which are apartments specifically for wounded, ill, and injured.
13:54
Speaker 3: When you transition from the military because of a wound,
13:57
Speaker 3: an illness, or an injury, you are faced with numerous
14:01
Speaker 3: medical appointments and a huge and unexpected time of transition.
14:06
Speaker 3: Our apartments for those families in those villages are right
14:11
Speaker 3: near major medical centers, San Diego, San Antonio, Maryland, and
14:16
Speaker 3: they're meant to help those families with rent-free, utility-free apartments
14:22
Speaker 3: during that really acute time. So that's one program. Our
14:26
Speaker 3: second one is another apartment program, but it doesn't need
14:29
Speaker 3: to be wounded, ill, and injured. It's for veterans who
14:32
Speaker 3: have recently transitioned In fact, up to four or five,
14:35
Speaker 3: six years. They've been honorably discharged, but they're struggling with
14:40
Speaker 3: affordable housing. And it gives them a rent and utility-free
14:43
Speaker 3: apartment for roughly 12 months just to get their feet
14:46
Speaker 3: back on the ground. And Katie, while people are living
14:49
Speaker 3: in any of our housing solutions, they're also getting workforce development,
14:54
Speaker 3: case management, financial counseling. So families come to us, they
14:59
Speaker 3: might have $ 500 in emergency savings. When they leave our programs,
15:05
Speaker 3: we like to say they have a comma in their
15:07
Speaker 3: emergency savings. They're leaving with thousands of dollars. They've met
15:11
Speaker 3: their budget goals. It's really exciting. So beyond the apartments,
15:16
Speaker 3: we also offer single family homes. And these are our
15:19
Speaker 3: last two programs. One is transitional and one is permanent.
15:23
Speaker 3: To graduate from the permanent program, it's a two-year program
15:27
Speaker 3: where you're getting financial counseling and case management services. And
15:32
Speaker 3: you're committing to moving through that program. And when you graduate,
15:36
Speaker 3: you get the deed to that home. So you have
15:39
Speaker 3: successfully become the homeowner of that property that you moved into.
15:43
Speaker 3: Our transitional housing is much the same. They get financial counseling,
15:47
Speaker 3: case management, workforce development, but they might only be in
15:51
Speaker 3: that mortgage-free home for 12 to 18 months, maybe two years.
15:55
Speaker 3: and then they'll move on to become their own homeowner.
15:57
Speaker 3: So they'll purchase another property. And those are the solutions
16:01
Speaker 3: that we offer. These are fantastic.
16:05
Speaker 2: From everything from the counseling to the financial stability to
16:08
Speaker 2: obviously the mortgage-free component that you can see the goal
16:14
Speaker 2: and you can possibly see the stability within REACH. How
16:20
Speaker 2: are you guys able to.
16:23
Speaker 3: to do this?
16:23
Speaker 2: Like, or do you have donors? Do you, I mean, like,
16:27
Speaker 2: this is so fantastic of a program. Like, how are
16:30
Speaker 2: you making this work?
16:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's such a great question because Katie, you and
16:34
Speaker 3: I know the realities. These kinds of programs can be expensive,
16:38
Speaker 3: but they're a beautiful investment in a changing of a
16:42
Speaker 3: trajectory for a military family. So we have individual donors,
16:47
Speaker 3: we have corporate donors, we have builders who will gift
16:50
Speaker 3: us homes in different areas of the country. And to
16:54
Speaker 3: be honest with you, while we have put hundreds of
16:57
Speaker 3: families into apartments and homes, we have hundreds of families
17:01
Speaker 3: on our wait lists. So the need continues. We need
17:05
Speaker 3: more homes. We need more apartments. And the reality is
17:09
Speaker 3: the need is only growing.
17:12
Speaker 2: What is the specific geographic region that you're working in
17:17
Speaker 2: right now? And is there a region you'd like to
17:19
Speaker 2: expand into?
17:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great question. We have nearly 100 properties
17:24
Speaker 3: across the country, so we operate in the majority of states. Now,
17:29
Speaker 3: as you may know, military families, if you heat map
17:32
Speaker 3: to them, there are several states that are of the
17:35
Speaker 3: most interest to retire or to transition into. Washington, California, Virginia,
17:43
Speaker 3: just to name a few. Georgia, where I am currently stationed,
17:46
Speaker 3: is number six in the country. So we look at
17:50
Speaker 3: those areas of desirability and we aim to have properties,
17:55
Speaker 3: whether those are apartment complexes or homes, in those areas
17:59
Speaker 3: so that we can help military families transition where they
18:02
Speaker 3: want to be. So areas of most interest to us
18:06
Speaker 3: for expansion in the time ahead are places like Colorado Springs, Pensacola,
18:11
Speaker 3: Florida area, Chesapeake, Virginia, which is down near Norfolk, That's
18:16
Speaker 3: a great area for us to have homes. We're also
18:19
Speaker 3: expanding in North Carolina as that has become increasingly desirable.
18:25
Speaker 3: Families will always want to transition in California. And Katie,
18:29
Speaker 3: I wish we could have a million homes in California.
18:31
Speaker 3: The challenge with California, of course, is cost of living. Yeah.
18:35
Speaker 3: And we would love to offer more homes there, but
18:37
Speaker 3: we also want our families to be financially stable and secure.
18:42
Speaker 3: So we do try to recommend some of the other
18:44
Speaker 3: states as well.
18:45
Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. And this echoes a lot of the realization that
18:50
Speaker 2: many people are one major expense or one life whoopsie,
18:56
Speaker 2: if you will, from being in a housing crisis. And
19:00
Speaker 2: so for those families who are moving into the veteran status, there's,
19:05
Speaker 2: I mean, and a lot of families, you know, it's
19:08
Speaker 2: a broken, you know, washing machine. It's a car repair
19:12
Speaker 2: that's thousands of dollars. That's a rough, rough way to
19:19
Speaker 2: navigate the world right now. But I was reading that
19:23
Speaker 2: you guys also have a financial assistance program. And I'm
19:28
Speaker 2: sure this is sort of like if somebody could write
19:31
Speaker 2: a couple million dollars worth of a check, you guys
19:34
Speaker 2: could spend it all that week.
19:37
Speaker 3: But tell me what that is designed to do. Yeah,
19:41
Speaker 3: I love that program. So our Critical Financial Assistance Program
19:46
Speaker 3: really does exactly what you're talking about. It's helping a
19:49
Speaker 3: family website that unexpected expense that is necessary for them
19:54
Speaker 3: to just get to the next day. It can be
19:57
Speaker 3: anything from rent or mortgage payment to a basic living expense,
20:01
Speaker 3: like putting food on the shelf in the pantry, or
20:05
Speaker 3: it can also be a major and unexpected home repair.
20:09
Speaker 3: Or even a natural disaster that came in and a
20:11
Speaker 3: roof came in or a house flooded. We also recently
20:15
Speaker 3: helped a wounded warrior with a rebuild of a bathroom.
20:18
Speaker 3: His mom had been helping him shower and she had
20:21
Speaker 3: arrived at such an age and point that she couldn't
20:23
Speaker 3: do that anymore. So we helped him to get a
20:26
Speaker 3: renovation for that bathroom. So now he can shower on
20:29
Speaker 3: his own. So critical financial assistance does all these things.
20:34
Speaker 3: But I think what really underscores all of that is
20:38
Speaker 3: it keeps military families in the safe and stable housing
20:42
Speaker 3: that they know. It prevents them from having to unexpectedly
20:46
Speaker 3: vacate a property for a myriad of reasons. And that
20:50
Speaker 3: is something that I think so many of us take
20:53
Speaker 3: for granted. We wake up in our home every day
20:56
Speaker 3: and we start that new day. Sometimes for a veteran
20:59
Speaker 3: or military family, they're waking up wondering if that roof
21:03
Speaker 3: is still going to be over their head. And our
21:06
Speaker 3: critical financial assistance program helps to solve for that.
21:12
Speaker 2: I'm not a psychologist, but I can imagine having moved
21:17
Speaker 2: so many times or having deployments there and back and
21:21
Speaker 2: there and back. And then psychologically, you go into a
21:25
Speaker 2: home and... something that would be a leak in a
21:31
Speaker 2: roof or something that would be a handicap ramp that
21:37
Speaker 2: isn't allowing you to get in and out of the home,
21:39
Speaker 2: that those experiences, again, I'm not a psychologist, but I've
21:47
Speaker 2: experienced housing instability and then I've had housing stability. And
21:53
Speaker 2: one or two things can rattle the foundation. And so
21:57
Speaker 2: being in the new environment and saying the roof is leaking,
22:03
Speaker 2: is that threatening my stability? Is that threatening my safety
22:08
Speaker 2: because of what the past experiences have been? And so
22:14
Speaker 2: it also is why it's so crucial to have access
22:18
Speaker 2: to this kind of program that you're doing because you're
22:21
Speaker 2: not just fixing the roof, right? Nope.
22:25
Speaker 3: No, it's beyond that. And I think that's really talking
22:28
Speaker 3: about the impact of our program and how it lasts
22:31
Speaker 3: beyond that moment of assistance when what we're doing is
22:35
Speaker 3: we're relieving the crisis, we're relieving the immediate stress. But
22:39
Speaker 3: what we're also doing is we're moving a family towards
22:43
Speaker 3: security and stability and strength that will last for years
22:47
Speaker 3: to come. You know, what we often hear, Katie, is
22:50
Speaker 3: something that's underlying what you're talking about. And it's that
22:53
Speaker 3: When you're worried about your housing, your mental health suffers.
22:57
Speaker 3: Your anxiety level is higher. Your stress level is higher.
23:01
Speaker 3: There's a strain on your marriage, on your family, on
23:04
Speaker 3: your life. And when we look at things like veteran
23:07
Speaker 3: suicide rates and what we can do to get in
23:10
Speaker 3: the military, what we say left of left, we can
23:13
Speaker 3: help to solve for things like everyday needs, like basic
23:18
Speaker 3: housing and housing stability and affordability. And that's what we're doing.
23:22
Speaker 3: That's the impact we're having.
23:24
Speaker 2: Right. And housing instability just shakes that foundation that changes
23:29
Speaker 2: the lens of how you may be making judgments in
23:34
Speaker 2: other areas of your life. So do you have an
23:37
Speaker 2: impact story that you could share with us that walks
23:43
Speaker 2: us through the before and after or walks us through
23:48
Speaker 2: what you guys did that changed a life. I'm sure
23:52
Speaker 2: you have an entire Rolodex of lives changed, but can
23:57
Speaker 2: you share something on that personal impact.
24:00
Speaker 3: Moment for us? Yeah. I mean, I think one story
24:04
Speaker 3: that stands out to me is we had a family
24:07
Speaker 3: that was living in their car, a mom and her
24:10
Speaker 3: two boys, and she was working in an hourly wage
24:13
Speaker 3: job and And she had rented a home from a
24:17
Speaker 3: landlord that proved to be incredibly difficult, had a special
24:20
Speaker 3: needs child, was not a situation that was safe that
24:24
Speaker 3: she could stay in. And so they had moved into
24:27
Speaker 3: their car. And she was doing the best that she
24:30
Speaker 3: could to hide that situation, keep the children in school,
24:35
Speaker 3: give them a safe place to be able to do homework,
24:37
Speaker 3: to sleep at night. They were making the kinds of
24:40
Speaker 3: concessions that are heartbreaking to hear. And when we read
24:45
Speaker 3: her story, she was a fantastic candidate for one of
24:49
Speaker 3: our homes. She had an income coming in. She had
24:52
Speaker 3: these children that needed a roof over their heads. And
24:56
Speaker 3: it was just an incredible moment to be able to
24:58
Speaker 3: put her into one of our transitional homes and give
25:02
Speaker 3: them a roof over their head for two to three years, mortgage-free, utility-free,
25:07
Speaker 3: so that they could move out of that car. And
25:10
Speaker 3: into a shelter. And one of the things that she
25:12
Speaker 3: was most thankful for, I'll tell you, Katie, was the backyard.
25:16
Speaker 3: So the kids had a safe place to play. They
25:18
Speaker 3: hadn't had a safe place to play. And I think
25:21
Speaker 3: those are the things. We walk out into our yard,
25:24
Speaker 3: our front door, our back door. We let our dog out.
25:27
Speaker 3: We don't really think too much about that. But when
25:30
Speaker 3: you have been sleeping in your car, when your kids
25:33
Speaker 3: have been doing their homework in the back seat, and
25:36
Speaker 3: then folding the seat down and putting the blanket out
25:39
Speaker 3: and the pillow out to go to bed, your perspective
25:42
Speaker 3: totally changes. And now that family owns their own home.
25:47
Speaker 3: They went through our program. They now own their own
25:50
Speaker 3: property and their life has been changed. And we do
25:54
Speaker 3: that every day.
25:56
Speaker 2: And the way housing, like the dignity that housing can
26:00
Speaker 2: provide is so monumental. We all know that, um, but
26:05
Speaker 2: more power to her and those kids now because they
26:10
Speaker 2: can flourish at a level that was quite frankly threatened
26:15
Speaker 2: in the other situation. So, I mean, this is just
26:21
Speaker 2: so much value and so much dignity of life that
26:24
Speaker 2: you guys are providing to crucial, crucial moments for people that,
26:31
Speaker 2: you know, you just kind of want to say, they
26:34
Speaker 2: have done more to lift and contribute for the country.
26:39
Speaker 2: And so it's really hard to see a moment or
26:43
Speaker 2: hear about a moment you just described. I mean, it
26:46
Speaker 2: feels like we're letting them down in many regards. Is
26:52
Speaker 2: that fair to say? I mean, I'm not sure even
26:54
Speaker 2: how to describe it.
26:56
Speaker 3: You know, I could see where it does give that sense.
27:01
Speaker 3: And I think What we see for military families is
27:05
Speaker 3: we're taught to be proud and courageous and quiet with
27:08
Speaker 3: our struggles. We're not normally forthcoming when things aren't going well.
27:13
Speaker 3: And so it takes an incredible amount of courage to
27:15
Speaker 3: come forward and say, we can't make ends meet. And
27:20
Speaker 3: really military families deserve that moment to be supported by
27:24
Speaker 3: the gratitude and generosity of the American people. Because in fact,
27:28
Speaker 3: we all sleep under the blanket of freedom that they
27:32
Speaker 3: provide every single night.
27:34
Speaker 2: Wow. It really just, it is such a full picture
27:41
Speaker 2: to understand, you know, what's happening. It's not just a
27:45
Speaker 2: person who goes to basic and then gets deployed. It's like,
27:48
Speaker 2: you're telling us the whole life story. And it's just,
27:53
Speaker 2: it hits, it hits at a different level when you
27:57
Speaker 2: really are confronted with the, I don't know, it's going
28:00
Speaker 2: to sound corny, but when you're confronted with the price
28:02
Speaker 2: of freedom, isn't it?
28:04
Speaker 3: It is not free. It is not free. And the
28:07
Speaker 3: hidden costs of service are real. Now I will also
28:10
Speaker 3: say there are wonderful things about service too. I will
28:14
Speaker 3: look back at our family's journey in the Marine Corps
28:17
Speaker 3: as one of the most incredible journeys. And my husband
28:19
Speaker 3: loves being a United States Marine. Yeah. The reality is
28:24
Speaker 3: that behind that camouflage, there is often a family facing
28:30
Speaker 3: hardship for any myriad of reasons and affordable housing is
28:35
Speaker 3: currently one of them.
28:37
Speaker 2: So how are you doing this? Like how, what are
28:41
Speaker 2: your partnerships like? Are you I mean, you mentioned builders earlier.
28:47
Speaker 2: Like I would really love, let's speak this and manifest this.
28:51
Speaker 2: I would love for somebody to be listening to this
28:54
Speaker 2: and be like, I'm a corporation that can do more
28:58
Speaker 2: and find you guys and magnify what you were doing.
29:02
Speaker 2: So tell us about partnerships, what you need, how some
29:08
Speaker 2: of them that are working and how Give us a
29:10
Speaker 2: peek into that.
29:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you. That's such a great question. We'll start
29:15
Speaker 3: small and then I'll kind of scale that for you
29:18
Speaker 3: and I'll do it in a really streamlined manner. So
29:21
Speaker 3: our apartments are furnished and one of our best partnerships
29:25
Speaker 3: is we have furniture companies who will come to us
29:27
Speaker 3: and they'll offer us deeply discounted furniture to be able
29:31
Speaker 3: to furnish those homes and refurnish those homes. Without those partnerships,
29:35
Speaker 3: we couldn't do it. So it's incredible to have low
29:40
Speaker 3: companies who will come forward and support us, donate furniture,
29:44
Speaker 3: deeply discount our furniture. Those are partnerships that we greatly appreciate.
29:48
Speaker 3: We also have, as you said, partnerships with builders who
29:52
Speaker 3: will donate homes in different parts of the country. And
29:56
Speaker 3: they will come to us and say, what area do
29:59
Speaker 3: you need homes the most? And they will work to
30:02
Speaker 3: see if they have properties or will have properties in
30:05
Speaker 3: the year ahead that they can donate in those specific areas.
30:08
Speaker 3: And we are so appreciative because it helps us keep
30:12
Speaker 3: military families where they want to be, where they can
30:14
Speaker 3: engage in their community. but we're also getting that home donated,
30:18
Speaker 3: which is a game changer for us. On top of that,
30:22
Speaker 3: it's also the financial institutions. They often have homes to
30:27
Speaker 3: donate and we are so grateful when they do. We
30:31
Speaker 3: used to have more of those Katie. And so I
30:33
Speaker 3: will tell you, we need more of them now. That
30:36
Speaker 3: is one of our biggest challenges is like I said,
30:40
Speaker 3: we have wait lists hundreds deep and we don't have
30:44
Speaker 3: enough homes for those families. And so we would love
30:47
Speaker 3: a partner that would like to donate a home. The
30:51
Speaker 3: financial institutions, as I say, used to have many more
30:54
Speaker 3: to donate, and we'd love to see that increase in
30:57
Speaker 3: the years ahead. The American dream is something that we
31:00
Speaker 3: are all chasing, and it is becoming more and more evasive.
31:05
Speaker 3: And I think particularly many of our fantastic financial institutions
31:10
Speaker 3: have an opportunity to step up and help us with that.
31:14
Speaker 3: So that's another one. The Home Depot Foundation has been
31:17
Speaker 3: a wonderful partner to us. They are focused on working
31:21
Speaker 3: with us to help keep veterans in their homes. So
31:25
Speaker 3: it's giving us money for those necessary home repairs that
31:29
Speaker 3: are often the difference between having to vacate a safe
31:32
Speaker 3: and known space and being able to stay in it.
31:36
Speaker 3: And I'll tell you, critical financial assistance for things like
31:40
Speaker 3: home repair is We used to see an average of $ 1, 000
31:43
Speaker 3: per request. Now it's $ 1, 900 per request. So the difference
31:50
Speaker 3: is not inconsequential. And our partners make that possible. And
31:54
Speaker 3: you're doing this with all corporate and private donors, no
31:59
Speaker 3: government funding? No government funding. Oh my gosh, wow. Yeah,
32:04
Speaker 3: no government funding on federal or state levels. It's all foundation, corporate,
32:09
Speaker 3: and private donors. Wow.
32:11
Speaker 2: What an amazing leverage of community here. But it also
32:17
Speaker 2: feels like we've sort of dropped the ball from meaning,
32:21
Speaker 2: you know, no federal, no state. At a certain level,
32:27
Speaker 2: it seems like there's an obligation to do some of that. But,
32:30
Speaker 2: you know, that's probably a.
32:32
Speaker 3: Whole other conversation. It is. And it would be a
32:35
Speaker 3: good one. It would be a good one. Those things
32:37
Speaker 3: are very important. Yes. Yeah.
32:39
Speaker 2: Well, you know, when I was looking over your bio
32:42
Speaker 2: and everything you've done, I mean, even from being involved
32:46
Speaker 2: in workforce development and all the positions you've had, meaning
32:50
Speaker 2: that this seems such a niche and a craft moment
32:55
Speaker 2: for you. I mean, what is your inspiration? Like, do
33:01
Speaker 2: you feel like everything has led to this point? I mean, like,
33:05
Speaker 2: it's just so interesting that you You appear to be
33:08
Speaker 2: made exactly for this position.
33:10
Speaker 3: Oh, thank you. You know, people have said that I
33:15
Speaker 3: think this is a moment where the light is shining
33:18
Speaker 3: down and it does feel like a meant to be moment.
33:22
Speaker 3: And I will also tell you that in all of
33:24
Speaker 3: that building of a career, despite 14 moves and seven
33:28
Speaker 3: job losses, there's a whole lot of messy middle. There's
33:32
Speaker 3: a whole lot of moments where I felt like giving up.
33:36
Speaker 3: I felt like, you know, I would never make it
33:38
Speaker 3: to achieve my own professional dreams. And I am just
33:41
Speaker 3: so grateful for the opportunity for the sponsors that I've
33:46
Speaker 3: had along the way. I am doing this from Marine
33:49
Speaker 3: Corps Logistics Base, Albany, Georgia, and it is not lost
33:52
Speaker 3: on me that the opportunity to serve at this level
33:57
Speaker 3: in a remote work environment is a gift every single day. Yeah.
34:02
Speaker 2: Where can people follow along what you're doing or where
34:06
Speaker 2: can people read more about what you're doing? I mean,
34:11
Speaker 2: we'll have the name and all that kind of stuff,
34:13
Speaker 2: but is there a forum that they can follow you
34:17
Speaker 2: to be more active in your community?
34:19
Speaker 3: We find us on social, of course, on Instagram, on LinkedIn,
34:23
Speaker 3: Operation Homefront. Come to our website at operationhomefront.org. We would
34:28
Speaker 3: love for you to explore us. look around and see
34:31
Speaker 3: what we do. I think those are probably the best ways, Katie.
34:35
Speaker 2: Okay. Is there anything that you would like to bring
34:39
Speaker 2: up maybe that we've missed as we wrap up here?
34:42
Speaker 2: Because I feel like we could grab a cup of
34:45
Speaker 2: coffee and just keep talking for hours, but I want
34:48
Speaker 2: to be respectful of your time and our listeners and
34:51
Speaker 2: all of that. As we close out, is there something
34:53
Speaker 2: else you'd like to bring forward?
34:55
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's great. You know, I would say call to action.
34:58
Speaker 3: If you are a community member, look next door. Is
35:01
Speaker 3: a military or veteran family living next to you? When's
35:05
Speaker 3: the last time you went over and said hello? Being
35:07
Speaker 3: a military or veteran family can be isolating. So help
35:11
Speaker 3: build that community. And then I would say if you
35:14
Speaker 3: are a corporate organization or a foundation, what difference can
35:20
Speaker 3: you make in your community? How can you support affordable housing?
35:24
Speaker 3: There may be somebody just next door who's struggling to
35:27
Speaker 3: pay the rent, or you might be able to donate furniture,
35:31
Speaker 3: all of those things. We all have a role to play.
35:34
Speaker 3: And I think oftentimes we think we don't. I would
35:37
Speaker 3: challenge us to think about the good that we can
35:40
Speaker 3: do in our own backyard.
35:42
Speaker 2: What a great call to action. I wrote these down.
35:46
Speaker 2: And again, we're going to manifest this, that listeners can
35:49
Speaker 2: also adopt their own way to be able to help.
35:53
Speaker 2: So Again, I've been talking with Meredith Lozar, the, I
35:58
Speaker 2: would say the influence maker, the change maker, the impact
36:03
Speaker 2: magnifier for Operation Homefront. So Meredith, thank you so much.
36:08
Speaker 3: Thanks, Katie. It was great to chat with you.
36:11
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Changemakers with Katie Gore. To find
36:15
Speaker 1: out more about Katie, go to quadel.com. That's Q-U-A-D-E-L.com. This
36:23
Speaker 1: has been a production of of Forbes Books Radio.