The Huddle - Episode 102 - Embracing Diversity & Inclusion

In this episode of the Huddle "Embracing Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace," with special guest Brooke Davis, we delve into the critical importance of fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within the workplace and beyond. This episode discusses how embracing DEI not only enriches the workplace environment but also drives innovation and business success. We explore strategies for building a culture that welcomes all backgrounds and perspectives, enhancing employee engagement and satisfaction. Tune in to learn why prioritizing DEI can transform your organization and create a more just and inclusive society.

The Huddle was created by Paul Stuart of Stuart & Associates and Go Carrera, alongside Jose and Daniel Gonzalez from Preferred Flooring. Aimed at helping you maintain forward progress in your flooring career, they cover topics from personal and business growth, to installation tips & tricks and everything in-between.

Want to be a guest on The Huddle? Email thehuddleforwardprogress@gmail.com today!

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https://www.preferredflooringmi.com
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as you know this is the Huddle and I'm going to ABB here a bit but we're your weekly Playbook where we not only

strategize on playing the game but changing it from mastering the fundamentals of the craft to

distinguishing yourself in the marketplace we're here to give the installer a voice and ensure you're

equipped with everything you need let's band together and create a new uh Legacy

in flooring this is where you belong welcome to the team guys we got a great episode today

uh we got a guest Miss Brook Davis who I met literally like eight seconds ago um

but uh and that's my own doing by the way she was perfectly on time and and uh

I'm running a bit behind today but uh welcome everybody today's episode is about embracing diversity Equity

inclusion those kinds of things in your business uh as we all know these are hot topics and they can get real

political real fast uh my goal is to kind of guide along I don't have

um you know a lot of I I see a lot of issue but I don't

have a lot of uh experience in this and so we brought in an expert um to help us

along so brke can you give us a little bit of a a background on yourself and

and some um a little bit about you I will Paul when you said you brought in an expert I was like who is that that

would be me so since I'm an expert today I am um Brook Davis and I currently am the

director of diversity equity and mental health services for our school district Keno Hills Public Schools I'm a social

worker by trait um I have my own Consulting where I work with um

organizations to do training and facilitating on all types of things from Team development equity and diversity um

I teach classes entrepreneur classes at Spring grr so I work with young entrepreneurs to help start their

business um and what does that mean for them I'm starting my private practice with purpose

counseling and I actually teach a leadup class for first-time managers at the chamber so you're a busy

person on time I can't even make an excuse now you cannot but yes I like to I like

to stay busy with my passion project so awesome well with me as always is Mr

Daniel and Jose Gonzalez out of Grand Rapids Michigan with preferred flooring

gentlemen how's the week starting off for you guys it's uh busy I wish I had

more time to to actually do the things I needed to it's been filled with meetings so far so I mean y I know the filling

the necessary evil I think TR a lot of people happy trying to

keep a lot of people happy and keep everything on schedule and yeah you understand you know I do

all right well let's kick off the episode uh these run our episodes go um

anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour just kind of depends um I was going to kick off with

just uh maybe my understanding and how we approach um you know equal

opportunity in in the companies uh that I run and one of them is we just don't

care about those things we care about the uh having a credentialing and the

best person getting the job and we've got uh that's been successful for us I

know it gets harder with bigger companies it's been really successful for us to have a good mix of everything

um we in fact try to um you know in the skilled trades our our jobs are a lot of

I would a lot of that work that is not the most desirable a lot of times you

don't go to college uh or I I've yet to have too many kids I guess there's a few

on Tik Tok but uh that say man I want to be a carpet layer when I grow up right

they're usually like firemen or I want to be uh so we have to get out and do some

recruiting and we try to be um very cognizant of recruiting in

in I I don't even know if I'd say underrepresented just like to minorities

and women and anybody who wants to be in the trades we want you that's our

message to everybody if you want in the trades we don't care come on if you don't want to be in the trade we still

want you yeah yeah and exactly um so we're not

maybe um that's kind of how we've approached it um you know my wife's

Hispanic and she's part of the business and we have a a lot of um and we've done

real well with recruiting of the Hispanic uh in the Hispanic Community

not so well in other communities for some reason and I would love to hear your thoughts on how companies can can

be better at those types of activities and maybe reach out to the right uh in

the right ways where it is um you know uh just tring well and it's attracting

just attracting more people um I don't um I don't know that I have the answer

to that but that's how we've approached it to date look I'm gonna break the ice right now for you Paul I'm gonna let you know that you are doing very well at

being very very uh aware of what you're trying to say without without trying to

make it because because hey everybody sees that you're a white dude bro and I know you're trying to yeah I'm the last one that should be talking probably but

at the end of the day TR is is that that that I feel

like you know I don't represent anybody I'm Paul Stewart I believe in

individuality that's just me I believe in being yourself and you know I just

didn't grow up to care about that stuff uh I grew up in in in minority

neighborhoods entire life my wife's Hispanic uh you know and I just that's

just who I am 29 years with the same woman um but the truth is is that you

know it can be it can be a touchy subject so yeah I'm going to be very careful with what I say but also to say

that I really don't want I wish nobody cared if I'm honest I wish it was just

everybody worked together based on what they want to do in life if you want to

be a flooring guy I'm your guy come home you know and that's how I've approached

life so I think that's I I think that is good on one hand Paul because you can come

with an authentic heart but I don't think that's how everybody is raised I don't think that that is how people are

brought into the work you know we we have um I look at our educational system

you're not getting people we we we during our little warm-up I was getting know everybody we talked about this bias

that people are bringing into what you're supposed to do in life everybody is somewhere down throughout history

they told us we had these roles and these guidelines we have to stay in and it's just very hard to break that we

even went back McDonald's has boy toys and girl toys you you you can't be a girl and do certain types of work

because it's not people don't come to the work Paul sometimes with that mentality that you have that is it's

just not socially acceptable so they're not even given a chance in high school to learn about these different options

or careers or trades because they got to be a nurse you know we we we put these traditional roles on men and women and

then even even race goes back into that and then I you have to create an environment where people feel safe I

have to know that in order for me to work for you um I am safe and what that

what the psychological safety looks like um and and how we can come to that so

it's nice that you've had that experience but other just have coming into the space have just not have just

um we have to start to do school differently trades have to be in the Forefront you don't have to say college or a trade it should be it doesn't have

to be either or it can be and but you can do both Andor you can do both kids

that should have opportunities to do both and explore both but that is not what is um taught if you're in

construction if you going to construction if you going to flooring if you going in in most Educational Systems

they're pushing males to those jobs and they're there are some very good women who are good at design Building Trades and doing those type of things but our

Workforce Development programs um when we look at our educational system even in the state of Michigan or ferally are

just not pushing people towards that type of work so you're already coming in with people having this mindset before

they even get to you they have this mindset right and I think like today there's a few people that I know that

actually went to college and you know they they started in at a a company in like a project manager

position and then they got out of it and they're like this is just not for me I need to I need to I'm one of the people

that needs to work with their hands I can't just sit back and not do anything so they I don't want to say that they

wasted their time right because education in all forms is important because regardless of what you do you

should be learning something anyways and education shouldn't stop at any point in your life you should always be learning

something but the they could have been doing something

else instead of getting that degree because technically they didn't need

that degree into what they're doing right now you you we're not allowing people to live out their passion and

make money from what they're good at in their passion we just don't so my mom um she it was three of us and we all went

to college and we all cannot even hang a picture um between the three between the

three of us whereas let me tell this lady is doing her can't believe you said that out she got her work belt on she

building lamps she's doing TW I told her you did I said to her why didn't you give us any of those skills because you

saving a whole hell of a lot of money doing your own stuff and having that Talent versus really and for people of

color and even African-Americans it was that big push to go to college it was to move away from these skills that we grew

up with and sending us to school school school because that is where the rubber for people in these communities hit the

road when in fact um I just went to her house in Detroit and my dad said oh no

she built that she built a patio outside like watch the Youtube and I comedian

and when I say we can't hang a picture I I have a handyman that comes over here he cracks up he said broo did you even

try to put the little thing that go under your bed together did you even try I said it it just it we have had these

reverse roles in society for so long that you have these kids we have trailer parks in our district and I really

didn't know what a trailer park was I want to name that coming from Detroit I was like what is a trailer my mother said what is a trailer I said I think

it's a house on Wheels I have no idea when you go to the trailer parks this bothers me all the time they

don't know how to fix up their own trailers they are rund down that we are not teaching people skill sets that they

need for even not only working in the workforce for basic survival windows are gone out flooring is not how much of

that is uh just to challenge you bet how much of that is um knowledge versus desire to and

pride in your in your place there's probably some of that as well I I I

think it's a little I think it's a little bit of both I think it is um I am

working as hard as I can to make ends meet so I don't have time but we Paul we have a window of opportunity If the

parents don't to teach the kids and that's where I feel like the Gap is if if I go to the trailer park and I'm running programming in the summer and I

say I'm going to teach you how to paint your trailer do basic things to your trailer this is a skill set kids should

be able to have that will carry them and then maybe by the time they're 16 and 17 they will pick other options other than

college or a trade but we're just not exposing them to some of the things that

we need to expose them to when it comes to how to get them out there and to do

have that mentality to um take care of their basic needs and themselves I don't think people lack desire I think if they

had the skill set and knew it is over helming when you don't have the skill set I'm just in a position where I can

pay somebody my friend always says somebody your somebody's problem your problem is always somebody solution yeah

I just don't have the skill that thing to do it and that's a lot of people is we're not exposed in we just had our

first career fear in school in elementary when I was growing up we had career fears these kids loved it that's

all they talked about but we I had to be very intentional about not just having

police doctor at the we want a diversity and skills at this career fa so kids can

say this is an option I didn't even know this existed because all we teach about is the for Force jobs that you can have

which kids aren't going to be an attorney you're not GNA be a policeman you're not gonna be a professional basketball player and doctors those are the four there are so many other things

that we can expose kids to diversity is about access yeah people want to break it down and say it's about race people

want to break it down and say it's about it is about access if I can provide people with access to companies like

yours flooring and different opportunities our society will function differently it's about giving people

access to Opportunities so they can make these decisions themselves part of that I wonder is uh

you know parents always want their kids to you know do better than them or if

you didn't go to college I didn't go to college um you know I wanted both my kids to go to college CU I didn't it was

almost more for me than them you know sure and so breaking down walls are I I

think is part of it as as as well and the education system that you mentioned

makes perfect sense because we talk on the podcast a lot about the fact that

not everybody should go to college and I'm not saying that it's either or but

you know if if they had the option the as you

said the opportunity to the access to the trades and you know flooring

carpentry electricians plumbers drywall painting like it takes a lot to build

buildings and it's a it's one of the largest Industries around is construction as far as total GDP so why

are we not giving them access why is that uh I tell a story on here um fairly

often about when I first got going in floring and I was at a school laying LV or uh VCT before LBT got popular been

laying some VCT in a in a hallway at a middle school and I'll cut it real short

but it I was going to the bathroom and I heard the teacher say if you guys don't straighten up you're going to end up

like those guys out there as if our trade was it took a lot of geometry and stuff to do what I was doing actually

and then later you know we were working at a school um this had it been like 15 years ago now maybe maybe not as long

but we were working at a school and they had people ripping out the flooring in front of us and uh I was talking to one

of them and he was like yeah I'm actually a teacher I just need you know something to do in the summertime

because teacher salary is not cutting it yeah well that's what I'm talking about

is like you but but it's that mindset it's that mind a stigma yes that that is

carrying these kids and it's not just that it is um that whole idea part you

said like our parents my dad was a mailman for years didn't go to college um my mom went when we were in college

my mom went back to college but it's this this this whole idea of one of the things that I got from my parents even

before going to college was wor work ethic like all of us had we all even now we got five jobs my brother's a teacher

we got five jobs my sister she she is we've always learned to have this work ethic like I just told somebody schools

can close tomorrow I'm not gonna ever be broke I'll be right at McDonald's doing what I need to do because I like things

um but that's a story then that's that when you talk about that desire and what we're what that what we're teaching our

kids to go in but if you look at I have a friend who um built a deck and you

look at that and you look at the the things that we can teach kids who do not have options for college or let's be

honest do not even like it we have so many kids that go and you just put all

this money and they come home and we've given them no other op now what now now and I'm not saying um even the president

of grand was talking about the the idea of making space for trades and she's the president of a college like we have to

do this differently and and and we have to look at um you know part the idea of

I wish everybody didn't care everybody that's just not the world we we that's just not the world that um we live in I

Str I struggle four out of the five days at work so I'm like wo when I took this job

and very talented and probably could be doing something else um related to this work but it's a passion and I and I want

to stick stick in there and I want our students to have every option that they can but this year the statistics for us

was I just my superintendent came to me and he said kctc which is our Career Technical School

1300 plus kids in Kent County on a waiting list that means we have 1300 kids that want to do trades 13 we have

nowhere to place kids we have no op get out of class so you know what I mean so now we got kids you can't send them to

college not gonna go to college par that's not an option for parents we're not teaching them a trade you you talk

about rundown spaces if you could teach a 16 year old how much money they can make fixing up basic skills to fix up

trailers like you around a neighborhood just charging basic money to help people paint you you so we're not we're not

being productive in helping with um growing workforces we're not we have to

do this even when Daniel approached me about having uh we have we we can have one credit classes electives he can come

in and teach a foreign class one credit class you can easily come into schools because what these kids are taking for

some of these electives we got kids doing internships I said what do you do for your internships I go helping my mom's class room do you want to do that

no I want no part ofis you even break down these barriers

to say Yoga Yoga as an elective yoga yes break down these

Necessities it's just H it's just not there and again for me it is about when I first started this job um diversity

was about race and Equity diversity was about gender diversity was about being a part of the lgbtq plus Community now

it's about access I am learning if we do not give kids access and opportunities

we're not preparing them for things that they things that they want to do I don't know what what in Kent County I said

what you GNA do with 1300 kids that's just running around the city wanting to do trades and wanting to do this and there's no programs for them traditional

education sometimes has to be done differently and we still are under this mindset of we have everybody has to go

to college we're going to do four years of high school four years of college and a ro is going to be peachy keen and that's just that's just not the way that

it's going to be it's just not nobody's going into education because like Daniel said you cannot even the cost of living

our pair professionals are making $118,000 a

year I'm not working for that that is what this educational system

versus US looking at our ninth and tth and 11th grade curriculums and saying how do we expose kids to trades how do

we get them to find out what they love how do we move away from Ginger specific toys y'all know I'm on my McDonald's

thing boy toys and girls girls get a girl some Legos it's okay you're not gonna hurt the society if you give a

girl some McDonald's toy that's a Lego so I'm taking all McDonald's and these now I think they don't do boy and girl

toys they don't do um gend specific things I'm

hoping but we have we have to do this differently um in order for work for this to to thrive and survive right and

I think like with flooring in general we when you say you know we we have to

show them that you know it's it's an option and flooring we struggle because

we're kind of we're we're fighting for a seat at the table to be named as a trade because

even in the the unions flooring isn't its own trade we're we're grouped in with the Carpenters or the painters um

so so we're fighting that fight at the same time and to for us you know thank

you for letting us be at the career fair because they they had a great time there and you know some of these kids I mean

he they were telling me stories they were like you know what I'm gonna be back I'm gonna go around to the tables but I'll be back and then they spent

focused a lot of their time was hot y doing the click together floring that we

had your booth was hot the little construction Booth was hot had a student come up was like do we get to keep these

I was like well no we didn't bring enough for everybody but you know and I looked around I was like just put it in your bag if it fits just take it home

just go ahead there's an extra pencil there's an extra pencil even even that

has to be more of it we're doing some work at um one of our trailers elpine Meadows and I am and it is some of them

don't own we have to do work because they don't own the trailer like I'm finding out the more I dig into this we have slum lers they're all over they

they don't have the money to fix them up but that doesn't that doesn't absolve us from I'm teaching a class um at Alpine M

I don't even know what the class is gonna be about um but I told somebody one of my entrepreneurs said that he can

redo houses he can help people redo houses I said there has to be a program where we teach people a skill let's just

teach people some skills please [Music]

um heyy you you find and you know that's that's um

so I went to Union which is you know not

technically the the the greatest School in the world right and I'm not saying that it's bad because that's where I

came from I'm proud of where I came from and that's I'm I'm very humble but you know um talking to people at like Junior

Achievement and stuff like that and they're like you know we go to these these schools and some of these kids

just think that they're stuck like they're products of their environment and since this is where I'm from this is

all I'm going to ever be and this is all I can do and it's like without them

seeing people like us it's like no you you have an option like this is where I came from so it's all in how much work

you want to put in and I think that's something that's that's missing when

people talk about it right because they see a lot of where you're at now and not

what you had to go through to get there so they they didn't see you know a

single mom on welfare living with her mom with four kids they didn't

see that part of our Lives growing up but that was that was the case right and

that's where um you you talk about diversity and it not being just a race

thing or um a gender thing but when the the big picture thing is that's what a

lot of people think of right Y and that's where let's let's break that

stigma right now it's not just that but it is very incorporated into that and

how can we get more people in it it's we have to start talking to them and letting them know that they have more

options than to just do whatever is around them at this particular moment

yeah so changing changing the definition of what what's perceived that the diversity as a definition how it's

received I wrote that down and I just want to add to that is maybe it should be more um directed towards resilience

right because if if you are well-rounded and you do have a a diverse background

um in more than one subject um and and now you're incorporating the people that

you surround yourself with um you could exude resilience right like like it's

the it goes to now instead of you saying I know a guy you're saying I have a guy or I have a a family member now you're

creating a circle that is diverse SL resilient to a lot of different

circumstances instead of one um and know what she said something bro you said something earlier and the Daniel just

mentioned that too about um I I put it down as like coring like our students

being coralled in in uh in these schools our children being coralled our adults being coralled into thinking that you

know they have the blinders on and they're only um suited for for One Direction and if they don't go into this higher education

um that they're going to fail um maybe it's um maybe it's a difference of uh the resources available right being

exposed to specific resources and just having that the Curiosity right and and

allowing them to to their mindset to grow think that's what she's kind of saying yeah

just what we're what we're being exposed to in school is basically what you would

be good at uh and what college program you should go through to do that I mean

when I went to my school counselor they did not say hey Paul you'd be really good at flooring like you know you would

be a fantastic flooring guy no you know they were I did the te some test or some

uh you know um and but the problem is a

part of the problem is like if you don't then they say well you got to go into construction as if that's a lower

lot in life correct it resonated with me when when the teacher said you're going

to be doing this like that's not a healthy career to you almost want to say if I wasn't out here doing floors you

wouldn't have a school like I don't I don't what you gonna go in dirt like it's this idea my brother is an African-American male teacher in the

Detroit area which if you're in Detroit you have teachers that reflect you you know what I mean you have people who let

you know that you have the possibility of being a teacher if kids don't see people that are reflected of them INF

floring or have exposure to flooring or say this is something because it's not just the flooring there's one part that

we haven't talked about is really the business end of running a flooring company like it's one thing to be the person doing it but eventually you are

running your own company whether you go to college or not that takes when I work with my entrepreneurs I always say the

skill sets that you have and and the knowledge that you can obtain doesn't always have to come from sitting in this

college seat you I always say I like to work I don't want to work on my bit I like to work my business and not on my

business when I tell people by that I mean I don't want to do all the math the science hiring I want to be the person

doing the presentations but at some point I have to learn how to handle my money I have to learn how to do hiring

people I have to learn so entrepreneurship is not for the faint or weak of heart um the stuff that you're

doing is just one level like I told somebody if you have a gift if you have a gift that you can work with your hands

um you and you build a company you can go back to school and say I want to take some business classes because I'm going to run my own company I'm going to hire

my own staff I said and that's where I think some of those gaps are we're not we're just sending kids to do the

business part without being able to live sometimes what their passion is and work up from their passion entrepreneurship

is starting to be huge right now people want to be because we're they trying to

find jobs trying to work and there's just so many things that we found as Americans that we have gaps in um and so

this whole idea of growing your own company and doing things is important but because I choose that I'm not less

than and that's sometimes how it's presented being a te you know everybody doesn't have to or that being the

fallback that that being the the H you know doct a lawyer or a deal go do

construction it's in the movies even that way you know like it's it's it's

like it's the the I if you can't do anything else you go do that well that's not true no PA when you when you say

when you started and you said when you started and you said I wish everybody um didn't care it's that bias

that people are coming to if that's all you're exposed to and people think that being in construction or if this is these fallback jobs because that's all

they see in the movies these kids are growing up watching TV and watching what's great and what what looks so

pizzazzy when you watch TV like this is a job like I don't uh YouTubers I guess

the kids tell me Miss Davis I'm gonna be a professional YouTuber I said what is that's my that's what my I I just uh

adopted three kids a couple years back and all three of them uh my oldest two had different ideas of course they're

old enough that it wasn't um you being a YouTuber wasn't a profession all three

of my kids said they want to be a YouTuber okay professional YouTuber I'm like come on let me tell you something

no Paul I said the same thing you said I said I don't even know that that's a thing I told my gu kids that's not a job you gonna get a real job the crazy thing

is is that people are making so much money if they're good I watch the and I

said if that gotta be good at something but you have to be good at it that's like me saying I'm G be I told somebody

when they say I'm G be a professional YouTuber I said I'm GNA be a professional basketball player they said no you're not I said well no you're not

either it is a job it is something real we cannot people who do it and do it

well but again I'm not I I when I was in Wyoming I used to work in Wyoming public schools and I told one of the kids ju I

put give me a t-shirt that say Dream Crusher because I'm g walk around crushing

somebody's got to be realistic and and kind of we gotta look for other options say the things that that no one wants to

hear right but they have to hear it so that way they can explore other options they can't wait until they fail and fail

and fail and then say well now let let me hear these other options they have to know that there's things available that

could build onto their strengths right and these YouTubers that that are famous right some sometimes it happens by

accident but they're passionate about what they do like they put in and they're what Justin says right work

they're putting in the work and I'm not saying you can't be I told one kid you got to act when kids say that to me I

say well why do you want to be a professional basketball player because there's so many jobs in sports that you can do that our kids will be good at if

we expose them to them but we stop at I want to be a professional uh basketball player well if you're not what else can

you do and let me help you research let me help you figure it out we now are starting um assessments with kids to

figure out well are you do you want to work with your hands yes well let's look at jobs that you can do that and then

maybe you you want to be debt free and you go to college later after you have this sustainability and you say I got

fluid cash because I um did if you take a I thought somebody if you take a 14

year old and you give them a skill that they can work all through high school they will pay for college themselves I

said we but we missed that we missed this vot because we're not teaching kids at lower levels how to get these skill

sets and then maybe they can say you know what I've been doing floring my whole life with my dad with my brother with my cousin I'm good at it I know the

ins and outs of it I know how to do it this is what I'm going to do I'm going to help my family business I don't want

teachers discouraging that I want us to figure out okay great because you know you have a skill set that I don't have

that's more knowledgeable to me and that is where sometimes I think we miss the boat diversity is about celebrating

difference and we don't allow a lot of that difference to come in place and I had to get there I had to let me tell

you I had to get there when I looked at my diversity journey and My Equity journey and run doing this for a school

district with how do I Encompass ideas of people who don't think like me because they are out there how do I Encompass ideas that really help our

students get what they want and learn and grow and so sitting in this space I really had to think of some things

differently I want uh we had one entrepreneur in our class he wasn't supposed to be in there I told him you snuck in 16 year old I said oh you you

gonna make a lot of money because I said you even have a business and he said yes

and I told somebody last night he is smart enough to get business and FM it

out so he is he gets business and he calls Paul and says I have a job for you

he charging somebody $1,200 Paul's only getting 300 I said but do you actually do the work he said no I don't know how

I said wait wait a minute wait a minute wait wait a minute this is a thing this is a but somebody told me yes I said but

but we don't take these talents he said to me I have to convince my parents not to send me to college that I

have gifts in other areas that's why I snuck into this class because not getting it in school I'm not I his

parents told him you are College Bound no matter what he said I he's super smart when he told me it's graad I said

you're too smart to get those graad he said I am bored to Pieces sitting in classes nothing is respect I want to do

that's the C chall that was me too in high school I got they tested me and they put me in honors classes and I did

my GPA was like 2.1 it's like I should not be in these classes but it's it's the same thing it's like they didn't

interest me right right but and it was always like the English class or history

class like no put me in a math class and science class A's all day long well and

and that is if they think that you can handle those classes because that that now is where race comes in culturally we

don't think based on our data you should be in math or English being a latinx male we don't think because you're

Latino male we're not giving options luckily you went to Union because I just looked at data for schools across the

board and we still have gaps with kids that are getting A's and B's that are students of color that are not

recommended for honors classes or not put in certain situations because we don't think they work hard enough because of their the family might have

broken homes we don't think they can handle it we they might be I have a kid who is A disruption problem

4.0 and I that's me I said you g celebrate that gift

because I put him put them in leadership put them to work one kid came to me and redid my whole computer I said can you

help me with my computers and don't tell nobody I gave you my password he said I'm about to have you set up Miss Davis you about to have all access and I did

and they said bro how did you get your computer work I said oh I had a kid come in here and do it y'all don't know what these kids know they I'm not I'm not

embarrassed to say I will pay a kid I pay kids I told kids you this could be a profession of yours but we don't do that

because we are stuck in society of saying because colleges get money this

is the next level and even in colleges there should be some career some trade opportunities to teach them how to do

that and do that well so people are working in their gifts and passions and then how do we make sure that we are

putting people in those situations and not making them do something based on

race not saying that you're not good enough because you grew up in poverty or not saying you're not good enough because your mom was on welfare are not

saying you are not good enough somebody told me the the cure for cancer is sitting in the inner city in the hood we

we just not celebrating it it's sitting right now in somebody's house with somebody's mother that is on I said it's

not me don't don't get me wrong I don't belong in anybody's operating nobody's hospital

because I believe some people push that way and should not be but we we're not celebrating that but my mother has told me she said if she could do it all over

I said you know how much money I spend getting people to come in here and help me do stuff versus if you would have just taught us to do some of the skills

that you had that our parents had to have they had to have these skills my mother had to learn these skills because they didn't have money to buy people but

she redo does everything she does her own painting she took her wallpaper down she 80 she was like oh I'm not hiring body I'm doing this myself my dad and

she probably likes it loves it yeah loves it that's the reason why I learned

so much I had to like like single mother car breaks down she don't have money to

pay it's like all right Mom let's learn you know or she said she started with tires taught me how to change a tire

change my change the oil right that was it I was like well what happens if this breaks she's like I don't know I caught

your uncle well I'll learn how to do that I'll learn how to do that Mom so you don't have to call nobody I took auto mechanics like I'm 14 years old and

I'm helping replace engines because I want to learn hey I'll come and help you I'll come and do that I want to help

just let I just want to learn and I would go do all that and you know that's that was what I did I did built low

rider bikes help fix engines learned how to do breakes at a young age change tires uh like that was all before I was

16 and those are skills you cannot take or th those are skills that

you will have forever my niece can do everything she's the only niece only grandchild she told me she said said oh

no I I do everything with BB she cooks she cooks the family Thanksgiving I told my mother if you and daddy pass away you

know we ain't going to never have another Christmas dinner or Thanksgiving because the three of us came I'm telling you we only thing you built us for was

to go to college and I said all the other stuff and I'm not running the university but but we have to keep

putting these kids in those spaces because they want to learn my niece can hang pictures they hang in TVs my

handyman was like I talk my he goes around he works at GM he goes around he says on the weekends I put TVs up in

people's house how many people you didn't I said I do know because you didn't put three TVs up in this house I but that's what he does and he's making

a killing because it's a skill set that he taught himself to continue to move on

and he's in that learning SP all the time he said what I take at GM and learn I try to transition it into other

projects and other lives but he said I that's not where I was supposed to be everybody tells me I was supposed to be

doing something different he makes good money at GM and he makes good money with his little I said this little s so you're making good money so we can't

negate that yeah this goes back to the conversation that I had with Paul a few years ago and this is is actually making me think

about it um it's probably just over two years ago we talked about that like why don't they have like some sort of a

aptitude test for students at a younger age to push them in a direction that better suits their their knowledge based

their skill set the way their brain works um for for a better chance of success and then as they get older now

you start filtering everyone out into different directions and then it might actually decrease the it will decrease

the failure rate of higher education in some students and it increase the the success rate of the students that belong

in the higher education not everybody should be pushed towards Corporate America right construction America

exists um entrepreneurship exists there's a lot of other there's a lot of other avenues that that we can kind of

sprinkle everyone across instead of only having like four or five main channels and I think that that's where where the

issue is is um I wasn't geared for higher education I was so bored in class

I just like lost I got kicked out of class when my mom was in class with me we went back to school together I got

kicked out in front of my mom and I thought it was the most hilarious thing and then I still scored higher than her

and she was mad at me but you know it's it's all right um it's just one of those things

where teachers as individuals can see what students have and the gifts that they have but then they pass them on the

next year to someone else you know like back in the day they used to grow with them it still sounds like with the Advent of

you know all of these um higher education like all the schools all the

colleges there's more of them and there's more options at each school as

as time went on like degrees on degrees on degrees that don't equate to um a

standard of living that would I mean if it was a stock if if if the same

thing was somebody offering for you to buy a stock they I'll say you the stock for

$40,000 but it's going to take you 30 years to make back the 40 and you may not make it back like you you are you

you'd walk away op there that it does not make sense the amount of money sometimes

we're spending in colleges that we cannot pay back because job I'm a social worker by trade I went to ainus private

school cannot pay back Grand Valley can I pay the the amount of money and the amount of barriers sometimes we put for

even people getting these jobs we graduated from Grand Valley and then after we finish our masters you got to

take a test the test is $270 every time you take it people taking a test five and six times just to maintain their

employment when you could be a social worker which is helping people and still be good at it without the test I was

like the test is not going to prove that you are good at this job it is just another B and that's the kind of stuff that we have to think about but we also

have to think about um we get so caught up in schools on curriculum curriculum

curriculum to the fact that how do we keep kids engaged so they want to do the

career kids are disengaging there's not enough Hands-On there's not enough I mean even to try to organize a career

fair somebody I had somebody say you really need this I said these it's like

taking shop class now I'm doing it now it they they saw how successful it could be now I got

to do one at every building which is what our intent is now I want to be out in neighborhoods talking to kids about

different things because kids are coming out differently they want to be doing their hands they're exposed differently

they're technology driven they are um I have seen some kids at five six and

seven that really get into this whole idea of um being self-sufficient and doing

some of these things we have to start to celebrate that that's that when people say to me um I struggled in this job

because I was fighting everybody and I'm still fighting everybody but one thing I learned was when we say celebrate diversity or when we say how to bring

diversity into our workplace we have to have a plan on how to celebrate the gifts that our employees are given how

to get them to wear and and that is happening through conversations that is happening through creating that sense of belonging to where what do you I always

say when you start as a what do you want to do long term and how do I get you there I I told somebody you you make

somebody I in my team when I have my team I told them I'm going to make you better than me I'm going to love you

enough to stay but I'm going to produce you I want you to be able to take my job at any point and if you tell me you want

to leave and you're ready I feel like I have gotten you to the level that you want to be at and if you tell me I don't want your job I just want to come in and

help some kids and be a social worker and I'm gonna teach you how to help some kids and be a social worker but we have to open our ears and start listening to

people and start allowing them to have space to talk through what is important

to them and it has to be reflective like I don't want to go to a place right now when I first started Kena I was the only

black person that worked at Kena and my mother said no your grandfather was a custodian there's got to be a custodian

go find a custodian don't call me no more no custodian then my mother said your grandmother both of your grandmother were Cooks they both cooked

one was that big boy she said it has to be a cook we we had a lunchroom table as our dining room table my mother said

that came got there has to be one person in the school district that looks like you I told my mother and my friend was

like how do HS the cooks are black I go get me a lunch they real I said no there there is not one person in this District

that looks like me and I told my mother said oh and I said but I'm gonna stay because I said these kids deserve

somebody who struggled in school I just my parents just told me I was kicked out and sent to Alternative School listen

listen y'all I thought I went to a school I said to my mother remember that school I went to she said oh yeah they ki I told my mother said when I see that

lady I'm beat her up cuz she kicked you out of school and they wouldn't let you back in I said I got kicked out of school she said yes me and your dad

didn't want to tell you but you got kicked out of school and sent to a school in Detroit for um C teens and you

brought all the kids to the house in the neighborhood and we were the first black family in Detroit on our block so you had all the black kids all the white

kids all the naughty kids all the good kids you had them all at the house cuz your daddy said well we didn't sent her to this school because we can't get her

in anywhere else I never had any idea thank God I had parents who loved

me and said she's not she's not going to get all a she's different than her sister and brother we want you're not

going you're not going to destroy her in this educational system y'all not going to bring her down because she's

different you're gonna celebrate the gift she does have and it might not be getting all a like her sister and brother but we put kids in these spaces

to where they just put out my mother said you've always been a community advocate you've always been going to the

parks trying to say well my this guy can do this or that can do that can't we help this person but that's not celebrated because if you don't want to

be a teacher a doctor a principal um all these jobs and there's sometimes no

space for you and we have a lot of kids that we are leaving out which which for sure affect any type of trade when kids

are not getting placed in those systems when kids are not being able to do that you are going to see a decrease in who's coming through your door who can

actually do the work um because it starts with when they have these educational experiences that's where it

starts so we have to start to do school to reflect gotta bring bring back shop

bring back shop class they took it out and they have not looked back that was

my fre favorite class when I was growing up I built a lamp from my parents I

thought thought I was going to be you know a Furniture maker I did upholster

it was it was awesome some of these kids have never made nastay and it shows right I I my my car we we did the the

cars and we raised them every year my car won every year up until my senior year cuz they if your car won they just

kept on putting it back in there and my car won every year until my senior year

and then the teacher finally told me yep someone beat you I I am 50 I just turned 50 just had my 50th birthday happy

birthday thank you and I celebrate it I'm not one of the people who had it but the stuff that you all are talking about

I was on the cust for when those things started getting cancelled you know what I mean like we didn't have

these classes we didn't have this do shop started getting cancelled homech

started get can my mom said y'all can't cook to save your' life please help y'all take a cook yeah we had home too

she said those are some of those basic skills were getting cancelled and everybody keep saying well parents

should be teaching and parents should be teaching but it says something when I can sit in the class and then you're

like you making a car competing with this car I'm learning a skill that maybe my parents didn't have like maybe that

but they started canceling I told my mother I can't remember when we had those classes that is when they started to change things cancel things and the

system has I'm not saying if it's a system if it's broke don't fix it but there were some good things that we took

out that now we are trying to figure out how to get back that there's just not a lot of options 1300 kids in the state of

M in in Kent County that's not even a state that's in our County that will not have access to a

trade because we have no options anymore of where to send them and no classes

being taught we only have one option the kisd has one option to where kids can go

whereas now can we're trying to start internships with people in the community we're saying can this kid come to your place for internship and learn can this

kid come to your place for internship and learn we're starting to set those up ourselves because we have kids who say

they prefer to do that that than than just sit in a class all afternoon they want to learn a trade in the skill and

they know they're going to be good at it learning getting to know who that

um the kids on an individual level yeah class size I mean it gets really

complicated you start digging into this thing because it can go all the way to class sizes increasing and teachers not

being able to kind of individualize their attention to you know when you got

15 students in a class versus 50 and you don't it's like you almost can't get to

know them to make sure that they go to the you know you're kind of encourage them in the right direction so it gets

really um complicated about having the access to or the just we say it all the time

because like when we go around if if uh in fact one of one of my friends does a

lot of teaching a lot of training and flooring and he'll he'll show kids

they'll do like a build my future that's the name of it he's like they didn't

know that flooring was an option they didn't know that that was like a trade here you are walking over billions of

square feet of flooring every year and it's like not even known as an option uh

it's kind of like how do you expose that on a big level

um that's a mystery to me but but even if you start small even if you start

with um I got people Gonzalez are in my district they're family in my district they you you got people who do Flor we

got people who don't have internships you got people in the it's it's understanding your community them having a seat at the table because I always say

who's not at the table whose voice is missing who do we need to bring in to help us solve this I don't know about

flooring I don't know about trades who do I need to bring in to help me which means somebody has to be willing to

listen so this principal white male who thinks they know more than the world who ain't never put in the floor has to be

willing to listen and say listen I know about trades and skills let me help you with this who is not at this table who can honestly help us on a smaller level

solve some of the problems we got to get people seats at the table to where we we we are not diminishing people's voices

because of our own bias because we think if you have a teacher you he you're going to turn out like the man who's

outside the door I wish one kid say what the hell is wrong with him he's working every day he here every day helping you

out we're doing bonds we're getting all this stuff done so we have to change

that mentality and work with our community and the community cannot be just one single person or One race in

the community it is so many different things we have so many different kids that could say that until that career

fair and I saw kids and what they were gra we had a farmer we had I said bring a farmer kids want to do farming we had

construction we had yes we had a nurse and we had um my friend is a social

worker but she also works for the airlines store she said oh she said kids were asking me how many buttons are on

the plane they were because that's their you know what I mean because she said these kids want to know about how to

build the plane I'm the there is a pilot shortage too so she you know and she was like we

she said these kids want to be the ones that are the by the qu these questions

that they were asking she was like they want to explore they don't want to be the I'm the person that passes out the

tickets and I told them that and she said yes I see the pilots yes I'm on the plane but she said kids want to get

their hands dirty they want to know what these jobs and professions look like um

and she said I told a kid a whole lot of buttons she said but I wanted to say I want to take you to see a plane I I want

him to explore a plane I want him to ask what the buttons mean I want to she said I was just listening to him thinking we

are still missing the boat on helping these kids understand that there is a

space for you there was a little girl who did not leave the construction they had a little construction thing she could build she had on a dress she had

on some tights she was on the floor legs wide open building her stuff the whole career fa I said have you moved from

here she said no this is what I want to do I said okay well stay here but that's not celebrate she is she's a Grader by

the time she gets to fifth grade that is going to be discouraged told she GNA be doing something different not making a

Space because we we don't know how to integrate that yet we just have a system

that navian that we're working with our kids to help them assess some things that they want to do honestly like this

is where you can put in there I like to work with my hands I'm gifted at design

I'm gifted at um seeing different things like my mom said I never thought I was

gifted at um their house in Detroit is very nice but she's done a lot of it herself like the how to the layout of the house

the couches the when you walk in people are like wow did she hire a designer I said herself I said she don't have no a

designer she the one who figured out where to put the couch the lamp Center but she said I never that was never

something that I was told that that my parents told me I had to go to college she said which I didn't I went and I left me and here we had you all and I

got to go back but she said this is her heart and soul um I say I always want a grown up place

like you Mom I want a grown up place like this and she was like well you like too much clutter and but that's she's

just good at it but it was never celebrated that she was good at it because they said well you're not going to make any money doing that now she see

people on TV like having their own shows home improvement shows gosh she's like

people are blowing up getting their own line at Target because they got a home improvement show yeah so I don't know

like I love this because this is when I talk about diversity and Equity this is not a conversation I get to engage in

this is not this is not something that we really talk about as it relates to

how do we make diverse spaces for all of our students that reflect the workforce that reflect really what they want to do

um it's fighting it is understanding and different things but these are the conversations like the

system is a little bit of flawed there it sounds like the the the the faucet of of of options and opportunities have

been closed off at too young of an age um and there's there's not

enough well there's not overloading with information it's coming to the surface

it's coming back around so what happened was for a long time we didn't talk about trades they never did anything but now

kids are now that we got these statistics that 1300 kids signed up and there's no space for them in the county

there's nowhere to put them kids are starting we we're now starting to see kids want non-traditional so before it

was we had a few homech non-traditional we went the traditional route everybody does does math calculus honors all this

stuff which is definitely a space for and then now kids are saying by and we

it's reflected in their attendance it's reflected in their behavior it's reflected in how many go to college so

now they're bringing that back up because that's where we're starting to see success and when these kids have these options so schools are trying to

think differently about how to keep these kids engaged because that's where we're struggling we our data is showing us we have attendance problems but

nobody wants to come to a place they don't like and so kids aren't staying at home they're not engaging so that's why

I think it's coming up more it just seems like to me that the options are at the upper level meaning you can go get a

degree in a thousand different things that'll cost you money but in your regular education there's less options

today than there was when I was in school whether it's economics or home

economics or class or uh you know or shop class or you could do uh mechanics

class there was all kinds of stuff to do and now all that's gone out of that

started you know like in Middle Schools when you could go to shop class uh back then it was called Junior High um

showing my age but you know you could go to shop class Junior High and then uh or

you can go to mechanics class homech there was a bunch of different things you could do we have less option at the

lower level and then more options in in the level that cost you money it's to me

it just seems backwards like put those things down here if you want to explore social work you want to explore uh

construction the trades you want to explore being a chef and being a cook or

cost money to explore when you get older that's what it is right at the lower

level it's not there you gotta pay to get and by that time you're like 19 20 years old and you got to take in debt to

explore and that just seems backwards to me well and and they what's nice about that Paul is I think slowly but surely

we're start they're starting to realize that the problem is sounds like it you only have one option kisd here in in

King County they're the only option now for kids to do that exploring that's why you have the weight list because it's

actually moving kids out of their school building and out of their District trying to exp the West Michigan construction Institute now too yeah so

not but that those are ones that are now starting because we are starting to see so many more kids who want those options

but you got to remember when you have kctc and West Michigan how many kids in

schools are competing for those few spots the problem is like you said that weight list is astronomical now because

now we found out that they got a program so it's like and if you a bulldozer if you a bulldog like me all my kids

getting in so somebody that means somebody else's kids is not because when I found out it was a waiting list I said well how many kids that Ken was not on

it because I'm about to make sure my kids get in the programs that they need so it's it's Dog Eat Dog work sorry to

another school but I want my kids having all the advantages so I said oh we going to some meetings we having some conversations because I don't want my

students left out but we only have two or three options I think they're starting to recognize putting more

federal dollars so you have more options putting more grants in there so we have more options for kids and and taking

money from things that are not working and really looking at our um technical really looking at our trades and how do

we build that up at a lower level and put Federal funding towards those type of programs to help kids see where they

want to go because that is hits the road the road and farming and because they

had you know farming class like farming you go out and intern a farm in Middle

School like all that stuff it seems to me that uh it kind of makes me smile

that it's making like it's starting to make this this full turn yeah uh it's

like the pendulum swinging the other Direction so I mean that's that's good news it's now you got to build this the

rebuild the systems and the um infrastructure kind of to be able to

like how do you get more of them in because and you gotta put money money behind it it has to be a

priority you got to put federal dollars to say this is what we want to do to support this so and you know it's one

pot of money that we're all competing with for in school health is competing for money uh I I start to think of

equity different and that has helped because even with DBI money I'm like if that if I can take money and put it

towards trade schools because they're like if it's for me diversity is excess and I can put it towards that I think

that is helping rebuild some of these things but that is the thing is when you put dollars toward everybody's competing

for this same pot of dollars but I also think we can do this by working with people in our community who are doing

these types of things we can do this because there's one component that might be and I don't know all that is a

flooring but somebody can say I went and started flooring but it taught me to do these five other things and within

flooring I didn't know that I could do design I didn't know that I can do this I didn't know so we have to start working with businesses that want to

work with us and say if I can't get into kctc how can I work with Daniel and his company to provide a great internship

experience for our students where they're still getting high school credit for doing some of those thing same things that might equate for a job for

me in the summer that might equate for something else if I do a good job we have to start to think how can we

establish these relationships with local businesses so we can make this progress until the system doesn't have this

bottleneck um because that's what it's going to take it's working with who's in your community who's doing this type of

work right we were already uh because you know my son's going into high school now and we were already talking about

how we can have a whole football team worth the kids working for us in the summer when we need

them with you but I'm serious I um I told somebody I got to reshift my focus

and maybe I wouldn't be so disgruntled all the time if I can get some kids for me it is about the kids like I know this

is why I do that arguing with adults all day about diversity and equity and wearing my Aly t-shirts and celebrating

these things if I can put my kids in spaces where they feel like they're making a difference for their families

they're learning a trade they're getting money that is what's going to carry them that is what's going to make them feel good that is going to help their my

title is diversity equity and mental health and I know we don't feel valued if we're not we are a working Society if

you can't contribute to the society that you live in it is not good for your mental health and kids are having a hard

time and families are having feeling like how can they contribute so I know if I get my kids in some of these

programs and they have mentoring ships so I don't need to say I can't do this because I don't have a father at home or

I don't have a mother at home or I'm adopted or I'm living in foster care because I have a mentor like Daniel who's teaching me a trade and a skill

that helps me feel like I can contribute then all those other things we now have this community perspective and diversity

and equity and mental health looks differently because just sending kids sometimes to counseling and saying this is going to do it's unrealistic for me

it's putting kids in these spaces where one kid was like you think I want not to have any tra to have any windows in my

trailer I just don't know how to fix them I just don't know how to help my mom you know what you just made made me

think about something too it's like so teaching someone how to do uh any of the trades that anything that we do whether

in construction period the the education system is requiring it to be an accredited program why do I need to have

an accredited program that has a go through the the schooling and and and be

filtered out through the governed body instead of me just teaching someone why can't I just pass some background checks

pass some safety classes or safety requirements and then teach that to the kids why you know it's they're still

learning just because it doesn't run through an organization or or a higher education you don't have to you don't

have to be accredited to to do it necessarily or for them to recognize it for them to recognize it and the kid get

credit for it but the exposure side you could have like if you could figure out

a way to have like a I like what you said a mentor like a trade mentor and

you're like trade trade Mentor International and you got all these Tradesmen in there that's willing to

Mentor a few kids a month and take them out onto you know whether it's projects

and you know obviously safety is a always concerned so I realize that don't hit me up in the comments

like but you know uh but Mentor

them um there's got to be some way to to continue the boat I'm glad that it's

it's it's I'm glad the waves coming but it's like we got to capture some of it

somehow young lady that was working at the um career day Katherine um we talked to

her a little about it too and she said that there's some walls up there's some walls up but if a a kid can do some work

like Daniel said in the summer right when they're not in school so it's not interfering with education and then when

they're out of high school say they're 16 to 18 come and work just for with us for a summer to help as an internship

now they have a an an option with experience they can get hired in at a higher rate a paid internship at that

right yeah yeah yeah a paid internship at that then they have experience and they can that's good because you're

doing a lot of unpaid internships even like and is there this is a question to you is there a is there any trade inter

like internships that I mean is that a Thing mo mostly internships I I hear about

with or college or or even um we if you're in high school just a summer job

no you know we have we have a we have programs where kids our seniors have to have our seniors because they've met

their requirement and they have to be there can do internships we just don't have a strong

intern like me and my friend Matt he was like I really want a better internship program so seniors do take in like a kid

emailed me and said can I intern for you and I said what does that inail that means every day I'm with you for every day from um 2 to three to the end of

school and I have to have learning activities what happens is I just say come in sit at a desk file you know what

I mean it's not like a but these kids do um I I don't know what all of our programming our internships looks like

but there are schools that I had one from Byron Center one year and they had started canceling those programs and U

Maggie ran it and she said the problem was people your your intern wanted to be a social worker and she got value she

was in the classroom she was working with kids she was doing groups even as a high schooler she said so but people

don't value The Internship so it became something that schools are like are we going to keep um buying into this whole

idea of a um internship but I I have a very forward thinking super and we've

even talked about um we went through when the tornado took out our whole trailer park took a whole trailer park

out the tornado and me and him walked and knocked on doors and we saw trees in between people's houses and kids

displaced and kids and then the Red Cross only being able to help a portion of them or kids not knowing like one mom

was like I we don't have any windows she's putting plastic on Windows we don't have any floors anymore that's the

kind of stuff where you get your interns and say okay this is a project now that we have to do this is something that's going to help our community I want it

where we we can f are there federal dollars we can help with this are there but that's that whole idea of how do we

have some discussions around this and how do we do this around the community because I think schools already have

internships it's just what they're having the kids it's just a lazy mentality of what they're having the kids do like one kid told me I'm not

learning anything from my internship I'm just going so I can get my credit and be done so I think schools do have

opportunities um Katherine I I didn't know Katherine existed before my career fear but I told her I want people to

have a seat at the table I want you to have when you have to advocate for something and you have when she says their barriers up I want her to talk to

you all and say okay what am I advocating for because she has a seat at the table she's at the table she's at

the ISD she's at the table what do I need to advocate for and why when this money comes down or when they say

because they always say to me broo what are the barriers when we look at diversity and we look at Equity what are the barriers well the barriers are

you're putting barriers up for companies to be able to accept our kids because they're not going through this program

or they're not attached it's not who you know when this is very good opportunities for kids how can we break down those barriers because again if I

say Equity is about access how can I give my kids access when 1,300 are on a waiting list I want to go through other

options I want to be able to set my kids up with this flooring company and that flooring company and it still be accredited because right now there's

nothing else out there for them are they just supposed to not get anything so how can we continue to break down barriers

so kids have access to do these things and how do we say okay well what does the internship program look like and how

do we support it like I'm one person working on everything that there is to work on in a school I need the

counselors to be on board I like I have to tell my counseling team this year we

focused on um making sure our Asian-American students had um people

that they could talk to or understand them and help them get to the next level so I brought in a I'm not doing it I brought in somebody else that's what we

need to do for trades too I need to be able to say to the counselors we focus on trades get trades in this building do what you need to do when when money

comes up I'll say okay I will help apply for a grant or federal dollars or to do this but I need you all to start working

with the kids to find out what they really want to do and it just needs to be a focus of ours for the year so we

need to start glorifying uh trades in any other avenues like we do individuality we need to start putting

everything on a pedestal and Rising it together instead of uh creating that um

the uh every every person out for themselves if someone's not uh supporting what you believe in as an

individual then they're not part of your team we got to try to get rid of that and be more inclusive to everyone being

on the same team and focusing on the same I think that's a that's kind of what I took from this it's you you're

looking at you know the diversity at from a different perspective and it kind of opened my eyes right you're not looking at it like these different

groups you're looking at it is what can we bring to the table so everyone can get can partake yeah access and and not

only that the whole mentorship thing right that you you talked about you know School aside um you know I I joke all

the time about our kids in this school district anytime we're on a a team we

bring the diversity right I joke about that all the time and it's it's nice right for the kids to to have that and I

bring some of our our like the food some kids didn't have

some of the food until we start started coming around and and I like to bring it it

is it is what kids want and it is what kids my niece told me she went to she's

in college right now she said her job she gonna just lay on the beach I told my sister this is what she learning in College New York we are hardworking

family I said your your uh your grandfather was a mailman and delivered newspapers so you could go to college

like your mom is a single mom we work her I don't understand laying on the beach she she she got a job being a

waitress at the like a restaurant that is um that that meets her needs it's on a corner it's in this you know this

those places where it's fan it's not fancy but it's like wear what you want to the restaurant you know what I mean like these new wave restaurants that's

coming up she loves it loves the people she can just be herself but for her it

is she always says people lack culture we go to places there's no C there's Auntie there's just no culture there's

just no there's no she's a great cook she was like there's no flavor you know you got to have when you say you bring

the diversity every time used to say that I used like oh they bringing a flavor because people like to have fun people want to be a part of kids want to

have fun they want to learn they want to this generation that we are raising like she says I want to experience lots of

different things I just don't want to experience one thing I want to learn lots of things and and I think that's where like we get that from my mom right

because um I've gone to Mexico with my mom a number of times now and that's what she pushes you know you're learning

your culture so I take my kids down there and it's like we don't stay at a resort we stay at an Airbnb we eat where

the locals eat we're experiencing the culture and and we we bring that culture

and then we show people here you know whether it's the food they bring that culture back to get everybody

sick let me tell these kids let tell you about the kids because my niece went my daddy my dad she came home she's been in

Taiwan and London she's she's not she if it's up to her she never stepped back on a college campus so she tried to do

study abroad projects she tried to go everywhere she can she came home and my dad said we can't eat at McDonald's we

can't eat at Burger King I can't shop at Amazon she got so many rules these kids come back with these rules she said oh

tick talk and said this this who we gotta vote for he 80 he said I want a hamb I want a hamburger from McDonald's

and I said Daddy sneak and go get one he said I can't she gonna find out but this

is what these kids are about they are experiencing life very different than us and we have to figure out how to

celebrate that and we have to figure out how to like I told my dad some things we have to embrace for her because this is

the life and the generation that she's living but they will work hard they will work hard for you and they will work

hard with you if they know that you are willing to listen and under and understand them and they want to be a

part of something bigger than themselves right she wants to work for a company where that company has she'll say some

type of social justice some type of focus not just people come to work and go home I want to know my co-workers

back in the day you used to go to the part you know my dad was like when he was at the post office we went it was a family the post office was a family now

you don't have that in your workplace where you're experiencing things the baseball team you don't know your neighbors people are all she was like I

wasn't raised that way I was raised with my neighbors being Greek and I went over there and said well teach me something about being Greek and Yaya Tina or so we

it's very different for them and we have to recognize that and they like to do by so she does not want to call somebody in

to fix the toilet my niece said BB taught me how to do it I want to I want to do it she says I told my sister I can

hang the pictures in our house there might not be perfect but I want to hang it so it's just it's just working with this um but

celebrating and that mentorship is very important so even if you are white it's okay that you have a male Latin Mentor

it is okay it is okay that you have somebody that sometimes does not look like you that can help you learn and

grow and that's what we have to start doing is helping these kids find themselves right Elena says that you

know they they run into funding issues too um the best intentions when a

program starts and a lot of it is you know she's been through the the finding people through Goodwill and stuff like

that and there's installers that don't necessarily look or the part or look

like someone that a homeowner would want in their home so you know people don't hire them but that's that's the stigma

send to the commercial world we don't care well I mean we talked about the

eBay study I told y'all about eBay study people are crazy if you got a darker hand selling the phone versus a white

hand they pay more money because this bias that has creeped up into us I look at some of the commercials and how we've

exposed our kids to TV and some of the stuff that they're but it's creeped up to them in thinking that that that part

of that culture matters like I say sometimes they say men know more about women than technology so they're not buying a computer on Marketplace from a

woman I think it just boils down to sometimes you have to hire these people

like we've been through it um Jose's been on the end where you know you walk

into somewhere and they start talking to you like you don't speak English and it's like you work here today and he he

just looks at him he's like I speak better English than you and then just walks away and it's like oh like but

he's also messed around with people where he's like no

English I think he'd be bringing some of that stuff on himself I thank everybody

for their contributions today we ran a little bit over but it was uh it was it's was one of those topics like told

broe before it's one of those topics that it it can go anywhere

yeah anytime you have me it's gonna go over you're that's okay we have to stop

ourselves too we have a really bad habit of talking yeah we've done this before your perspective on this is

really I think some people uh stated this in the comments as well it's eye openening that uh at such a young age

opening up the access is the key to diversity and and uh it sounds like

that's kind of the Crux that point uh you know the inflection point is when they're young to expose them to all

opportunities that uh that you can uh as parents but the school system has to has

to do a better job like you said so I don't know that we can fix that overnight but we certainly can fix it in our community you've suggested some

really cool ways in which we can get involved in fact while I was on here I

Googled like Kansas internship ships for construction and found a a little site

to explore and see what's out there CU you know I just I didn't even know that something like that existed so it's been

high open for me as well something that we'll probably have to get with uh kenell about and probably try and work

something out to get some kids in here're just working on measuring programs in you know in the office while

we're here you know we're five minutes away from the school yeah and it'd be amazing yeah I'm all about

it well I hope that uh that you enjoyed the podcast because we certainly enjoyed

uh I probably talked less than I ever have just listening to you present your

ideas and you do so uh so well and I think that uh I've learned a lot and I

hope everybody else has um it's been a hell of a good time so gentlemen as

always it was a pleasure and Brooke thank you so much for joining us today really it was really awesome so if

you guys like uh like what you see give us a like give us a subscribe make a

comment uh and um you know like it next you don't like it yeah we'll take it

we'll take it either way so thanks everybody um we'll cut this off now and

uh we'll see you guys next week thanks everyone