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Social Good & Growth Mindset : Growth Mindset Virtual Conference
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Nov 9, 2023
A conference growth mindset, success, and motivation. Join live panels and ask your questions about digital transformation, emerging technologies, innovation, strategy, and leadership. Enjoy live music played during session breaks. Brew exotic tea, coffee, and learn how to mix drinks from an award-winning bartender. Conference Website: https://growthmindsetconference.com PANELISTS Serita Cox - https://www.linkedin.com/in/seritakorencox Bekka Ross Russell - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccarossrussell/ Angela Harvey-Bowen MODERATORS Catherine Lindroth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-lindroth-a7799928/ 🌎 C# Corner - Community of Software and Data Developers 🔗 https://www.c-sharpcorner.com​​​
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0:00
Wonderful. Can everyone hear me okay? I just want to make sure you can hear me okay? Okay
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wonderful. Hi, everyone. My name is Catherine Lindroth, as Mahesh said. I'm the founder and
0:18
chief impact officer for Social Contract. We help government, philanthropy, and community solve
0:25
complex social challenge and help achieve that we finance social change in the world. So this is a
0:31
topic that is near and dear to my heart. And I am really excited for this conversation with our
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extraordinary panelists here. To just context before we dive in, I know we're all likely
0:46
acquainted by now on the topic of growth mindset already. As you said, it's more limited. You are
0:54
a defined thing, limitations. I do what I know, you know, embraces change, challenge, growth
1:04
We can be anything. We can do anything. So when applied to the current paradigm of change-making
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I think we can really begin to see our current pattern of behavior as change-makers more clearly
1:17
we can start to use this lens to see what more can be made possible if we were to embrace change
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embrace growth, a growth mindset as a change. So in this panel, we will be focusing our discussion
1:30
on what the nonprofit sector, what the change sector is doing that appears to be more fixed
1:37
in mindset. And we will also imagine what could become possible if we were to truly embrace
1:42
growth. So we have three phenomenal panelists, Sarita, Angela, and Becca. And I'm going to just
1:51
kick this off because we have such a short, limited. I want to allow them to answer the first question
1:58
with their introduction. So I'm going to invite each of you to share who you are, where you're
2:05
calling from, and more about what you do. Could you speak to the impact that you're seeking to make
2:10
in your respective sector. Really want to hear the change that you're making
2:16
and frankly, the change that you dream of making and if those are different
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So I will do this in the order from top to bottom. So Becca, why don't you start us off
2:28
Great. Hi, Kat. Thank you. I'm really happy to be here. Thanks everyone for coming to learn a little bit
2:35
about social change along with your, you know, corporate, you know, and business approach. It's very exciting. My work is I'm actually calling in
2:47
from Tanzania, East Africa. I work here with the local community. I founded an organization that
2:54
really has taken the vision of a woman who had been doing this work in the community for about
3:00
30 years, 25 years when I got here, and really helping to turn it into a reality
3:07
Our focus is on keeping families together and when that's absolutely not possible, providing sort of best quality family style care, really looking at what is the research say about what's the best way to kind of what can we do when we're not in an ideal situation
3:27
But one of the things that's really bothered me since the beginning of this work, and I think is a challenge for all of us, is that it can be very siloed and it can be very, very, very isolated
3:43
So you're dealing with a lot of big personalities, but it means that everybody's kind of reinventing the wheel from scratch with each program
3:52
There's no sort of way to work together in a more holistic manner
3:57
And especially as we're looking at changing models from traditional orphanage models and looking at family preservation and alternative care in the community, models that are now being shown to be much better for kids
4:12
So kind of going from the default that everybody is used to and really thinking about what's the best that we can do here
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Our organization is working on the creation of a coalition, a group of organizations and international stakeholders working to, like I said, to change the model and to improve the quality of care
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And part of that is also done by democratizing and sort of centralizing some of these pieces that cause a lot of inequality
4:46
So looking at how can we fund effective programs that are listening to people in the community that are based on community needs
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You know, how can we take the research and the knowledge we have about what works and translate that onto the ground
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Um, so I'm, I'm excited to be here and, and to hear a little more about my fellow panelists
5:08
Um, great. Thank you for having us. Thank you. Thanks so much for that introduction
5:15
Sarita, you're up. Hi, everyone. And I'm so happy to be here
5:21
And I echo a lot of what Becca has to say. Uh, so I'm out in California
5:28
We work in the child welfare system here in the United States
5:32
I am the CEO and co-founder of iFoster. We're a national nonprofit in child welfare, which is foster care
5:40
And our mission is to ensure that every child growing up outside their biological home
5:46
regardless of placement, gets the resources and opportunities that they need to be successful
5:53
And we actually mean every child. So as Becca had just identified, there's a lot of constraints. There's, you know, every organization doing their own thing. We actually kind of float above that. We don't care whose client a child is. We provide every child with the resources that they need
6:13
We currently serve about 60% of all kids in foster care across the United States and provide about $125 million worth of resources every year
6:23
And we do that through a network of partners. So we are partnered with about 4,000 agencies
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Those agencies, Becca was talking about, who have their own client base, and this is what they do, and this is how they serve them
6:35
We actually partner with them to push through the resources that their kids need that cannot come from child welfare because child welfare only spends about 48 cents on the dollar for what it actually costs to raise a child here in the United States
6:51
So and our ultimate goal, of course, is to ensure that per our mission, every single child who is growing up outside their biological home has the resources and opportunities that they need to become a successful independent adult
7:11
There you go. That's it. Thank you for that. Angela, you're up
7:17
What's the change you're making and the change you dream of making? Yep And Sarita I so glad to see somebody from my hometown I Pomona born and raised so I missing home a bit right now My name is Angela Harvey I a founder and executive director of an organization called Fourth Dimension Leaders
7:35
where our primary sort of goal and vision is to sort of really prepare transformation-ready
7:41
leaders to sort of take on what happens next in schools in a world that's ever-changing
7:47
and a changing demography and what we know about what folks need, which is so much more
7:54
highlighted for folks who needed that highlighting in the pandemic. And so we sort of primarily do
8:01
two big things, which one is really leadership pipeline development in schools, particularly
8:07
high-need schools are just sort of well-known for not having a sort of cadre of ready leaders to
8:14
be innovative and to sort of take school from what it is to what it could be for deserving kids who
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don't otherwise have an opportunity to engage in inadequate even education options, much
8:27
less sort of transformational education options. The secondary, well, a secondary line of our work, but really it's sort of what we do across
8:36
all work streams is, you know, this work of equity that everyone's talking about now
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it's a buzzword, it's very jargony, and everybody wants a workshop or something on how to not
8:48
we find that the work is much more deep than that. And so for the past 10 years
8:53
I've walked around the country being what I call the black diversity lady. I'm like the lady firms call when they're like
8:58
I really am concerned about looking racist or it's like a PR thing
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Like help us cry. We did that, check the box. And that was pretty soul dragging work
9:08
It continues to be. And one of the things that became really important
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to me over the past couple of years was realizing that if organizations actually care
9:16
about being disruptors of longstanding systems and structures that don't work for everyone
9:23
then everybody has to be able to do the work. So as part of some of our core work
9:28
we train people to be the people who can do this work. You shouldn't just have to call your Black
9:33
friend and say she can come work with our organization. It should be everyone in the
9:37
organization who's able to lean into deep discourse about the problems that the organization
9:43
is facing from the people level, listen to the people and begin to articulate change if that's
9:49
what we see. So that's really sort of like what we've been focusing on. I think I'm probably at
9:56
a natural nexus of what impact we're having in terms of people becoming more self-aware
10:02
understanding the limits of their own understanding and beginning to be part of large-scale system
10:08
change. But I think I'm sort of at the precipice between what we've been doing there and what's
10:14
likely next for me. And I'm not sure what that is. Obviously, probably all had to come to Jesus
10:18
in the pandemic and really thinking about what's my worth, what's my value, what should I be doing
10:22
what could I be doing? So I'm in the process of having those questions answered for me within
10:29
And I do know that one place I'm sort of landing is thinking about, so all of this work that we do
10:35
all of this change work that we do, is it really working? And I really have questions about that
10:43
because I think we are in a system, an economic system that requires us to be competitive
10:51
requires us to prove that our organizations are sustainable. And I worry that for change work
10:58
that means that we're not doing all that we can. If we really cared about eradicating poverty
11:06
crime, ensuring that children don't have to beg for food and housing, all of these sort of
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satellite organizations would get together, forget the competition and just get it done
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And we could knock it out of the park. We don't do that. So I think what the change I dream of
11:24
making is envisioning change work within a capitalist system that literally requires change
11:32
work to be its own industry, which disinvies change in the first place
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I love that. And I feel like as we get into this more and more into this conversation
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I would love to revisit that dream and what it would take to arrive there
11:50
Like what would it actually take to arrive there? But so that's a good glimpse for I think where we where we land this plane
11:59
You know, so as we start to settle into this lens of growth mindset and kind of looking at the change sector from how we see it through this lens of limited kind of a fixed mindset and a growth mindset
12:10
I'm curious to hear from each of you your perspective on what it would actually look like for the change sector to have a growth mindset
12:20
What would be different? What would be different about the organizations that you work with, the funders that we have, how we operate
12:31
If our sector, if our change ecosystem was truly embracing a growth mindset
12:39
And feel free for any of you to pop in first if you feel so inspired
12:44
So I'll take that on because I actually want to jump on what Angela was also saying
12:50
So first of all, you have to understand. So so Becca and I work in child welfare. Right
12:55
And Angela, it sounds like you work in those constraints as well. Systems are constrained
13:02
They they are not a growth mindset. And I'm not sure we can ever get a system like a child welfare system
13:09
to have a growth mindset because they have structure rules and regulations. In child
13:18
welfare, it's supposed to be focused around the safety and security of youth. And so, yes
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there are rules, there are constraints that are literally put in place so our youth don't die
13:29
They're not sexually or commercially trafficked. They're not abused. And one has to be
13:35
be cognizant of those rules and respect them. That doesn't mean that organizations cannot act
13:42
with a growth mindset. They absolutely can. In fact, I would say that's what iFoster strives to
13:48
do every single day. That is how we are changing the system is by us being an organization with a
13:56
growth mindset. And what do I mean by that? First, I would say, one, we don't see the constraints of
14:03
clients. So as Becca noted, everybody has, especially in child welfare, you have different
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agencies that are responsible for different children. And we don't do that. We view ourselves
14:17
as being responsible for all children. And how that translates means that we will serve any child
14:23
regardless of the agency they're associated with. And not only that, we will work with those partners
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and share data, share results. So if a young person is referred to us
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and to our jobs program, for example, and we help them get a job
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we fully expect to provide that data back to the agency that referred them
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so that they can use those same metrics with their funders and say
14:51
hey, yes, Johnny got a job. Yes we sent them to an iFoster Jobs program but that should equally be their metrics because then you starting to work together You starting to be the village that supports kids That number one Number two
15:06
I already mentioned that. It's understanding and respecting the constraints and rules that
15:12
exist in your system. You can't just break every single rule. You won't be respected. You won't be
15:19
a trusted player. So you can't go around, you know, throwing rocks at everybody because you
15:27
won't be able to change the system from within that way. So you have to understand the constraints
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of your system, but work around and through them. And then you'll become a trusted agent
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Number three, we absolutely fundamentally believe by us for us. So the majority of people who work
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at iFoster, our current and former foster youth, because you can only change the trajectory of the
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people that you want to help by actually being of that same population. And then four, the last
15:58
thing is we deliver. So when we say we're going to do something, we do it. And then people count
16:05
on us. So for example, just in the state of California this past year, during COVID, the
16:13
The digital divide is a huge issue for kids in foster care. In our little tiny runway window, we went from only 15% of foster youth having access
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to the internet and a computer at home to well over 80%. And we delivered
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We worked through our agency partners. They would identify youth. And within three to five business days, we would have a computer device for free to them
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and an internet device. That kind of delivery, it's not just about talking about it
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You actually have to do. And when you can do, when you are of the community
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and when you respect the constraints that that community is under, then you can have change
16:59
I'd love to speak if that's all right, Angela, but I really resonate with a lot of the things that you say
17:07
I think that in a lot of ways in Tanzania, the child welfare system is so nascent. You know, the social welfare department through the
17:16
government are incredibly hardworking and wonderful people, but they have very few resources
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And so a lot of it is about, again, working through partners as opposed to being able to
17:28
take direct action themselves. What's interesting for me is that I think here
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one of the biggest constraints that we face is actually financial, is that a lot of people are
17:42
afraid to take a risk. They're afraid to work outside of their own, you know, the kids that
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are mine, right? The kids that are my responsibility, because they're afraid that if they do, they're
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not going to be able to meet their existing commitments. And so I think that that scarcity
17:59
of funding and of sort of fallback and of support really, you know, fights against our goal of being
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able to, as Sarita said, you know, look at it. I think in Tanzania, it's very much a community
18:17
mindset that these are the community's children. And I feel very lucky to be able to come in and
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help provide some of the resources that allow them to provide, you know, to take care of the
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children the way that they want to and that the children deserve to be cared for. And so I think
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that making, reducing the scarcity mindset is also part of kind of getting to that cooperative
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place. And sometimes that's a mindset and sometimes it's reality. So it's a struggle
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You can't just kind of tell people, oh, there's plenty of money, don't worry about it. There isn't always plenty of money, especially right now
18:57
I also wanted to add on to what you mentioned about the self-determination and sort of self-leadership
19:04
And I think that that's really important. And it's something that in our organization and with this coalition, we're trying to kind of find how how we can find our sort of comparative advantages
19:16
Right. Like as somebody from the outside, I don't know what the programs should necessarily look like
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or what the most urgent needs are, you know, that needs to come from our team and from the people who live in the community
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But I know how to get funding that they may not have otherwise have access to
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I know how to set up an administrative structure, you know, that will kind of keep things going
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I know how to kind of create systems that will make their work easier
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And so I think finding those places where we can add the most value, you know
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you talk about with, with iFoster being able to kind of take, come in with some of these technological solutions and some of these bigger
19:58
picture solutions for us, it's really about looking at how we can, yeah
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enable more, more organizations to think outside of their own, their own box and really look at better models for children and not just we're
20:13
surviving the way we are. So we don't want to mess with that. I think that's a struggle for everyone
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so i think there's a lot that resonated and what both ladies said so i'll only add this one thing
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and i think it speaks to questions that i see let's see project arjun pranshu i think these
20:31
might also sort of speak to these questions which is um i think it's really i think what a growth
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mindset would look like would be sort of innovating outside of existing infrastructures the
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challenges that nonprofits have is that not only are we sort of dealing with large bureaucratic
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organizations for which they're sort of woefully hesitant for change, but we then also have to
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partner and use their systems. So what the private sector has on us is they're like, I'd like to do
21:02
this. Let's do it. It's never been done before. I'll create it. And we don't get to do that. We're
21:06
like, well, here are all the different levels of bureaucracy at which we have to play to earn trust
21:12
to try and do something that they may allow us to do at some point in the future. And so
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then the layered challenge of that is that the way folks tend to think in large bureaucratic
21:28
sectors, and not even because it's just, you know, they're sort of limited in their own thinking
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but the structure disallows real innovation. If you are asked or desire to innovate
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But you have to do so within parameters. I don't I don't see how anything ever changes
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So what we need is an alleviation of structures that require sort of certain features so that people can have an opportunity to just try something, throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks
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I think the additional piece of what would be growth mindset on the bureaucratic side of things
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is that when they hear something like that, when they hear throw spaghetti at the wall and see if
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it sticks, to not immediately get offended because we're talking about children and families and
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people with lives We don want to test things on people but we can innovate without making an So I find that our hands tend to be tied on several ends And so then what we left with is like okay we going to try to do this good work according to these sort of boxes
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And so that's why we do good work that has impact in fits and starts and little sort of
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measures over time instead of what could be really great change, I think
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I would agree with Angela. I think we are in the lucky position that we bring the resources
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We bring the stuff that child welfare desperately wants for these kids. It's not like they don't want kids to have technology
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They just don't have any money to buy it. It's not like they don't want kids to have tutoring or they don't want kids to have eyeglasses or anything like that
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It's just not in their budgets to make it happen at any kind of scale. So the way we've been able to innovate and work completely differently is because we brought them the stuff they needed. Right. And so so then they're in the position of like, oh, OK, we'll we'll we'll take the stuff, which also means we have to do it the way you want to do it, which is a very different model for for for child welfare
23:43
So I guess we're in that nice place that we're the getters of stuff
23:50
Go ahead. Sorry. I just wanted to share a really, I think, powerful example of what Angela was talking about
23:59
One of the things that we've been looking at as we're growing is looking at funding from larger organizations like USAID and UNICEF
24:07
USAID has this wonderful concept. They have this new partners initiative that they really want. They're saying we want to work with small organizations. We want to work with grassroots people. We want to do all of this
24:18
But in order to apply, you have to get registered through the U.S. government's grant system. And it's taken us two or three months. And we're like a really well-established organization with, you know, people
24:31
There is no way that any of the grassroots organizations that we actually partner with would ever even necessarily be aware of this or be able to access it
24:40
So it's finding a way to kind of make those connections. And I think that creating our own systems is one option. And when we have the funding, we can do that. I think that's what Sarita was talking about a little bit. You have sometimes the ability to kind of create parallel structures that will work. But yeah, it's definitely a challenge. And walking the walk versus talking the talk is sometimes a struggle with funders
25:07
Yeah. And then the behaviors that that forces or that that kind of creates amongst organizational leaders. Right
25:17
And the ego that can come with that and the self-promotion and the you know, and so that people, you know, continue to sort of stay in that limited space
25:26
So just some themes that I want to, you know, just make sure that people really absorb. Right
25:31
This idea of how to have a growth mindset within a limited system and acknowledging some of the limitations of a system and the relationship with the rules that exist
25:45
This concept of scarcity and the scarcity mindset and how that permeates the behavior of people, of organizations, of actors in the space
25:54
the desire, the need to look outside of the box, to move beyond just surviving as an organization
26:00
and grasping with the fact that the current state doesn't really allow that level of innovation
26:08
outside of the box thinking regularly. It's possible, but it doesn't necessarily enable it
26:14
naturally. And really getting to this, when I hear Sarita, you talk about how you're impacting
26:21
organizations, really a glimpse of what it means to start to intersect work in ways that are more
26:29
fluid. So I think a theme coming through really feels like, you know, current state in many ways
26:37
is widgets spinning in place and needing more of a fluidity in the way that we put together and
26:47
think and innovate around how those widgets work with each other to perhaps start to form retool
26:52
rewire move in a direction uh together rather than spin in in place so these are sort of some key and
26:59
interesting themes coming through and to that to that end wanted to shift into this next question
27:04
which is you know what would actually need to happen then in order for this to be possible
27:10
So let's put our growth mindset on and think through, you know, if the system itself were to fully embrace or foster a norm of growth mindset, what we'd need to shift about that operating system, about how we're operating
27:28
How what would need to shift to change the scarcity model back? All right
27:33
What would we need to shift so the system could better support organizations that have a growth mindset
27:38
What has to change about the system to really support ingenuity and innovation, Angela, in the way that you're talking about
27:45
I think that the biggest thing is just connecting the different kind of levels of the different groups of people that are all theoretically working towards the same goal, but from very different perspectives
27:56
So in my area, you know, you have groups of locals who have been doing this work often for decades without any funding, without any support
28:07
You know, sometimes they've been able to hook up with somebody who's excited about their work and is able to do some fundraising for them
28:13
But a lot of it is just I want to keep these kids alive. They're going to die if I don't help
28:18
I'm going to do what I can. And that's really important and powerful work, but it's not looking at how do we do this the best we can
28:27
It's looking at how do we survive, which is great, but it's not
28:31
We're not all the way there yet. And then at the high level, you have, you know, sort of like I said, USAID and UNICEF and these larger funders that are talk a lot about wanting to get down and work with with more local partners
28:46
So I think where our organization and where I see really the possibility of helping to facilitate change is by creating kind of a structure whereby organizations that need the type of, you know, M&E data and, you know, that need sort of very specific things in return for their funding that many grassroots organizations wouldn't be able to provide on their own
29:14
If we can kind of facilitate that and make it possible for these larger funders to get money to where it's really needed in a way that's still looking at, you know, here are the requirements, here's the data that's coming out of it, here's how we're going to do it
29:32
And a lot of it's just, again, about sharing those resources. So one of the concepts within our coalition, one of the big pieces is funding, of course
29:40
looking at bringing in sort of centralized funding to facilitate transition to more effective models
29:48
One of the other pieces is we're looking at specialist teams. So there are organizations all over the country
29:54
Every one of them needs access to a psychologist, to, you know
29:59
a special education person to preventative medic, you know, to physical therapists, things like that
30:08
None of us can afford to hire one on our own. And nobody really needs one five days a week, every week
30:14
So by working in sort of more of a cooperative manner and by pooling resources
30:21
we can do things like hire a group, you know, a group of specialists
30:25
It's a cluster that works with, say, five or 10 organizations one day a week or one day every two weeks
30:32
And really just kind of think creatively about what can be done and how do we get resources to the people who need it
30:39
So these are sort of the start of care coalitions in different countries
30:43
There's a few different really good models. I think Tanzania is ready and we are really excited to kind of be part of helping to just enable the incredible people who've been doing this work for so long to really take it to the next level and do it in a way that meets all of the children's needs and doesn't just sort of, you know, keep them alive for another couple of years
31:09
Because that's the risk is that you just keep within the cycle, break the cycle
31:16
So for us, those are the big pieces. Beautiful. Thank you for that. Angela
31:23
Yeah, I think quick things. One, I think in terms of organizations like ours or other nonprofit organizations, I think within the sector
31:34
there could be a meeting of the minds around how to think about added capacity outside of the organization
31:42
there are tons of one and two person nonprofits, even like myself, we're very small. It's like
31:49
three of us with a handful of contractors. And so being able to authentically collaborate
31:56
right. And like sort of decry the notion of we don't actually talk about competition. I don't
32:01
think we think of ourselves in terms of competition, but it's baked into sort of how we do things
32:05
I think, in the US. So I think if sort of nonprofits were to sort of galvanize themselves
32:12
into larger sort of added capacity organizations we could sort of see a transfer of power into the hands of those nonprofits that would accelerate the pace of the work I think I think external to those actual organizations looking at the funding as Becca mentioned I do think two things One I think it would behoove funders to become a little more
32:35
graduated in their thinking about metrics. And that's not saying that because any of us have
32:41
low expectations or we want to just be floated without results. But it's very difficult to go
32:48
to funders year after year and try and find all of these metrics that make them happy when we know
32:54
we're working within broken systems. So I sometimes wonder if funders could be thinking about metrics
33:00
through the lens of like how the system is shifting, how the system's responding to our work
33:06
as opposed to the actual impact. Like maybe there's a scale, a sliding scale at which
33:11
you know, the first couple of years we look at system response as metrics. And then we look at
33:18
impact at various levels, as opposed to show us all the impact, you didn't meet the mark
33:23
we can't fund you anymore. I also think there's an opportunity for funders to sort of incentivize
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what I was talking about with smaller organizations getting together by saying, we're happy to fund
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you for the next three to five years at this large amount, if collectively you all could do this. And
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I think that would be sort of a synergistic kind of approach potentially
33:47
And to jump in on the funder thing, as we're beating up on funders, let me do some of my own
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I completely agree with that funders just need to get out of the way, quite frankly, most of the time
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And let me give you one case example. Funders can come with their own preconceived ideas of a solution
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and that can be detrimental to what is actually going on on the ground because they're not on the
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ground. I take the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, nothing wrong with them. But if
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you look at what they did to the education system in the United States, first, it was all about small
34:29
school, small class sizes. So everybody rearranged themselves to have small class sizes. Then it was
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oh no, it's all about investing in teachers. And then so whiplash within a couple years
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to investing in teachers. Then it was something else and it whiplashed again
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That not how you drive change That not how you make system change by having one group who by the way is not on the ground is not of the community having that kind of power over the community
35:02
Struggle. Thank you for that. It looks like we have one question from, oh, it just disappeared
35:10
Mahesh. I think you're allowed one question from the audience. Go ahead, Mahesh
35:18
Yeah, so we are kind of running late. This is the last question. Please take 30 seconds
35:22
But it seems like this is the greatest. We have so many people watching more than any other session
35:28
We're going to have a big, longer conference just on this. This is like a burning topic
35:34
So last 30 seconds each, please. And thank you so much. I'll just jump out from here
35:43
And I'm actually going to then, if you have 30 seconds, and I answer this question, I might ask actually just a little bit more of an enticing question
35:51
Sorry, Arjun. I'm curious to know from everything you've said, does all of this conversation
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does it push up against your perception of working within deeply broken systems
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starting over totally rejecting the operating structure? To what extent is it actually possible
36:08
to do what we're trying to do within the system? To what extent does some of this make you
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come to a place like Angela, you were talking about, where sometimes you have to have a come
36:17
to Jesus moment and think about the future. So I'm just curious to get into your minds
36:21
30 seconds each. How does this make you feel about working in deeply broken systems
36:28
Honestly, I think we're really lucky in that the system here is broken, but it's not entrenched
36:36
The system here almost doesn't exist. So there's really a lot of excitement from
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We're working very closely with the social welfare department and with the officers there because they care and they want to do the best that they can
36:49
And they haven't yet been completely broken down by these systems. And so I think that in a lot of ways, we really have an advantage in starting from not nothing, but from a much more basic spot
37:06
But I'm very interested to hear how that works. I think it a different situation in a lot of cases in the US for better and for worse I think I would say that a hard question for me to answer especially as a black person in the US I hear systems and how freely might they change and what do we think
37:26
Listen, I don't know. But I the thing that keeps me from complete apathy and giving up is the idea of I often call our work long work
37:36
Like this is long work. So when people are expecting immediate change tomorrow
37:41
that will require you to just leave and find a new job or drink yourself to death
37:50
I think that if you can interpret your day-to-day work through the lens of
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I'm doing my part in history to advance this particular set of ideals or these practices or
38:03
policies, and then someone else by God is going to pick up what I've done if I've laid the right
38:08
blueprint and take that work so that ultimately there is this reckoning at some point where the
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system either collapses, gets rebuilt, et cetera. I think those are the things that I am hopeful for
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But that's what I think about systems change. I don't think it's short work, it's long work for
38:26
sure. It's definitely long work and I don't think we have an option. If we want to serve
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the most vulnerable children, then we have to go into the systems that are the most broken
38:38
and work and find a way to work in those systems. It's the only way to do it. And as we talk about
38:46
it's one kid at a time. We move one kid at a time. That's what we're doing. And over time
38:53
that will drive a change in the system. But we have no option. That's where our kids are
38:59
And that's where we have to go. So that makes me laugh. The quote that our organization's
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name from is, it goes, we're, we know what we're doing is just a drop in the ocean, but the ocean
39:10
would be less without that drop. We can do no great things, only small things with great love
39:15
So I love that. All right, ladies, we are running out of time now. But Kat, thank you so much for
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all organizing this. Everybody, thank you for joining from different parts of this world. But
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I think we got to do this again. Thank you so much. We love that. Thank you for having us
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