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Culturally Speaking: The South Florida Sunday Podcast
Community Based Connections & Palm Beach County Expansion
00:12:20
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- [00:00]
A
Family. It really does take a village. And one of those organizations you want to be a part of this village for you is Community Based Connections. They recently expanded from Broward up to Palm Beach County. And I want to introduce you to them. So welcome to the show. President and CEO Mike o'. Bell. Can you tell us all about your community based connections and how long you've
- [00:21]
B
been around Community Based Connections? Been around for 16 years. And look, our focus have always been to expand the option that change our children and family to help them be socially and academically responsible. And so go about doing that is making sure that we don't only just touch children through the education system, but we touch them while they're in the community. We touch them while they are in their home. So just last year we put over 16,000 hours of in home intervention in crisis. And these are markers we actually engage our service by. So we're grateful to be in the forefront in Broward and Palm beach of helping create more transformation for families. Right.
- [00:57]
A
You start at home. You know, that's where they grew up, that's where their foundation is made. And you really make sure that they are growing with a strong foundation. Can you talk about some of your programs and services? Because I think they are amazing. I saw something about like the ADAM project. You also work with couples and co parents and single parents.
- [01:14]
B
Yeah. So we have our fatherhood program, Adam. We've been running that program for 13 years called awesome dad, awesome Married Fatherhood Mentoring. And what we do, we're able to mentor fathers. We help them custody of their kids, we help them be able to obtain CDL licenses. We support them with concrete support. But then we do fatherhood engagement with them and their families. We take them fishing, we do bowling nights, we do fathers in the community events. And so we try to find multiple ways to engage those fathers through different access points to make sure we're being effective in the work that we're doing in regards to our HART program. Our HART program is so special because we could serve relative caregivers. We could serve mothers, fathers, married couples, those who desiring to be in a relationship that's over the age of 18 and those who desire to have a child one day. We are able to serve because our job is to make sure we're creating a nurturing environment. Because what people realize is that a healthy human being becomes a healthy family member.
- [02:11]
A
Right.
- [02:12]
B
Maybe a healthy parent and that healthy parent become a healthy community member. So whenever we're able to expand those options, we want to touch people before they even have children right before they decide, I want to bring another human being into this. We want to be at the forefront when we start cultivating with healthy relationships. Too often we've been focused on intervention and not prevention. And so this is a very prevention perspective type of work that we try to take to make sure that families, once they come together, they stay together. And I think that's the goal at the end of the day.
- [02:42]
A
Absolutely. Like I said, this is such an amazing program to me because I haven't heard much like this or anything like this at all. You're really focusing on healing the person before they even become a family.
- [02:52]
B
Absolutely. We call that white glove service because we're looking to provide a higher level of service that people will say, you know what I remember community based connection. And I remember what they did for me and my family, or I remember what they did for me so I can be prepared to have a family one day. And so whenever we're elevating people, we don't just want to elevate them from a financial standpoint, but want to also elevate them from a social, emotional standpoint and a spiritual standpoint. And so we try to meet everybody where they're at.
- [03:21]
A
I really do like how you take care of like the different dynamics of the family life. You have couples couples retreats, you have workshops for co parents and single parents. You would have a job and career advancement services that we kind of just talked about. You said the CDL license. And then you, you also provide the travel services and childcare for those who are attending the workshops. I mean, amazing.
- [03:41]
B
Absolutely. No, it's. Look, you, you gotta remove those barriers so those families can be impacted positively. Right? And so the only way we're gonna do that is we're removing barriers out the way and we're happy. Right? Because you look at those protective factors and so say, are we doing this the right way? Right. Let's eliminate the risk. I mean, think about it. Just last year we spent honestly over $100,000 in rental support, spent another 50,000 in utility support, right? So we spent another over 10,000 in grocery support. So we're removing barriers so that patron can focus on themselves, become a whole person, right? Emotionally, spiritually and financially and physically as well. Because we sometimes we just think the health is just what you go see the doctor, right? I mean, I'm physically healthy, so I'm good. But what about, where's your emotional state? Where's your psychological state in that process? And so we figured in our 16 years of existence as an agency, right? When you eliminate those barriers, that person opened up their world to you. And so we're happy to be on the forefront. We got fatherhood component, we have relative care support, even the grandmas and granddads, you know, who just want know how to be, how do you want become more engaging. And we take evidence based approach to the work that we do. So you know, we're excited about it. At the end of the day, it's all about the social determinants and the health. But you know, we have our own twist with by studying Jeopardy. Canada where we say now social determinants and thrive, right? We don't want this. People are naturally resilient when we create that opportunity for them and they should be able to stand on that focus.
- [05:28]
A
And even more so, when you're teaching people how to prioritize their mental health and how to overcome certain obstacles and then helping them with those resources, you're kind of creating more well adjusted people who maybe in the future may or their offspring may not need the rental assistance or even the grocery assistance.
- [05:46]
B
Right.
- [05:46]
A
And then, you know, I'm so curious because so many people see these make or break issues with families, but you're actually taking the steps to address this. Where did this passion come from and the new effort to like, you know, really help families?
- [06:00]
B
Well, I gotta tell you, I'm a father too. I was raised in a big family and you know, my father was very much engaged in my life. Just really challenged me to meet myself where I see myself being met at. And he always taught me, son, your last name is all you have. And while I know there's a narrative around there, around fathers are absent, I think there's a larger narrative out there that's not being told that fathers are very much present. And so this aspect of making sure family thrives is so important to the work that we're doing. I mean, think about it. We're providing a weekly group session where we feed them, we address their barriers. Most importantly, we're giving them a free space where they can just be themselves and be accepted for who they are. And not, not too many of us have many places we can go where people are just going to accept us where we are. Look, I'm a father. I'll be lying to you if I say I didn't have a moment where I just need to sit in the car for five minutes and just take a deep breath, right? Or I go to a barbershop, I got a bald head, but I go to the barbershop and just listen to the conversation at a barbershop and connect with other men that are right next to me that are experiencing a similar situation that I may be experiencing and having those tough conversations. And so I think, you know, when we look at the work we do at Community Based Connection, we started off this work serving children. We've actually found it on the school ground. But what we found is that you just can't touch the child and don't touch the family because you'll then send that child right back to a home that is toxic, right? So you gotta cure both situations, right? You gotta cure the child while they're at school and then you gotta do an in home intervention to cure that the parents while they're at home. And that now that child is walking back into a home, right? Reinforcing what he learned at school or what she learned at school and walking into a home with that same learning environment that's taking place with the adults. And I think that's what helps us expand the option that change the odds.
- [08:06]
A
And I have no doubt that you've changed so many lives after 16 years. So many people just you've come in contact with. What is one of your favorite stories that kind of shows your impact, if you have one.
- [08:16]
B
That is such a hard question, but my favorite story was a father who was just released from prison. He had been out for about a week and he was told to come to our group session. And when he came to our group session, he, he noticed other men being vulnerable about who they are. Emotionally vulnerable, spiritually vulnerable. Right? Just being vulnerable all together. And these are men who are making a certain salary in life. And then these are also men who are not making certain sounds, just making it above. And I will tell you, it was a two hour session and before he left he said, guys, I just want to admit to something. Had I not come here today, I would have went home and committed suicide. But before I would do that, I would have taken the life of my wife. That's a testament that change can happen when the space to be yourself and to speak, the challenges you're going through are given. And many of us, sometimes people think just because you make a certain salary in life that you don't need help or you don't need a safe place. Can I tell you, I have come across many other CEOs who's in dire need of a safe space. But because they hold a certain political position, because they hold a certain image, they can't share some of their challenges. And so we create a safe place for them. So, you know, these are kind of stories we come across. Or another story is the mother of six who survived domestic violence and became a nurse after our services. So it's those kind of stories that helps us get up every morning and fight for a good cause.
- [09:54]
A
Before, you were just in Broward county, but you've recently expanded to Palm Beach County. Can you tell us about the recent expansion and who can also take part in your services as well?
- [10:04]
B
First of all, everybody can take part of our services. We received a federal grant, 1.25 per year for the next five years that would afford us the opportunity to serve families, especially those that desire to be in a relationship, those that are married, those who have a child, thinking about having child, that are 18 and older, we are able to serve them. And so that part of the expansion came from the Office of Children and Families. It was very impactful to be able to receive such Grant after over 14 years of putting in the work. And here we are in year 16 being able to receive such federal grant. And that was just a blessing, to be honest with you, to be able to make a impact now in Palm Beach. And I'm so grateful people at Palm beach because they have truly opened their doors to us. I mean, we're seeing a system that are opening doors to us now. And so we're grateful for such opportunity, grateful to make an impact already in
- [11:01]
A
Palm beach, such an amazing organization. And I'm so glad that you were able to come on this show with us and, you know, really share this, because what you are doing, you're changing the lives of so many people, and you're really going to make a better society by what you are doing and, and the effort you are putting into our society. Are you looking for any help? Volunteers, endorsements, sponsorships?
- [11:22]
B
We always looking for sponsorship and corporate partners to partner with to help us place people into employment opportunity. We know there's a labor crisis right now, and we know that in Palm BEACH you have $38 billion in new opportunities coming. And so we want to make sure we help the county meet its labor market. We want to make sure we help families become more, create more home ownership, because that's how you create generational wealth. Right? That's one of many ways you can create generational wealth. But we want to make sure that we call our partners, call our corporate partners. Those who desire to volunteer with us, desire to be alongside of the work that we're doing, please connect with us, call our office at 954-908-5249. That's 954-908-5239. Or visit our website www.communitybase. and that's with a D base connectionswitha s. Com communitybaseconnections. Com.