Brandon Feller - Navigating the Transition to Independence with United Way's Residential Program

Discover the transformative journey of young adults forging paths to independence with Brandon Feller, President of United Way of Delaware County, as we explore the life-changing Young Adult Transitional Living Program. This episode introduces the newest program at United Way of Delaware Ohio that aims to empower young adults living on their own essential life skills to foster self-reliance. We shed light on the complex challenges these individuals face, emphasizing the importance of stable housing and the meticulous support that helps prevent a slide back into crisis.

Dive into an insightful conversation about the Transitional Housing Program for Young Adults, where we uncover the financial nuts and bolts of making a difference. With an annual budget hovering around $350,000 and initial investment costs, learn how these funds catalyze a two-year journey towards autonomy for young adults accepted into the program. Hear about the program's close ties with Ohio Wesleyan University, the thought process behind the site selection, and how the community can lend a hand.

In the spirit of fostering community strength, join us as we reflect on the services and impact of the Strengthening Families Hub and the significant role of food pantries in the community. We touch upon the wide-reaching support the hub provides, from after-school programs to mentorship, and confront the growing challenges that food banks face amid escalating demands and food costs. Wrapping up with a heartfelt discussion on the essence of gratitude, this episode is not only a testament to the tireless work of the United Way but also an invitation to cherish and contribute to the wellbeing of families and individuals within our communities.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Time to hustle America. Roll up our sleeves and make dreams happen. Midwest momentum brings you stories of CEOs, startups, product development and founders doing whatever it takes to make their big idea happen. Here's the West momentum. Holds Michelle Gatchel.

Speaker 2: 0:21

Who's the season to be thankful, and my guest today is from an organization that provides services that I think a lot of people are thankful for United Way of Delaware County. President Brandon Feller, thank you so much for being here.

Speaker 3: 0:40

Well, thanks for having me.

Speaker 2: 0:40

I'm happy to be here the thing that caught my eye recently was you guys did an announcement about the United Way Young Adult transitional living program and I think that's fantastic, because I do think the age between 18 and 24, especially in foster care, you, you age out of foster care and then what do you do? You got nobody for in your corner, and this is a great thing you guys are doing.

Speaker 3: 1:06

Yeah, well, thank you and it's.

Speaker 3: 1:08

We're a little bit non-traditional, you know, in terms of United Ways. This isn't a typical United Way program or service. But it's kind of been a hallmark of of United Way of Delaware County to grow and evolve as the the needs and challenges in the community evolve and change. And one of the things that kept coming up over and over were students or former students in the various school districts that would be referred to us. That might be 18, 19 that just had no place to stay. They were either Going from couch to couch, they sometimes were in their car sleeping, sometimes were even out on the land and had really no stable housing and it was a mix.

Speaker 3: 2:02

So sometimes it could be that they had emancipated from, from foster care In in some cases it just may be an unstable family environment that that maybe they could have benefited from foster care at some point in their life because of the instability in their home life. But Something has happened that's that's created this situation when they don't have a place to live and if you can imagine being, you know it's hard to. It's hard to buy a home or you acquire a one-bedroom apartment In Delaware County with that way the housing is now, you know at any age, let alone be 18, 19 years old, without established credit, without a certain income level. When you have something become available and A landlord has immediately 20 people lined up that you know, maybe you know, or middle-aged, have established credit and you know, or have a household income of seventy five thousand dollars, you know who you're gonna rent to.

Speaker 3: 3:07

It's not gonna be the 18 or 19 year old. So what are you gonna do? And so these are individuals that we just Really struggled over the years to figure out. How can we help them? Because we didn't have a local resource and we knew that we needed More help and assistance than than a short-term Shelter of 30 or 45 days. That's not enough time to turn it around and and help them, provide stability. They they need six months, 12 months, 18 months, in some cases two years to Find a job, to build skills, build basic life skills, you know, financial literacy, cooking, how to take care of a car, things like that that maybe they didn't have an adult mentor in their life to teach them and Get them really prepared to save and move out and be independent and successful, so that we don't see them return back and kind of boomerang back into a constant crisis situation and always needing assistance.

Speaker 3: 4:11

So that's really what we set out to do was really to find an organization that could help provide that service and, honestly, we couldn't find one that was interested at the time and maybe coming to Delaware County to provide that service, and so Eventually we just said you know what somebody's got to do it might as well be us, and so we set out to Learn about the issue. We visited six different programs that provide this service across the state of Ohio. We took a Months long course To to prepare for this and took several years of planning and laying out the strategy, and then ultimately bought a property and Did some refurbishing and we're able to open, finish the renovation this summer and then open and get it staffed this fall.

Speaker 2: 5:03

Wow, fantastic. So you visited several places. A million things come to my mind, like do you put girls and boys together? What kind of security is there to make sure that they feel safe and stay safe there? Then, what services like? You mentioned a couple of things that are good for them to learn to get back on their feet, but all of that stuff is that month-long course you mentioned. Did you learn all that in that month-long course or how did that work?

Speaker 3: 5:32

Yeah, well, it actually was months long, it was many months, and yeah, that's part of it. And then also, one of the benefits of just being the United Way is just the partnerships that we inherently have with many other social service agencies. So that's one of the strengths is bringing a network of other excellent organizations to the table in terms of providing a network of wraparound services, whether it's medical care or mental health or addiction or whatever it may be that we are already plugged in and connected with many different community partners that we can provide those wraparound services with. But to your earlier point, you're so right. It's probably the most complex program that I've ever been involved with, because there are so many things to consider, from security to and yes, to answer your question it is co-ed because what we have done is the property has five bedrooms.

Speaker 3: 6:42

They are private bedrooms and so what we wanted to do is provide a safe, a stable place that somebody can have a private bedroom, not have to go to a place where there's multiple bunk beds, worry about their things getting touched or stolen, and feel like they've got a home. They've got a bedroom that serves for most of the people that we work with. They've never had that Our first move in. One of the things that that resident said was I've never. She hasn't had a bedroom for years and hasn't had a closet, and, as being the first one to move in, she had five bedrooms to choose from and wouldn't she know she went for the bedroom with the biggest closet.

Speaker 2: 7:32

Nice If it was a she. I totally get that.

Speaker 3: 7:35

Yeah, that was perfect, but they will have private bedrooms and because of it is staff 24-7 with trained staff that we provide. It is co-ed and so that's a nice benefit, is it?

Speaker 2: 7:53

set up like I'm going to say, a fraternity or sorority, like we had a house mother in my sorority. She lived in there. She had an apartment in the first floor. We always knew we could go to her with anything. Is it something like that?

Speaker 3: 8:06

Staff don't live there, but staff maintain an office in the property 24-7, and their title is Cooch.

Speaker 3: 8:17

There are the coaches of the house and so it is kind of in that model.

Speaker 3: 8:20

They're there to make sure that everything is safe and the place doesn't burn down, but they're also there to work with the residents if there's a situation that comes up, to do any conflict resolution, to work with them on budgeting, on helping to find a job, to make connections in the community, to get signed up for resources. They are there to be a coach and a mentor throughout that process. And so providing that onsite mentorship and accountability was very important for this program. We didn't want to just establish a shelter and pack as many people into a building as possible, because we knew that that would just lead to quick turnover. People would filter in and out very quickly and we wouldn't get to a lasting impact or a change. We wanted to go with maybe a smaller number served, but a deeper and longer impact so where we can actually work with them long enough and in a most significant way to alter the course and direction and outcome of their life, so that they have had a true positive impact in our setup for success and removed as many barriers as possible.

Speaker 2: 9:46

So how do you guys find and accept the young adults that you do?

Speaker 3: 9:52

So referrals come from many different places. Oftentimes it comes from various school districts, because these are young adults that maybe only the only trusted adult relationship they ever had was with a teacher, a counselor, a superintendent, a coach, and they reached back out to those individuals even after they've left school when something has gone wrong in their life, to say, hey, I need some help, I need some guidance. And so we get a lot of referrals from there and then from other community partners and agencies that are working with this population in all populations that are either homeless or reaching out for assistance, whether it be for food or for housing or whatever the case may be. But our biggest referral piece has been from the school districts, also a great partnership with jobs and family services and juvenile court, and so there's multiple different ways to receive a referral. We also are able to work with an individual if there is not space at the time in the house or if it's been determined because of the background of the individual that maybe they're not the best fit to move into the home or at that they're not quite ready to be a part of the program and move into the home. We can still work with them outside of being in residential care and do case management with them. We can still partner with them and link them to services and work with them on job skills, on financial literacy, getting connected to mental health services, things like that, even if they're not able to move into the home.

Speaker 3: 11:45

It's definitely not just a shelter, a roof over your head. It's a program. It's something that you have to be motivated to be a part of. You have to be in a place where you want to either work or go to school to attain a certificate or a degree or something that's going to set you up for the ability to earn and get independent. There's this screening process for this and we want to make sure that people are serious about this opportunity, because if they're not, then they're just going to be taking up space for somebody that maybe would really take advantage of that opportunity. We want to make sure that we provide the best opportunity for those that are willing to work the program and be a success.

Speaker 2: 12:42

What does a program like this cost you guys?

Speaker 3: 12:45

An annual budget is about $350,000 a year and it costs to purchase the home and to do the renovations and to get up and started. It was around $600,000, $650,000. We were fortunate enough to do that in a pretty short amount of time through a capital campaign, and a lot of individuals and companies and organizations were very generous and allowed us to do that. We found a property that we felt was just perfect and beautiful. We wanted it to be a safe and inviting place that anybody would be proud to call home and in easy walking distance to downtown Delaware, to jobs, to services.

Speaker 3: 13:34

We have a partnership with the health district to borrow bikes so that they help provide bikes so they can get around when it's decent weather and borrow bikes to get out if they don't have transportation otherwise. But if it's something in downtown Delaware they can easily walk and we love that. It's also in a neighborhood that is so close to Ohio Wesleyan University that it's just used to young adults. It's used to 18 to 24 year olds. It doesn't stick out in a way that it might in other neighborhoods that neighbors would say what is this? Why are all these young people always coming and going, if very much blends with this neighborhood, so it was just a great, perfect location for us.

Speaker 2: 14:21

Great. So if someone hears this this morning on the radio or in the podcast online and they want to reach out to United Way and maybe look into this, how they could get in the program.

Speaker 3: 14:41

Absolutely. They can visit our website or give us a call. Our phone number is 614-436-8929. The website is liveuniteddellawarecountyorg. We'd be happy to talk to them and find out what their situation is. They may know someone.

Speaker 3: 15:04

If you work in a school district, if you're a teacher, if you're a janitor, you know, tuck this information away. You may come across a student that may know this. I know we say 18 to 24, but you know there are a number of seniors that we've seen I think three in the last few years that have turned 18, their senior year of high school and become homeless when they turned 18 and needed and two of them had scholarships to go to college. But between that senior year of school and becoming homeless and college freshman year, they had no place to live. It happens, and it happens more than we realize, and it doesn't just happen in the city of Delaware. We've seen it with Buckeye Valley kids. We've seen it with Olin Tangy kids. We've seen it with Big Walnut kids. It really is a situation that is countywide. But it's good information to have so that if something comes up and you know that it's a relevant referral, it might be a good fit or it's worth investigating. Share the information and we'll be happy to follow up.

Speaker 2: 16:13

So one last question about this how long do they live there? Is there a set time? They have to kind of educate themselves and be on their own.

Speaker 3: 16:23

Yeah, so they have up to two years, which is amazing. It really gives enough time to we work with them to start saving. We establish a savings account with them and work toward getting employment if they're not employed, and start saving toward being able to move out and be independent and to have the skills to maintain that. But that's the beauty of the program is that it's not come in and find some respite for 60 days and then you're back out on your feet. That's not enough time. So it's up to two years.

Speaker 3: 16:58

For some individuals they may just need a few months or six months. They may be in between a situation and there's a gap that they need some help during that gap, and so it may be shorter for some and there will be some that they need every bit of those two years. And so that's the flexibility of the program and we're just happy to be able to provide it and kind of pay it forward and make sure that we're investing now in this age group and this generation, because I think if we don't invest now in that age, we're going to invest at a much higher level with more dollars. Down the road it's going to be much more expensive to taxpayers.

Speaker 2: 17:46

Wow, that's so true. Well, let's talk about you know, before that program you had the what was it? Strengthening Families Hub, right?

Speaker 3: 17:57

Yeah, yeah, absolutely Still do.

Speaker 2: 17:58

Still do Okay. So what's that program as well.

Speaker 3: 18:04

So in 2017, we opened the Strengthening Families Hub at Willis Education Center at 74 West William in Delaware, at the former Willis School, and that was a great place and is a great place for after school programming for middle school kids. There's a STEM club, there's a teen room for kids can come on specific days and come for after school activities, mentorship, food, a safe place to have positive interactions with other kids and adults and stay out of trouble and get their homework done, and that sort of a thing. There's girls and boys running clubs, there's reading clubs, there's all kinds of different activities. That really is. It's meant to removing barriers to academic success, identifying some of the other issues that might be going on that they need addressed for their family, because that sometimes it's. You know that they need to access the food pantry, or you know we hear that the water got shut off and so, okay, how can we get them linked to programming to get help with the water bill or things like that? That affects the entire family and these are issues that keep kids from learning, keep kids out of school and from succeeding.

Speaker 3: 19:30

So how do we keep that? Keep that going and make sure that families are successful? Also, there, we have got a food pantry. We've got a diaper bank, including, you know, infant and toddler diapers on up to adult diapers. We've got the Family Resource Center, which is an organization that's under our management. That is a place where people can come to solve different issues that they're facing, whether it's signing up for services that they need help with or finding resources if they're behind on rent or utilities and things like that. There's just a lot of different programs and services under one roof as a one-stop shop, and so that's what we wanted to provide was a great place for families to come and find activities for the kids and help for the parents.

Speaker 2: 20:26

Which is huge. I feel like every parent almost like you have a kid and you get a lot of advice when you first have a kid and then you're on your own for the next 17 years. It's like we need, along with school for the kids. We need to do like a little, you know, yearly, like doctors do updates. Parents get updates every year. I think they'd love that You're a parent. What do you think, brandon?

Speaker 3: 20:54

Yeah, absolutely, and it's not just, you know, certain income. The beauty of the programming is that we have families of all different incomes that are benefiting because we have, you know, we have homeschool families that are, you know, we're looking for opportunities for their kids to get involved in clubs. We have other kids that you know maybe they're not low income but they have some other social anxieties and their parents are looking for opportunities for them to engage with other kids their age, but on smaller group levels, to practice some of those social skills. So it's really not about a certain income level, it's an opportunity for all Delaware County families.

Speaker 2: 21:36

Fantastic. Well, you mentioned food pantries and TIS this season, where people are looking to give money, let's just say, but food pantries are getting hit really hard right now.

Speaker 3: 21:49

It's. We manage the Delaware County Hunger Alliance and that's a network of all the various food pantries that everyone is familiar with and the information that's coming out of our pantry providers locally is a little alarming that you know they're just getting inundated with folks looking for food and you know they'll open for the day, stocked and ready to go and finish the day, wiped out Shelfs, bear and scrambling for how they're going to refill the shelves and restock for the next day or the next time that they open and be ready to serve the public. So this is this is significant. There's an increase in demand and increase in traffic seeking services and then also it's harder to get the food.

Speaker 3: 22:39

It's right, food's more expensive. We are able to get some things through Mid Ohio food collective, other things we can't rely heavily on donated foods. Sometimes pantries can go buy some foods at different places, but food's more expensive and if it's more expensive the average family like, like you or I, that might go out and buy a little extra and, you know, spend another, you know 30 or 40 bucks when we do our grocery shopping to buy some things to donate. That doesn't go as far as it used to and so you know, less gets donated for those food drives and things like that.

Speaker 2: 23:17

So is it better? To help hands or money.

Speaker 3: 23:21

You know it, both money goes a long way and when food is available through Mid Ohio food collective because they are able to buy at scale.

Speaker 3: 23:30

And so money can go a very, very long way. Some things, some products are never available through through that network, and so there are times that it's it's. You know pantries, you know, need direct donations of a certain thing. You know peanut butter is a great protein. Serials are always good. Ramen noodles are great. You know things like that, and every pantry will have a list of things that they're looking for that they've been short on. You know canned proteins like tuna fish or canned chicken. You know things like that. Can vegetables those are always good.

Speaker 3: 24:10

If you're clearing out your pantry, always check your expiration date. If it's expired, you know. If it's not something you would eat, don't donate it. That's not helpful. But think about what you can do, whether it whether it is through a financial contribution or through buying a little extra, or if you're a part of a church or an organization or a network of friends that gets together for a holiday party and you say, hey, this year let's everybody bring a sack of food to the, to the party and we're going to donate it to the local pantry. That sort of thing goes a long way to helping. Unexpectedly, the pantries say, oh my gosh, we didn't even know this was coming. This saved the day, because we didn't know how we were going to fill the shelves for the next day. That helps a lot.

Speaker 2: 24:56

Yeah, and so how do people find the hunger alliance to find food pantries to go donate to?

Speaker 3: 25:04

They can go to Delaware County hunger org or they can also same website as before. They can go to live United, live United Delaware County org, our United Way Website, and they can find the hunger alliance from that page as well.

Speaker 2: 25:19

And I don't want to end this show without talking about being able to volunteer for the United Way. You have so many different ways that people can volunteer. What are some areas that you're needing right now, and how do people find you know what should they do to volunteer?

Speaker 3: 25:35

There's different. First thing, I think people need to look at what, what they're passionate about and and what they're interested in and and have an idea of that and then you know, give us a call, you stop in or give us a call and and we have staff that Help manage the volunteer opportunities and we can help match the right opportunity. We have some volunteers that come in. The only thing they do is come in once a year at this time of year and they help us wrap presents, because we we sponsor about 120 kids Through our network of donors for the holidays and buying Christmas gifts and those things got to get wrapped and so we've got a team of volunteers that come in and they wrap Christmas presents and they love it and that's their gift. We've got a team of volunteers that help us maintain a clothing room, that that Keeps a nice little shop available for some of the clients that we're working with.

Speaker 3: 26:28

We've got you know a lot of people are familiar with supplies for scholars in the back-to-school program for free backpacks and school supplies Across Delaware County. That's a program of United Way. We've got scores of volunteer opportunities in the summer with supplies for scholars. We've got, if you have a STEM background, a science background, engineering background, things like that. We're always looking for advisors that are good with working with middle school kids, that have a science background, that want to come in once, once a week or a couple times a month of an afternoon and work with those students on on different projects. So there's different ways to engage, whether it's directly or Kind of behind the scenes, or you just say I can, I can come in, you know, and make some phone calls, or you know stuff, letters and things like that. There's really all kinds of different ways. But you know, give us a call or stop in and we can help match your interests and skills and passions with the right opportunity for you perfect.

Speaker 2: 27:28

And I Also have to ask what was it in your life that inspired you to work for United Way? You know it was.

Speaker 3: 27:38

It was interesting. I kind of took a roundabout way To get here. I didn't think I didn't set out to work for nonprofits and yet I did. I have my entire career. However, I think, if I look back at it, I always my my parents were never In the nonprofit sector, but I constantly saw them helping they were. They were always giving back. They were always doing something. You know, my, my dad was an electrician. He was always helping you know some. You know an elderly lady and not charging her. My mom had a co-worker. She was a nurse. She had a co-worker who, who needed transportation, didn't have a car. They had an extra car. She gave that car to her co-worker so that he could drive to work. They were always giving and I think that, just you know, embedded in me.

Speaker 2: 28:40

Nice and we are on the Thanksgiving week, brandon, what do you think before?

Speaker 3: 28:48

What am I thinking? I, you know, I think I, you know I have to be thankful for For family and for health, and I think those are things that sometimes we can take for granted and we shouldn't. And if we have, if we have family that we are close with or connected to, we should be thankful. And if we have Our health, we should be thankful. And I've had the opportunity, you know, recently to reconnect with, with some extended family and then to be able to get back to my home state and visit with my, with my parents, you know. So I'm just thankful for that opportunity that I still have my parents and then I have some extended family that I'm able to connect with. So that's what I'm thankful for. If you still have that and you haven't taken advantage of that or you've taken it for granted, fix it and do it quick.

Speaker 2: 29:34

Well, brandon, thank you so much for joining me on Midwest momentum and Sharing with us some of the fantastic programs at the United Way of Delaware County of Ohio. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 3: 29:47

Thanks for listening.

Speaker 1: 29:48

Thanks for listening to Midwest momentum.