Welcome, everybody, to Midday Magazine for this Wednesday, November 13th, 2024.
Have your host, James J. Mailoff here, and today we are welcoming, and of course, our
friends from Encourage.
We have Kim Shields, Community Foundation member over here with us, Kim.
Nice to see you.
Great to see you.
Kim, you brought in the friend, as you guys like to do from Encourage, let's introduce
Tessa.
Great.
Hi, Tessa.
This is Tessa Grosinski from Lincoln High School and River City's High School.
Yeah, we'll be talking with Tessa a little bit.
Tessa, thanks for joining us.
Thank you.
Yes, I am the family's in transition coordinator for the district, and then I'm also a school
social worker at the schools that Kim mentioned.
We'll have more on that in just a moment, and thanks again so much for being here, Tessa.
Kim, if you don't mind, I'd like to start out with this week that we're in right now.
It's Community Foundation week.
Yes, it is.
Thank you so much.
So there's a lot of things to celebrate this year.
We have our 30th anniversary.
I personally celebrated my 20th anniversary with the Community Foundation.
Thank you so much.
Congratulations.
And yesterday, Community Foundation week started.
So it runs November 12th to the 18th, and it's really a great time to celebrate all community
foundations.
The work we do in our individual communities and with partnering with other nonprofits
in our communities.
As a nonprofit organization, and one that is a community foundation, we are place-based,
so we serve the Southwood County area and Northern Adams County in the tone of Rome.
And it really is about working with others, solving issues in the community, creating
positive change, lifting others up.
So I'm so thrilled to always be able to bring in a guest like Tessa today, and just to
highlight the good work and all the services that are provided in our community to support
our residents.
It's an incredible work, and we're fortunate that we have
encouraged in our community, and we have the good people, the team that you guys have
over there doing this work.
Thank you.
Especially the opportunities and different things that are involved with encourage.
And a perfect time to bring that up in a week that we have like this, the matching donation
opportunities, things like that can.
Yes, we are so pleased.
We have an anonymous donor that is providing a dollar for Dollar Match for all gifts made
to support, encourage, and our work through the end of the year.
So we are just so honored to be selected as the synonymous donors current giving.
And to be able to double everybody's donations is wonderful, we are so appreciative.
There's online scholarships available right now as well, we want to remind everybody about
that.
Yes, so our online scholarship application will actually open on December 16th, I've been
in contact with all of our local guidance counselors, and I will be having some meetings
at some of the schools as well.
That application is open for six weeks, like it always is, so there's, you know, we'll
be sending reminders and keep an eye on social media, keep in touch with schools.
It does close on January 24th.
So the period this year is Monday, December 16th through January, Friday, January 24th.
And if you're a parent or a guardian or anybody out there wondering if your kid might be available,
they could be about, you know, you as one of these scholarships and be able to be able
to accept one of these scholarships, reach out to Kim, reach out to encourage and find
out because there's, it seems like almost every year we hear of people that didn't know
about some of these scholarships.
Right.
Right.
And it's really nice.
We have that online application process and so a student feels out the one application
and they are considered for every single scholarship that they're eligible for.
We have an incredible number of scholarships, there will be over 195 scholarships available
for this upcoming school year.
And we have our 2025 scholarship catalog online.
So that's, I'll give you the website later too, but it's encouragecf.org and it's on
the For Students tab.
Scroll down to catalog and launch it.
It's incredible to read the stories.
Yeah, really is.
I've looked at that before.
It's really wonderful.
And we'll again, like Kim said, we'll give you that information again before we wrap up.
While we're kind of scratching the surface here, Kim, because there's so many other various
community things you guys take care of too.
Yes.
Right now, this is the time of year where a lot of our supporters are interested in what
are some of the community needs that exist in our community.
And we receive grant requests throughout the year.
We have a responsive process, so it's not a quarterly deadline or anything like that.
It's responsive.
As needs arise, reach out to us in an application if you're a nonprofit organization or a group
of community residents.
And so from these, from these requests that we receive and conversations I have, proactive
research I'm doing, reaching out, trying to learn what the needs are in the community.
I do put together what's called encouraging action.
And I create that specifically for our donor advisors.
However, everybody can contribute and make a difference in our community.
So we started making sure that the information was made public.
And we have it on our website as well.
So if I could just highlight a few of the needs that are happening right now.
This is, again, this is not all inclusive, so there are so many needs in the community.
But a couple that people ask about pretty consistently.
I think everybody knows or knows somebody that may tap into focus, right?
Addressing food insecurities in our community.
They have several different programs.
They have the food pantry.
They offer neighborhood meals.
They have the family backpack program.
And they also do a holiday basket at Christmas time.
It's actually mid-December that they distribute them.
And so in having conversations, the family backpack program is really seeing an increase
need.
Just two years ago, there were 99 backpack sent home with students every week, right?
Last year it went to 165.
When I first had a conversation for the information in here, and it says 193 in this encouraging
action, however, I just talked with them yesterday, and it's over 200.
So there is an increased need.
It's growing.
The family backpack program serves the Wisconsin Rapids public schools.
There are some students in the Port Edwards schools as well.
The offer has been made for assumption, but I understand that they're taking care of
those needs in a different manner.
And Akusa also has their own backpack program.
The one in here is for focus.
Also their pantry needs.
They are more and more people are accessing the pantry.
People have come back just from COVID alone, and since then.
And so they are seeing a huge need where they're needing to stock in the middle of the
day.
And they always, they need volunteers as well.
Yeah.
And a big thank you to everybody over there at Focus and the amazing work they're doing
over there.
We appreciate them.
Yes.
Absolutely.
Another really big need.
People may be aware of this as the family center.
The family center serves residents in crisis in our community that have unfortunately suffered
domestic abuse or sexual abuse.
And I really like this tagline, even though it's very sad, everyone knows someone.
And that is so true.
And unfortunately they were facing some incredible funding cuts last year.
And I know family center does come on the radio, so the listeners may be aware.
But they had a 70% funding cut for federal dollars.
And there was a huge need.
Last month was domestic violence awareness month.
And it's a great time to continue to highlight, yes, that was celebrated.
And that's an air quotes because there's nothing to celebrate about violence.
But it's important to keep that in mind year round.
And even though the national month may have passed, we want to remember that and keep
that in mind, especially as the holidays and extra stressors come up.
Yeah, I've mentioned in the audience as familiar.
I'm a board member of the Wisconsin-Rabbitz Family Center.
And when these cuts happened, I broke the news on the air.
I told everybody as soon as I could.
And I've mentioned it every chance I get.
And I do that in part for the tagline, like you mentioned, that everybody knows somebody.
There is no more six degrees separation.
We're talking maybe one or two degrees if that.
I talk about it as well because I'm proud that we are in a day and age where we're
here.
We've made some movement on this subject.
We're talking about this in an open voice.
We're talking about it in the middle of the day here in the afternoon, if you will.
And that's an improvement.
That's great.
But there is work to be done.
And with all that work and with everything on our plate and everything coming out of
the stats, we're seeing out of the pandemic and all that.
And we have our government decide to cut 70% of our budget.
That is American families being affected by that.
Absolutely.
There are specifically rural families being affected by that.
And we can't we can't I don't expect them to do much, but I do expect I do hope for
our community too.
And we've seen that.
We've seen this community step up and help the family center.
If you're looking and paying attention to the news, it is not just our family center,
family, places like this domestic violence shelters around the country have had their
funding cut.
Absolutely.
And thankfully, I'm seeing this kind of movement go on throughout the whole country of people
supporting this and supporting the people that need it.
And if this doesn't affect, you think this doesn't affect you, it affects your taxes.
And without a family center, those taxes would shoot through the roof.
The more we bring down these numbers of domestic violence, the better it'll be for your
taxes.
That is just the most little reason I can think of.
There's a billion other reasons to be doing this.
But for those that I can't reach your heart, maybe I could reach your wallet, that affects
that.
And there is a domino effect with these things.
So more than ever, we need help at the family center.
Absolutely.
And they're serving, they're at capacity, they're actually overcapacity.
So they are busting at the seams.
They are utilizing every secondary housing option they have for these families.
And I did ask if I could share, what does that mean?
And it's almost $270,000.
That is a lot of money.
That's way more than the cost of my house.
So you look at that as a nonprofit organization and services.
And then it equals people, like you said.
Familyctr.org, if you want to learn more about what's going on with the family center
and how you can impact it and how you can help.
Our local public schools are wrapping up here.
Yes, absolutely.
So the caring, each of our local public schools has a caring closet.
In port edwards, they have one at the elementary building.
And then the middle high school building, those are overseen by their guidance departments.
And the school social staff.
And so if anybody isn't in need in those districts, we encourage you to reach out to your schools
for assistance.
At Nacusa, they have three different caring closets, one in each of their buildings.
Again, it's their counseling department.
At the high school, it's one of the student council leaders actually helps oversee it with
a bunch of the students.
So if you are in need, again, reach out.
And then at Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools, Tessa has a lot of information about that
one.
Yes.
So we also have a main caring closet that all of our schools can pull from.
So those caring closets include clothing, shoes, and hygiene supplies.
And they can be accessed by any WRPS family in need.
We do have some current needs for our caring closet, some men's and boys' athletic
pants, girls' and women's leggings, and athletic pants, any new underwear in both boys'
girls' women's and men's sizes.
And we're also always in need of volunteers to store clothes and hang clothes up in our
caring closet.
And so if anyone is interested in volunteering, the number to call would be 715-424-6700.
And the extension is 1078.
Any donations can be dropped off at our district office, which is 510 Peach Street.
And we'll make sure to mention that again before we wrap up and certainly in our morning
shows and get more attention to this.
I appreciate you both bringing this up and the work being done on this one.
We're speaking with Kim Shields from Encourage as well as Tessa Smith.
I'm just going to say Smith.
No, I'm joking.
Tessa, I appreciate you joining us.
Could you say your last name for me?
Gersinski.
Oh, I would have had it.
Actually, I thought that's how it's out.
It looks like it sounds.
Well, Tessa, thank you so much for being here.
As I mentioned with the Family Center, this is a topic the audience knows.
I come at this one quite a bit.
When it comes to homelessness, when it comes to that situation, it's something that
I saw quite a bit as a child where I grew up.
And it's something that stayed with me my whole life.
I care very much about this topic.
And I was very excited to talk with you about it, especially there's things in here that
I think that maybe our audience is going to learn or relearn.
So Tessa, let's dive right in.
What is the Families and Transition Program?
Okay.
So our WRPS Families and Transition Program supports students and families who are experiencing
homelessness.
So it provides supports and the rights outlined in McKinney Venture Homeless Assistance
Act.
And if you're not familiar with the McKinney Venture Homeless Assistance Act, it's designed
to address challenges that homeless children and youth have faced in enrolling, attending,
and succeeding in school.
And we do that by reducing or eliminating barriers that may exist to those things.
So McKinney Venture defines homelessness as anyone who lacks a fixed, regular, and
adequate nighttime residence.
And this can include living in an emergency shelter or transitional housing, motels, hotels,
campgrounds, cars, parks, other public places, also living doubled up with friends or family
due to the loss of housing.
And also unaccompanied youths, so children under the age of 18 who are living without
a parent or a guardian and aren't in a fixed, regular, and adequate residence.
Hmm.
So touching on a little bit of who this program serves and how does a family qualify for
this, Tessa?
Yep.
So families qualify in a variety of ways.
They can reach out to me or their school social worker at their children's school.
We also have an enrollment or housing question on our enrollment paperwork that kind of drills
down to situations that could be covered under McKinney Venture and then staff reach out
to those families.
You know, I know that for some out there, this might seem like an odd question, but being
in this environment, growing up in this environment, I will say, is this something you run into
from time to time too, as well, Tessa, somebody asking if they, if they, them and their family
would fit this, I think there are families on the board, they're on the edge there.
We hear this from the else report from the United Way.
There are families that may not even realize they, they qualify for help and that they could
use it.
There's so many, especially here in the Midwest where we just keep moving.
You know, no matter, doesn't matter what's going on with all we can handle it, we can
take it.
Well, there might be people out there that could get some assistance that they don't
even know.
Right?
Yeah.
And I think opportunities like this to share information about this programming because
everyone isn't aware of our family's transition program or the McKinney Venture Homeless Assistance
Act.
And so awareness, building awareness is really important.
So we do have information on our website too.
Families can reach out and ask those questions.
I often have families reach out and ask about prevention resources too, like I'm at a
point where maybe I'm going to lose my housing or what programs are available there to support
me in whatever situation they're in.
And we do our best to get them connected to community resources that can support them
while also supporting those students within our school buildings.
Tessa, how is the program funded?
So we currently, WRPS has an homeless children and youth grant through GPI.
And so this is an innovative grant.
It's competitive and it's up for three years.
So because it's competitive, that means that not every school district that applies gets
this award.
And that education for homeless children and youth grant, it has certain goals.
And so our goals are improving attendance, building social emotional skills, and increasing
our relationships with families who qualify for the program.
So for example, we were able to create a family resource center at the former ACE junior
high building.
And that also includes a small laundromat that families can use if they are experiencing
homelessness.
And so those are really important things that we were able to do through that grant.
There are also some district title dollars, so federal funds that must be used to support
homeless students as well.
This is something that we use to support transportation because a big part of McKinney
Vento is really getting students to school and supporting that transportation.
So one of those services is making sure that students can continue to attend their school
of origin.
And so what that means is attend the school that they were attending before becoming homeless.
So to reduce the number of school changes that children have to make because we know
that that can affect their education, it does affect their education, and their connection
to those schools.
And then also donations, donations are huge to our families and transition program.
They really allow us to support students and families in unique ways that couldn't be
fulfilled through district budgets or grant funds.
For example, we had an anonymous donor from Encourage last year that donated $5,000 to
our families and transition program, and that allowed us to really build that family
resource center in a way that will be responsive and support families in a really dignified
way.
Tessa, I have some really good news, too.
Do you?
Yes.
So we have an anonymous donor that is providing over $3,700 in a grant this year, as well as
a $400 proactive grant.
So more than $4,100 will be coming your way.
So exciting.
And we'll put that to good use in a lot of different ways.
That's very exciting.
That's very cool.
And again, like I tried to do with these topics oftentimes, I would think that 99% of
not 100% of people out there get why how important this is.
And it can even relate to this.
Maybe you were like this when you were in school, you were in a situation similar to this
or you had friends that did.
I don't think that there is a six degrees of separation with this topic either, really.
So I think that there's a lot of heart involved with that.
But it's also important economically when we talk about that.
This is no different than the other topics I have touched on.
If you like lower taxes, if you want your community to be better, if you're looking
at a better future, that's what we're talking about here.
This is an investment in the future.
This is helping kids be able to do what they're doing.
I mean, on a quote unquote normal school day in a normal school life, there's a billion
distractions, let alone when, you know, I think a lot of times people think that kids don't
have adult worries.
I can tell you for a fact that they do.
I know that they do.
I lived with them.
I worried about at the age of 13, I was worried about if we were going to be able to pay
the light bill, if we were going to be able to pay the electric bill, things like that.
I am not a isolated case.
I am not an outlier.
There is a lot of kids out there.
And I think other people might think, well, that's in the cities.
He's from Chicago.
This kind of that.
Again, look at the Alistair port.
It's your neighbors.
It's your community members.
Any way you can impact this situation and this cause, you're impacting the future.
Yeah, absolutely.
And James, we don't want kids having to worry about, can I attend that field trip?
Can I participate in this extracurricular activity?
So, you know, donations and grant funds that we're receiving, that's what a lot of that
goes to is making sure that all students are able to receive education services that
are comparable to those students who are not having housing concerns.
And keep in mind everybody, November is homeless awareness month as well.
So it's a perfect time to be talking about this topic and any time is a good time to
be hitting on this topic and I appreciate the time.
Yeah.
And we actually are trying to raise awareness with a ribbon display that we have outside
of our district office at 510 P Street.
So stop in to see that so far, this school year, we've qualified over a hundred students
as qualifying for McKinney Eventual Services.
So it is something that, you know, we're experiencing in our community and in our schools.
Yeah.
Tessa, great conversation today.
Thank you so much for what you're doing in our community.
We really appreciate you.
If people have follow up questions, want to know more about what we talked about today,
how can they reach you?
So there's a couple of ways they can reach me through an email address and the email address
is homeless contact at wrps.net.
And then there is also a phone number that they can call it 715-315-9271 or for more information
that they can also visit our web site.
So it's on the WRPS website and then it's under, they can click on the link for families
and then it's listed as homeless education services.
And I would go to encouragecf.org for any information you need from encourage.
Be sure to follow them on social media as well.
You can always direct message them that way and reach Kim and the team over there with
that.
Thank you so much for the time and everything you're doing for our community.
We appreciate you.
Thank you James for the opportunity.
Appreciate you.
We'll have more Midday Magazine coming up here at WFHR, locally grown radio.
