Today’s Guest is Jennifer Singer – Executive Director of Bright Futures for Youth

Bright Futures for Youth is a community-focused nonprofit organization committed to addressing the ever-changing needs of youth, from sixth-graders to those in their mid-20s, in Nevada County.

Teens and adolescents face many challenges and many changes that are part of growing up. It’s a time to figure out who they are, what they value and hope to achieve. A little extra support, tools and resources along the way can make a big difference and help youth overcome obstacles. There certainly are more challenges today than when we started in 1995.

Bright Futures for Youth, created by the merger of The Friendship Club and NEO in summer 2020, has three programs to address the issues and help youth in numerous ways, from after-school programs and a drop-in Youth Center to ensuring access to services. Our focus areas are health and wellness, healthy relationships, goal setting, self-awareness, self-sufficiency and community connectedness.

We’re about helping youth today to ensure a better future for tomorrow.

Tune in for this sensible conversation at TalkRadio.nyc or watch the Facebook Livestream by clicking here.

Show Notes‍Segment 1

The show opens with host Tommy D discussing how the nonprofit sector often goes overlooked and underfunded, but the goal of his show is to spread more awareness to what nonprofits can do. Tommy goes on to introduce Jennifer Singer, Executive Director of Bright Futures for youth. Before Tommy and Jennifer start discussing her position and nonprofits, Tommy talks about the growth of his reach with his TalkRadio show. Tommy shares his goals of learning and helping. Learning as much as possible and helping others just as much. The interview begins and Tommy explains how Jennifer was part of the Friendship club in 1995 and has gone on to grow in many organizations and positions. Jennifer Singer makes her presence known to the audience. Tommy goes on to start the interview with Jennifer and she explains where her passion for service and leadership started. Jennifer shares how in high school she gained perspective to others in her community and how they might not be as privileged as her. This led her to wanting to work with many organizations helping elementary school kids all the way up to high school aged kids. Jennifer took a focus on young women and showed them that there are other choices to make to better your life and not to get caught in the same predicaments their family and friends may have got in. Jennifer discusses how a boat trip around the world inspired a lot of people to go travel and help others but it inspired her to go home and help her own community.

Segment 2

The second segment opens with Tommy bringing back the conversation Jennifer and him were discussing before the segment break. This led to Jennifer to finish her conversation on Semester at Sea and how that led to finding a program to help with in her hometown. Jennifer began with summer activities for young women but then realized in order to be more effective it needed to be a full time, year round effort. Jennifer and her colleagues worked for over 20 years with these young women in her community to ensure they had the plans to be successful after high school. Jennifer talks about a big move for her organization and how that opened her eyes to new opportunities. Growing the building in size led to a domino effect of more ways Jennifer and her organization could help the community. For example, homeless youth and families became more of a priority. Jennifer and Tommy discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic affected nonprofits everywhere due to the very social nature of most programs. Jennifer goes on to explain the change to operating virtually hit her organization hard but that wasn't going to stop her mission. Jennifer kept in individual contact via phone calls and zoom meetings. Although, this made her and her coworkers come together and discuss what the heart of the mission is and this inspired them to work harder than ever for this increased need for her community.

Segment 3

The next segment opens with reintroducing the show and Jennifer Singer. Tommy brings up the challenge of sharing geographical areas with similar organizations with similar goals and how working together could benefit both organizations. Jennifer goes into discussing how her organization recently merged with another and the challenges of going through a merger. This could be things like structure, culture, and mission priorities. Jennifer often looks to her mentors for help with situations like this. People in the industry had confusion about Jennifer's merger but she continued to explain how both organizations are working wonderfully together. Jennifer tells how both organizations did work well together but mostly succeeded in focusing on their individual goals and affected the community better ways that way. Jennifer looks out to the audience and others and gives a call to action to just get out and help anyway you can. Tommy moves the conversation to discussing Jennifer's current goals and how they have changed since her days of first starting the friendship club. Jennifer wants to show young kids that your unfair start to life does not determine what you do with the rest of it.

‍Segment 4

The final segment opens with a conversation about where Jennifer thinks her mission is going to end up moving forward. Jennifer explains big plans to open a youth center in her community. This will only boost their efforts in getting kids reliable internet and a place to go for help. The next step for Jennifer after that is opening up an emergency center for teenagers. Currently there is nowhere reliable for teenagers to go and Jennifer wants to change that with her organization. Jennifer wants to create absolute zero barriers for teenagers to get help in her community. Funding has proven to be the biggest issue with finding housing and basic needs for teenagers on their own. Jennifer closes the show with addresses and links to get in contact with her, her organizations, and to help.