Together, We're Better!

Join guest host Felicia Dalton, BOF's Director of Strategic Initiatives, as she interviews Lawrence Kirby, our Community Engagement Network Manager. Listen as they dive into the history of BOF's CommUNITY Conversation series and what led to its recent rebranding as The Collaborative Community Network. Tune in and share it with your networks!  

Learn more about Building Our Future, please visiting our website: https://www.buildingourfuturekc.org/

In this month’s episode, you’ll learn about BOF’s Youth Leadership Cohort! The Youth Leadership Cohort is an opportunity for high school students to lead and engage in specific projects that elevate their voice. The cohort provides tangible tools to help students develop and exercise skills such as conflict resolution, continuous improvement, organizing and event planning. In March, a total of 8 students created and executed a Town Hall: School Board Candidate Forum.  This project allowed them to learn more about the school board and its responsibilities; and build community awareness around school board candidates for the 2023 KUSD school board election. Today, we have Jacob Puhr, a senior from Tremper High School, Kennedy Kirby, a junior from Indian Trail School and Karma DeGrazio, a freshman from Indian Trail School to tell us about their experience during the 3-month leadership cohort.  

Check out this episode and don’t forget to share it!

Learn more about the Youth Leadership Cohort here: https://www.buildingourfuturekc.org/youth-initiatives.html

This month, we’re speaking with Chief Christopher Bigley (Kenosha Fire Department), Mitch Ferraro (Owner, Family Legacy Real Estate), Crystal Miller (CEO, Frontida Assisted Living), and Tamarra Coleman (Executive Director, Shalom Center) to discuss how their involvement in the Racial Equity Institute Phase 1 workshop has impacted their lives, careers, and organizations. Since January 2020, BOF has partnered with the Racial Equity Institute (REI) as part of our responsibility to better understand diversity, equity, and inclusion. To date, BOF has trained more than 200 local leaders in Kenosha County representing almost every sector!

Thanks to the investment from Snap-on Incorporated, BOF will continue to offer workshop opportunities in 2023!

Learn more about the Racial Equity Institute here: https://racialequityinstitute.org/

This month we had the privilege of sitting down with Chief Patrick Patton, Deputy Chief Thomas Hansche, and Inspector Joe Labatore of the Kenosha Police Department. With so much debate and public opinion around the issues of modern policing strategy, policy, and practice, it was important to discuss how KPD is approaching community engagement and how they work with and in the communities that they serve. Tune in!

We are kicking off 2023 by talking about the work of building local civic infrastructure in Kenosha County and how it brings people, ideas, and resources together to build stronger communities. So, I am here with Tatjana Bicanin, Kevin Meagher and Felicia Dalton who along with myself make up the staff at Building Our Future.

“So... What do you do?"  is one of the most frequent questions asked when having an initial conversation with someone. And in my role at BOF, I realize that we operate in a unique space. It's one of those jobs that requires more explanation! So, I thought it made sense to dedicate an entire podcast episode to explaining the work that we do because the concept is still pretty unique.

Discover more ways to stay connected to BOF on our website: https://www.buildingourfuturekc.org/

This month we sat down with Barbara Sanchez, Principal of Edward Bain School Of Language Arts and Rhonda Lopez, Principal of Wilson Elementary School, two schools that serve the Wilson Heights neighborhood. Both schools — EBSOLA and Wilson participate in Building Our Future’s monthly community conversations to help the overall success and experience of their students and families. 

We had a great conversation as each of the principals reflected on their experiences leading schools and their work of engaging the community to build stronger relationships with the schools and students.

In our partnership, we often talk about the importance of creating a culture of continuous improvement, an ongoing effort to improve services and supports for children and families to improve a community-level outcome. These efforts seek incremental improvement over time.

In this episode, we sit down with the leadership team at the Boys & Girls Club of Kenosha – largest provider of after-school activities, delinquency and gang prevention programs, youth employment opportunities, arts programs, and sports/recreation programs – as they reflect on their experience in participating in BOF’s Results Count Cohort and how it has helped to shape the amazing work they are engaged in.

Tara Panasewicz, CEO of The Boys & Girls Club of Kenosha had this to say when asked what her organization learned that would improve their services to the community through the Results Count Cohort.

“The tools that we have learned through this cohort has changed how we approach our work. From now on we will do data walks as a team… We will find new and innovative ways to present data... This cohort has given us the courage to be open to change and not just do things the way we’ve always done them. We will strategically ask ourselves the 5 Whys and determine if there is a way to get better results…”

Building Our Future’s continuous improvement process is called Results Count. Learn more about our work here:https://www.buildingourfuturekc.org/results-count.html

In this month's episode, Lawrence Kirby sits down and has a great conversation with Brandon Morris reflecting on his time as the Community Engagement Network Manager for Building Our Future, his plans for the future and how he will continue to engage in the work of helping every child succeed in school and in life from cradle to career.

This week, we sit down with Kristin Kappleman and Kevin Meagher, both Data Managers for backbone partnerships. This episode will give you insight into the intentionality required to share data effectively with others. At Building Our Future, we strive to use data as a flashlight and not a weapon. Data isn't just numbers; it's any information gathered. It's powerful to help us understand what’s changed over time and in other communities, and it can be used to support policy change, especially when the community shares their lived experiences to help bring the data to life. We invite you to challenge yourselves by using and viewing data from an asset-based lens.

Explore Kenosha County's Dashboard here: https://www.buildingourfuturekc.org/county-overview.html

Today, we’re going to speak with Ezekiel Thompkins, Harry Tolbert, Kristin Kaminski, and Louie Sosa, all Firefighters of the Kenosha Fire Department. They will share their combined 67 years of experience and build awareness around opportunities to begin your very own family-sustaining career in fire service here in our Kenosha community. "Unfortunately, we sometimes have to meet families on one of the most horrific days of their life, but thankfully we chose a career that gives us the opportunity to turn some of those families' horrific days into an optimistic future; that being the career of a Firefighter for the Kenosha Fire Department."

Our partners at the Kenosha Fire Department are looking to grow their work family! Learn more and apply here: https://www.governmentjobs.com/.../347.../firefighter-emt...

This awesome video takes a look inside the Fire Department.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PH5C4ywFjQ&t=7s