Transformative Leadership in Cleveland: Insights from Dr. Baston
00:00:01 hey what’s up everybody you tuned in to another episode of strategic moves I’m your host Ken da this is a place where we bring art culture politics and business all together and we do it every Sunday right here on this channel when I’m not shooting this podcast I am the owner of strategic resources and the founder of the africanamerican men’s Action Network where we specialize in political campaigns government and public relations work we’ve been doing it all around this state for over the last 25 years met some interesting people along the way and I want
00:00:32 to make your next move a strategic move so this program gives me an opportunity to bring on some of the guests we get a chance to talk about some of our experiences and maybe just maybe there’s something in it that you might can get out of it to help you in your business or your personal life so if that sounds like something you’ll be interested in what I need you to do is hit that like button need you to hit the Subscribe button and the notification Bell as well so that you will know the next time someone is coming on our program so we’re going to get right into it today
00:00:59 because we got a special guest in the house today but before we get started I want to do a special shout out to the best podcast producer in the city of Cleveland that’s none other than DJ true what’s happening sir what’s going on what’s going on man oh man we getting ready to get it in we got one of the guys I’ve been waiting to talk to for a while because from afar I find him interesting our program is all about bringing on people we find interesting and then I think this guy might be interesting yeah me too he may be interesting I think I like this guy yeah we going to see
00:01:30 you don’t see if he’s interesting hey now did you did you watch the allstar game any of the allstar events this no I didn’t even let me tell you I’m far out of sports I am I didn’t even know it was a damn allstar game that’s a shame I didn’t even know man they had a whole allstar game and I have missed the slam dunk contest and all of that they had all the contest The Rising Stars game I a watch I ain’t watch anything man and the allar game I had my head dig deep into a computer all weekend long I was trying to get out of episode and if you haven’t watched this episode we had
00:02:03 none other than Reverend ET cavanis on the program last week and we went down a historic Road of Cleveland’s black history and it was a very good program so if you hadn’t got a chance to look at I want y’all to tune in and make sure you check that out and so I spent our weekend editing that because I wanted to get it out so that people can get an opportunity to check it out so I as you see I was working because I didn’t even know the dog on all St and I had a TV on I just it was on right in front of me and I just never pay no attention ask me what was the score of the game oh what was
00:02:36 it it was 21 to like 186 are you kidding me the first time a team scored 200 points in a game the heck that was all well they was just everybody they was just letting people shoot in that right yeah the allstar game is like a novelty it wasn’t it’s not like how it used to be back in like the it’s not competitive but you know what I kind of think I like the 200 300 sport games I mean gone in there and score you know I mean if you’re not going to really play hard anyway cuz everybody’s not trying to get hurt then make it entertaining cuz listen what game have you ever sat at that you
00:03:09 seen 200 points at so hey let’s see if y’all can break that you know yeah that bull all right man we G to get started man because I got my man in the uh place here today and we want to talk with him and he took the time to come build us he’s been a busy guy we’ve been trying to get him for a long time to come in and sit down and talk with us but he’s here today so I want to jump right into it so we going to get started DJ you ready all right here we go so today we’re honored to welcome a transformative leader in higher education Dr Michael a baxton he’s the dynamic fifth president
00:03:44 of kyoga Community College with a career that spands law Academia and advocacy Dr basson is at the Forefront of revitalizing Community College and education his leadership embodies a Relentless pursuit of Excellence equality and Innovation making a significant strides in Student Success Workforce Readiness and Community uplifting as we delve into our conversation we will uncover the passionate strategies and Visions driven by Dr Baston to redefine the landscape of Education creating lasting impacts in the lives of countless students and individuals so I want everybody to
00:04:22 sit back and just join us on this remarkable journey of leadership and how he’s planning on shaping the future of all the students here at Tri cnsc car Community College right here in Cleveland Ohio and kyoga County so without further Ado I want everybody in the house to welcome Dr Baston to our program Dr Dr do thank you for coming in Ken I’m so happy to be with you today this is a wonderful opportunity to make some strategic moves oh I appreciate it brother there you go we give him a horn for that one L man that was the first one somebody used that oh he gave you
00:04:58 a bomb he dropped a bomb we G say droing B There we go our program has been good doctor it’s been a program I’m glad you were able to come on as you know I told people we’ve been doing politics and been involved in the town for a long time and met some really good people you were one of the people that I sought after when I saw you came in heard a couple of your speeches and watched everything that took place and I think that guy got something to him that I want to sit down and talk with him
00:05:24 about so I really appreciate you coming on our program we’re fairly new podcast here and we kid together I got the advantage of being in this city a long time so I know a lot of people so I can get to a lot of people but other than that we working it through and we really appreciate you taking your time to come talk so like we do on our program we usually get started we usually ask our people to give us a little bit of a background of where you came from you know where you grew up at and and and what got you here to Cleveland you know I was born in Jamaica Queens so I’m actually
00:05:54 from New York okay and grew up in a place called Rochdale Village okay it’s in South Jamaica it’s a a community of folks struggling and moving and trying to make things happen uh to really lift the community as a community so I was raised in this context of community uplift and struggle and so that grounded me in all that I do you know you come from a neighborhood that strives to bring families together and strives to lift the community and to collectively work together okay you really get that sense uh that Milana Kanga really talked about in the neuza SAA this
00:06:31 whole idea of collective works and responsibility and our ability to be on purpose like we don’t do things just to do them we do things in purposeful ways so you was brothers sisters our one brother Lamar has got a beautiful wife and children they are still in New York I’m married my wife Tasha and I really navigate this world together for the last 20 years wow wow so it was just you and your brother growing up yes just me and him and how was you in man you was a student school man you guys
00:07:02 knew you was going to go to college and knew you were going to do this thing or I was it growing up hold on before you get there not to tell you all your age so by what time did you go you was 90s you there with all the hip-hop jumping all absolutely absolutely absolutely I grew up you know I was born in the 70s okay raised came of age in the ’90s 90s right right you’re around our age so you know I can’t say that I was a great student okay I could say I was always a leader I was one of little school crossing guards I had my little my little badge and I always saw myself as someone
00:07:37 helping others okay you know I became a better student later on in life when I was in high school and a teacher told me that I was never going to really make it that motivated me to become a reader motivated me to become you know I told him I wanted to be a lawyer he said well you’re not gonna be a lawyer because you don’t read and that motivated me he what was that I was in the ninth grade wow when the teacher said everybody’s asking what do you want to be what do you I said I’m G to be a lawyer he said well you’re not going to be a lawyer you can’t even read wow
00:08:08 what he didn’t realize when he said it was he challenged me he provoked me into a sense of purpose and Destiny and greatness because when someone tells you what you’re not and everything inside of you tells you what you are you can’t do anything else but continue to press toward that which you were meant to be and for me my parents always told me who I was and who I was meant to be we watch like it is when I was a little kid Gil Noble in New York talking about our culture and my Heritage so that was always instilled in me so when I got that opposing word it really
00:08:49 actually set me up to continue to make progress wow and that’s good to hear did you play any sports in school or anything just St I was a chess player ah you can play see you trying to set me I don’t know how well I can you you playing back I was playing back then too but I’m still ain’t that I think you can play and you trying to set me up up up said we got a nice chess board he saw he said he got one in his office and i’ be looking at people tell me that as if I want to play I’m not that great at it so now when anybody tells you they’re not that great at a thing see that’s the
00:09:21 game it goes back and forth with this chest thing so you got out of high school and you decided to go to college Y what did you when you first got into college what you thought you to do well I knew since I was eight that I would be a lawyer you know I oh you still want to go into law yes and I didn’t when I finished College I went to law school okay and so I became a practicing attorney I represented educational corporations religious institutions and nonprofit organizations wow and while I was in law school I worked at the NAACP legal defense fund and Brooklyn legal services so
00:09:51 I actually held the law books that actually third Good Marshall read at ldf so I had the opportunity to work with senate for constitution rights with Ron Daniels so I had the opportunity in the early 90s and the mid90s to really work on the kinds of things at that time were things that were still going on that were flashbacks from the 50s in 1996 97 we were dealing with the burned churches in the South black churches were being burned in 1996 not just 1956 who let’s go back on that again you said in 1996 you guys were still dealing with cases of people burning down black churches in the
00:10:34 South absolutely we were still doing desegregation cases in Florida in 1996 not 1946 and 56 and 66 in 96 it was within that context of that experience of really understanding what it is to help tenant associations get established and fight landlords who would allow rats to run around tenaments as size of a dog we recognize that my work had to be focused on making sure that people understood their rights understood how to navigate the complexities of the system and to stand for themselves and it’s so you know now the work that I do so neatly connects to that because
00:11:15 I’ve always been about helping people grow go and Empower themselves don’t move improve your neighborhood own your neighborhood own your and design your destiny so you give me a little bit of when you were back there you told me about those cases anything really stick out in your mind when you was doing law when you was on it that really you meant like man this is something well I think just the idea of the different Justice I won’t say double just the different Justice we never advocated for special rights for people of color we advocated for equal rights we
00:11:48 advocated for equal rights we advocated for human rights we advocated for basic decency that you could not be this slum Lord and expect people to pay you rent you’re not making basic repairs that you would have an attendant Association to stand up and actually fight for themselves and to build wealth within the community for themselves I lived in Beford ston Brooklyn I went to Brooklyn law school so I lived in Beford ston Brooklyn at a time when it wasn’t gentrified and wasn’t called boand Heights it was bad sty right bad St bad sty okay so that’s what that
00:12:23 and I heard of that before okay I came up whether it was South Jamaica during crack epidemic whether was in in the law school period where I was in Brooklyn where it was challenge to the economic structures of community that have now become gentrified I’ve seen those transitions I’ve seen people disinvested from opportunity and so now through education I’m able to ensure that people have the ability to design their Destiny and that’s important to me so I know about those tenants associations because we have some pretty big ones here um C had a
00:12:59 Association that was there friend of mine lady for a long time Lillian Davis ran that organization they named actually a building for her over there behind it so I do understand the work of how organizing those especially in what we would call governmental uh States and buildings like that these Community Development Pride programs those that’s very important work well that’s I really applaud the work that Jeff Patterson ex and CA is doing now visited now a number of the complexes that are transitioned uh we actually are in partnership with them on scholar house so we
00:13:34 actually have a house right across the street from our metro campus okay where single parents can now live within what we call scholar house they can get their education and then get assistance when they finish their education okay so they’re not displaced so that they have easy Transitions and they can begin to build a life for themselves and a children so when did you take the transition to say I’m getting into education cuz now you from I’m hearing you were really into the the legal aspect and even on the legal aspect it was more advocacy work on that end when did the switch
00:14:08 come that you started moving towards education and how did you do that well I had academic clients so I would actually represent educational institutions and they would ask me to teach really so I started teaching paralal studies courses so I would teach intro to business inro to paralal studies and I fell in love with teaching I fell in love with thinking about how we could create this next generation of social Engineers think of the work of Charles Hamilton Houston and he worked with those law students at Howard University and he trained the lawyers to be social Engineers this
00:14:41 idea that you could use the law to seriously change societal challenges that you felt were inappropriate well as I got into the classroom and started working with students and then thought how wonderful it would be to prepare and be a part of that process of preparing a generation to go forth and to challenge the unchallenged narratives in our community I loved it I felt connected to it and the more I got into it I found myself practicing law less and getting an education more and so one of the presidents of an institution I work for ultimately asked me to
00:15:16 come into Administration and I’ve been there ever since so you started out teaching then what’s the next Evolution from there is that in college is it the you become president or vice president well at first was a teacher then became Adena students from Adena students I got became a vice president from a vice president I moved into the presidency so so that was like a 20 year period of time that took oh that took 20 years yeah that took that took about a 20 year period and what was your first school that you were the Berkeley College in New York City Berkeley College Berkeley College it
00:15:48 actually had campuses in New York and New Jersey so I was the dean for the New York campuses so I had campuses in White Plains Midtown and at the time lorda Manhattan and what kind of school it was a community colleges no no it’s a private institution Berkeley Berkeley no not Berkeley music or California private private college in New York but in that particular College the focus was careers and it was primarily people of color that went to the school and they wanted to move into their career and so that work translated to when I went into LaGuardia Community College which is the
00:16:24 first Community College I worked for and the work of actually saying don’t just come to college to come to college come to college find a purpose get on a path Move Yourself forward and that became a different conversation I started to have all around the country with community colleges and the communities which they were located how do we make sure that we don’t just get people in school and keep them in school forever for no purpose how do we make sure that they get to explore what it is they want to do what is their purpose what is their passion what contribution are they going
00:16:56 to make it’s on that basis that we get them an academic and we give them experiences that allow them to decide is this what I want to do or not now it’s true that a person will change their career multiple times but what shouldn’t change is the skills they get correct you should be able to continue to gather skills through every experience that you can bring into another experience so stay on that point sure how many schools did you were dean of before you got to tric and became the dean of Tri two I was the dean at ber than I was the dean at LaGuardia before I became vice president
00:17:32 when I finished the vice presidency of LaGuardia I became president of Rockland Community College York okay was President there for about five years and then came here to be president of the district so let’s look at those three right give me something that you can say that you kind of took from all three of those to help prepare you for becoming the president of triy now being at Berkeley I was required to do everything I was a oneman show at that time well that gave me the ability to to know all of the different jobs there were in student affairs and enrollment
00:18:04 management all these different kinds of jobs that was important because as I work with the people in my institution today there’s not many jobs that I didn’t already have at the lowest level so when folks try to ask me or tell me or show me I come with a deep knowledge of the weeds and not just being you know I’m not a Cadillac president or a helicopter president like I understand what it is to photop yeah I know what it is to programs and steam graduation accounts and make sure that your student has mm shots and all that stuff so that was what I I got from Berkeley
00:18:37 when I got to LaGuardia the Deep appreciation of making sure that we’re embedded in the community in a significant and substantial way because the community depends on our ability to meet its Talent Development needs but also for those people to be able to own their own power and their own destiny and their own future when I got to Rockland it was a focus on helping the faculty and staff recognize that they themselves could lead change that they could have a voice that it didn’t have to be top down things to do but that if we got you involved you could actually help us design
00:19:16 a different Destiny for us and so I take all of the lessons from those institutions and bring them to this community where I have found people to be very very interested in the future and interested in how things can get better may not necessarily know all the ways in which you can do it but are open to the possibility that change could come and could be helpful and could make things better interesting it’s real good what are some of the biggest challenges you’re facing in the realm of higher education and how do you plan to address some of them well you know I still do a lot of
00:19:52 work with colleges and universities all over the country helping them to really think deeply about what is is their thing every institution is different every institutional type is different every institution’s cards in their hand is different do you have different cards in your hand that you have to play in our institutional context as an example we have to get more people connected to the opportunities that are available to them right here what I have found is that while we have plenty of opportunities that there are a lot of folks the average people in the
00:20:25 neighborhoods are not necessarily hardwired into opportunities mhm and ultimately we have to deal with some of the structural problems here as well there the benefits Cliff is a reality here and my by that I specifically mean if you make additional dollars because you got a raise on your job but you are currently being supported in part by Section 8 or you’re currently being supported by you’re getting food stamps so and so that raise even though you’re entitled to it you’re a great worker you’re you take it and all of a sudden now you’re out of the sustaining things that that you
00:20:59 need while at the same time you don’t want to stay in this situation but you’re not make it enough to stay get out the situation so we’ve got to figure out how do we make the system work for the people that it’s supposed to work for and how do we actually get people who have ability Talent skills who are on the sideline because they’re structurally put on the sideline well and I’m glad you see that cuz that’s huge man I mean people who not from that don’t understand that will never get and here’s the scenario they face with they face with I went through all this craziness to get this
00:21:34 Section 8 voucher now I got it I really do want to do better but I kind of don’t trust myself as well I don’t trust myself that I got this raise on this job but am I going to really keep this job because if I take it I lose my section A and I lose my job tomorrow I’m so and that’s a reality that a lot and so when we get to that a lot of people is how much we trust oursel and like you say given the inspiration the hope all of that it takes to say no you can do better and it’ll be okay even if you did fail you can do it over again it’ll be tough but you can do it over again section8
00:22:11 ain’t going nowhere and none of that other stuff but it’s that little piece like you say they get it and you make just enough money but then you face with that dilemma am I really ready to do what I said I’m going to do and that’s a really hard part for poor people I talked to a woman who that happened to I talked to a woman today right who that happened to that she ultimately had a desire not to take Public Assistance but she needed it to take care of herself and her son and the moment that she made a little bit more all of the support structures were gone it took her years
00:22:42 to get to the place where she could get a home and she could do the things that ultimately and she’s not in that place of using those Services anymore but now she’s worried because she does not have any safety net there’s no so how do you plan for a future where you’re already start behind that’s correct the the the starting Gates because of the structures that are in place and in that it’s still and like you say the structure and you’re really not making it right because like you say I quit and I I’m really making enough money where I can put a little bit away so that when
00:23:14 it h you still paycheck to paycheck I mean that’s all it man you just still paycheck to paycheck so that right there and I’m really glad to hear you say that man because I really think that that’s important I don’t think a lot of people get that well that’s the the power of a community college is that we do think about the top 100% of the people who want to come to us we are not we our selectivity is different some other institutions say you have to have this GPA or they say that you have to have this amount amount of money in the bank or you have to have all these sort of
00:23:46 things that weed you out we say I don’t care where you come or how you come just come and we’ll help we will put you in a place where you can actually build momentum for yourself to do better to grow whatever your level of preparation you can’t read we going to help you learn how to read you can’t write we going to help you learn how to write you don’t know at this point how to do X or Y or Z that’s why we here this is the community’s college so when we put you in a place where you actually
00:24:13 can grow and be better we know that you’ll be financially viable and you will contribute through that viability to the next group of people who were similarly situated but for you wouldn’t have had the chance so that’s what this is about this is about the multiplier effect this is about making sure that if we lift people if we build people if we support people they then are in a position to do that for somebody else that’s correct and that makes our community strong EnV viable vibrant and makes us a better people and the fact is I look at Cleveland when you know
00:24:45 when I came here you know I came here recognizing that there are a lot of supports here that average people do not know how to navigate average people do not know how to actually take advantage of and when I hear from Business Leaders well you know we have all these jobs why don’t these good people take all these jobs that we have you have not design the way you do business to those people that you want to encourage to come in here and so you assume that because you’re ready for them that they’re ready for you interesting that’s not how it works and the fact is what business
00:25:18 and industry is starting to understand is that the structures and the incentives and the expectations of the American dream that people had in the past that they thought they could use doesn’t work with this generation and it will never work with this generation and so they too are starting to retrofit you know you’re starting to see hybrid working you don’t have to come into the office 9 to5 Monday through Friday in a cubicle downtown they’re recognizing the need to an extent to have daycare on the job furnes providing you with Transportation they’re recognizing that if you’re
00:25:51 going to be economically viable as a business you need a labor force that’s going to keep you economically viable everything can’t be offshore everything can’t be take sent somewhere else so we as an institution are working with businesses and we as an institution are working in the community to make the viable connection That’s The Power of a tric of a community college that you can be the critical connector with people who have very similar interests that are far apart and you got the chance to bring them together man that’s why I told you interesting guy uh got this thing
00:26:25 we call it Community as a service is what we call and I believe that the community should be selling its services to the people and what I mean by that is the nonprofits the organizations the businesses in the community should be doing exactly what you’re saying instead of coming from the top down it should be from the bottom up it should be that the community should be able all the information all the numbers all the things that you need in order to get the funding and all the stuff that you need the workforce and everything you need is in the community and by the Community not
00:26:59 being organized in that regards it allows exactly what you’re saying for the job market to be in the way it is if the community dictated that this is what we needed in order to get this um to build you a Workforce then the workforce would change you see what I mean if if the community dictated to the nonprofit organizations and organizations that you spend millions and millions of dollars working in these communities like you say I got programs nobody want do instead of that if they listen to what the community actually really needed and created programs around that
00:27:31 then I think we’ll get better results out of our community I look at my academic programs I refuse to want to recruit students in academic program I don’t want to recruit poor people into academic programs that keep them poor right so we know right now as an example if you want go into a program Early Childhood that you work in the child care centers and they’re not paying we should fight advocacy wise on getting higher pay for those workers with the children most important but until that happens we want to train people to be owner operators of their kids build them in
00:28:01 their own houses so that they can be entrepreneurs and have their own and not be working for somebody not being able to feed your own family while you taking care of somebody else’s kids while they at work so it’s about flipping the script it’s about really rethinking how do we help people grow and go in America today so I have no interest in putting poor people in academic programs that will keep them poor I have no interest of having a higher graduation people say well but they go to College they don’t have a high graduation I don’t need people to graduate and have degrees and can’t
00:28:33 do nothing with them we have plenty people in foure degrees before you got you got folks with all kind of degrees that don’t do nothing with it you think about a lot of the young people that went off to a four-year College racked up debt and came back home and back in the bedroom that they grew up with with their brother and sister and now driving door Dash and Uber that’s correct so the fact is it’s not just about completing it’s about completing a credential of value that allows you to thrive I’m so sick and tired of people talking about family surviving wages
00:29:05 I’m looking for family thriving rages I don’t want to survive I want to th I want to live I want to be able to do the things that make me happy you know you can’t eat a steak every day but every now and again I do not want a hamburger I don’t want spam I want a steak and I want to be in a position where I don’t have to worry and struggle and sweat because I wanted to go to Red Lobster you know so let’s stay on that point doctor how you going to in your vision of all of that how you feel you going to Institute that in Tri SE cuz you’re right there in the middle of it
00:29:38 you’re right there in the middle of one of our poorest neighborhoods on the metro campus and been there for years and the community can use it and everyone else so tell me how you all of that sounds really good how you going to Institute that into the community first and foremost you bring people on your team that actually are from the community so I didn’t came here from New York but I didn’t bring all my folks from around the country I said hey India Pierce Lee you know Community neighborhoods better than just about anybody I need you to be in here helping us with
00:30:07 the strategy on integrating this college within the fabric of the neighborhood Network system shaa marber you from the Greater Cleveland partnership you understand all the needs specifically of business and industry you’ve been on them working with them for 17 years now look at all my academic programs and make direct connections with business and industry and begin to negotiate the expectations that we have and our students have for the business Community hey Eric Gordon you worked with the K to2 system and the families and the parents and the students for the last 10
00:30:39 years how do we now make sure that those younger Generations that are coming through the pipeline have a greater connection to the resources and so that they’re not actually missing and dropping out of college before they even get to college so I’ve brought people from the community with real relationships and connections and results of being doers to actually help me as we develop the strategies to integrate within the community but we didn’t stop there we’re also working with other systems one of the challenges here is that we see collaboration and partnership in terms of
00:31:15 television or okay newspaper clippings and what I’m saying is you know no we working with Metro Health because all those people in Metro Health need a school that’s correct we working with C so that the students can live in the CMHA housing the kids can be taken care of and they can go to school we working with RTA so that you get a bus pass so that you can get to school and back and forth we working with the library so that you have a place for your children or that is the sort of public university the people’s University so we’re working with major systems in this
00:31:45 city cmsd as well so that ultimately we’re better integrated with the the systems that the average everyday person has to navigate not they want to navigate they have to navigate it and it is there where we embed awareness of what we can offer it’s there where we give assistance to get access to what we have to offer and I think that is the level of intentionality that is necessary to move our community forward and I’m working directly with the United Way you know we have our executive teams together to talk about how do we have the right language we see what you funding
00:32:21 how do we make sure that the people that we are servicing are connected to the infrastructure of opportunity do we make sure that we’re sharing the information so that we’re more targeted we’re more impact oriented instead of just participation how do we make sure that the help helps and here I see a lot of help here I don’t always know that the help helps and I am committed to making sure that if we are going to help that the help actually helps and guess what we going to ask the people are you getting help accountability I think one of the biggest things that has been
00:32:54 a lack of is accountability and the ability to hold people accountable boy it’s going to be the biggest tale to that let me ask you as it relates to school my kids all graduated and they came out of the height system but I know going to Cleveland Heights they had all kinds of programs and things there that you can graduate from high school with an associate degree and there’s plenty of kids that take advantage of that and I imagine you guys are running that all across all the schools you getting the type of results or you don’t think the students are really taking advantage of that
00:33:22 as much as they should those that can are taking advantage of it but we have to remember that many people are in in family situations but some of the kids is helping to pay the rent in the house W and so you know I think that the best thing we can do for children in my opinion is make sure their parents have a good paying job because when they don’t it doesn’t matter what happens in the school in the school day when they go home they go into the the war zone that is home and everything that they learned leaves them all the support that they receive that is the reason why so many young
00:33:51 people don’t even want to go home because being at school is a safer environment a place to think a place to be place to have a place you know that’s why the pandemic was even more treacherous for people who have fragile economic lives because at least you could go to school and have a sense of place but if you four or five in the house all competing for the limited resources in the house and the anger and the frustration and the trauma connected to that that’s what is visited upon children so you know we do a lot of of resources that are developed and voted for children and I
00:34:25 think that’s very important but for me the best thing you can do for a child is make sure their parent has a good paying job because if they can pay the rent and they’re not arguing about what you going to eat you will see them come up to get report cards when it comes time for parent teach a that you will see them be able to go on a vacation like they will from time to time be able to splurge but when you don’t have nothing that is the greatest challenge to our children many of them live in household environments where you know we are one of the poorest big
00:34:53 cities in America like that’s not a badge of honor that’s a reality but it’s also something we can do something about if we are thoughtful and strategic about what we’re going to do here we had a contract with college now and one of the things we did for college now was to go out in the city of Cleveland particularly is where they were targeted to talk with adults to do exactly what that was about going back to school and talking with them and um we were actually going to some of the parents’ homes of some of the students and knocking on their doors talking to them in regards
00:35:25 hey why don’t you go back get your GED why don’t you go back and go going to Tri going to college that kind of thing so we did I agree with you that here’s some good news about that I had two parts of that contract one part was to Cleveland Heights which where I lived and I figured I graduated all my kids there was PTA my wife was in PTA I was booster parent for football and softball up there for years we totally involved so the contract was this Ken we want you to go get us I think it was like real simple we need like 600 parents to sign their kids to go go to college now
00:35:59 to not say we’re going to college but in case you want to go at least once you come to college now let’s talk about it so you can feel the paperwork out and you can make your decision now we know Cleveland Heights probably had about 1,200 kids or so that could possibly seen and they told me I could start from the ninth grade to the 12th grade I still got my kids at home this a cakewalk right let’s go ahead you guys can put this together then they said we want you to get us a th000 adults in
00:36:23 the city of Cleveland to sign up for this because we want adults to come in so I said I’m thinking that’s going to be the challenge one it’s the city of Cleveland two we knocking on doors in the city of Cleveland and three we’re asking adults to go back to school believe it or not I fell on the Cleveland Heights and got all the numbers in Cleveland for the adults with no problem knocking on the doors talking to them oh yeah I’ll be interested I already went to college you want to go back well they say I went to college I dropped out and I want to always go back you can go back
00:36:53 and you can possibly go for free all of that got the adults with no problem but when in Cleveland Heist man it was a trip it wasn’t so much the students as it was the parents and here’s one a good example I knocked on the door what I didn’t KN I had people one of them came back and they told me they knocked on the door and they the student came to the door and they told them they was with college now and went through our spill and the kid was thinking he’s like but we need your parent the reason why we was going they had all these students who said they wanted to do
00:37:18 it but they need their parents to sign for them to go and so we’re going back knocking on doors trying to find the parents to sign their paper so their kids can get some information and one guy came down he looked at the kid the kid was like yeah I want to go I filled the paper he obviously filled it out that’s why I’m here he was like I need to talk to your mom and your dad and he went and got his dad his dad came down and was like Hey you know was thinking about he wanted to go to college and we need you to fill out this paperwork and this and this and now look you want
00:37:42 to go to college and the little boy looked at him was like no I don’t want to go and he said why then he he don’t want to go to college and I was like you see that’s parent then it was others who would just be like oh they ain’t going no College I was like well they going to lay on your couch all year I said it’s free information don’t you want to just sill it out so they’ll fill it out that kind of way but what’s your reason why you think it was that way well I have found sometimes it’s not sweeping indictment but sometimes those who are in a more challenging situation are more
00:38:11 open to receiving sub being open those who are a little bit better off sometimes they just so focused on maintaining that they don’t think Beyond maintaining I can’t be bothered with that because I got to maintain I got to hustle to keep the hustle I don’t want to be over there so I got to do everything I can to keep where I am not realizing that in doing everything you can to keep where you are you still missing the opportunities because that’s your focus the focus is not going Beyond where you are the focus is I got here I got to stay here I got to do you know
00:38:43 and that’s that’s what it is I would always say you know and this is from a different perspective but in the Pastoral realm you will always pastors and many churches will always have more support from in poor neighborhoods than middle- class neighborhoods in church in black church generally speaking because in the poorer communities that hope seeding into the promise of the future becomes a much more important thing but in the middle class I now make too much to give when you didn’t have nothing you didn’t mind giving now you got a little something you worried
00:39:17 well if I give I won’t have it is unfortunate but that is sort of sometimes that psychology of maintaining well I got so I got to maintain I got in the concept of maintaining you put blinders on to the full nature of the possibility of transformation and uplift but I do see that in some of our communities we have a little bit more economic fragility we invest a little bit more in the possibility of not staying here let me see how do you envision the future of community college in America especially in the wake of the pandemic impact and on education and what we just talking
00:39:52 about and in that I know you mentioned that you wanted to talk about maybe we can segue into to that as well well you know from my perspective I believe the community colleges will continue to have a level of strength and support like never before there was a time when going to a community college in our country was a stigmatizing experience one would think well you know you couldn’t get into these other places so you just went to the community college now after seeing so many people gain so much loans coming out with lots of debts with degrees that are not being used
00:40:25 and then the viable alternative of of getting high school credits of college and getting your degrees half the price and getting a quality education and getting a leg up the narrative about the Community College as a smart investment strategy is much more prevalent all over the country okay and so the sticker price of a faulty future when you have the opportunity of affordability and quality you will continue to find the Community College grows in stature and influence you know the fact is we
00:40:57 can turn a certificate out like that whereas going through the anachronistic process of the fouryear structures that take forever to actually get a program approved by the time you get all the changes and things that you need to go through the faculty committees through the state committees through the Committees of the Committees by the time you get through all of that we’ve already put three certificates people already been through the program we got them working they come to school three days they go to the workplace uh two days or or vice versa and so people are now earning and
00:41:27 Lear learning and because the community college is really muscular in that way that we really are focused in that way you know we’re going to you want to build let’s get you in the construction program you want to do Refrigeration let’s get you in you want to do HV you want whatever it is because I can put you in a course for six weeks and get you your CDL driving a truck and you’ll make $125,000 a year driving a truck I can put you in another program I can put you in a psychology program and nothing against psychology I can put you in that program and you’ll have to get
00:41:55 your master’s degree before you even have a a client and you have to take on the debt to get that master’s degree because that don’t come free and you have to actually get sort of how long it’s going to take you to be able to make a living at the same time somebody who’s driving that truck is making $125,000 a year for 6 months sitting in the courses I don’t want to make it seem that sort of simplistic but the reality is but that’s for people it may not be for everybody but that’s a reality for a lot of people especially the ones we were just talking about you know and it’s
00:42:25 getting people to Value different kind of work and different kinds of careers and understanding that everybody’s not going to have a doctorate and everybody’s not going to have all of the different bells and whistles of some of these educational experiences and some folks are going to come and get a great experience and have the kind of life that allows them to take care of themselves and their families and there’s nothing wrong with that oh nothing at all man I think that that’s the Cornerstone of what going on at some point or another in our country we knew that manufacturing
00:42:54 was a stepping stone so people got out of high school went into manufacturing some people went into college we’re saying the same thing we’re saying that the manufacturing jobs isn’t there so your step from there should be getting some type of certificate getting some type of short range degree whether you want to be a chef whether you like you say HVAC driving a truck there’s lots of jobs and opportunities that are available out there and all kinds of things I used to tell my kids all the time we’re in high school I was like man there’s so many jobs I said when when when we
00:43:23 talk about jobs when somebody ask you what you want to be it’s okay to say you don’t know it really is because there’s so many jobs in the world that just like what you say you may start off saying I want to be a lawyer but you find out when you get into college you don’t like being around people or anything else and driving a truck for $120,000 a year you by yourself you and your dog is just fine with you and it may work out for you better off and you may own a fleet of trucks to do the same thing one day so I think that opportunity is always available
00:43:53 let me ask you this while you was on these opportunities got people listening and watching what’s a hot commite if year with top three if you say man if you go back to school today and come to Tri here goes three things you ought to get into because you can walk out the door and this what can happen to you think about just basic any Allied Health program we are in the sort of epicenter of some of the greatest hospitals in the country there are thousands of employees down in the hospital and so we’re talking about Metro Health we’re talking about Cleveland Clinic we’re
00:44:23 talking about University Hospitals so right now it is an employee Market coming in and getting some sort of a credential in any of those spaces you’re going to do quite well manufacturing is another major major opportunity and we’re not even talking about the manufacturing of Granddad or Dad we’re talking about smart manufacturing clean we talking about in the clean room you you’re not sort of in the grease and breathing in just none of that you’re helping computers get stuff done that’s correct so you become much more techsavvy in that environment today than it was ever before
00:44:58 so you think about that opportunity all kinds of opportunities in in media you know this is a social media oriented world that we’re in you know and so how do you decide to leverage communication at a whole different level and the multim medium that’s available so there are lots of things but I would say in this community Manufacturing in this community health care and this community various types of Business and Entrepreneurship huge right now entrepreneurship is a huge uge opportunity because you see people turning the side hustle into a main hustle as they build it
00:45:32 over time and so the opportunities to really build your own to be your own unlike any other time in our country what you what kind of programs y’all offer for entrepreneurs down there we have a whole brand new center in the Corporate College a center for entrepreneurs so it’s anchored by our 10,000 Small Business program we have a Goldman Sachs but you can start by taking one course in our hunting te and residence program where you could just get your feet wet about ship and then you can take our Discovery courses that actually help you think about what kind of entrepreneur you want to
00:46:02 be you can take the next set of courses where you actually build your business plan where you build the resources and that we help you connect with the appropriate finances and connect with business plans and connect with the legal services so the kinds of support today for for entrepreneurship is amazing and we just need to make sure that people know about it take advantage of it so that their business can grow Blossom and develop a friend of mine was here earlier and he saw you was coming on
00:46:28 the program and he went on his little rant and so I told him I said I’m going to ask him the question for you his little rant was he believe that Community College should be free he he he believes that you know the tax dollars and I told him I said listen the little tax uh Bill we do for them isn’t paying for that education man that’s something totally different but we we got through that but his thing was in the nutshell that he just believe that and we all be all education should be free but he mainly belied strictly on he believed that should be able to come out of high
00:46:58 school and go straight into a community college and get I told him going to Community College it’s almost free you know you but if you’re living in Cleveland you can go through the says program and it is free so but that goes to the point that not everybody is aware all of the resources and all of the Investments that have been made here in Cleveland if you are coming from Cleveland Municipal School District you can go through the says program and you can come to community college for free wow and separate and aside from that because I have operations all over the county
00:47:29 65% of my students already come to school where they they’re not contributing because they have economic challenges so 65% are already getting support to come to school but I have to say that it is the levies that do help us to keep our tuition the lowest tuition in the state of Ohio okay if it wasn’t for the taxpayers support if it wasn’t for their generosity if it wasn’t for you know what they contribute we would not be able to keep the tuition as affordable as it is and then we certainly couldn’t keep all the programs we do for the community there so many programs
00:48:03 we do for this community we would never be able to make sure every child that wants to be dancing can dance and every you know that the seniors can have the programs that we have we have a program called 55 plus program called 60 plus those seniors get to come and they get their classes that are had to for them they can go swim in the swimming pool or do the things that we would never be able to have JazzFest downtown never be able to have our Martin Luther King celebration programs or the Christian McBride program that we just had or different programs the things that we
00:48:33 do for The Women in Transition program here’s a program that says Hey listen you may have gone through different challenges in your life whatever those challenges is are excuse me we’re going to help you and we’re going to make sure that you get enrichment classes and jobs and skills and housing if that’s what is necessary and we’re going to connect you to infrastructure we couldn’t do a Women in Transition program without the support of the community we do it because we support the community excellent so you came in and you said there was a program you wanted to make sure you
00:49:01 talked about what is that program it’s really not a program as much as an it is ano approach okay I have made the argument here that Cleveland should be the career capital of the state of Ohio we spent a lot of time talking about bringing other people from other places to Ohio and to Cleveland I think we should bring people from Ohio to Cleveland I believe that Cleveland should be for Ohio what Boston is for massach etts what Chicago is for Illinois what Charlotte is for North Carolina what Atlanta is for Georgia what New York City is for New York State we should be
00:49:37 the place where people want to start their career they want to get in these major corporations they want to build their brand they want to get a great education at an affordable price so that even if they go back to the different parts of the state where they’re from they got their start here they built their hopes and dreams here they took the Rockefeller Journey here if we do that we will be a stronger City a stronger State and a stronger region and so I’m advocating to Business Leaders to elected officials to our partners in government to all those folks that are
00:50:09 work in nonprofit organizations everyone we’ve got to really think about how do we create the opportunity with this is the place everybody wants to be we already the cultural capital with all of the plays with all of the a the sports teams well so from a culture perspective it’s no doubt even though Columbus is the Capital there’s no doubt we’re the cultural capital but I believe that we have the gravitas to be the career capital of this state I was sitting here listening to you talk and then it dawned on me I was like I know what’s up to him you know you I ain’t gonna say you
00:50:42 in the wrong job because you’re not in the wrong job because you’re doing what you need to do and that’s good and helping the children and helping people that’s good another thing y’all didn’t know about he’s a minister and so all of his talking it got me all hyped over here because he is a pastor and he put it on so let’s talk about that a little bit then I’m going get into my thing but I know what you should do and I’m going to tell you before you leave we we ain’t got you in the right position we we need to be you you need to be moving into another position cuz what you’re
00:51:10 talking about man is the hopes and dreams that are that what you need to take place right there is beyond Community College you see because in order to do that it’s beyond Community College you can’t get that done by yourself at Community College you have to do that in a platform where you can get a lot of other people to come along with you to do that that’s why I said maybe you’re in the wrong position because and if you was in that other position you probably get a lot of people to follow you I don’t know about all that but what I do know is that as the president of college I
00:51:42 am in that critical convening role that’s it and that there there is such a great joy because I don’t have to worry about being political I’m not running for nothing actually able to do what I believe is right because it’s right because it’s right and that’s good we just at a point in our time where we just need to have that desire for more than uh and for more for our city and for our County that’s why I didn’t name a position because I couldn’t say oh yeah you should be the mayor or you should be no it’s more like you know what man you in a good position but it’d be lovely to have
00:52:18 you in more of a great leadership position outside that but you know what who’s to say that you can’t do it from there because everything is possible right that’s the truth so tell about you being a pastor that that’s the thing he came in everybody didn’t know he’s a minister and you started telling me I said I’m gonna stop you there I want to hear it on the podcast so tell me about you being a minister and how long You’ been pastoring well now this is 18 years of pastoring wow yes uh my church was in New York St Luke Cathedral where my wife is now the lead there uh we have been uh
00:52:50 she’s my co-pastor and really now that I’ve taken this responsibility here she’s really stepped up to take over the day-to-day operation but so we go back and forth so about twice a month I’m in preaching in Sunday morning in New York and and then twice a month I’m here not preaching in any particular Church yeah I preach in various churches here but I don’t you know I’m not pastoring here but so you’re going around preaching here oh yes sir really yes sir okay yes yes that’s why you know you got a lot of when you say gravit you got all of it man I’m there like
00:53:24 I usually don’t comment with me I like he got me comenting tomorrow going be like man we heard you all on the thing I can’t mute myself out cuz you was hitting some strong points there so I’m going K you around this and we go get ready we rounding third coming home so I’m gonna get you a few of my I call these my Larry King questions because I was do that I got a question oh right Latif got a question what’s going on I have a person you know you a pastor and you also president of a school so
00:53:48 what kind of program would you propose for a young gifted college student that’s getting scholarships and on their way to college but their home life is so terrible they don’t have that in between to keep them on the right track at home to even get to those scholarships before they can get there for that fall semester what do you propose can help that kind of a student that kind of needs that bridge because their family life is kind of a mess or they just have a lot of things going on to get them out of that environment so they can even make it to those scholarship opportunities that’s
00:54:28 exactly what I was talking about earlier this idea that if if families don’t have the support the children you can have the best experience in school all day but if you get home and it’s a war zone everything that you got is taken away from you and that’s why we have a lot of young people that are doing after school programs we have a lot of young people that are trying to work and trying to look for alternative you know opportunities so that they don’t have to be in the home and so I think you know part of it is thinking about what are the opp opportunities even if they were
00:54:59 to do school somewhere else you know and that there are for particularly gifted kids there are places where you can actually live and go to school and you know to kind of get your your footing under you in that kind of situation you know and very similar you know the young ladies that used to go to the Milton Hershey School you know that they came from tough neighborhoods but they were able to get into these schools that recognized that they actually had the ability the talent and needed this support and you could go into a program like that and get all
00:55:30 the support and you know that sort of thing and you you’re not taking away from them their Roots their Heritage their love you know you probably find that it’s difficult for those young people to leave an even toxic situation at home because some of them feel so much guilt about getting out and moving on and so on and so forth so you know with the guidance counselors kind of working with that person to look at the option that would be my most specific advice how how do we take your situation make sure that you are getting your own health and mental health in check because of the
00:56:04 trauma that’s ongoing and then keep them from feeling guilty about needing to make a decision to move in a different direction you know I never would have left home but I knew if I didn’t leave I would have never been everything I’ve become if I had stayed home in my environment I would never have been a college president today I would have never I had to leave and I never went back home I went home for 30 days after finished college but for those young people in that situation you have to not feel guilty about getting out because you’ll never be what you’re meant to be
00:56:36 in some environments if you stay there now do you think there there is some kind of housing assistance like a student has three months before they go to college but and all they need is maybe three months four months month a month is there any programs that can place them in a housing program or a boarding house or a dorm or a safe space where they can go to work do all what they have to do before they get to College the house the the guidance counselor should be able to identify the resources to make the hardwire connections to get them a social worker who could
00:57:11 do that kind of placement but if they can connect to a credible guidance counselor who can make the hardwire connections that can happen for them all right so let’s round third here head on home I got a couple of my questions I like to finish the show with so here goes the first one if you could trade places with anybody for a day who you think it will be do whatever you want to do don’t have to be nothing big it could be doing nothing but sitting on the beach if that’s what you wanted to do or you can go search for enlightenment and say I want to talk to Jesus for a day I only give you
00:57:43 you only got 24 hours man I’m G put you in and you coming right back out guess I’m going well I’m going to go to my favorite place my favorite place is Aruba so I’m gonna be in Aruba and you know and I’m actually going to I’m actually going to sit there on the beach and get my in the ocean get my Enlightenment there that’s what I so you you want to be yourself in a Ruba there you go yeah I want I don’t want to be nobody else I want to be be myself in a Ruba that’s a good answer that’s a great answer that’s me that’s me uh what do you would say is your guilty pleasure Pastor
00:58:16 mint chocolate chip uh uh um I like that you say ice cream yeah mint chocolate chip Hing do a there it is that’s a good I’m the only one in the house like it too I get to eat every time I buy it it never goes yeah see me and my wife have toed on that a little bit but you know she win so that’s excellent excellent tell me something you wish you were better at mini golf I love you know everybody say do you play golf yeah mini golf go I love mini golf I like to talk smack on the mini golf course
00:58:44 you know what you you the right type of guy I told you we was gonna like you cuz I’m the same way I don’t want to go do 18 holes out there no but you know meet me at the mini golf we going to do the same thing right we going talk to hour we going hit a ball around I ain’t got to go as far we can do what we was going to do anyway I’m kind of with you on that what’s the best compliment you ever got when a student told me as I was thinking about whether I should even leave my law firm and work for a college we need you and when kwami reny said that and he this is a young man who said that
00:59:16 to me for me that was a compliment because with all the people that could be there all the things that anybody could come and help and serve and support or whatever but it made it very personal and special to me that these young people needed me to come and be and help and participate and that was one of my highest compliments what’s the worst compliment what’s the worst advice you ever got I was told that I would never be more than a trio program officer I said you know I’m thinking I want to be a vice president oh you’ll never be a vice president you’ll never do that you you’ll
00:59:50 never be able do that but you know you should you know try to help you know may maybe be a trio Support Officer that’s nothing wrong with that that’s a good little job do that but you’ll never be a vice president you know man maybe more people should have told me what I wasn’t going to be in my life CU I’m see listen like here we go again I thought you was going back to the one but that wasn’t no advice they it was just a bad person say some bad stuff but man that’s good and you were able to transfer that too when anybody tells you who you’re not show yourself
01:00:20 who you are not them show yourself who you are I I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t crazy I know that I am uniquely myself and I have made a commitment to myself to be comfortable in who I am what I believe and so when you challenge me about who I am or what I could be you now call me into question myself whether they’re right or am I right and I am really committed to assuring that I understand who I am why I’m here what I’m doing and I’m going to make sure that I transcend limitations excellent the last question for you on my end is at the end of the day and at the end
01:01:00 what never cease to make you smile man like when the tough days is all over with you’ve been around a long time would you reach back in your mind and think about that makes you laugh you know what makes me laugh my friends you know when I introduced my fiance to them and they said how you get a girl like that and uh in comparison to what those brothers did and what I did it makes me laugh that’s they see it we be like what he say how you got her that’s excellent that’s excellent man I told you it was goingon to be a joy to be on our program man we really enjoyed our time talking
01:01:36 with you man you’re very great I want everybody to know that Dr Basin again is over at tric k hogga Community College for you folks living outside of Ohio and he’s doing some good work there and we’re going to be committed we’re going to make a a commitment today right here on this program that we’re going to support this brother we’re going to help him do whatever he needs to do doctor you or any of your other people at your college willever want to come on and continue to talk about some of the works you guys over there are doing or need our help and helping you get that
01:02:04 message out in the community that’s what we do and we love to be able to be a vehicle to do that we hoping to use this podcast as one of those tools that’ll allow you to do that so please let’s make sure we take you up on that and we’re g to stay in touch with you and keep you a breast of what the many things you heard what this man said he got a lot he want to do over there and we going to see what he doing and we going to help him as much as we can but before leave like we say with all our program man we going to let you look right here at this camera man take your time
01:02:31 you can say whatever you like to say if there’s something that’s on your heart or something you want people to know if it a special event or anything take your time that camera belongs to you Ken thank you so much for being with you today and so I’m want to talk to the folks out there if you’re trying to find a way forward if you’re looking for people that will believe in you as much as you believe in yourself Kai hoga Community College is here for you we want you to Aspire to dream to believe and we we want to give you all the tools necessary to make the most of
01:03:00 your life you are the scholar of your experience we want you to help write the next chapter of your extraordinary Journey try is here for you excellent and like I say in the descriptions we will have all the contact information and all the links to how you can sign up and become a member of tric and get those certificates and education that you’re looking for it’s never too late so we want you to go ahead and make sure you check in and we’ll see you next week peace this is strategic moves with Kow