Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: And hello and good morning. This is Philip Clark, and I come to you again with our weekly Just say Something podcast. Remember, you can find this podcast anywhere. You find your favorite podcast. And before we get started, please, like, share and subscribe.
So those of you that have been following Just say Something, know that over the years, we have grown even more recently, exponentially. And so today I want to introduce you to our most recent hire, Joshua Goodwin. And, Joshua, welcome.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: Thank you so much. It's great to be here.
[00:00:49] Speaker B: And Joshua is.
It's a new role for Just say Something. And he is now our director of development.
So he's got a very, very important role because I've come to a realization I can't do it all myself, so I need some help.
[00:01:07] Speaker A: It's. It's. You've been doing a lot. You've been doing, I think at three. And I, when we were talking initially and having those interviews, I was like, this is a. You've been doing a three in one job. It's been a lot. So I'm happy to have plenty of work to do, rest assured.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, no doubt. And it's almost. I'm like, you don't have time to sit here and do this interview, but we're going to make it happen anyway.
So tell us, tell our listeners a little bit about, Joshua, where you come from and. And what brings you to. Just say something.
[00:01:36] Speaker A: Absolutely.
So I'm originally from Greenville, South Carolina, and I grew up in the area. And, you know, I was had the opportunity of going to the finance center of greenwashing, did music there. But I ended up going into business, marketing and finance at Baltimore University. And in my junior year of college, I got involved in political work. I started a State House campaign, and
[00:02:04] Speaker B: we won A State House campaign for you?
[00:02:07] Speaker A: Not for me, for someone else, for a State House representative.
[00:02:11] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:02:12] Speaker A: And from there, I kind of caught the political bug. And in two and a half years, I ran 11 campaigns and won 10 of them. And that took me to. Yeah, it took me to Congress. At the time, I really had done a lot of work for Congressman William Timmons, along with a lot of other elected officials. And it was an incredible opportunity. And so at this is, when I got to D.C. i was his director of communications and senior advisor, more on the campaign side. And I was there for about a year and a half or so. And then after that, I really focused on lobbying for tax credits. So I did everything from historic tax credits, the child tax credit, the earned income tax credit. There's the opportunity zones so there's a lot of things that I was an advocate for in, in that time frame as well. I had really thrown myself in some activism locally in D.C. so I had become chair of membership and co chair of Government relations for D.C. pride and world Pride, which really was just a unique role that became a second full time job.
And I really was able to glean a lot of experience in fundraising without realizing I kind of fell into, you know, you're bundling money for non profits and for even elected officials, but you're also working with city grants and federal grants for what we were working on.
But I, it was just a very unique side by side to go through that, having that political background. And then I came back in the past 11 months, just, you know, there's things with family. But I also kind of want to get out of D.C.
there's a lot going on.
I don't think, I don't think people realize it's even more, I would say the cases of just socially speaking, there's just a lot of inflammatory stuff going on and it's kind of tough. But I'm very grateful to be back in Greenville. But when I came back, I didn't want to immediately throw myself into lobbying or anything like that. I really wanted to invest in folks that are actually doing the work. And I think, you know, I had experienced that in D.C. when I was doing the different boards that I was sitting on and helping advocate for. But then I also was, you know, working on the child tax credit. I got to oversee coalitions that were, you know, overseeing things in all 50 states. I was really meeting a lot of parents and families and it's.
The family is very important. You know, that structure is so important there for a reason. Right. And it's, it's, that's really just not up for debate to me. I just, I've always continued to see that when the family breaks down, that's where society really, truly actually breaks down. People can argue which or what that needs to look like, but for me it's, if you don't have that love and care and attention, you're going to have real issues. So I was lucky enough to, you know, hear about, just say something. Compass Carolina. I've known about y' all for quite some time, but to hear that you needed someone in development was a great surprise when we met through Katie Smith at Greater Good Greenville and things like that, you know, like Daniel Gibbs and stuff like that. So it was really a wonderful opportunity to just hear what you all have going on. But I, I really, it's been something that I've worked on from an economic development perspective. It's really wonderful to be part of something now where it's. We're doing the direct work and I, I'm doing the easy job. I really am. I'm not the counselors. I'm not, I'm not having to, you know, help these families rebuild and stuff like that. And I generally mean that. I mean our team members are the ones doing that work.
[00:05:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I say that all the time because people are like, when do you sleep? I said it's not about me. It's about the people we serve and the people on the team that are really our boots on the ground that are actually getting it done.
So as you look at. Just say something.
And our partnership with compass.
What are some of the pieces that you see that were maybe surprising to you coming from the background that you came from, especially with the advocating and you actually did lobbying in the, in D.C.
equate that back to our local community and what you see and maybe some of the things that surprised you that were happening or weren't happening as it relates to families and what we do, it just say something.
[00:06:38] Speaker A: I would say the thing I'm most impressed by with Justice Encompass Carolina is the coalition building and remaining nonpartisan. I can't express how that is actually very rare to actually see done and done properly.
I have been on the advocacy and lobbying side of more progressive but also more conservative. I mean I've been on both sides side style and I feel that that's when I was advocating for different programs, trying to place in common sense no matter where you are and really putting, I mean this is how I, I lead is is this actually loving this community that I'm serving? And it truly is that question like am I loving these people in this way? You're going to know your answer.
I've found that with y', all from what we're doing is that there is a lot of advocacy work of coalition building, which I was very surprised by. I mean the amount of partners that we have that are not just government related but other coalition groups of folks.
We have, you know, every group of folks that in that represent the community. Right. I think that's what's fantastic. And there's like we let people be who they want to be, but there's also, you know, we come together on the serious issues, especially like rebuilding the families, going through parenting classes. I love that there is no judgment of, you know what? We're not here to judge you now. At the same time, we also have expectations of you're going through these courses. You need to, you know, measure up to these things. But.
[00:08:13] Speaker B: Right. Yeah, we do have a lot of great partners that we work with, but we also have a good bit of community space here in our current office that we let our partners use for free.
So I know earlier, one of our partners for Steps, there was a meeting here of about 60 parenting providers here in the community.
Today there was a baby shower for about 17 families that had new babies. And so again, it.
We're. We're resource and we're also a hub.
[00:08:48] Speaker A: Yeah, I want to say real fast, too. I mean, you know, Mali and some folks, Prisma Health that were helping run that. I think what's amazing is that to, like, folks who are listening is that what that program really did for their 17 mothers is that, you know, they don't. Folks don't talk about when you go through the pregnancy, then you have the child, how lonely it can be. I mean, you know, you're by yourself, you're figuring out you're a first parent. I've never had that opportunity, but, you know, I hear it's scary. And it's a lot from my sisters who have kids. My sister has a kid and, you know, that's what we're providing here is that it's sometimes the first time since they've been outside their home after having these children. And they need community. They need to know that it's not this perfect thing on Instagram and social media. Like, these moms who have assistance and stuff like that, which, you know, good for them, God bless them. But I mean, like, that's not real. That's not reality. No, it's not. Like, that's crazy talk. And that's how. And I feel like that's what's great, is that they're here to tell, you know, we're here for you. We're here also to let you know there are so many other folks in your community who are going through the exact same thing. They're looking at the same resources. Again, it's not judging folks.
And I think that's just important.
Not just for folks of different backgrounds and income brackets, but it's for everyone. I mean, everyone goes through this. I don't know one mom that isn't like, oh, my gosh, like, I feel like I'm dying right now. But anyways.
[00:10:09] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:09] Speaker A: Just as a quick shout out to a lot of the moms.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, it. It doesn't matter. What your zip code is now, the needs can all be the same, but specific to you. Which at the end of the day, especially with kids, kids need and want an adult who really cares.
[00:10:27] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:27] Speaker B: And so hopefully that's their mom or their dad or someone within their family.
So as you're learning more about the programs here at Just say something and with compassion, what is the message that you're formulating to share with people? That even though we've been here for a while, there's still a lot of people that don't know us because unfortunately they don't find out about us until after they have an issue or after DSS gets involved.
So what some of your talking points or messaging that you've been able to develop just in the short time that you've been here of educating those that you're in front of about the important work that we do?
[00:11:14] Speaker A: Well, I would first, I always lead with obviously our impact. Right. Annually, right now we are directly educating over 30,000 people in the upstate community.
Not just like, oh, that's an advertisement, that's a viewership. No, we had a direct conversation. They're sitting in front of us and we are talking to them in a classroom type setting. That's a big deal. That's a lot of people. That's a lot of work you can't replace. I just think human interaction that's just, that's one on one the best way to communicate to folks. The second thing is that the fact that we annually are doing about 2500 families that we're helping have the opportunity for them to get back together. You know, we're having a lot of difficult cases that I think that this is why we're not as well known is because, you know, we're working with the sheriff's department, the solicitor's office, family court, we're working with DSS Juvenile Detention center, this detention center, folks that have the heart, it is such a big deal when they come to us and admit, I was wrong or I was wronged. I want to reunite with my family. I love this person in whatever form that is for the kids because we have, you know, counselors for and facilitators for the, all the youth who are specialized from the different ages along for their development stages and then also the parents.
This is why it's not being talked about because it's a difficult situation.
People are coming to us because they're hurting. It's hard to admit that you're wrong. But I, I think my message to so many folks as I've been out in the community, has been. There is always a path forward. You know, no family's perfect.
If everyone kind of looked at their own families again, oh, not my family. It's like, ah, no, we've all, we all could, we all could just say something. We all could just pause. We all could just listen a little more, actually intentionally listening.
And I think that's, that's, that's what I have gleaned from this experience so far. I really. And you know this. There are a pile of books and PDFs that I'm reading through. I really want to understand our curriculum and how we're coaching folks. And again, we, I think, I know you've said this multiple times on the podcast, but this isn't a.
We're going to fix it. No, we're going to provide the resources, we're going to provide coaching. We're going to provide struck infrastructure for you to be successful.
[00:13:35] Speaker B: Right.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: You have to do the work. And that's I think a really strong message to anyone who's listening here is that like, you can do this.
[00:13:42] Speaker B: Right.
[00:13:42] Speaker A: We all are thinking about a family member or someone in our life that we're having a really tough time with.
[00:13:47] Speaker B: Right.
[00:13:47] Speaker A: You have to do it, though.
[00:13:48] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. It's not even long winded.
[00:13:51] Speaker A: But there is.
[00:13:52] Speaker B: And you know, and we say also to especially new parents, you know, the little darlings didn't come with the donor's manual.
[00:14:00] Speaker A: So here's some help.
[00:14:02] Speaker B: So here's some help.
Well, I know we have a lot of great things.
I know every time you and I meet, your list gets a little longer and longer.
[00:14:11] Speaker A: That's okay.
[00:14:12] Speaker B: But we'll get there. Yeah, we'll get there.
As I keep saying, Rome wasn't built in a day. And so we'll be taking some baby steps. But hopefully, um, you'll be seeing Joshua soon out in the community, hopefully meeting you, talking with you, getting to know some of our listeners better. And then if you would like to get in touch with us here at the office, you can always email me Philip at just say something sc.org or you can email Joshua at just say something sc.org and we'll be glad to make an appointment to sit down with you to see how we could help each other.
And so is there always do this for our guests? Is there one thing you didn't get to say that you would love to say at this point as we bring this podcast to a close?
[00:15:14] Speaker A: Yes. I would say that if you want to get involved in any capacity.
Everyone has something that can contribute to what we're trying to do here. And I know that some of you, maybe you're just hearing about us.
There is always an opportunity and we're going to make it work. Anytime your heart is wanting to give and contribute, we're going to take it. And whatever that looks like for you, I would love to be in conversation with you. So that's. That's my message to them.
[00:15:44] Speaker B: All right. That sounds good. Well, again, thank you for being with us today.
[00:15:47] Speaker A: You're welcome.
[00:15:48] Speaker B: I look forward to.
I'm excited about having you on our team.
[00:15:52] Speaker A: I'm very excited to be here and
[00:15:54] Speaker B: looking forward to the places we can go as a team.
[00:15:56] Speaker A: I agree.
[00:15:57] Speaker B: All right. All right. Well, that will do it for this week's episode. Again, I'm Philip Clark, CEO here at Just say Something and please be sure to, like, subscribe and share. And until then, we will see you next week. Have a great day.
