Purposeful Pitch

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to put a strain on economies throughout the U.S., many nonprofits are feeling the impact, especially those focused on homelessness and poverty. With limited support from the public, and rising demands for food and supplies, these organizations have had an uphill battle since the start of the pandemic.

This reality is all too real in Phoenix, Arizona, where the nonprofit Phoenix Rescue Mission is in the midst of its annual Code: Red Summer Heat Relief Campaign, a city-wide mobilization effort to prevent heat-related deaths and illnesses among Phoenix’s homeless population. The campaign is centered around a fleet of Hope Coach vans, armed with water and other heat-relief items, that travels the streets in search of those caught in the deadly heat. Add in the pandemic, along with diminishing resources, and the Mission is facing its toughest challenge to date.

On this episode of the Purposeful Pitch, Phoenix Rescue Mission Chief Program Officer Nathan Smith joins my colleague, Josh Skalniak, and me for an in-depth conversation on the struggles and risks associated with homeless street outreach during a pandemic. We’ll look behind the scenes of what it takes for an organization like Phoenix Rescue Mission to be successful in preventing heat-related deaths while curbing the spread of the virus among the city’s most vulnerable population.

Following his life’s passion, Smith has worked as a missions pastor, case manager, program director, board president, and executive in several churches and nonprofits. Smith has been with Phoenix Rescue Mission for the past six years, and he now oversees all of the nonprofit’s programs, including its public-private partnerships aimed at reducing crime, poverty, and homelessness in targeted regions of the metro area.

Smith was instrumental in the expansion of the Mission’s reach into neighboring regions like Glendale, where he and his team saved the city’s largest food bank, Hope For Hunger Food Bank, from closing for good. His team reopened the food bank and increased the output of the previous ownership by more than 50% – serving more than 160 families per day. He was also a key player in the formation of Glendale Works, an integrated workforce development program aimed at reducing homelessness in Glendale by providing homeless individuals day-work cleaning city property.

To continue the conversation or learn more about Lambert’s Education & Social Impact practice, contact Joe DiBenedetto at [email protected].

In his years of public service, Michigan State Senator Peter MacGregor has been a man of action. Serving as chairman of the appropriations subcommittee on health and human services, Senator MacGregor recently led the Senate in providing $524 million in federal COVID-19 funding to deliver much-needed supplies to front-line workers, help families in need of financial assistance, and to support critical state infrastructure.

A former small business owner, Senator MacGregor can empathize with the challenges facing local businesses experiencing hardship as a result of the COVID pandemic. During this episode of the Purposeful Pitch, Senator MacGregor shares his thoughts on the pandemic’s impact on Michigan and the efforts needed to continue to build on the progress seen across Grand Rapids and Kent County over the past decade.

In our conversation with Senator MacGregor, we also discuss the issue of systemic racism across the country and the protests taking place to institute necessary change. As all agree, the time to listen to voices calling for critical change to address racial injustice is long overdue, but that is where we must first start for such change to occur.

To continue the conversation or learn more about Lambert’s Education & Social Impact practice, contact Joe DiBenedetto at [email protected].

The path to public service differs for many. For Michigan State Senator Winnie Brinks, it included serving as executive director for One Way House, a non-profit serving non-violent female offenders in a residential setting as an alternative to incarceration, as well as working with a number of public schools in the Grand Rapids area. It was her work assisting individuals and families in overcoming barriers to success that inspired her to run for office in Michigan’s House of Representatives in the early 2000s.

After more than seven years in the House, Brinks became the first woman to represent Grand Rapids in the Michigan Senate since Eva McCall Hamilton was elected in 1920. While certainly proud of this distinction and acknowledging that we should celebrate such firsts, Senator Brinks shares during this episode of Purposeful Pitch that she would prefer that women in public office in West Michigan and across the state become the norm, not the exception.

Of course, we can’t discuss any topic at present without including the impact of COVID-19. As the global pandemic continues to turn our world upside down, Senator Brinks remains confident that Grand Rapids—which has experienced remarkable growth over the past decade—will be able to recover given the city’s entrepreneurial and philanthropic spirit. Still, she admits, there will be many challenges due to funding uncertainties at the state and federal level. Learn more about the road ahead in this episode.

To continue the conversation or learn more about Lambert’s Education & Social Impact practice, contact Joe DiBenedetto at [email protected].

School leaders across the country are working diligently in preparation for the upcoming school year, despite the continued uncertainty surrounding COVID-19. As you can imagine, developing plans becomes even more challenging when you have no idea if or when you’ll be able to safely re-open school buildings or what funding you can expect from the state and federal governments.

Like all states, Michigan is facing a sharp decrease in tax revenues as a result of the extended shutdown. Projections from the state’s recent Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference (CREC) estimate a $1.25 billion hit to the existing year’s School Aid Fund, money that’s largely already been spent as the academic year soon comes to an end, and $1.1 billion in next year’s budget. It remains to be seen what per pupil funding will look like as a result. Any cuts to school funding will impact services provided to students – be it in the classroom, the lunchroom or on the field.

On this episode of the Purposeful Pitch, we talk to Dr. Dan Applegate, superintendent of Niles Community Schools. It’s an in-depth discussion on the challenges school districts and communities face in preparation for the 2020-21 school year and beyond. We talk about the different scenarios school leaders must consider, how families and teachers have been handling the shift to distance learning, and how this situation could lead to the evolution of the country’s education system.

To continue the conversation or learn more about Lambert’s Education & Social Impact practice, contact Joe DiBenedetto at [email protected].

Amplify GR seeks to widen pathways so that more residents can participate and benefit from neighborhood growth. In our conversation with Jon Ippel, the non-profit organization’s executive director, we talk about establishing more equitable outcomes through community development.

Kelli Dobner, Chief Advancement Officer at Samaritas, a non-profit organization providing critical services supporting vulnerable populations, discusses the ongoing foster care crisis across Michigan.

In addition to the grave health concerns surrounding COVID-19, the global pandemic is wreaking economic havoc on communities around the world. While nothing is as important as the health and well-being of our neighbors, the long-term impact of COVID-19 on local economies should not be ignored – especially as it relates to the education of our children.

As school superintendents across the country try to figure out how best to educate students via distance learning, they must also start preparing for the next school year amidst great uncertainty surrounding budgets. Economists are predicting billions of dollars in decreased tax revenues in the state of Michigan as a result of the current recession—and that’s going to have a dramatic impact on state funding for schools, roads and other critical infrastructure.

On this episode of the Purposeful Pitch, former Michigan State Senator John Proos joins my colleague, Clare Liening, and I for an informative discussion on state budgets. We take a look behind the curtain at the state budget process, the grim reality facing businesses, nonprofits, schools and other organizations, and the tough decisions that have to be made in developing the next state budget.

Senator Proos is an experienced former legislator with over two decades of public service at both the federal and state levels – including serving in the Michigan House of Representatives and most recently in the Michigan Senate. He served on appropriations committees for 12 of his 14 years in public service, so he’s more than qualified to talk about the state budget process and the challenges that lie ahead.

Today, Proos is the CEO of JP4 Government Solutions, providing strategic counsel to corporate, manufacturing and not-for-profit organizations seeking to increase productivity while decreasing the uncertainty and burden of regulations.

To continue the conversation or learn more about Lambert’s Education & Social Impact practice, contact Joe DiBenedetto at [email protected].

Holly Guild, executive director of Humane Society of West Michigan, shares why the non-profit organization is a critical part of the community and the challenges it faces during COVID-19.

The president and chief innovation officer at Skypoint Ventures in Flint, David Ollila, is a serial entrepreneur with 12 patents on products ranging from sporting goods to wearable technology. He’s also deeply interesting and funny as hell.

David moved from Marquette (in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula) to Flint several years ago to help introduce Cowork at Ferris Wheeland 100K Ideas—where startups, garage inventors, creatives and entrepreneurs can locate resources that are critical to getting their ideas off the ground, facilitating project progression from ideation to commercialization. Having successfully launched Invent@NMU years ago, a unique idea incubator in tandem with Northern Michigan University, David sought to replicate the successful program in one of America’s most iconic industrial cities—Flint.

During our conversation, David and I talked about democratizing entrepreneurship—making the pathway to entrepreneurship accessible for all. While it was important to make entrepreneurial opportunities more accessible before the COVID-19 global pandemic, it’s going to be even more vital as businesses cut or furlough staff and unemployment rises.

What I love most about talking to David is the passion he brings to everything he pursues—and that’s easy to hear throughout this edition of the Purposeful Pitch. Listening to David, you can understand why he’s been successful across the many ventures he’s pursued and why he’s inspired others to not only follow their dreams, but to achieve them.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with David on a variety of projects, including the Entrepreneurs in Elevators video series Lambert created for its client, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s Entrepreneurship & Innovation initiative. David was our first choice to host this entertaining, engaging and informative video series because of his passion, his insight and, most importantly, his curiosity. For it is his curiosity that has led David to explore different opportunities along his own entrepreneurial journey.

If you’d like to listen to additional conversations focusing on matters of social impact (or education), please download previous editions of the Purposeful Pitch here. To continue the conversation or to learn more about Lambert’s Education & Social Impact practice, contact Joe DiBenedetto at [email protected].

Detroit is experiencing a major renaissance—returning to its former glory as one of America’s greatest cities. One way in which this renaissance is obvious is in the vast amount of development taking place across the city. While development is certainly a positive for economic growth, it’s critical that development be inclusive and equitable, so as not to exclude existing residents who have called Detroit home for decades.

On this episode of Purposeful Pitch, my colleague, Sawyer Lipari, and I speak to Sonya Mays, president and CEO of Develop Detroit, a non-profit organization committed to building vibrant, resilient communities and expanding opportunities for all residents to succeed. Develop Detroit creates mixed-income communities and single-family homes across Detroit—featuring an integrated approach to stabilizing and growing neighborhoods.

Our conversation with Sonya covers the dreaded ‘G’ word—gentrification—and how Develop Detroit is working with partners across the city, such as Capital Impact Partners, to ensure current residents aren’t left outside looking in while economic development continues throughout Detroit.

Focusing its efforts in the city’s disinvested neighborhoods, Develop Detroit has launched an innovative single-family development pilot program in the North End (along Woodward Avenue between Marston and Philadelphia Street) and a mixed-used inclusive community in the Sugar Hill Arts District (Garfield and John R. Street intersection in Midtown). The two projects include over $36 million in investment and more than 100 new homes (single family, townhomes and luxury apartment homes).

For more information on Develop Detroit, visit developdetroit.org. To learn more about Lambert’s Education & Social Impact practice, contact me at [email protected].