Snow Redfern Foundation

Jenny Nixon Author

10/03/2024 Added

2 Plays

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Sara Nicholson speaks about the Snow Redfern Foundation. Recorded 5/10/2023.

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[00:00:00.000]There we go. This morning we have with us Sarah Nicholson who is with the Snow Red Fern Foundation
[00:00:08.120]and you know the more I've learned about it the more excited I have been about the activity this
[00:00:14.820]organization does and it seems for a long time it was fairly under the radar because I hear the
[00:00:22.540]words and I think wonder what that's about wonder what that's about and more and more people started
[00:00:25.940]to tell me you need to know and then recently in our connections with Alliance we've had
[00:00:32.540]opportunities through our wellness conversations in Alliance to talk with Sarah and other of her
[00:00:40.720]board members about what Snow Red Firm Foundation is all about and see some of their vision and I'm
[00:00:47.560]really excited to have her share some of that with you so Sarah welcome. Well thank you I appreciate
[00:00:54.740]the invite Jenny.
[00:00:55.920]And it's kind of fun I'm seeing some of the other people on here that I do know and a few that I
[00:01:00.920]don't so some of you might have heard some of the stories so I will try to accommodate both of your
[00:01:08.020]needs if you've heard of us and if you haven't. Jenny how long do I have today? Well we've got
[00:01:13.880]till 11 o'clock so take it away. Oh wow that's scary you shouldn't let me talk that long.
[00:01:19.020]Okay well if can I share my screen? Absolutely. Okay.
[00:01:25.800]All right let me just pull this up real quick.
[00:01:33.880]All right can everybody see that? Yes that looks lovely. Okay very good. So I'm just going to give
[00:01:48.360]you a little bit of history about Snow Red Fern Foundation because we've been around for a hot
[00:01:53.580]minute. So I'm just going to give you a little bit of history about Snow Red Fern Foundation
[00:01:55.780]We actually our roots go back to 1951 when our founder our villas Snow Red Fern decided that she
[00:02:04.160]wanted to do something a little bit more to have impact in this world. She had a son who died in a
[00:02:10.620]horseback riding accident and it really shook her world and she did a lot of interesting things
[00:02:18.200]about that time to really try to memorialize him but also do things for other people.
[00:02:25.760]Her family ranch was the Snow Ranch in the Alliance area, Morrill County, and
[00:02:32.280]she grew up on the ranch. She lived the ranch life. I joke about it. I call her like a, she was
[00:02:40.220]a badass. You know, she really was. She was just a rural frontier woman who worked hard and
[00:02:47.440]wanted to do well, do good for others. And so anyway, she started fostering children in her home
[00:02:55.740]and she did that for many, many years. She was also a teacher. And then she decided one day,
[00:03:02.060]you know, I want to do more. I want to create this ranching experience for kids that would
[00:03:08.760]not otherwise have that opportunity that are struggling in their life. And so she took it
[00:03:13.680]upon herself to rally all the right people. She had people from UNL actually that were helping
[00:03:19.980]her in the creation of the model, the plans. She had the Colorado Boys Ranch.
[00:03:25.720]She had some really interesting people involved from the very beginning to help create this model.
[00:03:29.920]But this right here is a little excerpt from her will. And it's my very favorite part of
[00:03:36.900]whatever she's ever said. We have tons of stuff of her, what she shared. And she was actually
[00:03:41.000]very poetic and had poems that she shared as well. But I just thought this was beautiful because
[00:03:45.960]really what her vision was is to give kids the skills to meet the world where they should find
[00:03:52.860]it. And I think that's just beautiful. It's, you know, meeting kids,
[00:03:55.700]where they're at and evolving with the times so that they can get what they need.
[00:04:00.220]So back in those days, the Nebraska Boys Ranch was a group home, but it was really more of a
[00:04:11.100]home. It was a ranch experience for the kids. There were kids from all over Nebraska that would
[00:04:18.440]come here and stay at the ranch. And it used to be more of a home situation. So kids would
[00:04:25.680]be on the ranch sometimes their entire high school career, and they would graduate from
[00:04:31.160]Alliance High School and go on to live their lives. Because really she established the Boys Ranch to
[00:04:37.940]be something that was available for these at the time. And you can see the wording on here, which
[00:04:42.580]clearly we don't use those kinds of words anymore, but orphaned, homeless, neglected, and underprivileged
[00:04:47.580]boys. So there were lots and lots of great stories that came from the boys that stayed there. In fact,
[00:04:55.720]I still get phone calls now and then from former ranch boys that live there and are now adults. One
[00:05:03.540]of them has his own ranch in Washington now, and he'll check back in every once in a while. So it's
[00:05:10.480]cool to see how that's really impacted those boys. So back in those days, we had 14 boys that were
[00:05:20.860]fostered that we can tell. And this is, again, those are some estimates because we don't have all the
[00:05:25.640]records of that. But about 14 boys lived with our villa in the 40s and 50s in a foster home situation.
[00:05:32.380]And then 819 boys lived at the Nebraska Boys Ranch between 1960 and 2009.
[00:05:39.380]And I'll talk about this a little bit more later, but when we became a grant-making organization
[00:05:45.960]in 2012 is when we started impacting actually more children across Nebraska,
[00:05:52.660]and not just boys any longer, but children in general.
[00:05:56.200]So we've impacted 132,000 plus kids between 2012 and 2022 with our grant funding.
[00:06:04.180]Okay, so we'll see if my link works.
[00:06:10.880]Let's see here. I'm going to show you a quick video.
[00:06:25.600]So the sound on the video probably won't come through.
[00:06:28.060]Oh, there you go.
[00:06:28.680]It started in the early 1950s, and it was Arvella Snow Redfern's outlook and view on life that she wanted to invest in children.
[00:06:36.180]And so she had a 20,000 acre ranch, and she brought in young men who were experiencing homelessness, family struggles, legal troubles, things of that nature.
[00:06:46.700]And she brought them to the ranch where they could learn ranch values and really give them an opportunity to restart in life.
[00:06:55.580]Started this for the sake of her son and developing a place for meeting needs for young men.
[00:07:02.040]She had a work ethic involved in mind and a way of caring for these young men that continued with what we were doing.
[00:07:12.220]That if one of the boys would fall down and struggle, it was more than just discipline, but it was correction.
[00:07:23.800]It was counseling.
[00:07:25.560]Counseling and support to get back up on your feet.
[00:07:28.920]And that's one of the things that made it successful.
[00:07:31.960]She always just had a vision of how she wanted things to go and what she wanted.
[00:07:37.720]She had a great heart for kids and for the ranch and for the ranch life.
[00:07:42.720]And she knew that it took hard work and that it built character and that to be successful, everybody had to work together and focus on the positives.
[00:07:55.540]Do the things that were good for the land and for the cattle and for the people as well.
[00:08:01.180]She was a great woman and it was always fun for me as a little kid to go to her house with my dad.
[00:08:09.300]And so today, as we transition into into the future, you know, we're really looking at opportunities that invest in youth across the state of Nebraska that give them the same opportunity to be successful in life.
[00:08:25.520]And so the success that we've had here with Snow Redburn is we've been able to build up endowments and support all these different groups with their applications for grants, for financial aid, for direction with developing new programs for outreach.
[00:08:43.540]It's a whole different direction, but it's exciting to be part of this.
[00:08:50.960]For anyone who may be considering estate planning, I think that
[00:08:55.500]this is a particularly important opportunity for you to consider the benefit of your legacy.
[00:09:00.280]Of course, there's the opportunity to ensure that your dollars are going to a good organization
[00:09:06.160]and something that's ultimately going to impact the youth of Nebraska.
[00:09:10.440]But more importantly, this allows you to ensure that dollars that were maybe earned in Nebraska
[00:09:16.160]get to stay in Nebraska.
[00:09:17.540]And it also ensures that children are going to be impacted by that.
[00:09:21.940]And what better opportunity for your financial legacy, but also your
[00:09:25.480]reputation as a human being, too.
[00:09:26.900]So I commend to the community in the broadest sense the Snow River Memorial Foundation
[00:09:33.000]as a means of expression of goodwill and the desire of all of us to help those who need a home,
[00:09:40.240]encouragement and training for the time when they shall be called upon to meet the world
[00:09:46.120]as they shall find it.
[00:09:55.460]Okay. We actually just had that one on that video completed. It just got done.
[00:10:10.840]And go do this to clear out stuck poop. Oh, what the heck? Fiber helps you poop, right?
[00:10:16.640]No. Great. According to New York's top gut doctor, fiber just adds bulk and weight.
[00:10:21.180]Oh my gosh. That's hilarious.
[00:10:25.440]I don't even know how to get rid of it. Where's it at? It's in your YouTube.
[00:10:28.700]Yep. Wow. That was fun. Okay. Let's try this again.
[00:10:35.640]Okay. So let me go back to this. I can see my screen here. Hold on. Okay. So since 2002,
[00:10:48.760]or excuse me, in 2022, our impact was that we served,
[00:10:55.420]18,800, it's supposed to be 841, not eight, not the X rate in there, youth. So we did all that
[00:11:02.560]through grant funding, through the organizations that we awarded grants to across Nebraska.
[00:11:06.760]The grants were awarded to, in the amount of 314,000 last year. So we're not a large
[00:11:15.420]foundation. We don't have a ton of money, like some of the really big, beautiful foundations
[00:11:20.840]out there. And so for us, it's important to be able to identify the needs in our community
[00:11:25.400]and find out how we can best have impact and how we can partner with other organizations
[00:11:30.740]to increase that impact whenever possible.
[00:11:32.920]And we really believe that we have an opportunity to create impact with youth. And we do that
[00:11:44.340]through those partnerships with communities and nonprofit organizations. 50% of the funds
[00:11:50.760]that we awarded last year addressed children's well-being. 26% addressed
[00:11:55.380]children's basic needs. And 24% addressed educational needs for kids.
[00:12:00.260]So this is our projected grant allocation for this coming year. We actually, it's been an
[00:12:13.200]interesting cycle for Star Redfern Foundation. When I started, gosh, it's been four years ago now,
[00:12:20.180]we had, we were really, and we still are in our infancy stages of
[00:12:25.360]developing as a private foundation because we've only been awarding grants since about 2012.
[00:12:29.720]And it wasn't until this last year that we became a private foundation. We were still
[00:12:35.340]acting as the capacity of a public charity in the eyes of the IRS. So we weren't required to
[00:12:41.420]distribute a specific amount of money every year like we are now. So within this last year, we've
[00:12:47.760]really tried to hone in on how we can have more impact and what that looks like for us. And so we
[00:12:55.340]been diversifying a little bit and we've tried to refocus on some of the more important things that
[00:13:01.080]we are seeing in the panhandle. And in order to do that, one of the things we did is commission
[00:13:07.400]an environmental scan. We worked with a couple of researchers that live in the eastern part of the
[00:13:14.440]state, JP Ramirez and Maya Chalizi. And these two brilliant folks, they pulled all the data they
[00:13:25.320]in Nebraska as it related to children. And there's some amazing data out there. However, for us as a
[00:13:33.380]grant-making organization, it was really a challenge, and it still is a challenge, to look
[00:13:38.080]at that data and really determine how can we have impact? What do we do with this data? Where is the
[00:13:43.440]greatest need? How can we, you know, relay our funds where it's needed? And so through some
[00:13:49.400]discovery calls with partner organizations and the Panhandle and a lot of work by these two
[00:13:55.300]people, they were able to pull that data together and provide us some recommendations based on the
[00:14:02.340]data and, you know, what the providers were actually seeing as the real needs here in the
[00:14:07.240]Panhandle. So because of that, we have redirected some of our funds this year for the first time
[00:14:12.080]based on that data. And we're using more of a participatory grant making model as opposed to
[00:14:19.200]the way it was structured previously. So really it's going to the community and asking them to
[00:14:25.280]what do you need and how can we support you to achieve those outcomes that you're seeking.
[00:14:30.220]So one way in which we're doing that, and that's really probably Jenny, you and I connected for
[00:14:35.980]the first time really around that, was by selecting a priority community based on that data.
[00:14:41.580]So there was a lot of data that was really pointing towards Boxview County as being a little
[00:14:49.500]bit concerning for children. You know, some of their statistical information was leading to
[00:14:55.260]really big concerns around juvenile justice, around mental health, around suicides, and early
[00:15:04.760]you know, births, you know, high schoolers having babies. It was just a lot of things that were
[00:15:10.140]concerning to us. We're like, okay, this is the community we're going to select and how appropriate
[00:15:13.540]it's in our backyard. So we allocated a chunk of money that's going to go to Boxview County,
[00:15:20.240]and we're still in the process of figuring out what that's going to look like, but we're partnering
[00:15:25.240]with multiple organizations, including public health, to help us create a plan for how we
[00:15:33.760]can reach out to Boxview as a larger community, including Hemingford and Alliance both, and
[00:15:40.060]structure it so that we can award some funds for them to identify what it is that they
[00:15:45.220]need and how they're going to make it roll out over the next three years.
[00:15:48.560]So we'll fund them again in 2024 and 2025 to assist with whatever plans they
[00:15:55.220]come up with this year.
[00:15:57.700]So this year is more of a planning year for them.
[00:16:00.180]So in addition, we are adjusting some of our grant making to be more around capacity development.
[00:16:08.540]We have in the past really only had our project grant program.
[00:16:13.400]So essentially, we opened up our grants one time a year.
[00:16:17.180]Anybody that's a nonprofit in Nebraska could apply for a grant, a short-term grant from
[00:16:23.380]us, and they're really micro grants.
[00:16:25.200]And that's all we did for grants.
[00:16:29.200]So as we're evolving, we're realizing that the organizations that seem to fit within
[00:16:36.160]our scope of practice as far as how we can support communities have been those more rural
[00:16:43.340]nonprofits that serve kids and that have very few employees, so they don't have the capacity
[00:16:49.340]necessarily as some of those larger organizations to write for grants, to, you know, do the
[00:16:55.180]HR, to do all of the things that larger organizations really have more propensity to have, you know,
[00:17:01.560]opportunity to do.
[00:17:02.420]So through that, we are testing some things this year, which is one of the wonderful things
[00:17:08.480]about having a private foundation is that we have the latitude to try things out and
[00:17:12.900]see if they work.
[00:17:13.580]And if they don't, we can adjust and do something new next year.
[00:17:16.140]So one of the things we're testing this year is how we can support organizations to create
[00:17:22.500]a capacity development plan.
[00:17:25.160]And then we're funding that.
[00:17:26.080]So this year we've selected CASA.
[00:17:28.820]So as you probably all have heard of the court appointed special advocates across Nebraska,
[00:17:36.680]there's, they exist in most of the counties in Nebraska, and then they have a main or
[00:17:42.440]overarching organization that supports them.
[00:17:45.700]So we're awarding them a significant chunk of money so that they can address how to build
[00:17:52.340]capacity and that a lot of them.
[00:17:55.140]They only have one employee at their local offices, and then the rest are volunteers.
[00:18:00.900]And so that'll be a fun project to see how they can they can build and grow this year
[00:18:06.100]so more to come on that next year, we're hoping to really expand this so that we can do this
[00:18:11.600]for multiple small nonprofits in Nebraska in years to come.
[00:18:18.240]We started something new and I'll talk about that here in a minute is our young women's
[00:18:21.580]leadership program or root to rise.
[00:18:25.120]We leave some money for developing communities so if we see great projects that are occurring,
[00:18:31.940]we can walk beside them and ask what they need in order to make that work better.
[00:18:38.140]We have our career pathways, which actually is really interesting and I see that Jordan's
[00:18:44.660]on here too and Jordan, feel free to chime in here.
[00:18:49.940]It's probably been close to three years ago now, I was approached by some
[00:18:55.100]local businesses saying, "Hey, we want to figure out how to get our kids that are potentially
[00:19:03.780]able to be welders and diesel mechanics and all these folks working in the trades.
[00:19:08.520]We want to figure out how to keep them here and we want to figure out how we can support
[00:19:12.980]them while they're in high school so that they stay with us."
[00:19:17.100]And they wanted me to help figure that out.
[00:19:19.540]And of course, I am not the one that could answer that question, so we pulled together
[00:19:25.080]a large group of people that are involved in that in multiple ways and started having
[00:19:30.160]the discussions and found that there was definitely excitement and value around those discussions.
[00:19:36.540]And COVID kind of slowed things down for a minute, but then we came back in and we awarded
[00:19:44.920]some funds to Panhandle Public Health to do some strategic planning with that group.
[00:19:55.060]And then we got the group back together with a bunch of more people to really start talking
[00:20:00.620]about what is Career Pathways, what do we need to do to create a rural Nebraska model.
[00:20:06.100]So essentially Career Pathways is, it is connecting the education system and the kids to the different
[00:20:15.160]industries that are present in the Panhandle and figuring out what each of those needs
[00:20:20.420]in order to communicate and create pathways for kids to
[00:20:25.040]find out what they're interested in, get involved and try some things with these different organizations
[00:20:31.080]or businesses, excuse me, and then to have internship opportunities or apprenticeship
[00:20:37.140]opportunities, and then hopefully the opportunity to work for those employers.
[00:20:42.680]So early connections to those pathways and getting businesses interested in how they
[00:20:47.820]can support the bigger piece as well.
[00:20:50.360]So that Career Pathways work is growing right now.
[00:20:55.020]And thanks to Jordan and Twin City Development, they've really been wonderful in taking the
[00:20:59.920]lead on this because it was really never appropriate, in my opinion, for a foundation to do the
[00:21:05.440]one that was doing that.
[00:21:06.520]We just want to support the work that's being done.
[00:21:08.380]So Jordan, thank you if you're still on.
[00:21:11.020]And some other folks have come together now to start building.
[00:21:14.160]Jordan, do you want to talk about it at all?
[00:21:15.960]You're so great at speaking.
[00:21:16.960]Yeah.
[00:21:17.960]No, you're good.
[00:21:18.960]Yeah.
[00:21:19.960]Sarah did a good job of covering it.
[00:21:21.180]But honestly, too, thanks to Craig, who's on this call also, we've been working with
[00:21:25.000]Craig for the past couple of weeks.
[00:21:27.280]A lot of it to this point has been just strategic planning, a lot of talking, figuring out our
[00:21:32.140]game plan.
[00:21:33.420]And as of recent weeks, we've talked to Craig and we've actually come up with more tangible
[00:21:40.480]kind of programming that we can actually start doing more than just strategic planning.
[00:21:47.040]So it's really, really nice.
[00:21:49.040]He kind of came to us with, I think, 12 different action items and our group just this week
[00:21:54.980]picked out four priority action items from Craig's list.
[00:21:59.120]So we'll get started with those here soon.
[00:22:00.740]We're working on funding at this moment.
[00:22:03.940]Thanks to Snow Redfern, we do have some seed money to start our funding, but we're also
[00:22:08.240]going to try and work with Perkins Foundation and get some funding through them and some
[00:22:12.560]other partners.
[00:22:13.560]But our four kind of things that we want to start working on soon is planning through
[00:22:18.500]the summer.
[00:22:19.500]So we'll work with Craig on planning over the summer months while the kids are out of
[00:22:23.960]school.
[00:22:24.960]So that's the main plan for when they're back in school.
[00:22:27.480]The next thing would be student surveys.
[00:22:30.820]We've already done business surveys and school surveys to get information back on what's
[00:22:36.600]needed, what skills are they looking for, what age groups are they looking for?
[00:22:41.120]Are they interested in internships?
[00:22:42.920]Those kinds of things.
[00:22:43.920]So our next step that we're going to work on with Craig is to go to the 21 school districts
[00:22:48.880]that are within the 11 counties that we are going to service and do student surveys.
[00:22:54.940]And this is an important part of it because we want to know, you know, like Sarah said,
[00:23:00.760]we want to keep these students here and so it's important to hear what they want in their
[00:23:05.840]future, what they want in their cities, what their job, what jobs they want, those kinds
[00:23:10.400]of things.
[00:23:11.400]So we're going to do student surveys and those, you know, probably last about four to five
[00:23:15.720]years and then those kids start to graduate.
[00:23:17.660]So we kind of want to do those student surveys probably every four to five years.
[00:23:23.000]And so we'll be able to do that.
[00:23:24.920]The other thing is career cabs, which is kind of like all the students are going to get
[00:23:30.160]on a meet somewhere, get on a bus, and then they'll be able to go, you know, kind of do
[00:23:35.000]business tours and industry tours kind of guided on what they are interested in so they
[00:23:40.040]can go to manufacturing sites and have some hands on learning and some of those kinds
[00:23:44.780]of things so they can actually get a look and feel of those jobs and see if it's something
[00:23:49.140]that they're interested in.
[00:23:51.080]And then the last piece of that is internship type programs.
[00:23:54.500]So it's really.
[00:23:54.900]Really getting connecting the schools and students to the actual employers and getting
[00:24:00.480]some internship opportunities for those schools.
[00:24:04.520]Some of the bigger schools like Scotts Slough and Gearing, they do a lot of these things
[00:24:08.300]already, so we'll be able to use them for guidance, too.
[00:24:11.360]But we really want to help some of these smaller schools in these smaller rural communities
[00:24:16.020]to be able to do some of these things to be able to keep these kids here.
[00:24:20.560]So some of the surveys that Craig has done has actually shown.
[00:24:24.880]He's done a lot of surveys up in the northwestern part of the state, and a lot of it has shown
[00:24:29.540]that there are a lot of kids that want to stay here.
[00:24:33.140]They want to stay rural.
[00:24:34.920]I think a lot of it has to do with the opportunities that they have.
[00:24:39.200]Do they have housing?
[00:24:40.200]Do they have a job coming, you know, that they can go into after high school?
[00:24:44.360]So if we want to keep them here, then I think this career pathways program is very, very
[00:24:49.080]important piece of the puzzle.
[00:24:51.660]And, you know, our group is huge.
[00:24:53.580]We have
[00:24:54.860]people from tons and tons of different organizations, I can't even remember how many we have in
[00:24:59.420]the group.
[00:25:00.420]But it's a lot of organizations throughout the panhandle that have come together that
[00:25:03.900]are working on this.
[00:25:05.520]And thanks to snow Redfern, we'll, we'll actually be able to make some things happen with that
[00:25:10.120]funding that they've set aside for this.
[00:25:12.900]So thanks, Sarah.
[00:25:13.900]Yeah, thanks for sharing that, Jordan.
[00:25:16.300]He's so much better at talking about that than I am.
[00:25:19.960]Yeah. It's actually been fun to watch the growth of this because I would say even, well, how long have you been involved now, Jordan? Has it been a year?
[00:25:29.830]Yeah. So I've been involved. Yeah. About a year. Yep.
[00:25:33.830]Yeah. So, I mean, we've expanded so much with the organizations that have joined this work. So that's been fun.
[00:25:41.150]So like Marla, I see that you're on. Marla with USDA has been a part of some of our planning.
[00:25:45.810]I think the biggest piece that we didn't have as much of in the beginning was the economic development.
[00:25:52.170]So it's awesome to see the more that we're getting more folks from economic development involved in this planning process because it really it really has made it a more robust model, I think.
[00:26:03.930]So that's exciting. So, you know, we this year have this year and last year.
[00:26:09.850]We haven't designated a ton of money toward career pathways because we wanted to figure out how we could support them in growth.
[00:26:17.250]And so I was happy to see that we're able to do that this year with Craig.
[00:26:22.470]So, Craig, we're excited about that work. And I foresee that we'll designate additional funds next year towards career pathways so that we can maintain the momentum with this and really be able to start talking about a sustainability plan and what this looks like within each of the communities.
[00:26:39.470]And.
[00:26:39.830]And maintaining that so it's good stuff.
[00:26:43.350]We also do scholarships, each year, this has been new for us I think this is our third year of awarding scholarships.
[00:26:52.050]We have donor advice scholarship is right now, as well as some scholarships that we award for trades like in our villas name to this year we awarded.
[00:27:05.030]I think it was only $6,000 to WNCC.
[00:27:09.050]WNCC for scholarships for kids that were in the trades programs there. Last year we gave a chunk of money to Gearing High School, because they have a really great apprenticeship program so they're getting kids directly that they're creating those pipelines and getting getting those kids in the field and so some of those kids were starting to take classes at WNCC that were accommodating a trade that they were going to go into or getting certificates, or they
[00:27:39.030]needed tools for their trade so those funds were able to help fund some of those things.
[00:27:43.710]So then we have other special projects that we fund throughout the year.
[00:27:47.790]This year, you know, like I said this this was our focus I anticipate next year this is going to look much different.
[00:27:54.330]We're in the process of doing some strategic planning of our own and evaluating our impact so I'm excited to see what kind of growth, we have in the next year.
[00:28:09.010]This is probably my favorite part of what we do.
[00:28:12.270]It's the first program we've actually had other than grant funding since we were the ranch. So this discussion started a couple years ago.
[00:28:21.930]When we started getting these new board members, we have, by the way, we have the most incredible board members, we are blessed to have a very diverse board that consists of passionate engaged people across the state of Nebraska so and it's been evolving as far
[00:28:38.990]as that goes to so we started having these discussions about our villa, you know, and you know what kind of impact she had, and how we can continue her legacy. And we thought how appropriate would it be since really her program her boy ranch really was about boys if we did something for young women so we created root to rise the young women's leadership experience, and it's geared at high school seniors, and
[00:29:08.970]we are just now we're in our third cohort. And we, it's a very small group we're asked we have last year we had six this year we're going to have seven young women that attend virtually, and they can be last year it was only in the panhandle this next year it will be anywhere in the state.
[00:29:26.810]They can attend virtually and it's six sessions where they just have some really edgy conversations about what it means to be a young woman in this world and how.
[00:29:38.950]They can be leaders in whatever aspect of the world they're sticking to ingrain themselves so these young women have the opportunity to really grow and we have these amazing speakers that join us.
[00:29:53.110]And Dr. Maya Chalizi is the host. And so she does a great job of pulling all this together and making a great opportunity for the girls. They create a growth plan at the beginning of the six sessions, and by the end they have
[00:30:08.930]completed the growth plan, which basically outlines what is it that I need to be successful in the next stage of my life. And so then we award them a $2,000 scholarship based on their growth plan, and then they can use that for whatever they've outlined in their growth plan itself.
[00:30:24.530]So that will actually be starting in the fall. We opened up scholarships, or excuse me, applications early this year. And wow, we weren't expecting it, but we have gotten a ton of applications.
[00:30:38.910]We've gotten a ton of applications already for the fall cohort. So that's exciting. And we got really good feedback from the last set of girls and their parents. So I think we'll keep doing it. And it's just, it's really fun to watch the growth of this and see the excitement that it's bringing these girls and their families.
[00:30:56.670]So then these are our scholarships, our donor advice scholarships. These are the eight kids that got awarded this year.
[00:31:08.890]Because they're donor advised, they are in specific areas. So one of the scholarships is only for Boxview County. And then this year we opened up the other scholarship for Boxview and Morrill County.
[00:31:23.470]So we had some amazing applications this year and it's just been really fun to find out how these amazing young people are entering the world and all the great things that they're doing.
[00:31:38.870]So our planned investments. As we talk about our growth, we have always invested in kids, obviously, that's what we do.
[00:31:48.610]But we're going to look more specifically at how we can fund direct services that really improve outcomes related to well-being, education, and basic needs.
[00:31:59.130]And then in addition, we're going to focus more on what it looks like to support communities in strategically identifying their needs and helping them create
[00:32:08.850]a collective plan to address those needs.
[00:32:10.970]And then systems, of course, so leveraging those partnerships to support system capacity, knowing that there's all these different systems that are at play here,
[00:32:20.630]and sometimes it just helps to have somebody in the middle that can help connect them in one way or another.
[00:32:26.310]So does anyone have questions?
[00:32:33.430]I know I've only talked for 30 minutes, but I feel like perhaps I could answer a few questions if there are any.
[00:32:38.830]I was wondering about your the women's leader, the girls leadership program, and that was advertised, I assume, through their guidance counselors.
[00:33:00.870]Is that right?
[00:33:01.510]Yes, it was.
[00:33:03.310]We posted it on social media and it's available.
[00:33:07.790]The application.
[00:33:08.810]The applications are also on our our website.
[00:33:10.790]But yes, we primarily send it out to actually ESU helped us tremendously with that.
[00:33:17.050]They send it out to all of the superintendents and the superintendents have shared it across the panhandle.
[00:33:22.210]So they've made recommendations.
[00:33:25.190]One of the things that we ask is that they're the young women are recommended by somebody at their school.
[00:33:30.750]So it's not required, but it's been helpful to have them have the superintendents involved in that or the guidance counselors.
[00:33:38.790]So, yes, it's been available to all of the panhandle anyway.
[00:33:43.570]And so we'll see how it goes this year if we get some girls from other parts of the state.
[00:33:47.710]Yeah, I can imagine moderating those conversations might be very interesting.
[00:33:52.970]Yeah, yeah.
[00:33:54.810]It's been, you know, I haven't been part of one because, you know, it's a private space for these girls to have open discussions with Maya and then the speakers.
[00:34:05.350]So, but I get to hear all about it.
[00:34:08.770]Anybody else have questions?
[00:34:17.170]So was, was this a, how many of you did not know about Snow Redfern Foundation?
[00:34:27.450]I have to see if I can see.
[00:34:32.170]Hold your hands up.
[00:34:34.490]Are you guys all new?
[00:34:35.510]And this is just really great.
[00:34:38.750]Um, uh, review, and especially as Sarah has worked with her board to, um, do some strategic
[00:34:46.090]planning and really think about how those funds are used, uh, more effectively, especially
[00:34:52.190]into the future.
[00:34:52.910]It's awesome.
[00:34:54.090]Yeah.
[00:34:55.930]You know, it's, it's interesting when I, when I first started with Snow Redfern, um, they
[00:35:00.730]were just on the cusp of creating a mission statement.
[00:35:04.050]Um, so that's only been four years ago.
[00:35:06.630]They were, um,
[00:35:08.730]I was helping them with strategic planning at their board retreats for a few years prior
[00:35:12.710]to that.
[00:35:13.290]Um, and so really, I mean, we're talking about a board that was running a boys ranch, you
[00:35:20.030]know, and so for them to completely make a shift over to this has been, it's been a challenge
[00:35:25.270]for them and really having some discussions about rebranding, which we did, we rebranded,
[00:35:30.570]um, a couple of years ago, uh, because everybody knew us as Nebraska boys ranch.
[00:35:35.210]Nobody knew us as Snow Redfern and the panhandle, but then you go out.
[00:35:38.710]And people knew who's no Redfern was, but not Nebraska boys ranch because we were awarding
[00:35:43.470]grants out there.
[00:35:44.210]So it's been interesting to, to watch the progression of, um, this foundation as it's,
[00:35:50.610]it's really grown and it's kind of grown some wings of its own, but the rebranding has allowed
[00:35:56.110]us to, um, really change the face of what we do.
[00:36:01.510]Um, and it's created so many opportunities for us.
[00:36:06.310]So great.
[00:36:08.690]Is there a possibility to, um, maybe do some of the things that Jordan and Craig are working
[00:36:17.870]with, um, in other parts of the state, you know, taking a look at how we, um, grow the
[00:36:26.650]skilled labor, uh, force from our own youth and, you know, doing those kinds of things.
[00:36:32.210]Craig, maybe you're already involved in some of those.
[00:36:34.390]Yeah, to, to some extent, but.
[00:36:38.690]I don't want to dominate, uh, Sarah's presentation here.
[00:36:42.470]I think doing Sarah with the foundation is just awesome.
[00:36:45.990]And so needed right now, I guess the one thing I would add is I work with school administrators,
[00:36:50.290]um, in rural communities in Nebraska, the growing concern about even kindergartners
[00:36:55.410]coming in to our school system, coming out of the COVID environment with, uh, deficiencies
[00:37:01.190]in coping skills, social skills, um, anger issues, and there's a growing concern on how
[00:37:07.590]we address those things.
[00:37:08.650]So I think the work you're doing is essential and, um, I'm so thankful to have a chance
[00:37:13.670]to work with you in this project.
[00:37:15.210]Yep.
[00:37:17.990]And, you know, Jenny, I guess to answer your question, um, there is opportunity anywhere
[00:37:23.350]in the state.
[00:37:24.030]I mean, because we are open to serve the entire state, my hope is that other partnerships,
[00:37:30.510]you know, arise that we can do things like this.
[00:37:32.690]I know that there are great things as far as career pathways are going in other parts
[00:37:36.330]of the state, like Grand Island.
[00:37:38.630]What I understand has a pretty robust model, and they're doing some great things.
[00:37:41.770]And I think, is it Omaha maybe that has the other one, or Lincoln?
[00:37:46.310]I'm not sure which one it is, but there's some other, there's great work being done.
[00:37:49.990]We did just create a new process for individuals that have ideas about needs in their communities
[00:37:57.150]to submit a grant inquiry on our website.
[00:37:59.690]So we're looking for people to have brilliant, innovative ideas on how they can, you know,
[00:38:05.070]improve lives for children.
[00:38:06.770]So we're hoping.
[00:38:08.730]That opens up some relationships and some opportunities as well.
[00:38:11.730]The other thing I was thinking about is the study that you guys used to build your foundation
[00:38:21.570]of plans with.
[00:38:24.090]Is that available on your website?
[00:38:26.810]Or because I looked at it and it was awesome.
[00:38:29.330]Yes, it is.
[00:38:30.730]It's on our website.
[00:38:31.610]And actually, if I want to get out of here real quick and I'll open up our site.
[00:38:38.590]Um, it is actually on if you if you get into our site, you can go to the home page.
[00:38:48.890]And when you first open it up and you'll see it.
[00:38:51.210]And it's an interactive flipbook, which is super cool.
[00:38:58.130]So you can actually drill down on the data.
[00:39:00.190]And this is just panhandle data, by the way.
[00:39:04.990]We're hoping that we can expand this to other parts of the state.
[00:39:08.570]So that it helps guide us in grant making and not just the panhandle, but other regions
[00:39:13.410]as well.
[00:39:13.930]So we're looking at leveraging some partnerships in order to do that in years to come.
[00:39:19.550]But we wanted to start here in the panhandle.
[00:39:21.630]So this is, but this is a great tool for anybody that's writing a grant also or needs some
[00:39:28.990]demographics because it has, I mean, it literally every set of data that you could find in
[00:39:34.230]Nebraska, I think is probably in here somewhere, you know, the direct link.
[00:39:38.550]From health outcomes to juvenile justice to school.
[00:39:43.170]I mean, it's pretty cool.
[00:39:44.550]So I know that we've gotten a lot of requests from folks to be able to use this in their grants.
[00:39:51.370]So anyway, yeah, it's a great tool.
[00:39:55.250]Other thoughts or ideas, questions?
[00:40:08.530]Sarah's done an awesome job, and we have so appreciated working with her.
[00:40:16.270]And I just, the energy that you bring as a director of this foundation is awesome.
[00:40:23.870]And I love the video that you shared there showing the passion of your board members.
[00:40:29.730]That's great.
[00:40:30.570]Yeah, they're great.
[00:40:31.730]And it's pretty easy to be passionate about this work, you know, when you have a whole
[00:40:38.510]foundation that is dedicated to improving the lives of children.
[00:40:41.810]I mean, it doesn't get better than that.
[00:40:44.270]So this, I feel blessed every day to get to be part of this work because it doesn't feel
[00:40:49.850]like work.
[00:40:50.410]So that is great.
[00:40:56.590]Yes, go ahead.
[00:40:58.810]I was just going to say, and we have a grant period actually coming up to our project grants
[00:41:03.430]open for nonprofits on July 1st.
[00:41:07.250]So anybody.
[00:41:08.490]That's interested in, you know, applying for a project grant that is going to be open this
[00:41:13.910]year.
[00:41:14.130]And typically where do you advertise your, your cycle of, of anything?
[00:41:19.970]Social media, primarily Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn.
[00:41:24.350]We also share a lot of stuff through panhandle partnership.
[00:41:30.150]So they've been a wonderful partner.
[00:41:33.330]In fact, we funnel a chunk of our money through a panhandle partnership every year because
[00:41:37.550]it's.
[00:41:38.470]It's just they're such a great, a great entity.
[00:41:41.070]You know, they're a membership organization and anyone that has roles with within the
[00:41:46.770]panhandle serving children is part of that.
[00:41:49.470]So it's a great outlet for us to share information.
[00:41:53.950]OK, you know, I'm going to ask if anybody has things coming up that they'd like to share,
[00:42:04.210]because I know I have at least one thing, but I'll give you guys.
[00:42:08.450]A chance to give us a quick update on anything that's coming up that you want to share with
[00:42:14.870]others.
[00:42:15.250]We have WNED, Western Nebraska Economic Development tomorrow at 115 at ESU 13.
[00:42:31.450]We'll be having our child care workshop, so we'll bring together the Panhandle
[00:42:38.430]region representatives from all over the Panhandle, and then stakeholders in child
[00:42:43.910]care within the Panhandle will be coming together to probably have a pretty long meeting
[00:42:50.450]about child care in the area.
[00:42:52.010]We'll have four guest speakers, which will be great.
[00:42:55.750]We'll hear from Mike Feakin with Nebraska First Five, the Communities for Kids group
[00:43:03.430]in Gearing, and then we have two others.
[00:43:07.350]I can't remember the names.
[00:43:08.410]But it'll be good.
[00:43:10.010]So if anyone wants to come to that, you're more than welcome.
[00:43:12.230]It'll be at ESU 13 tomorrow, rooms B and C at 115.
[00:43:18.150]Awesome, awesome.
[00:43:25.010]I know that many of you have probably had information about the 2022 Thriving Index
[00:43:34.030]and the fact that we're doing some outreach around that in different areas.
[00:43:38.390]The areas of the state and actually the Panhandle one has already occurred.
[00:43:43.490]We did that on Monday, but it's a Zoom connection.
[00:43:48.290]And let me see if I can share with you.
[00:43:50.250]The Sandhills one is coming up on tomorrow.
[00:43:53.990]It will be at 10 o'clock Mountain Time, 11 Central Time.
[00:43:59.150]We've still got, what else we've got here?
[00:44:03.590]Tri-Cities is doing this today.
[00:44:06.430]So the big one.
[00:44:08.370]I think that we're looking forward to is the Sandhills one.
[00:44:10.430]Let me see if I can find a link for that.
[00:44:12.330]There we go.
[00:44:15.110]Let me share that.
[00:44:18.750]So we've got the index available for everybody to see
[00:44:29.710]on the Rural Prosperity Nebraska website.
[00:44:31.950]And very, very interesting to be comparing areas
[00:44:38.350]of our state.
[00:44:39.690]So here's some comparison tools that are kind of fun to use
[00:44:43.250]if you've got an opportunity to go through that.
[00:44:46.010]But having a conversation about that is awesome.
[00:44:49.630]And so here's the different regions
[00:44:52.490]that are sorted out by that.
[00:44:54.430]And let me put in the chat the one that's left open here.
[00:45:02.110]I think Sean Caskey is the one that's leading
[00:45:05.090]the Sandhills region.
[00:45:08.330]Discussions here tomorrow.
[00:45:10.030]Okay.
[00:45:12.490]So there's the information about that particular one.
[00:45:27.890]Did any of you take part in that Monday for the Panhandle?
[00:45:31.590]I joined in.
[00:45:34.750]I did as well.
[00:45:38.310]Awesome.
[00:45:38.930]Marla, you've been working on local and regional foods.
[00:45:46.450]You want to give us a shout out about that?
[00:45:49.810]Well, we're kind of excited.
[00:45:51.930]We have an opportunity for a Kellogg grant,
[00:45:55.590]W.K. Kellogg, through the Community Finance Development Association.
[00:46:05.170]I think that's the right initials.
[00:46:06.950]And we are actually going to be doing a lot of work
[00:46:08.290]and we're actually meeting with the CFDA next week.
[00:46:15.990]And they're going to be doing some mapping
[00:46:19.050]for how local foods and local food people can,
[00:46:23.870]where they can go to find financing.
[00:46:26.950]So, and it's going to be for Western Nebraska,
[00:46:32.670]Wyoming and South,
[00:46:38.270]South, probably South Dakota,
[00:46:40.350]but probably more for the South.
[00:46:42.650]I got to think South and West part of South Dakota.
[00:46:46.990]So kind of excited to see how that goes.
[00:46:49.990]They have done one of these sessions
[00:46:53.050]and have completed it down in the Southeast Nebraska area,
[00:46:57.750]but they were very excited to see us looking at it
[00:47:01.010]as a more regional aspect
[00:47:03.910]in doing the Wyoming, South Dakota and Nebraska.
[00:47:08.250]So stay tuned.
[00:47:09.550]We're kind of excited to see what will happen.
[00:47:11.710]And the output of that would be what?
[00:47:14.470]The output will be probably more
[00:47:20.230]for how we know where to send people for financing options
[00:47:23.990]when they're trying to expand their local food business
[00:47:30.030]and just connecting those resources
[00:47:32.790]and the people to the other people.
[00:47:34.510]So I think it could end up being,
[00:47:38.230]and one of the things that I found very interesting,
[00:47:41.410]they have the research that they have looked at models
[00:47:45.950]for local foods versus a regular business startups.
[00:47:50.290]And the success rate is about the same.
[00:47:53.650]And usually though you go to a bank
[00:47:56.030]and a bank does not want to finance anything
[00:47:57.990]with local foods.
[00:47:58.910]So I found that very interesting
[00:48:01.670]in our conversation with her.
[00:48:03.270]That is very interesting.
[00:48:08.210]And Marla has really led the organization
[00:48:11.770]of a tri-state regional foods group
[00:48:15.430]that we've got people in all three states
[00:48:18.010]that we have conversations with.
[00:48:19.210]And South Dakota has maybe got the jump
[00:48:22.090]on both of Wyoming and Nebraska
[00:48:23.910]as far as really doing a lot
[00:48:26.830]with their local foods.
[00:48:27.710]And so it's fun to be able
[00:48:29.490]to blend those groups together.
[00:48:30.990]So that's awesome.
[00:48:31.950]Awesome, awesome.
[00:48:33.470]Anything else that you've got for us today, guys?
[00:48:38.190]I'm going to be tootling out of here pretty soon.
[00:48:41.150]And Jamie Bright is going to take over
[00:48:43.390]some of my duties.
[00:48:44.610]And so you probably will see
[00:48:45.890]more and more information from her.
[00:48:48.190]She has been really helpful
[00:48:49.370]in keeping us going here
[00:48:52.430]while I'm kind of fading off into the sunset
[00:48:55.630]or changing horses and hanging up my spurs,
[00:48:58.690]what everybody's talking about.
[00:49:00.110]I don't know, but retirement's looming for me.
[00:49:02.310]So this has been an awesome,
[00:49:04.150]awesome group to work with.
[00:49:05.390]And I really appreciate the,
[00:49:08.170]the independence and drive that you guys have
[00:49:12.770]to find your solutions
[00:49:14.510]because that's how we make our local communities great.
[00:49:17.890]Anything else for the good of the cause?
[00:49:24.290]I just want to say congratulations to Jenny
[00:49:27.670]on her retirement or whatever she's calling it.
[00:49:31.590]And are you going to tell everybody where the party is?
[00:49:35.210]Oh yes, absolutely.
[00:49:36.930]So May 19th.
[00:49:38.150]It's a Friday evening.
[00:49:39.190]We'll be at the Bean Broker in Chadron.
[00:49:41.650]So come on down.
[00:49:44.190]What time does it start?
[00:49:45.970]Starts at four o'clock.
[00:49:47.110]So we're about four to six.
[00:49:48.910]Yeah.
[00:49:49.390]It's on my list.
[00:49:51.370]Oh, good.
[00:49:52.350]Well, it'll be fun.
[00:49:55.570]And I've made such great friends
[00:49:57.270]and that's one of the things I've really discovered
[00:49:58.790]about the job that I do.
[00:50:01.130]It's not, you're not just colleagues
[00:50:02.970]that there's a real network of friendship
[00:50:04.910]that runs strongly through all of our relationships.
[00:50:08.130]And I love that part about working in extension
[00:50:11.170]and then working with all of you.
[00:50:12.970]So it's been very exciting to work with all of you.
[00:50:15.690]Thank you so much for all of your dedication.
[00:50:18.210]All right.
[00:50:21.330]Yep, you're right.
[00:50:22.090]Family.
[00:50:22.570]Thank you, Jenny, for everything you've done.
[00:50:25.770]Take care.
[00:50:27.350]And we'll be seeing you somewhere along the way, I'm sure.
[00:50:31.910]Bye-bye.
[00:50:38.110]Thank you.

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