2024: The Year Everything Changed | Episode 155

2024: The Year Everything Changed | Episode 155

Chapter Marker
0:01 Year in Review 2024
16:57 Supporting Reentry for Returning Citizens

What happens when personal loss intersects with an organization's mission? This episode explores the emotional journey following the passing of my father in March 2024, a pivotal moment that shaped both my mental well-being and the direction of Voices for Voices®. A heartfelt exchange with Dan Flowers, the insightful CEO of the Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank, provided solace and guidance on navigating grief and honoring loved ones. Against this backdrop of personal challenge, the organization celebrated remarkable achievements like securing federal trademark recognition in May and amplifying our mission’s reach through the dedicated efforts of board member Rebecca LeMasters at a major event.

In our commitment to supporting returning citizens, we delve into the complexities of reintegration after involvement with the criminal justice system. Balancing accountability with essential support is at the heart of our efforts, as we offer resources such as a career site and job interview seminars to mitigate challenges like employment barriers. The value of second-chance employers cannot be overstated, and our initiatives aim to transform these obstacles into opportunities. By expanding our content on platforms such as TikTok, we endeavor to engage with current events and mental health discussions, fostering a more inclusive and supportive community. Your donations continue to be crucial as we strive to create meaningful change in the lives of those we serve.

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Chapters

• 0:01 Year in Review 2024
• 16:57 Supporting Reentry for Returning Citizens

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to another episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. I am your host, founder and executive director of Voices for Voices, justin Allen Hayes. Thank you for joining us on this episode and for all your support, following us, liking us, subscribing, sharing our content to hopefully reach the goal that I've set, which is pretty big, of helping 3 billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond, and we are well on our way, thanks to you. So this episode is a culmination of the year 2024 for our organization. This episode is going to be focused on reviewing the year as it looked through the lens of our organization, as we got started, first in January and then up until here at the end of 2024 in December, and share some facts and information with you that will hopefully be helpful. First off, we are sponsored by Redwood Living. Redwood Living has sponsored the Voices for Voices organization, our brand new day event that we we hold usually every October, and in this case we are doing a month of December, and so, instead of doing one event in October, we are breaking the itinerary, the menu of what we would be covering throughout the month of December, starting here with our year in review episode, and that will be followed by award presentation episodes that really are just awesome to be able to share and give back to individuals that have really gone above and beyond with our organization, as well as people who have been a big part of my life, and that leads to the organization Voices for Voices. So you'll be seeing those episodes in the coming weeks. But Redwood Living, thank you for all your support and sponsorship of our organization and what we do. We couldn't do this without your support. So thank you again. So we'll get started on. You know, the beginning of the year.

Speaker 1: 3:06

It was very difficult, just personally on a personal level, with having my dad who was very ill and that really took my mental health and really made it into I call it a pinball kind of. You know it goes left and right, then up and down, and here and there, and it was, and still is, difficult for me to process that. And he passed on March 1st of 2024. And so I know, organization-wise you may have noticed a little bit of a lag in content that we normally would put through and, as you're seeing now here in December, seeing kind of that evolution kind of, you know, hitting its stride, you know, and when my dad passed, it was, and still is just hard to think about, you know, not having, you know, a loved one you know directly, not with me, not with my mom, not with my sister, not with the world, and that is something that was very, very difficult to go through. And so that impacted the organization from that standpoint of how to move forward, how to grieve, how to share that grief with my counselor and psychiatrist and, as you saw in a previous episode we had with Dan Flowers, the president, ceo of the Akron-Kann Regional Food Bank, we delved into grief. He lost his father. His father passed, I believe he said it was 2021.

Speaker 1: 5:24

And then, with my father passing earlier this year, and so we really just dug into what that means as individuals, how we are coping, trying to cope, trying to honor them the best way we can. And that was a very, very deep, very serious discussion that we had and I appreciated and still do that discussion to have a CEO, president of an organization that works with 700 partners throughout Northeast Ohio and the Akron-Kakan Regional Area, to just discuss as human beings. Sometimes we get lost in the day-to-day. Well, we've got to do this task and we have to do this project and what am I going to get to? This next thing, next thing, and and sometimes it it's hard to just take a step back and try to try to process things. So that was a and still is a just a huge loss to, to me and my, my family, that we, we, we, we have been and have been dealing with here in 2024.

Speaker 1: 6:55

With that being said, we were able to finally and I say finally because when you work with the government, it takes a little bit of time to move the ball per se when we talk about patent and trademarking a logo and patent and trademarking an organization name and so we as an organization, applied last year, in 2023, to have Voices for Voices be recognized as a federally registered organization, which means a couple things. One is, you'll see the R after Voices for Voices on the logo and the verbiage as we move forward logo and the verbiage as we move forward. Secondly, it offers us as an organization and you as supporters, the legal backing that if another individual, another organization, tries to mirror or they call steel, they call intellectual property, ideas and thoughts and things that are done within an organization that we are legally able to go after them, because we value, obviously the organization. We value your support, but, as you've heard me say over the course of having this TV show and podcast and even prior to that, that I want this organization to be not a fly-by-night organization. Not here today, because mental health sounds good and is getting attention in the press and as a celebrity I can come out and talk about it, but we want to be one of these 100-year, 200, 300-year organizations that's here for the long haul. So having that trademark in place really solidifies that to a lot of our stakeholders. So it was important. We received that feedback on May 7th of 2024. We had a speaking slot.

Speaker 1: 9:11

One of our board of directors, rebecca Lemasters, was held at the at the end of February and so we were able to get from an advertising, a brand awareness standpoint. As you see the, the logo kind of to the side and behind me, voices for voices. We were able to have our, our logo on a huge jumbotron behind her as she was speaking for 20 minutes. So there were close to 500, 600 people that were there that may not have heard of Voices for Voices, and so that was an area where brand awareness is something we have to do every day. We have to wear the logo and the words Voices for Voices and share that with people that we interact with on a daily basis. That's a huge thing that we were able to have a speaking slot, because there were only three speaking slots and the event went on for three hours, so it was very challenging, very good.

Speaker 1: 10:36

It was actually awesome to be able to have her be able to share her experience, which you have seen, and you can go back through our library of episodes where Rebecca, you know, talks about her. You know past addiction and how she's coming out on the other side, and it's still a work in progress, as it is with me and really every human being. So that was awesome to be able to do that. So that was happening very, very close to when my father passed. Father passed, so that was a time that I wasn't able to spend a lot of my time at the event. I was able to pop in and see her speak and sat with Jeremiah Tomko, which is one of our award recipients. You'll see in a future episode, but you've also seen him on previous episodes talking about his time in the military, giving back to the community and how he is paying it forward, and so we were able to take in that talk. It was nice to just be in attendance and not have to be the person that's speaking in front of a lot of people we have.

Speaker 1: 12:07

So 2024 has been season three of our Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. It's really our second season for the full-blown TV show and podcast. We had some episodes prior when we moved into this studio with Hudson Community Television to really take our organization and our message to more people. So, whether you're listening to this on a podcast platform or you're watching this on Hudson Community Television or YouTube or Rumble or Vimeo or Dailymotion, we're able to bring it to you in over 17 different ways, 17 different platforms of ways to consume the show. And so we, you know, to harken back to the beginning, we would very much appreciate if you would like share, subscribe, follow.

Speaker 1: 13:11

All things that are free, doesn't take money to do and it helps get our organization and our voices not not just mine the voices of our, our guests that are working so hard on on themselves and has so much information and knowledge to share with me, with you and with everyone. That is located in our footprint, and our footprint's pretty big, it doesn't just reach here in Northeast Ohio Summit County, hudson Stowe area, western Reserve we are reaching over 50 countries and over 500 cities when we take a look at all the analytics that come into play. So that was an area I wanted to touch on. So you'll be seeing in our first episode of 2024, where we had the conversation with Summit County Court of Common Pleas judge Judge Allison Breaux. She talked about Hope Court, she talked about being a judge, talked about how to move through the education process, things that she's learned working with a mentor, and so her episode that you'll be seeing on January 1st so New Year's Day of 2025, will be our first episode of Season 4. So that's really a big accomplishment for us.

Speaker 1: 14:49

We're continuing to garner the momentum that we have and moving forward, giving you content, giving you guests from a wide variety of backgrounds some people that enter in places of authority, like a judge, or Dan Flowers, president and CEO of an organization, or just people like you and me that are sharing our, our story and our voices to try to help that, that one person that we may be able to to help, and this may be the method that we're able to to do that, and that's why it is one of our goals to continue this TV show and podcast, and Hudson Community Television is a big part of that. We want to thank them a lot, because a lot of this growth, most of this growth, is due to the relationship With that being said, with the requirements to be able to hold this show. We, as in my immediate family, we don't live in Hudson, but my sister and brother-in-law and nephews they do, and so I'll say thanks to my sister and brother-in-law, brian and Hayden and Tyler, my nephews my sister's name's, heather and for sponsoring our organization to be able to come to this beautiful studio and to have this opportunity to share information, experiences, tips, tricks from valleys to peaks with you.

Speaker 1: 16:57

An area that we have really just started to delve into as we're growing and trying to reach more people is on what we call the reentry or the returning citizens, and so what does that mean? Those are individuals. One reason or another, they got caught up in the criminal justice system and they did their time. They were released and they may need a little bit of help to just get it back on their feet, and so I want to preface this by saying, as referred to with the episode we did with Ann Flowers of. We as an organization and as individuals, we believe that people should be held accountable if they break the law, and that's kind of one silo. The other silo is we can not like the crime, we can not like what the individual or individuals did. But then on the other side, going through the system, you know, do we want to just let people fall into homelessness right after they're released and then they may pick up their addiction again and then may find themselves caught up again with the legal system? Or we could try to do some basic things to help, such as helping individuals find their next meal, buying, housing, buying if they need or would like a mental health care counselor or psychiatrist.

Speaker 1: 18:43

A lot of individuals, right, they, and what we've noticed is they want to work. They do want to work from the individuals that we're working with, and with that comes a lot of barriers because, right, you have that, that legal record, you know, or it's a felony misdemeanor, what have you? And so that pops up on on the. You know we call the. You know the background report, background check that employers do, and so there's some organizations that are willing to be second-chance employers. And so what are we doing? So what we're doing is, every month there's a meeting that we go to and really encompasses Northeast Ohio and anywhere from 10 to 15 reentering society individuals 10 to 15 reentering society individuals, returning citizens I call them. They come and members of the community, we don't get paid to do this.

Speaker 1: 19:51

We offer what services we have, and so us as an organization, we also, as you know, we have that career site that is embedded within our VoicesForVoicesorg website, where you can get your resume tweaked, where you can search and apply for jobs, set up job alerts, and then we also have called the certificate program, and then we also have called the certificate program. So what you also may have found is, two years ago we put together a seminar, so it was an hour and it's free, and it was entitled and is entitled the day of the interview. So tips and tricks, things that can help lower stress on the day of the interview. So tips and tricks, things that can help lower stress on the day of the interview. It's an hour. It's on our YouTube channel that you and others are able to find, as well as these returning citizens. So those individuals who do go through the process, they do watch and bring in that knowledge to their audience, getting back what we call the career rediscovery. So they're rediscovering a career and what we do is we offer them, give them a free book, free pamphlet on tips and tricks very simple, very basic things. But as an individual that may have not been in society for 20 years, 30 years, 10 years, it's incredibly helpful.

Speaker 1: 21:30

Secondly, with the certificate program is when those individuals do go and watch and take in the content of the day of the interview seminar, call it. We present them with a certificate that they completed the Voices for Voices career rediscovery program. So again, we sign, they fill out their name and we present to those that are able to and willing to want to take it upon themselves to be better individuals in that way. And so what does that do? What does presenting a certificate? Well, that allows individuals when they go to interviews to not just have their resume with them but they're able to have that certificate. And with my background, with having a master's, an MBA and teaching for over 10 years in a university setting, it brings credibility to obviously us with the organization on that piece, but it also helps give credibility to that career rediscovery that they had the interview seminar and presenting those certificates seminar and presenting those certificates, and so what may seem small and minor to some of us is really a big deal for individuals that are looking to get back into the workforce, and one of those ways is with employment. So that's something new that we're doing and we're going to continue that into 2025 and beyond. It's really a blessing to be able to find an organization and the right people through networking, to be able to do this. And big thanks to Jeremiah Tomko. He's our board of directors. You'll see him on a future episode. A recipient of one of our awards, the Ambassador of the Year Award, he was instrumental of finding out about that reentry process and so we're very grateful for that.

Speaker 1: 23:52

We're also filming. You might notice filming videos in between our regular cadence on Wednesdays we're delving into current events, true crime, how that affects mental health and the community members, as well as the defendants, as well as the victims and the victims' families, just to bring a little perspective that this mental health thing is far in reaching. It reaches everybody a lot of times on kind of maybe their worst day or worst days. Maybe their worst day or worst days, and so we thought it would be helpful to put some content out there, and that came with an addition of us creating a TikTok account, so we film, it goes on TikTok and then it goes on our social platforms as well as our audio and video platforms as well, so you're able to consume that content, you and people that you know friends, family, colleagues, associates. You can help us continue not only this show but the work that we're doing, giving back, if you're able to, with a donation, and so you can find Voices for Voices on Venmo, or you can head over to lovevoicesorg, so that's love L-O-V-E voices, v-o-i-c-e-s org. And that takes you right to a spot where you're able to make a donation.

Speaker 1: 25:38

We are a 501c3 nonprofit organization. All the donations and sponsorship in the form of dollars is 100% tax deductible for you. We also are partnering with other organizations to make that big impact, and so one of those organizations is the Hearts for Music organization organization. So it's a special needs orchestra that has individuals with varying disabilities, challenges from ages, you know, five to 70, from dementia to downs, to nonverbal, to deaf.

Speaker 1: 26:18

And when I was, I believe, 14 or 15 or might have been 16, I got my first guitar and took some guitar lessons, and it's been over 20 years right, since I really picked up the guitar and Ketrell Chin, director of Voices or from Hearts for Music. He asked if I would have joined with his orchestra on stage and play the guitar with his orchestra, and so we were able to do that at an event earlier this year, at the Miss Wheelchair USA event that was held right here in Cuyahoga Falls, here in Northeast Ohio, and I'm also going to be accompanying them next April April 2025. We're going to go to Rome, going to perform for a papal audience so that's a fancy for saying for the pope. So that's going to be awesome for everybody that's involved in in the hearts for music organization, all the individuals that are going to be able to partake, and for mr chin to give me a spot on stage. With the stage being limited, we are very grateful for that. So take a look at that, and we're just ecstatic to be able to do that and help out in any way, as well as continue to get our message, and one of the ways you can express your voice is through music, and so that's another way I can share my voice for myself and for our organization.

Speaker 1: 28:17

If you're in Northeast Ohio, you may see a car drive-by with license plate that says Vo with a number four, and that is another area for advertising of letting people finally what's? Voices, voices, voices for voices for voices. So we're we're really trying to hit all, all cylinders. And, lastly, we just want to thank you for a great 2024. Looking forward to 2025. Again, if you're able to head over to lovevoicesorg, we'd really appreciate a donation if you're able to. Until next time I am the founder and executive director of Voices for Voices, justin Allen Hayes and until next time, please be a voice for you or somebody in need.