Now the 490 with Gretchen de Bakker might kill them.

And Kevin Mullin was.

Welcome back to another exciting edition of the 419.

My name is Matt Killam, and this is Gretchen de Bakker, and this is Kevin Mullin.

I'm just kidding.

Well, thank goodness we were able to replace those two.

They were a drain on the show.

But those of you who've tuned in or watch know that's the case.

I am lucky to have you both in studio today.

It's a Monday, so a double thank you to you guys for spending a night the entire weekend here at Camping Out to make sure that you're fresh and ready for the Monday.

For those of you that were born under a rock, I do want to at least introduce you to Ron.

This is.

Rhonda.

Who are you and why in God's name are you here to talk about the 419?

Well, I think I'm a culture amplifier.

I agree, and so that's why I'm here, because that's what your show does.

But, in my other hats that I wear, I'm very community centric person and director of advocacy and external affairs for the Toledo Museum of Art.

I want to embarrass you with your links of service to the entire community.

I'm sure we'll get to that in portions of our conversation.

You started out as a journalist, so you do provide also some credibility, to the person sitting in the anchor chair here today.

So I'm grateful for your time, Kelly, hearing, you are a known entity.

Certainly to me.

We've been buddies for a while.

We met for the first time, walking across, the Miami River in waders, which is a unique way to make friends.

I feared for my life responding.

That's right.

That's a travel, and regrettably, good theme to the show.

But Kelly, is usually Mayor Monday.

To make you feel uncomfortable.

But you are a bit of a mayor, in my opinion, about Destination Toledo and all the great things.

So what better person to come on to celebrate not just who we are as people, but why people come to visit us.

So give me a little bit of your bio if you don't mind.

I know you feel uncomfortable, but Kelly, during who are you and why in God's name have you done this to yourself in a Monday morning?

I am director of marketing and destination engagement for Destination Toledo.

So basically, I oversee marketing, communications, community engagement, and partnership at Destination Toledo.

Pretty easy gig.

I'm sure people are lining up to thank you every single day for what you've done for them.

I mean, we have the fantastic job of just promoting all the great things that happen in the city.

So thankful to your two entities for making my job incredibly easy 99% of the time.

We've got an important show here today.

We've got two friends and real leaders in the community coming in for a myriad of things.

Obviously, we're going to discuss, a little bit about what occurred in the old West End.

Just a little bit over a week ago, friends of the show.

But friends of the community and leaders that have experienced it through different lenses are going to continue to guide us through the next portion.

And when I say us through, I mean us as the region.

So Vanessa Williams will be here, she, of course, the city council president and friend.

She's the only person that did not have to get up early for this.

I think she gets up around 330 in the morning anyway, so we'll be hitting her right about lunchtime.

And Nicole Mize, of course, city council member, has been on the show as well.

Old West End resident.

So we'll get to that in the next segment again.

A little bit of a juxtaposed to our normal show, which is we hope people find it be all fun all the time.

But there's a positive light to be shut out.

But before we transitioned into that segment, a couple things to be looking forward to the summer.

Kelly, through your lens, or one thing in particular stands out to you that you're pretty juiced about.

I mean, really, we're excited.

About the Metroparks.

I'll cut that microphone.

Right out of the river front where we.

Decided.

To reactivation of the riverfront.

It's really like such a unique and fun time to be experiencing our city.

And we're so excited to just welcome people to experience it.

Because it's never looked like this before.

Yeah.

And that comes through, of course, with partnership.

We're going to close out here, beginning with to qualified standing guests.

Our next segment is going to be with Vince Williams, the city Council president and leader in our community.

Thanks very much for tuning in and watching.

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Thank you.

Welcome back to the 419.

We've got a great segment ahead here.

My Williams is here in studio yet again.

To talk about, a myriad of things.

Unless, you know, the show based on the time you've been here.

And I'm sure what you do is listen, every single day, lends itself to the positive things that are happening in our area and the positive people and the leaders in that space.

You, exemplify both of those things to me.

We have, a topic, that is, only a week and a half old.

You and I spoke, well, over the past week.

You are a friend.

But first and foremost, you are a powerful leader.

So at the risk of making you feel uncomfortable, let me tell you, on behalf of a resident, and as a parent.

Thank you.

For who you are and what you do.

A lot of people forget that those of you in leadership are, carbon based, bipedal moms and dads and people as well.

So you're scared.

You're mad.

You're sad.

You're angry, and all those things are understandable.

But you get to be that way for about 15 seconds, and then you have to put on a different hat, which you wear very well.

So we're lucky to have you.

Thank you.

I know that makes you feel uncomfortable, but you got to deal with it.

We are proud to have you on today.

Want to talk a little bit about, how you became city council president?

You are a long time educator.

And education, obviously, I think is a bit of our way out of here.

Those are my words.

But I think we can probably agree on them.

But you've got into civic leadership.

Why?

For the kids.

Just wanted to do, more on a bigger scale for the kids.

And try to affect neighborhoods.

I mean, I know it's it's more grassroots being low in local government, so it's easier to affect directly how people live and their quality of life.

At the local level.

So that's why I wanted to get into it.

Let me ask you a question, Denise.

It isn't just based on recent events.

Any time in your life, you're like, hey, I gave enough.

I'm ready to hang it up and just go to Dave and Busters in the pool with my family.

You take care of a young child again.

I won't say your age here, but you're not in your 20s.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Just out, just out of your 20s.

But, lady, what keeps you upright?

My faith in God.

Tell me about it.

Service never ends when it comes to God and how he provides for us.

So I won't ever stop until he tells me his time.

Okay.

Give us a little bit background here.

Obviously, you're not that full time, city council president.

As it doesn't pay for.

That's right.

So you talk about children, right?

You fill your day with children before putting on your city council hats.

Or at least get to ignore your phone to some degree.

It must be blowing up at all times.

And largely, that's just me, sending you emojis, which go on to apply to you.

But that's not the show.

Talking about your day gig.

I wake up at at probably about 330 and, go down to my childcare center, make sure, I have a child care center.

Just in central Toledo.

And I make sure that, the toys are arranged correctly and clean.

We have food and milk and everything, and I run down a Kroger's and run into some folks there and ask me questions.

So I'm still working at all times of city council, but definitely, take time out for the kids.

Especially.

In the summer.

What we're talking about.

Certainly in the aftermath of last week still involved children, right?

Can you tell me a little bit about, the challenges that we face as a city and, what our we are potentially in a different day.

But the reality is, I think that we're continuing to acknowledge that we've got some things we have to work on.

Yeah, we do have some things we have to work on.

Honestly, when you see poverty growing, across states and across the country, on a, I heard, you know, we talk about micro and macro, on a macro level.

You know, poverty is growing, but on a micro level, it's, tsunami happening.

Yes, ma'am.

With poverty and how, you know, recent cuts to Medicaid.

Yes.

Snap benefits, child care shifts.

It's definitely affecting us.

And you can see it.

You can see it in the faces of folks.

You can see it in how crime rises.

You can see how much grass doesn't get cut.

That's right.

You can see it in the quality of life of everyday people.

And, we don't have, anyone coming to save us.

And so we have to think creatively on how can we mitigate some of the things that come as a symptom of poverty?

Mental health, concerns.

And our youth is the biggest thing.

I've seen it in, up front basis because, attitude or leadership.

Take it again.

Attitude is like leadership, right?

If you see it and you think about it in a, in a real grassroots, down earth way, if my mom is having trauma or experiencing stress, I do.

That's right.

And that's what, we have to consider in our everyday lives.

So I think our youth are feeling is feeling the stress of their parents, or even someone, an adult in their lives, their teachers, they feel the stress from their teachers.

They feel the stress from everyone.

And so you gotta you gotta think about that.

And we gotta think about that when we do our planning of events.

We gotta think about that when we, And for me, I gotta think about it in our budget.

Yeah.

And and so to my colleagues, we gotta think about what our priorities are and how can we set some things.

And, you know, sometimes some things have to be cut, to help, another area.

And one area we can't cut is our youth programing.

One of the things that, is the challenging for me to think about this is there's something terrible that happens, and we think that that terrible thing happened all of a sudden at 537 on a Saturday.

And the reality is that it actually isn't new.

Now, you and I do not look the same.

We are not from the same part of town.

And there is all too often people think that this is happening in just one location.

I shouldn't look at people.

Or we are very fast to blame.

There are people to thank here, but in the message of this segment, this isn't the result of poor leadership necessarily.

It isn't the mayor.

It isn't city council, other police on site.

There is a ton of stories came out of people who rushed in, literally to the fire.

To help people.

And of course, we believe that's what Toledo is.

But one of the things I find the most challenging of how we are is a culture is we immediately want to blame, as opposed to taking a step and looking in the mirror and saying, well, whether or not you think you contribute to this.

That's something for you to decide.

But we all have to come out of this together.

No one is coming to save us.

That is a true statement.

Talk to me a little bit about what leadership means to you.

You have got colleagues.

You are quite literally, seeing the face of this.

And you've you lived a great deal this.

You've talked a long time about boxing, saving the lives of people who care about a great deal.

It doesn't matter what the thing is the people are doing.

They have to have stuff to do.

So talk to me a little bit about not playing the blame game and leading our way out of this.

And for people to point fingers.

But sometimes you have to turn it around on yourself.

What?

What could I have done?

What what am I doing?

And and as a public figure, I'm willing to eat that sometimes.

You know, I'm willing to take that.

And that's what we get elected before we get elected.

So we can take blame, and probably never get the kudos either.

But I'm okay with that because at the end result, if I save one child's life or one family's life, that's okay with me, because that's one family that can save another family and save another family.

So my my thing in as we go forward as a community, I want to focus on the positives of what happened that day.

Community came together.

Yes.

You had the term thugs come and say all they want to say behind the screens and hide behind their Twitter fingers is what they call them.

I call long term thugs.

I challenge everybody to get out and do something.

But you saw heroes that day.

Yes, ma'am.

The police, the fire, everyday nurses.

That's right.

You saw the victims.

You know, you saw everybody there pulling together.

And I said it at our press conference on, this past week.

Triumph can.

Triumph can come from tragedy.

That's right.

We can focus on the positive.

Now, what did we see that day?

We saw our first responders stand up and say, hey, this is this is what I signed up to do, and I'm going to do it well.

You saw, nurses it was two nurses, that actually stood out and and they were doing tourniquets and stopping bleeding.

And you see them, you see them.

You see heroes out of horror.

And we got to uplift them and find more people, because now you can have a kid see them and say, oh, she saved a life.

I want to be I want to be like her.

Or he saved the life, or he stopped more people from getting shot as a police officer.

And, you know, you just see, and I always try to see the glass half full.

This was a horrible, horrible, horrific thing.

I. Think, you know, just to provide some context for those people who may have not be aware of the situation.

At the risk of having a tape show is that you are behind the information that's coming out.

Again, it's hidden national news.

And it's certainly been, the conversation.

But, there was a shooting, in the old West End festival in the Arboretum happened about 537, in the early evening or late afternoon, depending on how you look at it.

So that's the intent.

And of course, we're talking about here.

And that's if you haven't heard about it.

It represents, culmination of a million things.

It's not new.

By the way, to the community, the old West.

I'm sorry.

The Polish festival, has been canceled for about a decade.

For this exact same thing.

So it isn't necessarily today's kids, right?

Isn't today's parents.

It is a culmination of events, of any.

So I'm going to put you a little bit back on the spot again, and I'm going to have you of disregard all funding, and all practicality.

There are a couple things.

If you had a magic wand that you would bring immediately into our summers or into our city.

Even if it's the direct answer is $10 trillion.

Drop that down to me.

What?

What is something that you would do tomorrow if you were not confined by time, space or currency?

I would focus on that age group that usually don't get focused.

Tell me what that is.

14 to 18 year olds typically are not considered in planning of events.

People say family, family fun things, but they don't consider that older middle part of the family, which is 14 to 18 year olds.

A lot of times when you, plan for those situations and I ran a dropout recovery with 16 to 22 year olds.

And so in planning those events, you have to listen to what they say.

Listen, yeah, you're.

And I'm and I'm going to be honest, you hear a lot of people.

Well, they just don't listen.

Well, who's talking to them?

Yeah, they're.

Or they're not doing what we told them to do.

And they should know right from wrong.

Who taught them?

That's right.

You can't assume anything.

You have to consider everything.

And so when you do plan events, and I and I, I guess I challenge the community to consider them.

I know that, it's hard sometimes create a panel of 14 to 18 year olds when you're planning and say, hey, what you want at this event.

And guess what they're going to tell you?

There's two pieces of this.

Friends can tell friends the truth.

Vinnie's in full candor.

We talked, Amelia, about, my role during my day job is with the Metroparks.

You challenged me to do better in that group again.

We only get better by telling each other the truth and asking each other to do better.

So I appreciate you trusting me and putting me on the spot.

My phone is always available to you.

I respond to you, which I wish I could say was vice versa, but that's I'm you're probably just going to get back to it.

I do think there's.

One thing you may mention of that is planning for the kids to do things, but employment is also important, right?

There are people who are putting on these things that need bodies.

And so we talk about all the time.

We can't find enough people.

Right.

And it isn't as easy as that, because if any of us could choose, we would probably choose not to work.

Ron has been talking about this vacation I was invited on for about five weeks now, and I just hate every single thing about it.

And I'm going to plant heroin in Gretchen's backpack if I have to, so I could ruin that time.

But you've talked a little bit about planning them in the events, right?

But talk to me about jobs for kids and people.

Right.

There was a time period, when I was a teenager.

I couldn't wait to get 14.

I would I wanted to go work for the zoo because they had this program called, pick.

It was private institute.

I can't remember private industry?

Yeah.

Corporation.

It ran for 19 years where a bunch of organizations came together and they employers and businesses came together, and they had a board, and they ran this program for a decade, for 19 years.

In 20, the 20th year, the county took it over and, it kind of dissipated after that.

That, that and then the county picked it back up through, a grant program, through pathways.

And now Harbor has that program as well.

Those programs only target, low income to moderate low moderate income.

14 to 20.

I think they go up to 21 year olds.

When you talk to youth, are they one they say, is any money?

Yes.

But they also need to be wore out if they go to work.

Yeah.

Guess what?

Yeah.

They're going to be tired.

That's right.

Put them to work.

16.

I had a job at KFC, Kentucky Fried Chicken, but it's KFC now.

Yeah.

But it's it's k going to work.

You put them to work.

And guess what?

The hours that they work now and the state has the state has given schools the ability to give them credit.

High school credit to go to work.

Funny to toss it over.

Rhonda, you, work in a world class facility that is in this neighborhood.

You have made it a part of the neighborhood.

Not just on your own, but part of, your group.

The closing out here.

So I've not provided enough time.

But within about a minute.

And 30s talk to me about being of the community.

But just as importantly, in the community.

What does that mean to you?

And what am I doing, to plug in to this group?

Yeah.

And have for a long time.

Yeah.

I'm so glad that you asked that.

And just to piggyback very quickly, thank you for your leadership.

Not just through this internet, but always, thinking a lot of us and anchor institutions look at you as the top dog and you are the president of city council, but you do such a great job.

Thank you.

So, wanted to say that.

Yes, it is under, Doctor Adam Levine, the current director.

His mission is to definitely reach the two mile radius around the museum.

And we found that that's five underrepresented zip codes.

That's right.

And one of those being a West End and and surrounding areas.

So it is our mission to do what we call a transition to active outreach, to go into the community instead of always expecting people to come into this Neo-Classical, very intimidating looking building who don't have a history of, you know, engagement with an art museum.

So that's what we're doing.

And now we're expanding into the rural areas as well.

And it has created such a synergy.

Thank you very much for this, for closing out with you.

I'm not going to put you on the spot to say something inspiring.

I want to close out by saying thank you.

Thank you for the energy that you're providing to this.

Again, you picked yourself up, and I know that you are the heartbeat of our neighborhoods and of our people.

And that's not an easy gig.

We're going to need you to pull us out, too.

So thank you in advance for what you'll be doing for us in our future.

All right.

We're closing out our first segment here.

You can have Nicole Myers come out.

Of course, the city councilman and also old Watson.

Thank you for tuning in to me.

Community means connecting to others.

I'm Danny Miller, and welcome to the point.

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Discover new ideas, dive into exciting subjects, and engage with the world around you.

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Welcome back to the 419.

My name is Matt Killam, and I am joined by two guest hosts.

In the absence of my two buddies who are out on leave, if you will run the school and tele hearing, which I was corrected in earlier, is wonderful to have you both.

We are a celebratory show.

We ta about the great stories in northwest Ohio and in Toledo.

That is no different today, of course.

But we have had some things happen in our community, that we would be remiss to just blow by.

So on the doorstep or back door, if you will, of those tragic events.

We'll be talking with the people who lead us in and out of those things and all the things that we'll do of us better.

And by us, I mean us, Nick.

Make no bones about it.

You were a friend.

We are neighbors in the old West End.

I know you to be a leader and a, just a warm, kind heart.

So this has been.

I'm not qualified to talk about what this has been for you.

But I can tell you, as somebody who's concerned gravely about, how we take care of our refugees.

This is a whole new level of pain and leadership.

So varnish was on earlier.

I know you guys passed each other in the hallway on your way out, so let me and, exchange this in proper fashion to you.

Thank you for your leadership.

I'm sure that you were a mess.

As not just the events occurred.

But your phones blew up, after the, shooting in the old West End festival.

Of course, we don't believe that is who we are.

But we do immediately go into the blame game.

And the people need our leaders, to be non-human during those times.

So the human being.

Nick Ives, I love you, the leader.

I was particularly impassioned by the press conference that was held last week.

There were a myriad of people speaking from the heart.

Right?

But we can talk about things that are on t shirts or bumper stickers for, a long time.

But we do need resolve.

I think that your comments that day, sir, represented both.

It's okay to be human, but it's okay to also ask us to be better, right?

And, we can only go so far when we start figuring out who's to blame.

It wasn't two young people that opened fire in our room at 537 in the afternoon.

It is a cultural challenge.

It is a global problem.

I don't want to blame Washington.

I don't want to blame.

It's Columbus, Ohio.

What I want to do is get us out of this.

Talk to me about the comments you made in the.

At the risk of outing you in terms of your process.

How do you write something like that, and how do you pick yourself up and answer the phone in the way people need?

Yeah.

Thanks for having me.

Thanks for your kind words.

This week has been one of the toughest of my life.

I'm about to cry.

Sure.

That's a totally appropriate Nick.

Yeah.

It's, You're absolutely right.

I don't know how to describe what my phone was doing immediately.

I was a half a block away.

I heard the gunfire.

I saw the terror on people's faces as they ran.

And many of those people were people I knew.

You know, the all of a sudden festival is one of the most magical events that I think happens in Toledo.

It is a time where we as old responders really get to show off who we are.

Yeah.

Through caring for our homes and our history and our yards as a way to show neighborly pride and who we are.

We are a community that welcomes everyone in.

And that is exactly why our festival has always remained open.

And I don't think that that spirit is lost on us even in this moment, which I think is perhaps one of the more beautiful things that I felt coming out of, of the experience.

But the sheer terror of Saturday night was an awful lot.

I talked with people that night who applied first aid immediately to folks I engaged with the person who, was home alone after the experience.

Right?

We forget about what happens to people in the aftermath of something like this, because there were 12 people who we needed to attend to immediately, otherwise they lose their life, potentially.

There were also a lot of people who were either present and actually witnessed it.

Maybe they were within distance of hearing it.

Perhaps they received a phone call from a loved one who expressed how terrifying this experience was.

Right?

And all of those people are impacted.

And so let me bring up a good point, Nick, I my interruption.

But, there are people who have been celebrating the old Russian festival and who lived in the house, is the third owner of her house that was built in 1890.

Fill in the blank.

Yes.

So they're impacted by that.

One thing I do think is a dangerously inaccurate statement is that our innocence has all of a sudden been lost.

The reason why I think that that's inappropriate and potentially responsible, and that is a criticism of the people that articulate in that fashion, is to pretend that this occurred only at 537 on the Saturday is a missed justice to all the people that have been struggling in this space.

Right?

We are all to blame and we all need to come out of this.

Your speech articulated that, sir.

But I am interested in just for a second the man that had to then write that the people who love you and support you, but you had eventually, then had to sit down and decide how you wanted to talk about that.

It is not necessarily the human portion of it, but I want to back in the human portion of later, you had to sit with yourself.

Pull yourself together and lead, talking about where you sat and where that happened.

I, I started writing comments, on Saturday night.

Yeah.

I I, I was out among, you know, with my neighbors trying to find people trying to identify folks who might be alone, like the president was talking about that night who had provided aid.

Right.

And every time he closed his eyes, that's what he was seeing.

Every time he opened his phone.

That's what he was seeing, right?

It was important to take care of those folks, too.

And I got home from that experience.

I sat on the couch and it was like a tsunami.

Like when adrenaline kicks in, you just do.

You don't think.

And that's what I was doing for several hours.

So when I finally sat down and the tears just started pouring, it was, an immense and, I started typing notes on my phone, ringing almost immediately just about how I was feeling, and more so just about the the really wonderful aspects of what I saw.

Right?

Like I saw my neighbors going and knocking on doors and talking with each other immediately to check in with one another.

And that was what I started writing.

So in the beginning, part of my comments for the press conference were really, I think, an attempt to convey the spirit of the neighborhood, who we are as people, because none of that should be lost in the moment.

That's right.

Because incredible people, local people, stepped up in a moment when they could have.

I mean, some people ran, and that's also okay.

Absolutely, absolutely.

But some people were strong in the moment, in a way that allowed them to provide aid.

And so I needed to document that.

I also then, later needed to really reflect on how do we move forward from this.

And so on Monday evening, again, when I had a moment to sit down, I sat outside.

Yeah.

I, my partner in the center, I watched my neighbor still playing outside.

Across the street from me.

My neighbors, who I love.

We're having a little get.

They already bought all the food, and so they just had only old West Enders present.

And I was listening to that while was writing, and I was thinking to myself, yeah, all of the things they tell us to be safe were there, there were good people with guns there.

There were, you know, there were people that were ready to respond.

We had more police officers there than we normally do.

Right.

But this still happened.

And this still happened after the Dayton shooting in 2019.

This and all I can think of as a millennial is this has been happening since Columbine.

I gotta tell you something, Nick.

We are very fast to to your point.

Make a list of people to blame.

We don't sit down and provide the same level of energy, the list of victims, and what I mean by that.

It isn't two kids.

It isn't one gang.

And it is doesn't their parents.

The list of victims is about two decades long, if not longer.

Feels makes me feel a little uncomfortable to talk about victims in this, as a white male.

Because there are victims, and this is a decades old problem.

At the risk of passing the mic at a very difficult time.

Rhonda, you are a leader in the African-American community, but in all communities, this isn't about race, right?

This is about a community problem.

You live in the old four, right?

Which is downtown.

You work in a world class facility that has done a lot of outreach.

We talked a little bit about that already.

And, Kelly, you have dedicated your life to spinning a positive.

I don't want to lean into the superlatives here or put a silver lining on it.

I want to talk about the roles that both of you have in our community, potentially even heightened more in the immediacy of the aftermath of the old West End shooting.

I just want to say, you know, Councilman, your words were very meaningful at that news conference yesterday.

We were both present there.

And I thank you because you provided the most human, response.

And it was wrong.

It was very vulnerable.

And that was so good to see, as you has articulated as a leader.

And, Allison is a magical place.

I went to elementary school at Saint Angela Hall there on Parkwood, from first grade to seventh grade there.

Every single or western festival my class gets together at the Bumpus is at the pig roast, and we.

I mean, this is from elementary school because it was such a magical school, but it's such a magical neighborhood.

And we all get together at the old Western Festival.

We come in from all parts of the country and get together because the place meant so much to us.

And this doesn't just isolate us and we have to be careful assigning race.

I mean, most of the time happens in intra racially.

That's right.

I mean, you know, that's what just happens.

You know, we we, have beef with people who live among us, who work among us, who look like us in all race.

That's right.

You know, but that doesn't negate that there are some really, profound issues.

But I think all of our institutions are doing great work.

We're trying to do some things that maybe, past institutions didn't do.

And that was that outreach into the community and making sure that everyone has that sense of belonging.

And that's what the museum has been doing.

We're nurturing a sense of belonging, and people can see it.

I mean, they do, they see it.

And they were like, this seems a different place right now.

And that's unusual for an arts and culture institution to even care.

Rhonda, I will tell you that you and I have talked about this quite a bit.

There's a hashtag called Run the Spoken, but you know, you've heard me say this a million times.

What makes that a powerful and true statement is that Rhonda has listened is really what makes the other thing possible.

I think the Museum of Art, has listened.

Right.

And not because they had to or not because of an event.

They are trying to embrace, the people that live in the communities within a two mile radius.

And again, I applaud both you and Adam and everyone on that team for doing so.

The things we're talking about today are not about an individual or about an individual race.

It is about our city.

I tell you, when you signed up for this, it was a wildly different show.

And I know it's probably difficult, to put on, a selling Toledo hat right now, so I will spare you some of that.

But you are a mom.

You are a leader.

You are a brilliant young woman.

Talk to me a little bit about, selling Toledo again to.

I will spare you that, the the direct comparison here, and nothing should change.

But when you talk about selling Toledo and making to your destination even afterwards or before.

What do you think about selling?

What is Toledo to you?

Well, as Destination Toledo, our job is to be authentic about what we are saying about our city and to amplify what our city is all about.

And so this is no different, because what makes us unique is our people.

And so, yes, the tone is different or what we are how we are saying it is a little bit different, but we're trying to focus on the community.

And like when he's talked about the positives that we saw that are make our community truly special, that's what sets us apart as a destination.

And that's really what we can put out to the world, and that's what we're here to do.

So I have been happy to sit here this morning under different circumstances and just listen, because I'm very grateful to all of you for your leadership in our community.

Yeah.

Kelly, uncomfortable again.

We've been friends.

Our kids went to the same daycare.

Your kids, we're thriving.

Unlike the lot that I threw in there, which were my children.

But it is important not just to things.

Right.

But it is.

It is time to celebrate.

You have to pick back up again.

You can always leave time or feel uncomfortable, but sometimes you just have to press on.

Nick, I'm gonna pass the mic back over to you.

We've got, about four minutes left in this segment, and I say that because we we were talking about a heavy topic here today, and there's not a whole lot of answers.

And there's no lack of complexity to this conversation, but this is going to pitch a little bit on the spot.

You are a capital Democrat, right?

And I don't want to politicize the show here.

I have been doing some reflection in the aftermath of this, and I do think about how flippant I can be.

Also, here I am talking about not playing the blame game, and I am somebody who walks through every day of my life mocking things I see in the news, in other leadership, indiscriminate in my political beliefs.

Right.

That is, where's the value of Matt?

Kill him saying those things out loud or joking around about it.

So I'm interested in leadership in this way now becomes on both sides of the aisle, right.

And throw away all policies and things of that variety.

Who's led bills and who has and where money has guns, what isn't.

But I bet there's a bit of a reset to you, right?

There are Democrats and Republicans who live in the old West End.

They're Democrats and Republicans that were in the Arboretum.

There are Democrats and Republicans that built our city.

Right.

What is your guttural reaction after processing this in terms of unification?

So I, I mentioned in my comments at the press conference that, bullets are indiscriminate.

They they don't care if you're a Democrat.

They don't care if you're Republican.

They just rip apart lives.

That's right.

That's all they do.

And so, yeah, I would say I have been a person that's been highly critical of how Republicans have legislated around this.

And we live in a state where it's open carry.

It's not difficult to get a gun.

You don't need training from most.

You don't even need training to.

I just think it's I think it's a lot to think about.

Right.

Just how challenging that can.

Be to people.

But the people in it, policy aside, that when you think about your role as a convener, which are the old West End, as a convener of people, you give you the humanity next, what do you want to do next?

If you could wave a magic wand and gather a group of people, where would they be and what would they be the culmination of that?

Well, I think that we have to get together.

We have to be grownups about this.

Yes.

That's what is occurring to me right now.

It's just that we can we can all the things that I said or how I used to really approach this situation.

But now that it's not even just now that I've experienced it, but rather that, it's a fresh and, a huge part of my life at the moment.

It's very quickly transitioning.

How I mean, thinking about it, I don't I don't care all of the people that are currently commenting on my posts and trying to debate me and have these huge arguments, I don't know that I'm particularly interested in that right now.

I only want to talk about what are the things that we agree on.

There are many things that we all agree on, and there are people who are inactive on that, who have power and can do something about it.

I think that we all, in this moment, this moment in time, calls for us all to come together and take action collectively.

Anyways, this is just yet another example of things that we have to.

I already said I've been watching these things happen since Columbine.

I remember as a young person I think I was in seventh or eighth grade.

I remember seeing that and thinking, wow, this is so wild.

And now it is just so almost normal.

But it is not normal.

What I'm experiencing, what we're all experiencing, it's not normal.

We shouldn't expect it to be.

Like as we close out here, we normally save a part of the segment for the insipid 419 quizzes, but yes.

I failed.

Before.

Definitely being appropriate today.

But I want to ask you the same question.

The middle part is describe our community in one word.

I don't remember what the word that you gave that time, but what is the word now?

And it might be exactly the same.

But if I put that the quiz in front of you today, describe our region or community in one word.

I think resilient.

I'll take it.

Good.

All right.

Thank you very much for tuning in.

We had, of course, Nick Cummins.

I don't know.

What do you want me to describe this?

I'll tell you this, you are a good friend of the community, and then, after that, you were a city council person and a leader in that space.

So I thank you for your time, sir.

I appreciate you picking up, where I would have been a puddle and getting to the next step.

You're with the 419 here.

I'm joined by two really great, co guests.

Or host, if you will.

Kelly from Destination Toledo run the school from the Toledo Museum of Art.

But both people who plug in every day to make our region better.

And we can all get out of this together.

Thanks for listening.

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Advisory services are offered through Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC, securities offer through Capital Investment Group member Finra and SIPC.

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Welcome back to the 419.

Of course, my name is Matt Killam.

I, to my right, Rhonda Sewell and Kelly hearing from Destination Toledo.

We had a first, two segments, president of city council, and he's Williams and of course, Nicole Meyers, from the old West End and a city council role.

Tremaine Rayford is here joining us from Program Inc.

And again, I'll let the, air out of the back.

Here we are actually friends.

It's great to have you on.

We did not plan on segments like this, being so synergize, but perhaps it's a larger metaphor for the fact that we are all connected in a myriad of ways.

And whatever happens to us does remind us that we are connected and said ways in some ways, perhaps we didn't realize that we were so connected.

So you're a friend of mine, man.

But at the risk of people not knowing who you are, which is their loss, if you don't mind introducing yourself, we'll talk a little about what programing is.

Certainly, my name is Jermaine Rayford.

Founder and CEO, Secretary, marketing guy, trash guy.

Yeah.

All for the programing.

And the programing is a nonprofit organization serving young men, absent father homes, teaching them life skills and social skills and how destructively, with the demands of everyday life.

We are thrilled to have you again.

This seems like an appropriate time, to talk about, Program Inc, although it has been an appropriate time to talk about it.

You didn't just make this up in a vacuum and say, hey, my community might need this.

But, Jermaine, people come to a calling.

What I believe this is.

But those are my words.

In a myriad of ways, right?

Some of them are certainly financial.

I can imagine you're doing this, to buy yourself a Ferrari in multiple homes.

Across other, the country.

What brought you to Program Inc?

It was my life story.

My dad wasn't around, for.

I remember seeing him 4 or 5 times before waking up out of a coma 17.5 years old.

And that was like the the beginning of me and my father's relationship.

So I see myself and every single kid that I serve because I was that fatherless kid I didn't know, you know, how to change a tire or tie, a tie or what being a man really was.

So, serving young men in the homes is a passion to me because it's almost like serving myself.

Yeah, sure.

I'll tell you what.

Country of, Yes.

Past concept of what being a man was like.

One of the things that being a man should be like is, being vulnerable and talking about the truth.

So thank you for letting us in a piece of that.

That didn't used to be the case.

It was, oh, shut up, deal with it and just keep trudging forward.

I don't want to give it the microphone for you.

Just just a second.

Earlier in talking about all things here, I presume to remain that, the stalwart in your life was, female role model.

No, I had my grandfather.

Okay.

Yeah.

Other.

Other role models.

Yeah.

Just not present in the home.

So.

Yeah, my grandfather was.

You don't want to mess with like that?

Yeah, sure.

Like, to this day, you know, and and less of my grandfather.

So, he was the.

If he had to show up, it's too late, you mean.

Yeah, sure.

Yeah.

All right.

So he was.

He was that first runner.

And, Kelly, people in your life that were the role models or set the path, who were they to both of you?

Definitely my mom.

We have come from a very strong matriarchal family and component, but my mom, set the tone.

She was the role model, and she's such a gentle giant, in her leadership.

And not only the family.

We call her the glue because she's the glue that keeps us all together.

My my dad too.

Yes.

Well, I had a very, very strong, father and patriarchal role, which is important to girls.

Yes.

But but that I so value what you are doing in the community.

I was a catalyst for starting real men.

Read or ready?

That's now run by the read for literacy program, and it specifically keyed on African-American boys in the K through third grade.

And, they are pairing with African-American men who are working, coming in and reading to them three, three times a week.

You would think that that was nothing.

But it is something because they don't have positive role models.

They might have male role models in their in their communities, but not always positive.

And this is just really something profound.

So I just value what you do with the program Inc.

Kelly, in your life, role models, it with the probably a list not dissimilar to what we talked about today, but anyone that stands out is the go to, even if it was in a terrified state.

As Jermaine mentioned.

I mean, honestly, I'm very fortunate to really have a village here.

Both my families are from here.

So I grew up around my, you know, both my parents being very strong, independent entrepreneurs in their own rights and also having my grandparents very present as well.

So I'll tell you what we talked about Destination Toledo, which of course, you are a proud representative of, but, Destination Home, isn't something that everyone looks forward to going to.

So, Tremaine, talk about a little bit about making a destination through Program Inc.

What do you do?

What the program does, and why it's so meaningful.

Yeah.

So we we host a number of workshops for a number of kids.

We have a component that, anyone come to free, open to the public.

Mean when you say kids in this capacity, who are you serving?

So it's ages, 8 to 18.

So we want to be proactive.

Yes.

We don't want to wait until kids are involved in violence, gangs and all that.

So if we want to help direct them to a positive outcome.

As the number eight changed at all, has it gone back?

Is it earlier?

What what made that that time frame where you're thinking your.

Teeth started at age seven.

Yeah.

And then what we saw at eight seven was, kids weren't as receptive.

Getting right there in that place.

Stays there like I want to have fun, you know?

Sure.

In an.

Age that would be nice to go back to that.

Yeah, yeah.

At age, eight and nine, that's our kind of, like, relational equity building.

Okay.

I'm saying, well, we're developing relational equity with the kids, and they're learning awesome.

We're learning them so that we can speak into their lives.

So the program talk me through a single day in the program.

I'm sure there's a bunch of things, but, if we were sending our child, or we were participating in this, pretend like we're all eight year olds, one of us, acts more like that's, you know?

There it is.

Kelly, talk to me about.

Think our behavior on the here.

Now.

Talk to me about, what kids experience with you on a daily basis, but program as a whole.

Walk me through the days.

Yeah.

So, workshop will look like, kids arrive.

Our volunteers, our mentors are there to greet them, to let them know that we care, that we miss them.

We start the workshop out with, affirmations.

A lot of times, kids hear a lot of things about themselves that they don't speak about themselves.

That's right.

It's very important that they can say the most important.

Where does it go?

Where's there?

So we work with a number of partners around the city.

We didn't we didn't want to be stationary because we got kids from Portage, Ohio.

Yeah.

Ten parents.

We got kids coming from Gibson Burg.

Napoleon.

Yeah.

Bowling green.

So what we do is we we rely on our partners to host work.

We have to go to the kids.

Yeah.

So we we like to be in proximity to them because single mom gas I they're not driving way out to mommy or White House or inside and not doing that.

So we rely on a partner.

All right.

So we've got the kids in.

We've started our morning off, which is again, not to be blown through having a place to the kids go, where they might not be coming from or accustomed to a welcoming place is affirming.

So we're already off to a good start that bring us through the rest of our day.

So the rest of our workshops are usually hour and a half, two hours.

So we either have continued on the workshop, we will either have a subject matter expert come in and talk about financing, budget, financial literacy, things like that.

We've also done things like we've taken kids in airplanes when the kids actually had to fly the airplane, like, oh, wow.

You know, so I can only imagine being we had a 12 year old kid that didn't want to fly the airplane at all.

Yeah.

And we we ended up I get it, we end up causing him to sit in the airplane and then talking to him into driving around on the airplane, then talking him into going up.

The pilot said a little bit, but he thought six feet was a little bit.

What are you talking about is an immensely complicated thing where you're talking about gaining trust, right.

So, talk to me about and again, potentially I'm generalizing here, but we were talking potentially about the young men that come to you are not in a place of their default.

Isn't trust right.

For good reason.

Right.

They are now in survival mode.

Can you talk to me a little about the complexity of gaining trust for those that have?

Well been well served by not trusting?

Yeah, it's it's time.

Studies show it takes about 16 months to to gain trust.

Only say that one more time.

How long?

16 months.

16 months in the interest of a kid.

So I think the way we do it, and we have, like, an innovative way of interacting with the kids, and we're so intentional.

I think we speed up the time on that.

So yeah, every time we kid sees us, they're like, oh, hey Julie, how are you?

How's the last thing that you did?

Or where was the last, you know, thing that you and they're like, oh, this guy really knows.

He really understands that and really pays attention to what I'm doing and what my wife is.

So we speed up the trust with that.

I'll tell you what it is, a obvious thing.

We all talk about the immediacy of our culture in society, right?

I mean, we get information fast.

We get our food fast.

You know, we get things delivered.

And now we just set a 16 month window to, I don't know, even the appropriate way of saying this.

Not untangle and wire diffuse.

Something that, you know, people have heard of train themselves to be for good reason.

So you're already sort of, the odds are a bit against you, right?

It takes a lot of time, and people don't want to give time.

So I. Can you talk a little bit of this young Tremaine?

What would this program have meant to you?

Man, it would have been everything, you know?

It would have kept me out of so much trouble.

Yeah.

I was involved in, you name it, drugs, gangs, everything.

Yeah.

And I think having a positive male role model.

Yeah.

That someone I could talk to.

Someone that was fun.

Someone that was.

You know, the experiences that we have is bar none.

But I think things like that would have changed my perception of life.

I'm gonna put you on the spot here in just a second.

Frequently.

You know, I think all of our jobs, people say, well, why should I care?

Right?

So I'm just gonna pick a random place.

You know, if you lived in, I don't know, I guess a golden fortress in a made up suburb called, Greenville.

Toledo.

They're like, oh, that doesn't have in my neighborhood.

Why should I care?

Why should they care?

I mean, we all have to live together.

Yeah, we all have to live together.

And sometimes the violence that happens can happen in a place where you're not supposed to be at or a place that you visit grocery store, mall or anything.

And it could be someone from apps.

If either home committed these crimes.

You've probably got, I'm gonna ask every one of you this question.

You probably have.

I hope that you have, because you deserve it.

You have probably have a long list of successes, things that keep putting wind in your sails.

It's not an easy gig, but do you mind sharing one and certainly doesn't have to be saving anyone's names, but a moment that is particularly treasured by you, or something that gets you out of bed, or gets you out of the shower at the crack of dawn to go back to a firm or a bunch of children who are not yours.

Yeah.

Tell me a story.

Tell me a story that motivates you.

It's one of the one of the most recent stories was a kid that he didn't know what he wanted to be in life.

Yeah.

And we had the opportunity to partner with Bgsu and live off Liberty Lake Electric and Miller Brothers and all that stuff.

And this kid, we take him down there, and he's 16 years old, and I can see the frustration was on.

His face is wearing it.

We go down there and on the way down he's like, oh, I want to be a plumber.

I want to go to Army to be a plumber.

Yeah.

And I was like, I never heard people have to go to Army to be a plumber, like you will be a plumber in the Army or, like, what does that look like?

Yeah.

He gets down there and he's playing with these remote control cars, like backhoe and like, yeah, front loader and all that stuff.

And then he sets down a remote control, and he comes to one of our guys and said, that's what I want to do.

Yeah.

Right then and there, another guy he points them to and the guy goes, oh what are you 16 so you can intern with us.

He said, you can start working for us at 18, and by 21 you can make him 35 bucks an hour.

Yeah.

And to see the look on this kid's face of hope.

Yeah, of.

Hey, this is an actual trajectory.

This is an actual road that all I have to do is show up and work hard, and I can sustain my life not only for me, but my wife.

If I have kids, my children, my mom, my entire family, everything.

After me, after this opportunity can be blessed simply because of the decision that I make to man.

Thank you very much for that.

You might seem, like an awkward transition into the question to you, but but candidly, it isn't, that you work every day at Destination Toledo, and sometimes you probably don't feel like Toledo's a destination.

You want to pack up your family and move out right away, right?

Work is work for a reason.

But there have to be some moments, in your relatively long career now with them, in my opinion, certainly in the way that we look at, modern workforce.

But there are moments that really inspire you about our region or us as people.

Yeah.

I think.

That's.

What bringing in visitors does for the people who live here, actually reaffirms that there is something to be proud of, that other people want to experience.

And I think that positive affirmation is something that then just kind of feeds the cycle of people here being proud of what they have.

And then inviting others to come experience.

So getting to see that in real time is part of it really, you know, affirms what I get to do.

And being part of conversations that are important in our community, even though, you know, what I do seems not directly related to a lot of work going what we're talking about today, it is a part of who we are.

So thank you for that.

Tremaine, I'm going to toss back to you as we close out here.

How can people be involved in the program and how can they support you.

Tell us where to go to go.

You can go to our website programing talk.

There's a volunteer application.

There's a, you can support financially.

There's other ways, noncash donations, things like that.

But we would love to have people volunteer.

We need volunteers.

When I close out on this domain, we have a magic wand and disregard funding and all practicality.

If you can make everything different tomorrow, what would be the first thing that you would do?

I would make it so that all of our youth would have all be confident enough to face all their fears and to overcome all the obstacles that they face.

Day with.

It's a beautiful statement coming from a great guy.

I thank you for your friendship.

I thank you for what you're doing every day We didn't get to you, but you do talk about them a great deal for closing out here.

Another episode of the 419 Heavy Topics.

But it's a big city with real problems.

Well, we got real answers within each other when we stand together, so thanks for tuning in.

The 419 will be back to close out the show every day.

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All right.

Welcome back to the close.

Out of the 419, it's one of the last shows without Kevin and Gretchen.

Cannot wait for them to get back for many reasons, but I do want to thank the two of you for standing in.

We have snagged Rhonda now on multiple, segments and shows, so, you know, I love you.

It was great to have you sitting, to my right here this morning, and it'll be great to have you next to me as I live, in this community.

You are a great friend of mine and a great friend.

The community.

Kelly, I've known you for the better part of a decade.

Better part, in my words.

But I certainly want to, certainly today it feels right to tell people you love.

You love them.

So I love you both.

A complicated show, right?

Usually more so than we deal with here.

A lot to celebrate.

But if I could give you guys.

That was.

We have a minute to talk about a feelings of reflection here.

Your thoughts on being on the program and our leaders today?

Well, I think the leaders that we had today, it was all types of topics, but it we looked at community service, public service, but also some of the heavier topics and the incident that just occurred.

We were militant about the validity of our truth as a community.

It is a great community and good comes out of that as, as Councilwoman said the triumph is there.

So, Ali.

I mean, as a Toledo in and a mom of boys, I'm grateful.

I'm grateful.

We have people like this in our community.

I can say that to both of you.

As well.

And and to interest fashion.

Again, thanks for tuning in, as you usually do to the 419 indiscriminate.

If when you get this show, I think the sentiment will always be true.

419 brought to you by Mutual Wealth Management, of course, brought to you by Wjrt.

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We'll talk to you very soon and we'll talk about the silly things we normally do.

But today we want to end with just the fact that we are grateful for our community and all of us as a whole.

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