[Transcript]

00:00:00:19 – 00:00:22:18
Ruth Baum Bigus
Welcome to KC Cares. Kansas City’s nonprofit voice were telling the stories of Kansas City nonprofits and the people behind them. KC Cares is the intersection of a profit and nonprofit communities making Kansas City a better place to live, work and play. The segment is brought to you by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. W.W. Kauffman dot org. I’m responding as well.

00:00:23:05 – 00:00:50:19
Ruth Baum Bigus
It was pre-pandemic when we first encountered our dynamic guest today. He was leading Teach for America here in Kansas City, being innovative, bringing equity across the educational environment in the in the entire metro. Then an opportunity came and Chris Ross couldn’t resist. It was come to United Way and we got to talk to Chris. And it was pandemic and it was crazy.

00:00:50:19 – 00:01:07:21
Ruth Baum Bigus
And we were on Zoom and it was just amazing. We could even get connected. But here we are. You’ve been here a little bit of the way for a while. Let’s talk about the Mr. Changemaker and Mr. Innovator. Bring us up to speed on all things United Way.

00:01:08:12 – 00:01:35:14
Chris Rossen
Well, first off, thanks for having me, Ruth. I always love getting the opportunity to talk with you and talk about all things change and possibility in our community. We have been busy. You know, you’re right that I arrived at, I think, a very opportune time as what I would say. You know, I think collectively, the pandemic and the racial reckoning and everything that we saw happening over the last 24 months plus really sort of called upon all of us to recognize that we needed to think about things differently.

00:01:35:14 – 00:01:57:20
Chris Rossen
We need to do things differently, and we need to be more responsive and agile to what we’re now. Community needs that could change on a dime. And I think one thing that became very clear to us was that we needed to find a way to galvanize around community needs issues in a more collaborative way, but also to make resources available and more and more reactive to how community need is changing in real time.

00:01:58:05 – 00:02:20:21
Chris Rossen
And so we’ve done a few things. We have launched our new primary grantmaking channel, which is Impact 100. And so it is a collection of organizations where every year we identify 100 organizations in our community, nonprofit organizations that we believe are driving the highest impact against where community need lives today, right now in real time. And we know that’s ever changing.

00:02:21:03 – 00:02:48:10
Chris Rossen
And so that’s an annual cycle. We publish an annual list, and we take it very seriously. It’s a very rigorous effort on our part, and we believe it’s a really reflective list of of organizations that are driving impact. The second thing is, of course, in two in one, we just during the pandemic, we really found two and one to be that almost like the canary in the coal mine where we were able to see community needs spike in certain areas in particular around housing insecurity and food insecurity.

00:02:48:14 – 00:03:13:18
Chris Rossen
I think the last time we talked, which I shared, that while there were lots of resources and efforts being put into the here and now pandemic response, that I had a real concern and we were monitoring sort of the long tail implication of COVID and what that would do in our community. And that’s certainly something that we’ve been able to leverage two and one to mine for data, to see how those trends are emerging, to see how they change, and to make sure that we’re getting out in front as much as possible in our community.

00:03:14:09 – 00:03:34:08
Chris Rossen
And then with that, you know, we’ve taken on and continued on with a few strategic initiatives, including a very large one around eviction. And so eviction prevention initiative that’s been going on for for for nearly two years now. And again, tied to sort of pandemic related effects that we continue to monitor and make sure that we’re addressing holistically as a community.

00:03:34:23 – 00:03:43:23
Ruth Baum Bigus
Impact 100. Talk about the nuts and bolts of that and how those different nonprofits were chosen and why they were chosen.

00:03:44:12 – 00:04:21:07
Chris Rossen
Well, so we have for quite a while continue to focus on the issues of health, education and income, financial stability, really as key drivers and transforming lives throughout our community. And that has been the case for some time. However, from a grantmaking standpoint, we intended to go toward longer term grants. And I think, again, just looking at the pandemic and looking at how quickly community need changed and shifted overnight, I just felt it was very important for us as an organization to be agile in our response and to be nimble when it came to addressing those needs and to really take a stance of rigor and really in some ways be a bellwether to the

00:04:21:07 – 00:04:40:23
Chris Rossen
community about organizations that are driving impact. It is a big, difficult task. You know, I think we talked before and I had shared that over the last ten years we’ve grown in our region from 500 registered nonprofits to over 10,000 that is a monumental amount of huge continues to to increase. People are finding all sorts of ways to get connected to causes.

00:04:40:23 – 00:05:04:01
Chris Rossen
And people are starting new organizations all the time and I think, you know, for us as an organization became very important to make sure that we were still being that bellwether in our community of organizations that were really high, high, high impact, really rigorous about outcomes and really driving a meaningful, measurable difference against those those those points of data that we look at in those areas of health, education and income.

00:05:04:01 – 00:05:21:21
Chris Rossen
And so it is a it’s a it’s a rigorous process. We accept applications widely. We encourage organizations to apply. If you’re if there’s somebody listening in their organization that would consider applying, they should do so. We we’re about to launch or announce our latest list here in in the spring summer timeframe. And so be on the lookout for that.

00:05:21:21 – 00:05:41:15
Chris Rossen
But it is, I think for us, an ability to not only drive dollars to those organizations, but to draw eyeballs, attention, volunteerism, awareness of some of these organizations. And again, when you look at that list, you will find organizations on that list that are household names that people would know. And you’ll find a whole host of organizations that you never heard of and you had no idea existed.

00:05:41:15 – 00:05:45:01
Chris Rossen
But are really driving incredible outcomes are in our community.

00:05:45:03 – 00:05:50:11
Ruth Baum Bigus
So if you made the impact 100 the first time around, you are not precluded from reapplying.

00:05:50:17 – 00:06:06:13
Chris Rossen
No, not at all. You’re not you’re not you’re not precluded from from applying. You can you can certainly apply again. But but there’s no guarantee that you’ll make it back on that list. Right. It is it is a dynamic list and it is really rooted in and where community need lives at this moment in time.

00:06:07:05 – 00:06:25:13
Ruth Baum Bigus
I know one thing we talked about the first time we had a conversation when you started at the very beginning of United Way, I said to you, there are some organizations that say, Oh, my United Way, Grant, it’s so long. It takes me forever. How have you addressed that? Is have things changed there?

00:06:25:22 – 00:06:54:23
Chris Rossen
Yeah, they have. You know, we really streamlined the application process for funds like Impact 100. We’ve taken a we’ve committed as far as I’m aware, we’re the largest and the first major philanthropic entity here in Kansas City. And a big funder to completely adopt the trust based philanthropy principles. And so, you know, when we part of that is ensuring that we have a low barrier to entry in terms of access, that we’re not making that process extra cumbersome on folks that are already doing great, meaningful work.

00:06:54:23 – 00:07:14:13
Chris Rossen
We want I want I want organizations that are applying for funding and applying to partner with us to spend as much effort as possible driving mission and as little effort as, as as required doing administrative tasks like applying for these sorts of things. And so we do try to make it streamlined and easy, but we do take a high bar in terms of the types of quality of inputs that we get from from that process.

00:07:14:13 – 00:07:25:07
Chris Rossen
But that was definitely a point of feedback that I heard that I wanted to address and something that, you know, as somebody who ran an organization that would have been eligible for funding like that in the past, it was important for me to make sure that that was a streamlined process as well.

00:07:25:19 – 00:07:30:21
Ruth Baum Bigus
Trust based philanthropy. I’m not sure I’ve heard that buzzing out there. How would you define that?

00:07:31:06 – 00:07:58:08
Chris Rossen
Well, I think trust based philanthropy really puts the ownership on the grant maker to take a rigorous stance in looking into what makes an organization tick, what’s driving their mission, and to really be relational, I think more than anything, it is it is acknowledging that there’s an inherent power dynamic at play when there’s somebody holding on to funding and somebody who’s requesting funding, and it’s acknowledging both the complexities and the dynamics of that while simultaneously saying, we’re partners in this.

00:07:58:08 – 00:08:27:02
Chris Rossen
You know, and and the expectations not that the organization’s perfect, the expectations that the organization’s making progress on an ongoing basis, and that we’re really partners in that we’re coaches in that provide feedback, we provide connection, and we provide opportunities to get funding, but not in a way that is punitive or or overly rigorous. It is it’s intended to make the funding accessible and the partnership really a true comprehensive partnership.

00:08:27:07 – 00:08:52:18
Ruth Baum Bigus
That’s see change. That’s really see change. I think for folks who maybe have been in this community and used to the old way of doing things that United Way versus the New Way, collaboration is huge. You’re a collaborator, you’ve got lots of energy. That’s kind of your vision. So how have you been able as your leading United Way, to bring that in and move things forward?

00:08:53:10 – 00:09:10:02
Chris Rossen
Well, you know, it’s in our name, United Way, right? You know, I think about I was at the Chiefs game. You know, we got the we got the the the a lot of excitement around here around the Chiefs. And, you know, I think about the fact that how powerful we are as a as a as a crowd and how involved we get into the game.

00:09:10:02 – 00:09:27:13
Chris Rossen
And we all elevate our voices together. And so collaboration is absolutely critical if you’re trying to move something at scale and with the types of challenges where we’re taking on and really transforming the community by transforming individual lives and the lives of families in our community that that are facing hardship, that takes it that takes a community effort.

00:09:27:13 – 00:09:44:04
Chris Rossen
It really takes a village. And so a lot of our efforts are rooted in not the transactional, just sort of here’s here’s some funding go do with it, but really getting grounded together in the in the challenges, getting grounded together in the solutions and and bringing all perspectives and voices to the table to try to address those.

00:09:44:18 – 00:10:10:11
Ruth Baum Bigus
What you mentioned, the issue of housing, unhoused people who face temporary housing, etc.. How do you how do you do that? It’s such a big challenge and it’s across ages, too. I think that sometimes people don’t realize it’s just, you know, families with children or a single. I’ve now been hearing about terrible issues with older adults who can’t find affordable housing.

00:10:10:21 – 00:10:14:03
Ruth Baum Bigus
So how do you tackle that huge issue?

00:10:14:10 – 00:10:44:10
Chris Rossen
Yeah, it is a huge issue. And it’s and it’s one of those things we talked about the long tail implication of of COVID. It’s one of those things that we were early on just sort of aware of. We were getting an influx of calls and two and one that were and we still today today right now, today, we get over 100 calls a day from families who are facing facing housing insecurity, families who are somewhere in either the eviction process or recognize that they can’t pay their bills and and are in a situation where they really need some support and some help.

00:10:45:16 – 00:11:12:11
Chris Rossen
To this point about collaboration, we’ve taken a collaborative approach to addressing that and a proactive approach addressing that. We worked with a variety of legal aid partners, both at U-M KC Law School, as well as the Heartland Center and as well as of about 30 or so social service agencies throughout the community. And collectively, we’ve been able to advocate for around $25 million in both federal resources, as well as pooling private resources together and taking on what we call the Eviction Prevention Initiative.

00:11:13:04 – 00:11:33:10
Chris Rossen
And it’s really trying to address the issue of homelessness and housing insecurity before a family is facing eviction, before a family being kicked out of their homes and and having to, you know, look to a shelter which are already already facing really constraints. And I’m pleased to say that through that effort, in some cases, we’re paying back rent.

00:11:33:10 – 00:11:57:13
Chris Rossen
In some cases, we’re helping people get up to up to a current on their utility payments. In other cases, we’re really standing with them in the courts process and we’re representing them through legal aid in the in the eviction courts process itself. And I’m proud to say that over that last 24 months, we’ve supported 75,000 people, kept them out of homelessness, 25,000 families, 75,000 individuals in our community.

00:11:57:16 – 00:12:19:13
Chris Rossen
I think, as you said, I think there’s a misnomer and a misperception that folks that are facing that these are folks that are maybe unemployed or or facing other sorts of situations, but know what we’re seeing. But with with with inflation and with other things, we’re seeing that actually about half of the folks that are coming to us from court making those calls, these are folks, working people who are employed, who are really doing the best they can.

00:12:19:13 – 00:12:30:13
Chris Rossen
They’re resilient and they just need some support from their neighbors. And I’m just really glad that, you know, that way we get to be able to provide that support and be that that friendly, helping face whenever that whenever they face that moment of hardship.

00:12:31:11 – 00:12:33:11
Ruth Baum Bigus
How do the municipalities play with you?

00:12:34:05 – 00:12:51:09
Chris Rossen
We work we coordinate with them often both in terms of social service delivery, but also in terms of making sure that funding is getting used and put in the most optimal places. So they are strong partners with us and all that, and that’s really region wide. County by county, the cities, I mean, it’s really a it’s really is a collective effort.

00:12:52:12 – 00:13:02:20
Ruth Baum Bigus
Let’s flip to two, one, one. Been there for a while. Bring us up to speed on what it’s doing and how that really makes a difference in the community to have that.

00:13:03:05 – 00:13:21:14
Chris Rossen
Yeah. So you know two and one for those who aren’t aware, it’s our community’s resource and referral network. It’s, it is really the connective tissue of our nonprofit space is the connective tissue of our social service space really in some ways the connective tissue of our community. We have community resource navigators who stand by the ready on the phones.

00:13:22:02 – 00:13:38:13
Chris Rossen
24 seven 365 over 150 languages spoken. And these are and they really deserve a shout out. Our community resource navigators really deserve a shout out. I’m really grateful to to the support that they provide our community. And these are folks who are answering calls. When somebody in our community falls upon hard times, they don’t know where to turn.

00:13:38:13 – 00:13:57:23
Chris Rossen
They’ve got an unexpected medical bill that they can’t afford. They’ve got they’re facing housing insecurity. They can’t put food on the table and they’re not really sure where to turn in that sea of 10,000 plus nonprofits, two and one becomes that place that they can call, they can speak to a friendly friend, friend who who will walk through, learn about their situation and connect them.

00:13:58:09 – 00:14:17:01
Chris Rossen
We have an over 90% success rate in connecting people with resources they need in the community, and then again, we also now are really doubling down on using it as a way to measure and sort of track emerging community needs. And so that sort of canary in the coal mine kind of approach, we certainly use it as an input to assessing and understanding community need and how it evolves.

00:14:17:17 – 00:14:33:00
Chris Rossen
And I think that it’s one of those resource in our community that needs to be talked about, more needs to be understood. More and more people need to be aware of it. And I will say, when we talk about community and measuring it, you know, since 2018, we’ve seen it over 20% increase in call volume two, two, two, two, one, one.

00:14:33:05 – 00:14:39:14
Chris Rossen
And that’s a real indicator of the fact that we have real significant challenges that we’re facing and need to address in our community.

00:14:40:04 – 00:14:47:08
Ruth Baum Bigus
They’ve got to be nice people with lots of patience. I would imagine, to sit there and, you know, listen to somebody else’s woes, albeit very legitimate.

00:14:48:04 – 00:14:50:17
Chris Rossen
But can I just say that can be any of our woes. And I think.

00:14:50:19 – 00:14:53:09
Ruth Baum Bigus
Absolutely. Absolutely. And you’ve been there?

00:14:53:10 – 00:14:54:22
Chris Rossen
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

00:14:55:07 – 00:15:06:11
Ruth Baum Bigus
How does that how does your own background weigh into what you do here every day? And if you want to give a little recap in case someone missed the last time we talked.

00:15:06:11 – 00:15:28:01
Chris Rossen
Yeah, well, so so by way of background, I grew up here in Kansas City. I grew up in a low income household. I grew up in one of our city’s high violent crime rate neighborhoods. I was the first person in my family graduate high school, first person to go on to graduate college. And that is that that lived experience is something that is a very present thing with me.

00:15:28:01 – 00:15:47:09
Chris Rossen
It’s something that goes with me every and every room and every conversation. And it really does inform every decision that I make here. When we’re making decisions about programs to support, we’re making decisions about resource allocation or we’re making decisions about Asian initiatives to take on. You know, I’m often we talk that we talk about these things that scale.

00:15:47:09 – 00:16:02:13
Chris Rossen
I mean, we’re working I mean, we touch one in three people in the community every year. And so when when that’s the sort of scale that you’re working with, sometimes it can be easy to fall into the fray of just looking at these in terms of numbers. But for me, what I know is that I was that kid on the other side of that equation.

00:16:02:13 – 00:16:19:14
Chris Rossen
I was the person who was receiving those sorts of benefits. I’ve benefited so directly from those things. And so that is a part of of every conversation. And I think one thing that’s important to note, I hear a lot of talk sort of in the community as I go out and about about, you know, which which which sort of solutions better than the others.

00:16:19:14 – 00:16:45:14
Chris Rossen
And when I look at my own life story, you know, I didn’t just need food pantry assistance. I didn’t just needs afterschool programs. I didn’t just need mentoring programs or free health clinics. Of course, I needed all of those things and at different points along my journey. And one of the things I love about the approach we take care at United Way is that it is a comprehensive, holistic approach, community based approach, and a really a collective action approach to addressing to transforming lives.

00:16:45:19 – 00:16:59:22
Chris Rossen
I feel like given my background and given the transformation that I’ve experienced firsthand, I’ve got the best job in the world I get we get to change the world every day, one life at a time. And and that and that is very meaningful and very personal work to me.

00:17:00:22 – 00:17:16:05
Ruth Baum Bigus
You have employees, obviously, teammates, associates, whatever the term is. You want to use that work here with you every day. Let’s talk about lay leadership and the role of the rest of the community. How do they play into what United Way is doing?

00:17:16:13 – 00:17:35:04
Chris Rossen
Well, so that’s really at the core. I think of another role we play, which is to stoke that philanthropic flame. In fact, we often talk about our work now in terms of inspiring and enabling a local movement of change agents, or, as we call them, way makers. Because when I think about my that path that I talked about, those opportunities were made possible.

00:17:35:04 – 00:17:54:05
Chris Rossen
Those other teams made all the difference in the world to me. And they were made possible by strangers who chipped in a dollar where they could, who made an investment when they could, who volunteered their time, who gave of their expertize. And in order to sort of I really believe that the business of changing the world, the business of transforming the community is not any one organization or one individuals responsibility.

00:17:54:05 – 00:18:06:02
Chris Rossen
It’s all of our responsibilities. And so we more and more view our role as helping enable that and helping educate and helping help give people proximity to both the challenges and also the promising solutions that exist here in our community.

00:18:07:04 – 00:18:20:11
Ruth Baum Bigus
So what role is there for a volunteer? If they say, I’m all behind this, I’m all behind what Chris is saying, rah, rah, let’s go. How do they get in, get connected, help make some of those decisions or carry the mission?

00:18:21:01 – 00:18:42:22
Chris Rossen
Yeah. So you can I would say go to our website and follow us on social media. We post volunteer opportunities regularly. We also bank a a resource bank where any nonprofit organization in the community can post volunteer opportunities post needs. And that’s a great place. You know, I would say start anywhere, anywhere, start anywhere is that is the thing to do.

00:18:43:03 – 00:18:58:17
Chris Rossen
And I think it also can be intimidating if you’re new to the space, you don’t and you’re not really sure where to start it. It can be intimidating. We’ve tried to sort of ease that as well. We have a whole host of what we call immersion experiences, bus tours and educational opportunities where folks can go and visit organizations.

00:18:58:17 – 00:19:23:11
Chris Rossen
They can learn about an issue, for instance, you know, homelessness or education or early childhood education. They can learn about what are the issues related to that? They get proximate to some of the organizations making a difference in those spaces. And my hope is that they find their love and they find their passion. But whatever they do, I would just encourage folks to get involved, be an advocate, be educated and and do what you can because we all can do something.

00:19:25:09 – 00:19:42:01
Ruth Baum Bigus
What have you found to be the greatest challenge? Maybe challenges would go with more than one. If there is one, as you’ve you’ve settled in now, you you’ve kind of gotten your team, although we know people go in and out. What’s that challenge and how have you tried to meet it?

00:19:43:00 – 00:20:10:18
Chris Rossen
You know, the, the, the, the best the worst part about this job is that you’re you’re confronted every day with the challenges. You know, we really have significant, significant challenges in our community. And I think that one thing that I find is that increasingly as a society, we feel divided. You know, politics, economics, technology, you know, increasingly puts us further and further in our silos, further and further tucked away from each other.

00:20:11:00 – 00:20:26:18
Chris Rossen
And I yet at the same time, I get so inspired at the best part of the job is I get so inspired. We, we, we see individuals and organizations throughout the community who are stepping up to to address needs, stepping up to make a difference. And, and every day when those folks step up, they support a neighbor in need.

00:20:26:18 – 00:20:41:04
Chris Rossen
They volunteer with an organization who’s looking for help, that they mentor somebody, a young person in their community. Every time those things happen, those are folks who are choosing a brighter future for all of us, choosing a collective future of their choosing, whether they work with us or not. They’re choosing a united way forward for all of us.

00:20:41:11 – 00:20:57:18
Chris Rossen
And those really are the way makers in our community. And so from a from a challenge standpoint, I would just say that that’s keeping people’s attention on these issues. And when it’s not facing you every day, when you’re not growing up in that environment, when you’re not sort of confronted with some of those real challenges, it can be.

00:20:57:18 – 00:21:06:21
Chris Rossen
It can be it can be a challenge to grab people’s attention in such a cluttered world. But what I also see every day is that that’s a challenge is being met, particularly here in Kansas City by our community.

00:21:07:11 – 00:21:14:03
Ruth Baum Bigus
You’ve got some new things, share intel. You’ve got the Food Pantry initiative, talk a little bit about that. Yeah.

00:21:14:03 – 00:21:37:13
Chris Rossen
So I’m pleased to share that we just recently we know we’re just really again closely monitoring community need with what we know about inflation is that that’s putting a pinch on everybody and particularly organizations like women’s shelters and and organizations, Head Start centers and organizations who are supporting youth. The new American populations, particularly vulnerable populations accessing certain needs and supports.

00:21:38:20 – 00:21:59:19
Chris Rossen
And so in order to address that, we’ve partnered together with a few of our philanthropic partners. We pooled community resources that have been donated to United Way. And I’m and I’m grateful to say that we’ve just recently awarded nearly $400,000 in additional food pantry assistance to about 30 organizations here in town who are providing food pantry assistance to folks in order to bolster up what they have.

00:21:59:19 – 00:22:15:03
Chris Rossen
And what we’ve seen and heard from them is that they’re seeing a 20% increase just because of inflation, a 20% increase in demand. And those are again, many of them are working families. These are folks who are doing everything they can. They’re pinching pennies. They’re living paycheck to paycheck. And they just need a little extra support from our community.

00:22:15:12 – 00:22:21:17
Ruth Baum Bigus
Right. And in the bio arena, you’ve got another new initiative here, this catalyst program. You were telling.

00:22:21:17 – 00:22:38:18
Chris Rossen
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yeah. I’m also, you know, really excited to share that we’ve we’ve partnered with the Kauffman Foundation and we’ve created, in addition to the impact, 100 and other sort of grant initiatives that we have, we have an opportunity for a catalyst fund that is about about two and a half to $3 million over the next three years.

00:22:38:18 – 00:23:06:14
Chris Rossen
That collectively United Way and the Coffin Foundation have committed to creating a catalyst fund to support Bipoc, Black, Indigenous and people of color led or primarily serving organizations in our community. In particular, we’re looking at small nonprofits, organizations that may not have the the the time history or have had the access to capital or have had the access to networks that have been able to reach a certain degree of impact scale to be competitive for something like Impact 100.

00:23:06:14 – 00:23:18:13
Chris Rossen
But we want to make sure that they have access to funds and resources that are fully dedicated and set aside to, again, catalyze the next generation of important nonprofits and community rooted nonprofits in our community.

00:23:19:07 – 00:23:34:21
Ruth Baum Bigus
Probably the elephant in the room. How are contributions going? What have you seen? I mean, we were in the heat of the pandemic. We’re now in what, pandemic? Two or whatever you want to call this new phase. How have you watched that happen and how are you addressing it?

00:23:35:15 – 00:24:01:09
Chris Rossen
Well, our community continues to be incredibly generous with time, talent and treasure. They continue to be generous. And we’ve certainly seen that, you know, companies are facing, as you said, through pandemic and other things, all sorts of disruptions in terms of workforce, workforce. And and yet at the same time, I am just emboldened by the fact that our largest companies, individuals throughout our community, step up again year after year and understand that there are these real needs in our community that need be addressed.

00:24:01:09 – 00:24:24:15
Chris Rossen
And they continue to trust United Way with that. And so fundraising efforts have been strong, you know, as as is as you know, it can always be stronger. We can always, always use more. But what I what what I what I see though is that a real resiliency in the funding community as well, even in spaces where the same challenges that we talk about food insecurity, inflation, some of these sorts of things, they affect all of us.

00:24:24:22 – 00:24:32:21
Chris Rossen
And yet we still find folks who continue year after year to make giving and investing back in the community. And a big part of what they a big part of.

00:24:33:01 – 00:24:45:21
Ruth Baum Bigus
And stepping is stepping up when when it’s needed. All right. So let’s take Chris’s crystal ball now. Where do you envision United Way, let’s say, in five years from now? What do you see.

00:24:46:01 – 00:25:06:12
Chris Rossen
One five years from now? I hope that we continue to just be really resilient and agile in terms of how we’re addressing community need. I, I hope that that as a community we continue to build smarter and more sustainable solutions to addressing these challenges. You know, I one of the things that that gets asked of me often in public forums is, well, you guys have been in operation for 100 years.

00:25:06:12 – 00:25:24:13
Chris Rossen
You know, how, you know, why have we solved homelessness or why have we solved educational inequity? And I often sort of think about the weather, right? We still have hurricanes. We still have earthquakes. We still have these sorts of things. I can’t think of any point in time in our history that we’ve not had issues of inequity, issues of haves and have nots.

00:25:24:13 – 00:25:40:05
Chris Rossen
We’ve not had issues of isms and tribal isms and all these sorts of things that happen. And yet we have to be smarter and more sophisticated in the solutions set that we that we address those with and some of the evolutions that we’ve talked about even today, are our efforts to make sure that we are continuing to stay relevant.

00:25:40:05 – 00:26:01:00
Chris Rossen
We’re continuing to stay ahead of the curve in terms of addressing those things and in the same way with the weather. Right. We’ve got more sophisticated technology. We’re not just ducking under a wall. We’re sort of doing all sorts of things and it’s the same sort of thing in this space. And so I really view in many ways what we do at United Way, where we’re sort of a a crowdfunded solutions engine for the community.

00:26:01:00 – 00:26:08:18
Chris Rossen
Right. And we need to be constantly sort of in the aggregate, working together to build smarter and more sustainable solutions to these these really pressing issues.

00:26:09:11 – 00:26:12:02
Ruth Baum Bigus
You’ve got five girls, pretty young.

00:26:12:04 – 00:26:12:14
Chris Rossen
Yes.

00:26:13:23 – 00:26:31:04
Ruth Baum Bigus
How do you bring in the next generation? I’m not saying the 5 to 10 year olds, little young, but the millennial, the Gen Z, the whatever you want to call it, seems like that’s always a challenge for nonprofits. So how are you all going about trying to get that buy in and their involvement?

00:26:31:16 – 00:26:40:21
Chris Rossen
Well, we you know, we have a well, I’ve just one thing I will say on that, though, is that the younger generation of which I still like to think I’m.

00:26:41:10 – 00:26:45:17
Ruth Baum Bigus
You’re there some of us are in a little more mature generation.

00:26:45:17 – 00:27:05:14
Chris Rossen
The younger generation are incredibly idea focused. They’re incredibly issue focused. We are we are the issues that we take on and we get involved with. We’re very serious about. And I think they really lead with their heart in a lot of ways. And so we see that they are actively engaged and they want to continue to be engaged.

00:27:05:20 – 00:27:22:09
Chris Rossen
We, of course, try to provide opportunities through those those immersive experience that I talked about to make sure it’s accessible to folks and also fun, you know, I’m a big believer that you should have fun doing serious work. And I think that that is part of what we see that we continue to try to infuse. And we get together for volunteer gatherings.

00:27:22:09 – 00:27:42:01
Chris Rossen
We get together for donor gatherings, and when we go on service experiences that we try to ensure that it’s also a fun experience. And I haven’t met somebody, a younger person anywhere that’s not interested in having a good time. I wanted to tell. Yeah. And I would just say that they’re also very, you know, there there are a million ways that folks can get over a million ways to be united, million ways to to get involved.

00:27:42:01 – 00:27:58:15
Chris Rossen
And and that that that young people are really creative in terms of how they find ways to get involved. And a lot of the growth that we talked about, the nonprofit sector is being driven by young people who are saying, you know what, I think I have a I think I have a different solution set that we can bring to the table, a different way of looking at that problem.

00:27:59:04 – 00:28:02:22
Chris Rossen
And I think that’s what gets me really excited and optimistic about the future.

00:28:02:22 – 00:28:10:03
Ruth Baum Bigus
Do you ever get any pushback from those folks that, well, this is the way we’ve always done it, or I have the wisdom because I’ve been here longer than you.

00:28:10:11 – 00:28:11:01
Chris Rossen
Of course.

00:28:11:11 – 00:28:14:17
Ruth Baum Bigus
Of course. So how do you do that? You tap dance right now.

00:28:14:17 – 00:28:37:08
Chris Rossen
We say, hey, tell us what you think and let’s talk about it. Right. And I also think that, you know, I heard the other day that everyone’s called everyone collectively smarter than anyone individually. And I think that any we want all ideas, all ideas at the table. I’m aware when we’re doing that. You just you did mention something that I want to I want to bring up, which was that we talked about my little kiddos.

00:28:37:10 – 00:28:54:12
Chris Rossen
Right. And ensuring that they’re getting involved. That’s something that I think it’s never too young to get involved. And actually, we see we see young kids, you know, go to go to a go to an elementary school and check out their food drive. Go to an elementary school and talk about and really the things that young people do.

00:28:54:12 – 00:29:02:05
Chris Rossen
They’re thinking creatively. They have a different perspective to bring to the table. And I don’t think it’s ever too young to get folks involved in and in shaping the community for the better.

00:29:02:19 – 00:29:06:20
Ruth Baum Bigus
Plus, they can learn the right way to do things instead of all the mistakes that we go through, right?

00:29:06:20 – 00:29:10:07
Chris Rossen
That’s right. Build up, build, build and iterate off of the mistakes of the past for sure.

00:29:10:08 – 00:29:21:22
Ruth Baum Bigus
Chris, it’s been great to sit down with you. Thank you for bringing us up to speed. We expect great things moving forward and fun things moving forward. Right. And everybody should check out United Way. Go ahead and give the plug on your website. If you want.

00:29:21:23 – 00:29:28:09
Chris Rossen
To check out United Way’s our website, follow us on social. That’s the best way to get to get in touch with us and stay up to date on all things in our community.

00:29:29:06 – 00:29:48:03
Ruth Baum Bigus
Thank you for tuning in to KC Cares, Kansas City’s nonprofit voice. We are glad to be sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Don’t forget, you can catch us Saturday mornings on ESPN 1510 and 94.5 FM. Thanks for joining us on KC CARES.

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