 So just as we start every episode of the nonprofit show, we like to extend our sincerest gratitude and appreciation to our presenting sponsors. Thank you so much for being a part of the show and being partners with us. But what I like to really say is these sponsors, they're not just here for the show, they're here for you. They're here at every single corner, nook and cranny of the world to support and elevate your cause and your mission around the globe. So check them out. They're doing good work, but they're really here and exist to serve you and the good work that you're doing. So thanks for being a partner with us. Julia Patrick joins me every morning and this was her wonderful idea, CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy. And I'm Jarrett Ransom, co-host. She's trying to strip me up and say like, if I can stick with the show. I'm listening to you. I'm Jarrett, the nonprofit. Sorry. CEO of the Raven Group. It's not my first rodeo, Julia. So I could just kind of roll with the punches. No worries. So we're thrilled to welcome Nancy Maldonado with us this morning or this afternoon, depending on which part of the country you're tuning in from. Nancy is the CEO and president of the Chicano Federation. Welcome Nancy and thanks for joining us. Good morning. Yeah, it's morning here in San Diego. So yeah, thank you for having me. I'm excited to have this conversation. Well, we're thrilled to have you join us to talk about your work, what you're doing. And so let's dig in because we only have 30 minutes and we have a lot of questions for you. And so first and foremost, kind of give us a picture about the Chicano Federation and how it started and what it does. Yeah, absolutely. So I love the history of the organization. Chicano Federation is 52 years old. For 52 years we've been serving the San Diego community. And really how the organization started, 52 years ago was in the midst of the Chicano movement and there was a lot of things happening with our Latino community and a lot of discrimination and racism and really just a lot of injustices. So what happened is there was a number of groups that came together that knew that they would have a stronger voice if they were all united under one umbrella. And that's how Chicano Federation was formed. And interestingly enough, some of the major issues that the organization was rallying against at the time were issues like police brutality and voting rights. So it's interesting that in some way it's a couple circle in terms of those are still some of the issues that our community is fighting against again 52 years later. And not that it ever went away, but those are some of the top issues that are still at the forefront of our community and the challenges that we face. So over the years, then the organization shifted into direct service because we recognized or are they, I wasn't a part of it then, but they recognized that our community had some real needs and especially in San Diego, looking at things like affordable housing, the cost of childcare. So as the organization identified what some of those main needs were, they developed programs that would help our community with support so that they would have the systems and the programs in place to help. So yeah, we have a number of different programs now, but that's really kind of the history of the organization and how it can be. Amazing. So I love that it really was a federation and that pulled everybody together. I think that's fascinating. And that's bold because we talk a lot about this with our guests and on the nonprofit show. Ego gets in the way and to- A lot. A lot and to get people to say, okay, yeah, we'll give up some of our power to piece it together with a larger umbrella group. That's pretty bold. It is really bold. And I think another thing that's important to mention is that a lot of the times it was led by women. So you talk about bold, there was some pretty fierce women that led the charge for Chicano Federation over its history. I love that, I love that. So now, five decades into the future, talk to us about what the mission and service actually looks like today. Yeah, so as you can imagine, a lot has changed in 50 years, but really our goal is to invest in our under-resourced communities and investing in ways that are meaningful to our communities. So looking at what the needs are, if they're changing, like I said, so we do surveys often, we track what the community is needing and we really ask the question is like, how can we best help our San Diego community? And in San Diego, as in so many other parts of this country, affordable housing is an issue. So we have affordable housing, we own nine apartment buildings in San Diego and we're able to offer those at below market value rates, subsidized childcare, right? So we all know that the cost of childcare, well, not all of us, but for those of us who have children, the cost of childcare can be prohibitive to people wanting to work or go to school. And so we recognize that. So we have a number of different programs that help with childcare and help make it affordable for families. Early childhood education, a lot of what we do is focused on children, zero to five because we recognize how formative those years are. And then if we can help with planting that foundation, we can make a big difference in the rest of someone's life. But in addition to that, we also understand how important it is to support the parents of children, zero to five, right? We have a nutrition program for children because we know children can't learn if they're hungry. We help women to start their own business because we believe in entrepreneurship as a way to change systems and structures that have been in place for a really long time. And then advocacy, of course, we still out there advocating around the issues that affect the lives of the people that we serve. So you're saying 52 years the Federation's been around in the San Diego area. And then over time, really the mission and the services have changed. And I think that's really important to make note of because often, too often I hear individuals of, well, this is our mission and we can't change it. We do one mission, we stick with it for the long haul. And this is a great example of how it started as the Federation and then it really moved to provide services to the community in the ways of which the community has told you through these evaluations of what they need. Am I understanding that correctly? Absolutely. And then as you can imagine with COVID, that shifted even more. So let's talk about that because first of all, I think exactly to echo what Jared just said, not enough organizations go back into their communities and ask them what it is they need. So that's super cool that you've done that. But now we have this pandemic on top of all these other issues. Paint the picture for us. What's happened to your services with this last year? Yeah, and Julie, I mean, you touch on such a great point. And I always say this, that just because I'm a member of the community doesn't mean I speak for them. They are very capable of telling us what they need. All we have to do is ask and listen. And I think that's a lot of times where we fall short is let's keep asking like how can we be of service to you? How can we best help you? And that's something that I really strongly believe in and we have done throughout the time that I've been at Chicago Federation. So with COVID, as you can imagine, so before COVID, we worked very closely with about 10,000 families each year, almost overnight that doubled in terms of the need and people were calling us and wanting services and I have to give so much credit to my team because immediately they shifted. They shifted and they were all in, right? As soon as the stay at home order went into place, my team, we gathered around and we said, this is our time to step up, not our time to fall back. Yeah, good. Yeah, our team never worked from home. They always went into the office because we're considered essential because of the services that we provide. I think it was one week after we already organized our first distribution and we were distributing diapers, food, gift cards because we understood that people needed this. I'll even show this story with you. So we have some of our affordable housing is for seniors and our first priority was to protect them and keep them home. And if you remember, there was a very instant shortage of toilet paper. Yeah, right? And our senior residents needed those essential supplies. So we had team members running out to liquor stores because they were allowing you to buy one roll at a time, running, going to all the liquor stores to buy as much toilet paper as we could and we were on a group text letting each other know, go to this one, right? Cause they would only sell you one and that's how much my team shifted and really proved that, you know they were there to serve our community and do everything that we could. And so I just, you know I've got to give just them all of the credit because they really stepped up at a time where San Diego needed them. Talk about activation, right? I mean, you've got your team and I would love to know like how many individuals are we talking here Nancy? How do you make up your team? So on average we have about 65 employees. Okay. And they are running into liquor stores for toilet paper. Like that is the moment. I love it. You know, I'm so curious about this because what is the profile of your staff? Like are they, I mean I would imagine they're probably younger people who don't remember a time of crisis in their lives. We've been so fortunate and had so much success in this country that maybe they don't even have grandparents that lived through the depression or that they would have any links to some of those stories. Could they recognize quickly? I mean, you said it was a week but could they recognize quickly that this was a crisis? Not necessarily in terms of having lived through a crisis but I will say this that a lot of our team is Latino or Latinx and come from immigrant parents or have that immigrant story. And I think that just comes this spirit of resiliency and of acknowledging that we're here in community to serve our community. So I think there's a lot to be said for that and that there is some history there in terms of whether you believe in intergenerational kind of trauma and those effects and the power that that carries. And so I do think that while they've never experienced something specific to this health crisis they understand what it means to step up and be there for your community. Wow. So now I wanna kind of shift to the other communities the other communities that you have in that part of Southern California. What happened to the other communities? Did they, could they still support you or were they just like, yeah, we can't do advocacy. We're putting everything towards healthcare. What did that look like? Actually, it's been really interesting. So one of the things that we started advocating about really, really early on during COVID is the impact that a Latino community that COVID was having on our community in terms of infections and deaths. We were very vocal about the lack of response from San Diego County. Originally it was not having enough information in Spanish and then it was, what we believed is that enough wasn't being done to protect our community. And so in terms of advocacy, we were very vocal about that. And as you know, with working with nonprofits you always run a risk of whether people will support that advocacy or whether they'll think, gosh, that's a little bit too much for us. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and I have to give so much credit to our San Diego community in terms of our donors our sponsors or supporters, they really rallied around us and applauded everything that we were doing. So much so that we were able to form the San Diego Latino Health Coalition and it's a group of nonprofits and other organizations that came together to do everything that we could to support and protect our Latino community in San Diego. And the funding, the support, just the outreach, people, companies calling us and saying, what can we do to help? Was really honestly overwhelming in terms of feeling supported. Yeah. Now, this is the big question, will those organizations come forward or follow you forward? You know, not that this is like going away tomorrow but every day we keep hearing, what did I hear this morning on the news? Something like 21% of the American public has had their first dose of the vaccine and that those numbers are just going up, you know, every day. Are these some of these newer supporters gonna keep marching with you? I think so. I mean, I think that our team does a really good job of, you know, we always say that we're, we don't want transactions, we want relationships. And so we try to form relationships with anyone who ever supports us. And so, you know, I really do believe that a lot of the people who came forward or companies that they were in it for the right reasons. And I'm gonna be optimistic and believe that they will continue to be in partnership and collaboration with us, especially as we move into a recovery. Because now more than ever is where we need advocacy to ensure that we have an equitable recovery. Because this is what matters. Did we learn anything from this? And if so, what are we going to change moving forward? Because normal wasn't working for everyone. In fact, it wasn't working for most people. And it certainly was not working for our Latino community in San Diego County. So how will we change moving forward? You are preaching to the choir community. I was like, have you been watching Jared Ransom? Jared Ransom. Oh my gosh, so much of that. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. It is just our sector, our, you know, world humanity at large was due for a reset. I'm, you know, really sorry that it came in the form of so many, you know, pandemics. And I use the word, you know, plural because there was so much unrest going on in 2020, even as you started this conversation by saying the same things we're fighting for now is what started us 52 years ago. And that is just, you know, it's, to me, it's crazy beyond belief that that is still something that we come back to. But, you know, I like to look at the silver lining. I love that you do too. And it's looking at, okay, what have we done because of the pandemic that we will continue to do thanks to the pandemic if we might be so bold to actually give it gratitude to say, this is what it has done. It is formed alliances. It has deepened relationships. It has helped us gather, you know, additional advocacy groups to help us really rally around these solutions. And that is so pivotal when it comes to the recovery. And I was listening to a podcast, not ours, but another one. And it was like, you know, this veil of the pandemic is not gonna be lifted and everything's gonna be, you know, perfectly polished after that. We're gonna have the slow roll back to normalcy. And I think we're experiencing that now, right? With what you said, Julia, we do have a, you know, a higher and higher percentage every day, every week, every month with the herd immunity and the vaccinations. But it's a slow roll into a new way of collaboration, a new way of doing business, a new way of engaging all of these amazing relationships that have come forward for you. Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, to your point, this has been a disrupter and we have to acknowledge that. And there has to be change that comes from this so that we never end up in a situation like this again because our community, you know, we've been tracking really closely how impacted the Latino community has been not just in San Diego County, but across the country. And it's no accident, right? This was the perfect storm because everything that we knew about this virus was that the closer you are in contact with other people, the higher, you know, your chances of contracting it. So when you look at who our essential workers are, when you look at who's living in multi-generational housing, these are all issues that need to be addressed and fixed. And the other thing that I will add is that we've been very strong advocates for our undocumented community. And we were one of the only organizations that has been providing flexible financial assistance to our undocumented community in San Diego. Because as we all know, they were left out of a lot of the relief that came down. And the unfortunate thing is they are literally the people that kept this economy running during this pandemic. That to me is wrong on so many different levels. So, you know, I think even that bringing that to the forefront and not letting that die down not letting that just be swept under the rug is we owe a debt of gratitude to our undocumented community that really provided all the food and the services and everything that we needed during this pandemic. Absolutely. So with that, what does this remaining 2021 look like? I mean, I love all the things that you've had to say. And I see that your leadership has pulled through a lot of opportunity. I can't imagine that you as a CEO have had a chance to even breathe let alone be strategic and think, you know when you're in the middle of a crisis you're just hopping and popping. So what do you see for the rest of the year? So I think that what we're looking at right now is looking ahead to think of the things that maybe people have thought of but aren't really providing solutions for, right? So I think that there is a lot that's going to I don't want to say there's a cliff coming but in terms of mental health, right? That's something that we're really anticipating coming to the forefront in the next year the years to come, right? Because we all know that the impact is going to be felt for a really long time. So we're really looking at mental health how can we support our communities? We're also really looking to again like the financial assistance like there's been a lot of rent relief but what about mortgage assistance, right? There's people who haven't been able to pay their mortgage and the other thing that I will say that again to your point about looking at the silver lining of this is our community in terms of community members really roast the occasion in terms of advocating for the things that they needed coming to the city council and the county board of supervisors meetings and sharing their stories and their struggles and what they needed that's something that we really want to continue to do because as we all know those that are closest to the problems are also closest to the solution. We need to listen, we need to lift up their voices we need to elevate them and we need to make sure that this platform that we've created for them to really advocate and speak about the issues that are affecting their lives that we continue to elevate them because that's who's going to drive this that's who's going to drive policy that's who's going to drive changes is the community. And so we see our role is really just taking that and continuing to run with it. Don't let this die down. All of this advocacy and this passion and this energy that we've seen over the past year in terms of advocacy, we need to elevate that. If I was Oprah, I would have said tweet, tweet again, Julia. You know, you're like so encouraged me. I swear to God, Nancy, you need to like come on and be like our soul sister witness because so much of what you've said resonates. I mean, Jared, tell me what you think, but I feel like this could be applied to those folks in the Midwest that were running the animal shelters. I feel like this could be applied to the gentleman we had on from Texas that was working with all these nonprofits and trying to build a coalition. So much of what you said is the stuff we need to be hearing. And I don't know if that's coming from you being a part of an organization that's 52 years old and obviously you're bright. But I think you have this like tale of history that maybe has given your organization a lens that a lot of new organizations can't ever get until 15 years old. And I think too, you know, that and it's the ego. So often we see it in our own way. And, you know, it's clear Nancy, you and your team because of this intergenerational and consistent service to the community you've really been involved at that I'm gonna say like grassroots level, you know? And I would have, you know, my whole tweet tweet with Oprah it would have been those. And I'm gonna ask you to say it again because I wanna write it down, but it was like those that are closest to the issue are also closest to providing a solution. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, those that are closest to the problem are closest to the solution. And we've seen that time and time again. So let's keep lifting and elevating those voices because those are the ones that are really gonna bring about change. Really the power already belongs to the people. It is already within our community. We just have to elevate that. Yeah, yeah. You know, it might be a really cool idea to and I'm not trying to put you on the spot but I'm putting you on the spot is to have you or somebody from your team come back and talk to us about how you have engaged in that, you know, that data piece with your community and how you do ask some questions and find out what it is that they're looking for because we and our nonprofit sector man we fall down on that. We do not ask our clients enough what it is we need. We project onto them our boards, project onto them and oftentimes our boards do not look, think or live like our clients. And so then that's like a whole nother, you know, problem. And so I would love that. And I'm gonna take it further, you know, in particular with the undocumented community, I would love to know how to elicit their response so I was working on a project as you know, I live in or maybe you don't, I live in Arizona, a border state. We have a really large Latinx population and I was working on a project that required, you know, surveys and feedbacks from the individuals and many of them were undocumented and we're not willing to provide feedback because of the fear of the unknown. So if there's something that we could learn from you and your team, I personally would be interested in that because I'd love to hear their voices. And I know whether you're a border state or not, many communities have the same issue of, you know, not going to the voices that really need to be heard. And how do we, I'm gonna say not just ask their, you know, feedback, but how do we build relationships with these communities? And I think part of that is our 52 year history, right? And that we have earned the trust of the community and I'll add this one thing, I know we're almost out of time, but I think with nonprofits also, we so often wanna give things, right? And one of the things that we advocated for so much during this pandemic is that people don't need things, they need financial assistance. And I think that that also helps to build trust when we actually listen and provide the things that people are asking for. You know, we saw across the country, these lines to food banks, what our community was telling us was I don't want to wait in line for four hours for a bag of food that we may or may not eat. I need money to be able to buy my child medicine or to really buy the things that we need and we listen and we figured out a way to, you know, we were lucky enough to get a donation that was really for flexible financial assistance. And that's how we continue to build trust is that we listen and we respond. Yeah. Wow, I have so enjoyed this and I'm just so sad to say that our time is up because I've learned so much and you really echoed so many things that we're hearing or observing in the nonprofit sector. My family calls me Julia, not Julia. So today I am Julia Patrick. Is it Patrick's Day? Yes. No, I mean, it's weird, but that's really true. I'm CEO of the American Nonprofit Academy, been joined by the nonprofit nerd herself, Jarrett Ransom. Let's call me Jarrett O'Ransom today. Jarrett O'Ransom, oh my God. Okay, last seat, we will do that. Jarrett O'Ransom, more importantly, we've had Nancy Maldonado, CEO and president of Chicano Federation. Amazing, amazing work. More importantly, really exciting framing of the work and that so many of us in the nonprofit sector can learn from. I really enjoyed this. We're getting you back, sister, because we have so many more questions. So be ready. Yes, I'd love to. Thank you so much for having me today. Oh, it's been really fun. Hey, there's a really interesting thing that I wanted to bring up. The nonprofithr.com organization, they have a report coming out. It's the 2021 Outstanding Nonprofit Women to Watch and this is something that they do every year and it's gonna be really interesting to see. It's across the landscape of our nation and I think it'll be really fun. So check them out, nonprofithr.com. Again, thank you to our sponsors. Without you, we would not be here. I'm joined by this great mind and talent, Nancy Maldonado. We are very, very honored that you continue to share this journey with us. Wow, great episode. What say ye? Yeah. Thank you so much. This was wonderful. It really opened my eyes to so many topics, so much that I believe we need to dig deeper into. We're still very much scratching the surface. So thanks for all that you're doing, Nancy, and for sharing your insight and wisdom with all of us today. Of course. Thank you guys again for having me and for inviting me to your show. Well, it's been lovely. And as we end every episode of the nonprofit show, we'd like to remind everyone to stay well so you can do well. We'll see you back here tomorrow, everyone. Thanks.