 Welcome to Love Where You Live, a monthly magazine of all the wonderful things that are going on in Sheboygan County and hosted by the Chamber of Commerce, the Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce. I'm Betsy Alice and I'm the Executive Director there. This morning I am very pleased to have with us Laura Rehnitz who is the Executive Director of Safe Harbor. Now Safe Harbor was the winner this year of our Chamber Champion Award for non-profits which is a significant achievement because I don't know how many non-profits we have but I bet it's over a hundred. Oh, I bet. Yep, so a prominent organization in town that does a lot of good and that's what we're going to talk about this morning so welcome Laura. Thank you for being here. Thank you. It's my pleasure. Yeah, you've been doing this now six years. Okay. Yeah, I've been in the Director position six years. Safe Harbor has been in Sheboygan for over 25 years so we have a long history of serving the community. We started as a domestic violence only agency with help from community members in St. Nicholas Hospital and then later added sexual assault services and now we're a dual agency with a 15 bed shelter in Sheboygan serving victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. Okay. Wow. How many people do you serve in a year? That depends on what we're talking about but in our shelter we serve about 200 people a year in shelter so a lot of people think that's the biggest piece of our business. It's certainly the most expensive but we serve the fewest indirect services there. We serve over 700 families, individuals and families with direct service who never see a day in shelter. They don't need it. It's not something that they need to heal from domestic violence. We also have prevention education and I think last year we served or presented to with educational topics like healthy relationships, good touch, bad touch and then adult presentations in the community. Over 7,000 people we served last year in prevention. Oh my gosh. Okay, so in a variety of settings too I would imagine. Our prevention work is mostly done outside of our facility. We take over 5,000 hotline calls a year so that's a significant amount so numbers are rising which is great. There's not a good way to know whether the problem is increasing I think but what we believe is we're lowering the stigma to get help by being out in the community and talking more about it to wider ranges of people and so people are feeling more confident to come forward and say I'm not sure what this is but something in your presentation spoke to me that I might have these issues and they're coming forward so before it gets to be a crisis it's exciting. Even in my short time here with a lot of the mental health kinds of discussions the community conversation that was held a couple of years ago all those things have really brought it to the forefront and I noticed people talking about it much more frequently than they did before. That's great to hear. It's a cornerstone of really how we serve the community is really talking about it in ways that are understandable that are not intimidating or frightening so I think for a long time agencies like ours were secret locations and it was secret work which I think really led to the stigma of somehow being shameful or embarrassing it is just something that occurs sometimes power and control shifts in a relationship it doesn't always start out that way but yeah so I'm glad to hear that you're hearing people talk about it other agencies our community as a whole is very supportive of our agency and the work that we do so yeah I'm thrilled at the work we're doing. Yeah it's great and a lot of it's happened in a lot of the time that you've been there. Maybe but the groundwork was laid by the pioneers in this movement so I would never take credit for any of that I built off of what other people have done in this community. Oh of course and you probably have a strong board and you have a lot of support in the community too. We do this is an extremely generous community we are so grateful for the support we get from individuals and companies and organizations, clubs, schools, everybody who really crosses our paths usually asks how can we help more and they do whether that's volunteering their time to help us file or help us clean up our backyard or plant plants or do direct service we have two really ways to serve our community or our clientele is direct service or indirect service and we do a variety of different things in that way. You definitely have an ambitious and inspiring mission statement which I want to read. It says safe harbor provides prevention intervention education and outwards reach services to empower individuals families and the community to live lives free of violence. I think that's pretty encompassing I think you already kind of given us a broad picture what can I do all of us can do in our communities to help safe harbor and to help this bigger picture so that people can live lives free of violence. So we're an empowerment agency so what that means is we don't have a prescription for any person who's dealing with this in their life it's different every single client is different every situation is different so what we ask the community to do is talk about it more talk about it as if you in a way that is I have a solution why don't you call safe harbor so understand it when you hear it isn't shocking it's yep I understand that that happens why don't we put you in touch with someone at safe harbor so refer that's the first thing anyone can refer anyone to our agency we have a 24 hour helpline so we're staffed 24 hours a day you can show up at our facility 24 hours a day so what is that number it is 920-452-7640 and we can probably show that on the screen probably so that'd be great it is a good number to have the second thing is if you see something happening in terms of interpersonal violence people in your life treating others with disrespect without consent for you know touching or things like that we talk a lot about respect to quality consent if those three things aren't present say something hmm I saw an exchange that between you and you know your friend and your significant other your boyfriend or girlfriend I didn't really understand why it feels like there's not a lot of respect there let's talk about that talking about those things interceding and saying you know what that didn't make sense to me can you help me understand is a way to give someone an opening to say yeah I'm not really sure what's going on here so it's really being a supportive secondary person in someone's life who may have felt afraid to talk about it and I think the third way is really taking an active role in community work in the work that we do talking about it in your companies in your clubs making sure that everyone's aware of the services that we do so it is really engagement right and you mentioned earlier that you're available to do presentations yeah at service clubs at churches all those kinds of gathering places yep that's part of our prevention education program platform is we'll come to basically anywhere and talk about a range of different topics from healthy relationships to interpersonal communication to really those those those three tenants respect equality and consent those are the three things that we really believe have to be present in any interpersonal relationship a friendship a romantic relationship anything so we'll come talk about that and I think it starts a discussion again we're not prescriptive in the solution but it really does start a community discussion about what do we want our organization to be what do I want my relationship to be what do we want our community to live by and we think those are pretty strong things to live by they are it's almost like helping to create or to to shape the culture and to improve the culture in the community as well as in the family you know so that we support all of those kinds of behaviors it is a cultural issue a societal issue domestic violence it's not it certainly is a private issue but it is something that affects our community as a whole it affects the workforce it affects family relationships it it affects the stability and the mental health of the people involved on both sides so it's critical that we as a community step forward and say you know what not in our community we're gonna do everything we can to support those agencies and those people who want to give and get help right that's great so you know it's I know it's really difficult for people to come forward we hear that all the time so so how can we encourage people to do that today yeah it's it's really tough I think what I hear from our clients most is when I'm ready I'll come forward and that is so hard to watch it's such a hard power and control dynamics that are lopsided are really hard to watch with loved ones so really what we say is be supportive be there so when they're ready you can be supportive and help them get to where they need to be whether that's safe harbor or a different place or a different family it doesn't matter I think what we see most is and I'll say this loved ones who are trying to be supportive tire of staying in a release watching their loved ones stay in a relationship and then they stop being supportive so I would say we need to all be strong and be there when that person is ready to come forward what it looks like on the other end so when you make a call to our helpline or when you come to our facility it's different it's completely anonymous you can call and not give your name and not tell just talk about say you know I just need a little I need to understand this better here's what's happening and what will happen is we'll say our staff will say tell me a little bit more about what's going on and you get to really pace it out yet how you are comfortable it is all about your plan and what you need to do as a as a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault so it's we're not going to tell you what to do we're going to support you and what you think you need to do and offer you resources and support that's great I you know I'm also curious and I I've always been how you know it's so hard to raise money today how do you do that in our community I know you have a wonderful event once a year we do we do a little about that okay so our funding stream is really sort of three prongs we receive money from victim services funds so those are funds that are set aside in the general budget from the state and federal government to support victims of crime like sexual assault victims domestic violence victims children who have been harmed by either one of those things so we call those victim services funded we write grants to the state and the federal government to get that okay and then the second is really local community foundations who support this work we also write applications or sit down with boards that fund agencies like ours to secure that funding on a year-to-year basis and then we have an annual fund drive and then one fundraising event a year so it's really three pronged for us about 50 almost 55% of our funding is community-based and the other 45 is that victim service funding our fundraiser is called men who cook and we ask about 30 men to step forward and choose a meal their favorite meal cook 200 portions and three ounce portions a tasting portion of their favorite meal we sell tickets we have to ask people to come in and you go from station to station in one on one night our event is February 17th this year okay our next year for yeah it's a very well-attended event we're so fortunate that people like it and they come out to support us and you know it's important that men in our community and then I can't speak up more highly than the men who support this event in our agency they just are behind us 100% and it's important to know that not not all men are abusers abusers are not only men but it is important that we have a united voice yes behind us that our man it's primary unity is important so it really is well definitely a deserving agency that that serves very very well and is very much dependent upon thank you for coming today thank you for having us speaking with us and congratulations on the award well thank you we're honored yeah hello and welcome back to love where you live a production of the shabuigan county chamber of commerce I'm Betsy Alice happy to be with you today I am the executive director of the chamber and we have a guest this morning from the chamber of commerce Tammy groth who's been with us before but there are some new developments now that I want to talk about with Tammy and let you know about Tammy is the workforce development director for the shabuigan county chamber welcome Tammy to the show happy to be here yeah just before we went on the air I said Tammy is it okay if I ask you this really far-flung question and she said yes she's a she's game so because it occurred to me that a lot of people really probably don't know what workforce development encompasses even just from the chamber standpoint if not from our educators and our employer standpoint so you know if you could you know just play with me a little bit here and let's talk about you know what that whole spectrum of involvement and connection looks like where it starts where it finishes and and what we end up with as a as a county as employers as parents as a community so I think probably we start with the K-12 process through actually young professionals and even a little bit beyond that's probably our biggest focus as far as that professional development just developing the talent pipeline and connecting the businesses with the students and getting the businesses to work with the educators because that's that labor market information and collaboration and getting the students to know you know what they what jobs are available in our area so it's it's not only helping to prepare them academically for and for their careers it's also helping them to understand what businesses are located within their very own backyard all the cool things that our companies create produce and the amazing opportunities that those students have to connect with these you know world-class companies internationally known right here so that when they do make that decision to when they graduate from high school that they have that opportunity to come back if they're leave the area and so it's nice little it's a relationship building in that connection and I guess that would be my vision moving forward just to have that connection so that the students connect before they graduate from high school so that they have those opportunities in mind when they finish whatever degree whatever schooling or if they decide even to go straight into the workforce and then to have those employers you know have that available to them as well yeah it's a pretty amazing shift in a way with 3,000 jobs available in our county we as the Chamber of Commerce need to support our members in helping to build that pipeline absolutely and really that's the crux of your department in the Chamber I know you know it's it's about a lot of things it's about building bridges between educators and businesses it's about kind of building that that pipeline where it is where kids from the time they're in fifth grade you know have an inkling of what's going on and in their world and their parents become educated about it too about all the opportunities because we all tend to be very myopic you know we have our own family our own career our own perspective and we want our kids to be exposed to all the opportunities they could have that's interesting because studies actually have shown that students typically enter the same professions as their their families because that's what they know so with the academic and career planning opportunities available through the schools and working with the businesses to provide those opportunities as work-based learning the students are exposed to more and then so the Chamber what we do we are the facilitators of many of those opportunities so yeah I you know another thing that I think is is a powerful part of the Chamber is the business education partnership committee this you know started as a workforce development committee many years ago but probably four years ago three years ago it really took a huge leap forward thanks to you and thanks to the leadership of that committee absolutely but it's a calm well I want you to explain it to people because I think it's a great great way to operate well actually so the business education partnership is exactly what its name implies so on the education side of the partnership we're privileged to have superintendents from five different school districts on the on the partnership we have LTC now UW-Shabuigan and Lakeland on the business side of the partnership we have and just just to name a few we have Johnson representatives from Johnsonville, Kohler, Sargento, old Wisconsin, Kurt G. Joa, Aurora, healthcare so there's some you know nice diversity and from with different levels within those organizations we have you know a general manager of one particular and then also some HR folks involved with that too and now that's just the core so what the the business education partnership is doing is forming strategic partnerships outside of that inviting them in because there are so many initiatives taking place that we need to work together on so we also have the Shabuigan County Job Center participating with us we have Great Lakes Training we have Department of Vocational Rehabilitation we have Work Bound and we have Junior Achievement working with us and now we have the Commons which is an entrepreneurial skills accelerator to help our college and high school students to learn those particular skills which are important whether you're self-employed or you're working for a company so right those intrapreneurs to do absolutely that whole mindset is really a powerful creative it is we're excited to have them as partners so if we have time today we'll go back to that a little bit otherwise maybe we'll make the Commons a topic of a future show that'd be great so tell me what's coming up in this next year what what is the business education partnership focused on what do they hope to accomplish well the state of Wisconsin they have some requirements for academic a career planning for all schools to be offered to students grades 6 through 12 and that starts with the 2017-18 school year now Shabuigan County has been very proactive in this area and is proactive but in order to provide those opportunities and for all students within those great levels you know I think the BEP recognized the business education partnership recognized the short-term as we affectionately right that's right that's our nickname for them yeah so they recognize that the demands for on everyone's time and resources to provide all these experiences for these students was really going to increase so how could we as a as a partnership reach out to others and to the educators to find out how we can align our resources bring in strategic partnerships to make things more efficient effective for students and maximize the efforts for employers who are looking for you know we're a workforce so we met with our school counselors from every different school district within Shabuigan County put together a plan that will include financial literacy employability skills social skills entrepreneurial skills on top of the work-based learning and some career exploration you know dashed in there too so at each grade level yes have a different set of of common denominators common things they're learning or being exposed to throughout their education absolutely and that's a huge change it used to be that our school districts would you know they were very effective they would do things here and do things there and you know I think now the chamber's role has really been just to facilitate that connection that bridge absolutely it's been a really good bridge where I think all of us are very excited just to to roll this out and that you'll notice that at the what we'll be talking about shortly is the workforce development summit and so that's that plan will be unveiled on so great segue because that is my next question I would like to hear more about in our audience would too each year and this is our third year that's hosting the workforce development summit and and I think you know everything has led up to this year which at in looking at the agenda which I'd like you to kind of go over briefly I think it's it'll be the most powerful so share with us a little bit of what's going to go on there you would well it's on September 26th Blue Harbor we started 7 30 in the morning with registration the program at stealth starts at 8 30 though one of the things that we wanted to bring in is we and I'm really excited we have the chief economist from the Department of Workforce Development to talk about some labor market trends that's going to take us at least through 2024 maybe a little bit beyond labor market trends are really important to help our employers as they're planning for the future for their future workforce but educators can also utilize this information because it helps them to help their students too with their academic and career planning which obviously is becoming a really huge focus so we wanted to make sure that to provide that we also are privileged to have the state superintendent of public instruction Dr. Tony Evers he's going to come and give us a brief overview of the academic and career planning requirements that the state is if putting into effect this year and then we're going to have some representatives from the business education partnership roll out the plan as it pertains to those academic and career plans and how we are going to maximize these efforts align the resources to really help businesses and particularly I think the small and medium-sized businesses who just don't have the time to go out and you know participate in all these work-based learning opportunities there's so many fires are putting out trying to get workers today and put today's fire out they don't necessarily have the luxury of having a person on staff that can work directly with the schools so there are things or our options available and opportunities that we want to make sure that they understand that we're here to help them and they can still be a part of it so if they haven't attended this before this would be the year to do that I think I think regardless of who you are there's definitely something new to learn at this okay so quickly we have three minutes left all right I want to talk about briefly about the awards that you're going to be giving out this year the new awards okay we have the educator of the year award and the friend of education of the year award that will be presented by Dr. Avers the reason we wanted to do this is again Sheboygan County is just filled with so many wonderful educators and so many people in the community working on behalf of education business education partnerships and mentoring students so we wanted to separate the two though to recognize you know everyone has a favorite teacher who's out there doing things above and beyond the call of duty whether it's through instruction through the programs that they've done field trips exactly and the same thing with the friend of education they could be doing actually the same types of things not necessarily defined as an educator but out there teaching students whether it's how to weld whether it's a mentoring program or what have you they're out there making a difference basically to make students successful after life in life after graduation yeah which is a big it's huge responsibility so the more that we can direct them or connect them it make the resources easy for them to find and participate with I think you know Inspire Sheboygan County yes is also in a whole other topic but a wonderful bridge for our educators and our businesses to make those valuable connections and and you're right about small and medium-sized businesses because I think to this point it's been more focused on larger employers kind of a pilot portion so now I think it's ready and I would encourage all of our members to at least explore what's going on there so that's on the 23rd 26 26 September 26 from 7 30 when breakfast starts right in the morning until noon so it's a happy day okay and of course as always we are having facilitated conversation because that's the the entire premise of the summit is to be able to talk to each other and to network and to share best practices excellent and I you know have been privileged to attend both of the others and was very impressed with the level of of conversation and the excitement around primarily getting together and having these discussions because you also have people sit at pretty mixed tables we do so yep we purposely put we want to make sure that educators and HR professionals get together at the tables and so well Tammy thank you for being with us today and bringing the Workforce Development Summit to the forefront I would encourage all of you to go to shabuigan.org and and take a look at that event if you can possibly attend I know that you will learn some valuable things that day regardless of whether you're a business person or an educator so thank you so much for your work and for being here thank you