Interview with Chris Reinhard about The Hill Community Center

This months focus will be an interview with Chris Reinhard, campus pastor at Sandals church talking about  Rogo, The Hill Community Center. The center looks to serve our teens in the norther part of San Bernardino.

www.rogofoundation.com/thehill

Transcript

Don  00:04

Hello, my name is Don English director of children's deserve success and executive director of the San Bernardino county wide gangs and drugs Task Force. And I want to welcome you to our children deserve success podcast. Once a month, we will be sending out these recordings regarding all things related to child welfare and attendance, school attendance Review Board, foster youth services, McKinney Vento Homeless Programs in our county, and the San Bernardino County Wide Gangs and Drugs Task Force. This months focus will be an interview with Chris Reinhard, Rogo, The Hill Community Center. Welcome, Chris.

Chris  00:44

Thank you Don so glad to be here with you.

Don  00:46

Well, I'll tell you what, first off, I don't even know what Rogo The Hill Community Center is. However, I think we may save that for a little later. But first of all, I want to thank you for formally serving as a member of the San Bernardino county wide gangs and drugs Task Force executive board. And please further introduce yourself and tell us a little more about your organization.

Chris  01:07

Yeah, will thank you. I appreciate that. I loved my time with the gangs and drugs Task Force. And if I hadn't got so involved as a chaplain at the PD, I would still be there with you guys. But my name is Chris Reinhard.  I'm a campus pastor at Sandals church, San Bernardino. But I've been around here a long time. I moved to San Bernardino at 15 years old, graduated Pacific High School in 98. And so now I'm with sandals, church. And so sandals merged in with North Pointe Christian Fellowship in San Bernardino about six years ago. And so with sandals, we just said we want to reach the community we want to connect in. And so we've got our church side, which is sandals church, then we've also got Robo Foundation, whose heart really is to reinvigorate churches that are struggling to happen with our church, they came in, refreshed the campus gave us a staff help support us, allow us to be a church in the community that's thriving. And then also now with the Hill Community Center, and so really working to build out this amazing community center on the north end of town.

Don  02:08

Wow. Sounds like you're really invested in community. How did the name The Hill come about?

Chris  02:15

Yeah. So this is my favorite part of the story. We were wanting to get the hill going. And we were sitting tall, we knew we wanted to this teen center. Now calling it a community centers were realizing it's going to serve a greater population. And so we're sitting and talking. And our communications guy just asked me, he said, Hey, is there anybody in the community that's made an impact on teens? That comes to mind? And listen, it took about a quarter of a second, right? Dr. Margaret Hill, her name came to mind immediately. Dr. Hill impacted me though I didn't encounter her as a student. As just a member of the community, we did the baccalaureate service together, Dr. Hill had the ability to to look at you and make you feel like you were the most important person in the room. And you could accomplish anything you put your mind to it. And she does that for students. And so we just thought what a great way to carry on her legacy, as well as inspire students to continue what she's already done.

Don  03:05

Yeah, phenomenal lady, I'll tell you, I had the pleasure of serving in the capacity that she was served in as executive director of the task force. And I would ask her, Dr. Hill, how am I doing? You're doing fine, don't worry about it. I said, Can you come help? You don't need my help. And so just a wonderful lady. I'll never forget when I when I ran my campaign for election to the school board. She was there. So can I

Chris  03:30

real quick, please? Since we've named it the hill, I've gotten to go and speak a lot of different places. And every single time I've got somebody that comes up to me and says, Can I tell you what Dr. Hill did for me just just this last week at Golden Valley Middle School, just a dad of one of the parents. He's like, man, Dr. Hill impacted my life as a student. I'll never forget her coming in knocking me in the line sometimes. But she was always there. So I love hearing the stories every single time.

Don  03:57

Oh, yeah. Miss Margaret, something else really dear to not only my heart, but the community and a real change agent. So let me ask you about what safety measures because you know, in our community, sometimes, you know, we are in areas and hopefully, if we're community based, we're going to be in areas where, you know, we may have some kind of how should I say negative influence in this site? So what safety measures have you put in place to protect your staff and the youth at the center?

Chris  04:27

Yeah, so we're just getting started with the building of the center. The first space just opened up, which is our laundry facility. And so that just opened this last week. In fact, Sunday we did our first loads of laundry by a student at the center. And so we're just getting going on that but just on the facility in general. 3701 North Sierra Way corner Parkdale and Sierra. We've got a fence all the way around the property, one entry, one exit, just that itself really limits who's coming in who's coming out. Nobody wants to come in and be trapped inside of an area like that. But we're also going to have volunteers on site all the time. Some of them safety team members trained for just helping keep an eye on things know what's going on, as well as the medical side. Some of those are helping on the medical side also. And so we're always going to have volunteers, background checked, live scan, fingerprinted on site, there will not be adults interacting with the students unless they are live scan fingerprinted, background checks, and have done mandated reporter training.

Don  05:27

Wow, seems you've covered all the bases. And that makes me feel a lot better as the director of child welfare and attendance with the County of San Bernardino. Why was it important for your organization to have the hill in San Bernardino one? And what is different about your community center than others that may be established throughout the communities?

Chris  05:48

Yeah, so I think what really drove it were just conversations I had with with men like Dr. Scott Wyatt, from the school board, with Dr. Grande want Rogers, just people that I've connected with and said, What do we need? We have a great facility. We've got seven buildings. We've got seven acres on the north end of San Bernardino, we had some buildings that weren't being fully utilized, said I want to use these, what do we need, and that really began the conversation in turn have been here since I was fifteen, 43 years old. I've watched the city change, adjust. I remember the roller rink, I got to go to the roller rink, it's gone. The bowling alleys are not all there. Like there's just not the things in places for teens to go and do unless you're driving to Redlands and things like that. Now, there's other great community centers, not on the north end of town that I know of most of them are farther south in town, maybe more on the west side. And so right up in that north end, we serve mainly San Bernardino High School, Cohen, high school, Golden Valley Middle School, there's not a ton right there in our area. And so we wanted to be able to do that. The other thing that makes us a little different is we have 13 Church campuses that are supporting this and helping make this happen. So it's not just us in San Bernardino that we have campuses all over Southern California, one in Northern California, Giving Tuesday in November, we asked our church to help us fund this. And in one day, we raised $800,000. And so we've got a large organization that's behind this project as well.

Don  07:13

I'll tell you, I looked at your website and some of the links and I was blown away, my staff have personally visited and they felt like wow. Because you know, I don't know if you do know that we are the homeless education program throughout the county of San Bernardino as well as supporting foster youth services, coordinating programs in San Bernardino County. And so a lot of the youth that you will serve will fall into one of those two population buckets. And what's really important is sustainability. And so talk a little bit about how you hope to sustain the hill.

Chris  07:50

Yeah, so I mean, part of it is just this larger support we have within the church that is coming together and say this isn't, this isn't a part of the church ministry, it's an extension of it, this is truly a community center, this isn't a place for us to proselytize the kids in the neighborhood, it's a place for us to come and just care for the community that we are in. And so we have that we're also going after some grants, and we're looking for grants. And if anybody knows interview grants that think they could help us with this, I think we have four or five grants in process right now, just to continue with that sustaining it as well as we're asking people to support it on a regular basis. And so at the Robo foundation.com, not the Robo foundation.com/the Hill, you can see all the information and there's opportunity on there to say, Hey, I just want to financially support what is happening in this place.

Don  08:36

Here. Again, that's Rogo foundation.com, the hill, I think the fantastic, you know, we can all be put in positions, certain positions where we're called upon to serve, and some serve with their voice. But don't really get into the weeds of what the community actually needs. I want to commend you. I want to commend the church, and Rogo for the support to really allow you to grow and establish these opportunities throughout our community. So tell me, just give me an overview of what will the hill look like? What type of resources will it have? Who will it serve?

Chris  09:16

Man, it is going to be an amazing modern facility, serving our community with a bet really towards the teens in our community. Part of that is going to be fun, we just need a place where teens can come hang out I kind of joke like I could see teenagers going like hey you want to go on a date where you want to go let's go to the Hill on Friday night. Like just a place where they can come music fun food, just a place to come hang out. But we also want to resource we want to help create opportunities where they can grow they can learn we've been talking to companies about job training we've got a construction company that said they want to come in and do like an eight week handyman course teach these kids how to do the basic things you know fix a leak in a pipe how to change out an electrical socket. And when it's all said and done. Leave them with a bag of tools here, you got some tools to go do this now. And so we want to do that looking at a counseling center, coffee shop type environment, basketball court, not that big outdoor dream would also be a skate park, a community garden, animal therapy, an influencer studio where people could come and do podcasts like this green screen videos, high video equipment that could they could really use and utilize. And so just a place where they re resourced, trained, educated, Loma Linda hospital, we've been talking to them, they want to come in and partner with us, and help kids get into the medical field help kids get into all the different fields that they have get into the school up there. And so people are excited to come and just bring the resources to the community. So a couple of things, medical, dental, mental health, all of those are areas we want to lean into.

Don  10:51

That's outstanding. You know, it's that concept of feed a man who eats a day and teach them to fish. And so I really like what you're saying about giving kids tools that will enable them to have some options be beyond high school, whether they want to go into post secondary educational options, or the world of work. Yeah, well

Chris  11:10

important is to is we want them to be a part of it. It's not just a, it's not just as a service, we're not looking for just consumers, come be a part of something. So that's the garden, you're gonna come help care for the garden. You know, we had our first young lady doing laundry in the laundry center, first thing I showed her, here's the cleaning supplies, when you're done, let's wipe down the tables, make sure this place is taken care of. I want them to have some ownership in there as they come in to serve and care for this because we want to teach them some skills that they're going to use later on in life.

Don  11:37

You know, I can attest to that being a principal at a community school, you know, where kids been expelled, and they come to school. And the first thing that I always wanted to do was get them invested in the school. And so that alleviates destruction of property, etc. and builds pride within those kids and tells them, we want you here. This is a place we want. Yeah,

Chris  11:56

I mean, the best, the best way to change teens is through teens. And so if you get a kid throw in a candy bar wrapper on the ground and another teenager looks and goes, What are you doing? Right? That's not going to happen again, whereas an adult, it's just an adult's doing it but we want to give them that ownership there.

Don  12:09

Absolutely. Now, is this for youth only in terms of mentoring and leadership? And if so, how did that make a difference to you in your education?

Chris  12:22

Yeah, so this is really going to be primarily geared right now towards middle school in high school. And we're going to continue to expand that to families, probably some young adults, we want to make sure that they have the opportunity. And so I think there's a lot of different things we can do. Sometimes we get so wide that we don't do anything well. And so right now, just that focus is going to be probably sixth grade, through 12th grade, to give them a community of support. For me. The truth is, it was the church, like the church is where I got that, that I would I knew I had support, I had encouragement, I had adults in my life that were not my parents, it was straighten me out, if I was acting foolish. I had a youth pastor a lead who taught me leadership. And we met early morning 7am On Sunday mornings, and did leadership training and classes. And so I was able to get that from there. Not everybody has that community. And so we want to help create a community where they're getting the skills, the accountability, and adults that'll help point them in the right direction when they're running off track.

Don  13:20

I'll tell you what, that fantastic, you know what your heart's in the right place. And, and, you know, you know, we talked about it's not hard work, but it's heart work. But even more importantly, I'm just so pleased for a number of reasons. One, the name, I mean, he wouldn't go there to name we can start there, but to really utilize intangible resources that's going to help kids on a day to day basis, you know, we have kids who won't go to school because they have dirty clothes, you know. And so for you to be able to do that, which is only going to enhance their participation in school, which leads to success after school. So, you talked, last thing I want to ask you is, and this is important to me, if someone wanted to get involved in this amazing project, because as I looked at the website, and I talked to my staff, I was saying, Well, what if I want to buy a couple of washers and dryers or whatever. So if someone wanted to get involved, and I know you talked about the fundraising aspect already? Are there other ways for them to support or is that strictly a vehicle to support

Chris  13:20

No, there's there's lots of different ways to support. We're looking for partners that want to come in and help with job training connection. I really am a firm believer, I don't need to do it all. There's already people doing it. There's people doing it well. And so I just want to connect with those people. We have a list of about 120 people in organizations that have reached out to us. They say we want to be a part of this. And we're continuing to build those relationships and connections with them again, whether that's medical, dental, mental health, job training, all of the different arenas and so whatever it looks like you say I have something to offer, we want to pardon you want to donate snacks to the laundry center. It's one of things I want to just keep it stocked so kids can come grab a coat, grab a water, grab a snack, you want to volunteer in the laundry center that is open. This isn't just oh, this is just for us. This is anybody who wants to come loves kids cares for teens wants to make an impact, come be a part of that process. And so there's a lot of different opportunity. Again, if you know grants or organizations that are like minded that we can partner with, I don't want to start it all from scratch. If you're already doing it. Let's partner let's do it together.

Don  15:30

Pastor Reinhard, how do we connect? So if someone came to me and said that they wanted to assist, and they wanted to contribute? What's the best way for me to tell them to connect with the project?

Chris  15:41

Yeah, so I think the best way is through the website, Robo foundation.com/the. Hill, you can also email me directly at Chris Reinhard at Robo foundation.com. We're in the process of getting Instagram going. It's not quite up yet, but we'll keep an eye out for that. It'll be the hill, San Bernardino, something of that sort, as we're getting that out there. But those are the two best vehicles to reach out and connect with me anytime.

Don  16:03

You mentioned a couple of my colleagues who I'm very happy to know that they're involved. Dr. Wyatt and Dr. Doughty Rogers, who I've had the pleasure of serving with him. So I know that they are really, really instrumental in and care about what happens in the city, and particularly in our school system, as board trustees and elected officials. Anything else you'd like to share with our audience? Yeah,

Chris  16:28

just just I want to say kind of on that note, thank you to those that have made like the city council has been really huge in this though. Kimberly Calvin, David Alexander have been huge. Ken Ramirez, former chairman San Manuel has become a good friend of mine. The reality is this started because of him and his generosity. He was kind of the kickoff campaign for this and reached out to some friends of his and pulled in. And so just, we couldn't do it without all of those that have stepped in to support. You know, it was a dream. It was just a conversation between Scott and I, between Ken and I. And all of a sudden, all these people came in and said, Let's make it happen and other has money in the bank. And we are working to raise the rest to make this a reality.

Don  17:10

That's fantastic. I know one thing, and even in our county schools office, we serve 400,000 kids. And so we don't have the capacity in my department to do that. But what we can do is link and leverage resources. And I think I like to think we're very good at that. And so I just want to thank you. I want to thank your staff, I want to thank all the contributors, because this is going to make a difference in the lives of our youth in this community. So I appreciate you coming today.

Chris  17:38

It's been a pleasure. I appreciate it and thanks for the support.

Don  17:41

Thank you for listening. We hope you find this information valuable. If you have any topics or questions that you would like addressed, please email them directly to CWA@SBCSS.net. As always, we hope you stay well and continue to transform lives through education