Interview with Brenda Dowdy, SBCSS Homeless Education Project Manager

This month's focus will be an interview with our homeless education project manager, Miss Brenda Dowdy. 

SBCSS Homeless Education Program
https://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/index.php/en/innovation-and-engagement/children-deserve-success/homeless-education

Transcript

Don  00:05

Hello, my name is Don English Director of Children 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. Monthly 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 month's focus will be an interview with our homeless education project manager, Miss Brenda Dowdy. Brenda, thank you so much for coming today. I really appreciate that. If you would, please introduce yourself and tell us about your personal and professional background.

00:58

I'm Brenda Dowdy. And as you know, I'm what San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools I manage the homeless education program. I've been with the County since 1999. I've been managing the homeless program since 2006.

Don  01:13

What about your personal background? Tell me a little bit about how you grew up Brenda?

01:18

Well, I grew up in Los Angeles, California. I'm the oldest of two brothers. I was raised by my grandparents with along with four uncle's graduated from Eisenhower high school began working at an early age, probably 14 summer jobs working with at promise youth. And I found that to be my passion is helping other youth. My husband and I volunteered at the YMCA for probably seven to eight years coaching basketball with them at promise you. We got volunteered a year for volunteering because sometimes we'd have four to five teams that we were coaching at one session because there weren't enough people to coach them. And when I started working at county schools, I worked at kids and care with subsidized child care programs. So there was a lot of families who were at promise that needed assistance caseload to up to 350 kids at one time. And then I came over to curriculum and instruction where they had the homeless program. I started tutoring at the local shelters, helping kids. And that's when I found out at that time we had 12,500 kids who were experiencing homelessness in San Bernardino County.

Don  02:52

Wow, when you were hired to work with the homeless Education Department. What was it like when you first started? And how has it evolved? 

03:00

Well when I first started, there was liaisons but there wasn't liaisons in every educational system. So we had to make ensure that we had liaisons from preschool all the way through college and every educational system throughout the county, building those relationships, building relationships with community partners. Because when I started, I think our budget was like very small $75,000. And so we didn't have much to work with. So we had to rely heavily on our community partners to ensure that we could meet the basic needs of our kids who were experiencing homelessness.

Don  03:40

Wow. You know, you talked about your personal background, and you were working with our promise you from a young age, why are you so passionate about serving that particular population?

03:52

Well, as I said, my grandparents raised me. So I guess technically, I was one of those youth because back in the day, they say, Oh, you're sleeping on grandma's couch. So until my grandparents purchased a bigger home so that I could have a room. I slept on their couch for over a year. And so I was one of those youth. And so it's just been my passion to even when I watch sports, the underdog I always root for. So it just always has been my passion that anybody that needs help, I want to make sure that I'm there to help them. And so it just so happened that when I came in contact with the department that serviced homeless youth that just opened up everything for me.

Don  04:38

Wow. I was talking to your former boss, and he was telling me I think your budget was it might have been $2,000 or something crazy. I don't remember. So, talk a little bit about how your department has evolved.

04:58

Well Like I said, the first grants that they received was $75,000. And then the max We could totally get was $250,000 to cover the entire county of San Bernardino. So I started in 2006. By 2008, we had over 36,000 homeless kids who were experiencing homeless in San Bernardino County, our budgets have never changed, still hasn't changed. And so in order to help meet the needs of all of those kids throughout the county, we had to, I had to, because I was by myself until 2014, I established relationships across the state, anyone who would listen, I had to go to meetings, day, nights, weekends, holidays. And I was always talking about our homeless youth. And so that's how we started to garner support our communications team, I would contact them setting to do a press release, because I want to get information out there regarding our homeless youth. When I gathered our total numbers for the year, I would do a press release. So then the other newspapers would contact me and say, Oh, can you tell us more about the kids? And then more of our community volunteers would also reach out and say, How can I help. So it just kind of started to evolve, but I had to really be out in the community all the time, and also sharing what we were doing for our youth. Because a lot of times people think we're just giving them things, but we're not, we're connecting them to education, we're making sure that we're removing barriers, so that they can attend school. So sometimes kids don't come to school because they don't have shoes. I always tell the story about the family of seven, where two kids would come to school on one day, and two the next day. And when we serve the family, we found out it was because they didn't have shoes, they only had two pair of shoes, or a talk about the family where I went to the house and it was 21 kids living in a house, along with parents due to circumstances, it wasn't because people were lazy and didn't want to work is because they had deaths in the family. They had loss of jobs, and our people were paying their rent, but the homeowner got foreclosed on. And then they had to move. So they all came together to try and help one another. So homelessness is not where people are lazy, who don't want to work. These are people and our kids are victims of those circumstances, who have lost their job who have got sick and cannot work, who have maybe got a divorce due to domestic violence, things beyond the control, especially of our students. So we just want to make sure that at San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, that we're trying our best to remove any barriers that the kids may be facing. 

Don  07:47

And you work with many education and community partners across the county, state and nation. You kind of talked a little bit about it. But how is that benefited children and families you serve? With all the collaborations that you you've actually created and sustained?

08:04

Well, you know, I always talk about that I was by myself, but I couldn't do anything without the community. I couldn't do anything without my community partners. Because as I said, the funding was very low. But our community partners stepped up, you know, whether it's a food card a $5 Food car to go to McDonald's or to to get a hamburger or something. They, I mean, when I looked at my community partner lists, I was going to a national event, and I was presenting on collaboration, I had about 350 community partners that I have touched in some way where they helped me with backpacks, school supplies, emergency food cards for clothing, hygiene products for our kids. And, you know, to me, that was a wow was like, I didn't realize that I had made that many connections, but it takes that in order to provide services for our kids who are in need. 

Don  08:59

Wow. Tell me about one of the most impactful programs or projects that you spearheaded are this special for you. And I know there may be many but

09:10

there there is. But right now I'm kind of excited about the partnership that we have with school based mentoring with our kids, where we have contractors that go on campus and meet with our kids every month. Take them on field trips to whether it's a college visit or to Science Center. But they're meeting with them and building those relationships. They help them with their FASFA they help them decide or figure out what their career goals are. They're helping them get to college. One of my contractors is paying for them to go to college and mentoring them all the way through college. So the mentoring doesn't stop when they leave high school. It's going all the way through college. So if they qualify for that program, they're making sure that they have an opportunity Need to enroll into that program where their college is completely paid for? I think that is one. But we have done a lot of things. But I think that is one of our really, really successful programs to where we're helping the kids get to the next level and watching them graduate from college.

Don  10:18

So what's the name of your department that you work in? And how did it get that name? Our

10:22

department is children deserve success. And when I first started, they had named the program Phoenix Rising. So when I asked, I said, What a phoenix rising what why did we get that name? And so she said, Well, they're rising out of the ashes of homelessness. And I said, Well, that's okay. I said, but I want to change it. Because I wanted something catchy. I wanted, I liked it the acronym CDS. And so I said, Well, how about children deserve success? Because they do our kids truly deserve success? What I wanted something to where they knew that we were out in the community, helping our kids. And so when we say children deserve success, people listen. And they're like, oh, they do? You know, regardless of their circumstances, regardless of where they came from, they do deserve success. 

Don  11:20

Where do you hope to see the CDS department, specifically the homeless education program? And where do you envision it in the next five years?

11:31

My vision would be that we didn't need it, that we have no more homeless kids, and that we would not need a homeless program. But in reality, we know that homeless will always be with us. So I, I'm hoping and praying that some additional funding comes down so that we can hire more people to do the work. Because right now, it's just me and two other managers. And with the additional funding that we received from the pandemic, we were able to hire two pure associates to assist us as well. But you know, as we know that funding is going to go away. And so we'll be back with someone like me and two other staff members to cover the entire county to try to help me change for our youth who are experiencing homelessness.

Don  12:24

You know, when you look at the educational landscape, as it relates to our promise you than those experiencing homelessness, what would you suggest to those in positions of leadership?

12:36

I will suggest those who are in leadership to not put up barriers and roadblocks for the people who are doing the work, and to also listen to the people who are doing the work of the needs of the kids that we're serving, not. Sometimes when you have to top you don't see what's at the bottom. So we need to make sure that we're looking down and seeing which kids need the extra help and support and making sure that they get in.

Don  13:08

Last question for you, miss Dowdy, what are you planning for retirement? And more importantly, when are you coming back?

13:19

The plan is to relax and to do Brenda for a while. What that looks like, I don't know. So for the next three weeks, it'll be like I'm on vacation in January, I might think of something different, I don't know. But I will still be a strong advocate for youth, I will still be making some calls and talking to Capitol Hill to make sure that they are keeping us on the work radar. And I will remain on a few boards to ensure that our kids are still being serviced.

Don  13:51

So pleased that you will remain on the gangs and drugs Task Force executive board, overseeing scholarships. And, you know, each year our scholarship amount that we've given kids has grown under your leadership. And I just want to thank you personally for being a mentor to me and and really just you are one of the most loyal people I've ever been around and you really really are one of the faces of San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools. You've been here through different superintendents, etc. But your mission has remained clear. You've been focused with intentionality on doing what's best for all kids and those in particular who are experiencing homelessness. Thank you so much, Brenda, for being here today.

14:35

Thank you.

Don  14:37

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.