Micheal Krouse: President and CEO at Greater Ontario Convention & Visitors Bureau

Don English, Director of Children Deserve Success, interviews Michael Krouse, President and CEO of GoCal, about his journey and efforts in supporting vulnerable youth. Michael shares his background in the hospitality industry, emphasizing the diverse career opportunities it offers. He discusses his experience as an adoptive father of former foster youth, highlighting the challenges and rewards. Michael also talks about his nonprofit work, which includes hosting events to support foster youth and raising awareness of career opportunities in the hospitality industry. He stresses the importance of listening to youth and providing them with resources and support.

Transcript

SPEAKERS

Micheal Krouse and Don English

Don  00:00

Hello, my name is Dr. Don English, Director of Children Deserve Success, and Executive director of the San Bernardino county-wide Gangs and Drugs Task Force (GDTF). 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 (CWA), School Attendance Review Board (SARB), 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 Michael Krouse, President and CEO of GoCal. Michael, thank you so much for being here. My understanding is that GoCal stands for the greater Ontario California. Is that correct? 

Micheal K.  00:51

That's correct, Don, and thank you so much for having me this morning. What a thrill to be here. Great to be talking to all of you. Yes, GoCal is really the greater Ontario Convention and Visitors Bureau representing the cities of Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga here on the west end of the county. We are the destination marketing organization that sells all of the great things that are here in the county for visitors to come and see, use our airport, use our convention center, use our arena, et cetera.

Don  01:22

Wow. Can you share a bit about your journey to become the president and CEO of GoCal?

Micheal K.  01:28

Oh my gosh. Well, I have you asked for that one. I have a funny, funny kind of history. I started years ago. While I was going to school, I needed to make money to pay for school. I didn't have any sources for that. So, I started driving tour busses. That's how it all kind of started. I got in the hospitality industry because I used to sling luggage and drive a big, 40-foot tour bus, like a city bus. And I still keep that license, just in case this gig doesn't work out, I can always go back. So anyway, so I started that, and ultimately, over the years, I got into hotels and got into different hospitality related parts of the industry. Ultimately working in my gig prior to Ontario to GoCal was at the Los Angeles tourism convention board, so I was the senior vice president of sales, services, membership and special events. So, I kind of oversaw that in Los Angeles, Seoul Convention, did all that stuff across the country. And then ultimately, I came to Ontario after that gig. So, I spent about 20 years prior to that in hotels, working for Hilton Hotels for 13 years of my career. So, a lot of different brands, Marriott brands, you know, Hilton brands, etc. So over the years, that's very brief, but wow, lot of history there. But I still miss, I kind of miss the bus. I said I made in those days; I made a lot of money driving a bus. 

Don  02:56

How does your career and hospitality connect you or connect with your passion for supporting vulnerable youth. Oh

Micheal K.  03:03

my gosh. Well, first of all, you've got to imagine that in the hospitality industry, it's the team members that we that work for us, and we have, we have more than 1000 employees that I oversee, and those 1000 employees come from very diverse backgrounds, and we have every type of work opportunity for younger folks, up through career, up through, you know, directors, managers, leadership, different cultures, you name it, is kind of how it got. I got associated with the ability to connect the dots, so to speak. For instance, we run huge food and beverage operations. We run huge maintenance repair operations, everything from guest services to experience stuff to ticket sales to you name it. So, we have a lot of diverse types of jobs and work out there for youth and over time, you know, I learned that people can have a career in the hospitality industry without necessarily having a college education. They can do it why they go to college. They can do it without college. They can advance into high level positions over time. And it kind of connected all the dots for me, because we were here to allow those less fortunate, in some cases, opportunities that might not otherwise be available to them without a college degree as an example. And that's kind of how it started. I kind of started dabbling in that a little bit.

Don  04:29

Yeah, I think that's fantastic, because a lot of our youth do not have traditional pathways to success. You're a proud adoptive father of former foster youth. Can you share how that experience has shaped your perspective, both personally and professionally. 

Micheal K.  04:44

Wow...Well, it is life altering. I did that while I was in Los Angeles. I took on that responsibility when I was in LA and it started where I just thought we were going to adopt one child, and we went through the challenges of fostering to adopt. You know, the rules of a game on that are interesting, and we had a number of misfires, so to speak, because we were dealing with what rights and stuff like that. As you know that you deal with a lot in the process. However, about the third child in we got a kid, a young man that we kept he was 18 months old, Jayden, our youngest and Jayden we got when he was 18 months, and he was added to our family. Came about a year after we adopted Jayden. We had a sibling set that we got, and we got a call. See, this is the problem with this. They show you a picture of these kids, and then you're sucked in, right? So, I ended up, I didn't want to do more than one, and I ended up with three. So, this is how it kind of happens. Wow. So long story short, about a year later, we adopted a sibling, brother and sister, Alex and Adriana. So now the children, all these years later, now I'm I'm old, so these kids, these kids are now 23,18 and now going to be 17, so the youngest one was 18 months. So, it's been quite a few years now, but we've gone through every imaginable thing during that process you can imagine, including the parental rights and all the different things that get to change along the way. But truly, it has been a life altering experience. I tell everyone, the most important thing to remember when you choose to adopt or foster is to remember that it's not about you, it's about the children. It's about the kids, and you've got to put that as your first priority. If you don't and it's about, you know, some other motivation or whatever, then you will not be successful or happy, I will say, we've always put the kids first, and that's been successful. Also, you need to be in a relationship that is strong, because this will test every one of your wills and abilities if you are not strong within your own relationship. So that's important. I always say there's two things. 

Don  06:58

So I like that. I think you answered basically my next question about what you would like to share about the adoption process to parents.

Micheal K.  07:08

Well, I'd add, I'd add to it that I'd add to it that during the process, we, our children, are from LA County, from Los Angeles County, and they the process. What the hardest part of the process is understanding that you, you are, you have very limited control over the outcome, and you have to be open to all possibilities. And some of these children come from unique or unimaginable backgrounds or experiences, and you have to be open and prepared to receive those challenges along with the benefits that come with having a kid, because there's a lot of benefits, but you also have the problems that come with that, and you have to be open to that and be willing to work through those challenges. And I will say that made our lives a lot easier after the first couple of back to parents, thing, you know, reunification, those kinds of things. After those things happened a couple of times, we learned really quickly how the system worked and how to work through some of the bumps along the way, which involved legal and courts and all that kind of stuff. But you learn along the way. If you're smart and you kind of go with the process a little more, you will be successful and have a positive outcome. Is the best way I can explain

Don  08:31

Wow, when you're talking about or when you're dealing with these youth in foster care, what do you think the biggest challenges for youth are one and two. What can communities do better to support their success?

Micheal K.  08:44

Well, I think that the I think the challenge is overburdened folks that help oversee the adoption and fostering process the County, the county social workers and that system is a challenge. It's they're just overwhelmed with need. You know, there's so much a need for this, and they're just overwhelmed. And so the amount of attention that they're able to give to each situation is very different. Now, we worked through a had an agency that was county approved along the way that really helped us, and that was a benefit, I think. But we also had to deal with the County, the county social worker. So, we had two social workers. I have funny stories about that too. Dealing with social workers. We'll talk about that later. But the but I would say that was my first learn was how overburdened they are, so the more we could make that smoother for them and made it smoother for us and for the child. I think that was what I kind of learned along the way. I do think that the need is making sure that they’re mental health is the most important thing to me. I think they I think they've had so much trauma and so much so much adversity that they. Don't necessarily talk about it's hard to get them to talk and trust you, and it's the first thing I learned with our children, is making sure that we're talking constantly and that we're listening to what they have to say, and that we are understanding the situation they're in. Now, in our case, we also had siblings that were that we allowed our children to see post adoption, which is very unusual, and we allowed them to see them. They have brothers and sisters that we know. We had interaction with the mothers we've had. We did different things to try to make it so that the kids didn't feel like we were taking them away purposely from their families, but make sure that we were open to them remaining in contact. And that was a big reason we had success with the older two children, I think, was because we made that possible. 

Don  10:51

And when you adopted the older two siblings, what were their ages? We didn't talk. 

Micheal K.  10:55

Oh, yeah well, they were, well, it was a year, so say 18 months or six. So, they were probably eight and five, oh, wow, yeah, so little older.

Don  11:05

And I would think that the older the child, the more challenging. Is that? Correct? 

Micheal K.  11:09

I would say it was harder. It was probably harder for us in the sense that the girl versus the boys. The girl was harder than the boys, because the boys were like, you know, they just rolled with everything. But it was harder because, you know, men were not exactly, we're not sensitive as perhaps we could be. So, I would say that it was probably harder with the girl than the boys, but the older, the older thing wasn't as big of a deal. For us, it didn't, wasn't as big of a deal. The older thing for us, they adjusted pretty quickly. And they were very loving kids. We were very loving, you know, we were, we're very close. I mean, we very we, we spend a huge amount of time together. We don't, we don't do much without them. Very rarely. That, in fact, I can say I don't think that those kids have been alone four days away from us, and all the time that we've had them, we are always with them. It's a true family bond there.

Don  12:07

That's amazing. Can you tell us about any lessons that your children have taught you about resilience, hope, or the importance of advocacy?

Micheal K.  12:16

Oh, wow. Well, they teach me a lot every day, I would say first. But what I'm most amazed about with them is their resiliency. I was amazed how quickly they welcome the love and the open. They were very open to receiving our love and affection and all that stuff. I was especially worried about that because their of their mother, you know, I was worried because they didn't have they didn't have their mother. So that was a little unusual, but I would say I was amazed at how quickly they were open arms to us. So, they were wanting the love and attention, which was great. I was a little worried about what that would be like, but they were not standoffish at all, and they were very immediately close. Now I will say that they what else they have taught us is how to I think they've taught us that we are not as sometimes open minded as we could be, they've taught us to be more open minded and more welcoming to other circumstances or individuals, mostly just in life because they're younger, they have more life, they have more interesting ways of looking at the world. It's only adults who cause all this junk that goes on in the world. The kids are open to whatever we they create. They're the ones who make it easy. You know

Don  13:45

Tell us a little bit about your nonprofit work and how it supports students, families and communities. And then secondly, what inspired you to do the work?

Micheal K.  13:54

Well, what I'll start with, what inspired me? What inspired me to do that, that the work was because of my own circumstance, and seeing all of these circumstances around me that was go that were going on, and when the opportunity presented itself to do work with the with the Foster, adopt kids in our in our school district, that is kind of what inspired me, was the fact that I had an association with it. I knew how hard it was for those kids, especially because they were older. And the older they are, the harder it is. In my view, the younger it is easier. Older a lot harder, I think, because they just have so they're, they're, you know, they're adults, essentially adults. So, I but, but that was kind of my inspiration. Was my own, was my own family. However, the organization I'm with, GoCal one of the things that I manage is the is the nonprofit. It is a nonprofit, and the opportunity that presents me with is pretty significant. I have a lot of a lot of support within the communities of Rancho and Ontario on the west end most cities. And county, to develop the experiences that our visitors have into those cities and into the region. I have a lot of flexibility. The hotel community, who helps fund these things, and the hospitality community gives you a great deal of freedom to do that, which you don't always have like my I was more limited in Los Angeles than I was in this region. Los Angeles is just a lot more complex. It was a lot easier here and more welcoming here to be able to do those things. So, I think that probably drove a lot of why I it's kind of why and kind of how the organization has been allowed to do it, because they've kind of trusted me. The community has trusted me, and they've trusted that my judgment is in the best interest of the community, and of these, the youth that I support and remember the way I got involved with this is kind of a funny thing. The mayor of Ontario and one of the council members are who brought this to me originally. They said, Michael, you know, you have background in this. What do you think about hosting this holiday event thing? And I said, Well, sure, I'll help with that, you know. And next thing I know, I own it, you know.

Don  16:15

Right, right, right now, Dennis Mike, was that? 

Micheal K.  16:21

No, it wasn't. It wasn't. It wasn't l Dennis Michael, it was, it was Paul Leon, oh, Paul, yeah, Paul, most people know. And also, Council and also Jim Bowman, okay. Council member, Jim Bowman, former fire chief of Ontario, and both of them came to me and they needed. What they needed was somebody who knew how to raise money, and I knew how to raise money, and so that's how it started, and that's how it kind of started. It was a random thing, and it just happened one year. And now what are we? I don't know. I have to ask Elaine. I think we're five years later, maybe six years later,

Don  16:53

yeah, because I think maybe even more than that, I was a principal, oh

Micheal K.  16:57

my gosh, started. I can't believe Well, I think it's start. I've been here since 2012 I'm 13 years, almost 14 years here, so, but I think we started it in my second or third year, probably. So, it's been more that you're right.

Don  17:09

What is your vision for the Southern California, excuse me, Southern California region, specifically the Inland Empire, in terms of hospitality, tourism and community impact?

Micheal K.  17:21

Well, I think the most important thing for people to remember is that most of what we do is not seen locally, these special event things in the stuff that you're we're talking about here, those local things. That's not really where our world is. Our world is bringing people to this region, so that they spend money in this region, they create jobs, etc. You heard earlier I said, we, we hope. We host. We have about 1000 employees that are in just the things that I manage. That's just what I do. But there are 186,000 190,000 hospitality, tourism employee. Hospitality employees, jobs that are created by this industry. So, I'm most proud, and what I want to see continue to grow is the hospitality portion of our industry. So, as we build more hotels, we expand the convention center, we add we add a new sports complex, Ontario empire, sports Plex, sports complex, and hope the expansion of the convention center and the entertainment district and all these things that bring these visitors here, they all create jobs, and they all create future opportunities for our youth. And to me, that's really what I think I'm doing locally. Well, don't forget that. I also run a few other things. I have the route 66 cruise and reunion car show for those who haven't been to that we're in year 13 of that show in downtown Ontario every September that brings about 250,000 people a year to it, and about 1000 classic cars, pretty cool. Used to be a version of this in downtown San Bernardino. And then we also have our baseball teams and all these things that are driving job creation and visitors, and that's really why you don't see so much of GoCal locally, people outside of our area, meaning you'll know us in Sacramento, you'll know us in Northern California. You'll know us everything. Texas, West. You'll see our marketing initiatives to bring all these folks here, kind of like Ontario International Airport, similar. So how we market that?

Don  19:27

What is the intersectionality between the needs of students and families experiencing challenges like homelessness or foster care? Is there an intersectionality between what you do and then these people who have a great need, 

Micheal K.  19:43

Well, I think, you know, when we did, we've done some stuff that I think kind of may answer, that your kids in our in our district, and I've learned are not as don't necessarily have all the resources. Know what resources are available in all of all times available to them. One of the things we started recently is showing the kids in our high school district, kind of some of our culinary connections, with our with our executive chef Dolly Cruz, who's amazing chef Dolly, we bring these kids into the kitchens of the arena and the convention center, and we show them you too could do this. This could be a career, a call. You could have a culinary career, and you could do this what, no matter how, what life throws at you, these are opportunities that could be available to you if you just, if you have an interest at it, if it's something you want to do. So, I think my, I think I would say that I'm most excited about how we show the youth the opportunities and hospitality that exist. I mean, I was a bus driver. I was a front desk clerk of the hotel. I was a food I used to cook at a kitchen. I was, I was a line cook, you know, you, you, but I and all that without a college education at the time. So, I did all that kind of stuff, you know, the because I had to find work to support myself and my personal situation. So, I found that those things work for me. And I thought, Oh, this could work for these less fortunate youth, the homeless too, that are less those unsheltered, those folks can also do these kinds of jobs. These kinds of opportunities are available to them. We just have to make those show them that it exists for them and it can be something they could do. I don't think they fully understand those opportunities. 

Don  21:36

I totally agree the hospitality industry is a major employer in our region. How do you see it? And you've talked about it creating pathway for you who are at promise are facing homelessness. So you already answered that, but I want to know, are there any trends or innovations that may create new opportunities for these at promise youth?

Micheal K.  21:58

 I think it's interesting. You remember when COVID ended, you know, there was a hard time getting employee employees. We had a hard time finding workers, and especially those who are in direct contact with the public, you know. And the other thing that's happening is so much of what the youth are engaged in today doesn't involve one on one interaction with people, you know, they're they're connecting with, you know, social media or whatever, but they're not connecting with people live. So most kids do not know how to have a conversation like we're having, or have a conversation with a parent or another family member, whatever. One of the things that I'm trying to emphasize is the importance in our industry and what we do in hospitality is remembering that we are a service industry. We must learn to engage with people. We have to talk to people. It's a social thing. It's a necessity in order to have a communicative way of interaction. So, remember, I'm in a service industry, in the convention center and in the arena. As examples, I have a million people go through the arena a year. All those people get touched by another human being that I employ. So, it's important to for culturally and otherwise, to teach these kids how to talk to each other without texting. You know, kids today are sitting next to each other on a sofa and in the same room, and they're texting each other. You're kidding me. It's like, you know, we've got to continue to expand that. So, one of my big pushes is even in our sales organization, is, yeah, no, we're not texting our customers. We've got to get them here in person. Talk to them in person, do as much as we can do, even if we get on the phone and talk to them, we got to learn to talk. They don't know how to communicate, or they communicate. If you ever notice this is another thing I noticed, is they talk very quietly, like, you know, they almost whisper. It's like, I cannot hear what you're saying. You need to speak out. Speak out. So, I think those are some of my big things in hospitality are, as I see it is that's our big challenge is ensuring that these, these, the younger generation, knows how to communicate and knows how to serve others. Most of them do not have a service mind. They haven't been taught that. They haven't been given that opportunity, if given the opportunity, everyone, 99% of the people that I interact with will and want to do that. They want to help others. They've just never been given the opportunity. So, I think that makes a big difference. You know,

Don  24:33

You I often talk about the business of education is about people, and so we have to understand that, in line with what you were saying, what’s next for you, both personally and professionally, and are there any upcoming projects or goals you're excited to share? 

Micheal K.  24:38

Well, on the kids side, I've got one kid to get through senior year of high school next year. He's just about to get his driver's license, and he's the last one on driver's licenses. And by the way, what is this with kids not wanting to get thro. Driver's license anymore. I have a 16-year-old. Oh, it drives me crazy. He just could not care less about driving. They have Uber and Lyft, I guess. So, they don't need it. But anyway, so that's number one. Number two, get these three kids through college. So those are my priorities. On the kids side, I gotta get them through college. If I can get them all to go to college. I think there's some that one in there that may not want to um, so we'll see where that goes, but whatever they wish to do, as long as they're happy. So that works for me. And then on the business side, we have a lot going on. We have so much. You heard me touch a little bit on the new developments in the region. We've got an expansion of the convention center coming. We've got a new 600 room convention hotel coming. We've got a new entertainment district around Toyota arena coming, which is going to be fantastic, a huge amount of opportunity there, including a performing arts theater we're hoping to build there. And then we have the new, already under construction, 200-acre Sports Complex for youth sports and for our new our new Ontario baseball team and stadium, this is going to be state of the art. So, I'm involved in all of those things. So that is something I'm very proud of and very excited. And I appreciate the cities allowing me that opportunity. We have a new special event that we're bringing to Rancho Cucamonga that I'll announce a little later, not today, but I have a new I have a new special event that'll happen every October. It'll happen over at the epicenter. So, we'll talk more about that. 

Don  24:50

When you go to announce it, Michael, you gotta announce it here first come out. I can't announce

Micheal K.  26:27

it yet, but I could tell you that it will involve entertainment, concert kind of a thing, and a lot of a lot of community engagement. So, I'll keep you, I'll keep you posted on that. It's a brand new event that we're bringing. So, in addition to all of our other stuff we do, that's my big thing. And then, of course, continuing to bring more visitors to the destination is my high priority. 

Don  26:49

Final question for educators, families and advocates listening to this podcast, what's one piece of advice or inspiration you like to leave them with about supporting students and building stronger communities. 

Micheal K.  27:03

I think probably it's hard to just listen. It's hard to just listen, take a minute and listen to them and hear them, and I think that's been what I've learned along the way. I use the example. When I go into the the holiday event that I host, I go table. I may have told you this, I go Table to Table, and I talk to the kids as best I can, because they don't really, have never really experienced a kind of a formal sit down lunch or a dinner or anything. So, they don't know what piece of silverware to use. They don't know how to do that, and I think they just hunger for that learning and education. They'll tell you what they don't know, but you've got to sit and talk to them a minute. So, when I go to those tables and I say hi and we talk a little bit, they always are curious about things, and I answer their questions, and, you know, just sit there a minute, absorb it and try to connect a little bit to what their experience or what they're feeling. They love that event as an example, they just are trying to understand all the pieces around them that are going on. And that's kind of how life is. They're just trying to figure out what the heck's going on around them. So I think listening is probably be my best advice. I've learned is just Shut up a minute. It's hard for people like me, because I talk a lot, Michael, it's hard. It's hard to just shut up a minute and listen. So I would say that's probably my best advice. 

Don  28:28

Mr. Michael Krouse, thank you so much for being here today. Really appreciate you and appreciate the work you do.

Micheal K.  28:34

My pleasure anytime and please continue to support the foster adopt system here in the county and our educators are trying so hard to make their futures bright.

Don  28:44

Thank you so much. 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.