Business Innovators Radio - The Inspired Impact Podcast with Judy Carlson-Interview with Wendy Loloff Cooper, CEO, Generation Schools Network

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

Wendy began with Generation Schools Network in 2010 as the Rocky Mountain Managing Director and was asked by the Board of Directors to assume the CEO role in 2012. While earning a business degree, her love for education was catalyzed through volunteering to teach a business entrepreneurship class in an economically struggling Denver neighborhood on Saturday mornings at a local church. She brings extensive experience in the non-profit and education sectors, especially in the areas of network development, school replication and innovative educational models. She has worked in higher education (Northwest College, Colorado Christian University & Harvard University) and co-founded the Street School Network, which grew to include more than 50 schools in 27 cities under her leadership. She holds a BS in Business Management from Colorado Christian University, an MA in Educational Leadership from Concordia University and is currently studying for her PhD in Education & Social Justice at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. She has completed fellowships with both Catapult and the Billions Institute for large scale social change.Wendy is part of a big, blended family with 6 semi-grown children ranging in ages from 21-42; four boys and two girls. She loves dogs (which is great because she has grand dogs including one she keeps full-time due to her son’s deployment). Wendy loves reading historical fiction and serves as the director of the children’s program at her church.Website: https://www.justiceengagedstudents.org/Website: https://www.generationschools.org/*************************************************************Judy is the CEO & Founder of the Judy Carlson Financial Group. She helps her clients design, build, and implement fully integrated and coordinated financial plans from today through life expectancy and legacy.She is an Independent Fiduciary and Comprehensive Financial Planner who specializes in Wealth Decumulation Strategies. Judy is a CPA, Investment Advisor Representative, Life and Health Insurance Licensed, and Long-Term Care Certified.Judy’s mission is to educate and empower her clients with an all-inclusive financial plan that encourages and motivates them to pursue their lifetime financial goals and dreams.Learn More: https://judycarlson.com/Investment Adviser Representative of and advisory services offered through Royal Fund Management, LLC, an SEC Registered Adviser.The Inspired Impact Podcasthttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/the-inspired-impact-podcast/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/the-inspired-impact-podcast-with-judy-carlson-interview-with-wendy-loloff-cooper-ceo-generation-schools-network

Welcome to the Inspired Impact Podcast, where dedicated female professionals share how they inspire impact every day. Authentic stories, passionate commitment, lives transformed. I'm your host, Judy Carlson. Welcome to today's episode of the Inspired Impact Podcast. I have an amazing guest to share with you today. I can't wait to hear her story, her passion, and the differences that she's making in so many lives. Wendy Cooper, welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much, Judy.

It's a privilege to be here, and I appreciate being invited. You're welcome, and I'm so excited for you to get started telling your story and your journey and the circuitous route that it's taken you and where you are today. So do you want to go ahead and get started? That sounds great. So mainly people, if they've seen me lately, have probably been in press releases about a bill, HB 241216, which includes a justice-engaged student bill of rights. And we were able to pass that legislation last year with a lot of support and are really grateful for that.

And the reason goes all the way back to my college days and then catches up to my today journey. but when I was in college, we had to do 40 hours of volunteering every semester. And I saw posting on our volunteer board from a local church in downtown Denver. And they said they had a bunch of entrepreneurs. And they wondered if someone from the business program could come down on Saturdays and meet with people and just answer questions. And I thought, well, I don't know that I can answer. Opportunity sounds really interesting. So I spent my Saturdays that semester downtown Denver and meeting with all sorts of people who just had great ideas.

And I thought that it was so impactful to see them like reinventing their futures and thinking about how they could be entrepreneurs. And a lot of them had really struggled with poverty. And yet here they were like pioneering these new ideas. And I was so impressed. And I thought, boy, how could I do? this for a career when I get out of school. And I did do a few other positions, but then I landed at Denver Street School. And Tom Tillapaw was my mentor there, and I was supposed to be raising funds to keep the street schools going because it was a private school. And it was in a day

a long time before, I guess, all school districts had their alternative options, right? So it was really one of the only options for kids that had dropped out or been expelled. And we served lots of kids on jail release and things like that. And it was such a beautiful experience. It was just like school was like a family. And we just took in kids. It didn't really matter, you know, what their past had been or what they were struggling with. And we didn't even ask a lot of those questions. Really, the only question that we ask, and this is something I learned from Tom, is if the person really ready to accept responsibility for their future. You know, are they ready to say, yeah, I'm ready to do what it takes?

And I realized that I had something to do with the choices that I've made recently, and I'm ready to get life moving. And so I spent a decade at the street school, it's a little over a decade, 12 years, actually, and I had the opportunity not only to work at Denver Street School. and it's so fun because I, on my current project, I'm actually working with one of my former students. Oh, my gosh. Which is a really sweet circle around to the work I've done. But we were able to get money from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation at the time,

and they were pioneering replication of an alternative high school network. And so we were able to replicate the street school model to 27 schools. I'm sorry, 50 schools in 27 states over a period of about five years. And so, you know, I got to spend time in Philadelphia and Camden, New York, and all sorts of places around the United States, Seattle, where they were doing similar outreach and support with students. And that was a great experience. And I'm really glad I have that experience because I've been a big blended family with six kiddos and my second son between his eighth grade and freshman year, freshman and sophomore year, I guess, was charged with four felonies. And then I got to be the mom on the other side of the table where instead of welcoming kids in, I had people that were really trying to figure out how. not to have my son go to their school.

And I think it's understandable with schools being so under-resourced and knowing that, you know, the student based on their situation is going to need a lot of extra resources. So that was kind of coming full circle. And I think it was, you know, you get an even greater understanding as you experience different pieces and parts of an issue. And what I really realized with my son is, first of all, because he's not the only one this happens to. You know, what to him was

parkoring and demonstrating his new superpowers and his growing body, you know, translated in the adult world to trespassing and vandalism, you know? And so it was quite a shock. And so as we've been doing this work, I've made light of it by saying that my hashtag, if I get to choose one,

is crime stoppers mom. Because I actually found out about it one morning. I was working and a friend called me. You know, I love you, right? And I was like, oh, no, this is not going to be good. But she let me know that she thought she had seen my son and his friends on a crime stoppers video. What?

So I ended up watching the video and then calling the sheriff's office. and saying, you know, what do you want me to do? This was my kid and his friends and calling the other parents, going down to the sheriff's office. And, you know, I actually had my son thank my friend because they were getting close to knowing who they were and had they not turned themselves in,

he would have been locked up. And instead of that, he got to take diversion and be home under very tight curfew and limited circumstances. Wow. She. That's quite the experience.

That was quite the experience. Yeah. And I'm happy to report because people are always like, is he okay now? Yes, I'm happy to report. He's doing well now. He's in college at CSU and in the Army and still doing well. But what that led to being an educator and then my subsequent,

degrees or in education. I mentioned my first one was in business, but being an educator and then really realizing that what I had to do was rely on my friends to try to get my son into school and through school, and that there's really no clear option for what you're supposed to do in Colorado, and honestly in most states, when your child becomes justice engaged. And it becomes in a lot of ways in conflict with education because things like court dates, you know, being locked up for a certain period of time, pre-trial, only being allowed to go certain places, all those kind of things. They start to kind of get misaligned and in opposition to like a typical school schedule, right? And so, for.

From there, there was a grant that came out from the Attorney General's office because they had realized there was this issue because most kids who get in trouble to any significant level, because they get off track, they don't end up finishing school. So states across the country really don't know what this number is. I will tell you, in Washington State, there was a study with the courts and they found out about that only about 20% of students who were just as human. engaged, ended up graduating. And so we received this grant from the Attorney General's office and we said, let us case manage for a group of 20 kids that are just as engaged for a couple years and just follow their process and see what happens to them. And what was interesting is we repeatedly came up with about 10 or 15 barriers that we just kept confronting over and over. And they were barriers where it wasn't really anyone's fault.

It was just that there was confusion. So, for instance, if a student gets in trouble with the law on the weekend, does that mean they can go back to school on Monday or not? You know, if a student has served his sentence or her sentence, does that mean they can go back to school or not? If they have to be gone for court dates, is that or get locked up for a period of time, is that an excused or an unexcused absence?

You know what I mean? So there are just all these things that hadn't been. clarified. So my colleague, Dr. Silva and I, and he grew up as a justice-engaged student, set out to work on some legislation, and we gathered voices from all across the state of people who are struggling with this, the students themselves, their families, educators who weren't sure what they were supposed to do, probation officers who weren't sure, you know, am I supposed to force this student to go to school or not? and, you know, just everybody had all this confusion.

So we really worked with constituents to develop HB 24, 1216 last year. And that is in the process now this round in the legislature of passing some of the provisions that are going to be necessary to see that come to life. So when you say provisions, describe what those are. Sure. So one that I think is really important is when I met with a lot of parents, they were saying, well, I've called the school and no one calls me back and I'm not sure what to do. And then when we talk to somebody on the school side, they say, well, we're not sure what we're supposed to do. And so now there's a trained person whose name and information is on each school's website. So that it's very clear who to call. And that person will receive. a variety of trainings, that training's being created right now to help them know how to best serve that student. Another issue we ran into is people just not thinking to make provision for like a student's graduation participation. And that goes with sports teams, field trips,

you know, all sorts of things where some students have what's called the safety plan. and it means essentially that they have to be, they have to have adult eyeballs on them at all times when they're in a facility. And so one of our young men who we worked so hard to get to graduate, we found out he had dyslexia in 12th grade. And then COVID happened and he was in front of a computer which and couldn't, you know, couldn't function. So we ended up through the grant being able to provide him with individual tutoring and that kind of thing.

and we got him to graduation, and then they said, well, you can't walk in the ceremony because you have a safety plan. And we were like, oh, my goodness, any of us would have gone with him, sat with him. Right. You know, there were thousands of, I realize there are places where there probably weren't eyeballs, but, you know, in the auditorium there were thousands of eyeballs. Sure. On him.

And so also just trying to help make sure that there are provisions like that. Another one that's really important is that they get. a graduation plan when they re-enroll because if they've been out of school for a time or if they've been in a facility school for a time, it likely didn't equate to a quarter or a semester. And so oftentimes the transcripts are really confusing to make sense of. And so somebody just needs to sit down and interview the student, do testing, et cetera, and say, okay, here's what you have to do to graduate going forward because, you know, we had kids being scheduled in classes that they had already taken and things like that. Just because, again, there's a lot

of confusion. So we just really tried to clear up some of the confusion with that bill. And the Colorado Department of Education right now is working on, you know, very specific guidelines for participating in different activities, for what to do about a transcript. that's got pieces and parts here and there. You know, how staff are going to be trained that are supposed to take those calls from parents and students. So, yeah, so those are kind of some of the provisions. So are people who are on your committee

who've been learning all this stuff over the years. Also, working with the Colorado Department of Education so that they're not in a vacuum trying to make these decisions themselves. Exactly. One of the provisions that we made about the training is that the training needs to be on the CDE website and accessible to everyone. So families, community-based organizations, schools, justice personnel, like anybody who might need to know, like, what's the best thing to do in this scenario? So how did kids originally get into the programs compared to how they're getting in today and the numbers? I'm curious.

Yeah. So, you know, one of the things we found and the work that we did with the Attorney General's office is that what is very, very helpful in this instance is for the family and the student to have what we call it. transition navigator. Oh. And that is a community-based person that their job is to help, you know, navigate those barriers that come about with re-engaging in positive community activities and attending school, getting a job, those kind of things. And they can come from different places.

Sometimes they're from community-based organizations like ours. Sometimes they're mentors that are hired by Department of Justice. Sometimes they can be like an advocate at school or something like that. But it really helps to have that third party that, you know, they're not, they're not siding with the family or the justice system and they're not siding with the school. their job is just to help that student move forward. However, that makes sense for them. Yeah. Wow.

What an admirable role to have as a community advocate or transition navigator for a family. I mean, your situation, it would just like sprung upon you because of a phone call from a friend, right? Yes. I was not prepared for that at all. Is that more the norm or are parents aware but in denial or what are you, what have you learned over the years of this? You know, I do think that it, you do have those situations like mine where you're like, boy, I wasn't expecting that. And then you have situations where you have an inkling, your child is probably involved in something they shouldn't be, but you don't know how to kind of arrest the situation. And then you certainly have, as well, unfortunately, like families where, you know, there's a lot of people involved in the system in the family.

And it's more like a norm. Unfortunately and sadly, that's expected. But regardless of the situation, I think it's important for people to realize that the data around it says that, you know, most. of these youth don't end up being like long-term offenders, right? It's, in fact, I often challenge people to say, well, think back to an intern middle and high school, early college or early adulthood. Did you ever do something that you, you know, had you gotten caught, right? You would have been in big trouble for. And, you know, most people are like, yeah, I certainly could have, you know, fit in that category. And so it's really important for people to realize that, like, the

teenage brain is developing. It's not fully there. Most people who get involved in the system as youth, they don't continue to be involved. And what I would say is I've been doing my PhD in education and social justice alongside this work. And I think what is important for people to realize is that most youth in this situation have either experienced some kind of recent trauma. And their families are generally very undercapitalized.

And by that, I mean, in economically challenging situations, they tend to have less social capital, less cultural capital, less symbolic capital. I mean, all these things that, you know, researchers for a long time have said that, you youth need on their developmental pathway to ultimately be successful. And a lot of these students just don't have access to those same types of supports. And so that's the other thing that's really important, I think, to realize is to look at the student and the family situation and say, what kind of support do they need? You know, what kind of help do they need?

And sometimes that help is even like parenting help. Like I just, you know, I don't know what to do about this situation. And so, you know, whatever it is, food security, housing security, all these things definitely play into, you know, a youth getting in trouble. And even for my son, you know, we had been through a recent divorce. We've moved across the country, you know. So he had had some recent trauma, you know, in his life as well and was kind of trying to figure out where to belong and how to respond to that. So it is an important factor. Yeah.

Wow. Kind of crazy to be able to have the learning on both sides of, like you said, the situation. Does your son, like reflecting back, I don't know if he communicates much to you about that time in his life? Does he see it in a different light? Does he understand what was going on? Does he understand his choices? And now you say he's doing great. Does he understand that perspective of his life?

Yeah, that's a good question. You know, what was interesting is when we got through the, it was a two to three year process. I don't remember exactly to get him through diversion and restoration in the community and paying his fines and all this sorts of thing. And I do know that he did make a comment to me and said, I never want to be involved in the justice system again. And I said, that, that's great. Because I don't want you to either. And he was like, that was awful. Like, that was really stupid. And I think something else about the system that

I didn't realize even with the background that I had at street schools going into it is my son, for example, was with a couple of much older kids that were part of his youth group. So he was, I think, 13 going on 14 or so. And one other kid was 16 and one other kid was 17, 18. And I think they had told me like they would give him a right home from youth group, right? Or something like that. So it was like great. And so, you know, he didn't buy the spray paint. He didn't drive. He wasn't even available for a lot of the incidents that got committed that were most expensive or did the most damage.

But the way of the law looks at it is they just say, you're a part of this group divided by three. So whatever damages, whatever time, whatever, you know, they're just going to divide. it. And so there's no, I guess, you know, preferential treatment for age or understanding or anything like that. And that's something that's really important, I think, for parents to understand. And I didn't understand is now maybe I should have been a little bit more protective, you know, of him and the ages of kids he was hanging out with. So, yeah, that was something I learned. Yeah. Does he have any desire to help kids, younger kids now, understand what they might go through? Should they become involved in the justice system? Interesting. He's participated in some training, actually, with the department here that runs the facility schools where students go to school when they're their law.

up in the NECC Foundation. He participated in some training and has been involved in, you know, getting those messages out to the community, which has been great to see. And then he, he's a medic in the Army. So he has really been like in the, you know, in the helping and serving kind of professions. But even that is something we didn't get in the last legislation. And at some point, maybe we'll be able to get it or not. I don't know. So once we went through the process of having his record expunged, the last time we went before the judge,

the judge said, okay, so we are expunging your record. So if anyone asks you, if you have a record, the answer that you give is no. So then he goes to the Army and he's getting a security clearance and they say, do you have a record of any type? And he says no, because that's what the judge instructed him to say. Well, the Army still has access to juvenile records for some reason.

So then he got called in and they said, you know, we asked you this question and you lied. You said, no. And he said, well, that's what the judge told me I was supposed to say when someone asked me. So that's other thing. I think that's really important to remember about. people get involved in the justice system like that, or there's these little gotchas that kind of show up all over the place when you try to just move on.

Yeah. And it's really helpful if people can help you move on and allow you, you know, to move on. Yeah. A couple times you've mentioned facility schools. I'm not familiar with what that is. Can you just tell us a little bit more about that? So the state of Colorado, the Department of Juvenile Justice, runs lockup facility schools around the state.

There's 22 judicial districts, and there's a school, and I think around 17 of those, where a student has an opportunity to continue to pursue academics during their sentence. And as I mentioned, the challenge with that is that, you know, sentences aren't coordinated with school years. Right. Right. And that is one thing we put in the bill as well just to say that if a student needs to serve time and they're not an imminent threat to the community, can that be postponed until summer.

So as not to disrupt their progress during the school year. And so that's another one of, you know, one of those gotcha things that that happens a little bit. But we're hopefully making progress on that and giving facility schools help right with that transition of students out of the facility school. So a student then who needs to go to a facility school and maybe they don't drive, which one do they go to? where do they go? How do they get there? Is it a continuation of the curriculum that they had in their, you know, local schools? How does that work? Yeah, it's, you know, that connection is challenging.

What I will say is usually the kids that end up in facility stools get transported right from a hearing, a court hearing, you know, back on the bus and taken to the facility. and dropped off because they have to essentially serve their sentence there. Okay. Yeah. And the facility schools work somewhat with the school districts to try to align things. But it is another challenge in Colorado because of local control with school districts where they each get to decide what are their own graduation requirements, what's their coursework?

all that kind of thing. A lot of times students have been between multiple districts because high mobility rates often go with higher crime rates as well. And so a student has been here, there, and everywhere. And so, again, it makes it difficult on that transcript and getting students through side. Gotcha. Your background says Generation Schools Network.

So what's that, Wendy? So I have a Generation Skull Network is a national nonprofit. We started out in 2006 in Brooklyn, New York, came to Colorado where the founder was originally from in 2012. He and I kind of collided back in Colorado from the East Coast at the same time and did the turnaround at West High School. And we've always just focused on students who are being kind of left behind. in the equation and how do we close the resource gaps for them? Sometimes that's by legislation like we just talked about with HB 24, 12, 16. Sometimes it's teaching their teachers who are struggling with, you know, students with certain disabilities,

how to, you know, get students to read, everything. everything kind of that happens in a school environment. We have a team right now around Colorado. We have a federal SAMHSA grant, which hopefully will stay in place where vaping and substance misuse is very, very common among young people around this state. So we have a team that is specifically working in 25 different districts.

And they're working on what we call restorative practice policies when someone is struggling with substance misuse. How do you get them treatment, get them to stop, get them not to do that at school versus just saying you're out of here? Because the issue is if we just say you're out of here, then that kid is just going to sit at home using more than they were using when they were at school. Right. Which in a society perspective doesn't really create.

you know, what's needed. And so we're really helping a lot of schools and districts with that right now, as well as plans for suicide prevention, so that teachers and staff are trained, that they're connected to hospitals, mental health professionals, police departments, sheriff department, so that everybody can kind of be on the same page about how to prevent teen suicide. So that's some of the work that we do too.

Wow, that's... Quite substantial work. Yeah. Wow. I did have another question here that popped up that I wanted to ask you about. I don't know. I can't remember it, right? Oh, I know what it was.

One of my questions is typically being a female in your field. How has that gone for you throughout your career and where you're at today? I would say there's definitely still challenges for females in the workplace. I have gotten to a point where I have been able to rather focus if someone doesn't want to take a meeting with me or doesn't want to recognize what our organization is doing or that kind of thing is rather than take it personally, I just have made a lot of male employees that we have, my allies, and the same with our board. And I will say, you know, so and so call me back. Would you give them a call and try to meet with them?

And so I almost now just treat it like a tag team rather than spending my energy otherwise, I think is what I've learned over the years, is also find a way. but yeah, I'm not going to take time to get offended about it anymore. Do I wish it was different? I actually wish it was different. You know, there's still salary differentals and all those kind of things that exist in our society. And I think as women, we just can't let it stop us. And when we do have a chance to negotiate, I think we just need to be very forthright about it. And say, you know, if you're hiring me for this position and you're hiring a business and you're hiring

a man with the same credentials, are you offering me the same salary? You know, that you would be offering them the same bonus, the same privileges, and just make sure that we're vocal about it. I will say I am vocal as well, though. If something happens, while I find a way around it, I also will acknowledge it. And I think it's similar to what I do, trying to be an advocate as well for people of color, right, who they deal with that kind of thing all the time. and even greater degrees. And so I think advocating for each other is a critical part of changing ecosystems. And like what we're trying to do with the juvenile justice system is definitely like an ecosystem change, right?

I'm sure it is. Trying to get people to think differently, see differently, respond differently. Yeah. Wow. One last thought I had or wanted to ask you. So you said you're taking a PhD and social justice. And do you foresee how that will change your career direction or just enhance it? Or what are you thinking down the road, Wendy?

You know, it was interesting. It took me a very long time to pick a program. And I thought about all sorts of different things. And finally, when I saw this program, I thought, oh, this is it. So what is so unique about it is it's a part-time PhD. It's with people from all over the world. And so not only am I hearing about what's happening in education in the United States, but I have people from Canada and Japan and Azerbaijan,

all these different places in my cohort. And so I just wanted to really think about education and social justice in broader terms. Yeah. And I knew that being a part of that cohort would help me with that. And so I've really enjoyed that. What I did for my research project, and this was just precious, precious time, that I worked with another organization called Turning Point of the City that were some of our transition navigators during the AG grant. And I went in and I did educational journey mapping with the students.

and then brought in their families and their community mentors. Because one of the feelings that students and families really come away with when their student is justice engaged. And I can easily see how this will happen is they very much become muted. And it's very much about things happening to you, right? Not with you or not saying what's best. this quote from this one mom stuck with me from a study that recently came out where she said, I asked for programs for my son and instead he got five or five years probation. You know, and so there isn't a way in the system whereby families can really send up a flag

and say, we need help. And so I really wanted to see where those critical points were. So I sat down with students and we talked about that. We talked about what was your education experience like and what worked for you and what didn't. And did you feel like you had someone that advocated for you in the building? And, you know, those, do you feel like you were ready when you went from elementary school to middle school? And we talked about those kind of questions. And then they got to talk about their journey and have their parent or family member and their advocate or transition navigator way in.

And kids really, really benefited from it. I was thinking that we were going to benefit it from it as an adult and as a system with the things we learn, which I think we can. But what I was surprised about is that the students really enjoyed it. And they said things like, no one's ever asked me that many questions about my learning before. And one teenage boy down in Cortese, that was delightful. And I thought, wow, I don't know. The last time a teenage boys used that word with me, that's great. But it was, and, you know, I've really never thought about my journey in that way.

So I think it was really helpful for the kids as well, just to feel seeing and heard. And it gives different information than currently is available and collected through the justice system or through the education system. Right? It's this real human element of their experience. And that was such a privilege to get a sit with those families and students. And my larger goal now is to say, what would it look like if that was a part of this transition process? You know, when they're going back in because they're to school or after they get in trouble. So someone can really understand where the disruption is coming from.

and what kind of supports could counterbalance that because I think right now, at least what happened with my son is, you know, I remember one school, it's actually kind of comically silly as I think back about it, but the principal pointed at him

and said, oh, so you're the troublemaker, you know, trying to make a joke out of it, right? Well, to him, he felt very labeled and he just went right out the back door, you know, and so I think a lot of times to people in those situations, whether it's an employer in the community, someone in the school, they don't necessarily have expertise for how am I supposed to help this student or how am I supposed to help this family?

So I think educational journey mapping really gives them something to hold on to that's very practical and to use to build a relationship. So my hope is that that can eventually become kind of ubiquitous in the system. students and families can feel really seen and heard. Right. Yeah, boy, I would just definitely be an advocate for that. That is really key. That is amazing that you got to do that and see the benefit of it for the student. And then also for the student to be empowered with their own map of what they've gone through so that when there is an opportunity at an employer, I mean, even if they just give them a document or they

something to say this is my journey this is important this is who I am to really empower them in their own self and person with their trust and truth of themselves wow that's fabulous way to

sum up our whole time together I think is there anything else that you want to share before we kind of wrap it up and I ask you you know what should people do who are listening, who there's something in their mind that's being triggered. Yeah.

Yeah. No, I, that was exactly how I thought we needed to finish as well, Judy. And I would just say, you know, find a way to be an advocate, you know, become, you know, go read with kids at the library and offer to tutor them in homework or go become part of a nonprofit where kids receive mentoring and support, you know, support parents. who are in that situation and don't ostracize them. They already feel bad enough, trust me. Yeah, you know.

And just, you know, see how you can be someone who gives out different messages, you know, about this, that, you know, this is usually a blip in a teenager's life. It's not a long-term thing. Really be focused on the restorative, you know, piece of like, how do we get that student back on track, you know, to where they go? what kind of things do they need and what does their family need, you know, to really be successful in our society. So, yeah, that would be my challenge to people. And don't be afraid. They're just people like we are, you know. Yes, exactly. No, I think that's absolutely right, is not to be afraid. So, well, thank you, Wendy. This is great. So are there a couple places website-wise people can access just to learn more?

Yes, if you'd like to stay up on the work that's happening in Colorado, you can go to justice engaged students.org. And you can also find us at generation schools.org. Well, that's exciting. Yeah, I hope a lot of people take an interest because it's sure your passion and I'm grateful that you had an opportunity to share it. So thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate you, Judy. All right. so much for joining us for the Inspired Impact Podcast.

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