Welcome to The Waterbury Talks. I'm your host, Grant Copeland. Today's conversation is with Julie Loughran. Julie is Chief Executive Officer of the Connecticut Community Foundation, a nonprofit organization helping strengthen Greater Waterbury since 1923. She was raised in the Silicon Valley of California, a land of, quote, big egos, and the next big thing, where Julie went from Stanford University, to political campaign work, and the legal world, enjoying each phase of her career, but ultimately realizing that creating local impact was where she wanted to be. As she helps steward the Connecticut Community Foundation into a second century of philanthropy, hear Julie explain how equity and access for all citizens is being addressed, what she's cooking up this weekend, and what the recipe is for you to find success in the city, as The Waterbury talks with Julie Loughran. Thank you for providing your perspectives Julie, as we sit in the Downtown Waterbury offices of the Connecticut Community Foundation, tell us about the role that the Foundation plays in the city. the Foundation plays a number of roles. This year marks a hundred years that the community foundation has served Waterbury and, now the surrounding towns, there's 21 towns that it serves. But Waterbury has always been our headquarters and our hub, and we really play a role of partnering with and connecting to a number of different organizations and folks working in the community. We're one of the primary philanthropies in the city, which means that we make grants to a number of nonprofit organizations and support their work with grants, that are generated by the funds that we hold. And also we partner with people, we partner with those organizations, we participate in city collaboratives, we work with businesses, we work with the municipality, really all in terms of looking for ways to fill our mission, which is to foster, an equitable and inclusive community in Greater Waterbury. The mantra of Connecticut Community Foundation is timeless impact. What are some of the ways or some of the initiatives where you're creating that impact, both in the near term and, the very long road down in the future? it's interesting. A community foundation is a particular kind of organization. it's its own sort of special beast. It operates entirely based on the generosity of folks from the community giving into the community foundation, establishing charitable funds. And those funds are endowed, which means that they are here forever. So we are a hundred years old. We have funds that we've been holding since the 1920s, where donors who established those funds have told us, this is how I want my funds to be used. I wanna make sure that the Community Foundation is going to use my dollars forever. And so there's where the timeless comes in. I want my money forever to be benefiting Waterbury, Greater Waterbury, the Litchfield Hills communities that we serve. a good example of that is that, we have a fund that was established, in 1927, that was created to pay the salary of a visiting nurse in Waterbury. To this day, we are using those funds every year. We, support with a grant, the visiting nurses that are serving folks in Waterbury. but within the broader structure we have, a grant program that is very substantial, a scholarship program that is substantial, and we continue to work with partners year after year. there's some partners that we've worked with, some organizations that we've been supporting for decades to make sure that they are able to deliver the incredibly important work that they do to the residents of Waterbury, and to the surrounding communities. And over time and to know that is a permanent asset that exists in the community, that is always going to be here, that is gonna be here year after year, that's something that can help create stability. It helps create, the groundwork for partnerships. We've been here for a long time. We've worked with people for a long time to make sure that the impact of those funds that we're able to steward and of the, experience and expertise that we've developed are able to be here across time. You've already mentioned that the Foundation has been around for a century in Waterbury. What's the origin story? How did it all accumulate into a formal organization? It's really interesting. so there are right now over 700 community foundations in the country. Waterbury was the 23rd community foundation in the entire country. It was a very, new movement that started in 1914. The very first one was in Cleveland. and the idea was that, there was a need for, organizations that would provide, again, a permanent asset for a community that would be based on, those in the community saying, Hey, I wanna invest in what's in, what's important and what is needed here. So what happened in Waterbury is there were seven leaders who came together. It was folks that you might imagine it was the leaders of the brass companies and some of the larger manufacturing folks and industrialists in the city, that came together and they saw, Hey, Waterbury is really prosperous. It was a very prosperous time for Waterbury, and there were all sorts of, grand projects going on. But at the same time, these leaders were able to say, you know what, we're also seeing that with some of this prosperity that is benefiting some folks, there are also some challenges that are coming into play. it's no different from today really where, we talk a lot about equity now and where they were really seeing the inequities and how they were playing out in terms of quality of life, for those who were not sharing in that prosperity and who were not, benefiting. And in some ways that there were, some challenges that were coming about ancillary to the, and connected to the, some of the growth that was coming. So they said, Hey, we feel a sense of responsibility here. at the same time you had a lot of organizations that were cropping up to deal with some of these challenges, and they said, we wanna make sure that we're contributing to those so that those organizations can be sustainable. and many of the organizations that they started out funding were ones that, with different names still exist today, that overall over time became organizations like Wellmore and like Family Services, which operated in Waterbury, for a number of years. And so it, it's basically the genesis was that these folks saw that they had a responsibility to give back and a civic duty, and it was a point of civic pride to make sure also that in their case, the business, folks were collaborating with this nascent nonprofit community and with the city to make sure that they were addressing the needs of the local residents. I love having looked back at some of the historical and current information about the Foundation to talk about equity as your North Star, that seems to be clearly an undercurrent of the work that's been performed over the course of a hundred years. Are there emerging, for lack of a better term, conversations, for example, related to diversity and equity and inclusion that the Foundation is assessing and looking at about how that gets incorporated into, the impact that can be created in Waterbury? Yes, absolutely. in 2019, we engaged in a very comprehensive strategic planning process in which we're taking a look at what we were doing, where we had focused, where we were able to have an impact, where we were making our grants, who we were supporting with scholarships, how we were doing our business, how we were partnering with others in the community, and then also looked at that with a lens of, what were the needs. So we did a needs assessment. We, looked at data across all sorts of categories. and stepping back a minute, we realized that, we don't have enough resources to solve all the problems we make, about seven and a half million dollars total in grants and scholarships, in the last year we did, and of that, about 1.7 million is money that we have real discretion over on the grant side. So we don't have all the funding that we need to make sure that we're addressing, every issue and every need. So we know that we needed to prioritize and we needed to prioritize in the areas where the need was the greatest. And it was clear that there are great disparities in terms of access and outcomes and opportunities for people, and, based on a number of characteristics, it was clear by far that the greatest disparities are along lines of race and ethnicity. And so we knew that needed to be a focus. and then also around and along other characteristics, age, gender, sexual orientation, income. There are a number of areas where we realized, Equity means ensuring that folks have the resources that they need to thrive. And so we needed to focus in to make sure that our grant making focused on areas in which we could expand equity and where we could make a difference in reducing some of those disparities. with also a clearer articulation of our values and among the values that we articulated were, a focus on equity, diversity, and inclusion. that really has informed and continues to inform all of the work we do. Not only the grant making, which is what I think folks often know about, and the scholarship work because people see those funds coming out into the community. But really across all of our work, whether that is how we work with donors, and how we think about, um, encouraging additional philanthropy and expanding philanthropy, in the region that we serve, which is an important part of our mission and our work, how we partner with people where we focus our other, human resources and capacity and how we focus those things in. And we've developed, a very specific racial equity plan that makes sure that we're applying a racial equity lens, again, not only in the grant making, but across all of our work. and, really it's a work in progress. These are, really important conversations, internally, but also within the community. we're looking at that institutionally, but then also systemically in terms of how we approach our work, how we work in partnership with people, but also then how we support work. with, organizations that really are looking at some of the systems that have perpetuated, the disparities that we see, whether that's systemic racism or, other aspects of, the systems that, we really have developed over time to create the disparities. So it, it really is a core focus and core to what we do. Rewinding back into some time, what did you think you wanted to be when you were younger? This is my third career. I'm a California native originally, so I didn't anticipate that I would be here geographically, but I certainly didn't anticipate that I would be, in the career that I am in now. So I, after college I spent a number of years, working in political campaigns and, doing communications work in political campaigns. And I thought at the time I, I really cared a lot about policy and I thought that there was, this, grand way in which, working in political campaigns, you're ensuring that you're working so that folks who share your values, are in a position to affect policy. And that was the way on a big scale that I could, effectuate change and growth in the community that I found myself in. And I really enjoyed that work. It was wonderful, but I started to realize at one point that for me it felt a little bit too abstract. and it was a little too, distanced from actually affecting lives and feeling like I was having a real impact. Sometimes your candidate wins, sometimes your candidate loses, but it felt a little bit, too distant. and so I decided that I was gonna become a lawyer, which is something that I had sworn my entire life I would never do. at 27, I decided I'm gonna switch it up and I'm gonna go to law school because if you're working in litigation and you're working in the public interest sphere, you're actually working with real people on issues on legal matters that actually affect directly individual lives or the lives of groups of people. And I felt like that was where I could make my mark. I, really enjoyed the law. I was a lawyer for 12 years, and then I really determined that I felt like again, I was too far away. I wasn't focused on the community right around me. And I really felt like the biggest difference, that can be made and at least that I knew that I could make, was on the local level and wanting to be, connected with people and organizations who are doing real things in the community and really affecting and touching, lives directly. And so that's what led me to the Community Foundation. I left my last legal job in 2014, and I came to the Community Foundation from there. And so I did not think that I was going to wind up here. I couldn't have imagined that if you'd asked my 20 year old self where I would be, this is not what the answer would be, but this is where I was meant to be. it's such a privilege to be working in this organization and in this community, and with all the folks who really are pulling together day in and day out to make sure that some amazing things happen. you mentioned having started on the West Coast and you glossed over going to school, you went to Stanford University, one of the best schools in the country for your undergrad and your doctoral law degrees. What was your observation growing up in California, going to that prestigious school, getting into law? What was the observation of Connecticut or Waterbury, Connecticut from either that far afield as you, you started your young adulthood or, you know, approached through certain career moves, entering the Connecticut market and specifically the city of Waterbury? I grew up in California and I have to say that California definitely has a big ego, and so you don't necessarily grow up thinking a whole lot about other states and places. I had some family members who were from Connecticut, and so I had, some sense of it, but I hadn't visited, I did actually work on a campaign at one point in Connecticut during that first phase of the career. and at the time I was thinking about big cities or I was thinking nationally. some of the political work I was doing was nationally. I was thinking, in that lens of, prestige and the names that you hear and things like that. And not really thinking, where I am now about, hey, it really is the local folks who are doing things and it's local communities and local cities and communities like Waterbury where so much of, that it's just, it's more real. I think that for a long time I didn't really ever envision myself in, a place that wasn't either California or some, bigger city. I had grown up in Silicon Valley and there's, a lot of energy around innovation and change and big ideas and what's the next big thing. And I hadn't really thought about being outside of a larger metropolitan area or where, some of these sort of headline activities, happen. I came to Connecticut for love. I met my, then future husband who his family has lived here for generations. when I came and started to visit and saw the nature of, smaller towns and smaller, cities and the way that people lived and worked in community and pulled together and identified, challenges and resources and assets and, really depended on one another to make sure that the communities that they lived in had what they needed to thrive. it really was, captivating to me. And again, it was part of what led to that evolution and that, sense of where I could make my contribution. I felt this is my opportunity to figure out how can I contribute to this? How can I make the community around me a better place? In a hundred years you're only the third CEO of the Foundation. What's the responsibility of that? What's the gravity of that in your mind? it's not because anybody lived to be extraordinarily old in this role. the Community Foundation it was entirely on a volunteer basis for about the first 60 years of its existence. It operated in many ways, what we would consider a giving circle. Now we operate a couple giving circles through the community foundation now, But it really was, folks who were coming together putting their money into a pool and then making decisions together about how they would spend that money out. And I think that they took it very seriously. we have these old books that have all of the minutes from those meetings and talk about their discussions and where they decided to make this grant or that grant or how they were gonna use their funds for the year. and so they really were looking closely at, what are the priorities that we have? What are the organizations out there that are doing work that meet these priorities, and how can we support them in expanding and increasing their capacity and doing that work? So when the Foundation began to be staffed in the mid 1980s, the first, staff person was a woman named Ingrid Manning, who was the first CEO. and she held that position for 30 years. and so I very much will say that I, stand on her shoulders, and that the leaders that came through there, but even before her, there were, many, trustees and leaders who had come through the Foundation. and again, all volunteers. We continue, it's all volunteer trustees. there are many folks who have really shaped the Foundation and have given thought and consideration carefully over time to the values of the organization, to the priorities of the organization, to the priorities that the community has identified and to those needs. So I feel very strongly, it's, certainly my obligation to make sure, along with my colleagues here and the trustees that we work with and the many volunteers who support our work, that we are continuing with that vision and the vision of, the 600 or so donors that have established funds here over the last a hundred years, to make sure that we're stewarding those resources and using our time and our voice and our funding, to make sure that we're doing the very best that we can for the community that we serve throughout Greater Waterbury and the Litchfield Hills. so there's definitely a sense of a responsibility, but also of great privilege. we realize that we are in, a very privileged position to have the resources that we have. And that with that becomes, a really important responsibility to make sure that we are doing our best to be a good partner, to work with people, whether they be grantees, donors, scholarship recipients, in ways that are, understanding of and responsive to their priorities and their needs. And that, we see that as an opportunity to learn every day. Are there any particular stories or programs which are impacting the Waterbury community that are near and dear to you? I imagine it all is the work is very rewarding, but is there anything that just comes to top of mind in terms of, something that you find particularly endearing or inspirational in the work that's being performed? Yeah, absolutely. we make grants to about 120 organizations each year. they all are inspiring in different ways in terms of the work that they're doing, and in terms of the vision and the commitment. I'll cite a couple though. I think one of the things that's really special in Waterbury in particular is that there's a very strong sense of collaboration. Waterbury is a city, but in many ways it feels like a small town, or it operates in a way that, you often have the same folks who are looking at problems from different angles, and you might be coming at it from the educational sphere or the healthcare sphere, but people are looking at and realizing that all of these pieces are interconnected. one issue is connected to the other. how your education system works is tied to whether or not people have adequate healthcare, is tied to whether the environment is clean and is tied to whether there's, a vibrant arts sector. that really, a lot of these things really are connected. But also the organizations, and by organizations non-profits, the city, philanthropy, businesses are very willing in Waterbury to come to a table together and collaborate, which is not always the easiest thing to do. in, many other places where I've worked and where I'm sure others have experienced, it's hard for people to set aside their egos and to come into a space and say, you know what, whatever, differences or where we might compete with each other in one area or, whatever it might be, in this instance, wherever, whatever they've come together around, we're gonna be stronger together, we're gonna be in a better place if we think about, what are our common goals, what are the ways that we can work in tandem to a, to attack an issue, or to work on a problem. and so I think that's, to me, some of the most exciting work that happens in Waterbury. And I'll cite a few there. I think there's, certainly the Bridge to Success program, which is just phenomenal. that is, just been working in, I think, initially with an education focus and certainly that's there, but really a cradle to career focus on, what it takes for people to, achieve equity and what it takes for people to thrive, from those earliest days of early education. And really even now, they've got, they're focusing in on maternal health. So even before birth, all the way through career. And that is really a collaborative effort. there's, so many organizations. We've been involved with them from the beginning, but so many organizations as well. I'd site also in that, a group that has come around, come together over the last several years around health and the Greater Waterbury Health Partnership. Again, it's partners from the hospitals, from, the StayWell Medical Center, the city with the Public Health Department, the Community Foundation, the United Way, a number of other partners, coming in and saying, okay, how do we address community health in a way that is, unique in Connecticut the way that organization operates, and, I think has been a model that others, even outside of Connecticut are looking at. But again, it's coming together. How do we gather the data we need? How do we think about the problems? How do we make sure that community voices coming in, to inform what comes next? and then I would cite another that is near and dear to our heart here at the Community Foundation, one of the biggest areas that we have funding for, in grants is to, work with older adults, and provide, services and activities that are, supportive of and enriching to the lives of older adults. And there's a program in, Waterbury called the Brass Program that's a collaborative that is involved the city, the Senior Center, nonprofit partners, the Community Foundation, all working together to make sure that there are, services at, a number of sites throughout the city that older adults can access. whether that's exercise classes or, enrichment activities or understanding of benefits. so that's a partnership that's been existing for a long time. what's inspiring to me about that is it's, people coming together and saying, what can we put together with the resources that we have at hand? I would add on the donor side, I, I think, and on the philanthropy side, cuz again, one of our other, core functions is to encourage more giving. we only exist because donors have come to us. unlike a, a private foundation where maybe it's a big company or a, a single wealthy family that puts the funding in and is able to perpetuate year after year, we only exist because of the 600 plus funds that we hold, that people have come to us to establish. So on the philanthropy side, we are really excited about what we've seen as a real growth in what we call community philanthropy. So not necessarily individuals establishing funds, though many individuals continue to do that with us, and that is how we will grow and expand and have more resources. But is in collective groups that have come to us. For a number of years now, we've had a women's giving circle, here at the Community Foundation where, people contribute each year to, together, smaller gifts, but contribute each year to an overall pool that then they use to make decisions together about how they're gonna give those grants, and, which organizations they're gonna work with and support to support grants in that case that are supporting women and girls in the community. more recently we've seen, the establishment of the Waterbury Black Giving Circle, and we are really proud to be working with them, because they're trying to, encourage, an expansion of philanthropy in the Black community, which has a long and deep and rich history of philanthropy in the Black community. They're trying to encourage that here in Waterbury and encourage that in a collective way where they have been, bringing in members and looking towards grant making that they will be doing in the very near future, their first round of grant making will be happening. and similarly we have an organization, that we work with, the Pride in the Hills Fund, which is here at the Community Foundation, where again, they're trying to encourage collective philanthropy, many people together, coming together to create a large fund that then can be used in that case, in support of the LGBTQ+ community. those inspire me where it's, folks saying, Hey, there's a need, and I individually may not have, immense resources to do this, but I know that if I were able to bring in, many other folks who similarly see this, need that together, we can make some really good things happen. you mentioned, donor giving, and I know this is a broad way to phrase this. how would an individual donor all the way up to an organization, a company, or just a grouping of people, partner with or create a fund with the Foundation. to create a fund with a foundation, it's very simple. we work with folks of all sorts to establish charitable funds. And the beauty of the Community Foundation is that we have a lot of flexibility. We know that there's not a one size fits all, around most funds. around, what people's charitable visions are for the community. So usually what happens is that we start with a conversation So say if an individual comes to us, and says, I'm interested in doing some charitable giving. first off, a question might be, are you interested in giving now or are you interested in giving later? A lot of the folks we work with, are saying, I may not have a lot of funding now, but I'm doing my estate plan. I wanna make sure that the organizations that I've supported in my lifetime, or the causes that I've cared about across my lifetime, are reflected in my estate plan as well. So often that leads to a conversation about values. What is it that you care about? What is it that you wanna see? What is it that you have supported? Are there organizations that you care about? Is there an issue that you care about? Do you just wanna make sure that if you have funds, that they're going to a use that is a pressing need in the community that you might not be able to see or anticipate? I mentioned earlier, I think that the, vast majority of the funds that we hold are endowed. That means that we invest those funds, we use a little bit of it each year, and the rest of it remains invested so that those funds go on and on forever. Often when we're talking to, to people, they're saying, how am I supposed to know, 50, a hundred years from now, what are gonna be the pressing issues? And that is really where the Community Foundation can really be supportive and can be a help to say, we're gonna be here in 50 years. And so if you've identified an issue, say you care about healthcare, you might not know what the pressing healthcare need. I mean, none of us would've anticipated covid, right? so none of us knew that was gonna be the pressing health need, in a period of time. But because, donors over time had contributed to funds, and many of them had said, we wanna make sure that those funds are used to meet healthcare needs or basic needs. That when the, pandemic came around and we suddenly had sought immense need in health and in basic needs, we had those funds because those donors had entrusted them to us to be able to have the knowledge to know how to apply them, but had also had the vision themselves to know, I don't know what the need's gonna be, but I know that there's gonna be health needs in the future. I know there's gonna be needs around basic needs in the future. And so we'll work with folks to, to determine, what a fund might look like for them. again, we also have scholarship funds. Those are a little bit more self-explanatory. and we have a lot of flexibility about what those funds can look like. And so we'll work with somebody to figure out what might work best for them according to their priorities, and come up with a plan. It's a simple process, but we wanna make sure that it's one where we're really capturing and understanding, what the donor wants to do, and also sharing with them how it is that we work and how those dollars are gonna get translated into support for the community over years to come. And in your question, you also mentioned, organizations and businesses. We certainly work with both of those. in terms of businesses, we have a number of businesses that have established, funds, whether for a specific purpose, specific issue or, a scholarship, organizations. And people can also establish funds that are not in doubt that they can spend down over time donor advised funds. we have a number of those where we'll work with donors to help support them while they make the decisions, or they're the ones who are gonna make the decision about where those grant dollars go. But we always try to, be supportive them with, having local knowledge and being able to sometimes help connect people to needs that they might not be aware about in the community. And then the last piece of that, in terms of working with organizations, we see that as a really important role, not only in supporting organizations and the work that they do around, the grants that they might, be able to obtain through our funding or some of the capacity supports that we have, in other ways. But in particular, all of these organizations themselves are running their own businesses. all of these nonprofits themselves are businesses and they need to look at their own sustainability and their own finances, and in many cases, that means that they are also looking to establish endowments for their own benefit and their own, ongoing, financial stability and also other funds, that may not be endowed, but that they can use over time. And so we work closely with organizations, to try to make sure that they have the range of, funds and access to funds, and also that they're able to use us for our investment expertise to make sure that their funds can also be managed and stewarded through our process so that, that can free up their staff and their volunteers to do the important work that they do. so that's an important part of the work that we do is trying to support and work with nonprofits on that financial side as well. Related to the Waterbury community, what do you foresee the Foundation getting involved in or having a major impact on as societal and physical environments evolve? that's a great question. I think that, first off, I'll say I mean I'm excited about Waterbury. I think that there's a lot of opportunity in Waterbury. I think there are a lot of assets in Waterbury. I think that there's an incredible amount of energy and smart, creative people who are, all coming together in a way that, is seeing Waterbury as, just really on a precipice in a lot of ways. there's just a lot of, great things that have potential to, to come together in Waterbury. and I hope that we're playing a part in all of them, in terms of the priorities that we've identified, like I was talking about a bit before, around, the places where we see some systemic issues and some great sort of inequities and some large disparities, that it's gonna be important for us to continue to work in areas around expanding opportunity. we're really focused on, ensuring that folks have the access to opportunity, whether that's in education or in services for youth or in workforce development to make sure that people have access to the tools and resources that they need, whether that's, to expand the economic development of the city or to make sure that's also being shared and that where there is growth, that growth is inclusive of the folks in our community. Again, often along the lines of race and ethnicity, folks who have not shared equally at all in, in some of the growth or the phases of growth that have happened, over the years. Connected to that is certainly health. that's a really important area of ours and health equity in particular. we are not gonna thrive, unless everyone has access to an ability to have, improved health. and to have health, in general and to be able to access, a healthcare system that is equitable and is affordable. and that can, can meet the needs of the community. so those would be two, critical areas, but I really see them all as connected. and I also see that in Waterbury, we work, closely with the city and try to be supportive of, and a good partner in, initiatives, through the city itself. most recently, like Waterbury Promise, It's another example of a great, program that's come together largely through city funding, some additional funders, but a number of partners, who are working in different ways and we are working with them as well, to make sure that, that this isn't something that we're funding that's being funded entirely by the promised folks, but it's, consistent with and aligned with, the work in terms of making sure that folks have, opportunity and access to opportunity. A really exciting aspect of collective philanthropy or community philanthropy, that has been really an important aspect of the work that we do at the Community Foundation, since 2013 is Give Local Greater Waterbury and Litchfield Hills. That is, a program that has really in to my mind, it's democratized giving. everyone can be a philanthropist during Give Local. It's an online event. It happens over a 36 hour period. It's always in late April. And it's an opportunity for, literally thousands of people, usually there's, over 8,000 people who participate, in any given year who come online and they make donations to support more than 200 non-profit organizations. These might be organizations that they know and that they care about, or it may be organizations that they come and they learn about and they say, I really care about you and I wanna find out - what are the food pantries in my area and what are they doing? They might know about one or two and they might find five others that they decide that they're gonna support and they decide that they're gonna become connected and that they're gonna understand what those organizations do and how they're serving the community. And it's something that not only brings more people into that fold of philanthropy, it also means really important dollars to the nonprofit organizations. in the first 10 years of Give Local that brought 13 million dollars, of impact directly to those nonprofit organizations. That's really important funding that helps to support and sustain their work. And it's also an opportunity to develop long-term connections to the donors who come and make that possible. So I, I think that, we're looking for ways where we can be working in concert, and in alignment, towards similar goals. As a female CEO and community leader, what do you feel is your responsibility in terms of connecting with or inspiring younger generations of girls and women. I think that it's important for everyone to be able to see people like themselves in all sorts of positions. I happen to be occupying the CEO role here, and so I'm aware of that. I also have a 14 year old daughter, and I can see the ways in which, kids really look to the people around them and the people that they can see, in terms of, how their own aspirations can be shaped. but that's why I also think that it's really important to look not just at the CEO role, but across the leadership. And this is something that I think a lot of organizations are starting to recognize that it matters, not just who's sitting in the CEO role. It matters who's the chair of the board. It matters, who sits on the board. It matters who sits in leadership positions and in staff positions. And that we need to make sure that, our organizations at all levels, and especially at the leadership levels reflect not only in my case women, but also reflect folks who are Black and Brown folks reflect people who have different backgrounds and experiences, across the spectrum. And to make sure that not just girls, for example, seeing women in leadership roles or boys seeing men in leadership roles, but that everyone is able to see, some number of people, who reflect their experience so that they can make sure that they have an opportunity to see themselves and see where their future selves may be. You mentioned your daughter, Fiona. If we put her in the chair, what do you think she would say about what you're accomplishing? What would her observation of mom be? I think that my daughter would say that she is proud of what I do. I think that she knows that it matters to me. And I guess that's what I'm hoping that she takes away, is that she should do something that, whatever that might be, that she does something that matters to her and that she's proud of herself for that. and so I think that she understands that cuz we talk about it a lot. And I think that would be the advice that I would give to any child would be to say, find what matters to you and find where you feel like you can make a difference and where you can use the particular skills and the particular talents and the particular energies that you have in a way that benefits people or your community or something that matters to you. And I think that my daughter sees that every day, and that's what I try to model. whether I'm modeling that at home and within my family or in the work that I've chosen to do. On a personal level, how does the work really make you feel? The work makes me feel great. it's energizing, it's exciting. There is a lot of energy. There's so much opportunity. There is so much that we can do if we continue to work together We always want more resources. We always want, more that we can give and more that we can do. But with what we have, there is just a tremendous amount that can be done. specifically in Waterbury, there is just a lot of energy and a lot of commitment. there are so many committed people and it's really energizing to think about creative ways that people can work together. People can can come together, can identify opportunities, can then identify issues, and, and really envision a time where, we're really looking at a place where we're fostering that more equitable and inclusive community. that for us is core to our mission and to our vision for the community that we serve. Waterbury is really known as you reference for its diversity of people and recreational assets and things to do. Give us a cross section of some of the activities, places you like to visit, things you like to do in Waterbury. there are a lot, Waterbury, there's always something going on and just yesterday, I was out taking a walk in Library Park. We're lucky to be situated right downtown, to be able to go over there and, walk around town. one of my favorite things to do, is to just, to go walk around downtown. I love the green as a, just a real cross section of people. You go out there at any given time and there's always folks out and sitting on the benches and doing different things and moving around. always glad to them walk across the green, whether that's to, go see the museum, go over to the Y. there's a lot of the organizations that we work with that really are right downtown, which is a great thing. but I also just like to get out into, some of the public spaces and go, walking and exploring and take in, cultural =performances and things like that and art exhibits and, there's always things popping up here and there. before I started working at the Foundation I didn't spend a lot of time in Waterbury, and now I find that I'm constantly coming into town for this event or that event. and to see what is going on and really that there's a lot of vibrance here. And with so many dining options, what Waterbury restaurants top your list? Oh, some food. Yeah, I'd food is a key component to enjoyment here. And I will say that there's been many a staff outing to, we like the Los Garcias food truck, which is out on East Main out, behind the mall. That's always fun. right here, downtown, we like to, go visit over to The Art of Yum and there's a few other places around that are nice to stop by. The Spirit Cafe, we wind up down there pretty often. what's great about Waterbury is that you have really a range of different kinds of food, right? You have a lot of different cultures and with a lot of different cultures, there's a lot of different opportunities, to try different cuisines and, to see what else is out there. off the top of my head, there's Muyuri over on West Main and there's, oh, Via Al Paraiso over on West Main as well. I'm, I can tell I'm getting hungry. Hindsight Barbecue, you have to give a shout out to Hindsight Barbecue. there are others. I'm sorry I'm missing them for now. But, but I encourage anyone, anyone within earshot of this podcast to, to come out and eat in Waterbury for sure. Speaking of food, your page on the Foundation website says to ask you about a great recipe you've cooked lately. So what's the recipe? Oh my gosh. that is such a good question as well. I cook all the time. That's what I do to rejuvenate and that is a way that, that I feel like within my family, I can give and give back, while also having a bit of a, a respite. I actually have a plan tomorrow night. I'm gonna be doing quite a bit of cooking. We've got some folks who are coming in over the weekend, and I have a plan to make a, very delicious, slow cooked, pulled pork carnitas-esque, pork that will be going into some amazing tacos with some pickled onions and some, pickled jalapenos and a couple of different salsas and things like that. So I enjoy spending time in the kitchen and enjoy, the opportunity to share food and enjoy with other folks. Tell us what time on Saturday and we'll be there. And what's the recipe here in Waterbury? What ingredients have come together that are pushing the city and the region forward in a very positive direction? I think it's a sense of, shared purpose, shared vision and collaboration. I think that people are recognizing that, on the one hand, not everyone has shared equally in the benefits of Waterbury and that there are some, inequities But that there are lots of opportunities in the future, and if we can crack the code on making sure that we can grow and change in a way that is equitable and in a way that does ensure that everyone is moving along in a way that enables them to thrive, that is what's exciting is the fact that people are coming together and they're collaborating and that they're sharing the resources, they're putting the egos aside, and they're saying, what is it that we can do? How can we all move forward together in a way that brings us all, all forward? and I think it's really exciting. Julie, thank you so much for the time today. Thank you. Listen to the full series from The Waterbury Talks and learn more about all the city offers at thewaterbury.com