Common Good for the Common Wealth: Opening Doors Through Mentorship

Mentorship has the power to shape lives, strengthen communities, and inspire future leaders. In this episode of Common Good for the Commonwealth, Nancy Grayson welcomes Sonya Fultz of Adopt A Class for a conversation about creating opportunities for students through career exploration, building meaningful connections between classrooms and local businesses, and the ripple effects that occur when communities invest in young people. From workforce development to cultivating hope, this episode is a reminder that lasting change begins with showing up. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Welcome to Common Good for the Commonwealth, where we speak with Northern Kentucky's uncommon advocates and how they're making a difference right here at home every day. I'm your host, Nancy Grayson, president and CEO of Horizon Community Foundation of Northern Kentucky. And our guest today is the one and only Sonia Fultz, Chief Everything Officer for Adopt a Class. Sonia, welcome to Common Good for the Commonwealth. Well, thanks for having me, Nancy. I'm thrilled to be here. We're excited to dig into the great work that you're leading. But first, I'd like to back up a moment. Tell us how you got to where you are today professionally. Your background is very interesting, and I think our audience would love to hear more about that.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

I'm happy to share. So when I think back to how I got to where I am today, really in my position today, I think all the way back to my childhood. I grew up in a very small town, about an hour east of Cincinnati. And I grew up under one stoplight. My mom was the kindergarten teacher in town. My dad drove to the city. I didn't really know what he did. And we were surrounded by farmers. And so what did I decide to become? A teacher. Yes. Because that's generations in my family. The women were teachers. I didn't know all of the other opportunities. I was blessed when I went to college to learn about a few more opportunities. Went as well to Wilmington College. And I came out of Wilmington as a teacher. I taught for 12 years. And then my world started to open up to other opportunities. And, you know, one of the major shifts for me was understanding that the teaching career sets you up for so many other opportunities. So then I went into higher education and I'm really blessed. Anyone who looks at my resume knows I've never stayed at a job longer than six and a half years, which has the board a little worried because I just crossed that moment. So, board members, if you're listening, or they know I'm still look at that date. They know I'm staying. Because each time, every five to six years, I was just afforded a new opportunity. And all of them happened naturally. I didn't seek out new roles. They just sort of fit me and I move forward in my career through higher ed. I did a lot of administrative work around two and four year completion pathways. So when Gilman Partners called and Barry asked if I'd be interested in looking at this position with Adopt a class, I was intrigued. And I'm so glad that it has taken me into my career today.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Well, I have to give a shout out to Barry at Gilman Partners for that placement. And also, thank you, Barry. I am in my role today because of his outreach as well. So very grateful for the placements that they make and really glad that you're in your position. And it does sound like there was a really interesting tapestry that wove together to get you where you are today. You were a teacher. Did you have growing up a teacher or a mentor or someone who helped to spark this path for you? I did.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Certainly my mom, who was a teacher herself, I watched her career. But I had a couple teachers that really uh meant much to me because I wasn't always the kid who listened. I wasn't always the kid who was in the front of the class. And I had a couple teachers who really leaned into who I am today. Um, most notably was Jackie Miller in high school, who saw in me probably what I didn't see in me and helped me to understand that I really could be what I wanted to be. I was great at athletics and I am capable of being great at academics, but I really found myself in a very small town needing someone to lean into me outside of my family. And Jackie was there. So even today, she's in education to this day. So I am proud to emulate the career she set me forward and use the skills that she taught me.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

So a lot of of what you're describing reminds me of actually what you do on a very regular basis. So uh for those who are joining, I presume you know something, a little bit about Adopt a Class. But uh, for those maybe who aren't as familiar, can you give us a background? Tell us the history of the organization, the work that you're leading today, and maybe some of the impact that you'd like to brag about to those listeners.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

Well, Adopt a Class has had a long history in the greater Cincinnati region, starting in Lower Price Hill with our founder who had a vision that students needed to understand that when they were told to graduate high school and the world would open up, what those doors would look like. So he had a vision and he had his employees get engaged that very first year at Euler School in one classroom. Bill doesn't stop with one. So the next year he found a partner company for every classroom at Euler. And it just grew from there. So now, you know, you look 23, 24 years later, and we're in 57 schools. We're in almost 500 classrooms. Here in northern Kentucky, we're in Boone County, Kenton County, and Campbell County, as well across the river. We're in 17 school districts. This past academic year that just ended, we serve 13,000 students with more than 5,000 volunteers who commit as a team. And certainly, Nancy, you know this because you're on a team. Yes. Um, but you commit with five to eight of your colleagues to go into one classroom one hour once a month and bring your careers alive, your pathway to those careers, and then the industry you represent, so that students who didn't grow up with so many pathways explored just because of their surroundings have the opportunity to explore through those mentorship partners over a nine-year span of their elementary and middle school years.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

And it keeps growing. And Horizon is so honored to invest in that work, particularly in northern Kentucky. Um, I believe we funded uh a Boone County classroom and some expansion for um inclusion. And we were very honored to be part of that work together with you. Um, and as you mentioned, we're really honored to have been actually um adopters and that we are the mentors. That is the nickname for the volunteers that come in and work with the students. I I love kids, and so for me, it's not a hard transition. But for those maybe who don't feel as comfortable standing up in front of a group or talking with young kids, I really don't think it was as challenging as maybe some folks thought it would be because you come in and you're really just sharing what you do on a regular basis. Our particular group was a team from the new One in KY Center where we're housed. Uh, we had several fellow 1 in KY organizations talking about the work that they do, which looks different than us as a foundation. So we talked about um real estate development and housing along with Catalytic Fund and Educate and KY talked a lot about um making schools better. We just we talked about strengthening northern Kentucky. And when you kind of take off that hat of feeling like you need to be the teacher who has all of the answers and really you're just bringing your own experiences, I felt like it was a lot easier than probably people might have uh presumed. So I'm very excited. We we plan to be helping out again next year. But tell us about some of the other um partnerships and different groups that you've seen. I can't imagine we're the only one that did something a little bit unusual in terms of um pairing together with other companies and organizations.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

Well, the opportunities here in northern Kentucky to talk about our partners are endless. Uh just three years ago, we were only in 35 classrooms. This year we anticipate we hope to reach that 150 mark for classrooms here in northern Kentucky. So we're at almost 120. Yeah. This podcast could put us over our numbers when people say sign up. But you know, I really want to tell the story of Prismian. I took this position right um as COVID started. My first day was March 23rd of 2020. So watching companies struggle through that time with us and not leave their teachers, not leave the classrooms they had committed to in any way they could reach was really enlightening. And I was so proud of what that meant because our organization clearly had the reputation to stay with it. Um, when we came out of COVID, we saw so many organizations who were looking for a way to re-engage their employees. You know, I'm an educator, so my whole vision was how are we impacting students? But coming out of COVID, I quickly learned we were an asset for our corporate partners because we were serving a need they had to rebuild culture, to get their employees to know one another all over again, and so many other great benefits to our corporate partners. So Prismian stepped up right after COVID and met with Beverly, met with their HAR department. And I remember Beverly saying, this beautiful building houses so few people on a daily basis because we need a way to get them to reconnect. So they want to come back into the office and be with their colleagues.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Yeah. And we're hearing a lot about folks returning to the office, but I think people want that authentic engagement, regardless of which generation you are. I know people like to pit, you know, the boomers and even Gen X and how small we are against millennials and different um ways that they have workforce habits and patterns and wanting to work flexibly. But I do think there is a craving for folks to have a strong culture in their workplace. I think we're seeing more research. I know for sure that we're seeing more research around uh giving back in some capacity, whether it's financially or with time, and how that improves the workplace and the culture and building uh of teams. Um, so talk to me a little bit about how beyond the culture piece, you're hearing from um maybe the partner companies on how this is really building um their future workforce pipeline.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

Well, I'll go back to a conversation again I had right after COVID, and it was with the CEO of Home City Ice. And I remember meeting him, and it was my first big meeting out because we were allowed to now meet in person. So we were at the incline, and he said, I was ready. I had all my stats. I was ready to tell him what the impact we were making for students, and he stopped me and he said, Sonia, I know you know the impact for students. Let me tell you the impact it makes on Home City Ice. And that's the first time I started to think about it that way. Luckily, we built a strong relationship with the University of Cincinnati and they dedicated a researcher to us two and a half years ago. Todd has stepped up in ways to help us quantify that data on what is the win for the company, not only in the impact they're making in the community, but also investing in their own workplace. Today we have research out of the University of Cincinnati with the partnership with researcher uh Dr. Todd Foley that shows us that the employees say they upskill because they take leadership roles. They get to know different departments that they didn't even know what happened in those departments within their company. They also build much stronger bonds. And we know when we build bonds with our colleagues, we reach out more often. We're more authentic in the way we connect with one another. And, you know, over and over we hear from mentors and from corporate leaders of those companies that this is the best day of their month for nine months during the academic year, and that they really miss it over the summer. We're excited that that Dr. Foley was so impressed with the research and UC was so supportive that they decided they would fund a second study to look at what is the impact only to first year mentors. Oh. So in your very first year, and Nancy, you were part of that cohort. I might be answering some survey questions. You might. You know, what is that impact in your very first year? Because we make bold promises to our corporate partners. We have 270 partners who allow their employees to leave the school day and come into our classroom. They leave their workforce, they join that school day once a month for an hour. Those promises need to be upheld by us, and we saw that in the first study, but we wanted to know within your first year the results are off the charts. Now, I will say when we did the pre-study, because we surveyed pre and post to get really solid data, we had such high expectations of what we would deliver that I was a little worried. I can say we moved the needle positively on every single outcome. Wow. Which tells me not only is this good for companies that have been with us for years and years and years, like Fidelity and like Huntington and so many others, but those newer companies that have bought in over the last several years and that continue to sign up, like the One NKY Center, we now can say to them, we know it's a value add and it's worth that hour a month to allow your individuals to go put their time somewhere else. And it's not only valuable to the company, it's valuable to the community. So Educate NKY is pushing right now to get people involved in their start of school assistance, where people show up the first three days of school in Covington and Newport, and they're there to help students and teachers in that transition back to school. Now we're able to send that to every mentor that mentors across northern Kentucky to say, Will you just give 90 minutes to educating KY, one of our partners? Yes, one of our funders, to say, let's give back to them. And you know, the research actually shows from UC that our volunteers who are in the classroom say they volunteer in other aspects of their community and communities outside of their community that they're now serving in that maybe they never went to prior to going into the school in that community in much higher rates than they did before being a mentor in the program. So it's really a ripple effect. When people ask about joining adopt a class, I say this is the easiest volunteerism you ever do. It's one hour, it's with your colleagues. It's built to have extras if you can't show up every time. So we still have that one to four ratio for students. It is the drop in the bucket, and I hope it's the start.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

And I love that your team is willing to provide support. I was really glad when we had our orientation where they walk through protocols, but really just answering questions around what that experience might look like. Again, for a first-year kind of experience, people may have some trepidation around going into the classroom. But I think your team has done a really good job, in my opinion, in asaging those fears or qualms that they might have about not being prepared and really allowing them to feel super comfortable and know that it's a safe environment, that they're able to just talk about and lead and really an activity, which I love to get hands-on and to have the kids um more engaged and able to help process what you're sharing with them. So it's not just to stand and deliver. I think my team would agree some of the activities were some of the best parts. Um, share a little more about the activity and the onboarding and some of those roles.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Well, unlike most nonprofit talk, we try to run like a company. So we have recruiters. Our corporate recruiters are out there talking to prospective companies and partners to come into the program. So we then, once we you say yes to us, which is the biggest hurdle, we lean in from the orientation and training that we do to the matching with your teacher and supporting the teacher and the team in that communication to identifying a team lead who really helps the rest of the team come along. And then to assigning a staff member that is with you for the rest of your journey with us. And to make it even more effective, they're with every mentor team in the exact school you are in. So they know the teachers, they know the administration, they know when you have a snow day. Yes. And they then can inform you so that you're not out trying to seek those answers. We always say if you at the end of the year had a hurdle that didn't get solved, the only issue you had was you didn't reach out. Because that's our job. Our 5,000 plus volunteers have jobs. That's why they're mentoring in our program. They're showcasing those jobs. And what we want is to make it as easy as possible. Our teachers have full-time roles already. So this should be value add for the company, for the individual mentor, and for the teachers in school. We do the heavy lift behind the scenes.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

And I would imagine too, I know chronic absenteeism is such an issue with school districts across the footprint, not just in one particular area. Um, I have to imagine that by engaging these youth that you're seeing stronger returns with better attendance, improved academic outcomes. What are some of those things that you're tracking? This once again, as everyone who listens knows, I'm a big data nerd. So feel free to dump some knowledge on us right now, Sonia.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

Well, you've set me up for one of the most exciting things that is to come. Uh, adopt a class has long known anecdotally our impact. But we really want to be able to quantify that. And those are hard numbers to get in our state because it means tracking students beyond high school. Our program is a K-8 program. So we have four years' gap to be even be begin to see that impact post-high school. UC stepped up in a again in a big way. Our same researcher stepped up and he has designed a 12-year longitudinal study. Oh, wow. Where we have gone back and identified the students who were fifth graders in 2022-23 in our program, where they are today as eighth graders. And that research will now start tracking them through high school with touch points of their GPA every year, their attendance every year, any pathway programs they enter for quantifiable data, also their persistence and graduation rates. We also have the quality data that we're interviewing them to understand both quantifiable data, but also what does qualify qualitative data tell us about where those students are going? And in the state of Ohio now, through Ohio Excels and the Ohio Department of Education workforce, if they enter a post-high school pathway that is tracked by the state, we'll be able to get that data and see do our students persist through two and four-year experiences at a higher rate than the general population. So we're excited to partner on that research. We're excited to mimic that research on this side of the river. Please do. Be able to show it in northern Kentucky as well. Yes. Um, one of the opportunities we now have is we now have districts here in northern Kentucky that have K-8 full programming. So every year, students have a mentor company assigned to them across Ludlow. We're growing that opportunity here in Covington with two elementary schools. Now we're in homes through eighth grade. So as we grow the opportunities here to match all classrooms across the river cities and in Boone County, we grow the opportunity to research the impact. We're really excited to lean into that with all of our funders here in Northern Kentucky that have not only said they'd step up for a year, they've said they'd step up for five continuous years. Because we know one year funding is so um so beneficial, but I really need to know year over year I can sustain and grow as we add the teams. So we've had, you know, come organizations like the Durr Foundation and Elsa Seoul Foundation, but also, well, and certainly educate NKY and PNKY and so many others, the Butler Foundation, but we've also had St. Elizabeth step up. So it's come both from corporate and from foundations to allow us to be successful in this longitudinal growth that's happening here in northern Kentucky.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

Well, I'll be excited to dig into those data when they are available for our side of the river. I think it would be interesting to see if certain exposures to different careers translate into pathways being selected, which I'm sure it would be part of the magic sauce that is the adopt a class way. Um, I would love to hear from you, and I know our listeners too. What are some of the um barriers that you see emerging now? Or maybe they are longstanding when you have youth who are participating in the program. Are you seeing trends? Are you hearing from adopters or the educators this is something that we need to keep our eye on? Um, I mentioned chronic absenteeism, perhaps it's asthma-related issues or mental health issues, or whatever that might be. What are you hearing in terms of trends that um the students who are partnering with you, um, you're hearing that they're facing some of these barriers?

SPEAKER_01 21:14

I think most people know students from underserved communities, and that definition for us is 51% or more students qualify for free and reduced lunch. Those are the schools we serve. What research would tell you is that they have about a 10-block radius that gives the influence of what they can become post-high school. So breaking that barrier down to see so many other opportunities is critical. But we also know they carry that backpack that is invisible, that has so many barriers to them being able to access the same pathways that all students should have access to. I think the biggest thing that we try to lean into, though, with our mentors is to look at students every day and say you're valued, you're worthy, you're capable. And we can't wait to see what you're going to be. Because we certainly lean into industry pathways and career pathways and have students understand all the opportunities. But if they don't believe in themselves and they can't see themselves in those careers, then all the opportunity that's laid out in front of them is for nothing. So the mentorship piece of the program is so critical. On the flip side, what really excites me from a research perspective is I just reviewed this morning our end-of-year data from this year. 93% of our mentors say they better understand barriers for students in the schools we serve as a result of mentoring in our program. Fascinating. So not only are we opening windows and doors for students and letting them see an outside world they're not typically seeing in their communities, we allow our mentors to see into their world. And when we understand people, we do better for them. So giving both sides of the opportunity for students to learn from the mentors and the volunteers in the classroom, but also for our mentors who are our voters, who are our donors, who are volunteering in other ways across northern Kentucky to have a glimpse into the everyday life that they're impacting is so positive and a benefit that often people don't think about with our program.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

Well, and it gives the youth hope and engagement and moving towards well-being. I know in my uh work prior to Horizon Community Foundation at the Northern Kentucky Education Council, we talked a lot about that hope being a solid predictor of future success, even more so than your GPA or an ACT score, which kind of blew my mind when I heard that information. But giving those youth hope, um, maybe as a just a glimpse during that week when you have an adopter come in. And now to hear that these attitudes are changing for the volunteers, the mentors as well. I mean, to me, this seems like the cradle to what we hope society would be. And that gets me really excited to hear about that. And um, really quickly, speaking on hope, what brings you hope for the community?

SPEAKER_01 24:14

What brings me hope in northern Kentucky is how I have watched partnerships form across northern Kentucky. The One NKY Center certainly is a pivotal step in those partnerships coming under one roof, but also funders seeing the opportunity to stand behind those initiatives. And there is such an energy to re-retrans, you know, transform Northern Kentucky into a place where you want to live, work, and play. And give back. We like to add that too. And I think when those things all come together, it gives me hope that not only are we impacting today's workforce in the ways I mentioned through volunteerism, we're impacting tomorrow's future Northern Kentucky leaders. We're creating the opportunity for them to lead in a way that maybe surely we don't even envision today. Yes. They're gonna see a vision for Northern Kentucky in the next 50 and 100 years that we can't dream today because we've allowed them to dream about what's possible.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

I get so excited when I hear you talking like this. Well, I am so grateful for you joining us here today. Again, Sonia. Uh, for those who might want to join up, uh, where would you suggest that they go just to give a plug to adopt a class if they'd like to volunteer?

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Well, you can certainly just visit our website at aacmentors.org. You can also email us at beamentor atacmentors.org. Certainly just also Google search us, you'll find us really quickly, or just ask a colleague. Yes, because I'm so proud that today, when you say, Do you know adopt a class? The answer is almost always yes. Yes. So reach out to us. We say all the time, all you have to do is say yes. We take it from there, and you're about to have the best year you've had because it's fun. Who can't like being on a floor making marshmallow and toothpick towers and giving grants to go pantry because students have seen the worth and said we want to give back in our community. So a shout out to your team, Nancy, for doing the grant process and for Go Pantry being the recipient. That's full circle for Northern Kentucky.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

Well, in teaching youth that they can be philanthropists too. I often say when I'm um closing a speech or a keynote address that I encourage folks to consider running for office, which I know scares most people when they hear that. Uh, serving on a board, which maybe doesn't seem quite as difficult. Um, and then I also rap with mentor a child. So I think adopt a class is such an easy way to plug in. Uh, we're grateful for your partnership over the years, and we can't wait to see the impact that you cause for decades to come. Thank you so much, Nancy, for having me. It's a real privilege to be here. Thank you, Sonia. And this is Nancy Grayson. Until next time, this is Common Good for the Commonwealth.