OuttaDeeBox Podcast
OuttaDeeBox podcast is a pre-recorded bi weekly show geared towards supporting former and current inmates and their families in Wisconsin. Our mission is to inform listeners about community resources that can assist them in securing employment opportunities, housing, mental health and substance abuse support, with the goal of reducing recidivism in Wisconsin. We also give listeners and guests the opportunity to share their unique inspirational stories through spoken word and other forms of musical artistry.
OuttaDeeBox Podcast
Education in Crisis: How Community Can Fill the Gap When Federal Funding Fails
The sudden termination of AmeriCorps funding has sent ripples through communities nationwide, leaving successful educational programs scrambling and vulnerable students without critical support. In this candid conversation with Renee Moe, President and CEO of United Way of Dane County, we explore the real-world impact of this abrupt policy decision and the community response taking shape.
For 27 years, United Way's Schools of Hope and Achievement Connections programs provided essential tutoring services to students across Dane County. These weren't just academic interventions—they were relationship-building opportunities that improved attendance, boosted confidence, and created meaningful connections between students and caring adults. When the funding was cut without warning, these relationships were severed just weeks before final exams, leaving tutors and students in limbo.
The conversation delves into powerful personal experiences, including host Dee Star's childhood relationship with a tutor who became a significant figure. These stories highlight what policy decisions often overlook: the human connections that make educational interventions effective. Renee explains, "One of the benefits of these programs was having consistent, caring adults who showed up every week for kids."
While Wisconsin has joined 25 other states in legal action against this funding decision, United Way isn't waiting for court resolutions. They're mobilizing community resources—seeking donations, partnerships with businesses and foundations, and volunteer power—to rebuild these critical programs without federal support. The goal remains unchanged: ensuring every child has what they need to succeed academically while nurturing their confidence and sense of belonging.
Want to be part of the solution? Visit UnitedWayDaneCo.org to learn how to support these vital educational programs through donations or volunteering. Renee reminds us that we must be "lovers and fighters"—nurturing our community's children while advocating for the resources they need to thrive.
What's up everybody. This is your host, Dee Star, here with Renee Mo. Renee Mo, Hello, how you doing.
Speaker 2:I'm great, dee, thanks for having me here.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. For the people that don't know you, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Speaker 2:Sure, I am a Dane County resident mom of two and president and CEO of United Way of Dane County. And an awesome person. Aww, I learned it from you-Star. You're pretty awesome yourself.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you, I appreciate it. I do my best.
Speaker 2:Yes, you do every day.
Speaker 1:So AmeriCorps has lost their funding? The official position of the government is they have failed eight consecutive audits and identified over $45 million in improper payments in 2024 alone, and for those reasons stated, this administration has opted to pull the funding from AmeriCorps. Correct?
Speaker 2:That is what has been reported.
Speaker 1:That's what's been reported, right? People have their own thoughts and reasons of why things have happened, but that's their position. Before I get into it, because I love to hear both sides of the story, if the United Way failed eight consecutive audits and lost $48 million in money that's unaccounted for, what do you think would be the future of the United Way?
Speaker 2:Well, let me just state that it's never happened and that would not happen. But any organization that fails audits and doesn't deliver results should have consequences, including coaching to make sure that results can be achieved, and if they still aren't, then that funding should be pulled, because accountability for change in the community fiduciary responsibility for tax dollars or philanthropic dollars does require administration to have great outcomes. That is the point.
Speaker 1:I try to look at things from you know both sides of the spectrum. It's like you know what's good is what's good for the goose is good for the gander also. But with that said is, like you said, consequences and the consequences behind that situation. We have a lot of struggling people, and not only just in our community but around the country. So the first thing I wanted to ask you was what is the United Way's purpose in this community?
Speaker 2:I'd love to explain that. Let me back up, though. First because I think that I have not seen the federal audits of AmeriCorps as the whole service program. I do know that our AmeriCorps programs delivered high fidelity, great results for 27 years plus. So I just want to say also I love that you're talking about balanced information, because we absolutely need that, and those big numbers and those figures about failing audits and wasted dollars. I think that that also needs a little bit more transparency in terms of what that looks like and where those numbers came from.
Speaker 2:So, I just want to say that first.
Speaker 2:I also want to say that United Way's role in the community is really about mobilizing people's caring power to create measurable results.
Speaker 2:So we're trying to make lives better for people.
Speaker 2:And when you're thinking about what does United Way do, we're trying to help the community understand what are the issues that need to get solved, and we do that by talking to people who are experiencing less than ideal quality of life.
Speaker 2:We're looking at data and research and we're really staying close to all the key stakeholders who are working on really hard issues like making sure that more kids are successful, making sure families are healthy and, overall, making sure there's a great quality of life. And then we're helping to make sure that, if people understand the real issues that are happening in our community, what can we do about them? How do we work together to co-create solutions to actually respond? And then how do we make sure because we are philanthropic, that every dollar is used to be able to get to, hopefully, whatever that ideal outcome is either testing new ideas, new collaborations or investing in things that are working really well for people. So the role of United Way is really about helping to bring to light what are issues that people are experiencing and mobilizing more people to help solve those issues.
Speaker 1:United Way's Achievement Connection Program uses AmeriCorps members as tutors in local schools. How did this partnership begin and what impact have you seen?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So AmeriCorps was a federal program which was really trying to build service, helping usually young people, sometimes mid-careers, sometimes retirees, get involved in service to the country. There was a conservation corps, a volunteer corps, and for us we were in the program around grants that helped with community projects and specifically around poverty eradication is kind of how they were, you know, bucketed, and so United Way only received 4% federal funding. Most of that was AmeriCorps. Most of our money is private dollars. And how these programs came about was almost three decades ago. We saw, and it was the newspaper, actually the Wisconsin State Journal and Channel 3000, who were reporting and they were saying, hey, our third graders aren't reading. We know kids learn to read until third grade.
Speaker 2:After third grade they read to learn. How do we as a community come together to support our students? And so United Way was asked to convene that group and we worked with the School of Education at UW-Madison to look at the data. We ran a number of parent and teacher engagement groups and a lot of parents were saying, hey, if our schools were more welcoming to our children and doing a more direct, culturally competent job teaching our kids, they'd be doing better. And you had a lot of folks in the community saying, well, if parents and if households were stronger, kids would start school stronger. And so there was a lot of discord, like there is today, but everybody agreed we want our kids to be doing better.
Speaker 2:And specifically around reading, we found that the school district had been spending millions of dollars on different programs, but what actually would help with reading specifically was reading one-on-one or one-on-two with tutoring, and we would do that in concert with the teacher in the school.
Speaker 2:And a lot of that research came from UW, as I said. So the program came about because we said, okay, we looked at all this research, we listened to all the stakeholders who are most directly impacted and we're going to design a strategy to put tutor coordinators in our schools with the highest ability to grow in academic success and then those tutor coordinators would be a bridge between the school and the community. And those tutor coordinators would allow us to recruit volunteer tutors, would train them, background check and make sure that they had the resources they needed to be successful supporting students and teachers in the school building in the school day. So that's how the partnership began. United Way wrote the AmeriCorps grant because we thought that would be a very cost-effective way to actually deliver that strategy across the schools across Dane County where we were partnering.
Speaker 1:How has the sudden loss of AmeriCorps funding affected the Schools of Hope and Achievement Connections program in Dane County?
Speaker 2:Well, it was a very abrupt loss, right? So you know, one of your questions previously was about accountability, and we know that measuring and doing assessments of the literacy program, which was Schools of Hope, and then the program that was built about 15 years later, achievement Connections, which was about tutoring math in schools, which again is more around critical thinking and graduation rates. You know, to have that abruptly ended meant that the you know, two dozen or so AmeriCorps members we had 14 in America in Schools of Hope, 13 in AmeriCorps, 27 AmeriCorps members just had to stop their service and so we were able to, at United Way, continue on their work another week or so, because we wanted them to have a chance to close out with their schools as well as to have some closure for themselves. Right, it was a very abrupt ending. It came through an email and so all of a sudden, these programs just stopped. We're able to work with the schools and some of the schools were able to allow some of the AmeriCorps workers to continue to volunteer as tutors and tutor coordinators throughout the end of the school year. Some schools did that, some schools weren't able to do that, but it just is a very jarring sort of an end to a very effective tutoring program. I mean, that's what we had to do was just kind of close that up really quickly. And now what we're doing is the grant that was cut was $650,000.
Speaker 2:And so we've asked the community to fundraise and help us support whatever the next iteration of Schools of Hope and AmeriCorps Achievement Connections tutoring will be. It obviously won't be an AmeriCorps program but, working in partnership with the school districts, who are a really critical partner, we're going to try to figure out what can the community continue to do to support our students and teachers going forward. At United Way we're really focused on academic success and family well-being and we know that for kids to be successful we need their caregivers to be successful. So on one part of our work we're working on things like housing and increasing incomes and providing health care and support and for the kids we're making sure that they're having health, well-being, academic success. So those things all go together. So in these programs we're going to continue to figure out what are the best ways that we can continue to support youth while we continue to do the rest of the work to lift up whole families.
Speaker 1:So are there alternative funding sources or partnerships? United Way is exploring to continue these tutoring programs.
Speaker 2:Yes, so we can look to individual donors, like we're doing through a mini campaign helping to build awareness and allowing people to go to our website to give. We can also partner with private foundations or our business partners who are interested in education and who might be investing. One of the things that we're still in the middle of is figuring out with the school districts what programs will look like going forward. So when we started 27 years ago, school districts obviously were very different. They had different resources and different school day structures, and so we want to make sure we're doing that in concert with our school district partners, most of all, centering what our kids need and what our families need.
Speaker 2:But AmeriCorps was really a strategy to support the goal of advancing academic success, so we still have the same goals of advancing academic success, but how we do that is going to look different. So that's what we're building right now and what we're raising funds for, and when we get a little bit more clarity from the district partners in terms of how we can best support, then we'll have even more ability to be much more precise around saying, okay, this is the strategy we want to advance and find the individuals and donors who might be interested in investing in that and moving that forward. But there are a lot of people who care about education, a lot of people who care about youth and many people who understand how effective tutoring is, and for us it was a very low-cost, high-outcome program because we were able to use AmeriCorps tutors. So I think that there are some creative ways we can figure out how to continue to support tutoring in our community.
Speaker 1:How can the community members and local organizations assist in sustaining these educational initiatives during this transitional period?
Speaker 2:Yes, Well, the most direct invitation is to give financially to support really effective programs, and so, whether that is United Way or other amazing organizations serving youth, I think dollars help organizations who have expertise and how to deliver great services to do that most effectively.
Speaker 2:I think the second thing is to continue to stay engaged and aware about what is going on and be a mentor or be a tutor yourself.
Speaker 2:So, again, there are lots of organizations who are working with mentorship and youth support and by giving and volunteering and being aware of what the issues are, we need the community to activate, to continue to support our students. One of the benefits of the Schools of Hope and Achievement Connections programs was having consistent, caring adults who showed up every week for kids. We saw attendance improve on the days that tutors were there. We saw reported feelings of self-confidence improve, in addition to math and reading successes. So you know, we know the program was very effective and it was that adult connectivity which was also very, very motivating and supportive for students. And so those would be the three ways I would say that people could most help Give financially show up for kids in ways that you can tutor and mentor and also advocate on behalf of youth in all the places where we can continue to make change, whether that's in policy, in federal, state or local funding, or giving philanthropically, to make sure that great services that are there for kids continue to be robust.
Speaker 1:So 26 states have put in a lawsuit for this abrupt ending of this funding. I was trying to find a list of those states and I think I did, but I'm not 100% sure. But I did not see Wisconsin on that list.
Speaker 2:Wisconsin is on that list.
Speaker 1:Okay, so it is on the list. I've seen it's like a couple of different lists and it's on the list. I've seen it's like a couple of different lists and it's not really like. You know, clear, you know.
Speaker 2:I think some states were joining on also. So I do know that Governor Tony Evers sent out a press release saying that Wisconsin had joined on.
Speaker 1:What do you think about that?
Speaker 2:I think that there are a lot of lawsuits right now. I think there are a lot of changes that are going on. It's not just education and AmeriCorps programs, it is also food programs, healthcare, head Start you know, just across the gamut of social service provision that the government has provided. I think a lot of those things are being unwound and I think there are a lot of suits going on. So I'm not holding my breath that AmeriCorps is going to come back.
Speaker 2:You know, if it does, that would be amazing and we still, I think, have the opportunity to be innovative in how we support youth. So these discussions, I think, are very worthwhile because the environment has changed, the economy is changing, youth do need different things and we can deliver them, hopefully even more effectively, as we always do. That said, I think that the court cases are going to take a while to get figured out, and so I think, with all of the length of time it takes to do a good job in the justice system and all of the you know again just upheaval that people are working through, we're going to stay focused on kids today and what they need today in our community and continue to do that work, and we'll pay attention to what's going on in the federal environment and in the justice system, but meanwhile we can't wait for that, because our kids need us today.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I always say that, yeah, you should trust your government to a certain extent and you should rely on your government to a certain extent. If you think that one president or another or one governor or another is going to change your life for the good or the better, you're looking at it all wrong. You should look to yourself and, yeah, there's changes in the community, but we are the community. So if we want to see changes in the community, but we are the community. So if we want to see changes in the community, we have to be the change that we want to see in the community first. So, no matter what you know this administration does or the next one does, it shouldn't matter and it shouldn't affect our morals and our values moving forward. A lot of the times we feel like it's hard for me to speak about it because, like I said, I went through childhood homelessness and programs like this really actually did help me and help my family.
Speaker 1:And I did have a tutor when I was in school. I can't just imagine like I built a bond with that tutor. You know we had, I had the tutor for like two years and so we became very close and I can't I just can't imagine one day. Just this tutor is just telling me my tutor, mr Scott, shout out to Mr Scott hey, I can't be a tutor no more. You know, and that's it. You know what I mean? Because it was like they didn't even want him to go back to work that day. Right, right.
Speaker 1:So, all of the things that they were working on, all of the conversations, the bonds that they built, the trust, you know, helping these kids get through what they need to get through.
Speaker 1:just cut short like that, I don't think that that was the right approach, be honest, and I don't like even putting my personal opinions on there, but it hits home to me because, like I said, I had that tutor for two years and it's like man, that's, that's hard.
Speaker 1:You know, that'd be a hard thing for me to wrap my head around. And now I'm thinking about second and third and fourth grade kids losing their tutor, because a lot of the times when people don't understand, not everybody has a strong male figure at home or a strong motherly figure at home. So a lot of the times these tutors are more than just a tutor. They're trusted adults in their life that they look forward to seeing you know and to have them snatch that away from them. And then you know some, like you said, some of the schools didn't let them come back for whatever reason. You know, maybe their hands was tied and they couldn't come back. So that hurts because then it's not like the tutor can reach out to that child like outside of the school premise and stuff like that. It can't connect with the child anymore. So it's like that's tough.
Speaker 2:You just said so much in there and I think your personal experience does matter, because that is exactly what this means in our communities. Right, those personal individual experiences, and I'm with you. Right, those personal individual experiences, and I'm with you. I do think that building that sense of independence and autonomy and taking care of ourselves and taking care of our families is really important, and there are a lot of services that help make that a ladder up for so many families. And it's when those ladders are kicked out without you know another slope or an on-ramp somewhere else, that the disruption creates a lot more. You know a steeper hill to climb, and so you know. I think what you just said was really, really powerful, and that's precisely what we're trying to help smooth out some of those bumps and continue to keep community connected with our kids, because we do know it matters, it matters a lot and it shows up in the results too kids, because we do know it matters.
Speaker 1:It matters a lot and it shows up in the results too. So how did you feel when you received that email saying that the funding was terminated? How did you feel? Because? Did you feel scared? Did it put you in like war mode? Like, okay, I got to figure this out. I know how you are. You're like you got a million solutions.
Speaker 2:You know you go into okay, that's a problem, let's fix it. Yeah, I mean it's, it's. It's still a kick in the gut. Right, it still is, because mid April we saw the news that about 75% of the staff in DC had been dismissed, and so I kind of had my antenna up that something was coming, and so it's a kick in the gut because the reality is there. But you're right, right, kind of thinking through the problem solving. So who do we need to talk to? What does this mean? I do kind of go into problem solving mode. You know, I've got a t-shirt from my martial arts school that says I'm a lover and a fighter, and so I think that's a good description because you know your immediate mind goes to.
Speaker 2:Let's love on the people who are going to be most affected right, and figure out how do we make sure that they know that you know we're not giving up. This isn't just going away. We're going to figure out what's next but also the fight. Part of you know what are we doing to make sure that people understand the impact and gravity of what happens with the losses and then to help activate people to help, step in to help. So that's where we are right now is just figuring out those next steps. The school year is ending in MMSD. Specifically, their last day of school is June 11th. A lot of these tutors went out right before finals. You know when kids are stressed.
Speaker 1:They need it the most, yeah.
Speaker 2:And they're trying to, you know, finish their assignments if they're a little bit behind and, like you said, that trusted adult to say, hey, you got this, breathe, let's do this. You know, let's finish this work to get those grades up. You know all of those things. So it was great that some schools were able to continue tutoring and the school also has tutors and other programs too that are going on. It's not just these but, you know, still figuring out how do you smooth that out. But then to really come around the table and to say, okay, let's be ready for summer school, for the new fall school year, and what are we doing with out-of-school time? You know there are a lot of community centers, neighborhood centers.
Speaker 2:I know that we were in some discussions with OneCity and Goodman trying to figure out some new creative ways to help provide tutoring. So those conversations are continuing and that work will continue. But yeah, that's never a good feeling, but it was. Also, you know you could see the dominoes falling around on other programs and you know we're going to see what's real right, what sticks, what comes back, what gets changed. But meanwhile we know what's most important and we know what works and what doesn't, and so we're going to continue to innovate and figure out what those are and make sure our kids have what they need.
Speaker 1:What is the United Way's long-term strategy to ensure the community of educational support programs like Schools of Hope and Achievement Connections?
Speaker 2:Yes, so we have a youth opportunity strategy and it is one of the pillars of what we call our plan for community well-being community well-being so part of United Way's coordinated approach and how to help people know what the problems are and how to help respond in solving them is to make sure that we have, like I said earlier, listening to the community smart strategies and then we're investing in those strategies through dollars that we're able to raise from the community, as well as volunteer power and advocacy. And so, within our academic success portfolio, we want to make sure that children have support with academic success, like programs like tutoring, that parents are able to feel engaged in their kids' learning and have connections to schools.
Speaker 2:And we also have a number of other strategies that help to build in social-emotional support. So, especially with, you know, so much mental health stress going on in the world, so helping kids get the support they need there so that their academics can be even more successful. So we have a number of strategies. They're on the website. You can look up United Way of Dane County, youth Opportunity and see what we're trying to address and how we're trying to address it. So we'll keep going on those strategies.
Speaker 2:Like I said earlier, schools of Hope and Achievement Connections were a strategy to support how we were going to continue to advance academic success. So we will continue in those other strategies to make sure that every child has what they need to be successful and we won't stop until that happens. We know that's a very big, lofty goal. We're trying to get more kids reading by third grade, graduating from high school. We know that there's a better chance for higher incomes and better work-life success beyond that, all while we nurture and love and meet kids where they are and help build that sense of confidence and belonging and support. So we'll keep doing those things. The programs might look different but we'll keep showing up for our kids and their parents and their caregivers, to help our whole community rise.
Speaker 1:The United Way has been around for over a hundred years. They've been trusted for over a hundred years. They have an impeccable reputation and an absolute genius. Ceo.
Speaker 2:I learned from our community. I have lots of great mentors.
Speaker 1:Support, support, support. Let's be lovers and fighters.
Speaker 2:Always, every day.
Speaker 1:Renee, thank you so much for coming by the program. We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Oh, dee, thanks so much, and thanks to everybody who listened. Thank you for being one of the ones who cares and who makes life better for our community.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I'm Dee Star Until next time, guys.
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