When it comes to the opioid crisis in Ohio, we often see and hear the devastating stories and destructive effects of drug abuse.
What often gets ignored are the stories of those who had the courage and strength to create a new future for themselves.
The co-owner and butcher at Weiland’s Market in Clintonville is sharing his recovery story to encourage others struggling with drug abuse to do the same.
There is still so much stigma attached to women’s mental health. A Columbus-based author is helping women with their mental health through coaching, advocacy work and writing.
For more than 10 years, the Reeb Center, a community hub in south Columbus, has been providing residents with social services, resources and community events.
The center recently welcome a new executive director who has been working in public service and nonprofits for more than 15 years.
We're meeting all three during this week's Fascinating Ohio.
Guests:
- Daniel Phillips, owner, Weiland's Market
- Achea Redd, author/mental health advocate
- Karim Jackson, executive director, Reeb Center
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Transcript
This transcript is generated with AI. To ensure its accuracy, review the audio file.
Amy Juravich: Welcome to All Sides with Amy Juravich. This is Fascinating Ohio, a show from All Sides in WOSU where we introduce you to people from the Buckeye State with an interesting story to tell. Amidst the opioid crisis, Ohio is disproportionately exposed to the dangerous and destructive side of drug abuse. What's easy to forget are the stories of those who have overcome their addictions, creating a healthier future.
After a long journey in recovery, Daniel Phillips joined Weiland's Market in 2014 as a butcher and has since worked his way up to co-owner. He recently shared his story in the Columbus Monthly Magazine in an essay titled, "Clean, the Point Where Life Ruled by Addiction Stops and Another Begins," and he joins us today. Welcome to All Sides, Daniel.
Daniel Phillips: Thank you for having me.
Amy Juravich: So it's been about two years since you became the co-owner of Weiland's Market in Clintonville. Congratulations on being co-owner. Thank you. Yeah. What was your journey like moving up the ranks at the market? I mean, tell me all the different roles you had.
Daniel Phillips: Um, so when I started, I had worked in kitchens for a really long time. Uh, I hadn't really done any meat processing except just a little bit in kitchens, cutting steaks. Um, and I just wanted to try it. I wanted to learn how to make sausage, learn that end of the industry. So I took just an entry level position at Weiland's, um, doing the grinds, making sausage, making burger patties and that's all I was really interested in doing at the time was just learning this new thing.
Juravich: Were you like a butcher apprentice?
Phillips: I was so typically we have like the meat cutters and they're the ones that cut the pork chops and the steaks and the roasts and all that and then sort of the production workers which is where everyone starts and actually even if we hire a butcher with 20 years of experience they start on production they do the grinds and that's what I was doing so they you take all the trim from the the steaks and from the porkchops and the pork roast saw that. And you turn it into ground beef or sausage. So I try not to make it seem like it's a lesser position because I think it does take as much skill as meat cutting but it's definitely, you're kind of on the bottom.
And then I think I pretty quickly realized that Weiland's was a special place that I wanted to stay at. I didn't know when I was in restaurants, I kind of bounced around a little bit. And I thought, okay, I'll do a year here and then see what I wanna do. And within that first year, I think I knew that I wanna stay here. This is what I want to do. And I don't think I had any sort of ambitions or delusions or anything else of I'm going to be able to rise like to the position that I'm in now wasn't really on my mind, but... Just sort of I think Weiland's has a dedication to its customers.
The owners at the time, Scott and Jennifer, had a dedication to their employees. The people there had a dedicated to the product and to the customers. And that I hadn't really seen that a lot at a lot of places that I worked. And so I kind of automatically knew I wanted to be there and I was just lucky enough to now be in a position where I can be there more or just be in a different role.
Juravich: Yeah and by be there more a different role you're a co-owner now so I how when did that come into focus for you where you were like oh I can you know I can own a part of this
Phillips: So Scott Bowman and Jennifer Williams, and it was, Weiland's was started by John Williams in 1961. Jennifer is his daughter. Her and her husband took it over. They owned it for, I want to say like 12 or 14 years. I eventually became the meat manager, meat and seafood manager, and then kind of at the same time. Another employee, Andy Russell, who started in produce the same way I started doing grinds, he started just stocking produce.
Juravich: So you love the meat, he loves the veggies. Exactly, yeah. So he was.
Phillips: Busy kind of working his way up, even if maybe accidentally like me, to where he was grocery produce manager, Scott and Jennifer decided they wanted to retire.
Juravich: Don't as they're allowed to do as they are allowed to and they have definitely earned as they they
Phillips: This would be a much longer show if I talked about all the things they did and the improvements they made.
Juravich: We'll do another show on them. Yeah, we'll do you today.
Phillips: But they put in their time, they made the store what it is, they wanted to retire. And it's kind of the situation they were in, they could probably sell it. And I'm sure someone would pay a lot of money to either turn it into a different store or you get investors from the outside that are going to try to maximize how much money they can make and not really care about the ethos of the store. There are probably some exceptions, but I can't really think of any. Um, or they could keep it in house, essentially. And so they decided to, to sell it to me and Andy to kind of preserve the legacy.
Juravich: This is Fascinating Ohio from All Sides on 89.7 NPR News. And we're talking with one of the co-owners of Weiland's Market, Daniel Phillips. And we are talking about his addiction recovery journey and his journey from being a butcher there to now a grocery store owner. So you recently wrote this essay for Columbus Monthly Magazine. It's quite emotional, also inspiring. It's called "Clean, the Point Where Life Ruled by Addiction Stops and Another Begins." Why did you decide to write this and share your story?
Phillips: Um I wrote it under duress. Someone convinced me to write it. Jill Morehead, who's also a writer for Columbus Monthly, who works with Weiland's Market. She encouraged me to right it. I didn't really want to, but I kind of begrudgingly did. And that's, I don't like talking about myself. I'm not ashamed of where I've been in my life, It's not like I, you know, I can't dredge up this deep, dark stuff, but I think there's just so many more interesting things to talk about than talk about myself, and so I don't really like doing it.
Juravich: Well, thank you for coming outside of your comfort zone. I'm sure you're doing this right now.
Phillips: It is uncomfortable, but it's also if I have the opportunity, I have to admit to the fact that I'm in a unique position to maybe give hope to some people that have dealt with addiction or some family members. I feel like everyone at least has loved someone that's dealt with addiction. So I kind of have to suck it up and try to do what I can to maybe give them a little bit of hope.
Juravich: Yeah, so you talk in the piece about why you're writing this and you hope that others can gain from your story, both users and non-users. I mean, what do you hope you want to teach someone that they can become a butcher someday?
Phillips: That it's messy, that it's now, and I think I mentioned it in the article, if people are waiting for rock bottom, there is no rock bottom. It can always get worse just like it can always get better. It's not, you might not wake up one day filled with this conviction that you're gonna turn your life around by God and then everything is different. And then even if you do have that moment or when you do get to the point where you wanna fix things. There's a lot of people that don't trust you. You have messed up relationships. You possibly have a criminal record. It could be hard to find a job. All these things.
So even when you get to the point where maybe you feel internally, I wanna do this forever. I don't ever wanna do that again. I can't do that, again. It's a slog. It's not, and it's not a straight line. I mentioned in the article that I've relapsed. Several times. And every time I got clean, I thought I was going to stay clean. And every time, I relapsed, I'd thought I wasn't going to say out there until I died. And that could be a week, a month, or maybe I just used until I'm old and then I die. I don't know. But it's not, and that's sort of the thing with the article or whether it's for me with Weiland's or for work in general with labor. With meat cutting where it is very exact in a lot of ways. This is right, this is wrong, this is how you do it, this not how you it.
And I think the journey through recovery is not really like that. It's not, things are so much less clear in life in general especially in trying to get clean. And so I guess... If I want to say anything, it's that it's going to be messy. And if someone fails, that doesn't mean that they're going to fail forever. But there's always the chance. Everyone that is using has the chance to at least try to get better.
And I don't, and I want to kind of erase the line between me as I sit here and I've, I guess, done something with my life, you could say. And then there's someone that is in active addiction right now that doesn't have a job and is maybe stealing, that is sticking needles in their arm every day. And there is only a chronological difference between those two people. And... It's important to remember that they also have a chance.
Juravich: In your essay, you speak a lot about your recovery journey. You talk about relapsing, as you mentioned, but you joined Weiland's right around 2014, and it's right around a time when you became clean and stayed clean. Did the market impact that? I mean, did the market impact that journey into stay drug-free?
Phillips: I think that work has always been important to me. If I'm putting myself into something, it's highly gratifying and it feels purposeful. It feels meaningful. And then especially in something like Weiland's or customer service in general, you're working for a paycheck, but you're also working. To do something that has nothing to do with you. You're giving this service, you're doing this for the customers and you're interacting with them. And I think that that does help give purpose, meaning, I don't know what, I don't wanna.
Juravich: Yeah, in the piece, you also talk about times whenever you were out of money, you had no place to stay, and you were you talk about being truly hungry, right? You didn't have food. You were being you were truly hungry. Is that hunger connected to picking a grocery store career?
Phillips: Yeah, and I always worked in kitchens too, and I think there's, with something like food, and it's probably true of other things, there's like the abstract idea of it. And I've done some fine dining where you start to get into the abstract concepts of food and flavor profiles and what makes something balanced, enjoyable. And it's kind of, there have been books written about it and people get really, really minute. And I can get really minute when I'm cooking or when I am cutting and you don't cut like this, you cut like, and I know it seems like it's exactly the same thing, but it's not.
And then there's the literal, the literal food, the literal putting food in your body so that you don't die. And they are, and the abstract comes from that. And I think, I do think it gives me, a certain appreciation for food because I put food in my body so that I didn't die. And I don't recommend anyone seeking out that experience. But it does remind you that this is something to nourish you. It nourishes on a deeper level, I think, than people realize.
And it also makes the idea of people sharing meals together, providing food for people to cook. And come together to eat it and enjoy it together. The fact that we can get past the eating foods so that we don't die. And now it can turn into this communal social, this intimate thing between people when they can eat together.
Juravich: Well, and I think it connects nicely for you working at a neighborhood grocery store rather than because you could be a butcher at a Kroger or a Giant Eagle or whatever, but you're you're at Weiland's, right? So I wanted to just before we run out of time, talk about your plans for the future of Weiland's. I mean, as an owner, do you have future plans for the market? Are you going to keep things pretty much the same because it's because it has been working? Tell me more about your plan for Weiland's
Phillips: Weiland's has always, I don't think it's gone through a lot of really big changes. It changes incrementally, I think will continue to change incrementally. I think Scott and Jennifer were really good about making these small decisions that over time added up into just a nicer experience. And we will keep doing that if something big comes along and we think customers are gonna benefit, we'll do it. But for now, it's just keep the customers happy and the ball rolling.
Juravich: How does it feel working at a small, independently owned market, you know, whenever there's the Kroger's and Walmarts of the world?
Phillips: It feels great, it's very rare, and I've always been so proud to work at Weiland's, to be a part of Weiland's and I still feel when I think about how proud I am, I don't think I'm so proud to own Weiland's. I think I am proud to be at Weiland's, to work in Weiland's it's just, it's a very, very unique place. And I've also always said I don't want to work in a grocery store, I want to work at Weiland's.
Juravich: Okay, what's your pitch for people listening right now? Why should they try try a Weiland's instead of a Kroger?
Phillips: We have a lot of, I would say, higher quality products. We have more niche products. We have lot of regional favorites. We have lots of trendy things that are new. And we have a staff that's completely and totally dedicated to making sure you get a good experience and that you find the products you need.
Juravich: Well, we have been talking with the co-owner of Weiland's Market, Daniel Phillips. We talked about his addiction recovery journey and his years of experience at Weiland Market where he worked his way up to now being the co owner. Thank you so much for joining us today, Daniel.
Phillips: Thank you so much for having me.
Juravich: And coming up, we're going to talk with an author who is passionate about mental health advocacy. That's when Fascinating Ohio From All Sides continues on 89.7 NPR News.
You're listening to All Sides. I'm your host, Amy Juravich. This is Fascinating Ohio, a show from All Sides on WOSU where we introduce you to people from the Buckeye State with an interesting story to tell. There is still a stigma around women's mental health. Women commonly struggle with anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and other hormonal changes. And many women go undiagnosed and untreated.
Mental health advocate and author, Achea Redd. Supports women navigating identity shifts through life coaching, advocacy work, and her writing. And she joins us today. Welcome to All Sides, Achea.
Achea Redd: Thank you so much for having me, Amy.
Amy Juravich: So your newest book is called "Divorcing Religion, Finding God." It was just published. Congratulations. Thank you.
Achea Redd: Thank you so much.
Juravich: Tell us about this book and what inspired you to write it. I mean, because it's a powerful title, "Divorcing Religion, Finding God." Why this book?
Redd: Well, I mean, I've been on this deconstructing my faith journey, which is becoming more popular of a phrase for about 10 years. And specifically related to the book, there was someone that passed away that was very close to me and my family. And he and our family lost contact very late in my teens because he started developing these other ideas around religion. And theology and all of that, and it wasn't accepted into the Pentecostal church where I was raised in.
And so when he passed away, it brought up a lot of, I think, emotions and memories that some were not great, some were fond memories, not of him, but just of my whole upbringing in the church. And so I said, I think I'm ready to heal this part of me, and in the process of healing, I started writing.
Juravich: So the religious trauma, I mean, is that something that you noticed affecting people? Because you've done, for years, you've done a lot of life coaching, advocacy work. Does religious trauma come up often?
Redd: Yes, it does. I have noticed it not only with my own journey, but with other people that I talk to, even if it's like the eating disorder space, a lot of people who are recovering from an eating disorder or body image stuff, they will always reference religious trauma as a result of them not feeling good in their bodies. A lot of sexual abuse survivors, same situation. Um, and so I think that it was a very common thread. We all have that in common. Um, And so in the book, I actually tell stories of other people and interviewed people for this particular book.
Juravich: And you specifically mentioned struggles women face with religion. What are some of the ways that you notice that women are more disproportionately impacted by religious trauma? Is there a reason there?
Redd: Yeah, I do. I think the state of where we are today, honestly, with a lot of the Christian nationalist stuff that you see popping up all over the place, there's a lot of patriarchy and misogyny in religion where the man is centered and especially the particular denomination that I grew up in, again, which is like a cross between Pentecostal and apostolic. We always refer to the man of God. And there's always this, so and then women kind of just serve and we are always looked at as the helper or the person who serves and does all the free labor in the church and all of that.
And so we really aren't taught as we're raised that we have any autonomy. In particular, even when it comes to marriage, we are to be underneath the man always and not alongside as a partner.
Juravich: You in the book, you share a lot of tips, you share some advice on how to build a healthier relationship with spirituality, you know, to deal and to heal from the religious trauma. We can't go through every tip in the book. Yeah, exactly. Can you share one of those tips with us right now of how to basically, you know, have a healthier relationship spiritually? Yes.
Redd: I think the misnomer is that people will see the title and be like, okay, how does that work? And that's some of the feedback that I've heard. They love the title, but they're like, how does even work? And so the thing that I say most to people is all of us have questions about things that we've been taught, especially when it comes to spirituality, religion, God, the universe, whatever we call God or refer to God as.
And I just would say the tip First tip would be lean into the questions. Allow yourself to have permission to be curious. That for me is what led me down this path was just deciding to lean into the questions and not be scared of them and not feel like God is intimidated or afraid of my questioning.
Juravich: What do you recommend trying to do it on your own? I mean, do you need, do people need a church? Do they need a spiritual leader? Like, do, you know, can you do it?
Redd: So for me, and I'll just say this is my opinion, I think where we get into trouble is looking outside of ourselves. I think that so many people, and women especially, right? Like we're taught to look for external validation and look outside of our selves. But I really do think that we were all born with intuition, we were born with the answers within us. So I would say, no, you don't need anybody else. Because you already have the answers inside of you.
Juravich: This is Fascinating Ohio From All Sides on 89.7 NPR News. We're talking with author and mental health advocate Achea Redd. So you've written three other books, right? Yes. Your first one, "Authentically You," is tailored to younger girls. Can you tell us about what made, why, I guess, you know, you decided at some point, I'm gonna write books. So why that one? Well, it's funny, yeah.
Redd: Yeah, I mean I started blogging about my mental health journey and think I think that there was just a demand for more content And so actually the the first one was "Be Free, Be You." Okay. And then "Authentically You" was the second one, okay, which is the one you're referring to for the younger girls Yes, and to be honest, I think I I was going through such a metamorphosis in my own Womanhood journey if you will that I wanted to write something for girls that I needed to read when I was between the ages of 12 and 17. And so it was really me writing to my younger self. And that's what led me to that book.
Juravich: What did you tell your younger self? Give me a synopsis.
Redd: Oh gosh, I told my younger self to trust myself. I told myself that I don't have to, you know, perform and to be accepted. But I will tell you a little secret and I will tell the listeners this, I was writing that and I still hadn't caught on to it yet. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's kind of like it was this very abstract thing and I was like working my way like trying to convince myself, you know what I mean? You were writing to yourself. I was writing to myself. And that was the interesting thing about that book. And then, you know, a lot of life happened in between that one and the third. And we got here.
Juravich: Well, in your books, in all your books you talk through mental health struggles, you talk about your personal experiences, you put yourself into your books. How does sharing your own struggles help you when you're helping others? Because you do a lot of work as a life coach, so do they appreciate it? Do you feel like you need to share yourself to help someone?
Redd: I feel like when I'm writing and when I am coaching, there's two different versions that I show up as. As a writer, I do feel that it's important for me to share my story because I feel when people are reading it, I don't want them to be so much in their head and trying to analyze it as much as I want to get to their heart. And so for me, sharing your story. And getting to the heart of somebody is really like, one of the things that you have to do as a writer because they need to see you to feel seen, if that makes any sense.
And me as a life coach, it's rare that I'll bring myself up as a live coach because of how I've been trained. You know, I went to Gestalt Institute and I got trained there. And I just remember learning like, Just try not to overshare your story, right? If it's something that's relevant, you have to get consent first with the person and make sure that they're okay hearing your story. And so what's interesting is a lot of my clients have found out about me through the work that I've done.
So they know a little bit and they will ask like, have you ever experienced this? And then that gives me permission to kind of go into it. But in my life coaching sessions, I really try to keep it about the client.
Juravich: The difference between life coaching and therapy.
Redd: Ooh, that's a good one. Therapy is, the way that I put it is, we work from, you work from the present to where you are and you go back and see how your past has gotten you to where are. With life coaching, it's more about, okay, where am I now and where do I wanna be five years from now? And so it's like more like now to the future. And so. I always tell people when I'm starting the coaching relationship is we drive right to the past, but we don't park there. And that's, as a coach, how I keep myself even out of doing something that I am not trained to do.
Juravich: Okay. Well, driving to the past for just a second, you became a mental health advocate because you finally decided to advocate for yourself. 100%. Yeah. So, tell us about your journey, you know, realizing you had generalized anxiety disorder and when you decided you're like, I need to step up for myself.
Redd: So anybody who has read my books or is going to get introduced to my work will find out very quickly that I had a very chaotic childhood upbringing. And so there are lots of times that I would be woken up at three or four in the morning with like just a lot of chaos going on in my house. And so what I found out is that if you don't deal with the past, the past will deal with you. And I, I would wake up at three or four in the morning, just all of a sudden in this panic. And I didn't know what the heck was going on, and so I didn't address it. I didn't deal with it.
And then the waking up started, then it went into tremors. And I started uncontrollably shaking, and I just thought I was sick. I thought I getting some kind of, you know, nervous system disorder. I mean, I didn 't know what he heck was happening. I didn have language for it at that time, and that was back in 2016. And so I... I finally went to check it out at the doctor, and the doctor was like, you're absolutely fine. Your blood pressure is through the roof. And I just, I'm gonna sit down and tell you that you have generalized anxiety disorder. And I was just like.
Juravich: Had you even thought about that?
Redd: No, I didn't even have the language for it because growing up as, one, a Black woman, we don't talk about mental health, number two, I was in a religious household.
Juravich: So you should be able to pray it away. Yeah
Redd: Yeah, black religious We don't what is mental health what you know what I mean, and so I just convinced that I had demons Right and that I was under spiritual attack Right and so, I did try to pray it away and the more I tried to pray the worse it got Because nothing was working and so then I would get more panicked. And so I Finally took what the doctor said went home thought about it was like, okay Do I want to treat this like how do I want you know?
And by the way, I had been in therapy for two years before because I thought I needed to go, you know, because of some of the things I was like reenacting with my kids. So this tremor and stuff didn't even show up until two years after I was already in therapy working on some other stuff.
Juravich: Wow. Yeah. Well, tell me specifically about the coaching of black women. Yeah. Do you feel that black women have particular barriers to work through to get the mental health help for black women specifically?
Redd: Yeah, I do actually. And to be frank, I've experienced some, you know, some discrimination, you know in the in healthcare myself, as it relates to mental health. You know, it's very difficult sometimes for black women to get the help that they need, because there is this belief that we are strong. And it's not because we necessarily want to be, but it's because we had to be strong. It's because we were raised by other black women who just instilled in us like, you can't let anybody see you sweat, you can break.
You have to keep going because if you don't, what's gonna happen? So yeah, we have not been afforded the privilege to be soft, to be feminine, to not be strong. And then also understanding that there's a both and there just because I am vulnerable, just because cry just because I experienced mental health challenges, doesn't mean that I'm any less strong. There is strength in the vulnerability.
Juravich: So you have books, but then you also have what's called the Rooted with Redd, your coaching platform. Yes. So who is that tailored to? Who are you reaching out to with Rooted With Redd?
Redd: Women. Women, like really women that are in a transitional phase of their life, I know what that's like, you know? And sometimes like when you're raising kids and your kids start to get a little bit older and you've defined yourself through motherhood, through being a wife, or just women who, maybe that's not their life with a husband and kids or a partner and children, but it is, they've defined themselves through their career And they're like, what's next?
I don't wanna do this anymore. I don't wanna over function. I don't wanna over perform. So I work with women to get them to tap into their inner self, their worth, what they want their life to look like moving forward. And yeah, so.
Juravich: Well, and you've been featured by many brands, national news, local news. How does it feel to be recognized that way? I mean, are you, do you like all the attention?
Redd: No, because like I know it probably doesn't seem like it and for people listening, they're like there's no way she's shy But I am really like very shy. I kind of don't like that and I also don't I Like to pop out and do like appearances and they like go back because I really am an introvert You're gonna go hide after this. Oh, yeah 100% Yes. Yes. So I mean the attention is you know, it's it feels It's surreal honestly Um, and it makes me, I guess, happy that I'm impacting so many people with my story, but, um, yeah, you know, it's really strange when I like, we'll walk in somewhere and I see like this group of people staring at me and they're like, they walk up to me and are like, We've been following you on social media forever. And I'm like, Oh, you know, so it's always neat.
Juravich: Well, at least they come up to you. It'd be worse, I guess, if they just, like, looked at you from afar. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Redd: Because who knows how many people actually do do that, right?
Juravich: Well, just to end on, if there's someone listening right now who might be suffering from anxiety, might be having some mental health issues, but they're hesitant to get help, they don't know how to even ask for help, what would you say to them?
Redd: So honestly, I would say, one thing I would say don't do is don't Google. That's always good advice. Yeah, don't google. You know, chat is good, but don't kind of overdo it on the chat. You know GPT, you know, and diagnose yourself. What I would is go speak to a provider and say, tell them your symptoms and what you're experiencing and then have them go from there.
And if there are any questions that you have, I would just say that's when you start to do your research. But don't do it beforehand because, you know, if you do it before hand and you are struggling with anxiety, yeah, it's gonna make it worse.
Juravich: Well, and then tell me about the idea of like the therapy and the life coaching. Maybe you need both. Yeah. Balance because you got to maybe deal with the past to get to the future.
Redd: Yeah, so usually when I take on a client, I do have a form that I have them fill out and I will ask them to give me like a brief, you know, like, have you worked with a therapist before you understand that this isn't therapy? And in our initial conversation, if I pick up that there's, you know something that they need to work on, I'll recommend that.
I do refer out. And if I'm in the process of a life coaching agreement and I feel like somebody needs to go see a therapist, I will suggest that often. So it is not an either or, it is a both and sometimes. And it's completely okay.
Juravich: We've been talking with author Achea Redd about mental health advocacy, her life coaching and her newest book, "Divorcing Religion, Finding God." Thank you for joining us today, Achea. Thank you so much for having me, Amy. And coming up, we're going to meet the new executive director of the Reeb Center, a community center serving the South Side neighborhood of Columbus. That's when Fascinating Ohio from all sides continues on 89 7 NPR News.
You're listening to All Sides. I'm your host, Amy Juravich. This is Fascinating Ohio, a show from All Sides in WOSU where we introduce you to people from the Buckeye State with an interesting story to tell. For more than 10 years, the Reeb Center, a community hub on the south side of Columbus, has been providing residents with social services, resources, and community events. Just recently, the center welcomed its new executive director, Karim Jackson. He's been working as a non-profit leader and in public service for more than 15 years, and he joins us today. Welcome to All Sides, Karim.
Karim Jackson: Yeah, thanks for having me, Amy.
Juravich: So congratulations on the new position. I appreciate it. I know it's brand new for you. What led you to this opportunity? How'd you end up the executive director here?
Karim Jackson: Sure. Yes, I've been in this role for not even two weeks yet, but I've already been doing a lot of great work with our team and partners. But what led me to the role is, you know, I grew up here in Columbus. My family has roots here and living under a roof with my parents both, you know serving the community, one being an educator and my mother being a social worker.
I just grew up seeing the importance of kind of saying it takes a village to raise a community. And with my professional experience, I've worked a lot with non-profit organizations, the public sector and really development throughout the lifespan of people here in Columbus. This was kind of just a perfect opportunity to bring all my personal passions and my professional experience all together in one role.
Juravich: Did you find this job or did this job find you? Did someone reach out to you?
Jackson: Someone did reach out to me through some conversations with some of my mentors and friends out in the community. The position became available. I was kind of recommended to have a conversation with the role, so they did reach out to be and I could be more grateful for the opportunity.
Juravich: I don't know where in Columbus you grew up or anything, but had you ever been involved with the Reeb Center before this, before taking on this role?
Jackson: Yeah, absolutely, so actually I grew up on the east side of Columbus, in the East Haven area, but previously I worked for the city of Columbus dating back to 2012, and the Reeb Center was founded in 2015 with the city of Columbus being really their first partner. At the time I was working in the department of neighborhoods, so I was very familiar with the work that the Reeb Center was planning to do once they opened and really have been involved in some form or fashion. Over the last 10 years, so very familiar with the work they've been doing and the great impact they've had on the south side of Columbus.
Juravich: And so the Reeb Center, it calls itself a hub of many things. It's a hub for several different community resources. Can you share some of those resources? Tell people what the Reeb Center does.
Jackson: Yeah, so like you mentioned, we're a hub for the South side. So your listeners know that many people come from different backgrounds and experiences. And sometimes they need support and just a hand to help them get from point A to point B. I mean, to try to mitigate some of those barriers, we've brought in a lot of different non-profit and public sector partners under one roof at the Reeb Center.
So from youth development and workforce to, you know, health care. What else do we have? So we have, you know, 10, 10 partners here at the building. So any gamut that you have for housing situations that you need to have support on, we kind of cover the whole gamut of sources that Southside Community needs.
Juravich: It's become kind of like a one-stop shop, right? Like you can get help with a lot of different things. What, I mean, do people of all ages come to you?
Jackson: Yes, we welcome all ages. So we actually have an early learning center at the Reeb Center. So literally pretty much from birth up to your entire lifespan, we have services that can provide help to you.
Juravich: The Early Learning Center, is that like a daycare or a preschool or what is that?
Jackson: Yes, Columbus Early Learning Center, of course, for the south side. But yes, our early learning child, I believe they started at six weeks up to preschool.
Juravich: Well, and are there, there's lots of events as well. I mean, what, are there any particular events that you've been to or events coming up that you think really define what the Reeb Center does?
Jackson: Yeah, so a few weeks ago, actually, we had our Rooted in Reeb annual fundraising event where I was able to actually kind of be announced as the new executive director and meet all of our great partners and supporters. So this event that happens each year in May.
This coming Saturday, actually we have one of our summer series with our partnership with our music and Americana and folk partner. So Saturday at two o'clock at the Reeb Center, you can come out to a free community event. Listen to some great music and get engaged with the community.
Juravich: Yeah, and I was looking online. I've never actually been to the Reeb Center, but I've driven past the building. It's a beautiful building. I know you're new, but do you know much about the building?
Jackson: Yeah, so the Reeb Center was actually the Reeb Avenue Elementary School. And once they closed, it sat vacant for some years. And then, I'm not sure if you're familiar with the Southside Settlement House. So the South Side Settlement House provided a lot of different resources and support for that Southside community. But unfortunately, they had to shut their doors in 2011.
So we had some great visionary founders that made a commitment to figure out how to kind of fill that gap for those services that were no longer on the south side. And that's how the kind of the Reeb Center was founded. But again, going back to the Reeb Center roots, it started out as an elementary school that has now been repurposed to provide services to the community in a different way.
Juravich: Okay, so if it was an elementary school, you have lots of rooms to do lots of different things in, right? Absolutely.
Jackson: Absolutely, we have space. We have gym and a multi-purpose space that is available to the community if you have, you know, events meetings or whatnot can definitely reach out to us and come share in the, you know, the impact that we're having on the South Side.
Juravich: People can also rent it out or use it. Yes. This is Fascinating Ohio from All Sides on 89.7 NPR News, and we're talking about the Reeb Center, a community hub in the south side of Columbus with their new executive director, Karim Jackson. What are you looking forward to most in this role as executive director?
Jackson: Well, like I said, since my first two weeks, and these first two have been amazing, we have a great team, very passionate team, small but mighty, and you can't imagine the amount of work that they're doing to help the South Side. We're talking about serving five to 700 people within our building, along with our partners each day.
Over 2,000 services are provided just in this calendar year, so you can imagine the great work that their doing. But also to connect more deeply with our tenant partners that are doing services outside of our Reeb Center. Like I said, we have 10 tenant partners that do amazing work, and to really bring that work together for a collaborative approach is one of the areas that I'm really looking forward to.
Juravich: Yeah. So, I mean, whenever you interviewed for the job, I'm sure you had to, like, you know, talk about hopes and dreams and plans. Can you share, you know something that maybe you aspire to, even if it's even if, it's just a five-year goal or something like that?
Jackson: Absolutely, I'll share one of our kind of big picture dreams is, Southside is not uncommon to a lot of the issues that many residents across Columbus face. So hopefully I plan to do my job very well and then along with our partners, create a model that can be duplicated throughout this entire city.
So we're not just saying the Southside community has something that they can go to when they have a time of need or need some support, but we'll be able to kind of have this blueprint where we can duplicate this in other sides of the city. So every resident in Columbus and central Ohio has somewhere to go when they need that, you know, helping hand.
Juravich: Okay, so do other communities lack having something as multipurpose as the Reeb Center maybe?
Jackson: Correct. So there's, you know, plenty of, you know, over hundreds of nonprofits, you know, community work that's going on, doing great work. Like you said, our goal is to really break down some of those barriers, you know, having, you know, Community members, they might have to have three different services at three different places.
But again, bringing those services under one roof to break down those barriers so they can get, you know, that they need more efficient, that they have that they need more efficiently.
Juravich: So you have more than 15 years of past experience in nonprofits, public service work. You mentioned you worked for the city neighborhoods department. How have all those experiences shaped what kind of leader you are today?
Jackson: Great question. I think truly, you know, working with people of all backgrounds, of all experiences, truly has kind of taught me that you meet people where they are. With leadership, it's easy to tell people what to do, but it's harder to show them with a kind of a compassionate feel when it comes along with that.
So that is one of my approaches to really show my team and the people that I'm working for and with that I am in this with them. Not just to sit in the office and give directives, but even my personal background has helped shape who I am and the leader I am to understand that when you have this type of responsibility, that you really have to have a connection with the people before you can make any type of directions or anything like that.
Juravich: I read that before the Reeb Center, you were the senior program officer for My Brother's Keeper, Columbus. So that's an initiative that was started by President Obama to help support young boys of color. Can you highlight a little bit about your time there with My Brother Keeper?
Jackson: Sure, so I have a kind of a unique experience with my Brothers Keeper. Back in 2017, when Mayor Ginther and Council President Harding kind of accepted the challenge from President Obama at the time, I was the first program manager to kind of get that uplifted through the Department of Neighborhoods, did that for a couple of years, then I went on to some other experiences and then returned most recently to kind pick back up in kind of expand what those services were doing for the for the boys and men of color in Columbus.
But just recently before I departed that road, we had a statewide Summit caught the idea makers summit we bought in boys from of course Columbus, but across the state with their other MBK chapters. And we gave the opportunity for the boys that were in attendance to create a blueprint of success for their communities. So that was, you know, an event where over a hundred boys attended they were to take what they created at that event and back to their programs and neighborhoods to continue that work.
Juravich: You also founded the Jackson Youth Empowerment Foundation. Tell me about that organization.
Jackson: Yes, co-founded that with my father, Jesse Jackson, who I shared was an educator, coach, not retired. But that's just a way that we can continue to give back to our community. In the past, we have done direct programming with sports development, along with professional and career exposure.
But as our time and our careers have shifted, we moved more to kind of a foundational model where we now support through scholarships to students that are attending HBCUs, as well as those that are going out to have experiential learning, but may be able to not be able to afford the cost or whatnot. So we provide some small grants for them to experience that.
Juravich: And, I mean, you mentioned the sports, you have an interest in sports, you have past experience also in sports management. How did the skills you've learned from your interest in sport, sports management, how does it reflect in your current career?
Jackson: Yeah, so I'm a lifelong athlete. Played college at basketball at Wilberforce University. But playing sports pretty much my entire life, that common answer. You have to learn how to work with other people, have to work through adversity, have to have those tough conversations with yourself and things might be going the way that you'd like to, but figure out how to get out of your own way sometimes. And all those have filled into my personal life as well and my leadership style, going back to one of your questions earlier.
Juravich: Yeah, are you going to incorporate some of this sports love into the Reeb Center? I don't know if the Reeb Center has sports programs.
Jackson: So actually, I share kind of a fun story. One of our partners here in the building, so we do have a gym at the Reeb. Yeah. So one of our partner's, during the lunch break, they go down and shoot some hoops. So I was able to connect with one of our partners over some basketball shots last week. So that's just a unique way, again, where you can use sports or unconventional ways to connect people.
Juravich: Yeah, well, since you played in college, the partner was probably like, wait a second, you're too good at this.
Jackson: They weren't too bad themselves, so they gave me a challenge.
Juravich: Do you think you might add some maybe youth sports or anything like that to the Reeb Center programming use the gym in a different ways?
Jackson: Yeah, I do have some thoughts, but I'll actually share one of our partners, Greater Columbus Community House. They just announced a partnership with PPG led by Coach Shack, former coach from Afrocentric Ladies Basketball. So they have a partnership and I actually reached out to her to learn more about that and see if that's something that we can kind of bring over to the Reeb Center as well.
Juravich: And for seven years, you worked with I Know I Can. You helped students become college ready. You're a busy guy. I don't know how you have lots going on. Will you be creating something similar to that at the Reeb Center for Youth in the Neighborhood? I guess first we should say what is I Know, I Can?
Jackson: So yeah, I know I can is a college and career access program. They serve several of the districts here in central Ohio. Well, my time there, I can I was working as a college manager for a few years, as well as assistant director of development and they have very personal ties to I know, I can graduate from Warner Rears.
They supported me with some grant opportunities for me to attend college as well, as my dad being a volunteer for their organization well before I was aware of what they were doing. So I had some strong ties there. But one of our goals again is to not duplicate the great work that is going on in Columbus, but to bring those partners in that are already doing the great. So of course we'll be having some conversations to see where their services can be provided to our residents on the south side.
Juravich: All right. And I look forward to you being in a basketball game in the south side, too. Yes. We've been talking with Karim Jackson, the new executive director of the Reeb Center. It's a resource hub and community center on the southside of Columbus. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Jackson: Thank you for having me and allowing me to share about the Reeb Center.
Juravich: And you've been listening to All Sides. This is Fascinating Ohio on 89.7 NPR News. And if you missed any part of today's show, listen back at our website, wosu.org slash All Sides. You can subscribe to the All Sides podcast. Every episode is available for free in our mobile app. Be sure to like the show on Facebook and you can follow us on Instagram.
You can see some pictures from today. If you go to Instagram, our handle is at All Sides WOSU. I'm Amy Juravich, thanks for listening. This is 89.7 NPR News.