When our daughter was young, I was running an affordable housing consulting and development firm. In those years, scanners were very new and cloud storage was just emerging. We and all of our business partners were using paper for everything. Applications were often reams of paper thick!
I have a distinct memory of taking our daughter to a grand opening of an apartment building for permanent supportive housing targeting veterans leaving homelessness. As we left the event, she very innocently told me that she was happy to know that I did more than use a copy machine. That was an important lesson learned for our family and for my staff. After that, I started encouraging staff to bring our children to events where they could meet people living in the buildings.
As author Simeon Simek tells us, casting a vision for our employees is essential for them to enjoy and fully commit to their work. I believe the same vision must be cast at home.
I have another memory of our daughter when we were sitting in a coffee house near my office. At the table next to us sat four people. They were loud and it became obvious they were friends from some type of programming for adults with behavioral health issues. Our curious four year old stood up and went to their table and started talking. Before I know it, she is pulling her chair from our table to theirs. I wish I had a photo of that moment as these strangers asked her questions and she in turn asked them questions. There was a lot of laughing. But her new friends were also nervous as they kept shooting me glances, as if to ask if it was OK for them to be talking to her. After 20 mins or so, they stand up to leave. One of Ava’s new friends stops at my table. I stand up to greet him. He says to me: “You are 36 years old, aren’t you?” I told him he was correct. He says that he knew that because he was also 36 years old. He also told me how much fun he had talking to a four year old. He also said, “Thank you for letting her talk to us.” I said of course and thanked him for watching her. He then said, “Most people are scared of us. Especially parents with children.” Boy, that hit me in the gut.
Civics starts at homes.
Understanding starts at home.
Kindness starts at home.
For years, our family organized an easter egg hunt and luncheon at the building I helped finance. The tenants were living in permanent supportive housing and for the most part had behavioral health issues. Part of our Easter tradition became to stop and have some fun with residents before continuing our travels to my parents house. My children still talk about the fun games they played. They remember the tenants by name and wonder how they are doing.
I am thrilled that these small interactions during childhood will help form their opinion on:
- Who deserves affordable housing
- What mental health looks like
- How small kindnesses can be meaningful to the recipient
This was also the point in my career that I started talking more about the lives we were helping instead of the units we were financing.
Henry and I at the NCSHA’s Tax Credit Connect Conference in Chicago. He came by after summer camp to checkout the vendor goodies during the reception.
Henry and I listened to First Lady Diana Rauner speak at City Club about the importance of educating very young children. Immediately following we attended a grand opening of a permanent supportive housing building housing many residents with behavioral health needs.
This was a Take Your Children to Work Day at the Illinois Housing Development Authority. Our team provides a great day with the right mix of education and fun for the children. In this photo, we were happy to have Senator Bill Brady, stop by to talk about what it is like to be in the senate and answer questions.
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