In episode 58 of Everything is Up, Tammera Hollerich interviews Carol Klocek, CEO of the Center for Transforming Lives in Fort Worth, Texas, as she shares insights into the organization's mission to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty and trauma, particularly focusing on women and children in need.
Tune in as they delve into the challenges faced by single mothers and families in crisis, and the vital role of community support in breaking the cycle of poverty.
TIMESTAMPS
[00:03:31] Single moms facing financial challenges.
[00:07:09] Overcoming challenging family situations.
[00:12:39] Impact of COVID on workforce.
[00:15:35] Effects of chronic stress.
[00:19:37] Gardening and unusual weather patterns.
[00:25:16] Impact of working with children.
[00:29:57] Breaking the cycle of poverty.
[00:32:49] The importance of the primary family.
QUOTES
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Tammera Hollerich
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammeraHollerich
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tammerahollerich/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thollerich/
Carol Klocek
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carol.klocek.5/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carol-hunter-klocek-2126584/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/transforminglivesfw/
WEBSITES
Everything Is Up: https://everything-is-up.simplecast.com/
Tammera Hollerich: https://tammerahollerich.com/
Center for Transforming Lives: https://transforminglives.org/
Welcome to everything is up a podcast about the real life stories of people who have created extraordinary levels of success These are conversations with people who are constantly striving to take things to the next level And now here's your host
Welcome to Everything is Up with Tamara. Joining me today is Carol Klosek with the Center of Transforming Lives. Welcome, Carol. Thank you so much for joining me. How are you today?
Tammera Hollerich
I am terrific. It's so great to be here. I'm excited for our conversation. Yeah, I am too.
Carol Klocek
This will be a lot of fun. OK, so as CEO of the Centers of Transforming Lives, you're located in Fort Worth, Texas, which I'm so excited because you are my hometown girl with me today. Very excited. Tell us a little bit about the center.
Tammera Hollerich
Sure. We are an old organization with a fairly new name. We were founded first as a YWCA, very first one in the state of Texas back in 1907. You know, so before streets, before cars and all of that. So founded by a couple of Fort Worth women. And we evolved really to our focus from the very beginning was on women and girls, women with children who are working and And so we provided social services really around child care and housing supports for more than a century. And then we changed our name in 2015 to really better articulate our mission. You know, everywhere I went, people thought, oh, YWCA, that must be part of the YMCA. And they would say, I got to get over there to work out. So I really wanted people to understand that what we were doing was working with women and their children, helping to break that cycle of intergenerational poverty, help people, help those families to get on their feet. So it's an organization today that is, we have service throughout Tarrant County. Our headquarters is in Fort Worth and we work with about 1,200 moms and their kids every year in our housing programs, our early childhood education, and economic mobility, and then clinical counseling. So lots of services to help families stabilize and then education services that help them thrive.
So, you know, We have these organizations that, just even nationally, that are here to help support. But let's talk a little bit about some of the circumstances that some of these women, young women, they find themselves in. and they don't know where, that they're there or that they are there and they don't know where to reach out to find this help. So when, I guess my big, my question to you is, you know, we're sitting here with an inflation, right? That is unprecedented in the last, what, 50 years. And so, you know, we're finding that a lot of, you know, families, two income families are struggling to make it, right? So here we have these, you know, a lot of single moms trying to make it and they're struggling, right? They're going back to their parents for help, but these programs exist and they're there but reaching out to them. I had not heard of the Center for Transforming Lives. I had not heard of it. I know we've had the Women's Haven and all of these other organizations here in the Metroplex, but this is one I had not heard of. I thought, okay, we've got to get this message out. Some of the areas that are qualify, but maybe that's the word I'm looking for, is the qualify them to come to you guys for help and assistance. What does that look like for them?
Great. Yeah, so we are, we're able to serve a wide range of women who are coming, depending on what service they're seeking. But there is, as you said, there's a ton of families that are really struggling. 32% of single moms with a child under the age of five are living in poverty. And so that's one group that we really focus on are those families because they are the most likely to experience some form of homelessness. They might be sleeping in their car. They might be living in a motel. They might be living with some stranger. the circumstances are really extremely challenging and they've got little ones with them. So those families can either come in and talk to us about their situation and we can connect them with services, but the best place for them to go is to someplace like the Presbyterian Night Shelter's True Worth Place because there's a coordinated centralized system of homeless services providers. So they can get an assessment done and then depending on what their needs are, they get onto a central list. So then we get the referral from that central list. So in our specialty is families led by a single mom. So we help them to find an apartment, we pay rent, a case manager helps with everything from negotiating the relationship with a landlord, to making sure the kids are enrolled in school, and she's getting employment, and connected with health care, you know, all the things. So, so that's the route for that. Families that are, that are low income, living in poverty, or may have some other kind of qualifying conditions can come in and, and talk to us about our Early Head Start or Head Start programming. So those services, they're full day. We're hoping from 630 a.m. to 6 p.m. and if you qualify, services can be free. So that really helps families that are wanting to become employed and or go through their education. You know, one of the moms that I spoke with recently, she's got three little ones. She came from a family that had lots and lots of challenges where, honestly, most of the adults were doing drugs. And she was really trying to get out of that situation. She couldn't go back to her family for help, right, when her spouse was abusive. That's the last place that would be safe for her. So she's with us. And so she's connected not only with the child care, which is a full day of education for her children, two of which have special needs, and then we can also help her to finish her GED, become thinking about her career and get connected with clinical counseling to overcome the trauma. So So, they just, depending on what people's financial circumstances are and social circumstances, they can get, they can enter our childcare. We also, though, with our childcare, we also do traditional childcare. I have families that are downtown working professionals in the same classrooms with the children that are, that might be sleeping tonight in the shelter. So, it's a great mix of families. So, one might be paying full price and the other is free, but we're all together. So, and then with our economic mobility, though, that's really where there is the most opportunity. So, say a family is struggling and can be a single mom. Two-parent family can be a grandparent raising grandchildren. They can just contact us and then sign up for our Asset Builders Clinic or sign up to work with a financial coach. Or if they're interested in developing a side hustle, they can sign up for our Level Up program. And so we're just trying to really help families navigate that path to financial self-sufficiency. And then with our clinical counseling, that is right now only open to the families that are already enrolled in one of our services. But the goal there is to overcome trauma. I mean, the things that these women and children have experienced, whether it's, you know, that of a family member through COVID or violence, or they've experienced themselves, they've experienced abuse or violence from another person. Intimate partner violence is one of the most common reasons a woman becomes homeless. So we can help them navigate that. But right now, that's only open to the people who are already involved in one of our other programs.
So, you know, COVID was such a challenge for everyone. I mean, globally, I mean, not even just, you know, here, but globally. And, you know, we heard about a lot of, you know, domestic violence that was happening during COVID. And how did that impact you guys?
Oh, my gosh, that would take so many hours. Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, there were the immediate impacts that we, you know, that we all felt and, you know, whether that was opening our doors so that first responders could have child care during that time, or, you know, reconfiguring our shelter for families. But I think what we're talking about now is just really looking at the long term impacts. Yeah. One of the things that we're spending a lot of time doing some brainstorming and just trying to figure out solutions is that children who are coming into our early childhood classrooms have more speech delays, have higher or lower stress tolerance. So the behavior disorders that we're seeing in the classrooms are significant. You know, before COVID, in a classroom with seven children, we might have one or two kids that had some behavior challenges. Now we've got five out of the seven. And these are kids that, you know, our goal is to make sure that they are completely ready for school. And so that by the time they enter the public school system, they're on level with their social and emotional skills, their cognitive literacy, growth motor, fine motor in all the ways. But it's just really proving challenging. And then one of the other concerning factors is that the parents of these young children, this is all they know. So they don't have a good kind of benchmark for normal early childhood developmental milestones. So just helping the parent to understand, no, they're not ready for school. They need special services. And the time for the special services is now, not when they get to kindergarten. So, those are some of the things that we're really thinking about, you know, and we've all seen it really impact the workforce. You know, there's rising mental health needs for many people. People's family systems aren't as resilient as they were before. So, you've got higher turnover in the workforce. And so, I think, you know, we're seeing those kinds of impacts now.
Yeah, that's interesting that you brought that up because I have got a couple of younger employees that, you know, in their early 20s, and they were juniors and seniors during COVID. And, you know, we've got an event company, I've got the balloon company. you know, we've been doing proms and graduations and it's, I've just kind of been hearing, you know, just the chatter with those employees that were like, well, I didn't get this and I didn't get this right when I was, it was COVID and I didn't get a prom and I, you know, so I just listening to them talk about what they feel that they've missed out on, there's some resentment there. Yeah. Like, I can, you can just hear that resentment. And I'm like, oh, we're gonna have to nip this. Like, but I think it's going to take a village to work through a lot of this. And I just was like, you know, as we were talking about you, you coming on the podcast, I was like, these guys are dealing with the worst of the worst. I mean, I'm hearing it like, you know, as an employer and, you know, concerning obviously with these young individuals, but you guys are really seeing the, the real big impact and having to help navigate, you know, taking these, you know, women who maybe are not even in the best place themselves trying to help their kids.
It's got to be challenging. Challenging. So challenging. I mean, I can't even imagine. I've talked to so many moms who, you know, they will have slept in their car for months before they decide to get help. And can you imagine what your state of mind or your body would even feel like after you've slept in your car for months with your children? you'd be on this constant state of high alert, being told you gotta move, you can't stay in this parking lot, you can't stay here, where are you gonna find food? You're just constantly in this survival mentality and it takes such a toll. And I think what we see is that it takes such a long time to take your foot off the gas. Yeah. And feel, oh, I can be safe now. Oh, I can, I can start to make a plan. I can, you know, start to think again. But it just doesn't, I mean, that doesn't happen overnight. It really, it takes, it takes months.
Months, if not years, because you know what I mean? That you're right. I mean, you have to think about not just the mental stressor that goes with that, but the the physiological effect of high levels of cortisol 24 seven, right? Yeah, where it's now an acute state is, you know what I mean? Instead, or chronic instead of acute, but I mean, I, that is no way for anybody listening. If you are sleeping in your car, you do not have to. Right? You don't have to. There are resources globally. I mean, there are. There are organizations like the Centers for Transforming Lives that are, they're here. They're out there. They're everywhere. And there's these wonderful, we'll talk about Carol here in a minute because her resume, her accolades are impressive. So, but I mean, there's all of these individuals, they are, Highly educated, they've got the clinical behind them to help you walk this walk. So I wanted to be able to say that so that anybody who's listening, if you know anyone that is sleeping in their car that doesn't know where to go, please give them these resources because I think it's super important. So okay, so let's talk about Carol for a second here. So Carol, double masters, yes? Yes, yes, social work and business. And business, so one of them from TCU, yes? That's right, that's right, my MBA. Your MBA is from TCU, that's, love it, love it. So did you, were you part of the Neely Fellows class? I
that I went through their executive MBA and graduated in 2005. Oh, nice.
Okay, so that's awesome. What was your favorite part about going to school at TCU?
Oh, goodness. I was there not after the program got started. And so it was very small. Our class was only 17. And we went through as one cohort. And it was just such an incredible experience. Just the amazing classmates and the incredibly high quality professors. I think what I got out of it so much is that that program has a very strong focus on strategy. And so I. really gravitated toward that work and learned so much. I still stay in contact with professors that I learned from and so I think that was my favorite part.
Nice, nice. So last week was TCU's graduation and you could have lit up Fort Worth in purple and white. over the last 10 days. So it's like, it's about everywhere in Fort Worth. It's like purple and white this last couple of, the last 10 days or so, everybody's been a little crazy at TCU. And didn't matter where you went, didn't matter what restaurant you were in, there was a graduation party. Like, I mean, it was just crazy 10 days. So that's cool. Okay, so some of the things that you love to do in your spare time. when you aren't being the, I'm going to save the world Carol?
Well, and I think a lot about, you know, how do I, how do I take care of myself and how do I balance? Um, so, um, the, the two things I do the most are practice yoga. Um, so I've been practicing at Indigo, um, uh, yoga, um, out on the West side for more than 10 years now. They're amazing. Um, and then I love to garden. Um, so, um, I, uh, am creating a cottage garden in my backyard and, um, and, uh, just really enjoy the flowers, the hummingbirds and the butterflies. That brings me joy.
I was going to say nice. So with all of the rain that we've had and the high humidity, um, I have got a vegetable garden and I cannot believe how crazy it is growing because of we this is unseasonably for those of you that are listening to us that are not in Texas. North Texas has had more rain I think in the last 45 days than we probably have had in the last 10 years.
It's unbelievable.
And so, I mean, I was, I probably jinxed us, but I was telling Ivan the other night, I said, you know, we really haven't been that hot. Like, I'm used to April and being in the 90s and we're sitting like in the 80s. And I was like, And then today it was a little warm. So I was like, yeah, probably Jesus. But I hear we're supposed to have another gully washer on Thursday, like tomorrow. So I said, gardens, the yards, I mean, everything is so green. North Texas is not green, those of you that don't live here. Like, Texas is not green, but it's, I mean, it's just, so that's cool. And hummingbirds, that's very cool, because they are just the most incredible little creatures. They are so amazing. Nice, nice, nice, nice. Okay, so growing up, I understand your dad was, he repaired computers. Yes. Okay, so that had to be, Early in computers like that.
Yeah, early, very early. I mean, and he would, he would bring home the, you know, the, the. the inner workings of a computer and he might, you know, use a soldering iron to put it together. And I mean, I just, yeah, grew up with knowing how the computer looked on the inside more than a computer on the outside.
I love it. I love it. Well, and that's, I mean, I'm thinking probably late 80s, early 90s type of timeframe.
Yeah, he, I mean, that's, that was his whole career. So, um, was, was computers and then, um, and, you know, the, the inner workings of them and later got into networking, but, um, but it was, um, I graduated college, um, in, I mean, high school in 85. Um, so. I remember my brother actually had a laptop, or not a laptop, but a desktop in his room. And so we got to see some of the kind of the early
So, you and I graduated the same year from high school, so I don't think I even comprehended computers in high school. When I got to college, originally, I was going to go into computer programming and everyone will laugh because I remember. programming in college in the late 80s, right? Early 90s in BASIC and FORTRAN. Like, right? So it's like, holy cow, like nobody even talks about any of that anymore. And so, but it wasn't even, I wasn't even introduced to it. I was still, you know, high school, I still had CDs. So like, that's where we were at that point. But I mean, We get up every day and we live and die by what is going on with our computers or the phones, right? Which are computers are just smaller, right? So we all nowadays, I think back to those days and think either one, the days I hate my phone and the computer and emails, I think, oh, I wish I could just go back. That's that message, right? Or how in the world did we communicate I mean, we had landlines, guys. Yes, I'm that old. We had landlines, right? I remember as a really young kid, when we lived on base because my dad was in the military, we had a party line with the people that lived in the sixplex right next to us. how far we have come technology wise, right? In such a short time. In such a short time frame, but you were really exposed to it early. Like I think earlier than probably most of us.
Yeah, for sure. I mean, he, he worked for IBM and so, you know, we would go to the, we occasionally go to the office and see the big, huge machines and see all the tapes whirring and, um, Yeah, we were very aware of that world.
Yeah, very cool. I mean, when I saw that, I was like, okay, that's very cool that you had that exposure that early on. So that's pretty incredible. So I also saw that you worked with Catholic charities here in Fort Worth for about six, seven years, somewhere in that time frame.
14 years actually in total. Okay, so that's that's incredible.
How did that play into you kind of now kind of launching? I mean, you're pretty visible here in at least Fort Worth, probably Dallas too, I would imagine with, you know, as far reaching as what you are. But how did working with like the Catholic Charities of Fort Worth, how did that kind of help you with this role that you have now?
Yeah, so I actually I volunteered there in high school and working with children who were in the residential treatment center who had experienced severe abuse and neglect. And so after college, when I was still trying to figure out what to do with my life, I went back to work with those kids. and and got a chance to see. I mean, I just I loved those kids and getting to know them and, you know, beyond their behaviors, beyond their circumstances. And then and the kids at that time would live there for like a year and then they would go back to their families after their behaviors had improved and so forth. But what I saw was that nobody had been working with those families at the same time. So the kids would leave and sometimes two months, five months later, they would be back in the system. And the system would label them and their families as failures. And and so, you know, as I took that work forward and learned more and more about how poverty and trauma go hand in hand and and there's such an intergenerational cycle of both. And so, you know, I going forward, I keep working at the Presbyterian night shelter, you know, so many years later, I I see those folks and I get to know the people who are living on the streets. And I realized they're just the same as the kids that I worked with when I was so much earlier in my career. They're just grown up. They've just been to prison since. And I also got to see the very young children, the 12-month-old, the 18-month-old that were living on the street. And so when I got a chance to come to the Center for Transforming Lives, and we were You know, much smaller than we were doing some child care. We were doing a small supportive living program. But I have such a strong foundation and an amazing board of directors, just a really supportive, engaged board of directors who's been willing to do all kinds of things. with me and grow so that we could get to the point, you know, organizationally in size, in strength, in effectiveness of programming with all the infrastructure to truly be effective at breaking that cycle of poverty and trauma so that, you know, these kids that are in the families that who are engaged hopefully are, you know, and the moms, they're the ones breaking the cycle. So it doesn't have to doesn't have to continue. And so it really all started back with what I saw at Catholic charities and, you know, understanding poverty and I think, though, that what we've done to at Transforming Lives is really hone in on that particular vulnerability to both poverty and trauma that women, single moms with a child under the age of five have, and then building an organization that works to solve that problem in particular.
Yeah, that's incredibly impressive. You know, to put it into layman's terms for you guys that are listening, she's talking about not becoming a product of your environment and not continuing that cycle that they're living in. I mean, those are the most, I mean, you're talking about zero to five when Absolutely. They repeat everything they write. It's like they are like your mini me. We think it's cute and funny when they cuss back at us. But the reality is that's not. that isn't what they're actually really picking up on. It's the monkey see monkey do that at that very early age, if they're exposed to any of that trauma and to those behaviors, they are internalizing. And so when I was kind of researching transformation lives, like the center, I was like, okay, What's cool is the big, hairy, audacious goal is let's break the cycle. And I'm like, you guys, that is a very big, big, hairy, audacious goal because we're human.
Yes. Yeah, we are. But I think the other thing that is really fascinating to me is that we've learned so much. Neuroscience has made so many advances in terms of brain imagery and understanding. And so we know that that trauma in those early years physically changes the architecture of the brain. So the amygdala that we all have, which is like that fight or flight. And so in children that are exposed to high rates of violence, a lot of the challenges that we've been talking about today. their amygdala grows in size. So it becomes more capable of surviving. Like that's, you know, surviving is the superpower. The executive function, you know, that decision-making part, it actually shrinks in size. The connections in the brain, it's all changed to give that child the highest likelihood of surviving into adulthood. And unfortunately, Even though there are mitigating factors and you can learn past that age of five, it just takes a whole lot more work to unlearn the behaviors that you learn in those early years and the architecture, those physical adaptations in the brain don't reverse. They don't reverse. So if you've gotten to five and you haven't had the intervention and you've grown up in that severe deprivation and trauma, your road ahead is going to be just so much longer. It's going to take years and years and years, and you're going to have to have a caring, committed, constant adult who is working through that process with you.
Everyone did you hear that? So we, I think, as a society, I need to know that. I did not know that. And so that makes me go, OK, I just need to be more aware. I think so often, even within families, extended families, parents, grandparents, when there is something going on in a house, So often I think we turn a blind eye because we don't want to be involved. Sure. And. you guys, we are going to have to do something as a society. And it starts with the primary family. And when I say primary family, I'm talking parents, grandparents. We as Americans, I think we have done an injustice to our upcoming generations by dissolving this primary family as much as what we have watered it down. But I think we owe it to these kids to be there for them. And I'm so honored to have you on the podcast today because that is what you're doing. And it's impressive what you guys are doing. So, um, I applaud you and I just, please keep doing what you're doing. And I'm, I'm challenging all of our listeners today, um, because it is happening around you. You're just not seeing it, you know, you're just not seeing it. And, you know, I think, If we are here to serve our fellow man, and we are here to serve these kids, which we are all on this planet together, guys, and we aren't getting out of it alive. We do owe it to everyone, especially these kids. And if it's happening in a house that you know it's happening, I'm challenging you guys right now to reach out. I don't care if you're in another state, please reach out to Carol. Please, because she can point you in the right direction. She can help you get there. But if you're in Fort Worth, I'm really challenging you because she's here. And we can do something to help them with the centers. So Carol, I am, like I said, honored to be in your presence today. I'm very grateful that you joined us on the podcast. I think this is something that we need to discuss and not bury it. And so many families do, right? Yeah. I hate it. But you guys, this is Carol Kosick with the Centers for Transforming Lives here in Fort Worth. Carol, best contact for you, would that be your email? It is. Yes. OK. So yeah, you want to spell it for him? Yes.
C-K-L-O-C-E-K at transforminglives.org.
Perfect. Well, I appreciate it. Can they reach you on LinkedIn as well? Are you out on? Absolutely. Yes, please. OK. Also on LinkedIn. So. All right, Carol, thank you so much for joining us on. Everything is up with Tamara. Everybody make sure you guys share and like.
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