Building Safer Communities Through Education, Process and Programs, Sacramento's Safety Center Soars.

Kelly Huffman: [00:00:00] It's one of the greatest needs I think we have in Safetyville right now is to really modernize and update our curriculum and our tour and our exhibits. We are still teaching the, for the most part, the same lessons we taught 40 years ago. Again, very analog, stop, drop, and roll, stranger, danger, those kinds of things.

But we know that technology is changing. playing a large part in the safety concerns for children these days. And we'd like to modernize that curriculum and have those same hands on experiential lessons for those technology concerns.

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I look forward to more engagement with you as we continue to grow and better serve our nonprofit community. Thanks. If you've lived in Sacramento for any length of time and you've had children over that period, you may be aware of a mini city, including the capital and all in Rancho Cordova. School, classroom trips, various kids groups and other organizations have all taken their kids to safety centers, safety ville.

And if you haven't, it's worth a look. But the mini Sacramento is only the tip of the iceberg as Safety Center is a multi [00:03:00] million dollar organization competing with for profit businesses teaching and training safety in a variety of disciplines and certifications. Their CEO, Darrell Teat, may be transitioning out at the end of the year, but both the organization and the transfer of the position have been dealt with in an exemplary way, as you're about to hear.

Durell is joined by Kelly Huffman, Chief Operations and Strategy Officer, and their discussion really demonstrates the process and the value Safety Center provides not only their clients, but our community as well. Durell Teat, Kelly Huffman, welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. 

Darrell Teat: Thank you for having us.

I know I'm super pumped to be here. And Kelly, we were talking about it yesterday. We're like, we really have to get prepared for this podcast. for inviting us. 

Jeff Holden: Well, so many people want to know what it is you do because they may only know a little bit of it. And I'm going to address [00:04:00] that in just a second because I really want to compliment you guys.

There's two of you here for a reason. And Darrell, you're going to be transitioning out to another opportunity. What a compliment to the organization and the structure to see that you've got somebody to support that role who is, is actually moving up into another role while the executive search is on for the CEO.

So that's that's unique. 

Darrell Teat: Thank 

Jeff Holden: you. Some congratulations on that. Thank 

Darrell Teat: you very much I'll say this the credit really does go to our board. It goes to our our management team for being really thoughtful About what the future of safety center should look like and the really intentional progression of leadership as something that's been put in place for the last couple of years, you know, spearheaded by Kelly and the work that she's doing on the HR side.

Jeff Holden: Well in the key word, they're intentional. Yep. You know, so many organizations just get going and get wrapped up in the cause and the mission and the stuff that they're doing, the day to day [00:05:00] administration of whatever that purpose is that they're executing, that sometimes the other stuff just gets taken for granted.

What's also really neat to see is this is part of what you do. And so you're actually practicing what you preach. 

Darrell Teat: Yeah. Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: And, and I can't wait to get into this, this is going to be fun. So there's this organization around town, Safety Center, but many of us know, or at least many of us who have children know the thing called Safetyville.

But I don't know that we really know what that means in the relationship to Safety Center. And also, it's not like you just popped up. Yesterday, this is a mature organization. And I'm looking forward to you sharing a little bit more on that. So tell us a little bit more about Safety Center. 

Darrell Teat: So Safety Center is actually celebrating 90 years.

Isn't that amazing? [00:06:00] 90 years. Who would have thought? Of service to this company. And so Kelly and I are going to tag team this. I'll share a little overview about our, our programs, and then she's really going to dive into what most people know safety center for, which is the iconic safety bill. So safety center has four divisions that we operate all related to helping people remain safe in the world.

So we have a DUI education platform. So for those that actually, unfortunately are convicted of a DUI, the judge will sentence them to a program anywhere from three months to 30 months. They have to pay for this as long with some other additional services in order to get their license back. We operate the DUI program in three counties, Sacramento County, Stanislaus County, and Yolo County.

And since the pandemic, we've become one of the larger DUI programs in the state of California. We also have a motorcycle safety training program, which we operate at [00:07:00] Bradshaw, our Bradshaw campus, and also right over at Mather Air Force Base, Mather Field. So we have two locations, absolutely awesome, passionate group of instructors, and we are the highest rated motorcycle safety training program in the state of California.

Jeff Holden: And I'm going to interject just a bit here. This is that little known fact. I think we talked about it. In our prior conversation, I was also one of those instructors when I first moved to town. It wasn't through Safety Center, but when I got here, I was one of the instructors and did a handful of courses because I had the time at the time.

And for anybody that is looking to ride a motorcycle, it is a mandatory course to take because you will learn so many things. And it could save your life if you got out on the street and did something stupid. 

Darrell Teat: Absolutely. Absolutely. So we are kindred spirits. I knew I liked you for a reason. So in addition to the DUI education platform and the [00:08:00] motorcycle safety training, division.

We also have a workplace safety training division, which we operate throughout the state of California as well as in Nevada. And so everything from forklift certifications to backhoe and excavator, all the mobile equipment, the I. I. P. P. S. Injury, illness and prevention, programming, workplace violence, even confined space training.

So we have subject matter experts throughout the state of California that have deep expertise and safety training. And we call them the team of Avengers, where we dispatch them to our clients throughout the state as well as in Nevada. And then I'm going to throw the alley oop over to Kelly to talk about, uh, SafetyVille.

Kelly Huffman: Sure. Yeah, so SafetyVille, as you mentioned, Jeff, it's what most people think of. Know us for as if you've ever driven down Bradshaw Road heading towards Highway 50 or exited Highway 50 there You see this miniature third scale town where we teach kids how to be safe If we've we're celebrating 40 years in [00:09:00] Safetyville this year So 

Jeff Holden: so is relatively new we got in town 38 years ago in the yeah Oldest son who was maybe three at the time.

Nope And four or five, somewhere in there, that's, that's the age we visited. So it was a really new 

Kelly Huffman: operation. Yeah. Forty years ago, our, our board at safety center thought, you know, this is something innovative and new. We were one of the first little safety towns to get started and Very happy to be celebrating 40 years this year, still doing the same thing we did 40 years ago.

We bring kids through on field trips, teach them how to cross the street safely, stranger danger, how to call 911, all of those safety lessons that we may take for granted that kids just know and learn in the classroom. They get to do it in Safetyville, practice it, hands on, experience it in a very memorable way visiting Safetyville.

Jeff Holden: Knowing it's over 40 years now, we're crossing that 40 year threshold, [00:10:00] have you seen in the implementation the digital technology changing some of the safety elements that you address? 

Kelly Huffman: Sure, sure. It's one of the greatest needs I think we have in SafetyVille right now is to really modernize and update our curriculum and our tour and our exhibits.

We are still teaching the, 40 years ago. Again, very analog, stop, drop, and roll. Stranger danger, those kind of things, but we know that technology is playing a large part in the safety concerns for children these days. And we'd like to modernize that curriculum and have those same hands on experiential lessons for those technology concerns.

Jeff Holden: You know, I'm going to imagine Daryl, too, that you're seeing that over the transition of workplace safety, too, where the, the, this cell phone technology gets in the way of. Safe practices. Absolutely. You can't operate a forklift while you're, you know, doing a text message like you can't drive, [00:11:00] but people still do it, right?

Darrell Teat: Absolutely. We It's interesting what we see the things that we would think would be no brainers that you just don't do. We find that many of our clients are when we do our discovery meetings are like, Hey, make sure they're not watching YouTube while the machinery is going or make sure they're not walking and driving.

I mean, walking and texting on campus when people when they're around the machines. So the, the cell phone. And everyone's hand at all times keeps us in business. I'll tell you that, but it is something that we have had to start to address. And we, Um, and it's not something that we thought three, four years ago, never thought we would need to put that into our curriculum, but it's definitely something that we do have to do.

Jeff Holden: I can only imagine. And we see so many people driving even today with all the knowledge we have don't do that. You can spot the car on the freeway that's doing 45 and in and out of its lane. And sure enough, you know, they got a phone in their lap. They're texting. 

Darrell Teat: Absolutely. 

Jeff Holden: Don't get me started on that.

[00:12:00] Oh, I know. No, I know. I stopped. I just stopped because we could go on for about five minutes just on that conversation. Your services span a wide variety of workplace issues as you've addressed. What do you find if there is one element that's most in demand? What would it be? 

Darrell Teat: That's a very good question.

And we thought long and hard on that. So in classic safety center fashion, we're going to give you two answers. You asked for one, but we'll give you two if it's okay. Absolutely. So I'll say the two areas in most demand right now. So we have about 4, 000 people on our platform for our DUI education program.

Wow. And that's across three counties. And what we found is that recidivism is starting to decline. There is a certain level of just repeat offenders. So the DUI education program is definitely in demand and through the pandemic many of the programs weren't able to adjust to through a technological [00:13:00] foundation in order to provide the services virtually.

So many of them just went away and so we see that there is a gap and a void in some of our counties throughout the state of California where we're strategically looking and investigating if it would be a right place for safety center to expand. So that's on the DUI education. side where we know we could have a significant impact.

The other side demand that is picking up is our workplace safety training platform. We were able to bring in a gentleman at the beginning of the year that ran a division for a global safety training company. And what he was able to bring to our company was, you know, the, the ability to provide end to end solutions.

So not only just the training, the tactical hands on training, but also the programming and documentation that actually derives and dictates what the training is supposed to be. We're able to do that consultative work as well. And we see that that is becoming in much more demand. So over the course of the last, I would say four Five months, we're now [00:14:00] working with customers on the end to end solution.

Jeff Holden: Are these classes or, or programs delivered virtually in person on site? How do you make them happen? 

Darrell Teat: All of the above. Okay. All of the above. However, about 90 percent of our training for workplace safety is done in person. The other is done remotely. We also in onsite at our client sites, client 

Jeff Holden: site, client 

Darrell Teat: site as well.

We do have classes at Bradshaw, whereas individual companies may send an individual in for a certain training, but we do our large group trainings onsite throughout the state through our DUI education platform. Those are predominantly in person. About 75 percent of those services are done in person as a mandate per the state of California.

Jeff Holden: Well, good. I think that, that's I would prefer that if somebody is going to be educated that they really understand it and it is in person because it's a more personal association relationship with somebody who's talking to you about what you need to do differently so that [00:15:00] something tragic doesn't happen.

And that's actually both ways. It's as much a tragedy if somebody does something stupid with a forklift, you know, as it is if they do it with, you know, a car. 

Darrell Teat: Now, we, we have a saying in our tagline for workplace safety is we believe every employee deserves to go home safe every day. 

Jeff Holden: Right. Right. Yeah.

That's so, so true. Are these predominantly fee for service programs? So the employer, the, the, the company, the organization would hire you to do the program and or the state or county would hire you to do the DUI program. Is that how that 

Darrell Teat: works? Excellent question. And I'll volley this one. I'll throw the alley oop over to Kelly.

Kelly Huffman: Sure. Sure. Yeah. So for our workplace safety programs, Jeff, just as you described, companies will send their employees either to us for an open enrollment, you know, seat. in a program at our Bradshaw campus or hire us to come out to their site and train their employees. For our DUI program, it is part of the court mandate for the client [00:16:00] to take this course to pay the fees to The program that they're attending.

So there are set fees that the state and counties approve for us to charge. We have to charge those. No, no more, no less, just like every other program in the county. So those are fee for service programs paid by the participant. Things like our safety bill program, we do charge an admission fee that helps us keep the lights on.

Little lights. Yeah, little, little lights. Third scale lights with our miniature town. And then, of course, our motorcycle program is also a fee for service paid for by the participants. So, overwhelmingly, our revenues come from fee for service programs. 

Jeff Holden: And who do you find most often is your customer? Is, is biggest customer base state?

Is it small business? Is it large business? Who is it? All of the above. 

Darrell Teat: It is. It definitely is all of the above. So for our safety training division, we actually have to win RFPs mostly with the state agencies. So that's a lion's share of our portfolio. And [00:17:00] then we also, we call it You know, hand to hand combat in the marketplace against all the other safety training companies in, you know, the world that compete in California.

So we have to, you know, really help with our business development team go out and win the business improve our value on the, can you share a little bit more about the safety bill and and all the different ways that we bring people in through various elements. 

Kelly Huffman: Yeah, so, you know kind of the The foundation of SafetyVille is those field trips where schools will send typically about second grade.

Kindergarten through second grade is about the sweet spot for field trips. So we work with our school districts and the local schools in our community to make sure they know we're still here 40 years later doing field trips and they should get us on the calendar. In addition to that, we have mostly private business, local private business who can sponsor buildings in SafetyVille.

Again, helping us keep those lights on. So that's a variety of small businesses who've been affiliated with Safetyville, some for almost 40 years. Almost 40 [00:18:00] years, right? And you know, we have many buildings still available to be sponsored, looking for new people all the time. 

Jeff Holden: And as you say that, now I'm remembering some of the sponsors.

You know, back in the day, and I don't know if they still are, so I won't say them. I remember the buildings had the names on them, and if there was a particular shopping center or an electrical company or something like that, that, you know, they were, they were all there. 

Darrell Teat: Absolutely. 

Jeff Holden: Oh, that, yeah, that's, it's so fun just remembering now, you know, the kids going through it.

In terms of the funding for the organization. You, you are not a small organization, you know, you're a, you're a large nonprofit. Darrell, what's the, the overall budget roughly? 

Darrell Teat: Overall budget roughly is about 9 million. We're continuing to scale that up year over year through the growth of our programs.

And we anticipate that it will continue to grow as, you know, leveraging the 40th anniversary of Safetyville and really reintroducing it back into the marketplace [00:19:00] because that's where the donation dollars. And the funders are critically needed. Kelly is doing a phenomenal job with her team in order to reach out to the community and let them know that obviously we're still here.

Oftentimes people think because we operate as a social enterprise, we have fee for service and the founding, the donation side of the business. Like, Oh, safety bill. They're okay. They're, they're fine. They've been subsidized for Safety Center for so long, but just like every other business, there's cash constraints.

And Kelly and the team are doing a really good job with a push this year, reintroducing Safetyville to the community. 

Jeff Holden: Well, not to mention some things have changed over the 40 years, you know, the cost of whatever was. Even two years ago, pre pandemic has changed dramatically. So that changes the dynamic and you had that couple years, I'm sure, where it was closed.

You couldn't have kids coming through. And now it's that reorientation. Hey, we're open. It's fun. It's a, it's a neat thing to see and do. On the, the [00:20:00] funding element, we know fee for service is a big part of 

Darrell Teat: it. 

Jeff Holden: As you get into competitive situations, like you said, RFPs, are the majority of people that you compete with.

for profit businesses? 

Darrell Teat: Okay. 

Jeff Holden: Yes, 

Darrell Teat: they are. 

Jeff Holden: So there aren't very many safety centers that are these non profit entities working to do the same thing. 

Darrell Teat: No, not at all. The cool part about Safety Center is everything we do is mission driven, right? And we know that with the surplus that we have, we can keep things going like Safetyville to a certain extent.

So everybody within a company understands that the more people that we train, the more we're able to continue to invest into the safety of the next generations, which is just a real, it's a really cool vibe and environment. And I think that's why with Kelly's leadership on the culture development that we were just recognized as one of the region's best places to work.

Ah, 

Jeff Holden: congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations. [00:21:00] Was that the business journals? Yep. Good for you guys. Yeah, I always look to that list. so much. You can kind of see some of the organizations, you know, it's like I know that organization. Yes, they belong there. Yeah, very cool. Congratulations Thank you We'll be back with more from Darrell Teat and Kelly Huffman of the Safety Center Right after these messages from those who make this program possible I was in the media business for over 35 years and had the great privilege of working with Runyon Saltzman RSC marketing advertising and public relations We collaborated on many different campaigns, but their commitment to the nonprofit sector hasn't changed since their founder Gene Runyon started the agency.

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To learn more about RSE, visit rs e. com. 

Scott Thomas: Hello, this is Scott Thomas with CAP Trust in our Sacramento office. I specialize in working with local nonprofits and associations. Annually, we survey private and public nonprofit organizations across the country to better understand challenges they see in today's environment.

In our more recent survey, we heard concerns about proper board governance, mission aligned investment, and how to implement alternative investments. If you would like a copy of the survey or to discuss your organization, look me up, scottthomasatcaptrust. com. 

Jeff Holden: I'm thrilled to have Western Health Advantage partnering with us as they do so much to support so many non profit agencies in our community.

As a truly local health plan, you'll find individual and family options, employer options, plans for CalPERS and Medicare Advantage. From medical services to pharmacy, health and wellness support, as well as behavioral health care, [00:23:00] Western Health Advantage has a plan that fits what you need. As an employer, for profit or non profit business, individual or family, you can find more at westernhealth.

com. Collaboration. You touched a little bit on it and I can see where certainly with Safetyville, there's a lot of collaborative effort. Maybe let's start with that Kelly and talk about what it looks like and then get into the rest of the operation and how it maybe collaborates in the community. So who, who would it be that you, with?

Kelly Huffman: Yeah. So another part of the Safetyville program that, that we haven't really talked about yet is our, our grant funded, you know, programs that we deliver out in the community. So we work with Office of Traffic Safety. We have been a partner of theirs for, for years now, delivering bicycle and pedestrian safety messaging.

We go out into schools, our Safetyville team, kind of our street team gets out there. They go out to schools. They. Fit children for helmets, bicycle helmets, teach them how to make sure they're [00:24:00] on correctly. We teach parents how to make sure helmets are fit and worn correctly and deliver those safety messages as a partner of OTS.

We also have a couple other grant funders that help us do other programs. in the teen space around safe driving decisions. As we know, teens sometimes don't remember all the safety lessons they've been taught or test those boundaries. So we have some DANIEL Very kind. I was going to say 

Jeff Holden: or choose not to.

Kelly Huffman: SHARA Choose not to. Some mixture of all the above. Yeah. So we do have some teen programs to help teens continue to really build on that foundation of safety that we've started, you know, at the younger age with the Children in Safety Bill. And those are some other grant funded programs. and we work usually with insurance companies.

They have a vested interest in making sure teen drivers are safe. And then other partners in the community mostly would be our, our building sponsors. They're often have an affiliation to some sort of safety or health message that we help deliver through our field trip curriculum or through the presentation [00:25:00] at their building site within SafetyVille.

So we have like a dental office that has dental messages and other, other messages like that affiliated with the companies that sponsor buildings in SafetyVille. 

Jeff Holden: Do the sponsors ever Align the tours for the children with maybe foster youth groups or 

Kelly Huffman: Sure. Yeah, we have worked, partnered with organizations in the past to bring foster youth through, as an example, to get their backpacks and back to school shoes, you know, in the fall.

Hosted kind of a private event for them where they have the entire village of Safetyville for those kids and families to come through in a safe space. 

Jeff Holden: I can only imagine. I just was at an event yesterday where somebody was talking about their shoe program for their school, their local school, having no idea that it was such a big deal.

Like 60 percent of the children in this particular school. that don't fit that were so worn out. They actually have duct tape for the kids [00:26:00] whose shoes flap. And I thought that's, that's, that's tragic. You know, we've got to do something about that, but I can see you get these kids. They come to safety ville not only to get the, they get a pair of shoes, they get a backpack and they get their little education of.

amongst the buildings. What an experience. Right. Wow. What an experience to take and grow. And it's generational. I mean, 40 years now, you probably are into the third generation of families bringing their children. Absolutely. Through SafetyVille. 

Kelly Huffman: Yeah. Yeah. We love to see that. We are, we are at that perfect spot where as a 40 year old SafetyVille, we're seeing parents bringing back their kids and, you know, sometimes grandkids, um, already coming through.

So we're into the third generation of people coming through Safetyville. I've grown up in Sacramento. I'm a native Sacramentan and I unfortunately never went to Safetyville on a field trip and was always pretty jealous about it. Uh, so I decided to come work here. 

Jeff Holden: And Darrell for the operational side on [00:27:00] The equipment and motorcycles and DUI programs.

Who do you see yourself collaborating with more often? 

Darrell Teat: It's mostly state agencies. So we have regulating entities. So the California Highway Patrol is a regulating entity for our motorcycle safety training program. California Department of Public Health. is the regulating entity for our DUI education platform as well as the counties that we work within.

So they, you know, come in, they audit us. Sometimes in this, in the same week, a surprise audits for each of our locations, but they are the regulating entities for our DUI education. And then we also partner really closely with Cal OSHA for our workplace safety training platform. And when we do our annual conference, they come in and speak.

We have an official alliance partnership with them. So we are, we bring them in. Um, you know, provide a lot of their education on our platform through our website, do special [00:28:00] events and then they also use us as a referral source for when somebody may need training or we use them as a referral source when there's questions that we really can't answer related to some of the requirements that Cal OSHA has.

Jeff Holden: Sure. That makes sense. I can see that. I mean, that's a big envelope that you have to stuff full with, with those. agencies for compliance. Yeah, absolutely. And both sides for the employer that you're working with as well as yourself to make sure that what you're teaching and training and, and working with is, is appropriate.

Darrell Teat: Absolutely. Uh, 

Jeff Holden: on the business side of that itself, let's say I'm, I'm a medium sized business and I do have workplace issues. It's a warehouse and we have trucks coming in and out and all that sort of thing. How do I learn about you? How does one find out about Safety Center? 

Darrell Teat: I'm a, Kelly that alley you to let her answer it.

You know, I'll end up dominating the conversation. I love it. I could talk about Safety Center all day. Oh, I like, I like this back and forth. This is nice. 

Kelly Huffman: Yeah. Well, our, our one stop [00:29:00] shop is, is our website. safetycenter. org, safetycenter. org. You can find all of our programs there. Workplace Safety has a great contact, contact me form.

You know, a lot of times, as you kind of alluded to Jeff, companies don't know what they need. They just know they need to have a safety program or they know they need to do some training. And our business development team is really great at asking the right questions and really getting to learn about the company and help guide them to what services they need.

They need and how we can help them. So safetycenter. org is, is absolutely the best place to go. Contact us forms for each of our programs and, and we'll reach out and we'll, we'll talk safety. 

Jeff Holden: So if I'm a business and I've got this, I know I've got a need because I've got compliance issues. OSHA came through and just slapped me with something because I didn't have hard hats on in an appropriate space, which I would think would be an easy mistake to make.

You know, you get stuff stacked overhead, et cetera. [00:30:00] Now I have to do something. So my typical process would probably be then is what I would assume you see then. I just, I got to go online and find somebody to help me here because I have to do something. I'm sure that there's a requirement now that I have to perform.

There's a certificate of some sort that I have to demonstrate. Is that what it looks like? 

Darrell Teat: Yep. Absolutely. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. 

Darrell Teat: You, you hit it on the, like you work in construction or manufacturing, like you know what you were talking about. That's actually the process. Oftentimes we'll get a call and it will be. I just had this fine, our citation.

I don't know how to rectify it. What do I do? And then the process ensues from there. We'll route them to the appropriate person. They go through the training, whether it be they send their employees to a safety center, help course, we call it open enrollment. at our Bradshaw location, our one of our locations that we partner with in Southern California, or we'll actually go out to their site and do the holistic training.

And then they'll get their certificates after the training in order to prove that they had the training. [00:31:00] And, and also if there's any sort of programming requirement related to the documentation, the policies and procedures, we also do that type of work as well. So they can demonstrate to Cal OSHA that they have a full program in place now.

Jeff Holden: Okay. So it's. And in many cases, I would imagine, and correct me if I'm wrong, it's almost like a fix it ticket. You do get the opportunity to repair whatever wrong you were doing before they really fine you. 

Darrell Teat: Oftentimes, there is a, you know, there's a course correction period. And I don't know what, you know, there's a variety of fines that come along with that.

Jeff Holden: Yeah. And then that doesn't do anybody any good. Not to mention it's not safe because you're not compliant. Money no object. Yes. Funding wasn't an issue if you didn't have to do. The RFP at that most competitive bid. What would the organization look like? What would change if you really didn't have to worry about the [00:32:00] budgeting for the greater good of, of safety?

Darrell Teat: That's a very good question. I'll, I'll volley it over to Kelly to start off and I'll fill in, I'll fill her back. Good. 

Kelly Huffman: I'll give you my vision. And particularly with workplace safety, I think we'd be everywhere. You know, we, we are experts here in California. We, we do some business in Nevada. We, we train throughout the Western United States.

And a lot of that is because it could be cost prohibitive for us to send our instructors across the nation and, and learn the ins and outs of that States. regulations. So I think we'd be able to really spread across the country and do what our instructors and our team and workplace safety love. And that's just talking safety with everyone and helping ensure everyone goes home safe every day.

With SafetyVille, we've said it many times over. I think every staff who've ever worked there has said, you know, we want it to be like Disneyland. We know people have a very memorable experience when they come to SafetyVille. We want to ensure that. That can continue and we can [00:33:00] dazzle them even more because children definitely learn those lessons that are memorable.

They stay with them and we want to make sure we have a memorable experience and not, not one that's easy to be forgotten. One where they want to come back and learn more and bring their kids one day. 

Jeff Holden: So the distinction, Kelly, really is SafetyVille, while under SafetyCenter, still operates almost as its own entity.

It's funded differently. It's either sponsor or donor oriented, whereas SafetyCenter, the operation for businesses in general, is really more a fee for service. Are there grants involved or any other opportunities that you get to raise funds? 

Darrell Teat: We have not pursued that at all. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. So it all is fee for service.

Okay. Thank you. Bye. Well, that's a benefit. 

Darrell Teat: Yeah. It is. 

Jeff Holden: And not to mention having the, the. org at the back of the name too, to help you in the way you orient against some of the for profit competitors, I'm sure. 

Darrell Teat: Absolutely. Absolutely. We're, we're, [00:34:00] the way that we're structured is really a true blessing because we are able to use our, our, you know, for profit business minds in order to do well and do good.

and oftentimes nonprofits. As we know, in this particular region, there's so many of us and we are just praying and hoping that the funders come out of the woodworks through whether it be big day of giving, which is absolutely awesome, are some of our various initiatives so that we can meet payroll or that we can buy a new Software system that's antiquated, or we can just hire a staff member part time.

And, you know, the social enterprise model that's taken off over the course of the probably last 15 years has allowed for nonprofits and those that actually work from the for profit sector to come really dive into a organization that has a deep. social purpose mission, take all their skill set and say, you know what, I can do this as a business that I can [00:35:00] still help people.

I do not have to get into price gouging. I can provide fair pricing. I can provide really good jobs. for our staff members so that if they want to work at a nonprofit, they don't have to go without and say, Oh, well, because I just chose to work with a nonprofit, I'm not going to be able to afford my family the opportunity to do X, Y and Z because I am giving and we look at the social purpose of social enterprise model as let's scale this as Kelly said, across the country.

because we have best in class people who decided to lend their passion, their gifts, their talents, we call them superpowers, to help everyone go home safer every day. So when you talk about the, the vision, that question about the vision of safety. Money, no object. Right. No money, no object. It's exactly what, what Kelly said.

We have two goals. at Safety Center. One is to become the nation's premier provider of safety training and education. And that means we need to expand across the [00:36:00] country. But then that we also found that there are international organizations that look to Safety Center. to provide them with best practices related to safety training within their workplaces.

The other is to become recognized as one of the nation's best places to work. We are fortunate and blessed to be Sacramento Business Journal's, you know, best place to work honoree. But if none in no object, we will be able to have the funds and resources to really invest in the professional development of our colleagues, to meet them where they're at, and to scale them to that best version of themselves.

Jeff Holden: That's a great explanation. First time I've heard anybody explain it to grow the scale nationwide in best practices. How many people do you have employed right now? 

Kelly Huffman: We're at 185 employees today. 

Jeff Holden: It's a lot of people. Yeah. And are the majority of them instructors? 

Kelly Huffman: Yeah. A great deal of our employees, more than half are instructors or [00:37:00] on call counselors for our DUI program.

So, we have a healthy bench of on call staff that are ready to be deployed as we have, we have training opportunities come up or just to help maintain our DUI program. You know, people occasionally take vacation or call out sick and we have, It's in the best interest of our clients to be able to make sure we don't have to cancel any classes or reschedule any appointments.

So we have, like I said, about half of our employees are on that on call bench ready to activate and the rest are professionals that work in the office or in a hybrid capacity to keep, keep the lights on and keep the programs running. 

Jeff Holden: And now back to the business side of things, the reality side of the business, we do have a budget.

Darrell Teat: Mm hmm. 

Jeff Holden: And as much as we. Uh, uh, I think it's just like the most important thing. that we have to operate within it, what is the greatest need? And I think you addressed a little bit with safety center, but let's go there again. I'm sorry, safety though. Sure. Let everybody know what is the greatest need that you've got.

Kelly Huffman: Yeah. So that the greatest need [00:38:00] in safetyville is, is for philanthropic support to help us not just maintain the program, keep it running. You know, we're doing that. as Darrell explained with our, you know, kind of social enterprise setup, we're able to subsidize that, but to really reimagine and refresh Safetyville's infrastructure.

It's a 40 year old little town. It needs, needs some work, and definitely we want to bring new hands on experiences for the children that we just need that support from donors to, to help us grow that part of the program. 

Darrell Teat: And so I'll just say what she said, ditto times two. Safetyville really truly does need the support of the community.

It's been around for 40 years. Really exacerbated the maintenance, deferred maintenance, deferred maintenance, right. All of the deferred maintenance on, on the buildings. We've had some harsh weather over the last several years where, you know, the, the old wood has been rotted through on some of the buildings that we've just [00:39:00] decided that we're not gonna even keep within the flow of, with the field trips would normally be able to go over to, we have started to get a renewed interest in safety, Vail.

And, you know, the misnomer is, oh, well, because you all make money on this side of the business. Oh, they think you cross pollinate. Then, well, then you guys could just fund everything over there. We're just like every business. We have payroll. We, we cross our fingers like that. Clients come for safety training.

We, we make sure that, and, and we have to make sure that the clients continue to come in for our DUI education programs and what have you. So. It's not that even though we do do some subsidizing, it's not much to keep the program growing and it's just keeping that status quo. And this is where we really need the community to come in and say, I'm in with safety bill for the next 40 years so that Many of the generations can continue to enjoy 

Jeff Holden: it.

Well, we know the [00:40:00] first round got us 40 years, so the next round should easily get us with new technology and materials and, you know, everything else that we've got. So, I'm pleading with you to the community that there's buildings to be sponsored. And I'm sure you can create a building if somebody says, well, we need Is there a hardware store?

Is there an insurance office? Is there a 

Kelly Huffman: Absolutely. We have, we have room to grow. We have some vacant, vacant lots that can be custom build sites. And we can work with any company to, to really meet their goals for their presence in Safetyville. 

Jeff Holden: Absolutely. In terms of reaching out, and I think you did mention it, Kelly, a little bit earlier, is that the best way all the way around is to use the website as the source of orientation for anything?

Safetyville? Safety Center? 

Kelly Huffman: Absolutely. Yes. Yes. Safetycenter. org. All of our programs are represented there on the website. There's a contact us form comes directly to my email [00:41:00] box. So, perfect. Easy way to get ahold of us. And we can get you in touch with the right people. 

Jeff Holden: And we'll have that in the show notes as well so that it's easy for somebody to just click through.

Darrell Teat: Awesome. 

Jeff Holden: And, and get to you guys. Now, about the transition. Tell us a little bit about that because it's unique. And like I said, it's the first time I've had two people who are supporting each other in the process of an organization where the executive is moving on. 

Darrell Teat: Terrell. 

Jeff Holden: Awesome. 

Darrell Teat: So thank you for asking the question.

And you know, one of the things that I was taught by one of my mentors, Scott Syphax, is that secession planning is intentional and, and mandatory when you're able to do it. And when I was presented with an opportunity that my family and I just couldn't pass up on, you know, earlier in this calendar year, after contemplating and then ultimately deciding that I'm going to take the leap of faith.

And after five years transition out of safety [00:42:00] center, you know, the board went right to work on, you know, what's the best path forward for being able to have an orderly transition. And we were actually, we, And so we wanted to be so thoughtful about it that we brought in a consultant to help us put together the initial strategy to make sure we got all the information that we needed in order to move the process for what being as educated as possible about what the future of the company would look like, the skill set required, but also what the staff was feeling about the transition at the time as well, besides just kick the rattle out, let's have somebody else come 

Jeff Holden: in.

It appears gave an extraordinary amount of time to get it right. Yes. Which is also admirable. 

Darrell Teat: Well, thank you. Thank you very much. And I'll give Dave Lejeune a shout out, you know, recently retired from Gilbert and Associates, our, our audit firm. And he just has such a heart For nonprofits, [00:43:00] super strategic and actually has helped many companies through secession planning.

So we brought him in and he was really instrumental in helping us put this pathway together. And then ultimately, as Kelly continued to assume greater and greater responsibility in the organization, it just was that this, all the stars aligned, as they say, in order for us to elevate her to the C suite in order to ensure that, you know, no matter how long the transition may be.

There is that continuity and stability of institutional knowledge, but also the momentum that we have with some of our, uh, strategic initiatives will continue to move forward. 

Jeff Holden: And what is the position now that Kelly will be assuming? 

Darrell Teat: She actually assumed it already. Congratulations. Tell them your new role.

Kelly Huffman: Yes, I, I'm the chief. Operations and strategy officer. So I, as Darrell said, we'll continue to work on the strategic initiatives that we've put in place over the last couple of years to make sure [00:44:00] there's no, no slowing down of those initiatives, no loss of momentum during the transition. As well as I just love the nuts and bolts of the day to day and making sure everyone has.

All the tools they need to, to do their superhero stuff and get the job done. 

Jeff Holden: Well, that intellectual equity that you provide and the continuity that you provide and the foresight that the organization had to say, okay, we have somebody who can bridge this in the interim. So we don't have that big gap and, and the team, those 180 some employees all have the confidence they know Kelly.

And they see you still here, you know, with a, you know, a very nice handoff as the transition happens. So, you know, congratulations on making that transition. happen in a way that I think is exemplary. Thank you. Because many people, you know, move and it just happens. Yep. Thank you. And I'm sure Bobby Hales over at Gilbert's going, oh gosh.

I gotta replace Dave now too. Well Darrell, you know [00:45:00] I've been wanting to speak with you for a while. 

Darrell Teat: Likewise. And it's 

Jeff Holden: taken us some time to get together to tell the story. of Safety Center and the organization that really I think in many people's minds is SafetyVille. And we just don't realize what's behind it.

So, I'm glad we finally had the opportunity to get it together, to sit and talk with you, to share some things that are really unique about what you're doing in sort of this, this split, you know, organization where you've got the organizational side of, you know, the for business part of it, which is instrumental in operating a business.

Whereas you've got the community side with SafetyVille, which has a completely different mindset. I mean, most organizations don't have those two pieces where you are trying to blend them both under the same org and you know, it makes it a little bit more challenging. But it's been working. 

Darrell Teat: It's been, it's been working for 90 years.

I would say 40 years on one side, another 50 

Jeff Holden: on the other, and the two came together and working at [00:46:00] 90. So congratulations on the organization. Congratulations to you on the next move, which I'm sure we'll hear about at some point. Thank you. And for leaving the organization in such good shape through your leadership.

And Kelly, congratulations to you on the new role. Thank you, Jeff. 

Darrell Teat: Appreciate it. And congratulations to you on the success of this show. It is, it is absolutely awesome. You had some phenomenal guests and we just appreciate being a part of it. 

Jeff Holden: Well, we're happy to do it and we are really happy to tell the story.

So thank you.

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