Folsom's Hope: How One Mom Built an 18-Year Movement for Kids Who Needed More

Salwa Kasabian: [00:00:00] We had been living in Folsom for 10 years at the time. I had no idea that there was this, like, concentrated area of low-income homes, families, and lots of kids that had lots of needs, and it broke my heart. And so about halfway into that first year, was down at the library just down the street from the school with my own kids and saw a bunch of kids coming, walking down from school and very clearly heard these children need a place to be after school

Jeff Holden: Welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. Our purpose and passion are simple: to highlight the incredible nonprofits that make our community stronger. Each episode is a chance for these organizations to tell their story in their words, sharing not just what they do, but why it matters to the people they serve, to their supporters, and to all of us who believe in the power of [00:01:00] community.

Through podcasting, we hope to amplify their voices, inspire connection, and give them one more tool to impact the hearts of donors, partners, and neighbors alike. Our work is made possible through the generous support of our partners. Cap Trust, offering fiduciary advice for endowments and foundations.

Western Health Advantage, a local not-for-profit health plan that believes healthcare is more than coverage, it's about caring. Core, executive leadership and comprehensive support services. They work in it so you can work on it. And Five Star Bank, a local trusted advisor to community nonprofits for over 25 years.

Our episode sponsor is Sacramento Venture Philanthropy, a community of generosity combining people, expertise, and capital for good. This episode is powered by SMUD, Sacramento Municipal Utility District's Shine Awards program benefiting [00:02:00] nonprofits for energy efficiency. Apply today. What happens when one parent sees a need that everyone else has learned to overlook?

I'm joined by Salwa Kasabian, founder and executive director of Folsom's Hope. What began nearly 18 years ago as a mother's concern for the students attending her children's neighborhood school has grown into a life-changing support system serving elementary, middle school, and high school students throughout the Folsom community.

Salwa shares the remarkable story of how a simple realization that many children had nowhere safe to go after school sparked a movement that today provides mentoring, academic support, meals, social-emotional learning, internships, and hope to some of the community's most vulnerable youth. Along the way, you'll hear how partnerships, persistence, faith, and an unwavering commitment to children helped build an organization that now impacts hundreds of families each year.

We'll talk about breaking cycles of poverty through [00:03:00] education, the hidden needs that exist even in communities often perceived as affluent, and why one caring adult can make all the difference in a young person's life. If you've ever wondered how lasting community change begins, this conversation offers a powerful reminder that sometimes it starts with a single person willing to ask, "What can I do to help?"

Salwa Kasabian, welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. 

Salwa Kasabian: Thank you, Jeff. It's nice to be here. 

Jeff Holden: I'm excited to have this conversation. 

Salwa Kasabian: I am too. Thanks. 

Jeff Holden: We recently did an episode, uh, with another organization that was all about literacy, and obviously that's a school-oriented value proposition that's supposed to take place.

Mm-hmm. It, it very directly originates in our schools. Mm-hmm. Literacy is, is such a big part of it. What you're doing is a step beyond, and it started some 18 years ago- Mm-hmm ... I'm sure you hate to hear that, right? With- I'm 

Salwa Kasabian: that old, Jeff. Right. 

Jeff Holden: With your own child- 

Salwa Kasabian: Yes ... i- 

Jeff Holden: in, in the school system [00:04:00] to where you said, "Something's not working here."

Tell us a little bit about what it was that moved you to orient Folsom's Hope. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. And it did start with my own children. You know, in Folsom, there are schools that are looked at as desirable to be at and schools that aren't, and I didn't know that when I was starting the journey having kids, and where we lived, and our home school.

The school that we were assigned to was Theodore Judah Elementary School, and because of all the horrible things I heard about that school, I chose not to send my oldest there. So I requested school choice for her for first kindergarten and first grade to a different school. And then the next year, as I choiced her to s- for second grade, I requested school choice, and my son was starting kindergarten.

His school choice form got denied, and I got a letter from Theodore Judah Elementary saying basically, "Sorry, but- Welcome ... your son's coming here." Exactly. And so for me, really, that was a crossroads in my faith journey of, [00:05:00] huh, like, I think this is something I need to listen to. I definitely felt called. So I went and met with the principal.

I met with the school- the kindergarten school teacher, and really just not because I wanted to, but really feeling I needed to be obedient, I transferred my kids there the next year, my two older ones. My youngest was still in preschool at the time. So I had come from a school where there were so many parents wanting to be in the classroom that you had to sign up 'cause teachers didn't want too many parents in the classroom 

Jeff Holden: to- Because there was such interest from the parents?

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. So many- 

Jeff Holden: To participate in the school? In 

Salwa Kasabian: the classroom. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah. Boy, that's a rarity. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yes. Uh, not in Folsom- 

Jeff Holden: Okay ... 

Salwa Kasabian: except for a couple of schools. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. Theodore Judah being one of them. Yes. 

Salwa Kasabian: Exactly. So made the switch there, and I was the only volunteer in my daughter's second-grade class and one of just a couple in my son's kindergarten class.

And really just, God just showed me this need that broke my heart. I had... [00:06:00] We had been living in Folsom for 10 years at the time. I had no idea that there was this, like, concentrated area of low-income homes, families, and lots of kids that had lots of needs, and it broke my heart. And so about halfway into that first year, was down at the library just down the street from the school with my own kids and saw a bunch of kids coming, walking down from school and very clearly heard these children need a place to be after school And that just put a fire in me, just like I don't know what this looks like, but yeah, just started a journey.

So- 

Jeff Holden: From scratch? 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: There was nothing preexisting- No ... no source of afterschool program whatsoever? 

Salwa Kasabian: No. 

Jeff Holden: Wow. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: So what did you do? How did, how does one start that from nothing? 

Salwa Kasabian: Yes. Yeah, lots of prayer. God definitely led the way. But the next school year, when my youngest started kindergarten, was when really the connections started being made to create [00:07:00] some programming around the need.

I... The first program was the Lunch Buddy Mentoring Program. Mm-hmm. Started that in, um, the fall with just a handful of mentors and students. But- Back then, again, 17 years ago, there, a couple of the larger churches in Folsom, Lakeside Church and Oak Hills Church, kind of adopted these two schools, Blanche Sprentz Elementary and Theodore Judah Elementary.

Mm-hmm. And a friend of mine was this liaison between Lakeside Church and Blanche Sprentz Elementary, where they adopted, and Oak Hills Church had adopted Theodore Judah Elementary, which basically what that looked like was providing the school with some funds that they would distribute among the teachers and the classrooms for them to use however they want.

But I knew, like, so much more could be done, and so I asked the principal permission to be that liaison, and she said yes. And so I started just this blast email to teachers and staff Like what, what do you need? What are the needs that you have that could be potentially serviced by, you know, church volunteers, whatever that looks like?

And [00:08:00] really just about all of them said supplies, 'cause they were paying for things out of their own pocket for a lot of the kids that couldn't afford to bring stuff themselves. But the school psychologist at the time and a special ed teacher at the time both emailed me back and said, "These students need loving adult role models in their lives."

And that's was the impetus for the Lunch Buddy program, just a very simple once a week, that consistent just hang out, build relationship with a kid. So- 

Jeff Holden: And it was at lunchtime? 

Salwa Kasabian: It's during their lunchtime. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yep. On campus during their school day. Yeah. So that started. And then in the spring of that same school year, the afterschool program started, and that really, that was a journey of trying to figure out, which was part of what I mentioned with the Fast Pitch program, really boiling down the fact that on the Folsom side of the school district, there are no Title I schools.

And what that means is there's no government funding for the schools in Folsom to provide the supports [00:09:00] like other Title I schools provide, things like afterschool programs, Lunch Buddy mentoring programs, other supports for students that need it. They do not have the funding to do that. So there was nothing.

So that was me as a volunteer. Really, there was a gentleman at the City of Folsom Parks and Rec Department at the time, and the school district superintendent at the time, who both really wanted to do something, and the principal helped make that happen. So we just kind of launched this crazy, really without a solid funding stream at the time, and year by year it just kept going.

And 

Jeff Holden: it continued. 

Salwa Kasabian: And here we are ending our 17th year. Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: That's, that's amazing. 

Salwa Kasabian: It is amazing. 

Jeff Holden: So you started from scratch with no Title I funding whatsoever- Yeah ... and some support from the churches- Mm-hmm ... of course, but really that's it. Mm-hmm. And the teachers to some degree, but they don't have a lot to contribute.

Salwa Kasabian: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: And that's just in, in material things- Exactly ... that the students needed. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: How was the concept accepted? [00:10:00] In the school 

Salwa Kasabian: I think it was welcomed. Yeah. I think they knew there were a lot of kids that really did need the support after school. You know, those magic hours of 3:00 to 6:00 where kids get in trouble.

I mean, that's, that's what studies will show. That's... Kids need to be someplace. And a lot of the kids are struggling academically. They need that extra support after school. They just, they need, they need a snack. They need, uh, help with their homework and help with foundational academics to those building blocks that they've missed along the way here and there, and they just need a safe, loving place to be with people who care about them, so...

Jeff Holden: And I would also imagine just the, I'm gonna say discipline, but at that age it's, it's even... It's not quite the right word. It's just an or- Structure Thank you. An orientation of structure- 

Salwa Kasabian: Absolutely ... 

Jeff Holden: to say, "Here's what happens when you leave school." Yes. "These things have to get done, otherwise nothing gets done."

Salwa Kasabian: Yes. And structure really is safety. Yeah. It's provides a sense of safety, and that consistency is important. W- [00:11:00] 

Jeff Holden: what grade level are you starting at? 

Salwa Kasabian: First grade. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: So there, there's, there's a security element there too- Mm-hmm ... for a child that young- 

Salwa Kasabian: Absolutely ... 

Jeff Holden: to say, "Okay, I feel comfortable here," as opposed to, "I'm scared.

I don't wanna go home by myself." 

Salwa Kasabian: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. That, that is amazing to think that you oriented that from scratch like that. So you have this Lunch Buddy program that morphs into some after-school program, which I'm imagining was relatively small to begin with. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: And then today you're serving 29 elementary, 21 middle school students, eight high school interns.

A lot's changed. Tell me a little bit more about that. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. So through the years, we were able to secure more funding and, and then we incorporated as a nonprofit in 2014, which allowed us then to go after some grant funds, donations, all of that. [00:12:00] So pre-COVID, we expanded our afterschool program at the elementary school site enough with our partnership with the Parks and Rec department.

They provided us with a recreation leader who would actually go to Blanche Sprentz Elementary and meet students there and walk them over to Theodore Judah. So we had bec- doubled the program back then with both Theodore Judah and Blanche Sprentz students without having to recreate the entire program at Blanche Sprentz and double the cost of it.

So, so that all happened pre-COVID. We were sitting at about, mm, you know, 35 students on the school campus at Theodore Judah afterschool elementary. We had a middle school afterschool program at Sutter Middle as well, which housed about 20, 21 students. And, and then COVID hit and, uh- 

Jeff Holden: Surprise ... 

Salwa Kasabian: surprise. So yeah, so, you know, things we had to rebuild from there for sure.

But basically last school year, and we lost the connection with Blanche Sprentz Elementary because post-COVID Parks and Rec did not have the staffing or the funding available to provide us with [00:13:00] that rec leader, and so we stopped really being able to have Blanche Sprentz students at our program So last summer, we had the option of moving to Mount Olive Lutheran Church, which is almost exactly a half mile between both of those two elementary schools.

And so we are there now. We're finishing out our first school year there, and that enabled us to, you know, grow our program, get Blanche Sprentz kids back at BH- 

Jeff Holden: Ease of access for the kids to come in, yeah ... 

Salwa Kasabian: exactly. We actually drop our, um, on most days, drop our staff at the school sites, and they walk kids over.

If it's, you know, 110 or raining, we have a couple of vans that help us do that. And then Bre- we lost our middle school program about, uh, almost three years ago now for some staffing things that had happened, and that was heavy for me, was knowing a kid's done with fifth grade, they're going on to middle school.

We did partner with Parks and Rec to provide them in their after-school program, but it just wasn't the level of support that I felt- 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm ... 

Salwa Kasabian: we needed to provide. And so we were able to bring that [00:14:00] program back this year, our after-school program- Oh, wonderful ... for middle school students. So we have that as well.

And then the high school internship program was new to us this year, so we piloted that. 

Jeff Holden: And for the benefit of, of those who are thinking, "Well, why are we just talking about Folsom?" Because you've done it, and I would imagine there's many school districts that could use a similar support system for the students.

That therein lies the value to say, "This can be done. There's ways to, to support these kids, to give them something to do after school. There is a program. They can call you." You've demonstrated that it can be done. Yeah. And that's the value in, in sharing the story because here we are 18 years later. Mm-hmm.

Things have changed dramatically for the greater good. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: You've seen not only your own kids go through it, but the children... I'm sure there's, there's students now who you've seen who've come back from college- 

Salwa Kasabian: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: Yes ... and, and remember some of the support- Yes ... that you gave them. 

Salwa Kasabian: And we've had staff who have come, students who have been through our program who [00:15:00] have come back as staff.

And- 

Jeff Holden: Oh, that's wonderful ... yes. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. Yes. It's been, yeah. 

Jeff Holden: That's like the greatest testimony to the- Yeah ... to the program. 

Salwa Kasabian: It is. It's a great joy. Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: Tell me how a student learns that you exist. How do they know? How does a parent know that there's this option for this program to get their child in? 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. So, I mean, a variety of ways.

I would say today it's a lot of word of mouth. We have a lot of families who sibling after sibling come through our program, so parents already know about the program. But a lot of word of mouth of parents telling parents about the resource. Um, but also the school sites know that we're around, and they often send referrals our way or have people contact us.

So almost exclusively, we have those two elementary schools that we service and then Sutter Middle School as well. So they're all very familiar with us and our programs. We still run our Lunch Buddy programs during lunchtime at those three school sites as well, so. 

Jeff Holden: And those are one day a week? 

Salwa Kasabian: One day a week.

Jeff Holden: Okay. 

Salwa Kasabian: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, so it's a variety of ways, but it is [00:16:00] largely, if they're not already in our program, it oftentimes is word of mouth. Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. Mm-hmm. And then obviously you're not doing it alone. You've got, the churches- Mm-hmm ... have been involved. Mm-hmm. Who are some of the collaborators that you work with?

'Cause I can see all kinds of tentacles coming in to support- Yes, yes ... and, and participate- 

Salwa Kasabian: Yes ... 

Jeff Holden: work with- Yes ... et, et cetera. So share some of the people you- Sure ... you do work with. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah, and that's actually something I think in the journey that's been, I've noticed about just a gift, uh, God's given me for, like, this creative problem-solving around we have this need, how do we make that happen?

And it's usually with, through partnerships and collaborations. So through the years we have had many partners. I would say, I mean, really our largest partner is still the school district, Folsom Cordova Unified, just working within and alongside the schools. The City of Folsom Parks and Rec is still a good partner in a lot of different ways, including afterschool care for kids that don't necessarily come to our program or don't want to.[00:17:00] 

For summer gap programming, they reduced... Any of my referrals, they will reduce the cost of and help financially. Oh, how nice is that? So yeah, there's a variety of ways that we still partner with them. Twin Lakes Food Bank, again, now they are right across the street from us, but they have been helping for years with just snack donations.

With the move this year, we actually have a hospitality manager who cooks and serves an, a full meal to all of our kids every day that they come to the program. So as you can imagine- Is, is 

Jeff Holden: there a kitchen in your facility? There's a 

Salwa Kasabian: kitchen in 

Jeff Holden: the facility. Oh, how nice is that? 

Salwa Kasabian: So yes, it's great. So you walk into our facility, it smells like home 'cause there's cooking going on.

But yes, so that's a lot of mouths to feed, and the food bank has been so gracious. She basically provides them a list at the beginning of the week of things that she would like to have, and whatever they can provide to us, they do. In addition to that, they actually have their garden on the property where we are, just across the street from them, behind us.

And so our kids are able to, through Michelle, who's the garden [00:18:00] coordinator with the food bank, she allows our kids to come in and she works with them in the garden, 

Jeff Holden: so. Oh, so they get an experience there that they wouldn't otherwise get- 

Salwa Kasabian: Exactly ... 

Jeff Holden: either in classroom- Yes ... or at home for sure. 

Salwa Kasabian: Exactly. 

Jeff Holden: And see a tomato that grows, and you can eat this thing.

Salwa Kasabian: Exactly, yeah. 

Jeff Holden: Or a squash or whatever it may be. 

Salwa Kasabian: Exactly. So Food Bank is a great partner. We have a partnership, an MOU with Los Rios College District and with Sac State to employ federal work study students. So these are students who qualify for financial aid, but instead of opting to take out a loan, they decide to work, and it's a federally funded program that's run through colleges.

So we actually get to employ these students at no cost to us. So they get paid, they're employed and paid by the college technically, but they work for us. So it's, we have, I currently am employing five federal work study students, one in a classroom on campus at Theodore Judah and four with us after schools.

Jeff Holden: That's fantastic 

Salwa Kasabian: to hear. I mean, the staffing costs 

Jeff Holden: Right ... 

Salwa Kasabian: right, it's, it's a huge benefit, so that's been a [00:19:00] great partnership as well. We have lots of volunteer people that we work alongside. National Charity League is a mother-daughter organization that provides volunteers for a variety of things. We have a woman named Angela Houck.

She has a nonprofit called New Joy Arts, and she provides, it's art with a social emotional learning bent- Mm ... to our students. She's there weekly doing that. Mercy Housing in Folsom. There's two Mercy Housing complexes that our, a lot of our students live at, and so yeah, just partnering with them in terms of family communication and referrals from them and all of that.

So they've been a great partner as well. Powerhouse Ministries, who was also in the 16 of the nonprofit 

Jeff Holden: cohort. The cohort, yeah, for Fast Pitch, yes. SVP's Fast Pitch. 

Salwa Kasabian: We've walked alongside, partnered with them for years. They're another really great partner. And then as you mentioned, churches for sure.

Funding and volunteers, they've been a great resource. Kaiser Permanente has actually been one of our largest funders for our afterschool piece for [00:20:00] years and continues to be so. And then we have an annual golf tournament in October each year. So this is, will be year six of that golf tournament, which is spearheaded by a local company called Goodfellows Brothers.

It's not even spearheaded by us. They came to us and said- It's, 

Jeff Holden: it's a nonprofit? 

Salwa Kasabian: No, they're a, they're a, a construction company. 

Jeff Holden: Ah, okay. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. So they basically said, "We'd like to do this, and we'd like for you-" And you're the 

Jeff Holden: beneficiary. 

Salwa Kasabian: And I said, "Okay, that sounds good." Sure. And so between them and the other presenting sponsors, that is the single largest funding stream that we have each year, and that is, again, in October.

Largely contractors, subcontractors that they work with, um, but also, you know, some banks. There's sponsors here and there, so it's just... Yeah, that's been an amazing- Wow. Yeah. Amazing. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah, you have, there's a lot of people surrounding- A 

Salwa Kasabian: lot of people ... 

Jeff Holden: such a small community organization. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yes. Exactly. 

Jeff Holden: Which is, is wonderful.

It's a testament to the organization- 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah ... and, and what you're doing and, and what you're producing for the [00:21:00] community. How are you funded? 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. So, I mean, primarily through basically businesses and, um, so there's some local family foundations that fund us as well, but we have some major individual donors that are very generous.

But again, we don't qualify... So you're talking about how this can be duplicated in any community, which is true, but I think that what makes Folsom unique in some ways is that, again, we don't qualify for the traditional grant funding stream. So on the Rancho Cordova side of our district, they qualify almost all of those schools for, it's called an After School Education and Safety Grant, ASES grant, and that specifically funds afterschool programming for vulnerable youth.

And so we don't qualify for any of that type of government funding either as a organization. So all of our funding comes from... You know, we do, we apply for any grant we think we might benefit from or be able to qualify for. And yeah, it's different every year, but [00:22:00] we do have some donors 

Jeff Holden: that- So you're basically starting from zero every year.

Salwa Kasabian: Not zero. We do have a lot of people- You do, okay ... who continue to support us every year. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yes. Yep. 

Jeff Holden: So it's not a zero sum. No. It's, it's a continuous- Yes ... you know that they're gonna be there to support you. Yes. Okay. What is your, your budget? I u- I know you've grown exponentially, 'cause we had this conversation prior, which is, is am- amazing to me.

And to think that, you know, two years ago you're here, today you're here. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. Yeah. So we are finishing out... So our fiscal year runs, um, July 1st to June 30th, w- like the- Mm-hmm ... school year. And so we're finishing out this fiscal year. We budgeted about seven- our budget's about $730,000 for this school year that we're finishing up.

That's just almost double where we were because of the move, the expansion, and yeah, just everything that comes with that. But, but the 

Jeff Holden: support, I mean, to go and grow like that- 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah, well- 

Jeff Holden: That's a lot of community- 

Salwa Kasabian: It is. Um- ... 

Jeff Holden: interest and, and willingness. 

Salwa Kasabian: It [00:23:00] is. We haven't gotten $730,000 of support. That's- That's 

Jeff Holden: what, that's what you're gonna do

that's, that's a 

Salwa Kasabian: process. That is our budget. Okay. 

Jeff Holden: This is what we're gonna help you do. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. But still, I, I, I can see you'll get there. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yes. And we, you know, we benefited from, for years we really believed and were making strides toward building our own building on the campus actually of Theodore Judah Elementary School.

We had gotten school district approval, school board approval to do that, and we had submitted a couple of different rendering plans, architectural plans to the Department of State Architect and then in August of '24, our last plans, those expired, and this opportunity at Mount Olive came up, and we really felt like that door was closed for now.

Mm-hmm. So I don't know- 

Jeff Holden: What that's gonna 

Salwa Kasabian: look like ... what that's gonna look like in the future, but we had the benefit of even though we didn't make our goal of the $2.5 million to break ground, that was our goal- 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm ... 

Salwa Kasabian: we saved a lot of money toward [00:24:00] facility. And so we have some buffer right now, but we are actively working to increase our donor base, and donations, and grants, and all that because- Good

we need it. Yeah. 

SMUD: Yeah, 

Jeff Holden: I can 

SMUD: appreciate that. 

Jeff Holden: Let's take a break to get a little education from another group, the people who make this program possible. 

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We're dedicated to supporting nonprofit organizations who advocate for the strength, [00:25:00] resilience, and vitality of those they serve. When nonprofit organizations thrive, our community does too. By supporting the Nonprofit Podcast Network, Five Star Bank is amplifying the voices and meaningful impact of our nonprofit community.

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DTEAT@CXORE.com. 

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Jeff Holden: Which is a great segue to the next question, which is somebody shows up and says, "Sal, I love what you're doing. This is a really neat program. I see it in the community. It may even be replicable somewhere, you know, in, in other communities. Let's exercise it here and see what it does.

I have a blank check for you if what you propose makes sense to me." What would it look like? What would be different? What would you do? 

Salwa Kasabian: In terms of [00:29:00] replicating the- 

Jeff Holden: No, no. Somebody says, "Here's, here's a blank check." Okay. Money's not an object. 

Salwa Kasabian: Okay. 

Jeff Holden: Now what? 

Salwa Kasabian: Okay. In terms of our- 

Jeff Holden: Yes ... 

Salwa Kasabian: like what we would do with that?

Folsom SO. Yeah. I mean, a building, a place of our own, for sure. In fact, our middle school, we were again able to bring back that program after school this year, but we're capped at about 21 because the building that they are in- So yeah ... the 

Jeff Holden: exact- Capacity. Yeah. Even if you had the money, you couldn't jam 'em in.

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah, so a building, a place of our own that really could meet the needs of the students. You know, staffing costs were no... If that weren't an issue, like, yeah, sky's the limit. Like- Mm ... man, let's get a place where we could actually bring in all the students that need it and the staffing support. 

Jeff Holden: A- and that's the question I'm gonna ask you, the students who need it, what...

Do you have an idea? Today you do X, and that services some percentage of need. Mm. What is the need of X plus? Is it three times what you're doing, four times, five times? Uh, how big is that [00:30:00] need in- Yeah ... the general facility, the general area, I should say? 

Salwa Kasabian: That's a good question. I mean, what I can tell you is, so again, getting back to the Title I- 

Jeff Holden: Funding

Salwa Kasabian: the s- the funding, if a school site has 40% or more economically disadvantaged students, that's classified in different ways, but largely through qualifying for free lunch, then they can apply for Title I status. So Blanche Sprentz Elementary last school year had 39.9% of their students who were e- economically disadvantaged, and Theodore Judah sat at about 32%.

So I can, you know, confidently say almost one in four students at Blanche, one in three at Judah- Mm-hmm ... definitely need that support in the elementary, um, arena. And then as those students move up to middle and high school, obviously they need the continued support. 

Jeff Holden: Boy, that's a catch-22 too, because you, you sit here and you go, "Oh, but if you get to 40%, you might qualify for Title [00:31:00] I funding."

But if you're getting to 40%, that means fam- families are falling further and further behind- 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah ... 

Jeff Holden: in terms of income. It's not a good thing either. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: Uh, the good thing is you can support them differently. The bad thing is, meaning the community is, is outpricing- 

Salwa Kasabian: Yes ... 

Jeff Holden: the ability to really- 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah ... 

Jeff Holden: live comfortably in the community.

Salwa Kasabian: Absolutely. I mean, I, that's, I think, just a fact of- 

Jeff Holden: Right ... 

Salwa Kasabian: our environment today. Yeah. Things are getting harder. And unfortunately, B- brunch did go down a little this year. So, so they're just... They're hovering right there. Yeah. Right? Like, okay, there's this pretty significant need, but it's not enough. 

Jeff Holden: Right.

Salwa Kasabian: So. 

Jeff Holden: So we get a building for you if, if all goes great. Let's, let's come back now to reality today. What's the greatest need? 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah, I mean, the greatest need really would be funding. Uh, and that largely has to do with our staff, because we can only have so many, as many students as we can- You can s- ... support through our staff.

I [00:32:00] definitely, you know, believe that we're not gonna bring students in just to get numbers in our program. We absolutely have to be sure that they are getting the support that they need- Mm ... and that we are actively working to help them make gains in a variety of ways, not just academically, but we have a strong focus on social-emotional learning as well in our program.

So if we're not doing that, then there's really no point. Like, we need to be making sure that we're supporting students the way that we need to. 

Jeff Holden: I, I didn't ask earlier, but what is the primary program? What program has the most demand on it? 

Salwa Kasabian: It would be the after-school program for sure. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. 

Salwa Kasabian: Mm-hmm. Yep, the STARS After School.

Jeff Holden: Impact. I- I'm gonna ask you 'cause you've seen it now over the course of 18 years, including with your own children. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: What, what are they doing now? 'Cause they're, they're all done, right? They're 

Salwa Kasabian: all done, yeah. So I have a 25-year-old daughter who has been married for four years, and I'm a grandma.

Jeff Holden: Congratulations. She has- Congratulations ... a 

Salwa Kasabian: two-year-old. Best thing ever. And [00:33:00] then my son is 23, and he got a certificate at ARC for music recording, so he has got three different jobs he's working, doing- Good for him ... mostly lighting, but sound, audio stuff. And then my youngest, who is 22, is a tattoo artist in Folsom actually.

Yeah. Folsom City Ink. Really? I'm not kidding. Just minutes from our house. Yeah, so they're all finding their way and doing great, uh- 

Jeff Holden: That's wonderful How about impact from students that you've seen who really deep in the system, you know, they're, they're the one in the four, one in three. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: What, a- a- anything you can share, people you've seen come through.

You mentioned some have come back- Mm-hmm ... a- after a teaching degree or something, I'm assuming? 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. No, not a teaching degree. So we don't require credentialed teachers to be in our program. 

Jeff Holden: Okay, good. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah, so I mean, obviously experience with youth, but, but no, yeah. So I mean, the one... So I can tell you one of our staff members who actually left us to go find full-time employment, she was one of our first [00:34:00] students in the afterschool program, her and her sister, and she worked very hard to kind of break out of dysfunctional cycle in her family, and she ended up at Powerhouse in the Women's and Children's Center, and that's where she came to work for us last year.

And so she worked with us all the way till the point where she graduated from Powerhouse, and then again, needed to get a full-time job. So yeah, and just really continuing to actively change the trajectory of her life, she has a little girl now, for the benefit of her family, so. 

Jeff Holden: And, and you can see the, as these, these kids come through and go on to whatever, if, as they do go on to other things- Mm-hmm

and, and professional careers and they're actually working and everything, that's beginning to change that cycle of generational poverty. I would imagine a different perspective as well with parental involvement too, because they saw it through the program- 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah ... 

Jeff Holden: that they didn't necessarily see at home prior.

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. Yeah. And I have to say, I mean, yes, there are [00:35:00] definitely students like her that, you know, the parental involvement was minimal, lots of dysfunction at home. But, um, we actually have a very large population of, um, Hispanic families in our programs, and I have never seen harder working parents ever, and really caring and supporting their students.

They want them in our programs because they know that that will help them with their education, with, you know, all of the things that they need to be successful in the future. So yes, it's a, it's a mixed bag. 

Jeff Holden: That's great to hear, though. 

Salwa Kasabian: Different- 

Jeff Holden: It's great to hear that the parental involvement is there.

Salwa Kasabian: Absolutely. Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: In terms of- The system itself, now that you're 18 years old, you're emancipated. But as, as, as an 18-year-old program, is, is there demand on the program from the school system? Do they reach out and say, "Boy, could you do... Is there more you could do? Is [00:36:00] there this, that, or the other?" Because they don't get any Title I funding.

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. No, we... I mean, I don't think we've ever gotten a demand from the school in terms of, or a request like- 

Jeff Holden: I, I meant that in a, not, not a demand- Yeah ... I should've said a request. 

Salwa Kasabian: But as a organization, we certainly have been asking those questions each year. You know, holding loosely, like, do we continue what we're doing?

And, and B, now that we have our own home that we are in, it's allowed us to kind of dream this summer. Like, we've never done summer programming before. We've always just- 

Jeff Holden: Oh, this is the first year ... 

Salwa Kasabian: this is the first year. So partnered with, you know, there's, again, some local churches that will scholarship our kids in.

Parks and Rec has some gap programming that we provide support for our families in. So there's just a variety of things that we've tried to do to give parents some ability to have their kids in programming. 

Jeff Holden: And is there a fee for service for some of the programs, or th- they have to pay a, a, a stipend?

Salwa Kasabian: Are 

Jeff Holden: you talking 

Salwa Kasabian: about summer programs- Yes ... specifically? So the churches are free. [00:37:00] There is a fee for the Parks and Rec programs. 

Jeff Holden: But that goes straight to the Parks and Rec, right? It doesn't- Uh, 

Salwa Kasabian: yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So basically, they cut their cost in half for our referrals, and then there is actually, through Hands for Hope, if you know about that organization.

Jeff Holden: No. 

Salwa Kasabian: They ha- It's a youth volunteer organization. You should know about Hands for 

Jeff Holden: Hope. Oh, thank you. I do now. Yeah, 

Salwa Kasabian: so you should reach out to her. 

Jeff Holden: I, I will. 

Salwa Kasabian: And so they have a scholarship program specifically geared toward vulnerable youth and summer programming. So I have my families who want the full-time care that Parks and Rec provides apply for that scholarship- Mm-hmm

to help support them. And what does... But if there's still a gap there, then we have a benevolence fund that we can use to help with that as well. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. 

Salwa Kasabian: But, but yeah, so this year in July, we're actually gonna be doing some intervention programming because we definitely see, yes, we're doing a lot to move the needle in our afterschool program, academically specifically, but there's a lot of our students who those building blocks were not there.

And so we are doing [00:38:00] mostly homework completion in the afterschool program. There's not a lot of time for catch-up. 

Scott Thomas: Mm-hmm. 

Salwa Kasabian: So by utilizing our summer to be able to have some fun summer clubs- Yeah ... summer program, 

Scott Thomas: Yeah ... 

Salwa Kasabian: we're gonna be able to support students with math and English, uh, from first through middle school.

We've sent out some personalized invitations to students who we think could benefit from it the 

Jeff Holden: most. Yeah, that's excellent. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: Get them to grade level- 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah ... 

Jeff Holden: whatever that grade level is- Exactly ... in a- 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah ... 

Jeff Holden: particular- 

Salwa Kasabian: Mm-hmm. Yeah ... 

Jeff Holden: study. 

Salwa Kasabian: Exactly. Yep. 

Jeff Holden: No, that's, that's fantastic to hear. Yeah. So one of the things that we see with all of our nonprofit leadership is you- All tend to be very deeply involved in the mission, and it makes sense for, for good reason.

But there's a human behind this too. You have your own family, you have your own life. There's things that you do, and so we, we've created this little segment called Beyond the Mission. 

Salwa Kasabian: Okay. 

Jeff Holden: Where it's, it's, it's just some rapid-fire stuff for people to understand a little bit more about Selah. What's, what's she really like?

Mm. You know, what does she do? You know, this, [00:39:00] this, her, her person, you know? Not the mission- Yeah ... but the, but the person. So I'm gonna just throw five, six, seven, eight questions at you so we can get a better feel. Favorite color? 

Salwa Kasabian: Yellow. 

Jeff Holden: First car? 

Salwa Kasabian: Oh, a little Honda Civic. 

Jeff Holden: Favorite food? 

Salwa Kasabian: Oh, gosh. Probably carnitas street tacos.

Jeff Holden: Ah. I'm hungry. It's, we're recording this at what, noon-ish, 1:00? Best advice you've ever received? 

Salwa Kasabian: Oh, from a mentor years ago. I used to clean her house, this woman, and she told me if she could do over again, she would not have gotten married before she got her graduate degree and was able to support herself financially, and that's what I did before I got married.

So yeah. 

Jeff Holden: A very subtle, you know, advice. Uh, favorite exercise? 

Salwa Kasabian: Biking. 

Jeff Holden: Okay. And we had this conversation, so I was gonna give you that one. [00:40:00] 

Salwa Kasabian: Yep. 

Jeff Holden: And then what does a perfect day off look like for you? 

Salwa Kasabian: Perfect day off, uh, probably cycling in the morning. Yeah, I mean, it would definitely have to include a little cat nap in the afternoon, and I love doing puzzles, and I love cooking.

So probably a variety of all of that stuff. 

Jeff Holden: And you just answered two of the questions- Oh. ... that could, could come. No, that's perfect because it's what people would be surprised to learn about you. Puzzles. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: I love doing puzzles. Well, you're, you're living one for the last 18 years for sure. There's a lot of pieces to put this all together.

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: So Salla, if somebody's interested in supporting the mission, what's the best way for them to learn more, to contribute, to get oriented, volunteer, whatever it is? 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. I mean, our website, folsomshope.org, and when you go onto our website, a contact form pops up, and you can submit your information there to get on our mailing list, but there's also a way to contact...

There's a contact form on the website. Okay. And [00:41:00] all of those contacts for- forms come to me, so I reply to all of those. So if someone reaches out and says, "I wanna volunteer," I'm always connecting with them to see what that looks like 'cause there's a variety of ways they can do that. And then there's also a donate button on our website for any donations, um, that people would like to make.

And then obviously social media, we have a Instagram and Facebook, um, account, so if you like us on social media, you'll continue to see kinda what's going on throughout the course of the year for us. I think, yeah, those- Perfect ... are probably the best ways. 

Jeff Holden: And we'll put all those in the show notes too so that if somebody's listening, which m- most people do when they're doing something else, you know, driving, exercising, whatever it may be, they can just go to the, uh, to the show notes on their episode and, and get the links directly.

SMUD: Great. 

Jeff Holden: Well- I, like many, recognize the way to prosperity and breaking the cycle of generational poverty is through education. And if we don't get our children oriented properly in the beginning, it's so much harder and so much un- more unlikely that [00:42:00] they're going to be successful, and they won't necessarily do all the things that we wish and hope for them.

And, and what you're doing is giving this ramp up i- in a situation that, that really isn't necessarily easy. 

Salwa Kasabian: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: And so many kids don't have that opportunity. But the fact that you're identifying it, you've identified it, you've now been exercising it for 18 years, you see it, the growth that you've experienced is amazing.

You know, that's... It, it, it's wonderful to see that that's there for the support in the community as the community grows. And for what you and your team do with Folsom's Hope in Folsom is really an incredible accomplishment. So thank you for what you do and, and to your team, both your volunteers and your employees.

Salwa Kasabian: Absolutely. Yeah. Amazing team. Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: Well, thank you for that. 

Salwa Kasabian: Thank you, Jeff. 

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