My Sister's House Helps Overcome Cultural and Language Barriers in Serving Sacramento's Asian Communities

Christine Nguyen: [00:00:00] Nonprofit broadcast...

Yen Marshall: going through the legal, trying to get a restraining order so that to keep her safe, she's still live in fear that you know the kids are gonna go to the husband. Just a gambler and, you know, abuse her. 

Christine Nguyen: I mean, she, she shares something that's so nuanced to our community. So in our culture, we bathe in a particular way so we don't have shower heads, so we bathe out of a bucket.

When she was at the hotel, she was like, I don't think I can shower here. I'm going to, my kids are going to suffocate. I can't imagine someone who doesn't understand how, how like a, a villager lived in Vietnam would be able to equate to what she was trying to say. Right? And she didn't have to say too much.

I knew it.[00:01:00] 

Jeff Holden: Hi, I'm Jeff Holden. Welcome to the nonprofit Podcast Network. Our purpose and passion is to highlight a nonprofit organization in each weekly episode, giving that organization an opportunity to tell their story in their words, to better inform and educate the respective communities they serve, as well as provide one more tool for them to share their message to constituents and donors.

Our goal is to help build stronger communities through shared voices, and to both encourage and support the growth of local nonprofit organizations through podcasting, thanks to our founding partners for their foresight in helping us transform the way conversations start. I. CAPTRUST fiduciary advice for endowments and foundations.

Runyon Saltzman Incorporated, RSE. Marketing, advertising and [00:02:00] Public Relations, creating integrated communications committed to improving lives and Western Health Advantage, a full service healthcare plan for individuals, employer groups, and families For the month of May. I've chosen to do something a bit differently with our episodes.

We all know the significance of mothers and children. With Mother's Day in May, I've chosen to use the full month to highlight organizations supporting moms and their children in our community. If you like this thematic approach, feel free to let me know through the link on the website. Enjoy the episode as we close the month of May with our final organization serving Women and Children, it's unique in several ways.

We know the challenges in general facing women who find themselves in situations of homelessness, abuse. Domestic violence trafficking, there are no boundaries on who's impacted. However, it can be exaggerated when you add in extreme cultural norms, [00:03:00] huge language barriers, and economic distress. That's often the case when you address the situation facing Southeast Asian women.

The good news is there is an organization that caters to these women and their children specifically, and they have been supporting the community for over 24 years. I'm especially honored to have the privilege of speaking with the outgoing C E O , Yen Marshall, and welcoming to her first podcast as C E O of my sister's House, Christine Nguyen. 

Yen Marshall, Christine Nguyen, welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast Network. 

Christine Nguyen: Thank you. Thank you, Jeff. Good to be here. 

Jeff Holden: The very first part of our conversation, I think, is breaking news to some degree. Because we've got something to share with the community and that's, there's a bit of change taking place at my sister's house.

That's effective June one, correct? That is correct. And Yen, what is it that is changing? 

Yen Marshall: Well, I'm [00:04:00] excited to announce that effective June 1st, Christine will assume the role of CEO for my sister's house. This change will allow me to take a short vacation before I return to serve on the board of directors.

For those who may not be aware. Christine and I have been sharing, uh, the executive responsibilities for the organization since last August. 

Jeff Holden: Oh my goodness. Almost a year. 

Yen Marshall: Yes. With me serving as the CEO and Christine serving as the CEOO. Prior to that, I stepped down from the board for about a year during the transitional period as a pro bono interim executive director for the organization during the leadership change.

Christine Nguyen: Mm-hmm. 

Yen Marshall: And it took us a while to find the right leader for the organization. So thrilled to share that. We have finally found her. [00:05:00] And that's Christine Gwynn. 

Jeff Holden: Who happen to be right underneath your nose all the time, right? 

Christine Nguyen: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: So Christine, how long have you been with the organization now? 

Christine Nguyen: I've been with the organization since August of last year.

Jeff Holden: Okay. Congratulations and welcome to your first interview. Short of the. Excitement of the event last night, and we're recording this episode on the 20th of May. Your big event was on the 19th where you announced. Christine as the new CEO. 

Christine Nguyen: Thank you. I am, I'm still willing in the comment that Yen just made and I'm trying not to get too emotional about the announcement 'cause I'm just really happy about it.

Even though I know there's gonna be lot, lots of work ahead. I'm just really happy that I found a place that I can, can really invest my day and making sure that I'm working towards a wonderful mission and supporting. [00:06:00] Stuff. 

Jeff Holden: Well, I bet Yen is really happy too. 

Christine Nguyen: Yes, yes, I know she is. 'cause she's going on vacation.

That's 

Jeff Holden: right. We'll talk about that at the, a little bit later in the episode. 

Christine Nguyen: Yes. 

Jeff Holden: My sister's house has become well known for the services you provide in the Asian community. And while you're not exclusive to that community, it is the bulk of where your service and community are derived from. Many people don't realize the cultural differences that present and why your organization is so very significant, and I'd like you to share a little bit of that with us.

If you could, southeastern Asian ethnicities among Chinese, Filipino, Muslim, there's novelty in each of those cultures. And if you could share a little bit of that, why it makes you so unique in the ability to work with those cultures. 

Christine Nguyen: It's not a one size fit all when you're dealing with social service. I think when you're dealing with clients from disenfranchised communities, again, you really [00:07:00] have to meet the clients where they are.

And in working with survivors who come from so different communities, meeting them wherever they are is really key to their journey of, of recovery. They probably took. Their lives, you know, close to dying before they made the call to, to seek help. So having staff. And in leadership at the organization that understand where they are culturally will help that survivor communicate their situation, their struggles and, and their, their needs.

And even having similar language needs and culture. We also still struggle with, with the clients because they all come to us with such unique circumstance. So that sets our agency and our volunteers apart from other [00:08:00] domestic violence providers because we know to kind of stop and, and make sure that we're sensitive.

To why they're in the situation that they're in, where they're heading and, and in between the recovery, how to best serve them through language support system, through perhaps programming needs, through language, through culture, response sensitivity as well. Whether we are able to engage them or not has a lot to do with how we connect to them on, on that basic level, which is knowing where they come from.

Jeff Holden: How old is the agency now? 

Yen Marshall: 24 years. 

Jeff Holden: So over those 24 years, you've built an understanding within your volunteer base of what these cultural nuances are. 'cause each one is so different. You need somebody who speaks the language. So you certainly [00:09:00] have to be the most diverse of any of the organizations servicing domestic violence and.

Substance abuse, things of that nature in this community. I mean, from Chinese to among to Filipino, they're all different languages. 

Yen Marshall: That's why we are very proud of the fact that I think most, you know, our staff, we can speak up to, I think currently about 15 different Asian languages. Because we know language is always a big barriers for immigrants.

Mm-hmm. And most of our survivors are immigrants. So having that background, and that is, it's an advantage for us. So that, like Christine said, you know how we meet the clients where they are. That is a very useful resource for us to be able to serve, you know, the clients that walk through the door in a unique way 

Jeff Holden: and understanding those cultural differences also on how to approach that client.

Absolutely. And to ask the right questions so that you can elicit [00:10:00] the right response. 'cause I'm sure fear is extremely, extremely high just for exposing the situation, much less the personal. Trauma that it's, it's inflicted on the individual. 

Christine Nguyen: Yeah. You know, I'm bilingual, I speak Vietnamese and Yen is trilingual.

She speaks Cantonese and Vietnamese. And recently, about two weeks ago, we, in intake, you know, we did an assessment on, on a Vietnamese survivor. And I met her at the, at the hotel, you know, the emergency hospital transport system, drop her off at the a, a partnering hotel. And so I met her the next morning.

You should see the. The relief on her, on her, you know, her face when I met her and I spoke Vietnamese. Oftentimes, many of my Vietnamese community don't know that I'm Vietnamese. 'cause they keep saying that I don't look Vietnamese. But they get very surprised when I, I speak to them in Vietnamese and she was kind of shocked.

And she was like, oh, and the relief that she felt, you know, and [00:11:00] she, she, she couldn't wait to tell me her story because the, our hotel or our shelter manager didn't speak Vietnamese. She spoke Hmong. So it was just, it was just a already like, you know, the connection was instant that, oh, you know what I, I can trust this person.

And she ended up telling me a whole lot more than the questions that we ask. Because I understood her, I understood her language, 

Jeff Holden: and I would imagine probably a whole lot more than you really even wanted to know. Yes. Oh 

Christine Nguyen: my goodness. I, I am, it's absolutely, and I, I did end up having to kind of hone in a little bit and I said, you know, when I hear, you don't have to really tell me everything because you are going to get served.

Mm-hmm. We do not need anything from you. You will get served, you and your two children will be served. We are going to move you into a shelter. And I think that was a, like a big sigh of relief for her because she said, I didn't understand anything from at the hospital. [00:12:00] Mm-hmm. And she came back to the, to the office a couple weeks later and she, I was busy.

I was, I was in a meeting, but we had a, an interpreter there to help her. And I, I heard some of the conversation and. Yes. You know, she said, I don't even know what hospital I was at. I didn't understand anything. I just knew that they, I, I just knew that I called the police and now I'm here at my sister's house.

And then, and ever since she's been at my sister's house, she's been able to communicate with somebody in Vietnam. 

Yen Marshall: You know, when people come to us, not every time we have shelter. Mm. For this particular client, she was very lucky that someone just moved out from our emergency shelter. Mm-hmm. So after two days in the hotel, she was transport, you know, transferred into.

One of the room that we have for the shelters. So, you know, shelter is one of very premium things in, in this region because there are [00:13:00] much more needs than the capacity that we can provide. So we not just because of her situation, this is the first time that really, uh, receive a client directly from the hospital.

So the case worker even talked to us how. It's rare that she's able to continue monitor a client after they leave the hospital, because normally you don't know where they end up. Most of them being help. You know, once they're safe and they are clean up from the wounds, it's hard for them to follow up with the clients because they don't have a house somewhere.

With this client being in our shelter, we collaboratively can work with her to provide, you know, the best resources to the same 

Jeff Holden: client, I think. So proper medical care and any mental health 

Yen Marshall: right now. Now she's going through the legal, you know, trying to get a restraining order so that to keep her safe.

Mm-hmm. And she still live in [00:14:00] fear that, you know, the kids are gonna go to the husband because the husband doesn't know anything and. Just a gambler and, you know, abuse her and just, yeah. So it's kind of nice to be able to help to have the right resources at the time when the clients need, 

Christine Nguyen: I mean, she, she shares something that's so nuanced to our community that I, I believe she would not share if she was intake by an organization that didn't understand this culture.

So in our culture, we bathe in a particular way so we don't have shower heads. So we bathed out of a bucket. And so she was like this. So when she was at the hotel, she was like, or they used, they bathed and she's like, I don't think I can shower here. I'm going to, my kids are going to suffocate. And I immediately, I, I figured she was talking about the shower head because she's never had, her kids never had shower water coming down from a shower head before.[00:15:00] 

And so I. Took her to the, to the bathroom and show her how to use one. And immediately I knew what she was talking about. And so I, I can't imagine someone who doesn't understand how, how, like a, a villager living in Vietnam would be able to equate to what she was trying to say. Right. And she didn't have to say too much.

I knew it right. And, and oftentimes, and I, I, I, I would just, I would probably presume that she probably wouldn't be talking about those things, and she would go without a shower until for, for quite some time. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. Yen, you mentioned a couple of things, the domestic violence, the abuse, gambling. Tell us a little bit about some of the issues you deal with most often.

What is it that you see? Certainly, spousal abuse. I. 

Christine Nguyen: What we've, what I have been hearing of financial abuse, a lot of our survivors are basically cut off like this particular victim. She. She [00:16:00] had no access to, to money, and she was relying on CalFresh that was given to her husband to buy food. And since he was a gambler, he spent it all, he basically traded in, you know, for cash.

For cash at, at probably a portion of the, a portion of the value. So I can gamble and so, and. She was not able to get any of her immigration paperwork, so she doesn't have a driver's license. So those are the kind of the recurring stories we hear. They would threaten immigration. They would, they threaten deportation.

Um, our survivors, a lot of them also threaten children. You know, if, if you're not a fit, you know, I, I can call the police and say, you're not a fit mother. They can take away your children. So, you know, I think cutting them off, isolating them from, mm-hmm. From family members. Last night we had a survivor speak at our gala and when, you know, everything in the beginning of the marriage was fine.

She soon saw that she was [00:17:00] being isolated from her family in Vietnam. She. Could make phone calls and having access to a telephone. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Or a cell phone, I mean's all life, like these days and mm-hmm. That's not, she wasn't allowed to have work. A very passive 

Jeff Holden: aggressive way to separate You take 

Yen Marshall: control and take 

Jeff Holden: control.

Correct. Mm-hmm. 

Yen Marshall: And especially for someone who doesn't work, that depends on the spouse to do to the money. The fear of if they go to court, the court is going to sigh with the husband because he's a financial provider and she's gonna end up being kicked out of the house and not have access to the kids.

If she moved forward with divorcing him. Mm-hmm. Because she, there's no way she could provide. For the kids. 

Jeff Holden: Tell us a little bit about the programs that you provide. You mean we got the issues and, and these issues are cross culture? It's, it's, yes. Correct. Not specific to Chinese or Hmong or Vietnamese or Filipino or even Muslim, right?[00:18:00] 

Mm-hmm. Yeah. 

Christine Nguyen: Okay. They might take different shapes and form, but it's very much the same. Yeah, same barriers. So knowing that, you know, we have built a wraparound services to make sure that we are able to uplift the survivors in, in a holistic way and not just one thing, because I think they, they have been isolated from families, from perhaps even from their community and sometimes from themselves.

They come in. Pretty shatter. Lost a lot of dreams and hopes, you know, definitely there's no more confidence or self-esteem left or, mm-hmm. Their self worth is shot, you know? Mm-hmm. Down to zero. So slowly rebuilding our, our survivor from the ground up. So we rebuild them through providing them, uh, first and foremost their basic needs, which is shelter.

That's one way to get to extract them from the abusive environment, bring them to safety. They either get housed [00:19:00] through hotel vouchers or through whatever shelter. Then once they're settled, we looked at counseling. So, you know, you've gone through a lot. You're gonna really need to work through this and counseling for themselves, coming for, for their children.

And then depending on whether there are children involved, assets involved, definitely everybody before they, we, our legal team, dev into those issues. We look at whether or not we need to do a restraining order at almost a hundred percent of the time. Our clients opt to do a restraining order, so we work on that, get them, making sure that there's legal protection for them, and then we look, uh, look into, um, divorce paperwork, child custody paperwork.

From there, they, they could be receiving services all one time. They could be mm-hmm. Meeting with an attorney one day, meeting with our counselor on Friday, and then [00:20:00] when they're ready, they also can join support group. You know, where we meet every Tuesday night and they're among, and there's a virtual meeting.

They're meeting with other women who are going through similar situation, and our facilitators have different topics to talk about and they also can lead the topics, what they wanna talk about that day and what helps them feel safe to talk about. So it, it's a good way for them to kind of know that there's support out there.

Jeff Holden: One of the things that are so prolific in these situations is the reintegration process. Now they're gonna come back into the community. Maybe the family and the family's not happy about this, or is it just depends on the situation. How do you work with getting them prepared for Maybe it's a job, maybe it's work.

I know there's some things. Mm-hmm. And programs in that full 360 of what you do. That that helped? 

Yen Marshall: Yeah. Well, [00:21:00] in the past we even provide assistance in learning how to drive. I mean, the very basic thing that, you know, depending on what level they are in term of reintegrating back into the workforce, I.

Then we also, as you know, we have the enterprise, which is more like, you know, with the cafe, and then we used to have the store, the Treasure store as well. Share a 

Jeff Holden: little bit about the cafe for people who don't know. Yeah, 

Yen Marshall: so the cafe itself is a place where we, in addition to a revenue generation for the organization, is a training ground for our clients, especially for those who are interested in learning.

About the food industry with this, the cafe itself, we have staff, we have volunteers, and then we have clients. So it's a mixture of three different sources. And so, so when someone walk in, they would not know who is the client or [00:22:00] who is the staff. And so that's, that's a good way, kind of a safety net for them.

And this is at the cafe that our clients learn. That they need to be respected in order to serve. It is not, people cannot be calling them names or putting them down or, you know, courtesy involved in treating each other with respect. Mm-hmm. So that's the first thing that they learn. So I think that's really empower them all of a sudden just doing little thing they could see and feel that they're being appreciated.

So. It's a confidence builder and that's really important for, especially those that are still fresh from, you know, being mentally abused or verbally abused, you know, for a long time. It's really hard to get out of that mode knowing that, Hey, I am, I. Capable of doing things. I'm not, you know, stupid the way that you've been calling me and things like that.

So that's just, I really do have 

Jeff Holden: value and I really can contribute. Exactly. 

Yen Marshall: And you have value and you can contribute and you have [00:23:00] capability of doing things. And, and then for them, it's really good to start earning money too. So, and then even the tip that provided at the cafe goes back to them so they can see that, you know, with good services, they gain extra money.

And it, it just, I. One way to really think about how to generate revenue and then what would bring more customers, you know, the very basic skills of entrepreneurship. 

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. We'll be back to learn more about the opportunities that are presented. The clients of my sister's house with Yen Marshall and Christine Wynn, right after we hear from our partners making this program possible.

I'm thrilled to have Western Health Advantage partnering with us as they do so much to support so many nonprofit 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 [00:24:00] services to pharmacy health and wellness support, as well as behavioral healthcare.

Western Health Advantage has a plan that fits what you need as an employer for profit or nonprofit business, individual or family. You can find more@westernhealth.com. 

Scott Thomas: Hello, this is Scott Thomas with CAPTRUST 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, scottThomas@captrust.com.

Jeff Holden: If your organization is looking for non volunteer positions at any level, consider using our platform for your recruitment, whether in podcast content or in the newsletter the audience we're [00:25:00] speaking to. Has your next teammate. Simply reach out to me through the website, nonprofit pod.com, for a customized solution to your open positions.

Who are some of those organizations you see frequently? That you work with? 

Christine Nguyen: Yeah. So since, you know, since my, my start with my sister also in August, I've been really quite involved with Family Justice Center. Sure. And, uh, you know, I, I think I would say that we've, we've done, we've done an, an operation together to, to try to help.

Several women who were victims of sexual trafficking. Oh, okay. Our, our agencies, you know, they present, they, they do trainings with us. We do trainings with them, and, you know, in a next month we're actually thinking about co-sharing office space with the Family Justice center where, you know, we lack space, they.

Have spacing. So we have decided to put our [00:26:00] resources together and help each other out. So our legal team will be, uh, eventually stationed over at the Family Justice Center to handle cases that need our culture and, and, and language responsiveness, you know, to their needs. We collaborate with weave. We do get referrals from Weave.

When we have a client who may need our, our culture experience and, and language accessibility. We do serve their clients as well. And there's an array. I mean our, our therapists, I. Take on CPS cases as well. So the county actually, we've been very busy with, we've taking on some county cases, so there's quite a bit of collaboration there.

And I, I know that Yen, prior to me coming on board was working with a ton of other organizations that has, you know, really been instrumental on basically uplifting the immigrant and, and refugee community such as a RI It was actually stationed in the same building with you, [00:27:00] right? Yeah. 

Yen Marshall: Mm-hmm. See, we work with them through the employment field.

Okay. You know, size. So they have accesses to a lot of agency and different career paths. So we work with them, you know, intimately in order to place our clients. Where I. They can learn some skills or there are certain opportunities that we are not aware of, but they do have access and more up to date information.

Christine Nguyen: Mm-hmm. That 

Yen Marshall: we work with them. And then, you know, like Lao's family, they have a lot of real estate, they have a lot of rooms and so depending on, you know, what we have in the inventory at the time, we might need to. Continue serving our clients on the legal services, but then physically they need to resign over at the Laos family.

So we have to be creative because, I mean, all of the nonprofit organizations within Sacramento have to be creative in order to fully provide access to the clients that they serve. 

Jeff Holden: And [00:28:00] the challenge becomes sometimes cultural and language. Right barriers and you are the outlet. 

Christine Nguyen: Exactly. I'm, I'm proud to say that, you know, our organization and, and, and many like ourselves and on profit, you know, I think collaboration is in our blood.

Mm-hmm. It's hard to do this work alone and, and sometimes, you know, we have a client who, who may need a certain service that we, we don't provide. I'm really just starting to build my collaboration with the Health Education Council. Mm-hmm. So they do a lot of health issue. Starting maybe perhaps sitting our clients there for health classes and, and yoga classes and those kind of things.

So I think, you know, every day is like, who can we call it upon to help us get this job done? And, and oftentimes it's some, and sometimes it's, it's a, it's a survivor who comes in and has, has a very specific need and we can't serve them with, with that, that need through our, our own experience, our own expertise.

So we're not shy to pick up the phone and say, Hey. 

Jeff Holden: Help me. 

Christine Nguyen: Yes. 

Yen Marshall: Yeah. And they don't have to be [00:29:00] non-profits either. Exactly. 

Jeff Holden: Sure. 

Yen Marshall: Private organizations that have, whether not space or certain resources that we don't have, and they're willing to share. Mm-hmm. Then we work with them. 

Jeff Holden: What I'm really pleased to hear is the three organizations you mentioned have all sat in these chairs and they will say the same thing.

You, the collaboration is prolific. 

Yen Marshall: Yeah. There's 

Jeff Holden: a lot of agencies that touch each other, right? Mm-hmm. And that's true. It, I mean, the, the collaboration is everything. Because you guys can't do it alone. Yeah. 

Yen Marshall: You can't do it alone. You don't have the funding. And with the challenges, with the, you know, a lot of.

Budget issues currently, you know? Right. Most of the people encounter it. It really, collaboration is the key to other solutions that we might think of, you know? 

Christine Nguyen: Yeah. And I think if, if we're perhaps maybe most leadership and nonprofits would agree that, you know, when we do our day to day. Some, some, sometimes it, you know, we get very sidetracked by what we have to do at the [00:30:00] moment, and so we may not be picking up with the phone, calling our colleagues and saying, Hey, let's collaborate.

But I know that the community, this nonprofit, SA in Sacramento come together. Mm-hmm. And we kind of saw that at our, our Gale last night. 300 people came and they represent all sorts of organizations. Yes. Nonprofit to private, to elected officials, to elected officials to retire. People who just wanna give back.

And, and they were there, you know, and everybody came up to me and says, you know, call me. What can I do for you? Please make sure that you contact, if there's anything I can help you with, I'll do my best. If not, I'll connect to someone or some organization. So I think that's what sa What makes Sacramento a unique place is that we're not shy to help each other and we're not shy to ask.

And if we're not asking, it's not because we're shy. I think it's just because we're just probably trying to multitask right. And put out fires and or perhaps doing the work [00:31:00] ourselves because we're short on staffing. But in general, I think there's just a lot of support out there 

Yen Marshall: when we have, yeah. You'd be surprised to know that even though we've been providing services for the last 24 years, that some people have not.

Ever heard about my sister house? I'm not surprised at all. It's amazing 

Jeff Holden: how many organizations we've got and how many things we do in the community that people just don't know 

Yen Marshall: Exactly. And 

Jeff Holden: it's getting the word out as best we can. 

Yen Marshall: Yeah. So thank you for having us today, obviously. Well, that's 

Jeff Holden: part of it, certainly.

And, and Christine, that's for anybody else that's listening, that's a nonprofit agency. Not familiar with you. I take that as an invitation, what you were just saying, for the collaboration for them to reach out to connect with you. 

Christine Nguyen: Yes, absolutely. By all 

Jeff Holden: means. 

Christine Nguyen: And you know, and, and many of the people I saw, the Gaylor are first time people that I've met.

You know, and it's not about me, but it's really about, they see beyond me, they see the organization, they see the clients and the staffing who stand behind me, and they're like, you know. That's really who they're supporting when they're talking to [00:32:00] me. That I, I want to support your organization and the mission that you do because ultimately you're helping the community.

So to me, I just feel like it's not really about reflection of the leader, but it's about the mission and the people that stands behind. 

Jeff Holden: Totally agreed. And I'm, I'm thrilled to hear that you had. That many first time people who have now been introduced to the organization. 

Yen Marshall: Mm-hmm. Right. Through events. And then we also run into people that we have been interacting with, say, over 10 years ago, or 15, 20 years because we have, so now some of those.

Survivors become successful at whether or not they become an entrepreneur or an elected official or a local leader who are really set out to make changes. I mean, I. A few months ago at one of the table event, one of the women came to me and was saying that you guys helped me so much when my kids was little and I was homeless and you took me in, and now [00:33:00] she is at the community college leading one of the programs over there.

I. She invited us to work with her so that, you know, we can refer our clients over to her for this specific topic that, you know, she's teaching over there. Wonderful. It's come full circle, you know, to see those are the 

Jeff Holden: success stories. Those are the ones that we want to hear. And I think you had somebody speak at the event last night, correct?

Yes. Share that story. 

Christine Nguyen: Lotus came to us about three years ago. At first she was, she wanted to give back to the C. She wanted to give back to my sister's house to share her story, but she was so humble. She had two master's degree from her country. I. She came in and she was sponsored by her husband here in the United States, and she says that in the beginning the marriage was fine.

Then slowly he started to isolate her from her family, slowly taking things away from her, taking her ability to communicate with family and [00:34:00] friends, such as having cell phone and starting to. Basically, um, control her in every way possible through threatening to deport her, threatening to take away her money, not allowing her to get an education, even telling her that she can no longer practice her religion and, and going with his religion.

And so I think it took her many, many years and to, to realize that she didn't wanna live like that. So it was the, she ended up calling the police one night and it was the police officer who told her about my sister's house. And so she's been very thankful for the services that she received from us.

She's studying very hard. I think the, the day of the gal that she was finishing up her chemistry vinyl, she's studying to be a nurse and she didn't feel that she had a voice prior to coming to my sister's house. [00:35:00] She's been kind of quiet the last few years, but at last night's gala, I was so proud of her because there were seconds or moments where she was like, I am doing this.

And she was raising, raising her, raising her hair. I love it. 

Yen Marshall: The crowd just left. Yeah. Was quite a transformation. She was motivated. She was very motivated. She was motivated and she was, she felt so empowered that she really exerted the power that she felt within her. And she showed that to the crowd and we, yeah, we were so proud of 

Christine Nguyen: her.

So we told her last night that she was a beautiful blossoming flower and she really, she really soaked that in yesterday. I think she, she felt the love in that room yesterday. And Did you say her name 

Jeff Holden: was Lotus? 

Christine Nguyen: She goes by Lotus at herself. She goes by, but there's 

Jeff Holden: the flower. 

Christine Nguyen: Yes, exactly. 

Jeff Holden: Well, good for her.

Good for you guys. That's a, yeah, that's a great example for the community to see all those 300 people, some of those new people to the organization, they get to experience that transformation of [00:36:00] somebody who's gone through the program and the benefits and Right. The services you provide. Tell us a little bit about how the organization is funded.

Christine Nguyen: Majority of our funding comes from government supports, whether that be state or federal. Then we have a generous community that donates to us where we can use those, fund that funding for unrestricted, you know, activities. So our, our government contracts come from state co OES. We have three federal grants contract that unfortunately comes from the same pot of money, which is on, on the administration chopping block.

Mm-hmm. And so that's majority contracts. We do have some, some. One time Private foundation, foundation support as well too. But, but some of the source of those funding lead back 

Yen Marshall: to government, 

Jeff Holden: right? 

Yen Marshall: Yeah. Yeah. And then we do fundraising ourself like the gala event last night. Mm-hmm. So through the [00:37:00] support that the community and different group, different organization, we are able to really expand our services or continue, I mean, sustain what we have and then.

Hopefully grow it based on the needs of the client. 

Jeff Holden: How big is the budget? What sort of budget are you working with? 

Yen Marshall: About 2 million. 

Jeff Holden: Okay, so it's a good size organization? 

Yen Marshall: Yes it is. 

Jeff Holden: That's a a fair amount of money. That's a big 

Yen Marshall: size and we serve a lot of people. If you think about it, we have a very small staff.

I 

Jeff Holden: was gonna ask how many people are employed? I. 

Christine Nguyen: We have right now, 18 part-time and full-time and half of that, that is, yeah, part-time. But the budget, and I mean part of that budget, I would say about 15% of that budget go directly to clients. So it's direct client support, so it's not part of something that.

It becomes opera. I mean, we, we do have some operation part of it. Mm-hmm. But majority of it goes to pay rent for the clients. Mm-hmm. So it, it looks like [00:38:00] it's a little bit higher, but 

Jeff Holden: Yeah. Passes through. It doesn't really come into the organization. Yeah, 

Christine Nguyen: exactly. 

Jeff Holden: Let's take a minute to think big. This is the fun part of the conversation where you step back and you look at the organization and somebody says, Christine, I've got a blank check for you.

Tell me what you would do with it. If I gave it to you and Yen's going, darn, they never offered me the blank check. I say something, 

Christine Nguyen: I had to save money is what you were saying, right? She gets to spend money. Yeah. I would say that I would definitely build a bigger shelter in this kind of work. You don't wanna be proud about the large number of volume of clients you serve.

That means that there's a big problem. I wanna be able to say, you know, with this amount of money, I was able to really spend quality time serving each, each person that walks through that door. [00:39:00] And there they can heal, take as much time as they want to. They can go through as many therapy session as they need to, and before they move on to the next step.

Because I, I feel like oftentimes we are pressure to get one client in. One client out, so that way we can have a revolving door to serve other clients. We do the best that we can during the time and the the budget that we have. But when there's an endless budget, I don't feel the pressure to move you from step one to step two.

I want you to lead yourself to step two. That you really fully work on your self discovery work on, uh, getting to a space where you are ready to take that job and, you know, really spend that money on wraparound services that help help our survivors from encountering triggers. Mm-hmm. We see women get re-triggered, uh, more [00:40:00] often than probably when we, we would like to admit where they're back in, in, in the cycle.

And oftentimes they're back into the cycle and they're homeless. Homeless. And so when they're at a point when they're homeless, you have so much more barriers to work with. So I would like to have more shelter, bigger hotels, more hotel rooms, so that way as soon as someone calls me through the helpline saying, Hey, I need to get out of here.

Now that we're able to make that happen within the 24 hours that you are removed 

Jeff Holden: and say, come on down, we got a place for you. 

Christine Nguyen: Yes, yes. And then we'll deal with everything else afterwards. Get yourself to a safe place first. Mm-hmm. And right now there's just not that support At 2:00 AM a person answering the helpline, taking this call, and they have children with them.

It's really hard. It's unsettling to staff, to volunteers who take that call because they're gonna, they don't know what's happening to that person the next day [00:41:00] because we weren't able to shout them. So I would definitely put all the money in shelter. Then in, in all the other support services that we currently have, which are counseling, legal work, employment work.

What 

Yen Marshall: about office spaces? Oh yeah, that, that will come automatically. I always have a conference room. I had a note in there from 

Jeff Holden: before. You guys are sitting on top of each other at the office. I'm not mistaken. 

Yen Marshall: Yeah, we don't have a lunchroom. We don't have a. Conference room. That's a big shelter. We're 

Christine Nguyen: gonna be our office room.

Our office is gonna be inside the big shelter. Shelter building with a big conference 

Jeff Holden: room for people to meet the big conference 

Christine Nguyen: room. Yes. And privacy and confidentiality. And it's gonna be nice and welcoming with waterfalls and nice background music and possibly piano and all of that 'cause. That's what I want to hear.

I think we, we are a product of our environment and when you walk into a space and it's calm and it's quiet, staff are not feeling [00:42:00] pressure to meet numbers, fulfill benchmarks. We, we really can be in the moment with our client and that's really what I really want to, to picture is to have a survivor who has gone through so much hell.

I mean, one survivor told me that the reason she called that night was because she did not want her kids to see her dying while her head was in the toilet. Her abuser had actually pushed her head into the toilet trying to drown her, and she said, despite many years of feeling soulless and and dreamless, I did not want to die in that state.

I. So if many of our survivors are coming to us from those types of situation, I want them to walk into a place where they can hold their head high, they can feel that they're worth something, [00:43:00] and then that they have are full 

Jeff Holden: attention. And at that point, they feel accepted. 

Christine Nguyen: Mm-hmm. 

Jeff Holden: And they know that they're in a safe space, which.

In so many cases. Mm-hmm. That's, that's very, very beginning. It's just put me in a safe space so I know I'm okay. Right? Mm-hmm. My kids are okay. You go by bed nights, I believe is how they identify. Yes. Number 

Yen Marshall: of bed nights, correct. 

Jeff Holden: And, and how many bed nights do you have in a given year? 

Yen Marshall: It depends on the, what funding we have, but like last year we provided over 17,000 bad nights.

Just in one year. That's, that's amazing to me. Yeah. That's a total count up from hotel night to shelter night. Right. So it's all a combination. 

Jeff Holden: It's still a. A huge volume of work that you're doing in Yes. Accommodating those who need it. 

Christine Nguyen: Exactly. I think the numbers for this year might be a little bit higher because this year we were able to capitalize on all the money, the extra money that we [00:44:00] had into hotel nights, hotels.

Okay. So the last six months have been really, really busy with sheltering our, our survivors at at neighboring hotels. And that's 

Jeff Holden: a little. Good news, bad news. The bad news is you having to do it, but the good news is you're able to accommodate more than normal. 

Yen Marshall: Yes. Yeah. When that frantic calls came through as, you know, someone who answered the phone, it's really heartbreaking knowing that the person is in whether or not denture or more like an uncompromising mm-hmm.

Situation, and you don't have, you are not able to put her somewhere safe. With the hotel, it, gi it buy us more time in deciding where that, you know, based on the resources that she needs, whether or not, oh, we need a couple more days. We need to check with Lao's family. We need to check with, you know, to see who has the room.

But in the meantime we can rescue her. So that's what hotels are for. 

Jeff Holden: We're out of the dream in the big shelter. [00:45:00] What's the greatest need you have today? 

Christine Nguyen: I would say the greatest thing I have to today is probably spacing, you know, because for the agency to do this work and, you know, yes. I think that the funding is always gonna be there.

Meaning? As an 

Jeff Holden: issue. 

Christine Nguyen: As an issue, yes. I think, I mean, it's, it's an assumption that all nonprofits are always constantly needing, needing funding. Mm-hmm. But before funding, I would say that right now is, is spacing and, and staffing. You know, this work is hard. In order to be successful, you really have to be able to have a consistent workforce who show up every single day.

Performing at their best, being their best. And that's hard. That's hard really to ask in, in this kind of work because you know, they're dealing with heavy issues and they might be going through issues themselves as well too, because we ask our nonprofit workforce to do all of this wonderful work, God's work, but then we pay them very, very little because of our [00:46:00] funding limitation.

So you, we, we cannot expect too much without breaking the system somewhat. So being able to really tell staff that, you know, you're safe here. Your job is safer for the next five years is impossible. Mm-hmm. You can't, basically we build a stronger infrastructure. Yes. Yeah. That will always be. Priority for me, regardless how much money I have.

Mm-hmm. More money. Less money. The more money I have, the less I have to worry about that. But it's always gonna be the biggest, I think the biggest concern mm-hmm. Is, is spacing and, and staffing. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah. And that's an ongoing challenge for I. All of the non nonprofits? Yes. To be competitive. Mm-hmm. At at least competitive.

Yes. Yes. Not necessarily the best pay, but to be competitive. Mm-hmm. So that you can retain your staff. Absolutely. After you've trained them, invested in them, and given them a skillset. Yeah. They've proven themselves. You don't want to lose that. Exactly. 

Christine Nguyen: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: Christine, what's the best way for people to find out about the organization if they're interested?

Not so [00:47:00] much as a constituent or a client that's, mm-hmm. A different situation. But if they're interested in learning more about what you do, volunteering, maybe donation. Where should you send them? 

Christine Nguyen: Well, they can definitely contact. Email us at info at my sisters with an s. house.org, so that's by email.

They can also feel free to give us a call at (916) 930-0626. That's our office line, Monday through Friday, eight 30 to five 30. The email is actually a great way to contact us. You know, we will have someone probably respond within 24 to 48 hours on the inquiry. 

Jeff Holden: Good. And we'll put that in the show notes too, so that they don't have to memorize if they're driving and listening to the 

Christine Nguyen: mm-hmm.

Jeff Holden: The conversation. 

Christine Nguyen: Mm-hmm. 

Jeff Holden: So, yen, your time is now up. You've, you've trained your replacement. You've at least identified and worked with her for almost a year. 

Yen Marshall: Right. What 

Jeff Holden: happens? What are you gonna do now with all that [00:48:00] free time? 

Yen Marshall: Well, I. I am looking forward to it. I'm getting very excited actually. So as of June 1st, Christine would take over and so it's been a while since I had any vacation long, you know, not so much long, but you know, really a vacation where I don't have to think about work.

Even you're off one day or two days the way that we do right now, it doesn't stop there. Right. You keep on thinking, responding to email or planning for the next event or next strategy. So taking a vacation is what I'm going to do and I hear 

Jeff Holden: you're going someplace. 

Yen Marshall: Yes. I we are going to. China in Congratulations.

So I'm really looking forward to that. 15 days we going with a delegation from Sister City going to Chinle and in China. Wonderful. With some elected officials, so we're gonna be treated very nicely there. I'm looking forward to that. 

Jeff Holden: And Christine, is there anything more that we need to add? I mean, [00:49:00] this is your.

Show. Oh my goodness, Jeff, 

Christine Nguyen: thank you. I, I feel so, so honored and so humbled that I'm actually probably like overwhelmed with emotions right now thinking about it, that by the same time, you know, I'm, I'm a realistic as well too. I know that there's gonna be a lot of, of work ahead of me, and, but I, I invite.

My nonprofit colleagues to really join me in this effort. Please call me up, get to know me, collaborate with me. I'm really interested in really doing things that meets the needs of the community and not necessarily my needs. I, I think I, I am taking on this, this role has a passion project and. Something that I, I really want to make an impact, a personal impact on, on the community, on the lives that I, I touch every single day, whether that be a staff person or a clientele, you know, so I'm just really open right now to, I.

Brainstorming ideas and, and I'm really excited and, and [00:50:00] feel very motivated, inspired by all the people that I've met last night and throughout my, the last 10 months that I've been at my sister's house and going to many events, it's like, let's talk, let's chat. And I, and I, I love that having, you know, these network of, of like-minded people to, to bounce ideas off is something I'm really excited to, to start, uh, doing.

Jeff Holden: Good. Well, we're looking forward to that as well. Mm-hmm. Thank you both so much for coming. My sister's house is iconic in the service that you guys have been providing for our neighborhoods 24 years now, especially primarily in the South. And for the Southeast Asian communities. 17,000 total bed nights per year is an incredible number of women and children that you serve Yen for your service during a changing time.

Thank you so much for what you've done. It's simply remarkable. And knowing you were grooming the next executive director for the organization. That's a rare opportunity that most people don't get to do. And Christine, welcome to the new role. [00:51:00] Congratulations to you both on Thank you Getting the organization where it is today and for what you continue to do with an incredible team.

Of 18 full and part-time people. Thank you. 

Yen Marshall: Thank you so Chef, for having us, for having us and giving us the opportunity to highlight. See, we, we, we So 

Christine Nguyen: likeminded words, we're in sync. We're saying same at the same time.

Jeff Holden: Thank you for listening to the nonprofit podcast Network. I hope you enjoyed the episode. If what you heard moved you. Please reach out to that organization and do what you can to help. If you like and appreciate what we're doing to support local nonprofits, please give us a positive review, subscribe and share.

If you're a nonprofit with an interest in participating in an episode, I. You can reach me at Jeff at Hear me now, studio.com. If you have a need for the services or products our sponsors offer, please reach out to them. CAPTRUST fiduciary advice for [00:52:00] endowments and foundations, Runyan Saltzman Incorporated, RSE.

Marketing, advertising and public relations, creating integrated communications committed to improving lives and Western Health Advantage, a full service healthcare plan for individuals, employer groups, and families. The Nonprofit Podcast Network is a production of, is recorded at and edited by Hear Meow Studio.