- PNC is proud to support "Business Forward", where local leaders discuss the challenges and opportunities and how we do business in Central Illinois.

(upbeat music) (warm music) - Welcome to "Business Forward", I'm your host, Matt George.

Joining me tonight, very special guest, Cindy Morris.

Cindy is the President of the Peoria Public Schools Foundation, welcome.

- Thank you for having me.

- I can't believe you haven't been on the show before.

We run into each other all the time.

Our families know each other, but you do good work.

We're gonna talk about that in a second but let's just get right down to what's important, your family, tell us about your family.

- Well, I have a pretty amazing family.

- Yeah.

- And if you delve into my family lineage in Peoria, my mother and father were humble people.

My mother was a nurse by trade.

- Okay.

- And my father started off in the factories at Keystone.

And met my mother and kind of went into insurance and worked his way up.

My sister and brother and I, we all still live in Peoria, but grew up in Peoria Public Schools.

- Okay, oh, did you go to Hines?

- I did go to Hines.

- Yeah, so my wife Laura's a teacher at Hines, 22 years.

- Yeah, Hines is always special in my heart.

- I think I knew that, yeah.

- For many reasons, but that's definitely one.

And then, still very close with my brother and sister and their families are in Peoria.

- Good.

- And then we're blessed, John and I to have Jordan and Taylor, who are my inspirations in life.

- They're superstars.

- Well, they're pretty amazing.

- Yeah.

- So they are the hardest working people I know.

- Yeah.

- And our son Jordan is in Nashville working with Allegiant.

Worked his way up.

- Wow.

- And Taylor's the same.

She started off at Starbucks and she's worked her way up and both in management doing very well.

- Well, Taylor is a star and I know her well.

She's a great artist too.

So did she get that from you?

- Well, I do take a little credit.

I have the lineage of my mother's mother, was a self-taught artist and very well known in the area.

She's from the Springfield area.

- Really?

- And she would come up every year to do the art shows with the Art Guild.

- Oh, cool.

- She used to sit at Junction City on the boardwalk and sell her art and my sister and I would sit with her.

So I started off definitely becoming interested in art because of my grandmother and took art in high school and college.

Taylor took it to the next level.

And she graduated from Eureka with an art major.

And she is extremely talented.

- Yeah, I mean she made these, I don't know what they're like little bowl things and they're really nice and I bought a few of them.

And so it was funny 'cause this morning, I get up very early and I was working at my desk and I have 'em right on my desk and everything.

And I was thinking, "Well, I've got mom coming on the show today, that's fun."

- Yeah.

- Good for you.

So, we talk a lot about mentors on this show, and I just think it's just a topic I love to talk about because I truly believe that you can't get very far in life without help.

I think it's very hard just to say, "I'm gonna go do this by myself and just be that sole person."

It's doable, but I don't think it's fun, right?

So, who are some mentors in your life or people that were maybe early influencers in your life to get to where you're at today?

'Cause you have a fun position, which we're gonna talk about soon.

- I started off when I was young in school at ICC and I was a banker.

So that was my first profession, I'd say.

- You were a banker?

- I was a banker.

- Okay.

- So like my children, I started kind of at the bottom as a teller.

that's not a bottom job, it's a great job.

But I worked my way up and became a bank officer and a branch manager.

- Oh wow.

- So I have management in my blood.

But I had, throughout the years of working in the bank, I had people that, as a young woman I was inspired by.

One was, I had two years in marketing at the bank, and I don't know if you know the name, Jan Kepple.

- Oh yeah.

- She was sharp.

- Yes, she was.

- So, she was probably one of my first biggest mentors.

- Okay.

- She was always the first one in and the last one out and she taught me a lot.

And probably I have a true love for marketing and I think a lot of it is because of her.

Another banker friend was Karen Whalen.

She was in management and she helped me through the management role.

As far as where I am today, I definitely have a lot of people that I look up to and that inspire me and kind of encourage me.

One is, and I think you know her, I know Laura knows her, is Cathy Wiggers.

- Mm hmm.

She was the principal at Hines School when our children were little there.

And we became good friends and worked closely together through the PTO at Hines School.

But when she left and when our kids grew, I still kept in very close contact with her and asked her to become involved with the Peoria Public Schools Foundation.

And she's just been always that person I needed to help move the board forward and to kind of get the things I needed done for our organization.

Believe it or not, I have an employee who's been with me for 10 years and I couldn't, we couldn't be where we are if we didn't have her involved.

And her name is Trish O'Shaughnessy.

- Oh yeah.

- She's a yes person, but in a good way.

She listens to my ideas regularly and when I ask for support and help, she goes with it.

So even though, I'm her supervisor, I feel like she inspires me and kind of, she mentors me through a lot.

- Isn't that refreshing to hear?

- Yeah.

- It's nice to hear not only that relationship, but if you think about what you're talking about it is, it really is irrelevant sometimes who reports to who - Exactly.

- When the team's flowing.

- Yep.

- And it says something about you as a servant leader, an empathetic leader, because her being there all those years really actually says, "I want to be there."

It's that employee engagement piece that's very, very important.

We talk about a lot on this show.

- Right.

- That's great.

- Yeah and then I would say on the personal level too, my sister and I are very close, we're 15 months apart.

She's 15 months older.

And when I was in banking, she was a school teacher.

And before we had children and I became involved with the schools, I would go see her in her classroom.

- Okay.

- And my sister always did and always does take care of me, she always has my back.

And I talk to her a lot about what it's like being in the classroom and teaching.

And she teaches in Peoria Public Schools.

- That's fun, that's fun.

So how many employees do you have at the foundation?

- We have 10 right now.

- You have 10.

And they work hard, I know that.

- Very hard.

- So what is the, describe exactly what a Peoria or what the Peoria Public School Foundation does, because I think different schools have different types of foundations and different roles and duties.

But what exactly do you do and what does the foundation do?

- So the Peoria Public Schools Foundation is a mission-based organization, a nonprofit.

And our exclusive mission is to support Peoria Public Schools.

And I feel like for me and for our team and our Board of Directors, it's an honor to serve in this way.

We have close to 13,000 students, 27 schools.

And being able to support the school district in the ways that we do is incredibly impactful.

- Yeah.

- And there are a lot of service organizations that do support Peoria Public Schools, but we're exclusive to it, that's our calling.

- So gimme some examples, so like, I know you do a lot of support for the kids, so I know you do something where, with uniforms as an example.

And because a lot of times, somebody came up to me and they were talking to me once and they were talking about, there's kids that are hungry and there's kids that don't have a place to sleep.

And then you want 'em to go to school obviously and they have to wear a uniform and it's hard.

- Right.

- So you kind of fill that gap to make sure every child has an opportunity to come to school the right way.

- We do.

And public school foundations typically support school districts in the way of classroom grants for teachers and scholarships for students.

That's very traditional.

- Okay.

- In year two, I knew we had to do more than that.

So we looked into some programming, starting our own career and college readiness program, Horizons, which is going into our 11th year in January, where we bring in career professionals to talk to kids, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade to inspire them, for them to learn about career opportunities.

We oversee the Adoptive School Program, which is a long standing program where businesses, organizations, churches can literally adopt a school and support them in various ways.

The uniforms were started originally with Caterpillar being a big partner in supporting the funding of when the school district went to K through eight required uniforms, would provide funds to do that.

So we've always kept up with that.

- Okay, I didn't know that.

- And we are there to provide any student with a uniform, but Matt, it's so much more than that because we also provide shoes, under-clothing, some of our schools, high schools, aren't required to wear uniforms.

So it's clothes and coats and things like that.

And we provide a lot of emergency support.

So if a family has a house fire, we're there immediately to provide some funds for food and shelter.

And then the other part of that basic need, when you bring up uniforms and clothes, there is a lot of food insecurity in our school district.

- Yes.

- So we have kind of stepped in, in the way of little free pantries at our schools.

Most are outside the school building, but have food in there for families to come and take if they need it.

It's kind of, they can do it when they want, but those are filled almost every day.

We have snack pack programs, thousands of kids are getting food over the weekend.

The kids that don't get food outside of the school building.

So those are just some of the ways we help.

- People don't understand, I know this just from non-profit work that a lot of times, when they get those snack packs, that's what they have to eat for that weekend.

- Absolutely.

- So, to take a couple extra or something for your brother and sister or your mom, - Right.

- Dad, whatever.

It's important.

- Yeah.

- I think one thing that you just touched on that I love is when there is a family in need, not only are you there to support, but your team is there to navigate to the right collaborators, I guess, collaborations in town.

So you could be, 211 or it could be, it could be anything really.

- Right, right.

- Other nonprofits or after school programs.

- Right.

- And so on, so I think that's pretty cool.

So what is, when you look at your job and don't, the answer's not people 'cause I already know you're a people person.

I'm just teasing, so what is the best part of what you do every day?

Because when you're in a job like this, and the same with when I was at Children's Home, you wanna break down a wall every day.

You wanna be there for those kids.

And I used to say all the time, I used to say, "The most fun part about my job is I get to fight for the kids that can't."

That's fun.

- Right.

- And so what's your favorite?

- My favorite is, at the end of every day it is, and I know it sounds cliche, but it is about the kids.

And being able to support and encourage and inspire my team, my staff, our foundation board, we are advocates and we are positive support people in our school district because there is negative out there.

I never focus on the negative.

I always focus - I agree.

- On the positive entirely.

And for example, my favorite thing is when I see a student, recently it was with the Choose Greater Peoria Bears event, seeing a Manual student that I had as a fifth grader at Tree Rent in our Horizons Club and her cheering at the event and smiling.

And I called her name and she ran over and she remembered me as a fifth grade student.

And I said, let's say Jay, "Jay, how are you doing?"

And she's smiling and thriving.

- Yeah.

- And that is what I love.

- When you're in a town like this and you're in a somewhat visible position, you know how it is, especially with your husband, John, You both are in positions like that.

But you go out and about and you know everybody, it seems like.

- Right.

- And so I say hi to a lot of people all the time, but my favorite thing is when past students come up to Laura.

- Yeah.

- And I'm talking, there's kids in high school.

I mean, there's kids doing all this stuff or even past.

And they come up and, "Oh, hey Mrs. George, hey Mrs.

George."

I think that's probably, as an educator, it's probably one of the most fulfilling things about your job.

- Absolutely.

- Yeah.

- That is very cool.

So when you talk, let's stick on this teacher topic for a minute, because not only am I married to one, you sit there and you look at all of the things that are going on in a class.

And I think every good teacher wants their students to not only thrive, but they want what's best in the classroom.

So it's like, you don't mind putting your own dollars in, right?

But there's also, the foundation also supports teachers in their classrooms too, is that correct?

- That's correct.

- So gimme an example of what you would do.

- So right now, for example, we do classroom grants and we offer those out to teachers every fall, teachers and staff.

And so they can apply up to a thousand dollars to enhance their classroom.

- Okay.

- And for example, tonight, Mary Keltner, who's a wonderful teacher at Valeska, she created a Monarch Garden program.

- Oh cool.

- So she's doing a whole thing at her school tonight and invite us to come and to see that and see the children and families there.

That's just one example.

But just giving kind of unique experiences and opportunity.

And that's, to me, at the foundation, I don't like to say no to basic needs support.

When we get the call, I'm gonna make it happen or we'll find out some way to make it happen.

- You'll find someone to make it happen.

- I'll make it happen, but, - I love it.

- And it's the same in the classroom, if we hear from teachers or our staff, again, apart from the grants, we do get teachers contacting us regularly and saying, "Hey, little Johnny needs boots," or "Little Johnny's mom needs bus passes to work."

- Yes.

- So we're always going to be there, like we try very hard to never say no.

- I think a lot of times people in every community, not just middle Illinois, I mean, people don't really understand what's right underneath your nose.

It's easy to go on throughout your whole day and just do what you do every day, right?

But really, if you pay attention to what goes on in other people's lives, and I'm talking homelessness and that the food deserts and all these different things that are happening, there's real crisis out there.

And I think that's what's awesome about our community is we get the support, right?

It's a very giving community.

- Oh, for sure.

- So you have the confidence as a leader like you are to be able to sit there and say, "Well no, we will find the money."

Because it's true, you will find the money.

I always thought that same thing.

All right, STEM grants, can you explain what STEM means?

I think it's science and math, is that right?

- It's just real specific to science and math, technology.

- Engineering, I think.

- Yes.

- Technology.

- Yes.

So we do do a grant that is funded by a donor for teachers.

So we do the traditional classroom grants.

We do STEM grants, math and science, field.

And then we also do field experience grants, which are to help teachers do field trips with their students.

- Yeah and so when someone says Adopt a School, so what does that mean?

So if I wanted to adopt Hines, that just means I am somebody on a committee that helps take care of that school when they have needs or something like that?

- So really the purpose of the program is to literally kind of adopt that school and it's really a partnership with the business or organization and the school or the principal.

- Okay.

- And it's identifying the needs that they have.

Because each school, imagine we have 27 schools, so they all have, I mean, some are very similar, but some are very different.

- I gotcha.

- So.

- And then you talked about the Horizons Club, but one of the things I got to do a couple years ago, I mean, there were fun perks being in my position.

So I get a call and they say, "Hey Matt, will you go read to the kids at Keller?"

- Yeah.

- And Lindbergh.

And go do all that.

That's always fun, I'll do that all the time.

I got to be the principal for the day.

- Yeah.

- And at the time, it was at Harrison and that was just very eye-opening and fun to see all those kids and it's quite an experience.

So your office handles that too?

- We are overseeing that and we just did that yesterday and I had the opportunity to go with Dr. Reynolds from Bradley to Peoria High, which he's an alum there, but it was great because there's a new principal there.

Dr. Coleman moved over to the Wraparound Center and, - Oh, I didn't know that.

- His name is Shaun McGinnes.

It was neat to see these two and Shaun went to Woodruff.

So it was neat to follow them and hear them talk.

And Bobby Knight's such an inspiration to Dr. Reynolds and Shaun loves sports.

So anyway, the interaction was quite interesting.

And it's a unique program because it's so much more than just going in the building and shadowing the principal.

It's going into the classroom and the teachers.

And matter of fact, Dr. Reynolds called me this morning and said, "Hey, I wanna talk to you about yesterday."

I said, "Okay," so we're gonna meet for coffee today.

- Good.

- I love that because he has thoughts and ideas and that's what the point and purpose is.

- Yeah.

- Engaging community leaders about our school buildings.

- Yeah, I want to do it again.

- I would love you to do that.

- So mark me down.

Because I'd love to do it again.

So what does the rest of this school year look like?

Do you have like, time off?

Are you just constantly in that fundraising mode or just that promotion mode?

I know you have a marketing background, but what does a typical day look like for you now and then in the summer, is it different?

- Well, we work, 12 months a year.

- That's what I thought.

- So, yeah.

And then our Horizons, we have Horizon staff that go in the buildings and works those career programs.

- Okay.

- So they work during the school year, but my core team, we work all year long.

A typical day for me is crazy because I never know what it'll be like.

- Right.

- But most days I get three or four emails, calls with a basic need request.

It's kind of disheartening.

I'm surprised by it and I'm actually going to meet with Dr. Kherat on Friday.

I really wanna have a deeper conversation, over the years, we get quite a few house fire calls.

- Hmm.

- Every year.

- Really?

- And how tragic.

- Yes.

- I mean, our families, if you don't have money, maybe you don't have insurance or what would you do in a house fire?

Like we think about our lives, what we would do, having insurance, having family support.

But can you imagine not having that?

So that's a bigger issue I'm going to try to, I can't answer it, I can't figure it out, but I wanna get more people involved in this conversation.

- Yeah and I think, it goes back to that collaboration.

I mean, it's almost like you need to grab Red Cross and you need to grab Jennifer Zammuto at United Way, and you need to grab others and get 'em together and kind of force the issue a little to find those answers.

Because no one can ever get mad for advocating for children.

- No, no, no.

- I used to say that all the time.

What are they gonna do to me, right?

- Yeah, exactly.

- And so I truly feel that and I feel like you're in the same boat because those kids and those families need us.

- Yeah, so back to the question, it's getting those basic need requests from the schools.

It's talking to community leaders, it's talking to the superintendent or other school leaders and then working on our programs that we are doing in the school building.

So every day's different, but it surprises me how much there is a need for basic needs support.

- Yeah.

- Like every day.

- You know what's cool though too is you actually have access to Dr. Kherat.

I mean, like easy access.

- Very easy.

- Which is not typical.

- No, no.

- And so I think that's what's nice about your job too.

I always used to, Debbie Simon was the former CEO at Methodist.

And when she was there, I always just found it, whoever had access to her, she was always just such a great leader, that she had an answer it seemed like every time I was around her.

And it's like, that's what you need.

- Right.

- As another leader, I'm sitting here, I want somebody that can gimme the yes or the no.

I don't even care if it's a no, just gimme an answer.

- Yeah.

- And so I think that's what's cool about that.

Well, what do you have going on big initiative wise?

Anything happening here in the future?

- Well.

- Besides fundraising.

- Fundraising's always there.

- Yeah.

- It is for us, we put a lot of resources into our career and college readiness.

- I love that.

- We believe the importance of that and we see it.

And we're going into our 11th year, so always evaluating and kind of growing that program every year.

It's super special to my heart because I helped create this program.

And Glen Barton was a part of it.

He was on the board at the time, and I said, "This is what I'm looking at," he said, "Let's do it."

He helped me get the pilot off and then getting Trish to lead that, there's nothing better than showing our young students what is out there in the world, in the way of a job or career.

And if it's not college, whatever that looks like.

- Well you're doing great stuff and I know you collaborate with others too, like Dr. Sheila Quirk-Bailey.

She's a great leader too.

And so, anyway, thank you so much for coming on.

I appreciate it, keep up the good work.

Cindy Morris, Peoria Public School Foundation.

This wraps another show.

And I'm Matt George with "Business Forward".

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