You Matter Nashville

High Hopes with Allen Long

• Jason and Mindy Hoover • Episode 15

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In this inspiring episode of You Matter Nashville, we had the pleasure of speaking with Alan Long, the Executive Director of High Hopes Development Center. High Hopes has been serving children and families in Middle Tennessee for over 40 years, providing an inclusive preschool alongside a pediatric therapy clinic. 

Their unique model supports children with and without special needs, fostering a nurturing and inclusive environment where all children can thrive. Through their integrated approach, High Hopes not only meets the educational and developmental needs of children but also provides critical support and resources to families navigating the complexities of raising children with special needs.

Alan shared his personal journey from a successful corporate career to fulfilling his calling in education and nonprofit leadership. He spoke candidly about the pivotal moment when he realized his passion for working with children and the encouragement he received from his wife to follow his heart. His passion for making a difference in the lives of children and families is evident as he discusses the impact High Hopes has on the community. 

From the dedicated teachers and therapists to the families who find solace and hope within its walls, High Hopes embodies a mission-driven organization focused on positive outcomes and lasting change. 

We explored the various therapy services offered, the importance of early intervention, and the challenges families face when seeking support for their children. Alan emphasized the critical role of early diagnosis and intervention in setting children up for success and how High Hopes partners with families to provide individualized care plans that address their unique needs.

Key Takeaways:

  • Inclusive Learning Environment: High Hopes integrates typically developing children with those who have special needs, fostering empathy, friendship, and advocacy from an early age.
  • Therapy Services: Offering speech, occupational, physical, feeding, and behavioral therapies, High Hopes provides a comprehensive approach to pediatric care.
  • Impactful Success Stories: Alan shared uplifting stories of alumni like Connor Bossie, who overcame early challenges and went on to graduate from Vanderbilt University.
  • Community Need: With families coming from 17 counties, the demand for inclusive education and therapy services far exceeds current capacity.
  • Volunteer and Giving Opportunities: The organization welcomes donations, volunteers, and community support to help meet the growing needs of the children they serve.
  • Upcoming Events: High Hopes hosts events such as the Strings and Stories singer-songwriter night, the Runway of Hope fashion show, and the Giving on the Green golf tournament to support their mission.


High Hopes
https://www.highhopesforkids.org

You Matter Nashville YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/@YouMatterNashville

The Hoover Team
https://www.thehooverteam.com/

Jason & Mindy Hoover (00:00.12)
Hey, Nashvilleians, welcome to the You Matter Nashville podcast, the place where every story we share is a celebration of you, the heartbeat of our community. I'm Jason Hoover, delighted to be one half of your hosting duo. And I'm Mindy Hoover, joining you alongside Jason to bring the stories of inspiring individuals and unsung heroes making a positive impact right here in our hometown. Every episode is about passions, dreams, and actions that stitch together the Middle Tennessee community. So if you're looking to get inspired by the good happening around us,

Or if you want to hear from the change makers who believe, just like us, that you matter, then hit that follow button on your favorite podcast platform. And if you are looking to make a move in the middle Tennessee area, and Dan and I are real estate professionals and would be honored to serve you with excellence. Now let's dive into another episode of You Matter Nashville.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (00:51.65)
Welcome to another episode of You Matter Nashville. We're thrilled to have with us today a very extraordinary individual making a meaningful difference in our community. Joining us on today's show is Alan Long, who is the executive director of High Hopes Development Center. The organization has been transforming the lives of children and families in Middle Tennessee for over 40 years. High Hopes is unique in its mission, offering an inclusive preschool alongside a pediatric therapy clinic.

A model that supports children with and without special needs to thrive together. Alan, we're so excited to have you here today. Thank you for having me. So I'll tell you what, to start us off, would you give us just a little bit about your background and how you eventually ended up at High Hopes? Sure. It's had a few twists and turns along the way. The abbreviated version of this is I, for about 20 years, just shy of 20 years, I

enjoyed a successful career in corporate America. I kind of went back and forth between operations and human resources for a few well-known and highly respected companies. But the whole time I did that, I knew there was something in my heart calling me to something different and that something different was teaching. I just always had an affinity for young people. even when I was teaching adults in human resources, when I saw people get it,

when I knew that my strategies were working, it just filled me, it filled my heart. And I knew that I was having an impact on other people. I am married to an incredible lady, 27 years, her name is Sharla. And literally one day, we just pretty much had a conversation that she said, you're gonna quit your job and you're gonna go do what God called you to do. And a couple of weeks later, I resigned my position in corporate America.

I was, well, I was plenty old enough, had a mortgage for kids and it took both incomes to make everything work and I quit. And God showed us the path. I went back to school, got another master's in education and before I knew it, I was teaching in the classroom. I was blessed to teach fourth graders for three years and then I...

Jason & Mindy Hoover (03:11.358)
looped up with them to fifth grade for four years and it was just absolutely magical. I miss it in many ways, but I went into administration after that and I thought I was going to retire as an administrator in a private Christian school, elementary school. And I was there for three years and then someone came knocking on my door that I've known for over 20 years and said, hey, I'm retiring. I'd like to throw your name in the hat.

as executive director of this nonprofit, which I was familiar with High Hopes, would you consider? And I said, yes, here I am. Well into three years here at High Hopes. So you're in corporate, so there's a little bit of a similarity here. I was director of operations for many, many years, and we dealt with big box retailers and things of that nature. So I understand the...

the complexities and the many different emotions that go along with that. You certainly do because I was in operations in HR for a big box retailer. So we can compare those stories. Sure. Battle wounds. But to kind of bring that all together, Jason, I saw this opportunity not not as an opportunity to jump ship again, because I think I was an administrator just for three years and

I thought it was going to be for many years, but I saw this as an opportunity to continue to work with children, although it wasn't in the classroom and it wasn't as a principal or head of school, but it was an opportunity for me to combine those years of operations in HR with education. certainly you need all of that in a nonprofit setting. So this gave me an opportunity to learn more about nonprofit, but certainly

to learn more about a pediatric therapy clinic and how that works. Awesome. So for people who are unfamiliar with high hopes, can you kind of give us the large scope of everything that you guys do? Yeah. Yeah. We are not the only ones out there that do this, but we are the only ones in Middle Tennessee that do this. That's crazy. We are essentially, we are a pediatric therapy clinic.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (05:35.766)
and we are a preschool. So let's start with the preschool. I always like to say this. We are a preschool that looks, smells, and feels just like any other preschool. But the impression that people have out there in the community is that, you're that preschool that serves just children with special needs. That is incorrect. We are a preschool. We just happen to be a preschool that serves children who are typically developing, children who may need therapy. That does not mean

they have a diagnosis or have a special need. And then yes, we do serve children in our classrooms who have special needs, who have a diagnosis. And the beautiful thing about this is that this is a research-based model that works beautifully. Those peer models, those typically developing children that are in there, they learn to become the fiercest advocates and protectors of those children who do have a developmental delay, a disability of some sort.

And then those children who do have that diagnosis, they are watching their peer models and they're going, essentially, they're going, wait a minute, if you can do that, I can do that too. They do not see those boundaries and those limitations and they pull themselves along and they desire to do exactly what their peer model is doing. So that's the preschool. A lot of times people say, well, what's your percentage? And I always say,

You know, it depends on the children in the class and honestly, it depends on the teacher and their gifts. So we can see anything from 60 % typically developing 40 % special needs to a 50-50, or it might be the tables might be turned, it might be 40-60. It just depends on the classroom and the needs of the children and the gifts of the teacher. And that is individualized learning at its best. So.

That's the preschool, the clinic right next door under the same roof. If you think of any clinic, like if you go to a doctor or you go to a clinic, you're gonna drive up, you're gonna park, you're going to see the doctor or the therapist, whatever, that's what we do. So we offer four and a half types of therapy. We offer speech language, occupational physical therapy, and feeding therapy.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (07:57.174)
And then just in the last year, we have put our big toe in the water around behavioral services. So we are seeing more and more big behaviors out of our friends that come to High Hopes, and they need help with their behaviors. Parents need help. So we're trying to figure that out and how we broaden our portfolio of therapies. So we have those five types of therapy in our clinic. So last thing with the clinic.

We're an outpatient clinic. does that that means that the children that we are seeing do not have to go to our preschool So every 45 minutes five days a week We have families that are driving up parking and they are coming for 45 minute therapy sessions and then they leave That's the outpatient piece of this but then our children that are in the priest in our preschool if they do need Therapy services then our therapists can do one of two things

They can just push into the classroom, which is the natural least restrictive environment. And that is the best type of therapy. So the therapist pushes in. if there are resources, they, yeah, Jason, thank you. They, it's kind of an education term, I guess. They literally will provide that 45 minutes of therapy in the classroom for that individual amongst their peers. That is called.

the push-in model. And that as well as research-based, that is what your educators, that is what therapists would say is, and that's what insurance companies say too. That is the best way to treat a child who needs therapy. However, a lot of times with physical therapy or occupational therapy, we are blessed with so many resources in the clinic that the therapist will...

pull the child out. So that's a pullout model. And for 45 minutes, they will take that child from their classroom, take them over to the clinic, 45 minutes of therapy, and then they go back to the school. So we are treating our own children in the preschool. We are treating outpatient all in our clinic. The part that ties back to our mission and how we were founded is this. These families who, some are in crisis,

Jason & Mindy Hoover (10:21.922)
would otherwise have to enroll their child in preschool. Mom and dad are both working to make ends meet. wait a minute, it's 10 o'clock. I gotta drop everything. I gotta run to the preschool. I gotta get my child and I need to drive them across town to receive outpatient therapy services. This integrates both of those. It provides respite and it provides hope for the family. You know, and that's also, you know, if they can even find a daycare that will facilitate their child.

Mindy you are you hit the nail on the head and this is this is kind of a blessing and an unfortunate thing There are not enough high hopes out there they don't exist and so with all the the Stats showing that it's better for them. Hands down It is a better model and it equips these children better for what's next. I'm convinced that in time

More and more people will figure this out because we, our school, give or take, can serve about 120 children. And of the 120, it's half at most that are children with special needs. I hate to share this with everybody, but there are more than 50 children with special needs in Williamson County. How are they being served? absolutely. Yeah. And that's a very good question. It's how are they being served?

How are they being taken care of? So we know it benefits the kids with needs. What about the other ones? How does it help them? The typically developing children? Yes. So I alluded to that just a little bit. You know, we can do amazingly more and we believe in ourselves more when we are young. As we get older, it is harder for us to learn.

We, and we just, we start building up these barriers, right? It's just, I think, whether we like it or not, I think our brains start to build these walls and kids, they don't see any of that. They just see friends. And so those children that are in our preschool, they're typically developing, they just see another kid that they want to be a friend with. So it equips them in a way that

Jason & Mindy Hoover (12:46.102)
This is what we've heard from alumni of high hopes. When we get to talk to them, these parents who have typically developing children say, my child, when they went to kindergarten elsewhere, my child was the first one to befriend that child in a wheelchair or that child who had some type of special need. They fiercely defend them. I love that. that warms my heart. Yeah.

We are here to teach academics, right? We are readying them for kindergarten. But along with that, these children are learning skills, skills of character and friendship that they otherwise wouldn't learn. you know, we just naturally do this as humans. Children who go to kindergarten for the first time and have never seen somebody in a wheelchair or somebody with some type of difference, they are going to look at them and go, what?

What is this? It's different. You just naturally do that. Yeah. Yeah. And so, yes. So it's different and they're naturally going to be curious. Yep. They're not trying to be rude, but like you're saying, if you're already incorporated into it, it's just, it's just natural. Yeah. When these kids here have seen it since they were six weeks old, that's normal. That's just, that's the way the world is. Unfortunately, you know,

here in Brentwood, you know, we have best buddies that formed and now it's like an international thing. But it's that same concept of special needs and typical developing children, you know, creating friendships and creating these, I would say, role models for each other, actually. But it's been really, both of my kids, you know, went through the program for at least one to two years and they loved it. They really did love it.

Some of my children did best buddies too and it teaches that appreciation And respect and care for fellow human beings Now you had talked about Going back and speaking with some of the students that had gone through the program and parents, but I would love to hear some success stories of People that have gone through the program Yeah, so one of those individuals I literally just before talking to you guys

Jason & Mindy Hoover (15:03.49)
A shout out to United Way of Greater Nashville. They are one of our huge supporters. Okay. And we just had a luncheon where they got several of their agencies together here. We hosted it at High Hopes. And one of the individuals that an alum of ours that went through our program, his name is Connor Bossie. He had developmental delays. He was diagnosed with developmental delays.

And was told that his chances of doing much in this, in this life, in his life were very, very slim. he was a patient of ours when he was really young. And today Connor Bossy has graduated from Vanderbilt university. He is on the sidelines of, every Vanderbilt university football game. He is, he works for the football team, during the season. And now he works for.

the YMCA in Nashville. that's fantastic. Yeah. So to see him, you can tell he has physical disabilities. But because of that family finding us when they were in need, they caught it early. That is something else I would say the earlier families can come to grips with the fact that their child may have some kind of need. The better chance the chances are.

that the results will be successful. The Bossie family, they caught it early and they fiercely looked for those resources. And we were an agency that provided those resources for them. As a nonprofit, we could provide therapy in a much more comprehensive way than for-profit therapy clinics can do that. And there are great for-profit therapy clinics out there, but nonprofit,

We are not driven by the dollar and how much we're driving to the bottom line. We are driven by serving these children and their families so that they can be successful. That is what drives us. every single therapy session, we know we're losing on average $35. Bring them on in. We'll figure out how to raise that money. But then to kind of tie that all together, I love the collaboration between nonprofits.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (17:27.774)
as well. There are so many good nonprofits in this area. Saddle Up is another incredible nonprofit organization in this area. And Connor left us when he had accomplished all of his goals here. And Connor needed a lot of help being able to strengthen his core so that he could sit up and stand up. And through Saddle Up, by working with horses,

and through that therapy, that is how Conner continued to progress through Saddle Up, another great nonprofit organization. love that. I keep hearing the same thing over and over about equestrian type therapy. I grew up with horses and I love that. That's just beautiful. mean, just being around horses, or at least nice ones.

I had a few that were kind of mean, but the nice ones are very therapeutic, just being around their presence, you know, that strength and I just love it. I love writing. So I love that. And I know a few people who have gotten their training and volunteered with them as well. It's a great organization. Yeah. You know, another, I'll just briefly share one other one. I can't remember his last name. That's probably a reason for that, but

Jack is another young man. He is a first grader now at Mill Creek Elementary. He went through our preschool and received therapies through our clinic. Jack is wheelchair bound, but Jack has, he sees no limits. He sees no boundaries and he is in the middle of every event, every activity. He plays hockey in a wheelchair, if you can believe that.

And he just a great young man who is the epitome of what we're trying to offer here at High Hopes. And he is smart as a whip. just it's your perception. You know, he's living life. He's living life, loving life. And, you know, we're the ones that perceive like, well, you probably shouldn't be able to do as much. you know, he says, no, watch this. I like that. And you going back to you incorporate those

Jason & Mindy Hoover (19:47.182)
that don't have those types of challenges to help each other. Is there a certain type of entry procedure for these kids to get adapted to that? Or is it they're so open to new things that they just embrace it immediately? At this young age, we're talking preschool and down. To your point, there's no...

introduction period or how do we integrate them into this slowly? just, these kids just it. They're like, sure, let's do it. They are pliable and flexible. Man, I wish we could stay that way. Right? How much better would the world be? That's right. Sort of like calluses on your hand, you get calluses on your thoughts and what you perceive. So as far as the

the therapy, are there different types of therapies that you guys, I know we talked about the four and a half, right? Yeah. Anything outside of that, that you guys offer or is it inclusive only to that with the kids? So on the therapy side, those, those types of therapies that I pointed out to you, speech, OTPT, feeding,

which is a more complex type of therapy and that typically is something that we're doing with newborns because they may not be able to swallow yet. So they have a G-tube in their stomach or they have an NG tube through their nose. Our feeding therapists are working very closely with our pediatricians.

because we want that child to be able to eventually take a bottle, eat solid foods and transition, right? And then I mentioned the behavioral therapies as well. There is one other type of therapy here, but that was a great question, Jason, because it's another collaboration that we have. There's another nonprofit organization in the area called Waves, and Waves is responsible for

Jason & Mindy Hoover (22:09.71)
a lot of developmental therapy in the Franklin area. So WAVES, they have their own therapy staff, but they see some of our children here at High Hopes because we don't provide developmental therapy. So if parents notice or a pediatrician notices that a child is not hitting certain milestones, they may need developmental therapy just to catch up.

That's what waves does so well. So every single day we've got a therapist coming in from waves signing in and pushing into the classroom providing that type of therapy as well Now we had discussed earlier about you know, you guys Being this one place to kind of go to in the Franklin area, but it's actually a lot bigger than that You really are the only place in Middle Tennessee

that really does this. How many counties are you serving right now because of that deficit? Yeah, thank you, Mindy. So we are currently serving, we are seeing families and their children from 17 surrounding counties that are coming here for our outpatient services. I wanna be clear to your listeners, that's not children coming to our preschool. In our preschool, these are like any other preschool,

Families choose high hopes because we are within two to three miles of their house or two to three miles of where one of the parents work. But for our outpatient therapy clinic, we are seeing families from 17 surrounding counties. And that is from birth through young adult. So they don't age out at high hopes. Many do because they reach their goals. But sometimes they continue to have goals and if they...

If they like their therapist and there's a good match there, then they continue to see us here at High Hopes. But I would clear up one thing that I probably misspoke on. There are others in the area who have a therapy clinic like we do. There's an incredible organization down in Murfreesboro called Special Kids, and they have a pediatric therapy clinic providing four of the same therapies as we do.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (24:32.874)
Mission is very similar to ours. They don't have a preschool. So they are more of an outpatient clinic only. So there are good, good people out there doing this work. We're just honestly, we're spread apart and there's not enough of us. So the reason I bring them up too is because I stay in close touch, close contact with special kids because they are 25 miles from us. Like us, they are serving

families from 14 surrounding counties. So it just screams the need is bigger than those we are serving today. Yes. We're growing. Middle Tennessee is growing so fast that, you know, you probably already had, you know, the cramped quarters to begin with. And then we kind of double in size here in 10 years and you feel that. And I know we touched just a little bit on like the families that

that do have these small children and they're both needing to work because you have medical bills, you have copays, you have all these things that come along with having, you know, a child with some sort of disability. the wait list, cause there's not enough. know there has to be a huge wait list. And with that, what does life kind of look like for those families who are waiting? Yeah. it can get

very lonely being on that wait list. It can get frustrating and it gets scary for these families. So the wait list is a little bit of a misnomer. our clinic, we don't say we have a wait list because we do everything we can to try to work people into our schedule who need therapy. if...

A best case scenario is if a family came to us and their child needed, let's say, three therapies a week, we may not be able to work them in three times a week to begin with, but we will do everything within our power to get them started, and they may see their therapist once a week. And then as people leave us, which is our goal, our goal in the clinic is to get children to reach their goals and leave us. And that's success for us.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (26:55.892)
So as children leave us, that opens up spots for these children to then go from one therapy session to two to three, right? So we try to work that pretty regularly, well, constantly in the clinic. But in the preschool, we call it a weight pool instead of a weight list. And that weight pool is, figuratively speaking, it is miles long. There are people who are on

in the weight pool for years. There are some who give up because they can't wait and they need help now. So we do the best we can. And the reason we call it a weight pool is because because we are an inclusive preschool, we can't take the next person that's at the top of a list because one, we may not have room in that classroom for them.

but also sometimes their needs are so unique and so complex, we just simply may not be able to serve them either. Or depending on the dynamics of the classroom, it may not be a good fit for that child. So we really, take every child, we look at them, we have play dates, we talk to the parents, and we sit down as a team and we go.

Is classroom 103, is that a right fit for this child? And it's hard when you have to say no. I bet. I can't imagine having to tell a family, I'm sorry, you know, we couldn't help this time. But you know, a lot, a lot of people don't think about or what these families go through on a daily basis that you guys are trying to help to remedy. And that is someone has to stay home and take care of the child. Someone has to do that because the majority of the daycares

don't take them. They don't have the resources to take care of them. So they're strapped, know, one person's working, one person staying at home, they're paying medical bills, they're going back and forth to therapies. It's a full time job. And so it's incredible that you're able to take that off of the plate for at least 50 to 60 people in the Franklin area. I just wish we had one of these in every city that could facilitate.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (29:19.444)
Mindy, we do too. I think that if you were to ask me what haunts me and what pains me, it is that right there. Because I think people get enamored and it's fun to tell our story how we are serving children. And anytime you're serving children in any capacity, you can't help but love what's being done. But I do leave here and I go, we aren't even scratching the surface. Where, where like

And if somebody came to me today and said, Alan, can you replicate this five miles down the road or on the north side of Nashville? I would have to look at you and stand silent. This is a very complex model. I continue to have conversations. I don't know where this is going. I pray about it. But I ask myself, where are our churches?

A lot of churches around here have preschools and they can't figure this out. So I think to replicate this or to expand this potentially somewhere, how does High Hopes and our talent pool become a resource to support churches who have preschools that, yes, I'm going to say it. I think this is mission right.

and appropriate for our churches and the people that they serve. That would be a great partnership for training and education. And that would be really great if that could happen. Yeah. The other challenge we all have right now is that education is a profession that's on its head right now. And there are not enough people going into education. I know that what we have is a preschool, but it's still education. So I will say from birth,

all the way through the college years, education is being, and how we deliver it is being rewritten right now. And I personally, I don't think that's a bad thing, but bringing it back to high hopes, there are not enough teachers right now out there to support the children that need an education, whether they are typically developing or children with special needs. And so it's a bigger issue than just high hopes trying to expand to serve children with special needs.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (31:46.312)
we don't have enough teachers to serve the needs of the families we have right now. so that's so troublesome to my heart because you have the people that are wanting to do it and you've got the structure, you've got the facility, but you're not able to even fill all your classrooms because of support. Let's rephrase that. We aren't able to open all of our classrooms right now.

because we can't attract and we can't retain qualified teachers. somebody listening might say, well, let's talk about your school director and your assistant school director. Maybe there's a problem there. Are you running people off? No, I can assure you that we have two of the very best, both with master's degrees, one in administration, one in special education. They know what they're doing.

We simply cannot attract talent. And we are sitting in the middle of two of the best school districts in the state of Tennessee. And when Williamson County schools and Franklin special district also has a deficit of teachers, and we have to compete against that. It's, it's a lose-lose. Right. Yeah. It's definitely not unique to just, to just, high hopes. It's, it's being felt many, many places. Yeah.

So on the, you know, getting the word out, how do you people find out about high hopes as far as, let's say just a regular family that moves here and looking for preschools, how do you reach out or how do they find you? Yeah, that is a great question. And that is something internally that we're working on because we've identified

some opportunities for us to do a better job of getting the word out about us. If today, if you were to Google preschools, Franklin, Tennessee, we would not be at the top of your search. And what we've realized, and this is, I'm so thankful because we've recently hired an incredible marketing coordinator. She is reaching out to a marketing agency that's supporting us and they kind of hit us.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (34:10.624)
up on the side of the head and they said, guys, it's called SEO, search engine optimization. We can work with you to get you towards the top of that list. We have an incredible website, is highhope.org. Certainly that's a place where people can find out about us, but we know that we have an opportunity to do a better job of clawing ourselves up the ladder to the top of the.

the search list. the other thing I would say is we again marketing coordinator Stacey Emil has just knocked it out of the park when it comes to social media for us. So if you're out there on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, like us, follow us, do whatever you need to to us to make us a part of your social media time and

you know, reshare stories, like our stories, and just become a part of what we're doing there on social media. I think the other thing that I need to say here though, Jason and Mindy, is a lot of times people aren't, if you don't have a child that has special needs or needs therapy, you may never know about high hopes.

Although the story is great, know, everybody goes, what you do is so good. Thank you so much. Well, unless you are walking this out with a child who needs some type of therapy, again, if they need therapy, it does not mean that they have a diagnosis. They may need, they just may need OTPT or speech for a while or feeding, and then they grow out of it. But if your child doesn't need that, you don't know anything about this world of.

of special needs and therapy. our culture is very much, okay, let's see, we're gonna enroll our child in preschool, and then we have a choice. Do we want them to go to private school or public school, K-12, and then we're gonna send them to college. Although I would argue that more so people are saying, hey, maybe skilled trades is the way to go because it's as profitable, but.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (36:32.194)
Those are older kids and that's a conversation for another day. my point is most people will never know about a high hopes because they don't need high hopes. It's not on their radar. It's not on their radar. Yeah. Now do you all have volunteer opportunities? that's we do but volunteering at high hopes looks a little bit different because

100 % of our staff is skilled staff. So if you think about a preschool, they need to be background checked. They need to be here every day because those children are expecting a lead teacher and a co-teacher and a teaching assistant. And then in the clinic, most of our therapists, they have their doctorate and we treat one-on-one. So when...

an organization or individuals come to us and they say, how can I volunteer? It is typically, yep, hey, we could use you. We need these tables scrubbed or we need these windows washed or can you please disinfect all these toys for us? That's typically how we get groups to help us and volunteer.

Please hear me say this, we love and we need those groups because if they aren't the one, and I know it's manual labor, like it's kind of gross sometimes. What you find on the bottom of a preschool classroom table will blow you away. And we need it scrubbed. Don't get the Petri dish. Yeah. If we don't have volunteers that do that, then we have to do that. And we're not beyond doing that, but we are.

I mean, we run a very tight ship and we appreciate that help. Yeah. I mean, your plate is literally overflowing as it is when you work for a nonprofit. So with that being a nonprofit, I know you guys probably have a professional grant writer going naughty to nothing, trying to get things going. But I know that funds from the community is so, so important ways to give. I'm sure you have that on your website, but what kind of events do you guys do?

Jason & Mindy Hoover (38:50.958)
throughout the year to really kind of to promote what you guys do and to raise the majority of your funds. Yeah, Mindy, thank you for asking that. We do write a plethora of grants. We apply for a plethora of grants every year. As a matter of fact, I'm looking at one right here on my desk. It's our grant to reapply for United Way of Greater Nashville for the next two year cycle. So I've got to give a shout out to them. They've been an incredible partner for many, many years.

So grants is one of the ways that we fund that gap that we have. And then we certainly love our individual donors, especially if they're a monthly donor. Month after month, that helps us better understand our revenue stream and it guarantees a revenue stream. And then we do have, we have corporations who, and foundations who have been such a blessing to us. And they continue to show up year after year. So those are.

major ways that help us fill that gap. But events is another way that we do that. We are in the throes of our year-end giving campaign right now. So a lot of times we're in December here and those who are blessed financially, they look at ways that they can make a donation so that it's a tax deduction for them, right? And we can certainly help those folks with that.

So that's on our website under donate as well, our year in giving campaign. But we do have three events that are kind of back to back to back. I don't know why we do that because we almost did with no. It's exhausting. Coming up in February is a more exclusive. It's a intimate event. It's called Strings and Stories. It's at the Stable Reserve here in Franklin. It is a singer songwriter night. Details about that are on our website. And then

in, let's see, that was February. In March, we have our Inclusive Fashion Show. This is its third year. It'll be at the factory in Franklin. It is our children that, they're in clinic, preschool, it doesn't matter. We partner with Target and with a local apparel store. And Target,

Jason & Mindy Hoover (41:15.338)
manufacturer designs and manufacturers adaptive clothing lines. So for our children that may have physical needs, they need adaptive clothing. Right. And you don't see these lines in Target store, but it's pretty comprehensive what they have online. So shout out to Target. That's great. And is a fun, fun group to partner with. And so in, in March, we'll have this it's called runway of hope.

And these kids literally, they get to walk the runway and they get to strut their stuff. And I think the coolest part of it is they walk down that runway with their teachers and with their therapists. And they just get a hoot out of this. then it just really captures the mission of High Hopes.

Equipping these children for success through education therapy. That's our mission and it is our mission in action when you see these kids doing this As I said, it's in its third year. It's not a huge fundraiser per se But you know what as a nonprofit? Sometimes you get more when you don't even ask It is about seeing it happen. And then in April we have our annual golf tournament

It appeals to a different group, obviously. It's called Giving on the Green. That's on our website also. And this year we are moving to the Legends. Very nice. And yeah, so we have appreciated them as a partner. They've been great. And that's going to take us through the spring season with three different events. That's a lot of back to back. That's a lot of work. It's a lot of work. So one thing.

that I really love. mean, and again, I do like y'all's website. That is, it's very well done. And, but I like on here, in the section of our identity and just to share it with our listeners, says the name high hopes was inspired by Frank Sinatra song, which is all about achieving the impossible through unwavering belief. Yeah. But I like this part y'all added.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (43:34.894)
to it that it was initially the idea of naming the school High Hope was considered, but one of the founding families quickly insisted, no, we have more than one hope. And so High Hopes was born. I love that story. love that. So Carol, yeah, Carol Sue Cause was our founder, and she is still a therapist, but she has since moved to North Carolina. And as she puts it, she said, you know, I was a

I was providing therapy and I saw these families that were in crisis bringing their children from preschools to me. And she said, I just had this idea. What if, what if we brought these two together so that the families can drop their child off at preschool? And by the end of the day, not only have they gone to preschool, but they have also received their therapy. And so that, yeah, one of them was listening to the song, Frank Sinatra song, and that's where high hopes came from.

And I'm not going to sing it for you. Everybody can hear it in their minds. I know they can hear it in their minds. that is good enough. I like, I like cold Frank. Um, well, this is, um, this has been really good and eyeopening for me, uh, for sure. Uh, I know Mindy with her past in, um, in teaching and education. Um, you when we got together, she jumped in and was, what was that place called? Uh, you, that you first started working at the little, the preschool.

little preschool. Yeah. She was in education for the most of our time together. And finally I talked her into, sorry, I talked her into getting out of the education arena. Well, Mindy, you know, if you ever get tired of doing these podcasts with your husband, come and see me. I love it. Whenever I was transitioning, actually did a lot of work with Franklin special in the special needs department because they do need substitute teachers there that

are consistent. And so there was one teacher that pretty much every time somebody was sick, I was the one that was called in because the kids would know me. They knew who I was. And they're like, so and so is out. But know, Miss Hoover's here. You know, so there's comfort in that, in that stability. So what you guys are accomplishing there, which is creating stability and getting them ready for a really good start into their next step into kindergarten is just incredible.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (46:02.708)
I actually grew up, my mother is an OT, so I kind of know that world as well. But it is, it's a lot of work that you guys do. I hope that we can broaden your audience a little bit this year. Yeah, well, thank you for the opportunity. know, it is hard work. But I think people who, any nonprofit work, when you are getting into it,

for the right reasons, you know it's going to be a heavy lift. But the payoff when you see one person blessed or being able to succeed or just better themselves because of what you do, that feeds the heart. And to this day, I haven't been able to get that feeling any other way than being able to serve others.

So I've got one more question for you before we wrap all of this up. Thinking back onto that time that your wife shared that you are going to be changing professions. How does that make you feel now? Looking back, was that three years ago?

It was it was about 17 years ago when I made that decision 17 years ago. Yeah, okay. I'm No, that's okay. It was three years ago that I came to high hopes. That's right Well in looking at to that That's been a massive journey 17 years and it's almost like your corporate was past life. Yeah Yeah, that's way I saw. Yeah, I think

I could probably get a little emotional about this on a Friday afternoon. And when you're a little tired, that doesn't help the matter. But I know for a fact that I would not be doing what I'm doing today if I didn't have an incredible partner in this life. And that's my wife who, she just looked at me and said, this is what you're going to do.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (48:11.0)
This is what God calls you to do. Get up and go do it. She's the risk taker and I'm so thankful for that. So she saw something bigger than I did at the time. That happens. does. Well, thank you so much. Thank you for sharing with all of us, Allen. Before we do wrap up, is there anything else that we haven't touched on or that you would like to share?

No, I really enjoyed this. I appreciate all the questions you did ask. We covered a lot of territory about high hopes. know, I would just remind your listeners that there are so many good causes out there. And a lot of times we think and because we are blessed, we earn a wealthy.

very wealthy county, right? And I think sometimes people think, well, I'll just write a check and the problem will go away. Yes, we need the money. I want your listeners to hear that. We need the money. But just as much, we do need the hands, we need the help, we need the donations of stuff sometimes. And we do need the people that would be ambassadors for us and just

spread the news about who we are as one of those hundreds of great nonprofits in the area. That is as important to us as the money.

beautifully said. I agree. All right. Well, Alan, again, thank you. We can definitely see your heart just talking with you. And, you know, we know it's not easy. We know there's a lot of challenges, but as you've mentioned, it is definitely, it's more than worth it. And we appreciate what you do right here in our community in Franklin.

Jason & Mindy Hoover (50:16.142)
And just so that people know, it's not just Franklin that can attend. if you have anybody that this may be of interest, please share it. Because they may not know about High Hopes. So please share it. We'll have all of the information in the show notes. even though you're listening right now, we'll have it in the show notes. You can come back later and click on the links.

That's going to be a wrap for today. Yes. Thank you so much for being here. Yeah. All right, everybody. Well, thank you for tuning in and listening to another episode of You Matter Nashville. One more shout out to Alan and everybody at High Hopes. Thank you all so much for what you do. And thank you for just being you and loving on our community because without people like you serving, this would be a much less happy place.

So thank you again and thank you all for listening. Remember Nashville, we love you and always remember that you matter. And that brings us to the end of another episode of You Matter Nashville. We hope today's show has left you feeling as uplifted and inspired as we are. Remember the spirit of Nashville lives in all of us and every small act of kindness echoes throughout the community. A huge thank you for listening and even being a part of our You Matter community. If you love this episode, please share with friends and leave us a five star review.

It helps us reach more listeners and spread the love. And if you know anyone that is looking to make a move to Middle Tennessee area, we are real estate professionals known as the Hoover Team, and we would be honored to serve them with excellence. Until next time, keep making a difference, Nashville. You matter more than you know.