Speaker 1: 0:08

Hi everybody. I'm Brian Licato with Marvel Consult, and I'm here today with Nadia Bozzi from On your Mark and Jennifer Larson from On your Mark, and thank you for tuning in. So first, why don't we do this? Why don't we hear your official titles and I'm sure they're long, but let's see what you got.

Speaker 2: 0:29

Jen, you first. Thank you, Nadia. My name is Jennifer Larson.

Speaker 3: 0:30

I'm one of the associate executive directors at On your Mark and my name is Nadia Fabozzi.

Speaker 1: 0:33

I'm the director of development at On your Mark, so I know titles in nonprofits are like you have a bag and you pull things out and try to put them together. What does an associate executive director do?

Speaker 2: 0:44

We wear many hats. That's what we do. Good prop.

Speaker 1: 0:48

We wear many many hats.

Speaker 2: 0:50

What I always say is you know, getting to observe all of our programs, know how our programs run, help expose what we do to the community. You kind of have your hand in a little bit of everything and you say we're doing a great job, but how can we do a little bit better? How can we increase our workforce? How can we improve our training? How can we have professional development and learn different ways to support our individuals to gain their independence? That's my job.

Speaker 1: 1:14

So, jen, are you direct services or are you more like that supervisory, like admin side of On your Mark?

Speaker 2: 1:21

Little bit of both, I have to say. I'm very, very happy that I'm going to Sleepaway Camp next week, so I still get to do a lot of those fun DSP things. I'm still a DSP at heart. One of the perks of working in our office is being right above our cafe and being able to interact with our day program, our small businesses every day. But the majority I would say 90% of my work is supervisory and administration.

Speaker 1: 1:42

And now you said director of development. Yes, what is a director of development?

Speaker 3: 1:47

Many hats as well. In the development department we focus on events, fundraising, grant writing, community outreach and public relations. We also do all the marketing and social media for the agency we help with, like the branding and all of our community relations as well.

Speaker 1: 2:08

So more like the development, but you're talking about the monetary development and you're talking about the social media development of the organization. Yes, Did either of you? Is this what you went to school?

Speaker 3: 2:19

for no, not at all.

Speaker 1: 2:21

So I went originally for accounting. I like numbers, I didn't want to do accounting. I switched and went for history, and I'm not a history teacher, so I zigged and I zagged. But now, what did you both go to school for?

Speaker 2: 2:37

If you bear with me my origin story, I did go to school to be a doctor and that didn't really work out. I got a D in physics and I said that's kind of tough. But the whole time I was in college I was also working at On your Mark. I was a respite staff since I was 17 and I decided to double major. My junior year I picked up French. I am also not a French doctor, but I was able to double major French and biology and really use a lot of those critical thinking skills and writing skills and presentation skills to formulate a career where I ended up being a translator for a major bank in Manhattan. Oh, wow.

Speaker 2: 3:13

And I did that for a few years and very quickly realized my favorite day of the week was Saturday when I was doing a recreation program with Anya Mark and you know, running for that ferry, missing the ferry, trying to do the Indiana Jones slide through to catch it. It got old pretty quickly and one day I asked my boss in the city if I could have a set schedule because I wanted to go back to school to study disability studies and he said no and I went downstairs and I started to cry. But when one door closes, another one always opens, literally. My phone rang minutes later and it was Jim Alaco, one of my greatest mentors, and he passed away last year. But I opened my flip phone, it was 2003. And he was calling because there was an opportunity for residence management with, on your Mark, a full-time position. And I threw my name in the hat and I never looked back.

Speaker 1: 4:02

So you kind of grew up with nonprofits, yes, and that went there, but so that's an interesting one. It's not exactly, you know a tons of zigs and zags, but it's not linear either. It's not like you went to college and immediately went into this field.

Speaker 2: 4:17

It was always a side thing, something I did for fun, something I did on the weekends. Most of my friends my friends to this day, I've made through On your Mark. You know, you go on trips together, you do sleepovers together, you work through a snowstorm together, right, and you really get to know each other and build those friendships because you rely on one another to make sure the people you're supporting are having the best time possible. So I did try a lot of other things while still keeping my foot in the Onyemark water, so to speak, but it just always brought me back. There was something in it and I always say I fell into it, but I fell in love with it is what happened.

Speaker 1: 4:51

So how about you, Nadia? I mean, did you come right out of school and go to work for Onyemark? Is this what you studied in school?

Speaker 3: 4:57

I didn't. When I graduated and I'm from Syracuse, new York I moved down to Staten Island. I graduated with a major in sociology and anthropology. They were combined at our college and I had a communication studies minor. I was always interested in like broadcasting and writing and news. So I was like all right, if I have communication studies, that'll kind of help me. But then when I moved down here I was kind of like, oh, you know, when you go to college you think like your major is going to like just put you right in. But I was like I don't even really know what I want to do. So I got a job in HR.

Speaker 3: 5:37

My first job was in the city and I worked there until COVID happened and then I got laid off and then I was on Staten Island, which was like the first time I'd been just kind of like wholesomely here through moving here and working in the city. And I started working at the nursing home, seaview, in HR as well. And when I was there I realized that I didn't see myself growing too much because Seaview was a really good experience. But it was like an old soul for me, like I was young and I kind of was looking for like a social life but also like growing in my career, and I felt like I was just going to be like plateauing.

Speaker 3: 6:21

So actually I had met John through my husband, sal. They're in the Kiwanis group. Together we were at Camp Chilauea for like a New Year's Eve gathering and I had told him that I was, you know, looking for something else and if he knew anything or had anyone he could pass my resume along to and then, like probably a month or two later, he was. They invited me to come in for an interview for development. They were adding a coordinator to the department and they really took a chance on me. But I have been so happy with them and they really just like opened the door for me. Not being from Staten Island and being able to come there and like immerse myself in the community has been like just like a 360 for me.

Speaker 3: 7:04

It's really like I've come to like love Staten Island and before I was like, oh, staten Island, like I love upstate so much better but I really love it now and I'm part of the community and I know people and the people know me and being so involved with like the individuals and going into the cafe and the chocolate shop like it's been so heartwarming. I just like love that.

Speaker 1: 7:23

I think they took a chance on me and I'm really happy about it so I know that, uh, I work with a lot of, uh, high schools and colleges and you know they bring me in to talk to the students about, like their career pathways, and you know the fact is, you took just three of us sitting here. None of us really went to school for the thing that we're doing right, which I think is something actually we really talk about, because high school kids and college kids don't really get exposed to that. But I want to come back and I want to actually talk a little bit about On your Mark. So tell me about On your Mark. Pretend I don't know anything about On your Mark. You know, what do you guys do over there? Like, when did you guys start? You know the population you serve. Like when did you guys start?

Speaker 2: 8:06

You know the population you serve. Like, hit me with everything you got it I'm going to. It's funny you brought up high school because one of the joys that I get is I get to interview all of our high school staff. So I'm going to kind of tell you about our agency like I would tell one of our interviews. So On, your Mark got started here on Staten Island back in 1979. And it started with a small little karate class in a dojo back in 1979, and it started with a small little karate class in a dojo, very tiny little class for people with autism. And to this day, we're approaching 50 years now we're serving over 800 people on Staten Island, their families.

Speaker 2: 8:34

We also have a presence in Brooklyn and it's to provide support for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. So autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy is not a developmental disability but it can be linked in as well. A wide, wide spectrum of people that we support and out of our program services, I say all of them. The goal is to promote independence and whatever that might mean for that person. Some people are working on gaining their independence as they're aging and moving into the community, getting a job, things like that. On the other end too, we have a lot of our older individuals that they're working with the challenges of losing some of their independence as we all age and our bodies betray us along the way, but making sure that they can still be as independent as possible in their preferred setting. So whether that's residential or if we support them with a community hab worker in the community, if they're living at home on their own or with members of their family, our day programs. We have a wide variety there. Sometimes people come right out of high school and they come to our day HABs because they want to learn vocational skills Custodial, cooking, maintenance, clerical skills, horticulture. We have people that are coming to work on those basic job skills so that they can seek supported employment opportunities. But not everybody's looking for work. Sometimes people are coming because we have therapeutic art programs, music therapy. We have pools that we use as well, so it might be another outlet to provide supports for the families somewhere for their loved one to go during the day and get some active programming and actually learn on their age appropriate levels as well. We're always presuming competence with everyone that we support.

Speaker 2: 10:11

What I didn't mention is respite, and that's where we started right. That's the only program that the goal is not to promote independence. The goal is fun. And I say that the goal is to have fun because respite's really a program for the family, for the caregivers, the moms, the dads, the brothers, sisters. It's to know that their loved one is having a great time with us, and so the caregiver can now go to the grocery store, take a nap, go on a date, go on vacation, you know things like that. So respite is where we started and it's still a growing and developing program. But the heart of what we do right now is really, you know, helping everyone to gain their independence in the community.

Speaker 1: 10:48

You have respite, you have day help, you have residential, you have therapy programs.

Speaker 2: 10:53

We have Comhab employment services.

Speaker 1: 10:57

So if a family member wants to reach out, what age do most people start programs at? On your Mark, Great question.

Speaker 2: 11:05

We start as young as five years old. However, we do see that most people start their programs upon graduating high school. We've made a big effort this past year two years now to go into local schools to work with the PTAs parent transition coordinators to make sure that they understand Medicaid waiver being part of the process of receiving our services. A lot of families don't know about that until they're looking for the service and they don't understand. Sometimes it can take six months to a year to get the ball rolling on that.

Speaker 1: 11:34

So it's not just like signing your kid up for a sport. Do they go through their doctors? What's the policy or the procedure if I had a child and I wanted to actually enroll them?

Speaker 2: 11:49

We have and maybe we'll put it on the screen later Elizabeth Sorolla. She does all of our intakes and we have an intake committee, so she's the point person. If you're interested in services for Anya Mark, you reach out to her or you reach out to any of us on the team. We'll connect you to her and she'll gather all the required documentation, all the bureaucracy, right. We need a current life plan, a current psychological, psychosocial and a medical, and from that we just look to see if there's any immediate glaring things, that maybe there's a severe medical issue that our staff may not be trained in how to handle. We also make sure the person is Medicaid waiver eligible and that would be determined by their primary physician or psychologist, just that their developmental disability, you know, is identified.

Speaker 1: 12:27

So you said it's a long process, like months or years or.

Speaker 2: 12:31

The waiver side was we don't do the waiver enrollment. That would be with their care manager or their care coordinator. That can take quite a bit, but once they reach out to On your Mark, we usually are able to turn over a case within about six weeks. So we really it is. We make sure we meet every two weeks so we can review our packets. And then the next step is we schedule clinical intakes. We meet with Ellen Murray she's our director of clinical services. She's a registered nurse and Colleen McKeever. She's our assistant director of clinical. She oversees all of our behavior specialists and she's also a social worker.

Speaker 1: 13:03

So you have a lot of people that work there. I mean, what would you say like at peak time? How many total employees do you have?

Speaker 2: 13:10

We always say just about 500. There's people coming in and some people stay, some people leave, but we're always right around 500. So it's mind blowing to think of how we started so small.

Speaker 1: 13:20

It's strange because a lot of the nonprofits on Staten Island are the biggest employers. Like, when you really think about it, we have tons of small businesses. If they have five workers, that's a lot. But you know, you don't really see that many private companies on the island that employ that many people 500 people and I mean you know. So I would imagine that there's got to be this 500 people, a couple hundred different titles of jobs that you have.

Speaker 2: 13:48

The majority of what we have are part-time direct support professionals. Our DSPs they're the meat and potatoes. They're our frontline people that are providing the direct support to our individuals. They're making sure that we're getting our community engagement. They're making sure that everyone feels happy with how they look when they go out for the day and proud of themselves or that they have someone to talk to if they've had a tough day.

Speaker 2: 14:11

We're making sure that our DSPs help our individuals to have healthy relationships with their friends, with their parents, siblings, like that. So our DSPs are the core of what we do and then from there we have so much room for growth. You know, I'm just one example, but so many people our directors, our managers, all of our administrators started at entry-level positions in On your Mark as direct support professionals. So some people they work as DSPs part-time while they're going to school, so they've gone on to become nurses and doctors, special education teachers, ot, pt, speech, nutrition, all of those. We even have people in our finance department and our HR department that started as DSPs and they're still working, respite sometimes too, which is great.

Speaker 1: 14:53

That's the thing that I think is so interesting about nonprofits that it's not like you only hire one thing, you only have accountants, right. You have all these different people who are looking for jobs and I mean, how often would you say that you guys are actually hiring or having fairs or anything like that?

Speaker 2: 15:09

Do you want to talk about our hiring event coming up?

Speaker 3: 15:10

Yeah, so once a year we do like an all-office encompassing hiring event, but we host a new hire every two weeks regularly throughout the year at On your Mark. Two weeks regularly throughout the year. On your mark. We have walk-in Tuesdays and Thursdays so that people can just come by the office with a resume and they'll get an interview right on the spot. We've modified the hiring events Going into this year we're just doing one in September, but the last couple of years we did two, so one each in the beginning of the year and then in the end of the year.

Speaker 3: 15:44

Um, but we kind of found out that with the walk-in days we only really need like one big hiring event throughout the year. Um, we had all of our directors come to the hiring event when we first started doing them and we've been like working our way to get it all perfect for the one coming up. But we realized it's kind of a lot when you pull the directors to have them there for the day to meet everyone that's coming in. But it is so important because they can see like, wow, I'm coming into On your Mark and I get a chance to meet the director of every department and have a conversation with them and if I don't know exactly what I want to do, I can kind of go through the room and chat with everyone and see like where I see myself being here.

Speaker 3: 16:31

So this year with the in-office event, we will have the directors that are in the office are going to be there. Our day hub is really our only department that's not like in our main offices with us, so we might be able to pull a director that day, but at the event we'll be able to just have everyone walk in. Our directors and assistant directors and managers will be able to be in the office and chat with them and we will host it in the conference room and if we feel like it's fit, we'll pull them into an interview, do an interview and get like the paperwork started, depending on like their interest do you have some positions that you're always hiring, like more for like?

Speaker 2: 17:05

I would imagine you don't need a lot of executive directors.

Speaker 2: 17:08

No, no, no, John has got that covered. No, I have to say like our executive team is strong and I'm very happy to be a part of it, but we look for nurses often. I mean, we're really blessed in our nursing department that we have nurses to oversee each group home and each day program. But sometimes people will come to us and then they get a job in a hospital and that's okay. You know, we understand the transition. We are always looking for direct support professionals not as often but it does come up.

Speaker 2: 17:37

We'll look for some administrative roles in our day have program and our residential programs because, having 13 group homes across Staten Island plus two large apartment complexes, each home has a and each home has an assistant manager, pardon me and we tend to promote from within whenever we can because we want to be able to see people that have grown through the ranks and really understood the mission of On your Mark. So those are always open job coaches, definitely. We're getting more and more people paid employment in the community and sometimes, when someone is new to that position, they're going through a program called Pathways to Employment and that's really a one-to-one kind of a coaching. So we want to make sure that we have the right people there to support them.

Speaker 1: 18:16

So you have 13 residences.

Speaker 2: 18:18

We do yes.

Speaker 1: 18:20

Now I'm going to say this, and it sounds so funny when you say it, but so there are 24 hours.

Speaker 2: 18:24

They certainly are. So you have to have staff 24.

Speaker 1: 18:26

Hours.

Speaker 2: 18:27

All three shifts, eight-hour shifts. Yeah, that's why 500.

Speaker 1: 18:32

But that makes perfect sense when you really think about it. But I mean for people that are looking for, you know, night jobs because of their kids, you know, or for people that have a job and are looking for a second job. I mean, balancing shifts is something that really comes into play, but for a DSP. So what are the requirements to be a DSP? Excellent question.

Speaker 2: 18:53

So, with the exception of respite, where we have a program where we do hire high school students, so that's the only program you can be under 18 and not have a high school diploma or GED. But all of our other programs you do need to be over the age of 18, have either a high school diploma or a GED. We do prefer, if you have a driver's license, a valid driver's license. It just makes life so much easier. Think about living in a residence, going to medical appointments, birthday parties, out to eat. It's a lot easier when you have someone who can help you drive.

Speaker 2: 19:21

So we do prefer drivers, but if they don't drive, we work it out. And they do go through a new york state background check. Again, the people we support are considered vulnerable persons, so we want to make sure that anyone who's under our care is protected at all times. So, uh, they'll do a background check, a driver's abstract um, something called a ppd, kind of antiquated from the health care system, but it's a test for tuberculosis. Uh, it's required in our field. And then, like Nadia said, we're doing orientation every two weeks. So, from when you apply, either online or a walk-in day, you're filling out the paperwork within about 24 to 48 hours.

Speaker 2: 19:58

If you apply it online, you're getting interviewed within 24 hours, and Joe DeVivo is my direct supervisor. He's our deputy executive director. He interviews every single person that comes through into our agency and that's such a high level of commitment. But his big word is engagement. Right, if someone applied on a Friday, they're in your office Monday filling out paperwork Tuesday. They're more likely to stay because we're all fishing in the same pond here, right? There's a big need for DSPs on Staten Island. So it takes about four weeks to process your background paperwork and then you are invited to new hire orientation. It is two full days full of information, some pretty cool teachers Nadia and I but it's great. Each section of the orientation is taught by a different director.

Speaker 2: 20:40

So, besides your usual welcome and professionalism, we talk about abuse prevention. We talk about the history of Willowbrook and the history of the field that we're in. Why are we doing what we're doing and why is it important to advocate and make sure people have their rights? We talk about fire safety, positive behavior supports, right? You want people to catch you being good. You don't want someone wagging their finger at you. So how do you help people to live their best life without treating them or talking down to someone Like, how do you really engage with that person? So, paid training and day two, we cater lunch from our cafe and during your lunch you get to meet your supervisor, set up your schedule and you hit the ground running.

Speaker 1: 21:21

So I would imagine nurses I mean, you're talking advanced degrees there.

Speaker 2: 21:25

Yes.

Speaker 1: 21:26

But you're saying a DSP could be anybody that you know, whether they have a GED or they graduated high school or even graduated college. They could become a DSP Absolutely. And we're talking about, you know, like I said, nonprofits. You don't go to school and major in nonprofits, but you have social workers, psychologists, you have people who majored in sociology, education. These are all transferable venues where something that I went to school for could carry over, and I might not be a DSP forever, but it's a good job while I'm in college. It's a good job when I'm trying to figure out what it is that I want to do. Or, like you just said, I could also grow with the company.

Speaker 2: 22:04

It offers so much flexibility and, like Nadia was saying in our prior, we tried we gave each applicant a passport and you would go to each department and meet with the director and learn about what does it mean to work in day hab? What are the hours on an overnight in residential? How does comm hab work on the weekend? Is that flexible enough? And you would get stamps on your passport and then you entered for a contest. It was very interactive but I liked it because it gave each applicant an understanding that, all right, I'm not available Monday through Friday eight to four, but I heard you need overnights Friday, saturday, sunday. I can do that.

Speaker 2: 22:37

That works for my needs and my family and we do prefer to hire full time whenever possible. But we understand a lot of times people this is their second or third job and they have families to take care of and other other things they have to do. But when they come to us we do everything within our power to retain them and really just make sure you know that they have the mentoring that they need and the support they need. We've even been flexible. A lot of times people come to us while they're in college and your schedule changes. Okay, well, or they go away to college doesn't mean you're fired. We're going to put you on leave and then when you come back for the holiday break, come on back. So we have our summer subs, our holiday subs. But being flexible in those areas has really helped us to retain our staff and make people feel valued, I believe.

Speaker 1: 23:20

I mean listen, the fact that, first off, I did not know that you guys started with karate classes. That is great and I'm just trying to picture that now. But a lot of the nonprofits that came out in the late 70s were because there weren't after-school programs. I mean, united Activities started off with basketball night programs.

Speaker 1: 23:40

Huh didn't know that they're actually a sports nonprofit. That would freak Sal out if you told him that. But then they transitioned because there were other programs. There were other programs. You know, it's the same thing like you're telling me, like On your Mark grew based on what the community told them they needed Exactly, but now your need is that you need more workers, right, you know, to fill all of those different things. So if I'm looking for a job, I guess it's onyourmarkorg Correct, yes, okay. If I'm looking for a job, I guess it's onyourmarkorg Correct, yes, okay. So if you're looking for a job on Staten Island, whether it's full-time or part-time, and you have every other Tuesday, Every Tuesday and Thursday, every week, every week.

Speaker 1: 24:25

Every Tuesday and Thursday at On your Mark on Forest Avenue. You can visit onyourmarkorg see some of the job openings that they have put in an application. Then you can go there for their Tuesdays and Thursdays when they have their regular nights. They have a big hiring event coming up in September. Try not to miss that. If you see this before September, make sure you go to that. But I would say, if you're interested in learning more, you can always go on their website. We'll make sure to throw out all the socials. Thank you. This way people can see something. I'd say that if there's a call to action here, it's support, right, Volunteers, great.

Speaker 3: 24:59

Volunteers matter. We love the volunteers too, and our staff are rock star volunteers. There is no even need for me to reach out to my friends and family sometimes, because when we have events going on and I reach out to the staff in the office, they could not come answering my emails faster.

Speaker 1: 25:18

But that shows that they like what they do and they like the organization. Otherwise they wouldn't volunteer. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 25:23

And it's a great way for us all to come together and interact. When I go into new Hire, I always let the New Hires know that when I have events going on, you will see me in your inbox, but I tell them that you know you're in this room together and once you leave and everyone goes into their new department, sometimes you don't see each other as much. So when you come to the events whether you're volunteering or supporting, coming and buying a ticket it's another way for us to all reconnect and catch up, and that's nice because you'll see some new faces, some old faces and you all get to just hang out.

Speaker 1: 25:53

Well, if you can't volunteer, we also like money. So I would say visit onyourmarkorg, whether it's a gala, whether it's a golf outing or any of the other events that they have. You can donate 365 days out of the year. Money is needed because the state does not give enough money for any of these nonprofits to do their work. Jen Nadia, I just want to say thank you for being on today my pleasure this is great I learned about on your mark and I think that's actually interesting.

Speaker 1: 26:22

When you know someone like me finds out these little things that they didn't know, that means that there's so much more out there means we can still keep making an impact in the community, for sure. Exactly. Well this has been great. Definitely tune in for our next episode and we look forward to hearing more from you.