23 minute read
Inside Track
Homeless summer moves McDermott
Guiding Light development director aims to help others who may be su ering in shame and silence like she was.
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Rachel Watson
rwatson@grbj.com
When Starla McDermott as newly divorced, working and saving up to rent an apartment, she and her three young children had nowhere to go, so for an entire summer, they lived in a tent on the Lake Michigan shoreline in Indiana.
On her ex-husband’s days with the children, she slept behind a church and showered at friends’ homes before going to work. During her days with her kids, she strove to make the “camping” situation feel like a fun summer activity instead of their only option. McDermott looks back on that period in the 1990s and realizes there were organizations and social service programs that likely could have assisted her with housing, but a) she didn’t know about them, and b) she was so ashamed of her financial straits and frightened about losing custody that she kept her homelessness a secret from everyone in her life.
“At night, sometimes I would cry when (the children) didn’t see it, but I was so busy, and I was just doing the best that I could,” she said.
Now, as development director at Grand Rapids-based Guiding Light — a job that involves sharing success stories of clients and fundraising for the nonprofit that serves men experiencing homelessness and addiction — her personal mission is to make sure others know they don’t have to su er in shame and silence, and that help is available to anyone who asks.
“I felt shame because I thought I was doing something wrong, and I did not want my ex-husband to know because I was afraid he’d take my kids away,” McDermott said. “So, I did not tell anybody. The only reason I started talking about it was (because) one of the gentlemen who was a client at Guiding Light flat-out asked me one time if I fully understood what it was like to be homeless. I could have just said, ‘Yeah,’ but I decided to sit down and listen to his story, and that’s when I first came to ever share that I actually had been homeless.”
The journey to where McDermott is today, working a job she loves and doesn’t plan to leave anytime soon, was not easy. After a stint as a preschool teacher when her daughter was little, she spent 17 years in corporate sales and marketing, excelling in the work but feeling unfulfilled.
After her ex-husband retired from the Navy, he got a job in northern Indiana, which is what first brought her to the Midwest. Long after they divorced, she continued working in sales in the natural food industry, rising through the ranks from sales rep to territory manager for Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. Her final sales job brought her in 2007 to Grand Rapids, a city she promptly fell in love with. But she was exhausted by the stress of sales and the constant travel across the Midwest, so she sought advice from a career counselor about changing fields.
“I averaged about 40,000 miles a year on my car,” McDermott said. “I was gone two, three nights a week and also was a single mom, which was pretty rough, and I just got tired of it.”
In 2010, she took an aptitude assessment, and she and the career counselor agreed that her heart was in helping those less fortunate than herself in the Grand Rapids community. As a result, she decided to quit her job, go back to school and take a couple of classes in nonprofits from Grand Rapids Community College.
During that time, she was looking for internships and landed one at the West Michigan Environmental Action Council (WMEAC), helping to organize the 2011 Grand River Water Festival for a $500 stipend, at the age of 41. From there, she was hired as a part-time events coordinator at WMEAC.
Needing a higher-paying, fulltime job, McDermott went on to work a one-year contract as a field organizer at a sub-nonprofit of the League of Conservation Voters — Moms Clean Air Force — which was established to raise awareness among mothers about pollution in diverse, low-income neighborhoods.
That contract was up in late 2012, and from there, she did independent consulting on event planning,
STARLA MCDERMOTT
Organization: Guiding Light Position: Development Director Age: 51 Birthplace: Clearlake, California Residence: Grand Rapids Family: Three children: Lindsey, Chase and Samuel Community/Business Involvement: Former volunteer and board member for Zonta International, Grand Rapids chapter, until it disbanded two years ago. Biggest Career Break: Went back to school in her 40s and did an internship at West Michigan Environmental Action Council that opened doors for her to build a career in the nonprofit sector. fund development, community engagement, project management and websites for nonprofits and a few for-profit organizations. In 2013, she went to work as development manager for special events at Junior Achievement of the Michigan Great Lakes, raising over $250,000 in revenue during her one-year, eightmonth stint there.
McDermott felt the pull in 2015 to apply for a development coordinator role at Guiding Light not once, not twice, but three times. The third time was the charm, after Guiding Light’s first two choices for the role didn’t make it past their 90-day trial runs.
In February 2016, she started her position at Guiding Light as development coordinator, and after only a year, was promoted to development director.
“I don’t fully actually know (why I kept applying),” McDermott said. “I was scared to death, for one thing. I don’t know why I kept doing it, but it had all the pieces that I knew I could do well in the job description, and I said, ‘I can do this job. This is exactly what I need and want, full time.’ I enjoyed my work as an events coordinator, but I wanted to do a lot more, not just plan events, and all the little pieces, e-blasts and writing — I love to write; that’s one of my favorite hobbies — I mean, I applied for a whole bunch of other stu , too, during that year, but (Guiding Light) scared me, and it was also exactly what I knew I would be really good at.”
Along the way, as she interviewed the men in the programs to tell their stories to donors and the community, she realized that besides the skills required for the job lining up with what she likes to do, the mission of Guiding Light and its ability to make a real di erence for people experiencing homelessness is really what drew her in.
“We’re not a revolving door; this is long-term help that is sustainable,” McDermott said. “And when someone has gone through recovery and gotten back to work, they’re giving back to the community. Most all these men do some sort of volunteering; they volunteer with the men who are in the program to show an example, but they’re also spending money, they’re buying groceries — so they’re giving back to the community instead of getting handouts. So really, it’s a hand up versus a handout.”
Recently, Guiding Light started a podcast that allows men to tell their own stories, whether about the road to finishing their high school degree, getting into stable housing, finding long-term work, rebuilding their family lives or being baptized as new Christian believers.
When McDermott reflects on the reasons she believes she is called to this work, it all comes back to two words: shame and compassion. She said she held onto shame for far too long, and she is thankful that the men at Guiding Light, as they go through the programming, are encouraged to let go of that feeling.
“Me being able to work through that shame has helped me be able to help these men tell their story better, so that I can portray that to a donor. Sometimes, donors don’t fully understand why someone can’t just get a job. There are always reasons in the background. You don’t know what happened in their life, just like anybody would not know what happened to me. Because I know that there’s a backstory to pretty much every single person in this world, I’m able to portray the stories of these men better,” she said.
“This is not just a job to me. … I do not see myself going anywhere anytime soon because I love what I do.”
Although she is very comfortable with the work she is doing at Guiding Light, McDermott said she is also pursuing a side project that will help women in the community who may be going through what she went through. She is looking to buy multi-unit housing on her own that would be a ordable for single mother tenants — perhaps with the support of another nonprofit that has helping women as a mission.
“It could be that one step that they need as they work on finishing school or going to school or getting a better paying job that they can take care of themselves and not be homeless, but also (would be) a way to educate them and empower them,” she said.
“No one was there to empower me. And I think that for so many people, to empower them helps them make that one drastic change that they may need. … My goal is to start small and succeed at it first, then take the next step.”
Starla McDermott applied for the Guiding Light job three times before she was finally hired. Courtesy Betsy Michelle Photography
State expands PFAS testing beyond drinking water
Now scientists can look at surface water, groundwater, wastewater and soil.
McKoy Scribner
Capital News Service
LANSING — The Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy is expanding its testing capacity for monitoring a family of so-called “forever chemicals” called PFAS.
For several years, the department’s laboratory in Lansing has been able to check only drinking water for PFAS contamination.
With new equipment, testing in the lab now can expand to include surface water, groundwater, wastewater and soil.
Researchers say exposure to high levels of PFAS may harm human and animal immune systems, including possibly reducing antibody responses to vaccines and reducing resistance to infectious diseases.
“Because COVID-19 is a new public health concern, there is still much we don’t know. More research is needed to understand how PFAS exposure may a ect illness from COVID-19,” the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry said.
In addition, the agency says high PFAS exposure levels may be linked to increased cholesterol levels, changes in liver enzymes, increased risk of high blood pressure in pregnant women, slightly lower infant birth weights and increased risk of testicular or kidney cancer.
Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy communications o cer Scott Dean said the new testing will make it easier for the state to monitor where PFAS are in Michigan.
“It’s something that we’ve been doing for quite some time, but often we’ve had to rely on certified private laboratories to do the testing since the testing for PFAS is very complicated, very sophisticated testing,” Dean said.
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a collection of manufactured chemical compounds that have been widely used in a number of consumer and commercial products.
They’re especially known for being used in water-resistant substances and in firefighting foam to extinguish petroleum-type fires.
Even after decades of use, they do not break down easily in the environment, scientists say. The chemicals have been linked to cancer and developmental problems.
Dean said expanding testing capacity gives Michigan the opportunity to become a leader in PFAS action response.
“And by having this equipment in-state, it’s going to allow us to keep up the work we’ve been doing for a number of years now to address PFAS contamination,” he said. That allows for more testing in-state and should provide faster results and the ability to test for more chemicals, Dean said.
Tests using the new equipment should start in 2022 after proper training and protocols are in place, he said.
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ter store packaged goods, 14% are dairy/frozen and 13% are nutrition/personal care/pet care. The vast majority leverage trending attributes and claims, including vegan, allergen-friendly, low/no sugar, high/good source of protein, woman/student/minority owned, grain- and hormone-free, and many more.
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On Aug. 30, Brandjectory celebrated the launch of its enhanced features and o erings by hosting a digital meetup open to all members.
In October, there will be additional virtual events for premium plan members and basic plan holders to give both groups a level of exposure to investors. Following this, regular meetups will be held throughout the year.
“What we continue to be pleasantly surprised by is the support and enthusiasm of both communities, investors and brands, for the idea of what we’re trying to do, and in particular, how that shows through when we do our events,” Pappalardo said.
“I’m always enthused and take satisfaction from both the attendance levels that we get for our events and the fact that we get repeat attendees (among) both brand and investors. Investors don’t like to waste time. So, when you have prominent investors in the food and beverage space coming back time and again to join the event, they wouldn’t do that if they didn’t see something there, if it wasn’t fulfilling a need for them as well. We have a core of probably 15 investors who have made almost every event that we’ve done so far, and I’d say about half the brands each time or maybe more are repeat attendees. … That tells us we’re on the right course.”
Michael Movitz, Brandjectory co-founder and managing partner of The Movitz Group, said the Brandjectory team recognizes the importance of live dialogue and connecting face to face.
“Brandjectory’s events and functionality make this easy for brands and investors, while at the same time Brandjectory’s technology also enables interaction and e cient communication between meetings,” he said.
More information about Brandjectory is at brandjectorynow.com.
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Rockford puts emphasis on sustainability for clients
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ple who constructed them, she said.
“Long before environmental concerns were really an issue and things like LEED became the norm, we have long understood from a development and construction standpoint that’s a very short window of time, that a project can be in development for six months to a year and can be under construction for a year to two years, but that building lives on, potentially for decades,” said Boezwinkle. “And it impacts the people who work there, patients from hospitals and students from schools and certainly the organizations who run those buildings.”
Boezwinkle said sustainability is one of several “layers” its sta takes into consideration when starting a construction project. Another is looking at a project in a “holistic” way.
“The holistic approach is kind of in our DNA and is the direction we see clients heading into the future,” said Boezwinkle.
“Our holistic approach has been in place long before sustainability became a thing; sustainability adds another layer of consideration, but it is another layer. So, trying to look at those buildings holistically has been our approach and we really are seeing more and more clients head in that direction as we talk about sustainability with everything happening now in terms of health concerns, healthy buildings, buildings that are not just healthy for the planet, healthier for people who live on the planet, but healthier for the people who actually inhabit those buildings.”
Another aspect to Rockford Construction’s holistic business model includes the sustainability of the materials used, its construction process and finally, energy consumption. This may involve educating clients to take the long view on costs rather than initially focusing solely on initial costs.
“Really the first cost is such a small piece of the pie over the life cycle of the building,” said Boezwinkle. “We start to analyze what has a higher first cost, but what will save energy over time? Obviously, that’s going to benefit the clients from a financial standpoint, but also from a planet standpoint — from energy consumption — because we know buildings really take up a substantial amount of energy use on a global scale.”
In some ways, designing buildings to corral energy costs is not the biggest challenge for construction companies like Rockford Construction, according to Boezwinkle. It’s the materials used.
And make no mistake, added Boezwinkle, the times are changing.
“The challenge has been on what we consider to be sustainable materials, whether those are recyclable materials, whether they are pre-consumer content, or post-materials content,” she said. “Fifteen years ago, there were a few companies doing it. They had some sources for that recyclable material and the energy that went into re-creating it, but those recyclable materials were not as e cient as they are today.
“And because of consumer demand for that type of sustainable content and renewable sources like bamboo and those sorts of things, that really has become ubiquitous now. So that has driven the price down, whether it’s driven (by the desire) to watch the environment flourish or a desire to meet the demands of clients, people want to see those materials in their buildings. That really has become cost-e ective.”
Rockford Construction practiced what it preaches when it moved to its current LEED Platinum corporate o ces in Grand Rapids. The company utilized an intentional and collaborative design and construction process to meet its own goals and objectives related to honor its triple bottom line: people, planet and profit.
“We were able to work with the existing structure to extend the life of this building in a financially economical way,” said Boezwinkle, adding 40% of Rockford’s projects nationwide are new construction and 60% reconstruction. “Renovation is something people continue to look at as both cost e ective and sustainable, but sometimes you just can’t achieve that.”
Globally, buildings use roughly 40% of energy consumption and draw 25% of the planet’s fresh water supply, according to Boezwinkle. In the United States, commercial and residential dwellings in 2019 accounted for 13% of greenhouse gas emissions, arising primarily from fossil fuels burned for heat, the use of certain products that contain greenhouse gases and the handling of waste, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“Fundamentally, that’s where we stand in understanding the building is there consuming energy and emitting gases for decades after we’ve left, so what can we do during the design and construction processes to support our clients to really moving the needle on all of that?” said Boezwinkle.
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years, and one of the nuances of this program, where it separates itself, is in processing what you’re learning, just really trying to make leadership principles stick. … It’s not like going to a leadership conference where you may learn some great things and then you forget them two weeks later.”
Cisler said the first cohort of participants found the most value in content related to team development, such as hiring, firing, onboarding, training and managing conflict.
“Nonprofits particularly have a challenge leaning into conflict,” Cisler said. “We as humans generally have an issue with that, I don’t think it matters what industry you are in, but in West Michigan, we particularly struggle with it, with the whole ‘West Michigan nice’ thing. We don’t want to hurt people’s feelings, and then there’s an added layer on it when it comes to nonprofits, because most folks that are in nonprofits, they’re very kindhearted. … They generally would rather avoid dealing with di cult topics than addressing them. This program went a long way to helping our participants do that much better in their organizations.”
Many participants identified with the curriculum’s emphasis on being yourself and using your innate strengths as you lead, which can help avoid burnout.
A bonus element that emerged organically, Cisler said, was the fact that the participants formed deep relationships and were able to lean on each other to navigate the pandemic.
Recognizing that nonprofits are funded heavily by donations, which in turn, often are earmarked for programming and services, not professional development, Cisler and his team at LNA raised funds for the program to subsidize it for participants, who then were responsible for $2,500 of the approximately $10,000 per person price tag LBD normally costs. Cisler said some participants were able to get additional support from community foundations to defray the cost even further.
“Nonprofit executives and nonprofit sta in general very rarely have the opportunity to focus on professional development, whether it’s cost-prohibitive or just an accessibility issue, there’s just not a lot of leadership development opportunities in West Michigan,” he said. “We wanted to give a very enriching experience to some of our best local nonprofit leaders, knowing that most of them had never had that opportunity before.”
Cisler said LNA and LBD will continue to evaluate and improve the program for future cohorts. One goal for next year’s group is to incorporate more of a diversity, equity and inclusion lens into the curriculum, including adding more diverse instructors and facilitators.
Nonprofit LEAD 24/7 also likely will be adding cohorts for emerging leaders below the executive level, Cisler said, and in the future, he hopes to be able to o er the program to organizations outside of Ottawa County, as well. Leading by Design already has an international presence, so he thinks geographical expansion would be a natural next step for the nonprofit training program.
More information about Nonprofit LEAD 24/7 can be obtained by contacting Cisler at patrick@ lakeshorenonprofits.org.
IRS provides guidance for retention credit
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rect lineal descendant or a sibling. A spouse is not considered related.”
Related individuals would be considered a child, descendants, siblings, step-brothers/sisters, ancestors, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, step-parents and in-laws.
“You could have the owner of the company, and their spouse can be working there, they can be both getting salaries and neither one would be considered related,” he said. “But, if they have a child, that child would be a relative of the owner and he or she would be deemed to have the same ownership that his or her parents have of the company (due to the attribution rules.) Now you have a relative, and even though the owner is not paying wages to the child, the owner/parent wages does not qualify and neither does the child’s mother because she is related to the child.
“She is a spouse to the owner, but because she is the child’s parent, she is related, and her wages wouldn’t qualify even if the child doesn’t work in the company or isn’t even of age. It just changes the whole dynamic. For the owner to not be related, he would have to have no relatives. He must not have any living ancestors, no siblings and no descendants. If so, then the owner would not be considered related to the spouse. It is really odd.”
Even though there are some complexities to the ERC guidance, there is a lot more clarity regarding cash tips, eligible qualified wages, gross receipts and ownership wages. However, there is still some uncertainty for the fourth quarter of this year as to when the infrastructure bill is signed into law, before or after Sept. 30.
