On this monthly radio program, The Children’s Foundation President and CEO Larry Burns talks to community, government and business leaders about issues related to children’s health and wellness.
Guests for this discussion were Larry Burns, President and CEO of The Children's Foundation, chats with Margaret Trimer, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, Delta Dental of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana; Renee Fluker, Founder and President, Midnight Golf Program; and Chuck Hammond, President and CEO, Hammond & Associates.
The hour-long show typically airs at 7 p.m. the fourth Tuesday of each month on WJR 760AM. Here’s a summary of the show that aired November 24, 2020; listen to the entire episode, and archived episodes, at yourchildrensfoundation.org/caring-for-kids.
Larry Burns: You recently became a trustee of the Jamie Daniels Foundation board. What are your thoughts about joining that board?
Margaret Trimer: I’m truly honored and while I may not be a family member, it certainly didn’t take long to feel like a family member in the group. From a corporate perspective, the dental profession has to care about substance use disorder. We have to be part of the solution because over the years, dental practitioners have prescribed opioids for procedures like wisdom teeth extractions.
Burns: You’re involved in many community-based organizations. Can you share the highlights of some of those?
Trimer: Through our pillars of investment at Delta Dental, we build healthy, smart, vibrant communities. We invest in health: oral and overall health. “Smart” refers to education and workforce development and “vibrant” to economic development and making sure that our communities are places where our customers can succeed.
The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy is an organization that is dear to me personally and to our company. We invested $5 million in the West Riverfront. That development will open in 2022. We’re looking at the Delta Dental Play Garden as a place where we can engage the community in healthy activities and hold fundraisers like fun runs or “know your numbers” types of events to promote heart health as well as provide mobile dental clinics. It’s an all-out space.
Burns: Where do you see Delta Dental’s efforts in Michigan and beyond in 2021?
Trimer: Our purpose remains building healthy, smart, vibrant communities, and we are able to do that by selling dental benefit plans, taking care of our customers and growing. Michigan is our largest market and even though COVID has hurt the economy, we’re holding strong and we do expect to grow. We’ve given a lot of money back to our customers this year, because we know the year has been tough. We’ve given premium relief and rate freezes. We gave every practicing dentist in our three states—whether or not they participate with Delta Dental—a $1,000 credit to help with supplies and PPE. In 2021, we’re turning our attention to economic justice and making sure that we invest in underrepresented communities. We will be inclusive in that space.
Burns: What else are you excited about?
Trimer: We’re working with a venture capital fund out of Cincinnati called Lightship Capital. Their investments are very much focused on underrepresented entrepreneurs. We’re going to support entrepreneurial bootcamps and accelerator projects for this sector of the economy and help provide them with the tools for prosperity. It’s not just about profit. It’s not just about charity. We want to focus on community health and community wealth.
Larry Burns: Please give us an overview of the Midnight Golf Program.
Renee Fluker: Midnight Golf started nearly 20 years ago. When I started the program, we had only 17 young people. As of today, we have over 3,200.
This year, we had 700 high school seniors apply. When they applied, we had to meet over Zoom because of the pandemic. That was very hard because you can only have so many kids at one time. We took 200 students from 53 different high schools.
Burns: Can you tell us about your kids who go on to college?
Fluker: We follow our kids: I call them my children. We have three college success coaches. They follow our students with four touch points to make sure that they’re up to date with their financial aid and they’re doing okay in their classes.
I still stay in contact with my first Midnight Golf student from 2001. She grew up in public housing and also was in foster care. We got her to go to Howard University. She got two degrees from Howard, came back to Wayne State and got a medical degree. Now she has a doctorate in nursing. I went to her wedding.
Last year we had a big Christmas party with 800 past and present students. You see these kids networking and talking about what they’re looking forward to in college—it’s amazing. We’re going to try to do it on Zoom this year.
Burns: The Children’s Foundation is the affiliate for First Tee of Greater Detroit. I’m really excited about the possibility of things we can do together. Do you have any thoughts about that?
Fluker: I hope First Tee gets the 11th graders so we can take them as 12th graders. They would get golf lessons, learn life skills, prepare for college and get help filling out their financial aid forms. Maybe we could follow that student all the way from First Tee through Midnight Golf.
Also, Midnight Golf needs a home. It might be with First Tee. We’ve been all over and our offices are in a separate building too. We need a centralized location.
If someone can help, they can go on our website at midnightgolf.org, or they can contact me directly at (248) 766-0126. Our office is (248) 792-9438.
The area that we ideally want is at Palmer Park on the corner of Woodward and Seven Mile. Our students come from everywhere and they could take the bus there.
Burns: Another partnership that we’re both involved with is The Rocket Mortgage Classic and their initiative to break down the digital divide in Detroit.
Fluker: We want to support our college students and we’re trying to get everybody a laptop and access to the internet. We also have 60 mentors. We give them laptops to Zoom with the kids. Two of our mentors don’t have the internet. They can’t do Zoom unless they have internet service.
Larry Burns: What are some of your most exciting projects?
Chuck Hammond: We’re working right now in Flint with an organization called the Friends of Berston, a group that helps care for a legendary athletic field house that serves as a community center. It fell on some hard times and recently reopened. They’re looking at a capital campaign to expand Berston into a cultural recreational and enrichment center on the north side of Flint.
We’re working with Beyond Basics, a literacy program that helps students bring their reading skills to grade level. We hope to develop a partnership between Beyond Basic and First Tee.
We’re helping the Detroit Historical Society prepare for its 100th anniversary campaign and we’ve had a multi-year relationship with Forgotten Harvest.
Burns: One of our focus areas is nutrition and wellness. Forgotten Harvest is one of our key partners related to that.
Hammond: The COVID crisis has brought basic human needs to the same level of prominence they had back during the Great Recession. The way Forgotten Harvest has responded to the food insecurity needs that have grown so dramatically since the start of the pandemic is amazing.
Burns: What are you seeing in nonprofits now?
Hammond: In a word: uncertainty. However, it’s been pretty amazing the way nonprofits have pulled together and continued to do their absolute best to deliver services.
For example, Howell-based LACASA helps victims and survivors of child abuse, domestic violence and sexual assault. In this pandemic world, they cannot see their clients and potential clients like they used to, so they found a way to continue to serve virtually and through schools and other prevention programs. I’m seeing nonprofits do their darndest to keep delivering services under some very trying circumstances.
Burns: Do you have any pointers for either trustees or staff of nonprofits?
Hammond: These are trying times. I think it’s incumbent upon nonprofit executives to find a way to keep their boards engaged. Define three or four key leaders on your board and make sure that you stay in front of them virtually, online or on the phone. Remember donors feel isolated like the rest of us, and many tend to be a little on the older side. Pick up the phone and call them and have a general conversation about life and your work at the nonprofit. They look forward to talking to people, particularly about something they care about.
Burns: What would you like to close with?
Hammond: We’re here to help. We’ve been serving the nonprofit community, primarily in Southeastern Michigan, for the last 20 years. We believe in it.
Detroit has among the greatest nonprofit communities in the country.
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