Banjo player and comedian David Akeman, known essentially all of his professional life as Stringbean, lived the kind of rags-to-riches story that was supposed to come with a happy ending.
On this episode of News from the Peak, we talk to Professor Taylor Hagood about Stringbean and the work—the very real and often quite fragile work—of writing a book about someone who has tended be seen as only important in death.
Read MoreI met Pam back when I was a Deputy District Attorney working on the child support docket. She was Magistrate Gagel back then and she was hearing the child support cases. As she tells the story, we would often go at each other (in jest) because I felt like she could be lenient. In hindsight, she was always right! Pam and my colleague Emily and I would go to dinner when Pam left the bench, and it was always a fun way to connect and talk about our profession lives. From the time that I first met Pam she would talk about her work on a Title IX case Roberts v Colorado State University.
Read MoreDo you ever think about those leaders in your life who profoundly impacted you and wonder, “do they know what their example meant to me?” In this podcast, I get to share with you a leader who meant so much to me.
2022 marks the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) which prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance. Title IX states “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance[.]”
Read MoreIn addition to being Dr. Nell, O’Donnell Weber is an essential team member on the Lac Courte Oreilles (LCO) Child Support Services’ Good Life Vision project, including the Good Life Camp.
As the project’s curriculum developer, Dr. Weber is working with the LCO Child Support staff and the project’s dedicated set of local partners to create a curriculum on responsible parenting and economic mobility that speaks to the cultural values and historical context of the LCO and other tribal communities. The curriculum will be delivered in the LCO Ojibwe School, the LCO Boys and Girls Club, the Good Life Camp, and elsewhere to tribal youth between the ages of 13 and 23.
Read MoreBy now you’ve hopefully heard of Fat Bear Week. It’s probably about as famous as Shark Week. The GPS team was brainstorming ideas for podcast and interesting people last year and David mentioned his brother Carl Ramm, does bear management in passing. The concept of doing bear management was so intriguing, so of course the team had lots of questions for David and brought Carl on as a guest to the Podcast. The idea of the first podcast was that Carl would come on and talk about Bear Management and we’d be able to tie bear management to leadership. Surely managing bears has similar leadership lessons or concepts and managing humans?
Read MoreThere are times in life that one might find themselves in the right place at the right time. Joe Mamlin on our team was in a band called “Underwater People” and his band mate was Jim. Jim is a teacher and in the summer works for Camp Highlands for Boys, and has done so for a number of years. When we started planning the Good Life Vision Camp Joe mentioned Jim and Camp Highlands. We then set up a call with Andy Bachmann, the Camp Director, to talk about Lac Courte Oreilles’ cultural camp.
Read MoreSponsored by the Lac Courte Oreilles Child Support Program as part of a federal 1115 grant through the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Child Support Enforcement, the Good Life Camp provided training in the Ojibwe language and taught protocols for song and dance and Ojibwe regalia, while also making sure campers understood the meanings behind them and their connections to the larger culture and the kinds of choices and values youth should bring to their own decisions about parenting.
Read MoreDuring this time of high stress, organizations are finding it more important than ever to support employees and teammates and encouraging self-care. Organizations are realizing that employees that are take care of themselves and feel supported have reduced stress, are more efficient and productive. Employees that take care of themselves, take less sick time and stay at an organization longer. Self-care helps ensure ongoing good health (both mental and physical), and help you better manage your stress and build resilience.
Read MoreIn this episode of News from the Peak, we are joined by Howard Zehr, a foundational practitioner and theorist of restorative justice and the coauthor of the recently published book Still Doing Life: 22 Lifers, 25 Years Later.*
The book combines two sets of interviews and photos of people serving life sentences without parole. Zehr gathered the first set in 1990s and published them in his 1996 book Doing Life. About five years ago, he went back to talk to and photograph many of the same people.
Read MoreThis addition of Community Table Talks is focused on Child Welfare. We invited 4 great guests and asked them to answer two questions in about 5 minutes. The questions are 1. What is the most pressing issue we are facing in child welfare? And 2. What is the number one way we can make a substantial difference?
Joining us on this episode is Judge Ann Meinster, Korey Elger, Ángela Quijada-Banks and Bill Delisio.
In this episode we proudly present the first podcast interview with the new OCSE Commissioner Tanguler Gray. In this episode we celebrate her success, talk about her background, and get just a little preview of her approach to this new and exciting role. We get to also get a sense of her warm and welcoming personality, her sense of humor, and her commitment to the program and child support professionals across the country.
Read MoreDo you feel it? The touch of coolness in the breeze as the leaves begin to change hinting at what is to come. The change in seasons allows us to take time to pause and begin to look at what we might want to transition or change in our professional and personal lives.
Read MoreBegun in 2014 as Fat Bear Tuesday, Fat Bear Week is back for 2021 and, as a small consulting firm focused on the human services and courts, Grays Peak Strategies knows our podcast listeners demand the kind of no-holds-barred fat bear analysis that you can’t get anywhere else.
Read MoreAs most of our listeners know, the child support program has been evolving since it’s creation as part of the Social Security Act in 1975. One of the most significant changes we have seen – and probably the hardest to accomplish – has been the transition from being focused on enforcement to being focused on families. The Child Support program, and the people we serve in the program, has contact with more families than any other social service program and with that we have both a great deal of responsibility as well as a great deal of opportunity.
Read MoreI want to offer my unsolicited contribution to the grand virtual meeting about Child Support Awareness Month: this year put some of your celebratory energy into sharpening your own awareness of how people understand the program.
Read MoreI am so fortunate to be part of the amazing Leif Family and have so many extended Aunts, Uncles and cousins. Our Uncle Greg is a Catholic Priest in Minnesota. Our daughters called him Uncle God growing up which thankfully, he found to be comical! I have gotten to go on many fun hiking adventures with Uncle Greg over the years and we have the most amazing in-depth conversations about the world, politics, life, and recently we have talked a lot about compassion and empathy.
Read MoreThey say time flies when you’re having fun. It seems like one day you are the new kid starting your first job at the local county office, then you wake up the next day and suddenly you are the wise veteran, with enough years of service to think about the next chapter. As retirement becomes a reality, what things should you be considering? What options are available to you, and how do you want the next few years to look?
On this episode, we welcome 4 guests (5 including me) who have all retired in one sense, but have moved on to something new.
Read MoreBeing a college student during a global pandemic has had its pros and cons. Since the pandemic began college life changed for students everywhere . In this article you will be able to get a look into the life of a college student during a pandemic. I’m Jasmine Robinson , Marketing Strategist for Grays Peak Strategies and a Spring 2021 College Graduate. My senior year at UNCG included a whole year of restrictions and precautions because of COVID, this affected us in many different ways whether it was financially, mentally, socially and even academically.
Read MoreWe are pleased to announce the third installment in our “Community Table Talk” series. In this episode we talk about hobbies people have outside of work. This topic was of particular interest to me as I know how important my time away from work is, and how it makes me better at my job and in so many other ways. In fact, everyone at Grays Peak has some kind of interesting hobby that they are passionate about. In the GPS Family, we have people who enjoy skiing, hiking, traveling, music, art, wine, fishing, horseback riding, kayaking and much more. We do our best to encourage these things, and provide space for people to pursue what they love, which in turn makes us a happier and more cohesive team.
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