Focused on Flagler Schools
Focused on Flagler Schools
Who Is Ed and Why Does He Have A Foundation?
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We sit down with Joe Rizzo, executive director of the Flagler County Education Foundation. If you've ever wondered how you can contribute to our school system, even if you don't have a child on one of our campuses, you don't want to miss this conversation.
Find additional information about the Flagler County Education Foundation at www.flagleredfoundation.org.
You've probably heard about the Ed Foundation here in Flagler County. So who is Ed? And why does he have a foundation? This is focused on Flagler Schools and I'm Jason Wheeler, Community Information Specialist with Flagler Schools. We want to share the achievements and challenges facing our students, teachers and staff right here in Flagler County, Florida. So let's dive right in. We are joined on this podcast with Joe Rizzo, Executive Director of the Flagler county Education Foundation. Joe, you're a former restaurant king of Flagler County, how did you wind up first involved in Education Foundation's second as being an executive director?
Joe Rizzo:Well, that foundation deal goes back a little bit longer than, than I would ever anticipated. I, actually Bill Delbrugge was the Superintendent of Schools and ate in one of the, ate at Woody's Barbecue almost every day, and him and I became friends. And it turned into him asking me if I would serve on the Foundation board. I did that for six years. And then when my partner in the restaurant business passed away, Josh Crews, we were looking for a home to do like a fundraiser. And which is where the Josh Crews Writing Project came from. Carla Klein and myself kind of made it a Leadership Flagler class project. And it has kind of taken off from there, and I think we're in our 11th year now. So this really started about 15 years ago with me being involved in trying to give back to the schools and support the superintendent's mission and vision. And, you know, ever since then, it's been really good. And fast forward to executive director. You know, that was a relationship that I had with Jacob Oliva. And when we found, when I found out that the previous director was retiring, it was really him and I having conversations about who would be a good fit. And, you know, just kind of went down the wrong road and ended up capturing me as the person. And so far, you know, it's it's one of those things where, you know, I think people have midlife crisises is and I don't know that I'd call it a crisis. But, you know, you always hear people talk about when you're looking into a career, do something that you love to do. And in as much as I never, I didn't dislike the restaurant business. But I never knew that I loved having the ability to help influence and support education and kids in Flagler County. So it's been really neat to watch the last four years kind of evolve into a passion.
Jason Wheeler:I can't imagine you walking through the halls of Flagler Palm Coast High School or playing on the field there, in football, thinking that "You know what, I'm going to run the Education Foundation one day."
Joe Rizzo:Yeah, no, that definitely never entered my head. It wasn't even a thought. And even when, when it was presented, the first couple of times, I think like most things in life, I probably ran from it, thought there's no way I could possibly do that. I can't be that guy, you know, the restaurant world is so far removed from from what we do. But I'm really and truly having an impact in the community is probably the bigger part. And that that's the part that I probably could have. You know, I've always wanted to do that, whether it was through food donations, or supporting local teams, or any of that kind of stuff. So this just kind of made it a total next level ability to provide some supports. And it has really turned into probably the greatest job ever.
Jason Wheeler:Everyone loves shorthand and you know, we say the Ed Foundation, and it's a lot shorter than saying the Flagler County Education Foundation. Now we have the name taken care of, you know, "who's Ed and why they have a foundation..." What does an education foundation, what does an ed foundation do?
Joe Rizzo:So we're the 501c3 direct support organization of the Flagler County School System. So in reality, the purpose of the Ed Foundation, along with the other 7...67 districts in the state of Florida, a direct or indirect support organization, allows for those donors in the community to really support education and get that tax write off. So really, it turns into a, you know, this is the not-for-profit arm of Flagler county schools. And really, the big purpose is just that to give that tax donation, so that a individual, Corporation has the ability to write off their philanthropic giving on an annual basis.
Jason Wheeler:And what is the relationship between this foundation and this district because I know not all of them are alike. For instance, you have a standing meeting with the superintendent every week, and that's probably not seen in in all counties.
Joe Rizzo:Well, again, we're pretty blessed here because of the way it was designed, you know, warehouse in the same building as the school's administration. And like Jason, like you said, I meat with Soup on a regular basis, and the uniqueness of that is probably pretty rare. In as much as when I reach out to other foundations across the state through our quarterly meetings, I think there are some people that are doing it the way we we are, but we we really have became part of what the school systems mission and vision is. So in order to provide those supports, whether it's for mentoring or supporting teachers, or supporting kids or supporting, you know, all of the things that happen in our community, and really just to be that arm of the school system to make that connection. I think others districts are probably a little more focused on like an individual program or something to that effect, where, you know, this year, when we started, it was how do we send our kids back to school safe? And you know, now that we're wrapping up, it's how can we incentivize teachers to teach summer school after the hardest year they've ever had, and really given them a little extra, you know, love, for lack of better terms to make it worth their while to help get these kids back on track, then, that have fallen off because of the pandemic. But, you know, you never know, like, in the beginning of the year, if you just said, "Hey, what are you gonna raise money for this year," I would not have picked those two things, they wouldn't even came up, wouldn't even have popped in my mind. But it's, it's neat to be able to identify the need, work with the superintendent's team and their administration, and tackle it. Come up with a plan to fix the problem. And I think is we can fix problems in Flagler County, you know, it's one of those things where they talk about it takes a village to raise a family, or a child, but really, that's that's the village working together to fix whatever these kids have a need for. I encourage everyone to check out our county Education Foundation's website, it kind of it really lays out what you do. But for those, before the check on, what are your like your three big ticket things you do, obviously,Take Stock in Children. That's...that's huge. So what's that? So, so we have, we really live in three big clusters. One of them is mentoring, we run the take stock program, we run the career coaching program, and making sure that there's a significant adult in kids lives. So to if you were to ask me, to sum it up in three majors, that's one of them. The other one is really providing life's essentials. So through donations of clothing, school supplies, all that kind of stuff, we partner with our TRAIL kids, which are the kids that are age 18 to 22, that are special needs kids that run that work in the TRAIL program, with Dr. Kim Halliday. And they supply all of the life essentials to any school kid that needs it. So we reach out through community fundraisers to make sure we have socks, shoes, underwear, toiletries, for kids. And then really that 64% of kids that are on free and reduced lunch or 60, something, you know, making sure that they don't go without making sure that they're on on par with everybody else. Um, so that's, that's probably one of our second biggest things. The third biggest one is probably teacher support, making sure our teachers have what they need, whether it's through the teacher grant program, where between Ed and, and our classroom to careers programs, we paid close to $200,000 a year back into schools, with those initiatives in mind and making sure that they align with state standards and working with the teaching and learning department to say, you know, these are reputable, we'll have impact and be positive for kids, we will have a huge grant program. And then really the seniors we do senior scholarships for both schools. And to make sure that I think locally, we give away close to a half a million dollars worth of senior scholarship dollars, which is really just a pass through for the ED foundation. And really just making sure that those community members like the Kiwanis Club or the Rotary Club, or Tiger Bay, or even individuals, like of quantum electric, where we're making sure that when they want to give to students to see them further their careers and secondary education, that we're that conduit to make sure they can get those dollars.
Jason Wheeler:Where does this money come from? You kind of hit upon it a little bit earlier. But where does the money come from? Because it's not like there's an infinite number of Fortune 500 companies here in Flagler county or CEOs, although you'd be surprised how many former CEOs we have living here, but you've been able to reach out beyond Flagler County as well to bring monies in.
Joe Rizzo:We do we have some amazing partnerships all the way from last week I met with Kevin bowler from Daytona beverage, beaver Toyota from St. Augustine. We had a ribbon cutting on Friday with a group out of Tallahassee called the Able Trust to really, to connect that every place we can for individual needs is really the reach out and we're willing to go the miles of, you know if it means driving to Orlando to meet with a company who does underground utilities or if it means going to Tallahassee to, to talk to a lobbyist, we're gonna do whatever we can to make sure that we can meet all the needs of these kids one way or the other?
Jason Wheeler:How about recruiting volunteers because I know you, you've said you want a an adult, mentoring every single student we have. So, which is doable.
Joe Rizzo:It's actually it's, it's more than doable. If you think about it, we have 120 130,000 people in Flagler County, we're only looking for 10% of reach out to kids. I mean, it's 13,000 students, it's not that it's not that insurmountable when you look at it in in numbers. And, you know, I think the most important part is we always talk about time, talent, and treasure. And any one of those three things, I think, if we can get you, I was just talking to the super the tax collector, today's Suzanne Johnson about, if I can get you to mentor a kid, and show you all the good stuff we're doing, you're gonna support any way you can. So so it's just a matter of getting them exposed to what the school system is doing, and how good of a job we actually do. I mean, we're, this is not traditional school like you think it was 100 years ago, or when you're in school, these kids don't sit in desks and rows and take notes. I mean, these kids are preparing for the future. And it is amazing to see happen.
Jason Wheeler:Big question here, because it really has affected everyone. But how has co, what has COVID done to your organization as far as what you're able to provide students and teachers this year?
Joe Rizzo:Well, I think financially, it's probably an offset in as much as people who have been philanthropic are still philanthropic, if not more, the problem, the harder part is the people who can't afford to be philanthropic because of the pandemic, that have been our go twos, you know, who are when you look at our tree in the wall and the Government Services Building, our little squares have been harder to, to collect support from as opposed to our big squares. So you know, it, it's all important, and it's all crucial, and you know, that, you know, I call them little and big squares, but they're really people who want to have impact. So it's, it kind of hurts to see people not being able to when, you know, they have the heart to. But I think ultimately, like I said, When I started, I wouldn't have thought that we were going to be trying to support PPE and trying to support teachers in summer school, when the year started, so, so it kind of, it just moves and flows the way it needs to to make sure that we're getting the job done. But when you look at into the kind of support we've gotten, whether it's from the Advent health of the world, or you name it, I met with Cline Construction this week. And you know, that guy, when he when he heard the ask from the State Chamber of Commerce of support a K through three reading program in your local school district, he looked at me and said, I'll do whatever y'all need me to do. These are the kinds of impacts that we can have on on our on our business partners. So it's really important that that we share our message and we get it out correctly. And, you know, everywhere from, you know, the elementary and the Dolly Parton Imagination Library and reading to you. Next week, we're meeting on Wednesday, we're meeting with UNF about these MedNex program. So there's opportunity, and just making sure that ev erybody's aware of it is probably the most important thing.
Jason Wheeler:Moving forward and this maybe, what is your goal for the foundation in 21-22, and maybe beyond.
Joe Rizzo:So my goal for the foundation has always been able to put us in a spot where we have an endowment, we currently have an endowment policy that is all based based on planned giving. And we have been fortunate enough that in the past, we've had a couple big donors, Robert Osler, one of them, the Axelrod family and other one, but we have almost $3 million in an endowment policy right now. And our goal since the day I walked in, was to get it to 10. So it's going to continue to be our goal that we're we're able to support in every way this the school district needs us to, but then we can chip away and keep throwing money into that big pot, so that we know that this can be a conduit for supporting education long after I'm gone, and really long after all the people that are involved are gone. And we know that there's constant money coming off of that endowment policy forever.
Jason Wheeler:What makes you sad? What makes Joe Rizzo sad.
Joe Rizzo:I think the fact that it the time that it takes to do right by kids,you know, you look at the problems we have, whether their mental health or their discipline or their you know, not on reading level or any not having the clothes or stuff to put on their backs. But really the response time is, you know, the bureaucracy that gets in the way of solving these problems. Let us just do what we need to do to solve the problem. That's probably the one thing that drives me the most insane about my job is why can't we just fix it now? Because it's, if your first question is always what's best for kids, then the answer is pretty simple. Now, just get out of the way, you know, get, let the bureaucracy move out of the way, because, you know, politicians always mess it up. Which is why I will never be a politician.
Jason Wheeler:What makes Joe Rizzo happy on the other side of things?
Joe Rizzo:When it works. When you have that, when you see that aha moment, when you see when you see that kid, you know, open that scholarship letter, when you see a kid get a new pair of shoes. And you know, what you're doing is good. That's...
Jason Wheeler:The life changing moment for both sides. Absolutely.
Joe Rizzo:Absolutely.
Jason Wheeler:Joe Rizzo, thank you so much. We're both emotional guys. And it's going to end poorly.
Joe Rizzo:Well, I tried not to cry. It's just Jason and I sitting in a room and he knows how I feel about all this stuff. So that's kind of..
Jason Wheeler:And it was a good question. It was it was a happy question. I thought you cry and the sad one, but the happy one made you cry. And now I'm teared up. Thank you, Joe, for the great conversation as always, and please check out the Flagler County Education Foundation, their website, give Joe a call. I'm not gonna let you put your cell phone number out because I know you will. But give him a call...
Joe Rizzo:386-517-8971
Jason Wheeler:And he will answer the call and answer the phone 24 hours seven days a week if you're gonna give him some money. But please support the Education Foundation, those monies go directly right smack dab back into our classrooms, whether it's helping a teacher helping a student, helping a school campus, it's probably the best thing you can do as a Flagler County Citizen, and can directly impact a single life. Thank you, Joe.
Joe Rizzo:Thank you, Jason.
Jason Wheeler:And we want to thank you for listening to Focused on Flagler Schools, a production of the Flagler County School District. New episodes are released every other Thursday. If you like what you hear, subscribe, and check out Flagler Schools at www.FlaglerSchools.com or on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We're there @FlaglerSchools. Thanks for listening. And remember, let's keep focused on Flagler Schools.