A Tribute to Brian Mavis’s Leadership Impact and Big Wins for Foster Care

• Brian Mavis transitioned to a local pastoring role, leaving a significant impact on America’s Kids Belong.
• Personal hobbies, like horseback riding, can provide essential self-care and stress relief.
• The right people in an organization matter more than impressive credentials.
• A great family is more beneficial than any program for children in need.
• Real community change should focus on existing assets rather than deficits.
• Leadership should prioritize retention of current supporters before recruiting new ones.
• Humility in leadership includes acknowledging past mistakes and learning from them.
• Community support systems are crucial for fostering families.
• Equine therapy can be a valuable resource for emotional well-being.
• Collaboration among sectors is essential for effective community change. Trust is essential in the nonprofit sector.
• Collaboration can lead to greater impact.
• Brian Mavis was a visionary leader.
• Foster Friendly has activated over a thousand businesses.
• The Foster Friendly app connects families with resources.
• Community support is crucial for foster families.
• Innovative solutions can emerge from unexpected partnerships.
• Recognizing the contributions of individuals is important.
• Future conversations will focus on aging out of foster care.
• National Adoption Awareness Month will bring new resources.

TRANSCRIPT:

Travis (00:01.026)
Hey, welcome to another episode of the Foster Friendly Podcast. I’m Travis Vong’s and it’s joined by my co-host and CEO of America’s Kids Belong, Kristen Allender. Today we’re going to kind of have another podcast, a news update about America’s Kids Belong, and just kind of some things about the podcast. And yeah, also some news on the ground with America’s Kids Belong. So looking forward to this conversation. In an effort to always try to

Have you been able to get to know us better or just I always love when I listen to a podcast times where I can hear a little bit more about the host or personal life, a little bit more who they are. and especially with Kristen coming on and we want to mess mess it up. Okay.

Kristin Allender (00:47.988)
You’re good.

Travis (00:53.854)
All right. And so I thought sometimes our good random question about a mutual interest is a way to get to know people. And so Kristen and I both have a fondness, although I’m gonna say you probably much more for horses, and a I’ve kind of a scarred history of horses. So let’s talk about our love of horses from our past and present in our lives.

Kristin Allender (01:19.004)
Mm.

Travis (01:26.798)
Are you frozen? What just happened? It was frozen for a second.

Kristin Allender (01:27.902)
So I is it frozen?

Travis (01:35.404)
Okay, you’re back.

Kristin Allender (01:39.327)
Horses. So several years back, I realized my kids, I have two girls or teenage girls, had a lot of hobbies. And I was constantly driving them around to do all of their stuff. And I thought, I I want a hobby. Am I too old to have a hobby? And so I was at a red light and I pulled up. I live in Tennessee. There’s a lot of horses here. I pulled up behind a trailer with horses and I thought I have always loved horses and the

Several times I’ve been horseback riding in my life. I loved it. I should take horseback riding lessons. So I tried to make it my thing. And of course my kids asked if they could do it as well. And I was like, not the same day I’m doing it. When I go, it’s gonna be my thing. So I wound up I’ve been horseback riding for several years. It’s been a minute since I’ve been. I’m not as consistent. But for a while there, I it was my one hour a week when I couldn’t think about anything else. I wasn’t thinking about work. I wasn’t thinking about kid stress. Because if I did, I would fall off.

I have never fallen off a horse. Watch I say that and now I probably shouldn’t. but I even tried barrel well barrel racing. thought I was gonna be a little cowgirl, but you know, I watched the videos back and in my head I was going really fast and the videos say otherwise, but it felt really fast. So I do I do love horses. They are calming. I would love to see more equine therapy available. I think it’s they’re amazing.

Travis (02:35.233)
Ha ha.

Okay.

Travis (02:45.357)
Dang.

Travis (02:54.925)
That’s pretty advanced. Yeah.

Travis (03:04.322)
Yeah.

Kristin Allender (03:04.732)
What about you, Travis? Doesn’t sound as good.

Travis (03:08.737)
Well, okay, so this go this I’m this is really dated for me. So I grew up in North Dakota, we lived on a farm, and we had for the summer, good friends of ours were ranchers maybe twenty miles away, and they had a horse, a quarter horse named Bandito, which yeah, fun name until but then realizing looking back, I think that means outlaw. And maybe not the best for a family horse. So

Kristin Allender (03:25.742)
Bandito.

Travis (03:36.046)
this horse, it was a hellish summer with this horse. So we improved, we made like it hit an electric fence, and the horse would escape r regularly, get out of the fence, and it was head, it knew the direction to head home. So there were several times it was running away, and we we would find it. But there was another time where my dog jumped out at it when I was on it, and I did fall off. So, and a quarter horse is a big horse, so I landed on my hands.

Kristin Allender (04:01.218)
no.

Travis (04:05.215)
sprain both wrists. I’m running back to the farm like a zombie with my arms straight out, like telling my mom like the horse ran. And then I had a brother that got kicked in the chest from that thing. And so it was Bandito did go bye bye. He Bandito went home, but it’s where he wanted to be. And so we we paid the price for his I wa I think it was eighth grade. So

Kristin Allender (04:18.846)
So Bandito went bye bye. no. That’s where he wanted to be, clearly.

my goodness. How old were you?

Eighth grade.

Travis (04:33.185)
And I but I love horses. I I trail you know, got to do trail riding stuff too and things like that. And it’s I still do. So I did overcome that that th I I did get back on the horse. So yeah.

Kristin Allender (04:37.684)
Still, you still have horses. Okay. Okay. Got back on the horse.

Okay, good. My goodness. Well, this is a good reminder that I do need that hour a week to be calm and focused. So practice a little self care, right? I’m gonna call the little horse trainer as soon as I get off this podcast. Schedule some barrel racing.

Travis (04:52.887)
Yeah.

Travis (04:57.153)
That’s right. I love it.

Travis (05:01.653)
You should.

Kristin Allender (05:05.296)
Well, we we have some big news over here at America’s Kids Belong. And if you have signed up for our newsletter, you might already know this. So plug to make sure you sign up for the AKB newsletter. but our co-founder, Brian Mavis, has decided to transition into a local pastoring role. So he is gonna be at a church in Colorado where he lives and will be a spiritual formation pastor. which Brian, that’s his

background. I mean, and he pastored our team for so many years. just that calm wisdom that he would bring to any situation. So it’s it’s the right place for him. We are all sad and we’ll miss him dearly. but we love him and his wife Julie so much and are just so grateful for the 11 plus years and the way that they built America’s Kids Belong and all that has come from that.

Travis (05:37.601)
Yeah, you’re right.

Kristin Allender (06:04.648)
I was just talking to him the other day and I said, you know, no one will ever know the ripple effect of your work and your desire to help kids belong in families and safe families, whether that’s temporary or in need of permanency through adoption. I mean, he just he’s been a giant in this space and we will miss him dearly.

Travis (06:26.539)
And I love that you said that to him ’cause that’s a line he would he would have said to so many other staff members through the years and like for him to hear that from you, that’s that’s cool. He needed to hear that too. So yeah, and and yeah. I mean we I know I and I really do consider him a a a good friend. I mean, we didn’t get to hang out much, but you know, met him in Charleston here, I think way back in like twenty seventeen

Kristin Allender (06:38.494)
We’ve spent many years with Brian, you and I. We go way back.

Travis (06:55.115)
when I first met, you know, and heard about America’s Kids Belong and just amazing to hear what the vision for this organization was. And we both know with Brian, you know, he’s super articulate, funny, you know, he just won the room, you know, it was just, you know, and so I it was it was a cool connection to make. And then I I got to be on the team. And then through the years, you know, you’ve you’ve had leadership retreats and I’ve I’ve gotten to be part of some of those. So

Kristin Allender (07:21.481)
Yeah.

Travis (07:22.689)
Yeah, some memories of hanging out together as well. So yeah.

Kristin Allender (07:26.302)
So many memories. Lots of food, lots of tables, long conversations, contemplating all the things, right?

Travis (07:29.269)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. And that’s the thing, like Brian, conversation wise, so much laughter and humor and so many different topics. You could just probably talk about anything and Brian would talk about it. So it’s a loss. We’ll mi we’ll miss his presence. But kind of what I’d love to talk about and hang out with a little bit on this conversation is Brian,

Kristin Allender (07:39.252)
Mm-hmm.

Kristin Allender (07:46.547)
Right.

Travis (07:57.322)
was just in in many ways a tremendous leader in the way he you know just talked about leadership had leadership principles I I love to hear a lot of you know his quotes and just his wisdom. I think you talked about that as well. so I thought it’d be kind of fun for us to share a little bit about you know just some of his quotes, some of the mantras that, you know, really have stood out to us. He did, yes. He did.

Kristin Allender (08:22.504)
Had a lot of mantras.

Travis (08:26.377)
And and so yeah, so let’s talk a little bit about like some of those or how they’ve impacted us, or you know, so who’s you got you got one to kick us off? Okay. All right, so I’m gonna go with this was a comment he made one time on just organizations. So, and this is his vision for America’s kids belong, was that he said the right people matter more than the impressive people. And

Kristin Allender (08:30.899)
Yeah.

Kristin Allender (08:34.354)
Y you go first. You go first.

Travis (08:54.837)
What he meant, I know in the context of that was, you know, there’s a lot of places that have a lot of talented people and America’s Kids Along does as well. But what I think he had seen through the years is your passion, if you have passionate people with high character, which Brian talked about all the time, you’re gonna outdo and probably outperform the most talented people. And I think we have a c cross section of both, but I was yeah, it’s a great line.

Kristin Allender (09:18.216)
Thousand percent. I mean, finding the right person and the way we did interviews and the way, you know, Brian just had a gut instinct on people was always so and he was so spot on too. and finding the right people has has always been so important to America’s Kids Belong. And one of my favorites,

Travis (09:26.957)
Yeah.

Travis (09:30.742)
Yeah. Right.

Travis (09:37.825)
Yeah. Yeah. All right, what do you got?

Kristin Allender (09:45.517)
Is when he would say a great family is better than any program. That’s just the core of that. That’s who we are. That’s what we believe. I mean, we ideally would work ourselves out of jobs. I used to always say that as a child abuse investigator, like, I I wish I didn’t have this job. You know, I wish a lot of our programs weren’t necessary. I wish we didn’t have to film kids who are waiting for a family. But we do, and we

Travis (09:50.957)
Hm, I love that. Yeah.

Travis (10:04.727)
Yeah.

Travis (10:08.161)
Yeah.

Right.

Kristin Allender (10:13.629)
we believe that getting them into that family is the right thing, but man, the right family the right family is better than any program, any organization can come up with.

Travis (10:19.841)
Yeah. Yeah. That’s such a great one. And I think like, and and that I know that quote was formed by a lot of research and just firsthand, like knowing. Like he and we’re gonna we’ll have a link to his book, but when he wrote the book Upstream on Social Wounds, he he researched a lot of organizations that are doing amazing work on on the ground that are you know, directly feed you know, feeders from the foster care issue that family is that.

That huge solution that you know we’ve talked a little bit on podcast. So I’m gonna go with real community change is asset based, not deficit based. Okay. Quick unpacking. So and so like it’s the idea, yeah. Instead of always looking at a problem and seeing the gaps or what’s missing, which is important.

Kristin Allender (10:50.505)
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

What else? What else sticks out to you over the years?

Travis (11:18.463)
Flipping the paradigm to more often ask, which I don’t think a lot of leaders necessarily do, especially in the nonprofit space, what’s currently existing that is an asset that just needs to be activated? And one thing you whether that was kind of some training from you under that, or just I know you naturally as a leader, that’s totally what you’re about. Like I’ve seen that so much in the way at Tennessee Kids Belong and stuff, like you are amazing at activating what’s on the ground in front of you.

Kristin Allender (11:49.76)
Yeah, I mean Brian and I have talked about that over the years at length, at you know, the siloed efforts. And truthfully, that’s what drew me to America’s Kids Belong. Is there’s so many great things happening already. And when they don’t know about each other or they’re all just operating in their own silo, you know, real change and ecosystem change doesn’t happen. And so instead of bringing in a bunch of new stuff, it’s like, what’s already there? And how do we activate and

Travis (12:11.831)
Yep. Yeah.

Kristin Allender (12:14.791)
you know, desilo some of those programs and get everyone focused on a common goal or a common number, you know, initiative. And when everyone’s pointing the same direction, it’s like, man, the movement is just so much better. So that I mean that truthfully is is what drew me to America’s Kids Belong. I mean when I moved to Tennessee, I’m like, there’s so many great things happening and so many great organizations. And I volunteered at so many of them and I’m still dear friends with many of them.

Travis (12:16.396)
Right.

Travis (12:21.623)
Yeah.

Travis (12:27.148)
Yeah.

Travis (12:34.485)
Mm-hmm.

Kristin Allender (12:41.181)
And hearing about America’s Kids Belong really bringing together the business sector, the nonprofits, the churches, the government all together on a common goal. I was like, I’m in, how can I help? So that yeah, that’s that’s huge.

Travis (12:41.261)
Mm.

Travis (12:52.098)
Yeah.

Yeah. That’s huge. So do you got another one?

Kristin Allender (12:59.859)
I do, you know, I think I think Bri I mean Brian, I hear him this all the time, is the go with the goers. And I mean that that really has been so significant and instrumental in how we make decisions at America’s Kids Blog. I mean, it’s it’s sunk in the core of my heart of like

Yeah, don’t try and force something when it’s not working there. Like when you see some momentum and you see some action and you see some people getting, you know, rallying around this, like go with that. Don’t, don’t keep trying to knock on doors that just are not opening. And so with, you know, with staffing, with new states that we’re looking at, you know, it’s that is core in my brain from Brian Mavis. Go with the goers.

Travis (13:31.584)
Yes.

Travis (13:39.374)
That’s a I love that one too because I love really short ones. Sometimes like the shorter, the simpler, and it’s just like it kind of just really sticks with you. okay, that I I didn’t I didn’t even I hadn’t had this one planned, but I don’t know, you saying that sparked this one for me because Brian also had animal references. So I think this is a quote I remember hearing at when I first met him and his talk from America’s long. African proverb that when

Kristin Allender (13:43.263)
Mm-hmm. Right.

Uh-huh.

Kristin Allender (14:07.706)
Mm-hmm.

Travis (14:09.217)
The elo the two elephants or elephants are fighting is the grass that suffers. And so and I think contextually in that sense, talking about like with foster care, when you know, you have the government sector or the nonprofit sector, the business sector, you know, when when the big sector leaders are fighting or whatever that looks like or not getting along or not really aligning.

what does suffer underneath all of that. Yeah, it’s it’s the kids at the end of the day. It’s the, you know, I think that one always stuck with me of like, hey, and we’ve seen that I think in terms of like as much as our country’s so divided politically and polarized, like this has been an issue even historically at America’s kids belong that now you’re in the trenches on this, but I know, you know, it’s is is as partisan of the thing that you could all get on the same team on.

Kristin Allender (14:35.219)
Okay.

Kristin Allender (15:02.537)
Right. Right. Gosh, I can picture I can picture Brian Mavis standing. We were at the Capitol in South Dakota launching an initiative there. And I remember where we were standing, and he was you know, telling a crowd that exact African proverb. I mean he did he would say it a lot. I haven’t heard that one in a little bit, but that was a that was a throwback Brian Mavis mantra. I love it. It was

Travis (15:04.043)
I mean or we should.

Travis (15:23.638)
Okay, yeah.

That was a th that’s an old school.

Kristin Allender (15:31.432)
The original days, yeah. me on. You know, and Brian really the the retention before recruitment, you know, that was the big Brian one and really it’s shaping how we do programs. When we would go into a new faith community, it’s like, don’t just champion recruit, recruit, recruit all these new families, you know, and then we would say it’s irresponsible to do that without building the support systems first. And that’s really where, you know, foster friendly communities has come in and all of the wraparound work that we’re doing in faith communities to say

Travis (15:39.303)
Yes.

Travis (15:52.456)
Yes.

Kristin Allender (16:01.353)
Hold on, start here. Make sure we’re keeping the ones that are already fostering supported and then creating that support system so that any new family that says yes knows they’re entering into that, that they’ve got a community saying yes as well. So yeah, I mean it’s really shaped all of our all of our programming.

Travis (16:06.591)
Yes.

Travis (16:15.285)
Yes, man.

That is so good. I actually that kicked off thought too for of thinking about I remember him saying that several years ago. And what I appreciate in his leadership and the way he said that the first time I heard that was him setting it up by think saying, I was wrong, and then saying, we’ve got this backwards. Retention and then recruitment. I think there’s something too about the humility of a leader to say, right? Like I was wrong in this, and this is what we learned.

Kristin Allender (16:34.757)
Mm. Mm.

Kristin Allender (16:43.532)
yeah.

Travis (16:48.309)
And I think that even has a little more like almost I don’t know, staying power. It it’s that that part of it was something I remember. have you exhausted your well of we’re limiting this. I mean it’s like yeah, we could

Kristin Allender (16:52.735)
Yeah.

Kristin Allender (16:56.084)
Huge.

Kristin Allender (17:00.551)
I mean, there’s so many. I mean I realize I say stuff in meetings and I’m like, I think that was that’s a Mavis quote. Like, I think I th got that from him all the time. All the time.

Travis (17:10.549)
All the time.

Kristin Allender (17:13.253)
We yeah, we’ve sat it we’ve sat in Brian Ravis and I and you I mean we’ve been all over the country together. the last what ten years. Yeah. We I just go ahead. Okay. Go for it.

Travis (17:17.439)
my gosh, yeah.

The last ten years it’s flown by. Alright, well, I do have one final one. If okay. And it might be my all time favorite. And this is a mosh from America’s Kids Belong, he would say, Our greatest innovation is trust. And do you want to explain that quote? I mean.

Kristin Allender (17:36.829)
Mm.

Kristin Allender (17:43.457)
Yeah. you know, I think I think especially in the nonprofit space, nonprofits are designed where they’re and they’re asking for money all the time, right? And so we’re constantly needing to make alliances, make relationships. And then nonprofit world, the natural scarcity mindset is to make sure you protect those. And so there is an underlying

Travis (18:04.631)
Yep. Yep.

Kristin Allender (18:11.166)
you know, distrust or are they gonna take our people or are they gonna step on our toes or this is my area, it’s territorial and man, it’s devastating. When you talk about the African proverb and the the people who suffer when these nonprofits, you know, don’t align. I I love like the collaborative spirit. And there have been a couple people and a couple of nonprofits that I know America’s Kids Belong has aligned with where the trust is just so

Travis (18:12.621)
Mm-hmm.

Travis (18:19.981)
Yeah. Yeah.

Kristin Allender (18:38.056)
ingrained and mutual and we’re building off each other and we’re sharing resources and it becomes just something so much more than either nonprofit could do on their own. And what a gift when that happens, right? And how sad when it doesn’t.

Travis (18:51.137)
Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah. Well said. Yeah, that’s so good. Well that’s a wrap on an anything I’ve got.

Kristin Allender (18:54.374)
Mm-hmm.

Kristin Allender (18:59.326)
Lots of throwbacks. I mean so many more. We could probably do another hour podcast on Brian Mavis isms, right?

Travis (19:02.594)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. So I mean I think we just wanna also acknowledge too, just that yeah, the the timing of his new position and stuff like that. yeah, we weren’t we it did and and we weren’t able to to get him on for this final kind of fair little episode. But we also wanted to make sure that on the podcast, because you know, he’s been a host for the you know, the duration of this thing, that we we spent a little time honoring him and and just, you know

Kristin Allender (19:16.894)
It came up quickly, his new job.

Kristin Allender (19:30.795)
huh.

Travis (19:35.125)
is on the podcast as well. So he’ll be missed on Foster Friendly. Well, going forward a little bit, what are just just kind of some of the as we wrap the segment up on Brian, like what are some of the any other ways like you’ve been kind of impacted by him or as a leader or just his influence on you?

Kristin Allender (19:37.491)
Absolutely.

Kristin Allender (19:42.654)
Mm.

Kristin Allender (19:55.541)
You know, over the years, gosh, there’s so much. I would say Brian and I were both visionaries. And so you put the two of us alone on a call or in a room together. And it was like we could break through any problem. We could make whatever we had decided on ten times better because we just played off each other. And there was this like, what if, what if? And could we do this? And I like ideas that just truthfully have propelled America’s Kids Belong.

Forward in so many ways and move the needle in so many ways. And so the importance of making sure we’re always asking the the what if, like how could we do this better? And that innovative spirit that, you know, once if not always doing things the same way just because that’s how we’ve done them. And so I I know the importance of that now. And I think

so many of my calls with Brian and so many rooms that I can picture being in and whiteboarding sessions. Like we both we both loved a good whiteboard session. And a good, like, let’s figure this out. Let’s do something even bigger and better than we can imagine. I loved that about Brian and I and our our working together over the last ten years, ten plus years. and I think it’s so important. And I’ll f I have some I have some other whiteboarding partners, but I don’t know if ever anybody’ll ever be

Travis (20:56.589)
Ha ha.

Travis (21:15.436)
No one’ll be

Kristin Allender (21:16.244)
At the level of wisdom and yeah. Visionary like Brian.

Travis (21:19.713)
Well I love that example. because actually there was a quote I I actually I have this written down as well that I I forgot about. Brian did have a way of seeing people and really seeing other people’s perspectives. I mean, there are some leaders that are so just th this is my way or whatever. I want to say the gift of Brian, to what you’re saying to your point is like

There’s more seats on this bus, and you know, there’s more perspectives that we can gain from and learn. And he said one time, let’s use every video, every app connection, every conversation to remind people they are seen, loved, and valued.

Kristin Allender (22:08.286)
Mm.

Travis (22:09.025)
Yeah. So yep. So well Yeah. Well if you’re listening, Brian, thanks for all your nah screw it, we’re not gonna say that.

Kristin Allender (22:10.762)
Yep, that’s right. Mm. Well, we will miss him terribly.

Travis (22:26.391)
We’ll edit that out. okay. So

Okay, so it’s been a big week on the ground. for you, you’ve had some big meetings and things like that. So Foster Friendly has had a big week. Tell us kind of about what’s been going on with Foster Friendly the initiative.

Kristin Allender (22:44.082)
Yeah, so one of our states, Tennessee, Foster Friendly, was just awarded an innovation award from the governor’s office of community and faith-based initiatives. So there was a press conference held because the state of Tennessee reached 1,000 businesses that are actively foster friendly right now. I think the number currently is a thousand fifty-three, is what it’s at. But the governor took time to sit and mark the moment.

Travis (23:02.165)
Wow.

Kristin Allender (23:12.816)
And celebrate that the business community of Tennessee had been activated and really challenge, you know, let’s double that number, let’s triple that number. We’ve got so many businesses across the state that we would love to see on the app and of and truly across any of our states that we’re working in. and highlighting some of the ways that businesses had had done such a beautiful job of that. We got to honor some of our foster friendly business partners there. We had a foster parent speak about the significance of what that meant to him and really

Hearing that impact of this is so much more than a discount. You know, this is the difference between going out to eat or his wife having to figure out dinner that night again and you know, now you’ve got six kids at the table instead of two. And the we had a gymnastics place there and got to honor the fact that they say, you know what, there’s when a child’s entering foster care, some of the bio kids or other kids in that home might be

Travis (23:53.516)
Right.

Kristin Allender (24:08.87)
involved in extracurriculars already. And so instead of just being dragged to gymnastics or baseball or whatnot, the gymnastics play saying, Harry, no, you get to do gymnastics too for however long you’re here. We’ll get you signed up. We’ll get you in. You’re not just gonna sit on the sidelines and you know be dragged to this. So honoring some of those businesses, hearing from the foster parent, it was so great. timing though of the press conference, not ideal. We

Travis (24:34.441)
Yes, yes. And why why was that?

Kristin Allender (24:39.316)
We found out about an hour before when we were driving to the Capitol to, you know, do this big press conference that we’d been planning for a while, that Dolly Parton passed away. I mean, devastate we’re all like, okay, don’t like gotta gotta not cry too hard right now. It was so sad. And Dolly, I mean, obviously, I mean she’s an icon, but in Tennessee, whoo. And so I sat down next to the governor and I was like, How are you? And he’s like, It’s been a day. Like, I know, I’m so sorry.

Travis (24:52.244)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Travis (25:01.045)
Yeah.

Travis (25:06.966)
Wow.

Kristin Allender (25:08.808)
I’m so sorry. We had a bunch of we had a bunch of press that was supposed to come and some news stories that were gonna run and for obvious reasons not no one cared about foster friendly that night. my goodness. but the governor was so kind and acknowledging the businesses there, acknowledging the foster parent was so beautiful and talking about how Dolly cared so much about vulnerable children. I mean, she had done some work for the

Travis (25:20.98)
Yeah, yeah.

Kristin Allender (25:36.353)
foster care initiative in Tennessee this last year and Dollywood was constantly foster friendly, giving tickets to foster families to bring the kids there. So heavy, heavy day in the midst of a celebratory press conference. not ideal timing, but we will we will still mark that moment and we will celebrate that a thousand businesses in that state are on board and hope to see many more in all of our states.

Travis (25:39.19)
cool.

Travis (25:45.421)
Amazing. Yeah.

Travis (26:01.953)
Yeah, because I was just gonna say, like when you think about the number of a thousand businesses in one state and continue to grow, I mean, that’s huge. And that’s I mean, the work of this movement and and like you said, that’s just Tennessee. So

Kristin Allender (26:10.592)
And it’s

Yeah. And ideally we need to reach more rural areas. And so we’re looking for chains, you know, that have the reach into those areas that are gonna hit foster families that aren’t near some of the more, you know, urban cities with more opportunities and options.

Travis (26:17.058)
Yeah.

Travis (26:28.811)
Well, before we kind of get to kind of the just close of the this episode, do you wanna just share a little bit about just the app? And for someone that just may have heard this for the first time and like, okay, FOSS friendly and what’s a FOSS friendly business and like there’s an app. I mean, just tell a little bit more of big picture.

Kristin Allender (26:42.507)
Yes.

Kristin Allender (26:46.332)
Yes. So I’ll talk well, I’ll tell you about the innovative award we got ’cause it kind of explains what happened. So years ago

Travis (26:51.427)
yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kristin Allender (26:57.014)
Pause. Sorry, editor. Did I talk about this on the next one? Did I tell the Dave Ramsey story? I think I did.

Travis (27:02.199)
Did you? I can look. I think you briefly mentioned

Kristin Allender (27:04.872)
Mm. I d don’t worry about it. I’ll I can’t remember. Okay. I talk about it all the time, so I’m like, did I say that? Okay, sorry, editor.

Travis (27:11.595)
Okay. It’s okay even if you did though.

Kristin Allender (27:16.17)
Okay.

Okay. Sorry.

Travis (27:21.517)
But here’s what we’ll do. I will I’ll make a note and I will go check if ’cause it it’ll all I’ll have to do is type in on that episode, Dave Ramsey. If it was not set at all, it won’t show up at all. And then we’ll know.

Kristin Allender (27:33.598)
Okay. All right.

I’ll try and segue so it could go either way in recording. Okay, okay.

Travis (27:39.659)
Okay, perfect.

Kristin Allender (27:43.428)
The app, yes. So years ago, we were we were at an eye belong project video shoot filming some kids and we had some volunteers there.

that had worked all day and they were so kind and they came up to some of our staff afterwards and they said, Look, we’re not necessarily gonna be foster parents, but we care a lot about this and we loved volunteering today. And we have coworkers who are foster families. You know, what else can we do? And so the response that we always give is like what what are you good at? What do you do? You know, let’s let’s figure out a way to get you involved. And they said, we’re just software engineers, like app coders. I was like

App coders, well that’s funny you should say that, because we had been starting to connect the dot between businesses and foster families, saying, Hey, there’s so many ways that you can be involved in businesses and serve these families. And we looked into building an app and it was more expensive than I

thought building an app would be. So that was kind of off the table. But we had this idea in our head and when they said that it was like that light bulb moment of I found your your something. So we talked about it. They got super excited and they went back to their employer, which was Ramsey Solutions, Dave Ramsey’s team. And they have a certain amount of ministry hours that they’re allowed to use and volunteer somewhere. So that’s how they were there with us that day. And so they had a whole team carve out a week.

And we met with them. Brian and I met with them many times and kind of built out what the foster friendly app would be and how to get resources and connection in the hands of foster parents at any time in in real time. So the foster friendly app was created in 2019, early 2020, and it rolled out in Tennessee. And we started seeing it was such an easy way to get businesses to say, look, foster parents are carrying this in their hands, and they would be able to show you a discount card. And

Travis (29:34.957)
Mm.

Kristin Allender (29:37.067)
connect those dots in ways that businesses had no idea that they played a role in serving foster families and painting the picture that it’s so much more than just a discount, but it’s a community saying, We’ve got you. It’s that extra layer of support saying, Hey, we see you. you know, we know that breakfast table two kids, dinner table six kids, and that’s gonna change your ability to go out to eat or the extracurriculars or, you know

Travis (29:50.998)
Yeah.

Kristin Allender (30:05.722)
a foster parent going to the gym to work out and the family membership only has a couple kids listed and suddenly that changes, you know? So really educating businesses on how could they get involved. I mean, I talk about this all the time. You’ll probably hear me say talk about foster only businesses a lot because it’s so exciting the stories that happen. I mean, I’ve got I’ve got stories for days. You’ll be hearing a lot of them that that activate that community in such a different way. And so if you are a foster parent in one of the states that we work in.

Travis (30:13.121)
Yeah.

Travis (30:21.228)
Yeah.

Travis (30:27.213)
Ha ha.

Travis (30:31.17)
Hmm.

Kristin Allender (30:35.304)
you can go to the app store, we can put it in our show notes as well, and download foster friendly. And you’ll be asked to input your caseworker, a little bit about you, and suddenly have access to community support in your area, businesses, resource closets, events that are coming up, foster parent night out activities, and a whole slew of churches who’ve said, We see you, we’ve got you, we’re either trauma trained, we’ve got support groups, we’re talking about this regularly.

Travis (30:37.965)
Mm-hmm.

Kristin Allender (31:04.97)
So it’s become this incredible resource that outgrew Tennessee. We realized quickly that it was working and we wanted other states to utilize it. And so that was the exciting week when the governor recognized the innovation that happened, you know, right there in Tennessee that now serves, I believe, currently close to 24,000 foster parents. Yeah. Yeah. And 11, 11 of our states. Yeah.

Travis (31:05.037)
Mm.

Travis (31:24.683)
Wow. Across the country.

Travis (31:29.877)
Okay. Very cool. It’s awesome to have you kinda go back and explain the setup and how this all came to be. I was gonna ask you, too, if you’re not currently in a state that we have the app, which you can f see on there, there are some national offers, is that true? So like even for people that

Kristin Allender (31:40.066)
Kristin Allender (31:46.685)
Yeah, so the the tricky part is we we need you to upload your discount card to make sure that you’re a legitimate foster parent. We do have some national offers and some online offers and we’re looking to expand. we’re we’re talking to so many other states and small communities. and there’s a lot that goes into that. So we actually have a waiting list of foster friendly communities that we’d like to come to to get more local community resources on the app in that area.

Travis (31:54.295)
Mm-hmm.

Travis (32:20.673)
You wanna bring it home? You’re good.

Kristin Allender (32:21.887)
sorry, I’m sorry. Editor, take it out.

So we have a lot of other exciting things coming up over the next several weeks and months. We’ve got a four-part series on aging out. So we talked to several adults who share their perspectives. It’s been interesting to hear some common themes that came out of some of those conversations. and just really those inspiring moments of that we need to hear. You know, in foster care, you talk a lot about the hard and the statistics and

really just valuing the perspective of youth who lived through foster care and are now adults and how they look back on that experience, that time, the adults that shaped them in those years and what made a difference. November is National Adoption Awareness Month. So we will have a lot of exciting things coming up, both resources for you, some great conversations, talking to some families who have adopted through some of our I Belong project videos and what that’s looked like.

and we’re we’re gonna make sure to share a link of Brian’s book called Go Upstream, Diving into Foster Care to Hear Heal the Ten Social Wounds. Yeah, lots of exciting stuff. And I am so honored to be joining you all in this podcast. So can’t wait for many more conversations.

Travis (33:41.1)
Yeah.

Travis (33:46.711)
Yeah. It’s great having you aboard and yeah, looking forward to some of these conversations as well coming up.

Kristin Allender (33:53.192)
Awesome.