Why Human Connection Matters: Trenna Passalacqua, CEO of Blueprints, on Technology & Community Action

0:00Hello everyone and welcome to the Fortell podcast. I'm Rob Symes and today I'm joined by a very special person and I think it's interesting because Trenna you've been at your agency for over 40 years is that right? That's correct. Yeah so could you just tell people just a little bit about you a little bit about Blueprints and just sort of just explain your journey because we'd love to just love to start how you started in community action. Yeah sure I appreciate the question Rob and I really certainly appreciate this opportunity to share a little bit about myself and the organization. So first off I think it's probably important to really lay the foundation and then I grew up in Greene County which is in one of the more poor communities. I think at an early age that taught me what struggle really looks like close and personal. When you grow up in a poor community I don't think you ever forget what that looks like, what that feels like and what

1:04that tastes like. So at a very early age it really broadened my awareness and my perspectives around what it takes to really have empathy and really have those survival skills when you are living in a situation that oftentimes doesn't look like there's any light at the end of the tunnel. So growing up in Green County a more rural area of Green County had had its limitations for sure and I did come in contact with a caseworker in community action the organization that I now work for and it wasn't because my family was seeking services it was just that by happenstance that I happened to encounter this this caseworker in my early 20s and I was just so taken by her her empathy and compassion for others and what her role was within community action at the time that it really it really triggered something in me that I didn't think that those kind of roles kind of existed out there that you could actually help human your your fellow human in ways that

2:16to help them succeed and get over barriers such. So it was at that point and I had had I went to school to become a paralegal I actually wanted to become you know ultimately a judge that was really my life's plan but I kind of shifted gears and I looked into this community action thing I thought wow you're so impactful to me and what you do has so much meaning and because of the way I grew up in some of the struggles that my own family had it just really resonated with me so there was an opening actually in human resources at the time and because of my my background and my my education I entered the door of human resources at community action and and that's really quite frankly where I spent the majority of my career here is in employment law employment relations obviously being able to interact and intertwine with direct services throughout that tenure allowed me to really gain the necessary perspectives and understanding of all the

3:20services that that community action represents but it gave me that community engagement piece that really really allowed me to figure out that this is really where I have a law. I had the human resources experience and ability to to do that role while also bringing that really I think personal experience growing up in an environment where challenges were plenty and the odds were more often than not against us and just really watching my own family kind of persevere and come through those things really gave me that that feeling like I'm where I'm supposed to be so I think shifting from chief human resource officer again where I spent most of my tenure here to this chief executive officer the CEO role really wasn't a huge transition for me because I do feel like I've spent much of my life studying the human element of how one kind of thinks and behaves so I was really that that was a transferable skill for me to really then take the reins and

4:38lead this organization in a way that never lost sight of where I came from and it allows me to really then put forth my ability to make sure that we're we're really never losing sight of those basic needs that everyone still really needs which is relationship and compassion and persistence so all of those things that that I kind of lived by and continue to live by leads me you know forward in my CEO role so that's that's pretty much a very quick kind of snapshot of my journey thus far sure but just go back for a moment because I think what you mentioned is really interesting when you said you don't remember how it feels or smells or you know that kind of visceral experience and I think it's quite easy to get bogged down in some of the bureaucracy frankly of you know trying to help people in community action because there are so many forms and there's funding and but tell me what was it like growing up what when you talk about that what

5:42was it like and how does that help you you know with with your job today right which is you know I've been to the office it's a pretty big office you've got a bunch of people working for you tell me about that experience growing up yeah well it's tough it's there's just no way around it it you grow up fast actually when you grow up in poverty and when you both parents worked I know both my parents did work but we were the working poor and it allows you to to really again hone those survival skills so that you make every dollar count you stretch that dollar so you know being able to really look back and and experience moving from you know home to home and and realizing that my mother had to get yet another job that that that was among one that she already had and watching parents really juggle the budget you know give me and gives me that holistic capability of really reminding folks when we on board and when we look at branching into new

6:53areas of service development that we're never losing sight of meeting people where they are and and always wanting to make sure that we are taking in their journey as well I have always been relatable I've always had that ability to be relatable I think that that has allowed me through some of these dark tunnels that I've had to kind of manage throughout my life it did give me that ability to connect with people I think that I've been successful both on the HR side of the house and I'd like to think that I've had some successes thus far even in my my current role and I think it's because of my authentic ability to connect because I've been there right and I can I can relate to we need to put the paperwork aside for this moment because right now we need to talk about probably things that are written down and I think that's really what drew me to to the field it's kept me here and I think that as long as I'm here as long as I'm part of the community action

8:09movement I think it's important that we never lose sight of the basics that all people deserve to have revisited and and we don't put you know all of the other things forward before we establish that really essential relationship yeah no I agree and talk to me a bit about how let's say green county or Washington you know how is how have the lives changed from let's say when you were growing up and what are the other challenges different or and if they're not how are they the same what has changed since you you know even started at Blue Prince or were a child in those areas yeah clearly particularly in Green County I mean the economy has shifted I mean we were a coal mining county for sure my grandfather and my father my brothers clearly that has definitely shifted manufacturing shifted my mother work in a shirt factory actually became a labor leader within that manufacturing environment so you know those were just really the engine in green

9:22and most could survive with one parent working in large part of it in the coal industry and either manufacturing my mother climbed the ladder in that environment as well so again we had that two-family income but that wasn't always the case in our situation so I think for certain coal mining stewards within Green County but on a much I think lower scale and and the population has been impacted with the decline in the coal mining and the manufacturing so I think the population for Green County has shifted where many of the younger folks have moved out growing up there in the 80 excuse me in the 60s and then being part of the employment setting in the 80s you know you could walk down the street and just always see families and recognize the community so I think that with you know so much of that industry leaving there's not a lot keeping our younger folks there I would say that the the other would be clearly housing affordability has changed I just don't

10:36think the housing market is clearly what it once was you didn't see people moving a lot you saw even the one income household being able to maintain and stabilize their housing that's just not the case I mean you see that you know or so than ever now from our from our community action ones I would also have to say that you know the opioid substance abuse I think it existed back in the 80s but nothing like it has in the in the 2000s and so forth so I think that has really created you know the homelessness issue that that I definitely didn't see growing up in Green County and for the most part Washington County so that landscape has all really changed and and prevention treatment and recovery and which is the whole family reunification aspects of addiction is really is really drawing on community resources and I just really didn't I didn't have that exposure you know way back then so that's definitely changed I think the other thing is probably the

11:53work-life balance I mean I wasn't raised in that kind of environment you clearly did not take your personal issues to to work back to your initial childhood question you know all the darkness and all the issues growing up in poverty stayed at home you definitely it was a silent kind of misery that that you kind of lived in and slept with so now it's you take it all to work right and you let your employer for the most part figure out if you're a candidate for FMLA or you might need some other short-term leave-of-action situation but that clearly was not the case you know when I was growing up it didn't matter what was going on in your home it stays in the household and if it did get out you you were in trouble for it so I think that you know there's some dignity there too that goes along with that you know I think my parents are very prideful and and we didn't have a whole lot but they they wanted their issues and our issues to remain private and I can respect

13:01that looking back probably didn't look at it quite like that growing up but I certainly relate to that now so work-life balance is really a different one for me I've been around a long time and I'm still probably the last one leaving and the first one to arrive still and so that work ethic was ingrained in me to a degree and I just don't understand how that I understand that I mean I wouldn't have spent this many years in HR without understanding it but it was it's clearly a difference no yeah generationally as well right exactly yeah exactly that's probably out of other things I mean there's probably a number of things I know we just have a certain amount of time technology clearly plays a part that was just really not something that you know was really the job and it forced way back when even to this day Green County has certain you know areas that brought the end you know it's still not there quite there so I think that that's still barrier for our Green County more rural

14:10areas Washington County definitely has a difference there but technology clearly is what's is driving you know all of the connectivity and it is concerning particularly with our Green County population it creates us to really strategize around resources and how do we breach those folks that that really don't have that connectivity when it comes to transportation and health care and just just accessing general care remains an issue and an issue way back when people were helping one another more and I think that it became more resourceful in a way that I think was more meaningful sure and you you mentioned so many things I find interesting there right so the first thing is when I was driving around Pennsylvania on my monster trip when I saw you you know I saw a bunch of different stuff and I was talking to obviously all the community action people and there was this definite sense I think especially in Pennsylvania with

15:13communities being followed out so economically hollowed out in the sense of you know maybe it was mining maybe it was you know lumber these communities used to be rich and now you know are not and so trying and we have that in the UK as well in lots of coal mining towns where you know essentially over a 40-year period that the whole the whole sort of ecosystem struggled right and I went to university right right around the corner from one of them and went to talk to a bunch of the people so so it's something I understand I think that the hard part is is you know how do you rehabilitate a county or a culture even to change for a workforce that wasn't needed 20 years ago and now you know there's a question of what it is today and so the question I've got for you I suppose as you see you know very young literally toddlers right the head start you know they're very young but all the way through

16:03to older people so how do you look at the family itself and what can you do at that sort of family level because I because when we met in your office I thought it was really interesting the way you thought about sort of the whole almost ecosystem of a family not just as you know I'm going to help this child with their head start program yeah and I that's a that's a really good question and I I would like to think that as treaty action as a whole that we're we're really taking this in and thinking logically about it because it I rarely believe that a parent or individual comes in who has kind of like that service category request in their mind right so they're not really coming in saying I need housing services I need childcare services and I need you know let's say a job and they're not breaking them into service categories and I think that what you're asking me is you know how do we how do we bring in the whole family approach so that

17:05we really are you know shifting the focus from crisis management to prevention and and I think that we're doing it in a way and I can't really speak to way back when but I do think we do it in a way so that the approach is really looking at the whole family and really then helping the family prioritize you know their crisis and and ensuring that the holistic approach is really going to you know have a greater outcome for stability than just that one time kind of quick fix I need to get my child enrolled in head start we see it every day Rob yes a parent comes forward they enrolled their child but then in the in the first two weeks there's transportation issues they came to school there's not a safety net for when the child's sick so mom has to stay home child stays home maybe the child isn't so sick to come to school but another sibling is sick I'm not going to waste the gas money to go here and then drop them off at head start we don't run the transportation

18:15program so transportation is always top of mind for me looking at what the barriers are number one typically transportation particularly in my green county area because it's so rural so I think that the whole list that the whole family approach really gives us the ability to take in the whole family condition so that we can kind of help you decide you know just where do we need to put your mental energy and your mental you know capability to work here so that it really ends up being a preventative process down the road as opposed to just band-aids that are falling off because they're cheap and they don't last so you know that that would probably be a reason for why it's so important these are younger families they don't they're busy they really are more and more of our participants are working they're working one or two jobs they're trying to juggle all of this I think again taking in the full spectrum of what's going on under this

19:27roof kind of approach so that we can lay out some of the positives you know when you're coming in crisis you don't have any positives happening but really when you calm down and you've got somebody who can emotionally deescalate and calm you down and give them three things that they really need to be positive about I think that's a moment that we can really start to continue to build that trust in relationship around well talk more about that then and actually from the lens of you know talent right because you came from an HR background a lot of that's about how do I track people how do I get them to learn how do I make them great in my organization so you know if they're sitting down with a family what is well firstly how do you do that because that's a big question in and of itself and then what does great case management look like for example well you know when when I when I get in front of folks I always try to tell them that you know a little vulnerability goes a

20:27long way and even with your stiff up stiff up a lip that you were talking about earlier that's well English people would call it anyway yes yes and I I really think that much of my success has been that little bit of vulnerability that I eke out and you know I can come in in my cantailor suit or whatever but when they realize that I get it and let me tell you a little bit about myself and let me tell you a little bit about my struggles let me tell you a little bit about how I overcame some things that people would say wow can't believe that so I think a little bit of vulnerability goes a long way and I think for good human service workers they need to get a little vulnerable because nobody wants to feel like they're being judged or they're being processed they just don't and judgment can start to feel like processing and at that I'd like to think um realize the difference here at Community Action so you know getting getting vulnerable and and really

21:29having even if it's a small outcome that first encounter because people want to feel safe they want to feel safe they want to feel secure and they want to feel but they have been heard so can you find that one thing that you can give back before you leave that they feel like they want to come back for that next thing and I think that's really what's missing with some of the interactions that that occur today we're getting a lot of younger inexperienced folks doing the work and I'm not saying you had you had to come from poverty and you had to experience being poor or have you know a certain amount of trauma or drama in your life to be successful in human services not at all I've seen people crash and burn that have those backgrounds so it's a finessing if you will of both Anne and if you've got that then you know you're going to have people remember you forever as that person that got me maybe not over the finish line but you got me you know in that right

22:36direction is what I like to say because you know if you're solving the problem for somebody then they're never going to develop the muscle to do it on their own so I never I'm never really impressed with somebody who said well I got him over the finish line well I don't know really what that means but I don't know what's going to happen to them after they get over the finish line so it's really giving those small you know wins for folks so that they want to come back they realize you're in their corner they realize that you're persistent and that you're persistent for a reason because you've been vulnerable no I hear that I hear that and one of the things you said that I found particularly interesting and we think about a lot is judgment right because we're in that you know we look at things in a technology lens so we're trying to say okay what are the things that are frankly repetitive that a technology can help with and what do you want to observe that is human dignity

23:34face-to-face conversation where you're adding value right how do you think about technology in your organization you know I we just simply can't live without it I think it's got its place it has you know it serves I think it should serve some very specific purposes but it cannot it cannot replace the empathy and the trust factors that need to be developed if in fact you really want to garner a real relationship with someone so I think that we need to be mindful of how we're using it and why we're using it and at what juncture and at what point we're using it it should never I'll be honest when when I sit down with anybody and they open up their laptop and I'm talking and they're taking notes or they're doing whatever I'm sorry and maybe it is old school maybe I just threw myself back to the the early 80s but I just I don't feel heard I don't feel respected I feel processed so I think it has its place but we need to be mindful of when that is and that it's not

24:57it's not interrupting that almighty relationship point where the the trust factors are are still being built and because once that's done then the laptop can open up in all kinds of ways but I fear it's it's happening too soon and I think that we could lose some leverage there by having it kind of enter the scene before before we've really got that level of engagement with the client I think that technology and we can definitely get better at it too I think there's efficiency aspects of of our work that we need to really probably depend more on technology we were just talking about AI the other day I was with the CEO gathering of CAP directors and so I was interested to hear more about some of that so I think that there are definitely areas in which we can divert and reposition our human resources to really get stronger in that level of personal engagement while you know technology is doing their magic over here so I I think it's both

26:15and it's just timing it's it's it's it's probably timing for me yeah but I thought what you said was interesting there because so the way we're using it at the moment and it's just one sort of a use case right is you know this sort of more like a front of house where it's trying to get you to the thing that you need to get too fast and it's always on it's in lots of languages so we think that's interesting but then you do have to have the rapport piece alcohol report the trust building the human connection bit so and and it's kind of like where do you put all this so you know that's that's the question is do you need to build a relationship first and then you can become a fission or do you want some efficiency and then you build you know it's we we find that an interesting debate just just on its own it probably brings me on to my probably last question which is you know if you if you project out five years what would you like what would you like to be the same

27:09about producing what would you have like to have changed five years from now I think that what I would like to realize is that some prince was able to strengthen and deepen the community to make you know whatever we're doing at that point in time that a full community ownership so that everyone realizes that success really takes you know others outside of blueprints and it really creates that agent of change so I'd like to see us really deepen our community involvement to the extent that we're bringing you know really important stakeholders into into the into the huddle you know back to my childhood growing up it can be lonely and in in ways when you are struggling and you know the sectors are so divided and I think that you know blueprints community action we don't want to be the problem solver of poverty we don't we shouldn't own these giant you know issues that we frankly are not ours to solve the housing affordability transportation I mean we

28:32we need to take our appropriate bites at that apple and right I mean we we have a place there but let's put it in its proper perspective so really gaining and garnering that that ownership community wide that you know all these challenges and they're going to morph in different ways that they truly are the community to own and I guess lastly would be that you know folks can attribute whatever life change they've made to something that their head start teacher taught them or something that blueprints you know made available to them but which really you know paved the way to a significant or not even doesn't even have to be a significant change but it made a positive change in their life and I think for me that will be that will be something that I hope to hear about in years to come but overall self-sufficiency I think will remain the key thing that people become continue to to become self-sufficient through the work of of the community action at work

29:43and I say well if you've got to I just want to ask you one more question it's more of a personal question which is if you were going to give advice for the next generation of people who are sitting in your shoes but they're sort of 40 years you know they're going to come into the action and they're going to what would you what would your advice be for the young person who's you know comes from Green County and wants to make a career what's possible I'm living proof of it I've always been curious I think curiosity is isn't something that people talk about I've always been curious about how the other half lives I've always been curious about how others a deemed success and success doesn't have to be the title of CEO I'm I've been very grateful and certainly appreciate the doors that have been open for me but I've worked hard and it takes true grit and perseverance and all those other fun words that we all use but down deep inside

30:46it takes purpose and it takes desire and it takes curiosity so if you've got those working for you and I don't really care what upbringing you came from mine wasn't all that bad but I certainly had you know enough exposure it makes me understand when somebody walks through that my door whether it's an employee or not spend 40 years working through you know challenges with the workforce again that really situates me in a way that I can really have that full estate plans that that you really take the necessary time to listen we're also hurried right now that listening active listening I should say isn't isn't happening as as greatly as I think it could be and if we just put forward some active listening I think that could help solve a lot of problems Trenna thank you so much for coming on the podcast very welcome and I wish you well and enjoy your stay there and good luck to you I'm just