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Now he takes over an
agency with an urgent immediate mission – to give away a
bunch of money before the year ends.
Pathway has a
federally-funded Home Relief Program that is designed to
provide “rental, mortgage and utility assistance” says
Black. The funds must be dispersed before the end of the
year and given that the COVID-19 federal funds have yet to
be renewed, on December 26, the day after Christmas, a lot
of folks can get evicted, he adds.
The State of Ohio acquired
the relief grant funds early in the 2020, says Black, but
Pathway didn’t receive its share until November. “We are
scrambling to get the money out,” he says. “I’m not of a
mind to send the money back, we are doing everything we
possibly can to get the money to those folks who need it.”
There are several other
Pathway programs that Black has been fortunate enough to
inherit, such as the Heat Program and the Emergency
Assistance Program, but he counts himself especially blessed
to be working with such a committed, established staff.
“I want to recognize the
hardworking and talented employees we have here,” he says.
“They have been such a great help to me walking in. In
particular, he points to Tamika Rushing, director of
Employment and Career Services, and Claudia
Rodriguez-Salazar, director of Emergency Assistance and
Empowerment Services. Both have been with the agency for
about two dozen years.
Also of note is Avis
Files, who ran the extraordinarily successful Brothers
United Program over the past five years, a program that
connected fathers in previously difficult situations with
their children and assisted them in bringing order to
otherwise chaotic lives. Pathway is trying to develop
another grant in order to renew the program.
Black, however, also has
his vision set on the future for the agency and the clients
it serves. The agency’s mission now is to help “move people
from poverty to self-sufficiency” but Black, with his
extensive background in finance, government and business
ownership, wants to take that mission a step further.
“Helping to move people from poverty to self-sufficiency to
prosperity,” he says, “through entrepreneurship.”
He will be adding another
track in the future to focus on business development and
growth – to develop and maintain entrepreneurial skills in
the agency’s clients who feel that such a path makes sense
for them.
To that end, Black and
Pathway will work collaboratively with other groups, such as
ASSETS Toledo and JumpStart. “I see we are going to have
more collaborations with other entities – there is no need
to recreate the wheel when wheel already exists,” says
Black. He sees such partnerships as especially critical
during a time in which “public funding will continue to
decline.”
Black also envisions
growing Pathway itself, as he has expressed to board
members. That plan entails growth in budget, in numbers of
staff and in the impact the agency will have, particularly
the impact.
After all, “it’s all about
helping people move from poverty to self-sufficiency to
prosperity!”
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