February 21, 2025 • 30 mins
TURKIA DISCUSSES HOW BEYOND BASICS WORKS IN SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO ENSURE THAT ALL KIDS REACH THEIR APPROPRIATE READING LEVEL AND HOW READING IS FUNDEMENTAL TO AN INDIVIDUAL'S LONG TERM SUCCESS.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Light Up the D, a focus on what's
happening in our community from the people who make it happen.
Here's your host, iHeartMedia Detroit Market President Colleen Grant.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning and welcome to Light Up the D. I'm
your host, Colleen Grant. Thank you for joining me today.
I appreciate it. I'm excited to have our guests here.
It's Turkia Awata Mullin. She's the chief Strategy Officer at
Beyond Basics, and she plays a pivotal role in the
nonprofits mission to transform children's lives through literacy. Her expansive
(00:33):
twenty five plus year career traverses both the private and
public sectors, underpinned by her credentials as an economic developer,
licensed attorney, real estate associate broker, and an executive certified
leader in Detroit. Discussing how Beyond Basics addresses literacy needs
for Detroit's youth, please join me and welcome being Turkia
(00:53):
Awata Mullin. Thank you so much for being with us today. Turkia,
thank you, thank you for having me. Why don't we
just give everybody an idea of what Beyond Basics is
in your core mission?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Beyond Basics is a literacy nonprofit here and started out
in Metro Detroit. We just celebrated our twenty fifth year
anniversary last year.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Congratulations, thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
And we get kids reading and now we are statewide.
We serve thousands of students annually. We are in the
school applying the gold Star standard to reading proficiency.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Okay, and your mission is to do what.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
To get kids reading?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
So we were canned in glove with the schools and
the administration, the teachers to identify kids, triash them with
a diagnostic assessment, and then we team them one on
one an hour day, five days a week in the
school during the school day. We have a guiding principle
of going where kids are already showing up. It's really transformation.
(01:54):
We get kids reading. We apply a phonics based curriculum
that's really designed after the Orton Gillingham methodology. It works
and we see a grade level movement in as early
as six weeks.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
At what age is a child usually identified as needing
some literacy help?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Between pre K or you know, when a child's born
and parents are reading to them hopefully, but up until
third grade you are learning to read, how to read
beyond third grade eighty five percent of what you learn.
You need to know how to read. If you don't
know how to read, if you don't learn how to read,
then you're learning is immediately stifled and it just gets worse.
(02:38):
Kids that don't read in fourth grade, are not proficient
in fourth grade, are four times more likely to drop
out of school. You need to get reading, and unfortunately,
in Michigan, our reading scores are the worst that they've
been in thirty years.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Really, yes, And in fact, the NAPE is a National
Assessment of Educational Progress. It's a standardized test that's administered
nationally every couple of years. And in twenty twenty four,
the NAATE reading scores just came out for twenty twenty four,
we are no better off. We are forty first, forty
(03:16):
first out of fifty states. In terms of proficiency. We're
over seventy percent of the kids testing eighth graders. So
think about this, eighth graders behind in reading. And we're
not talking a couple months behind in reading. We're talking
not testing proficient at grade level. Seventy percent of our
students are behind in reading in the state of Michigan,
(03:41):
and the best state, Massachusetts, the best state can attest
that only forty percent of their kids are proficient. So
it's not like there's yow, that's a nationwide, nationwide epidemic.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Well, and like you said, I mean reading. If you
don't learn to read, it's it becomes the fast foundation
of everything going forward. So the further you get behind.
You were mentioning eighth graders once they get to eighth grade,
think of how far they are behind, not only in literacy,
but all the things that get stacked upon reading. Can
you speak to that?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Sure? And it is Collen. It is foundational. It's fundamental
for your success, both professionally and personally, because when a
child does not learn how to read, they convince themselves
that they are not able or not capable, and that
they are less than. And when you turn that light
on of reading, it is transformational. It's transformational for their psychology,
(04:37):
for their self esteem, their self confidence, and teachers, parents, principles,
the kids themselves will just it gives me goosebumps daily.
I get goosebumps daily at this job. It is just
so gratifying. And I have actually a personal story. One
of my relatives, he was a rising seventh grader, thirteen
year old boy. Very smart. This is not about being
(04:58):
smart or not smart. Very smart boy just had a
different way of learning things, grasping things. Birmingham schools had
a lot of oversight and reading, tutoring and coaching. Not
much was effective. So we enrolled him. We tested him
and he tested in at a four point five grade
reading level. He was a rising seventh grader.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
And so he came in daily all summer last summer
and when he tested out, he tested at an eight
point five grade reading level.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
And when I called this boy and told him his results,
he just started screaming and jumping for joy. You would
have thought he won Super Bowl tickets. And then he
called his parents and he was crying his eyes out.
So it was pretty awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
This is not an anomaly. This is what we see.
We see this in every area, whether it's K through twelve,
and we just recently expanded into the juvenile sector. We
have all kinds of great stories of about that as well.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
I mean we were just talking and everything was all
going along, calm, and then you start talking about what
you're doing and the difference you're making and literally your passion.
Your face lights up, you can you could feel it
in your heart and your voice. Just how very much
you love what you do. How do you end up
getting beyond basics?
Speaker 3 (06:19):
You know? Pamela Good she's a force. She's this petite woman,
little petite woman, but she has a force. I mean,
in the past probably twelve thirteen years, she's raised over
thirty million dollars in private funding. People are looking for
a credible, viable, effective way to touch kids, and she's
been on the front lines. She started this, co founded
(06:41):
this with a lady, Missus Waggerson, and they started this
as a colt drive, a bunch of suburban women bringing
down Cootes the Therkal Elementary and then started you know,
reading bodies and realized that these kids weren't reading. And
she's like, I have to do more, I have to
do more. And she just was very persistent. Took her
(07:01):
six years to develop the secret sauce. She was not
married to any specific remedy or recipe or there was
no politics. It was all about getting the kids reading,
learning to read. And she would always test them in
day one, try whatever, and test them out. And then
she really realized this curriculum and this methodology, which we
(07:22):
referred to it as the gold Star standard to reading proficiency.
And that's the diagnostic assessment, the phonics based curriculum, and
then the one on one daily with the live tutor.
We always have a live tutor and it's that same
tutor with that student, whether it's in person or it's virtual,
(07:44):
and it's extremely effective. And that's really the secret sauce.
So this started out twenty five years ago. So I
met Pam through mutual friends and then I was actually
consulting with her. I got another job and then I
reconnected with her because I'm over fifties, so I started
thinking about gratification and finding meaning in your in your
(08:04):
life and being fulfilled. And so when I reconnected with Pam,
she said, I'd love for you to come on full time.
And I honestly I said, well, Pam, let's just take
this one step at a time. And I honestly went
and researched this and I thought, gosh, you know who's
in the space. And I really researched for weeks nationally
(08:25):
internationally because I didn't want to align myself with somebody
if I knew there were other much better programs. The
efficacy of the Beyond Basics approach is I've not seen
a more effective program where within six weeks you have
a couple of grade level movement. It's just crazy.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
That's that's an amazing story, and I'm so happy for
you that you found something that one that's so effective
and one other thing that gives you so much meaning
as well. How do you think we got to this
point where, like, does Beyond Basics have an understanding that
you can share of how we got to this point
where we have a grade reading level that you had said,
we're forty first out of fifty states, and then you
(09:07):
said the best state is at forty percent illiteracy, right?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Is that proficiency proficient? That's number one in the country.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
The opposite of what I said, how did we get
how did we get to this place?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Well, decades ago, there was a Lucy Conkins. It was
a whole language approach was implemented, came out of Columbia University.
There's actually a lawsuit by a bunch of parents in
Massachusetts suing the publisher and also suing Lucy Conkins. But
they came it was an approach to teaching when when
I learned. I learned through phonics based and that's really
(09:44):
so that curriculum changed to a whole language approach, and
whole language works. If the students already understands how to read,
you have to learn how to read that building block
that fenomic awareness, and so that's really so. Now what
we've s seen in the past probably five years, is
that over forty states have passed laws requiring instruction curriculum
(10:09):
being given based on the science of reading. And that's
really phonics based curriculum. This is what Pam's Pam realized
many years ago, is what works. We're moving in that direction,
but you have so many we have hundreds of thousands
of students. Literally, we are graduating sixty three percent of
(10:30):
twelfth graders are behind in reading. So when we graduate
these kids and they have an average of seventh grade
reading level, they can't get jobs, they want to go
to college. Thirty seven percent of them drop out their
first year of school, right, So, I mean it is
compounding and it's overwhelming. I think most people the reaction
(10:50):
is it's overwhelming, and I think when parents hear these statistics,
and a lot of parents started seeing during COVID when
they would see their students. They're like, my son's not learning,
my daughter, you know, they're behind. It's been a compounding
problem for many years. And if you look at the
school system and teachers are overwhelmed. Right, So we're a
(11:12):
turnkey solution. We come in, we work hand in hand
with the teachers as a resource to really triagy's kids
and get them reading. The infrastructure in schools is not equipped,
so it assumes that after third grade a student is
capable of reading, so it doesn't account for fourth, fifth,
(11:34):
sixth grade. There are no reading there's no reading instruction
during those later years. So what happens is a kid
just falls behind. When they fall behind, they start acting out,
they disengage, and you know, for whatever reason, I used
to think, you know, if you're in eleventh grade and
you're articulate and we're having our conversation, I'm like, of
course this kid can read. And they're you know, a
(11:55):
six foot young man, and you get their test results
back and they're at a third grade reading level, and
you gives me goosebumps talking about it, but you are
utterly shocked that this person we are graduating this kid here,
it's eleventh grader at a third grade reading level and
they overcompensate with their conversational aspects of it. But do
(12:20):
you really think we're going to this person's not at
a function. To be functional in society, you have to
have a fourth grade level. And if you realize it,
it touches every aspect that holds back a person in
every aspect, personally, professionally, your prescription. You can't read your prescription.
I was at the airport and I'm waiting for my
(12:41):
kids to deeplane and a lady's like, sir, we have
to wait shoes and wheelchair and he's currentner Off, she goes,
we have to wait for my son. He can't read
and he'll never find baggage. Claim Like you handicap a
person in every aspect of their life and when they're
not reading.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Yeah, it's interesting the fallout of literacy for that individual.
But like speak to the fallout of the lack of illiteracy,
sorry to society in general. Like what does it ultimately
resultant for all of us?
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Well, if you look at social services and the budget
of social services needed, social services, homelessness is on the rise.
I'll give you a good example in the juvenile sector,
So the first time I started doing the research on
the juvenile because we've been in the K twelve space
pretty much the entire time. And first I read the
(13:33):
data that the typical juvenile eighty five percent of adjudicated juveniles,
is not reading it a fourth grade level. To function
in society, you have to read it a fourth grade level.
To be employable, you need at least a six to
seventh eighth grade level. So first thing I do is
I reach out to workforce development agencies, which are pretty amazing,
(13:54):
so many tremendous folks in this space, and I'm like, hey,
maybe if we connect the dots and we get these
kids a job, a purpose, meaning a structure, you know,
you get them back on because most of the adjudicated
juveniles are not bad kids. These are most of them
are non violent offenders. They've done We're all one bad
(14:15):
decision away from, you know, sure, being arrested. So they said, well,
we actually turn away a lot of kids. I'm like,
what do you mean you turn them away? They said,
because everything, all the training I get millions of dollars
in training dollars, I have all these companies looking for
workforce and for jobs. Yes, we have jobs, and we
(14:38):
have training dollars for jobs. But guess what eight point
nine grade reading level is a minimum reading level for
a person to be employable or trainable in all of
our programs. So there's this disconnect, a gap.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
It's a gap, right that job training actually needs to
be reading training too.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
It's absolutely, absolutely you have to bridge the gap. So
you have this segment of the population that's not employable
because they don't have even the military, you know, they
don't have the proper reading skills. And we're not talking
twelfth grade reading level. Let's get to a ninth grade
reading level. You open up a lot of horizons for
(15:18):
or an eighth grade reading level. From a vocational perspective,
et cetera.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
How do the numbers? How do they differ based on
the school district's budget. They're economics, all those kind of factors.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
You know, people would always think, oh, well, it's not
in my backyard. This is a marginalized community issue. In
the city of Birmingham where I live, Birmingham schools, twenty
seven percent of the kids are behind in reading. That's
a pretty big number. It's rampant. It's all over. It
really doesn't matter where you are in the socioeconomic now.
(15:54):
Obviously in marginalized communities it's worse right, And and one
of our biggest obstacles is attendance. And it's a catch
twenty two because when kids are if I'm in seventh
grade and I'm reading at a third grade reading level,
why would I want to go to school. I'm going
to fail everything, I'm going to be humiliated. Group therapy
(16:18):
doesn't work. We just spent billions of dollars post COVID
okay on all this literacy coaching and and group tutoring,
and look at we didn't move the needle one bit.
And people have said, well, you know you do this
one on one, why can't you just team the kids
up so you save money? Well, think about your peer
(16:38):
do you want to do you go out and advertise
that you you can't read? Of course not so we
you know, we're very sensitive to the humiliation factor, and
we want openness and we want kids to thrive, right,
to be open and thrive. And that's why that one
on one is so key.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
So tell us about the in school experience, like especially
you know, I remember I think for me it was
math that I got pulled out you know, for well,
I definitely was in a lower math class for sure,
and I remember feeling humilated that all my friends ended
up in this math class and here I was in
this not good math class.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
You know.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
I think that was fourth or fifth grade. And everybody
starts to become aware, you know, of what's going on
in those situations. So how does it work for these
kids who they're long past fourth grade and now you're
you know, they're identified, what happens in the school system
like as they get older.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Well, you raised an excellent point. The stigma associated and
we always say, Pam always says, don't believe the label
that kids are able. And a lot of our kids
are iep. So our curriculum was modeled after the dyslexia,
so dyslexia, all the learning differences, whether it's dyslexia, ADHD,
(17:56):
high functioning autism, you know, and a lot of people
dismiss them. Oh, well, those kids just are not They
have some issues and they just can't learn. And that's
don't believe the label. The kids are really able. And
I'm telling you, when you get those kids, the power
of getting a kid reading and even one Pam Hall
has all these tremendous stories of because she's been on
(18:19):
the front lines for so many years. But one time
we had a program where we the pearents. It was
focused on parents getting parents reading, and so the parents
would drop off their kids in elementary and then we
had a classroom set up at the school where they
would go and get tutor.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
That is a great idea.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Isn't that a great idea.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
That's a great idea because of the parents reading, you
know that it's going to affect the kids too.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Oh my gosh. It was transformational these parents, so many
of these parents were so two things. First, we opened
that window of opportunity for the parents, right and they
saw they started believing in themselves and again they self
team doesn't work just for kids, works for anybody. And
then they started appreciating and reading to their kids more
(19:07):
and pushing their kids because think about it, if you
weren't able to access the tremendous educational opportunities because you
never learned to read, so why would you have a
great appreciation. You would tell your kids this is it
didn't get me anywhere, so why you know, why should
you go to school? There's no appreciation for that? Right,
(19:28):
So getting kids parents reading is tremendous.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
I'm solving two problems at once.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yes, And you know, recently I read a statistic about
how of all the tremendous programs that are out there,
only ten percent of the population who needs it is
able to access it. And so what I started doing
is I started looking up access points, like how do
I access if i'd somebody I need to access these
(19:54):
different programs. There's millions of dollars in grants. It's like
a nightmare. I mean, I'm going to try, and I
had a hard time finding stuff, right, It's amazed. But
the first thing on all these sites is apply here, right,
so if you apply it, well, if I can't read,
I probably wouldn't be able to find that site. And
if I could find that site, how am I going
(20:15):
to apply because I can't read and write?
Speaker 2 (20:17):
That is a great point. Yeah, you can't really get
all the services available for you if you can if
you can't even read in the first place.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Yeah, in addition to being so intimidated by the whole process.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
You know, I'm going to circle back to you, Turkeia,
because you know, just listening to you speak and your research,
you have clearly a researcher and a studyer and finding
you know, the facts, just based on several things that
you've said, and I know that your title is chief
Strategy Officer, and you've talked a lot about like the
(20:49):
different things and the needs and how to fulfill that
fulfill them that you see that are gaps and so forth.
What is your role at me on basics.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
PAM good work seven days a week, twenty four steven
if I'm texting or late at night or so. Short
answer is to build out service lines to really tell
the story, to engage stakeholders. Government needs to fund this program.
PAM has been relent relentless in the private sector, so.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
There's no government funding that there is.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
We recently, a couple of years ago, we got some
government funding. We're hoping to be able to secure more
government funding just to continue to expand statewide. I'm and
I'm working and building out service lines both for college
bound and workforce and the workforce space and then in
the juvenile space in addition to doing twenty other things.
(21:39):
But there's a lot to be done in an organization
like this where we have you know, we have the schools.
We continue to expand in the schools, and then we
have the and then you've got to raise money, right,
and to raise money, you got to tell your story.
In the private sector, it's easy to raise funding from investors,
but in the non profit sector, people don't want to
(22:02):
fund the infrastructure. You know, we've grown one hundred and
seventy percent in the last eighteen twenty months. But you know,
to grow like that, you need infrastructure, you need it capabilities. Well,
that's not sexy and cool to people to fund. So
it's always there's just this big struggle constantly to try
(22:22):
to fund raise right. So I'm active in the fundraising.
So you do, you know, with any organization, you do
whatever it takes to get the job done. But big picture,
I'm building out these service lines and really engaging stakeholders
at the government level and the private sector donors, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
So speaking of government funding and that whole vein of
the conversation, is this a part is an issue? Is
this something everybody supports in one way or another, or.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
This is a bipartisan This is an everybody problem. And
you know, there's just so much talk about education. We
rise and follow as a ship on one ship. You know,
when we have we have. It's crazy to me how
we have. We spend a lot of money trying to
attract workforce from other venues. What about all the people
here right? You know, I just read a statistic that
(23:12):
was it was a Wayne State study that said, in
the city of Detroit, kids between the ages of seventeen
and twenty four. So think about this. What I think
of when I think of as an age seventeen to
twenty four, those are my kids ages, unlimited opportunity, unlittered potential.
The world's your oyster. Fifty percent unemployment of kids age
(23:36):
seventeen to twenty four in the city of Detroit. The
Great Recession was what thirty five thirty six percent, and
we have fifty percent unemployment. And if you trace it
all back, literacy is fundamental to that conversation.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
What are some of the differences between what your organization
does and other literacy organizations? You had said you did
a bit of research before you decided to join beyond basics,
what did you find or what is making the difference
for you?
Speaker 3 (24:04):
So distinguishing factors in my opinion, based on my research,
is we go where kids are showing up after school
programs are very difficult. You know, people have complicated lives,
they have responsibilities outside of school, transportation, all of that.
That one on one is fundamental, But starting with that
diagnostic assessment coming in and assuming everybody's at the same
(24:28):
level is fundamentally flawed. You have to give people a
diagnostic because kids are different learners. And then you have
to have that one on one with that curriculum, that
phonics based curriculum, economic awareness, structured literacy program. So there
are fundamental components. Again, it's part of the gold Star
(24:50):
standard to reading proficiency that we actually just trademark, but
that is and there's no pride authorship. Anybody can use
this approach. We encourage people to use this approach because
we're all going to be better off. You know, beyond
basics can't be everywhere and every everywhere for everyone, but
if they can take that methodology and that approach and
apply it, more power to them.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Right what are what does the future hold for beyond basics?
What do you see the growth opportunity happening? You're are
you specifically just Michigan right now?
Speaker 3 (25:21):
So we are in person in Michigan, just Michigan right now,
but we also you know, we'd have a lot of
calls from parents saying, Hey, my kids struggling. I heard
about your program. I want how do I get my
kid enrolled in your program. So we recently launched the
virtual tutoring, so it's still live tutoring, and but it's
(25:42):
in the comfort of your home. So if you're a
parent or in you're you're in rural America. We just
had a lady from Georgia. She sent us a testimonial.
She said, I was on vacation in Mackinac Island and
I heard Pam Good and I had pulled my kid
out because they told me that my kid can't learn
and he iep and he's all these things. While she
(26:02):
tried our program and she said, in a matter of
a couple of weeks, she's already seeing She was so
excited and was reaching out to thank us for this
program that you know, this approach that she said really
works and so we get there in all the time.
So it's really nice to be able to offer it
the virtual tutoring, and it's live tutoring. This is not module.
(26:23):
You don't stick a kin on a computer. There is
a person. There's a live person and it's your personal
prescription that we're modeled after.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
H that's really interesting. I mean, what is the responsibility
for your organization with regard to the volume of people
you have to have associated to be able to do this?
I mean in person, one to one helping people or
virtually as you just mentioned, it sounds like there's a
lot of people who have to be involved in the
organization to service all the people who you have needs.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
The substantial amount of people that we have are tutors
because to your point, we are in person in all
these places, but we are working on a scaleability model
really where you know, if your school is not so
far behind, we could give you the recipe, but you
got to adhere to this recipe. If you do this
group therapy, it's just not going to work. Right. You
(27:15):
can hire one hundred literacy coaches and put them all
in groups, et cetera. It's not going to be effective
and it's not moved the needle. And we've seen it
over and over hundreds of millions of dollars poured into
this with look at the empirical data, right.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
So you have you have over fifty locations right now. Yes,
you've expanded into virtual as well. What do you personally
see as like for you, something you're really excited about
in the future for Beyond Basics.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
For Beyond Basics, I just hope that you know, you
have to elevate the conversation, build awareness. We're focused on
a resolution in Congress right now to kind of like
stem you know, really literacy has to be front and
center because it's so fundamental. Most people, when you talk
to them or you explain some of the stats, it's
all shock and awe. They just had no idea. People
(28:08):
are oblivious to this issue. So building awareness because people
are proactive and they're resilient, and when you elevate this conversation,
people take action. I really have a lot of confidence.
So just loving being part of the story of just
bringing transforming lives.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
And if somebody is listening, like the public, what you know,
how can the public support Beyond Basics mission or become
involved in helping improve literacy rates?
Speaker 3 (28:36):
Thank you. It's Beyond Basics dot org. So it's Beyond
Basics dot org. You can register your kid, you can
look through and we have a lot of data on
the website. You want to donate, I'm happy to you know,
have a conversation with anybody, share any data, share outcome data.
You want to bring us into your school. Happy to
(28:57):
have that conversation as well.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Why do you personally love what you do?
Speaker 3 (29:01):
You know, my kids are very lucky. Not all kids
are that lucky. And if I can transform lives, it's awesome.
Thanks Anya, I guess goosebumps daily.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
I love that Turkey. You have a gala coming up
and everybody needs to know about it because it's going
to be a wonderful event.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Thank you so much. Yes, our annual gala and it's
March fourteenth at the Townsend and Birmingham, and we would
love to see you. If you'd like to buy tickets,
you can go on to Beyond Basics dot.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Org and that helps your organization.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Yes, it'll be a fundraiser to really put more kids.
We have scholarships that we give kids, and we'll have
our book signers, a lot of authors through our publishing
center that will be signing books for attendees.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Okay, and how do people buy tickets.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Beyond Basics dot org.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Great March fourteenth at the Townsend. I love it. Yes,
thank you so much. Speaking with Today with us Today
about youth literacy and how we can help people really
serve their life ready for the rest of their life
by improving literacy rates. Our guest today has been to
Turkeia Awata Mullin. She's the chief strategy officer at Beyond Basics.
(30:11):
Thanks for joining us today, Turkeia.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Thank you, thank you so much for having me really
appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
And again that was Beyond Basics dot org. If you're
interested in going online and helping, thanks again, thank you.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
This has been Light Up the D, a community affairs
program from iHeartMedia Detroit. If your organization would like to
get on the program, email Colleen Grant at iHeartMedia dot com.
Here are all episodes on this station's podcast page.
Welcome to Light Up the D, a focus on what's
happening in our community from the people who make it happen.
Here's your host, iHeartMedia Detroit Market President Colleen Grant.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Good morning and welcome to Light Up the D. I'm
your host, Colleen Grant. Thank you for joining me today.
I appreciate it. I'm excited to have our guests here.
It's Turkia Awata Mullin. She's the chief Strategy Officer at
Beyond Basics, and she plays a pivotal role in the
nonprofits mission to transform children's lives through literacy. Her expansive
(00:33):
twenty five plus year career traverses both the private and
public sectors, underpinned by her credentials as an economic developer,
licensed attorney, real estate associate broker, and an executive certified
leader in Detroit. Discussing how Beyond Basics addresses literacy needs
for Detroit's youth, please join me and welcome being Turkia
(00:53):
Awata Mullin. Thank you so much for being with us today. Turkia,
thank you, thank you for having me. Why don't we
just give everybody an idea of what Beyond Basics is
in your core mission?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Beyond Basics is a literacy nonprofit here and started out
in Metro Detroit. We just celebrated our twenty fifth year
anniversary last year.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Congratulations, thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
And we get kids reading and now we are statewide.
We serve thousands of students annually. We are in the
school applying the gold Star standard to reading proficiency.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Okay, and your mission is to do what.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
To get kids reading?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
So we were canned in glove with the schools and
the administration, the teachers to identify kids, triash them with
a diagnostic assessment, and then we team them one on
one an hour day, five days a week in the
school during the school day. We have a guiding principle
of going where kids are already showing up. It's really transformation.
(01:54):
We get kids reading. We apply a phonics based curriculum
that's really designed after the Orton Gillingham methodology. It works
and we see a grade level movement in as early
as six weeks.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
At what age is a child usually identified as needing
some literacy help?
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Between pre K or you know, when a child's born
and parents are reading to them hopefully, but up until
third grade you are learning to read, how to read
beyond third grade eighty five percent of what you learn.
You need to know how to read. If you don't
know how to read, if you don't learn how to read,
then you're learning is immediately stifled and it just gets worse.
(02:38):
Kids that don't read in fourth grade, are not proficient
in fourth grade, are four times more likely to drop
out of school. You need to get reading, and unfortunately,
in Michigan, our reading scores are the worst that they've
been in thirty years.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Really, yes, And in fact, the NAPE is a National
Assessment of Educational Progress. It's a standardized test that's administered
nationally every couple of years. And in twenty twenty four,
the NAATE reading scores just came out for twenty twenty four,
we are no better off. We are forty first, forty
(03:16):
first out of fifty states. In terms of proficiency. We're
over seventy percent of the kids testing eighth graders. So
think about this, eighth graders behind in reading. And we're
not talking a couple months behind in reading. We're talking
not testing proficient at grade level. Seventy percent of our
students are behind in reading in the state of Michigan,
(03:41):
and the best state, Massachusetts, the best state can attest
that only forty percent of their kids are proficient. So
it's not like there's yow, that's a nationwide, nationwide epidemic.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Well, and like you said, I mean reading. If you
don't learn to read, it's it becomes the fast foundation
of everything going forward. So the further you get behind.
You were mentioning eighth graders once they get to eighth grade,
think of how far they are behind, not only in literacy,
but all the things that get stacked upon reading. Can
you speak to that?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Sure? And it is Collen. It is foundational. It's fundamental
for your success, both professionally and personally, because when a
child does not learn how to read, they convince themselves
that they are not able or not capable, and that
they are less than. And when you turn that light
on of reading, it is transformational. It's transformational for their psychology,
(04:37):
for their self esteem, their self confidence, and teachers, parents, principles,
the kids themselves will just it gives me goosebumps daily.
I get goosebumps daily at this job. It is just
so gratifying. And I have actually a personal story. One
of my relatives, he was a rising seventh grader, thirteen
year old boy. Very smart. This is not about being
(04:58):
smart or not smart. Very smart boy just had a
different way of learning things, grasping things. Birmingham schools had
a lot of oversight and reading, tutoring and coaching. Not
much was effective. So we enrolled him. We tested him
and he tested in at a four point five grade
reading level. He was a rising seventh grader.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
And so he came in daily all summer last summer
and when he tested out, he tested at an eight
point five grade reading level.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
And when I called this boy and told him his results,
he just started screaming and jumping for joy. You would
have thought he won Super Bowl tickets. And then he
called his parents and he was crying his eyes out.
So it was pretty awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
This is not an anomaly. This is what we see.
We see this in every area, whether it's K through twelve,
and we just recently expanded into the juvenile sector. We
have all kinds of great stories of about that as well.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
I mean we were just talking and everything was all
going along, calm, and then you start talking about what
you're doing and the difference you're making and literally your passion.
Your face lights up, you can you could feel it
in your heart and your voice. Just how very much
you love what you do. How do you end up
getting beyond basics?
Speaker 3 (06:19):
You know? Pamela Good she's a force. She's this petite woman,
little petite woman, but she has a force. I mean,
in the past probably twelve thirteen years, she's raised over
thirty million dollars in private funding. People are looking for
a credible, viable, effective way to touch kids, and she's
been on the front lines. She started this, co founded
(06:41):
this with a lady, Missus Waggerson, and they started this
as a colt drive, a bunch of suburban women bringing
down Cootes the Therkal Elementary and then started you know,
reading bodies and realized that these kids weren't reading. And
she's like, I have to do more, I have to
do more. And she just was very persistent. Took her
(07:01):
six years to develop the secret sauce. She was not
married to any specific remedy or recipe or there was
no politics. It was all about getting the kids reading,
learning to read. And she would always test them in
day one, try whatever, and test them out. And then
she really realized this curriculum and this methodology, which we
(07:22):
referred to it as the gold Star standard to reading proficiency.
And that's the diagnostic assessment, the phonics based curriculum, and
then the one on one daily with the live tutor.
We always have a live tutor and it's that same
tutor with that student, whether it's in person or it's virtual,
(07:44):
and it's extremely effective. And that's really the secret sauce.
So this started out twenty five years ago. So I
met Pam through mutual friends and then I was actually
consulting with her. I got another job and then I
reconnected with her because I'm over fifties, so I started
thinking about gratification and finding meaning in your in your
(08:04):
life and being fulfilled. And so when I reconnected with Pam,
she said, I'd love for you to come on full time.
And I honestly I said, well, Pam, let's just take
this one step at a time. And I honestly went
and researched this and I thought, gosh, you know who's
in the space. And I really researched for weeks nationally
(08:25):
internationally because I didn't want to align myself with somebody
if I knew there were other much better programs. The
efficacy of the Beyond Basics approach is I've not seen
a more effective program where within six weeks you have
a couple of grade level movement. It's just crazy.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
That's that's an amazing story, and I'm so happy for
you that you found something that one that's so effective
and one other thing that gives you so much meaning
as well. How do you think we got to this
point where, like, does Beyond Basics have an understanding that
you can share of how we got to this point
where we have a grade reading level that you had said,
we're forty first out of fifty states, and then you
(09:07):
said the best state is at forty percent illiteracy, right?
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Is that proficiency proficient? That's number one in the country.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
The opposite of what I said, how did we get
how did we get to this place?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Well, decades ago, there was a Lucy Conkins. It was
a whole language approach was implemented, came out of Columbia University.
There's actually a lawsuit by a bunch of parents in
Massachusetts suing the publisher and also suing Lucy Conkins. But
they came it was an approach to teaching when when
I learned. I learned through phonics based and that's really
(09:44):
so that curriculum changed to a whole language approach, and
whole language works. If the students already understands how to read,
you have to learn how to read that building block
that fenomic awareness, and so that's really so. Now what
we've s seen in the past probably five years, is
that over forty states have passed laws requiring instruction curriculum
(10:09):
being given based on the science of reading. And that's
really phonics based curriculum. This is what Pam's Pam realized
many years ago, is what works. We're moving in that direction,
but you have so many we have hundreds of thousands
of students. Literally, we are graduating sixty three percent of
(10:30):
twelfth graders are behind in reading. So when we graduate
these kids and they have an average of seventh grade
reading level, they can't get jobs, they want to go
to college. Thirty seven percent of them drop out their
first year of school, right, So, I mean it is
compounding and it's overwhelming. I think most people the reaction
(10:50):
is it's overwhelming, and I think when parents hear these statistics,
and a lot of parents started seeing during COVID when
they would see their students. They're like, my son's not learning,
my daughter, you know, they're behind. It's been a compounding
problem for many years. And if you look at the
school system and teachers are overwhelmed. Right, So we're a
(11:12):
turnkey solution. We come in, we work hand in hand
with the teachers as a resource to really triagy's kids
and get them reading. The infrastructure in schools is not equipped,
so it assumes that after third grade a student is
capable of reading, so it doesn't account for fourth, fifth,
(11:34):
sixth grade. There are no reading there's no reading instruction
during those later years. So what happens is a kid
just falls behind. When they fall behind, they start acting out,
they disengage, and you know, for whatever reason, I used
to think, you know, if you're in eleventh grade and
you're articulate and we're having our conversation, I'm like, of
course this kid can read. And they're you know, a
(11:55):
six foot young man, and you get their test results
back and they're at a third grade reading level, and
you gives me goosebumps talking about it, but you are
utterly shocked that this person we are graduating this kid here,
it's eleventh grader at a third grade reading level and
they overcompensate with their conversational aspects of it. But do
(12:20):
you really think we're going to this person's not at
a function. To be functional in society, you have to
have a fourth grade level. And if you realize it,
it touches every aspect that holds back a person in
every aspect, personally, professionally, your prescription. You can't read your prescription.
I was at the airport and I'm waiting for my
(12:41):
kids to deeplane and a lady's like, sir, we have
to wait shoes and wheelchair and he's currentner Off, she goes,
we have to wait for my son. He can't read
and he'll never find baggage. Claim Like you handicap a
person in every aspect of their life and when they're
not reading.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Yeah, it's interesting the fallout of literacy for that individual.
But like speak to the fallout of the lack of illiteracy,
sorry to society in general. Like what does it ultimately
resultant for all of us?
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Well, if you look at social services and the budget
of social services needed, social services, homelessness is on the rise.
I'll give you a good example in the juvenile sector,
So the first time I started doing the research on
the juvenile because we've been in the K twelve space
pretty much the entire time. And first I read the
(13:33):
data that the typical juvenile eighty five percent of adjudicated juveniles,
is not reading it a fourth grade level. To function
in society, you have to read it a fourth grade level.
To be employable, you need at least a six to
seventh eighth grade level. So first thing I do is
I reach out to workforce development agencies, which are pretty amazing,
(13:54):
so many tremendous folks in this space, and I'm like, hey,
maybe if we connect the dots and we get these
kids a job, a purpose, meaning a structure, you know,
you get them back on because most of the adjudicated
juveniles are not bad kids. These are most of them
are non violent offenders. They've done We're all one bad
(14:15):
decision away from, you know, sure, being arrested. So they said, well,
we actually turn away a lot of kids. I'm like,
what do you mean you turn them away? They said,
because everything, all the training I get millions of dollars
in training dollars, I have all these companies looking for
workforce and for jobs. Yes, we have jobs, and we
(14:38):
have training dollars for jobs. But guess what eight point
nine grade reading level is a minimum reading level for
a person to be employable or trainable in all of
our programs. So there's this disconnect, a gap.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
It's a gap, right that job training actually needs to
be reading training too.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
It's absolutely, absolutely you have to bridge the gap. So
you have this segment of the population that's not employable
because they don't have even the military, you know, they
don't have the proper reading skills. And we're not talking
twelfth grade reading level. Let's get to a ninth grade
reading level. You open up a lot of horizons for
(15:18):
or an eighth grade reading level. From a vocational perspective,
et cetera.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
How do the numbers? How do they differ based on
the school district's budget. They're economics, all those kind of factors.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
You know, people would always think, oh, well, it's not
in my backyard. This is a marginalized community issue. In
the city of Birmingham where I live, Birmingham schools, twenty
seven percent of the kids are behind in reading. That's
a pretty big number. It's rampant. It's all over. It
really doesn't matter where you are in the socioeconomic now.
(15:54):
Obviously in marginalized communities it's worse right, And and one
of our biggest obstacles is attendance. And it's a catch
twenty two because when kids are if I'm in seventh
grade and I'm reading at a third grade reading level,
why would I want to go to school. I'm going
to fail everything, I'm going to be humiliated. Group therapy
(16:18):
doesn't work. We just spent billions of dollars post COVID
okay on all this literacy coaching and and group tutoring,
and look at we didn't move the needle one bit.
And people have said, well, you know you do this
one on one, why can't you just team the kids
up so you save money? Well, think about your peer
(16:38):
do you want to do you go out and advertise
that you you can't read? Of course not so we
you know, we're very sensitive to the humiliation factor, and
we want openness and we want kids to thrive, right,
to be open and thrive. And that's why that one
on one is so key.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
So tell us about the in school experience, like especially
you know, I remember I think for me it was
math that I got pulled out you know, for well,
I definitely was in a lower math class for sure,
and I remember feeling humilated that all my friends ended
up in this math class and here I was in
this not good math class.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
You know.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
I think that was fourth or fifth grade. And everybody
starts to become aware, you know, of what's going on
in those situations. So how does it work for these
kids who they're long past fourth grade and now you're
you know, they're identified, what happens in the school system
like as they get older.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Well, you raised an excellent point. The stigma associated and
we always say, Pam always says, don't believe the label
that kids are able. And a lot of our kids
are iep. So our curriculum was modeled after the dyslexia,
so dyslexia, all the learning differences, whether it's dyslexia, ADHD,
(17:56):
high functioning autism, you know, and a lot of people
dismiss them. Oh, well, those kids just are not They
have some issues and they just can't learn. And that's
don't believe the label. The kids are really able. And
I'm telling you, when you get those kids, the power
of getting a kid reading and even one Pam Hall
has all these tremendous stories of because she's been on
(18:19):
the front lines for so many years. But one time
we had a program where we the pearents. It was
focused on parents getting parents reading, and so the parents
would drop off their kids in elementary and then we
had a classroom set up at the school where they
would go and get tutor.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
That is a great idea.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Isn't that a great idea.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
That's a great idea because of the parents reading, you
know that it's going to affect the kids too.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Oh my gosh. It was transformational these parents, so many
of these parents were so two things. First, we opened
that window of opportunity for the parents, right and they
saw they started believing in themselves and again they self
team doesn't work just for kids, works for anybody. And
then they started appreciating and reading to their kids more
(19:07):
and pushing their kids because think about it, if you
weren't able to access the tremendous educational opportunities because you
never learned to read, so why would you have a
great appreciation. You would tell your kids this is it
didn't get me anywhere, so why you know, why should
you go to school? There's no appreciation for that? Right,
(19:28):
So getting kids parents reading is tremendous.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
I'm solving two problems at once.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yes, And you know, recently I read a statistic about
how of all the tremendous programs that are out there,
only ten percent of the population who needs it is
able to access it. And so what I started doing
is I started looking up access points, like how do
I access if i'd somebody I need to access these
(19:54):
different programs. There's millions of dollars in grants. It's like
a nightmare. I mean, I'm going to try, and I
had a hard time finding stuff, right, It's amazed. But
the first thing on all these sites is apply here, right,
so if you apply it, well, if I can't read,
I probably wouldn't be able to find that site. And
if I could find that site, how am I going
(20:15):
to apply because I can't read and write?
Speaker 2 (20:17):
That is a great point. Yeah, you can't really get
all the services available for you if you can if
you can't even read in the first place.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Yeah, in addition to being so intimidated by the whole process.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
You know, I'm going to circle back to you, Turkeia,
because you know, just listening to you speak and your research,
you have clearly a researcher and a studyer and finding
you know, the facts, just based on several things that
you've said, and I know that your title is chief
Strategy Officer, and you've talked a lot about like the
(20:49):
different things and the needs and how to fulfill that
fulfill them that you see that are gaps and so forth.
What is your role at me on basics.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
PAM good work seven days a week, twenty four steven
if I'm texting or late at night or so. Short
answer is to build out service lines to really tell
the story, to engage stakeholders. Government needs to fund this program.
PAM has been relent relentless in the private sector, so.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
There's no government funding that there is.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
We recently, a couple of years ago, we got some
government funding. We're hoping to be able to secure more
government funding just to continue to expand statewide. I'm and
I'm working and building out service lines both for college
bound and workforce and the workforce space and then in
the juvenile space in addition to doing twenty other things.
(21:39):
But there's a lot to be done in an organization
like this where we have you know, we have the schools.
We continue to expand in the schools, and then we
have the and then you've got to raise money, right,
and to raise money, you got to tell your story.
In the private sector, it's easy to raise funding from investors,
but in the non profit sector, people don't want to
(22:02):
fund the infrastructure. You know, we've grown one hundred and
seventy percent in the last eighteen twenty months. But you know,
to grow like that, you need infrastructure, you need it capabilities. Well,
that's not sexy and cool to people to fund. So
it's always there's just this big struggle constantly to try
(22:22):
to fund raise right. So I'm active in the fundraising.
So you do, you know, with any organization, you do
whatever it takes to get the job done. But big picture,
I'm building out these service lines and really engaging stakeholders
at the government level and the private sector donors, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
So speaking of government funding and that whole vein of
the conversation, is this a part is an issue? Is
this something everybody supports in one way or another, or.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
This is a bipartisan This is an everybody problem. And
you know, there's just so much talk about education. We
rise and follow as a ship on one ship. You know,
when we have we have. It's crazy to me how
we have. We spend a lot of money trying to
attract workforce from other venues. What about all the people
here right? You know, I just read a statistic that
(23:12):
was it was a Wayne State study that said, in
the city of Detroit, kids between the ages of seventeen
and twenty four. So think about this. What I think
of when I think of as an age seventeen to
twenty four, those are my kids ages, unlimited opportunity, unlittered potential.
The world's your oyster. Fifty percent unemployment of kids age
(23:36):
seventeen to twenty four in the city of Detroit. The
Great Recession was what thirty five thirty six percent, and
we have fifty percent unemployment. And if you trace it
all back, literacy is fundamental to that conversation.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
What are some of the differences between what your organization
does and other literacy organizations? You had said you did
a bit of research before you decided to join beyond basics,
what did you find or what is making the difference
for you?
Speaker 3 (24:04):
So distinguishing factors in my opinion, based on my research,
is we go where kids are showing up after school
programs are very difficult. You know, people have complicated lives,
they have responsibilities outside of school, transportation, all of that.
That one on one is fundamental, But starting with that
diagnostic assessment coming in and assuming everybody's at the same
(24:28):
level is fundamentally flawed. You have to give people a
diagnostic because kids are different learners. And then you have
to have that one on one with that curriculum, that
phonics based curriculum, economic awareness, structured literacy program. So there
are fundamental components. Again, it's part of the gold Star
(24:50):
standard to reading proficiency that we actually just trademark, but
that is and there's no pride authorship. Anybody can use
this approach. We encourage people to use this approach because
we're all going to be better off. You know, beyond
basics can't be everywhere and every everywhere for everyone, but
if they can take that methodology and that approach and
apply it, more power to them.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Right what are what does the future hold for beyond basics?
What do you see the growth opportunity happening? You're are
you specifically just Michigan right now?
Speaker 3 (25:21):
So we are in person in Michigan, just Michigan right now,
but we also you know, we'd have a lot of
calls from parents saying, Hey, my kids struggling. I heard
about your program. I want how do I get my
kid enrolled in your program. So we recently launched the
virtual tutoring, so it's still live tutoring, and but it's
(25:42):
in the comfort of your home. So if you're a
parent or in you're you're in rural America. We just
had a lady from Georgia. She sent us a testimonial.
She said, I was on vacation in Mackinac Island and
I heard Pam Good and I had pulled my kid
out because they told me that my kid can't learn
and he iep and he's all these things. While she
(26:02):
tried our program and she said, in a matter of
a couple of weeks, she's already seeing She was so
excited and was reaching out to thank us for this
program that you know, this approach that she said really
works and so we get there in all the time.
So it's really nice to be able to offer it
the virtual tutoring, and it's live tutoring. This is not module.
(26:23):
You don't stick a kin on a computer. There is
a person. There's a live person and it's your personal
prescription that we're modeled after.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
H that's really interesting. I mean, what is the responsibility
for your organization with regard to the volume of people
you have to have associated to be able to do this?
I mean in person, one to one helping people or
virtually as you just mentioned, it sounds like there's a
lot of people who have to be involved in the
organization to service all the people who you have needs.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
The substantial amount of people that we have are tutors
because to your point, we are in person in all
these places, but we are working on a scaleability model
really where you know, if your school is not so
far behind, we could give you the recipe, but you
got to adhere to this recipe. If you do this
group therapy, it's just not going to work. Right. You
(27:15):
can hire one hundred literacy coaches and put them all
in groups, et cetera. It's not going to be effective
and it's not moved the needle. And we've seen it
over and over hundreds of millions of dollars poured into
this with look at the empirical data, right.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
So you have you have over fifty locations right now. Yes,
you've expanded into virtual as well. What do you personally
see as like for you, something you're really excited about
in the future for Beyond Basics.
Speaker 3 (27:45):
For Beyond Basics, I just hope that you know, you
have to elevate the conversation, build awareness. We're focused on
a resolution in Congress right now to kind of like
stem you know, really literacy has to be front and
center because it's so fundamental. Most people, when you talk
to them or you explain some of the stats, it's
all shock and awe. They just had no idea. People
(28:08):
are oblivious to this issue. So building awareness because people
are proactive and they're resilient, and when you elevate this conversation,
people take action. I really have a lot of confidence.
So just loving being part of the story of just
bringing transforming lives.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
And if somebody is listening, like the public, what you know,
how can the public support Beyond Basics mission or become
involved in helping improve literacy rates?
Speaker 3 (28:36):
Thank you. It's Beyond Basics dot org. So it's Beyond
Basics dot org. You can register your kid, you can
look through and we have a lot of data on
the website. You want to donate, I'm happy to you know,
have a conversation with anybody, share any data, share outcome data.
You want to bring us into your school. Happy to
(28:57):
have that conversation as well.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Why do you personally love what you do?
Speaker 3 (29:01):
You know, my kids are very lucky. Not all kids
are that lucky. And if I can transform lives, it's awesome.
Thanks Anya, I guess goosebumps daily.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
I love that Turkey. You have a gala coming up
and everybody needs to know about it because it's going
to be a wonderful event.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
Thank you so much. Yes, our annual gala and it's
March fourteenth at the Townsend and Birmingham, and we would
love to see you. If you'd like to buy tickets,
you can go on to Beyond Basics dot.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
Org and that helps your organization.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Yes, it'll be a fundraiser to really put more kids.
We have scholarships that we give kids, and we'll have
our book signers, a lot of authors through our publishing
center that will be signing books for attendees.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Okay, and how do people buy tickets.
Speaker 3 (29:48):
Beyond Basics dot org.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Great March fourteenth at the Townsend. I love it. Yes,
thank you so much. Speaking with Today with us Today
about youth literacy and how we can help people really
serve their life ready for the rest of their life
by improving literacy rates. Our guest today has been to
Turkeia Awata Mullin. She's the chief strategy officer at Beyond Basics.
(30:11):
Thanks for joining us today, Turkeia.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Thank you, thank you so much for having me really
appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
And again that was Beyond Basics dot org. If you're
interested in going online and helping, thanks again, thank you.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
This has been Light Up the D, a community affairs
program from iHeartMedia Detroit. If your organization would like to
get on the program, email Colleen Grant at iHeartMedia dot com.
Here are all episodes on this station's podcast page.
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