Janice's Women's Center on Breaking the Cycle
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Welcome to Broken Potholes with your hosts Sam Stone and Chuck Warren. I'm in studio today, but Chuck, once again, off in sunny, beautiful Florida, joining us via Zoom. I'm jealous. Yes, I am. Once again, and in studio with us today, a really remarkable woman that I had the honor of meeting a few months back.

Shante Salisbury, and we're going to get to her story. We've been telling a lot of really good national stories. I think we brought folks out there, some really good interviews, and listenership has been building. People are tuning in. If you've been with us from the start, I think you've gotten a taste of, frankly, better journalism than you get from a lot of real news outlets. But today we've got something different. Today we've got a story you're not going to hear anywhere else. And actually it's a pretty impressive story.

I'm going to let Shante take it away and tell it, but you are trying to start something brand new, something that would have a massive impact for women across Phoenix, some of the most vulnerable women across Phoenix. And that is a tough journey. It is a tough road as you're learning, but it's an important one for people to take. And so I want to get to your story and how you got on this. Shante Salisbury working to found Janice Women's Center.

which when it comes to fruition, and we're when, folks, that's going to be an amazing thing for Phoenix. So I want you to tell people about it and tell people how you started down this path, Shante. Okay. Well, thank you, Sam. Thanks for having me. Thank you, Chuck.

It was quite a journey, quite a journey. During the pandemic, when it first started, I ran into a homeless woman in Ahwatukee. And so before work, I always stop at Chick-fil-A and I always grab breakfast. And so I seen her there. She was sitting at the bus stop on 50th and Ray.

And so I stopped. I grabbed her breakfast and I asked her if there was anything else she needed. And she said, yeah, can you get me a magazine? And so that was interesting. You know, you don't really hear too many homeless people ask you for reading material. So I said, yeah, I'll get you a magazine. And so literally the next time I seen her, I grabbed breakfast again from Chick-fil-A and I brought her her magazine. What magazine?

She asked me for it was like Essence or Vogue or something like that, that they don't even have anymore. I had to like look on Amazon. And so literally I told her, I said, I couldn't find that magazine, but I got you the next best. And so she was very appreciative. I said, no problem. She said, Shante, can you do something else for me? And so I was like, wow, the favors is rolling in. And I said, no problem. You know, what can I do? She said, can you get me into an all women's shelter?

And I said, well, let me see what I can do. So as soon as I got to work, I researched, I Googled. Being that I was new here from Miami, it was tough. I didn't know anything. I didn't know nothing about the shelters. So I reached out to as many. I researched as many and nobody responded back to me. And so after a while, I said, I have to do something different. So I wrote letters. I went old school. I wrote letters and I sent them out to all of the shelters here.

After a few months, I think the only one I heard back from was Cass. I was super excited that Lisa reached out to me. To me, she was like a celebrity. Lisa Glow, who runs the Central Arizona Shelter Services, which is our downtown campus shelter, which is the hub for homelessness issues, domestic violence, a lot of other problems that we have here in Phoenix. They do a remarkable job.

With some fairly limited tools, and that's the problem you ran into. Yes, yes, yes. Lisa was amazing. When she reached out, she was like, Shante, I need to meet you. And so I said, okay. We Zoomed. My wife, Sherry Salisbury, she kind of like did a cartwheel into the Zoom. And so immediately, Lisa was like, I love you ladies. And it's just crazy that you guys literally just moved here.

and you guys just hit the streets and wanted to be a part of something different. And I said, yeah, like I seen this lady, she needs help and we need to try to help her. And so she did. She said, let me see what I can do. See if you can get her to cast. And so I said, okay.

I went back to the lady and I told her, I said, I think I might have found us some help. So I told her it was cast, but unfortunately she refused to go that I had never seen her react the way that she did when I told her it was cast. And so I just figured that there must've been something she's been homeless for 10 years. So there must've been something that happened to her.

And so I left it alone. So I tried to get her into a different one. She asked me, she said, can you get me into the Holly Center? Again, I didn't know anything about the shelters here at the time. And so I said, yeah, let's see what we can do. So my wife and I, we tag teamed it. They said, call in at 6 a.m. And so I said, OK. Monday morning, we started the call. My wife started at 6. She got no answer. She stopped around 730, I think it was. And so I picked it up.

And I called and called until I got out of court. So it was about 1.30. They finally answered. At this point, I'm like, live it. Because I've done so much work, you know, with the emails, the calling, the letters. And so now I was just like, look, when you tell someone that your intake process starts at 6 a.m., I expect you to answer at 6 a.m. So. Well, and what you're describing, and Chuck, you and I have talked about this, is

Within the system, you know, if you want to get treatment, as Janice was finally ready to get treatment and ready to try to bring her life together, that should be really easy, right? Correct. I mean, that should be something where realistically when someone says that we need to have the resources in place to help them because… Right. Right.

Right. I mean, Sean, you're exactly right. I mean, Shantae, let me ask you this question. I agree with Sam's saying here. So, you know, there's various types of domestic abuse. There's physical, obviously. There's emotional. There's verbal. There's financial. Correct.

all horrible yes i imagine a lot what you see come let's not call them shelters all right i think shelters is a big stigma it's a word we need to get rid of center um yeah center is a word we need to use or a home i mean something but shelter just sounds i mean no matter your situation you still don't want to sound desperate a lot of times correct and so i think how we frame that's important

But we have those types of abuses. If you were king of the day, I mean, this seems, look, unfortunately, none of us here today have the ability to change people's hearts. But if you were king, queen for the day, what would you have the government do to change

help these women and most of the time don't they have kids a lot of times the majority of the time they have children too with them yes a lot of shelters don't take the children so what so what do we do what can we do that is going to prepare them to get out and live a life that's fulfilling and progressing because what happens it seems to me with a lot of these centers or government programs is we almost put them in a situation where they're languishing

Correct. What do we need to do? Well, this is going off if I was queen for the day, right? You bet. You're our queen every day. What would you do? Queen Shantae, tell us what you'd do. Exactly. If I was queen for the day, I would have all of the leaders here in Phoenix on my side, and we would have a Janice's Women's Center in every district. We need to start small.

So I do notice that Phoenix is constantly throwing these beds at these already established shelters. They're just receiving beds. But the resources behind those beds are not given. And so it's one thing to provide a bed, but then we're still opening that door for re-entry.

So the moment they receive this bed at this shelter and their time is up, they go to the next shelter and run that time out. So we're not helping them. We're moving them around. Yes. Yes. Given a temporary place, but we are not giving them the tools and the help. Yes. The support they need. Correct. And when I first met you, Shantae, one of the things you called our office and said, hey,

I have an idea. Yes. And, you know, at the city of Phoenix, I've made it a policy from day one. If someone calls, they want a meeting, I'm going to go meet with them. I'm going to listen. When I went and met with you, I was blown away because you had a really creative idea for how to do this and do it in a financially responsible, very cost efficient way, but a way that would also provide a lot of the structural things that you think these women need to

And that the experts also agree they need in terms of some privacy, some self-sufficiency. Can you explain your plan a little bit, what you're trying to put together? So my unique shelter concept is to build my center out of cargo containers.

And to provide 52 tiny homes that gives these women that privacy that they have. We are not turning children away. We are not turning pets away. All of that is allowed because those are things that the abusers juggle. They try to use those things as pawns.

So the children being one, pets being another. So us providing that privacy, it helps them. It gives them that feel of, I'm still an adult. My life doesn't end at these sliding doors. I can still take care of my kids this way.

center is literally providing the resources that I need to help me, to help empower me, to provide these resources. Psychotherapy, we're implementing a yoga center there. So it still gives them that life skills and the garden, all of that. My biggest thing, which I love, is the horse therapy.

So all of that is important for these women. They don't want to feel like they're walking into a prison because then it's like, oh, my God, I'd rather just go back to the abuser. I'm leaving a five bedroom home. And you have a vision for a place that I think would be very welcoming for a woman in that circumstance. Whereas, look, folks, as hard as they work at this, if you've been down to Central Arizona Shelter Services, if you've been to the main campus,

That is not a welcoming place for anybody. I mean, it is. It's a scary place. And they do a lot of good work under a lot of really tough circumstances. But the fact of the matter is, if you go down there, especially if you're an abused woman, a very vulnerable person, you're in an environment that is going to be terrifying and going to restrict your ability to

to move your life forward. Correct. Correct. A lot of people don't even know that a lot of these places, women don't like going into barbershops, you know, because of their abuse. And so just being in a crowded room with too many men, they fear it. I've had volunteers ask me, Shante, is there going to be men at the center? And I say, unfortunately, yes. They're like, then I don't want to be there. And, you know, that's scary. I have to tell them. Or luckily, I have another volunteer who has said, you know, my abuse came from a woman. Mm-hmm.

And so it really doesn't matter whether it be men or female. I mean, everybody's situation is different. Let me ask you both this question, Sam, because you know the city and so forth. There are, you know, look, I'm a dog lover.

I have four dogs, right? But one thing that's happened this past decade is, and we can answer this after the break, Shante and Sam. One thing that's really struck me in the last decade is how much attention and devotion people put into animals, which I appreciate. But as I was looking up and preparing for this,

There are three times as many animal shelters as there are battered women's shelters in the United States. That is a totally messed up way of viewing the world, gang. Correct. That is just wrong. Correct.

And Sam, why is that? And we can discuss that after the break. But I'd love to know what your both your thoughts are on that. That's just that's just not right. That should be opposite. And it's just wrong. Absolutely, it should. And we're going to talk about that when we come back. Broken potholes. We'll be back with you in just a moment. It's the new year and time for a new you. You've thought about running for political office, but don't know where to start.

Before you start any planning, you need to secure your name online with a yourname.vote web domain. This means your constituents will know they are learning about the real you when they surf the web. Secure your domain from GoDaddy.com today. Welcome back to Broken Potholes with your hosts Sam Stone and Chuck Warren. In the studio today with us, Shante Salisbury.

Working to start Janice Women's Center would be an incredible addition to the city of Phoenix and for a resource for battered and homeless women here. Chuck, you brought up a point right before we went to break. Shante, I didn't know this. Did you? No, I was hurt. Yeah, I'm really stunned. And yet I'm not surprised the number, if you're just joining us, there are three times more animal shelters here.

in the country here than there are shelters for battered and abused women. That is astounding. Yes. You see the ads all the time, ASPCA, all these others, heartstrings. Now, I'm a pet lover. Yes. What I'm about to say, my cat is named Boba Cat because he's a little gray bounty hunter, and I may be putting myself under the crosshairs for blaster fire. This is just what it is. But as much as I love Boba, he does not deserve to be treated better than a human person.

Correct. Than a woman who's been abused. Correct. Well, think about this. Think about this. There's 20,000 cities and towns in the United States. There's 1,300, we're not going to call them shelters, but centers. Think about that. There's 1,300. There's 4 million women annually who require police or medical attention due to a severe beating. Correct. Correct.

Yeah. And we had three times more animal shelters. You can talk to our police department and they see these situations coming because often the abuse is a progression. It starts with verbal abuse, psychological abuse. It begins to escalate and escalate. And I've talked to our cops and they say the lack of having adequate

you know, supportive shelter services is getting women killed because they're afraid to leave. The abuse continues to escalate and the police know it's coming. They're going to get the call eventually that is no longer about someone being struck or someone being yelled at. They're going to get a call about someone being killed. And that's what happens. And, you know, look, I don't think there's any one theory behind this, but I will say this.

I think the fact that animals, you know, they're innocent. They're not making these decisions. It's very easy for people to love an animal. It is much harder to love a human person. And it is much harder still to love a human person who's in a very poor condition for whatever reason.

That is a failure for all of us. Yeah. Well, it's because you need to have patience. Correct. So what, what Shantae is doing is providing love and hopefully what her center does is realizing is communicating with those who will be there, that there's not a time limit for you healing. We want you to progress, but we want you to heal animals by their nature. Um,

They're going to trust quicker. But women, if you've been in an abusive relationship, plus, which we've not talked about, if the woman's being abused and she has children, the children, A, are seeing it, and B, likely being abused themselves physically. Correct.

Right. I mean, you're going to put walls up like it's a castle. And one thing it seems to me we have to do with cities. I don't feel the federal government can do anything about this and maybe provide vouchers or grants. You have to have a program where, A, we know this is going to take time. So maybe you have volunteer families that adopt families.

these folks to some degree to be there and realize this is an up and down process you're going to be involved with for several years at minimum. Are you willing to take that on? Then B, we're going to help you get the skill set. So like Arizona State University has a great program with BYU where you can call it's called Pathways and you can go pick up skills and license and certificates online at like one hundred seventy five dollars of credit.

It seems to me you've got to go help them not only emotionally heal, which would be a great place for these centers and classes, but we have to provide these women an ability to gather a career that they can provide for themselves and independence. Correct. Because it's like Shante said, Queen Shante, we're calling her now, Queen Shante said earlier,

We have to, you know, they're afraid that why would I want to leave my five bedroom home? Why do I, you know, I don't have to worry about paying the kids school textbook fees, things of that nature. Taking them out of schools. And, you know, moving from a materially solid situation into one that is incredibly fraught and dangerous and limited. And, you know, Chuck, you said, hey, the federal government can't do this. And I do think it needs to be done on a local level.

But this to me is the real tragedy of this infrastructure bill that is coming through right now, which is $4 trillion. And yet, realistically, only a small portion of it is being used for direct services for people and infrastructure and these things. A lot of it is really sort of pie in the sky, environmental programs, all these other things. Regardless of what you think of the value, you're not going to solve those problems with $4 trillion. But this problem, the one you're dealing with,

If we actually were serious about it, we could go a long way towards solving this with this one bill, couldn't we? Correct. I mean, there's enough money. This is not what you're talking about doing. It's not tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to put this together. So you can provide this service pretty cheaply. Correct. Correct. We're looking at about, we're trying to keep it under $5 million.

So working with Erica Stork, who is my construction consultant, so far that's what she's saying. We're looking at a few million. And then I just got an architect on board, so we're hoping to cut costs in that Phoenix area.

gets on board and that we get as many items donated. And I'm definitely going with an eco-friendly build. So that was very important when I reached out to you, Sam. I said, look, I need something eco-friendly. We need to make sure it gets so hot here that we need to make sure that we're cutting cost and energy because I'm going to be running 24-7. Yeah. And you look, think about what $100 billion is.

of that $4 trillion. Well, remember, I'm queen, so all of that, I can put one all over. I can put one all over. That's true. We can have one on every other block. It'll be like Starbucks and Circle K. Yes, because I did ask Scottsdale already if they'll have me. They said yes. Yeah. Okay, this is Scottsdale, so let's take that with a drop. Yes! A grain of salt. I was so happy. Maybe a big bag of salt. Yeah, I was so happy. They're not good at approving things. They love me. Okay.

Well, now we, Phoenix, listen up. We need you to get behind this woman. We need you to send her some money. We need to get this thing funded. Yes. Because we need this in Phoenix. Yes. Forget Scottsdale. You're kicking ass. What do they got? They have a homeless person with only one Gucci perch? Okay, well, I'm going out with them. I'm going to Gucci up the center just for Scottsdale. It's a good thing.

It's welcoming. We want them to feel welcome. You know, the battered women, they're all over. You know, it's in Scottsdale. It's in Phoenix. It's in Chandler. You know, all of those locations. And so if that woman is feeling like, I don't want to leave Scottsdale, I don't want to go to Phoenix. You know, I want her to be comfortable enough to say, well, I think there's a Janice's Women's Center here in Scottsdale.

And that's a great point. And people need to be comfortable in their environment. Yes. And part of that is geographic environment. Yes. Yes. And so that's incredibly important. Yes. We've got just a little time here before the next break. Okay. When we come back, I'm going to ask you two to share some of the stories you and I have talked about a little bit. I'm going to ask you to share some of your wife Sherry's stories, just a little, not to get in her trouble. Okay. But just a little because she has a very interesting job in a very interesting time. Yes.

So we're going to talk about that. Broken potholes coming right back. It's the new year and time for the new you. You've thought about running for political office, but don't know where to start. Before you start any planning, you need to secure your name online with a yourname.vote web domain. This means your constituents will know they are learning about the real you when they surf the web. Secure your domain from godaddy.com today.

Welcome back to Broken Potholes with your hosts Sam Stone and Chuck Warren. In the studio with us today, Shante Salisbury.

and working on it, founder of Janice Women's Center, one of the best ideas I've heard in some time. Shantae, how do people get in touch with you? How do they support this center if they're listening to this out there right now and they want to get involved? They can find me at www.janiceswomenscenter.com.

Awesome. Awesome. So folks, Janice's Women's Center dot com. Go there today. Highly encourage you to donate a few dollars. Contribute. See how you can get involved and do this. One of the things I wanted to talk about because Ahwatukee is part of the district that I am paid to help represent in the city of Phoenix. And Janice actually is known to the people of Ahwatukee, has been known for a long time. As you said, she's been homeless for a decade. Yes.

And Ahwatukee is the kind of community where we don't generally, we're getting more, but we don't generally have a lot of homeless folks there. It's very much, for folks listening who aren't familiar with the Phoenix area, it's very much a suburban, single-family, bedroom community. There are no shelter services. There's really nothing to support a homeless population in that area. And so there's very few. Janice has been there for a decade.

People, I've talked to people in Ahwatukee who watched her when she first became homeless and her condition deteriorate and deteriorate over 10 years. And you were the first person that went and sat down and treated her like a human to try to help her make her life better. And I think that's pretty remarkable, Shante. I want to thank you for doing that. But-

but also talk about the courage it takes for people to just do this, to treat these folks like they are people. Definitely. That's what they want. They just want to be treated like you and I. Just because they're down on their luck doesn't mean they can't have a decent conversation with you. I learned a lot from Janice. I learned a lot about the stock market. She told me to invest in stocks.

And so I was just like, wow, okay. You know, she brought up banks that I haven't heard before. She was, if I remember, she was in the financial services industry. I think so. That's all she talked about was the stock market. And so it was interesting. She was like, are you investing? And I was like, oh, okay. I thought I was just here to help you. And I was like, no, not quite. I'm actually broke. And so she was like, well, this is what you need to do. But yeah, just taking that time to talk to her. And as soon as I gave her a notepad, like she just...

spilled off a whole bunch of other stuff. And it was just incredible. And then, yeah, 10 years, a decade to reach out to her. And she was just talking like I was just a regular friend. And I originally helped Janice from the car because COVID had just started. And so it wasn't until later on when I brought Sherry to introduce her to Janice that we actually got out the car.

And so as soon as I walked up to her, I was like, hi, do you know who I am? And she was like, yeah, you're Shante. And I was like, hi, Janice. And she was like, Shante, you bring me breakfast. And I was like, yeah, I bring you breakfast. And so it just kind of started from there. And then I started getting out the car more often. So, yeah. Folks.

get out of the car. Yeah. No, that, I mean, that to me is a lesson of this is take the time, you know, get, get to talk to them. And that, and that brings up a point because she's absolutely right. So,

Probably seven years ago during Christmas, I noticed a woman like her, like Janice, and she was sitting out. And in Utah, I mean, one thing as I read the story, I always sort of laughed that Phoenicians think 40s and 50s are cold. And this is at Christmastime in Utah, and this woman was sitting out in literal cold, 20 degrees, and she's

And I remember talking to her and saying, what's going on? And took her some food and got to talk to her. And so I ended up putting her up at a hotel for five weeks and arranged for the hotel to help her arrange to talk to her son. I went and checked on her after the holidays and she had disappeared. And I think the one thing...

Queen Chante that we have to be aware of that people when you help is sometimes these folks just disappear as well. And so my question for you is, what keeps you motivated to do this? You may never see her again. Is it your faith? Is it a previous experience? What keeps you motivated to help? Because a lot of times you won't see the end result.

Definitely. Whether good or bad. And so what keeps you going? What feeds your fire? I'm helping more women. I actually thought I'd seen Janice last week. And so I grabbed breakfast again. I went over to the bus stop and I immediately walked up to the person and she said she wasn't Janice. And I said, okay, my name is Danielle, she said. And so I said, well, can I help you, Danielle? And she said, yeah. She said, where do you, I said, where do you want to go?

And so I got her into another shelter. She was just in the right place at the right time. She was in Janice's spot. So, yeah, I just keep helping in hopes that I find Janice. Well, and in hopes that you're going to find someone and they're going to benefit and the chain is going to continue. I mean, pass it forward, right? Yes, yes, I keep going. Folks, really important lessons here today, I think. Broken Potholes will be coming right back in just a moment.

Get your butts to that website, JaniceWomenCenter.com. Let's get this. Let's make this dream a reality. The 2020 political field was intense, so don't get left behind in 2021. If you're running for political office, the first thing on your to-do list needs to be securing your name on the web with a yourname.vote domain from GoDaddy. Get yours now.

Welcome back to Broken Potholes with your hosts Sam Stone and Chuck Warren. In the studio with us today, Shante Salisbury. Normally, folks, this is where we'd be bringing in our moment of sunshine. But quite frankly, I think the studio has been bathed in sunshine this whole episode. We're talking about something really important, something we all need to come together with. But I want to talk about something else really important. Now, you are married to a lovely woman who I've also had the pleasure of meeting, Sherry. Yes.

Who is, what does she do? Sherry is big time. She's a federal officer, pretty high federal officer for a men's prison. So she is a high-ranking federal official. Yes. Officer in the prison system. Yes. The justice system. Yes. In a men's prison, which is a pretty scary environment for a woman warden. Yes. Okay.

But we had a conversation last time we met that I thought was really important. Sherry said something. I know you can't share her entire story and all of it, but I know this is something she's talked about quite a bit with you. She's there every day. She sees what goes on in our prisons. We're having this conversation right now about justice, about policing, about how everything happens on one end of the justice system.

But we're not having a conversation about the other end of the justice system. And that's what happens in prison. And she said something I thought was really important for people out there to understand and that needs to change. And that's this. When someone goes to prison, there is nothing rehabilitative about that experience. And can you talk a little bit about that and the effects that that has on crime, on our justice system, on the population? Sure.

It's a cycle. The cycle continues. There's no resources provided. Once they come out, they have records. So it's tough to get a job. It's tough to get an apartment. It's tough to get someone to see you even if you changed in the system. No one knows that. They just know you have a record.

And so not knowing that, it makes it tough for them to truly get out here in the system and try to better themselves. We're not providing enough. And that has really far-reaching impacts on society when you talk about crime, when you talk about all these police-involved incidents, the police shootings and everything else.

And you guys are, frankly, a very complicated position. Yeah. Because you are a black married couple. Yes. Everyone would assume you're going to be, you know, right with the progressive movement on this. Correct. But then again, Sherry is...

Yes. Works at a prison. I tell people I'm black and blue. There you go. So just to make it clear, we're black and blue. We're a black eye, so definitely understand it. So we look at it from both perspectives, both. And I think that's actually really important because I don't think there are enough people that are able to do that. And I know I can't enough. But you kind of have a unique perspective on this because you've grown up in some tough circumstances. Correct.

You've come through some tough circumstances. Correct. And I didn't like the police. Right. And you yourself have been the victim of some incidents. Correct. But then you've seen another side of it. Correct. Correct. I had to listen. That's kind of an important statement, don't you think, Chuck?

It's very important. Listening is, yeah, people don't do it anymore. Yeah, I had to listen. And we're not listening to each other at all, are we? No. Because we need law and order. Yep. We need to have people be protected, and the police have to do that. They're the ones. Correct. They also have to do it in a way that's humanitarian. Correct. And then we have to do a better job when people are brought into the justice system of what we do with them.

Correct. Is there any way to change what's going on in our society that you see without all of those things coming together as one? Again, we have to listen. It's very important. I talk to Sherry all the time and it's like, hey, when an officer tells you to do something, listen. Same thing on the other end. You know, the officer needs to listen. We really do have to start listening. And that is the biggest issue that we're seeing.

There's not enough listening going on. Folks, if you're out there, if you're listening to this program, I think that's one of the most important takeaways. Along with Chuck, the point you brought up about animal shelters versus women's shelters. I mean, that is just astounding to me. Oh, yes. And Chuck, you've done a lot. You've been engaged a lot through your faith and through simply the way you live your life in trying to help a lot of people on an individual level.

And systems are bad at that, right? Well, they're bad because for two reasons. One, when you help, you have to be in long term or you're not in it. I mean, you know, I think we live in a society now that wants instant gratification. And you're going to have to understand helping.

anybody or any movement, you're going to have lots of highs and lows, lots of disappointments, lots of happiness, but it's a long haul. Second of all, there has to be a plan. I feel a lot of times we get to these points and say, okay, we're going to do this, but what is the plan to help us get these individuals moving forward where they're progressing, where they're not languishing?

And I think that's really important. And I, and I get the sense that the queen here is going to go push that because you just, you just can't go and say, come to the center. We're going to get you away from this. There has to be a next step where these women and their children, or these children see their mom happy and progressing. If they don't see that in their mom,

What's going to happen to them? It's going to breed a cycle. And what these centers should be is saying, look, the buck stops here. We're going to be in this with you. We just need you to be in it with us. And we're going to do it where you provide a life of progress and stability. And your children see that and do not become intimidated.

irreparable mentally, physically, things of those natures. And for those who are helping, you have to just say, I'm here. I love you. It doesn't matter. We're going to go forward and do the good and bad. And hopefully,

Something like, you know, something of this center's Janice Women's Center will be something that people understand. They're here with me long term and the queen and her spouse hopefully are going to provide that leadership that really when people come in, whether they're donors or volunteers. Look, this is not a one off type activity. We need your commitment long term.

Correct. Correct. I need them to understand, you know, just kind of meeting some of these shelters here and seeing how things are ran. I've been told that Shante, what you have is a great idea, but you can't make anyone do anything.

And I can understand that. I really did. Yeah, sure. Just hearing them say that if the lady wants to come in and just cuss you out all day, that's what we allow here in Phoenix. And as soon as my wife heard that, it was instant.

Federal. Federal. The federal officer up here? I always tell her to simmer down. We're in a Zoom. And so literally she was like, oh, she's not going to come in and cuss me out all day. I'm providing a platform for her. You know, she's like, well, I'm trying to help you. Well, I want to touch on something else. And Chuck, this features heavily in everything we've talked about on this program, I think. But

You started down this. Shantae, you have a great idea. You have a concept that would provide a critically needed service at a lower cost than other providers are being able to deliver. Correct. But yet when you've come to the city, the county, all these other institutions, you keep getting told over and over, you've got to be tied to one of these existing providers. Yes.

And this, folks, for folks who don't know, this is the same in every major city in this country. I'm going to tell you straight up. This is one of the things people do not understand about the way the game works. It's a game. Yes. You have a bunch of insiders who protect themselves by basically setting those rules that require that same group of insiders to be given money and to be funded and to be part of all these things.

And so when someone comes to the table who brings creativity, who brings new ideas, who brings a better way of doing things, what's happened to you as you've been going around

and talking to officials at the city of Phoenix and elsewhere. What have you run into? Tell us. Oh, my God. So I've ran into, well, why don't you just link up with Doolief? Why don't you just link up with you, Mom? There's so many domestic violence shelters here. Why don't you just link with them? And I said, because they're not Janice's Women's Center. And so that would put me with someone that's not – they don't have my vision.

They don't know what I've been through. Literally, my center is based around my experience. And does anybody out there, Shantae, you or anybody listening to this right now, do you think we're doing things the right way? No. Okay, so what government has been telling you is we're not getting things done. We're not doing the job. We're not delivering.

But we just like to keep doing more of the same thing. Exactly. And we don't want to take a chance and work with someone who's come to the table with something new and better. Exactly. Exactly. That's what I keep telling them. I am not those other shelters. I am different. You have a vision. Yes. Now, you would have all the proper accreditation. Correct. You would have support from individuals who have knowledge and experience at this. Correct.

So you have the structures you need to ensure this is done correctly and safely. Correct. And yet, you're still getting told you have to be part of the existing system. Exactly. That's the worst. That's, once again, not breaking the cycle. That's continuing the cycle. A lot of these homeless individuals have already been to those shelters. They're still on the street. And it didn't work for them. Nope.

Well, no, they're not working. So they want you to join our monopoly and put them in something that's clearly not less than the problem. I mean, that is just the definition of insanity. And actually, you know, I actually wish Aaron Morris, who has been joined us on this program and is our resident animal lover, was here because this is actually a good point.

The worst shelters with the worst abuse in the animal shelter industry are the government county shelters.

where they put tons of pets to sleep. The conditions are not particularly great. It is much like the way we treat humans. That's what I've been hearing. And then there's this system of private shelters out there that are actually really good, that are no-kill for the most part, that find ways to get pets adopted in other states. They work really hard. They treat pets like individuals. We're just at, folks,

Sean Tate is just asking you to stand behind an idea so that we can treat people as well as we as the ASPCA treats pets. Thank you, Sam. I mean, that's pathetic, but this is what we're talking about. Correct. No, it's but it's true. It's true. We have to move to that standard. You know, I feel right now what we have a lot of times is a system of the prison system is the same. And it's where he is. Let's just be out of sight, out of mind. Yeah.

And we cannot have a functioning society where you have 4 million women abused annually. Most of the times they have children.

And expect that that cycle is not going to continue to the next generation unless we start having something that's more than we'll just put you here and feed you three square meals versus let's get you on your feet. Let's get you the life that we know you have the ability to live and succeed in. And until we get to that point, this problem is going to be the same. And it's just time to stop it. And hopefully Janice Women's Center is going to be the beacon for

in this movement to change this and change people's lives to help them to find their God-given potential. Yeah. And folks, I've never done this on the radio or on this program, but if you know someone out there that you can connect Shantae and Sherry and this project with that can help bring this to fruition, if you have the corporate connections that, you know, you work in a big company and, you know, take this.

Take this show, get a copy of it to the person who's responsible for the corporate giving program that your company has. This kind of thing has to start happening or we're not going to solve this problem. We have to be creative. We have to take a chance. Yes, yes. And let me ask you, Shante, if you put this together, you got it funded, you got it built, and it wasn't working, what would you do? Try harder. Keep going. Change it maybe too, right? Yep, yep.

That's it, folks. I'm not going to stop. That's the lesson. Don't stop. Keep finding answers. I'm going to keep getting out the car. This has been a great program. Chuck, as always, a pleasure. Enjoy Florida. Shantae, I'm jealous. It's true. Shantae, thank you for being in studio with us. Really important show for people today. Broken Potholes will be back next week.

Go to JaniceWomenCenter.com. Make the dream happen, people. Make it happen. Thank you.