The Nonprofit Leader's Guide by Boundless
We want to bring you the thoughts of some of the most impactful leaders in health and human services. Their real-world experience in driving growth and impact and leading in hard times might be just the extra dose of motivation and common sense you need to bring to your organization whether you are an Executive Team member or the Board President. We think that leading the conversation about the nonprofit business sector and what nonprofits should think about now is part of our mission, “Building A World that realizes the boundless potential of all people.”
Our purpose in this podcast is to make your mission, our mission.
The Nonprofit Leader's Guide by Boundless
Scaling Inclusion: What Success Looks Like
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Good work is everywhere. Scalable work is rare. We sit down with three leaders who live at the intersection of innovation, inclusion, and scale to answer the question nonprofit leaders can’t avoid anymore: can your solution expand and still deliver real outcomes across different people, policies, and places?
Host, Scott Light, is joined by Jennifer Riha, Chief Strategy Officer at Boundless and a 2026 Zero Project nominee, Tom Butcher, Senior Advisor and Zero Project Ambassador, and Anna Szczepanek, Executive Director of Penta Medical Recycling and a 2026 Zero Project Awardee. Together, we break down the Zero Project’s lens for spotting what truly works: innovation, impact, and scalability.
Anna shares how an operations-heavy model can still scale globally when it is built on relationships, local partner insight, and disciplined logistics across customs, shipping, and changing conditions, including conflict zones. We also name the obstacles that slow inclusive innovation, like fragmented funding and limited support for core operations. Plus, we look ahead to trends shaping disability inclusion, assistive technology, equitable AI, co-designed community-led solutions, and disability-inclusive crisis response.
Stick around for a mission moment featuring Boundless at Home, a person-centered model that supports families to choose trusted caregivers and build continuity of care. If this conversation sharpens your thinking, subscribe, share it with a fellow nonprofit leader, and leave a review so more people can find it.
Innovation Meets Inclusion And Scale
SPEAKER_02Welcome everyone to the Nonprofit Leader's Guide Podcast brought to you by Boundless. I'm your host, Scott Light. Today's conversation sits at the intersection of innovation, inclusion, and scale. Three words that are easy to say but incredibly difficult to operationalize. Fortunately, we have three really impressive leaders here who are doing exactly that. Jennifer Rija is Chief Strategy Officer here at Boundless and a 2026 Zero Project nominee. Tom Butcher is here as well, Senior Advisor and Zero Project Ambassador. And Anna Strupanik is joining us as well, Executive Director of Pinta Medical Recycling, a 2026 Zero Project Awardee. Welcome all. It's good to see you.
SPEAKER_03Hi, thank you. Happy for having us.
What Zero Project Looks For
SPEAKER_02Let me um set a couple of baselines here for those who may not know about the Zero Project. This is a global initiative working toward a world with zero barriers for people with disabilities, identifying solutions that are not only innovative, but scalable and impactful. And that's what makes today's conversation so important. Because the question's no longer for nonprofit leaders and organizations. Are we doing good work? Of course we're doing good work. The question is, can this work scale and transform systems? So, Tom, with that, let me start with you. From the Zero Projects vantage point, you are seeing hundreds of innovations globally. What distinguishes a solution that can scale from one that can't?
SPEAKER_00Great. Scott, yes, I'm just going to turn your question around a wee bit and just say for us, it's what distinguishes a solution that will work from those that won't work. Okay. We use three different criteria for evaluating whether we think a solution is going to work or not. And those are innovation, impact, and scalability. When we talk about innovation, we're talking about solutions that are effective in supporting and removing barriers in one of the Zero Project's fields of research, which is accessibility, independent living and political representation, employment and education. And the research considers not only local context and geographies, but also groups of users or beneficiaries. Then when it comes to impact, the impact of a particular solution could refer to the number of beneficiaries or people using services, the solution's growth rate, or the influence on, say, improved public services, amongst others. The service and the solution must have been deployed, they must already work, and they must have proved themselves. So not pilot projects.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00And then scalability. All the nominations that we look at are reviewed for their potential in replicating and expanding to new geographies, or indeed growing in another way that allows the maximum number of persons with disabilities to benefit from that innovation. Since we established the Xero project back in about 2008-2009, we have built up a network of about 10,000 specialists who actually are the people who choose the solutions that we look at and also help the people who have the solutions make them better, scale them, provide them with impact. And the reasons why we are international is because every geography is different. Every place is different. And we have from those innovators, practitioners, business leaders, policy makers, opinion leaders, self-representatives, and other experts who are both disabled and not disabled. And we believe in particular that close collaboration amongst our both our potential solution providers and the network allows proven solutions to be amplified and replicated.
The Real Test Of Scalability
SPEAKER_02Jennifer, um, I am boundless was nominated for the Zero Project. So again, a c just a couple of, you know, setting the table items here out of the gate. What does it take internally for an organization to be ready to scale?
SPEAKER_01You know, I think that in order for an organization to be ready to scale what it's doing, you already said it isn't a question of are you doing quality services, are you doing good services? That's a different question. It's a question of can that program, that solution, that service work without you directly controlling it? And so can another person take that program in a different geography with a different set of circumstances, or take that solution or that innovation and get similar or same outcomes? And I think the key is not necessarily having a great program. That's a given. You have to have a great program, a great solution. It's do you really understand why it is working? Because if you don't understand not only what are my outcomes, but why does this outcome work, you're going to be really challenged to replicate it in another environment with another set of people. So to me, I think that is really key. And often the reason why really great or beautiful, impactful solutions don't work in another scenario is because we didn't accurately or fully understand why it was working.
SPEAKER_02You know, folks, quick personal aside, this is the honest truth. I was walking through Barnes and Noble just a couple of weeks ago. And Jennifer, to your point, I think I saw more book tit, you know, more book covers that had the why. Explain your why. What's your why? I mean, there are bestsellers out there really trying to get to exactly what you're talking about. That is a great, great point. Anna, your organization, Pinta Medical Recycling, is a zero project awardee. So take us back. What was that breakthrough moment where your model became internationally scalable?
SPEAKER_03Actually, kind of building upon what Jennifer just said, it was really the why and shedding light on the why we really existed. And once we started explaining why we exist and why we operated as a nonprofit and got buy-in from all of the stakeholders that are addressing limb loss across the world, it was very clear that the scalability of our work was there. It just required the buildup of the of the stakeholders and the involvement of those stakeholders. So in our case, you know, we're we're a nonprofit that collects uh secondhand and surplus excess prosthetics here in the US and distributes that out into the world where it's um it's there's a huge need for that equipment. And so it became really scalable once we got that buy-in from the local prosthetics industry here in the United States. And they were like, well, wow, of course, it's great that that pentamedical recycling exists and you're able to redistribute this equipment that we've never really known what to do with. And then on the other side, internationally, the scalability is there just based on the need. Uh, there's a huge need for what we um, for the services that we provide and the prosthetics that we provide. And it's really been from the get-go that it's been scalable and it's really kind of up to us to put in the work internally to make our work as large and as fast and impactful as we can.
SPEAKER_02Thomas, when you hear two leaders like Ann and Jennifer talking about the why, uh just that that's getting right to the crux of it, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00It it it really is, because um I think what's so important both of they have both of them have said is that their different models and the different way they work and their programs are specific to themselves. And isn't unless you understand the context in which you're operating, then um uh your success uh your your chance of success perhaps is is is reduced. And I I think, Jen, can I use the uh example I think from what you do, which is that um service provision in say Southeast Ohio might differ from service provision in Northwest Ohio. And I think that kind of uh uh uh answers the point uh that if people ask, is scaling the same as replication? It's not because to scale you have to understand uh local context, you have to understand geography, and you also have to understand the different groups of people to whom either you're providing a product or you're providing services. So it's really important to adapt the models that you use for the ecosystems in which you're operating.
SPEAKER_01I just could not agree more. I think that is so true. And in some ways, that is what is, I think, specific or unique about health and human services, that uh we're not making widgets. And so you have to not only be good at business and be good at doing what you do, but you also have to be able to operate in the complexity of we're dealing with humans and we're dealing with local cultures and we're dealing with changing human need. And I think that that um makes what we do all the more challenging and and all the more fulfilling and rewarding when we get it right.
SPEAKER_03I can certainly add to that, uh, prosthetics are extremely specific and custom to human beings based on the level of their activity, their size, their gait, um, even the local contexts in which they live. Uh, if they live in a rural area, the kind of prosthetic that might be more suitable to them is different than the prosthetic that they might need in a in a city. And that actually also goes as far as even other assistive technologies like wheelchairs. You know, we hear about the appropriate technology that people need to suit the local context and even the local environment that people are living and existing in. And it's really, really important to take that into consideration.
Scaling An Operations Heavy Model
SPEAKER_02Anna, let's dive a little bit deeper into your model. Is it is it safe for me to say that you scaled something operationally heavy? And and again, going from country to country, city to city, how'd you do it?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we we are very, very heavy in terms of operations. Um, there are some things that uh can certainly are similar in in each area that we work in, um, but it requires a lot of communication. It's it's it's so based in relationships and um speaking to our local partners and really understanding their needs. Because, like I like I mentioned, um a smaller clinic in rural Uganda might need a very different kind of prosthetic technology than perhaps a larger hospital in India that has a big prosthetic and orthotic department. So we want to just make sure that when we're sending our our prosthetics out, we're sending uh appropriate items. That said, you know, logistics and and shipping, it really just varies country to country. Uh, and I would say shipping, we're always going to ship items uh from the US out into the world. And it really, it's such a case-by-case basis, uh, depending on, you know, the local customs rules, uh whether or not we're shipping by ocean freight or air. And so there are some things that kind of slow us down. And I would say, you know, some of the shipping logistics are some of the factors that may slow us down in some instances. Of course, even local, local contexts of like conflict, um, in areas of conflict, um, it's really harder to get um prosthetics in into a country in an active conflict. And those are the scenarios where where prosthetics might be extremely necessary because in active conflict, people are unfortunately losing limbs. Um, that all to say, you know, when we execute our model, we're we're really relying so much on partnership and the relationships we have across our entire operation from the logistics carriers, from our on-the-ground recipients of all this equipment, um, and again, the the prosthetics industry here in the US, who who very generously donate all of the equipment that we are sending out into
When To Design For Scale
SPEAKER_03the world.
SPEAKER_02Let me ask all three of you a question. And Jennifer, why don't you start us off on this one? How early should organizations be thinking about scale? Is this, you know, is this a series A mindset or is this a day one mindset?
SPEAKER_01I think it's day one, but not in the context of you need to start scaling day one. I mean day one in the context of don't start building something that you aren't at some point going to be able to replicate, that you aren't going to be able to take out and increase its impact by it being able to serve more people or serve people in other environments. And so I think it's more about um systems thinking from day one versus uh getting ahead of yourself and trying to scale too fast from day one. Because I do think it's a risk, but I think you need to be thinking about it right from the beginning.
SPEAKER_00I would totally agree. And I'll I use an analogue from the um whole issue of accessibility. If you plan accessibility, if you're building a building, and plan accessibility right from the start, it's not a difficult process. However, if you retrofit, it can be difficult, it can be impossible, and it can be incredibly expensive. So if you make the analogue between planning accessibility and planning scalability, if you plan scalability from the start, then it's it's built in. And yes, you're always going to have obstacles on the way, but you know how to deal with them because you have processes built in to your growth to address those.
SPEAKER_03It should be built in at day one, not to say um that it needs to scale from the very first day. I'm just thinking again, in the context of the kind of work that we do at Penta, um scalability also can in our case refer to long-term relationships. And um just like when it comes to assistive technology, if we're providing prosthetic components to a clinic that is serving a certain population, and those patients are returning to get fit again a couple of years later, we want to make sure that we are still providing that clinic with components for future patients or patients that might be coming in to be fit again. And that's all the more important for kids who outgrow prosthetics pretty quickly. And so we don't want to provide, um, we don't want to provide uh a prosthetic component that can only be fit once and not again, uh, especially in terms of kids. So in our case, you know, scalability can certainly refer to just the uh a larger and more longer-term relationship in one clinic or a series of clinics.
Patterns Across Global Awardees
SPEAKER_02Tom, Anna and Jennifer have both mentioned systems here. Let me ask you, from that systems lens, what patterns are you seeing across Zero Project awardees?
SPEAKER_00Right. Um I'm I'm going to refer to my notes now because uh Perfectly fine. What we do each year when we choose our awardees is actually have a look at various themes across the four focuses that I mentioned. Because we believe that uh finding such themes, patterns, clusters, whatever you will, is a very powerful tool to promote innovation and system change. So I'm going to split it down into three bits. I'm going to look at accessibility, I'm going to have a look at ICT, and then I'll have a very quick look at uh crisis response. So I'm I I've got myriad different themes, but I'm only going to talk about um two of them, which I think are really interesting. One of them that we had and found was the theme of locally produced assistive technologies, which are user-led and interesting women-led initiatives that produce affordable mobility aids and digital tools locally. Then the second one to hark back to what we were talking about earlier on is scaling inclusive wheelchair solutions. Solutions that are co-designed with uh persons with disabilities. And the whole issue of co-design is incredibly important. But they're also locally produced and they're affordable, durable, and adaptable. By adaptable is that uh people live in in different environments. Some places have hills, some places have got potholes in the streets, well, look at Ohio, potholes in the streets. But you've got to be able to have the actual applications that can deal with those different environments. Looking at ICT solutions, and we use ICT, which is very much a European term, which is information and communications technology. And for us, ICT uh overlays everything that we do. And um I think two ones are quite interesting. Are the theme that we've seen is apps that are uh supporting neurodivergent users, digital apps that provide structured support for speech therapy, daily routines and self-management. And then another one is uh ICT and Jen, you might find this interesting, ICT for accessible health care, which is uh in particular digital platforms, teleaudiology, relay services, and case management systems. And then finally, if I may um conclude looking at crisis response. And inclusive crisis response is one of the things that um we have focused on and continue to focus on. And uh two themes that we have found have been community-led uh approaches to help ensure that there is disaster preparedness and emergency relief. And then secondly, uh the theme of persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities leading crisis response models in their communities. So you you have a range there across the specific theme of accessibility, ICT, and then inclusive crisis response.
SPEAKER_01I just would comment that I do think that it's fascinating and I guess maybe even inspiring that as a society globally uh we can work together to solve big problems and that so many of us are thinking about things maybe in the same way or at the same time, even though we are continents and you know time zones apart. And I think it just speaks to sort of the the globalization both of solutions but also problems in today's world.
Leadership Shifts During Rapid Growth
SPEAKER_02Let's pivot, at least I put in my notes that I think this is the hardest part. But again, you guys are the experts, and that is leading through scale. Um, Jennifer, what changes for that leadership team when an organization shifts from say service delivery to scaling impact and getting to that systematic change, systematic change is that you've been talking about?
SPEAKER_01You know, I think this is one of the real challenges. Uh, as Anna has talked, it seems to me that it was clear to her from the beginning what the goal was and that she was building something for scaling and for growing, you know, beyond her local community, that its impact and its goal was supposed to be as broad as it's become. In nonprofit health and human services. Services, a lot of times these organizations and many times these leaders start doing this and come to this because of a personal connection and a response to a local problem. And when the charge becomes scaling versus delivering a great program locally, it's a different kind of leadership that is really required. And part of that is the uncomfortable recognition for many of us that you have to be willing to step away from the day-to-day work and focus on the big picture and being responsible for that sort of architecture versus operator and focusing on partnerships versus being able to control the day-to-day. And it's okay that not every leader that's what they're going to do, or maybe that's even what they want to do, because it does require letting go of being, you know, so close to the work. And I think quite frankly, that's that's one of the challenges. But also in my case, one of the most exciting pieces is being able to try to make that transition and focus on that bigger picture.
SPEAKER_03At a point of scaling, I I have found that it's very easy to suddenly see all the opportunities to scale, but to scale responsibly and sustainably so you don't outgrow outgrow too quickly or you run out of money too quickly because you're you're wanting to grab at all the opportunities. And I think that's where, you know, uh having a really strong idea of you know boundaries and how how fast you can grow and to what point before you have to say, okay, we have reached like this uh a certain stage of of scaling, and then we have to pause and uh adjust to this new reality and then perhaps grow again. Um, but I do think that there is some scale, like major scaling happens in phases, and or at least that has been the experience for us because you know, I wish I wish I could uh jump at every single opportunity that we've ever, you know, been handed. Or on the other hand, you know, there's such a big need for what we provide at Penta. We can't possibly say yes to every single partner at this point, at least. And so I think it's there's something to be said about responsible and um I guess, yeah, sustainable scaling so that you're not doing it too quickly or unsustainably.
SPEAKER_00And I I think there's one, as it were, a kind of meta aspect to this, which is that um potentially successful innovative solutions in this space can come across or come from and originate in all different sections of society. And they can come from civil society, they can come from the public sector, they can come from business, uh, or even overarchingly ICT. And uh in order to be successful, uh they cannot spend their time siloed within one sector. And um if you think about how we live, if you were say designing uh whether for persons with disabilities or not, um, a product, and yeah, it's an absolutely wonderful product, but you've got to distribute it. How do I distribute it? Ah, you perhaps look at a a business model and you look at how they would distribute it, and perhaps you get a business to help you. Or you want actually to be able to get it uh find yourself on the procurement list of a state or a government. So you need to know how the public sector works in order to be able to push your case, know who you have to talk to, which persons in government you have to talk to, either to be able to um protect uh your product, promote your product, or just carry on doing business.
SPEAKER_02Tom, you mentioned silos. We talk about breaking down silos a lot on our episodes. Yeah.
Culture Funding And Policy Barriers
SPEAKER_02So let's get real there just a little bit and talk about talk about some barriers. Jennifer, if you're thinking about some of the biggest internal barriers to scaling, what are they?
SPEAKER_01I think it's culture, almost always. At least in our world, um, change is hard for everyone. Nobody uh likes change. And so uh I think that's a natural phase that organizations, groups of people, teams go through. Uh sometimes organizations are still making decisions based on anecdotes and aren't truly evidence or data-driven. And if you're not there yet, culturally, it's not going to be scalable. Then the other component is kind of what I was mentioning earlier of having the right talent for the next stage and for the next phase of scaling, that having the right talent to deliver a great program locally or a great solution in your community is wonderful and you can't lose that, but it may not be the talent that you need for scaling. Just as Tom was saying, you know, being able to manage shipping logistics and being able to manage getting on a government procurement list, that is likely a different set of talent than what it took to get the solution off the ground in the first place. And so you experience that as friction and slowness and discomfort. And so I don't think that that's an indication of we shouldn't scale. It means we we don't necessarily have the right culture built yet for our being able to scale.
SPEAKER_02Got it, got it. Anna, I've got to believe when you were talking about your international business model that the regulatory environment or environments, plural, that's gotta be uh a big barrier, big challenge for you.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it absolutely is. Uh like I mentioned before, just the customs regulations are different for every country. You'd be surprised, uh, you know, in some areas of the world we get pallets and packages in, no problem, but in others, it could take months. And it doesn't matter how hard we can prepare, we're always ready to, you know, be responding to customs emails, uh last mile delivery issues. It's it's a lot. Um, but I would say another one of our broader issues is there's still just not a lot of awareness uh around what we do and why we do it. Um we we exist to collect all that surplus excess prosthetic componentry across the prosthetics industry, but not the entire prosthetics industry knows yet that we exist and we are actually redistributing this equipment. And so we've done a lot of good work uh, you know, building awareness around that and really making ourselves known as that go-to organization, redistributing equipment.
SPEAKER_02Tom, what are those global systemic barriers?
SPEAKER_00To go back to what Jen was saying, is the lack of inclusion being included, inclusion included in our policy, despite the fact that inclusion is good for absolutely everybody. Um I think also when one's actually looking at i innovative solutions and scaling, there is this whole issue of um fragmented funding. And um I would recommend listeners to look at a publication that we put out uh last year called Scaling Innovations Strategies That Work. And this deals uh quite in depth about fragmented fragmented funding. And I've just noted down about four different areas of fragmentation, which are the fact that much funding in this area is short-term and project-based. So to go back to what Anna was saying, for you it's really important that there is continuity in what you do and the services you provide. Some people only provide money for pilot projects. Second, there are nearly always, to go back to that horrible word, there are siloed funding streams. Third, there are inconsistent priorities across funders. And then finally, something which is just I think a perennial problem to so many people, is that there's limited funding for core operations. People want to see their money going into something and producing something that they can see. They don't want it to go to IT support, the purchase of paper, rent, which is all essentially, if you're in fundraising industries, unallocated funds. And fewer and fewer people want to give unallocated funds. They want to see the direct effect. And then finally, to go back to the point that Jen was making, is the whole issue of data. There is still the data either are not available or they are not uh disaggregated. And that is a perennial problem. And put that together with the whole issue of uh definitions which can vary uh uh country to country, state to state, region to region. Uh it's a dog's breakfast, and it's it's it is difficult to navigate.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
The Next Decade Of Inclusive Innovation
SPEAKER_02As we start to round the corner to wrap up this conversation, we always like to look ahead. So I'm gonna ask you, ask all three of you to look into your crystal ball. Tom, you mentioned data. So when you're thinking about data, when you're thinking about the trends out there, what all of you are seeing in your respective fields, what do the next five to ten years look like when it comes to inclusive innovation? Or maybe you could pair that with what you're really excited about with something that you're seeing?
SPEAKER_03Since I joined Penta about five years ago, there definitely has been a trend in the prosthetics industry in favor of learning more about organizations like Penta and what we do and why why we do it, and of course the value we add, not only in the prosthetics industry, but in the LIMLOS community around the world. So while that has improved, there's still a lot of work to be done. We still are going to continue to um work work here in the United States to make sure the industry knows that we exist. Uh, and then internationally, we're just going to continue responding to the need in whatever way we can. In in the near future, we just do plan to grow, I would say, deeper in the countries we're already working. We're already providing services um in nearly 30 countries. And so, as you can imagine, the dealing with the logistics uh and uh shipping issues with um that many different countries is is very uh it's challenging. And so we are working on instead of growing more broadly, just growing deeper in the areas of the world we are already in. So we're really excited to see how that pans out, what kind of new partners we find in that growing deeper instead of broader uh process. Um, and then yeah, just uh continue um finding new ways to to really demonstrate the impact of what we are doing, not just um not just showing the world that uh we are helping people walk, but really putting um some numbers around like the economic data of of what we are helping people achieve. Um how we are improving people's lives socially, educationally. So we're we're working towards that and really looking forward to share the impact of our work in different ways.
SPEAKER_02Tom, what are you looking forward to?
SPEAKER_00Um hackneyed word, hackneyed expression, sorry about that, AI, uh particular particularly in accessibility, but as a corollary to that, the recognition that AI itself has to be equitable, and that is of paramount importance, not only in its development, but in its implementation and its use. It has to be inclusive in all respects. I'm really excited by the whole issue of community-led solutions, because we haven't talked very much about the absolute, I believe, imperative of having co-designed by persons with disabilities. And uh community-led uh solutions uh usually have their raison d'être in uh lived experience. And there's lived experience in the community. And you can use community in any way you want, whether it's uh interests, occupation, location, or again simply experience. And then finally, one thing that we are quite pleased that we're helping to put much more on the map and indeed highlight is a disability-inclusive crisis response, particularly when it involves climate. And this year we published what we believe is the first significant report on practical solutions and global insights. And if I may finish with a quotation from one of our pals, um, Michael Stein, who is the executive director of the Harvard Law School project on disability. He says a disability perspective can deepen understanding of societal choices and build collective climate resilience. And I think that really sums it up in that space.
SPEAKER_02Well, and talking about community-led solutions, you you absolutely tee up uh Jennifer here because um Jen, you've said this, uh Dr. Patrick Maynard has said this, other executives here at Boundless, and that is when we hear from our communities out there, and if there's a need, we all we try to get to a yes with with everything that we're doing here. So, Jen, what are you what are you excited about over these next you know five to ten years?
SPEAKER_01Well, I'm immediately excited about trying to find an opportunity to use the phrase a dog's breakfast in ongoing conversation. Um I've never heard that, Tom. I love that. Uh but the the three things that I would say I'm excited about, I'm watching. Uh one is I I agree with you, Tom, on the need for AI to be implemented and really uh thought about in a very equitable way. And I'm very excited about the opportunity for technology to be a great equalizer in a way that just as a society, we haven't had that opportunity. So digital platforms, assistive technology, AI, I think that there's a big opportunity for them to reduce barriers at scale globally. Uh, I also am excited about seeing or interested about seeing how uh healthcare, social services, and technology are beginning to intersect and we're seeing so much overlap and so much um coordination, I think that that's a real opportunity in the world. And then we're far from perfect, but I do believe that we are beginning to see inclusion be part of initial design and not always an afterthought. And I really think that if we can, you know, latch on to that, designing inclusion in from the beginning, looking at technology as an equalizer, looking at how different sectors and industries can collaborate to reduce barriers, that we can move from serving people within a broken system to actually redesigning the systems that are gonna serve us all here into the future. So um, you know, Scott, I'm ever the optimist. Yes, but I am optimistic and hopeful about what's in front of us.
SPEAKER_02This has been a terrific conversation, guys. Um, as Tom and the Zero Project remind us, this all of this takes collaboration. It takes courageous leadership, it takes commitment, and perhaps most importantly, inclusion doesn't happen because of policy alone. It happens because leaders like all of you decide to build these systems, hopefully from that ground up that work for everyone. So, Jennifer, Thomas, and Anna, thank you for the work that you're doing, and thank you for your expertise today.
SPEAKER_00Thanks so much, Scott. It's been great to be here. Thanks, Jen.
SPEAKER_01Thanks so much for having us. Thanks for having me.
Mission Moment Boundless At Home
SPEAKER_02Well, now it's time for our mission moment. We really like to end a lot of our episodes with moments like these from people inside Boundless who are really, really making a difference. I want you to meet my new friend Maggie. She's the outreach manager here at I Am Boundless. Hey, Maggie.
SPEAKER_04Hey, Scott. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_02So tell us about your mission moment.
SPEAKER_04Oh, I'm so excited to be here and share about our special mission moment. Um, at Boundless, we have our Boundless at Home program. So, Boundless at Home is all about flexibility, empowerment, and really putting individuals and families in the driver's seat of their care. So, for those with a waiver through their county board of developmental disabilities, this program creates an opportunity to choose someone they already know and trust, like a family member, friend, community member, former caregiver in a previous role to be their in-home caregiver. So, Banless supports that relationship by providing paid training, case management, and the administrative structure and compliance that's needed so that caregivers can be compensated for the work that in many cases they're already doing. This is a statewide program and definitely scalable to everyone's point on the podcast today. Um, it's very person-centered, culturally relevant, and community-based. And so it looks a little different in each household. But what makes this so powerful is the consistency and continuity and just really the connection that it creates. Instead of, you know, navigating frequent staff turnover or rigid schedules, like some of the challenges that come up with a traditional staffing agency, individuals are supported by someone who is truly invested in their life, someone who knows them, enjoys spending time with them, and is committed to helping them thrive. Together, they build routines, explore their community, and really just create meaningful experiences. Um, and when that kind of connection is in place, that's when we really see people flourish. And that's exactly what we are gonna hear in today's mission moment. So Danielle's mom, Joyce, shared with us this mission moment. Um, her story really says it all, just highlighting the joy, stability, and growth that her son has experienced through Boundless at Home. So I'm just gonna read her words.
SPEAKER_02Sure.
SPEAKER_04Hi, all. I just had to share this photo of Daniel and one of our DSPs, direct support professional, who captures the extraordinary impact of the Boundless at Home program and the waiver. Daniel's life is filled with so many challenges, and his abilities are so limited that a picture like this is just gold. Because of the program, the funding, and all of the behind-the-scenes work that the board and Boundless do to make it possible. Daniel has consistent care, meaningful community inclusion, and friendships that he simply would not have otherwise. And the picture, I wish you could see.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, describe it for us if you can, Maggie.
SPEAKER_04I sure will. So it's Daniel in the backseat and his caregiver Ainsley in the front. And they're staring into each other's eyes with so much joy, such a big smile on both of their faces. And he has both of his hands clasped around her one hand as she's turned towards him. It's just a really nice, lovely photo. I'm so glad that she shared it with us. And the closing says, I wanted to send along this small glimpse as a heartfelt thank you. I want you to know that your work makes a huge difference in Daniel's life and in ours as a family. Have a great day, Joyce.
SPEAKER_02That is an incredible mission moment. Maggie, thanks for sharing. Absolutely. Thank you. And also thanks for describing the picture because this is an audio podcast. I'm Scott Light. This is the Nonprofit Leader's Guide Podcast brought to you by Bamelis.