Fridays 10:00am - 11:00am (EDT)
💛 This Friday on Philanthropy in Phocus with Tommy DiMisa #InTheAttic
Join us for an insightful conversation with Noah Eliot Gotbaum, Interim Executive Director of Adam’s House Grief Support for Children and Founder of New Spirit Advisors. Noah brings a powerful blend of entrepreneurial spirit, nonprofit leadership, and lived compassion to the conversation—especially when it comes to supporting grieving children and building impactful organizations from the ground up. 🧒💬
This week, we explore “From Grief to Growth: Building Nonprofits That Heal.” Learn how Adam’s House has transformed lives through free peer-based grief programs for children and families—and how Noah’s experience founding New York Cares and reviving regional nonprofits has shaped his approach to leading with purpose.
🕙 Tune in Friday, June 6th at 10 AM EST to hear how strategic vision, storytelling, and heart can grow an idea into a healing force for an entire community. 🎧
Name of your organization: Adam's House Grief Support for Children/New Spirit Advisors
Website: adamshousect.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top?
q=adam%27s%20house
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noahgotbaum/
#PhilanthropyInPhocus #AdamsHouseCT #GriefSupport #NonprofitLeadership #NewSpiritAdvisors #HealingThroughCommunity
Tune in for this sensible conversation at TalkRadio.nyc
In this candid opening, Tommy DiMisa reflects on the summer heat in his attic studio before introducing guest Noah Gotbaum, interim CEO of Adam’s House and a lifelong advocate shaped by a family legacy of social welfare and union leadership. Noah shares how witnessing rampant homelessness during the Reagan era compelled him and his peers—young professionals frustrated with surface-level philanthropy—to seek deeper volunteer engagement and community-building in New York City. The conversation pivots to a passionate discussion about the urgent need for systemic support in the nonprofit sector, from delayed government funding to the lack of employee benefits for frontline workers.
In this inspiring segment, Noah Gotbaum recounts how frustration with rigid, outdated volunteer systems in 1980s New York led him and a group of friends to create New York Cares, a grassroots organization that redefined community service through flexibility and accessibility. What began as a summer experiment evolved into a global model—driven by “friendraisers,” not fundraisers—empowering people to contribute time, resources, and energy in tangible, communal ways. Noah’s story highlights how one committed idea, sparked by collective disappointment and executed with ingenuity, helped transform civic engagement around the world.
In this emotionally powerful segment, Noah Gotbaum recounts the personal loss of his wife and how raising three young children through grief ultimately redirected his life’s work toward nonprofit leadership. He shares the story of becoming CEO at Building Neighborhoods Together—an organization he helped stabilize and rebrand after inheriting it in crisis—before discovering Adam’s House, a grief support nonprofit with a unique 8-week curriculum for children and families. Emphasizing that one in ten children experiences early loss, Gotbaum explains how unresolved grief can lead to long-term consequences like addiction and incarceration, making structured, family-centered interventions like those at Adam’s House essential and urgent.
Noah Gotbaum outlines the impactful grief support programming at Adam’s House, especially their 8-week “Helping Hearts Heal” curriculum designed for children ages 5–18 and their families to process loss together in a safe, peer-supported environment. The program focuses on emotional healing, memory sharing, and resilience-building, with participants often bonding deeply and asking to continue beyond the initial sessions. With over 100 families on a waitlist and demand outpacing funding, Gotbaum calls for volunteers and financial support to expand services—particularly to low-income communities disproportionately affected by early loss.
00:00:44.920 --> 00:00:52.470 Tommy DiMisa: Oh, yeah, your boy is back. The one and only the nonprofit sector connector coming at you from the top of my house just below the roof.
00:00:52.470 --> 00:01:16.330 Tommy DiMisa: and man! Oh, man, it is warm in the attic today. It is a warm one, I think. We sprung right through spring and went right into summer. It is just early June, but it is a hot one here in the attic. But people would say, Tommy, D, why don't you get an air conditioner in the attic, and I was just in the kitchen getting more coffee, and my wife said, Tommy D. I'm getting an air conditioner, put in the attic a new one. So I have one of them ones that you move around. Everybody like you got to put it by the window, and all this kind of stuff.
00:01:16.330 --> 00:01:25.390 Tommy DiMisa: She's got to hook me up. So that's what it is. That's that's what it is. That's what having teamwork is all about where you can have somebody hook you up and get you sorted out, so you don't melt
00:01:25.410 --> 00:01:43.690 Tommy DiMisa: at the top of your house all right. So every day, every week. Every Friday, that is, I come up to the attic. I do the show philanthropy in focus. And what would we focus on? We're helping nonprofit organizations, and their leaders tell their story and amplify their message. And you know, the thing about it for me is this has become
00:01:44.520 --> 00:01:56.979 Tommy DiMisa: man. It's become my mission. It's become something I'm involved with. I'm in conversations about nonprofits all day, every day visiting nonprofit organizations, doing content like this with nonprofits.
00:01:57.030 --> 00:02:19.910 Tommy DiMisa: I'm now being brought in to be the Mc. At nonprofit events, did one just Sunday night at the Suffolk Theater for an organization called Blessings across Long Island, which makes sure young children in schools go home with food for the weekend, because, as many of you might know, even here on Long Island right. Oh, my goodness, Long Island is not just the Hamptons here, even the Hamptons there's need gang.
00:02:20.110 --> 00:02:35.200 Tommy DiMisa: but even here on Long Island there are, I think, the number I read when I was on stage. Sunday night was 313,000 people on Long Island, or food insecure, and over 70,000 of those are children, and I started off the show, as the Mc. Saying, How do you learn
00:02:35.390 --> 00:02:44.759 Tommy DiMisa: when your tummy is grumbling because you're hungry? Right? How do we do that? So there's so much, so much more to be done. And and that's you know my show is not hyper local.
00:02:44.760 --> 00:03:06.800 Tommy DiMisa: But when I'm home on the hometown here on the island. It's just to learn these things and be able to teach people. It's what it's all about. Talk about teaching, you know. If it wasn't for my relationships and my connections. If I'm not mistaken, Sam Lebowitz from here, from Talkradio, dot Nyc was the one who connected today's guest. Noah Elliott Gotbaum and Tommy D. And if it's not for my network putting us together
00:03:07.100 --> 00:03:22.190 Tommy DiMisa: well, then, I don't know all these people, and yes, I am the nonprofit sector connector. But I only am because I hang out with other people who are looking out for me and making these types of connections. So I was talking about. I started to say about learning and things like that, Noah. Good morning, sir. How are you.
00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:24.659 Noah Gotbaum: I'm great, Tommy. Thanks, thanks for having me on.
00:03:24.660 --> 00:03:39.829 Tommy DiMisa: I'm glad to have you, man, and I mean we spoke only like just. We spoke this week. We spoke like one time, like 3 or 4 months ago, after Sam hooked us up, and and after talking to you earlier this week, and and doing some research on you and your background and the great work we're going to learn a lot today. Gang we do. We do a lot of
00:03:40.120 --> 00:04:05.980 Tommy DiMisa: learning here we've left. I've been known to cry here on the show. Maybe we don't do it today we'll see what happens. I you know, I mean, the warmth might just make me cry. But I, kid, but you know Noah has such a rich story, a rich background. And we're going to talk about the organization where he is currently the interim CEO, which is called Adam's House, which is in Connecticut, which we'll get into all that and the great work that organization is doing. So.
00:04:05.980 --> 00:04:14.660 Tommy DiMisa: No, really, without any more. I just want to dive in. We talked about this. This is like that. Show these to be a show. I've been talking about a lot on A and E called biography.
00:04:14.660 --> 00:04:41.089 Tommy DiMisa: and it was like, just tell somebody's story. And I mean, talk about a biography. I could read your bio. I have it here, but that's boring for me, and probably even more boring for the listeners. I want to hear the story through your eyes. Your journey, I always say, what drew you to the nonprofit sector? What brought you to the sector? What are those stories, those anecdotes? And then, obviously, we'll get into the work you're doing at Adam's house. So, please, I want to hear your story. That's why I showed up.
00:04:41.872 --> 00:04:48.159 Noah Gotbaum: Thanks, Tommy, I appreciate it. You know I grew up in a social welfare household.
00:04:48.707 --> 00:04:50.999 Noah Gotbaum: My father was a labor Union leader.
00:04:51.370 --> 00:04:53.880 Noah Gotbaum: My mother was a social worker and a teacher.
00:04:55.880 --> 00:04:56.870 Noah Gotbaum: We
00:04:57.580 --> 00:05:05.500 Noah Gotbaum: we always were kind of taught. You gotta you gotta look out for others. That was that was what I grew up in.
00:05:05.970 --> 00:05:08.620 Noah Gotbaum: And so.
00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:15.710 Noah Gotbaum: and and a lot of it was about politics, too. It was about, you know, changing the world through through politics.
00:05:17.280 --> 00:05:23.600 Noah Gotbaum: But during during college I worked in community development stuff foundations.
00:05:23.860 --> 00:05:34.510 Noah Gotbaum: And then, when I came out, I spent a year on a choral fellowship out in La, doing different types of different types of public service work.
00:05:34.770 --> 00:05:37.900 Noah Gotbaum: and then came back to New York and
00:05:38.070 --> 00:05:48.439 Noah Gotbaum: knew that I really wanted to get get involved in public service and nonprofit stuff, but also felt like you have to know what's going on in the private sector.
00:05:48.550 --> 00:06:01.839 Noah Gotbaum: because they're you know, they're the drivers of of so much in terms of funding in terms of policy in terms of everything. So my day job was working in real estate and community development.
00:06:04.360 --> 00:06:07.299 Noah Gotbaum: But that really wasn't enough. It was during the Reagan era
00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:11.659 Noah Gotbaum: those who were around at that time.
00:06:12.286 --> 00:06:18.450 Noah Gotbaum: And I remember that New York was just raft of homelessness.
00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:22.060 Noah Gotbaum: It was really really a difficult time.
00:06:22.550 --> 00:06:30.669 Noah Gotbaum: and so many of us had come out of college where we had great communities and all of a sudden we're working in New York.
00:06:32.600 --> 00:06:35.689 Noah Gotbaum: Working in law firms and real estate firms and
00:06:36.199 --> 00:06:43.400 Noah Gotbaum: banks and the rest, and wanted to get involved, and saw what was going on in the streets.
00:06:43.800 --> 00:06:46.120 Noah Gotbaum: and there was really no way to get involved.
00:06:47.570 --> 00:07:09.969 Tommy DiMisa: So let me let me just stop for a sec. So this is, I have a friend. I haven't talked to him in a bit. But a man named Angel Rodriguez, who founded an organization. I don't know if you know that name in the organization avenues for justice, and he talked to me about he goes, Tommy. In the late seventies, you know the the Lower East Side was a war zone, his words not mine. But I've seen the pictures. No, you know, and you mentioned
00:07:09.970 --> 00:07:24.169 Tommy DiMisa: the homelessness crisis during that era. I was born in 78 man. So I you know I was. Reagan was a President when I was born. But I don't know anything about that right? I mean, when when did I come online early nineties? I guess to even be aware of things like that.
00:07:24.640 --> 00:07:40.659 Tommy DiMisa: you know I so the thing about it for me is, I didn't live through that era, but I have friends who did. And you know the city at that time I'm out here on Long Island gang. Been here my whole life, you know. I went to school at Baruch for for a number of years in Manhattan, and
00:07:41.560 --> 00:07:55.209 Tommy DiMisa: I never felt like the city was a scary place in my era, right? But if I think back to like the eighties and stuff like that when I was a kid. You know Manhattan Times Square like that's that was a different world back then, right.
00:07:55.210 --> 00:07:55.820 Noah Gotbaum: Yeah.
00:07:56.050 --> 00:08:02.202 Noah Gotbaum: it. The whole city was a different world. And I'm I'm not. You know, the seventies. There's a lot a lot of talk
00:08:03.430 --> 00:08:07.830 Noah Gotbaum: about how you know how scary the city was in chaos?
00:08:08.772 --> 00:08:10.579 Noah Gotbaum: In the eighties.
00:08:10.820 --> 00:08:13.270 Noah Gotbaum: It was not,
00:08:15.460 --> 00:08:21.950 Noah Gotbaum: not really a scary place. It was just a place that was kind of out of control in terms of
00:08:22.552 --> 00:08:29.809 Noah Gotbaum: the poverty level and people living on the streets. It was the time of this, what they called it the squeegee, the squeegee men.
00:08:29.810 --> 00:08:32.159 Noah Gotbaum: Yeah, sure. Come on.
00:08:32.169 --> 00:08:42.499 Noah Gotbaum: and you get a little taste of it over the last couple of years. You know where you have people sleeping in the subways, and that being a little bit out of control. But
00:08:42.659 --> 00:08:44.629 Noah Gotbaum: at that time.
00:08:45.339 --> 00:08:51.059 Noah Gotbaum: you know you'd go. You'd get you'd get up, you'd go. You'd go to work. You'd be tripping over people
00:08:51.309 --> 00:08:52.559 Noah Gotbaum: on your doorstep.
00:08:52.560 --> 00:08:52.940 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:08:53.395 --> 00:08:54.759 Noah Gotbaum: In the subway.
00:08:56.340 --> 00:09:04.090 Noah Gotbaum: Really it it was just. It was terrible. Homelessness was was awful. And the poverty levels
00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:08.409 Noah Gotbaum: we're we're really bad. And for
00:09:08.690 --> 00:09:13.982 Noah Gotbaum: for a group of us who had, you know, been privileged and
00:09:15.820 --> 00:09:19.640 Noah Gotbaum: been able to, you know, really get
00:09:20.250 --> 00:09:23.968 Noah Gotbaum: get professional jobs, and we're doing well.
00:09:26.010 --> 00:09:32.240 Noah Gotbaum: We saw this, and we were part of it, and I grew grown up, saying, You know you got to take care of others.
00:09:32.370 --> 00:09:34.809 Noah Gotbaum: but we didn't know how.
00:09:34.810 --> 00:09:44.549 Tommy DiMisa: Access in that, because I just wrote down like you. It didn't seem like there was like, Oh, we could just plug in, or we could just go. Oh, this is oh, let's just go join this movement over here and get involved. It wasn't that right?
00:09:44.550 --> 00:09:51.900 Noah Gotbaum: It wasn't anything like that. It wasn't anything like that. But you know what there was, Tommy was.
00:09:53.000 --> 00:10:00.509 Noah Gotbaum: If you were if you were coming out of college, and, you know, work in one of these one of these jobs.
00:10:01.333 --> 00:10:08.950 Noah Gotbaum: You were getting invitations to go to, you know, junior events for the opera, you know.
00:10:08.950 --> 00:10:09.560 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:10:09.560 --> 00:10:14.709 Noah Gotbaum: Or or for you know, for some, you know, good fresh air fun, really good organizations.
00:10:15.010 --> 00:10:15.930 Noah Gotbaum: But
00:10:17.620 --> 00:10:20.800 Noah Gotbaum: You couldn't you? You were just given money.
00:10:21.380 --> 00:10:31.680 Noah Gotbaum: You weren't giving time. You weren't involved. You weren't able to get to really feel like you were making a difference other than writing a check and going to a party.
00:10:31.680 --> 00:10:35.610 Noah Gotbaum: Sure, and that was that was that was frustrating.
00:10:35.940 --> 00:10:42.100 Noah Gotbaum: And there also was a distinct lack of community. We came out of college where we were, you know.
00:10:42.300 --> 00:10:51.330 Noah Gotbaum: hanging out with friends and doing things together, and felt part of a community. And all of a sudden you're in New York city and
00:10:51.530 --> 00:10:57.639 Noah Gotbaum: those communities were kind of blown wide open, and you didn't have con connection.
00:10:58.870 --> 00:11:06.147 Noah Gotbaum: like you like you were used to, either in, you know high school or college anyway. So
00:11:06.900 --> 00:11:08.129 Noah Gotbaum: I just said
00:11:08.730 --> 00:11:14.830 Noah Gotbaum: talking to a friend of mine. I said, I've got to do something different. I, you know, writing a check or going to these parties.
00:11:14.980 --> 00:11:21.269 Noah Gotbaum: and then tripping over homelessness on the way to my Korean grocer or to my health. You know Health club
00:11:21.460 --> 00:11:26.719 Noah Gotbaum: isn't going to do it. And so I pulled a bunch of friends together
00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:35.760 Noah Gotbaum: and we said, Let's let's try to. Let's try to get more involved. Let's try to get involved with with organizations, and really do do some volunteer work.
00:11:36.080 --> 00:12:02.919 Tommy DiMisa: So what? Yeah? So so 1st of all, you know, just I want to underscore something there, folks, you might be frustrated with things, and then you can go. Continue to be frustrated. Or you can say I'm going to be part of the change, and I'm going to do something about it, and I'm going to make the world a better place. And that's where we're getting to, and I want to hear about that. But something is pressing me, and I got to ask you this question really quick, and it might take us in a totally different direction. But we're going to get to back. I promise to what you
00:12:02.930 --> 00:12:21.769 Tommy DiMisa: what this opportunity created for you. But you say social welfare household. Your dad was a Union leader. We're in a time in history, Noah, where unions are, you know, trying to support the members. I grew up in a Union household. My father worked for the phone company every 3 years. In August we were out on strike, or
00:12:21.810 --> 00:12:24.009 Tommy DiMisa: you know the worst was in 89
00:12:25.037 --> 00:12:26.580 Tommy DiMisa: I think it was 6 months
00:12:26.780 --> 00:12:36.420 Tommy DiMisa: they were out and growing up, and I'm not going to say I have all the answers here, and I'm not. This is not. This is not a political show in any way, and I'm not trying to make it that
00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:45.130 Tommy DiMisa: the unions are there to protect the people and and that social welfare that you're talking about looking out. And obviously these big companies don't want the unions there
00:12:45.990 --> 00:12:50.589 Tommy DiMisa: anything. I was on a show. We did this show last week, and it came up, and it was just like.
00:12:50.690 --> 00:12:58.789 Tommy DiMisa: I'm wondering if we, this sector needs you to be unionized, to protect the people in the nonprofit sector to get them, you know, to
00:12:58.790 --> 00:13:22.579 Tommy DiMisa: to get the direct care workers who are making $17 an hour and have to work in second job just to make ends meet, you know, when they're and they're taking care of people's disabled children, disabled adults, intellectual developmental disabilities. You know, people with the Omh space. And they're on the front lines living and working in group homes with folks, and they're not being supported. This is me more ranting than anything else. But I want to key into that piece about, you know, growing up, as you say, in a social welfare. Home.
00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:30.929 Tommy DiMisa: Do you have anything to add from from that union perspective about just like God. That's how the men and women are protected by those organizations.
00:13:31.430 --> 00:13:43.720 Noah Gotbaum: Well, it's a it's a great question, Tommy, and if you look at income inequality really it
00:13:44.680 --> 00:13:53.540 Noah Gotbaum: it has exploded since since 1980, Reagan becoming President because he directly attacked
00:13:53.640 --> 00:14:00.359 Noah Gotbaum: unions unions, built the middle class in this country. They provide dignity, benefits.
00:14:00.870 --> 00:14:06.960 Noah Gotbaum: and representation. And what has happened in the 50,
00:14:07.520 --> 00:14:15.610 Noah Gotbaum: you know, 45 years, 40 years since is that most of these folks, a lot of these folks have been stripped of that.
00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:20.720 Noah Gotbaum: And you see it. You see it in people having to work.
00:14:21.666 --> 00:14:24.579 Noah Gotbaum: you know, 2 jobs. And and still.
00:14:24.580 --> 00:14:24.990 Tommy DiMisa: Don't know.
00:14:24.990 --> 00:14:28.980 Noah Gotbaum: Food insecure. You see it in
00:14:29.210 --> 00:14:33.619 Noah Gotbaum: the layoffs and the and the wage disparity.
00:14:34.214 --> 00:14:38.230 Noah Gotbaum: You see it in the in the lack of benefits and political
00:14:38.430 --> 00:14:42.100 Noah Gotbaum: political power. It's it's a big deal.
00:14:42.570 --> 00:14:46.079 Noah Gotbaum: It's a great question about the nonprofit sector, because
00:14:46.640 --> 00:14:54.199 Noah Gotbaum: it's it's huge. And you look, I mean. The biggest one of the biggest issues in nonprofit sector in New York is that?
00:14:55.810 --> 00:14:58.060 Noah Gotbaum: Our our nonprofits can't get paid.
00:14:58.310 --> 00:14:59.010 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah, yeah.
00:14:59.010 --> 00:15:05.130 Noah Gotbaum: They're waiting. They're waiting a year, 18 months to get paid. And how do you? How do you carry that.
00:15:05.130 --> 00:15:17.519 Tommy DiMisa: How are you supposed to float that I'm not mad at you? How are you supposed to float that New York State? How are you supposed to float that Federal government? I'm supposed to give all these services that we know. Here goes the rant. I feel it coming.
00:15:17.540 --> 00:15:31.369 Tommy DiMisa: I'm supposed to, as this nonprofit give all these services that the Government could not do if they wanted to do, and if we assigned it to them they wouldn't be able to do it. My opinion, everybody right. But they I believe they couldn't. But then I have to now float payroll
00:15:31.370 --> 00:15:48.390 Tommy DiMisa: for 6 months, 12 months, 1818 months. I'm closing my doors. What are we talking about here? I'm amazed by this stuff. I just googled this really quick. In 2022 New York's nonprofit sector employed 1.3 million people.
00:15:48.550 --> 00:16:15.379 Tommy DiMisa: one in 6 private sector jobs in the State are people who work for nonprofit organizations. So gang. When we? I asked this ridiculous question, are nonprofits a big deal? Of course they are. Yeah. I mean, it's 1 in every 6 private sector jobs is a number 1.3 million in the State. The number here it is. Here's the other part I wanted. New York City nonprofits employed in this in 22662,000 people, 662 0, 2, 5,
00:16:15.490 --> 00:16:18.410 Tommy DiMisa: you know. That's a massive amount of people.
00:16:18.610 --> 00:16:20.389 Noah Gotbaum: That's 1 in 11 in 12 people.
00:16:20.390 --> 00:16:48.979 Tommy DiMisa: Come on, man, that's wild. And and now and those people, you know are not taking care of, you know I own an employed benefits agency with my 2 partners. We own an agency called vanguard benefits. So we are constantly in these conversations around culture. Hr. Employee benefits right where we just launched the vanguard benefits Hall of Fame award, and we're very excited about that, because he's Hall of Fame Employers, and I tell you that not to pitch our company. I tell everybody that because that's what we're. I'm in these dialogues, and we're like
00:16:49.170 --> 00:16:53.139 Tommy DiMisa: nonprofits want so bad to take care of their people. It doesn't work
00:16:53.270 --> 00:17:02.419 Tommy DiMisa: a hundred percent of the time. So I'm on a rant. We're all over the map as usual. I'm probably gonna you know, I'm gonna focus on this whole thing about
00:17:03.590 --> 00:17:16.099 Tommy DiMisa: more and better access to benefits. I'm glad I met you because I'm putting together a panel discussion and we'll talk offline that it might be something you might want to be part of, as it relates to these types of of conversations.
00:17:16.109 --> 00:17:24.039 Noah Gotbaum: Well, it's it's an issue we have at Adam's house because we're we're so small that our
00:17:24.389 --> 00:17:29.759 Noah Gotbaum: our workers are, you know, the people who make make the the nonprofit run
00:17:30.590 --> 00:17:37.879 Noah Gotbaum: are either volunteers or their contract employees, because we just can't, can't manage
00:17:39.139 --> 00:17:46.299 Noah Gotbaum: having them on and contract and doing the benefits and and all that for right now. And it's very tough.
00:17:46.300 --> 00:18:15.900 Tommy DiMisa: I remember something not to not to go all the way out. Field left field, but I remember a bunch of years ago when the Affordable Care Act came out. This is just an anecdote, but I knew a woman who worked in a supermarket, and she got her benefits from work and the supermarket. I'm not going to mention their name, but they brought everybody down under full time, so they didn't have to give them benefits. So this person. This woman had to go get a second job a second part time job, and neither one got her health insurance. So this was like the stuff that go. It's just so tough. We we could sit here and rant about different things.
00:18:15.900 --> 00:18:19.949 Tommy DiMisa: I'm glad you're here when we come back. What I want to do, we'll take a quick break. We come back.
00:18:19.950 --> 00:18:42.270 Tommy DiMisa: I want to get into you saw this challenge. You saw this problem. I call it an opportunity. There was lack of community for for folks coming out of school, young people who are, you know, on, on trajectories, on successful career tracks. But we're saying we want to give back. We want to make impact. We want to be more involved. And that's where we're going to when we come back. You're going to tell me, what was this? What happened from that? How's that sound.
00:18:42.920 --> 00:18:43.710 Noah Gotbaum: Great Tommy. Thanks.
00:18:43.710 --> 00:18:47.240 Tommy DiMisa: Very good. We are right back. Philanthropy in focus.
00:20:27.070 --> 00:20:51.500 Tommy DiMisa: Y'all are back. I'm just going to do a little singing. Actually, I try often. I try not to date where we're at, you know, because you may find this 100 years from now, and you go. Oh, I missed that event. It was a hundred years ago, but I will tell you. Tomorrow night I am going to see the goods. Brendan Levy, who is the singer of the song you just heard. Nonprofits need connections. Brendan and I wrote that song together. Brendan Levy, singer of damaged goods, will be playing at docs
00:20:51.500 --> 00:21:05.199 Tommy DiMisa: down on an island Park, South Shore, Long Island. I will be there. I love seeing they used to be called the Goods Noah, that's my friend. He's with the Queens Chamber of Commerce. He's the Vice President of Business development at the Chamber. He's a good friend of mine
00:21:05.610 --> 00:21:29.279 Tommy DiMisa: and his band back in the nineties they had a deal, and they were called the goods, but since they're old men now, they renamed themselves as damaged goods, so damaged goods will be playing out at docks now. The place is probably going to be packed. I probably can't even get in. Now. Forget it, Brendan. I'll be waving from the parking lot all right, so let's get into it. So tell me we're right up against this story. It took us to a break. You come to this.
00:21:29.330 --> 00:21:48.340 Tommy DiMisa: this crossroads right where I guess you could have just taken those those donation checks and gone to the Met Opera Junior Opera people, whatever that looked like, right? But then, where you? What I'm hearing from you and I'm hearing it from your heart, too, is that that was not the change that needed to be made. That wasn't. You didn't feel the impact
00:21:48.430 --> 00:21:49.830 Tommy DiMisa: of- of what could be.
00:21:49.830 --> 00:21:53.809 Noah Gotbaum: Not not at all, not at all. And and
00:21:54.170 --> 00:21:57.760 Noah Gotbaum: we wanted to make a difference so, and and I knew that
00:21:57.890 --> 00:22:00.069 Noah Gotbaum: my friends felt the same way.
00:22:00.070 --> 00:22:00.620 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:22:00.970 --> 00:22:06.060 Noah Gotbaum: That they had. You know. They just said we gotta get involved. We gotta do something.
00:22:06.060 --> 00:22:06.500 Tommy DiMisa: Right.
00:22:06.500 --> 00:22:10.349 Noah Gotbaum: And we we spent the summer
00:22:10.500 --> 00:22:14.400 Noah Gotbaum: group of us. I pulled bunch of friends together.
00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:18.689 Noah Gotbaum: and we each said, Let's go out and try to volunteer.
00:22:19.270 --> 00:22:29.909 Noah Gotbaum: do work with whatever wherever we want, and that was the time of the Welfare hotels and the homeless hotels. So I went to try to volunteer there. I had friends who were trying to volunteer with
00:22:32.770 --> 00:22:36.450 Noah Gotbaum: With seniors kids, anyway.
00:22:37.098 --> 00:22:39.170 Noah Gotbaum: It was almost impossible.
00:22:39.400 --> 00:22:40.760 Tommy DiMisa: Impossible meaning like.
00:22:41.930 --> 00:22:55.850 Tommy DiMisa: I mean again, it's a paradigm situation, right? I know the paradigm I call a bunch of nonprofits. And say, can we do a volunteer event there, it's gonna happen right? So. But again, I live in 2025. So that just didn't exist. That level of access.
00:22:56.290 --> 00:23:04.500 Noah Gotbaum: Yeah, you you'd call up an organization. You wouldn't. You wouldn't be getting anybody. They would generally wouldn't have a volunteer coordinator if they did
00:23:04.780 --> 00:23:13.470 Noah Gotbaum: you? You had to go in for, you know, weeks of training, and you could only volunteer on Thursdays for 2 h every week.
00:23:14.037 --> 00:23:19.749 Noah Gotbaum: It was not flexible. It was isolated. If you could get through to it. And
00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:25.459 Noah Gotbaum: the city had this place called the Mayor's Voluntary Action Center, which was pretty
00:23:25.630 --> 00:23:36.590 Noah Gotbaum: pretty useless, and we all got back together at the end of the summer, and just said, You know, this isn't working.
00:23:36.590 --> 00:23:57.230 Tommy DiMisa: Was trying to do. Let me just get the context right? You were going out trying to find opportunities. You kind of guys like, okay, break everybody. Go try to figure this thing out. And then everybody's coming back. And we're unsuccessful. Here, man, there's like this is broken. I'm looking at the website right now. And well, I'm not going to tell. You'll tell them the name of the organization in a bit. But in 1987, a group of friends who wanted to volunteer found themselves
00:23:57.230 --> 00:24:14.560 Tommy DiMisa: frustrated by the fractured nonprofit landscape, making volunteer opportunities hard to find. They wanted a centralized way to organize efforts and access communities. Right? I mean, that's so. Everybody went out. Let's go check it out, break, and then come back and go. This is a mess. My words, but that's what it sounds like.
00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:21.189 Noah Gotbaum: So what we did was we 1st as a group.
00:24:21.520 --> 00:24:30.260 Noah Gotbaum: we started to do some volunteering stuff we were we were doing. We did, offered meals on Thanksgiving. We did a couple of things.
00:24:30.560 --> 00:24:44.610 Noah Gotbaum: and then we just said we need a we need a new, a new paradigm. We knew the organization. And so I wrote the business plan for what has become New York cares. And it was
00:24:44.810 --> 00:24:51.810 Noah Gotbaum: essentially making volunteer work, direct access work more accessible
00:24:52.580 --> 00:24:55.570 Noah Gotbaum: and also community based. And and
00:24:56.340 --> 00:25:06.580 Noah Gotbaum: we, our very 1st fundraisers, were not fundraisers. We said, we don't want. We want to get community together. We don't want you to give money. We want you to bring something and bring your time.
00:25:06.850 --> 00:25:08.509 Noah Gotbaum: and that was.
00:25:08.510 --> 00:25:21.350 Tommy DiMisa: About that. Let me just stop you there and talk about that. By the way, gang newyourcares.org program sharing the website, I'm on the part of the story that that Noah and I are talking about. But what did that mean? They weren't fundraisers. They were. Bring somebody who was more.
00:25:21.350 --> 00:25:22.030 Noah Gotbaum: Anyway.
00:25:22.030 --> 00:25:23.070 Tommy DiMisa: Friend raisers.
00:25:23.390 --> 00:25:24.910 Noah Gotbaum: They were 1st we
00:25:25.740 --> 00:25:32.530 Noah Gotbaum: the 1st ones we did in a in down in Rothman's ken. Gidden was one of our board members
00:25:32.710 --> 00:25:42.929 Noah Gotbaum: who who was starting up a clothing store, and we said, We don't want you to bring money. We want you to bring clothes. Just bring something that you can donate.
00:25:42.930 --> 00:25:43.660 Tommy DiMisa: Okay.
00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:49.719 Noah Gotbaum: And we thought we were, gonna have, you know, 50 to 75 people. We had 300.
00:25:49.720 --> 00:25:55.470 Tommy DiMisa: Come on. Oh, man, talk about underestimating! You know the interest. Huh! That's a home run.
00:25:56.168 --> 00:26:05.240 Noah Gotbaum: And then we did a we did another friend, Raiser, where we asked people to bring book books to support the library. Don't give us money.
00:26:05.760 --> 00:26:11.220 Noah Gotbaum: Just give us book. Now you know that we were. We were lucky because
00:26:11.430 --> 00:26:19.510 Noah Gotbaum: I mean, we could talk about how you start a how you start a nonprofit, but we had, you know, a couple of angels who
00:26:19.660 --> 00:26:36.229 Noah Gotbaum: who gave us some foundations and friends, who gave us some good donations to help us get started. Get get off the ground, anyway. But it was not just making volunteer work more accessible. It was also about community.
00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:41.270 Noah Gotbaum: so that the volunteer opportunities were group volunteer opportunities.
00:26:41.270 --> 00:26:41.730 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:26:42.272 --> 00:26:48.710 Noah Gotbaum: So 10 folks would go up to a Covenant house
00:26:48.900 --> 00:26:53.680 Noah Gotbaum: and volunteer for a couple of hours, and you could, and we?
00:26:54.220 --> 00:26:56.480 Noah Gotbaum: We evolved that into
00:26:56.620 --> 00:27:05.019 Noah Gotbaum: literally. Now, New York cares has thousands of assignments every week, and they're usually group assignments led by volunteers
00:27:05.140 --> 00:27:10.530 Noah Gotbaum: where you can work. You can do something, for.
00:27:10.930 --> 00:27:14.879 Noah Gotbaum: you know, an hour, a week, an hour, a month.
00:27:15.170 --> 00:27:20.596 Noah Gotbaum: something for a year special. And we also also get
00:27:21.250 --> 00:27:25.660 Noah Gotbaum: you know, corporations involved very involved in terms of their employees
00:27:26.488 --> 00:27:41.411 Noah Gotbaum: pitching in. But it it it was a community building exercise, and it really helped energize a lot of the nonprofits, I mean, literally working with hundreds of nonprofits in New York and
00:27:42.050 --> 00:27:56.180 Noah Gotbaum: ultimately, what happened? New York cares morphed into a worldwide organization, not independently. But there were offshoots.
00:27:56.310 --> 00:28:02.920 Noah Gotbaum: either cares, organizations, or what were known as hands-on organizations. They're now all over the world.
00:28:04.140 --> 00:28:06.480 Tommy DiMisa: You know, Margaret Mead.
00:28:07.330 --> 00:28:34.570 Tommy DiMisa: never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world, because, in fact, it is the only thing that ever has. I mean, what happens now with Got Baum? If you decided to just put your head down and and not you and your friends, it isn't just you. I know it's not just an it's not an ego thing. But what if you didn't? What if you didn't do the work? I always question these things. What if? And that's life, though that's the whole thing. That's the whole ball of wax. It's like crossroads. I can just go this way. But I want that way. Is that Robert Frost?
00:28:34.820 --> 00:28:52.342 Tommy DiMisa: I think it's Robert Frost, and you know it's like what which? By making a decision and a decision gang. You know, Tony Robbins used to have this thing about decisions. It's to cut off anything else. The decision to go in this direction and cut off all the other things. Burn your ships, burn your boats, whatever it might be.
00:28:53.390 --> 00:29:15.450 Tommy DiMisa: These types of conversations I'm inspired by, because I know for a fact that a group of young people who wanted to change the world did. And that's why there's these hands-on organizations around the world that would not. They wouldn't exist. There might be something else in its place, but this wouldn't exist if it wasn't for you leaning in, and your friends and colleagues leaning in and shout out, as you mentioned some angels, because
00:29:15.450 --> 00:29:28.049 Tommy DiMisa: we do know that somebody has to fund certain parts of these things for them to actually work. And you know, when we come back we'll talk a little bit about, you know, strategy and fundraising and programmatic stuff, because I want to get into
00:29:28.390 --> 00:29:54.159 Tommy DiMisa: what it looks like to be an interim leader, and how that's worked for you. And then, obviously, we're going to talk about Adam's house, and and we already referenced it some of the challenges at Adam's house just because of the way the sector is set up. But you know the thing who listens to my show. Well, friends of mine people I've never probably meet, and and leaders of nonprofit organizations and board members of nonprofit organizations, and somebody who wants to join a board who wants to work in the sector. So
00:29:54.560 --> 00:30:08.969 Tommy DiMisa: having somebody like you to drop so much knowledge that we're going to continue to go into today, I think, is just a boon to my listeners, and certainly a boon for the community. So I'm appreciative that you're here. Let's when we come back we'll go into. You know
00:30:09.520 --> 00:30:16.030 Tommy DiMisa: what was kind of the next step. Some of the spaces you stayed along the way, and and we'll get into Adam's house when we come back. Sounds good.
00:30:16.730 --> 00:30:17.759 Noah Gotbaum: Sounds good, thanks Tommy.
00:30:17.760 --> 00:30:18.720 Tommy DiMisa: You're welcome right back.
00:31:54.010 --> 00:32:00.680 Tommy DiMisa: Are you with New York cares, Noah? Is it still something that's always in the background? You always have a connection to the organization.
00:32:01.260 --> 00:32:03.689 Noah Gotbaum: I'll always have a connection in the organization. I
00:32:05.230 --> 00:32:07.604 Noah Gotbaum: what happened was I ended up.
00:32:08.330 --> 00:32:18.259 Noah Gotbaum: I didn't want to run the organization. I became the 1st board chair and went off to graduate school, and then I was very interested in what was going on in Eastern Europe
00:32:18.550 --> 00:32:27.149 Noah Gotbaum: and community development there. So I ended up moving to to Europe, and I thought I was going for a year or 2. I ended up going for 15 years.
00:32:27.150 --> 00:32:27.790 Tommy DiMisa: Hmm.
00:32:28.810 --> 00:32:33.259 Noah Gotbaum: And was working in the private sector.
00:32:33.850 --> 00:32:38.420 Noah Gotbaum: Enjoyed it met my wife.
00:32:38.940 --> 00:32:44.489 Noah Gotbaum: My kids were born there over in Europe and and then
00:32:45.020 --> 00:32:48.139 Noah Gotbaum: finally and ended up coming back to New York.
00:32:48.510 --> 00:32:53.199 Noah Gotbaum: and then I got back on the board in New York cares which I
00:32:53.520 --> 00:32:58.438 Noah Gotbaum: completely enjoyed, and then my life took a real turn.
00:32:59.460 --> 00:33:01.290 Noah Gotbaum: My wife passed away
00:33:02.399 --> 00:33:08.519 Noah Gotbaum: in 2,007, when I had, you know, 3 3 young kids, and it was quite sudden.
00:33:10.250 --> 00:33:14.250 Noah Gotbaum: And I had a business at the time.
00:33:14.670 --> 00:33:18.220 Noah Gotbaum: and I had to close it down and focus on my kids.
00:33:18.220 --> 00:33:18.830 Tommy DiMisa: Wow!
00:33:19.420 --> 00:33:25.390 Noah Gotbaum: And that ultimately led me to
00:33:25.780 --> 00:33:28.469 Noah Gotbaum: to getting involved with Adam's house
00:33:28.770 --> 00:33:34.620 Noah Gotbaum: and more more focus on the nonprofit sector. My kids were in public schools that
00:33:35.330 --> 00:33:43.120 Noah Gotbaum: getting to, and I started to get involved in education, and I was elected to the School Board, and I ran the school board on the Upper West Side in Harlem.
00:33:43.300 --> 00:33:58.599 Noah Gotbaum: and and finally decided that I really wanted to be focused full time on nonprofit work, and was asked to run a homelessness and housing organization up in Connecticut. And I said, This looks, you know, this looks great.
00:33:59.060 --> 00:34:04.359 Noah Gotbaum: and so I commuted for a while, and then I. I moved up
00:34:04.650 --> 00:34:16.630 Noah Gotbaum: up to Connecticut and was running an organization that was called Bridgeport Neighborhood Trust, and I didn't realize that it was really in trouble. It was in
00:34:16.969 --> 00:34:18.210 Noah Gotbaum: dire straits.
00:34:18.219 --> 00:34:22.699 Tommy DiMisa: Where you came in at the at the C level executive Director CEO, or something like that.
00:34:22.699 --> 00:34:41.109 Noah Gotbaum: Yeah, I had done stuff in housing and community development. And so when I sent my resume to some nonprofit headhunters, they said, You know. Well, what do you think about Bridgeport? And I just said I looked into it, and I just said, This looks like, you know, a great opportunity. So I came in as the CEO, but I came in.
00:34:42.339 --> 00:34:47.029 Noah Gotbaum: After they had had a founding executive director there for 15 years. You were.
00:34:47.030 --> 00:34:48.510 Tommy DiMisa: Next next in to that role.
00:34:48.510 --> 00:34:49.190 Noah Gotbaum: Was. The next day.
00:34:49.199 --> 00:34:49.659 Tommy DiMisa: Good.
00:34:49.659 --> 00:34:55.479 Noah Gotbaum: And again. I wasn't told that they were about 3 months from closing their doors.
00:34:56.340 --> 00:35:05.990 Tommy DiMisa: So that's an interesting part of the story. But let's just I want to hone in on something else that I think in our sector and and the for-profit sector, I think, is, is relevant as well. But that.
00:35:06.110 --> 00:35:21.439 Tommy DiMisa: let me just say founder syndrome. But, like just that founder, the founding exec moving on, and that whole thing, and that transition, and maybe some of that rule. I'm sure some of that goes into the interim work that you've done, and that that also goes on in our sector. When you think of that.
00:35:21.730 --> 00:35:30.690 Tommy DiMisa: I think of one organization in particular here on Long Island. If I start ranting about and telling that great story. We'll lose 5 min, so I'll just pause. But in those scenarios
00:35:30.910 --> 00:35:35.580 Tommy DiMisa: that founder can be helpful or hurtful in that that
00:35:35.950 --> 00:35:41.940 Tommy DiMisa: juncture at that point. There, you know. Can you? Can you shine some light on what I'm referring to? There.
00:35:42.030 --> 00:35:47.390 Noah Gotbaum: Yeah, I mean, with New York cares. We did not have that issue. Because
00:35:47.600 --> 00:35:51.129 Noah Gotbaum: I I said, I don't want to run this organization. It's
00:35:52.160 --> 00:35:56.039 Noah Gotbaum: I was going off to graduate school, I said. I'll be the board chair.
00:35:56.190 --> 00:35:59.090 Noah Gotbaum: built the board. I helped raise the money.
00:36:00.220 --> 00:36:02.740 Noah Gotbaum: But we were.
00:36:03.760 --> 00:36:10.469 Noah Gotbaum: We. We decided to hire, you know, an outside executive director. We we brought in
00:36:10.910 --> 00:36:16.740 Noah Gotbaum: a guy named Kenneth Adams, who now runs Laguardia Community College.
00:36:17.300 --> 00:36:23.209 Noah Gotbaum: and he was phenomenal, you know, and he basically took took the idea and and
00:36:23.470 --> 00:36:28.469 Noah Gotbaum: went with it. So we didn't really have a you know, a founder issue.
00:36:28.870 --> 00:36:35.730 Noah Gotbaum: Then? We just help guide it and and build the organization
00:36:36.750 --> 00:36:45.740 Noah Gotbaum: in. In Bridgeport. We had a you know. There was a group, just an absolutely wonderful kind of a founding executive director.
00:36:47.650 --> 00:36:52.379 Noah Gotbaum: who, you know, built built the organization from from the ground up.
00:36:52.380 --> 00:36:52.920 Tommy DiMisa: Great. Yeah.
00:36:54.640 --> 00:36:58.619 Noah Gotbaum: But it was, you know. It was just time she she decided. She wanted to move on.
00:36:58.620 --> 00:36:59.340 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:36:59.340 --> 00:37:04.660 Noah Gotbaum: Great woman named Liz Torres, and there was a there was a leadership vacuum.
00:37:05.670 --> 00:37:10.030 Noah Gotbaum: For a while, and finances were were difficult.
00:37:10.410 --> 00:37:12.490 Noah Gotbaum: And so the board had.
00:37:12.590 --> 00:37:18.969 Noah Gotbaum: I didn't know it, but was basically deciding that they were just gonna end up merging with another organization.
00:37:18.970 --> 00:37:25.479 Tommy DiMisa: Wow! And and so that was an option before you were coming in. Maybe we're just gonna merge, or or whatever.
00:37:25.480 --> 00:37:28.460 Noah Gotbaum: I didn't know it, but it was an option when I.
00:37:28.460 --> 00:37:30.199 Tommy DiMisa: Even while you were coming on board.
00:37:30.200 --> 00:37:34.591 Noah Gotbaum: When I came on board they said, you know they were going to hire a consultant to
00:37:35.020 --> 00:37:37.389 Noah Gotbaum: to to look at the at the merger.
00:37:37.390 --> 00:37:38.480 Tommy DiMisa: Wow, that's.
00:37:39.130 --> 00:37:46.210 Tommy DiMisa: That's day one, hey? Here's here's the the cafeteria, here's the break room. And oh, by the way, we're this, what we're doing.
00:37:46.793 --> 00:37:50.600 Noah Gotbaum: And I and I just said, You know.
00:37:50.710 --> 00:37:54.169 Noah Gotbaum: time out, let's you. You hired me. Let's
00:37:54.680 --> 00:37:57.523 Noah Gotbaum: let's take a look at this and
00:37:58.480 --> 00:38:01.599 Noah Gotbaum: I did. And I just said, I think we can make this work.
00:38:03.430 --> 00:38:04.630 Tommy DiMisa: How long were you there?
00:38:05.140 --> 00:38:06.489 Noah Gotbaum: Was there for almost 3 years.
00:38:06.490 --> 00:38:09.020 Tommy DiMisa: Okay. And it's still. Now, where is it now? Still, it's.
00:38:09.020 --> 00:38:18.998 Noah Gotbaum: It's we. We rebranded it. We tripled our our private donations.
00:38:20.130 --> 00:38:25.899 Noah Gotbaum: We tripled our government contracts a lot of the affordable housing that had been built
00:38:26.050 --> 00:38:31.910 Noah Gotbaum: was in the middle of being built had stalled because it wasn't financed, and we
00:38:32.210 --> 00:38:34.650 Noah Gotbaum: we restarted those and got them going.
00:38:34.970 --> 00:38:42.510 Noah Gotbaum: And and then the organization which did a lot of counseling work, housing, counseling work.
00:38:42.710 --> 00:38:43.510 Noah Gotbaum: We
00:38:46.370 --> 00:38:48.620 Tommy DiMisa: This is the organization, right building neighborhoods together.
00:38:48.620 --> 00:38:59.219 Noah Gotbaum: All the neighbors together. Yeah, we rebranded it because it wasn't just Bridgeport. It was. We serviced the whole State and also for fundraising purposes.
00:38:59.798 --> 00:39:06.210 Noah Gotbaum: You know the potential to raise money throughout Connecticut, and especially in Fairfield County.
00:39:06.740 --> 00:39:13.220 Noah Gotbaum: Was tremendous. But if you say that you're just, you know Bridgeport people are not gonna wanna
00:39:13.320 --> 00:39:15.130 Noah Gotbaum: necessarily be part of that.
00:39:15.130 --> 00:39:22.519 Tommy DiMisa: Even if you're doing the work all around the thing, is it? Said Bridgeport. Right? So that's like a branding issue. So that's why you rebrand, yeah.
00:39:22.650 --> 00:39:31.319 Noah Gotbaum: But even you know, even if we were only doing the work in Bridgeport, people don't know it, but Bridgeport is part of Fairfield county, which is one of the richest counties
00:39:31.550 --> 00:39:32.630 Noah Gotbaum: in the country.
00:39:32.630 --> 00:39:33.090 Tommy DiMisa: Okay.
00:39:33.090 --> 00:39:38.959 Noah Gotbaum: And people want to help their neighbors, but if they don't, you know, if they don't feel connected
00:39:40.610 --> 00:39:47.250 Noah Gotbaum: they don't. They don't know they don't, they don't necessarily get involved. And so we we broaden that and
00:39:47.960 --> 00:39:52.429 Noah Gotbaum: Ultimately, we were very involved in the States.
00:39:56.430 --> 00:40:07.569 Noah Gotbaum: Covid Covid efforts because they were giving out money to keep people from being evicted eviction prevention. And so we really ramped up
00:40:07.920 --> 00:40:11.493 Noah Gotbaum: our counseling work and ultimately,
00:40:13.958 --> 00:40:22.041 Noah Gotbaum: building neighborhoods together has really focused much more on housing counseling than on providing
00:40:22.900 --> 00:40:30.129 Noah Gotbaum: affordable housing. Because that's a that's a very tough business. And you really need. You need thousands of units to make it work.
00:40:30.480 --> 00:40:37.180 Noah Gotbaum: And it's now A, you know, it's it's a flourishing organization. And they're doing
00:40:37.630 --> 00:40:42.339 Noah Gotbaum: great great counseling work and financial literacy
00:40:43.036 --> 00:40:53.353 Noah Gotbaum: all over the State, and very, very happy to do it. Fortunate to do it. And then I I stepped down and started to
00:40:54.090 --> 00:41:05.170 Noah Gotbaum: advise and coach in the nonprofit sector, mostly on strategy and fundraising which I really enjoyed.
00:41:05.420 --> 00:41:10.890 Noah Gotbaum: The coaching side has just been tremendous, but also
00:41:11.488 --> 00:41:17.769 Noah Gotbaum: also the the consulting work. And one of the clients I was working with
00:41:18.210 --> 00:41:20.049 Noah Gotbaum: told me about Adam's house.
00:41:20.050 --> 00:41:40.999 Tommy DiMisa: So let's talk about Adam's house. Tell me about 1st of all, you know. Thank you for sharing, and my condolences on on the loss of your wife. And certainly life is interesting. How we transition when things impact us and we go in different directions and things like that. But let's let's talk about Adam's house, and let's talk about. You know the importance of grief support. Let's get into that. I will share the website while you start to have this conversation with me a little bit.
00:41:41.740 --> 00:41:50.010 Noah Gotbaum: Yeah, you know, it's it's a little known fact that you know, one
00:41:51.220 --> 00:41:54.150 Noah Gotbaum: one in 10 kids, one in 12 kids
00:41:54.540 --> 00:42:02.960 Noah Gotbaum: under the age of 18 experiences an early loss either of a sibling or a caregiver, a parent.
00:42:03.810 --> 00:42:07.229 Noah Gotbaum: And that's 2 2 kids in every classroom.
00:42:07.230 --> 00:42:07.960 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:42:07.960 --> 00:42:10.729 Noah Gotbaum: And before the age of 25 it doubles.
00:42:10.880 --> 00:42:11.560 Tommy DiMisa: Wow!
00:42:12.510 --> 00:42:18.350 Noah Gotbaum: You literally have millions of American kids
00:42:19.050 --> 00:42:25.480 Noah Gotbaum: who've experienced early loss. And the impact Tommy is
00:42:26.500 --> 00:42:31.560 Noah Gotbaum: if it if it goes unresolved and they don't get help.
00:42:32.310 --> 00:42:33.790 Noah Gotbaum: And support.
00:42:34.060 --> 00:42:40.270 Noah Gotbaum: Yeah, it leads to addiction issues, school issues, incarceration.
00:42:41.363 --> 00:42:45.410 Noah Gotbaum: Family breakup suicide.
00:42:46.170 --> 00:42:51.149 Noah Gotbaum: It's and it's generational. Because the trauma.
00:42:51.330 --> 00:42:53.330 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah, that a kid faces.
00:42:53.660 --> 00:43:01.639 Noah Gotbaum: When they're as my kids faced when they were 8, 6, and 3 would they face
00:43:02.060 --> 00:43:06.610 Noah Gotbaum: the trauma of not having support and
00:43:06.850 --> 00:43:12.869 Noah Gotbaum: being isolated and having to deal with this, and the parents usually don't know how to deal with it either.
00:43:12.870 --> 00:43:13.470 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:43:13.720 --> 00:43:19.739 Noah Gotbaum: And so what happened in in my case is there was nowhere to turn.
00:43:20.160 --> 00:43:29.049 Noah Gotbaum: didn't know. And they didn't have any programs. And that's exactly what what the situation was for the founder of Adam's house, Allison with soda.
00:43:29.450 --> 00:43:36.729 Noah Gotbaum: and she she lost her husband suddenly. 3 boys, and there were no programs.
00:43:37.410 --> 00:43:44.785 Noah Gotbaum: you know, solid programs support programs for her or her kids and
00:43:46.300 --> 00:43:51.670 Noah Gotbaum: and what happens is the community doesn't under understand how to deal with loss.
00:43:51.880 --> 00:43:59.029 Noah Gotbaum: If a if a kid passes away or a parent passes away, the teachers don't know how to deal with it. The counselors don't know how to deal with it.
00:43:59.430 --> 00:44:04.409 Noah Gotbaum: and the kids and the families feel isolated, and the and the parents don't know how to deal with it.
00:44:04.720 --> 00:44:05.760 Tommy DiMisa: And
00:44:05.760 --> 00:44:15.629 Tommy DiMisa: parent is. If it's a if it's a loss of a spouse, the parent is going through their own grief process, and in your case, and it sounds like Adam's mom's case. It was a sudden situation, right.
00:44:15.630 --> 00:44:19.739 Noah Gotbaum: It was Adam. Adam was Allison's husband.
00:44:19.740 --> 00:44:37.530 Tommy DiMisa: Okay, excuse me. So, Adam, okay, thank you for the context. So so sudden, right? So that sudden thing and listen, death and loss is tragic, no matter what. However, there's a different scenario. If someone's ill, and there's a longer process, I guess you would say. But.
00:44:37.940 --> 00:44:39.459 Noah Gotbaum: But even even that, I mean.
00:44:40.170 --> 00:44:47.310 Noah Gotbaum: you know, we we run these programs and many of our our family, our kids and
00:44:47.750 --> 00:44:54.890 Noah Gotbaum: and and parent participants have lost either a
00:44:55.050 --> 00:45:00.929 Noah Gotbaum: a child, a sibling, or a parent to longer term illness.
00:45:00.930 --> 00:45:01.550 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:45:01.930 --> 00:45:12.590 Noah Gotbaum: Sometimes it's violence, but but sometimes it's cancer, sure. And the the lack of support, whether it's sudden
00:45:12.940 --> 00:45:21.313 Noah Gotbaum: or long term is still there, the isolation that the kids and the families feel, and the
00:45:22.160 --> 00:45:25.459 Noah Gotbaum: guilt, the the many feelings.
00:45:25.460 --> 00:45:26.070 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:45:26.070 --> 00:45:32.489 Noah Gotbaum: And Adam's house is there has a amazing 8 week program
00:45:33.130 --> 00:45:38.829 Noah Gotbaum: which is pretty unique. Because most of lot of brief centers
00:45:39.464 --> 00:45:45.779 Noah Gotbaum: work on a drop in basis. Adam's house is curriculum based. It's an 8 week program
00:45:45.950 --> 00:45:48.010 Noah Gotbaum: that families go to together.
00:45:48.010 --> 00:45:59.459 Tommy DiMisa: Let's do this. Let's take a quick break. Come back. Because then I want to hear all about the programs of the organization. So we're going to break quick. We come back and we'll finish going into programs and the work that this important organization is doing right back.
00:45:59.810 --> 00:46:00.460 Noah Gotbaum: Great.
00:47:43.020 --> 00:47:43.900 Tommy DiMisa: Go through the static.
00:47:44.600 --> 00:47:47.879 Tommy DiMisa: Tommy and his daddy go the website, everybody Adams
00:47:47.900 --> 00:48:13.210 Tommy DiMisa: housect.org adamshousect dot org Ct. For Connecticut. I noticed real quick. A couple things I got to point out, and then we get right back into it. I have another program. I do. I have several things I do. But another program, one of them specifically is called hashtag, ending the stigma together all around, normalizing conversations around mental health and and bringing down the stigma, and really ending it as a as a unit, as a society ending the stigma.
00:48:13.210 --> 00:48:34.769 Tommy DiMisa: And I just bring it up because trauma you mentioned trauma, and that trauma can lead to so many things when it's not addressed, and organizations like yours are really doing the work. To address that I showed some of the programming. Again, go to the website, adamshousect.org some of the programs. Let's go into that. Noah. What does this look like in in application.
00:48:37.270 --> 00:48:49.540 Noah Gotbaum: you know, Tommy, it's it's built. After the experience that many of us had. It was actually modeled on on an organization called Olivia's House in Pennsylvania.
00:48:52.220 --> 00:48:56.139 Noah Gotbaum: Allison, who is an absolutely dynamic person.
00:48:57.355 --> 00:49:01.930 Noah Gotbaum: Said, you know, my kids needed this.
00:49:02.280 --> 00:49:06.420 Noah Gotbaum: So many kids need this, and it.
00:49:06.870 --> 00:49:16.049 Noah Gotbaum: It hasn't been available. And so she she made it happen, and raise money and
00:49:17.460 --> 00:49:20.859 Noah Gotbaum: bought this house up in Connecticut and Shelton and
00:49:21.020 --> 00:49:30.100 Noah Gotbaum: set up this program modeled on a program out out in Pennsylvania, and
00:49:30.520 --> 00:49:33.470 Noah Gotbaum: the main program is called Helping Hearts Heal.
00:49:33.920 --> 00:49:41.340 Noah Gotbaum: It's an 8 week what we call closed programs. So intake is
00:49:41.920 --> 00:49:46.279 Noah Gotbaum: for families that have kids between 5 and 18 who've experienced loss.
00:49:47.137 --> 00:49:50.610 Noah Gotbaum: And the parents and the kids do it all together.
00:49:51.050 --> 00:49:53.570 Noah Gotbaum: and it's 1 night a week
00:49:54.560 --> 00:49:56.480 Noah Gotbaum: you have to start with a group.
00:49:56.610 --> 00:49:59.380 Noah Gotbaum: You finish with a group, and there's a fixed curriculum.
00:49:59.660 --> 00:50:02.070 Noah Gotbaum: Every week we do a different topic.
00:50:03.721 --> 00:50:07.630 Noah Gotbaum: And it is. It's transformative.
00:50:07.630 --> 00:50:08.180 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:50:08.818 --> 00:50:11.820 Noah Gotbaum: It's transformative for the 5 year olds.
00:50:13.762 --> 00:50:21.789 Noah Gotbaum: That we have a special curriculum, for it's transformative for the teens, the middles, and the parents?
00:50:22.521 --> 00:50:24.479 Noah Gotbaum: Because so many of us
00:50:24.830 --> 00:50:27.050 Noah Gotbaum: we have, you know. What do you do?
00:50:27.300 --> 00:50:32.878 Noah Gotbaum: Do you not mention the person who's passed away? Do you take away the pictures.
00:50:33.250 --> 00:50:33.600 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:50:33.935 --> 00:50:36.619 Noah Gotbaum: Or do you? Do you talk about it?
00:50:36.840 --> 00:50:39.619 Noah Gotbaum: If you talk about it? How do you talk about it?
00:50:42.000 --> 00:50:42.809 Noah Gotbaum: Is it?
00:50:43.920 --> 00:50:46.819 Noah Gotbaum: We really try to kind of celebrate
00:50:47.878 --> 00:50:51.630 Noah Gotbaum: the people we've the people we've lost.
00:50:52.779 --> 00:50:58.860 Noah Gotbaum: But also it's a peer support. So everybody everybody in the group
00:50:59.927 --> 00:51:03.689 Noah Gotbaum: again meets every week, they become
00:51:04.470 --> 00:51:09.090 Noah Gotbaum: completely close. You can't believe how how close these groups become.
00:51:09.706 --> 00:51:15.589 Noah Gotbaum: We're usually doing about 25 parents and kids at a time over an 8 week session
00:51:16.020 --> 00:51:22.709 Noah Gotbaum: and again. Different topics each week. Memories, emotions, feelings.
00:51:23.020 --> 00:51:26.069 Noah Gotbaum: And it's really the 1st time for most
00:51:26.840 --> 00:51:32.369 Noah Gotbaum: certainly the kids and the parents to be able to talk openly.
00:51:32.880 --> 00:51:36.869 Noah Gotbaum: And so many of them say that they they're
00:51:37.100 --> 00:51:42.640 Noah Gotbaum: there's they're talking about things that they haven't discussed with anyone, even you know their therapist.
00:51:42.640 --> 00:51:50.180 Tommy DiMisa: It sounds like a roadmap that they don't have, they? Don't you know this doesn't come with a roadmap when when there's a loss. But this gives that some of that is that fair.
00:51:50.600 --> 00:52:02.009 Noah Gotbaum: Well, it's it's it's fair in terms of the curriculum, Tommy. But Allison likes to say that you know everybody's grief journey is different.
00:52:02.010 --> 00:52:03.250 Tommy DiMisa: Okay. Sure.
00:52:04.018 --> 00:52:07.090 Noah Gotbaum: Everybody experiences loss differently.
00:52:07.630 --> 00:52:08.500 Noah Gotbaum: So
00:52:08.860 --> 00:52:17.070 Noah Gotbaum: if it's a roadmap, it's a roadmap of just making sure that the different topics and the feelings get covered.
00:52:17.300 --> 00:52:27.409 Noah Gotbaum: and that everyone feels like they're in a safe place to express their emotions and and talk about
00:52:27.830 --> 00:52:30.769 Noah Gotbaum: and really heal. It's about healing.
00:52:30.970 --> 00:52:31.290 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:52:31.290 --> 00:52:39.100 Noah Gotbaum: And also what we try to do is give the kids and the parents the tools
00:52:39.847 --> 00:52:44.549 Noah Gotbaum: to move forward, because so many of these, so many of
00:52:44.660 --> 00:52:49.370 Noah Gotbaum: these folks who, these kids and parents who experienced loss
00:52:49.780 --> 00:52:57.280 Noah Gotbaum: they become isolated. They, you know, they're at school. And and again, the kids don't know what to say to them. The teachers don't know what to say to them.
00:52:57.490 --> 00:53:00.109 Noah Gotbaum: and it just makes the problem worse.
00:53:00.220 --> 00:53:02.339 Noah Gotbaum: and the parents don't know what to say to them.
00:53:02.770 --> 00:53:05.170 Noah Gotbaum: And so we open that up
00:53:05.710 --> 00:53:12.310 Noah Gotbaum: and and so when they get out, they they not only have a network of
00:53:12.430 --> 00:53:18.639 Noah Gotbaum: of kids and parents who understand what they've been through because they've been through it themselves.
00:53:18.640 --> 00:53:19.140 Tommy DiMisa: Right.
00:53:19.140 --> 00:53:23.160 Noah Gotbaum: But they also have the tools to kind of manage
00:53:23.520 --> 00:53:29.790 Noah Gotbaum: going on. And it's it's huge because we like to say that mental health is
00:53:30.772 --> 00:53:37.400 Noah Gotbaum: economic development. But you know, when when kids and parents experience loss.
00:53:37.720 --> 00:53:42.750 Noah Gotbaum: you know, they they drop out of school, the families break up.
00:53:43.350 --> 00:53:47.640 Noah Gotbaum: People can't hold a job.
00:53:48.945 --> 00:53:51.799 Noah Gotbaum: You know, you have addiction issues.
00:53:52.350 --> 00:53:56.819 Noah Gotbaum: And what happens when they go go through programs like ours
00:53:56.960 --> 00:54:01.010 Noah Gotbaum: is they get to, you know, they restart their lives, and they reintegrate.
00:54:01.240 --> 00:54:08.130 Noah Gotbaum: and they're stronger, more resilient, and, you know, feel like they can go on. And they also have a network.
00:54:08.130 --> 00:54:24.829 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah, that support system is is huge that you're talking about just to have people who understand what I'm going through again. It's an individual situation, but to have people who have some awareness of it. You know everybody's, as you say, is going to grieve differently, but to have somebody who you can call. Who gets it? Who has that similar experience.
00:54:24.830 --> 00:54:30.020 Noah Gotbaum: Well, and and you know they're they're spending 3 h
00:54:30.720 --> 00:54:36.150 Noah Gotbaum: a week for for 2 months, talking about
00:54:36.784 --> 00:54:40.580 Noah Gotbaum: their own, their own grief and own loss.
00:54:40.580 --> 00:54:40.930 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:54:40.930 --> 00:54:44.899 Noah Gotbaum: And again for our littles group, which is 5 to 8.
00:54:45.150 --> 00:55:01.140 Noah Gotbaum: You know, it's it's a different we do a lot of artwork and and working with those kids up to the teens, who generally don't, wanna, you know, talk about anything and don't really want to be there. And then they end up saying, You know, can we?
00:55:01.420 --> 00:55:02.860 Noah Gotbaum: Can we come longer?
00:55:02.860 --> 00:55:05.480 Noah Gotbaum: Yeah, yeah, can we do another? Can we do another program?
00:55:05.480 --> 00:55:20.080 Tommy DiMisa: I mean, so much of it is like there's somebody who looks like me, who's going through the same thing. I'm going through that I didn't know that anybody else was right. The other kids in my class don't get it. They don't know how to engage me. They care. They just don't know. But here these these individuals know what I'm what I'm dealing with right.
00:55:20.080 --> 00:55:25.050 Noah Gotbaum: Well. And and also they're holding so much in. Everyone is holding so much in Tommy.
00:55:25.050 --> 00:55:25.710 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:55:25.710 --> 00:55:30.509 Noah Gotbaum: And this is about, you know, opening up and sharing.
00:55:30.760 --> 00:55:32.129 Noah Gotbaum: How can we.
00:55:32.130 --> 00:55:36.159 Tommy DiMisa: How can? Sorry? Noah, how can we help? How can we get involved? What what does the organization need?
00:55:37.850 --> 00:55:40.080 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah, that will come back for that one you want to do another.
00:55:40.080 --> 00:55:42.800 Noah Gotbaum: We we need.
00:55:43.050 --> 00:55:47.020 Noah Gotbaum: And one of the reasons that I've tried to help there is.
00:55:47.805 --> 00:55:51.460 Noah Gotbaum: We want to expand. We have a waiting list of
00:55:51.990 --> 00:55:54.629 Noah Gotbaum: a triple digit waiting list over a hundred.
00:55:54.630 --> 00:55:54.960 Tommy DiMisa: Wow!
00:55:54.960 --> 00:55:57.580 Noah Gotbaum: Kids and families who want to get into our programs.
00:55:58.030 --> 00:56:02.299 Noah Gotbaum: And we just we have the capacity. We just don't have the money.
00:56:02.650 --> 00:56:02.970 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah.
00:56:03.596 --> 00:56:04.849 Noah Gotbaum: And so
00:56:06.680 --> 00:56:12.607 Noah Gotbaum: we we need to. We need to branch out, raise money and do a little bit of what we did in
00:56:13.651 --> 00:56:22.609 Noah Gotbaum: we want to bring our programs, our, we we have participants from all over from the New York State border all the way up to New Haven
00:56:24.240 --> 00:56:35.279 Noah Gotbaum: But we really need to raise money, and that's a that's a tough thing to break into. If you're, you know, if you're a less than a million dollar organization.
00:56:35.280 --> 00:56:54.889 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah, we well, we know. And the majority of organizations, as we know on the pyramid of nonprofits, are significantly on that lower end. You know, I mean the top of the pyramid are the majors. And then there's many, many smaller organizations. I want to bring you back on another. Maybe we have just a Facebook live, maybe bring Allison on. Talk about fundraising, talk about strategies.
00:56:54.890 --> 00:57:18.909 Tommy DiMisa: I want to get you connected to the nonprofit resource Hub, which is an organization we founded, and everybody go to nonprofitresourcehub.org. I'm 1 of the founders of that for you, and I know I'm throwing the chat, but we'll have a conversation, you know, next week about some different ways to connect. I just want to. I thank you for being here. Thank you, Allison, for what you're doing from an organization perspective for creating this organization.
00:57:19.010 --> 00:57:30.270 Tommy DiMisa: and and in memory of your husband, Adam, to just be be a change maker and making the world a better place as a legacy to him. And you know
00:57:30.950 --> 00:57:47.430 Tommy DiMisa: this show is that's what this show is all about for me, Noah. It's it's just about continuing to have these dialogues around the important work. Nonprofit organizations are doing. So I want to offline you, and I'll talk. You tell me how we can help, how we can get you guys connected to some of the different resources and efforts I'm involved with.
00:57:47.860 --> 00:57:55.486 Noah Gotbaum: We need. We need volunteers. We need to raise money. We're expand. We're going to expand into the urban areas because,
00:57:56.000 --> 00:57:56.670 Noah Gotbaum: it's
00:57:57.726 --> 00:58:04.499 Noah Gotbaum: low income families which make up a lot of our our participants experience loss at a much greater.
00:58:04.920 --> 00:58:06.569 Tommy DiMisa: Yeah, level.
00:58:06.860 --> 00:58:09.069 Noah Gotbaum: Than than their peers.
00:58:09.230 --> 00:58:14.000 Tommy DiMisa: I got one quick question. Then we got to go. Do you know Vince Centelli? And you have.
00:58:14.000 --> 00:58:24.530 Tommy DiMisa: and and my friend Bob Kozlowski, because I know you guys got connected to Shelton. So I'm sure you know Bob, who's with the Pd. There in Shelton and Vince over at the Veterans home right.
00:58:24.530 --> 00:58:30.830 Noah Gotbaum: Yeah, Vince, you know, Vince and I work very closely together. When I was at Bmt. In Bridgeport.
00:58:30.830 --> 00:58:31.180 Tommy DiMisa: I thought.
00:58:31.588 --> 00:58:35.261 Noah Gotbaum: Doing amazing work homes, homes for heroes, and
00:58:35.670 --> 00:58:36.210 Tommy DiMisa: Dude.
00:58:37.880 --> 00:58:48.389 Noah Gotbaum: just. You know, there are phenomenal, nonprofit organizations everywhere, people doing God's work. We just need. We just need the support we are Adam's house.
00:58:48.390 --> 00:58:48.910 Tommy DiMisa: Yes, sir.
00:58:48.910 --> 00:58:55.720 Noah Gotbaum: adamshousect.org but people can volunteer.
00:58:55.720 --> 00:58:56.340 Tommy DiMisa: Yep.
00:58:56.340 --> 00:58:58.170 Noah Gotbaum: And give their time.
00:58:58.290 --> 00:59:00.790 Noah Gotbaum: And we need financial help.
00:59:00.790 --> 00:59:18.419 Tommy DiMisa: We? We got to leave it there. They need support. They need help. You want to do that. You go to adamshousect.org. I'm the nonprofit sector connector. Got to get out of this attic here before I melt everybody make it a great week. I'll see you back here next Friday. Noah got bound. Thank you for being here. Appreciate your friendship and the connection. Make it a great day. Everybody see you.
00:59:18.850 --> 00:59:19.470 Noah Gotbaum: Thanks Tommy.
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