We were lucky to catch up with Megan Tice recently and have shared our conversation below.
Megan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned in school and why that lesson is important to you?
I did my graduate work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill which is a gorgeous, 200+ year old campus, nestled on a little hill in central North Carolina. Every part of the campus inspires you to think about history, connection, nature, art, and the future from the old brick pathways to the columned buildings. While in grad school I studied Folklore with a focus on the American South, a complex but fun topic and, as a southerner one that is very dear to my heart. In one of my ethnography classes we were asked to really consider “who is telling this story?” “where does the power lie?” “Whose voices are heard and whose aren’t?” and wow that really changed everything about how I live my life and do my work. As someone who is in the social services world, facing and dealing with complex issues like poverty every single day, it added this layer of humanity to everything I do. I find myself asking, “is there a reason there is resistance to this idea in the community? Am I missing a part of the story?” Or, “who is holding the dignity and power in this situation-how do I make sure it is situated with those who this decision will impact the most.” I think first coming in contact with those questions in an old southern institution really shed light on the complexity we live in every single day from where we live, work, dress, the music we listen to, the stories we tell, and so much more. I use this in my work and in my private life, I find myself asking “who is telling this story” even as we decide things like nursery wallpaper! There’s always a story to tell-I just want to make sure I am telling the right one.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am an Asheville, NC native who is a fairly recent transplant to the lowcountry. These are two distinct regions with powerful narratives, connection to the land, and histories to tell and I feel like that has really shaped who I am and the work I do. I went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for Public Policy with a focus in poverty reduction but quickly felt like I was missing something in my education so I returned to UNC to study Folklore/Ethnography so I could pair analytical/program design knowledge with real world/real people knowledge. I have worked in the social sector my whole life but found I was more and more frustrated-I always knew I wanted to help people but it felt like no matter how many coats we provided or meals we gave out that nothing was changing, and nothing would change, for the families we served. Then, during the height of the pandemic, I found Real Champions, Inc. and something instantly clicked. Real Champions, Inc. was founded my Ned McNair and Carl Martin with one vision-ending generational poverty for the next generation of children in the state of SC. Our model is simple, yet revolutionary, we are an advocacy and mentoring organization that pays our mentors. This means that our mentors spend 40+ hours a week with some of SC most vulnerable children, advocating for their families, helping with school work, and celebrating them as they grow. We place one mentor with 8 kids starting in kindergarten/first grade. RCI then commits stay with these children for 12+ years, or until they graduate high school, focusing on all areas of growth they will need to succeed including academics and social and emotional learning. We empower the children in our communities to change their narratives, and that of their families. I am so proud to be on a team that focuses on the core issues and starts earlier to end them. We don’t just say “well I hope you make it” but we walk with them every step of the way. I also love being on a team where everyone knows these issues are complex, multifaceted and challenging. For instance, this past year we brought on a clinical therapist to both help the mentors work with children with trauma AND to provide private services for our mentors at no cost. It is more than saying “well I know this work is hard but you will have to figure it out” it is saying “how can we, as a community, figure this out together for a healthier, kinder future.” One thing I hope people always say when they see our work whether in person or online is that we are a strengths based organization, focusing on dignity, kindness, and empowerment not a group who thinks they have all the answers or can “fix” our community.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
Times are hard and resources are limited. Period. No matter what industry you are in this is a fact of life it seems. One thing I love about our team is that we don’t let that stop us, if at all possible, from helping each other out. Sometimes it requires some creative thinking or deeper listening but it is always worth it. I have been at jobs where I said “hey this is an issue or a deep burden that is making my job difficult” and leadership would listen and then not respond or say “well we can’t do x so we won’t even try y.” It reached a point where I knew bringing up a challenge wasn’t worth it because they were used to doing things in one way and eventually resulted in my departure. But, where I currently am at RCI, we try to really listen to the issues being presented, look at as many solutions as possible, and act. Even if that action is a real meeting about why we can’t change anything right this second, people want to know, and need to know they are valued and heard. For instance, our model stipulates one mentor works with 8 children. This may not sound like a ton but when you have 8 families trapped in the cycle of generational poverty with all the complexities that entails it can quickly wear you down. We also work one on one with each child 2 hours a week and advocate for each family 2 hours a week (the remaining work hours goes towards documenting results, reporting, and training). When the mentors came to us and said they were absolutely exhausted and could we do group mentoring or drop their cohorts to a lower number leadership was really torn on what to do. They were bringing up legitimate concerns about doing their jobs well but the decision to work with 8 and the model we use was based on years of research. After a couple more team meetings, observations, and brainstorming sessions we realized what was really happening was they weren’t equipped/had never been taught to work with trauma AND they needed an outlet of their own. This led to use hiring a clinical psychologist to do monthly trainings with the mentors on trauma informed responses AND to provided services to each of them individually. It also means the supervisors took on a new role of maintaining calendars and watching for signs of burnout and could offer days off when needed without a mentor having to take their “vacation.” It was a solution that, if we had gone with the initial information, would have never come into existence but has made a world of difference for our team. People, teams, communities they have to know you care enough to try something new.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had to unlearn the idea that every problem could be solved. I know that sounds crazy considering I work in a sector that addresses huge social problems but sometimes there isn’t an answer-or even crazier the answer is “that is not a problem that is a preference.” I had to learn I am bringing my own lens to every situation and, just because something is not the way I would do it, doesn’t mean it is a “problem.” Sometimes things can’t be solved due to interpersonal issues, or bigger systemic things that are outside of our individual controls and I had to learn to be ok with that while still striving to do the most good possible in the world.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://realchampionsinc.org/
- Instagram: realchampionsinc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/realchampionsinc
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/real-champions-inc/?viewAsMember=true