"On The Avenue" Nashville TN

Transcript

Welcome to the Raising Kellan Podcast. My name is Marsh Naidoo and I blog at raisingkellan.org where we curate resources for parents raising children with developmental delay and or disabilities. As always, remember, the information provided on this podcast is purely educational, and if you are seeking advice for your specific situation, please contact a trained professional. July is Disability Pride month. What does disability pride mean to you? I highly recommend you check out Judith Heumann's podcast, the Heumann Perspective as she and as well as some of her listeners share their perspectives on what disability pride means to them. In today's episode 69, we chat with Tom Woodard of On The Avenue. This is a company founded by brothers, Tom, John, and Matt, who recognize the struggle of many families of adults with disabilities and have created a unique training studio in Nashville. Stay tuned for some awesome conversation as Tom shares with us more about the work being done at On The Avenue. So grab your cup of coffee, put your feet up, and get ready for some awesome conversation.

Marsh Naidoo (02:00):

I just really respect the work that you're doing Tom.

Tom Woodard (02:05):

Thank you. I give God all the credit. We're just standing in his way and trying to not mess it up. That's the hard part. Trying not to mess it up.

Marsh Naidoo (02:16):

I mean, what's your guys' origin story? How did On The Avenue come about, Tom?

Tom Woodard (02:23):

Wow, it's been about seven years in the making. It's an overnight success, as they say. It's not . I've been in the Jingle Business. I've written radio and TV commercials and done all kinds of crazy things, written songs, and I picked up and stole my dad's guitar at eight years old and never gave it back, and kind of that creative dream and probably a little bit of my dad in me. And so I've had a production companies and ad agencies and different things, and my little company's called Westwood Avenue, and my brother called me one day and said, Hey, do you wanna work with people with special needs and sell drug test kits to the state of Tennessee? And he's in the warehousing business? And I'm like, I don't know, that's, that's not really right up my alley. And so had a young man with autism that was working for me already doing some data entry, and I said, Hey, man you have autism.

(03:14):

Is that a disability? And he goes, I don't know. I'll ask my mom. And so he went home and asked his mom, Sure enough, it was, And the business that we took on was the ability to work with people with and without disability working together to accomplish a task, whatever that task was. So we provided drug test, gets to the state of Tennessee and employed people with disabilities. And one day so we bought a building and put both those companies in it, my agency and this company that was sending out boxes. And we had people with disabilities sending out boxes. And I got mad at myself, Why do they have to send out a box? What if they come over here and work at the agency? So I stopped and went out and asked the guys. I was like, Hey, what would you do if you worked at the agency?

(04:02):

And one guy goes, You know what? I'm an illustrator. Another one goes, I'm a writer. I've made a movie. I love Renaissance, Fran. Everybody had this story. And I was like, That's awesome. Stop. And so we bought some IMAX and started it, and that was where it started. And we started using creativity to build confidence in young men at first and now young men and women that have autism and high-functioning intellectual disabilities. And it was amazing. And it brought confidence and built community. And God has done some crazy things at this place. We've been doing it now seven years, and really officially about two under the brand of On The Avenue we decided to get out of being just an employer. And we created basically what I guess people call a provider. I don't know. We just call it On The Avenue where citizens can come to a safe place to build community and confidence.

Marsh Naidoo (04:58):

Okay, guys, let me walk you through this

Tom Woodard (05:02):

Overwhelming isn't it?,

Marsh Naidoo (05:03):

I mean, because as soon as we walked through the door, I was greeted by a young man. This young man was so warm and welcoming, and said: "Come on in." He introduced me to the concept of what you guys were doing. He went on to present some of the artwork that was done by, and I don't wanna use the word participants because I don't really regard this as a program. It's really called "Citizens". Citizens, exactly. The Citizens. And that inclusivity of that term is what I love. And he went ahead to show me the artwork of the citizens. We got to chatting, he said: "Well come back and visit with us." So we went behind the curtain, so to speak, and we got to sit up on the couches, and I believe that's the area you'll do your podcasting. <affirmative>. You talked about podcasting. We kind of saw the studio set up of how the citizens were. And that might have been a day where when you were out at the distribution center doing some other, But I mean, just looking at the arch work just the videography and examples of the work that you guys use for your branding and content creation. As a parent, that's what you wanna kind of see for your child. You wanna have a glimpse into the possibility. And that was a very positive glimpse.

Tom Woodard (06:46):

Yeah, we like to say that. It's a great word. We're diagnosed with possibilities, not with disabilities. And I think that's really important. We have a young man, he's not so young in his fifties, and I give him grief about that. He's the guy that's oldest almost closest to me, and he says: " You're not ready for my creativity. That's what he tells you."

Marsh Naidoo (07:09):

I saw they written on the wall.

Tom Woodard (07:11):

Yeah. Nobody's ever asked him to be creative until he turned 50. And we asked him to be creative. And now he's an artist and he uses the Adobe suite of tools, and he is drawing and making movies and writing an autobiography about being the first diagnosed case of autism in Florida. And he works for us, and we love him. That's the key, is to find some joy in your day. And for any of us on the planet these days,

Marsh Naidoo (07:40):

How do young people enroll in the program?

Tom Woodard (07:45):

You can just give us a call or you can go to, ontheavenue.net . We meet with different individuals that are interested in being a part of our group and our place. And they come by visit on a Wednesday or Friday. It's a really good day. And then we see what's right for that individual. They take a 90-day process where we create what's called an IABL . If you're familiar with an IEP, it's a professional IEP. In the creative space. Everybody either makes, writes a book, shoots a movie does a podcast, or builds something, and it's amazing. And then everybody helps everybody on theirs. And so the group one day you'll be working on yours and you're the lead and the actor maybe, or whatever. The next day you'll be a lighting director on somebody else's, or you'll be the audio guy on somebody else's due illustrations or voiceover, right?

(08:39):

Or whatever it is that you choose to do or have a gift to do. So the 90-day process helps us set your IABL (individual assignment-based learning tool), a book, a podcast, whatever the subject is. But we get to know you during an initial period, create that curriculum, and then let that roll. And out of that, we've created tons of podcasts and just beautiful illustrations. And the goal of all of this is to see if that individual can use their gift and talent to create independence and commerce for themselves. And so that's the goal. And then if they can't, where can we find that support to help that individual, whether it's with housing, transportation, clothing, food, or whatever the need is. And I'm just an old English major, and none of us are really behavioral therapists. We don't have any of that. We just love people kind of like Jesus would. And that's where our heart is. And we make mistakes and we ask for forgiveness, and there's trust and there's good days and bad days, and it's just On The Avenue. And so that's what the program really is. Just come down and meet us. There's a fee-based We are, we're working on how that is. We're building a scholarship program right now. So if somebody wants to help support that, we're open with that as well. So that's just a cool place you did just come visit us. That's the easiest way to do

Marsh Naidoo (10:09):
That. The project itself provides an opportunity for our young people to also earn an income by it's a marketplace for they work to. Tell us more about that, Tom?

Tom Woodard (10:25):

I think it is really essential. A lot of people will tell you that folks with disabilities should go work 40 hours a week. And then once we've got 'em working 40 hours a week and they're living on their own and da da, then we've done our job. And it's great. I've met thousands of people with disabilities and we're not gonna train away their disability. It's a disability. And so I don't believe a 40-hour work week is really possible. And in some cases it puts you over your SSDI, your insurance and your it's just a mess right now for people that are navigating those waters. But it's important to work and earn a wage and be able to try to live as independently as you can. And so I think one of the things that we saw early on since we started as an employer of working with people with disability is we pack boxes.

(11:19):
We have a logistics business, and we've grown that and we do packaging and fulfillment in what they

call kiting. Well, to be honest, my brother, and I'll help We'll do anything you guys need. Anybody needs us to do really as long as we can employ people with disabilities doing it. And so distribution and fulfillment and warehousing and all that became a place that really worked for us. And the cool part is we're prepared for people with disabilities to come in and work in that space. You can't just throw folks with a disability right in the middle of that and hope that it works out, whether it's lights or forklifts or, So we scale that to where someone's comfort level is. Might be in On The Avenue where you're just putting Today, I left a bunch of those guys and they were putting stickers in a plastic bag three at a time and putting a staple on it.

(12:08):

And that we needed to do a hundred thousand of those. So we're employing people to do that so that they can earn a wage feel worth, pay their own bills learn to manage some money, whatever it is, whatever their employment needs are. But the cool part about it is you do that a couple of three, four days a week, and then you come down to On The Avenue and you recharge and you can review what you've done. And you're in a familiar group that maybe you're on the avenue creating with. Not everybody becomes a Renoir. We've got some very good artists that do amazing things, but sometimes creativity is just a vehicle for strength that gets you okay to come over here and work. And so we wanna provide work at Woodard Brothers. We have two companies. One is the provider, if you will over on the avenue, and the other is Woodard Brothers. But we partner with and want to continue to partner with other businesses like Woodard Brothers so that there's a work program, for lack of a better term, I hate that term, but a work program balance for that individual that meets their needs.

Marsh Naidoo (13:17):
Can you tell us some of the other companies that you are partnering with? Because I, Yeah, I love that symbiotic relationship you have with the other Nashville businesses.

Tom Woodard (13:28):

Yeah, absolutely. We work with National Soccer Club. We've had guys go over and work with those guys in their media department. There were sideline reporters and all kinds of fun stuff. Our client base is amazing at Woodard Brothers. We have great clients that really come to us and give us business in order to help us hire people with disability. It's their mission as well. So we work with guys like Verio and Patty Wax candles and Design Work Inc. And then we have community partners like good old homes and biblical concepts, our place, Nashville that are providing housing opportunities for people. We partner with Lipscomb University and Vanderbilt University the next steps program and ideal programs over there, here in Nashville. Amazing organizations doing great work. I'm having to be on the board of a couple of those. We work with the state, We're trying to work with the state in so many ways to create employment opportunities and to create funding so that the families aren't as impacted as for a lifetime. Like families are impacted for a lifetime with an individual with a disability. And so we're working sort in tandem with the state on that. We've got some great community partners. I mean, having the educational institutions and some really strong businesses. Charles Hawkins Company is a partner real estate developer here in town. There's just a lot of great businesses in Nashville that have a big heart. Nashville's got a big heart and it's been great to work with all these guys.

Marsh Naidoo (14:58):

So guys, please do me a favor and check out OtheAvenue.net And I really urge you to look at the shop and take a look at some of the work being created by these young people. That's amazing. Yeah, it really is.

Tom Woodard (15:17):

Shout out the White Bison Coffee shops twice daily convenience stores gonna we just installed our first some of our merchandise in their stores, and so they're allowing us to do that in order to raise scholarship dollars for folks. So it's exciting times.

Marsh Naidoo (15:32):

I actually love the copy you have on the website because I think a lot of worry for parents that are raising young people with disabilities is where to?, as they transition, once they reach 21 and older, what does employment look like and what are the possibilities? And I tell you what I saw on that Thursday morning was the most refreshing thing I've seen in a while. So kudos work you guys are doing. Seriously. And guys ontheavenue.net, definitely shake that out and tell all your friends and family about it. And Tom, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us this morning and just wishing all the best of luck and God bless and hope to see you guys soon.

Marsh Naidoo (16:39):

Thank you for listening along to today's podcast. And guys, definitely check out ontheavenue.net to look at some of the amazing artwork that's been produced by the citizens in this Nashville-based program. And again, a shout out to Judith Heumann of the Heumann Perspective, a podcast that's available as well on Apple and Spotify. And in the most recent episode on what Disability Pride month means, she talks to individuals that identify as disabled and shares their voice and perspective as to what disability pride means to them. So definitely check out that podcast until we see you guys the next time. As always, remember, get to the top of your mountain. This is Marsh Naidoo signing off.