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Jen McMillin
31m

SUNSHINE STRATEGIES RADIO - CONNECTING THE DOTS

in General Discussion

Hello again, friends!




Today I’m playing a bit of connect the dots.  As the concept of my new
nonprofit, Sunshine Strategies, has solidified, the Kids Political Radio podcast
hasn’t made any new content.  To be honest - the format wasn’t working well. 
It’s hard to keep an eleven-year-old excited about civic education and politics.




…Funnily enough, Charlie is missing a Constitution Day project at school.  I may
reach out to see if we can turn in the podcast!




Charlie and I discussed this problem since it was his idea originally.  And
after talking about the options we could take, he agreed that with school back
in session, he wants to help only occasionally.  But not every week - and maybe
not every month.




So, I’ve put off any updates to the Kids Political Radio podcast.  It didn’t
help that around that same time, President Biden stepped back and the US
presidential race exploded.  Our family couldn’t keep up with all the news, let
alone discuss it well enough to share it with others.




But the time has come to make a decision about the podcast.  




Why did I start Kids Political Radio?  Because Charlie had really good questions
about how life works in our community today.




Why did I found Sunshine Strategies?  I had questions about how we can improve
our lives through better public policy solutions.  Recently, I’ve started
documenting this journey on Patreon, letting others follow along in real-time as
we launch our first initiative, Project Taphophile.  




Could I adapt it to be published as a podcast?




Will our friends who signed up for Kids Political Radio be mad at the bait and
switch?




I hope not.




Because I love the work I’m doing, even if I’m not earning any money yet.  And
if sharing what I’m doing like this helps accomplish this project, can we take
those lessons to address other problems?




So - here I am - making the swap over.  I’ve already got a few episodes outlined
from articles I’ve already published on the Sunshine Strategies Patreon.  




What it comes down to is, I want government to be a force for good.  Politics
alone isn’t going to fix it and I’m not built to really run for office in this
system.  I’m good at working through complicated problems - especially in
public-oriented organizations.  The only way I know how to utilize this skill
right now is through Sunshine Strategies.




So - let’s change it up!  I hope you will continue to follow along - I promise
Charlie and Lizzo will make an appearance again soon.  




For now - I’d like to share the article I submitted to the Illinois State
Historical Society journal yesterday.  I think it will help explain better what
my mission at Sunshine Strategies is.




________






A couple of months ago, a strange thing happened.




This isn’t anything new for me.  Whether cultivated by me or a funny quirk of
fate - strange things often happen around me.




On this day, my work led me to call Bill Furry.  You all know him much better
than I, since he’s the executive director of the Illinois State Historical
Society.   While I love history, in fact minoring in it at the University of
Illinois - Springfield, my career has been in the nonprofit and public sector,
working with kids and families.  Why the heck would I need to work with a
historian?




Well, it was for one of my new projects, one of my favorite topics!  Cemeteries!




Over the past six months, I’ve done a lot of work to launch a dream of mine.  My
entire career has been working with communities to fix gaps for kids and
families.  But there is always conflict.  Because the work I do focuses on
change and improvement - it’s often political as well.  While nonprofits and
public agencies must remain apolitical, oftentimes the improvements needed are
outside of the organization - they are within the system and how it interacts
with the organization.  It’s layered into our communities in the way services
are funded, in how resources are allocated.




So many times, in so many sectors, you can find dysfunction simply because of
how the system is set up.  And at the same time, nonprofits must keep a distance
from politics to avoid conflicts with donors and stakeholders.




It’s no surprise that many issues, even whole families, fall between the cracks
of these systems.  When efficiency and metrics are the only report cards to
receive funding - organizations both public and private start helping those
easiest to stabilize.  More complicated or hard-to-identify problems are left to
the smallest segments of our communities like churches, or just left to languish
because no one knows how to help or who is in charge.




My first project fits into this latter category. Like this group, I am a fellow
taphophile who loves to work remotely in older cemeteries.  I can set up my
desk, turn on the mobile hotspot, and enjoy the views.  When I need to think or
stretch my legs, I can wander through the monuments, picking up trash, plucking
weeds, and looking at the names and dates.  




One day, I found a cemetery on the map that I hadn’t been to yet.  I plugged it
into Google Maps, turned up my music, and headed south to Sangchris Lake State
Park.  Oftentimes speeding more than I should have, I noticed the leaves
starting to turn.  There were a few semi trucks and combines out - it was
October last year in fact.  I’m a careful driver, but I do enjoy going fast
between obstacles in the wide-open fields once they are cleared of their fruit.




Imagine my surprise though, as Google’s narration told me I’d arrived at my
destination.  Sitting in the parking lot of the East Boat Ramp, my car’s nose
pointed out across the water, was the cemetery. 




There had to be another road back there.




That day, I just chose to work at the park itself - it’s a beautiful place, and
has a pull of some sort for me.  I find peace many days writing on the banks of
the lake, some days choosing to bring a fishing pole.  But for weeks after that,
I searched for a way to Finley Cemetery.  I drove around, looking for farm
roads, and access points.  However because it sits on the same peninsula as the
Kincaid Power Plant, access is restricted.  




Weeks went by.  I thought about how I could try and get there, determining I
needed to call the park office and the owners of the power plant.  But it wasn’t
a priority - the kids were going back to school soon, I was still trying to find
a routine to work part-time as a consultant while being the on-call parent.  




And then a woman posted on Facebook, on one of those cemetery enthusiast
groups.  (Don’t laugh, I’m sure quite a few of us are there!)  She had traveled
out on her boat to visit family members buried at Finley.  I could tell she was
upset when she shared that part of the wrought iron fence had fallen into the
lake - that erosion and time had taken a toll on the shoreline since the lake
was created in 1964.




Suddenly, Finley Cemetery became a priority.




Here was an issue that no one knew about until it was an emergency, and then
they didn’t know where to start to try and help.  It is a bit harder to explain
how fixing a cemetery benefits kids and families, the mission of my nonprofit -
Sunshine Strategies.  




My argument however is that any issue can be tied back to our children and their
future.  How do we get more solar and wind energy in Illinois?  That helps
protect our resources for future generations.  Why support a union rally for
Illinois correctional officers?  That protects workers and their families to
stay safe, healthy and whole.




With the Finley Cemetery, every person interred there is an Illinois family
member.  Some of the founders of Christian County are buried there, including a
contemporary of Abraham Lincoln and the great-granddaughter of a Revolutionary
War general.  This makes it one of the few sources of history for the area,
showcasing who lived here before and how they lived.  




Add in concerns about climate change and erosion - environmentalism and land use
concerns not only will concern our kids but theirs as well.




By this point, you are probably wondering why is this woman writing all this in
the Coimetromania section of the Illinois Heritage?  Just get a boat and go fix
the shoreline already!

And HERE’s the reason I’m here!  I’m sitting in my home office, watching the sun
set slowly when I would much rather be out at Finley Cemetery.  I could clear a
space in the honeysuckle, determining what steps need to be taken to fix any
damage to the stones or site.  After seeing Finley Cemetery, I can better
understand how to save it and other cemeteries in similar conditions.




Not to mention the reason many of these issues don’t get attention is because no
one organization can afford to troubleshoot inefficiencies like private
businesses can.  For-profit companies looking to maximize profit will spend
years trying to improve systems for 10 seconds less wait time.




However public organizations like townships or nonprofit social service agencies
have to use every last dollar on services that can demonstrate positive metrics
to stakeholders.  There are simply no resources left at the end of the day to
rewrite a bad policy or create meaningful partnerships.




That’s how I happened to call Bill Furry.  I was trying to figure out where to
start on Project Taphophile - the tongue-in-cheek name I’d given this hope to
repurpose our oldest cemeteries.  And as I usually do - I wrote to him from a
remote office, another cemetery.  That day, I don’t remember which one I was in,
but I included a note about my office neighbor and sent a photo of their
headstone.




That somehow turned into Bill asking me if I’d consider writing for this
publication.




I hadn’t thought about that.  Sure, I was writing missives to friends and people
on this project.  Would anyone be interested in these stories outside my current
network?  I almost dismissed the idea entirely.




But.




Wasn’t I a member of a huge group of cemetery enthusiasts on Facebook?  Didn’t I
watch restorations on YouTube or unique stories from other authors?  And how
many true crime or political podcasts did I listen to about fixing complicated
issues?




I’m already documenting this crazy experience - why not share it?




So, here I am, sharing with you and anyone else who is interested in the
wandering journey I’m on to fix the most complicated public administration
problems in our communities.  All my journeys, including photos and eventually
video, will be available through the Sunshine Strategies Patreon and social
media.  But my most coimetromaniac articles I’ll be sending to Bill to publish
here, including a few stories I’ve already published on Patreon about Old
Concord Cemetery and Coons in Shelby County.




My style of writing and focus may be a bit different than my fellow
coimetromania authors - but I hope to share my unique love of cemeteries and the
lessons and stories they hold with others who feel their special pull.




In the meantime - I hope to meet you soon.  Either online or in person!  Please
let me know if you’d like to help - especially if you’d like to donate to
support this project.  Or if you see me in your local cemetery, please stop and
say hello. I’ll be the mom in the black dress with her portable desk.




Jen



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