Interview with Melissa Kaye, Founder, Elev8 Villages, United States

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CONVERSATION HIGHLIGHTS:

Building Empowering Communities: Melissa Kay on Elev8 Villages for Emancipated Foster Youth

Hey there, IMPACT Leaders! On this episode of the YouMeWe Amplified podcast, we have an enlightening discussion with Melissa Kay, the inspirational founder of Elev8 Villages. Discover how Melissa is transforming the lives of emancipated foster youth with her innovative Tiny Home Villages. We dive deep into the challenges faced by foster youth, the unique concept of tiny home living, and how these villages aim to provide not just shelter but a thriving community. Melissa shares her personal journey that led to the creation of Elev8 Villages, the importance of community building, and her strategy for creating sustainable social impact. If you’re looking to make a social impact, this is an episode you don’t want to miss. Tune in for an empowering conversation that’s sure to inspire you to make waves while you make your contribution count!

00:00 Introduction to YouMeWe Amplified Podcast

00:50 Meet Melissa Kay: Founder of Elev8 Villages

01:02 The Foster Care Crisis in the U.S.

01:45 Melissa’s Journey into Foster Care Advocacy

03:37 Challenges Faced by Foster Youth

10:12 Elev8 Villages: A Solution for Emancipated Foster Youth

11:10 Building a Supportive Community

13:27 The Tiny Home Movement and Its Impact

17:34 Future Plans and Expansion

18:16 Funding and Resources for Elev8 Villages

27:20 A Vision of Clarity

29:08 Building Tiny Homes

30:02 Funding the Dream

30:38 Coaching and Contributions

32:33 Sustainable Business Models

34:39 Community and Dignity

36:44 Avoiding Pitfalls

45:20 Rapid Fire Questions

52:49 Final Words of Wisdom

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Interview with Melissa Kaye, Founder, Elev8 Villages; United States

Melissa Kaye started her first business at the age of 17 and continued to flex her entrepreneurial muscles well into her adult life. However, she soon realized that she wanted more—not more things, awards, or money in the bank, but more impact. She sought more of what truly mattered to her and less of what didn’t. After a season of wandering and curiosity, Melissa discovered the missing piece of her life that changed everything. With a background in volunteer work, mentoring at-risk youth, and involvement in the foster system, she became acutely aware of the disregard for these lives, which became painfully unacceptable. Recognizing this problem as one that needed solving, she conducted extensive studies of the resources currently available and was struck by the lack of programs addressing all the needs of these youths. Melissa's mission is to bring wholeness back to these broken and traumatized lives, revolutionizing their future and the future of the generations that follow.

United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal(s) addressed:
#1. No Poverty, #2. Zero Hunger, #3. Good Health and Well-being, #4. Quality Education, #5. Gender Equality, #8. Decent Work and Economic Growth, #10. Reduced Inequalities, #11. Sustainable Cities and Communities, #12. Responsible Consumption and Production

Social impact:
Every year, 20,000 - 26,000 youth emancipate from foster care and enter a future that is both unsure and dangerous. The statistics prove that these youth must be adequately prepared or have readily available resources to become successful citizens. Bringing wholeness and belonging back to these broken and traumatized lives will revolutionize the future for these youth and the generations that come after them. In 5 years, the first 30 villages should be established and over 1,500 youth served. As these youth begin to find peace, safety, and training for the future, they will overcome their years of trauma and neglect and begin to see hope in their future. We know that 70% of aged-out foster youth will have children who will also become wards of the state, and the cycle of poverty and neglect continues. Our goal is to stop this cycle. In 5 years, our first project participants will be well into adulthood, living independently of the system and government programs. They will have jobs they are proud of, education that supports their talents, and an outlook on life that will propel them to live above the poverty level they were born into. In addition, they will have become leaders within the Elev8 Community, from leading their own committee within the village to becoming trainers and mentors for new youth coming in. In just 5 years, the culture of being a former foster youth will shift from dread, fear, and despair to hope and excitement for the future.

Website: http://www.elev8villages.org

Melissa Kaye, Founder, Elev8 Villages, United States —

Turning Transition Into Triumph Post-Foster Care

Note: This conversation is transcribed using AI software, which means the transcription is not perfect. Watch the video or listen to the podcast to hear our guest’s wisdom in her own words. If you want to see more interviews like this, please comment below!

To read about Changemakers International, check out Suzanne’s book Make Your Contribution Count for You, me, and we. 

Visit bio for resources. 

 

[00:00:27] Suzanne F. Stevens: Welcome to YouMeWe Amplified podcast, where we have conversations with sheIMPACT leaders addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These leaders are transforming where we live and work with sustainable social solutions. Hello, I’m Suzanne F.

Stevens, the Wavemaker at YouMeWe Social Impact Group. I’m an international speaker, author, community builder, and multi award winning social entrepreneur, and your host for YouMeWe Amplified Podcast.

Meet Melissa Kay: Founder of Elev8 Villages

[00:00:55] Suzanne F. Stevens: Today we’re having a conversation with Melissa Kay, founder of Elev8 Villages where she provides houses and resources for emancipated foster youth.

The Foster Care Crisis in the U.S.

[00:01:07] Suzanne F. Stevens: Every year, between 20, 000 and 26 thousand young people are coming out of foster care in the United States, stepping into a world filled with poverty. Filled with uncertainty and risk. The numbers don’t lie. Without proper preparation and accessible support, their chances of thriving as successful citizens are slim. That’s where Elev8 comes Villages comes in.

From Tennessee, United States, welcome to the founder, Melissa Kay. Welcome to the show.

[00:01:40] Melissa Kaye: Hey, Suzanne. I’m so happy to be here.

[00:01:43] Suzanne F. Stevens: Let’s start with, what was the catalyst for you to actually start Elev8 Villages?

[00:01:50] Melissa Kaye:

Melissa’s Journey into Foster Care Advocacy

[00:01:50] Melissa Kaye: About 10 years ago, I started mentoring at risk youth. So girls coming out of junior high, going into high school. We took four years and said, what if we mentor them one hour every two weeks. We’ll just go bring them lunch, a group of other business owners along with myself. And let’s just show them possibilities.

And so it was a really interesting four years. Some of the girls in the class were either foster adopted girls, all were in poverty, all were at risk. And during that time, I ended up through that program meeting another young girl at 15 whose mom had just been evicted.

And so Jeanette was going to end up going toa homeless shelter. There was no foster homes available, no group homes, and I just happened to be at the school when all this was happening. And my immediate response was like, I have a bed at my house, she’s not going to go live in a homeless shelter.

So what turned, what was supposed to be a week or two turned into about a year that I got to have her in my home. She has a great ending to her story. Her mom worked really hard to get healthy and they were able to be reunified. I stayed in her life as well. And so she’s had a really positive adult experience.

But that year opened my eyes to what was going on in foster care. So during that experience, I was Educated on the foster system in general. I spent a lot of time with her case worker and I’m always really curious so I was asking a lot of questions. I’m like, well what would have happened? And so that’s kind of my first open window into the terrors of teens in foster care.

[00:03:29] Suzanne F. Stevens: Tell us a little bit about that. A lot of people probably don’t understand what it means to be a foster care child and what those terrors actually are.

Challenges Faced by Foster Youth

[00:03:42] Melissa Kaye: When you enter foster care, The child is taken away with no notice from their parents. There’s not like a plan put in place in a week or whatever.

Either police or child services just walks into the home and takes the children away, maybe giving them three or four minutes to gather their things.

They’re putting a trash bag and they’re taken to a holding place or directly to a children’s home or a foster home.You’re probably already living either in poverty with a parent, with, addiction issues, mental illness, perhaps they’re being incarcerated. already your young life has been a bit chaotic.

And now you’re taken from the only person in life and placed with strangers. Now there are great foster homes. And there are not so great foster homes. In the U S people get paid a stipend to keep the children because certainly it costs.But unfortunately that also brings the bad with the good.

And so the idea of foster care is to reunify the children with the family or to get them adopted. And so that often happens, but for 20, 000, like you said, to 26, 000, A year, those are kids who’ve been in the system anywhere from a year to 18 years and now they’re hitting their 18th birthday and they’re out.

 Of that huge number of kids that leaves every year, the average is that they’ve been in foster care 7 to 15 years. They’ve been in between 10 and 20 homes. So imagine just the chaos in your life. Fifteen times in your life, you changed and went to a new stranger and a new stranger and a new stranger.

And all you’re trying to do is survive.

[00:05:25] Suzanne F. Stevens: Why are they moving? What happens?

[00:05:29] Melissa Kaye: Different issues, that home just is like, Oh, they’re not a good fit anymore. Or we want a younger kid, or it could be a behavior issue in the home instead of learning to deal with it. They just go, yeah, we don’t want this kid. And unfortunately, often that goes in their file. So now their file follows them.

So they may have had one bad experience, the child. And now in their file, every foster home that gets them, this child is flagged as a problem child. So law of expectations, they’re going to be expecting the child to act out when the child acts out. Other things, just people lose their, their classification to be a foster home.

Maybe they want that home for someone else. Maybe their sibling’s coming in and they need an extra spot. So they take that kid and move them. So it’s literally, these youth have had no voice their entire life. No choices. And often, if you’ve been moved around that much, these foster homes haven’t treated you like they’re true children.

They’ve treated you like a guest. You’re here maybe a day, maybe you’re going to be here a year, but we know you’re moving on. So we’re just keeping you safe in the moment. So imagine all those skills that your parents taught you year after year. The little ways they started letting you make decisions for yourself.

You learn to drive. They talk to you about college. These youth have had none of that. Best case scenario, if they’ve stayed at the same school, is that maybe they’ve had a social, a counselor at school or a social worker who’s taken a special interest. But when you’re talking 25, 000 children every year, that are turning 18, at least in the US, they’re a bit too short staff to really know that each child is going to have that person that cares.

 On their 18th birthday in most states, someone from social services, it’s their job to go to that house by 10am, pick up that child and drop them somewhere else. And they’re officially not the state’s problem.50 percent of those go directly into homelessness.That’s like where the problem starts.

[00:07:39] Suzanne F. Stevens: Yeah, the bigger problem, I guess,

[00:07:42] Melissa Kaye: Okay, yes.

[00:07:43] Suzanne F. Stevens: I’d be curious how many kids actually leave their homes in holistic families at the age of 18.

[00:07:52] Melissa Kaye: I wonder, that would be a great number to know,

[00:07:54] Suzanne F. Stevens: Because I would imagine it is quite low, like a definitely below 10%, I would say maybe even. Below 5%. That’s just, what I would guess because often, unless they’re going to school, of course, but they still have the support system of their family, they can come back.

[00:08:14] Melissa Kaye: right?

They have that fallback. If they’re at college and Christmas break and the dorms close, they can run back home for the holidays over summer break,

they have places to go. They have an extended support system. So imagine after like your entire childhood. Bopping around, never having stability.

You’re just trying to just, even if it’s a less than stellar home, you’re tired of moving, so you’re just trying to survive. So you have some sort of, of, idea of what tomorrow’s going to bring. Maybe you’re just wanting to stay in the same school. Maybe you like a teacher. Maybe you’re getting food at school. So you want to stay in the home, you want to keep everybody happy so they don’t kick you out.

And now all of a sudden you’re 18. If you’re not done with high school, there are states that you still get kicked out of the home. So there’s a lot of foster youth that I’ve talked to, they couch surfed for the rest of their high school years. And then you have to think, too, because of the instability of this population, most of them aren’t up to date with their education.

they haven’t had the parents doing their homework with them and making sure that they went to school and got good grades. So just because they’re 18 doesn’t even mean that they’re set up for graduation anytime soon.

[00:09:30] Suzanne F. Stevens: Now, could a family keep the child without pay?

[00:09:36] Melissa Kaye: They would be allowed to, yes.

[00:09:37] Suzanne F. Stevens: Okay. do you have any indication of how many of them actually do?

[00:09:43] Melissa Kaye: Well, of those 25, 000, they don’t. The ones that aren’t counted as aging out may have stayed.

[00:09:50] Suzanne F. Stevens: I see.

[00:09:51] Melissa Kaye: Because there are beautiful foster families who will keep, and then some of them age out, but then that last foster family, maybe they’ve had them for six or seven years and they have become parent figures. And those kids sometimes will still have one of their foster parents still in their life to help guide them, be a backup.

It’s just not the norm unfortunately.

[00:10:11] Suzanne F. Stevens: So how does Elev8 Villages address that need?

Elev8 Villages: A Solution for Emancipated Foster Youth

[00:10:17] Melissa Kaye: They’re going to be Tiny Home Villages, so every youth will have their own home. So what that does first off is it gives them safety. They’re not having to go back to a group homeless situation or live with other people where they have learned that there’s lots of unsafe things going on.

So they have their own home, they’re safe. They can get out of survival mode. They can start healing and start looking at moving forward. They don’t have to worry about. If they’re going to have somewhere to sleep tomorrow. They’re not going to have to worry about if they have food. So as they come in, we first keep them safe.

Then we have wraparound services. So if they need to finish high school, we make sure that happens. If they need to learn to drive. If they need, counseling. If they need therapy. If they need coaching. Whatever resources they need, they’re going to be getting within that first 90 days. We’re going to make sure we onboard them into their needs.

Then as things progress further, now they’re living in community.

Building a Supportive Community

[00:11:15] Melissa Kaye: And at the Tiny Home Village, we don’t just bring in youth who’ve aged out of foster care. About 20 percent of our population, we encourage people who want to live tiny, or want to live in a village, to come and live there as well.

we feel like it’s really important that these youth have examples. Now, they’ll have mentors from the exterior community, near whatever city we’re near, but they want, we need them to live by people who’ve lived there. Figured it out. They already know how to live. So it’s a true meaning of a village.

They’re there to learn, but they’re also there to help build a community where everyone is safe. so for instance, one of my favorite things is right next to the door. Like you may have a placket on your door. Next to every tiny home door, there’ll be tiles of every strength that, resident has.

So maybe they like to sew, maybe they’re good at fixing cars, maybe they’re great at computers, maybe they like to play guitar. So as you walk around your village, you go, Oh, I need to know that person. Maybe they like to babysit. Oh, I have kids, let’s, I need to know her. She can babysit and maybe she can help me.

And so we’re going to teach everyone coming into the village, how to truly live in community. How do we help each other? How do we make sure that if I can’t take care of my child, there’s a village backing me up, like it truly takes a village. And so that’s, the community that we’re building.

[00:12:46] Suzanne F. Stevens: I love that. Friends and I, would send a design of all their strengths that we love about them. And I think that’s such a great idea. And some of them, hang them in their offices.

Mine’s actually on my wall beside me here. But it is such a good place to do it, at that door to remind yourself what you bring to the world. So it is,literally is a village. Like when you, you’re taking someone, Let’s say from a city and foster care, you’re plucking them out and you’re bringing them to an established village of tiny homes where they’ll have other foster care kids as well as perhaps people that want to contribute to that community?

[00:13:32] Melissa Kaye: Yeah.

The Tiny Home Movement and Its Impact

[00:13:32] Melissa Kaye: And also people who choose to live tiny. So the tiny home movement has been around for a little over 10 years. And what originally kind of made me put the pieces together is I started meeting people who live tiny and they were some of the most beautiful people. They were just minimalists. They really felt.

very passionately that life was about experiences and relationships, not about stuff. So they had gotten rid of their stuff and they’ve chosen, it’s definitely a choice. It’s not for everyone, but they chose to live tiny. Let’s kind of have an indoor outdoor living experience. Let’s minimize the stuff that we have.

 And let’s take more time to be in community. So it’s the perfect population to sort of merge and minimalists or tiny home dwellers, some of them are young professionals, some young married couples, there’s retirees. I’m finding more and more, people in academia, professors that are just really wanting that simpler lifestyle.

So, I think we’re going to have a really great pool to pull from of people who want to live in the village as neighbors. Then we’ll also have mentors, but those are from exterior. They don’t have to live in the village. And they’ll go through a mentorship program, and then we’ll have lots of events and things that the kids and the mentors will both be at so they can really, organically find each other,

this is the person I keep talking to that really helps me out.

[00:14:58] Suzanne F. Stevens: I love listening to you. You think like I do. I love it. is bringing all these different needs together. Okay. We have a foster care issue and between moving into adulthood. Okay. Check. We have an environmental issue. Okay. Let’s. Check that. Community builds, builds people. we all need community no matter what our age or circumstance.

Good. Let’s check that. There’s an emotional element of building confidence security in oneself. There’s just so many elements that you’re kind of going check.check. I love that. Like nothing excites me more than when you can do a bunch of great things to empower an individual and therefore the community. So now if someone is 18 years old, you’re you’re getting them instead of the government. Is that what’s happening or you have a relationship and a partnership government? So how does that work?

[00:15:58] Melissa Kaye: It differs by state here, but I have, I’m already building relationships with a lot of the social workers in different states who have access to youth who are on their way to age out or have aged out. And we’ll collaborate a lot on who’s a good fit. I’m sure as the brand grows, we’ll be getting people who know of people or, youth who are saying, Hey, I don’t have anywhere to go in three months.

Can I come there? So there’ll be an application process. They’re going to need to know, like we’re coming to build something great. We’re not just trying to save you and give you a house. if you come into this community, these are the things you’re signing up for.

 As we expand, we do know that we’re going to be raising them into leaders and they’ll be leading, like we’ll have lots of different committees throughout the village. so that there’s lots of opportunity for leadership training. So as these youth mature and begin to learn how to take care of themselves and can provide for themselves.

That’s another piece we can get to. Now, they have a choice. It’s not, there are a lot of the programs here right now for these young people. You have one year or you have 18 months and then you’re out. The thing with these youth is they’ve never had choice. They’ve never had a voice. So we’re really focused on making sure that every decision we make does this give them a voice?

Does this give them a choice? So they can stay as long as they want. They’re going to end up with graduating rent as we teach them job skills and give them livable wage jobs. Their rent will graduate and they’ll understand budgeting and they’ll learn to take care of themselves. So we give them a fish, then we teach them to fish, and then we give them these leadership skills so that they can teach others to fish.

Future Plans and Expansion

[00:17:39] Melissa Kaye: So once the first village is fully established and running. Then we’ll be starting the second and the third. And then each village will multiply itself. And so the goal right now is that we’ll have leaders from each village who will be excited to go and be the leaders of the new village. So youth coming in three years from now will be coming in to leaders who are already lived experience experts.

Hey, I’ve been there, I know what it’s like.

[00:18:07] Suzanne F. Stevens: I really do have a visual of this expanding. It’s fabulous. Now, how do you gain access to the resources? It sounds like you don’t have a lot of employees. I think there’s only two of you, correct?

[00:18:20] Melissa Kaye: Right now there’s two.

[00:18:21] Suzanne F. Stevens:

Funding and Resources for Elev8 Villages

[00:18:21] Suzanne F. Stevens: There’s a lot of steps to this process, and how do you gain those resources to help those youth go from leaving to getting into a place and then ultimately getting the mentorship or anything that they require, maybe even access to, if they’re going to high school still, getting a vehicle or something to get them to the school, because that could be an issue as well.

[00:18:52] Melissa Kaye: Absolutely.

[00:18:53] Suzanne F. Stevens: So where do you get these resources from?

[00:18:54] Melissa Kaye: Great question. So we don’t yet have all of the answers like we will be building as we go and we also know that we’re gonna have in each different village there’ll be different issues. So we’re being really careful to align our values so that as we make choices we stay really centered on those really important values.

 And the other answer is obviously money and so there’s always fundraising going on and grants and things like that. But the bigger piece than just money. was the human side of it. What if I get all the money and what if I have all the youth? But yeah, who are those people who are the right people?

I don’t want to just put an Indeed ad out. Oh, I need someone to manage a village. I need someone to be the cook or I need someone to be a counselor. Like these are special people who are going to be really have that inner, I’m going to use the word calling. I don’t know if that’s the right word, but that inner calling to be a part of this work.

And so after the ideas and it’s all started building and the fundraising was starting to happen. I said, it doesn’t matter how much money I have. If I don’t have the right people, this isn’t going to happen. starting in just a few months, I’ll be heading out on tour and I’ll be going to at least 25 different large cities talking about what we’re doing and starting to get people to think.

Realize the problem, the solution, and then through that, we’re going to find those people who want to be a part of what we’re building. and so this is a really organic sort of grassroots effort and. Every day I run into more and more people. I’ve been sort of on an unofficial tour for the last year.

I’ve found I can go around the country and dog sit. And so I live in different cities about every month or two. And in that I meet people and then we have conversations and then I have lovely people invite me on a podcast and we have conversations. And then once I’m on the official tour, we actually have a film team.

We’ll be doing a YouTube docu series. And so this is going to happen by lots of people seeing the vision and going, Hey, I want to be a part. And there’s So many roles to play.

[00:21:03] Suzanne F. Stevens: So how long have you been doing this? Do you have any villages up and running yet?

[00:21:07] Melissa Kaye: No, we don’t have any villages up.

 When I’m on tour, we’ll be deciding on that first location. Cause the location of each village is really important. It’s not so much where the need is because when these youth age out, they don’t have roots, they don’t really belong anywhere, which is a huge part of the issue.

They don’t belong. So they’re not going to mind, oh, hey, you want to come to Florida, Nashville, Chicago, wherever it is, that first one is. What’s important is that the community surrounding the village is excited about this. I need. the people in the government, I need people in the schools, people in the churches, people in businesses to say, yeah, we want a village here and here we have resources we’re going to help you with.

And when all that comes together, we’re like, this is going to be the right spot. We already, without even being on tour, we already have two places, Nashville, Tennessee and South Florida who were already kind of vying for that first village. So it’s really exciting to see things start coming together.

[00:22:08] Suzanne F. Stevens: There’s two things that are popping into my mind that to help with resources. One is a financial resource and both are human resources. And it could check another box. is elderly or retired people. I’d say retired people because let’s face it. I mean, I’m pushing the top half of 50 and I’ve got a lot of life to live and I’m not going to be retiring anytime soon. I have a ton of friends that are retiring at 55, 65 that really want to contribute in meaningful ways and have expertise that they want to share. there could that could be a great marketing opportunity is gathering people that are retired that want to contribute, which kind of leads to my other comment is the Rotaries of the world. Not only do they often give funding, but a lot of those people like to get involved, hands on, grassroots, be involved in a process.

And they could actually start running it for you in the local area, because they will have tons of contacts. Being that you’re a small non profit.it’s challenging. You need women power, I’d like to say, but you need people power. And in

order to do that, a lot of those Rotarians don’t only, or any of the service organizations for that matter, they want to get involved.

They don’t like just cutting checks.

[00:23:40] Melissa Kaye: So they could be great partners. And let’s face it, they’re everywhere. Right? So throughout the States, they’re a great place as you go doing your speaking, you may have them on your radar, but it’s,one that just popped my mind as I’ve spoken at Rotaries myself. I love that. Great suggestion.

[00:24:02] Suzanne F. Stevens: Yeah.

So how do you know this is going to work? I mean, right now it’s a theory.

[00:24:10] Melissa Kaye: It’s going to work because it has to work. I’m not going to stop until it works. it’s really funny. My whole life I’ve been what I refer to myself as a multi potential light. I’ve done a lot of things and I’ve done a lot of things really well, but every time I’m into something, I’m always looking for the next thing and the next thing.

And when this thing hit me, when I finally for 10 years, I was mulling over how does this work? And it all of a sudden all came together. And once I figured it out, that’s it for me. this is, I look back and I’m like, wow, all of those things that I found interest in over the years. They’re all so that I have the skillset, I have the knowledge, I have the resources, and I have the network to know who else has the knowledge, resources, and skills to make this happen.

So it’s not so much, how do I know it will, but that I know it will. And I’ve dedicated every minute and hour of my life from here until I’m no longer here to make sure that this happens.

[00:25:18] Suzanne F. Stevens: Is your Relationship then with foster care because you were working with kids. Was there any other relationship besides the story you told us at the beginning of watching the systems break down? Because, so you’re kind of removed from foster care. You didn’t have a personal experience except. Meeting this young person.

[00:25:40] Melissa Kaye: Right, right. No, I’m not in any way, entrenched into the current foster care system. I talk to a lot of people. I read a lot. I listen to a lot of, youth who’ve aged out. I listen to a lot of people who are working in the system, but I myself am not tied into the foster care system in any way.

[00:25:57] Suzanne F. Stevens: And the reason I asked that is you know often when we look you know you mentioned the word calling before and I’m definitely receptive to that term of calling what our mission actually is and you describe it really well in the sense that, You’re going along a path and you’re gaining knowledge, and sometimes, and I don’t know if you’ve ever felt like this, but sometimes you feel like that’s the path, like you’re on it, you’re on the path, and then something comes, breaks it up, sortlike a, it’s like the universe kind of says, oh no, that’s not the path, that was just information to get you on the path,

[00:26:35] Melissa Kaye: I love that.

[00:26:36] Suzanne F. Stevens: and then you kind of keep going, oh, this is just the evolution, which, you know. Elev8, right? So it’s like the Evolution of what will happen and it’s not until you’re past it do you realize, oh, all those pieces were just the next step to make something bigger and more

impactful happen. And I know you had mentioned, somewhere in my research that you personally, you didn’t have the meaning that you were looking for in your life. And that’s why you probably bounced around. When you realize this. This piece, what was the aha, the realization that this must be the path that I need to excel at? What was that?

A Vision of Clarity

[00:27:25] Melissa Kaye: Such a great question.

 It was a feel. All the other things I’ve done in the moment were good. They were good things. I was like, it was like 95 percent and I was always missing a piece. It’s like you put together this lovely puzzle but then there’s like that one piece missing. It always felt like that to me.

And so I was always looking around. And when this actually came to me, not all the pieces, but the big piece kind of came to me in a vision. It was like three in the morning, but it wasn’t a dream. And I, when I fully came awake,I was like looking around. I was like, who’s here?

What is that? And I sat for a couple hours just like I could remember every single detail of it. And I just like my heart was like just pounding and I was like, is this it? And it was it. And from that moment, I’ve never had a doubt. I’ve never had a fear. I’ve never worried about how. I mean, I’m smart enough to start putting the pieces together, but I, it was never like a, well, I don’t know, maybe I, no more shiny objects.I’ve never felt so laser focused on one thing.

I’ve met people who, when they were five, they knew they were going to be an actress. Now they’re an actress, or they knew they were going to work with airplanes and they’ve worked with airplanes every day of their life. And I always was like, wow, I never had that certainty. But now I do. And the great thing is looking back and going, okay, I couldn’t have been this person 30 years ago.

Like, I had to live the life I lived in order to be the person today who can do this.who can facilitate it being done. I mean, certainly I can’t do it all alone or by myself, but knowing how to rally the people, knowing how to get the pieces and get them into place.

[00:29:13] Suzanne F. Stevens:

Building Tiny Homes

[00:29:13] Suzanne F. Stevens: How are you getting the houses?

[00:29:15] Melissa Kaye: So tiny homes are built all over the U. S. and Canada,

interestingly enough.So I may have relationships with a lot of different tiny home builders at this point. I’ll be taking one tiny home around the country when the official tour kicks off. And so after that, like once we know where the land is and we start developing the land, which will also have a very big social area, by the way, amphitheater, a big, services building.

We’ll have multiple tiny home builders all building four or five homes. so I don’t want it to look like a,little

cut out neighborhood. Yeah.

no, it needs to look different and it needs to have a lots of personality and lots of individuality. So we’ll have lots of different builders, building tiny homes.

 depending again, where we build it and what the zoning issues are, most of them will be on wheels. So they’ll be made wherever offsite, and then they’ll be brought in and then placed and, locked down, so to speak, into the village.

Funding the Dream

[00:30:07] Suzanne F. Stevens: Who’s paying for the tiny home?

[00:30:11] Melissa Kaye: Donors, grants, foundations.

[00:30:14] Suzanne F. Stevens: So you’re in Texas right now and you’re looking for places.

So the tiny homes are getting financed by grants and your income as well, I would assume.

[00:30:25] Melissa Kaye: So I don’t, I won’t take any income from Elev8. Like I have my own source of income from investments, things like that. So I won’t have to touch anything that comes in for Elev8 goes towards building that first village.

[00:30:35] Suzanne F. Stevens: Is all your income coming from investments or do you have some other work that you’re doing?

[00:30:43] Melissa Kaye:

Coaching and Contributions

[00:30:43] Melissa Kaye: I also coach, so I’m a life coach. So that’s where my personal revenue comes from.

[00:30:48] Suzanne F. Stevens: Which will be, is great too for the other piece, right?

[00:30:51] Melissa Kaye: Yes. Well, and years, like a few years back after I had gotten certified and I was starting to coach. Because this has always been on my mind, I’m like, Ooh, I’m going to make this really great coaching program for youth who age out of foster care, and I’ll gift it to them, like this was going to be my gift.

And I started so then I started doing even more research, and I started building a program, and then one day I just, I slapped myself on the face, and I was like, this is all BS. If you don’t have food to eat in the house, none of this coaching matters. So then I was like,wait, how do we get back to the beginning?

Like, where do we need to start? And so then if shortly after that was the vision,

[00:31:28] Suzanne F. Stevens: Yeah. I love that story and I’ve heard it so often in the sense that, want to make a social impact, and yet, you can’t, I mean, you just said it beautifully, if I can’t eat, I don’t feel safe, I don’t have a place to live, and it just reminds me of years ago when I interviewed a missionary who went to northern Kenya, and they showed up to translate the Bible, and then they realized, but these people can’t read. So if they can’t read and they’re nomads, so we need to build a school. So then they got to stop being nomadic, which means they need to eat. So we have to provide food, but we need to teach them. So when I met this woman, I said to her, how’s the Bible coming? She said, well, it’s 30 years and it’s still not done,Because that’s the reality You’ve got to start where people are at in order for them to have those basic needs before they can actually, be receptive to any development.

That’s a great story. S

Sustainable Business Models

[00:32:38] Suzanne F. Stevens: o far as moving forward, and again, you’re in the midst of all this, how do you plan on sustaining the entire project? Do you see it always being? Being grants. No, you’re excited. So it’s got, it’s bigger than that. Go for it.

[00:32:55] Melissa Kaye: I’m so glad we got to this part. my background isn’t as an entrepreneur and I’ve had multiple businesses. And so the great thing with Elev8 Village is what do these youth need? They need jobs and they don’t need minimum wage jobs that pay 12 bucks an hour, because if you live in your parents house, that’s a good job.

But when you don’t have parents, when you don’t have a house, when you don’t have anything in the U. S. at least, that doesn’t get you very far. So the Elev8 Villages will also be opening their own businesses that will provide livable wage jobs. It’s going to be different, I think, depending where the villages are.

There’s going to be a few that are the same. For instance, the back barrier of the village will be storage units. Storage units is a really low overhead, high profitability. And everyone needs storage units, especially people living in a tiny home. So there’ll be inward facing storage units and outward facing storage units for the community.

So that’s just an example of one of the businesses. We might have a nail salon. We might have an, auto body shop, just depending on the skills in that city and the people who go, Hey, I want to be a part of this. This is what I know about. Let’s build a business around that. So now the kids are also learning leadership skills in business, entrepreneurial skills.

If they don’t want to go for a degree, they can learn to be an entrepreneur. They can learn how to lead. They can learn all the different aspects in a business. So now they’re making their own money. They’re able to pay their rent. The village is now starting to generate some revenue. Now, as the businesses grow over the first two years, the model is built so that in two years, the businesses will be producing the revenue to pay the overhead of the village.

So we raise money for the building of the village and two years of overhead then after that, it’s completely self sustaining.

[00:34:43] Suzanne F. Stevens: I love it.

Community and Dignity

[00:34:44] Suzanne F. Stevens: I love it too because it gives people an opportunity wherever that village is located to support, the village. and they’re not, giving a handout. I’m not a fan. I believe in creating opportunity. so giving a hand up and creating opportunity is we know. is the most important thing is to get your own income because not only does it make your life sustaining, but it provides us dignity. So it’s such an important element. So love it.

[00:35:16] Melissa Kaye: I kept getting asked, people were like, Oh, there’s these grants and the government will pay for this. And I’m like, I’m not making a tiny home village for foster kids to teach them how to be poor,

teach them how to live on the government. That has not worked. We’ve proven that doesn’t work.I want to make sure we create a space with opportunity, with,knowledge, like knowledge is power.

So what do these youth need to know? Where are their gaps? Andyes, in 2024, 2030, 2040 , the ability to generate revenue is a thing. yeah, so that’s where, that’s where some of the really magic in the model is. And imagine the skills that we’re going to be able to teach them. through walking them through their first or second job.

[00:36:01] Suzanne F. Stevens: Yeah. And to your point, I’ve spoken on many stages about creating opportunity and Because that does give you dignity. And it’s, it is so important, which to be perfectly frank, until recently I wasn’t interviewing nonprofits. I,

[00:36:18] Melissa Kaye: Wow.

[00:36:19] Suzanne F. Stevens: because I was years ago when I was doing African interviews, but I stopped.

Because I think a lot of the models can turn to be in for profit by providing people with opportunity exactly what you’re doing. That being said, I think they also can collaborate profit and non for profit really well, which is why I decided to, to switch my model as, for that reason. But I love where you’re going with that. I

Avoiding Pitfalls

[00:36:49] Suzanne F. Stevens: s there any fear of creating, I don’t want to say the word slum, but often when we have low income people we looking at each other. And we’ve seen this all over Canada. We’ve seen it in the States Now I know you’re trying to bring other people into that community, which I think by the way, extremely wise.But is there any concern that one, people may not want to live with foster care children thinking that, they’re probably going to be problematic, or like those biases that we do have, society has, or that there could be some sort of creation of, and I use slum only because in my mind, in Africa, they say slum all the time, but a less,prestigious place to live. That

[00:37:50] Melissa Kaye: Yes. Yes. I’m glad you asked because I think when you, at least here, when I say Tiny Home Village, that’s where people’s minds go immediately. It’s like a trailer park. We would call it trailer park here. And yes, it is, I don’t know that a fear, but it’s definitely something to be really mindful of. And how are we creating this so that it is not and it will not turn into that.

So there’s a few different things that are in place, addressing that. And one is, this isn’t just a tiny home village. This is a luxury tiny home village. Like the way it’s designed, the way that the homes are, the way that the landscaping is like that luxe feeling. Like you just walked into a really high end neighborhood.

And so then, as anyone moves into the village, the community classes that they take and the, community and conversation, classes, how do we converse? How do we talk to get us to the higher level? How do we live in community to respect each other? And so those classes are going to be really honed in on.

We choose where we live. We choose what we make of this village. And I think where I’m not disconnected enough to think that I can control all of that. I do think that we can create visions for people that they will gladly step into. And let me tell you, with the population that we’re going to be, elevating, these kids are full of hope, no matter what they’ve gone through.

They’ve been in homes that they’ve been abused sexually, physically, mentally. They’ve gone without food. They’ve been beaten. They’ve been sold off to neighbors as workers. They’ve gone through some of the worst things that you and I could imagine in their pre teen and teen years, yet when they’re coming into 16, 17, and 18, as strong as their fear of what’s going to happen to me, just as strong, they have this hope that they can do life better.

And remember, like I know when I was 18, I thought I could fix the whole world. So what a better, more delicious group of youth to get together than youth who’ve never had anything. They’re not entitled. They don’t feel like their future is already figured out and safe. They know they have to build whatever they’re going to build.

And now given the opportunity, would you want to live somewhere and then turn it into a slum, or would you want to live somewhere and turn it into something greater?

[00:40:23] Suzanne F. Stevens: You know your stuff and what I can say is one would hope that is the case. I’ll just share just a little story with you totally different country, different circumstances, but it sort of goes to what you’re saying. When I was in Kenya, a group of us. By the way, I’m not a fan of what we did, so what I’m about to explain. But we went in and cleaned up a school, okay? Painted it, gardened it, etc. And as we were doing that, teachers came out and started cleaning up alongside us. Now, this is how I’ve interpreted the whole thing, is they didn’t want people coming into their village fixing it.

Again, we go back to that dignity piece. They didn’t want other people doing it, so they did it. And the problem with it, though, is that soon as we left, and I went back a few years, it was gone, everything we did.One hopes that people will take pride in their place. Just my observation and I hope you see something similar and yet different is people take pride of their innards. whether they were living in a box or living, everything was in order, but outside that space where it was communal, it was left. So that you’re marketing it in such a way, I think is so wise that these are the expectations and teaching people how to be in community. Because that’s

a wholeother thing. Now, is there any sort of, maybe fear is not the right word that, you know, becomes a commune or a cultish like experience because of that?

[00:42:18] Melissa Kaye: Yeah, and I’ve done a lot of studying on both co housing, communes, cults, and what’s that thing that switches it from living in community to a control, fear based society where there’s,that one person that has all the say. As much as I feel like my heart’s great and I would say good things, There’s a fine line that I could or someone else could become that person.

 So yes, I’ve done a lot of studies in it. typically it’s where there is some dogma where there’s some 100 percent it has to be this way and there’s nothing else. So part of our community and our communication classes are learning how to approach each other with compassionate curiosity and learning to have conversations that not for agreement, but for understanding.

And it’s not the way the world I grew up in worked. I think there are people who have these conversations in this way, and I’m really hopeful that as The leaders who start out model that, and as we teach that we can create a better way of being. And I’m not trying to be Pollyanna, but here’s what I know.

In this world, we can go to the moon, we can hold huge libraries of information in the palm of our hand now. we’ve done great things. We’ve broken the four minute mile in running. I mean, you could list all the amazing things humanity has done, and yet all of that aside, we have not figured out how to heal the heart of humanity.

So if we can put as much attention to that, I’m not trying to fix the whole world, but let’s figure it out in a village and then let’s make a second village and a third village. I don’t think it’s impossible.

[00:44:10] Suzanne F. Stevens: And, when you’re saying we figured all this stuff out and at the end of that sentence, All I could think of, and yet we still don’t have a president that’s a woman, yet. Anyway!

[00:44:23] Melissa Kaye: Yes. Yes.

[00:44:26] Suzanne F. Stevens: I don’t mind my political side coming out.

[00:44:29] Melissa Kaye: Bring it on.

Men haven’t fixed our social problems. I’ll just say that.

[00:44:35] Suzanne F. Stevens: No, they have not.

 In five years time, how many villages do we have?

[00:44:40] Melissa Kaye: In five years time, six to eight,

[00:44:44] Suzanne F. Stevens: I love what you’re doing. And,your optimism to achieve it, I also love. As you said, you’re not being Pollyanna about it. And I get that. But at the end of the day, you got to be pretty optimistic because this is a pretty big goal that you’re, attempting to get done.

And there’s not a doubt in my mind that you will get it done. It will get done. And I look forward to reconnecting in five years.

[00:45:09] Melissa Kaye: When I’m going to invite you, actually, I’m going to invite you in one year or less to the ribbon cutting of our first village.

So I hope you’ll be there.

[00:45:16] Suzanne F. Stevens: I, please do. I would love to see that. I mean that, that’s the stuff that is worth traveling to for sure.

Rapid Fire Questions

[00:45:25] Suzanne F. Stevens: So we’re going to round ourself off with just some quick questions and a little insight into what I like to call our rapid fire questions. First thought, best thought, don’t make them short and sweet please.

Uh,if you can,

uh, that would be great. All right.

[00:45:44] Melissa Kaye: I noticed that’s hard for me, but I will do my best.

[00:45:46] Suzanne F. Stevens: no, you’ve been great. You’ve been great. These are short and sweet. They’re just snippets.

All right. The first question is, What do you think is the most significant thing citizens can do to uplift your beneficiary?

[00:45:58] Melissa Kaye: First think about. If you turned 18 without all the resources you had for the first 18 years of your life, understand what these kids have missed. They’re not bad kids. They’re not problem children. They are children who have never had love and nurturing and decide in what way can you step in.

[00:46:18] Suzanne F. Stevens: What is one thing you wish you knew prior to engaging down this contribution path, which you’re fairly new at it. but nonetheless.

[00:46:27] Melissa Kaye: I’m up for all the lessons. I started exactly where I should. So I’m gonna, I’m gonna say it’s all good whatever happens.

[00:46:35] Suzanne F. Stevens: What’s the worst piece of advice you’ve ever received?

[00:46:38] Melissa Kaye: Worst piece of advice. Ooh, that’s a hard one.probably look out for yourself, no one else is going to.

[00:46:45] Suzanne F. Stevens: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

[00:46:49] Melissa Kaye: Go out in the world with curiosity. Find things you don’t know about. Try to get stuff out of that. You don’t know what you don’t know box into the, I know I don’t know it.

[00:47:01] Suzanne F. Stevens: I loved when you said curiosity and compassion. They’re two cornerstone values of mine as well. And it’s a gift to be curious.

[00:47:08] Melissa Kaye: It really is. And curiosity, one thing, but then add that compassionate curiosity. I’m not being curious to be nosy. I’m being curious because compassionately, I want to be able to fill some of those crevices for you.

[00:47:21] Suzanne F. Stevens: 100%. What is one piece of advice you’d give to an entrepreneur who wants to have a social impact?

[00:47:29] Melissa Kaye: When you’re looking to have social impact, ask yourself three questions. Is this for you? Is this for that person that’s going to be the beneficiary? Is this for me? Is this so that I have a good photo op? Is this so that I look, I feel good, I sleep good at night?

Is this for we? Is this a way that we can do it together to uplift our community, our society, our country, our world?

[00:47:57] Suzanne F. Stevens: And now you know why my business is called YouMeWe. I think you need all of those.

If you had a daughter Now do you have any children?

[00:48:08] Melissa Kaye: I don’t. Just that foster daughter.

[00:48:10] Suzanne F. Stevens: Okay, if you had a daughter who was 10 years old today, what advice would you give to her?

I would tell her, make mistakes and fail. And every time, learn a lesson and try everything you want to try. Don’t play it safe in this world.What advice do you wish you received at 10 years old?

[00:48:36] Melissa Kaye: You don’t have to be perfect.

[00:48:39] Suzanne F. Stevens: What is one thing you had to do that made you uncomfortable, but if you didn’t do it, you wouldn’t have gone down this path to have the social impact that you’ll be having?

[00:48:50] Melissa Kaye: Lived in poverty. Ran out of all resources. And looked up one day and said, I don’t have any food. Very uncomfortable, but the best lesson I ever could have had. Learning about poverty is very different from living in it and understanding what it’s like to live in. You’re just trying to get to the next meal.

It’s a whole different mindset. and you can’t learn to create. In that mindset, in that space, not even a mindset in that space. yeah, but I’m really glad I went through that because I have a whole different view of the population I’ll be serving.

[00:49:30] Suzanne F. Stevens: Who is the greatest female influence in your life and why?

[00:49:36] Melissa Kaye: Florence Nightingale. She was my hero growing up and just in her day, all she could do was give comfort to people and just be there with the light. So I’d like to say that through my life that sort of led me. It led my heart.

[00:49:53] Suzanne F. Stevens: What three values do you live by?

[00:49:58] Melissa Kaye: Compassion, love, and curiosity.

[00:50:04] Suzanne F. Stevens: Do you have a book that you would recommend that would either, in the sphere of social impact or foster care, that you would recommend?

[00:50:14] Melissa Kaye: A Place Called Home by David Ambrose.

[00:50:18] Suzanne F. Stevens: Great. Now, besides yours, being youth and foster care and coming out of it, which beneficiary do you think needs the most investment of time, research, and money?

[00:50:31] Melissa Kaye: Women who have been really trained in the patriarchal way and they’re not breaking out and being fully who they are because we’re the ones who have that compassion, that nurturing to make the world better and if we’re sitting there serving a man food and doing his laundry.

[00:50:49] Suzanne F. Stevens: And I think it’s really overlooked. I don’t know that there’s a charity for that or a nonprofit for that. No, there’s Suzanne Stevens for that. Yeah.

[00:51:01] Melissa Kaye: Like when I’m thinking of it, if we could free that, if we could free those minds, who don’t even know that they’re living in, a sort of, controlled darkness.

[00:51:11] Suzanne F. Stevens: I do some coaching too. And a lot of it’s about conditioning and, getting rid of our conditioning so we can access our authentic selves

and yeah. Send them taking that

[00:51:21] Melissa Kaye: Lifetime journey for

[00:51:22] Suzanne F. Stevens: me.

Yeah, well, it is, right? And it has been for me too. And then taking that and amplifying that voice, that authentic voice for the benefit, because like you, I like to do a lot of things at the same time for the benefit of social impact, right?

[00:51:38] Melissa Kaye: Yes.

[00:51:39] Suzanne F. Stevens: We all have that stuff that gets in the way of our social initiatives. That could probably make them grow even more and,that’s who I like to work with. So I can appreciate that. You’re just feeding right into my little hand.

[00:51:54] Melissa Kaye: You me, we was the only intentional one. I promise.

[00:52:00] Suzanne F. Stevens: Oh, that’s fun. Now, Melissa, where can people reach You or Follow You?

[00:52:06] Melissa Kaye: The best this is to go to our website, ww dot Elev8 villages.org. Elev8. We have a little twist on that. That’s the word Elev8, but instead of a TE, it’s the lead, the number eight ELEV. 8villages. org. You can find our social channels there. You can email me from there. Please if you’re interested in really following our journey and one day being a part of it, we have a really fun survey on there.

I think it’s on the join us page. There’s a few different places. Fill out the survey. You get to pick which ways would I want to be involved? Our email list is segmented. So when we have a need for that, you’re going to get an email saying, Hey, we’re ready now.

[00:52:43] Suzanne F. Stevens: Fabulous. I love that. It’s very strategic. And do you have any final words of wisdom for our audience regarding making a conscious contribution to society?

Final Words of Wisdom

[00:52:54] Melissa Kaye: Just do it.

[00:52:56] Suzanne F. Stevens: Thank you, Melissa.

Thank you for sharing your insight, inspiration, and there’s not a doubt in my mind that villages are coming to Canada eventually. To discover more about the podcast with SheImpact leaders transforming where we live and work with sustainable social solutions, please visit podcast.

YouMeWe. ca. And please share and subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. Until next time, I’m Suzanne F. Stevens, and I encourage you to make your contribution count for YouMeWe.