Connecting 1 Million Students by Next Year, with Erick Roa

“My advice is - sometimes you have to take a risk (and ask for what your school needs); (be sure that you) know a little bit about what the organization’s values and mission are.” - Erick Roa

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Summary

Social-emotional learning is a hot topic. Today, Erick Roa shares with us about his contribution at Empatico and The Kind Foundation. Erick serves as Head of Partnerships at Empatico. He takes us through the grant application and award process as he has experienced it, and gives advice for schools that might be interested in the grant process. Erick shares with us about how students can develop social-emotional skills through the free Empatico software platform.

Listen and take note of how schools can learn to apply to foundations for grants and increase their chances of receiving an award. Empatico has set an ambitious goal to connect one million students worldwide by 2020, and your school can be a part of their success.

In our discussion, we cover:

00:50 Erick shares about his early days as a teacher and how he came to work with Empatico.

2:00 Andrew asks Erick - What is Empatico, what is The Kind Foundation, and how do they work together?

05:00 Erick responds to Andrew’s observation that some foundations seem to be approaching funding as an investment rather than as a one-time grant.

07:10 Andrew wonders what a typical day looks like for Erick.

08:20 Erick tells what Empatico does in the classroom, and how a teacher would use it.

09:40 Andrew asks Erick - How does it work when you administer a grant?

11:43 Erick shares about the qualities of school leaders that foster a good collaboration with Empatico.

16:10 Andrew and Erick discuss the importance of storytelling for schools as they work toward goals, and as they follow up on accomplished projects.

17:55 Andrew asks - What does the grant approval process look like, and what might cause you to reject a grant request?

24:10 Erick details the kind of status that a group must have to be eligible for a grant.

25:10 Andrew wonders about the metrics that The Kind Foundation follows and how they relate to a grant application.

27:40 Erick and Andrew discuss social-emotional learning, and how Empatico would know if this goal has been accomplished in a school using their platform.

28:47 Andrew asks - What makes your job hard?

30:29 Erick offers parting thoughts.

Quotes:

14:14 “My advice is - sometimes you have to take a risk (and ask for what your school needs); (be sure that you) know a little bit about what the organization’s values and mission are.”

20:13 “What we’re able to offer at Empatico are very discreet opportunities for children to build skills within the larger umbrella of social and emotional learning.”

Here are some resources mentioned in our discussion:

Empatico.org - https://empatico.org/

Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Skin-Game-Hidden-Asymmetries-Daily/dp/0241247470

Empatico blog - https://blog.empatico.org/
https://blog.empatico.org/2019/01/six-steps-to-become-an-empatico-district-part-1/

Where to learn more about Erick Roa:

Twitter - @erick_g_roa

Erick on Linkedin - linkedin.com/in/erick-roa-278a25b3

Where to learn more about Enrollhand:

Website: www.enrollhand.com

Our webinar: https://webinar-replay.enrollhand.com

Our free Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/schoolgrowth/