Q&A with Executive Director Connie Thrash McGoodwin
(The following is from an article written by Paula Burkes and published in The Oklahoman February 28, 2016)
For the 50th anniversary of the Dale Rogers Training Center, which turns 63 this year, executive director Connie Thrash McGoodwin wrote the family of Roy Rogers to consider donating all memorabilia related to Robin Rogers, who died at age 2 of complications of Down syndrome, and was the daughter of the singing cowboy and his wife and co-star, Dale Evans Rogers.
Weeks afterward, McGoodwin received what she initially thought was a prank phone call from “Roy Rogers,” aka Dusty, telling her the donation was on its way.
Today, Robin’s christening blanket, red toy piano and portrait — along with Roy Rogers’ movie posters, lunch boxes and numerous other keepsakes donated by a Piedmont benefactor — anchors the lobby of the training center at 2501 N Utah Ave., which McGoodwin thinks is just perfect.
“Roy Rogers and his wife and co-star, Dale Evans Rogers, were the first people to not hide their child with disabilities,” McGoodwin said. “They considered her a blessing.”
And blessings are exactly what McGoodwin and her administrative staff of 85 consider the intellectually disabled clients they help train and secure meaningful jobs, including some 150 who manufacture frames and acrylic trophies and awards on site. More than 1,000 others are employed statewide through roughly 300 manufacturing, maintenance and food service contracts and subcontracts with more than 45 private and government organizations, including Tinker Air Force Base, Altus Air Force Base and the FAA.
Individuals in all programs and work projects earned $5.5 million in wages last year.
Dale Rogers itself owns five enterprises. It is the first nonprofit agency in the country to buy and run a pizza franchise — Papa Murphy’s Take ‘N’ Bake pizza at NW 23 and Pennsylvania.
McGoodwin, 66, recently sat down with The Oklahoman to talk about her life, including 32 years as executive director of Dale Rogers. This is an edited transcript:
Q: Tell us about your roots.
A: I’m the oldest of four siblings, with two brothers and a sister. My mother was a homemaker and my father was a command sergeant major in the Army. I was born in Fort Hood, Texas, and we lived in Germany when I was in the first through fourth grades. My father was stationed there again for three years while I was in college. But growing up, we mainly lived in Lawton for all of us to graduate (from Lawton Eisenhower). My father served a year and half in Vietnam, and had two TDYs where we never knew where he was. One was in the Azores. Another time, he and my mom didn’t see each other for two years, though they wrote regularly and phoned once a month. When he was home, my father was very structured and organized. If he told you to be home by 9 p.m., he meant 9 p.m., not 9:01 p.m. or 9:02 p.m. Consequently, I spent a lot of high school being restricted to the barracks. My girlfriends would call to go to the movies, asking if I was off restriction yet. Seriously, I think my rules-driven upbringing prepared me well for this job in which we’re accountable to 60 different entities.
Q: What was your thing in school?
A: Drama. I always played the character roles and was voted best supporting actress my senior year. I also did well in state speech (humorous reading) and debate contests. I was voted president of the drama club and vice president of my junior class.
Q: At OSU, you chose to major in audiology and speech pathology. What was your inspiration?
A: Watching the movie on Helen Keller where she says “wa, wa” for water changed my life. I wanted to do that; I wanted to help people. At OSU, I worked at the speech and hearing clinic on campus. I also served as president of the student chapter of the Oklahoma Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
Q: Upon your OSU graduation, you taught in New York and Australia. Tell us about that.
A: I taught children with intellectual disabilities at a private school in Brooklyn. In college, I’d worked at a summer camp up there, so that’s how they knew and recruited me. It was exciting to live in, and experience, New York City. But a year was enough for me. I saw someone hit over the head with a bat, and was eager to get back to this part of the country. The following three years, I taught intellectually disabled people at Angels Incorporated, an agency in Dallas that was much like Dale Rogers, and earned my master’s in education. Then, I seized an opportunity to teach hearing-impaired kids, ages 8 and under, in Australia. I also taught at the University of New South Wales and trained special education teachers. I moved back to Dallas two years later, when Angels Inc. asked me to return as its executive director. I was 27. I held that job for four years, before taking the opportunity with Dale Rogers.
Q: You direct the nonprofit Dale Rogers as if you were the chief executive of a for-profit company. Did you seek out executive advice?
A: I did. From 2005 to 2015, I was active in what was called EWF (Executive Women’s Forum) International, which brings together women executives for in-depth, monthly discussions about business and personal issues. I learned about profit and loss, marketing and more, which helped me manage the many different business models we now have. Today, I have a nearly $20 million annual budget to balance, up from only $90,000 my first year on the job. Then, we had no state appropriations and only help from the school district and United Way. Today, we generate 83 percent of our own revenue. Half the payback is being around folks and seeing all the wonderful things that are happening here. I never would work this hard to make widgets.
Q: You mentioned you don’t do things just because you can. What do you mean?
A: I’ve seen a lot of people in related fields take advantage of things simply because the opportunity exists. But that doesn’t mean the opportunity necessarily is a good fit for your organization. We’ve turned away jobs that are already well-run; the company is happy with its current contractor who is doing a great job. I am careful about being greedy, and have been called overly-ethical.
Q: Dale Rogers doesn’t do fundraising, but rather finds meaningful work for people with disabilities. What’s the easiest way for individuals and companies to help your cause?
A: Shop at Robin‘s Corner Gift Shop, open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays at 23rd and Utah, or online at drtc.org. We have our own Prairie Spices seasoning line and Prairie Coffee private label coffee and gift baskets, note cards, vases and frame sets. And, DRTC Framing offers fast frames, as well as custom framing. All products are manufactured, prepared or packaged by people with disabilities, so you’re helping them earn a paycheck and give back to our community.
