Episode Details
Back to EpisodesEp. 88 - Every Disability Nonprofit Said No. He Built It Anyway. (w/ Steve Gonyea)
Description
Most leaders already know they should be listening more. This episode is about what actually happens when someone does.
Steve Gonyea is a parent, foster parent to 178 kids, and one of the most relentlessly solution-oriented advocates in the IDD space. In Part 2 of this conversation, he shares how he went from barely getting five minutes with politicians to one assemblyman clearing his entire afternoon — because Steve was the only person who walked in with solutions instead of complaints.
He also shares how he built a fully operational complex care center in Utica, New York — six days a week, free to the community, built without a single waiver dollar — after every disability nonprofit in the region turned him down. And how he convinced New York State's OPWDD Commissioner to drive across the state at night and sit in a library, listening to eight families she'd never met, until she cried.
The through-line in every story is the same: get out of your office, bring solutions, and listen to the people nobody else is asking. It sounds simple. Steve is proof that it works.
📬 Connect with Steve: steve_gonyea@yahoo.com
🔗 Finding Common Ground Podcast & Projects: fcgadvocacy.org
🔗 Special Needs Resource Directory: specialneeds.help
📥 Free resource — 7 Warning Signs Your Supervisors Are Burning Out Their Staff: iddleader.com/burnout
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 – "You came in with solutions. I want to hear them."
02:20 – How Steve changed his approach to advocacy
05:33 – One-on-one meetings vs. bus trips to Albany
07:40 – Inside the 4-hour meeting with an assemblyman
08:20 – Building the complex care center (when everyone said no)
11:26 – The veterans said yes the next day
14:32 – If you have 70% turnover, the problem isn't the DSPs
18:40 – What Steve would say to a CEO with 5 minutes
22:43 – The OPWDD listening tour — and the commissioner who showed up
29:39 – Get out of your office. Here's what you'll find.
35:09 – Introducing specialneeds.help — a free national directory
Quick Question:
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