Philanthropy SA Podcast · Philanthropy SA Podcast

Philanthropy SA Episode 44 - Jarrell Flowers with the Rise Collective and South Texas Alliance for Orphans

·37 min·2 clips

Jarrell Flowers cites 71 percent, 70 percent, and 81 percent outcomes for youth aging out of foster care.

Dan Redman brings Jarrell Flowers back for another conversation. They start with some banter, then move into Jarrell's work with the Rise Collective and his role with the South Texas Alliance for Orphans, which gives the episode its center. The tone stays relaxed. Dan points out that Jarrell has helped him think differently about how older people and younger people work together inside an organization, and that practical thread keeps the talk grounded. Mentor families come up next. Jarrell describes them as part of a slower, steadier effort to support kids who need adults to stay present, keep checking in, and prove that care is more than a one-time gesture. Trust is not easy. He talks about a young woman with a newborn and about why someone in that situation may not trust strangers who suddenly show up with advice, offers, or good intentions. Dan follows the point. He names the background many of these kids carry: hard birth-family relationships, state intervention, abandonment, and years in foster care that can teach them to expect loss. Grief is everywhere. Jarrell says he has been looking at grief resources and thinking about the five stages of grief, because the children and teens around this work are carrying real losses all the time. The work stays personal. He talks about texting, asking how someone is doing, asking about the baby, and trying to keep relationships alive even when a person's history makes every new connection feel risky. There is no shortcut. What the episode offers instead is a plain look at community care as repeated follow through, where prayer, patience, and ordinary contact matter as much as any formal program. Dan lets Jarrell explain the human stakes without sanding off the rough edges, and the result feels like a conversation about service, responsibility, and humility. It ends on purpose. The closing note returns to the show's reminder to do well so you can do good, then carry that steadiness back into the community.

As heard by us

A grounded conversation about trust, grief, and the slow work of showing up for children and families.

Jarrell Flowers and Dan Redman keep the conversation close to the ground. Flowers talks about Rise Collective in practical terms, with mentoring and family support framed as slow trust-building rather than a polished pitch.

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Why you'd press play

Hear how mentor families try to earn trust from kids who have been let down again and again.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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