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Erika and Mark Murphy of Rhinebeck: Helping Kids Take the Wheel and Helping Elders Let Go

Episode 230: Erika and Mark Murphy of Rhinebeck: Helping Kids Take the Wheel and Helping Elders Let Go

Mark Murphy on Grip Tape, the nonprofit putting teenagers in the driver's seat. Erika Murphy on death doula work, Rotary, and what Aunt Joan's Manhattan taught her.

Show notes

his week's guests are husband and wife: one helps youth who are just starting in life and the other helps those who are further along life's path. One is boss of his own company and the other is boss of Rhinebeck Rotary. Norm welcomes Erika and Mark Murphy.
Mark is the founder of Grip Tape (griptape.org), a nonprofit that helps teenagers find purpose and agency by handing them the keys. No application, no gatekeeper, no adult telling them what to learn. Just a 10-week challenge, a small pot of funding, and a champion who believes in them. He explains how a former Delaware Secretary of Education ended up rebuilding learning from scratch with 10 teenagers in 2015, and what happens when a 16-year-old in Montrose, Colorado decides to 3D print his own fly fishing reel. Nearly 5,000 young people across all 50 states later, the model just launched in India.
Erika is a 25-year veteran teacher and school administrator turned in-home caregiver and end-of-life doula, currently certifying through INELDA. She tells the story of her Aunt Joan, the Manhattan delivered to the nursing home, and why she calls holding someone's hand as they pass the most intimate moment of her life. She also runs the Rhinebeck Rotary Club, where she got drafted by Gary Bassett over a coat drive.

Produced by Norm Magnusson, Jennifer Hammoud, and Matty Rosenberg @ radiofreerhinecliff.org

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Mark Murphy

Mark Murphy

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Erika Murphy

Erika Murphy

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