In this episode of After 40, Corey Bearak shares how decades of civic leadership and mentorship have shown him that staying rooted in community is the key to purpose, connection, and impact.
Guest: Corey Bearak, Attorney - Government Affairs Counsel
Host: Dr. Deborah Heiser
On ITSPmagazine 👉 https://www.itspmagazine.com/itspmagazine-podcast-radio-hosts/deborah-heiser-phd
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Episode Introduction
Welcome to After 40. I'm so excited to share this session with you today because I have Corey birak with me. And Corey birak is a seasoned attorney in Government and Public Affairs Council based in Queens, New York, and from almost 50 years, he's blended public service and legal strategy to help public officials, unions, businesses and nonprofits navigate complex policy and media landscapes. Corey has been involved in communities long before it became the talk of the town where people are talking about how important it is to connect and become involved in your community, there's been so much talk about things like social prescribing and connections and community that can be of service to individuals.
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The Mentorship Edge: https://a.co/d/eujpfX7
The Right Side of 40: https://substack.com/@deborahheiserphd
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Rooted in Community: Building a Legacy of Service| A Conversation with Corey Bearak | After 40 Podcast with Dr. Deborah Heiser
Unknown Speaker 0:00
You. Welcome to After 40. I'm so excited to share this session with you today because I have Corey birak with me. And Corey birak is a seasoned attorney in Government and Public Affairs Council based in Queens, New York, and from almost 50 years, he's blended public service and legal strategy to help public officials, unions, businesses and nonprofits navigate complex policy and media landscapes. Corey has been involved in communities long before it became the talk of the town where people are talking about how important it is to connect and become involved in your community, there's been so much talk about things like social prescribing and connections and community that can be of service to individuals. And Corey has been involved in this longer than some people have been alive, so I'm thrilled to have this amazing expert here with me today. Welcome Corey.
Unknown Speaker 1:12
Thanks, Deborah, I appreciate the opportunity to share
Unknown Speaker 1:16
well. I have a couple of questions for you. You have spent almost 50 decades shaping public policy and building local organizations. What role has community played in your own personal fulfillment, especially after 40
Unknown Speaker 1:34
it's interesting. Obviously, it's staying connected, and the relationships you build sometimes turn, in some cases, turn social as well. And it's nice when you can blend in that way. I think that's, you know, that's the one thing. And I've always been about making a difference. And, you know, working, I felt always working with community gives you a certain grounding, and it gives you a base that you're not just out there for yourself, but by showing that you're working in coalition with others, there's people who share In that, in those goals, whether it's because you convince them or work with them to develop it as the case may be, but when you're working in tandem with others, you're in a stronger place to make things happen, because When people are responding they're not just responding to you, sometimes your reputation helps, and people want to maybe will open a door to you or be willing to listen to you, but knowing that there's others who concur with that point of view, with that policy proposal, with that perform, it helps the chances of making it happen. And throughout my career, I've tried to reach out to build coalitions, whether it's been on the political side, whether it's been on the community side, or sometimes accommodation of both to things happen or to engender support. So things can happen, and sometimes they happen soon. Sometimes it's a process, and it can take years and years and years, but you don't let go. I talk about it is, every good idea finds its time.
Unknown Speaker 3:43
Well, that's a great saying, and that's so true, things don't always happen immediately, and that takes a special, special person to be able to ride something out that feels like it could be impossible in the beginning. Is there any example of one that feels the most exciting to you, one that maybe took a while, but really, you know, ended up being something bigger or better than you thought it
Unknown Speaker 4:07
would be. I know that bigger or better, but, you know, a case in point was when I was first got active police response times in my community were always horrible, and they had it, and part of it was a reflection the fact that the geography of the community and the police precinct area was just too large geographically to cover back and forth, essentially the running from like the Thomas Kennedy airport in the south, north shore towers in the north, hugging the eastern border of Queens. So you know people who can envision that? See, it's a big geographic area, if you will. And you know you're talking about, you know something that you traverse on a highway. You know in 25 you know 30 minutes in some cases. So imagine throwing in local streets. So obviously, police response times to crimes in progress just weren't working. And as I got in government, there was an opportunity to require the publication of those response times across the city, and using that ultimately made a case to create a second precinct for covering that, that community, and eventually, we finally got it. You know, we're talking about something that dated back to the 70s, when I was just, really, just out of college and and now, you know, almost 40 some odd years later, we were close to getting something funded. It got funded, and then when we had the when there was a movement to defund the police that became a misguided casualty on the budget process, and we had to fight again in coalition to get it back in and fund it, which we did, and we had the opening just said towards the end of the last Just towards the end of last year, and was a really wonderful experience to see. And the interesting part about it is that the physical new precinct was not in my neighborhood. It was in the southern portion of the community, if you will. So you know, we're working to we're working in tandem, and the demographics of my community are not the same as the community where the precinct is. So you see, you had a diversity of demographics, if you will, of populations working together. And you know, there's other examples of doing that, but I think working in coalition like that is just a wonderful thing. So I mean, that's just one thing that I can point to, because it shows an example of that, and also of persistence.
Unknown Speaker 7:12
So tell me, what was the the police response time,
Unknown Speaker 7:18
you know, more than 40 years ago, and what is it now? Has it increased? Has it decreased? Well, that's what we're hearing. I don't have the firm numbers now, but you know, we were talking about, uh, significant, you know, more than five minutes. And sometimes that time was not even counting the time somebody places a call goes to the 911, system before a car is actually dispatched as well. So it was significant, you know, you need to be within a couple of minutes for it to make it even sensible. And if there was only one car on a tour overnight, and they're all by the airport, they're not going to get to the where my community is to even make a difference. Cutting the if you cut the patrol area in half, if you will, those cars are going to be feel more likely to get around and respond.
Unknown Speaker 8:14
Most people complain about things. They'll say, Oh, I don't like the police response time. And they'll or they'll talk about other things that bother them, but they don't know that they can be change makers, and that obviously change takes time, and I love that you, first of all, have your Mets hat on, which represents queens. But I don't know that everybody knows how important it is that you're what you're saying. Because Queens has two airports. It has multiple stadiums that house so many people for events, the stadium for the Mets. It has the Arthur Ashe for tennis. It has the Belmont Raceway, which is, I don't know if it's part in Queens or all
Unknown Speaker 8:58
parking lots is in Queens. I'll say, Okay, on the course island that you're going from Nassau, Queens, yes, Queens and Nassau finally get off. Yes, so, but it is just on the border, and, of course, obviously the duck track
Unknown Speaker 9:15
and yes and the and there's also a casino. People don't realize how many, many places exist that are bringing people into queens and out of Queens and moving through Queens beyond just the community members who live there. So you know the fact that you have been working so diligently within the community to make change, even if it's not in your direct neighborhood, is is something that anybody could really do. They could get involved and make change in their community. And likely, their community is not as complex as queens, because Queens has so much in it. It's a really, it's a fact community.
Unknown Speaker 10:01
I think the thing to emphasize is you don't necessarily have to be a pro to do this. In other words, I've been in government about half my career and out of government the other half of my career basically doing the same kind of work. Just who is paying for it is just different private clients versus the taxpayers. I guess. But you know, you don't need to be the professional. You can work with people who are more professional about it, but you don't necessarily have to be the professional. When I think of a time when I was in government and a neighborhood in New I park along Langdale street, there was, seem to be a lot of accidents and the like. And it was the street maybe a quarter a mile or less, just west of Lakeville Road, which was a major artery. So it became like a through street, and there were like no stop signs the whole length of it. And this community, this, you know, community members got together on their own. They weren't really even involved in their local civic and they coalesced and did petitions and all that, and went work with the office where I was the chief of staff and counsel to the council member, and eventually, where there were no traffic controls, the length of that strip, a number of traffic controls, stop four way, stop signs and and the first of its kind, what's called the rest on red traffic light, where it was burning red, it all off, all four sides. And then you get there, and then it will change to let you go. It was the first of its coin anywhere in New York, maybe even in the country. And so they weren't necessarily sophisticated on their own, but they work with my office, and I gave them a lot so they will, let's say, the energy and the persistence, and then, you know, working with their local elected official and the staff, they were able to get all these things to happen over a short period of time. And you know that strip became safer. And you know, part of the issue is, you know, on the NASA side, just across the border, there was less development, less stores and stuff that was Lake success. But there wasn't as there wasn't this whole development, uh, of office and other spaces on the across from Lake success, when it was just a Sperry ran place, and when that place closed down, it got developed into a whole bunch of office parks. So I think the amount of traffic that was coming through increased, you know, kind of very quickly. So it was a need to address the traffic situation on a community side street that no one, no one knows, and I, you know, think of it, you know, if it was, if that same thing happened, you know, today, if you will, when we have, you know, guides, like ways, a lot of people would even be be more diverted location to, you know, to, you know, save traffic lights, whatever. So it's, it gets interesting, you know, when you think of it in that, in that context. But the point was thinking back to the people who were the leaders of that group. Nobody necessarily, was really a professional of any kind. There were some retirees, and they Coalition. We worked with them, and they were rather active, and one of them,
Unknown Speaker 13:49
so how did they become active? Corey, what advice would you give to somebody over 40 looking to build or strengthen their own community involvement? Where do they go? Who do they talk to? Well,
Unknown Speaker 14:00
I think you try to find out who your local community association is, if there isn't, and if not, maybe knock on some doors and say, Hey, we should form a block Association, form a community group. But often you might be involved in something else. You might have started with the PTA. You might have started with a little league or other youth athletic Association, a church or a synagogue or a mosque that you might be connected to. So through those things, you might have been involved in a fraternal organization. So you may otherwise know a group of your neighbors anyway, and it may not necessarily be, you know, a homeowner or a tenant group. It could be that, you know, you're a bunch of people who go to this park and you want to keep it clean and stuff like that. So you try to, you know, form up in that way. And sometimes the the local elected officials may be helpful in guiding people say, hey, I want to do this. But often the groups already exist. Sometimes they're looking for new leadership. You know, oftentimes the civics have retirees running it, maybe because of time, but they might have not. Some of them might have been working professionals or just workers when they started out, but they can't get that next person to come up. So it would be nice for other people to step forward. It's an interesting quote, because sometimes people don't want to devote the time, but they'll complain about what goes on. Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 15:42
that's tricky Corey for people, because I think a lot of people don't realize how connected they really are. You know, like you mentioned religious, you know, faith based organizations that are in our communities, that people may be involved in, but not really plugged in or connected, or PTA or sports organizations, even the local gym, the Rotary, you know, the all of those organizations that right there in a community. And you know, can be frustrating for people to say, I wish that the traffic would change, but if, if they knew they could just plug in so easily to some of the local organizations. But I think also
Unknown Speaker 16:28
the change that sometimes happens, you know, like queens, is very much, you know, a series of neighborhoods where there's a lot of change in terms of new new community, new communities with families coming in, maybe from different ethnicities. And you know, usually like one, when one person comes in from one background, others kind of follow, and they may not be used to organizing in a typical civic or block Association way. They may want to form as their ethnic community, and there's nothing wrong with that, too, if that's a way of organizing and working for the community. And when I was forming with my friend Sean Walsh, the Queen civic card, which was the which was a borough wide coalition of all the civic and community groups. We talked about maybe reaching out to those parts of Queens where people were organizing by maybe their native country or other ethnicity basis, because if that's how they were organizing, at least they were organizing for their community. And we talked about that our successors in the organization never followed through with that, but we had actually amended our our bylaws to allow that kind of association. And, you know, because the idea was to try to be representative and but it's something to be mindful of. It's, you know, how people come together in coalition, together in community varies, and you have to adapt to that. When you reach out
Unknown Speaker 18:10
and
Unknown Speaker 18:12
do you? Do you think you know you're talking about bringing people together in really complex ways? And not all communities have that same complexity, but all have the need to come together. So do How? How does being rooted in community influence a person's sense of purpose or even mental health as we age? Do you think that there's an impact on that beyond, you know, changing policies or ways that communities work? Do you think that it has a bigger influence on
Unknown Speaker 18:42
a person? I think that they know that there's somebody to look in for them. If somebody doesn't come to a meeting, for example, after a period of time, somebody might say, Why aren't they here? And maybe somebody calls them, knocks on a door, you know, you may, you know, God forbid, somebody is ill or worse or fell, you know. So the point is, you check up on, like, if you just the concept of, you didn't hear from a friend or a family member. You may call you may reach out, you know, to find something and perhaps avert something tragic. And you know, I think about it, I, you know. I, as you know, I chair the board of the Senior Center, which I'm fortunate to have you now as a newer board member. And we have a Meals on Wheels program. And part of that also is that home delivered meal can be a connection to that person who never comes to the center, yeah, and answer the door. And there's a there's an issue. We have somebody who now can report back and say, Hey, there's a need, you know. And so there's, you know. So it's not just the meal, it's the contact. So I think, you know, I use that as just one example. But when you come
Unknown Speaker 19:59
you bring up a good point with that Corey and that is that partake of things that are available to you in your community, because you don't just have to go in and lead to make change. Everybody who you know is a part of that senior center and who's receiving meals is then woven into community. So people are looking in on them without even but
Unknown Speaker 20:21
even the people who come to the center, they're exposed to opportunities. And what you know, there are people who may not have needs or can or rather, self sufficient. They may be acting as mentors in what people need. You know, we don't, you know, we don't talk about it. Usually we talk about it in the professional, in the in the workplace sense, but you know, in terms of what those people might need, and they may have tips to those people about what they may need in their lives, whether it's financial, whether it's little tips about how to get through a health issue, because they were through it, perhaps, and then obviously, you know, whatever programs and assistance that you know people who have more needs can take advantage of, because they're coming to the center and exposed to it, I think some of the biggest problems are people. You made the point of people not taking advantage of things like this, programs at the libraries and, you know, there's a lot of outreach that's done, but there's still a lot of people who, for whatever reason, get none of it, whether it's because they're not connected to the internet and they're not receiving those emails, or choose not to receive those emails, or they just choose not to go there. People can just sort of stay home bodies. But you know, there's efforts to reach out, and we talk about it as like to be culturally sensitive, if you will. And so there's all sorts of efforts and an emphasis to do that, yet it doesn't always translate and reach not but not for one and trying. So it's always like an ongoing endeavor. And you know, it's important that those where things you know certainly share it. And the other side of it is trying to figure out, where do those people go? You know? So you may not just go to a civic association. You may go to faith based leaders to get a word out about something, and so it's that kind of dialog and outreach that you always need to look to do, and to have those relationships, to have rolodexes to do, to work with others, you know, I think about it. You know, my daughter works the American Jewish Committee in a bowling New York office, and she often has to reach out to others. And she's able to call, you know, reach out to me, and to say, Dad, who do you know in this area, and not just in in the political and public office spirit, but it be, you know, there'd be, there could be connections, even though I'm Jewish. There can the connections I have with clergy or leaders in other communities, for example, that you know, I'll make introductions for her, that she can make use of one of our fellow board meeting, media meet members, our Vice Chair, Reverend Dr Evelyn Miller Suber is a pastor, and Marissa needed a connection to they were doing a Jewish black clergy Council of some kind. And I connected Evelyn to Marissa for that purpose, because she's very involved in the AME Church, and that proved helpful. For example,
Unknown Speaker 23:51
you do that all the time with people. You're a prolific mentor. You know you are so connected and understand how, how connections can be made that might not be obvious to other people, because you're so embedded in your community. So how does mentorship play in all of this? Do you find that mentorship is something you fell into? Have you always been mentoring? I think
Unknown Speaker 24:21
I first would say I was mentored, and I would have known it in the beginning, when I first got involved in political, politics and stuff, and probably even as a student, not even thinking about it, you know, that, you know, different teachers perhaps took an interest in me. I didn't think about it at the time it was, you know, but there was that going on, by the way I'm thinking about when I first got involved politically and governmentally, many of the people who were otherwise involved and even in civics, most of those people were closer to my grandparents age than even my parents age, if you will. It's almost like a generation was skipped. So me coming along and looking to be active, they were more than willing to share of information, perhaps even share what I used to call war stories, in other words, things. So hearing those stories, maybe I will avoid making that mistake that somebody else made, because I had that history and that analogy shared with me so I understood things, for example, that I'll tell others about, you know, how to work through people instead of maybe going around them. You know, respecting existing lines of communication. Somebody doesn't get upset, as simple as that. But so, you know, those kinds of things were rather, I think, helpful, you know, I did, you know, you know, just people were willing to help. The press secretary at when I was working for the Department of State, between college and law school and New York State Department of State, the press secretary was gave me some guidance when I was trying to do some press things for one of my community things, for example, and, you know, and I picked up on that, and was able, you know, over time, you know, to have a media aspect to my career, even though that wasn't the main thing. But I have found that I was always dealing with and have a relatively robust Rolodex of people in the news media. And what's interesting about it is, you know, some of the people who I was starting out with, let's say when I was working early in government and they were at City Hall, some of them are in significant places at a higher level, you know, all across the media, including on TV and stuff. So it's interesting. And those relationships stay on. You still stay in touch with them, even if not social, but you're still staying in touch with them. And if you send them an email or call them, they will pick up the phone and respond. So it's interesting, in that regard,
Unknown Speaker 27:04
what you're basically saying is that for you, mentorship has been organic, and you've you have never used it as something reciprocal by you saying, you know, you stay in touch and you keep those connections going so that later you may call upon that person. They may call upon you, but that remains consistent for you. One thing I've I'm hearing is how important connection is you. You don't just call and say, Hey, can you do me a favor? And you're done with that person. You're developing your connections in ways that are richer and deeper than that.
Unknown Speaker 27:42
The connection or the Ask may not happen for years, yeah, and that's the beauty of it. And sometimes you're not even making that ask for yourself, somebody we know rather closely, out the person by name, but you can think of that person rather, you know, not a not a young person, if you will, had an issue with a motor vehicle, and I was able to go to somebody at the Department of Motor Vehicles in a significant position Who knew exactly how to help solve that quagmire. And never had to make that ask for me, right? And as I remember it, this person, at one point, reached out to me on LinkedIn that connect, or something like that. So that's how I developed the relationship with this person. Connect, kept it up. And lo and behold, uh, when somebody had a crazy problem, it became a lot easier to deal with it. I don't know if that person didn't know me, how they would have got around to fixing it. And that person is an accomplished person, and that's interesting about it. You can be really well versed, rather accomplished, successful, knowledgeable in your tunnels, if you will, in your spaces, yet in another space you're you could be less than a novice. And how do you know enough to know to negotiate that issue and find the help build the relationships around that. So, you know, you can't just say I'm a generalist or something like that. It's a question of sometimes knowing where to go and get help. In other words, I may not be the person to fix the wiring in my house. I may know a little bit about it, I may be reluctant to deal with it, even what little I know, just because it's electric and I may not want to touch it. But there's people I know I can call and at the same time, those people might reach out to me for the stuff I know, yeah, and so that's lateral mentoring. Yes, it is
Unknown Speaker 30:05
lateral something that you when I have watched you, you embody that. I can't tell you how many times your name has come into my ear from someone. And you know, I don't go and tell you all of this, but your name, it comes into my ear because people will say, Oh, Corey knows that. Corey knows how to fix that. Corey knows somebody who knows about that. Corey, Corey, Corey. And it's because you are at the center of what is like a spider web of connections that are really lateral
Unknown Speaker 30:39
in many ways. The word spider web if you want. You often talk about concentric circles. That's That's how I've thought about it, that even when I was in high school, I thought about it, that I was involved or connected to a lot of groups and different people, but there will be people in one group who would have nothing to do with the people in the other group, but I was connected with them, and they would probably never be in the same place unless I had a gathering that I called, for example,
Unknown Speaker 31:07
yeah, yeah. There's like, saying the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, but it's like three degrees of Corey birak, if you're anywhere near queens, you know every you have your hand in so many different circles. I like that visual, and other people can be like you too. I think that, you know, I hadn't heard about anybody having the connections that you have that are not for personal gain, that most people will say, I'm going to gather a Rolodex so that I can promote myself in some way without making change. Your connections are for making change, and it's unbelievable. I think that if people can approach life from a civic minded or servant minded way of being, I see how you really have so many people thinking so well of you, people will do whatever they can for you. And are there thinking positively about you, because you have been there in the community for others in so many different ways, I think that you embody what it's like not to be in a reciprocal relationship, but in a connected relationship with others, even when you're trying to make change.
Unknown Speaker 32:30
Yes, yeah, I think about that
Unknown Speaker 32:33
often, and it's,
Unknown Speaker 32:38
you know, it's something that I feel good about, and it's something with feeling good about making things happen and, you know, and to have meaning in that sense. But the interesting side of it is, you can be this wealthy person like Bill Gates, and now you're, you're, you know, at the pinnacle of your career, at the end stage, you're giving away all this money and stuff, and that's okay, too. And so it's, you know. So on the other hand, could I have been somebody like that, and then did it in a different way? You know, there's all you know. So there's all sorts of different ways of helping. And to some extent, in my case, it's my time. More or less my time and expertise were, then my personal wealth, if you will, that I'm opening up. And sometimes people, you know, some people are more interested in, you know, chasing the checkbook, if you will, three
Unknown Speaker 33:42
ways that we can be generative. And generative is something that we're built to do, which is to give back to others, right? And the three ways we can do that are volunteering, philanthropy and mentoring. And you have really, for five decades, been involved in volunteering and mentoring others, you know, making your community stronger by teaching others how to get engaged and how to, you know, really navigate in a system where you become a part of it. You're not just taking from it. And there's a real value in that. You know, changes in whole, our whole world or communities happen because of that. You know, we need that, and that's a real value when we think of end of life. You know, I've worked with so many people at the end of life, and they don't care about their stuff. They care about the people in their lives. And I think that most of us. You know, when we're in our prior to our in our midlife, realize that we want to have a footprint, and you are a guide for others who want to have a big footprint. You can do that with volunteering and mentoring, and that can give you an enormous footprint in the world.
Unknown Speaker 35:01
That's true, and it's interesting, because there is, I have stuff, and it's interesting is, you know, it's accumulate, if you look to move, and obviously we're in it. We're an empty nest household. And if we were to move, might there be stuff that doesn't come along. And how to address that. I have a whole file cabinet worth of news clippings I've talked about, you know, maybe scanning them, because they're probably not going to go to the next location if there is a new if there is a move, for example,
Unknown Speaker 35:37
yeah, the
Unknown Speaker 35:38
whole empty nest and downsizing, that's a whole separate discussion,
Unknown Speaker 35:43
yeah. But, I mean, the point is, you
Unknown Speaker 35:45
know, the point is, if I move somewhere, all those plaques and stuff that you see behind me, are they going to be boxed and never to be seen? You know? You know, because that's, that's a quarry space. It's not a quarry and Michelle space, if you will, if there was like a den in a new place that might have a desk for me, still, it might not be appropriate to have all those things up there in what might be a space that's more communal with my wife as an example. Yeah, even the one the other side of the screen there is, let's say that kind of space in my office. In what is my office here?
Unknown Speaker 36:29
I do love that I can see behind you and all of the awards and things that you have up on your wall, which don't show everything that you do or have done, but it really is nice to know that you've made such an impact in your community, and I'm hoping that people who listen today are going to be able to take away some of the points that you've made about how you can receive services in your community. Look for services for yourself, but also get involved in your community, because it really does help with making change for yourself and for your community. So Corey, thank you for coming on today. You've you've made a difference in my life. You've made a difference in the mentor project and in so many organizations, and in your own community in Queens. So thank you, Corey for making the world a better place. Thank you for giving me this
Unknown Speaker 37:25
opportunity to share you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai