Summary

John-Michael Keyes, founder of the I Love You Guys Foundation, joins Mike Spear to share how the devastating loss of his 16-year-old daughter Emily during a 2006 school hostage crisis became the catalyst for a national movement that has reshaped how schools, first responders, and communities prepare for and respond to crises. Through the development of the Standard Response Protocol and Standard Reunification Method—now used in over 60,000 schools, districts, and agencies worldwide—John-Michael reveals how simple, plain-language frameworks have replaced the patchwork of confusing codes and inconsistent procedures that once defined school safety, while fostering unprecedented collaboration between educators, law enforcement, emergency managers, and families who might otherwise never sit at the same table. The conversation explores the Foundation's evolution from a small memorial fund to a lean, mission-driven organization with a sustainable fee-for-service model, its trauma-informed approach to preparedness, and its ambitious next chapter: Bold Impact, a new social impact framework designed to formalize the cross-sector community resilience that has long been the "side effect" of their work.

Opening Quote

"Emily gave us the voice and she also told us what to say. And that's, I love you guys."

— John-Michael Keyes

Content Warning

This episode includes a discussion of school violence and sexual assault. Sensitive listeners may want to skip ahead during the segment noted in the timestamps below.

Topics Covered

[00:01:00] Introduction and background on the Platte Canyon High School tragedy

[00:02:30] John-Michael's early career: from typography and design to building a search engine in the '90s

[00:04:00] Meet Casey and Emily — "The Grateful Dead and the Rolling Stones" — and growing up in Bailey, Colorado

[00:07:30] ⚠️ Recounting the events of September 27, 2006 (sensitive content — skip ~2.5 minutes)

[00:10:00] From Emily's Parade to founding the I Love You Guys Foundation

[00:12:00] The Foundation's mission: restoring and protecting the joy of youth

[00:13:00] Discovering the lack of common language in school crisis response

[00:14:00] The Standard Response Protocol: Hold, Secure, Lockdown, Evacuate, Shelter

[00:15:00] Organic growth — from 250 schools to 60,000+ organizations worldwide

[00:16:30] How design thinking and simplification shaped the protocols

[00:18:00] Working with state-level "program adopters" and measuring impact

[00:23:00] Why plain language beats codes in a crisis — lessons from FEMA

[00:26:00] Trauma-informed preparedness: why you don't set trash cans on fire during drills

[00:28:00] Building community resilience through schools as vectors into communities

[00:29:00] Earning trust across law enforcement, education, and government silos

[00:33:00] School resource officers: the right officer, right training, right equipment

[00:35:00] Navigating FERPA, privacy law, and information sharing between agencies

[00:36:00] Why the Foundation resists having its programs legislated

[00:38:00] Business model deep-dive: fee for service, mission partners, and "bless and release"

[00:43:00] Surviving COVID: the pivot to livestream and reaching people who were never reached before

[00:45:30] Leadership transition: passing the reins to Executive Director Tessa Alford

[00:48:00] Bold Impact: a new social impact framework for multi-sector community safety

[00:50:00] From collective impact to "core obligations" — a phone book, a to-do list, and a report card

[00:54:00] Skin in the game: the team of survivors, negotiators, and first responders behind the Foundation

[00:57:00] What surprised an outsider about the nonprofit sector

[01:00:00] The long game: what fire safety history teaches us about preventing school violence

[01:01:30] A call to action for parents and impact leaders

Details of the Hostage Situation

NBC News

Wikipedia Article

Links Mentioned

• https://iloveuguys.org

• https://boldimpact.org (coming soon)

• https://altruous.org