8 O'Clock Buzz

Today on the Pledge Drive Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Marcus Slaton sitting in for Dr. Damita Brown…

Michael Johnson is the President and CEO of Boys and Girls Club of Dane County.  He joins us to talk about their current work in the community on the Vel Phillips memorial, supporting kids in the pandemic, internship programs, the upcoming Skilled Trades Center (and successful fundraising drive) and what’s next on the plate for the Boys and Girls Club!

More on Boys and Girls Club of Dane County: https://www.bgcdc.org/ 

Help support building the Vel Phillips Statue: https://give.classy.org/VelPhillips 

Listen in Madison at 89.9FM or online anywhere at wortfm.org.  Support your community radio with a pledge online at wortfm.org or call 608-256-2001!

Photo from Boys and Girls Club

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Today on the Pledge Drive Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Marcus Slaton sitting in for Dr. Damita Brown…

Joe Mingle is the volunteer coordinator for Healthy Food for All, a project of the Northside Planning Council.  He joins us to talk about reducing waste, the state of healthy food in our community, food deserts, and the work they are doing to put healthy foods in people’s hands, and the impact of the pandemic!

Contact Joe directly at [email protected] if you need help or want to help, there are always things to help with, from picking tomatoes to dropping off food.

More information on Healthy Food for All: https://hffadane.org/ or https://www.facebook.com/HealthyFoodForAllDaneCounty/ 

More information on the Northside Planning Council: https://northsideplanningcouncil.org/ 

Listen in Madison at 89.9FM or online anywhere at wortfm.org.  Support your community radio with a pledge online at wortfm.org or call 608-256-2001!

Photo from Northside Planning Council

Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here

WORT 89.9FM Madison · Rooted In The Land Art Exhibition

Rooted in the Land is The Farley Center’s celebration of the Natural Path Sanctuary’s 10th anniversary. They’ve invited local artists to fill the woods with art using only materials that can safely decompose back into the ground.

Angela Richardson and Paul Andrews are two of the artists that were invited to take part in the celebration. Together, in past projects, they’ve assembled large installations for Madison Public Library events Bookless and Stacked, and for the City of Madison’s Municipal show. And most every year they invite neighbors and friends to place hopes and dreams on The Wishing Tree in their backyard.

Their installation at the exhibition, ANEMOCHORY, is meant to inspire contemplation of the many transitions and transformations we’ve all made thus far in life and the many more to come.

They join Friday Buzz host Jonathan Zarov to talk more about the exhibition.

 

 

(Image courtesy of Paul Andrews and Angela Richardson)

WORT 89.9FM Madison · YWCA CEO Vanessa McDowell on Madison’s Affordable Housing Crisis

The Cap Times Idea Fest kicked off on Monday offering sessions covering a variety of topics under the umbrella “Reckoning with Change.” On Tuesday, they held a session focused on Madison’s housing crisis, discussing how to add housing to keep pace with growth—while addressing historic racism in the housing market. Award winning Cap Times local government reporter Abigail Becker—who is also WORT’s own “Downtown Abby” reporter—moderated the panel, which became contentious at times. Taking part in the discussion was Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway; professor of urban planning at UW-Madison, Kurt Paulsen; and CEO of the Madison YWCA, Vanessa McDowell.

Vanessa, who is the first black female CEO in the YWCA’s history and founder of Madison Roots—a program that seeks to amplify the wealth of Black families using home ownership as a catalyst, joins Friday Buzz host Jonathan Zarov to talk more about the issue.

 

 

(Image courtesy of Vanessa and Madison YWCA)

At this time of year, Community Shares of Wisconsin (CSW) celebrates its “Change-Makers Awardees”, three individuals in the community who have “made a difference”. This year is special because it’s the 50th anniversary of  CSW, which was started in 1971 as a fund to bail out Madison protestors of the Vietnam War.

This year’s award winners are Dani Rischall, Executive Director of Chrysalis, Inc, Dr. Armando Ibarra, founding member of Voces de la Frontera‘s ‘Essential Worker Rights Network’, and Timothy R. Muth, Attorney at the ACLU of Wisconsin Foundation. Jan Miysasaki talks with all the award winners to learn about their work and the works of the organizations they represent.

These individuals, and others, will be celebrated at the virtual awards celebration, on-line on September 23rd starting at 5:00 PM. View on Facebook, Youtube, or use the link on the homepage of CSW.

Today on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Dr. Damita Brown…

Sarah Maio is the Vice President of Marketing and Communications for the Wisconsin Center District (WCD) where she oversees marketing for events at the Wisconsin Center, UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena and Miller High Life Theatre.  She joins us to talk about what she does Wisconsin Center’s latest exhibit, “Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience”

More on Beyond Van Gogh at Wisconsin Center District: https://wisconsincenter.com/events/beyond-van-gogh-an-immersive-experience-pre-registration/ and https://vangoghmilwaukee.com/ 

Listen in Madison at 89.9FM or online anywhere at wortfm.org.  Support your community radio with a pledge online at wortfm.org!

Photo courtesy of the Wisconsin Center District

Today on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Dr. Damita Brown…

Tara Wilhelmi is the founder of EOTO Culturally Rooted, and with help from Prenicia Clifton from Seein’ is Belivin’ she has been producing Black Youth and Young Adults (BYAYA!) Teen Nights in Madison this summer.  She joins us to talk about her experiences, the program and how they’re working to benefit the youth in our community!

The final 2021 BAYA event is the Peace Walk and BBQ in Darbo Peace Park, Wednesday, September 15th in conjunction with Mentoring Positives.

For more information, see EOTO’s Facebook Page: https://facebook.com/EOTOCulturallyRooted/

The City of Madison Streets Division wants to know where the problem areas are for the city’s disabled residents.  Bicycle / Pedestrian coordinator Renee Callaway talks about the “Let’sTalk Streets” program.

Civilizations are known by their streets.  To this day, we celebrate the feats of Roman engineers who designed the Appian Way, portions of which are still in use 2,300 years later.  It’s hard to imagine a more fundamental purpose of local government than designing and building a transportation network. Yet, in the modern era, street design has typically been buried in the arcana of engineering bureaucracy, hidden from public view and certainly blockaded from meaningful public input.  The City of Madison Streets Division is seeking to change that with an initiative called “Let’s Talk Streets.” One of their first objectives is to talk to people who have difficulty with mobility.  Renee Callaway is the City of Madison Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator.

Buried in the fed’s 3.5 trillion dollar reconciliation budget bill is — finally — a path to citizenship for many U.S. immigrants. Voces de la Frontera’s Armando Ibarra tells us what they see in the bill.

The 3.5 trillion dollar federal budget bill slowly wending its way through the byzantine Congressional reconciliation process obviously contains a myriad of initiatives, ranging from expansion of Medicare and Medicaid to hundreds of other spending programs.  Deep within the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2022 are one hundred billion dollars targeted toward a pathway for citizenship for millions of immigrant workers, Dreamers, refugees and their families.  Voces de la Frontera, Wisconsin’s largest immigrant advocacy group hailed the passage of the bill in the House of Representatives, calling it “a big step toward citizenship for all.”  Armando Ibarra, a board member of Voces de la Frontera, joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing on September 13, 2021.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · Marlborough Park Community Garden Celebrates 50 Years

The Marlborough Park Community Garden is throwing a potluck for their 50th anniversary at the park’s picnic shelter today from 11:30 am-1 pm. Mary Mullen founded the garden in 1970. She’s also co-founder of the Dunn’s Marsh Neighborhood Association. Mary joins Friday Buzz host Jonathan Zarov to talk more about the event.

 

(Images courtesy of Mary Mullen)