In December of 2020, at a moment when we were in the throes of a raging pandemic, Dr. Marvin J. Southard, former Director of the Los Angeles, California Department of Mental Health, talked about the costs and cures of our increasing divisiveness in the United States society and in families and friendships. We ended that episode by promising to visit this topic once again six months later, and in our salutations of good-bye, expressed hope for a better future.

Fast forward to the Summer of 2021, late June, again with Dr. Southard who is a leader in bringing new understandings about mental illness and the necessary ingredients for mental health. In this episode he acknowledges that this condition of divisiveness regretfully is still with us with additional aggravations. Using his expertise, he explores the mental health and spiritual consequences when people feel the need to always be right, and what each of us can do to foster common goals for the greater good.

At a time of drought in the area of Southern California, and in the Southwest region of the United States, award-winning Novelist, Barbara Crane, gives us hope with her compelling and beautifully written story, WHEN WATER WAS EVERYWHERE. Fictional characters are set in the history of California at the dramatic moment when it passes from being part of Mexico to joining the United States as a result of the Mexican American War in the middle of the 19th century. Crane’s novel contributes to a greater understanding of the original population of the region by the indigenous tribe, the Tongva, which was a time when water was in abundance. We learn as we follow what happens to the people populating her novel, about the Los Angeles River, and in the Podcast conversation, how drought in California has developed. WHEN WATER WAS EVERYWHERE by Barbara Crane, entertains us with her fascinating story and at the same time, inspires us to consider our current water crises given new understandings of what is possible for better outcomes in the future.

The book is available at Amazon and can be ordered at any bookstore. It can be found on Kindle or most E-book platforms. The website is

Whenwaterwaseverywhere.com

The Karsh Family Social Service Center of the Los Angeles Wilshire Blvd. Jewish Temple is a Center for our times, offering a menu of free services for anyone walking through their doors. Given the increasing needs of individuals and families in many metropolitan cities of the U. S. , it is a model for how a religious institution can practice the commandment of love thy neighbor by reaching out. The Karsh Center is located at 3750 6th Street, Los Angeles, California, 90020, and to contact - www.karshcenter.org.

The organization, Faith and Community Empowerment (FACE), has a membership of over 300 Korean Churches in Los Angeles, California. The Founder and President of FACE, Hyepin Im, discusses the long standing history of Asians in the United States, especially in California, being an invisible minority and what this means with the current violent attacks against Asians.

Suddenly, there is a focus on Asians in America revealing their great diversity, their historical contributions and place in the United States society, and the racism they have endured. The dedicated work of Hyepin Im is to make sure that Asians have a voice at “the table” where community concerns and decisions are made. Learn about FACE as a community organizing model of services for Koreans while open to everyone in need. To Contact:

Hyepin Im, President

FACE

Www.facela.org

3550 Wilshire Blvd. , #1124

Los Angeles, CA 90010

Some young people have hardly known what a consistent family life could be. They have spent much of their childhood and adolescence being shuffled from one foster family to another in a system allowing them to arrive at 18 years old unprepared for their future as an adult. Today, there is an organization that is taking on this challenge head on based in Los Angeles, California. Listen to the approach of the FAITH FOSTER FAMILY NETWORK (3FN)’s Executive Director, Nancy Harris, describing their program, and their advocacy for more mental health funding and for the ways the child welfare system, with its youth in foster care, needs to change.

To become involved and/or make a donation:

Contact, [email protected] or call, 1(323) 531-7900

Website - www.faithfosterfamilies.org

Follow on FB or Instagram at faithfosterfamilies

In Los Angeles, California, there is a church that is historic for being a center for social justice and police community relations. It is called the Church of Epiphany, one of the oldest Episcopal Churches in L. A. , and has a famous basement where meetings of social activists of the 1970s, and beyond were part of the Chicano (Mexican American) Movement for immigrant reform and a Moratorium on the Vietnam War. Today, Rev. Carey carries on the tradition of being out front in finding solutions for our most pressing societal problems.

The long trail of brutality toward African American males is the backdrop of Pastor Oliver Buie’s opening commentary on 400 hundred years of being discounted and mistreated. Facing the last year, and the future in this year of 2021, he makes the case for the remedies for racism, and the call for America to live up to its promise at last.

Recounting memories from his own life, Pastor Buie describes how the whole of the United States society can benefit when we come together to be inspired by the late Congressman John Lewis - to create the “beloved community”. Pastor Buie is carrying on in the spirit of Lewis and Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. both Clergy leaders full of hope for humanity.

Dr. Tony Beliz, renown Psychologist in developing programs and trainings to assess persons prone to commit acts of violence, talks about his past work at the Los County Department of Mental Health as well as an independent consultant, to teach mental health staff, law enforcement personnel and educators how to respond to those individuals who, often out of hopelessness and isolation, become prone to hurt themselves and others. The basis of his approach is to remember that everyone has a story that has brought them to this terrible moment. In conclusion, he urges all of us to be aware that the expansion of mental health services and their access, is imperative for creating prevention resources and safer communities.

To contact Dr. Beliz, email - [email protected]

MEDIAU is a concept ready to facilitate new pathways to a career in the changing and expanding world of media. It offers an online education available globally credited by and associated with the University of California at Irvine (UCI).

There are several unique aspects of an education at MediaU. Adam Leipzig, the Founder, is a former movie producer, and past President of National Geographic Films. Besides spearheading the development of this innovative online media education, he is a Professional Faculty member of the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. He and his team of media experts have access to media employers’ needs and with that in mind, allow courses to be designed by students with the goal of promoting their creativity and career aspirations.

At MediaU the securing of a job is kept in mind as choices are made for individual educational courses. Six months from now the full launch of MediaU programming will be completed.

In the meantime, contact MediaU.com to be added to a list for additional information on courses and fees, and available scholarships.

In the olden days there were orphanages in the United States. Since the 1980s, in a major metropolis like Los Angeles, California, there has been a foster care system for children who are not growing up with a family member. This system has created its own problems with currently 30,000 youth under the charge of the Los Angeles County government.

In 2017, arrived on the scene a new coalition, the Faith Foster Families Network (3FN), made up of six Black Churches and community organizations dedicated to improving the fostering of children and their outcomes for a better future life, addressing the fact that 80% or more of these children are Black and Brown. The Network’s quest is to find and support loving foster families who provide a temporary setting or, if possible, may provide foster children with a permanent home which may lead to an adoption..

Listen to the Network’s goals, hopes and accomplishments. To contact or become involved:

[email protected], telephone, (323) 531-7900, address, 3320 West Adams Blvd., Los Angeles, California 90018