Community Dialogues

Our guest this week is storyteller Steven Willis, who uses his poetic and theatrical background to creatively articulate African American culture.

Our guest on this edition of Community Dialogues is Kimberly Amazu, an African American mental health counselor who helps people of color deal with racial trauma. She addresses the various ways race and mental health overlap. 

Kids leaving a juvenile detention center can feel hopeless about their future. That’s where the My Next Move program at the New York City-based organization Rising Ground comes in.

My Next Move is an aftercare support program led by credible messenger mentors. The mentors are “credible” because they, too, experienced court involvement when they were teens.

In this episode of Community Dialogues, we’re talking with Ed Gorch, Clinical Director of Justice for Youth and Families Programs at Rising Ground, along with Rohee Ramnath and Chazz Lynes, both credible messenger mentors with the My Next Move program.

Our guest in this episode of Community Dialogues is Lisa Taylor. She’s a media advertising professional. Lisa lives in midtown Manhattan, but grew up in Hamden, Connecticut. Lisa says she grew up very much in tune with her African American roots, but as a light-skinned Black person, she never really understood the questions she would get about her background.

It’s been six months since New York State took drastic measures, like shutting down non-essential businesses, to help combat the spread of COVID-19. But, even though a lot has since reopened, the economic and health fallout still runs deep, especially among communities of color.

In New York City, the South Bronx is among the areas hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The nonprofit organization, BronxWorks, says it’s seen a sharp increase in the need for help.

Our guest on this edition of Community Dialogues is John Weed, Assistant Executive Director at BronxWorks.