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In this two-part episode, Joel and Greg talk frankly about the role race has played in their lives, and where and why their lives have diverged because of it. Episode 2 of 2.

Think back to when you were a teen. Would you say you were comfortable opening up to your doctor about sensitive topics like sexual health, mental health, or drug and alcohol use? Who didn’t cringe at the dreaded questions like “are you sexually active” or “could you be pregnant?” In fact, this uncomfortable feeling with telling your doctor the whole truth about your health may have even followed you into adulthood.

Aryce Huffman is a senior at Milwaukee School of Languages and a teen educator with PATCH, an organization dedicated to improving adolescent health and wellbeing by engaging, educating, and empowering youth and providers as trusted partners in care. In her role as teen educator, Aryce and her PATCH peers work with doctors and care providers on the best way to interact with teenaged patients. Drawing on her personal experience managing a disease as a teen, Aryce talks frankly about what providers do wrong when interacting with young people, and what teens need to do to get over the embarrassment and take control of their health.

Remember those summers when you were too young for a job but too old to just hang around the house all day? What did you do to pass the time? Pre-teen Simmi Urbanek’s mom had an interesting solution: she dropped her two daughters off at their local United Way and said “find something to do!” These days, Simmi is the Director of Marketing at Plunkett Raysich and is the United Way Employee Giving Campaign Co-chair.

Problems. The ones most people don’t have the stomach for. The ones nobody talks about at cocktail parties. The ones that can’t be solved overnight. We go looking for them.

These are the words in United Way’s new credo for 2017, and they perfectly describe the issue of Infant Mortality. Milwaukee has one of the highest rates in the country, with Black babies dying at nearly three times the rate of White babies.

In 2014, United Way became the backbone agency for the Milwaukee Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families Collaborative (LIHF), a community-wide effort working to eliminate racial disparities in birth outcomes and ensure more babies reach their first birthdays.

With a career and life dedicated to serving the community, Wanda Montgomery became the co-chair for the Milwaukee Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families in March of 2016, alongside Mayor Tom Barrett. Wanda was recently awarded the Gwen T. Jackson Community Service Award at United Way’s Annual Meeting. We talk today about her path leading to this important role in fighting infant mortality, and the successes and challenges she has faced in this work.

Nonprofit careers comes with a unique set of challenges and opportunities, and the Milwaukee chapter of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN) is here to help. YNPN is a volunteer-led membership organization that offers opportunities for young professionals to connect and support one another, enhance their professional skills, and learn more about the depth and breadth of Milwaukee’s robust nonprofit community.

Through monthly story slams, storytelling workshops, and numerous community partnerships, Ex Fabula encourages community members to find and tell their true, personal story. The goal is to increase understanding among community members who may not feel they have anything in common. To both highlight similarities and shed a light on the nuances and value of difference.

Ex Fabula co-founder Megan McGee joins us today on the podcast to share some of the stories she’s heard through Ex Fabula that she can’t get off her mind (and explain what “Ex Fabula” actually means).

“Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”

When William Wordsworth said that, he was talking about the art created by poets like Kavon Cortez-Jones.

Kavon is proud to say that his poetry is for everyone. He writes about tough issues but also about the sights and sounds of his city, seamlessly melting together a light, observational style with more difficult topics.

What do you remember about your in-school sexual education class? Maybe you just remember feeling uncomfortable, or tuning out because you felt that you already knew everything you needed to know about sex. Keziah Carter and Steven Daniels are seniors at Bradley Tech High School and part of the Youth Leadership Council, a group of teens who advocate for safe sex throughout the community.

A breastfed baby is a healthy baby. Our guests today are out in the community promoting breastfeeding awareness and education to mothers, fathers, and families of color so that every baby born lives a healthy and happy life.

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