Reno Street Audio

The Northern Nevada Literacy Council is a non-profit organization aiming to help raise literacy rates in Nevada, which also offers free access to a program that helps adults get their high-school equivalency, regardless of how much education they already have.

“I say it's never too late,” Adrienne Santiago, Executive Director of the NNLC, said. “I say come on in to come talk to us, let us get your assessments done. You may only be here for a month and have a high school equivalency. You could be that close, and it might take a little bit longer, but even if it does, we'll work around your schedule. We will help you with all the barriers that are preventing you from doing this.” Listen to more in this podcast episode with reporter Jesse Stone.

The Access for Community and Cultural Education Programs & Trainings (ACCEPT) is a non-profit organization in Northern Nevada specializing in health education and services for clients with HIV, and now also helping other marginalized communities.

Founded after the tragic death of two men due to AIDS, the group has been serving the Northern Nevada area for nearly thirty years.

“In the early nineties, there were two young men that died from HIV and AIDS that were going to our church,” Executive Director of ACCEPT Gwen Taylor explained. “No one wanted to tell my husband that they died. Those two guys died. Young men died of AIDS without their pastor going to visit them. My husband just became very aggravated with the ignorance.”

Find out more about this organization in this podcast episode with Jesse Stone.

Reno City Council selected Kathleen Taylor, but there was another candidate much more representative of current issues of concern, such as protecting abortion rights and speaking for the working class amid an affordable housing crisis. Kingkini Sengupta interviews Jakki Duron, who was unhoused herself as a teenager, and was willing to represent those struggling in our community, but was passed over.

Steve Boyer a foodie entrepreneur in Reno describes his new curbside mobile oyster venture, as well as how he survived the pandemic and previous business failures.

Painter Zoe Bray explains her pursuits in fostering eco-art and reaching back to her Basque heritage in Reno. “You don't need all this artificial stuff, but you have the most amazing nature around you and get yourself familiarized with that, and learn to care about your environment in the process. And so I think that's empowering to both children and adults and very freeing too,” Bray says of the eco-art experience. One of many projects she’s pursuing is trying to get eco-art incorporated into local school curriculums.

Remi Jourdan has been busy all summer preparing the musical portion of the Sept 8-11 Reno Tahoe International Art Show, in its first edition, with stages at the Reno Sparks Convention Center, a special night at Cargo and a gala at the Nevada Museum of Art. He's also behind Tunetrax a global platform for musicians and their fans. In this episode, he discusses other ideas for more musical festivals in Reno.

Jaden Urban goes to a garage concert which gets interrupted by police but is able to interview the band members behind Reno punk band Blind Fortune. Episode also includes snippets of some of their recent songs.

Band members found a book called “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius. In the book there was a sentence that said “the kiss of charity”. They changed the name to Charity Kiss.

While the band has been able to form a good following here in Reno, the band’s ultimate goal is to relocate to Los Angeles.

“We’ve established a lot here in Reno and we love it here,” Ziegler said. “But the scene is pretty small and we want to get to a place where we can reach more people. But home base will always be Reno, we love Reno here too. We just think there might something more we can hit in LA.”

Find out more about this up and coming band as part of our musical series of podcast interviews with Jaden Urban.

J Gip has had many brushes with depression and death, but he's lived to tell his tales with hip hop. He wanted to share his ordeals with our music reporter Jaden Urban to show hope is possible even in the bleakest of moments. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24 hours in English, Spanish. Call 800-273-8255 for any urgent situation.

As part of our summer music series showcasing local bands and musicians with recent interviews by Jaden Urban, we find out more about local teenager 88 Strait and include snippets of his music.