Back in the studio, solo dolo. In episode 31, I'm taking a deep dive into what is meant behind the phrase: The Beloved Community.

The goal of Season 1 of That Social Work Lady has been to introduce myself and share with my listeners how community is built, supported, maintained, and structured. In community, we all have a role to play and something to share. No matter who you are and no matter what you believe you have to offer everyone can contribute to community.

The late great Congressman John Lewis was a champion of building The Beloved Community and he often spoke on the importance of getting into 'good trouble' in the name of establishing it. Mr. Lewis learned the concept from his mentor and leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In his own words, Dr. King once said, "Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives."

As a social worker for nearly 3 decades I have made it my mission to  work toward building community using the tenets mapped out by Dr. King's philosophy of nonviolence. It has not been an easy road. Especially when so much of my time has been spent advocating and arguing against policies that create more barriers for people than they alleviate. Let's talk about how we do the work of building the beloved community together.

Read more about The Triple Evils as defined by Kingian Philosophy: 
https://thekingcenter.org/about-tkc/the-king-philosophy/

To purchase "Where Do We Go From Here: From Chaos to Community" by Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/205943/where-do-we-go-from-here-by-martin-luther-king-jr/

Ben Will graced us in the studio once again in Episode 30.

This week we talk about Joy as a form of Resistance.

He even brought new music in for us to listen to. This is a real treat! "Blade of Grass" is a Ben Will original. A song that is full of joy and resiliency written at the height of the Coronavirus pandemic while awaiting the fate of those responsible for the death of George Floyd and after the January 6th Insurrection attempt.

All of Ben Will's work embodies the meaning behind joy as an act of resistance.  However, as a cultural ambassador for the United States Department of State - American Music Abroad, Blade of Grass is an especially critical work. Released by American Music Abroad in February, 2021. Charted internationally in Madagascar as a top billboard single! Available on iTunes, you need this single in your playlist! Trust me.

Blade of Grass Video: https://fb.watch/7QI5dUjFuE/
Amazon Music Link: https://music.amazon.com/albums/B091J5Y5VQ?

Stay connected with Ben Will and his music by following him:
https://www.instagram.com/benwilldetroit/
https://www.instagram.com/the_benwill_band/
https://www.youtube.com/user/benwilldetroit
https://americanmusicabroad.org/artist/the-ben-will-band/

Episode 29 is a very special treat! In the studio live with me is a true creative genius - Ben Will.

Ben Will is what you get when you combine community, creativity, service, and d-mn good music. I am so excited to have him come to the studio to talk about this music, inspiration, and joy. He also happens to be my youngest sibling.

Together we explore the big question of 'the role creatives play in community' and more specifically the role and responsibility he has taken on as a creative in community. Ben Will is an actor, producer, vocal artist, and writer. His music has impacted and touched the lives of people the world over and he's has even more to share and create.

I got a sneak peak during this interview of the newly remixed "I Need Thee" by Ben Will. To get your copy of the "I Need Thee" go to: https://music.apple.com/us/album/i-need-thee-single/1027400914.

Stay connected with Ben Will and his music by following him:
https://www.instagram.com/benwilldetroit/
https://www.instagram.com/the_benwill_band/
https://www.youtube.com/user/benwilldetroit
https://americanmusicabroad.org/artist/the-ben-will-band/

Today, Kija Gray of Openly Gray  and Our Children Count joins us for another heartfelt conversation in the studio. Our discussion this time focuses in on education and the ways in which parents can both advocate and craft the academic experiences of their children.

We dispel a few myths the first of which is:
1. Black people do homeschool.
2. The choice to homeschool by Black parents is not always predicated on school based trauma.

In her work with families, Kija coaches parents making the choice to homeschool their children. Her work with families interested in homeschooling is crafted her own experience as a homeschooling parent. Having successfully, educated her children using a curated academic curriculum unique to her students' need, Kija is now many families best bet for building lifelong learners.

There are so many ways that the American education system sends the message to its students that they are inadequate which reinforces a narrative for children that who they are is not enough. Breaking from this system for many families is an act not just of resistance but for survival.

For more information on building your own homeschool community, check out Engaged Detroit: https://www.engageddetroithsc.com

Here is the article, Kija and her family were interviewed for in the New Yorker, June 2021:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/06/21/the-rise-of-black-homeschooling

Here is another story highlighting Kija's work with homeschooling parents featured on WDET (Detroit National Public Radio Station), January 2021: https://wdet.org/posts/2021/01/21/90532-pandemic-learning-may-have-made-some-black-parents-homeschool-converts/

Follow Kija for more insight on homeschooling and other academic choices: https://www.facebook.com/ourchildrencount/

WOW! Episode 27 was just a good time. This week I welcomed my sister, Kija Gray. Kija lives for community and works with purpose to establish it everywhere she goes.

Kija is not only a #freerangechick, she is also known as the @KijaBakes on Facebook. Follow her for delicious pound cake design. In addition to being a bakeologist, Kija is a firm advocate for parents taking the reins of their children's education. To provide an academic experience for their children that is as unique as the individual. 

This year,  millions of American households were thrown into schooling from home during the global pandemic. Most parents found themselves at a complete lost organizing and managing their children's schooling along with every other aspect of life. But for many parents, schooling from home became a gateway to homeschooling.

Kija coached parents on the nuances of homeschooling as many made the transition from schooling from home using traditional school curriculum to homeschooling their children where they designed the curriculum based on their children's unique needs.  This conversation grazes the surface of that work.

What we delve into more deeply is the foundation of designing a life for yourself that removes capitalism's crushing demand that work be the center of your life. Instead we explore the possibility of centering joy in our lives and in that cultivate acts of resistance to society's expectations that we work till the day we die.

In this episode of THAT SOCIAL WORK LADY, I welcome back Mr. Nelson Jones, Jr. to the studio. The focus of our conversation is the narrative that continues to be perpetrated in mainstream media that black fathers are absent and disengaged in relation to child rearing.

Mr. Jones poignantly states at the start of our discussion, “Who benefits from this narrative?”

In this Father’s Day edition of THAT SOCIAL WORK LADY, my dad Nelson Jones, Jr. joined me in the studio.

In our conversation I finally got to the root of my dad’s stellar work ethic and mantra - No Sick Days. I was so delighted to have my dad to myself to talk about the lessons he learned from his father and maternal grandfather. They were the men who helped shape the man that helped raise me.

In our community, there is a narrative myth that black fathers are largely absent and disengaged in their children’s lives. That narrative is a myth. Research shows that Black fathers are actually more engaged and more involved in their children’s lives than any other group of fathers across class, ethnicity, race, and other demographic markers.

Happy Father’s Day to all the amazing dads out there. Black Fathers Matter everyday!

This month I want to dedicate the THAT SOCIAL WORK LADY podcast to Black fatherhood and Black fathers.

Contrary to mainstream media, of all ethnic and racial groups Black fathers lead all other fathers in parenting. They are more engaged and more hands on than any other group of dads across class, social status, race, and ethnicity.

In this episode I get to sit down with an up and coming coaching legend in Detroit football, James ‘JR’ Pollard.  He started coaching at age 15 but is known all around the Highland Park community as simply Coach.

JR shares the lessons he’s learned about fathering both on the field and off. If you know JR he is a behind the scene guy. So getting him, like most dads, to step to the mic and share his life experience and the intention he sets in building community is a real treat.

Welcome to Episode 26! We more than half way through the first season of That Social Work Lady!

In this episode we're talking more about ADHD. Today I want to provide you with a guide to supporting someone with ADHD. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a real medical diagnosis. ADHD indicates that an individual is near-atypical. The short hand of that is 'when you have ADHD your brain works different from someone who does not have ADHD.'

Oversimplifying ADHD into categories of 'that's a bad kid' or 'she's just flighty' not only does a disservice to the individual managing the diagnosis but it also minimizes that individual's place in community.  ADHD is complicated. The diagnosis is complicated and each person with an ADHD diagnosis is different and unique and deserving of their individuality.

You can have an ADHD diagnosis and be a Mensa card carrying genius. You can also have an ADHD diagnosis and have a learning disability. MORE THAN ONE THING CAN BE TRUE. To lean more give a listen to today's episode. And check out these resources:

https://www.additudemag.com
https://chadd.org

I am That Social Work Lady.

I am also an adult woman with Attention Deficit Disorder. There are many misconceptions about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD. Most adults still believe that ADHD is just a product of bad parenting or society's focus on medicating everyone so that they will be more compliant and docile.

Well...I'm here to tell you there is so much more to a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder beyond your media sponsored misconceptions. It is actually a true blue medical diagnosis with actual symptoms that have real world implications.  I know these things first hand.

In this episode, I use transparency to help teach and share my experience as an adult woman with ADD (that's ADHD without the Hyperactivity). And I give real world examples of how ADD impacts my day to day. Guess what? I'm not the only Black woman willing to admit and share her experience with ADD. If you're looking for community and more information check out

https://blackgirllostkeys.com
https://www.facebook.com/ingershaye
https://www.amenclinics.com

Here are few things you might want to read:
Healing ADD Revised Edition: The Breakthrough Program that Allows You to See and Heal the 7 Types of ADD by Dr. Daniel G. Amen
https://www.additudemag.com