WCWD?

The holidays. 

They can be wonderful. 

They can be hard. 

They can be full of trauma triggers. 

In this new episode, our hosts Shurita and Christie talk about how to care for ourselves and others during this complicated time of the year. 

November is Homelessness Awareness Month and in honor of that, Shurita and Christie are having an unfiltered conversation about the growing humanitarian crisis in their community of Springfield, MO. 

Springfield, like many communities from coast to coast, is seeing more on more people without shelter as the weather begins to turn cold. This conversation touches on new federal relief money and how it should be stewarded, long-term changes that are needed, barriers to change, and the overall economic impact of leaving homelessness unaddressed in communities like theirs. 

We hope that this episode will educate you about some of the reality of Springfield, MO while opening your eyes to the same struggles and issues in your own community. 

For this episode, we have invited two amazing women who have been active in domestic violence advocacy work for many years to have an honest conversation about this critical topic as it pertains to our community and our wider culture. 

Kaijuanda Sutton is the current President of the Springfield, MO chapter of the NAACP and she is a community organizer of Stand Up! Speak Out! Rallies in Springfield and Chicago. 

Christina Ford is the Founder of the Rebound Foundation a non-profit that works with victims of domestic violence and also works to educate youth on dating violence and healthy relationships.

Shurita and Christie discuss conflict from their personal experience and they share how those lessons can challenge all of us to approach conflict differently. This episode is a critical conversation for anyone in leadership, working for justice, engaged in outreach/ministry work, and those who face personal conflict in their lives. 

Shurita and Christie take some time to catch up with one another and with listeners and give an overview of what season two of WCWD? will bring.  

Co-Host Shurita Thomas Tate talks about her lifelong passion for literacy and the work that she does to promote equity and justice through learning. This is a great conversation that we hope will challenge your perspectives! 

Poverty has been an underlying part of many of the conversations that we have discussed this season; however, there are many unique aspects of poverty that needed to be the focus of a discussion all on their own. We hope that this episode will educate and challenge our listeners to have a better understanding of the complexities of poverty in the world around them.  

Shurita and Christie discuss some of the misconceptions about homelessness and what people can do to make a difference. In addition, they share some of their personal experiences through The Connecting Grounds church in Springfield, MO. 

In this episode Shurita and Christie talk with two friends who work with families in the Foster Care system daily: Keke Rover is with Ambassadors for Children in Springfield, MO and Holly Madden is the Director of the Family Connection Program at The Connecting Grounds. 

This conversation is bold, honest, and eye-opening. It covers a wide range of topics including; childhood trauma, bio parents trauma, the purpose of foster care, reunification, community support, and healing. We invite you to listen and share with others to help us raise awareness for some of these often unaddressed issues within the Foster Care system. 

Shurita and Christie talk about trauma and being trauma-informed and what that SHOULD look like in our communities, schools, and faith communities.