Michael Giardina is the Deputy Director of Operations at the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management. He joins the show to talk about the City’s new public flood monitoring system designed to give residents real time flood data across Philadelphia. Giardina discussed how the technology will help communities prepare for severe weather, protect property, and improve emergency response in flood prone neighborhoods.

Joanna Weiss is the Co-Executive Director of the Fines and Fees Justice Center. She joined the show to talk about how courts across the country have used fines and fees as a revenue system that traps families in debt. Weiss explained how missed payments can lead to suspended licenses, job loss, and housing instability, while reforms have already delivered billions in financial relief nationwide.

Dr. ShantaQuilette Develle is a globally recognized leader, bestselling author, and trusted voice in women’s health equity, leadership, and reinvention. A former tax and forensic accountant who retired from the IRS after surviving a stroke on the job, she brings a powerful perspective on resilience, wellness, and the hidden ways stress and silence impact women’s health.

Dr. ShantaQuilette joins the show to discuss ways women can set boundaries for better health, cardiovascular awareness , & things women can do to better care for their hearts, as well as the burnout culture women face in the workplace.

Dr. Darrin Anderson is the president and CEO of The Urban League of Greater Philadelphia, an organization that empowers Black Americans and other historically underserved communities to achieve social equity, economic independence, civic power, and full civil rights.

Dr. Anderson joins the show to speak about ULGP’s annual Empowerment Gala, which honored 28 Philly high school students with $5,000 scholarships respectively.

Imani Thompson is the author of the upcoming book, "Honey", A dark, provocative, adrenaline-rush of a novel about a graduate student who murders bad men and justifies it in the name of feminism, by a bold new voice in fiction. Imani joins the show to talk about the context of "Honey", and to discuss some of its common themes such as Afro-pessimism, feminism, Black pain, and more.

Imani is interviewed by Tiffany Bacon, and Dr. James Peterson, the host of Evening WURDS. He is the author of several books, including The Hip Hop Underground and African American Culture, Prison Industrial Complex for Beginners, and Hip-Hop Headphones: A Scholar’s Critical Playlist.

Robert Dunham joins the show to discuss a story in the Inquirer. When court appointed lawyers turn from advocate to adversary.

Emily Rizzo is a Philadelphia-based multimedia journalist and audio producer who specializes in accountability reporting, education and community crisis, and is invested in using data to increase government transparency and hold election officials accountable.

She joined Dr. Peterson for this week's Citizen WURD segment to discuss her recent Philadelphia Citizen article, “The School Where Kids Can Actually … Read”. Her article covers how George Sharswood K-8 public school in South Philadelphia raised reading scores in the first year of the city's new literacy curriculum, when the rest of the district is still struggling.

Article link: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/sharswood-students-can-read/

Anne Sempowski Ward is the co-owner of the Chicago Sky in the WNBA, and Fort Lauderdale United Football Club of the USL Super League.

Anne has spent half of her 30 year career leading billion-dollar brands and architecting key corporate growth strategies in Fortune 100 corporations, while the other half has been focused on building high growth, middle market companies. She is recognized as a well-rounded, astute and transformational leader who guides people, brands and organizations through major growth and cultural change.

She joined Dr. Peterson to discuss her early career, what made her want to be the co-owner of the Chicago Sky, the Sky hosting this season's WNBA All-Star weekend, the new collective bargaining agreement deal, and her thoughts on Philadelphia getting a WNBA team in 2030.

Dr. Marsha Richardson is the Director of the School and Mental Health Counseling Program in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Richardson’s extensive professional experience as a practitioner includes providing clinical and managerial oversight of a school-based mental health program that specializes in the utilization of Nicholas Hobbs and the PEP model of care for behaviorally challenged children and adolescents.

She joined Dr. Peterson for this week's Tuesday teach-in segment to discuss the Nicholas Hobbs and PEP model of care, the mental health challenges of children having to go to a different school, the mental health challenges that black educators may be wrestling with, and the death by suicide crisis.

Barry Woodson is the Assistant Vice President and Branch Manager at Trumark Credit Union, with over 20 years of experience in the financial field. Community involvement is a core part of Mr. Woodson’s leadership approach, where he actively participates in local initiatives that support financial wellness, small business growth, and community empowerment.

He joined Dr. Peterson for this month's Ready, Set, Grow segment to discuss Trumark's commitment to supporting local communities and helping members achieve financial wellness, and the importance of relationship building.