In the Arena with NOW

How can collaborative action support joy and community healing? And what does this mean for how we define and understand leadership? In our next episode, we speak with Reann Gibson, a community-based researcher, community changemaker, and an advocate for social justice in the fields of health equity, food systems, community development and more. Reann reflects on her decades-long work to support food access, transformation justice and community-based participatory research in the Boston area and shares how collaborative action can shift the narrative of leadership, making space for all different types of leaders. We explore with Reann the power of fostering community-controlled and authentic spaces to support long term healing, and how participatory research efforts, such as the Healthy Neighborhood Study, can offer important lessons for creating these opportunities.

Featured guest:

• Reann Gibson, Community researcher and social justice advocate
• Host: Ronda Alexander, Director of Operations, NOW at Vital Village Networks

Resources from the episode:

• Learn more about the Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition at: https://www.mattapanfoodandfit.org/
• Read more about the Edgewater Food Forest in Mattapan at: https://www.wbur.org/news/2023/05/25/edgewater-food-forest-mattapan-boston-food-forest-coalition
• Learn more about The Healthy Neighborhoods Study at: hns.mit.edu

Additional Resource:

• Explore the featured Resource from the NOW Resource Library, A Community Builders Toolkit, here: https://www.networksofopportunity.org/resources/A-Community-Builders'-Toolkit

Produced by: Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing

Music: Want U W/ Me (Instrumental Mix), by Akira Sora, From the Free Music Archive, CC BY 4.0

Edited By: Resonate Recordings

Welcome back! We are excited to kick off our third season of In the Arena with NOW, where we explore two timely questions with community leaders across the country: What does it look like to harness, activate, and build community power? How can healing-centered advocacy transform systems and change policy? For the first episode of the season, long-time Vital Village Networks leader and founding circle member, Josette Williams, reminds us that for many, systems change advocacy is deeply rooted in our own personal journeys and early experiences that shape our understanding of who has access and opportunities to important community resources and spaces. As Director of Boston Public Schools’ innovative Countdown to Kindergarten program, Josette asks us to rethink the oft- asked question, “Who has a seat at the table?” and consider, “How did we get to this table” and the historical and systemic processes that shape who has access and opportunity to decision making power within communities. Tune in to hear Josette explore what shared power looks like in practice between agencies and families in Boston and examples of strategies she has been leading to center parent and family leadership within community systems.

Featured guest:

• Josette Williams, Director, Countdown to Kindergarten, Boston Public Schools

Host:

• Ronda Alexander, Director of National Partnerships, NOW at Vital Village Networks

Produced by: Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing

Music: Want U W/ Me (Instrumental Mix), by Akira Sora, From the Free Music Archive, CC BY 4.0

Edited By: Resonate Recordings

In our final episode of the season, we return to Vital Village Networks’ 10th annual National Community Leadership Summit and tune into the dynamic closing keynote conversation with Camille Bennett, Founder and Executive Director of Project Say Something. Connecting the personal and political, Camille speaks to her and her family’s multi-generational work advocating for racial justice in Alabama. She shares the efforts that she and coalitions are leading to dismantle white supremacist culture and fight against anti-Black policies, lifting up how grassroots efforts are seeking to promote education and reproductive justice. She explores what partnership with community looks like in policy and advocacy, and the need to affirm and elevate community power.

Featured guest:

• Camille Bennett, Founder and Executive Director, Project Say Something ​
• Host: Ronda Alexander, Director of Operations, NOW at Vital Village Networks

Additional Resources:

• Find out more about Project Say Something’s work here: https://www.projectsaysomething.org/
• Explore the featured resource from the NOW Resource Library, Working Principles for Health Justice and Racial Equity, from the Praxis Project here: https://www.thepraxisproject.org/our-principles

Produced by: Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing

Recorded by: MediaBoss

Music: Want U W/ Me (Instrumental Mix), by Akira Sora, From the Free Music Archive, CC BY 4.0

Edited By: Resonate Recordings

In this special episode, we tune in from Vital Village Networks’ 10th annual National Community Leadership Summit, where hundreds of grassroots community leaders gathered in Boston in October. Hear opening remarks from Founding Director, Dr. Renee Boynton-Jarrett, followed by an intimate conversation with best-selling author and educator Kiese Laymon and Ronda Alexander, Vital Village’s Director of Partnerships. Delving into the summit theme, Writing Our Story, Kiese reflects on his personal journey growing up in Jackson, Mississippi with radical honesty and vulnerability, sharing insights on racism, family, dignity, and the power of sitting in grief. He explores what joy, healing, and justice look like and the importance of writing, telling, and owning our own narratives.

Featured guest:

• Kiese Laymon, Bestselling Author, Social Critic, and Essayist
• Host: Ronda Alexander, Director of Operations, NOW at Vital Village Networks

Additional Resources:

• Find out more about Kiese Laymon and his work: https://www.lyceumagency.com/speakers/kiese-laymon/
• Learn more about 2023 Summit takeaways and coalition building reflections in our latest article by Gabby Cockerham: https://www.networksofopportunity.org/post/coalition-building-key-takeaways-from-the-2023-national-community-leadership-summit

Produced by: Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing
Recorded by: MediaBoss
Music: Want U W/ Me (Instrumental Mix), by Akira Sora, From the Free Music Archive, CC BY 4.0
Edited By: Resonate Recordings
Please note, this episode does contain some adult language.

We continue our conversation with Inés Palmarin, a long-time Boston community builder, coalition co-founder, and Vital Village National Advisory Board member dedicated to holding and creating space for mothers to connect and create solutions together. Inés unpacks what collaborative and shared leadership looks like, and shares more about her work with community economic development and other collaborative efforts that seek to ensure local resident leaders and young people not only have a voice but meaningful and authentic decision making power. We explore with Inés the importance of embracing lifelong learning and how to honor grace, hope, and dignity for ourselves, each other, and future generations of leaders to come.

Featured guest:

• Inés Palmarin, Co Founder of Boston Mothers Care & Community Weaver /Vital Village Board Member
• Host: Ronda Alexander, Director of Operations, NOW at Vital Village Networks

Register for the 10th National Community Leadership Summit: https://www.vitalvillagesummit.org/register
Learn more about Boston Mothers Care: https://www.bostonmotherscare.org/

Produced by: Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing

Music: Want U W/ Me (Instrumental Mix), by Akira Sora, From the Free Music Archive, CC BY 4.0

Edited By: Resonate Recordings