Know Your Power: Camille Bennett on Coalition Building, Advocacy and Partnership

12/07/23 • 31 min

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

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

Previous Episode

Writing Our Story: Kiese Laymon on Joy, Justice, and Healing

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.

Next Episode

Liberating Our Joy with Tracey Michae'l Lewis-Giggetts

We’re excited to share with you a special bonus episode as we reflect on the year and look ahead to 2024. We return again to Vital Village Networks’ annual National Community Leadership Summit, and tune in this time to our 2022 keynote conversation with writer, storyteller, and educator, Tracey Michae'l Lewis-Giggetts. She is the award-winning author of Black Joy and shares with us a powerful reflection of what it means to make room for joy -- in all of its forms -- and what it looks like for joy to co-exist in the same vessel as pain, grief, and trauma. She draws upon deeply personal and painful experiences to deepen our understanding of Black joy and what it can offer all of us as a path forward to healing and restoration. We hope you enjoy this conversation and look forward to connecting in the new year.

Featured guest:

Tracey Michae'l Lewis-Giggetts, writer, storyteller, and educator; author of Black Joy
Host: Ronda Alexander, Director of Operations, NOW at Vital Village Networks

Additional Resources:

Learn more about Tracey Michae'l Lewis-Giggetts’ work: https://www.traceymlewis.com/

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