In the Arena with NOW NOW Vital Village

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 NetworksAdditional 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 

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 NetworksAdditional 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 EssayistHost: Ronda Alexander, Director of Operations, NOW at Vital Village NetworksAdditional 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 MemberHost: Ronda Alexander, Director of Operations, NOW at Vital Village NetworksRegister 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

How can we practice collaborative relationships differently? For Inés Palmarin, long-time Boston community builder, coalition leader and Vital Village National Advisory Board member, this starts with building trust and creating intentional spaces to connect around our shared “why” and hopes for our communities. Ines reflects on her own personal journey, the creation of the Boston Mothers Care coalition, and the evolution of collaborative practices that seek to center racial equity. We explore with Inés what it looks like to sustain “heart work” within coalitions to create wellbeing and opportunity for children and families to thrive.

Featured guest:
Inés Palmarin, Co Founder of Boston Mothers Care & Community Weaver /Vital Village Board MemberHost: Ronda Alexander, Director of Operations, NOW at Vital Village NetworksRegister for the 10th National Community Leadership Summit: https://www.vitalvillagesummit.org/register

Learn more about Boston Mothers Care: https://www.bostonmotherscare.org/

Additional Resources:
Explore the featured resource from the NOW Resource Library, Building Diverse Community Based Coalitions, here: https://www.networksofopportunity.org/resources/Building-Diverse-Community-Based-Coalitions 
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 

Tune into the next part of our conversation with Reann Gibson, a community-based researcher, community changemaker, and social justice advocate in Boston and beyond. Reann delves further into her experiences with facilitating community-based participatory research and coalition building efforts, asking the critical question, “What does it mean to create spaces with community ownership of change?” particularly in the realm of health and wellbeing research. We explore what it looks like to create spaces where community members have the resources -- and the power -- to co-design research, and other community initiatives, and how collaboration rather than competition can help foster innovation and transformation. 
Featured guest:
Reann Gibson, Community researcher and social justice advocate Host: Ronda Alexander, Director of Operations, NOW at Vital Village NetworksRead Reann’s latest article on ownership of change at: https://www.rwjf.org/en/insights/blog/2023/06/researchers-build-community-power-to-influence-health-in-gentrifing-neighborhoods.html?channelid=xsp&cid=1003629
Register for the 10th National Community Leadership Summit at: https://www.vitalvillagesummit.org/register 

Additional Resource:
Explore the featured resource from the NOW Resource Library, Beyond Lessons In The Field: Community Engagement in Promise Neighborhoods, here: https://www.networksofopportunity.org/resources/Beyond-Lessons-In-The-Field%3A-Community-Engagement-in-Promise-Neighborhoods 

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