Community Dialogues WFUV News

Our guest is aLJo, founder of aLJo's Quarantine Gardening. His platform teaches people how to garden as a way to give communities of color autonomy over their food production, combat food insecurity, and provide a positive outlet to deal with everyday stress.

Our guest is Roy Kearse, a person in long-term recovery and Vice President of Recovery Services and Community Partnerships for Samaritan Daytop Village. The organization works to alleviate some of the adverse conditions that people in New York are dealing with. He talked with us about Samaritan Daytop Village’s PARC programs in Queens and the Bronx, and how they help to battle drug addiction and overdoses.

Victoria McDonald is a Jamaican-American woman from Rochester, New York. She received her Bachelor's degree in 2011 at Howard University. She also received her Masters degree in Urban Studies from Fordham University in 2021. Victoria has entered active duty in the Army as a human resources officer. Currently she’s an assistant professor of military studies at Fordham and the City University of New York. Victoria shares her experience with intra-racism in the Black community, and the importance of protecting Black women, and amplifying awareness of their struggles.

Our guest is Olivia Ngo, a senior at NYU studying public policy. She talks candidly with us about Asian hate and the need to support businesses in Manhattan's Chinatown that are struggling in the pandemic.

Our guest is Alexandra Lee, the current president of New York City's chapter of OCA Asian Pacific Advocates. As a volunteer and an Asian American woman in New York, she says the recent increase in anti-Asian violence has caused her to rethink how she goes about her daily life, but she is hopeful for social change.

When people are involved in their communities a lot of good can from it. But, sometimes there are barriers to civic engagement. The organization Women Creating Change is launching a new initiative to increase civic engagement in underserved communities across New York City. WCC's President and CEO Carole Wacey joins us to talk more about that effort and the organization's other priorities aimed at bringing about positive change.