Amplify Good Aria Camaione-Lind

It has taken me a long time to sit down and write this. As you know, this isn’t atypical for me - whenever I have to write something, it takes me a moment to gather my thoughts. That’s why Melissa writes most of our content - she is better suited and vastly more talented than I am! 
It’s taken me a long time to write it because it’s hard for me to say goodbye, even if we are only really saying “See you later.”
Last month, I made the decision to put our podcast, Amplify Good, on hiatus. The podcast has been an incredible journey! Late spring of 2020 (remember that time in all our lives?!), our team started talking about what it would look like for us to host a podcast. What was our driving question? Who did we want to talk to? What were the logistics of actually producing a podcast? Our podcast journey has been an important one in my own personal and professional development.  
Our podcast back catalog will continue to be available on our streaming platforms. Thank you for all of your support and enthusiasm for Amplify Good. You inspire me to do good in the time I have.
Aria Strategies is working on some exciting projects and we’ve started traveling again to spend time with our clients and partners in the field. I hope you’ll check this space, our social media channels, and our newsletter for updates on our work and travels. Melissa continues to create exceptional content for us and we always love to hear your suggestions for what you’d like to see!   
 

This month on the Amplify Good podcast, Aria continues her conversation with our guests around wellness. Let’s take a brief look here at the organizations our guests are involved in!
 
Common Ground Health: Located in Rochester, N.Y., Common Ground is the health research and planning organization for the nine Finger Lakes counties of Chemung, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne and Yates. But our influence extends well beyond those borders. In recent years, we have provided support for clinical practices and other population health groups across the state. 
 
Research and analysis are at the heart of community health improvement. Common Ground maintains the region’s most comprehensive collection of health and health care data and provides the expertise needed to make sense of that information. We document trends and measure progress for partners and the region as a whole. We drill down into the data to understand and bring attention to health inequities based on geography, socio-economic status, race and ethnicity.
 
With a team of more than 35 analysts, clinicians, policy experts, community engagement specialists and other staff, Common Ground has built the capacity needed to spearhead health initiatives. Our collaborative tables allow decision makers, subject matter experts and residents to examine challenges together and develop solutions that work for all stakeholders. Our established reputation for neutrality gives competing organizations a place where they can find common ground and ensures that broader community needs are given a voice.
 
Ubuntu Village Works: Ubuntu Village Works is an organization dedicated to creating Culturally Responsive healing spaces and helping organizations become more culturally responsive both inward and outward facing.
 
A community where Black people can be their best selves physically, mentally, emotionally, and Spiritually. They have access to all the resources they need to find, achieve, and maintain their wellness as they define it. All disparities are eliminated, and Black people have unrestricted access to culturally responsive systems, services, and supports.
 
Mindful Matters: Mindful Matters offers mindful education, counseling and coaching for anyone looking to find more balance, focus and peace in their lives. Mindful Matters offers classes, workshops and guided meditation both locally and internationally. Every program emphasizes a mindful approach through insight, practice and reflection to help people thrive, rather than survive. Whatever life throws your way, you can trust that Mindful Matters has an evidence based mindfulness tool to help you through. Our values of empathy, compassion, education and transformation serve as the foundation for our offerings.
 
Baddass Bodies By Sean: Baddass Bodies by Sean is not your typical Rochester gym. It’s an exclusive, members only boutique GYM & personal training facility for women, children and their families. All classes are personally instructed by Rochester’s foremost female fitness instructor; Sean Smith, at the only black-woman owned gym in the City of Rochester.
 
Our members are made up of a diverse group of amazing women, children and their families of all fitness levels and ages. Our gym family is a tight-knit group who know each other well. We support, uplift and care for each other and we roll together outside the gym walls too.
 
Links: 
https://www.mindfulmatters585.com/
https://www.baddassbodiesbysean.com/
https://www.commongroundhealth.org/
https://ariastrategiesllc.com/amplify-good/podcast-season-3-episode-45-unconditional-love
https://ariastrategiesllc.com/amplify-good/podcast-season-2-episode-36-the-needs-of-the-whole-are-greater-than-any-one-of-us
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Bell_(physician)
https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/honoring-psychiatrist-carl-bell
https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanie-funchess-ubuntuvillageworks/

Join Aria for her kickoff conversation with Laura Gavigan, Empress Sean Smith and Melanie Funchess about wellness, balance, priorities and doing good! Stay tuned for our March post with more information on wellness as well as info on our incredible guests! 
 
Laura is the founder of Mindful Matters and offers mindful education, counseling and coaching for anyone looking to find more balance, focus and peace in their lives. Working as an educator for 20+ years at the University of Rochester, Laura became interested in how life can inherently create stress and anxiety, leading to burnout and chronic health challenges. She has counseled, coached and advised thousands, integrating a framework of mindful wellness, compassion and support. Laura has led introductory and advanced mindful meditation classes and workshops and has been featured as a guest speaker or panelist for a wide variety of organizations. Mindful Matters offers classes, workshops and guided meditation both locally and internationally. Every program emphasizes a mindful approach through insight, practice and reflection to help people thrive, rather than survive.
 
Empress Sean Smith is Rochester’s foremost female fitness instructor and the owner of Baddass Bodies by Sean, the only black-female-owned gym in the City of Rochester. Baddass Bodies by Sean is an exclusive, members-only gym & personal training facility for women, children, and their families. Sean personally instructs group fitness classes appropriate for all ages & fitness levels five days a week, in-gym at varying times of day and at 6 am live via Zoom twice a week. Sean is available for in-gym personal training for one or more people by appointment. Find the schedule and other information on our website.
 
Ms. Melanie Funchess has served as an advocate for families and youth for over two decades. She serves as the Director of Mental Health and Wellness for Common Ground Health. A health planning organization serving the nine county Finger Lakes region. She is also the CEO and Principal at Ubuntu Village Works LLC. An organization dedicated to the creation of culturally responsive community-driven healing and wellness spaces. Melanie has worked extensively in the areas of family engagement and empowerment as well as community building. She presents, trains, and consults locally and nationally in the areas of cultural competence, culturally responsive practice, implicit bias, family engagement, community partnership building, racial trauma and healing, and mental health in communities of color. She also has a TEDx Talk Implicit Bias -- how it affects us and how we push through available on YouTube. 
 
She is a devoted wife and mother of four young adult children (two boys and two girls). Her mission is to use her knowledge of systems and communities to create culturally responsive spaces for healing and opportunities for youth and families to be empowered and successful. To rebuild the village, where every child is our own, we have front porch neighborhoods, and we use language that respects everyone.
 
Links: 
https://www.mindfulmatters585.com/
https://www.baddassbodiesbysean.com/
https://www.commongroundhealth.org/
 
 
Keywords: podcast, good, do good, amplify, amplify good, balance, care, health, invisible work, mental health, patriarchy, physical health, racism, roles, self care, sustainability 
 

Hello, friends! It’s Aria and our team is BACK with season 4 of Amplify Good, a monthly podcast about doing good in the time we have.
This season the team and I are shaking everything up!(Well, almost everything!) Some stuff will be the same as when we first started this journey together: new episodes will drop on the second Tuesday of the month, you’ll still be able to link to streaming platforms from our website or listen wherever you download fine podcasts, and we’ll continue to tell you more about our themes and guests here on our sister blog. 
And then there’s some new stuff! We loved the series format so much that we decided to continue with it in season 4. This season we are covering four topics or themes and you’ll get to hear from multiple guests over the course of 2 to 3 episodes per topic or theme. We are excited for these shifts in how we understand what it means to do good in the time we have, and we hope you are excited, too!  
Our first topic addresses wellness. We got really into wellness at Aria Strategies in 2023 – trying to figure out what it meant for each of us, balancing obligations with our own well-being, figuring out how we wanted to show up in our communities and what care we needed to take in order to do so. We wrote about it a lot and we even kicked off our 2023 season with the topic. Heck! I wrote about it in my 2023 year end message!
The first series of season 4 really dives into what it means to treat our own wellness as a priority, how to better understand wellness as a key component of a sustainable life, and how doing good supports our wellness as individuals and as communities.
The more good we do, the more good there is to talk about, and the more we inspire each other to do good. So get comfortable wherever it is you listen to podcasts. Join us as we talk, listen, and explore what it means to do good in the time we have.
Amplify Good is hosted and recorded by Aria Camaione-Lind. Our show is mixed and produced by Rayna Booth Podcast Launch and Management, with support from Melissa Pletscher-Nizinsky.
Keywords: health, wellness, attention, care, love, exercise, joyful movement, food, nutrition, podcast, Amplify Good, blog, healthcare, mental health, passion, attraction, sustainability, personal, professional
 

Back in October 2023 we introduced this series on the podcast centered around the importance of teacher diversity. We’ve all heard repeatedly, especially over the last few years, how important representation is, particularly for kids throughout all stages of their development. Throughout this series we listened to our guests lay out the importance of having educators of color in our schools. All kids deserve to feel safe and confident in school. They should feel like school is a community they belong to and deserve to feel they are seen both as individuals and for their potential. In September 2023 as an introduction to this series, Aria Strategies posted a blog post looking at why teacher diversity should matter to us all. You can read more here.
 
In the meantime, one of the main focuses of our guests to help increase teacher diversity in the long run, is to start focusing now on kids of color who express an interest in being educators. This is coming to fruition in the form of middle school clubs for kids of color interested in being educators.
 
Links: 
Black in the Burbs  
Brighton CSD   
Carthage College (Wisconsin)  
East Rochester CSD  
Fairport CSD  
Farrash Foundation  
Gates-Chili CSD  
Gates-Chili CSD PTO   
Geneva CSD  
Greece Central School District  
Greece CSD SEPTA (Special Education Parent Teacher Association)  
W.K.Kellogg Foundation  
KONAR Foundation  
Monroe County (NY)  
NPLI  
NYSED  
NYU Center for Policy Research  
PECAN (Roc the Future)  
Penfield CSD  
PLTI Rochester  
RCSD East HS Teaching and Learning Institute (TLI)  
RCSD PLAC  
Regional Equity Network 
Roc the Future  
Rochester City School District  
St. John Fisher University School of Education   
Strive Together Network  
The Children’s Agenda  
Urban League of Rochester  
Wheatland-Chili CSD 
 
Keywords: podcast, good, do good, amplify, amplify good, Collaborate, School, Education, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, DEI, Professional, Social worker, Network, Advocacy, Philanthropy, Teacher, Segregation, Poverty, Disparity, Abundance, Action, Rochester, NY, Political, Parent, Family engagement, Project management, Community, Recommendations, Process, Grassroots, Data analysis, Communication, Indicators, Evaluation, Research, Black, African American, Latine,  Coach, Partners, Goals, Racism, Discipline, Suspensions, Identity, Future Teachers, Qualitative, Quantitative, Social science, Interview, Emergent, Pipeline, Urban, Suburban, Rural, Sustainable, BIPOC, Teacher certification
 

Greece Central School District:
Serving a student population of 10,775 students in 17 schools in grades PreK-12, Greece Central is the largest suburban school district in Monroe County and the tenth-largest district in New York State. The Greece Central School District serves most of the Town of Greece. The Greece Central School District was created in July 1928, but schools existed in the area before the Town was established in 1822. 
Vision:
We are committed to building a culture of high standards, engagement and supportive relationships.  We provide equitable access to opportunities for all students to pursue their full potential and become healthy, productive citizens who are actively involved in their communities.
Core Beliefs:      
We believe in placing Students First
Our student's strengths, values, and opinions are at the forefront of our work. 
We believe in Equity and Access
Our students have access to high quality schools, innovative programs and necessary supports and we strive to remove all barriers that interfere with student success. 
We believe in Striving for Excellence
Our environment cultivates excellence by utilizing each student, parent, employee and community partner talents, strengths and skills. 
We believe in establishing Coherence
Our strategies and efforts are aligned, focused, and connected in order to ensure system-wide understanding and success.
We believe in establishing Collaboration
All students, parents, employees and community partners communicate and work together for excellence and success.
We believe in inviting Voice 
Our students, parents, and community member's contributions, opinions, questions and concerns are valued and drive our work.
National Parent Leadership Institute (NPLI):
The National Parent Leadership Institute is a nonpartisan, parent-centered, and anti-racist organization that partners with parents and communities to equip families with the civic skills, knowledge, and opportunities to be leading advocates for children at home, school, and in the community.
We are pioneers in developing the field of parent leadership by embracing a cross-race, cross-class, parent-informed and pro-social learning approach to building parents as a constituency for community and recognizing children as the beneficiaries.
Mission:
We work with parents, public agencies, community organizations, local and state governments, foundations, and more to increase parent leadership, parent partnership, and parent voice at decision making tables, in order to create more caring communities for children. We support and celebrate PLTI alumni as they continue their leadership journey. We partner with Connecticut and Colorado in supporting their State-wide PLTI Initiatives We provide technical assistance to communities across the country as they support new cohorts of parent leaders, and as they work to build capacity within systems and staff to partner with parents.
NYU Center for Policy Research:
The Center for Policy, Research, and Evaluation (PRE) conducts applied research and evaluation studies focused on promoting positive educational outcomes for youth, and understanding the influence of both schools and communities on those outcomes. Its goal is to use research to inform educational policies and practices at federal, state, local, and programmatic levels.
Mission:
Our mission is to make research and evaluation for education that is action-oriented, liberating, accessible, and results in more equitable systems, policies, and practices.
Recognizing that research is often used as a tool of domination, we believe in the reclamation of research tools to illuminate marginalized truths, stories, and experiences.
We pursue our mission:
in solidarity with youth, parents, educators, and communities that have been historically marginalized by oppression;
collaboratively with researchers and practitioners from universities and