Art and Politics with Eboni Taylor, Nafeesah Symonette, and Rhonda Green

On this episode, Donna and Sam sat down with State Senate hopeful Eboni Taylor to discuss her vision for Michigan’s 3rd District as well as Nafeesah Symonette and Rhonda Green who gave insight into the Summer Arts Employment Training (SAET) Program. 

Eboni Taylor is a lifelong Detroiter and daughter of the Eastside. She believes that we deserve better, but more than that, she believes that we can dictate what "better" looks like together. Team Eboni believes we are at a pivotal moment where our communities need leaders with relentless & authentic advocacy. She wants a better Michigan for her parents, herself, and she especially wants a better Michigan for our future - her children and yours.

The Summer Arts Employment Training Program is led by Heritage Works in partnership with Detroit Excellence in Youth Arts(DEYA), Grow Detroit's Young Talent (GDYT) and 10 arts partners working across Detroit to provide creative training and paid workforce opportunities. Detroit youth will have opportunities to gain experience in dance, visual arts, technical theater, youth-led arts education, or arts activism – while also developing workplace skills including teamwork, communication, entrepreneurism, and project management.

For more information and to apply, click here.

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:29

What's up, Detroit? Welcome to another episode of Authentically Detroit, broadcasting live from StreamYard. I'm Sam Robinson. And I'm Donegans Davidson. Thank you for listening in and supporting our efforts to build a platform of authentic voices for real people here in the city of Detroit. We want you to like, rate, and subscribe to our podcast on all platforms. We're here with Ebony Taylor discussing her vision for District 3. That's the state Senate seat up for grabs as Term Limited Stephanie Chang uh says goodbye. Uh she is trying, you know, saying hello, though, to Ebony, who earned the endorsement from uh the longtime state senator Stephanie Chang. Ebony, you are a lifelong Detroiter. You are a daughter of the East Side. Uh Ebony believes that Detroiters deserve better. We spoke at length at the Michigan Chronicle Office uh two weeks ago about your vision, about your campaign to expand healthcare, provide more funding for our public schools, address houting, housing affordability, and just kind of overall our affordability crisis that people are experiencing at grocery stores, where you know you go to Costco and that four-pack of beef ribeyes that used to cost $50 are now $70. You go to the gas station and your gas in the neighborhoods that used to cost $297 is now looking like the gas in Midtown and downtown. That's $3.50. You go across the state and it's $4 in some areas, uh, you know, in the in the aftermath of this Iran war. Uh Ebony Taylor's campaign kicked off um because her community asked her to step up. Ebony, you talked about uh the sort of encouragement from state senator Stephanie Chang, who we just uh heard from she did a coffee hour with Tanya Maris Phillips at Mama Shoe's Avalon Village. Yes. Today uh yes, we were just uh in that room. I had never been actually in the homework house. Yeah, it looks nice. Um, you know, certainly for those residents there, they got a new basketball court and they got a uh a fireplace and a community garden area. Um so talk, Ebony, about that third state Senate district, the boundaries, because it it is Detroit, Highland Park, yeah, mostly that east side of Detroit. Talk about the boundaries.

SPEAKER_02 3:02

Yeah, sure, Sam, and thank you to you and Donna for inviting me on to authentically Detroit. It's so great to be here. It feels like this is the place to be um authentically heard, right? Um, especially uh being a lifelong east sider. So thank y'all so much for having me on. But yeah, the the boundaries are just like what you said, Sam, is the the bulk of is the east side of Detroit. Uh it also includes Ham Tramic, uh, the city also of Highland Park. And then there's a little bit of the west side, uh, maybe five or six neighborhoods, uh, Palmer Park, Sherwood Forest, uh Green Acres, uh, Detroit Golf Club neighborhood and university district.

SPEAKER_06 3:46

Yeah, and we spoke today about how many candidates there are in this race. I mean, I didn't even realize there was another one there at the literature, and I'm like, oh my god, state seventh district three. Um, she tells she tells me the more the merry, you know, hey, you know, whoever wins. Oh, Sam. Listen, it's tough. Name the candidates. I will do that. Um, it's Ebony Taylor, who we're speaking to now. It's Adam Ollier, who we've spoken to on the show. It is John Conyers the third, it is Corey Hall. It is Kimberly Knotts, it is Toynew. Toynew Reeves Toy Knew Reeves, and it also is, you know, I know the Tanya. Yeah, Latanya Garrett has entered the race as well. And so, you know, four women, one candidate that has a ton of money from a different race, right? The Secretary of State, and perhaps some of his congressional money. We'll see if that ends up. We'll see. We shall see the Senate um um campaign coffers. But it for folks that are not privy and on the inside of the baseball, as uh all three of us here are, uh, the dynamics of the race pretty are seem to be pretty clear right now, where you have different democratic identities in terms of you got more liberal, more sort of progressive, more conservative. You have folks that are um uh campaigning through clergy and through the church community. I would say Corey Hall fits into that. Um, you know, certainly um you're gonna get most of, if not all, the progressives are gonna stand with you over Adam Ollier, who they've had concerns with since he was uh state senator the the first time. I know that you know Adam really well. Uh, talk to us for folks that don't know. Uh you told me, you know, he's a good guy. You've you've known him since you guys were single digits, went to the same elementary school.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

Adam and I hail from foreign language immersion cultural studies school, which at the time, and it's still a gym of the city and of Detroit Public School Community District, DPS back. If you know, you know back in the day. Um, and so we hailed from foreign language immersion. We were both basically you are immersed in a language, and we were all in the same, we were both in the same language, uh, which was Spanish. Um, and so we were both on the safety patrol together, and we've known each other since kids. I respect him. Um, he's a family man, and um, and you know, I have I have nothing, you know, in terms of who he is as a person, I have nothing bad to say about him. I do think we just stand on uh in two different spaces as it relates to this race, though.

SPEAKER_06 6:33

Certainly. Uh, and I think voters have made it clear to me. Um, even the ones who I would think would be aligned with Adam, uh, there is a bit of fatigue with seeing his name on the ballot. He uh initially uh decided in in this election cycle to run for Congress against Tree Tanadar as he had before. Um, and then uh he decided to run for Secretary of State. And then when it became clear that he wasn't gonna do that, uh he's gonna run for a different position. So you you told me that you uh came into this knowing what you wanted out of the position, knowing that this is what I want. I'm not going to try to be musical chairing around. Tell me what you feel are the needs of residents in the third state.

Donna Givens Davidson 7:24

Before we go on, though, I want to clarify something. Just because somebody's nice, and I can say very plainly conversations, does not mean that you are politically aligned with them. Yeah. I think the question is not whether Adam Ollier is a nice person. I think the difference is there are some political differences. And I he and I have had conversations about this. He's been on Authentically Detroit before. So as you speak, I think it's important for people to understand what makes you stand out because it's not just prior electoral mistakes that people are looking at. Can you kind of frame it so that we're not talking about nice? Because I don't vote for people.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Yeah, you're right, right, right. We we don't we're not voting on the basis of niceness, but you know, I just uh you know wanted to, you know me, Donna.

Donna Givens Davidson 8:10

Everybody, you know, uh I just let you, I know, but I think that you know, we need to understand because sometimes I think people are frustrated with what they see as a Democratic Party that doesn't ever stand for some of the things they want to stand for. And I think that's one of the differences that I like to to, you know.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

Yeah. And so I think that framing is important, and I am running um because, like you just said, Sam, we have Stephanie Chang is term limited, and uh there are a few other folks who are term-limited too, um, Senators Erica Geis and also Sylvia Santana. And I believe strongly that we we need that Detroit and this district needs um a mom's voice in Lansing. Um, that's incredibly uh critical um because they have led on issues that I have worked with them around, from maternal um mortality, um, thinking about um you know uh women who are incarcerated and pregnant and moving the needle and lifting up awareness around a lot of the things that I actually worked on at Mother Injustice. And so without their voices there, I'm I'm deeply concerned about uh parent issues being lifted, family issues being raised. And, you know, this might be controversial, but you know, people keep saying progressive, progressive. I don't want to be put into a box necessarily. I want to go to Lansing and take the issues of my community with me. I want to go to Lansing and lift up the things that my parents are dealing with as they're in their 70s and they're aging as we all are. I want to lift up the issues that my children are dealing with as two black boys growing up in the city of Detroit. I want to lift up the affordability uh pieces that you you uh referenced at the top of this, uh Sam, from car insurance um to utilities to housing. Those are the things that people want to see change in their community, and those are the things that I'm going to Lansing with. I don't think um we've had enough of the same old, same old of people saying they'll do one thing and then they get there and special interest has them tethered. Um, and that's just simply not me. I if, you know, win or lose, which I'm claiming that I'm winning this, right? Um, that's what I'm sticking by.

SPEAKER_06 10:38

Yeah, and how do you get more people to say what you're saying? I think there's a lot of momentum for voters saying we're tired of these politicians on the left and right um being beholden to special interests over us, the people that send them into office. What does it take for somebody like you to exist? I mean, why do you put people over uh perhaps, you know, a lobbyist?

SPEAKER_02 11:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 11:06

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

No, I just think that honestly, Sam, that that's that's how I was raised. I mean, my father, Kelvin Wells, uh started the Chandler Park Neighborhood Association well before before I was even born, right? Um, it's always about community. I've watched my parents take care of our neighbors, um, who some have unfortunately, I mean, anyway, have unfortunately passed passed on, but I've I grew up watching my parents take care of their neighbors and their neighborhood. And I just don't see it any other way. Um I I don't see when I think about like black liberation and and and as black people, us getting to a better place economically and across all the areas, health-wise and across all the areas that I feel you know we're suffering as a community. I don't see us getting um to a better place without having leadership in the places where we need leadership to stand up and defend the real issues that um that we're all experiencing. Um and I for me, there's just simply no way around it. Um, and so I'm going into um communities, I'm going to community meetings, I'm going to elderly um, you know, homes and uh having the conversations that need to be had so that I'm lifting up the issues that people are telling me about. People are asking me if I can solve problems for them already. Um taking those things with me.

Donna Givens Davidson 12:41

Those things are though, because growing up in the Child Park neighborhood, right? Yeah, you've seen the changes since you grew up. Yeah. And what do you attribute those changes to and how you as state senator began to legislate around that?

SPEAKER_02 12:57

Say, can you repeat it one more time? Yeah, I think I think the first thing, I think the first thing is uh, you know, knowing what they are, sure more broadly, but on this campaign trail, I think I'm understanding them more intimately. Um, there was a woman who came up to me and was talking about how the city she had a flat or a building that was connected to a city building, and that the city tore it down and they didn't have asbestos remediation and they didn't handle it the right way. She was like, Can you call someone and figure out how to so that my building isn't further impacted? And um, you know, there's uh obviously the housing issue um um that, you know, Donna, you and I have talked about intimately in the past. Um, you know, making Detroit a more affordable place is gonna start with uh taxes, right? And it's gonna start with people being able to not only own a home, but remain in their home. And that and that is uh that is something that our state's legislature can take up and actually make changes around. And so there are there are a host of things, but I think the first thing is just intimately knowing the stories. And that's what my plan is on this campaign trail, um, and working with organizations, right, like ECN, working with folks who are um not only experiencing um the things, but also uh close to the solutions because you've been working on um these, you've been working on findings, right? You've been working on collecting data. And so I really want to work closely with community organizations, community-based organizations that already have solutions in tow. Um, and and and again, take that to Lansing with me. That's the start. Obviously, to legislate is the next step, but that's the start.

Donna Givens Davidson 14:53

What about environmental justice? I know that um you just talked about asbestos, but one of the concerns that some people had that was when one of your opponents, Adam Ollier, was within the state legislature, he did not always act in accordance with what people in environmental justice might want to see. Um, where do you get your thoughts around protecting us? I know even net from a federal level, um, it's a problem. But how do you do it?

SPEAKER_02 15:19

Yeah, I think that we need more, I think there's a little bit of modeling that exists at the national level um in terms of legislation that we can bring into Michigan. Don't get me to lying about all the the the different um names that have environment in them, uh the names of these legislations. But um I know for sure I want to see more around um uh environmental justice and how it in and how it impacts black communities. I think in Michigan, there's just not an there's there's not um enough studies um and enough reporting done around and enough legislation, right, that talks specifically to um how black people are impacted by um you know the by air quality. What um, you know, and just thinking about the last meeting I went to in Jefferson Chalmers, right, and the water issues and the shoreline, um, and how that impacts the communities on the shoreline. Nearly 300 community or 300 houses are there, and 70% of them have either uh fair to poor, they're they're in fair to poor conditions. And so um there are more specific about that.

Donna Givens Davidson 16:43

What do you mean by shoreline?

SPEAKER_02 16:45

Um, the last uh the um Tracy Rubin, she's the chairwoman of the water project. And so I went to their last meeting and they were talking about some of the issues that the house that the homes in Jefferson traumers are experiencing, and they're the houses that have access to water, whether on the canal or otherwise. Um, I don't know if it's you know the infrastructure around it. Um, because this is not, you know, one of my ex areas of expertise, but I'm growing in it. Um, I understand that uh more than you know, nearly, nearly three-quarters of the homes on that touch water on the shoreline are in um their the barriers or the infrastructure is in poor condition.

Donna Givens Davidson 17:33

Yeah, there's a lot of flooding over there, right?

SPEAKER_02 17:36

Say again, Donna.

Donna Givens Davidson 17:37

There's a lot of flooding over there.

SPEAKER_02 17:39

Yeah, the flooding, I mean, there are a host of issues that uh-oh, that um there are a host of issues that have been um, I know are you know going in front of the city right now to see how um they can be remediated, where the money will come from. And so her and I were actually just texting today, and the next meeting is in May to see, you know, what has come of their meetings with the city. Um, but when we talk about environmental justice, there are a host of things. And I know Stephanie has been a champion for years, right? Um, in her time in the House and in the Senate. And so I certainly want to, you know, pick up and understand exactly where she's where she's leaving that work and pick it up and take it further. Um and so staying in staying in community, staying in conversation with folks like Tracy Rubin, with folks like you, Donna, who are intimately um aware of the issues that um black Detroiters are dealing with, and all Detroiters are dealing with, is is is something that I'm um that I'm dedicated to in this campaign and beyond.

SPEAKER_06 18:51

Talk about Ebony, your uh day job. I think a lot of people would be interested to know what uh it's like supporting uh black women candidates from a DC perspective. I understand that's what you've been doing for the past several years. Talk about uh your job.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

Yeah. Um I work for an organization um that is based is based in New York, in Brooklyn, New York. But um, you know, most of us, most of the staff are actually now situated in DC. But anyhow, um I'm the vice president of programs and I essentially manage um number one, our programs, but two, our political action um arm. Um, and we my team staffs our political action committee, which is comprised of black women, political technicians from all over the country. And I have the wonderful task of helping to get more black women into higher office to make our democracy more representative. And our catchment includes um all federal races, all statewide executive races, and then the only local race we do, so we don't dabble in state-ledge, uh, but the only local race we do is um we support uh black women running for mayor in the top 100 cities by population. And the work is extremely um we're in a moment where it's like it's a good problem, but it's it's a lot of black women running for higher office. Um, each and every say again.

SPEAKER_06 20:30

No, go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

Each and every year we're seeing those numbers increase.

SPEAKER_06 20:35

Yeah. I understand that you just uh correct me if I'm wrong, you you guys were helping out Jasmine Crockett and her against James Calarico.

SPEAKER_02 20:45

We were helping out Jasmine Crockett, um, and I had a conversation with her leading up to um, which my organization, I think, uh, you know, played through social media or aired on social media. But yeah, we were supporting her and is, you know, I think that she is is uh such a great sport and she's just such a talented and an intelligent woman. And I was very proud to lead on that work at my organization to to help to get more black women around the country, not only just black women, but their networks to get involved with her campaign, whether it was uh folks who were in Texas and could door knock, because some people actually traveled to Texas to door knocked, or whether it was uh doing phone banking or giving right there of their dollars, um, we were able to help uh you know usher folks into her campaign across the country. And so obviously we didn't get the outcome that we wanted, but um definitely, I mean, what she what she was able to do in such a short period of time was incredibly impressive. And I think it just watching um live and in the moment um folks uh be disenfranchised. Um it was really heartbreaking. And I don't know what will come of that. Uh I know that some things are, you know, um headed to court or if they're not already in court, but what referencing the Dallas County situation. Dallas County, so that essentially a lower court said that the polls could stay up until 9 p.m. Central Time, and then the Texas Supreme Court into that two-hour time difference because the polls closed at 7 p.m. Within that window, they shut it down. And so that left people, honestly, some people, I was reading stories of some people who were in line by 7 o'clock but had still hadn't made it up to the front to vote, um, were impacted. So even folks who actually were within the 7 p.m. window uh couldn't make it. And so I'm very curious to see what happens with the other votes that they've categorized as that folks who've tried to vote in that window or who did vote in that window. Um, but I don't I don't know if it'll it'll have any bearing on the outcome that has already obviously um been awarded to Talo Rico. But you know, I think she's still still incredibly still an incredible job from Jasmine Crockett. Um and and went on the next day to to continue her job as a as a as a rep as a representative. So yeah.

Donna Givens Davidson 23:32

A lot of people, a lot of my friends, uh, a lot of people that I know, and I'm sure you've heard it too, interpreted that as a rejection of black women's leadership. At the same time, we saw that two black women made it to the Democratic, um it are possibly going to represent um Illinois in the same, which is you know groundbreaking, right? And so do you think it was just the fact that she was a black woman, or do you think that um there were other factors at work? Because I think it can be very discouraging to people and um disheartening to believe that it's you know rejection of us as a people.

SPEAKER_02 24:06

Yeah, I don't think it was a rejection of us as a people. We I mean, in Texas, I know Texas has the largest black population, but that still isn't enough for Jazz for her to have gotten the numbers she did. And I think that's something to be celebrated. Um, I don't think it's a rejection. We're talking Texas here, and what she was able to do, um, with such a with the, I mean, you know, the margins weren't razor thin, but they were they were close. What she was able to do and to be her authentic self, which which is what people want right now, um, that should be celebrated. And yes, we just saw Lieutenant Governor Illinois, Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton make it out of her primary above Raja. Um, his last name is blanking, but he is one of the top fundraisers for the Democratic Party right now, if not the top. I think it was between him and maybe is it uh Corey Booker, maybe? And he had loads of money and still could not, um, and still could not defeat Juliana. And so I I definitely don't see it as a rejection. I think that some people are still looking their wounds from Kamala, um, which rightfully so. But again, you know, if you haven't read 107 Days, she was up against uh an impossible thing as well. But I think people are still looking their wounds from that. But I think now, even more, we're seeing people um really starting to embrace black women's leadership, um, embrace black women's authenticity. And so that's what I'm carrying with me as I run this race for um this third Senate district.

Donna Givens Davidson 25:50

Yeah, I I appreciate you saying that um because I think that it's true. And I think I don't want to be scared off. Um, every race is different, every issue is different, but there's we're seeing progress, right?

SPEAKER_02 26:03

I think so, and I'm seeing it honestly with my own two eyes every day. Um, yeah.

Donna Givens Davidson 26:10

I know you have a heart stop at um 445.

SPEAKER_02 26:14

I could I could do a few more minutes, maybe five five more.

Donna Givens Davidson 26:18

Because we got a little late. We got started a little late. Um, so what what what are you looking forward to in um serving at the Michigan Senate? What what gets you excited about this role?

SPEAKER_02 26:30

I think what gets me excited is well, Donna, you know, and I think you you know too, Sam, of course, that I'm a mom. I have two little boys, and they're they're so just impressionable, of course. They're seven and nine, and I'm really excited for them to see um they they know strength in terms of like muscles, and they're always trying to show off their muscles. But I'm really excited to show them strength in a different way, and uh strength from their mother, um, strength from a black woman. Uh, they see it already in my mom and in the women who lead that they know their teachers, right? But this is just this is something different. I think um it just makes me chuckle. They think that um when I first was like, hey, do you think mommy should do this? Should I run for office? Because they were helping me. They were helping writing. Um they were helping in 24 with the letter writing campaigns we did for Kamala and um you know passing out you know literature and talking to folks at Easter Market, for instance, about the about 2024's race. And so one of my sons was like, Mommy, are you running, are you running like Kamala? And so um I was like, not at that level, buddy, but so anyway, that excites me. Um, number one, and number two, what excites me is that um when I think about heading to Lansing, I think about folks like who we just saw Sam, um Tanya Myers, rep Tanya Myers Phillips. She is so genuine and authentic and brings her full self to her work. I'm excited about not only stepping into that role in that way, but also having folks who um who are there who are leading in that way too. I'm happy and excited about stepping in with what feels like a new wave or cadre of like leaders, like with Denzel McCampbell, City Councilman Denzel McCampbell stepping up. I mean, all it's a few of us that have known each other for years and years and years, and now we're sort of like stepping from the background and into the forefront to be the leaders we have always supported, um, and to be the leaders that we've been calling for for quite a while. So that's that's what excites me.

Donna Givens Davidson 28:57

You know, one of the things that um people have felt, uh maybe it's just me, is that a lot of times the more progressive um leaders in our state are not African American. And so there has been this position where you saw um at one point Rashida and um Stephanie sort of stepping out on some issues. And um some black politicians distance themselves from them. Well, they're not really us. And um, that whole game is changing because it's no longer um, you know, non-black women representing black communities in that way. We have black leaders stepping up to the plate with the same values around environmental justice, around social justice, and really being willing to challenge the status quo. Because I think that's what excites me about certain politics is we got to challenge the status quo. If you keep on doing what you already done, you're gonna keep on getting what you already got. Um what is your top issue?

SPEAKER_02 29:55

My top issue, I mean, it's so vague, but it's it's really the affordability piece, right? And it's um, you know, I don't think that you can run for anything right now and not talk about affordability. Um, it's really the issue of like where to everyone's talking about DTE, you know, everyone's talking about housing. And I think for me, it's like, you know, affordability, but what what's the first thing of those things? You know, insurance, what's what's the first one to lift up my gut, um, and just based off of just living, right? Being a Detroiter is housing. Um, and you know, working or being when Darnell and I were the co-chairs of the of the um, what was it, the Chandler Park housing um committee or yeah, so you know, I think that there's um a lot that I learned from from that experience that I want to that I want to bring into this conversation, but I I think that there's still more conversations that I want to have um and understandings that I want to gain. Um and I what I'm what I'm seeing is that taxes is rising, uh is bubbling up to the top. So taking the scenic route to say, I think we need to tackle the issue of taxes for Detroiters so that they can not only get in get into their homes but stay there. That's really that's really one of my biggest things, if not the biggest, at this moment.

Donna Givens Davidson 31:34

Right now, our tax policy is driving middle-class black Detroiters out of Detroit because it's more expensive to live in Detroit than it is to live outside of Detroit. And I'm hearing from a number of people that wait a minute, I can get a bigger house, a better house outside of here for less and spend less on taxes than I can in the city.

SPEAKER_02 31:51

Um, get to educate. I have a really good friend in Novi. She we literally just had this conversation. She's like, Ebony, I have all the services that get here in two seconds. My kids can go up the street to Novi Public Schools. Her house is very beautiful, nice, and she's paying less taxes. She's paying less taxes than my parents.

Donna Givens Davidson 32:13

Yeah, that's what I hear a lot. Um, the final question I have is around housing subsidy because you can't make housing affordable unless you put some money in it, right? Yeah. Um, and when I think about um when I think about the history of housing in America and how it became a big thing, we know that there was a time when our federal government was fund um financing and help some helping subsidize to make housing affordable. Homeowners did not just, you know, mushrooms show up. White folks got help from the government. And us, but white folks got help from the government.

SPEAKER_02 32:46

And we were denied, yeah.

Donna Givens Davidson 32:47

Yeah, we were denied. And that's one of the reasons you have the wealth gap and everything else right now. But I'm just interested in your position on subsidy. And if you agree that housing has to be subsidized, where does it come from? Because you can't increase spending in one thing without decreasing it in another.

SPEAKER_02 33:04

I know you're running for office, nobody wants to say they're gonna raise taxes, but you know, we gotta I think I think the answer, Donna, is gonna come from, and I'm not just saying this. I hope you know that. I think the answer is gonna come from staying in first off, finding creative solutions. Um, yes, we have to pull money from somewhere, and I don't want to, uh you know, I don't I don't want to be someone who pushes for any increase, uh, you know, decreasing taxes here, but increasing them in another space. Um, but I think it really will come from um staying in communication staying in communication and in community with people who are passionate about housing, like you, but then also seeing what's done in other places and not just going there and taking notes and saying, oh, that's cute, but actually bringing the thing back to see if it's viable here in Michigan. And just like you said earlier, but in a different way, or different, you're saying it for a different reason, but like we have to do different things to get different results. And I mean, that that's how that's what I that's how I would approach um thinking about how we subsidize housing because it's it's absolutely necessary that um we give Michiganders help, and especially in this district, in district three, it's it's gonna be critical that we give people help to make it into homes and to keep their homes.

Donna Givens Davidson 34:37

Well, I agree with all of that. Um, I just came back from Oakland, California in October, towards the end of October. I went with um some community development professionals, and we noted that in Oakland, California, the Barbara Lee, Mayor Barbara Lee, is doing a lot of different things. And um, not one thing, a lot of different things. You know, um I talked to Diana Elliott from the Opportunity Fund last week, and one of the things she's doing is investing in small landlords. You know, people who own one or two houses, she's trying to create a fund that will help stabilize small landlords because guess what? Folks who own one or two homes, there's 90,000 of them in the city of Detroit. Yeah, it's the most new that that's the largest sector of um of landlords and the best sector, the least likely to evict people, the least likely to have blight violations, but we need to support them. And that's one way of affordable housing, is not let's not always give it to corporations, right?

SPEAKER_02 35:28

Yeah. And my parents would fit into that, right? They Lord knows they've had some troubled tenants and they they tend to work with them and keep them in their homes. Um, so and I I could probably just directly talk to a mayor Barbara Lee um because she's one of our uh we supported her in that Oakland mayor's race as well. So um that those are the things that I'm thinking about, Donna. Um, when I when I say we need to think creatively and do things differently. And I that's not just for housing, that's a that's essentially across the board.

SPEAKER_06 36:05

Ebony Taylor, you are a state senate candidate running for that east side uh third state senate district. It is currently represented by Stephanie Chang, who has endorsed you. Ebony Taylor is a candidate among Kimberly Knott's, Latanya Garrett, Adam Ollier, John Conyers, and Corey Hall. Ebony Taylor, thank you so much for joining us on Authentically Detroit. Thank you so much. Yeah, we will be watching your campaign uh up until November. The election is August 6th.

SPEAKER_02 36:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 36:47

That is the Democratic 4th.

Donna Givens Davidson 36:52

August 4th, say yeah.

SPEAKER_06 36:53

I I have my election dates all mixed up because guess what? We've just been in a constant year after year after year after year, November 2nd, November 4th, November 8th, November. First Tuesday of that August is the Democratic primary. It's gonna be really interesting to see. Obviously, um, you know, you you got some new faces and some old blood, some longtime candidates. Uh so Ebony, thank you so much for joining us today.

Donna Givens Davidson 37:22

And I I'll add that I probably need to give this disclaimer that Ebony is a member of the East Community Network Board of Directors and has been supporting our organization. So um that acknowledges that there is a little bit of bias there. I've known Ebony for a long time, and she's partnered and volunteered on our on behalf of our organization for years.

SPEAKER_02 37:41

Yes, long time, long time. But I thank you all for having me here. I mean, it's it's I would love to come back maybe closer to the election, uh, if y'all will have me. And um really excited about what I'll continue to learn on this on this campaign trail.

SPEAKER_06 37:59

Awesome. Thank you so much, Ebony. Thank you. We are going to take a quick break when we come back. We're gonna be talking with Lafisa Simonette, Rhonda Green about the work that they're doing to give Detroit high school students resources, scholarships, something to do. We'll be right back with Authentically Detroit.

SPEAKER_01 38:30

Interested in renting space for corporate events, meetings, conferences, social events, or resource fairs? The Satomar Wellness Hub and Match Detroit's My Business Hub are available for rental by members, residents, businesses, and organizations. We offer rentals for activities such as corporate events, social events, meetings, conferences, art classes, fitness classes, and more. To learn more about our rentals and reserve space, visit ecn-detroit.org slash space rental.

SPEAKER_06 39:12

It is great to see you guys here. Uh I'm Sam Robinson. I have been a journalist in Detroit and Michigan for some time now. And I'm so happy to be joining you guys on Authentically Detroit when uh I heard the news that Orlando Bailey would have to be leaving. I jumped at the opportunity to take over for him in this capacity. Uh, you know, one day we'll have to get you both back at Stademeyer and in person for one of these, but appreciate you joining virtually today.

Donna Givens Davidson 39:45

Absolutely. And um Nefisa has a special relationship with um, she was my husband's student when she was a little girl. Yes. Oh wow. And so, yes, it's such a beautiful story because you never know when you're working with young people what happens next. And um, he is so proud to know wait a minute, I had some impact on this amazing woman.

SPEAKER_00 40:10

He absolutely did. I talk about him and Mrs. Ivory all the time. Like they are a part of my story. And um, I would not be not only the artist, but just working as an arts advocate had it not been for my introduction to the arts through him and Miss Ivory.

SPEAKER_06 40:32

So let's talk about it on the podcast. So let's continue.

unknown 40:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 40:38

Welcome back, everyone. We are here uh on StreamYard today, virtually, authentically Detroit, with Nafisa Simonette and Rhonda Green of the Summer Arts Employment Training Program. This summer, up to 200 Detroit high school students, 14 to 17, they're gonna receive hands-on arts training and work experience through a paid summer arts job this summer, thanks to the Summer Arts Employment Training Program, which is led by Heritage Works in partnership with Detroit Excellence in Youth Arts. Grow Detroit's Young Talent and 10 arts partners are working across the city to provide creative training and paid workforce opportunities. Detroit Youth will have opportunities to gain experiences in dance in the visual arts, technical theater, youth-led arts education or arts activism while also developing workplace skills, including teamwork, communication, entrepreneurialism, project management founded in 2020. Detroit Excellence in Youth Arts serves as a catalyst for cross-sector collaboration to ensure all youth have equitable access to Detroit's rich cultural legacy and the transformative, transformative power of the arts. The collective action of young Detroit artists, the youth arts providers, teaching artists, arts educators, arts donors, and parents to build the capacity of Detroit's youth arts ecosystem and deepen, deepen the investment into the local arts community. Heritage Works promotes youth and community development through cultural traditions, arts, and education. Their programs encourage personal, artistic, and community excellence by providing cultural understanding, skill, and tool development, as well as cultural fluency. Uh, talking about art is something that a lot of people like to do, um, but a lot of people do it from sort of the outside. You know, you guys are squarely in uh what I would call, you know, this industry of youth arts. Um talk about what, and I'm interested from Rhonda uh Nafisa. What brought you both to um you know a career in the arts and and encouraging young people to be a part of it?

SPEAKER_00 43:03

Rhonda, would you like to go first?

SPEAKER_05 43:05

No, you can go.

SPEAKER_00 43:07

Okay. Um well first, thank you all for having us here. Um just to share about what it is that we're working on this summer and and how it came to be. Um again, my name is Nafisa Simonet, Executive Director of Data, Detroit Excellence and Youth Arts. And um what led me here uh as we sort of um uh were warming up to start this recording, I was sharing about how Miss Donna, Donna's husband, uh was my teacher when I was nine. Um I am quickly approaching the 50s. So um that was a long time ago. Um but he was one of my first art teachers, my first art instructors at Young Artists and Company Incorporated. Um and it really set the standard. For me. I worked as an arts educator, as a as a visual arts teacher in Washington, DC, and in Prince George's County, Maryland for 13 years. But when I came back to Michigan, I wanted to, and it really my goal was to give to young people what I received at Young Artists and Company. So I got my master's in arts administration and management at Eastern Michigan University and just wanted to find my way through, you know, some sort of arts nonprofit work and leadership. But I I I ended up being appointed by the governor to the State Arts Council and operated as the arts education chair and more most recently was voted as vice chair for the council. And um and you know, really left myself open to whatever the opportunities were by working on other arts committees and partnered uh with Rick Sperling, who is the founder of Mosaic Youth Theater, uh, which I'm sure your listeners are very familiar with. And so he and I together formed Dea. Um and it really was the brainchild behind uh, you know, this arts educator and this out-of-school time administrator, uh, where we were thinking about what were the things that that we didn't have as practitioners when we were doing the work in the classroom or in the out-of-school time setting, what didn't we have that we needed? And so that's how DA was formed. We we wanted to fill the gap for arts educators, for arts administrators, for teaching artists, and for young people working in the arts to support that work that they are already doing. We wanted to support it and make it sustainable. Well, that's how I ended up here.

SPEAKER_06 45:54

Well, thank you for sharing that. That's pretty interesting. Uh it it's you know, I have so many friends, you know, I gotta, I'm I'm 20 years old, so the past 10 years of being around people that want to uh have a career or a life in the arts, and a lot of them just never figure it out, don't know how to do it. I think there is so much money and resource and time being spent on organizations that would not only give you a career in the arts, but it would help you do exactly the same thing that you're trying to do right now with a younger, with a 10, 11, 12-year-old, 14, 15, 16-year-old, tell them, hey man, it is possible. Um, I want to, you know, just say personally, I had gotten to know um your organization a few years back when I was at Axios, and I thought about I I've been mentioning and referencing it to people that I know that's like, man, you know, you could you're really good with kids. Why don't you talk to kids about art, get involved in this way? Rhonda, I am interested to hear your story in um you know being around the arts as as somebody in an administrative role. Um, when we think about arts and artists, you don't typically think you're gonna be, you know, looking at a spreadsheet or having to think about HR or anything like that, but uh here you both are. So talk about your journey through arts, Miss Rhonda Green.

SPEAKER_05 47:29

Um, well, let me share that uh I I'm I'm a poet and a dancer, and so I've always loved the arts. I also did art science undergrad, so was really looking for the intersection of those things. Um, I think we come to this workforce development program because as you said, there's so much opportunity in the arts. We always think about somebody painting or you know, somebody on stage in front of the camera, but there's a lot of stuff off stage and a lot of stuff on stage that people can do or in front of a canvas, right? So it really is about opening up, opening up the world of art to young people. They may not stay there, but they will grow to have an appreciation of the arts. You know, they might be a supporter or they might be an artist, or like you say, an arts administrator. There are so many roles, technical, just across the board, things that you wouldn't uh think of. Uh, we've been doing workforce development for about 15 years, and we have a marketing partner, right? We have an accounting partner. We've had one before. They didn't work with us last year. But you know, young people always come and again, whether they stay in the arts or not, we feel like arts are a gateway to learning uh career development and to learning professionalism. So it's a way uh to walk into the work.

SPEAKER_06 49:03

Yeah. Talk about yeah, talk about that one.

SPEAKER_05 49:08

Can I share one more thing?

SPEAKER_06 49:09

Yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_05 49:10

Is that Heritage Works kind of looks at art through the cultural perspective, right? We started with African dance and then we followed um our young people. So we started doing a little bit of hip-hop or street dance and other things, but we really just want to create spaces where people could be themselves. For a long time, this is before Black Panther and before uh the sitters and the piercing veil, and before 365 days, I'm dating myself. But um, we just want to create a place where people could be themselves. And the difference between like art is a Western term for us, culture is the big word, right? It's the way people express their traditions and their identity, who they are, their aesthetic, what makes them happy or sad, you know, uh, through whatever art form their culture, their ethnic group, you know, embraces. I could talk about that for days, so I'll stop there.

Donna Givens Davidson 50:10

Yeah, I get excited about it though, because um I grew up. Uh my mom is an artist and was an artist. Um, she was she went to art school when I was a little girl, and I used to go down to so we spent a lot of time at the DIA, and um my older sister was very talented at drawing. And I think it would not be an exaggeration to say I am not very talented at drawing. So I consider myself not an artist, right? But I write. And so when I was younger, um when she was in college, I was writing her poetry, and she turned in and get good grades, you know. And so, but we think of ourselves as either we're artists or we're not artists, and so my identity was I'm not an artist, and that really does impact you. Um, so one of the things that um my husband Kevin helped me believe is no, you're an artist too. And I was like, No, I'm not. Look, I have evidence. Look, I can't draw, I can't. It's like um, but I think doing this with teenagers, doing this with young people, and helping them understand themselves as artists helps to give them a more full identity and a form of self-expression. Can you talk about how you work with young people to um undo some of the damage that was done to me as a kid? It was not my mother's fault. Let me say this. My mother put me in an art class. My sister and I were both in an art class, and the artist, the art teacher is very well known, guy. I'm not gonna mention him, he would take my sister's up and put it on the wall and take mine and throw it away. And so my mother pulled us both out of the art class because of that. But my message there was that my stuff was horrible. So anyway, go on.

SPEAKER_00 51:47

I think we have a um, you know, overall um as a society, we have a very limited understanding or view of what art the arts and culture is. And because of that, um, when we don't see ourselves as artists, when we say, Oh, I I can only draw a stick figure, I hear that all the time. Like I would have students that would come to my door and say, they would announce that they can't draw just to just to put me on notice as they could put me in my classroom. And, you know, I reject that. You know, I all every I call I refer to all of my students as artists because that's how Miss Ms. Ivory refers to all of us as artists. Um, but I think again that we need to broaden that scope. You're a writer, you're an artist, right? Um, fashion. If you're into fashion, you're an artist. Uh if you are into gaming and you design things, you're an artist. If you love the way lights show up when music comes on, you're an artist. Like all of these things. And people, we have such this narrow, again, narrow and western view of what the arts are that we don't encompass all of those things. And so so many of us as young people take ourselves out of that space of being an artist. And so we feel very strongly that this summer arts employment training program puts young people back into that space. It gives them the place to say, I belong here. My creative self and my creative spirit and my creative energy is valid, and that makes me an artist. You don't have to know how to draw a portrait. I'm a I'm a portrait painter. That's my thing, right? And and so if you see my work, you know, somebody would say, Oh, I can't do that. That makes me not an artist, and that's just not true. Um, so we're hoping that this summer arts employment training program opens up the the the lens, the view of what that is, and it captures, excuse me, more young people um in the arts and cultural space.

SPEAKER_05 53:52

And I would just add there's not a career that doesn't require creativity and innovation. Yeah, and that's about being able to think about things differently to be able to take them apart and put them back together.

Donna Givens Davidson 54:07

That's beautiful, you know.

SPEAKER_05 54:08

And so if you think about it from the space of creativity, go ahead.

Donna Givens Davidson 54:12

No, go on. I I I thought you were done.

SPEAKER_05 54:16

I am.

Donna Givens Davidson 54:17

I was just gonna say, you know, the whole left brain, right brain, very western, you know, either you have left brain or right brain. It's like, don't we have a full brain? No such thing. It's it's so damn and it's so western to put ourselves in these little boxes. Um, and there's people, even the way some kids are educated, they're not educated to express themselves creatively. It's you know, what is it, three hours? Reading, writing, arithmetic, and you know, and and within reading, it's like very narrow. Within writing, it's very narrow. Um, have you seen your interventions changing young people? Rhonda, what do you do with heritage works actually? Because I've heard of Heritage Works, but I'm not necessarily familiar with your work.

SPEAKER_05 54:58

Oh, what do we do?

SPEAKER_00 55:03

Everything.

SPEAKER_05 55:04

Right. So uh we come from a framework of called the whole tongue, right? Or the whole tradition. And so it is uh, well, let's just say art forms are languages in from the Western orality or the West African orality, and so dance is kinetic language, right? Word, spoken word, of course, is verbal language, a drum is percussive language or music of percussive language, and a dormant is visual language. All these weave together to make uh the mother tongue. And so when you think of ballet, you think of white tool, which is the dress, you think of you know uh the position of the body and all that kind of stuff, which is the kinetic, right? You think of all the languages we use, language used that we used to talk about ballet, and that reveals the culture of the people, right? On the other hand, when you think of like um hip-hop, right? Hip-hop is the dance, streetwear, you know, is the adornment, you know, the language, rap, you know, and so these, and that reveals the culture of the people who made it, right? And so really what we do, you know, through art, because again, art isn't something on the wall in other parts of the world, right? It's a way we live, right? And everybody is an artist or everybody's a creative if it comes to just fixing up your taxi or fixing up your home, right? Um, it really is to us about leveling, um, I guess the playing field around what culture is. So there isn't a fine and folk art, there's just art, right? And our culture is as important. That really is like the subversive thing we're doing, right? We do it through African dance and all kinds of forms, and we really feel with um the way things have been put on our children, it's really important to take it off physically and through physical art forms. So where are you located? We're in North Corktown, midtown area of Detroit.

Donna Givens Davidson 57:21

And the piece, you are uh located. Where are you are you we operate anywhere?

SPEAKER_00 57:27

We do not have a physical location. Nope, we we operate virtually, so um, so we can stick and move. Yeah, but you're inside of spaces though, right? Well, our goal is with Dea is uh we we are we're we Rick likes to say we're this the straw that stirs the drink. So we create we help to create platforms uh for collaboration. Um and this program is is is an ex a perfect example um of us uh creating a platform um to bring multiple entities together in order to make this big thing happen. Um so it is in addition to um Heritage Works being the lead in um um uh in this entire you know summer arts employment ecosystem. We also have Grow Detroit Young Talent uh as a part of it, uh which is led by Connect Detroit. Um we have funding from multiple sources from uh Grow Detroit Young Talent and also MyLeap, the out of out-of-school time um state grant funding. Um so we are just really blessed that we have we were we've been able to collaborate with a number of partners and that this is very arts-specific employment training. We have 10 site providers. This is our second year doing this, and last year we had seven, so it's growing. We have 10 this year. Um, and and they are all over the city in multiple disciplines from visual arts to dance to um theater behind the stage theater uh work, lighting and sound. Oh, absolutely. Can I just name can I name all those partners? Absolutely. Um we have this this year um Art Lab J, uh, which is a dance uh studio, uh specifically uh for young people. Uh JIT Masters, you might be familiar with JIT Masters, um uh Wise Partnership uh and Just Speak Incorporated. Um they do dance and they do spoken word as well. Uh LaCelle School of Dance uh does dance. They uh focus on uh modern dance, contemporary, ballet. Uh Live Cole uh is a visual arts organization, and they've just launched a children's art museum. Um please go to Live Cole's uh website, Live Cole. I'm sure it's like livecoal.org or maybe.com. I'm not sure. Um, but they are doing some incredible work. Mint Artist Guild, uh, with you might be familiar with Mint Artist Guild uh that does visual arts work. They do entrepreneurship training for young people, uh, Motor City Street Street Dance Academy, which is positioned in Southwest. They do hip hop, um DJing, breakdancing, you know, all the um street dance and performance, um, Q Blackout. Q Blackout does a lot of they do the um behind the stage theater stuff. So they do um sound, lighting, um, all the things that that young people will want to know in terms of how to put a production on. Um, the jamming uh production. Uh they also do dance as well, and then finally Detroit Windsor Dance Academy, which um Deborah Whitehunt might I might get a slap on the wrist if I get this wrong, but I think they're in their 35th year. Do you know, Rhonda?

SPEAKER_05 1:00:54

They are they are the elder statesmen of dance and art in the truth. Yes. We all look up to Deborah and Bruce.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:03

Yes, they are they've been around for forever, and um, and so they are a part of this as well. So those are our 10 site providers. Um, and and we are just excited to have them. We're excited that they've opened up their doors to offer this kind of um you know workforce training, entrepreneurship training and learning um that young people will do. And in addition to that, they get paid for it.

Donna Givens Davidson 1:01:29

So, how many how how would your young person who wants to work for you and learn more about arts get connected with you? They just go through the regular um GYDT application process, or can they apply it to you directly?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:43

So there's a two-step process. Uh, the first is to share their interests that they want to be a part of this arts, um, summer arts employment training program, and they want to identify the kind of art that they want to participate in. And that's by going to dayautharts.com, D-E-Y-A Youth Artsarts.com, and there's a QR code right there that allows them to submit an interest form. So that's the first step. Step two is going to gdyt.org and submitting the application. So two steps interest and then application.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:22

And when they submit the interest form, we will write them back and send them a code because you can apply to GDYT and go into the general pool. But if you really want to be tied to our program, then we'll send you a code when we get your interest form, and you can enter that code when you register for GDYT. That's correct. I just want to say really quickly that DEA is doing really powerful work. You know, there are some things we cannot do alone. I mean, yeah, we can't do alone. We really need to work collaboratively together. Um, Heritage Works has never been a lead organization. We're a member of DEA. We've never been a lead organization, but through their work and goal of empowering their members, we get to do something we haven't been able to do before. We were a partner last year. Now we're the lead agency. How about that? Because I just think they're creating ways for all of us to step forward, and it's really powerful.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:19

Thank you for that, Rhonda. I appreciate that. And because of because of Heritage Works work, um, that's why we uh approached approached Rhonda and asked if they would be willing to take on this giant um, you know, lots of moving parts project in order to in order to make it happen. Um, because we really wanted to work with a partner who um and and present this idea to a partner who had workforce development as a core part of their um understanding, their training, um, and and how they engage with young people. And Heritage Works, as Rhonda stated earlier, has been doing this for 15 years or more. Um, and so this absolutely was the right um right organization to be the driver of this thing. And and we've been lucky to have the kind of partnerships that we have, not only with Heritage Works, but with all of these different arts organizations and Gore Detroit Young Talent. If I can offer just a few things for young people to know and parents, um uh again that the two-step process is really important, filling out the interest and then uh the application at gdyt.org. And then um the applications at GDYT are due by May 15th. So you have some time, but not a whole lot of time. Get those applications in. Um the six-week uh uh employment program is from July 6th through August 14th with uh an orientation and training at the end of June. So the actual pay time is from that July to August window, but there is a training and orientation at the very end of June that is required. Um, and you know, we're looking for um some really great projects to come out of this after that six-week time is over. That's great. Is there gonna be a showcase at the end? So each organization is doing something different. So they were we're we're hoping that um, you know, we put calendars and whatnot together. And so we've asked all of those providers to let us know like what will be the culminating activity or things. So so um we should be able to share that. I think Dai and Heritage Works should be able to share that on our websites um and hopefully be able to invite the community. That's awesome.

Donna Givens Davidson 1:05:44

Um and and just for people who don't know, um we're talking about 20 hours a week or um and what is the hourly rate? What are you paying the young people? Right.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:56

Is it 1275? I always get the number wrong.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:59

Yes.

Donna Givens Davidson 1:06:00

I know I do too.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:04

Somewhere in there.

Donna Givens Davidson 1:06:05

$1275 and $13 an hour. 20 hours a week.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:11

So four hours a day during the week. Some of the providers have activities on the weekend that they, you know, they they will that will be special um to that particular organization and they'll make sure that they coordinate that with the young people. But yes, 20 hours a week.

Donna Givens Davidson 1:06:27

So you know, I would imagine people should apply as soon as possible because it's supposed to be a competitive process. Yes. You know, imagine being able to do something you enjoy all summer and call it work. So congratulations on I think a really exciting project. I was not aware of this project last year, but um definitely we'll try to send some young people who are really interested in the Arts your way. We have our own program here, but everybody's not interested in what we do. And so I think that we want to make sure people get to um what they're interested in. And I just really want to thank you for the role that you all play in upholding our culture because um arts is so important. And I love the way you frame it, Randy. It's not art is not something that you do, it's something that you are, it's how we experience ourselves. And um again, I'm just relearning myself all of this stuff that um you know you're that that you don't have to sit in that box in life. Um, and so um I think that what you are accomplishing is wonderful, and I hope to see you guys again in person, maybe after the summer, so we can talk about how things went.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:30

Absolutely. We'd love to be back.

Donna Givens Davidson 1:07:33

Thank you all.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:34

Thank you so much. Thank you. We are here with Rhonda Green of Heritage Works, we are here with Nafisa Simonet. They are central to the local arts community as it pertains to young people. Uh, if you guys have not um gone, you guys have social media where can they find uh more information about Dea and about Heritage Works?

SPEAKER_05 1:08:04

They can follow us at HeritageWorks.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:08

And we are go ahead. Heritageworks.com and then also uh dayayoutarts.com or at 313a.

unknown 1:08:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:19

Awesome. Rhonda Nafisa, thank you guys so much. We're gonna take a quick break, and when we come back, we're going to close out the show with our annual weekly shout-outs!

SPEAKER_01 1:08:41

Winter classes have started at the Sodomar Wellness Hub. From chair yoga and strength-based fitness to nutrition, cooking, and wellness-focused classes. There is something for every person and every starting point. At the Sodomar, our hope is to offer movement, nourishment, and community to support you throughout the cold season. Learn more at ecn atroit.org slash classes. Or give us a call at 8313 at 571-328-00-28.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:22

And we're back. Welcome. Thank you for listening to Authentically Detroit. If you guys have topics, guests that you want us to talk to or discuss on Authentically Detroit, you can hit us up on our socials at Authentically Detroit on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, or visit our website at authentically-detroit.com. Donna, uh, I understand that you have uh an event happening at ECN next month that you want to uh promote.

Donna Givens Davidson 1:09:52

Yeah, well, yeah, I do. We are having on April 16th, we are going to be breaking ground um on the Angela Brown Wilson Gardens. And so we are inviting the people who have supported us financially to an event, but we're also having a community day. So we're gonna have activities for the whole community to come out and enjoy our space while at the same time we um have a conversation with our donors and we have a press conference and finally release our plans for the capital campaign. Um, so you'll he'll be hearing more about that as we get closer to the event. Let's just say I'm excited because it's been a long time coming. We've been planning this um actual activity for a couple of years. We um named it in honor of Angela Brown Wilson last year when we lost her. Um, and so our heart is with her, and she her her sister is going to come and speak. Um, we're also honoring Marlo Staudemeyer, who we named our center after. So we try to honor the people who are in our community because a lot of times black folks don't get their names on things, um, and we need to preserve our legacies. Um, but I also want to shout out I did something really exciting, and I just finished my novel, and so I had a pre-release event, a pre-launch event last Thursday, and it's like um to say I don't do things like this like for myself, everything I do is like through ECN. Like, so I have an event and ECN's helping the plan, and it was my my job this time. So I was a little scared because I I'm not an event planner, but the um people who showed showed state loved it, they gave me such amazing feedback. Um, the book begins and ends with a poem, and so I read the poems and you know really spoke about what that is. It's Women's History Month, and so it was all women. Um and I did that on purpose because as I was writing, I realized that I was really writing about the significance of black women in creating just communities, and so I really wanted to honor our role and the fact that we haven't always been heard or seen. And I'm so proud to have um so many women stepping out into the light. We just interviewed um Ebony, but we now have Rhonda and Nafisa who are doing amazing things. We have a new um mayor of Detroit. Um, so shout out to women. It's our last uh well, our second to last um opportunity to shout out to women um in Women's History Month, and especially my sisters, black women, because we have, you know, a lot of times we feel as though we're not seen or respected, and yet we do so much. Sam?

SPEAKER_06 1:12:14

I want to shout out to another woman. Her name is Val. She's my neighbor. Um, she is helping me uh take care of these leaves outside uh Detroit. Residents, they deal with old, old uh water, rainwater drainage pipes and their streets and uh the far east side. Uh talking to the DWSD person, he says, Oh, I we haven't gone over here. We don't know, we don't know. And so apparently, I'm uh new on my block. Every single year they try to um contact the city. Val said, just forget about it, Sam. You're wasting your time. Uh I I she was right. The city came out after my several complaints uh and put cones outside and did nothing about our public infrastructure. So, Val, you're earning yourself a shout out on Authentically Detroit today because you're just so nice. And uh thank you. You know, listen to people that are your senior. Could have saved me some time. Nafisa Ronda, you want to shout anybody out? Uh you don't have to. Shout out to you guys for joining us today.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:34

Yes. Well, thank you. Thank you both. Thank you, Donna, thank you, Sam, for having us. Um, I just I'll shout out, uh, I'll shout out uh my alma mater, Eastern Michigan University Go Eagles. Um, and uh my family. I'll shout out my family, my husband Nick uh Simonet and my children uh Nicholas and Nadia. Um they are they are my why why why I do this work. So thank you again for having us.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:04

Fellow Mac alum. I'm I'm a Western Bronco myself.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:08

Ah we'll shout out Judy Bowman and uh Marguerite. Um Judy is planning an exhibition in Flint, um, and it includes the work that she did for my book. Um and I'm just really proud of the work she shouted us out in Facebook. And Marguerite has just been running all over sharing the book. Uh as you probably know, Donna, when you do a book, it's a lot of press work that you have to do. But it's all it's always nice when uh women support women, and they've been helping me do the work because I've been doing other things. So I shout out Judy and uh Marguerite. So, Rhonda, your book. Talk about it. Talk about it. I wrote a book called Are You Sleeping? Uh, it's 10 poems uh by I think seven Detroit artists. So 10 poems and then illustrated. They're they're really uh childhood nursery rhymes that are reinterpreted for the day of social justice. You know, a lot of uh poems were or nursery rhymes were really social justice back in the time, and they were illustrated during those days. So we went to Detroit artists like Judy Bowman um and asked them would they uh illustrate each work. And so again, it's a fairly short book, but it's I think it's powerful.

Donna Givens Davidson 1:15:33

Where can we get that?

SPEAKER_05 1:15:36

Oh, I think uh, you know what? I'm sorry, go to our heritage work site and uh search for uh Are You Sleeping? That's probably the easiest one.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:50

Rhonda, thank you so much for putting yourself on there, Nafisa. Thank you so much for joining us as well. Uh, you all listening in or listening to our effort to build a platform of authentic voices for real people in the city of Detroit. This is authentically Detroit. Please like, rate, and subscribe to our podcast on all platforms. We will hear from you guys next week. Thank you so much for listening.