News and Happenings

In the next episode of our series about The Coalition to Advance Public Safety (CAPS) and its partner organizations spearheading community violence intervention efforts throughout the U.S., we hear from changemakers in Newark, New Jersey. Travon chats with co-founder of the Community-Based Public Safety Collective, Aqeela Sherrills, and CEO of New Direction, Shadee Dukes. We learn how they are leveraging relationships to curb crime inside their neighborhoods and serving as prime examples of why those who are most impacted by violence are best equipped to bring solutions to their own problems.

In this special 4 part series, we’ll be highlighting The Coalition to Advance Public Safety (CAPS), a coalition of organizations working to intercept and prevent violence in communities across the U.S. The coalition’s work builds on years of knowledge of public health, gun violence prevention and the particular needs of different locales, as well as the lived experience of community members on the ground. With these tools, CAPS creates and maintains community violence intervention (CVI) ecosystems around the country. In our first episode, Travon Free sits down with Joe Kim from CAPS’ Health Alliance for Violence Intervention and Freedom Jones from LifeBridge. They chat about what it means to implement a health-centered approach to combating violence in Baltimore and what lessons can be applied to other cities in the U.S.

In this special episode, Lemonada co-founder Stephanie Wittels Wachs sits down with the leaders of the Coalition to Advance Public Safety (CAPS), an organization working to intercept and prevent violence in communities across the U.S. The coalition’s work builds on years of knowledge of public health and the particular needs of different locales, as well as the lived experience of community members on the ground. With these tools, CAPS creates and maintains community violence intervention (CVI) ecosystems around the country. In this conversation, CAPS’ leaders share the progress that their work has already brought to fruition and how you can help support what comes next.

June is Pride month and in this episode Gloria talks to Efrain Guerrero, the executive director of The Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center. They are joined by Marcus Ceniceros, VP of Regional Impact for the LEE. The Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center became the first LGBTQ+ visitor center within the National Parks system.

This bonus episode is brought to you with support from The Marguerite Casey Foundation. V sits down with Atlanta-based artist, celebrated community organizer, and Solutions Not Punishment Collaborative Executive Director Toni-Michelle Williams. When she isn’t protesting injustices or going toe-to-toe with police and city council, Toni-Michelle is finding ways to make Atlanta more joyful for Black and trans folks. From documenting the city’s public safety failures to partnering with the Citizen app, V learns how Toni-Michelle is supporting her community’s needs and helping cultivate their sense of belonging.

In this episode of Good Things, Gloria talks to Adrian Haro, the CEO of The Workers Lab, about the future of work. In the future they discuss, ensuring that contract workers can earn a living wage in safe conditions is of the utmost importance. Adrian and Workers Lab is working to radically redesign what working life this country offers to all those who hold it up every day.

When women of color run for political office, they are scrutinized for every flaw. They’re expected to be everything for everyone – they must be authentic, but they can’t alienate broad audiences. They must be youthful, but also mature. The list goes on. In this episode, Maya speaks to two St. Paul City Council members who are ready to change these expectations. Mitra Jalali and Cheniqua Johnson are a part of the first city council in Minnesota history to be composed of all women, and mostly women of color. They are redefining the leadership in the state and beyond.

When young adults leave the foster care system they’re left trying to find housing or employment on their own. Oftentimes, the thing they yearn for the most is family. In this special episode, Gloria chats with the president of the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Center for Systems Innovation, Sandra Gasca-Gonzalez, and CEO at Foster Forward, Lisa Guillette. Our guests discuss how they’re helping youth aging out of foster care age into an ecosystem of belonging. Whether it’s legally creating ‘soul’ families or providing affordable homes, they tell us the ways they’re working with former foster kids to break the cycle and achieve stability.

In the third and final episode of our miniseries on foster care, we hear from David Ambroz, a national poverty and child welfare advocate and author of the memoir ‘A Place Called Home’. David shares his first hand account of growing up in the American foster care system, his experience becoming a foster parent, and how he learned to practice forgiveness.

In this second episode of our miniseries on foster care, we hear from Jeanie Gaskill, a parent who connected with her kids through The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Jeanie gets real with Lemonada host Gloria Riviera about what it’s like to navigate trauma and support an open adoption in her family. Plus, Gloria learns what people should consider before fostering or adopting.