2023 Leaders for a New Chicago

The #FieldFoundation and #MacArthurfoundation announced the #2023LeadersforANewChicago. Five of the ten awardees were interviewed by Sasha-Ann Simons on WBEZ’s Reset program. The ten awardees are as follows: Glo Choi, Mark Clements, Amethyst Davis, Carlos Flores, Vanessa Harris, PE, Pastor Phil Jackson, Judith McCray, Yvette Moyo, Ling Young, and Nasir Zakaria. This version of the program is captioned with American Sign Language.

Thank you for watching. And for a full transcript, visit www.fun4thedisabled.com. We hope you enjoy.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
This is Reset. I’m Sasha-Ann Simons. What would it take for Chicago to be a more just and equitable city? And what kind of leaders do we need to make that happen? Well, the Field Foundation of Illinois has some ideas. The organization recently named this year’s Leaders for a New Chicago. They’re artists, advocates, community organizers. They’re being recognized for their contributions in a number of fields, and they’re being called on to create a more inclusive city. Now, this is an important conversation, I think, a necessary conversation. And we have lined up five of the ten leaders to join us here in studio this hour to talk about the work that they do and the future they envision for Chicago and its people. So, let’s hear from these three first, Mark Clements is a community organizer at the Chicago Torture Justice Center. Welcome to Reset, Mark.

MARK CLEMENTS:
Thank you.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Glo Choi is a community organizer with HANA Center. That’s a nonprofit working to empower Korean-Americans and multi-ethnic communities. Glad you could join us Glo.

GLO CHOI:
Happy to be here.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
And Ling Young is a youth organizer at Southside Together Organizing for Power. Good to have you back Ling. So, first of all, congrats.

GLO CHOI:
Thank you so much.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
This is awesome. And this program is pretty cool and unique because the previous cohorts actually nominate the next group of recipients. Right? Yeah. So, Mark, I’ll start with you. How does it feel to be recognized as a leader of a new Chicago by your peers at that?

MARK CLEMENTS:
Well, I think that times are changing in the realms of how we have been treated as African-American, black and brown people, and that now we are getting just an inch of that piece of the pie. So I am happy. And, you know, the bottom line of it is, is that what I have had to go through as a torture survivor in the city of Chicago, I wouldn’t say that it is well overdue, but it definitely brings some type of reflection and especially to the little old mothers that are still struggling with their children being locked up.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Ling, you said this is well overdue. I mean, how did you react when you got the news that you’re one of the ten?

LING YOUNG:
If you seen the Instagram thing, I was the one crying. I was really like…

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Did someone call you?

LING YOUNG:
Yeah, I got a Zoom and I didn’t know at all. So no one even told me that I was even nominated. So, I didn’t even know nothing about this award before even receiving it. So it was a total surprise. And for me to be the youngest, this is like a lot for me. Like I’ve never had this amount of lump sum money, but I never had this amount of recognition for my work. And I’ve been doing this work since I was 15. And so for 15 to 22, that’s a lot of work to just dedicate yourself a lot of time to dedicate yourself to organizing, to changing the world, trying to change the world before midnight. I mean, before dinnertime.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
I love that. What about you Glo? What does it mean to be honored with this award?

GLO CHOI:
So, as an undocumented immigrant, so much of our existence is living in the shadows. And so for myself as an individual, but also as an organizer of other undocumented individuals, to come into the light to be recognized for this work is a privilege. It’s an honor. I think it’s a reflection of all the incredible organizing work that we’ve been doing on a city level, a state level and a federal level to push the narrative on what it means to be undocumented.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Yeah. So, as we mentioned earlier, you work with Korean, Asian and multiethnic immigrant communities Glo in this area. You are very open. We just heard you talk a little bit about your personal experience. Right. You also say that that is what really influences your approach to this work. So, tell us more.

GLO CHOI:
Yeah, I think I mean, what it means to be undocumented. You know, there’s no monolith in this experience. But for myself, I come from a background of having, you know, a low income family where we really struggled financially, a family with, you know, my sister has disabilities and requires full time care. So, I guess the what we have in common with so many people is this struggle of not being able to live fully. And when I think about what it means to organize, not just for immigrants but for justice, I think it means to organize for for all the people that need and demand power to concede. And we demand it.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Yeah. Your work, Mark, at the Chicago Torture Justice Center. It’s also very personal for you. You’re a Chicago police torture survivor. Tell us more about your story and how it shapes the work that you’re doing with the center.

MARK CLEMENTS:
Well, you know, being 16 years old, taken to a police station, having my genitals and testicles grabbed and squeezed, that was quite traumatizing for me. It was very hard for me to explain being a African American kid, I didn’t have the best education. And just looking at a system, call me guilty. When there’s four people who were killed in an arson fire. That was mind blowing to me. It’s still mind blowing to me because those people, they never received any form of justice. The Chicago Torture Justice Center is amazing. And I think that people all across this country need to start to invest and to repair. You know, I am someone that I’m talking about literally traumatized by the criminal justice system coming out of prison. I want change. And I don’t know what that change will 100% look like, but I won’t change. The Chicago Torture Justice Center wants change. The mamas of the kidnapped, who I work with closely, they want change and all we want is justice.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Yeah. Just for additional context for folks here, your story is remarkable Mark, you were one of the first juveniles to be sentenced to natural life without parole in the state of Illinois. You remained incarcerated. This is from the age of 16 as you said, you remain incarcerated for 28 years before your conviction was overturned in 2009.

MARK CLEMENTS:
Well, let me tell you, I thank God each and every day for having a little mother who fought for me for 28 years, not buying into the system to lose me inside of a prison system when really no one cared. And, you know, even looking at my young sister here, this is what encourages me at 60 years old to still fight. Because guess what? I know if I sow a seed, she’s going to take it and she’s going to put water on it so that we can prosper.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Wow Mark. Ling, let’s talk about your story. You joined Southside Together Organizing for Power or STOP, you were a high school student. Tell us about the main goals of the organization first of all.

LING YOUNG:
From when I started or? When we started, we wanted to make sure that our school stayed a school. So the Obama Center, they had originally said that they didn’t have Hyde Park in the original planning, and that was something that was like mind blowing to us because we were all kids in our freshman year in high school that saw this big development as something that could help us advance in our learning, but we wasn’t included. And so when I first started organizing, all I really wanted to do was make sure that my sister got to go to Hyde Park. My children get to go to Hyde Park. And most importantly, that I get the best education. If some of you, some people don’t know, like Hyde Park is one of the oldest school on the Southside. Why do we have to get old books, old computers? Not the much care of a defunded school. That’s what it really was. It was not invested in at the time. And so we only fought for that $42 million for just to have what we thought in our eyes was equal opportunity.

And equal opportunity was having the same as the Mount Carmel kids that were a majority mixed school, but majority white kids went there. What a majority white kids school get to have they soccer field, a football field, youth center, all that stuff like that. And then the Hyde Park kids that live that not even live, but go to school, not even a block away from there, can’t even touch these resources. The YMCA still wouldn’t let you in the y.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
What do you think you bring to the table as a youth organizer?

LING YOUNG:
I bring to the table the youth. I think that people think about being the voice or being a speaker. I am the orator. That’s what I call myself. I am the orator of the youth. I use my bocca, my mouth, my mouthpiece, whatever we call it, to continue to push what we as young people deserve. Everybody I’ve seen at the table and these tables where I’ve been the youngest set has been the oldest. And talking about what older people think that young people should have this. No one has ever asked me what do I deserve? Minus all the women Jeanette Taylor, minus Mayor Brandon Johnson. No one has ever asked me what do the young people of the city of Chicago deserve and need to continue to flourish like other kids outside of the city of Chicago?

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
If you’re just tuning in, you’re listening to Reset. I’m Sasha-Ann Simon. And for the fifth year, the Field Foundation of Illinois is recognizing leaders for a New Chicago. We’re talking to a few of the 2023 recipients who are working on justice initiatives. Glo Choi of HANA Center, Mark Clements with the Chicago Torture Justice Center and Ling Young of Southside Together Organizing for Power. So Glo, This award is going to come with a no strings attached grant of $25,000. Huge deal. Talk to us about how is this going to support your work?

GLO CHOI:
Well, the amazing part is that an additional $25,000 is going to be going to the HANA Center in a similar fashion, no strings attached. And we’re so grateful to have this opportunity to continue doing our work, to continue our youth programming, to train and educate, you know, folks who are on the ground now, people who are experiencing trauma now, who need solutions now. So, I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for HANA Center to continue doing those in an unrestricted manner. And then for myself, I’m not really sure what $25,000 means. I mean, there are some immediate needs that come to mind. My mom’s car just broke down. That’s something that comes to mind in terms of hierarchy of needs. I also think it’s important to celebrate every win, every victory. And, you know, this $25,000 is a community victory as much as it is a victory for myself. So, hopefully some celebrations are going to be on the way to.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Mark, how do you plan on using the 25,000 to support your work?

MARK CLEMENTS:
Well, first of all, as the brother explained, 25 grand goals to the Chicago Torture Justice Center, 25 grand to me. There’s no other way to bring any recognition to the hard work of my moms other than taking some time and using some resources with the moms of the kidnapped in the city of Chicago who deal with their children still entrapped by a criminal justice system. So, I have every intention of giving back to them during the month of July, as well as also investing to try to explore some type of attention around additional people that are inside of our prisons and closing one thing that I want to say, my dream in the city of Chicago is not the money but to end up on Francisco. Tania Francisco, I know you listen to this program. I want to be on your program w what what what?

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Other network. Ling, what about you? 25,000 for you, 25,000 for Southside Together, Organizing for Power.

LING YOUNG:
Really like how everybody started off they’re like this is the continuance of my work STOP, will continue to be able to give to young people in the Woodlawn South Shore and other communities. This is money to continue to create expanding horizon of paying young people to continue to learn how to do be sort of justice keepers, paying young people on learning the organizing 101 how to even organize. I think that’s something that we are wanting to string in more on. Also, we’re… Like, we just want to continue to keep doing the good work. Like that’s what I keep doing.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
You mentioned Mayor Johnson earlier. Talk more about the kind of support. You want to see from the mayor and his administration on the issues that you’re focused on?

LING YOUNG:
I want to see more support from the mayor for really rolling out the peace book in the way that we designed it. We want this to be not an artificial, watered down, something that isn’t something that will work and bring light to the young people that really are trying to keep peace in the city of Chicago. Most importantly, I want and we demand that we can, that you roll out as quick as possible a way for young people to get paid all year around, to continue to do work, to continue to do good work, or even to continue to just go to school, I think. And last thing is roll out and continue to roll out a safety plan for young people to continue to have access to the city of Chicago like every other white or other counterpart student. We deserve to be in Millennium Park also, create Millennium Park to be a space for black, brown and white students. We want Downtown to be accessible to us as black and brown students. That is what we deserve and that’s what we demand from Mayor Johnson’s administration.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Mark, earlier on the show, we were talking about Mayor Johnson’s plan to create a memorial for for police torture victims. It’s an idea that we know started under the former Mayor Lightfoot.

MARK CLEMENTS:
Well, it did not start under the former mayor. I want to bring clarification to the city of Chicago. It started under Rahm Emanuel. Let me tell you, I am so happy that we finally is able to get some funding for this memorial. But the reality of it is that black and brown people shouldn’t have to beg to complete a reparations plan that was implemented back in 2015. The Chicago Torture Justice Center, where I work, it needs additional funding. It needs additional funding to provide for clinical workers. It need additional funding to provide for reentry. Black and brown people should not have to go to prison. And then when they come back out, they remain to suffer.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Glo, the city is struggling to provide basic services and housing to the thousands of migrants that we know have been arriving here in Chicago since last August. Given your personal connection to this particular story, right, what’s it been like for you to watch the tough journey for these asylum seekers unfold?

GLO CHOI:
It’s heartbreaking because so many of us in the city of Chicago are suffering. And then people who’ve made the the arduous and life threatening journey to come all the way here, to not have the support that they need, that, you know, within the Constitution of the US, you know, seeking asylum, it’s a human right. And yet, you know, people just have been pointing fingers, have been trying to divide the city when everyone who is suffering deserves to have the support they need to survive. It’s yeah, it’s really heartbreaking. And I think the city of Chicago, as well as the state of Illinois, what they really need to do is be be accountable. You know, we have all of this housing opportunity at McCormick. Right. Or when you know, when people are asking where should asylum seekers go, I think that conversation should be had. But funding should be given to everyone who requires this kind of housing, right?

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Yeah. Well, let’s go real quick around the room here, because I would love to hear what each of you find inspiring about the work that other leaders across the city are doing. So, Mark, maybe I’ll come to you first. Anybody that you want to shout out, other local groups?

MARK CLEMENTS:
Well, let me tell you, I give a shout out to all of our young people. I would not be able to make it without our young people. So to all of these groups, whether it’s sole or whatever group it may be, I hats is off. This is a hard fight. Love you, mamas.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Ling, whose work have you been paying attention to?

LING YOUNG:
I’ve been paying attention… Well, I work with all of these groups, so I’m a shout out to HANA Center, CPSC, PMI, Woodlands, sort of Justice Hub. STOP. You know, I’m inside of my home. Yeah. When and all the 20 good kids my city like and all of the orgs that’s been really doing the work and putting feet on the ground to really do what we supposed to do for the young people of the city of Chicago.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
And I’ll give you the last word, Glo.

GLO CHOI:
I think one particular group I need to give a shout out to is Healthy Illinois. Right now we’re working on a critical campaign to ensure that undocumented immigrants have access to Medicaid. And right now, as of July 1st, they will be, you know, there are emergency rules to rescind enrollment, to add copays. And we need our health care that we’ve been fighting for so desperately. And that’s the campaign. I want to give a huge shout out to.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
We’ve been speaking with Glo Choi of HANA Center, Mark Clements with the Chicago Torture Justice Center and Ling Young of Southside Together Organizing for Power or STOP. Thank you all for being here today. (CROSSTALK). Congrats again.

MARK CLEMENTS:
Thank you.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
We’re back now with more Reset. I’m your host, Sasha-Ann Simons. We’re continuing our conversation about how to make Chicago a more equitable city and the leaders that we need to get us there. Before the break, we heard from people who work at justice, organizations serving police, torture survivors, immigrant communities and low income black residents. Let’s hear now from two more leaders for a New Chicago who are using their art to make the city a more inclusive place. So, joining us now is Vanessa Harris. She supports creative opportunities for the disability community as the president and founder of Strategy for Access Foundation. Welcome to Reset, Vanessa.

VANESSA HARRIS:
Thanks. Hi, Sasha.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
And Yvette Moyo is founder and executive director of Real Men Charities, which advocates for fathers, families and community development. Nice to have you, Yvette.

YVETTE MOYO:
Thank you. I’m so happy to be here.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Congratulations, ladies.

VANESSA HARRIS:
Thank you. Thank you.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
This is incredible. What went through your mind, Vanessa, when you found out that you are a leader for a new Chicago?

VANESSA HARRIS:
I didn’t believe it. I thought it was an interview to go further so I could get rejected.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Oh, no. You thought it was just a callback?

VANESSA HARRIS:
Exactly.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Oh, I love that. I love that huge smile on your face today. So I can tell. Yeah. How about you Yvette?

YVETTE MOYO:
I was just excited. I thought it was very appropriate. I want to see a new Chicago. I want to see. And I feel it. I feel it. I was playing. Can you feel a brand new day when Brandon Johnson won. It wasn’t because and I thought Lori, you know, should have had another opportunity. But this the visual of this man and his family, it looks like a younger Chicago is coming forward. And I am so excited about that too.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Did you even know that someone had nominated you?

YVETTE MOYO:
No, I didn’t. In fact, one of my friends called and said, you know, what am I supposed to say about you? I’m doing an interview and I know so much about you. What do you want me to do? And I’m like, what are you talking about? She’s like, you know, you were nominated for this award and I said no, I think I’m somebody told me they nominated me last year and I said, “Is it?” And she’s like, you don’t know. I’m like, I really don’t know.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
What a nice surprise sounds like surprises all around here. What about you? Did you know, Vanessa, that you were in the running?

VANESSA HARRIS:
I knew I was going to be nominated, but the person that nominated me had looked at my application for something else a couple of years before and rejected me, so I thought she was just being nice.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
So no wonder you were. You were just assuming that bad news was around the corner. Right and so shocked.

VANESSA HARRIS:
No. And she really surprised me. She’s really supportive.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Wow, I love that.

VANESSA HARRIS:
I think she was saving the best for last.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
That’s it. That’s the way to look at it. Yeah. So you ladies, you both use art and storytelling to to uplift different Chicago communities, right. Yvette, I know you’ve dedicated 45 years to creating opportunities for business and family community growth. You focus on wellness, too. So, talk more about the work that you do through Real Man Charities.

YVETTE MOYO:
Well, I started an ad sales for a black magazine that focuses on business. And so that whole black business development thing is in my blood. And I did that in my 20s and early 30s, started my business at 35, and basically launched Real Men Cook. Which is what most people know me for. The Real Men Cook Father’s Day celebrations. And so…

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
That’s where the name comes from? That’s where the Real Man Charities…

YVETTE MOYO:
From and then after the event was so successful and we had generated about $1 million to nonprofits from the proceeds, and about the 10th year we became a nonprofit, Real Men Charities. So, people do think it’s kind of curious that I’m leading the organization.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
What sounds like a men’s organization.

YVETTE MOYO:
That’s right. But, you know, one of the things about our existence here as black people in America is that the black male was taken out of the picture in so many instances. There was no family structure, meaning no man was the breadwinner. And so in the system of slavery and other things we’ve been through, it has diminished the African-American male. So, that celebration became a movement for us and we kind of dropped all of our other business operations to continue to promote the fact that a family is not a family without a father, and that no matter what the configuration of the family is, it’s valuable. And that real men, a man, a coach, a uncle, a grandfather and that biological father are all important to building our children to be whole and complete.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Wonderful. And Vanessa, you’re an artist who’s living with multiple disabilities. And you have said before that you felt like the disability community doesn’t focus on fun.

VANESSA HARRIS:
No.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
So, how are you trying to change that through your foundation? Because, I mean, you are just a whole ball of joy sitting in front of me right now.

VANESSA HARRIS:
Thank you. Thank you. Well, we have two websites where we produce videos for the disability community. And our videos show that people with disabilities have just as much to offer, if not more, than people who are able-bodied. And we also want to show that people with disabilities experience joy. That’s what we’re about.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Yeah joy.

VANESSA HARRIS:
Yeah. We have a project going on right now to show that Chicago is disability friendly and we’re producing 15 videos for the city for tourist venues showing that they’re accessible.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
You also see your work as a form of protest against widespread ableism and systemic discrimination that’s experienced by people with different abilities. Tell us more about how you have faced those issues in your life. What has that looked like personally?

VANESSA HARRIS:
Well, since I have multiple disabilities, I’m a wheelchair user and I’m a cancer survivor and I also have bipolar one. And in my previous career as an engineer, I experienced a lot of discrimination when I would become ill with my bipolar disorder, and I lost several jobs. Now that I have my own business or nonprofit to run, I get to dictate what I do. And I’m not under any stress. I’m meeting nicer people, and it’s just a lot more fun to deal with.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
And you’re your own boss. And you’re fun to deal with.

VANESSA HARRIS:
Thank you.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Yvette you’ve spent a lot of your time and your effort, as we’ve heard, highlighting black voices. Your nonprofit currently publishes the South Side Drive Magazine, as you’ve talked about. What topics and stories do you focus on?

YVETTE MOYO:
We really focus on the arts and culture to heal and to build. So, I use in social media. I use the hashtags art heals and win and we bought a a entertainment venue, an arts and entertainment venue in South Shore. Five years ago, it was where our office was located four years before, and it was important not to see that venue shuttered. And so we became the owners of it. So it became a community hub. And the and so we talk about that. The subtitle of the magazine South Side Drive is ‘A Guide to the Good Life Chicago’. Now, who is talking about that in other media? All you’re really hearing in mostly print media and this is a print publication and an online publication. We’re not talking enough about what does that good life in Chicago look like. And there is a good life to be had without speaking it. You know, the word is very powerful and we speak this good life opportunity to children all the time. We have a free summer camp at the Quarry right now. During the pandemic, we have a raised stage.

We have excellent entertainment there.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
But you do weekly jazz?

YVETTE MOYO:
Weekly jazz is something we did. Now we’re on a hiatus this summer because there are so many free events. Kudos to the city of Chicago and Dekis sort of kudos because last year we were like losing money because so many people were going to free events. So, we had to change our model. We have to pivot and when you’re in business like that. But during the pandemic, we changed to a community hub where we distributed over £1 million of food, of groceries to our community as that hub. And so it is about love. It is about, you know, I use the black owned black love hashtag a lot to which came from Ed Gardner, formerly the head of Soft Sheen Magazine that passed recently. And that black on black love is really what we’re promoting. Once people hear that the, you know, the DNA, the system changes a little bit because they want to know more about this love thing. This is what we should be speaking. It’s what we should be doing. We publish the magazine, we do educational seminars called MOBE Marketing Opportunities and Business and Entertainment, where no more outside of Chicago for that and just so much more.

It’s just all about love and and pouring into this city in a way that everyone can feel uplifted.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
You mentioned Vanessa, your website and YouTube channel, Fun4theDisabled, it offers fitness videos and interviews and storytime readings. You did a mental health series as well. You just talked to us about living with bipolar disorder. Why is it important to destigmatize mental health, especially within the disability community?

VANESSA HARRIS:
People with just with mental health disorders are not understood at all. And like, for example, if I say I’m just now coming out of the closet myself saying I have bipolar one, I normally don’t say it. In fact, when we put the series out a year and a half ago, I wasn’t, I didn’t include an interview of myself because I was too afraid that there’d be some backlash.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
And you’re no longer afraid?

VANESSA HARRIS:
No, I’m not. No.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
What changed?

VANESSA HARRIS:
I just started telling one person at a time and they’d say, Oh, really? And they’d either change the subject because it didn’t mean anything, or they’d be like, well, you must have it under control. And I do. I see my doctor, I see a therapist. I take care of myself. I handle my sleep problems well and I take my medication. So, I do what I’msupposed to do. And if I feel like I’m going off, off, off the rails a little bit, I say something which I didn’t used to do.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Very good. Yeah. You took a documentary class at Hyde Park Arts Center in Chicago as well. And that, I hear, changed the trajectory of your life because it’s led you down the path of covering these important issues that the community faces. You’ve talked about buying an accessible car as a wheelchair user. You know, for one example, how do you want to open the doors to the next generation of storytellers Vanessa and filmmakers?

VANESSA HARRIS:
Well, I work with a lot of the universities in the area. We have interns from Northwestern, DePaul, Loyola, Columbia and a couple of others. I’m trying to and also get students from the University of Illinois, Chicago. And there have even been some from my Alma Mater, which is in Iowa. So, we had students that do it remotely. And we have one student who’s working with me this summer who he’s located in Florida for the summer, but he goes to Northwestern. They’re usually communications or film students, and we’re trying to get more interns to work with us who have disabilities. So, I like to put the word out right now. If you’re listening to me and you’re a student and you have a disability, contact me at fun@fun4thedisabled.com and let me know because I want to hear from you.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Your work it’s separate, but it shares the common goal of making Chicago a more inclusive and equitable city. How do you see your efforts supporting each other?

YVETTE MOYO:
One I just love Vanessa. I love her spirit. I just… I’m so inspired. And it’s just it is the same. And I’m glad we’re on this panel together because we have the same spirit that nothing is wrong, that everything can be that lemonade. You know, the lemon can be turned into lemonade. I think that, you know, we’ll be working together in the future. I’m getting choked up.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
Yeah, so am I.

YVETTE MOYO:
You know, yeah. So it’s a good city. It’s a good opportunity. We just keep creating. I believe that this award was extended to me because I’m a creator and when I see a problem, I create something to help to help solve it. Today, our children at the free summer camp, the Quarry, the camp and the key of life is about extending male life expectancy. But we’re dealing with seven year olds to 14 year olds to do that. So, they could go tell their grandparents how to mitigate diabetic, breakdowns and things like that.

SASHA-ANN SIMONS:
We’ve been talking with Yvette Moyo with Real Men Charities and Vanessa Harris of Strategy for Access Foundation. Thank you both so much.