COTS: The Art of Family Podcast

Get to know Cynthia as she talks with Paige Blessman (Director of Communications at COTS) about her life journey, filled with ups and downs. From her early years growing up with her grandmother to surviving a difficult domestic violence situation and experiencing homelessness, Cynthia shares her story of resilience and growth. She also talks about finding a sense of belonging at COTS, how coaching...

Join us for an insightful conversation between Cheryl P. Johnson (COTS CEO) and Kim Janey (EMPath President and CEO), moderated by Nikki Carbonari (COTS Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships), as they discuss their shared vision for breaking the cycle of poverty for generations and creating meaningful impact. They talk about the power of narratives and preconceived notions, exploring how these...

Hear from host Gerald Edwards, leader of the COTS Fatherhood Initiative, who engages in a dynamic conversation with Damarqio Williams, CEO, and founder of Detroit Father LLC. Together, they shed light on their individual fatherhood initiatives, emphasizing the shared mission to empower and support fathers in their respective communities. Damarqio Williams shares the heartfelt origins of Detroit Fa...

Black women face a three-fold higher risk of pregnancy-related death than white women. Doulas are increasingly recognized as vital in addressing disparities and supporting marginalized communities during pregnancy, labor, and postpartum. Join Angelene Love (Doula) and Aisha Morrell-Ferguson (Chief Development Officer of COTS) for part 2 as they delve into the world of doulas. Tune in to stay curre...

Join hosts Corisa Reed (Executive Assistant to CEO, Cheryl P. Johnson) and Aisha Morrell-Ferguson (Chief Development Officer of COTS) on The Art of Family Podcast as they remind us of the importance of downtime, especially in today's fast-paced world. Discover how COTS prioritizes a break by not scheduling meetings in July, allowing more space and time for everyone’s rejuvenation and creativit...

Black women face a three-fold higher risk of pregnancy-related death compared to white women. Doulas are increasingly recognized as vital in addressing disparities and supporting marginalized communities during pregnancy, labor, and postpartum. Join Angelene Love (Doula) and Aisha Morrell-Ferguson (Chief Development Officer of COTS) as they delve into the world of doulas. They discuss doula traini...

Our valued partner, Bank of America's Meaghan Madison sits down with COTS Chief Development Officer, Aisha Morrell-Ferguson, to discuss the experience of partnering with Bank of America. The bank has been instrument to bring some of their financial literacy curricula our emergency shelter Peggy's Place.

COTS CEO, Cheryl P. Johnson, speaks with chefs Jeremy Abbey and John T. Piazza from the juggernaut of Soil2Service, Detroit Institute of Gastronomy and EdibleWOW! magazine. Their conversation covers many topics from the level of participation of women in the culinary industry to the ways COTS and Soil2Service work together to positively impact our community.

Once more Corisa Reed sits down with our esteemed guest, LaTonia Walker to wrap up our exploration of the narratives that exist both within and outside of COTS and how we work to counter negative narratives and improve the ones we work from both as an organization and individuals.

Continuing our exploration of the narratives we found in our review of internal behaviors and attitudes, Corisa Reed speaks with Deja Farr-Lowery regarding the narrative of Paternalism. Corisa and Deja discuss what the narrative of Paternalism is and ways to mitigate its effects.

Continuing COTS' March exploration of narratives, Corissa Reed speaks with Wanda Milledge to define the harmful narrative of Fatalism and look at some tools to mitigate its effects.

COTS is taking some time during March to examine how we all carry narratives into situations and how they affect how we perceive issues, like poverty. COTS own Corisa Reed and Nikki Carbonari talk about what narratives are and how COTS has been confronting them.

Michigan weather is something else! COTS recorded a podcast with Gerald Edwards facilitating COTS Fatherhood Initiative and Alexis Hloros, a father participating in our initiative. This episode was hosted by our Chief Development Officer, Aisha Morrell-Ferguson. Last week's ice storm forced us to use a different tech and introduced a few audio artifacts. We hope that you listen to this conversatio...

To close the loop on the podcast portion of our program, at 7p this evening we will release another conversation CEO Cheryl P. Johnson had with Dara Griffin and Kevin Bremond They are leaders of a similar initiative in California and helped Ms. Johnson implement a new narrative for COTS addressing fathers and fatherhood issues confronted within our programs.

COTS' CEO Cheryl P. Johnson sits down with a 20+-year supporters of COTS Charisse Harper and her father, Benjamin Franklin Nubia for a discussion on their experiences partnering with COTS. Charisse speaks to the importance of having a father in a child's life while Mr. Nubia describes how his stay at COTS helped to turn his life around.

COTS' Chief Development Officer, Aisha Morrell-Ferguson, speaks with Dara Griffin from the Fatherhood Initiative in California and Gerald Edwards of COTS about the launch of a community initiative in Detroit supporting fathers dealing with the issues of being a positive family influence.

COTS' Chief Development Officer, Aisha Morrell-Ferguson, speaks with Dara Griffin from the Fatherhood Initiative in California and Gerald Edwards of COTS about the launch of a community initiative in Detroit supporting fathers dealing with the issues of being a positive family influence.

Janette Phillips of ShareDetroit (sharedetroit.org) stops by the Art of Family studios to talk about the work of the relatively new nonprofit, ShareDetroit, how they work with COTS, and celebrate the worldwide Giving Tuesday movement here in the greater Detroit area.

We wrap up the conversation with the COTS associates that collaborate with families daily and discuss the impact they facilitate and their day-to-day experience creating opportunities to succeed for Detroit families. Our conversation was deep and long enough that we split it into 2 episodes.

The COTS associates that collaborate with families daily discuss the impact they facilitate and their day-to-day experience creating opportunities to succeed for Detroit families. Our conversation was deep and long enough that we split it into 2 episodes. Be sure to tune in next week as we wrap up this exploration of the work families engage in with COTS.

COTS' Chief Development Officer, Aisha Morrell-Ferguson speaks with journalist Rodd Monts and photographer Larry Gardner regarding their long history of working with COTS. Rodd and Larry were instrumental in producing the magazine COTS produced for our 40th anniversary; without them documenting the lives of many of our COTS' families, we wouldn't have been able to complete that project. Thanks to...

COTS CEO Cheryl P. Johnson speaks with COTS Youth Engagement Coach Denise Godfrey about the addition of youth coaching to the Passport to Self-Sufficiency framework and changing career paths to make a positive impact on the world.

COTS CEO Cheryl P. Johnson speaks to the accomplished photographer, Ethel Rucker. Cheryl and Ethel talk about Ethel's journey through COTS with her family and how she is now a thriving businesswoman working to pass along her entrepreneurial spirit to her children.

On the eve of our 40th Anniversary celebration, COTS' CEO Cheryl P. Johnson and COTS' Director of Coaching and Engagement LaTonia Walker explore the establishment and evolution of the Passport To Self Sufficiency, the program that sets COTS apart.

Shameika Richardson speaks to COTS' Rachel Minion about her experiences working through COTS programs, the benefits of the Passport To Self Sufficiency and preparing her daughter's future as a designer and entrepreneur.