Community Spread

Every once in a while, I get a feeling that a story needs to be heard. And this is a story I hope everyone takes a moment to listen to. Today we launched a new podcast episode and it returns to the show's original premise: stepping outside our own lived experience and into someone else’s. And in this episode that someone is my friend, Ted Rogers. An Ogdenite who gave a lot to our community. Ted wa...

We are interrupting our coverage of the legislative session to do a quick mini-episode to follow up on our show with Andi Beedles about the Weber Housing Authority’s plans to open a permanent supportive housing project in Ogden. We have a special guest, George Barragan! You probably know George from 614’s social media as the brave 13-year-old who made poignant comments at the council meeting. I wa...

On rundown today, we’ve got yet another revenge bill. This time, the revenge is aimed directly at you, the citizens, and your ability to pass laws via ballot initiative. Speaking of citizen-led power, the ability to vote by mail is under attack as legislators want to make it harder for you to vote. And, of course, the state has to make sure they take their yearly punch at the transgender community...

If you’ve tuned into The Community Spread podcast before, we hope you’ve found value in the voices we’ve elevated, the topics we covered, and the opinions we’ve shared. We fundamentally believe the State Legislature here in Utah is doing a poor job of representing Utahns and that if more people heard the voices of their lawmakers during these sessions and were informed of the consequences of the l...

On the Pod today, On April 12, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and 50 other protestors and civil rights leaders were arrested in Birmingham, AL after leading a Good Friday demonstration. This demonstration was part of a campaign to bring to light the brutal treatment of of blacks in one of the most segregated cities in America at the time. This letter is a response to the local clergymen's op-ed...

On the Pod today we have Andi Beadles. Andi is the executive director of the Weber Housing Authority and is working on a project that will house 25 of the most chronically homeless individuals in Ogden in Permanent Supportive Housing. This housing project will have 24 hour supervision and support from case managers. This innovative solution for Ogden would do a lot to care for our cities most vuln...

The aftermath of the 2024 losses left a lot of people concerned, discouraged, and frankly scared. Kevin brings back Angela Choberka, Stacy Bernal, and Rosemary Lesser (the Wonder Women of Weber County) to discuss how they are dealing with the loss and how they have found new purpose and courage in the midst of election results.

Currently women in Utah can receive and abortion up to 18 weeks but only because Utah courts have put a temporary stay on one of the most extreme anti-abortion laws in the country that The Utah Legislature passed in 2020. Kevin and Angela discuss just how extreme the state legislature is on abortion and why it's important to have a pro-choice voice like hers in the house. Mentioned in this episode...

Kevin and Representative Rosemary Lesser discuss the Utah State Legislature's deceitful power grab when they passed a constitutional amendment during an "emergency" special session. Amendment D will appear on ballots this November and if ratified by the voters it will effectively gut the power of the citizen led ballot initiative that brought us medical marijuana and Medicaid expansion in 2018.

Kevin discusses with Juli and Dirk how recent anti-transgender legislation has effected their son who is transgender.  Dirk and Juli wanted to share their experience because many people don’t get the opportunity to get to know people whose lives have been affected by anti-transgender legislation and a general culture in Utah where transgender people are vilified and marginalized.

Kevin and Stacy discuss the consequences of the Anti-DEI legislation that was passed during the 2024 Utah legislative session and her upcoming bid to defeat John Johnson in the District 3 Utah State Senate race.

Ogden City Council candidate Priscilla Martinez on the pod to talk to us about her unique life experience and what it's been like to run for City Council in Ogden. Her background in social services, education, and health makes her a uniquely qualified candidate to represent District 3 in Ogden.

Amanda King is a West Point graduate who served three tours in Afghanistan. She shares what it was like working with the people of Afghanistan during her time there.

Jaynee Nadolski is the Senior Associate Commissioner for Compliance & Governance of the Big Sky Conference. She also serves as the Senior Woman Administrator for the conference office and is the league's liaison between the NCAA and conference institutions for all compliance, academic and governance issues. Jaynee is also an accomplished two sport high school and collegiate athlete. She came o...

Ogden City Councilmen Luis Lopez is back on the pod completing his immigration story. He shares with us how his experience with asylum has shaped his politics, his passions, and his character. Go check out Luis' nonprofit organization https://www.facebook.com/lupec.us

On the pod today we have Ogden City Councilmen Luis Lopez. Luis was born and reared in Guadalajara, Jalisco – Mexico. Under intense pressure from the Mexican government he and his family immigrated to the United States at the age of 19 under the protection of the DEA. In this episode we explore his experiences during an extremely difficult time in his life as he and his family were seeking politic...

Awegust The Great, the creator of our theme music, stopped by the pod to talk about how he creates justice through his music. We played "ok stop" with the theme music "Amerikkka's Heaven's Gotta Ghetto" and he was able to tell us where the inspiration came for the lyrics and what they mean to him. Awegust's passion is to bring peace and justice via wisdom, knowledge, and understanding through his...

Adrienne Gillespie Andrews is the Assistant Vice President for Diversity and Chief Diversity Officer at Weber State University where she has worked for almost 16 years. She holds bachelor of arts degrees in Political Science and Women's Studies from the University of Utah; a MS degree in Women’s Studies from Minnesota State University, Mankato; an MA in Political Science from Rutger's the Sta...

On the pod today we have Amir Jackson. Amir constant force for good in the community of Ogden, UT. He is the founder of a nonprofit called, "Nurture The Creative Mind." https://nurturethecreativemind.org/ The mission of his organization is that it "empowers and establishes self value in youth through creativity, while developing marketable skills." You'll get to hear all about this organization an...

Today on the pod we are continuing our celebration of Black History Month by having important members of our local black community share their experiences. Returning guest Miss Betty Sawyer, president of the Ogden NAACP, is here to share with us some important black history starting with the Emancipation Proclamation, through the restoration era amendments, into the civil rights era, and today. Mi...

Bonus Pod! With the recent targeting of transgender women in our current political culture wars I knew we needed to have a transgender women athlete on the podcast so we could get to know her experience and I found the perfect guest in Chloie Jonsson. She came on the pod to share her experiences as a transgender women. We talked about her experiences getting bullied as a child in school, her trans...

On the pod this week, we have a great guest to kick off Black History Month, Wynter the Poet! Some of you may recognize her voice, she spoke the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s letter from a Birmingham Jail last month. She's on the pod today to talk about her journey from growing up in Utah, and how poetry became her saving grace through some extremely tough times. Also, we broke down her po...

On the Pod this week, it's a bit of a family reunion for me! I am honored that my sister Julie Akins joined me to talk about some pretty heavy stuff. Julie is a teacher in Saint George, and she is very passionate about the social justice movements happening across the country. Now, full disclosure, it was tough for us, two white people, to talk about racial disparities in our country. So please, i...

On the Pod this week, Brock Abel speaks to us about what it was like growing up knowing that he was different, but not knowing what to do about it. Brock knew he was gay at a pretty young age, but didn't really know how to handle that and didn't really know how to come to terms with himself. He talks about how society, culture, and religion shaped a lot of the homophobia he faced both externally a...

On the Pod this week, Marci Ray stops by to talk about her own Christmas Miracle. Her son Elliot. Elliot had to be delivered early at 27 weeks and spent a lot of time in the hospital, getting blood transfusions, and really fighting for his life at birth. It wasn't until 2 months after his miraculous birth that Marci was told Elliot had Down syndrome. She speaks about her experience navigating thro...