Hope Mississippi

Most of us think disability is something “over there” — until life brings it through our own front door. In this episode of Hope Mississippi , Dan Hall sits in for Justice Dawn Bean for a powerful conversation with Martie Kwasny , a longtime advocate for Mississippi’s disability community who is also navigating a deeply personal season of caregiving for her 90-year-old mother. Together, they talk...

In this episode of Hope Mississippi , Dawn Beam sits down with leadership coach, speaker, and longtime friend Dan Hall for an honest conversation about resilience, relationships, and the moments that can change a life forever. Drawing from decades of experience helping churches, businesses, and organizations move vision into action, Dan shares practical insights on leadership and communication. He...

When someone you love has a disability, a crisis rarely arrives with a roadmap or between the hours of 8 - 5 Monday through Friday. More often than not, it shows up alongside long waitlists, confusing paperwork, and the overwhelming question: Where do we even begin?   On this episode of Hope Mississippi , Dawn Beam sits down with Matt Nalker , Executive Director of The Arc of Mississippi , to talk...

This is a replay - a BEST OF if you will - of episode 10 from Season 1. It was our most downloaded episode so far. PLEASE share it with a friend and help us reach 500 downloads for this episode! Former band director David Willson shares the transformative teaching philosophy that changed countless lives over a long career, including 32 years at Ole Miss. From humble beginnings in Jackson, Mississi...

In this tender and powerful episode of Hope Mississippi , I have the true honor of sitting down with “Miss Mary,” a former foster youth who entrusted me with one of the most heartbreaking and hope-filled stories I have ever heard. I cannot tell you how humbled I am that she trusted me enough to share her story, and I do not take that lightly. Mary opens up about how poverty, family instability, an...

The Henderson family recently gathered to celebrate Easter. Dorothy Henderson (our mom) went "home" three Easters ago so the gathering can be bitter sweet. As we reflect on the past and embrace the present, memories abound. But perhaps the listener will also find comfort in life and death as they talk about the Hope we celebrate at Easter.  Please allow me to introduce our family: Dr. Ge...

When life hits hard, clear help and a steady voice can change everything. We sit down as mother and son to trace Sam’s switch from insurance to the law, why three weeks of practicing together confirmed our purpose, and how the right words at the right time help clients stand taller. You’ll hear what “being a hope dealer” looks like in real cases—calming a room, making choices visible, and walking...

One statistic can stop you cold: one in four Mississippi children lives in poverty, and one in five faces food insecurity. That’s the reality Cathy Clark chose not to look away from. Teacher. Advocate. Pastor’s wife. Law student. She planted both feet in hard soil and decided to move. In this episode, Cathy shares her Hattiesburg roots, the ministry that taught her how to sit with pain, and the mo...

A quiet Navy office. A Gideon Bible. A young man searching for more. In this episode of Hope Mississippi , Pastor Carlos Wilson shares how a private spiritual awakening became four decades of public service, and a ministry rooted in hope you can actually see and touch. From rural Mississippi to Hattiesburg’s east side, faith looks like fresh paint on a weathered porch, new roofs over old homes, an...

Mississippi doesn’t need more silos; it needs a shared table. We sit down with community leader and author Tina Lakey to discuss practical hope and how coordinated mentoring, cross‑denominational partnerships, and consistent prayer can move the needle on poverty, food insecurity, and youth outcomes across the state. From the work at the Methodist Children’s Home to the bold vision of Unite Mississ...

What if the detour is the assignment? In this episode of Hope Mississippi , Dawn visits with Van Jones to trace a winding path—from the Mississippi Delta to Southern Miss basketball, through a career-ending injury, and into a calling that stretches from classrooms to church pews, from an ice-cream counter to a lakeside retreat. The throughline is simple but demanding: excellence, service, and unit...

Big goals don’t require every skill—just the courage to start and the wisdom to ask for help. That’s the heartbeat of our year: we moved from an idea to two living, breathing podcasts by teaming up with people who knew what we didn’t, and the result unlocked stories that changed how we see Mississippi and each other. We share the unlikely chain of events that took us from a conference hallway to a...

The numbers are stark—one in four kids in poverty, one in five facing food insecurity—but statistics don’t tell you how hope returns. Lorie’s story does. Meet a former nurse who lost custody of her daughter, lived unsheltered for years, and spiraled into meth‑induced delusion. When hope seemed lost, an auto burglary charge became the unlikely doorway to drug court, where structure, compassion, and...

At the 2025 Mississippi Bar Convention, former State Supreme Court Justice Dawn Beam sat down with more than twenty leaders in law, policy, and public service—capturing three days of extraordinary conversations for a special seven-part series of her Hope Mississippi podcast. This is Part Seven, the final installment in this series until 2026. Meet us in Biloxi! What does hope look like inside a ju...

At the 2025 Mississippi Bar Convention, former State Supreme Court Justice Dawn Beam sat down with more than twenty leaders in law, policy, and public service—capturing three days of extraordinary conversations for a special seven-part series of her Hope Mississippi podcast. This is Part Six of Seven . What does it really take to keep kids safe and families whole when poverty, addiction, and untre...

At the 2025 Mississippi State Bar Convention, former State Supreme Court Justice Dawn Beam interviewed over 20 people in 3 days to bring you a special 7-part series of her Hope Mississippi podcast. This is part five of seven.  Hope isn’t a slogan here; it’s a practice you can feel in the room . We sit down with Judge David McCarty of the Mississippi Court of Appeals, Mississippi Gaming Commission...

At the 2025 Mississippi State Bar Convention, former State Supreme Court Justice Dawn Beam interviewed over 20 people in 3 days to bring you a special 7-part series of her Hope Mississippi podcast. This is part four.   Mississippi's legal community is built on faith, service, and mentorship , values that shine through in conversations with three remarkable legal professionals at the Mississip...

At the 2025 Mississippi State Bar Convention, former State Supreme Court Justice Dawn Beam interviewed over 20 people in 3 days to bring you a special 7-part series of her Hope Mississippi podcast. This is part three.  What happens when dedicated individuals refuse to accept a broken system? In this powerful episode, we journey across Mississippi to witness extraordinary transformations born from...

At the 2025 Mississippi State Bar Convention, former State Supreme Court Justice Dawn Beam interviewed over 20 people in 3 days to bring you a special 7-part series of her Hope Mississippi podcast. The foundation of hope often lies in the belief that tomorrow can be better than today—and that you can play a role in making it so. This powerful concept comes alive in Part Two of our Stories from the...

At the 2025 Mississippi State Bar Convention, former State Supreme Court Justice Dawn Beam interviewed over 20 people in 3 days to bring you a special 7-part series of her Hope Mississippi podcast. In part one, Dawn hosts three compelling conversations that showcase how hope manifests in unexpected places.  Podcast producer Hillary Kane reveals the behind-the-scenes magic that brings these stories...

Josh Woodward from the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services explains how ABLE (Achieving a Better Life Experience) accounts allow people with disabilities to save money without losing crucial public benefits like SSI and Medicaid. These revolutionary accounts provide financial freedom for individuals who have previously been restricted by the $2,000 asset limit, giving them independen...

Former band director David Willson shares the transformative teaching philosophy that changed countless lives over a long career, including 32 years at Ole Miss. From humble beginnings in Jackson, Mississippi, Willson's journey reveals how music education became his pathway out of poverty and into a life of purpose. He was our host, Dawn Beam's band director, and she proclaims that he wa...

Reverend Eddie Spencer shares his powerful journey from childhood poverty to ministry, including his recent battle with cancer and sepsis that brought him near death yet deepened his faith and peace in Christ. • God has a plan to use each of us uniquely—your testimony, whatever it includes, can impact someone who needs exactly your perspective • Eddie's path included service with Young Life,...

Eddie Spencer's life story reads like a modern parable of redemption. From a childhood marked by humiliation and poverty to a young adulthood filled with violent crime, Spencer's trajectory seemed fixed. But what happens when divine intervention meets a willing heart? The turning point came in first grade when classmates mocked him for wearing secondhand "girl shoes"—the only f...

What does it look like when faith moves beyond Sunday services to transform an entire community? Amy Lancaster of We Will Go Ministries shares a powerful story of answering God's unexpected call to serve not overseas, but in downtown Jackson—their "Jerusalem." The journey began when Amy and her husband David sold their home and prepared for international missions, only to hear God r...