MetroFocus: The Podcast

CHASING THE DREAM: FOOD INSECURITY ON THE RISE ON LONG ISLAND There are over 200,000 people on Long Island currently suffering from food insecurity, and almost 70,000 of them are children. Long Island Cares, the food bank originally founded by Grammy Award-winning artist Harry Chapin, is hoping to change that by providing millions of meals and workforce development programs to our fellow New Yorke...

A METROFOCUS SPECIAL TWO-NIGHT EVENT: THE LONG COVID HEALTH CRISIS: NIGHT 2 March is Long Covid Awareness Month. Our two-night special coverage on long COVID continues, and this evening we focus on the possible causes and debilitating effects of this condition. Why do some people with long COVID have symptoms which seem to last so long? What is being done to help the millions of Americans now suff...

A METROFOCUS SPECIAL TWO-NIGHT EVENT: THE LONG COVID HEALTH CRISIS March is Long Covid Awareness Month. Up to 1-in-5 adults who’ve survived COVID-19 are living with long COVID, a condition characterized by up to 200 symptoms that persist long after the initial infection is gone and can affect the body for months or even years. It’s estimated that 1 million Americans have been forced to leave the l...

NEW YORK LAWMAKERS TARGET VIOLENT SHOPLIFTERS WITH BILL TO BETTER PROTECT RETAIL WORKERS New York City is facing a shoplifting epidemic with retail workers and business owners fearing they could be targeted next and it could turn violent. State lawmakers have taken notice and there’s now a push in Albany to better protect workers after shoplifting complaints nearly doubled last year. Two of the le...

CHASING THE DREAM - NYC YOUTH TACKLE THE ISSUES THAT MATTER TO THEM MOST: NYC YOUTH AGENDA COALITION New York City’s youth represent the future of the city. But seldom have policy makers and elected officials asked young people about the issues that matter to them most. A group of young students and advocates are making their mission to change that. For the last two years, NYC Youth Agenda Coaliti...

DONALD TRUMP CLAIMS HE WILL BE ARRESTED AND CALLS FOR PROTESTS, NYC PREPARES FOR UNREST Former President Donald Trump, a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, could be indicted and arrested in Manhattan as early as this week. Federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies are preparing for the unprecedented - the criminal indictment of a former president, and the possible...

THE CIVIL RIGHTS LEGACY OF PAULI MURRAY One of the most important figures in the fight for civil rights may be someone that you never heard of. Pauli Murray- a lawyer, activist, and writer was ahead of their time. They refused to give up their seat on a bus 15 years before Rosa Parks famously did. They argued that separate but equal was unconstitutional 10 years before the Supreme Court made that...

CHASING THE DREAM: DELIVERING INCLUSIVE EDUCATION CHILDREN OF ALL ABILITIES AND IDENTITIES What can parents with special needs children do to optimize their children's education and quality of life? One answer for New York parents is The IDEAL School of Manhattan, which has been a game changer for many families as New York’s only K-12+ independent inclusion school. The school was founded in 2006 b...

CHASING THE DREAM – “EVERY VOICE” EXPLORES BLACKNESS IN OPERA WQXR, New York City’s only all classical music station, recently launched a podcast titled, Every Voice with Terrance McKnight. The podcast is a 16-episode series spotlighting marginalized voices, histories and perspectives in the Western classical music traditions. Joining MetroFocus is the host of the series, WQXR’s Terrance McKnight,...

CHASING THE DREAM – NEW YORK LAWMAKER PROPOSES LEGISLATION TO BAN “PRISON SLAVE LABOR” A state assembly member has introduced legislation in Albany to end the practice of forced prison labor, and to require that incarcerated people make at least minimum wage for their work. The bills would abolish slavery without exception in New York’s constitution and extend workers’ protections to incarcerated...

ELDERLY WOMAN’S MURDER REIGNITES FEARS ABOUT GROWING OLD IN NYC The brutal killing of a New York City grandmother in her Upper West Side apartment is reinforcing fears among some older New Yorkers that they’re not safe in the city. It's also empowering others to spread the potentially life-saving lessons of martial arts to seniors. Maria Hernandez was discovered bound and strangled in January and...

Originally aired July 16, 2020. “WE ARE THE RADICAL MONARCHS” The Radical Monarchs have made waves with their focus on social justice and on challenging the status quo. The organization is the subject of a POV documentary, “We Are The Radical Monarchs”, which follows the founders and the growth of the organization’s very first troop, as they navigate complicated issues of identity, race, and allys...

CHASING THE DREAM: THE FIGHT FOR REPARATIONS FOR BLACK NEW YORKERS The country’s racial awakening following the murder of George Floyd and subsequent Black Lives Matter movement has spurred several state and local governments to begin to study, and even enact, ways to financially compensate Black Americans for the historic injustice of slavery. New York is now the latest state looking to join the...

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY: CHASING THE DREAM - “WHY SHOULD GUYS HAVE ALL THE FUN?” In the upcoming book “Why Should Guys Have All the Fun?: An Asian American Story of Love, Marriage, Motherhood, and Running a Billion Dollar Empire,” celebrated attorney, philanthropist, and author Loida Lewis shares her journey from her early days in the Philippines to her high-powered career as a New York lawyer....

ESSENTIAL LESSONS FROM NEW YORK’S PAST FOR SHAPING THE POST-PANDEMIC FUTURE After the pandemic and amid the current surge in crime, New York City is without a doubt going through a serious transition. But it’s obviously not the first time the city has experienced such a major transformation, so what lessons can we learn from the various evolutions New York has gone through, particularly since the...

CHASING THE DREAM: FOOD BANK FOR NYC AIMS TO GO ‘BEYOND FOOD’ TO ADDRESS FOOD INSECURITY We are facing a food crisis here in New York City, with over 1 million New Yorkers currently experiencing food insecurity. For the past 40 years, Food Bank for New York City has been working to end hunger in the five boroughs, by providing healthy meals to New Yorkers and attempting to address the structural i...

CHASING THE DREAM - “SHE TOOK JUSTICE: THE BLACK WOMAN, LAW, AND POWER” Throughout the course of the ongoing reckoning over racial injustice, there’s been a push to understand our past more fully as we attempt to build a better future. But this reexamination of our nation’s complicated history didn’t just start in 2020. It’s been going on for years. Roughly a decade ago, Civil Rights Attorney and...

CHASING THE DREAM: WHAT’S DRIVING THE AFRICAN AMERICAN EXODUS FROM NEW YORK CITY? It might sound surprising that with all the challenges New York City is facing, from skyrocketing rents to surging crime, the city’s population is growing. But that’s not the case for every demographic, especially African Americans, whose numbers are headed in the opposite direction. A recent Gothamist analysis found...

“MY OWN DIRECTIONS: A BLACK MAN’S JOURNEY IN THE AMERICAN THEATRE” Like many performing arts, the theatre world has struggled with a lack of diversity. The industry has pledged to change it. But the fact remains that theatre remains a predominantly white space. Tonight, we talk with renowned director Sheldon Epps about his own efforts to bring inclusion and representation to the stage. Epps was th...

AFTER STANDOFF WITH MAYOR ADAMS, ASYLUM-SEEKERS ADJUST TO LIFE AT CONTROVERSIAL MIGRANT SHELTER The massive influx of nearly 50,000 asylum-seekers is testing New York's ability to humanely respond to a crisis Mayor Eric Adams says has stretched the city to its limit. One of the major flashpoints unfolded this month when police cleared an encampment of migrant men outside a Manhattan hotel after th...

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN SCHOOL: MEET THE TEACHER REQUIRING STUDENTS TO USE ChatGPT A new artificial intelligence (AI) program, ChatGPT, is sweeping the internet. The free software can do everything from writing essays, film scripts, and poetry, to passing graduate level law and business school exams. This revolutionary software, while no doubt exciting, also concerns many educators, who feel th...

CHASING THE DREAM: MISTY COPELAND LAUNCHES A PROGRAM TO BRING MORE DIVERSITY TO BALLET  Dance superstar Misty Copeland knows a thing or two about breaking barriers, and this fall she’s pointing to the power of ballet to help New York City kids chase their dreams.  Misty, the American Ballet Theatre’s first Black principal dancer, recently launched the “Be Bold” initiative with a free, 12...

THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF FORMER PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER It was announced last week that former President Jimmy Carter decided to forego medical treatment and instead receive hospice care at his home in Georgia. Tonight, we look back at the 98-year-old former President’s life and legacy, including his tie to New York City – with the Lower East Side being the site of the first project he did with Habit...

New York is facing a massive housing crisis by virtually every measure imaginable, and one of the leading proposals to help tackle the problem is turning vacant Manhattan office space into affordable homes for New Yorkers. Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams both support the idea, which could reinvigorate Midtown neighborhoods still recovering from COVID and provide relief to outer-borough...

BRONX BUSINESSES HIRE PRIVATE PATROLS TO COMBAT CRIME In an effort to fight the increase in shoplifting that has taken place over the past few years; the Fordham Road Business Improvement District, responsible for strengthening the over 300 businesses on Fordham Road in the Bronx, has launched a new initiative called the patrol ambassador program. As part of the program, five paid and licensed sec...