What’s Next?

If you’ve walked around Downtown Buffalo recently, you’ve probably spotted the bright yellow billboards and bus ads calling out City Hall. Jay Moran sits down with Harper Bishop and Ariel Aberg-Riger who are two of the organizers of the political action group Our City Action Buffalo. Afterwards, we’re joined by educator, scholar, and author Dr. Silvia Lloyd. Along with the challenges today’s schoo...

As we mark a year since the racist attacks at the Jefferson Avenue Tops Supermarket, Jay Moran sits down with the Poet Laureate of the City of Buffalo, Jillian Hanesworth, to help summarize our collective feelings and continue to heal.

Jay Moran sits down with “Buffalo, What’s Next?” Associate Producer, Charles Gilbert, to discuss his main takeaways and lingering thoughts from his journey down to Charleston, SC. We have one last stop on our Lost Stories of Black Charleston with Damon Fordham and it deals with a notable figure in the city’s complicated past – Denmark Vesey. And finally, Thomas O’Neil White shares a conversation w...

WBFO multimedia reporter Holly Kirkpatrick is in Charleston, SC speaking with Reverend Jeremy Rutledge, Senior Minister at Circular Congregational Church in Charleston. Reverend Rutledge shares his experiences of the Charleston Area Justice Ministry, a coalition of congregations that has been campaigning against racial discrimination in police practices in the Charleston area. We also get more sto...

Thomas O’Neil-White chats with Victoria Hansen, a reporter with South Carolina Public Radio, to discuss how the local media covered the Mother Emanuel AME shooting.

WBFO reporter Holly Kirkpatrick is in Charleston, SC, speaking with Reverend Joseph Darby, who has been ministering at AME churches in South Carolina for over 40 years.

We begin our week of special episodes centered around the parallels between the racially-motivated shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina and the Tops shooting last year in Buffalo. Thomas O’Neil-White has an in-depth conversation with North Charleston pastor and community activist Thomas Dixon. We also hear from Damon Fordham as he gives his Lost Histories of Black Ch...

As we prepare to showcase a week of special episodes centered around the parallels between the racially-motivated shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina and the Tops shooting last year in Buffalo, we hold a roundtable discussion with the WBFO members that embarked on this project. Tom Berich, Charles Gilbert, Holly Kirkpatrick, and Thomas O’Neil-White sit down to have...

The program welcomes local community activist and leader, Ellen Harris-Harvey, to discuss her involvement within the Masten district in which she resides. As a heavily involved member of her neighborhood block and as head of her own outreach ministry, Ellen is aware of the needs and initiatives that are important to the area.

As we begin the month of May, Mental Health Awareness month, and in an effort to have a better understanding of the bereavement process, we speak with Gwen Mysiak, Executive Director at P.U.N.T. Pediatric Cancer Collaborative. She’s joined by WBFO’s Mark Wozniak, who has been involved with P.U.N.T. after having experienced his own personal loss, to highlight the important, compassionate work that...

According to the governor’s office, New York state schools saw over 50 falsified reports of a serious emergency or an active shooter in the month of March. Cambria Daniels, a mental health specialist and program director at Best Self Behavioral Health, joins the show to help us understand the mental trauma surrounding this issue. Later in the program we speak to Steven Haagsma from Housing Opportu...

We speak to Matt Tice who is the Director of Vive, a shelter for refugees and asylum seekers in Western New York. Afterwards, Angelea Preston and Emyle Watkins sit down to talk with Kasha Davis. Kasha is a drag artist in the Western New York area that engages in drag-themed reading hours.

On this week’s edition of Producers’ Picks, we’re showcasing two interviews from recent shows: Ann Breidenstein, a harm reduction counselor and clinical trainer, speaks about a new development that might make it easier for caregivers to help people suffering from an opioid overdose. After that, we’ll revisit our powerful conversation with Holocaust survivor, Grigory Shershnevsky.

On today’s program we’re focusing on the inspiring work of some of the participants of the Peaceprints of Western New York’s Project Blue in collaboration with Locust Street Art. This particular division of the program helps enrich the lives of men and women in the criminal justice system find purpose through art. Speaking from the Erie County Correctional Facility, Kahlil Peoples, Damon Coleman,...

Today's guests are Rabbi Brent Gutmann, Senior Rabbi at Temple Beth Zion, and Reverend Jonathan Staples, Senior Pastor of First Shiloh Baptist Church. Their respective congregations recently gathered for a Freedom Seder. They discuss the motivation behind the event, the lessons learned and offer broader perspectives on social justice and how to improve Buffalo.

Lorenzo Rodriguez speaks with founder and President Emeritus of the Hispanic Heritage Council of Western New York, Casimiro Rodriguez. Afterwards, Tayrin Tapia details the work she’s doing empowering Latinas and helping to prepare entrepreneurs in the community to face the challenges of starting up businesses in the current and future landscapes.

Lorenzo sits down with Faustenia Morrow, the founder of The Monarch of Infinite Possibilities. A tireless environmental activist, Faustenia specializes in bringing BIPOC groups, corporate executives, and community leaders together in the name of conservation and global sustainability. On the heels of Earth Day 2023, we delve into the initiatives that the Monarch has helped spearhead and how the pe...

On this week’s edition of Producers’ Picks, we’re showcasing three interviews from recent shows. Jay Moran speaks with Dr. Joe Stahlman, a research assistant professor of Archeology and member of the Seneca Nation, to discuss the recently repudiated Doctrine of Discovery. Filmmaker and storyteller Annette Daniels-Taylor retells an interesting story from early 20th century Buffalo that inspired one...

With Ramadan coming to an end this week, Lorenzo Rodriguez sits down with Yemeni-American, Shareefa Albanna, to learn about the customs and traditions around the observance of Ramadan. We speak to Shareefa about the large concentration of Yemeni people in Western New York as well as the ongoing humanitarian crisis that is occurring in the country of Yemen.

Long-time friends turned entrepreneurs, Yanava Hawkins and Rayna Moncreiffe, sit down with Angelea Preston to discuss their Girl Gang Entertainment venture. The two turned their passion for event planning and putting together a good party into a company that’s promoting safe sexual health awareness in Buffalo’s black community. Afterwards, Jay Moran speaks to a notable name in the Western New York...

In honor of Yom HaShoah, the Jewish Holocaust Remembrance Day, we are privileged to hear the account of survivor Grigory Shershnevsky. Grigory is joined by Lauren Bloomberg of the Holocaust Resource Center of Buffalo and together they tell the story of how a courageous woman named Aleksandra Drezvetska helped protect him from persecution during one of the darkest times in human history.

As the scourge of substance abuse continues to ravage our communities, a new development might make it easier for caregivers to help people suffering from opioid addiction. Jay Moran sits down with Ann Breidenstein, a harm reduction counselor and clinical trainer, who has worked with that part of the population that’s so often maligned. She speaks about her experiences and the knowledge acquired t...

In this weekly “Producers’ Picks” episode - where we highlight past standout interview segments - we feature: Local Hispanic community activist, Alex Burgos; we revisit our sit-down with some participants of the 4-H after-school youth program through Cornell Cooperative Extension of Erie County; and finally, we go back to VillaCon with our tour guide from the Wakanda Alliance, Anthony Pierce.

Angelea Preston speaks with some of the loved ones that knew Pearl Young best. Damon Young, Pearl’s son, and fellow parishioner, Sister Madge Whiskey, talk about Pearl, one of the lives taken in the May 14 Tops Shooting, and contagious energy that she radiated. Her son and good friend have taken up her cause of championing goodwill in their community and are establishing a food pantry and soup kit...

Jay Moran speaks with Dr. Joe Stahlman, a research assistant professor of Archeology and member of the Seneca Nation, to discuss the recently repudiated Doctrine of Discovery. Afterwards, Angelea Preston sits down with the founder of the Topsy Curvy Movement, Julia Stevens.