Hosted by Susan and Terri

The mission, vision and values of the Ulster Immigrant Defense Network include words like: a network of safety and support to immigrants, regardless of status; a society where everyone is welcomed, respected, and safe; and building a world of racial justice, equity and inclusion, and respect for diversity. On this episode, Evelio Martinez and Daniel Woodham explain the many facets of the work of expressing compassion for immigrant friends and neighbors, sharing how they came to this work, what it’s teaching them, and how others can get involved.  

Daniel Woodham is a caseworker with UIDN and also an organic vegetable farmer. He loves travel, meeting people from other countries and learning about foreign cultures and languages, as well as fighting against injustices, both global and local, and forming alliances with others in this work. He lives with his wife and son in Kingston.

Evelio Martinez is from Guatemala, and has lived in Kingston now for about 4 years, where he works in a local factory. He volunteers frequently with UIDN to be a voice from the immigrant community, and he likes to help fellow Latinos to get settled in this area. 

For info on how to get involved in and support the network, visit: https://ulsterimmigrantdefensenetwork.org/ 

Math Suks? Odd Socks?? What’s going on???

There’s a mathematician on this episode of The Good Work Hour! Japheth Wood joins co-hosts Terri and Hélène to discuss the relevance of math in our lives, how math impacts our thinking, and the ways the programs he’s involved with align with the work of Just Transition. Japheth is a mathematician who is engaged in the mathematical education of students at many levels. He is a Continuing Associate Professor of Mathematics at Bard College with responsibilities in the Math Department and in Quantitative Literacy. Japheth has also taught with the Bard Prison Initiative at the Eastern Correctional Facility in Napanoch. He directs the Bard Math Circle, whose focus is on middle school mathematics in the Mid-Hudson region. In addition to our fun conversation, get ready to hear songs you have probably never heard before and see if you can solve a math problem about red and blue socks!

bardmathcircle.org

[email protected]

On this episode, Aja speaks with Sarah Carlson about artistry, documenting local history, cancer and personal transformations.

Sarah speaks openly, for the first time, about her breast cancer diagnosis and the journey it takes her on. She emphasizes the importance of owning your wellness and how to not become just another object on the medical conveyor belt.

Sarah Ann Carlson has spent most of her career as a filmmaker and artist passionate about social justice and personal and community healing. At the end of 2020, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. What followed is a deep plunge into health, genetics, and methods of detoxification as she figured out a roadmap to prevention, vitality, and resilience. Having just recently celebrated the one year anniversary of her diagnosis, she is eager to share the  information with others in her new health coaching and healing practice at sarahanncarlson.com

Terri and Helene welcome Kwame Holmes to this episode of the Good Work Hour. Kwame’s Good Work is expressed through many channels. One is through the Kingston Housing Lab, a project which, in his position as a scholar-in-residence at Bard College, Kwame and students have geocoded and collected information on hundreds of properties in Kingston’s Midtown section. Through KHL, data is emerging about the role of corporate ownership in the local property market, the impact of Airbnbs and other vacation rental sites on the rental market, and the realities of gentrification.

In addition to his work focused on the Kingston housing market, Kwame provides leadership to the Bard Baccalaureate program (BardBac), a full-scholarship pathway for adults  to complete bachelor’s degrees from Bard College.

Kwame Holmes is scholar-in-residence in the human rights program at Bard College. He has worked at the intersection of academic and community activism throughout his career and, since moving to Kingston, is working to transform the public discourse on housing justice through the Kingston Housing Lab. 

[email protected]

bac.bard.edu

Hosted by Susan and Terri

At the start of a new year, our guest Helanna reflects on a transition in her life, sharing learning from 17 years running a program growing youth and experiences that motivate and support her movement toward working in healthcare. She finds that these two types of work use different tools and vocabulary, but come from the same place in her mind and heart, where she is guided by her values. 

Helanna Bratman is a GWI Fellow from the 5th cohort and mother of two daughters who was the founding coordinator of the Green Teen Community Gardening Program in Beacon under the auspices of Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess County from 2004-2021. She’s worked on farms, counseled teens at a crisis shelter, educated with arts and other orgs, studied photojournalism and humanistic multicultural education, grown vegetables and raised chickens.