Move Beyond the Block Podcast

In this episode, host La'Keisha Gray-Sewell sits down with Aliyah Collins — scholar, organizer, and founder of the Eco Healing Project — for a wide-ranging conversation about what it means to reclaim our relationship with the earth. Aliyah traces her path into environmental justice through a personal storm: a high-category tornado that swept through her HBCU campus days before COVID lockdowns, leaving students without power, food, or a clear way forward. That experience, combined with her sister's stories of Jackson, Mississippi's water crisis and her brother's account of environmental neglect at Morehouse, pointed her toward a gap no one was adequately filling.The conversation moves through everyday environmental injustice — food deserts, lead exposure, asthma, noise pollution — and into deeper territory: the spiritual dimension of land, the propaganda that severed Black people from farming and agriculture, the grandmother who can grow anything without formal training. By the end, the episode becomes a quiet but serious call to readiness: grow something, reduce your toxic load, and know your family's emergency plan.Key ThemesEnvironmental justice as everyday life. From the grocery store to asthma rates to energy bills, Aliyah makes the case that environmental injustice is woven into daily experience in over-policed, under-resourced communities — not just visible in catastrophic weather events.Eco-healing as spiritual practice. The Eco Healing Project is rooted in the belief that nature is a living, sacred system, and that Black people have been deliberately separated from that connection. Healing the relationship with the earth is also a form of community and personal healing.Black agricultural tradition and ancestral knowledge. The episode holds space for the grief of land lost, and for the wisdom that survived in grandmothers' gardens. The propaganda that made farming feel like something to escape is named — and the work of undoing it begins.Climate urgency and collective survival. The conversation anchors urgency in love and preparation. Katrina is not a distant metaphor — it is a blueprint for what happens when communities are left without a plan.Technology as a tool, not a savior. AI and data infrastructure are examined through an environmental and equity lens: where are data centers built, who bears the pollution, and who is positioned as creator versus consumer?Listener TakeawaysStart with observation. Notice what's broken or missing in your immediate environment. That noticing is the beginning of environmental justice work.Composting, growing, recycling, and reducing toxic products are entry points. Pick one and start there.Your grandmother's knowledge is not quaint — it is a form of training that connects to ancestral land practice and ecological resilience.Emergency preparedness is a form of self-determination. Map your family's plan before you need it.The disconnection between Black people and the earth was engineered. It can be reversed.Reflection Questions1. What environmental conditions in your neighborhood do you accept as normal that are actually injustice?2. What knowledge about land, growing, or nature exists in your family — and have you asked for it?3. If a climate emergency scattered your family tomorrow, what is your plan?4. Where in your daily life are you a consumer of systems that harm your community? Where could you be a creator instead?5. What does it feel like to think of the earth as sacred rather than as a resource?Connect with Aliyah CollinsInstagram: @as.collins_The Eco Healing Project: @ecohealingproject (Instagram) 

In this episode of Move Beyond the Block TV, host Lakeisha welcomes Jessica Dudley — a public health practitioner turned philanthropic strategist and founder of Bold Ventures — for a grounded, honest conversation about what it actually means to shift power in philanthropy. From her roots in reproductive health work with young women and girls of color, to directing over $50 million toward BIPOC organizations, the conversation centers on the practice of participatory grantmaking, the spectrum from "closed" to "community-deferred" decision-making, and what it really takes — in relationship, trust, and compensation — to do this work with integrity.Key ThemesThe culture vs. the business of philanthropy — Jessica distinguishes between the giving traditions many of us were raised in (mutual aid, church, family networks) and the formal institution of philanthropy, and asks: what would it look like to reconnect them?Participatory grantmaking as a spectrum — Not a single practice, but a range of relationships between funders and communities. Where you fall on that spectrum has real consequences for who gets funded and who gets heard.Trust as a prerequisite — Participatory grantmaking doesn't work without existing relationships. Rushing the process without trust or community buy-in can do more harm than good.Compensation for community expertise — When we ask community members to take on program officer-level work, they deserve program officer-level compensation. Full stop.Mutual aid as long-term infrastructure — Not a charity event, but a relational practice built on the understanding that the circle of giving shifts over time.The inside-outside game — How nonprofits and community organizations can build authentic relationships with individuals inside philanthropy — not just institutions — to hold them accountable and find real partners.Reflection QuestionsWhere does your organization or practice fall on the spectrum from closed to community-deferred decision-making? Are you being honest about that?Who in your network is doing participatory work — and what can you learn from how they've built trust before asking for power-sharing?How are you compensating community members for their expertise — financially and relationally?What ancestors or elders modeled collective care for you? How does that legacy show up in the work you do today?Is your organization ready to receive feedback that shifts your strategy, or are you bringing community in as a formality?Resources MentionedBold Ventures — Participatory Grantmaking Guide: altogetherbold.comSouth Side Giving Circle — ChicagoChicago Peace Fellows Anti-Racist Funders Pledge Discover / Venisha White Johnson — community-embedded grantmaking modelCrown School of Social Work, University of Chicago

In this episode of Move Beyond the Block, the host introduces Dr. Sheri, an assistant professor at Michigan State University focusing on African American and African Studies. Dr. Sheri shares her journey in African American education, her academic background, and her passion for supporting black girlhood. She recounts attending the National Women's Studies Association conference where she first connected with the host. The discussion highlights Dr. Sheri’s various projects, including Melt Magazine, which celebrates and amplifies the voices and lived experiences of black girls through creative interventions such as arts-based research. The concept of creating safe spaces for black girls to express themselves and to combat respectability politics is explored in depth; the MELT methodology reflects on shared initiatives that liberate black girls not just through academic success but also through holistic community and cultural engagement. A significant portion of the dialogue delves into the importance of philanthropy supporting grassroots endeavors and creating spaces for authentic freedom and self-expression among black youth. Dr. Sheri speaks lovingly of childhood memories, the impact of community figures like the candy lady, and honors the collaborative work with her colleagues and the vibrancy of black girlhood in spaces like Chicago’s Bud Billiken Parade.Reflection QuestionsOn Liberation vs. Control: When you work with young people, are you trying to free them or manage them? What would it mean to truly emancipate rather than discipline?On Your Own Freedom: Dr. Lewis talks about spaces that allowed her to "run her mouth" and be bossy. What spaces have allowed you to be free? How can you create that for others?On Emancipatory Vulnerability: What prevents you from being vulnerable with young people? How might your vulnerability be the key to their liberation?On Respectability as Bondage: When have you used respectability politics to police yourself or others? What would freedom from that look like?On Showing Up for Liberation: Dr. Lewis shows up at Bud Billiken despite the "chaos." Where are you avoiding the messy spaces where freedom work is most needed?On Childhood as Blueprint for Freedom: What practices from your youth felt like freedom? How can those inform your liberation work today?On Wellness as Resistance: If you're in education or youth work, how are you complicit in systems that prioritize achievement over wellness? What would emancipatory education look like?On Collective Freedom: Dr. Lewis's work thrives through collaboration. Who are your freedom-dreaming partners, and how do you practice liberation together?On Naming & Self-Determination: When was the last time you let young people name something for themselves? How can you create more opportunities for self-determination?On Being vs. Becoming: Are you trying to make Black girls into something, or are you creating conditions for them to be who they already are? What's the difference?Resources & How to ConnectDr. Sheri Lewis, PhD Assistant Professor, Associate Chair, and Director of Community Culture and ConnectivityInstagram: @meltmagchiInstitution: Michigan State University, African American and African Studies Department aas.msu.edu Recommended ReadingBlack Girlhood Studies Collection edited by Aria Halliday (includes Dr. Lewis's chapter on Melt Magazine as methodology)Aesthetics of Excess by Jillian HernandezDr. Ruth Nicole Brown's work on Black girlhood and creative potentialDr. Sheri Lewis's dissertation on Melt Magazine (2016)

In this Valentine's Day episode, host La'Keisha Gray-Sewell sits down with her husband of over three decades, DJ B-Syde (Barry Sewell), for their first public conversation together. The title "Valentunes" reflects how music has been the soundtrack to their love story—from the Art of Noise and Janet Jackson playlists that set the mood in their early days to the Blue Light Grooves mixtapes Barry still creates. They trace 32 Valentine's Days together, starting with Mary J. Blige CDs and Wu-Tang Clan albums exchanged as college freshmen in 1994, and arriving at a present-day love that's learned to flow rather than force. This conversation moves between memory and present reflection, touching on empty nesting, creative callings, and what it means to grow alongside another person.

This episode features a conversation with Essence McDowell, communication strategist, organizer, and co-author of Lifting as They Climb: Mapping a History of Trailblazing Black Women in Chicago. The discussion explores the practice of preserving Black women's history, the relationship between place and memory, and the necessity of healing within organizing work. McDowell shares her journey from journalism to documentary filmmaking, and reflects on what it means to answer an ancestral calling while maintaining personal wellness.

Welcome to the first episode of the new season of Move Beyond the Block! This episode delves into the host's personal journey of overcoming the blocks that prevent Black women, Black girls, and Black people from shining and achieving liberation. The host reflects on past iterations of the platform, the challenges faced, and the transformative power of community, intrinsic technology, and creativity. Listeners are invited to explore profound topics such as cyclical liberation, evolving life assignments, the vital role of Black women in storytelling, and the balance between resistance and preservation.