0:03 Welcome to Advance the Dream, our weekly community chat, where we celebrate legacy makers and family heroes who are actively advancing the dream in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We talk about health, challenges, highlights and heroes in an intergenerational fashion in hopes that his legacy of hope and equality continue to live on. This weekly series, powered by the Force for Health Network, is aired live on Facebook, YouTube, and linked in at 8 a.m. Pacific Time, 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.
0:33 Then shared afterwards at advancedthedream.com. Now, let's meet our hosts, Force for Health Network co-founders, Dr. Robert Giglio and Lucy Howell, alongside our national director, Joshua Williams, Jr., as we dive into this week's topic. Good morning, everybody. Let's go ahead and take that interesting graphic off the back. Not sure what that says. Welcome. This is Advance the Dream, our interactive weekly community chat as we continue to address disparities, inequities, and all of those things that Dr. Martin Luther King wished for back when he was here.
1:18 And we wanted to make sure that the transfer of knowledge and information and all of those beautiful pearls of wisdom are shared. continuing to be focused on and addressed, remembered, and celebrated. So I think I say that differently every single time. I probably need to go ahead and tighten up our tag. But my name is Lucy Howell. I am here as one of the co-founders of the Force for Health Network, hosting Advanced Dream Channel community challenges, STEAM teams. You're going to start seeing lots of different types of things thread off of our Advanced Dream Channel here.
1:56 And I'm joined here by my co-founder and partner on this whole deal, Dr. Robert Gillio, State College. And I have... And actually, here we go. Our national partner and coach on this, Josh Williams, based out of Louisiana and Florida. I give you both of those hats. It is April 20th. And... We're excited to be here. So we started this series back in January and we just wanted to commit to a weekly cadence because there is so much to talk about. Every week matters and not one week goes by where we don't have significant conversations.
2:48 And when we're hearing a need and when we're hearing an ask, from a certain group, we feel compelled to act on it. And a lot of what we continue to hear is, I hope that the younger generation understands that history isn't that old, that we need to keep communicating And that we need to work in a multi-generational fashion so that we can have more healthcare workers taking care of our seniors. I'm just pulling out some of these things from our guests, right, over the course of the last several weeks, Josh, that you've brought to the table.
3:31 And I see your guests in the backstage already. And I don't want to elongate our executive talk right here. So that's my executive... moments coming into this. Rob, how say you? What brings you to the table today? And any thoughts to share before we bring in our guests? Well, I'm struck that every week the topic of mentorship is part of it. I've been mentored by Mr. Joshua Williams in many ways. But I had the pleasure this week of writing a letter recommendation for medical school of a student that I had mentored.
4:06 And it becomes a, it reminded me of the role of a senior or someone older who can take a little knowledge and share it with others. And one of the places where that gets shared is motherhood. And I'm thinking this is a month where people are supposed to be thinking about disparities in maternal and infant health and the role of the mother and the grandmother in mentoring their younger children in terms of being advocates for themselves as women that may be pregnant, women that may be on needing to interact with the healthcare system in a more collegial and aggressive manner sometimes to get what they need.
4:47 So the mentorship of mothers is what I'm thinking about right now as I kind of watch some issues in my own family as we deal with mothers, pregnancies, and babies. But mentorship comes across every time, and I can't wait to talk to the namesake of the school where I met Mr. Josh Williams. Mr. James M. Singleton, Colonel. But we'll get to that soon. I love that. It is April National Minority Health Month. Rob was referring to last week, we are closing up Black Maternal Health Week. And we had done some implicit bias training with our partners up in Ohio specifically on that.
5:30 Just to know and be aware of some of the issues and you can ask questions. And so it's kind of like if you're a brown skin mama going in having a baby, just know that there are some issues and you should just be confident and aware of those going into your care. So Josh, it's 8.14, we're getting a slightly late start. So share your executive thought here and then go ahead and go right into the introduction of your guests. Okay, 814. I got a minute. Break this down in 60 seconds. I'm very glad to be here this morning.
6:05 I actually look forward to speaking with one of my mentors. I credit so many different people for the outcome in which I've had, the experience in which I have achieved through my life, and those people who have made magnificent impacts on the way in which I've actually learned, earned, and served my community. So I'm glad with that in mind to be able to introduce someone today who has played that role of a mentor for me ever since I was in college. And he goes by the name of full Colonel James Jim Singleton.
6:57 He's the former councilman at large for the city of New Orleans. And when I made it to New Orleans, I met him as a lonely student, 18 years old, when he was really beginning his political career as councilman of District B for New Orleans and later on achieving on to the council at large. um and so forth but he is uh a retired full colonel out of the u.s army um his uh field was uh artillery um he is uh served as the chairman of the board for the drives ymca he has uh served of course as I stated as as as the as the head of the city council for the city of new orleans very known for his love for the community.
8:00 Very known. He's a former school teacher. He started off as a school teacher here in the public school systems of New Orleans. And one of the first Blacks that I met coming to New Orleans that were in positions of leadership for the city of New Orleans. So I am so glad he's approaching his 91st birthday this year, and I'm so happy to get an opportunity to welcome him to what we're trying to do as it relates to building a bridge for our community and continuing to strengthen our seniors and members and citizens of our community.
8:42 So I'd like to bring to the table now the former Councilman at Large of the City of New Orleans, Colonel James Jim Singleton. All right. Good, well, good morning. It's morning here. I believe you are in New Orleans, Louisiana right now, correct? Yes, I am. Okay, so it's wonderful to meet you. And so I know that, I feel like you've got this, I named this section Executive and Legacy Reflections because you have, there's so much history there in Louisiana in New Orleans, and you were such a part of so many first ofs.
9:28 And so some of my quick questions to you are what, and we're going to go around the room. Everyone will have a question. How is the state of New Orleans for you? You wear several hats. I believe that you're also on the Redevelopment Authority Board. You're an educator. You've been there. You've led publicly, privately. What's the current state of New Orleans from your perspective? And do you think Dr. Martin Luther King would be proud or disappointed? I guess I could just bluntly say it's bad.
10:11 We have a lot of problems. Some of the problems that we're having right now relates to a finance, a lack of finance. We have a council and a mayor that don't really communicate with each other. And I hate to say those kind of things, but... The truth be the truth. And I've always tried to live by the truth of what's going on. But we have some serious financial problems that we're dealing with, especially the sewage and water board. That's the thing that's in the news every day now. And we just have problems that we don't have the resources to really solve right now.
10:57 I wonder if possibly and I don't know if it's possible because I'd love to talk to you for at least 20 minutes on this segment. Is it possible for you to just lean your phone on something so it doesn't move as much? If not, no worries. We're just it's kind of moving a little bit. It'd be nice. Perfect. You want me to just put it down? Oh, well, no, because we would rather see you. You clearly are a hunter and a fisherman. I can see that. That's awesome. That was me moving it around. So I kind of talked with my hands.
11:36 So I put it down. Oh, no, but we would rather see you. We would rather see you. So you can go ahead and just hold it. I was just trying to get it to not move as much. Oh, perfect. That's leaning against something there. That's better. Right there. If you can sit it right there, that'll be good. Yeah, but I'm still holding it. Is it okay that? Well, we want to see your face instead of a turkey wing. Let me just slide up because it's getting above your head now. Like that. That's perfect. The only way I do that is I have to hold it.
12:17 That's okay. You can hold it. I just feel bad. Your answer was not too bad. You said one thing that's in the news right now, but I didn't understand. What did you say is the top issue right there now? You were asking me the conditions of the city, I guess, right now. And to me, I think we're in kind of bad shape because we have a council and the mayor that's not really communicating the way I think they should. And that causes a problem. But the other problems are financial. The City Water Board, for instance, is our biggest problem in my mind.
13:05 And the equipment that we're trying to operate with is 100 years old. And I don't think you can take 100-year-old equipment and expect it in this day and age to do what it did 100 years ago. It just doesn't work. Yeah, Councilman, one of the things that we saw nationally a week ago was the flooding that took place off of the light rain. And that's some of those problems with the Sewage and Water Board, I think, that the city is facing. If the pumps don't work or if they don't work up to capacity, then you have a problem.
13:43 And that's our problem. The equipment is 100 years old. That... And I chaired, you remember, I chaired the drainage committee for 20 years. And I understand that's a problem. But you can't take 20-year-old equipment and try to make it do what we need to do today. That's just one of the problems. Mm-hmm. Last week, Josh introduced us to, it was Howard, who runs your Pima Council on Aging there out of NOLA. And we talked about seniors and kind of what his need was. And he was concerned because there were a growing population of seniors that needed care and not enough people to hire seniors.
14:30 And obviously you are a senior. Do you want to speak to the state of seniors in your city and perhaps what you think could help if you've given it much thought around that? What could help, I guess, is a council and a mayor and the other agencies that are involved. It's a communication problem. That's the start. With each other. And how to communicate with each other. And then move towards solving the problem. If you can't talk to each other, you can't communicate, you don't know what the problem's are.
15:12 Rob, I know you had some questions lined up. Well, I'm interested in your wisdom. Over the years, you've had a school named after you. You've participated in the military. distinguished career. Looking back on things, if you were to address teenagers, young people at this point, teenagers or young adults, what advice would you have for yourself if you were an 18-year-old right now, sir? Yeah, that's a very difficult thing for me right now because my philosophy has always been as a public service to serve and serve people.
16:03 And the only advice that I can give this day and age is to be honest and straightforward and give them the direction that they hope that they will go in. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But it's so much more difficult now from the days that I was a teacher to the days of the city council to working with the YMCA, working with Toll Community Action, and always trying to just help people. But it's hard for me to give advice. I just try to live by an example and use that example as a means of hopefully helping young people to move forward.
16:56 That's a commendable thing. I think being the role model, kind of living it, can be a way of kind of sharing your wisdom to have people understand what you've done and what you are doing. So that's wonderful. I appreciate that. The honesty, the guidance, uh, types of, uh, comments you make are, are interesting. I think there's, I, I'm, I'm impressed with, as, as time goes by more and more people are getting involved with mentoring others that are younger than you, uh, than, than, than are themselves.
17:37 Um, are there people that have influenced your life early thinking way back that if, uh, that you'd like to shout out to a teacher, a, uh, a military person, a minister, a government official. Who are your mentors? Who are your role models? Is there someone you'd like to think back on? You know, I guess that could be a number of them. But the one person that I think that I have the most respect for today, and that might be strange to some people, but I worked for Moonland Drew as mayor for seven and a half years.
18:18 And that's when I left and ran for the council when he was leaving office. And I think the advice that he gave me back then is something that I followed, is that if you're going to be a servant of the people, then you have to be a servant. But you can't be a servant and you can't get rich at the same time. Because one, you're going to go to jail if you do that kind of thing. So my advice to you, and I've known you for a long time, is be a servant and serve the people and serve them well. And I think that's the philosophy that I have tried to live by.
19:01 And it's worked for me up to this point. It really is a dichotomy that what you say, because that I think is what tears the human spirit, like wanting to do what we feel is right by us spiritually, which is to serve naturally. I think human nature is to want to help and serve if you have that type of foundational structure in your home versus I got to go make, make, make, make, make, because you're right. It is a conflict. And I think part of what we're trying to... instill with Advance the Dream and Force for Health is this kind of balance.
19:43 You got to take care of your body. Physically, that's science, right? So you got to keep moving. You have to learn so that you can take care of your body. But this whole service piece and every single one of Josh's guests that comes up has this servant mindset. In fact, it was Adrian, right? Adrian Wallace, 29th president of the Alphas and, you know, led the charge for the Martin Luther King Memorial, you know, he called it sacrificial service, right? I mean, it's just got to be so committed that it makes an impact and difference.
20:28 So I think that that is also, I'm just adding to this and I'm trying to get a little quote in here. So go ahead. Go ahead, Josh. That was one of the things that you look at Councilman Singleton from the standpoint tall in statue. But when people see him, the one thing that they could say is that he is a honest individual. You talk about someone who came from humbling beginnings, who had kept. those humble beginnings at his forefront from the time him being a, a, a, a servant, uh, leader, uh, underneath, uh, the Landrieu's administration up until him being the, uh, the senior member of the city council for the city of New Orleans.
21:18 He has always kept that same statue and that same being, uh, he's someone that understands the, uh, the sobriety of his health. I was actually in New Orleans. We have a wellness center at the YMCA. He's one of the first ones to get up every morning and go in there and work out at 80-some years old. So he understands and appreciates being healthy and understands that that's a part of him remaining to be here. I am so happy that he has had the opportunity to work to actually kind of lead by example, not being out there always trying to just tell people what they ought to do, but showing them what they ought to do and how they ought to do it.
22:02 And that's one of my learning points from him actually being a, a worker at the school with the drives YMCA understanding and appreciating his leadership and how he actually moved around the city and showed his love for his citizens in the greater New Orleans area. So I just wanted to add that tidbit of the Colonel's legacy that he will leave because not only me, but it's so many other individuals who have had the opportunity to meet him and work with him and understand and appreciate his love for his community.
22:49 Stayed in the same place he's been staying with as long as I know him. Been driving the same car as long as it could go. as long as I know him. So we're just happy to have a legacy or a tribute to someone like him who has that honor and that respect and understanding of being in the military and showing that to the people and citizens of New Orleans. One of the things I wanted to ask him about was, of course, Katrina. And he was very involved during that time with the evacuation and the, I guess you could say the secure, the securing of our kids and our elder adults in New Orleans.
23:39 We did a lot at the Dries YMCA, we're trying to motivate and move people out of the city where we had actually, where we actually set up a area to actually for citizens to come and leave New Orleans at that time. And I know that he has some fond memories. And I think that's where I know that's where Dr. Rob, when they came in for Katrina, had an opportunity to meet him. That's what we did our first work at over there at his school. And he had the first school to reopen after Katrina. And he understands why we did that.
24:17 And I would just like for him to talk about it because it was him and Doug Evans that actually saw that we had a lot of kids still there with nowhere to go. So I want him to just talk with us about a couple of minutes about that, if he could. I get emotional when I, first of all, the school closed down and for other reasons and to deal with it. But back then, we had one idea in mind. What was how the best function and help the community and the first time was when talking to Doug, let's get the school back in operation and get these kids somewhere to go.
24:59 Because when you when you look at the situation in the city. They had nowhere to go. And the why was the one place that we could provide some. SIMILAR OF LEADERSHIP AND GUIDANCE TO NOT JUST THE KIDS, BUT TO THEIR PARENTS AT THE SAME TIME. AND THAT WAS AN IMPORTANT FUNCTION FOR US. AND IT WAS AN IMPORTANT FUNCTION FOR THE YMCA, YOU KNOW, TO BE ABLE TO LEAD AND SHOW THE COMMUNITY AND THE PEOPLE A WAY THAT THEY CAN BEGIN TO GET OVER THE FACT OF WHAT HAS HAPPENED. NOW, HALF OF THE CITY, I GUESS TWO-THIRDS OF THE CITY, HAVE BEEN UNDER WATER.
25:51 THE OTHER ONE-THIRD WAS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD WHERE I GUESS THE GARDEN DISTRICT, THAT SIDE, AND THE Y. THE Y, LUCKILY FOR US, I GUESS, THE Y, did not get, I think we had a couple of wonders broken out. Other than that, the Y was in good shape and we had an opportunity to use the Y, which is what it was designed for, is to help people to come back to life, so to speak. Yeah. I wanted to say one other thing. I wasn't born in New Orleans. I was From 14 years old, I was here, but I was born in the country.
26:36 Yeah, Mississippi, yeah. And my parents were farmers, and I was a farmer. I've done this the old way, when you had to plow a mule and do all those kinds of things. I've done all those things. So I had an appreciation for hard work, for parents who insisted that you had to do things a certain way, That you had to be straightforward, honest, and work hard to make a living for yourself and for your family. And I came to New Orleans with my parents sacrificing for me to be able to go to school. My dad had a sixth grade education.
27:19 My mother had 11th grade education, but they insisted that we needed to go to school and get an education. And I think that was my background and the basis for when I got to New Orleans, just continuing what I had already been taught. How old were you when you came to New Orleans? Were you in high school or elementary school? When I finally came here, I was 14. Okay. And I was getting ready to start high school. And do you recall, what kind of high school kid were you? What did you like to do? Well, I tried to play sports, but I was tall.
28:02 I was two arms and two legs kind of joined together. So the sports thing wasn't that good for me. So I had to decide that I was going to stay in the classroom. And that's why I stayed in the classroom. And when I finished high school, I followed the same procedure when I got to college. Were you on student council? Or what do you remember about high school? What did I remember? I guess the thing I remember is that I never could gain weight. I wanted to gain weight. I wanted to play sports. But I decided that I couldn't.
28:45 So because of the fact that I was, as I say, I call it two bones, two arms, two legs, all done together some kind of way. And I was just that skinny kid. And I just finally discovered that I wasn't going to be able to do what I wanted to do on that side, so I had to stay in the classroom. And I kind of stayed in the classroom and made that my objective in order to get to college and to get out of college. And then when I got out, my whole plan was I wanted to be a teacher because I wanted to teach young people what I had learned the hard way.
29:27 It's coming up in a way, and I wanted them to understand how important that was. And if I say so, I think I did a pretty good job for a few years, at least if I go back with my students and what they say to me later on. And even when I run into some of them now, this past week I ran into a couple of them and was talking about some of the things that happened when they were in my classroom. So I think that was a successful approach to helping people. And that's what my life has been all about. Did you teach middle school or high school or elementary?
30:09 What level? Started out in middle school and then went to high school. And when I left, it was the high school. And to be honest with you, I left because of I didn't want to get in trouble or go to jail because, you know, with that. the way things were. I was a strict disciplinarian and you had to follow my rules, not somebody else's. And if you couldn't follow the rules, we always had a problem. And I could see that I was getting to a point where I was going to have trouble. So I'd say I better go do something else and get away from that part of it.
30:46 And that's what I ended up doing. Would that have been in the 60s you were a teacher or in the 50s? Or when were you a teacher? What decade? I was a math teacher. Math teacher? I was just trying to think, was it in the 60s? Well, probably not. No, I got out of college in 1950. I guess I started teaching in 1958. Got it. So this is like pre-60s, right, into that era. It just seems like so long ago, but not, because we're talking to people, right, that were living around free computers, free cell phones, you know.
31:28 It was, it's not that long ago. Okay, the computers and all that stuff was not, they were just, beginning to think about that just a little bit, but it wasn't in the schools at that point. I think at my last, maybe the year that I was there, computers was beginning to be used a little bit in the classroom. When did you feel the pull to want to serve as a city councilman in that regard? Because that was like a 20-year span, right, of your life, civic leadership. Yeah. Do you remember a certain incident or a person saying, hey, you should run for city council?
32:16 Just curious how you got into the public serving space. No. The Code Community Action was the agency that under the Johnson administration had created the social aspects of trying to help communities. And the principal of my school at the point, Hal Buchry, didn't want to go to the meetings, I guess. So he started insisting or asking and imposing on me to attend the community meetings. And I started doing that and I got more involved as the process and time went on. And finally, I think it got to a point where I said, I'm going to run for the city council because I'm always at city hall.
33:07 I'm always talking to somebody. So why not just be there and not have to keep running down there every time a problem come up? That was the philosophy that I used anyway. and decided that I wanted to get involved in the best way was to be there on the site, on the scene. And I was lucky enough to run for the city council and win the election and serve the 24 years. I love that as a lesson because one of the things that we also are trying to challenge people with, you know, is to get involved and get engaged.
33:48 And, you know, there is a weekly county and or mayor's council meeting, you know, county administration or mayor and city council every week in most cities and towns across the country. They are always free to go to. You can listen as a citizen. You can even sign a little, you know, paper and have a right to contribute your voice. Right. And so I think I love that you said that because I think people seem to have this distinction between the politicians and then me. And it's not until I served for five years on the Pima County Tucson Women's Commission.
34:32 And that was when my eyes opened to the public sector space, the whole public meeting laws and, you know, the openness and transparency to the public sector. You couldn't have closed meetings over here, which is very interesting. And I think I always encourage people to serve somewhere on a commission for at least two years just so you can get a sense. sometimes why it's difficult for public sector decisioning to happen right but so I love that and part of what I want to do Rob and we don't have it now but we should create a badge so that somebody could earn points if they go attend the City Council meeting and they'll earn more points if they actually use their voice and present an issue or topic that is concerning to them.
35:23 I think everybody before high school graduation, quite frankly, should be attending a county or a city council meeting. So thanks for that reminder. I feel like I'm hogging all the questions. I keep looking at Josh and Rob, if you'd like to ask a couple more questions. I'd love to jump in on something you said earlier that I'm struggling with. And that was the advice you got about either be a servant leader or make money. And the two can't be mutually exclusive. And I'm wondering if one of my mentors was Governor Thomas Ridge, who served as the first secretary for Homeland Security.
36:10 And as he was advising me when I was doing a different effort dealing with school kids and health, he said, you know, you can do well by doing good. They're not mutually exclusive. And so as we look at young men and women coming up and that are suddenly finding themselves with access to a college education or to a job in the trades or in the military, and they're having access maybe in sports and Title IX, whatever else, some of these kids are going to make some real money. Should they feel guilty or could they use that money to do good?
36:52 Has that changed at all? And maybe for a government official, it gets real easy to take a bribe or something and then you go to jail. You get rich, you did bad, you did disservice, you weren't a leader, but can you do well by doing good? Because that's what I'm trying to do, to be honest with you, sir. I'm trying to make enough money someday that I can accomplish what I want to do for my kids, my grandkids, my community, my nation, my church, my charities I like. What do you think? If you, I guess to be a public servant, I still say the same thing.
37:38 You be a public servant, you're not going to get rich. you're going to have to suffer and you're going to have to scuffle and try to make ends meet and go far. But you have to make one choice or the other. If you want to do the things for your family, then stay out of the political arena and go into some other arena where you can make money. But don't try to do both. I think he was specific. Throughout the process, you cannot do both. I understand. So in the public arena, let me ask you this. You do sacrifice quite a bit to do that.
38:18 In this day and age with all the media, you're under scrutiny and you're investigated and all that as well. Can you get rich in terms of your emotional wealth? Did you get joy out of your public service work, sir? Was that an internal gratification, a different kind of richness? I think there's a great deal of satisfaction in being able to see your work and see that you are successful at helping people and helping your community is another side of it. And I think that's just part of if you're a public servant, that's what you're there to do.
39:00 And if you're successful in doing that, then that's where your gratification comes from. Very good. Thank you. But it doesn't pay the bills, right? I would say the same thing as well, too. You know, in this little short lifetime in which I had the opportunity to experience some of the things in which I've experienced, a lot of the joy that I get from actually even working with technology, I was considered Councilman Singleton's technology person, too, because I always had to go to his house and and set his computer up and show him certain things on the computer.
39:37 So my satisfaction or my richness that I feel is not financial. with that. But when I see him and I see other people are able to now maneuver and sit down in front of a monitor that at one point in time, they didn't even think about sitting in front of us, think about trying to do anything. And now they do it. That's gratification within itself because now I've, I've helped move the pendulum in his life. Uh, you know, this is probably one of the first time that he ever used the studio link. But I was glad enough that I could take a few minutes and walk him through it.
40:17 And he didn't feel intimidated enough to stop. Because sometimes that can get frustrating. You know, we do have a lot of seniors that sometimes get frustrated with trying to maneuver. And that's the piece that I wanted to express with him. Go ahead. I'm sorry. No, I just want to say, Josh, that just reminds me of all of this. senior citizen types at the Y with the program that they had with the computer program over there and to see the smile and the confidence that built in them once they had an opportunity to get over their fright and to start relating to what the computer could help them and their children, especially ones in schools do.
41:08 And that was always a pleasant thing to me to go to those sessions and see the happiness on the people that were there. And most of them were either seniors or a good bit of them, I should say, were senior citizens. It reminds me of a course and workshop that we've co-developed together. Josh has been so great about bringing multi-generational groups together. And so when we can team up teens and seniors so that we can simply help them connect, reduce the anxiety, Then it's golden. You know, my dad was over last night.
41:54 We were having dinner and he was bragging about how he was able to download the app from, you know, his new car finance place. And he set up automatic payments and you could kind of see the joy and the pride that he was able to do it by himself. Right. But we've also witnessed, you know, nephews. and nieces helping aunties and grandmas online. And once they're connected, it's golden. I mean, my dad walks probably five times more than I do. Queen Williams, one of the great aunties in the group, was always leading our walking challenges.
42:38 And so it's... Yeah, it's a family affair when it really comes down to it. It's a family affair. It's 8.51, so we've got about nine minutes. And thank you for staying on as long as you have. I mean, when we get guests like you, we just want to suck all of the wisdom and pearls of wisdom. I also love talking to people that are retired because then they don't have any stigma. They don't have any fright to say what it really is. I would like to thank you all, but this retirement business, you know, I still work with Total Community Action, so I have to find something to keep me down, and then people won't let me completely retire, which is what I'd like to do, and I've tried that, but I can't say no, I guess, when people call, and they're still...
43:34 Some of them still think I'm at City Hall taking care of the problems down there, but I'm not. But I just enjoy being around people, and when I can help people, I'm happy to do so. John, I'd like to say thank you. It's good to know that you have some of the things that you picked up at the Y, that you're still able to use those things to help people. And I appreciate the fact that you Call me and I'm here today with you all. And I want to thank each of you for your contributions to the people that are important to me.
44:16 And I thank you and I appreciate what you've done. You're very kind. What I'd like to suggest that kind of is maybe one of my final closing thoughts on this here is I'd like to ask Lucy, if maybe one of our future episodes could be specifically the use of the James Singleton School and the YMCA, the role they played before, during, and after Katrina. Because I think all of us are tied to that, and there's lessons learned there of the role of the teenagers, the lessons learned of community organizers, the lessons learned of having a facility that's prepared, et cetera.
44:59 Josh, what do you think? I think that would be a, cause I'd love to have the Colonel back to get his. That'd be a great one. And, you know, we talked to about, um, You need Doug involved in that one, too. Oh, yeah, definitely. I spoke to him last week. He's doing well and stuff of that nature. So, yeah, we can get him involved. We can also have General Honoré to actually join us. Yes, sir. Because he was very intimate in that restructure in New Orleans at that time. Yeah. So we look forward to bringing all those guys back here and really get a good working historical profile of what happened during Katrina.
45:41 It's wrong, it's rights, and what we can do to not have an opportunity to witness one of those major tragic incidents again. Yeah, I'd suggest we also involve certain of your students that were involved with Project Safe under your leadership, Josh. these are teen, these were middle school kids that put together evacuation plans for their families. Yes. So when hurricane Rita came, uh, Josh actually studied the outcomes of what happened after that, um, hurricane, uh, what happened after that with the kind of, and I wrote a little bit about that in a book called lessons learned successes achieved.
46:22 One of the big successes, um, really, uh, was the role of the teenagers in that evacuation, um, it's inside of the force for health. It's free. It's a book that someone might enjoy reading. And it's one of the things we tried to do with that book is give a perspective of what went right. What, what went right with Katrina? What, what did we, everyone had a horrible time from it, but what, what good, the one, what was the one good thing that came out of it? And for me, it's my relationship with Josh Williams and frankly, Evangeline Franklin, who the doctor who ran the, emergency response afterwards at the Superdome and beyond.
47:06 But I'd love to see where some of your students are today, Josh, if we could. So you look at the generations of mentorship. That would be neat. Then and now. Yeah. I think that the whole concept of then and now, especially since all of us have been in this fight for multiple decades, you know, if we just kind of put our timelines together, we're fighting the fight. And it's so interesting to see who's still at the fight, who we used to work with 30 years ago. And, you know, Colonel, one of the things that we're trying to really put some pressure on in this reality health games concept that we're activating is pinning not only individuals and organizations, but regions and markets together.
47:53 Up against each other in this concept of the reality health games. And so if we're putting a highlight on communities that do collaboration well, like here in Pima County, Cuyahoga County, perhaps Pinellas in Tampa, State College, Center County, we're going to put a spotlight on New Orleans, right? And start seeing what type of inequities and how leadership is addressing that or not. But really, we're a positive media outlet. And so we would rather highlight all the things that people do well.
48:33 And shower them with recognition and praise and really, hey, if you don't care about your community health, then fine. We don't really want you in the force for health network. But if you are an individual organization or community leader that wants to be top of market when it comes to supporting innovation and healthy communities, then please join us so that we can see what other peers are doing and get to brag about your community. We always say, do you think your community has what it takes to be a global model leader in population health?
49:12 If it's yes, awesome. My answer is yes for Pima County. I'm a confident citizen here. And if it's no, we want to hear too. Because unless you voice those as citizens, then it's going to stay status quo. right so we're going to help put some pressure on some leaders is what I'm saying and sometimes health and wellness initiatives if they're wrapped into governmental entities then it'll kind of ebb and flow with that leadership that goes in and out this you know chamber of health concept this this hub where leaders from education health care you know public private sector has to kind of almost be this extra sandbox that will continue to grow year after year after year.
50:01 It took 20 years to change the arc of cigarette smoking, right, to finally kind of come down. So it is a long fight. Like Dr. Martin Luther King, you didn't think he would be there with us when it was over. The next generation always has their own, you know – challenges to maintain freedom. It's not free. I'm just pulling all these quotes that have been closing out our shows in the last couple weeks. Those are my final thoughts. Colonel, thank you so, so, so much. Again, Josh, we need to get somebody and sponsor him so we can do a legacy life book on him.
50:40 I'd like to thank you all again that much. I'd like to give Josh one other name if you're going to do some of this. Don't forget Selma French at TCA. Oh, yeah, yeah, yes, yes, yes. She's going to be one of our guests coming up, too, within the next couple of months, yes. It's not going to be too long. I'm at the point where it's time for me to get off the board and let somebody else come in. I've been there 50 years. I think that's long enough. Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you for advancing the dream with the example of your life in servant leadership and even by daily practicing of movement, body, mind, soul.
51:29 It's always great to see somebody who lives what they say. Thank you very much. Okay. Well, so we will be here next Saturday. And again, if I practice and remind yourself of your advance a dream pledge, my pledge is if I hear something, I say something. And that is my pledge for advance a dream. Josh, what's your advance a dream pledge that you're going to continue to practice? Always try to give someone something that they never had when you first met them. Leave them something new. Every time you meet somebody, leave them something new.
52:10 Awesome. Rob? Be kind. Awesome. OK, Colonel, thank you for joining us. Heads up, because we will be in New Orleans activating some cool reality health games. And you are a lifetime honored member for the Force for Health Advanced Dream. So heads up for a complimentary membership. Thank you very much. OK, great. See you next week, everybody. Be a force for health. Thanks a lot. Bye.
Transcript is auto-generated from the broadcast captions and lightly cleaned; timestamps jump to the moment on YouTube.
Advance the Dream · Episode Recap ·