Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
The views and opinions expressed in thefollowing programmer those of the speaker and don't
necessarily represent those of the station.It's staff management or ownership. Good money.
You'll find me out with Pete thePoet Gold. I'm Peter Leonard and
I'm the Poet Gold. And we'reon the other this morning with Elizabeth o'rafferty,
and she'll be talking about all heraction and her social action or intellectual
(00:22):
action or work with kids, andshe'll be going at it. But first
we go right to the poet Goldfor her weekly prayer poem incantation. Gold,
please let it roll well once again, you know, sticking with poetry
month, I'm going to read apoem by Jericho Brown, who was the
winner of the Pulser Prize. Afriend of mine gave me this lovely book,
and I'm going to read a storycalle a poem quote. The microscopes
(00:44):
heavy and expensive, hard and blackwith bits of chrome. They looked like
baby cannons, the real children ofwar. And I hated them for that,
for what our teacher said they coulddo. And then I hated them
for what they did when we gaveup stealing looks at one another's bodies,
to press a left or right eyeinto the barrel and see our actual cells
(01:04):
taking down to a cell, thenblown back up again, every atomic thing
about a piece of my cold hairon one slide, just as unimportant as
anyone else's growing. In that scienceclass where I learned what little difference God
saw, if God saw me,it was the start of one fear,
a puny one, not much worthmentioning, narrow as the pencil tucked behind
(01:29):
my ear, lost when I reachedfor it to stab someone I secretly loved,
A bigger boy who's advanced, thoughlost, tight locker line corridors,
shoving without saying, excuse me,more an insult than a battle. No
large loss, not at all,nothing necessary to study or recall. No
fighting in the hall. On theway to an American history exam, I
(01:52):
almost passed. Red coats, redblood cells, red bricked education. I
rode the bus to get I can'tremember the exact date or great but I
know when I began ignoring slight alarmsthat move others to charge or retreat.
I'm a kind of camouflage. Inever let on when scared of conflicts so
(02:12):
old they seem to amount to nothing, really dust particles left behind, like
the viral geography of an occupied territory, a region. I imagine you imagine
when you see a white woman walkingwith a spec like me, Well,
a kind of camouflages microscopes. Howwe look at life the lens, through
(02:35):
the lens. If you would tellus about your career, you've had a
surprising korea in science and technology,engineering and math. Yeah. And if
you tell us stories from the pointof view of being a black woman at
(02:55):
a time when not only would girlscourage and science, but certainly black people
are not encouraging science. Wow,Well, I'm gonna actually launch from that
poem because as I listened to poetGold speak on it, it was as
if I was seeing myself and thefear, the fear in youth as a
(03:21):
youth, and being in school actuallyand coming out of it not scared anymore.
Because I came up in the earlyeighties in high school, and back
then there were few females in technology. Back then we called it electronics technology,
(03:42):
and very few blacks. I actuallywent to New York Institute of Technology.
Back then there may have been eightto ten young people in classes studying
computer science engineering and things like that, and realized that I didn't believe in
myself because nobody really believed in me. It was to the point where I
had a photogenic memory and did verywell on testing, and the professor actually
(04:04):
negated the test saying somebody cheated.And I never stepped to that, you
know, because of my lack ofconfidence. And it wasn't until I became
a member of the Charter Women inEngineering group where I met girls, white
(04:25):
girls who were like forging ahead,you know, one was transferring to MIT.
So with all that said, overthe years, not really fighting for
who I was in my capabilities,I realized the same thing is happening with
our children, same things happening withour children of color, urban children.
They have this many times. Maybeit's a little different now, but they
(04:46):
weren't encouraged or empowered to excel inscience, technology, engineering, and math
those disciplines. And so the goalof my nonprofit that was formed in twenty
twenty one to expose you to allthings stem and because of that, actually
a lot of things have happened.You know. Well, first of all,
(05:11):
let's first tell the listeners, whatis the name of your organization?
Oh, my gosh, okay,it's growing stems STEMZ. It's an acronym
for science, technology, engineering,and math. The Z is possibly for
millennials who are ten to thirty fourright now, But also when I did
form the organization, it was Zfor hip hop to attract children of color
(05:32):
and develop cultural learning and education thatkids children of color could relate to and
get engaged, so that math andscience and all of that isn't as fearful.
And you were a former math teacher, science science teacher out of your
husband Roberts Meth out of New YorkCity. He had a long career in
(05:57):
schools over thirty one and a halfyears. And because of studying electronics technology
in New York Constitutive Technologies in theeighties, and because I didn't push myself
to go into engineering because my realgoal is biomedical engineering, I ended up
certified in physics, chemistry, andbiology because of my coursework and went into
(06:17):
teaching. And so because of thatI was able to kind of, you
know, let young people know thatit's not as hard as you think or
what people make you think. BecauseI remember growing up, I never thought
I could be a doctor, becauseyou know, I was like you know,
smart enough, you know, andyou really didn't see a lot of
(06:40):
black doctors. No, I didnot. Yeah, I mean you still
don't, you know. But thisis I'm not sticking up for people not
to have ambition. But let mejust go back to one of the details.
If you have a photographic memory,it's much easier to become a doctor
or something as it is, right, that's true. Yeah, if you
(07:00):
have a photographic memory, yes,work harder. Yes, But I do
want to share something I actually mentormy niece. She's a works in the
VA. She does education for thenurses, and she herself is studying to
be a nurse. And every weekbefore an exam she's like, I can't
do this. I don't know.And we go through physiol we're doing anatomy
(07:21):
and physiology and that sort of thingright now, and she's like, I
can't, I can't do you know. This girl gets ninety twos and above.
So it's really the mental state thatwe have to adjust for young people.
If you're just tuning in, you'relistening to finding Out with Pete and
the poet Gold, and I'm thepoet Gold. Then we're here with Elizabeth
(07:42):
o'rafferty, a founder and CEO ofGrowing Stems, Inc. And doing business
as the Growing Stems Foundation, becausewe do want to develop that foundation in
science, technology, engineering. Absolutelyabsolutely so. You do a lot of
collaborative work with with the school districthere at Poughkeepsie and the Hudson Valley as
(08:03):
well as other CBO's community based organizations. Talk to us a little bit about
you know what. I'm glad youasked, because that's how we operate.
Right. If we get around asopposed to being in a brick and mortar,
we're less we'll have less impact.I want to say, since twenty
(08:24):
nineteen, we've collaborated with the PoughkeepsieSchool District, particularly through Natasha Brown and
her leadership, which is now theCommunity Schools of Poughkeepsie. She leads that
now. But since twenty nineteen we'vebeen involved in the Poughkeepsie School District.
In addition, we just last yearcollaborated with Community Matters Too and ran our
(08:45):
own the first summer camp in Poughkeepsie, Extraordinary Youth Summer Camp. Since the
inception of our nonprofit, we havewonderfully collaborated with Esperanza Dutchess County Hispanic organization
with their Unity and Hope Summer Camp, and that is run by executive director
(09:07):
Norman Viscarando who's been in the cityof Poughkeepsie for over twenty years and even
more so Charlie or Frank and moreparticularly, you know, we got to
work with the little ones at LittleWater Prep and Antoinette Kane. This is
her second year as a charter schoolin Poughkeepsie School District and she has opened
(09:30):
up her school and her kids forus to be able to affect and impact
her students, not only in sciencethrough our think like a science program,
but through our stems music building beatswith feelings in music. But I do
want to say our pop up workshopthink like a scientist. We have reached
(09:50):
every second grade student in the cityof Poughkeepsie, not every student every grade
and all that say, the receptionjust shows us that our little ones,
untainted, have so much ability andhave a love for problem solving, discovery,
(10:11):
asking questions that there is no reasonwhy we cannot grow stems in this
day and age. Passionate, Yes, for sure. And I want to
talk about the the the science andmusic because what our listeners may not know
is that you are a classically trainedmusician, piano, pianist, tennis.
(10:35):
Right, yeah, what is howdo you bridge them both? Because you
know, I'm a proponent that alwayssays, you know, math, science,
music, they all go together,exactly, they all go together.
And that's why I became a scienceperson because unfortunately my parents made me take
lessons. But nowadays kids are sointo you know, digital music and that
sort of thing. But the basicsof music is all about math, all
(10:58):
about fractions, counting, coordination.Hi I hand moving coordination. So imagine
if we got four or five andsix year olds who are able to develop
that skill through music, which iswhy I have the Stams Music program,
because we are exhilarating the brain andthe body into understanding the regimentation of math.
(11:18):
And I also expressed to the kidsthat just like English is the language
of communication, math is the languageof science. So we start developing that.
We have a plenty of things todevelop there. And will you when
did you realize that you were notonly surprised and capable's surprised, but capable
(11:43):
of doing all these things? Youknow, I thank goodness, I have
a wonderful husband who is very,very supportive. We've been together over twenty
three years, and he used tosay to me years and years and years
ago, Liz, you've got it. You just don't know it. And
it really wasn't until I left theNew York City Department of Education and took
early retirement and we ended up herein Poughkeepsie that I was really able to
(12:07):
realize my full potential in terms ofwhat I can offer and the passions that
I have and what I can offer. And it's so wonderful to be in
a city such as this in Poughkeepsie. And I really do want to say
thank you to Carmen Smallwood of DutchessCounty Family Services as well as Karen Williams
(12:28):
of the City of Poughkeepsie. She'sthe youth director. She's affiliated with both
the city and works with the schooldistrict and us CBOs. And if it
weren't because of them and some oftheir training and some of the conversations that
I had, that I wouldn't havegotten to the point where I am today
to really feel fully capable. Soyou're one of the seminas that's growing.
(12:52):
Yes, I'm growing too. Andwhat is all this beauty blooming? It
is Springtimes had the conference, thelunch in here with the women leaders and
women judges, women lead Judgess,you were certainly in on that, and
(13:13):
my sense is you got something fromthat or you you your remarkably an important
way. Can you talk about that? Absolutely? I was in a room
full of empowered women and to hearsome of their stories and to see where
they are today. Executive County ExecutiveSuserno, supervisor of Poughkeepsie, several other
(13:39):
people, especially Leah Feldman of theFamily Partnership, where she talked about her
style as a female was frowned uponand now today it is the best way
to run an organization. And soyes, absolutely, just knowing that I'm
among folks that I can learn fromand know that you know what I belong
(14:03):
And I think one of my statementswas I ended up in rooms that I
didn't know I could belong in,and that was a room I belonged in.
And what I happened to me afterthat is I just walked into rooms
knowing I belong. Yes, That'swhat that did for me. Excellent.
Yeah, and knowing you belong unlessyou really belong, yes, and that
(14:28):
you're capable of right. You know, nothing made mitigating your self esteem or
or or or you know, yourpassion. And virtually no woman in that
audience goal led the whole program.But no woman was born into a society
where they said, Okay, you'regoing to be a leader. Every one
(14:50):
of them found their way to leadershipin a way that was moving. You.
Hear about yes, And if you'rejust tuning in, you listen finding
out with Pete and the poet Goldand I'm the Poet Gold and we're here
once again speaking with Elizabeth Rafferty,founder and CEO of the Growing Stems Foundation,
and we're just having a wonderful conversationthat we're talking about the Women Lead
(15:15):
Duchess event and and understanding that knowingthat you belong you know, and having
that self discovery. Uh after thatit transformed you in that way in some
way empowered you. And now youcan walk into these rooms now you know.
But but you're you're also part ofyour brief to talked about the beautification
and I know that you have aproject coming up I believe with Seeny Hudson
(15:41):
or you can talk about that becauseyou'll be with the babies for that.
Yes, and a wonderful person,Yvon Turner. Yes, Oh my goodness.
So our board consists of one ofour board members, Yvon Turner,
has taken on a project and justto just to share, just as I'm
personally growing, our organizations growing,because we've received a grant from Scenic Cutson
(16:07):
to activate part of the north Side. We're a member of the North Side
Collaborative as well, and the ScenicCutson is renovating and rehabbing a building right
off of Parker, but they alsohave a place called the Junction, which
is a triangular space at the cornerof Garden and Parker, and we received
a grant not only to beautify thespace but to conduct outdoor learning environmental programming.
(16:33):
So we plan to have the kidsparticipate in environmental awareness workshops, design
a poster to uplift the space,as well as develop leadership in where they
themselves could present their learning and whatthey've gotten out of this thing. And
the grant itself will be at thatspace from now until December. We plan
(17:00):
to set up the whole space bythe end of May early June, and
we're looking forward to getting the communityinvolved of our youth sharing their knowledge and
just uplifting again the north side forfolks to see, you know, to
the point where perhaps community members willget involved with beautifying their own spaces in
(17:25):
that side of town. So veryvery much looking forward to it. And
it's all being managed by Ivon Turner, a member of our board. Now
you've got to have like planters andin the students to learn about soil.
And you know, actually I kindof just developed my curriculum. I don't
know if I should let it outnow. Imagine making jewelry with stones,
right, so stones become soil,and then after that, imagine testing the
(17:49):
soil and creating art around soil andsand, and imagine understanding that water is
so important that we create water art, water music. And by the way,
that's how we steamify things. Bythe way, Okay, they still
learn some theory, but it's soengaging they don't even realize their learning science.
So how can people know learn more? Do you have a website?
(18:11):
We have a website, right?The website yes, again, just growing
We just launched in March. Seethe sorry website. Yes, the website,
it's called growing stems dot org gr O w I N G S
T E, M Z dot Or G. And you know, when
you were talking about, you know, coming into your own conference in the
(18:32):
role that your husband Robert played init, here's somebody who also came from
a background that nobody was expecting himto become a US senator or anything.
And he has been very successful andcontributed to great Field, not only to
your growth, but to the growthof the community and Poughkeepsie as well throughout
(18:55):
his life. You talk a littlebit about Robert absolutely. First of all,
I want to share we're both peopleof color. I myself, I'm
from Trinidad. Robert was born inPuerto Rico and as an educator for many
many years. He also worked inhigher education, but ended up we both
ended up retiring from the New YorkCity Board event and what it is you
(19:15):
know again very much he had Hehad a rough life. You know,
he grew up in the South Bronx. He himself had run ins and things
like that, and somehow ended upin NYU, finished up his degrees and
(19:36):
he led he higher education opportunity program. So he has a very good understanding
of empowering youth of color and whatit takes. And one of the things
he shared with me was he walkedinto NYU unsophisticated and not understanding how to
work in that world or move throughthat world, and came out of it
(20:00):
understanding that you, even though youare who you are yourself, you have
to grow to the point where youcan communicate, interact and moved through to
develop not only yourself, but developother people to be successful. And when
we say he grew up in theSouth Bronx, he was an early friend
of Trey Aarrington. Yes he was, we will refer to quite often.
(20:25):
All of those three die a fewyears back. But so Robert was friends
with the Tree. And he alsohad a religious sensibility that he developed,
right, yes, which evolved toa spirituality, but an understanding that there's
more to us than being here.And I think that guides him. Yeah,
(20:47):
and he's a minister, is thatright? Yes he is, Yes,
he is. And so give mea sense of whether you know that
spirituality that sort of blossomedicans vicious wayin his life. If that moves you,
you know what, Let's just talkabout passion, right, So my
passion often comes off as an angryblack woman and believe it or not,
(21:14):
he tempers, you know, ourrelationship. It's so wonderful where because he
has a deeper understanding and perception ofhumanity and how people are, he's able
to help me see how perhaps Ineed to look at something differently or through
(21:37):
a different lens so that we areable to be successful in following our vision
and mission. So I thank himto be actually my eyes and my ears,
and my advisor and my confidant becauseof his foundation, I would amaze
that would be just discouraging with thespiriting to have your passion or enthusiasm be
(22:04):
perceived as a negative thing. Imean, if your passion is perceived as
being an angry black woman, that'sa rough cultural claysh. How do you
deal with that? That's really interesting? You see it all boils down.
Well, first of all, Ialways make the excuse right that please don't
(22:27):
misunderstand my passion for anger. SoI always preamble anything that I do because
I as an advocate for equity andeducation, I'm often going to council meetings
and county legislature meetings and things likethat. But how you counter that is
you just straight talk about facts.You have the facts to prove why you're
(22:47):
making demands or why you're pointing outthat this is not working out. And
for many people, the fallback isbecause you don't agree with them that you're
an angry black woman. Hm.Hm, you know a lot about you
know a lot about emotions. Youhave a response to that. Yeah,
(23:07):
I can, you know, asa as a as a poet, and
there are different sides to my poetry. A lot of people recognize me because
of the poet the poetry that Ispeak about in social justice, you know,
issues or even equity and how wetreat each other as human beings,
whether you're black, white, whatever, just you know, being able to
take a look at that. Andand I do feel passionate about that.
(23:30):
And if you don't, you don'tknow me, you may think you may
interpret it differently, you know.And and so and I've never been described
as the as the angry black woman, you know. Uh. I have
felt it in some in some ways, you know. But but the key
(23:52):
thing that you have that you havesaid, don't misinterpret my passion, it's
because it's it's a it's a exampleof my caring exactly, you know.
And I want to guarantee your goalthat you may never have been described as
an angry black woman, you havebeen perceived that way, okay, and
see, you know right right andprobably probably in certain in certain circles.
(24:15):
But I'm far from that, youknow, because I think anger kind of
well is my interpretation just you know, stifles you. It's important, yes,
be angry. Like I've said,the people who say to me,
now you know, well, I'mafraid, and I'm like, okay,
we'll be afraid. We'll get yourplan together, right, you know,
what are you going to do aboutthat, that that fear? You know,
how are you going to turn itinto something more positive? And and
(24:38):
that's what you do with growing stems. You're able to come into a space
understand the data necessary to communicate muchbetter than me. Actually, because I'm
not I'm in here, you know, I'm pointing to my body, I'm
in my heart, you know,and sometimes I find the need to even
have the data to care about anotherhuman being frustrating for me. You should
(25:00):
just care, you know. ButI could go on about this Meeters is
pointing to me, you know,but listen, it was wonderful having you
on. Definitely come back. Iknow you have something else you want to
talk about. We're going to haveyou back. You know, just support,
support, support science and technology,engineering and math. You know,
here in the city of Poughkeepsie forthe youth, growing STEMS is an important
(25:22):
foundation that that's within the fabric ofour community and definitely needs to be supported.
But thank you to our listeners.
The views and opinions expressed in thefollowing programmer those of the speaker and don't
necessarily represent those of the station.It's staff management or ownership. Good money.
You'll find me out with Pete thePoet Gold. I'm Peter Leonard and
I'm the Poet Gold. And we'reon the other this morning with Elizabeth o'rafferty,
and she'll be talking about all heraction and her social action or intellectual
(00:22):
action or work with kids, andshe'll be going at it. But first
we go right to the poet Goldfor her weekly prayer poem incantation. Gold,
please let it roll well once again, you know, sticking with poetry
month, I'm going to read apoem by Jericho Brown, who was the
winner of the Pulser Prize. Afriend of mine gave me this lovely book,
and I'm going to read a storycalle a poem quote. The microscopes
(00:44):
heavy and expensive, hard and blackwith bits of chrome. They looked like
baby cannons, the real children ofwar. And I hated them for that,
for what our teacher said they coulddo. And then I hated them
for what they did when we gaveup stealing looks at one another's bodies,
to press a left or right eyeinto the barrel and see our actual cells
(01:04):
taking down to a cell, thenblown back up again, every atomic thing
about a piece of my cold hairon one slide, just as unimportant as
anyone else's growing. In that scienceclass where I learned what little difference God
saw, if God saw me,it was the start of one fear,
a puny one, not much worthmentioning, narrow as the pencil tucked behind
(01:29):
my ear, lost when I reachedfor it to stab someone I secretly loved,
A bigger boy who's advanced, thoughlost, tight locker line corridors,
shoving without saying, excuse me,more an insult than a battle. No
large loss, not at all,nothing necessary to study or recall. No
fighting in the hall. On theway to an American history exam, I
(01:52):
almost passed. Red coats, redblood cells, red bricked education. I
rode the bus to get I can'tremember the exact date or great but I
know when I began ignoring slight alarmsthat move others to charge or retreat.
I'm a kind of camouflage. Inever let on when scared of conflicts so
(02:12):
old they seem to amount to nothing, really dust particles left behind, like
the viral geography of an occupied territory, a region. I imagine you imagine
when you see a white woman walkingwith a spec like me, Well,
a kind of camouflages microscopes. Howwe look at life the lens, through
(02:35):
the lens. If you would tellus about your career, you've had a
surprising korea in science and technology,engineering and math. Yeah. And if
you tell us stories from the pointof view of being a black woman at
(02:55):
a time when not only would girlscourage and science, but certainly black people
are not encouraging science. Wow,Well, I'm gonna actually launch from that
poem because as I listened to poetGold speak on it, it was as
if I was seeing myself and thefear, the fear in youth as a
(03:21):
youth, and being in school actuallyand coming out of it not scared anymore.
Because I came up in the earlyeighties in high school, and back
then there were few females in technology. Back then we called it electronics technology,
(03:42):
and very few blacks. I actuallywent to New York Institute of Technology.
Back then there may have been eightto ten young people in classes studying
computer science engineering and things like that, and realized that I didn't believe in
myself because nobody really believed in me. It was to the point where I
had a photogenic memory and did verywell on testing, and the professor actually
(04:04):
negated the test saying somebody cheated.And I never stepped to that, you
know, because of my lack ofconfidence. And it wasn't until I became
a member of the Charter Women inEngineering group where I met girls, white
(04:25):
girls who were like forging ahead,you know, one was transferring to MIT.
So with all that said, overthe years, not really fighting for
who I was in my capabilities,I realized the same thing is happening with
our children, same things happening withour children of color, urban children.
They have this many times. Maybeit's a little different now, but they
(04:46):
weren't encouraged or empowered to excel inscience, technology, engineering, and math
those disciplines. And so the goalof my nonprofit that was formed in twenty
twenty one to expose you to allthings stem and because of that, actually
a lot of things have happened.You know. Well, first of all,
(05:11):
let's first tell the listeners, whatis the name of your organization?
Oh, my gosh, okay,it's growing stems STEMZ. It's an acronym
for science, technology, engineering,and math. The Z is possibly for
millennials who are ten to thirty fourright now, But also when I did
form the organization, it was Zfor hip hop to attract children of color
(05:32):
and develop cultural learning and education thatkids children of color could relate to and
get engaged, so that math andscience and all of that isn't as fearful.
And you were a former math teacher, science science teacher out of your
husband Roberts Meth out of New YorkCity. He had a long career in
(05:57):
schools over thirty one and a halfyears. And because of studying electronics technology
in New York Constitutive Technologies in theeighties, and because I didn't push myself
to go into engineering because my realgoal is biomedical engineering, I ended up
certified in physics, chemistry, andbiology because of my coursework and went into
(06:17):
teaching. And so because of thatI was able to kind of, you
know, let young people know thatit's not as hard as you think or
what people make you think. BecauseI remember growing up, I never thought
I could be a doctor, becauseyou know, I was like you know,
smart enough, you know, andyou really didn't see a lot of
(06:40):
black doctors. No, I didnot. Yeah, I mean you still
don't, you know. But thisis I'm not sticking up for people not
to have ambition. But let mejust go back to one of the details.
If you have a photographic memory,it's much easier to become a doctor
or something as it is, right, that's true. Yeah, if you
(07:00):
have a photographic memory, yes,work harder. Yes, But I do
want to share something I actually mentormy niece. She's a works in the
VA. She does education for thenurses, and she herself is studying to
be a nurse. And every weekbefore an exam she's like, I can't
do this. I don't know.And we go through physiol we're doing anatomy
(07:21):
and physiology and that sort of thingright now, and she's like, I
can't, I can't do you know. This girl gets ninety twos and above.
So it's really the mental state thatwe have to adjust for young people.
If you're just tuning in, you'relistening to finding Out with Pete and
the poet Gold, and I'm thepoet Gold. Then we're here with Elizabeth
(07:42):
o'rafferty, a founder and CEO ofGrowing Stems, Inc. And doing business
as the Growing Stems Foundation, becausewe do want to develop that foundation in
science, technology, engineering. Absolutelyabsolutely so. You do a lot of
collaborative work with with the school districthere at Poughkeepsie and the Hudson Valley as
(08:03):
well as other CBO's community based organizations. Talk to us a little bit about
you know what. I'm glad youasked, because that's how we operate.
Right. If we get around asopposed to being in a brick and mortar,
we're less we'll have less impact.I want to say, since twenty
(08:24):
nineteen, we've collaborated with the PoughkeepsieSchool District, particularly through Natasha Brown and
her leadership, which is now theCommunity Schools of Poughkeepsie. She leads that
now. But since twenty nineteen we'vebeen involved in the Poughkeepsie School District.
In addition, we just last yearcollaborated with Community Matters Too and ran our
(08:45):
own the first summer camp in Poughkeepsie, Extraordinary Youth Summer Camp. Since the
inception of our nonprofit, we havewonderfully collaborated with Esperanza Dutchess County Hispanic organization
with their Unity and Hope Summer Camp, and that is run by executive director
(09:07):
Norman Viscarando who's been in the cityof Poughkeepsie for over twenty years and even
more so Charlie or Frank and moreparticularly, you know, we got to
work with the little ones at LittleWater Prep and Antoinette Kane. This is
her second year as a charter schoolin Poughkeepsie School District and she has opened
(09:30):
up her school and her kids forus to be able to affect and impact
her students, not only in sciencethrough our think like a science program,
but through our stems music building beatswith feelings in music. But I do
want to say our pop up workshopthink like a scientist. We have reached
(09:50):
every second grade student in the cityof Poughkeepsie, not every student every grade
and all that say, the receptionjust shows us that our little ones,
untainted, have so much ability andhave a love for problem solving, discovery,
(10:11):
asking questions that there is no reasonwhy we cannot grow stems in this
day and age. Passionate, Yes, for sure. And I want to
talk about the the the science andmusic because what our listeners may not know
is that you are a classically trainedmusician, piano, pianist, tennis.
(10:35):
Right, yeah, what is howdo you bridge them both? Because you
know, I'm a proponent that alwayssays, you know, math, science,
music, they all go together,exactly, they all go together.
And that's why I became a scienceperson because unfortunately my parents made me take
lessons. But nowadays kids are sointo you know, digital music and that
sort of thing. But the basicsof music is all about math, all
(10:58):
about fractions, counting, coordination.Hi I hand moving coordination. So imagine
if we got four or five andsix year olds who are able to develop
that skill through music, which iswhy I have the Stams Music program,
because we are exhilarating the brain andthe body into understanding the regimentation of math.
(11:18):
And I also expressed to the kidsthat just like English is the language
of communication, math is the languageof science. So we start developing that.
We have a plenty of things todevelop there. And will you when
did you realize that you were notonly surprised and capable's surprised, but capable
(11:43):
of doing all these things? Youknow, I thank goodness, I have
a wonderful husband who is very,very supportive. We've been together over twenty
three years, and he used tosay to me years and years and years
ago, Liz, you've got it. You just don't know it. And
it really wasn't until I left theNew York City Department of Education and took
early retirement and we ended up herein Poughkeepsie that I was really able to
(12:07):
realize my full potential in terms ofwhat I can offer and the passions that
I have and what I can offer. And it's so wonderful to be in
a city such as this in Poughkeepsie. And I really do want to say
thank you to Carmen Smallwood of DutchessCounty Family Services as well as Karen Williams
(12:28):
of the City of Poughkeepsie. She'sthe youth director. She's affiliated with both
the city and works with the schooldistrict and us CBOs. And if it
weren't because of them and some oftheir training and some of the conversations that
I had, that I wouldn't havegotten to the point where I am today
to really feel fully capable. Soyou're one of the seminas that's growing.
(12:52):
Yes, I'm growing too. Andwhat is all this beauty blooming? It
is Springtimes had the conference, thelunch in here with the women leaders and
women judges, women lead Judgess,you were certainly in on that, and
(13:13):
my sense is you got something fromthat or you you your remarkably an important
way. Can you talk about that? Absolutely? I was in a room
full of empowered women and to hearsome of their stories and to see where
they are today. Executive County ExecutiveSuserno, supervisor of Poughkeepsie, several other
(13:39):
people, especially Leah Feldman of theFamily Partnership, where she talked about her
style as a female was frowned uponand now today it is the best way
to run an organization. And soyes, absolutely, just knowing that I'm
among folks that I can learn fromand know that you know what I belong
(14:03):
And I think one of my statementswas I ended up in rooms that I
didn't know I could belong in,and that was a room I belonged in.
And what I happened to me afterthat is I just walked into rooms
knowing I belong. Yes, That'swhat that did for me. Excellent.
Yeah, and knowing you belong unlessyou really belong, yes, and that
(14:28):
you're capable of right. You know, nothing made mitigating your self esteem or
or or or you know, yourpassion. And virtually no woman in that
audience goal led the whole program.But no woman was born into a society
where they said, Okay, you'regoing to be a leader. Every one
(14:50):
of them found their way to leadershipin a way that was moving. You.
Hear about yes, And if you'rejust tuning in, you listen finding
out with Pete and the poet Goldand I'm the Poet Gold and we're here
once again speaking with Elizabeth Rafferty,founder and CEO of the Growing Stems Foundation,
and we're just having a wonderful conversationthat we're talking about the Women Lead
(15:15):
Duchess event and and understanding that knowingthat you belong you know, and having
that self discovery. Uh after thatit transformed you in that way in some
way empowered you. And now youcan walk into these rooms now you know.
But but you're you're also part ofyour brief to talked about the beautification
and I know that you have aproject coming up I believe with Seeny Hudson
(15:41):
or you can talk about that becauseyou'll be with the babies for that.
Yes, and a wonderful person,Yvon Turner. Yes, Oh my goodness.
So our board consists of one ofour board members, Yvon Turner,
has taken on a project and justto just to share, just as I'm
personally growing, our organizations growing,because we've received a grant from Scenic Cutson
(16:07):
to activate part of the north Side. We're a member of the North Side
Collaborative as well, and the ScenicCutson is renovating and rehabbing a building right
off of Parker, but they alsohave a place called the Junction, which
is a triangular space at the cornerof Garden and Parker, and we received
a grant not only to beautify thespace but to conduct outdoor learning environmental programming.
(16:33):
So we plan to have the kidsparticipate in environmental awareness workshops, design
a poster to uplift the space,as well as develop leadership in where they
themselves could present their learning and whatthey've gotten out of this thing. And
the grant itself will be at thatspace from now until December. We plan
(17:00):
to set up the whole space bythe end of May early June, and
we're looking forward to getting the communityinvolved of our youth sharing their knowledge and
just uplifting again the north side forfolks to see, you know, to
the point where perhaps community members willget involved with beautifying their own spaces in
(17:25):
that side of town. So veryvery much looking forward to it. And
it's all being managed by Ivon Turner, a member of our board. Now
you've got to have like planters andin the students to learn about soil.
And you know, actually I kindof just developed my curriculum. I don't
know if I should let it outnow. Imagine making jewelry with stones,
right, so stones become soil,and then after that, imagine testing the
(17:49):
soil and creating art around soil andsand, and imagine understanding that water is
so important that we create water art, water music. And by the way,
that's how we steamify things. Bythe way, Okay, they still
learn some theory, but it's soengaging they don't even realize their learning science.
So how can people know learn more? Do you have a website?
(18:11):
We have a website, right?The website yes, again, just growing
We just launched in March. Seethe sorry website. Yes, the website,
it's called growing stems dot org gr O w I N G S
T E, M Z dot Or G. And you know, when
you were talking about, you know, coming into your own conference in the
(18:32):
role that your husband Robert played init, here's somebody who also came from
a background that nobody was expecting himto become a US senator or anything.
And he has been very successful andcontributed to great Field, not only to
your growth, but to the growthof the community and Poughkeepsie as well throughout
(18:55):
his life. You talk a littlebit about Robert absolutely. First of all,
I want to share we're both peopleof color. I myself, I'm
from Trinidad. Robert was born inPuerto Rico and as an educator for many
many years. He also worked inhigher education, but ended up we both
ended up retiring from the New YorkCity Board event and what it is you
(19:15):
know again very much he had Hehad a rough life. You know,
he grew up in the South Bronx. He himself had run ins and things
like that, and somehow ended upin NYU, finished up his degrees and
(19:36):
he led he higher education opportunity program. So he has a very good understanding
of empowering youth of color and whatit takes. And one of the things
he shared with me was he walkedinto NYU unsophisticated and not understanding how to
work in that world or move throughthat world, and came out of it
(20:00):
understanding that you, even though youare who you are yourself, you have
to grow to the point where youcan communicate, interact and moved through to
develop not only yourself, but developother people to be successful. And when
we say he grew up in theSouth Bronx, he was an early friend
of Trey Aarrington. Yes he was, we will refer to quite often.
(20:25):
All of those three die a fewyears back. But so Robert was friends
with the Tree. And he alsohad a religious sensibility that he developed,
right, yes, which evolved toa spirituality, but an understanding that there's
more to us than being here.And I think that guides him. Yeah,
(20:47):
and he's a minister, is thatright? Yes he is, Yes,
he is. And so give mea sense of whether you know that
spirituality that sort of blossomedicans vicious wayin his life. If that moves you,
you know what, Let's just talkabout passion, right, So my
passion often comes off as an angryblack woman and believe it or not,
(21:14):
he tempers, you know, ourrelationship. It's so wonderful where because he
has a deeper understanding and perception ofhumanity and how people are, he's able
to help me see how perhaps Ineed to look at something differently or through
(21:37):
a different lens so that we areable to be successful in following our vision
and mission. So I thank himto be actually my eyes and my ears,
and my advisor and my confidant becauseof his foundation, I would amaze
that would be just discouraging with thespiriting to have your passion or enthusiasm be
(22:04):
perceived as a negative thing. Imean, if your passion is perceived as
being an angry black woman, that'sa rough cultural claysh. How do you
deal with that? That's really interesting? You see it all boils down.
Well, first of all, Ialways make the excuse right that please don't
(22:27):
misunderstand my passion for anger. SoI always preamble anything that I do because
I as an advocate for equity andeducation, I'm often going to council meetings
and county legislature meetings and things likethat. But how you counter that is
you just straight talk about facts.You have the facts to prove why you're
(22:47):
making demands or why you're pointing outthat this is not working out. And
for many people, the fallback isbecause you don't agree with them that you're
an angry black woman. Hm.Hm, you know a lot about you
know a lot about emotions. Youhave a response to that. Yeah,
(23:07):
I can, you know, asa as a as a poet, and
there are different sides to my poetry. A lot of people recognize me because
of the poet the poetry that Ispeak about in social justice, you know,
issues or even equity and how wetreat each other as human beings,
whether you're black, white, whatever, just you know, being able to
take a look at that. Andand I do feel passionate about that.
(23:30):
And if you don't, you don'tknow me, you may think you may
interpret it differently, you know.And and so and I've never been described
as the as the angry black woman, you know. Uh. I have
felt it in some in some ways, you know. But but the key
(23:52):
thing that you have that you havesaid, don't misinterpret my passion, it's
because it's it's a it's a exampleof my caring exactly, you know.
And I want to guarantee your goalthat you may never have been described as
an angry black woman, you havebeen perceived that way, okay, and
see, you know right right andprobably probably in certain in certain circles.
(24:15):
But I'm far from that, youknow, because I think anger kind of
well is my interpretation just you know, stifles you. It's important, yes,
be angry. Like I've said,the people who say to me,
now you know, well, I'mafraid, and I'm like, okay,
we'll be afraid. We'll get yourplan together, right, you know,
what are you going to do aboutthat, that that fear? You know,
how are you going to turn itinto something more positive? And and
(24:38):
that's what you do with growing stems. You're able to come into a space
understand the data necessary to communicate muchbetter than me. Actually, because I'm
not I'm in here, you know, I'm pointing to my body, I'm
in my heart, you know,and sometimes I find the need to even
have the data to care about anotherhuman being frustrating for me. You should
(25:00):
just care, you know. ButI could go on about this Meeters is
pointing to me, you know,but listen, it was wonderful having you
on. Definitely come back. Iknow you have something else you want to
talk about. We're going to haveyou back. You know, just support,
support, support science and technology,engineering and math. You know,
here in the city of Poughkeepsie forthe youth, growing STEMS is an important
(25:22):
foundation that that's within the fabric ofour community and definitely needs to be supported.
But thank you to our listeners.
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