December 8, 2023 • 30 mins
I’m joined by Sheila Alexander Reid, Executive Director of PHL about an expansive definition of diversity and the work of her organization to bring multicultural groups to Philadephia for meetings and conventions. https://www.discoverphl.com/meet/phldiversity/ PHL Diversity Guide
We air an interview conducted by Philadelphia Work Ready student Lucas Gonzalez with film maker (and Dad) Gilberto Gonzalez about his documentary on the origin of the Puerto Rican 2OG gang. The film features testimony from some of the original 20G members who defended their neighborhood from other gangs and the police during a racially divisive 1970’s in the barrio of North Philly. 20G Heroes - Soldiers - Boricuas
First, open Enrollment is the one time each year that individuals and families can enroll in or change their health plan each year. So, if you don’t have a health plan through an employer, union group, Medicare or Medicaid, now is the time to shop. I talk about open enrollment, shopping for health insurance and financial assistance with Erin Thurston – Director, Member Marketing at IBX.
For more info call 855-251-2150 (TTY: 711), Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. www.ibx.com/healthplan
https://pennie.com/
We air an interview conducted by Philadelphia Work Ready student Lucas Gonzalez with film maker (and Dad) Gilberto Gonzalez about his documentary on the origin of the Puerto Rican 2OG gang. The film features testimony from some of the original 20G members who defended their neighborhood from other gangs and the police during a racially divisive 1970’s in the barrio of North Philly. 20G Heroes - Soldiers - Boricuas
First, open Enrollment is the one time each year that individuals and families can enroll in or change their health plan each year. So, if you don’t have a health plan through an employer, union group, Medicare or Medicaid, now is the time to shop. I talk about open enrollment, shopping for health insurance and financial assistance with Erin Thurston – Director, Member Marketing at IBX.
For more info call 855-251-2150 (TTY: 711), Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. www.ibx.com/healthplan
https://pennie.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Good morning. You're listening to Insight, a show about empowering our community.
I'm Lorraine Ballardmorrow. Diversity is afact, Inclusion is an action, Equity
is a practice, belonging is afeeling, and accessibility is a right.
Sheila Alexander Reid, executive director ofPHL Diversity, breaking down what DEI means
(00:21):
and adding a couple more letters intothe mix. I'll be speaking with Sila
about diversity and the work of herorganization to bring multicultural groups to Philadelphia for
meetings and conventions. Last summer Ihad students from the work Ready program.
I'm sharing an interview today by theneighteen year old Lucas Gonzales. First Important
information about healthcare enrollment sponsored by IndependenceBlue Cross. Open enrollment is the one
(00:46):
time each year that individuals and familiescan enroll in or change their health plan
each year. So if you don'thave a health plan through an employer,
union, group, Medicare, orMedicaid, now is the time to shop.
Enrolling in medical insurance before the deadlineis absolutely paramount for ensuring financial security
and access to essential healthcare services.We're going to talk about open enrollment,
(01:11):
shopping for healthcare insurance, financial assistance, and much much more with Aaron Thurston.
She's director of Member Marketing for IBX. Thank you so much for joining
us erin. Let's begin by talkingabout the specific dates that people need to
keep in mind. Tell us aboutthose dates. As you said, open
enrollment is that wants a year chancefor people who don't get coverage through their
(01:32):
employer or through a government program tomake sure that they get coverage for themselves
and their families. The open enrollmentperiod start at November first, and it
runs through January fifteenth. It's importantto note, though, if people want
coverage for January first of twenty twentyfour, that they must apply for coverage
by December fifteenth of twenty twenty three. Let's talk about shopping for health insurance
(01:53):
for individuals and families. What aresome of the considerations that people need to
keep in mind when they're shopping fora health plan. It's always important to
consider what your options are and alsowhat your needs are for yourself and your
family. So as you are consideringall of those things, you can go
out to Penny, the state basedmarketplace to view your options, or you
(02:15):
can visit IBX dot com slash healthplan to review all of our plan options
and all of the planned details thatgo with it. So as you're weighing
your options that are available to you, you can determine what's going to best
meet your needs and also your budget. A lot of folks are confused by
the various initials that we talk aboutwhen we discuss health insurance LAG, PPO,
(02:38):
HMO, EPO. So tell us, I know that IBX does provide
all those plans, but tell uswhat are those initials stand for and what
do they provide? You're right,So Independence is the most popular health insurance
carrier in the Philadelphia region, andwe do provide plans and all of those
different letters. As you said,so the PPO option is your most flexible
(03:00):
options. So that is going toprovide people the ability to see providers that
are both in our network as wellas out of our network. If members
go out of the network, theywill have higher cost sharing that they'll have
to be accountable for, but itgives them greater access to more providers.
If you stay in network, you'llhave lower cost sharing options and also the
access to the largest network in theregion. As it is with our health
(03:23):
plans and our providers. So PPOitself stands for the Preferred Provider Network and
it is one of the most commontypes of plans available today. Another very
common type of plan is the HMOplan. That is your health maintenance Organization
is what those letters stand for,and within an HMO plan, you are
required to pick yet another letter.Here we have the PCP, so your
(03:45):
primary care provider who is going tohelp you manage your health plan. When
you have an HMO plan, youare required to get referrals for certain types
of visits, but you're never goingto get a referral for an OBGYN visit,
mammograms, mental health firm, urgencycare. So it is a really
good option for people who are lookingfor lower cost options, and if you
(04:05):
are seeing providers that are already withinthis network, it's a great option for
you to save money. There isno coverage though in an HMO plan for
out of network providers except for emergencycare, so I do just want to
note that. And then finally,the EPO plan is a health plan that
meets a little in the middle betweenthe HMO and the PPO clan, so
it provides you the ability to manageyour own care without getting a referral from
(04:30):
a provider, but you will haveto stay within the network for that plan.
Gotcha. Now, there are alot of folks out there who think
they can't afford medical insurance, andI wonder if you can talk about financial
assistance available to help pay for plans. Yes, there is financial assistance available
in the form of tax credits,and it's going to be based off of
your family size and your income levelwith the amount of credits that you may
(04:54):
be eligible to receive. If youare eligible for these credits, it can
help lower both the monthly costs thatyou pay in terms of premium as well
as potentially the out of pocket costswhen you go to get care. For
people who are trying to figure outthey're eligible for the tax credits, they
can visit ibx dot com slash calculatorto see if they're eligible for lower out
(05:15):
of pocket costs. IBX does providedifferent options. One thing that I've found
very helpful is the virtual doctor's appointmentsbecause sometimes, you know, you really
get busy and sometimes having a videoappointment can make all the difference in terms
of convenience, especially for folks whowork. Tell us more about that.
Yeah, so all of the Independenceplans provide virtual visit options with our end
(05:38):
network providers at lower out of pocketcosts, and we also cover virtual care
visits through our vendor partner, TELEDOCT. You're able to see those TELEDOCT providers
at no cost for behavioral health,dermatology as well as regular non urgent visits.
And finally, I just want totalk about how important health insurance is.
(05:59):
I have lived in the past waybefore you know, in the distant
past of my life, I didn'thave health insurance. And when you don't
have health insurance, there's a lotof added stress because you don't know what
the cost of medical care is goingto be when you go to see a
doctor, and therefore you're probably notgoing to see I didn't go to see
the doctor for many years, andthen fast forward to the future. I
(06:24):
have health insurance. I have greathealth insurance, and because of that,
I go to the doctor. Iget those checkups, I get the preventative
care that I need and deserve,as all people need and deserve, And
it really has made a huge differencehaving a robust health care plan that doesn't
have a huge copay or it doesn'thave a huge deductible. It just makes
(06:48):
such a huge difference. And ina society where we're really we really need
to take care of ourselves, andwe have heart disease, and we have
diabetes, and we have high bloodpressure, we have all of these conditions
and a lot of people allow topersist because they're reluctant to see the doctor
because of the cost. So let'stalk about why it's so important to have
(07:12):
health insurance, and also that healthinsurance is available to anyone who needs to
have it. That's right, Loraine, and I really appreciate you sharing your
personal story. It is so importantthat people have health insurance because it is
for just that the unexpected costs thatmay be occurred for people who are not
covered and then have an unexpected healthcircumstance. So it's really important that when
(07:34):
you have that coverage, you canbe proactive like you're being with your health.
You can go get those preventive carevisits, you can get your immunizations,
you can get your cancer screenings,all covered under your health plan.
I also have a very similar story. Back when I was twenty four,
I was diagnosed with stage two Hotchkins. At twenty four, I was out
of college, a collegiate athlete,a healthy person in general, and then
(07:57):
to have something like that happened tome was completely unexpected. Like you,
having the ability to go through myhealth insurance to help with all of the
visits that I needed to have atthe time helped, you know, just
prevent some additional stress to that alreadystressful situation. And it was just really
reassuring to me that I could getthe care that I needed and I could
(08:20):
afford to get the care that Ineeded when I needed it. Yeah,
that's a very important story to tell. And if people want more information,
not only for the IBX clients thatalready have IBX insurance, but those who
are looking to find the best plansfor them. What's the best way to
find out more? You can alwaysvisit us online at ibx dot com slash
health plan, or if you arenot sure the direction that you want to
(08:43):
go for your health plan and youhave some questions, you can contact one
of our licensed agents at eight fivefive two five one two one five zero
Monday through Friday from eight to sixand we'd be happy to answer any of
your questions. And we also wantto repeat that website for Penny because that's
great website. Also for information.Yes, Penny is the state based health
exchange though if you'd like to goout to Penny dot com. That's p
(09:07):
e n nie dot com. Youcan visit there to see all of the
plans available in your zip code.And what's that deadline once again for signing
up? If you want coverage forJanuary, first sign up by December fifteenth.
All right, so don't delay signup today. Aaron Thurston, director
of Member Marketing for IBX, thankyou so much for all this great information.
Thank you, Loreen. One ofmy favorite boards is PHL Diversity,
(09:33):
which is an organization that is dedicatedto getting diversity in the convention and visitors
space here in Philadelphia. I'm sopleased to bring back Sheila Alexander Reed.
She's executive director of PHL Diversity.Hello and welcome. And you've been here
for how long now? I thinkwe're going on fifteen months? Fifteen months?
Yeah, So you got a crashcourse in Philadelphia, the city of
(09:58):
brotherly love and sisterly affection. How'sit been so far? I know you've
been doing so much. It's beenawesome. I've you know, spent the
first year sort of getting myself acquaintedwith the city. Even though you know
it's only two hours away from DCvia train, it is, you know,
a world and to itself, andit seems very familiar, kind of
(10:18):
like a cousin to Washington, dC. But has its own personality,
its own sort of vibe. AndI've spent the last year getting to know
the city, getting to know thestakeholders like yourself, and getting to know
sort of what makes it tick,particularly from a diversity standpoint, and I
find it very interesting and very surprisinglyopen and welcoming. We are a sanctuary
(10:43):
city, we are a very LGBTQIAplus friendly city, and we are a
city that is very welcoming when itcomes to encouraging travel in our diverse communities.
Tell us more about what PHL Diversitydoes. SOSY started in nineteen eighty
seven as a business division of thePhiladelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, and in
(11:05):
nineteen eighty seven it was called theMulticultural Affairs Congress. Multicultural was sort of
a word used before we got todiversity, equity, inclusion and so on
and so on, but it wasreally sort of an idea put together by
some stakeholders in the community at thetime to say, while we're bringing meetings
and conventions to the city, whois reaching out to black and brown communities
(11:28):
and ultimately LGBTQI plus communities, faithcommunities, Who is reaching out to these
communities that are overlooked. So manydestinations focus on everything else but those communities,
because I think there was a misperceptionthat those communities didn't travel or didn't
have money, or those meetings orconventions were insignificant, but that was there
(11:48):
were leaving a lot of money onthe table. So we started in nineteen
eighty seven and said, hey,let us take a concerted and intentional effort
to reach out to these communities andlet them know that they're welcome here just
like everyone else. And that beganthe Multicultural Affairs Congress and has since evolved
into being called PHL Diversity, andit's a division of the Convention Visitors Bureau.
(12:11):
We all bring meetings and conventions toPhiladelphia, and we all help both
the meeting planners and the meeting attendees. We bring them to the convention center,
we bring them to hotels and venuesin the city, but I particularly
focus on those previously marginalized communities andquite frankly still marginalized communities in many ways.
But I'm very, very passionate abouthelping give visibility to these communities and
(12:37):
letting people know that they are justas significant as any other segment of the
travel industry. And by being overlookedby so many other destinations, they can
find a welcoming place, leaving witha sense of belonging when they come to
Philadelphia, and I really want tomake sure that a we bring them to
the city. And here's the otherthing, I want to make sure that
(12:58):
the communities in Philadelphia benefit from thosemeetings and conventions as well. Right,
exactly well, as we know,and as many corporations are seeing more and
more, diversity is great for thebottom line, right, it's a business
strategy. Well, but not justdiversity by itself. I think people locked
onto diversity and just had different peopleat the table and they assumed that was
(13:22):
enough. And that's problematic because alot of that is performative. There's no
real inclusion, there's no real intenton making them have a sense of equity.
So I believe that as we evolve, we've added different words to in
different letters to the acronym to tryto get people to understand that diversity in
(13:43):
and of itself is not enough.You know, I have to speak about
a meeting that we had that youhosted that really opened my eyes. I
thought I was pretty hip to youknow, the whole idea of DEI diversity,
but you expanded my vision of thattremendously when you would explained DEI what
it means, but also added additionalletters A and B. So let's go
(14:07):
back, because some people don't reallyyou know, they see the initials DEI
and they think they know what itmeans, but I don't know that everyone
really does. So explain DEI andthen the two additional letters that expands the
definition even greater. So thank youfor that question, because it's really important
to make sure that people understand thatand that they embrace it. So you
(14:31):
can't embrace unless you understand it.I think a lot of people think they've
embraced it, but again they don'tunderstand the difference between the letters and why
each one has been added because theletters prior to that did not include everybody.
So diversity is what we call justa number or a fraction effect,
right, It's a fact it's eitheryou're diverse or you're not. It's really
(14:54):
simple. But that does not meaneveryone has a fair shake. It does
not mean that everyone has a voice. So that's why we've added inclusion.
Inclusion is the action that makes diversityso important and so effective. So you
have inclusion meaning you're included here,and then we've added equity meaning not only
(15:16):
are you here at the table included, but you have a an equal voice
at the table. So we havediversity, equity inclusion. Now you have
to take into an account that sometimespeople can still have you at the table
and they say they give you avoice, but that doesn't mean that you
feel like you are welcome. Sothat's where we've added the word belonging.
(15:39):
And one of the communities that seemsto have been overlooked when we talk about
belonging in diversity, equity inclusion isthe accessible community. So we've also added
the A for accessibility. So thisis how I break it down. Diversity
is a fact, inclusion is anaction, equity is a practice, Belonging
is a feeling, and accessibility isa right. I love that. I
(16:03):
love that so much. It's soimportant that you understand that the practice you
have to have an ongoing practice oftreating people fairly, and I think that's
where we go wrong. So theequity, the inclusion, the accessibility,
and the belonging are in my opinion, more important than the diversity. Diversity
is really simple to get. It'sthe rest of those letters that are so
(16:26):
important that make that diversity so effective. And I think that when you break
it down like that, understanding thatequity is a practice, inclusion is an
action, belonging as a feeling,and accessibility is a right. Those particular
words, I think break it downso people can understand it and understand how
(16:47):
they differ and how they bring differentfacets to the table to make DEIA and
be so important. Yeah, atthat meeting, you actually invited members the
deaf community to participate, and itreally was so eye opening, really to
(17:07):
be in the presence in that spaceof someone who is not able to hear
but also is able to communicate invery eloquent ways, and how important it
is for all of us to understandthe need for that accessibility for members of
the community that is disabled. Andso thank you for that. And you
(17:29):
have also expanded you're not only interestedin commerce and business and such, but
you're also connecting with other people whodo the same things that you do,
so you can continue to spread yourinfluence and the knowledge that you present and
bring to the table. I thinkthat's kind of wonderful. Thank you.
Really, what I'm trying to dois spread the impact that deimb has in
(17:51):
the city of Philadelphia and beyond.I think that you come to a new
city, you can't come in andthinking that you're the Indel and Bill really
have to embrace the community that's there, and we kind of empower each other,
which enables us to do more andhave a wider impact. I really
think that I see it working nowthat I've been here a year and a
(18:11):
couple of months. So it's reallybeen exciting to see how quickly people have
responded to some of the ideas thatI've had and some of the sort of
initiatives that I've introduced, and notjust embrace them, but taking them and
helping me move them forward. Soit's really been a lovely experience and something
(18:32):
that we can build on. SoI would say stay tuned, because this
is just the beginning. One ofthe more exciting little projects that you have
are actually not little but big isit's kind of like a guidebook basically to
all of the diverse events and organizationsand places to go and places to eat
and places to buy that really contributeto the DEI, A and B space.
(18:57):
And I wonder if you can tellus about that, because I was
so excited to see it. Weactually had it years and years and years
ago, That's what I'm told.Yeah, but it hasn't been active in
a long time. So now it'sback on and people can access that right
they will be able to It's goingto be on our website. I call
it the Diversity E Handbook, butthe cover of the title is discovered Diversity
(19:19):
in Philadelphia. It's a guide forpeople coming into the city. They need
to know where the black owned restaurantsare or the women owned restaurants are.
And they also may want to knowwhere the tours are that take you through
Chinatown or the Black Area, orthe underground railroad or Hispanic Area or Africa
(19:40):
Town. There's a whole slew ofdifferent areas that make up Philadelphia that so
many people don't know about. Theycome to the meeting or convention and they
may and because for convenience, alot of the events are centered in center
City, but more and more peopleare asking us, I want to see
the diversity of the city. Iwant to experien it's the culture of Philadelphia.
(20:00):
So after several people asking us thatand people coming to me, I
said, why don't we make somethingthat we can distribute a you give it
to a meeting planner when they're thinkingabout coming to a city, and they
see that you've been intentional about creatingsomething that they can use, and they
can then give it to a meetingattendee so when they come to the city.
(20:22):
Remember, I said, I'm alsotrying to focus on helping the community's
benefit. If you go out andsupport these businesses, these restaurants, these
retailers, these venues, then everybodyhas a stake in these meetings and conventions
coming to Philadelphia, not just thehotels and the you know, the venues
that they go to, but everybody. I really think that that's important because
(20:44):
the culture of Philadelphia is really whatmakes it so unique. Yes, and
I think every city has hotels,every city has you know, monuments and
statues, but the culture here isso rich and so diverse, and I
don't use that word diverse loosely,I mean when I say diverse, and
you have to really bring that tothe table when you're trying to let people
(21:06):
understand what Philadelphia is. I liketo say that community, causes and culture
are what drive conventions, and sothat's what I used to when I promote
Philadelphia. I talk about the community, I talk about the causes, and
I talk about the culture. Well, certainly Philly is much more than the
Liberty Bell, and PHL Diversity isdoing so much to expand people from the
(21:30):
outside looking in to see what rich, wonderful events, places, things people
are available to experience here in thecity. If people would like to know
more about the information that you provideat PHL Diversity, whether it's access to
that guide to Diverse Things Discovered Diversityin Philadelphia, thank you for that.
(21:53):
Or if they are a decision makerwho might be a part of an organization
that considering a different location for abig convention or an event and would like
to think about Philadelphia as being oneof those places to go. How do
they find out more? I wouldsay you can reach out to me.
My email is Sheila at Discover PHL. That's s H. E. I
(22:17):
l A at discover PHL dot com. You can also go to discover phl
dot com and see our website.I think that handbook should be up,
and at least an early version ofit will be constantly updating it as we
learn about new businesses. It shouldbe up, I would say by the
beginning of the year. We're inthe middle of the holidays now, so
there's probably going to be a littlebit of a delay getting it in there,
(22:40):
but it is very close to beingfinished and I'm quite excited about it,
and I want to go back whenI said that I was surprised at
how welcoming and open Philadelphia was.I like to let people understand that Philadelphia,
in my opinion, gets a badrap. Sometimes people think, oh,
Philadelphia's tough. You gotta be tough. When you come to Philadelphia,
(23:00):
you know you're new. It wasthe opposite of what everybody told me.
Philadelphia was open, it was welcoming, it was embracing, and it really
really talked about diimb I got asense of inclusion and belonging immediately, and
as I've been here, you know, a year and a few months,
it just continues to grow. SoI can't say it enough that Philadelphia.
(23:23):
Is it really is the home ofbrother love and sisterly affection. Come see
for yourself and you'll understand what Imean. Yeah. Well, I love
my city and I'm so glad youlove it too. Sheila Alexander Reed,
who is the executive director of PHLDiversity, Thank you, thank you.
I appreciate this. Finally, lastsummer, I hosted students from the city's
(23:52):
Work Ready program. Here's an interviewconducted by the then eighteen year old Lucas
Gonzalez. In the name of fulldisclosure, this subject of the interview is
my husband and Lucas is his son. Today I am here with a great
man, a community activist, filmmakerand artist, Gilberto Gonzalez. Hey,
Lucas, how's it going, man, It's going pretty good. How are
(24:14):
you? I'm all right, I'mall right. So today I wanted to
talk to you about your film twentiethin Green t Oji, and I wanted
to know what inspired you to makethe film. So what inspired me to
develop this film and produce it isthat Puerto Rican history in Philadelphia is written
by people that don't understand the cultureof Philadelphia. There's a book that was
(24:38):
written by someone named Waylan who wrotean entire book about Puerto Rican's Philadelphia,
and there were only two or threepages about the Spring Garden community. What
she failed to realize is that SpringGarden, for over one hundred years,
was the largest Latino Puerto Rican communityin the state of Pennsylvania. And I
(24:59):
found it in Sault Teing that sheonly wrote a couple of pages about us.
So I felt this was a reactionabout There was more reaction in the
fight against people that published stuff aboutus that don't know us. What made
this film so special to you?What was what about? It? Was
your special connection to it that compelledyou to make it. So my special
(25:21):
connection is that family members were TwoOG's good friends were two Ogs. Orlando
Cucko Johnny Gonzalez, who just recentlypassed away. He was my big brother,
you know. He protected me,He defended me. You know,
he was older than me, andI was like his little tale. I
would follow him everywhere. You know. The two Ogs were dear to me,
(25:45):
you know, their family, andI felt their story needed to be
told. I also spent a lotof my life on that street. Yes
she did, yeah, yeah,or your grandma, yeah, your grandma
lived on mat Vernon. Yeah,yeah for many years. Now she's on
Wallace. It's not quite the same, Yeah, because they pushed out a
lot of the Puerto Ricans that werethere. Yeah, Bohno was a lot
younger. She had that tiny housewith the garden. Yes, yes,
(26:08):
yeah. Last question is do youmiss it? Do I miss it?
Yeah? That little garden. Honestly, yeah, I missed that. I
miss how it used to feel walkingthrough there. Yeah, right morning.
Yeah. Everybody knew you. Yeah, oh little Luca is you know it
was like this when you walked intothat neighborhood, you get embraced. Yeah.
(26:29):
Yeah, everyone there knew each other. Everyone was willing to help out
for something. Yep. What hurdlesdid you encounter while making the film?
So? I think one hurdle wasmoney, trying to raise the money to
do it. The other hurdle wasthe so called leader Latino's leaders in this
(26:52):
city they would not support the movie. Actually, even when the movie was
completed, they would not want toshow it in their organization because they instantly
said, oh, Puerto Rican gang, we don't want to expose our children
to that. And that was wrongbecause the Toolg's weren't just yeah. I
(27:12):
mean, they're bad people everywhere.That's just the nature of life, right,
But there were a lot of goodpeople, you know, who did
good things, who fought, youknow, against police abuse, who protected
women from other I mean, it'slike that they protected people, you know.
And I think one of the biggesthurdles, and one of the most
(27:33):
hurtful hurdles, is when you havethe so called leaders, because they're not
my leaders, tell me that,oh well, we can't show your film
because it's about a gang. Butyet it was shown at University of Pennsylvania,
University of the Arts, it wasshown at Temple, it was shown
at Arcadia, It was shown atcolleges around the region. It was shown
in Italy, it was shown inCanada, it was shown in Puerto Rico.
(27:57):
Wow, you know, and it'slike and it's like, but you
people are trying to shame me andsay that, oh well, it's a
movie about a gang. I thinkthat was probably out of all the little
hurdles, that was the most impactfulone. If you could describe with your
feelings, how would you describe theoverall film? So people love the film,
(28:21):
they love the historical footage, thehistorical photos. I think it told
the story because it is the PuertoRican story. The tool g is the
Puerto Rican story. And I gavespace to people that would have never been
heard, that would have been forgotten, that nobody would remember, that nobody
would care about other than their families. I gave them the space to be
(28:42):
heard. And lastly, if peoplewould like to watch this film, is
there anywhere they could watch it?Yeah, if they go to the video
site Venmo, Vimeo, Vimeo.It is still on Vimeo and it's free.
You can pull it down, youcan watch it. You can even
download it free. So go watchit. Yes, go watch it.
(29:03):
Yes. Oh, thank you Gilbertofor taking the time to do this interview
with me today. You're welcome andthank you so much for having me.
You can listen to all of today'sinterviews by going to our station website and
typing in keyword community. You canalso listen on the iHeartRadio app keyword Lorraine
with one R. Follow me onTwitter and Instagram at Lorraine Ballard. I'm
(29:26):
Lorraine Ballard MOREL and I stand forservice to our community and media that empowers.
What will you stand for? You'vebeen listening to insight and thank you
Good morning. You're listening to Insight, a show about empowering our community.
I'm Lorraine Ballardmorrow. Diversity is afact, Inclusion is an action, Equity
is a practice, belonging is afeeling, and accessibility is a right.
Sheila Alexander Reid, executive director ofPHL Diversity, breaking down what DEI means
(00:21):
and adding a couple more letters intothe mix. I'll be speaking with Sila
about diversity and the work of herorganization to bring multicultural groups to Philadelphia for
meetings and conventions. Last summer Ihad students from the work Ready program.
I'm sharing an interview today by theneighteen year old Lucas Gonzales. First Important
information about healthcare enrollment sponsored by IndependenceBlue Cross. Open enrollment is the one
(00:46):
time each year that individuals and familiescan enroll in or change their health plan
each year. So if you don'thave a health plan through an employer,
union, group, Medicare, orMedicaid, now is the time to shop.
Enrolling in medical insurance before the deadlineis absolutely paramount for ensuring financial security
and access to essential healthcare services.We're going to talk about open enrollment,
(01:11):
shopping for healthcare insurance, financial assistance, and much much more with Aaron Thurston.
She's director of Member Marketing for IBX. Thank you so much for joining
us erin. Let's begin by talkingabout the specific dates that people need to
keep in mind. Tell us aboutthose dates. As you said, open
enrollment is that wants a year chancefor people who don't get coverage through their
(01:32):
employer or through a government program tomake sure that they get coverage for themselves
and their families. The open enrollmentperiod start at November first, and it
runs through January fifteenth. It's importantto note, though, if people want
coverage for January first of twenty twentyfour, that they must apply for coverage
by December fifteenth of twenty twenty three. Let's talk about shopping for health insurance
(01:53):
for individuals and families. What aresome of the considerations that people need to
keep in mind when they're shopping fora health plan. It's always important to
consider what your options are and alsowhat your needs are for yourself and your
family. So as you are consideringall of those things, you can go
out to Penny, the state basedmarketplace to view your options, or you
(02:15):
can visit IBX dot com slash healthplan to review all of our plan options
and all of the planned details thatgo with it. So as you're weighing
your options that are available to you, you can determine what's going to best
meet your needs and also your budget. A lot of folks are confused by
the various initials that we talk aboutwhen we discuss health insurance LAG, PPO,
(02:38):
HMO, EPO. So tell us, I know that IBX does provide
all those plans, but tell uswhat are those initials stand for and what
do they provide? You're right,So Independence is the most popular health insurance
carrier in the Philadelphia region, andwe do provide plans and all of those
different letters. As you said,so the PPO option is your most flexible
(03:00):
options. So that is going toprovide people the ability to see providers that
are both in our network as wellas out of our network. If members
go out of the network, theywill have higher cost sharing that they'll have
to be accountable for, but itgives them greater access to more providers.
If you stay in network, you'llhave lower cost sharing options and also the
access to the largest network in theregion. As it is with our health
(03:23):
plans and our providers. So PPOitself stands for the Preferred Provider Network and
it is one of the most commontypes of plans available today. Another very
common type of plan is the HMOplan. That is your health maintenance Organization
is what those letters stand for,and within an HMO plan, you are
required to pick yet another letter.Here we have the PCP, so your
(03:45):
primary care provider who is going tohelp you manage your health plan. When
you have an HMO plan, youare required to get referrals for certain types
of visits, but you're never goingto get a referral for an OBGYN visit,
mammograms, mental health firm, urgencycare. So it is a really
good option for people who are lookingfor lower cost options, and if you
(04:05):
are seeing providers that are already withinthis network, it's a great option for
you to save money. There isno coverage though in an HMO plan for
out of network providers except for emergencycare, so I do just want to
note that. And then finally,the EPO plan is a health plan that
meets a little in the middle betweenthe HMO and the PPO clan, so
it provides you the ability to manageyour own care without getting a referral from
(04:30):
a provider, but you will haveto stay within the network for that plan.
Gotcha. Now, there are alot of folks out there who think
they can't afford medical insurance, andI wonder if you can talk about financial
assistance available to help pay for plans. Yes, there is financial assistance available
in the form of tax credits,and it's going to be based off of
your family size and your income levelwith the amount of credits that you may
(04:54):
be eligible to receive. If youare eligible for these credits, it can
help lower both the monthly costs thatyou pay in terms of premium as well
as potentially the out of pocket costswhen you go to get care. For
people who are trying to figure outthey're eligible for the tax credits, they
can visit ibx dot com slash calculatorto see if they're eligible for lower out
(05:15):
of pocket costs. IBX does providedifferent options. One thing that I've found
very helpful is the virtual doctor's appointmentsbecause sometimes, you know, you really
get busy and sometimes having a videoappointment can make all the difference in terms
of convenience, especially for folks whowork. Tell us more about that.
Yeah, so all of the Independenceplans provide virtual visit options with our end
(05:38):
network providers at lower out of pocketcosts, and we also cover virtual care
visits through our vendor partner, TELEDOCT. You're able to see those TELEDOCT providers
at no cost for behavioral health,dermatology as well as regular non urgent visits.
And finally, I just want totalk about how important health insurance is.
(05:59):
I have lived in the past waybefore you know, in the distant
past of my life, I didn'thave health insurance. And when you don't
have health insurance, there's a lotof added stress because you don't know what
the cost of medical care is goingto be when you go to see a
doctor, and therefore you're probably notgoing to see I didn't go to see
the doctor for many years, andthen fast forward to the future. I
(06:24):
have health insurance. I have greathealth insurance, and because of that,
I go to the doctor. Iget those checkups, I get the preventative
care that I need and deserve,as all people need and deserve, And
it really has made a huge differencehaving a robust health care plan that doesn't
have a huge copay or it doesn'thave a huge deductible. It just makes
(06:48):
such a huge difference. And ina society where we're really we really need
to take care of ourselves, andwe have heart disease, and we have
diabetes, and we have high bloodpressure, we have all of these conditions
and a lot of people allow topersist because they're reluctant to see the doctor
because of the cost. So let'stalk about why it's so important to have
(07:12):
health insurance, and also that healthinsurance is available to anyone who needs to
have it. That's right, Loraine, and I really appreciate you sharing your
personal story. It is so importantthat people have health insurance because it is
for just that the unexpected costs thatmay be occurred for people who are not
covered and then have an unexpected healthcircumstance. So it's really important that when
(07:34):
you have that coverage, you canbe proactive like you're being with your health.
You can go get those preventive carevisits, you can get your immunizations,
you can get your cancer screenings,all covered under your health plan.
I also have a very similar story. Back when I was twenty four,
I was diagnosed with stage two Hotchkins. At twenty four, I was out
of college, a collegiate athlete,a healthy person in general, and then
(07:57):
to have something like that happened tome was completely unexpected. Like you,
having the ability to go through myhealth insurance to help with all of the
visits that I needed to have atthe time helped, you know, just
prevent some additional stress to that alreadystressful situation. And it was just really
reassuring to me that I could getthe care that I needed and I could
(08:20):
afford to get the care that Ineeded when I needed it. Yeah,
that's a very important story to tell. And if people want more information,
not only for the IBX clients thatalready have IBX insurance, but those who
are looking to find the best plansfor them. What's the best way to
find out more? You can alwaysvisit us online at ibx dot com slash
health plan, or if you arenot sure the direction that you want to
(08:43):
go for your health plan and youhave some questions, you can contact one
of our licensed agents at eight fivefive two five one two one five zero
Monday through Friday from eight to sixand we'd be happy to answer any of
your questions. And we also wantto repeat that website for Penny because that's
great website. Also for information.Yes, Penny is the state based health
exchange though if you'd like to goout to Penny dot com. That's p
(09:07):
e n nie dot com. Youcan visit there to see all of the
plans available in your zip code.And what's that deadline once again for signing
up? If you want coverage forJanuary, first sign up by December fifteenth.
All right, so don't delay signup today. Aaron Thurston, director
of Member Marketing for IBX, thankyou so much for all this great information.
Thank you, Loreen. One ofmy favorite boards is PHL Diversity,
(09:33):
which is an organization that is dedicatedto getting diversity in the convention and visitors
space here in Philadelphia. I'm sopleased to bring back Sheila Alexander Reed.
She's executive director of PHL Diversity.Hello and welcome. And you've been here
for how long now? I thinkwe're going on fifteen months? Fifteen months?
Yeah, So you got a crashcourse in Philadelphia, the city of
(09:58):
brotherly love and sisterly affection. How'sit been so far? I know you've
been doing so much. It's beenawesome. I've you know, spent the
first year sort of getting myself acquaintedwith the city. Even though you know
it's only two hours away from DCvia train, it is, you know,
a world and to itself, andit seems very familiar, kind of
(10:18):
like a cousin to Washington, dC. But has its own personality,
its own sort of vibe. AndI've spent the last year getting to know
the city, getting to know thestakeholders like yourself, and getting to know
sort of what makes it tick,particularly from a diversity standpoint, and I
find it very interesting and very surprisinglyopen and welcoming. We are a sanctuary
(10:43):
city, we are a very LGBTQIAplus friendly city, and we are a
city that is very welcoming when itcomes to encouraging travel in our diverse communities.
Tell us more about what PHL Diversitydoes. SOSY started in nineteen eighty
seven as a business division of thePhiladelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, and in
(11:05):
nineteen eighty seven it was called theMulticultural Affairs Congress. Multicultural was sort of
a word used before we got todiversity, equity, inclusion and so on
and so on, but it wasreally sort of an idea put together by
some stakeholders in the community at thetime to say, while we're bringing meetings
and conventions to the city, whois reaching out to black and brown communities
(11:28):
and ultimately LGBTQI plus communities, faithcommunities, Who is reaching out to these
communities that are overlooked. So manydestinations focus on everything else but those communities,
because I think there was a misperceptionthat those communities didn't travel or didn't
have money, or those meetings orconventions were insignificant, but that was there
(11:48):
were leaving a lot of money onthe table. So we started in nineteen
eighty seven and said, hey,let us take a concerted and intentional effort
to reach out to these communities andlet them know that they're welcome here just
like everyone else. And that beganthe Multicultural Affairs Congress and has since evolved
into being called PHL Diversity, andit's a division of the Convention Visitors Bureau.
(12:11):
We all bring meetings and conventions toPhiladelphia, and we all help both
the meeting planners and the meeting attendees. We bring them to the convention center,
we bring them to hotels and venuesin the city, but I particularly
focus on those previously marginalized communities andquite frankly still marginalized communities in many ways.
But I'm very, very passionate abouthelping give visibility to these communities and
(12:37):
letting people know that they are justas significant as any other segment of the
travel industry. And by being overlookedby so many other destinations, they can
find a welcoming place, leaving witha sense of belonging when they come to
Philadelphia, and I really want tomake sure that a we bring them to
the city. And here's the otherthing, I want to make sure that
(12:58):
the communities in Philadelphia benefit from thosemeetings and conventions as well. Right,
exactly well, as we know,and as many corporations are seeing more and
more, diversity is great for thebottom line, right, it's a business
strategy. Well, but not justdiversity by itself. I think people locked
onto diversity and just had different peopleat the table and they assumed that was
(13:22):
enough. And that's problematic because alot of that is performative. There's no
real inclusion, there's no real intenton making them have a sense of equity.
So I believe that as we evolve, we've added different words to in
different letters to the acronym to tryto get people to understand that diversity in
(13:43):
and of itself is not enough.You know, I have to speak about
a meeting that we had that youhosted that really opened my eyes. I
thought I was pretty hip to youknow, the whole idea of DEI diversity,
but you expanded my vision of thattremendously when you would explained DEI what
it means, but also added additionalletters A and B. So let's go
(14:07):
back, because some people don't reallyyou know, they see the initials DEI
and they think they know what itmeans, but I don't know that everyone
really does. So explain DEI andthen the two additional letters that expands the
definition even greater. So thank youfor that question, because it's really important
to make sure that people understand thatand that they embrace it. So you
(14:31):
can't embrace unless you understand it.I think a lot of people think they've
embraced it, but again they don'tunderstand the difference between the letters and why
each one has been added because theletters prior to that did not include everybody.
So diversity is what we call justa number or a fraction effect,
right, It's a fact it's eitheryou're diverse or you're not. It's really
(14:54):
simple. But that does not meaneveryone has a fair shake. It does
not mean that everyone has a voice. So that's why we've added inclusion.
Inclusion is the action that makes diversityso important and so effective. So you
have inclusion meaning you're included here,and then we've added equity meaning not only
(15:16):
are you here at the table included, but you have a an equal voice
at the table. So we havediversity, equity inclusion. Now you have
to take into an account that sometimespeople can still have you at the table
and they say they give you avoice, but that doesn't mean that you
feel like you are welcome. Sothat's where we've added the word belonging.
(15:39):
And one of the communities that seemsto have been overlooked when we talk about
belonging in diversity, equity inclusion isthe accessible community. So we've also added
the A for accessibility. So thisis how I break it down. Diversity
is a fact, inclusion is anaction, equity is a practice, Belonging
is a feeling, and accessibility isa right. I love that. I
(16:03):
love that so much. It's soimportant that you understand that the practice you
have to have an ongoing practice oftreating people fairly, and I think that's
where we go wrong. So theequity, the inclusion, the accessibility,
and the belonging are in my opinion, more important than the diversity. Diversity
is really simple to get. It'sthe rest of those letters that are so
(16:26):
important that make that diversity so effective. And I think that when you break
it down like that, understanding thatequity is a practice, inclusion is an
action, belonging as a feeling,and accessibility is a right. Those particular
words, I think break it downso people can understand it and understand how
(16:47):
they differ and how they bring differentfacets to the table to make DEIA and
be so important. Yeah, atthat meeting, you actually invited members the
deaf community to participate, and itreally was so eye opening, really to
(17:07):
be in the presence in that spaceof someone who is not able to hear
but also is able to communicate invery eloquent ways, and how important it
is for all of us to understandthe need for that accessibility for members of
the community that is disabled. Andso thank you for that. And you
(17:29):
have also expanded you're not only interestedin commerce and business and such, but
you're also connecting with other people whodo the same things that you do,
so you can continue to spread yourinfluence and the knowledge that you present and
bring to the table. I thinkthat's kind of wonderful. Thank you.
Really, what I'm trying to dois spread the impact that deimb has in
(17:51):
the city of Philadelphia and beyond.I think that you come to a new
city, you can't come in andthinking that you're the Indel and Bill really
have to embrace the community that's there, and we kind of empower each other,
which enables us to do more andhave a wider impact. I really
think that I see it working nowthat I've been here a year and a
(18:11):
couple of months. So it's reallybeen exciting to see how quickly people have
responded to some of the ideas thatI've had and some of the sort of
initiatives that I've introduced, and notjust embrace them, but taking them and
helping me move them forward. Soit's really been a lovely experience and something
(18:32):
that we can build on. SoI would say stay tuned, because this
is just the beginning. One ofthe more exciting little projects that you have
are actually not little but big isit's kind of like a guidebook basically to
all of the diverse events and organizationsand places to go and places to eat
and places to buy that really contributeto the DEI, A and B space.
(18:57):
And I wonder if you can tellus about that, because I was
so excited to see it. Weactually had it years and years and years
ago, That's what I'm told.Yeah, but it hasn't been active in
a long time. So now it'sback on and people can access that right
they will be able to It's goingto be on our website. I call
it the Diversity E Handbook, butthe cover of the title is discovered Diversity
(19:19):
in Philadelphia. It's a guide forpeople coming into the city. They need
to know where the black owned restaurantsare or the women owned restaurants are.
And they also may want to knowwhere the tours are that take you through
Chinatown or the Black Area, orthe underground railroad or Hispanic Area or Africa
(19:40):
Town. There's a whole slew ofdifferent areas that make up Philadelphia that so
many people don't know about. Theycome to the meeting or convention and they
may and because for convenience, alot of the events are centered in center
City, but more and more peopleare asking us, I want to see
the diversity of the city. Iwant to experien it's the culture of Philadelphia.
(20:00):
So after several people asking us thatand people coming to me, I
said, why don't we make somethingthat we can distribute a you give it
to a meeting planner when they're thinkingabout coming to a city, and they
see that you've been intentional about creatingsomething that they can use, and they
can then give it to a meetingattendee so when they come to the city.
(20:22):
Remember, I said, I'm alsotrying to focus on helping the community's
benefit. If you go out andsupport these businesses, these restaurants, these
retailers, these venues, then everybodyhas a stake in these meetings and conventions
coming to Philadelphia, not just thehotels and the you know, the venues
that they go to, but everybody. I really think that that's important because
(20:44):
the culture of Philadelphia is really whatmakes it so unique. Yes, and
I think every city has hotels,every city has you know, monuments and
statues, but the culture here isso rich and so diverse, and I
don't use that word diverse loosely,I mean when I say diverse, and
you have to really bring that tothe table when you're trying to let people
(21:06):
understand what Philadelphia is. I liketo say that community, causes and culture
are what drive conventions, and sothat's what I used to when I promote
Philadelphia. I talk about the community, I talk about the causes, and
I talk about the culture. Well, certainly Philly is much more than the
Liberty Bell, and PHL Diversity isdoing so much to expand people from the
(21:30):
outside looking in to see what rich, wonderful events, places, things people
are available to experience here in thecity. If people would like to know
more about the information that you provideat PHL Diversity, whether it's access to
that guide to Diverse Things Discovered Diversityin Philadelphia, thank you for that.
(21:53):
Or if they are a decision makerwho might be a part of an organization
that considering a different location for abig convention or an event and would like
to think about Philadelphia as being oneof those places to go. How do
they find out more? I wouldsay you can reach out to me.
My email is Sheila at Discover PHL. That's s H. E. I
(22:17):
l A at discover PHL dot com. You can also go to discover phl
dot com and see our website.I think that handbook should be up,
and at least an early version ofit will be constantly updating it as we
learn about new businesses. It shouldbe up, I would say by the
beginning of the year. We're inthe middle of the holidays now, so
there's probably going to be a littlebit of a delay getting it in there,
(22:40):
but it is very close to beingfinished and I'm quite excited about it,
and I want to go back whenI said that I was surprised at
how welcoming and open Philadelphia was.I like to let people understand that Philadelphia,
in my opinion, gets a badrap. Sometimes people think, oh,
Philadelphia's tough. You gotta be tough. When you come to Philadelphia,
(23:00):
you know you're new. It wasthe opposite of what everybody told me.
Philadelphia was open, it was welcoming, it was embracing, and it really
really talked about diimb I got asense of inclusion and belonging immediately, and
as I've been here, you know, a year and a few months,
it just continues to grow. SoI can't say it enough that Philadelphia.
(23:23):
Is it really is the home ofbrother love and sisterly affection. Come see
for yourself and you'll understand what Imean. Yeah. Well, I love
my city and I'm so glad youlove it too. Sheila Alexander Reed,
who is the executive director of PHLDiversity, Thank you, thank you.
I appreciate this. Finally, lastsummer, I hosted students from the city's
(23:52):
Work Ready program. Here's an interviewconducted by the then eighteen year old Lucas
Gonzalez. In the name of fulldisclosure, this subject of the interview is
my husband and Lucas is his son. Today I am here with a great
man, a community activist, filmmakerand artist, Gilberto Gonzalez. Hey,
Lucas, how's it going, man, It's going pretty good. How are
(24:14):
you? I'm all right, I'mall right. So today I wanted to
talk to you about your film twentiethin Green t Oji, and I wanted
to know what inspired you to makethe film. So what inspired me to
develop this film and produce it isthat Puerto Rican history in Philadelphia is written
by people that don't understand the cultureof Philadelphia. There's a book that was
(24:38):
written by someone named Waylan who wrotean entire book about Puerto Rican's Philadelphia,
and there were only two or threepages about the Spring Garden community. What
she failed to realize is that SpringGarden, for over one hundred years,
was the largest Latino Puerto Rican communityin the state of Pennsylvania. And I
(24:59):
found it in Sault Teing that sheonly wrote a couple of pages about us.
So I felt this was a reactionabout There was more reaction in the
fight against people that published stuff aboutus that don't know us. What made
this film so special to you?What was what about? It? Was
your special connection to it that compelledyou to make it. So my special
(25:21):
connection is that family members were TwoOG's good friends were two Ogs. Orlando
Cucko Johnny Gonzalez, who just recentlypassed away. He was my big brother,
you know. He protected me,He defended me. You know,
he was older than me, andI was like his little tale. I
would follow him everywhere. You know. The two Ogs were dear to me,
(25:45):
you know, their family, andI felt their story needed to be
told. I also spent a lotof my life on that street. Yes
she did, yeah, yeah,or your grandma, yeah, your grandma
lived on mat Vernon. Yeah,yeah for many years. Now she's on
Wallace. It's not quite the same, Yeah, because they pushed out a
lot of the Puerto Ricans that werethere. Yeah, Bohno was a lot
younger. She had that tiny housewith the garden. Yes, yes,
(26:08):
yeah. Last question is do youmiss it? Do I miss it?
Yeah? That little garden. Honestly, yeah, I missed that. I
miss how it used to feel walkingthrough there. Yeah, right morning.
Yeah. Everybody knew you. Yeah, oh little Luca is you know it
was like this when you walked intothat neighborhood, you get embraced. Yeah.
(26:29):
Yeah, everyone there knew each other. Everyone was willing to help out
for something. Yep. What hurdlesdid you encounter while making the film?
So? I think one hurdle wasmoney, trying to raise the money to
do it. The other hurdle wasthe so called leader Latino's leaders in this
(26:52):
city they would not support the movie. Actually, even when the movie was
completed, they would not want toshow it in their organization because they instantly
said, oh, Puerto Rican gang, we don't want to expose our children
to that. And that was wrongbecause the Toolg's weren't just yeah. I
(27:12):
mean, they're bad people everywhere.That's just the nature of life, right,
But there were a lot of goodpeople, you know, who did
good things, who fought, youknow, against police abuse, who protected
women from other I mean, it'slike that they protected people, you know.
And I think one of the biggesthurdles, and one of the most
(27:33):
hurtful hurdles, is when you havethe so called leaders, because they're not
my leaders, tell me that,oh well, we can't show your film
because it's about a gang. Butyet it was shown at University of Pennsylvania,
University of the Arts, it wasshown at Temple, it was shown
at Arcadia, It was shown atcolleges around the region. It was shown
in Italy, it was shown inCanada, it was shown in Puerto Rico.
(27:57):
Wow, you know, and it'slike and it's like, but you
people are trying to shame me andsay that, oh well, it's a
movie about a gang. I thinkthat was probably out of all the little
hurdles, that was the most impactfulone. If you could describe with your
feelings, how would you describe theoverall film? So people love the film,
(28:21):
they love the historical footage, thehistorical photos. I think it told
the story because it is the PuertoRican story. The tool g is the
Puerto Rican story. And I gavespace to people that would have never been
heard, that would have been forgotten, that nobody would remember, that nobody
would care about other than their families. I gave them the space to be
(28:42):
heard. And lastly, if peoplewould like to watch this film, is
there anywhere they could watch it?Yeah, if they go to the video
site Venmo, Vimeo, Vimeo.It is still on Vimeo and it's free.
You can pull it down, youcan watch it. You can even
download it free. So go watchit. Yes, go watch it.
(29:03):
Yes. Oh, thank you Gilbertofor taking the time to do this interview
with me today. You're welcome andthank you so much for having me.
You can listen to all of today'sinterviews by going to our station website and
typing in keyword community. You canalso listen on the iHeartRadio app keyword Lorraine
with one R. Follow me onTwitter and Instagram at Lorraine Ballard. I'm
(29:26):
Lorraine Ballard MOREL and I stand forservice to our community and media that empowers.
What will you stand for? You'vebeen listening to insight and thank you
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.