October 18, 2025 • 31 mins
The middle school years can be difficult for young people, with so many questions about the world around them and their place in it as they come of age. YW Boston recently launched a program called "F.Y.R.E.", or Fierce Youth Re-Igniting Excellence, which focuses on teaching BIPOC girls and gender-expansive youth resilience, confidence, and leadership skills, while offering them an understanding space to talk about whatever's on their mind. President and CEO Aba Taylor and F.Y.R.E. Director Jay Boss join Nichole this week to talk about the program's mission and impact among Boston's youth.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
We're each and every week right here. We come together,
we talk about all the topics important to you and
the place where you live. It is great to have
you back this weekend. I'm Nicole Davis. This time around,
we're focusing on y W Boston. Their a budding program.
It's giving young people of color a chance to explore
(00:28):
leadership skills, talk about community action, get involved, and so
much more. This is the Fire Program FYRE, and it
stands for Fierce Youth Reigniting Excellence. It's focused on girls
in gender expansive youth and local middle schools and not
only teaches them resilience and confidence, but it also offers
them a much needed space to talk about heavy stuff
(00:49):
that tweens deal with. We're talking about social inequities, social media,
race relations, gender identity, what it's like to be growing
up at that time, you name it. There's a lot
of questions and the conversation's ebb and flow. Here on
the show to talk with us about their work about
all the opportunities YW Boston offers is Abba Taylor. She
is the president and CEO. J Boss is here as well.
(01:11):
They're the director of the Fire program. Good to have
you both on the show, and Alba, I'm gonna start
with you here because people might not be as familiar
with YW Boston as they are the YWCA, So talk
with us about yw Boston. It's history. I know for
a fact, it's a storied one.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, YW Boston. We are going to turn one hundred
and sixty years old next March, so we've been around.
We've been around the block a few times.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I'd say.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
There are about one hundred and ninety four YWCAs in
the country, and there's a national YW YWCA national, so
a lot of folks maybe have heard of YMCA. There's
no affiliation, but the acronym originally was the Young Women's
Christian Association. So we are part of a federation of
(01:59):
one hundred and ninety four organizations. There are YWCAs in
about one hundred and twenty countries, so it's really exciting
because we are very unique. We like to say that
we're the first, the Boston the Boston Organization Association is
the first of all of them. New York City claims otherwise,
but we know what's true. Yeah, and we're really unique
(02:22):
in a lot of ways compared to the other YWCAs one.
We go by YW Boston. We drop the caa some
time ago to just further emphasize being non denominational. Our
mission is to eliminate racism and empower women and promote peace, justice,
freedom and dignity for all people. And so we really
(02:45):
do focus on the intersection of racial and gender equity,
and we do that through a variety of programs, including Fire,
which we'll talk about. We have a wonderful leadership program
that folks from across Boston, leaders from many many, many
cohorts over time have really appreciated. I just met with
(03:07):
somebody this afternoon who is currently in the program and
really appreciative of the way what they're learning. It's an
immersive leadership program for Boston leaders called Lead Boston. And
then we have consulting and training work that we do
around racial equity, diversity, equity, inclusion and other things that's amazing.
So that's a little bit about us.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah, in a time where we're dealing with a lot
of people struggling to get by, and obviously it's not
clear where exactly the economy is going. It's not clear
where politically things are going. Have you found a lot
more people coming to get help from YW Boston or
are you finding that demand is about the same as
it has been.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Well, if we're being really honest, the work that we've
been doing in the diversity, equity inclusion space DEI has
taken a pretty hard hit, like many other nonprofits, So
we do commend the organizations that continue to work with us.
We have seen a decline in demand for those services,
(04:06):
but we also are really appreciative of our partners, nonprofit,
non governmental, corporate who are sticking with us for our
DEI services that we provide. Otherwise, our leadership programs continues
to do really well, and I would argue personally that
there is no more important time than right now to
build leadership capacity across lots of industries and sectors. So
(04:30):
that's something we will continue to do and are continuing
to doing. And then the fire program, you know, if
we're not investing in young people, like, what are we doing?
So I think that that's a really important and critical
program that continues to flourish and we're excited to talk
about it. But yeah, we have challenges and we have opportunities.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
For sure, and Jay, I would love to learn a
little bit more than about Fire. Tell me how this
all kind of came together. How you all decided this
is something that we want to focus.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
So the focus of this program started before my time.
Why to b Boston had other girls programs in the past,
and through some research back in around twenty nineteen, they
discovered that there was a there was a gap in
you know, knowledge and programming for middle school girls. Typically,
(05:22):
the programs that have been run through YW and just
in Boston in general are mostly geared towards high school
age girls and students, and so Fire came along as
something that could be geared towards middle school girls in
gender expansive youth because their voice matters in these conversations
as well.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Yeah, for sure, not that age. You know, you're talking eleven, twelve,
thirteen years old, you're kind of trying to find that voice.
I wouldn't You couldn't pay me to be twelve and
thirteen again, okay, because I remember what it was like
being that age, and I was second guessing everything. I
didn't know who I was, what I was trying to be.
What is it like working with young people at an
age where they're kind of coming into their own I.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Mean it has its great moments and its challenges. I
mean in middle school, we were middle school girls. Yeah
a point, so you know it would be tough, but
it's also really exciting because they are developing, their learning
new things. They're at this point where their minds.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Are so moldable.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
So to introduce them to new concepts and topics and
to get them to see the world a little bit
different in how they experience life and their place in it,
you know, it's just really impactful and powerful.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
I have a ten year old daughter ten going on twenty,
and so from a parent's perspective, I see both how
important you know, these kind of social emotional relationships can
be as they're evolving. But how you know, social media
can be both a blessing and a curse in a
lot of ways. And so to have programs for middle
(07:00):
school girls, to Jay's point, that are supporting them as
they develop, that are guiding them in the right direction,
doing it in person, right in community, and with leaders
mentors like Jay and our staff who can support these
folks outside of school, you know, like not directly related
(07:21):
to the teacher, but not the parents. But another kind
of adult role model is.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
So critical social media the blessing and the curse like
the best and worst thing to happen to humankind. If
you ask me, how are you noticing that kids even
though that there are some efforts these days to try
to you know, limit what kids are seeing, kind of
cut back on the bad stuff the kids are seeing.
Do you find that kids want to still be engaging
(07:48):
as much or are they kind of noticing the not
so good side of social media earlier and distancing themselves.
I'm curious to know what gen Z and Jena is
doing in that regard right now.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
No, I mean, kids absolutely want to be involved in
social media even still. I think one thing that is,
you know, great about this program is kind of challenging
some of the things that they might see that might
shape their body image and how they view themselves or
(08:20):
how they interact in the world. Like one of the
things that we talk about in Fire is like the
messages that you receive and where you receive that those
messages for do you believe those messages? How can we
challenge those messages for yourselves, for your peers, for other.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
People out in the community.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
So like we're a program that meets students where they
where they're at, and social media is where they're at.
They're into all the new trends. They want the extra
five minutes at the end of class to do their
TikTok dances and things like that, and so we have
to find a way as facilitators to meet them where
they're they're at and kind of be up to date
(09:00):
on what the new trends are so that we can
kind of incorporate it in the works and the conversations
that we're having to make sure that, like you know,
everything that you see on social media, and depending on
your algorithm and things like that, you know, it might
be things that we really need to talk about. We
need to challenge some of the things that are being said,
(09:22):
some of the tropes and things that are out there,
or there are some things that are you know, really lifting,
and we can guide them to those spaces as well.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
I will never understand six seven. I still don't get it.
There are so many kids in my.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Life that I'm just glad I know what you're talking
about because I just learned about.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
That last like the Skibbty and the six seven, I'm like,
I can't. I mean, I'm only forty, right, but I
feel like I'm aging myself at this point.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I just can't.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
So let's talk about the kids, Jay, because how many
kids are you working with here? And you know, tell
me about a day in the life over at Fire,
like what are the kids doing.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Yeah, So we've actually just kicked off programming like this
this week, but we ended the school year last year
serving about one hundred and twenty students and so we
project to serve that and hopefully more this school year
as we've you know, outreached a different school. So getting
(10:18):
the students into the program starts with the Fire team
with some outreach to different BPS schools, some charter schools
to gauge their their interest in the program. Once we
are able to you know, get that interest talk about
the program, typically our contacts are pretty excited about having
(10:41):
the program and bringing the program and you know, identifying
that this is something that students and girls and gender
expensive youth of color really need in their schools. And
so there's a couple of different ways that we go
about like getting students to be a part of the program.
One of those ways is first, like students and teachers
on I mean not students, teachers and admin and staff
(11:05):
on campus identify students that they might feel like aligned
with this program or interested in this program. But we
also do some of our own in person recruitment. At
one of our school we held pizza lunch mixer so
students income and learn about the information, whether or not
they really wanted to be in the program, at least
(11:25):
they came and got some pizza, right, but you know,
just finding ways to show interest.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
We also show up to back to school.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Nights, parent nights and things like that that are usually
happening at the beginning of the year so that we
can set up a table and talk to parents and
students about this program and gage some interest there. So
that's how we get students like involved and interested in
the program. But also one of the most valuable ways
I would say students come to be a part of
(11:55):
the Fire program is by word of mouth from their peers.
Typically when we start the program, there are students who
are like, no, I don't want to be a part
of a girls group, like we're going to sit and
talk about our feelings and things like that, and once
their friends are in it and they're hearing like, oh,
their snacks every week, and you know, we had free
food conversation. Free food always wins them. Free food is
(12:19):
always going to get them there, you know. Or once
they're like talking about their field trip from Awa last
year and things like that, then other students are interested
in being a part of the program and you know,
bringing their friends along with them too.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Jay and Zoe are amazing facilitators, and I'm sure that
that's a big perk once folks get Once the students
get to experience them, that's another huge part. Maybe not
as not as big as pizza or what have you,
but they're fantastic facilitators and they just create really great
relationships with the students, so that that's a draw for sure.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Absolutely. I mean kids that age want somebody they can understand,
relate to and talk to, and somebody that's actually listening
to them. And the fact that you all are offering
that space, I mean that's priceless.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Yeah, thank you for naming that abba because that is
one of the things that I think go unset probably
just not to toot my own horn, but like one
of the things by the end of the semester, once
we're like, Okay, next week is the last week. You know,
they're pretty bummed out. They're like, wait, We're not going
to see you again. You're not coming back. And I'm like, well,
not for the rest of this year, but you know
(13:30):
next year, and then when I'm back and recruiting next year,
then I get the oh, we missed you, we've been
looking forward to and things like that. So, yes, us
as facilitators, even though it goes unsaid because teenagers, you know,
I think that is also a big part of being
the program, of being the girls, being a part of
the program. You know, we're meeting them where they're at.
(13:52):
We're trying to be as cool as possible, but also
we create a space, like a really safe space for
them to have conversations that they typically wouldn't have with
other adults about their own identities that oftentimes they keep hidden.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
So you know, that is a big part of it
as well.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Yeah, let's talk about what neighborhoods you serve. Are you
in downtown Boston, how many of the Boston neighborhoods do
you serve, and how far out can kids come to
get access to fire.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Currently we are in Jamaica, plane, Dorchester, Roxbury. We've been
in Mattapan Hyde Park.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Okay, yeah, that still covers a pretty good amount of ground.
And you've got kids that are coming from all sorts
of different walks of life, neighborhoods, a lot of lived experience.
When they are there having these conversations. What sort of
topics you mentioned identities, but what sort of topics are
they bringing up and what do they want to talk
(14:51):
about these days?
Speaker 3 (14:53):
They really want to talk about mental health a lot,
you know, some of their own mental health struggles and successes.
They want to talk about relationships and not like just
romantic relationship, with relationships with their peers, relationships with.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Their family members.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
They also want to talk about, you know, things such
as racism, which is like one of our topics. We
introduce them to them topics at the intersection of race
and gender, so racism, sexism specifically, we talk about microaggressions.
We introduce things to them that they may not have
(15:36):
language language for, and microaggressions it is one of those.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
We also talk about power and privilege.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
We get them to start to name their own identities
and understand culture and you know, what they're proud of,
and you know what they'd like to learn more about.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
But something else.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
That we do is we create a space for them
to start analyzing some of the issues that impact them
at the intersection of race and gender. And so with that,
you know, they start to identify issues within their school community,
within their you know, other communities that they're in that
impact them, and how they want to create change. And
(16:18):
so we start to talk with them about different methods
for community organizing and how to be change makers and
you know, doing a little bit of research and understanding
so that they can be advocates and change makers and
decision makers and you know, about the things that impact them.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
I'm just a firm believer. And again with the work
that we do in building leadership, like I said, we
have this amazing leadership program for adults, professionals, you know,
folks who can make decisions, have the ability to enact
change in their spaces, their spaces, their fears of influence.
And I see the same with the Fire program. Right
It's like we're starting early to be able to create
(16:57):
change makers. It doesn't mean that every student who go
through the Fire program is going to move into politics
or social justice or what have you. But something that
I do love about the program, as Jay was speaking about,
is that they get to identify, self identify, self select program,
you know, sort of a project that they want to
(17:17):
do to contribute back, and I think those skills again,
whether or not they become organizers or whatever the it's
gonna it's going to inform and build skills for whatever
work they do. My hope certainly is that fire students
can continue to be engaged in community, continue to build
their leadership, continue to be able to explore hard issues,
(17:40):
you know, identify adults that they can trust, learn how
to communicate with other adults, with each other, learn empathy,
learn how to self identify a lot of emotions and feelings.
I mean, imagine, if you know, when we were middle
schoolers we had a program like fire Right, would.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Have been nice.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
I do have a lot of hopes for what happens,
but you know, I don't have the data in terms
of tracking fire students over many, many many years. I'm
not sure how far back we go. But again Jacin.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Speaks to that that's okay, yeah, Jane. I would love
to hear what you've seen from kids who've gone through
the program.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
What are they up to?
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Now, So I mean a little bit of history about FIRE.
I feel like Fires a relatively new program. So, like
I said earlier, the research and the decision to serve
middle school girls started in twenty nineteen. The launch of
the FIRE initiatives started in twenty twenty during COVID.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Well, COVID hit as it was launching.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
So for the first few years of FIRE, it was,
you know, a virtual program.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
Things didn't you know, kick off the way that it
was supposed to. I got here in.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Twenty two and the school year of twenty three was
the first year that FIRE was a program that was
one in person. Since then, there's been like a lot
of shifts. It's been kind of like a challenge to
get into school to have that consistency, consistency, and I
(19:21):
feel like we have some consistency, but we're still growing,
and we're still at a space where we we we
aren't at a space where we've had enough students to
track to see where they are now that they're out
in high school. I will say that we recently had
(19:42):
a program that was put on by Lead Boston, I
think Rachel led it.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
What was it called All of the.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Women's Intergenerational Women's Leadership, the Intergenerational Women's Leadership Summit, and
so in that we had a student who showed up
to that. I was informed by the facilitators of that,
Rachel and David, that one of the a student of
(20:10):
a youth program from YW.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
Boston, was a part of that.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
So although I can't say that like where the students
are now, because we don't have that data, I can
say that in the history of youth programming at YW Boston,
I've come across and connected with other folks who've been
in other programs such as in It and things like that,
(20:38):
that they're still doing things and they're still talking about
like how powerful that program.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Was for them.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
And so my hope is that, like the Fire Program
is something that in a couple of years, like students
will say that I was in the Fire program when
I was in the seventh and eighth grade, and I
went to this event and this is how impactful it was.
Last year, the last school year that ended.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Was the.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
First time that I've had students who started in the
sixth grade and ended in the eighth grade, and now
they're going off.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
To high school.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
And so I don't have that information just yet of
like where their path or where their path.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
That's okay though, because it's cool to me that you're
watching them thrive and you're watching them grow to take
all these lessons that you've taught them to see what happens.
And I mean these days with social media and connection
that we have, I mean, these kids can go on
and do pretty much anything they want to, and that's
the beautiful thing.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
You know.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
I'd love to talk really quickly about the city of
Boston and the need for a program like this. Obviously,
Boston has had its challenges, putting it lightly when it
comes to race relations and the treatment of you know,
BIPOC residents of the city, and when we talk about
gen Z and Jena, younger people. Why is it important
to have a program Jay like fire in Boston to
(22:09):
address I suppose you could say these challenges that we
still have to work our way through here in Boston.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Like you said, like Boston is a city that's full
of innovation and education, but it's still a city that
has deep inequities, and young people of color are often
navigating schools and systems that weren't designed with them in mind.
And so I think that Boston needs spaces like Fire
(22:39):
where young people are seen and heard, where they are
able to analyze the conditions of their schools and their
communities and feel supported to be able to take action.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
And so I feel like right now it's a good
time where students can take the lead.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Now, even in middle school, they can start taking change,
like making change. They don't have to wait until adulthood
to realize that they have agency and to understand the
importance of individual power, but even more the importance of
collective power. And programs like Fire create the space, safe
(23:27):
space for the students to begin to have those conversations,
to begin to learn how to advocate for the things
that they need and that they want, the conditions of
their schools and communities that they want to change. And
so I think it's just really important for them to
learn how to address like those inequities because we all
(23:51):
know that, you know, because I mean, there are inequities
in Boston, but because they have specific idea entities at
the intersection of race and gender, those inequities hit.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Them a little harder, a little different.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
I would like to talk about quickly before we start
to wrap this up. Federal funding we were sort of
talking about the impacts from the FEDS earlier, and this
is kind of an overall yw Boston question, So Aba,
this one's for you. Tell me about what you all
need right now. How are you impacted when it comes
to federal funding. What can the community do to help
(24:27):
make sure that all your programs keep going for the
foreseeable future.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
I'm so glad you asked, Nicole, and again, how much
time do you have? Well, no, no, I. As I
mentioned earlier, we are unlike a lot of YWCAs and
that most of them, particularly the ones in this country,
provide social services, so support for domestic violence, child's care,
(24:56):
you know, housing, and a lot of those YWCAs do
rely on federal funding, federal and state funding. We because
we are more focused on systemic change and leadership, we
don't get a lot of federal funding. We do get
state funding specifically for our youth program and we share
that amongst all of there's just a line item in
(25:18):
the state budget that goes for all the YWCAs in Massachusetts.
But for better for worse, we don't get federal funding.
So what that means is that we do rely on
individual donations and corporate sponsorships and philanthropic support to keep
ourselves going. And right now, with the way in which
(25:40):
things are happening, we are really really looking for more
individuals to support our work and to understand why it's important,
and you know, to be able to provide both monetary
but you know, all kinds of support to us. And
we have a campaign going right now that is in
recognition of our one hundred and sixtieth and so we're
(26:00):
inviting what we call allies and accomplices right people who
can support our work monetarily or just show up. There
are a lot of different ways to engage, and if
you go to our website you can you can sort
of read more about it. But for me, it's really
important that people number one understand how important this work
is and that they feel a sense of agency to
(26:23):
support it. Right in ways where if even if you know,
corporate sponsorships or other institutional funding is kind of feeling
more restricted, individuals have more agency to help support this
work and keep it going. And like I said, to
emphasize the fact that we have been around for one
hundred and sixty years, so we are not you know
(26:43):
that we're not a brand new startup by any means,
and you know, it's important to keep that legacy going,
especially as we move into this next period of history.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Yeah, and then when it comes to the Fire program, Jay,
how can kids maybe if a parent is listening right
now and they want their kid to get involved, or
hopefully a kid listens to the show, But if they
do and they're interested, again, where where do you serve?
One more time, just in case people didn't catch it
the first time, where do you serve? How can kids
get involved?
Speaker 4 (27:14):
Dorchester, Mattapan, Jamaica? Plane?
Speaker 3 (27:18):
But we are a program whose goal is to serve
the greater Boston area. Okay, so there isn't necessarily a
limit on where.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
I think that.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
If someone is interested in the program, definitely reach out.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
Let me know what schools they're.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Young person is interested in, so we can begin to
have that conversation. A part of it is about visibility
and like a lot of schools don't know that fire exists.
And so in order to start having I mean, in
order to get them to know that, we need to
start having those conversations.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
So greater Boston area.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
All but tell me more about your website, social media?
Where can people get ahold of you and help however
they can.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
We're all over the plays. We have a beautiful website,
actually redesigned. Shout out to our marketing and communications team.
We also are very active on social media, so we're
on LinkedIn, We're on Instagram, Facebook Day. I don't know
we are active. I am not. I'm not sure. We're
(28:22):
on Twitter. I don't know we we we continue to
keep that relationship or not.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
No, I don't think we kept that relationship.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Fabulous, fair enough, but definitely definitely Instagram, Definitely LinkedIn. We're
posting a lot of content, sharing a lot, and we
also have a newsletter for our donors, our leading Boston alumni,
they have their own newsletters. So our communications efforts and
our communications team are hard at work keeping folks engaged
(28:50):
and our advancement team, you know, with this. With this
fundraising campaign that I mentioned, it's it's going on for
We launched it in June. July and March is officially
are both one hundred and sixtieth anniversary and my one
year anniversary, So it's kind of a year long campaign
just to get folks, you know, support engaged in supporting
(29:12):
with us and learned about our history over the last
one hundred and sixty years and help us imagine what
the next one hundred and sixty years are going to
look like.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Any special events, anything big happening at YW Boston that
you want to promote right now and tell us about.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Oh yeah, well, I'm really glad that Jay mentioned the
intergenerational women's leadership. It happened already, so but it is
a little bit of a prelude into some of the
work that we are trying to do and move into
really embracing all the different generations in the way that
leadership can be supported and reflected and enhanced right now,
(29:47):
so we'll be doing more of that. We're also, you know,
doing more programming to support women of color specifically. We
have a really great event actually happening next week in
partnership with the Boston Women's Fund to learn about the
resource that they've done for the last two years on
women of color grassroots leaders and what they're going through
(30:10):
and what they need. And then as a follow up,
we have a webinar on October twenty eighth about the
experience of women of color in the workplace. You know,
we've done a lot of conversations there's been a lot
of discourse around job loss for women of color, Black
women specifically, and just how women of color are navigating
(30:32):
these times. So we have a really really amazing lineup
of speakers for that. And then in November we have
a training, an advocacy training, so again building the capacity
the leadership to help women of color. This one is
specifically for women of color as well, learn how to
kind of navigate the political system and how they can lobby.
(30:53):
And we have Senator Liz Miranda coming to the event.
We have some really I'm forgetting the names of all
the people, but really really exciting. I think Julia Mayhaws coming,
and it's just going to be really interesting and really great.
So we are launching a lot of new programming. We're
going to finish up our strategic planning process by the
(31:14):
end of next month, and you'll hear a lot more
about what we're up to, including all the wonderful work
that Fire is doing in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Well, look, jay Abba, thank you so much for all
the work you're doing in our community, working with our
young people. I mean, they are the future, obviously, so
thanks for getting right up there with them and helping
them navigate what is a pretty tough time in every
young person's life. So I appreciate the work you're doing
and thanks for being on the show.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Thank you, Nicole, Thank you for having us to share
the story.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
All right, have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join
me again next week for another edition of the show.
I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
We're each and every week right here. We come together,
we talk about all the topics important to you and
the place where you live. It is great to have
you back this weekend. I'm Nicole Davis. This time around,
we're focusing on y W Boston. Their a budding program.
It's giving young people of color a chance to explore
(00:28):
leadership skills, talk about community action, get involved, and so
much more. This is the Fire Program FYRE, and it
stands for Fierce Youth Reigniting Excellence. It's focused on girls
in gender expansive youth and local middle schools and not
only teaches them resilience and confidence, but it also offers
them a much needed space to talk about heavy stuff
(00:49):
that tweens deal with. We're talking about social inequities, social media,
race relations, gender identity, what it's like to be growing
up at that time, you name it. There's a lot
of questions and the conversation's ebb and flow. Here on
the show to talk with us about their work about
all the opportunities YW Boston offers is Abba Taylor. She
is the president and CEO. J Boss is here as well.
(01:11):
They're the director of the Fire program. Good to have
you both on the show, and Alba, I'm gonna start
with you here because people might not be as familiar
with YW Boston as they are the YWCA, So talk
with us about yw Boston. It's history. I know for
a fact, it's a storied one.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, YW Boston. We are going to turn one hundred
and sixty years old next March, so we've been around.
We've been around the block a few times.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I'd say.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
There are about one hundred and ninety four YWCAs in
the country, and there's a national YW YWCA national, so
a lot of folks maybe have heard of YMCA. There's
no affiliation, but the acronym originally was the Young Women's
Christian Association. So we are part of a federation of
(01:59):
one hundred and ninety four organizations. There are YWCAs in
about one hundred and twenty countries, so it's really exciting
because we are very unique. We like to say that
we're the first, the Boston the Boston Organization Association is
the first of all of them. New York City claims otherwise,
but we know what's true. Yeah, and we're really unique
(02:22):
in a lot of ways compared to the other YWCAs one.
We go by YW Boston. We drop the caa some
time ago to just further emphasize being non denominational. Our
mission is to eliminate racism and empower women and promote peace, justice,
freedom and dignity for all people. And so we really
(02:45):
do focus on the intersection of racial and gender equity,
and we do that through a variety of programs, including Fire,
which we'll talk about. We have a wonderful leadership program
that folks from across Boston, leaders from many many, many
cohorts over time have really appreciated. I just met with
(03:07):
somebody this afternoon who is currently in the program and
really appreciative of the way what they're learning. It's an
immersive leadership program for Boston leaders called Lead Boston. And
then we have consulting and training work that we do
around racial equity, diversity, equity, inclusion and other things that's amazing.
So that's a little bit about us.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Yeah, in a time where we're dealing with a lot
of people struggling to get by, and obviously it's not
clear where exactly the economy is going. It's not clear
where politically things are going. Have you found a lot
more people coming to get help from YW Boston or
are you finding that demand is about the same as
it has been.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Well, if we're being really honest, the work that we've
been doing in the diversity, equity inclusion space DEI has
taken a pretty hard hit, like many other nonprofits, So
we do commend the organizations that continue to work with us.
We have seen a decline in demand for those services,
(04:06):
but we also are really appreciative of our partners, nonprofit,
non governmental, corporate who are sticking with us for our
DEI services that we provide. Otherwise, our leadership programs continues
to do really well, and I would argue personally that
there is no more important time than right now to
build leadership capacity across lots of industries and sectors. So
(04:30):
that's something we will continue to do and are continuing
to doing. And then the fire program, you know, if
we're not investing in young people, like, what are we doing?
So I think that that's a really important and critical
program that continues to flourish and we're excited to talk
about it. But yeah, we have challenges and we have opportunities.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
For sure, and Jay, I would love to learn a
little bit more than about Fire. Tell me how this
all kind of came together. How you all decided this
is something that we want to focus.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
So the focus of this program started before my time.
Why to b Boston had other girls programs in the past,
and through some research back in around twenty nineteen, they
discovered that there was a there was a gap in
you know, knowledge and programming for middle school girls. Typically,
(05:22):
the programs that have been run through YW and just
in Boston in general are mostly geared towards high school
age girls and students, and so Fire came along as
something that could be geared towards middle school girls in
gender expansive youth because their voice matters in these conversations
as well.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Yeah, for sure, not that age. You know, you're talking eleven, twelve,
thirteen years old, you're kind of trying to find that voice.
I wouldn't You couldn't pay me to be twelve and
thirteen again, okay, because I remember what it was like
being that age, and I was second guessing everything. I
didn't know who I was, what I was trying to be.
What is it like working with young people at an
age where they're kind of coming into their own I.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Mean it has its great moments and its challenges. I
mean in middle school, we were middle school girls. Yeah
a point, so you know it would be tough, but
it's also really exciting because they are developing, their learning
new things. They're at this point where their minds.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Are so moldable.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
So to introduce them to new concepts and topics and
to get them to see the world a little bit
different in how they experience life and their place in it,
you know, it's just really impactful and powerful.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
I have a ten year old daughter ten going on twenty,
and so from a parent's perspective, I see both how
important you know, these kind of social emotional relationships can
be as they're evolving. But how you know, social media
can be both a blessing and a curse in a
lot of ways. And so to have programs for middle
(07:00):
school girls, to Jay's point, that are supporting them as
they develop, that are guiding them in the right direction,
doing it in person, right in community, and with leaders
mentors like Jay and our staff who can support these
folks outside of school, you know, like not directly related
(07:21):
to the teacher, but not the parents. But another kind
of adult role model is.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
So critical social media the blessing and the curse like
the best and worst thing to happen to humankind. If
you ask me, how are you noticing that kids even
though that there are some efforts these days to try
to you know, limit what kids are seeing, kind of
cut back on the bad stuff the kids are seeing.
Do you find that kids want to still be engaging
(07:48):
as much or are they kind of noticing the not
so good side of social media earlier and distancing themselves.
I'm curious to know what gen Z and Jena is
doing in that regard right now.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
No, I mean, kids absolutely want to be involved in
social media even still. I think one thing that is,
you know, great about this program is kind of challenging
some of the things that they might see that might
shape their body image and how they view themselves or
(08:20):
how they interact in the world. Like one of the
things that we talk about in Fire is like the
messages that you receive and where you receive that those
messages for do you believe those messages? How can we
challenge those messages for yourselves, for your peers, for other.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
People out in the community.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
So like we're a program that meets students where they
where they're at, and social media is where they're at.
They're into all the new trends. They want the extra
five minutes at the end of class to do their
TikTok dances and things like that, and so we have
to find a way as facilitators to meet them where
they're they're at and kind of be up to date
(09:00):
on what the new trends are so that we can
kind of incorporate it in the works and the conversations
that we're having to make sure that, like you know,
everything that you see on social media, and depending on
your algorithm and things like that, you know, it might
be things that we really need to talk about. We
need to challenge some of the things that are being said,
(09:22):
some of the tropes and things that are out there,
or there are some things that are you know, really lifting,
and we can guide them to those spaces as well.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
I will never understand six seven. I still don't get it.
There are so many kids in my.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Life that I'm just glad I know what you're talking
about because I just learned about.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
That last like the Skibbty and the six seven, I'm like,
I can't. I mean, I'm only forty, right, but I
feel like I'm aging myself at this point.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I just can't.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
So let's talk about the kids, Jay, because how many
kids are you working with here? And you know, tell
me about a day in the life over at Fire,
like what are the kids doing.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Yeah, So we've actually just kicked off programming like this
this week, but we ended the school year last year
serving about one hundred and twenty students and so we
project to serve that and hopefully more this school year
as we've you know, outreached a different school. So getting
(10:18):
the students into the program starts with the Fire team
with some outreach to different BPS schools, some charter schools
to gauge their their interest in the program. Once we
are able to you know, get that interest talk about
the program, typically our contacts are pretty excited about having
(10:41):
the program and bringing the program and you know, identifying
that this is something that students and girls and gender
expensive youth of color really need in their schools. And
so there's a couple of different ways that we go
about like getting students to be a part of the program.
One of those ways is first, like students and teachers
on I mean not students, teachers and admin and staff
(11:05):
on campus identify students that they might feel like aligned
with this program or interested in this program. But we
also do some of our own in person recruitment. At
one of our school we held pizza lunch mixer so
students income and learn about the information, whether or not
they really wanted to be in the program, at least
(11:25):
they came and got some pizza, right, but you know,
just finding ways to show interest.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
We also show up to back to school.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Nights, parent nights and things like that that are usually
happening at the beginning of the year so that we
can set up a table and talk to parents and
students about this program and gage some interest there. So
that's how we get students like involved and interested in
the program. But also one of the most valuable ways
I would say students come to be a part of
(11:55):
the Fire program is by word of mouth from their peers.
Typically when we start the program, there are students who
are like, no, I don't want to be a part
of a girls group, like we're going to sit and
talk about our feelings and things like that, and once
their friends are in it and they're hearing like, oh,
their snacks every week, and you know, we had free
food conversation. Free food always wins them. Free food is
(12:19):
always going to get them there, you know. Or once
they're like talking about their field trip from Awa last
year and things like that, then other students are interested
in being a part of the program and you know,
bringing their friends along with them too.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Jay and Zoe are amazing facilitators, and I'm sure that
that's a big perk once folks get Once the students
get to experience them, that's another huge part. Maybe not
as not as big as pizza or what have you,
but they're fantastic facilitators and they just create really great
relationships with the students, so that that's a draw for sure.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Absolutely. I mean kids that age want somebody they can understand,
relate to and talk to, and somebody that's actually listening
to them. And the fact that you all are offering
that space, I mean that's priceless.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Yeah, thank you for naming that abba because that is
one of the things that I think go unset probably
just not to toot my own horn, but like one
of the things by the end of the semester, once
we're like, Okay, next week is the last week. You know,
they're pretty bummed out. They're like, wait, We're not going
to see you again. You're not coming back. And I'm like, well,
not for the rest of this year, but you know
(13:30):
next year, and then when I'm back and recruiting next year,
then I get the oh, we missed you, we've been
looking forward to and things like that. So, yes, us
as facilitators, even though it goes unsaid because teenagers, you know,
I think that is also a big part of being
the program, of being the girls, being a part of
the program. You know, we're meeting them where they're at.
(13:52):
We're trying to be as cool as possible, but also
we create a space, like a really safe space for
them to have conversations that they typically wouldn't have with
other adults about their own identities that oftentimes they keep hidden.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
So you know, that is a big part of it
as well.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Yeah, let's talk about what neighborhoods you serve. Are you
in downtown Boston, how many of the Boston neighborhoods do
you serve, and how far out can kids come to
get access to fire.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Currently we are in Jamaica, plane, Dorchester, Roxbury. We've been
in Mattapan Hyde Park.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Okay, yeah, that still covers a pretty good amount of ground.
And you've got kids that are coming from all sorts
of different walks of life, neighborhoods, a lot of lived experience.
When they are there having these conversations. What sort of
topics you mentioned identities, but what sort of topics are
they bringing up and what do they want to talk
(14:51):
about these days?
Speaker 3 (14:53):
They really want to talk about mental health a lot,
you know, some of their own mental health struggles and successes.
They want to talk about relationships and not like just
romantic relationship, with relationships with their peers, relationships with.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Their family members.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
They also want to talk about, you know, things such
as racism, which is like one of our topics. We
introduce them to them topics at the intersection of race
and gender, so racism, sexism specifically, we talk about microaggressions.
We introduce things to them that they may not have
(15:36):
language language for, and microaggressions it is one of those.
Speaker 4 (15:41):
We also talk about power and privilege.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
We get them to start to name their own identities
and understand culture and you know, what they're proud of,
and you know what they'd like to learn more about.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
But something else.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
That we do is we create a space for them
to start analyzing some of the issues that impact them
at the intersection of race and gender. And so with that,
you know, they start to identify issues within their school community,
within their you know, other communities that they're in that
impact them, and how they want to create change. And
(16:18):
so we start to talk with them about different methods
for community organizing and how to be change makers and
you know, doing a little bit of research and understanding
so that they can be advocates and change makers and
decision makers and you know, about the things that impact them.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
I'm just a firm believer. And again with the work
that we do in building leadership, like I said, we
have this amazing leadership program for adults, professionals, you know,
folks who can make decisions, have the ability to enact
change in their spaces, their spaces, their fears of influence.
And I see the same with the Fire program. Right
It's like we're starting early to be able to create
(16:57):
change makers. It doesn't mean that every student who go
through the Fire program is going to move into politics
or social justice or what have you. But something that
I do love about the program, as Jay was speaking about,
is that they get to identify, self identify, self select program,
you know, sort of a project that they want to
(17:17):
do to contribute back, and I think those skills again,
whether or not they become organizers or whatever the it's
gonna it's going to inform and build skills for whatever
work they do. My hope certainly is that fire students
can continue to be engaged in community, continue to build
their leadership, continue to be able to explore hard issues,
(17:40):
you know, identify adults that they can trust, learn how
to communicate with other adults, with each other, learn empathy,
learn how to self identify a lot of emotions and feelings.
I mean, imagine, if you know, when we were middle
schoolers we had a program like fire Right, would.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Have been nice.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
I do have a lot of hopes for what happens,
but you know, I don't have the data in terms
of tracking fire students over many, many many years. I'm
not sure how far back we go. But again Jacin.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Speaks to that that's okay, yeah, Jane. I would love
to hear what you've seen from kids who've gone through
the program.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
What are they up to?
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Now, So I mean a little bit of history about FIRE.
I feel like Fires a relatively new program. So, like
I said earlier, the research and the decision to serve
middle school girls started in twenty nineteen. The launch of
the FIRE initiatives started in twenty twenty during COVID.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Well, COVID hit as it was launching.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
So for the first few years of FIRE, it was,
you know, a virtual program.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
Things didn't you know, kick off the way that it
was supposed to. I got here in.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Twenty two and the school year of twenty three was
the first year that FIRE was a program that was
one in person. Since then, there's been like a lot
of shifts. It's been kind of like a challenge to
get into school to have that consistency, consistency, and I
(19:21):
feel like we have some consistency, but we're still growing,
and we're still at a space where we we we
aren't at a space where we've had enough students to
track to see where they are now that they're out
in high school. I will say that we recently had
(19:42):
a program that was put on by Lead Boston, I
think Rachel led it.
Speaker 4 (19:46):
What was it called All of the.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Women's Intergenerational Women's Leadership, the Intergenerational Women's Leadership Summit, and
so in that we had a student who showed up
to that. I was informed by the facilitators of that,
Rachel and David, that one of the a student of
(20:10):
a youth program from YW.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
Boston, was a part of that.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
So although I can't say that like where the students
are now, because we don't have that data, I can
say that in the history of youth programming at YW Boston,
I've come across and connected with other folks who've been
in other programs such as in It and things like that,
(20:38):
that they're still doing things and they're still talking about
like how powerful that program.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Was for them.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
And so my hope is that, like the Fire Program
is something that in a couple of years, like students
will say that I was in the Fire program when
I was in the seventh and eighth grade, and I
went to this event and this is how impactful it was.
Last year, the last school year that ended.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
Was the.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
First time that I've had students who started in the
sixth grade and ended in the eighth grade, and now
they're going off.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
To high school.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
And so I don't have that information just yet of
like where their path or where their path.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
That's okay though, because it's cool to me that you're
watching them thrive and you're watching them grow to take
all these lessons that you've taught them to see what happens.
And I mean these days with social media and connection
that we have, I mean, these kids can go on
and do pretty much anything they want to, and that's
the beautiful thing.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
You know.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
I'd love to talk really quickly about the city of
Boston and the need for a program like this. Obviously,
Boston has had its challenges, putting it lightly when it
comes to race relations and the treatment of you know,
BIPOC residents of the city, and when we talk about
gen Z and Jena, younger people. Why is it important
to have a program Jay like fire in Boston to
(22:09):
address I suppose you could say these challenges that we
still have to work our way through here in Boston.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
Like you said, like Boston is a city that's full
of innovation and education, but it's still a city that
has deep inequities, and young people of color are often
navigating schools and systems that weren't designed with them in mind.
And so I think that Boston needs spaces like Fire
(22:39):
where young people are seen and heard, where they are
able to analyze the conditions of their schools and their
communities and feel supported to be able to take action.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
And so I feel like right now it's a good
time where students can take the lead.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Now, even in middle school, they can start taking change,
like making change. They don't have to wait until adulthood
to realize that they have agency and to understand the
importance of individual power, but even more the importance of
collective power. And programs like Fire create the space, safe
(23:27):
space for the students to begin to have those conversations,
to begin to learn how to advocate for the things
that they need and that they want, the conditions of
their schools and communities that they want to change. And
so I think it's just really important for them to
learn how to address like those inequities because we all
(23:51):
know that, you know, because I mean, there are inequities
in Boston, but because they have specific idea entities at
the intersection of race and gender, those inequities hit.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Them a little harder, a little different.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
I would like to talk about quickly before we start
to wrap this up. Federal funding we were sort of
talking about the impacts from the FEDS earlier, and this
is kind of an overall yw Boston question, So Aba,
this one's for you. Tell me about what you all
need right now. How are you impacted when it comes
to federal funding. What can the community do to help
(24:27):
make sure that all your programs keep going for the
foreseeable future.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
I'm so glad you asked, Nicole, and again, how much
time do you have? Well, no, no, I. As I
mentioned earlier, we are unlike a lot of YWCAs and
that most of them, particularly the ones in this country,
provide social services, so support for domestic violence, child's care,
(24:56):
you know, housing, and a lot of those YWCAs do
rely on federal funding, federal and state funding. We because
we are more focused on systemic change and leadership, we
don't get a lot of federal funding. We do get
state funding specifically for our youth program and we share
that amongst all of there's just a line item in
(25:18):
the state budget that goes for all the YWCAs in Massachusetts.
But for better for worse, we don't get federal funding.
So what that means is that we do rely on
individual donations and corporate sponsorships and philanthropic support to keep
ourselves going. And right now, with the way in which
(25:40):
things are happening, we are really really looking for more
individuals to support our work and to understand why it's important,
and you know, to be able to provide both monetary
but you know, all kinds of support to us. And
we have a campaign going right now that is in
recognition of our one hundred and sixtieth and so we're
(26:00):
inviting what we call allies and accomplices right people who
can support our work monetarily or just show up. There
are a lot of different ways to engage, and if
you go to our website you can you can sort
of read more about it. But for me, it's really
important that people number one understand how important this work
is and that they feel a sense of agency to
(26:23):
support it. Right in ways where if even if you know,
corporate sponsorships or other institutional funding is kind of feeling
more restricted, individuals have more agency to help support this
work and keep it going. And like I said, to
emphasize the fact that we have been around for one
hundred and sixty years, so we are not you know
(26:43):
that we're not a brand new startup by any means,
and you know, it's important to keep that legacy going,
especially as we move into this next period of history.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Yeah, and then when it comes to the Fire program, Jay,
how can kids maybe if a parent is listening right
now and they want their kid to get involved, or
hopefully a kid listens to the show, But if they
do and they're interested, again, where where do you serve?
One more time, just in case people didn't catch it
the first time, where do you serve? How can kids
get involved?
Speaker 4 (27:14):
Dorchester, Mattapan, Jamaica? Plane?
Speaker 3 (27:18):
But we are a program whose goal is to serve
the greater Boston area. Okay, so there isn't necessarily a
limit on where.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
I think that.
Speaker 3 (27:31):
If someone is interested in the program, definitely reach out.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
Let me know what schools they're.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Young person is interested in, so we can begin to
have that conversation. A part of it is about visibility
and like a lot of schools don't know that fire exists.
And so in order to start having I mean, in
order to get them to know that, we need to
start having those conversations.
Speaker 4 (27:54):
So greater Boston area.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
All but tell me more about your website, social media?
Where can people get ahold of you and help however
they can.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
We're all over the plays. We have a beautiful website,
actually redesigned. Shout out to our marketing and communications team.
We also are very active on social media, so we're
on LinkedIn, We're on Instagram, Facebook Day. I don't know
we are active. I am not. I'm not sure. We're
(28:22):
on Twitter. I don't know we we we continue to
keep that relationship or not.
Speaker 4 (28:27):
No, I don't think we kept that relationship.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Fabulous, fair enough, but definitely definitely Instagram, Definitely LinkedIn. We're
posting a lot of content, sharing a lot, and we
also have a newsletter for our donors, our leading Boston alumni,
they have their own newsletters. So our communications efforts and
our communications team are hard at work keeping folks engaged
(28:50):
and our advancement team, you know, with this. With this
fundraising campaign that I mentioned, it's it's going on for
We launched it in June. July and March is officially
are both one hundred and sixtieth anniversary and my one
year anniversary, So it's kind of a year long campaign
just to get folks, you know, support engaged in supporting
(29:12):
with us and learned about our history over the last
one hundred and sixty years and help us imagine what
the next one hundred and sixty years are going to
look like.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Any special events, anything big happening at YW Boston that
you want to promote right now and tell us about.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Oh yeah, well, I'm really glad that Jay mentioned the
intergenerational women's leadership. It happened already, so but it is
a little bit of a prelude into some of the
work that we are trying to do and move into
really embracing all the different generations in the way that
leadership can be supported and reflected and enhanced right now,
(29:47):
so we'll be doing more of that. We're also, you know,
doing more programming to support women of color specifically. We
have a really great event actually happening next week in
partnership with the Boston Women's Fund to learn about the
resource that they've done for the last two years on
women of color grassroots leaders and what they're going through
(30:10):
and what they need. And then as a follow up,
we have a webinar on October twenty eighth about the
experience of women of color in the workplace. You know,
we've done a lot of conversations there's been a lot
of discourse around job loss for women of color, Black
women specifically, and just how women of color are navigating
(30:32):
these times. So we have a really really amazing lineup
of speakers for that. And then in November we have
a training, an advocacy training, so again building the capacity
the leadership to help women of color. This one is
specifically for women of color as well, learn how to
kind of navigate the political system and how they can lobby.
(30:53):
And we have Senator Liz Miranda coming to the event.
We have some really I'm forgetting the names of all
the people, but really really exciting. I think Julia Mayhaws coming,
and it's just going to be really interesting and really great.
So we are launching a lot of new programming. We're
going to finish up our strategic planning process by the
(31:14):
end of next month, and you'll hear a lot more
about what we're up to, including all the wonderful work
that Fire is doing in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Well, look, jay Abba, thank you so much for all
the work you're doing in our community, working with our
young people. I mean, they are the future, obviously, so
thanks for getting right up there with them and helping
them navigate what is a pretty tough time in every
young person's life. So I appreciate the work you're doing
and thanks for being on the show.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Thank you, Nicole, Thank you for having us to share
the story.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
All right, have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join
me again next week for another edition of the show.
I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
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