Arlington-Mansfield YMCA starts equity podcast, highlighting racial and wealth disparities
The neighborhood YMCA is making a name for itself outside of swim lessons and group exercise classes.
The Y Advancing Equity Podcast is the first podcast of its kind within the organization. It’s one of the Arlington-Mansfield YMCA’s latest efforts to live out the last part of their mission statement that states the YMCA is a place “for all” in an active way.
“If we are walking into our YMCA, and there are not people of different religions and different origins and different languages, and if we’re not doing that, if that’s not happening, we are not doing our work in this community,” said Heidi Hardy, vice president of community engagement and the podcast co-host and producer.
Over the 19 episodes, the hosts have discussed police-community relations, the immigrant experience, the wealth gap and civic engagement in politics, among other equity-related topics.
“We’ve been a part of helping to shape the social fabric in this country..., and we’re proud to be a part of that,” said Eric Tucker, Arlington-Mansfield YMCA president and CEO who is also the podcast co-host. “We’re just now better at being intentional about it which has been the exciting thing.”
They answer any potential question marks about the organization’s role in advancing equity. The Y has a history of being first for the marginalized in the U.S. and around the world. The organization began welcoming women in the 1850s. The YMCA provided services to Japanese internment camp victims during World War II. The first Black YMCA was founded by freedman Anthony Bowen in 1853. It was the first Black institution that wasn’t a church founded in the country.
Besides hosting youth development and health and wellness activities, the organization continues this legacy with its Special Friends program, a wellness initiative for adults with special needs, its immigrant heritage month and
Hardy said YMCAs have been a center for diversity across the country and around the world for years, but they haven’t advertised this part of their work as much as their youth development and wellness programs.
The Y at Arlington and Mansfield serves a diverse clientele that reflects Arlington and Mansfield’s white, Black and Asian demographics, but they are behind representing the cities’ Hispanic populations, Tucker said.
Arlington established a Unity Council last year to advise the city on potential solutions for racial disparities. After serving on the council, Hardy, an audio producer of eight years, decided to continue the conversation in a YMCA podcast.
The North Texas Community Foundation’s Fund to Advance Racial Equity grant funded the start of Brave Space Studios, which produces the Advancing Equity podcast, Hardy said.
The podcast has featured a variety of different guests: leaders like Arlington mayor Jim Ross and Tarrant County Commissioner Devan Allen and activists like Bridging the Gap founder Felicia Williams.
The hosts ask their guests how inequities have shaped their lives and how they have honest conversations in their communities. They also discuss potential solutions.
“The more we can continue to talk about that in a way that feels safe and educational or conversational, the more likely we’re going to continue to keep those topics top of mind for our leaders for the people that are voting for some of the decisions that are being made,” Hardy said.
Tucker said the podcast is apolitical, but that doesn’t inhibit the organization from talking about race, policing, wealth gaps and other inequities.
“I wish that there were more conversations going on that were a little calmer and less extreme and really just cover the facts and talk about the solutions,” Tucker said.
But Tucker said that sometimes the organization gets pushback for having conversations like these. He said sometimes people that come to work out can doubt why the Y is having events like their Welcoming Week that highlights immigrant cultures.
“Well, we feel like it’s the right thing to do,” Tucker said.
But Tucker said they’re hoping that the podcast is more than a conversation.
“Are we going to have a podcast where we just sit around and talk? We just say, ‘Hey, this is a problem here, a problem there?’ Or are we going to leverage some of these partnerships, these new relations to make some changes?” Tucker said.
Season two of the podcast is starting in January with former Arlington mayor Jeff Williams as their first guest. Episodes of the podcast can be found on amaymca.org/y-advancing-equity-podcast.
This story was originally published November 29, 2021 at 5:30 AM.
