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In this, the final broadcast in the Race and Wellness series, the focus is on racial healing, with guests Leah Penniman and Gregory Owens. Penniman is a farmer, educator, author, and food sovereignty activist. She is the Co-founder, Co-director, and Program Manager of Soul Fire Farm, in Grafton, Rensselaer County. Soul Fire Farm is an Afro-Indigenous-centered community farm committed to uprooting racism and seeding sovereignty in the food system. Penniman discusses ending food apartheid and having agency in the food system. Owens is a Licensed Master Social Worker formerly with New York's Office of Children and Family Services. As Director of Strategic Partnerships he led statewide initiatives in the areas of fatherhood development, mentoring, and the disproportionate representation of children of color in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. Owens' work on health disparities includes convening the Albany Minority Health Task Force for the University at Albany, Center for the Elimination of Minority Health Disparities, and consultation with the Adirondack Health Initiative, presenting workshops on health literacy and culture to stakeholders in upstate New York. He will help listeners determine best practices for racial healing.

"Race Talks," hosted by intercultural communicator and author Kimberly Y. Erwin, provides expertise on the topic of race and ethnicity. With the national conversation in the media over racial inequity, ignorance or indifference is not a proper retreat. Erwin enjoys speaking with people from every walk of life, ethnic make-up, and varied perspectives to better instruct, engage, and inform listeners with positive and constructive conversations on all things race and ethnicity — which is very necessary to break down structural and societal racism. No topic is taboo. Here, listeners engage with the host, other expert guest educators, activists, organizers, and community members as they disseminate their knowledge (ie. varying terminologies, historical realities, and current opportunities for engagement) for a better informed, appreciative, and active local citizenry.

About the host

An educator, writer, and entrepreneur, Erwin enjoyed her studies as a Hudson High School graduate (attending her senior year at Columbia-Greene Community College) and graduated from Spelman College in Atlanta (noted the #1 Historical Black College and University by "U.S. News") where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and French. Upon receiving a Masters in Science degree from the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in Intercultural Communication, Erwin ventured into the areas of international administration, multicultural leadership, and various teaching positions within the U.S. and globally.

Upon returning to Hudson Valley, Kimberly started a media company (OneUniversal Media) endeavoring to give voice to members in communities experiencing gross inequities who yearn to create common means of communicating and celebrating their identity while still challenging societal norms. Erwin is a founding member of Africa's Daughters of the Diaspora (ADD), She holds volunteer positions as a Hudson Area Library Trustee, an on-air programmer at WGXC-FM, and with the Hudson City School District (where her children's book was informed).