KICKIN' IT WITH MR Q

In this episode, host Ahmad Qawi, President/CEO of the Racine Family YMCA, interviews Mr. Charles Tyler, Racine's first African American Director of the Racine Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department. Mr. Tyler is also a longtime youth mentor and community activist in Racine.

Born in Cairo, Illinois, Mr. Tyler grew up with a vision of service to help others in need. He began playing basketball in high school, played while stationed in Japan during his service in the Navy, and attended college in South Dakota on  a basketball scholarship. Upon arriving in Racine, Mr. Tyler worked for the City of Racine, eventually becoming the head of the Racine Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department.

Mr. Tyler was involved in Racine's Civil Rights movement to advocate for improved community center facilities for youth in the city. He is a beloved youth mentor in Racine who has positively impacted the lives of hundreds of youth. In 2017, Mr. Tyler published a book, titled "Youth in the Center of My Heart."

In honor of Black History Month, we are presenting four podcasts that highlight Racine's Black History. In the second episode in this series, host and first African American president of the Racine Family YMCA, Ahmad Qawi, interviews Ronald Tatum, son of the late Callie Tatum, a Racine community advocate. In 1961, Mrs. Tatum worked closely with other local leaders such as Thelma Orr and George Bray to provide an after-school safe space and neighborhood center for youth and families in Central Racine. (The Center closed in 2016 but reopened as the Racine Family George Bray A. Neighborhood Branch in 2017 with the help of Caron Butler, retired NBA star, Assistant Coach with the Miami Heat and Bray Center alumnus, the Ruud Foundation and the Racine community.) Mrs. Tatum's legacy of community advocacy, including her famous advice about Speaking Up and Speaking Out is discussed.

Mr. Tatum is the Vice President of Operations at Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin.

In honor of Black History Month, the next four podcasts will highlight Racine's Black History. The first episode in this series talks to the Racine Family YMCA's first African American President/CEO, Ahmad Qawi, aka "Q." This interview was done by Keith Vinson, Vice President of Operations at the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas. Q shares his Y story of joining the Racine Family YMCA, first as Community Development Director, ten years as Chief Operating Officer, and now as President/CEO. His leadership development journey is discussed, and the inclusive, professional development-focused YMCA culture.

In this sixth podcast episode of "Kickin' It With the Y," host Ahmad K. Qawi, President/CEO of the Racine Family YMCA, is joined by Mathias Werve, Personal Trainer at the Racine Family YMCA, to discuss how to start out the New Year right from the health and wellness perspective. Mathias also discusses how his personal support network and background in endurance sports helped him in his recovery from a brain tumor in his early teens. Having a support network is key to achieving and maintaining health and overcoming health challenges, and Mathias and his colleagues at the Racine Family YMCA help fill that essential role for our members and in our community.

Mathias Werve is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin—Whitewater. A certified Personal Trainer, Mathias has been at the Y for six years, working with people through a variety of different Y programs to help them meet and maintain health goals, including cancer survivors and Parkinson’s patients, based on each individual’s needs.

In this fifth podcast episode, Ahmad Qawi, Racine Family YMCA President/CEO is joined by Teresa S. Johnson, PhD, RN, Associate Professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; and researcher in infant health measures and infant mortality rates to discuss the 5 Social Determinants of Health in providing healthy outcomes: Economic Stability, Education, Health & Health Care, Neighborhood and Built Environment and Social & Community Context and the challenges vulnerable populations experience in achieving healthy outcomes.

Teresa S. Johnson received her Bachelor of Science from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, Masters in Nursing degree from University of Kansas, and doctoral degree from University of Illinois at Chicago. She has many years of clinical, teaching and research experience with newborns and their families. Her research with newborns has centered on infant health measures such as infant size at birth as a reflection of fetal growth, care and study of the breastfeeding mother-infant dyad in in- and outpatient settings, and barriers to initiation and continuation of breastfeeding, especially among high-risk populations. She is also leading a team to study infant mortality in a small urban community in SE Wisconsin. She looks for opportunities to include undergraduate and graduate students in her research. She practices as a Clinical Nurse Specialist and nurse/research consultant for Wheaton-Franciscan Healthcare in Racine. She has several publications in both nursing and interdisciplinary journals.

In this fourth podcast episode of "Kickin' It With Mr Q," host Ahmad K. Qawi, President/CEO of the Racine Family YMCA, is joined by Chris Leberfing, Director and Senior Investment Consultant with the Bishop Leberfing Group of Robert W. Baird & Co. to discuss Chris's personal journey to health and wellness and how discipline as opposed to diet can make big changes in health.

In this premiere episode, Ahmad K. Qawi, Racine Family YMCA President and CEO, aka “Mr Q,” introduces the series, which will discuss current events, diversity and inclusion, society and culture, social justice, the Racine Family YMCA, and other topics of interest in Racine, Wisconsin, and also local, regional and national issues. Each episode builds on previous topics and we recommend listening to each episode in chronological order. Season One, Episode One sponsor is Image Management.