The one-day conference will take place at the DoubleTree Inn in downtown Jamestown.

It will feature “The Diversity Gap” author and founder Bethaney Wilkinson as the keynote speaker. The Diversity Gap was created to help leaders close the gap between their good intentions for diversity and true cultural change. She will speak about what it truly means to diversify your organization and the importance of race conscious leadership.

Doors will open at 8:30am with the program starting at 9:00am. Tickets can be pre purchased for $60 at www.ywcajamestown.com/events.

For more information, call Alize Scott at 716-488-2237 or email Amanda Gesing at agesing@ywcajamestown.com

Vickye James

The Princess Club and Book M.A.R.K Program at the YWCA of Jamestown are the first recipients of the Vickye James Blueprint Fund.

The United Way of Southern Chautauqua County announced the awards.

The Princess Club is a community-based organization fostering mentorship, friendship, fun, and support for girls in the greater Jamestown area. Girls ages 4-13 can attend a weekly program during the summer.

The Blueprint funds will cover the expenses for general operational costs and activities that provide positive experiences and opportunities for girls to build self-esteem, reading skills and healthy habits.

Princess Club Director and Founder Brenda Stewart shared the Vickye James was a leading member of the club for several years.

The YWCA Book M.A.R.K. (Motivating Aspiring Reading with Kindness) Program is an inter-generational social justice literacy program that helps plant the seeds for the elimination of racism and discrimination among youth by focusing on the celebration of various cultures, ethnicities, and identities.

Through books, personal stories, and activities, Book M.A.R.K aims to provide students and teachers alike with the tools necessary to facilitate productive conversations about racism, bullying, and discrimination. The Blueprint funds will cover training and facilitation of volunteers for the program.

YWCA Social Justice and Racial Equity Director Alizé Scott-Nowell said the volunteer-based program will provide, “opportunities for leadership development, especially for historically underrepresented community members to lead conversations surrounding their own cultural experiences.” She added that the program is already being offered at Washington Middle, Fletcher Elementary, Bush Elementary, and Southwestern Elementary and Middle schools.

Ms. James, who passed away in 2021, was a member of the Board of Directors of United Way for seven years and served as Board President from 2008-2010. She was one of only four female presidents during the 122-year history of United Way, and the only African American to serve as president to date.

All requests for funding from the Vickye James Blueprint Fund must fall within the United Way of Southern Chautauqua County’s four areas of Strategic Focus: Academic Success, Self Sufficiency, Work Readiness, and Health & Independence.

Applications for funding are accepted on a rolling basis.

For more information, visit uwayscc.org/vickye-james-blueprint-fund.

EDITOR’S NOTE: As a point of transparency and disclosure to our audience, United Way of Southern Chautauqua County is a corporate underwriter for WRFA and has provided a financial contribution for the general operations of the station within the past year. Funding we receive for General Operations is not used to fund our coverage of local news in the community. That is only made possible through a Community Service Grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 

Talking about racism, white privilege, and micro-aggressions may not seem like good holiday fun, but we take on these topics with YWCA‘s Director of Social Justice and Race Equity Alize Scott in an on-going effort to help us become better citizens in our community.

YWCA Jamestown’s Broadscast features members of the local YWCA Jamestown team – Hillary Belin, Indo Quinones, Alize Scott, and Cienna Simon – discussing a variety of issues and topics with various guests from the Jamestown and Chautauqua Region.

This episode focuses on female military veterans from the Jamestown and Chautauqua Region.

The Broadscast program covers a wide range of topics, including Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) issues; racial justice and civil rights; empowerment and economic advancement of women and girls; and health and safety of women and girls. It is provided through funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

YWCA Jamestown’s Broadscast features members of the local YWCA Jamestown team – Hillary Belin, Indo Quinones, Alize Scott, and Cienna Simon – discussing a variety of issues and topics with various guests from the Jamestown and Chautauqua Region.

This episode focuses on Native American Heritage Month and features guest Kaycee Colburn from the Haudenosaunee confederacy, Seneca Nation, Wolf clan.

The Broadscast program covers a wide range of topics, including Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) issues; racial justice and civil rights; empowerment and economic advancement of women and girls; and health and safety of women and girls. It is provided through funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

This episodes guest is Chautauqua County League of Women Voters President Mary Croxton. The League of Women Voters is a political grassroots network and membership organization that believes the freedom to vote is a nonpartisan issue.

YWCA Jamestown’s Broadscast features members of the local YWCA Jamestown team – Hillary Belin, Indo Quinones, Alize Scott, and Cienna Simon – discussing a variety of issues and topics with various guests from the Jamestown and Chautauqua Region.

The program covers a wide range of topics, including Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) issues; racial justice and civil rights; empowerment and economic advancement of women and girls; and health and safety of women and girls.

Funding for the program comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Sukanya Burman is a dancer and choreographer born and raised in Kolkata, India. She currently instructs traditional Indian dance at her studio in Jamestown, NY. Originally Broadcast on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022.

YWCA Jamestown’s Broadscast features members of the local YWCA Jamestown team – Hillary Belin, Indo Quinones, Alize Scott, and Cienna Simon – discussing a variety of issues and topics with various guests from the Jamestown and Chautauqua Region.

The program covers a wide range of topics, including Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) issues; racial justice and civil rights; empowerment and economic advancement of women and girls; and health and safety of women and girls. Funding for the program is made possible through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The YWCA Jamestown’s Broadscast team includes, from left to right, Indo Quinones, Cienna Simon, Hillary Belin, and Alize Scott. The Broadscast show will air on WRFA-LP in Jamestown every Friday at 2 p.m. and every Sunday at 11 a.m. Funding for the program is made possible through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s American Rescue Plan Act stabilization fund.

First Episode to Premier Friday, Sept. 30 with Special Guest Sukayna Burman

JAMESTOWN, NY – A new, locally-produced radio program and podcast focusing on various social and women’s issues affecting the community is making its debut this fall in Jamestown.

YWCA Jamestown is collaborating with WRFA-LP (107.9 FM) to present the YWCA Jamestown’s “Broadscast” radio show. The program will be broadcast twice a week on 107.9 FM in Jamestown and all episodes will also be available “on demand” online.

YWCA Jamestown’s Broadscast will feature members of the local YWCA Jamestown team – Hillary Belin, Indo Quinones, Alize Scott, and Cienna Simon – discussing a variety of issues and topics with various guests from the Jamestown and Chautauqua Region. The program will cover a wide range of topics, including Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) issues; racial justice and civil rights; empowerment and economic advancement of women and girls; and health and safety of women and girls. The first season of the Broadscast program runs for 30 episodes and was scheduled to start on Friday, Sept. 30.

“YWCA Jamestown has been at the forefront of addressing several important issues facing Jamestown and Chautauqua County. We’ve wanted to educate our listeners about these issues, but due to limited staffing at the radio station, we’ve been unable to give them the focus and attention they deserve,” explained Jason Sample, WRFA station manager. “That’s why we reached out to YWCA Jamestown to see if they could assist us in this effort and we are grateful they were willing to work with us on this exciting new project.”

“This partnership provides the YWCA Jamestown with an additional opportunity to meet our mission of eliminating racism and empowering women. Each week we will work to bring subjects and topics that address racial and gender inequality and highlight issues that women in our community care about,” said Amanda Geising, YWCA Jamestown executive director, adding, “We are looking forward to hearing more about the passion of our mission and concern for community issues that the YWCA Broadscast team will bring to the local airwaves.”

Funding for the program comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which provided WRFA with additional financial support from its American Rescue Plan Act Stabilization fund in 2021.

WRFA is a non-commercial radio station licensed by Reg Lenna Center for the Arts and has been a CPB-funded station for the past several years. Due to its status as a CPB-funded radio station, it automatically received ARPA funding to help offset any losses in local funding shortfalls during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to also bring forward new programs that benefit the Jamestown community. Other WRFA programs made possible through the CPB ARPA funds include monthly live broadcasts of Public Affairs and Arts and Entertainment programming, weekly Spanish Language news reports, live broadcasts of the Jamestown Tarp Skunks baseball team this past summer, a 2022 State Assembly Candidates Debate on Oct. 13, and an upcoming radio documentary series focusing on 10,000 Maniacs, scheduled for release in early 2023.

“WRFA is very excited to be partnering with YWCA Jamestown for this exciting new collaboration,” said Sample. “The radio station has been looking to collaborate with local organizations to bring quality radio programming to our community and the YWCA Jamestown’s Broadscast program is a perfect fit.”

The Broadscast radio program is broadcast every Friday at 2 p.m. on WRFA, with an encore airing taking place every Sunday at 11 a.m. All episodes will also be available for “On Demand” listening at the WRFA website, the YWCA Jamestown website, and also at Soundcloud.com/WRFARadio.