This Week on American Black Journal:

Feeding the Need: Focus: HOPE seniors food program now reaches more Michigan homes

The nationally recognized civil and human rights organization Focus: HOPE is expanding its Food for Seniors program in order to assist more seniors who are experiencing food insecurity. The Food for Seniors program provides free care packages of food to senior citizens 60 years and older in Wayne, Washtenaw, Oakland and Macomb counties.

Program expansions include the addition of 43 new sites across Southeastern Michigan where eligible seniors can register to pick up monthly food boxes or have them delivered to their homes. The nonprofit is also offering special pop-up food distributions in partnership with Wayne County through September 2023, where anyone in need or facing food insecurity can receive a free food box, without registration, while supplies last.

Focus: HOPE’s Food Program Director Frank Kubik joins American Black Journal host Stephen Henderson to talk about how seniors can register for monthly food boxes. Kubik also addresses the national issue of seniors needing food assistance, especially in the midst of rising prices. Plus, he gives the history of Focus: HOPE’s Commodity Supplemental Food Program and the impact of the pandemic on the needs of seniors. 

NEA Chair Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson discusses the benefits of ‘living an artful life’

Can living a life filled with the arts make you healthier? National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chair Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson believes it can. Drawing from her own experiences, she uses her position at the NEA to emphasize the importance of diversity and inclusivity in the arts, highlighting how it can promote understanding, empathy, and social change.

Dr. Jackson joins American Black Journal host Stephen Henderson to discuss the importance of the arts in building healthy communities. Plus, they discuss Dr. Jackson’s professional background, her groundbreaking appointment as the first African American and Mexican American woman to chair the NEA, and the power of creativity and the transformative impact it can have on society. 

RELATED: Watch the extended version of this interview on demand now

A conversation with Detroit filmmaker Ozi Uduma on “Detroit We Dey,” the city’s Nigerian community

American Black Journal caught up with Detroit filmmaker Ozi Uduma for a virtual watch party and panel conversation about her new short film “Detroit We Dey,” which is now streaming on PBS. The documentary takes a compelling look at the history and future of the Old Bende Association, which was founded by a community of Igbo-Nigerians who immigrated to Detroit in the 1970s and ‘80s.

Through reflective storytelling and vintage VHS tape footage, Uduma’s film delves into the unique stories, experiences and cultural contributions of Detroit’s Nigerian American community, and highlights the community’s efforts to navigate the pandemic, serve an aging membership, and pass down its cultural heritage from generation to generation.

Watch highlights from the panel’s engaging conversation, moderated by BridgeDetroit Engagement Director Orlando Bailey, about the creation of “Detroit We Dey,” the Association’s efforts to preserve their heritage amongst new American identities, and the cultural traditions that are being passed down to a new generation of young Nigerian American leaders.

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Watch American Black Journal on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 9:30 a.m. on Detroit Public TV, WTVS-Channel 56.​