Nooze Hounds

Rod & Karen Morrow, co-hosts of ‘The Black Guy Who Tips,' talk about their 15-year journey in podcasting and how media has evolved for better or worse in that time.

Charis Blackmon, executive director of West Side Community Land Trust, discusses her work in obtaining, developing, and preserving affordable housing in west Charlotte.

NC Health News reporter Rachel Crumpler visits the studio to discuss her recent reporting on a federal lawsuit that claims teens at a juvenile detention center in Cabarrus County are being locked alone in rooms for up to 24 hours at a time despite state officials' own acknowledgment of the practice's detrimental harms. 

Currently running to represent NC House District 105 in southeast Mecklenburg, Nicole Sidman discusses how the infamous party flip that Tricia Cotham pulled on her voters inspired Sidman to run against Cotham when the new congressional districts were drawn.

NC Rep. Terry Brown Jr., representing District 92 in southwestern Mecklenburg County, discusses the upcoming elections and some of the priorities within his district, from the airport to the West Boulevard/Steele Creek Road corridor.

Former Charlotte City Council at-large rep and Mayor Pro-Tem Braxton Winston discusses his journey from activism to local politics and his current campaign to become North Carolina's next Commissioner of Labor.

NC Rep. Diamond Staton-Williams of the 73rd District in Cabarrus County discusses her reluctant entrance into politics as a member of Harrisburg Town Council, her first term in the NCGA and a number of other topics related to the upcoming elections.

Jordan Lopez, NC Rep-Elect for the 112th District in east Charlotte, discusses his choice to enter the race at age 25, his priorities once he takes office and a number of other topics related to the upcoming elections.

Sil Ganzo, founder and executive director of ourBRIDGE for KIDS, discusses her organization's latest project, the Charlotte Is Home Center, to provide refugee and immigrant neighbors with wraparound legal, health care and educational services in a single space. 

Theresa McDonald of community advocacy group Derita Matters joins the podcast to talk about the changing face of Derita as the north Charlotte neighborhood prepares for a surge in development with the coming construction of the Red Line.

Mecklenburg County Democratic Party Precinct 13 Chair Tanya Lewis discusses her work in political organizing in the local and state levels and the threats that democracy faces as election season gets into full swing.

Lisvette Soto, founder of Be You Outreach Foundation, discusses how decades of working in the local entertainment industry, hosting parties and modeling events, led to her newfound passion working in human trafficking awareness and advocacy.

 Kings Creek Association president Joi Mayo discusses her community organizing work on the Nations Ford/Arrowood corridor, bringing local residents to the table in planning for long-awaited growth in an underserved area. 

District 4 Charlotte City Council representative Reneé Johnson discusses her work in traumatic brain injury advocacy and reentry support before going into a deeper discussion about development, housing and the city's Unified Development Ordinance.

Freedom Fighting Missionaries founder and executive director Kenny Robinson discusses his recent purchase of land to host his organization's first housing development for justice-involved families, a historic milestone for the city of Charlotte.

Mecklenburg County Reentry Services program manager Latoshia Young discusses the day-to-day work of her department, from housing to employment to health care, as well as other topics such as how stigma affects her work.

New at-large CMS School Board rep-elects Liz Monterrey & Monty Witherspoon discuss what led them to run and how their own experiences shaped their respective platforms. They also touch on current issues facing the school district ranging from Moms for Liberty and ‘culture wars' to the bond referendum, student mental health and private school vouchers. 

Shannon Binns with Sustain Charlotte and Dianna Ward of Charlotte Joyrides discuss bicycling infrastructure in Charlotte, grading the city on where it stands now and what it can do better in terms of safety and connectivity.

Hector Vaca, immigration justice director with Action NC, discusses how issues around immigration in Charlotte overlap with housing, policing and more.

Mallory Foxx discusses how she went from the juvenile justice system to the pageant circuit, where she'll soon compete or the title of Mrs. Black International Ambassador 2023, and how mentoring changed her life, inspiring her to launch her organization Mentoring M.I.N.D.S.

We talk to WSOC's Joe Bruno about the recent municipal primary elections, from the low turnout to the far-reaching implications, and what local stories he'll be checking on in the coming year.

DreamKey Partners President Julie Porter and Roof Above CEO Liz Clasen-Kelly discuss their work around homelessness and the affordable housing crisis, including how it all relates to gentrification, displacement, adaptive reuse, Housing First and other local topics.

 Ryan talks to Zack Wyatt, CEO of Carolina Farm Trust; and Michael Bowling, general manager of CFT Market, the site of a ceremonial groundbreaking the same day they appeared on the podcast. They discuss their plans for the local food distribution and production center as well as topics ranging from equitability in food accessibility to Black food culture in Charlotte. 

Brad Panovich, chief meteorologist at WCNC, discusses recent heat waves, air quality issues and reporting on the effects of climate change in an age of misinformation and social media trolling. 

HopeWay CEO and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Alyson Kuroski-Mazzei joins Dr. Justin Johnson, director of Veteran Services at HopeWay, to discuss the array of ways the nonprofit treats mental illness in Charlotte while touching on topics like stigma, suicide, PTSD and how the pandemic led to a spike in mental illness that is yet to subside. 

Inspired by her own experience, Tiawana Brown founded Beauty After the Bars as a way to help women returning home from incarceration. We discuss the reason for high recidivism rates, the financial pressures that outlast incarceration, and the recent opening of her organization's first SAFE Home.

Just days after his election to Mecklenburg County Democratic Party Chair, we talked to Drew Kromer about joining a new wave of young leaders in the state, how he plans to address low local turnout and what he thinks the party can learn from Tricia Cotham's defection. 

Ryan talks to at-large representative LaWana Mayfield about returning to Charlotte City Council after a three-year hiatus, what's changed since she's been gone, and what inspired her passion for social justice issues before embarking on an in-depth discussion about housing solutions in Charlotte. 

Morris Madden is a former MLB pitcher, founder of the Carolinas Metro Reds, and co-founder of the Knothole Foundation of the Carolinas. He discusses his own come-up through the league and how he's spent his time since bridging racial and economic gaps in accessibility to the sport. 

Ryan speaks with William McNeely, founder and CEO of local nonprofit Do Greater Charlotte, which has transformed the underutilized space under Shiloh Institutional Baptist Church into CRTV Lab at Shiloh, a high-tech creative hub for teens in west Charlotte. 

Lorenzo Steele Jr., founder of Behind These Prison Walls, worked at a guard in one of the country's most violent juvenile detention centers for 12 years before the work took his toll on him and he left to become an activist against mass incarceration and advocate for youth crime prevention. 

Civility Localized founder Christine Edwards discusses her path from local government employee to launching her own business, through which she works with government agencies and other clients on community engagement, place-making, consulting and other behind-the-scenes work.

Donna Dunlap, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Central Carolinas, and Keith Cradle, founder of Camping with Cradle, come together to discuss their own experiences that led them into working with youth and why the work is more important than ever. 

Genna Contino, local government reporter with the Charlotte Observer, discusses her first six months of covering Charlotte City Council and Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, as well as some of today's hottest news stories.

CMS Board of Education at-large rep Jennifer De La Jara discusses the superintendent search, recent elections, the movement against public education and more. 

Hired this past Summer as President and CEO at Charlotte Museum of History, Terri White discusses what means to be the first Black woman to hold that position and her vision for making the museum a keystone not only of East Charlotte but the Queen City as a whole.

Priya Sircar, the city of Charlotte's first arts and culture officer, discusses the process behind creating the new Arts and Culture Plan including everything that led up to that and some of the controversy that has come along with it. 

On this episode, Leondra Garrett and Juan Hall with Charlotte's Alternatives to Violence program discuss their day-to-day work on the ground in the Beatties Ford Road corridor. 

Erin Santos-Primis is the founder and executive director of the Isabella Santos Foundation, which will celebrate it's 15 year anniversary in October. The nonprofit organization was founded in 2007 following Erin's daughter Isabella's neuroblastoma diagnosis.

On the latest Nooze Hounds, A Preferred Women's Health Center co-owner and executive director Calla Hales discusses how things have changed outside of her clinic over the years, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and how to get involved locally. 

Charlotte photojournalist Grant Baldwin discusses how he found himself at the center of a story that made national headlines this week after a photo he took of two men kissing was removed from an exhibit at a Gaston County history museum.

Dana Draa with Metrolina Association for blind People joins Ryan and Rosebud Turner, an unsighted lifelong teacher, artist and auther, to discuss accessibility in Charlotte.