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Alex C.

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See you again. It's good to see you

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too Murr.

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By the time this airs, we

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know that little clock on your

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website will have been ticking,

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ticking, ticking, and it will hit

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zero.

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Yes, it will.

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What has it been like, and how long

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has that been?

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Clock being ticking to make all this

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happen? Oh man, this clock's been

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ticking my whole life in some ways,

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Merv, more specifically, probably

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the last decade, as we

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started thinking about putting

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together a project team, a campaign

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team.

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We had to slow things down because

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of COVID.

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So we started fundraising in

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2021.

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So it's been a

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five years plus countdown in

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terms of seriously being able

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to see the finish line.

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Yeah, and I hate to do the old,

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what does it feel like, you know,

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that reporters tend It's a great

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question. But what does is feel like

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Alex Efron?

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Oh, it feels like a

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dream that's come true.

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It's one of those things that's been

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in the back of my mind for probably

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most of my life. It's why I chose to

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stay in Madison, because I have my

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sights on doing something in South

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Madison where we grew up, where we

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spent time in a

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community that's given so much to

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me.

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But to be here and to realize that I

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stand on the shoulders of so many

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people who rubbed my head and

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pinched my cheeks and said,

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you're gonna do something, young

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man. Keep going to school.

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You know, give back to the

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community, keep your faith,

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to stand on their shoulders and to

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realize that they saw something in

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me and they encouraged me to stay

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here and make the community better

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if I could.

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And so I feel really honored to be

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chosen to do this and pull our

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community together the way I've been

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able to.

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Yeah, and as I was looking at your

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website, I saw a line there,

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it says this is going to be a

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sanctuary for healing, a catalyst

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for growth,

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where we bring black culture,

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creativity, leadership, research,

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innovation, all under the

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same roof. That's right.

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How the heck do we do that, Alex?

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Oh, with

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lots of partners and lots of

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thought.

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You know, when we talk about health

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and health disparities with African

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Americans, typically the

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assumption is many of us don't have

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health care. We don't take advantage

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of the health care that we want.

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But research through schools of

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medicine and public policy are

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showing that many of our

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degenerative diseases are

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stress-related.

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And so I can pick up a magazine and

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read 15 different ways you and I die

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more federally.

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Than our white counterparts.

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But what you don't read is, how do

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you mitigate that?

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So if stress is the culprit, what do

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we do to reduce it?

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And so in our community,

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historically, it's dance, it's swag,

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it' food, it hanging out, it's

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playing the dozens, it's

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intergenerational programming, it's

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checkers, it watching TV, it's

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watching old 70s movies,

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but it's spending time together

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where we don't have to code switch

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or feel that we have to be someone

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other than who we really are.

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And so the role here is to use all

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of those things that you have said

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to reduce the stress.

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But the benefit of this, my

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great desire, is that black

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people live longer and healthier

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lives. I haven't raised all

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this money so black people can have

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fancy places to have dances.

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And when you say all this money,

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people should know 31 million

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probably plus.

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Oh, 32, sir.

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32. I don't want to go

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too short. Who's counting, though,

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at this point, right?

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You're right, for a debt-free

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facility, for completely debt- free

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facility.

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I'd love for you to paint a quick

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picture, Alex, of just, like,

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what really is going to go on here.

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I mean, yeah, we talked about,

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you know, the kind of a mission

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statement kind of thing there, but

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like, give...

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Sure.

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Well, some of the, like we're

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sitting right here in our senior

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space. So this is one of the

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programs that's ready to go because

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so many of our seniors, once they've

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retired, they just seem to

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disappear. We don't, we don't see

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them anymore. So we want them to

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come out and have a place to hang

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out right next door to our

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children's library where they can

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help young, young readers.

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We have a program that's for

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entrepreneurs, innovators,

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and, and folks that

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are ready to start their own

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businesses.

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We're, we're going to work on

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leadership development, business

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strategy development.

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Helping to raise money to launch

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those businesses, and then helping

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to introduce those people into

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our social network so that you don't

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have a business that's ready to go

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and no place to carry it

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out.

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We have two

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films that'll be showing real soon

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in our theater.

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We're doing a couple of weddings

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here, graduation parties.

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But the special thing that I want

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people to know, Merv, is that we're

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only designing about 25 to 30%

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of the programs here.

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Because we want the community to

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come in and say, You know what we

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need?

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Like someone came in here the other

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day who's

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newer to their job and they said, we

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need an NABJ, like

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National Association of Black

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Journalists. There's one in

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Milwaukee there, I'm sure you're

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familiar with it. I am.

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But because there's a space to host

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it, someone said, we had to do a

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Madison version.

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That's the beauty of this space.

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Like that's not my job to do that.

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A journalist came in and said

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that. Others have come in and says,

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you know, we need a doula program.

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Can we do that here?

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We need self-defense programs for

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Black women and moms do we have can

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we do that here?

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So for me the beauty the program is

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when we have space to come in

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together and say let's create an

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Association or let's do something

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to bring all the Greek organizations

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together the sororities and the

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fraternities together So

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that we can create a regional office

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of working together the beauty of

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this is I built it

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I've worked to fund it, but

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the community is going to have to

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fill it

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Yeah, and we thank you for that,

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Alex. And there's a lot more to talk

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about, so this will be continued.

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And we appreciate you for

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joining us on here now.