WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:22.440 Alex C, good to see you again. 00:22.440 --> 00:23.800 It's good to see you too, Mur. 00:23.800 --> 00:28.480 By the time this airs, we know that little clock on your website will have been ticking, 00:28.480 --> 00:30.680 ticking, ticking, and it will hit zero. 00:30.680 --> 00:31.680 Yes, it will. 00:31.680 --> 00:34.600 What has it been like and how long is that clock being ticking to make all this happen? 00:34.600 --> 00:38.160 Oh man, this clock's been ticking my whole life in some ways, Mur. 00:38.160 --> 00:42.560 More specifically, probably the last decade, as we started thinking about putting together 00:42.560 --> 00:48.440 a project team, a campaign team, we had to slow things down because of COVID. 00:48.440 --> 00:57.120 So we started fundraising in 2021, so it's been a five years plus countdown in terms of 00:57.120 --> 00:59.000 seriously being able to see the finish line. 00:59.000 --> 01:04.000 Yeah, and I hate to do the old, what does it feel like, that reporter is telling me 01:04.000 --> 01:05.000 a good question. 01:05.000 --> 01:06.000 It's a great question. 01:06.000 --> 01:09.560 But what does it feel like, Alex, after all, it feels like a dream that's come true. 01:09.560 --> 01:13.600 It's one of those things that's been in the back of my mind for probably most of my life. 01:13.600 --> 01:17.760 It's why I chose to stay in Madison because I have my sights on doing something in South 01:17.760 --> 01:24.440 Madison where we grew up, where we spent time in a community that's given so much to me. 01:24.440 --> 01:28.360 But to be here and to realize that I stand on the shoulders of so many people who rub 01:28.360 --> 01:33.560 my head and pinch my cheeks and say, you're going to do something young man, keep going 01:33.560 --> 01:39.440 to school, give back to the community, keep your faith, to stand on their shoulders and 01:39.440 --> 01:43.640 to realize that they saw something in me and they encouraged me to stay here and make the 01:43.640 --> 01:45.920 community better if I could. 01:45.920 --> 01:50.160 And so I feel really honored to be chosen to do this and pull our community together 01:50.160 --> 01:51.160 the way I've been able to. 01:51.320 --> 01:54.920 Yeah, and as I was looking at your website, I saw a line there. 01:54.920 --> 02:02.440 It says, this is going to be a sanctuary for healing, a catalyst for growth, where we bring 02:02.440 --> 02:08.280 black culture, creativity, leadership, research, innovation, all under the same roof. 02:08.280 --> 02:09.280 That's right. 02:09.280 --> 02:11.280 How the heck do we do that, Alex? 02:11.280 --> 02:14.800 Oh, with lots of partners and lots of thought. 02:14.800 --> 02:20.000 When we talk about health and health disparities with African Americans, typically the assumption 02:20.000 --> 02:22.000 is many of us don't have health care. 02:22.000 --> 02:26.080 We don't take advantage of the health care that we want, but research through schools 02:26.080 --> 02:31.080 of medicine and public policy are showing that many of our degenerative diseases are 02:31.080 --> 02:32.720 stress related. 02:32.720 --> 02:36.840 And so I can pick up a magazine and read 15 different ways you and I die more readily 02:36.840 --> 02:40.520 than our white counterparts, but what you don't read is how do you mitigate that? 02:40.520 --> 02:43.560 So if stress is the culprit, what do we do to reduce it? 02:43.560 --> 02:47.600 And so in our community, historically it's dance, it's swag, it's food, it's hanging 02:47.600 --> 02:52.440 out, it's playing the dozens, it's intergenerational programming, it's checkers, it's watching 02:52.440 --> 02:57.160 TV, it's watching old 70s movies, but it's spending time together where we don't have 02:57.160 --> 03:01.360 to co-switch or feel that we have to be someone other than who we really are. 03:01.360 --> 03:05.800 And so the role here is to use all of those things that you have said to reduce the stress. 03:05.800 --> 03:10.600 But the benefit of this, my great desire is that black people live longer in healthier 03:10.600 --> 03:11.600 lives. 03:11.600 --> 03:15.160 I haven't raised all this money so black people can have fancy places to have dances. 03:15.160 --> 03:18.520 And when you say all this money, people say, no, 31 million problems. 03:18.520 --> 03:20.520 Oh, the two, sir, 32 minutes. 03:20.520 --> 03:21.520 Who's counting? 03:21.520 --> 03:22.520 Who's counting? 03:22.520 --> 03:23.520 At this point, right? 03:23.520 --> 03:26.960 You're right for a debt-free facility, for a completely debt-free facility. 03:26.960 --> 03:30.560 I'd love for you to paint a quick picture, Alex, of just like what really is going to 03:30.560 --> 03:31.560 go on here. 03:31.560 --> 03:35.760 I mean, yeah, we talked about, you know, the kind of a mission statement kind of thing 03:35.760 --> 03:37.880 there, but like, paint a picture for us. 03:37.880 --> 03:41.720 Sure, well, some of the, like we're sitting right here in our senior space, so this is 03:41.720 --> 03:43.800 one of the programs that's ready to go. 03:43.800 --> 03:47.200 Because so many of our seniors, once they've retired, they just seem to disappear. 03:47.200 --> 03:48.640 We don't see them anymore. 03:48.640 --> 03:52.360 So we want them to come out and have a place to hang out right next door to our children's 03:52.360 --> 03:55.600 library where they can help young readers. 03:55.600 --> 04:01.920 We have a program that's for entrepreneurs, innovators, and folks that are ready to start 04:01.920 --> 04:03.680 their own businesses. 04:03.680 --> 04:08.040 We're going to work on leadership development, business strategy development, helping to 04:08.040 --> 04:12.240 raise money to launch those businesses, and then helping to introduce those people 04:12.240 --> 04:15.800 into our social networks so that you don't have a business that's ready to go and no 04:15.800 --> 04:18.440 place to carry it out. 04:18.440 --> 04:23.880 We have two films that I'll be showing real soon in our theater. 04:23.880 --> 04:27.600 We're doing a couple of weddings here, graduation parties. 04:27.600 --> 04:30.680 But the special thing that I want people to know, Murph, is that we're only designing 04:30.680 --> 04:34.920 about 25 to 30 percent of the programs here. 04:34.920 --> 04:38.880 Because we want the community to come in and say, you know what we need? 04:38.880 --> 04:43.160 Like someone came in here the other day who's newer to their job. 04:43.160 --> 04:47.400 And they said, we need an NABJ, like National Association of Black Journalists. 04:47.400 --> 04:48.400 There's one in Milwaukee there. 04:48.400 --> 04:50.040 I'm sure you're familiar with it. 04:50.040 --> 04:54.640 But because there's a space to host, and someone said, we got to do a Madison version. 04:54.640 --> 04:55.960 That's the beauty of this space. 04:55.960 --> 04:57.080 That's not my job to do that. 04:57.080 --> 04:59.760 A journalist came in here and said that. 04:59.760 --> 05:02.760 Others have come in and said, you know, we need a dual program. 05:02.760 --> 05:04.440 Can we do that here? 05:04.440 --> 05:08.000 We need self-defense programs for black women and moms. 05:08.000 --> 05:09.400 Can we do that here? 05:09.400 --> 05:14.360 So for me, the beauty, the program, is when we have space to come in together and say, 05:14.360 --> 05:19.000 let's create an association, or let's do something to bring all the Greek organizations 05:19.000 --> 05:23.520 together, the sororities and the fraternities together, so that we can create a regional 05:23.520 --> 05:25.360 office of working together. 05:25.360 --> 05:30.560 The beauty of this is I built it, I've worked to fund it, but the community is going to 05:30.560 --> 05:31.560 help to fill it. 05:31.560 --> 05:32.560 Yeah. 05:32.560 --> 05:33.560 And we thank you for that, Alex. 05:33.560 --> 05:38.520 We're going to talk about it, so this will be continued, and we appreciate you for joining 05:38.520 --> 05:39.520 us on here now. 05:39.520 --> 05:39.860 Thank you.