What’s Next?
Monday - Thursday 10am and 9pm, Sunday at 6pm
What’s Next? is a program that uncovers and discusses the issues and topics pertinent to marginalized and underrepresented populations of Western New York and Southern Ontario.
From inception, days after the racist May 14, 2022 shooting in Buffalo, the show has tasked itself to be a champion for social equity and justice. Moving forward we will continue to feature voices from all parts of our shared community to celebrate our individual differences as well as the commonalities.
The show is broadcast live on the air from 10am to 11am Monday through Thursday, and airs again at 9pm Monday through Thursday as well as Sundays at 6pm on WBFO. It is also available digitally through WBFO’s website, apps, and as a podcast.
Listeners can participate by using the "Talk to Us" feature in the WBFO mobile app, available on Apple and Android devices. Open the app and scroll to the bottom bar where the "Talk to Us" button allows listeners to send audio recordings straight to the newsroom.
You can also reach the production staff by e-mailing WhatsNext@wbfo.org.
What's Next? will be taking a short break in April and will return with new episodes in May. As we take this break, please continue to listen to WBFO Monday through Thursday at 10am and 9pm for "Producer's Picks" episodes of past conversations.
Latest Episodes
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We revisit two stand-out conversations with Daniel Robertson, Director of the Boys and Men of Color Initiative at Say Yes, Buffalo, to discuss Daniel’s plans for his new role and the positive examples of leadership that helped him step up. And Kelly Dumas of Healing Hub of NY, Inc. and Amanda Paul of Say Yes Buffalo for a discussion about a new program that empowers mental-health clinicians of color. -
We revisit two stand-out conversations with Dontaya Davis and Alia Williams, community organizers for Voice Buffalo. The two are working locally to boost the Ebony Alert system. Then Bree Gilliam is a visual artist whose portrait and mural work, in her own words, incorporates bold color and expressive brushwork to provoke emotion from her audience.
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We revisit two stand-out conversations with Mia Ayers-Goss, executive director of MVP, Most Valuable Parents an advocacy group that combats crime and violence through diversion programs like a new basketball league. Followed by Donna Robinson, Buffalo’s community organizer for Release Aging People in Prison, or RAPP.
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Seamus Gallivan’s latest endeavor is Reconnecter, a “social connection space” that aims to bring people together in person and online “by illuminating the ties that bind us.” That means music showcases, variety shows, and media elements — all to help provide a need that he believes can help prevent social unrest. Gallivan sits down with Thomas O’Neil-White to speak about the power of reconnection and his plans for the new project.
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Lindsey Lauren Visser was recently appointed to the role of historian for the City of Buffalo. She is the first female historian to serve in the role, and she joins Thomas O’Neil-White to discuss her appointment and some notable upcoming milestones, including the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal in 2025. Then, producer Patrick Hosken speaks with Gittel Evangelist, the communications coordinator for Rural and Migrant Ministry, about a recent court ruling with implications for rural and farmworkers in New York State.
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The YWCA Jamestown's mission states that it is “dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.” What’s Next? travels to the organization’s historic building on Main Street in Chautauqua County’s largest city to meet the team making that mission happen: Indo Quiñones, Mission Impact Director; Alizé Scott-Nowell, Social Justice and Race Equity Director; Jacqui Cook, Young Women Choosing Action and Women to Women Director; Nanci Okerlund, Transitions Director; and Amanda Gesing, Executive Director.
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Jamestown Community College recently partnered with Collins Correctional Facility for a joint prison education program, headed up by Reid Helford. He’s made it his life’s work to teach incarcerated students, and he’s learned a lot about identity, perception, and value from those lessons. Helford joins Jay Moran on campus in Jamestown for a conversation tackling his experiences, how academic expression can allow for growth opportunities, and more.
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Smoking rates are declining, but efforts to curb tobacco use keep ramping up. Rashawn Smalls, the program manager for Tobacco-Free Erie and Niagara through CAI Global, joins What’s Next? to talk about what it means to advance tobacco-free communities, including eliminating secondhand smoke and creating overall healthy environments. Then, we revisit a conversation with expert Dr. Gary Giovino about how tobacco use interacts with other factors like diet and income.
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In light of a recent conference presented by the Western New York Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, What’s Next? features a conversation about Black caregiving. We welcome Robin Hodges, board member of the Alzheimer’s Association; Andrea Koch, the organization’s Director of Education and Training; and Dr. Carleara Weiss, Research Assistant Professor in the Office of Nursing Research at the University at Buffalo. The three join Jay Moran to discuss caregiving in communities of color and offer some context for the ongoing challenges to meet those needs.
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Today on What’s Next?, we welcome Marie Patton, the vice president of the National Association of Women in Construction’s Buffalo Niagara chapter. Patton is also the director of operations and safety at Active Workforce, a job placement and training organization that helps workers in construction connect with contractors looking to hire. She sits down with Jay Moran to discussion how women still only make up a small fraction of total construction jobs – and how her organizations work to help change that through networking and resources.
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In January, organizers from Saving Black Lives held a “menthol funeral” in Washington, D.C. to push the Biden administration to ban menthol tobacco products. On today’s What’s Next?, Thomas O’Neil-White discusses the reasons behind the idea of a ban, as well as quitting tobacco solutions, with two anti-tobacco campaigners: consultant and public health advocate Stan Martin and Sarah Pearson-Collins, Director of Training, Content, and Development at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. Then, producer Patrick Hosken gets more history on Big Tobacco’s targeted advertising toward communities of color from Dr. Gary Giovino, of the University at Buffalo’s Department of Community Health and Health Behavior. -
On today’s Producer’s Pick episode of What’s Next?, we revisit two conversations from recent episodes. First, Thomas O’Neil-White sits down with Najja Bouldin, whose company Phoenix Innovation Group LLC, helps individuals and achieve their goals through performance coaching, speaking, consulting, and facilitating creativity. And we close with Jay Moran speaking with the director of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University at Buffalo, Dr. Henry Louis Taylor, Jr., about the latter’s 2023 report titled, “How We Change the Black East Side,” which acts as a neighborhood planning and development framework for Buffalo’s East Side communities.
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With Tops shooter Payton Gendron due back in court on February 2, today’s episode of What’s Next? features producer Patrick Hosken having conversations with legal experts around the issue of capital punishment. First, Megan Byrne, a staff attorney at the ACLU’s Capital Punishment Project, explains what to expect from the federal case against Gendron, and discusses the implications of race in relation to the death penalty. And William Easton, a partner at the law firm Easton Thompson Kasperek Shiffrin and former supervising attorney at the Capital Defender Office, traces the history of the death penalty in New York State and his experience defending against it.
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On today’s What’s Next?, we welcome guests whose work in the health care field is concentrated in Chautauqua County. First, producer Patrick Hosken speaks with Lacey Keefer Wilson, the county’s newly appointed public health director, about the most pressing health issues in her communities and her plans to tackle them in 2024. Then, Jay Moran sits down with two leaders from the Evergreen Health system: Laurie Matson, the associate vice president of Southern Tier services, and Jessica Schanne, the associate vice president of facilities and emergency management. Both discuss the opening of a new Evergreen facility in Jamestown and the future of health care in the Southern Tier.
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Today on What’s Next?, two conversations about programs based around giving children the best chance at a promising future. First, Jay Moran talks to Holly Fogle, co-founder and president of The Bridge Project, which provides new mothers with consistent, unconditional cash during the beginning of their child’s life. The program began in New York City and comes to Buffalo this year, with the first payments beginning in February. Then, Thomas O’Neil-White sits down with Mia Ayers-Goss, the executive director of MVP, Most Valuable Parents, an advocacy group founded to combat crime and violence through diversion programs like a new basketball league.
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On today’s What’s Next?, we welcome four people involved with a landscape maintenance technician training program co-sponsored by three local organizations. Gina Burkhardt, the president and CEO of the Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology, and Jeff Lebsack, the director of The Riverline, speak about the origins of the program as well as its ideals. Two workers who have completed the training join to speak about their experiences: Patrick McIntyre, the golf superintendent for Cazenovia, Delaware and South Park Golf Courses; and Rickey Kearney Jr., a supervisor for operations at Delaware Park. All four speak with hosts Thomas O’Neil-White and Jay Moran about what those who complete the training can expect in the job market.
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On this Producer's Pick episode of What's Next?, Jay Moran talks with Dean Seneca, public health expert and CEO of Seneca Scientific Solutions, who has spent years working with and supporting Tribal communities in their efforts to improve health and combat addiction through education and research. The two discuss how understanding history and intergenerational trauma is key to grappling with modern addiction issues within those communities.
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Today’s on What’s Next?, we revisit past conversation for a Producer’s Pick episode. First up, Jay Moran speaks with La Shawn Davis and Deja Middlebrook, who founded the relatively new mental-health practice Walking Through Solutions, about their approach to care and the growing need to address mental health issues in the community. Then, Thomas O’Neil-White sits down with author, activist, and martial artist Dorian Withrow Jr. about his books “Conversations You Need” and “Wisdom 45 Advice” and navigating hardship with philosophy.
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Today’s Producer’s Pick episode of What’s Next? features Jay Moran in conversation with the Near East and West Side Task Force executive director Francesca Mesiah and member Dior Lindsey. The three discuss the history and future of the task force, which began in 2006 to promote the well-being and self-sufficiency of racial and ethnic communities in Buffalo. And Angelea Preston joins Kissena Frazier to talk about the college access coaching company she founded, Akcess Granted, to help underrepresented and marginalized communities through the college enrollment process.
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Today’s What’s Next? Producer’s Pick episode revisits two conversations from past episodes. First, Jay Moran is joined by the CEO of Better Living Interest LLC, Paul Perez, and the co-founder and local board president of the Erie Niagara Board of REALTIST, Andrew Scott, who is known within the Buffalo real estate world as the “House Plug.” Then, Thomas O’Neil-White sits down with Wil Green, the director of outreach and community engagement at the University at Buffalo’s Graduate School of Education.
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Today on What’s Next?, our guest is Andre Stokes, the senior director of specialty substance use disorder services at Best Self Behavioral Health. Stokes has spent years working as a substance abuse and mental health counselor, and his efforts focus on the families of those in recovery because, as he says, the effects of one member’s addiction can ripple throughout the entire household, and beyond. Stokes joins Jay Moran to offer his perspective on doing that work for families and the importance of counselors who reflect those in the communities they serve.
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Today on What’s Next?, Jay Moran has two conversations around one central topic: the Erie County Language Access Act. The bill passed by the county legislature in late 2023 aims to make vital government documents available in the top six languages used by community members in Erie County. The hope is to broaden interpretation and translation services especially as it pertains to emergency announcements. The local refugee and immigrant populations weighed in to help develop the bill. Our first guest, International Institute of Buffalo executive director, Jennifer Rizzo-Choi, speaks about why that matters. After, David Wantuck, who heads up People Inc’s Deaf Access Services program, gives his take on the importance of including American Sign Language in the new bill, and what lies ahead.
