- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Hackensack Meridian Health.

Keep getting better.

Community FoodBank of New Jersey.

Kean University.

Where Cougars climb higher.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

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Congress Hall.

A Cape Resorts property.

And by NJM Insurance Group.

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All New Jersey in one place.

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- This is One-On-One.

- I'm an equal American just like you are.

- The way we change Presidents in this country is by voting.

- A quartet is already a jawn, it’s just The New Jawn.

- January 6th was not some sort of violent, crazy outlier.

- I don't care how good you are or how good you think you are, there is always something to learn.

- I mean what other country sends comedians over to embedded military to make them feel better.

- People call me 'cause they feel nobody's paying attention.

_ It’s not all about memorizing and getting information, it’s what you do with that information.

- (slowly) Start talking right now.

- That's a good question, high five.

(upbeat music) - Hi, everyone, Steve Adubato.

Recently on our sister series, "Lessons in Leadership," my colleague Mary Gamba and I sat down and spoke with Michele Adubato, my sister, who is the founder of the Center for Autism, and we talked about a whole range of issues, not only what it means to run a nonprofit in these challenging times but also the myths and the misinformation around vaccines and autism.

Important stuff.

Check it out.

- Michele knows more about autism than most.

What do we need to know about vaccines and autism?

Lots of confusion, shouldn't be.

- There's no confusion.

Let me make it, here it is.

Ready?

Vaccines do not cause autism.

And I think that's the problem where you people think there's confusion when there's no confusion.

The confusion is called social media conspiracy theories, which has been rampant, as we know, in everything.

Vaccines do not cause autism.

But you know what vaccines do?

They save lives.

That's what they do.

I think what happened, somebody jumped on, there was one silly study with 12 people, and that has been debunked over, and over, and over again.

But we need to remember something.

That it happens to be a coincidence.

That it could be that when autism presents itself, it could be at that same age, between that age where you may be getting a vaccine.

So what we need to think about is, it may be a coincidence, but it's not a cause.

- That's good, so people confuse.

- Absolutely.

- Oh, it must be that.

- Yes.

- It's not that.

Not that.

- Because when we don't understand something, we wanna put a label on it, and autism certainly cannot be labeled one thing.

We see that all the time.

It's a spectrum disorder.

I mean, it's a spectrum.

And there are different, obviously different reasons or different theories why that occurs.

But 100%, vaccines do not cause autism.

- Before, as Mary jumps in, I wanna remind folks, Michele is not only the CEO of the North Ward Center, an organization our dad founded in 1970, a multi-purpose community-based organization.

Services have ranged from very small children all the way to adult daycare center, folks in their 80s, 90s, beyond, but also the founder of the Center for Autism, a nationally respected operation.

Mary jump in.

- Sure thing.

And this is also gonna be airing on our PBS programming.

So for full disclosure, the North Ward Center is an underwriter.

Thank you for your support, Michele, all these years.

- Are they?

I didn't know that.

- We're supposed to disclose that right here on PBS.

So Michele, I would love to just get your input and site guidance for those parents who are unsure.

What can and should, what's one great question, when they go into that pediatrician, instead of following social media and asking questions, I see people on Facebook all the time saying, "Should I get the MMR?

I'm afraid of this, I'm afraid of that vaccine."

One piece of advice that you have for those parents to become informed when they go in to see their pediatrician.

- Well, Mary, I would say safety first and follow the science.

And what's happening now, especially with measles and unvaccinated children is, it's actually dangerous not to get these.

And if you follow the science, which is, let me clarify something.

It's very difficult these days to follow science and what's real and what's not real.

But you have to take a moment.

You either trust, at some point you have to trust the experts, and the scientists, and the health profession, and the countless people that have studied this, but also the advocates like myself who will come out and say emphatically, you need to make sure your child is safe, and getting vaccines are safe.

- I'm curious about this.

How has the confusion on the part of some, and the mixed messages on the part of some credible public officials, how has it impacted your work?

- Greatly.

It's, uh...

I think it's hard enough to have a diagnosis of autism, but to throw on top of that some type of guilt that is not valid, not warranted.

That maybe you did something.

- Maybe a parent did something by vaccinating their kid?

- Yeah, maybe they're the reason why this happened.

I mean, it's actually cruel.

I find it very cruel.

I've had questions posed to me.

Could, could this have been, could it have been?

And you know, I think there's a cruelty to this that we have officials now that are kind of, it's interesting.

They're saying one thing, and they're saying another thing from another side of their mouth.

They're not being clear.

I think they're intentionally being vague because they've said so many other things that the vaccines are an issue.

But when it comes down to it, I think that it's unfortunate that we have officials that are actually saying that.

And I can understand, I could totally understand why parents in the community could be confused.

- Yeah, if government officials, and we don't editorialize or do commentary, at least from this seat, we don't, Mary and I, anyone on our team anchoring our program.

But I will say this, if you say on one hand, you should have your kid get the MMR vaccine, but we need to do more studies to find out.

- Right.

- That is, by any definition, a mixed message.

- Yes.

- That's confusing.

Mary, one more question for Michele.

- Yeah, it's just going back to the elected officials.

What can and should they be doing to, in those moments, when they have that spotlight, use social media to clarify that message?

I feel like most people are just hiding.

They're afraid to put the facts out there, but what message do you have to those elected officials?

- They need to be very clear.

Vaccines do not cause autism.

Say that sentence.

Say it.

- And say nothing after that.

- Nothing.

- No more, we don't need more studies.

- Absolutely not.

- It's so, yeah.

- They need to be clear.

- Yeah.

I'm gonna avoid saying anything else.

I'm gonna leave it at that.

Michele has worked, Michele, just by way of background, so people know, you are not a clinician, but you have been an advocate and engaged in the autism community.

- I have dealt with countless physicians, all types of agencies, all types of medical professionals.

Never ever have I come across, to be honest with you, one, one medical professional that has said that to me.

In fact, they say the complete opposite.

- Michele Adubato, the founder of the Center for Autism, their website, make sure the website's been up the entire program in post-production, but also the CEO of the North Ward Center, an organization our dad founded, Steve Adubato Sr.

Check him out on our "Remember Them" series.

We did a nice half hour on his life and legacy.

And Michele Adubato is living it out every day.

Thank you, Michele.

Mom's gonna be proud of you.

You're supposed to say she's gonna be proud, nevermind.

We'll go on, we'll be right back after this.

- We'll be right back.

(Steve laughs) - [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- Recently my colleague, Mary Gamba, in our sister series, "Lessons in Leadership" sat down and spoke with Dr. Alaine Arnott, who's the President and CEO of the National Liberty Museum.

The museum's all about free speech, protecting free speech challenges to free speech, why free speech is not just an important part of the Constitution in our country, but why we need to fight for everyone's right to engage in free speech that doesn't endanger anyone else.

Sounds simple enough, easy in theory, really hard to practice.

Let's check out that conversation.

Doctor, good to have you with us.

- Good to be here.

Thanks for having me, Steve.

- Put the website up.

Tell everyone what the museum is.

- The museum, we are a museum of ideas, not concepts.

And as we were just joining, it's really important now because of everything that's happening as a country.

So we look to bring people together that value freedom of thought, civil discourse, respect for all individuals in the essential pursuit of liberty.

- How'd you get into this work?

- I think I fell into it a little bit.

My background's bit of a hodgepodge, but I knew I wanted to be a leader within the cultural space, but I wanted to have the expertise in order to add true value.

So I dabbled a little bit in the tech startup world.

I went the MBA route, I was a teacher for a bit, but in the end, I think the work that the Liberty Museum is doing has culminated all of my background and my experience.

My husband asked me, "What are you gonna do after running a Liberty Museum?"

And I was like, I don't know, everything else would be pretty boring.

- Yeah, it's really important work.

And also wanna thank the folks at NJM, our good friends there for making the connection to your organizations.

Please, Mary.

- Doctor, talk a little bit about, you mentioned that it's a museum of ideas and not things and artifacts.

Can you give us an example?

We're taping this now in April.

It's gonna be seen May, June, July and we'll be repeating.

Share an example of what an exhibit would be like if someone were to visit the museum, which happens to be in Philadelphia.

- Correct.

So if you walked into the museum right now, our core concept for the year is the year of free speech, which I think couldn't be more timely with everything going on, whether you're at a university, whether you're in politics, whether you're in medicine.

So as you walk into the space.

- Or media.

- Or media.

Fair point.

So as you walk in, you'll see three different galleries that are focused on free speech in collaboration with our permanent gallery space.

So you'll see an exhibition that's focused on the foundation of free speech and what creates a culture of free speech.

The second we work with living artists to bring about a different way to approach how museums can create conversations.

Sometimes you don't need words, sometimes you need visuals in order to break that barrier of just having a hard conversation.

And then the last one is about the future.

And the future could be tomorrow, or it could be 20 years from now of free speech.

So the exhibition that we'll actually launch in May, we are building out our first ever AI conversation.

So you'll actually get in front of an AI with six different topics that are from easy to hard.

So it could be about the banana that was up on (indistinct).

I think it was four or $5 million.

- It sure was.

- Talk about that or we could talk about the monuments and why monuments have been taken down.

What does that mean from a liberty standpoint?

Even getting into the transgender athlete issues and how do we talk about that?

How can we as Americans in a liberal democracy embrace what it means to have free speech as it's the foundation of our country?

- Let me follow up on this, Alaine.

The Teacher as Hero Award.

There are many teachers, many educational leaders who want to hold on to the intellectual integrity of what they do, their independence, the ability to do what they're doing without being told what to teach and how to teach it.

What is that award and how is it connected to free speech?

- So the Teachers Hero Award are about teachers that are really embracing what it means to bring liberty, to bring civic dialogue, to bring civic education into the classroom.

And that can be from inspiring students to do what we do as a part of our Young Heroes program as well, is action projects.

How do we teach the next generation to have a voice?

And I think the teachers that are doing that are the ones that really step up for this award.

So that ties it back.

How do you empower the next generation to live those same values that we're looking for as the American society?

- Mary.

- You talked about our young adults, our future generations.

And I'm fascinated by the AI, the challenges that how young adults are using AI today.

How can we teach these young adults to really honor and embrace free speech, but also being respectful of others, especially with how some young adults are using or inappropriately using AI today.

- I think it's a learning- with any new tool that's introduced to our society, it takes a minute to figure it out.

I mean, if you think about social media as the prime example, and now I think with Jonathan Haidt's book that came out about the the next generation- - "The Anxious Generation?"

- Yep, Anxious Generation.

And I think things like that, we will go down rabbit holes, but we have to self-correct.

And I think that's a part of it.

I think it's also really critical in our time and I'll go back to civics education that we teach students civics education isn't just about the constitution, it is about creating citizens that value what we value as a country.

And in terms of AI, that's a respect.

We still have to be knowledgeable, we still have to be educated and see AI as a tool to help us become better citizens.

- Do you think, and this is anything but political, to me, this is about patriotism and loving our country.

In part, for the fact that we're supposed to be fighting for the rights of others who we disagree with to say what they believe without it being dangerous to other people, fighting for the right of free speech.

But in all honesty, there are a fair number of people who believe in free speech.

As long as your speech is consistent with what I think and if we agree you're fine.

If we don't, you're dangerous and need to be stopped.

Am I oversimplifying it, doctor?

- No, I don't think so.

And that's why I think the work that we do at the Liberty Museum is so important.

We bring together diversity of thought and perspective so that when you go to a speaker program or you see an exhibition, it's not about politics, it's not about us versus them, it's about looking through different lenses.

'Cause that's what makes America such a great country is that we have varied backgrounds.

We have the ability to look at things in multiple ways.

And if we ever lose that, then we become a one dimensional country that cannot have the creativity and the innovation and all of the other aspects that come with having those diversity- - One more quick follow up.

Isn't it scary for some in media, in higher education, other educational institutions, not-for-profit organizations to engage in this thing called free speech if in fact, much of their financial support comes from government sources who are saying, no, if you don't acquiesce, we're cutting off the spigot.

In theory, free speech makes perfect sense when you have to pay bills and everybody has to get a check every two weeks.

Easier said than done, no?

- Oh yes.

Actually, last night, at about six o'clock, I got the notification that our IMLS grant was terminated.

And this is a big hit for us.

But one of the things I think- - What grant is that?

Is that from the government?

- Yep, that's federal government.

So that happened last night.

And for me, it changes every four years.

You're not gonna know, especially at the federal level what's gonna happen.

So I think it's our job as nonprofits and cultural centers to really look at diversification of revenue sources.

And that's hard and it's challenging, but we also need to challenge the current generation, the next generation of givers and donors, that we can't rely on the government to be our funding source.

We've gotta value it as a larger society what cultural, the arts, sciences bring to us as citizens.

- It is more important than ever before.

Couldn't care less what your politics is, but protecting and fighting for people's right to engage in free speech, I think it's somewhere in the Constitution, it might be the first.

Who knows?

Dr. Alaine Arnott, President and CEO of the National Liberty Museum.

Thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate it.

- Thank you so much.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we’ll be right back.

- [Narrator] To watch more One on One with Steve Adubato find us online and follow us on Social media.

- We're now joined by Trent Matthias, who's director of an organization called the National Fitness Campaign.

Trent, good to see you.

- Good to see you, Steve.

Thanks for having me.

- You got it, website's up.

What is this campaign all about?

- Steve, this campaign's all about getting Americans moving.

We are great at a lot of things in America, but one of them is maybe not so much designing our communities to be healthy.

And so we help communities all around the country build free outdoor wellness centers supported by major healthcare organizations to make the healthy choice, the easy choice every day for Americans.

- So we're showing some video right now of what these, they're called fitness courts?

- Yes, sir, fitness courts.

- We're showing some video of the fitness courts.

The design, as I understand this, of these fitness courts, matters.

Are they all the same?

- They're all the same, just like tennis courts or basketball courts, and they are designed around seven stations, gives you a full body workout in just seven minutes.

So it's easy to do, no matter your age or fitness level, and they're built in free public spaces.

Every single one is available to communities across America.

- Okay, so where these fitness courts are matters, you have a map behind you of the United States last time I checked.

Do you have designated, Trent, where those fitness courts are there?

- Of course, yeah.

We're tracking, and there's close to 750 participating communities so far in the campaign.

We're just getting started.

The goal is to build about 5,000 fitness courts by 2030 across the country, and on the state of New Jersey, they're growing rapidly with dozens of them being funded and built.

Goal is to, again, see one of these within a 10-minute bike ride of every American to make it easy to stay active.

- Are they disproportionately in urban communities?

- We do focus on population centers, but the good news is every community in America is eligible, so no matter if there's 2,200 people or two million people, the community can have a fitness court.

- So people are on your website now and they want to find out more about the possibility of the prospect of having a fitness court in their community.

How do they go about doing that?

- Absolutely, it's easy to do, Steve.

We've got a contact form and we're certainly looking for civic leaders that are interested in wellness in the community to contact us.

We assist with funding, planning, building, and activating these beautiful free outdoor wellness centers and a lot of the work's made possible by major healthcare organizations like Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield in New Jersey.

So there's grants available funding to help, and that's what we're here for.

- I'm curious about this.

So these fitness courts, this Fitness Campaign, is it funded by the government at all, or is it all private?

- So it's a public-private partnership and it's grown into one of the largest ones in the country over the last few years.

And so effectively, the municipal partners that we have, they provide part of the funding.

There are healthcare sponsors like Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield that also provide part of the funding.

- But some government money from a local, what local governments who have the money to do this?

- Absolutely, Steve, we find that many mayors and civic leaders are beginning to prioritize infrastructure that supports wellbeing, whether it's parks, pedestrian infrastructure like trails and sidewalks, and now outdoor wellness centers that make it free and easy for people who can't afford a gym membership to stay active.

And so, we are able to work with many of those different funding sources and if funding's a little tight, our organization helps raise the rest of the funds to make it happen.

- How'd you get into this?

- I rode my bicycle past the first fitness court next to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco when I moved out here a little over a decade ago, and fitness has always been a passion of mine.

Designing the built environment to make it easier to stay active also crossed over with my studies back at Virginia Tech, and this was a little bit of the right place and the right time for me.

- Are you out on the West Coast right now?

- Yes, sir, San Francisco Bay area.

- Got it.

How much of this for the people you on the National Fitness Campaign serve, Trent?

How much of this is an issue of quote, unquote, "health equity"?

I know people are uncomfortable using the word equity, but this is about access and to some degree equity as it relates to people's wellbeing and fitness.

Is it not?

- It really is, Steve, you know, we do believe pretty strongly that every American should have the ability to get a high quality workout in every day.

It shouldn't be something that you have a barrier to achieve based on your socioeconomic position or the money you have in your bank account, it should be free for you.

- Connect this to, I know there are seven, go back again, Trent, there are seven stations?

- Yes, seven zones or stations on the fitness court.

- Well, I imagine it's not easy.

Again, people can adjust accordingly, but it's physical fitness.

Clearly, though, Trent, connected to our overall wellbeing, our mental health, our emotional wellbeing.

Make that connection, Trent.

- Yeah, absolutely, Steve, you know, I know for me, if I'm outside, if I get to be with a group and I get to move, those three things are extremely important to feeling great.

Obviously there's the physical benefits of getting your heart rate up, building muscular strength, supporting longevity, but more so in this day and age we've gotta be together, the fitness court helps you do that.

And being outside, we know there's so many benefits to being outside, it brings all those things together, which is pretty incredible.

It's quick and easy to do, it's just seven minutes.

- Real quick before I let you go, I'm curious about this.

There are so many people who believe that only certain people are focused on their fitness.

And for some of us, in which it becomes a way of life, it's built in.

Other people are like, "Well, how would I start?

How would I do this?

How would I get involved in a Fitness Campaign?"

Send a message to those folks who don't live it every day the way you do.

- Appreciate that.

You know, I think it starts with something as simple as a choice that starts to turn into a habit.

So every day, Steve, we get to wake up, we get to decide, are we gonna eat this or that?

Are we gonna drive in the car to get to where we're gonna go or are we gonna jump on a bicycle?

You make small choices, they add up to habits, and I'd really encourage everybody to think about if it's something as easy as taking five minutes to get outside, go for a walk around the block or down the street, that one choice can build into a habit and that'll reward you in a pretty big way long term.

So it's kinda what the campaign's all about.

You know, it's what gets me excited to stay motivated to do this work, and that's the important medicine that I think we all need around the country.

- Last question real quick.

How many, again, fitness courts are you talking about?

The goal?

- 5,000 by 2030 and we see a clear path to 10,000 of these, it really ought to be in every community in America.

- That is Trent Matthias, who's director of a really interesting initiative called the National Fitness Campaign.

Trent, wish you and your colleagues all the best, helping others find better health regardless of where they live or quote, unquote, "their ability to pay."

Thank you, Trent.

- Thanks, Steve.

Really appreciate it.

- You got it, I'm Steve Adubato, that's Trent Matthias doing important work.

See you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

Hackensack Meridian Health.

Community FoodBank of New Jersey.

Kean University.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

Johnson & Johnson.

The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

Congress Hall.

A Cape Resorts property.

And by NJM Insurance Group.

Promotional support provided by BestofNJ.com.

And by New Jersey Monthly.

- How long you been waiting?

- About a half hour.

- Brutal.

This keeps up, I'm gonna miss my pickleball game.

- I've been waiting eight years for a kidney.

What can you do?

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Over 100,000 people in the US are waiting for a life-saving transplant.

But you can do your part in an instant.

Register as an organ donor today at NJSN.org.