Just ahead on Black Issues Forum, we spotlight two local heroes, one helping teens launch businesses and lead their communities, and another bringing comfort to children navigating foster care and homelessness.

From boardrooms to bedrooms, from pitching ideas to packing essentials, these organizations are stepping in where systems fall short.

Coming up next, stay with us.

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(upbeat music) ♪ - Welcome to Black Issues Forum.

I'm Kenia Thompson.

From empowerment to empathy, today we are shining a spotlight on two organizations transforming lives in North Carolina.

First, we'll meet the visionary behind the Wakaboomee program, a youth empowerment initiative focused on cultivating future entrepreneurs.

Then we'll turn our attention to Myra's Angels, an organization offering comfort and care to foster children and families experiencing homelessness.

These are the stories that remind us how much local leadership matters and how far community support can go.

So to start us off, I wanna welcome the founder and creative brain behind the Wakaboomee program, Narkie Nardi.

Welcome.

- Hi, it's Narkie Nartey.

- Nartey, excuse me, I'm so sorry.

- It's okay.

- Gotta put the little accent, right?

- Yes, I like to do that.

- Yes.

So tell me about the Wakaboomee program.

What was the inception of this idea?

How'd we get here?

- Well, it started with a children's book that I wrote for my daughter, Sage, and basically it was a drawing of a green creature.

In fact-- - I think I see a little green to my left.

- Yes, exactly what just happened.

That's what I saw.

- Right, we have a little guest in the studio today.

So we'll take a look at this green creature.

- That's Wakaboomee.

- That's Wakaboomee.

- Yes, and so it was in a children's book.

- Wow.

- And he turned into a nonprofit, and now we provide STEAM, which is STEM plus the arts, wellness, and entrepreneurship.

- So what sparked it?

Did you see that there was a deficit, there was a need?

Like what was it that said, this is what I have to do?

- Well, I basically took the book to a Title I school, and I said, I just wanna see if this book is something that kids will be receptive to.

I didn't wanna go through all the publishing and all of that if kids didn't really like the book.

So when I read the book, I saw that they loved the book, but I also saw that between four and six p.m.

in after school programs, there was a lot of just nothing going on.

Maybe after they finished homework, they're just playing around, or they're being inconsiderate and saying inconsiderate things to each other, and that's because there's no structure.

So I decided, let's bring in some reinforcements.

And so I thought of all the different people who I knew in STEM, in robotics, in mental health spaces, and we all put our heads together and came up with curriculum that we can bring to where kids are, to after school programs, to churches, to anywhere.

Kids are libraries, and it's hybrid.

So it's like some things are on Zoom, and some things are in person, and it's just been incredible.

- Wow, and this has been all across the state?

- Yes, all across the state.

- So are you partnering with the various counties, the school counties, the churches, you said local churches?

- Yes.

- What does that look like in getting into the school system?

- It's not always easy, because there is a structure and a format of doing it, but there are always after school programs, particularly in K through five grades.

And so there are parents who are picking up their kids anyway at 6, 30, seven o'clock.

Every parent wants their child to be exposed to piano lessons and learning about robotics.

Every parent wants that.

And so we are providing it by taking the curriculum that we have put together with professionals from all across North Carolina, and we're providing this curriculum that is changing lives.

I'm seeing it every day.

- And part of changing lives is, well, one of the vehicles you do that through is through a teen summit.

- Yes.

- Tell me a little bit about this summit and how good things are coming from this with community involvement and impact.

- Okay, so we're having a teen summit October the 18th, and it's gonna be at the American Underground.

And basically, we have a lot of teenagers that meet with us on Mondays.

And so they've been working with us to help with their recruitment, fundraising skills, pitch competitions, just different things that we do internally within our program.

But now they wanna be connected to the investors, to the other community leaders, and share their ideas that they've been working on behind the scenes.

So this event will allow seasoned entrepreneurs to share their insights and their connections, and really take these teenagers to a whole other levels.

But what is really incredible about this experience is as we're planning it, mentors are coming from everywhere.

So like Andre Johnson Architects.

- That's amazing.

- This is an architect that is doing incredible things in North Carolina.

It would blow your mind.

He's been around since 2013.

These mentors are stepping up and connecting with these programs that we have in place, and getting exposure that they would have never had before.

- Career opportunities.

- Career opportunities, exactly.

- Yeah, and I think that's the amazing part, right?

Is connecting youth at such a young age, because I think that that fuels the energy and the mind, and the hope and the possibility that this is something that they could do going forward.

When you look at the financial literacy and the business acumen piece to this work that you do, especially with the summit, how important is that specifically for underrepresented children?

- It's critical, because what shocks me is that there are certain demographics of students that just are not experiencing the steam, the wellness, the entrepreneurship, the exposure to careers.

They're just not getting it, and I don't know why, but it's not about why anymore.

It's just about fixing it.

And we can fix it.

We've been fixing it.

We've been around since before COVID.

We were doing these sessions virtually.

We've been here.

It's just that we feel invisible sometimes because we maybe don't have the best networking or something, whatever it is.

We just have to get out there, because we have so many volunteers, so many board members, so many people that are just vested in our youth.

And so we are here to serve all demographics of students, all, but we have to remember those who are sometimes forgotten.

They exist.

- They do exist.

And so in speaking of that limited access to youth, some youth, how strategically has the Wakabumi program broken through those barriers and those walls?

- We team up with different organizations that are intentional about correcting things that need to be corrected.

We have board members that are professionals, a nine, nine professionals that have just put their whole hearts into empowering youth, but they also put their resources, they put their brilliance, their professional careers into this whole movement.

And so that is how we are structuring and being strategic about addressing the needs that our children are facing.

And that means having to address things like mental health that we didn't wanna talk about before.

We have to.

The world is getting so crazy.

So I could go on a tangent there.

- I know.

Well, what's next for the Wakabumi program?

Like you're in the schools, you're in churches, you're doing these summits, but what's the vision?

What's the big vision?

- Oh, I would love to see Wakabumi all over the whole United States.

We actually have students that are in Iowa.

We have students that are in Africa, in Ghana, West Africa.

So I mean, this is so possible.

It's possible to be everywhere because we all want to see transformative education change lives.

Every human wants that.

So we have to just link up and connect and use our talents and our love of others and curiosity and just put all of that together to invest in our youth.

It is so possible.

So the future is bright.

- So our viewers who are watching, maybe they wanna support or get involved.

How do they reach out?

- Well, we have a website and we have a team of teenagers that help us with everything.

We have a grant writer that's like 16, his name is Ishan.

So there's so many ways to connect with us if you go on LinkedIn.

- What's the website?

- Okay, on LinkedIn.

And then the website is wakabumirs.com.

And then on Instagram, it's wakabumi2016.

- Okay, wonderful.

- Sorry, I should've said that.

- No, it's okay.

And let's not forget to remind folks, the summit that's coming up on October 18th, is it open to the public?

- Yes, there's limited space.

So you really have to get your registration in there today 'cause we have a capacity issue.

But just know that we have events like every three months and we're always doing things.

- So we'll be on the lookout.

- Thank you so much for letting me be here.

- Thank you, Narky Nartay.

- Nartay.

- Thank you so much.

- Thank you so much for this opportunity.

- Of course.

Well, it's inspiring to see a program helping young people pitch their ideas, build their businesses, and build themselves up in the process.

We now shift focus to another organization that's making a huge difference in a different kind of way.

Myra's Angels is a local organization that caught the eye of Good Morning America, with the amazing work they're doing.

Take a look.

- And that already has some supplies in it.

- These volunteers are changing lives here in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

Organizing and filling up unique care packages full of vital supplies, personal care products, and love.

- We provide what we call an angel care bag.

Each bag is age and gender specific.

We make sure they include their size, their favorite color, their favorite item, because we wanna make these bags very unique and specific to that child.

- We're gonna use this guy right here.

- They will be gifted to some of the city's most vulnerable residents, children experiencing housing insecurity.

- Better give that to her.

- It's an initiative spearheaded by Myra John, founder and CEO of the non-profit Myra's Angels Foundation.

- Myra's Angels Foundation is focused on providing love and comfort to children who are impacted by homelessness and foster care.

And our goal is to alleviate a lot of their stress and their trauma.

- First starting her career as an intensive care pediatric nurse.

- I always see children as something precious.

And to me, angels are precious.

And so every time I would go to work, I would say, "Oh, what angel do I have today?"

- Following her intense passion for helping children, Myra soon began working as a school nurse.

- I realized the need was even more apparent.

There was a lot of children who were homeless that I knew about.

The question that I had was, what are some of the resources that we can provide for these children?

What can we do for them?

- After consulting with parents and social workers, Myra launched her foundation in 2017, eventually leaving her nursing job to focus on a non-profit full-time.

- Have a little girl over there who has a birthday.

- Mother Nakia Pratt, witnessing Myra's impact firsthand.

- Transitioning from homelessness to a home and with young children was difficult.

But because of Myra's Angels, it made it a little better, especially for my children.

They expressed so much joy, how happy they were that they got something personal for them.

- Myra's helped create a sense of community where families feel supported.

And just when it's really hard, they think, "Okay, maybe I can make it now."

- The foundation, relying completely on community volunteers, and Myra's sense of support has been tremendous.

- I think we all have a purpose in life.

Creating this organization have made me realize that just anything, just this small, can be something so huge and impactful in the lives of these children.

- Well, I'm honored to welcome Myra John, founder of Myra's Angel, an organization providing direct support to foster children and those experiencing homelessness across Wake County and beyond.

Thank you so much for joining us today.

- Thank you for having me.

- That was such a beautiful piece.

We got to learn about your why, right?

Why Myra's Angels exists.

But I wanna ask the question, was there anything specific that you saw that made you say, "You know what?

"This needs to happen here, specifically in Wake County."

- Yes, it started out with a career in nursing.

I started in pediatric nursing, working in the ICU.

And I took care of a lot of children who were pulled from their birth mom and placed in the custody of the state.

And so working as a nurse, I always took care of little infants who didn't have a home to go to.

So right after getting discharged from the hospital, I'm like, "Well, where are these kids going?"

So it really touched my heart.

I would go home every day and say to my husband, "Hey, listen, I took care of a set of twins today.

"Can I bring them home?"

- I would be asking the same question.

- And he would just be like, "Well, I don't know, Myra.

"Maybe not this time."

But it just became apparent to me that these kids go through a lot.

It became even more apparent when I moved from the ICU into the school system.

And I would see some kids couldn't make it to school, or I would speak to foster parents to say that they were pulled from their home in the middle of the night.

Can you check on them?

So the need was there, and I saw it firsthand.

And so after talking to a lot of the social workers and caseworkers, my question was, "What are the resources out there?

"What are we doing for these children?"

I don't know what the answer was at that time, but there was something that I wanted to do to help.

And so after speaking to a lot of communities out there and organizations, my question was, "What are the most important items?

"What are the most important things "that these children need as they are "immediately transitioning to foster care "or into homelessness?"

And so I took those things and I said, "Okay, well, why don't we give back to them, "give them all of these things that they need?"

- What kinds of things are, so we saw the bags being compiled, but what goes into those bags?

What are the things, and does that change?

- Absolutely, so those things are placed in what we call an angel care bag.

And so inside of those bags are full-size toiletries, PJs, undergarments, socks, outfits, accessories for girls and boys.

We make sure we put in comfort items such as blankets and pillowcases with a quote written on it by a child.

- Now, are these all donations?

- These are all donations.

- From community.

- From the community.

We are 100% community-based, and so we have been blessed by the community to have received or receive a lot of these items to put inside of our bags so that we can then hand it to these kids who apparently go through a tremendous amount of stress and trauma.

- And I wanna touch, 'cause right as that video, that story was playing, I asked, is this full-time for you now?

And there's such a need that it is.

Myers-Angels is now your dedicated day-to-day work.

It's beautiful that you're able to do that, but it also is a bit disheartening that there's so much work that needs to be done that this is a full-time job.

- Yes.

- Where do we stand in Wake County specifically, since that's where you serve, with the rates of minority black, brown children and families experiencing homelessness?

- Yes, the need is huge, and we don't wanna leave any children out, and so we support all children of any race and color or demographic.

That need is not even, it's becoming bigger, and so that's what we wanna do.

We wanna try to be there for these kids as a support system.

We want to at least do something by providing them with their basic needs as this issue becomes bigger, and it is an issue that I think might need to be shed on because a lot of us are not aware of it, and so I think that the awareness of it is important, and the connection is also important, too.

We together have to get together as a community, different organization, individuals in the community, to get together to realize what the issues are and try to figure out what those needs are so that we can do something and figure out how to help.

- Now, I know the needs oftentimes are the urgent toiletries and physical things, but when we talk about mental health and other services of that nature, how is there service provided for mental health or for counseling therapy?

I'm guessing some housing services as well.

What other services are there?

- So as an organization, we try to partner with other organizations so that way we can then identify the children who we are supporting, so it's more of a collaboration.

We try to supply them with their daily needs and the items that they need to help alleviate a lot of their stress and trauma, and then we collaborate with organizations who would then provide the housing, and so these kids who are being placed in housing or in homes, we then come in initially to provide them with their immediate needs that they do need, and we don't wanna just hand the bag and say, "Okay," and forget about them.

We don't, so we go back and we follow up with the social workers, with the case workers.

How's this child doing?

How's the family doing?

Are they still struggling?

Do they need more items?

Do they need more supplies?

So we don't wanna leave them out there.

We just wanna catch up, make sure they are okay, and if there's anything that we can do to continue to fill that gap of the things that they require and need to help decrease the stress and the trauma that they go through, 'cause even the small amount of items that we get, it's so impactful and it's huge.

- I'm sure.

How do they find you?

- Well, all of our partners utilize our referral form.

- Okay, it's a network.

- It's a network, it's a network, it's a connection.

It's a beautiful network and a process, and so, let's say a social worker or a case worker is in contact with a child who is transitioning to foster care homelessness.

They utilize our referral form, and on that referral form, it asks for their age, their size, their gender, their needs, their most needs, their favorite color, their favorite character, because what we wanna do is we wanna make those bags very unique and specific for each child, meaning if that child was pulled in the middle of the night from the only place that they call home, that bag that we give them, it feels like it's something that they have packed and not a trash bag full of items that they can't even use.

And so, everything in that bag is new, and so, when they receive that bag, they feel like that bag is filled with love and, most importantly, hope.

- That's great.

Can you maybe name some of the local organizations that you've partnered with so that viewers know, like, if they see this happening, we know that Myers-Angels is likely in the background, too.

- Absolutely, we're partnered with all the Wake County school system, Oxford Children's Home, Salvation Army Shelter, CASA Homes, Haven House Shelter, the list just goes on, and the partnerships and the collaborations just continue to go on.

We want to partner with as many organizations as we can so we can all collaborate to help and serve the same children in our community.

- Yeah, and how do you find the right fit volunteers for this service, because it is unique.

I'm sure that anyone that comes to you, though, has a love and affinity for children, I would imagine.

But what makes the right fit for a volunteer?

- I just want to start with my board.

They are truly amazing, and about 90% of them are pediatric nurses, and so it starts with my board.

My volunteers are all committed, because they believe in our mission, they believe in all that we do, and that's what it comes down to, is they are good humans out there in the community, and when we all get together, it's powerful.

Something, a group so small can create something so powerful to impact the most vulnerable children in our community, and so it comes with that passion and that heart to understand what these kids are going through, to understand the trauma that they're going through, and to want to get back, truly.

- As you've grown over the years, obviously, now this is a full-time, loving commitment for you.

How do you see Meyers Angels growing, or do you just want to reinforce what you do and just continue to do it well?

- Well, our goal is to expand.

We have already supported hundreds of thousands of children, so we want to increase that number to thousands more, to even millions, and we can carry our mission out further into North Carolina and outside of the state to eventually take it nationally, because we don't want to leave any kids out.

Because this problem is not just here in our state line, it is everywhere.

- It's everywhere.

Do you foresee having housing, or I don't know, schooling, or I don't know, I'm just putting it all out there, what's the vision?

If you had a magic wand, what would Meyers Angels do?

- If I had that magic wand, I would definitely, would love to provide housing one day, provide scholarships for children who also age out of foster care, 'cause those are the kids that we also help as well, giving them the resources and the tools that they need to do well, because there is hope.

- There is hope.

- You know, there is hope for the things that they go through, there is that hope, and the love from the community, and so we want to provide that support system where we not only hand just the Angel Care Bags, but we're providing other resources, and connecting them with the resources and other organizations that they need to grow.

- I see a Waca, Bumi, and Meyers Angels partnership.

- I think so too.

- I do.

- I do.

- I think that that's a good little partnership there.

If we have viewers who want to volunteer, to donate, to ask questions, maybe give some money, how do they do that, how do they find out more about you?

- Absolutely, you can visit our website at meyersangels.org, up there we have volunteer signup, we have ways to donate monetarily, we have information on how to create drives for all of the items that we put in our bags.

There is a signup list on our website, which is a wishlist of all the-- - All the things.

- Tons of items that go into those bags, so if anyone wants to volunteer, they can just sign up to do so.

- And a little birdie told me you have an event coming up, a fundraising event, tell us about that.

- Yes, we do, so every year we host a charity gala, and that is a fundraiser where we bring in individuals from the community, organizations, business organizations, family, friends, we get together to fundraise, we talk about Meyers Angels, who we are, what we do, the children we support, and we just have a good time.

- And when is that gala?

- This gala is happening on November 1st at the North Raleigh Country Club at 7 p.m., so we would love to see you there, or anyone in the community, it is gonna be a great time, we always have a great time, and it's very, very important to us because we always celebrate it on the day of our anniversary and so we'll be turning eight years old.

- Eight years old.

- Eight years old.

- Look at how much you've grown.

That's amazing, again, to garner the attention, I mean, I love Good Morning America, so I'm like, if they're on Good Morning America, then we gotta talk about 'em, right?

But to garner that attention, but more importantly, to do the work that you're doing and to help the children and the families, I think that the magnitude speaks for itself.

Thank you for all the work that you've done.

- Thank you.

- And I hope that this provides more exposure for you to get more support that you need because we know that, like you said, it's not a problem that is just specific to this area, it's everywhere.

- It's everywhere.

- And we all need to come together.

- Absolutely.

- Thank you, Myra John.

I appreciate you so much.

- Thank you so much.

Thank you.

- And I thank you for watching.

If you want more content like this, we invite you to engage with us on Instagram using the hashtag #BlackIssuesForum.

You can also find our full episodes on pbsnc.org/blackissuesforum and on the PBS video app.

I'm Kenia Thompson, I'll see you next time.

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