June Newsletter

Nonprofit in Action This June

Jun 16, 2025

2025 Juneteenth Cincinnati Programming!

We are so excited to be partnering with WVXU on Juneteenth programming for the third year in a row! Juneteenth Cincinnati Shorts will air on 91.7 WVXU / 88.5 WMUB Tuesdays during Morning Edition at 5:49 a.m. and 7.51 a.m. Tuesdays during Here & Now at 3:04 p.m. Additionally, on 90.9 WGUC, listen to programming on Thursdays at 6:58 p.m. and Sundays at 12:00 p.m.

Full-length Urban Roots podcast episodes, “Evanston: A Kingdom Divided” and “Avondale: It Takes A Village” will play on Juneteenth (6/19) during Fresh Air at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Thanks to our dedicated team, Deqah Hussein-Wetzel, Tania Mohammad, Vanessa Quirk, and Connor Lynch —

This year, you’ll learn about…

Robert S. Duncanson, a nationally celebrated 19th-century African American landscape artist who built his career in the Cincinnati area. Today, you can visit the Cincinnati Taft Museum of Art to see Duncanson’s murals and, if you find yourself in Washington, D.C., you can see his landscape paintings on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Jennie Davis Porter was a remarkable local educator who founded the Harriet Beecher Stowe School in the West End (and served as the city’s first Black female principal). She was also the first Black woman to earn a PhD from the University of Cincinnati! This short tells the story of Jennie Porter and the cultural legacy she left behind in our great city.

Dr. Lucy Orinthia Oxley broke barriers as the first Black graduate of UC’s medical program in 1935, only to be denied internships due to discrimination. Undeterred, she found opportunities at historically Black colleges outside Cincinnati and eventually returned to open a private practice, first in Walnut Hills and later in Avondale. This short dives into Dr. Oxley’s story as a local pioneer in family medicine.

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Tucked away on Chapel Street in Walnut Hills, this short takes you to the Cincinnati Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, which, for over a century, has continued to serve as a hub for Black women’s activism. In 1925, members purchased the Hannaford-designed mansion on Chapel Street that still stands today, transforming it into a lasting symbol of resilience, sisterhood, and civic leadership.

Evanston Youth Oral History Program

In partnership with King Studios (Christine Anderson, Professor Emeritus of History at Xavier University, along with friend of the podcast and Evanston resident, Beverley Lamb), Urbanist Media developed an after-school audio-storytelling workshop for students from two local Cincinnati schools – the Academy of World Languages and Walnut Hills High School. Workshops were designed by Deqah Hussein-Wetzel and Skyler Ficklin (left in photo above) and led by Skyler and Sidney Moore.

Since February, local high school students have been engaged in a reflective learning project, where they listened to and discussed the historical themes raised by interviewees on the Urban Roots podcast’s Evanston: A Kingdom Divided episode and participated in oral history activities developed by Urbanist Media and King Studios which included writing oral history questions as a group and gaining hands-on experience for recording interviews as well as insight into the podcast production process. The student’s work culminated in recording oral histories from Shree Phillips and Judge Tyrone Yates, which are now being edited into short-form podcasts by Skyler.

Events & Happenings

Wherever you are, we wish you a very Happy Pride Month

This June is Pride Month, and we hope you take advantage of all the celebrations happening across the country (and beyond). Click an image above to learn all about the different Pride events — from parades to film festivals — in NYC, D.C., and Cincy!