of entertainmentstudios.com. >> good morning, and welcome to "new york viewpoint." i'm ken rosato. today we have with us the brotherhood/sisterhood sol, an organization that was created in 1995 and has been applauded for their work with young people. we also bring you information on this season with summerstage, which is very special as they're celebrating their 30th anniversary. but first we begin with the national alliance of mental illness of new york city, also known as nami-nyc metro. it's a grassroots organization that provides support, education, and advocacy for families and individuals of all backgrounds who are living with mental illness. joining us from here in the studio from nami-nyc metro are wendy brennan, the executive director, barbara ricci, who's the president of the board of directors, who's also managing

director at deutsche bank securities, and howard lenn, a board member who is a group creative director at j. walter thompson. good to have you all with us today. >> good to be here. >> well, first of all, tell me about the creation of the organization and the people it helps. >> the organization started in a new york city living room in 1979. a group of parents came together to find support. they had adult children with mental illness. they shared resources, they exchanged stories, and they really built a community, and today we serve people through our telephone helpline, multi-week courses, and a telephone-based parent-matching program where we match a parent who has a child with mental illness with a parent who is experienced dealing with the mental-health system. all of our programs are free, and all of our programs are led by people who have been there, they get it, they have that connection with the mental-health system. >> that's essential. i would imagine that is very, very important. barbara, what led you to nami? >> sure. years ago, my brother was

diagnosed with schizophrenia, and my family had no familiarity with mental illness. we didn't know how to take care of him, we didn't know how to take care of ourselves, the caregivers, and his doctor said, "you should go to this organization nami for their free psychoeducation classes and for their support groups." so we went, and we found that we weren't alone. we found community. we developed coping skills and built up our resiliency, and it was completely life-changing, and i vowed that i would always give back to this organization. >> so, what ways do you do that? >> i joined the board about 10 years ago. >> mm-hmm. >> and i've been board president for the last 3, and we've been really focusing on getting the message out that 20% to 25% of the population has mental illness, and it's okay to talk about it. you should seek early treatment, and that we have a lot of free services to help people accomplish that.

>> we're gonna talk more about that, but that is the key thing before we get back. early treatment is truly essential, isn't it? >> absolutely. if you were having chest pain, would you wait two years to call the doctor for help? and sadly, so many people wait years when they first get their symptoms of mental-health issues, or about a third of them never seek treatment, and the good news is, treatment works. you can improve recovery times, you don't have to suffer unnecessarily, and you can reduce long-term disability. >> people who start with a minor challenge and they spiral out of control, and they literally lose control of their lives or they could get control right away between therapy, talking it out. there's psychotherapy, there's medical therapy with pills and pharmaceuticals, et cetera -- all sorts of way. but that's what you're here for, right, to help out. >> exactly. and i think that people are afraid of what people will say if they hear that they have a mental-health issue, or

there's just a common lack of mental-health knowledge. so nami is here to make people less afraid and to educate the population. >> what? in new york? if you don't have somebody helping you psychologically, you're nuts. [ laughs ] i mean, really. i think everybody has to have somebody just to get by in this city. you have to have somebody, whether it be religious or a friend or somebody in the mental-health field. i think you have to to just get by day to day. but i have to ask you, howard, what is the "i will listen" campaign? >> sure. so the stigma surrounding mental illness is so strong that people who live with a mental-health issue remain silent. so #iwilllisten is a social-media campaign that's designed to help break the stigma and break the silence. so, for example, you can post #iwilllisten to your social media because the statistic one in five people diagnosed with a mental-health issue

every year is really profound, and they're not strangers. they're our friends, they're our loved ones, and we probably have people in our social networks who need to hear that we're there for them without judgment so that they can get the help and talk to someone and seek the treatment that barbara was talking about. >> how is it possible that in 2015 that there are still stigmas that are attached to mental challenges and mental illness? how is that possible? >> i think we don't know very much about the brain. we know much more about how the rest of the body works. with mental illness, we don't have any objective measures. there's no cholesterol levels to check. there are no blood-pressure medications to check, and, also, when you have mental-health issues, sometimes your thinking gets affected, your perceptions of the world, and that can be very frightening to you, and it can be frightening to people around you. so there's so much unknown i think that makes the stigma, in parts, so pervasive.

>> that's why i think it is so important for communications, media, programs like this, and organizations like yours to get the world out that there should be no stigma attached. you have a cold, you treat the cold. you have a mental illness or mental challenge, you could take care of it with therapy in some cases, drugs, et cetera, and it can be treated. it can be taken care of. people can get along in the world just fine, but, more importantly, you don't isolate the person and treat them differently or incorrectly or think that there's something wrong with them because they have a mental illness. it's not something that they cause. what can government do to help out in all this? >> a lot. we're very lucky in new york that we have such a passionate mental-health advocate in the first lady of new york city, chirlane mccray. she knows from personal experience with her daughter and her parents how substance use, depression, and anxiety can exact a very high emotional, social, and economic toll on a person. so the city is looking at mental health through the lens

of public health. just a few weeks ago, the first lady of new york city announced that the city executive budget was going to have an additional approximately $100 million spent on mental-health services over the next several years. we're very grateful for government. >> there is -- there are a lot of things that parents should look out for, as well, with their kids. there are challenges that maybe could be exhibited in youth. what are certain things that maybe parents should be looking out for in children? >> i mean, if there are changes in sleep patterns, if there are wide swings in moods. there's a lot of symptoms, but i really do recommend that parents go to their pediatrician and ask, "is my child exhibiting normal behaviors that a child or an adolescent would display, or is there something that's not quite right?" and if your pediatrician can't help you, you can always call the nami helpline, and we can recommend in all five boroughs programs and services that you might need, where you can get an

assessment, but don't be afraid. >> and then -- i'm sorry to interrupt. i was gonna say on the flip side -- with about 30 seconds left here, on the flip side, what about a 30-, 40-, 50-something with parents that might be exhibiting signs of depression or just changes in mood? >> well, depression is not a normal part of aging. we should all feel good, and if you are concerned about yourself or your adult parent, you should urge them to get treatment. treatment for depression really works. it's effective 80% of the time. don't wait. sooner the better. >> i'm so glad you folks are here. thank you so much for what you do, and i know you all lead very busy lives, and the fact that you are on the board, the fact that you exist, it's a wonderful thing. it is so great to have you. wendy, barbara, and howard -- nami-nyc. use them if you need them, and if you don't need them, give the information to somebody who may. good to have you. >> thank you. >> we will be right back with the brotherhood/sister sol.

stay with us. >> welcome back to "new york viewpoint." i'm ken rosato. the brotherhood/sisterhood sol just celebrated its 20th anniversary. they provide comprehensive long-term support services to youth who range in age from 8 to 22. some of the issues the organization focuses on our leadership development, educational achievement, and sexual responsibility. please join me in welcoming from the brotherhood/sisterhood sol, khary lazarre-white, the executive director and cofounder who is a harlem native, marsha jean charles, who's an alum who is currently a doctoral student, and stephan douglas-allen, who is a member and who is attending ithaca college. a great broadcasting school, i might add. i want to welcome all of you. thank you for coming here to "viewpoint" today. well, first of all, what led you to found the organization? >> well, the brotherhood/sister sol is 20 years old. jason warwin and i cofounded the organization.

we were social entrepreneurs. we saw a need to respond to the inequity that we saw in the city, the kind of miseducation young people experienced, the lack of opportunity and jobs, the inundation of violence, and we felt we had to create a program to help young people to overcome those realities and build strong, stable lives, break cycles of poverty, and really form a moral and ethical code that would help guide them throughout their development. >> and so now you have a doctoral student and a person -- did i mention that ithaca's one of the greatest broadcasting schools in america? by the way, what do you want to be? what are you studying? >> i'm actually studying business administration. >> oh, okay. so you go to ithaca to study business, but i'm sure you have a lot of friends in broadcasting there. >> yes, i do. >> it is so -- and it must do your heart so good, such a good feeling in your heart, i should say, to see these bright, young, talented people, and i'm sure all the great people who've come through the program. what do you see as the future for the organization? >> well, unfortunately, the issues that we work on are issues that continue in our city. you know, this is obviously a wonderful city that we all

love as young people and the staff, but the inequity in the city continues, the lack of opportunity, the poor education, and so to help young people overcome those conditions, that's still our mantra. it's about helping young people form a moral and ethical code, figure out who they are as men and women, leaders in their community, open up doors to them so that they can create opportunities in their life from international study to jobs to college, and so that work continues every single day. what's changed, i think, over the 20 years, is that now we also work in the space of policy -- trying to affect much broader policy change so that the conditions that young people face in our city will change. >> do you now have an ear, say, in government? are people finally listening? >> yeah, we work closely with the city, advising on efforts that range from reducing guns and violence in the city, to the young men's initiative, to working with the department of education to build schools in brooklyn and queens based on our motto. so we certainly have the ear of government in a way that we did not 20 years ago, and that also includes convenings at the white house and efforts to really look at what national policy looks like, as well.

>> khary, i know you can't boil it down in a few minutes, but what are some of the key challenges? what are some of the causes to the inequity? what's going on and what has been going on for all the years? >> i think that -- you know, as i mentioned, the three key areas that our young people face is, first, miseducation. only 68% of children are graduating from high school right now in new york city, and even of those who graduate, only 25% are graduating college-ready without need of remedial support. so the first challenge is education. the second has to do with the gross economic inequality we continue to see. last year's census found that the greatest disparity of wealth here in new york city is in manhattan with the top 10% earning $900,000 or more a year and the bottom 15% only earning $9,000 or less. when you have that kind of economic disparity, when you have a lack of educational access for young people, what that creates is an inability to move socially through social structures and class structures. those are the two greatest challenges our young people face, and then, in addition to that, we have the issue of violence within the community that i think is something that

we're now seeing across the country -- both the kind of state violence of police action, but also in terms of the violence -- intra-violence within young people. >> i want to ask marcia what her focus on in her studies and what she hopes to ultimately do with her life? what is your focus of study now? >> my focus of study -- i'm getting a phd in africana studies, and it's predominantly revolving around black women's literature and the social-justice intentions within the literature, and that is most certainly tied to my work at the brotherhood/sister sol. i was in liberation program, a youth organizing/ youth activism program, and so from 16, i have definitely been a part of this larger social-justice cause. >> that sounds amazing. and when did you find in your heart that this is what you wanted to pursue? >> actually, the first day of the liberation program. yeah. >> so it didn't take long. it didn't take much. >> she was a willing student. >> that was it -- boom. that's what i want. so that's the zeal that you have, and that's what you want to pursue, and you want to take that and evangelize others and show them this is it.

>> i want to show them the beauty of black studies and also just the importance of black lives and the diaspora and the cause, in general. >> absolutely. well, it sure looks like you're sure on your way. good for you. good for you. and how about yourself? stephan, you're in one of the best broadcast schools in america. did i mention that? >> right. >> ...studying business. what do you hope to do with that? where do you want to go with that? >> hopefully the plan is maybe one day own my own business, you know, and with my degree, with anything, i just want to give back to the brotherhood/sister sol for everything that they've given to me in my life. i've been with the organization since 2008, and to know that i have that home base with the organization to come back to and be able to have an opportunity like this, you know, it's truly a blessing. i just love the organization and everything it's about. >> absolutely, and it's done so many positive things. >> definitely. >> there have been so many challenging things. we had so many african-american youth killed, innocent.

you had the unarmed, shot by police, et cetera. we've had so many conflagrations, we've had so many demonstrations, so many challenges. this has been a very challenging year to say the least -- and not that this has been a very unique year, but nonetheless, a very challenging time. you saw what just happened in baltimore. we saw what happened in the st. louis area. what does that mean for you as somebody who's an activist, who's in this community? what goes through your mind as a member of the youth and the next generation when you see this happening? >> i'm somewhat heartbroken, you know, and i feel bad because not many children -- you know, especially people of color -- have an opportunity to be in an organization like this. you know, despite their upbringing and everything like that, they still need that foundation outside of their home, someone to guide them, you know, and let them know it's okay to mess up, but to be there to pick them up, and especially in baltimore, you know, people are just tired,

but they don't have the guidance that they need, you know, to get their point across as to what's going on in america today. >> yeah. how about yourself? >> i feel inspired, and that seems a little weird, but i definitely feel that there is no time like the present to actually affect change and that people are using their voices in a variety of ways -- social media and otherwise, and that as we have been taught in the liberation program at the brotherhood/sister sol that, like, we have voices, and it's important to use them to affect change. >> the first lady just talked about that the other day at a commencement speech. you have voices. don't think that you don't, that your voices are being heard, and little by little -- each day it doesn't seem like there's forward motion, but over the years, over the decades, there is a lot of forward motion. >> and that's why it's so important to work both on a micro-level and a macro-level. it will help young people to transform their lives, to create opportunities every single day, but also to be very focused on the fact that what we see in baltimore, what we see in new york,

what we see in ferguson are responses to a history in this country that continues today -- a history of inequity, a history of a lack of opportunity, issues of racism, lack of opportunity for jobs. it's a powder keg, and the nation has to focus on what we will do to respond to that kind of inequity, otherwise we'll continue to see these kinds of explosions. they are symptoms. the sickness is the inequity. the sickness is the lack of opportunity, and so that's what we will continue to see until we struggle with what have been these issues from the beginning of the country. >> khary, marsha, and stephan, today. >> thank you for having us. >> and for information on all the organizations featured on "viewpoint," if you've missed part of the show and want to see it at your leisure, do visit us at 7online.com/viewpoint. with summerstage, and they're celebrating their 30th anniversary.

don't go away. >> and welcome back to "new york viewpoint." i'm ken rosato.

summerstage, new york city's largest free performing arts festival, is celebrating its 30th anniversary. run by the city parks foundation, they work in more than 350 parks citywide, and the programs reach 425,000 people each year. with us today from the city parks foundation are erika elliott, who is the artistic director, danni gee, the dance curator, and accompanying them, we have dr. george faison, who's the artistic director of harlem's faison firehouse theater, and he was the first african-american to win a tony award in 1975 for his choreography for "the wiz," which i just figured out is the first show i ever saw. >> and you were 8. >> i was -- thank you for pointing that out. no, but you know what? seriously, it helped me fall in love with broadway and shows. it was amazing. it was profound. so, awesome. thank you so much for being here, all of you. >> thank you. >> well, first of all, what are the big plans in honor of the 30th anniversary? >> well, we're really, really excited about this milestone. i mean, 30 years is nothing to take lightly in the city, and we've been bringing arts

and culture to new yorkers for all of those years, but this year, in particular, we're about more, we're about expanding our season from not just june through august, but may through september, so more programs, and expanding in neighborhood parks citywide. so there's eight parks in particular where, in the past, we may have only done concerts, and now we're doing theater, dance, family, film -- just an expanded offering of festival around the city. >> how many free shows are we talking about? >> 122 across the whole season. >> are you kidding?! >> and in all five boroughs. >> how do you execute that many shows? >> well, it is a lot of hard work, a great staff, and a great audience, and we're so lucky to be in city parks. everything we do is free and open to the public, and it's a lot of hard work, but it's a blessing, and i feel really lucky to do it. >> what a wonderful thing to bring art like that to the public, especially to people who may not have otherwise had access to that. >> absolutely. yeah.

>> that's magical. >> it really is our mission to bring arts and culture to all new yorkers around the city, and we do an amazing job across all genres, in all neighborhoods, so, yeah, there's definitely something for everyone. >> and, danni, what are the special challenges that performing, say dance, outdoors presents? >> well, it's always the weather is always a concern. i, myself, a former dancer, and my career ended through injury -- not from outside, but just onstage, so i'm always concerned for the safety of the dancers. i mean, we can do a show if it's like light rain, but if it's blowing anywhere near the stage, i usually say, you know, "we're calling it." but, you know, i really want to take care of the dancers and their careers. that's the biggest challenge. other than that, it's wonderful. >> i can even imagine something as bad as a twig or a pebble on a professional dancer's foot. you don't get that on a stage inside. >> there have been times where maybe we didn't sweep as well as we could have underneath the marley, the plastic floor we lay for the dance floor, and you're right.

if you're dancing barefoot, it can feel like a boulder under your foot if you turn on it. so we have to pull up the marley and re-lay it and sweep again, so... yeah. >> well, dr. faison, what is special about "the wiz" this year? >> it's been 40 years. >> man! >> you haven't seen those steps. maybe you haven't seen them for the last 10, and we're gonna give another generation of dancers and some new voices to sing those songs and do those dances. >> "ease on down the road"? >> "ease on down the road," the tornado dance that opened the show -- we're gonna do that, as well. so it's been 40 years, and i think it's only been burnished with time. so it's only gotten better, i think, and we're gonna take a really good look back at "the wiz" and bring you this fresh talent that we have. >> i remember my mom telling me that my face went... from the opening of the show. it was just -- it's a fantastic

show. anyone who hasn't seen it, go see it. you got to see it. >> come to the park. >> man, that's gonna be fantastic. >> yes. >> awesome. now, erika, we had heard about plans for a mini festival. you're talking about the parks and stuff, and 100-and-some-odd of them. when did you first set out to plan that many, and how many people are on the committee to come up with that many? >> how many what? >> how many people plan out that many shows? >> yeah, i mean, it's a programming staff of four. >> oh, wow. i'm thinking you have like 8,000 people who meet for four years. >> no, just us. >> no, i mean, it's a very small staff of dedicated people who are passionate about arts and culture. i mean, at the end of the day, we love what we're doing. danni loves what she's doing. i'm a huge music fan and have been in the music business my entire career, and this is just an amazing way to give back to the city that i love, to be able to bring arts and culture and artists that i care about to people and for free with no barriers. you know, i just feel really lucky to do that, but it's a very small staff who just works hard to deliver

the season every year to new york. >> when you see the turnout -- i'm sure it must pack. when you see those people turning out and the looks on their faces, it must be everything for you. >> there's no better feeling. i mean, that's what you work for is to see the relationship between the audience and the artist, to see the audience react and respond to music and artists they care about or other programs, as well. it's what you work for all year. >> and tell me about some of the artists that you have. >> for this season -- well, besides working with mr. faison, which is always a pleasure and honor, we have -- >> our third year. >> our third year working together. i'm actually bringing up my alma mater, philadanco, philadelphia dance company from philadelphia, and they're actually celebrating their 45th anniversary, so another big anniversary for our cultural icons of this country. i'm also bringing in a company from france that's part of this whole cultural sharing -- >> is there culture in france, too? >> a little bit. just a little bit. but the project's called un break mozart, and it's

they're dancing to mozart, mozart's "requiem," and so that's some of my highlights. >> erika, danni, and dr. george faison, merci beaucoup. >> de rien. >> thank you all for being here. have a wonderful summer. the summer program sounds awesome. check it out at a park near you. i'm ken rosato. i want to thank you again for joining us. enjoy the rest of your weekend. bye-bye. turn around every now and then i get a little bit hungry and there's nothing really good around turn around every now and then i get a little bit tired of living off the taste of the air turn around, barry finally, i have a manly chocolatey snack