Shayla L. Davis Fights BACK Against Adversity
00:00:00 hey what’s up everybody you tuned in to another episode of strategic moves I’m your host Ken this is a place where we bring art culture politics and business all together and we do it every week right here on this channel but when I’m not shooting this podcast I am the owner of strategic resources where we specializ in political campaigns government and public relations I’ve been doing it all around this city and this country for the last 25 years and I want to make your next move a strategic move so this program gives me an opportunity to do just that I bring on
00:00:30 talk to some of the people we’ done met over the years we bring them on come on to the program we talk about some of the things and our experience and maybe it’s something in it that’ll help you in your business or your personal life if it sounds like just something you’ll be interested in all I need you to do is hit the like button hit the Subscribe button and the notification Bell as well so that you’ll know the next time this program’s coming on so without further Ado we going to get started with the program but before I get started with that I want to give a shout out to the guy
00:00:58 who’s helping me put all of this stuff together I got my man DJ true in the house what’s happening son we don’t hear you on the mic also this is a recorded program without further Ado before I get started I want to give a shout out to my guy who helps me put this program together none other than DJ true what’s happening with you son hey what’s going on Ken everything’s everything man got a good program got one of my friends in here today I recognized her when she walked in I’m like okay oh yeah Miss Shayla Davis that’s what we going to have in the house today y’all she’s going to talk
00:01:29 a little bit Le stuff that I didn’t know about Shayla Davis also and you got to remember Shayla L Davis Shayla L Davis sh Shayla l so also we want to give a shout out to our newest member of our crew I got a new gentleman who joined our podcast as well as helping me with everything we’re doing with strategic resources I gave him the title of my coo he’s no he’s titles man he got a lot to do I gave him the job and I gave him a whole list of everything I’m involved in I know he was like damn I didn’t think I was doing all this man I just wanted to come shoot some videos I just
00:02:08 want to come shoot I want to shoot some video man you talking about fire shoot some videos you got be doing administrative work going to meetings I ain’t come do all that but we GNA help this young man develop into a really strong asset to our community so he’s going to learn a lot working here and that is my man Zeki we call him his name is Ezekiel Ezekiel Parker I I I got to get I got this Elijah guy in my mind got all these other names and his name is ezeke so he told me I call him Zeke so we GNA call him Zeke Zeke is in the house also we gonna hear more about him
00:02:40 you’ll learn more about him Z all right so here we go we gonna get started today with uh a person who I known for a while her name is Shayla Davis is a dynamic leader and advocate in equity and racial Justice in the community empowerment of in Ohio she serves as president and CEO of the Ohio legislative Black Caucus where she leads initiatives aimed at addressing systemic inequities and fostering inclusion growth and um inclusive growth Davis has been an instrument in political instrument in policy advocacy through leadership and grassroot engagement and creating
00:03:20 tangible change in the black community she’s a publisher author and a strong voice for transal leadership in Ohio public and in the private sector so everybody in the house let’s give Miss Shayla Davis a warm welome Miss Davis Miss Davis what’s happening what’s happening Kenny D everything’s good let’s give Miss Davis a little more volume on her mic let’s see Miss Davis how you doing today I’m doing all right Mr Kenny D how are you that’s it now I can hear you real good see that’s all I’m want to hear all right all right Miss Davis oh I first of all before we get
00:03:53 into everything would you give everybody little background give me your he was a politician at one time so give me that twom minute I’m Shayla DAV spill speech grew up at where I come up you grew up here in Cleveland no you’re not from Cleveland are you did you grew up here in Cleveland yes all right so yeah tell me see that’s what I want to know where you from for some reason I thought you were from somewhere else no born and raised Garfield Heights my entire life whole entire life my whole entire life so you was really true about that absolutely absolutely that’s my community I
00:04:25 was born there Elementary all the way through all the way through wow so come tell me background tell me your back so you brothers sisters what’s your name yes so I’m Shayla El Davis you didn’t say that Mr Shaya L Davis Davis the L means something lovely yeah but yeah born and raised in the city of Garfield Heights I went to St Timothy Elementary which is a Catholic School right on 131st okay of course there were two separate sides to Garfield Heights because of red lining so my grandmother purchased our family home and property back in the early late 50s early
00:05:01 60s okay and when my grandmother there my family is actually a product of red lining because when my grandmother purchased the property she thought she was moving from the Le and Harvard Community to the city of Garfield Heights for my par my mom and her siblings to go to Garfield height City School lo and behold once they made the purchase of the home they only they discovered that part of Garfield had been annexed annexed back to Cleveland and so they still went to Cleveland Public Schools wow so yeah so my grandmother was a part of a lot of the fighting that took place
00:05:32 when I say fighting advocacy with uh the Ohio Supreme Court to overturn that because again that red lining that whole strip of Garfield Heights off of 131st right above the they call it up the hill was where all the black people were pushed to per to purchase the homes and where they were forced to live and they couldn’t attend Garfield City Schools it’s still that way today wow and while I went to St Timothy’s which is located in Garfield Heights I never went to Garfield height City Schools I always went to a Catholic school and then for high school I went to John F Kennedy
00:06:07 I’m an ego the best high school in the city of Cleveland yes War one and so because of that my me and my siblings we grew up there so I have uh two brothers and one sister I have an older brother a younger brother and then I have an older sister okay and where you fit in so I’m in the middle I’m in the middle I’m in the middle four you guys four right but my brother that older brother he like he like a younger brother so really yeah it’s a whole different thing my brother though I love him that’s cool but and so when I got older and I decided to purchase the home that I still live in
00:06:43 today I thought to myself and I didn’t really realize it at the time but I was thinking the very community that refused to educate me and my siblings and my mom and her siblings would be forced to educate me and my children so I never wanted to leave Garfield Heights so the advocacy part of me has always existed I remember my father saying that mouth gonna get you in trouble I received a lot of punishments some beaten because I was born in the 70s back then you got your butt beat so I got a little bit of that as well so I think it it was just something natural for me now
00:07:15 if hindsight were 2020 I probably would not have pushed and purchased my home on the other side of Garfield off of 131st off of Broadway off of turny past Broadway in 131st just because of some of the things that have happened but at the time it was really about taking a stance and making sure because that was my grandmother’s Legacy okay that was what she intended and it didn’t happen for two generations so it took this third generation of me and my two children my son and my daughter for me to purchase this home that I’ve been in for 24 years and my children would
00:07:50 go to Garfield City schools and would be graduates in the very community that my grandmother brought into 60 some OD years ago that’s why I still stay there today I guess that’s something to be proud of but the way I look at it is that it’s just a tremendous problem how can that even be especially when you look at the social economic status of Garfield Heights how the community even looks today how is that a thing but racism is real oh it’s truly real in this last election showed us all of that so we defin it’s showing in fact I’m acting like it’s over we only what three weeks
00:08:23 into it it seem like four years already we trying to act like it’s over with it we getting around but no we haven’t even got started yet and haven’t even felt the ramifications of any of the stuff that’s going on so I with that being the case then because me knowing that background about you it wasn’t hard for you for all this advocacy cuz all I ever knew about you was Shay was always out there fighting for an election I want to run for matter of fact when you first called me it was that I I will tell y’all a funny story I will tell y’all hey my man Mark you want to hear a
00:08:58 funny story I don’t know I was was talking to her one day on the phone and she would call me up cuz she’s running for counsel or whatnot who was that first guy he was running against white dude oh oh my goodness Eugene Glenn was it Eugene Glenn was he the guy who came in your driveway was yes I’m talking to her one day and we talking about the campaign what she need to do and Ken should I be doing this and that then she I hear and she was like yeah I know you following me I’m like who’s she talking to and she was like yeah he’s following me up in my driveway now and I’m like
00:09:31 who is she talking about and you’re like I know you fall in then next thing I know she’s like getting in her car and she’s like her this she chasing this dude and he’s running down the street and she on the phone yeah he’s been bothering me he’s been following he’s been going so Shayla was out there really out there in Garfield fighting real fighting for that position to become Council woman and and when I say that literally it was a hard fight they did not want Shayla to be and I ain’t going say they yeah it was day I ain’t going to it was days was giving her a hard time about
00:10:05 being counsil woman out there and they were doing all like she said the guys were coming up in her property they were following her they were doing a lot of crazy stuff out there so I understand that and you took that to run for Council what two times right yep two times you won the second time I won the second time won the second time became Council woman out there what did you learn when you became councilwoman after all of that and you got into there what did you finally learn like when you got got there I wasn’t shocked I didn’t learn anything new but I think what I thought is
00:10:35 that once I was elected I would have a little bit of Leverage to really make a difference and I still wasn’t accepted although if I’m being 100% honest because we on a podcast right I was the the most qualified sounds like KLA Harris the most qualified the most equipped and the most committed to the people to be in that space yet because of my gender in my race I was not valued by those people and time again everything that I tried to do they intentionally pushed back on back to the story of you talking about and and I I totally forgot you were on the phone with
00:11:13 me when that happened this guy was about 87 years old he literally would drive past my house five to six times a day wow he would stop in front of my driveway and he would sit there yeah that’s what he was doing that’s what he I mean he would do it every day he had my daughter in fear she was taking pictures and calling me when I would be at work and finally I just said I’m not getting first of all to know me is to know that I don’t really back down from a whole lot of stuff like I may look a certain way but I’m you know I’m GNA give it to you like that’s just that’s who I am
00:11:49 right I’m not really afraid of a lot of things and I think my father taught me that I can’t be as a black woman I have to go for it and I have to fight for it and so I was wasn’t afraid of him I didn’t even think I jumped in my car backed out of my driveway I went flying down the street and I pulled up on him cuz I hadn’t caught him yet and I rolled down my window and I was like what’s up what you it was a whole thing and he was sitting him and his wife though he had his 85 year old wife on the passenger seat with him and I’m just like really but let me tell
00:12:21 you something sir you’re not intimidating me this is more my community than it would ever be yours you’ve been here 20 years my family has been here 50 now what you because there’s this whole thing about if you were a native to garfi if you were born from here and they were from here but you’re an outsider then if that’s the case I’m here I ain’t going nowhere and I’m not backing down from this fight and the fight is to make sure that my people are being represented because when I look at our council at that time there was not one woman on Council black or white right and there
00:12:54 had never been a black woman actually elected onto Council in Garfield Heights there had been a black woman in place in Ward one and let me be very clear we’re talking about 2017 there had never been a black person out of the seven seats in any seat except for w one what is w one the W I grew up in the red lining W where thee prej of the Black Folk were so that was the only W that they actually allowed someone black to be in I on the other hand was on the other side of turny MH so now I’m running in Ward 4 Uncharted Territory you black and you running and you’re
00:13:32 female and I was up against a multitude of things and I think they were also intimidated by me not because I possess yeah I did possess more they were intimidated by that and I was coming with an agenda to move things forward for the people in the C oh yeah you were coming you was kicking the door in you was chasing there white folks down the street you you come me I’m come for you that’s what I’m saying you were coming when got in there they like oh Jesus she’ have made it in here she going to expose us all and you went at it she went at it and to to not my surprise even
00:14:10 though she did it anyway I wanted her to stay as counsel you decide hey I want to run for mayor yeah you did you did tell I kept telling Shayla come on stay a little bit longer cuz it’s gonna be a high you fought so hard to get she fought like Nell and to she got there you did one turn M shayla’s like what their biggest fear was here come this black woman and she said I want it all now and she went ahead and said I want to run for mayor so what was that experience like when you decid I’m going to run for mayor imagine what I experienced running for counsil it was 10 times
00:14:38 worse running for May right I got death threats I still literally have the message on my phone that I will never delete really yes where for 2 minutes and 58 seconds someone was on the other end of the call saying black [ __ ] die black [ __ ] die two minutes and 58 seconds wow I have cameras all around my house the front the side the back and the other side and I got the ring doorbell cameras as well because people were coming to my house they were walking around now Glenn he would stop at the driveway right he wouldn’t go further than that but he would sit there they were walk
00:15:19 and I had no idea what these people were willing to do so I got cameras all around my house it’s so funny I was talking to one of the guys earlier I actually had two guys coming into my home I paid them to come out and do personal home self-defense for me to tell me where I need to stand if there happen to ever be an invasion of my home how many guns I should possibly have in my house and where I should have them strategically placed if I needed to pull them and use them on every single level of my house I’ve never even had a gun up until that point wow yeah it was that deep it was
00:15:55 that serious and I was so heavy with it because while I was telling everybody nobody was listening and it made me as a black woman just continue to feel that we are the most unprotected group of people out here because there is no way that I should be running for public office for a SE that already held I’ve worked in the community I’ve done the things and I’m fighting the way that I’m fighting and these people are openly doing these things to me it wasn’t that serious it wasn’t that serious it was that serious not for the city of Garfield High I didn’t say I wanted presidency I
00:16:32 didn’t say I wanted to be a congress person right I said the mayor of Garfield he wow and so while people like to compare Garfield and maple had long integrated yes years ago back in the 90s the early 2000s Garfield had not done that in 2019 I was the first black woman elected yeah to city council I was the only woman on Council 2019 that was just what six years ago and and and and in the case of maple when the incumbent mayor decided that hey I want to leave he left the see he the way he left he gave a good endorsement to Mayor Blackwell which gave the community the we’re about to start
00:17:18 changing the way we do business you you’re not getting that you didn’t get it like on Counsel not just you but nobody was getting that in that it was strictly the way it is the way it is and anybody matter of fact the I got another story about some folks out there one of our friends of ours was running for a congressional office and she had to go out there and talk to a couple of those guys and she told me that it was funny she said when she came in the building it was the council president and another big time council member there she came in the building walking in
00:17:49 they saw her I was there that day and they jumped on the elevator and they closed the elevator right in her face and so she said what she did was she said I ran up the stairs and when I ran up the stairs I opened up the elevator and I was standing right there and they was like oh we didn’t see you here it was like obvious you see me there and gave her a whole hard time about it and one of the comments that they made to her was that they said that the type of stuff she was talking about they said back in our days we used to see used to keep that stuff over across the tracks yep you
00:18:20 see what I mean up the hill up the hill and that kind yeah so it’s it was some racial and you said it was 17 right 17 19 21 see we talking all these years back to back even today and I think the most disheartening thing for me was the amount of if I’m being real honest this a podcast right right the amount of Black Folk in the community and I’mma Be even realer black men in the community that turned on me we ain’t G to talk about that on camera but your boy you took me to your boy that’s how I met the guy we went and had lunch there one day I don’t know if you remember we I I don’t know
00:19:00 what it was you and I had got together for but it was to talk about something politically but the amount of black men that rallied with those white folk to go against me and attack me when I tell you I have never felt and I I have a bat of confidence uhhuh I have never felt so low in my life and one of my guys did you like that mhm but he ain’t worth mentioning on the podcast no we you going to tell me afterwards though I definely like I say nothing is surprising when you hear all this speed you be like really that happened you be like I’m really not surprised we going to
00:19:32 keep it moving yeah we going to keep it moving on to you became a state representative so you you you changed it up a little bit when they thought they had you by the ropes you say you know what I’m GNA do something else tell us how did that happen and you becoming a state rep I I remember it was a vacant seat correct yeah it was a vacant seat and so while you talked about me staying in that Council seat so I believe running for May is exactly what I needed to do and I needed to lose that race I didn’t need to deal with the trauma it needed to happen exactly the way it
00:20:01 happened because the opportunity for State Rep would have never come had I won the Maro race I needed to lose had I been Council woman it would have probably never come but it was right after I lost the Mayoral race and Stephanie house at that time it was District 11 she won her City Council seat for war s and I was done I wasn’t running for another office I was done with all y’all people in this political stuff it was just I just needed a break and I got asking me if I would to take the seat I was like I’m I’m so then there were some other conversations with different people
00:20:38 in the background and then I got a follow-up call then I was convinced to apply because you have to apply when it’s a vacancy so I did apply the day that I was supposed to interview I withdrew my application I said I’m not interested wow I didn’t know that you getting the details wow I didn’t know that okay I withdrew my application I was like no cuz there was some it’s politics right there was Buzz in the background I hearing a lot of different things and sometimes you don’t know what to think I just said right now I don’t even I don’t even want to deal with it so I
00:21:11 said no some other folk interviewed and different things happened and then I got a call back and it was like why did you remove why did you withdraw I didn’t share why I just said I’m good I’m not interested or whatever and then I got two more phone calls but why did you you ain’t going to put that this is podcast like you see so why did you withdraw because I I was being told in the background that some other people were going after it and so I just didn’t even want to create the competition and the drama and tired figh yeah I just wasn’t in a space I’m a fighter but
00:21:47 I wasn’t in a space to fight it was just like it ain’t worth it y’all call me I ain’t call nobody about this y’all called me so I don’t want to I don’t want to do that right I just went through something very similar to that yeah yeah similar and I just said you know what it ain’t worth it sometimes it’s not worth the fight as I say the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze you know it’s how I felt at the time so then I got that third and final phone call that I got someone said what are you doing and I said I’m chilling I’m good and they said just
00:22:21 take it just take it you have no idea what’s on the horizon just take it I ain’t taking that my whole little thing God bless her for calling me and pushing me to do that I won’t say who but she knows who she is thank you and so then I called back and I was like all right and I got a phone call the next day like okay you’re gonna be sworn in on Wednesday can you come down I’m like wait what hold on what okay and I had my family come down I was sworn in and it was probably the best decision I’ve ever made in my life it was a wonderful experience even with all the
00:22:57 negativity of Ohio politics and what’s happening at the federal level and has been happening if it were not for that position the amount of doors opportunities spaces and people that I have encountered since 2022 have been phenomenal and I cannot thank the people enough that asked me to take that seat it wasn’t even about that moment it was about what has happened since then and what I’ve learned like I had never had my eyes on the state house it just wasn’t a thought for me I really wanted to fight for my community I was Garfield strong right that that’s what I was
00:23:32 invested in and so it was just magical and I got to see a different perspective I got to see where people actually value and respected your influence and your opinion and some people really wanted to come to the table to make a difference not a whole lot I I’m not going to act like it was but there were some people that really valued and were intentional about seeing me win because they believed in me and understood what I wanted to do that wasn’t the case in Garfield at all now I won’t say that about the residents in the constituency in Garfield they supported me but it
00:24:04 wasn’t enough because we know our people that’s correct that’s correct we support from the couch baby and couch support don’t do no whole lot it might do a lot for TV ratings but it don’t do a whole lot for you in a political space and but I’m thankful for it which then led me to where I am today I was asked to come and take over the Ohio legislative Black Caucus Foundation but you you this position was only temporary was it or you you you you want me to go into all of that no because for my viewers now who don’t know you they what happened did you finish your term you went
00:24:38 on to do it so yes I finished my term and that was at the time when we were going through the redistricting that’s correct and so at the time we did not have viable maps and there were lawsuits being filed across the country the state that said that the weren’t viable we had the pandemic going on so then the election stuff when we were when you were supposed to vote all that was just in arms what happened we didn’t have actual districts although the filing date had long passed the filing date Tech actually had passed a week before I decided to take the seat and I
00:25:11 knew that I was taking the seat to finish the came to me there it is now I remember however however go ahead goad everything happened with the redistricting they opened filing back up some folks shifted and moved around that were supposed to run for the seat cuz I was never going to compete remember yeah and we’ll just yeah but I did get on the ballot you get on you started talking then I said now I caught up with you again CU I was like what happened sh yeah that’s what happened that’s what happened what happened that led to like you say opportunity
00:25:42 that you never thought was going to come by I gave you opportunity to work with the Ohio legislative Black Caucus Foundation Foundation that’s correct and I have some experience with them working with Derek clay over some years I believe it or not I met Derek clay when he was the Ohio director for the Bill Clinton his vice president was the internet guy the internet guy who said he invented the Internet what was his name who said that I don’t remember DJ who was Bill Clinton’s vice president Al Gore Al Gore Al Gore he said he invented the Internet Al Gore
00:26:20 said he invented the Internet oh Al Gore probably lying he in I think a lot of folks would say he lying but yeah he said he invented the internet but he was his it was a big deal back then the reason why is because he was African-American um back then they never had an African-American doing anything cuz you can imagine back then and Derek was the um State coordinator for that in Ohio so it was interesting so I met him back then and um we’ve been cool ever since then I knew he was involved in the foundation and then shortly after we was talking matter of fact he
00:26:50 was on the podcast and oh really yeah he did a show at dere is if you go through my shows he I have to see cuz I see all of them they always I didn’t see that no D dere was cool he came in when I first got started it didn’t look nothing like this like you see as I grow I proved it but yeah Derek was one of my first guests to come on cuz he was cool he drove all the way up here too oh wow he drove up here and everything and yeah we talked about it and that’s when he explained to me that you were over at the obbc foundation to my millions and millions of viewers that out there
00:27:22 watching you tell everybody what is the Ohio legislative Black Caucus Foundation all about so the Ohio legislative Black Caucus Foundation is the it’s Ohio’s black think tank for public policy while we are an extension I shouldn’t say that we’re not an extension of the caucus so let me go back a little bit the Ohio legislative Black Caucus is the caucus that conven black state legislators right and they work on whatever issues are happening presently while in their official capacities as state electeds M they are also are a C4 where they get other blacks elected at
00:28:04 the state level MH 30 years ago now former Senator Vernon sites and Ernie Cade most people know Ernie Cade here from Cleveland correct they were two of the founding members of the Ohio legislative Black Caucus foundation so the foundation was created to be the community engagement and advocacy arm of the caucus and so they had foresight 30 years ago to realize that in their official political capacities while they weren’t necessarily limited to what they could do their job was to be fighting
00:28:37 at the state house right to ensure that black voices and all those things were happening but then who was on the ground actually doing the work and engaging the community so that they fully and clearly understood what was happening so they created the Ohio legislative Black Caucus Foundation I also believe at that time they also wanted to create a scholarship fund which is what most foundations across the state across the country do we do not do that so that’s how it evolved and became a thing so Barbara sites former Senator and state representative Barbara
00:29:10 sites she had been the president for about the last eight years and then in 2023 she resigned to run for the akan school board School Board yeah and that’s when I was approached to apply for the position and to see if that I would be interested in it and I was really excited about it because it was still an opportunity to be heavily involved in the public policy space and still at the state level right and to still work with those black caucus members which I had been a member of I guess you’re always a member once you’ve been a member but to really be able to go back to what
00:29:44 I am heavily invested in is the community impact Community voice Community Choice and so in the last year and about four months since I’ve had the foundation I’ve changed a lot of things within the foundation where originally we held an annual educational awareness conference every year I have formulated us into a strong philanthropic 501c3 where we are focused on multiple things while we don’t do specific programming it is all about public policy research data analysis and advocacy right and so spent time creating a strategic plan it was something that we had
00:30:24 never had before writing grants as a nonprofit we didn’t have grants before so last year we got our very first two grants our very first grant came from the gun Foundation I am so thankful to the gun foundation and Trey Johnson for his willingness to really see the vision of what I had for the foundation and where we needed to go which allowed us to develop some rebranding and marketing because so many people say the caucus when they mean the foundation or mean the F say the foundation when they mean the caucus and not their inability to delineate between the two we’re
00:30:58 two starkly different organizations led by two totally different people so the foundation and the nonprofit is who we are we’re the non profit and the other one is the the caucus is they get people elected so they are pack they’re political action committee that’s the chairman of that is Terrence up Church Terrence is the president president that so no I’m with you then and so the president for that is elected by the other black State elect officials so when I was in office we elected Terence and then they have an executive director who serves all of the members in the black caucus
00:31:37 to elevate whatever it is they’re doing which is to get black so prior to that the foundation was just a foundation it wasn’t a 501c3 it’s been a 501c3 for the last 30 years okay so what did you change making it operationalizing it okay and so what we did we held an annual conference once a year about political educ ational awareness we’re in a different space now so one of the things that we’re working on now is the state of black Ohio report okay our roundt membership so I we are mirroring what the CBC does at the federal level right and so it’s about pushing out policy having
00:32:13 data briefs policy briefs on what’s Happening across the state and elevating what the black leg legislators are actually doing and the community engagement piece and so capacity building when I came in it was just me right we didn’t have staff or anything like that before we now have five people working for the foundation right our budget was very small in the first year I raised close to $300,000 so that we can operationalize making sure we had a website the rebranding of our logo and really the awareness getting out and doing things like this to really
00:32:45 explain to people who we are we are a black think tank it’s about bringing leaders across the state who are invested in interested in Black issues and want to Champion them through public policy and we have a direct connection to the black legislators that’s real interesting and I’m glad to hear that Ohio’s been on the Battleground for diversity and inclusion and policy here especially blacks and minority owned businesses how do you think with the repeals of um the federal policy supporting
00:33:17 Dei affecting the community here and and like we say especially these small businesses and black businesses you say that you guys sort of are a you mirror what going on in DC and right now Dei is just really huge with everything that’s going on so what as a think tank and as you say where are some of the I know it’s just happening but enlighten me on some of the things that you’re hearing some of the steps you think that may be going on in the future as it relates to that so I’m really excited to share like this is just hot off the press say that in the podcast sound good
00:33:51 right uh so I am partnering with an organization I won’t name that organization quite yet but in May we’re going to be doing a policy Thon okay this is in the likeness of a hackathon is what people do in the tech World they come together for about 28 48 hours and they just dive in they have all these problems or issues or challenges in the tech world and they come up they don’t leave until they come up with Solutions on how to solve them okay we’re going to mirror that and do a policy th it will only be a 12h hour event but from 7:00 a.m. to 700 p.m. bringing
00:34:25 experts across the entire State who are invested in policy who want to understand policy who are just grassroot organizations who are business owners who understand how difficult it is to be a part of minority business development grants and all the things that are holding them back or hindering them from reaching their full potential and we’re coming together to bring people in the room and specifically focus on these four subject areas so one is black economic empowerment and growth the other one is black maternal Health the other one wait a minute hold on black Civic
00:34:58 engagement and development and democracy building and development and then I can’t think of what the fourth one is black maternal Health take it down economic empowerment and impact Civic engagement nonetheless it’s policy building right and so we’re going to come into the room and talk about the issues that are plaguing our community and it’s to have the voice of the community behind these policies I can tell you from when I was in the State House some of the times the policies that you know would come before us I could tell that was an investment from
00:35:37 the community it was these big lobbying firms coming in saying these are the issues these are the things that they need change for them to be okay but the way in which it impacts the people is something totally different so what you guys going to do with the information you get develop policy we’re walking out of there it will be policy you’re going to be there for 12 hours figure it out and whatever subject area that you are really invested in you come together you talk about that creating policy and when we walk out of there we’re going to have four solid policies
00:36:09 that we’re then going to take back to the state legislators okay using the caucus to say this is the agenda for 2025 this is what black folks say they need and what they want how are we going to promote and push this and how does the foundation from the outside support this champion this work and bring the awareness to the rest of the community all right so let me ask you a hard question right we got the document here it is it looks real good how you gonna get that push in the State House when seems the Democrats are at a alltime low in in power so you’ve been down
00:36:44 there how how is or or or is that another strategy that has to be developed from the policy of how we get that done is that one of the things and so that’s a part of it too but I I will say we are nonpartisan the foundation so while we do work with the caucus is a political organization we are not and we do have black Republicans at the state house and I work with them we have two we have state senator Michelle Reynolds out of Columbus and we have a state representative Josh Williams out of Toledo my goal is to advance black black people I don’t care what your political stance
00:37:21 is now I do care if you’re doing something to harm our people Democrats or Republicans oh so I guess the easy answer is you got people on both sides boom but then the other part because that’s a big help absolutely I mean that’s a hug even if it’s only two at least you got two people who can really sit in rooms that other people are not in we can’t sit in that we can’t sit in and Advocate and their vote for other stuff that the other people want is just as valuable so they can get some of our Stuff squeezed you know in there on some of that stuff and if I’m being got an end
00:37:53 and if I’m being very honest my time at the state house as a state represent I was able to make inrs on the other side of the aisle because I was there to build up my people I didn’t while I am Shayla personally is a Democrat and I believe in the Democratic processes and Concepts I understand the state house I understand politics I understand this whole political thing I have to work with everybody and so everything that I was pushing for I knew I needed someone on the other side and so Bill syes STK Republican out of Cincinnati if you know him Bill syes gonna smoke his cigarettes and
00:38:35 office you ain’t supposed to he’s been there he’s retired now he’s been there a hundred years but he is someone I could sit down at the table with tell him I adamantly disagree with him he is speaking from his white voice and I’m giving you the black perspective and why these experiences matter and he would always in the conversation with that’s how you talk you’re not really talking my language you need to wor this in a way that they can understand it so we can make it move I value that so much because while we can fight and we can stand on things and we can say the buzz
00:39:06 words that people want to hear how effective are we to really be able to Advocate and get change done and so I have some of those relationships I won’t say that I have them all and right now when you look at Ohio and the trumpers that have taken over we don’t even have a lot of the old Reagan you know folk there we got nut jobs and running things so it is going to be harder but in reality I’m not going to stop fighting we started this conversation off talk about me figh so they got the right person in the job that’s for real hey you spoke out against speaking of spite fighting
00:39:40 you spoke out against the executive order that threatens equity in Ohio what is your response to critics who say that the orders are about efficiency rather than exclusion here’s the real reality Black Folk ain’t really benefited for from Dei as much as they’re putting out to say it’s a racist tactic to ensure that white supremacy continues to Prevail and that’s a problem because at the end of the day we need that if it were not for the Civil Rights Movement we wouldn’t be in some of the places and spaces that we were in I was having a conversation yesterday with a guy and
00:40:18 he’s showed me where Dei has done something for us the mainstream majority that all of that may be true but we have still benefited we wouldn’t even be in some spaces at the table in some cases without that is it perfect absolutely not but do we have to continue to fight yes I’m just going to be real Frank some of this is a community issue we have not done our part we look at elected officials and expect them to snap their finger and make real change policy is about two people coming together and working together when you’re elected you need your constituency to elevate you need to
00:40:53 be promoting that you have to show up and and get at these Committee hearing and say what’s really happening and push back on these elected officials and so when we talk about Dei there are problems we need things to change but we still need those things to exist do you we realize where they’re taking us back to trying to take us back to we have to fight if we don’t what are we going to do some believe that um affirmative action and African-Americans lost in the Dei fight because we allowed the to grow so wide at some point I believe I can say I can believe because I’m not
00:41:32 elected official I can say what I want it’s my podcast too so I say but I just believe that I believe that at some point or another we should have kept always fighting for affirmative action on every stance and I I don’t think we should have included Us in the Dei fight I understand why but I think that now that Dei is now gone it killed everything and and I think and when I say that even the mindset of what affirmative action was all about when we put it all in this Dei thing it gave them and them or everybody who was against it a opportunity to now say ha we don’t want it
00:42:14 because you had transgenders in it you got this in it you got that in it and we don’t mind you black folks but you got too many other folks in there now they and they minded us at first anyway but it was their reason of now we can get rid of all of it at one time and that’s the only bad part I think about it is that I really wish that black people like to your point just fought a little harder for that and is that the tent was just too big I think at the end of the day because at the end of the day stats are showing to your point of the person you was arguing with earlier that black
00:42:46 folks white women is the ones who benefited the most from Dei and and and so if that was the case then we really lost as an affirmative action because we didn’t benefit from it so it makes you feel like oh we going to go over Shayla because that’s what we do okay it makes you feel like hey it didn’t how did it benefit us and what are we really fighting for so here’s my thing on that I don’t necessarily disagree okay but at the same token I do disagree the problem is us we have gotten so far removed from how we got here started all of this what we do today I was talking to a
00:43:27 guy days ago we pick up our families we move out of these communities and we move to better we move into these other spaces and we leave our black people to fend for themselves and figure because I am a better black I don’t know if that’s what people are saying but I’ve evolved I have more so I’m not invested in that anymore that’s right generationally we have continued to lose the fight and the understanding of intentionality of why this stuff is important and did affirmative action get infused into Dei or did someone just say that because my thing is it’s a buzz word Trump
00:44:04 started it a Dei hire first of all KLA Harris was not hired she was elected if you want to compare being hired and elected as the same thing you can but it’s not he started that I don’t want to cuss he BS I got it for you he started that mess and we pick up on the these bud buzzword and we run with it affirmative action is something that we need we know the Asian Community greatly benefited from it and we really didn’t but we stopped fighting that’s what because we gained access because of
00:44:38 it exact exactly it gave us what we needed and then we removed ourselves from it there you go that’s the problem we’re the problem yes yes yes it ain’t nobody else so my question is what do we do today I challenged and charged myself last week all the things that I’m involved in public policy politics all of that I had not read cover to cover project 2025 I challenged myself last week to do it I read some of it I knew some excerpts but I read I’ve been reading over the last 75 pages and one of the things that the Heritage Foundation says is that we move as one rowing
00:45:19 team we speak one voice that sounds very cultish to me there’s one leader and everybody falls in but that is why their message is resonating that is why we’re hearing woke Dei I was at crackle bear why I went to crackle bear I have no idea a week ago I’m sitting next to this woman and she was the biggest Trump loving person I’ve ever heard I had to get up I had to get my food to go I had to go and I had a small conversation with her that I won’t share did she recognize you or she was just sitting over there just talking I felt she was baiting me I don’t think she
00:45:57 me we probably all look the same to her so she just started she was just no she was talking to her friend my back was to them but she was boldly speaking okay about how wonderful Trump was with all of his executive orders and sending all of the troops to the borders in 1500 and the wall and getting rid of all these woke people and these woke things and she talked about how she was a teacher in cmsd for 30 years whoa she talked about how she didn’t get to teach science on on multiple days because she had to teach those woke children how to say please and thank you and how to tie
00:46:35 their shoes she mentioned that she was a science teacher so I assumed she wasn’t working with little kids so how was she teaching people to tie their shoe thought that was a farce but whatever but as I listened to her she was just paring what they say on Fox News again going back to what the Heritage Foundation talks about one voice we row together they make sure they don’t deviate from that and as long as they’re consistent with that we then start to believe some of it too because that’s all you hear that’s correct the fact that we spend so much time trying to dispel
00:47:11 Dei I don’t need to talk about Dei what we need to do is figure out how we’re going to continue in this fight how we’re going to ensure that money is coming back to our communities and that our black businesses do are doing what they need to do do we actually need it it’s good to have have is it’s good to have as a baseline to ensure that we’re not being ostracized but at the same token how are we fighting for each other interesting that’s a different approach you gonna be good on the radio L what till you get on the damn radio they gonna be pissed I wouldn’t expecting that one
00:47:44 from how do you respond to the growing trend of Corporations scaling back on Dei incentives and as it seemed that many of these companies are doing exactly what you’re saying they rowing all together and they saying hey hey we going to do that many believe and that’s why I say you’re going to be good on the radio show cuz all we’ve been talking about and everybody oh we going to protest matter of fact last week on the show we talked about Tampa what was it DJ ttha Brown and her products and and Target and people were saying that she we want to boycott Target there’s a lot
00:48:17 of African-Americans who have products in Target and Walmart and stuff like that and the issues they’re going through so miss CEO let’s get into I let get into these corporations what do you think what I think is that the black consumer Market is the biggest and largest one in the USA I think1 trillion dollars we but we’re the poorest right yeah we’re the poorest but we spend the most money we absolutely can boycott we absolutely should but beyond that I’mma have to go back to this project
00:48:53 2025 we can’t keep getting caught up in this mess need to read that Playbook because they are doing everything that they said they would do in those 922 Pages what is our response to that it’s called the manifestation for leadership project 2020 the Mandate for leadership project 2025 so I’m saying where’s our mandate for Freedom 2025 that’s what we need to be focusing on am I going to Target no I’m not but is it a reality that I can’t ever go to Target again again or any of the other places
00:49:29 no cuz this is America mhm America is saturated and rooted in racism if we are going to talk about boycotting every sing We can’t go nowhere the the reality is in some of these communities they have no choice there the Walmart and not just Cleveland but around this country they’re probably the only store for miles and miles for some of these people to go to so I I hear it but I just don’t to your point we can’t say it we got to have some solutions and some ways to be able to fight the fight and so one of the things that I think that we need to do is to uplift small black
00:50:02 business instead of you going to Target and buying that deodorant from Target who’s making homemade deodorant at home what black person is doing that how are we promoting that and elevating that so that they can have the resources to sustain their family and then we have access to what it is that we need why are we not coming together to talk about collaboration on that I do think that we should not be going and I’m not going right now I’m not shopping anywhere I had to go get groceries cuz I got to eat to survive but I’m not shopping anywhere right now and I’m going to stick
00:50:34 to that for 30 days as best as I can I ain’t going to lie but we’ve got to elevate ourselves we spend one trillion dollars in this consumer industry Black Folk we can cause a h and push back but is that the only thing we’re talking about and that’s such a shortterm solution and and because you know I looked at a thing Al sharp and walked in the Costco what a 100 people why would you laugh at that man I ain’t laughing but this is what I I don’t know if anybody ever shopped at Costco I do a 100 people walking in cost that’s a lot of people yeah it is and and it’s not a lot of people
00:51:16 in the grand scheme of things that’s why I’m laughing but if you shop there if I was in there and I saw another hundred people walk in there cuz the Lions and Costco’s already at the back it really is so I’m looking at another people walking like I’ll never go in Costco again I be like I ain’t going in there because everybody’s in there now and it’s a good thing but it’s going to be hard it’s just like what you were saying just to say it it’s one thing how you really put all of this practicum is another thing and I think we got to have some real solutions with some real leaders
00:51:48 really leading Us in that uh otherwise it’s going to be like you say it’s just everybody snapping and oh 100 people went to Costco here you got people out in front of Walmart complaining that kind of thing but we’re not really making no serious impact if we’re not putting a dent in that trillion dollar and that’s what’s really what’s up and why can’t we just copy what the Heritage Foundation is doing one voice growing together we got to grow together that’s for sure but we’ve been trying to talk as one voice ever since we said ring we ain’t been trying to talk as
00:52:20 one voice though we all been saying it separately but we let let’s get into it let’s talk about just alone and kog County let’s talk about the space of silos that we operate the M fact of what happened to me running for office in Garfield Heights it’s a small in ring suburb why didn’t folk in Cleveland height know what was going on why didn’t folk in twinberry why didn’t people off of 93rd in Cleveland know what was going on because we’re not moving in one voice that’s your problem over there you fighting that fighting Garfield you good two or three people may know but that’s it
00:52:56 because every body is focused on being individual and that is what our problem is that is what when we think about I’m going to say humans but I’m going to talk about black people black people are communal the African proverb it takes a village to raise a child I remember my neighbor my other neighbor and my other neighbor saying you don’t walk in my grass what are you doing you walking with that boy get away from that boy don’t let me tell your daddy because that’s what everybody did in the community we operated together we don’t do that anymore how many people actually know
00:53:27 their neighbors how many people talk to their neighbors that’s correct how many people allow someone to say something to their child until we become unified we will continue to fail and suffer that’s just my belief and thought no it’s it’s the truth it’s the truth is no doubt about it it’s the truth well don’t even have plan but but it’s just our community I don’t know what’s the reason it’s the times is the devastation to our community that brought up that the people that you’re talking about who understood that yeah were all eliminated I’m just keep it real
00:54:07 they were eliminated they were eliminated through drugs and that hit our communities and stuff so all those people who understood what you’re saying and understood that’s the way it was supposed to be got affected by drugs and stuff so bad that the result of that is a whole another generation of people who are have no idea about that so when you talk about the Neighbors being able to know you and be able to take care of you and raise you up and teach you stuff they don’t know that because nobody taught them nothing nobody was no neighbors for them to teach them anything their mothers what
00:54:41 they looked at me and you saw as examples of what you supposed to be isn’t the same examples that these this that generation after us because me and you were around the same age and we were right there so it was our gener we lucky we made it out yeah without having all of that baggage that they got and we got it because our family got it yeah either as our sisters our brothers or that we had to still go through that with and so that part and from that it it separated us all it became you better take care of yourself because you only got yourself mentality and that’s what we
00:55:18 ended up getting and that’s where we at so nobody knows when you like you say how come what happens here in Cleveland Heights we don’t know what happened over in Shak her in there back in the day you knew it because that’s what we that was the way we communicated and everybody was doing it but now that’s gone so with that being gone everybody getting their news whatever they can get on social media they getting little bits and pieces of that and everybody is just everywhere and I think everybody wants to not everyone but a lot of people want to lead which is cool if you’re
00:55:50 a leader but everybody can’t lead but how can I come in and be a shepherd and support the leader that’s already trying to do something the other reality is again I will go back to we removed ourselves from those conditions because we wanted to assimilate and be more adaptable so as much as we talk about loving being black and being in this black space we wanted to get further and further away from that because there is a small piece in some people’s mind that feel that white is better and that makes them more acceptable more adaptable and more presentable to society and you want to
00:56:25 know who got a affected by that the most in his last election the Mexicans okay and and that was their lesson Y and and um because of the fact that just what you saying that one little piece they want to make me better than black people or that you will accept me because of who I am because I’m really not black will you accept me because of all those little things that they want the acceptance piece is the exact reason why they got what they got and so what I mean by that that is’s a lot of
00:56:57 them who thought exactly what we said that this didn’t apply to us you found out that it apply to you now what everybody’s going to find out is that racism is a equal opportunist and so just because you white even doesn’t mean that you exempt all right so we just ain’t got he ain’t got to y’all yet but we it’s coming right all right because it’s all about Ango saxin and this thing pure pure they considered and and we hate to say it like that you’ll see that’s all I’m going say let’s keep our eyes open but it’s going to pour down today but then my question is where do the purest
00:57:32 people come from oh that’s a whole another show we ain’t got time okay we ain’t get what we want to do this because we’ll have you come back and we’ll get on that that’s a whole another conversation let me end this though because I do want to round you out because Shayla is going to be on our radio show and we’re gonna talk some more about this and I want you to now that I know you in Cleveland my last question then I’m gonna let you have a camera let’s talk about your book because you did you I
00:57:56 said to everybody you are author and I forgot you wrote this book I remember when you did you put it out so tell everybody about the book you wrote and what’s going on with it and that kind of thing so this book is called RJ’s big adventure at the state house with n and it’s a book that I created and co-wrote with my grandson which I did most of the work but he getting all the credit and it was really about me being in this space again being one of 99 at the state house and realizing out of
00:58:25 that 99 I was one of 24 other black people a very small number and I’m talking about representing the entire state of Ohio and I thought to myself if this is what exposure looks like an experience that I’ve got to give it back to the Next Generation that next Generation being my grandson I want him to see himself in these spaces because I want him to know he can be whatever it is he wants to be and I remember when um President Barack Obama got elected and that became the thing like you can be anything that you want to be and that does sound great and you can but when
00:59:02 it’s over there and you’re over here it is far reaching but when you put someone in that space and they see it at a young age it starts to create this condition in their mind that they really can be talk to him about the state house there are some adults who have never been to the State House correct there’s some adults who have never been in the state Chambers they have no idea I’ve never been down there R.J has his big adventure to the state house he gets into this stuff as I shared first of all he was born in this space of politics because when he was born is when I first
00:59:36 started to run for office so he even understands the concept of yard signs although we know yard signs do not vote right they’re still important for advertising and they do set a precedence and kind of you know give your opponent some fear but he pays attention to that I remember him calling me one day asking me about a Shantel Brown yard sign he lives in the city of Warrenville Heights and he was like that’s a blue sign n n is is that the right side absolutely because he understood just from seeing things and being around me that technically red is considered the Republican color
01:00:12 blue although I wear red and blue is a democratic color and so her yard signs were blue and white as he left out of Warrenville he was somewhere else and I remember him calling me and he was saying n there’s all these other signs why don’t I see a sh Brown sign and I explained to him babe you’re in a whole another Community he was a little further out in some different spaces but the fact at five and six years old that he’s paying attention to those things I wanted him to understand that because we got to bring civit back as I’m running for office and people tell me they don’t know what
01:00:45 a state representative does people thought that when I was a council woman that the mayor was my boss wow people thought that the mayor could fire a council person when I say people I’m not talking about children I’m talking about adults people not understanding the difference between the two houses the two Chambers Senate and House of reps just not even having that conceptual understanding I wanted something to be different for him but I wanted him to write this book from his experience and perspective as a child because if we feed it to a child at a as a young age My
01:01:17 Hope Is that they start to understand it believe it and feel it as they grow older okay and so I thought if he can pick up on this information and understand the political process then why shouldn’t his friends why shouldn’t his classmates and why shouldn’t other children and so that’s why we wrote the book and it’s been great we had a a book signing at the Warrenville hot Library obviously again that’s where he lives his school recognized him as being the very first author of the entire School District in all the years no one has authored a book before and
01:01:46 he was officially given some things for that the school has purchas some of the books he has read the book in different classrooms at the school I’m selling the book all over and I continue to plug it you can go to Amazon there it and you can get the book and I say it in my last little couple seconds and so I’m putting it on social media again it’s a quick easy read it’s a fun book but it is about the Civic experience it’s also about an intergenerational connection I’m still fairly Young from I guess my grandmother was fairly young too but you know how she looked and how
01:02:18 I looked might be a little different and people think grandmothers of today don’t do this this intergenerational connection of older folk pulling back to young people bringing them in the fold together so that we’re connected bringing family back together how important and valuable is family it’s not just Thanksgiving and Christmas and what are we doing to empower our youth CU this little boy is going to be the future if we make it and he needs to know something because if he’s hooked on what Donald Trump is talking about we got serious problems so I need him to be empowered you know
01:02:49 what I’m saying I need him to be empowered I need him to understand and I need him to grow and evolve and it’s working and he is really proud of the book everyone that has got I should have brought it’s in my car I’m have to bring it back up you know yeah cuz I need you to sign one for me I’m going to give it to my little buddy we got she has a little daughter and we’ve been giving all the people write these little kids books I haven’t sign him and give her one yes yes it’s just about engagement representation and getting him interested and invested in reading and writing
01:03:22 which is a lost art which is why folk ain’t read the 922 pages 2025 oh no doubt no doubt so that’s what it’s all about DJ you got something before we go yeah what do you think about all these especially in Cleveland Heights they just hit one of my favorite restaurants in Cleveland Heights taking away immigrants what do you think about that and how do we fight that locally or is there anything that your organ organization can do and no we are not really focused on what’s happening in terms of immigration do we feel the compassion and pain for those folk yes I have a serious issue
01:04:03 with the birthright citizenship and how they’re trying or were trying to overturn all of that and all of that mess but the reality is this is the effect of trump this is the effect of the election we tried to tell people again I’m going go back to project 2025 it’s very clear on what they were going to do it’s unfortunate that it’s happen happening but this is who people voted for and so what are we to do what we need to do is understand project 2025 read the section that talks about immigration and then come up with a solution to fight back but when the federal government is
01:04:42 in in control and saying that this is what’s going to happen we voted for this clown I’m sorry should I say that it’s too late oh we voted for this guy and so he’s in office and if those are the people that voted for him unfortunately this is the result of their vote and for those that didn’t vote this is the result of your lack of voting we have we when I say we I’m talking about Black Folk we got to focus on us we got to survive is it wrong 2,000% but every b battle cannot be fought by everybody and I’m sticking to the fights that I believe can be conquered and that
01:05:20 I can have change and effectuate the change for the future that’s the best thing I can say and do thank you for that all right what I want to do is I’m gonna let you have this camera right there you get a chance to look into the camera Miss Shayla and tell everybody what’s on your mind tell them how they can get in touch with your book how they can get more information about the obbc if they get involved any events that’s coming up any of that stuff right there that camera is your take your time you want to get some water before you do that drink you some water like said we
01:05:49 add it in get you get your thoughts together and take your time and say what you want to say woo all right everybody I am Shayla El Davis very happy to be here for uh this podcast strategic moves with Kenny da Ken I call him Kenny da but um very grateful for the opportunity to be here and I want to talk a little bit about the Ohio legislative Black Caucus Foundation which I am the current president and CEO of we are working on the state of black Ohio report this report is to talk about the issues and the challenges through research and data analysis that are affect
01:06:26 black people across the state of Ohio we need funding to be able to do that the purpose of this report is to create and develop legislative policy at the state level to hopefully effectuate change for the black community in all areas there’s no area that’s going untapped wherever there’s an issue and a concern we want to talk about it we’re diving into the research but we’re not doing the research alone we are partnering with other organizations across the state who’ve already done some of the research because we don’t need to reinvent the wheel but we need to put a report
01:06:57 out when we put this report out the goal is to have it out in 2026 2027 it will be a direct response to whoever the governor is at that time their stateof the state address we plan to have a press conference and To Boldly stand with black folk across this state and demand what we need at the State House these public policies matter and they do trickle back down to our local communities so I’m asking you if you have $20 if you have $5 cuz Barack Obama won his election with $5 fol giv $5 all across the country if you have $5 donate olcf foundation.org there’s always a link you can
01:07:39 click on that says donate it helps us do the work that we do it helps us to keep the message alive and the awareness about what it is that we’re doing in May of this year because of everything that’s going on at the federal level and some of what’s happening at the state because it’s going to get worse we’re hosting a policy Thon is in the likeness of a hackathon which they do in the tech World they come together for about 48 Hours as a shut in they look at the issues and the challenges and they find solutions they walk out of there with solutions to resolve the problem
01:08:12 that is what we plan to do with this policy th while we won’t be there for 48 hours we will be there for 12 and the goal is to come out with solid public policy that we can take to the state legislators and ensure that they are pushing to move those things forward we at the foundation we’re not a partisan organization so we work with everyone on both sides of the aisle as long as we are talking about elevating the black community if you would like to meet if you would like to partner your organization or even as an individual please reach out to me again the uh
01:08:48 website is olbc foundation.org all of our contact information is on there and then my personal plug is my book with my grandson RJ’s big wait RJ’s big adventure at the state house with Nana you can purchase the book on Amazon I’ll get the link over to the podcast so that it can be shared but also you can find me on social media DM me I ride around with books I got books for sale y’all they in my car and I will pull up on you they are $15 and it is to help and encourage uh this little black boy who I believe is our future and he will be something great
01:09:26 and it’s also to uh ensure that other children his age understand Civic engagement and they’re willing to be invested and to learn about it thank you for having me today Davis thank you and we will have all the links to how you can reach U Miss Shayla L Davis on her um social media links as well as on the website for the olbc so Shay I want to thank you for sharing your foundation excuse me where you can reach and get information about everything from the olbc foundation in the description and we’ll have all of that in the description okay thank you for U Shay I
01:10:01 want to thank you for sharing your insights for for this incredible work you’re doing to advance equity and Justice here in Ohio your leadership is inspiring and I and my audience have learned a lot from this conversation really have all right to the listeners remember the fight for Equity isn’t just shaya’s fight it’s our fight whether it’s advocating for better policy supporting businesses or simply just having these conversations we all have a role to play we will see you next week remember we have a talk show that comes on every Tuesday on wovu 95.9 is
01:10:34 a talk show is a call-in radio show it’s called talk to me Tuesdays what’s on your mind and Miss Shayla Davis is going to be joining us on that podcast on that radio show as well so want look forward to checking that out so remember hit the like the Subscribe and the notification Bell so that you’ll know even when that program comes on CU we do it live as well so till next time peace