CPO's Juneteenth Celebration

Clint Girlie visits with Darline Mabins from CPO (Community Partnership of the Ozarks) to discuss their upcoming 3-day Juneteenth celebration/festival. They also discuss the importance of the holiday and it's significance to the Ozarks as a community. 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello, and welcome to a showthat we call iHeart the Ozarks. This
is a half hour long show thatairs across all five of our iHeart Radio
stations here in Springfield, and I'mexcited about today's show. My name's Clint
Gurley. I'm the vice president ofProgramming from iHeart Radio here in Springfield.
And each week we get a chanceto sit down, sometimes with community groups,
nonprofits, sometimes just individuals. Everybodythough the same thing they all have

(00:23):
in common is that they're all doinga ton of good for our community.
So I'm excited today I've got DarlynMabin's Hello. Hello, She's from Community
Partnership of the Ozarks. You arethe community Equity Director. Yes, I
want to ask you what that means, but I do need to put a
preface to our conversation that twenty feetaway from us, in another room,

(00:45):
both of my kids then one isseven and one is five. There is
a better than not chance that atsome point in the next half hour one
or both of them will wander inhere because of fighting or some issue,
or one of them, specifically theyounger one, has to go to the
bathroom. All right, I've beenthere, done that. Yes, Okay,
stand great. Tell me about whata community equity director does at Community

(01:08):
Partnership at the Ozarks. That isa great question, and what I like
to answer. I get the privilegeto work with the whole community, if
that makes sense. I work acrossthe board with multicultural individuals, business leaders,
businesses, even business owners, andI work on giving them visibility,

(01:34):
helping them define their seat at thetable, helping them define their sense of
belonging in our community, so thatSpringfield it becomes a more welcoming place where
everybody feels that they belong here.And I think that's the greater picture of
a growing community. That's important.I mean you mentioned that being important.
The last census I saw had Springfieldat ninety three percent white, right,

(02:00):
is that somewhere around that area?Okay, so it's gone down'll get it's
gone down. Okay, my bad. That's still a pretty high percentage,
it is. And so I thinkthe main argument I have heard to the
opposite of what you're saying is,well, why that we're only talking about
thirteen percent of people versus eighty sevenAnd you may be more qualified than anybody

(02:23):
we've had in here recently to answerthe question Why is that thirteen percent?
Why does it matter so much tonot cater to because that's the word that
I hear get thrown around a lot, but to include, to make this
a more equitable place it is.It's important because I think it's human beings
not I think. I know.As human beings, we're wired to find

(02:46):
the place we belong, find theplace we feel valued and seen. And
while that is a small number,it is a growing number as our school
system is becoming more diverse. Wehave children of two or more is increasing.
They're about over twenty three percent ofthe makeup of SPS right now,

(03:06):
and we have a people don't realizehow rich of a culture we have beneath
the surface because it is a smallernumber. And it's important for people to
feel that they belong here and thatthey see they're seen here because as a
community, I believe a large majorityof our community wants to welcome people from

(03:28):
all walks of life and all backgrounds. And that's what we're doing. That's
the work that I get to doevery day. And it's important because we
as people want to feel valued.So the thirteen whether it's thirteen percent,
two percent, one percent, weI believe the vast majority of us want
people to come here and feel thatthey have a place here. This is

(03:50):
subjective to you. Is it justexhausting? I mean, honestly, like
I would think this is an uphillbattle strictly in terms just the numbers alone
that we've had to say nothing ofattitudes that exist now and have existed for
a long time. Is it Imean, do you just get exhausted every
day? I would think so.Not every day. There are days that

(04:13):
I most days I feel that thisis the best job in the world.
I get to meet people that arefrom different countries, I get to meet
people from different faith groups. Iget to have conversations from individuals that are
not like me. So I feelthat I'm learning on a daily basis.
Are there moments when you just feellike, Okay, I've taken five steps

(04:35):
forward and one step you know,no, actually five steps backwards after I
took this one forward. Yeah,those come. But it's when you have
these opportunities and you know that thereare companies like yourself that want to hear
more about that thirteen percent that wehave here, then that's promising and that

(04:56):
you know your work is moving inthe right direction. When you talk to
individuals that say, you know,my family's here, my children are here,
we're happy here, then that's promising. Then you know you're moving in
the right direction. And so yeah, you have those tough days as you
would in a lot of different youknow, occupations, but the work is

(05:17):
important and you find the energy Iwill say to move forward when you have
those steps forward and you see thelives that you're impacting. I would imagine
with the Juneteenth celebrations coming up herein a few weeks, that'll be nice
to take a few steps forward atthe same time, because I've seen what

(05:39):
you guys have planned. I'm excitedto talk about that. We're talking to
Darln Mabn's from the Community Partnership ofthe Ozarks. Before we get into Juneteenth,
I do just want to talk aboutCommunity Partnership of the Ozarks. One
of the vaguest names of an organization, right, it's a community partnership.
Everything about that sounds great and it'sin the Ozarks. That's awesome. What
do they do, no idea,Right, what does Community Partnership of the

(06:02):
Ozarks do besides obviously employ you andeverything you just said quite a bit actually,
and then maybe that's why the nameis so vague, because there's just
no specific area that they focus onother than the community as a whole.
So I like to tell people wherethere is a need, where there's a
plug, or an area where weneed more support. We whether there's suicide

(06:28):
prevention, early childhood, education anddevelopment CPO, which is the abbreviation for
Community partners steps in and tries tofind initiatives and programs that can improve those
areas. So we do a vastarray of things, as I said before,
from early childhood initiatives, school readiness, quality childcare for preschoolers, after

(06:54):
school, academic enrichment, even alcoholand drug prevention programs. I remember years
ago it was Community Partnership with theOzarks who we joined with to just do
neighborhood cleanups. That was I mean, we were looking around one day and
like, what is the thing wecan kind of plug into and actually,
instead of just talking about it,maybe go do something about it. And

(07:15):
yeah, every Saturday it was CPOpartnering up with these different neighborhood groups to
just go around the area and cleanthings up from small things just like the
trashty on the side of the roadto bigger stuff that had been in people's
backyards for years and years and years, and now finally someone was coming to
help. It was CPO leading thecharge. And again you talk about the
full range of things that you guysdo that being included. It's kind of

(07:38):
amazing. I would imagine too reallycumbersome and difficult to handle. So thank
goodness it's you guys and not us. Well, thank you. We're small,
but we are mighty. We liketo tell ourselves that. And we
just try to do programs and initiativesthat we know will improve our community as
a whole. Regardless, we juststarted a cold and you said neighborhood cleanups.

(08:01):
We work with community partners. Imean that's where the partnership comes in
at We connect with different organizations,neighborhood organizations, civic organizations to try to
help and improve whatever the area weneed as a community. My wife is
an MSW. There's a master's insocial work. She does therapy now,

(08:22):
but I think she would hear whatyou're saying and equated exactly to what she
studied, which was you're taking communityissues and then the people who can help
get them done, and you're basicallysocial working the two together. Right to
me, that's a good analogy.Yes, yeah, absolutely. I want
to talk about the June teenth celebrationwhich is coming up. Let's talk kind
of umbrella theme before we get intothe specifics of it. It is the

(08:46):
fourteenth through the sixteenth of June iswhen the celebration is going to be.
You know, June teenth is comparedto all the other federal holidays, the
new kid on the block, right, I know, for generations who did
not grow up with it, evenmy generation. And look, I'm I'm
pretty young. I know, I'mmy face looks old, but me too.
But my kids, though, we'llgrow up their entire lives with June

(09:07):
teenth as a federal holiday. Thereare some people who might not know what
it represents. Can you just brieflyexplain what Juneteenth is all about, why
it is important that we celebrated.It's exciting because I think it's just one
more way as a community and asa country, that we can celebrate each

(09:30):
other. And that's kind of howI want to preface it with people.
It's not another it's another opportunity tocelebrate our achievements as a nation together.
And June teenth is basically the onceslavery was abolished, there was a small
group within the US that did notknow it was it was abolished. So

(09:54):
it is a commemorative celebration of whenthey were in formed and went down to
Galveston, Texas and said, hey, you're free. You know, good
news. Just a quick heads up. Yeah, just a quick heads up.
I know you didn't know this ishappening, but you are now free
and you are no longer enslaved.And so I think that is worth celebrating

(10:20):
as a community and even myself asyou you know, I'm not old either,
but I did not grow up withit. I'm guessing you and I
are about the same age. Somehow, I look twenty five years older than
you do. That's a stretch.No, it's really get I can bring
in objective opinions from out in thebuilding here and everyone would be like,
yeah, she's like twenty two.I wish, but thank you, I'll

(10:41):
take it. No, it's anappointed holiday that we can celebrate together.
It's not a Black holiday. Ithink it's it's a US holiday because of
that information and that the fact thatwe can move on and move forward together
and cele break that that accomplishment isimportant. So you mentioned celebrating. You

(11:05):
guys lead the charge as far asJuneteenth celebrating here in the Springfield area,
and it was brought to my attentionthat this year's is humongous. Is this
the biggest one you guys have everdone? It is? It is?
It is as far as what we'reoffering. Last year we partnered with the
local NAACP chapter and just said,hey, can we help you. Can

(11:28):
we help bring more awareness to thisholiday. Can we help as you know,
plugging in with partnerships cool. Canwe connect with you all and make
this, you know, bigger,make this more of a community where the
whole community can fully immerse themselves inthis celebration and have multiple opportunities to do

(11:48):
so. Because sometimes when you justhave one day, you know, that
might not work with everyone's schedule.But if we make it bigger, and
it's not just for our areas,for the surrounding areas because as you said,
Juneteenth is not has not been aroundvery long, so especially in this
part of the country. So ifwe can bring more visibility to it,

(12:09):
make it more accessible for the Southwestregion, can we do that with you
and they agreed, and so thisyear we have a much bigger lineup than
we did last year. Darlin Maven'sfrom the Community Partnership of the Ozarks.
Here we're talking about Juneteenth and thebig celebration coming up here in a few
weeks three days, right or thefourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth. Can we

(12:31):
just go day by day what's goingon? Because I know there's a lot,
but we have plenty of time.So the fourteenth kicking things off,
what's happening that day? We havea great concert, and thank you to
the Galois Theater for their partnership,and we are able to bring three artists
to the area, Yin Yang Twins, Twista and Paul Wall and that will

(12:54):
be at the Galois Theater, doorsopen at six pm, and you will
also have local artists on the stage, which we're excited about that because as
a community, we want to highlightthe talent that we have here. So
that is going to kick us offfor Friday night, June fourteenth. Friday
Night. Where can you get Fromwhat I saw, tickets relatively are pretty

(13:16):
cheap, yes, and I knowyou guys have a ticket special too.
Where can folks go to take advantageand get those tickets. They can either
go to Galoistheater dot com, ForwardSlash Events, or you can always go
to sgfjuneteenth dot com and you canbuy tickets there. And that's the big
one. I feel like we needto mention a few different times here because
as we're talking, I mean,I get it. Sometimes I have longer

(13:39):
than two minute conversations with somebody andI tune out, right. So SGF
juneteenth dot com. Yes, that'swhere all of the information about all three
days of this. I'm gonna callit a festival. Can we call it
a festival? Call it whatever ifyou sec festival's the right thing, because
I mean we're taking up three dayshere. That's kind of a big deal.
So huge concert, kicking things offon the fourteen, the fifteenth,

(14:01):
that's Saturday, right, Yes,okay, so fifteenth, there's a ton
Yes, tell me about the Saturdayduring this Juneteenth celebration. The fifteenth is
a huge day. We will beat the Expo Center and thank you the
city of Springfield for helping us withthat. And we will be at the
Expost Center starting doors open at eleven. And this truly is an everybody,

(14:24):
all out family event. We willhave bounce houses for kids, popcorn.
There will be food trucks outside,and we will have entertainment inside. Community
members and businesses will have vendor boostsinside where they're doing giveaways, games and
T shirts will be available for thosethat attend. So it's truly a family

(14:46):
event. Awesome. What kind ofstuff is Did I see that there's performances?
Is there going to be music thereon top of the different vendors and
then things to be able to walkaround and look at. Yes, we
will have a stage setup inside theExpo Center and there will be music from
local artists there on the stage,also poetry as well. NAACP will recognize

(15:09):
their grant awardees from the SPS SchoolsSeniors from this year. So it's going
to be a full pack day.And we're actually excited because we're offering yoga
this year, so there it willbe a yoga session, so those of
you who love yoga bring your matsand we'll have someone there specialized in it
to help facilitate. Very cool.That sounds like a ton of fun.

(15:31):
I love the fact that it's likea family event, that it's just open
to everyone. I would and Again, maybe I'm generalizing here. Maybe I'm
just putting my own ignorance on fulldisplay, which, by the way,
I have no shame anymore. Herecomes my ignorance. If that's what it
is, just enjoy. I haveno pride either, So if it's wrong,
you tell me. Okay, whenI think about an event like this,

(15:52):
and maybe what some folks would thinkis maybe a similar reaction to when
a movie comes out that focuses onslavery, Okay, those movies come out,
they're great, right. A lotof these movies that do focus on
slavery have won awards and they've beenreally really moving. Right going back,
you know, when I was akid to Roots being on TV, what

(16:15):
an amazing thing. Now watching itas an adult, it makes me feel
real bad as a white guy,you know what I mean, Because there's
there's I mean, it wasn't medoing it, but clearly that guy looks
more like me than the other guydoes. So there is some inherent guilt
that goes along with that. Sowhen I hear about an event like this,
you know, there is a partof me that goes, am,

(16:37):
I just gonna go and feel guiltyas we celebrate, right, because we're
talking about this issue that is basedin this awful thing in slavery. It's
obviously a great thing, the emancipationfrom that, But as a white guy,
that's really the question, right,as a white guy, how am
I gonna feel going to this event? Like? Am I gonna feel kind
of burned? A little? LikeI? I think that people want to

(17:00):
know the answer to that question.Well, that's a great question, because
honestly we've gotten that question before.Am I welcome here? And my response
is absolutely. This is a celebration. This is not a guilt trip.
This is not a let's go backin history and make you feel worse about
things that you had no control over. This is a celebration for the community.

(17:22):
It is for Springfield, Nick's torepublic. I mean, whomever would
like to come out and spend timewith a broad spectrum of people that you
might never socialize with on a regularbasis and you want to you know,
have fun with your family. Andthis is about food, this is about
music, this is about interacting asa community. It's no guilt here,

(17:48):
no guilt at all. Please,Yeah, for sure. I mean that's
great to know. And I thinkknowing the answer to the question makes it
easier to ask sometimes, but Ithink to the that's a question that has
to get asked just because I'm awhite guy and it's an event celebrating the
emancipation of the black community where thewhite guys did bad stuff to them before.

(18:11):
Right, that's just trying to putit into the most basic of jurny.
Yes, but we're all moving forwardas a community. So this is
a celebration of community and how wemove forward together. So that's Saturday,
Saturday, no guilt Saturday, guiltSaturday or Friday or Sunday. Let's talk
about Sunday briefly here because as thefestival continues, right, we're taking up

(18:33):
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.Tons of fun stuff still to go on
that last day of the weekend.And I'm sorry I overlook something. On
Saturday, we will actually thank youto the Springfield Art Museum. We will
have a viewing of the Milli Project, which is based in the Ozarks,
Okay. That will be at seveno'clock on Saturday. What's the man?
Am I dumb for not knowing?What's the Milli Project? The Milli Project

(18:56):
is the story of Millie Sawyer she'sactually from sad and her fight for freedom,
and it also actually the thing Ilove about it is it goes through
basically the US history on the evolutionof in the end of slavery, while
also telling this story of Millie Sawyerwho was a Springfield resident who got her

(19:21):
freedom in the courts of Springfield andhow she actually actually was Also no one
knows where she is, she waspossibly killed, no one knows her body
was never found. But while itis a sad story, it is also
a redemptive story of our community,and there are just the growth and evolution

(19:45):
of community. Sometimes it's easy todismiss hard to hear stories too because it's
like, wow, that happened somewherefar away. It's a different story when
it's literally in the city you livein. Yes, yes, here in
Springfield. So that's going to beon Saturday as well, screening of that
for the Springfield Art Museum. Awesome, all right, So now on to
Sunday. There's still more common.What's going on on Sunday. Thank you

(20:07):
to the historic Washington Avenue Baptist Church. They will be hosting a gospel choir
celebration and that starts at four Okay, So I've never been to one.
I don't know if you could tellgospel celebration isn't one that I've got.
Look, my church is very white. It's small and very white, and
I don't know if we've ever doneanything you could call a celebration. It's

(20:30):
just or gospel, Yeah, gospel. It's well, I like to think
of gospel choirs. Gospel music,as you know, it feeds into so
many genres. So for music loversthat you know study music, gospel choir,
not gospel choir, but gospel musicis the foundation for so many other
types of music, and in Rand B and in some you would say,

(20:53):
even country and rock and roll.So it's it'll be fun, it's
gonna be a great time. We'vehad have some churches lined up for that
to sing and it's a great opportunityagain for people who have never experienced gus
will require maybe stop in and seewhat you've missed. Three days of Juneteenth
Celebration coming up the fourteenth through sixteenthof June. All the info again is

(21:17):
at the website SGF juneteenth dot com. Yes, tickets for the Friday concert,
you can find links to buy thosethere. Do you need tickets to
get into the Expo Center on Saturday, you do not. Just come on,
yes, just come. The onlything is the concert. Everything else
is open to the public also free. Okay, so all the information is
again SGF Juneteenth dot com. DarlinMaven's from Community Partnership with the Ozarks joining

(21:41):
us here. I'm glad we gotto talk about that stuff. There is
another event. Have you guys donethe lip sync thing yet? We have?
That's are in the winter? Okay, yes we have not that is
in Indiecember. All right, Sothis is a it's a big fundraiser for
you guys. Tell Johnny it's noagain from me. It's a blanket no

(22:03):
from me, just in perpetuity.I think you would be great. Look,
no, I wouldn't be that's thething. I uh no, this
wouldn't. It wouldn't be great.But it sounds like a ton of fun.
And I know it's something that peoplelook forward to every year. And
we have like two or three minutesleft here. Can we just talk about
that event or any other fundraising eventthat you guys have coming up people can

(22:25):
get involved in. Well, Johnnywill appreciate this our summer, soare is
also in June. Okay, itis believe June eighth, So you can
find information on that at Community Partnershipof the os Arts dot org. What
is the Summer Swar Summer Sorry,is also a big fundraiser for CPO,
and it's it's it's slanky. Ilike to tell people you you want to

(22:47):
come and have some wine tastings andpairings, and and they Johnny does a
great job and the team does agreat job of getting everyone together and having
music live music there and and auctioningoff amazing gifts. I believe there's like
season tickets, not season tickets.Let's take there are tickets available for a

(23:08):
Chiefscape this year, so that isgoing to be auctioned off and vacations are
auctioned off. So it's a veryswanky event, but that's very cool.
In December, that is the lipSync Contest, and that is a fun
time. I've gone two years ina row and I don't think I've ever
left not laughing. Sure, whilethere is great talent on that stage as

(23:32):
well, but it is fun.It is a great fundraiser again for all
the work that we do throughout theyear. So if people want to find
more information about these two events orjust what you guys do, and it's
so much at CPO. Where canfolks go maybe online, maybe in person
to find out the info Community Partnershipdot org. We are online and you

(23:52):
can even find the Juneteenth information thereas well under our events. Awesome,
very cool. Do we miss anything? I'm sure we did because we do
so much, but I think fortoday we got it done. I'm excited
about this event for you guys thisyear. I think it's really really cool.
When I learned about it before andthen when Johnny reached out about it,

(24:15):
I was like, yeah, that'sit's right up our alley here at
iHeart because you know, as youknow, when we play pop artists on
a lot of our stations here,it's a diverse, big umbrella, right
just if it's you know, it'sthe music that connects us together. And

(24:36):
the way I look at a celebrationlike this is instead of the music,
it's literally this community that puts usall together. And it's worth taking some
time to celebrate every year and cometogether and just be able to, you
know, face up to each otherand just say that this is us,
this is our community. How greatis this that we can all be doing
this and having event like the juneteencelebration. It's awesome. So congratulate in

(25:00):
advance for a great year on that. Well, thank you again. It
is SGF Juneteenth dot com for allthe information, Darlin, Thank you so
much for doing this. Thank youfor having me. You're fantastic. Is
this the first one of these longinterviews you've done, yes, this is
the longest one. Well, you'rethe best. Well done. I would
rather have you than Johnny any day. He gets all clamming, you know,

(25:22):
like he clams up. I'm justgoing, Yeah, he's awesome.
He's really good. He did acouple of these with us before, and
no, you're you're very good.I can't wait to have you back.
She's the Community Equity director at CommunityPartnership of the Ozarks Again. Community Partnership
dot org is the website for everythingCommunity Partnership does, including the upcoming Juneteenth
fundraiser. If you liked this episode, maybe he jumped in halfway through and

(25:45):
only caught a part of it,but want to hear the entire thing.
Get all the info in one place. It's really easy to find. It's
just iHeart the Ozarks. Under podcastson iHeartRadio or really wherever you get your
podcasts. We're kind of, youknow, supposed to plug iHeartRadio. As
you can see it just plastered allover the room here iHeartRadio. Just search
iHeart the oosox. You can findthis episode as well as all the back

(26:07):
episodes there as well. For myself, Clint Gurley, and the rest of
our staff here at iHeartRadio in Springfield. Thank you so much for listening,
and have a great rest of yourday.