Culture, Choice & Second Chances; Reaching Opportunity Youth

The Real New Orleans Story: School Choice Before It Had a Name

Long before "school choice" became a national buzzword, Black families in New Orleans were already choosing. Through navigating segregation, Jim Crow, and a broken system to find the best path for their kids. On this episode of Choice Words, host Jay sits down in New Orleans with Patrick Dobard the former superintendent of the Recovery School District and a New Orleans native whose own family history stretches back to the earliest days of the city's education reform movement. Patrick shares the story you rarely hear: growing up between Clark High School and Saint Augustine, the Black educators who shaped him, and how Hurricane Katrina reshaped a city already navigating choice for generations. He and Jay dig into the false idea that school choice is an either/or and why Patrick describes New Orleans' education landscape as a "gumbo" of options, not a battle between camps. This is a conversation about history, family, culturally relevant leadership, and what it really means to own your education, your community, and your future. Brought to you by Freedom to Choose Schools. Subscribe for new episodes of Choice Words twice a month.

Live From New Orleans — Ahmed White on Belonging, Foster Care & Building The Rock Academy

Jay Artis-Wright hits the road. Season 3 kicks off live and in person in New Orleans with Ahmed White, founder of The Rock Academy in Nashville. Ahmed didn't set out to be an educator — he set out to be a lawyer. Instead, he built a high school designed with opportunity youth instead of for them, based on what students themselves said they needed: belonging, flexibility, and relevance. He's also adopted and raised four Black sons out of the foster care system, and he opens up about the emotional weight — and the joy — of parenting kids the system had already counted out. 🎧 Follow Choice Words for what's next. 📲 @myrockacademy | 🔗 chooseschools.org | #FightToChoose

Culture, Choice & Second Chances; Reaching Opportunity Youth

Five million young people across the country — disproportionately Black and Latino — have disconnected from school and the workforce. They're called "opportunity youth," and the story isn't that they gave up on their education. It's that the system gave up on them. In this episode, host Jay Artis-Wright sits down with Nestor Esparza Magana, executive director of Student Alternatives Program, Inc. (SAPI), the nonprofit partnered with Triumph charter high schools in San Antonio, serving at-risk youth across 11 Texas campuses. Nestor breaks down how culture, creativity, and authentic Latino leadership rebuild schooling around young people's real lives — not the other way around. Together they get into why youth advocacy is important, why representation you can't fake changes everything for students, and why the power of choice belongs to every parent and family. 🎙️ Plus, Nestor's Choice Words — the question we ask every guest. New episodes of Choice Words drop twice a month. Follow, rate, and share. #FightToChoose | chooseschools.org

AI, Equity & the Summer Divide

AI is reshaping every career, every classroom, and every community — but not equally. This week, host J. Artist sits down with Taylor Shead, founder of Stemuli Inc., to talk AI equity, the summer divide, and why learning to direct AI might be the most important skill a young person can develop today. Plus: how Stemuli's game Founder Tycoon is giving students in small-town Arkansas the same shot as Silicon Valley kids. Don't sleep on this one. Please support our work!: https://bit.ly/4fjFkR0

Called to Build: Dr. Monica Hall and the Thrive Way

What does it look like when obedience becomes a school? In this episode of Choice Words, host J. Artist sits down with Dr. Monica Hall — founder, principal, pastor, Army chaplain, and veteran — the powerhouse behind T.H.R.I.V.E. Christian Academy, a fully accredited K–12 private school she started in 2013 with two students and a banner she could barely afford. Thirteen years later, Thrive has grown to 21 acres, 300+ students — predominantly Black and brown — a 100% graduation rate, 100% college acceptance, and a 93% teacher retention rate. And Dr. Hall gives credit to none of it. In this conversation, Dr. Hall takes us inside the founding moment she didn't see coming, the HBCU experience at Howard that changed everything, and the six-pillar framework — Truth, Humility, Respect, Integrity, Victory, and Excellence — that holds it all together. She gets real about the financial pressures of private school leadership, the challenges of facility acquisition, and why keeping tuition accessible is a values decision, not just a budget one. This episode is for every founder still in the early rows, every parent weighing their options, and every educator who's felt the pull to stay even when the pay doesn't match the calling. Dr. Hall's final message: Make the investment — because if we don't, someone else is already making investments in a different direction.