I thank you all for your readership and your support these last 18 months. We love providing these resources to the community and we are committed to do it even better in the months and years ahead.

It is not often that I ask anything for my readership, and in this case, I do not do so for myself. This is a call to my readership, asking for you to support Simmons College of Kentucky with a $5 weekly donation for 52 weeks (one year) as a part of their fundraising initiative “Simmons Is Me!”

Minister Jerald Muhammad, and brothers Michael R Hicks and Mark Muhammad Jr. discuss the University of Louisville men's basketball team self-imposing a one-year postseason tournament ban.

Special guest Kevin Reed calls in and shares his thoughts.

My end-of-the-year piece focused on the journey that I seek to take with you, to develop patterns, practices and cultures that can help more Black folk change their fortunes, improve their well-being and transform our neighborhoods.

I have to share an important and connected story. As I have been studying and working with brothers and sisters on urban and business development projects, one group of people that I was working with, where I believed I was a good citizen and seeking to grow and learn with, the owner of the group didn’t trust my intentions and removed me from the group. This hit me pretty hard. I certainly wasn’t expecting a decision like that, and it was a serious inconvenience with the projects and the community of people I was working with. All of a sudden, I was instantly cut off from the laboratory and the relationships I was forming with other members of the group.