(upbeat music) - Hi, everyone.

It's time for "You Oughta Know", and here's what's coming up.

Frieda Cafe is the place to break bread and build cultural and generational bonds that enhance lives.

- [David] We have the cafe, a for-profit, and we have a non-for-profit called Friedacommunity.

- [Shirley] New Jersey's newest skate park is the result of government working with the people.

- [Lyle] We went to our local government and just said, "Kids are passionate about this."

- [Shirley] Plus his commitment to helping people led him to his passion for photography.

- [Harvey] There was a real connection between social work and the way I photographed.

(upbeat music continues) - Welcome to "You Oughta Know," I'm Shirley Min.

From social work to social change, photographer, Harvey Finkle, gives us a glimpse at how his career transitioned.

(calm jazzy music) - How would I describe my work over the last 50 years?

I would say it's filled with a lot of transitions.

The nature of what I shoot is lot on the street is gaining trust of people.

This is the two families who living in a takeover house about to be evicted.

I'm embedded with a lot of these organizations.

They know me, when they first met me, they ask if I would photograph them.

(calm jazzy music continues) This is a mother and son, and they're living in a tent city.

I went to a school of social work at Penn and got a master's degree in social work and worked with some families that were having problems.

The issues were poverty, racism, housing, and I think the jobs I had as a social worker had that same need.

People weren't gonna let you be involved in their life and even trying to help them, unless they gained some trust.

So, I think, there was a real connection between social work and the way I photograph.

(calm light music) At some point, I was getting more enamored with the camera.

(calm light music continues) I felt there was a limitation to how much you can deal in social change with social work.

And I felt that I was moving in a much different understanding of how things work in society, and I felt at some point I can do stuff with the camera that I couldn't do with social work.

(calm light music continues) This is at the Wanna Make our Building, and I had been there photographing different times.

This is a woman, probably working class woman.

In some way, she looks like from the old country the way she's dressed.

And what I like is that she's staring at people dressed formally.

And to me, it represents a photograph of class consciousness.

(calm light music continues) (light piano music) I was photographing people in the street.

I was photographing political movements, social movements.

I gained a lot of trust in that community and began to photograph groups, like the Kensington Welfare Rights Union.

Project Home, an organization that, again, dealt with homeless people.

In the 80s, I became very much involved with the disability rights movement.

(light piano music continues) For the last four years, I haven't photographed because I have macular degeneration.

Your faces are granular to me.

I can't really see your faces, and the things that I can do now are really with the digital printers.

And I scanned everything that I had.

(calm jazzy music) I sent off 10 prints of mothers and children.

Most mothers in the world are struggling and most mothers in this country, lots of mothers are struggling, and why aren't we doing something in relation to that?

So we ended up putting together a book called, "Mothers."

(calm jazzy music continues) This is a photo that comes from the reading book, and it's a coffee house in Tucson, Arizona.

And I like the fact that the dog's helping him read the photograph.

(calm jazzy music continues) I got hundreds of photographs of people reading.

I went and I collected this group of photographs that go back 50, 60 years.

And then we put out another book called, "Readers."

(calm jazzy music continues) We're planning another book that deals with museums.

I have a whole collection of photographs of people in museums.

I like to think any book that I produce has some social theme to it.

(calm jazzy music continues) I think having a camera's like having a third eye.

(calm jazzy music ends) - It's been said that one voice can affect government, but Marla Rosenthal, mom and advocate, proved that theory wrong.

She was determined to have a place for her son to skateboard.

And years later, that determination paid off.

(suspenseful energetic music) - The skate park came to be when one of our residents, Marla Rosenthal, came to the Commissioner's with her son who was a skateboarder and said, "We would like you to build a skateboard park in Camden County."

- When my son was eight, he was skateboarding and didn't have anywhere to go, so I decided that we really needed a skate park here.

- And we kind of went to all our local government and just said, "Hey, a lot of kids are passionate about this.

It would benefit a lot of kids and we need this."

- There's a lot involved in creating a skate park.

Most importantly, we wanted the community to give us input.

We had a meeting where over a hundred people showed up and gave us suggestions on what it should look like.

We reached out to Marla, her son, her son's friends.

We reached out to the Tony Hawk Foundation and we asked for the best design for a skate park of this size.

And we received a great input.

We partnered with Cherry Hill Township because their officials were receiving the same level of interest from the public as Camden County.

- We didn't give up and we always called Jeff Nash who was amazing and just kept saying, "Be patient."

And we knew it was reasonable.

It was something that just needed its time.

- One night, after we got the okay, my mom rallied all our buddies, all our skate friends, and got on the Zoom with a skate park architect and he said, "What elements do you want?

What's gonna be fun for you guys and what's gonna help everybody in the area progress?"

Anything a skater could want, we have.

- I got sponsored around, like 1996, '97.

I went on to winning Tampa Pro, won the X Games when they were in Philadelphia.

With Pro for about 20 years.

My kids wanna skate.

My little daughter, she's 10.

She wants to be here pumping the track every single day.

And it's gotten me back on my board, and it feels like I'm 20 years old again.

- One of the key aspects was to make it available for everyone.

So someone who was starting to skateboard, they would have a place to skateboard.

Someone who was more expert would have more of, some of the more complicated ramps to access.

So this was a skateboard park built for everyone as the community designed it to be.

What we're seeing today is the consequence of all of that input matched with the money that we had available, and the location that we were permitted to build.

And this is what we came up with.

And from everything we've been told, it is a great success.

(energetic music continues) - I think, it's really important, especially now in the age of technology.

We get kids outside doing other things, and I think learning how to bike, learning how to skateboard, learning how to scooter, it's very comparable to learning a musical instrument.

- This was a mission of one resident and people say that, "You can't make a difference in government.

One voice is not important."

Well, this shows that it is.

This woman made sure that Camden County never lost focus and built this park.

And to her credit, we're here today.

- It's an action sports complex, so you gotta let your dreams run, and you gotta fly high.

- Season two of "Albie's Elevator" comes your way next week.

And here to talk about the second season is WHYY's Caitlin Corkery.

She is the show's creator and mom of two.

Hey, Caitlin.

- It's true.

- Hey, Shirley.

What's up?

- Introduce us to our friends 'cause we have a couple of special guests with us.

- We do, so this is, obviously, Albie.

This is in her plush form, which is new for season two.

Really exciting.

And then we also have Huggy Pepper with us who Huggy, is obviously- - [Shirley] Hi, Huggy.

- a friend on the show, runs Huggy Pepper's Groove Room, just generally pretty social guy.

- Goes by HP to friends?

- [Caitlin] HP to friends.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, - I love that.

- [Caitlin] If you're in the know.

(Shirley laughs) - Well, I wanted to say mom of two when we introduced you because I know that your girls probably love "Albie's."

- They absolutely do.

And it's such a a treat to be able to work on something that directly has like an impact for my family.

I always refer to them as my focus group.

- Yeah.

(laughs) - Because we'll run things past them and episodes are inspired by my daughters, for sure.

There's one this season about gift giving and kind of how to, I dunno if you've ever had this with your kids, where you're picking out a gift for someone and they're like, "I think grandma really wants this pony."

And you're like, "I think you really want this pony."

(Shirley laughing) So the idea of like really thinking about someone else, and we're trying to come up with solutions that I feel like what would Helene, who's my daughter, like what would Helene, what would resonate with her?

What would be something she could really apply in her life?

So, definitely the first focus group for this show.

- Well, I love that you are in the thick of it.

So this is where you're getting your inspiration from, and I know that a lot of other parents can relate a hundred percent.

What can we expect from season two?

- Yeah, it's a lot more of the same.

Things we found from season one that people really loved, slapstick comedy.

So we got a lot of big laughs in there.

We have a lot more music this season, so every episode has at least one musical number in it that's really, really fun.

And then we just have some really fun, I mean, social emotional learning throughout great artists, but there's also some really crazy over-the-top gags.

We have Danny Tamberelli who was on "Pete and Pete" and all that in the 90s, so like as a millennial parent, huge get for us.

He's doing a guest star spot.

We have incredible artists.

We have a throwback episode.

We have a song about "Pepperoni-Flavored Crackers" that is gonna be the song of the summer and stuck in everyone's head.

It's just really, really fun.

It continues to be a really vibrant, vibrant show that we think is great for co-viewing, so parents and kids are gonna watch together.

- [Shirley] Yeah.

- Yeah, we're really excited for people to see it.

- You need the parent buy-in.

- For sure.

- So how is it producing a show like this for you?

- Yeah, I mean, again, it's great because I'm in it, so I can kind of speak to those things, but ideally, for kids, you want co-viewing, right?

You want that grown-up to be sitting with the kid, so they can watch together.

The way the grownups on the show are scripted is kind of a model for parents too.

How do you provide scaffolding to have these tough conversations or talk about feelings or relationships with other people?

We want it to be enjoyable for parents.

If a song gets stuck in your kid's head, we want you to be able to play it 400 times without losing your own mind.

- [Shirley] Yeah.

- So all the songs are great.

And then beyond that, we sell this lesson plank component, right?

So every episode has a corresponding lesson plan that does not require an MFA to do.

You can do it at home with your kids, with household items, and it gives you conversation starters, so you can keep the conversation going, like that's classic, public media stuff.

- I have to tell you, as a non-artsy grown-up, (Caitlin laughing) this speaks to me, so I do like that.

Let's talk about when and where parents can tune in.

- Yeah, absolutely.

So we premiere on June 23rd.

The show will air at 7:00 AM with an encore at 9:30, and then it's also available online at whyy.org and on YouTube kids at "WHYY Kids."

- I like the timing, too, because those early morning hours are prime time viewing for little ones.

- Absolutely.

- Lastly, I got a sneak peek, but you're also opening an Albie-inspired pop-up storefront.

- Yes.

- [Shirley] And this is in Collingswood, New Jersey.

- It is.

- So gimme some details here.

- Okay, so we're on the Main Dragon, Collingswood on Hadden Ave.

It's Albee's Elevator Operator Supply Company, so it has everything you need as an elevator operator.

It has button pressing practice sheets, finger pillows, alternate dings, if the ding in your elevator broke, so you can get all those goods for trades.

We accept trades of jokes, funny faces, silly dances, animal facts, interesting rocks, whatever you got.

You can also do activities inspired by these episodes.

You can make a mini elevator on site or a watercolor secret message heart, which is really fun.

We have a pillow fort screening area, so you can watch preview episodes.

Every hour on the hour, we go into Starling mode, so you can dance with us.

- [Shirley] Aww.

- We have PEPs you can adopt from our PEP adoption centers.

And then we also have some exclusive Albie pledge gifts.

If you become a member of WHYY on sites, you can get an Albie doll like this.

You can get a jumbo tote bag, perfect for lugging all your stuff around all summer, or you can get a can of boredom, or a can of pizazz, to stock in your pantry if you are running short on boredom or pizazz.

- I love everything.

(Caitlin laughing) Do folks need to register, like, or do they just show up?

- Nope, just show up.

Come on down.

I will literally be there every single day from June 23rd through July 6th.

(Shirley laughing) So you'll be talking to me directly.

We're open 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

- Caitlin, I love it.

I love it so much.

Okay, new episodes of "Albie's Elevator."

Just to reiterate, start on June 23rd on WHYY-TV 12.

Caitlin, love you.

Thank you so much for being here.

- Thanks for being here, Shirley.

- Guardian Nurses was founded by a nurse who saw the need to help people navigate the, oftentimes, confusing healthcare system.

You have questions, they have answers.

(calm guitar music) (calm guitar music continues) Jen Prater is with Guardian Nurses.

She's checking in on her client, Crystal Chuck.

Crystal's been through a lot.

Two rare cancer diagnoses, 15 years apart and she's only 41.

But the biggest difference in Crystal's second bout with cancer is Jen.

- This point is kinda like she's family, and it does matter, especially in this scary, scary time.

- [Shirley] Jen is an experienced RN, and Crystal's patient advocate.

- I like to say I'm there to support whatever it is that they need.

When you have an illness or something's going on, you're already under stress, and so, you don't take it all in, you don't hear everything, and you need someone to really guide you through.

- And then she can come back to me and sit with me and take the time that the these doctors can't.

(light piano music) My Guardian Nurse will sit with me and she has for two, three hours while I'm boohooing and be a little bit more patient and help me process what's happening.

- [Shirley] This is the mission of Guardian Nurses, to guide patients through the healthcare system, which is not exactly user friendly.

It's a service offered through workplace or union benefits or privately.

- Our mission is to navigate people's way through the healthcare system by having a nurse go with them to appointments, by visiting them in the hospital, by checking in with them at home, post discharge, just to be a nurse by their side.

We know what buttons to push, what questions to ask, who to call, and that helps.

- [Shirley] With lots of clinical experience under her belt, Jen joined Betty in Guardian Nurses four years ago.

- Most of the time, when I'm interacting with patients, most of the time, it's because of an illness where they're in crisis and then they're thrown into this world that they don't really even fully understand.

And so, I can step in at that point and help streamline some things for them and speak the language of the doctor or the office, or whoever, and translate over to the patient and make it easier.

- Things that I don't know what to look for, she took the time to look at.

And she knows what to look for as well.

- Betty's famous saying is wrap your arms around them and that's what you do.

You kind of jump in and you navigate for them, and you care for them.

- [Shirley] Crystal's had a mastectomy and is getting scans every three months to see if the cancer is back and Jen will be there by her side every step of the way.

- I'm proud and I'm grateful because I know that we're making a difference every day.

(light music ends) - Guardian Nurses also helps with things like copay assistance and even getting appointments to see doctors sooner than if patients called on their own.

Well, the name, Frieda Cafe, sounds like a good place to grab something to eat, but it's more than an eatery.

Step inside, and you'll find a carefully curated, intergenerational, multicultural community, that feeds the whole person.

(upbeat music) - I'm gonna fix it again.

What?

- Can you sit straight?

So, Philly was an accident, let's put it this way.

We were in Europe thinking about the project, and I lived in New York for many years.

Thomas is from Germany.

When he shared the idea of this community center or community space to reconnect generations around food, art, and culture, I thought about the US.

Because in Europe, you still have family structures.

In the US, you don't have much in terms of intergenerational projects.

- Everybody says, "Oh, it's a walkable city," and that might not be so wow.

If you think about to describe a city, but what we had in mind, we felt it was the right thing.

It was the right energy that we just felt comfortable.

- We arrived with a suitcase and a few boxes and here we were.

- [Thomas] This building was empty for 20 years, and we found this amazing, amazing spot with these high ceilings.

It was covered up.

No one even knew that this existed.

We thought, okay, let's make something out of it.

- Today, we have the cafe, which is a for-profit, and we have a non-for-profit, which is a membership organization called FRIEDAcommunity that supports all the outreach that we do as well as all the art installations.

A hundred percent of the sales from art exhibits benefit the artist, so this is how the gallery functions.

We promote the artist.

We have an cocktail art opening.

We have an artist talk.

We have programming around it.

This is what the membership does.

- The exhibition that we had at Frieda was called "Stuffed."

It opened last October, and it started out of a playful idea between me and Thomas to create a doll and creating it out of fabric.

So we did this one time, and we really liked the results that we decided to keep going.

It just grew into an exhibition of eight characters, and we named them all after foods because naturally, it's Frieda.

So, the idea of food became really important to it, and the idea of nurturing creativity.

And then we created a play wall where people could come in and interact and add features, eyes, mouths, and play around with the wall.

We wanted the whole thing of collaboration and play to extend to the community.

And it grew from there to the Stuffed Outreach where volunteers were going into schools and working with kids to do these writing programs.

- [David] In partnership with my writers, we were able to offer creative writing workshops in Germantown, Camden, New Jersey, and we're about to expand further in less-privileged communities.

- Our program is curated and normally related to the theme that maybe the exhibition or topic that we have chosen.

So for example, right now, it's about kindness, and we showed a movie about "Kindness is Contagious."

We have a community art project that is related to that, but then also, we have like most social gatherings where people just meet.

We started with this program, it's called Soup Connection.

You will get some soup, and you will have some bread and some butter, and people come to speak different languages, (man speaking in foreign language) (girl speaking in foreign language and laughs) therapeutic art projects.

- Painting is just making marks.

- And then people just pick and choose and they come.

This is open for everybody.

This idea to connect people and to be accessible for everybody is really what we believe in.

- To all of you, cheers.

- [Guest] Cheers.

- These beautiful flowers that were made, they will all end up here on this market stall, and we invite people to grab some of these flowers, so they could give the flowers to someone else.

Over time, we also then will see how the market stall will get empty and emptier, and this would be a good sign because that means that we were able to spread our idea of cultivating kindness out there.

- The group work projects that Frieda are really special.

You really get a chance to meet people in a different level.

I always thought it's kind of like a quilting bee, you know?

That your hands are doing mindless things, and you're just relating to each other.

It's been so uplifting because the times have been so problematic, I think.

And people would come in here and have such a good time, tell stories, and really relate to each other.

It's really been special.

- We felt the idea of cultivating kindness is actually the essence of making these flowers and to surprise and to give a flower to a stranger.

Today, we will see the final project.

We see a beautiful market stand made out of paper where all these flowers are arranged.

We wanna go on the street, and we just want to give this to people.

Nothing else done, just to say, I wanna make you smile and everything will be fine.

- You can smile at somebody and feel great.

And that's what I feel here.

I feel like it's family.

I feel like I've known this place for a lifetime.

- [David] You joined Frieda community because you want to support a mission, because you believe in what we do, and you want to be part of it.

And that's what it's all about.

It's all about what's in it for me.

If we stop looking inwardly and if we think about others, and if we think about community, I think the outcomes might be better for all of us.

(upbeat music ends) - Before we leave you, the Chinese Lantern Festival at Franklin Square kicks off tonight.

2025 is the Year of the Snake, and you can see displays in the park through August 31st.

We're gonna leave you with some images from last year's festival.

Enjoy and have a good night.

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