Storytelling to focus on second chances

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel will host a free oral storytelling event April 25 featuring stories of accomplishment, triumph and second chances.

The speakers will focus on a specific life moment and talk for up to eight minutes on how they overcame challenges and what they learned about themselves and others along the way.

The event is part of the Journal Sentinel’s 50-Year-Ache series, which examines where Milwaukee stands 50 years after the open-housing marches of 1967 and 1968.

As such, many of the stories will touch on the challenges that remain and overcoming adversity — much as the marchers did a half-century ago.

Presenters include Ronnie Grace, lead HIV & STI prevention coordinator at Diverse & Resilient; Chandra Cooper, founder and executive director of Grateful Girls Inc.; Reggie Jackson, head griot at America’s Black Holocaust Museum; Esmeralda Nungaray, president of the Dreamer’s Scholarship Initiative; Elizabeth Brenner, former president and publisher of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; and Kwabena Antonie Nixon, spokenword artist, author and co-founder of the “I Will Not Die Young” campaign.

The program includes groups that are tackling important issues in the community.

The event will be moderated by Journal Sentinel projects reporter James E. Causey. It will be 7-8:30 p.m. April 25 at Anodyne Coffee Roasting Co., 224 W. Bruce St., Milwaukee. Space is limited.

To register go to: jsonline.com

/50yearevent.