A full slate of voices is featured in the latest Drinking Partners interview as founding members of Black Women for Better Education share their idea on how to transform the Pittsburgh Public School system. One of the group’s main priorities is to educate voters, residents, parents, and students on how to improve the PPS education experience by supporting five candidates running for school board positions. A common bond shared by the the candidates is to change the status quo and connect the board with the community to ensure responsible representation. Listen in as student enrichment, relationship building, social issues and engagement, and quality of education are examined and explored by this panel of dedicated experts. Find out more about the candidates: www.blackwomen4abettereducation.com

Sam Black, founder of SYLA PGH, joins the Drinking Partners to discuss a behind the scenes approach to supporting artists by helping them gain access to funding and resources. By analyzing novel approaches and outside the box options, Ms. Black assists artists by lowering barriers and encouraging new ways of marketing and promotion with a logistical model. Listen in as she speaks on how to communicate and connect with a diverse cast of characters and how she uses that skill to help others, in what she explains as a “holistic look at the economic factors that keep Black Pittsburgh neighborhoods below the poverty line.” This inclusive, multi-scope advancement cannot be achieved without artist input, Ms. Black summarizes. The issue of underpaying and devaluing artists, one that the Drinking Partners have long attempted to dissuade, anchors the interview and is explored from many angles. In the closing segment, the group lets loose, and the discussion centers on talking to plants and waffle fries, in a tangent that listeners should expect and enjoy. Find more about Sam Black, SYLA PGH, and Greenwood Week: www.greenwoodweekpgh.com