Join us for a Reel Talk screening of TCB: The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing presented in collaboration with Juneteenth JoyFest, a program of the Joy Ambition, a non-profit cultural initiative nurturing the vibrant arts and culture scene in North Omaha and the greater area. Be sure to stay after the film for a panel discussion!

Moderator

Alajia McKizia

Panelists

Ashlei Spivey
Ashlei Spivey (she/her) is a fearless dreamer and changemaker, reimagining what just and thriving communities can be. She is a graduate of Jackson State University and attended the University of Texas at Arlington for her master’s in urban social planning. Ashlei’s work centers reproductive justice and community-led systems change. As the founder and Executive Director of I Be Black Girl (IBBG), a collective action organization, her impact is evident in the movements she has helped catalyze, including mobilizing millions in community investment, strengthen the birthwork workforce, and lead efforts to advance reproductive freedom and equity across the state. In 2025, she was sworn into the Nebraska Legislature as the representative for District 13, becoming the fourth Black woman to serve in its history. Her leadership in the legislature continues to focus on maternal health, economic justice, and reproductive freedom. She is a 2023 J.M. Kaplan Innovation Prize awardee and a 2024 USA Today Woman of the Year. Most importantly, she is a mother, friend, daughter, and neighbor.

Racquel Henderson
Born and raised in North Omaha, Racquel Henderson is a fearless leader, activist, and community advocate dedicated to education, employment, equity, and second chances. She currently serves as the Community Liaison for North Omaha in the Mayor’s Office, where she works to bridge the gap between residents and City Hall, ensuring community voices shape policy and access to resources. Racquel is a Consultant with EPIC for Girls, empowering girls of color through sports and leadership, and a Consultant for Nebraska Medicine, where she supports young adults through mentorship and workforce readiness programming within the Health Care Collaborative Academy. She also consults with the Empowerment Network, where she helped create and now leads the Skill Up! Program, supporting adults in strengthening their lives, careers, and stability while continuing to uplift system-impacted youth through the Lived Experience Project. A professor at the University of Nebraska–Omaha & Lincoln, she challenges students to critically engage with race and justice, blending lived experience with academic rigor. She also serves on the board of I Be Black Girl, driving transformative change, and is a co-Founder and Vice President for Identity Preparatory Academy, a forthcoming girls’ middle school in North Omaha focused on leadership, identity, and cultural pride. A sought-after speaker, mentor, and award-winning community leader, Racquel’s work is rooted in resilience, accountability, and belief in what is possible. Above all, she is a proud mother of two, committed to building a world where her children—and all young people—have access, opportunity, and the freedom to become who they are meant to be.

Nancy Williams
Nancy currently serves as the Managing Partner for her family's business, Block 27 Consulting, LLC. Block 27 Consulting meets clients where they are with an intention to solve problems that lead to greater revenue and profitability, cultivating regenerative collective wealth. As the Co-Founder and former President/CEO of No More Empty Pots (NMEP), Nancy led and managed the grassroots non-profit connecting individuals and groups to improve self-sufficiency, regional food security, and economic resilience of urban and rural communities through advocacy and action. No More Empty Pots' vision is to support communities in becoming self-sufficient and food secure through collaboration and adhering to core values of education, stewardship, and sustainability. Nancy led the organization from start to a $3.5MM annual budget and net assets exceeding $5MM in 2023. The resulting economic impact of NMEP by 2023 was valued at over $100MM within the Omaha metro and over $300MM within the state of Nebraska. Nancy enjoys leveraging resources, making connections, translating ideas into actions, engaging in creative work, and strategic planning. A lifelong learner, she has strengths in learning and arranging, recognizing connectedness while engaging in intellection and collective strategic action. With decades of experience in intersectional domains of agriculture, technology, education, business development and food systems, Nancy is eagerly cultivating a love ethic rooted in dignity and care, filled with joy, wonder, and curiosity. She believes that love is a regenerative practice leading to equity and justice. 

This film is presented in collaboration with

Juneteenth JoyFest is an annual Black Arts & Cultural Festival supporting artists, entrepreneurs, and small businesses while celebrating Juneteenth in Omaha Nebraska. Held on N. 24th Street-- a historically black and culturally significant neighborhood, Joyfest brings 1200+ attendees with music, poetry, and dance performances, investing 50k+ in artists and entrepreneurs.

The festival's theme this year is Movement & Migration, celebrating Black art and music as a tool for liberation and change. The Black Arts Movement was essential in the success of the civil rights movement, arming Black people with beauty, visibility, representation, resilience, while affirming identities and the personal/collective power we all encompass. Receiving the opportunity to highlight Toni Cade Bambara's work through this film would be an honor and a powerful reflection of the writers, filmmakers, artists, and more created during this movement and how their work still impacts us today.

TCB - The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing is a biography of the influential writer, filmmaker and cultural worker, who with humor and deep insight, inspired a generation of artists to dedicate themselves to community empowerment. The film is structured as a series of lessons on cultural organizing, gleaned from Bambara's life and shared by her friends, colleagues and students.

Toni Cade Bambara (1939–1995) was a writer, documentary filmmaker, and activist whose groundbreaking works, including The Black Woman (1970), Gorilla, My Love (1972), and The Salt Eaters (1980), helped define the Black Arts and feminist movements. Her life’s work continues to shape contemporary thought on art, education, and liberation.

Reviews
"The film’s strength, as the title implies, is that it brings to life a compelling study of how to lead a worthwhile life by making change in one’s community and in the world." – Variety