bigcitysmalltown with Bob Rivard

Episodes

68
Aug. 9, 2024

68. Dawn White-Fosdick: Christian Assistance Ministry's Walk-In Support Services

This week’s guest is Dawn White-Fosdick, the longtime president and CEO of Christian Assistance Ministry, widely known as CAM, which serves both the city's homeless as well as families who have housing but are experiencing crisis in their lives. For...
67
Aug. 2, 2024

67. Krissy Salinas on Let's Go Texas

This week’s guest is Krissy Salinas, the director of Let’s Go Texas, a nonprofit that helps people with disabilities in South Texas and the San Antonio metro area find gainful employment. Let’s Go Texas partners with the Texas Workforce...
66
July 26, 2024

66. Naphtali Bryant + Raylynn Hampton: United Way's Childcare Scholarship

This week’s guests are Naphtali Bryant, the Childcare Scholarship Coordinator at United Way of San Antonio, and Raylynn Hampton, a United Way Scholarship recipient. Raylynn is a 27-year-old student pursuing an online undergraduate degree in...
65
July 19, 2024

65. Lea Rosenauer: Strong, Smart and Bold at Girls, Inc.

This week’s guest is Lea Rosenauer, president and CEO of Girls Inc. of San Antonio, an affiliate of the national Girls Incorporated organization that was established locally 20 years ago this November. Its mission is to inspire all girls ages 6-18...
64
July 12, 2024

64. Kathy Sosa and Antonio Arelle Barquet: The Other Side of the Mirror

This week’s guests are San Antonio artist Kathy Sosa and Antonio Arelle Barquet, the director of the Museum of Art in Queretaro, a city of more than 1 million people in Central Mexico and a UNESCO World Heritage site celebrated for its Historic...
63
June 28, 2024

63. George Hernandez and Building Bexar County's University Health System

This week’s guest is George Hernandez, who retires as the longtime CEO of the University Health System, officially known as the Bexar County Hospital District, the only locally owned hospital and outpatient clinic network. Hernandez has led the...
June 21, 2024

62. From Wounded Warrior to Artist & Author: The Story of Mario Lopez

This week's guest is Mario Lopez, a wounded warrior who served deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan. He survived critical injuries from a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, which brought him to The Burn Center at the San Antonio Military Medical Center...
61
June 14, 2024

61. CorazĂłn Ministries: Downtown Nonprofit Making a Big Difference in the Lives of the Hardcore Homeless

This week’s guests are Erika Borrego, the CEO of Corazón Ministries, and her colleague Brittney Ackerson, the Day Center Director and recovering addict who experienced homelessness in her own life before finding her way back to good health and a...
June 7, 2024

60. Victor Reyna on Leading the AsociaciĂłn de Empresarios Mexicanos in San Antonio

This week’s guest is Victor Reyna, vice president for business banking at Amegy Bank in San Antonio, who also serves as president of the Asociación de Empresarios Mexicanos in San Antonio. AEM, or The US – MX Business Association, as it is...
59
May 31, 2024

59. Dr. Belinda Román on Bringing Humanity to Economics

Belinda Román, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Economics at St. Mary’s University. Locally, Dr. Román is also Secretary/Treasurer of the San Antonio Business and Economics Society, and has conducted impact studies for the SABÉR Research...
58
May 24, 2024

58. Jim Reed and the Expansion of the South Texas Medical Center

How did the South Texas Medical Center become San Antonio's leading smart jobs engine over the last 25 years? This week’s guest is Jim Reed, the recently retired longtime chief executive of the San Antonio Medical Foundation, which led that...
May 17, 2024

57. Mary Thorsby, CEO of ABODE Contemplative Care for the Dying

This week’s guest is Mary Thorsby, the CEO of the nonprofit ABODE, whose mantra is contemplative care for the dying. ABODE operates end-of-life care in a single home on San Antonio’s near-Northside, caring for terminally ill individuals in the...
56
May 10, 2024

56. Jenna Saucedo-Herrera and Emily Royall: Innovation in San Antonio

This week, two perspectives on innovation in San Antonio. We revisit our conversations with Jenna Saucedo-Herrera of Greater: SATX as she discusses how San Antonio is winning on workforce development, and Emily Royall of Smart Cities San Antonio on...
55
May 3, 2024

55. Garrett T. Capps: Honky-Tonk in San Antone and Beyond

We have Garrett T. Capps in the studio this week with guest hosts Kory Cook of KTRU 91.7 and Nicholas Frank of the San Antonio Report. Garrett T. Capps tours internationally with his band, Nasa Country, and has been a longtime curator of unique...
54
April 26, 2024

54. Liz Tullis and Dr. Peter Fox on the Conrad Smiles Foundation

Liz Tullis never gave up advocating for her son Conrad after his near-drowning and anoxic brain injury as an infant. Neither did Dr. Peter Fox, the founder and head of the University of Texas Health Science Center's Research Imaging Institute in San...
53
April 19, 2024

53. Bonnie Prosser Elder and David Zammiello, San Antonio Charter Review Commission

Today's guests are Bonnie Prosser Elder and David Zammiello, the volunteer co-chairs of Mayor Ron Nirenberg’s 15-member Charter Review Commission, formed last November to explore amendments to the city charter for voters to consider on the Nov. 5...
52
April 12, 2024

52. Joe Holley on Power: How the Electric Co-Op Movement Energized the Lone Star State

This week’s guest is Joe Holley, a longtime Texas journalist and the author of a new book titled “Power: How the Electric Co-Op Movement Energized the Lone Star State.” Power is a book that anyone who cares about Texas history and the state’s...
51
April 5, 2024

51. Cat Dizon at the Helm of San Antonio’s Accredited Investor Community

San Antonio entrepreneurs and startups often find themselves meeting with Cat Dizon, the chief operating officer at venture capital firm Active Capital and the chairwoman of the Geekdom board. The former senior Rackspace executive is the gatekeeper to...
50
March 29, 2024

50. Asia Ciaravino: Rediscovering the San Pedro Playhouse

Innovative interpretations of theatrical classics are creating a buzz in San Antonio at the San Pedro Playhouse under this week's guest, returning CEO Asia Ciaravino, who continues to re-energize the city's oldest performing arts organization. April's...
49
March 22, 2024

49. Mark Carmona Addresses San Antonio’s Housing Affordability Needs

Why is affordable housing in San Antonio everyone's problem? This week’s guest is Mark Carmona, the city of San Antonio’s first Chief Housing Officer, a position created by City Council in 2018 when council members first approved Mayor Ron...
48
March 15, 2024

48. Farm to Table Food Sustainability with Mitch Hagney and Elizabeth Johnson

A special episode on food sustainability in San Antonio from farm to table that revisits two of the first episodes of bigcitysmalltown. Look back with us as food systems activist Mitch Hagney and Chef Elizabeth Johnson discuss the sustainability of...
47
March 8, 2024

47. Ileana Gonzalez, Next Generation Leader of Tech Bloc

How is San Antonio perfectly positioned to blend LatAm culture with an American mindset to attract and retain talent? This week’s guest is Ileana Gonzales, the CEO of Tech Bloc, a position she assumed in 2023. Like a storm in 2015, Tech Bloc’s...
46
March 1, 2024

46. Maura Bobbitt Aims to Deliver Affordable, Green Burial Services to San Antonians

Can you afford to die? This week’s guest is Maura Bobbitt, a death rights advocate focused on envisioning a future where our death and grief practices can be individually- and community-focused, radically accepting, environmentally-friendly, and...
45
Feb. 26, 2024

45. Dr. Jaime Aquino, “Teacher of Teachers,” Uses Inspiration to Lead San Antonio’s Biggest Inner City Public School District

Governor Greg Abbott and the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature failed to improve public school funding, despite a $33 billion surplus and the high cost of inflation. Listen as this week’s guest, Dr. Jaime Aquino, shares his vision for...