Queen Latifah Brings Her Newark Housing Mission Home in BET Documentary “You Can Go Home Again”
Queen Latifah never forgot where she came from — and now she’s bringing the whole world back home with her. BET has set Friday, November 27 at 10 PM ET for the premiere of “You Can Go Home Again,” a documentary that follows the Newark native’s years-long mission to build housing in the neighborhood that raised her, according to BET’s announcement via Paramount Press Express.
The film traces Latifah’s early years in Newark and the long road to RISE Living, the mixed-use development at the center of her mission. The project was planned with 76 homes, 16 of them designated as affordable, built in the middle of the community instead of priced out of it. The plans also reserved 1,900 square feet of ground-floor space for nonprofit organizations, along with a business center, fitness space, electric-vehicle charging stations, in-unit laundry and common-area Wi-Fi.
The name carries the deepest meaning of all. RISE stands for “Rita Is Still Everywhere” — a tribute to Latifah’s late mother, Rita Owens, a longtime Newark schoolteacher who passed away in 2018. The woman who spent her life pouring into other people’s children is now, through her daughter, helping house their families.
“It’s about my community and the people and places that make us who we are,” Latifah said, via AllHipHop.
This was never a vanity project with a ribbon cutting. Latifah’s BlueSugar Corporation developed RISE Living alongside Life Assets Development and Gonsosa. Construction began back in January 2022, and that April she stood next to Newark Mayor Ras Baraka at the groundbreaking — hard hat on, in the city that made her. The documentary captures that entire journey, from the early blueprint days to the finished vision.
“You Can Go Home Again” is directed by Muta’Ali and co-produced by Flavor Unit Entertainment — the company Latifah runs with Shakim Compere — and P&G Studios, with Compere and Loretha Jones serving as executive producers. BET gave the film a first look on November 4 in Chicago, where Latifah appeared at the Obama Presidential Center alongside her childhood friend and project partner Tammy Hammond.
The timing says plenty, too. The premiere lands the Friday after Thanksgiving, in the heart of family season, on a network where Latifah’s roots keep growing deeper — earlier this year she joined BET’s first advisory board alongside LL Cool J.
Plenty of stars put their name on a building. Queen Latifah put her mother’s name on one, in her own neighborhood, for her own people. That’s the story “You Can Go Home Again” is telling — and on November 27, everybody gets to watch her finish what she started.
Sources: BET announcement via Paramount Press Express (Nov 6, 2026); AllHipHop.
