Ep 30 Dr. Laura Abrams: Making the Clear Choice for Change
Release Date: 08/05/2020
Ep 54: Frank Brown on Creating a Community of Support for At-Risk Students
Clear Choices Podcast
How can we bridge the gap and bring equality to education in America? How has COVID impacted students who live in low income areas? What can we do? My guest today, Frank Brown, heads up an organization that is answering the call for how to help those students who are most at-risk for falling behind and not graduating high school. He is Chief Executive Officer of Communities In Schools of Atlanta, Georgia. Atlanta was deemed the income inequality capital two years in a row, prior to Covid. This inequality leads to many more problems, including: housing insecurity, inequality in educational...
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Ep 53: Dr. Linda Tamura on Asian American Racism from World War II until Now
Clear Choices Podcast
When you hear the word racism do you ever think of Asian Americans and how they are treated? Since the pandemic, the rise in hate crimes and violence to Asian Americans has increased by 164%. That is a staggering number but this is not the first experience with racism that the Asian American community has endured in our country. Today’s guest, Linda Tamura, who is a Sansei (third generation Japanese American) and daughter of a World War II veteran, is talking to us about the racism that Asian Americans experienced in the 1940’s when Japanese Americans were incarcerated in camps...
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Ep 52: Rick Barde on Surviving and Recovering from COVID-19
Clear Choices Podcast
Over the past two years, we all probably know someone who had a mild case of COVID but how about someone who barely survived it? My guest today, Rick Barde, joins us to tell us about his experience surviving and recovering from COVID-19. Rick is a recently retired school teacher who spent nearly two months in the hospital battling this disease. His case was so severe, he was placed on ECMO (advanced life support equipment called Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) where 40% do not make it off and was placed in an induced coma to rest his lungs. He is truly thankful to be alive. He credits his...
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Ep 51: Stu Massengill on Finding Happiness and Purpose in Your Life
Clear Choices Podcast
Do you know what your purpose is? Do you love what you do and are you happy? The reality is that most people don’t. My guest today, Stu Massengill, is on a mission to change the statistic that 80% of people don’t love what they do. He wants to help people find their true passion in life and give them the beautiful gift of waking up every morning excited to tackle and live a life of passion and fulfillment. Stu is a Peak Performance Strategist and National Trainer for non-other than Tony Robbins. He is the Founder of Finding Direction University and Podcast where he helps people go from...
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Ep 50: Terre Steinbeck on How Learning to Live Within Her Means Changed Her Life
Clear Choices Podcast
Our guest today, Terre Steinbeck, shares her story of riches to rags to riches again (and truly finding herself!). She was riding the real estate market wave back in the early 2000’s- driving a Range Rover, living in the best part of town, and wining and dining her friends and clients, when the market crash of 2008 hit. All of a sudden, she had no income coming in and with no savings, she faced decisions and choices she never thought she would have to make. She talks with us about her darkest days, the choices she made to turn her life around, and how even though it was a painful...
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Ep 49: High School Seniors Surviving 2020
Clear Choices Podcast
2020, COVID-19, Pandemic- these words have such profound meaning on our whole world and what we have all experienced this past year. For seniors in high school, this has meant a lot of change, disappointments, and loss. Their last year of high school has not turned out the way they had once expected it would. Today we are going to hear it straight from the words of five high school seniors who talk to us about this past year, their experiences, and what it has been like being a senior in high school while living through this pandemic. They talk through what has been the most difficult...
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Ep 48: Sankar Raman on the Importance of Sharing Immigrant Stories
Clear Choices Podcast
Immigration. America is a country made up of immigrants. My parents are immigrants and probably many of your parents or grandparents are as well. It is an important topic and my guest today is the stories of immigrants. Sankar Raman, an immigrant himself who came to America to attend college, ended up working and retiring here. It was around the time of the 2016 election that Sankar was preparing to relax and enjoy his retirement. When he heard the anti-immigration rhetoric and the theme of scapegoating immigrants and immigrants of color, he knew he could not sit back and watch. He had to take...
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Ep 47: Chris Bello on How to Implement Advice and Keep Track of Your Goals
Clear Choices Podcast
Get your pen and paper ready because you are going to want to take notes from today's episode! I am joined by another great guest who will surely motivate and inspire you, Chris Bello. Chris is a college graduate, who quit his corporate job after three years, wanting to take reins of his life and write his own story. After struggling with one side hustle after another, he went all in on residential real estate, where he's quickly caught momentum. He's also the host of the top rated business podcast The Entrepreneur Motivation Podcast, where he documents his journeys and interviews incredible...
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Ep 46: Rabbi Yossi Mintz on Bringing More Light into the World
Clear Choices Podcast
News is made and distributed faster than ever. Often, unfortunately, the news cycle is also more negative than ever. In the midst of this, how can we choose to focus on the positive and bring more light into the world? My guest today, Rabbi Yossi Mintz, has been able to do it and has advice for how we can do it as well. Rabbi Yossi is a renowned communal leader and spiritual guide. In 1995, he established the Jewish Community Center of the South Bay that has reached the entire landscape of diverse cultures providing everything from counseling and financial help for people in need to teaching...
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Ep 45: Ken Buckles on the Importance of Remembering and Learning from the Stories of War
Clear Choices Podcast
Do you know someone who has been affected by war either by serving in the military or by getting caught in the crossfire? Have you heard their stories of how war affected them? My guest today, Ken Buckles, a retired high school teacher and football coach, has seen first hand the importance of hearing the stories from a diverse group of veterans and others affected by war. Ken is the son of a Marine who experienced combat during the Korean War, returned home experiencing symptoms of PTSD, and committed suicide when Ken was just 30 years old. We will discuss how this caused ripple effects on him...
info_outlineIn the wake of George Floyd’s murder, the protests for social change, and the important Black Lives Matter movement, what choices can we make as individual’s and as a society to bring about social justice reform?
Joining me today on the podcast is Dr. Laura Abrams, professor of Social Welfare and Department Chair at UCLA. Her studies and focus are on improving the wellbeing of youth and young adults with histories of incarceration. She has a wealth of knowledge and information from her years of research about the juvenile justice system and social inequalities. Today she shares with us her experience and perspective of how our society is failing juveniles in the justice system and also how our society is failing Black people as a whole. She provides hope by giving us advice on how we can all make choices (and they aren’t massive!) that can create a big impact towards social change and equality.
Dr. Laura Abrams is the author of many publications including two books: Compassionate Confinement: A Year in the Life of Unit C and Everyday Desistance: The Transition to Adulthood Among Formerly Incarcerated Youth.
“I also try to instill upon my social work students, what an honor it is to be a part of people’s lives at these critical times.”
“The big picture is you have a lot of young people that we don’t know how to care for, we don’t know how to help. Then you have a system that generally harms people, and in rare cases, helps you get better but generally makes people worse. And then you have a big public investment in locking up youth because we think somehow that makes us safer. When really those approaches are very damaging for society and young people.”
“When you’ve been taught that racism is just an individual attitude, like prejudice, it distorts the whole core of the issue which is inequality.”
In this episode, you will hear:
- How Laura got into social justice and reform
- Her perspective on the problems with the juvenile justice system and the overrepresentation of Black people in the criminal justice system
- Laura’s advice on making choices to impact social inequality and justice
Coaching Information:
If you would like more information on the Clear Choices business and life coaching program, please e-mail me at [email protected] or go to our website at https://clearchoices.live/.
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Find me on Instagram @clearchoicespodcast and on Facebook .
If you have a guest idea or want to connect with me, please visit my website www.clearchoices.live. I am also available for speaking engagements.
Connect with Laura:
Twitter: @labramsucla
Resources mentioned in this episode:
https://luskin.ucla.edu/person/laura-abrams
13th Movie
Michelle Alexander’s book: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness