Our communities don't need saving, they need investment, trust, and the rights tools to shape their own futures
Release Date: 03/09/2026
Ableism favors the non-disabled at any cost
Power Station
Ableism favors the non-disabled at any cost. That is the powerful phrase that resonates after my conversation with India Harville, an exceptionally talented dancer, educator and disability justice advocate. It conveys that ableism is structural, embedded in government systems and in our cultural norms, which limit the access of disabled people to resources, opportunity and agency over their own lives. This reality, although exacerbated in this toxic political climate is not new. It has taken fearless organizing by generations of disabled activists to forge game changing policy breakthroughs,...
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We want to stop people from going to the predatory lender in the first place
Power Station
Shannan Herbert has watched many people walk past banks and the people-centered CDFI she leads on the same block, to take their financial business to check cashing places and liquor stores where the cost of cashing a check or taking out an emergency loan is extortionary. For years, CDFI associations, government agencies, and think tanks have reported on the millions of Americans who are unbanked and lack access to capital. As CEO of Washington Area Community Investment Fund (WACIF), which serves new and next-level entrepreneurs and small business owners in Washington DC’s underinvested Wards...
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I don't want to let myself think that the philanthropic world has cooled on CDFIs but it is hard not to feel that way
Power Station
It is exceedingly rare, in this political season, to find members of Congress on both sides of the aisle who agree on the value of a government policy to their constituents and the economic infrastructure in the red and blue states they represent. Community Development Financial Institutions, created through the Reigel Act of 1994 have earned that distinction because they deploy capital and technical guidance in low-income and rural communities that banks fail to serve. These 1,300 (mostly) nonprofit CDFIs are financial springboards for people and organizations who want to launch a...
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We are feeding the nation, we are essential workers and we truly do belong here
Power Station
All parents know the heart wrenching feeling of having to work when they are worried about the safety of their children. Imagine if those parents are farmworkers who start their workday at 3:00am and use their remarkable and underpaid skills to harvest the crops that end up as food on our tables. Imagine if their only option for childcare is to bring their babies and toddlers into the fields with them. That scenario has become increasingly rare because of a highly committed and expert network of caring professionals who operate Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Centers, highly specialized early...
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Small business owners have a vitally important role to play in our elections as community anchors and civic narrators
Power Station
What is more American than entrepreneurship, not the faux version appropriated by heirs to affluent parents but the creation of small businesses by risk takers seeking to support their families, innovate goods and services, and invigorate their communities? As Audrey Roofeh explains on this episode of Power Station, it was small business owners who gambled their own safety to take care of community members during Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis by the US Department of Homeland Security and ICE. An entrepreneur herself, Audrey’s firm Mariana Strategies, which helped federal...
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Political violence is deeply affecting how women show up in public life
Power Station
There is a sea change underway in the social change and political activism arenas, and it is led by a burgeoning network of girls and women. A major force behind this transformation is Her Rising Initiative, a nonprofit founded by Cherie Animashaun who, as a teenager, was inspired to create a space for girls with aspirations to become changemakers. Its mission, to close the opportunity gap for girls and women in the social, business and political sectors is advanced by helping them to build the confidence needed to lead. My guest on this episode of Power Station is Carolina Nazario, who leads...
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The Latino electorate is maturing in a way that even an optimist might not have seen coming a decade ago
Power Station
I love speaking with leaders whose innate capacity for engaging communities and influencing progress in politics, policy and culture comes from their character and not just their title. Rafael Collazo, executive director of the UnidosUS Action Fund, the 501c4 sister organization of UnidosUS, our nation’s largest Latino civil rights organization, is that leader. UnidosUS, the organizational champion of 64 million Latinos who contribute $4.1 trillion to the U.S. economy has deepened its impact on politics and policy by through this tax designation and Action Fund. Rafael, a consummate...
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There is no wrong door, we accept anyone needing help with their mental health, substance abuse disorders or housing
Power Station
This moment in America is living proof that the path to a just society requires the shedding of false narratives that demonize people and communities for social currency and political gain. These narratives influence how elected officials expend fiscal resources and which policies and regulations they enact. And it takes education, organizing and relationship building by nonprofits and people with lived experience to dispel myths and adopt new-found truths. In this episode of Power Station, Damien Cabezas, President and CEO of Community Connections DC, the largest nonprofit provider of mental...
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Internal podcasting can be an organizing tool
Power Station
Charlie Birney was way ahead of the curve when he became an early adopter of podcasting in 2012. His love of listening to and telling stories through this platform made the years of explaining to friends and family how to access them on an iPhone worthwhile. He started Launch Podcasts in 2014, and its purpose was not what you might expect. He was not interested in growing the audience or monetizing the show. Instead Launch Podcasts was a tool for speaking directly to the group of people, previously unconnected, in a co-working space they shared. Charlie had a vision for internal podcasting...
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I always say that organizing is about deep personal relationships
Power Station
For Sophie Miyoshi and Helen Abraha, advocating for the rights of restaurant workers reflects their values and is also highly personal. Both started working in restaurants as teens and over time they experienced the isms and injustices that define the industry, from sexism and racism to immigrant exploitation and wage theft. They found a home at the Restaurant Organizing Collective DC where Sophie is now the executive director and Helen is lead organizer. What they have accomplished, hard-fought legislative victories from wage increases to paid sick leave is even more impressive given the deep...
info_outlineWe are all shaped by the neighborhoods we grew up in, from the cost and conditions of our housing to the bonds we formed within them and whether we had access to parks and grocery stores. And the data bears out that zip codes are more effective predictors of our well-being than our own genetic code. Improving neighborhoods that have been battered by extractive public policies, poverty and unsound housing conditions has been the cornerstone of the community development sector for decades. The sector has progressed in its technical ability to finance projects perceived as risky and at its best has evolved by requiring that redevelopment is rooted in the vision of community residents. Putting community first is the ethos of Neighborhood Allies, a nonprofit community development intermediary with a difference. In this episode of Power Station, I speak with its exceptional leader Presley Gillispie, who brings a full gamut of personal and professional experiences to this endeavor. Its goals, lifting 100,000 Pittsburghers up the socio-economic ladder in the next decade are ambitious, but achievable. And it means everything that Neighborhood Allies sees mental health as foundational to a strong community and actively invests in connecting residents to resources.