We think that affordable housing happens at the ballot box
Power Station
America’s housing crisis is not new. The movement for tenant’s rights, the production of affordable housing, breaking barriers to home ownership and prevention of homelessness has been in full force for decades. The National Low Income Housing Coalition has been on the literal frontlines of organizing, legislative and legal campaigns to undo public policies that have generated generational harms for people of color. Over time, the Coalition and a legion of organizational partners have produced significant wins, from passage of the Community Reinvestment Act to Housing Choice Vouchers and...
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Seventy-five years later the initial dislocation of 800,000 Palestinians has grown to 5.6 million people who have not returned home
Power Station
Where does dehumanization start and how is it cultivated over time to rationalize how we, individually and collectively as a nation, feel about and by extension treat others at home and across the globe? How do we recognize and interrogate the preconceptions we hold about entire populations, biases that justify their dislocation, the bombing and eradication of their schools, universities and hospitals and the deaths of tens of thousands of men, women and children? These are some of the questions that arose from my conversation with Mara Kronenfeld, CEO of UNRWA USA, the NGO that supports the...
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What I am excited about is that in our evolutionary journey we are going from serving to solving
Power Station
We use the word community a lot these days, it denotes the people and places we are connected to and those which we support and admire. To see a welcoming community in action, pay a visit to Martha’s Table. As its President and CEO Tiffany Williams explains on this episode of Power Station, it is built on shared values and powered by love for community in its programming, from early childhood education to emotional wellness and access to produce markets. The community that Martha’s Table serves is viewed as neighbors, not clients, and the health outcomes its interventions have generated...
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What I am excited about is that in our evolutionary journey we are going from serving to solving
Power Station
We use the word community a lot these days, it denotes the people and places we are connected to and those which we support and admire. To see a welcoming community in action, pay a visit to Martha’s Table. As its President and CEO Tiffany Williams explains on this episode of Power Station, it is built on shared values and powered by love for community in its programming, from early childhood education to emotional wellness and access to produce markets. The community that Martha’s Table serves is viewed as neighbors, not clients, and the health outcomes its interventions have generated...
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What we are seeing is not the end of Trumpism or MAGA or America First or a shattering of that coalition. What we're actually seeing is a consolidation of it
Power Station
Eric Ward knows something about courage. He has demonstrated it for over 40 years, infiltrating alt-right groups in the rural Pacific Northwest to reveal what animates its followers, advancing American scholarship about antisemitism as a gateway to white nationalist movements globally, and speaking out about how this authoritarian moment is a reaction to 75 years of Black civil rights struggles and wins in this country. And now he is asking us to be courageous, to use our words and our actions, to live our values and to let go of the self-imposed fractures within the movements,...
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We believe that literacy is a pathway to liberation for all people
Power Station
Literacy is so essential to how we live, communicate, learn, build relationships, and participate in society that we rarely consider how many people in our lives and communities have not had access to it. The numbers tell a story that demands our attention and requires a solution that is embedded into our social systems. Today, 140 million American adults cannot read beyond a 5th or 6th grade level. This is a crisis and a generational barrier to parents who want their children to succeed but are unable to assist them in the journey. As Dr. Heather Jenkins, my guest on this episode of Power...
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This work is about people, it's not just about buildings
Power Station
Our origin stories all too often predict our economic futures. Those born into households without livable incomes and durable assets, lack the resources needed to meet their material needs, let alone their aspirations for home ownership. And they did not arrive there by accident. Public and corporate policymaking has intentionally excluded people of color from lending opportunities, in particular mortgages and small business loans, deepening a racial wealth gap that has proven difficult to bridge. But, as Sasha-Gaye Angus, my guest on this episode of Power Station reminds us, public...
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What I find to be really helpful in any situation, in life, work or trying to save America, is to plan for the worst case scenario
Power Station
Why are we continuously surprised when we learn about the latest cruel, punitive and democracy-defying actions taken by a president who does not care about the rule of law and who has leveraged his own party in Congress to diminish human, civil, immigrant and voting rights in America? This question is particularly relevant for nonprofits whose missions are antithetical to this administration and whose leaders are the first to speak out against legislative and funding setbacks. It is understandable, but not wise, that beleaguered nonprofit leaders are looking to the mid-terms to change the...
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What Native CDFIs do is it to change the trajectory of a Native citizen's life
Power Station
It is no surprise to listeners, many of whom are in the trenches of strengthening under-invested communities, that few strategies are as impactful as Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). These U.S. Department of Treasury-certified nonprofits operate in communities that banks do not serve, leaving them starved for capital and financial education. In many rural communities and in Indian Country specifically, CDFIs are often the only lending institutions available. It is important to note that low-income and communities of color carry the legacy of redlining and other public...
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The distinction between perpetrator and survivor stops making sense because most perpetrators are survivors
Power Station
Sometimes a single data point tells a story that cries out for our attention, reflection and action. In California, 35,000 people, two thirds of whom are Black and Brown, are serving life sentences in the state’s prison system. Nationally, 200,000 men and women are serving life sentences, one of every 6 prisoners overall. And while the criminal justice system is long overdue for structural reform, we also need to examine, name and repair both the public systems, from housing to healthcare, that fail to meet basic needs and our societal failure to intervene when young people are struggling...
info_outlineAbleism 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, including passage of the now embattled Americans for Disabilities Act and Fair Housing Laws. So, it is not surprising that for India, advocacy is an everyday necessity. She is active in legislative policy campaigns that advance disability justice and she uses her voice and expertise to support her fellow dancers in securing housing and attendents. At Embraced Body, the nonprofit she founded, India makes self-expression accessible to dancers with disabilities and other marginalized identities. As a consultant, she coaches organizations in taking the steps needed to create inclusive workplaces where everyone is seen and heard. We can all learn from India and for our collective humanity, we must.