Power Station
Power Station is a podcast about change making. Each episode features a nonprofit leader whose organization tackles injustice and creates equity and opportunity across the United States. Guests introduce listeners to communities that are often underestimated and share their strategies for building community, influence and power.
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There is a part of Washington DC that the nation doesn't know exists
01/20/2025
There is a part of Washington DC that the nation doesn't know exists
Innovation, disruption and problem-solving, these are words often used to describe how technology impacts society. But the sector does not center those powers on equity, ensuring that all people can access housing, livable wages, healthcare and education. That work is the business of the nonprofit sector, which is particularly potent in local nonprofits with deep community roots. Too often these groups are underfunded and uncredited for policy win and community building. In this episode of Power Station, the remarkable Marla Dean, Senior Director of the Greater Washington Community Foundation’s Health Equity Fund, introduces us to its $26m Demonstration Project. It is a powerhouse set of initiatives designed to redress historical wrongs against communities of color by overcoming economic and social disparities in what she calls, “the Washington DC the nation doesn’t know exists.” The Greater Washington Community Foundation is investing in the highly effective community-based nnprofits who conceived of these solutions and, with the Foundation’s support, are bringing them to life. It starts with recognizing that overcoming health disparities requires economic mobility and that removing barriers to career aspirations, family reconnection and participating in building a green economy is a public service.
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In the Jewish community, 15-25% are Jews of color and we are not seeing that racial diversity reflected in our congregations
01/13/2025
In the Jewish community, 15-25% are Jews of color and we are not seeing that racial diversity reflected in our congregations
We are at moment in which grappling with America’s history of racism, recognizing the impacts of generational injustice and creating solutions to those harms is being met with fury by our president elect and his allies. including Elon Musk, a ceaseless purveyor of misinformation. Trump has memorialized his plans to eradicate DEI-Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives within federal agencies and public universities in the right-wing playbook Project 2025 and he demonizes organizations that advocate for the redress of social and economic inequities. He even blamed the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles on DEI, a nonsensical claim that seeks to stir up outrage among his supporters. In this episode of Power Station, Dr. Deitra Reiser shares how her company, Transform for Equity, guides organizations in examining how racism, sexism and ableism shows up in their workplaces and engages them in shaping policies and behaviors that make a culture of inclusive belonging for everyone possible. She partners with synagogues to identify why more Jews of color, accounting for 15-25% of the community are not joining their congregations or being hired as staff. This is crucial work and the outcomes are heartening. Deitra tells the story powerfully.
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We are in the business, at Power Station, of amplifying the true changemakers
01/06/2025
We are in the business, at Power Station, of amplifying the true changemakers
My wish for 2025, a year for which Donald Trump’s plan to weaken democracy and human rights is memorialized in his Project 2025 blueprint is that more people, from our families to the business sector and the media, recognize that the complex business of protecting both is the daily business of the nonprofit sector. Nonprofits, especially those guided by the communities they serve, are powerful problem solvers that redress historic wrongs with policy and capital based solutions. Tech leaders are credited with being great innovators but nonprofit innovations transform systems that hold communities down. To name just a few: Grounded Community Solutions solves for our purportedly intractable housing crisis through community land trusts and shared equity, Rochdale Capital lends and invests where banks fail to, bringing capital and hands-on help to entrepreneurs of color. The TRIGGER Project dismantles gun violence through youth-led prevention strategies and Global Development Advisors is building the infrastructure needed for small business development in San Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, allowing those with a dream to thrive at home rather than risk their futures to migration. Robb Spewak and I break it down here and issue our call to resist retrenchment.
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I write the show number on my hand
12/30/2024
I write the show number on my hand
I am obsessed by the business of changemaking, the generation of solutions to our most pressing unmet human needs. I am drawn to people who are moved to action by their own lived experience and by those with a deeply felt sense of responsibility to redress injustice. And I see nonprofits, the best of them, as the infrastructure needed to produce enlightening data, build connections and organize communities, advocate for consequential public policies and implement new policies to make the intended impact. So, in this episode of Power Station I have the great pleasure of looking back, with stellar podcast producer Robb Spewak, on a truly inspiring roster of guests in 2024, the very changemakers that I admire and am honored to amplify. Robb and I want these leaders and nonprofits to be seen, heard and recognized and not to be “best kept secrets.” As always, we take the mission seriously and have great fun doing the work.
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We are literally led by the people we have the privilege of serving
12/23/2024
We are literally led by the people we have the privilege of serving
Whatever challenges you navigate during your day there is tremendous comfort in knowing where you will lay your head at night. For too many Americans, that safe place is out of reach, a consequence of failed housing policies and artificially low wages that perpetuate the racial wealth gap. In Montgomery County, Maryland, one of our nation’s wealthiest counties, there is a deep well of poverty that pervades the region’s prosperity. In this episode of Power Station, Courtney Hall, the invincible CEO of Interfaith Works, a champion of low-income communities since 1974, talks about the privilege of serving those who are struggling and aspire to more. Interfaith Works has developed the infrastructure and expertise required to serve 35,000 Montgomery County residents through shelters, permanent housing, food, clothing and training for jobs generating salaries that can support families. As Courtney says, it takes resident-informed and data-driven policy change to reinvent broken system and create new opportunities. Interfaith Works advocates to and is a resource for a rich network of municipal, state and federal elected officials who are the force behind progressive policies in the region. Courtney and his team are standing with the community no matter what lies ahead.
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An America without poverty is possible
12/16/2024
An America without poverty is possible
Origin stories are powerful in shaping both people and organizations. In this episode of Power Station, Lelaine Bigelow, the outstanding executive director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality, shares how her family inspired her all-in career as an advocate for racial, economic and gender equity. She credits civil rights champion and Georgetown University Law Professor Peter Edelman for founding GCPI and continuing to advance its mission to study, inform and act. As Lelaine explains, GCPI operates from a belief that an America without poverty is possible. Its small staff of policy and communications experts produce research on issues from climate change to health and housing disparities that perpetuate economic and racial inequality. They collaborate with elected leaders in state legislatures and on Capital Hill to design, enact and implement meaningful policy solutions to these profound challenges. We talk about GCPI’s illuminating report on state abortion bans and their impact on women of color living in red states with diminishing public benefits. Lelaine is not slowing down or lowering expectations in the face of a new administration. She calls for not only defending hard-won policies but for pressing forward to achieve more.
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We need films and books that talk about us, that dispel myths about our culture and history and how we exist in the world
12/09/2024
We need films and books that talk about us, that dispel myths about our culture and history and how we exist in the world
In the Ghanaian culture, a mythical bird called Sankofa honors the African Diaspora, symbolizing the need to look to the past and carry forward the truth and wisdom found there to benefit future generations. The image is so powerful that filmmakers, educators and entrepreneurs Shirikiana and Haile Gerima named both their groundbreaking 1993 movie and their incomparable bookstore, Sankofa. It was an honor to interview Shirikiana on Power Station, the final episode of a 4-part series produced in partnership with Rochdale Capital. Sankofa Video Books and Café is a vital cultural touchstone where children can see themselves depicted in books about joyful Black families, a rarity in literature, students from Howard University explore the works of Pan-African writers and the community gathers to hear live Jazz and meet independent filmmakers. The strength of and connection to the community is critically important to Sankofa as it navigates pushback from gentrifying neighbors, the need for more physical space and the high cost of operating in Washington, DC. Sankofa’s next chapter is a transition to cooperative ownership, a journey informed by looking back to shape the future. Shirikiana Gerima tells her remarkable story here.
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The music industry is dependent on underpaid workers
12/02/2024
The music industry is dependent on underpaid workers
Music not only feeds the soul it has also been, throughout history, a vital means of creative expression and resistance against social and political repression. While some musicians become chart-topping bestsellers, most are with small labels or are entirely independent. And while we may view digital platforms like Spotify as providing access to less well-known musicians they do not feature or compensate all artists equally. Simon Vansinjan is in the business of creating economic equity and opportunity for musicians who want to be heard and compensated and for listeners who want engagement with a more diverse universe of performers. On this episode of Power Station, Simon tells the story of Mirlo, the online audio distribution and music sales platform he co-founded as a cooperative. It unites his dual passions for music and the solidarity economy, which prioritizes social profitability, collective decision-making, and equitable pay for musicians, venue workers and other undercompensated players in the industry. An accomplished software developer and Rochdale Capital Greater Washington Center for Employee Ownership 2024 Impact Award winner, Simon and co-owner Alex Rodríguez are organizing a day-long event for union leaders, performers and shared equity advocates to explore their collective future together.
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We are pulling back the curtain to see how the cooperative functions
11/25/2024
We are pulling back the curtain to see how the cooperative functions
If you doubt the power of cooperatives to build community and generate economic equity you need to know the Cooperative Purchasing Alliance (CPA) story. It emerged from an energy deregulation crisis in Washington DC that burdened houses of workshop with utility costs that exceeded clergy’s salaries. The Washington Interfaith Network came together to find a solution, which they achieved through a collective energy purchase, producing a savings of over $100,000. Their success led to the launch of the CPA, a cooperative that is wholly owned by its nonprofit member-owners, including churches, synagogues, public charter schools and affordable housing developments, all local institutions that are vital to the low-income children and families and communities of color they serve. Member-owners identify what they need to operate safe and welcoming facilities and CPA’s exceptional staff facilitate processes for collective purchasing while building a robust eco-system of vendors led by women and people of color. Alex and Amy tell their story powerfully on this episode of Power Station. Their commitment to a workplace that honors all voices in decision making fuels the pursuit of their mission. Rochdale Capital’s support is driving their mission, collectively, forward.
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Comic books, particularly the superheroes, in their DNA have always been about fighting for democracy and combatting bigotry
11/18/2024
Comic books, particularly the superheroes, in their DNA have always been about fighting for democracy and combatting bigotry
Here is the hard reality: In 2024, a majority of voters can no longer distinguish between fact and fiction. This truth is disturbing and dangerous but not that surprising. As a recent Pew Research Center study reveals, most voters cite friends and families, not newspapers, television or academic studies as their primary source of news and information. We are all subject to a deluge of misinformation on social media but microtargeting, a campaign of disinformation warfare on an unsuspecting public, was a hallmark of the GOP’s presidential campaign. As Gal Golan and Alan Jenkins share on this episode of Power Station, it is possible to communicate across lines of difference. This, they argue, is how we build a more perfect union. Their contribution to this aspiration is 1/6, a striking and powerful graphic novel that imagines what might have happened if the attempted insurrection at the US Capitol had been successful. It is grounded in the real stories of those who were there and, in the tradition of pro-democracy and anti-authoritarian comic books, honors the truthtellers. In 1/6, Alan and Gan are speaking to everyone. Hear them! OneSixComics.org
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There is a lot to unpack with cooperative ownership, it is like a marriage
11/11/2024
There is a lot to unpack with cooperative ownership, it is like a marriage
Our news feeds are brimming with stories about America as a divided nation which cannot agree on who deserves to live here or whether to ensure that families do not go hungry. But there is a different vision for America, one that Power Station guests strive every day to bring to life. They are overcoming disinvestment and disenfranchisement with community power-building and capital. Many of them view cooperative ownership and shared equity as essential to that vision. My guest for this week’s episode (the first in a series produced in partnership with Rochdale Capital) is Dominic Hosack, a leading voice in the movement for food sovereignty. While in a PhD program focused on food systems, he was inspired to address food deserts in communities of color by becoming a grower himself. As founder of Steptoe Farm, he invites the community to share in Steptoe’s abundant crops and teaches neighbors to become farmers themselves. There is a reason that Dom is a winner of the Greater Washington Center for Employee Ownership’s 2024 DC Cooperative Impact Award. He demonstrates how capital, relationship-building and cooperation can build the America we want to see.
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We know that in the world there is an abundance of capital
11/04/2024
We know that in the world there is an abundance of capital
America has a complicated relationship with those who leave behind their families, culture and countries of origin to pursue a greater future in ours. Throughout U.S. history we have both celebrated the risk-taking and resilience of our own descendants in making a new life here and reviled, in the grip of nationalistic political forces, migrants fleeing poverty, violence and a lack of opportunity. In this episode of Power Station, Paty Funegra demonstrates what is possible if we reimagine our current immigration system by supporting would-be migrants’ right to stay at home and prosper. Paty launched Global Development Advisors to support economic development in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras by building a vibrant entrepreneurial eco-system there. In collaboration with universities, international aid agencies, FinTech and venture capital groups, she is bridging the capital and information gap that constrains small business owners and tech start-ups in the region. By creating a path to investment, GDA is building the economic infrastructure needed to generate jobs that sustain families and strengthen communities. Paty Funegra makes a powerful social justice and business case. She invites philanthropy, investors and all of us to join her.
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As Sikhs, we want to have a country where everybody can be who they are without fear or restriction
10/28/2024
As Sikhs, we want to have a country where everybody can be who they are without fear or restriction
It is rare to feel enlightened, deeply distressed and optimistic during a single conversation. I experienced all of that with Manjit Singh, co-founder of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, (SALDEF), my guest on this episode of Power Station. His formative years in India during the 1980s were shaped by conflict and violence against Sikhs, a faith that values and practices humility, service, equality and social justice. Sikhism originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent in the 15th century A.D. and is practiced by 25 million adherents globally. Since its founding in 1996, SALDEF has become a powerful force for protecting the civil rights of America’s 700,000 Sikhs, ensuring their representation in civic life, from the Census to voting and standing up against discrimination. The work is critical: according to FBI data, Sikh’s are the second most targeted religious community for hate crimes in the United States. SALDEF, led by Kiran Kaur Gill, brings expertise and strategic savvy to educating public agencies and corporations about the community, advancing policy solutions to systemic challenges and building the next generation of powerful Sikh leaders. What Manjit has built is now a multigeneration movement to embrace.
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Every week I learn something that moves me, changes me and informs me about how to act in support of democracy
10/21/2024
Every week I learn something that moves me, changes me and informs me about how to act in support of democracy
I invite compelling people to be my guests on Power Station, the podcast I created to amplify the voices, solutions and stories of accomplished nonprofit leaders. Most know that a 40 minute episode can move and influence allies, policy makers and funders and are onboard. We break down the social, racial and economic injustices their organizations confront and the under-reported yet meaningful systemic changes they generate through community building and legislative advocacy. When an episode goes live I promote it and assume my guest does as well. Posts and reposts elevate the leader and organization and underscore that nonprofits are on the frontlines of ending homelessness and hunger and standing up to discrimination against immigrants, people of color and LGBTQ people. This week, when my guest did not show up, Podville Media super-producer Robb Spewak and I took to our mics. We talked through some distressing trends: ignoring invitations, showing up late or occasionally not at all and most baffling to me, failing to promote one's own episodes. Did isolation and changing work expectations during the pandemic or differing ideas about how to deploy communications staff explain this? It’s worth a conversation. Power Station is for building power together.
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The people I have the privilege to work with people who are the American Dream.
10/14/2024
The people I have the privilege to work with people who are the American Dream.
It is difficult to reconcile the human, cultural and economic contributions of immigrants to America, both historically and now, with their relentless vilification by extremist political leaders. And it is deeply frustrating that attempts to enact legislation to repair a broken immigration system have failed because of political opportunism. The experience of asylum seekers, those who fled torture, is particularly dystopian. Their ability to access resources and gain legal status rests with a fragmented series of legal processes, public agencies and under-resourced nonprofits. When Joan Hodges-Wu, a social worker specializing in serving victims of torture decided she could no longer operate within this system, she launched Asylum Works, a new model that engages and uplifts asylum seekers. On this episode of Power Station, Joan shares the story of launching a new nonprofit in 2016 with $4,000 raised from a GoFundMe campaign. Since then, Asylum Works has collaborated with academic experts and survivors to provide support that includes but extends beyond legal services to health and wellness, education and training. It is powered by an exceptionally diverse staff, many of whom are survivors themselves. My words are not enough. Hear Joan and share!
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I think there is a correlation between hopefulness and homelessness
10/07/2024
I think there is a correlation between hopefulness and homelessness
One voice that is often overlooked or not even considered in deliberations about ending homelessness in America is that of people who are experiencing homelessness themselves. That paradigm is being upended by the National Coalition for the Homeless, which organizes, trains and engages people with lived experience as partners at policymaking tables. Their first-hand knowledge of housing and homelessness systems makes them invaluable advisers to US HUD and the CDC and led to the development of tools for getting people out of unsheltered homelessness and to safety during COVID. Their participation in policymaking is supported by the Coalition’s Lived Experience Training Academy, a singular resource for effective policy advocacy. As Donald Whitehead, executive director of the Coalition explains on this episode of Power Station, when people do not see themselves in policy making, they feel disengaged. That understanding is what sustains him in the Coalition’s current campaign, registering people to vote in shelters across the country, which moves them towards hopefulness, agency and power. Donald Whitehead brings his own lived experience to the daunting but realizable goal of ending homelessness. He is an indispensable leader and an inspiration to me.
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Our work is not just about serving or organizing philanthropy but really about mobilizing philanthropy
09/30/2024
Our work is not just about serving or organizing philanthropy but really about mobilizing philanthropy
It should not feel astonishing, but it does. In a national debate and many state campaign stops, presidential and vice presidential candidates are asserting that housing is a human right and sounding a call to end homelessness in America. Their declaration is both overdue and exhilarating. Getting there is the North Star of Funders Together to End Homelessness, which brings together grant makers, nonprofits that advance housing justice through federal policy advocacy, and those who have lived experience with homelessness and housing insecurity. As its indomitable CEO, Amanda Misiko Andere explains on this episode of Power Station, learning how racism is baked into this nation’s policy making and public systems and unlearning assumptions about why Black and Indigenous people are disproportionately impacted by homelessness requires a good deal of sitting in discomfort. Funders Together is mobilizing philanthropy to be a part of the solution by taking grant makers on this journey and encouraging investment in nonprofits on the frontline of policy advocacy. As Amanda says, racial justice is housing justice. Undoing racial inequities is an urgent but long term project. She is a philanthropy influencer who I am proud to follow.
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This is an American nonprofit tragedy and it happens everyday
09/23/2024
This is an American nonprofit tragedy and it happens everyday
A few years into hosting Power Station, outstanding audio engineer Rob Ford said, “People should really hear what you and your guests talk about off-mic.” He was right, which led, eventually, to today’s inaugural episode of Power Hour, a segment of Power Station that brings those off-mic conversations into the light. It is where social change leaders share what concerns and enlivens them, beyond their organizational roles, about the nonprofit sector and our society. On this episode of Power Hour, John Holdsclaw, President and CEO of Rochdale Capital talks about the stepping back, by banks and foundations, from explicitly supporting ownership, equity and leadership by Black Americans in nonprofit sector. He calls for investments in the next generation of leaders of color including executive coaching, which is particularly relevant given the resistance they often face, and the collective trauma of Black Americans tied to financial services. John points out that the word equity is disappearing from philanthropic messaging around diversity and inclusion and clarifies thar he and Rochdale Capital continue to champion racial equity. This conversation means so much to me and I believe it will to you as well.
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I have met women who have liquidated their retirement funds to support their nonprofits
09/16/2024
I have met women who have liquidated their retirement funds to support their nonprofits
Sometimes an organization’s backstory speaks volumes, which is definitely true of The Women’s Foundation of the South (WFS). It was co-created into existence by a cohort of women, all accomplished grant makers of color who were compelled to build what the philanthropic sector lacked, a public foundation dedicated to the advancement of women and girls of color in the American south. They started to dream together in 2019 and launched in 2021 with Carmen James Randolph, its exceptional founder, at the helm. In this episode of Power Station, Carmen shares what it takes to start a foundation without major institutional donors, forging ahead through the Covid 19 pandemic and the devastation of Hurricane Ida, both of which exacerbated profound inequities in communities of color. These challenges shaped WFC’s approach: investing in nonprofits and small businesses that serve those who are most vulnerable. She has garnered significant philanthropic support and is lifting up a powerful network of women who lead, without adequate recognition or resources, nonprofits in regions struggling with shattering maternal and infant mortality rates. As Carmen says, the WFC is exercising a vital tool of philanthropy, women’s voice and leadership.
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It's not just about pushing from the outside, it's about being partners on the inside
09/09/2024
It's not just about pushing from the outside, it's about being partners on the inside
If you want to know about the state of our public schools and how parents are advocating for the needs and aspirations of all children, you will need to look beyond the headlines. Parents who disrupt school board meetings to spew hate about books and classes that value diversity and inclusion may make the news, but their actions tear schools apart, not build them up. In this episode of Power Station, Maya Martin Cadogan, the founder and executive director of Parents Amplifying Voices in Education (PAVE), shares what real parent engagement makes possible. Maya was inspired to launch PAVE by her mother, a remarkable agent of change. She wants all parents to feel the agency her mother did and PAVE provides that opportunity. It empowers parents with the responsibility of choosing which policy positions to pursue each year and prepares them to testify before City Councilmembers and the Mayor about solutions to pressing systemic challenges. PAVE parents may lack degrees in education, but they are experts in what their children need and in how to create change collectively. Theirs is a story that needs to be told.
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We are building a thriving eco-system of support for small business owners and entrepreneurs
09/02/2024
We are building a thriving eco-system of support for small business owners and entrepreneurs
In America, small business and entrepreneurship is venerated and often romanticized in popular culture and by the media and politicians. But for aspiring entrepreneurs who are not wealthy or well connected, starting a new business is fraught with challenges and inequities. The data reveals that 85% of our businesses are microenterprises, companies of five or fewer people, launched with $50k or less, often without access to traditional bank products and capital. Unlike tech guys launching a start-up with Silicon Valley investments, these entrepreneurs are often people of color striving to build wealth, generate family legacies and create jobs. What they need, from coaching to capital and community can be found in The California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity (CAMEO), a powerful network of 400 CDFIs, community lenders, small business and women’s business centers that make success possible for those whom banks do not serve. In this episode of Power Station, Carolina Martinez, CAMEO’s exceptional CEO, shares what it takes to build a thriving ecosystem of support for entrepreneurs of color, including policy advocacy and an insistence on corporate accountability. Do not miss this masterclass on how change is made.
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We tell people to pick themselves up by their bootstraps when we haven't even given them boots
08/26/2024
We tell people to pick themselves up by their bootstraps when we haven't even given them boots
If you want to know what matters most to your elected leaders, the answer is found not in their rhetoric, but in their choices during the budget making process. When the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities was founded in 1981, the mission was to understand how federal spending, or the lack of it, impacted low income Americans, particularly their ability to access healthcare and housing. It also provided policymakers with alternative strategies for meeting human needs with fiscal integrity. As Peggy Bailey, Executive Vice President of Programs and Policy shares on this episode of Power Station, the Center not only brings rigor to federal budget analysis it focuses on and is a resource to state budget making as well. And its internal process has evolved too. All Center departments operate from a justice framework, with staff holding themselves and each other accountable to shared values, from centering racial equity to including those with lived experience in their policy development. Peggy brings her all, including what she has experienced first-hand, to ensuring that public policies and their implementation in the real world uplift those who are too often left behind. She is a true changemaker. Hear her!
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We are touching the lives of everyone in the food ecosystem
08/19/2024
We are touching the lives of everyone in the food ecosystem
The next time you visit your local farmers market take a moment to consider who produced the bounty of just-harvested fruits and vegetables and brought them with care to your urban neighborhood. As Hugo Mogollon shares on this episode of Power Station every farmer, from new entries in the sector to Black farmers carrying the toll of historical exclusion from federal resources to immigrants managing farms until they have land of their own, has a story. Their stories inform Hugo’s leadership of FreshFarm, a nonprofit that is building a more equitable food system in the Mid-Atlantic region. It expands economic opportunities for the 250 farmers, ranchers and producers who sell their products in FreshFarm’s 27 markets in Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia and makes fresh food accessible to underserved communities through food hubs and matched public funds. And it is building a fresh food culture among children, teaching them to grow gardens and prepare recipes. This complex but seamless web of strategies is generating millions in revenue for small farmers, making food distribution more just and boosting health outcomes for families. This is how, with transparency and intention, transformational change is made.
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Every 30 seconds a Latino in the United States is turning 18
08/12/2024
Every 30 seconds a Latino in the United States is turning 18
Sindy Benavides leads Latino Victory with strategic saavy, optimism and a deep belief in the ability of Latinos, and other communities of color, to engage in the electoral process and generate a more equitable America. I am excited to reshare this very edifying and inspiring episode with Sindy. We learn about her own road to organizing, the communities that poured into her, the talented cohort of leaders that Latino Victory stands behind and the resources it provides to make their engagement possible. Enjoy!
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They are holding up the Constitution with one hand and crushing it with the other
08/05/2024
They are holding up the Constitution with one hand and crushing it with the other
This conversation with Eric Ward remains as instructive, powerful and resonant as when it was first recorded. Eric, now a Senior Fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, is a nationally lauded expert on authoritarian movements in America and their corrosive impact on democractic systems and our belief in them. In this episode, Eric explains how antisemitism took root in America and provided the othering and fearmongering that are hallmarks of broader white nationalist movements. It is particularly important listening as we head into the 2024 elections and consume, whether we wish to or not, so much hate and divisiveness on social media and ads generated by the Trump campaign. I am so grateful to Eric for his incredible work and for sharing it with Power Station.
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It is not about calling people out, we like to say we are calling people in
07/29/2024
It is not about calling people out, we like to say we are calling people in
In the movies, small business owners are often depicted as avatars for what we admire: people following a dream, continuing a family legacy and serving a beloved community. But the real life version of entrepreneurship is more complex. Not everyone has a friendly banker, access to capital, or the capacity to generate a business plan. For people of color damaged by systemic racism in policymaking and banking, the barriers can seem insurmountable. These inequities led to the creation of Community Development Financial Institutions, for decades a source for capital and technical assistance in underserved communities. In this episode of Power Station, Shannan Herbert, the inspiring new CEO of Washington Areas Community Investment Fund (WACIF), shares the stories of those who have walked through WACIF’s doors, become part of an educational cohort, received a loan, learned how to create a marketing plan and most importantly, joined a lifelong community of practice. WACIF’s rich history of investing in Black and Brown communities in Washington DC and surrounding municipalities is now enhanced by the Racial Justice in Underwriting initiative, which is changing how the business of lending is perceived and done. Hear her!
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It is so important to remember that data are people
07/22/2024
It is so important to remember that data are people
Our nation is bitterly divided over its vision for democracy or whether to remain a democracy at all. Increasingly, elected leaders on school boards, state legislatures and Capitol Hill, are using their policy making powers to further marginalize vulnerable constituents.. The discord, amplified relentlessly on social media, often tells only a portion of the story. We hear less about the problems-solvers, the nonprofits that meet human needs, engage communities and generate solutions to systemic problems, from hunger to housing and homelessness. The Urban Institute, founded in 1968 to advance President Lyndon Johnson’s war on poverty, enriches these organizations and all sectors with rigorous research and unimpeachable data about an array of societal challenges. It also convenes stakeholders, from municipal leaders to academics and people with lived experience, to share research findings and discuss strategies for advancing equity. This episode features Urban Institute Senior Fellow Samantha Batko, whose community informed research answers critical policy questions about housing and homelessness. We start with this unsettling truth, that on any given night in America some ¼ million people experience unsheltered homelessness. Sam is a tremendous champion of housing justice rooted in evidence-based data. Hear her.
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There should be no institutions that put Black bodies in bondage
07/15/2024
There should be no institutions that put Black bodies in bondage
In 1990, 60 disabled men and women with disabilities put their wheelchairs and mobility aids aside and crawled up the steps of the U.S. Capital and into the Rotunda. Once inside they chained themselves together and announced that they would not leave until the House passed the Americans with Disabilities Act. Dara Baldwin, consummate policy advocate and inspiring disability justice activist was not aware, until attending their 50th anniversary event, that the Black Panthers conceived of and helped implement the chaining strategy. This fact, and the contributions of many Black disabled leaders, from Rep. Barbara Jordan to Don Galloway have been expunged in movement storytelling by white nonprofit executives. Dara’s new book, To Be a Problem, A Black Woman’s Survival in the Racist Disability Rights Movement, brings light to the entrenchment of white privilege and racism in the sector. And it corrects the record about the historical and ongoing impacts of people of color in the disability community. The book is also hopeful, imagining a new wave of activism where Black disabled people are at the center of the movement for Black Liberation. Dara has given us a rare truth-telling narrative for our times.
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If homelessness was a punishment for bad choices we would all be homeless
07/08/2024
If homelessness was a punishment for bad choices we would all be homeless
We are at war, in America, with empathy. Every day, state and national leaders introduce bills designed to stigmatize, strip resources from, and publicly target those they view as other than human: immigrants, people experiencing homelessness and LGBTQ children, to name a few. The recent Supreme Court decision upholding the right of Grants Pass, Oregon to fine homeless people for sleeping outside when no shelters are available is both cruel and ineffective. Choosing criminalization over solving for homelessness through large-scale public investments in affordable housing and raising the substandard wages of working people demonstrates an alarming lack of empathy. In this episode of Power Station, I speak with Mark Horvath, founder of Invisible People, the sole nonprofit newsroom dedicated to deepening our connections to and understanding of homelessness. Mark was a successful media executive who became homeless after losing his job. When he got back on his feet, he set a new course for his life. Invisible People’s videos, documentaries and news stream are deeply impactful windows into the world of our national housing crisis. Mark’s work is moving some policymakers to legislate with empathy, our underestimated superpower. I
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I often think that we are not really doing workforce development, we are doing human development
07/01/2024
I often think that we are not really doing workforce development, we are doing human development
This conversation is about what is possible when a nonprofit organization engages jobseekers and employers in shaping the future of work through a North Star lens of racial equity and economic mobility. It is about reimagining workforce development, an admittedly wonky and uninspiring term, as an opportunity to prepare jobseekers, largely women of color in California, for high quality jobs. And it is about influencing the companies that hire them to do the internal work needed to retain them. In this episode of Power Station, Lisa Countryman Quiroz, CEO of Jewish Vocational Service, shares how employers are expanding their strategies for sourcing talent and making attitudinal changes that enable talented staff to manage both work and family responsibilities. Lisa describes the robust training and certification programs that position jobseekers formerly making $40,000 a year to five years later making over $100,000. She points to JVS ‘s advocacy for progressive legislative policies and its stand against cuts to state and national workforce funding. And she calls on philanthropy to invest in these strategies beyond the traditional markets. Lisa is an exceptional storyteller and a changemaking leader. Once you hear her, you will want to share this episode.
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