Power Station

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If you are not spreading the disease of gun violence, you are prevention Jun 10, 2024

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When Tia Bell was just 10 years old, she experienced a devastating trauma, the shooting of her mother in their own neighborhood. She went to her elders, neighborhood protectors, and pleaded with them not to seek retribution. She did the same after the murder of her uncle, and other community members. She recognizes the humanity of the perpetrators, seeing them as victimized by the same lack of resources, voice and agency as those they targeted. She wants them to receive help. Now, as the Founder and CEO of The Trigger Project, she brings her lived experience, empathy and scholarship in youth development to cultivating a culture of prevention in Washington DC and beyond. In this episode of Power Station, Tia shares how The Trigger Project is rooted in the knowledge that gun violence is a disease, that we are all susceptible to it and prevention is our collective responsibility. Her vision was on display last week when she and the young people she champions hosted a conference and festival, sharing information about trauma and roots causes while uplifting strategies, including emotional intelligence training, for prevention. Tia is a star, a powerful and undaunted force for good.

There really isn't a way to have the right impact if people are not in a position to advocate for themselves Jun 03, 2024

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When the global pandemic struck America, it shut down our institutions, from schools to courts and libraries, devastated our economy and exposed who is served by our public systems and who is overlooked. Low income communities of color suffered the most, from a loss of jobs and housing to dire health outcomes. That moment moved seasoned public defender Kirsten Gettys Downs to think about the failed systems, rooted in racial injustice, that led her clients into Baltimore, Maryland's criminal justice system and undermined their ability to succeed upon reentry. She knew that a stable home is foundational to thriving and yet is out of reach for so many. Now, as executive director of the Homeless Persons Representation Project, Kirsten and a team of staff and volunteer attorneys, represent clients facing eviction, the majority of whom are Black women, young people facing violence in shelters, veterans, and those seeking expungement of criminal records. HPRP's impact legislation has restored stolen benefits, from SNAP to temporary cash and disability assistance, to those who were robbed. HPRP and those experiencing homelessness firsthand are powerful partners, advocating for the policies and resources they and their counterparts across the nation deserve.

The problem is not the protesters, it is what they are protesting May 27, 2024

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America is heading into a presidential election that will determine whether we remain a democracy or consign ourselves to autocracy. It is happening while the world witnesses a devastating assault on Palestine by Israel, a constitutional democracy, led by an autocratic leader, Bibi Netanyahu. Much like aspiring autocrat Donald Trump, he does not recognize the rights and humanity of many within his own nation. While Netanyahu characterizes Israel's war on Gaza, prompted by the horrendous October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, as a strategy to eliminate Hamas, it is the people of Palestine who are bring killed by the thousands, leaving famine and destroyed infrastructure in its wake. As a Jew and a believer in the power of nonprofits to advance democracy I am devastated by this nation's responses to the ongoing assault on Gaza and to those who are standing up to question it here at home. For this episode of Power Station, I reached out to Wa'el Alzayat, former U.S. State Department diplomat and Middle East policy expert who is now CEO of Emgage, a nonprofit that generated a turnout of 1million Muslim American voters in the 2020 election. We talk about the labeling by the Anti-Defamation League of protestors, including Jewish students as pro-Hamas and antisemitic, the weaponization of antisemitism by members of Congress who themselves traffick in anti-semitism and the opportunity for President Biden to take a risk and do what is right. I am grateful to Wa'el Alzayat for informing a conversation that we should all be committed to.

We have a national shortage of 7.3 million homes that are affordable and available to lowest income renters May 20, 2024

Show notes

Solving this nation's housing crisis, which has triggered an all-time high in homelessness, begins with demystifying the reasons it exists. The National Low Income Housing Coalition answers the why, advances policies that make housing attainable and builds the political will to achieve large-scale solutions. For 50 years it has been unwavering in its focus on the housing needs of lowest income renters, engaging them as partners in their advocacy and as members of the Board of Directors. As the super talented Sarah Saadian, Senior VP of Public Policy and Field Organizing, explains on this episode of Power Station, there are two main drivers of the housing crisis: a severe shortage of homes that are affordable and available to extremely low-income renters and our systemic wage gap, which make it impossible for working people to meet ever increasing rent demands. She points to the Coalition's annual GAP report, which documents these conditions state by state, providing policymakers with the stark realities of their constituents. The Coalition's marshaling of $46 billion during the pandemic is legendary. Next up, the full federal investment needed to solve our housing crisis.

Young people have been breaking their own voting records with every election May 13, 2024

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It happens during every election cycle. Young adults are characterized in newspaper headlines as apathetic non-voters. This very tired trope, which is contradicted by data, greatly frustrates Kristen McGuire. As executive director of Young Invincibles, the national nonprofit that emerged when young people stepped up to be heard in the lead up to the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, she lives the actual truth every day. As Kristin reminds us in this episode of Power Station, advocacy by young people led to a hallmark ACA provision, the ability to stay on parents' health insurance until the age of 26, a transformative moment for healthcare access in our nation. Since then, Young Invincibles has provided infrastructure, training and support to young leaders who are generating progressive and equitable policymaking at the state and national levels. Its focus in 2024 is on elevating policymaking that increases access to mental health care for young people and all Americans. Governors, college administrators and the White House are listening and incorporating Young Invincibles' research and recommendations into trailblazing legislation. All of this follows its life-altering impact on Student Debt cancellation. It's time for new headlines.

Every 30 seconds a Latino in the United States is turning 18 May 06, 2024

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The numbers tell a powerful story about America and its future. Today, 64 million Latinos, those with multi-generational roots and newcomers, call the United States home. While they are vital contributors to our economy, culture, and civil rights legacy, they are grossly underrepresented (just 2%) in elected office. Latino Victory is the trailblazing nonprofit that is changing the trajectory of Latino electoral power, and it is winning. On this episode of Power Station, Sindy Benavides, President & CEO of Victory Fund, who leads with strategic brilliance and heart, begins the conversation with a staggering statistic. Every 30 seconds a Latino in the United States turns 18. These numbers motivate Latino Victory to empower Latinos across the country with information about everything there is to know about voting and civic engagement. Its 501c4 counterpart elevates the campaigns of an impressive roster of candidates vying for office at the local, state, and federal levels. Latino Victory's founders, Eva Longoria and Henry Muñoz III, stepped up to ensure that the Latino electorate is seen, heard, and engaged. Sindy Benavides and a growing movement for representation are bringing the vision to life.

They who hold the power shape the narrative Apr 29, 2024

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If you have lived through housing insecurity and homelessness or worked in a nonprofit as a shelter provider, tenant organizer, nonprofit housing developer or policy advocate you know that having a home is fundamental to thriving, losing a home is traumatizing and fining people experiencing homelessness is unproductive and shameful. The progress that the nonprofit housing sector has generated over several decades is irrefutable, from persuading policymakers to increase funding for housing vouchers to preventing evictions during the pandemic and fueling affordable housing development through community land trusts. And yet rental housing and homeownership is increasingly unattainable across most income brackets. In this episode of Power Station, Marisol Bello, shares how the Housing Narrative Lab is countering damaging messages embedded in our culture about who becomes homeless and why. It is building a new, more nuanced narrative that emphasizes empathy over blame and policy solutions over criminalization. We discuss the Lab's newest report, conducted with the National Homelessness Law Center, that probes public perceptions of and experiences with homelessness. The fact that so many respondents know homelessness up close is foundational to a powerful new movement for change.

What makes these grandfamilies unique is that unlike parent-headed homes, these caretakers step in with no automatic legal rights and responsibilities for the children Apr 22, 2024

Show notes

It often begins with a knock at the door in the middle of the night. A child, or multiple children, need immediate care. Their parents have been deployed, incarcerated, are sidelined by substance abuse or mental illness. This is when grandparents, other relatives and family friends step up at a critical moment. These adults, who take on caregiving for conservatively, 2.5 million children in America, have no legal standing. They are not legal guardians or adopters. And there is no single entity that funds, studies, or resources these families. There is, however, extensive data on the outcomes of children who stay within their families versus navigating the cultural and emotional dislocation of traditional foster care. On this episode of Power Station, Ana Beltran, a consummate changemaker, introduces us to Grandfamilies and Kinship Support Center, the nonprofit she leads. The Center provides technical assistance to individuals, government agencies and nonprofits that serve grandfamilies, tackling challenges, from enrolling children in school when no parent is present, to filing for Child Tax Credits. She notes that federal policymaking is catching up to the moment. U.S. HUD is accepting proposals now for grandfamilies-oriented affordable housing. A community to support and celebrate.

I discovered in the U.S. something that I had learned in El Salvador, the power of community Apr 15, 2024

Show notes

What compels men and women to leave their home countries behind to migrate to the United States? Oscar Chacon, executive director of Alianza Americas, has made it his mission to answer this question for our elected leaders whose policies determine the quality of life for some 22 million Latin American and the Caribbean immigrants, the largest segment of America's foreign born population who now reside in the U.S. As Oscar shares on this episode of Power Station, until America's leaders understand the political, economic, and environmental conditions in El Salvador, Venezuela, Honduras, and Mexico, and other countries of origin, they cannot fully appreciate what drives migration. He defies conventional advocacy strategies by sending American policy makers to embed with families and communities in Latin America and bringing Latin Americans to tell their stories in America. Alianza is a safe space for Latin American and Caribbean leaders of community based nonprofits here to tackle inequities both in the US and at home. Immigrants are a committed community, sending $156 billion dollars back home, an amount greater than any other form of U.S. assistance to Latin American countries. This, Oscar tells us, is the power of love and empathy.

We have to be intentional about strategies that move people from crisis to stability, from stability to mobility and optimally to have the opportunity to thrive Apr 01, 2024

Show notes

Consider the implications of undertaking a 10-year strategic plan during a global pandemic. The Greater Washington Community Foundation did just that, bringing its intentionally diverse constituency of civic, business, nonprofit and community leaders together to inform the process and vision. In the Washington DC region, the pandemic exposed the thin economic margins, structural racism, and lack of access to resources that Black and other communities of color have grappled with in and around our nation's capital for generations. As Tonia Wellons, President, and CEO of Greater Washington Community Foundation explains on this episode of Power Station, the moment created an opportunity to engage its unique cohort in building on the Foundation's core competencies, identifying barriers to economic justice, investing in groundbreaking solutions, and aligning itself with change making, high impact nonprofits. Tonia breaks down how closing the racial wealth gap is embedded in every issue the Foundation tackles and in its robust investments in targeted guaranteed income initiatives and a brand new school-based Children's Savings Account. Tonia Wellons see its convenings as the Foundation's superpower, the space where communities have a voice, business leaders become allies and impact is an achievable goal.

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