Power Station

Latest Episodes:

How being illegally evicted made me an organizer and advocate Oct 30, 2023

Show notes

This may sound unconvincing coming from someone who speaks into a microphone every week, but I don't love talking about myself. What I do love is speaking with and amplifying the voices of those who confront and generate solutions to injustice in America. They are leaders of nonprofit organizations who use their values, know-how and expertise to bring capital to under-resourced communities, compel Congress to fund housing for lowest-income renters, educate the children of farmworkers; the list of accomplishments goes on. In this episode of Power Station, my friend and producer Robb Spewak asks about the illegal eviction that displaced me from a gentrifying block in Brooklyn and propelled me into a lifetime of organizing, policy advocacy and nonprofit leadership. We talk about how the best (in my opinion) nonprofits are those that build community power and press state legislatures and Congress to enact legislation rooted in racial equity. And I share my personal run-ins with sexism in nonprofits, which, along with racism the sector is not immune to. Mostly we celebrate the amazing guests that tell their stories each week on Power Station. And we tease some exciting changes to come.

It's about supporting families whose lives have changed forever Oct 23, 2023

Show notes

When Liz O'Donnell, a first-grade teacher in Washington DC, arrived at the hospital to give birth she could not have imagined that she would leave without baby Aaliyah or the resources she needed to recover. She had experienced a change in fetal movements a few weeks before and did not realize, after an easy pregnancy, the urgency of her situation. The nurse could not detect a fetal heartbeat and Liz delivered her daughter, a stillbirth. In this episode of Power Station, Liz shares how she founded Aaliyah in Action to help families impacted by perinatal and neonatal loss grieve and to advocate for the recognition of stillbirths as a public health imperative. She partners with over 40 hospitals to provide care packages to women at their most vulnerable time. And when her employer, the DC Public School system, denied her paid leave she pushed back and won the inclusion of stillbirth in the District's Paid Family Leave and Family Bereavement Acts. Liz is deepening her engagement in the public health sphere, exploring inequitable systems in women's maternal health care. Aaliyah remains Liz's powerful North Star.

What we are hearing is the loudest people, not the majority of people Oct 16, 2023

Show notes

Rajiv Vinnakota, president of the Institute for Citizens and Scholars, is testing a hypothesis. He wants to know whether the right interventions, from mentorship to education and opportunities for putting ideas into action will yield effective citizens, young people with the will and capacity to strengthen our embattled democracy. The Institute's recent survey of 18-24 year old's reveals an alarming lack of understanding about civics and also that they are not particularly ideologically driven or party aligned. They care about the state of their communities and the world, are open to people with different points of view and are looking for people and institutions that are ready to get the work done. Building great citizens is a shift for what was founded in 1945 as the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. Its mission, to build a pipeline of college professors to educate returning G.I.'s, grew into what is now a remarkable fellowship of 27,000 scholars, innovators, and artists. Now rebranded as the Institute, with Rajiv as its leading force, it is demonstrating that informed and engaged young people can be remarkable citizens when we give them the tools and get out of their way.

Small nonprofits are on a survival treadmill Oct 09, 2023

Show notes

Small community based nonprofits are some of the most powerful change agents in America. They solve for inequities in education, childcare, mental health, and other needs in communities that have been marginalized by racism, discrimination, and poverty. These nonprofits are underestimated by national foundations and their accomplishments are underreported by the media. In this episode of Power Station, Gretchen Van der Veer explains how Fair Chance, the organization she leads, partners with small community based nonprofits in Washington DC, whose budgets are often less than $500,000, to strengthen their sustainability and impact. It has flipped the conventional model of capacity building, which imposes fixes to perceived deficiencies and instead partners with groups to create a plan for reinforcing their organizational systems, from fundraising to board development and financial management. These interventions, once assessed, validate the theory that a robust infrastructure produces greater benefits for the children, youth, and families these nonprofits serve. Local and regional foundations that fund small community based nonprofits are essential supporters of equity. Fair Chance is singular resource that invests its time, expertise and commitment to organizations that go all-in for their communities. Gretchen Van der Veer is an exceptional changemaker.

It is our civic duty, our humanistic duty, our Muslim duty to vote Oct 02, 2023

Show notes

This is a story about civic engagement and political power that should be headline news. In 2020, EMGAGE, a national nonprofit, was instrumental in motivating over one million registered Muslim American voters to cast a ballot in one of our nation's most consequential elections. This milestone is particularly meaningful because Muslim Americans have been marginalized, underrepresented and subject to hate crimes and government persecution since the shared national tragedy of 9-11. EMGAGE energizes the Muslim American electorate by investing in state-based organizing that builds networks among diverse populations, including Black Muslim Americans, who share a strong desire to preserve our embattled pluralistic democracy. In this episode of Power Station, Wa'el Alzayat, shares how his whose lived experience as a Syrian immigrant, Middle East expert, and American diplomat, informs his leadership of EMERGE. He listens to and champions public policy priorities, from tackling gun violence to expanding economic opportunity, that move Muslim Americans, like other Americans, to advocate for policy change and to vote. At a time when democracy in America and across the globe is alarmingly fragile, we are all strengthened and inspired by EMGAGE's inclusive approach to community and power building.

Just one major grocery store serves the 85,000 residents of Washington DC's Wards 7 and 8 Sep 25, 2023

Show notes

Sometimes numbers speak louder than words. In Washington DC, a single grocery store serves the 85,000 residents of Wards 7 and 8, the historically disenfranchised neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River. Zooming further out, 35% of people living in our nation's capital are designated as food insecure, lacking an adequate amount of food for a healthy life. Again, the data tells the story. The legacy of racism in public policymaking is borne by people of color, from food to housing and healthcare. In this episode of Power Station, Tiffany FitzGerald explains how DC Greens, the nonprofit she leads, created The Well at Oxon Run, an acre of land in Ward 8 dedicated to growing produce and providing communal green space for all Washingtonians. DC Greens also runs Produce Rx, a program that enables doctors to prescribe healthy food as a medical intervention and provides a food allowance to make access possible. All of DC Greens strategies, including their policy advocacy, is informed, and driven by the community. A truly entrepreneurial nonprofit, DC Greens is shifting these initiatives to DC government's ownership, ensuring their ongoing fiscal support. This is how change is made.

Violence is not love Sep 18, 2023

Show notes

In 1996, a group of Asian/Pacific Islander women came together to confront gender-based violence in their communities. As survivors themselves they knew that mainstream social service organizations lacked the linguistic and cultural knowledge needed to meet their diverse needs. They persevered, eventually launching the Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project, which remains the sole Pan Asian provider of trauma-informed and survivor centered services in Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia. The team includes social workers, trainers, and a mental health professional and their collective language capacities include Japanese, Hindi, Thai, Mongolian and Mandarin. DVRP is an essential resource for women, and sometimes men, experiencing gender-based violence, including abuse by intimate partners, in-laws, and employers emboldened to exploit workers whose immigration status is precarious. In this episode of Power Station, I am joined by Krittika Ghosh, executive director of DVRP and a globally recognized champion of Asians, Pacific Islanders, and other marginalized people, including the LGBTQ community. Her experience as an immigrant and survivor fuels her inventive approach to culturally based healing, including sessions that explore what constitutes a heathy relationship and workshops in mindfulness. A conversation with Krittika is too valuable to miss.

Elections have consequences Sep 11, 2023

Show notes

If we have learned anything since 2016 it is that elections have consequences. Donald Trump was not the first politician whose worldview is steeped in racism, misogyny, and anti-immigrant ideology. But he is an outlier in using his platform to undermine our democratic systems and encourage violence. In this episode of Power Station, Daria Dawson, Deputy Executive Director, and National Political Director of America Votes, recalls her path to her current role, including her parent's commitment to voting and civic engagement and her life as an on-the-road political campaign warrior. America Votes, the coordination hub for progressive organizations whose missions include protecting and expanding the right of all Americans to vote, sees itself as a behind-the-scenes player. It makes sense when you understand that it was founded by and continues to grow a powerful cohort of progressive local and national organizations, from labor unions to Black, Latino and AAPI civil rights groups, trusted messengers for their constituencies. Daria reminds us that every election matters, not just the presidential race, and America Votes is there for all of them, even investing in year-round staffing in battleground states. Hear her!

What the research tells us is that homelessness is primarily an affordable housing problem Sep 04, 2023

Show notes

What if we looked at homelessness as solvable rather than intractable? What would we do if we considered the 580,000 people who are homeless on any given night in America as having been failed, as opposed to being failures? That is the perspective that Ann Oliva brings to her leadership of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the organization that inspired her throughout highly productive tenures at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Corporation for Supportive Housing and the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. At the Alliance, Ann is building on an impactful portfolio, from researching how systemic racism pushes marginalized people towards homelessness, to educating lawmakers about public policy solutions to providing community based organizations with hands-on assistance to advancing communications about homelessness. Ann remains hopeful in large part because she knows what is possible. She knows that bold federal investment in affordable housing, at scale, is the real solution to our homelessness crisis. And she is closely connected to the many community, nonprofit and public leaders who are poised to make transformational change a reality.

You would gladly give your neighbor a cup of sugar but it's easy to other someone you call a client Aug 28, 2023

Show notes

Amy Javaid first encountered A Wider Circle as a chaperone for her daughter's kindergarten field trip. She was struck by how staff engaged 5 year old kids in talking about neighbors, a less othering term than clients, who lack clothes and a home. They learned that their actions, sorting clothes, helps neighbors, some of whom are also 5 years old. Amy volunteered and held various positions before becoming CEO in 2021. Now she is building community and opportunity in Washington DC's historically underserved Washington Highlands neighborhood. A Wider Circle's most celebrated resource is its Essential Support program which brings 20 families a day to a furniture showroom to choose beds, tables, and other goods for homes they have finally secured. As Amy points out, this is the start of their journey out of poverty. Some sign on to a program that builds family supports over time. And all are learning to advocate for their priorities, affordable housing, and a living wage. Just as Amy learned in leading anti-poverty work across the globe, the pathway starts with meeting urgent needs and grows into collective action to upend systems at the root of poverty.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected