Power Station

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Can I not have to repeat my medical history every time I see a doctor? Nov 07, 2022

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White House staffer and public health advocate Natalie Davis was all-in when President Barack Obama signed on to expand and transform our nation's ailing health care system. And she was instrumental in navigating the choppy waters of its implementation after the Affordable Care Act was signed into law in 2010. As an advisor to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Andy Slavitt, she was deeply engaged in one the country's largest expansions of health care in modern history. This was also when Natalie welcomed, albeit three months early, the birth of her first child. She experienced, as so many Americans do, the live-changing urgency of health insurance. That moment paved the way to her co-founding, with Andy Slavitt, of United States of Care, the national nonprofit she now leads. USC asks people what they want from their health care and uses policy levers to generate results. The culture is open-minded and pragmatic, working with all sectors and across partisan divides. As Natalie explains, building a people-centered health care system that works for all of us in a bold ambitious and values-based agenda that is within reach.

Whistleblowers are incredibly powerful Oct 31, 2022

Show notes

At a moment of profound national and global upheaval it is important to consider what makes bold, transformational change possible. How can illicit conduct in industries ranging from banking to pharmaceuticals to technology and nuclear energy be exposed and repaired? Calling out corruption, waste and fraud may involve politicians and pundits, but it starts with brave individuals, employees of government agencies, corporations, and nonprofits who are driven by personal integrity. In this episode of Power Station we learn about whistleblowing, the laws that protect those who step forward of their own volition as truth-tellers, the significance of this act to the public and our planet, and the role of attorneys in defending them against retaliation by employers. Siri Nelson, the changemaking executive director of the National Whistleblowers Center explains how NWC advocates for protections in Congress, the courts and regulatory agencies and educates the public about non-disclosure agreements, retaliation, and rewards. Siri reminds us that whistleblowers are powerful assets who make their industries and our society better. She is building a culture that celebrates those who stand up for what is right, a culture shift that we can all endorse.

Democracy is an active sport that we all need to be engaged in Oct 24, 2022

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We are living in extraordinary times. The racism, misogyny and anti-immigrant vitriol unleashed by the Trump presidency has generated tremendous social discord in America. Decades of public policies crafted to bridge a cavernous racial wealth gap imploded under this administration. Even the most vigilant news consumers are hard pressed to keep up with right wing attacks on voting rights, bodily autonomy, and democracy itself. But mainstream reporting does not often tell the whole story of what is happening in America. Grassroots organizations are making transformational change in historically marginalized communities. The Workers Center for Racial Justice, a Chicago-based grassroots organization, is building power in Black communities from the ground up. Led by the gifted and inexhaustible DeAngelo Bester, WCRJ is producing a level of engagement and policy change that should be headline news. It's Ban the Box Campaign is just one example of what community organizing, powered by formerly incarcerated citizens has made possible. In this episode DeAngelo tells the story of formerly incarcerated community leaders who stood up to discrimination in hiring and won. They are building a new narrative that we all need to hear.

There are hungry people in every neighborhood and your lunch ladies know where to find them Oct 17, 2022

Show notes

In 1984, Billy and Debby Shore founded Share our Strength in response to famine in Ethiopia, a mission that soon expanded to ending hunger in America. Their singular focus on hunger deepened our collective consciousness and involved elected officials, the culinary industry, advocates, and low-income communities in securing solutions. They launched No Kid Hungry, a campaign that connects families, many of whom are working people of color with low wage jobs, to public resources, from WIC to SNAP. As Jillien Meier, Director of Partnerships & Campaign Strategy explains, ending hunger is complex and nuanced. It requires understand the byzantine rules and myriad of systems involved in accessing food, pressing Congress to reauthorize and improve the Farm Bill and Children Nutrition Act, and listening to directly impacted families with lived experience. Jillien reminds us that while No Kid Hungry has always held that hunger is a non-partisan issue, during the pandemic it became decidedly political. Flexibility to USDA programs granted during the pandemic enabled providers to bring food to children when schools were shut down. The next step is to make these changes permanent and fully commit to what is possible.

The essential workers we clapped for every night at the start of the pandemic are the same workers who are paid less than the minimum wage Oct 10, 2022

Show notes

A conversation with Maritza Silva Farrell, executive director of ALIGN NY, is a master class in organizing for systemic and transformational change. She starts by listening to people, primarily low-wage workers from communities of color who are disproportionately harmed by unjust and economically extractive public policies and corporate practices. ALIGN NY was founded to unite the labor and environmental movements and position them to tackle the most pressing challenges of our time, income inequality and climate change. It brings all stakeholders to the table, from labor and climate advocates to impacted workers, researchers, and lawyers. The approach, facilitating conversation, crafting collaboration, building powerful alliances, and creating a path that makes bold structural change possible has proven 100% effective. This model resulted in the passage of the Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act, the wholesale restructuring of NYC's commercial waste system and shut down Walmart's proposed entry into New York, to name a few victories. For all the gravity of the work, Maritza leads with joy, passion, and hopefulness. She demonstrates what is possible when we do the work.

The greatest stigma that homeless veterans experience is the notion that they are not like us Oct 03, 2022

Show notes

An organization's origin story reveals the values of its founders. The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans was launched in 1990 by Vietnam-era veterans who met while attending conferences focused on expanding after-service employment opportunities. They volunteered in communities across the country, helping fellow vets to find needed resources. And they heard over and over that their peers were unable to access or afford housing and that veterans were disproportionately represented in the nation's homeless population. Three years later NCHV opened its offices in Washington DC and has become a powerful force for ending veteran homelessness. It offers training and technical assistance to community-based housing providers who must navigate the requirements of multiple agencies and it advocates for policy reforms before Congress. Executive director Kathryn Monet points out that the most impactful solutions come from the ground, those who have experienced homelessness directly. She discovered her passion for the work while staffing the US Senate Committee on Veteran Affairs. Realizing that she has also experienced housing instability deepens her connection to the veterans she serves and strengthens her resolve to overcome this national crisis. Vital legislation is pending now.

We need to equalize investment in organizing and longer-term power building Sep 26, 2022

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The shockwave that rocked this nation after the Supreme Court issued the Dobbs decision, holding that the U.S. Constitution does not confer the right to an abortion, continues to reverberate across the nation. An ensuing onslaught of bills passed in state legislatures has restricted or banned abortions in many states. The implications are particularly devastating in marginalized communities where women's sole access to health care is through visits to a gynecologist. The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice champions equitable access to health care and bodily autonomy for Latinas. As executive director Lupe Rodriguez explains, Latinas face many barriers to care, from being on the lowest rung of our nation's wage gap to being overrepresented in jobs lacking health insurance or paid leave. Despite these disparities, a conversation with Lupe is inspiring. She explains how the Poderosa program teaches organizing, skills women use as advocates in state legislatures and on Capitol Hill and in all areas of their lives. The Latina Institute is also a committed partner to other movement building organizations whose central issues may differ but whose communities are connected. This is transformation in action.

Marginalized communities have turned to cooperative models of ownership since before the Civil War Sep 19, 2022

Show notes

When three urban planning students launched the news magazine Next City in 2003, they were pushing against the prevailing cultural tide. As their peers were building careers in emerging technologies, they were hyper focused on urban communities beset with deteriorated housing, broken transit systems and environmental hazards. Politicians and the media often characterized urban areas as places to escape and blamed community members for their circumstances. But founders Adam Gordon, Seth A. Brown, and Anika Singh knew that these conditions were legacies of disinvestment, redlining and other policies based in racial exclusion. And they believed that residents with first-hand experience were best suited to generate solutions to their problems. Structured as a nonprofit news organization, Next City approaches its coverage of cities with intentionality and rigor. Senior Economics Correspondent Oscar Perry Abello reports on resident led initiatives: commercial corridors developed from vacant properties and cooperative models for developing new businesses. He points out that all sectors, including nonprofit CDFIs, need to invest in organizations led by people of color. By amplifying stories of neighborhood transformation, Oscar and Next City informs, challenges, and inspires.

We are the Avengers of organizing Sep 12, 2022

Show notes

Since its founding 10 years ago, Alliance for Youth Action has transformed how nonprofits build power and strengthen democracy in America. It was launched by young people who had seen first-hand what is possible when people in low-income and communities of color organize to access their voting rights, stop the separation of children from their immigrant parents and repair environmental degradation. They knew that local organizing is where progressive changemaking happens and that investing in a federation of autonomous on-the-ground nonprofits could create a national movement for a racially and economically just nation. As happens when young people are at the helm, they saw a problem and they fixed it. They launched the Alliance, a national nonprofit that provides unrestricted funds, technical support, and capacity-building to 20 federation members in 18th states. All are youth-focused, youth-led, and demonstrably effective. Dakota Hall, who now leads the Alliance, discovered his passion and talent for organizing as a teenager in Milwaukee. He uses it to leverage the collective power of a network that may not be on the nightly news, but it should be.

We need people to see others as part of their own families and communities Sep 05, 2022

Show notes

If the last several years have taught us anything it is that democracy is fragile. And that all of us need to engage with the systems, institutions and policy processes that determine our collective fates. It takes nonprofit organizations with community roots, technical expertise, and advocacy capacities to make that level of social progress possible. The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), one of the nation's leading anti-poverty organizations, emerged 50 years ago to highlight and address the needs of low-income Americans. It is now led by Indivar Dutta-Gupta, whose deep policy expertise and valuing of those living at the margins of our economy are setting the course for CLASP's latest evolution. His team produces evidence-based research, informed by impacted communities, to shape legislative and regulatory solutions. They share their recommendations with decision makers in city halls, state legislatures and on Capitol Hill and are on-hand to ensure that new laws are implemented to ensure the greatest benefit for communities. Some recommendations were included in the Inflation Reduction Act. As Indi explains, those that did not make it, including paid family leave, remain a core value and top priority.

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