Power Station

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#203 Elizabeth Lindsey, Urban Alliance Jan 31, 2022

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Twenty-five years ago, a brave Anacostia High School student asked a compelling question at an assembly. She asked how she could participate in an internship, one that might help her to move on to college. That question motivated Andrew Plepler, the guest speaker and a community development banker, to launch a nonprofit dedicated to making internships, a rite of passage for upper middle-class students, accessible to young and low-income people of color. Since then, the Urban Alliance has made internships possible for 6000 students in Washington DC, Chicago, Baltimore and Detroit. And the experience goes deeper than a 10-month stint with an employer. Urban Alliance provides a 6-week bootcamp to get students job-ready and places them with a company, nonprofit or public-sector agency that provides on-the-job training and a mentor. AS CEO Elizabeth Lindsey explains, the skills employers need and how to attain them are changing and not all pathways to careers are the same. She wants all students to dream about what is possible and about the impact they want to have. The next chapter for Urban Alliance is expansion and a policy presence that advances the mission.

Young people are not afraid to say, I'm not okay right now Jan 24, 2022

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When Zakiyah Johnson learned there was a summer social media internship at the Community Enrichment Project, she poured her heart into her application and made the position her first choice. She says she is a different person now because of the experience, not only because CEP gives young people a seat at the table where vital issues are discussed, from civic engagement to racial justice and police violence, but because their ideas are heard and acted on. Now in college, Zakiyah uses her talents in filmmaking and social media to advocate for her community, Washington DC's Ward 7 and 8 youth. And when COVID19 made in-person convenings impossible, CEP pivoted, hosting International Youth Dialogues, which connected young activists around the world to address United Nations sustainable development goals. All of this was made possible by Lauren Grimes, a true visionary who founded the CEP to celebrate a culturally rich, historically relevant but politically disenfranchised part of our nation's capital. CEP's podcast, Youth Voices Amplified is a stunning example of what can happen when young people lead courageous conversations at a time of both turmoil and possibility.

#201 Andrés Jimenez Jan 17, 2022

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What will persuade Congress to pass urgently needed legislation to correct the impacts of climate change on our planet? As with all our nation's greatest challenges, the nonprofit sector is driving this ambitious agenda. For decades, environmental nonprofits have documented how deregulation harms our air, wildlife and oceans. And the data is crystal clear: these harms are disproportionately borne by communities of color. But the sector is made less effective by its failure to elevate people of color within their organizational ranks. Diverse leaders are crucial to crafting and advocating for solutions to climate migration, persistent health problems and a loss of housing caused by environmental degradation. Green2.0 is strengthening the movement by pushing it to become more accountable. Executive director Andrés Jimenez explains that inequities within the sector are deep rooted and require a shift in culture. Green2.0 is tracking how nonprofits and foundations are diversifying their top ranks. And the eye opening results can be found in published report cards. Andrés is up for this challenge. He brings deep political savvy, patience and endless energy to this earth-changing enterprise.

#200 Diane Yentel Jan 10, 2022

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It is not hyperbole to say that nonprofits are essential to becoming a just democracy. The best nonprofits produce unimpeachable data and mobilize across sectors and geography to advocate for federal legislation informed by the lived experience of their members. This role has taken on greater urgency in the face of a global pandemic that has disproportionately impacted the physical and economic well-being of low-income households, exacerbating our national eviction and homelessness crisis. Diane Yentel, CEO of National Low Income Housing Coalition, exemplifies how intentionality makes transformational change possible. As Diane says, NLIHC is laser-focused on expanding housing resources for lowest income Americans, no matter who is in the White House or Congress. The story of how NLIHC was able to get $25 billion in Emergency Rental Assistance into the 2020 stimulus package, an extension of the eviction moratorium passed and build the internal infrastructure needed to ensure that these funds were deployed to states and municipalities is beyond impressive. And now there is the imperative to achieve an historic investment in housing through the Build Back Better Act. NLIHC is our path to democracy.

#199 Torey Carter-Conneen Dec 27, 2021

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It is humbling and exhilarating to talk to Torey Carter-Conneen, CEO of the American Society for Landscape Architects. An esteemed nonprofit executive and social justice advocate he now leads a professional association whose highly skilled members create purposeful places using art, science, engineering and design. ASLA was founded in 1899 by innovators Frederick Law Olmsted and Beatrix Ferrand whose designs connected the built and natural environments, creating places of beauty and function. Landscape architecture has evolved into a laboratory for solving the most pressing problems facing people and the planet. In fact, ASLA's policy recommendations on the environment and climate change have been recognized by the Biden Administration and codified by Congress into the Infrastructure Bill. Landscape architecture connects the lines between design, environmental justice, climate change and racial equity. And these values are acted on internally as well. Torey is fixing inequities within the field, including for women of color who face barriers to licensure, which can end professional advancement. This is a conversation about the power of intentionality and values.

#198 Bridgette Stumpf Dec 20, 2021

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What happens when a nonprofit organization reimagines how to deliver justice for victims of violent crimes? Network for Victim Recovery of DC took on this challenge when it launched in 2012, powered by Bridgette Stumpf, an exceptional advocate armed with a small seed grant. NVRDC now has a staff of 40 lawyers and advocates who operationalize a shared vision. It starts with the belief that survivors should not be left to navigate a complex system on their own and that they should be treated with dignity on their journey to justice. What makes NVRDC's approach particularly culture shifting is its commitment to survivor defined justice. Not all victims want the same remedy, such as the incarceration of their assailant, but the data reveals that they all want to be heard by the public agencies engaged with their cases. In fact, survivors are informing and leading trainings in trauma education for pro bono attorneys assigned to them. NVRDC is pushing the parameters of legal representation of survivors, being an ally at every touchpoint and advocating for policies that expand their rights.

#197 Nahida Uddin Dec 13, 2021

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The National Coalition of Asian Pacific American Community Development is driven by a central question: how to advance the economic and social progress of members, amplify their voices, and tell their stories. Few nonprofits approach this challenge with as much rigor as National CAPACD. It starts with knowing its complex and nuanced base, 100 community-based organizations, from renowned community development corporations to start-up tenant organizations in 22 states and the Pacific Islands. And it requires dispelling a persistent model minority myth, that AAPI communities are well-off and monolithic. National CAPACD's Communications Director Nahida Uddin shares her experience with advancing a new narrative, one that centers the reality of AAPI poverty. And she recounts how National CAPACD is leading the way in achieving important wins, from the disaggregation of public data, which tells the story of specific communities, to guiding groups navigating gentrification and displacement and training members in financial empowerment strategies. Nahida is shaped by her family's own immigration story and her mother's advocacy for her community. She is the future of advocacy, which bodes well for this nation.

#196 Sequane Lawrence Dec 06, 2021

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How would you build an American workforce for the 21st century? This question was relevant before a global pandemic exposed and exacerbated deep fissures of inequity in our nation and is urgent now. Sequane Lawrence, a Chicago-based community development innovator and a cohort of social entrepreneurs are tackling this challenge head on, and their approach is generating measurable results. They founded Revolution Works, a nonprofit that provides training and career development that leads to well-paying jobs in industries that open their doors to formerly incarcerated people. And it promotes a public policy agenda that advances its primary goal, to close our pervasive racial wealth gap. Revolution Works brings its diverse stakeholders to a common table. It engages industry leaders, academics, workers and trainers in identifying the skills employers need and a strategy for developing them. And it is creating social enterprises and worker-owned cooperatives rooted in workplace democracy, shared values and shared profits. Most importantly, Sequane does not view Revolution Work's successes as proprietary. He is sharing what he has learned with a national network of nonprofits that are building a more equitable future.

#195 Kimberly Perry Dec 01, 2021

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If we want to speak honestly about the state of our nation, we must look first at how our children are doing. For Kimberly Perry, executive director of DC Action, this requires facing the fact that 1/3 of Washington DC's children live in poverty, data that has barely shifted since the organization's founding 30 years ago. An expert teacher, organizer and policy advocate, Kimberly is leading a movement to challenge this unacceptable status quo with unimpeachable data, solutions shaped by children and families and the investment of local and federal policy makers. As Kimberly explains in this episode of Power Station, it is the ongoing global pandemic and a racial reckoning that has exposed and exacerbated long-lived fissures in our public health, housing, education and criminal justice systems. The racial inequities that undergird these systems are the focus of DC Action's bold, ambitious agenda for change. And that change is happening now, through programs that touch families from birth to early childhood to young adulthood and policy advocacy that has generated historical levels of investment in Black and Brown children. Kimberly is a change maker to watch, support and learn from.

#194 Susan Francis, Maryland Volunteer Legal Services Nov 22, 2021

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When Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1981, he was determined to eliminate legal aid to the poor. He pressed Congress not to reauthorize the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), established in 1974 by President Nixon to provide lowest income Americans with access to high-quality legal counsel in civil cases. Congress stopped short of eradicating LSC but drastically cut funding and restricted the use of class action suits, viewed by conservatives as the gateway to broader social impacts. Maryland Volunteer Legal Services (MVLS) was created in 1981 to represent Marylanders in cases involving evictions, child custody and loss of homes to tax liens. While MVLS is a key player in a robust statewide network, the demand remains overwhelming. As MVLS executive director Susan Francis explains, it is expensive to be poor. And public policies are not race neutral in their impacts. Black Marylanders are disproportionately hurt by payday lenders, lead poisoning and loss of homes due to flawed title transfers. MVLS recruits and trains private bar attorneys to represent clients and advocates for reforms to unjust policies. Their work transforms lives and proves what intentionality can generate.

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