Power Station

Latest Episodes:

#173 Daniel Gillison, National Alliance on Mental Illness Jun 28, 2021

Show notes

The culture of empathy that characterizes the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) can be traced to its origin story. Two women whose sons were diagnosed with schizophrenia, connected. They struggled to help their children and cope with the associated stigma. And both had been identified as the root cause of their son's schizophrenia. What started as a series of kitchen conversations 40 years ago became NAMI, the nation's largest grassroots mental illness advocacy organization. NAMI supports and organizes families touched by mental illness into a force for effective policy change. Daniel Gillison, NAMI's CEO, examines how the mental health field has evolved and where it is stuck. We learn about the generational shift in perceptions that has motivated pop culture icons to become mental health advocates. But the alarming criminalization of people with mental illnesses, particularly in communities of color, persists. The potential for taking the police out of mental health interventions is within our grasp. But it will take Dan Gillison's call to action to fulfill its promise. Remember 988.

#172 Marleine Bastien, Family Action Network Movement Jun 21, 2021

Show notes

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, thousands of Haitian and Cuban nationals escaped repressive regimes for the promise of safety and a better future on American shores. But once here their experience has been starkly disparate. Cubans were welcomed as political refugees, but Haitians, survivors of Duvalier's brutal dictatorship, were detained without due process rights in Miami's infamous Krome Detention Center. Their path to citizenship has been tenuous at best with former President Trump's termination of Temporary Protective Status (TPS) making deportation probable. President Biden has since extended TPS protections for Haitians. Marleine Bastien, executive director of Family Action Network Movement (FANM), explains that Haitians are their own most fierce and effective advocates. A celebrated advocate in her own right, Bastien views the Haitian community in Miami as a village. For the village to be successful, families must achieve stability, which FANM makes possible through a menu of wrap-around services. And to become powerful they must become advocates. Just last week, a member of the village testified before Congress with his daughter, a rising youth advocate, by his side.

#171 Antonio Tovar Jun 14, 2021

Show notes

So much goes into bringing fruits and vegetable to our tables. It starts with farmers who because of rising costs are increasingly selling off their land, often family legacies, to corporations and international investors. It relies on farmworkers brought to the United States on H-2A temporary visas who once here, migrate across states to harvest crops requiring a specialized workforce. In Florida, the nation's second largest agricultural producer, farmworkers, are subjected to environmental hazards, heat stress and pay based on piecework. As medical anthropologist and farmworker advocate Dr. Antonio Tovar explains, the agricultural industry is complex, risky and historically discriminatory. He wants Congress to listen to farmworkers and small owners for policy solutions, not just industry lobbyists, in the run-up to the 2022 Farm Bill. The Florida Association of Farmworkers has researched the impacts of heat stress on workers and the National Family Farmworker Coalition is modeling how small family farms can become major providers in their region. As consumers, we can leverage our collective power too. Listen and find out how.

#170 Mark Newberg and John Holdsclaw Jun 07, 2021

Show notes

How is legislation enacted? Do you picture Capitol Hill staffers scrambling to draft bills they have little connection to? Or back-room deal-making with corporations? That happens but more often nonprofit advocates press for legislation that will mitigate harms caused by policy making based in racism. Enacting legislation for the public good, let's say decreasing carbon emissions and increasing access to affordable housing, impacts all sectors, nonprofit, public and business, so why not bring them together at the policy development table? That is exactly what leaders in the Impact Economy-an eco-system of nonprofits, entrepreneurs and investors driven to do good and do well-have advanced by creating The Desktop Manual, a digital guide to policy making. It supports collaboration across sectors and ensures that all sectors are invested in and accountable to the outcomes. In this episode of Power Station, John Holdsclaw and Mark Newberg break down a new paradigm for making change possible. It starts with a North Star challenge: What are you trying to do? How are you trying to do it? Why are you trying to do it? And it embeds racial equity lens in the process.

#169 Larry Curley, Native Indian Council on Aging May 31, 2021

Show notes

Larry Curley has felt the destructive force of US government policy on Native Americans first-hand. A member of the Navajo Nation he lives with the legacy of dislocation and stripping of identity caused by the Removal Act of 1830 and the Assimilation Act of 1887. He has directly experienced the Termination Act of 1953 and Relocation Act of 1956 as blunt instruments of a federal power grab. As a young and fearless advocate in 1978, he drafted Title VI of the Older Americans Act, requiring federal funding for elders to be deployed to tribes instead of states. And to guarantee that elders were taken seriously by policy makers he founded and now leads the Native Indian Council on Aging. NICOA is a force to be reckoned with. During the pandemic, which stole 5000 Native lives, predominantly seniors, its leaders adapted by advocating through Zoom. They are now gearing up for an in-person conference to build a policy agenda focused on the physical, mental and spiritual needs of Native elders. It will be based in wisdom, respect and advanced by collective action. Next stop: Capitol Hill.

#168 Maria Rodriguez, Florida Immigrant Coalition May 24, 2021

Show notes

How would you undertake the bold, ambitious and critical mission of building a path to citizenship for the over 775,000 undocumented African, Jamaican, Latinx, Haitian and Asian immigrants who raise families, bolster the workforce and create communities throughout the state of Florida? This is the charge that Maria Rodriguez, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, embraces. She is also focusing on the 1 million immigrants in Florida who are citizens as partners in change making. FLIC is where influential member organizations, from labor unions to service providers and faith-based organizations come together and leverage their considerable powers to advocate for the community. And this hub for movement building is generating big wins on the issues that matter to immigrants, from wage theft to access to DACA and the election of candidates who share the immigrant experience. FLIC is leading this movement in the state run by Governor Ron DeSantis, a striving Trump acolyte who resists progress at every turn. This is why FLIC has expanded its reach and impact by creating FLIC Votes, which is mobilizing the community, producing ballot initiatives and demonstrating that engagement counts.

#167 Erica Williams, DC Fiscal Policy Institute May 17, 2021

Show notes

Those of us fortunate enough to have survived the Trump era, police violence against Black and Brown communities, a global pandemic and a punishing economic fallout, bear responsibility for what comes next. Organized resistance by impacted communities has forced the beginnings of a power shift but that alone will not ensure a more equitable future. Transformation requires going bone-deep to the truth. White people in powerful positions have enacted public policies in race and racism for centuries. The only way to counter this injustice is to explicitly advance policies founded in racial equity. And not just any policies. The heart of structural change is embedded in tax and fiscal policies. Erica Williams, the new executive director of the DC Fiscal Policy Institute is exactly the right person to meet the challenges and opportunities of this moment. She has lived the consequences of unjust policies and led a state-based network of fiscal policy advocates at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. Erica and her team are incubating new ideas, imagining what could be, including DC statehood, and inviting policy makers, community members and organizational partners to join them in making change happen.

#166 Fran Hutchins, Equality Federation May 10, 2021

Show notes

In 2021, our nation's deep political divide is reflected in a flood of legislation targeting LGBTQ people. The 1,100 bills now pending in state legislatures are in part the handiwork of GOP leaders threatened by changing cultural norms. They are particularly fixated on demonizing transgender children and criminalizing doctors who care for their needs. But there is also a surge of pro-LGBTQ bills, including proposed bans on conversion therapy and discrimination in the workplace. And we are in a pivotal moment at federal level too. This could be the year to finally enact the Equality Act, which amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by extending protections against discrimination in employment, housing and public spaces to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Fran Hutchens, Executive Director of Equality Federation, describes this moment as a reaction to the movement's cultural, policy and political gains over the 20 years. The Federation's member organizations are tackling each challenge and opportunity in their respective states and they are leveraging their collective powers to ensure that all families are treated justly. As Fran says, it all starts with building relationships.

#165 Rasmia Kirmani May 03, 2021

Show notes

As a society we claim to value our public systems. We view parks, education and the arts as being in service to the common good. But the narrative about public housing is persistently negative and steeped in racism. Public housing was created in the 1930s, leading to slum clearance, the displacement of Black families and sanctioning of segregated neighborhoods. Nationally, over 3,300 local authorities are charged with managing aging housing stock through decades of federal disinvestment. The NYC Housing Authority oversees 180,000 residential units and is the largest landlord in North America. Residents, demonized in TV shows and by pandering politicians, are simply trying to live their lives. They are also engaged community members advocating for solutions to aging infrastructure. As Rasmia Firmani, a passionate champion of NYCHA residents explains, they do this after coming home from jobs that are overwhelming at NYC agencies, from the NYPD to the Department of Education and NYCHA itself. Rasmia is a champion and connector of the people and resources needed to generate change. And she is changing the narrative.

#164 Jasmin Benas and Cristian Campos, Yes! for Equity Apr 26, 2021

Show notes

We think we are a youth-oriented culture but young people will point out that perception is not reality. While those under the age of 18 make up more than ¼ of the U.S. population youth are not consulted when elected officials craft legislation on issues that will determine the quality of their futures, from health care to education. And youth of color whose direct experiences with racial inequity make them uniquely positioned to generate solutions are overlooked and under-estimated. This is why Yes! For Equity is a youth-powered organization whose time has come. It provides the opportunities and tools needed for effective change making. Yes! For Equity has a new home at Partnership for Southern Equity, which is leading an equity agenda for the American South. In this episode, Yes! For Equity leaders Jasmin Benas and Cristian Campos explain how critical awareness and leadership training prepares young people to not only sit at policy making tables but to lead the discussions. And the receipts are in: Yes! For Equity youth are mobilizing, changing outdated policies and requiring public and corporate accountability. This is a conversation for your soul.

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