Power Station

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#133 John Park, The MinKwon Center for Community Action Sep 21, 2020

Show notes

To see how deep the impacts of COVID19 and racial inequity go, take a look at Flushing, Queens. With a population that is 70% Asian, it is also New York City's fourth most congested business district. It appeared, pre-pandemic, to be a bustling neighborhood of working people. In reality, incomes for many were so limited they relied on food pantries to feed their families. Many now have no incomes at all. The truth, as John Park, executive director of the MinKwon Center for Community Action explains, contradicts the widely held model minority myth, a construct that has persisted for generations. He points out that Asian Americans have the highest level of poverty within working age populations of any major ethnic group in New York. And while the impacts of the pandemic have been cataclysmic, there is reason for hope and inspiration. Despite a loss of lives and jobs, the community is engaged and resilient. MinKwon is leading a campaign to overcome a waterfront development plan and young community members are testifying at public hearings to save their community. This is, as John says, hard emotional work, and it is essential.

#132 Nathaniel Smith, Partnership for Southern Equity Sep 14, 2020

Show notes

It takes more than pundits and politicians to create a more just society. Change happens when those who have been hurt the most stand up to demand justice and craft solutions. And it takes nonprofits with courage and the infrastructure needed to leverage power. This is the formula embodied by Partnership for Southern Equity, an Atlanta-based nonprofit that is building an equity agenda for the American south. As PSE's founder and Chief Equity Officer Nathaniel Smith sees it, the path to equity is a process, the next step in the civil rights movement that took root in Atlanta through the 50s and 60s. He leads a corps of organizers, researchers and communications experts in taking on the devastating impacts of systemic racism in health, housing, climate, energy and community development. All of PSE's work is guided by a prism of equity and shared values. It is the heart and intentionality of PSE's approach in Atlanta that establishes them as a blueprint for the region and beyond. There is much more to come from Nathaniel Smith.

#131 Andreanecia Morris, Housing NOLA Sep 10, 2020

Show notes

Did you know that the Lower Ninth Ward had the highest rate of homeownership in New Orleans, pre-Hurricane Katrina? And that the devastation of those homes and displacement of their African American owners was caused by breeches in levees that are still in disrepair 15 years later? Or that tens of thousands of those owners remain displaced from their own city? Unlike most cities grappling with a housing crisis, there are 19,000 vacant units in New Orleans. The fact that landlords have withheld them from the rental market is just one of the factors that compelled dozens of affordable housing developers, homeless and housing advocates, and community residents to create Housing NOLA. Their mission is crystal-clear: to produce a data-based plan for meeting affordable housing needs in New Orleans over a 10-year period. It takes an uncommon leader to publish a yearly report card on such a plan's progress and failings. Andreanecia Morris is the exceptional leader that Housing NOLA deserves. From her expertise in housing development and policy advocacy to her deep commitment to racial equity and justice, this is a story we all need to hear and follow.

#130 Cleofas Rodriguez, National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association Aug 31, 2020

Show notes

As we navigate extraordinary challenges, from COVID19 to the implosion of our economy, we can see which of us are truly essential workers. We rely on doctors, nurses, mail carriers and grocery store workers, but do we recognize those whose labor literally sustains us? Farmworkers, working 12-14 hours a day, often in unsafe conditions, harvest the strawberries, blueberries, lettuce and other crops that, if we are fortunate, grace our tables. Many are immigrants who have been targeted by a relentlessly hostile administration. And they are parents who want their children to thrive. As executive director of the National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association (NMSHSA), Cleofas Rodriguez is tasked with a responsibility that he embraces. NMSHSA connects families that move 3 times a year to harvest crops to providers of early childhood education. These teachers and administrators are often former farmworkers themselves who understand the needs of the community. As Cleo explains, farmworkers are a skilled workforce; they are parents and they are not included in congressional relief bills. But they should be.

#129 Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter Aug 24, 2020

Show notes

As the saying goes, when you need something done, ask a busy person. This is definitely the case with Gilda Cobb-Hunter, who represents Orangeburg County in the South Carolina State Legislature. She also directs a nonprofit serving victims of family violence. And she is president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislatures, which creates community among policy makers of color. Now she is advocating for legislation that, if adopted across state legislatures, could transform policing entirely. It is what we need now, in the wake of a social uprising sparked by unbridled police violence against men and women of color. The bill, which is informed by diverse policy partners, including police officers, starts with a framework called Ethical Policing. It codifies standards that set expectations for police departments. And it creates standardized systems for tracking behavior. It ends the shifting of abusers from one precinct to another. And it includes young people, often the target of police violence, in a review process. Representative Cobb-Hunter is hopeful and determined, and she needs you to use your voice to support this call to action.

#128 Radha Muthiah, Capital Area Food Bank Aug 17, 2020

Show notes

Food insecurity is our government's somewhat clinical term for hunger, or in bureaucratese, a lack of access to the food needed for a full and active life. Hunger is an everyday reality for poor and working families in the nation's capital and its surrounding suburbs, one of the wealthiest regions in the country. And in the shadows of COVID19 and a staggering loss of jobs and income, hunger is growing exponentially. Imagine what it takes for the Capital Area Food Bank to provide 30 million meals a year to 400,000 women, men and children who are food insecure. And then realize that these figures reflect pre-pandemic times. Radha Muthiah, CAFB's President and CEO, manages the complexities of supply chains and delivery systems to meet growing demands. And her vision extends beyond the unprecedented challenge of the moment. She is working towards a new normal, which requires collaboration across issue area silos and an insistence on righting the wrongs of systemic injustice. She is a woman who makes change happen.

#127 Eddy Morales Aug 10, 2020

Show notes

Eddy Morales has an amazing story to tell and he wants it to be your call to action. The last of 9 children and the first born in the United States to a single mother from Mexico, he has faced hardship first hand. He was influenced by his mother's fearlessness and compassion, values that guide him now. In college, he made the connection between his childhood and systemic injustices that oppress people of color. In his next chapter, he was recruited to Washington DC to lead the US Student Association, where he mobilized young people to exercise their collective power. And in successive roles at the Center for Community Change, Voto Latino and Democracy Alliance, Eddy honed his skills as a trainer, political organizer and adviser to foundations on investing in Latinx nonprofits. After the crushing election results of 2016, life took another turn when he returned to Gresham, Oregon. That is the chapter you will hear today. It is about the deliberative and rewarding process of building power, from a PAC to a slate of political candidates, from the ground up. Eddy is making change in real time. Bonus points for creating a template for us all.

#126 Jennifer Wang, National Asian Pacific Women's Forum Aug 03, 2020

Show notes

It should not take a pandemic and an uprising spurred by police violence against Black men and women to generate a national reckoning with racism, but here we are. If we want this moment to spark transformation, we need to crack open the full body of evidence about how non-White people are perceived and treated in America. And we need organizations like the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, that build power in communities made invisible by bias. Jennifer Wang, lawyer, strategist and one of the women at the helm of NAPAWF, is a power-builder. She recounts how stereotypes of privilege overshadow the lived experience of AAPI people, a non-monolithic community of over 50 ethnicities. And she explains why NAPAWF has taken on a singular mission, the reproductive rights of AAPI women and girls. Our conversation is particularly salient in a moment in which discrimination against AAPI women is rampant, from the White House to the streets. Jennifer shares what happened when her boss, Sung Yeon Choimorrow, was assaulted by hate speech while on a walk with her daughter. This is essential listening: painful, heartening and invigorating.

#125 Solana Rice, Liberation in a Generation Jul 27, 2020

Show notes

In this moment of national reckoning with racism, important truths are unfolding. For those who resist the reckoning, the truth starts with recognizing that since America's founding, our leaders, from the White House to Congress, have passed laws to benefit them at the expense of African Americans and other people of color. By enacting segregationist housing policies, excluding Black veterans from the benefits of the GI Bill, and denying mortgage loans in communities of color, the nation's racial wealth gap was created with intention and persists today. Another truth is that nonprofits carry the weight of redressing these wrongs. And while their solutions have been impactful, in this moment, they are simply not enough. These truths compelled Solana Rice and Jeremie Greer, to take their advocacy for economic justice to the next level. They formed a new nonprofit, Liberation in a Generation, that uplifts the big, ambitious transformational policies that communities are demanding today. Solana talks about building a liberation economy, shifting the conversation from personal behavior to ending our dual financial systems.

#124 Rudy Espinoza, Inclusive Action Jul 20, 2020

Show notes

Ten years ago, a group of friends, young professionals of color, began to incubate ideas to improve the lives of low-income people in Los Angeles. As the children of immigrant parents who worked hard only to subsist on the economic margins, they knew that systemic barriers to opportunity had to be dismantled. From the criminalization of being undocumented to the lack of access to bank loans, the proverbial American Dream left their communities out. They launched a nonprofit, Inclusive Action, that centers its strategies on the aspirations of underpaid and under-appreciated working people. Leading this ambitious effort, with a team of savvy advocates, is Rudy Espinoza, the son of an industrious immigrant mother from Zacatecas, Mexico. Their campaign to legalize street vendors and provide financing through Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) funding has toppled tired norms and changed lives. While COVID19 has brought new pain to the community, the story is far from over. No one can tell that story like Rudy, informed by the past but aimed squarely at a more equitable future.

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