Power Station

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#53 Amy Petkovsek and Dimitri Degbeu, Maryland Legal Aid Bureau Mar 11, 2019

Show notes

The path to legal services for the poor in the U.S. includes support from the Freedman's Association post Civil War to philanthropic investment by the Ford Foundation in the 1960s and the adoption of federal funding in 1974. A conversation with Maryland Legal Aid's Amy Petkovsek and Dimitri Degbeu demonstrates how innovative and life-changing a nonprofit law firm can be. In both rural communities and urban centers, MLA's lawyers represent people facing eviction, predatory debt collection and foreclosure. They may be in in custody disputes, have wage claims, are struggling to gain veteran's benefits and are tethered to criminal charges that deprive them of employment and housing rights. Amy, MLA's Director of Advocacy, and Dimitri, a paralegal, talk about the Lawyer in the Library program, which provides counsel on these issues in a safe community space. MLA also provides assistance on the City's workforce development buses, sees public schools as their next frontier and educates state policy makers about the change that is needed. As Dimitri says, We need to recognize the humanity in folks that are often left out. The harm we cause to others is the harm we will eventually feel ourselves.

#52 Joseph Leitmann-Santa Cruz, Capital Area Asset Builders Mar 04, 2019

Show notes

What does it take to build wealth in low-income and communities of color? It requires more than personal responsibility and savings. Bridging our nation's gaping racial wealth divide means taking on systemic barriers: racism, student debt, low wages and resistance to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. We need changes to the US Tax Code, which, as Joseph Leitmann-Santa Cruz, Acting Director of Capital Area Asset Builders explains, "rewards the rich, misses the middle and penalizes the poor." In combination with other financial education and resources, families that file for and receive a credit can aspire to and reach financial goals, from a college education to the purchase of a home or the launch of a small business. In Washington DC, where over 1/3 of the residents are unbanked or underbanked, Capital Area Asset Builder leads a network of nonprofits, City government, corporate and foundation partners, in advocating for the EITC. CAAB also promotes the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, a critical alternative to the unregulated tax preparers who strip wealth wealth in poor communities.

#51 Gabrielle Jackson, UndocuBlack Network Feb 25, 2019

Show notes

A new organization is amplifying the voices of those who are often invisible in the immigration narrative, undocumented Black people. The UndocuBlack Network started when a group of currently and formerly undocumented Black people came together after Freddy Gray, a Baltimore resident, died from injuries sustained while in police custody. In just 3 years, the UndocuBlack Network has blossomed into a national nonprofit. As Gabrielle Jackson, co-founder and Mental Wellness Director explains, undocumented people from the Caribbean, United Kingdom, Latin America and the African Continent are deported at significantly higher rates than other populations and their stories are often underreported. A childhood arrival from Trinidad and Tobago, Gabrielle wants no one else to feel the kind of aloneness that she did. As she says, We focus on both policy advocacy and mental illness and mental wellness issues. You have the right not just to survive but to thrive.

#50 Dr. Imani Woody Feb 19, 2019

Show notes

Dr. Imani Woody has a vision and she is bringing it to life. It reflects a lifetime of working at the intersection of LGBTQ, race, cultural diversity, and aging issues. It is informed by her experience with her father, an accomplished entrepreneur, who, after entering a "good" nursing home, experienced a decline in self-worth and physical health. She took her father out of the facility, into her home, and reimagined what is possible.The model Dr. Woody has developed is based in research, including her own PhD thesis, which chronicled the challenges of aging, particularly for LGBTQ elders who are most likely to suffer from isolation, discrimination and marginalization. She formed a nonprofit, and drew on her experience with the Whitman Walker Center, the Mautner Project for Lesbians, the AARP Foundation Sage Metro DC and as an appointee to the DC Office of LGBTQ Affairs. In September 2020. she will break ground on the first Mary's Center for Older Adults, communal living for LGBTQ elders.

#49 Alison Feighan, The Feighan Team Feb 11, 2019

Show notes

Alison Feighan learned about the power of community development to change communities and lives as a Fair Housing advocate in Quincy, Massachusetts. In her first "real" job out of college, Alison became a Fair Housing advocate for Quincy Community Action Agency where she worked for and was mentored by her executive director, the late Rosemary Wahlberg. The lessons learned from Rosemary - listening to the community, being problem solving and taking local stories to a national stage on Capitol Hill - are foundational to Alison's work. As Founder of The Feighan Team, an advocacy and lobbying firm for nonprofits, Alison gets her clients seats at the table on the Hill and then "gets out of the way." She works with them to identify their goals, understand the Congressional timeline, and build their "muscle memory" as advocates on their issues. And she encourages a non-partisan approach, a significant challenge in the current political environment. Her clients, which include the Native CDFI Coalition, National Migrant & Seasonal Head Start Association and the Responsible Business Lending Coalition, have become resources to Congressional members and their staffs. They are developing and using their muscle memory to make their case, push back against Budget cutbacks and create bi-partisan champions in the US Congress.

#48 John Yang, Asia Americans Advancing Justice Feb 04, 2019

Show notes

This episode of Power Station tracks the latest news on the lawsuit, filed by Asian Americans Advancing Justice and Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, challenging the inclusion of an untested citizenship question on the decennial U.S. Census. John Yang, President of AAJC, explains what the lawsuit alleges: that adding the question represents collusion by President Trump, Kris Kobach, Steve Bannon and Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, to deprive Asian-American, Pacific Islander, Latino and Native Americans of their constitutional right to representation in the Census. Census data is what drives more than $600 billion in federal funding allocations annually to schools, hospitals, roads and all of the systems that make communities whole. It is also what determines how districts are drawn and the number of congressional seats each state has within the U.S. House of Representatives. The proposed addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census undermines the very purpose of this singular enterprise: to count all people in the U.S. and create a data-driven roadmap for public investment where and for whom it is needed the most.

#47 Mike Koprowski and Chantelle Wilkinson, Opportunity Starts at Home Jan 28, 2019

Show notes

As Mike Koprowski, National Campaign Director of Opportunity Starts at Home says, eyes widen on Capitol Hill when they see the logos on our letterhead. That is because policymakers are not used to seeing powerful nonprofits outside of the housing sector advocate for a housing centered policy agenda. The data makes the case that decent and affordable housing is foundational to the well-being and economic security of all communities. A growing understanding of the intersectionality of social and economic justice concerns has moved the nation's leading civil rights, education, health and children's organizations to join and shape the agenda of the Opportunity Starts at Home campaign. Mike and Campaign Coordinator Chantelle Wilkinson joined Power Station to talk about this dynamic coalition and about Within Reach, its just-released policy agenda. Within Reach is a comprehensive template for solving the housing crisis for lowest income Americans. It advocates for demand side, supply side and prevention solutions, including new initiatives that create resources for lowest income tenants when emergencies arise. A shift in housing advocacy is happening.

#46 Daniel del Pielago, Jan 22, 2019

Show notes

A conversation with Daniel del Pielago, Organizing Director at Empower DC, is a good reminder that public policy change cannot be made or sustained without an organized community. And when the community seeking change is public housing residents, the barriers to becoming organized are considerable and the stakes are extremely high. Daniel tells the story of Berry Farms, a public housing complex beset by deteriorating conditions and a lack of public investment. Berry Farms is slated to be demolished and replaced by mixed-use housing, featuring market rate apartments and town homes. Many residents have been dispersed throughout the City with promises to be returned. But they are organizing and making their voices heard in City Council hearings. The DC Court of Appeals recently vacated approval of the development plan, finding that resident needs are not adequately represented. Empower DC is clearly in the fight for the long haul.

#45 Diane Yentel, National Low Income Housing Coalition Jan 14, 2019

Show notes

As Diane Yentel, President of the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) explains, Only 1 in 4 households that need and are eligible for housing assistance, gets it. They are the winners in what is basically a housing lottery. Lowest income Americans who need project-based housing subsidies and public housing are the focus of NLIHC's research, analysis, education and policy advocacy. They are also part of the organizational infrastructure that NLIHC has created to advocate for increased investment in affordable housing. Now, in the face of the longest government shutdown in US history, resources generated through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and US Department of Agriculture (USDA) are at risk. Diane tells us how the Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding (CHCDF), a collaboration of 70 high-profile organizations and industry experts, has reached out to Congress about the impact of the shutdown on their constituents. Don't miss this conversation with one of our most formidable nonprofit leaders!

#44 Cecilia Munoz, New America Jan 07, 2019

Show notes

New America is a think tank devoted to America's renewal in a time of unprecedented social and technological change. Under the leadership of Anne-Marie Slaughter, it is building a new field of endeavor, known as Public Interest Technology. This emerging sector convenes municipal leaders, public agencies and nonprofits to generate nuanced solutions to systemic problems, from foster care, to opioid abuse and criminal justice. It pairs policy makers with technologists, an area of expertise more closely associated with Silicon Valley than government and NGOs, to create cost-effective and transformative solutions. This effort is led by Cecilia Munoz, a beloved leader at the forefront of progressive change making. Cecilia explains how Public Interest Technology is upending entrenched ideas about the process of change making and uplifts what actually works. Redefining policy change has arrived!

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