Power Station

How is your mental health? Schroeder Stribling, President and CEO of Mental Health America, believes we should all live in the open about our stories and support one another when we are challenged. She is inspired by Clifford Beers who founded Mental Health America in 1909 to dismantle the system of institutionalization of those, like him, who suffered from mental illness. MHA embraced Clifford’s vision for a reform movement, fundamentally changing America’s approach to mental health. MHA is a crucial resource in this moment. A global pandemic, deep civil divisions and social isolation have been disorienting and deadly with communities of color, immigrants and LGBTQ youth bearing its disproportionate impacts. In this time, MHA’s Prevention and Screening platform has been used by 15,000 people per day, providing real time data about those most at risk: those between the ages of 11-17, primarily LGBTQ and youth of color. MHA advocates in state legislatures and on Capitol Hill and partners with community-based a

  When Cleofas Rodriguez says that leading the National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association is his dream job, believe him. He knows first-hand the risks that farmworkers face because of their immigration status and exposure to dangers in the fields. As executive director of NMSHSA, Cleo honors farmworkers by ensuring that their children are educated. He does this by supporting Head Start agencies in over 30 states that serve families who may move multiple times a year to harvest crops. Doing so requires logistical coordination, expertise in early childhood education and a deep commitment to these families. In previous episodes, we have talked to children of farmworkers who are now in college and working as NMSHSA Fellows. Cleo is now realizing a vision for these families that originated during the pandemic. When millions of Americans received stimulus checks, farmworkers were excluded. The Biden Administration is now extending cash relief to farmworkers, meat packers and grocery workers. NMHSA is part

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 explain

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 re

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

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

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

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 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 area

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 cooperat

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 organi

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

It is shocking, but no longer surprising, that the hate and disinformation which permeates social media provokes real-life harms. Conspiracy theories promulgated by a small cadre of hatemongers persuaded thousands to reject life-saving vaccines leading to preventable deaths. Children persecuted by anti-LGBTQ groups have succumbed to suicide. White nationalist groups breached the Capitol on January 6, based on an internet-based lie, that the presidential election had been stolen. This is the unsafe social media ecosystem that the Center for Countering Digital Hate, led by Imran Ahmed, intends to end. In 2016, Imran experienced the brutal murder of his colleague, member of Parliament Jo Cox, attacked during the referendum on whether the United Kingdom should remain in the European Union. The far-right Britain First party targeted MP Cox as a “traitor to white people,” setting her murder in action. CCDH counters social media companies’ failure to enforce their own code of ethics, a legislative framework that is

The year was 1881 when 17 women gathered for an unprecedented meeting called by recent college graduate Margaret Talbot and her mentor, Ellen Swallow Richards. Having defied social norms by attending college and pursuing careers they were determined to increase women’s access to higher education. Their persistence led to the founding of the American Association for University Women, which has championed the civil, educational, and economic rights of women for 140 years. AAUW is devoted to achieving equal pay for women and to closing a pay gap, that disproportionately harms Black women and Latinas. Gloria Blackwell, who started her career educating girls in sub-Saharan Africa, led several of AAUW’s signature initiatives, including its celebrated Fellowship program and trainings in salary negotiations, before becoming its President and CEO. She honors the women who came before her by engaging a new generation of girls in fighting stereotypes to excel in STEM, advocating for paid family leave, affordable childca

Words are powerful. Whether Patrice Sulton is telling the story of Washington DC’s criminal justice system or drafting legislation to overhaul it, she uses hers to advance bold changes in its policing, courts, and jails. For years, as a criminal defense and civil rights attorney, Patrice saw first-hand what the data confirms: virtually all criminalized people in this city are poor, Black, and native Washingtonians. In 2020, she founded DC Justice Lab to reimagine failed systems through research, legislation and litigation tailored to this city’s specific issues, including having among the worst jails in the nation. As Patrice explains, DC Justice Lab is laser-focused on DC-centric solutions. And she is equally committed to drafting bills in-house and not outsourcing this role to national organizations without deep community roots. Moving policy makers and city residents who see themselves as progressive to act on their stated values is an ongoing challenge. At DC Justice Lab, Patrice is building a movement fo

Every great organization has a compelling origin story. In the case of Native American Youth and Family (NAYA) Center, parents and elders came together in the 1970s, concerned about the low graduation rate, only 24%, of Native students in the Portland, Oregon school system. Their organizing generated after-school programming and eventually, in 1994, led to the nonprofit incorporation of the NAYA Center, which now serves the entire community from infancy to elders. And the needs are profound, from housing to hunger, a legacy of broken treaties and the displacement of 381 tribes from their land starting in the late 1800s. Paul Lumley (Yakama), executive director of the Naya Center, is proud that its Many Nations Academy for 9th to 12th graders, embraces all students and supports them in seeing the value in themselves. Many of the students are homeless, some because they identity as Two Spirit, the indigenous term for LGBTQ, and have been rejected by their families. Paul’s next step is to build a residential hal

What would your nonprofit be able to achieve with a law firm on its side? This question was tested when, in the wake of the 2016 presidential election, a small group of experienced litigators launched Democracy Forward, taking on the Trump administration’s assaults on the voting, environmental, immigration, reproductive, and health care rights of low income and communities of color. They quickly mobilized a team of legal, communications and policy experts and partnered with nonprofits working on the frontlines of civil and human rights advocacy. Democracy Forward prevailed against attempts to undermine the Affordable Care Act, terminate Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programs, and halt illegal investigations of individual’s voting histories. And since the election of President Biden in 2020, the drumbeat of right-wing antagonism towards democratic policies and institutions continues. Democracy Forward is expanding its staff and array of legal interventions, including deep engagement in the regulatory process, to m

The seeds of America’s subjugation of low income, indigenous, and people of color were planted at our founding. Ever since, public leaders have codified policies that strip these communities of wealth and power. It has taken social movements, including bold nonprofits, to demand equal rights and structural change. This divisive moment in history calls for collective action rooted in 21st century strategies. Media Justice, led by exceptional change maker Steven Renderos is laser focused on democratizing our media and technology sectors, largely unregulated industries with outsized influence on our culture and politics. News outlets and tech companies are willing purveyors of racist and misogynistic tropes that spill over into policy making. Media Justice believes there is a pathway to shaping the material conditions of people of color only when communities tell their own stories, with depth and nuance, and tech companies are held accountable for the disinformation they amplify. We have experienced, in the acti

If you are despairing about the rise of racial hatred and the anti-democratic direction this country is embracing, consider what it takes to build a more just future. For marginalized communities, nonprofit organizations are essential to becoming visible, attaining legal rights, and exercising electoral clout. Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California exemplifies how organizational expertise, vision, and infrastructure make systemic change achievable. Led brilliantly by Connie Chung Joe, AAAJ SoCal was founded by civil rights titan Stewart Kwoh following the 1983 murder of Chinese American autoworker Vincent Chin by aggrieved white co-workers. Since then, it has evolved into the nation’s largest legal aid and civil rights organization serving Asian Americans. A conversation with Connie Chung Joe is a masterclass in how to implement a multi-layered strategy. The agenda includes direct services to community members facing eviction, bystander intervention training in response to rising hate crimes, a

Since its founding in 1966, the National Organization for Women has been on the frontlines of dismantling both sexism and racism. Its founders, including Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisolm and Pauli Murray saw these systems of oppression as inextricably linked, fortified by policies enacted to marginalize women, particularly Black women, and other people of color. NOW’s president, the immensely talented Christian Nunes is leading in another tumultuous time in America. And she is taking an intersectional, rather than a siloed approach, to meeting historical threats to bodily autonomy, mental health, and economic independence. Intersectionality, a term coined by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, describes a framework for understanding how overlapping forms of oppression codify injustice. NOW’s organizational structure includes its 501c3, a 501c4, a political action committee and hundreds of grassroots chapters in 35 states. All are at the heart of fortifying the rights of women and girls to reproductive and LGBTQ ri