Power Station

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

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 al

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 fina

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

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

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 recr

When the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies was launched in 1970 its founders entered the fray with a compelling vision. They were renowned public intellectuals committed to creating a hub for newly elected Black officials shifting from civil rights activism to governance. The mission was to advance the socioeconomic status and civic engagement clout of African Americans through evidence-based research and policy recommendations. And the work was rooted in a deep understanding that public policy is never race neutral. Since then, the Joint Center, known widely as America’s Black Think Tank, has become the go-to resource for the Congressional Black Caucus and rising leaders in local communities. Now led by Spencer Overton, the Joint Center remains a model for unimpeachable data and policy solutions. This episode of Power Station features Dr. Dominique Harrison who brings tremendous expertise and energy to producing original research and collaborating across sectors about the role of big tech, acce

This episode is a call to action for ending childhood poverty in America. Joseph Leitmann-Santa Cruz, CEO and Executive Director of Capital Area Asset Builders (CAAB) wants listeners to direct limited income families to the IRS Child Tax Credit (CTC) portal to apply for a refund by the November 15 deadline. We have, as Joseph explains, a once in a lifetime opportunity to lift more than half of low-income families out of poverty and keep them out. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit are this nation’s most effective poverty alleviation policies, but many eligible households are unaware of them. And to be clear, they are not public benefits. The CTC allows families whose incomes are limited or sporadic to collect refunds due to them. The payments can be transformational, allowing parents to start a college fund, pursue home ownership or start a business. The Biden Administration strongly supports the Child Tax Credit, and it was expanded but not made permanent in the American Rescue Plan

Here is a fact that I hope we can all agree on. American is home to a vast array of public lands, from forests to beaches, wildlife refuges and national parks that require our stewardship. These natural resources are vulnerable to devastating man-made harms, from the former president’s defilement of Bears Ears in Utah to climate change caused wildfires and flooding. The consequences of these disasters are felt disproportionately by indigenous and other communities of color. American Conservation Experience (ACE) is a champion of public lands whose internships in 50 states and Puerto Rico train young people in the technical and human skills needed to preserve these resources into the future. ACE President Laura Herrin approaches the mission, to create a culture of conservation, with intentionality and savvy. She partners with public agencies and is a trusted behind-the-scenes voice on Capitol Hill. Her action plan for keeping ACE relevant and robust led her to hire Alex Tremble as Chief Culture Officer. Alex i

It is impossible to overstate the dominance of social media in our lives. We are tethered to Facebook, Google and Twitter to consume, communicate, track our followers and detractors, access news and interpret world events. Facebook is the behemoth among other highly unregulated tech platforms that cultivate, collect and capitalize on our personal data. We are the technology users, but it is advertisers who pay Facebook for our data making them the valued customers. Facebook’s algorithms, based on surveillance tracking, determines which media sources end up in our newsfeeds. And therein lies the danger. As Nicole Gill, co-founder and executive director of Accountability Tech says, it is harder and harder to have a conversation with neighbors, policy makers or family, because we are not using the same language or set of facts. We are in a crisis of disinformation that is highly profitable for these companies and very dangerous for democracy. Accountable Tech is demanding legislative and regulatory interventions

The origin story of MALDEF-Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund-is rooted in the vision of the late Pete Tijerina. In 1967, he represented a Latina who was seriously harmed by corporate neglect and then again by a judge’s refusal, as constitutionally required, to seat Latinos on the jury. Discrimination against Latinos, fueled by misinformation, was escalating and the need for a dedicated civil rights infrastructure was clear. In 1968, Mr. Tijerina, fellow advocates and the general counsel of the NAACP, the model for civil rights activism, collaborated to form MALDEF. It’s mission, to promote the civil rights of all Latinos in the US in education, employment, immigration and voting rights could not be more relevant now. It was a rare honor to speak with MALDEF president Thomas Saenz, an expert in civil rights law and a champion for systemic reform to our immigration system. He believes that democracy will be realized when Latinos are seen in the full scope of their humanity and service to this

Mississippi Votes starts with an awe-inspiring mission, the registration of 400,000 eligible unregistered residents, and then goes deeper. It is building a culture of civic engagement in Mississippi, where access to the ballot box is a high hurdle, from the archaic requirement to print, fill out and mail in registration forms to lifelong disenfranchisement for 23 categories of former offenders. Equally daunting is the disconnection that many Mississippians of color feel from civic life, a legacy of racism and marginalization. But the dynamic cohort of young people of color leading Mississippi Votes are reframing how voter registration, voting rights and civic engagement is done. Executive director Arekia Bennett explains that everything at Mississippi Votes starts with listening to the community and creating the infrastructure needed to support their aspirations. That includes a footprint on 17 college campuses where students are informing a policy agenda and shaping outreach strategies. Change is happening,

In recent years disinformation has become the currency of political forces seeking power over truth. But as we know, facts matter. They reveal a true picture of the state of our nation, from which communities are prospering to those that are struggling, a legacy of discriminatory public policy making. They are foundational to breaking down barriers and creating access to healthcare, education, transportation and housing for low-income, people of color and immigrants, whose exclusion has been intentional and generational. At the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, 15 super-smart professionals dig into bills proposed by Virginia’s State Assembly, analyzing their implications for diverse communities. As CEO Ashley Kenneth explains, TCI Fiscal then partners with a talented eco-system of advocacy and service organizations to generate solutions informed by affected community members. Their formula, combining facts and analysis with civic engagement and advocacy is remarkably effective. TCI Fiscal is ahead o

Have you ever changed your mind about a pressing social or cultural issue? As we experience life and hopefully evolve so can our perspective and politics. For organizations in the business of advancing social change, interrogating how minds change and applying that knowledge to our communications is essential. At a time of dangerously divisive politics and cultural chasms the status quo for messaging, from myth-busting by repeating an opponent’s falsehoods to baiting on social media is inadequate. For 15 years the Opportunity Agenda has been at the forefront of bringing together experts from a range of disciplines to study and act on what makes an actual narrative shift possible. They identify the tipping points that make readiness for a shift possible all in support of the movements for racial, gender, LGBTQ, immigration and economic justice. Ellen Buchman, president of TOA, brings incredible heart, organizing savvy and policy proficiency to this challenging and optimistic enterprise. And TOA’s new report an

At a time of profound turmoil in America community-based and national nonprofits are demanding big bold social change. Progressive nonprofits are the frontline of movements with the capacity to remake inequitable systems affecting the environment, health care, housing and immigration. This is consequential culture-shifting work and nonprofits need infrastructure and staffing that is commensurate to the challenge. Linda Nguyen launched Movement Talent to position social change work for success by connecting the right people to the right organizations. She draws from her considerable experience in recruiting, sustaining and developing staff at Community Change and leverages her relationships with movement organizations. Linda has an ambitious goal, viewing candidates beyond their fit for a particular group. She looks at the potential of each candidate to staff a high-capacity movement for change. And she is placing staff into many organizational roles because it takes more than a great executive director to mak

In 1964, the US Supreme Court ruled on a lawsuit challenging how electoral districts were drawn and political representation was apportioned. Such cases were inevitable as people moved from urban to rural areas and new immigrant populations settled into both. The Supreme Court ruled that electoral districts of state legislative chambers must be of roughly the same population providing for a one person one vote rule. Redistricting is the process of redrawing district lines based on the most current data from the Decennial Census. When it is politicized, the outcome is gerrymandered districts that favor one group at the expense of another. At California Common Cause, Jonathan Mehta Stein leads a statewide effort to democratize the redistricting process with the participation of those who have the most at stake. He credits Kathay Feng, whose successful ballot initiative enshrined community-based redistricting into California law. Jonathan views redistricting as one critical way to strengthen our political instit

The current assault on voting rights in America is both predictable and shocking. We saw it in full force during the 2020 presidential election when then President Trump’s appointee Postmaster General Louis DeJoy stripped mailboxes and “lost” ballots in targeted areas. Right now, state legislatures are devising new maneuvers to subvert the ability to vote by people of color. They include almost insurmountable barriers to the ballot box, from requiring copies of ID with requests for a mail-in ballot to banning the distribution of food and water for weary voters at voting sites. National nonprofits are rising to this historic occasion, challenging these punitive measures in courts and advocating for passage in the US Senate of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. And new strategies are evolving and operationalizing. In this episode, Leigh Chapman, a lawyer who has been on the frontlines of these legal challenges and national campaigns, now goes deeper as the executive director of Deliver My Vote. Leigh breaks down

Sometimes an image is so powerful it breaks through political rhetoric, media noise and sears into the soul. A recent video of Afghani children being foisted over the Kabul airport wall and into the arms of American soldiers resonates in this way. What we don’t see is the organized process underway by Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS) to help Afghans who supported the U.S. Military as translators, drivers and guards, flee Afghanistan and resettle in America. LIRS has been at the forefront of this work for 80 years and is now mobilizing a network of churches, nonprofits and volunteers to welcome these families. CEO Krish O’Mara Vignarajah knows that in these divisive times even resettlement work will be politicized, and Afghan families will be demonized. And LIRS not only resettles families it advocates in Congress for immigration policies that are long overdue. Having lived the refugee experience and served at the highest levels of the State Department during the Obama Administration she is com

Bright Beginnings is so much more than a beautiful and inviting space for a first-rate day care center. It is a nonprofit organization founded 30 years ago to provide evidence-based education, therapeutic and social services to children and parents who are experiencing homelessness. And it is based in Washington DC’s Ward 8, an historically Black and underinvested community that is now leading its own renaissance. Dr. Marla Dean, an exceptional educator, leads Bright Beginnings with a two-generation approach to breaking the cycle of poverty. It starts with caring for children from birth to 5 years old in ways that enable them to meet developmental milestones in a safe environment. The care extends to parents, giving them specialized support and resources. You can imagine how essential this connection is when parents, largely women, are raising children while homeless. Now they are working in frontline jobs, from hospitals to grocery stores during a pandemic. Dr. Dean and her team are also policy advocates, wo

Over a long political life, Edward Roybal was true to a consistent theme. He fought for the material needs and civil rights of Latinos, both new immigrants and those with deep generational roots in the United States. When he was elected to Congress in 1963 he committed to making Latinos a force in the American political landscape. In 1976 Rep. Roybal founded the National Association for Latino Appointed and Elected Officials (NALEO), creating the infrastructure needed to spur community activism and support a new generation of civic leaders. This work, now led by NALEO’s esteemed CEO Arturo Vargas is more relevant than ever. At a time in which, as Arturo explains, our democracy is most fragile, Latinos need to be heard and counted. And no political party should assume their allegiance because Latino voters are consequential on both sides of the aisle. NALEO is unique in the civil rights eco-system for its dedication to Latinos at all levels of public service. And Arturo Vargas is uniquely suited to lead this c