Power Station

The true story of America is currently being rewritten in real time by the White House. The president’s rejection of incontrovertible truths, from racism to domestic violence to the marginalization of people with disabilities is laid bare in the banning of words on government websites that reference those who have been most wronged in our society. It also explains his freezing of federal funding for nonprofits that work each day to tackle discrimination as codified in the National Fair Housing Act of 1968. This landmark civil rights legislation, hard-won after years of advocacy, was enacted just weeks after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and remains integral to creating a more equitable union.  In this episode of Power Station, Lisa Rice, President and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance shares what it takes to move forward in the face of an existential crisis impacting her organization, its members and those they serve. Lisa is unbowed and NFHA is hard at work, correcting algorithmic b

For Andrew Lee, performing at Carnegie Hall, bringing violin instruction to underfunded DC public schools, working in coalitions designed to increase funding for the arts and STEM during students’ out-of-school time, launching new orchestras, and partnering international musicians with young, emerging artists is all part of building a musical eco-system that reflects and is accessible to all. As Andrew shares on this episode of Power Station, leading the Washington Conservatory of Music, which for 40 years has been a center of learning for young people and adults, is an opportunity to build community, celebrate musical traditions and demonstrate the power of communication through the arts. Andrew’s gifts and aspirations go deeper than his musical virtuosity. His experiences with the policy making process on Capitol Hill, with running political campaigns and as a communications strategist for nonprofits make him uniquely qualified to meet the challenges of an unprecedented moment in this nation. We talk about

It was 1973 when the National LGBTQ Task Force, the nation’s first LGBTQ rights organization, was founded. Homophobia was being codified into legislation; the AIDs epidemic was a devastating and deadly epidemic, and gay people were subject to discrimination and violence. A brave group of activists, scientists and doctors stepped up to create a nonprofit from which they advocated for the right to exist, be heard and win legal protections. Co-founder Bruce Voeller, a biologist who coined the term AIDS, and died from complications of it in 1994 was instrumental in organizing the first ever briefing on LBGTQ issues with the White House. In this episode of Power Station I speak with the fearless Allen Morris, Director of Policy at the National LGBTQ Task Force about how he uses his voice on Capitol Hill and in state legislatures to stand up against vitriolic rhetoric and policies targeting queer and trans people. Allen is leaning into principled struggle with policymakers, pressing them to see that queer people ar

It is a singular privilege to interview an author when their work is as powerful, instructive and intimate as What Might Be, Confronting Racism to Transform Our Institutions. In this episode of Power Station, I speak with Susan Sturm, Professor of Law and Social Responsibility at Columbia School of Law about her book, which explores her experience in tackling racism in American institutions and invites those who feel stuck on the sidelines to join in. Susan reflects on the “loving struggle” she has engaged in as a white woman working in multiracial collaborations, a practice supported by her treasured colleague, the late Lani Guinier. The book provides a window into the practice of confronting racism in predominately white institutions and the striking outcomes this work has generated. This includes the transformation of a court system whose routinized approach to calling balls and strikes each day obscured deeply embedded patterns of racial inequities which harmed litigants, court personnel of color and the

How do you stay hopeful and motivated when entire communities, immigrants, LGBTQ and people with disabilities among many others, are being demonized and targeted for punitive action by our nation’s leaders? For Lucy Arellano Baglieri it is by keeping her eyes on the long game, building in the most difficult of times for a more just future. As Lucy shares on this episode of Power Station, this administration’s freezing of federal grants to nonprofits and efforts to revoke their tax exempt status is a defensive reaction to decades of progress in advancing civil rights and economic justice. In this episode of Power Station, Lucy shares how her family’s experience as immigrants who persisted through broken systems to thrive as entrepreneurs is at the core of everything she does. It guides her work at Luz Impact Strategies, the consultancy she founded to help nonprofits in strenghthening internal systems and tackling external barriers to maximizing their impacts in the communities they serve. The formula of capaci

  We are living in a moment of turmoil. Many communities feel targeted, and nonprofits are under pressure to quiet their voices. LIFT, a Washington DC based national nonprofit with offices in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles is undaunted in its support for and belief in Black and Brown parents seeking to break cycles of poverty and achieve economic mobility. In this episode of Power Station, Neils Ribeiro-Yemofio, the incomparable executive director of LIFT DC shares how just listening to parents about their aspirations for their families can be transformative. At LIFT DC, financial coaches are matched with parents, guiding parents through a 2 year process to increase their incomes, attain higher education and alleviate debt. As Neils says, it is an investment in hope, money and love. The results are stunning and unimpeachable. Parents are not only generating economic benefits for their families they are advocating for public policies that make life more equitable for their communities. Parents at LIFT DC ha

Do we believe in forcing people experiencing homelessness into detention camps? The president of the United States does, and it is happening now, including in New Orleans where 100 people were removed from an encampment and placed in a detention camp in the lead up to the Super Bowl. As Jesse Rabinowitz, Director of Campaign and Communications at the National Homelessness Law Center shares on this episode of Power Station, America remains locked into a narrative shaped by President Ronald Reagan who asserted that poverty and homelessness is a choice. Jesse is working toward a new narrative that recognizes the role of racism and corporate interests in creating our housing crisis and perpetuating homelessness. He breaks down how the Center’s holistic approach, from litigation to advocating for policy solutions to grassroots coalition building is essential to ending homelessness.This model matters greatly in a moment when all levels of government are criminalizing not only those whose are living with homelessnes

It is not news, but it remains unacceptable, that young people in America experience life distinctly differently based on their race, class and geography. In Washington DC, children from low-income families attend schools that are deeply under-resourced, a stark contrast to their peers in more affluent and white communities. Academics and think tanks have long documented these disparities and elected leaders sometimes advance policies to lessen inequities. But the voices we seldom seek out for their views are young people themselves. In this episode of Power Station, the ebullient Nicole Newman shares how Critical Exposure, the nonprofit she leads, listens to Black and Latinx young people so that they are heard, seen and taken seriously as advocates for change, particularly within the schools they attend. Critical Exposure’s talented staff teaches them to use photography to tell stories about their lived experiences. And they teach them about the power of organizing, a skill that positions them to transform t

An organization’s origin story reveals so much about its founders’ principles and vision for generating transformational change. In the case of New Disabled South, co-founders Dom Kelly and Kehsi Iman Wilson knew that they were creating a space that didn’t exist, a movement for disability justice in the American South. They focused first on their internal infrastructure, developing human resources and operational policies that support the sustainability of staff, all of whom are disabled, as is the board of directors, as they conduct research, build coalitions and advocate for policy change in city halls and states houses across 14 states. In this episode of Power Station, I am joined by the exceptional movement builder e.k. hoffman who leads New Disabled South Rising, the 501c4 advocacy companion to NDS. E.k shares how punishing asset limits, failure by states to expand Medicaid and government hearings that are inaccessible diminish civil liberties. And as a disabled person who is also trans, e.k. navigates

What is the charitable sector and why is vital to our nation? It refers to organizations that exist to create social value over financial profit. It is an IRS designation that affords a tax-exempt status to nonprofits and the philanthropies that support them in meeting human needs and advancing policy solutions to social and economic inequality. Do not underestimate nonprofits, this country's third largest employer, accounting for a workforce of 14 million Americans. In this episode of Power Station, I talk to the incomparable Dr. Akilah Watkins, President and CEO of Independent Sector, the only national membership organization comprised of both nonprofits and foundations. She shares what happens when they bring their diverse perspectives to a common table to tackle challenges to an independent sector that is both crucial to our nation's future and under assault in the current moment. Akilah has been in the sector since becoming a community organizer at 14 and she brings that spirit to her leadership at Indep

Deportations of immigrants in the United States did not start with the Trump administration. And virtually no one would disagree that our U.S. immigration system is deeply dysfunctional and requires an overhaul. What is new is how this administration’s explicit racism and xenophobia is deploying the blunt instrument of deportation to upend the lives of Latinos and other immigrants whose hard work fuels our economy, including citizens with generational roots in America. On this episode of Power Station, Abel Nunez, Executive Director of CARECEN DC, founded in the 1980s to help El Salvadorians fleeing civil war to integrate into this city, shares how the administration is pushing the use of the word illegal instead of undocumented, targeting nonprofits that teach financial literacy and encouraging neighbors to report those perceived to be “illegal” to a government hotline. As this administration wages a war on diversity and pushes the limits of civility, CARECEN DC continues to stand firm as an invaluable resou

  In the first week of a presidential administration marked by executive actions banning the education of Air Force members about the Tuskegee airmen, freezing scientific research grants at the NIH, immigration raids intended to fast-track deportation and the purging of DEI programs across federal agencies, remember that it is the nonprofit sector that continues to move democracy forward. In this episode of Power Station, we speak to Amir Kirkwood, CEO of Justice Climate Fund and a leader in the movement for climate and community-centered financing. Justice Climate Fund was awarded $940m, as part of President Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, to ensure the deployment of capital, primarily through CDFIs and nonprofit loan funds into communities plagued by generational disinvestment in housing, community facilities and public water systems. Amir brings deep experience, from executive positions in CDFIs, national and global banks to now leading the deployment and leveraging of capital into vulnerable communi

Innovation, disruption and problem-solving, these are words often used to describe how technology impacts society. But the sector does not center those powers on equity, ensuring that all people can access housing, livable wages, healthcare and education. That work is the business of the nonprofit sector, which  is particularly potent in local nonprofits with deep community roots. Too often these groups are underfunded and uncredited for policy win and community building. In this episode of Power Station, the remarkable Marla Dean, Senior Director of the Greater Washington Community Foundation’s Health Equity Fund, introduces us to its $26m Demonstration Project. It is a powerhouse set of initiatives designed to redress historical wrongs against communities of color by overcoming economic and social disparities in what she calls, “the Washington DC the nation doesn’t know exists.” The Greater Washington Community Foundation is investing in the highly effective community-based nnprofits who conceived of these

We are at moment in which grappling with America’s history of racism, recognizing the impacts of generational injustice and creating solutions to those harms is being met with fury by our president elect and his allies. including Elon Musk, a ceaseless purveyor of misinformation. Trump has memorialized his plans to eradicate DEI-Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives within federal agencies and public universities in the right-wing playbook Project 2025 and he demonizes organizations that advocate for the redress of social and economic inequities. He even blamed the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles on DEI, a nonsensical claim that seeks to stir up outrage among his supporters. In this episode of Power Station, Dr. Deitra Reiser shares how her company, Transform for Equity, guides organizations in examining how racism, sexism and ableism shows up in their workplaces and engages them in shaping policies and behaviors that make a culture of inclusive belonging for everyone possible. She partners with sy

My wish for 2025, a year for which Donald Trump’s plan to weaken democracy and human rights is memorialized in his Project 2025 blueprint is that more people, from our families to the business sector and the media, recognize that the complex business of protecting both is the daily business of the nonprofit sector. Nonprofits, especially those guided by the communities they serve, are powerful problem solvers that redress historic wrongs with policy and capital based solutions. Tech leaders are credited with being great innovators but nonprofit innovations transform systems that hold communities down. To name just a few: Grounded Community Solutions solves for our purportedly intractable housing crisis through community land trusts and shared equity, Rochdale Capital lends and invests where banks fail to, bringing capital and hands-on help to entrepreneurs of color. The TRIGGER Project dismantles gun violence through youth-led prevention strategies and Global Development Advisors is building the infrastructur

I am obsessed by the business of changemaking, the generation of solutions to our most pressing unmet human needs. I am drawn to people who are moved to action by their own lived experience and by those with a deeply felt sense of responsibility to redress injustice. And I see nonprofits, the best of them, as the infrastructure needed to produce enlightening data, build connections and organize communities, advocate for consequential public policies and implement new policies to make the intended impact. So, in this episode of Power Station I have the great pleasure of looking back, with stellar podcast producer Robb Spewak, on a truly inspiring roster of guests in 2024, the very changemakers that I admire and am honored to amplify. Robb and I want these leaders and nonprofits to be seen, heard and recognized and not to be “best kept secrets.” As always, we take the mission seriously and have great fun doing the work.  

Whatever challenges you navigate during your day there is tremendous comfort in knowing where you will lay your head at night. For too many Americans, that safe place is out of reach, a consequence of failed housing policies and artificially low wages that perpetuate the racial wealth gap. In Montgomery County, Maryland, one of our nation’s wealthiest counties, there is a deep well of poverty that pervades the region’s prosperity. In this episode of Power Station, Courtney Hall, the invincible CEO of Interfaith Works, a champion of low-income communities since 1974, talks about the privilege of serving those who are struggling and aspire to more. Interfaith Works has developed the infrastructure and expertise required to serve 35,000 Montgomery County residents through shelters, permanent housing, food, clothing and training for jobs generating salaries that can support families. As Courtney says, it takes resident-informed and data-driven policy change to reinvent broken system and create new opportunities.

Origin stories are powerful in shaping both people and organizations. In this episode of Power Station, Lelaine Bigelow, the outstanding executive director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality, shares how her family inspired her all-in career as an advocate for racial, economic and gender equity. She credits civil rights champion and Georgetown University Law Professor Peter Edelman for founding GCPI and continuing to advance its mission to study, inform and act. As Lelaine explains, GCPI operates from a belief that an America without poverty is possible. Its small staff of policy and communications experts produce research on issues from climate change to health and housing disparities that perpetuate economic and racial inequality. They collaborate with elected leaders in state legislatures and on Capital Hill to design, enact and implement meaningful policy solutions to these profound challenges. We talk about GCPI’s illuminating report on state abortion bans and their impact on women of colo

  In the Ghanaian culture, a mythical bird called Sankofa honors the African Diaspora, symbolizing the need to look to the past and carry forward the truth and wisdom found there to benefit future generations. The image is so powerful that filmmakers, educators and entrepreneurs Shirikiana and Haile Gerima named both their groundbreaking 1993 movie and their incomparable bookstore, Sankofa. It was an honor to interview Shirikiana on Power Station, the final episode of a 4-part series produced in partnership with Rochdale Capital. Sankofa Video Books and Café is a vital cultural touchstone where children can see themselves depicted in books about joyful Black families, a rarity in literature, students from Howard University explore the works of Pan-African writers and the community gathers to hear live Jazz and meet independent filmmakers. The strength of and connection to the community is critically important to Sankofa as it navigates pushback from gentrifying neighbors, the need for more physical space and

Music not only feeds the soul it has also been, throughout history, a vital means of creative expression and resistance against social and political repression. While some musicians become chart-topping bestsellers, most are with small labels or are entirely independent. And while we may view digital platforms like Spotify as providing access to less well-known musicians they do not feature or compensate all artists equally. Simon Vansinjan is in the business of creating economic equity and opportunity for musicians who want to be heard and compensated and for listeners who want engagement with a more diverse universe of performers. On this episode of Power Station, Simon tells the story of Mirlo, the online audio distribution and music sales platform he co-founded as a cooperative. It unites his dual passions for music and the solidarity economy, which prioritizes social profitability, collective decision-making, and equitable pay for musicians, venue workers and other undercompensated players in the industr