Power Station

Have you ever wished that a public agency official understood the problem you are trying to solve from your perspective as a nonprofit leader? I am sure that many of us in the sector are familiar with that feeling. Tameka Montgomery, appointed by President Obama as Associate Administrator to the Small Business Administration’s Office of Entrepreneurial Development, actually did understand. She came to the position after creating a business incubator in Denver and leading its award- winning Small Business Center. During her tenure, she launched the Main Street Mentor Walk, a 5k that swapped out running for walking and matched new entries into the business sector with experienced business leaders. And she started the first Latino Small Business Summit to provide entrepreneurs with culturally specific resources and guidance. While at the SBA, Tameka elevated training and technical assistance resources for formerly incarcerated people seeking jobs. She partnered with the Kellogg Foundation on a program that helpe

Domestic violence, as Karma Cottman explains, is motivated by a drive to maintain power and control within an intimate partner relationship. It is abuse of power that is conveyed in many forms: physical, psychological, economic and coercion. Victims include men but remain overwhelmingly women. Domestic upends families and traumatizes victims, including children who witness violence within their own households. And It is pervasive across boundaries of race and class. As executive director of the DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Karma is a voice for victims and the shelter providers, counselors and legal service agencies whose support turns victims into emboldened survivors. DCADV is where these “everyday heroes” collaborate, learn and advocate for systems change. It hosts Listening Sessions where survivors tell their stories, trains teachers to support students impacted by domestic violence, and engages young men in changing our nation’s culture of violence. It is also a winning advocate for policy chan

What does it take to eliminate housing discrimination and ensure equal housing opportunity? According to Lisa Rice, President of the National Fair Housing Alliance, (NHFA) it starts with recognizing that discrimination and inequity are rooted in federal policies, most fundamentally, residential segregation. The legacy of racist policies, from redlining to unequal access to credit, persists in communities of color. Disinvestment creates desperation from those seeking credit, a vacuum that has been filled by payday lenders and other predatory actors. NFHA is dedicated entirely to the equal and fair access of all people to live in the housing and community of their choice. It operates with a small staff of researchers, trainers, and organizers that support a membership base comprised of local fair housing groups. They are the voices of those who are discriminated against, an experience, as Lisa reminds us, that can traumatize its victims. And while NFHA advocates for just policies no matter who is in the White H

Sunrise Movement is a rapidly growing organization that is changing the conversation about this nation’s climate crisis and what can be done to turn it around. It builds on the work of scientists and advocates who have long warned about the consequences of our reliance on fossil fuels, the inevitability of environmental degradation, and the influence of industry lobbyists on our elected representatives. And a surge of devastating wildfires and floods due to rising sea levels, which displaced whole communities, has shifted our collective consciousness about the change that needs to happen. College student Yasmeen Pauling is devoting her considerable talents and energy to Sunrise Movement as a Policy Fellow. She talks to Power Station about the experience of organizing across issues and sectors, for climate and economic justice.  In the wake of the 2018 mid-term elections, Sunrise Movement, led by the dynamic Varshini Prakash, and powered by a legion of young organizers, has generated scores of local town halls

Liberation in a Generation is a new organization that takes a fresh, laser-focused and unapologetic approach to breaking down systems that oppress people of color and building an economy that raises them up. It is co-directed by Jeremie Greer and Solana Rice, whose vision for change is informed by their collective experiences as community and political organizers, researchers and policy advocates on economic and wealth building issues in the national nonprofit arena. They are reimagining how policy change at the intersection of race and economics is made and opening the door to engage new partners in the journey. It starts by working directly with local organizing networks, including PICO, Faith in Action and Center for Popular Democracy, that build power in communities of color. Liberation in a Generation will work with them to identify the issues and policy solutions that communities are motivated to tackle and to advocate for with candidates and policy makers. They will support these networks in leveraging

Let’s start with this statistic: One in five Americans lives in rural America. And these communities are far more diverse than the archetypical bucolic New England town. They include tribal lands, the Mississippi Delta, border Colonias, and Appalachia where the legacies of injustice include a lack of access to the capital needed to build homes and multi-family housing. As David Lipsetz, CEO of Housing Assistance Council (HAC), tells Power Station, these communities are home to rich histories, assets and opportunities. But in many cases, they are also epicenters, over decades, of persistent poverty. A product of rural towns, David has spent his career laser focused on changing the fortunes of rural Americans. Before leading Housing Assistance Council, he worked in the Obama Administration at both HUD and USDA. He knows first-hand, the difference federal investment can make in struggling communities. He is keenly aware of the mismatch between federal housing policies, which are geared towards urban areas, and w

When Paty Funegra was on Power Station one year ago, she told La Cocina VA’s founding story and promised to return with an update on a new capital campaign. La Cocina VA was already training and certifying unemployed Latino immigrants as food industry professionals. The next step was to scale the model, teach entrepreneurship, and serve the growing refugee population as well.  La Cocina VA had an unlikely beginning. After immigrating to the US from Peru, Paty settled into a new career at a multinational organization. She discovered DC Central Kitchen, a small but powerful nonprofit which, under iconic leader Robert Eggers, trains jobless residents for culinary careers and brings healthy meals to urban food deserts. Paty set out to adapt this model in Northern Virginia, where the Latino immigrant community lacked access to training and jobs. Paty founded La Cocina VA, which starts by teaching English before preparing students for careers in the food industry. It also partners with employers to identify how to

 What makes health equity, the opportunity for all people to be healthy and thrive, possible? According to Dr. Brian Smedley, it starts with recognizing our nation’s profound health disparities and the role of place and race in determining health outcomes. Data shows that higher rates of mortality occur in communities of color where food options, quality of air, soil and the physical state of schools and housing, including exposure to lead, endanger residents. And people in rural areas are compromised by a lack of access to health resources and care. As executive director of National Collaborative for Health Equity, Brian Smedley works with policymakers, on-the-ground advocates and health systems to understand that these conditions are the consequences of public policies that sort and segregate people based on race and ethnicity. Until we grapple with the injustice of these policies, both historical and current, we cannot change the conditions that marginalize whole communities. This is the foundation on whic

Two dynamic forces have come together to create opportunity and equity in Washington DC’s historically underserved neighborhoods. One is Martha’s Table, a nonprofit whose mission is to support strong children, strong families and strong communities. It transforms the lives of Ward 5, 6, 7 and 8 residents through high-quality education programs, access to healthy food, and ongoing family supports. Most recently, it opened The Commons, a 43,000 square foot facility in Ward 8, where babies are cared for, children learn to read, and parents shop in markets, at no cost, for delicious and healthy fruit and vegetables. The other factor is Kim Ford, an accomplished leader and DC native, who recently signed on as the new executive director. Kim, a veteran of the Obama Administration and the former Dean of Workforce Development at the University of the District of Columbia Community College, is a relentless champion of DC families. She sees herself as a partner to the residents that Martha’s Table serves. And, she reje

What does it take to unapologetically and intentionally show up in the world as your authentic self? How do you generate the cultural shifts required for all people to be free? These are thoughts that motivate David Johns in his leadership of the National Black Justice Coalition. David lives and works at the intersection of the Black and LGBTQ experience where these questions are fundamental to the everyday experience. He and his team advocate for public policies in housing, health, schools and criminal justice that are essential to the safety and security of African-American lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender people. And he extends his advocacy to broader networks because, as he explains, “You cannot purport to care about Black people unless you care about all Black people.” He acts on this understanding by challenging Black civil rights organizations to recognize and honor their LGBTQ members and pressing majority White LGBTQ groups to do the same for their Black constituents. In other words, he is a v

As executive director of Groundswell, Michelle Moore leads with a deep conviction that solar power is an abundant source of energy that should also be a source of economic empowerment. She wants all communities to have access to clean energy and has developed a model for supplying it that has taken root in 5 states and Washington DC. The scriptural premise to love your neighbor as you love yourself is embedded in Groundswell’s Empower program. It enables market rate subscribers to purchase solar energy from a local power project and share the savings with low-income residents. This approach is cutting energy bills in half, creating a pathway for savings that low-income families need for rent, food and school. Groundswell also partners with community-based partners willing to host a power project on their land, rooftop or parking lot. These trusted institutions provide solar power to local households and engage them in bringing these projects to life. One example is in Washington DC’s Ward 7, where the Dupont

Chris Lu has spent the last 20 years at the hub of federal policy making, including as Deputy Secretary for the US Department of Labor, and he is still a champion of public service. As he says, government matters: it builds our roads and bridges, creates the laws that protect veterans, keeps our homeland secure and our air and water clean. In his long tenure with first Senator and then President Barack Obama, he has been guided by a belief in the capacity of government to make the American Dream possible for all families, including his own parents, who immigrated to the United States from China. Now a Fellow at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center for Public Policy, Chris speaks often to young people who want to affect policy change. His advice, in the current political environment, is to think more expansively about where and how change is made. Chris sees innovation and problem-solving on issues from climate change to job training and Census implementation resting in local and state government, nonpro

In Native American communities, conversations about building local economies start with a shared belief in tribal sovereignty. This belief is foundational to the Native CDFI Network, whose 50 nonprofit members based in 23 states, provide financial education, credit building, and make loans for housing and small businesses where traditional banks are not engaged. Jackson Brossy brings his experience of growing up in Navajo Nation to his leadership of the Network. The legacy of forcible removal of Native Americans from their land, the decimation of assets, including buffalo, and the more current failure of public and corporate to invest on tribal land are drivers of the Network's vision. As Jackson explains, people should not have to travel for miles to buy milk and groceries and invest their resources off reservation. But a lack of access to the capital needed to launch businesses in Indian country and the complications of investment on rural lands held in trust by the federal government are barriers to thrivi

When we hear about a natural disaster our first thoughts go to saving people and then to saving homes, roads and infrastructure. We expect a rapid response by government and relief agencies and, hopefully, we volunteer to help. Chef José Andrés launched World Central Kitchen in the wake of Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake. He found his way to the island, listened to people struggling to survive and used his unique skills as a chef and entrepreneur to feed and mobilize the community. Since then, World Central Kitchen has used food, our most shared cultural touchstone to uplift communities after floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and tornados in North Carolina, Florida, Puerto Rico, Haiti and Mozambique. WCK listens before acting. And the goodwill this approach generates is incalculable. WCK galvanizes chefs, students, professionals and everyday people to produce thousands of meals in logistically impossible situations. And Chef Andrés is a moral voice on behalf of immigrants and refugees battered by poverty, p

A nonprofit organization that advocates for restaurant workers to receive equitable pay and treatment was borne in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. On that horrific day, 73 workers from the Center’s iconic restaurant, Windows on the World, were killed and their co-workers displaced. Sekou Siby, a Windows on the World cook from the Ivory Coast, organized those survivors to ensure their well-being and to find new opportunities in the industry. Their efforts started with a worker’s center in New York and has since expanded into Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, a game changing national nonprofit with chapters across the United States. Their members, workers in the industry, decide which issues they address and shape the policies solutions that they advocate. In Washington DC, organizers Sophia Miyoshi and Candance Cunningham tackle wage theft and sexual harassment while promoting fair wages and paid family leave for tipped workers and racial equity in the in

If you think that young people are disconnected from public policymaking, you need to reconsider your assumptions. United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led nonprofit in the nation is on the frontlines of policy advocacy and activism for undocumented immigrants. Its organizational perspective and strategy is rooted in lived experience. Staff and members are youth for whom immigration, detention, deportation, enforcement and citizenship are personal and political. In the current moment, United We Dream is a force for shaping and advocating for national and state level immigration policies. It is instrumental in organizing for passage of the Dream and Promise Act and against federal funding of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. United We Dream also builds pipelines of leadership for the future. As Sanaa Abrar, Directory of Advocacy, explains on Power Station, United We Dream is training young immigrants across the nation to create an immigration right's ecosystem. That ecosystem includes and embra

The National Skills Coalition (NSC) is building the workforce needed for our nation’s future by advocating for public investment in skills development now. This national nonprofit was launched twenty years ago when public support for job training was lagging and both labor and business leaders were concerned about the resulting lack of job opportunities and readiness. NSC’s message is now bolstered by 28,000 members representing industry, labor unions, community colleges and Chambers of Commerce. As Amanda Bergson-Shilcock, NSC’s Director of Upskilling Policy says about this disparate and broad-ranging coalition, “They may not agree on much, but they all agree on the importance of workforce development.” And they are committed to making the change they want to see. They meet with state and federal policy makers to advocate evidence-based positions and now, to share the results of a new NSC poll of 2020 voters. It demonstrates overwhelming support for increased public investment in people’s skills to meet empl

The Center for Responsible Lending was founded in the belief that all communities should have access to fair banking and lending services. And that the nation’s financial marketplace, from Wall Street to banks, should be reformed. It was rooted in the civil rights and economic justice movements and grew out of Self Help, a credit union launched in North Carolina in 1980. What started as a small operation and an experiment in lending to rural and other underserved communities, has become a $7 billion-dollar lender and a community development leader. Self Help proved the theory that a credit union with bonds of trust in a community can provide needed resources and be repaid. It proves, as Power Station guest Niktra Bailey, CRL Executive VP says, “Race does not equate to risk.” "Low income families shouldn’t have to pay more for financial services.” We discussed the state-based advocacy that CRL leads, its unimpeachable research and data and its field building among diverse organizations. We looked back at the p

Share Our Strength is an organization rooted in the conviction that hunger is a solvable problem. It is led by Billy and Debby Shore, a brother and sister whose father ran the political office of a congressional member in Pittsburgh and made the everyday realities of constituents a part of the dinner table conversation. Billy Shore went on to advise political campaigns and was motivated by the devastating famine of the early 1980s in Ethiopia to become an anti-hunger advocate. Billy and Debby now lead a thriving organization that deploys staff across the country to collaborate with schools, parents, chefs, corporate allies and policy makers to solve our nation’s hunger and nutrition challenges. As Monica Gonzales, Associate Director of Government Relations for No Kid Hungry, a key initiative of Share Our Strength, says on Power Station, “Hunger is non-partisan and does not discriminate. It affects children in urban, rural and suburban communities alike. And it is an indicator of other unmet needs that stem fr

If you want to see justice in action, go to DC Superior Court and look for the lawyers with the blue clipboards and a sign offering free help. They position themselves there for the 2 days a weeks dedicated to debt collection and are a counterpart to a sea of for-profit debt collectors. Picture this in Washington DC, where only 5% of residents get help with debt cases that disproportionately impact low-income people of color. The justice gap for people marginalized by debt is what led Ariel Levinson-Waldman to create Tzedek DC, a public interest nonprofit that advocates for just public policies. Debt can have devastating consequences for people with a limited ability to repay. It can mean the suspension of a driver's license, leading people who need to drive to get to work or take kids to school to risk arrest by doing so. And non-payment of utility bills can lead to wage garnishment that makes it impossible for low-wage workers to pay rent. Judgements on permanent records create significant obstacles to empl