Power Station

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

The path to legal services for the poor in the U.S. has a rich and complex history. It 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. Although legal services programs have flourished since then, they remain a target for cutbacks in the federal budget process.    A conversation with Maryland Legal Aid's Amy Petkovsek and Dimitri Degbeu, however, places us firmly in the present and demonstrates how innovative and life-changing a nonprofit law firm can be. It starts with 350 staff deployed to 12 offices throughout a demographically diverse state, from the mountains to the shore. In both rural communities and urban centers, MLA's  lawyers represent poor people who face 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 ho

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.” A former wealth adviser, Joseph now uses his financial acumen to advocate for the Earned Income Tax Code, our nation's most effective poverty alleviation tool.  The EITC is critical public policy that makes low-income wage earners eligible for a credit that could be transformational in their family's fortunes. In combination with other financial education and resources, families that file for a receive a credit can aspire to and reach financial goals, from a college education to the purchase of a home or the launch

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. A group of young people organized the Undocumented and Black convening in Florida, sparking national interest and participation. In just 3 years, the UndocuBlack Network has blossomed into a national nonprofit whose advocacy is building community, influence and power.  As Gabrielle Jackson, co-founder and Mental Wellness Director, explains on Power Station, the challenges of the undocumented from the Caribbean, United Kingdom, Latin America and the African Continent are complex. They are deported at significantly higher rates than other populations and their stories are often underreported. Those in line for citizenship drop out of the process for many reasons and asylum see

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. And it is informed by her experience with her own 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, even in "the best" of senior facilities. She formed a nonprofit, and drew on her considerable professional 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 Cent

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 Migra

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. Guest 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. Imposing a citizenship question on the Census will inevitable deter households from participation, and an accurate count of these communities will not be collected.  Good data is not a partisan issue. The good data he refers to 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 h

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. Now, the paradigm is changing and for an important reason. 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 advoc

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. In this episode of Power Station, Daniel relates how Empower DC builds power, through tenant organizing and community engagement, in Washington DC's lowest income neighborhoods. He tells the ongoing story of Berry Farms, a public housing complex, beset by deteriorating conditions and a lack of public investment. It is now the focus of a Mayoral initiative. Berry Farms is slated to be demolished and to be 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. Others are left in place with an uncertain future. But they are organizing and making their voices heard in City Coun

As Diane Yentel, President of the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) explains on Power Station, 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. NLIHC not only includes voucher recipients on its Board of Directors, it prioritizes their engagement on Capital Hill, in state capitals and in the electoral process. 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 collaboratio

New America is a think tank devoted to American Renewal in a time of unprecedented social and technological change. Under the leadership of Anne-Marie Slaughter, it is actually building a new field of endeavor. Known as Public Interest Technology, this field takes a problem-solving approach to addressing issues that affect everyday people and communities. It convenes municipal leaders with public agencies and nonprofits to fix broken systems in areas including foster care, opioid abuse and criminal justice. And it pairs them with technologists, an expertise more associated with Silicon Valley than government and NGOs, to create cost-effective and transformative solutions.  This effort is led by Cecilia Munoz, a longtime leader at the forefront of progressive change making. At the National Council of La Raza (now UnidosUS), our nation's largest Latino civil rights organization, Cecilia mobilized 300 affiliates as a voice for policy change on Capitol Hill. As Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council

Quyen Dinh, Executive Director of Southeast Asia Resource Center (SEARAC), is deeply connected to the Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian communities she serves. As the daughter of Vietnamese refugees she knows first hand the challenges posed by limited resources, a sense of displacement, and the need for community connections. SEARAC, a national civil rights organization, is informed by a network of 40 community-based nonprofits who set their policy agenda and advocate for just and equitable policies at the state and federal levels. In fact, SEARAC, trains young people within its networks to tell their stories and propose solutions to their elected officials. By focusing on education, health (including the ongoing problem of intergenerational trauma), aging and immigration, SEARAC creates an inclusive environment for all members of the community. Quyen explains the looming threat of the Trump administration's Public Charge proposal, which would penalize immigrants who access programs needed to build family sec

Bob Friedman has been at the forefront of building wealth in low-income communities for decades. He founded Corporation for Enterprise Development in 1979, (recently renamed Prosperity Now) to develop, test and implement the strategies needed to move low-income people into the economic mainstream. These strategies, now proven to be highly effective, have and continue to be the foundation for Prosperity Now's public policy advocacy at the local, state and federal levels.   Bob talks to Power Station about his new book, A Few Thousand Dollars, which, through stories, illustrations and well-tested theories, provides a template for building wealth and creating a more equitable America. Despite our nation's wealth inequality and racial wealth gap, Bob's hopefulness is unfaltering. He agrees with Sen. Cory Booker, who wrote the book's afterword, that we know how to address the challenge. The question is whether we have the will.  It takes determined organizations, individuals and elected officials to invest in and

In this episode of Power Station, Josh Hoyt explains that the way you make democracy work is by organizing the people who are left out. This is the proposition that guides his leadership of the National Partnership for New Americans, a multi-ethnic and multi-racial organization comprised of the nation’s largest immigrant-serving coalitions, 37 nonprofits in 31 states. These immigrant led organizations serve both traditional hubs of immigration, such as California and New York, and emerging communities in Minnesota, Alabama, Idaho and Nebraska. Those they serve, Latinos, Asians, and Africans, have been marginalized by a lack of public resources, corrosive rhetoric and the politics of fear. But they are powerful organizations that, through the collective power the NPNA, are shaping the immigrant integration sector. Their collective voices are heard through the National Immigrant Integration Conference (NIIC), a dynamic and singular gathering of those who serve their communities every day and advocate for policy

Tanya Fiddler (Cheyenne River Sioux), Executive Director of the Native CDFI Network, talks to Power Station about being a self-proclaimed wayuiyeska, a Lakota word for translator. In all of her interactions with policy makers, funders and fellow nonprofit leaders, she translates the experience of Native Americans to those of us who do not fully know it. She starts by explaining that, according to Native spirituality and culture, the concept of asset building is based in the idea that, Everything is for us, but we don't have to own it." As Tonya explains, investing capital in Indian country is not just about addressing poverty, it is about seizing opportunity.  The Network's 74 member organizations are certified and emerging CDFIs (Community Development Financial Institutions), Native run nonprofits that are investing in their community's economic future by making home ownership and small business development possible. And financial education is becoming enshrined in early childhood education.  Tanya talks abo

How do you create a more just financial marketplace? We explore this question on Power Station with Diane Standaert, Executive Vice President of the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), a nonprofit that builds financial wealth through the elimination of predatory lending practices. As Diane explains, it starts with a system rooted in a racially exclusionary and discriminatory history, exacerbated by the 2008 mortgage crisis, in which over one trillion dollars was lost in communities of color. This is the environment in which payday lenders operate and prosper by pulling poor people in need of small dollar loans into a debt trap. CRL conducts empirical research to demonstrate the scope of the problem to state and national level policymakers. It partners with community based nonprofits, the faith community and veteran's groups to advocate for solutions, from ballot initiatives to state-based legislation. And it advocates on a national level for the embattled Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a champion of