Power Station

John Yang brings layers of life experience to his leadership of Asian Americans Advancing Justice. His family moved to the US from China when he was a child and coped with losing their documentation, temporarily, after overstaying a work visa. After becoming a lawyer, he litigated for a DC based law firm and was legal director for a fortune 500 company in Shanghai, China. And he served in the Obama Administration as Senior Advisor on Asian issues to US Department of Commerce Secretary Pritzker. As President and Executive Director of AAJC, the largest Asian American policy organization in Washington DC, John leads a team of 20 staff members in advocating for the civil rights of a diverse, nuanced and growing constituency. AAJC's work   is informed by their community partners, locally based nonprofits in 32 states that provide day-to-day services for Asian American families and know intimately their challenges and aspirations. Together they have became powerhouse advocates, weighing in on the most pressing issu

Joseph Leitmann-Santa Cruz, Associate Director of Capital Area Asset Builders (CAAB), returns to Power Station with news about the expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) into Washington DC’s historic Wards 7 and 8. The EITC enables working people, whose employment is low-wage and sporadic, to claim a tax credit through through their annual tax filing. The amount these households are refunded is often the largest single payment they earn in a given year. This return can be instrumental in advancing their aspirations, including savings towards a home, education or investment in a small business. The challenge is to get the word out to eligible households and support them in filing tax returns. This is why CAAB launched DC Community Conversations. It raises awareness about the EITC through presentations in schools and community centers in neighborhoods where disinvestment and the racial wealth gap have stripped communities of resources and families of personal wealth. Joseph is exactly the right person

Get ready for a dynamic conversation! Becky Belcore, Co-Director, and Jung Woo Kim, Organizer, at National Korean American Service & Educational Consortium (NAKASEC) talk to Power Station about their holistic approach to serving, engaging and advocating for Asian-Americans, this country's fasting growing population. NAKASEC, based in Virginia, has robust affiliates in Chicago and Los Angeles. They help new immigrants and multi-generational AAPI families access vital services and have a say use on the economic, social and political issues that directly impact their lives and well-being. Becky brings deep experience in labor organizing to NAKASEC's model of community engagement. Jung Woo brings his first-hand experience as an undocumented young person to his organizing of others in a similar position, across the cultural divide. His own journey led to Journey 2 Justice, a 37 day bike ride from Seattle to San Diego, in support of Citizenship for All. Once you hear him. you will want to join their next campai

Terry Ao Minnis and Angela Manso joined me for a conversation about Census 2020 at Power Station. As you will hear, the stakes for the Census could not be higher. The Census determines the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives and the allocation of federal dollars to states. So it is particularly important that their powerhouse nonprofit organizations, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, and NALEO Education Fund, are engaging on this issue with other high-level stakeholders, including MALDEF, through a coalition led by the Leadership Conference of Human and Civil Rights. We talk about the implications for adding a question (untested) to the Census regarding citizenship, related lawsuits in Federal courts and the galvanizing of advocacy in local communities. 

The Congressional Black Caucus, known as the conscience of Congress, has been an unabashed advocate for communities of color since its founding in 1971. As executive director of the CBC, Fabrice Coles serves 48 members, including the Chairman, Cedric Richmond, Congressman from Louisiana's 2nd District. His work guides the CBC's  on the record responses to the issues of the day, including the current Supreme Court nominations process, and the issuance of new and forward looking legislation. Witness the Jobs and Justice Act of 2018, which proposes reforms to and investment in criminal justice, community development, affordable housing and education. The Act reflects the CBC's commitment to working with prized external nonprofit partners, including the National Urban League. In addition to his legal and Capitol Hill expertise, Fabrice has the heart and soul of an organizer. He makes the case for nonprofits to use the power of their station, starting at the local District Office level, where visits have the poten

When Carmen Huertas-Noble was a law student she expected a future in public interest law but she did not expect to excel in contracts. Now a tenured professor at the City University School of Law and Director of the Community and Economic Development Clinic, Carmen uses her business acumen to help workers, often in low-wage industries, to develop worker owned cooperatives. This growing movement to create and scale cooperatives, is supported by resources and pending legislation in New York City and State. Carmen collaborates with nonprofits, worker cooperatives, policymakers, organized labor, and community leaders to build an eco-system that is generating a new generation of coops. She honors workers and their advocates and is teaching her students to do so as well. The ability for low-income, workers of colors and immigrants to build an economic future for themselves and their families is especially meaningful in such a challenging political era. Learn how Carmen, Green Workers Coops, NYC Network of Workers C

Ron Hantz is back! Our first Power Station guest returns with updates about the Network for Developing Conscious Communities, and the role of intentionality in community development. Ron reports back on an NDCC Conference, held last May in Baltimore, that was rooted in the idea that community development requires not just bricks and mortar and access to capital. It requires intentionality by nonprofits and their leaders. Why are particular investments being made? Have community members been engaged in identifying the changes they want to see? Do their plans reflect the values and vision of the neighborhood? As community development practitioners, are we open to the thinking of others and self-aware about our own challenges? Ron talks about his travels to New Jersey, Alabama and Indiana to meet with young leaders who are poised to lead change in their communities. They are building eco-systems and scaling up. Always positive, Ron believes that we can and should elevate our work in local communities.          

Janis Bowdler's road to the JPMorgan Chase Foundation started with a recognition. Not all neighborhoods, including her own, provide equal opportunities, but they should. As Policy Director at National Council of La Raza, now UnidosUS, Janis worked with member organizations across the country whose zip codes were considered pre-determinants for a lack of access to quality housing, education and jobs. They were champions of their communities, on the front lines with the families they serve in the aftermath of the foreclosure crisis. She brought those groups to meet with their elected leaders on Capital Hill where they explained the problems those families  face and the need for both resources and policy change. As Janis says, their advocacy potential was incredible. They had the data, the stories, the evidence in the thick of the crisis. Now, as President of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Janis applies her insights, experience and deep knowledge about community economic development to global philanthropy. Janis

Glenn Cantave, founder of Movers and Shakers NYC, uses virtual reality, augmented reality and performance art to reframe and reclaim the narratives of marginalized communities. His use of technology to inform and provoke conversation is more than innovation; it is revolutionizing how the nonprofit sector engages communities and advocates for policy change. Glenn and his creative cohort at Movers and Shakers are working on several fronts, collaborating with NYC schools on curriculum development, creating a system of corporate accountability for community harms and re-envisioning the leaders we choose to champion. Learn more:https://www.moversandshakersnyc.com    

Jeremie Greer, VP, Policy and Research, at Prosperity Now, gets real  from the onset of our conversation at Podcast Village. Poverty cannot be overcome by personal discipline alone. It requires systemic change, which Prosperity Now, and its Network of Champions, community-based nonprofits, advocate for using research, data and on-the-ground experience. We discuss Prosperity Now's champions, including Catalyst Miami, the necessity to grapple with and address the Racial Wealth Gap, the promise of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Trump Administration's unbridled efforts to dismantle the agency. Jeremie talks about the power of the constituent voice and the responsibility of national nonprofits to mobilize and harness that voice on Capitol Hill. Jeremie invites us to register for the upcoming Prosperity Summit, which brings together over 1,000 advocates for wealth building. Learn more at https://prosperitynow.org

Haley Griffin guides nonprofit staff and boards of directors through the always challenging process of strategic planning. A Principal in The Raben Group, a leading DC-based national public affairs and strategic communications firm, Haley brings deep experience in organizational development to each interaction with her nonprofit clients. Luckily for them, she also brings rigor, humor and patience. As Haley explains, she frames the experience with her clients by asking what success looks like. And she expands on Robert Raben's most reliably surprising question about a clients nonprofit competitors. Listen, learn and check out The Raben Group and its podcast, The Beat DC. 

When Hurricane Maria landed, it wreaked havoc on an already economically unstable Puerto Rico. Since then, nonprofit groups on the ground and on the mainland have worked tirelessly to recover homes, rebuild "resilient housing" and move Congress to enact needed policy reform, including operationalizing FEMA's Disaster Housing Assistance Program. Marion McFadden, Enterprise Community Partners, and Sarah Mickelson, National Low Income Housing Coalition, talk to Power Station about the challenge and opportunity of helping people rebuild homes and lives. An expert on disaster recovery, Marion brings years of engagement with HUD and FEMA to her push for policies that will embed best practices and accountability measures into these public-serving agencies. Sarah, with CEO Diane Yentel, advocates for policy reform with Marion and members of NLIHC's Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition, members with lived experience in disaster recovery. Stayed tuned for a Part 2! 

Renata Soto is the dynamic executive director of Conexion Americas, an immigrant serving nonprofit in Nashville, Tennessee. She spoke to Power Station, at the 2018 UnidosUS Conference, about how she balances the provision of programs and services for Latino families with their engagement in policy advocacy. The Escalera Program, an Unidos US initiative, helps immigrant children succeed educationally and teaches their parents how to hold schools accountable. The Culinary Incubator is a resource for parents with entrepreneurial aspirations. Casa Azafran is a consortia of progressive and immigrant serving organizations that create a welcoming community in Nashville. Listen, learn and be inspired.    

Rob Randhava is Senior Counsel to the Leadership Conference, the nation's leading civil and human rights organization, now led by CEO Vanita Gupta. LCCHR brings together our nation's leading organizational voices on education, housing, labor and immigration and advocates for public and private sector policies that create more equitable conditions in low-income and communities of color. LCCHR played a particularly important role in the development and passage of the Dodd-Frank law, which generated the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Now under assault by the Trump administration and Congress, CFPB has been a skilled and proactive enforcer of the financial industry. Rob brings his legal expertise on a broad range of civil rights issues to nonprofit coalition advocates and to staff and members of Congress. His policy engagement includes analysis and proposed action on Supreme Court nominees. Somehow, Rob remains resilient, funny and a force to be reckoned with. 

The New York Foundation funds neighborhood organizations in NYC, often start-ups, that look within their own communities for solutions to   profound challenges. Grantees with often modest resource are an increasing voice at the local, state and national levels, addressing unlivable and unaffordable housing, exploitative conditions in the workplace, school reform and mistreatment of immigrants. As New York Foundation executive director Maria Mottola explains, this theory of change making is rooted in the Foundation's values and history. Whether funding Nepalese women to organize in Jackson Heights, Queens, or tenant organizers in the Bronx, Maria is expanding on the legacy of believing in, and building the capacity of, community members to make the change they want to see. In an era where immigrant communities in particular face daily pushback, Maria and the New York Foundation are engaged where it matters most, on supporting neighborhood leaders and developing community infrastructure. 

Maryland Legal Aid is a lifeline for low-income people facing eviction, living with substandard housing conditions, seeking veteran's benefits and overcoming domestic abuse. MLAB, under the leadership of bridge-builder and advocate Wilhelm Joseph, is a robust nonprofit organization with 12 offices across the state. The newest program innovation, The Community Lawyering Initiative, is a mobile resource that connects people in need with lawyers. The Initiative partners lawyers with libraries, offering people help in non-threatening and comfortable surroundings within their communities. The experience of having decades old convictions expunged from their records is transformative in ways that are both pragmatic and psychological. They are now able to get employment and have access to housing and benefits. And they are freed from the weight of a record they have moved beyond. Amy and Meaghan's insights are instructive and enlightening. Learn about this model for serving and building power in disenfranchised commu

Alejandra Castillo has been a Special Advisor in the Clinton administration and National Director of the Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency under President Obama. Even so, she says that being CEO of the YWCA National is the hardest job she's ever had. Now celebrating its 160th year, the YWCA, this nation's first fully integrated institution, has an explicit mission to eliminate racism and empower women. In addition to providing day to day programs and services for women and children impacted by domestic violence and trauma, the YWCA advocates for progressive policies in state houses and on Capital Hill. And, as Alexandra points out, there is the ongoing challenge of raising foundation dollars and seeking new forms of revenue that allow for innovation. Whether meeting with members of Congress or engaging with separated families in McAllen, Texas, Alejandra is a change maker. Stay tuned for more information abut the YWCA's Exchange Traded Fund!

Washington, DC is not only our nation's capital, it is a city of neighborhoods, rich in African American arts and culture. In this episode of Power Station, Fair Budget co-director Monica Kamen, explains how shifting  demographics and significant public and private investment in affluent communities, have made citizen engagement in policy and budgetary decisions all the more critical. Monica Kamen and her co-director Stephanie Sneed, train local nonprofits and their grassroots constituencies in how to engage with the City Council budget process, testify at public hearings and advocate for their own policy and budget positions. The Fair Budget Coalition has developed a network of 60 nonprofit members who collaborate to demand a Fair Budget process that prioritizes racial justice. They are creating capacity and shaping better, and more, transparent, policy decisions. 

Isabel Rubio, executive director of Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama, which serves the Latino immigrant community, explains the push and pull between progressiveness and regressiveness in Birmingham. In 2011, the passage of HB 56, allowed law enforcement to detain and arrest people for "reasonable suspicion" of unlawful status, creating profound fear in the community. More recently, the Latino community was an essential part of electing Randall Woodfin, a former Board member as Mayor of Birmingham and Doug Wood as US Senator. Isabel underscores the importance of organizing, advocacy, capital and assets in building community, influence and power. And, as always, Isabel advocates for the building of capacity to make all of the above possible. 

For Evelyn Brito, access to healthy food is more than an abstract policy goal. It is a driving motivation for her new web-based series, My Bodega Makeover, which documents her collaboration with bodega owners and customers in her own neighborhood of Lynn, Massachusetts. The goals are ambitious. They include helping struggling owners to purchase healthy foods, access city grants and improve store design. Neighborhood residents are encouraged to make healthy food choices and to develop relationships with owners and the community at large. And nonprofits are engaged too, including The Food Project, which connects young people to agriculture and to urban stores. How does Evelyn do this? She is an independent producer, whose company, Keep it Simple Productions, explore social justice themes from a  community perspective. Do you want to bring My Bodega Makeover to your community? Evelyn would love to help!