Commonwealth Club of California Podcast

As with many aspects of American life, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately impacted BIPOC communities. For Black businesses, this meant closing their doors and for Black workers, either being laid off or made to work in unsafe conditions. In a system where Black workers are proportionally overrepresented in low-wage work and sharply underrepresented in executive positions, this negative impact is exacerbated. However discouraging this reality is, it serves as a call to action to close the wide, possibly widening, racial gap.

At INFORUM, a panel of experts on the economic state of Black America will provide insight on what a path to equal and just recovery looks like, expanding upon research by McKinsey & Company. Further, juxtaposing the current reality with the prosperity offered by a better future, they will drive home the need to make change, and do so quickly.

SPEAKERS

Shelley Stewart III

Partner, McKinsey & Company; Co-author, "The economic state of Black America: What is and what could be"

Michael Chui

Partner, McKinsey Global Institute; Co-author, "The economic state of Black America: What is and what could be"

Dr. Kristen E. Broady

Ph.D., Fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program, The Brookings Institution

Jeffery Wallace

CEO and President, LeadersUp

Jennifer Ablan

U.S. Assistant Managing Editor, Financial Times—Moderator

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on August 27th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Join us as we discover and learn how these four dynamic returned women Peace Corps volunteers crafted their careers to become important leaders. We will also find out what hurdles they had to overcome and how they became influential and creative leaders. Their stories are valuable for all to hear, and we can all learn from their experiences.

Lisa Curtis is the founder and CEO of Kuli Kuli, the leading brand pioneering the sustainably sourced superfood moringa. Kuli Kuli works with farmers in the developing world to access the nutritional power and economic opportunities of moringa. Curtis began working on Kuli Kuli while serving in the Peace Corps in Niger and has grown it into a multi-million dollar social enterprise. Previously, Lisa wrote political briefings for President Obama in the White House, served as a United Nations Environment Programme Youth Advisor, and worked at an impact investment firm in India.

The moderator for today's program is Frank Price, the vice president of the Northern California Peace Corps Association and Shriver Circle Member of the National Peace Corps Association. Price served in the Peace Corps in Côte d'Ivoire. He is currently president of the Stewardship of the Commons Foundation

MLF ORGANIZER

Frank Price

NOTES

MLF: International Relations

SPEAKERS

Lisa Curtis

Founder & CEO of Kuli Kuli; Served in Niger

Karen DeWitt

Journalist; Digital Newsroom Director, School of Global Journalism and Communication, Morgan State University; Served in Ethiopia

Nalini Elkins

CEO and Founder of Inside Products, Inc.; Served in Togo

Rahama Wright

Founder and CEO of Shea Yeleen Health and Beauty; Served in Ghana

Frank Price

Vice President, Northern California Peace Corps Association; Shriver Circle Member, National Peace Corps Association; Served in Côte d'Ivoire

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on August 26th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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U.C. Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky is one of the country's most respected constitutional scholars. In his new book Presumed Guilty, he says that the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed the perpetuation of racist policing by presuming that suspects, especially people of color, are guilty before being charged.

Dean Chemerinsky argues that the fact that police are nine times more likely to kill Black men than other Americans is no accident but rather the result of an elaborate body of doctrines. He says the pro-defendant Warren Court was a only brief historical aberration and that this more liberal era ended with Nixon’s presidency and the ascendance of conservative justices, whose rulings have permitted stops and frisks, limited suits to reform police departments, and even abetted the use of chokeholds.

Come hear Dean Chemerinsky's thoughts on necessary steps to create a more robust court system that will enhance civil rights.

SPEAKERS

Erwin Chemerinsky

Dean, University of California, Berkeley, Law School; Author, Presumed Guilty: How the Supreme Court Empowered the Police and Subverted Civil Rights

In conversation with Brian Watt

KQED News Anchor

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on August 30th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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“Everyone’s someone’s somebody.” That’s the tagline of Miracle Messages, a nonprofit organization tackling homelessness by rekindling relationships and reconstructing support systems.

Inspired by his Uncle Mark, CEO Kevin Adler launched Miracle Messages in 2014. Growing up, Kevin watched his beloved and loyal uncle, who suffered from schizophrenia, battle homelessness on-and-off for 30 years. When Mark passed away at the age of 50, Kevin’s family ensured that Mark’s life would never be forgotten within their own family. However, Kevin realized that while his uncle was lucky to have a family to remember and support him, thousands of others living on the streets were not connected to their family members or friends.

Kevin and Miracle Messages volunteers offer homeless individuals a chance to reconnect with their family members and friends. Through Miracle Message’s reunion service, they have helped reunite over 425 people experiencing homelessness with support systems from which they have been separated, sometimes for decades. Dozens of reunions have resulted in individuals moving off the streets. Miracle Messages’ buddy system has also connected members of the homeless population with volunteers who offer companionship and support through calls and text messages. They provide cell phones so homeless individuals can stay in touch, and are experimenting on a small scale with universal basic income for those who are homeless.

Our CEO, Dr. Gloria Duffy, will join Kevin for a conversation addressing how homelessness can be addressed on the individual and familial level. This topic is deeply personal for Gloria, as it is for Kevin, since a family member of hers has battled homelessness. Over the past 15 years, Gloria and her family have developed a system that supports her relative with a home and other basic needs. 

Please join us as Kevin and Gloria reimagine how we fight homelessness, and learn how Miracle Messages has reunited hundreds of families.

SPEAKERS

Kevin F. Adler

Founder and CEO, Miracle Messages; Social Entrepreneur; Sociologist

In Conversation with Dr. Gloria Duffy

President and CEO, The Commonwealth Club of California

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on August 30th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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This is your Commonwealth Club week in review. Hear what you missed this week, and what we’ve got lined up for you next week.

We’re always adding new programs - check out commonwealthclub.org/online for all of our upcoming events.

If you haven’t already - please consider becoming a member of the Club. Enjoy exclusive discounts and access to special programs all while knowing your contributions directly support our many public programs and civic initiatives.

Visit commonwealthclub.org/special, for special rates on memberships.

Thanks for your support and as always - thanks for listening!

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Hundreds of people have been arrested in Minnesota in ongoing protests against Line 3, a pipeline that will move Canadian tar sands oil, and which could be operational as soon as this month. 

Pipeline advocates, like Mike Fernandez of Enbridge (Line 3’s builder), argue that as long as people are still using oil, we need a way to transport it — and pipelines are the safest, least carbon-intensive means of doing so. Opponents, like Sierra Club’s Kelly Sheehan Martin, argue that oil companies bolster markets for oil and gas as a way to justify continued profits from building pipelines and extracting oil. Sheehan Martin argues that to seriously address the climate crisis, we need to keep the oil in the ground, and listen to the voices of those worried about harm to waterways and tribal lands. 

Why have oil pipelines become such a point of contention in the environmental movement? And what can all sides agree on to work toward the same less-carbon-reliant future?

Guests:

Mike Fernandez, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability, Enbridge

Daniel Raimi, Fellow, Resources for the Future

Kelly Sheehan Martin, Senior Director of Energy Campaigns, Sierra Club

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"I Love New York." "Keep Portland Weird." "Virginia Is For Lovers." "Don’t Mess with Texas." We all know them. We all say them—but how do we sum up the Bay Area?

The Bay offers the world culture, diversity, natural beauty, innovation and commitment to progress. Yet the Bay wrestles with persistent housing challenges and news stories about the “Bay Area exodus.” Layer on the COVID-19 pandemic, and it's no surprise that regional pride and confidence in the Bay Area is taking a hit. But this moment of unprecedented crisis can be a turning point for the Bay Area.

Join a panel of Bay Area locals and legends who will discuss how The Bay shaped who they have become, why they call this region home, and different solutions to rebuilding and strengthening the Bay Area. This panel will wrestle with how we can not only recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, but create the vibrant, equitable region that we all aspire to live in.

NOTES

In partnership with Tipping Point Community.

SPEAKERS

Sam Cobbs

CEO, Tipping Point Community

Heather Knight

Columnist, San Francisco Chronicle

Ned Segal

Chief Financial Officer, Twitter

Lenny Mendonca

Former Chief Economic and Business Advisor, State of California—Moderator

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on August 25th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Have you gotten the feeling that this pandemic has also been spreading an epidemic of irrationality? From insisting that climate change is a hoax to believing that vaccinations cause autism, many are willing to reject outright even a solid scientific consensus. And though it may be somewhat amusing to hear COVID-19 being blamed on 5G networks, chemtrails or Bill Gates's insatiable greed, the amusement stops when bad thinking leads to bad acting, such as the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. 

Nadler and Shapiro argue that the best antidotes for such bad thinking and acting are the insights and practical skills of philosophy. Their engaging tour through the basic principles of logic, argument, evidence and probability can make anyone a more reasonable and responsible citizen. They also demonstrate how you can spot and avoid flawed arguments and unreliable information; determine whether evidence supports or contradicts an idea; distinguish between merely believing something and knowing it; and much more. In doing so, they reveal how epistemology (which addresses the nature of belief and knowledge) and ethics (the study of moral principles for governing behavior) can reduce bad thinking and bad acting. Ironically, it turns out that the millennia-old advice to know thyself, to aim at leading a good, rational and examined life, remains just as relevant today—that is, if you personally desire to overcome the current version of our seemingly endless human predicament.

MLF ORGANIZER

George Hammond

NOTES

MLF: Humanities

SPEAKERS

Steven Nadler

William H. Hay II Professor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin–Madison; Director, Institute for Research in the Humanities; Co-Author, When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People

Lawrence Shapiro

Professor of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin–Madison; Co-Author, When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People

In Conversation with George Hammond

Author, Conversations with Socrates

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on September 1st, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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A conservatorship, also known as a guardianship in most states, is the court-ordered assignment of the responsibility for care and the conservation of the estate of an incapacitated person to a third party. The probate court system, where these orders originate in California, has been highlighted in the media for decades for dysfunction that can provide a safe haven for predatory and parasitic attorneys.

Too often, vulnerable adults under the “protection of the court” are not protected. Unscrupulous conservators and guardians protected by influential attorneys neglect and exploit the very people they claim to safeguard.

The Britney Spears case exposed to the world what thousands of people nationwide each year are experiencing; the deceitful side of conservatorship.

Meet four dedicated activists who are counseling victims and their loved ones, and demanding state and federal reforms to prevent abuse. They will speak about who the victims are and how estate trafficking and fraudulent adult guardianships and conservatorships occur. They will also explain important steps you can take to protect yourself or a loved one.

What is needed for California and federal legislation to reform the system? Our experts will explore how the #FreeBritney movement will likely end.

MLF ORGANIZER

Denise Michaud

NOTES

MLF: Grownups

SPEAKERS

Rick Black

Executive Director, CEAR (Charlotte, NC)

Thomas Coleman

Attorney; Executive Director and Founder, Spectrum Institute (Palm Springs, CA)

Lisa MacCarley

Attorney; Founder, Bettys Hope

Leanne Simmons

Human Rights Advocate; Entertainment Industry Professional; Co-manager, @FreeBritneyLA

Dr. Gloria Duffy

President and CEO, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderator

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on August 30th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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Join John Hagel III and Alison Levine as they share their fear-busting methods for combating today’s uncertainty. Digital business disruption, the emergence of epidemics, and engaging social movements are changing the world before our eyes. Our panel will share their experiences in negotiating extreme environments.

Levine led the American Women’s Everest Expedition, and Hagel is engaged in rapidly changing business environments as a business strategist. They will show us how to manage risk more fully in our own lives. Their methods and experiences can inspire us to become more confident in following our own dreams to succeed.

Following our program, we will have a rooftop reception and book signing.

MLF ORGANIZER

Elizabeth Carney

NOTES

MLF: Business & Leadership

SPEAKERS

John Hagel III

Business Strategist and Founder, Deloitte's Center for the Edge; Entrepreneur; Author, Journey Beyond Fear

Alison Levine

Team Captain, first American Women's Everest Expedition; Speaker; Author, On the Edge

Elizabeth Carney

Entrepreneur; Chair, Business and Leadership Member-Led Forum, The Commonwealth Club of California—Moderator

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are currently hosting all of our live programming via YouTube live stream. This program was recorded via video conference on August 26th, 2021 by the Commonwealth Club of California.

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