Deep Dives

In this episode of Catalysts for Change, we talk to James Morton, President and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Boston. The CEO of the largest social services provider in Massachusetts, James advocates for all families in Boston and works to nurture the potential of every child and promote health and social responsibility.

The 13th president and CEO of the YMCA, James previously served at YMCAs in Springfield and Hartford, CT. As the president of the YMCA of Greater Hartford, Morton oversaw substantial growth in innovative programming and membership experience, while also leading a $15 million capital campaign. James is currently a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association, serves on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, and serves on the City of Boston’s My Brother’s Keeper Advisory Board.

We talk to James’ about his personal background and how it has influenced his work and journey, his work with the YMCA and working with Boston residents, the importance of the work of the YMCA during the COVID-19 pandemic, and more. While the pandemic forced many organizations to close, the YMCA of Greater Boston has worked to support their families during these challenging times. 

If you would like to learn more about James’ work with the YMCA of Greater Boston, please see below. If you would like to support the important efforts made by the YMCA, you can find more information below.

Resources:

YMCA of Greater Boston Website

Support the YMCA of Greater Boston

James Morton Biography

The Way to a Better Us: A Collection of Reflections from James Morton to the Community

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On today’s Catalysts for Change, Jill talks to Andrew Yang, former 2020 Democratic Presidential candidate and founder of Move Humanity Forward. As you may know, the Shah Family Foundation working on a guaranteed income strategy in Chelsea, MA, and Yang’s work to educate and advocate for a universal basic income has influenced awareness to the degree that over 55% of the American population now understand UBI.

While running for president of the United States, Andrew ran with a major focus on implementing a universal basic income for all Americans and building a human centered economy. Although his bid for presidency was unsuccessful, Andrew is seen as a key figure in American politics and has been supporting multiple Democratic candidates this election cycle. Before running for president, Andrew founded and led Venture for America, as well as working for a number of start-ups and as a corporate lawyer. In 2011, he was named by the Obama administration as a “Champion of Change” and later a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship.

We talk to Andrew about the 2020 Presidential Election, the important senate run-off elections in Georgia, the importance of universal basic income and what that looks like moving forward, and more. If you would like to read more about our work in Chelsea and about Andrew’s work, please visit the links below.

Here is a link to Move Humanity Forward, a non-profit started by Andrew Yang

Here is a link to a recent Boston Globe article about a new guaranteed income project in Chelsea MA

Background on concepts of a universal basic income (UBI) 

Yang Speaks – A new podcast from Andrew Yang

Andrew Yang’s Twitter

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On today’s Catalysts for Change, Jill talks to Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook and co-chair of the Economic Security Project. As the Shah Foundation begins to support a new guaranteed income program in Chelsea MA, Chris’s work with the Economic Security Project and focus on guaranteed income is relevant and important to understanding guaranteed income initiatives.

Chris’s work with the Economic Security Project focuses on supporting policies and initiatives for guaranteed income, which provides individuals with a set amount of money. As co-founder of the Economic Security Project, he has led work to rewrite federal and state tax codes to create a monthly tax credit for Americans most in need, a policy which would create a guaranteed income for working people in the United States, among other initiatives. In addition to his work at the Economic Security Project, Chris also works with the Roosevelt Institute, a progressive think tank working to reimagine the rules of the economy. Before becoming involved in work with guaranteed income, Chris co-founded Facebook and also worked for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008.

Initiatives in guaranteed income have been seen across the country, with many advocates calling for nation-wide programs, especially with the rise of unemployment rates and wealth gaps during the COVID-19 crisis. We talk to Chris about the basics of guaranteed income, its effects, his work with the Economic Security Project, and more about current policies and pilots.

The Foundation excited to be piloting a guaranteed income program in Chelsea MA. If you’d like to learn more about this initiative as well as more info about guaranteed income and Chris’s work, check out the resources listed below.

Here is a link to a recent Boston Globe article about a new guaranteed income project in Chelsea MA

Here is a link to donate to the United Way of Massachusetts Bay, which will help support this guaranteed income project in Chelsea

A recent New York Times op-ed by Chris Hughes about the need of a guaranteed income

Background on concepts of a universal basic income (UBI) 

Economic Security Project Website

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In today’s episode of Catalysts for Change, Jill talks to Dr. Alessio Fasano, world-renowned gastroenterologist and chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition at MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC). Renowned for his pediatric and gastroenterology work, we focus on Dr. Fasano’s most recent research on COVID-19 and its impact on children.

A leader in celiac disease research, Dr. Fasano also directs the Center for Celiac Research, focusing on the treatment of patients with gluten-related disorders, including celiac disease and gluten sensitivity. Dr. Fasano also directs the Mucosal Immunology and Biology Research Center at Mass. General and is associate chief for Basic, Clinical and Translational Research. World renowned for his research and work, Dr. Fasano has been featured in hundreds of interviews from outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and more.

Released in August, Dr. Fasano and a team of researchers provided insight into how children are impacted by COVID-19, timely with the discussion of the reopening of schools. The research found that children were found to have a higher viral load of the virus in their airways compared to hospitalized adults, and that they are more contagious than originally thought. 

As schools start to reopen for this school year, Dr. Fasano’s research reminds us about the importance of safely reopening and implementing important protocols to keep children, families, teachers, and communities safe. If you’d like to read more of Dr. Fasasno’s research on COVID-19, please click here. 

Resources:

• Here is the full report on Pediatric COVID-19 Response 
• Here is some more information on Dr. Fasano
• CDC guidelines on protecting yourself and others from COVID-19 

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On today’s episode of Catalysts for Change, Jill talks to Sarah Cherry Rice, founder and Executive Director of Digital Ready and Year 13, aiming to support students in Boston and prepare them to thrive in a diverse, vibrant economy. An innovator in the education sector, Sarah’s work with Digital Ready seeks to break down systemic barriers that historically have prevented many from achieving social mobility and access from high paying jobs in Boston and ultimately rethink K-12 education.

As a former teacher, district administrator, and social entrepreneur, Sarah brings innovative thinking of urban public school districts. Before working with Digital Ready, she worked at IDEO to launch an initiative to help public school districts build cultures of creativity and innovation, where teachers and students are empowered to create change. Sarah previously launched Parachute Teachers out of The Harvard Innovation Lab, a start-up that brings community members and industry experts into classrooms as part-time facilitators to generate high quality, real-world learning. 

Digital Ready aims at preparing the next generation of innovators for Boston — students will become artificial organ designers, massive 3D printed building designers, biomimicry engineers, and more. This year marked the launch of Year 13, a post-secondary year for students in Boston to gain real world experience and provide access in a growing field. In partnership with the Wentworth Institute of Technology and multiple organizations and companies, Year 13 participants leave the program with 18 college credits, a headstart on a Bachelor of Science degree, and access to high paying jobs in Boston’s innovative economy.  

If you’d like to read more about Sarah’s work at Digital Ready, please visit the links below:

Digital Ready and Year 13 Links:

• Digital Ready website

• Digital Ready Values

• Here is an article from The Boston Globe discussing Year 13 

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On today’s episode of Catalysts for Change, Jill talks to Mariel Novas, the Assistant Director of Partnerships and Engagement for The Education Trust. A resident of Boston, first generation college student and immigrant from the Dominican Republic, Mariel works toward equitable education experiences for all students, particularly black and brown students. In her work Mariel supports the Massachusetts Education Equity Partnership, a collective effort of civil rights, social justice and education advocates from across the commonwealth, working together to promote educational equity for historically underserved students in our state’s schools. 

Moving to Boston from the Domincan Republic at five years old, Mariel spent the beginning of her educational journey in Boston Public Schools before moving to a suburban private high school with the support of her teachers and the Steppingstone Foundation. Witnessing the education inequities her fellow students of color and siblings faced as well as being a person of color in a predominantly white private high school, Mariel strives to advocate and support those students today in her work with EdTrust and MEEP while addressing and tackling systemic racism in order to create a more equitable future for all students.

If you’d like to read more about Mariel’s work, please check out the links below. 

Massachusetts Education Equity Partnership:

Education Trust Links:

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On today's episode of Catalysts for Change, we talk to the Executive Director of Educators for Excellence, Sarah Iddrissu. At age 11, having suffered through five different elementary schools in two different countries, Sarah took matters into her own hands. She found a challenging school 15 miles from home, which offered a rich and engaged learning experience. Sarah became the first in her family to graduate from college. Sarah has dedicated her career to transforming the educational inequities in the Commonwealth and giving teachers a voice in the policies that impact their students and their profession. Sarah is a former Massachusetts teacher, Boston Public Schools district administrator, and liaison to the Massachusetts commissioner for school and district transformation.  

Our conversation with Sarah covers her teacher advocacy work, racial inequities, and police in schools. 

E4E is a teacher-led organization that ensures teachers have a leading voice around issues that are important to them. With 80% of its cohort being union members, Sarah works to build teachers as leaders to drive change. 

Sarah strives to ensure that police officers are not functioning as disciplinarians or first responders to student distress. Research suggests that having police in schools actually makes students feel less safe

Sarah also discusses her co-founded March Like a Mother for Black Lives movement, which was established after the murder of George Floyd. This rally and protest allow mothers from all walks of life to engage in a meaningful conversation with a community committed to racial justice.  

Transforming systemic educational inequities is challenging. We are grateful for innovators like Sarah, who continue to work to provide better and more equitable outcomes for teachers and students. Connect with Sarah and with her work at the links below. 

Educators for Excellence links: 

March like a Mother links: 

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On today's episode of Catalysts for Change, we talk to the President of the Boston Teachers Union, Jessica Tang. She is the first person of color, first openly queer and first woman in over thirty years to serve in this role. Jessica is a co-founder of the Teacher Activist Group-Boston and serves as a board member for several civic and labor groups, including Citizens for Public Schools and the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance. As a teacher-activist, she has been involved in many different community organizations working to advance racial, social and economic justice.

Our conversation with Jessica covers the Boston Teachers Union, Boston Public Schools, Covid-19, and back to school plans.

Jill and Jessica discuss the Boston Public Schools hybrid Reopening Plan and The Boston Teachers Union Reopening Plan.

One of the BTU’s biggest concerns is reaching the highest need students. Jessica points out in this conversation that one of the most significant learnings from spring was how difficult it was to engage students to get online at all.Teachers don’t feel comfortable going back into buildings that aren’t equipped with basic needs to ensure health and safety. Jessica’s perspective on reopening schools rests on these guiding principles: having the funding to do this right, putting safety first, and focusing on social, racial, and economic justice. 

Boston Public Schools’ 2020-21 school year will start in a few weeks, and families are still waiting for a finalized reopening plan.

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On today's episode of Catalysts for Change, we talk to behavioral scientist and professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, Todd Rogers, Todd has dedicated his career to studying the gap between intention and action, helping families effectively support student success, and improving democracy.

In our second podcast with Todd, we dive deeper into absenteeism through a pre-COVID lense, and also hear about two other initiatives on which Todd is currently focused: contact tracing, and social connectedness for students and families. 

Before COVID-19, absenteeism was a major concern. We know that the more school days that students miss lead to lower graduation rates, standardized test scores and grades, less connectedness with peers, and later in life, lower earnings. The impact of COVID-19 has made it difficult to understand what to measure and optimize. Todd believes that as school restarts in the fall, it will be crucial to assess and develop plans for where students currently are academically. He also believes that inequities that existed before COVID-19 will likely be exacerbated. 

Todd discusses his concerns about the disparity between students who have the family, school and peer support to continue to show up for school versus the kids who don’t. His research shows how physically being in school has a significant impact on student outcomes. 

He also shares his perspective on how schools can be great resources for contact tracing and how his company, EveryDay Labs, has been working on interventions to help students build relationships to support student and family connectedness. Todd continues to work to provide better and more equitable outcomes for students across the country. Learn more about Todd Rogers and his work and the New York Times article about chronic absenteeism referenced in the episode.

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On today’s episode, we talk to Tom Kane. An economist and Walter H. Gale Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He has committed his career to both K-12 and higher education efforts focused on school accountability systems, teacher recruitment and retention, financial aid for college, race-conscious college admissions, and the earnings impacts of community colleges.

Our conversation with professor Kane unpacks the current impact of COVID on our kids in schools, transforming education through innovation, and the racial achievement gap. 

Through an analysis of an urban medium-sized school district, professor Kane found that about 28% of students had not logged in for school over a month and a half. He talks to us about a possible virtual tutoring solution that has shown promise even before COVID.  

The Student Opportunity Act added $1.5B of funding to public school education in Massachusetts. $10M of that funding was committed to the 21st Century Education Trust Fund. Professor Kane shares the importance of this fund as it provides opportunities to innovate, including testing and piloting in education as we do in healthcare.   

Massachusetts’ National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) scores haven’t improved since 2007. Further, the racial achievement gap hasn’t changed since 1996. Professor Kane discusses the immediate need to shift from having discussions to intentionally closing the gap. He believes allocating funds to innovative methods and testing those methods could make all the difference.  

Professor Kane’s work and his perspective encourage us to think about how evidence-based processes can improve innovation and racial inequities for kids in schools. Learn more about his work, and as referenced in the episode, the Coleman Report. This report is widely considered the most important education study of the 20th century.

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