Elephant Stories

Corinne Cannon, Founder and Executive Director of the Greater DC Diaper Bank, doesn't shy away from the truth. Whether it is the truth about motherhood (it can be scary), the truth about funders (they can make life miserable), or the truth about what babies need  (they need something on their butts to collect the poop and pee!).  In this episode, we talk about how the "little things" aren't so little when you don't have them. Privilege is insidious and you don't always see what surrounds you. We throw around data, theory, and personal stories to break right through those blind spots.

Explore topics in this episode:

Greater DC Diaper Bank
National Diaper Bank Network
Homeless Children's Playtime Project
Decolonizing Wealth Project

Find us at:
Web: Elephant Stories
Twitter: @StoriesElephant
Email: [email protected]

Jhumpa Bhattacharya of the Insight Center For Community Economic Development (a non-profit focused on building economic inclusion and racial equity for people of color, women, immigrants, and marginalized families in the US) is a national expert on racial wealth inequality and gender issues. Ms. Bhattacharya and the Insight Center have doubled down on dismantling racist, sexist systems by changing the narratives of power, disparity, and history that support them. Centering Blackness is a framework that strikes at, what they say, is the root cause of a multitude of societal ills. On this episode, Ms. Bhattacharya talks with me about the Centering Blackness framework, patriarchal status quo, the power of narrative, and how Asian Americans experience white supremacy. Such serious topics, yet somehow the episode is filled with audio distorting laughter. Weird…

Explore topics in this episode:

 Insight Center

Centering Blackness: The Path to Economic Liberation for All

American Rescue Plan Fact Sheet

The Accidental Asian: Notes of a Native Speaker by Eric Liu

The Karma of Brown Folk by Vijay Prashad

Throughline: The Real Black Panthers

Find us at:
 Web: Elephant Stories
Twitter: @StoriesElephant
Email: [email protected]

Akilah Watkins, PhD is the President and CEO of the Center for Community Progress,  the leading national, nonprofit resource for urban, suburban, and rural communities seeking to address the full cycle of property revitalization. In this conversation we discuss what's ahead for community development and affordable housing, the value of diverse perspectives (racial diversity but also professional diversity, experiential diversity, etc.), and what it is like being a women in a leader position and, specifically, a woman of color.

Explore topics in this episode:

Center for Community Progress
People in Place: The Case for Bridging Place-Based and People-Based Interventions to Disrupt Intergenerational Poverty
Professor Patricia Hill Collins
Webinar: Bold Leadership for Racial Justice: A National CEO of Color Forum

Find us at:
Web: Elephant Stories
Twitter: @StoriesElephant
Email: [email protected]

Nicole Lynn Lewis is the founder and CEO of Generation Hope, a non-profit that supports young parents pursuing college degrees. Generation Hope Scholars (i.e. student parents) have a degree completion rate that outpaces the national average. The Scholars' children are all "on track" according to developmental assessments. Nicole tells her own story in her new book, Pregnant Girl: A Story of Teen Motherhood, College, and Creating a Better Future for Young Families. It is a story of teen parenthood, homelessness,  despair,  resilience, triumph, and paying it forward.

Explore topics in this episode:

Pregnant Girl: A Story of Teen Motherhood, College, and Creating a Better Future for Young Families (available at all major booksellers)
Generation Hope
Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice

Find us at:
Elephant Stories
@StoriesElephant
[email protected]

Allison Meisch, PhD,  Senior Research Associate at James Bell Associates, joins us to talk about early childhood home visiting, equitable evaluation practices, and acknowledging white privilege as an anti-poverty researcher.

Explore topics in this episode:

Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program
Home Visiting Applied Research Collaborative
Home Visiting Yearbook

Find us at:

Elephant Stories
@StoriesElephant
[email protected]