Finding Common Purpose

There’s no neutrality when it comes to systemic racism in the workplace, according to David Delmar Sentíes -- you have to pick a side. David leads Resilient Coders, a coding boot camp for young people of color that, like other training programs across the country, helps graduates access well-paying jobs in the (still) white-dominated tech industry. He provides insights for companies with the best hiring intentions and challenges them to push beyond PR-driven “diversity initiatives” to fundamentally question practices that prevent so many people of color from getting a foot in the door -- such as why corporations require a college degree for jobs David has first-hand evidence highly-trained high school graduates can do. This episode continues David’s conversation with Andrew Wolk that started in Taking the Protests to the Office. You can read about this interview, including David’s explanations of how Whiteness opens doors to opportunity, at the Finding Common Purpose blog.

The brutal killing of George Floyd shed a searing light on the dangers and indignities that many people of color, especially Black people, face every single day -- on the streets, and in every facet of American life. David Delmar Sentíes of Resilient Coders has been working for years to dismantle one particularly insidious racial injustice -- the systemic bias preventing so many low-income people of color from accessing the kinds of high-growth careers that can change lives and entire communities. In this frank conversation with Andrew Wolk, David challenges anti-racism allies to stop just tweeting #BlackLivesMatter and start hiring Black people in good-paying jobs.

Read more about David's perspective on how Whiteness opens doors to opportunity and how classism and racism keep many workers of color out of tech jobs at the Finding Common Purpose blog.

Nearly 40% of Americans could already not afford a $400 emergency before the COVID-19 crisis hit. In this episode, Erin Coltrera, Research and Program Officer at the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED), shares the what, why, and how of Mayor Tubb’s guaranteed income experiment – otherwise known as a UBI. SEED provides $500 a month, with no strings attached, to 125 Stockton residents and rigorously tracks the results.  Listen to how SEED is seeking to prove to supporters and skeptics alike that poverty results from a lack of cash, not character. Read more from the interview in two Finding Common Purpose blog posts, What $500 Might Do and Government Benefits and Trust in People.

As our country grapples with the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, universal basic income (UBI) is back in the headlines. In this episode, the story behind the Magnolia Mother’s Trust, a UBI-like initiative that provides low-income African-American mothers living in affordable housing in Jackson, Mississippi with $1,000 cash for 12 months--to use however they see fit, no strings attached. Aisha Nyandoro heads up the effort and talks about how those moms are faring during the crisis, and her belief that if you provide someone with the resources they need, they’ll use them to succeed.

Read more about Aisha’s conversation with host Andrew Wolk about universal basic income at the Finding Common Purpose blog.

When the coronavirus pandemic took hold in the United States, Susannah Morgan, CEO of the Oregon Food Bank, was as scared as she’s ever been. She didn’t know if her vast food assistance network would be able to meet the region’s sudden and massive increase in need. Susannah talks about how her organization adapts to tackle food insecurity, and how her shift in mindset from “doing for” to “doing with” is a better path to her work. Read more about this interview at the Finding Common Purpose blog.

Finding Common Purpose brings you candid conversations with government, business, nonprofit and foundation leaders, about how to build a 21st century social contract that puts millions more people on a pathway to lifelong success -- from healthy birth to quality education, to a good-paying job, to healthy and secure aging.

Nearly 40% of Americans could already not afford a $400 emergency before the COVID-19 crisis hit. In this episode, Erin Coltrera, Research and Program Director at the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED), shares the what, why, and how of Mayor Tubb’s guaranteed income experiment – otherwise known as a UBI. SEED provides $500 a month, with no strings attached, to 125 Stockton residents and rigorously tracks the results.  Listen to how SEED is seeking to prove to supporters and skeptics alike that poverty results from a lack of cash, not character. Read more from the interview in two Finding Common Purpose blog posts, What $500 Might Do and Government Benefits and Trust in People. 

Meet Aisha Nyandoro, CEO of Springboard to Opportunities. In this episode, you’ll learn the story behind the Magnolia Mothers Trust, an initiative that provides low-income African-American mothers in Jackson, Mississippi with $1,000 cash for 12 months, no strings attached. While there have been guaranteed income programs before, this is one of only a couple of experiments in the United States today and the first that specifically targets extremely low-income families headed by African-American women who live in public housing. Aisha also shares the idea of being “radically resident-driven” and the importance of focusing on income stability, before we can even address wealth generation. Read more about the issues we discussed in the Finding Common Purpose blog.

Meet Susannah Morgan, Executive Director of the Oregon Food Bank. She’s been in and around food banking for twenty-three years.  In 2019 the Oregon Food served food to nearly 20% of the entire Oregon population!  In this episode, Susannah doesn’t pull any punches about how we can’t even meet the basic needs of vast numbers of people and ultimately are failing to help people along a pathway to lifelong success.   She speaks about her shift in mindset from doing for to doing with and the complexity and competing priorities of meeting immediate needs, changing systems, inspiring staff and cultivating donors to sustain her work.

Listen to this introduction to the Finding Common Purpose podcast where you’ll learn about what Andrew and others call the Nonprofit Industrial Complex and about the candid conversations with people from Government, businesses, nonprofits and foundations about how we get millions more people on a pathway to lifelong success–from healthy birth to quality education, to a good-paying job, and to healthy and sustainable aging.