Power of Good

Like all cities, Boston is a composite of many cities, many histories, and many realities that play out across neighborhood, race, ethnicity, and class. Yet Boston stands out in its extremes. While Boston thrives, its innovation and tech economies sore, housing development booms, there is perhaps no other US city with as stark a difference between those thriving and those surviving. Boston’s wealth gap between white residents and residents of color is one of the largest in the country.

In this episode of Power of Good, I interview those who are telling this story of a divided Boston – Boston residents, Kafi Dixon and Carl Chandler, and Tim McCarthy, a Harvard Lecturer.

The three of them met in The Clemente Course (www.clementecourse.org), a rigorous community-based humanities class taught in 34 sites across the U.S. The Clemente mission is to foster critical thinking through deep engagement with history, literature, philosophy and art history. Kafi and Carl were students in the Clemente course, Tim was one of the course professors, as he has been for over 20 years.

While in the course, they also met James Rutenbeck, a documentary filmmaker, with plans to capture and share the transformative learning of the Clemente class experience. James quickly gravitated towards Kafi and Carl – and as the film project progressed, it changed direction. Dramatically. It became not only about the course - but also about the lives of Kafi and Carl and their experiences in a racially and economically divided Boston.

Kafi, Carl, and Tim joined me to share their perspective on the transformative nature of the Clemente Course, their experience making the film, and their guarded hopes for what Boston might become in the future.

According to research by the Making Caring Common Project at Harvard School of Education, 96 percent of parents feel that developing moral character in their kids is more important than personal achievement. In this episode we sat down with psychologist and lecturer Rick Weissbourd, faculty director of the project, to discover how his team is taking this research to help parents raise kids who care about others while also contributing to the common good.

Historically, a clubhouse is a place for kids to come together to escape from the outside world and the same holds true for the Clubhouse Network in Roxbury. This dynamic space is where teens of Boston are able to gather and hone in on their passions. In this episode we speak with Program Manager Kahmal London on the importance of pursuing your passion while also developing creative and communication skills.

Kids involved in sports develop skills in teamwork, collaboration, leadership and confidence. That’s why it’s important for all kids to have the opportunity to participate - especially girls - whose visibility and representation on sport teams trails boys. We speak with Bekah Salwasser, executive director of the Red Sox Foundation, who she understands the importance of attracting and supporting girls and women in sports.

For this episode, we had the opportunity to participate in the HubWeek, Boston’s annual ideas festival for art, science, and technology. In front of a live audience, we interviewed Don Lane, chief marketing officer of Saucony Don Lane, “Sober Curious” author and consultant Ruby Warrington, and Erin Baumgarten, founder and CEO of Family Dinner, about their unique approaches to social innovation.