Power Station

One voice that is often overlooked or not even considered in deliberations about ending homelessness in America is that of people who are experiencing homelessness themselves. That paradigm is being upended by the National Coalition for the Homeless, which organizes, trains and engages people with lived experience as partners at policymaking tables. Their first-hand knowledge of housing and homelessness systems makes them invaluable advisers to US HUD and the CDC and led to the development of tools for getting people out of unsheltered homelessness and to safety during COVID. Their participation in policymaking is supported by the Coalition’s Lived Experience Training Academy, a singular resource for effective policy advocacy. As Donald Whitehead, executive director of the Coalition explains on this episode of Power Station, when people do not see themselves in policy making, they feel disengaged. That understanding is what sustains him in the Coalition’s current campaign, registering people to vote in shelters across the country, which moves them towards hopefulness, agency and power. Donald Whitehead brings his own lived experience to the daunting but realizable goal of ending homelessness. He is an indispensable leader and an inspiration to me.

It should not feel astonishing, but it does. In a national debate and many state campaign stops, presidential and vice presidential candidates are asserting that housing is a human right and sounding a call to end homelessness in America. Their declaration is both overdue and exhilarating. Getting there is the North Star of Funders Together to End Homelessness, which brings together grant makers, nonprofits that advance housing justice through federal policy advocacy, and those who have lived experience with homelessness and housing insecurity. As its indomitable CEO, Amanda Misiko Andere explains on this episode of Power Station, learning how racism is baked into this nation’s policy making and public systems and unlearning assumptions about why Black and Indigenous people are disproportionately impacted by homelessness requires a good deal of sitting in discomfort. Funders Together is mobilizing philanthropy to be a part of the solution by taking grant makers on this journey and encouraging investment in nonprofits on the frontline of policy advocacy. As Amanda says, racial justice is housing justice. Undoing racial inequities is an urgent but long term project. She is a philanthropy influencer who I am proud to follow.

A few years into hosting Power Station, outstanding audio engineer Rob Ford said, “People should really hear what you and your guests talk about off-mic.” He was right, which led, eventually, to today’s inaugural episode of Power Hour, a segment of Power Station that brings those off-mic conversations into the light. It is where social change leaders share what concerns and enlivens them, beyond their organizational roles, about the nonprofit sector and our society. On this episode of Power Hour, John Holdsclaw, President and CEO of Rochdale Capital talks about the stepping back, by banks and foundations, from explicitly supporting ownership, equity and leadership by Black Americans in nonprofit sector. He calls for investments in the next generation of leaders of color including executive coaching, which is particularly relevant given the resistance they often face, and the collective trauma of Black Americans tied to financial services. John points out that the word equity is disappearing from philanthropic messaging around diversity and inclusion and clarifies thar he and Rochdale Capital continue to champion racial equity. This conversation means so much to me and I believe it will to you as well.

Sometimes an organization’s backstory speaks volumes, which is definitely true of The Women’s Foundation of the South (WFS). It was co-created into existence by a cohort of women, all accomplished grant makers of color who were compelled to build what the philanthropic sector lacked, a public foundation dedicated to the advancement of women and girls of color in the American south. They started to dream together in 2019 and launched in 2021 with Carmen James Randolph, its exceptional founder, at the helm. In this episode of Power Station, Carmen shares what it takes to start a foundation without major institutional donors, forging ahead through the Covid 19 pandemic and the devastation of Hurricane Ida, both of which exacerbated profound inequities in communities of color. These challenges shaped WFC’s approach: investing in nonprofits and small businesses that serve those who are most vulnerable. She has garnered significant philanthropic support and is lifting up a powerful network of women who lead, without adequate recognition or resources, nonprofits in regions struggling with shattering maternal and infant mortality rates. As Carmen says, the WFC is exercising a vital tool of philanthropy, women’s voice and leadership.

If you want to know about the state of our public schools and how parents are advocating for the needs and aspirations of all children, you will need to look beyond the headlines. Parents who disrupt school board meetings to spew hate about books and classes that value diversity and inclusion may make the news, but their actions tear schools apart, not build them up. In this episode of Power Station, Maya Martin Cadogan, the founder and executive director of Parents Amplifying Voices in Education (PAVE), shares what real parent engagement makes possible. Maya was inspired to launch PAVE by her mother, a remarkable agent of change.  She wants all parents to feel the agency her mother did and PAVE provides that opportunity. It empowers parents with the responsibility of choosing which policy positions to pursue each year and prepares them to testify before City Councilmembers and the Mayor about solutions to pressing systemic challenges. PAVE parents may lack degrees in education, but they are experts in what their children need and in how to create change collectively. Theirs is a story that needs to be told.

In America, small business and entrepreneurship is venerated and often romanticized in popular culture and by the media and politicians. But for aspiring entrepreneurs who are not wealthy or well connected, starting a new business is fraught with challenges and inequities. The data reveals that 85% of our businesses are microenterprises, companies of five or fewer people, launched with $50k or less, often without access to traditional bank products and capital. Unlike tech guys launching a start-up with Silicon Valley investments, these entrepreneurs are often people of color striving to build wealth, generate family legacies and create jobs. What they need, from coaching to capital and community can be found in The California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity (CAMEO), a powerful network of 400 CDFIs, community lenders, small business and women’s business centers that make success possible for those whom banks do not serve. In this episode of Power Station, Carolina Martinez, CAMEO’s exceptional CEO, shares what it takes to build a thriving ecosystem of support for entrepreneurs of color, including policy advocacy and an insistence on corporate accountability. Do not miss this masterclass on how change is made.

If you want to know what matters most to your elected leaders, the answer is found not in their rhetoric, but in their choices during the budget making process. When the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities was founded in 1981, the mission was to understand how federal spending, or the lack of it, impacted low income Americans, particularly their ability to access healthcare and housing. It also provided policymakers with alternative strategies for meeting human needs with fiscal integrity. As Peggy Bailey, Executive Vice President of Programs and Policy shares on this episode of Power Station, the Center not only brings rigor to federal budget analysis it focuses on and is a resource to state budget making as well. And its internal process has evolved too. All Center departments operate from a justice framework, with staff holding themselves and each other accountable to shared values, from centering racial equity to including those with lived experience in their policy development. Peggy brings her all, including what she has experienced first-hand, to ensuring that public policies and their implementation in the real world uplift those who are too often left behind. She is a true changemaker. Hear her!

The next time you visit your local farmers market take a moment to consider who produced the bounty of just-harvested fruits and vegetables and brought them with care to your urban neighborhood. As Hugo Mogollon shares on this episode of Power Station every farmer, from new entries in the sector to Black farmers carrying the toll of historical exclusion from federal resources to immigrants managing farms until they have land of their own, has a story. Their stories inform Hugo’s leadership of FreshFarm, a nonprofit that is building a more equitable food system in the Mid-Atlantic region. It expands economic opportunities for the 250 farmers, ranchers and producers who sell their products in FreshFarm’s 27 markets in Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia and makes fresh food accessible to underserved communities through food hubs and matched public funds. And it is building a fresh food culture among children, teaching them to grow gardens and prepare recipes. This complex but seamless web of strategies is generating millions in revenue for small farmers, making food distribution more just and boosting health outcomes for families. This is how, with transparency and intention, transformational change is made.

Sindy Benavides leads Latino Victory with strategic saavy, optimism and a deep belief in the ability of Latinos, and other communities of color, to engage in the electoral process and generate a more equitable America. 

I am excited to reshare this very edifying and inspiring episode with Sindy. We learn about her own road to organizing, the communities that poured into her, the talented cohort of leaders that Latino Victory stands behind and the resources it provides to make their engagement possible. Enjoy!

This conversation with Eric Ward remains as instructive, powerful and resonant as when it was first recorded. Eric, now a Senior Fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, is a nationally lauded expert on authoritarian movements in America and their corrosive impact on democractic systems and our belief in them. In this episode, Eric explains how antisemitism took root in America and provided the othering and fearmongering that are hallmarks of broader white nationalist movements. 

It is particularly important listening as we head into the 2024 elections and consume, whether we wish to or not, so much hate and divisiveness on social media and ads generated by the Trump campaign.

I am so grateful to Eric for his incredible work and for sharing it with Power Station.