Power Station

All parents know the heart wrenching feeling of having to work when they are worried about the safety of their children. Imagine if those parents are farmworkers who start their workday at 3:00am and use their remarkable and underpaid skills to harvest the crops that end up as food on our tables. Imagine if their only option for childcare is to bring their babies and toddlers into the fields with them. That scenario has become increasingly rare because of a highly committed and expert network of caring professionals who operate Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Centers, highly specialized early childhood facilities across 34 states. In this episode of Power Station, I speak with Cleofas Rodriguez, the powerhouse leader of National Ag Families Head State Association (formerly National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association) about the singular eco-system of farmworker families, educational providers and farmers he unites to ensure that the children of our nation's essential workers receive the early education and care needed to be successful when they enter kindergarten. It is a personal revelation for me each time I meet with this organization's brilliant summer interns. As Cleo says, investing in them yields the most extraordinary results. Hear Lizette and Sayra and you will agree.

What is more American than entrepreneurship, not the faux version appropriated by heirs to affluent parents but the creation of small businesses by risk takers seeking to support their families, innovate goods and services, and invigorate their communities? As Audrey Roofeh explains on this episode of Power Station, it was small business owners who gambled their own safety to take care of community members during Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis by the US Department of Homeland Security and ICE. An entrepreneur herself, Audrey's firm Mariana Strategies, which helped federal agencies cultivate workplaces free from misogyny, racism and anti-LGBTQ conduct was put out of business by a White House executive order banning DEI initiatives by government contractors. Audrey heard the alarm expressed by fellow small business owners about sustainability in a marketplace where the Rule of Law no longer applied. She founded Integrity Matters, a unique association or small business owners impacted by tariffs, ICE crackdowns, inflation and unpredictable governance. Its members are now organizing to protect voters in upcoming elections, a powerful example of how small business owners invest in us.

There is a sea change underway in the social change and political activism arenas, and it is led by a burgeoning network of girls and women. A major force behind this transformation is Her Rising Initiative, a nonprofit founded by Cherie Animashaun who, as a teenager, was inspired to create a space for girls with aspirations to become changemakers. Its mission, to close the opportunity gap for girls and women in the social, business and political sectors is advanced by helping them to build the confidence needed to lead. My guest on this episode of Power Station is Carolina Nazario, who leads Her Action, a campaign of Her Rising that is laser-focused on the power of policymaking. Carolina brings passion and organizing savvy to developing the capacities of young women, through middle school trainings, college chapters and gatherings across multiple cities, to understand the legislative process, draft bills and advocate for change. We talk about the rise of violence against women in the political sphere and the bill designed to safeguard their involvement. Carolina is building the world, with a cadre of girls and women, where everyone has a place at the policymaking table.

I love speaking with leaders whose innate capacity for engaging communities and influencing progress in politics, policy and culture comes from their character and not just their title. Rafael Collazo, executive director of the UnidosUS Action Fund, the 501c4 sister organization of UnidosUS, our nation's largest Latino civil rights organization, is that leader. UnidosUS, the organizational champion of 64 million Latinos who contribute $4.1 trillion to the U.S. economy has deepened its impact on politics and policy by through this tax designation and Action Fund. Rafael, a consummate political organizer, collaborates with the organization's members, a savvy network of community based organizations, to build the power needed for Latino families to thrive. This involves both supporting candidates who motivate the electorate and leading public policy campaigns in state legislatures and on Capitol Hill. As Rafael shares on this episode of Power Station, being responsive starts with listening to what the community aspires to. Those insights are embedded in the UnidosUS National Latino Economic Prosperity Agenda. Latinos wants to not just subsist, they want to achieve the American Dream, an increasingly elusive goal when the cost of housing is displacing families from their own neighborhoods. Rafael has much more to say here.

This moment in America is living proof that the path to a just society requires the shedding of false narratives that demonize people and communities for social currency and political gain. These narratives influence how elected officials expend fiscal resources and which policies and regulations they enact. And it takes education, organizing and relationship building by nonprofits and people with lived experience to dispel myths and adopt new-found truths. In this episode of Power Station, Damien Cabezas, President and CEO of Community Connections DC, the largest nonprofit provider of mental health services in the nation's capital, offers a powerful example of how an historically maligned community remains stigmatized and profoundly misunderstood. While the public perceives that 70% of people with mental illness are violent the reality is that people with mental illness are more likely to be victims than perpetrators of crime. And as he explains, treatment, along with access to stable housing and community-based supports, leads to recovery and the capacity to thrive. Damien is an exceptional leader and advocate for people navigating mental illness and substance abuse disorders. He knows the costs to families, our economy and society when we embrace stigma over solutions.

Charlie Birney was way ahead of the curve when he became an early adopter of podcasting in 2012. His love of listening to and telling stories through this platform made the years of explaining to friends and family how to access them on an iPhone worthwhile. He started Launch Podcasts in 2014, and its purpose was not what you might expect. He was not interested in growing the audience or monetizing the show. Instead Launch Podcasts was a tool for speaking directly to the group of people, previously unconnected, in a co-working space they shared. Charlie had a vision for internal podcasting that transcends sectors and issue areas. Uber uses them, for instance, to communicate rules and policy updates to a massive and remote workforce. We talk about the possibilities that internal podcasting holds for nonprofits that want to mirror their stated values inside of their organizations. An episode could feature frontline staff explaining what they need to be effective in this challenging environment. Another could prepare board members to use their connections in support of policy goals that advance the organization's mission. The possibilities are endless and the results can be powerful.

For Sophie Miyoshi and Helen Abraha, advocating for the rights of restaurant workers reflects their values and is also highly personal. Both started working in restaurants as teens and over time they experienced the isms and injustices that define the industry, from sexism and racism to immigrant exploitation and wage theft. They found a home at the Restaurant Organizing Collective DC where Sophie is now the executive director and Helen is lead organizer. What they have accomplished, hard-fought legislative victories from wage increases to paid sick leave is even more impressive given the deep pockets and relentlessness of the restaurant industry and its lobbyists. I have had the privilege of following ROC's growth over time, seeing a community that supported its frontline workers during the pandemic, fought for the release of an immigrant member's son from a detention center and withstood the whittling down of wins by the DC City Council and Mayor. In this episode of Power Station, I am particularly struck by Sophie and Helen's current focus, broadening and strengthening their membership. As they explain, policy wins will be tested and can only be sustained by a powerful and unwavering base.

This president and his minions in Congress are relentless in their messaging about who counts as an American and what government owes to its people. And their narrative is rationalizing the elimination of policies and programs that we once embraced as being quintessentially American, in particular the education the education of our children. U.S. Department of Education Commissioner Linda MacMahon is charged with dismantling the agency she leads, and she has prioritized shuttering the Offices of Civil Rights, Special Education and most recently, English Language Acquisition. For two decades OLEA has overseen the provision of English language learning for over 5 million children, primarily U.S. citizens, in the K-12 public school system, a boon for academic advancement and a well-equipped workforce. In this episode of Power Station I am joined by Amalia Chammoro, Senior Director of the UnidosUS Education Policy Project and co-chair of the National English Learner Roundtable, who shares the largely underreported story of OLEA, the difference it made in her own life and what its closure means for communities across the country. UnidosUS is a critical leader in America's civil rights infrastructure and Amalia is a dynamic champion of educational equity. Hear her!

Despite all efforts to whitewash our nation's history, the truth cannot be erased. Case in point: In 1906, the first generation after slavery, African Americans created an extraordinary cultural, economic and entrepreneurial hub, dubbed Black Wall Street, in the Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma. This thriving center of enterprise, where dollars spent circulated 9 to 30 times before leaving the community, was destroyed in 1921 by a violent and unrelenting white mob. Thirty-five square blocks were reduced to rubble, and 300 community members were murdered. The failure of white political leaders and media to tell this story and take accountability for it is one erasure. The economic impacts and generational harms of this desecration is another. In this episode of Power Station, Alaina Beverly, a powerful champion of Black political and economic justice, tells the story of the Greenwood Trust, an initiative launched by Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols, which she leads. She is educating the nation about Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Massacre and is making history by cultivating a cohort of experts, descendants, scholars, housing and educational leaders to build the economic future that Greenwood, and all disinvested communities deserve. Her her!

When someone tells you their story, listening is an honor. It is an opportunity to connect to someone else's life experience, to recognize that we are all shaped by the inequities and privileges we are born into and that the consequences of both reverberate through families, communities and public systems. In the case of Courtney Stewart, my guest on this week's episode of Power Station, his story is his calling. It informs his leadership as founder and CEO of the National Reentry Network for Returning Citizens, a community based nonprofit that offers a continuum of care, from meeting material needs to skill building for the workforce and criminal justice reform advocacy and one-on-one sessions that support mental health. As with the most powerful stories, Mr. Stewart's is not entirely predictable. The neglect and harms he experienced as a child and his very early entry into the system could have continued to traumatize him. Instead, he encountered adults who poured into him, a practice he continues with others today. And he shares how inadequate and short-term funding levels challenge nonprofit progress. This is his story to tell, listen!