There is one fact that Lisa Countryman Quiroz, CEO of Jewish Vocational Service Bay Area (JVS) wants you to take away from our deeply data-informed conversation. There is a proven pathway for people stuck in low-quality jobs to secure high-quality employment that moves families into the middle class. And doing so generates a quantifiable return on investment. That fact is documented in unimpeachable quarterly earnings data collected by the state of California’s Employment Development Department. Job seekers, primarily women of color, come to JVS with aspirations and the need to provide for their families. JVS’s investments in them, customized training for specialized positions in industry and public agencies, one-on-one staff support and advocacy for systems change, make a better life for families achievable. Jobseekers come to JVS having earned around $40k annually. Post training, they earn $60k and in 5 years their salaries are over $100k. These results are life-changing for families and a huge win for economic mobility. At JVS, Lisa Countryman Quiroz is making transformational progress notwithstanding the threat of federal funding cuts and policy rollbacks. There is so much to learn from this episode. Listen to Lisa and share!

What is more powerful than a book that delivers a new framework for understanding and repairing the most foundational injustice in our nation, the gap in wealth and power between white and Black Americans? The first revelatory moment I experienced reading Black Power Scorecard by Dr. Andre Perry was his description of Black power, a data-driven and additive definition, which can be summarized as the ability to live a long and full life. What follows is a deep and data-driven dive into the conditions that make a long life possible, from communities with clean air, to home and business ownership to incomes that empower families. Understanding where these gaps in wealth and power lie, provides an unimpeachable policy framework for advancing Black Power in America. Most importantly, Andre Perry connects us to Black communities that are flourishing because of Black entrepreneurs and leaders, including Lanier Richardson whose business investments are creating a new class of owners in Black communities. These stories are under-reported and deserve to be heard so that strategies are replicated. Black power, unlike White power, is collective and not extractive. It benefits all of us and it is fully within reach.

There is no question that disinformation, the invention of narratives founded in lies to influence how Americans think was instrumental to the election of Donald Trump. The far right has transformed our media eco-system by repeating hateful messaging on questionable platforms now perceived by true believers to be legitimate. The repercussions are upon us: deportations without due process, federal funding freezes for resources that meet human needs, a campaign to eliminate the tax exempt status of social change nonprofits, the acquiescence of republican members of Congress to their leader and the largely uninspired response to this moment by democratic leaders. On this episode of Power Station, I turn to Kevin Peréz-Allen, Senior Vice President of the non-partisan Signal Group, which lives up to its descriptor as a modern public affairs firm. Kevin shares data from his deep dive into right-wing messaging and his experience with clients: nonprofits, businesses, law firms, embassies and universities that are navigating unprecedented challenges and seeking to be heard by policymakers and the media. And we talk about what can be gained if those on the left communicate with clarity and not condescension. We can all do better if we are open to change.

In 1984, at the height of the AIDS crisis, the LGBTQ community was pushing back hard against prejudice, transphobia and the failure of the public health system to meet dire medical needs. When queer youth, some of whom identified as trans, were hospitalized at the then-notorious St. Eliabeth’s hospital in Washington DC, a group of community members and health professionals founded SMYAL, a nonprofit that provides housing, mental health support and safe spaces for LGBTQ youth. As SMYAL’s executive director Erin Whalen explains on this episode of Power Station, our president wants to return to that punishing era . Erin are her team are not collapsing in the face of federal funding cuts, the targeting of LGBTQ youth, particularly those who are undocumented, and the rising incidents of hate they are navigating. They are taking steps to care for each other and to support the little SMYALs, the 6-12 years old children and their parents, some of whom are now losing access to vital gender affirming care. As Erin shares, they will use their power and voices to be bold and brave. We all have an amazing opportunity to do the same.

The true story of America is currently being rewritten in real time by the White House. The president’s rejection of incontrovertible truths, from racism to domestic violence to the marginalization of people with disabilities is laid bare in the banning of words on government websites that reference those who have been most wronged in our society. It also explains his freezing of federal funding for nonprofits that work each day to tackle discrimination as codified in the National Fair Housing Act of 1968. This landmark civil rights legislation, hard-won after years of advocacy, was enacted just weeks after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and remains integral to creating a more equitable union.  In this episode of Power Station, Lisa Rice, President and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance shares what it takes to move forward in the face of an existential crisis impacting her organization, its members and those they serve. Lisa is unbowed and NFHA is hard at work, correcting algorithmic biases in appraisals and lending and leading a movement for AI that advances civil and human rights.  Lisa is a treasure. Please listen and share her story.

For Andrew Lee, performing at Carnegie Hall, bringing violin instruction to underfunded DC public schools, working in coalitions designed to increase funding for the arts and STEM during students’ out-of-school time, launching new orchestras, and partnering international musicians with young, emerging artists is all part of building a musical eco-system that reflects and is accessible to all. As Andrew shares on this episode of Power Station, leading the Washington Conservatory of Music, which for 40 years has been a center of learning for young people and adults, is an opportunity to build community, celebrate musical traditions and demonstrate the power of communication through the arts. Andrew’s gifts and aspirations go deeper than his musical virtuosity. His experiences with the policy making process on Capitol Hill, with running political campaigns and as a communications strategist for nonprofits make him uniquely qualified to meet the challenges of an unprecedented moment in this nation. We talk about what is at play, from federal funding cuts to donors’ changing metrics to the potential we all have to stand up and become a powerful voice for targeted communities and institutions. Listen, be inspired and use your voice.

It was 1973 when the National LGBTQ Task Force, the nation’s first LGBTQ rights organization, was founded. Homophobia was being codified into legislation; the AIDs epidemic was a devastating and deadly epidemic, and gay people were subject to discrimination and violence. A brave group of activists, scientists and doctors stepped up to create a nonprofit from which they advocated for the right to exist, be heard and win legal protections. Co-founder Bruce Voeller, a biologist who coined the term AIDS, and died from complications of it in 1994 was instrumental in organizing the first ever briefing on LBGTQ issues with the White House. In this episode of Power Station I speak with the fearless Allen Morris, Director of Policy at the National LGBTQ Task Force about how he uses his voice on Capitol Hill and in state legislatures to stand up against vitriolic rhetoric and policies targeting queer and trans people. Allen is leaning into principled struggle with policymakers, pressing them to see that queer people are not the enemy. As this administration seeks to turn back the clock on LGBTQ rights, the Task Force is unbowed. Allen is inspiring and a joy. Hear him!

It is a singular privilege to interview an author when their work is as powerful, instructive and intimate as What Might Be, Confronting Racism to Transform Our Institutions. In this episode of Power Station, I speak with Susan Sturm, Professor of Law and Social Responsibility at Columbia School of Law about her book, which explores her experience in tackling racism in American institutions and invites those who feel stuck on the sidelines to join in. Susan reflects on the “loving struggle” she has engaged in as a white woman working in multiracial collaborations, a practice supported by her treasured colleague, the late Lani Guinier. The book provides a window into the practice of confronting racism in predominately white institutions and the striking outcomes this work has generated. This includes the transformation of a court system whose routinized approach to calling balls and strikes each day obscured deeply embedded patterns of racial inequities which harmed litigants, court personnel of color and the broader community. We delve into Susan’s vision for moving forward in a political environment that denies the existence of racism altogether. Listen, learn and share.

How do you stay hopeful and motivated when entire communities, immigrants, LGBTQ and people with disabilities among many others, are being demonized and targeted for punitive action by our nation’s leaders? For Lucy Arellano Baglieri it is by keeping her eyes on the long game, building in the most difficult of times for a more just future. As Lucy shares on this episode of Power Station, this administration’s freezing of federal grants to nonprofits and efforts to revoke their tax exempt status is a defensive reaction to decades of progress in advancing civil rights and economic justice. In this episode of Power Station, Lucy shares how her family’s experience as immigrants who persisted through broken systems to thrive as entrepreneurs is at the core of everything she does. It guides her work at Luz Impact Strategies, the consultancy she founded to help nonprofits in strenghthening internal systems and tackling external barriers to maximizing their impacts in the communities they serve. The formula of capacity plus capital equals power has been foundational to Lucy’s accomplishments at the community and C-Suite levels and it undergirds her leadership and voice at Luz Impact Strategies now.

We are living in a moment of turmoil. Many communities feel targeted, and nonprofits are under pressure to quiet their voices. LIFT, a Washington DC based national nonprofit with offices in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles is undaunted in its support for and belief in Black and Brown parents seeking to break cycles of poverty and achieve economic mobility. In this episode of Power Station, Neils Ribeiro-Yemofio, the incomparable executive director of LIFT DC shares how just listening to parents about their aspirations for their families can be transformative. At LIFT DC, financial coaches are matched with parents, guiding parents through a 2 year process to increase their incomes, attain higher education and alleviate debt. As Neils says, it is an investment in hope, money and love. The results are stunning and unimpeachable. Parents are not only generating economic benefits for their families they are advocating for public policies that make life more equitable for their communities. Parents at LIFT DC have testified before the City Council and were instrumental in the enactment of the Child Tax Credit.  And their advocacy is far from done. Hope lies here. Listen!