Power Station

Do you envision think tanks to be old-school institutions far-removed from real life community experiences? If so, check out Solomon Greene, Senior Fellow at The Urban Institute, on this episode of Power Station and reconsider those assumptions. The Urban Institute was founded in 1968 by President Johnson to generate evidence-based strategies for ending urban poverty. It has evolved into an organization that is sought after by a diverse set of stakeholders, from local, state and federal government leaders to nonprofit advocates and philanthropy, who are tackling some of our nation’s most intractable problems. As Solomon explains, growing local economies that work for all residents, requires us to take stock of the policies of racial segregation that brought us to this moment. And because of federal retrenchment in funding for disinvested communities, including public and subsidized housing programs, local activism is producing new and forward-looking policies for creating equity and inclusion.

Urban Institute’s Research to Action Lab is democratizing data and engaging stakeholders in finding and implementing solutions for building these inclusive economies. In this conversation, Solomon talks about the potential of popularizing zoning strategies to create more racially and economically inclusive communities. Minneapolis is leading in this movement and the story of how it banned single-family housing development is both completely unexpected and awe inspiring. Solomon discusses the Trump Administration’s new Interagency Council on Removing Regulatory Barriers to Housing Development, which we all need to stay tuned for. And he is excited about the emergence of affordable housing, land use and zoning proposals by our presidential candidates. We both await the moment when moderators finally get around to asking questions about those positions at the next presidential debates. 

As Sookyung Oh explains, Annandale, Virginia is much more than a destination spot for Korean BBQ and Pho. It is home to Korean and Vietnamese Americans and a new wave of Caribbean and African immigrants. Sookyung leads NAKASEC (National Korean American Service and Education Consortium) a grassroots organization with affiliate offices in Los Angeles, Orange County and Chicago. Its power building mission This mission is particularly meaningful for the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, which sometimes feels invisible to the broader public. A small staff and a dedicated corps of young Korean American and Vietnamese American organizers, from local high schools and colleges, canvass neighborhoods and engage in one-on-one conversations with community members. They ask questions to gauge which issues are animating the community and then draw them into organizing efforts. Legal permanent residents are absorbing hateful rhetoric and policies by the Trump Administration and fear deportation. An uncertain future for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) is another key concern. This scenario is causing young people get involved in the 2020 elections.

As Sookyung Oh explains on Power Station, Annandale, Virginia is much more than a destination spot for Korean BBQ and Pho. It is a gateway community for Korean and Vietnamese Americans and, increasingly, for a new wave of Caribbean and African immigrants. Sookyung leads NAKASEC (National Korean American Service and Education Consortium) a grassroots organization with a national presence and affiliate offices in Los Angeles and Orange County, California and Chicago, Illinois. NAKASEC’s mission in Virginia is laser-focused on building power so that the community has the ability to shapes its own circumstances. This mission is particularly meaningful for the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, which sometimes feels invisible to the broader public. So, how does NAKASEC build power? Its strategy rests on organizing and its message is resonating. A small staff and a dedicated corps of young Korean American and Vietnamese American organizers, from local high schools and colleges, canvass neighborhoods and engage in one-on-one conversations with community members. They ask questions to gauge which issues are animating the community and then draw them into a larger organizational conversation. Here’s what NAKASEC is hearing from their constituents. Legal permanent residents are absorbing hateful rhetoric and policies by the Trump Administration and fear deportation. An uncertain future for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) is generating collaboration across sectors and social justice organizations. And young people are reconsidering their attitudes about voting and are committing to participate in the 2020 elections.

Sookyung is right when she describes NAKASEC as an organization with a small staff that punches above its weight. NAKASEC is where communities are gaining their voice and change is being made. Listen and learn about power in action.

Eshauna Smith knows first-hand what it takes to break through barriers and achieve success. The eldest child in a family struggling with poverty, she forged a different future. This experience informs her leadership of Urban Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to helping young people from challenging backgrounds attain economic success. As Eshauna learned, having adults stand up for her was transformation. Their support, from helping with Girl Scout camp applications, to summer jobs and internships, propelled her through degrees from UC Berkeley and UT Austin. Now Eshauna is persuading a new set of adults, in high schools and corporations, to stand up for the young people Urban Alliance serves. She does this by engaging them in a model that prepares high school students for higher education and successful employment. Urban Alliance partners with high schools to place motivated seniors into 9-month paid internships with corporations seeking good employees. Front line staff provide students with soft skills training and are available 24 hours a day to corporate supervisors. The model is working. Urban Alliance is celebrating the graduation of 500 high school seniors from these internships and expanding to new cities and industries.

Eshauna Smith knows first-hand what it takes to break through barriers and achieve success. The eldest child in a family struggling with poverty, she forged a different future. This experience informs her leadership of Urban Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to helping young people from challenging backgrounds attain economic success. As Eshauna learned, having adults stand up for her was change making. Their support, from facilitating Girl Scout camp applications, to summer jobs and internships, propelled her through degrees from UC Berkeley and UT Austin. Now Eshauna is persuading a new set of adults, in high schools and corporations, to stand up for the young people Urban Alliance serves. She does this by engaging them in a model that prepares high school students for higher education and successful employment. It benefits undervalued students and advances racial and social justice.

Urban Alliance partners with high schools to place motivated seniors into 9-month paid internships with corporations seeking good employees. Front line staff provide students with soft skills training and are available 24 hours a day to corporate supervisors. The model is working. Urban Alliance is celebrating the graduation of 500 high school seniors from these internships. The program is expanding the pipeline of students ready and able to advance to college, technical training or whatever trajectory they choose. And the model is scaling from DC to Baltimore, Northern Virginia, Chicago and most recently, Detroit. Companies, including Hilton, Marriott, Quicken Loans, and Bank of America are all in, not as charity but as believers in the bottom line. Stay tuned; there is definitely more to come.

The numbers are staggering: 70% of American college graduates carry student debt and our outstanding national student debt level now exceeds $1.5 trillion. A new report, Quicksand: Borrowers of Color and the Student Debt Crisis, authored by Center for Responsible Lending CRL) and the NAACP describes the scope of the problem, identifies which communities are most impacted and recommends systemic reforms. Debt impacts which jobs borrowers take, communities they live in, schools their children attends and delays home purchases by 7 years. Ashley Harrington, CRL's Senior Policy Council and co-author of Quicksand, explains that our national narrative about education as a pathway for advancement is at odds with the lived experience of students who are not wealthy and White. If access to education is a national value, why has there been a steady disinvestment by the federal government in public colleges? The opportunity for higher education to lessen the racial wealth gap is undermined by federal policies that enable private colleges to manipulate their students and loan servicing that makes repayment almost impossible. Quicksand offers solutions and ways for us to support those solutions. Our voices matters and we need to use them.

The numbers are staggering: 70% of American college graduates carry student debt and our outstanding national student debt level now exceeds $1.5 trillion. A new report, Quicksand: Borrowers of Color and the Student Debt Crisis, authored by Center for Responsible Lending CRL) and National Association for Colored People (NAACP), describes the scope of the problem, identifies which communities are most impacted and recommends systemic reforms. While debt is a shared challenge for American families it disproportionately affects students of color. In fact, 85% of African American students carry student debt. And the implications of this debt are clear. Debt impacts which jobs borrowers take, communities they live in, schools their children attends and delays home purchases by 7 years. Ashley Harrington, CRL’s Senior Policy Council and co-author of Quicksand, speaks to Power Station about how our national narrative about education as a pathway for advancement is at odds with the lived experience of students who are not wealthy and White. If access to education is a national value, why has there been a steady disinvestment by the federal government in public colleges? Why are HBCUs inadequately funded, and why are private colleges allowed to target students of color, veterans and women and operate in an unregulated and predatory manner. The opportunity for higher education to lessen the racial wealth gap is undermined by federal policies that enable private colleges to manipulate their students and loan servicing that makes repayment almost impossible. Quicksand offers solutions and ways for us to support those solutions. The include improved repayment options, strengthening servicing standards and oversight, and access to debt free education. Our voices matters and we need to use them.

Have you ever wished that a public agency official understood the problem you are trying to solve as a nonprofit leader? Tameka Montgomery, appointed by President Obama as Associate Administrator to the Small Business Administration's Office of Entrepreneurial Development, understands. She came to the position after creating a business incubator in Denver and leading its award-winning Small Business Center. During her tenure, she launched the Main Street Mentor Walk, a 5k that swapped out running for walking and matched new entries into the business sector with experienced business leaders. And she started the first Latino Small Business Summit to provide entrepreneurs with culturally specific resources and guidance. While at the SBA, Tameka elevated training and technical assistance resources for formerly incarcerated people seeking jobs. She founded Core Strategy Partners to help those working at the intersection of business value and social impact. And she hosts a wonderful podcast, Raising Entrepreneurs, that helps parents to foster entrepreneurship in their children. Did I mention that she is also the mother of 3 boys, 9, 11 and 13? You can hear them all here.

Have you ever wished that a public agency official understood the problem you are trying to solve from your perspective as a nonprofit leader? I am sure that many of us in the sector are familiar with that feeling. Tameka Montgomery, appointed by President Obama as Associate Administrator to the Small Business Administration’s Office of Entrepreneurial Development, actually did understand. She came to the position after creating a business incubator in Denver and leading its award- winning Small Business Center. During her tenure, she launched the Main Street Mentor Walk, a 5k that swapped out running for walking and matched new entries into the business sector with experienced business leaders. And she started the first Latino Small Business Summit to provide entrepreneurs with culturally specific resources and guidance. While at the SBA, Tameka elevated training and technical assistance resources for formerly incarcerated people seeking jobs. She partnered with the Kellogg Foundation on a program that helped them, and by extension their families, to gain an economic foothold, and succeed. And she developed a program for “the missing middle”, entrepreneurs whose businesses had the potential to scale up and increase their impact. Now Tameka is building her own entrepreneurial future. She founded Core Strategy Partners, a consultancy that helps companies and nonprofits working at the intersection of business value and social impact. And she hosts a wonderful podcast, Raising Entrepreneurs, that helps parents to foster entrepreneurship in their children. Did I mention that she is also the mother of 3 boys, 9, 11 and 13? You can hear them in a great clip from Raising Entrepreneurs in this episode of Power Station.

Domestic violence, as Karma Cottman explains, is motivated by a drive to maintain power and control within an intimate partner relationship. It is abuse of power that is conveyed in many forms: physical, psychological, economic and coercion. Domestic upends families and traumatizes victims, including children who witness violence within their own households. And It is pervasive across boundaries of race and class. DCADV is where everyday heroes, counselors, lawyers and organizers. work in support of survivors. advocate for systems change. It hosts Listening Sessions where survivors tell their stories, trains teachers to support students impacted by domestic violence, and engages young men in changing our nation's culture of violence. It is also a winning advocate for policy change at both the local and national levels. DCADV won passage of the School Safety Act by the DC City Council and is now a leader in national advocacy as well. Its sister nonprofit, UJIMA, focuses on violence against African-American, African Immigrant, Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latino communities. DCADV is home to a remarkable collection of change makers and Karma is the leader they need and truly deserve to have.