Power Station

Chris Lu has spent the last 20 years at the hub of federal policy making, including as Deputy Secretary for the US Department of Labor, and he is still a champion of public service. As he says, government matters: it builds our roads and bridges, creates the laws that protect veterans, keeps our homeland secure and our air and water clean. In his long tenure with first Senator and then President Barack Obama, he has been guided by a belief in the capacity of government to make the American Dream possible for all families, including his own parents, who immigrated to the United States from China. Now a Fellow at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center for Public Policy, Chris speaks often to young people who want to affect policy change. His advice, in the current political environment, is to think more expansively about where and how change is made. Chris sees innovation and problem-solving on issues from climate change to job training and Census implementation resting in local and state government, nonprofits and even mission-driven corporations. And he sees technology as crucial to the mostly calcified systems that nonprofits and companies use to manage government relations. He is Senior Advisor to Fiscal Note, a company that provides customizable online programs to nonprofits wanting to reach and influence local, state and federal policy makers. Chris Lu is a believer in our collective potential to make change. You might see him going door to door for a local or presidential candidate and he encourages you to do the same. This is where policy conversations really begin.  

In Native American communities, conversations about building local economies start with a shared belief in tribal sovereignty. This belief is foundational to the Native CDFI Network, whose 50 nonprofit members based in 23 states, provide financial education, credit building, and make loans for housing and small businesses where traditional banks are not engaged. Jackson Brossy brings his experience of growing up in Navajo Nation to his leadership of the Network. The legacy of forcible removal of Native Americans from their land, the decimation of assets, including buffalo, and the more current failure of public and corporate to invest on tribal land are drivers of the Network's vision. As Jackson explains, people should not have to travel for miles to buy milk and groceries and invest their resources off reservation. But a lack of access to the capital needed to launch businesses in Indian country and the complications of investment on rural lands held in trust by the federal government are barriers to thriving economies. Change is coming.

In Native American communities, conversations about building local economies start with a shared belief in tribal sovereignty. This belief is foundational to the Native CDFI Network, whose 50 nonprofit members based in 23 states, provide financial education, credit building, and make loans for housing and small businesses where traditional banks are not engaged. Jackson Brossy brings his experience of growing up in Navajo Nation to his leadership of the Network. The legacy of forcible removal of Native Americans from their land, the decimation of assets, including buffalo, and the more current failure of public and corporate to invest on tribal land are drivers of the Network's vision. As Jackson explains, people should not have to travel for miles to buy milk and groceries and invest their resources off reservation. But a lack of access to the capital needed to launch businesses in Indian country and the complications of investment on rural lands held in trust by the federal government are barriers to thriving economies. The CDFI Fund, a program within the US Department of Treasury, has been a game changer for capital investment in underserved communities. Many members of Congress are champions of the Fund and its positive impacts on economic development in their districts. But the budget has been stagnant for years and the Native CDFI Network and its partners in the broader CDFI landscape are advocating for a more appropriate level of federal funding. And Jackson intends to be a part of the next round of Opportunity Zone planning so that Native communities are included in the vision.

When we hear about a natural disaster our first thoughts go to saving people and then to saving homes, roads and infrastructure. We expect a rapid response by government and relief agencies and, hopefully, we volunteer to help. Chef José Andrés launched World Central Kitchen in the wake of Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake. He found his way to the island, listened to people struggling to survive and used his unique skills as a chef and entrepreneur to feed the community. Since then, World Central Kitchen has used food, our most shared cultural touchstone to uplift communities after floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and tornados in North Carolina, Florida, Puerto Rico, Haiti and Mozambique. WCK galvanizes chefs, students, professionals and everyday people to produce thousands of meals in logistically impossible situations. And Chef Andrés is a moral voice on behalf of immigrants and refugees battered by poverty, political turmoil and a hostile White House. As WCK executive director Nate Mook explains after his recent return from Mozambique with José, "the first step we take is to connect to local networks." WCK is both a collaborator and a disruptor in the government and nonprofit sector.

When we hear about a natural disaster our first thoughts go to saving people and then to saving homes, roads and infrastructure. We expect a rapid response by government and relief agencies and, hopefully, we volunteer to help. Chef José Andrés launched World Central Kitchen in the wake of Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake. He found his way to the island, listened to people struggling to survive and used his unique skills as a chef and entrepreneur to feed and mobilize the community. Since then, World Central Kitchen has used food, our most shared cultural touchstone to uplift communities after floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and tornados in North Carolina, Florida, Puerto Rico, Haiti and Mozambique. WCK listens before acting. And the goodwill this approach generates is incalculable. WCK galvanizes chefs, students, professionals and everyday people to produce thousands of meals in logistically impossible situations. And Chef Andrés is a moral voice on behalf of immigrants and refugees battered by poverty, political turmoil and a hostile White House. As WCK executive director Nate Mook explains after his recent return from Mozambique with José, “the first step we take is to connect to local networks.” Nate talks about balancing WCK’s disaster relief with the longer-term vision of building social enterprises that sustain communities. In Haiti, WCK helps families to shift from using charcoal and wood to LPG gas cookstoves. WCK is both a collaborator and a disruptor in the government and nonprofit sector. Stay tuned for a Part 2 of their inspiring story at a later date.

Restaurant Opportunities Center, a nonprofit that advocates for restaurant workers to receive equitable pay and treatment. was borne in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. On that horrific day, 73 workers from the Center's iconic restaurant, Windows on the World, were killed and their co-workers displaced. Sekou Siby, a Windows on the World cook from the Ivory Coast, organized those survivors to ensure their well-being and to find new opportunities in the industry. Their efforts started with a worker's center in New York and has since expanded into Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, a game changing national nonprofit with chapters across the United States. In Washington DC, organizers Sophia Miyoshi and Candance Cunningham tackle wage theft and sexual harassment while promoting fair wages and paid family leave for tipped workers and racial equity in the industry overall. Sophie and Candance are coalition builders and they want you to be informed consumers about the restaurants you support.

A nonprofit organization that advocates for restaurant workers to receive equitable pay and treatment was borne in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. On that horrific day, 73 workers from the Center’s iconic restaurant, Windows on the World, were killed and their co-workers displaced. Sekou Siby, a Windows on the World cook from the Ivory Coast, organized those survivors to ensure their well-being and to find new opportunities in the industry. Their efforts started with a worker’s center in New York and has since expanded into Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, a game changing national nonprofit with chapters across the United States. Their members, workers in the industry, decide which issues they address and shape the policies solutions that they advocate. In Washington DC, organizers Sophia Miyoshi and Candance Cunningham tackle wage theft and sexual harassment while promoting fair wages and paid family leave for tipped workers and racial equity in the industry overall. Their research supports a growing understanding that tipped wages are an “antiquated system.” They work with owners and consumers and advocate for city council and federal level solutions. Sophie and Candance are coalition builders and they want you to be informed consumers about the restaurants you support. Listen to their episode to hear how they make that possible.

If you think that young people are disconnected from public policymaking, you need to reconsider your assumptions. United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led nonprofit in the nation is on the frontlines of advocacy and activism for undocumented immigrants. Staff and members are youth for whom immigration, detention, deportation, enforcement and citizenship are both personal and political. Their hard work has been instrumental in organizing for passage of the Dream and Promise Act and against federal funding of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. United We Dream also builds pipelines of leadership for the future. And Sanaa and her network of leaders are active both on Capitol Hill and in states where the stakes are highest, including New Mexico, Texas, Florida and Maryland. These are change makers to watch and learn from.

If you think that young people are disconnected from public policymaking, you need to reconsider your assumptions. United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led nonprofit in the nation is on the frontlines of policy advocacy and activism for undocumented immigrants. Its organizational perspective and strategy is rooted in lived experience. Staff and members are youth for whom immigration, detention, deportation, enforcement and citizenship are personal and political. In the current moment, United We Dream is a force for shaping and advocating for national and state level immigration policies. It is instrumental in organizing for passage of the Dream and Promise Act and against federal funding of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. United We Dream also builds pipelines of leadership for the future. As Sanaa Abrar, Directory of Advocacy, explains on Power Station, United We Dream is training young immigrants across the nation to create an immigration right's ecosystem. That ecosystem includes and embraces LGBTQ staff and members who face additional layers of challenges, including targeting by law enforcement, in their immigration journey. And United We Dream is active both on Capitol Hill and in states where the stakes are highest, including New Mexico, Texas, Florida and Maryland. Intentional, strategic, in-the-moment and forward looking is the formula for United We Dream's short and long term approach.

The National Skills Coalition was launched twenty years ago when public support for job training was lagging and both labor and business leaders were concerned about the resulting lack of job opportunities and readiness. NSC's is now bolstered by 28,000 members representing industry, labor unions, community colleges and Chambers of Commerce. As Amanda Bergson-Shilcock, NSC's Director of Upskilling Policy says about this disparate and broad-ranging coalition, "They may not agree on much, but they all agree on the importance of workforce development." They meet with state and federal policy makers to advocate evidence-based positions and to share the results of a new NSC poll of 2020 voters. It demonstrates overwhelming support for increased public investment in people's skills to meet employers' workforce needs. That demand rests with "middle skills" jobs, such as those in the culinary arts and the medical field. They require training that falls between high school and a 4-year college and create an opportunity as a society that we cannot afford to miss.