Public Affairs (Audio)

Since 2017, California’s institutional prison population has hovered at about 115,000 inmates. Steven Raphael, Goldman School of Public Policy, looks at the last decade of prison reform including reducing overcrowding, the impacts of proposition 47 and the effects of racial disproportionality in criminal justice involvement. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36684]

General H.R. McMaster ranks among his generation's most distinguished scholar-soldiers. An acclaimed historian, his military service has spanned from West Point to Iraq and Afghanistan, to the Pentagon and the Oval Office. Now a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, General McMaster is the author of Battlegrounds (2020). In conversation with Lowell Bergman, he discusses challenges facing the Free World and the case for responsible US leadership in world affairs. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36567]

Grosche International Inc. is in the business of tea and coffee products but also in the business of action. Action to take action, and better the lives of those who are not able on their own, teaching developing communities how to make, install and maintain water filtration systems and providing communities with the tools to succeed. Megan Buchter talks with CEO Helmi Ansari and teacher Matthew Mulhern about the mission of the company and inspiring a new generation of change makers. Series: "Education Channel" [Public Affairs] [Health and Medicine] [Business] [Show ID: 36368]

Robert Reich reflects on the recent election; the presidential contest and initiative results. He also discusses UBI, income inequality and what he'd like to see in a Biden administration. Recih is a former Labor Secretary and currently Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36611]

The purpose of public health is to fulfill society’s interest in assuring the conditions in which people can be healthy, says Dr. Richard Jackson, Professor emeritus at the Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA. For nine years he was Director of the CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health. In this talk. he explores environmental impacts on health ranging from climate change, toxicology, terrorism, and sustainability. Series: "Mini Medical School for the Public" [Public Affairs] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 36489]

Economist Hilary Hoynes explores her research on the COVID-19 crisis. She discusses the effects on low wage workers and the tripling of food insecurity in children. She also looks at the consequences of the delays and lack of inclusion in relief packages. Hoynes is a Professor of Public Policy and Economics and Haas Distinguished Chair in Economic Disparities at the UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36540]

For the final session of the semester, we offer a discussion of very local politics in the most famous (infamous?) small city in America. Everyone knows of Berkeley, and everyone seems to have strong feelings about it, especially if they don’t actually live here. So we talk with a former UC Berkeley student who is now a member of the Berkeley City Council and think about our small town and what it is like to serve in public office.

Berkeley City Councilmember Rigel Robinson was elected to represent District 7 on November 6th, 2018. Elected at 22, Robinson is the youngest person to ever serve on the Berkeley City Council. Prior to his election, Robinson was a leader in student efforts to support development of more affordable housing and student housing, divest the University of California from the Dakota Access Pipeline, oust a UC Regent accused of sexual harassment, and secure additional state funding for the UC and the first tuition decrease in 20 years. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36296]

Today’s lecture takes a look ahead at the leading challenges and opportunities facing American democracy in this moment. We begin with a discussion of Trump’s refusal to admit defeat in the presidential election and the conspiracy theories and rising white male violence that are emerging out of the realignment of the defeated white power wing of the Republican party. Here we are confronted with the role played by conspiracy theories in the politics of the right and the threat to multiracial democracy posed by Trump’s defeated authoritarianism. This discussion is followed by a focus on the Black women who won Georgia for the Democrats. We consider how they achieved this remarkable goal through organizing and what this model of direct voter engagement portends for the future of democracy in America. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36293]

More than one in ten children in the United States live in poverty. There are two main programs aimed at helping them and their families: the earned income tax credit, and food stamps. Hilary Hoynes studies these programs and other aspects of the social safety net at UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy. She has gone through decades of research to find that these programs act as an investment, improving the lives of the children who benefit from them for decades to come. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 35617]

To help us break down this weekend’s victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2020 presidential race, we are honored to have local hero and Black feminist activist Alicia Garza. Alicia Garza is an organizer and political strategist based in Oakland, California, where she is the principle at the Black Futures Lab and the Black to the Future Action Fund. She is, along with Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors, the co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter and the Black Lives Matter Global Network. She is also director of strategy for the National Domestic Workers Alliance and host of the podcast Lady Don’t Take No. Most recently, she is the author of The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart. Series: "UC Public Policy Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 36295]