In every city, state, and municipality, there are community meetings that are held where the things that affect your everyday life and how your tax dollars are spent, are discussed…and you may not be there! Getting people civically engaged is L. Joy’s reason for creating #SundayCivics so she is bringing Derrick Cain and Julie Christie to the front of the class to discuss how their organization, Resolve Philly, is using the Documenters program to get folks engaged around local government.

The coronavirus pandemic taught us many things. The expansion of The Child Tax Credit, SNAP, and stimulus checks etc. brought child poverty, according to the US Census, to a record low of 5.4%. As of 2021 the child poverty rate has skyrocketed to 16.9% with the rollback of that aid. What we can garner from this is child poverty, as L. Joy states, is a political choice and reflection of our values. To take us to church on understanding child poverty, help us think through actions and solutions, Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson joins L. Joy at the front of the class.

On episode 227, L. Joy took a deep look at diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) but what does it look like out in the real world when applied? Leon Russell, Chairman of the NAACP National Board of Directors, joins L. Joy at the front of the class to explain exactly what DEI looks like in practice, engaging young people to ensure they are prepared, and the work of legacy organizations today.

L. Joy gives us tips and tools we can use to upgrade and advance our advocacy on every episode. As you work on the issues, how your message is crafted will differ depending on where you are. On this episode, L. Joy brings Kathleen Stuart to the front of the class to take a deep dive into the power of storytelling and organizing in places that are not big urban centers.

L. Joy is very excited to bring Ifeomasinachi Ike back to the front of the class because the conversation around diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and the people who invest a lot of their lives to that work is imperative right now. DEI is not a trend. It is necessary to create equity in this society, and this discussion gives us the information we need to understand, organize around, and support DEI initiatives.

“It’s a crisis!!,” is what we are bombarded with when it comes to migration. But guess what? It is not a crisis and how we discuss migrants and migration should reflect their humanity because they are people too. L. Joy brings noted immigration attorney Allen Orr back to the front of the class to give us  the history and context we need around migrants and migration to take civic action.

Have you ever looked at the educational system and thought,“how did  it get  like this?” L. Joy brings Dr. Bettina Love to the front of the class to give us a quick primer on the last 40 years of education reform, the carcerality of education, and how moving forward, repairs of the educational harms should be part of the reparations discussion.

L. Joy also gives us a brief explainer on what members and delegates do at the NAACP’s annual convention. Then Rep. Ro Khana joins her back at the front of the class to discuss how we block out the noise and get focused on what is important going into campaign season, what Congress is doing that we may not know about, and you’ll hear from L. Joy’s summer intern Alana who has a great question for our guest.

The days of getting the information you need to make informed decisions on the 6pm nightly news are gone. Now we can get our information from many different sources but how do we make sure that what we are consuming and sharing is more fact than opinion? L. Joy brings Karen Hunter back to the front of the class, joined by Errol Louis, to discuss media literacy and share how they gather information, in a conversation that will motivate you to think deeply about the information you consume.

Sometimes when you look around, things can feel insurmountable but that is why L. Joy is here! She continues to give us the tools and strategies we need to work to make change. L. Joy brings EMILY’s List President Laphonza Butler to the front of the class for a far ranging conversation that drops jewels of history and information for our civics tool box so we can get to work.