In this episode of The Do Good Podcast, Marc and Shlomy talk to Jesse Hahnel about foster youth.

Jesse Hahnel is the Executive Director of the National Center for Youth Law, commonly referred to as NCYL, and he is the former Director of NCYL's Foster Youth Education Initiative (FosterEd). A graduate of Harvard University and Stanford Law School, Jesse has been an attorney at NCYL for nearly nine years. Seven years ago he founded FosterEd, an innovative, award winning, system-reform initiative of NCYL that improves educational outcomes of foster children.

The National Center for Youth Law is a public interest law firm that has been in existence for over four decades. Its mission is to improve the lives of children and youth living in poverty. It is a system transformation organization which means that it works to improve and support the systems that should be serving vulnerable youth.

Foster youth in the US have worse outcomes than other at-risk youth:

• There are about 415,000 foster youth in the US;
• There are about 28,000 foster youth in Los Angeles County;
• Only 58% of foster youth graduate from high school, and only 3% graduate from college;
• Fifty percent of the youth that age out of foster care end up either homeless or incarcerated.

Listen to Jesse discuss with us the work that he and the National Center for Youth Law are doing to help foster youth. Click here for full show notes.

Do Good!

In this episode of The Do Good Podcast, Shlomy and Marc speak with Leila Toplic.

Leila is Global Program Leader at NetHope, a tech consortium of 50 global NGOs, where she heads the No Lost Generation Tech Task Force, an initiative aimed at using technology to support the needs of refugee children and youth. A refugee herself, Leila's passion for social causes has manifested itself in a number of ways since Leila and her family fled Bosnia in the mid-90s. This included teaching English and art at the Bosnian Refugee School in the Nagyatad Refugee Camp. Prior to NetHope Leila served as the Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer at LRNG, a social enterprise that works collaboratively with schools, businesses, cities, and community institutions to redesign learning for the 21st century so all youth have the opportunity to succeed. Leila has also worked at Sama Group as the VP of Marketing and Partnerships, and before that spent over 13 years helping lead global marketing at Microsoft and Adobe.

Leila speaks to us about the work being undertaken to assist refugees. We talk about how the private sector, non-profits, and non-governmental organizations are working together to find innovative solutions to the refugee issue. And, we talk about Leila's own experience as a refugee.

If you would like to learn about the refugee crisis and what is being done to fight it, Leila gives a fantastic overview and includes many fascinating personal insights. Check out our full show notes here.

In this episode of The Do Good Podcast, Marc speaks to Shlomy about his area of expertise: adult low literacy.

Shlomy Kattan is Senior Director at The XPRIZE Foundation, where he leads the Adult Literacy XPRIZE and the Foundation's Education & Learning vertical. In this capacity, he works closely with business leaders, policymakers, and industry experts to address grand challenges to maximizing human potential. Prior to joining XPRIZE, Shlomy was CEO of Kudo!, an award-winning EdTech startup. He was previously a Consultant at The Boston Consulting Group after a 10-year career in e-learning, traditional education, and academia. Shlomy earned his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was a Wenner-Gren Foundation fellow.

Shlomy reveals how big of an issue adult low literacy. He discusses both the profound societal effects of adult literacy and the devastating toll it takes on those who have to cope with it. He discusses what is happening in the public and private sectors to alleviate it and the associated challenges.

This is a fascinating conversation about an issue that does not get a lot of press yet affects millions of adults in this country and across the world. You can access the show notes here.

Tired of political conversations with your friends and loved ones that end in screams and tears? In this special in-betweenisode, Marc gives his recommendations for improving our political conversations and making them productive. Why do our political conversations devolve into shouting fests? Why do they become contests in one-upmanship? And, when was the last time you ever heard someone say, "you know what you are right. I concede." You don't hear that. But, you should … if the goal of these exchanges is trying to find the truth. But, unfortunately, our conversations tend not to be about finding answers. They are about defending your team. They are about defending your party. They are about defending your ego. The problem is that because of the way we conduct our political conversations: we are not learning anything and we are definitely not having fun, but we are creating a dynamic that I believe gets echoed in our national politics and our governance. We have a situation where in our private conversations and in our public conversations we have divorced policy almost entirely from politics; policy arguments from political arguments. And that's a problem for the proper governing of our country. Why? Because it is the policy that matters. It is the policy that makes the difference. It is the policy that does the good … or the bad. So, why is this happening? And what can we do about it? Get the full show notes here.

In this episode of The Do Good Podcast, Shlomy and Marc speak with Dara Papel.

Dara has significant experience working with homeless individuals. She is currently a Site Director at Chrysalis, where she successfully leads her team of clinical and non-clinical staff who work directly with homeless and low-income individuals to help them reenter the workforce and gain a sense of purpose and self-sufficiency. Prior to working at Chrysalis, Dara was Program Supervisor at Beyond Shelter, overseeing and effectively implementing $2.5 million of Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Rehousing Program (HPRP) funds within the Californian cities of Long Beach, Downey, Lynwood and Baldwin Park.

Dara speaks to us about homelessness policy in Los Angeles. We talk about the forces that contribute to the problem of homelessness. We talk about the challenges inherent in designing homelessness policy and possible solutions. And, we discuss what the future may look like in the fight against homelessness in Los Angeles and the United States.

If you are looking to better understand this complex, heartbreaking issue, Dara really gets into the weeds of homelessness. Check out our full show notes here.

In this episode of The Do Good Podcast, Shlomy and Marc speak to Nick Melvoin. Nick is currently running for a seat on the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) School Board.

Nick has a long history in education and education reform. He has served as a seventh and eighth grade English teacher at Markham Middle School, an LAUSD campus in Watts. Nick holds a Bachelor's degree from Harvard University, a Masters in Urban Education from Loyola Marymount University (LMU), and a law degree from the New York University School of Law. In addition to serving as a teacher, Nick has worked in the Obama White House with the Domestic Policy Council and the US Attorney's office where he took part in various civil rights investigations as a legal clerk.

Nick speaks to us about education policy and his plans for improving LAUSD schools. He talks about the current public debate happening between the charter school movement and the teachers association. He talks about how people can get involved in education policy and help out. And, he talks about resources you can consult to become more familiar with education policy and the current problems facing our school system.

Whether you are deeply involved in education policy or a casual observer that just wants to become more informed, Nick provides some deep insight into the current challenges facing public education and offers some interesting proposals.

Full show notes for the episode can be found here.