New progressive social movements are driving a huge boom of new talent. But leadership development efforts don’t have the funding or scale to keep up. Our guests today are trying to working to change that.

In episode 2 of our second season, we’re thrilled to talk with two powerful leaders, Deepak Bhargava and Gara LaMarche, who seek to build a new leadership center for young are building a new leadership center, housed within the City University of New York (CUNY), to support young activists — particularly those from communities of color and working-class backgrounds.

Deepak comes from the progressive community organizing field, where he is best known for running the Center for Community Change (now known as Community Change). Gara comes from the progressive philanthropy field, where he has held executive leadership roles in the Democracy Alliance, Atlantic Philanthropies, and the Open Society Foundations. 

We discuss their career journeys, their new research, and their current endeavor. And we discuss why there is so little infrastructure to support the progressive nonprofit workforce, including the lack of investment from organized philanthropy.