Unleashing Social Change

In this episode, Christopher Chatmon, Founder and CEO of Kingmakers of Oakland shares his personal experiences growing up in the education system, having his desk relegated to the coat closet, to finally being acknowledged and apologized to by a coach and teacher in 11th grade. Inspired to become a teacher to change the experience for young Black men in America, Christopher became a teacher and in this time recognized that history and world history curriculum and textbooks only acknowledged the stories and contributions of white men. So he had his students throw their textbooks out the window.

Now, it is Christopher's hope and work that in all subjects, not just during Black history month, the stories and contributions of Africans, Indigenous groups, and all people are taught as part of the collective contributions to math, history, arts and sciences. In this podcast Chris will discuss one of the Many Ways to Many that Becky speaks about in the Skid Row School, the wedge and spread need to include cross sections of all stakeholders, from the superintendent to the principal, to the office staff, teachers, parents and students. He also discussed how centuries of a system cannot be undone in the typical 3 to 5 year time bound aims of most philanthropic work. So the measurement must change and the process needs to also be the product. Listen to how Kingmakers of Oakland aims to spread the work and how you can be involved in this episode!

• Bringing those furthest away from opportunity into the center
• Recognizing it is not about changing Black boys but changing the structure and conditions of the system
• Recognizing the systemic oppression lens and racial equity lens so you can discern the conditions that perpetuate the advantage of some and disadvantage of others
• The power of curriculum that is indigenous or less Euro-Centric and the power of stories
• Healing the fish while treating the toxic ecosystem
• When you understand the history of public education, it was not created at that time for everyone, only certain people had access and the system reflects that still
• Getting all of these stories accredited and meeting the learning objectives of math, English and all subjects and having the will to lift up these narratives
• Knowing who you are and whose you are and the values and integrity to align yourself with
• The idea of an actualized human being also about giving back
• How Kingmakers of Oakland have achieved accreditation of courses in each state and co-constructs content and trains teachers
• Drivers: Class and curriculum is necessary but not enough, need to look at funding formula and other factors and recruiting, training and retaining teachers of color
• Getting out of the practice of deficit to practice of promise
• The sweet spot is coming together as a learning network, not calling people out but calling people in
• Wedge and spread – everyone is a leader, not just the superintendent and principal but every level to the office staff, parents, teachers, student, engaging all stakeholders
• Innovations are accelerated through the power of relationships
• If the culture is not healing, it will undermine and sabotage the policy, and everything else you have been working on. The cure is in the culture
• Process is product. The systems work is legacy work and takes time
• Centuries of harm cannot be done in the immediacy of a lot of philanthropic time constraints
• Three to five year strategic plan is insufficient because it is legacy work and the long game
• Preparing for progress and setbacks to keep up the fluidity and not feel defeated when the system self-corrects
• When internal and external strategy aligns it is the wind beneath your wings

Links:

Sign up for our free master class: https://www.billionsinstitute.com/freemasterclass

www.KingmakersofOakland.org

Vimeo - https://vimeo.com/kingmakersofoakland

Soundcloud - https://soundcloud.com/kingmakers

Kingmakers of Oakland Spring Symposium:

http://kingmakersofoakland.org/devsite/what-we-do/spring-symposium/

12: Jake Maguire, Community Solutions – "From 100K Homes to Built for Zero"

What happened after the 100K Homes Campaign? Becky reunites with Jake who was on the Community Solutions team to talk about what came after. Instead of counting up, it was time for some cities to count down. Now the Co-Director of "Built for Zero," Community Solutions has partnered with 11 cities who have reached functional zero on chronic and veteran homelessness. This episode is full of wisdom about getting to the next aim, identifying leverage points, re-evaluating teams, and the importance of data and the right infrastructure, and the idea of compound protagonists.

• Becky and Jake reminisce about Jake's path to joining the Community Solutions team while still in school and catch up on what has happened since
• What it takes to get people to join the movement on the shared aim, even when you don't know how you're going to get there
• Going smaller and more committed vs. going bigger to meet the next goal
• As the work evolves, recognizing that the innovation changes and defining what that innovation is to get to the next goal
• Defining the leverage point: Do we have a homelessness problem or an outflow or inflow problem?
• How to shift how you will solve the problem by making sure you have adequately identified the problem in real time
• Learning over time and creating goals in the right order
• Effective data and infrastructure and improvement science to make sense of the problem you are trying to solve
• The critical need to zoom all the way in and all the way out
• Sutton and Rao's "Scaling Up Excellence" principle of not having a team bigger than two pizzas could feed
• Re-imaging during the evolution and innovation of what an effective team looks like
• The balance of being consistent and flexible, "not always being graceful, but gracious"
• The importance of distributing credit and recognition
• The idea of not having one hero but "Compound Protagonists"
• Belonging as a powerful leverage point

Links:

Get $100 off Impact with Integrity

https://www.joinbuiltforzero.org/ Are you a Zero Hero video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHkrLOyJ48k

Introduction to Season 2 Guests

Many foundations and nonprofits aspire to address racial and social equity issues but few are able to navigate this complex challenge gracefully. Sometimes it gets so fraught that organizations are tempted to put band-aid (not really) solutions in place or they get so scared that they pull back from genuinely engaging in the healing and transformation work that is required to do this well. We speak from experience and we know this work is really hard.

Today's guest, Angele Davenport, is an equity consultant based in Denver, who we met at the Skid Row School. In this episode, Becky and Angele talk about a real-life example that took place at a recent Skid Row School and Angeles shares her perspective on what wisdom can be learned even when it's hard.

Consider this episode some private consulting for you and your organization to help yourself and your community in approaching race and social justice from "your lane."

Show Highlights:

• How do we change the world as anti-racists
• How to address systems of oppression by tapping into your own unique genius
• Why "tolerance" is not a helpful concept
• The upward spiral of growth over time
• The essential need for empathy and patience
• How to help others flourish by unpacking situations and helping them reflect
• Why blame and criticism just keeps the cycle going
• How self-care and self-awareness play a part in helping others
• How to not have learning be at the expense of the people of color in the room
• Learning from past experiences using Becky's own process with Angele about a particular incident that occurred at a Skid Row School
• Making conscious choices to create a more equitable culture
• The importance of being open to feedback
• What gives Angele hope

Links:

Get $100 off Impact with Integrity

Contact Angele:

Email: [email protected]

Transitioning from the founder to a new CEO is by far one of the most difficult transitions an organization can face. It's incredibly rare to hear of that going well but we found an example of two people who did that with tremendous grace and skill. In today's episode, we will hear from Ellen Moir, the founder and former CEO of the New Teacher Center and the CEO that followed her, Desmond Blackburn.

The New Teacher Center works with districts to help retain you guessed it...new teachers. They're in 27 states and over 400 school districts. Not only did Ellen pass along the baton of leadership to Desmond, but more importantly, she also passed along all of her key relationships. If you're a founder and thinking about retiring or a new CEO following in the footsteps of a founder, this episode is for you.

Show Highlights:

• How New Teacher Center grew from an idea hatched at Ellen's kitchen table to a successful nationally known non-profit
• Why talented and passionate new teachers often quit in the month of October and how Ellen created a support to prevent these losses
• What prevented Desmond from being one of those teachers who resign in October during his first year of teaching
• When and how Ellen realized it was time to retire
• What Ellen took from the conflicting advice she read about how to plan for a succession process
• The recommended time frame for a successful transition and announcement of retirement
• How ego and self need to be put aside for mission and legacy for both founding CEO and new CEO in the transition process
• How Desmond knew that NTC would be the next path for him
• Being conscious of your greatest fears and greatest hopes
• The process of building out a transition from one CEO to another
• The importance of relationships in passing off the baton
• What Ellen's interface with the organization looks like now
• The responsibilities that have to be held as a successor
• Taking advantage of the relationships established by the predecessor

Links:

Get $100 off Impact with Integrity

https://newteachercenter.org

This week we are joined by bestselling author Dan Heath. Dan and his brother Chip wrote SWITCH, a book Dr. Kate Hurley referenced many times in last week's episode so we thought we'd get his thoughts about what made Kate's Million Cats Campaign so successful.

In this interview, Becky and Dan discuss the brilliance of Kate's campaign to prevent unnecessary euthanization of cats and how she creatively applied the principles of behavior change from SWITCH to catalyze massive change. (get it..."cat"-alyze?) Rapid transformation is possible when you direct the rider, motivate the elephant and shape the path! Tune in to learn more about how to do this yourself.

Show Highlights:

• A three-minute summary of Switch and Dan's theory of how scale happens
• All change is ultimately behavior change. The importance of getting clear on exactly whose behavior needs to change to make this happen?
• Dynamics of behavior change. Why giving people the correct information is insufficient.
• The three steps to behavior change: 1) Direct the Rider 2) Motivate the Elephant 3) Shape the Path.
• Diagnosing change efforts: Do you have a rider, elephant or path problem?
• Get curious about the bright spots
• Get proximate to the problem
• Shrink the Change. How to make it easier for people to get into the change.
• The coalition of the willing. Unleash the motivation already there.
• Why so many non-profits have it backward and how we can move forward!

Links:

Get $100 off Impact with Integrity

Contact Dan:

https://heathbrothers.com

Resources mentioned:

https://vimeo.com/192803079

Are there aspects of your job that break your heart and drain your soul? Veterinarian Kate Hurley remembers feeling that way. Nobody becomes a vet to euthanize animals, but that's exactly what used to happen in shelters across the country. Dr. Kate Hurley, founder the entire field of Public Health in Veterinary Medicine, is our guest and in this episode, she will tell us about how she was willing to question all her assumptions about her own profession. Then she'll also walk us play-by-play through the key moments of what became the Million Cat Challenge – a successful campaign to prevent the unnecessary euthanization of over one million cats in North America.

Join us next week when we'll de-brief this episode with Dan Heath and look at how she masterfully applied the principles from the book that he wrote with his brother, Chip, SWITCH.

Show Highlights:

• How to discover new solutions to old problems
• The vulnerability that comes with acknowledging there's room for progress
• Taking inspiration from other sectors and sources of wisdom
• How to tap into motivation to spark change
• The power of committing to a bold, quantifiable aim
• Letting go of things you can't control
• Working effectively within oppressive systems

Update: In July, 2019, the Million Cat Challenge passed the 2,000,000 lives saved mark.

Links:

Get $100 off Impact with Integrity

https://www.millioncatchallenge.org

https://www.sheltermedicine.com

Switch by Dan Heath

This week many as many families prepare to go back to school, we thought we'd shine a spotlight on some of the best teacher training work that's going on in the US and why it matters for all of us that teachers are well prepared to support all their students.

Today's guest, Karen Ahn, is the Director of Partnerships for TeachingWorks. TeachingWorks partners with teacher training programs throughout the state of Michigan to make sure teachers learn 19 concrete behavior-based skills necessary to support all students in learning and growing. In this episode, we will talk candidly about race, whiteness, and colonization and TeachingWorks is doing to create more liberatory classrooms for everyone.

To learn more about the work TeachingWorks is doing to instill equitable practices into classrooms join Becky Margiotta in this interview.

Show Highlights:

• What constitutes liberatory practices versus reinforcing the status quo
• The importance of respecting students' names and learning to listen to them
• How white culture has shaped our thinking and approach to education
• Expressing concerns to teachers to create a better experience for students
• Taking steps to counteract harmful ideas and practices that show up in schools
• The process of colonization at school and defying those societal standards
• Making practice-based approaches the standardized training process
• The current state of development for implementing these practices
• Modeling a safe learning environment
• Bringing awareness to what challenges teachers face
• Putting pressure on the system in the right ways to protect your children

Links:

Get $100 off Impact with Integrity

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/Habits-of-WhitenessTerrance-MacMullan/1117465426?ean=9780253002884

Contact Karen:

[email protected]

http://www.teachingworks.org

Teachers have a profound influence over their students' lives and through that the future of our society. Imagine how hard it is to nurture and develop each students' unique strengths and potential in a classroom of twenty-plus kids. No small task and a lot to ask of one teacher.

Today's guest, Anne Eidelman, is the CEO of Blue Engine. Blue Engine is an organization focused on building teams of teachers who create inclusive classrooms that cater to students' potential. Anne has led Blue Engine through significant organizational change and shares candidly what she's learned along the way. To learn more about Blue Engine's groundbreaking impact and Anne's courageous leadership, tune into this episode of Unleashing Social Change with our host, Becky Margiotta.

Show Highlights:

• Teaming together teachers and embedding teacher apprentices
• Incorporating ratios that support learning
• Structural changes that change classroom conditions and unlock potential
• Supporting people in creating a trusting space
• What drew Anne to Blue Engine and how she got involved
• The importance of thanking your teachers
• Recognizing a need for change and how to implement that change
• Using daily differentiation data from students to understand their needs
• Navigating a new leadership position and taking an innovative approach
• Differentiating your approach talking to different funders
• The trajectory of Blue Engine for the next few years
• Effective spread and scale methods
• Creating a video playbook to share practices with others
• Embedding practices into training techniques before teachers get to a classroom
• Building confidence and getting feedback

Links:

Contact Anne:

https://blueengine.org

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ

http://www.billionsinstitute.com/manywaystomany/

Get $100 off Impact with Integrity

Racial, political, and generational division are not new concepts. We've been faced with the repercussions of division for as long as the human race has existed, but is it possible to bridge those divides?

Today's guest, Cheryl Graeve, works hand-in-hand with the National Institute for Civil Discourse to actively encourage others to participate in creating a more respectful and understanding space by initiating conversation.

Cheryl talks about the platforms in which they use to connect individuals and the process of integrating listening and dialogue skills. Join Becky Margiotta in this interview to hear more about how we can all learn to peacefully celebrate each others' differences.

Show Highlights:

• Creating a community of people with differences and spreading cultural awareness
• The need for reviving civility and respect on a large scale and how you go about tackling that issue
• Listening to issues and collectively taking action
• Mending racial and political divides with peaceful intervention
• The vitality of maintaining respect
• Evaluating situations without labeling right or wrong
• Leaning into curiosity without judgment
• The art of genuine listening and building our dialogue muscle
• Building bridges of understanding and recognizing fear
• Using safety as an opportunity to be present
• Creating relationships on a foundation of respect despite differences
• Establishing change in broken circumstances
• The blueprints for the institute reaching more people
• Recognizing the causal connection outside of our tangible proximity
• The challenges with a lack of resources and time
• Having different platforms for people to practice intervention
• Dealing with generational and family division
• Creating a more joyful human experience

Links:

Get $100 off Impact with Integrity

https://nicd.arizona.edu

Text Platform to practice group conversation:

Text Civility to 89900

Check out Mack McCarter's speech here across racial divides:

https://ncoc.org/news/conference-videos-relive-its-your-democracy/

Here's a short StoryCorps piece for some conversations -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91QbjZYSG10

Take the 7 Day Civility Challenge https://www.revivecivility.org/7-day-civility-challenge