Community Possibilities: Recent Episodes
Ann Price
Welcome to Community Possibilities ®! This In this podcast, I will be joined by community leaders, doing the hard work of social change. We will talk about root causes and dig deep to understand social and health inequities. Let’s imagine all of the possibilities if we learn how to talk to each other, not at each other.
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What if we could bridge the generational divide while preserving the rich stories of our elders? This question drives Ariel Galinsky, founder of The Legacy Project, a nonprofit that pairs college students with older adults.
Ariel's journey began with personal loss - her grandfather's passing when she was just ten, leaving stories uncaptured. While working in a senior community where her grandmother lived, she recognized a universal gap in intergenerational connection. This sparked what would become her life's mission: creating structured opportunities for meaningful conversations across age divides.
The Legacy Project operates through campus chapters where students interview older adults throughout an academic year, ultimately publishing their collected stories. For many participants, this represents their first significant engagement with elders outside their families. The impact runs deeper than companionship - actively combating social isolation affecting both age groups while challenging pervasive ageist stereotypes that limit both generations.
The Legacy Project demonstrates the power of intergenerational collaboration as a mechanism for broader social change. By valuing elders' stories and fostering meaningful relationships, we create pathways toward more compassionate approaches to aging while enriching both generations in the process. Ready to make your community more intergenerational? Visit LegacyProjectInc.org to learn how you can get involved or start a chapter in your area.
Guest Bio
Arielle Galinsky is the Co-Founder of The Legacy Project, a national nonprofit that connects college students and older adults in their communities for mutual storytelling, uplifting, and documenting life stories. Arielle is passionate about bridging generations and serves as a CoGen Impact Fellow with CoGenerate, where she leads efforts to expand the reach of the ‘Let’s Make Next Gen CoGen’ pledge—amplifying awareness of intergenerational engagement among young adults. Arielle, an MPP/JD candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School and Yale Law School, is committed to advancing aging policy reform at both the state and national levels—rooted in her belief that intergenerational advocacy is the key to moving the needle.
Get in Touch with Arielle
- www.linkedin.com/in/ariellegalinsky
- https://cogenerate.org/lets-make-next-gen-cogen/
- https://www.legacyprojectinc.org/
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
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Courtney Teasley takes us behind the curtain to expose how arrests and charges require only "probable cause" – essentially, that someone probably committed a crime. This low standard follows individuals through most of their journey until trial, but with 97% of defendants accepting plea deals before reaching that point, most convictions occur without ever meeting the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard.
The consequences are devastating, particularly for what Teasley calls "DAMM communities" – Disproportionately Affected, Marginalized Minority communities. Black Americans are six times more likely to be incarcerated than their white counterparts, not because they commit more crimes, but because of targeted over-policing and systemic biases. Without financial resources to mount effective defenses, many people accept pleas simply to escape a system stacked against them.
She offers concrete solutions through her MFN Framework: Mindset (adopting an "innocent until proven guilty" perspective), Finesse (creative defense strategies), and Non-negotiable boundaries (standing firmly on constitutional rights). Her work shifts the focus from reactive approaches that help people after conviction to proactive strategies that prevent convictions in the first place.
Whether you're a community leader, church member, or concerned citizen, Teasley's insights will transform how you understand justice in America and offer practical ways you can contribute to meaningful change.
Courtney's Bio
Courtney Teasley is a nationally recognized criminal defense attorney, business coach, and visionary educator, shifting the paradigm on how we fight systemic injustice. As the founder of emeffen and creator of the MFN Framework for Proactive Advocacy, Courtney leads a movement to empower disproportionately affected, marginalized minorities (D.A.M.M.) with the legal knowledge and strategy to prevent convictions—before the courtroom ever comes into view.
Her impact spans grassroots campaigns, justice-focused curriculum development, and legal education for both community members and lawyers. Through her Easy Way to Learn Your Rights book series, school-based criminal justice literacy programs, and D.A.M.M. Advocate and Legal Warrior trainings, Courtney equips everyday people, educators, and defense attorneys to proactively resist the criminal justice system’s most insidious traps.
Whether speaking to students, churches, or national audiences, she delivers bold, accessible frameworks that challenge the status quo and offer real, community-rooted alternatives. Her work has not only influenced elections but has also helped reunite families separated by state violence and launched legal innovations t
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
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What if the secret to lasting health change isn't in your next program, but in how you invite communities to lead the work itself? Drawing from my experiences with over 50 coalitions, this episode unpacks why so many well-intentioned organizations struggle with community engagement and offers a practical roadmap for building authentic partnerships.
We explore the uncomfortable truth about traditional coalition meetings—how they often become information-sharing sessions that waste everyone's time rather than spaces for genuine collaboration. You'll discover why the curse of professional knowledge can blind us to community wisdom, and learn specific strategies for creating welcoming foundations that go far beyond sending meeting invitations. From addressing practical barriers like childcare and transportation to examining our own positionality and power dynamics, this conversation provides concrete tools for moving from consultation to true empowerment.
The episode introduces a comprehensive framework for community engagement that transforms how you approach everything from initial relationship-building to co-creating shared visions. Through participatory exercises like community asset mapping and root cause analysis, you'll learn how to help communities design solutions that reflect their lived experiences rather than predetermined professional assumptions. We also dive deep into equity principles, exploring how to recognize and address the reality that not everyone starts from the same place on life's spiral staircase.
Whether you're leading a health coalition, managing community programs, or working in prevention, this episode offers both inspiration and practical guidance for building the kind of authentic community partnerships that create lasting change. Subscribe for more insights on collaborative approaches to community consulting and health equity work.
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
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The tension between creative expression and rigid reporting requirements creates a disconnect that undermines both funders and grantees. What if there's a better way forward?
Kelly Feltault and Hannah Jacobson Blumenfeld join us to unpack how traditional accountability frameworks often miss the mark when applied to arts organizations. Drawing from their work with Creative Forces—an innovative collaboration between the National Endowment for the Arts, Department of Defense, and VA—they share how military veterans and their families experienced profound transformation through arts programming, yet organizations struggled to "prove" these outcomes to health-focused funders.
The problem isn't a lack of impact. Arts organizations witness life-changing outcomes daily—increased resilience, social connection, identity formation, and emotional well-being. The challenge lies in translation. When funders expect clinical-style measurement from community-based organizations without providing capacity-building support, they create what Kelly calls an "unfunded mandate" that burdens nonprofits and obscures their true value.
Their solution begins with honoring what organizations already know. Rather than imposing external frameworks, Kelly and Hannah help nonprofits articulate their outcomes in language funders recognize. This process of translation empowered Creative Forces organizations to secure new funding partnerships and influence systems change in ways they hadn't previously imagined.
For nonprofit leaders struggling with resource constraints, evaluation can become a strategic tool rather than just another burden. As Hannah reflects from her executive director experience: "Although this process takes time and intention, it ended up taking something off their plate instead of adding something on" by providing clarity amid the daily "paradox of choice."
Whether you're a funder seeking to support innovation or a nonprofit trying to communicate your impact, this conversation offers practical wisdom for building trust-based relationships that honor both accountability and creativity. As Kelly reminds us, "Evaluation is really just about being curious and strategic and brave—not about becoming a statistician."
Visit communityevaluationsolutions.com for free and low-cost resources including a nonprofit mission statement template, logic model template, coalition self-assessment, and the course "Powerful Evidence: Evaluation for Non-Evaluators."
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
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Dr. Emia Oppenheim shares the powerful impact of Farm to Early Care and Education programs that connect young children with local food systems through gardening, hands-on learning, and fresh local foods.
• Public health nutrition focuses on population-level changes rather than individual interventions
• Children's food preferences often develop before age three, making early exposure to fruits and vegetables critical
• Farm to ECE uses three core strategies: buying local foods, teaching about agriculture, and hands-on learning
• Purchasing local foods creates ripple effects by supporting farmers and strengthening community food systems
• ASPHN's FarmWise initiative brings states together through collaborative learning to develop Farm to ECE programs
• Strong coalitions with diverse stakeholders drive innovation and sustainability in public health initiatives
• Despite funding challenges, states have found creative ways to implement local food purchasing incentives
• The next generation of public health professionals brings systems thinking and compassion to food system work
Visit asphn.org to learn more about ASPHN's Farm to ECE work, sign up for their newsletter, or join their upcoming webinars and training opportunities.
Guest Bio
Emia Oppenheim, PhD, MPhil, RD, Public Health Consultant and Farm to ECE Programs Director, Association of State Public Health Nutritionists,
Dr. Emia Oppenheim is a seasoned public health nutritionist and consultant currently working with the Association of State Public Health Nutritionists (ASPHN) on federal public health initiatives. With a career spanning several decades, she has extensive expertise in nutrition, early childhood health and development, chronic disease prevention and population health. Dr. Oppenheim completed her PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry in 2001, at Cornell University, following an MPhil in Immunology from the University of Sheffield (UK) and a clinical internship for a dietetic registration at the University of Virginia. Dr. Oppenheim was an adjunct lecturer at Cornell and has presented widely on nutrition and child development in the US and UK. Dr. Oppenheim’s career has shifted over the years from nutritional biochemistry to public health nutrition with a focus on transforming policies, systems and programs to support healthier environments for children. She began working on public health programs in school districts, later serving as the lead for early childhood obesity prevention programs at the Ohio Department of Health. She now leads ASPHN’s national efforts with Federal partners to expand and strengthen Farm to Child initiatives, helping states create healthier food sys
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
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Nonprofit leaders feeling the weight of challenging times need more than grit to thrive—they need resilient organizations built on sustainable systems and supportive networks. Brooke Ritchie-Babbage shares her S.T.R.O.N.G. framework for building nonprofit stability while growing impact.
• Strategic clarity keeps everyone focused on the "cathedral" they're building beyond daily brick-laying work
• Well-designed tools and systems create the interstitial tissue connecting teams without bottlenecks
• Resources include not just funding but sustainable approaches like monthly giving programs
• Ownership means everyone understands their role and has appropriate decision-making authority
• Networked capacity extends organizational roots beyond staff to partners, advisors, and collaborators
• Governance provides appropriate oversight and accountability that evolves as organizations grow
• Growth and stability aren't competing priorities—stability is the foundation for sustained growth
• Burnout isn't a badge of honor or personal failing but a structural mismatch requiring systemic solutions
• Building recovery and assessment into organizational rhythms is essential for long-term impact
• No leader should try to go it alone—find coaches, mentors, and peer communities for support
Check out Brooke's podcast at https://brookerichiebabbage.com/podcast/
Brooke's Bio
Brooke Richie-Babbage is a nonprofit growth strategist and social impact advisor. She is the founder and CEO of Bending Arc, a social impact strategy firm that supports the launch and sustainable growth of high-impact nonprofits, and the host of Nonprofit Mastermind Podcast.
For the past 23 years, Brooke has worked as a lawyer, nonprofit leader, and social entrepreneur. She has founded and led multiple successful organizations and initiatives, including the Resilience Advocacy Project (RAP), where she served as founder and Executive Director for 11 years, the Sterling Network NYC and the NetLab Initiative, both initiatives of the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, where she served as Director of Network Initiatives for six years, and the Social Justice Accelerator (SJA), an initiative of the Urban Justice Center, where she has served as SJA Director since 2019.
Brooke received her JD and MPP from Harvard and her BA from Yale. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons.
Brooke Richie-Babbage | LinkedIn
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
Send us a text
Amanda Klein-Cox joins me to talk about KinCarolina, a comprehensive support program for caregivers raising children with disabilities or special health care needs. The program combines peer support, training, financial assistance, and community-building to improve caregiver wellbeing and ultimately benefit the children in their care.
• Kinship care occurs when relatives or close family friends raise children whose parents cannot care for them
• For every child in formal foster care nationally, approximately 19 are in informal kinship care arrangements
• In South Carolina, this ratio is even more dramatic—1:300
• Most kinship caregivers receive little to no support despite saving states millions in foster care costs
• Kinship caregivers face unique challenges including financial strain, legal barriers, and supporting children with trauma
• Early results show caregivers feeling less isolated and better equipped to support their families
Amanda's Bio:
Amanda Klein-Cox, Ed.D., is a Senior Research Associate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Social Work (SSW). Dr. Klein-Cox serves as the Project Implementation Manager for the KinCarolina program, which provides comprehensive support to kinship caregivers raising children with disabilities or special health care needs in the Midlands region of South Carolina. In addition to overseeing implementation, she organizes and convenes the project’s Advisory Council and multi-state team of researchers and collaborators. She has also led developing and implementing a national survey of kinship caregivers with the same team. As a researcher, Dr. Klein-Cox is interested in bridging the fields of education and social work around child and family well-being, particularly in the area of kinship care. Since becoming a mom, she is also interested in the intersection of maternal mental health and well-being with child welfare and family well-being outcomes.
Dr. Klein-Cox owns Engage with Data and currently serves as the Lead Evaluator on the HRSA-funded Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training program at Ohio State University.
Dr. Klein-Cox began her career as a middle school teacher. She earned a Doctorate of K-12 Education Leadership and Policy from Vanderbilt University.
Contact Info for Amanda and KinCarolina:
- kleincox@unc.edu
- www.kincarolina.org
- www.facebook.com/kincarolina
- www.linkedin.com/company/kincarolina
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
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Dr. Dominique Johnson's passion for community transformation isn't just theoretical—it's deeply personal and remarkably effective. From his roots in East Macon, Georgia to founding the Urban Community Empowerment Organization (Urban CEO), Johnson has developed a powerful framework for community-led change that's producing measurable results.
The Urban CEO focuses on five strategic pillars: education, economic empowerment, leadership development, civic engagement, and wellness—each addressing critical needs within urban communities.
The Urban Leadership Academy, a seven-month program that has graduated over 100 community leaders over nine years.
Johnson's recent focus on mental health reveals his responsiveness to emerging community needs. He points to the alarming statistic that less than 3% of psychologists nationally are Black men, creating significant barriers to culturally competent care. Through initiatives like an annual Mental Health Symposium, he's working to destigmatize mental health issues while increasing access to resources.
Data plays a crucial role in Johnson's strategy for community transformation. His motto "dollars follow data" encapsulates the practical importance of census participation and data collection. As he powerfully states, "that number has a name"—reminding us that behind every statistic is a human story.
Drawing from historical social movements and his faith tradition, Johnson aims to "equip people so the community itself can build itself." This philosophy of empowered self-determination creates sustainable change built on the unique strengths already present in every community.
Bio
Dr. Dominique Johnson is a trailblazing leader whose passion for community transformation has positioned him as a catalyst for change. As the visionary force behind The Urban CEO, he has dedicated his life to empowering leaders, fostering cultural change, and creating lasting community impact. With over two decades of experience.
A dynamic strategist, Dr. Johnson is committed to developing leaders at every level. Through SEEDS Global Enterprises and The Urban CEO, he champions initiatives that drive economic empowerment, leadership development, and civic engagement.
Dr. Johnson’s leadership and service have earned him numerous accolades, including the Links, Inc. Chain of Service Award and the Wesleyan College Lane Center Servant Leadership Award. A Leadership Georgia graduate and a recognized regional influencer, he continues to shape Middle Georgia and beyond.
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
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Dr. Nina Sabarre, founder and CEO of Intention to Impact, takes us deep into the urgent challenges philanthropy faces in our current political climate. With federal programs under attack and DEI initiatives being dismantled, foundations stand at a pivotal crossroads – will they retreat or boldly step forward?
Dr. Sabarre reveals how foundations aren't responding uniformly to these challenges. While some double down on equity commitments, others conduct closed-door strategy sessions, fearing repercussions from a hostile administration. This tension highlights a fundamental question: How can philanthropy effectively support communities when macro-level systems are shifting dramatically?
The conversation explores how traditional philanthropic models might be fundamentally misaligned. Most foundations distribute just 5% of their assets, while the remaining 95% remains invested in markets that often perpetuate the very problems their grants aim to solve. Dr. Sabarre unpacks impact investing as a powerful alternative, enabling foundations to generate both financial returns and positive social outcomes while deploying a greater portion of their capital toward their mission.
Perhaps most compelling is Nina's analysis of systems change strategies. Using the "Waters of Systems Change" framework, she demonstrates how conservative movements have masterfully funded long-term influence through strategic investments in media, churches, and educational institutions. At the same time, progressive philanthropy often focuses on immediate community needs rather than building lasting power.
For those working in evaluation, nonprofit leadership, or community organizing, Dr. Sabarre offers practical wisdom for navigating these turbulent waters – from maintaining commitment to community-centered approaches despite funding pressures to building stronger coalitions and drawing lessons from successful social movements of the past.
Subscribe to Community Possibilities wherever you get your podcasts to continue exploring what's possible when people come together to create lasting change in our communities. Be sure to connect with Nina and sign up for Intention 2 Impact's newsletter.
Bio
Nina is passionate about gender, racial, and social equity, and using #evalpreneurship to dismantle the status quo. She has consulted for a wide variety of cross-sector institutions ranging from Earthjustice, WK Kellogg Foundation, The California Endowment, TED’s Audacious Project, Elevate Prize Foundation, Walton Family Foundation, Colorado Health Foundation, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Omidyar Network, and USAID to name a few. Her work focuses on equitable evaluation for strategic grantmaking and sy
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
Send us a text
When tragedy struck at age 15, Jesse Kohler found himself surrounded by a supportive community that helped him navigate grief and eventually discover post-traumatic growth. This formative experience set Jesse on a path toward becoming a passionate advocate for trauma-informed systems change.
As Executive Director of the Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice (CTIPP), Jesse brings a unique perspective to our conversation. While many organizations focus on direct trauma services or training, CTIPP recognized a critical gap: the need for coordinated advocacy to transform policies at every level of government. Their innovative approach creates a "coalition of coalitions" that connects national policy efforts with state, local, and grassroots initiatives—creating a bidirectional flow of information and resources.
Jesse breaks down the core principles of trauma-informed approaches, and helps us understand how these principles can be applied across healthcare, education, justice systems, and even climate resilience efforts. Through partnerships like the International Transformational Resilience Coalition, CTIPP is helping communities prepare psychologically and socially for extreme weather events and environmental challenges.
Our conversation explores the messy but rewarding world of coalition-building and the crucial distinction between community-based and truly community-led approaches. Jesse emphasizes that evaluation must empower communities rather than extract from them, challenging traditional models that measure impacts and then depart without sustainable engagement.
Ready to join this movement? Visit ctipp.org to connect with advocacy networks, communities of practice, and resources designed to build momentum toward a trauma-informed future where healing, resilience, and community-led change become the foundation of healthier systems for all.
Guest Bio
As CTIPP’s Executive Director on loan, Jesse Kohler is in charge of organizational administration and HR, fundraising, strategic planning, public engagements, and working to create conditions of safety and empowerment for the board, staff, and volunteers in their roles with the organization. Jesse is on loan from The Change Campaign, which is a nonprofit organization Jesse founded. The Change Campaign is a multi-pronged initiative to build community and systemic capacity by facilitating the application of the science of developmental adversity and its progression through the lifespan and generations to enable initiatives that improve holistic well-being and provide strategic support to government agencies and organizations focused in aligned areas. Jesse has always had a strong vision for change that woul
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
Send us a text
Dr. Jimmy Smith Jr., a dynamic leader in public health, reveals the transformative journey from family medicine to becoming the Director of the Macon-Bibb County Health Department. Dr. Smith shares his passion for influencing communities on a large scale, highlighting his mentorship at Mercer University and as the president of the Georgia Public Health Association. His inspiring story is packed with insights about the challenges and triumphs of public health, painting a vivid picture of the dedication required to make a significant impact.
Like other public health departments, the public health department in Macon-Bibb County performs vital tasks, from food inspections to vital immunizations. Facing the reality of a community where 24% live below the poverty line, Dr. Smith discusses the universal importance of public health, dispelling misconceptions that it is only for the underserved. His insights on handling recent health concerns like flu, RSV, and COVID-19 and the critical role of vaccinations. He offers a compelling narrative on managing public health services in a diverse community.
Dr. Smith shares his philosophical approach to public health prevention strategies. Using creative metaphors, he illustrates the importance of primary and secondary prevention efforts and the crucial role of leadership and collaboration in fostering healthier societies. With a focus on resilience and mentorship, Dr. Smith shines a light on the future of public health careers, emphasizing the importance of nurturing emerging leaders to create lasting change. His optimistic outlook invites listeners to engage with public health initiatives, advocating for a future filled with progress and opportunity.
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
Send us a text
Darice Oppong's joins me today to share her journey working in community leadership and trauma-informed practices. We explore the vital role of collaboration in fostering resilient communities and the importance of celebrating small victories as coalition members work together to address societal challenges.
• Darice’s background in community service and leadership
• The significance of trauma-informed care in supporting individuals
• Strategies for building and sustaining coalitions effectively
• The development of onboarding processes to enhance member engagement
• The challenge and necessity of community collaboration
• Insights into the future goals for Resilient Middle Georgia
If you found this conversation helpful and want to dive deeper into creating impact in your community, I invite you to visit my website at communityevaluationsolutions.com/resources. You're going to find free tools, guides, and templates to support your work to build stronger community organizations.
Darice's Bio
Darice Oppong is a passionate leader, speaker, advocate, and lifelong learner currently pursuing her Master’s in Organizational Leadership at Mercer University. With a heart for service and community, Darice wears many hats, including her role as Coalition Coordinator for Resilient Middle Georgia (RMG), where she empowers leaders to embed trauma-informed care practices into their organizations across the region.
Over the past five years, she has focused on creating meaningful impact, particularly in rural and underserved communities. In her role with Resilient Middle Georgia (RMG), Darice has contributed significantly to building the coalition’s capacity.
In January 2024, Darice’s entrepreneurial spirit shines through Judah David Creations, a crochet shop on Etsy inspired by her son’s legacy. Her motto, “Crochet is a metaphor for life. You just need to take it one stitch at a time, and eventually you’ll make something beautiful,” reflects her commitment to resilience and creativity.
When she’s not coordinating coalitions or crafting new designs, Darice serves as the Praise and Worship Leader for Kingdom Life Church. She treasures quality time with her husband, friends, and family, finding joy and purpose in building connections and inspiring others to embrace their journeys.
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
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Preventative legal advocacy is reshaping the future of child welfare, and Emily Cook is at the forefront. As a Senior Staff Attorney at the Barton Child Law and Policy Center, Emilie Cook shares her journey from traditional legal practice to becoming a champion for systemic change. This episode explores how neglect, often rooted in poverty, not abuse, constitutes a significant issue within the child welfare system. We unpack the racial disparities faced by marginalized communities and how preventive measures can address these injustices by offering legal support early on, tackling social determinants of health, and redefining systemic approaches for a more equitable future.
We discuss the effectiveness of the current child welfare system, highlighting the unnecessary trauma caused by child-parent separations. Emily shares insights into the barriers families face, such as housing and resource instability, that can perpetuate involvement in the system. Our discussion is a call to action for community and nonprofit leaders to embrace community-based solutions, fostering resilience and stability rather than perpetuating cycles of trauma and poverty. Emilie's work in Georgia and around the country exemplifies the power of collaboration, as she builds networks to advance preventative advocacy and support families before they reach crisis points.
Emilie's transformative work isn't just theoretical; it's a practical approach to reimagining support systems that serve families better. We explore her efforts in creating a learning cohort dedicated to preventive legal advocacy and discuss the importance of evaluating program outcomes to secure sustainable funding. With a focus on effectiveness, Emily's initiatives demonstrate how legal interventions can address systemic issues like housing instability, proving that change is not only necessary but also achievable. Join us for an episode rich with insights and strategies that challenge the status quo and advocate for a more just and supportive child welfare system.
Guest Bio
Emilie Cook is Senior Staff Attorney at the Barton Child Law & Policy Center at Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia, where she works on projects to promote and protect the legal interests of children involved with the child welfare, juvenile court, and juvenile justice systems. Through her work in the preventive legal advocacy space, Emilie works with interdisciplinary legal teams and advocates across the country to promote and support the provision of high-quality legal advocacy and upstream support services designed to address the
social determinants of health and protect against the effects of poverty, systemic racism, and other forms of discriminatio
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Dr. Donna Beegle's remarkable journey from the depths of generational poverty to achieving a doctorate in educational leadership offers a powerful narrative of resilience and hope. Through her story, we unravel the systemic barriers that perpetuate poverty and the transformative power of education and community support. Dr. Beegle's insights challenge us to rethink our approach to poverty, highlighting the critical need for poverty-informed communities and improved communication across social classes.
Join us as we explore the transformative power of language and empathy in dismantling poverty barriers. Through Dr. Beegle's work with the Poverty Immersion Institute and insights from successful initiatives like Amarillo College's poverty-informed mindset, we uncover strategies for fostering a culture of caring and empowerment. From training community leaders to equipping non-profits with evaluation skills, this episode provides actionable insights for creating supportive environments where individuals and communities can thrive.
Guest Bio
Donna Beegle grew up in generational, migrant-labor poverty and was essentially homeless the first 26 years of her life. She is the only member of her family who has not been incarcerated. At 15, she left school to get married and start a family. She had six pregnancies and—with emergency rooms as her only access to health care—only two survived. At 26, she found herself with two children, no husband, little education, few marketable job skills, and no affordable housing. With the help of Community Action and a pilot project, she received stable housing and was able to achieve her GED and—10 years later—her doctorate in Educational Leadership—studying poverty, communication, and education. Dr. Beegle brings an insider perspective of poverty as a health determinant combined with 34 years of working with health providers in all 50 states to increase access to health services and break poverty barriers.
Since 1989, Dr. Beegle has across the nation with people and organizations who want to assist people in moving out and staying out of the war zone of poverty. As president of Communication Across Barriers, a consulting firm dedicated to building poverty-informed communities, Dr. Beegle has designed models and curriculum to directly impact people currently in poverty, as well as professionals who want to make a difference for our neighbors. She has authored four books and training curriculum kits, including See Poverty...Be the Difference, An Action Approach for Educating Students in Poverty, Breaking Poverty Barriers to Equal Justice, and If Not Me, Then Who? Empowering Our Neighbors.
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Dr. Dawn X. Henderson makes research accessible for marginalized communities. From her beginnings as a middle school science teacher, to founding We Claim Research, Dawn's journey is filled with inspiring stories and groundbreaking work. Dawn’s commitment to amplifying the voices of racially and ethnically marginalized groups offers a fresh perspective on fostering environments where all narratives are valued.
We share our identities as community psychologists, spotlighting system change and community engagement. Join us as Dawn shares her innovative approach to research collaboration, emphasizing community initiation and leadership. Dawn describes her work with Black mothers who, during the height of COVID-19, reshaped research protocols and presenting their findings at a major conference. Dawn emphasizes humility, openness, and a healing-centered lens. We invite you to embrace the wisdom of communities and the healing potential of curiosity in creating spaces where everyone thrives.
Guest Bio
Dr. Dawn X. Henderson is a Community Psychologist, founder of WeClaim Research (weclaimresearch.com; https://weclaimresearch.com/), and the Director of Participatory Research, Power Building at Village of Wisdom, a nonprofit in Durham, NC. She models making “science and research” accessible to those who have been the most underrepresented and marginalized. As a research scientist, she has used an interdisciplinary lens to position the narratives of racially and ethnically marginalized communities and young people at the center of how science and research happen. Her research has focused on identifying the ecological systems and structures that support and promote positive development for young people and adults. She is the recipient of the American Evaluation Association Graduate Education Diversity Internship, Faculty Select with the Expanding the Bench Initiative sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Interdisciplinary Research Leaders Fellowship, Division 27, Society for Community Research and Action Leadership Development Fellowship, Division 27’s 2023 Distinguished Contribution to Practice in Community Psychology Award, and 2023 Research-to-Policy Collaboration Scholar Award, Research-to-Policy Collaborative with Pennsylvania State University. As a Community Cultivator and Space Creator, she envisions creating more dream cultivators so that Black and Brown people, their children, and communities thrive.
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Karie Terhark joins us in an enlightening conversation on community empowerment, revealing how her journey as a Technology of Participation (TOP) facilitator has transformed her approach to inclusivity and stakeholder engagement. Her experiences in youth development and working with drug-free communities have shaped her passion for creating spaces where every voice is heard.
Karie transitioned from a directive leader to a facilitative one, using ToP methods to turn conventional meetings into meaningful collaborations. By bringing together diverse groups, Karrie emphasizes the essence of patience and small victories in fostering sustainable community ownership. She shares the strategies that have helped her navigate challenges like turf guarding and resistance, ensuring each community member feels respected and valued.
Learn about the importance of preparation, strategic planning, and the role of environmental scanning in setting a unified organizational direction. Karie's insights into the art of facilitation inspire individuals to lead with authenticity, fostering an environment where communities can thrive. Tune in to learn how you can harness these facilitation techniques to create empowered, inclusive spaces in your community.
Bio
When Karie Terhark reflects on her career, she sees a journey shaped by her deep desire to foster connections and build strong, empowered communities. Her early work in youth development gave her firsthand insight into how vital it is to create spaces where every voice can be heard. This experience ignited her passion for facilitation, which led her to dedicate herself to helping organizations and communities collaborate and achieve their goals.
For Karie, facilitation isn’t just a job—it’s her way of driving meaningful change. Whether she’s working with a small group or facilitating a large-scale public forum, she’s committed to creating brave, inclusive spaces where diverse perspectives are not just welcomed but are valued and feel a sense of belonging. Her work in community engagement has been instrumental in helping people feel empowered to shape their environments positively.
Becoming a Certified Technology of Participation (ToP) Facilitator, and later a ToP® Mentor Trainer, has allowed Karie to not only hone her skills but also to share them with others. Her personal mission is clear: to Empowering individuals to lead through action, unlocking their potential to create lasting impact.
It’s not just what she does, but why she does it that drives her—helping others find their own voice and power through the art of facilitation.
Connect with Karie: https://www.karieterhark.com
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What if health was a guaranteed right, accessible to everyone regardless of race or background? Join us for an enlightening conversation with Dr. Brandon Wilson from Community Catalyst as we unpack the concept of health equity. Dr. Wilson's journey from Louisiana's Cancer Alley to being a leading advocate for equitable vaccine access is nothing short of inspiring. His personal experiences, including his HIV diagnosis at 17, have fueled his unwavering commitment to public health. Together, we imagine a healthcare system where equity and justice are not mere ideals, but everyday realities.
Dr. Wilson shares why authentic community engagement requires humility and trust and how traditional power structures must evolve to recognize the spaces where real community discussions happen. Dr. Wilson highlights the power of lived experiences and the necessity of multidirectional learning in fostering true community partnerships. His insights are a roadmap for anyone looking to bridge the healthcare gap for marginalized communities.
We also tackle pressing issues such as the decline in public trust within the healthcare system and the essential role of caregivers, especially those in home and community-based services (HCBS). From innovative delivery models to the impact of the pandemic on public health initiatives, this episode outlines strategies for promoting equity and access. We discuss how states can build on existing foundations to improve HCBS and explore how community organizations can be better resourced to sustain their vital work.
Dr. Brandon Wilson
Dr. Brandon G. Wilson, DrPH, MHA, is a transformative leader in health innovation, public health, and equity. Dr. Wilson serves as the Co-Interim President & CEO, alongside Dana Clarke. Dr. Wilson oversees the organization’s health system innovation and community-first public health work and leads the Center for Community Engagement in Health Innovation. This center conducts community-based research to understand how inequities in the U.S. health system drive poor health outcomes for historically excluded communities and drives practice and policy change strategies based on its findings. As a recognized public health advisor, he has made significant contributions to health equity and innovation.
He received a master’s degree in health systems management at George Mason University, and a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) at Morgan State University. He holds a faculty appointment at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health.
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Dr. Nicole Bowman joins me to talk about the rich tapestry of traditional knowledge and Indigenous ways of knowing. Nicky, known as the "Blue Collar Scholar," shares her transformative journey as an advocate for culturally responsive and Indigenous research, policy, and evaluation. We dive deep into the necessity of challenging norms and advocating for marginalized communities and the critical need for Indigenous representation and diversity within editorial boards and thought councils. Nikki’s insights on "speaking into the listening" and the balance between radical advocacy and strategic communication are inspiring, emphasizing the importance of understanding one’s positionality amidst prevalent white privilege.
We delve into practical tools for fostering cultural sensitivity and her Seven Directions model, rooted in Indigenous wisdom, serves as a powerful framework for leadership and policy development. Nicky emphasizes the critical role of decolonizing author agreements and integrating language and culture preservation into policy and practice.
Dr. Bowman's Bio
Nicole is a traditional Ndulunaapeewi Kwe (Lunaape woman) and an evaluation innovator whose academic lodge sits at the intersection of traditional knowledge, Tribal sovereignty, and evaluation. She is the President of Bowman Performance Consulting and an Associate Scientist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Nicole is a subject matter expert in systems (Nation to Nation), culturally responsive, and Indigenous research, policy, and evaluation. She is AEA’s 2018 Robert Ingle Service Award winner (first Indigenous awardee) and serves on numerous global evaluation or educational journal review boards. including as co-chair of AEA’s Indigenous Peoples in Evaluation Topical Interest Group and a Global Member of both EvalIndigenous and AEA’s International Work Group. Her dissertation is titled Indigenous Educational Policy Development with Tribal Governments: A Case Study.
Contact info:
- nicky@bpcwi.com
- www.bpcwi.com
Social Links:
- BPC’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bpcwi/
- BPC’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bpcwi/
- BPC’s You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/user/bpcwi
- Nicky’s Twitter: @nbpc1
- Nicky’s LinkedIn:
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Sarah Winograd Babayeuski is a relentless advocate for families involved in the foster care system. Sarah joins me for the second time on the show to update us on the latest transformation of the nonprofit she founded. Together With Families (TWF) harnesses grassroots efforts and community resources to prevent family separations due to poverty.
Sarah's shares the evolution of Together With Families, emphasizing the importance of equity, justice, and active family participation in decision-making. We'll dive into the significance of trusting relationships and the harmful effects of pathologizing poverty and trauma. TWF groundbreaking initiatives like the Parent Ally and design team programs, supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, empower families to navigate crises and reduce unnecessary Child Protective Services involvement.
Lastly, we'll tackle the formidable challenges that low-income families face, from housing affordability and inadequate wages to bureaucratic obstacles in accessing essential services. Sarah's is an unexpected journey as a nonprofit executive director. Don't miss this inspiring conversation that promises to deepen your understanding of the complexities and solutions in family advocacy.
Guest BioAs a missionary kid, Sarah grew up amongst poverty and oppression in the former Soviet Republic of Belarus. After returning to the states with her husband and daughter, she completed her bachelor’s degree in psychology at Kennesaw State University.
A former Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) in the Cobb County Juvenile Court, where for two years Sarah advocated for the best interests of children involved in dependency hearings. SheI was heartbroken to see so many children separated from loving parents for underlying issues of poverty. She is the founder of Together With Families, a nonprofit working to prevent family seperation due to poverty.
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Emily Ann Ball and Audrey Itikata of Resilient Georgia join us to talk about their work with the organization marking its fifth year of dedication to trauma-informed approaches, child wellness and early brain development.
Resilient Georgia combats mental health stigma and supports trauma-informed practices through partnerships with 16 regional coalitions spanning 120 counties. We discuss the varied mental health challenges across urban and rural areas, emphasizing innovative strategies to prevent mental health challenges. Emily and Audrey provide a comprehensive look at the organization's mission, highlighting successful initiatives across Georgia.
We discuss the transformative power of shared language in trauma care and the significance of building resilience through positive childhood experiences. Emily and Audrey stress the importance of community partnerships, accessible resources, and the role of social connections and play in trauma work.
Guest BiosEmily Anne Vall became Executive Director of Resilient Georgia where she leads the creation of a statewide coalition of trauma-informed organizations by convening diverse private and public partners to create a birth through 26 year old integrated behavioral health system. The statewide coalition includes over 700 stakeholders working to prevent adverse childhoodexperiences (ACEs) and supporthealing through integratedbehavioral health resources andservices.
Vall earned her PhD in Physical Education and Health Pedagogy with a cognate in Diversity Studies from the University of South Carolina. She completed her undergraduate teaching degree at Florida Southern College before attending the University of South Florida focusing on physical education and special needs populations. Audrey Idaikkadar has worked with communities to strategically improve health
and wellness for more than a decade. She believes coalition building and elevating the voices of those most impacted by disparities can help create thriving communities for all. As the Regional Program Manager for Resilient Georgia, she supports grantees in their coalitional work to prevent and heal childhood adversity, advance trauma informed awareness and care, and promote
resilience with children and their families in their communities.
Idaikkadar earned her Bachelor of Arts in American Studies with highest honors from the University of California at Berkeley and her Master of Public Health from Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health. She is also a trained oral historian and recently completed her master’s degree in history at Georgia State University.
Resilient Georgia's website.
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Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
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What happens when you prioritize authentic relationships over financial gains in community work? Join us in this enlightening episode of Community Possibilities as we sit down with the inspiring LaDonna Collins. Fresh from her role as executive director of the Rome Floyd County Commission on Children and Youth, LaDonna now brings her transformative vision to the National Family Support Network. LaDonna's story is not just about resilience but the power of meaningful connections in professional growth.
She shares her unique perspective on community work and nonprofit leadership and discuss the significance of building genuine relationships. Her innovative initiatives like "Books, Barbers, and Beauticians" and the engaging "Little Black Dress" event demonstrate how a heart-centered approach can foster thriving, collaborative communities. These stories aren't just feel-good moments; they offer actionable insights for anyone involved in community building, emphasizing that the best outcomes often arise from the most authentic interactions.
Our conversation also delves into the transformative power of strong community partnerships and the crucial role of Family Resource Centers. Learn about the five protective factors that support families and how these centers are making a difference across states and even internationally. LaDonna discusses the challenges and rewards of community leadership, touching on common misconceptions about nonprofit funding and the importance of changing that narrative. This episode is packed with valuable lessons, stories, and the kind of inspiration that can help you make a lasting difference in your own community.
LaDonna's Bio
LaDonna Collins, a native of Rockmart, Georgia serves as the Sr. Training and Standards Implementation Manager for the National Family Support Network which serves as the national coordinating body for Family Resource Centers within the United States & Canada. Until recently, LaDonna served as the Executive Director of Rome Floyd County Commission on Children and Youth.
She is also the owner of Pinnacle Developmental Services, a youth development and mentoring organization. LaDonna is heavily involved in her community. She served on the most recent SPLOST Committee in her community, was the moderator for her local city commission candidate forum, serves on an advisory board for a local university and was recently awarded, Heart of the Community through a local nonprofit. aDonna is married to Eric CollinLs and they have an 8 year old son, Parker, who will be starting 3rd grade this fall at the Montessori School of Rome.
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Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
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Join us on Community Possibilities as John Silver, a registered nurse, shares his vision of a future where healthcare operates as a hybrid public utility, emphasizing the need for multidisciplinary approaches and political advocacy to address systemic issues like access and resource distribution.
John and his collaborators establised Nurses Transforming Healthcare, an organization rallying the nursing community to tackle systemic challenges head-on. The mission of Nurses Transforming Healthcare is "to transform healthcare to a model based on wellness and disease prevention which is affordable and accessible to all." John shares his vision for a future with accessible, well-funded community health centers. Innovative initiatives like the "Flip the Zip" campaign highlight the potential for community engagement to create enduring health improvements. Tune in to learn how individual commitment and community-driven solutions can pave the way for a more equitable and efficient healthcare system.
Bio John Silver
After 24 years in healthcare, including 14 years as a Registered Nurse, Dr. Silver was drawn to the essential problem facing nursing- Why couldn’t Nursing ensure safe levels of practice in facilities, and why was the healthcare system we had so dysfunctional in terms of Public Health outcomes and the neglect of so many communities. John soon realized that the problems were linked. If nursing could not ensure safe levels of practice, and were not actively engaged at the decision tables as to where resources were allocated in the systems, how could Nursing ensure the maximum benefit for our patients would be realized?
The answer lay in the political relationship of nurses to the facilities, and Nursing to the political process. Embarking on a journey of research and discovery in his Public Intellectual Ph.D in Comparative Studies, John published a book just a union…of nurses (2013) about the history of how the California nurses brought about staffing legislation, which he hoped would provide an example of how nurses could become politically effective in their states. He advised several nursing groups on this, including NP’s as they worked towards independent practice and prescriptive authority.
He traveled abroad to study other healthcare systems and developed what he thought the goals of a healthcare system must be. From there he began advocating for the only system design that truly met those goals and addressed the needs of providers, patients, and all our communities- an adapted Public Utility model. Dr. Silver has been working with an innovative interdisciplinary team of people forming Nurses Transforming Healthcare and working to implement the model in the Unites States.
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Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
Have you ever stood at the crossroads of career and calling, unsure of which path to take? Christa Barfield didn't just stand at that crossroad; she blazed a trail from a decade-long healthcare profession to revolutionizing urban agriculture. Our latest episode charts Christa’s remarkable pivot, capturing her transformation from burnout to beacon of change. With the birth of Viva Leaf Tea Company and FarmerJawn, Christa has rooted herself deeply in the mission to heal communities through sustainable living and the power of food as medicine.
The seed of inspiration can come from the most unexpected places – for Krista, it was a trip to Martinique. She recounts her pivotal encounter with local Black farmers to establishing FarmerJawn, a name that has become a rallying cry for inclusivity and empowerment within the agricultural scene of Philadelphia. Christa shares some of the challenges and triumphs of intertwining food sovereignty with community development, and the importance of equipping future generations with knowledge to cultivate their own sustainable success.
In this episode, Christa shares FarmerJawn's next step, CornerJawn, which will sow seeds of health in food deserts. The first CornerJawn will open in summer 2024 in Germanton in Northwest Philadelphia. Her approach intertwines business savvy with a profound social impact. The plan is to create partnerships with medical schools, integrating food education with health screenings, to reshape community health one zip code at a time. Tune in as we uncover the layers of Christa Barfield's extraordinary journey and the legacy she is cultivating for urban communities.
Christa's Bio
Christa Barfield is a health-care professional turned farmer and lifelong Philadelphia resident. It was 10 years into her career in health-care administration when her life led her to pursuing health and happiness in a more sustainable way. After a solo trip abroad in January 2018, she returned home inspired to connect with the land, plant life, and social issues that heavily impact Black and brown communities and all people’s perception of food. Her business is a reincarnation of her healthcare career with a focus on regeneration and nutrition security. Now with 128 acres across 3 counties in PA, she has built FarmerJawn with an equitable focus on Food is Medicine and she is leading conversations nationwide on how to take a Farm First approach to America’s relationship with food and health."
Website: https://www.farmerjawn.co/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farmerjawn_/
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Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
On this episode of Community Possibilities, Kali Thorne Ladd, Executive Director of the Children's Institute joins me. Kali shares her journey from passionate classroom teacher to a visionary leader, driving policy change to bolster the well-being of children and, subsequently, Oregon communities. I first learned about the Children's Institute when I saw a video sponsored by the Ford Family Foundation about the transformation of the Yoncalla Elementary School. Yoncalla School District leaders and community members, including parents of young children, worked together to reinvent the elementary school’s approach to family and child support. The school now is thriving, drawing families from across the region.
By nurturing genuine partnerships in communities like Yoncalla, the Children's Institute has catalyzed impressive strides in school attendance and literacy rates, demonstrating the unique power rural areas hold in shaping the future of young children.
We talk about the synergies of health services and education through shared leadership and the innovative concept of universal home visiting in Oregon. Kali shares insights on integrating healthcare into schools and strategies for overcoming obstacles that hinder a child's ability to thrive in school. We reflect on the power of cross-sector collaboration and the universal appeal of early childhood issues to unify across political divides. Tune in for an episode that's not just a conversation but a call to action, one that champions the collective responsibility we share in nurturing the potential of our youngest community members.
Kaili's Bio: Previously, Thorne Ladd was the co-founder and executive director of KairosPDX, a culturally specific organization dedicated to eliminating educational opportunity and achievement gaps for historically underserved children. Through that work, and as a visionary leader in multiple capacities in the region, Thorne Ladd has a long track record of working to transform early learning and healthy development for children and families in Oregon. This has included serving as the chair of the board for Portland Community College, serving on Governor Brown’s Early Learning Council, and serving on the board at the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation based in Portland. Kali worked on education strategies in the mayor’s office in the City of Portland and at the Oregon Department of Education. She holds a MA in education policy from Harvard University and a BA in elementary education and psychology from Boston College.
Show Links:
Kali's Email: kali@childinst.org
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· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
In this episode of Community Possibilities, Dr. Tasha Parker shares her story and work as community psychologist and liscenced clinical social worker. Tasha's personal story influences her approach to collaborative systems change, challenging the popular yet insufficient concepts of 'resiliency' and 'grit'. Our conversation navigates the intersection of equity, trauma-informed community development, and intersectionality, unveiling the necessity for spaces that dismantle hidden power structures and champion genuine inclusion.
This episode for anyone devoted to community engagement and equity, offering practical strategies for community collaboration. We discuss how to maintain a trauma-informed lens and advocate for equity across all community engagement phases. Dr. Parker provides insights for creating trauma-informed communities that redistribute power, ensuring those affected by policies are leading the charge in decision-making processes. Join us and be part of the conversation that reshapes how communities foster resilience, equity, and transformation.
Dr. Tasha Parker's BioDr. Tasha Parker is an experienced professional based in Wichita, Kansas. With over 17 years of experience in mental and behavioral health, social justice, and youth development, she is the founder and principal community consultant at the Institute of Development, LLC. Her specialties include trauma-informed, resiliency-informed, liberatory, cultural responsiveness, and equitable approaches. She is also privileged to spend one day a week sitting and supporting clients on their personal journeys, providing clinical therapy. Dr. Parker holds a Ph.D. in Community Psychology, a Master of Public Administration focused on Nonprofit Management and Finance, and a Master of Social Work.
Dr. Parker's diverse skill set includes research and evaluation, group facilitation, prevention, program development, and implementation. She is passionate about collaborative systems change rooted in equity and cultural humility. Believing that the true currency for sustainable systemic changes is rooted in equity, liberation, cultural and intellectual humility, and harm reduction.
Contact Dr. Parker:
https://www.tashaparker.com/
The quickest way to reach Dr. Parker is: tashap@tashaparker.com
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
Following a car accident at 16, Addis Alemayehu Gonte's life changed forever. Eventually he recovered from multiple traumatic injuries. Addis shares the challenges of living with visable and invisible disabilities. While in college he founded a nonprofit, ABLE Mindset, that works to uplift and empower lives through the creative arts. Addis reflects on the isolation often felt by individuals with disabilities and how we can bridge those gaps. We reveal the personal journeys that have led us to understand the significance of vulnerability and the importance of suspending assumptions.
His work with ABLE Mindset, particularly the rhythm workshops and creative arts programs is supported from partners incuding the University of North Texas, the YMCA and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.
Addis Gonte's Bio Addis Gonte is a highly motivated and dedicated community outreach specialist with a passion for creating positive change in underserved communities. After a life-threatening car accident at 16, Addis Gonte was left with traumatic injuries. He was determined to continue his education, completing high school and college, graduating with a B.A. in Sociology and Rehabilitation from the University of North Texas. He is a certified peer and family support mentor for the Christopher and Dana Reeve organization and United Spinal Association, and is dedicated to supporting newly injured individuals and their families with this difficult transition in life. While in College, he founded his nonprofit, Able Mindset, dedicated to empower persons living with disabilities utilizing creative arts to have an enriching life experience. Contact Addis at: https://ablemindset.org/
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
Shen Chefalo's journey is a testament to resilience and the power of healing. Our conversation highlights the profound impact how our own lives can lead us in unexpected places. We delve into the heart of what it means to create trauma-informed communities, addressing root causes in health and social challenges, and the power dynamics within organizational environments, offering a fresh perspective on cultivating empathy and fostering supportive workplace relationships. Shen guides us through the intricacies of building trauma-informed organizations, conflict resolution, and the foundational importance of establishing safety.
We also dare to reimagine a foster care system that upholds family preservation, advocating for a shift in policy that emphasizes mental health support and the cruciality of maintaining familial bonds to prevent generational trauma.
Shen Chefalo's Bio:
Shenandoah Chefalo is a sought-after speaker, award-winning author, and expert
trauma-informed specialist with over 20 years of leadership consulting
experience with governmental, public, and private organizations across various
sectors, including health care, human services, education, and nonprofits.
As the Founder and Lead Strategist of Chefalo Consulting, Shenandoah
provides trauma-informed organizational change management and workforce
development services to improve outcomes for individuals, organizations, and
communities. Her lived experiences of poverty, homelessness, foster care, and
juvenile justice inform her approaches, which provide effective, equitable, and
inclusive systems change frameworks that transform organizations.
Links for Shen:
Connect with Shen at https://www.chefaloconsulting.com/
Grab her book! Garbage Bag Suitcase
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
Johann Jacob and Helen Kinsella, two residents of Co-Habitat Quebec's, join me to share their community in Quebec, Canada. I met Johann at the Canadian Evaluation Society and he and his partner graciously hosted me and another friend for dinner at their community. I was excited to learn about this way of living in community. Johann and Helen share the history of Co-Habitat Quebec's and how the architecture of daily interactions shapes a thriving community.
Co-housing communities, as I learn, are not unique in the world or even the U.S. In this episode we learn how shared responsibilities underpin these intentional spaces, from group meals to collective cleaning. I ask Johann and Helen about practicalities, like how the community naviagtes things like personality clashes.
We reflect on the transformative power of strong community ties for personal and societal well-being. We end by discussing how communal values could be infused in our own lives.
Guest Bios
Helen Kinsella has lived at Cohabitat Québec for five years with her partner Marc and her two daughters aged 13 and 10. A native of Ireland, she spent 12 years living in London, working in media and for non-profit organizations, with a particular interest in feminist and environmental issues and minority rights. She speaks several languages, and currently works part-time as a community interpreter and translator for Quebec City's health and social services. She was vice-chair of the Women's Environmental Network in London, a feminist charity with a particular concern for the environmental issues that affect women and minority communities. She believes that co-housing initiatives, coupled with strong and vibrant local communities, are a crucial way to achieve healthier and more fulfilling lives.
Johann Lucas Jacob holds a Ph.D in measurement and evaluation from Université Laval. He is a research professional at the Quebec’s Observatory on climate change adaptation (Observatoire québécois de l’adaptation aux changements climatiques) (OQACC), a research center dedicated to the M&E of climate change adaptation. He is also a lecturer in evaluation at the faculty of medicine of Université Laval. Johann is the author of two books, as well as fifty scientific articles and evaluative research reports.
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
What does it mean to be an advocate, a parent, and a community leader? Angela Masden is all of those things. In this episode, Angela shares her story and shares her lessons learned. She shares her inspiring journey as single parenthood who found her voice advocating for her son in a system riddled with systemic biases. We cover a myriad of topics from Angela's impactful community work to the pivotal role of parent involvement in the education system.
Our conversation explores the deeply troubling biases in early intervention, spotlighting Angela's experience with her son's overlooked needs due to his race and insurance status. Angela's spirit is undeterred as she continues to champion advocacy and community engagement. We hope you will listen and be empowered to make a difference in your community.
Angela shares her powerful call to action: to amplify voices, empower parents, and tirelessly work towards creating a better world for our children.
Angela's Bio:
Angela believes in the power of collective action and constantly encourages others to join her in the pursuit of a more just and equitable society. She is a passionate and dedicated community change maker. Born and raised in Louisville Kentucky, Angela developed a deep love for her community and a strong desire to create lasting change from a young age.
Education played a significant role in shaping Angela's journey as a change maker. She pursued a Bachelor's degree in Education, and a Master’s in Higher Education where she gained valuable knowledge and skills to address social issues effectively. Angela's academic experience fueled her passion for social justice and equipped her with the necessary tools to make a meaningful difference.
Angela designed and implemented programs focused on mentorship, skill-building, and advocacy, creating a safe and supportive environment for young individuals to thrive. Angela's dedication and innovative approach garnered recognition as the 2020 Blue Door Hero, and her programs became models for other organizations striving to make a similar impact.
She is the Director of Civic Engagement with Play Cousins Collective. She also is co- founder of a organization called "The Prophecy Foundation ". Angela ability to articulate the concerns of marginalized populations and propose practical solutions earned her respect and credibility among decision-makers. She is the owner of Rose Dove Consulting. Angela is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2022 Black Women of Excellence and 2022 Trailblazer Award. She sits on numerous boards such as Project Community Center and Kentucky Black Festival.
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
How do you usually great veterans? Do you nod and thank them for their service? In this episode, Dr. Qwynn Galloway Salazar, an Army veteran and military spouse, joins me for a second time to revisit her work with veteran and military communities. Her role as an end-of-life doula, educator, and facilitator uncovers unique perspectives on addressing trauma, suicide prevention, and end-of-life care.
We discuss the sensitive, yet crucial topic of death, bridging the divide between the veteran and civilian communities. Dr. Quinn's work as an end-of-life doula is inspiring, and the ripple effect of her commitment to supporting veterans and their families through this profound journey is truly moving. We wrap up by shedding light on the creative side of advocacy. We reflect on the potential of creativity in addressing tough topics and inspiring change. We invite you to explore how we can collectively confront social, economic, and political challenges.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Link to Episode 10, my first conversation with Qwynn
- Connect with Qywnn In Their Honor
- Caring for Veterans Through the End of Life, PsychArmor and In Their Honor
Dr. Gallow-Salazar's Bio:
Dr. Qwynn Galloway-Salazar is the Founder of In Their Honor. As an Army Veteran, Spouse to a Combat Veterans, End-of-Life Doula, and Educator, she has devoted over two decades to enhancing the quality of life for military and Veteran communities. Driven by her deep commitment, Qwynn has delved into crucial topics such as trauma, behavioral health, end-of-life care, and suicide prevention, gaining profound insights into the enduring impact of military experiences on Veterans and their loved ones.
As a Compassionate and Creative Innovator, Qwynn passionately unites diverse communities, states, academic institutions, and end-of-life organizations under a joint mission: to ensure that Veterans and their loved ones receive unparalleled care and support throughout life's final journey. She served as the Lead Advisor for the groundbreaking launch of the "Caring for Veterans Through the End-of-Life Collection" by PsychArmor Institute. This 3-part collection, infused with profound wisdom and empathy, stands at the forefront of end-of-life education for Compassionate Communities, Caregivers/Loved Ones, and Healthcare Providers alike, offering invaluable guidance and support.
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
From a career in banking to fortifying families against child abuse, our guest today is a testament to the power of following your passion. Jennifer Stein, Executive Director of Prevent Child Abuse Georgia, joins us to share her inspiring journey and the transformative work her organization is doing to safeguard children. She sheds light on the critical role her team plays in strengthening Georgia’s families and the impact of their first family resource center in Northeast Georgia.
In our discussion, we also touch on the innovative approaches that Jennifer and her team are using to prevent child abuse. Hear how they’re leveraging non-traditional partnerships and emphasizing the role of community support for parents.
Prevent Child Abuse Georgia www.PCAGeorgia.org
Jennifer's Bio:Jennifer Stein is the Executive Director for Prevent Child Abuse Georgia (PCA Georgia) in the Mark Chaffin Center for Healthy Development a Georgia State University Research Center located in the School of Public Health.
Jennifer joined PCA Georgia in 2021 after seven years of leading Prevent Child Abuse Habersham where she identified the need for and launched the Family Resource Center of Northeast Georgia.
With more than two decades of management experience collectively in compliance operations, sales, and nonprofit management, Stein has a gift for discerning organizational capacity and implementing a collaborative vision for excellence.
As PCA Georgia serving as one of three key partners for Georgia’s Essentials for Childhood initiative, Stein partners with the Division of Family & Children Services to lead the implementation of the state’s Child Abuse & Neglect Prevention Plan (CANPP). Additionally, as the implementing agency for Strengthening Families Georgia (SFG), and the Georgia Family Support Network (GFSN). Stein serves on both the governance and strategic planning committees within SFG’s leadership infrastructure as well as GFSN’s steering committee and communications workgroup.
With the support of its Board of Directors and strong staff, Stein scaled the organization to increase its potential and tripled its funding within five years, cultivating local and regional support, and expanding its service sector from one to five counties via grants, state contracts, and direct investments from donors.
Additionally, Stein plays an integral role on Georgia’s Supreme Court Committee on Justice for Children, Georgia’s Child Abuse Prevention Treatment Act Panel (CPSAC), and Child Fatality Review Prevention Subcommittee; she previously served globally in the Supervised Visitation Network as a board member and officer.
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
Join us as we journey alongside Dr. Alie Redd, Executive Director of Covenant House, Georgia. "Dr. A" was raised in the 70's as a 'parentified kid' and faced homelessness during her undergrad years. Alie's life story is one of grace, resilience, and self-reflection. Today, she is dedicated to supporting young people who have suffered trauma and are homeless as a result.
We talk about the experience of today's youth - violence, foster care, homelessness, and struggles with mental health. We examine the hurdles encountered when trying to connect these young people with the community resources they crucially need. A spotlight is thrown on the pivotal role of mental health services and community volunteers in breaking the crisis cycle and weaving a safety net around the most vulnerable children in our society.
Dr. Redd emphasizes the power of unconditional love, respect, and support for Covenant House youth. We delve into the immense potential of community collaboration, and how it fuels the progress and hope of these young individuals. Further, Dr. A shares how other we can lend a hand to their mission - from participating in sleep out events, to donations and volunteering. This episode is a call to action - a challenge to create more opportunities for our young people, to pay closer attention to our community's youth. Join us on this journey, and let's make a difference, together.
Dr. A's Bio
Dr. Alieizoria Redd (“DrA”) joined Covenant House Georgia as the Executive Director in March 2018 and comes with 30+ years of experience as a servant leader in social services. Previously, Dr. Redd served children and families while employed at as the Vice President of Housing and Placement Services at CHRIS 180, Adjunct Professor at Tulane and Clark Atlanta Universities, Vice President of Programs at Inspiritus, and in private practice. She has served various populations as a direct service provider, clinician, clinical supervisor, advocate, advisor, administrator, professor, and executive leader. Dr. Redd supports the LGBTQ+ community as a co-chair of the Mayor’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Board Co-Chair and is a member of Leadership Atlanta Class of 2023, “Rowdiest Class Ever.”
Dr. Redd earned a BA in Psychology from the University of Memphis, an MSW and PhD in Social Work Policy Planning Administration and Social Science with a cognate in Public Administration from Clark Atlanta University. She has been continuously licensed as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker since 2000. Her areas of concentration include: non-profit leadership; social and child welfare policy; commercial sexual exploitation of children; secondary trauma of social workers; refugee and immigration services; racial identity; youth homelessness; LGBTQ+ youth; and military families.
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
Join me as I sit down with Nonet Sykes, the Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer at Atlanta Beltline Inc., who reveals the many changes brought about by the Atlanta Beltline project. Nonet describes how the Beltline, beyond its identity as a walking and biking path, is striving to reconnect 45 previously segregated neighborhoods and foster racial and economic equity.
Nonet delves deep into how the Beltline is not just shaping the city's skyline but also promoting job creation, driving economic development, and safeguarding affordable housing. We tap into the often ignored social determinants of health and how projects like Atlanta Beltline are transforming transportation, housing, healthcare, and food access.
Rounding off our conversation, we look into Atlanta Beltline's commitment to transparency and accountability. Nonet gives us a glimpse into how the Beltline is implementing equity in their practice and policies. Be it their equity audit, their legacy resident retention program, or even their initiatives in affordable housing, the Beltline's approach is holistic and future-focused. Hear the vision for the Beltline's future and the invaluable lessons Nonet gathered along the way.
Guest Information and Links:
Nonet Sykes, Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer, Atlanta BeltLine Inc.
nsykes@atlbeltline.org
www.linkedin.com/in/nonet-sykes-8796a413
https://beltline.org
Nonet's Bio
The first to hold this position, Nonet leads the development and implementation of the Atlanta BeltLine’s comprehensive equity and inclusion vision, strategy, and action plan. As a member of the Executive Team, Nonet leads an organization-wide effort to operationalize the BeltLine’s commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion, and implement strategies that stabilize communities, increase housing affordability, spur job creation, and ensure economic opportunity.
Nonet was previously director of racial equity and inclusion at the Annie E. Casey Foundation where she led the organization’s equity and inclusion strategies and invested resources to identify, implement, and promote the most effective approaches to increase equitable opportunities and outcomes for children, families, and communities of color. Nonet’s 20 plus years of experience spans the areas of racial equity and inclusion, community and economic development, strategic leadership, nonprofit capacity building, and change management.
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
Join us on this enlightening convo with Catherine Cody, founder of Project Empathy. A college study abroad experience to Melbourne, Australia, changed her life. Catherine's story is one of personal growth and social awakening.
Catherine's passion project, Project Empathy, is her remarkable initiative that aims to open up dialogue and understanding through the power of storytelling and unique empathy exercises. The Black Lives Matter movement and the 2020 election greatly influenced the project, underlining the crucial role of storytelling in fostering empathy and understanding. Catherine's shares who the Project creates a safe space for dialogue and the transformative impact of shared story. Catherine shares her insights on the profound power of empathy and connection in bridging societal divides.
We explore the inner workings of Project Empathy - the rehearsal process, final performance, and the pivotal role of the audience in the narrative. If you seek a deeper understanding of humanity and are intrigued by the potential of storytelling to change hearts and minds, this conversation with Catherine Cody is one you won't want to miss.!
Catherine's Bio:
Catherine Cote, founder of Project Empathy, is a Boston-based creative, marketer, and entrepreneur with a passion for human connection. Catherine graduated from College of the Holy Cross in 2018 with a psychology major, education and Mandarin Chinese minors, a certificate from the Ciocca Center for Business, Ethics, & Society, and a habit for theatre. Her interests and studies all boil down to a passion for understanding people and the way we communicate.
In February 2017, while studying abroad in Melbourne, Australia, Catherine created Project Empathy as an experimental answer to the social division and lack of deep conversation she was experiencing. After directing the first cast of six people at the University of Melbourne, she brought the Project back home to the US for its American premier at Holy Cross. To expand the Project’s reach and impact, Catherine developed the Performance Package and founded Project Empathy, LLC in October 2020.
In addition to running Project Empathy, Catherine works in higher education marketing. When she’s not at her desk, you’ll likely find her hiking with her family and dog, picnicking with friends or a good book, or singing in her Subaru.
Connect with Catherine:
- Website: https://www.officialprojectempathy.com/
- Email: OfficialProjectEmpathy@gmail.com
- Instagram/TikTok: @ProjectEmpathy
- Facebook/LinkedIn: Project Empathy
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
Are you ready to understand community level change? Buckle up as my business bestie, Dr. Susan Wolff, and I share our experiences working with community coalitions and community-based nonprofits. We share our highs, our lows, and those 'aha' moments that keep us going in our quest to effect change.
We've poured our expertise into a co-authored book, "Guidebook to Community Consulting," a must-read for anyone seeking to make a difference in their community. (Enter GTCC2023 at checkout for a 20% discount!) We explore the essentials of connecting with community members, upholding values of equity and anti-racism, and honing your skills to become a successful community consultant. We also delve into the powerful concept of cultural humility and its impact on DEI training. We tackle the resistance to DEI training head-on, offering strategies to overcome it.
We also look at the importance of inclusivity within community engagement, discussing how to make meetings accessible for everyone, and using data to measure inclusivity. We discuss our experiences with experiential activities to boost participation and ensure every voice is heard. So, come and join our enlightening conversation, as we unlock the potential for change that lies within communities.
Susan joined me on Episode #3, listen to it here:
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
In this episode, advocate, evaluator, city councilman, and recently new podcast host, David Shorr joins me on Community Possibilities. We met through our mutual colleague and friend, Kathleen Sullivan. Kathleen has the distinction of being my most popular episode to date. There is a lot of interest in advocacy, and David knows advocacy like few others.
In this episode we talk about:
· How does an issue become a decision?
· How do community leaders and community-based organizations move an issue and set it up for a decision(s) that lead to change.
· How the advocacy game is played and what is the "inside game" is, versus the "outside game” and how these are related to change.
· His experience on the inside as an elected, local-level decision maker. What can community members and leaders do to advance issues they care about in their communities.
Website: David Shorr -- Policy Advocate & Evaluator - Home
David's Podcast: The Battles We Pick
Kathleen Sullivan's episode on Community Possibilites .
Link to the article by David and Kathleen with great examples of community level change: https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3A16759255-9fa2-3fcc-90de-482e45a1f2d0
David Shorr has built his AdvocacyCraft Consulting practice drawing on decades of shaping debate and decision making in varied policy arenas—from high-level diplomacy and presidential politics to local land use. Before launching his practice, David was a Hewlett Foundation consulting program officer responsible for the wind-down of its Nuclear Security Initiative. David is keenly interested in issues at the nexus of political decision making and technical practicalities, which he explores in his new podcast "The Battles We Pick." He has served as a decisionmaker himself since his 2016 election to city council in his Central Wisconsin community. For over thirty years David advocated on foreign policy issues in senior roles with Stanley Center for Peace & Security, Human Rights First, Refugees International, Search for Common Ground, Arms Control Association, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and NYPIRG.
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
· Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
· Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
· Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
· Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
· Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
· Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
On this episode, Allisaon Padilla-Goodman, Vice President of the Southern Division of the Anti-Defamation League joins me. As Vice President of the Southern Division, Allison Padilla-Goodman and her team work daily to fight antisemitism and all forms of hate in the Cleveland, Florida, South Central, Southeast and Washington, D.C. regional offices.
In this episode we talk about:
- Allison's origin story - you have to listen!
- Her early work in academia and as a community organizer and what that work taught her.
- The term “othering” and what it has to do with hate and extremism.
- The Anti-Defamation League and how she first became involved.
- The specific work ADL does in fighting extremism, policy, and education.
- How the ADL, like many groups working for social change, faces criticism. So we explore that and how she deals with it. We also talk about what she wants people to understand about the work ADL does.
- What can people, specifically young people, can do in their own communities to address hate and extremism.
Allison's Bio:
Allison joined ADL in 2014 as the Regional Director of ADL’s New Orleans office after many years in academia. Her academic work focused on racial identities and othering. Most recently, she was the Regional Director of ADL’s Atlanta office. Prior to her work at ADL and in academia, Allison was a Senior Research Fellow in the premier Center for Service-Learning in Southeast Asia, worked in public education in New Orleans, and was a community organizer around public safety and culture. She received the Torch of Liberty Distinguished Service award by the ADL New Orleans Regional Board and has become an avid voice for fighting hate in the American South.
Allison earned a B.A. from Middlebury College, an M.A. in Latin American Studies from Tulane University, and a PhD in Sociology from the CUNY Graduate Center.
Allison's Contact information:
- www.adl.org
- agoodman@adl.org
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonpadillagoodman
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
- Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
- Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
- Engage your group in equitable, difficult conversations.
- Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
- Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
- Speak at your conference or event.
- Ann's book with Susan Wolfe, Guidebook to Community Consulting: A Collaborative Approach published by Cambridge Press is out! Grab your discount code here: https://www.cambridge.org/9781009244305 enter GTCC2023 at check out.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
In this episode, Ann speaks to Maryum Lewis, President & CEO of Jerasulem House, now known as Status:Home. We talk about:
- Maryum's journey from the family farm to the city and why she chose to work in the nonprofit space.
- The history of Jerusalem House, Atlanta’s oldest and largest provider of permanent housing for low-income individuals.
- Why housing is healthcare and why it is central to the work they do.
- We explore how the affordable housing crisis is changing the lives of working families and how that directly impacts the support Status:Home provides
- The whole family approach and why that is important.
- How they make a difference for people with HIV/AIDs and how that work has changed over time.
- What is challenging for her as a nonprofit leader right now. Hint: It's not just about money. Leadership can be lonely sometimes.
- Their rebranding experience and they why behind it.
- What she would tell her 22-year-old self.
Maryum's Bio
Maryum Lewis, CFRE, currently serves as the President & CEO of Jerusalem House. In this role, Gibson directs all operations, oversees staff and strategizes fundraising activities for the organization, which is Atlanta’s oldest and largest HIV/AIDS permanent supportive housing provider. Jerusalem House is one of the 75 largest nonprofits in Atlanta with a budget of $8.8 Million and a staff of 35. Each year, the organization houses close to 500 people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. Maryum came to Jerusalem House in 2021 with over two decades of diverse non-profit leadership experience including executive, fundraising, organizational management, board leadership, volunteer management and consulting.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Michigan and a Master of Science degree in Non-Profit Leadership from Georgia State University. In 2022, she was selected as a 2022 Georgia Titan 100, one of Georgia’s Top CEO’s & C-Level Executives. In addition, she was selected as a member of the Leadership Atlanta Class of 2023.
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
- Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
- Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
- Engage your group in equitable, difficult conversations.
- Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
- Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
- Speak at your conference or event.
Ann's book with Susan Wolfe, Guidebook to Community Consulting: A Collaborative Approach published by Cambridge Press is out! Grab your discount code here: https://www.cambridge.org/9781009244305 enter GTCC2023 at check out.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
In this episode of Community Possibilities, you will meet Amy Ard, Executive Director of Motherhood Beyond Bars. Being a nonprofit leader was not Amy's career plan, but sometimes, life takes you in unexpected places. One profound experience in her life that led her back to her home, Atlanta.
- We talk about how Amy first become aware of incarcerated women who are pregnant and how this forever changed her life.
- The fact that shackling pregnant and laboring women was legal in many states, including Georgia.
- How common is it for women who are incarcerated to be pregnant or have children already. (Hint: We don't know).
- I ask the question some people may be thinking, Why should I care?
- The kind of services does Motherhood Beyond Bars provide?
- How MBB shifted in response to systemic barriers.
- How does MBB make a difference? (any outcomes you can share).
- Why I dubbed Amy "the Equalizer."
- What is challenging for her as a nonprofit leader.
- How they are measuring the outcomes of MBB for the families they serve.
- What is next for Motherhood Beyond Bars.
Learn More about Motherhood Beyond Bars and follow them on social.
Amy's Bio
Amy Ard is the founding Executive Director of Motherhood Beyond Bars (MBB), a nonprofit serving incarcerated pregnant women and their infants. MBB provides holistic family support with the goal of ending cycles of incarceration in families and is the only organization in Georgia supporting pregnant women in custody and conducting vital research on the impacts of maternal incarceration on infants and families. Amy is a graduate of Atlanta Public Schools, Denison University, and Vanderbilt Divinity School. Amy and her husband, Michael Waller, live in her childhood home with Amy’s mother, three children, and a handful of quail in the backyard.
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
- Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
- Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
- Engage your group in equitable, difficult conversations.
- Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
- Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
- Speak at your conference or event.
Ann's book with Susan Wolfe, Guidebook to Community Consulting: A Collaborative Approach published by Cambridge Press is out! Grab your discount code here: https://www.cambridge.org/9781009244305 enter GTCC2023 at check out.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
In this episode of Community Possibilties, Dr. Joe Gone, Professor of Anthropology and of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard University, joins me to talk about his work at the intersection of culture, coloniality, and well-being in Indigenous communities. An enrolled member of the Aaniiih-Gros Ventre tribal Nation of Montana, he has investigated these issues through collaborative research partnerships in both reservation and urban American Indian settings.
We talk about:
- The historical trauma and the effects of that trauma on American Indians and other Indigenous peoples;
- The pursuit of social justice;
- “Combatting societal erasure” and how it manifests in our communities, in health and mental health research;
- The meaning of the word “decolonizing;"
- What decolonizing mental health services look like and valuing the therapeutic traditions of the past;
- His work in substance abuse treatment with the Blackfeet Nation at the Crystal Creek Lodge.
- “The Power of Story” and indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing and healing;
- What community leaders should appreciate about ways of knowing.
Dr. Joe Gone's Bio
Joseph P. Gone is an international expert in the psychology and mental health of American Indians and other Indigenous peoples. A professor at Harvard University, Dr. Gone has collaborated with tribal communities for over 25 years to critique conventional mental health services and harness traditional culture and spirituality for advancing Indigenous well-being. He has published over 100 scientific articles and chapters, and received recognition in his fields through several fellowships and career awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2014 and election to the National Academy of Medicine in 2021.
Connect with Joe
Email: jgone@g.harvard.edu
Website: https://gonetowar.com/
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
- Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
- Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
- Engage your group in equitable, difficult conversations.
- Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
- Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
- Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
In this episode of Community Possibilities, Sam Gilljoins me to talk about his work with the Doris Duke Foundation. She was "always a woman of her times" and that is reflected in her funding priorities and the Foundation trys to follow her example today. Sam shares the history of the Doris Duke Foundation and who Doris Duke was. She was a woman a head of her times in many ways.
- Mission and Values - Supporting the well-being of people and the planet for a more creative, equitable and sustainable future.
- Funding priorities of the Foundation.
- Why the Foundation’s is committed through a diverse and equitable biomedical research workforce as a founding member of the 90 strong, STEMM Opportunity Alliance.
- Disruption describes when the structure of a market changes. Sam shares how disruption can help everyone participate in the market of science and how that will promote equity.
- How their work helps address the fundamental causes of child abuse and neglect to reshape the child protection system and gets to how it makes decisions about who is a fit parent. The Foundation is working with state agency's who want to look at the child systems in an upstream way.
- Why this is a hard time to be an institutionalist.
- How coming to the answers to some of our hard questions means questioning institutions, but may not mean dismantling them and how the margins of conversations help
- How Building Bridges helps tell the stories of Muslims in various ways.
- The role of philanthropy can play in advancing social justice and equity by funding many possible solutions. Why debate will help us get to solutions to societies biggest probelms.
- His advice for people working in communities (have tenacity, take energy by polarization, look for opportunities for collaboration
Sam Gill
President and CEO of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
Samsher (Sam) Singh Gill is president and CEO of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, which supports the performing arts, medical research, the environment and child well-being. He is also president of the Duke Farms Foundation and the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.
Previously, Gill served as senior vice president and chief program officer at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and vice president of Freedman Consulting, LLC.
Gill attended the University of Chicago and the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
- Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
- Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
- Engage your group in equitable, difficult conversations.
- Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
- Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
- Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
In this episode of Community Possibilities, Crystal Atson joins me to talk about her work with The Ford Family Foundation and their work in rural communities. We talk about:
- We dig into why they work in rural communities and what that looks like.
- How they developed their Community Building Approach and the way it guides their work.
- The four principles that guide the work of the Foundation.
- Crystal's take on the power dynamics between funders and grantees.
- How they recognize and deal with those power dynamics while working in communities.
- How nonprofits can connect with funders.
Crystal's Bio
Prior to joining the Foundation in June 2016, Crystal Aston worked at the nonprofit Great Northern Services in Weed, Calif., for 11 years, most recently as the community services manager. She was instrumental in growing the community food program and played key roles in providing assistance to the survivors of the Boles Fire of 2014.
Crystal has extensive experience in obtaining grant funding from federal and private sources. Her work included maintaining relationships with local governments to make sure services were not duplicated; she analyzed proposed legislation and regulations to determine how agency services could be impacted.
As a field coordinator for The Ford Family Foundation, she works to build trusting relationships with community stakeholders to support long-term, sustainable action. She helps connect communities to resources from the Foundation and other sources.
Crystal has a bachelor's degree in liberal studies from California State University Chico.
Learn more about the Foundation: tff.org
Contact Crystal: caston@tfff.org
Like what you heard? Please like and share wherever you get your podcasts!
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions How Ann can help:
- Support the evaluation capacity of your coalition or community-based organization.
- Help you create a strategic plan that doesn’t stress you and your group out, doesn’t take all year to design, and is actionable.
- Engage your group in equitable discussions about difficult conversations.
- Facilitate a workshop to plan for action and get your group moving.
- Create a workshop that energizes and excites your group for action.
- Speak at your conference or event.
Have a question or want to know more? Book a call with Ann .
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
In this episode of Community Possibilities, Whitney Austin joins me to talk about how her life changed during what was otherwise a normal day on the Sept. 6, 2018 during a mass shooting in Cincinnati, Ohio. Three weeks after the shooting, she founded Whitney Strong with her husband, Waller Austin.
Episode Highlights:
- How she and her husband went from knowing nothing about nonprofits to where the organization is now.
- Why they choose a path of inclusivity and common ground, a hard thing to do when working to prevent gun violence.
- Why they take a data-informed approach.
- Whitney Strong’s Safe a Life Initiative
- Why a public health approach to gun violence research is needed.
- Why WS pursues policies that people from both parties support and their commitment to having conversations that unify.
As Whitney says, she is a defiant optimist and "We can do better, when we come together."
Find out more about Whitney and Whitney Strong at https://www.whitneystrong.org/
Whitney’s Bio
Impassioned after surviving the Sept. 6, 2018, mass shooting in Cincinnati, Ohio, Whitney cofounded Whitney/Strong with her husband, an organization focused on finding common ground to end gun violence through data-driven, responsible gun ownership solutions.
Under her leadership, Whitney/Strong has executed on a number of responsible gun ownership solutions including securing the first hearing on gun safety legislation in Frankfort in over a decade. Joining Ohio Governor Mike DeWine to announce the STRONG Ohio legislation, a response to the community call of “Do Something” after the Dayton Oregon District shooting in 2019. Distributing over 12,000 gun locks across Kentucky and Ohio thanks to a partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics and with the support of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Training over 500 people in neighborhoods disproportionately impacted by gun violence in methods to reduce gun violence. And most recently, lobbying Senator Mitch McConnell and Rob Portman to ensure passage of the federal Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.
Prior to her calling, Whitney was employed by Fifth Third Bank for 15 years as Vice President, Digital Lending Product Manager. In 2018, Whitney and her team launched the first omnichannel digital lending application in the industry.
A wife and a mother of two, Whitney resides in Louisville, Kentucky where she earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Louisville. She enjoys traveling to new locations with her family, musical theatre, the Bengals, college basketball, and getting outdoors.
Connect with Ann: Community Evaluation Solutions
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
ave a question or need some help? Book a call with Ann .
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
In this episode, Dr. Mary Margaret Mauer joins me to talk about Restoration Rome and trauma-informed approaches to working with her community in Rome, GA. Mary Margaret and her husband Jeff co-founded Restoration Rome, a long with multiple community members and agencies.
In this episode we discuss:
- How she and Jeff came to understand the brokeness foster care system
- How this understanding led to a vision for one place where people can serve others and create a space for those needing services
- Restoration Rome a 1-stop hub for foster, adoption, and family services that provides mental health support, resources, parent support and training, health care, community support
- How she came to value a Trauma-Informed approach and became a passionate advocate for Trust-based Relational Intervention (TBRI)
- Creating a common understanding and language across sectors
- Why relationships are the key for healing and how TBRI provides a frameowrk that works for understanding others
- What other community-based organizations and coalitions can learn from the work of Restoration Rome
- Their biggest challenges and how have they have met them
Mary Margaret Mauer Bio
Mary Margaret Mauer is a passionate advocate, community organizer, and educator on behalf of foster, adoptive, and at-risk children and families. Focused on developing innovative, community-based solutions to the systemic issues contributing to family dissolution and on empowering all who interact with children and families from trauma histories with the knowledge and skills to provide hope and lasting healing.
Connect with AnnCommunity Evaluation Solutions
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Have a question or need some help? Book a call.
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
In this episode, Dr. Michael Quinn Patton (aka MQP) joins me to talk about his work. He is a prolific writer and deep thinker and has influenced the career of many evaluators.
In this episode we discuss:
- How his work has changed over time. You will hear about utilization-focused evaluation, developmental evaluation, and the use of a principles approach to evaluation.
- How he thinks about “community.”
- Why understanding “systems” is hard for many community members and how those of us who work with them can help them begin to think from a system perspective. Hint: Metaphor and story helps!
- How operating from principles can serve as a guide for community coalitions and other community-based organizations.
- Thinking and acting locally and globally.
- Why virtual connections are our future.
- How connecting with each other can help with so many social problems.
- What he is working on now.
Bio
Michael Quinn Patton an independent evaluation and organizational development consultant based in Minnesota, USA. He is former President of the American Evaluation Association (AEA) and author of eight major evaluation books including a 5th edition of Utilization-Focused Evaluation and 4th edition of Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods used in over 500 universities worldwide. He has also authored books on Practical Evaluation, Creative Evaluation, and Developmental Evaluation: Applying Systems Thinking and Complexity Concepts to Enhance Innovation and Use. He co-authored a book on the dynamics of social innovation and transformation with two Canadians entitled Getting to Maybe: How the World is Changed. He is recipient of the Myrdal Award for Outstanding Contributions to Useful and Practical Evaluation Practice, the Lazarsfeld Award for Lifelong Contributions to Evaluation Theory, and the 2017 Research on Evaluation Award, all from AEA. EvalYouth recognized him with the first Transformative Evaluator Award in 2020. He regularly conducts training for The Evaluators’ Institute and the International Program for Development Evaluation Training. In 2018 he published books on Principles-Focused Evaluation (Guilford Press) and Facilitating Evaluation: Principles in Practice (Sage Publications). In 2020 his new book on evaluating global systems transformations was published entitled Blue Marble Evaluation: Premises and Principles. He has also co-edited a book entitled THOUGHT WORK: Thinking, Action, and the Fate of the World (Rowman & Littlefield Publishing, 2020).
Connect with Michael on his website:
https://www.utilization-focusedevaluation.org or YouTube Channel:https://www.youtube.com/@michaelquinnpatton8730
Connect with AnnCommunity Evaluation Solutions
Be sure and check out our updated resource page! Let us know what was helpful.
Have a question or need some help? Book a call.
Community Possibilities is Produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
Kachina Chawla from USAID joins Ann to discuss her work in India. Kachina and her colleagues work to prevent and treat Tuberculosis, HIV, and other diseases that otherwise might not be provided for in many communities. Communities are the "epicenter" of this work. Working within communities helps her team reach out to the most marginalized. Kachina offers specific examples as to why drugs alone will not improve health.
Kachina educates us on what USAID is, who funds it, and explains her role in the organization as well as her personal outlook on working in communities. Her specific examples will help you think about how you can be more effective in your community work.
Items discussed :
- Why communities are the critical branch of the health system
- How communities provide the feedback needed to bridge the demand and supply gap
- Why she chose the Empowerment Methodology and the power of community dialogue
- The role of the government in health promotion
- We need to let go of our own baggage when working in and with communities
- Why the power of the collective is the community possibility she sees
Bio
Kachina Chawla, MPH, is the Senior Advisor for the Health Office at USAID/India where she works on digital technology, inclusive development and other emerging priorities such as COVID-19, air pollution and urban resilience. She is a public health professional who has spent the last 20 years working extensively in areas of maternal and child health, family planning and infectious diseases across three continents. Prior to joining USAID, Kachina was a founding partner at Lighthouse Health Solutions LLC, an international consulting firm that serviced clients like BMGF, the Packard Foundation and the Public Health Institute. At Lighthouse, she led their investment on using social movements to ignite changes that impact health.
Kachina received her bachelor’s degree in History and Science from Bennington College, Vermont, and a master’s degree in Public Health, specializing in Monitoring and Evaluation from the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University, New Orleans.
Community Possibilities is produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price
Ruth Anne Wolfe has been passionate about social justice in her neighborhood since her daughter attended Pleasant Ridge Montessori in 2006. Between 2006 and 2012, she learned the challenges faced by a public neighborhood school. This experience was the fertile ground for her work today at Community Happens Here. Her journey has been a long and interesting path starting from her mother’s sheep farm to working in Japan, to becoming a Japanese Interpreter in Cincinnati, to getting a law degree and practicing law, to motherhood, and from there to an awakened sense of community work.
In this episode Ruth and Ann discuss local schools, social justice, and making change in your community by making personal sacrifices. Podcast highlights include:
- How herdaughter's enrollment in a local Montessori school motivated her to make sure all students had what other had. From starting a foundation to help raise money for the school to buying supplies for the teachers and helping all of the students, Ruth Anne did what it took to support students and teachers. Over time the school became the school everyone wanted their children to go to.
- Her realization that if she wanted her community to change, it had to start with her.
- Why she created Community Happens Here, a community space where people are able to meet, entrepreneurs can network, and community happens over a cup of tea or coffee.
- Just because a community is wealthier doesn't mean the community is more connected or care for each other.
- The quote that got me? "We can either be a service provider or we can figure out how to stop poverty and other social problems."
- Teaching people entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurship mindset helps alleviate poverty. Ruth shares that if you can teach someone how to own their own business you don't need to give away food. That person will be able to take care of themselves.
- Why is it worth doing community work? Ruth tells us, "because its also good for you"!
NEW RESOURCE: Curious about how to rev up your coalition and truly engage your community? Download Ann's free Coalition Self-Assessment Tool: https://www.communityevaluationsolutions.com/coalition-self-assessment-tool
Sign up for Ann's email list and you will never miss my weekly tips: https://www.communityevaluationsolutions.com/connect
Music and production by Zachary Price, zachpricet@gmail.com
In this episode, Lovely Dhillon joins me to talk about a range of topics from why she made the move from law to work in foundations, and now, consulting. Lovely shares her experience as a BIPOC woman from an immigrant family and how having breast cancer changed her. My favorite moment? She advises us to look for the "tender moments" of transition in social change organizations and to consider their impact throughout the organization and community. Lovely offers some great advice for creating social change. We also talk about:
- Listening for what is behind what's being said.
- How its different working with large and small organizations.
- Her profound question: Are we having the impact we want to have and what is standing in our way?
- Visionary evaluation and how it relates to social change.
- What is a Theory of Change?
Lovely A. Dhillon, JD Bio
Lovely is the CEO of Jodevi Consulting, a firm partnering with philanthropies, nonprofits, and businesses globally to create positive social change. Prior to founding Jodevi, Lovely served as the first Deputy Director for Strategy, Planning, Management and Evaluation of the Advocacy and Policy division for the U.S. Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and co-founded the Civil Rights and Equity Organizations portfolio. Lovely also served as Vice President of ORS Impact, an evaluation firm specializing in advocacy evaluation, where she built and led the Strategic Planning and Businesses with Social Impact areas of practice.
As a lawyer, Lovely was the Executive Director of the Law School Consortium Project, that increased the affordability and accessibility of legal services to underrepresented communities and was awarded the American Bar Association’s Louis M. Brown Award for Innovation in Legal Access; served as Assistant District Attorney for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office where she prosecuted Hate Crimes and Domestic Violence cases; and was the Executive Director of the California Minority Counsel Program, a collaborative of Fortune 500 companies, law firms, and bar associations working to increase equity in legal practice.
Lovely is the co-author of the book “Visionary Evaluation for a Sustainable, Equitable Future” published in January 2020 by Information Age Publications. Lovely is also the co-author of “Refining Theories of Change” published in The Journal of Multidisciplinary Evaluation.
NEW RESOURCE: Curious about your organization's capacity to engage in evaluation? Download Ann's free Evaluation Capacity Assessment for Nonprofit and community leaders. https://www.communityevaluationsolutions.com/free-evaluation-capacity-self-assessment-tool
Sign up for Ann's email list and you will never miss my weekly tips: https://www.communityevaluationsolutions.com/connect
Music and production by Zachary Price, zachpricet@gmail.com
When is student behavior "bad?" Jason Byars, a professional educator, explains why student behavior is really communication. Isn't that true of all of us? The last two years have been hard on students and teachers alike.
Jason has been a teacher, a coach, and adminsitrator, and a leader at the state level. In this episode he provides an inside perspective of schools with respect to behavior of students, school climate, social-emotional learing, PBIS and more.
We also talked about how to implement a student-centered approach, the barriers he sometimes encounters, and how he works in community.
What is PBIS?
Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support is a multi-tier approach to supporting students so that they can be successful academically, behaviorally, and having good mental health.
Tier 1 What all students receive
Tier 2 Extra time with teacher, connecting with a trusted adult
Tier 3 Intensive 1 on 1 support, Intensive behavior support
We also discussed:
- the importance of looking at behavioral or emotional issues with students as skill deficits as opposed to unsolvable issues or issues that cannot be fixed at school.
- School climate is how we want our students feel and the culture that surrounds them when they come to school.
- Curriculum is not just what is taught, but the immersive experience of the school overall.
Links discussed in this episode:
My interview with Micheal Waller
Georgia Appleseed's School Toolkit and discipline data base
Jason's Bio
Jason W. Byars, Ed.S. is the School Climate Director at Northeast Georgia RESA where he leads schools to improve safety and climate. After graduating from Berry College in Rome, Georgia with a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Science Education, Jason began his career as a secondary school history teacher in the Fayette County (GA) School System. He then spent 17 years as a building level administrator in Fayette County, serving as an assistant principal, testing coordinator, athletic director, and principal. Jason served as the PBIS District Coordinator and Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resilience in Education) Director in the Griffin-Spalding County (GA) School System from 2015-2018 where he worked with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to integrate mental health supports into schools. From 2019-2022 Jason served as the Program Manager for PBIS and School Climate at the Georgia Department of Education where he served as the principal investigator for the U.S. Department of Education’s School Climate Transformation Grant and SAMHSA’S Project AWARE Grant. He is the Past President of the Georgia Association for Positive Behavior Support (GAPBS).
In his free time Jason enjoys reading, playing golf, and hiking, and has completed two rim to rim hikes of the Grand Canyon.
NEW RESOURCE: Curious about your organization's capacity to engage in evaluation? Download Ann's free Evaluation Capacity Assessment for Nonprofit and community leaders. https://www.communityevaluationsolutions.com/free-evaluation-capacity-self-assessment-tool
Sign up for Ann's email list and you will never miss my weekly tips: https://www.communityevaluationsolutions.com/connect
Music and production by Zachary Price, zachpricet@gmail.com
Jessica Nunan serves as the Co-CEO of Caminar Latino — Latinos United for Peace and Equity, a national social change organization that addresses domestic violence at the individual, community and systematic level. Jessica has been involved with Caminar Latino for the past 28 years, of which she spent 11 as a volunteer in the youth program. Her mother, Dr. Julia Perilla, was a cofounder of Caminar Latino, and a classmate of Ann's at Georgia State.
In this episode, Jessica Nunan shares how Caminar Latino helped to reshaped the approach to serving victims and their families of domestic violence. It all started when Sister Barbara Harringtion asked Julia if she would help lead a support group for women in the local Hispanic community. Julia said yes and the journey began. Soon the women asked for help for their children, then eventually their husbands.
From the beginning, Caminar Latino was determined to listed to the community they served. At that time, the typical solution was separation from the violent partner which meant the dissolution of the family. This was not acceptable for the women served by the program. In this episode, Jessica relates the pushback from local and national organizations about the way they have provided care to the families they served.
Caminar Latino – Latinos United for Peace and Equity is a national trailblazer that carries out its mission by creating safe spaces for each family member to begin their journey towards non-violence and by centering the Latino experience into social change efforts nationally that will transform the social conditions that give rise to violence. Caminar Latino operates in Atlanta and it is Georgia’s first and only comprehensive domestic violence intervention program for Latino families. Latinos United for Peace and Equity, Caminar Latino’s national counterpart, engages in public policy, systems change, and research at the intersection of gender-based violence and Latino identity. In addition, LUPE offers capacity building, training, and technical assistance to other nonprofit organizations, advocates in the field, government agencies, and businesses.
Find out more about Caminar Latino here.
NEW RESOURCE: Curious about your organization's capacity to engage in evaluation? Download Ann's free Evaluation Capacity Assessment for Nonprofit and community leaders. https://www.communityevaluationsolutions.com/free-evaluation-capacity-self-assessment-tool
Sign up for Ann's email list and you will never miss my weekly tips: https://www.communityevaluationsolutions.com/connect
Music and production by Zachary Price, zachpricet@gmail.com Bio
Jessica's main areas of expertise are Violence prevention with youth, leadership development, research, community engagement, and program development. In 2015, Ms. Nunan was appointed by Governor Nathan Deal to the State Commission on Family Violence. In addition, Ms. Nunan served as an advisory committee member for Sesame Street in Communities and currently serves on the Futures Without Violence National Committee and the YMCA Early Learning Policy Council. In 2016, she received an invitation to attend the “United State of Women” event that was convened by the White House and in 2017 was featured as one of Georgia Trend’s 40 under 40. She was also one of 12 semi-finalist for the Coors Light Lideres National Program that supports, honors, and highlights up-and-coming Latino leaders for their achievements, vision, and commitment to reach their aspira
Episode Highlights
In 2015, Kassy's husband Greg, a South Carolina police officer, was killed in the line of duty. Kassy was a young Mom and in grad school at the time. Her planned life changed in an instant.
In this podcast, Kassy talks about how she moved beyond her grief to give back to others. Kassy Alia Ray went on to found the nonprofit, Serve and Connect. Serve and Connect envisions a community where police and community members work as one to ensure community safety.
In her TED Talk, and in our conversation, Kassy tells the story of an interaction that helped shape her thinking. In this episode we talk about:
- The fact that we all want the same thing: for our communities to be safe, our families to be protected, and our children to thrive.
- How hard it is to see from others’ perspectives, especially when we don’t agree.
- Death is a part of life. Because we all live in community, we love, and therefore will experience pain and loss. When we step outside our grief, we can connect and see outside ourselves.
- How our norms around grief keep us from healing and finding joy.
- How she learned to lean into difficult conversations by seeking first to understand.
- What we all need to do to learn to listen and build our empathy muscle.
- How Serve and Connect seeks to be the bridge between police and those who feel harmed by police.
- The community work that Serve and Connect provides support for communities and police and helps them connect in new ways.
- Why we both love the article, In Praise of Paradox by Julian Rappaport.
- How we find the courage to collaborate and work towards a common understanding.
Dr. Ann Price is a community psychologist and evaluator based in Georgia. She works with coalitions, nonprofits, and foundations and helps them use their data to change their communities and helps them better tell their story.
Contact Ann at aprice@communityevaluationsolutions.com
NEW RESOURCE: Curious about your organization's capacity to engage in evaluation? Download my free Evaluation Capacity Assessment for Nonprofit and community leaders. https://www.communityevaluationsolutions.com/free-evaluation-capacity-self-assessment-tool
Sign up for my email list and you will never miss my weekly tips: https://www.communityevaluationsolutions.com/connect
Music and editing by Zachary Price, zachpricet@gmail.com
Kassy's BioKassy Alia Ray, Ph.D., is the founder and CEO of Serve & Connect, a nonprofit organization focused on fostering positive change through sustainable police-community partnerships. A graduate of the University of South Carolina with her doctorate in Clinical-Community Psychology, Kassy founded the organization after her husband, an officer with the Forest Acres Police Department, was shot and killed in 2015. Under her leadership, the organization has grown from a simple hashtag to a movement dedicated to creating change.
Kassy’s work bridges the gap between law enforcement and the communities they serve, and draws on her personal experiences related to the loss of her husband combined with her expertise in Community Psychology to ignite transformative change in police-community relationships. Her work has been recognized nationally, including a feature on NBC’s Today Show and in Time Magazine, for its impact. She is a member of several boards and workgroups, including the International Association of Chiefs of Police subcommittee on Community Policing and the American Psychological Association's Presidential Taskforce
Episode HighlightsDr. David Fetterman is my guest this week and oh my what a conversation! I love his origin story. Get ready to be inspired. - Ann
In this episode of the podcast, Ann and David discuss:
- What happens with communties own thier own change process.
- How he came up with the concept of Empowerment Evaluation and that pushback from others in the evaluator community.
- The three-step approach to Empowerment Evaluation.
- The range of obstacles communities face when creating change and how participatory evaluation can help.
- What communities can and can't do.
- We must listen to the ideas and voices we do not want to hear. In the case of members of our communities, some people maybe believe different things and would rather go different directions, and we must hear them as well.
- The project he is most proud of.
Just wait to you hear the community possibilities he sees.
Dr. Ann Price is a community psychologist and evaluator based in Georgia. She works with coalitions, nonprofits, and foundations and helps them use their data to change their communities and helps them better tell their story.
Contact Ann at aprice@communityevaluationsolutions.com
NEW RESOURCE: Curious about your organization's capacity to engage in evaluation? Download my free Evaluation Capacity Assessment for Nonprofit and community leaders. https://www.communityevaluationsolutions.com/free-evaluation-capacity-self-assessment-tool
Sign up for my email list and you will never miss my weekly tips: https://www.communityevaluationsolutions.com/connect
Music and editing by Zachary Price, zachpricet@gmail.com
Dr. David Fetterman's Bio
Dr. David M. Fetterman, is president and CEO of Fetterman & Associates, an international evaluation consulting firm. He has worked in over 17 countries, working in townships in South Africa and Native American reservations, as well as in high tech firms in Silicon Valley, including Google and Hewlett-Packard. He is currently facilitating a USAID sponsored empowerment evaluation in India focusing on eliminating tuberculosis. In addition, he is providing evaluation consultation services to Feeding America (one of the largest network of food banks in America).
Fetterman has 25 years of experience at Stanford University, serving as a School of Education faculty member, School of Medicine director of evaluation, and senior member of Stanford administration. Fetterman concurrently serves as a faculty member at Pacifica Graduate Institute and Claremont Graduate University.
Previously, Dr. Fetterman was a professor and research director at the California Institute of Integral Studies, Principal Research Scientist at the American Institutes for Research, and a senior associate at RMC Research Corporation. He is a past president of the American Evaluation Association and the American Anthropological Association’s Council on Anthropology and Education past president.
He is the recipient of many awards and honors.
Fetterman is the founder of empowerment evaluation (a community self-assessment approach). He has published 17 books, including Collaborative, Participatory, and Empowerment Evaluation: Stakeholder Involvement Approaches, Empowerment Evaluation in the Digital Villages: Hewlett-Packard’s $15 Million Race Toward Social Justice (Stanford University Press), Ethnography: Step by Step (4th edition), and Empowerment Evaluation: Knowledge and Tools for Self-assessment, Evaluation Capacity Building, and Accountability
Meet Sarah Winograd-Babayeuski, a passionate advocate for children and families caught up in the foster care system
Sarah founded Together for Families out of her home. With her friends and neighbors, Sarah began supplying needed resources for families in poverty. Now housed at Advocates for Children, Sarah and her small army of volunteers provide the support and resources families need to keep their children.
In this episode we talk about:
- The real reason so many children are in foster care.
- The risks to children who are placed in foster care.
- The trauma experienced by children and their families.
- What do case managers need that they don’t currently have.
- What it will take to really support families and reduce the number of children in care.
Get in touch with Sarah: sarah@advochild.org
Find out more about Together for Families: https://advochild.org/together-for-families/
Dr. Ann Price is a community psychologist and evaluator based in Georgia. She works with coalitions, nonprofits, and foundations and helps them use their data to change their communities and helps them better tell their story.
Contact Ann at aprice@communityevaluationsolutions.com
Want to know if you are making a difference in your community? Not sure where to get started on your evaluation? Download my free guide: https://www.communityevaluationsolutions.com/free-guide
Sign up for my email list and you will never miss my weekly tips: https://www.communityevaluationsolutions.com/connect
Music and editing by Zachary Price, zachpricet@gmail.com
**Similar Conversations on Community Possibilities:
Season 2 Episode 1 Jen King, ED of Georgia CASA Season 1 Episode 2 Michael Waller, ED Georgia Appleseed**
Sarah's BioAs a missionary kid, I grew up amongst poverty and oppression in the former Soviet Republic of Belarus. Much of my youth was spent leading and translating for mission teams and serving those most in need alongside my parents. In Belarus, I started a program to bring relief to children fighting cancer whose families were struggling with dire poverty. The program continues
After returning to the states with my husband and daughter, I completed my bachelor’s degree in psychology at Kennesaw State University.
In 2010, I was awarded the The Dr. Nancy S. King Student of Year Award for community service and activism and was chosen as a student keynote speaker at the Nineteenth Annual Southeast Missouri State University Student Research Conference.
In my last year of college, we adopted our son from Russia. At the time, he struggled to ambulate due to cerebral palsy and was dealing with the impact of trauma and PTSD from his time living in an orphanage.
In 2018, I volunteered at Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) in the Cobb County Juvenile Court, where for two years I advocated for the best interests of children involved in dependency hearings. I was heartbroken to see so many children separated from loving parents for underlying issues of poverty, and I was determined to help save as many families as I could. Chelcie Griffith, an attorney for children started giving parents my cell number, and I worked to ensure that families had the resources they needed to care for their children safely in their home. What started out as a few fam
In this podcast, Traci Warnberg-Lemm shares wisdom she's gathered from working in communities.
Here are some of the things we discuss:
- Solutions to community problems can be solved more effectively by asking why something is wrong, beyond surface level issues.
- How to do root cause analysis and how, often, the answers the community uncovers is unexpected. Here is the YouTube video about the Washington Monument example of the 5 Whys?
- How Traci deal with resistance to change? Hint: “You can't argue with results”
- Coalitions and community-based groups must include the community members most affected by the problem.
- How do we collaborate when change is so hard? Leaders must preface change with “Yes, change is hard, but what are the things we might miss, or lose, by not changing?”
- The importance of centering equity in social change work.
- How do we give people space to grieve change so they can move forward ?
- What are unanticipated consequences of change: good and bad?
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/traci-warnberg-lemm-0aba755/
Traci's Website: socialmotion.co
Traci's Bio:
Traci Warnberg-Lemm is the owner of Social Motion, a training, coaching and consulting company founded in 2006. Social Motion energizes civic, policy and community-based solutions and supports leaders that drive them. Traci draws upon her MPA education and 20+ years of experience serving communities, nonprofits and government agencies, in the United States and abroad. Social Motion supports individuals and organizations through learning design and development services, social impact planning, individual and group coaching, facilitation, speaking and training. Traci is the co-host of the Social Change Leaders Podcast. About Ann
I am a community psychologist and evaluator. I help communities:
- Understand their community’s issues
- Develop strategies that work
- Evaluate their strategies
- Understand how they can become even more effective
Connect with me here:
Music and editing by Zachary Price
zachpricet@gmail.com
In this episode of Community possibilities, Stephanie shares what its like to work with businesses through a lens focused on changing communities.
Stephanie is all about social entrepreneurship and loves teaching nonprofits and community organizations about the role of community engagement and evaluation (yes!) in this work. One tip she shares is that you need to make sure the social impact of your business/enterprise is what the community needs and that products are competitive in the market. Social enterprise strategies discussed include staffing models that employ those with barriers to employment, how profits are spent, the sourcing of materials, and fundraisers.
We also talk about strategic planning why its important and how they can be actionable and measurable!
Finally, Stephanie shares her 5 C's for successfully building a social change business. You will want to have your pen and notebook handy.
Stephanie and Traci's podcast: The Social Change Leader's Podcast. Check out my conversation on their podcast here.
Website: www.sparkgood.net
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/smalonrufi/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/smalonrufi/?hl=en
Bio: Stephanie Malon-Rufi, Owner of Spark Good, is a business consultant and leadership coach working with entrepreneurs who want to build their business to be a vehicle for social change. Stephanie has 20+ years of experience working with social enterprises, start-ups and nonprofits and an MBA with focus on entrepreneurship. She specializes in the areas of strategic business planning, revenue growth, marketing & communications and helping entrepreneurs be the leaders they want to be. She also co-hosts the Social Change Leaders Podcast, geared for social innovators with tips, actionable ideas, and stories to inspire from the front lines of social change.
Music and Production : Zachary Price
zachpricet@gmail.com
In this episode of Community Possibilities, guests Breanna Lathrop and Veronica Squires share personal and professional experiences that inspired their book, "How Neighborhoods Make Us Sick: Restoring Health and Wellness to Our Communities."
Breanna Lathrop is the Chief Operating Officer at Good Samaritan Health Center and is a nurse practitioner. In this episode she gives a perspective on the social determinace of health from a healthcare worker's perspective. So many of the factors that impact our health actually have little to do with access to healthcare. Our health is more closely tied to factors that exist outside of healthcare. Things like access to jobs, housing, and healthy food. There are some things, like stress, that take a toll on the body and which people living in poverty cannot avoid.
Veronica Squires learned this first hand. Veronica is the Chief Development Officer at Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta and previously served as the Chief Administrative Officer for The Good Samaritan Health Center. Veronica shares her past experience moving to a low resourced community and how she and her family became part of the community. She shares her successes and frustrations and came to understand that while change can be made by individuals, there must be collective action that adrress the broader systemic issues that impact the health of communities.
Connect with us:
Breanna Lathrop:
breanna@goodsamatlanta.org
https://www.linkedin.com/in/breanna-lathrop-9a49b29/
http://www.goodsamatlanta.org/
Veronica Squires:vsquires@bcma.org
https://www.linkedin.com/in/veronica-squires-mba-591a988/
Purchase their book here:
https://www.amazon.com/How-Neighborhoods-Make-Sick-Communities/dp/0830845577
Music and production by: Zach Price
Want to know if you are making a difference in your community? Not sure where to get started on your evaluation? Download my free guide: https://www.communityevaluationsolutions.com/free-guide
Sign up for my email list and you will never miss my weekly tips: https://www.communityevaluationsolutions.com/connect
Geri Lynn Peak PhD, is Chief Insight Facilitator at Two Gems Consulting Services. Geri is a consultant with over 30 years of experience providing evaluation, technical assistance, training and applied research to her clients. Dr. Peak’s work focuses on racial justice and equity as well as young people, women, families and communities.
Dr. Peak founded Two Gems Consulting Services (TGCS) in 1997 and practices evaluation through a process she developed called Strategic Insight Facilitation. Individuals using this process are aptly named Insight Facilitators.
In this episode of CPP: Ann and Geri discuss the spiritual and functional power of getting people together to find a solution to a community challenge, and the steps that must be taken to get to that solution.
Questions and topics discussed are:
- How do we treat others who disagree?
- How do we treat men vs. women in leadership roles?
- What questions do we(communities) refuse to ask?
- “The global culture does not ask “”what didn't work?””
- “We dont ask questions beyond the norm or already known”
- What questions SHOULD community members ask?
- “What can we agree on?”
Dr. Peak details what services TGCS offers their clients, including the Virtues Project
The Virtues Project teaches 5 strategies,
- 1. Speaking the language of virtue
- 2. Recognizing teachable moments
- 3. Setting clear boundaries
- 4. Honoring the spirit
- 5. Art of companioning
Geri’s Personal Biography craft-y (spinner/crocheter/knitter/metalsmith-ish/beadworker/dyer/weaver/sewer) designer, poet, african/modern/middle eastern dancer, djembe drummer, handpan newbie, guitar pretender, avid organic vegetable gardener, cat whisperer, native angelina, baltimore import, world traveler, introvert, nerd/blerd, trekkie, techie, gamer, afrofae, wisdom conjurer, spiritual warrior, collaborator, action-taker, maker, evaluator, coach, guide, degree-holder, scientist, entrepreneur, daughter, mother, wife, elder, learner, empathetic, recovering-sarcastic, bahá'í, black/pupil-of-the-eye, cis woman transforming.
Connect with Geri:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/geripeakhttps://www.twogemsconsulting.com/
Want to know if you are making a difference in your community? Not sure where to get started on your evaluation? Download my free guide: https://www.communityevaluationsolutions.com/free-guide
Sign up for my email list and you will never miss my weekly tips: https://www.communityevaluationsolutions.com/connect
Community Possibilities is produced by Zach Price
Music: Zach Price
Jimiyu Evans, Co-CEO of PCCI (Project Community Connections, Inc.) joins me to talk about his journey from working with adolescents in trouble in the law, as a case worker for the Division of Child and Family Services, and now at PCCI. PCCI is nonprofit and leader in serving those with out homes. Their award-winning approach is a model for other homeless service providers in the nation.
Jimiyu explains the many terms in this space and explains how we should talk about people experiencing homelessness. He explains the rapid re-housing is a housing first model, moving people quickly into housing and then addressing wrap-around services to meet their needs to support housing stability. The rapid rehousing removes the many barriers of past models that moved people into shelter, then to transitional housing before finally arriving to permanent housing. During the pandemic, PCCI used the rapid rehousing approach to move people out of shelters and into homes. Their services to Veterans has been highly successful. PCCI has a new initiative called Thrive Sweet Auburn, where they will be building 117 units of affordable housing along with office and community spaces.
We talks about how to talk about people experiencing homelessness, the stereotypes we have about them, who is actually homeless in our communities, and how we can help. We delve into the shortage of affordable housing units and what PCCI is doing to help.
Find out more about PCCI athttps://www.pccihome.org/
Want to know if you are making a difference in your community? Not sure where to get started on your evaluation? Download my free guide: https://www.communityevaluationsolutions.com/free-guide
Sign up for my email list and you will never miss my weekly tips: https://www.communityevaluationsolutions.com/connect
Music: Zach Price
Produced by Zach Price
I started this podcast because I wanted to have hard conversations. So when I saw the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative (TDI) Center post on LinkedIn, I knew I wanted to learn more. In this episode, Dr. Marisa Rinkus joins us to talk about her work at the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative (TDI) Center at Michigan State University.
Marisa's early experience with the Peace Corps working in small communities in Guatemala and then later, with the Wildlife Foundation, prepared her for her work today. Marisa's worked to understand community needs. She learned she was a "connector" and enjoyed serving as a resource for communities. Marisa learned that there is often disconnect between resource managers or policy makers and communities often because of the assumptions we make about others.
Now, as an Associate Director of TDI, Marisa helps teams, particularly research teams, to be more effective and function more collaboratively. TDI works with groups who are working towards a common goal by conducting workshops and strategy sessions. Based in philosophy, the team is multidimensional and brings that perspective to their work through the science of team science.
The aim of TDI workshops are to enhance:
- Cross team communication and collaboration through dialogue
- Two-way communication
- The identification of root causes of problems
Workshop participants learn that they are more alike than different. They learn to deal with assumptions and to recognize "unacknowledged differences" through perspective taking and getting curious. Workshops help build individuals' and groups' capacity to be open and communicate more effectively.
We need to do the hard work of imagining things differently. Focusing on tasks alone won't get us to community change.
Links:
The Toolbox Dialogue and Initiative
Toolbox Dialogue Book
twitter.com/msutoolbox
Bio
Marisa Rinkus is an Associate Director of the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative (TDI) Center at Michigan State University. Her work involves designing and facilitating Toolbox Dialogue Initiative workshops and studying the impact of structured dialogue on cross-disciplinary communication and collaboration. As a lead facilitator and researcher with the TDI since January of 2017, she has led team science related research and client-based projects for the National Science Foundation and multiple universities in the US. She was also a contributor to the recently published book, The Toolbox Dialogue Initiative: The Power of Cross-Disciplinary Practice. Marisa was the recipient of a Fulbright grant to Brazil for her doctoral research which examined how gender, attitudes, and agency influence community participation in sea turtle conservation. Her research has been published in the International Journal of Social Research Methodology, Human Ecology, Human Dimensions of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oryx, Society & Natural Resources,and Water Policy. Prior to joining academia, Marisa worked with non-profit and government organizations in the US and internationally on conservation and development issues, including 2 years of service as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala and 5 years with the National Wildlife Federation. She holds a PhD and an MS in Human Dimensions of Fisheries and Wildlife with specializations in International Development and Gender, Justice, and Environmental Change from Michigan State University, and a BS in Wildlife Science from Purdue University.
Community Possibilities is produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price
zachpricet@gmail.com
Welcome back to Community Possibilities!
In this episode I am joined by my evaluation colleagues, Dr. Sharon Attipoe-Dorcoo and Norma Martínez-Rubin. They are amazing evaluators with a heart for equitable evaluation. They also have very interesting backgrounds! They speak from their intersectionality as a Ghanaian-American (Sharon) and a Mexican American (Norma). They met at an American Evaluation Association Conference and since then, have developed the I.M.P.A.C.T. Framework.
IMPACT stands for work that is: Inclusive, Manumit, Practice-based, Accessible, Community-focused, Timely and Inclusive. They walk us through the model and explain how it can be applied as part of culturally responsive and equitable evaluation (CREE),
We also dig into Norma's experience serving on her city council and Sharon's other interests (She has a children's book, ya'll). These are two dynamic and interesting community leaders! I know you will learn from them.
Bio:Sharon Attipoe-Dorcoo, Ph.D., MPH, Principal of TERSHA LLC, is first and foremost grounded in her cultural identity as a Ghanaian-American and embraces her other intersectional facets of being a wife and mom in her work. She is a former board member of AcademyHealth, a member of the Education Council, author of a children’s book, poet, and consultant. As a community scholar-activist, she found her path from engineering into public health and her work involves engaging national mobile clinic programs. The vision for her work is rooted in culturally responsive and equitable tools for co-designing research and evaluation initiatives with communities. As a speaker, and facilitator Dr. Attipoe-Dorcoo has also presented at several conferences, published several articles, chairs and serves as an advisor for a number of entities, and facilitated a number of trainings.
Contact info/social media:
Sharon Attipoe-Dorcoo, Ph.D., MPH
Principal, TERSHA LLC
Author of the children's book; Koli and Bosco "the Dog": Rescue from the Fire: https://youtu.be/f6XhV0sjnlM
Facebook: KoliBosco
Twitter: @KoliBosco
Instagram: koli.bosco
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharonattipoe-dorcoo
Norma Martínez-Rubin, M.P.H., M.B.A.
Norma is Principal of Evaluation Focused Consulting, a sole proprietorship serving nonprofits, foundations, and community benefit enterprises. As a bilingual and bicultural (Mexican American) evaluator, her engagements ordinarily require clients to think through why they do what they do, how that fits with achievable outcomes, and how to assess effectiveness among under-resourced communities.
Viewing developmental and utilization-focused evaluation approaches through a culturally responsive lens, Norma guides client efforts at measuring operational processes to improve service quality. Norma’s consultative work is derived from experience in public health education program planning and design for disease prevention and health promotion, grounded in qualitative research, behavioral sciences, and strategic management theories. Her professional background spans decades having worked cross-culturally with staff in public health departments and university-based initiatives to effect individual and systemic changes.
She is a member of the American Evaluation Association and Advancing Culturally responsive and Equitable Evaluation Network. Her academic degrees are from Loyola Marymount University, the UCLA School of Public Health, and John F. Kennedy School of Management.
Contact info: Norma@EvaluationFocused.com
Produced by: Zach Price
Music By: Zach Price
zachpricet@gmail.com
Danyetta Najoli walks in her purpose. She is a community builder in so many ways. From her work at Starfire lifting up and helping to create space for people with disabilities, to her coaching, to her work in helping people have courageous conversations, you will be inspired by her community leadership.
Here are some learning lessons for community leaders:
1) Connect people, including those with disabilities on common interests.
2) No one wants to be labeled by a negative.
3) People want and need to be named and known.
4) Invest in neighborhoods through community councils and mining for the treasure that is our neighbors.
5) Attract community members in a variety of ways, such as hospitality.
6) Learn about John L. McKnight and the Asset-Based Community Development Institute and and why viewing the assets of neighborhoods is important.
8) Learn about Wolf Wolfensberger and social valorization and how all of this led to the Black American Tree Project.
9) Learn about her coaching process that she talks about in her new book: Release, Allow, Attract, and Act.
10) Her vision for communities - bring on those front porch conversations!
Episodes mentioned in this conversation: Listening 4 Justice with Dr. Folami Prescott-Adams.
Get to Know Danyetta Najoli:
Danyetta is a senior community builder at Starfire Council of Greater Cincinnati in Ohio where she works with people with diverse abilities to showcase their talents, explore their interests, develop their passions, and maximize their strengths. In her role, Danyetta discovers ordinary citizens who are interested in building community with the people she supports, around common areas of interest, community projects, and key neighborhoods.
Danyetta co-wrote The Black American Tree Project, a visceral history lesson that depicts the Black Experience dating from pre-colonial Africa to present-day in the United States. It takes a hard look at and offers courageous community conversation about the institutional forces and systems that have long oppressed people and from which many people need collective healing. Since its inception in 2019, the project prototype has been hosted 18 times, for over 445 participants from several states in the US, including where the Menomonie and Ho-Chunk nations originate, various territories in Canada including, Ontario, Kitchener and Winnipeg, Perth, Australia, The Netherlands, England, Scotland, and the indigenous lands of Baawating, Robinson Huron Treaty Territory, Anishinaabe Akiall.
Danyetta has written several books and ebooks on personal growth and development. She will publish her new book on Feb 18th called, MicroShift: Small Mindset Changes for Big Results along with another book in April.
On a personal note, Danyetta enjoys traveling, writing, singing, and spending time with her husband and two children.
To learn more about Danyetta Najoli, visit:
www.Danyetta.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/danyetta
www.TheBlackAmericanTreeProject.orgwww.StarfireCincy.org Get my free course for nonprofit and community leaders -Use Data to Help Tell Your Story.
Community Possibilities is produced by Zach Price
Music by Zach Price
Kathleen M. Sullivan is principal of Fine Gauge Strategy, LLC (Fine Gauge), a consulting firm based near Boston, Massachusetts. Since 2010, Fine Gauge has provided learning, measurement, evaluation, and strategy services for policy advocates, community organizers, legal and law-reform organizations, and philanthropic foundations. Fine Gauge clients include leaders in the civil rights, human rights, migration, and social change sectors.
Fine Gauge has reviewed organizing and advocacy programs and grant portfolios serving, among others, undocumented immigrant youth, LGBTQ+ children in out-of-home placements, activists countering white nationalism in small and rural US communities, and Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian (AMEMSA) communities facing the challenges of the Trump Administration. Most recently, Fine Gauge completed a review of the Ford Foundation’s 2015-2020 Immigrant Rights portfolio strategy. With her colleague David Shorr, a local elected official in Wisconsin, Kathleen writes for public policy blogs on strategic lessons from policy-reform campaigns.
Kathleen is a lawyer by training. Earlier in her career, Kathleen represented low-income people in immigration court, taught immigration law as an adjunct professor at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, advocated before Congress and federal regulatory agencies, and served briefly as Counsel to the US Senate Subcommittee on Immigration. As a nonprofit program manager she supported human rights investigators examining physician complicity in “national security” torture during the Bush Administration, and a nationwide project that deployed lawyers to represent children and asylum seekers in immigration detention.
Outside of work, Kathleen enjoys hiking, skiing, and the Boston area’s remarkable music and art scenes.
Are you a Nonprofit/coalition leader drowning in data but no idea with what to do with it? My FREE mini-course **will spark you creativity and show you many ways to use your data, Infographics, dashboards, success stories and more. I will walk you through what they are and why they help you communicate to your key audiences.
Connect with from me for weekly tips and resources:** www.communityevaluationsolutions.com/connect
Want to know your making a difference? Grab my free guide on developing a strategy that works.
Produced by Zach Price
Music by: Zach Price
Georgia CASA is one of my favorite non-profits and in this episode, you will meet Jen King, Georgia CASA's dynamic and passionate Executive Director. Now serving 156 out of 159 Georgia counties, the more than 2700 CASA volunteers support children in care.
Jen and I talk about the support CASA's provide to hurting children and how the organization sees themselves as a healing partner for hurting families. Jen emphasizes the need to see the strengths of families that find themselves involved in the child welfare system and to understand that just like many of us, they have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACES). "When families are in crisis, it's important to offer hope and healing and not to villainize them," says Jen. Georgia CASA is leaning in to addressing disparities and ensuring that all children in care receive the support you need. We also talked about what communities can do to support families in care and the policy work Georgia CASA is doing with their partners.
Bio: In May 2018, Jen King was selected to succeed Georgia CASA's longest serving Executive Director (18 years) as the 5th director in the organization's 30-year history. Jennifer 'Jen' King, served as the Program Operations Director, coordinating training and support services for local CASA affiliates, including 200 staff, 500 board members and 2700 volunteers. Her leadership over the past 20+ years has helped to propel the statewide CASA organization into a dynamic, well-respected network. With degrees in nonprofit administration and child development, Jen has dedicated her career to making connections with and on behalf of children and families, alongside advocates and nonprofit leaders, and the larger community. She has worked with United Way of Greater Atlanta, National CASA, and many groups and committees involved in strengthening communities.
Are you a community nonprofit leader that needs help in defining your strategy? Check out my free guide and discover how you can learn to use strategy to drive social change. In just four easy steps, turn your hunches into action.
Music: Zach Price
Produced by: Zach Price
"Doing together, that which we cannot do a part." That statement is the core of this episode. Dr. Tom Wolff is a community psychologist and expert in coalition building who has spent a lifetime working in communities in seemingly intractable social problems.
We talk about how he got started working in communities and the power of coalitions. We dig into the challenges of working with community coalitions and the "tricky business" of community change. We talk about what real community change is - involving people most affected by the problem - and how to do that.
Changing the status quo is hard when systems seek to maintain themselves. Tom explains why he has been so critical of one popular approach, Collective Impact, and how collaborating for equity and justice is a better alternative.
In this age where we no longer talk to those with whom we disagree, the "Hands Across the Hills" initiative might be a model for all our communities. People from Tom's hometown and those in a community in Kentucky, came together in the wake of the 2016 election to seek common ground.
Dr. Tom Wolff's BioTom Wolff, Ph.D. is a nationally recognized consultant on coalition building and community development, with over 30 years’ experience training and consulting with individuals, organizations and communities across North America. His clients include federal, state and local government agencies, foundations, hospitals, non-profit organizations, professional associations, and grassroots groups.
Tom has published numerous resources to help communities solve their own problems. His most recent book is The Power of Collaborative Solutions – Six principles and effective tools for building health communities published by Jossey Bass-John Wiley in early 2010.His earlier writings on coalition building include From the Ground Up: A Workbook on Coalition Building and Community Development (with Gillian Kaye, 1997) and The Spirit of the Coalition (with Bill Berkowitz, 2000; American Public Health Association). He is passionate about looking at issues from a community perspective and empowering local communities to solve their own problems. His writings combine theoretical understanding with rich stories and on-the-ground experience.
Links Mentioned in this Episode:
Tom's website
Hands Across the Hills
Ten Places Where Collective Impact Gets in Wrong
Collaborating for Equity and Justice
Dr. Sal Alaimo is a professor and teaches in nonprofit administration and philanthropy and evaluation. In this conversation, Sal and I talk about the role of nonprofits and giving in our society. An experienced nonprofit leader and evaluator, Sal has a passion for growing nonprofit leaders and exploring the role of giving in our society.
Robert Payton said that philanthropy is "Voluntary action for the public good." Any giving intended for the public good is a philanthropic good. Sal embodies this in his work. In addition to teaching and consulting, Sal uses the medium of film to explore the meaning of philanthropy and giving.
"What is philanthropy?"Sal's first film, he explores the concept of giving within the American context. The film is a feature length documentary that portrays and discusses the concept of giving through a critical lens and a variety of perspectives. Contributors to the documentary include; actor Mike Farrell, NFL quarterback Alex Smith, Evelyn Lauder from the Estee' Lauder Companies, Civil Rights Leader Dr. William G. Anderson, Nell Newman, co-founder of Newman's Own Organics, US Senator Charles Grassley, as well as leading scholars and average citizens. In his second film,"Sew What?" Sal explores the mutual benefit of what we, as individuals gain from our support of nonprofits - relationships, social connection, skills, values, and perhaps a changed perspectives.
We also explore the need for nonprofits and foundations to value and implement evaluations and for evaluators to help build evaluation capacity. Sal encourages nonprofits to ask for evaluation support if it is not included in a proposal and that evaluation actually a program expense. He also provides a thoughtful critique of the role of foundations in solving the intractable problems of our society. It will take nonprofits, foundations and community members who understand their communities all working together to solve the root causes of our problems.
Dr. Sal Alaimo Bio
Salvatore Alaimo is an Associate Professor in the School of Public, Nonprofit and Health Administration at Grand Valley State University, in Grand Rapids, Michigan where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in philanthropy and nonprofit administration. Professor Alaimo has published book chapters in The Jossey-Bass Reader on Nonprofit and Public Leadership, Volunteer Administration: Professional Practice, Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations: A Reference Handbook, Handbook of Research on Nonprofit Economics and Management, and International Encyclopedia of Civil Society. He also published journal articles in New Directions for Evaluation, Journal of the Grant Professionals Association and Journal of Nonprofit Education and Leadership.
Hs background in evaluation includes teaching graduate course in program evaluation at GVSU, serving as internal evaluator for a large nonprofit, consulting and engagement with AEA affiliates in Atlanta and Michigan.
He earned his Ph.D. in Philanthropic Studies at Indiana University, and his M.S. in Urban Studies from Georgia State University. He can be reached at alaimos@gvsu.edu or (616) 331-6582.
Music for Community Possibilities was written by Zach Price who also produces the podcast.
I am thrilled to bring you this episode! I have known Dr. Nelson for a long time and have deep respect for his lifelong commitment to health equity. He has led Healthcare Georgia Foundation for nearly 20 years, overseeing many grantmaking initiatives including the Foundation's Two Georgia's initiative and Health Impact Investing. The Foundation is "Grounded in Science, built on Partnerships, and focused on Results."
"Results matter to those we serve." Dr. Nelson argues that although the nonprofit sector is "woefully under-resourced, we can't afford to waste a dollar. Lives are at stake." The work is too important to rely on "feel good philanthropy." More than ever, the Foundation is focused on the social determinants of health and achieving health equity. In this conversation, we talk about the work of the Foundation, but also funders' role in the pursuit of making communities more equitable. COVID has certainly shown a light on these inequities and Gary shares how the Foundation has pivoted their funding to meet the needs of communities during the pandemic.
We also talk about the importance of evaluation and the what it takes for nonprofits and foundations to create a culture of learning. The Foundation has a long history of valuing evaluation and supporting evaluation capacity within the Foundation and among its grantees.
Episode mentioned: Episode 1: Health Equity and Maternal and Child Health with Dr. Kyrah Brown
Contact: Healthcare Georgia Foundation
Join my Free Course to help you use your data and communicate outcomes!
Dr. Nelson's Bio
Gary D. Nelson is President of Healthcare Georgia Foundation, Inc., a private independent foundation in Atlanta, Georgia. Appointed in 2002, Dr. Nelson is responsible for executive management of the Foundation’s program, financial, and management operations. Working with the Foundation’s Board of Directors, Dr. Nelson oversees the Foundation’s grantmaking program dedicated to enabling, improving and advancing the health and well-being of all Georgians. Healthcare Georgia Foundation, Inc. was established in 1999 with an annual grantmaking program of approximately $4-5 million strategically allocated to: 1) Addressing Health Disparities; 2) Promoting Health and Preventing Disease; 3) Expanding Access to Quality Affordable and Integrated Health Services; and 4) Strengthening Health Nonprofits, Programs and Workforce. The Foundation’s vision is health equity in Georgia, where all people attain their fullest potential for health and well-being.
Dr. Nelson previously served as a Program Director with The California Wellness Foundation and was the Associate Director for Program Evaluation, Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. At CDC, from 1986 to 1989, Dr. Nelson was chief of the Evaluation Research Section, Division of Adolescent and School Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
His Board service has included Grantmakers in Health, Georgia State Board of Public Health, Council of Foundations Diversity and Philanthropy Project, IOM Roundtable on Health Disparities, College of Health Sciences Advisory Board-GSU, Board of Public Health Foundation Enterprises, Americans for Nonsmokers Rights, Philanthropic Collaborative for a Healthy Georgia, Board of Visitors for Georgia State University’s College of Health and Human Services,&
In this episode, public health educator Deniece Chevanness of Hemophilia of Georgia joins us for an inspiring conversation about her work with youth. Deniece loves her work with the Georgia-based "Generation of Heroes" and their work with the Youth Twinning Project in the Dominican Republic sponsored by the World Federation of Hemophilia.
Health disparities are a reality in the US but are even more pronounced in poor countries. Deniece has a big heart for these youth and a deep commitment for being an advisor for youth. She is most interested in the community level factors that inspire, empower, and strengthen youth to advocate for themselves and others with bleeding disorders. To be effective and sustainability, the youth and adults must lead the work. As professionals we have to be humble enough to know we are not the subject matter experts. We can bring our knowledge of public health and evaluation to the work, but those with disease must be centered.
Deniece's Bio
Deniece Chevannes is Senior Director of Grants Management at Hemophilia of Georgia. Deniece has a Master’s in public health and is an accomplished master certified health education specialist with over fifteen years of experience in public health. She has a diverse background, having worked in STI and HIV health, maternal-child health, and adolescent health. Currently, Deniece is a Doctor of Public Health student at the University of Georgia in the Department of Health Policy and Management. In addition to her role as Regional Director for the Southeast Regional Hemophilia Network; Ms. Chevannes also serves as the Chairwoman for Hemophilia Organization and Youth Twinnings for the World Federation of Hemophilia. Fully bilingual, Deniece’s work focuses on building capacity and empowering communities to improve systems to address complex health issues and implement sustainable change.
Get in Touch with Deniece: dichevannes@hog.org
Episode 3 with Christine VanHorne mentioned in the podcast.
Music by: Zach Price
Nancy Friauf is a tireless leader in the work to prevent interpersonal violence . We met several years ago when Nancy hired CES to help PADV develop a strategy for better demonstrating their outcomes.
In this episode we talk about:
- How Nancy came to do this work.
- The programs and services PADV offers.
- The many assumptions people make about victims of interpersonal violence.
- The pandemic and rates of IPV.
- How community systems and policies affect those involved in difficult or violent relationships.
- The recent case that has captured the nation's attention and why BIPOC women victims don't get the same attention.
- How community members can help.
- What Nancy thinks it will take to change our communities.
Connect with PADV and Nancy
Connect with Ann
Download my free guide: Design and Measure Your Outcomes in Four Manageable Steps
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Website
Music by Zach Price: zachpricet@gmail.com
Nancy's BioNancy Friauf is currently the President and CEO of the Partnership Among Domestic Violence (PADV), the largest domestic violence agency in Georgia. Nancy's previous work experience includes program director for the battered women’s and rape crisis program of the YWCA of Cobb County, Executive Director for the Gwinnett Children’s Shelter, Executive Director of Genesis Shelter, a shelter for homeless newborns and their families. While at Genesis, Nancy initiated and completed a successful merger with another agency, putting herself out of a job.
Nancy is a graduate of Leadership Gwinnett, the Regional Leadership Institute, and the Harvard Business School Executive Education program: Strategic Perspectives in Non Profit Management. Awards include Georgia State University Andrew Young School of Public Policy Amanda Hyatt Fellow 2011 and Martin Luther King Torch of Peace Award, 2013.
Dr. Martha Brown joins me for an honest conversation about how being trauma-informed can help us help our communities. Martha generously shares her personal stories and how that led her to restorative justice and now trauma-informed work.
Grounded in indigenous practices, Restorative Justice practices are centered on relationships. Circles equalize power through a structured process for people to talk and listen to each other. Martha literally wrote the book on Restorative Justice approaches in schools. Check it out here.
Now people in the field are moving toward a Trauma-informed Approach. Trauma is an event or series of events that exceeds a person's ability to cope. Trauma has long-lasting effects on a person's physical and psychological health.
Martha breaks down these concepts for us and helps us understand the ongoing, lasting effects of trauma on people and our society. Having a high ACES score does not define us, but can help us understand each other.
We talk about why nonprofits and community coalitions need to take a trauma-informed approach. It first has to start with those inside the organizations. Listen to learn more about being a trauma-informed organization.
"If you want peace, work for justice." Pope Paul VIMartha's Bio
Dr. Martha A. Brown resides in Faribault, MN and is president of RJAE Consulting andauthor of Creating Restorative Schools: Setting Schools Up to Succeed, available at Living Justice Press. She is also the Trauma and Restorative Justice Specialist with Hamai Consulting, based in Palo Alto, CA.
Dr. Brown received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Florida Atlantic University. Her dissertation focused on restorative justice in two Oakland middle schools. For the past two years, Dr. Brown has taught a course in Circle Processes at Eastern Mennonite University’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute and has recently facilitated an eight-week online Circle training course for faculty and staff at James Madison University Libraries. Dr. Brown has been Lead Instructor for Simon Fraser University's Continuing Studies Restorative Justice Certificate Program and was an adjunct professor at Florida Atlantic University, where she taught a course in Educational Assessment.
Currently, she teaches and trains evaluators, organizations, and anyone else who is interested how to use the Circle process and incorporate trauma-informed practices. In 2019, she taught an eStudy to evaluators through the American Evaluation Association and has continued this work with evaluation firms and affiliates of AEA ever since. A meaningful project Martha works on at Hamai Consulting is TRISI – Trauma and Resilience Systems Initiative. This unique model uses the Circle process and coaching to help organizations serving children and families in San Mateo County to become trauma informed organizations and eventually become a trauma informed system of care. She seamlessly integrates trauma informed restorative practices into her evaluation and consulting work.
In addition to her book, Dr. Brown has published several peer-reviewed book chapters and articles on restorative justice and evaluation, and has presented internationally at conferences sponsored by the National Association for Community & Restorative Justice (NACRJ), Restorative Practices International (RPI), American Evaluation Association (AEA), the Canadian Evaluation Society (CES), Visitor Studies Association (VSA), and the International Conference on Conflict Resolution in Education (CRE).
At RJAE Consulting, Martha assists non-profit, cultural, community-based, educational, and
Community Psychologist, evaluator, facilitator, and caretaker, Dr. Kim Broomfield-Massey loves her clients and you will love her to. She describes herself as a caretaker. That is not something you hear very often among evaluators. Like me, Kim wanted to be a clinician, but discovered Community Psychology. It was a personal decision.
The information people share is not just numbers. It reflects the lived experience of community members. As Kim says, "We are giving voice to what people have entrusted to us."
Kim seeks first to understand the needs and the culture of the community and organizations she works with.
Kim is an expert in maternal and child health and an advocate for breastfeeding moms, especially among black and brown communities. She shares her work with the Center for Black Women's Wellness and it's a great example of centering the community's voices. This work has led Kim to be a leader with the US Breastfeeding Committee. Kim also has a new project, Stepping Up, that connects people in jail who are in need of mental health treatment. It's an initiative that seeks to change policies around mental health to create a continuum of care.
Thanks for listening! If you are a community leader and are struggling to use your community data, I have a free new mini-course for you. It will help you learn how to better tell your nonprofit or community story. Grab it here.
Connect with Kim
Kim's company is: Urban Metrics Consultants
Her website will be live in September 2021: umconsultants.com
email: kbroomfield@umconsultants.com
Other episodes mentioned:
Episode 1 Health Equity and Maternal and Child with Dr. Kyrah Brown
Episode 9 Listening 4 Justice with Dr. Folami Prescott-Adams
Music: Zach Price
Production: Zach Price
Dr. Broomfield-Massey's Bio
Kimberley Broomfield-Massey, Ph.D. is an experienced evaluator and researcher specializing in participatory methods, quantitative and qualitative research, and meeting facilitation. Dr. Broomfield-Massey completed her doctoral work in the field of Community Psychology, with a focus in program evaluation at Georgia State University, in 2007. Dr. Broomfield-Massey is an African American female researcher who uses her lived experience as an African American woman to ensure that all data procedures respect the values and diversity of the clients served by the programs she assesses. Valuing the wisdom of both the community and academia, Kimberley uses her academic and professional experiences to serve as a conduit to foster a bi-directional exchange between both perspectives. The majority of Dr. Broomfield-Massey’s experience involves conducting collaborative evaluations with local, regional and national non-profit organizations. Engaging in collaborative evaluations requires a specific skill set, which includes learning to present complex messages in a clear, concise manner without being perceived as condescending; managing strong opposing personalities; and creating a safe space in which all participants become aware of the value of their individual perspectives.
Many of us say we support our military. Qwynn. Galloway-Salazar has spent her entire professional career doing just that. A veteran herself, Qwynn knows and understands our veterans and their families. She talks about the "moral injures of war" and how our veterans are affected in ways you and I can't know. Some of these injuries resurface at the end of their lives.
Get ready to be inspired! This episode is full of heart. Qwynn talks about knowing your why and coming to understand her mission and purpose. And have your notebook handy for some great quotes. Like "The place God calls you is where your deepest gladness is and the world's deepest hunger meet" and "Its hard work but it's heart work."
What does she see for communities in the future? A movement where compassion to one another, no matter the color of our skin or genders is our reality. Because as Qwynn says, "It doesn't cost any money to care."
Qwynn 's Galloway-Salazar's Bio
Ms. Galloway-Salazar is the Co-Director for SAMHSA’s Service Members, Veterans, and their Families Technical Assistance (SMVF TA) Center at Policy Research Associates, Inc. (PRA). In her role, she co-leads the day-to-day operations of the SMVF TA Center, providing guidance on technical assistance tasks, developing tools and resources, collaborating with Federal partners, and providing technical assistance to states, territories, and local communities working to strengthen their behavioral health systems for SMVF. In the last three years, she has played a significant role in designing and coordinating the Governor’s and Mayor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide Among Service Members, Veterans, and their Families Policy and Implementation Academy’s. To date, there has been a total of 35 states and 18 communities that have accepted the challenge!
Ms. Galloway-Salazar is an Army Veteran and spouse to a retired combat veteran serving in law enforcement. Her years of military and professional experience have provided her with the knowledge and abilities to support the needs of the SMVF population. Some of her previous roles included serving as a state project director, a Veteran and Family Advocate, a trainer, a research manager in academia, a state behavioral health program coordinator for the Georgia Army National Guard, and a behavioral health treatment court liaison. In 2009, she assisted the state of Georgia with the development of jail diversion programming for Veterans, which aided in the growth of Veteran Treatment Courts. She also has experience bridging the gaps between criminal justice and behavioral health systems. With this knowledge, Ms. Galloway-Salazar has trained law enforcement and other criminal justice professionals on encounters with the mentally ill to include Veterans.
Most recently, she took on a passion project, becoming an End-of-Life Doula. It is her goal to work with End-of-Life Professionals and consult on topics related to the needs of Veterans and their Families facing end of life challenges. In her spare time, she serves as a hospice volunteer supporting Veterans and their families. Ms. Galloway-Salazar is currently a doctoral candidate pursuing a degree in industrial and organizational psychology. She holds a Master of Arts degree in professional counseling and a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice.
Qwynn's Contact Information:
Phone: 678-360-0253
Email: qgsalazar@gmail.com
Hey listeners! I have a free new mini-course for you. It will help you learn how to better tell your nonprofit or community story. Grab it here. Let me know how you will use one thing you will take action on.
Music: Zach Price
Production: Zach Price
I am so excited to bring you this episode! Get ready for a rich conversation about listening, loving, and growing. Folami and I met in grad school years ago. Today she is a passionate leader and facilitator of learning for organizations and communities.
Folami Prescott-Adams, Ph.D. is the CEO of HTI Catalysts. She is best known for her effective style of facilitation that offers a blend of theory, practice, the arts and insight in an engaging, interactive and relaxed setting. She has made significant contributions to education transformation and youth development initiatives & collaborative partnerships throughout the nation. She is the creator of Listening 4 Justice, a high-quality multicultural learning experience on systemic racism, self-love, and
social justice.
She earned a Sociology of Education degree from Brown University, a Masters in Educational Administration from Temple University and an M.Sc. & Ph.D. in Community Psychology from Georgia State University.
Her creative expressions can be found in her music (now on streaming platforms), a YouTube interview series, and her blogs & posts on social media. Follow her on Facebook @drfolami, Instagram @drfolamipa or connect with her on LinkedIn @drfolami.
Are you a nonprofit or community leader struggling with how to be more effective? Download my free guide. It provides the framework your need to get unstuck and get moving.
Music by: Zach Price
Produced by: Zach Price
Sherrye Willis leads by faith and acts in service to marginalized communities. You will love this episode and be inspired by Sherrye. She has been working in communities and with nonprofits and foundations for more than 30 years.
Sherrye was drawn to service through the example of her father, an ordained minister, and her mother. Her deep faith guides her work today. As the Executive Director of Alliance for Greater works, Sherrye and her team build community leaders, offer training and technical assistance and help to build cross-sector collaboration in order to help build equitable communities.
"It is who I am, not what I do." That quote sums up Sherrye in a nutshell. In this episode, why some communities have more trauma and less resources than others, about conflict and how it is necessary if we really want to change communities, and so much more. A little hope is all you need. That, and finding the community members who really care about their community.
Sherrye's bio:
Sherrye Willis, MBA is the founder and president of Alliance for Greater Works, a nonprofit organization dedicated to transforming marginalized communities so that all people have opportunities to thrive. Foremost a servant leader, Sherrye founded Alliance for Greater Works in 2001 to answer a call to serve organizations working in under- resourced communities. Since then, she and Alliance have dedicated time, resources, and talent to equip community leaders with the skills, resources, and capacity to create systemic change and a more just society. Check out Alliance for Greater Works allianceforgreaterworks.org/
She brings more than 30 years of expertise as an executive, author, speaker, coach, and certified adult-learner trainer to her work in her immediate community, throughout Texas, and beyond. Sherrye has previously served as the executive director of a private family foundation with over $10 million in assets and a chief development officer in higher education and art institutions. She has also consulted for thousands of leaders and organizations domestically and internationally.
In her ever-limited spare time, Sherrye loves listening to jazz, traveling, reading, and spending time with her best friend and husband, Joe.
Are you a nonprofit or community leader struggling with how to be more effective? Download my free guide. It provides the framework your need to get unstuck and get moving.
Music by: Zach Price
Produced by: Zach Price
For those of us working in communities, communicating is a critical skill. Now more than ever, we have to present data and information in a way that is accessible, creates trust, and motivates community-based organizations to take action. Long written reports are not going to make that happen!
Ann Emery is a highly sought after data visualization expert and teacher and I know you will enjoy this conversation. In this episode, Ann joins me to discuss ways we can use data to communicate more effectively. We talk about how to use data visualization to get the attention of community groups and how to deal with mistrust of data.
I know you will enjoy this conversation.
Ann's Bio:
Ann K. Emery is an internationally-acclaimed speaker who equips organizations to get their data out of dusty spreadsheets and into real-world conversations.
Each year, she delivers over 100 keynotes, workshops, and webinars with the aim of equipping organizations to visualize data more effectively.
She has been invited to speak in 30 states and 10 countries; 4,400 people have enrolled in her online training academy; and she has consulted to 200 organizations, including the United Nations, Centers for Disease Control, and Harvard University.
She earned a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and a Master’s degree from George Mason University.
After traveling full-time as a digital nomad, Ann now resides in Florida along with her husband and three children.
Links mentioned in this Episode:
Grab Ann Emery's Free course!
- Complimentary mini course called Soar Beyond the Dusty Shelf Report: https://depictdatastudio.teachable.com/p/soar-beyond-the-dusty-shelf-report
- Blog with 300 articles on visualizing data with everyday software: https://depictdatastudio.com/blog/
Get CES's Free Guide:
Powerful Evidence: Harnessing Your Results for Social Change
Our Speaking Coach: https://www.heathersager.com/
Music for Community Possibilities by Zach Price
Community Possibilities is produced by Zach Price
According to the Brennan Center, 47 states have enacted restrictive voting laws since the 2020 election even though there is very little evidence of widespread voter fraud. In my adopted state of Georgia, the state legislator recently passed SB 202. During and after the vote, outside parties poured millions of dollars into the state with positive messages about this legislation.
I reached out to Evan Malbrough, a young activist and aspiring attorney, to talk to us about SB 202 and his work to get young people involved in the voting process. He is the founder of the Georgia Youth Poll Worker Project and has published several recent articles about voting rights.
I know you will find our conversation as inspiring as I did.
Connect with Evan on LinkedIn
Evan's Bio:
Evan Malbrough is a native of Smyrna, Georgia. He is a 2020 graduate of Georgia State University with a degree in Public Policy and a minor in cello performance. At GSU, Evan was a founding member of Vote Everywhere GSU and served as an ambassador for Amazon Prime Student, Kaplan Test Prep & GoPuff. Evan also served as a Summer Research Fellow at the United States Department of Defense at the Pentagon. Upon graduating, even became a 2020 Puffin Fellow with the Andrew Goodman Foundation as well as a brand ambassador for Mars-Wriggly and Instagram. Evan is the founder of the Georgia Youth Poll Worker Project where He recruited 1000 poll workers to work the 2020 general election and 2021 run off. Finally, Evan is a writer who has published in publications such as Forbes, Blavity, Teen Vogue, and the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Links mentioned in this episode:
The Georgia Youth Poll Worker's Project
Georgia State Bill 202
Kate Couric's interview with David Becker, founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research about SB 202 and other state voting laws
The Brennan Center for Justice
I have always believed that those of us working to change our communities in some way, whether that be through education, mental health, social issues, or public health, come to this work for a reason. We may or may not always admit that.
Meet LaTreece Roby. Her family history drives her to the work of substance abuse prevention, and as an ACOA myself (Adult Child of an Alcoholic) I totally get that. This work is personal.
LaTreece and I met several years ago when I became the external evaluation consultant for CCAPSA, the Cobb Community Alliance to Prevent Substance Abuse. I love it when my clients teach me something and LaTreece does just that. She is always coming up with new ways to attract and engage youth and uses tech in creative ways. From FaceBook Lives to Instagram filters, LaTreece never stops pushing herself to reach her community. I hope you will enjoy our conversation.
About LaTreece:
LaTreece is a wife, mother of 3 and the Program Director with Cobb Community Alliance to Prevent Substance Abuse in Cobb County, Ga. As program director for CCAPSA, the bulk of LaTreece’s work involves managing a 12-sector drug free community coalition in Kennesaw, Ga.
After growing up in Ohio and seeing addiction fracture family relationships and destroy peoples lives within her own family, LaTreece wandered into a prescription drug and heroin summit at her local YMCA. This began her journey, passion for and new career in substance use prevention.
LaTreece recognizes that the key to building a drug free community is understanding how our youth are experiencing the world and empowering them to be the change in their communities and schools. The Drug-Free Kennesaw coalition prides itself on its exceptional youth engagement and employing “outside of the box” strategies in their prevention efforts.
LaTreece works with various organizations in both substance use prevention and suicide prevention, this includes being a member of the “Let’s Get Clear” marijuana abuse prevention advocacy board aa well as a national contract trainer with Sources of Strength suicide prevention program. LaTreece hopes that one day her efforts and the many others around her will eradicate the disease of addiction and its multigenerational effects.
Contact LaTreece:
LinkedIn
FaceBook: @LaTreece Roby
Email- latreece.williams@gmail.com
ccapsa.org
Christine VanHorne is a public health consultant, speaker, trainer, facilitator, patient advocate and a fearless advocate for race equity and health disparities. I met Christie in Heather Sager's Speak Up to Level Up Class. Her journey from undergrad student majoring in Genocide studies, to the Peace Corps, to Public Health, will motivate you. We have a great conversation about how white people must speak up against racism, working in communities, speaking to your doctor and so much more. It is the stories people have to share that motivate Christie. Enjoy!
Learn about Christie:
Christine is the President of CVH Consulting and founder of How to Talk to Your Doctor, a project that aims to address health literacy with patients and health professionals. As a consultant, Christie develops health curriculum, leads train-the-trainers for nonprofit and healthcare professionals, and facilitates community coalitions and working groups to improve health outcomes. With 20 years of experience in the health sector, two masters (Education / Public Health), service in the Peace Corps, and appearances on numerous health-focused podcasts, Christie is passionate about bringing her expertise where it is most needed. Christie has consulted for organizations such as the Hemophilia Federation of America, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, National Environmental Health Association, Malcolm X College, Multiple Sclerosis Association of America, and Planned Parenthood. She lives in the beautiful Hudson Valley, NY with her husband and two dogs.
Get in touch with Christie:
Instagram:
@Howtotalktyourdoctor
@christie_publichealth
Flow Podcast
Be sure and join her History of Health Disparities and Current Impacts class next time it opens.
Here is the resource Christie talked about: https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/implications-of-covid-19-for-social-determinants-of-health/
Get in touch with Ann:
communityevaluationsolutions.com
Coalition or nonprofit leader stuck on how to get started making a difference in your community? Download my free guide!
www.facebook.com/CommunityEvaluationSolutions
In this episode, I am joined by Dr. Susan Wolfe, a fellow community psychologist, evaluator, and one of my business besties.
Susan's evaluation work focusses on community coalitions and racial inequities. We talk about the meaning of systems and environmental change and how to engage community members in hard conversations about racism. We touch on white privilege, defunding/reforming the police force (one of Susan's sons is a police officer) and so many things. Like her beauty school diploma. Fun fact.
Susan is active in the American Evaluation Association is the incoming President of SCRA- The Society of Community Research and Action (Division 27 of the American Psychological Association).
She is an inspiration to me and I know you will enjoy this conversation.
Her bio:
Susan M. Wolfe, PhD
Susan Wolfe enjoys evaluation work when it is complex and challenging, like evaluating policies and systems, and working toward equity and justice. She has been a Community Consultant with Susan Wolfe and Associates since 2009 where much of her work focuses on community coalitions and national, multi-site projects.
Susan started looking at systems with her Master’s thesis that focused on police needs to better respond to domestic violence. She was able to make recommendations to the police department for systemic level changes to facilitate a better response. Later in her career she worked as an analyst for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General where she and the teams she worked with conducted studies assessing policy implementation and made recommendations for changes to policies and practices. In her current work with coalitions she facilitates the development of strategies focused on systems change rather than at a programmatic level.
Susan is a co-author of an article about principles for collaborating for equity and justice that was featured in Nonprofit Quarterly in 2017. In 2020 she teamed up with Ann Webb Price and Kyrah K. Brown to co-edit an issue of New Directions for Evaluation – Evaluating Community Coalitions and Collaboratives. Also, in 2020, Susan, Ann Price, and Jenn Ballentine teamed up to create Positive Impact Consultants to collaborate on work with foundations, nonprofits, and coalitions. She has a Master of Arts degree and post-graduate study in Ecological Psychology from Michigan State University, with a cognate in organizational psychology and a PhD in Human Development from the University of Texas at Dallas. She currently lives and works in Cedar Hill, Texas with her husband, Chihuhua and chiweenie.
Contact Susan through her website at www.susanwolfeandassociates.com or email her at susan@susanwolfeandassociates.com. You can also find her (reluctantly) on Twitter at @SusanWolfeAssoc.
Music by Zach Price
Connect with Ann:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/awpriceces/
Twitter: @annwprice
FaceBook: facebook.com/CommunityEvaluationSolutions
Website: communityevaluationsolutions.squarespace.com
In this episode, I am joined by Michael Waller, Executive Director of Georgia Appleseed. Georgia Appleseed is one of my Favorite non-profits and in this episode, you will learn why.
As Executive Director, Michael Waller leads the Georgia Appleseed team in the development of innovative policy solutions and tools to keep Georgia’s children safe at home and in school, and out of the criminal justice system. Michael is a frequent speaker on the devastating consequences of exclusionary school discipline, poor school climate, and unhealthy housing on marginalized children, particularly children in poverty, children of color, and children and youth in foster care.
Prior to starting with Appleseed as Director of Projects in 2018, Michael was a prosecuting attorney at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for eight years, leading investigations and lawsuits across the country to stop companies and individuals from defrauding economically vulnerable consumers. Before the FTC, Michael was a staff attorney at the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, representing indigent clients in housing, domestic violence, and consumer rights cases. He came to Legal Aid from WilmerHale, an international law firm based in Washington, DC.
Michael graduated with a B.A. from University of the South (Sewanee), an M.A. in international affairs from Syracuse University (Maxwell School), an M.T.S. in theological studies from Vanderbilt University Divinity School, and a J.D. from American University’s Washington College of Law.
In this episode we talked about:
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Georgia Appleseed’s process for choosing and working on social issues is centered on equity, diversity, and community voice. “Equity is the moral and ethical thing to do.” Michael makes the point that diversity leads to better results for everyone.
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John Dewey’s method of listening and other inspiration.
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We discuss Georgia Appleseed’s work to support children in foster care. We talk about the Education Advocate Pilot Project that I evaluated several years ago. This project led to their more recent work to provide pro bono legal support for children in foster care facing expulsion or long-term suspension. You don’t want to miss this part of our discussion!
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Learn about Georgia Appleseed’s work to dismantle the school to prison pipeline. We talk about policies that schools need to put into place to support students to reduce discipline disparities and reduce the risk for juvenile justice involvement? The secret? Focus on the adults in the system! We talk about Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support (PBIS) as an effective way to improve school climate. Be sure and check out Georgia Appleseed’s Keep the Kids in Class Toolkit which clearly demonstrates that students of color and those with disabilities are more likely to receive out of school discipline, setting them up for failure and increasing the likelihood they won’t graduate.
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We also touch on ways to support the whole child. Restorative Justice, mental health, feeding kids and so many things.
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Michael and talk about why accurate reporting of student discipline is so important.
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What is next for Georgia Appleseed? Continuing to help dismantle the school to prison pipeline; supporting kids mental and behavioral health needs, supporting LGBTQ students, and their healthy housing work.
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We wrap up our conversation about Michael’s vision for our communities.
Want to support the work of Georgia Appleseed? Check out the Good Apple Awards
In our inaugural episode, I am joined by Dr. Kyrah Brown, a community psychologist, evaluator, and Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology’s Public Health Program. She is the Director of the Maternal and Child Health Equity Lab.
Her research focuses on addressing social and structural factors that shape racial inequities and disparities in women’s/maternal health across the life course. As a trained evaluator, she regularly works with coalitions and organizations to build their evaluation capacity and perform evaluations.
Dr. Brown is an alumna of Spelman College and earned her PhD in Community Psychology from Wichita State University.
In this episode we talked about:
Episode Outline.
· What is a community psychologist?
· What most interests her about working in communities?
· How she came to be interested in maternal and child health (MCH).
· About her work in the MCH Equity Research Lab.
· Why is maternal and infant death a problem in the US?
· Why are Back and Indigenous women are 2 to 3 times more likely to die from complications of childbirth?
· And most importantly, why do these disparities exist?
· What should communities do about these disparities?
· What community possibilities she sees?
Dr. Brown's Bio: Dr. Kyrah Brown is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology’s Public Health Program and is the Director of the Maternal and Child Health Equity Lab. At the intersection of public health and community psychology, her research focuses on addressing social and structural factors that shape racial inequities and disparities in women’s/maternal health across the life course. She has expertise in mixed-methods research, community-based participatory research, evaluation, and capacity-building with nonprofits and coalitions. She holds leadership positions on local, state, and international coalitions and association committees. As a trained evaluator, she regularly works with coalitions and organizations to build their evaluation capacity and perform evaluations. Dr. Brown is an alumna of Spelman College and earned her PhD in Community Psychology from Wichita State University.
Want to connect with Kyrah?
Facebook: mchequitylab
Email:kyrah.brown@uta.edu
Resources Mentioned:
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com
Welcome to Community Possibilities ! This episode is a brief introduction to the podcast and what I hope is the start of many deep conversations about how we can change our communities for the better. In this podcast, I will be joined by community leaders, doing the hard work of social change. We will talk about root causes and dig deep to understand social and health inequities. Let’s imagine all of the possibilities if we learn how to talk to each other, not at each other.
Want to connect with me?
Podcast Website: communitypossibilities.buzzsprout.com
Twitter: @annwprice
Email: aprice@communityevaluationsolutions.com
Resources Mentioned:
Music by Zach Price: Zachpricet@gmail.com