CivicList: Recent Episodes
Matthew J. Camp
West Harlem community leader Ken Miles shares how he builds community and uplifts voices.
Kathryn Garcia is running for Mayor of New York City and shares her ideas on about a healthier, safer, and more equitable city.
Abigail Martin is running for District 11 in the Bronx; Nantasha Williams is running for District 27 in Queens. They discuss the issues of concern in their communities and their vision to improve New York City.
SHOW MOREDan Cohen is running for City Council District 7 in the west side of Manhattan. Johanna Garcia is running for City Council District 10, in upper Manhattan. We discuss the issues their communities face and how they plan to address them.
Eric Adams is Brooklyn Borough President and a candidate running for Mayor of New York.
Dirk Liedig, co-founder of Life Labs Learning discusses how he builds community in projects like MNGFL.org and the United States of Listening.
U.S. Representative Adriano Espaillat gives an inside look at a how a Congressional office works, discusses what he's fighting for, and offers ideas on how people can take action every day.
Rahsaan Harris is CEO of the Citizens Committee for New York City, which helps make communities greener, friendlier and more resilient. https://www.citizensnyc.org/
This month’s CivicList features an interview with Professor Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, who I’ve had the pleasure of working with at the Advocacy Academy@Teachers College. She just published a new book of poetry called Love from the Vortex (which you can buy here) and talks about how love can be the foundation of advocacy. You can also watch it here.
Sr. Paulette LoMonaco has been described as “a nun who fought the power.” For 39 years, she was Executive Director for Good Shepherd Services, which now has more than 1,000 employees. She practices Robert Greenleaf’s “servant as leader” model in which listening and building the skills of others is foundational. As her proud nephew, I’ve always admiring heard stories from all quarters about her supreme efficacy in politics, even hearing her called “a New York City icon,” but I never got the opportunity to see her “at work.” Today, she shares with the CivicList community her insights on decades of advocating for 30,000 people in high-need communities in New York City. Watch the full interview here, read the interview at www.civiclist.org
Chris Nickell is Deputy Chief of Staff for Senator Robert Jackson, who represents western Manhattan-—from Marble Hill to Chelsea—-in the New York State Senate. I've gotten to collaborate with Chris on a mutual aid network in New York City that Senator Jackson’s office is jump-starting; Chris approaches the COVID-19 pandemic and the response of mutual aid “from the perspective of a bilingual organizer and from a personal belief in the power of decentralized grassroots organizing."
Originally from Pittsburgh, Chris "grew up in the church," which they see as "a really shining example of a robust social network that can provide much needed support in difficult times." Chris is from "a household where my grandma kept all the ingredients for a cheese souffle ready for whatever family might have just experienced a loss, and she would have it to them that afternoon." Chris is also a classically trained tenor and holds a PhD in ethnomusicology from New York University, which informs how they listen and build community. Read the interview at www.civiclist.org