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We’re talking about babies! Babies are my favorite! And Iheoma Iruka, PhD, founding director of the Equity Research Action Coalition specializes in babies. We talk about babies, families, society and all the beautiful complexity we love here at Elephant Stories. Explore Topics in the Episode: NY Times: Trying to Solve a Covid Mystery: Africa’s Low Death Rates Gov. Cox: Why I’m Vetoing HB11 Tara J. Yosso: Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth Find us at: Podcast URL: Elephant Stories Twitter: @StoriesElephant Email: [email protected]

On this episode…I talk with Marcella Middleton, co-director of A Way Home America, a leading organization in the movement to end youth homelessness. Marcella’s story could be framed as “a foster kid who made it.” Or even “someone who’s experience with the system motivated them to work on behalf of others coming up through societal systems.” Both of these are true. Marcella is killing it and she is leveraging her own experiences in service of others. But she is so much more.   Explore these topics: A Way Home America The New Deal to End Youth Homelessness SaySo   Find us at: Podcast URL: Elephant Stories Twitter: @StoriesElephant Email: [email protected]  

David Johns, Executive Director of the National Black Justice Coalition, is a social justice crusader, educator, scholar, and fashionista (check out his nails if you ever get the chance). Yes, he fights for LGBTQIA+/SGL folks in his current professional role, but it doesn’t take long to realize that he is fighting for all of us. In this episode, David takes us to school with an impromptu master class on gender identity, cultural competency and responsivity, and how bills get made.   Explore topics in this episode: National Black Justice Coalition How Model Bills Work and Why You Should Care Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia The New Jim Crow

Just a few thoughts as we say goodbye to Season 1 and start preparing for Season 2. Find us at: Web: Elephant Stories Twitter: @StoriesElephant Email: [email protected]

Hiewet Senghor is the founder and CEO of Black Teacher Collaborative, a non-profit organization aimed at improving educational outcomes for Black children by building on the assets of Black teachers.  Her passion is contagious, her commitment is inspiring, and her foundation is solid. To borrow a phrase from Hiewet herself - "This woman is baaad! Just baaad!" Explore Topics in this episode: Black Teacher Collaborative Teach For America Na'im Akbar Howard Fuller Find us at: Web: Elephant Stories Twitter: @StoriesElephant Email: [email protected]

Corinne Cannon, Founder and Executive Director of the Greater DC Diaper Bank, doesn't shy away from the truth. Whether it is the truth about motherhood (it can be scary), the truth about funders (they can make life miserable), or the truth about what babies need  (they need something on their butts to collect the poop and pee!).  In this episode, we talk about how the "little things" aren't so little when you don't have them. Privilege is insidious and you don't always see what surrounds you. We throw around data, theory, and personal stories to break right through those blind spots. Explore topics in this episode: Greater DC Diaper Bank National Diaper Bank Network Homeless Children's Playtime Project Decolonizing Wealth Project Find us at: Web: Elephant Stories Twitter: @StoriesElephant Email: [email protected]

Jhumpa Bhattacharya of the Insight Center For Community Economic Development (a non-profit focused on building economic inclusion and racial equity for people of color, women, immigrants, and marginalized families in the US) is a national expert on racial wealth inequality and gender issues. Ms. Bhattacharya and the Insight Center have doubled down on dismantling racist, sexist systems by changing the narratives of power, disparity, and history that support them. Centering Blackness is a framework that strikes at, what they say, is the root cause of a multitude of societal ills. On this episode, Ms. Bhattacharya talks with me about the Centering Blackness framework, patriarchal status quo, the power of narrative, and how Asian Americans experience white supremacy. Such serious topics, yet somehow the episode is filled with audio distorting laughter. Weird…   Explore topics in this episode:  Insight Center Centering Blackness: The Path to Economic Liberation for All American Rescue Plan Fact Sheet The Accidental Asian: Notes of a Native Speaker by Eric Liu The Karma of Brown Folk by Vijay Prashad Throughline: The Real Black Panthers   Find us at:  Web: Elephant Stories Twitter: @StoriesElephant Email: [email protected]

Akilah Watkins, PhD is the President and CEO of the Center for Community Progress,  the leading national, nonprofit resource for urban, suburban, and rural communities seeking to address the full cycle of property revitalization. In this conversation we discuss what's ahead for community development and affordable housing, the value of diverse perspectives (racial diversity but also professional diversity, experiential diversity, etc.), and what it is like being a women in a leader position and, specifically, a woman of color. Explore topics in this episode: Center for Community Progress People in Place: The Case for Bridging Place-Based and People-Based Interventions to Disrupt Intergenerational Poverty Professor Patricia Hill Collins Webinar: Bold Leadership for Racial Justice: A National CEO of Color Forum Find us at: Web: Elephant Stories Twitter: @StoriesElephant Email: [email protected]

Nicole Lynn Lewis is the founder and CEO of Generation Hope, a non-profit that supports young parents pursuing college degrees. Generation Hope Scholars (i.e. student parents) have a degree completion rate that outpaces the national average. The Scholars' children are all "on track" according to developmental assessments. Nicole tells her own story in her new book, Pregnant Girl: A Story of Teen Motherhood, College, and Creating a Better Future for Young Families. It is a story of teen parenthood, homelessness,  despair,  resilience, triumph, and paying it forward. Explore topics in this episode: Pregnant Girl: A Story of Teen Motherhood, College, and Creating a Better Future for Young Families (available at all major booksellers) Generation Hope Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice Find us at: Elephant Stories @StoriesElephant [email protected]

Allison Meisch, PhD,  Senior Research Associate at James Bell Associates, joins us to talk about early childhood home visiting, equitable evaluation practices, and acknowledging white privilege as an anti-poverty researcher. Explore topics in this episode: Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program Home Visiting Applied Research Collaborative Home Visiting Yearbook Find us at: Elephant Stories @StoriesElephant [email protected]