On The Ground: A Vision to Victory

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This week: Jitu Brown speaks with Zakiyah Ansari of the Alliance for Quality Education and Natasha Capers of the NY Coalition for Education Justice about how Black parents successfully organized and pushed public education to the forefront of the NY mayoral race.

About the On The Ground podcast:

The ON THE GROUND podcast centers effective grassroots community organizers to share their wisdom on the artistic science of organizing. Community organizing is not activism. Listen to Jitu Brown 

and guests to learn the difference.

About the Journey for Justice Alliance:

The Journey for Justice Alliance is intentionally creating a space for organized low-income and working class communities who are directly impacted by top-down privatization and school closings efforts. Our member organizations are built and led primarily by parents and youth of color and we fight unapologetically for community-driven school improvement that allows us to be genuine and in the forefront. The promise of public education has not yet been realized but we know what it will take. Journey for Justice is just that- a journey for the rights of our children and neighborhoods.. For more information check out: http://www.j4jalliance.com/

Solidarity: The Art of Protest

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This month: In the first Solidarity Is This podcast of 2019, learn about protest literacy from movement historian, L.A. Kauffman, and about local community defense networks from North Carolina activist, Manju Rajendran.

About the Solidarity Is This podcast:

Solidarity Is This is a podcast created and hosted by Deepa Iyer who is with the Center for Social Inclusion and a 2017 Soros Equality Fellow. Each month, we explore how individuals and institutions are experimenting with and exploring multiracial solidarity. We will learn how to practice transformative solidarity in a rapidly transforming racial landscape and in the midst of heightened discrimination targeting communities of color. For more information check out: http://www.solidarityis.org/

About Deepa Iyver:

Deepa Iyer is a South Asian American activist, writer, and lawyer. Deepa is currently the Senior Fellow at the Center for Social Inclusion where she provides analysis, commentary and scholarship on equity and solidarity in America’s changing racial landscape. In November 2015, The New Press published Deepa’s first book, We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future. Scholar Vijay Prashad has written that Deepa “brings the head of a lawyer and the heart of a community activist to bear on her remarkable book…It is a window into the struggles of the margins that allow the mainstream to remain humane.” Deepa’s book was selected by the American Librarians Association’s Booklist magazine to be one of the top 10 multicultural non-fiction books of the year. For more information check out: http://deepaiyer.com/

Civil War Or Civil Discussion: On the Ground in Chicago & Detroit

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This episode: In part 1, Maya Lea discusses the 2019 Chicago Community Discussion Project, where everyday people set the media agenda for the next local election. In part 2, Elaine Bassett talks about empowering first-generation college students in Detroit.

About the Civil War Or Civil Discussion podcast:

Join Interactivity Foundation fellows and guests for insights on how to have better conversations about public policy and public life.

About the Interactivity Foundation:

The health of our democracy depends greatly on how well citizens discuss, explore, and develop public policy.  Ideally, public policy choices will be based on citizens’ and policymakers’ careful consideration of reasonable alternatives and their likely consequences. Increasingly, in the real world, however, policy choices are made in response to crisis or in highly-charged political contexts. Frequently the opportunity for the development or
consideration of meaningful citizen input is negligible, and the considered policy options are similarly underdeveloped and limited to a split-the-difference or the lesser of two evils approach.

In response to these challenges, the mission of the Interactivity Foundation (IF) is to enhance the process and expand the scope of our public discussions, thereby improving the health of our democracy and its development of public policy. That is, IF works to improve both the quality and quantity of the public discussions that shape the development of our public policy options. To do this, we’ve developed a small-group discussion process designed to help people collaborate in the exploration and development of a) the diverse concerns and values that relate to an area of societal concern, (b) multiple contrasting policy possibilities to address those concerns, and (c) the possible implementations and consequences of those policy possibilities. For more information check out: http://www.interactivityfoundation.org/

Civil War Or Civil Discussion: Wisconsin Civics Games

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This episode: A conversation with Eve Galanter, creator of the Wisconsin Civics Games. The former Madison councilwoman and a top senatorial aide speaks about developing the next generation of public servants.

About the Civil War Or Civil Discussion podcast:

Join Interactivity Foundation fellows and guests for insights on how to have better conversations about public policy and public life.

About the Interactivity Foundation:

The health of our democracy depends greatly on how well citizens discuss, explore, and develop public policy.  Ideally, public policy choices will be based on citizens’ and policymakers’ careful consideration of reasonable alternatives and their likely consequences. Increasingly, in the real world, however, policy choices are made in response to crisis or in highly-charged political contexts. Frequently the opportunity for the development or
consideration of meaningful citizen input is negligible, and the considered policy options are similarly underdeveloped and limited to a split-the-difference or the lesser of two evils approach.

In response to these challenges, the mission of the Interactivity Foundation (IF) is to enhance the process and expand the scope of our public discussions, thereby improving the health of our democracy and its development of public policy. That is, IF works to improve both the quality and quantity of the public discussions that shape the development of our public policy options. To do this, we’ve developed a small-group discussion process designed to help people collaborate in the exploration and development of a) the diverse concerns and values that relate to an area of societal concern, (b) multiple contrasting policy possibilities to address those concerns, and (c) the possible implementations and consequences of those policy possibilities. For more information check out: http://www.interactivityfoundation.org/

Civil War Or Civil Discussion: Civility on the Web and on the Page

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This episode: In part 1, Will Ferguson, CEO of EnCiv, talks about a new initiative to build a better social media platform from the ground up. In part 2, the hosts revisit Let’s Talk Politics, Gundersen and Lea’s 2013 book about restoring civility in public life.

About the Civil War Or Civil Discussion podcast:

Join Interactivity Foundation fellows and guests for insights on how to have better conversations about public policy and public life.

About the Interactivity Foundation:

The health of our democracy depends greatly on how well citizens discuss, explore, and develop public policy.  Ideally, public policy choices will be based on citizens’ and policymakers’ careful consideration of reasonable alternatives and their likely consequences. Increasingly, in the real world, however, policy choices are made in response to crisis or in highly-charged political contexts. Frequently the opportunity for the development or
consideration of meaningful citizen input is negligible, and the considered policy options are similarly underdeveloped and limited to a split-the-difference or the lesser of two evils approach.

In response to these challenges, the mission of the Interactivity Foundation (IF) is to enhance the process and expand the scope of our public discussions, thereby improving the health of our democracy and its development of public policy. That is, IF works to improve both the quality and quantity of the public discussions that shape the development of our public policy options. To do this, we’ve developed a small-group discussion process designed to help people collaborate in the exploration and development of a) the diverse concerns and values that relate to an area of societal concern, (b) multiple contrasting policy possibilities to address those concerns, and (c) the possible implementations and consequences of those policy possibilities. For more information check out: http://www.interactivityfoundation.org/

Solidarity: 2018’s Solidarity Mo(ve)ments

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This month: Jamia Wilson (Feminist Press) and Jonathan
Jayes-Green (UndocuBlack Network) join Deepa to discuss what shaped 2018’s solidarity moments and movements, and look forward to 2019.

About the Solidarity Is This podcast:

Solidarity Is This is a podcast created and hosted by Deepa Iyer who is with the Center for Social Inclusion and a 2017 Soros Equality Fellow. Each month, we explore how individuals and institutions are experimenting with and exploring multiracial solidarity. We will learn how to practice transformative solidarity in a rapidly transforming racial landscape and in the midst of heightened discrimination targeting communities of color. For more information check out: http://www.solidarityis.org/

About Deepa Iyver:

Deepa Iyer is a South Asian American activist, writer, and lawyer. Deepa is currently the Senior Fellow at the Center for Social Inclusion where she provides analysis, commentary and scholarship on equity and solidarity in America’s changing racial landscape. In November 2015, The New Press published Deepa’s first book, We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future. Scholar Vijay Prashad has written that Deepa “brings the head of a lawyer and the heart of a community activist to bear on her remarkable book…It is a window into the struggles of the margins that allow the mainstream to remain humane.” Deepa’s book was selected by the American Librarians Association’s Booklist magazine to be one of the top 10 multicultural non-fiction books of the year. For more information check out: http://deepaiyer.com/

SchoolHouse: Pa’lante (Forward) in Puerto Rico

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This Month: CJSF’s Jaime Koppel and Thena Robinson Mock welcome CJSF partners and Andrus Family Fund to recap EASJ2018 in San Juan, Puerto Rico and explore together why global solidarity is necessary for justice in Puerto Rico and justice everywhere.

About the SchoolHouse: Equity in Education podcast:

SchoolHouse is a podcast created by the Communities for Just Schools Fund and hosted by Allison R. Brown, Alexis J. Smith, Jaime Koppel, and Thena Robinson Mock. SchoolHouse shares stories about how young people, their families and communities, and other advocates and activists are working in and around schools to make them healthy, safe, and equitable places for children to be. In SchoolHouse, we will learn together about the global implications of local movements for change in our schools.

About CJSF:

The Communities for Just Schools Fund (CJSF) is a nationally-focused donor collaborative. CJSF provides resources in support of community-led organizations that are working to ensure positive and supportive school climates that affirm and foster the success of all students. CJSF’s community partners organize young people, parents and caregivers, educators, and other community members to advocate on behalf of students who are disproportionately impacted by the over-use of exclusionary school discipline practices, including suspensions, expulsions, and arrests in schools. They organize community members to stand up for positive, healthy, and supportive school climates that produce better academic and social outcomes for the students who enroll than school climates with a heavy police presence, zero tolerance school discipline policies, and over-reliance on exclusionary discipline methods. CJSF’s community partners educate students, parents and caregivers, school officials and teachers, police departments, and community leaders on highly beneficial alternatives to suspension, expulsion, and school-based arrests. For more information, email us at info@cjsfund.org and sign up for our newsletter at www.cjsfund.org.