EP 48 - Building Bridges Over the Hills

This episode is part of a series of talks and panel discussions recorded during the breakout sessions of our Othering & Belonging Conference that took place in Oakland this past April. This session is titled "Land, Culture, and Belonging: Place-based Community Advocacy." It looks at the redevelopment of the Henry J. Kaiser Center in Oakland, which was the location of our conference. A private developer who was granted a long-term lease by the city to reopen the venue had negotiated a community benefits agreement with a coalition of local artists. And some of the artists and leaders involved in that process are among the panelists invited to discuss the issue and how it speaks to broader issues of land, culture and belonging. Panelists include Nikki Bas, who is the President of the Oakland City Council; Thomas Cavanagh from the group BANDALOOP; Cristy Johnston-Limón, who leads the City of Oakland’s business development activities; Ayodele Nzinga, who is an artist, actress, playwright, and poet; and Kev Choice, who is a pianist and community advocate. The session was moderated by Eli Moore, who directs OBI's Community Power and Policy Partnerships Program. Eli co-curated this session with OBI's Sarah Crowell. You can find more episodes from this podcast series on our website at belonging.berkeley.edu/whobelongs.

This episode is part of a series of talks and panel discussions recorded during the breakout sessions of our Othering & Belonging Conference that took place in Oakland this past April. This session is titled "Leaning into Paradox: How We Can Block, Bridge & Build Our Democratic Future Together." It includes two speakers from the Horizons Project who engage the audience on those three seemingly paradoxical approaches: how to come together to block the threats to our democratic values; the need to bridge across differences to foster broad-based movements, and to build together the future we want to see. Those speakers are Julia Roig, who is the Founder & Chief Network Weaver at the Horizons Project, and Jarvis Williams, who is the organization's Director for Race and Democracy. You can find more episodes from this podcast series on our website at belonging.berkeley.edu/whobelongs.

This episode is part of a series of talks and panel discussions recorded during the breakout sessions of our Othering & Belonging Conference that took place in Oakland this past April. This session is titled "Democracy in Crisis: The Courage to Re-Humanize One Another." It focuses on a project called Bridging for Democracy (B4D), which is developing strategies for grassroots organizations working in different parts of the country to bridge across racial, ideological, and urban-rural divides and to strengthen democratic norms at a time of deep social fragmentation and dehumanization. The panelists include Bassem Kawar, who is the Political Director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights; Lalo Montoya, the Civic Engagement Director with Make the Road Nevada; Ashley Dixon, who is the Rural Georgia Campaigns Lead Organizer at Southern Crossroads; and Ponsella Hardaway, who is the Executive Director of MOSES. The panel was moderated by Mansi Kathuria, who is the Field Strategy and Research Analyst at OBI. Mansi and OBI's Network for Transformative Change curated this session. You can find more episodes from this series on our website at belonging.berkeley.edu/whobelongs.

This episode is part of a series of talks and panel discussions recorded during the breakout sessions of our Othering & Belonging Conference that took place in Oakland this past April. This session is titled "Using Data to Advance Belonging without Othering." It looks at a set of domains at the intersection of data and civil society, such as racialized policing and surveillance, housing and eviction, and belonging metrics. Panelists include Amy Lee, who is an organizing member of the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project; Matyos Kidane, who is a community organizer with the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition; and Shadrick Small, who is a researcher at OBI. It's moderated by Stephen Menendian, who is assistant director at OBI. The panel was curated by OBI's Equity Metrics team. You can find more episodes from this series on our website at belonging.berkeley.edu/whobelongs.

This episode is part of a series of talks and panel discussions recorded during the breakout sessions of our Othering & Belonging Conference that took place in Oakland this past April. This session is titled "Expressions of Belonging," and it offers a mix of stories, insights, and diverse approaches to advancing belonging at an array of organizations at different scales and locations. It includes panelists David T. Hsu, who is a Director at Omidyar Network; Liz Baxter, who is the CEO of the North Sound ACH; Cary Simmons, who is the Director of Community Strategies at Trust for Public Land; and Judith Mowry, who is the interim Deputy Director for the Office of Equity and Human Rights in the City of Portland. The discussion was moderated by Ashley Gallegos, who is OBI's Belonging Coordinator. You can find more episodes from this series on our website at belonging.berkeley.edu/whobelongs.

Episode Note This episode is part of a series of talks and panel discussions recorded during the breakout sessions of our Othering & Belonging Conference that took place in Oakland this past April. This session is titled "Xenophobia, Resistance, and the Future of the Immigrant Rights Movement." It includes panelists Annette Wong, who is the Managing Director of Programs at Chinese for Affirmative Action; Karim Golding, founder of the Law Library; Lawrence Benito, who is the executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights; and Carlos Perea, who is the Executive Director of the Harbor Institute for Immigrant and Economic Justice. It was moderated by Tracy La, the Executive Director of VietRISE. The panelists share lessons they learned from their years of organizing in the immigrant rights movement, the changing faces of xenophobia in the context of migration, and stories of local communities challenging traditional notions of representation and belonging by winning the right to vote for noncitizens. This session was curated by Tracy La, OBI's Rio Gonzalez, the OBI Network for Transformative Change. You can find more episodes from this series on our website at belonging.berkeley.edu/whobelongs.

Episode Notes This episode is part of a series of talks and panel discussions recorded during the breakout sessions of our Othering & Belonging Conference that took place in Oakland this past April. This session is titled "Resisting Austerity: Keeping Public Infrastructure Public." It includes panelists Donald Cohen, founder and executive director of In the Public Interest; and Joey Algier, who is the Community Engagement and Communications Coordinator for The Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans. The panel looks at ways some communities are responding to austerity by restructuring the private sector's relationship with public assets. It was moderated by Wendy Ake, director of Just Public Finance and OBI. You can find more episodes from this series on our website at belonging.berkeley.edu/whobelongs.

Episode Notes This episode is part of a series of talks and panel discussions recorded during the breakout sessions of our Othering & Belonging Conference that took place in Oakland this past April. This session is titled "Bridging Through High School Ethnic Studies," and was curated by OBI's Hossein Ayazi. It includes panelists from the UC Berkeley High School Ethnic Studies Initiative, Julie Yick, Mike Espinoza, Jason Muñiz, and antmen pimentel mendoza. Together with the audience they explore concepts that are essential to high school ethnic studies courses, discuss what those concepts look and feel like, and how to effectively bring them into the classroom. The discussion is facilitated by Victoria Robinson, the director of the American Cultures Center at UC Berkeley. Find more episodes from this series on our website at belonging.berkeley.edu/whobelongs. Find out more at http://belonging.berkeley.edu

Episode Notes In this episode of Who Belongs? we hear from Darrell Owens, who is a policy analyst at California Yimby, and a writer on Substack who focuses on housing, planning, displacement, mobility and other issues. He just authored a new piece called Segregation or Integration which combines data on housing policy with his personal experiences growing up in Berkeley living in different neighborhoods. And we also have with us Stephen Menendian who will give us his thoughts on the article. Stephen is our assistant director here at OBI who has published extensively on issues related to segregation and housing Read Darrell's article here: https://darrellowens.substack.com/p/segregation-or-integration Find out more at http://belonging.berkeley.edu

In this episode, we speak with Sharon Dunn and Gwen Johnson — two members of Hands Across the Hills (HATH), a grassroots group working to build bridges between communities in rural Western Massachusetts and in the Eastern Kentucky coal country. Formed in the wake of the 2016 election, this group seeks to build empathy and unity between diverging perspectives through structured dialogue and cultural exchange. Sharon and Gwen share their experiences and the lessons they draw, illuminating how a breaking dynamic can shift to bridging — and move towards belonging — through deep conversation, care, and resiliency. This episode of Who Belongs? is part of a new series of podcasts focused on telling bridging stories. Throughout the series we’ll talk to leaders implementing bridging work and individuals who have experienced the bridging transformation. This project is led by OBI’s Blueprint for Belonging project (B4B) and typically hosted by program researcher Miriam Magaña Lopez. However, this episode is hosted by OBI Summer Fellow Nicole Li. Visit our website at https://belonging.berkeley.edu/bridging-belonging-case-series to explore all of the case studies in the Bridging to Belonging series. Intro and outro music are by Chad Crouch. Find out more at https://who-belongs.pinecast.co