A Podcast To

Power Up

Change-Makers

Connect with the Frontline Non‑Profit Leaders Who Inspire You

Photography by Hannah Colen

Power Station: The Social Activism Podcast for Progressive Non-Profits

Stay Informed

On forward-looking ideas from progressive non-profit leaders

Network With Other Leaders

On social media to ask questions and offer ideas:

Gain Leadership Insight

By connecting to leaders with real-world experience creating change

Not nearly enough

media platforms showcase progressive non-profit leaders, which minimizes their role in change-making and can leave them feeling isolated and disconnected.

Let’s inspire and learn from each other.

All progressive change-makers benefit from connecting with peers and amplifying each others’ voices.

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Power Station logo by Yadira Gonzales

Get Inspired to

Make Social Change

Listen to Power Station now wherever you download podcasts.

Identity, Voice and Justice
34 min
#372 DC Vote

Where To Listen

To see disenfranchisement in action, look no further than Washington DC, whose 700,000 residents pay the highest taxes per household in our nation and yet have no voting members in the U.S. Congress. This inequity has persisted through both democratic and republican administrations and is intensifying in the 119th Congress and the Trump presidency. For almost 3 decades, DC Vote, a local nonprofit with national reach has led the movement for DC Statehood. It achieved the passage of Home Rule, but our elected leaders still do not control their budgets, and their legislation can be overturned by members of Congress who do not respect the right of a majority Black and Brown citizenry to govern itself. In this episode of Power Station I speak to DC Vote’s Organizing Director Kelcye Adams whose political savvy and organizing know-how is generating powerful pro-statehood coalitions across the nation. Kelyce, an organizing superstar, co-founded Free DC, which invites everyone, not just the organizationally affiliated, to advocate for democracy. Along the way she found time to launch Long Live GoGo, which celebrates the official music of DC and catalyzes civic action at the  intersection of art, politics and culture. Listen and share!

 

Investment Matters
38 min
#371 JVS Bay Area

Where To Listen

There is one fact that Lisa Countryman Quiroz, CEO of Jewish Vocational Service Bay Area (JVS) wants you to take away from our deeply data-informed conversation. There is a proven pathway for people stuck in low-quality jobs to secure high-quality employment that moves families into the middle class. And doing so generates a quantifiable return on investment. That fact is documented in unimpeachable quarterly earnings data collected by the state of California’s Employment Development Department. Job seekers, primarily women of color, come to JVS with aspirations and the need to provide for their families. JVS’s investments in them, customized training for specialized positions in industry and public agencies, one-on-one staff support and advocacy for systems change, make a better life for families achievable. Jobseekers come to JVS having earned around $40k annually. Post training, they earn $60k and in 5 years their salaries are over $100k. These results are life-changing for families and a huge win for economic mobility. At JVS, Lisa Countryman Quiroz is making transformational progress notwithstanding the threat of federal funding cuts and policy rollbacks. There is so much to learn from this episode. Listen to Lisa and share!

 

Investment Matters
30 min
#370 Brookings Institution

Where To Listen

What is more powerful than a book that delivers a new framework for understanding and repairing the most foundational injustice in our nation, the gap in wealth and power between white and Black Americans? The first revelatory moment I experienced reading Black Power Scorecard by Dr. Andre Perry was his description of Black power, a data-driven and additive definition, which can be summarized as the ability to live a long and full life. What follows is a deep and data-driven dive into the conditions that make a long life possible, from communities with clean air, to home and business ownership to incomes that empower families. Understanding where these gaps in wealth and power lie, provides an unimpeachable policy framework for advancing Black Power in America. Most importantly, Andre Perry connects us to Black communities that are flourishing because of Black entrepreneurs and leaders, including Lanier Richardson whose business investments are creating a new class of owners in Black communities. These stories are under-reported and deserve to be heard so that strategies are replicated. Black power, unlike White power, is collective and not extractive. It benefits all of us and it is fully within reach.

 

 

Why This Podcast?

We have firsthand experience

with tackling inequitable conditions in non-profits with limited resources and recognition.

We created a podcast to amplify the voices of those building power and making change.

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Your Host
Anne Pasmanick

Changing the Country One Story at a Time

How are you powering up your non-profit?

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Power Up Your Progressive Non-Profit

You don’t have to be limited by the way things have always been done. Instead be empowered to take on big, bold policy change.

Listen

to Power Station guests tell their stories

Engage

with the community on social media

Get Inspired

to push through barriers in your own organization

Share

how you are powering up your non-profit

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About Anne Pasmanick

I was propelled into community organizing when I was illegally evicted 30 years ago. I understand the challenges and potential of working for social justice in non-profits with finite resources and support.

Anne Pasmanick

I was launched into nonprofit policy advocacy 30+ years ago when my landlord, looking to maximize his profits in a gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood harassed, robbed and illegally evicted me from a property he owned. I quickly found neighborhood and statewide nonprofits, learned about tenant’s rights and how to advocate for policy change at city hall and the state capitol. Most importantly, I joined my neighbors who waged a successful years-long battle to stay in their homes.

Since then, I have worked in nonprofits with a social change mission as an organizer, fundraiser, policy advocate, program developer and executive director. I understand what it takes to be effective, stay solvent, and improve the lives of underinvested people and communities. I care, deeply, profoundly about the systemic and racial injustices that have marked public policy making and I know that nonprofits are critical to reimagining what can be. I started Power Station to amplify the voices of leaders who build community, influence and power. They are our pathway to progressive change.

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