“At its core, the role of a community foundation is to create pathways that connect our community and its many different individuals, groups, and organizations to the resources needed to flourish.”

How much do you know about community foundations and the impact they are making in your community? In this episode we speak with Jennifer Owens, President and CEO of the Arlington Community Foundation, and Heather Peeler, President and CEO of ACT Alexandria, about these longstanding resources and change agents in our community.

How much do you know about the "path to the presidency"? Of course, for some people it can start decades before they officially announce that they are running, but in today’s episode we are going to talk about everything from the convention to the electoral college to the transition. If you have seen the movie Shirley, about Shirley Chisolm’s historic presidential run as the first black candidate for a major-party nomination for President of the United States and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, you have seen an even more in-depth look at the convention politics.

In this episode we speak with Glyda Carr, president, CEO and co-founder of Higher Heights for America, and at the center of the national movement to grow Black women’s political power from the voting booth to elected office. and Rebekah Caruthers, Vice President at Fair Vote, who has managed or consulted on campaigns, voter projects, and with candidates in over two dozen states including presidential and down ballot races in battleground states.

If you want to get involved with the process. One way you can do that is by becoming a delegate at a political party convention. Its best to reach out to your state party to get specifics on the process, as each state is different.

At a time when there is a backlash against DEI efforts, along with the resignation of Claudine Gay, the first black woman to serve as president of Harvard University, we felt it was time to have a discussion about how those of us who are DEI proponents continue moving DEI forward.

I don’t think we take the time to define, what success looks like for DEI, and acknowledge practically and realistically what we discuss in our conversation as the backlash that history tells us we can expect, and how we emerge from this current backlash with a stronger movement and a stronger society.

In this conversation with Joi Chaney, founder of principal of J.O.I. Strategies, and Jessica Paige, social scientist with the RAND Corporation, two Harvard graduates, we hear their perspectives on what DEI means, how Black women can succeed despite the challenges, and what’s next for the future of DEI post Claudine Gay’s resignation.