Jennifer Johns peforms outside of an Oxford, MS debate. Photo courtesy of flickr user greenforall.org

The arts have played an essential role in defining our history and our culture. Yet when economic times are hard, the arts are seen as a luxury we can do without. For many cultural activists, supporting and preserving the arts is fundamental to create social awareness, environmental sustainability and political change. On this edition, we bring you the voices of artists discussing their mediums and how they use art to change the world.

Special thanks to Michael Orange, Top Ten Social Speaker Series and Oakland School of the Arts, Black Box Theatre.

Featuring:

Moderated by Abel Habtegeoris, media relations manager at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights; Marc Bamuthi Joseph, artistic director at Life is Living, artist cultural activist; Jennifer Johns, founder of Go Live, singer, songwriter and Rich Medina, DJ, music producer and poet.

WEB EXCLUSIVES

Full panel discussion, ‘The God’s Must Be Crazy: Reviving the Black Supernatural Experience, Black Box Theatre, Oakland, CA on June 30, 2011. Note: contains explicit language’.

Q&A with panel, moderated by Abel Habtegeoris of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights

—–

For More Information:

Life is Living
Youth Speaks
Word Strike
Top Ten Social
Go Live:Real Food
Rich Medina
Smithsonian Folkways
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Americans for the Arts

Books/Articles:

Talkin’ ‘Bout a Revolution: Music and Social Change in America by Dick
Weissman,

Culture Before Politics: In freeing creativity, progressives can once again
capture and carry forward our national imagination, by Jeff Chang
and Brian Komar | December 9, 2010

Artists in a Time Of War, By Howard Zinn

Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop by Jeff Chang

Arrest the Music!: Fela and His Rebel Art and Politics (African Expressive
Cultures) by Tejumola Olaniyan

Music:

Fela Kuti, Shakara, Album: The Best of the Black President (Deluxe Version)
Fela Kuti, ROYAT , Oct 2009

Economist Richard Wolff

As the ‘great recession’ continues, Economist Richard Wolff says failed ‘trickle down economics’ theories are being recycled under a different name. Now state and local governments are enacting even more cuts to the people who can afford them the least.

On this edition, Making Contact’s Lisa Rudman conducts an exclusive interview with economist and educator, Richard Wolff. He explains how we got into this economic mess, who’s to blame, and how, if we get organized, the flow of resources might be reversed.

Featuring:

Richard Wolff, University of Massachusetts at Amherst professor; Jerry Brown, Governor of California.

— WEB EXCLUSIVES —

Interview with Professor Richard Wolff by Lisa Rudman on January 16, 2011.

—–

For more information:

Berkeley Hillside Club

Confessions of a Radical Prof

Center for Popular Economics

Dollars and Sense magazine

Economists for Peace and Security

KPFA radio

Monthly Review

Professor Richard Wolff

Socialism and Democracy

Union of Radical Political Economics

United for a Fair Economy

Music:

For You by Mindtrap
Summer Love by Billy Wright
A Gentle Dissolve (Shawn Lee Ping Pong Orchestra Remix) by Thievery Corporation

Gift economies in practice in Mali Credit: Photographer Andy Lin

This past holiday season, charitable organizations were hit with the troubling combination of increased need and dwindling resources. But in hard times, people find ways to take care of themselves, and each other. On this edition, we continue our series “How We Survive”, a look into how communities around the U.S. are responding to the economic crisis. This week… people meet each others’ needs, without charity, or even exchanging a dollar.

Featuring:

Danette Truso, Yvonne Pugh and Al Miller, Sobrante Park Time Bank participants; Paul Butler, Sobrante Park Time Bank co-administrator; Craig White, Center for Participatory Change staff member; Coumba Toure, Ashoma Fellow with Institute of Public Education; Shilpa Jain, former Shikshantar worker and gift economy participant; Larry Harvey, Burning Man Founder; Skip, Burning Man Elder Camp member.

Contributing Producer: Rachel Wallis with Other Worlds

—

Time Banking: A Community’s Route Around Poverty

by Megan Martenyi

During a recession, times are tough all around. But for many low income communities across the US, getting by has been a struggle for quite some time. Take Oakland, California for example, where unemployment and security have been a concern since before the housing bubble burst. That’s why one East Oakland neighborhood – called Sobrante Park – decided to try a different economic model in their community. Making Contact’s Megan Martenyi reports.

—

Appalachians say Community Support is More Important than Charity

by Tena Rubio

A study released by The Center for Participatory Change in North Carolina says horizontal giving – or informal giving based on already existing family or friend relationships – happens all the time among low-income and marginalized communities in Appalachia. The non-profit talked with over 100 Hmong people, African Americans, Latinos and white Appalachians, who said overwhelmingly that horizontal giving played a more significant role than vertical giving, which came in the form of charity from outside the community. Making Contact’s Tena Rubio talked to Craig White of the Center for Participatory Change, about their report.

—

‘Gifting’ in Mali and India – A Way of Life

by Rachel Wallis of the Other Worlds Collective

Advertisements fill the airways with messages to show love through the purchase of a diamond or a video game. Yet for many people around the world, giving happens all the time. The Other Worlds collaborative, a network of activists, artists and media producers, seeks to amplify the voices involved in gift economies. Rachel Wallis, media coordinator for the group, has more about a practice in the West African nation of Mali and beyond.

——

Burning Man’s ‘Gift Economy’

by Andrew Stelzer

No commerce is allowed at Burning Man. It’s one of the most unusual economic structures in the world–a ‘gift economy’. Making Contact producer Andrew Stelzer’s been there, and sat down with Larry Harvey, the festival’s founder, to find out how it all works.

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Burning Man Founder Larry Harvey

by Andrew Stelzer

The full length interview with Burning Man founder Larry Harvey, discussing the roots and details of how the festivals’ ‘gift economy’ works.

—-

For More Information:

Burning Man
San Francisco, CA

Center for Participatory Change
Asheville, NC

Freecycle

The Gift Economy

Giving Within Communities:
CPC’s Research on Horizontal Giving

Horizontal Philanthropy:
The Importance of Giving in Low Wealth Communities

Other Worlds
Albuquerque, MN

Shikshantar
Rajasthan, India

Time Banking Sobrante Park
Oakland, CA

Articles, Blogs, Films, Reports, Other

‘Sweat Equity / In this East Oakland community time really is money’
by Rob Baedeker, SF Gate

‘Reclaiming health: Residents battle to overcome health inequities‘
by Suzanne Bohan and Sandy Kleffman
Contra Costa Times

‘Oakland fences off Tyrone Carney Park, home of brazen drug gang‘
by Jim Herron Zamora, Chronicle Staff Writer

Credit: swanksalot, via flickr

Economists say the “Great Recession” is over, but for most people, the hard times are not. If you’re a young person looking for a job, it looks pretty dismal out there, and it may not brighten up anytime soon. On this edition of How We Survive, we look at how the economy is hitting the “millennial generation.”

Featuring:

Alissa Anderson, Deputy Director, The California Budget Project; Chris Hutchins, laid off young worker; Lynne Lancaster, co-author, “The M-Factor: How the Millennial Generation is Rocking the Workplace;” Enrico Moretti, Professor of Economics at UC-Berkeley; Nora Rose, volunteer, Temescal Library’s Homework Help program; Thomas McCall, Richmond resident.

For More Information:

California Budget Project
Sacramento, CA

Crosscurrents Radio on KALW News
San Francisco, CA

Young Workers United

Youth Empowerment Center
Oakland, CA

Articles and Books:

‘Stuck between a Recession and Recovery’ – California Budget Project

“The M-Factor: How the Millennial Generation is Rocking the Workplace”

By Lynne Lancaster

—–

How A Recession Will Shape A Generation

When it comes to job creation, it feels like the nation is still in the middle of the Great Recession. The millennial generation is a group of people between 10 and 28 years old. Nationally, there are about 80 million of them. In this next part of the show, we’ll hear a two part series from KALW Radio in San Francisco. Reporter Rina Palta takes a hard look at how the toughest job market in decades will shape this recession generation.

–

California Youth Among Hardest Hit By Recession

The state of California was hit much harder by the recession than the United States as a whole. The unemployment rate is almost three percentage points higher than the national figure. And the turn around of the job market has slowed down with state budget cuts and dwindling federal recovery funds. That’s according to Alissa Anderson of the California Budget Project, whom we heard from earlier in the show. Anderson authored a report called “Stuck Between a Recession and a Recovery,” which, among other things, looked at out-of-school 16-24 year-olds in California. They found that fewer than six out of ten of these young adults are working. We talked with Anderson about why this population is the last hired and first fired in a recession.

—

Homework Help: Nora Rose’s Story

But young folks aren’t just letting the recession happen to them. When the City of Oakland cut their after school homework help program, High school senior Nora Rose started volunteering at her library to help fill the void. Shaunnah Ray produced her story.

—

Going Door-to-Door for Education: Thomas’s Story

Thomas McCall grew up bouncing from house to house – from aunties and grandmas to friends’ couches, to the transitional housing residence for homeless youth in Richmond, CA, that he currently calls home. This 20-year-old student-athlete and father-to-be is part of a group of young people who have been hardest hit by this recession: the kids who were already struggling to make it in the American job market. Courtney Supple produced his story.

Music:

‘Accompanying Guilty Thoughts’ – by Klimek
‘A Little Bit of Somethin’’ – Tommy Guerrero
“Bartender’ by T-Pain

Dontaye Ball, founder of Good Foods Catering, helped get his business off the ground through the support of the San Francisco non-profit, Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center. Photo Credit: Tamara Palmer

Unemployment teeters on the double digits, and long–term joblessness is at an all time high. When will relief come to those who need a paycheck? On this edition of our series, How We Survive, we look at how the unemployed are getting creative about making ends meet, from starting their own businesses to work-sharing.

Featuring:

Dontaye Ball, micro-entrepreneur and owner of Good Foods Catering; Robyn Fountain, program coordinator, Renaissance Entrepreneur Center; Tamika Edwards, small business owner in San Francisco; Eric Weaver, CEO of Opportunity Fund; Dan Ringrose, worker at Lincoln Door; Neil Rohon, shared-work program coordinator at the Connecticut Department of Labor; Pat Stachen, Human Resources Administrator, Lincoln Door and Hartford Technologies; Kevin Newcomb, worker at Hartford Technologies and union representative for United Auto Workers Local 367; Rosa DeLauro, Connecticut Congresswoman; Dean Baker, Co-Founder, Center for Economic and Policy Research.

—

Non-Profits Help Create Jobs by Supporting Micro-Enterprise

Despite Obama’s words of support of small business, experts say some aren’t relying on government, but more and more on community groups and micro-lenders. That’s what Making Contact correspondent Li Miao Lovett found, talking to micro-entrepreneurs in the San Francisco Bay Area.

—

Companies Choose Shared-Work Over Layoffs

When there aren’t enough hours of work to go around, why not share them? That’s the premise of ‘shared-work’ programs in seventeen states around the country. Instead of laying a few people off during a downturn  in business, companies can choose to decrease the hours of all of their employees, and government provided, partial unemployment benefits can help make up for the rest.  In Connecticut, more than 500 companies have gone the work-share route. Correspondent Melinda Tuhus has more.

—

Expert Calls Work-Sharing the Answer to Unemployment Woes

Dean Baker, Co-Director of the Center for Economic Policy Research and author of ‘False Profits: Recovering from the Bubble Economy’ and has written extensively about Shared-Work programs. Making Contact Producer Andrew Stelzer got him on the phone.

—

For more information:

Accion USA

Canal Alliance
San Francisco, CA

Center for Economic and Policy Research
Washington D.C.

Good Foods Catering
San Francisco, CA

Kiva
San Francisco, CA

Lincoln Door
Rocky Hill, CT

Opportunity Fund
San Jose, CA

Renaisssance Entrepreneurship Center
San Rafael, CA

Videos, Blogs, Articles, Links:

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro

If Germany Is a Winner, It Is Partly Because It Has Work Sharing
By Dean Baker

Washington State Shared-Work Program

Child's letter to HI Gov. Lingle

State budgets are strapped and deep cuts to public programs continue, putting public education on the chopping block. On this edition, we continue our series, How We Survive with a look at the crisis in K through 12 education. While the Obama administration pushes states to “Race to the Top,” teachers, parents, and students are resisting budget cuts from the bottom up.

Featuring:

David Lyell, substitute teacher and participant in the ‘March for California’s Future’; Naomi Spencer, parent, Ypsilanti, M.I.; Marguerite Higa, parent, organizer of Save Our Schools Hawaii; Scott Paulin, principal, Potter Valley, C.A. school district; Keith Canova, music teacher, Potter Valley, C.A.; Kevin Paren-chini, parent and teacher, Potter Valley, C.A.; Maria Johnson, coordinator, Potter Valley Community Center; Lisa Oden, parent, Potter Valley, C.A.; Amy Silva, parent, Potter Valley, C.A.; Meredith Randall, vice president of education and student services at Mendocino Community College; Stan Karp, editor, Rethinking Schools.

—

Parents, Teachers and Students Respond to Cuts in K-12 Education

Lately, it seems almost no state is safe from budget cuts to K-12 education. Furloughs, teacher layoffs, and school closings. Producer Pauline Bartolone gathered stories from those affected in Hawaii, Michigan and California.

—

Rural School Districts Get Creative on Furlough Days

Furloughs aren’t just a problem for Hawaii schools… Districts in more than a dozen states have cut back to a four day school week. Some Rural districts are dealt a double financial blow from state cuts and declining enrollment. While parents in the story we just heard want to end furloughs – and fast – one small town in Northern California has come up with creative ways to supplement their new found free time. From Mendocino County, Christina Aanestad has more.

—

Stan Karp on Rethinking Federal Policy

We’ve heard about the cuts and about how people are trying to rise above them. But what about the roots of the crisis? What are the policies that enable these hardships? To get some perspective, Making Contact producer Andrew Stelzer spoke with an Editor at the magazine Rethinking Schools.

For more information:

Center on Education Policy
Washington, DC

Civil Rights Project (UCLA)
Los Angeles, CA

March for California’s Future
Central Valley, CA

Philadelphia Student Union
Philadelphia, PA

Rethinking Schools
Milwaukee, WI

Save Our Schools Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii

Articles, Blogs, Films, Reports, Other:

Choice Without Equity: Charter School Segregation and the Need for Civil Rights Standards
A report by UCLA’s Civil Rights Project

‘School Reform We Can’t Believe In’
An article by by Stan Karp, Rethinking Schools, Spring, 2010

‘The Fight to Save Public Education’
An article by Shamus Cooke, Counterpunch, March 8, 2010

‘Detroit: A Model for Nationwide Assault on Public Education’
An article by Joe Kishore, World Socialist Web Site, March 19, 2010

Music:

Airs Above Your Station by Kinski
Warm Sound by Zero 7
P.S. by Chromakey

Plus more from Chromakey

On November 18, 2009, Students faculty and staff at UC Berkeley protested tuition fee increases by the UC Board of Regents. Photo courtesy MCT, via dailytitan.org

State budgets are strapped and deep cuts to public programs continue.  No system is on the chopping block more than public education. On this edition, we continue our series, How We Survive. This week? It’s a time of crisis in higher education. And as administrators cast an eye toward privatization, students are mobilizing for change, and a voice in the system.

Featuring:

Zachary Levenson, UC Berkeley Graduate School student and TA; Mark G. Yudof, University of California President; Laura Nader, UC Berkeley professor; Bob Meister, UC Santa Cruz professor; Wael Elasady, Portland State University student & protest organizer; Jonathan Sanford, PSU’S student body president; Jim Francesconi, Oregon State Board of Higher Education Vice President; Zaki Bucherest, PSU student activist; Adam Sanchez, PSU graduate student & primary school teacher; Christopher Newfield, PhD, UC Santa Barbara Professor & author of ‘Unmaking the Public University: The Forty Year Assault on the Middle Class’.

Some audio in this show was excerpted from the film “Occupied Berkeley: The Taking of Wheeler Hall” produced by David Martinez and Brandon Jourdon.

—

Beyond Wheeler: UC Voices for Education as a Public Good

The University of California system is known around the world as one of the most successful models of publicly-funded higher education. In 1960, UC President Clark Kerr spearheaded the groundbreaking California master plan for higher education, seeking to make a quality education accessible to all. Yet some 50 years later, some say the foundation of public education is being dismantled through fee hikes and corporate funding.  Making Contact’s Pauline Bartolone has more about UC Berkeley folks who are trying to stand in the way of privatizing what was meant to be public.

—

Portland State University, Inc. 

Like other states across the country, Oregon is struggling with the question of how to fund higher education in a time of massive budget cuts.  The Portland State University PSU, has increased class sizes, and made deep cuts to student programs and teacher pay. But recently PSU’s president proposed a new model to solve the university’s budget woes: incorporation. Jenka Soderberg from KBOO has more.

—

Author Offers a History of the Privatization of Public Education

From raising fees to privatizing entire universities, nationwide, there is a variety of ways that privatizing public college education is taking place. As we’ve heard, the dismantling of California’s public system has been going on for decades.  Dr. Christopher Newfield wrote a whole book about it. He’s a Professor of English at UC Santa Barbara and author of ‘Unmaking the Public University: the Forty-Year Assault on the Middle Class.” He’s currently in France where he’s working for the Education Abroad Program for the University of California.

—

For more information:

National Education Association
Washington, DC

Portland State University
Portland, OR

Save Cal Now
Berkeley, CA

Solidarity Alliance

Articles, Blogs, Films, Reports:

‘Budget Cuts Dimming Bright Futures‘
By Laura Christmas, Tampa Bay Online

CUNY Campaign to Defend Education (CCDE)

‘Occupied Berkeley: The Taking of Wheeler Hall’
by Brandon Jourdon and David Martinez

Professor Christopher Newfield Blog

Recession Realities in Higher Ed (Blog)
By Ray Schroeder, Professor Emeritus University of Illinois at Springfield

Reclamations Journal

Remaking the University (Blog)

Unmaking the Public University: The Forty Year Assault on the Middle Class
A book by Christopher Newfield

Gift economies in practice in Mali Credit: Photographer Andy Lin

This past holiday season, charitable organizations were hit with the troubling combination of increased need and dwindling resources. But in hard times, people find ways to take care of themselves, and each other.   On this edition, we continue our series “How We Survive”, a look into how communities around the U.S. are responding to the economic crisis. This week… people meet each others’ needs, without charity, or even exchanging a dollar.

Featuring:

Danette Truso, Yvonne Pugh and Al Miller, Sobrante Park Time Bank participants; Paul Butler, Sobrante Park Time Bank co-administrator; Craig White, Center for Participatory Change staff member; Coumba Toure, Ashoma Fellow with Institute of Public Education; Shilpa Jain, former Shikshantar worker and gift economy participant; Larry Harvey, Burning Man Founder; Skip, Burning Man Elder Camp member.

Contributing Producer: Rachel Wallis with Other Worlds

—

Time Banking: A Community’s Route Around Poverty

by Megan Martenyi

During a recession, times are tough all around. But for many low income communities across the US, getting by has been a struggle for quite some time.   Take Oakland, California for example, where unemployment and security have been a concern since before the housing bubble burst.  That’s why one East Oakland neighborhood  - called Sobrante Park – decided to try a different economic model in their community.  Making Contact’s Megan Martenyi reports.

—

Appalachians say Community Support is More Important than Charity

by Tena Rubio

A study released by The Center for Participatory Change in North Carolina says horizontal giving – or informal giving based on already existing family or friend relationships – happens all the time among low-income and marginalized communities in Appalachia. The non-profit talked with over 100 Hmong people, African Americans, Latinos and white Appalachians, who said overwhelmingly that horizontal giving played a more significant role than vertical giving, which came in the form of charity from outside the community. Making Contact’s Tena Rubio talked to Craig White of the Center for Participatory Change, about their report.

—

‘Gifting’ in Mali and India – A Way of Life

by Rachel Wallis of the Other Worlds Collective

Advertisements fill the airways with messages to show love through the purchase of a diamond or a video game.  Yet for many people around the world, giving happens all the time. The Other Worlds collaborative, a network of activists, artists and media producers, seeks to amplify the voices involved in gift economies. Rachel Wallis, media coordinator for the group, has more about a practice in the West African nation of Mali and beyond.

——

Burning Man’s ‘Gift Economy’

by Andrew Stelzer

No commerce is allowed at Burning Man.  It’s one of the most unusual economic structures in the world–a ‘gift economy’.  Making Contact producer Andrew Stelzer’s been there, and sat down with Larry Harvey, the festival’s founder, to find out how it all works.

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Burning Man Founder Larry Harvey

by Andrew Stelzer

The full length interview with Burning Man founder Larry Harvey, discussing the roots and details of how the festivals’ ‘gift economy’ works.

—-

For More Information:

Burning Man
San Francisco, CA

Center for Participatory Change
Asheville, NC

Freecycle

The Gift Economy

Giving Within Communities:
CPC’s Research on Horizontal Giving

Horizontal Philanthropy:
The Importance of Giving in Low Wealth Communities

Other Worlds
Albuquerque, MN

Shikshantar
Rajasthan, India

Time Banking Sobrante Park
Oakland, CA

Articles, Blogs, Films, Reports, Other

‘Sweat Equity / In this East Oakland community time really is money’
by Rob Baedeker,  SF Gate

‘Reclaiming health: Residents battle to overcome health inequities‘
by Suzanne Bohan and Sandy Kleffman
Contra Costa Times

‘Oakland fences off Tyrone Carney Park, home of brazen drug gang‘
by Jim Herron Zamora, Chronicle Staff Writer

Making Contact covered health care reform, Iraq war veterans, and food crises in U.S. breadbaskets.

Two wars continued, the economy remained in freefall, and as hardship ensued, people crafted creative solutions.  On this edition, we look back at some of the most compelling stories we brought you during 2009, and find out where things are headed for 2010.

Featuring portions of the following shows:

Many Voices for a Single-Payer System

Voices: Single-payer protestors at Senate Finance Committee meetings; U.S. Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.).

The War Comes Home: Washington’s Battle Against America’s Veterans

Voices: Zollie Goodman, former Naval petty officer

How We Survive: The Deepening Homeless Crisis

Voices: Max Rameau, Take Back The Land founder; Marie Nadine Pierre, Take Back the Land participant.

How We Survive: Sprouting Up in Empty Breadbaskets

Voices: Rachel Klein, Fresno Community Food Bank Worker; Evangelina Zaragoza, Needs Food Aid; Nayamin Martinez, Binational Center for the Development of Oaxacan Indigenous Communities Health Coordinator.

The Greening of America: A New Deal for Everyone?

Voices: Lawrence Martinez, Randy Mason, Keith Rose and Antoine Sawyer, Richmond Build trainees; Zoey Burrows, Solar Richmond Development & Communications staff member; Samuel Charles, Richmond Build lead instructor.

Also featuring: Russ Choma, Investigative journalist with the Investigative Reporting workshop at the American University School of Communication.

For More Information:

Many Voices for a Single-Payer System:

California Nurses Association (CNA)
Oakland, CA

Physicians for a National Health Program
Chicago, IL

Health Care-NOW! New York, NY

Labor Campaign for Single Payer Health Care

Single Payer Action Washington, DC

U.S. Congressman John Conyers

U.S. Senator Max Baucus

The War Comes Home: Washington’s Battle Against America’s Veterans

Aaron Glantz, Author
 of “The War Comes Home: Washington’s Battle Against America’s Veterans
”

National Veterans Foundation
Los Angeles, CA

New Directions Los Angeles, CA

Sierra College Veteran Student Alliance

Swords to Plowshares
San Francisco, CA

Veterans for Common Sense
Washington, DC

How We Survive: The Deepening Homeless Crisis

Take Back the Land
Miami, FL

US Human Rights Network

Picture the Homeless

How We Survive: Sprouting Up in Empty Breadbaskets:

Binational Center for the Development of Oaxacan Indigenous Communities
Fresno, CA

California Institute for Rural Studies
Davis, CA

California Conservation Corps Foundation
Benecia, CA

California Food and Justice Coalition
Berkeley, CA

Fresno Community Food Bank
Fresno, CA

Fresno Metro Ministry
Fresno, CA

The Greening of America: A New Deal for Everyone?

Ella Baker Center Green Jobs campaign
Oakland, CA

Richmond Build
Richmond, CA

Solar Richmond
Richmond, CA

“Overseas firms collecting most green energy money”

Russ Choma, Investigative Reporting Workshop
Russ Choma

Green Equity Toolkit: Advancing Race, Gender and Economic Equity in the Green Economy

Bottles and cans at Canners' Redemption Center, NYC. Photo Credit: Michael Premo

People are struggling just to stay afloat. We’re still in the midst of a recession. Despite reports of expected slow economic growth through the first half of 2010, millions in the U.S remain unemployed. In these rough economic times, how are so many making ends meet?

On this edition, we continue our series “How We Survive.” We meet a New York City street canner who’s changed his life and community one can at a time; A San Francisco couple paying the bills … with pickles? And we talk to author John Curl who says an unemployment movement may be on the rise.

Featuring:

John Williams, economist with Shadow Government Statistics; Michael Premo, producer; Eugene “The King of Cans” Gadsden, canner; Ana Martinez De Luco, canner; Drew Swope, canner; John Curl, author.

Special thanks to contributing producers Michael Premo and Rachel Falcone.

For More Information:

The Bottle Bill
Culver City, CA

Container Recycling Institute
Culver City, CA

Housing is a Human Right
New York, NY

Michael Premo
New York, NY

Picture the Homeless
New York, NY

Shadow Government Statistics
Oakland, CA

Books, Articles and Reports:

‘For All the People: Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements, and Communalism in America’ By John Curl