What the SVB Failure Teaches us About Investment Banking (Encore)
…to bail out the bank was made over a weekend, two days after the collapse. Basically, the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, and the FDIC, or the Federal Deposit Insurance Company, said that they would make sure that every depositor received every last cent, even if traditionally their money wasn’t actually insured. John Nichols: What’s incredible about this and why this is a big deal is that this is a circumstance where if it becomes a pre…
America’s Black Capital
…are not ideologically pure, I will not support you. And that’s a, that’s a guaranteed way to lose an election every single time if you ever take that position. And as much as I would love someone to be more progressive or more radical or more this, more that, at the end of the day, I know there are two options and one person will give much more to my community than the other, or a little bit more than the other, or do less damage than the other. A…
On the Brink: Homelessness Before and During COVID-19
…s, which is to take care of its people and make sure its people have their basic needs. Salima Hamirani: Activists have been pushing governments to treat housing as a basic need for decades now, like this group of women who took over empty homes in Los Angeles. They call themselves Reclaiming Our Homes, and they’re modeled on a similar direct action that started in Oakland called Moms for Housing. Here are some members of Reclaiming Our Homes. …
The Olympic Games: Who wins?
…ecent host city since the 1980s has used that requirement to clamp down on basic human rights to protest to assemble to have freedom of speech, freedom of assembly. Some of the legislation in Sydney was still in place 4 or 5 years later because it was very convenient for the local politicians and businesses, to privatize some of the areas that had been close to Olympic activities, to keep them privatized for special events GEORGE LAVENDER: Helen J…
Whose Water? The Struggle for Public Ownership of Freshwater
…cy over the water company. In the absence of the state to take care of the basic needs of the people, like water for example, what the communities are doing in the suburbs of the cities is to build their own water systems. And rather to see this like something bad, or that the state’s not providing things there, we see this as a recall, as a reclaiming of the people to something that belongs to them. It’s water. Events in Bolivia have inspired oth…
Gang Injunctions: Problem or Solution?
…ctions ‘teach ins’ at schools throughout the city. K.E.V.: “basically today, we just gonna talk about the gang injunctions and the technicalities of it and how it affects all of us. How many of ya’ll heard about the gang injunctions? ….” Andrew Stelzer: A local hiphop MC who goes by K.E.V. is speaking to a class at Youth Empowerment School, not far from the proposed Fruitvale injunction safety zone. KEV: ‘OK. Ra…
Bay Area Non-Profits Help Create Jobs by Supporting Micro-Enterprise
…s of Bayview Hunters Point, a community of mostly African American and low-income folks. Lots of people here don’t have access to credit, or lack the credit scores and business experience required for a traditional bank loan. While Dontaye Ball might be a born businessman, Fountain says many people have turned to entrepreneurship since the downturn in the economy. In the last two years, she’s seen a doubling in the number of clients served by Rena…
Occupy: From Encampments to a Movement
…connect some of these dots. Fundamentally, the problem with concentrated income and wealth, and fundamentally the problem with an educational system that is no longer available to some many young people and can, and even a K-12 system that is letting so many people down. The fundamental problem is that we are losing equal opportunity in America; we are losing the moral foundation stone on which this country and our democracy are built. (Applause…
The fight to reclassify some gig workers in California
…rganizes with Philadelphia Drivers Union. She’s helping lead the fight for income transparency among the companies, who don’t collect income data from drivers. The lack of data makes it difficult to advocate large-scale for higher wages, insurance and job benefits. “Legislators often use the lack of access to data as a reason why they cannot go to Uber and Lyft and hold them accountable,” Vogel said. So far, Vogel said that Philadelphia Drivers Un…
House of Cards: The Affordable Housing Crisis
…areas, that figure is much higher. Featuring: Shelia Crowley, National Low Income Housing Coalition; Senator Paul Sarbanes, Maryland; Moises Loza, Housing Assistance Council; Congressmember Barney Frank, Massachusettes; Congressmember Bernie Sanders, Vermont; Meika Johnson, Community Organizer for Just Cause Oakland; Betty Young, Program Secretary of MN Employment Action Center, ACORN member; Jackie Knight, ACORN member; Oscar Navarro, Quality Con…
Undue Influence: the power of Police and Prison Guards’ Unions
…cycles of criminalization and incarceration that plague America’s low income neighborhoods, especially communities of color. New York City’s police union, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, is the biggest, and of the most powerful in the country, But as Jaisal Noor reports, recent controversy over a law enforcement tool called ‘stop and frisk’ has exposed some cracks in the union, and may be opening the door for refor…
Transit For All
…e.” Steltzer: Youth whose families make less than the Bay Area Median Income are eligible for the free pass—that’s over forty thousand students. Not being able to afford the bus keeps some of those students from attending school, or participating in afterschool activities. Allowing kids to travel free also helps them explore different parts of their city…and makes them more likely to become adults who use public transit. Getting mor…
Transit For All: How NYC’s Public Transit Serves the Blind
…inside.” Steltzer: Youth whose families make less than the Bay Area Median Income are eligible for the free pass—that’s over forty thousand students. Not being able to afford the bus keeps some of those students from attending school, or participating in afterschool activities. Allowing kids to travel free also helps them explore different parts of their city…and makes them more likely to become adults who use public transit. Getting more people o…
Reclaiming the Commons
…want to see St. Henri improve, but not at the expense of long-time, lower-income residents who are at risk of being pushed out of their own community. Housing rights advocate Fred Burrill says that sometimes artists or creative people see neighborhoods like St. Henri as a kind of a playground. Fred Burrill: “There are lots of creative uses to be put into public space, but I think there’s a bit of a disconnect between artistic population…
But Next Time Part 1: California Wildfires and Protecting Our Farmworkers (Encore)
…ng with a coalition to create a tenants union to protect the rights of low-income renters. BEATRICE: We had our very first Sonoma County Tenants Union general membership meeting and renters’ assembly. WOMAN (SPANISH TRANSLATOR in foreground): That’s how we build that solidarity. We don’t have to worry so much … WOMAN: I forgot to say this at the beginning, there are over 15 million tenants in California … BEATRICE: Folks from all across the County…
Resources and Tutorials
…ies involved, geographic locations, court decisions, etc. Acquire the most basic information on these ingredients and in so doing determine recording duties and begin recording as soon as possible. Research can be very infectious. But it is difficult to convert reams of data into decibels. Try to tape as much as possible. Some producers tape endlessly and use their tapes as main compilers of information. This is the heart and soul of the entire pr…
Organizational Internships
…n who can help update our website. We’re looking for a candidate who knows basic HTML and can navigate through WordPress. Knowledge of basic photo editing is preferred. Interns implement and monitor weekly AdWords ads and respond to related comments on our website. The intern can work at home, but will occasionally need to come into our offices. This internship is unpaid and reports to Making Contact’s web editor. Some of these tasks can be carrie…
Justice in the Home: Domestic Workers Re-define the Labor Movement
…to turn. Workers are now organizing in California and other states to win basic rights and protections long denied to this labor force. Along the way, they have had to come up with creative solutions to systemic challenges. Special thanks to Georgia State University Library’s Southern Labor Archives, Special Collections and Archives Department. Interview conducted by Chris Lutz with Dorothy Bolden on August 31, 1995 in Atlanta, GA. Featuring…
Hidden in Plain Sight: Rebecca Gordon on Torture
…ions are starting to talk about. Now the way that human beings who through basic training and army’s basic training is sort of a slightly milder version of the same thing it’s physical and mental torture for the purpose of remaking you from a person into a soldier. And now people who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq and have done things that they now regret and consider to have been wrong are experiencing in addition to the trauma of risking their l…
The Response: Reimagining Paradise in an Age of Disruption
…lthcare services, but they are making a big impact for many folks who need basic medical care. It is one small step, helping to make the region habitable to those who are at risk of being fully displaced. But the most pressing need is still housing. Allen Myers: That was the most urgent need and still remains one of the most urgent needs for people because we’re a rare, developed, powerful country in that we do not guarantee support for survi…
