Tag: Civic Engagement (38)
Powering American Democracy: Seth Flaxman
November 22, 2019
“The real tradition in the U.S. is make voting convenient.”
Seth Flaxman is the co-founder of Democracy Works, a non-profit and non-partisan organization that aims to make voting simple and seamless. They provide tools for voters, such as TurboVote, as well as critical data infrastructure for elections. We talk about voting in the 21st century, creating partnerships for a stronger democracy, and increasing voter turnout.
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Protecting our Elections: Marcia Johnson-Blanco
November 15, 2019
“The right to vote is preservative of all other rights.”
Marcia Johnson-Blanco is the Co-Director of the Voting Rights Project, an initiative of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. The program works to ensure voters have an equal opportunity to vote, to have that vote count, and to keep elections free and fair. We talk about the challenges, threats, and solutions facing our democracy and elections.
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Podcasting for Democracy: Civics 101
November 8, 2019
“If you don't understand the system you're in, you can't change it.”
Hannah McCarthy and Nick Capodice host Civics 101, the podcast refresher course about the basics of how American democracy works. We discuss the importance of empowering citizens and understanding the rules of our complex system, as well as the enduring repercussions of slavery in the United States.
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Democracy Works: David Frum
April 27, 2019
“We have to make democracy deliver better.”
This is a bonus episode from the Democracy Works podcast, which examines what it means to live in a democracy. Host Jenna Spinelle interviews David Frum, the author of Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic. He discusses how we can use the tools of civic engagement to build the democracy we want for ourselves and for future generations.
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Ted Dintersmith
November 16, 2018
“Education should prepare kids for life.”
Ted Dintersmith is an avid education advocate and the author of “What School Could Be: Insights and Inspiration from Teachers Across America”. We discuss why developing a child’s human potential as a fulfilled and self-supporting citizen should be the top priority, and how equitable access to high quality education is imperative to achieve this goal.
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Max Feldman
October 26, 2018
“I'm passionate about making sure that people who want to vote, can vote.”
Max Feldman serves as Counsel in the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU, a nonpartisan institute that works to improve our democracy and judicial system. We discuss the powers of voting, the need to modernize election systems and enact pro-voter laws, as well as the rising trend of voter suppression since 2010.
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Maria Yuan
August 11, 2018
“See if the people that you just elected are actually doing their jobs and are actually representing you.”
Maria Yuan is the founder of Issue Voter, an organization whose mission is to make civic engagement accessible, efficient, and impactful. We talk about the importance of being informed on the bills before Congress, communicating your priorities and opinions to your representative, and understanding whether your rep is truly representing you.
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Mark Hetfield
July 13, 2018
“Our history shows that we are a nation of immigrants and refugees, and that we have benefited from that.”
Mark Hetfield is the President and CEO of HIAS, the oldest refugee assistance organization in operation. We discuss our humanitarian obligations to refugees, the tremendous benefits that they bring to American society, and bust the misconceptions about the current refugee situation in the US.
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Paul Lagunes
July 6, 2018
“Fighting corruption is not an end in and of itself, it's an effort toward improving society at large.”
Paul Lagunes is a Columbia University political scientist whose scholarship focuses on corruption in the Americas. His current book project is “Corruption and Oversight: Insights from Field Experiments”. We define corruption, discuss how it relates to democracy, and learn that voting is a tool to fight against it.
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Ian Bremmer
May 26, 2018
“The purpose of the government is to make sure that the game is fair and that people have equality of opportunity.”
Ian Bremmer is a prolific thought leader and author, the president and founder of Eurasia Group, as well as foreign affairs columnist and editor-at-large at TIME. His most recent bestseller is Us vs. Them: The Failure of Globalism. We discuss how globalism, the ideology, has been rejected, and what we can do to write a new, more equitable social contract.
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Shafi Goldwasser
May 19, 2018
“There's so much more information there than we know. Take a moment to think about what permissions you're giving."
Shafi Goldwasser is an award-winning mathematician and computer scientist and the Director of the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing at UC Berkeley. Her most notable work is in cryptography and zero knowledge proof. We discuss the promise of cryptography to make our society more secure.
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Nick Ehrmann
April 14, 2018
"Being eligible for enrollment is so different than being ready to persist and complete degrees."
Nick Ehrmann is the founder and president of Blue Engine, which was borne from the discovery that the strongest predictor of college completion is sustained academic rigor in high school coursework. The organization re-imagines the classroom in order to teach students how to master core academic skills and be truly ready for college.
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Ai-Jen Poo
March 10, 2018
"When voters demand a solution, that’s when you start to see action."
Ai-Jen Poo is an award-winning activist and a leading advocate for domestic workers’ rights. We discuss the elder boom, the increasing importance of domestic work in our society, and how we can engage to demand a new Caring infrastructure.
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Andrea Miller (Part 2)
March 6, 2018
"Start having a conversation about this issue regardless of political party."
Andrea Miller is the president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health. We talk about the broad support among men for Roe vs. Wade, the Hyde Amendment, and the two most damaging misconceptions about abortions.
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Andrea Miller (Part 1)
March 3, 2018
"When women are able to make decisions about their reproductive lives it makes their families more stable."
Andrea Miller is the president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health. We talk about the impact that reproductive legislation has in society and how it’s historically been affected by safety and public health concerns.
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Roland Augustine
February 17, 2018
"Consistent, rigorous advocacy can effect change in a positive way in terms of social justice."
Roland Augustine is an art dealer, tireless activist, and active member at the Bard College Prison Initiative. We discuss the necessity of finding new ways of activism for social justice in our daily lives.
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