Stories behind the formation and evolution of social justice projects, organizations, and initiatives. Have you started a business, organization, project, or initiative? Tell us about that work and the catalysts that sparked it.
Ideas Need Time To Grow: How Starting My First Podcast Led Me To Social Justice Origin Stories
Sometimes, reflecting on the past helps us move forward. Social Justice Origin Stories is an idea whose time has come, but there was a podcast before the podcast, a platform before the platform. In today's episode of Design Decisions, I'm reflecting on…
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Using My Oar, My Voice, to Design Equitable Futures: Ubuntu and Social Justice with monique liston
dr. monique liston, founder of Ubuntu Research and Evaluation, tells the story of how her dissertation research on human dignity for Black people led her to root her organization in the concept of ubuntu: “I am because we are” as a rejection of…
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Thinking Beyond Direct Practice And The Clinical Office: Macro Pathways with Patrick Taylor
Patrick Taylor, LCSW, US Air Force veteran and doctoral student in Social Work at USC, tells the story of how learning about the Grand Challenges for Social Work in his program and being surprised by how few Social Workers knew about them led him to…
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Recreating Home: Justice Over Everything with Byron Green-Calisch
Dr. Byron Green-Calisch shares how he turned 14 years of higher education and leadership research into consulting, public media work, and activism in Florida. He shares how racialized campus crime alerts and gaps in leadership education shaped his…
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Black In The Stacks: Sharing Stories of Black Librarians, Authors and Advocates with Marquita D. Gooch
Marquita D. Gooch, MLIS, reflects on the pitfalls and power dynamics of representing a library system publicly, while being limited in her ability to speak freely without fear of retaliation. She talks about the freedom she’s found to be more vocal since…
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Kujo’s Kid Zone: Connecting Roots, Bridging Histories, and Empowering Futures with Randy Quansah
Randy Quansah, creator of Kujo's Kid Zone, shares a memory of an early experience with racism at school that sparked his journey of self-discovery and awareness of African history and identity. What began as sharing the lessons he learned with his…
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A More HUMAN Approach to Truth-Telling & Building Community: Becoming The Quiet Rebel with Tracie Jae
Tracie Jae, human culture strategist and educator, describes how her family both shielded her from and prepared her to engage with racial injustice, and shares about the breadcrumbs that helped her to learn that racism shouldn’t be normal. She tells…
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Exploring Identity and Mental Health Through Comics, Anime, and Culture with Quincy M. Simmons
Quincy M. Simmons, a rising senior at SUNY New Paltz in Journalism, Film, Video, and Black Studies, shares what motivated him to use his love for comic books, manga, and anime to address social justice issues through his podcast, "The Masks We Wear". He…
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Fighting Anti-Blackness: Loving Ourselves with Daily Practices of Self-Reflection with Nadia Brigham
As an intellectual activist, Dr. Nadia Brigham has possessed the ability to recognize the patterns of injustice from an early age. She tells stories from her early life, highlighting pivotal moments that sparked her passion for social justice. She…
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Build What You Dream: The Rockstar Woman Movement with Shannon Cohen
In sharing the Social Justice Origin Story of the global Rockstar Woman™ Movement, founder Shannon Cohen recalls how manifesting her dream of establishing truly inclusive professional networks and affinity spaces for women was born from a mix of…
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