PathBreakers

Dr. Mona Hanna, affectionately known as “Dr. Mona”, is best known as the pediatrician who exposed the Flint water crisis. She is also the associate dean for Public Health at Michigan State University and now the founder of RxKids – a cash prescriptions program for expectant mothers in Michigan and currently the largest cash-transfer program in the country. In this episode, Dr. Mona reflects on how...

Marcia Black is a Detroit-based archivist, curator, and cultural preservationist whose work focuses on preserving the histories of Black women, Black Detroit, and the Black radical tradition. Guided by her education at Marygrove College and inspired by her entrepreneurial grandmother who was a beauty salon owner, computer worker, and reverend, Marcia has dedicated herself to archival work with a p...

Damien Wilson is the Senior Director of the HBCU Brilliance Initiative at Reinvestment Fund, where he leads efforts to provide technical and financial support to Historically Black Colleges and Universities.  In this episode, Damien discusses how his career on Wall Street, his love for his hometown, and his own HBCU experience all inform his approach as a financial advisor working to ensure these...

Favianna Rodriguez is an interdisciplinary artist, cultural strategist, and entrepreneur based in Oakland, California. She is the co-founder of The Center for Cultural Power. In this conversation, Favianna shares her journey as an artist and activist, discussing the influence of her immigrant parents, the challenges she faced in pursuing art, and the importance of cultural narratives in shaping po...

Elizabeth Birr Moje is dean, George Herbert Mead Collegiate Professor of Education, and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture in the Marsal Family School of Education at the University of Michigan. On this episode she describes the transformative arc of the Marygrove Learning Community in Northwest Detroit. The dialogue emphasizes the significance of purpose-driven lear...

Welcome to PathBreakers , a show from The Kresge Foundation all about the people who break through the noise, red tape, and all of the other obstacles to progress. In each episode,   you’ll meet a different Pathbreaker, people working in cities to forge new ways forward and discover the possibilities, sometimes hidden in plain sight.