Bending the Arc

This episode is the first time we’ve explored in-depth the inner workings of one neighborhood as it transitions to a more socially and economically mixed community. Our guests, Matthew Martin and LC Johnson, are residents and change agents in Weinland Park in Columbus Ohio, a neighborhood that has been on a mixed-income journey for the last 20 years. Weinland Park is experiencing a complete revita...

In this episode I talk with Bethany Friel, Vice President of Property Operations at the TREK Development Group real estate company which has properties throughout the Greater Pittsburgh Region. Our center and our partners have been working with Trek for over five years now and we’ve been eager to feature them on the podcast as a stellar example of a company working hard to strengthen its ability t...

In this episode we talk with Tony Pickett, the CEO for Grounded Solutions Network, the nation’s leading expert for inclusive affordable housing policies and programs. We focus on efforts to advanced racial justice within the field of community development, including within local grassroots organizations, foundations, financial institutions, and intermediaries. In particular, Tony shares some of hi...

In this episode we talk with Dr. Bryan Grady and Carlie Boos on the topic of how state finance agencies can play a more innovative role in promoting mixed-income housing and mixed-income communities. Many of us have never thought much about the wide latitude and extensive tools that state housing finance agencies have to shape affordable housing policy and investment. Bryan and Carlie’s incredibly...

In this episode we talk with Dr. JaNay Queen Nazaire, a national leader on creating wealth and wellbeing for people of color, with a particular focus on Black communities. Dr. Queen Nazaire currently serves as a Senior Advisor for PSG and as a Senior Fellow at PolicyLink. She is the co-founder of Black Gravity, a collaborative focused on closing the racial wealth gap, and co-founder of Builder’s &...

In this episode we talk with Dr. Tiffany Manuel, President and CEO of TheCaseMade, a strategic consulting firm that helps leaders build the public will to intentionally tackle the issues of systems change, equity and inclusion. Dr. T, as she prefers to be called, authored an essay for the What Works Volume that argues that strategic casemaking is critical for how we engage public audiences about p...

In this episode we talk with Dr. Akira Drake Rodriguez, Assistant Professor at the Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania and Research Affiliate with the National Initiative of Mixed-Income Communities. Dr. Rodriguez co-authored as essay for the What Works Volume with Majeedah Rashid that applies a Black feminist lens to the issue of mixed-income community development. In our...

In this episode we talk with Frankie Blackburn and Bill Traynor of Trusted Space Partners, a consulting firm they created in 2011 to promote what they call community network building, a highly effective way to strengthen relationships and build social support across lines of difference. They work with resident leaders, real estate executives, property managers, service providers and others to desi...

In this episode we talk with Salin Geevarghese, President & CEO of SGG Insight and Founding Director of the Mixed-Income Strategic Alliance. Salin served for most of the two terms of the Obama Administration as a senior leader in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. His perspective on promoting comprehensive community change is particularly interesting given his wide-ranging profes...

In this episode we talk with Dr. Clinton Boyd, Jr., a Postdoctoral Associate at the Samuel Dubois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University. Dr. Boyd is a rising young scholar who is building an expertise on the subject of black fathers. In our conversation we touch on a wide range of topics including our personal journeys as Black fathers, the undervaluing of Black men in general versus the...

In this episode we talk with Hans Buder, founder of the Moving to Opportunity Fund, an innovative social investment fund with a focus on changing the lives of young children by helping their families move to neighborhoods with high-performing schools. Hans has been an elementary school teacher with Teach for America, an investment banker, and has worked for a large affordable housing developer. Th...

In this episode we talk with Ben Metcalf, former senior official at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development, and now Managing Director at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California Berkeley. In his essay entitled “California For All: How State Action Can Foster Inclusive Mixed-Inc...

In the first episode of Bending The Arc we kick things off with a conversation with Dr. Amy Khare, the Research Director at the National Initiative on Mixed-Income Communities. We explore the challenges and opportunities of creating more inclusive and equitable neighborhoods. We review some of the insights and ideas from the volume of essays on mixed-income communities we have co-edited together....

Bending The Arc explores the everyday work of creating inclusive, equitable and racially just communities. This podcast spotlights bold thinking and action by creative, passionate, experienced thinkers and actors from cities and communities around the US and Canada.