Change Agents The Podcast

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How to Tackle Antiblackness "Together we are powerful." "Black and Brown solidarity." "Yellow peril supports Black power." Interracial solidarity is foundational in the fight for racial justice for all, but often interracial conflict steals headlines instead. Just how can people of color transcend deep differences and internalized anti-Blackness? Listen to how Chicago...

Justice That Heals Chicago can be cruel to its youth, especially to youth of color living in marginalized communities. Restorative justice practices have begun to emerge in the city aiming to remedy the root causes of harm that is plaguing the streets with crime and violence. BUILD has become a fierce proponent of the restorative justice framework and has added it to its tool kit as it expands its...

On the Way Home Youth who are experiencing homelessness in Chicago are undercounted and frequently clumsily represented. This story’s intent is to counteract public bias around what someone experiencing homelessness looks like. The story of Shawne Hinkle winds us through a personal account of housing difficulties. Her story is one that is incredibly specific to her situation, but also speaks to br...

Produced by Leslie Hurtado | History shows that Chicago’s building trades have excluded construction workers of color. But the attention on George Floyd’s death three years ago inspired a movement toward racial justice everywhere, from schools to jobs. While some construction companies have made commitments to stopping racism and discrimination in the workplace, industry experts say more work need...

Restaurando La Maceta Hay un refrán que dice que la aflicción es como una maceta rota. La maceta nunca se va ver igual o funcionar igual a lo que era antes que se rompió— igual a que una familia no se va ver igual o funcionar igual antes de la muerte de una persona querida. El Centro Sanar pelea contra la cultura tradicional y medicinal para el cuidado de salud y trauma.  Los clínicos de la organi...

Restoring La Maceta There’s a metaphor for grief that describes the healing process as gluing a broken flower pot or in Spanish – una maceta – back together after it breaks. The pot will never look or function the same as it did before it was broken – just as a family will never look or function the same as it did before the death of a loved one.  Centro Sanar seeks to challenge the traditional me...

ChiFresh is a thriving food service contractor run by worker-owners who are all formally incarcerated.  On busy days ChiFresh can prepare and deliver upwards of 500 meals for clients ranging from nursing homes to schools.  Soon though, they will be able produce TEN TIMES that number, as they ready themselves for a move to a much larger space in the city's westside.  Join Change Agents produce...

Where do you get food when the grocery stores aren't open, or when their shelves have gone bare?  Many Chicagoans asked themselves this question for the first time during the 2020 Covid pandemic, but for those living in the food deserts of the city's West and Southside's, the question wasn't a new one.  Join Change Agents producers Liz Murice Alexander, and Dylan Cohen as they...

As communities across the nation grapple with the racist symbols of their past in the form of statues and monuments, in University City, Missouri citizens have embarked on their own journey of racial reckoning, centering the debate on a less discussed, but more common form of  memorial.  As part of the Renaming Streets Task Force, seven citizens had 120 days to research over 200 street names and d...

Description: Many crucial historical perspectives are missing from classrooms all over the nation.  Specifically, Asian-American students are not properly represented in the curriculum, and in many cases, not represented at all. When a Chicago-based organization spearheads the TEAACH Act, the prospect of mandating Asian-American curriculum in Illinois schools finally becomes a possibility. Support...

A parent and community-led coalition is fighting to keep three elementary schools in the North Lawndale neighborhood open after another community group proposes to close the schools in exchange for one STEAM school. Students, parents and teachers rally against the closures and come up with a proposal of their own.  Support the show

​Trust Learning Care,​ covers the Brighton Park Neighborhood Councils as it brings parents and teachers together to demand a say in how Chicago Public Schools will allocate the $1.8 billion dollars it has coming from the American Rescue Plan.  Support the show

When marginalized restaurant workers are abandoned by an industry ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, a local organization helped them pick up the pieces. Now, as the U.S paces itself towards recovery and the restaurants gear up for a safe reopening, they suddenly encounter a nationwide labor shortage. After surviving through a deadly pandemic, some workers are asking if it’s worth it after all, to...

Chicago’s southeast side community has strong views on environmental health due to a history of being the City of Chicago’s dumping ground. The newest injustice: Reserve Management Group is slated to bring the highly controversial 100-year-old General Iron shredding facility from Lincoln Park to the south east side community in 2021. Deep in the fight to stop this are community activists and organ...

Englewood, on Chicago’s south side, is cast as one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the world. But activists and residents are challenging the stereotypes and changing the narrative with community initiatives, services and beautification projects. Community activists like Asiaha Butler and Tonika Johnson have been working to show the world a different side of Englewood, while also providing...

Davetta Brooks and Pastor Eartha Sutton live in the Congressman George Collins Apartments, a section 8 building for seniors on Chicago’s southside. Davetta moved in about 8 years ago, and immediately was confronted with deplorable living conditions such as pests and filth. Over the years she tried to address the conditions with management and was met with intimidation and threats. It wasn’t until...

Alex spent 18 months incarcerated in a county jail in Wisconsin as a detainee of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE ambushed Beto after a routine check in and incarcerated him for 9 months before he was deported to Mexico. Both men fought deportation with the help of the Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD), a Chicago organization supporting undocumented people. This...

In September 2020, the Chicago Public Schools went into its second term of remote learning. At issue were the approximately 115,000 students, predominantly African American and LatinX who were without the technology required to “do” school. In Belmont-Cragin, a predominantly LatinX community on Chicago’s northwest side that held the city’s second highest number of COVID19 cases in November, parent...

Known for its high number of shootings and open illegal drug market, the Austin community on Chicago’s far west side struggles between its bad rap, high levels of poverty and lack of jobs and resources. Providing a life line to its residents are organizations like the Institute For Non-Violence Chicago, Westside Health Authority, and Amplify, doing their part to rebuild the community and it’s name...

A-gen-cy   noun: action or intervention, especially such as to produce a particular effect. Too often the actions of real people of color making real change in their neighborhoods and lives are ignored in the media. Even worse are portrayals that people of color lack the agency to address the wrongs and find solutions that empowers residents and improves conditions. Too often these stories are tol...