CivicCast

On this episode of CivicCast, I chat with Seth Kaplan, a leading expert on fragile states and the author of Fragile Neighborhoods . He is a lecturer at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and has spent years studying how societies succeed or fail, both globally and here in the United States. We explore how the breakdown of local relationships and institutions is shapi...

On this episode of CivicCast I am joined by Henry Grabar, journalist and author of Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World.  We talk about the biggest misconceptions behind paid parking, Donald Shoup's influence and the self-fulfilling prophecy embedded in many zoning laws. Henry will be giving a free CivicCon talk on Monday, February 23 at 6 p.m. at the Wesley Abbey building of First...

On this episode of CivicCast I chat with our upcoming CivicCon speaker, Coby Lefkowitz Coby is the author of Building Optimism , which explores why American communities look the way they do, and offers a series of concrete reforms to make them more beautiful, desirable and affordable through dozens of project vignettes. Trained as an Urban Planner at the University of Virginia, Coby's work ex...

On this episode of CivicCast I chat with our upcoming CivicCon speaker, Rebekah Kik. Rebekah graduated from Andrews University (2003) with a Masters of Architecture and the University of Notre Dame with a Post Graduate degree in Architecture & Urban Design (2007). She began her professional career working in architecture in both the U.S. and the United Kingdom. Rebekah was working as an urban...

On this episode I am joined by Scott Satterwhite, local author, professor, punk historian, and co-executive director and curator of the 309 Punk Project. The 309 Punk Project recently won a CivicCon Award in the placemaking category, which recognizes the work of an individual or organization to create a great public space for anyone in the community to enjoy. Scott shares the history of the 309 Pu...

On this episode of CivicCast, I speak with 2024 Equity Award winner Walter Arrington. We spoke about his background and reasons for getting into community advocacy, the biggest challenges he faces in his work, and how we can change the narrative to build more empathy for our most vulnerable populations. Walter serves as Director of Advocacy at Community Health Northwest Florida, an organization wi...

In this episode, we talk with Anna Muessig , director of Gehl's Cities Team. Gehl is a global urban design and architecture firm with locations in Copenhagen, New York and San Francisco. The firm recently partnered with the city of Pensacola to create the new 10-year strategic plan, "Strive to Thrive: Pensacola 2035". Now that the plan is complete, what comes next? We chat with Anna...

On this episode of CivicCast, we chat with our upcoming CivicCon speaker, Tom Dahlborg. Tom Dahlborg is an internationally recognized speaker and writer focusing on stopping bullying, amplifying positive childhood experiences, and bringing “love in action” to all we do. Tom’s multiple award-winning book, The Big Kid and Basketball … and the lessons he taught his Father and Coach , focusing on bull...

Our guest today is Caitlin Cerame, transportation planner for the city of Pensacola. She talks about the recent Pensacola Active Transportation Plan, the processes behind making traffic calming measures, updates to Palafox Street and more. Cerame has a master's degree in urban and regional planning and a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Florida, and she also...

Joining us for this episode is Dr. Angela Bush, Area Director for Jefferson County Schools in Alabama.  During her four years as Principal of Erwin Middle School, Dr. Bush made notable strides to move the school from a low-performing school to a model high-performing educational institution in the school district, city, and state. She addressed and improved issues such as low teacher morale, low t...

Today we are joined by Rich Harwood, president and founder of The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation . Richard has devoted his career to revitalizing the nation’s hardest-hit communities, transforming the world’s largest organizations, and reconnecting institutions like newsrooms and schools to society. Over the past 35 years, he has developed a philosophy and practice of how communities can...

Our guest is Jarah Jacquay, founder of The Bluffline, a grassroots effort to reconnect Pensacola residents with their environment and each other by building a public greenway from UWF to West Pensacola. You'll learn about Jarah's background in walkability, his inspiration to start The Bluffline and next steps for the project. Get involved with the project at www.bluffline.org To see any...

Welcome to CivicCast, the companion podcast to CivicCon, where we dive deeper into the topics that can move our communities forward, such as mental health, homelessness, walkability and education. For our very first guest,  we have the philanthropist, businessman and founder of the Studer Community Institute and CivicCon: Quint Studer. Join us as he discusses the events that led to the creation of...