Community Possibilities

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Community Possibilities, Whitney Austin joins me to talk about how her life changed during what was otherwise a normal day on the Sept. 6, 2018 during a mass shooting in Cincinnati, Ohio. Three weeks after the shooting, she founded Whitney Strong with her husband, Waller Austin. Episode Highlights:  How she and her husband went from knowing nothing about nonprof...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Dr. Mary Margaret Mauer joins me to talk about Restoration Rome and trauma-informed approaches to working with her community in Rome, GA. Mary Margaret and her husband Jeff co-founded Restoration Rome,  a long with multiple community members and agencies.  In this episode we discuss: How she and Jeff came to understand the brokeness foster care system How this und...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Dr. Michael Quinn Patton (aka MQP) joins me to talk about his work. He is a prolific writer and deep thinker and has influenced the career of many evaluators.  In this episode we discuss: How his work has changed over time. You will hear about utilization-focused evaluation,  developmental evaluation,  and the use of a principles approach to evaluation. How he thi...

Send us Fan Mail Kachina Chawla from USAID joins Ann to discuss her work in India. Kachina and her colleagues work to prevent and treat Tuberculosis, HIV, and other diseases that otherwise might not be provided for in many communities. Communities are the "epicenter" of this work.  Working within communities helps her team reach out to the most marginalized. Kachina offers specific examp...

Send us Fan Mail Ruth Anne Wolfe has been passionate about social justice in her neighborhood since her daughter attended Pleasant Ridge Montessori in 2006. Between 2006 and 2012, she learned the challenges faced by a public neighborhood school. This experience was the fertile ground for her work today at Community Happens Here. Her journey has been a long and interesting path starting from her mo...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Lovely Dhillon joins me to talk about a range of topics from why she made the move from law to work in foundations, and now, consulting. Lovely shares her experience as a BIPOC woman from an immigrant family and how having  breast cancer changed her.  My favorite moment? She advises us to look for the "tender moments" of transition in social change organ...

Send us Fan Mail When is student behavior "bad?" Jason Byars, a professional educator, explains why student behavior is really communication. Isn't that true of all of us? The last two years have been hard on students and teachers alike. Jason has been a teacher, a coach, and adminsitrator, and a leader at the state level. In this episode he provides an inside perspective of schools...

Send us Fan Mail Jessica Nunan serves as the Co-CEO of Caminar Latino — Latinos United for Peace and Equity, a national social change organization that addresses domestic violence at the individual, community and systematic level.  Jessica has been involved with Caminar Latino for the past 28 years, of which she spent 11 as a volunteer in the youth program. Her mother, Dr. Julia Perilla, was a cof...

Send us Fan Mail Episode Highlights In 2015, Kassy's husband Greg, a South Carolina police officer, was killed in the line of duty. Kassy was a young Mom and in grad school at the time. Her planned life changed in an instant. In this podcast, Kassy talks about how she moved beyond her grief to give back to others. Kassy Alia Ray went on to found the nonprofit,  Serve and Connect.  Serve and C...

Send us Fan Mail Episode Highlights Dr. David Fetterman is my guest this week and oh my what a conversation!  I love his origin story.  Get ready to be inspired. - Ann In this episode of the podcast, Ann and David discuss: What happens with communties own thier own change process.  How he came up with the concept of Empowerment Evaluation and that  pushback from others in the evaluator community. ...

Send us Fan Mail Meet Sarah Winograd-Babayeuski, a passionate advocate for children and families caught up in the foster care system Sarah founded Together for Families out of her home. With her friends and neighbors, Sarah began supplying needed resources for families in poverty. Now housed at Advocates for Children, Sarah and her small army of volunteers provide the support and resources familie...

Send us Fan Mail I n this podcast, Traci Warnberg-Lemm shares wisdom she's gathered from working in communities.  Here are some of the things we discuss: Solutions to community problems can be solved more effectively by asking why something is wrong, beyond  surface level issues.  How to do root cause analysis and how, often, the answers the community uncovers is unexpected. Here is the Y ouT...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Community possibilities, Stephanie shares what its like to work with businesses through a lens focused on changing communities. Stephanie is all about social entrepreneurship and loves teaching nonprofits and community organizations about the role of community engagement and evaluation (yes!) in this work.  One tip she shares is that you need to make sure the so...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of Community Possibilities, guests Breanna Lathrop and Veronica Squires share personal and professional experiences that inspired their book,  "H ow Neighborhoods Make Us Sick: Restoring Health and Wellness to Our Communities. " Breanna Lathrop is the Chief Operating Officer at Good Samaritan Health Center and is a nurse practitioner. In this episode she...

Send us Fan Mail Geri Lynn Peak PhD, is Chief Insight Facilitator at Two Gems Consulting Services. Geri is a consultant with over 30 years of experience providing evaluation, technical assistance, training and applied research to her clients. Dr. Peak’s work focuses on racial justice and equity as well as young people, women, families and communities. Dr. Peak founded Two Gems Consulting Services...

Send us Fan Mail Jimiyu Evans, Co-CEO of PCCI (Project Community Connections, Inc.) joins me to talk about his journey from working with adolescents in trouble in the law, as a case worker for the Division of Child and Family Services, and now at PCCI. PCCI is nonprofit and leader in serving those with out homes. Their award-winning approach is a model for other homeless service providers in the n...

Send us Fan Mail I started this podcast because I wanted to have hard conversations.  So when I saw the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative (TDI) Center post on LinkedIn, I knew I wanted to learn more. In this episode, Dr. Marisa Rinkus joins us to talk about her work at the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative (TDI) Center at Michigan State University. Marisa's early experience with the Peace Corps working i...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to Community Possibilities! In this episode I am joined by my evaluation colleagues, Dr. Sharon Attipoe-Dorcoo and Norma Martínez-Rubin. They are amazing evaluators with a heart for equitable evaluation. They also have very interesting backgrounds! They speak from their intersectionality as a Ghanaian-American (Sharon) and a Mexican American (Norma). They met at an Am...

Send us Fan Mail Danyetta Najoli walks in her purpose. She is a community builder in so many ways. From her work at Starfire lifting up and helping to create space for people with disabilities, to her coaching, to her work in helping people have courageous conversations, you will be inspired by her community leadership. Here are some learning lessons for community leaders: 1) Connect people, inclu...

Send us Fan Mail Kathleen M. Sullivan is principal of Fine Gauge Strategy, LLC (Fine Gauge), a consulting firm based near Boston, Massachusetts. Since 2010, Fine Gauge has provided learning, measurement, evaluation, and strategy services for policy advocates, community organizers, legal and law-reform organizations, and philanthropic foundations. Fine Gauge clients include leaders in the civil rig...

Send us Fan Mail Georgia CASA is one of my favorite non-profits and in this episode, you will meet Jen King, Georgia CASA's dynamic and passionate Executive Director.  Now serving 156 out of 159 Georgia counties, the more than 2700 CASA volunteers support children in care. Jen and I talk about the support CASA's provide to hurting children and how the organization sees themselves as a he...

Send us Fan Mail "Doing together, that which we cannot do a part." That statement is the core of this episode. Dr. Tom Wolff is a community psychologist and expert in coalition building who has spent a lifetime working in communities in seemingly intractable social problems. We talk about how he got started working in communities and the power of coalitions. We dig into the challenges of...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Sal Alaimo is a professor and teaches in nonprofit administration and philanthropy and evaluation.  In this conversation, Sal and I talk about the role of nonprofits and giving in our society.  An experienced nonprofit leader and evaluator, Sal has a passion for growing nonprofit leaders and exploring the role of giving in our society. Robert Payton said that philanthropy is &...

Send us Fan Mail I am thrilled to bring you this episode! I have known Dr. Nelson for a long time and have deep respect for his lifelong commitment to health equity. He has led Healthcare Georgia Foundation for nearly 20 years, overseeing many grantmaking initiatives including the Foundation's Two Georgia's initiative and Health Impact Investing . The Foundation is "Grounded in Scie...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, public health educator Deniece Chevanness of Hemophilia of Georgia joins us for an inspiring conversation about her work with youth. Deniece loves her work with the Georgia-based "Generation of Heroes" and their work with the Youth Twinning Project in the Dominican Republic sponsored by the World Federation of Hemophilia . Health disparities are a realit...