Pod for the Cause

Our host, Kanya Bennett, is joined by Paige Fernandez, the National Organizing Manager at the Center for Popular Democracy, and Tanya Clay House, Executive Vice President of Campaigns and Advocacy at the Hip Hop Caucus to discuss what advocacy and accountability look like to keep advancing civil rights, post-election.

On today's episode of Pod For the Cause, our host, Kanya Bennett, is joined by Star Wingate-Bey, a 2016 graduate of the University of North Carolina and a student intervenor who helped defend UNC's admissions policy in the affirmative action case involving the universtiy and Genize Bonadies Torres, Associate Director for the Educational Opportunities Project at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rig...

On today’s episode of Pod for the Cause our host, Kanya Bennett discusses the intersectionality of abortion rights and voting and its impact on Black women with Marcela Howell, president and CEO of In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Agenda.

On today’s episode of Pod for the Cause our host, Kanya Bennett will discuss the importance of our courts with Kadida Kenner, chief executive officer of the New Pennsylvania Project and co-chair of Why Courts Matter – Pennsylvania, and Kim Tignor, executive director for the Institute for Intellectual Property & Social Justice and cofounder of #SheWillRise.

Welcome back to Pod for the Cause Season 6! On today’s episode our new host, Kanya Bennett, managing director of government affairs at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the Leadership Conference Education Fund, will discuss voting and civic engagement with Cece Huddleston, voting rights field coordinator for the Prepared to Vote and Voting Rights Defender projects at the NAAC...

Our host Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Sakira Cook, Senior Director of the Justice Program at The Leadership Conference and the The Education Fund, and Reginald Belle, Campaigns and Programs Fellow at The Leadership Conference and The Education Fund to discuss how we can transform the criminal-legal system through voting and other forms of civic participation.

Our host Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Arekia Bennett-Scott, executive director of Mississippi Votes, and Jordan Johnson, executive director of Georgia Shift, to discuss the legacy of Black-led civil rights organizing, the importance of youth in these movements, and how to evolve to meet the present moment. 

Our host Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Diego Sanchez, Director of Advocacy, Policy & Partnerships at PFLAG and Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality to discuss the intersectionality of inequity and how it impacts the transgender community. They discuss dismantling systems of violence, among other topics.

What is narrative and why should it matter to activists? Vanessa is joined by Ellen Buchman, President at The Opportunity Agenda, Dr. Jiggy Geronimo, a progressive research and messaging expert, and Tyler Lewis, Director of Messaging and Project Management at Third Sector to discuss how civil rights advocates can craft messaging that leverages the power of narratives.

Our host Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Sofia Ongele, Founder of ReDawn and Creative Advisor Intern at Kode with Klossy, and Laura Murphy, President of Laura Murphy & Associates, LLC and Author of The Rationale for and Key Elements of a Business Civil Rights Audit, to discuss the intersection of technology and civil rights.  

Our host Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Lia Parada, Director of Legislative Advocacy at The Immigration Hub, and Abraham Paulos, Deputy Director at the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, to discuss asylum, temporary protected status, and the state of immigration in the United States.

Our host Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Lena Zwarensteyn, Senior Director of the Fair Courts Campaign at The Leadership Conference and The Education Fund, and Patricia Richman, National Sentencing Resource Counsel at Federal Public and Community Defenders, to discuss the promises President Biden made to voters, unpack his record on judicial nominations and criminal justice reform, and how else our...

Our host Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Aimee Arrambide, Executive Director at Avow Texas; Leila Abolfazli, Director for Federal Reproductive Rights at National Women’s Law Center; and Nancy Cardenas Pena, Texas Director of Policy and Advocacy at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice to discuss how recent abortion restrictions ​and laws that are chipping away at the right to vote a...

On the finale of the Vision for Justice miniseries, our guest host, Monifa Bandele, Movement for Black Lives Leadership Team, reimagines public safety with Thea Sebastian, Director of Policy, Civil Rights Corps, Alphonso David, President of Human Rights Campaign, and Eunisses Hernandez, Executive Director and Co-founder of La Defensa.

Our host Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Congressman Ted. Lieu (D-Calif.) to discuss pretrial justice, its current framework, and the inequities that exist within it. Then, in a special Pod Squad segment, Sakira Cook, Senior Director, Justice Program, The Leadership Conference and The Education Fund, reimagines transforming the pretrial justice system with DeAnna Hoskins, President and CEO of JustLe...

On this second episode of our special series, Vision For Justice, our host Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Congressman Bobby Scott (D-Va.), to discuss the passing of the 1994 Crime Bill and its long-term implications on mass incarceration and Black and Brown communities. Then, in a special Pod Squad segment, Nkechi Taifa, Principal and CEO of The Taifa Group, reimagines public safety with Anand Subr...

On this first episode of our special series, Vision For Justice, our host Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), to discuss the policies and ramifications of the War on Drugs. Then in a special Pod Squad segment, Kassandra Frederique, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance reimagines public safety with Andrea James, founder and executive director of The N...

Vanessa Gonzalez is joined by Sylvia Tanguma, president of the McAllen American Federation of Teachers and a teacher at James Bonham Elementary in McAllen, TX, to discuss how teachers heroically pivoted their curriculum and methods in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and what needs to be done to help students and teachers re-enter the classroom, as we emerge from the pandemic. 

Pod for the Cause host Vanessa N. Gonzalez is joined by mental health experts: Melvin Wilson (Senior Policy Advisor for Social Justice and Human Rights, at the National Association of Social Workers) and Sherod Haynes (MD/PhD Candidate ​at Emory University) to unpack mental health after over a year of quarantine, the social dichotomy of vaccinations, and reimagining care during reopening through a...

Pod for the Cause host Vanessa N. Gonzalez is joined by voting leaders: Bo Shuff (Executive Director at DC Vote), Lisa Cylar Barrett (Director of Policy at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.), and Kadeem Cooper (Policy Counsel at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law) to break down the latest in federal voting, DC statehood, and how we move forward after the 2021 election...

Pod for the Cause host Vanessa N. Gonzalez is joined by Adrienne Lawrence (Attorney and Sr. Consultant at Jennifer Brown Consulting, Media and Legal Consultant at Bantam Impact, and the Author of Staying in the Game), Jess Morales Rocketto (Co-chair of Families Belong Together and Co-Founder at Care in Action, Supermajority, and She Se Puede), and Kate Bahn (Director of Labor Market Policy at Wash...

Pod for the Cause host Vanessa N. Gonzalez is joined by amazing members of the All Voting is Local team: Peter Burress (Wisconsin Campaign Manager), Rosemary Avila (Arizona Campaign Manager), Ifeolu Claytor (Ohio Campaign Manager), and Ben Gardner (Michigan Campaign Manager) to break down voting at the local level and discuss the intersectionality of voter suppression.

Pod for the Cause host Vanessa N. Gonzalez is joined by Claudia Flores (Senior Campaign Manager at the Center for American Progress), Abraham Paulos (Deputy Director of Policy and Communications at the Black Alliance for Just Immigration), and Jill Yu (Managing Director and Cofounder at Act to Change) to talk about immigration, white supremacy, and how we can activate our own communities to eradic...

Pod for the Cause host Vanessa N. Gonzalez is joined by Monica Simpson (Executive Director of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective), Tina Tchen (President & CEO of TIME'S UP), and LaShawn Warren (Executive Vice President for Government Affairs at The Leadership Conference) to talk all about the first 100 days of the Biden-Harris administration, and what all the executive order...

On the season 4 premiere of Pod for the Cause, Wade Henderson, civil rights lawyer, human rights activist, and interim president of The Leadership Conference, and Nelini Stamp, Director of Strategy and Partnerships at the Working Families Party, join host Vanessa Gonzalez to discuss where we've been as a country (and where we want to be) in the aftermath of the white supremacist insurrection at th...