Talk Policy To Me

This is the story of one young person's battle to transform tech policy for teens. Because while young people struggle with mental health on social media, big tech companies are profiting off their screen time. In this episode, meet Zamaan Qureshi, who got involved in tech policy as a teenager himself. Host Anjali Nambiar shares Zamaan's journey from advocacy on the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) t...

Home. It's one of those ideas that is core to us. But what if your home was gentrifying — becoming less affordable and recognizable with each day? This episode tells the story of Treno Morton, a young person who has set off to safeguard home not just for himself, but for his historic Black community displaced by systemic racism. Learn how he became one of the youngest leaders championing community...

Two recent college grads trying to address contaminated water in an isolated town. But what can two young people really do to help solve a 20-year-old problem embedded deep in the ground — and in local politics? We're exploring water justice and public policy in California's Central Valley and roadblocks on the state's path to achieving the Human Right to Water. This episode is hosted by Sunny Sin...

This is the origin story of a teen climate activist who made it to the White House. Host Ava Kargosha shares the journey of former youth climate activist Rose Strauss, who made headlines for confronting a state senator about the oil money lurking behind his climate change denial. Listen in to learn how Rose went from student activist to full-time climate policy-maker by the age of 24. Transcript:...

This episode takes us to India, where fake news on Whatsapp spreads like wildfire. Is addressing it a hopeless cause?  Learn about solutions with Abhishek Anand, a Gen Z journalist who joined a Deli-based fact-checking team. Listen to discover the team's techniques for battling an endless flow of falsehoods and how their efforts protect someone from becoming a "webqoof". Hosted by Anjali Nambiar....

A bare plot of land. An innovative farming technique. And seemingly insurmountable challenges. This is the story of a 22-year-old farmer who crosses the country to help a small community facing food insecurity. Shamik Chandrachood moves from Kentucky to California to bring a technique called intercropping to a traditional farming town — and encounters unexpected roadblocks along the way. Hosted by...

Emily Nguyen started working in the government as a teenager. Can teenagers get taken seriously in San Francisco City Hall? And why does it matter that youth like Emily participate in civics? Welcome to the first episode of Season 6, a story about the joys, surprises, and struggles of being young in local government. This episode hosted by Avalon Bauman features a conversation with Berkeley Instit...

A new season of Talk Policy to Me is launching soon. Transcript: https://gspp.berkeley.edu/research-and-impact/news/podcast/trailer-season-six

Professor Robert B. Reich was voted by the graduating students of UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy to be their faculty speaker. Always a beloved teacher, this occasion was especially meaningful because it marked Professor Reich's retirement from teaching.  Robert Reich was introduced by Master of Public Policy student speaker Abraham Eli Bedoy. See show notes and full transcript here:...

Tennessee Representative Justin Jones addressed the graduates at the Goldman School of Public Policy's commencement on May 14, 2023. Representative Jones came into the national spotlight when he was expelled from the Tennessee legislature for taking to the assembly floor to protest gun violence and the refusal of the legislature to take up this issue.   See show notes and full transcript here: htt...

  This year, researchers found that the last 22 years were the driest consecutive years in the North American southwest in over a millennium. The pace and scale of climate change is forcing states and counties to adapt rapidly. In California, one of the industries at the forefront of the adaptation predicament is agriculture. In today's episode, reporter Elena Neale-Sacks speaks with resilience re...

  The annual number of anti-LGBTQ bills filed has skyrocketed over the past several years, from 41 in 2018 to 240 and counting in the first three months of this year. Half of these bills are targeting transgender people specifically. At the same time, surveys of the general public show over 70% say they support same-sex marriage and laws preventing discrimination across the LGBTQ community. And Ge...

  Show Notes In 2016, California voters legalized recreational cannabis through Prop 64. Now, five years after legalization, city's are grappling with the difficulty of prioritizing social equity in the cannabis licensing process for Black, brown, and formerly incarcerated small business owners who were negatively impacted by the war on drugs. In this episode, Talk Policy to Me Reporter Noah Cole...

  The Republican Party and the Democratic Party take different approaches to talking about race and racism. While politicians in the Republican Party have used coded language or "dog whistles" to stoke racial division, politicians in the Democratic Party either avoid talking about race in favor of talking about class issues or talk about race as a matter of white over nonwhite conflict. Each of th...

  This is the second episode in a two-part series about changing how we vote in the United States. In today's episode, Talk Policy To Me reporter Elena Neale-Sacks talks with voting systems researchers Sara Wolk and Clay Shentrup about what they think the order of operations should be to get to a place where everyone can vote their conscience and votes accurately translate into who ends up in powe...

  In recent months and years, legislation meant to make it more difficult to vote, especially for Black and brown people, has proliferated in some state legislatures. But problems with the way we vote in the United States go deeper than these laws. In Part 1 of this two-part episode, Talk Policy To Me reporter Elena Neale-Sacks talks to GSPP researcher Charlotte Hill about what it would look like...

  As of 2021, there were 30 million online dating users in the US and 321 million users worldwide. Despite this massive number of users, there's very little policy that regulates how users behave on these platforms. Studies show that a majority of women have experienced sexual harassment online and that rarely is any action taken by law enforcement in situations where technology is being used to c...

  In February 2020, the Oakland City Council passed Oakland's Fair Chance Housing ordinance. The legislation was the first in California — joining cities nationwide like Seattle and Portland — to ensure that people returning home from the criminal justice system can legally live with family members and access, on their own, nearly all other forms of previously off-limits rental housing. In this ep...

  With 59% of the US population fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the increased availability of booster shots, and the rise of a new variant, having a highly vaccinated public is incredibly important to the fight against COVID in the months ahead. In this episode, Talk Policy to Me reporter Noah Cole talks to psychologist and behavioral scientist Philipp Schmid and public health expert and data s...

  The A's proposal for a new waterfront baseball stadium at Oakland's Howard Terminal is a multi-use development site that would include shops, parks, and housing. As the City of Oakland and Alameda County negotiate with the A's over how these benefits are paid for, much has been made about the impact that sports stadiums have on communities. In this episode, reporter Noah Cole speaks with Dr. Ric...

  As Congress struggles to pass a spending bill that includes some of the biggest climate legislation the U.S. has seen, there's another big hurdle the country needs to clear to make big moves on climate change —the electric grid. In this episode, reporter Elena Neale-Sacks talks to energy policy expert Steve Weissman, environmental scientist Grace Wu, and energy equity researcher Daniel Raimi, to...

  Today's episode explores the new wave of "rights suppressing laws" with New York Times Op-Ed writers and legal scholars Jon Michaels and David Noll. Reference: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/04/opinion/texas-abortion-law.html See show notes and full transcript here: https://gspp.berkeley.edu/research-and-impact/news/podcast/episode-501-talking-your-neighbor-the-bounty-hunter  

  Season 5 of Talk Policy To Me is dropping soon, with new hosts Noah Cole and Amy Benziger. Listen and subscribe! See show notes and full transcript here: https://gspp.berkeley.edu/research-and-impact/news/podcast/season-5-trailer  

  In this final episode of TPTM Season 4, we say goodbye to hosts Reem and Colleen and hello to the incoming Dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy, Dr. David C. Wilson. See show notes and full transcript here: https://gspp.berkeley.edu/research-and-impact/news/podcast/episode-415-talking-with-david-c-wilson  

  Cash transfers discourage work, price ceilings and floors (like the minimum wage) are economically inefficient, and trade makes everyone better off. If you've ever taken a basic economics course in high school or even in college, these were probably the major takeaways. But these are myths --dire oversimplifications at best, and outright inaccuracies at worst --that often represent the most basi...