Creating the Future

Episode #14 in which Brian Joshin Byrnes talks about the power (and the personal practice) of being open to our fellow community membersBrian Joshin Byrnes is the founder and guiding teacher at Bread Loaf Mountain Zen Community. Prior to stepping full time into spiritual activism, Joshin was the president and CEO of the Santa Fe Community Foundation, and prior to that, holding that same position at the Vermont Community Foundation. Joshin’s work before those foundation leadership positions was in direct action around HIV and AIDS, including serving at Deputy Director at the San Francisco AIDS foundation. You can reach Joshin at https://breadloafmountainzen.org/

Episode #13 in which David Martinez III shows us the power of bringing people together in coalitions – and keeping them together. David Martinez III is the Director of Strategic Community Partnerships at Vitalyst Health Foundation. In this role, he oversees the foundation’s capacity-building and grant programs and Civic Health portfolio.David is on the Steering Committee of the Arizona Together for Impact Fund, serves on the board of the Arizona Democracy Alliance, and is Vice Chair of the Funders Committee for Civic Participation (FCCP) Census Initiative. He is also a Community Advisor on the Council of Directors for the National Trust for Civic Life, an effort born out of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship.He is a Flinn-Brown Fellow with the Arizona Center for Civic Leadership, a Young Talent Advisor for the Center for the Future of Arizona, an appointee to the City of Phoenix Fast Track Cities Initiative, and a Trustee of the Desert Botanical Garden. Before joining Vitalyst, David was a Project Manager with the Center for the Future of Arizona, Community Engagement Manager for St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance, and a lobbyist and organizer for the Arizona Students’ Association.Born and raised in Marana, Arizona, and one of six children, David is a first-generation college student earning a Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Education, Political Science, and Journalism from The University of Arizona. He served as Student Regent on the Arizona Board of Regents, worked at the UA Office of Institutional Equity, and was an intern with Congressman Raul Grijalva.You can reach David at http://vitalysthealth.org/ or on LinkedIn here https://www.linkedin.com/in/dm3az/

Episode #12 in which Seth Kaplan talks about the interplay between people, place, and the institutions that support community.Seth Kaplan is one of world's leading experts on fragile states, societies, communities, and neighborhoods. His latest book is Fragile Neighborhoods: Repairing American Society, One Zip Code at a Time. By focusing on improving underlying social dynamics – social relationships, social capital, and social institutions – Seth has been effective at advancing conflict resolution, navigating political transitions, community building, and improving neighborhood health.Seth is a Professorial Lecturer in the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, Senior Adviser to the Institute of Integrated Transitions (IFIT), and Visiting fellow with the Mercatus Center's Program on Pluralism and Civil Exchange. He also helps governments and organizations around the world, including the World Bank, USAID, OECD, US State Department, and various donors, philanthropists, nonprofits, and community organizations, strategize and implement programs to address various forms of social fragility.You can reach Seth at https://sethkaplan.org/ or at LinkedIn here https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethkaplan28

Episode #11 in which Emily Kawano shows us that each of us can be part of creating an economy that works for all of us. Emily Kawano is the co-coordinator and co-founder of the U.S. Solidarity Economy Network and served on the Board of RIPESS (the Intercontinental Network for the Social Solidarity Economy) for almost a decade. She is the co-director of Wellspring Cooperative, based in Springfield, MA that is building a local solidarity economy ecosystem, including a network of worker co-ops. She has a Ph.D in economics from UMass, Amherst where she joined the Center for Popular Economics and served as director for nine years. She taught economics at Smith College and was the National Economic Justice Representative for the American Friends Service Committee. You can reach Emily at Wellspring Cooperative https://wellspringcoop.org/ or at her LinkedIn page here https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-kawano-5863516/

Episode #10 in which Marcus Walton talks about the multiple levels of change – from the individual to the global - that are present when change happens.BioMarcus F. Walton serves as the president & CEO of Grantmakers for Effective organizations where he supports communities of philanthropic leaders to realize their highest grantmaking aspirations. Throughout his 20-year career, he has specialized in operationalizing ideas, concepts, and frameworks; cultivating transformational leadership and relationships; racial equity facilitation & training; management strategy; program design; and constituent engagement.Guided by a lifelong interest in human development, Marcus’s vocational pursuits include a decade-long career as a Newfield Network-trained ontological coach, with additional training in the Action Learning systems coaching model. He adopts a multi-disciplinary approach to cultivate conditions for individual & collective thriving by integrating the behavioral sciences with nonprofit management & organizing principles, racial equity practices, and ontological learning competencies. Marcus endeavors to leave a legacy characterized by personal mastery, systems change, and social sector excellence.You can follow Marcus’s work on LinkedIn at this link, or via Grantmakers for Effective Organizations at this link.

Episode #9 in which Steve Dubb shares stories of social movements and community organizing that have created social change. `Steve Dubb is senior editor of economic justice at NPQ, where he writes articles (including NPQ’s Economy Remix column), moderates Remaking the Economy webinars, and works to cultivate voices from the field and help them reach a broader audience. Prior to coming to NPQ in 2017, Steve worked with cooperatives and nonprofits for over two decades, including twelve years at The Democracy Collaborative and three years as executive director of NASCO (North American Students of Cooperation). In his work, Steve has authored, co-authored, and edited numerous articles, reports, and books; most recently, with Raymond Foxworth of the Henry Luce Foundation, Steve co-edited Invisible No More: Voices from Native America (Island Press, 2023). You can contact Steve at Nonprofit Quarterly or at LinkedIn at this link.

Episode #8 in which Riane Eisler talks about shifting our mindsets from domination to partnership, both in the world outside and in the work of social change itself. Riane Eisler is an Austrian-born American systems scientist, futurist, attorney, and author who writes about the effect of gender and family politics on societies. Riane’s whole-systems research offers practical tools for constructing a less violent, more egalitarian, gender-balanced, and sustainable future.Riane has authored many books, including The Chalice and the Blade, that considers the roles of domination vs. partnership in both societal and interpersonal structures. Her book The Real Wealth of Nations was hailed by Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu as "a template for the better world we have been so urgently seeking."Riane founded the Center for Partnership Systems, which provides practical applications of her work, and she is editor in chief of the online Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies published at the University of Minnesota. She has taught at universities around the world, and has written hundreds of articles and contributions to both scholarly and popular books.Among her many accomplishments, Riane has the addressed the UN General Assembly, and she has been awarded the Distinguished Peace Leadership Award – an award that was earlier awarded to the Dalai Lama.We encourage you to visit her websites for more information about Riane’s work at www.rianeeisler.com and www.centerforpartnership.org. And we hope you will donate to help further her efforts to build a more just and humane world for all of us.

Episode #7 in which Meghan Cummings talks about what it takes to activate our collective power to make a difference. Meghan Cummings is Senior Vice President for Strategy, Impact & Operations at CFLeads, a U.S. organization supporting community foundations to galvanize action on the critical issues of our time.Before joining CFLeads, Meghan served as Vice President of Civic Advancement at the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, where she leveraged cross-sector partnerships, marshalled national resources and advocated for policy change to achieve progress on the community's most pressing issues. Prior to that, Meghan spent 11 years as Executive Director for the Women's Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, advocating for women’s self-sufficiency.You can learn more about Meghan and the work being done at CFLeads at https://cfleads.org/

Episode #6 in which Yodit Mesfin Johnson talks about the power of reimagining everyday systems via collective care.Yodit Mesfin Johnson is a Black momma, a visionary strategist and a social justice advocate based in Southeast Michigan. She serves as president and CEO of Nonprofit Enterprise at Work (NEW), a Michigan-based movement support organization that offers transformative consulting, back-office support and leadership development programs to nonprofits and social change leaders.A serial social entrepreneur, Yodit co-founded FutureRoot, a woman owned and community-led planning & design collective working at the intersections of race, place, culture and histories. She is also the founder of Black Men Read, a storytelling program that centers the experiences and stories of the African Diaspora for elementary-aged students in her community.With over 30 years working at the intersections of racial and economic justice for women/femme and BIPOC communities, Yodit thrives in building community around the questions that matter most: how can we unlock the potential and possibility needed to radically transform our communities, see the ecosystem and the whole, and design and act in ways that bend the long arc of history towards balance and harmony?Yodit employs various media—including poetry, podcasting, writing, and storytelling—as tools in her organizing and activism. She dreams of a world where our children's grandchildren no longer live in constructed identities or borders.You can contact Yodit directly at http://www.new.org/

Episode #5, in which Vu Le and Robert Egger explore changes that need to happen within the nonprofit sector itself, so that organizations can create more visionary improvement in communities.Vu Le is a writer and speaker who is best known for his blog, NonprofitAF.com, where his no-BS approach and irreverent sense of humor have gained him a fan base of over 50,000 loyal readers. Vu is the founder and former Executive Director of RVC, a Seattle nonprofit that promotes social justice by developing leaders of color, strengthening organizations led by communities of color, and fostering collaboration among diverse communities. Vu helped found the Community-Centric Fundraising movement, which aims to ground fundraising in equity and justice. He is also an active member of Creating the Future’s board of directors. You can find Vu at https://nonprofitaf.com/Robert Egger is lifelong “power of food” champion, and the originator of the Community Kitchen movement. He launched the D.C. Central Kitchen, the Campus Kitchen Project, and the L.A. Kitchen, and is a Founding Board Member of The World Central Kitchen with Jose Andres, Collectively, these organizations have produced over 350 million meals and helped thousands of individuals attain self-sufficiency. Now a dedicated "elder ally", as well as a member of the recently launched State Department’s Culinary Corp, Robert makes himself available to entrepreneurs and leaders who long to make change in the boldest and most daring ways possible. You can connect with Robert here https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-egger-28392621/ and learn more about his work here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Egger

Episode #4, in which Shiree Teng talks about the power of love in creating transformational change.Shiree Teng has worked in the social sector for 35+ years as a social and racial justice champion. She's been a frontline organizer, advocate, capacity builder, grantmaker, (e)valuation partner, and leadership coach. Shiree ignites the path to justice with courageous strategy, boundless energy, and radical love.Shiree's mission is to inspire us to prioritize love as the catalyst for our freedom. She believes that justice work starts with our own radical self-love – that without cultivating love for ourselves and each other, we risk only scratching the surface, endlessly circling around the work needed for our shared liberation.To connect with Shiree, head to https://shireeteng.org/Additional information can be found in Shiree’s two Brown Papers:Healing Love into Balance https://latinocf.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Healing-Love-IntoBalance-Shiree-Teng-003-compressed.pdfMeasuring Love in the Journey for Justice https://static1.squarespace.com/static/558dac6fe4b0f42cdd435abd/t/634e1201ba433209dd70ceb3/1666060815439/MeasuringLove2019.pdf

Episode #3, in which Josh Stearns explores the role of journalism in fostering civic engagement. Josh and Hildy discuss the need for bottom-up approaches to change, the challenges facing local news, and the need to rethink journalism to build stronger communities.Josh Stearns is the Senior Director of the Public Square Program at Democracy Fund. Josh leads the foundation’s efforts to support transformative leaders who are rebuilding local news, advancing more equitable journalism, defending civil rights online, and holding social media platforms accountable for their impact on our democracy and society. Josh joined the Democracy Fund from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, where he served as the Director of Journalism and Sustainability and worked to support and expand community engagement in local news and develop new business models for journalism.Josh is a co-founder of the Local News Lab, First Draft News and the Freedom of the Press Foundation and currently on the board of the Democratizing Philanthropy Project and Honolulu Civil Beat. His articles have appeared in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Guardian, Columbia Journalism Review, Orion Magazine and more. When not at his desk he tries to keep his hands dirty at the pottery wheel or can be found taking pictures in the woods of Western Massachusetts.To connect with Josh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcstearns/

Episode #2, in which Trista Harris discusses the importance of having a clear vision of the future you want to create. Trista emphasizes the need to move away from a problem-focused approach and to instead focus on creating a positive future, shifting mindsets to embrace a future-oriented approach to all the work of social change.Trista Harris is a philanthropic futurist who is nationally known as a passionate advocate for leaders in the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors. Trista’s work has been covered by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Forbes, CNN, the New York Times, and numerous social sector blogs. She is also the author of How to Become a Nonprofit Rockstar and FutureGood. She is a President of FutureGood, a consultancy focused on helping visionaries build a better future.To connect with Trista directly, head to https://www.wearefuturegood.com/about

Episode #1, in which Creating the Future’s founder, Hildy Gottlieb, delves into the fundamental question, “What creates social change?” In this short introduction to the podcast, Hildy describes the need for a shift from incremental improvements to visionary, systemic transformations. She invites listeners to explore what it truly takes to create a more humane, equitable, and compassionate world. Hildy Gottlieb is co-founder and Chief Boundary Pusher at Creating the Future, where she is leading the charge to rethink the systems that create change in the world. A social scientist, teacher, TEDx speaker and serial social entrepreneur, Hildy developed the question-based Catalytic Thinking framework, to ensure that everyone in the social change arena can root their work in possibility, connection, and enoughness. Follow Hildy's work at Creating the Future here https://creatingthefuture.org/