Podcasts

In Solidarity is back for a new series on the importance of supporting young people in strengthening our democracy and how building this foundation impacts everyone’s health. We’re bringing you three exciting conversations with civic education expert Dr. Kelly Siegel-Stechler, prolific author and Citizen University CEO Eric Liu, and a young community advocate and Winston-Salem State University freshman, Olivia Cody.

Students’ social studies scores have plummeted, due in part to disinvestment in civic education. Yet, studies show a clear connection between the civics foundation laid in schools and participation in our democracy into adulthood. And creating strong civic health equals healthier communities overall. Host Ericka Burroughs-Girardi kicks off the series with civic education expert Dr. Kelly Siegel-Stechler, a Tufts University senior researcher at the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), Siegel-Stechler discusses why improving democracy and our health requires shifting mindsets and investing in civic education.

In this second episode of our three-part series, we’re tackling civic education and young people’s involvement in civic life: where we’re at as a country, what we can do to improve it and how it’s linked to our overall health. Host Beth Silver interviews prolific author Eric Liu, a self-described civic evangelist and CEO of Citizen University, an organization that promotes “powerful citizenship and civic education.” Silver and Liu discuss power, obligation and responsibility in a democracy.

In the series’ final episode, Host Ericka Burroughs-Girardi talks with a young changemaker who offers insights on motivating other young people to get involved. Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina freshman Olivia Cody shares her experience encouraging fellow students to vote, volunteer and make a difference in their communities. She also discusses the obstacles they face.

Welcome to the launch of In Solidarity: Connecting Power, Place and Health. In this debut episode, hosts Ericka Burroughs-Girardi and Beth Silver introduce themselves and the theme for the podcast: social solidarity. Burroughs-Girardi and Silver explore how our lives and fates are interconnected, whether obvious or not. And they discuss how the two of them discovered a connection that shaped their lives before they were even born.

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The idea of collective action for the common good has slowly given way in this country to private and for-profit … by design. If we’re going to improve health and health equity for everyone, we have to understand the shift away from the things once considered sacred public goods (i.e., public schools, transportation, infrastructure, and investment in all communities). In this episode, we talk with author Donald Cohen, who recently published The Privatization of Everything: How the Plunder of Public Goods Transformed America and How We Can Fight Back, to find out how we got here and how we can return to a mindset of social solidarity.

It started with the enslavement of human beings and persists today. Wealth influences opportunities for employment, housing, health care, and education, all of which contribute to health inequities. In this episode, we welcome our colleague, Dr. Christine Muganda, a scientist with County Health Rankings, to shed light on what the research says about wealth inequality. One of the most staggering statistics: Black families in this country have just one-tenth of the wealth of white families. Racial differences are far more pronounced in wealth than in income. Ultimately, the differences in wealth and the ability to build it can impact health and well-being for generations.

The 20th century is full of deliberate acts to restrict Black families from building wealth in this country. In this episode we’re joined by Dr. Dalton Conley, a Princeton University professor and author of Being Black, Living in the Red. Conley traces the massive wealth divide to the enslavement of human beings and follows it through Reconstruction, the New Deal, redlining, the G.I. Bill, and beyond. Conley suggests a race-neutral solution may be the most effective way to close the wealth divide.  

In this episode, we explore reparations as a possible solution to bridging the racial wealth divide. We're joined by Dr. Andre Perry, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution and a scholar-in-residence at American University. Perry has authored the book, Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities and co-authored a Brookings policy brief: “Why we need reparations for Black Americans.” Perry argues that reparations are not only the solution, but they’re also the morally right thing to do. 

Researchers are starting to understand ways to close the racial wealth gap. In this episode, we explore several evidence-informed solutions to support wealth building. The strategies are part of a curated list from What Works for Health and are rated for their effectiveness on closing disparities, or the differences between groups. We’re joined by our colleague, Michael Stevenson, the team leader for Evidence and Policy Analysis at County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, to discuss a range of strategies his team has studied and rated.