The coronavirus is still spreading in the U.S. and around the world. To discuss how to prevent the spread of COVID-19, we SPOTLIGHT Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH. Dr. Maybank is a young, highly respected physician on a mission. Currently, she is an Assistant Commissioner at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Dr. Maybank is also a Founding Board Member of the Artemis Medical Society, an organization created in 2012 to support and nurture women physicians of color worldwide with a current engagement of over 3500 women. Her areas of expertise include preventive medicine, health injustice and inequities, food and fitness, maternal and child health, cancer, HIV/AIDS, and community health. She is pediatrician board certified in preventive medicine/public health. Media includes: MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry Show, Disney Jr.'s DocMcStuffins, WBLS Daily Dose, Good Morning America, WABC Here and Now, BET-106 & Park, HuffPost Live, FOX 5 Good Day Street Talk.
President Trump has halted U.S. funding of the World Health Organization. To discuss the implications of this decision on the world's ability to fight the coronavirus, we feature Dr. Kate Tulenko. Dr Tulenko is a globally recognized expert in health workforce, digital health/eHealth, global health security, and health systems strengthening. Dr. Tulenko has served on expert panels for the World Bank, World Health Organization, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Aspen Institute, the American Hospital Association, and other organizations. Her most recent book “Insourced” identifies the links between the US and global health worker shortage and offers affordable solutions. Extensive media experience.
More than 80 million Americans are expected to receive up to $1,200 in their bank accounts on Wednesday as part of the coronavirus stimulus package. To discuss, we feature Sarita Gupta. Gupta is director of the Ford Foundation’s Future of Work(ers) program, leading the team that oversees Ford’s efforts to actively shape a future of work that puts workers and their well-being at the center. She has deep expertise in policy advocacy, organizing, and building partnerships across the workers’ rights and care movements, having served as executive director of Jobs With Justice and co-director of Caring Across Generations. She is a nationally recognized expert on the economic, labor, and political issues affecting working people. Extensive media experience.
As COVID-19 continues to spread, there is concern about the high risk to those who are incarcerated. To discuss, we FEATURE Chandra Bozelko. Bozelko served more than six years at the York Correctional Institution, Connecticut’s only state women’s prison, for non-violent crimes that remain on appeal. She was the first inmate to write a regular newspaper column from behind bars which was called “Prison Diaries.” Prison Diaries is now a weekly blog of columns written by Bozelko while she was still incarcerated. Media includes: The New York Times Magazine, USA Today, US News and World Report, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Lily, Forbes, Elle, Ms. Magazine, Quartz, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, Wired.
There have been fewer than 100 migrants in custody at the border because authorities expelled over 10,000 migrants and are immediately sending any new migrants back across the border. To discuss, we FEATURE Maria Echaveste. Echaveste is the Policy and Program Development Director at the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy. Maria Echaveste joined University of California’s Berkeley School of Law as a Lecturer after co-founding a strategic and policy consulting group, serving as a senior White House and U.S. Department of Labor official. From 1998 to 2001, she served as assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff to President Bill Clinton. Among her responsibilities in this role was overseeing issues relating to Mexico and Latin America. She has worked as a community leader and corporate attorney. She is also a Senior Fellow with the Law School’s Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity. Extensive media experience.
The country will need to open up again once the coronavirus lockdown is over. To discuss the associated risk, we FEATURE Donna R. Childs. Childs is the founder and chief executive officer of Prisere LLC, recognized in the 2011 GEW 50, the 50 most innovative start-ups of the year selected by the Kauffman Foundation for recognition during Global Entrepreneurship Week. Prisere LLC builds capacity for climate and disaster risk resilience. This year to date, 2017, Prisere LLC has led projects in Sri Lanka and Pakistan for the Asian Development Bank and in Turkey for the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. Media includes: U.S. News and World Report, The Economist, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, NPR, CBS, Fox News.
Cities across the world are shutting down their streets for pedestrians in order to maintain social distance. To discuss, we FEATURE Rossana G. D'Antonio. D'Antonio is an Assistant Deputy Director for Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, the largest department of public works in the nation. Only the second female to achieve the position of Assistant Deputy Director in the history of the Department, D’Antonio is well aware that she serves as a role model to other female engineers in her organization and in the engineering industry. She is responsible for directing the technical design of all public infrastructure facilities including highway, flood control and bridge structures. Media includes: Pasadena Now 92.3FM, The Beat Radio Show.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) described the global economic decline as the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s. To discuss, we FEATURE Sarah Anderson. Anderson is the Director of the Global Economy Program at the Institute for Policy Studies, a multi-issue research and education center founded in Washington, DC, in 1963. She is a co-author of the books Field Guide to the Global Economy (New Press, 2005) and Alternatives to Economic Globalization (Berrett-Koehler, 2004) as well as dozens of studies and articles on the impact of trade and investment liberalization on communities, workers, the poor, and the environment. Media includes: The New York Times, Associate Press, CNN, NPR.
The IMF has agreed to provide debt relief to help 25 countries deal with the pandemic. To discuss, we FEATURE Karen Tramontano. Tramontano is the Chief Executive Officer at Blue Star Strategies, LLC and provides corporate, institutional and public sector clients with results-oriented strategies. In her previous work experience Tramontano played a critical role in shaping some of the most important global policy issues of our time, including China Permanent Normal Trade Relations, environmental and labor standards in multilateral, regional and bilateral trade agreements, and world-wide poverty reduction strategies that focus on creating jobs and employing the Decent Work Agenda. Media includes: Bloomberg, Forbes, Politico, NBC.
With the spread of COVID-19, indigenous communities are particulary at risk because of poverty and lack of access to health care. To discuss, we FEATURE Charon Asetoyer. Asetoyer, a Native American women's health activist, holds a Masters of International Administration and Management. She is the CEO and Founder of the Native American Community Board (1985) and the Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center (1988) on the Yankton Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. The Resource Center addresses issues of reproductive justice, violence against women, and environmental justice. In addition to the Resource Center the organization has a shelter for women fleeing from sexual assault and domestic violence. Media includes: The New York Times, WMC Live with Robin Morgan, ColorLines, CNN.
A ceasefire in Yemen has been called in order to allow for COVID-19 response operations. To discuss, we FEATURE Alexandra Stark. Stark is a senior researcher at New America, with expertise in U.S. foreign policy, international security, Yemen, and Middle East politics. She has a PhD from the government department at Georgetown University. She was previously a research fellow at the Middle East Initiative of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and Minerva/Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar at the United States Institute of Peace. Her research has also been supported by the Project on Middle East Political Science and the Cosmos Scholars Foundation. Media includes: Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The National, The Washington Post.
Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have officially endorsed Joe Biden for president. To discuss, we FEATURE Na'ilah Amaru. Amaru has leveraged her nearly two decades serving as a public interest advocate and Democratic operative towards advancing progressive policies across five U.S. states and at every level of government. Starting her career as a grassroots organizer in Georgia, Amaru became a policy advisor to former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, legislative aide to U.S. Congressman John Lewis, and executive director of the New York City Council’s Black, Latino and Asian Caucus. Building Democratic governing power in a national capacity, Amaru now collaborates with state legislators and grassroots organizations across the country to advance progressive democracy reforms and fight voter suppression. Media includes: Forbes magazine, NBC, NY1, WNYC.
There has been a push for vote-by-mail for the November general election to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. To discuss, we FEATURE Tova Wang. Wang is a nationally known expert on election reform and political participation in the United States and internationally. She is Senior Democracy Fellow at Demos, a Fellow at The Century Foundation, and a consultant to organizations working to improve democracy around the world, such as the National Democratic Institute and The Carter Center. She is the author of the 2012 book The Politics of Voter Suppression: Defending and Expanding Americans’ Right to Vote (Cornell University Press). Her work focuses primarily on voting rights and increasing political engagement, especially among immigrants, communities of color, ethnic minorities, and the poor. Media includes: The Today Show, Good Morning America, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, NPR.
A federal judge on Monday ruled that Alabama cannot ban abortions as part of the state's effort to fight COVID-19. Today, a federal appeals court ruled that medication abortions could continue in Texas and Oklahoma. To discuss, we FEATURE Portia L. Shepherd. Shepherd, a Black belt, Alabama native and graduate of the Bachelors of Arts Degree in Political Science at Miles College, and a Master's in Non-Profit leadership and management, is a consultant and keynote speaker with more than fifteen years’ experience across a wide range of industries: political campaigns, nonprofit and professional services, environmental injustice, domestic and sexual violence and the Blackbelt of Alabama. She is currently the Prevention Education Director with Family Services of North Alabama, a non-profit organization that serves survivors of sexual assault. Media includes: The Washington Post, NowThis, Fox News.
This week is Black Maternal Health week and to commemorate we FEATURE Elizabeth Dawes Gay. Dawes Gay is a co-founder of Black Mamas Matter Alliance. She is a recognized thought leader on women of color, reproductive and maternal health, and social justice. Dawes Gay is also the founder of Sisu Consulting, where she works with clients to advance social, racial, and reproductive justice for women of color. She is a strategist, advocate, communicator, and convener who turns research into social impact. She is passionate about solving social problems that specifically affect women of color. Her lived experience as a Black woman in the United States drives her to fight injustice to create a more equitable world. Media includes: The Nation, Rewire, The Root, EBONY.com, TIME Motto, Huffington Post, MSNBC.















