Countries—including Australia, Canada, Britain, and Japan—have pulled funding from the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) after several staff members were accused by Israel of aiding in the October 7 Hamas attack. The UNRWA is the largest humanitarian actor in Gaza. To discuss, we FEATURE Pia Wanek. Wanek is a leader in international development and humanitarian assistance specializing in building and leading effective teams to deliver quantifiable results in the most challenging situations. She joined DT Institute as CEO following nearly 10 years at Global Communities’ directing humanitarian responses and development activities in 24 countries. Under her leadership, the humanitarian portfolio grew to become a $60+ million operation, supporting communities affected by natural and man-made crises in Syria, Ukraine, Liberia, Gaza, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Kosovo, Honduras, Sri Lanka and Yemen. Media includes: The Cipher Brief, DevEx, Vice.

Last week, deepfake nudes of Taylor Swift were posted on X (formerly Twitter). The AI images featured explicit images of the popstar, some of which showed her being sexually assaulted. To discuss, we FEATURE Asia A. Eaton. Eaton is the head of research for the nonprofit organization Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI), which is working to understand and end cyber abuse. She is also an associate professor of psychology at Florida International University (FIU), where she runs the Power, Women, and Relationships (PWR) Lab. As a feminist social psychologist, Eaton studies how gender intersects with identities such as race, class, and sexual orientation to affect individuals’ access to and experience with power in (a) intimate partner relationships and (b) the workplace. Media includes: The New York Times, Forbes, Science Magazine, BBC News.

Pennsylvania's Supreme Court has ruled that a lower court must hear a challenge to the constitutionality of an old state law that limits the use of Medicaid dollars to cover abortion costs, leaving abortion rights supporters hopeful that one day the right to an abortion could be found in the state’s constitution. To discuss, we FEATURE Jennifer Driver. Driver is the senior director of reproductive rights with the State Innovation Exchange. She is a reproductive health, rights, and justice policy and advocacy leader with nearly 15 years in the field. Her work centers on addressing systems that add burdens or barriers to accessing full reproductive health information and services— paying particular attention to communities of color, immigrants, system involved youth, and LGBTQ communities. A dynamic trainer, presenter, and spokesperson on reproductive health, rights, and justice, Jennifer has been featured and quoted in national media, including The Washington Post, Vogue, The New York Times, Rewire, The Hill, The Harvard Political Review, MSNBC, CNN.

In ongoing border negotiations, Biden has begun embracing tougher border measures in order to get a bipartisan bill passed. The border measures will give the president new emergency authority to shutdown the border. To discuss, we FEATURE Theresa Cardinal Brown. Brown is Bipartisan Policy Center’s senior advisor, immigration and cross-border policy, having been managing director of that department for nine years. She came to BPC from her own consulting firm, Cardinal North Strategies, LLC. Brown was director of immigration and border policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; associate director of business immigration advocacy at the American Immigration Lawyers Association; and worked in the immigration practices of large Washington, D.C.-based law firms. Her government career includes stints as a policy advisor in the office of the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and she was on Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff’s Second Stage Review of USCIS. Media includes: Time Magazine, The Washington Post, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, CNN, NPR.

2024 has started with a large number of layoffs in the media industry. Reporters across many publications were let go, including from The New York Times, TIME, Sports Illustrated, National Geographic, and more. To discuss, we FEATURE Terri Gerstein. Gerstein is the director of the newly created NYU Wagner Labor Initiative, at the NYU Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Previously, she directed the Project on State and Local Enforcement at the Harvard Law School Center for Labor and a Just Economy and was a senior fellow at the Economic Policy Institute. She speaks and writes frequently about labor and workers' rights issues, with bylines in a range of publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Slate, The American Prospect, Teen Vogue, CNN.

In an attempt to cross from France to the UK in a small boat, 14-year-old Obada Abd Rabbo and four others drowned. This tragedy is one of many as Syrian refugees seek asylum. To discuss, we FEATURE Lamis Abdelaaty. Abdelaaty is associate professor of Political Science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Her research focuses on refugees in international relations. Her book, Discrimination and Delegation: Explaining State Responses to Refugees, asks why countries open their borders to some refugees while blocking others, and why a number of countries have given the United Nations control of asylum procedures and refugee camps on their territory. Media includes: The Washington Post, Vox, Mother Jones, CNN.

February is Black History Month. To commemorate, we FEATURE Janet Dewart Bell. Bell is the author of Blackbirds Singing – Inspirint Black Women’s Speeches From The Civil War to the Twenty-First Century, Race, Rights, and Redemption, and Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement. She has been a key strategist and senior executive at a number of national organizations including PolicyLink, the National Urban League, and National Public Radio (NPR). As director of communications at PolicyLink, Bell was instrumental in developing the organization’s collaborative approach to advocacy and communications and developed its trademark “Lifting up what works.”® She was the director of communications at the National Urban League, where she redesigned, edited, and marketed the League’s signature annual publication, The State of Black America. Bell is the Chair of the Women’s Media Center board. Extensive media experience.