Today, at least 11 people were killed and 25 injured in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, in a deadly aerial attack. To discuss, we FEATURE Katarzyna Kubiak, the Structured Dialogue Officer at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Kubiak has over a decade of professional experience in academia, think tanks, NGOs and IGOs, advising European decision-makers and facilitating international security dialogue on conventional and nuclear arms control, risk reduction, nonproliferation, and new emerging technologies, mainly in the NATO-Russia context. Previously, she was a Senior Policy Fellow on nuclear and arms control at the European Leadership Network (ELN), a Transatlantic Post-Doc Fellow for International Relations and Security (TAPIR) at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies (IFS), an associate at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), a research assistant at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy (IFSH), a field researcher for the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) and a fellow in the German Bundestag. Katarzyna is a Member of the Board of Advisors to the Missile Dialogue Initiative (MDI), Member of the Younger Generation Leaders Network on Euro-Atlantic Security (YGLN), Vice-President for Education to the 2020 alumni cohort of the Advanced Leadership Program for Top Talents (ALP), Mentor at the Young Polish International Network (YGLN) and former member of the Deep Cuts Commission. Media includes: Deutsche Welle, Russia Today.

This year the definition of compassionate release was updated by the U.S. Sentencing Commission to include sexual and physical assault by prison workers. Prisoners can now petition for compassionate release. To discuss, we FEATURE Corene Kendrick, Deputy Director of the ACLU's National Prison Project. Kendrick directs litigation and policy advocacy on behalf of incarcerated people in jails, prisons, and detention centers across the country, including coordinating the national ACLU's litigation against prisons and jails challenging COVID-19 protections for incarcerated people. Previously she was a staff attorney at the Prison Law Office in Berkeley, California, where she worked on multiple class action cases on behalf of people in prisons and jails in California and Arizona. She also was a staff attorney at the Youth Law Center in San Francisco, where she led policy advocacy, impact litigation, and public education on behalf of children in foster care and juvenile justice systems in numerous jurisdictions across the country, and was a Skadden Fellow at Children’s Rights in New York, where she litigated against foster care systems in Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, and Georgia. Media includes: The Washington Post, USA Today, Teen Vogue, The Guardian, NPR, PBS, ABC.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule this month on an affirmative action case that claims affirmative action policies at Harvard University and UNC-Chapel Hill discriminated against Asian and white students. To discuss, we FEATURE Angela Peoples. A graduate of Western Michigan University, where she studied Political Science and Africana Studies, Angela got her start as a progressive advocate in 2006, fighting to stop an anti-affirmative action ballot initiative. Angela is a strategist, trainer, and social justice economists focused on building movements for gender justice and Black liberation. She is CoFounder of The South – a brand where unapologetic Black culture defines political power. She was also Principal Strategist of MsPeoples and has worked on campaigns like No Justice, No Pride, #ForUsNotAmazon, and with organizations like The Groundwork Collaborative, and All Above All. Media includes: The New York Times, The Hill, The Kojo Nnamdi Show.

Student loan debt postponement will end soon with interest resuming in September and payments starting again in October. To discuss, we FEATURE Betsy Mayotte. Betsy is the President and Founder of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors (TISLA). She has been working in the student loan industry doing compliance and advocacy work for over 20 years and has helped thousands of borrowers with their student loans. Betsy has served as a primary negotiator for several federal Title IV negotiated rulemaking sessions on topics such as the use of student loans at foreign schools, loan rehabilitation and borrower defense to repayment. In addition, Mayotte frequently conducts regulatory trainings for the higher education financing industry both in the United States and as far away as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Media includes: The Washington Post, The New York Times, Boston Globe, Wall Street Journal, NPR, FOX, CNBC.

The Supreme Court voted to uphold the Voting Rights Act in Alabama, stating that the Republican-drawn congressional map violated Black voters' rights. To discuss, we FEATURE Khalilah L. Brown-Dean. Brown-Dean is Professor of Political Science and Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs at Quinnipiac University. With a keen eye toward the practical implications of democratic conflict, her research interests center on voting rights, criminal justice, election administration, and public policy. She is the author of Identity Politics in the United States. The book moves beyond the headlines to show how conflicts over group identity are an inescapable feature of American political development. There’s no question that the United States is incredibly divided. Brown-Dean shows us how we got here, and more importantly, how we move forward. She has published numerous academic and popular pieces including a co-authored report on the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that was presented during the 50th anniversary celebration of the historic Bloody Sunday March in Selma, Alabama. She is host of the award winning radio show + podcast DISRUPTED for Connecticut Public Radio. Media includes: The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, The New York Times, The Hill, Christian Science Monitor, NPR.

June 10th was the 60th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act. To discuss, we FEATURE Vicki Shabo. Shabo is an expert on workplace gender equity and work/family policies in the United States, including paid family and medical leave and equal pay. As a strategist and analyst, she is steeped in both policy details and the political dynamics that typically surround policymakers’ consideration of these policies. Over the last decade, Shabo has been deeply involved in the development and enactment of federal, state and local workplace policies affecting tens of millions of working people. She interacts regularly with federal and state policymakers, business and industry leaders, advocates and researchers who share her interest in promoting more equitable workplaces. Shabo is currently Senior Fellow for Paid Leave Policy and Strategy at New America, a Washington, D.C. think and action tank, where she is focused on charting a path to winning paid family and medical leave for every working person in the United States, no matter where they live or work or the job they hold. Media includes: The Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Salon, Slate, CBS, CNN.

Juneteenth is Monday. June 19th is celebrated to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved people in the US. To discuss, we FEATURE Janet Dewart Bell, Chair of the Women's Media Center board. Janet is the author of 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). While a Visiting Research Professor at the University of Pittsburgh, she developed and taught a course in Effective Advocacy. 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. Her special projects included the Stop the Violence campaign and the National Urban League/Merrill Lynch Scholarship Builder program. Media includes: PolicyLink, The Ed Show, WMC Live with Robin Morgan, NPR.

June is LGBTQ Pride Month, which is even more important to remember and celebrate this year as the Human Rights Campaign has declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ Americans. To discuss, we FEATURE Kierra Johnson, the Executive Director of The National LGBTQ Task Force. When announced as the next Executive Director of the National LGBTQ Task Force, Kierra Johnson said, “Dignity, liberation, joy, freedom, love and resistance are just a few of the words that I associate with the National LGBTQ Task Force. As a bisexual/pansexual woman, I am no stranger to being made invisible, advised to tone down, or trained in the art of the code switch. As a queer southern mom, it is no surprise why I would be drawn to an organization that touts the tagline ‘Be You.’ In these cultural and political times, it is an act of resistance to live out loud and to lead and love with our full identities.” Kierra is on the Board of Directors for Guttmacher Institute, General Service Foundation and Groundswell Fund. Media includes: Newsweek, The New York Times, Fox News, Feministing, NPR.