PODCAST · society
Our Social Impact
by Dirk Van Velzen - Prison Scholar Fund
Our Social Impact is long-form, in-depth conversation exploring the positive impacts today’s social entrepreneurs, policy makers, and scholars are making on our world.
Episodes
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Ep#033, Marlon Chamberlain, Stopping Gang Violence Before It Starts
Marlon Chamberlain, Englewood Community Project Manager for READI Chicago, discusses his work with Dirk van Velzen, CEO at the Prison Scholar Fund, in this episode of Our Social Impact. Marlon reflects on violent crime prevention strategies employed by READI Chicago and the effects of...
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Ep#032, Salena Taylor, Shattering the Mold
Salena Taylor, Founder of Partial to Girls, joins Dirk van Velzen, CEO at the Prison Scholar Fund in this episode of Our Social Impact. Salena discusses overcoming the trauma of incarceration, the difficulties of life on parole, and the barriers faced by those reentering society from prison. Dirk...
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Ep#031, Juan Flores, From Expecting Prison to Considering a PhD
Juan Flores, a member of the Underground Scholars program at U.C. Berkeley, explores his unlikely journey to college with the Founder and CEO of the Prison Scholar Fund, Dirk van Velzen. Juan discusses his incredible journey from prison to the top public university in California. Tune in to learn...
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Ep#030, Not Getting “Lost in the Shuffle”
Hakim Crampton, Founder and Director of AMEN 4 Youth, sits down with Dirk van Velzen, Founder and CEO at the Prison Scholar Fund, to discuss his experience with the Innocence Project, life on parole, and his current work as a juvenile justice advocate. In this episode, Dirk and Hakim swap stories...
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Ep#029, Supporting First Generation College Students
Michael Cheever, College Success Foundation Executive Vice President of External Affairs, and Anthony Peterson, Alumni Board Member, share their experience supporting first generation college students with Dirk van Velzen, CEO at the Prison Scholar Fund. Hear about the evolution of College…
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Ep#028, Disrupting the Cradle-to-Prison Pipeline
Listen in as Almetta Pitts, Founder of Attemla Consulting and TeamChild board member, joins Dirk van Velzen, CEO at the Prison Scholar Fund, to discuss interrupting the school-to-prison pipeline. Almetta brings her insight to undoing institutional racism, addressing implicit bias, and viewing the...
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Ep#027, College and Beyond for Formerly Incarcerated People: Underground Scholars at U.C. Berkeley
Violeta Alvarez, the former Program Director for the Underground Scholars Initiative at U.C. Berkeley, discusses her experience as a formerly incarcerated person with Prison Scholar Fund CEO, Dirk van Velzen. Violeta and Dirk explore navigating college with a criminal record, the push to “Ban the...
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Ep#026, The Golden One
Life after prison can be daunting. Goldie Russell sits down with Dirk van Velzen, CEO at the Prison Scholar Fund, on this episode to Our Social Impact to talk, hardships, triumph, and perspective. Goldie approaches transition with the attitude that fear will not guide it as it can produce…
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Ep#025 – Restorative Justice is Changing the Conversation about Conflict
Nicholas Bradford, Founder and Executive Director at the National Center for Restorative Justice (NC4RJ), sits down with Dirk van Velzen, CEO at the Prison Scholar Fund, and unpacks how Restorative Justice is a “relational approach to conflict.” Primarily working in schools the NC4RJ has created…
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Ep#024 – From Cannabis Prisoner to Stanford Scholar
Stanford undergrad Jason Spyres talks with Dirk van Velzen, CEO of the Prison Scholar Fund, about his journey from being a poor youth and making mistakes based upon improper notions of what success is, and how he came to a clear understanding of what he wanted for himself, and the impact he…
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Ep#023 – Why are people afraid of being themselves?
Marquis Elliott, AKA Preacher, answers this question when he sits down with Dirk van Velzen, CEO at the Prison Scholar Fund. Preacher believes many people are afraid of not being themselves because of criticism. He explores how some people need to understand that life is subjected to nothing but...
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Ep#022 – New Profit’s Case for Applying Venture Capital Principles to Social Impact Investing
Ep#022 - New Profit's Case for Applying Venture Capital Principles to Social Impact Investing Brian Screnar, Partner at New Profit Foundation, sat down with Dirk van Velzen at the Prison Scholar Fund to talk about how his nonprofit uses venture capital evaluations and metrics to investin in…
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Ep#021 – Using Tech to Connect Families and Advocacy Groups to Incarcerated Populations
Marcus Bullock sat down with Dirk Van Velzen of the Prison Scholar Fund to discuss his journey to build Flikshop, a mobile app that helps families and organizations send notifications to incarcerated residents via postcards. We discuss the entrepreneurial path, his failures along way, and how he…
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Ep#020 – Why some nonprofits succeed but most are still struggling
Donald Summers, founder of Altruist Partners, is known globally for his work dramatically accelerating nonprofit growth, revenue, and social impact. He spoke with Dirk van Velzen at the Prison Scholar Fund about what it takes to transform your organization from struggling to true success. There…
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Ep#019, Why Yoga Behind Bars?
Julian Saucier sat down with Dirk Van Velzen to discuss his journey from incarcerated person to Executive Director of Yoga Behind Bars. He talks about his experience in prison, how learning yoga in prison shaped the course of his rehabilitation, and how he continues to use the lessons he learned...
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Ep#018, Why Young People are Getting Organized and Demanding Change
Claire Gorey sat down with Dirk Van Velzen of the Prison Scholar Fund to talk about her work as a 16-year-old changemaker. She talks about her A-Ha moment when it became clear she needed to get involved and be the change. Claire talks about her role as co-founder of her high school's Empowerment...
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Ep#017, Defying the Odds
Leo Novsky, Executive Director at Defy Ventures, Washington, sat down with Dirk van Velzen at the Prison Scholar Fund to discuss how his organization unlocks human potential in prisons and beyond. https://youtu.be/R0TQxK_notk
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Ep#016, Wired to Win
Robert Wood, PSF Board Director and Senior Social Media Advisor, as well as #Cut50 ambassador, sat down to talk to Dirk van Velzen, CEO at PSF, about how he entered federal prison as a gang member serving 25 years for a drug conspiracy and ended up earning four degrees including a dual Bachelor's...
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Ep#015, Dismantling Permanent Punishments
Quintin Williams, campaign manager at Heartland Alliance, sits down with Dirk van Velzen to discuss his policy work in Illinois, how he approaches the work, and his hopes for a better future for everyone, especially people with criminal records. https://youtu.be/yxTWpDR_2IM
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Ep#014, From Prison to Therapist Within a Year of Freedom
Prison Scholar Jenny Iredale, Therapist at Royal Life Center, sat down with Dirk van Velzen of the Prison Scholar Fund to discuss her educational journey while in prison, including being thrown "the hole" (segregation) for tweeting for the PSF, to life in the free world changing the lives of…
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Ep#013, Google’s Impact on Criminal Justice Reform
Google employees Michelle DiGiglio and Trevor Wiessler discuss with Dirk van Velzen of the Prison Scholar Fund the volunteer opportunities found through Google Serve and what motivates them to give back to their community. They also discuss the challenges facing criminal justice reform and the...
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Ep#012, An Entrepreneur’s Journey to Bring Social Impact to the Financial Services Industry
Rochelle Nawrocki Gorey sat down with Dirk Van Velzen of the Prison Scholar Fund to talk about her journey to fintech and how she has created a Certified B, social impact company that is helping people who are experiencing financial challenges connect to local, community resources that help them...
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Ep#011 – Your Money Matters, Because You Matter!
Clinton Taylor is the Founder and Executive Director of Your Money Matters Mentoring a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization who at no cost to participants provides financial education and mentoring support for economically vulnerable, low income youth and young adults sat down with Dirk Van Velzen of...
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Ep#010 – Nonprofit Finance, Impact Investing, Overhead Myths, and Favorite Children
Banking veteran Nick Anderson joins Our Social Impact to discuss a wide variety of topics all connected to his experience working with the nonprofit sector as a banker and board member. Anderson shares some of his grad school research on Impact Investing, he tells us about mistakes he’s made as a...
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Ep#009 – The Politics of Advocacy
Jonathan McGee, CEO and Founder, of the Global Organization for Applied Political Leadership discusses his background growing up on the Southside of Chicago and how began his work in advocacy with Dirk Van Velzen of the Prison Scholar Fund. He shares best practices, lessons learned, and…
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Ep#008 – Can 3D Sustainable Developments Help Address Global Homelessness & Natural Disaster Recovery?
3D Sustainable Developments looks to provide viable solutions to governments, NGOs and industry for addressing the vast housing shortage, global waste issues, and natural disaster recovery. Using their patented 3D printers, high-performance concretes, and precast concrete components they’ll...
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Ep#007 – Uncaging the Leader
Ronald Simpson-Bey sits down with Dirk van Velzen of the Prison Scholar Fund to discuss his journey during 27 years of wrongful conviction and overturning cases as a jailhouse lawyer to the University of Michigan and the first cohort in JustLeadership USA's Leading with Conviction (LwC) program....
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Ep#006 – Criminal Justice System of Destruction
Sarah Gad has an amazing story to tell PSF's Executive Director Dirk van Velzen on Our Social Impact. She is a formerly-incarcerated Cook County, Illinois, prisoner turned University of Chicago law student who is fighting for criminal justice and drug law reform. This is an excellent example of…
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Ep#005 – A Grandfather’s Hard-Earned Advice
Jodi Anderson sits down with Dirk van Velzen of the Prison Scholar Fund to discuss his journey from a maximum security prison to Cornell University to earning a full scholarship at Stanford University. Now in his senior year, Jodi unpacks how his departed Grandfather’s early lessons and…
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Ep#004 – The Jigsaw Puzzle of Prisoner Reentry
Brent Orrell sat down with Dirk van Velzen of the Prison Scholar Fund to discuss his work on criminal justice reform at The American Enterprise Institute. We discuss topics such as personal agency, the stress experienced by corrections officers, restoring Pell grants for prisoners, and the...
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Ep#003 – Push Your Growing Edge at the Service Board
Lacie West, Executive Director or the Service Board, sits down with Dirk van Velzen, Executive Director of the Prison Scholar Fund, and discusses how snowboarding helps youth develop as leaders. Feel free to connect with Dirk van Velzen, [email protected] Watch the podcast and subscribe to...
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Ep#001 – Second Chance Opportunities at GOOD PLANeT Foods
Be amazed at the creative genius of system-impacted entrepreneurs David Israel and Spencer Oberg, who sit down with Dirk van Velzen, Executive Director of the Prison Scholar Fund. David and Spencer discuss their new enterprise GOOD PLANeT Foods and executing in the fast-growing plant-based cheese...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Our Social Impact have?
Our Social Impact currently has 32 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Our Social Impact about?
Our Social Impact is long-form, in-depth conversation exploring the positive impacts today’s social entrepreneurs, policy makers, and scholars are making on our world.
How often does Our Social Impact release new episodes?
Our Social Impact has 32 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Our Social Impact?
You can listen to Our Social Impact on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Our Social Impact?
Our Social Impact is created and hosted by Dirk Van Velzen - Prison Scholar Fund.
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