PODCAST · government
The Battles We Pick
by David Shorr
What can we learn about making social and political change from talking to professional change-makers? This work takes a combination of persistence, shrewdness, and luck. On the Battles We Pick podcast, skilled advocates and organizers talk about how they deal with the various challenges they confront. Theme music by generous permission of recording artist Stephen.
Episodes
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Civic Strategist Caitie Whelan on "Giving folks the tools to make public policy for the people"
Send us Fan Mail Civic strategist Caitie Whelan's professional mission is to level the playing field of public policy. As she puts it on her website, "If regular folks don’t know how to have a voice in policymaking, lobbyists do. And they are very good at shaping it for their special interests."...
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White nationalism researcher Hannah Gais on the overlap of hate groups and the GOP
Send us Fan Mail The Intelligence Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center is well known for tracking and exposing the activities of hate and extremist groups. So it was great to have one of their researchers, Hannah Gais, as a guest on the podcast. Discussing her work on White nationalist and...
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Veteran immigrant rights advocate Charles Kamasaki on the last comprehensive reform, and the next
Send us Fan Mail It is often noted that the last time Congress enacted comprehensive immigration reform was in the 1980s. Charles Kamasaki was not only deeply involved in shaping that legislation as an advocate, but he's also written an authoritative history of the effort titled Immigration…
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Civic Power coauthor Sabeel Rahman on bringing affected communities directly into decision-making
Send us Fan Mail Cornell Law School Professor Sabeel Rahman is coauthor of an important recent book, Civic Power, about the urgent need to revitalize American democracy with much closer links between government and those it's meant to serve. The only path to meaningful equity and true government...
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African social entrepreneur Lolo Cynthia on getting healthy sexuality education into schools
Send us Fan Mail Lolo Cynthia is an African reproductive health activist, social entrepreneur, and experienced communicator. She shared some of the negative experiences that led her to focus on healthy sexuality and talked about how she gets schools to open up to the curriculum on sex and...
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PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel on the battle over free speech and book banning
Send us Fan Mail Suzanne Nossel leads the US chapter of PEN, the international network of professional writers dedicated to promoting and protecting the basic right to freedom of expression. Suzanne's book on the subject is titled Dare to Speak: Defending Freedom of Speech for All. Recently she...
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Memphis Councilwoman Michalyn Easter-Thomas on her Driving Equality Ordinance to Save Black Lives
Send us Fan Mail After Tyre Nichols was killed by Memphis Police officers who had pulled him over for a trivial traffic infraction, City Councilwoman Michalyn Easter-Thomas "had never seen so many CNN cars and trucks and people in my life trying to see what was the next step for Memphis." With…
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Philanthropic adviser Stephen Saloom on the unique and vital role of community foundations
Send us Fan Mail One interesting angle on advocacy are the effort some people devote to prodding certain key players to get more involved. In sectors like philanthropy, there can be a reluctance because it seems too political. As founder of the Center for Community Foundation Policy Leadership,...
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Advocacy evaluation pioneer Sarah Stachowiak on emerging challenges for the advocacy field
Send us Fan Mail First episode back after a hiatus of several months, so I needed a great guest. Sarah Stachowiak is CEO of the Seattle-based evaluation consulting firm ORS Impact and has been an important role model for me and helped steer me toward becoming an evaluation consultant. Sarah's…
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Early-career social worker Sadie B. S. on using creative problem-solving to meet human needs
Send us Fan Mail This episode features a conversation with our daughter when they were home for Thanksgiving. Sadie is in the early phase of a career in social work, currently working in the University of Arizona's counseling center and planning to begin studies next fall for an MSW. Social…
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Author Sasha Issenberg on how he chronicled the major social change of same-sex marriage
Send us Fan Mail This episode's guest is a journalist rather than an advocate, the author of one of the best books focused on advocacy work. Political reporter Sasha Issenberg's The Engagement tells the story of the 25-year fight for same-sex marriage, documenting the various efforts, strategies,...
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Voting rights attorney Yael Bromberg on turning the tide on voter suppression
Send us Fan Mail Election law attorney Yael Bromberg is principal of her own firm and litigation practice. With a specialty in student voting rights, she serves as outside counsel to the Andrew Goodman Foundation—which works on college campuses around the country to promote student voting and is...
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Veteran advocate and evaluator Kathleen Sullivan and I review key points from the podcast's first ten episodes
Send us Fan Mail To mark the podcast being ten-episodes old, I invited close colleague and good friend Kathleen Sullivan of Fine Gauge Strategies to listen back to some of the most interesting points made by those first ten guests. Similar to the way she and I delve into our interviews for...
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Strategist and philanthropic adviser Richard Healey on cues progressives sould take from the military's strategic principles
Send us Fan Mail The podcast's tenth episode was a reunion with the former executive director of the group where I was an intern right after college. Richard Healey was executive director of not only the Coalition for a New Foreign and Military Policy but also the Institute for Policy Studies as...
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Climate action advocate Clarence Edwards' observations about how power works in Washington
Send us Fan Mail Clarence Edwards has worked on nearly every side of US foreign policy and politics—from presidential campaign finance to the State Department to the Council on Foreign Relations to lobbying Congress for groups like the Friends Campaign on National Legislation and Bono’s ONE...
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Veteran public interest lawyer Eileen Hershenov on homegrown threats to American democracy
Send us Fan Mail In our conversation, Eileen Hershenov of the Anti-Defamation League kept coming back to the theme of advocacy's broadest challenge: to keep progressing and sustaining change over the long haul. As Eileen explained, the only way to sustain progressive organizing is by getting…
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Consultant Terry Woodbury on how struggling rural communities can pull back from the brink
Send us Fan Mail When Terry Woodbury was fresh out of his masters program at Princeton Theological Seminary in the late-1960s, an internship with a wealthy Kansas congregation—essentially an experiment in changing local racial relations—sent him on a career path as a community organizer. Terry...
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Fetal alcohol spectrum advocate Sandra Ionno Butcher on bringing diverse stakeholders together for shared goals
Send us Fan Mail Sandra Ionno Butcher has been chief executive of the National Organisation for FASD for six and a half years—and active in efforts on behalf of the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder for nearly a decade—after spending the bulk of her career advocating for nuclear disarmament. With...
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Anti-poverty advocate Gawain Kripke on the importance of flexibility and opportunism in advocacy
Send us Fan Mail Prior to launching his consulting firm Double Dogwood, Gawain Kripke spent the bulk of his career with Oxfam America, most of that time as policy director responsible for the organization’s advocacy efforts. That role put Gawain in many different advocacy contexts, including...
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Amnesty International advocate Adotei Akwei on the inside game, outside game, and movement-building
Send us Fan Mail Adotei Akwei is a seasoned and accomplished advocate who has worked for the American Committee on Africa, Human Rights First, CARE USA, and spent over 25 years with Amnesty International USA. Currently he is Amnesty's Chief Membership Collaborations Officer. That role with the...
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Labor leader Bob Walsh on relationship-building in advocacy
Send us Fan Mail Recently retired teachers union leader Bob Walsh shared many useful insights from his career going all the way back to politics on the college campus where we both went. As a student government leader, Bob was the farthest thing from the Tracy Flick stereotype. He was set on…
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DEI consultant Angela Bruce-Raeburn on confronting the development field with its systemic racism
Send us Fan Mail When George Floyd's horrific murder prompted a reckoning with the America's pervasive racism, a nagging concern had been on Angela Bruce-Raeburn's mind for at least a decade over the racism she saw in the global development field. As a Black American who migrated from Trinidad…
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Georgetown Law Human Righrs Institute Director Elisa Massimino on the need for advocates to balance chutzpah and humility
Send us Fan Mail Elisa Massimino shared reflections from a distinguished career in human rights advocacy, including as CEO of one of the major organizations in the field, Human Rights First. Drawing from her 2020 Drinan Lecture on "Chutzpah and Humility: Twin Virtues for Changing the World" at...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
What can we learn about making social and political change from talking to professional change-makers? This work takes a combination of persistence, shrewdness, and luck. On the Battles We Pick podcast, skilled advocates and organizers talk about how they deal with the various challenges they confront.
Theme music by generous permission of recording artist Stephen.
HOSTED BY
David Shorr
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Battles We Pick have?
The Battles We Pick currently has 23 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Battles We Pick about?
What can we learn about making social and political change from talking to professional change-makers? This work takes a combination of persistence, shrewdness, and luck. On the Battles We Pick podcast, skilled advocates and organizers talk about how they deal with the various challenges they...
How often does The Battles We Pick release new episodes?
The Battles We Pick has 23 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Battles We Pick?
You can listen to The Battles We Pick 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 The Battles We Pick?
The Battles We Pick is created and hosted by David Shorr.
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