Shows / We Can Be - The Heinz Endowments
We Can Be - The Heinz Endowments
The Heinz Endowments aims to build an exemplary, sustainable region where everyone prospers and belongs. Endowments President and podcast host Chris DeCardy welcomes thought leaders in the arts & culture, environmental, workforce, veterans and civic participation fields who share their experiences at the intersection of public service, philanthropy and nonprofit communities with honesty, humanity and hope.
Episodes
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsThe moral lessons of COVID-19 w/ Dr. Andre Perry, Brookings Institution scholar & Know Your Price author. (Stronger than This series EP2)
Brookings Institution scholar and author Dr. Andre Perry joins host Grant Oliphant to talk about the moral lessons we can learn from the COVID-19 crisis, why…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsArt in times of crisis w/ 1Hood Media Co-Founder/CEO Jasiri X (Stronger than This series EP1)
Artist/activist Jasiri X, co-founder/CEO of 1Hood Media, joins host Grant Oliphant to talk about the role of art in times of crisis, why COVID-19 lays bare a…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsCivil rights activist DeRay Mckesson: “Protest is speaking the truth out loud.” S02EP20
DeRay Mckesson and his instantly recognizable blue down vest have become synonymous with advocacy for victims of police violence and an end to mass…
- We Can Be - The Heinz Endowments
Andre Perry’s genius blend of information & inspiration is helping individuals realize their value & worth. S02EP19
Dr. Andre Perry of The Brookings Institution has made exploration of race and structural inequality – especially as it affects education and economic inclusion…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsOutdoor Afro founder Rue Mapp: "Nature is a refuge from all the '-isms'" S02EP18
Rue Mapp founded Outdoor Afro, a “social media community that introduces African Americans to the Great Outdoors” because she remembers the exhilaration she…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsThe joy & complexity of giving w/ Giving Done Right author Phil Buchanan S02EP17
In 2018, Americans gave $427 billion to charities of their choice. Phil Buchanan, founding chief executive of The Center for Effective Philanthropy and author…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsPoet, soldier, author & father Tim O’Brien on the extraordinary, beautiful power of maybe S02EP16
“The Things They Carried” brought National Book Award-winning author Tim O’Brien fame, and the unparalleled poetic beauty and honesty of his novels, short…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsBuilding an army of support for refugees: Hello Neighbor’s Sloane Davidson S02EP15
As the national rhetoric about refugees skews toward outright xenophobia, Hello Neighbor Founder and CEO Sloane Davidson is “creating an army of support” that…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsBlindsided by the Taliban: Journalist & Postindustrial media co-founder Carmen Gentile S02EP14
In 2010, journalist and Postindustrial media co-founder Carmen Gentile was embedded with the 32 Calvary regiment in eastern Afghanistan when he was struck in…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsFrom homelessness to Emmy Award winning composer & director: the shining light of Emmai Alaquiva S02EP13
Emmy-winning composer, in-demand director and respected mentor Emmai Alaquiva is candid about what rescued him during his early hard times: “The arts saved my…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsDr. Cornel West & Bikari Kitwana 2: the revolution in priorities our society needs S02EP12
In part two of host Grant Oliphant’s two-episode conversation with Dr. Cornel West and Bakari Kitwana, they examine the revolution in priorities our society…
- We Can Be - The Heinz Endowments
Dr. Cornel West & Bikari Kitwana on the joy & struggle of today’s freedom fighters S02EP11
In part one of a two-episode conversation, Dr. Cornel West and Bakari Kitwana examine why joy is important in our lives (especially for those in the social…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsDifferent but united: the palpable positivity of 24-hours-a-day bridge-builder Wasi Mohamed S2EP10
When Wasi Mohamed led the Muslim community in an international fundraising effort that raised a quarter of a million dollars for the families of those killed…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsFrom Parkland to Pittsburgh, student activists are forever altering the social change landscape S2E9
More than 2,300 lives have been lost and 8,500 people wounded in over 2,000 mass shootings in the United States in the past seven years. Survivors of the…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsFrom Air Force plane nosedive to university president: Dr. Chris Howard & the power of mentoring S2EP8
As a United States Air Force pilot, newly engaged to his South African fiancée, Chris Howard ejected from his aircraft as it fell into a nosedive during a solo…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsArt is making souls soar in this rapidly changing neighborhood S02EP07
“I got into art-making because I want show the different ways that people show up in the world, and to represent voices that are often not heard,” says janera…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsAs environmental stakes rise, Emily Collins helps the underserved get a fair shake S02EP06
Groundwater poisoned from fracking, toxic coal sludge, and industrial pollution can sicken those who live near the source, and ruin land for generations to…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsTrayvon Martin's activism legacy: mother Sybrina Fulton, Jasiri X & Black Lives Matter stand strong S2E5
Sybrina Fulton is the mother of slain teen Trayvon Martin, and Jasiri X is the co-founder of anti-violence artist collective 1Hood Media, but both are so much…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsVery Smart Brothas' Damon Young: the hyper-cognizance & beauty of being black in America S2E04
With over 2.5 million weekly “Very Smart Brothas” readers, a GQ column and new Harper Collins book “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker,” Damon Young is…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsArcheology, family & fantasy: the fantastic Afrofuturist art of Alisha Wormsley S2E03
“THERE ARE BLACK PEOPLE IN THE FUTURE," in cut-out white letters on the black background of a steel billboard, stood high above Pittsburgh’s rapidly changing…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsTree of Life leaders: "We didn't think about courage; we thought about doing the right thing" S2E02
In this second episode of a two-part series, Jewish community leaders share their distinct and moving perspectives of what happened on Oct. 27, 2018, when a…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsIn aftermath of tragedy at Tree of Life synagogue, random acts of beauty & unity are the new normal (S02EP01)
The early morning of Oct. 27, 2018, began with promise, ethereally foggy with sunlight shining through the occasional crack in the haze to highlight the fall…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsLifting the arc: Hazelwood’s Tim Smith & grassroots energy bring a new future to this riverfront community S01EP20
The story of Hazelwood is a familiar one: A vibrant riverfront community with an industrial past flourished until the late 1980s when the steel industry…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsSan Juan, PR Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz: speaking truth to power, green energy & her grandmother’s enduring impact. (S01EP19)
San Juan, Puerto Rico Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz is the star of a grainy 8mm home movie that shows her as a toddler in her mother’s arms. Off-screen, her father…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsTruthful Art: Jasiri X on Trayvon Martin, Antwon Rose Jr. & the cross-section of unity that gives him hope. (S01EP18)
Jasiri Oronde Smith’s mom knew what she was doing when she chose the first name for her baby boy, the Swahili word for “brave.” That baby grew up to be lauded…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsLove Canal’s accidental environmentalist Lois Gibbs on the movement she sparked & what today’s activists need to know to save our world (S01EP17)
In 1978, Lois Gibbs was a young mother with a child in a school that was found to be built over a toxic chemical waste dump site. Lois gained international…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsWhat the Eyes Don't See: Mona Hanna-Attisha & Flint’s lead water crisis. (S01EP16)
“Flint is a story about what happens when the very people that are charged with keeping us safe care more about money or power than they do about you or your…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsThe 45 Words that Define Us: Max King on a First Amendment under fire, why we let rights slip away & how we can save them (S01E15)
One of the most fundamentally important sentences for the United States of America is this: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsEnvironmental justice superhero Mustafa Santiago Ali and the Hip Hop Caucus are shifting minds and votes one community at a time. (S01EP14)
It is no understatement to say that Mustafa Santiago Ali is a superhero in the environmental justice world. He earned his stripes serving in the Environmental…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsBorn for Storms: Angela Blanchard was a rock during Houston’s Hurricane Harvey & now she’s out to change the world for good (S01EP13)
The late-summer evening of Friday, Aug. 25, 2017, is forever etched in Angela Blanchard’s mind. National Weather Service maps showed increasingly ominous…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsNew Power: Author Henry Timms explains what it is, how to get it & why it’s changing our hyper-connected world. (S01EP12)
For most of recorded history, the rules of power were clear: Power was something to be seized and then guarded at any cost. This "old power" was owned by a…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsBrick by brick: Steve Shelton got his second chance & now he makes certain others have a shot at their own redemption (S01EP11)
In the summer of 1972, The Staple Singers’ “I’ll Take You There” was a No. 1 hit, the Watergate scandal was in the news, and “The Godfather” was the top movie…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsSpinning our moral compass: Rabbi Ron Symons on why centuries-old traditions may be the secret to navigating race, wage & immigrant issues. SE01E10
Rabbi Ron Symons grew up a few train stops away from vibrant, multi-cultural Manhattan in New York City. He now shares his world view of accepting everyone as…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsR2-D2, Illah & Ethics: How robotics & AI genius Illah Nourbakhsh was inspired to use his superpowers for good SE01E09
Illah Nourbakhsh’s journey began with his birth in Iran, and has since taken him around the world as a leader in robotics and artificial intelligence. The…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsCircles of love: Tammy Thompson draws on her own remarkable journey in her work to break poverty trauma cycles (S01EP08)
Tammy Thompson was nine when she and her family left a West Virginia coal mining town for the promise of a good-paying job and a new life in Pittsburgh. They…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsHumor, Rap, Poetry & Love: the New Muslim Cool of Hamza Perez (S01E07)
“God writes straight with crooked lines” is a popular adage that has been used to describe the journey of Hamza Perez, and he good naturedly agrees. With a…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsA Story of Two Wilsons: Janis Burley Wilson grew up in an arts-loving family in playwright August Wilson’s hometown, and now she leads his namesake Center for African American Culture. (S01E06)
Two Wilsons – Janis Burley Wilson and playwright August Wilson – have intersected in ways both meaningful and magical. The first Wilson is Pulitzer…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsFrom Miami to the Midwest: Change Agency’s Betty Cruz has made it her life’s work to make her city a welcoming place for immigrants. (S01E05)
All across the Untied States, cities that grew out of the industrial age were founded on the strength of immigrants who provided power to steel mills, gave…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsCenter for Coalfield Justice’s Veronica Coptis and her fight for one rural America county’s environmental justice (S01EP04)
Those living in rural towns where coal has long been the backbone of their economy and culture are often doubly hit with the realities of the shrinking…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsActor/writer David Conrad’s long journey home, identity of place, and the key role artists play in shaping our future (S01 EP03)
Actor/writer David Conrad discusses why the most striking sound in an industrial town is silence, where his own creative plans will take him next and the…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsKazakhstan candy, a Wisconsin dairy farm, PBS and innovative investigative news: the fantastic journey of PublicSource Exec. Director Mila Sanina (S01EP02)
Born in the Soviet Union and raised in Kazakhstan – with stops at a Wisconsin dairy farm and CNN and PBS News Hour along the way - Mila Sanina’s journey to…
We Can Be - The Heinz EndowmentsPost-9/11 vets' unique role in a more perfect union w/ Nick Grimes of Veterans Breakfast Club (S01EP01)
The role post-9/11 vets can play in bridging racial and cultural divides comes to light as Veterans' Breakfast Club's Nick Grimes talks about his journey with…