Change Agents The Podcast

How to Tackle Antiblackness

"Together we are powerful." "Black and Brown solidarity." "Yellow peril supports Black power." Interracial solidarity is foundational in the fight for racial justice for all, but often interracial conflict steals headlines instead. Just how can people of color transcend deep differences and internalized anti-Blackness? Listen to how Chicago-based organization People...

Justice That Heals

Chicago can be cruel to its youth, especially to youth of color living in marginalized communities. Restorative justice practices have begun to emerge in the city aiming to remedy the root causes of harm that is plaguing the streets with crime and violence. BUILD has become a fierce proponent of the restorative justice framework and has added it to its tool kit as it expands its reach in the Austin commu...

On the Way Home

Youth who are experiencing homelessness in Chicago are undercounted and frequently clumsily represented. This story’s intent is to counteract public bias around what someone experiencing homelessness looks like. The story of Shawne Hinkle winds us through a personal account of housing difficulties. Her story is one that is incredibly specific to her situation, but also speaks to broader experiences of homel...

Building Equality in Construction

History shows that Chicago’s building trades have excluded construction workers of color. But the attention on George Floyd’s death three years ago inspired a movement toward racial justice everywhere, from schools to jobs. While some construction companies have made commitments to stopping racism and discrimination in the workplace, industry experts say more work needs to be done to buil...

Restaurando La Maceta

Hay un refrán que dice que la aflicción es como una maceta rota. La maceta nunca se va ver igual o funcionar igual a lo que era antes que se rompió— igual a que una familia no se va ver igual o funcionar igual antes de la muerte de una persona querida.

El Centro Sanar pelea contra la cultura tradicional y medicinal para el cuidado de salud y trauma. 

Los clínicos de la organización acompañan a los miembros de la ...

Restoring La Maceta

There’s a metaphor for grief that describes the healing process as gluing a broken flower pot or in Spanish – una maceta – back together after it breaks. The pot will never look or function the same as it did before it was broken – just as a family will never look or function the same as it did before the death of a loved one. 

Centro Sanar seeks to challenge the traditional medicalized culture of mental health an...

ChiFresh is a thriving food service contractor run by worker-owners who are all formally incarcerated.  On busy days ChiFresh can prepare and deliver upwards of 500 meals for clients ranging from nursing homes to schools.  Soon though, they will be able produce TEN TIMES that number, as they ready themselves for a move to a much larger space in the city's westside.  Join Change Agents producers Charles Tharpe and Justin Myers ...

Where do you get food when the grocery stores aren't open, or when their shelves have gone bare?  Many Chicagoans asked themselves this question for the first time during the 2020 Covid pandemic, but for those living in the food deserts of the city's West and Southside's, the question wasn't a new one.  Join Change Agents producers Liz Murice Alexander, and Dylan Cohen as they take a look at the urban farming co...

As communities across the nation grapple with the racist symbols of their past in the form of statues and monuments, in University City, Missouri citizens have embarked on their own journey of racial reckoning, centering the debate on a less discussed, but more common form of  memorial.  As part of the Renaming Streets Task Force, seven citizens had 120 days to research over 200 street names and determine which ones should be targe...

When marginalized restaurant workers are abandoned by an industry ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, a local organization helped them pick up the pieces. Now, as the U.S paces itself towards recovery and the restaurants gear up for a safe reopening, they suddenly encounter a nationwide labor shortage. After surviving through a deadly pandemic, some workers are asking if it’s worth it after all, to go back to the industry that abando...