In our second episode with Jake Goodman from The Opportunity Fund, Jake and I talk openly about our personal struggle with imposter syndrome. As Jake states, in almost everything that we fund, people are going to do even if they don’t have access to the funds. We realize that the founders of these amazing programs and initiatives will run their programs without paying themselves. We become close with the people and programs we fund.
Jake Goodman, Executive Director of The Opportunity Fund Part1
We have touched on the dark side of philanthropy on this podcast before, but Jake and I take a deep dive here. How did we get here and how do we do these jobs with the knowledge that our daily lives are surrounded by privilege? And what does it look like to work with us? Our organizations have many parallels, but we are at different phases in our process creation.
Michael Yonas, Director of Research and Special Initiatives for The Pittsburgh Foundation
Michael strives to cultivate culturally sensitive opportunities for informing interventions that reflect the priorities of communities, organizations and other stakeholders. His most recent efforts have focused on examining the influence of stress on health, systems for serving the homeless, and strategies for promoting community and school safety. He is influenced by years of community-based practice, service and research, focusing primarily on the role of neighborhood and systems-level factors impacting disparities in health.
Tammy Thompson, Executive Director, Circles of Greater Pittsburgh
Tammy is a Poverty Expert, Nationally Sought After Speaker, Executive Producer of We Wear The Mask, a documentary released in 2017 highlighting the stigma associated with women in poverty and The Owner of T3 Consulting and T3 Media. Her work has been featured in The Pittsburgh Post Gazette. She is a mother of five and grandmother of 17. She now lives in Pittsburgh and is raising her granddaughter.
Michelle Walker, Walker Philanthropic Consulting Part 2
Michelle and I recap the articles, conferences, films and studies have come out regarding implicit bias and gender equity since we last spoke. We also give listeners some background information about how the mission of The Rock Family Foundation was determined, and how we hear the same question over and over: Why Girls???
Heather Arnet, CEO Women and Girls Foundation of Southwestern PA
Get to know Heather Arnet and her work at WGF!! From theater to branding to business development, Heather used her experience as a feminist/activist theater director to step into the role of CEO of a women’s fund that was founded in Pittsburgh in the late 1990’s.
Gisele Fetterman, For Good PGH
Pennsylvania’s second lady, Gisele Fetterman, joins us on Empower by Example to tell you all about her work in communities across the state. Fetterman is an empathetic, compassionate and courageous entrepreneur, as well as mother and wife to Lt. Governor John Fetterman. The Fettermans are a Pittsburgh power couple and they mix initiatives, relationship building, optimism and their incredible work ethics to make drastic positive changes in their hometown of Braddock, in the city of Pittsburgh, and throughout Pennsylvania, county by county.
Michelle Walker, Walker Philanthropic Consulting
Michelle spent 20 years working in the nonprofit sector before starting her own firm, Walker Philanthropic Consulting. She has been instrumental in the founding and operation of The Rock Family Foundation, and her expertise and insights help to shape and guide our strategies and initiatives. Michelle wants to help you fight the apathy that is rampant in our world. She specializes in helping individuals participate in philanthropy in the ways that work best for your life. And we are both happiest when we are challenging your preconceived notions about philanthropy!
Julius Boatwright, Steel Smiling
Beams to Bridges is Steel Smiling’s flagship program that launched in September 2019 that empowers black community members in the Hilltop neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, PA to become mental health champions. The demand that they had for the program far exceeded their expectations.
Dr. Kathi Elliott, Gwen’s Girls
In this episode we discuss the results of the Inequities Affecting Black Girls in Pittsburgh and how the Alliance works together to change longstanding policies in these systems. Kathi discusses examples of issues such as the school to prison pipeline, the adulteration of black gils and having honest conversations with high school students. BGEA invites a panel of black girls to lead their summit, set the agenda and frankly discuss their experiences. Dr. Elliott and Laura discuss implicit bias and racism within our institutions and systems.
Ashley Moorefield, Serenity Living Transitional Home
Ashley and Shawn Moorefield started a mentorship program in 2007 that intentionally brought youth from their community together to work on homework and talk about difficulties these young people were facing in school and throughout their community. Over time the Moorefields discovered that some of the young people they served were at risk for homelessness. Through a CRAZY (Ashley’s words, not mine) time of moving out of their own house and relocating her own family with young children in order to house these young people into their family’s home, their official non profit was born.
Jordon Rooney | Never Fear Being Different
In episode 1, Laura speaks with Jordon Rooney from Never Fear Being Different. Join us as we analyze how people learn to compartmentalize, and how we can break those patterns that keep us from living our lives as our true selves. We discuss disrupting traditional career paths, conventional school models and why you shouldn’t care what other people think about what you are doing, while challenging our listeners to note the difference between impact and sustained impact. We bring the conversation back to the importance of your personal “Why” and give tips to get back to feeling as we discuss the value of being present in your own body and removing the stigma of self help.