The last few years have seen a wave of labor organizing as it becomes more and more clear to workers that what they do is not expendable, but actually the heart of every business. From walkouts to unionization, workers from Starbucks to Amazon to your local coffee shop have come together to build and exercise their power. In this episode we explore the issues that led people to organize their workplaces, the ins and outs and ups and downs of the process, and the backlash.

On the forefront of the next labor revolution, we visit a coffee shop in Maine called Little Dog whose staff starts a union. Then we talk to Robert Chlala from the UCLA Labor Center about the rise in unionization efforts among service workers and the social and cultural ethos in a post lockdown country that have led to this new wave of the labor movement.

Featuring:

• Robert Chlala – Assistant Professor, CSU Long Beach & Visiting Researcher at UCLA Labor Center
• Jessica Czarnecki, Sydney, Sophie, Kira – Workers at Little Dog Cafe

Making Contact Team:

• Host: Salima Hamirani
• Reporter: Jules Bradley
• Executive Director: Jina Chung
• Staff Producers: Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum
• Engineer: Jeff Emtman
• Editor: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong

Music:

• “Industrial Zone” by Bio Unit
• “Stay Quiet” by Monplaisir
• “Bleu” by Komiku
• “Leap Second” by Doctor Turtle
• “Which Side Are You On” by Pete Seeger

Learn More:

• UCLA Labor Center
• Little Dog Employees Lawsuit
• Brunswick coffee shop strike ends with potential change in ownership

We need affordable housing now! On today's episode, we look more closely at two stories that underscore the importance of affordable housing.

First, we'll examine what the recent Supreme Court ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson means for unhoused people who are living on the streets and how historical disinvestment in affordable and public housing has created our current homelessness wave.

Then, we'll hear about the fight to legalize and preserve one important type of affordable housing units in New York City – basement apartments – and how the escalating impacts of climate change are making that campaign more urgent than ever.

Paul Boden, executive director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project Annetta Seecharran, executive director of Chhaya Community Development Corporation

Making Contact Staff:

Episode Host: Lucy Kang

Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang

Executive Director: Jina Chung

Editor: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong

Engineer: Jeff Emtman

Music credit:

Pending (Relaxing Acoustic Ballad Nylon Guitar) by William_King via Pixabay

Credits for "Invisible Homeless" by the Queens Memory Podcast

Episode produced by Stella Gu in conjunction with Melody Cao, Anna Williams, and Natalie Milbrodt
Podcast hosted by J. Faye Yuan
Mixing and editing by Cory Choy
Music composed by Elias Ravin
Voiceover work by Xia Liangjie and Chen Xiaojun

Learn More:

Making Contact homepage: www.focmedia.org

Western Regional Advocacy Project: https://wraphome.org/

Queens Memory Podcast: www.queensmemory.org

Chhaya CDC: BASE Campaign: https://chhayacdc.org/campaigns/base-campaign/

On this week's episode, we speak with Bay Area based comedian Karinda Dobbins about the release of her debut comedy album, Black & Blue. In Black & Blue, Karinda shares personal stories, finding humor in the most ordinary moments of her daily life, including her girlfriend’s arbitrary policy on household pests, the changes hipsters have brought to Oakland, and a Black woman’s unique packing list for hiking.

Featuring: Karinda Dobbins, standup comedian, writer, and actor

Episode Credits:

• Host: Anita Johnson
• Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang
• Executive Director: Jina Chung
• Engineer: Jeff Emtman
• Editor: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong
• Music Credits: Dee Yan-Key "Hold on"; Audiobinger "The Garden State"

Learn More:

• Karinda Dobbins - https://karindadobbins.com/

In Part 1 of our series on water in the Central Valley of California we visited a town called East Orosi, which has been fighting for clean water for over 20 years. This week we turn our attention to their sewage system, which is also falling apart. Why has it been so difficult for East Orosi to get clean drinking water and fix its sewage problems?

To answer that question we take a look at the entities that run things like sewage and water in unincorporated towns all across California. They're called Community Utility Districts. Community Utility Districts are often one of the only forms of self governance in unincorporated towns. But they're staffed by volunteers, they're underfunded, and they're trying to share a vital resource, water, which is also slowly disappearing in the San Joaquin Valley.

We talk about the problems with Community Utility Districts and ways to save them.

Learn more about the story and find the transcript on radioproject.org.

Making Contact digs into the story beneath the story—contextualizing the narratives that shape our culture. Featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.

EPISODE FEATURES: This episode features Berta Diaz Ochoa- community member of East Orosi; Janaki Anagha- Director of Advocacy, Community Water Center; Kayla Vander Schuur- Community Development Specialist, Self Help Enterprises; Carlos Sanchez- board member of the East Orosi Community Utilities District; Maricela Mares-Alatorre- Community Solutions Advocate, Community Water Center.

MAKING CONTACT: This episode is hosted by Salima Hamirani. It is produced by Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, and Amy Gastelum. Our executive director is Jina Chung.

MUSIC: This episode includes “Blue” by Komiku; Ocean Tapping by PC III; Friends and Apples by Alpha Hydrae; Gouttes by Hicham Chahidi; Week Twenty-five by Ben von Wildenhaus; No Light Without Darkness by Ketsa; and Thunderstorm by The Custodian of Records.

Learn More:

• Community Water Center: https://www.communitywatercenter.org/

• Self Help Enterprises: https://www.selfhelpenterprises.org/

In the late 1990s, psychologist Dr. Joseph Gone, a professor and member of the Aaniiih Gros Ventre tribe, returned home during his doctoral training to the Fort Belknap Reservation in north central Montana. There, he set aside eurocentric concepts of psychology he was learning in school and instead asked tribal members how mental illness is addressed using traditional Indigenous practices. What he learned changed the trajectory of his career. Listen to find out how he helped bring precolonial cultural and spiritual practices into substance use disorder treatment in contemporary Indigenous settings.

Learn more about the story and find the transcript on radioproject.org.

Making Contact digs into the story beneath the story—contextualizing the narratives that shape our culture. Featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.

EPISODE FEATURES: This episode features Dr. Joseph Gone, psychologist and interdisciplinary social scientist at Harvard University and member of the Aaniiih-Gros Ventre tribal Nation of Montana.

MAKING CONTACT: This episode is hosted by Amy Gastelum. It is produced by Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, and Amy Gastelum. Our executive director is Jina Chung.

MUSIC:

• Songs: The Horses are Coming, The Gift, Song of Honor
• Album: The Return of the Buffalo Horses
• Artists: Darrell Norman and Ramon Kramer https://www.blackfeetculturecamp.com/d-norman/

For More Information:

• Dr. Joseph Gone

• American Indian Health and Family Services, Detroit, MI

East Orosi hasn't had safe drinking water in over 20 years. The water is full of nitrates, runoff from industrial agriculture, which is harmful to human health. The community has taken action to find a solution, from lobbying at the state capital to working with neighboring towns.

And they may finally have one. New California laws, passed in the last five years, have opened up funding to build water infrastructure in small towns like East Orosi. But even as laws and funding develop, implementation has been challenging.

We visit East Orosi and talk to Berta Diaz Ochoa about what it's like living without clean drinking water and the solutions on the horizon. This is part one of a two part series.

Learn more about the story and find the transcript on radioproject.org.

Making Contact digs into the story beneath the story—contextualizing the narratives that shape our culture. Featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.

EPISODE FEATURES: This episode features Susana De Anda -Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Community Water Center; Berta Diaz Ochoa -East Orosi community member and organizer; Cristobal Chavez - member of Community Water Center; Janaki Anagha - Director of Advocacy, Community Water Center; Jessi Synder - Director of Community Development, Self Help Enterprises; Andrew Altevogt, Assistant Deputy Director of the State Water Resources Control Board.

MAKING CONTACT: This episode is hosted by Salima Hamirani. It is produced by Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, and Amy Gastelum. Our executive director is Jina Chung.

MUSIC: This episode includes “Blue” by Komiku; Monet's Water Lilies; Dark Rainy Day; Water Drops, Sad Slow Piano Background; Mother Womb piano; Guracha Sonidera Cumbia Loops De Bateria Series II

Learn More:

• Community Water Center: https://www.communitywatercenter.org/

• Self Help Enterprises: https://www.selfhelpenterprises.org/

• State Water Resources Control Board: https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/

Composer, pianist, and vocalist Samora Pinderhughes tells us about The Healing Project. The Healing Project, a fundamentally abolitionist project, explores the structures of systemic racism and the prison industrial complex. This story first aired February 2023.

Pinderhughes and The Healing Project takes action towards abolition with forms such as musical songs, films, an exhibition, community gatherings, live performances, and a digital library of audio interviews. At the center of the project are the intergenerational voices of people across the country, including folks incarcerated in prisons and detention centers. Their stories, experiences, and ideas serve as the foundation for The Healing Project’s vision for societal transformation.

Learn more about the story and find the transcript on radioproject.org.

Making Contact digs into the story beneath the story—contextualizing the narratives that shape our culture. Featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.

EPISODE FEATURES: This episode features Samora Pinderhughes, composer, pianist/vocalist, and interdisciplinary artist.

MAKING CONTACT: This episode is hosted by Anita Johnson. Segment Editors are Jessica Partnow, Lucy Kang, and Jacinda Abcarian. It is produced by Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, and Amy Gastelum. Our executive director is Jina Chung.

MUSIC: This episode includes "Creeping" by Borrtex; "Process" and "Hope" by Samora Pinderhughes.

Learn More:

• Samora Pinderhughes

• The Healing Project

• Exhibition site

• Tiny Desk Concert filmed live inside the exhibition

• Exhibition films, “Masculinity” & “Hold that Weight”

• Exhibition album

The vast majority of care recipients are exclusively receiving unpaid care from a family member, friend, or neighbor. The rest receive a combination of family care and paid assistance, or exclusively paid formal care.

Whether you’re a paid home care provider, or rely on personal assistance to meet your daily needs, or a family member caring for a loved one, the nature of the working relationship depends on mutual respect and dignity. During this week’s anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we’ll revisit the dynamic and complex relationship of care receiving and giving.

Learn more about the story and find the transcript on radioproject.org.

Making Contact digs into the story beneath the story—contextualizing the narratives that shape our culture. Featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world.

EPISODE FEATURES: This episode features Camille Christian, home care provider and SEIU member Camille Christian & Brenda Jackson, home care providers & SEIU members; Patty Berne, co-founder and director, Sins Invalid; Jessica Lehman, executive director, San Francisco Senior and Disability Action; Kenzi Robi, president, San Francisco IHSS (In Home Supportive Services) Public Authority Governing Body; Rachel Stewart, queer disabled woman passionate about disability and employment issues; Alana Theriault, disability benefits counselor in Berkeley, California; Ingrid Tischer, director of development, Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund (DREDF); and Alta Mae Stevens, in-home caregiver.

MAKING CONTACT: This episode is hosted by Laura Flynn & Anita Johnson. It is produced by Anita Johnson, Lucy Kang, Salima Hamirani, and Amy Gastelum, and Contributing Producers, Alice Wong and Stephanie Guyer-Stevens. Our executive director is Jina Chung.

MUSIC: This episode includes Dexter Britain: The Time To Run (Finale), Gillicuddy: Adventure, Darling, Steve Combs: March, Jason Shaw: Running Waters, Jared C. Balogh: BRICK BY BRICK DAY BY DAY, Jared C. Balogh: INCREMENTS TOWARDS SERENITY, Nheap: Crossings, Cherly KaCherly: The Hungry Garden, Trio Metrik: Vogelperspektive, & Kevin MacLeod: Faster Does It.

Learn More:

• UCSF: UCSF Study Projects Need for 2.5M More Long-Term Care Workers by 2030

• SEIU: Longterm Care Workers

• Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund

• Disability Visibility Project

• Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Network

• National Disability Leadership Alliance

• Senior and Disability Action

• Sins Invalid

• San Francisco In Home Supportive Services Public Authority

• Family Caregiver Alliance