Podcast

The next four episodes of Let’s Be Real focus on the NYS Community Equity Agenda, a statewide coalition that is calling for economic development that is community-led and grounded in community wealth-building and racial and economic justice. Each episode zooms in on an Equity Agenda priority, from promoting community-controlled financial institutions to ending wealth extraction throughout New York.

In this episode of Let’s Be Real, we speak with Elizabeth Yeampierre, executive director of UPROSE. Founded in 1966, UPROSE is Brooklyn’s oldest Latinx community-based organization and has been deeply involved in the climate justice movement for decades. In our interview, Elizabeth discusses what it means for the organization to be community-led, how all organizing […]

In this episode of Let’s Be Real, we speak with Dominga Payano, a tenant organizer with Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition. Dominga represented the organization in the statewide Housing Justice for All Campaign. In an interview recorded just weeks before the campaign won a landmark victory—with the Legislature’s enactment of some of the strongest tenant laws in New York history—Dominga reflects on how she got involved in tenant organizing, her vision for housing justice in the Bronx, and what’s to come.

In this episode of Let’s Be Real, we speak with two organizers—Fahd Ahmed from DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving), and Sasha Wijeyeratne from CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities—from the Neighbors Beyond Amazon coalition. Reflecting on the landmark victory to keep Amazon’s second headquarters, or HQ2, out of New York, Fahd and Sasha discuss the power of community organizing, what this victory means for the communities and members that work with their organizations, and what’s next for the coalition as they continue to fight for economic development that prioritizes people over corporations.

How did Brooklyn resident Kenneth Lovell, a retired janitor living on a fixed-income and with no credit history, find himself thousands of dollars in debt? It’s a refrain we’ve heard before on our NYC Financial Justice Hotline: Wall Street banks working in cahoots with retail stores, doctors’ offices, and others to exploit low-income New Yorkers. […]

This episode, we take a look at a campaign that focuses on the Federal Reserve System and its impact on working people and people of color. We take you to a rally in front of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York where we spoke with two protesters about how the Fed impacts their communities. Then, we sit down with the Director of the Center for Popular Democracy’s Fed Up! Campaign to hear about the fight to put working people and communities of color at the center of the Fed’s decision-making process.

This episode, we focus on the payday lending industry’s most recent attempt to legalize high-cost predatory lending in New York. We feature a conversation with New York State Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou about the importance of standing up for strong consumer protections as a matter of racial and economic justice. We also sit down with New Economy Project’s Campaigns Director, Andy Morrison, to discuss a vision for financial justice for New York City’s communities.