Ardell fell into “the cycle” - tough childhood, anger, crime, jail time, release, jail again. Then the Black Prisoners Caucus helped break the cycle. Now he works on Seattle’s successful and groundbreaking “Career Bridge” program, creating the community net to help felon reentry. Ardell and Mike talk about the issue coming from opposite ends - a white politician confronted with the enormity of the problem, and a black man living it and fixing it. Give it a listen and share it. We need a few more folks, and politicians, working to remedy our failed policies of mass incarceration.
Mike McGinn
Organizer, Climate Activist, Former Mayor
I started this podcast in 2014 because I wanted to highlight people I met when I was Mayor of Seattle. I hoped that hearing stories from people on the front lines of social change - how they got started, what they cared about - would inspire others to take action. If you go through the archives you'll find interviews with some some great people.
We're on hiatus right now, but I'm pretty sure we're coming back! And we did our best to make the prior episodes "evergreen" - not tied to topical events - so give one a try and see what you think.
A little background - the title is derived from the teachings of Marshall Ganz. Change ultimately comes from people sharing their stories to build a shared narrative of the world they want to see.
I hope you'll check out some of the prior shows, and, even better, get involved yourself in trying to change things for the better.