We did it! This is the last episode of our FIRST season.  I am happy to say that Walls Plus One will continue on to have a season 2. That will be released September 2022 and we’re going to make one little change. With season 1, we took a broad look at a variety of topics. When we started, our goal was to spotlight all of the hard work and big problems being addressed by nonprofits. But when we had a handful of interviews under our belt, a big theme started to emerge. The symptoms of poverty and the systems that keep poverty in place. Every topic came back to poverty. Our season started with equal pay and ended with climate change. And that’s where we’re going to make a shift for the second season. Instead of continuing on with a new topic each week, we’re going to devote all of season two to climate change. In particular, we are going to explore what is being done to try and catch up with the damage we’re already experiencing, and then focus on what proactive steps we can take to try to mitigate its impacts. Vulnerable populations are at the highest risk for feeling the impact of climate change, but does it have to be that way? If you missed an episode of this season, make sure to go back and catch up. We’ll see you in September! 

This is our final interview of the first season of Walls Plus One and our last topic is the climate crisis. Louisiana knows all too well the damage caused by hurricanes, and the amount and frequency of those storms is increasing. Our guest on this episode is Corey Miller, the director of community resilience at the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. He explains why Louisiana’s is actually a bit ahead of other states regarding research and mitigation efforts thanks to coastal restoration programs. “One of the important things for people to understand is that while we do have this wonderful Coastal Master Plan and there’s legislative mandates to continue to reiterate that plan, that plan buys us time.”The determining factor regarding what will happen next contingent on how we, as a global community, address climate change.  The solution is proactive planning and funding. It will also require some very tough decisions, like knowing when to stop rebuilding.   Consider becoming a Walls Project Insider to help keep programs like this part of our organization. Through a monthly donation of $10 or more, you will help all of our programs grow and thrive. 

We’re approaching the end of the first season of Walls Plus One, but we still have two very big topics left to discuss.This episode is devoted to education. There’s no better person to speak on this topic than Adonica Pelichet Duggan. She is the Chief Executive Officer at Baton Rouge Alliance for Students, a nonprofit organization devoted to ensuring that students are at the forefront of school improvement decisions. During our discussion with Toni Bankston, we learned the ways that trauma and stress can impact the youngest members of our community. Poverty creates situations of trauma that make the complexities of providing a quality education even more difficult. In this episode, Adonica really brings home that all of the things we have talked about this entire season are connected to the challenges for the education system. Essentially, we cannot continue to address these things individually. Rather, we need more wraparound services. Consider becoming a Walls Project Insider to help keep programs like this part of our organization. Through a monthly donation of $10 or more, you will help all of our programs grow and thrive. 

The stress being put on the kids in our community is something Toni Bankston has witnessed for decades through her work in the nonprofit sector. She is the founder of MindBody Baton Rouge and the former executive director of the Baton Rouge Children’s Advocacy Center. During her three-decade career as a child and family therapist, she has focused on trauma, particularly with those who are considered part of the disadvantaged population. Consider becoming a Walls Project Insider to help keep programs like this part of our organization. Through a monthly donation of $10 or more, you will help all of our programs grow and thrive. 

This episode gets a little meta because we communicate about the need for more communication. Specifically, we’re looking at the need for empathy when addressing all of the big topics we’ve hit on so far this season. Our featured guest is Jahi Mackey, founder of The 821 Project and the Southeast Regional Manager for Narrative 4. Both organizations are devoted to using storytelling and dialogue as methods of increasing empathy and building community. Also featured in this episode is Walls Project staff Cynthea Corfah. She serves as our digital communications specialist, which means she is the person you never see but who does all the things you see. Along with her work for our organization, she hosts an event called Brunch for the Soul. If you haven’t already, make sure to sign up for the Walls Project newsletter. And if you can, please consider becoming a Walls Project Insider. 

If you’ve been listening to these episodes in order, you’re probably noticing a theme. All of our speakers have had one connecting thread, poverty. Specifically, the systems that create it and keep people locked into it. Alfredo Cruz talks to us about issues surrounding housing. During our talk he really cuts to the heart of it all by saying that poverty is something that should concern us all. It’s not an us vs them because we’re all “them.” Lifting people up while breaking down the societal walls that keep people in poverty is our mission here at the Walls Project. It’s why we started our program called Futures Fund. Earlier this season we talked to Nina Tran, an instructor for the Coding Boot Camp, which is the side of the program for adults. In this episode I talk to Dexter Jackson, who runs the side of the program for teens If you’re enjoying this series, please consider becoming a Walls Project Insider. With a monthly donation of $10, you’ll get access to bonus material delivered directly to your inbox. There are other perks, too. LEARN MORE on our website. 

We are at the half-way mark of season one. If you’re enjoying this podcast, please make sure to share it with your friends and give us a review. That will really help us with season two, which we’re currently in the process of creating. And trust me, it’s going to be a really hot topic (that’s a hint).We’re continuing the idea of connectivity, which we started to explore in episode 5 with Mark Martin. We discussed car culture and how cities have been built in isolated pockets. The problems this type of infrastructure creates is seen greatly in the areas impacted by poverty. In this episode we talked to Pat McCallister-LeDuff, who is a community advocate for an area of Baton Rouge known as Scotlandville. The village was founded and named after a cotton planter whose plantation was located near the Mississippi River. CLICK HERE to learn more about how to contribute to the Scotlandville CDC. Also in this episode is Baton Rouge-based muralist Bryson Boutte, who has completed two major murals for the Walls Project. In this episode he mentions his anime series. To learn more about that, CLICK HERE. Please consider becoming an Insider to help support the Walls Project and all of its programs, this one included. CLICK HERE to learn more about how to become an insider.

In this episode we’re grinding our gears on my favorite topic - transportation. On the last episode, Davante Lewis talked about various forms of the debt trap and how it’s keeping roughly half of all Louisiana residents in poverty. One example he used over and over was cars issues. A car is one of the many ways Americans are forced into debt. According to the Bureau of Labor and statistics, transportation is the second highest expenditure for a household. That’s second only to housing! In this episode, I talk to bicycle advocate Mark Martin about car culture. He explains why the choice of avoiding the personal vehicle debt trap is not one easily made. To learn more, visit the Walls Project website and become an Insider. 

This is our third interview of the first season of Walls Plus One. In this episode we’re talking to another member of the Louisiana Budget Project. Davante Lewis is Director of Public Affairs and Outreach and he’s an expert on the topic of payday lending. Payday lending, or predatory lending as it’s also known, is a short-term loan that knowingly traps thousands of people in long-term cycles of debt. It’s a trap that is often only resolved with bankruptcy. The Louisiana Budget Project has advocated for several years by pushing for bills to cap the interest rate at 36%. The current average is 400%. Similar bills have seen bipartisan support nationwide and have been adopted in both red and blue states. Louisiana, however, has not been able to move the bill forward. To get the full, uninterrupted version of this podcast, become a Walls Project Insider. With a $10 a month donation, you'll get the full version of each episode delivered directly to your inbox. CLICK HERE to learn more! 

Previously on Walls Plus One we talked about equal pay. If you haven’t listened to that episode yet, no worries, here’s what you need to know… PAY WOMEN MORE! Louisiana has only recently passed legislation that requires equal pay among state employees. But besides that, not much has been done. In this episode we take the discussion a step forward. Jan Moller is the executive director of the Louisiana Budget Project, which is a nonprofit that monitors and reports on public policy and how it affects Louisiana’s low-to-moderate-income families. Before that, he was a political reporter. He’s got a lot to say about the halls of power and what you need to do to stay informed.  Also in this episode we highlight the fabulous Nina Tran, an instructor for the Futures Fund, a program by the Walls Project. This is the shortened version of this episode. To get the full version, along with the full show notes delivered directly to your inbox, sign up to become a  Walls Project Insider. Insiders are critical to the future of our organization. That means YOU can make a real difference with your monthly donation of $10 or more.