Redefining Expertise Through Participatory Social Change Work, with Alexa Kasdan Artwork

Nonprofit Mastermind Podcast

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Nonprofit Mastermind Podcast

Redefining Expertise Through Participatory Social Change Work, with Alexa Kasdan

June 22, 2021 • Brooke Richie-Babbage

Today I’m talking with Alexa Kasdan, Director of Policy and Research at Demos, here in NYC. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Alexa for almost two decades. We met in the early 2000s when she was working at an incredible organization called Community Voices Heard in NYC, and I joined the board as an Ally Member. It was through Alexa, and her policy work alongside the members of CVH, that I first came to understand what participatory research and policy worked looked like in practice. And I fell in love with the model.

So often, we talk about impact in the nonprofit sector as being on behalf of people and communities. What I love about what Alexa and I talk about today is that it offers an important reframe - how do you practice social change work in a way that engages and centers impacted people as partners in the work, rather than as subjects of the work?

This is a great and very actionable episode about how to do social change work in a way that is more truly inclusive and equitable - whether you’re doing policy work, organizing work, or provide critical community programs or social services, there’s real gold in here for you.

Resources Mentioned

Community Voices Heard: www.cvhaction.org

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