CommsCast The Communications Network

Wednesday, October 6 at 12pm EST

Bruna Sollod, Communications Director, United We Dream

Bruna moved from Brazil to the United States when she was eight years old. She received her DACA protections while studying at the University of Florida. Now, Bruna serves as the Communications Director at United We Dream, where she has been a strategist for multiple immigration campaigns including Clean Dream Act Now and the Home is Here campaign, which led to immigrant youth's victory at the Supreme Court on the DACA litigation. Bruna is a growing voice in the progressive movement, and has been featured most recently in CNN, The New York Times, the Guardian and NBC Latino.

"Our work is not just about politics and policy, but about empowering young, undocumented people."

José Muñoz, National Communications Manager, United We Dream

José Muñoz is a DACA recipient who came to the U.S. from Mexico when he was a few months old, and grew up queer and undocumented in Minneapolis. José ensures that the voice and strategy of immigrant youth and families are heard across the country through engaging the media, shaping news stories, developing narrative and message as well as training directly impacted people to express themselves through the media. He’s been a featured voice in publications such as, The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Buzzfeed, Newsweek, TeenVogue, MTV News, and on Spanish language programming on both Univision and Telemundo.

“Our power is our stories.”

#HomeisHere Daca Video Series - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTahl_sx9fes99SC7RWKV0DsKRDoCBs7N

Wednesday, October 6 at 2pm EST

Stefanie Lyn Kaufman-Mthimkhulu (she/they), Founding Director, Project LETS

Stefanie is a Disability Justice cultural worker, educator, organizer, parent, somatic and ancestral healing practitioner, consultant, writer, and the Executive Director of Project LETS. Their work specializes in building peer support collectives and community mental health care structures outside of the state.

“Access is a practice.”

About Stefanie Lyn Kaufman-Mthimkhulu - https://www.stefaniekaufman.com/about

Friday, October 8 at 12pm EST

john a. powell In Conversation with Carmen Rojas: Building Bridges and Belonging Through Comms

Dr. john a. powell is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of civil rights and civil liberties and a wide range of issues including race, structural racism, ethnicity, housing, poverty, and democracy. He is the Director of the Othering & Belonging Institute (formerly Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society), which supports research to generate specific prescriptions for changes in policy and practice that address disparities related to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and socioeconomics in California and nationwide.

“Bridging is the key to healing.”

Racing to Justice: Transforming Our Conceptions of Self and Other to Build an Inclusive Society - https://iupress.org/9780253017710/rac...

Dr. Carmen Rojas, President & CEO, Marguerite Casey Foundation

Dr. Carmen Rojas (she/her) is the president and CEO of the Marguerite Casey Foundation. For more than 20 years, Carmen has worked with foundations, financial institutions, and nonprofits to improve the lives of working people across the United States.

“Funders should be the nurturing soil for social change efforts to take roots.”

The Problems With Philanthropy, and What We Can Do to Fix Them - https://zora.medium.com/the-problems-with-philanthropy-and-what-we-can-do-to-fix-them-c7315aaf04cd

Friday, October 8 at 2pm EST

Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, Climate Scientist and Chief Scientist, The Nature Conservancy

Katharine is an atmospheric scientist. She studies climate change, one of the most pressing issues we face today.

“We need to make climate change personal.”

Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World - https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Saving-Us/Katharine-Hayhoe/9781982143831

How do you develop your moral leadership? Dr. Carmen Rojas, President & CEO of the Marguerite Casey Foundation, and Rickke Mananzala, Executive Director of New York Foundation, will share how they’ve developed their voice and moral leadership, the evolving public role of philanthropy and nonprofit organizations in civic life, as well as how each of us can ultimately challenge ourselves to do more and do better.

Building a Digital Movement by The Communications Network