This is Democracy

Uses and Abuses by Young People Jeremi sits down with Aurin Bagchi and Lexi Marie Seay to discuss social media and its good and bad effects on young people. Zachary kicks it off with his poem, "A Social Species." Aurin Bagchi is a student at the University of Texas at Austin and is enrolled in Jeremi's History of the United States Since 1865 course. Lexi Marie Seay is a student at Texas State University, but lives and works in Austin, TX.

New Approaches to Prevention and Prosecution — How can we do better? Hanna Senko is a sexual assault survivor whose case was closed via exceptional clearance by the Austin Police Department. She now serves as a survivor speaker, writer, and advocate fighting for change in the understanding, reporting, and handling of sex crimes. Alison Alter was elected in 2016 as the City Council representative for District 10 in Austin, Texas. Among many other things, she recently authored city legislation requiring the Austin Police Department to conduct an external audit of its procedures for handling sexual assault cases.

What is it? How are people pursuing it today? This week, Jeremi discusses the American Dream with Professor Samuel J. Abrams. Zachary sets the scene with his poem, "After the Dreams." Samuel J. Abrams is professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence College and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of a recent study on the topic of the American dream, summarized in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/05/opinion/american-dream.html

Clarence Moses-El was wrongfully convicted and served 28 years in prison. Clarence will discuss his experiences in the criminal justice system — his imprisonment and his efforts to seek justice; Eric Klein will discuss his role as an attorney for the wrongfully accused. Zachary recites, "So Long."

This week, Paul Stekler returns to the podcast to discuss the government shutdown and the media's response to it. Zachary delights with his absurdist poem, "Golden Toilet Sank the Titanic." Paul Stekler is an acclaimed documentary filmmaker and founder of the Center for Politics and Governance at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. His film work includes “George Wallace: Settin' the Woods on Fire,” “Last Man Standing: Politics, Texas Style,” two segments of the “Eyes on the Prize II” series on the history of civil rights, “Last Stand at Little Big Horn” (broadcast as part of PBS's series “The American Experience”), “Louisiana Boys: Raised on Politics” (broadcast on PBS's “P.O.V.” series) and “Getting Back to Abnormal.” His films have won two Peabody Awards, three duPont-Columbia University Journalism Awards, three Emmy Awards and a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Stekler has a doctorate in government from Harvard University, where his work focused on Southern politics. He previously was a political pollster in Louisiana while teaching at Tulane University. His writing has appeared in the Texas Observer, Texas Monthly and the International Documentary Association’s magazine, among other places, and in the book, “Killing Custer," co-written with novelist James Welch. Stekler was named film school Mentor of the Year in 2014 by Variety magazine.

How Do We Get Them to Vote and Participate More?  Jeremi sits down with Pam Bixby to discuss the issue of getting young people to the polls. Zachary recites his poem entitled, "If Not For Tomorrow." Pam Bixby is a communications professional whose current job as the Director of External Relations for the National Trauma Institute pays the bills. A passionate volunteer and nonprofit leader, she has served on numerous nonprofit boards in Austin and currently co-chairs the First Vote! program for the Austin Area League of Women Voters. First Vote! is a collaborative effort among the League, the Travis County Tax Office Voter Registration Division and Travis County Clerk Elections Division to educate and register eligible high school students. The League of Women Voters offers extensive information on elections, candidates, and issues at vote411.org.

What are the problems with the current system and how can we reform it? Jeremi talks prison reform with Michele Deitch and how the current system can be improved. Zachary kicks off the episode with his poem, "Roll Me Away." Michele Deitch is an attorney with more than 30 years of experience working on criminal justice and juvenile justice policy issues with state and local government officials, corrections administrators, judges and advocates. An award-winning teacher and Soros Senior Justice Fellow, she holds a joint appointment as a senior lecturer at the LBJ School and the School of Law at The University of Texas at Austin. Her areas of specialty include independent oversight of correctional institutions, prison conditions, the management of youths in custody, and juveniles in the adult criminal justice system. She co-chairs the American Bar Association's Subcommittee on Correctional Oversight and helped draft the ABA's Standards on the Treatment of Prisoners. She has written numerous articles about correctional oversight, including a 50-state inventory of prison oversight models, as well as many reports on juvenile justice that have received national attention. Her TEDx talk "Why are we trying kids as adults?" was named a TEDx Editor's Pick in January 2015. Prior to entering academia, she served as a federal court-appointed monitor of conditions in the Texas prison system, as the policy director of Texas' sentencing commission, as general counsel to the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee and as an independent consultant to justice system agencies across the country.

What are the challenges for prospective politicians in 2019? What are the opportunities for change? Jeremi sits down with Bryan Jones and discusses what 2019 has in store for our democracy. Zachary sets the scene with his poem, "Reflections on the New Year, 2019." Bryan Jones, an entrepreneur and technologist, has started several companies and been issued multiple technology-based patents. In addition to being the founder and CEO of Strive and Solve Ventures, a boutique investment and advisory services firm, Bryan is also the Chairman of Stand Up Republic, a non-partisan 501c4 founded by Evan McMullin and Mindy Finn to defend democratic ideals, norms, and institutions. Bryan has a BSc Engineering, an MBA and a JD, all from the University of Texas at Austin. While at UT, Bryan was a 21-time All American swimmer, an American Record holder and captained the 2000 NCAA Championship team. Bryan has served as a board member of several organizations, including The Athletes Village, TeamTopia, the Greater Austin Chamber, PeopleFund, USA Swimming, The Seton Fifty and The Texas Exes. He was also recently recognized as a 2018 Outstanding Young Texas Exes.

This episode reprises many of the voices on our podcast from 2018 to emphasize the vibrance, diversity, resilience, and idealism of our democracy today. We are on the cusp of a moment of democratic renewal, and our podcast guests exemplify the bright future of reform in front of us. As Franklin Roosevelt advised in a prior moment of democratic renewal, our young citizens are writing the new chapters of democracy. Please listen and give them your support. Voices featured in this episode: Sophie Wysocki and Meena Anderson, Ep. 4 - Young citizens promoting democracy Dr. Peniel Joseph, Ep. 6 - Race and Democracy in America Today Augusta Dell'Omo and Chris Rose, Ep. 7 - Gender and Democracy Sean Hassan, Ep. 9 - Religion and Democracy: How are we making our democracy more open and inclusive for different faiths? Paul Stekler, Ep. 11 - The Media and Politics Dr. Ruth Wasem, Ep. 12 - Congress and Democracy Juliet Suarez and first time voter Jillian B. Smith, Ep. 13 - New and Future Voters: Why does this election matter so much? Bryan Jones and Dr. James Henson, Ep. 14 - What did the 2018 elections mean? Dr. Michael B. Stoff, Ep. 15 - The 100th Anniversary of the First World War

This week Jeremi sits down in conversation with Ann Howard, Executive Director of Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO) to discuss homelessness. How do we understand the problem? What can we do as a society? Zachary Suri's original poem, "Trees, Sleep and a Cold Christmas" sets the scene. Ann Howard is the first Executive Director of the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition in Austin, Travis County; she has held the position since October of 2011. After 1 year of Ann's leadership, the Texas Homeless Network named ECHO as the Outstanding Coalition in 2012.  Since then, ECHO has partnered with CSH to examine feasibility for Pay for Success and plans to advance to the deal structuring stage, acquired 3 HUD HMIS grants and 1 COC Planning Grant; been included in a $3.5 million state grant, and a $3M VA SSVF grant and has increased the ECHO budget from $100,000 to over $1,000,000.  ECHO participates with the CAN Indicator Dashboard Steering Committee, the PSH Finance Leadership Committee, Travis County Criminal Justice Planning Council, the Mayor's Task Force on the Innovation Zone, the Psychiatric Stakeholders Committee and the Housing Works Board of Directors as an advisory member. Ann was an active leader in the city-wide campaign to pass the recent $65M Affordable Housing Bonds and City resolutions to dedicate proceeds from a downtown Austin Density program to support housing first PSH and to set a new goal to build 400 units of PSH with at least 200 of them being housing first and to increase funding for health and human services. Ann is an alumnus of the University of Texas, with a JD from the School of Law, and an MPA from the LBJ School of Public Affairs.  Ann has been married to John Howard, her law school classmate for 26 years and together they have been active in Austin public schools, youth sports, scouts, The University of Texas and Baylor University and the Lutheran Church.  These activities assist Ann in her work to build collaboration and partnerships. Website: www.austinecho.org Volunteer sign up for the annual census of the people experiencing homelessness http://www.austinecho.org/pointintime/