We Can Be podcast - The Heinz Endowments
Society & Culture
Tammy Thompson was nine when she and her family left a West Virginia coal mining town for the promise of a good-paying job and a new life in Pittsburgh. They shot through the Fort Pitt tunnels, where on the other end the golden bridges and sparkling lights of the city and its rivers burst into dazzling view.
Then it all went wrong.
As a third-grader, Tammy saw her family’s high hopes and financial stability crumble in ways that still affect them today. But she now heads an arm of national anti-poverty group Circles and is the producer of the documentary film We Wear the Mask: the Hidden Faces of Women in Poverty. She is an undeniable success story, and she spreads knowledge, hope and love to everyone with whom she comes in contact.
The trauma of poverty — and the strength from rising out of it — informs all that Tammy does. Her story is very much an American story. It’s a story of loading into the family car and chasing after the promise of a better life only to find it is just the beginning of an even rougher road. And then, against unfathomable odds, overcoming the impossibly difficult circumstances.
Tammy is upbeat, smart and brings energy and empathy to all who come into her own circle. Don’t miss the story of her journey, her perhaps surprising thoughts on gentrification, and her belief that going “beyond survival into ‘thrival’ ” should — and must — be our goal.
“We Can Be” is hosted by The Heinz Endowments’ Grant Oliphant and produced by the Endowments and Treehouse Media. Theme music is composed by John Dziuban, with incidental music by Josh Slifkin.
Artist & cultural agitator D.S. Kinsel protests w/art & leads w/heart (SE0309)
The radical imagination of PolicyLink founder Angela Glover Blackwell is building a more equitable world (S03EP08)
The fight against climate racism w/ NAACP Environmental Justice program dir. Jacqueline Patterson (S03EP07)
Election safety & equity in algorithms w/ cybersecurity expert David Hickton (S03EP06)
Justice, poetry, race & activism in education w/ Dr. Valerie Kinloch (WeCanBeS03EP05)
Why tackling climate change is absolutely doable w/ Jonathan Foley, Ex. Dir. Project Drawdown (S0EP04)
How Indigenous wisdom can help heal inequities w/ Decolonizing Wealth author Edgar Villanueva (S03EP3)
Columnist Tony Norman & the "revolution in attitudes" fueling social change (S03EP02)
Artist Mikael Owunna reveals inherent beauty, power & dignity of Black & LGBTQ+ bodies (S03EP01)
Truth in science advocate Dr. Todd Woylnn on a COVID-19 vaccine & what it unveils about our society (Stronger than This series EP8)
Emmai Alaquiva on using art to expose truths in historically trying times (Stronger than This series EP7)
What COVID-19 reveals about food insecurity w/ 412 Food Rescue’s Leah Lizarondo (Stronger than This series #6)
Air quality & COVID-19 w/ Clean Air Task Force’s John Graham (Stronger than This series EP5)
Kids & COVID-19 w/ Patrick Dowd, Exec. Dir. Allies for Children (Stronger than This series EP4)
Redirecting anger into action w/ Monica Ruiz, ED of Latino advocacy entity Casa San Jose (Stronger than This series EP3)
The moral lessons of COVID-19 w/ Dr. Andre Perry, Brookings Institution scholar & Know Your Price author. (Stronger than This series EP2)
Art in times of crisis w/ 1Hood Media Co-Founder/CEO Jasiri X (Stronger than This series EP1)
Civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson: “Protest is speaking the truth out loud.” S02EP20
Andre Perry’s genius blend of information & inspiration is helping individuals realize their value & worth. S02EP19
Outdoor Afro founder Rue Mapp: "Nature is a refuge from all the '-isms'" S02EP18
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