1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:04,440 School systems can be beautiful but complex ecosystems. 2 00:00:04,920 --> 00:00:07,960 There are the individual schools themselves, and they're 3 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:11,320 interconnected layers of grade levels, classrooms, 4 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:15,240 administrators, teachers, staff, and of course all of the 5 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:19,320 individual students. Zoom up a layer and managing the 6 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:21,840 schools. Are the school districts the 7 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:25,960 umbrellas over multiple schools in a municipality making 8 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:27,920 decisions, establishing practice? 9 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:33,600 And of course, every individual school exists within the context 10 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:38,480 of its city, of all the people and systems, the history and the 11 00:00:38,480 --> 00:00:41,160 power structures of that particular place. 12 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:46,280 And if we zoom out one last time, governing the districts in 13 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:50,080 each of those cities are the states setting policies. 14 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:53,720 These folks are often at a distance from, and sometimes 15 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:56,920 even in opposition to the students and communities on the 16 00:00:56,920 --> 00:01:01,360 ground, but these policies shape the entire experience of those 17 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:05,480 students and their families. As a parent or a community 18 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:10,000 member with the concern or an idea, these school systems can 19 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:12,440 feel overwhelming to engage with. 20 00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:19,200 So how do you get involved? A big part of it was I'd gone 21 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:22,040 through all of these years of parents and educators, folks 22 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:25,720 saying it's a challenge to get involved in advocacy. 23 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:28,800 And so it really was about what are those obstacles? 24 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:34,320 That's Cardell Oren, and he is highly practiced at sussing out 25 00:01:34,320 --> 00:01:37,960 the obstacles. He works in education policy and 26 00:01:37,960 --> 00:01:42,600 advocacy now, but for years before that, Cardell was a chief 27 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:45,640 information officer, strategizing and engineering 28 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:49,960 large scale IT systems. And as a programmer, you know, 29 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:53,400 you always confront bugs in the system and you figure out, OK, 30 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:55,800 here's a bug. I got to figure out whether I'm 31 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:58,560 going to be able to program around a program through it, fix 32 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:00,640 it, fix the algorithm, whatever it is. 33 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:06,960 And bugs generally happen to be people and departments and 34 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:11,000 systems in the work that I do now, but it's the same process. 35 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:15,640 Now, Cardell is the executive director of Stand for Children 36 00:02:15,640 --> 00:02:19,760 Tennessee, an education advocacy organization that brings parents 37 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:23,600 and community members together with policy and decision makers 38 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:27,640 to develop solutions to the ever expanding web of challenges 39 00:02:27,640 --> 00:02:32,240 facing school age students. Welcome to Path Breakers, a show 40 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:34,880 about what it takes to cut through the noise and the red 41 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:37,920 tape and all of the other obstacles to progress. 42 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:41,880 I'm Tracy Pearson and I work on the communications team at the 43 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:44,200 Kresge Foundation. I'm Jamie Bennett. 44 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:46,680 I work at the intersection of arts, culture, and equitable 45 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:49,640 community development. On each episode of this show, we 46 00:02:49,640 --> 00:02:52,960 talk with a different path breaker who's forging new ways 47 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:57,400 forward in their community. Today, we welcome Cardell Oren 48 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:01,960 to get into how connecting the dots helps build capacity and 49 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:05,800 how empowering parents as advocates can better address the 50 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:09,320 web of systemic issues affecting our young people in their 51 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:14,160 schools and communities. Hello, Cardell. 52 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:17,240 Thank you for joining us. To start off, could you please 53 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:20,880 just introduce to our listeners Stanford Children Tennessee? 54 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:25,680 So stay and is the organization that is, you know, our mission 55 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:28,840 is to be a unique catalyst for educational success and social 56 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:31,960 progress to create a brighter future for us all. 57 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:34,520 That's our official kind of by the book. 58 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:39,480 And what that means is our job is to work towards organizing 59 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:44,960 advocacy that brings together people from our community with 60 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:49,040 decision makers to build solutions around creating 61 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:51,240 impact. And we do a lot of that through 62 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:54,600 coalition and partnership work, through working directly with 63 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:58,320 people to make change and create differences and and 64 00:03:58,320 --> 00:04:01,600 opportunities, especially in the areas of education and justice. 65 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:04,640 I want to talk to you just about some of your background and how 66 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:07,800 you you landed at Stand and I think that you have a very 67 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:10,920 interesting journey. So the first question I have for 68 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:14,360 you is tell me about Memphis as you experience it. 69 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:17,519 You know, a lot of people come to Memphis and they say, you 70 00:04:17,519 --> 00:04:20,279 know, this is a is a unique place and I've been a lot of 71 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:22,880 places and there are challenges here. 72 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:27,400 And so growing up in Memphis, my mom was very active and so we 73 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:30,400 went to school board meetings and, you know, she dragged us 74 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:34,120 along there and to events in the community and all over. 75 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:36,840 And I, I guess you experience it in one way, especially without a 76 00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:39,880 lot of resources and having to walk a lot of places or take the 77 00:04:39,880 --> 00:04:43,440 bus or, you know, try to get places or, you know, after 78 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:45,480 school at the library and things like that. 79 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:47,880 And so, you know, you experience it in one way. 80 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:50,800 And I went away to high school and then college and, and coming 81 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:53,400 back. And as an adult, you experience 82 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:57,360 it, you know, in a way of, OK, well, what is, is this place and 83 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:01,480 what made it this way? And so when I moved back to to 84 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:05,720 work in, in IT at a local Black college, you know, part of the 85 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:10,600 challenge was there's, there's a majority Black city and county 86 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:14,400 and there's a lot of challenges here. 87 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:17,000 And there's, you know, leadership that is 88 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:19,440 representative of the population, majority black 89 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:22,120 leadership. And so why do we still have a 90 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:23,960 lot of the challenges that we still have? 91 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:28,280 And so, you know, for me, it's been a journey of understanding 92 00:05:28,280 --> 00:05:31,440 what's the history, what's the past, what are the things that 93 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:35,640 got us here? And so as I experience it is how 94 00:05:35,640 --> 00:05:39,600 does this place persist in a lot of ways in terms of the status 95 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:41,920 quo that that that that gets developed. 96 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:45,560 I talk about a lot of times about plantation politics in 97 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:49,040 terms of the challenges that are created here. 98 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:52,280 And so, you know, those are some of the ways I experience it. 99 00:05:52,280 --> 00:05:56,680 And then in at the same time, it's such a wonderful place 100 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:00,440 that's steeped in culture and music and history. 101 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:04,840 And there's so much impacts both regionally and nationally that 102 00:06:04,840 --> 00:06:08,000 comes from that came from Memphis, that still comes from 103 00:06:08,000 --> 00:06:10,920 Memphis. And it's, it's really like if 104 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:15,120 you can change places, change the things that things that are 105 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:18,440 happening here, that that's a model for the rest of the 106 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:22,040 country and that is, is something that has been in the 107 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:24,400 past and that I hope to be in the future. 108 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:29,880 Kudos to your mother for doing the things necessary to make you 109 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:32,720 an individual who questions why things are the way that they 110 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:34,880 are. I think sometimes people can 111 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:38,320 move through cities and just see the end result of certain 112 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:42,560 systemic issues and they don't pause to think, well, why do you 113 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:46,520 think it is the way that it is? You know, and I think that as a 114 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:49,720 parent, as a mother, as someone who who's in contact with young 115 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:53,560 people, that is a vital role to ensure that they are able to ask 116 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:56,440 the question of why is that thing the way that you see it is 117 00:06:56,440 --> 00:06:58,400 today? So kudos to her. 118 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:02,640 Big ups to your Mama for that. You know, I call her, I call 119 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:06,080 myself a cynical optimist. I call her idealist because 120 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:11,520 she's been fighting for, you know, 60-70 years in terms of 121 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:15,000 making change when, you know, she was a young student at the 122 00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:17,960 University of Michigan and fighting against apartheid and 123 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:20,880 moved on from there in terms of civil and human rights. 124 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:23,320 And then when she came to Memphis, fighting for parent 125 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:25,640 rights. And so that really created, you 126 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:28,800 know, the base where that wasn't necessarily what I wanted to do 127 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:30,720 because I was like, OK, we get dragged around. 128 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:34,640 I don't want to do this, but you know, he planted it in me and my 129 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:37,560 sisters and that is the work that we ended up doing. 130 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:40,840 And so, you know, that is by where it was. 131 00:07:40,840 --> 00:07:44,560 It was a modeling of things or not as they should be. 132 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:49,040 And we can create that change. And it astounds me every day 133 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:52,360 that she still continues to work alongside, you know, the work 134 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:55,800 that we do and, and be a volunteer with us even in in 135 00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:58,920 what we push for that she can still believe that, you know, 136 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:01,960 that things should be different and we should keep pushing to 137 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:05,040 make them that way. And Cardell, when you're, you 138 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:08,920 know, as a cynical optimist, there's a lot that's going right 139 00:08:08,960 --> 00:08:11,400 in Memphis right now. I've spent a little bit of time 140 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:14,000 with Mayor Young. I know some folks are doing 141 00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:15,720 really good work there in Memphis. 142 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:19,880 You know, Rachel Knox over at the found at the Hyde Foundation 143 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:22,520 and DeMarcus Suggs, who just joined the mayor's staff and 144 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:25,520 NASA Troutman. There's a lot going right in 145 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:28,400 Memphis, but it's still a place where there's a lot of stuff 146 00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:32,760 that's bad. The police, the recent fires, 147 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:34,280 the, you know, all of that sort of stuff. 148 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:37,600 Where are you on the sort of cynicism, optimism. 149 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:40,320 You know, where where? How's your meter tipping these 150 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:42,159 days? I probably tend to be more 151 00:08:42,159 --> 00:08:43,640 cynical. That's why it comes first 152 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:49,680 because I think that a lot of times we have a lot of the right 153 00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:55,840 people and positions and then the challenges in can you 154 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:58,560 connect the dots? Will we be honest with each 155 00:08:58,560 --> 00:09:00,800 other? Will we be transparent? 156 00:09:01,160 --> 00:09:04,960 And can we, you know, from a, the sense of, you know, no 157 00:09:04,960 --> 00:09:07,200 permanent friends, permanent enemies, only permanent 158 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:10,120 interests. Then we have enough permanent 159 00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:14,760 interests to be able to work together towards an end, even if 160 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:17,360 it's not on everything, on a few things. 161 00:09:17,680 --> 00:09:21,960 And I think that the challenges that we face have been faced for 162 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:24,520 decades and the choices that we've made. 163 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:28,040 And a lot of times part of the challenge of of confronting 164 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:32,120 issues is that status quo presents things as a fait 165 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:35,960 accompli in terms of, you know, these aren't even choices. 166 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:40,240 And so part of our challenges advocates is to show that these 167 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:44,600 are choices, that every day, every year, we are making 168 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:48,080 decisions that actually are choices, not the way that things 169 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:51,200 have to be. And so I think that, you know, 170 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:54,280 there are a lot of great people doing great work. 171 00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:58,200 And I think that part of the challenge is, as I think about 172 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:01,400 it, being honest about it, being willing to confront the 173 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:05,840 challenges, being both innovative and courageous in 174 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:08,640 terms of how we do things that may be different than we did 175 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:11,400 them before. And being able to, you know, a 176 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:13,400 lot of what we try to do is connect the dots. 177 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:17,000 Because a lot of times there are things that, you know, that just 178 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:20,840 don't make sense that nobody has raised a question about or 179 00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:23,640 nobody has said, well, this person is doing this over here 180 00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:26,320 and this over here. How do we bring those things 181 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:29,720 together so that, you know, now the pieces are connected, 182 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:33,200 whether it's to create a path for things to, to move more 183 00:10:33,200 --> 00:10:36,000 smoothly, or whether it's to make sure that there's not 184 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:39,960 duplication happening and that, you know, resources and capacity 185 00:10:39,960 --> 00:10:44,560 are focused so inefficient. And so that those are the things 186 00:10:44,560 --> 00:10:48,520 that that we tend to see. But you know, my, my meter still 187 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:52,480 tends towards, I think cynical that, you know, we can pull 188 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:54,840 those things together, but that's where we fight every day 189 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:56,400 to try to do. Yeah. 190 00:10:56,760 --> 00:10:59,480 And Stanford Children, I mean, you said connect the dots a 191 00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:03,120 couple of times and Stanford Children is a connect the dots 192 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:07,120 kind of organization. And one I think from from what I 193 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:09,560 know that very much is focused on that sort of permanent 194 00:11:09,560 --> 00:11:12,640 values, not permanent friends, not permanent enemies, but 195 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:14,160 working with folks to connect the dots. 196 00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:18,480 Tell us just a little bit about the work that Stanford Children 197 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:21,200 is active doing right now. Yeah. 198 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:25,000 So you know, our, our past and I've, I've been at Stan now 199 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:27,960 about 11 years. And so we've gone through a 200 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:29,760 whole cycle. And of course, we're a national 201 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:32,800 organization. And so for us in in Tennessee, 202 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:36,600 we've gone through cycles of early years where our focus was 203 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:39,840 around parent organizing and engaging with parents, building 204 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:42,440 teams and, you know, working with them and advocating. 205 00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:45,480 And then a few years ago, we started what I call what we 206 00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:48,000 called Momentum Memphis and expanded that out. 207 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:51,400 So now let's work with parents, but also educators and community 208 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:54,520 members and people who are just interested in education. 209 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:58,560 And then as we expanded that out, also started thinking 210 00:11:58,560 --> 00:12:01,240 about, well, how do we connect with other organizations? 211 00:12:01,240 --> 00:12:04,320 So it's not just about us turning our people with our 212 00:12:04,320 --> 00:12:07,200 T-shirts on and showing that Stan can do things, but it's 213 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:10,600 about the collective, you know, and collaborative action that we 214 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:13,960 can take together. So, you know, as a unique 215 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:16,880 catalyst, are there opportunities to bring those 216 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:19,680 things together so we can be more efficient and effective in 217 00:12:19,680 --> 00:12:23,040 the work that we do together so that everybody can be, you know, 218 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:26,960 more successful and impactful? So I tell that story just to say 219 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:31,400 that, you know, we got here in hopefully an intentional way in 220 00:12:31,400 --> 00:12:35,600 terms of where we are now, which is working a lot towards 221 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:39,120 specific efforts around education issues. 222 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:42,520 So we focus around early literacy, high school success 223 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:46,480 work and trying to push those issues forward both the district 224 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:49,840 and at the state level. But then also getting involved 225 00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:52,840 in youth justice and justice work has been something that 226 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:56,920 we've expanded into both locally and that national then expanded 227 00:12:56,920 --> 00:13:00,480 into as well. So that our work in those areas 228 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:03,480 also includes focusing around specific policy. 229 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:06,120 So you mentioned the mayor and the challenges with the 230 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:10,120 policing. And so a DODOJ report that in 231 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:13,320 patterns and practice findings that have recommendations along 232 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:16,920 with them that now, you know, the Trump DOJ office has said 233 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:20,240 will not just not do anything about it, but we will actually 234 00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:23,560 try to retract. There were findings to show you, 235 00:13:23,560 --> 00:13:27,120 to tell you that what you see and what we was confirmed by the 236 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:29,520 Department of Justice is not really what you saw. 237 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:32,640 And so our focus is around how do we get to ensure 238 00:13:32,640 --> 00:13:37,760 accountability around the DOJ findings and the recommendations 239 00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:40,360 because we saw them. We've been seeing those issues 240 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:44,640 for decades, if not centuries in terms of policing in Memphis and 241 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:47,240 Shelby County. And so how do we have an impact 242 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:49,960 on that and start to settle into what that work looks like? 243 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:53,720 We also do electoral work in the work that we do. 244 00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:58,200 So we help to elect a new DA and do the juvenile court judge. 245 00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:01,560 So how do we both work with them and partner to make sure that 246 00:14:01,560 --> 00:14:06,240 they can get the work done they got elected on to do and how do 247 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:07,800 we hold them accountable as well? 248 00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:10,400 Again, no permanent friends, permanent enemies. 249 00:14:10,560 --> 00:14:13,600 We have permanent interest in terms of how do we move the ball 250 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:16,120 down the field and then also building coalition. 251 00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:20,200 So, you know, we we facilitate and help to form the Justice and 252 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:22,800 Safety Alliance, which is bringing together organizations 253 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:26,240 around a new vision of safety for our community and what that 254 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:28,520 looks like and the policies around that. 255 00:14:28,760 --> 00:14:31,800 And the Moral Budget Coalition, which is about, you know, we 256 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:33,920 have a lot of organizations, again, looking across the 257 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:37,800 pantheon of, of work that, you know, multiple partners do in 258 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:40,600 education and transit and affordable housing. 259 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:44,040 And we keep asking for more resources and investment and 260 00:14:44,040 --> 00:14:46,960 everybody keeps losing because, you know, we don't want to make 261 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:49,360 the investments, we don't want to create new revenue. 262 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:53,360 So we brought everybody together with a Moral Budget Coalition to 263 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:56,880 say, you know, this is really a decision. 264 00:14:56,880 --> 00:14:58,640 Again, going back to those choices. 265 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:01,720 We have to make different decisions if we want different 266 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:04,480 results for our community. So how do we work together to 267 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:07,800 emphasize to the decision makers that these are things that we 268 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:10,320 have to do? And then across the state, I 269 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:13,120 would say, you know, some of the work that we do is around 270 00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:17,880 bringing together organizations and a network to to focus around 271 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:20,360 youth justice. And you know, what work is 272 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:22,000 happening at the state legislature. 273 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:25,720 And sometimes how we, you know, can work together to mitigate 274 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:27,840 some of the harmful things happening, to stop some of the 275 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:31,720 harmful things, and to also push proactive solutions for what we 276 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:33,880 want to see for our young people here and across the state. 277 00:15:35,120 --> 00:15:39,080 Awesome. I I want to sort of talk more 278 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:44,240 about the moral budget. When you say moral budget, what, 279 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:46,320 what are what? What does a moral budget look 280 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:48,480 like? That's a great question. 281 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:52,000 We didn't want it to just be have a moral budget and go do 282 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:54,400 something that's that's better and here are the values. 283 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:59,160 So what we did was looked around and said, everybody has asks 284 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:03,160 these different groups. So 111 partner is asking for 285 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:05,720 more in public transit and one partner is asking for more in 286 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:09,160 affordable housing and education and pre-K. 287 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:12,680 And so we looked around at the work that was already happening 288 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:15,520 in advocacy and said, how do we pull this together? 289 00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:19,560 Let's pull together what we see as a moral budget based on the 290 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:22,600 investments that we want to see in our community. 291 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:26,920 And so you can go to to to our website and and see that a moral 292 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:29,560 budget looks like here's the specific investment. 293 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:33,680 We want $10 million in affordable housing investment. 294 00:16:34,000 --> 00:16:38,120 We want $2,000,000 in pre-K to get to pre-K for all. 295 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:40,240 Here's what it looks like for education. 296 00:16:40,240 --> 00:16:43,400 We want I think $10 million in violence intervention. 297 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:47,480 And so here is what we need for public safety and looking at it 298 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:50,360 in a different way and how we actually intervene and prevent, 299 00:16:50,800 --> 00:16:54,160 not just focus on continuing to increase the police budget, 300 00:16:54,480 --> 00:16:56,880 broadening out the idea what safety is. 301 00:16:57,080 --> 00:17:00,280 The safety is not just about safety from violence or crime, 302 00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:03,680 but it's also about food security and housing security 303 00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:07,480 and the, the security of people because we know that safe and 304 00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:11,960 secure people will commit less crime that they will, they will 305 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:15,560 have more opportunities. And again, going back to choices 306 00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:19,079 to, to, to make different choices to be thriving people. 307 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:22,400 So it's not just about crime, It's about all the manner of 308 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:25,440 violence that that happens in our communities and how we look 309 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:27,359 at it with a a more holistic view. 310 00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:33,240 And so for us, a moral budget covers those various areas of 311 00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:37,040 what are the things that we think if we move back from a 312 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:40,480 more kind of trickle down approach of so let's incentivize 313 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:43,320 businesses to come to town or let's get businesses to come to 314 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:46,040 town in that case. And then we'll get property tax 315 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:49,080 increases, we'll get revenue increases and then we can make 316 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:51,880 investments and then our our community will grow. 317 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:56,080 That hasn't worked for decades. So our view is here are the 318 00:17:56,080 --> 00:17:59,960 investments that we need to make to progress that will build both 319 00:17:59,960 --> 00:18:03,040 local businesses and attract national businesses. 320 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:05,160 So it is economic development friendly. 321 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:10,160 And so for that we need public transit infrastructure, we need 322 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:13,440 affordable housing where we have one of the highest rates of need 323 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:15,520 in terms of affordable housing across the country. 324 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:17,640 We need investments in education. 325 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:20,160 We have one of the highest rates of opportunity youth around the 326 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:22,200 country. So we need to make sure that you 327 00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:25,040 young people are connected. So there is an opportunity fund 328 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:27,600 in the moral budget around opportunity youth workforce 329 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:30,280 development. So here are the things that we 330 00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:32,720 know. If we make investments in these 331 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:38,400 things, we will both impact the the security of of people and 332 00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:42,160 the support for people. So that's a base of the moral 333 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:44,920 budget. But we also know that the impact 334 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:49,920 of that will be lower crime, safer communities, economic 335 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:52,680 development, the development of small and medium sized 336 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:55,920 businesses, which is where business actually grows and 337 00:18:55,920 --> 00:18:59,040 economies grow. And so we feel like this is not 338 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:02,880 just, you know, a moral budget. This is the the most sensible 339 00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:07,080 way to to grow and progress our our economy and our community. 340 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:10,800 And in regard to it in relationship to not just across 341 00:19:10,800 --> 00:19:13,960 Tennessee, but as we compare with peer cities I. 342 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:16,120 Love it. And Cardell, I've spent some 343 00:19:16,120 --> 00:19:19,840 time on that nine O 1 moral budget.org and we'll make sure 344 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:23,120 to put the web address in the show notes. 345 00:19:23,120 --> 00:19:25,440 But I love that the sort of reminder that a budget 346 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:27,640 fundamentally isn't a financial document. 347 00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:31,520 It's a statement of priorities. And so you can tell a lot about 348 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:33,760 a community by what they're willing to spend money on. 349 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:38,200 I know Tracy and I wanted to shift a little bit to another 350 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:42,680 topic, which is the state of Tennessee has some opinions 351 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:45,680 about Memphis and Shelby County School District. 352 00:19:46,120 --> 00:19:49,560 Will you talk with us a little bit about sort of what what is 353 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:52,200 happening there and then we'll get into sort of what what you 354 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:54,880 all are doing about it? Yeah. 355 00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:59,120 So, you know, at at the state, there's an intensive focus a lot 356 00:19:59,120 --> 00:20:02,400 of times on what's happening in Memphis and Shelby County to 357 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:07,440 create a rationale for creating state policy that will have a 358 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:09,840 broader impact. And a lot of that is a round of 359 00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:12,480 view of. Of Memphis and Shelby County 360 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:16,520 being a high crime area, being an area where people just 361 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:20,560 aren't, don't have value to some degree, where there's no 362 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:23,040 education, where there are challenges that are happening 363 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:26,320 and, and it gets modeled a lot of times in terms of this is 364 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:28,360 unique to Memphis and Shelby County. 365 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:32,240 And what we know, what the data tells us is that this is not 366 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,520 unique to Memphis and Shelby County, that in urban areas, 367 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:38,160 there are similar urban challenges. 368 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:43,320 And in across the state, if we look at rural areas as well, 369 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:47,000 there's similar challenges in, in terms of, of how education is 370 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:49,480 being purveyed. We've seen some increases across 371 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:52,640 Tennessee in that area, but certainly not enough that we 372 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:55,520 should be proud and, and having a focus on Memphis and Shelby 373 00:20:55,520 --> 00:20:57,440 County. So I think when the state takes 374 00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:00,600 a look at us, they see, well, there's this, this tiny dot at 375 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:04,120 the other side of the state on the western edge that is 376 00:21:04,120 --> 00:21:07,200 majority black, that is majority Democrat, that we can do 377 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:12,480 whatever we want to and, and we can assert our power and 378 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:16,360 authority over to create what we think it should be. 379 00:21:16,360 --> 00:21:20,240 There's a, a, a senator who represents a, a suburban area 380 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:24,560 here who says that he's on a mission to make Memphis matter. 381 00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:27,760 And so part of what we've said is you don't have to make 382 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:30,840 Memphis matter. Memphis matters, you know, we 383 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:34,840 matter already and we know the things that we want. 384 00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:38,440 So when we say that, you know, as a city, we want to stop 385 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:41,800 pretextual stops so that we can, you know, intervene in 386 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:44,760 disparities that are happening with Black residents in our 387 00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:47,920 community from policing, that that's what we want to do. 388 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:50,720 And this is the state came in and overturned that and said, 389 00:21:50,920 --> 00:21:55,120 well, you can't intervene in pretextual stops and do that. 390 00:21:55,120 --> 00:21:58,440 And so we will overturn that. And you can't have this type of 391 00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:02,000 revenue or you can't have this type of, of, of local decision 392 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:04,200 making. And so there's been a a view 393 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:07,920 from the state that we have to show those people over there 394 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:13,880 what is needed to be done and a lack of recognition and support 395 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:17,240 for local autonomy and local power, which is something that, 396 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:20,560 you know, it seems like folks would be united in in wanting to 397 00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:22,280 have. And that's not necessarily the 398 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:25,400 way that it happens. Yeah. 399 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:28,440 And my understanding, Cordell, is that the state was proposing 400 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:31,320 that they would put together a management group or something 401 00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:35,200 that could actually override the local school board and, you 402 00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:38,440 know, could change things about charter school decisions and 403 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:40,520 budgets and and all sorts of stuff. 404 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:43,000 But that's actually on hold at the moment. 405 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:43,960 Is that correct? Yes. 406 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:45,320 So, yeah. So getting there. 407 00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:47,080 How did how did that happen? Why is it on hold? 408 00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:47,760 How did that? Happen. 409 00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:51,600 Yeah, so more specifically is so we had some challenges here and 410 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:52,920 you know, we had a Superintendent who was 411 00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:55,960 terminated and yeah, a little messy between the school board 412 00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:58,760 and the community and there were challenges, but those are things 413 00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:01,160 that happened, you know, school system hadn't terminated 414 00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:03,240 Superintendent and I don't know if it ever had. 415 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:06,880 And so it's a challenge of how a community comes together to 416 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:09,640 recognize and understand these challenges that have to happen 417 00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:12,520 in the public eye and the decision making that has to 418 00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:14,360 happen from the people that we elect. 419 00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:17,680 And so those are things that should be, you know, kind of 420 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:20,200 recognized and that get get handled by the power of 421 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:24,080 elections in a lot of ways. But the state looked over and 422 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:26,840 said, oh, this is another opportunity because they've 423 00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:29,480 tried it, you know, for multiple years, if not decade. 424 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:32,920 I mean, again, going back to decades now to say that what we 425 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:35,600 should have control over what education looks like in Memphis 426 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:38,200 and Shelby County. And so previously they had tried 427 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:41,800 that with a 10 year experiment, the achievement school district 428 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:44,880 that was meant to increase education. 429 00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:48,600 And of course, you know, didn't wasn't successful in doing that 430 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:50,000 as the achievement school district. 431 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:53,280 And they looked at this opportunity again to say, well, 432 00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:56,080 there's opportunity here to use this. 433 00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:58,880 And they, you know, it shifted over time about the rationale 434 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:00,040 and the reason they were doing it. 435 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:02,600 And so and some of the legislators admitted what we've 436 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:04,280 been wanting to do this for years. 437 00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:08,320 And now, you know, we just can't not do anything again because 438 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:11,320 the majority of money, again, the majority of population of 439 00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:13,720 students is in Memphis and Shelby County. 440 00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:16,000 And so that's why the majority of money is here. 441 00:24:16,200 --> 00:24:21,080 And you know, Tennessee is on the lower end of states across 442 00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:23,360 the country in education funding. 443 00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:26,680 And so, you know, as they utilize kind of the excuses of, 444 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:29,560 well, here's where the most the majority of funding is going. 445 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:32,120 And so we should, as a state legislature and a state 446 00:24:32,120 --> 00:24:35,600 administration, we should be uniquely looking at what happens 447 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:37,680 in that district. Whereas, you know, the 448 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:41,400 challenges that they tried to bring up of education applied to 449 00:24:41,400 --> 00:24:44,360 multiple districts across the state in terms of the 450 00:24:44,360 --> 00:24:47,400 challenges. But the focus of this, you know, 451 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:51,000 so-called solution was focused clearly around Shelby County. 452 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:55,280 And So what they wanted to do was to on the on one side, it 453 00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:57,760 was supposed to be modeled around kind of the Houston 454 00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:01,600 school takeover of having a board of managers and being able 455 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:05,040 to make have authority over the school board, elected school 456 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:08,200 board in terms of spending, in terms of decisions that were 457 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:10,440 happening. And in addition to that, the 458 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:16,720 ability to, to be able to take schools and turn them into, into 459 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:21,800 charter schools, the ability to expand vouchers extensively more 460 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:24,080 than they, they are in other places across the state. 461 00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:27,280 And so those were some of the opportunity and to be able to 462 00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:30,160 have access and control over the facilities. 463 00:25:30,360 --> 00:25:33,560 So in a lot of ways, there's a concern that, you know, the, the 464 00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:37,480 control that that folks want is over a budget that's, you know, 465 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:41,040 between, you know, 1.5 to $2 billion, depending on the time 466 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:45,640 and federal dollars over facilities that are across the 467 00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:48,600 community and clear infrastructure and, you know, 468 00:25:48,600 --> 00:25:52,960 land that, that could be valuable and control of, of 469 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:56,280 where students are, are going. And, and what the access to that 470 00:25:56,280 --> 00:26:01,480 to, to education looks like. Not focused on actual solutions 471 00:26:01,600 --> 00:26:04,800 that might be around investments we could make in early literacy 472 00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:09,400 or high school success or middle school math and, and, you know, 473 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:12,240 social and emotional learning. You know, the things that, that 474 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:14,680 we're clear on here are the investments that actually 475 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:17,440 matter. It was focused on, let's take 476 00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:19,040 control. Let's take it away from the 477 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:21,640 elected school board. Let's stop them from making 478 00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:25,840 decisions and let's have people who are appointed not by local 479 00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:29,560 folks, but even local people who are appointed by the state. 480 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:33,480 So then all the, the, the people who would be appointed are 481 00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:36,520 decided on by the state. So you know, where the clear 482 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:41,000 level of accountability and kind of connection rests is not with 483 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:43,560 the people who are local, but with the state. 484 00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:46,680 And So what we did as a community was, came together and 485 00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:48,280 said, hey, this is not what we want. 486 00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:53,080 So we started a, a, a group coalition with business 487 00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:57,640 partners, community partners, educators across the board, save 488 00:26:57,640 --> 00:26:59,840 our students, save our schools SOS. 489 00:27:00,080 --> 00:27:03,000 And we pushed back and said this is not what our community wants. 490 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:06,600 And so, you know, it got caught up at the end. 491 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:08,480 It actually did pass the House and the Senate. 492 00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:11,160 It got caught up in committee. And so that's where to your 493 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:12,680 point, Jamie, where you got stalled. 494 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:17,280 And so we stopped it for a year. And now and then what they, what 495 00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:20,680 they also did was, was say, well, you know, because in a lot 496 00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:25,280 of ways we can't create rationale around why we're just 497 00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:28,160 doing this to Shelby County. So let's do a forensic audit. 498 00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:33,400 So let's put $6 million into the state budget to do a forensic 499 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:38,080 audit, which is similar to what they did with TSU, Tennessee 500 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:41,800 State University, where they then use the, the audit to come 501 00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:45,480 in and take over and appoint a new board and have control. 502 00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:49,800 Where just recently it was announced that this massive $2 503 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:53,960 billion that the state owed TSU was now going to be settled for 504 00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:59,880 at I think a pittance, you know, 1% of that in terms of that of, 505 00:27:59,880 --> 00:28:04,280 of, of what was owed to this historically black university in 506 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:07,840 our, in our state. And so they'll do this forensic 507 00:28:07,840 --> 00:28:12,080 audit, they say over the next 9 to 18 months and you know, then 508 00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:14,840 we'll make decisions and kind of create legislation around what 509 00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:16,880 what happens. They've also said, well, we'll 510 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:19,640 have a rollout of information as we go. 511 00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:23,680 So what we expect is that coming back in the legislative session 512 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:27,840 next year is that there will be something that they find and 513 00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:30,960 that they utilize is another rationale for why they need to 514 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:35,000 take over and, and have control where again, it's utilizing 515 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:38,240 communications and what the public understands it doesn't to 516 00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:41,960 try to justify it. So, you know, it's a billion, $2 517 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:44,280 billion budget. You find a difference of 518 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:48,400 $1,000,000 or $3,000,000. That sounds like a lot, but in 519 00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:51,240 the grand scheme of things, it's, you know, it's all 520 00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:53,480 relative. And and they won't make that 521 00:28:53,480 --> 00:28:55,360 comparison. They'll throw out some number 522 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:58,560 and then say, see, we told you. This is why we need to take 523 00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:02,960 control with no clarity on you know why that will be impactful 524 00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:06,520 or supportive of the children and educators in Shelby County. 525 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:09,320 Tracy, I know you're sitting in Detroit. 526 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:11,600 I can't imagine you're having any feelings about a state 527 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:15,160 takeover of local control. Yes, Carter, I don't know if I 528 00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:19,840 told you I'm here in Detroit and I attended graduated from 529 00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:22,920 Detroit Public School. So I'm very familiar with the 530 00:29:22,920 --> 00:29:26,920 concept of a state takeover and someone from outside of your 531 00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:29,400 community coming in and saying this is how we're going to do 532 00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:33,360 things and the residue that is left from that process, which is 533 00:29:33,840 --> 00:29:39,040 just absolutely terrible. I want to ask you as someone who 534 00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:43,600 now has a student in the Detroit public school system, I'm a 535 00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:46,600 parent, but it's like, how do I get involved when when I see 536 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:51,000 that sort of thing happening? How do you get parents involved 537 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:54,320 in coalition building and being more active in the things that 538 00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:55,960 are happening in their communities? 539 00:29:56,920 --> 00:29:58,320 Great. Yeah, I think that's that's a 540 00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:00,560 great question. That's really the foundation of 541 00:30:00,560 --> 00:30:02,520 where we started at staying for children. 542 00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:05,360 I came in doing parent organizing as I've talked about, 543 00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:08,520 you know, we've expanded that out some, but not never lost 544 00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:13,360 that grain of our core is, is organizing how we get voices 545 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:15,360 involved. Now, people might not always 546 00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:18,960 know the ends and outs of it or what happens or the role of the 547 00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:21,960 school board versus the county Commission versus the state 548 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:26,160 legislators, the the, you know, commissioner of education, State 549 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:28,280 Board of Education, all of these different places. 550 00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:33,640 So part of our job is to try to clarify and pull folks in and 551 00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:36,680 give them information. So when I talk to parents, it's 552 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:39,600 will come out to a meeting. So monthly we hold a meeting of 553 00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:42,800 our Momentum Memphis and that is really kind of the foundational 554 00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:45,880 entry point. So no matter what you care 555 00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:48,760 about, you can come to that meeting and you can start to get 556 00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:51,880 engaged with folks around the table who are already working on 557 00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:54,880 advocacy efforts. And then we also encourage folks 558 00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:57,160 to go to school board meetings or county commissioner, just 559 00:30:57,160 --> 00:31:00,200 pull them up now online and watch and see what's happening 560 00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:02,760 to really get engaged and pull that process US. 561 00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:06,600 And and as always, you know, a really great starting point even 562 00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:09,080 where we started is getting involved in your school. 563 00:31:09,080 --> 00:31:11,560 So for parents getting involved in their schools, I was talking 564 00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:16,000 to a parent recently who was talking about building up more 565 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:17,680 of their parent teacher organization. 566 00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:20,720 And as they got more involved at the school level at really 567 00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:25,560 trying to hold the school and the leader accountable of what's 568 00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:27,520 the role, what's our voice as parents? 569 00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:30,760 What do we get to decide on? What do we get to have input on? 570 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:33,640 There was some challenges in that and they had a back and 571 00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:37,400 forth and, you know, challenge over the leadership of the the 572 00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:40,800 PTO. And so all of those things come 573 00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:43,720 to play. But that's part of of the 574 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:47,080 engagement and part of building up yourself through that process 575 00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:50,040 as you go through the school and what matters to your child, as 576 00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:53,120 you mentioned, and then expand out to what matters to the 577 00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:56,200 children in your child's classroom, in your child's 578 00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:59,840 school, and then across the whole district is our hope that, 579 00:31:59,920 --> 00:32:03,400 you know, that's how people progress and get involved over 580 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:04,960 time. And how do we remove the 581 00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:08,080 barriers and obstacles? So one of the obstacles is I 582 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:10,520 don't know enough. So we started having information 583 00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:12,800 sessions. And another obstacle is who else 584 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:15,240 do I work with or how do I get this information? 585 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:17,840 You know, so we started the Momentum Memphis Task Force 586 00:32:17,840 --> 00:32:21,760 meetings to coach people through the process and know how to get 587 00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:24,520 involved in the advocacy and meeting with school board 588 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:26,160 members and meeting with commissioners. 589 00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:30,440 So really it's it's our job as advocates and as folks who want 590 00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:33,560 people to be involved as organizers to try to figure out 591 00:32:33,560 --> 00:32:36,640 what are those obstacles and how do we break it, break them down, 592 00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:40,800 because generally the systems are not set up to encourage 593 00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:45,720 engagement from the public. So Cardell, when you know, 594 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:49,000 getting ready for this, I, I was sort of reading about your work 595 00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:52,120 and then I went to your bio and I expected that, you know, you'd 596 00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:56,440 be a political science major, have done community organizing. 597 00:32:56,760 --> 00:33:01,040 But I see like engineering and IT stuff like how do you sort of 598 00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:05,120 walk out of Upenn with your engineering IT degree and end up 599 00:33:05,120 --> 00:33:07,880 doing parent organizing and public policy in in the 600 00:33:07,880 --> 00:33:10,640 Tennessee schools? Yeah, it's a little bit of a 601 00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:12,960 roundabout where I'll give you the short version, which is 602 00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:16,880 really, you know, when I left, I was a programmer and when I when 603 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:18,840 I left school, I was a programmer consultant. 604 00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:21,600 And then when I moved back to Memphis, I moved back to 605 00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:24,400 Memphis, making the opportunity and being young at a young age, 606 00:33:24,400 --> 00:33:27,160 I was given an opportunity to run the department and be the 607 00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:30,480 chief information officer at Lemoyne on College HBCU here in 608 00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:31,960 Memphis. And that's what really brought 609 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:33,560 me home, brought me back to Memphis. 610 00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:36,480 And then when I left there, I was interested in consulting. 611 00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:39,760 So I started getting involved in consulting, which went from IT, 612 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:42,800 but then expanded to strategic plan and community development, 613 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:45,600 working with a lot of community nonprofits and government 614 00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:47,560 agencies. And at the same time, me and 615 00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:50,160 some friends just decided, hey, we want to impact our community. 616 00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:51,800 We want to get younger people involved. 617 00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:53,640 So let's start a political action committee. 618 00:33:54,040 --> 00:33:57,520 We had no idea what we're doing. We just knew, hey, we want to 619 00:33:57,520 --> 00:34:00,120 get involved in politics. We need more young voices. 620 00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:03,280 We need more folks who are engaged and and thoughtful about 621 00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:05,520 the way that we conduct leadership here across the 622 00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:07,480 board. And so we started a political 623 00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:09,199 action committee, a pack called New Path. 624 00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:11,840 And that's what really brought those pieces together, like the 625 00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:15,960 nonprofit social component, the, the political side. 626 00:34:16,159 --> 00:34:19,719 And then that kind of, you know, led me on a path to, to, to 627 00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:22,520 stand for children. And because it, it was able to 628 00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:26,560 bring those pieces together, both the policy organizing human 629 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:29,880 component along with the electoral and we get involved in 630 00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:33,080 elections and, and that's a, a, a real benefit to bring to the 631 00:34:33,080 --> 00:34:35,600 table. But the way that I kind of 632 00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:40,040 reconcile those is it really is about, you know, from an 633 00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:43,520 engineering perspective about systems and the systems, whether 634 00:34:43,520 --> 00:34:46,360 they're, you know, technical systems, whether it's putting 635 00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:49,280 together a program, it's about what's the end result that we 636 00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:52,600 want and what are the steps that we go through to get there? 637 00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:55,000 What's the system that we want to see? 638 00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:58,720 And when people throw our obstacles in our way, how can we 639 00:34:58,720 --> 00:35:03,800 be consistent, persistent and diligent about confronting those 640 00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:07,320 obstacles and figuring out if there's a way through around in 641 00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:10,440 partnership, what is that? And then from an advocacy 642 00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:13,800 standpoint, we're shooting for a goal and impact, and either we 643 00:35:13,800 --> 00:35:19,800 get there and we win or we lose and we circle back and decide is 644 00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:21,960 there a path to winning? No. 645 00:35:22,240 --> 00:35:24,640 Then let's go figure out something that is just as 646 00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:26,720 impactful and figure out how we get there. 647 00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:30,480 If there's a path to winning and it's just obstacles in our way, 648 00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:34,800 how do we one by one knock down those obstacles to trying to get 649 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:38,840 to a goal? I love that and I'm also, I'm 650 00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:41,280 thinking about all the nonprofits that I'd like to sort 651 00:35:41,280 --> 00:35:44,640 of turn off and turn back on to see if that fixes all their, 652 00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:51,360 yeah, blow on their floppy disks and see if we just get the dots 653 00:35:51,400 --> 00:35:53,760 off. Tracy, I'll explain to you after 654 00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:55,400 the podcast what a floppy disk is. 655 00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:58,320 I don't. Know what a floppy disk is? 656 00:35:58,400 --> 00:36:00,640 I know what that is. You put it in the little hole, 657 00:36:00,640 --> 00:36:02,440 and when you had the towers, I got it. 658 00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:04,160 I got it. You had little metal. 659 00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:09,360 Cheese on it. Well, we still have our 660 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:13,120 lightning round that I want to do, Jamie and I'll go back and 661 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:15,400 forth and we want to just hear the first thing that sort of 662 00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:17,040 pops into your mind with these questions. 663 00:36:17,360 --> 00:36:19,760 OK, all right, that sounds dangerous, but let's do it. 664 00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:23,400 So the the first really difficult one is do you have a 665 00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:26,720 favorite TV show or movie about public schools? 666 00:36:28,240 --> 00:36:32,280 Oh wow, you know the first one that popped into my head was 667 00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:34,000 what's the one with James Edward? 668 00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:35,960 Almost. Is that a standard that's not 669 00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:38,240 stand and deliver? Oh yeah, stand and deliver. 670 00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:40,040 That's a classic. I don't know if that's my 671 00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:42,200 favorite, but yeah, that's the first one that popped in my 672 00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:45,040 head. OK well Memphis is known for BBQ 673 00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:49,200 but we understand you're a vegan so no smoked brisket for you. 674 00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:54,640 But wondering if you have a favorite Memphis BBQ spot or one 675 00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:58,120 you refer people to? Yes, Cozy Corner. 676 00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:02,680 I can't eat much there. I can eat the fries, but if I'm 677 00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:05,960 sending anybody anywhere, the people I trust tell me Cozy 678 00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:08,320 Corner is the place to go. So we've got to get Cozy Corner 679 00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:10,360 to buy some jackfruit. Right. 680 00:37:11,160 --> 00:37:14,440 If you had to write a memoir today, what would you title it? 681 00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:20,240 Oh, I don't know. I go back to what I said 682 00:37:20,240 --> 00:37:21,760 earlier. Probably cynical optimist. 683 00:37:22,040 --> 00:37:25,280 Oh, I like that, yeah. When out of Towners come to 684 00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:28,160 visit Memphis, they'll hit Cozy Corner, but where else do you 685 00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:29,840 know that you have to take them? Oh. 686 00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:35,320 I think the Civil Rights Museum stacks going over to to 687 00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:38,520 Soulsville, there's the Memphis Slim Collaboratory. 688 00:37:38,800 --> 00:37:40,760 I mean, it's just so much history here. 689 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:43,720 But we've also got, you know, great green spaces and parks. 690 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:48,080 You mentioned your daughter, what's the best part about being 691 00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:51,320 a girl down? The mirror maybe put in your 692 00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:55,320 face. What gives you hope? 693 00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:58,680 We facilitate and support the Youth Justice Action Coalition, 694 00:37:58,960 --> 00:38:02,480 which is justice involved youth that interested youth who are 695 00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:05,560 focused on advocacy. But the work that they've done 696 00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:07,960 over time and the engagement, the challenges that they go 697 00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:11,480 through, and they're still willing to talk about the things 698 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:13,760 that they want to see in our community and can believe that 699 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:17,480 there's better. And the the idealism that my mom 700 00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:22,000 continues to have after 50-60 years of being an advocate and 701 00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:26,280 activist, that it's just amazing to to see that she can think the 702 00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:29,400 world can steal and should be different than what we confront 703 00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:32,480 every day. Your mom and your daughter. 704 00:38:32,480 --> 00:38:35,200 I love that. So if I picked up your iPhone, 705 00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:36,640 what's the last song you listened to? 706 00:38:36,880 --> 00:38:41,080 Yeah, it's probably hip hop something Royce, the 59, Eminem. 707 00:38:42,520 --> 00:38:43,600 Detroit. Yeah. 708 00:38:48,520 --> 00:38:50,280 I'm like, did he say that? Because I said that from 709 00:38:50,320 --> 00:38:51,800 Detroit. Are you really listening to 710 00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:55,760 breaks? All right, last one, who's a 711 00:38:55,800 --> 00:39:00,440 path breaker in your life? I mean, my family and I, I was 712 00:39:00,600 --> 00:39:02,680 remiss. I should mention my wife as I 713 00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:06,240 talk about who inspires me in terms of being better and being 714 00:39:06,240 --> 00:39:09,040 hopeful that I could be better because she's stuck with me for 715 00:39:09,040 --> 00:39:11,160 a long time and helping you to be better. 716 00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:14,600 I think, you know, those are the path Breakers I think of. 717 00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:18,400 I mean, my mom again, as she, you know, went through and 718 00:39:18,400 --> 00:39:21,920 challenged her family and challenged, you know, systems. 719 00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:25,960 My father, even as he was kind of beat down by systems and 720 00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:29,440 ended up being abused by them, that he could take the time to, 721 00:39:30,040 --> 00:39:33,800 you know, be a forthright proponent in his early years of 722 00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:37,040 getting a, you know, helping children to walk out to get our 723 00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:39,800 first black members on the school board, the crew I have 724 00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:41,960 around me. So I'm I'm lucky to have a 725 00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:48,080 strong community. Cardell, thank you so much for 726 00:39:48,080 --> 00:39:51,080 taking the time today. Thank you so much for sharing a 727 00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:53,600 little bit about the work of Stanford Children. 728 00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:56,640 Tennessee, I know you're leaning a little more heavily on the 729 00:39:56,640 --> 00:39:59,880 cynical than the optimist, but I'm leaving with hope. 730 00:39:59,880 --> 00:40:03,160 I'm leaving with a smile. And if we have more women like 731 00:40:03,160 --> 00:40:05,520 your mom, your wife and your daughter, I think we're going to 732 00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:06,960 be OK. I think the kids are going to be 733 00:40:06,960 --> 00:40:08,600 all right. Thanks so much for taking the 734 00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:10,480 time. Today, Thank you, Cardell. 735 00:40:10,600 --> 00:40:16,600 Thanks a lot, I appreciate it. Cardell Oren is the executive 736 00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:18,720 director of Stanford Children Tennessee. 737 00:40:19,360 --> 00:40:23,000 We've put links to STAND and the Moral Budget Coalition in our 738 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:25,960 show notes. Path Breakers is produced by the 739 00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:29,720 Kresge Foundation, which was founded in 1924 with a mission 740 00:40:29,720 --> 00:40:33,280 to promote human progress. Today, Kresge works to expand 741 00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:35,880 equity and opportunity in America's cities. 742 00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:40,200 Read the stories of all of this season's Path Breakers and learn 743 00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:42,880 about our grant making and social investing work in 744 00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:47,240 Detroit, Memphis, New Orleans, Fresno, and cities across the US 745 00:40:47,480 --> 00:40:50,440 at kresge.org. To hear more stories from the 746 00:40:50,440 --> 00:40:53,680 Path Breakers, be sure to subscribe to the show wherever 747 00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:57,920 you listen to podcasts. Our producers are Juliet Hindley 748 00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:00,480 and Zach Rosen. Managing editor is Krista 749 00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:02,800 Yankee. Our show art is by Rochelle 750 00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:06,000 Baker and Creative direction by Alejandro Herrera. 751 00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:08,800 Special thank you to my colleagues on the American 752 00:41:08,800 --> 00:41:12,240 Cities program for lifting up Cardell and speaking his name as 753 00:41:12,240 --> 00:41:15,680 a truly phenomenal path breaker. We'll talk to you all next week.