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InflexionPoint Podcast: Cultivating Change from the Inside Out

InflexionPoint Podcast: Cultivating Change from the Inside Out

By: Inflexion Point Podcast
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 Enter a brave space to ponder solving The Cairo Question. Engage in dialogue based on the premise that dismantling racism goes beyond laws and legislation or politics or economics. It's an inside job where personal transformation and accountability impact social change in multiple dimensions: individual, interpersonal, systemic, and structural. It's a place to get comfortable with deconstructing your inner thoughts, ideas, and beliefs to examine what flows out into the world through your words, actions, and behaviors, particularly towards others who are different from yourself.

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Episodes
  • Community Disengagement - The Disastrous Outcome of Gentrification

    Community Disengagement - The Disastrous Outcome of Gentrification
    Sep 3 2025
    InflexionPoint Podcast | Episode 92
    2025 Theme: Community Engagement & the Grassroots of Change
    Introduction Welcome to another episode of InflexionPoint Podcast, where we are dedicated to antiracism activation and the art of listening in authentic conversation, engagement, action, and accountability. Featuring creator/host Anita D. Russell, joined by co-hosts Mavis Bauman and Gail Hunter. Throughout the year, we’ve been lifting up stories, strategies, and successes of community-driven movements. But in this episode, we take a different approach: exploring the adverse impact of community disengagement, focusing on the painful story of gentrification in Pittsburgh, PA.
    How We Got Here Anita opens up the conversation with a stark reality: Community disengagement in Pittsburgh cannot be separated from the city’s long arc of gentrification. Policies that began with redlining and urban renewal set the stage for today’s tech-driven investment and redevelopment, which often unfolds without strong tenant protections or genuine community power. The Pittsburgh Paradox: Pittsburgh was named one of America’s Most Livable Cities (2005–2018). In 2019, it was also identified as America’s 8th most gentrified city. In 2021, Jerry Dickinson, law professor at the University of Pittsburgh, described it as “America’s Apartheid City.” This is the Reality We Must Confront
    The History of Displacement Gail leads a disccussion revealing Pittsburgh' multi-layered history: From racial covenants, redlining (1930s) and urban renewal devastating a vibrant Black community (1950s-60s); to so-called "modernization" that triggered decades of decline (1960s); to Steel Collapse to "Eds and Meds" (1980s-2000s) leading to struggles against overwhelming odds for communty nonprofits. 2010s to Today: The city formalized “community input” via Registered Community Organizations, but too often those processes lacked teeth. Meanwhile, private reinvestment accelerated land values, displacement, and racialized housing cost burdens.
    Imagine Authentic Engagement Mavis guides you to envision what true engagement and anti-displacement could look like in Pittsburgh. The short answer is this: Participation without power is not enough. Authentic engagement means redistributing decision-making power back to the people most affected. Key shifts required: Shift from input to shared governance. Stabilize residents where they live. Integrate commuunity equity and inclusion in development rules. Resource community voice. Execute real-time accountability.
    Call to Action Gentrification in Pittsburgh is not new—it’s another chapter in a long story of disinvestment, removal, and broken promises. When people feel decisions are made over them, not with them, they disengage. But disengagement is not destiny. What action are you willing to take?
    Watch: https://youtu.be/XBBNWXAErWs
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    56 mins
  • The Heart of Engagement for Equity - Justice, Listening, Sovereignty, and Shared Power (Part 2)

    The Heart of Engagement for Equity - Justice, Listening, Sovereignty, and Shared Power (Part 2)
    Aug 20 2025
    Our theme for 2025 is Community Engagement & the Grassroots of Change. Thank you for tuning in to the latest episode of InflexionPoint Podcast where we are dedicated to antiracism activation and the art of listening in authentic conversation, engagement, action, and accountability. Throughout the year we explore the stories, strategies, and successes of community-driven movements making a difference. Episodes focus on both theory and practice, allowing our audience to gain insights that they can apply in real-world community engagement efforts.
    The Heart of Engagement for Equity - Justice, Listening, Sovereignty, and Shared Power In the previous episode of InflexionPoint Podcast, we broke down how equitable engagement goes far beyond good intentions. Equitable engagement is gaining traction in fields ranging from community development and education to corporate leadership and public policy. Centering the conversation around justice, listening, sovereignty, and shared power reclaims the deep roots of this work and highlights what true equity demands. In this episode we provide concrete examples of equity in community engagement from multiple organizations.
    Equitable engagement as a justice-rooted practice, not just a participatory one.
    • Uses values-based, power-aware approach to involving individuals and communities in decision-making processes, policy development, program design, and resource allocation.
    • Centers the voices, needs, and lived experiences of those historically marginalized or excluded by the dominant culture—particularly Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC), low-income communities, immigrants, youth, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ individuals, and others whose perspectives are often overlooked.
    • Redistributes power, builds trust, and creates co-ownership of outcomes.
    • Is not a zero sum game.
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    57 mins
  • The Heart of Engagement for Equity - Justice, Listening, Sovereignty, and Shared Power

    The Heart of Engagement for Equity - Justice, Listening, Sovereignty, and Shared Power
    Aug 6 2025
    Our theme for 2025 is “Community Engagement & the Grassroots of Change.” Throughout the year we explore the stories, strategies, and successes of community-driven movements making a difference. Episodes focus on both theory and practice, allowing our audience to gain insights that they can apply in real-world community engagement efforts.
    In this episode, we break down how equitable engagement goes far beyond good intentions. Equitable engagement is gaining traction in fields ranging from community development and education to corporate leadership and public policy. But too often, it's treated as a checklist rather than a transformational practice.
    Centering the conversation around justice, listening, sovereignty, and shared power reclaims the deep roots of this work and highlights what true equity demands. From culturally grounded outreach to building inclusive leadership teams and using technology to bridge the divide, we explore strategies that help us show up better, listen deeper, and co-create more just outcomes.
    Watch: https://youtu.be/28D897yZrsk
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    58 mins
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