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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
  • 2025 Community Engagement & the Grassroots of Change: An Inspirational Year in Review

    2025 Community Engagement & the Grassroots of Change: An Inspirational Year in Review
    Dec 17 2025
    2025 Theme: “Community Engagement & the Grassroots of Change.” Throughout the year we have explored stories, strategies, and successes of community-driven movements making a difference. In our last show for 2025 we recap the year with our most inspiring episodes and introduce the theme for 2026. Throughout 2025 we have stimulating discussions between Anita, Mavis, and Gail. We have also had an awe-inspiring group of guests, handpicked to reflect the theme of community engagement and the grassroots of change. We honor our guests and the works they have done and continue to do in the name of transformation, empowerment, engagement across the multiple sectors of our society.Is It Possible to Build Trust in Community-Police Relations? Conversation with Shadae McDaniel Senior Vice President/Programs and Strategic Initiatives/Director, All Stars Project (ASP) of New Jersey. Beginning in February we hosted an in-depth exploration of the All Stars-Project and its signature program "Operation Conversation Cops and Kids." Among many accolades, Shadae was ranked among the ROI-NJ “2023 Influencers: People of Color." NJUrbanNews.com Article: “Shadae McDaniel Builds Bridges, Provides Opportunities for Youth Through the Power of Performance.” Founded in 1981, All Stars Project (ASP) is a 501(c)3 national nonprofit that uses a performance-based approach to help tens of thousands of inner-city youths and their families create success in their lives. Operation Conversation: Cops & Kids (OCCK) is an innovative police–community relations model program run by ASP in partnership with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and the Newark Police Division (NPD). This award-winning program uses performance, improvisation, and conversation to help inner-city teenagers and police officers build trust and improve their relationship.Until We Are All Free Movement, a human rights organization led by formerly incarcerated criminal justice experts. In March our case study focused on the Until We Are All Free Movement with guest Kevin Reese, Co-Founder/Co-Executive Director of UWAAF and Co-Founder/CEO of Until We Are All Free Consulting Group.Question: God, what is it that you’re working on in my life? What do you do when the answer is build a bridge of people and be a bridge through and with people? Kevin is the answer. Kevin grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He spent 14 years incarcerated inside of the criminal justice system. During that time, he founded the BRIDGE, a grassroots group of directly impacted criminal justice experts whose mission is to abolish mass incarceration and to find a path to true transformative criminal justice. Kevin says,“My idea was to create a program that builds a bridge between people like me, mostly men in prison but women, too, and the community. That bridge and this work is actually revolutionary. Because I’m not supposed to be able to make a connection to people on the outside. Prison is all about preventing that. But the BRIDGE partnership we’ve been working on gives light to an entire caste of people who are incarcerated.”Youth Empowerment Services, of Pittsburgh PA: “Ahead of its time and punching above its weight, Youth Enrichment Services (YES) formed in 1994...The heart of YES is a spirit of mentorship...By leveraging their unique skills and abilities and centering their voices, YES has created a formula for success that influences community growth, economic prosperity, and student-driven leadership." In our case study of the YES organization we invited Denise Jones, Educational Consultant at Youth Enrichment Services into the studio. Denise Jones is the daughter of two passion-driven educators. She attended Allegheny College, majored in Economics and minored in Black Studies. Later Denise applied for Teach for America and came to understand the joys and limitations of teaching, particularly in bureaucratic systems. Eventually she agreed to work at her father’s community-based non-profit organization, Youth Enrichment Services (YES), to help young people become their own best resource. She is now pursuing a PhD in education and psychology from the University of Michigan.Ujamaa Collective, Pittsburgh PA: A Unique Cultural Enriching Experience! Ujamaa Collective is a 501(c)3 non-profit artisan boutique. We (Anita is a member!) serve Africana women providing cultural, artistic, and entrepreneurial exchange in the historic Hill District of Pittsburgh. Our passion for cooperatives is rooted in our values of Fair Trade, meaningful work, creativity, community, and wellness. Two Sisters from the Ujamaa Collective shared their wisdom, community engagement practice, and the cooperation with our audiences — Lakeisha Wolf, Executive Director, and Alana Griffin, Ambassador. LaKeisha is a cultural worker, creative entrepreneur, and teaching artist with an emphasis on identity, racial justice, community connection, and whole-body wellness. She is a founding...
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    57 mins
  • Case Study: Shiftworks Community+Public Works in Pittsburgh PA

    Case Study: Shiftworks Community+Public Works in Pittsburgh PA
    Dec 3 2025
    Why Community & Public Arts? Ask Sallyann Kluz...Guest Biography: Sallyann Kluz, Executive Director. Shiftworks Community+Public Art.
    Sallyann Kluz is a Pittsburgh-based arts administrator, architect, and urban designer whose practice is situated at the intersection of art and community development. With over 20 years of practice in the Pittsburgh region, her work is focused on the public realm and the people who inhabit it. Her practice includes public art programs and strategies, community engagement, design education, public space design, and neighborhood development strategies. In her leadership role, Sallyann is focused on providing technical assistance to artists and clients, and expanding the role of artists in community development, civic design, and community engagement.
    “We work at the convergence of public art and civic design in the Pittsburgh Region.”
    Formerly the Office of Public Art (OPA), Shiftworks launched in 2005 through partnership between the public and private sectors. The vision: Support and advance the role of public art in the Pittsburgh region. Shiftworks Community+Public Arts envisions a region in which the creative practices of artists are fully engaged to collaboratively shape the public realm and catalyze community-led change. Shiftworks Community+Public Arts now operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
    Words from August Wilson, Pittsburgh Creative & Playwright
    “Art does not change the world. It changes people and people change the world.”
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    57 mins
  • When the People Pull the Plug: The Nov 25-Dec 2 Economic Blackout & What It Means for Power

    When the People Pull the Plug: The Nov 25-Dec 2 Economic Blackout & What It Means for Power
    Nov 19 2025
    When the People Pull the Plug

    In this episode we examine how comedian Josh Johnson challenges the commodification of identity; and how movements like "Blackout the System" (Nov 25–Dec 2) help people reclaim civic and moral agency over economic dependence. This deceptively simple, yet powerful critique of how capitalism commodifies identity and reduces our roles in society to economic functions rather than human or civic ones. When Johnson says “I am not a consumer; I am a citizen”, he’s rejecting the idea that his primary purpose in society is to buy, use, or dispose of things. By contrast, a citizen carries a sense of belonging, responsibility, and participation. A citizen contributes to shaping society — they vote, advocate, care, build, protect, and question. It's a reminder that citizenship is not transactional — it’s transformational.
    The "Blackout the System" movement is a living example of this rejection of commodified identity. By pausing consumption, we shift from the identity of consumer to citizen; from customer to constituent. That act — symbolic and strategic — forces society to see that the system runs on our consent and engagement, not on its own momentum. It invites people to withdraw their economic participation as an assertion of civic consciousness.
    3 Fundamental Questions:

    • What happens when we withdraw our labor and money from the system?
    • How do everyday people build power?
    • How does this relate to systemic economic injustice, corporate control, and community resilience?
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    59 mins
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