Shows
Voices of the CommunityMaking the Invisible Visible - Finding Home Part 2“So, if people need potable water, then we need to provide them with that. Or if people are looking for a job that we don't need to categorize that. We can start to put away our own judgment and provide them with the opportunity that they're putting in front of us versus us telling them, no, no, you need to go get treatment before you get a job”- Mary CarlIn Part Two of our “Finding Home” Live Show, experts and those with lived experience discuss the complexities of homelessness in San Francisco; Along with solutions, focusing...
2024-12-141h 02
Voices of the CommunityMaking the Invisible Visible - Finding Home Part 1"Our philosophy is simple: without rest, there is no healing. We open our doors so that people can have a safe space to rest, restoring a basic dignity often lost on the streets.”- Lydia BranstenIn Finding Home, host George Koster speaks with leaders from San Francisco-based organizations committed to supporting unhoused residents. This insightful conversation highlights the unique challenges and solutions surrounding homelessness, especially in a post-pandemic environment.Featured Guests: Mary Carl – Executive Director, Miracle Messages, Sammie Rayner – Co-Chief Executive, Community Forward SF, Erica Kisch – CEO, Compass Family Services, Meghan Freebeck – Director, Simply the Basics...
2024-11-091h 01
Voices of the CommunityBuilding Better Bridges in the Arts Economy - Case Making for Collaboration"It’s really important for arts advocates and tradition bearers, artists, and cultural organizations to participate in the visioning and guiding principle process in your community plan, to get named in the vision statement of the community" - Tracy HudakJoin Tracy Hudak, Director of Field Engagement for California for the Arts, and Jackie Melendez, Assistant City Manager of the City of Chino, for an insightful discussion in "Casemaking for Collaboration." This episode explores the intersection of arts advocacy, economic development, and urban planning. Discover how artists, cultural organizations, and advocates can effectively engage with loc...
2024-10-261h 13
Voices of the CommunityDiscover the Future of Creative Work!"We’re living through the greatest art heist of all time. Billions of images, data, and content were scraped illegally, impacting creative jobs, and AI is at the forefront of this transformation." - Nicole HendrixThe creative economy is at a crossroads, grappling with issues of fair pay, technological disruption, and access to resources. The panelists in this insightful discussion offer solutions and strategies for artists and advocates to navigate these challenges and build a more sustainable and equitable future for the creative sector. As part of our co-production partnership with California for the Arts 2nd...
2024-09-141h 11
Voices of the CommunityVoices of Change: "The Intersection of Art, Equity, & Economic Empowerment"“So if you have not tapped into community members that you are serving, that you are working with, then you are missing a large, piece of the solution to your problems”. - Heather HeslepGentrification, displacement, the struggle for ownership... these are the challenges faced by many communities today. But what if art could be the key to preserving cultural heritage and building economic resilience? The panel discussion features Tamaira “Miss Tee” Sandifer, CEO & Founder of Studio T Arts & Entertainment, Arianna Chavez, Executive Director at Arte Americas, Roshaun Davis, Executive Director of CLTRE and Co-Founder of Unseen...
2024-08-171h 01
Voices of the CommunityCA Arts & Culture Summit "Arts and Health" panel"At the structural level, we don’t make decisions based on evidence. If we did, we would have universal healthcare and basic income. The arts can be part of this shift” - Tasha GoldenJoin Nefesha Yisra’el from California for the Arts as she introduces our second episode, featuring a powerful panel discussion on the intersection of arts and health. This episode is part of our exclusive interview series with California for the Arts and their second annual State of the Arts Summit.Featured Speakers:Moderator: Deborah Cullinan, Vice President for the Arts a...
2024-07-131h 08
Voices of the CommunityThe Future of Arts & Culture in California: Keynote Insights from the California Arts & Culture Summit "Together we can create a world where arts and culture are recognized and invested in as essential to society, embedded in community life, and intersecting with broader policy change to reshape systems towards equity and justice." - Julie BakerJoin us as we kick off our second season, celebrating the vibrant and resilient arts and culture scene that shape our community. This season, we bring you highlights from the second annual California Arts & Culture Summit, organized by our partner California for the Arts, with the theme "Art Work is Real Work."In our premiere episode, d...
2024-06-0159 min
Voices of the CommunityHow to Buy Your Performance Space | CAST & CounterPulse Real Estate Model"The resilience that we have to live through booms and busts and pandemics and continue to serve the community, continue to drive foot traffic, continue to create economic opportunities for local people to have jobs and work and express themselves is just incredible. So if you're struggling with a storefront or a vacancy or empty space, just remember to think about the arts” - Julie PhelpsIn this episode, we delve into our special series that charts the resurgence of the arts and culture sector from the shadows of the COVID-19 pandemic. We're bringing together insights from th...
2024-03-161h 00
Voices of the CommunityREP-SF’s Citywide People’s Plan for Affordable Housing“It's about forcing the city to make sure that they build affordable housing. And there's lots of, programs that we have in the Citywide People's Plan that can make, huge steps towards, building affordable housing” - Dyan RuizThis episode is part of our ongoing Special Series on How the Arts and Culture sector is coming back from the covid 19 pandemic. In our co-production of Arts for A Better Bay Area’s [ABBA] State of the Arts Summit on June 28th 2023 one of the breakout sessions was focused on the work in our community to develop affordable housin...
2024-02-2232 min
Voices of the CommunityProposition E, 2018 & Arts Impact Endowment Update & Discussion & Grants For The Arts"I think the action and the continuity of the coalition from Prop S to Prop E went from 40 organizations to 140 organizations. That was something that was huge” - Vin SeamanIn this seventh episode of our series focusing on the arts and culture sector's recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, we bring you highlights from the Co-Production of Arts For A Better Bay Area (ABBA) State of The Arts Summit, held at the Strand Theatre in San Francisco on June 28th, 2023. The summit centered around rebuilding communities through the arts.This episode features a community conversation fr...
2024-01-271h 16
Voices of the CommunityHow Do Community Based Arts Orgs Secure Sustainable Funding?“Bringing the scale of human life to the community again so that we can kind of start seeing our humanity and our everyday Experiences” - Melissa AbercrombieThis episode is from our November 4th 2023 live event co-production with the Petaluma Arts Center, our broadcast partners KPCA 103.3fm and Petaluma Community Access TV and BAVC Media. This special event was focused on exploring the question, “How Do Community Based Arts Organizations Secure Sustainable Funding?” Our wonderful panel and audience members covered sub topics such as Exploring Different Business Models, Hybrid Productions - Live and Streaming, bringing arts organizations and gover...
2023-12-201h 13
Voices of the CommunityMeredith Winner - Paint the Void & Lyzette Wanzer - Author of Trauma, Tresses & Truth“I think really being open minded and also really trusting artists is a really big, important factor because. Artists know what they're doing, at least when it comes to making the artwork, that's why people hire them and allow them to have the most creative freedom as possible, really. Usually allows the project to be as best as it can be or as good as it can be” - Meredith WinnerThis episode is the long form of our one-on-one interview with Meredith Winner the COO and Co-Founder of Building 180 and Managing Director and Co-Founder of Paint the Vo...
2023-12-0633 min
Voices of the CommunityFernando Pujals & Rachel Osajima- How their using the Arts for Economic & Community Development"So of course, the pandemic was a struggle for all of us, and so we all know the arts organizations are the first to close and last open, especially the performing arts are really still struggling" - Rachel OsajimaThis episode is the long form of our one-on-one interview with Fernando Pujals, the Deputy Director of the Mid-Market Business Association & Foundation and a great deep dive into how he and his team our supporting artists, arts organizations and leveraging the power of the arts to help bring back the Mid-Market neighborhood in our post pandemic world.
2023-11-2929 min
Voices of the CommunityRegional Economic Recovery Through the Arts"There's been a lot of talk about, how do you make this sustainable, and there's not one answer, but one piece that is core to that, is really galvanizing and cementing around this notion that arts and culture is already right here and we need to lean into it and value it and uplift it. And in that way it won't be able to be ignored'“ - Fernando PujasThis episode is part of our special series on how the arts and culture sector is coming back from the covid 19 pandemic and features voices from the Co-Production of...
2023-11-2259 min
Voices of the CommunityArts for a Better Bay Area State of the Arts Summit – “Economic Recovery in the Arts: Regaining Patrons and Artistic Engagement” Ep 3"It's all about partnering artists with small businesses to create site specific installations and that way create more exposure both for the business and for the artists and also to revitalize those corridors" - Vanessa WilsonThis is our second episode from the co-production with Arts for a Better Bay Area of the re-launch of the State of the Arts Summit "Rebuilding Our Communities," on June 28th, 2023.The COVID-19 pandemic shined a spotlight on the importance of arts and culture and its impact on our communities and economy, as well as the under-funding and fragility...
2023-09-0953 min
Voices of the CommunityProject Homeless Connect’s Outreach to Newly Un-housed SF ResidentsThis is a special episode of Voices of the Community featuring the voices of Meghan Freebeck, and Carla Praglin of Project Homeless Connect. Since my mom died back in the fall of 2016 I have used some of the monies I inherited from her to support the work of Project Homeless Connect through an annual holiday crowdfunding campaign. Over the past two years together with friends, family, and listeners like you, we have raised over Ten Thousand Dollars to provide dental, vision, hearing and housing support services to hundreds of our fellow community members who are experiencing homelessness. ...
2019-12-1611 min
Voices of the CommunityHomeless In San Francisco Part Three of Three PartsWhen we first broadcast this show in 2017 the latest point in time homeless tally was 7,499 people and was fewer than the prior count in 2015 at 7,539 persons. The City of San Francisco estimates that 15% of the homeless population is families and that around 1,700 residents are chronically homeless which is being homeless for one year or more with a disabling condition.
The expectation in 2017 was that the homeless population would continue to trend downward especially with the City of San Franciso spending $300 million dollars annually in homeless he services. But, sadly since this broadcast in 2017 the latest point in...
2019-05-1026 min
Voices of the CommunityInsight into the San Francisco Transportation SystemOur voices of the community are:
Edward Reiskin the Director of Transportation of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency also know as SFMTA
San Francisco Board of Supervisor Scott Wiener who also sits on the SFMTA board and
Melvin Clark a long time Muni Operator, Driver, Trainer
Please rate us on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts and share this story with your friends. Follow me @georgekoster and please email george@georgekoster.com with questions, comments and show ideas
Delve deeper into Voices of the Community Series...
2019-05-1000 min
Voices of the CommunityUnpacking Gentrification: Leveraging the Shift in CommunitiesThe Unpacking Gentrification: Leveraging the Shift in Communities Show will feature a panel discussion I lead with these voices of the community:
• Jose Corona the Director of Equity & Strategic Partnerships, Office of Mayor Libby Schaaf, City of Oakland http://bit.ly/25bwzPF
• Corrina Gould, Co-Organizer, Indian People Organizing for Change http://bit.ly/1Nz4Gck an
• Junious Williams, CEO, Urban Strategies Council http://bit.ly/25bwIT4
• Deborah McKoy, Executive Director, Center for Cities and Schools http://bit.ly/250Q0Hg
Please rate us on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts and share this sto...
2019-05-091h 20
Voices of the CommunityThe Affordability Gap and Economic Disparity in the Bay AreaOur panel discussion focuses on how the lack of affordability is driving the cost of living up in the San Francisco Bay Area and in turn, is continuing to expand economic disparity. Today's Voices of the Community are:
Stephanie Zamudio of the Family Independence Initiative www.fii.org
Angela Woodall of the San Francisco Public Press http://sfpublicpress.org/costofliving
Caroline Danielson of the Public Policy Institute of California http://www.ppic.org/main/home.asp
Please rate us on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts and share this story with your friends. Follow me @georgekoster...
2019-05-0857 min
Voices of the CommunityThe Digital Divide - Have & Have Nots - How Digital Skills Changes LivesOur show on the Digital Divide features fellow community members and organizations that are working to provide support and solutions to the digital inequality of people who do not have the resources and access to technology. We also discuss solutions to address the discrepancy between those who have the skills, knowledge, and abilities to use the technologies and those who do not.
In this episode, we feature the voices of:
Kami Griffiths Executive Director of the Community Technology Network http://bit.ly/2M6Z1Og
Kevin Cohen, Digital Skills Trainer for the Community Technology Network http...
2019-05-061h 00
Voices of the CommunityHomeless In San Francisco Part One of Three PartsContext of the Homelessness situation in San Francisco in the 2015-2016 time period when this episode was first broadcast:
• In 2004 then-Mayor Gavin Newsom launched the Ten Year Plan to Abolish Chronic Homelessness in San Francisco. Ten years and over 1.5 Billion Dollars later 19,500 homeless people (about the size of the Castro neighborhood) have been moved off the street
• But, in the 2014 survey of Homeless citizens, the number has remained almost the same over the past 2 years at around 6,686 people to a high estimate of 8,000 or almost 1% of the population of the City of San Francisco
• ...
2019-05-0656 min
Voices of the CommunityHomeless in San Francisco Part Two of Two PartsThere are between 1,500 to 2,000 homeless families in San Francisco alone. This episode is the second part of our Homeless in San Francisco series. To get more context about our fellow citizen’s experiencing homelessness I would recommend that you listen to our Part One show. Please copy the link: http://bit.ly/2Y3rc7T
Part Two of the Three-Part series Homeless in San Francisco features fellow community members and organizations that are working on providing support and solutions to problems facing our fellow citizens who find themselves Homeless. Homeless in San Francisco Part Two features these Vo...
2019-05-0557 min
Voices of the CommunityWhat is Civic Innovation?University of Wisconsin professors Satish and Priya Nambisan, says that a trifecta of austerity, complexity, and digital technology has created this new opportunity for everyday citizens to help “co-create” new solutions for solving civic problems in their communities.http://brook.gs/MsUtPUThis episode is focused on Civic Innovation and its impact on our economy, community, and democracy. In this episode, we feature the voices of:Krista Canellakis the Deputy Innovation Officer from the City of San Francisco’s Office of Civic Innovation http://innovatesf.com/ andJudi Brown co-founder of Civic Makers http://civicmakers.org/ andSusan Stuart...
2019-05-0444 min
Voices of the CommunityEconomic Development to Address Our Economic DivideThis show on Economic Development and Civic Innovation features fellow community members and organizations that are working to provide support and solutions to the Mom and Pop businesses that make up a large portion of our local economy, workforce and the fabric of our community. In this episode, we feature the voices of:
Cathy Hickey, Founder of Hickey Consulting http://bit.ly/2YfgxqM
Carla Mays, Founder of Mays Civic Innovation http://bit.ly/2OpR2i5
Andrea Baker, Founder of Andrea Baker Consulting http://bit.ly/2YaWude
Please rate us on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts...
2019-05-0300 min
Voices of the CommunityDoing Business in the Bayview Part One of Two PartsWelcome to Part One of Doing Business In the Bayview. This episode is focused on economic and community development efforts being executed by community members in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco, California.
The Bayview community is experiencing gentrification which in turn is pushing out some of its longtime residents and changing the face of the community. Our show features Community members discussing how they are working together to both develop and execute economic and community development solutions; while retaining Bayview’s unique blend of culture and history.
In this episode, we feature the voices of...
2019-05-0259 min
Voices of the CommunityDoing Business in the Bayview Part Two of Two PartsWelcome to Part Two of Doing Business in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco. This second show is focused on the importance of the emerging artisanal food and beverage startups in the Bayview, as well as the economic and cultural significance of the long-standing artist colony in the Bayview and Hunters Point communities.
In this episode, we feature the voices of:
Barbara Gratta of Gratta Wines – an artisanal winemaker and co-founder of Buthcertown Gourmet http://www.grattawines.com/
Marti McKee a drawing and printmaking artist and President of the Shipyard Trust for the Arts Hunters Point Sh...
2019-05-0159 min
Voices of the CommunityThe Top Three News Stories from San Francisco Public Press in 2015In this episode, our guest is Michael Stoll the Editor and Executive Director of the San Francisco Public Press. We discussed three of the most important issues facing our San Francisco Bay Area communities and the investigative reporting that Michael and his team at the San Francisco Public Press have developed and reported on in 2015. The top three stories we discussed during this episode are:
The Resegregating of San Francisco Public Schools http://sfpublicpress.org/schooldiversity
Sea Level Rise and how it Threatens San Francisco Bay Area Cities http://sfpublicpress.org/searise
The...
2019-04-3057 min
Voices of the CommunityCity College of San Francisco Accreditation Crisis - Part One of Four PartsThis is part one of a four-part series focused on the accreditation crisis of City College of San Francisco. City College of San Francisco’s accreditation crisis began in 2012. Over the past four years’ multiple issues and stories have been covered by the media. This four-part series attempts to provide listeners Twelve different interviews and points of view from the various Voices of City College of San Francisco and the community.
In this episode, we feature the voices of:
Kristin Charles, Interim Associate Vice Chancellor of Institutional Development Accreditation & Liaison Officer at City College of San Francisco
Spec...
2019-04-2900 min
Voices of the CommunityCity College of San Francisco Accreditation Crisis - Part Two of Four PartsThis is Part Two of a Four-Part series focused on the Accreditation of City College of San Francisco. If you are just tuning in for this show, I would recommend that you listen to our Part One show https://simplecast.com/s/dcc421a5 to provide more context to this episode.
This four-part series attempts to provide listeners with Twelve different interviews and points of view from the various Voices of City College of San Francisco and the community. In this episode, we feature the voices of:
Richard Baum, Professor of Social Science at City College...
2019-04-2856 min
Voices of the CommunityCity College of San Francisco Accreditation Crisis - Part Three of Four PartsThis is part Three of a Four-part series focused on the accreditation crisis of the City College of San Francisco. This four-part series attempts to provide listeners Twelve different interviews and points of view from the various Voices of City College of San Francisco and the community.
If you are just tuning in for this show, I would recommend that you listen to our Part One https://simplecast.com/s/dcc421a5 and Part Two https://simplecast.com/s/255a2b15 shows to provide more context.
In this episode, we feature the voices of the...
2019-04-2700 min
Voices of the CommunityCity College of San Francisco Accreditation Crisis - Part Four of Four PartsThis is Part Four of a Four-Part series focused on the Accreditation of City College of San Francisco. If you are just tuning in for this show, I would recommend that you listen to our Part One show https://simplecast.com/s/dcc421a5 and Part Two show https://simplecast.com/s/255a2b15 as well as Part Three show https://simplecast.com/s/415fda42 to provide more context to this episode.
This four-part series attempts to provide listeners with Nine different interviews and points of view from the various Voices of City College of San Francisco...
2019-04-261h 01
Voices of the CommunityVoices of the Community's Election Day ShowWelcome to our Election Day Show. The goal of today’s show is to educate our listeners on the San Francisco Election and discuss the Pros and Cons of the key Propositions.
I hope that after listening to our show today you will participate in the election, especially given the prediction that only 25-30 percent of eligible voters in San Francisco will actually Vote. In this episode, we feature the voice of:
Ashley James – with the League of Woman's Voters Bay Area Inter-League Organization http://lwvbayarea.org/
Ashley is the Chair of Woman's Voters Bay Area...
2019-04-2444 min