Making Contact

Jeremy Menchik volunteered for Moderna’s vaccine trials, wanting to help end the COVID pandemic. However, as Moderna continues to hold patent rights and refuses to openly share their vaccine technology, Jeremy began to feel conflicted. He has since publicly quit as a volunteer and urges others to do the same, until everyone can freely access the vaccine. Listen to our interview with Jeremy on this special edition of Making Contact, an extra to our larger show on vaccine equality.

On Dec. 11, 2021, the UCLA Labor Center’s historic MacArthur Park building was officially named the UCLA James Lawson Jr. Worker Justice Center, in honor of a civil and worker rights icon who has been teaching at UCLA for the last 2 decades. In this episode of Re:Work, 93-year-old Rev. Lawson shares stories from his youth, and how he came to discover soul force and the path of nonviolence.  

Through the work and birth stories of midwife Allegra Hill, the producers of Re:Work Radio explain how Black midwives in Los Angeles are helping women to experience empowered births.

While Black women have played a critical role in the development of the nation, their stories have been mostly overlooked. In the new book, A Black Women’s History of the United States, historians Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross honor the many significant contributions of Black women who have worked tirelessly to build this country and fight for social justice in the face of racism and sexism.

In this encore episode, we look at how COVID-19 has torn through prisons and how organizers are trying to push state and local governments to release inmates in order to contain the spread of the pandemic. In part one, we focus on California. We take a look at why a prison, like San Quentin, is such a perfect environment for infectious diseases, especially an airborne one like COVID-19, how we might safely release large amounts of inmates across the prison system, and what we’ve learned from past release programs like realignment.

A legal matrix that incentivizes criminal convictions can motivate unethical prosecutors to bend or break the rules. In New York, a group of law professors is trying to curb that by pushing the system to discipline its own. Reported by Nina Sparling.

When India went into lockdown in 2020, millions of jobs disappeared and tens of millions of migrant workers struggled to get home, often on foot. Many died attempting the journey. This week, we bring you the story of one man who left his village as a child to earn money to support his family.

In our annual Fallen Heroes episode, we share words of inspiration from, and about some lesser-known grassroots activists who passed away in 2021.

In this special year-end episode, Making Contact producers and staff turn the spotlight on some the best shows they aired in 2021.

The world is struggling to contain COVID-19, as variants continue to emerge in countries where the virus is spreading unchecked, killing thousands. Not only could widespread vaccination campaigns help slow the virus, they would save countless lives. So why can’t countries in the global south access the novel COVID-19 vaccines? We take a deep dive into the world of international patents and talk about what needs to change in order to create a more just, global, medical system.

When communities face the aftermath of catastrophes, what does it take to ensure that the next time will be different? In Houston, it takes a city council member who bicycles in her neighborhood to hear from constituents about what they need most. It takes 12 moms who organize to take legal action against the landlords that have kept their families in moldy, substandard apartments.  In this fourth episode of the podcast But Next Time hosts Chrishelle Palay and Rose Arrieta head back to Houston to meet organizers making a difference.

In cities around the globe community organizers and direct service agencies are often the first line of response when a climate fueled natural disaster strikes. In this third episode of the podcast But Next Time we meet organizers in Houston and Puerto Rico whose shared experiences of hurricane response bind them together in the effort to assure next time things will be different.

We’re popping into your feed today with a quick announcement for fans of Making Contact. We know you love the show, and right now we’ve got an extra special opportunity for your support to go twice as far. Every donation you send to Making Contact through the end of the year will be doubled by NewsMatch! And if you sign up as a new monthly sustainer, your donation will be matched all year long. You can visit our donation page to make your gift right away, or click to listen to this special year-end message from our board of directors. https://makingcontact.networkforgood.com/projects/39193-making-contact-year-round

Our radio adaptation of the film Beyond Recognition by Underexposed films, "After decades struggling to protect her ancestors’ burial places, a Native woman from a non-federally recognized Ohlone tribe and her allies occupy a sacred site to prevent its desecration. They then vow to follow a new path- to establish the first women-led urban Indigenous land trust. 

There’s a place in rural St. Johns, Arizona, where teens who have encounters with officers of the law can play pool, make music, and get mentored instead of going to jail. It’s called The Loft, and it’s the brainchild of a judge who wanted to save the county hundreds of millions of dollars and divert young people towards the support many were not getting at home.

In some parts of the world, traditional herbal remedies are the norm.  When we  think of natural remedies we tend to think of older generations living in remote areas, in far away  countries,  with little access to modern healthcare.  We rarely think about the ancient medicinal plants that might exist in our very own cities. On today's episode we look at plant and herb medicines through the lens of Michele E. Lee the author of Working The Roots.  

One of the most common forms of trafficking is labor trafficking. In this episode, Re:Work Radio brings you the story of Lester Ramos and his journey from the Philippines. Later in the broadcast, we hear from Filipino migration expert, Dr. Robyn Magalit Rodriguez, on the circumstances in the Philippines and the US that drive Filipinos to work abroad.

In today’s program, sociology professor Lisa Hajjar traces the rise and fall of torture after 9/11. She examines the ways in which torture and the fight against it have altered the legal terrain on torture in the United States, and potentially on a global scale.