Making Contact

Dr. Flemmie Kittrell was a Black home economist whose research in the field of early childhood education shaped the way we think about child development today. She became the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in nutrition and contributed immensely to programs like Head Start – even though her name is often left out of the history. We'll hear more about her life and work in a story from the podcast Lost Women of Science, hosted by Carol Sutton Lewis and Danya AbdelHameid. This episode first aired on Making Contact in March 2025. Featuring: Dolores Caffey-Fleming, Program director of Project STRIDE, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science Allison Horrocks, Public historian Lauren Bauer, fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution  Credits: Making Contact Episode host and producer: Lucy Kang Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: Jeff Emtman  Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Music "Science Documentary" by

This episode honors the life and legacy of Alice Wong (Mar 27, 1974-Nov 14, 2025). We start the show with the Making Contact segment she produced in 2015, exploring the complex relationships between caregivers and care receivers: the vast majority of care recipients are exclusively receiving unpaid care from a family member, friend, or neighbor. The rest receive a combination of family care and paid assistance, or exclusively paid formal care. Whether you're a paid home care provider, or rely on personal assistance to meet your daily needs, or a family member caring for a loved one, the nature of the working relationship depends on mutual respect and dignity. The segment includes a conversation with Patty Berne, co-founder of Sins Invalid, who passed away in May 2025. The show continues with an excerpt from Wong's powerful essay, [Diversifying Radio with Disabled Voices](https://focmedia.org/2016/04/diversifying-radio-with-disabled-voices/), which is a powerful call for better inclusion and representation of

In Episode 2 of "Exposed"  from our friends at San Francisco Public Press, we explore a little-known chapter in San Francisco's nuclear era: human experiments carried out to assess the health effects of radiation. Scientists from the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, located at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, designed and executed at least 24 experiments that involved gathering data from humans — in some cases, injecting test subjects with radioisotopes or having them ingest fluids laced with trace amounts of radioactive materials. Even football players from the San Francisco 49ers were enrolled as test subjects in these so-called tracer studies. We hear from military veterans who were sent on a mysterious mission to spread radioactive substances onto rooftops at an Army base near Pittsburg, Calif., for an experiment the radiation lab played a role in designing. Some recount experiences of witnessing nuclear bomb blasts in the Nevada desert. We also examine a national pattern of human radiation experim

Today we present the first half of a two-part radio documentary from our friends at SF Public Press, "Exposed," opening a window into the little-known history of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. The sprawling abandoned naval base, in San Francisco's southeast waterfront Bayview neighborhood, is currently the site of the city's largest real estate development project. The base played a key role in the Cold War nuclear era, when it housed a research institution known as the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, which studied the human health effects of radiation. In Episode 1 of the podcast, we trace the radioactive contamination found in the shipyard soil today back to its origins, with nuclear bomb testing in the Marshall Islands. We also hear from environmental justice advocates, including one who led a health biomonitoring survey revealing that nearby residents have toxic elements stored in body tissues that match the hazardous chemicals of concern identified at the shipyard.  It first aired on Making Con

We sit down with Kev Choice, a classically trained pianist, rapper, composer, and educator, who has reshaped the Bay Area music scene. Raised in Oakland with San Francisco roots, Kev blends hip-hop, jazz, soul, and classical music into a unique sound. His latest EP, _All My Love_, explores themes of love, vulnerability, and human connection, with soulful melodies and reflective lyrics capturing the complexities of relationships. This episode first aired in November 2024. Featuring Kev Choice Making Contact Team Episode host: Anita Johnson Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: Jeff Emtman  Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Learn More Kev Choice | on Instagram | interview in West Coast Styles | Oakland Symphony Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground

To mark Indigenous People's Day, we'll hear two stories about communities working with food to revitalize identity and ancestry. First, we speak to Mariah Gladstone and Kenneth Cook in Blackfeet Nation in Montana about their online cooking show Indigikitchen and follow them into the field as they harvest a bison. Then, we talk to Dr. Keitlyn Alcantara about the Tlaxcala, an indigenous tribe living in central Mexico who were able to survive the expansive Aztec empire in the period just before colonization, and visit the Healing Garden at Hilltop in Bloomington, Indiana, where diaspora members connect with familiar plants, the earth and each other. This show first aired in August 2022. Featuring: Kenneth Cook, helps operate Indigikitchen Mariah Gladstone, founder of Indigikitchen Boyd Evans, rancher on Blackfeet Nation Dr Keitlyn Alcantara, assistant professor of archeology at Indiana University Margarita Martinez Osorio, PhD student of history at Indiana University Andre Bispo de Jesus, gardener at Indiana Un

October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, so we are revisiting a show from our archives about criminalized survival, the criminal justice system's long practice of imprisoning survivors of intimate partner violence when they fight back against their abusers. We'll hear from journalist Natalie Pattillo and filmmaker Daniel A. Nelson, who followed the stories of imprisoned women Kim Dadou Brown, Tanisha Davis and Nikki Addimando for their documentary film And So I Stayed. This show first aired in July 2023. Featuring: Natalie Pattillo, journalist, mother and co-director of the film And So I Stayed Daniel A. Nelson, filmmaker, cinematographer and co-director of the film And So I Stayed Credits: Making Contact Team Episode Host: Amy Gastelum Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: Jeff Emtman Digital Marketing Manager: Lissa Deonarain Music via WFMU free music archive Poddington Bear, Alsace HoliznaCC0, Whatever  Learn More

Almost half of Puerto Rico’s doctors have fled the island over the past decade, leading to a lack of specialists and treatment and incredibly long wait times. And this isn’t just an inconvenience. People are dying from lack of care. Why is Puerto Rico’s health care system collapsing, and why are doctors fleeing the island? We take a look at its deeply dysfunctional private medical system and why attempts to fix it, and create a universal health care plan on the island, are being hindered by Puerto Rico’s status as a US colony. Its massive unpayable debt, held by investors in the US, means that it cannot make its own economic decisions, even when it affects the livelihood of poor Puerto Ricans living there. But there might be a fix, getting rid of Puerto Rico’s debt and rethinking its colonial relationship to the US. This episode first aired in October 2024. Credits: Making Contact Team Episode Host: Salima Hamirani Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jin

We return to Norfolk, Virginia, where flooding and rising sea levels threaten residents, and the climate plan for the city could perpetuate harmful patterns of segregation and environmental racism. With the help of the podcast Wading Between Two Titans, we’ll take a look at how urban redevelopment is pushing out low-income and Black residents and what happens when communities are displaced due to climate gentrification. Featuring: Mr. Vernell, resident Vincent Hodges, social worker and organizer Monét Johnson, lead housing and environmental organizer for New Virginia Majority Paul Riddick, former Norfolk City Council member Credits: Making Contact Team Episode host and producer: Lucy Kang Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: Jeff Emtman  Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Music Credit: "A Documentary" by AKTASOK via Pixabay Wading Between Two Titans Team Written, recorded, produced, edited, mixed, mastered and hosted by Adri

In this episode, we'll head to Norfolk, Virginia, where flooding and rising sea levels are disproportionately threatening Black residents, while the city is also also weathering a housing crisis. We’ll hear about how sea-level rise, racism and housing are intertwined in this coastal city in a story from episode one of the podcast Wading Between Two Titans, brought to us by the University of Virginia's Repair Lab and producer Adrian Wood. Featuring: Dr. Tommy L. Bogger, professor of history at Norfolk State University | Cassandra Newby-Alexander, endowed professor of Virginia Black History and Culture at Norfolk State University Credits: Making Contact Team Episode host and producer: Lucy Kang Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: Jeff Emtman  Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Music Credit: "A Documentary" by AKTASOK via Pixabay Wading Between Two Titans Credits Written, recorded, produced, edited, mixed, mastered and hosted by

Today on Making Contact we present “Saltwater Soundwalk,” an Indigenous audio tour of Seattle featuring a watery audio experience, with streams of stories that ebb and flow that intermixes English and Coast Salish languages. Indigenous Coast Salish peoples continue to steward this land and preserve its language, despite settler colonialism, industrialization and gentrification. Part story, part sound collage, this piece is scored entirely with the sounds of the waters and animals who live in and around the Salish Sea. This episode first aired in April 2023. Saltwater Soundwalk Credits Rachel Lam (Anigiduwagi enrolled Cherokee Nation) and Jenny Asarnow produced this work as part of FLOW: Art Along the Ship Canal, a commission from Seattle Public Utilities in partnership with the Office of Arts & Culture Special Thanks Commissioned with SPU 1% for Art Funds. Administered by the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture. City of Seattle, Bruce Harrell, Mayor. This episode of Making Contact was supported in part by

On this week's Making Contact, we talk about baseball with the help of some Venezuelan players living in Peru. In a story brought to us by the podcast In Confianza, with Pulso, we hear about how their hopes and dreams of making it big can fuel community when they’re living far from home. The story featured in this show first aired in July 2024. Featuring: Raian Baute, Venezuelan baseball aficionado | Rodrigo Baute, Los Astros player | Manny Padron, Major League Baseball scout for the Miami Marlins | Franklin Lopez, Los Astros coach | Wilmer Flores, baseball player for the San Francisco Giants Making Contact Team: Episode host: Lucy Kang Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: [Jeff Emtman](http://www.jeffemtman.com/) Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Music credit: "Drums" by Andrewfai via Pixabay Guest Episode Credits - In Confianza from Pulso Show hosted by Liz Rebecca Alarcón Story produced and narrated by Anthony Wallace  Edi

Sixty-two years ago, a quarter of a million people gathered for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. On today's show, we take a look at the life and legacy of a central organizer of the march, Bayard Rustin. Rustin was an openly gay civil rights leader and a trusted advisor to labor leader A. Phillip Randolph and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This show first aired in June 2021. Featuring: Bayard Rustin, architect of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom Ashon Crawley, University of Virginia Associate Professor of Religious Studies and African-American and African Studies Nancy Kates, filmmaker and producer of _Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin_ Bill Sutherland, Fellowship of Reconciliation Reverend A.J. Muste, pacifist and mentor of Rustin George Houser. Fellowship of Reconciliation Louis John, nephew of Bayard Rustin Devi Prasad, pacifist  Credits: Making Contact Team Episode host: Anita Johnson Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kan

This week, we're sharing a guest episode from our friends at Project Pulso: Miami's Battle Over Bilingualism. The path for Miami to get as bilingual as it is today has been hard. Deep discrimination and mass resistance were what it took to get here. Today’s episode is about a decades-long power struggle between those who embraced diversity and those who fought to repress it. Produced in July 2024. Featuring: Dr. Paul George, Eduardo Padron, Gregory Samms Making Contact Team - Episode Host: Jessica Partnow - Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang - Executive Director: Jina Chung - Engineer: Jeff Emtman - Digital Marketing Manager: Lissa Deonarain Pulso/In Confianza Podcast Team - Host: Liz Rebecca Alarcón - Producer, engineering, scoring, mixing: Charlie Garcia - Editor: Mark Pagán Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the

This story is brought to us by the podcast Kerning Cultures. “Black Panthers in Algeria" tells the story of  Elaine Mokhtefi as she landed in newly independent Algeria in the early 1960s and found herself at the center of a special period in the country’s history when it was known as the “Mecca of revolution.” Elaine encountered world famous radicals, ragtag political parties, spies and military leaders – and became an unlikely sidekick to one of the most iconic liberation groups of our time. This episode first aired on Making Contact in September 2024 and Kerning Cultures in April 2023. Featuring Elaine Mokhtefi Natalia Bin Khaled Vince Justin Gifford Eldridge Cleaver Making Contact Credits Episode host: Anita Johnson Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: [Jeff Emtman](https://jeffemtman.com/) Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain  Kerning Cultures Credits Produced by Deena Sabry and Alex Atack Edited by Dana Ballout Fact check

The Department of Homeland Security, which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), was created in the aftermath of 9/11. To contextualize what's happening with immigration today under Trump 2.0, we bring you one person’s story of being caught in the anti-Muslim fervor post-9/11 and how she became an organizer advocating for the immigrants’ rights. We'll also hear what her story teaches us about avoiding burnout in doing social justice work. This story comes to us by way of Re:Work from the UCLA Labor Center. Featuring: Ainee Athar, immigrant rights and climate justice Making Contact Team Episode host and producer: Lucy Kang Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: Jeff Emtman Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Music:  "Documentary Piano Ambient" by BoDleasons via Pixabay Re:Work Episode "Beyond the Glass Wall" Credits: Hosted by Veena Hampapur and George Chacon Produced by Veena Hampapur, George Chacon, and Saba Waheed

In the late 1990s, psychologist Dr. Joseph Gone, a professor and member of the Aaniiih Gros Ventre tribe, returned home during his doctoral training to the Fort Belknap Reservation in north central Montana. There, he set aside Eurocentric concepts of psychology he was learning in school and instead asked tribal members how mental illness is addressed using traditional Indigenous practices. What he learned changed the trajectory of his career. Listen to find out how he helped bring precolonial cultural and spiritual practices into substance use disorder treatment in contemporary Indigenous settings. This show first aired in July 2024. Featuring: Dr. Joseph Gone, psychologist and interdisciplinary social scientist at Harvard University and member of the Aaniiih-Gros Ventre Tribal Nation of Montana Credits: Making Contact Team: Episode Host: Amy Gastelum Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Editor: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong Engineer: Jeff Emtman  Digi

On this week’s show, we’ll continue with the podcast mini-series Crosswinds from the University of Virginia’s Repair Lab and producer Adrian Wood. The show looks at the impact of coal dust pollution on Black neighborhoods in Virginia through the lens of environmental racism. In this episode, we'll listen to how the looming gentrification of one community might impact the pollution. Featuring: Lathaniel Kirts, practitioner-in-residence at University of Virginia's Repair Lab Mark'eta Kirts, resident Lawrence Turner, resident Donquitta Clements, founder and executive director of Break the Cycle Sheila McAllister, Director of City Planning for the City of Newport News Yugonda Sample-Jones, founder and president of EmPower All Millie Taylor, resident Making Contact Team: Episode host and producer: Lucy Kang Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: [Jeff Emtman](http://www.jeffemtman.com/)  Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Music Cred

We take a deep dive into coal dust air pollution in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, where trains transporting coal expose residents of predominantly Black communities to harmful dust. We look at this issue of environmental racism with the help of the podcast Crosswinds, featuring producer Adrian Wood. Featuring: Lathaniel Kirts, practitioner-in-residence at University of Virginia's Repair Lab Malcolm Jones, practitioner-in-residence at University of Virginia's Repair Lab Grace Holmes, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality  Dr. Kim Fields, environmental policy expert at the University of Virginia and assistant professor in African American Studies Michael Mines, community leader in Newport News with Flow Church and Peninsula Baptist Association Carl Poole, advocate with New Virginia Majority Making Contact Team: Episode host and producer: Lucy Kang Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: Jeff Emtman Digital Media Marketing:

Black students with dyslexia all too often carry a heavy burden in our public schools. This documentary centers around a grandmother who fought for years to get her grandkids — particularly her grandson — properly assessed for dyslexia. Like too many African American boys, Geraldine Robinson’s grandson had been erroneously labeled with an “intellectual disability” and deprived of proper reading remediation. Monica Lopez hosts this episode, which first aired in 2021. Featuring: Geraldine Robinson, Oakland matriarch raising her grandkids Cheryl Theis, Education Advocate, Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund Megan Potente, Educational Therapist and Co-State Director, Decoding Dyslexia CA Kareem Weaver, Oakland NAACP Education Committee Episode Credits: Reporter/Producer: Lee Romney Editor: Monica Lopez and Lisa Morehouse Engineer: James Rowlands Making Contact Team: Episode Host: Monica Lopez Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: Jeff Emtman Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonorain Learn More: