Change Agents The Podcast
Reparations Media & Juneteenth Productions
Are YOU a “Change Agent”? Organizer. Activist. Educator. Policy maker. Block club leader. Nonprofit founder. Religious leader. Business owner. Voter. Neighbor.
Change Agents is a documentary series revealing the power of community-driven activism told by those in the fight. These are the stories you aren’t hearing — told by and for communities of color and other marginalized communities that have long been overlooked, misrepresented and maligned.
Headquartered in Chicago and produced across the Midwest, we highlight authentic, actionable, grassroots solutions to society’s most pressing problems — including reentry after incarceration, homeownership disparities, anti-Blackness, the mental health crisis, and more.
Produced by a team made up of BIPOC, female, queer and disabled journalists, for Reparations Media, with support from Juneteenth Productions.
Executive Producers: Judith McCray and Maurice Bisaillon. Senior Producer: Mary Hall. Operations & Digital Manager: Nicole Nir. Head of Development: Alina Panek. Sound Design: Erisa Apantaku & Will Jarvis.
Follow us wherever you get podcasts, or at changeagentsthepodcast.com. Subscribe to our newsletter at bit.ly/change_agents_newsletter.
Episodes
31 episodes
A Place Called Home
When Matthew Cage’s father died, Matthew knew it fell on him to financially support his mom. But there was a problem. Matthew had just been released from prison — and many don’t want to rent or employ someone with a criminal record. Exp...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 9
•
21:03
Roots and Roofs: Building Wealth Through Chicago’s Two-Flats
When Mercedes Pickett set out to buy her first home, she wanted to do it in the same way her mom had — by living in a two-flat, renting out the bottom apartment, and making the building into an investment property. For over a centur...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 8
•
26:25
Say Her Name: Women Survivors of Chicago Police Torture
Michelle Clopton was in her twenties when Chicago police attempted to force her to confess to a crime she didn’t commit. For 72 hours, she was brutally questioned, deprived of food, and tortured. Today, she is one of the few women to publicly s...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 7
•
26:45
My Time
Produced by Dilpreet Raju | Criminal records can sometimes create seemingly insurmountable hurdles to employment, a key factor toward reducing recidivism rates. Defy Ventures teaches the incarcerated, and returning citizens how to ...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 5
•
25:24
Sanctuary
Produced by Justin Agrelo | In 2010, a group of men incarcerated at Danville Correctional Center had a thought: how could they help stem community violence plaguing Chicago from the inside of a prison roughly three hours away? ...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 1
•
33:20
Reclaiming their Time
Produced by Daphne Watson | They gather a few times a month in prisons, inmates, educators, lawyers, activists, and legislators for the Behind the Walls Law and Policy Think Tank. Dr. Christina Rivers moderates a peer-led civics program ...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 6
•
26:08
Ending Permanent Punishments
Produced by Jane Carlson | Marlon Chamberlain couldn’t chaperone his son’s field trip or be the executor of his father’s estate because of a decades-old drug conviction. He’s now leading a group of all formerly incarcerated m...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 2
•
25:04
Giving Others Dreams
Produced by Citlali Perez | Women are being imprisoned at higher rates than ever. As they return home they face a unique set of challenges, because they are often their families primary caretakers they face harshe...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 4
•
21:44
Navigating Homeownership
Produced by Corli Jay | Chicago’s Choose To Own program gives low-income residents the educational and financial support to buy their first home, helping them navigate a confusing and discriminatory mortgage and appraisal sys...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 3
•
22:35
How to Tackle Antiblackness
How to Tackle Antiblackness"Together we are powerful." "Black and Brown solidarity." "Yellow peril supports Black power." Interracial solidarity is foundational in the fight for racial justice for all, but often interracial confl...
•
Season 3
•
Episode 6
•
28:45
Justice That Heals
Justice That HealsChicago can be cruel to its youth, especially to youth of color living in marginalized communities. Restorative justice practices have begun to emerge in the city aiming to remedy the root causes of harm that is...
•
Season 3
•
Episode 5
•
17:22
Building Equality in Construction
Produced by Leslie Hurtado | History shows that Chicago’s building trades have excluded construction workers of color. But the attention on George Floyd’s death three years ago inspired a movement toward racial justice everywhere, from schools ...
•
Season 3
•
Episode 4
•
28:48
On the Way Home
On the Way HomeYouth who are experiencing homelessness in Chicago are undercounted and frequently clumsily represented. This story’s intent is to counteract public bias around what someone experiencing homelessness looks like. The st...
•
Season 3
•
Episode 3
•
25:10
Restaurando La Maceta - Restoring La Maceta (Spanish version)
Restaurando La MacetaHay un refrán que dice que la aflicción es como una maceta rota. La maceta nunca se va ver igual o funcionar igual a lo que era antes que se rompió— igual a que una familia no se va ver igual o funcionar igual antes ...
•
Season 3
•
Episode 1
•
33:53
Restoring La Maceta
Restoring La MacetaThere’s a metaphor for grief that describes the healing process as gluing a broken flower pot or in Spanish – una maceta – back together after it breaks. The pot will never look or function the same as it did...
•
Season 3
•
Episode 2
•
28:20
Cooking Up Opportunity
ChiFresh is a thriving food service contractor run by worker-owners who are all formally incarcerated. On busy days ChiFresh can prepare and deliver upwards of 500 meals for clients ranging from nursing homes to schools.&n...
•
16:32
Growing a Greater Englewood
Where do you get food when the grocery stores aren't open, or when their shelves have gone bare? Many Chicagoans asked themselves this question for the first time during the 2020 Covid pandemic, but for those living in the food deserts of...
•
19:36
Change Agents: The Road to Reclaiming History
As communities across the nation grapple with the racist symbols of their past in the form of statues and monuments, in University City, Missouri citizens have embarked on their own journey of racial reckoning, centering the debate on a less di...
•
22:24
Know History, Know Self
Description: Many crucial historical perspectives are missing from classrooms all over the nation. Specifically, Asian-American students are not properly represented in the curriculum, and in many cases, not represented at all. When a Chi...
•
31:06
Do the Math
A parent and community-led coalition is fighting to keep three elementary schools in the North Lawndale neighborhood open after another community group proposes to close the schools in exchange for one STEAM school. Students, parents and teache...
•
Season 1
•
13:20
Trust, Learning, Caring
Trust Learning Care, covers the Brighton Park Neighborhood Councils as it brings parents and teachers together to demand a say in how Chicago Public Schools will allocate the $1.8 billion dollars it has coming from the American Rescue Plan.&n...
•
13:10