Jennifer Lumpkin and Molly Martin: Expanding Democracy and What That Has to Do with Education

This episode I'm in conversation with Jennifer Lumpkin and Molly Martin, two Cleveland Community Organizing powerhouses. We're talking about the role of expanding democracy and what that has to do with viewing education as a living system. We get deep into the specific structure that they are working to promote called Participatory Budgeting.

Why are we talking about Participatory Budgeting on a podcast about education? First off, civics education is severely lacking and we can't expect ourselves to help ourselves into a new system if we don't understand how the old system functions. But, maybe even more importantly, PB is a way to think about flattening the hierarchy and distributing power, which is pattern we see over and over again in living systems, and if we want to mimic our systems (like Education!) after a living one, we might as well learn some structures that work well to flatten them, like PB! 

I hope you'll listen and be as inspired as I was after talking to these two, then share it with a friend and rate and review it. It means so much! 

Today's Guests:

Jennifer Lumpkin is a community organizer and supporter in coalitions and efforts across the City of Cleveland.  Jennifer founded Creative Community Builders, LLC in 2016 after organizing in Cleveland and Washington, D.C.  with a foundation on legacy farming and intercultural solidarity. Her organizing and partnership practice, My Grow Connect, is rooted in supporting the development of sustainable communities through creative relationship building, cultural organizing and mindful resource connections. 

Molly Martin works for the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless to support the organization’s advocacy and organizing work and their mission to eliminate the root causes of homelessness. Molly grew up in Cleveland and is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of Virginia Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. She is passionate about homeless civil rights, housing justice, and deepening anti-racist commitment through policy advocacy and community organizing. She is an Advisory Board Member of Cleveland VOTES, a democracy-building organization strengthening our community’s civic muscle, and she is a Coordinating Committee Member of Participatory Budgeting Cleveland, a grassroots coalition of Cleveland residents actively organizing for a participatory budgeting process in Cleveland.

LINKS CLEVELANDERS: GET INVOLVED WITH PB CLE

GENERAL PB CLE INFORMATION

MORE GENERAL: PARTICIPATORY BUDGETING PROJECT

PB IN SCHOOLS!

Regenerative Ed Links:

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