How to (Not) Kill Your Community – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode, Stuart Comstock-Gay speaks with Dogfish Head co-founder Mariah Calagione about the value of philanthropy for both businesses and the communities they serve.

Mariah Calagione is the co-founder of Dogfish Head Brewery and recently retired as the Social Impact Leader at the Boston Beer Company. Raised in Milford, Delaware, she met her husband, Sam Calagione, during high school, and together they established Dogfish Head in 1995. Mariah's early roles encompassed marketing, public relations, and social media, eventually focusing on philanthropic initiatives through the Beer & Benevolence program. She has served on various boards, including The Nature Conservancy and the University of Delaware, (and oh yeah, the Delaware Community Foundation). Mariah and Sam have two adult children and continue to contribute actively to both their business and local community.

In this episode, Stuart Comstock-Gay speaks with Congresswoman Sarah McBride on why we shouldn't just accept that some people are outsiders, or worse, our enemies.

Sarah McBride is the U.S. Representative for Delaware’s at-large congressional district. Before winning her seat in 2024, she served as a Delaware State Senator, where she championed LGBTQ+ rights, healthcare access, and paid family leave. McBride first gained national recognition in 2016 as the first openly transgender person to speak at a major party convention. She previously worked as the National Press Secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, advocating for non-discrimination protections nationwide. Born and raised in Wilmington, she earned a degree in political science from American University in Washington, D.C.

Erin Gruwell, author of the New York Times Bestseller The Freedom Writers' Diary, sits down with host Stuart Comstock-Gay to talk about how she learned to create a community of writers as a fresh-faced English teacher in Room 203. Gruwell discusses how she got her students to better their lives through reading and writing, with her students coining themselves the “Freedom Writers” after the “Freedom Riders” group as a way to show they were standing up to the violence and oppression in their lives. Now, over 20 years later, Gruwell continues to teach others how to create communities through storytelling, writing, listening to one another and giving light in dark places. The two also discuss her latest book, Dear Freedom Writer. Find out more information on the Freedom Writers by visiting the Freedom Writers Foundation.

Season 5 of Building Opportunity is coming next week! This season, host Stuart Comstock-Gay sits down with community leaders in education, tech, health and the arts to discuss communities, leadership, mentorship and passing the mic to the next generation. The season starts Nov. 1 with episodes available every Wednesday.

We’ve talked a lot about polarization this season – but what can we do about it? We welcome back all of our guests to each share one actionable thing anyone can do to reduce polarization – in our communities, in our daily lives, and in our interactions with others.

Media is often blamed for polarization – but nonprofit and local news models could offer a solution. Today, we sit down with Allison Taylor Levine, the VP of Marketing and Communications at the DCF, and the founder of the Local Journalism Initiative Delaware. We discuss how local news builds empathy, trust, and understanding, and how solutions-based journalism can move readers from fear and frustration to empowerment and action.

Dr. David Tam became the CEO of Beebe Healthcare at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and he’s made it his mission to build trust inside the communities Beebe serves, even as polarization has had dramatic consequences to public health. Dr. Tam shares his insights about how healthcare needs to evolve – and how conversations between patients and providers could be a key to bridging the divide.

Dr. Muqtedar Khan is a professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations and in the Department of Islamic Studies at the University of Delaware. Today, he shares insights on American polarization – its economic, political, and social roots, what’s causing it to accelerate, and what we can do to overcome it. Dr. Khan also shares his perspective on the declining freedom of speech within academic institutions – and how identity politics, virtue signaling, and personal moral hierarchies can blind us to our own intolerance and judgment.

Molly Giordano has spent years building a community-oriented space at the Delaware Art Museum, where open dialogues about art flourish. Molly weighs in on how polarization has impacted arts institutions, and pushes back against claims that art and art institutions have become too political.

Don Ward has deep roots in rural Sussex County – and he’s seen how polarization has affected communities like his. Don joins us this week here to talk to us about the dangers of judging others solely on their political views, how polarization creates divisions within religious communities, and what happens when development brings new faces into small towns.