Explore every episode of the podcast Unsung Stewards

In this episode, host Becky Payne sits down with Michael Brown, Chief Architect at Civic Commons, to discuss how building belonging and civic muscle can transform communities from the ground up. Drawing on his deep experience of facilitating place-based collaborations in King County, WA, Michael describes how local organizations have invested in relationship building— and how that has resulted in lasting change in health, housing, and economic opportunity across the region. Tune in to learn what’s possible when trust, collaboration, and a shared sense of belonging are driving community transformation.

In this episode of Unsung Stewards, Dr. Paulette Brown-Hinds, a second-generation publisher of the Black Voice News and founder of Voice Media Ventures, shares her journey rooted in journalism and stewardship. Growing up with a deep legacy of civic engagement and storytelling, Paulette shares how her family's service shaped her approach to community media. Learn about her work with the Inland Empire Community Foundation, the Inland Empire Journalism Innovation Hub + Fund, and her efforts to foster thriving communities through the vital conditions and shared stewardship. This conversation highlights the power of local media, the importance of belonging, and the role storytelling plays in building belonging and love for one's place.

Episode 3 of the Unsung Stewards podcast features Samantha Shaak, PhD, Executive Director of The Leonard Parker Pool Institute for Health and Vice President, Community Health, Lehigh Valley Health Network. Samantha illustrates how stewardship begins with connecting the dots within communities, understanding partners and people, and nurturing these relationships to build a healthier, more resilient region. In this thoughtful conversation, Samantha reminds us that even amid constant change, purpose and the people we work alongside are what truly keep us moving forward.

Discover the power of listening in this episode featuring Yvonne Pacheco, a lifelong resident of Laredo, Texas, and Community Connector with Methodist Healthcare Ministries (MHM).

As a Community Connector at MHM, Yvonne’s work involves building relationships in communities across South Texas to understand what residents need to thrive, and support their unique efforts to expand the vital conditions for health and well-being. She shares how growing up in a vibrant, tight-knit border community shaped her approach to stewardship, inspiring her to show up consistently, listen deeply, and create space for honest dialogue around the stories that define a place. Stream Episode 2 to learn how these practices are essential for building trust and cultivating meaningful relationships in South Texas and beyond.

Special thanks to our guest host, Dr. Ruth Thomas-Squance, Co-Executive Director of the Building Healthy Places Network, who is also deeply committed to advancing racial equity through cross-sector partnerships and fostering community-centered solutions.

Join us for a conversation with Dr. Arvind Singhal, a professor of communications and Director of the Social Justice Initiative at The University of Texas at El Paso. Dr. Singhal has been a teacher, advocate, and organizer for many years. We consider him to be a kindred spirit within the Movement to Thrive Together and his work on the positive deviance approach–a way of developing community-driven solutions by honoring successful outliers and out of the box thinking–is a strong example of shared stewardship in practice.

Season 4 of the Unsung Stewards podcast kicks off with Kellie Easton, President and CEO of Action4Equity, an organization working to transform the education system in her hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In Episode 1, Kellie starts off by grounding us in Action4Equity’s whole-school, whole-community, whole-child approach, demonstrating the connection to the other vital conditions, and how we can do systems change work at multiple levels so that everyone can thrive—in Winston-Salem and beyond. Our conversation with Kellie reveals an approach that is deeply rooted in racial justice and strong shared stewardship, heard in her call to, “build a table that's big enough and long enough for everyone to have a seat.” 

Episode three features four guests from Florida and Washington State who discuss their work with young people experiencing poverty, trauma, and homelessness. The conversation illustrates how critical it is to provide trauma-informed services, center youth voices, encourage creativity, and support pathways to economic well-being as ways to build resilience and belonging. Tune in to hear their insights.

In Episode Two, Mo Manklang and Terrell Cannon discuss the importance of agency and a sense of belonging in the workplace, along with the vital role that caregiving plays in the health and well-being of a community. Mo, the Policy Director at the U.S Federation of Worker Cooperatives, tells a compelling story of what might be possible if we reframe the way that we consider work and business. Terrell, who is the Director of Training at Home Care Associates (itself a worker owned cooperative) discusses the benefits of being a worker-owner and the importance of treating home care as an essential service.

In this episode, you will hear from Brian Archie and Evelyn Harris of Create a Healthier Niagara Falls Collaborative. Both lifelong residents of Niagara Falls, NY, Brian and Evelyn are working to address the legacies of structural racism and disinvestment that have affected their community, helping residents increase civic and social connections and find innovative ways to use their skills and talents to inspire and serve others so that everyone can thrive.

When Covid-19 hit the village of Maywood, Randy, Chris, and Lena mobilized community relationships to address food insecurity, mental health, and other needs exacerbated by the pandemic. The three share poignant stories of the experiences of individual community members in Maywood, which has a history and legacy of grassroots advocacy. Part 2 explores the unconventional collaborations between residents and Loyola Medicine, the large local hospital, that has inspired change agents to take positive action in the community.

When Covid-19 hit the village of Maywood, Randy, Chris, and Lena mobilized community relationships to address food insecurity, mental health, and other needs exacerbated by the pandemic. The three share poignant stories of the experiences of individual community members in Maywood, which has a history and legacy of grassroots advocacy. This effort has also led to unconventional collaborations between residents and Loyola Medicine, the large local hospital, that has inspired change agents to take positive action in the community.

In times of crisis, organizations can resort to top-down responses. But when his community faced COVID-19, Pat McNamara threw that playbook out the window. What if local leaders were the ones naming their needs and aspirations? In the first episode of #UnsungStewards, Pat shares how his team shifted to a hyperlocal approach.

Joy opens up about her family’s legacy in community gardening, shining a light on the food insecurity that became so prevalent and exposed with the onset of COVID-19. Joy discusses how food goes beyond providing sustenance and nourishment—highlighting how it can serve as a connector, a cultural identity marker, a conduit for healing, and a basis for storytelling.

In Episode 2, we spotlight another steward, Sterling Cruz-Herr, a teacher, executive, and entrepreneur committed to creating an equitable culture to advance trans individuals and communities through training and coaching.

In the debut episode of Season 2, Colin Killick, Executive Director of the Disability Policy Consortium, shares his vision for an equitable future while addressing the social, medical, and political frames that shape disability rights as well as the legacies that his work is built upon.

When COVID-19 hit, many schools across the country were unprepared for remote learning. Wanda Stansbury worked to equip families in Trenton, New Jersey with the resources children needed to continue to reach their educational potential while learning from home. From the interfaith student protest movement in the sixties to remote learning inequities during the pandemic, Wanda shares her stewardship journey on many different levels: the street level, the scholarly level, the systems level, and the spiritual level.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many health systems did not prioritize Black and Brown communities. When faced with this reality in Pittsburgh, Fred Brown founded the Black COVID-19 Equity Coalition to increase COVID-19 testing and address the social determinants of health for his community. From a self-defined “street kid” to school teacher to probation officer, Brown’s range of life experiences shaped how he approaches systemic change.

When the city of Roanoke received federal HUD funds, Shauneequa Owusu, Chief Strategy Officer at ChangeLab Solutions, along with the NY Academy of Medicine, supported the city through a public deliberation process to empower residents to shape the investment decisions. As we look towards rehabbing sectors hit hard by the ongoing pandemic, Shauneequa’s experiences shed light on how we can ensure that the use of the American Rescue Plan Act funds could lead to equitable and community driven investments.