This Civic Moment

Join us for the finale of Season 3! This episode was recorded live on Monday, April 3, 2023, at the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis.  

It features Kelly McGowan, founder of Transform 314, and Shavanna Spratt, Creator & Host of Da Hood Talks podcast. Monday Nite Live is a St. Louis-based YouTube series that features drama, foolery, and discussion of local policies and politics. On this night, we discussed the Municipal Elections that occurred on April 4. Some of the themes included taxes on recreational marijuana, the Ferguson mayoral race, St. Louis City’s ward reduction to 14 alderpeople, ward funding, various school board elections in the county, St. Louis Community College Board of Trustees elections, and more.  

Annie Rice is a former Alderperson who represented the 8th Ward of St. Louis from 2018 to 2023. Prior to her aldermanic election, Annie was the Democratic Committeewoman for that same ward and represented the 5th Senate District to the Missouri Democratic Party. She recently completed a four year term on the Board of the Migrant and Immigrant Community Action (MICA) Project and has a background in immigration and civil rights law.

In this episode, Annie joins Eric Reiter and Bethany Copeland, fellows at the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement, to discuss her journey into politics, recent changes in the St. Louis aldermanic landscape, and provide guidance on navigating local government.

Blake Strode is the Executive Director of Arch City Defenders, a nonprofit civil rights law firm in St. Louis, Missouri providing holistic legal advocacy and combating the criminalization of poverty and state violence against poor people and people of color. He is also a Co-host of Under the Arch podcast, which discusses issues impacting the St. Louis community and the people working to change them. 

In this episode, Blake joins Eric Reiter and Bethany Copeland, of the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement, to discuss carceral systems, localized reparations, public safety as community wellness, and how to create more equitable structural changes within the law.

Tony Messenger is the Metro Columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, writing four columns a week in a position he has held since September 2016. He joined the Post-Dispatch in 2008 as a capital correspondent and political columnist in Jefferson City. He is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist for a series of articles written in 2018 on debtors' prisons in rural Missouri.

In this episode, Tony joins Eric Reiter and Bethany Copeland, of the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement, to discuss conflict, complexity, how journalism relates to democracy, and why the news in St. Louis is so relevant to the rest of the country.

There’s a lot of terminology around elections – mail-in ballots, absentee voting, midterms – that can seem inaccessible to people just beginning to vote for the first time. Here’s a short introduction to what you need to know to make sure your vote counts.

In this special Voter Series of This Civic Moment, our host, Otto Brown, talks to Co-chair of WashU Votes, Spencer Chrein about the logistics of casting your ballot. This episode was co-created by WashU Votes and the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement.

Jason Rosenbaum, St. Louis Public Radio Politics Correspondent, is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Since starting his career in the mid-2000s, Rosenbaum has covered politics, policy and rock and roll music for various media outlets, including the Columbia Daily Tribune, St. Louis Beacon, and the Riverfront Times. 

In this episode, Rosenbaum joins Louis Damani Jones and Bethany Copeland, of the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement, to discuss the ever-evolving media landscape, the impact of the Ferguson Uprising on journalism, and the lack of public awareness surrounding local and state politics. 

Lane Koch is a conservative grassroots strategist, writer, speaker, political commentator, and Vice President of C3 Public Strategies. In 2020, Lane founded Grassroots Girl, a consulting brand specializing in providing customized voter-contact platforms, ballot initiatives, and more. In September 2021, Core Strategic Group acquired Grassroots Girl. Passionate about helping all people to fulfill their political aspirations, Lane utilizes social media platforms to educate her audience with daily tips on campaigning and career advice for politicos and new candidates. 

In this episode, Engage Democracy Fellows, Louis Damani Jones and Bethany Copeland, speak with Lane about what happens behind the scenes of a political campaign. From consulting clients to working specifically with Missouri senators, this conversation sheds light on the mechanics of running for political office.  

Ray Boshara is senior advisor for the Institute for Economic Equity at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, where he focuses on building savings and wealth inclusively. He is also a senior fellow in the Financial Security Program at the Aspen Institute.

In this episode of This Civic Moment, our hosts Louis Damani Jones and Bethany Copeland, Engage Democracy Fellows at the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement, meet with Ray Boshara to explore his life and upbringing, asset-based social policy, the racial wealth gap, and more.

Mike Jones II, Ph.D., is an Associate Director, Community Science with the Race & Opportunity Lab at the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University. He is a native Saint Louisan and is passionate about his hometown’s ability to increase our capacity by building the necessary infrastructure and support systems for marginalized populations. 

In this episode, Dr. Jones, a self-declared Imos Pizza-enthusiast, traces his journey growing up in North St. Louis County to Saint Louis University and beyond. The conversation with Engage Democracy Fellows Louis Damani Jones and Bethany Copeland explores the turning points in Dr. Jones' civic journey, racial disparities and the importance of representation in higher education, the influence of faith in civic engagement, and much more.

Ness Sandoval, Ph.D, is associate director of Saint Louis University’s Geospatial Institute (GeoSLU) and an associate professor of sociology at SLU. In this episode, Dr. Sandoval traces his journey from a small town in Nebraska to his current role at Saint Louis University teaching students to leverage data to interrogate and better understand our shared experiences. Dr. Sandvoal and This Civic Moment hosts Louis Damani Jones and Bethany Copeland, Engage Democracy Fellows at the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement, explore the confluence of data science and civic engagement and discuss how data science can inform and shape St. Louis' civic future.

Representative Avery Bourne (R-Morrisonville) joins This Civic Moment to discuss her pathway to the Illinois General Assembly, and the lessons learned in public service that continue to shape her leadership and civic engagement journey. Rep. Bourne is joined on the podcast by hosts Louis Damani Jones and Bethany Copeland, Engage Democracy Fellows at the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement at Washington University in St. Louis.

Former Congressman Richard (Dick) A. Gephardt served for 28 years in the United States House of Representatives from 1976 to 2004, representing Missouri's 3rd Congressional District, home to his birthplace St. Louis. He was elected to serve as House Democratic Leader for more than 14 years, as House Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995 and Minority Leader from 1995 to 2003. Mr. Gephardt ran as a Democratic candidate for U.S. President twice, in 1988 and 2004.

Dr. Kira Hudson Banks is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Saint Louis University. She is co-founder of the Institute for Healing Justice and Equity at Saint Louis University, and has served as a racial equity consultant for the Ferguson Commission and Racial Equity Catalyst for Forward Through Ferguson. Along with that work, she is co-principal of The Mouse and the Elephant, an innovative diversity, equity, and inclusion consulting firm. She has consulted for numerous organizations and has published over 20 peer-reviewed articles in addition to popular articles in publications such as the Atlantic and the Guardian. You can find her podcast, Raising Equity, anywhere podcasts are found.

Scott Faughn is the editor and founder of the Missouri Times and host of one of the leading shows on Missouri politics, "This Week in Missouri Politics."

Rabbi Susan Talve is the founding rabbi of Central Reform Congregation, the only Jewish Congregation located within the city limits of St. Louis.

Evan Krauss is the Director of East Side Aligned, a Collective Impact process that works to align policy, practice and investment across sectors to improve outcomes for young people in East St. Louis and surrounding regions.