In a politically polarized nation, public trust in government is on the decline. How do we know if we can trust parties and politicians? How can we hold our elected officials accountable? Host Lisa Hollenbach sits down with her colleague, brightbeam’s National Director of Activism Zakiya Sankara-Jabar, to talk about how to #VoteLocal when it all seems so corrupt.
Sankara-Jabar’s life of organizing began when she graduated from high school in 1999 as the 2000 presidential campaign was ramping up. “Nobody could tell me anything” bad about Al Gore then, she said.
But as her career took her into Ohio’s political organizing circles, Sankara-Jabar said she quickly learned that even those on “her side” left potential supporters cold more often than not.
So she has long worked to get candidates for local offices to focus on actually connecting with the communities they seek to serve.
She’s built some best practices for voters like you to help you separate the legitimate candidates who want to build your communities from the ones who simply want to bolster their resumes before leapfrogging to higher political ambitions.
Lisa Hollenbach is Senior Digital Manager for Education Post. Prior to joining Education Post, Lisa developed digital and content strategy for Teaching Channel. She served on the Bill and Melinda Gates Teacher Advisory Council from 2014-2017 and was active in the planning and execution of several Elevating and Celebrating Effective Teachers and Teaching (ECET2) convenings at both the regional and national level. Lisa attended both private and public schools in Pennsylvania. She is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University and holds a bachelor’s in secondary education social studies, a bachelor’s in public policy, a minor in women's studies and a master’s in community psychology and social change. A former educator, Lisa taught for more than 15 years in both traditional public school and public charter school settings. She also served as a leader of her local and regional teachers association from 2001-2016. Lisa has worked with several universities throughout her career and is currently an adjunct professor at the Pennsylvania State University, teaching courses in sociology, psychology, education and their intersections. She is passionate about helping education advocates share their stories and creating an equitable education system that serves all students.
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