Change Agents is the product of a multi-week workshop that joins community activists with emerging journalists to tell stories of neighborhood transformations and grassroots activism. The resulting series focuses on mechanisms for change and quashes notions that residents living in marginalized and communities of color are victims without agency to overcome. Simultaneously, the podcast serves as notice to mainstream media that new and diverse voices who have been ignored for too long are ready to take their seat at the table.

First on the Scene spotlights the everyday heroes who rush into danger to help their fellow citizens, often sacrificing their own lives to save total strangers.

Hope from the Front Lines peaks behind the COVID 19 headlines to reveal the voices and day to day struggles of Chicago’s low-wage essential care givers. These unsung heroes attend to the city’s most-at-risk during the pandemic: seniors, the disabled and children. Predominantly Black and LatinX, they work long hours for little pay and even less recognition. Their stories of resilience, perseverance and commitment to those they care for shine a light during these dark times.

Worker Power is the first-hand account of a movement of workers organizing for economic and racial justice.  Fast-food workers demanding a living wage and the right to unionize.  They are calling for the time with their families, the moments of joy, and the dignity and respect enjoyed by most Americans.

When the largest aircraft ever built crashes into a New Jersey field, cries of sabotage surfaced immediately.  To this day, conspiracy theories about what destroyed the famous Hindenburg circulate amidst the marvel of this huge flying balloon and the rock star pilots who flew it. But like any good mystery, there’s a thread of truth, a smoking gun that’s often overlooked…and sometimes a coverup.  Bestselling author and former Wall Street Journal reporter Michael McCarthy follows this thread through facts and lies, reality and fiction, to sort out the mystery of The Hidden Hindenburg.

Two high-profile veteran journalists, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell and former reporter and teacher Leslie Baldacci — one black, one white — brought context and spice to the events of the day and the dilemmas of our lives. They tackled the complexities of race relations with candor and humor. Eighteen episodes January through June 2018. (series available through the Sun Times)