Season 2 Coming Soon!
In this exciting new season of Beyond the Box, Johnny Perez joins Doug Lasdon as cohost. Johnny, a Board Member of the Urban Justice Center, brings a wealth of experience from his years of advocacy, including his impactful work with UJC’s Mental Health Project. As the current Director of NRCAT’s U.S. Prisons Program Johnny is a nationally recognized leader in criminal justice reform, public speaking, and thought leadership in the fight to end solitary confinement, torture, and inhumane treatment in U.S. prisons.
Hello and welcome.
TUNE IN TO HEAR…
CLICK TO LISTEN:
Episode 1: A Conversation with RJ Thompson-Rodriguez.
Where Does Sex Meet Money?
What’s it like working in the sex industry, and who fights for the rights of those who work in the shadows of the legal economy? Doug Lasdon talks with RJ Thompson-Rodriguez, human rights advocate, lawyer, former sex worker, and current director of the UJC Sex Workers Project.
The Sex Workers Project is a national organization that defends the human rights of sex workers by destigmatizing and decriminalizing people in the sex trades through free legal services, education, research, and policy advocacy. They aim to create a sexually liberated world where all workers have the autonomy and power to fully enjoy their human rights. Find out more at: swp.urbanjustice.org
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Episode 2: A Conversation with Mohammed Attia.
Who Feeds These Streets?
Who keeps New York City running with coffee, kebabs, nuts, hats, pretzels, doughnuts, churros, Korean tacos and more – and who protects their rights when big businesses, the cops, and powerful politicians try to shut them down? Doug Lasdon talks with Mohamed Attia, former street vendor and Director of the UJC Street Vendor Project.
The Street Vendor Project is a membership-based project with more than 2,000 vendor members working together to create a vendors’ movement for permanent change, and advocating for the rights of street vendors in New York City. Find out more at: svp.urbanjustice.org
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Episode 3: A Conversation with Sarita Daftary & Darren Mack.
What’s Jail Really For?
Who’s really in New York City prisons, and why, and what happens to them once they’re there – and once they come back out? Doug Lasdon talks with Sarita Daftary and Darren Mack, anti-mass-incarceration advocates, the leaders of the #CloseRikers campaign, and the founding directors of the UJC Freedom Agenda project.
The Freedom Agenda is a member-led project, dedicated to organizing people and communities directly impacted by incarceration to achieve decarceration and system transformation. Find out more at: fa.urbanjustice.org
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Episode 4: A Conversation with Albert Fox Cahn.
Who Watches the Watchers?
Who has their eye on the cameras, the cookies, the tracking apps, and the million other devices that are watching you, right now, and selling your data? Doug Lasdon talks with Albert Fox Cahn, founder of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (and graduate of the UJC Social Justice Accelerator).
S.T.O.P. fights to end discriminatory surveillance, challenging both individual misconduct and broader systemic failures. They craft policies that balance new technologies and age-old rights, and educate impacted communities on how they can protect their rights. Find out more at: stopspying.org
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Episode 5: A Conversation with Cory Booker.
What Does It Mean to Be a Hero?
Episode 5:
Is a hero the radical fighting the system, or the person who dedicates their life to transforming it from the inside, or the person who throws their body on the line to rescue their fellow humans?
U.S Senator Cory Booker is a hero by every one of those definitions, and he joins Doug Lasdon on Beyond the Box to discuss getting his start at UJC, finding his career path from there, and rescuing people from burning cars (no, really!)
Episode 6: A Conversation with Bianca Tylek.
Who’s Turning Prisons Into Profits?
Who are prisons really serving? A small group of companies are turning huge profits off of every aspect of life on the inside, from food to phone calls to transportation – and we’re not just talking about for-profit prisons. Doug Lasdon talks with Bianca Tylek, founder of Worth Rises (formerly: the Corrections Accountability Project at UJC).
Worth Rises is a non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to dismantling the prison industry, ending the exploitation of those it touches, exposing the commercialization of the criminal legal system, and protecting & returning the economic resources extracted from affected communities. Find out more at: worthrises.org
Tune in!
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We protect the rights of the poor and oppressed through legal advocacy, social services, protesting in the street, and in whatever way our clients need us. We mentor the leaders of tomorrow, accelerating their efforts and helping them skip over the early, difficult stages of forming a nonprofit. To support our work and learn more about what we do in NYC – tune in to Beyond the Box and sign up for our newsletter!
DURING 2023 ALONE . . .
DURING 2023 ALONE . . .
