It’s nearing the end of November, which means it’s time to talk about the fifth Democratic presidential debate, philanthropic giving season, Latina Equal Pay Day, and segregation in Chicago. At the forefront of these conversations are four powerful CHF presenters: Rachel Maddow, Ai-jen Poo, Alicia Garza, and Tonika Johnson. Check out the below articles and accompanying CHF archival video to stay up-to-date with conversations that begin at CHF and extend outside of Chicago.

The stars of the fifth Democratic presidential debate weren’t just the candidates! The event, moderated by festival presenter Rachel Maddow and three other distinguished reporters marked the “third ever all-female moderator lineup in a presidential debate.” Rashida Jones, Senior Vice President for Specials on NBC and MSNBC told Glamour: “I’ve got four of the best journalists ever,” referring to Maddow, Andrea Mitchell, Ashley Parker, and Kristen Welker, whose combined experience covers “Congress, the White House, presidential races, and the State Department.”

“A mountain of evidence shows progressive victories are surging up from groups led by women of color, particularly Black women, that build power on the ground — not trickling down from large Beltway organizations headed by white men.” —Vanessa Daniel

In her New York Times article, “Philanthropists bench women of color, the M.V.P.s of social change” Vanessa Daniel, Executive Director of Groundswell, cites Ai-jen Poo of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Alicia Garza of Black Lives Matter as powerful examples of grassroots leadership. Daniel argues that this charitable giving season, donors, foundations, and other funders “ought to use [their] access and relationships within philanthropy to open more minds and coffers” to the organizing led by women of color.

On August 21st, Meena Harris, founder of Phenomenal Woman Action Campaign, spoke to Alicia Garza about Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, “which marks the point in 2019 at which the average Black woman’s wages at last equal what a white man earned in 2018.” For Latina Equal Pay Day 2019, “the point in [the year] at which the average Latina’s wages at last equal what a white man earned in 2018,” Meena Harris sat down with Glamour to discuss the wage gap and “how to create an empowering community.”

Tonika Johnson, founder of the Folded Map Project, is an artist “rewriting the narrative of a segregated Chicago,” writes Vice Magazine. Johnson’s Folded Map Project is a powerful exploration of “modern segregation, depict[ing] corresponding addresses on the North and South Sides of Chicago.” “I wanted the Folded Map to serve as an opportunity for people to see the result of segregation,” Johnson said, Chicago is "the place that has the greatest opportunity to get it right, to be an example of how you can dismantle this deeply embedded historic segregation.”