How the Legacy of Colonialism Keeps Puerto Rico’s Healthcare System in Shambles (Encore)
Almost half of Puerto Rico’s doctors have fled the island over the past decade, leading to a lack of specialists and treatment and incredibly long wait times. And this isn’t just an inconvenience. People are dying from lack of care. Why is Puerto Rico’s health care system collapsing, and why are doctors fleeing the island? We take a look at its deeply dysfunctional private medical system and why attempts to fix it,...
Indigenous Intervention: Using Culture in Indigenous Substance Abuse Treatment
This episode was originally published as Culture & Spirituality As Substance Use Treatment in Indigenous Communities. In the late 1990s, psychologist Dr. Joseph Gone, a professor and member of the Aaniiih Gros Ventre tribe, returned home during his doctoral training to the Fort Belknap Reservation in north central Montana. There, he set aside Eurocentric concepts of psychology he was learning in school and instead asked tribal...
Crosswinds: Change
On this week’s show, we’ll continue with the podcast mini-series Crosswinds from the University of Virginia’s Repair Lab and producer Adrian Wood. The show looks at the impact of coal dust pollution on Black neighborhoods in Virginia through the lens of environmental racism. In this episode, we’ll listen to how the looming gentrification of one community might impact the pollution. Featuring: Lathaniel Kirts,...
Crosswinds: Friendship
We take a deep dive into coal dust air pollution in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, where trains transporting coal expose residents of predominantly Black communities to harmful dust. We look at this issue of environmental racism with the help of the podcast Crosswinds, featuring producer Adrian Wood. Featuring: Lathaniel Kirts, practitioner-in-residence at University of Virginia’s Repair Lab Malcolm Jones,...
How Public Schools Are Failing Black Students with Dyslexia (Encore)
Featuring: Geraldine Robinson, Oakland matriarch raising her grandkids Cheryl Theis, Education Advocate, Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund Megan Potente, Educational Therapist and Co-State Director, Decoding Dyslexia CA Kareem Weaver, Oakland NAACP Education Committee Making Contact Team: Episode Host: Monica Lopez Executive Director: Jina Chung Engineer: Jeff Emtman Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Episode...
Why Policing Our Schools Backfires with 70 Million (Encore)
School resource officers are often called upon in middle and high schools to help with routine discipline. But for many children, especially those with disabilities, a law enforcement response to their behavior can lead to the school-to-prison pipeline. This week on Making Contact, we hear a story from our podcast partner 70 Million about the relationship between students with special needs and school resource officers and the changes...


