In The News

A two-part investigative podcast series led by veteran journalist and APB speaker Maria Hinojosa has been recently honored with an Overseas Press Club Award. The Pulitzer Center-supported The Moving Border, by NPR’s Latino USA, won the Lowell Thomas Award for the best radio, audio or podcast coverage of international affairs. “Maria Hinojosa and team first reveal that a ‘paper wall’ has been a stronger barrier than a physical wall at the U.S. border,” the jury commented. “Then, the team went further, uncovering how Mexico has become a wall itself.’" 

An essay by APB speaker Deborah Archer, president of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Professor at N.Y.U. School of Law, was recently featured in the Opinion section of The New York Times. The newspaper asked seven writers and legal scholars what they believe should be updated in the Constitution. It’s been a half-century since America’s last real revision. According to The Times, the essays are part of a series exploring bold ideas to revitalize and renew the American experiment.

A trio of APB speakers was recently named to Forbes magazine’s 50 Over 50 List of Women Who Are Leading the Way in Impact list. The three honored are: Melissa Berton, Cofounder and Executive Director of The Pad Project; Susan McPherson, Founder and CEO, McPherson Strategies; and Winona LaDuke, Founder, White Earth Land Recovery Project. According to Forbes, the women are being recognized for changing their communities and the world in ways big and small through social entrepreneurship, law, advocacy and education.  

Fortune magazine recently announced “The Best Books of 2021—So Far” and it includes APB Speaker Susan McPherson’s new work. The Lost Art of Connecting: The Gather, Ask, Do, Method For Building Meaningful Business Relationships (McGraw-Hill) was nominated to be on the list by Ellen McGirt, Senior Editor at Fortune. “In this delightful book, McPherson explains not just how to infuse your interactions with trust and purpose, but why it matters, now more than ever,” McGirt writes. 

APB speaker Daniel E. Dawes’ latest book has been named one of “The 36 Books and Podcasts on Health and Science to Check Out This Summer.” The Political Determinants of Health (Johns Hopkins University Press) was selected by Stat, a news site focused on health, medicine and scientific discovery. The site is produced by Boston Globe Media. In the book, Dawes argues that political determinants of health create the social drivers—including poor environmental conditions, inadequate transportation, unsafe neighborhoods and lack of healthy food options—that affect all other dynamics of health. By understanding these determinants, their origins, and their impact on the equitable distribution of opportunities and resources, we will be better equipped to develop and implement actionable solutions to close the health gap, Dawes writes.

For Floridian and APB speaker Sybrina Fulton, life was good. In fact, she describes it as mostly happy and joyful. She worked for the Miami, Florida Housing Department while raising two sons with her ex. She was a member of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church of Miami Gardens. And then came Feb. 26, 2012. That’s the day her son, Trayvon Martin, was fatally shot and sparked a movement that changed the world—Black Lives Matter (BLM). “My son's name became a lightning rod for this country,” she writes in a recent opinion piece for USA Today, marking the eight-year anniversary of BLM. “But for me, he was my baby boy. I had planned to spend many more years watching him grow up, if his life hadn't been cut short.” 

In these tumultuous times, when tough conversations about race and social justice are needed more than ever, APB Exclusive Speaker Dr. Eddie S. Glaude, Jr.’s latest book, now being released in paperback, takes a deep dive into these topics. Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own is a mix of biography, history and social criticism about the state of our country and race relations today. The chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University argues that we stand on the precipice of a decision about who we are as a country that will reverberate for decades.

Ruzwana Bashir, Co-founder and CEO of Peek.com, was recently honored by the Female Founders Alliance (FFA) with its Founder Award for pivoting her travel and experiences company in the face of a global pandemic. The Founder Award is part of the FFA’s Champion Awards, which celebrate champions of intersectional gender equity. Finalists for the awards were selected from hundreds of nominations submitted by FFA’s community. Winners were chosen after tallying thousands of votes.  

Richard Buery, CEO of Achievement First and APB speaker, has been appointed the new chief executive officer of Robin Hood. The non-profit is New York’s largest poverty-fighting organization. Buery will join Robin Hood in September.  

In a little more than a month, over 14,000 people from more than 200 countries will gather in Tokyo, Japan, for the Summer Olympics. They will be joined by thousands of delegates and members of the press. One month later, an additional 5,000 athletes and support staff will come together in Tokyo for the Paralympic Games.  These two enormous events have APB speaker Dr. Michael Osterholm, Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, and several of his colleagues deeply concerned.