Protecting Democracy with Maya Wiley
With the midterm elections just weeks away, Phil talks with Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and its Education Fund, about what donors and foundations concerned about the state of American democracy can do right now, and why the philanthropic response has so far fallen short. Maya shares findings from the Leadership Conference’s landscape mapping of its coalition, which found that nearly half of the organizations surveyed are doing voter protection and engagement work on a quarter or less of the budget they say they need.
Maya describes what voter engagement work actually looks like on the ground, from year-round canvassing and voter education to faith leaders trained to deescalate tensions at polling places. She also outlines how the current administration has used the power of government to intimidate and defund organizations doing lawful work. She and Phil dig into the decision by major donor-advised fund sponsors to block gifts to the Southern Poverty Law Center following its indictment, and discuss why institutional capitulation, whether by law firms, corporations, financial institutions, or foundations, has proven to be as damaging as the threats themselves.
The conversation closes on a personal note, as Maya reflects on growing up as the daughter of civil rights organizer George Wiley, and on what she draws from the generations who came before her when the fight feels hardest.
Guest Info:
Maya Wiley is president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund, the nation’s oldest, largest, and most diverse civil and human rights coalition, representing more than 240 national organizations. A nationally respected civil rights attorney, she has served as a litigator with the ACLU, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and has held leadership roles at the Open Society Institute and in philanthropy, government, and higher education. She founded and led the Center for Social Inclusion, now part of Race Forward, and in 2014 became the first Black woman to serve as counsel to a New York City mayor. She later served as senior vice president for Social Justice at The New School, chaired New York City’s Civilian Complaint Review Board, and was a legal analyst for MSNBC and NBC News. She was a leading candidate in the 2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary before joining the Leadership Conference in 2022.
Credits:
Podcast Production: Cold Italian
Artwork: Jay Kustka
Resources:
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Fifth Annual Civil Rights Monitor Poll
Southern Poverty Law Center
Ohio Organizing Collaborative
Louisiana v. Callais (Voting Rights Act)
Shifting Out of Neutral
Evolving Foundation Responses to a Sector in Crisis