Time USA - 06.04.2020

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CATHY CHU

Ally f or a llies

By t he l ate 1 990s,

gay-straight

alliances— school

clubs f or L GBTQ

youth a nd t heir n on-

LGBTQ s upport ers—

had b ecome s o

common i n t he B ay

Area t hat a n o rga-

nization f ormed to

connect a nd s upport

them. T hat n onprofit,

the G SA N etwork ,

operates n ationwide

but s till h as i ts h eart

in C alifornia, home

to m ore t han 1 ,100

clubs. C athy Chu, 31,

is n ow i ts d irector

of y outh o rganizing

in t he s tate, h elping

students u nite w hen

they want t o p ush f or

change o n a c itywide

or ev en s tatew ide

lev el. ( In t he G olden

State, c lubs a re

currently pushing

for L GBTQ-inclusive

sex e ducation.) C hu

says showing young

people h ow t o o rga-

nize i s p art ly a bout

helping t hem e ffect

the c hange t hey want

to s ee r ight n ow, but

it’s a lso t eaching

them a l ifelong s kill.

“They c an l earn how

to fi ght f or a b etter

community, to live

authentically a nd

with p ride,” C hu s ays,

“but a lso s tart to see

their i ndividual p owe r

to s hape t heir l arger

condition.” —K.S.

TONI COLLIER

Sharing e xperiences

As g athering d irector a t P reemptive L ove, a

nonprofit t hat w orks to end violence and help

areas a ffected by war, Toni C ollier, 28, d esigns

programs t o h elp p eople h ear e ach o ther. Since

beginning h er j ob i n 2 019, C ollier h as s hep-

herded 1 6 g atherings a t w hich p eople f rom d if-

ferent b ackgrounds c ome t ogether t o t alk a bout

their e xperiences—whether t hat m eans b lack

mothers in Atlanta opening up about their fears

while s pending t ime w ith w hite p olice o fficers,

or a w hite h eterosexual w oman l earning about

what l ife i s l ike f or a b lack h omosexual m an.

“We’re inviting people to bring their own identi-

ties, b iases a nd a nger t o t he t able,” s he s ays.

“It brings depth to the playing field because people

realize what others deal with.” —Mahita Gajanan

SAIDEEPIKA RAYALA

Spreading t he n ew s t o t hose w ho n eed i t

In 2 018, a h igh s chool s tudent n amed

Saideepika R ayala was learning a bout t he

importance of local news when she realized

her p arents weren’t r eally c onsuming m uch o f

it. H er m om a nd d ad h ad m oved to Columbus,

Ohio, f rom I ndia, w here t hey h ad g rown u p

speaking Telugu, a nd a lthough t hey w ould

still r ead n ews f rom b ack h ome, i n t heir n ative

tongue, t hey d idn’t e ngage m uch w ith p apers

like t he C olumbus Dispatch.

Rayala, who noticed the same issue among

refugees w hile v olunteering w ith a l ocal

re settle ment a gency, saw t his l ack o f i nter­

action a s a p roblem w ith e ffects t hat r ippled

out i nto t he w hole c ity, even the country.

It m eant t hat h er p arents a nd m any other

immigrants i n t he a rea weren’t l earning about

important happenings like elections or get­

ting t o k now t heir n eighbors at community

events. “ There i s a d isconnect w ith i mmigrant

communities a nd t he l ocal m ainstream n ews,”

the 1 8­year­old s ays, “these large gaps where

people a re m issing o ut o n t he o pport unity t o

be c ivically e ngaged.”

So R ayala decided to create a publication

that s poke m ore d irectly t o t hem. T he C olum­

bus C ivic s ummarizes l ocal a nd n ational n ews

stories i n l anguages l ike Telugu, Tamil and

French a nd d oes s o u sing j ournalistic styles

that i mmigrants w ho s peak t hose l anguages

are u sed t o. T hat’s i mport ant, R ayala says,

because t here a re c ultural b arriers as well as

linguistic o nes. H er f ather, f or e xample, i s p er­

fectly fl uent i n E nglish; i nability t o u nderstand

wasn’t t he r eason h e wasn’t r eading.

The C ivic, d elivered m onthly v ia e mail, h as

3 00 s ubscribers so far, and the high school

senior—who t apped h er o wn n etwork s t o fi nd

volunteer e ditors and translators —hopes to

expand t o S omali a nd N epali t oo. “ It’s d iffer­

ent r eading n ews i n y our n ative l anguage,”

Rayala says. “I want to connect people to the

community t hey ’re living in.” —K.S.

ERICA TURNER

AND HEIDI WHEELER

Talking i t o ut

Cedarburg, Wis. (pop. 11,536), is nearly

9 5% w hite. R esidents E rica Turner and Heidi

Wheeler b onded w hen W heeler, 42, w ho i s p art

of t hat m ajority, asked Turner, who isn’t, if she

could p rofile h er f amily f or a l ocal m agazine.

Their t alks a bout t he d ifficulties o f b eing a

black w oman i n t heir c ommunity s parked

something. Speaking out was nerve­racking,

Turner, 47, s ays, but freeing too. The article

led t o t he f ormation of a discussion group that

tackles r ace r elations, f ormalized as Bridge

the D ivide i n 2 018. T hen c ame a p odcast a nd

events. “ You can’t talk about what’s going on

over there,” Turner says, “if you haven’t gotten

your o wn h ouse t ogether.” —K.S.

POWELL: THERESA DANNA—UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, RENO; HUANG: DANNY FULGENCIO; RAMSEY: CLARE MCLEAN; FINK: MALCOLM J. WILSON; GREEN: COURTESY GREEN; MARSH: JIGAR MEHTA—THE GREATER GOOD SCIENCE CENTER; RAYALA: HR IMAGING; CHU: ANDREW PASCUAL; TURNER: STEPHANIE BARTZ—LOVE WISCONSIN; WHEELER: ANDREA ROSIN; COLLIER: GARRETT LOBAUGH

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