Suggestions
Jhumpa Bhattacharya
Vice President of Programs and Strategy, Economic and Racial Justice
Jhumpa Bhattacharya is the Vice President of Programs and Strategy at the Insight Center for Community Economic Development, contributing to thought leadership, strategic guidance, and racial and economic equity. With a deep equity lens, Jhumpa excels in developing policies, conducting research, and facilitating dialogues on race, culture, and immigration. With over 18 years of experience, she advocates for racial and economic equity, rooted in youth organizing and development. Jhumpa is also a board member of the Pacifica Family Fund, focusing on prenatal and birth midwifery care for marginalized communities. She holds a BA in Political Science and Third World Studies from UC San Diego and is fluent in Bengali, with a passion for music and the Lakers.
Highlights
To all my #guarenteedincome researchers/pilot evaluators out there. If you find that pilot participants are spending less time at their paid job and more time caring for their kids or other family members, it is a mistake to frame it as "GI pilot participants are working less." When you do that, you are denying the fact that care work is WORK. In many cases they actually may be working more. SAY THAT. Point out the problem about child care. Value the work many people are doing to take care of families.
I know journalists and policy folks will ask - are people working less with GI because we are so obsessed with paid work in this country and devalue care. If you answer them yes or provide them a false stat that is only pertaining to paid work, you are contributing to the problem.
To all the message testers and comms “experts” that told me that talking about race and the impacts of racism didn’t poll well so we should avoid it, the Fearless Fund decision should be a slap in your face. This is part of what happens when we stay quiet and take an “all lives matter” approach.
I don’t care if your polls say people don’t want to talk about race. Obviously white people don’t want to do that. Our job as narrative change makers is to get people there, to ensure racism doesn’t stay invisible.
The right talks about race all the time. We have to offer a different paradigm while embracing race.
