Join consultant, filmmaker and activist Mary F. Morten as she delves into what it’s like to operate within and outside of the nonprofit landscape. Along with her special guests, Mary answers questions from listeners and covers topics including racial and gender equity, and the experiences of people of color in leadership development and the nonprofit workforce.
Episode 90: Falling Out of Summer: Fireside Chat 2026
In this annual fireside chat, host Mary Morten reconnects with Angelique Power of the Skillman Foundation and Tracie Hall of the HBCU Library Alliance for a conversation about memory, education, and what it takes to carry the baton in a moment when history is under pressure. From the opening of the Obama Presidential Center to the progress happening in Detroit's public schools, they look at who gets to tell our stories and why staying vocal matters.
Episode Highlights
- Mary on being featured in the Obama Presidential Center museum through her film “Woke Up Black,” and the story of trying to sneak a DVD into the White House
- Angelique on stepping into the Obama Presidential Center and feeling like she had "unzipped the current timeline," plus Tracie on why every family's keepsakes are archives worth protecting
- Angelique on Detroit's gains in reading, math, and graduation, and Mary on why she insists young people be on every panel, because her film's teens are "exceptional, but not exceptions"
- Tracie on her work with 105 HBCU libraries and how censorship fights that began at school boards now reach libraries, museums, and universities, plus all three on passing the baton and caring for themselves along the way
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to Gathering Ground and leave us a review! Follow Morten Group, LLC on Instagram @mortengroup for more updates.
7 Jul 2026
Episode 89: Leaving It Better: Teresa Younger on 13 Years at Ms. Foundation
In the season finale of “Gathering Ground,” host Mary Morten sits down with Teresa C. Younger, outgoing president and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women, for a candid reflection on 13 years of leading a legacy institution through fundamental transformation. Teresa talks about what it took to center women and girls of color at a second-wave feminist foundation, the listening tour that covered 50,000 miles in her first year, and why she believes succession planning is one of the most overlooked acts of leadership. She also shares what comes next: Project Stargazing, an intentional pause to redesign the constellations.
Episode Highlights
- Teresa Younger on arriving at the Ms. Foundation as its second Black woman CEO and leading a 50,000-mile listening tour that reshaped the foundation's language, priorities, and grantmaking strategy
- On centering women and girls of color as a point of inclusion, not exclusion — and the board conversations, donor fears, and courageous clarity it took to make that shift explicit
- Trust-based philanthropy before it had a name: how the Ms. Foundation moved to general operating support, de-siloed its grant pillars, and started treating grantees as partners instead of recipients
- Succession planning as a leadership responsibility: why Teresa started the conversation with her board in year eight, why transitions cost money, and what she would tell any long-tenured leader about exit strategy
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to Gathering Ground and leave us a review! Follow Morten Group, LLC on Instagram @mortengroup for more updates.
17 Jun 2026
Episode 88: Research as Resistance: 25 Years of the Institute for Research on Race
Summary
What does it mean to do research that refuses to look away and to protect that work when the political climate demands retreat? In this episode of “Gathering Ground,” host Mary Morten sits down with Dr. Amanda Lewis, current director of the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy at the University of Illinois Chicago, and Dr. Beth Richie, the institute's former director, to mark 25 years of community-centered, justice-oriented scholarship. Together, they trace IRRPP's origins in faculty activism, make the case for engaged research as a more rigorous — not less rigorous — approach to knowledge-making, and speak plainly about what it means to keep saying the word "race" when institutions around the country are flinching.
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to Gathering Ground and leave us a review! Follow Morten Group, LLC on Instagram @mortengroup for more updates.
Who has been a guest on Gathering Ground
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Kelly Thompson
Daisy Moran
Evette Cardona
Natalie Moore
Juan Pablo Torres-Meza
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
7 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 48 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
83
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
32
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Mary Morten host the show. Published by Mary F. Morten.
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