Ep 12: Healing Police-Community Relations with Barbara Chen

Barbara Chen spent seven years as a civilian in the New York Police Department, ultimately serving as Director of Media Relations. These days she’s a driving force behind nonprofits that seek police-community healing.

Barbara and Justin discuss what the field of communications really is, her work with Irondale Ensemble Project bringing together cops and civilians to make theater, and the unique perspective her work has given her on racial unrest and policing.

Note: A great partner to this episode is Episode 8 with Civil Rights Attorney Jon Feinberg, posted Dec. 15, 2020. Both conversations dig deep into hidden realities of race and the criminal justice system.

Editor’s Note: Barbara wishes to elaborate on the part of our talk in which she discusses federal funding:

From 2017 through 2020, two law enforcement agencies and one nonprofit in NY received Department of Justice grants for "Community Policing Development." The most recent award supported patrols in Chemung County, NY. You can read more at http://cops.usdoj.gov, but instead, please watch and consider supporting "To Protect, Serve and Understand" (via link below). Contributions help the theater offer stipends to people who want to participate in the workshop but may find it difficult to commit because of childcare or transportation needs. We prioritize participants from communities with the greatest exposure to and interaction with law enforcement. Thank you!

LINKS

Irondale Ensemble Project - To Protect, Serve and Understand
Check out THE VIDEO!

Red Door Project in Portland, OR

What is Stop and Frisk?