Everywhere Radio, hosted by Whitney Kimball Coe, features rural leaders and allies spotlighting the good, scrappy, joyful ways rural people are building a more inclusive nation. Everywhere Radio is a production of the the Rural Assembly
August 5, 2021
Nelson Brooke
This week, guest host Adilia Watson talks with Nelson Brooke, a Riverkeeper from rural Alabama. In that role, Nelson investigates pollution on the Black Warrior River and takes pictures of illegal polluting activity. His work was recognized by the Alabama River Alliance when they named him the 2010 Alabama River Hero. Don’t miss this episode of Everywhere Radio, as we learn about the impressive biodiversity of rural Alabama and the importance of protecting our natural resources.
MORE: Episode transcript
July 22, 2021
LB Prevette and Michael Cooper
Whitney talks with LB Prevette and Michael Cooper, who are both part of a growing movement of rural homecomers, younger people who are returning to their rural roots and hometowns to build a life and committing to making their communities more inclusive, vibrant places to live.
MORE: Episode transcript
July 8, 2021
Stephen Gong
Whitney talks with Stephen Gong, Executive Director of the Center for Asian American Media, about making visible the experiences and contributions of Asian Americans in our rural communities. Gong has been associated with CAAM since its founding in 1980, and has served as Executive Director since 2006.
MORE: Episode transcript
June 24, 2021
Hahrie Han
This week on Everywhere Radio: Host Whitney Kimball Coe talks with political scientist and author Hahrie Han about democracy in a changing nation and what the rural “agora” means in the 21st century. As a professor and faculty director at Johns Hopkins University, Han studies civic and political participation, social movements, collective action, and organizing, particularly as it pertains to democratic revitalization.
Han is faculty director of the P3 Research Lab at Johns Hopkins University and is also the inaugural director of the SNF Agora Institute, an academic and public forum focused on strengthening democracy across the world. She specializes in the study of organizing movements, civic engagement, and democracy, and her newest book debuts in July: “Prisons of the People: Power and Organizing in 21st Century America.” She’s also working on her fifth book, about race and faith in America with a particular focus on evangelical megachurches.
MORE: Episode Transcript
June 10, 2021
Rev. Claire Brown
This week on Everywhere Radio: Host Whitney Kimball Coe talks with Rev. Claire Brown. Brown is an Episcopal priest, writer, facilitator, wife, and mama living and ministering in rural Tennessee. She talks with Whitney about how rural churches and faith communities are called to show up on the front lines of social healing work in this moment: facing the challenges of the pandemic, responding to calls for social and racial justice, and grappling with how we build more just and inclusive communities.
May 27, 2021
Jeff Eastman
This week on Everywhere Radio: Host Whitney Kimball Coe checks in with her neighbor Jeff Eastman, who is also CEO of the nonprofit Remote Area Medical (RAM). Whitney and Jeff discuss RAM’s efforts to provide Covid-19 vaccines at its pop-up clinics, and how to overcome vaccine hesitancy in rural areas.
At RAM, Eastman works to deliver free dental, vision and medical services to uninsured people and communities across the country.
May 13, 2021
Krista Tippett
This week on Everywhere Radio: Whitney Kimball Coe welcomes Krista Tippett, founder and CEO, The On Being Project and host of On Being. Whitney and Krista discuss the pandemic, the fallacy of blue and red states, developing a moral imagination and creating the creating the conversations you want to be hearing.
Tippett is a Peabody Award-winning broadcaster, a National Humanities Medalist, and a New York Times bestselling author. She grew up in a small town in Oklahoma, attended Brown University, and became a journalist and diplomat in Cold War Berlin before launching On Being in 2003. She is currently at work on a new book about moral imagination and the human challenges and promise of this young century.
MORE: Get the episode transcript and mentions from the episode
April 29, 2021
Eliza Blue: The Accidental Rancher
This week on Everywhere Radio, Whitney talks with Eliza Blue, a shepherd, writer, and folk singer who lives on a ranch in South Dakota with her husband and two children. The ranch has been in her husband’s family for five generations, but Eliza took a more circuitous route to South Dakota. She is a contributing columnist to our media partner, The Daily Yonder, and calls herself the accidental rancher. Whitney and Eliza talk about the gift of the outsider status and how a sabbatical from city life turned into a life on the prairie.
April 15, 2021
Deb and James Fallows
You’ll find the award-winning writing of Deb and James Fallows in publications across the web, from The Atlantic to National Geographic and more. Together, they are the authors of the bestselling book, “Our Towns: A 100,000 Mile Journey Into the Heart of America,” now a documentary film on HBO. This week, Deb and James talk with Whitney about showing up and finding hope while telling the complex stories of America’s small towns.
Read more about the episode, and access a transcript.
April 1, 2021
Harry Gottlieb and Kiran Singh Sirah
This special episode of Everywhere Radio features two contributors to the upcoming Rural Assembly Everywhere virtual event: Kiran Singh Sirah and Harry Gottlieb. Kiran Singh Sirah, president of the International Storytelling Center, and Whitney Kimball Coe talk about the healing power of storytelling, perfecting the practice of the “porch sit,” and Saint Dolly. Harry Gottlieb, founder of JackBox Games and a new organization called Unify America, talks with Whitney about what he believes it will take to move us from a country of politics to a country of problem-solvers.. Read more about the episode and check out the transcript of the podcast.
March 17, 2021
Gladys Godinez
How did planning for a potential ICE raid lead to a festival to celebrate immigrant communities in rural Nebraska? Hear this and other stories about living as an immigrant in rural America as community organizer Gladys Godinez and host Whitney Kimball Coe discuss the importance of inclusion, welcoming, and being seen. Read more about Godinez and check out the transcript of the podcast.
March 4, 2021
Wendy Feliz
For the inaugural episode of Everywhere Radio, Whitney interviews Wendy Feliz, the Founding Director of the Center for Inclusion and Belonging at the American Immigration Council. Whitney and Wendy talk about building common purpose between new immigrant communities and long-time rural residents, the prospects for progress on national immigration policy, the importance of welcoming and inclusion, and much more.
About the Host
Whitney Kimball Coe is the director of National Programs at the Center for Rural Strategies. In that role, she leads the Rural Assembly, a nationwide movement striving to build better policy and more opportunity for rural communities across the country.
As an organizer, speaker, moderator, and writer, Whitney has shared her perspectives on community and civic courage with audiences around the world. She has been featured on stage at the Aspen Ideas Festival and the inaugural Obama Foundation Summit, and as a guest on the radio program On Being with Krista Tippett.
She writes a regular column for her local newspaper, the Daily Post Athenian, and has participated in Citizen University’s Civic Saturday Fellowship program. She holds a M.A. in Appalachian studies from Appalachian State University and an undergraduate degree in religion and philosophy from Queens University. She lives in her hometown of Athens, Tennessee with her husband Matt, and daughters, Lucy and Susannah.
