Emerson Collective and Reginald Dwayne Betts Debut “Almost There,” A New Podcast Spotlighting Extraordinary Leaders Working to Solve Our Biggest Challenges
The podcast is distributed by PRX
Emerson Collective is launching a new podcast series, “Almost There,” spotlighting extraordinary leaders working to build a more fair and just world. The weekly show will premiere on Tuesday, June 20, 2023, and is hosted by acclaimed poet, lawyer, and social entrepreneur Reginald Dwayne Betts. Betts draws on his own remarkable life experiences in his interviews with Emerson Collective fellows to illuminate our collective path forward.
“Almost There” is brought to audiences in partnership with public media organization PRX — one of the world’s top podcast publishers — and is produced for Emerson Collective by Eric Nuzum and Jesse Baker of Magnificent Noise.
“Almost There” will introduce listeners to remarkable and creative problem solvers: architects, doctors, writers, voyagers, organizers, artists. Guests’ personal stories and perspectives — on topics ranging from teaching American history in the South to building better buildings and parks — showcase progress across education, the environment, immigration, health equity, and civic participation. Each episode contains powerful, actionable lessons for listeners on how to make social change.
For two decades, Betts has used his masterful storytelling abilities and unique voice as both a poet and a lawyer to explore incarceration in America. He’s been named a Senior Fellow at Emerson Collective, a MacArthur Fellow, a Harvard Radcliffe Fellow, and a Guggenheim Fellow. Bett is also the founder of Freedom Reads, a first-of-its-kind nonprofit organization dedicated to installing hundreds of libraries inside prisons across the United States. With Freedom Reads, Betts hopes to inspire those who are incarcerated to imagine fresh possibilities for their lives through literature — an experience he had while incarcerated as a young man.
“‘Almost There’ is a platform for those who keep refusing to give up — who know there is a destination we are working towards,” said Betts. “We’re here to share important stories about the social change that’s possible, and inspire listeners to take action in their own communities.”
New episodes of “Almost There” will be released weekly on Tuesdays following the show’s launch on June 20. The podcast is available at no cost across all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Overcast, and Pocket Casts. Season one guests include:
- Bestselling author Clint Smith on how America can improve at telling the truth about slavery’s history;
- Architect Michael Murphy, founder of MASS Design Group, on how better-designed architecture can improve public health;
- Social entrepreneurs Morgan Dixon and Vanessa Garrison, co-founders of GirlTrek, on how the radically simple act of walking could save the lives of millions of Black women;
- Strategist Amanda Litman, co-founder of Run for Something, on how young people can run for office and win;
- Entrepreneur Elise Smith, founder of Praxis Labs, on how we can build a better modern workplace;
- Nurse Sheila Davis, CEO of Partners In Health, on what the AIDS crisis taught her about keeping the world healthy; and
- Voyager Lehua Kamalu, Voyaging Director for the Polynesian Voyaging Society, on what she has learned sailing across oceans without a compass.
Visit emersoncollective.com/almost-there-podcast to learn more.
About Emerson Collective
Emerson Collective is an organization designed to develop opportunities and solutions in education, environment, immigration, gun violence, and health equity through philanthropy, creativity, and investments. Established in 2011 and led by Laurene Powell Jobs, Emerson Collective is working to create new possibilities for individuals, families, and communities.
About PRX
PRX is a non-profit public media company specializing in audio journalism and storytelling. PRX serves independent producers and organizations by helping them connect to their most engaged, supportive audiences. One of the world’s leading podcast publishers, PRX works in partnership with TED, PBS, the Smithsonian, Futuro Media, GBH, Project Brazen, and more. PRX is also home to Radiotopia, known as one of the most creative and successful podcast networks. In addition, PRX distributes trusted public radio programming to hundreds of stations nationwide, including “The World,” “The Moth Radio Hour,” “This American Life,” “Snap Judgment,” “Reveal,” “The Takeaway,” and “Latino USA.” PRX programs have been recognized by the Peabody Awards, the duPont-Columbia Awards, the IDA Documentary Awards, the Tribeca Festival, and the Pulitzer Prizes. In 2022, Futuro Media and PRX won a Pulitzer Prize. Visit prx.org for more.
About Reginald Dwayne Betts
Reginald Dwayne Betts is a poet and lawyer. A 2021 MacArthur Fellow, he is the Executive Director of Freedom Reads, a not-for-profit organization that is radically transforming the access to literature in prisons through the installation of Freedom Libraries in prisons across this country.
For more than twenty-years, he has used his poetry and essays to explore the world of prison and the effects of violence and incarceration on American society. The author of a memoir and three collections of poetry, he has transformed his latest collection of poetry, the American Book Award winning Felon, into a solo theater show that explores the post incarceration experience and lingering consequences of a criminal record through poetry, stories, and engaging with the timeless and transcendental art of paper-making.
In 2019, Betts won the National Magazine Award in the Essays and Criticism category for his NY Times Magazine essay that chronicles his journey from prison to becoming a licensed attorney. He has been awarded a Radcliffe Fellowship from Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Emerson Fellow at New America, and most recently a Civil Society Fellow at Aspen. Betts holds a J.D. from Yale Law School.
