Conversations with Chanda

Cathy ten Broeke, Assistant Commissioner and Executive Director of the Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness, has spent more than 30 years working to end homelessness — long enough to know it isn't a problem any one person, agency, or shelter solves alone.

She started at 24, working overnight shifts at a Minneapolis shelter, certain she had nothing to offer a conversation about policy. Someone told her otherwise. Thirty years later, she leads the Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness — and she's built her work on a simple conviction: the people closest to a problem are the ones who know how to fix it.

In this episode, Alphonso Wenker sits down with Cathy to talk about what changes when systems are designed with and by people who have lived through homelessness — and why the difference between staying housed and falling through the cracks is so often a question of who is there to catch you.

It's a conversation about home, belonging, and the kind of community that makes sure no one faces homelessness on their own.

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https://conversationswithchanda.com/
IG @chandasbaker & @conversationswithchanda

What is Conversations with Chanda?

Conversations with Chanda isn’t just a podcast — it’s a movement. Hosted by powerhouse CEO, philanthropist, and unapologetic truth-teller Chanda Smith Baker, this award-winning show cuts through the noise to confront the issues that shape our world: race, power, leadership, justice, and philanthropy. With a fearless voice and a deeply personal lens, Chanda brings listeners into raw, unfiltered conversations with national changemakers like, Robin DiAngelo, PhD, Luvvie Ajayi Jones, Caroline Wanga, and Ibram X. Kendi, as well as the bold Twin Cities leaders shaking up business, community, and culture. Whether it's pushing past politeness or unpacking the quiet power behind real change, Conversations with Chanda is where leadership gets real — and personal. This is not just a listen. It’s a call to lead.
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