Change Agents

Prison is always on my mind. And it's like, I do want to get past prison. I don't want prison to be the only thing that's part of my story
King Moosa: Rhymes & Resistance

Our Stories

Season 5

When are the formerly incarcerated fully free?

Over four seasons, our audio documentaries have chronicled grassroots solutions to society’s biggest problems, including reentry after incarceration, homeownership disparities, anti-Blackness, youth homelessness, and community violence.

In our fifth season, each episode asks, "When are the formerly incarcerated fully free?" The answers vary, yet all reveal individual resilience, a commitment to community, and a dedication to dismantling the mechanisms that permanently punish system-impacted people.

Join us as we explore barriers to freedom through stories told by those who face them. Your support helps us amplify these voices and create real change.

Season Five Episodes

Rhymes & Resistance: King Moosa uses creativity to advance voting rights

{"id":35,"season":5,"episode_number":1,"name":"Rhymes & Resistance: King Moosa uses creativity to advance voting rights","subtitle":null,"description":"Did you know that individuals with felony convictions in Illinois still retain the right to vote? Rockford-born hip-hop ARTivist Brian Harrington, aka King Moosa, is trying to spread the word. \r\n\r\nSentenced to 25 years in prison at the age of 14, King Moosa experienced the isolating effects of incarceration firsthand. Through the support of community members and grassroots movements, he was encouraged to draw, write, and perform, bringing awareness to his story. In 2020, after 13 years behind bars, he was granted clemency. Now, he uses his talents to create narrative change surrounding incarceration and its effects in America. \r\n\r\nThrough his art, advocacy work, and collaboration with Chicago Votes, he continues to fight for change in the legal system, using community and individual healing as a powerful crime-prevention tactic. \r\n\r\nProduced by Maddie Voelkel and Matthew Warakomski for Reparations Media NFP | In collaboration with King Moosa https:\/\/www.kingmoosaartivism.com\/about","when":"2025-06-01T00:00:00.000000Z","embed_code":"<div id=\"buzzsprout-player-17251807\"><\/div><script src=\"https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/1600336\/episodes\/17251807-rhymes-resistance-king-moosa-uses-creativity-to-advance-voting-rights.js?container_id=buzzsprout-player-17251807&player=small\" type=\"text\/javascript\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>","avatar_url":"https:\/\/cdn.changeagentsthepodcast.com\/images\/originals\/wxKk2mV9KKnOzdRXINoii24bk4z8hUNjoHMOq9nW.jpg"}

Shimere Love-Shanklin: From Struggle to Strength

{"id":36,"season":5,"episode_number":2,"name":"Shimere Love-Shanklin: From Struggle to Strength","subtitle":null,"description":"Finding employment and opening doors that seem permanently closed is a barrier that people with felony records continually face. Shamere Love-Shanklin knows this reality all too well. In this episode, Love-Shanklin shares her reentry journey\u2014navigating the challenges, embracing the triumphs, and reclaiming her identity after years of incarceration\u2014and how her criminal justice reform advocacy work transforms the system designed to hold people like her back.\r\n\r\nProduced by Aaliyah McFadden and Isabella Salinas for Reparations Media NFP","when":"2025-06-08T00:00:00.000000Z","embed_code":"<div id=\"buzzsprout-player-17251904\"><\/div><script src=\"https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/1600336\/episodes\/17251904-shimere-love-shanklin-from-struggle-to-strength.js?container_id=buzzsprout-player-17251904&player=small\" type=\"text\/javascript\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>","avatar_url":"https:\/\/cdn.changeagentsthepodcast.com\/images\/originals\/EzaorW0ADrlfe9OTzJb4P9rmfOpKP57kssppHZQf.jpg"}

Struggle to Serve: Larry Sapp and the push for political inclusion

{"id":37,"season":5,"episode_number":3,"name":"Struggle to Serve: Larry Sapp and the push for political inclusion","subtitle":null,"description":"Larry Sapp has dedicated the past 30 years to serving his community. In 2021, he was elected to the Sauk Village Board of Trustees, promising to get the community thriving again after years of decay.  His dream was deferred when he was removed from the Board for a decades-old felony drug conviction that he had openly disclosed during his path to elected office. Now, Sapp is fighting for the rights of returning citizens to serve their communities without limitations, including holding local public office.\r\n\r\n\r\nProduced by Ruchi Nawathe and Vivienne Madsen for Reparations Media NFP In collaboration with Larry Sapp","when":"2025-06-16T00:00:00.000000Z","embed_code":"<div id=\"buzzsprout-player-17251922\"><\/div><script src=\"https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/1600336\/episodes\/17251922-struggle-to-serve-larry-sapp-and-the-push-for-political-inclusion.js?container_id=buzzsprout-player-17251922&player=small\" type=\"text\/javascript\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>","avatar_url":"https:\/\/cdn.changeagentsthepodcast.com\/images\/originals\/KRUylYeWDCIXijNJpNbUlcURBKbEIi6GV9CAEckl.jpg"}

Wendell Robinson: Life Sentence to Reentry Reform

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Harry Peña: From Prison to Purpose

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The Foundation of Freedom: Maria Garza on Housing, Healing & Change

{"id":40,"season":5,"episode_number":6,"name":"The Foundation of Freedom: Maria Garza on Housing, Healing & Change","subtitle":null,"description":"After over a decade behind bars, Maria Garza returned to a world with little support and even less stability. Facing housing insecurity and emotional strain, she saw firsthand the failures of a system that promised rehabilitation but delivered barriers. Determined to break the cycle, she co-founded Challenge II Change, a reentry organization that centers stable housing and mental health as the foundation for real second chances.\r\n\r\nProduced by Cary Robbins with Noble Thompson & Noah Tomko-Jones for Reparations Media NFP | In collaboration with Maria Garza Challenge II Change @challengeiichange","when":"2025-07-08T00:00:00.000000Z","embed_code":"<div id=\"buzzsprout-player-17468213\"><\/div><script src=\"https:\/\/www.buzzsprout.com\/1600336\/episodes\/17468213-the-foundation-of-freedom-maria-garza-on-housing-healing-change.js?container_id=buzzsprout-player-17468213&player=small\" type=\"text\/javascript\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>","avatar_url":"https:\/\/cdn.changeagentsthepodcast.com\/images\/originals\/L04GvjTFtyYruZpUYeHkVZpGepEHCqXXKB7FMxgk.jpg"}

Our Voices

Isabella Salinas

Isabella Salinas is a fourth-year undergraduate student at DePaul University, majoring in Women and Gender Studies with a concentration in diversity in media and minoring in journalism. She is an associate editor at 14 East Magazine and has been a contributing writer at The DePaulia. Born and raised in Chicago, she aims to be a voice for the marginalized communities like the ones she grew up in with her work.

Aaliyah McFadden

Aaliyah McFadden is a multimedia journalist focusing on a goal of fostering the development of welcoming spaces through creativity and the exploration of diverse communities. She has done work for DePaul University's newspaper, the DePaulia, and worked on stories with NBC. In her reporting, she focuses on illuminating the voices of marginalized and highly impacted communities to educate her audience on stories that they would not usually hear day-to-day. Through multimedia journalism, she has done stories focusing on things from fashion week to the formerly incarcerated.

Vivienne Madsen

Vivienne Madsen is a junior journalism student at DePaul University who’s looking forward to doing more social justice-oriented work like Change Agents. From Hoffman Estates, Illinois, she’s lived in Chicago for two years and loves its rich living history. She’s minoring in history and environmental studies; topics she loves to highlight in her journalistic work.

Ruchi Nawathe

Ruchi Nawathe was born and raised in the Bay Area, California before moving to Chicago to complete her undergraduate degree at DePaul University in 2021. She is majoring in journalism and worked as an editor briefly at her university's newspaper focusing on nation and world news and politics. In the future, she hopes to break into the fashion journalism sphere, but her passion for social justice and politics will follow her wherever her career takes her.

Our Community

The following grassroots organizations serving communities of color across Chicago land partnered with the Change Agents journalists, generating authenticity, insight and trusted connections for our stories.

Metro Chicago

Jane Addams Senior Caucus Organized Communities Against Deportations Chifresh Kitchen Defy Ventures, Illinois Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago Community Anti-Violence Education (C.A.V.E.) Illinois Coalition to End Permanent Punishments Giving Others Dreams (G.O.D.) Behind the Walls Law and Policy Think Tank Chicago Torture Justice Center

Behind the Scenes

Maddie Voelkel

Madeline Voelkel (she/her) is a documentarian and activist from Columbia, South Carolina. Now based in Chicago, she is still interested in telling stories about the American South, artists, and community, and advocating for reproductive justice and LGBTQ rights, prison reform, and class equity. Graduating from DePaul University this June, she is gearing up to complete her senior thesis “Peaches”, a documentary capturing the importance and poetic nature of girlhood experiences in the American South, alongside an analysis of the parallels between Lost Cause imagery and conservative Southern policy.

Mathew Warakomski

Matthew is a young native of Chicago’s South Side writing journalistically since high school. He’s deeply focused on community-based issues, looking to bridge the gap between the media and the people living in the various neighborhoods across and around Chicago. Having grown up in Beverly, he’s lived between the suburbs and the city, having journeyed from Lincoln Park to Harvey and Palos to Englewood and Bronzeville. Find his work in 14 East Magazine at DePaul University, where he’s working toward his bachelor’s degree in journalism.

Funding provided by the Field Foundation and the Chicago Community Trust. City Bureau is our fiscal sponsor.

Other Seasons

Season Six

Season Five

Season Four

Season Three

Season Two

Season One

Blog Posts

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If you have a story idea or know of activists organizations working to bring solutions to the needs of a Chicago-land community of color, please send us a message.