Katya Fels Smyth, Full Frame Initiative

Commons Good: Stewardship and Starting Points

In this episode we’re talking with Katya Fels Smyth about what it means to see and create change from a fuller frame. We too often see people as what is broken and our attempts to “fix” the human beings, allow problems to just get deeper. There is another way of thinking about how we orient ourselves, our public systems and our society that could give us all a fair shot. Listen in to hear more about our opportunities for creating more equitable health and wellbeing. Katya grew up in New Jersey and went to high school in Massachusetts, where she volunteered at one of the state’s first shelters for homeless families. While getting a degree in biology from Harvard, Katya continued working with people who are homeless, eventually becoming co-director of one of Cambridge, MA’s first emergency shelters.A hit-and-run of one of the shelter’s guests, uninvestigated by police, combined with the advice and vision of other shelter guests, led her to found Cambridge-based On The Rise, Inc. in 1995. On The Rise was widely recognized for its Full Frame Approach to working with women facing homelessness, trauma and crisis. In 2007, Katya left to work on what would become the Full Frame Initiative. She has an honorary Doctorate of Divinity from the Episcopal Divinity School, and a deep belief in the power of people to do good by and for each other. Learn More: When Social Services Undermine Wellbeing, David Bornstein, New York Timeshttps://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/opinion/when-social-services-undermine-well-being.htmlForbes-- Katya Fels Smythhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/katyafelssmyth/?sh=45ffcb52306fWellbeing Blueprint Leader Voiceshttps://drive.google.com/file/d/10pIiJJALaFJK7l-lH_OCdN9tEUzCUGyH/viewBeing safe and feeling safe aren’t the same thing-- and the difference will matter to kids when the school opens. - Sandy Hook, Washington Posthttps://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/07/08/being-safe-feeling-safe-arent-same-thing-difference-will-matter-kids-when-schools-open/