“Broken Systems, Funded Silence: Deconstructing the Nonprofit-Gov Pipeline” – Part 2

🎙️ Episode 49 – Season 3
Title: "Broken Systems, Funded Silence: Deconstructing the Nonprofit-Gov Pipeline” (Part 2)
Guests: Bobbi Taylor (Founder & CEO, Proximate Solution) & Tamara Dillard, MSW, CSW (Clinical Social Worker, Advocate, Foster Care Alumni)
Host: Michael D. Davis-Thomas | Founder & CEO, MDDTSpeaks

💥 Episode Description:

In Part 2 of our ground-shifting series "Broken Systems, Funded Silence," we continue the courageous conversation that most platforms avoid—dissecting the dangerous comfort between nonprofits and government systems. This episode isn’t just a discussion. It’s an exposé.

Host and systems reformer Michael D. Davis-Thomas sits down with two national powerhouses: Bobbi Taylor, a cross-sector systems leader and Founder/CEO of Proximate Solution, and Tamara Dillard, a licensed clinical social worker, policy influencer, and fierce advocate. Together, they deconstruct the nonprofit-industrial complex—unpacking how funding stipulations, performance-based contracts, and “collaborative” partnerships often dilute community-centered missions into digestible, data-driven deliverables for the very systems they’re supposed to challenge.

From the trauma of tokenization to the manipulation of “lived experience,” this episode brings the raw truth: nonprofits cannot claim proximity to community while dancing to the tune of governmental preservation.

We ask hard questions:

• What happens when organizations built to fight systems start protecting them instead?
• Can you really center community if you're still begging for permission to speak?
• What does ethical inclusion look like when your invitation comes with a muzzle?

Michael, Bobbi, and Tamara also reflect on deeply personal stakes—sharing their own sacrifices, burnout, and battles with survival in a world that capitalizes on their pain but rarely funds their power. They address the emotional tax of being the bridge, the weight of being “brought in but not brought under,” and the exhausting cycle of being visible yet voiceless.

Tamara reminds us: being showcased is not the same as being centered. Bobbi adds: transparency without accountability is just theater. And Michael? He gives voice to the silent screams of so many: we are tired of being sold as data and discarded as people. This episode is both an indictment and an invitation—to reimagine, rebuild, and reclaim nonprofit work as sacred, not systemic.

🔊 Listen in as we honor truth, challenge power, and amplify the unapologetic voices of those who have not only survived the system—but are actively rewriting it.

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🧾 Support the podcast, share this episode, and let the world hear what funded silence can no longer bury.

📚 Featured Book: Letters to the Village by Tamara Dillard – Available now on Amazon. 📌 Take Action:

• Support this work through donations, reviews, and reposts.
• Book these guests for your next training, panel, or consulting engagement.
• Demand better from the nonprofits in your region—follow the funding, follow the harm.