TP&P Oral History Project Earns Global Recognition

4 min read

Lifting Up What Works®: An Oral History of the First 22 Years of PolicyLink, produced by Thaler Pekar & Partners, has been selected to be presented at the 23rd International Oral History Association Conference in Kraków, Poland in September 2025! We’re deeply honored that our signature approach of combining high quality video production and significant oral history expertise has been recognized by esteemed global colleagues.

Our Entry

A multimedia collection of fifteen oral history interviews, Lifting Up What Works®: An Oral History of the First 22 Years of PolicyLink consists of both a 40-minute video and an 82-page book, enhanced with B-roll and archival footage. Like much of Thaler Pekar & Partners’ work, it draws out small stories from multiple narrators to capture and craft a larger narrative. This oral history compilation features PolicyLink’s founder, Angela Glover Blackwell, and key early leaders, donors, and partners. It also includes Michael McAfee, Blackwell’s successor as President & CEO of this visionary institution devoted to racial and economic equity.

The organizers of the 23^rd IOHA Conference called on “oral historians worldwide to consciously rethink the idea and practice of their discipline” and to consider “what kind of histories should we tell and pass on to the current and future generations?” The PolicyLink story is of vital importance to advocates, philanthropists, and policymakers. So, Thaler Pekar & Partners chose to focus on our unique production, combining oral history interviews with high-quality B-roll, and the dissemination strategy of both a book and a video. We responded to the conference organizer’s additional question, “What new methods can we use to present interviews to our audiences?”

The Challenge

The production of Lifting Up What Works® took place at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and our team was forced to innovate and develop new practices. Instead of interviewing in person, Thaler Pekar & Partners used Zoom to record them in 4K. We optimized each person’s Zoom settings for sound and image, developing a unique, over-the-shoulder look and sound. The full interviews were collected, transcribed, and archived in the PolicyLink permanent library.

During the pandemic, a book and a video link were mailed to all past and current staff, board members, and donors. This invited them to engage with the institution and its people at an isolating time.

The Impact

This oral history ensures that current and future staff, board members, and donors understand the institution’s bold vision and how the founding values continue to shape its transformational work. McAfee said “That’s why this oral history is really so important: so that the next generation can believe that people of color can do this and that they actually see it being done….What I want people to understand is that if you can trust the platform and trust your own abilities, you’re going to find ways to do transformative stuff that you never imagined you can do. And it’ll happen faster than you ever imagined.”

The Lifting Up What Works® video is a key asset in employee recruitment and on-boarding. The book is a foundational resource for policy and funding partners. Both have significantly increased engagement by the board.

Personal Significance

In addition to the global recognition of our work – and the opportunity to share the PolicyLink story with the world – it’s personally significant for me to return to Krakow and present an oral history rooted in social justice and equity. My mother’s family, the Thalers, hail from Mielec, 80 miles outside of Krakow. I visited in 1997. Next year, when I return for the IOHA conference, I plan to visit Warsaw. My father’s family hails from a town to the north of Warsaw.