How will COVID-19 reshape the fight against hunger? Urban Institute senior fellow Elaine Waxman joins Billy Shore to share her data-driven insights on food insecurity in America during the pandemic. “SNAP is our number one line of defense for food insecurity,” she explains. “One of the persistent gaps has been that even though SNAP has been a great first line of defense for food insecurity, those benefits continue to be inadequate… The biggest thing we need is Congress to increase the maximum benefit for SNAP,” she says.

Waxman also cautions about the extreme health consequences that can result from food insecurity, particularly during a pandemic. “In the U.S., we typically look at food insecurity as a social welfare problem, and it’s not. It’s a public health problem,” she remarks. “What we’ve learned from research over the years is that if you live in a food insecure household, you are more likely to experience poor health outcomes.”

Listen to one of our foremost experts on food insecurity, nutrition and health disparities explain how research and data can help improve anti-hunger programs.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How do you feed 1.5M of people every day? NYC Department of Sanitation commissioner and recently appointed food czar Kathryn Garcia talks to Billy Shore about leading the city’s massive and complicated hunger relief efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s really been the sheer scale and magnitude of how many people are in need. Not any one piece of it is necessarily difficult in and of itself, but the scale is really massive,” says Garcia. “We’re a city of incredible variation. We need to be able to deliver the right food at the right time… People want to eat the food that comes from their culture, and if it doesn’t, they may not eat what you deliver to them,” she notes.

 With more than 500 public schools distributing food every day, Garcia reflects on what she’s learned about school nutrition programs. “There are specific funding streams that drive the development of the programs, rather than being more kid focused. What works for [the kids] rather than what works for reimbursement?,” she asks. 

 Join us for this important discussion about tackling food insecurity on a massive scale during a crisis.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Can the current pandemic strengthen our resolve to eradicate hunger? Feeding America CEO Claire Babineaux-Fontenot talks to Billy Shore about what she is witnessing on the frontlines of the escalating hunger crisis caused by COVID-19 and the opportunities it presents. “There are lots of opportunities in this pandemic to come out of it better than we were going into it,” she says, referring to the increased public awareness of hunger in America. “Do you really want four-mile-long lines [outside food banks] or would you prefer, as I do, to provide people with the dignity where they can go into a grocery store just like the rest of us?” she asks.

Babineaux-Fontenot and Shore discuss how their organizations partner and collaborate, particularly during this pandemic. “Our short-term analysis was that over the first six months, the gap for the charitable food system for our network was $1.4 billion. ... We're making progress in closing that gap, but it's not completely closed. We're going to work with you guys to make sure it doesn't linger for 10 years,” says Babineaux-Fontenot. She also encourages all of us to be informed voters. “I think we have a responsibility to be well informed about what the people who represent us that we elect, where they stand on issues like hunger,” she concludes.

Join us for this insightful discussion about how the COVID-19 pandemic has us rethinking the way we fight hunger in America.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What innovations will emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic? On this episode, host Billy Shore reconnects with noted DC chef Erik Bruner-Yang (Maketto, Brothers and Sisters, ABC PONY, Spoken English) on helping the community. “This has been a wake-up call for me. I’ve always been wading in the water of being a public servant and [I’m] finally jumping into it,” says Bruner-Yang. He recently launched a crowdfunding plan called The Power of 10 that keeps restaurant workers employed while providing free meals to those in need.

“I’ve spent the last 15 years of my life working and building up this neighborhood that we live in, and when this passes, that could all be gone… We can make a difference and leverage the resources we have just to try to keep our communities intact,” he observes. His four restaurants have had to downsize from 225 employees to about 30. “Food security issues have existed long before this pandemic - the pandemic only highlights how bad it is.”

 Listen to this informative discussion about one small business owner’s innovative plan to help workers and communities.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Where do we find optimism during the current crisis? Celebrity baker Duff Goldman (Ace of Cakes, Charm City Cakes) dials in to talk to Billy Shore about his winding path to success, the effects of the coronavirus on his business and employees, and his advice for overcoming the current crisis. “The absolute 100% biggest impact is everybody needs to register to vote and vote in November,” he admonishes. “We have this terrible virus going around that’s really shut everything down, and we are rudderless. There’s nobody at the helm.”

Goldman talks about temporarily adjusting his business operations to get through these tough times. “I don’t want anyone to go on unemployment or - god forbid - try to rely on the government right now,” he explains. “One of the things about people in the restaurant industry: we are resilient. We’re going to need some help, but I really believe that most of the people that are shut down right now, they’re going to be back. I have to believe that,” he says.

Join us for a discussion about determination, innovation and the optimism it will take to overcome the problems created by COVID-19.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How do poverty and racism put people at risk for COVID-19, and how do we protect those most vulnerable? On the latest episode of Add Passion & Stir, Sojourners Founder and President Jim Wallis and Billy Shore discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic is exposing the inequities in our society. “Poverty and racism are preexisting conditions that help you get the disease,” says Wallis. “We need to consider how can we redeem this time not just for immediate response, but also how will this change us going forward.”

As the two discuss Wallis’ work addressing those in need within the faith community and Shore’s work feeding hungry kids and families through the No Kid Hungry campaign, these two change-makers reflect on the need for leadership – political and otherwise - now more than ever. “SNAP [the federal food stamp program] is maybe the most effective way to serve people’s immediate needs and revitalize the economy at the same time... We need politicians from both sides of the aisle to prioritize poor people,” Wallis believes. “One of our responsibilities from a leadership point of view is to help people see how we can make some permanent changes, so that the next time there’s such a crisis, the vulnerable are not as vulnerable,” says Shore.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Can small farmers survive the COVID-19 pandemic? NYC’s Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns chef and co-owner Dan Barber joins Billy Shore to discuss how the farm-to-table movement is especially vulnerable right now. “There’s a network of farmers that we’re connected to, whether you know it or not. That network has been shattered,” laments Barber. Left without a way to generate revenue, he fears many of these small, organic farms will declare bankruptcy. “These are the farmers that I most want to protect because if they leave us, a generation of knowledge leaves us, and I don’t think they come back,” he says.

Barber and Stone Barns recently started resourcED, selling food in boxes to give the 120 farmers that supply his restaurants a revenue stream. “We started resourcED in part to create a consciousness through education about the kind of people that produce our food… It’s an opportunity to build a kind of system that is more resilient,” he explains.

Listen to a critical discussion about the importance of supporting the small farmers who have been building a healthier food system.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How will the COVID-19 crisis transform the restaurant industry? Dirt Candy chef and owner Amanda Cohen and host Billy Shore discuss how restaurants will survive the pandemic. Cohen says she and other chefs are struggling with reopening their restaurants after the crisis has passed. “How are we going to reopen? What am I reopening to? Who is going out? Who still has money to go out in this city? And who wants to go to a crowded restaurant?,” she asks.

She also stresses that the pandemic has clearly shown that the traditional business model for restaurants does not provide enough for workers. “If our workers need charity so badly, maybe owners weren’t doing this right in the first place,” wrote Cohen in a March 26th New York Times Op-Ed. She believes that the restaurant industry needs to make some changes to support higher wages and health insurance for its workers. “If we reopen the same way as we closed, we will have literally learned nothing,” she says.

Join us for this critical discussion about the future of the restaurant industry.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How are food pantries responding to the COVID crisis? West Side Campaign Against Hunger (WSCAH) Executive Director Greg Silverman joins Billy Shore for a conversation about the impact COVID-19 is having on his work feeding New Yorkers on the street instead of in their food pantry. “Sometimes the best innovations happen when you have to make these things on the fly,” he notes. “COVID has, in a sense, pushed us forward on some of the ideas we were already hoping to do to reach more people.”

 The burdens are increased for both customers served by WSCAH and its staff. “It’s hard to navigate the social safety net as fraying as it is in America,” explains Silverman. “We’re also not used to having staff feel that they’re putting their lives on the line.”

 Listen to this important conversation with an anti-hunger activist and leader working around the clock at ground zero of the COVID-19 pandemic.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How do we keep feeding food insecure kids and families during a pandemic? Stacey McDaniel, Anti-Hunger Initiatives Specialist and National Spokesperson for the YMCA of the USA, joins Billy Shore to explain the adaptations and collaborations the Y has undertaken to bring meals to more kids and families than ever before. “Nothing is more fundamental than making sure children have access to healthy meals. It hits all the areas children need nutrition to grow and thrive,” says McDaniel.

 Before the pandemic, the Y was operating 5,200 food sites that served 570,000 kids each year. Today, those numbers have grown significantly. “We know that the demand is increasing… we're seeing just astronomical rises in numbers. We see Y's where every day the number of meals are increasing and the need is increasing,” reports McDaniel. “God bless our school nutrition workers, they have never worked so hard in their lives. I think they are so underappreciated, but they are true hunger heroes stepping up right now all across this country.”

 Join us to hear how one of the foundational rocks of so many American communities is coming to the aid of so many kids and families during this crisis.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.