Elevating Voices, Ending Hunger

Dion Dawson knows what it’s like to go hungry. Growing up on the South Side of Chicago, he faced hunger, homelessness and poverty. Now, he leads a multi-million-dollar organization committed to providing fresh food to his community. Dion’s Chicago Dream delivers over 11,000 pounds of food per month to more than 1,300 Chicago residents each week, helping to alleviate the food insecurity that so many in his community face. Tune in to this powerful and inspiring episode where Dion and Ami discuss how the charitable food experience must be imbued with dignity, the ways that food insecurity is a social justice issue and so much more.

22% of LGBTQ+ adults live in poverty, which makes this community twice as likely as others to face hunger. In this podcast, Ami speaks with Senior Scholar of Public Policy Bianca Wilson, PhD, of UCLA’s Williams Institute about the unique challenges that LGBTQ folks face around food insecurity. What contributes to LGBTQ people coming up against barriers to accessing food? Dr. Wilson and Ami explore cultural, geographic, and other issues that play a factor. 

Anna and Raj Asava knew what hunger looked like in their home country of India but were completely unaware of what was hidden in plain sight in their community in the U.S. In this podcast, Ami talks with the founders of HungerMitao, a volunteer-driven grassroots movement focused on raising awareness about hunger in this country, about what they are doing to raise awareness about food insecurity and how they are enrolling others in the movement to end hunger. 

Meet Latisha Reid, Vanessa Pierre and Adam LaRose who share their experiences with the Client Leadership Council, an initiative from the Capital Area Food Bank in Washington DC designed to enable members to serve as advocates and agents of change for themselves and their communities. Join Ami as she uncovers the power of using our voices and lived experience to advocate for strong, resilient communities. 

In this episode, we explore reclaiming our history, writing a new narrative and redreaming a healthy future where everyday superpowers are activated. Join us as Ami talks with leaders from WANDA, an organization building a movement of women and girls of African descent who educate, advocate and innovate to change the trajectory of their communities.

Chances are you’re familiar with the term “food desert,” but what about the term “food apartheid”? In this episode, Ami talks about food, land and liberation with two leaders from Soul Fire Farm, an Afro-Indigenous-centered community farm located in Petersburg, New York.

The murder of George Floyd sparked outrage at myriad systemic inequities faced by people of color. In this episode, Ami's joined by two leaders from the community most closely impacted: Allison O’Toole, CEO of Second Harvest Heartland, and Sherri Green, family resource manager at Sabathani Community Center—located just blocks from where George Floyd was killed.

On this episode, Ami talks to Melanie McGuire, chief program officer at the San Antonio Food Bank, and Ada Saenz, interim CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of San Antonio, about how they worked together during the pandemic to listen and support their community through this difficult time.

Even with the best intentions, nonprofits have played a major role in maintaining racist systems -- and the makeup of their leadership is one big reason why.   

In this episode, we speak with Community Food Bank of Arizona CEO Michael McDonald and board member Rene Lopez about their work transitioning their organization’s traditional whitespace governance into one that represents the communities it serves.

What does democracy have to do with hunger? For this episode, we spoke with Susannah Morgan, CEO of Oregon Food Bank, and Portland community leader Liban Satu on why building an inclusive democracy is an important step to ending hunger.