Nine months into the Coronavirus pandemic, childcare providers are doing double and triple duty supervising school aged kids with remote learning for much of each day, while doing their regular duties caring for the children of working parents.  But providers fear that if and when schools reopen, their risk of COVID exposure will increase as kids shuttle back and forth between daycare and classrooms.  They're placed between a rock and a hard place as their dilemma is unnoticed and under appreciated. In this episode, childcare providers Jamila Ife Wilson and Tahiti Tamer make their voices heard.

Reporter Judith McCray is an award winning documentary filmmaker, broadcast journalist and producer. Twenty three years ago she founded Juneteenth Productions to find and tell stories from the perspective and experiences of people who matter, whom we hear too little about or from. She passionately believes that media is an effective tool for positive social change and reaching people and communities that are underrepresented. With Hope from the Front Lines, she's reminded that we all will need and be caregivers at different points in our lives. She loves sailing and horseback riding - but rarely gets to do either.

Healthcare workers in homes face increased exposure risk to Covid-19, just like traditional front line workers. So why are employers using loopholes in the law to avoid paying some essential workers sick leave? The Families First Coronavirus Response Act covers pay, if you’re infected by COVID. For home healthcare workers, it’s only if they contract it from a client.  The issue is that home healthcare workers exposure risks extend far beyond their clients. If they’re doing the job properly, they’re exposed to their clients, other caregivers, their family members and friends, as well as nearly daily contact with the public at large as they handle their client’s daily affairs. In this episode, one home healthcare worker talks about how she was able to finally get paid after catching COVID-19 on the job.

Reporter BIA MEDIOUS (she/her) is a native Chicagoan, journalist and audio producer. Passionate about storytelling, she commits to projects that challenge traditional narratives, seek justice, and encourage civic participation. Bia investigated alternative courts in Cook County while completing a civic reporting fellowship with City Bureau, a local media organization. She helped produce podcasts at USA Today, including “The City” which investigated the environmental injustice that remained after the FBI closed Operation Silver Shovel. She later joined the podcast team at WBEZ, Chicago’s NPR Station. There, Bia worked on a variety of narrative and news-based podcasts, earning three Peter Lisagor awards for her work on “South Side Stories,” a first ever partnership between public media and a cable network - Comedy Central. She's most proud of her byline is with the historic Chicago Defender. And she recently founded her own audio production company, BIA Media, at the start of a global pandemic.

Throughout Chicagoland and across the country nursing homes continue to bear the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic.  For the past 11 months the linoleum tiled hallways of these facilities have carried not only orderlies, gurneys, and residents, but also more than 38% of all Covid-19 related deaths in America.  But what many don’t know is that staff of these facilities, and the industry advocates that fight for them were not in the least bit surprised by the magnitude of the tragedy.  For decades now they have watched owners cut staff in favor of profit, leaving facilities unable to properly care for their residents.

Reporter MAURICE BISAILLON is a media producer with more than 20 years of broadcast production experience, working with A&E, History Channel, Discovery Channel, PBS and more.  His A&E Biography on Barack Obama is the most widely viewed episode in the history of the franchise. He’s a recent transplant to Chicago and has thoroughly lost his mind trying to furnish his apartment through Facebook Marketplace. Executive Producing Hope From The Front Lines has opened his eyes to the fact that the word caregiver describes far more than doctors and nurses.

Five months after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer, the struggle for justice and equality for African Americans continues in peoples’ hearts and minds, if not still in the streets. Many Black Americans are encouraged that the protests and larger number of allies joining the movement for Black Lives will bring real changes in policing and equity.  In this episode, Enough is Enough, healthcare givers Shawndra Robinson, Coston Plummer and Ashley Mosley reflect on the circumstances and actions for racial justice.

Reporter Judith McCray is an award winning documentary filmmaker, broadcast journalist and producer. Twenty three years ago she founded Juneteenth Productions to find and tell stories from the perspective and experiences of people who matter, whom we hear too little about or from. She passionately believes that media is an effective tool for positive social change and reaching people and communities that are underrepresented. With Hope from the Front Lines, she's reminded that we all will need and be caregivers at different points in our lives. She loves sailing and horseback riding - but rarely gets to do either.

Lakesia Collins es una CNA decidida a cambiar la narrativa. Trabajando en múltiples trabajos de cuidadora mientras criaba niños, tuvo que declararse en bancarrota porque su hogar de ancianos pagaba salarios de pobreza. Convirtiéndose en organizadora de la unión la empoderó para correr como representante estatal del noveno distrito de Illinois. Su plan no es solo conseguir que se aprueben los proyectos de ley, sino organizar su distrito alrededor de los problemas que ella comprende de primera mano: vivienda, levantar la prohibición del control de alquileres y vigilancia excesiva.  En este episodio, Esperanza en la práctica, ella explica cómo estos problemas se entrecruzan con cómo COVID-19 está afectando de manera desproporcionada a la clase trabajadora y a las personas de color, y por qué organizarse es la respuesta.
 
ARIEL MEJIA (ella) es nativa de Chicago que llegó al arte de audio y la producción de radio a través de la práctica feminista, la organización comunitaria y la educación en salud sexual. Su trabajo ha aparecido en el programa de la BBC Shortcuts de Falling Tree Productions, así como en Antibody, una serie de podcasts de The Dig de la revista Jacobin. Ariel también enseña narraciones en audio a adolescentes y aspira a convertirse en una experta bailarina de tap. Ella está más inspirada por la magia de la conexión humana, las posibilidades de transformación y el cambio de estaciones por sus sonidos y colores.

At the midpoint of our first season of Hope from the Front Lines we look back at some of the episodes we have produced so far. Throughout the season we’ve heard from frontline workers receiving no pay for time spent in quarantine, daycare providers left to fend for themselves as they reopen in the midst of a pandemic, healthcare-providers working in unsafe conditions for unfair wages, and nursing home attendants left in the dark regarding infection rates of staff and residents. Join us as we listen to some first half highlights of the series.

La industria del cuidado de la salud en el hogar está creciendo rápidamente, con un valor de más de $30B USD. La industria ya lucha con prácticas laborales justas, pero COVID-19 golpeó y expuso esas debilidades. 

Marisol García ha estado trabajando con la misma empresa de cuidado en el hogar desde 2003 y contrajo COVID-19 mientras trabajaba. La obligaron a estar en cuarentena durante un mes y aún no ha recibido el pago por el tiempo perdido.

AIDEN KENT es buscadora, narradora y naturalista. Al trabajar en Hope From the Front Lines, Aiden se siente honrado de conectarse con personas que están tratando de hacer que el mundo de la cuidados en el hogar sea más equitativo y respetuoso con sus trabajadores. Ella está agradecida por la oportunidad de volver a conectarse con sus raíces de habla hispana y usar su título universitario de periodismo para hacer algo bueno en el mundo. Vive por todas partes con su esposo y su gato, y disfruta de las luces parpadeantes y las cálidas noches de verano.

Música de Monplasair y Yasuharu Takanashi. Un agradecimiento especial a Parker Asmann.

Long-term healthcare workers have been overlooked for a long time, and during the time of a pandemic, things are no different. These healthcare workers are often the ones who are looking after those most vulnerable in our society. In this episode, we learn from two long-term health care workers, Monique Smith and Marybeth Linse, on the difficulties of taking care of a loved one during a global pandemic. 

Reporter JONATHAN AGUILAR recently graduated from DePaul University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. During his time at DePaul, Jonathan helped establish the university's first Spanish-language publication. Jonathan strives to document the news in an unbiased way, so that people can grow in their understanding and empathy for communities outside of their own. Hope From The Front Lines has provided him an opportunity to learn more about those who are often under reported, He's also been able to reflect on his own experience providing long term care for a relative. In his free time, Jonathan likes relaxing in his hammock with Mac Miller playing on repeat in his headphones.   

Lakesia Collins is a CNA determined to change the narrative. Working multiple caregiving jobs while raising kids, she had to file bankruptcy because her nursing home paid her poverty wages. Becoming a union organizer empowered her to run for state representative of Illinois’ 9th District. Her plan is not just to get bills passed but to organize her district around the issues that she understands firsthand - housing, lifting the ban on rent control and over-policing. In this episode, she explains how these issues intersect with how COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting the working class and people of color, and why organizing is the answer.

Reporter ARIEL MEJIA (she/her) is a Chicago native who came to audio art and radio production by way of feminist praxis, community organizing and sexual health education. Her work has been featured on the BBC show Shortcuts from Falling Tree Productions, as well as Antibody, a podcast series from Jacobin Magazine’s The Dig. Ariel also teaches audio storytelling to teens and aspires to become a skilled tap dancer. She is most inspired by the magic of human connection, possibilities for transformation, and the changing of the seasons because of their sounds and colors.

Loneliness, isolation, depression, anxiety and other mental health crises have infiltrated nursing homes long before the March lockdown and peak of COVID-19 in Illinois, but the pandemic has only heightened those feelings among staff and residents. While the pandemic has been hard overall, the strict parameters limiting social activities, interactions and the disruption of normal routines pose the risk of a mental health pandemic that could be spreading even faster. This episode takes a deeper dive into the effects of COVID-19 on nursing home facilities, staff and residents with the current social distancing guidelines in place.

Reporter Briana Higgins is a recent graduate from Indiana University in Bloomington, IN, where she studied Broadcast Journalism. Some of her accomplishments are reporting and producing for the school’s student television network, reporting and directing for WTIU and studying HIV/AIDS in Uganda. As a perfectionist, she strives for great storytelling across all mediums including radio, print, videography, photography, documentary and podcast. She’s focused on telling unique stories on all issues and Hope from the Frontlines was the opportunity to do just that. If she’s not reporting or storytelling, she’s finding other ways to explore her creative energy and watching content on Netflix, Hulu, or Disney+.