The 2030 Project

Among the values expressed by the Daily Bread Food Bank is the commitment to pursue, create and support evidence-based solutions. So, to that end, new research from the University of Calgary draws a solid, direct line between food bank visits and specific government policy. The report found that the number of food bank visits directly rises with increases in rent and falls with increases in minimum wage or disability benefits available to individuals requiring social assistance. The studied was penned by Margarita Wilkins and Rob Kneebone. Professor Kneebone is here to walk us through the research. Among other things, Professor Kneebone tells us governments across Canada should be using monthly food bank visits as a key economic indicator as they navigate the post COVID recovery and economic reckoning.

We are now into the 3R phase of the pandemic. The COVID crisis is receding and now it’s time for to focus on the recovery and the reckoning. Recovery will be the easier of the two if it simply means cutting larger government cheques. But that will only make the reckoning all the more challenging. How will we pay for the post COVID recovery? Service cuts? Program cuts? The reckoning phase may only deepen the poverty crisis. On this episode of the 2030 Project, we are joined by Garima Talwar Kapoor Director, Policy and Research- Maytree, Noah Zon - Co-founder of Springboard Policy, and Jasmine Ramze Rezaee, Director of Advocacy & Communications at YWCA Toronto.

In this episode of the 2030 Project, what is the real cost of having our kids go to school without breakfast? Or, what is the ROI of a universal breakfast program? – No means testing - just an expectation that every child attending school will start the day with a proper, nutritional meal. We are joined by Judith Barry. Co-Founder & Government Relations Director. Breakfast Club of Canada, John Stapleton. Writer, instructor, and former Innovations Fellow with the Metcalf Foundatio, and Dr. Dina Kulik, Pediatrician. .

It's become apparent that we have grown communities, intentionally or otherwise, in such a way that access to food is not as readily available as we might have otherwise thought. In some cases, we’ve made it more difficult, particularly for vulnerable communities to get access to food. We have created food deserts in urban communities across Canada. In this episode of the 2030 Project, we welcome Dave Hardy, an Urban Planner -President at Hardy Stevenson and Associates. Ryan Noble is the food bank Director at the North York Food Bank. And Jennifer Black is a UBC Associate Professor who has done a good deal of work on what goes on at the Vancouver food bank.

The crisis it immediate. The call for action in this season of the 2030 Project is a call for immediate change. I n the past two episodes we discussed the heightened awareness of poverty in our midst. We explored our mis-conceptions of poverty – of what it means to live in poverty. The growing number of food bank visits alone tell the story. More people are falling into poverty every month in Canada. Our guest is Leila Sarangi, National Director of Campaign 2000 – the group’s aim was to end child and family poverty by the year 2000. Twenty two years later, how long can we afford to be patient when it comes to eliminating poverty?

In this episode of the 2030 project, we start with the basics. What is the MEANING of Poverty. How do you and I interpret poverty? In the last episode Diane Dyson, VP of Advocacy and Research at Daily Bread Food Bank suggested we have developed a new or heightened awareness of POVERTY during the course of our collective experiences during COVID-19. She may be on to something. So we’ve invited Ujwal Arkalgud Executive Vice President at Lux Research to join the conversation. Ujwal is a cultural anthropologist who uses technology to study the implicit meanings behind concepts, ideas, trends, and issues in culture.

In this episode of the 2030 project, our focus has shifted from a public health crisis to a looming hunger and poverty crisis. Whether it’s the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian War in Ukraine, or extreme climate events, inflation rates and interest rates around the world are driving up the cost of living, driving up the cost of everything from groceries and energy to transportation and housing. Diane Dyson is the Vice President of Advocacy and Research at Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto. As dire and as difficult as things may be for many people, Diane notes it’s only served to heighten the urgency around the discussion of poverty. "It (is) an encouraging moment to see that poverty as an idea of how our neighbors are doing was a kitchen table conversation." Neil Hetherington is the CEO at Daily Bread. He heard that heightened discussion shortly after we completed Season 1 in this podcast series. “What gave me hope about the podcast was that it was soon after it was a month or two after the release of the final episode that I was speaking at a school and found out that the children in the grade 10 class had to listen to episodes of the 2030 Project. It was part of their curriculum and they are learning about the issues." It's an opportunity to turn that learning and those kitchen table discussions into real change.

The 2030 Project is a Story Studio Network podcast sponsored by Daily Bread Food Bank, a Toronto based charity, whose mission is to collaborate with all to eliminate food insecurity and advocate for solutions to end poverty. What would it take to eliminate poverty in Canada by the year 2030? When we spelled out the content for season one of the 2030 project, our objective was twofold. One was to say, here's the problem that's sitting right in front of us, vis a vis poverty. We lauded the objectives of the poverty reduction strategy in Ottawa, highlighting the elements that work. We have seen evidence that based on programs that help lift Canadians out of poverty. What we'd like to do in this second season, is to start with a conversation based on the values expressed by the Daily Bread Food Bank. We are joined by Diane Dyson. She serves as the Vice President of Research and Advocacy at Daily Bread, and Neil Hetherington is the CEO. NEIL: “What gave me hope about the podcast was that it was soon after it was a month or two after the release of the final episode that I was speaking at a school and found out that the children in the grade 10 class had to listen to episodes of the 2030 Project. It was part of their curriculum and they are learning about the issues. They are learning about why poverty exists. What is it that has caused a divide between those who, have and those who don't have and what are the opportunities for us to be able to correct that? And so, I walked away, yes, learning about the complexity of it, but also walking away with a sense of hope and optimism that a new generation will continue to push government to be able to hit those targets that we talked about in of poverty reduction.” Diane noted a significant change in the poverty conversation in the Spring of 2022. That’s when all four major political parties in Ontario committed to increasing the Ontario Disability Support Program benefits. DIANE: “It was an encouraging moment to see that poverty as an idea of how our neighbors are doing was a kitchen table conversation. It was one of those things that folks that are being elected felt like they had to address. And it that's the opportunity that opens the door for change.” Now, more than ever, poverty is a kitchen table issue, there is the real opportunity for change here. And so in this next season of the 2030 project, our objective is change.

We have covered a lot of ground in the past 10 episodes of The 2030 Project. We dove into the Federal Poverty Reduction Strategy and asked "What works, what doesn't work?" We explored the unintended obstacles in a support system that is intended to help those in need. We dealt with the issues of stigma and near invisibility of those living in poverty. And we started an important discussion about whether there is a place for a basic income. In this season finale, we review what we've learned and what solutions we should expect in the coming years. We're joined by Talia Bronstein, VP of Research and Advocacy at the Daily Bread Food Bank, and Daily Bread's CEO Neil Hetherington.

Over the past 9 episodes, we’ve framed our discussion around Canada’s Federal Poverty Reduction Strategy that’s based on three foundational pillars. DIGNITY OPPORTUNITY and INCLUSION And... RESILIENCE AND SECURITY. And it’s on the final pillar where we focus this Roundtable episode of The 2030 Project. RESILIENCE and SECURITY are going to be key components in the recovery and reckoning stages as we learn to live in this era of COVID-19. Nowhere will it be more important than in the workplace. What will our labour look like? What will a career look like in an emerging gig economy? And where are the opportunities in the future of work to help us reduce, if not eradicate poverty? Our guests for this episode are Pedro Barata, Executive Director at Future Skills Centre, Jessica Thornton is a Principal and co-founder at Creative Futures. AND Lisa Taylor is President at Challenge Factory.