Add Passion and Stir

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Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro’s 20 Year Fight Ends in Victory for Kids Oct 13, 2021

Show notes

Child Tax Credit Series Bonus Content

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut) has long been a champion in fighting child poverty. As part of our series on the Child Tax Credit, we spoke with DeLauro about the difference the Credit is making in the lives of families.

Now Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, DeLauro has been a proponent of the Child Tax Credit since 2003. “[The Child Tax Credit] is the most transformative piece of social legislation that we have seen in decades in this country.” She is currently very focused on Congressional negotiations around making the new expansion permanent. “When you don't capture these moments, you lose them for the next 20 or 30 years.”

In this full interview with DeLauro, we hear her staunch commitment to helping children and families. “We have a moral obligation and moral responsibility to do that, and it's a place where government can make a difference,” she concludes.

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High Tech & High Touch Deliver the Child Tax Credit Oct 06, 2021

Show notes

In this second episode of Add Passion and Stir’s Child Tax Credit series, we look at how organizations are using technology to make sure eligible families are receiving the credit. With more than 36 million additional children — a majority of whom are Black and Latino — now eligible and the credit being distributed as a monthly payment instead of an annual lump sum many changes were required to ensure success of the program.

We spoke with Amanda Renteria, CEO of Code for America, who launched the GetCTC.org portal to make it easier for families to claim their credit and Jimmy Chen, CEO of Propel, the organization behind the Providers app, which allows participants to manage a variety of government benefits, including the CTC, in one place about how they are helping to the credit reach all eligible families.

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Congressman Jim McGovern on Why Hunger is a Political Condition Sep 29, 2021

Show notes

Child Tax Credit Series Bonus Content

Congressman Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts) has made it his mission to end childhood hunger. As part of Add Passion and Stir's series covering the expansions to the Child Tax Credit, we spoke with McGovern about his advocacy for legislation that addresses the root causes of hunger and poverty in America.

Elected in 1996, the year the Child Tax Credit was created, McGovern has seen all variations of the credit from inside Congress. For him, the expansion of the Child Tax Credit to provide benefits to an additional 39 million households is a critical component of a cross-governmental strategy to end poverty.

McGovern says, “This [bill] is about our values. These are people’s lives…The reason why this investment is so significant is because we have underinvested in people for decades.”

In this full interview with McGovern, we hear how he is working with leaders in and out of government to finally make the conversation about hunger something that we address head on. “Hunger is a political condition. We have the food, resources, knowledge, infrastructure; we have everything to end it but we haven’t had the political will,” McGovern concludes.

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Ending Childhood Hunger with the Child Tax Credit Sep 22, 2021

Show notes

Passed in 1997, The Child Tax Credit, known as the CTC, provides an end of year tax credit to families with children under 16. In March 2021, as part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid package, the American Rescue Plan, the credit was made available to children 17 and under for the first time, the amount of the credit was increased from $2,000 to $3,000 for children 6-17 and from $2,000 to $3,600 for children under six, and it was changed to a monthly payment instead of annual lump sum. Experts estimate these changes could lift as many as five million kids out of poverty.

In this first episode of a series on the Child Tax Credit, Add Passion and Stir welcomes Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA), Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO), and other thought leaders for a conversation about the origin and evolution of this legislation. What was the original concept? How has it worked and not worked? How did the CTC’s expansion come to pass? And how are broader policy changes, such as an historic 25% increase to monthly SNAP benefits, working together to fight hunger and poverty in America?

Episode Guests:

Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA) who has worked to end food insecurity since joining Congress in 1997
Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) who, since 2003, has pushed for an increase in the amount provided by the CTC
Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) an anti-poverty champion and author of the American Family Act of 2019 which advocated for monthly, refundable tax credit for families
Monica Gonzales, Director of Federal Advocacy at Share Our Strength

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Rick Bayless on Stabilizing the Restaurant Industry Sep 15, 2021

Show notes

The restaurant industry was hit incredibly hard by the pandemic. In 2020, Add Passion and Stir connected with chefs to learn how the pandemic was affecting them. We're revisiting these inspiring conversations to showcase the resilience of the restaurant industry and its commitment to service.

We spoke with Chicago’s award-winning chef and Mexico: One Plate at a Time host Rick Bayless in September of 2020. At that time he was concerned about independent restaurants and advocating for federal funds to stabilize them. “If we don’t get some assistance, I’m afraid we’re going to see our neighborhoods just devastated. They are going to lose their character. Restaurants are a major part of our culture,” he explained. Bayless got involved with the Independent Restaurant Coalition, which lobbied Congress for funds to support the restaurant industry. In early 2021, the Biden Administration’s American Rescue Plan Act established the Restaurant Revitalization Fund which provides funding to help restaurants and other eligible businesses keep their doors open.

Click here to hear the original interview with Rick Bayless.

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Shaun Cassidy on the Road Again to Share His Strength Sep 08, 2021

Show notes

Television writer, producer and former teen idol Shaun Cassidy talks about telling his story and his My First Crush wines. Cassidy is touring again for the first time in decades, writing and producing NBC’s “New Amsterdam,” and selling wine to support No Kid Hungry.

“’Find your story’ is the theme of my show… when we're born, there's often a story that society or family or our own crazy expectations have written for us, but it's not always the story we're meant to experience… we have to find our own story and the satisfaction in doing that is profound,” says Cassidy about his music tour. “The more personal, the more open you are, the more vulnerable you are to the audience, the more relatable you are.”

He also continues to be excited about helping to end child hunger through his wine making. “Yes, it's a charitable endeavor, but it's also an extraordinary wine and I'm really proud of that… and the fact that it means kids are going to be less hungry than they were the day before this wine came out is huge to me,” he states.

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Alice Waters on the Power of Real Food Sep 01, 2021

Show notes

Award-winning Chez Panisse chef and cookbook author Alice Waters discusses the value of real, regenerative food for our children and our society as a whole. “Once you love nature, you can't make the wrong decision about anything. You don't want to do things that are really destroying the planet. You want to take care of her. Until we feel that way, we will never be able to make the right decisions,” she says.

Waters founded Edible Schoolyard, an experiential learning program at a Berkeley middle school that deepens students’ relationship with food, gardening and cooking skills, and capacity for critical examination of the food system, more than 25 years ago. “The kitchen classroom became a place to teach world history. It's a way to reach a person through all their senses and those are pathways into our minds,” states Waters. “We decided to put our money behind our values to educate the next generation to change the world. I so believe that education is the deep place where we can make systemic change.”

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Kwame Onwuachi and Sheila Johnson on The Family Reunion Aug 25, 2021

Show notes

Award-winning Washington DC chef Kwame Onwuachi (formerly of Kith/Kin) and Salamander Hotels & Resorts Founder & CEO and BET co-founder Sheila Johnson discuss The Family Reunion (LINK) , black culture, and diversity in the hospitality industry. The Family Reunion was an immersive experience presented by Onwuachi in partnership with Food&Wine and Salamander Hotels & Resorts on August 19-22, 2021 where dozens of chefs, culinary and hospitality professionals and a few hundred attendees celebrated diversity in the hospitality community.

“I've been a part of so many food festivals… and I was wondering why there wasn't anything that really just celebrated black contributions to the food industry. We need to have an event that celebrates black and brown contributions to the food industry on a black owned property with a historical context,” says Onwuachi. Johnson is pushing the hospitality industry on diversity and equity. “We're going to grow it, and we will continually shine light on the issues until we can get the problem solved, to really get minority-owned restaurants and hotels… we really want to level the playing field here. No more hiding in the shadows. No more being afraid to move forward,” she declares.

Both are excited for the prospects of bringing so many diverse voices together. “You can imagine the things that are going to happen at this event. People are going to meet each other, they're going to decide to do things together, there's going to be collaborations... It's going to be fascinating to track what comes out of this,” Onwuachi concludes.

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Amanda Cohen on Post-Pandemic Restaurant Survival Aug 18, 2021

Show notes

When we spoke with Amanda Cohen of NYC’s Dirt Candy in April 2020, the shutdown in New York City was only weeks old. Cohen said she and other chefs were struggling with reopening their restaurants after the crisis has passed. “How are we going to reopen? What am I reopening to? Who still has money to go out in this city? And who wants to go to a crowded restaurant?,” she asks. She has long been an outspoken advocate for fair restaurant industry practices. She is also a leader on eliminating tipping in her restaurant. Dirt Candy offers a starting hourly wage of $25/hour, as well as paid time off, paid sick leave, health insurance, and continuing education. “If we reopen the same way as we closed, we will have literally learned nothing,” she says.

Click here to hear the original interview with Amanda Cohen. [https://www.shareourstrength.org/podcast/restaurant-survival-after-the-covid-19-pandemic]

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Dan Barber on Supporting Local Farmers Aug 11, 2021

Show notes

In April 2020, Add Passion and Stir connected with NYC’s Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns chef and co-owner Dan Barber to discuss how vulnerable the pandemic had made the farm-to-table movement. “There’s a network of farmers that we’re connected to, whether you know it or not. That network has been shattered,” laments Barber. To help, Barber and Stone Barns launched resourcED which sold food in boxes as a way to give the farmers that supply his restaurants a revenue stream. In this updated epsiode, we revisit this conversation with Barber and share updates on how things are going now.

Click here to hear the original interview with Dan Barber.

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