Pandemic and Profit
To mark the three year anniversary of the official start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we’ll be looking at two alternative supply chains for masks that emerged in the fallout of the Trump administration’s failure to prepare. We’ll be speaking with ProPublica reporter David McSwane about his book Pandemic, Inc.: Chasing the Capitalists and Thieves Who Got Rich While We Got Sick. The book details the shadowy supply chain...
Well Nourished: How Mutual Aid is Transforming Food Security for Single Moms in Ohio
Federal food programs, like WIC, face big changes coming out of the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Meanwhile, a single moms collective in Ohio holds it down for the single pregnant and parenting people in their community. Motherful’s resource pantry serves their 325-strong membership out of a garage three times a week. We talk to members and founders to learn what’s it’s like to...
Ollas Populares- Lessons from Lockdowns
Reporter Rosina Castillo takes us to her Buenos Aires neighborhood. There, a community arts organization called La Casona de Humahuaca hosts an olla popular, a community kitchen, to feed hundreds of hungry neighbors during pandemic lockdowns. In turn, La Casona learns more about their own identity and purpose while transforming how they operate. And, we sit down with architect and urbanist, Belen Desmaison. She explains how the...
70 Million: When a State Treats Drug Addiction Like a Health Issue, Not a Crime
A year ago, Oregon became the first state to decriminalize drug possession. The goal is to reverse some of the negative impacts of the War on Drugs by approaching drug use from a health-centered basis. Reporter Cecilia Brown visits an addiction and recovery center in Portland that’s gearing up for what they hope will be an influx of people seeking treatment. Image Credit: Miracles Club Like this program? Please click here and...
Medical Apartheid and the COVID-19 vaccines (ENCORE)
The world is struggling to contain COVID-19, as variants continue to emerge in countries where the virus is spreading unchecked, killing thousands. Not only could widespread vaccination campaigns help slow the emergence of new variants, they would save countless lives. So why can’t countries in the global south access the novel COVID-19 vaccines? We take a deep dive into the WTO and international patents and we talk about the...
70 Million: Taking Mental Health Crises Out of Police Hands
Making Contact · 70 Million: Taking Mental Health Crises Out of Police Hands Police encounters during a mental health crisis have a greater chance of turning deadly if you’re Black. New response mechanisms bypass law enforcement and result in helpful interventions. Reporter Jenee Darden looks at how folks in Northern California are trying to reimagine crisis response services. Image Caption and Credit: Asantewaa Boykin,...