OUR FUTURE NOW! PODCAST EPISODE # 9
National Children’s Week – Resources and Stories from Community Leaders is the title of the ninth episode of Our Future: Now! A National Children’s Campaign Podcast. The show’s co-host Jonah Gottlieb and Natalie Mebane interview National Children’s Campaign team members: Rani Chor, Giovanni Hernandez, Diana Fernandez, and Noelle Dutch.
To listen to the Podcast, you can go here. It can also be heard on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts and at the National Children’s Campaign and Parentology websites.
During the approximately 18-minute episode they discuss the importance of organizing events like the virtual National Children’s Week (NCW), who their favorite speakers were, and the importance of becoming involved in the political process as way of creating change. To watch videos from NCW, which was from June 14 – 19, you can go here.
Below is a guide to key points in the podcast:
- At 1 minute 50 seconds: Gottlieb asks everyone to talk about their favorite moments from the NCW>
- At 2 minutes: Fernandez talks about working on an environmental racism panel, which resonated with her because she grew up in Miami in a very Hispanic, low income community that would be likely subjected to these challenges.
- At 2 minutes 35 seconds: Dutch talks about being part of a presentation that focused on making it easier for Americans with disabilities to get access to the polls so the can participate in our elections.
- At 3 minutes 15 seconds: Chor talks about working on a foster care and rehoming panel with a series of experts to discuss all the issues that children in these difficult circumstances, such as homelessness.
- At 4 minutes: Hernandez talks about being part of an educational panel that describes the hardships students, teachers and faculty face because of COVID-19 and the resulting funding cuts (to listen to the previous podcast Hernandez participated in go here).
- At 5 minutes: Mebane talks about her environmental racism panel and about Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. of the Hip Hop Caucus, who encouraged young people to lead the way in political reform.
- At 7 minutes: Fernandez talks about health care disparities and the plight of essential workers, who often come from communities of color, that are forced to work during the pandemic.
- At 9 minutes 15 seconds: Gottlieb talks about a panel on children’s health where Dr. Abdul El-Sayed describes how people can protest for justice and stay safe from COVID-19 at the same time.
- At 9 minutes 55 seconds: Fernandez talks about being inspired by Mebane when she spoke on the environmental racism panel about the importance of fighting for the issues you care about.
- At 10 minutes 30 seconds: Dutch talks about how access to ballots is not only an issue for the disability community, but for everyone now that we are dealing a pandemic.
- At 11 minutes 20 seconds: Chor talks about how the amazing stories of hardship and perseverance that many children experience going through the foster care system.
- 12 minutes 10 seconds: Mebane talks about Mustafa Santiago Ali (to listen to the previous podcast Ali participated in go here), who was the lead panelist for the discussion about environmental racism. She also complimented Gottlieb who was the producer of all the virtual panels.
- 14 minutes 5 seconds: Chor talks about her journey to becoming an activist, which included following other activists on social media, joining the National Children’s Campaign and becoming a student journalist informing people about what is going on.
- 15 minutes 10 seconds: Hernandez talks about how children should be able to find some way to get involved politically, because every issue has an impact on children.
- 15 minutes 50 seconds: Fernandez talks about how people might feel powerless, but they actually can help make change happen by getting involved and joining organizations like the National Children’s Campaign.
- 17 minutes 15 seconds: Gottlieb talks about how listeners can view the panels that the show’s guest talked about by going to the National Children’s Campaign YouTube channel.