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.
