Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to woke Ep Daily with
Speaker 1: me your girl, Danielle Moody recording from the Home Bunker. Folks.
Speaker 2: First off, thank you for sending me a happy anniversary
Speaker 2: WOKF messages and comments and you know, just letting me
Speaker 2: know how much you all appreciate this show.
Speaker 1: It really just warmed my heart. So I just wanted
Speaker 1: to start off today with saying just a deep, deep
Speaker 1: appreciation and gratitude for all of you who have been
Speaker 1: writing with me for so long and listening to the
Speaker 1: show Switching gears. Though God, I hate Donald Trump.
Speaker 3: It's like.
Speaker 1: I just I wonder if there will ever come a
Speaker 1: day where I don't mention that man's name. I feel
Speaker 1: like I say his name more than I say my own,
Speaker 1: because it is just every fucking place that you look,
Speaker 1: this motherfucker is doing something that deserves not just attention
Speaker 1: but condemnation in a way that it's not being received.
Speaker 1: So you know, over the Easter holiday weekend, right you
Speaker 1: had Donald Trump hockin bibles and posting imagery of Joe
Speaker 1: Biden Hogtide behind a car, and just I am just
Speaker 1: so in awe, and by in awe, I'm just like
Speaker 1: fulabergasted at the media after seven fucking years, the inability
Speaker 1: to just call out this motherfucker. You have never met
Speaker 1: a person more handled with kid gloves than fucking Donald
Speaker 1: Trump and corporate media. It is a I mean, just
Speaker 1: think about if any other politician, Republican or Democrat, were
Speaker 1: to repost a picture of political violence, what the fuck
Speaker 1: would happen. I miss the days where the smallest gaps
Speaker 1: would result in you losing your fucking job. I miss
Speaker 1: those days. I long for them. But my god, Donald
Speaker 1: Trump is just such fucking trash and a criminal, and
Speaker 1: instead of us just honestly being able to call it
Speaker 1: what it is, we still have these conversations in media
Speaker 1: as if we don't know what he's up to, as
Speaker 1: if Donald Trump is just like an overgrown fucking toddler.
Speaker 1: He's not. He's been scamming and grifting and lying and
Speaker 1: cheating for the last fifty fucking years and has been
Speaker 1: able to do so without having any accountability for any
Speaker 1: of his actions whatsoever. Right now, you have foot soldiers
Speaker 1: of the insurrection in prison that he is referring to
Speaker 1: as political prisoners that he will free, but not the
Speaker 1: man that was the architect behind the insurrection and continues
Speaker 1: right to court violence on his enemies, whether they be
Speaker 1: Joe Biden or the judges or the judge's family that
Speaker 1: are hearing his bevy of criminal cases. I'm just so
Speaker 1: sick to fucking death, and I honestly I pray for
Speaker 1: a day when there is no more conversation about Donald Trump,
Speaker 1: but to talk about like him in the past fucking
Speaker 1: tense as like a warning. That's the day that I
Speaker 1: pray for. My God, I'm just so over it. Coming
Speaker 1: up next, though, is my conversation with president of Children's
Speaker 1: Partnership is a policy and advocacy organization focused on advancing
Speaker 1: child health equity through research, policy, and community engagement, and
Speaker 1: we get into a conversation about where we are currently
Speaker 1: with women's reproductive rights, abortion, IBF and more. That conversation
Speaker 1: with Mara Alvarez from Children's Partnership is coming up next, folks.
Speaker 1: I am very excited to welcome to OOKF Daily for
Speaker 1: the very first time. Mayra Alvarez, who is the president
Speaker 1: of the Children's Partnership, a policy and advocacy organization focused
Speaker 1: on advancing child health equity through research, policy and community engagement.
Speaker 1: Myra First, I got to tell you that I feel
Speaker 1: when I have conversations with people in your line of work,
Speaker 1: it is a tough time to be in this type
Speaker 1: of work, in child advocacy, in reproductive care, in any
Speaker 1: type of community that frankly is under attack right now.
Speaker 1: And so I just want to ask you, you know,
Speaker 1: with your organization, with Children's Partnership, how are you dealing
Speaker 1: with the current political climate and attacks that we are
Speaker 1: seeing on our children, on families, and on just our
Speaker 1: well being.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a great question, Danielle.
Speaker 3: Well, first, I just want to say thank you for
Speaker 3: the opportunity to be a part of this conversation and
Speaker 3: for creating the space to engage in the common with you.
Speaker 3: It is a really tough time as advocates for children,
Speaker 3: particularly children from marginalized communities, black and brown families, immigrant communities.
Speaker 3: It's a challenging time, and it's been a challenging time
Speaker 3: for many of our families. Remember, we're not that far
Speaker 3: removed from the global pandemic that hit our families harder
Speaker 3: than other communities, and we're not far removed from the
Speaker 3: very many challenges that they were facing even before that
Speaker 3: global pandemic. So you can imagine it's been difficult. And
Speaker 3: I think what motivates me every day and what gets
Speaker 3: me up every day are the families that we're seeking
Speaker 3: to uplift and the incredible resilience and strength that they're
Speaker 3: bringing to these conversations into this work every day, because
Speaker 3: I think that that resiliency and the ability to move
Speaker 3: forward and believe that we can have hope rests and
Speaker 3: the experiences of our black and brown families that have
Speaker 3: overcome so much for centuries and that continue to lead
Speaker 3: the way, and that continue to be strong, and the
Speaker 3: way they raise their children and the way they contribute
Speaker 3: to their communities, and the way they are demonstrating time
Speaker 3: and time again how strong they are and how they
Speaker 3: are the ones that are holding the solutions that we
Speaker 3: need to abide by in order to create a more welcoming,
Speaker 3: more equitable environment.
Speaker 4: For children and families.
Speaker 3: So that's what gives That's what gives motivation every day
Speaker 3: in our work, and I think we hold on to that,
Speaker 3: hold on to that hope every day.
Speaker 1: You know, it is like you were saying, you know,
Speaker 1: from the beginning throughout history, black and brown families communities
Speaker 1: have faced so many attacks through policy, right through policy
Speaker 1: that whether it is not providing you know, hungry children meals,
Speaker 1: whether it is not providing universal pre K and you know,
Speaker 1: things that would actually go to strength in the family
Speaker 1: and strengthen children and help build of resilience and possibility.
Speaker 1: We have a party, the Republican Party, that has always
Speaker 1: couched themselves and their policies as pro children, as pro life,
Speaker 1: and yet there is nothing that they do that actually
Speaker 1: is about strengthening the lives and the livelihood of children.
Speaker 1: As of late, in some states, they have rolled back
Speaker 1: child labor laws. Right in some states now just recently,
Speaker 1: we're seeing IVF even the ability to create the family
Speaker 1: that you want being taken away from families. We've seen
Speaker 1: the criminalization of people who seek reproductive care through abortion.
Speaker 1: And so I want to talk to you about the
Speaker 1: systematic kind of roll out that we are seeing that
Speaker 1: isn't that is coming from everywhere. It's like, we're going
Speaker 1: to get you while a fetus is in utero, We're
Speaker 1: going to get you. If you're forced into labor, we're
Speaker 1: going to get you. And you know, say that your
Speaker 1: children have to be put to work because in these
Speaker 1: you know, states that are rolling back child labor laws.
Speaker 1: It's not white children that they are targeting. It's not
Speaker 1: white children that are going to be in these in
Speaker 1: these factories. And so I want to get a sense
Speaker 1: from you, how are you able to fight back and
Speaker 1: make the greater case around health and wellness for our children,
Speaker 1: which are in fact the future, not just the future
Speaker 1: of our workforce, not just the future right in terms
Speaker 1: of how capitalism continues to flow, but like really are
Speaker 1: our future and we should be caring for them in
Speaker 1: that way.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, I could not agree with you more.
Speaker 3: And you know at where I work at the Children's
Speaker 3: Partnership where you know, where a nonpartisan organization or one.
Speaker 4: Three, and actually really believe that across.
Speaker 3: The political spectrum, children generally are upheld as this universal
Speaker 3: value that across the board, across income, across race, across ethnicity,
Speaker 3: again across politics, people speak to the issue of children
Speaker 3: as a top priority and it's in their actions that
Speaker 3: we want to hold them accountable. And as you said,
Speaker 3: time and time again, there are certain elected officials who
Speaker 3: are talking about children but not demonstrating that commitment in
Speaker 3: their actions. And I think what's important to remind ourselves
Speaker 3: is that when we talk to people individually, one on one,
Speaker 3: that we can delve deeper than when we talk about
Speaker 3: politics at a national level and we hear soundbites coming
Speaker 3: from elected officials. I think it goes back to this
Speaker 3: idea of building community with one another. It's really hard
Speaker 3: to do that when you're waking up in a twenty
Speaker 3: four to seven news cycle to multiple sound bites that
Speaker 3: are preaching the divisiveness, that are making clear how politically
Speaker 3: contentious everything is, how we're in the stalemate, how we're
Speaker 3: not making progress. And yet in a community level, when
Speaker 3: we are having one on one conversations as parents, as mothers,
Speaker 3: as neighbors.
Speaker 4: There's a shift.
Speaker 3: There's a shift, and I have to believe that that
Speaker 3: one on one interactions, the relationship building, the community building,
Speaker 3: is the absolute necessity to make change happen in this country.
Speaker 3: And it's the only thing that's going to make change
Speaker 3: happen in this country because as people, we can see
Speaker 3: that we are not able to rely on elected officials
Speaker 3: and the way that we have wanted you, because the
Speaker 3: policies that are moving forward are not reflective of what
Speaker 3: families need and want, particularly black and brown families.
Speaker 4: But as you saw with the recent Alabama decision.
Speaker 3: Many white families have spoken out with serious concern about
Speaker 3: what the ramifications of that decision were.
Speaker 4: And I think this is.
Speaker 3: The time to really demonstrate that the decisions that you
Speaker 3: said disproportionately impact black and brown communities are actually lynch
Speaker 3: pins for what is happening to communities at large, right
Speaker 3: And I think that's the danger, and that's why we
Speaker 3: have to really consider ourselves part of one larger community.
Speaker 3: And that only happens with building relationships. And it's you know, again,
Speaker 3: coming out of this pandemic where we saw social isolation
Speaker 3: as a necessity of keeping ourselves safe. In a world
Speaker 3: of increased technology where frankly, you don't have to talk
Speaker 3: to anyone outside of your four walls, creating community and
Speaker 3: building relationship is that much more difficult, but it can
Speaker 3: be done. And again, it is necessary in order to
Speaker 3: ensure that we're going to continue to prioritize the needs
Speaker 3: of our children, in order to prioritize the needs of
Speaker 3: all of us, given that children are our future.
Speaker 4: And again, I.
Speaker 3: Really want to emphasize that we need to start holding
Speaker 3: accountable elected office for their commitments to children, because that
Speaker 3: talking point is just a talking point in many instances,
Speaker 3: and when we think about.
Speaker 5: Being pro life, not being pro embryo, not being pro
Speaker 5: what's happening in that process, but the birthing process, the
Speaker 5: birthing process.
Speaker 3: That has taken far too many lives of black women
Speaker 3: and black birthing people across the country just proportionately dying
Speaker 3: compared to white women. Also when that child is growing
Speaker 3: up their early childhood development and investing in their screenings
Speaker 3: and preventive services, and making sure they can see a
Speaker 3: doctor in their neighborhood in a way that is culturally competent,
Speaker 3: that speaks their language. Those are investments that we have
Speaker 3: to make. Our education system and ensuring that we have
Speaker 3: a public education system that provides the necessary skills and
Speaker 3: environment to support again the healthy development of children. These
Speaker 3: are all incredible responsibility. These that is a society we
Speaker 3: have for children, and that we need to hold our
Speaker 3: elected officials accountable to again across both sides of the aisle,
Speaker 3: and I think it's important to emphasize that that really
Speaker 3: rests in the power of people and really recognizing the
Speaker 3: power of people to hold those elected officials accountable through
Speaker 3: the many very processes of civic engagement that we can
Speaker 3: make happen for people in this country.
Speaker 1: You know, one of the things that I want to
Speaker 1: go back to when you have mentioned COVID a few times,
Speaker 1: and I know that you were appointed to President Biden's
Speaker 1: COVID task Force, I believe in what twenty twenty one
Speaker 1: or twenty twenty What gets me myra is that it's
Speaker 1: been four years, right since the global health pandemic started
Speaker 1: claiming the lives of millions of people in this country
Speaker 1: and globally, since children, jobs, education was disrupted. What troubles
Speaker 1: me about where we are right now is as if
Speaker 1: we have pretended that it never happened, and yet so
Speaker 1: many things are fundamentally different now than they were four
Speaker 1: years ago, particularly how our children feel safe and engage
Speaker 1: with one another, engage with their schooling, the amount of
Speaker 1: education socialization that was lost in that time period that
Speaker 1: we're still building back, and really don't talk about the
Speaker 1: effects of what has happened. So I want to get
Speaker 1: your thoughts on how just we as a society have
Speaker 1: kind of I thought we had an extraordinary opportunity to
Speaker 1: kind of choose a different path, to see what wasn't
Speaker 1: working right and be able to refresh and start a
Speaker 1: new but instead we have, in my opinion, have regressed considerably,
Speaker 1: and so I want to get your thoughts about how
Speaker 1: we have dealt and continue to deal with the effects
Speaker 1: of COVID and that time that we collectively experience together.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Absolutely, I mean I think.
Speaker 3: I'm going I feel like I'm an optimist at my core, Danielle,
Speaker 3: and I hold on to that optimism as a strength
Speaker 3: to believe that we there is hope, and hope is
Speaker 3: something I.
Speaker 4: Hold on to as much as possible.
Speaker 3: And I have to say that one of the greatest
Speaker 3: takeaways from COVID was the opportunity to listen to community
Speaker 3: members about what they needed. Because as we were in
Speaker 3: the thick of COVID, it was clear that the federal
Speaker 3: government couldn't our state governments couldn't do it alone, that
Speaker 3: they could not reach people with the that they needed,
Speaker 3: that they could not educate folks, that they could not
Speaker 3: make people come in to get vaccinations and learn about
Speaker 3: what was necessary in order to keep themselves healthy alone.
Speaker 3: It was only in partnership with community organizations, with church leaders,
Speaker 3: with community health workers and promotas that our state and
Speaker 3: country really was able to make any type of progress
Speaker 3: in response and even within that, you know that disproportionately
Speaker 3: decimated many of our black and brown communities with the
Speaker 3: COVID deaths, with how hard it was hit, I taught
Speaker 3: I think a lot about I shared this when I
Speaker 3: was part of the task force about my own mom,
Speaker 3: you know, during the pandemic, and my own my own siblings,
Speaker 3: my mom, you know, during the pandemic, cleaned houses, My
Speaker 3: mother made, did everything to make ends meet, and there
Speaker 3: was no stopping her job. Right that For many families
Speaker 3: across this country, it was not it was not an
Speaker 3: option to work from home. And for those of us
Speaker 3: privileged myself included, to work from home, it was often
Speaker 3: because there were people facing the frontlines every day and
Speaker 3: recognizing that so I personally was not far removed from
Speaker 3: that for many in our communities they were. And so
Speaker 3: thinking about holding those experiences, putting ourselves in other people's shoes,
Speaker 3: was absolutely necessary during COVID and is that much more
Speaker 3: necessary now? And I think it's those experiences and the
Speaker 3: realization of government how critical the reliance was on partnerships
Speaker 3: with the community that enabled us to again come out
Speaker 3: of that pandemic, but also to think differently about what
Speaker 3: are we doing moving forward? And I see that today
Speaker 3: in our healthcare system. You know, the Biden administration has
Speaker 3: released multiple efforts to try and strengthen community partnerships through
Speaker 3: the federal government, whether it is something like community health
Speaker 3: workers and really stabilizing that workforce across the country, or
Speaker 3: whether it is through local health departments and their collaboration
Speaker 3: with local organizations, or through many of our more historic
Speaker 3: events in our country. There has to be a commitment
Speaker 3: to that partnership in order to make progress. And so
Speaker 3: I'm hopeful that we will continue that trend. And again,
Speaker 3: this is absolutely necessary in black and brown communities, but
Speaker 3: it's absolutely necessary and predominantly white communities do. It's necessary
Speaker 3: in rural communities where we rely, where neighbors rely on
Speaker 3: each other to be able to get support from one
Speaker 3: another and be connected to services and have someone in
Speaker 3: their community that they trust to answer those questions. That
Speaker 3: skepticism of government or the skepticism of large institutions that
Speaker 3: crosses our color lines, and we have to understand that
Speaker 3: we need to work against that in order to ensure
Speaker 3: that there is trust in what the government is able
Speaker 3: to provide. And that is only necessary again through trusted
Speaker 3: messengers through those strong partnerships. So and like I said,
Speaker 3: I have seen some of that as we've worked, you know,
Speaker 3: since the quote unquote ending of the public health emergency.
Speaker 3: And I say quote unquote because for many of our
Speaker 3: low income families, again across color lines, across and ethnicity,
Speaker 3: it's still an emergency. You know, housing is still too
Speaker 3: high of a cost, health care access is still a challenge,
Speaker 3: getting the healthy foods and the mouths of their children
Speaker 3: is still a challenge.
Speaker 4: And so those are emergencies for families every day. So
Speaker 4: when we think.
Speaker 3: About the opportunity to offer flexibilities during the public health emergency,
Speaker 3: which we did many of our public programs, families were
Speaker 3: allowed to stay enrolled in those public programs because they
Speaker 3: didn't want to cause more burdens during the emergency. Why
Speaker 3: aren't we offering those types of same flexibilities now again
Speaker 3: when it's always an emergency for low income families who
Speaker 3: are trying to take care of themselves and their families.
Speaker 4: There were certain.
Speaker 3: Again flexibilities, certain opportunities that afforded themselves in our country
Speaker 3: because of this quote unquote public health emergency or the pandemic.
Speaker 4: And now as we're trying to come out of it.
Speaker 4: How can we explore what needs to stay, what worked in.
Speaker 3: Order to better respond to people's needs during the emergency,
Speaker 3: that we can continue to strengthen how our systems respond
Speaker 3: to people. And I put that back on our elected officials,
Speaker 3: on our policy makers to think that through. Here in California,
Speaker 3: we've asked our state of California to keep children continuously
Speaker 3: enrolled in the medical program so that those first five
Speaker 3: years of life. Why are we asking new parents or
Speaker 3: parents that are stressed out about the first few years
Speaker 3: of their child life to go back and make sure
Speaker 3: you're still eligible for Medicaid.
Speaker 4: Oh, give me your income statements.
Speaker 3: When the overwhelming amount of time people stay eligible, it's
Speaker 3: not like they're making so much more money that they're
Speaker 3: going to be out of eligibility. No, those first five
Speaker 3: years of life. I'm a relatively new mom. My baby's
Speaker 3: two and a half years old, and I went to
Speaker 3: the doctor more times in her first couple of years
Speaker 3: than I have been in.
Speaker 4: My last ten years of my life. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Right, If I had to worry that I didn't have
Speaker 3: insurance coverage or I had to pay full price for
Speaker 3: a vaccination, that is something that no parents should have
Speaker 3: to worry about No parents would have to worry about
Speaker 3: whether they're child's and they get a service. And we
Speaker 3: have the opportunity to do that through our policy process,
Speaker 3: and I think across the political spectrum that's something we
Speaker 3: want to offer.
Speaker 1: Folks, how do you think that we need to be
Speaker 1: talking about the needs of children, children's health as we
Speaker 1: move to one of the most consequential elections in our time.
Speaker 1: Many people are and I know that your organization is nonpartisan,
Speaker 1: and I think that elections are about exercising your responsibility
Speaker 1: as a citizen right to vote for people that will
Speaker 1: represent your best interests, and a lot of people are
Speaker 1: siloed voters. But what we saw, particularly during the pandemic,
Speaker 1: two million women dropped out of the workforce because they
Speaker 1: had to be caretakers. Right. We have seen so much
Speaker 1: again be reshaped by tragedy, by disaster, and I'm wondering
Speaker 1: how you think we focus the narrative over the next
Speaker 1: several months around the needs of families, around the needs
Speaker 1: of children, to energize people in a way that shows
Speaker 1: out in the votes.
Speaker 3: I love that, and that's exactly what we're trying to
Speaker 3: do because to your point, even as a nonpartisan organization,
Speaker 3: we are able to ensure that people are thinking about
Speaker 3: the issues in front of them and who is going
Speaker 3: to best fight for those issues, who is the best
Speaker 3: best fight for their kids for their well being. By
Speaker 3: being in these positions of power and privilege, it's real
Speaker 3: privilege to be an elected official and serve the people
Speaker 3: that sent you there to do this work right.
Speaker 4: And I think what we.
Speaker 3: Talk about when we talk about children's health health is
Speaker 3: oftentimes when you think about health, people think about, oh,
Speaker 3: let me go to the doctor, let me access these services,
Speaker 3: let me have a health insurance card.
Speaker 4: And those are apps absolutely essential tools to health. But
Speaker 4: if you think.
Speaker 3: About our health and our well being, it's connected to
Speaker 3: so many different aspects of our lives. You can look
Speaker 3: at any of our biggest goals as a country, when
Speaker 3: we want our children to do well in school, when
Speaker 3: we want our parents to work a full work week,
Speaker 3: our community members to contribute to the well being.
Speaker 4: Of their community.
Speaker 3: Improving health is connected to every single one of those goals,
Speaker 3: and on an individual level, health is fundamental to opportunity.
Speaker 3: The healthier we are, the more freedom we have to
Speaker 3: pursue our dreams and to contribute to our families and
Speaker 3: our workplaces and our communities. And so we know that
Speaker 3: as we're trying to build in our state a healthier California,
Speaker 3: but a healthier country, we need a chance to have
Speaker 3: many more of our people to be able to reach
Speaker 3: that full potential. And so I think if we think
Speaker 3: about children's health, we need to be able to connect
Speaker 3: it towards those other facets of life, and that as
Speaker 3: we think about the path towards equity, that it's the
Speaker 3: path towards health.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: So I'm really thinking about how we can elevate these
Speaker 3: issues to be far more than the bubble that we
Speaker 3: place our health issues in, and that it is connected
Speaker 3: to nutrition and housing and economic security and racial justice.
Speaker 4: All of these issues are impacting our well being, our health.
Speaker 3: And that is why when we think about our elected
Speaker 3: officials and who we're putting in these positions, we want
Speaker 3: them to hold that and hold the complexity of that,
Speaker 3: because we're putting that on our families every day. A mother,
Speaker 3: a parent can't say I'm going to take care of
Speaker 3: my child care today and take care of their health
Speaker 3: care tomorrow. It's all at once, all the time. And
Speaker 3: as we think about the multifaceted lives of families. We
Speaker 3: need to actually put that responsibility on our policymakers to
Speaker 3: do more than one thing at once as well, and
Speaker 3: oftentimes we're forced to choose.
Speaker 4: And when we think about who.
Speaker 3: Has hit hardest by levels of uninsurance, who's hit hardest
Speaker 3: by levels of food insecurity, housing insecurity, it's often the
Speaker 3: same communities. And so we have again this responsibility on
Speaker 3: our policymakers to move forward that whole child, whole family
Speaker 3: agenda in order to ensure that our families are taken
Speaker 3: care of holistically. And it's a lot of work and
Speaker 3: it's what we should be expecting and demanding of our
Speaker 3: elected officials. And I think as you again, as we
Speaker 3: saw during COVID, as we saw in multiple chants in
Speaker 3: the street, and the calls for justice is what we heard,
Speaker 3: calls for justice, to demand better for the well being
Speaker 3: of our children, particularly our black and brown children. And
Speaker 3: that's what I hope we'll see rise up as we
Speaker 3: head into this election year.
Speaker 1: Amazing Maira, please tell people how they can learn more
Speaker 1: about children's partnerships, how they can get involved.
Speaker 3: Absolutely so, we have a website Www dot Children's partnership
Speaker 3: dot org. We seek to advance a whole child agenda
Speaker 3: utilizing the strength of partnership. We'd love to be connected
Speaker 3: to folks engaged in this work and wanting to do
Speaker 3: better and do right by our children.
Speaker 1: Really appreciate you your work and thank you so much for
Speaker 1: making the time to join WOKF.
Speaker 3: Thank you for the opportunity, Danielle.
Speaker 1: That is it for me today. Dear friends on wok
Speaker 1: F as always power to the people and to all
Speaker 1: the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.