Nonprofits
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Long-term Unemployment Worst Since the Great Depression
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Homophobia Trumps Anti-Poverty Mission of DC Archdiocese
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Putting Veterans To Work
Help YouTube Document Hunger in America
Published November 06, 2009 @ 09:00AM PT
Do you know of or work for a nonprofit organization that helps to alleviate the causes of hunger in America? If so, our friends over at YouTube want to hear (and see!) about it.
YouTube's Video Volunteer program is a simple way to raise awareness about the organizations and issues you care about. This month, the program is seeking short videos (of no more than three minutes) profiling nonprofits that work to end hunger in America.
It doesn't matter if you're involved with Feeding America or a tiny food pantry in a rural area. This is a fantastic opportunity to show the world how you work to stop hunger in the United States everyday.
If that wasn't enough, the top three videos submitted will be featured on the YouTube homepage at the end of November.
Go out there and get those cameras rolling, and then click here to submit your video!
(Photo credit: topgold on Flickr)
How to Donate Your Ample Harvest
Published October 28, 2009 @ 09:48AM PT
Anyone who gardens can tell you that there's a certain point in September when you can't even give away all the extra tomatoes sitting out in your garden.
It was with this realization and the desire to alleviate hunger across the nation that led Gary Oppenheimer to found AmpleHarvest.org. Speaking with Mr. Oppenheimer this morning, I learned that AmpleHarvest.org was launched with the vision to become a comprehensive national database that allows anybody to find a neighborhood food pantry to donate garden produce to.
Although the site has only been live since May 2009, it already has more than 1,000 pantries registered to receive excess produce from neighborhood gardeners in all 50 states.
Mr. Oppenheimer highlighted the need for such a resource with a great example. With so few large food banks in states like Vermont, it's possible that if you had an extra bag of potatoes from your garden, you'd have to drive several hours away just to donate them. With AmpleHarvest.org, you can connect with a food pantry a few miles from your home.
Food Pantry System Needs an Overhaul
Published October 26, 2009 @ 10:05AM PT
With many food pantries around the country being operated by "little old ladies in sneakers," hunger advocates are beginning to worry about who will staff these indispensable operations once an exceedingly aging volunteer base can no longer do it.
After popping up in major cities and small towns alike during the 1970s, food pantries are now being hit with the greatest increase in demand (which has risen between 30 and 70 percent over the past year) they have ever experienced. This is especially troublesome for the elderly volunteers whose bodies simply cannot work any faster or harder.
Many are hoping that as the civically-minded baby boomer generation heads toward retirement, a new group of hunger activists will begin to pick up the slack. It's certainly good news that out of the three billion hours baby boomers spent volunteering last year, nearly 25 percent of that time went to collecting or distributing food.
However, with the recession wiping out many retirement accounts, there's no guarantee that baby boomers will be able to actually leave their paying jobs for the volunteer realm anytime soon.
How Environmental Justice Works
Published October 15, 2009 @ 09:03AM PT
Through MIT, I've had the opportunity to provide research and writing for a range of social justice clients, including grassroots groups fighting for environmental justice and green economic development. I've written occasionally about EJ here, but I've never really taken the time to define it. Embracing this frame is imperative as stimulus funds flow and talk of "green jobs" and "green development" abound.
Today, in honor of Blog Action Day 2009, in which Change.org hosts over 8k blogs from 135 countries worldwide to blog about Climate Change to raise awareness of this pressing global problem, I want to provide some important information on environmental justice, racism and equity to inform your climate change activism. To be effective climate change activists, we cannot forget the unequal and unfair impacts borne by low-income communities, often communities of color, often in the US South, on reservations and borderlands, from environmental degradation. Read on to learn more about these critical frames and see how one group in San Diego, the Environmental Health Coalition, is succeeding in pursuing environmental equity for low-income Latin@ communities there.
Signs of Trouble: United Way Collections and Surveys
Published October 09, 2009 @ 05:06AM PT
Mansfield, a gutsy little city of 50,000 in the middle of Ohio, might be a good place to take the pulse of our nation's war on economic doldrums. My recent visit there provided food for thought to share with Poverty in America readers.
Two ominous signs:
- The local United Way collection last year was $250,000 below target, and this year the GM plant is closing, an additional shortfall of about $200k from employees' UW contributions. Ouch!
- A surprising (not really) result of an informal poll of the 19 high school students I was speaking to at Mansfield's St. Peter's High School: When I asked how many either experienced homelessness or knew someone who had, 6 responded positively.
Help Hard to Get in 'Burbs
Published October 06, 2009 @ 07:31AM PT
The NYT ran two contrasting articles on the NY suburbs this weekend, highlighting the preservation and development plans for Long Island and the difficulty in accessing social services suburbanites have during the recession. They're worth reading together; L.I. public officials are promising to preserve the cherished single family homes and open spaces of the region, while hard-hit households struggle to find and get to the few shelters, soup kitchens and emergency service providers in the suburbs. Is this just a discrepancy that improved public transportation could resolve?
Nominate a Changemaker Today!
Published October 04, 2009 @ 01:01PM PT
Change.org has launched a new competition, Changemakers, "to identify the leading activists, elected officials, authors, bloggers, actors and thought leaders who have the greatest capacity to spark change on issues of importance."
Changemakers will be invited to write on one of the many social change issues we cover here at Change.org to mobilize the countless readers and activists we have here to take action. You can vote on those you'd like to see here at Change.org, and also nominate your own.
I voted for: Ben Jealous, Cleve Jones, Cory Booker, Gloria White Hammond, Jim Wallis, John Lewis, Majora Carter (above photo), Sister Helen Prejean, and Zainab Salbi.
I nominated Geoffrey Canada of Harlem Children's Zone, Cheri Honkala of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign and the Kensington Welfare Rights Union, and Bertha Lewis of ACORN.
I also think I will nominate Angela Glover Blackwell of PolicyLink and James Perry of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Center and a leading candidate for Mayor of New Orleans.
Vote Today and Nominate your Favorite Anti-Poverty Activists and Leaders!
Photo of Dr. Majora Carter, MacArthur Genius and Founder of Sustainable South Bronx, by mospeaks
