Guest Bloggers
Understanding Medicaid Reform
Published August 07, 2009 @ 05:13AM PT
Just a quick note to let you know that I've asked occasional guest blogger NycWeboy to post here weekly on the healthcare debate, paying particular attention to the issue of Medicaid reform and possible expansion. I thought it would be a nice accompaniment to Tim's Healthcare blog, and I for one could certainly stand to learn more about the Medicaid argument.
Then I can make sense of these fretful articles about governors fighting with the feds over who's going to pick up the check for this expansion. Sigh.
A New Approach to the Old Food Bank Model
Published August 06, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
Visiting the local food bank has always been viewed as somewhat of an impersonal experience chalk full of long lines, barren walls and sunken faces. You show up, wait your turn and then, if you're lucky, receive a few grocery bags full of post-expiration goods.
It is this routine that sometimes causes people to avoid taking advantage of a food bank's services, even if they desperately need them.
Sasha Abramky, in his book Breadline USA (which I've referenced before), visits a food pantry in Sacramento, California and offers this reflection:
I stopped at the table with whittled-down pencils and short charity request forms to fill in. Once inside, I made a U-turn, going back down the interior side of the brick wall that I had just advanced along from the outside. To my left was a painted wall with a sheet of metal, etched with years of graffiti; to my right, dull white-and-blue painted bricks...This wasn't a supermarket without cash registers, a consumer place of choice, of lifestyles realized. It was, I felt, rather a place for the spreading of tuberculosis or the flu, as well as every other germ, real and imagined; it was truly a last-stop hotel, a room where dignity came to die.
It was probably the desire to move away from such an institutional setting that pushed the University District Food Bank (UDFB) in Seattle to develop a new way for clients to get their hands on much-needed food.
States of Disarray... Out in The Woods
Published August 05, 2009 @ 11:15AM PT
I've been on a little vacation the past week or so, the kind of vacation my family excels at: a little 
relaxation, a lot of political discussion.
As the trip got underway, Mom and I shared a moment of dismay and horror over this story in the New York Times, illustrating the problems many states are having financially (in this case, Alabama):
It is hardly unusual these days for a government building to forgo a fresh paint job or regular lawn care to cut costs. But last week, the director of the Jefferson County public nursing home was told that the county could no longer afford to bury indigent patients.
Across town at the juvenile detention center, the man in charge was trying to figure out how to feed the 28 children in his custody when the entire cafeteria staff is let go. The tax collector warned local school districts to expect a six-month delay to get their share of property taxes. In family court, administrators plan to delay child support, custody and child abuse cases, leaving some children in the hands of the state indefinitely....
“Outside of the city of Detroit,” said Robert A. Kurrter, a managing director with Moody’s Investors Service, “it’s fair to say we haven’t seen any place in America with the severity of problems that they’re experiencing in Jefferson County.” Moody’s rates Jefferson County’s credit lower than any other municipality in the country.
'Bamboozle' A Golden Rule for Some
Published July 31, 2009 @ 05:19AM PT
I'm a naysayer, a contrarian. I've always been that way. It comes in handy, especially when sorting out the abundant tomfoolery hoisted upon us by "them that have the gold," the Tarnished Golden Rule of Politics. An abundance of news, opinions and blogs about poverty-related issues illustrate how this rule works.
Recent news accounts of Wall Street's audacious behavior and self-interested medical providers illustrate the power of money in guiding (mis) behavior. Follow the money and you'll figure out this nation's and world's woes. Many in Congress and most corporations tend to follow the bucks which gets them in trouble.
Why Food Matters
Published July 30, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
I realize that for a blog that is dedicated to understanding and alleviating the sources of poverty, I talk quite a bit about food. This is mainly because I think food, at it's best, can help people rise up out of poverty; and at its worst, contribute to diet-related health problems and force farm laborers to live an undignified life of poverty and despair.
Many times in the realm of poverty work, it seems as though food is addressed only in the most simple of terms: do people have enough of it, or not?
But there are so many other reasons why food, both producing and eating it, matters to those less fortunate than most of us. Here are a few:
1) One of the single greatest indicators of a persons likeliness to become obese is income level. The rationale is simple: the less money you have available to spend on food, the more likely you are to purchase products that give you the greatest bang for your buck.
Poverty: The Elephant (or Giant, Bloodthirsty Rat) in the Room
Published July 29, 2009 @ 05:08AM PT
Among more pleasant things, like snoballs and crawfish, it seems that summer in post-Katrina New Orleans is marked by horrific, nearly unbelievable local news stories involving some sort of gory death or injury. In 2006, for example, Zachary Bowman strangled, dismembered and cooked his girlfriend before committing suicide by jumping from the roof a French Quarter hotel. Ideally, these hair-raising stories might spark more informed conversations amongst both our elected leaders and everyday residents about issues ranging from mental health to recreational activities for our young people to policing and crime prevention.
Recently, another horrifying news story surfaced in the New Orleans area. On July 18, three-month old Natalie Hill’s parents awoke to find Natalie dead in her crib, with hundreds of what looked to be rat bites all over her. Her nose and part of one of her legs had been completely chewed off. There were bloody rodent footprints in the crib and on the floor around it. Since then, the Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office has ruled that Natalie did indeed bleed to death from rat bites.
Although many people jumped to conclusions about the quality of Natalie's parental care in the wake of this horrific death, this is really a story about poverty and the quality of our affordable housing stock.
Suggestions for the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act
Published July 23, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
When Congress finally gets around to discussing the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act this fall (if they ever get this pesky health care reform thing out of the way), I'll have a few suggestions for how to make school nutrition programs more effective at providing healthy meals to the nation's children.
Before I go into the specifics, here's a little background on the importance of this legislation:
Every five years the window of opportunity opens on Capitol Hill as lawmakers and their staff work together to improve, tweak and reauthorize the federal Child Nutrition Programs....The School Breakfast Program and the National School Lunch Program are permanently authorized. However the other child nutrition programs that affect school nutrition operators must be reauthorized every five years. The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), State Administrative Expenses (SAE), the Special Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and other smaller pieces of the complete package of child nutrition programs must be renewed because they have actual expiration dates.
As you can see, proper attention must be paid to this reauthorization because it includes provisions for some of the most important supplemental nutrition programs we have in this country. With the economy still sputtering and demand at food pantries and soup kitchens continuing to climb, it is of the utmost importance to strengthen these programs and provide them with adequate funding.
