Guest Bloggers
The "Hidden Scandal" of American Hunger
Published June 18, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
What happens when gas prices reach such heights that poor families in rural areas can't afford to drive into town to visit the food pantry? What happens when quitting your job is actually more economically sound than spending $200 a week on gas to reach employment 50 miles away? What happens when you have to choose between feeding your children or buying needed prescriptions? What happens when the social safety net fails to catch those who are falling into chronic hunger?
These are some of the questions that Sasha Abramsky seeks to address in his recently-released book Breadline USA: The Hidden Scandal of American Hunger And How To FIx It. Admittedly, I have only just started reading it and am about 40 pages in right now. However, I wanted to let all you hunger advocates know about this book in case you haven't heard of it already.
When School Lunch Goes on Summer Vacation...
Published June 11, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT
...what happens to the nation's hungry children?
This question will become increasingly relevent over the next few weeks as schools across the country begin to close down for summer recess. Community leaders and anti-hunger advocates are beginning to worry about what students who participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) will do now that their free lunch is no longer available.
According to statistics provided by the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service division, in 2008 18.5 million children in the United States received free or reduced price lunch as part of the NSLP. This represents 60 percent of the program 's 31 million participants. For many children, these meals represent the main source of nutrition in their young lives.
Did He Really Just Say Geography of Opportunity??!
Published June 10, 2009 @ 04:59AM PT
This week, I am at the annual conference of the National Fair Housing Alliance in Washington, DC. The conference is an opportunity for fair housing advocates to come together and get updates about how our work is playing out across the country. Fair housing work is intricately connected to the struggle against poverty because where you live determines your access to so many other resources.
One exciting aspect of this year’s conference is that the U.S. Dept of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Dept of Justice (USDOJ) are actively demonstrating a renewed commitment to civil rights after eight years of the Bush Administration’s apathy and hostility to civil and human rights. HUD Secretary Donovan and other new administration officials spoke at the conference, and their ideas, commitments, and knowledge were overall refreshing.
Some aspects of Secretary Donovan’s keynote address that were particularly exciting were:
Being Broke
Published June 07, 2009 @ 09:05AM PT
And so, as I try to put the furniture back where it was, and wake up a couple of sleeping party guests, we can return this site to Leigh pretty much as we found it (along with a note promising to replace the broken lamp). Since Greg and Diane and I couldn't apparently solve the poverty problem in a week, there will still be plenty for Red to write about.
Just to get Leigh started, I'll hand it back to her with a pressing issue Diane touched on yesterday - the growing sense that our economic crisis has become a state-level problem, bankrupting state budgets, and causing them to cut services... often to the neediest populations, at just the worst moment.
Being Right
Published June 06, 2009 @ 05:12AM PT
Memory is good and bad. Remembering the "shenanigans" of the good ol' days, the early '80s, my memory is split: I clearly remember, as I was sprouting up in the grassroots activist community, bemoaning with others the changes of the venerable Ronald Reagan, changes we knew would prove disastrous for poor and vulnerable people.
As much as I like being right, I wish I was way off track on that prediction. But those of us who saw the train heading down the track, looking at scores of people chained to the railroad ties, we knew the poor were going to get creamed, and would become worse off. It's been gradual on some levels, seismic on others, but it's happening.
Friday Hunger Round-Up
Published June 05, 2009 @ 12:43PM PT
Happy Friday everyone!
Hope you're all getting ready for a fantastic weekend, that is, if this rain ever does stop.
Here are a few stories making news in the hunger world this week:
-The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Network and the non-profit group Share Our Strength are teaming up to fight childhood hunger through an initiative that will build gardens in underserved communities across the country. The goal of the program is to end childhood hunger for twelve million children by 2015. I'm glad to see the USDA setting a great example by encouraging everyone to grow at least a little of their own food. For children, being involved in the production of fruits and veggies makes them much more likely to try them (and enjoy them) when they're adults.
Activist? Passivist [sic]?
Published June 05, 2009 @ 06:12AM PT
When Leigh turned over the reins to bloggers like me and my blog-mates, I joked that she'd be out of a job because we'd end poverty while she was gone. We better hurry! I'm going to take indecent liberties with today's post and ask indirectly related to poverty, important, questions:
Has anyone had a recurring fear that pounding keyboards on blogs and twittering your thumbs off run the risk of stopping the essential outpouring of volunteerism or support for not-for-profits?
Does the Internet contribute to the transition from Activist to Passivist?
