HH2008

NEW YORK CITY NEWS

Off the Rolls, But Not in the Workforce

For the past decade, New York City’s Human Resources Administration (HRA) has cited declining welfare rolls as proof that the City is effectively moving benefits recipients towards self-sufficiency. But the numbers from city shelters, soup kitchens and food pantries tell a different story, say NYCCAH Executive Director Joel Berg and City Councilmember Bill de Blasio.

From November 2007 to 2008, the City’s welfare caseload dropped by 7,829 even as more families were forced to go emergency food programs and the number of homeless families reached a 25-year peak of 9,720. According to the city’s own data, unemployment rates also climbed by 25% percent last year, contradicting HRA’s assertion that former welfare recipients have transitioned to long-term employment.

“Over the past few years – and especially during the current economic downturn –families removed from the welfare rolls have been consistently unable to find substantial work opportunities and are instead being pushed deeper into poverty and increasingly forced to use food pantries and soup kitchens. That’s not real welfare reform – that’s a counterproductive policy of punishing poor people for being poor,” said Berg.

A recent report by Community Voices Heard (CVH), a partnership of low-income welfare activists, showed that only 9% of those enrolled in HRA’s “Back to Work” employment assistance program found jobs through the program. HRA disputes the findings, but advocates and government officials have responded to the report by calling on HRA to create stronger programs to promote education and living-wage employment.

To Help Food Programs, Think Outside the Donation Box

For churches, business and schools across the city, food drives have become the go-to method for supporting local food pantries and regional food drives. But, no matter how many donation boxes are filled to overflowing, food drives are an inefficient way to keep the shelves stocked at emergency food programs. Soup kitchens and food pantries use government grants and donated funds to buy food at deep discounts from food banks and private companies. Because of these discounts, the food purchasing power of these programs is sometimes as much as ten times that of an ordinary consumer, meaning that the 99 cents a well-intentioned food drive participant spends on a can of beans could buy ten cans of beans if the donor gave that money directly to a food pantry.

If you or your organization are interested in supporting City soup kitchens and food pantries, here are some other ideas that will really help fuel food programs in the coming year:

Get involved in advocacy efforts to increase and streamline food stamp benefits, provide public school students with free meals, and increase state and federal funding for emergency food programs.
Use your professional skills to contribute to an emergency food program as a long-term volunteer. Many emergency food programs are severely under-staffed and in need of accounting, web design or development help. Visit NYCCAH’s Volunteer Matching Center to find a professional volunteering opportunity near you.
Collect funds for your local soup kitchen or food pantry. If your organization is interested in developing a long-term relationship with an emergency food program, consider a funding drive rather than a food drive.

STATE AND NATIONAL ROUNDUP

State Adds $1 Million in Stopgap Funding for Food Banks

On December 30, Governor Paterson announced a $1 million emergency increase in state funding to regional food banks to be paid out before the state budget goes into effect on April 1. Paterson slashed funding for emergency food programs by 22% in early 2008, but returned to $1 million to state emergency food coffers in October.

Paterson’s proposed 2009 budget includes a $4.4 funding boost for state soup kitchens, food pantries and shelters. If enacted, the new budget would move the state closer to restoring previous funding levels and meeting the recent spike in demand for emergency food. Human services advocates have criticized the Governor for his extreme funding cuts, which Paterson has himself called “draconian.”

The Governor’s announcement coincided with a report that the state Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP—formerly known as food stamps) received a $364 million increase in federal funding over the past 15 months. A record 2.1 million New Yorkers received SNAP benefits in November 2008.

Ag Leaders Support Food Stamp Stimulus

Senate agriculture leaders voiced their support for including an increase in food stamp spending in the upcoming federal stimulus package. Senate Agriculture Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Senate Agriculture Appropriations Chairman Herb Kohl (D-WI) have joined President-elect Obama and a growing number of financial analysts in identifying a food stamps hike as the most effective means for boosting economic activity.

According to a report by financial analysts at Goldman Sachs, every food stamp dollar spent generates $1.73 in economic activity, compared to a $1.26 rate of return on tax rebates. Unlike cash rebates, which more affluent consumers may save or use to pay off debt, food stamp recipients usually spend their benefits immediately for necessities, resulting in quicker bang for the stimulus buck.

Though the deadline for the next stimulus package remains unclear, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has stated that the House will forgo its President’s Day recess if a stimulus package has not been drawn up by February 16. President-elect Obama’s proposed stimulus package will cost an estimated $800 billion over the two years.

Reviving King’s Dream to End Hunger

When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. surveyed the state of American life over 40 years ago, he saw a nation fractured by racial inequalities and glaring poverty. Though King is best remembered for his dedication to ending oppressive racial divisions, he also dreamed of the day when all Americans would have enough to eat.

On January 20, Barack Obama will be inaugurated the first African-American President of a nation where 36 million people still live in homes that can’t afford enough food. The nation’s progress towards racial equality has not been matched by its commitment to eradicating poverty, says NYCCAH Executive Director Joel Berg, despite the fact that an end to poverty is wholly attainable. “Had America ever chosen to do so, it could have wiped out domestic poverty and hunger far more rapidly than it could have achieved King's goals of racial equality or world peace,” says Berg.

President Johnson’s War on Poverty successfully cut poverty rates in half, until War on Poverty initiatives lost political steam in the 1970s. As a result, in 2007 there were 14 million more Americans living under the poverty line than in 1973.

What we need now is a new commitment to ending hunger. “Increased government support, economic growth, community involvement, and a focus on personal responsibility are all needed to solve the problem,” says Berg. As citizens, it is our job to push the new administration to keep its promise to low-income Americans so that Dr. King’s dream of ending hunger can finally become a reality. Let’s make it our collective resolution for 2009.

donate unsubscribe