Education and Advocacy Newsletter 
August 2012
Lakeview Pantry
Issue #1
Welcome to Lakeview Pantry's Education and Advocacy Newsletter! 
We invite you to join our journey of understanding hunger and poverty and working towards innovative policy solutions to address  them. 
Urban Poverty
Causes and Policy Interventions
ANL1 Part 1
Recent budget crunches and economic challenges are pushing policy makers, government, social service agencies and researchers to revisit the issue of urban poverty in hopes of creating innovative, effective policy solutions to alleviate it.

The fact is urban poverty in America has remained stubbornly resistant to public policy solutions for decades. In fact, the gap between low-income, inner-city residents and the mainstream has widened since the 1960s. At the same time, a flood of research has attempted to explain the causes of and solutions for urban poverty. Read more 

 

 

A History of Destruction
SROs on the Verge of Extinction
SROANL1

Single Room Occupancy (SRO) hotels have been a feasible housing option for many of America's low-income citizens since the late 19th century.From early 1970s to 1997, Chicago lost nearly 40,000 SRO units. Losses have decreased since 1994 when non-profit organizations began buying and managing SRO hotels, but many are still closing like the Belair, Sheffield House and Ambers Hotel that closed in the last two years alone.Read more 

 

 

Out of the Box
Fresh approaches to poverty reduction
FIIANL1  
The Family Independence Initiative is working to create a model in which families at any income level can come together with friends to determine their own futures; and a system of supports that responds to these self-determined paths.Over this last decade FII has demonstrated that investing in people's strengths and initiative delivers more powerful, sustainable, and cost effective outcomes for low-income families. Their strength-based approach, as radical and as old as America's democracy, is inspired by the historical successes of poor communities in the U.S.
In This Issue
Urban Poverty
A History of Destruction
A Fresh Approach to Poverty Reduction
  Beginning of a New Journey
The Education and Advocacy program was launched in January 2012. The program's goal is to promote effective public and private community and policy initiatives to provide long-term solutions to people struggling with hunger and poverty. Please visit our website to find out more.
What we said!
Lakeview Pantry participated in a public hearing hosted by the Illinois Commission on the Elimination of Poverty at Truman College on August 13th, 2012. Here is our written testimony and feedback on how the state is performing on its mission to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015.
Quick Links
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Other Activities:
  • Lakeview Pantry is now a member of Greater Chicago Food Depository's Champion Advocate Leadership Institute. See their factsheet on Farm Bill 2012.   
  • Lakeview Pantry is an active member of Northside Anti-Hunger Network (NAHN). NAHN's Advocacy Committee has reset its agenda and decided to focus on agency advocacy to better serve food insecure individuals and families in the North side of Chicago. 
  • Single Room Occupancy (SRO) hotels is an important housing option for the low-income in the city and sometimes the only option for many low-income individuals on the North side of Chicago. Lakeview Pantry is working with Lakeview Action Coalition to promote an SRO stabilization ordinance that will protect them from future indiscriminate demolition.     
We are always eager to hear from you. Please let us know your comments and suggestions!
Sincerely,

 


Sreya Sarkar, Director of Education and Advocacy
Lakeview Pantry