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Stories from the Hotline:
Helping Veterans Access Food
A retired Navy veteran from Cape Girardeau, Missouri called the National Hunger Hotline 1-866-3-HUNGRY (1-866-348-6479) on behalf of his wife and himself. He stated that they are both seniors, aged 69. They receive $600 in SSI, but since rent is $400 and electricity is about $100, they are only left with about $26 for food. They don't have a car, and to take a taxi into the city to get food costs $21. The Hotline advocate provided the contact information for a few pantries in the area and the caller said he'd already spoken with them and can only get food once a month. The advocate then provided information for a food bank that offered a mobile food pantry service with several stops scheduled for the next couple of weeks in his area.
Help spread the word! National Hunger Hotline posters, web banners and other promotional materials are available for download here.
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Survey-- Moving Beyond Charity: Who's at the Table and What's on the Table.
WhyHunger is deeply committed to supporting community groups develop lasting changes that reduce poverty and build community food security. We're also committed to supporting the emergence of grassroots leadership in the anti-hunger movement. To better understand the activities and nature of our partner organizations, we have developed a brief survey in collaboration with long-time colleague and former Community Food Security Coalition co-founder and Executive Director, Andy Fisher.
Please respond for one organization, for which you are a staff, Board member or participant. Your responses are anonymous. Survey results will be published in WhyHunger's Fall newsletter and in Andy Fisher's forthcoming book on the anti-hunger movement (to be published in 2015 or 2016). The survey is ten questions and should take no more than 5 minutes of your time. The deadline for your response is October 20th. Thanks for participating in this survey!
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WhyHunger's Community Learning Project
At WhyHunger, one of our goals is to create a network of emergency food providers working towards community food security. One of our core approaches in the Nourish Project is the Community Learning Project (CLP), a one-year peer-to-peer learning exchange which facilitates knowledge and resource sharing and builds institutional capacity for emergency food providers in the community food security/food justice movement.
We know there is a growing group of emergency food providers around the country who are thinking about and taking action towards redefining their roles in addressing food insecurity in their communities. Is your organization thinking about and/or engaging in community food security work? Is there something you'd like to share with and learn from another organization? If so, we'd like to get to know you! If you are interested in participating in Nourish's Community Learning Project, tell us about your organization here. We are particularly interested in hearing from organizations addressing health and chronic disease management in low-income communities.
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What We're Reading Now: Racial Justice
At the WhyHunger office in New York City, we often circulate articles that spark conversation and keep us updated on the latest news in food justice. Recently, one article that was sent around titled " Seven Ways Funders Can Support Racial Justice" got us thinking and talking about racial justice philanthropy and how and why to take chances on funding the early stages of movement building. Understanding racial justice and movement building is vital to successfully funding projects that will have the greatest positive impact. We've been reading articles that support this idea, and here are a few of our favorites:
2. The Case for Reparations
Told through the story of Clyde Ross, a man who escaped the violence of 1920s Mississippi only to be denied home ownership by property owners and bankers in Chicago, this article weaves a challenging image of the intentionality of segregation and racial injustice in the United States. Powerfully and persuasively written, this story details the history of race relations from redlining to slavery and back again, and names them as the events that led to the embedded structural racism in America today. The implications of history for today's racial divisions form the backbone of the article, which ultimately calls for reparations, defined by the author as "the full acceptance of our collective biography and its consequences." If you only read one thing on this list, read this stunning piece by Ta-Nehisi Coates for The Atlantic.
Read the full list here.
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Help for Seniors and People with Disabilities through SNAP's Excess Medical Expense Deduction
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a report about SNAP's underutilized excess medical expense deduction. SNAP allows households to deduct unreimbursed medical expenses over $35 per month from their income in calculating their net income for SNAP purposes to more realistically reflect the income they have available to purchase food. This, in turn, could potentially qualify them for higher SNAP benefits.
The medical expense deduction can have a significant impact on SNAP benefits. For a typical senior living alone, claiming $50-$200 in medical expenses can result in an additional $7-$69 in SNAP benefits a month.
A wide range of medical and related expenses may be deducted, including many that health insurance does not cover and that SNAP participants may overlook. Deductible expenses include transportation costs to a doctor or pharmacy, over-the-counter drugs, medical supplies, and home renovations to increase accessibility. It is important to inform eligible households of the range of deductible expenses so they can fully leverage the deduction. Read the full report here.
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National Hunger Data Released: WhyHunger Calls for Long-Term Change
This month, United States Department of Agriculture released its annual report on household food security in the US, Feeding America released their quadrennial Hunger in America study, and the Census Bureau released their annual income and poverty report.
With an estimated 14.3 percent of American households experiencing food insecurity during 2013, the state of hunger is the US remains virtually unchanged. While government nutrition programs and emergency food distribution remain essential to keeping families, veterans, seniors, working adults and children nourished and healthy, it is time to embrace a long-term vision for community food security.
This vision includes:
- a living wage;
- increased access to nutritious food in underserved communities;
- a clear plan to increase access to jobs and affordable housing;
- investments in local food and farm economics;
- support for community-based programs that promote self-reliance;
- policies and practices that mitigate climate change and its potential devastating impact on crops and livestock worldwide;
- a strengthened and improved government safety net in the form of federal food programs like SNAP, National School Lunch and School Breakfast and WIC and other basic benefits;
- a shift in our food system, to one that nourishes whole communities and values people over profits.
Read more here.
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SNAP Employment and Training Program
SNAP is an important support for working families- 42 percent of SNAP participants live in households with earnings. USDA is committed to improving work services for SNAP recipients. While SNAP remains an important component of the nation's nutrition safety net, the SNAP Employment and Training (E&T) Program can play an important role in helping participants gain skills, training and experience that lead to employment and greater self-sufficiency.
The SNAP E&T program is administered at the State level and overseen by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) at the Federal level. State agencies choose the components that make up their E&T programs, including: job search and job search training; workfare; basic education or vocational training; and job retention services.
The 2014 Farm Bill provides $200 million to conduct and evaluate up to 10 E&T pilot projects. These pilots will allow USDA and State partners build on existing SNAP E&T programs and test a number of approaches and strategies with the goal to identify effective strategies and to connect even more SNAP participants with better work opportunities. Learn more here.
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Please verify that your organization's profile is accurate in the database. To update your record, email nhc@whyhunger.org. If your organization is not in the database, please join us here.
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The Clearinghouse Connection is meant to encourage conversation and dialogue about transforming communities, community food security and the emergency food system. We want to hear from you! Email us at nhc@whyhunger.org.
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National Hunger Clearinghouse
WhyHunger
505 Eighth Avenue, Suite 2100
New York, New York 10018
212-629-8850
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Contributors: Susanne Babb, Betty Fermin, Andy Fisher, Debbie Grunbaum, Katrina Moore and Jessica Powers.
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