September 2015
Building The Movement
Rise Up! Organizing in Emergency Food Programs Guide



Rise Up, produced by WhyHunger's Nourish Network for the Right to Food  program, asked the question, "What can emergency food providers do to address poverty and harness the collective power of the people we connect to at our organizations?" WhyHunger's partners came back with a powerful answer: "We can organize." The guide follows the stories of four of these partners- Alameda County Community Food Bank,  Bread for the City, Mother Hubbard's Cupboard and Neighbors Together -and shows how they use organizing as a tool to champion food justice in their communities. Download the new publication and read the stories here. 
Food Justice Voices: What Ferguson Means for the Food Justice Movement: Issue 1


Find out "What does Ferguson mean for the Food Justice Movement?" in our new thought-provoking series with a special introduction and Issue 1 out now. To lift up critical voices of the movement, WhyHunger's Beatriz Beckford facilitated a national call with dynamic organizers and activists across the country to discuss the connection between the oppression that black communities face at the hands of police violence and at the hands of an unjust food system. Over the next few months, WhyHunger will release a powerful collection featuring the grassroots voices of black leaders working within movement building and food justice to create real social change. We hope you join us for this important conversation and contribute your thoughts. Read the series introduction and the first issue by Malik Yakini, Executive Director of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network and join us for a Twitter Chat on Thursday September 24 at 1PM EST featuring Malik Yakini and other activists using the hashtag #FoodJusticeVoices.
Resources
Webinar: Leveraging Healthcare Funding to Build Healthier Communities 

The Affordable Care Act updated legal requirements for nonprofit hospitals, mandating them to invest significantly more money in communities to address health disparities, promote population health and emphasize preventive care services. The National Good Food Network will be hosting the webinar, Leveraging Healthcare Funding to Build Healthier Communities, which will teach about the legal provisions that are requiring nonprofit hospitals to invest in their communities on Thursday, September 24 at 3:30PM EST. The panelists will explain the specific steps in the process where food organizations can interact with nonprofit hospitals to work together to improve food systems, address food insecurity and promote "food for health." Several examples of communities who have worked in partnership with their local hospitals will illustrate how this partnership works in practice. Register here. 
Webinar: Basic Income-Giving Canadians a Solid Floor to Stand On

Guaranteeing a basic income for all would both greatly reduce the number of Canadians experiencing food insecurity and, importantly, offer a more dignified social safety net that ensures no one falls below a certain income level. The Pod Knowledge Exchange will be hosting a webinar, Basic Income-Giving Canadians a Solid Floor to Stand On, with two esteemed panelists who are leading the charge for basic income, Hugh Segal and Dr. Andrew Pinto on Wednesday September 30 at 12PM EST. Segal has been advocating for basic income through his many political posts as an author, and as an academic. Dr. Pinto is from the Centre for Inner City Health at St. Michael's Hospital and is researching the effects of boosting incomes of low-income and otherwise marginalized patients. Community Food Centre Canada's Chief Operating Officer, Kathryn Scharf, will moderate the conversation, and Food Secure Canada's Executive Director, Diana Bronson, will speak about how people across Canada can join Eat Think Vote-a national campaign for food security. Register here.
News
Black U.S. Farmers, Honduran Afro-Indigenous Share Food Sovereignty Prize


In this moment when it is vital to assert that Black lives matter, the U.S. Food Sovereignty Alliance honors Black and Afro-Indigenous farmers, fishermen, and stewards of ancestral lands and water. We especially commemorate them as a vital part of our food and agriculture system - growers and workers who are creating food sovereignty, meaning a world with healthy, ecologically produced food, and democratic control over food systems. In 2015, the U.S. Food Sovereignty Alliance's two prize winners are: the Federation of Southern Cooperatives in the U.S., and the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras. The prizes will be presented in Des Moines on October 14, 2015. Read more about the winners here.
What We're Reading Now:
"Rebooting Food and Community in New Orleans After Katrina"

The influence of Hurricane Katrina on disparities in food access in New Orleans is one that has been talked about plenty in the last ten years. Richard McCarthy, executive director of Slow Food USA has received several awards for his work to rebuild the food system in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina with his reopening of the farmers market, Crescent City Farmers Market just two months after the hurricane hit. In "Rebooting Food and Community in New Orleans After Katrina," McCarthy delves into how the need to have that feeling of community that could help each other recover and return to some sense of normalcy were the motivators to open the market. Not an easy feat but creating a place to buy fresh food after all the devastation as well as somewhere that was open since grocery stores and schools remained closed for a long time was important. Read more here.
"School Food: It's a Challenge and an Opportunity"

Free For All: Fixing School Food in America (2010) is an engaging, thoroughly researched, inquisitive and sometimes humorous exploration of the challenges and opportunities in school food.Shockingly, 76 percent of public school teachers report that children regularly come to school hungry. For families struggling to make ends meet, school breakfast and lunch provide nutritionally balanced meals for kids, enabling them to concentrate, learn and grow. A mind-boggling five billion lunches are served to nearly 31 million students annually; 70% of students who eat school lunch receive free or reduced cost meals. The book traces the history of the school food programs, the social and political influences on the menu, the challenges of nutrition regulation, the unintended consequences of a three tier payment system, efforts to fix school food at the community level, and policy recommendations. Read WhyHunger staffer Jessica Powers' interview with author and WhyHunger board member Jan Poppendieck here.
"Is Pope Francis a Radical?"

WhyHunger's Co-founder and Ambassador Bill Ayres wrote a reflection piece on Pope Francis' recent encyclical and upcoming U.S. visit. He calls to save Earth and support those that are fighting to have a life free from poverty. Read more here.
Stay Tuned!
Closing The Hunger Gap



The WhyHunger staff just returned from a successful trip to the Closing The Hunger Gap Conference in Portland. Here is the Storify of some of the Tweets from the conference. Feel free to look on Twitter on @WhyHunger and #HungerGap to catch up on some of what happened. Stay tuned to WhyHunger's blog and newsletter; we'll update as soon as we can!
In This Issue
Rise Up! Organizing in Emergency Food Programs Guide
Food Justice Voices: What Ferguson Means for the Food Justice Movement: Issue 1
Webinar: Leveraging Healthcare Funding to Build Healthier Communities
Webinar: Basic Income-Giving Canadians a Solid Floor to Stand On
Black U.S. Farmers, Honduran Afro-Indigenous Share Food Sovereignty Prize
"Rebooting Food and Community in New Orleans After Katrina"
"School Food: It's a Challenge and an Opportunity"
"Is Pope Francis a Radical?"
Closing The Hunger Gap
 
Please verify that your organization's profile is accurate in the database. To update your record, email
database@whyhunger.org. If your organization is not in the database, please join us here.
Our Hotline number has changed to 1-800-5-HUNGRY. Please update your records and find outreach materials here.   
Nourishing Change 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 nourish@whyhunger.org
Like us on Facebook
 
Follow us on Twitter
 
View on Instagram

View our videos on YouTube

Find us on Pinterest
Nourish Network for the Right to Food
WhyHunger
505 Eighth Avenue, Suite 2100
New York, New York 10018
212-629-8850
Contributors: Bill Ayres, Betty Fermin, Evangeline Graham, Debbie Grunbaum, Calondra McArthur and Jessica Powers.