Strengthen Your County Welfare to Work Plans

Your county has just finished updating its welfare to work employment plan for the next two years, laying out how it plans to deal with issues such as education, college, job creation, transitional services, education, training, post employment services, transitional benefits, child care, domestic violence, disabilities, transportation... and more. You should review a copy of the plan and make suggestions for improvements. Contact Brett Van Zandt in our Albany office (hannysbrett@aol.com) for a copy of our updated guide to these plans.

State Budget Stalled - Passage Likely in May

The State Legislature once again failed to pass a budget on time. It increasingly looks like the Legislature will pass a "barebones" budget for the second year in a row, continuing the cuts in human service and other vital programs. This includes continuing the $2 million cut in funding for emergency foods (i.e., HPNAP - Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program). The State Assembly has not been willing to advocate for any increased revenues, such as by postponing new tax cuts for banks or insurance companies, or enacting a small (1 to 2%) increase in the Personal Income Tax rate for the wealthiest New Yorkers.

Hunger Action joined with SENSES and other groups to launch the Don't TAP TANF campaign to oppose the Governor's proposal to divert up to $800 million of the $2.3 billion surplus from the federal TANF block grant into programs that do not directly provide services to TANF participants. The Governor for instance wants to divert $345 million of TANF funds to replace existing state dollars used for the Tuition Assistance Program; these frees up money for the governor to spend on tax cuts and more corporate welfare. Hunger Action continues to push for passage of legislation to allow welfare participants to attend college (A7286A) and to expand access to basic education and training programs (A7933)

Hunger Action Network Fundraising Benefit Wednesday May 8

Hunger Action Network of New York State will hold its 12th annual A TOAST TO NEW YORK (formerly Feast for Famine), Wednesday, May 8, 2002, 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. held at the Polish Community Center of Albany, Washington Ave. Ext. This is an evening of feasting on the Capital Region's finest food and drink. The honorary co-chairs of the event are Danny Donahue, President of the Civil Service Employee's Association, and Benita Zahn of WNYT-TV. Sponsors include Albany Public School Teachers' Association, CSEA, Hanaford Brothers, NYS Nurses Association, Metroland, WZMR, and Times Union. Several dozen of the area's leading restaurants, coffeehouses, and microbreweries will participate, include Bayou Café, Benmarl Winery, Debbie's Kitchen, El Mariachi, Justin's, Londonderry Café, New World Home Cooking, Palmer House Café, Shades of Green, The Chocolate Gecko, Albany Pump Station and Ten Springs Brewery. Tickets are $40. Volunteers are needed both for the event and for Hunger Action Network's ongoing anti-hunger work. Please call 434-7371 for more information.

Gardeners Needed! Plant an Extra Row

Gardeners! Spring is here and it's time to start working in your community garden again. Gardens can help bring peace and unity to communities, and they provide much needed fresh produce to low- income New Yorkers. If you are interested in starting a garden for yourself or in conjunction with an Emergency Food Program, please contact Hunger Action for assistance. Please consider planting an extra row or two in your garden this spring and donating fresh fruits and vegetables to a food pantry in your community.

Welfare Reform Heats Up at the National Level

Hunger Action Network has been busy promoting ending poverty as the true goal of welfare reform for the reauthorization of the TANF program, including: measuring the success of welfare reform based on poverty reduction; expanding access to education and training; restoring benefits to legal immigrants; providing funds for job creation; strengthening transitional benefits; counting care giving as work; and supporting domestic violence victims. Hunger Action continues to push the legislation introduced by Cong. Mink (HR3113). Hunger Action Network recently organized a briefing in DC on welfare reform for New York's Congressional delegation and staff with the help of Cong. Mike McNulty. Hunger Action was also the only state level anti-hunger advocacy group in the country invited to speak at the recent House hearing on TANF reauthorization

ACTION ALERT: YOUR PHONE CALLS NEEDED!

Call Senator Lieberman to Say: Don't Support the Carper-Bayh Welfare Reform Bill! He needs to hear from folks outside his state! Sen. Lieberman is considering signing on to this bill which is a more conservative bill then others being considered. Call 1-877-270-5440 and ask to speak to the Chief of Staff (or the Legislative Director) for Senator Lieberman and ask Sen. Lieberman to agree not to co-sponsor the Carper/Bayh welfare reform legislation.
Call your own Senators, too, and make sure they know how you feel! If the staff says "we are working to change the Carper/Bayh legislation to soften the 40 hour requirement and restore benefits to immigrants" say "THAT IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH. You should support legislation that would increase access to education and training, fully restore benefits to immigrants and stop welfare time limits for families who are playing by the rules."

Summer Food Program Sponsors Needed

You can help feed kids by becoming a Summer Food Service Program sponsor! The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) offers free meals to children during the summer. Sponsors provide meals and are then reimbursed by the federal government. The program is a great resource of nutritious food for all children. However, there are many eligible children who are not benefitting from the program. In New York, there is an immense need for this program and with your support, we can reach more children. Become a Site Sponsor! Schools, youth and recreation centers, community organizations, non-profits, and camps can become a site sponsor. Your agency may be eligible to become a sponsor. Please contact Sheila or Susannah at Hunger Action to receive more information about the program.

Hunger: Roots and Responses Conference, Albany June 18

Hunger Action will be cosponsoring a statewide conference on hunger and poverty at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany on June 18th, 2002. Dr. Larry Brown of the Brandeis Center on Hunger is the keynote speaker. The goal of the conference is to bring together anti-hunger advocates, service providers and customers/consumers from across New York State to share information and to learn about existing programs and important upcoming legislative items. Conference participants will attend valuable workshops on programmatic issues such as child nutrition, food stamps, TANF, and model programs, and get to know each other while receiving valuable training. Hunger Action is joining SENSES, Nutrition Consortium, City Harvest, CFRC, and NYCCAH to host the conference. Please contact Hunger Action to register.

Help Build Food Security By Starting a Seed and Seedling Distribution Program

Community organizations are in a good position to reach out to low-income New Yorkers, and starting a Seed and Seedling Distribution Program can be a way for you to help New Yorkers develop sustainable and secure sources of food. Through the program, you can distribute vegetable seeds to individuals so that they can start a backyard garden or grow food in a container. The Hunger Action Network has developed a free Seed & Seedling Distribution guide that explains in detail how to start the program. To help you get started, Hunger Action can provide you with a list of plant outlets in your area that are willing to donate seeds. We may also be able to provide you with some seeds and basic plant care instructions as well. Contact the Hunger Action Network at (518) 434-7371 or (212) 741-8192 to get involved.

Congress Finishing Up Action on Food Stamps

Both houses of Congress have finished worked on their versions of the Farm Bill and it has now gone to a joint conference to resolve the differences. No one from NY is on the joint conference. FRAC is urging House/Senate Farm Bill Conferees to support a strong nutrition title and the broadest possible legal immigrant restorations. They are also seeking to maintain the $6.4 billion in new ten year funding for the nutrition title, including to support the
amelioration of the harsh time limits on jobless, childless adults.

FRAC's message: The Food Stamp Program is a critically important program that needs considerable strengthening. The elements of that strengthening are pending in the Farm Bill conference, particularly in the Senate bill's nutrition title. That is why we urge you to include a very strong nutrition title in the final conference report of the 2002 Farm Bill, adopting the Senate approved level of funding for the Food Stamp Program. Support the provisions in the Senate bill that provide food stamp benefits to legal immigrant children, legal immigrants who have been in the United States for more than five years, and other groups of vulnerable legal immigrants. Support other eligibility and benefit improvements in the Senate bill for vulnerable populations, especially: the option to provide six month transitional benefits for those leaving cash assistance for work; scaling the standard deduction to family size and having it keep pace with inflation; raising and phasing out the shelter deduction cap; and relaxing harsh time limits for jobless, childless adults willing to work.

(See http://www.frac.org/html/news/leg/letter031202.htm)

NATIONAL IMMIGRATION LAW CENTER Alert: VOTE ON IMMIGRANT RESTORATIONS THIS TUESDAY!

The House of Representatives has scheduled a make-or-break vote this Tuesday that will go a long way towards deciding the fate of immigrant food stamps restorations this year, and that may affect the politics of immigrant benefits restorations for many years to come.

Tuesday's vote will occur on a motion by Rep. Joe Baca (D-CA) that would instruct the House Farm Bill conferees to support provisions of the Senate bill that would restore food stamps access to lawfully present immigrant children, refugees, persons with disabilities, and legal permanent residents credited with 16 quarters of work in the U.S.

Although Rep. Baca's motion is not binding, its passage would send a powerful message to the White House, House and Senate leadership, and to Farm Bill conferees who continue to negotiate the terms of the Farm Bill. Defeat would send an equally strong negative message. We expect that most Democrats will vote in favor of the motion. If it is to pass, at least 20 Republicans must vote in favor.

ACTION ALERT: YOUR PHONE CALLS NEEDED!

Please contact your Representative (even if you do not know who your Representative is, you can find out by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-225-3121; they will connect you directly to the office)

Tell him or her to vote YES on the Baca motion; to restore food stamps to lawfully present immigrants. Remind him or her that immigrants pay the same taxes as everyone else, and it's only fair for them to have fair access to basic nutrition programs paid for by those taxes. Here are some key NYS Congressional member:

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