1.
HANNYS Annual Membership Meeting in NYC on Monday, September 27th
Bernard
White of WBAI Radio will be the keynote speaker at HANNYS’
Annual Meeting. Workshop topics include: Progressive Revenue Options
for NYS, Creation of Living Wage Jobs, Health Care for All; Community
Food Security; and Defining Hunger. It’s a great opportunity
to learn some new skills, share information, and network with
other anti-hunger activists. It is also a great way for new people
to find out about HANNYS and our membership.
2.
New HANNYS Offices
Both
the Albany and NYC offices have moved in recent months. New addresses
are listed above. Phone, fax, and e-mail remain the same. Volunteers
are always needed to help with office, policy and community food.
3.
Call Senator Bruno to Override Pataki’s Veto of Minimum
Wage
Governor
Pataki has vetoed the bill to raise the state minimum wage to
$7.15 over 27 months. While there are more than enough votes in
both houses to override the veto (a 2/3 majority is required),
Senate Majority Joe Bruno has not yet committed to an override.
Phone calls are need to Senator Bruno at 518 455-3191. Key senators
that can move Bruno are Spano, Balboni, and Mendez downstate,
and Farley, Wright, DeFrancisco, Libous, Robach, Volker, and Maziarz
upstate.
In
his veto message, Governor Pataki wrote “Raising New York's
minimum wage independent of Congressional action would place us
at a distinct competitive disadvantage with our neighbors in New
Jersey and Pennsylvania, where the minimum wage is at the federal
level of $5.15 per hour. Simply put, jobs lost in New York as
a result of a raise in the minimum wage would be the gain of employers
in New Jersey and Pennsylvania." The Governor forgot to mention
that Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut already have
higher minimum wages. - - - The Governor also vetoed S.6423-B/A.9948-A,
which would have exempted people applying for SSI from welfare
work requirements.
4.
Revenue Campaign – The Need is Great, the Debate is Late
Hunger
Action continues to push a variety of progressive revenue alternatives
for this year’s state budget, starting with the closure
of various corporate tax loopholes and reclaiming the unclaimed
bottle bill deposits. Billions of additional funds are needed
both for this year’s deficit and additional school aid.
The two houses of the legislature are now talking about doing
a two-way budget agreement without the Governor’s participation,
though the Assembly Democrats are worried about overriding if
Pataki uses his line item veto. Newsday has editorialized in favor
of increasing the personal income tax on the wealthy. The Schenectady
Gazette recently editorialized in favor of our revenue campaign.
But so far the state legislators have avoided the revenue issues.
As
Hunger Alert went to print, the details of a budget agreement
were beginning to emerge. It appears that the cuts to Medicaid
will be rejected. The state will not take over local Medicaid
costs, but will pick up the local contribution for Family Health
Plus, which will eventually cost the state $400 million. The issue
of the welfare cuts were still being debated. TAP was fully funded,
a $300 million item.
5.
Join the Campaign for Universal Health Care
Hunger
Action Network has taken a lead role in working to expand access
to health care for all New Yorkers, helped by a new grant from
the Public Welfare Foundation. In addition to our ongoing work
with the ES2 campaign, Hunger Action will be working through workshops
and forums around the state to make health care a right in NY.
Our first step is to have the state allocate funding for a cost-benefit
study of the various ways that New York could provide universal
health care. HANNYS is also supporting a conference in NYC on
August 31st and September 1st on a national universal health care
system. It will be at the CUNY Graduate Center Auditorium, 365
5th Avenue. For more information, see the Campaign for a National
Health Program Now (www.cnhpnow.org).
Call
Mark Dunlea in Albany (518 434-7371) if you would like to join
the campaign or have a speaker about health care at your local
event.
6.
Congressional Updates from the Food Research Action Center (FRAC)
FY
2005 Agriculture Appropriations Message and Action Needed: Urge
Members of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee to:
increase WIC funds by $388 million above the President's request
(for $5.175 billion total and $268 million above the House Appropriations
level of $4.9 billion); maintain current services funding level
for state Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) audit funds
(approximately $5 million); provide $134 million for Commodity
Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) (to expand services to existing
CSFP states and add eight states) but not drop CSFP funding below
the $115 million needed to maintain current CSFP caseload; and
earmark $140 million to maintain The Emergency Food Assistance
Program (TEFAP) mandatory funding for commodity purchases and
$60 million for storage and distribution grants. For more on the
CACFP audit issue, go to
http://www.frac.org/html/federal_food_programs/programs/cacfp05approp.htm.
FRAC
also reports that only one in five of the 16 million low-income
children who receive free or reduced price school lunches on a
typical day during the regular school year is served by federal
nutrition programs during the summer. "Hunger Doesn't Take
A Vacation" from the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC).
7.
Support Hunger Action through Fit for Food this Thanksgiving
Hunger
Action Network’s Fit for Food exercise-a-thon is a way for
people to support our work by pledging to exercise during the
week of Thanksgiving. You can go to the health club or sports
activity you already belong to and get your friends and family
to support your efforts by making a pledge. It’s a healthy
and easy way to support the fight against hunger. Call 212-741-8192
to register!
HANNYS
is also looking for local sponsors and organizers for the annual
Thanksgiving Action against Hunger.
8.
Join the Capital District’s Community Food List Serve!
There
is now a Capital District Community Food List Serve that enables
people to share ideas and network for the purpose of developing
community food projects. If you would like to join this list serve,
please contact Hunger Action Network or visit http;//mail.hungeractionnys.org/commfood
to subscribe. To join the Capital District Community Food Coalition,
attend the next meeting on Monday, October 4 at 2 pm at the Regional
Food Bank of Northeastern NY. Contact Sheila McCarthy at Hunger
Action Network of NYS at (518) 434-7371 ext. 2.
HANNYS
is expanding our work on community food issues. We are developing
a series of policy recommendations. We will hold a community food
security conference in Buffalo in early October.
9.
Voter Registration and Mobilization – Make Our Voices Heard
It
is important that low and moderate income folks are registered
to vote, so that lawmakers will pay more attention to hunger –
and to what HANNYS says. Applications must be postmarked not later
than October 8th and received by a board of elections not later
than October 13th to be eligible to vote in the General Election.
You can obtain voter registration materials from the local Board
of Elections, HANNYS or the State BOE (1-800-FOR-VOTE hotline).
New voters who register by mail this year will be required to
provide proof of identity. Exactly how to do this is being debated
by the state legislature. There will be a need for voter education
on how this new system will work.
10.
Faith and Hunger Network Listserve
The
FHN Listserve is for general announcements related to Faith and
Hunger Network in NYS, a joint project of Bread for the World
and Hunger Action Network of NYS, as well as local and regional
faith groups. Announcements would be biweekly and would include
information about local FHN events as well as updates on state,
federal and international hunger and poverty issues that FHN is
working on. To subscribe, send an e-mail to dunleamark@aol.com
or subscribe yourself at
http://mail.hungeractionnys.org/mailman/listinfo/faithhunger_hungeractionnys.org
