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Hunger Alert
 


Hunger Alert – September 2006
In This Issue:

  1. Hunger Action Annual conference Monday Sept. 18 Albany
  2. Call Your State Senator Today to Support Bulk Purchasing (S5029A)
  3. Urge the Gubernatorial candidates to raise welfare benefits
  4. Anti-hunger policy platform for New York State and City 2007 – 2012
  5. Please Endorse the NYS Food Policy Council - A 10461 (Ortiz) / S 7618 (Young)
  6. Voter Registration and Mobilization
  7. Sublease of HANNYS’ NYC Office

1. Hunger Action Annual conference Monday Sept. 18 Albany

Hunger Action Network of NYS’s Annual Conference: Building the Anti-Hunger Movement. Mon., September 18, 2006, Westminster Presbyterian Church, 85 Chestnut St., Albany, from 9:30am - 3:30pm. This year’s meeting will focus on how to build a stronger hunger movement, starting with raising the welfare grant for the poorest of the poor. Workshops will also be offered on a variety of issues, such as universal health care, community food security, and job creation. Attendees will identify and prioritize issues important to poor people and develop a hunger agenda for the next Governor. This is your opportunity to shape a unified hunger policy agenda for the future so plan to attend!

Our keynote speaker will be Professor William DiFazio, who will discuss his recent book, “Ordinary Poverty: A Little Food and Cold Storage,” a biting chronicle of the life of the working poor in the wake of welfare reform. You are welcome to attend as a member and supporter, a citizen advocate, or as an interested individual. We especially encourage low-income individuals to attend. To register, please contact us at 518-434-7371 or email dunleamark@aol.com or 212-741-8192 or email spasquantonio@hungeractionnys.org. To download the conference brochure, go to: http://hungeractionnys.org/AMM-Brochure_06.pdf

2. Call Your State Senator Today to Support Bulk Purchasing (S5029A)

The State Senate is coming back into session Friday. Sept. 15. The NY Times this weekend editorialized in favor of the Senate passing the bulk purchasing bill for prescription drugs, which already has passed the Assembly. The Senate switchboard is (518) 455-2800 but you may want to call their district office.

2.7 million New Yorkers do not have prescription drug coverage and more than 2 million more have inadequate insurance for their medical needs. New York’s most vulnerable citizens have to make tough decisions about what they can pay for, sometimes skipping necessary drugs because they are too expensive. The Prescription Drug Bulk Purchasing Bill has widespread support, and passed the State Assembly by an overwhelming majority this summer. This bill would lower costs by combining the purchasing power of the state programs, employers and uninsured individuals, saving New York and consumers billions of dollars — a plan that has worked in 33 other states.

3. Urge the Gubernatorial and legislative candidates to raise welfare benefits

The Governor and the State Legislature failed for the 16th year in a row to raise the general welfare grant for poor children and their parents. The welfare grant today is only half of the federal poverty level, guaranteeing that welfare participants will not have enough funds to provide even the basic necessities for their families. For more info, see http://www.hungeractionnys.org/welfare.htm

The only adults left on welfare are those who are disabled or already engaged in work activities. Yet still the Governor and State Legislature refuse to raise the meager benefits, even though the federal funding formula for welfare has provided the state with a multi-billion dollar surplus that was available to pay for the increase. Tell the next Governor not to turn his back on the plight of poor children and support helping to lift these families out of poverty.

Contact Eliot Spitzer: Spitzer@spitzer2006.com (212) 529-2006; John Faso, info@johnfaso.com (518) 465-2006

4. Anti-hunger policy platform for New York State and City 2007 – 2012

In the summer of 2006, a collective of city and state anti-hunger organizations, including Hunger Action Network, held a series of meetings to collaboratively review and develop a shared anti-hunger policy platform that addresses specific federal, state and city hunger-related policies and funding. The platform primarily addresses hunger issues and will be used to inform the advocacy efforts of each supporting organization, as well as broader policy discussions in the food, hunger and nutrition sector. The group identified three focus areas: emergency food funding; access to and availability of government nutrition assistance programs, including the child nutrition programs; and long-term solutions, including the development of city- and statewide offices of food, hunger and nutrition policy to ensure the availability, accessibility and affordability of nutritious food. To read the full policy platform, go to www.hungeractionnys.org

5. Please Endorse the NYS Food Policy Council - A 10461 (Ortiz) / S 7618 (Young)

The legislation would create a State food policy council to develop comprehensive, coordinated state food policies with the goal of providing a plentiful, accessible, affordable, safe and nutritious food supply, comprised of locally produced foods as much as possible, so that all citizens of the State are able to eat a healthy diet and avoid hunger and have the opportunity to support a vibrant local farm and food economy.

A Council on Food Policy is essential in order to for communities to achieve food security. It has as its starting point the food and health needs of low-income communities but also addresses a broad range of problems affecting the food system; economic opportunity, community development, and the environment, such as the diminishing food safety net, disappearing farmland and inner city supermarkets, increasing poverty and hunger, failing family farm, rural community disintegration, inadequate green space, and diet-related health problems. To read our “Establishing a NYS Council on Food Policy” packet, go to http://hungeractionnys.org/comfoodpacket.pdf. To sign-on to support the bill, email: dunleamark@aol.com.

6. Voter Registration and Mobilization

This fall’s elections hold the promise of change. For the first time in twelve years, we will be electing a new Governor. In addition, all the seats in the State Legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives are up for election. We encourage you to assist your members in exercising their democratic rights. Nonprofit community groups can help register their supporters and guests to vote and assist them in getting to the polls on election days. It is important that our elected officials see a higher voter turnout among low-income New Yorkers so that they begin to take their well-being more seriously. It is most effective to incorporate voter registration into your day-to-day programming. Offer voter registration during the intake or application process. Voter registration cards set out in waiting rooms all too often just sit there unused. However, when guests are asked to register by someone they trust, such as an agency worker, there is a greater likelihood that they will register to vote.

While non-profit health and human service agencies can offer voter registration, it must be non-partisan. That is, non-profits cannot endorse a particular candidate or political party. However, you can collect information from the candidates and political groups about their stand on issues and make that available to the public. You can also choose to organize a legislative forum for local candidates to speak on current issues. Hunger Action can help any program interested in organizing a forum. Call us at (518) 434-7371 (Albany) or (212) 741-8192 (NYC) for more information. We also can provide state legislative scorecards from the Drum Major Institute.

7. Sublease of HANNYS’ NYC Office

Hunger Action Network has 2 office workspaces (11’ x 6’) available for immediate sublet at W. 36 Street @ 8 Ave. in Manhattan, includes use of small meeting room. $1,000/month plus half of utilities, carting and fees. Call (212) 741-8192, x 1# or email info@hungeractionnys.org for more information.