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.
