At the United States Social Forum in Detroit, members of the Poverty Initiative as well as the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign, Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Picture the Homeless, and NESRI rallied for a solidarity soccer game, as a sign of solidarity with the struggles of the South African poor, in particular the Abahlali baseMjondolo, who are fighting displacement caused by the World Cup.
Read more »“…powerful lobby groups were able to delay decisions, sometimes for many years, and “water down” proposed improvements. Their job was made easier because the FAO works by consensus, so persuading as few as two or three national governments to oppose an idea was enough to block it. Then this direct quote — “I have now been 20 years in a multilateral organisation which tries to develop guidance and codes for good agricultural practice, but the real, true issues are not being addressed by the political process because of the influence of lobbyists, of the true powerful entities.” Joyce d’Silva, a director with Compassion in World Farming, confirmed this position adding that it was “horrifying” that — “the narrow interests of certain commercial sectors can have more influence than organisations which represent the values and aspirations of millions of citizens.”
Read more »A new report by ActionAid reveals that hunger could be costing poor nations $450 billion a year – more than ten times the amount of aid needed to halve hunger by 2015 in order to meet Millennium Development Goal One…
Read more »I’m curious to see what folks think of this. When I started receiving emails from various groups to vote for them so they could win some Pepsi Challenge money, I had mixed feelings because of my disdain for giant corporations…
Read more »A friend of one of our Hunger Action Advocates is doing the $4.50 a day challenge. Click below in this excerpt to read more about it. “I’m taking the “Eat on $4.50 a Day” Challenge, thrown down by Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties and United Way Silicon Valley. This is Hunger Action Week, and the hope is that people like me who don’t have to struggle to survive will get an idea of how those who do exist on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits (the new term for “food stamps”). The average benefit is about $4.50 a day per person.”
Read more »World Communion of Reformed Churches News Release20 September 2010 The same commitment to overcoming global poverty is needed as that which was generated in response to the crisis in the banking sector, a senior church official has told the head…
Read more »The Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) will impact millions of the most impoverished people in the world — for good or for bad. We as Christians are deeply concerned about the persistence of poverty, especially in sub-Saharan Africa….
Read more »Celebrate the Launch of the US Food Sovereignty Alliance! Emerging out of the US Working Group on the Food Crisis, the US Food Sovereignty Alliance will be the first of its kind in the United States. To celebrate its launch, we encourage people fighting for food justice and sovereignty to take actions during the week of October 10-17. In solidarity with people all over the world, we call on food justice groups to hold community events that educate, celebrate, and create affordable access to safe, healthy, culturally appropriate food while turning our food systems into engines for local economic development. We call for actions to build food sovereignty in the US. October 10: Global Work Party to Tackle Climate Change October 12: Day of Indigenous Resistance to Conquest October 15: World Rural Women’s Day October 16: World Food Day October 17: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
Read more »Betty2 Betty Martin (on the right) has worked for the Buffalo School District as a bus aide for over 20 years. As she puts it, she is the “first line of defense” for Buffalo’s school children. She is the first person a child sees on his/her way to school and the last person he/she sees before going home. Betty has broken up fights between students, warded off assaults from students, waited with children when parents haven’t shown up for pick-ups, and calmed a bus load of kids after the bus was caught in a gun fight. When the Coalition for Economic Justice (CEJ), a group funded by the Presbyterian Hunger Program, met Betty she was at top pay with the district, $9.05/hour with no benefits. Starting bus aides were earning just $7.66/hour. She had just risen to the rank of union president and returned a call from CEJ to find out more about who we were and how she could help herself and her coworkers secure a living wage. Although Betty’s fight is far from over, she has built her skills as a leader over the last two years, mobilized and engaged her coworkers, and played a huge role in securing passage of a living wage policy at the Buffalo School Board level – a policy impacting nearly 1,000 school service professionals. She has attended numerous school board meetings, testified in front of the school board, spoken at a CEJ sponsored Buffalo conference and on a panel at the last Jobs with Justice National Conference, moderated press conferences, collected petition signatures from students and parents, canvassed door-to-door to educate voters about the importance of living wages, and on and on. More than taking a leadership role in fighting for a living wage for school workers, Betty has become a permanent CEJ activist. She understands that her fight is connected to the fight of other low-wage workers, and that the struggle for living wages is connected to the struggle for health care, the right to organize, good government, and corporate accountability. Betty joined CEJ’s Board of Directors in 2008 and has been excited to participate in trainings to become a better leader and organizer both with her union and with CEJ. Together, CEJ, Betty, her coworkers, and our community allies have a battle still to win with school officials to ensure that the Buffalo School District begins full implementation of the living wage policy it passed. However, Betty’s efforts at the bargaining table with the district are now coupled with and supported by a community campaign, and because of that she is going to win more than what she thought was possible two years ago.
Read more »Here are some great ways to stay abreast of this critical legislative work — Farm Policy, a daily newsletter about food and farm policy. Sign up for the email service and you’ll receive everything you need to know about what’s going on in D.C. It’s a ton of information, but worth skimming each morning. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition’s blog. The Presbyterian Hunger Program has been supporting this excellent coalition for over a decade. The Farm Bill and Beyond, an outstanding and very comprehensive report about how the 2008 Farm Bill came to be. It’s a little long, but definitely worth reading if you want some insight on how the next fight will play out. The blogs and twitter feeds of healthy farm advocates like @FoodDeclaration, Environmental Working Group, Food Democracy Now and Grist. And the soon-to-be launched US Food Sovereignty Alliance will have great analysis and ways to engage. Contact Andrew to learn how you can get involved in the Alliance. Thanks to Slow Food USA +++++++++++++ So, what are everyday people and farmers saying what they want from our food and farm policy?
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