Category Archives: Food

Bloomberg Cuts Child Care & After-School Money Again

January 30, 2013 2:55 pm Leave a Comment

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg outlined his FY2014 Preliminary Budget yesterday and for the second year in a row outlined massive proposed cuts to early childhood and afterschool programs.  Providers and advocates who had mounted a major grassroots campaign last year to win $150 million in restorations of these cuts expressed extreme disappointment and vowed to prepare for battle again.

“I am, once again, disappointed to see all of the additional program dollars added by the City Council at budget adoption removed from the City’s budget plan,” said Allison Sesso, Deputy Executive Director of the Human Services Council (HSC).  “Advocates should dust off their dancing shoes to get ready for the inevitable process of fighting for the same restorations we push for year after year.”

The Campaign for Children, a coalition of over 150 child care and after-school advocacy and provider organizations, argued that the Mayor’s Preliminary Budget cuts more than $135 million needed to keep after-school and early education programs open.  The budget, they said, includes:

  • None of the City Council’s $120 million restorations from last year which will run out in June, causing hundreds of programs to shut their doors to the children they serve;
  • A further $10 million cut to Out-of-School Time (OST) after-school programs;
  • An additional $5.3 million cut to child car which will result in another 250-300 children losing child care vouchers each month as their parents transition off of public assistance.

“Groundhog’s Day came early this year for New York City’s children and working families,“ said Michelle Yanche, Assistant Executive Director for Government and External Relations at Good Shepherd Services, on behalf of the Campaign for Children. “Just like last year, 47,000 children are set to lose access to after-school and early education programs – programs proven to help children succeed while parents work to support their families. The same parents and providers will be forced to fight for the same funding that they were just given a few months ago. How can this be happening, after all we’ve heard from our City leaders about making children a priority?“

“The City simply can’t go back on its promise to children and families – not when we’ve been told time and again that after-school and early education programs are a priority forthis administration,“ said Jennifer Jones Austin, Executive Director of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, on behalf of the Campaign for Children. “We need our City’s leaders to make long-term investments in these essential programs that help our children succeed in school and in life. The Mayor must include the needed funds in his Executive Budget.“

“Once again, the mayor’s proposed cuts to after-school and early childhood programs will continue a disappointing trend of shrinking programs for the children in our city who need them most,“ said Richard R. Buery, Jr.  President and CEO of The Children’s Aid Society . “A budget that does not prioritize needy children and working families fails the test of fairness and opportunity for all New Yorkers. We at Children’s Aid are committed to working with our government, nonprofit and corporate partners to restore this critical funding.“

“There is a great unmet need for afterschool programs citywide; therefore elimination of any slots would create an even greater shortage of critical programs for our young people,“ added Kathy Fitzgibbons, Senior Policy Analyst for Elderly Welfare and Youth Services.

“In addition, FPWA is distressed by the proposal to revise the eligibility process for post transitional child care.  This new $5.3 million budget cut to child care vouchers will potentially impact the access of 250-300 children to quality early childhood education programs, as their parents transition off of public assistance,“ stated Liz Accles, Senior Policy Analyst for Early Childhood Education and Income Security.

Advocates, however, indicated that they were prepared  to take on the Mayor again. The Campaign for Children recently kicked off their new phase of 2013 organizing with a series of town hall meetings in each borough during the month of January. The meetings attracted hundreds of parents, providers, and community members who are concerned about the City’s lack of investment in child care and after-school programs, and who together will call on City leaders and candidates for office to have a long-term plan to stabilize the systems.

Hunger

The New York City Coalition Against Hunger also took issue with the Mayor’s budget. “Despite high levels of hunger in NYC pre-Sandy, a huge spike in food insecurity since the storm, and increasing food prices, the Mayor has again proposed flat funding funding the city’s struggling food pantries,“ said Joel Berg, Executive Director of NYCCAH.  “Given the increased need, this is, in effect, a cut. Unless the City Council is able to provide more money that the Mayor proposes, local hunger will surely increase. A City this wealthy shouldn’t balance its budget on the backs of the hungry. We are glad, however that the Mayor was withdrawn his ill-advised plan to increase the prices of school lunches.“

Adult Literacy

The New York City Coalition for Adult Literacy (NYCCAL) expressed disappointment at the lack of funding for adult literacy in Mayor Bloomberg’s FY preliminary budget, continuing the downward trend in the Administration’s inclusion of adult literacy programs in the City’s budget. Over the last four years, the City’s investment in DYCD’s Adult Literacy programs has fallen by over 80% from $5.2 million in FY 2010 to just $1 million in FY 2013, restored by the City Council for one year. This has resulted in the loss of over 6,000 classroom seats in a city with over 3 million immigrants and 1 million adults lacking a high school diploma.

“After years of budget cuts, providers are forced to decrease their classes while still trying to serve a growing population,“ said Christina Curran, Director of Adult Education for the Fifth Avenue Committee. “Prospective students are on the waitlist six to eight months, which already has 200 names on it. The demand is overwhelming.“

NYCCAL calls on the Mayor and the City Council to work together to restore city funding for essential community-based adult literacy programs and consider the long-term benefits of these programs.

Child Protective Services

“FPWA remains concerned about the impact of a $1.8 million budget cut proposed for the Administration for Children’s Services Division of Child Protection (DCP,“ stated Noah Franklin, Senior Policy Analyst for Child Welfare and Workforce Development.   “In the past, ACS has made efforts to increase utilization in General Preventive services by working with Child Protective Services staff to refer more cases to general preventive service providers.  While ACS has claimed that caseloads will not be affected as a result of proposed staff cuts, we are concerned that budget cuts would lead to higher Protective Services caseloads for the remaining managers and a reduction of DCP’s capacity to make timely referrals to general preventive service providers.“

HIV/AIDS

“FPWA is concerned about the proposal of the Department of Social Services to align rental assistance levels with medical necessity.  It is unclear in what way this action would help improve the efficiency of the HIV/AIDS program when only low-income people with an AIDS diagnosis are eligible for the benefits.  It is also unclear what methodology and information will be used to complete the assessment,” stated Esther Lok, Assistant Director of Policy, Advocacy and Research and Senior Policy Analyst for HIV/AIDS.

Some Good News

“The Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA) is appreciative that the Mayor has continued to baseline funding for child welfare preventive services,“ stated Jennifer Jones Austin, Executive Director & CEO.  “We are also happy to see that no funding cut was made to aging services.  This is particularly important given the projected growth of the older adult population in New York City.“

Filed Under: After School, Child Care, Children, Food, HIV/AIDS, Nonprofit Headline News, Politics, Top News Tagged With: , , , , ,

NYC Hunger Experience 2012: One City, Two Realities

January 15, 2013 11:54 am Leave a Comment

Almost one in three New York City residents – 32% — experienced difficulty affording the food they need in 2012.   Even more households with children — 39% — faced similar problems.  These were among the findings contained in “NYC Hunger Experience 2012:  One City, Two Realities”, a new report published this morning by The Food Bank For New York City.   The report is based on telephone interviews conducted by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion.

Although the percentage of New York City residents having difficulty affording food has dropped since the height of the recession in 2008, when it stood at 48%, it has yet to decrease to the level in where it was — 25% — when the first of these annual polls was conducted in 2003.

To cope with food affordability challenges, almost one in three New York City residents (30%) purchased less food to save money, down from almost two in five (38%) in 2011; and almost one in five residents (17%) purchased less healthy food, down from one in five (20%) in 2011.  Almost one in three New York City residents (32%) ate smaller meals; almost one in four (22%) ate meals at friends’ or relatives’ homes; more than one in six (17%) skipped meals; almost one in six (1%) eliminated holiday meals or Sunday dinners; and more than one in ten (13%) served fewer family members at mealtime.

To download a full copy of the report, visit www.foodbanknyc.org.

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The Hunger Before the Storm

November 29, 2012 5:09 pm Leave a Comment

Hunger and food insecurity had soared citywide and in Brooklyn even before Hurricane Sandy, and have likely surged since then, according to a new report released by the New York City Coalition Against Hunger.  Before the storm, 328,294 Brooklyn residents – one in eight – lived in households without enough food. The Coalition’s first-ever analysis of federal senior data found that nine Brooklyn residents over the age of 60 struggled against hunger. One in six of Brooklyn’s children – nearly 108,000 – lived in households that lacked sufficient food.

In 2012 before the storm, just over 80 percent of food pantries and soup kitchens in Brooklyn reported an increase in the number of people they served, compared to last year.  Half of the survey’s Brooklyn respondents saw an increase in clients who had paid work.  Since Hurricane Sandy, nearly 85 percent of the Brooklyn emergency food providers surveyed were forced to temporarily close or suspend operations.

The Coalition’s analysis, The Perpetual Storm: NYC Food Insecurity Before – and After – Hurricane Sandy, was released by the Coalition and leading New Yorkers at a press conference at the Neighborhood Women Infants and Children (WIC) Center in Gravesend.

“Low-income New Yorkers faced a perpetual storm of hunger long before Hurricane Sandy, and will continue to suffer long after the immediate storm clean-up,” said Joel Berg, the executive director of the Coalition.  “It should be considered a national scandal that, before the storm, one in four of our children, and one in ten of our seniors, struggled against hunger. If we can agree that no American should go hungry due to a natural disaster, surely we should agree that no American should go hungry due to human-made disasters such as recessions and program cut-backs.  Our greatest fear is that, as was the case in the aftermath of Katrina in New Orleans, the most vulnerable residents will be forgotten after the cameras move on to the next disaster. Our plea today is for our leaders to understand that this is a long-term problem that requires a long-term response.”

Pantries and kitchens responding to the Coalition’s survey about 2012 trends reported that they most need skilled volunteers to help with such tasks as website design, grant writing, policy advocacy support, and computer assistance throughout the year. A mere 10.3 percent of responding programs citywide need only unskilled volunteers to do things such as serve soup, pack cans, or work in the pantry at some time during the year. On the other hand, 42.7 percent of responding agencies reported needing long-term skilled volunteers.  Only 47 percent of the agencies said they did not need any more volunteers at all.

Almost 11 percent of the responding agencies said they knew of a food pantry, soup kitchen, or brown bag program that shut down or closed for business in the past year, before Sandy.

Thirty-four percent of EFPs reported their staff, or volunteers, sometimes uses their personal money to fund their feeding program.

Fifty-six percent of pantries and kitchens reported having to turn away clients, reduce their portion sizes, or limit their hours of operation in 2012, compared to 58 percent in 2011, 51 percent in 2010, and 55 percent in 2009. However, the rate is still lower than the Coalition found in 2008 (69 percent), before a large increase in food stamps/SNAP offset the city’s increasing hunger.

“New York had a hunger and nutrition crisis before Hurricane Sandy impacted our lives,” said Ellen Rautenberg, President and CEO for Public Health Solutions.  “Families are stretched to the limits and our programs – WIC and SNAP – help feed families 365 days a year; the need for these programs is even greater now as we recover from Hurricane Sandy.  Some long-term solutions are sorely needed to fight hunger and improve nutrition in our State.  WIC and SNAP are vital pieces of such a long-term solution and are also needed to support economic revitalization in the hardest hit parts of our city.”

“The hunger crisis that exists for children, seniors and veterans throughout our communities is alarming,” said U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. “We have a moral obligation to ensure they do not go hungry. As our city’s food pantries strain to meet the needs of New Yorkers displaced by Hurricane Sandy and millions of those experiencing food insecurity, we must step up to aid emergency food banks and residents hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy. Sadly, this is not a short-term problem and it is critical that we develop long-term solutions to effectively combat hunger.”

“The Coalition’s report underscores the severity of the hunger crisis New York faces – a crisis only exacerbated by Hurricane Sandy,” said New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.

“Hurricane Sandy has stretched many of our feeding programs to their limits, and while the city and emergency food providers are doing their best to feed hungry New Yorkers, we need to do more on a federal level to ensure that these programs have the required resources to meet the growing need,” said New York City Council Speaker, Christine C. Quinn.

“This report is an important reminder of the critical need for strong, government-funded safety net programs like SNAP and school meals,” said Annabel Palma, Chair of the New York City Council’s General Welfare Committee.

In addition, the Coalition has launched a nationwide campaign to ask President Obama to re-commit to his pledge to end U.S. child hunger by 2015. Said Berg, “In this election, low-income Americans had the President’s back. Now it’s time for him to have theirs.  The good news is that there are indeed concrete, affordable steps that the President and Congress can take that would indeed end child hunger and act as a down payment on ending all hunger in America.”

The Coalition’s campaign urges the President to pursue some of the following steps: 1) Support U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s proposal to increase the purchasing power of SNAP recipients to enable them to be better able to afford healthier food; 2) vow to veto any Farm Bill or other legislative measure which further cuts SNAP benefits, half of which go to children; 3) expand funding – or at least prevent further cuts – in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program; and 4) include in all economic policies an intense focus on creating living wage jobs for all low-income families.

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SNAP Benefits Replacement Due to Storm

November 5, 2012 3:45 pm Leave a Comment

New York State has received a waiver from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to replace food lost by recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, formerly known as Food Stamps, in areas hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy. Under this grant, which the State requested with the help of the City of New York, current recipients of SNAP will be automatically issued 50 percent of monthly benefits to replace food lost as a result of the storm starting next week. The Governor also announced that SNAP recipients in these areas will be able to purchase hot and prepared foods with their benefits. New York State will be able to issue up to $65 million in replacement benefits.

The City of New York helped identify 77 eligible zip codes which include all of Staten Island for the State’s waiver request. Beginning next week, recipients of SNAP benefits in those 77 zip codes and in Nassau, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk, Sullivan and Westchester counties, will automatically have 50 percent of their October monthly SNAP benefit amount deposited in their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) account. A complete list of zip codes in New York City that are included can be found at otda.ny.gov/news/SNAP-replacements.pdf. Additional zip codes in New York City that experienced extended power loss may be added as more details about the number of households affected becomes available.

“Hurricane Sandy left many residents in downstate regions of New York State without the most basic of necessities, such as shelter and food,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said. “These partial replacement SNAP benefits will help families replace food lost from the storm and restock their kitchens. I thank Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Undersecretary Kevin Concannon for their support and quick action on approving our requests for assistance.”

Other current SNAP recipient households that have lost food purchased with SNAP benefits due to Hurricane Sandy are also entitled to replacement benefits. The loss must be reported by Wednesday, November 28, 2012, and the household must return a signed and completed form, found at otda.ny.gov/programs/applications/2291.pdf, by close of business on Monday, December 10, 2012. The form is also available at local department of social services offices. To find your local department of social services, visit otda.ny.gov/workingfamilies/dss.asp, or call 1-800-342-3009.

SNAP recipients in New York City and Nassau, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk, Sullivan and Westchester counties will be able to use their benefits to purchase hot foods and prepared foods, in recognition of the fact that so many New Yorkers lost power or have been relocated as a result of the storm and are unable to store food or have access to cooking facilities. Normally, federal regulations do not allow the purchase of these items with SNAP benefits. The food must be purchased at authorized retailers, like grocery stores, that already accept EBT. The U.S. Department of Agriculture granted a request for a waiver from New York State for this requirement that is effective immediately and expires November 30, 2012.

Households that do not currently receive SNAP assistance can check their eligibility quickly and easily, and apply online, by visiting myBenefits.ny.gov. New Yorkers can also use New York City’s ACCESS NYC, an online service for New York City residents to apply for SNAP and other City, State and Federal benefit programs.

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Poverty Grows in NYS with 3 Million Below the Line

September 13, 2012 6:58 pm Leave a Comment

While the poverty rate nationally remained relatively unchanged, the number of New Yorkers living in poverty grew by 6%, according to data released this week by the Census Bureau. More than 3.1 million state residents – 1 in 6 – now live in poverty.  The official poverty line is an income of just $17,916 for a family of 3, or an income of $23,021 for a family of four.

Several local nonprofit leaders expressed their dismay over the report.

“We are extremely concerned that poverty continues at extraordinarily high rates,” said Fatima Goldman, Executive Director/CEO of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies.  “FPWA’s network of more than 50 churches and faith-based emergency food providers has been seeing an increasing number of community residents in need of their food pantries and soup kitchens. Our church and faith-based partners operate soup kitchens, lunch programs, and food pantries in some of New York City’s poorest communities.  These food programs are the option of last resort, and thousands of New Yorkers depend on them.”

“Given that New York State had already had unconscionably high poverty rate in the 2008-2009 time periods, the fact that there was a further increase since then is truly sobering”, said Joel Berg, Executive Director for the New York City Coalition Against Hunger. “People have trouble conceptualizing a number as large as three million, but this new data means that if all of the New York residents in poverty held hands, they could create a line that would run from Times Square to the Golden Gate Bridge.”

“With so much widespread need, we are particularly concerned about the threatened federal budget cuts that would significantly cut food and housing funds, as well as essential supports for struggling working families such as subsidized child care,” says Goldman.

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Food Bank & Mario Batali Foundation Launch Community CookShop

July 11, 2012 1:05 pm Leave a Comment

The Food Bank For New York City has launched Community CookShop, a joint venture with the Mario Batali Foundation, bringing hands-on family oriented health and nutrition education classes to food pantries and soup kitchens. Running through August 17th, Community CookShop will be held in 12 sites throughout the five boroughs. The program is fully funded by the Mario Batali Foundation.

“Community CookShop will integrate the best elements of the CookShop program and deliver them directly to the families that already depend on many of the services within our emergency food network,” said Margarette Purvis, President and CEO of the Food Bank For New York City. “We are grateful to Mario Batali and the Mario Batali Foundation for funding this tremendous opportunity.  CookShop has been a resounding success in engaging children, teens, and adults to develop nutrition knowledge and cooking skills to make healthy choices on a limited budget, and we are excited to extend these tools and resources to the families that will benefit the most.”

Community CookShop will be run by on-site leaders that will engage families in six workshops throughout the summer. Each workshop is designed as a standalone lesson and will be focused on developing a set of skills including budgeting exercises, tips for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, child focused activities, and learning to cook simple and affordable recipes that involve the whole family. Participants are expected to attend three out of the six workshops and are encouraged to report back on how they have incorporated the lessons in their home. Additionally, all recipes were created by Mario Batali specifically for this program.

“We really wanted to create a component to CookShop where we could reach the whole family and extend the program out of the classroom and into the emergency food network,” said Darcie Purcell, Director of the Mario Batali Foundation. “We worked closely with the Food Bank in developing curriculum and Mario created recipes that were not only nutritious and healthy, but were also affordable on a very limited budget. Many of the recipes also have healthy substitute ingredients to encourage cooking with seasonal and fresh ingredients, when available. Community CookShop will provide families with a new set of skills and the confidence that a home cooked meal is a real possibility.”

Building on the success of CookShop, the Food Bank’s signature nutrition education in New York City public schools, the Food Bank will also be launching CookShop Classroom for After-School that will reach students ages 6 to 12 in an after school setting. CookShop Classroom for After-School will be a partnership with the Department of Youth and Community Development, The After School Corporation, and the Department of Parks and Recreation as well as participating schools.  Approximately 45 sites with 2 to 3 classes at each site will educate over 1,500 children with lessons in health and nutrition education.

Those interested in participating or learning more about Community CookShop, CookShop Classroom for After-School, and other programs offered by The Food Bank For New York City are encouraged to visit www.foodbanknyc.org.

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“Guilty Until Proven Innocent”: FPWA Report on PA Sanctions

June 20, 2012 1:11 pm Leave a Comment

New Yorkers facing economic crisis face a “Herculean” task in connecting with and maintaining welfare assistance, according to a new report by the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA).  The report finds the poorest New Yorkers are blocked from obtaining the financial assistance they desperately need by a never ending obstacle course of program requirements that are nearly impossible to fulfill and result in the loss of benefits through rampant and arbitrary case sanctions.

The findings are spelled out in detail in FPWA’s report Guilty until Proven Innocent: Sanctions, Agency Error and Financial Punishment within New York State’s Welfare System.

FPWA aruges that the problem of sanctions is pervasive and the process error ridden.  In March 2012, 3 in 10 of those participating in work requirements were sanctioned or in the sanction process.  And, the report continues, the City has a dismal record of defending its actions.  In State administered fair hearings, the agency was found lacking in over 75% of the hearings.

Sanctions drive households deeper into poverty. The current full welfare grant level leaves households living in “deep poverty,” as defined by the United State Census Bureau.  A case sanction means that for a parent with two children the family’s monthly cash income is cut from $753 to $502.  This grant is supposed to cover all basic needs including housing, utilities, transportation, laundry, personal hygiene products, clothing, school supplies for children, incidentals, and food needs not met by food stamps.

“The agency has set up a grueling, never ending obstacle course of requirements for getting and retaining welfare assistance.  This directly jeopardizes the health and safety of the poorest, most vulnerable New Yorkers,” said Fatima Goldman, Executive Director/CEO of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies.   “The agency’s general mode of operation is unforgiving and they often fail in their duty to assess if there is a good reason the requirement couldn’t be met before the punishment is imposed.”  “Sanctions come at a great cost to struggling households, and city and state budgets alike, since sanctions lead to need for emergency shelters when housing is lost, domestic violence survivors are stuck in shelter or are forced to return to their abusers due to lack of resources, and parents come under the scrutiny of the child welfare agency because they lack essential income to meet their children’s need,” according to Liz Accles, Senior Policy Analyst at the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies.

Click here to download a copy of the full report.

Filed Under: Finance, Food, Health, Nonprofit Headline News, Politics, Top News

The Number of Ph.D.s on Public Aid Triples in U.S.

May 11, 2012 8:11 pm Leave a Comment

Elliott Stegall, 51 and father of two, has been pressed financially as he pursues his graduate degree and teaches two English college courses a semester. (Jeff Haller for The Chronicle of Higher Education)

The life of an academic who pays hundreds of thousands of dollars in tuition and lives off stipends and scholarhips is becoming more financially treacherous. A skyrocketing number of Americans with Ph.D.s say they are facing a reality in which they are turning to food stamps to survive.

One in six Americans received food stamps or other public assistance last year, but the number of people with a Ph.D. or Masters degree who receive that aid has tripled in the past two years, according to government data.

In a story published by The Chronicle of Higher Education this week Ph.D. holders and students who are teaching on the non-tenure track in community colleges and universities bemoaned their prospects.

Elliott Stegall, 51, is pursuing a Ph.D. in film studies at Florida State University while he teaches two English courses at Northwest Florida State College in Niceville, Fla.

To help support their two young children, he and his wife rely, in part, on food stamps, Medicaid and aid from the USDA program, Women, and Infants and Children (WIC).

“I tend to look at my experience as a humanist, as someone who is fascinated by human culture,” he told the Chronicle. “Maybe it was a way of hiding from the reality in which I found myself. I never thought I’d be among the poor.”

He and his wife also have worked part-time jobs as house painters and cleaners and food caterers.

“As a man, I felt like I was a failure. I had devoted myself to the world of cerebral activity. I had learned a practical skill that was elitist,” he said. “Perhaps I should have been learning a skill that the economy supports.”

Various factors, mostly related to the down economy and state and local educational budget cuts, have helped drive educational institutions to rely more on part-time or adjunct professors. They are paid much less than regular professors and get few or no benefits.

Overall, 44 million people were on food stamps on a monthly basis in 2011, compared with 17 million in 2000, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The number of people with Ph.D.s who received some kind of public assistance more than tripled to 33,655 in 2010 from 9,776 in 2007, according to Austin Nichols, a senior researcher from the Urban Institute, who used data from the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Bureau of Labor.

“While on average higher learning still results in higher salaries, the promise of that financial payoff isn’t materializing for some,” Sara Hebel, senior editor with The Chronicle of Higher Education, said. “And for growing numbers of people with advanced degrees, they have not been insulated from financial hardship for a number of reasons.”

Of the 22 million Americans with master’s degrees or higher in 2010, about 360,000 were receiving some kind of public assistance, according to the latest Current Population Survey released by the U.S. Census Bureau in March 2011.

The number of people with master’s degrees who received some kind of aid grew to 293,029 from 101,682 over the same three-year period.

The average salary for U.S. professors is $82,556, according to an annual report from the American Association of University Professors, released in April.

“People off the tenure track now make up 70 percent of faculties. People in those positions often have working conditions that can be tough, including not knowing from semester to semester how many courses they might teach,” Hebel said.

That leads to an inconsistent income for adjunct professors, which is often much lower than a tenured faculty member.

“On average, higher educational attainment does translate into higher salaries. That’s the promise of education,” Hebel said. “It’s just that for a growing numbers of people, advanced degrees haven’t insulated them from financial hardship.”

 

Filed Under: Career Connector, Finance, Food, Health, Housing, Nonprofit Headline News, Politics, Top News Tagged With: , , , , ,

African American Planning Commission Seeking Guest Bloggers

April 24, 2012 5:28 pm Leave a Comment

The African American Planning Commission has launched its blog site specifically focused on collaboration & coordination in the non-profit, philanthropic and international development sectors.

If you are interested in becoming a guest blogger let us know:

Send a message to: contact@aapci.org

We need your:

- Name
- Email Address
- Program & Focus Areas
- URL’s to a few previous posts

*This is an unpaid commitment. We will only respond to those selected.

Thank you
AAPCI Blog Team

Filed Under: After School, Aging, Career Connector, Child Care, Crime & Punishment, DV Survivor Stories, Film, Finance, Food, Health, HIV/AIDS, Housing, Immigration, Nonprofit Headline News, Nonprofit Help Center, Politics, Small Business, Sports, Top News, Youths Tagged With: ,

It’s Hunger Awareness Day in New York State

March 15, 2012 3:54 pm Leave a Comment

Today is Hunger Awareness Day in New York State, a day intended to draw attention to the problem of hunger in NY.  Emergency food and community groups across the state have organized various events to urge the New York State legislature to fund anti-hunger programs that aid hungry and poor New Yorkers.

Hunger Awareness Day participants urged the NYS Legislature and the Governor to restore full funding of the promised welfare grant increase, increase the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program (HPNAP) funding for food programs by $4 million and increase the state minimum wage to a livable wage of at least $10 and hour. Groups are also calling Sen. Robach, co-chair of the Human Services / Labor budget conference subcommittee, to urge him to support the agenda.

“We were glad to hear Governor Cuomo say in this year’s State of the State address that no child should go to bed hungry, but we need a far more robust agenda from him to make that happen. Certainly a major step in the wrong direction is his proposal to cut the already meager $1 a day promised hike in the basic welfare grant in half. The cupboards are bare both in many homes and at local food pantries. Most of all, we need a major public jobs initiative to put 700,000 plus unemployed New Yorkers back to work”, said Mark Dunlea, Executive Director of Hunger Action Network.

Groups have organized food drives and urged lawmakers to volunteer at area EFPs to witness the problem of hunger first hand. School children are also doing drawings about hunger and homelessness that will be displayed in legislators’ offices in Albany. Only Assemblymember Bob Reilly however showed up this week to volunteer at the FOCUS breakfast program a half a block from the State Capitol.

“We hope more legislators will volunteer when they come home to their districts in the next few weeks,” said Deb Catozzi, Administrative Director of Hunger Action Network. “We also hope they will agree to live on a food stamp or even a welfare budget for a week to see hard it is to survive on the present level of benefits,” added Catozzi. Food stamps are the biggest part of the federal Farm Bill which is presently up for reauthorization in Congress.

The Assembly’s recent budget resolution seeks to restore the promised 10% hike in the basic welfare grant  as agreed to by lawmakers four years ago, after 19 years of inaction. The proposed increase will still leave the combined welfare benefits package to less than 50% of the federal poverty level.

Anti-hunger groups have applauded the Assembly for proposing to raise the state minimum wage though they want $10 an hour rather than the $8.50 proposed by the Assembly. The groups are also seeking a $4 million hike in state funding for emergency food. The Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program provides $29 million a year, the same figure as four years ago even though the number of individuals being fed by the program (3 million annually) has increased by more than 60% during that time period.The theme of this year’s Hunger Awareness Day is the growing problem of income inequality; with the wealthiest 1% of New York residents receive 35% of the income.   Hunger Action Network is urging supporters to call legislative leaders and ask them to raise the state minimum wage to $10 an hour and include the full 10% hike in the basic welfare grant (rather than the 5% Gov. Cuomo has proposed).

Hunger Action’s key target is Sen. Joseph Robach, (R-Rochester) co-chair of the conference committee handling Human Services and Labor and also chair of the Senate labor committee.  His phone number is 518 455-2909.  A “secondary target” is Gov. Cuomo. They suggest that supporters call to make general comments at 518 474-8390.

The group also urges “Thank You”calls to Assembly member Keith Wright (D-Manhattan), Co-Chair of the Conference Committee on Welfare and Labor and Chair of the Assembly Labor Committee, for his support.

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