“We need food,” is the first thing Gazans say upon meeting James Elder, spokesperson for UNICEF, the U.N. children’s agency. 

“[Gazans] are saying that because their assumption is the world doesn’t know, because how would this be allowed to happen if the world knew?” Elder said in an interview.

In the seven months ending April 5, 2024, more than 33,000 people had been killed, including 14,500 children. The deaths are the result of an ongoing Israeli military attack that began in response to an attack on Israel by Hamas. On October 7, 2023, members of Hamas crossed the border from the Gaza Strip into Israel, killed hundreds of Israeli civilians, and abducted more than 230 people. 

“The number of children reported killed in just over 4 months in Gaza is higher than the number of children killed in 4 years of wars [elsewhere in] the world combined. This war is a war on children. It is a war on their childhood and their future.” Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General, U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees 

Several months later, the entire population of the Gaza Strip, 2.23 million people, are living on the verge of famine. Conditions for many are expected to deteriorate even further. By mid-July 2024, half of the population (1.11 million people) will face catastrophic conditions, the most severe level of food insecurity, “in the most likely scenario and under the assumption of an escalation of the conflict, including a ground offensive in Rafah,” according to an analysis by food security experts. 

 More than 50,000 children are believed to be suffering from acute malnutrition, a condition that is frequently fatal if not promptly treated, and 73,000 injuries have been reported.  Yet, only 10 of 36 main hospitals are “functioning to some extent,” according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

“Hunger and disease are a deadly combination,” said Dr. Mike Ryan, Executive Director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme. “Hungry, weakened, and deeply traumatized children are more likely to get sick, and children who are sick, especially with diarrhea, cannot absorb nutrients well. It’s dangerous, and tragic, and happening before our eyes.”

“I feel like my children will die in front of my eyes. What can I say? I don’t know what I am to do. I can feel them dying before my eyes. This is my daughter. It’s been five days she is without food or drink. I don’t know what to do for her.” Khuloud al-Masri, Gazan mother of two.

Extremely limited humanitarian access to border crossings and within the Gaza Strip continues to impede the provision of urgently needed assistance. Humanitarian workers, both Gazans and citizens of many other countries, continue to do their best to deliver food to desperate people. But their jobs are incredibly dangerous: as of April 11, 2024, according to the United Nations, a total of 203 aid workers have been killed in Gaza, including seven workers from the U.S.-headquartered World Central Kitchen. All warring parties should change course to respect the neutrality of humanitarian workers and work to coordinate their safe passage.

The vast majority of Gazans, about 85 percent, have been forced to flee their homes. These 1.9 million displaced people are largely without shelter, because more than 70 percent of all buildings in the north, and half of all buildings in the whole country, have been either damaged or destroyed. 

The scale of destruction is almost unimaginable. This is why the International Crisis Group reported last month that famine cannot be prevented solely by providing food, because so much of the infrastructure needed for basic services like clean water and sanitation has been destroyed. Johns Hopkins University’s projections suggest that even in the most optimistic ceasefire scenario, thousands of “excess” deaths are inevitable.

Top priorities—that can nonetheless only begin after a lasting ceasefire is in effect—include restoring the infrastructure needed for clean water and sanitation; building temporary shelters so that people are protected during the longer process of rebuilding homes and schools; rebuilding and reopening hospitals and clinics; and reestablishing the capacity to provide basic health care and treat malnutrition. 

This daunting list of even the most urgent tasks points to both the importance of funding UNRWA, an agency with the experience and local knowledge to provide effective assistance, and the need for other humanitarian assistance programs to continue to do all they possibly can. Every hour and every day are critical to a human being.

Humanitarian action is guided by four principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence. Humanitarians are committed to alleviating human suffering, protecting life and health, ensuring respect for human beings wherever they live, and prioritizing the most urgent cases without discrimination.

International humanitarian law strictly prohibits using starvation as a weapon of war. People who are living in a territory under occupation have additional rights. Specifically, humanitarian law holds the occupying authorities responsible for ensuring sufficient civilian access to food and essential medical care. If there are shortages, the occupying authorities are required to import supplies or authorize relief efforts. 

Bread for the World is calling for diplomatic efforts towards a ceasefire, the release of all hostages, the allocation of sufficient humanitarian assistance, the access needed to deliver assistance, and safety and security for aid workers.

Syeda Lamia Hossain is a global hunger fellow, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

The post A Manmade Famine in Gaza appeared first on Bread for the World.

Chronic hunger continues to affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide, but even within one country, hunger and food insecurity are more common and more severe in some communities than others. 

Bread for the World has long emphasized what, in the words of the United Nations, is the “central, transformative promise” of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals: “Leave no one behind.” Ending hunger means ending hunger for everyone. Achieving this goal requires centering the needs of people who are at higher risk of hunger.  

Hunger and related problems do not respect borders. There are people facing hunger in every country, including wealthy countries like the United States. Every year more than 40 million people in the United States are food insecure, meaning that they don’t have regular, reliable access to nutritious food in quantities necessary for a healthy, active life. It is not surprising that people who live in communities with high poverty rates are more likely to be food insecure. 

One such community is made up of people who live in the U.S. without documentation. From 2007 to 2021, the size of this group was largely stable at about 11 million people. There has likely been an increase since 2021, but researchers reported in March 2024 that more recent data was not available. 

One major barrier to food security for undocumented people is that they are generally excluded from federally-funded nutrition programs. In times of need, people born in the U.S. and naturalized citizens are usually able to access federal nutrition programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to help put food on the table. But undocumented individuals generally do not qualify for these programs. 

It is difficult to obtain national-level statistics on the level of food insecurity among undocumented people compared with U.S. citizens and permanent residents, since data on whether people are undocumented is not routinely collected by the federal agency that measures food security. However, some information is available from community and state-level efforts to determine the severity of the problem and seek effective solutions.

A study of food security among immigrants was conducted in Massachusetts in July 2020, with interviews available in 16 languages. Families who were immigrants but not undocumented were less likely to report running out of food or grocery money than families with at least one undocumented member – 59 percent among documented immigrants, compared with 78 percent among undocumented immigrants. It goes without saying that both of these rates are far too high. Clearly, other factors continue to put immigrants at much greater risk of hunger, regardless of their immigration status.

Thankfully, a variety of organizations are working to prevent or reduce hunger among undocumented people. They are located in areas with large immigrant populations – mainly metropolitan areas and along the U.S. border with Mexico. 

For example, 10 years ago in San Diego, the International Rescue Committee established its “New Roots” food security and agriculture program network with the goal of supporting immigrants in accessing land and agribusiness opportunities. It has since grown to 10 locations and offers a variety of programs that support immigrants, particularly refugees, in food access, nutrition, and agriculture. It now reaches about 13,000 people annually. 

California has a program that provides benefits similar to SNAP for some people who would otherwise qualify for SNAP but are not eligible because they are undocumented. The California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) keeps almost 700,000 Californians, including more than 300,000 children, above the poverty line each year. 

Nonetheless, much more needs to be done, even in states that have taken steps to help. A recent report based on data from UCLA found that  45 percent of California’s undocumented immigrants are food insecure and that 64 percent of children 17 and younger live in food-insecure households.

A related issue concerns immigrants who are in fact eligible for some safety-net programs. The Urban Institute conducted a study that found that one in seven eligible immigrant families did not enroll in programs like SNAP or Medicaid. One group of people with decisions to make about applying for benefits are parents in so-called “mixed status” families, where some members of the family are U.S. citizens or legal residents and others are undocumented. Most often, they themselves are undocumented, but one or more of their children are U.S. citizens by birth and qualify for SNAP benefits.

Why do people decide not to apply for government nutrition or healthcare programs?  Researchers in one study summed up many of the reasons as lack of access to resources, social vulnerability, and/or economic uncertainty. 

The “public charge” rule is used to exclude immigrants who are considered likely to become unable to support themselves in years to come – public charge is a synonym for “welfare recipient.” People who are considered likely to be “public charges” may be denied legal permanent resident status or U.S. citizenship. The Biden administration has reversed the changes to the rule made by the Trump administration. Social service agencies try to provide reassuring facts—for example, receiving SNAP benefits does not affect one’s immigration status—but not everyone has heard about these changes from sources they trust. As a result, many potential applicants for safety-net programs worry that receiving benefits could jeopardize their immigration cases. 

There is also still a significant amount of shame or stigma attached to the idea of asking for or receiving assistance. Another factor is that, over the last decade, there have been several changes in the laws that determine who is eligible for SNAP and who is not. People who are uncertain about their eligibility may decide not to take that chance. Finally, many undocumented people work in the “gig” economy. This type of work very often means inconsistent and unreliable pay, which in turn creates much more difficulty filling out federal government applications proving that one is low-income or otherwise eligible. 

Bread’s advocacy to end hunger in the U.S. looks closely at the details of how hunger affects different communities so that we can help identify policy improvements that work for everyone.

Florencia Makk is a policy intern in development finance, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

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According to the U.S. Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability Plan for Haiti, the country does not have a Women Peace and Security National Action Plan, and gangs target women and girls as a weapon of war, contributing to a rise in sexual and gender-based violence (GBV). Women and girls disproportionately face hunger and malnutrition worsened by danger to their physical safety. The people of Haiti and the world know that inaction can never be a viable option in the face of hunger, malnutrition, and physical and sexual violence. 

Bread for the World acknowledges, along with the rest of the global community, that the larger context in Haiti is heartbreaking. On March 22, 2024, humanitarian officials published an update on the extent of the hunger emergency in Haiti, titled, “Gang Activity Drives Nearly 5 Million People Into High Levels of Acute Food Insecurity.”  Additionally, an estimated 1.4 million people are living on the verge of famine. 

The same day, March 22, CNN reporters in Haiti’s capital published disturbing videos and photos with a headline beginning “Carnage on the Streets of Port-au-Prince…” The language is unusual for a news report: “Haiti’s capital has been trapped in a gory cycle… An insurgent league of heavily armed gangs is waging war on the city itself… Much of the Haitian state has disintegrated, its courts occupied by gangs, its prisons left open, the prime minister effectively exiled…”

The most recent spate of violence means women and girls will be affected by the violence and destruction. According to the U.S government, civil unrest, political instability, failure to respect the rule of law, and lack of economic opportunity are contributing to high rates of GBV in Haiti, with one in three Haitian girls and women ages 15 to 49 reporting physical and/or sexual violence. Reports indicate that rape, sexual assault, and harassment occurred with impunity even before the recent rise in gang activity, and survivors are frequently blamed for the rape and abuse they endure.

As it relates to women, peace, and security integration into the political infrastructure of Haiti, women are chronically underrepresented in decision-making roles and have been left out of key judicial, administrative, legislative, and democratic systems, with only 11.5 percent of the judiciary and 3 percent of parliament seats currently filled by women. Haiti ranks 187th out of 190 countries in terms of women’s political representation (190 is the lowest). The lack of Haitian women having a seat at the leadership table imperils peace and security for everyone. Insecurity traumatizes people and communities.

However, local women’s groups remain a major pillar of resilience in Haiti, notwithstanding the dangerous and chaotic situation around them. It is critical to center the rights of women and girls and provide them with essential forms of support, including economic, psychosocial, nutrition, relocation assistance, and other necessities. UN Women is working with various local organizations, with the support of the UN Peacebuilding Fund, to carry out this work.

The Peacebuilding Fund has supported projects in Haiti that reached thousands of women and girls, connecting them with the tools they need to build stronger livelihoods, such as training in agricultural best practices, running a business, gender equality, and women’s leadership. Support from the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund and local partners also brings hope and has given some women an opportunity to rebuild their lives after surviving gender-based violence, hunger, and other traumas. 

One such initiative is the Strategic Support Unit for Agricultural Development (CASDA) program, which focuses on empowering women who have survived gender-based violence. The program provides counseling, workshops on empowerment and women’s rights, and training aimed at strengthening their resilience and economic independence.

One program participant explained, “My life was filled with fear and uncertainty. The violence I suffered left me without hope,” she said. “But thanks to the opportunity provided by CASDA, I was able to start my own small business. Today, I am proud to say that I am financially independent and that I can provide for the needs of my family.” 

“This project has given me confidence in myself and in the future,” she said. “I am grateful to all those who have made this possible.”

These stories of hope where women thrive and enable their families and communities to thrive, even in the most difficult circumstances, remind us that programs that promote food security, personal safety, and resilience remain important. Inaction is never a viable option. 

The World Food Programme (WFP), with the support of Food for Peace and other supplemental humanitarian resources, provides lifesaving food aid in Haiti. However, WFP indicated that it needs financial and other support from leaders such as the United States to help meet funding needs. In order to continue to implement its lifesaving operations in Haiti, WFP is seeking at least an additional $95 million.

Haiti is a near neighbor of the U.S., and saving the lives of people who are unprotected from extreme violence and acute food insecurity is key for our national and economic interests, and it is a bipartisan moral imperative. 

Abiola Afolayan is Co-Director, Policy and Research Institute, at Bread for the World.

The post Women and Girls in the Beautiful Island of Haiti Need Food, Peace, and Security  appeared first on Bread for the World.

Hunger in the United States is primarily caused by economic inequality, which is a driver of poverty, and the lowest-paid American workers are far more likely to face food insecurity than those who are paid more. 

Over the past few years, Bread for the World’s U.S. anti-hunger advocacy has included support for several policies that would help lower poverty among specific groups of workers. For example, Bread called for an end to the “tipped minimum wage,” which allows employers to pay workers such as restaurant servers as little as $2.13 an hour with the expectation that tips would bring the hourly wage up to the standard minimum wage. Under federal law, employers are responsible for making up the difference if tips alone do not, but workers report that this does not always happen. 

Tipped workers are disproportionately women, especially women of color. Bread has also been working to promote racial and gender equity in the workplace. Restaurant servers and cashiers are among the lower-paid workers who would benefit from stricter enforcement of existing laws against pay discrimination on the basis of race or sex. But racial and gender inequities are very broad causes of poverty that affect millions of people around the country. These forms of inequities are tied to essentially permanent aspects of people’s identities, such as race, gender, and age, rather than to factors such as occupation or level of education that are easier to change. 

Pay disparities based on race and/or gender are entrenched in the American economy. They are one of many visible signs of long-term societal ills such as racism and sexism. But this does not mean we have to accept that poverty, or the idea that racism and/or sexism, will inevitably be present. In fact, we cannot accept these things, because doing so means giving up on Bread’s mission of ending hunger in this country.

The changes needed to make lasting progress on pay disparities, let alone the deep-seated biases that cause the disparities, call for proactive leadership. Leaders can be almost anyone who is committed to finding ways of achieving part or all of the goal. Local community groups and organizations like Bread have been able to get proven policy improvements enacted into law. 

Landmark legislation often requires an “all hands on deck” approach, with members of Congress, the administration, and the courts working to get something completely finished. One such critically important achievement was the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

Another was the Equal Pay Act of 1963. It was the first federal legislation that specifically prohibited pay discrimination based on gender—an important step along the path to gender equality that had also featured, not so long before, thousands of women mobilizing for decades to secure the right to vote.

Data for 1963 indicate that the Equal Pay Act was undoubtedly needed: women who worked full-time year-round were paid 59 cents for every dollar paid to men. 

Nearly 60 years later, in 2022, women who worked full-time year-round were paid 84 cents for every $1 paid to men. The next part of this series will assess how significant the progress has been and consider next steps.

Michele Learner is managing editor, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

The post Reducing U.S. Hunger by Closing the Gender Pay Gap appeared first on Bread for the World.

Also known as Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), wasting is significant and sudden weight loss caused by illness and/or eating less food. Children weigh far too little for their height. Children with acute malnutrition have weakened immune systems, making them more vulnerable to childhood diseases and other illnesses that are unlikely to pose a risk to well-nourished children. 

In fact, children with severe wasting are 12 times as likely to die as a healthy child. The famine in Somalia in 2011, for example, led to the deaths of an estimated 130,000 children under 5. The top causes of death were diarrhea and measles. 

The Global Action Plan on Child Wasting was first released in 2019, but in January 2023, with child malnutrition still on the rise, five UN agencies called on the global community to step up the implementation of the plan. 

The plan focuses on the 15 countries most affected by child wasting, aiming to prevent and treat acute malnutrition, which affects more than 30 million children in these countries. They are Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Yemen.

Experience has shown that it is essential to use a “multisectoral” approach, which means simply working with agencies from different parts of the government—for example, health, food, water and sanitation, and social protection. This is because the issues are interconnected. 

As Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of the World Health Organization explained, “The global food crisis is also a health crisis, and a vicious cycle: malnutrition leads to disease, and disease leads to malnutrition.” 

This is evident in Haiti, one of the 15 countries targeted for efforts to reduce wasting, where cholera killed an estimated 10,000 people in 2010. A resurgence of the disease began in October 2022.

In its most recent version, covering November 2023 through April 2024, the Hunger Hotspots update produced by humanitarian agencies describes Haiti as of very high concern. Conditions are deteriorating, and an estimated 1.4 million people are projected to be living on the verge of famine during the months March through June 2024. In some parts of the country, 30 percent of the population is severely malnourished. 

The hunger crisis in Haiti is driven by violence, disasters due to the country’s vulnerable location as well as accelerating climate change, and weak government capacity. Violence has soared since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in July 2021. Noncombatants are frequently the target of attacks or caught in the crossfire between warring factions. 

Haiti’s food production efforts have been significantly damaged by the fighting itself and by uncertainty about where fighters are located and what they might be planning to do next. In many cases it is too dangerous for farmers to work in their fields. Crops and stored food are sometimes seized or destroyed. Women and girls, even traveling in groups, are terrorized by mass rape. 

The fall 2023 upsurge in violence in Artibonite, Haiti’s main rice-growing region, has worsened hunger still further. UNICEF said that at least 115,000 children in Haiti are believed to be suffering from life-threatening malnutrition in 2023—an increase of 30 percent over 2022. In Artibonite, the number of children who are estimated to need lifesaving treatment has more than doubled since 2020. 

Humanitarian workers reported that insecurity has made it extremely difficult, and in some cases impossible, to access six of the department’s 17 communes. They include Saint Marc, Verrettes, and Petite Rivière. 

Cholera is a water-borne disease, so it is especially concerning that two of the three major water treatment plants in Artibonite have shut down due to insecurity, and the third faces distribution challenges. 

 “No human being, and certainly no child, should ever have to face such shocking brutality, deprivation, and lawlessness. The current situation is simply untenable,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. 

Bread for the World has long advocated for U.S. policies that both save lives in the short term and end hunger in the medium term—in hunger hotspots, and in all other countries where children suffer from malnutrition and wasting. The “whole of government” approach to reducing acute malnutrition—with the engagement of the ministries of health, social protection, food, and water and sanitation—has the potential to make lasting progress against wasting. 

Bread also supports the efforts of UN agencies to speed up implementation in 15 countries of the Global Plan—the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP), and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Michele Learner is managing editor, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World. 

The post Hunger Hotspots: 45 Million Children with Acute Malnutrition appeared first on Bread for the World.

Conflict is a top cause of global hunger. It embodies a complete failure to build and maintain a civilized society. Not allowing people to starve each other is a bedrock principle of building the collective will to end hunger.  

War is the opposite of what communities need to thrive economically and socially, beginning with its complete lack of regard for human life. Even beyond death, injury, and trauma, armed conflict often means the destruction of crops and stored food, farm equipment, roads, and markets. Many people are forced to flee their homes, and those who remain cannot grow nearly enough food. 

Worst of all, it is increasingly common for armed groups to use hunger as a weapon of war, deliberately cutting communities off from food sources. People are trapped, and hunger, malnutrition, and illness soar.

On August 3, 2023, the UN Security Council held an open debate on conflict-induced food insecurity and famine. In her briefing for participating government leaders, UN Famine Prevention and Response Coordinator Reena Ghelani was straightforward: ending conflict-induced hunger requires, as an absolute minimum, ending the use of starvation as a weapon.

The August 3 event marked five years since the UN Security Council unanimously adopted UN Resolution 2417, which strongly condemns both starving civilians as a method of warfare and denying humanitarian access to civilian populations. 

As Lise Gregoire van Haaren, representing the Netherlands, noted at the time, “For the first time, this Council unequivocally condemns starvation as a method of warfare.” Resolution 2417 recognized the need to break the vicious cycle of conflict and food insecurity and placed the world’s most vulnerable people firmly at the center of the Security Council’s agenda. 

However, it is impossible to ignore the fact that using food as a weapon continues unabated. Does Resolution 2417 have any practical effect, or is it just another document, one of many every year that are passed and then ignored? 

No one would say that it is easy to change global norms surrounding war. Any effort to do so, however modest, runs straight into both the age-old debate over whether people are fundamentally good or evil, and the fact that most societies throughout history have engaged in warfare. Far too often, people act as though they believe that “we” must defeat “them” – in any way possible. Another barrier to improving the treatment of civilians during conflicts is that Resolution 2417 has no enforcement mechanism. 

Still, humanitarian leaders with decades of experience in conflict zones have argued that the very adoption of the resolution is progress. Halting it is a step toward holding warring factions that deliberately starve civilians accountable for their crimes. 

Margot van der Velden, head of the Emergencies Department at the World Food Programme (WFP), said that one key is evidence. The resolution “might not be a silver bullet that changes the whole scenario, but now you have evidence being brought to the Security Council.”

“Evidence is essential to find ways of mitigating and pushing for solutions… because evidence can help drive policy engagement and humanitarian diplomacy.”

At the August 3, 2023, meeting, the Security Council reiterated its commitment to ending conflict-induced hunger. The U.S.-led communique notes that, in 2022, armed conflict was the most significant driver of high levels of acute food insecurity for roughly 117 million people in 19 countries and territories.

Hunger must have political solutions because it is fundamentally a political problem. Examples such as the successful effort to cut extreme poverty in half—a goal reached in 2010—show what humanity can accomplish with the right collective will.   

Not allowing armed groups to starve people with impunity is the embodiment of the concept of “back to basics” in responding to hunger emergencies. 

Michele Learner is managing editor, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

The post Hunger Hotspots: Starvation Must Not Be a Weapon of War  appeared first on Bread for the World.

“Resilience” is both a powerful concept and an increasingly familiar term in international development, where organizations often mention resilience-focused policies, frameworks, and strategies. 

Why build resilience? The goal is, broadly, to enable and equip people, including those in the most marginalized groups of their society, to cope with what the future brings. In practice, building resilience serves to make people less vulnerable to shocks, whether natural disasters, economic recessions, or any of a host of other problems in human life. 

Bread for the World emphasizes that in order to end hunger for good, everyone needs workable ways of feeding themselves and their children when the unexpected becomes reality. Some of these “plan Bs, Cs, and Ds” are individual or family strategies. Examples might be keeping supplies on hand to produce a different food crop if the first one is failing, or developing a skill such as sewing that can supplement one’s income if needed. Other strategies are community-based or nationwide, ranging from neighborhood food pantries and community cooperatives to crop insurance and free school meals. Strategies at both the individual and society levels are needed. 

Government or donor-supported programs to strengthen resilience are usually aimed at people who have few options open to them. They have done little or nothing to generate greenhouse gas emissions or support the rise of armed factions—but this also means that they have little or no power to spur broad, transformative solutions. For families and communities, developing resilience often comes down to making the best possible use of the resources available and trying to find ways of accessing additional resources. 

Resilience may look quite different in different contexts. The most pressing problems and the most promising paths forward may change over time. Global organizations, donor countries, and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) often have specific goals and priorities for their resilience programs. 

The United Nations’ definition strives to be complete. In addition to listing the parties that may be involved and verbs that describe their efforts— “the ability of individuals, households, communities, cities, institutions, systems, and societies to prevent, resist, absorb, adapt, respond, and recover positively, efficiently, and effectively”—the UN definition also names some conditions that define success. These include “when faced with a wide range of risks,” “while maintaining an acceptable level of functioning,” and “without compromising long-term prospects for sustainable development, peace and security, human rights and well-being for all.”

But where does the world stand in building resilience today? Bread has often discussed the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that were adopted in 2015 by nearly every country. Goal 2 is to end hunger as well as malnutrition in all its forms. Efforts to enable people to build resilience embody the key SDG principles of “leave no one behind” and “reach the farthest behind first.” The deadline to meet the goals is 2030. 

But since the SDGs were adopted, the world has seen new armed conflicts break out, more widespread and severe climate change impacts, and a global pandemic that led to a near-complete shutdown of the global economy. Conflict, climate change, and economic shocks are the leading causes of hunger today. The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2023 describes the status of the goals as “Promise in Peril.” If current trends continue, the SDG deadline of 2030 will arrive with more than 600 million people still facing hunger and a similar number, 575 million, still living with extreme poverty. 

At Bread, we believe access to nutritious food with dignity is a human right. The keys to building resilience are effective systems, structures, and policies that affirm equality and advance equity among all people. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) describes what resilience means when applied to food and agriculture . It includes “protecting, restoring, and improving livelihoods systems in the face of threats that impact agriculture, nutrition, food security, and food safety.”

Bread emphasizes the need to incorporate efforts to enable people to build resilience into emergency humanitarian assistance. This is because considering these as part of development assistance, to be added later, can mean neglecting early actions that will help people begin to rebuild their lives a few weeks or months later. Bread also focuses on sustainable solutions that respect the agency of individuals. It is important, for example, that people have what they need to begin or resume growing their own food.

One example applicable to many pastoralist groups in Central and East Africa is the importance of providing “emergency livestock assistance” along with humanitarian assistance. In Kenya, an estimated 1.5 million cows, sheep, and goats died in the latter part of 2021 alone, mainly due to drought. Each is the loss of a valuable resource to a family. It is far more expensive to buy new animals than it is to supply the basic needs of those already there, and it is much harder for a family that has been displaced to start over and rebuild their lives without their animals.

There is much more to say about strengthening resilience—what people in different situations identify as their priorities, what has and has not worked well for different groups who have been facing hunger emergencies, how U.S. and global financial support for “resilience” has been affected by other types of policies, and more. Please stay tuned for discussions of additional key questions. 

Syeda Lamia Hossein is a global hunger fellow, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.   

The post Reimagining Resilience appeared first on Bread for the World.

Bread for the World has consistently sought to draw attention to the hunger crisis affecting millions of people in Mali and neighboring countries. According to the latest hunger hotspots update from the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Mali and neighboring Burkina Faso are a regional hunger hotspot “of highest concern,” two of five top-priority countries for humanitarian workers for the period November 2023 through April 2024. 

Learning a little more about Mali and its 21 million people can help Bread members and other advocates better understand the factors that endanger the lives of Mali’s people, especially its children. Mali is a landlocked country in Africa’s Sahel region, which stretches across the continent just south of the Sahara Desert. For centuries, the Mali Empire was a key player in trans-Saharan trade. Mali became a French colony late in the 19^th century and won independence from France in 1960. 

Mali’s development has been hindered by colonial rule and then by the military dictatorships that controlled the country for more than three decades after independence. In 1992, Mali held elections and transitioned to a multiparty democratic system. But the past decade has been one of political instability, including three coups in 2012, 2020, and 2021.

A web of interconnected factors has produced a very tense political situation and a continuing hunger crisis. Some of these factors are persistent poverty, corruption, weak government capacity, and natural disaster, particularly drought. Northern Mali borders the Sahara Desert, and with climate change, the pace of the desert’s encroachment into inhabited areas has quickened. Such “desertification” reduces farmers’ and herders’ ability to produce food, leading directly to food shortages.

Armed conflict is a top cause of global hunger, and Mali is among many lower-income countries struggling with ongoing insecurity. Struggles over political power in the capital city, Bamako, play out in violence across the country. Participants in the current fighting include government forces that are controlled by a disorganized military regime, armed separatist factions in the north, intervention by regional non-state actors that cross Mali’s borders, and fighters who are part of an ongoing rebellion.

According to data from the UN International Office on Migration (IOM), more than 375,000 Malian citizens were internally displaced as of April 2023. Humanitarian workers struggle to provide the food, medical care, and other basics people need because of insecurity and restrictions on movement. 

In Mali, an estimated 27 percent of children younger than 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition and/or from stunting–permanent damage to their health and development seen in people who survived severe malnutrition before the age of 2. The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs receives support for nutrition programs from the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, in partnership with WFP, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the World Health Organization (WHO). These programs prioritize the “1,000 Days,” the most critical human nutrition window which lasts from pregnancy to a child’s second birthday. 

These and other nutrition initiatives facilitated by WFP, including delivery of packaged meals, school feeding programs, and cash support, are essential. Their impact could be expanded by supporting community-based humanitarian agencies in producing nutritious local specialties. Local women could also provide substantial assistance to international humanitarian organizations by facilitating food purchases from nearby regions with lower levels of hunger. There is also potential to expand local production of foods—based on corn, wheat, and rice—that are suitable for very young children.

Female-led households are twice as likely to suffer from hunger as those with an adult male present. Women have no choice but to be resilient, innovative, and resourceful since there’s not enough outside humanitarian assistance available. In addition to using their cooking skills and advanced knowledge of locally-sourced foods to feed their own families and manage community gardens and kitchens, women can give even young children essential survival skills such as how to preserve food using drying, fermentation, and underground storage.

Support for women’s leadership in politics and conflict resolution—particularly in groups also attended by men—could help communities use a fresh lens to find holistic solutions. The global community can help by initiating contact with leaders of the many splintered factions, using dialogue not only to emphasize the necessity for peace, but also to acknowledge and begin to understand their problems. 

Sia Gevao is an international hunger intern, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

The post Ongoing Hunger Crisis in Mali: Why is This Happening? appeared first on Bread for the World.

The United States is often called the wealthiest country in the world, yet 13 million children are food insecure. Thirteen million young boys and girls across this country cannot be sure that they will get regular meals, sometimes do not know when or where their next meal will be, and do not have access to an affordable, nutrient-dense diet.

While food may be seen as a given for many well-off Americans, the reality is that it has become harder to obtain for others. Food should not be difficult to access – especially for children. 

Hunger in children and teens in America carries a myriad of consequences. Teachers and administrators have reported that hungry students have less energy in class, are more easily distracted when it comes to schoolwork, score lower on exams, and come to school late or miss school entirely. Researchers have had data that confirms such impacts for at least a decade, and Bread staff has been in communication with pediatricians at Children’s HealthWatch in Boston about the health consequences of child hunger since 2011.

Early childhood hunger, even for relatively brief periods, carries especially severe consequences for children’s development. Especially for those in the critical human nutrition period known as the ”1,000 Days,”  from pregnancy to age 2, hunger can cause devastating damage to the developing brain. Clinically diagnosed stunting is rare in the U.S. This is a condition that includes lifelong health problems and developmental delays. It indicates that a person has survived early childhood malnutrition. 

Researchers are learning more all the time about the impacts of early life experiences. For example, there is now a list of “Adverse Childhood Experiences” (ACE) which, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), can have a “tremendous impact” on lifelong health and opportunity. 

The most heartbreaking consequence of all is not even listed among the serious physical and mental consequences associated with hunger, but something even greater: childhood hunger strips away dreams, hopes, and futures. The U.S. is known as a country where dreams become reality, where you can achieve anything you set your mind to, and where children are told they can grow up to become presidents, astronauts, and anything else they can think of. 

Hunger can not only affect your physical and mental health, but also make it harder for you to dream of the future. As a country, and as individual parents, teachers, mentors, elected leaders, and people of faith, we must respond to childhood hunger for the emergency it is. 

As Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) put it in his support for the Universal School Meals Program Act of 2023: “No child in America should be hungry – period, end of story. In the richest country in the history of the world, every child that does not have enough to eat is a policy failure and a moral outrage. We have a responsibility not just to teach kids reading and math, but to ensure they have healthy, nutritious food at school.”

It is good news that there are currently initiatives and legislative proposals aimed at ending child hunger in the U.S. Many Bread members have devoted special time and effort to advocating passage of the Universal School Meals Program Act.

This vital piece of legislation offers a permanent solution to ending child hunger in America “by offering free breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack to all students, preschool through high school, regardless of income, eliminating all school meal debt, and strengthening local economies by incentivizing local food procurement.” The bill was introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), along with Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and in the House by Representatives Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Gwen Moore (D-WI) and Jim McGovern.

The Universal School Meals Program Act is a more comprehensive, permanent long-term version of the highly successful free school meals program that Congress approved during the COVID-19 pandemic. The initial program, which provided free school meals to all U.S. students through high school, led to significant positive outcomes, including higher rates of participation in school meals, reduced levels of perceived stigma affecting lower-income students, and an end to school meal debt. 

Unfortunately, the program was temporary. It expired in September 2022, leaving millions of children who relied on free meals under strain and uncertainty.

The Universal School Meals Program Act will not only bring unprecedented relief to low-income students, but to all schoolchildren. This new act imagines a country where food is freely given to children at school, and no child enrolled in an American school goes hungry. The act provides for not only free food, but free healthy, nutritious food that provides the diet needed for children to thrive.

The evidence that this approach works includes data from the nine U.S. states that already provide free school meals. California led the way and was followed by Maine, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Vermont. A number of other states are planning to take steps in school year 2024-2025 that will bring them closer to universal school meals.

Teachers are noticing the difference. Just one example: Lowell Elementary in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has reported a significant decrease in hunger-related issues for several of their students who “used to suffer stomach cramps or would feel dizzy because they didn’t have enough to eat.” Albuquerque Public Schools have also seen “an immediate increase in participation. And in the first seven days of the school year that started this month, the numbers increased by 1,000 per day for breakfast and lunch.”  

It is very good news that the leaders of nine states are now ensuring that children in their states get enough to eat.  But we cannot stop there. It is time for Congress to finally end child hunger with universal free school meals.

Izzy Koo is an intern on U.S. and global hunger issues, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

The post Ending Child Hunger in America through the Universal School Meals Act appeared first on Bread for the World.

The farm bill sets national policies for nutrition, agriculture, conservation, and forestry. It provides nutrition assistance to millions of Americans through programs such as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), which typically gets the largest funding share of any program in the farm bill. 

The farm bill is due to be reauthorized by Congress every five years; the most recent farm bill was enacted into law in 2018, and it expired in 2023. When Congress delays reauthorization, the existing farm bill has to be extended until the next one is completed. Programs included in the farm bill provide lifesaving assistance to millions of people facing dangerous levels of hunger and malnutrition, both in the U.S. and around the world.

In this article, we will discuss:

• What is the farm bill?
• What is included in the farm bill?
• How much does the farm bill cost?
• What federal programs are authorized in the farm bill? 
• Why is the farm bill important for ending hunger in the U.S.?
• Does the farm bill provide global food assistance?
• What is Bread for the World advocating for in the 2023 farm bill? 
• Was the farm bill reauthorized in 2023?
• What happens if the farm bill expires?
  

What is the farm bill? 

The farm bill is an enormous package of policies and programs that is reauthorized by Congress every five years and sets the nation’s agricultural and food policies. The bill governs both U.S. and global programs and impacts everything from the price and quality of the food we eat to the health and sustainability of the nation’s farms and natural resources. 

Since the 1930s, Congress has enacted 18 farm bills. Each farm bill has several unique titles, such as conservation, nutrition, rural development, trade, and others; but the omnibus package of legislation as a whole is commonly referred to as the “farm bill.” The farm bill that expired in 2023 is called the “Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018.” President Trump signed the 2018 farm bill into law on December 20, 2018. 

Reauthorizing the farm bill gives Congress an opportunity to improve food and nutrition security through several federal nutrition assistance programs.

What is included in the farm bill?

The farm bill governs a variety of agricultural and food programs. The farm bill has become increasingly expansive in the past several decades. It has an important impact not just on nutrition assistance for Americans but on how food is grown and what kinds of foods are prioritized in agricultural policy. 

The current (2018) farm bill has twelve chapters, called titles:

Title 1: Commodities.
What it covers: Price and income support for the farmers who grow crops like corn, wheat, soybeans, rice, and sugar (it also includes dairy).

Title 2: Conservation.  
What it covers: Natural resource conservation efforts on farms and ranches. 

Title 3: Trade. 
What it covers: Food export subsidy programs and international food aid programs.

Title 4: Nutrition.  
What it covers: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and other nutrition programs.

Title 5: Credit.  
What it covers: Federal loan programs that help farmers access loans.

Title 6: Rural Development.  
What it covers: Programs for rural businesses, housing, and infrastructure.

Title 7: Research, Extension, and Related Matters.  
What it covers: Farm and food research and education, such as training for farmers and ranchers.

Title 8: Forestry.  
What it covers: Forest conservation programs.

Title 9:  Energy.  
What it covers: Programs for growing crops for biofuel and helping farmers install renewable energy systems.

Title 10: Horticulture.
What it covers: Farmers market programs, organic farming and certification programs.

Title 11: Crop Insurance.  
What it covers: Subsidies to farmers and private crop insurance companies to protect against losses in crop yield or revenue. 

Title 12: Miscellaneous.  
What it covers: Agricultural labor safety, livestock health, and support for beginning farmers and socially disadvantaged farmers, such as farmers of color and female farmers. 

How much does the farm bill cost?

The total cost of the 2018 farm bill is about $428 billion over the 5-year period 2019–23.

The majority of the farm bill’s funding is for nutrition programs, which accounted for about three-quarters of farm bill spending from 2019 to 2023. 

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the next farm bill is estimated to be the first-ever farm bill to exceed $1 trillion. Nutrition is projected to make up more than 80% of the total farm bill spending. 

What federal programs are authorized in the farm bill? 

The major federal nutrition assistance programs authorized in the farm bill are:

• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly the food stamp program
• The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)
• Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR)
• Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP)
• Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP)
• Seniors Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP)
• Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI)
• Community Food Projects
• The Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP)
  

Why is the farm bill important for ending hunger in the U.S.?

The farm bill impacts hunger in the United States by providing access to nutritious food for millions of Americans struggling with hunger. 

Feeding Families

Hunger exists in the U.S. just as it does overseas. In the U.S., low-income households spend a greater share of their income on food, and more than one in five U.S. children are at risk of hunger. 

Food insecurity is three times higher for children living in Black and Latino households than for children living in white households. Programs included in the farm bill are vital for getting nutritious food to individuals and families so they can live thriving, productive lives. 

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

The U.S. flagship nutrition program and the main vehicle for reducing hunger under the bill is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – formerly food stamps – which currently serves more than 41 million people. 

Research shows that SNAP is one of our most effective tools in reducing hunger and food insecurity.

SNAP helps families put food on the table but is rarely enough to ensure an adequate amount of healthy food. SNAP recipients, on average, consume lower amounts of fruits and vegetables than the average American. The Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) is an indispensable enhancement to SNAP by providing additional benefits to purchase fruits and vegetables.

The Emergency Food Assistance Program

Another important program authorized by the farm bill is The Emergency Food Assistance Program, or TEFAP, a federal nutrition program that moves food from farms to food banks to people facing hunger. Through this program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture purchases healthy foods from U.S. farmers for food banks and other organizations to distribute. 

These and other farm bill programs address long-standing nutritional inequities to ensure that marginalized and underserved communities receive nutritious food. 

For example, the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) promotes fresh fruits and vegetables in high-need elementary schools throughout the United States. The Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) provides low-income seniors with access to locally grown fruits, vegetables, honey, and herbs. The Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) offers a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, frozen meats, whole grains, and traditional foods.

Does the farm bill provide global food assistance?

The farm bill governs both U.S. and global agricultural and food policies and programs. The United States is a leading contributor to global efforts to save lives and relieve suffering among people who confront hunger and malnutrition. 

The farm bill spells out the main ways the United States provides emergency nutrition assistance as well as long-term development support to help communities become more resilient to chronic challenges and sudden shocks. 

Since 1954, U.S. assistance has reached more than 4 billion people in 150 countries.

The main causes of the current global hunger crises are conflict, climate change, and shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The next farm bill offers an opportunity to increase funding for solutions that will reduce hunger and malnutrition for people around the world who are suffering from the impacts of these crises. 

Global food aid comes in three forms: in kind, meaning food shipped from the United States; vouchers to purchase food at local markets; and food purchased from local farmers and distributed to families.

Historically, U.S. food assistance was exclusively in kind. But shipping food from the United States delays the arrival of much-needed supplies, sometimes for months. It also adds significantly to the costs. Meanwhile, people suffering from severe malnutrition urgently need all available resources. 

This is why Bread for the World members have worked diligently over several five-year farm bill cycles to persuade Congress to permit a larger share of food aid to be purchased locally or regionally. These efforts have paid off: In 2020, 59% of U.S.-provided emergency food was purchased locally or regionally – an increase from 11% in 2010.

Important global nutrition assistance programs included in the farm bill are: 

• Food for Peace
  In fiscal year 2022, Food for Peace programs provided $2.6 billion across 31 countries in food assistance to women, children, and communities in hunger hotpots.  
  
  

• The McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program
  This program has enabled food-insecure countries to establish school feeding programs for preschool and primary school children in need, providing 5 billion school meals since it was created 20 years ago.
  
  
• The Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust
  The Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust makes funds available to provide emergency humanitarian food assistance to developing countries.
  
  
• The John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer-to-Farmer Program
  This program provides technical assistance to farmers, agribusinesses, and other agriculture sector institutions in developing and transitional countries. 

What is Bread for the World advocating for in the 2023 farm bill? 

The farm bill strengthens nutrition security in the United States by increasing access to healthy food. Bread supports a farm bill that will help build a healthy, equitable, and sustainable U.S. food and agricultural system. 

Bread advocates for measures in the next farm bill that will enhance nutrition, nutrition equity, and sustainability in the United States and globally, including:

• Enhanced global maternal and child nutrition through U.S. food aid initiatives
• Expanded access to SNAP among marginalized populations 
• Equitable opportunities for all food producers 
• Self-governance and food sovereignty for Tribal Nations
• Increased resources for food aid to reach people in crisis as quickly and efficiently as possible
• Funding for programs, research, and policies that address the threat to food security posed by the climate crisis
• Increased support for post-harvest food recovery to reduce food waste and feed people experiencing food insecurity, and reduce the greenhouse gasses that contribute to climate change when food ends up in landfills.

Bread’s advocacy agenda is a result of more than 100 meetings with grassroots advocates and stakeholders, including Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous farmers and food system leaders, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, U.S. Department of Agriculture officials, and local food system leaders. 

In 2023, Bread staff met with congressional offices in leadership positions on Senate and House Agriculture committees and subcommittees to introduce Bread’s farm bill policy team to them and gain insight on what Senate and House members could be expected to prioritize in the farm bill. These meetings and consultations also informed Bread’s farm bill policy platform in 2023. 

The Current State of the Farm Bill

Was the farm bill reauthorized in 2023?

No, Congress missed their September 30, 2023, deadline for passage of a farm bill. 

Debate over the more-than-$1 trillion price tag is part of the reason the farm bill was not reauthorized. Some lawmakers want to cut back on SNAP benefits and initiatives designed to help farmers improve their yields and address climate challenges. There are also disagreements over funding levels for farm subsidy programs.

Reduced funding for SNAP would put more American families at risk of food insecurity.

What happens if the farm bill expires?

If the farm bill expires without a new bill in place or if programs are not granted an extension by Congress, programs face one of three scenarios. Some lose the funding to operate and must shut down. A few key programs, like SNAP, would continue, but others that America’s farmers rely on to sustain their enterprises would revert back to outdated laws from 1938 and 1949 farm bills.

How is the farm bill reauthorized?

The farm bill is reauthorized when it is passed by the House and the Senate and signed into law by the president of the United States. 

Typically, committees in the House and the Senate both draft versions of the bill, then debate and revise them until the bills pass in both chambers. Then the bills are combined and must be voted on and passed by both the House and Senate before being sent to the president.

How can you make a difference in the passage of the farm bill?

Leaders in Congress really do listen to their constituents. Get involved by adding your voice to those calling for the reauthorization of the farm bill. 

Every letter you write to your representatives on Capitol Hill is read and cataloged  – and tells your representative which issues to prioritize. 

Look up your senators and representatives using our free search tool, write them a message and share it with those in your community. 

Conclusion 

The farm bill is our nation’s most important national food system legislation. It is critical to the work of ending hunger at home and abroad.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (USDA ERS), in 2022, 44.2 million people lived in food-insecure households. The reauthorization of the farm bill is a vital step toward ensuring that Americans – and others around the world – can have access to and afford a healthy, balanced diet. 

Bread for the World encourages U.S. senators and representatives to support a farm bill that will help build a nutritious, equitable, and sustainable U.S. food and agricultural system.

The post The Farm Bill: What It Is and What It Means for Hunger (2023) appeared first on Bread for the World.

The proof is apparent via some depressing news, unfortunately. In 2022, the Census report shows, the child poverty rate more than doubled, rising to 12.4 percent, compared to 5.2 percent in 2021. The increase in child poverty was caused mostly by the expiration of improvements to the Child Tax Credit made in 2021 in the American Rescue Plan. As many of our supporters know Bread for the World has been a persistent advocate for these improvements.

Between July and December of 2021, the Child Tax Credit increased from a maximum of $2,000 per child to $3,600 for children under age six, and to $3,000 for children between ages six and 17. Moreover, the credit was restructured to be delivered in monthly installments, rather than a lump sum payment during tax season: $300 per month to the families with children under age 6 and $250 to those with children 6 to 17. Hard to overstate this improvement to what resulted in similar dramatic progress against child hunger in 2021. 

But the most important improvement of all was that the credit was made refundable, allowing it to become available to millions of families who previously earned too little income to qualify. It meant some 18 million children were newly eligible for the full tax credit, including 40 percent of all Black and Latino children, nearly half of all children in single-parent households, and more than one-third of rural children.

As a result of these changes, the Child Tax Credit became a form of universal basic income. You can call it anything you want; universal basic income is simply a recurrent payment—often delivered monthly—and is available to all members of a community with no work requirements or other conditions imposed on the recipients. That’s worth noting because work requirements became the main sticking point in negotiations to extend the improvements to Child Tax Credit beyond 2021.

Hence, it was a short-lived experiment, lasting only six months during the second half of 2021, but it led to an unprecedented reduction in child poverty and child hunger. And then it ended. What members of Congress giveth in 2021, they voted to taketh away in 2022—not all of them, but a majority was all it took to undo. Those 18 million children who benefited in 2021 were no longer eligible for the full tax credit in 2022. 

The postmortems following release of the report emphasized how policies can make a difference in achieving progress against poverty and other hardships. In an op-ed published by Religion News Service, David Beckmann, Bread for the World’s president emeritus, lays this out as well as anybody has. 

Another outcome revealed by the Census report also merits attention. It used to seem axiomatic to call “a job” the best anti-poverty program. (We don’t want to understate the value of steady employment. Earnings make up most of household resources, including for families that are in poverty). Jobs remain necessary to escaping poverty, but they clearly are not always sufficient—and haven’t been for some time. No year tests that theory better than 2022, when the unemployment rate was near historically low levels. Yes, inflation took a bite out of paychecks, but wages were rising for workers at the bottom of the income ladder faster than for workers on rungs higher up. 

It is sad that policymakers for whom work requirements dominate their thinking about addressing child poverty won’t do more to improve jobs for parents who clearly want to provide for their kids. Here are a few examples of policy inaction: The federal minimum wage hasn’t received a raise since 2009, childcare policy lags behind other wealthy countries, and there remains no federal law guaranteeing a right to paid family and medical leave. There are many others, but those alone are enough for an evidence-based indictment of inaction.

So then, it’s not just that policies matter in addressing child poverty. It’s a very particular policy: a form of universal basic income delivered through the Child Tax Credit. 

Public outrage over harmful government actions has a fleeting half-life. The best time to make an issue of the harm done to children by reversing improvements made to the Child Tax Credit is now.

Todd Post is senior domestic policy advisor, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

The post The Best Anti-Poverty Program: Give Them Money appeared first on Bread for the World.

When I’m dyin’, do remember me.

When I’m in trouble, do remember me.

When this world’s on fire, do remember me.

O do, Lord, remember me.

In the early 1800’s, during the enslavement period of millions of Africans and Africans in diaspora—not only in the United States, but globally—these words were penned as a Negro spiritual. The spiritual asked the Lord to not forget them and to join them in their righteous fight for liberation. Some people who were not enslaved said yes to joining the fight, while most did not.

As we observe World Food Day 2023 Pan African peoples are still extending this invitation. Pan African peoples understand they are disproportionately affected by hunger and food insecurity. Historic inequities furthered by the wrath of racism, conflict, climate, and illnesses like COVID have further contributed to this.

In recent days, we are mindful of the thousands of lives lost because of flooding in the North African nation of Libya. And more than 3,000 people are reported to have died from the recent earthquake in Morocco. Since 1996, conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has led to approximately six million deaths. The ongoing conflict has disrupted agricultural activities, thereby limiting access to nutritious food, particularly for children who are displaced. Haiti has one of the highest levels of food insecurity in the world. 

Since the enslavement period, discriminatory policies and practices have led African peoples to be more likely to live in poverty and more likely to face unemployment. African peoples have fewer financial resources like savings or property than their white counterparts. All these factors increase someone’s likelihood of experiencing hunger. According to the USDA, in 2021, nearly 20% of Black individuals lived in a food insecure household. Black people are almost three times more likely to face hunger than white individuals.

The World Food Programme reports that there are 400 trillion dollar’s worth of wealth on the earth today, while 9 million people die from hunger every year. 

As we approach World Food Day this October, these numerical trends and events disturb us, but we also find hope in the remembrances and celebrations of the lives behind the numbers. Hope is also found in our prayers and advocacy actions. To advocate for the Farm Bill, please visit Bread for the World’s Offering of Letters webpage.

You are invited to remember, to advocate, and to recite the Prayer of Remembrance by Rev. Dr. Deolinda Teca from Angola (from the 2019 Bread Pan African Devotional):

“O God of mercy and love, teach us, like Nehemiah and the disciples of Christ, to love our neighbor. Give us the strength to work with and for those who suffer from the strange fruits of wars, conflicts, hunger, and social injustices. Amen.”

Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church engagement at Bread for the World.

The post World Food Day 2023: Do, Lord, Remember Black Lives  appeared first on Bread for the World.

Bread for the World has been working with the Puerto Rican faith community to ensure that Puerto Ricans have equitable access to SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), the primary food assistance program in the U.S.  While people in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens, their treatment is vastly different than that of mainland citizens.

In 2015, the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute found that over 33 percent of the adult population was food insecure. This was before Hurricane María, Hurricane Fiona, COVID-19, and the earthquakes that ravaged the southwest part of the island. A study by George Washington University estimated that 40 percent of Puerto Rican families experienced food insecurity during first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the high rates of food insecurity, Puerto Ricans do not have access to SNAP. Instead, Puerto Rican residents receive a block grant called NAP (the Nutrition Assistance Program). The funding cap on NAP means not all Puerto Rican residents who would otherwise qualify for SNAP will qualify for NAP. It also means that during emergencies any additional nutritional aid assistance must be appropriated by Congress, a process that took six months to complete after Hurricane María devastated Puerto Rican communities. In contrast, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam, territories whose citizens receive SNAP, can request Disaster SNAP and have additional emergency aid in a matter of weeks.

Including access to SNAP for the U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico in the upcoming farm bill reauthorization process will move us toward more nutritious, sustainable, and equitable food systems.

Bread for the World has followed two principles that guide our work on moving Puerto Rico from NAP to SNAP. One is that we can’t do this alone. The other is that we must call on the leadership of people and leaders who are directly impacted by food insecurity and hunger. 

After Hurricane Maria and during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bread supported the Coalition for Food Security for Puerto Rico’s legislative push to secure emergency funding for NAP. This year, we invited representatives of the largest faith-based organizations in Puerto Rico to our annual Advocacy Summit.

During the summit, the representatives met with Bread members and supporters to develop a strategy to gain support from U.S.-based churches on the issue. They also met with members of Congress to discuss the challenges that Puerto Ricans face with food security and the inequities between NAP and SNAP.

Bread is only as strong as the leaders who work and pray together for the end to hunger. We are strengthened in this work by the leadership of groups like ASSPEN, ACOMERPR, Nutriendo PR, and the Coalition for Food Security for Puerto Rico, to name a few. We can say with confidence that with the support and leadership of Puerto Ricans living both on the Island and the mainland, and alongside of Latino leaders across the U.S., we can make a difference in the lives of people experiencing hunger in Puerto Rico and around the world.

The post Establishing Food Security: NAP to SNAP in Puerto Rico appeared first on Bread for the World.

“Do good, seek justice.” Jeremiah 1:17

Black History Month 2023 invites a timely reflection on how we repair the historic root causes of hunger in communities in Africa and in communities elsewhere in the world where people of African descent live. I wrote the following in the 2019 Pan-African Bread devotional:

“[A]fter centuries of structural change, protests, and policy reforms, most often led by Africans and people of African descent, why do these groups still experience such disproportionately high percentages of hunger and poverty today? And why is there still such a wide wealth and income gap between these groups and individuals of European and Asian descent? An essential part of the answer lies in the history of the quadricentennial of the transatlantic voyage of African peoples from the country of Angola in 1619 to Jamestown, Virginia. The practice, and later policy, of enslaving African peoples before, during, and after this time are the foundation on which inequitable policies were established.”

We are in a season in which church and public policy initiatives in 2022 and 2023 have provided some timely responses that move us towards repair of this history. In January 2023, the Church of England’s Church Commissioners released their report of a forensic investigation into one particular component of the Anglican Church’s historic link with the trans-Atlantic slave trade. They admitted institutional guilt and moral liability, and then committed to a solemn public effort to make reparation to the present-day descendants of the communities that were negatively impacted.

Repair of this history must also systemically address the environmental crisis and engage climate justice. In November 2022, a new loss and damage fund for which Bread has advocated was adopted at the 27^th Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC).

In August 2022, a presentment outlining the harms and offenses of the Catholic Church regarding the transatlantic slave trade and slavery was presented at the Vatican. The presentment also referenced the legacy of those harms and offenses and reparations measures that are needed for full repair. “The Catholic Church has admitted that it played a role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade,” said Kamm Howard, director of Reparations United, who is co-convener of the Global Circle for Reparations and Healing (GCRH). “The focus now will be on continued conversations to move the work forward to ensure repair becomes a reality.”

In 2022, A preliminary report by a statewide panel to study and recommend ways to implement reparations for Black Californians outlined how a “blight law from 1945 paved the way for officials to use eminent domain to destroy Black communities,” according to a Dec. 7, 2022, New York Times article (“A Look at What California Has Done So Far About Reparations”).

This year, Bread has as a primary advocacy focus the reauthorization of the farm bill. The farm bill is our nation’s most important national food system legislation. It is critical to the work of ending hunger at home and abroad. Supporting the farm bill legislation through your Offering of Letters, lobby visits, phone calls, and social media will help build healthy, equitable, and sustainable food systems that move us towards repairing historic injustices. Please click here to learn more about the farm bill and the Offering of Letters, and to engage this domestic and international timely call for justice.

Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church engagement at Bread for the World.

The post Black History, the Root Causes of Hunger, and Reparatory Justice appeared first on Bread for the World.

In 2022 we saw important developments that commended the redress of these issues in an increasing Pan African/global realignment of Africa and the African Diaspora. Crucial issues related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—food security and food sovereignty, nutrition, equity, sustainability, and climate justice—were advanced at the recent meeting of 49 African leaders and the African Union, hosted by the U.S. government in Washington, D.C. African representatives called for deep commitments for equitable investment in global decision-making bodies and trade within and outside of Africa with the advancement of the African Continental Free Trade Area.

December 5-8 marked the historic launch of the UN Permanent Forum of People of African Descent. This consultative mechanism is a new a platform for improving the safety and quality of life and livelihoods of people of African descent, working in close coordination with existing mechanisms. This has been supported by the Biden-Harris administration.

The administration announced several other specific policy developments:

• Committing approximately $15 billion in two-way trade in Africa to increase investments in agriculture, the digital economy, health, energy, infrastructure, and finance.
• Reforming the United Nations Security Council to include an African representative, as well as giving the African Union a permanent place at the G20.
• Establishing the President’s Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement in the United States, represented by and reflecting the diversity of the African Diaspora from African American and African immigrant communities.

2023 brings renewed opportunities to engage these important developments as Bread for the World addresses Dr. King’s legacy and these Pan African issues with its legislative agenda. This agenda has three foci for addressing this vision for a better world in 2023: nutrition, equity, and sustainable life.

We invite you to join us in advocating for this vision and considering engaging in an Offering of Letters! Also turn to the 2023 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, published by the Christian Council of Churches, with the theme of “Do Good, Seek Justice.”

Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church engagement at Bread for the World.

The post Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and a 2023 Pan African Advocacy Agenda appeared first on Bread for the World.

Watch the interview. 

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The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan includes a one-year expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC), making the credit available to all low-income families with children.

Before the expansion, an estimated 27 million children under age 17 lived in families who did not earn enough to qualify for the full CTC for children because they did not have sufficient taxable income. These are families in which food insecurity and hunger are widespread.

Young children are more vulnerable than any other group to the damaging impacts of hunger even for short periods. At the same time, families with young children are more likely to face hunger than those with older children. This is why additional monthly resources are especially important for young children.

All children stand to benefit from CTC expansion, but children from groups that have disproportionately high hunger rates will benefit most. Poverty among Black children will be cut by an estimated 52 percent, among Latino children by 45 percent, among Native American children by 62 percent, among Asian American and Pacific Islander children by 37 percent, and among white children by 39 percent.

A CTC expansion not only contributes to better life prospects for the most vulnerable children in the country but also offers a good return on investment. In a way, the United States cannot afford not to reduce poverty among children, because every year, it costs the economy between $800 million and $1.1 trillion. The costs come in lower productivity, higher healthcare costs, and the need to spend more on public safety, services for homeless people, incarceration, and care for survivors of child abuse.

Major components of the CTC expansion:

• Increases the benefit from $2,000 per year to $3,600 for children up to age 6 and to $3,000 for children 6-17.
• Delivers monthly installments of $300 per month for each younger child and $250 per month for each older child.
• Equally available to all families starting at $0 income through middle-income status.

CTC expansion is a big deal, and we should feel great it was included in the American Rescue Plan. But we aren’t done yet. Now we must work to make the expansion permanent.

Expanding the CTC would do more to reduce hunger and poverty among our nation’s children than single policy in decades

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March is Women’s History Month in the United States, and on March 8, the world observed International Women’s Day. First and foremost, gender equity is a critical component of respect for human rights. It is also essential for every country intent on building a more prosperous future, without hunger, malnutrition, or any of humanity’s many other longstanding problems. No community can meet its goals if half its people are blocked from using all their talents to help meet those goals.

It goes without saying that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly all facets of life for women around the globe. But before I say anything more about the pandemic’s global impact, I want to celebrate a significant victory for children in the United States. Please see our recent blog post for the details of a particularly important provision of the recently passed American Rescue Plan—the expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC). It may not seem important at first glance, but experts expect that it will cut child poverty nearly in half.

For the past several years, Bread for the World members have been urging Congress to improve two tax provisions with the potential to help many more families living with food insecurity: the CTC and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The work of Bread’s grassroots advocates made a difference as a CTC expansion was included in the American Rescue Plan. Thank you and congratulations to all who supported improvements in the CTC and EITC!    

As the pandemic enters its second year, many people have paused to reflect on the enormous damage to virtually every country on Earth in only one year. In addition to the suffering of patients themselves and their families, even larger numbers have been forced to go without necessities as the global economy was brought nearly to a halt. Hundreds of millions of people lost their means of earning a living, whether that had been in a profession or job, or in the so-called “informal sector,” where people work as smallholder farmers, market women, tailors, midwives, and in many other capacities to sustain their communities and feed themselves and their families.

As noted most recently, another major impact of lockdowns and other restrictions imposed for public health reasons is that many people have been unable to access basic health care. This is particularly dangerous for young children, many of whom have missed screenings for malnutrition and immunizations against childhood diseases that remain deadly in many countries.

Recently we have also taken a look at the grim consequences of the pandemic for people living in situations that were already extremely difficult. In regions such as the Sahel, which stretches along the southern edge of Africa’s Sahara Desert, countries such as Burkina Faso and Niger had extremely high rates of child malnutrition during “normal” times, significant armed conflict, and frequent disasters linked to climate change.

In areas around the world that, like the Sahel, are severely affected by conflict and climate change, the pandemic has caused soaring rates of hunger and malnutrition. The number of people in acute hunger emergencies has more than doubled, to an estimated 271.8 million.

Women are facing particular hardships due to pervasive gender discrimination. The World Health Organization reports that in Africa, for example, the pandemic is worsening gender inequality and causing millions of women great physical, mental, and economic distress. The burdens of unpaid, labor-intensive household chores fall mainly on women, as does responsibility for caring for children. In many societies, this includes ensuring that children have food and clothing.

Women with small businesses have been hit hard. Oulimata Sarr, regional director of U.N. Women in West and Central Africa, said that the results of a study in 30 countries of 1,300 female-owned businesses found that, “The message is the same. We have lost the vast majority of our revenue.”

She added that some countries responded by giving women food and some cash transfers instead of capital to keep their businesses afloat, while in several countries, governments have given stimulus checks and packages to a number of well-organized business associations, most run by men. Sarr said that governments in the region need to respond to this gender financing gap.
 
There is much more that could be said about gender equity and hunger in the context of the pandemic, ranging from women’s higher rates of unemployment to persistent reports of significant increases in domestic violence. But as COVID-19 vaccine supplies begin to arrive in lower-income countries, and the people of many countries have become increasingly adept at protecting themselves and their families from being exposed to the virus, I prefer to look ahead to spring in the hope that this year, hundreds of millions of people will be able to take significant steps to a better life.

Michele Learner is managing editor with Bread for the World Institute.

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By Marlysa D. Gamblin and Kathleen King

The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines food insecurity as when a person or household does not have regular, reliable access to the foods needed for good health. Black, Indigenous, and Other People of Color (BIPOC) have historically had higher rates of food insecurity in the United States as a result of structural racism. Policies that reflect structural racism date back to the 1400s with the colonialization of Indigenous land and genocide of Indigenous people, followed by the enslavement of people of African descent, and continuing to this day.

Structural racism is a historical, cultural, institutional, and interpersonal system of hierarchy that routinely advantages white people, leading to cumulative and chronic racial inequities in all aspects of life for BIPOC, including food security.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity affected communities of color at far higher rates: 24.2 percent of African American households, 22.6 percent of Indigenous households, 20.2 percent of Native Hawaiian households, 18.8 percent of Latino/a households, and 7.6 percent of white households, with a national average of 11.3 percent. In the months since the pandemic began, preliminary findings from the Urban Institute show that Latino/a and Black households are more than twice as likely to report being food insecure as white households—27.1 percent and 27 percent, respectively, compared to 13.5 percent for white households. Before the pandemic, food insecurity levels among female-headed households of color were also much higher than the national average of 11.3 percent—30 percent of households headed by Native Hawaiian women, 33.3 percent for African American women, 34.3 percent for Latinas, and 37.1 percent for Indigenous female-headed households.

Food insecurity and COVID-19 have a reciprocal relationship. Food insecurity compromises immune systems and creates health inequities, which increase the susceptibility to death among people who contract the virus. The racial food insecurity and health inequities created by structural racism among Black, Indigenous, and Other Households of Color contribute to the higher death rates among BIPOC who contract the virus. The reverse is also true: higher rates of contracting COVID-19 and dying from it increase food insecurity, since workers are more likely to have to take extended time off—usually unpaid—because either they or their family members are sick. At the same time, COVID-19 generates large, unexpected healthcare costs for Black, Indigenous, and Other Patients of Color, who are also more likely to lack health insurance. The death of a wage earner adds to the likelihood of food insecurity for his or her family members, often for many years.

The racial divides in food insecurity, coupled with the higher rates of exposure, infection, and death from COVID-19 among Black, Indigenous, and Other People of Color, point to the urgent need for the United States to make racial equity a top priority in efforts to contain COVID-19 and its widespread impacts. Racial equity is a process focused on centering and respecting the needs, power, and leadership of BIPOC, and a goal of achieving equal, and ultimately optimal, outcomes for BIPOC relative to their white counterparts.

Not long after COVID-19 arrived in the United States, it became clear to all that race played a major role in determining how likely people are to contract the virus and how likely they are to die if they get sick. Thus far, Black communities have had the highest COVID-19 death rate of any racial or ethnic group, followed by Indigenous people. This finding is consistent whether the data is at the county, state, or national level. According to the Color of Coronavirus Project, the death rates per 100,000 people in each group are 80 Black people, 67 Indigenous people, 59 Pacific Islanders, and 46 Latino/as, compared to 36 white people. When death rates are adjusted for age—to take into account that white people Food insecurity and COVID-19 have a reciprocal relationship. who die are on average significantly older than Black, Indigenous and Other People of Color who die—BIPOC are three times as likely to die as whites in their age group.

In response, this report discusses the unique impacts of both COVID-19 and factors that increase hunger in Black communities in the context of anti-Black racism, which is the root cause of these racially inequitable impacts. Anti-Black racism specifically targets the well-being of Black people. Racism against Black communities is an important specific type of racism because it informed the creation of structural racism in the United States, which began with slavery and continued with legal lynchings, physical abuse, and other forms of violence against Black bodies.

The report also explains why it is important to apply a racial equity lens to U.S. COVID-19 responses that centers Blackness (see figure 1) to reduce food insecurity and poverty. Practicing racial equity by centering Blackness can begin the process of repair from the policies that previously inflicted harm on Black communities, as shown in the graphic below, as well as on other communities of color that historically have also been harmed by these policies and practices.

The report also explains why, in centering Blackness, it is critical to center the needs, voices, and leadership of Black women, who experience the dual oppression of anti-Black racism and gender inequity. Centering the intersections of these two interwoven identities in our racial equity approach is a way of avoiding a focus solely on the experiences of Black men. Rather, the entire Black community is uplifted, and by extension, all other women, men, and children of color experience liberation, and more specifically, food security.

For this reason, the report’s analysis and recommendations have been informed, led, and guided by Black women who are experts through lived experience, as on-the-ground leaders, practitioners, or scholars from across the country and from different fields.

Marlysa D. Gamblin is the Senior Policy Advisor for Racial and Gender Divides at Bread for the World Institute. Dr. Kathleen King is the President of Mosaic Economic Consulting, LLC.

Food insecurity and COVID-19 have a reciprocal relationship

The post Racially Equitable Responses to Hunger During COVID-19 and Beyond appeared first on Bread for the World.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the first line of defense against hunger for people in the United States.

SNAP benefits help low-income people put food on the table. Participants include seniors, children, people living with disabilities, and low-wage workers and their families. Nearly half of the people who receive SNAP are children.

A very important feature of SNAP is that it is designed to respond to changes in need, making it very well suited to respond to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal government can also augment SNAP as needed with programs such as Disaster SNAP (D-SNAP) and Pandemic SNAP (P-SNAP). D-SNAP is historically allocated in response to natural disasters, while P-SNAP would help with the devastating long-term consequences of COVID-19.

The Family First Coronavirus Relief Act includes “response waivers,” exceptions to SNAP rules during the pandemic and post-pandemic period. For example, the legislation allows:

• SNAP flexibility for low-income jobless workers: It suspends work and work training requirements for SNAP during this crisis.
• SNAP flexibilities in a public health emergency: It allows states to request special waivers from the Secretary of Agriculture to provide temporary, emergency Coronavirus SNAP (CR-SNAP) benefits to existing SNAP households up to the maximum monthly allotment, and it gives the Secretary broad discretion to provide much more flexibility for states in managing SNAP caseloads.

Over and above these necessary steps, Bread for the World calls for the following to support the most vulnerable people.

• Increase the maximum monthly SNAP benefit by 15 percent
• Temporarily increase the minimum SNAP benefit from $16 to $30 to encourage higher rates of senior participation
• Give states temporary flexibility to suspend SNAP administrative rules that weaken their response to the crisis

The COVID-19 economic recovery package must build on the Family First Coronavirus Relief Act and include the 15 percent boost in benefits to ensure families have access to adequate resources during the pandemic.

Nearly half of the people who receive SNAP are children

The post Fact Sheet: Coronavirus (COVID-19) and SNAP appeared first on Bread for the World.

A one-page fact sheet for hunger in the United States, and for each state plus Washington, D.C. Each fact sheet provides these indicators of hunger and poverty: the proportion of households in the state that struggle to put food on the table, the number of people living in counties with poverty rates of 20 percent, the number of veterans living below the poverty line, and more.

Ending Hunger by 2030

The United States has made significant progress against hunger and poverty over the past 50 years. But too many people are being left behind. Ending hunger and poor nutrition in the U.S. calls for comprehensive strategies that promote racial, gender, and class equity and take into account differences in personal, family, and community circumstances. Even more important, it requires the political will to turn these ideas into legislation. The United States should:

• Create jobs that pay
  Millions of workers are paid so little that they cannot feed their families. The best, most lasting way to end hunger is to ensure that people have access to jobs that pay enough to support their families. The United States can move in the right direction by making essential improvements through legislation and policies.
• Invest in people
  To be successful, people must have access to the tools they need. Government plays an important role in ensuring that everyone has their basic needs met and benefits from equitable opportunities. Targeted investments should be made in communities with the highest hunger rates.
• Strengthen the safety net
  Most people need some help at some point in their lives and everyone should have access to help in hard times. The United States should strengthen national nutrition programs such as school meals, summer meals, SNAP, and WIC. Essential social programs should be a consistent national priority and they should be provided in an equitable manner.
• Remove obstacles to earning a decent living
  Discriminatory practices should be ended and the playing field should be leveled for communities at higher risk of hunger by providing targeted support. These include people of color, women, and children, particularly women and children of color. Laws against racial, gender, and other forms of discrimination should be enforced, and a racial, gender, and class equity lens should be applied to all nutrition, anti-hunger, and anti-poverty programs and policies

Hunger and Poverty Facts by State

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The following statement can be attributed to Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World: 

“Senator Lugar was a true champion for people living in hunger both in the United States and around the world. He introduced the original Global Food Security Act along with Senator Bob Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, in 2009, and was a strong supporter of domestic programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). In fact, there might not be a strong SNAP program today if it wasn’t for Senator Lugar’s defense of the program when he was chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee.”

“I had a memorable encounter with Senator Lugar when President George W. Bush signed the African Growth and Opportunity Act in 2004. I was talking with the president about the need for Congress to fund the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), then a new channel for aid to developing countries. President Bush walked me over to Senator Lugar, who was then chair of the Foreign Relations Committee. The president asked Senator Lugar for his help with funding for the MCC. When the president stepped away, Senator Lugar’s thoughts immediately turned to a letter he had recently received from a constituent, Connie Wick. Connie organized Bread for the World letter-writing to Congress on hunger issues from the Robin Run Retirement Home in Indianapolis. I was impressed by Senator Lugar’s respect for one of his constituents, and by the way he took her views into account as he considered a request from the president of the United States.   

“One of the things that struck me most about Senator Lugar was his civility toward everyone. As chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Lugar modeled respect for senators on both sides of the aisle. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee today still benefits from the legacy of mutual respect that Senator Lugar helped to build.”   

The post Bread Mourns Passing of Hunger Champion Sen. Richard Lugar appeared first on Bread for the World.

Worldwide, maternal and child malnutrition causes millions of deaths each year. In some countries, it holds entire generations back from reaching their economic potential.

The United States has been critical to global nutrition efforts for decades. We must continue to be a leader in supporting countries to end malnutrition. Losing U.S. momentum now would stall global progress, putting current and future generations in unnecessary danger of death or lifelong disability.

Key Points

• To end the need for foreign assistance, now is the time to act on ending malnutrition.
• While the trends show progress on maternal and child nutrition, the continuation of progress is vulnerable if the U.S. government steps back.
• Congressional leadership is critical to ensuring that the United States keeps its commitments, supporting country-led efforts to improve nutrition among mothers and their young children.

“Nutrition is the biggest missed opportunity in global health.”

Bill Gates, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The post The U.S. Contribution to Ending Global Malnutrition appeared first on Bread for the World.

In 2017, 11.8 percent of households in the U.S.—40 million people—were food-insecure, meaning that they were unsure at some point during the year about how they would provide for their next meal. While the number of food insecure households is still too high, it has been declining since the post-recession high of 14.9 percent in 2011.

Unfortunately, the overall food insecurity rate has not recovered to pre-recession levels. In 2007, 11.1 percent of U.S. households experienced food insecurity, compared to 11.8 percent in 2017. At the rate of decrease we saw this year, the United States would not end hunger until 2040.

All the nations of the world have agreed on development goals for 2030, including the goal of ending hunger. To end hunger by 2030, our country needs to see the same decreases it saw from 2014 to 2015, when the rate of food insecurity declined at a statistically significant rate of 1.3 percent. Ending hunger by 2030 will require strong political commitment and a comprehensive approach to address hunger’s root causes and accelerate progress.

Fact: More than 1 in 6 children in the United States live at risk of hunger

The post Fact Sheet: Hunger by the Numbers [2018] appeared first on Bread for the World.

Unfortunately, the Trump administration and Congress are proposing dramatic cuts to programs that promote economic opportunity or provide food assistance to some of the poorest families in the United States.

These budget cuts would hit the African-American community particularly hard since African-American households are up to three times more likely to experience hunger and poverty. About 13 million African Americans rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), for example, to put food on the table.

In 2015, SNAP lifted 2.1 million African Americans, including 1 million children, out of poverty

The post The Impacts of Proposed Fiscal Year 2018 Budget Cuts on the African-American Community appeared first on Bread for the World.

Bread for the World Institute

Racial Wealth Gap Learning Simulation

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Key Facts About SNAP

• SNAP works exactly as it’s supposed to. SNAP was designed to respond quickly and efficiently to increases in need. When poverty and unemployment spiked in 2008, 2009, and 2010, so did SNAP participation.
• SNAP reaches exactly whom it’s supposed to. The average SNAP household has a gross monthly income of $813. This is well below the strict national income limits. Ninety two percent of SNAP benefits go to households with incomes at or below the poverty line.
• SNAP participation increased mainly due to the poor economy. The largest increases in SNAP participation came on the heels of the recession.
• SNAP encourages work. Employment rates among households with children and at least one non-disabled adult rose nearly 10 percent from 2009 to 2015, the Great Recession years.
• SNAP fraud is the exception, not the rule. The USDA tracks two types of SNAP fraud data: trafficking and error rate. The majority of SNAP payment errors are a result of administrative errors, not intentional fraud.
• Charity alone can’t feed everyone. Our federal nutrition programs deliver more than 19 times the amount of food assistance as private charitable sources.

SNAP is a lifeline for millions of Americans. Congress must do its part to end hunger by protecting SNAP.

The post Fact Sheet: Get the Facts About SNAP appeared first on Bread for the World.

Feed the Future, launched in 2010, grew out of the U.S. response, led by President George W. Bush, to the 2007-2008 global food price crisis. Prices of basic foods doubled or tripled in some countries and pushed an additional 150 million people into hunger and malnutrition.

Feed the Future has enabled significant progress against hunger, malnutrition, and poverty in its focus countries. But the current global context, with prolonged conflicts, a changing climate, and deepening inequalities, has stalled or even reversed progress in vulnerable areas around the world. In 2016 (the last year for which there is data), the number of people living with hunger increased from the previous year to 815 million people.

The post Feed the Future appeared first on Bread for the World.

“The Farm Bill is an opportunity to help end hunger in the United States and around the world. We are pleased that the House bill maintains and improves international food aid programs. But we must oppose this bill as written because it proposes changes to SNAP that will put millions of women, children, and families at risk of hunger.

“Specifically, the bill imposes benefit and eligibility cuts in addition to stricter work requirements, in the name of getting SNAP recipients ‘back to work.’

“Work is the surest, most sustainable, and dignified way out of poverty. It is a cornerstone of our society that all adults who can work, should work. However, today’s evidence does not demonstrate that strict work requirements on assistance programs, such as SNAP, effectively reduce poverty. This bill would require many people to attend job readiness programs, but the funding for these programs would not allow for job training that would actually get people into jobs.

“Before adding additional work requirements, Congress should review the evidence from the 10 SNAP Employment and Training pilot projects authorized in the last farm bill and ensure that any nationwide program of job training is robust enough to be effective.

“Bread for the World’s 2018 Hunger Report, ‘The Jobs Challenge: Working to End Hunger by 2030,’ provides Congress with a menu of policies that would improve job opportunities for low-income workers today so they can earn enough to no longer need SNAP. Some of the recommendations in this report already have bipartisan support and could become law in the next Congress.

“We encourage Congress to work toward a bipartisan farm bill that ends hunger and malnutrition in the United States and around the world. We also urge lawmakers to enact the policy recommendations in The Jobs Challenge so that people are able to earn enough to pull themselves and their families out of hunger and poverty.”

The post Bread for the World Statement on the 2018 House Farm Bill appeared first on Bread for the World.

The 2020 Hunger Report, Better Nutrition, Better Tomorrow is available!

2018 Hunger Report

The Jobs Challenge:
Working to End Hunger by 2030

Ending global hunger and extreme poverty is within our grasp. Incomes are rising even in countries once thought to be facing insurmountable challenges, showing that progress is possible anywhere when barriers are removed. A global consensus has now formed that 2030 is an ambitious but attainable target date.

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Ending hunger in the United States is within reach, explain Marlysa Gamblin and Margot Nitschke, in Getting to Zero Hunger by 2030. Our country has already committed to doing so by 2030 as part of a set of 17 global goals that also include ending extreme poverty. But achieving zero hunger requires identifying the people most likely to be hungry and supporting policies that give them access to the opportunities they need to build a better life.

Members of many groups are more vulnerable to hunger than the average American. For example, more than 1.4 million military veterans live below the poverty line. Adults with disabilities are twice as likely to live with hunger and poverty as the general U.S. population. Women, children, and older Americans run similar higher risks of hunger and poverty.

Ending U.S. hunger and poverty is quite possible. But it requires two things — first, that we acknowledge the role of racial inequality in the high hunger and poverty rates among communities of color, and second, that we work together to tackle these inequalities in our workforce, communities, and schools.

Schools that are 90% white spend $773 more per student than schools with 90% students of color.

USDA

The post Getting to Zero Hunger by 2030: Race, Poverty, and Hunger appeared first on Bread for the World.

People shouldn’t have to choose between paying for food or medicine. Ensuring individuals can access affordable health insurance is a critical component in reaching the goal of ending hunger by 2030. When more people are insured, struggling households are better able to afford nutritious food and lead healthier lives.

In 2015, for the first time in eight years, the United States saw a significant decline in the overall rate of food insecurity and poverty. This decline was due, in part, to increased access to health care through the expansion of Medicaid and overall health insurance enrollment through the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Millions of Americans have gained coverage through the ACA. However, health care costs continue to rise and too many moderate to low-income families are still unable to afford quality health insurance. To end hunger by 2030, the United States must have a health care system that works for all.

“Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another…”

John 13:34

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God of grace and God of mercy, 
Our hearts break as we watch stories on the news,
Of dangerous flood, of lost lives, and rains that won’t stop. 
Of trembling earth that destroys homes and takes lives.
We trust that you are present in the desperation and hopelessness that abounds.
Transform our broken hearts so that we might be agents of your love in the coming days and months.
God in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Amen.

Millions throughout the Caribbean and the southern United States have been and continue to be affected by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Jose, and Maria. Many lives continue to be at risk. At the same time, earthquakes in Guanajuato and Mexico City have left hundreds dead and more missing. Many of our partner denominations and organizations are responding to these disasters. They are bringing hope to our neighbors, particularly to the most vulnerable people.

Some are working through national agencies, while others are working diligently with local churches and organizations. We have highlighted several of our partners’ national efforts below. To help victims of the two earthquakes in Mexico we refer you to the Cruz Roja Mexicana, the Red Cross of Mexico.

We are proud to partner with these denominations and organizations in our work to end hunger.

• African Methodist Episcopal Church has provided recovery links
• Adventist Development and Relief
• Baptist World Alliance
• Catholic Relief Services and for Mexico relief
• Catholic Charities USA 
• Convoy of Hope (National Association of Evangelicals)
• Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
• Episcopal Relief & Development
• Evangelical Covenant Church
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
• International Pentecostal Holiness Church has a disaster response agency
• National Baptist Convention USA, Inc.
• Nazarene Compassionate Ministry
• Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
• Salvation Army
• Saint Vincent de Paul Disaster Services
• United Methodist Committee on Relief for Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria
• Wesleyan Church and World Hope International are partnering in response to the recent hurricanes
• World Renew
• World Vision

Rev. Nancy Neal is interim director of church relations at Bread for the World.

The post Helping our neighbors affected by disasters appeared first on Bread for the World.

Because the world has made so much progress against hunger in recent decades, those who face hunger, malnutrition, and extreme poverty are increasingly likely to live in areas currently experiencing or recovering from crises. They are the hardest to reach and the most likely to be left behind.

Improving the lives of the most vulnerable people requires a focus on both meeting their immediate needs and enabling families and communities to move toward resilience.

Improving maternal and child nutrition must be a top priority. It is critical that the United States continue to provide support to vulnerable populations in effective ways that maximize improvements in nutrition.

The United States must work within the global community to address both immediate and long-term needs in food security and nutrition, especially in fragile and vulnerable contexts.

Case studies from Uganda and Malawi help us understand:

• Improving nutrition must be a goal of any decisions regarding the funding or implementation of U.S. food assistance programs.
• It is necessary for all aspects and areas of Food for Peace to emphasize and invest in better nutrition as an explicit objective.
• The United States must protect and continue funding for multi-sectoral food security and nutrition development programs for the most vulnerable populations.

Jordan Teague is international policy analyst for food security and nutrition at Bread for the World Institute.

“The intersection of humanitarian and development is resilience building…Unless we do them all, we won’t succeed.”

Mark Green, Administrator, USAID

The post Mind the Gap: Nutrition to Bridge Humanitarian and Development Efforts appeared first on Bread for the World.

]]> https://www.bread.org/article/international-development-association-ida-and-nutrition/ Fri, 01 Sep 2017 15:15:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/international-development-association-ida-and-nutrition/ Improving maternal and child nutrition is the most cost-effective investment in international human and economic development. Improving nutrition not only alleviates human suffering, but also improves the conditions that create poverty in the first place. For every $1 invested in nutrition, there is a return of $16 in improved productivity and decreased healthcare costs. Nutritional

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]]> Improving maternal and child nutrition is the most cost-effective investment in international human and economic development.

Improving nutrition not only alleviates human suffering, but also improves the conditions that create poverty in the first place. For every $1 invested in nutrition, there is a return of $16 in improved productivity and decreased healthcare costs.

Nutritional needs around the world are still immense. 155 million children under 5 — about one in every four — suffer from chronic malnutrition, or stunting. At any given time, approximately 52 million children are acutely malnourished — a condition that leads to death if not promptly treated. At this writing, in the summer of 2017, 1.4 million children are at immediate risk of death from starvation and malnutrition in four countries at imminent risk of famine.

The International Development Association (IDA) is the World Bank’s fund for the poorest countries, those whose per capita gross national income is less than USD $1,215. In 2017, there are 77 eligible nations. IDA plays a key role in boosting nutrition for women and children in these vulnerable countries. By pooling Official Development Assistance contributions from individual donors, IDA provides significant and stable funding for basic services such as health and nutrition. Every $1 contribution from the United States leverages or attracts nearly $13 from other donors and the World Bank. IDA focuses on nutrition in both emergencies and long-term development contexts.

IDA will reach 400 million women and children with health and nutrition services over the next three years

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/how-the-u-s-farm-bill-can-help-end-hunger/ Mon, 28 Aug 2017 16:15:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/how-the-u-s-farm-bill-can-help-end-hunger/ The U.S. Farm Bill not only sets most U.S. agriculture policies, but also authorizes both federal nutrition assistance programs and humanitarian relief for hunger emergencies overseas.  This wide scope makes the Farm Bill vital not only to farmers, but to other residents of rural areas, people anywhere in the United States who do not have

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]]> The U.S. Farm Bill not only sets most U.S. agriculture policies, but also authorizes both federal nutrition assistance programs and humanitarian relief for hunger emergencies overseas. 

This wide scope makes the Farm Bill vital not only to farmers, but to other residents of rural areas, people anywhere in the United States who do not have enough money for food, and countries where many people struggle with hunger and malnutrition. 

The Farm Bill can help put the United States on track to end food insecurity and hunger in our country and save millions of lives overseas. To do so, it must be designed with strong and resilient food systems and good nutrition as its top priorities.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/grateful-for-assistance-but-worried-about-the-future/ Tue, 07 Feb 2017 16:45:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/grateful-for-assistance-but-worried-about-the-future/ Dawn Pierce, a vocal advocate against hunger and poverty, spends her workdays as a licensed practical nurse taking care of senior citizens at several small assisted living facilities in Boise, Idaho. She cares for roughly 70 residents across seven homes, providing wound care, creating care plans, documenting charts, drawing blood, and giving injections. She takes

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]]> Dawn Pierce, a vocal advocate against hunger and poverty, spends her workdays as a licensed practical nurse taking care of senior citizens at several small assisted living facilities in Boise, Idaho.

She cares for roughly 70 residents across seven homes, providing wound care, creating care plans, documenting charts, drawing blood, and giving injections. She takes great pride in her job.

Pierce is the mother of three adult children and has recently remarried. She is also a newly elected member of the board of directors of Bread for the World and Bread for the World Institute.

Life is good now, but that wasn’t always the case.

In 2010, Pierce lost her job as a paralegal. She began to collect unem-ployment benefits as she searched for a job. However, the checks were not enough to support her family, and her job search was yielding nothing.

So she made the choice to apply for SNAP benefits, known more commonly as food stamps. The decision was difficult for Pierce.

“I sat in the car for an hour before going in [to the assistance office],” says Pierce. “This wasn’t me. I was supposed to be better than this. Hunger was never part of my thinking. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me.”

But it did happen and our nation’s food assistance program helped Pierce, who was a single mother raising a teenage son at the time. The SNAP benefits allowed her to buy groceries and feed herself and her son while she continued to look for permanent work. 

The federal budget funds numerous anti-poverty programs such as SNAP. Other vital programs include the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and child nutrition programs.

These programs are a lifeline to millions of Americans every year. Without them, more families would find themselves living in poverty. How the federal government decides to spend taxpayer money has real-life consequences.

SNAP reached 45 million low-income Americans and moved an estimated 4.6 million adults and 2.1 million children out of poverty in 2014. About two-thirds of SNAP recipients are children, elderly, or disabled.

In Idaho, 1 in 7 households struggles to put food on the table, and of those 46.3 percent have at least one wage earner but still need SNAP assistance to live.

A year after Pierce lost her job, she finally found another one — as a paralegal in the office of the attorney general in Idaho. She no longer needed to receive food stamps. Unfortunately, two years later she was laid off again, due to state budget cuts.

Rather than continue to look for work as a paralegal, she decided to go back to her first love—nursing. She had been a nurse before becoming a paralegal, but had stopped because of a knee injury. By now, her knee was better, so Pierce decided to seek full-time work as a nurse. Eventually, she was hired to treat individuals in assisted living homes.

Pierce’s experience as a recipient of SNAP benefits has propelled her in becoming a forceful advocate against hunger and poverty. She’s participated in an anti-hunger march, spoken at a food bank fundraiser, and even appeared in a documentary about poverty. 

At first, Pierce was reluctant to talk about her experience being on food stamps. However, over time, she says that she has grown more accustomed to speaking out about the benefits of safety-net programs, such as SNAP. 

“It’s not about me anymore, it’s about helping someone else,” she says. 

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/ugly-fruits-and-vegetables-spawn-beautiful-program/ Wed, 28 Dec 2016 10:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/ugly-fruits-and-vegetables-spawn-beautiful-program/ By Alison Grant Getting enough fresh fruits and vegetables to eat can be a hit or miss prospect in Cleveland’s “food deserts” where full service grocery stores are hard to come by. At the same time, an astounding amount of produce and other food in the United States – more than 30 million tons a

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]]> By Alison Grant

Getting enough fresh fruits and vegetables to eat can be a hit or miss prospect in Cleveland’s “food deserts” where full service grocery stores are hard to come by. At the same time, an astounding amount of produce and other food in the United States – more than 30 million tons a year – ends up in landfills.
 
A fourth-generation fruit-and-vegetable wholesaler in Cleveland is taking on those incongruities with a program designed to assist low-income families while tackling food waste.
 
Forest City Weingart Produce Co. has begun selling, at cost, fruits and vegetables that come through its warehouse every week that are totally healthy but cosmetically flawed – an eggplant with a scar, a dimpled orange, the oddly shaped tomato. The “Perfectly Imperfect” endeavor is a unique effort by which the wholesaler is packaging imperfect produce for purchase on a small scale for individuals, says Ashley Weingart, the company’s director of communications and community outreach.
 
It’s also part of a growing push across the country to save misshapen yet completely edible food from the dump. Writer Jordan Figueiredo has a social media campaign to promote the ugly produce movement on Twitter @UglyFruitAndVeg, and on Facebook.

“We see an opportunity to reduce food waste and help get more fruits and vegetables to the population that can’t afford them,” says Weingart as she assembles boxes of imperfect cantaloupes, green peppers, potatoes, eggplant, zucchini, cucumbers, lemons and mangos.
 
Perfectly Imperfect sells the produce medleys every Friday. A 15-pound mixture goes for $15 or get 30 pounds for $25 at 4000 Orange Ave in Cleveland (call ahead to order at 216-881-3232). Shoppers also can sign up to have boxes delivered to their homes ($7.50 within the city, $10 elsewhere in the county and $15 for surrounding counties). The program is open to all.
 
Ashley’s husband Andy Weingart, whose great-grandfather founded the company in 1900, says the wholesaler used to throw out blemished produce that grocery stores didn’t want because they have trouble selling it to picky shoppers.
 
The company donates 100,000 pounds of imperfect produce to the Cleveland Area Food Bank every year and will continue doing so. But there is even more on hand, which led Ashley Weingart to hatch the idea for Perfectly Imperfect after joining the family business.
 
Weingart says she was struck by the contrast between the bounty of fruits and vegetables arriving every day at the Northern Ohio Food Terminal, the amount the company was discarding because of superficial flaws, and the need for nutritious food in surrounding neighborhoods – which includes some of the poorest zip codes in Ohio.

“It seems ridiculous. I can’t think of a better word at the moment,” she says. “There’s no reason why 40 million Americans should be food insecure, and that we should have 40 percent of the food in this country being wasted.”
 
Weingart and her husband practice what they preach when it comes to eating nourishing food, and are bringing up their three young children the same way.
 
“Our kids are adventurous eaters,” Weingart says. “I refuse to cut the crusts off their bread.”
 
Brimming with ideas for healthy eating at affordable prices while reducing food waste, she has initiated a number of other street level efforts including:

• a partnership with the city’s Healthy Cleveland program to get more fruits and vegetables to residents by offering Perfectly Imperfect produce at community centers.
• a supply connection with corner stores around Cleveland that want to carry healthier foods, in collaboration with the Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods at Case Western Reserve University. “A lot of (corner stores) are going to grocery stores and buying produce and reselling it. They’re not making any money on it,” she says.
• outreach to University Hospitals about setting up an information table in the lobby of the main hospital, and perhaps at satellite clinics, to get out word on the ugly produce option.
• the “Seed to Spoon” program, in which she vists schools to educate children about the long journey their food takes to get to the table and why it’s important not to waste it
• becoming a supplier of fruits and vegetables to FarmRaiser, an alternative to candy and cookies for student fund drives. City Ballet of Cleveland was the first customer.

“We want to bridge the gap between all the food waste that exists in our country and to help the community around us,” says Weingart. “We feel like we have the obligation and the opportunity to help.”

Alison Grant is a freelance writer in Bay Village, Ohio. 

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/measuring-progress-on-hunger-and-extreme-poverty/ Tue, 02 Aug 2016 20:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/measuring-progress-on-hunger-and-extreme-poverty/ Bread for the World’s mission is to build the political will to end hunger both in the United States and around the world. From 2000 to 2015, an essential part of fulfilling our mission at the global level was supporting the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)—the first-ever worldwide effort to make progress on human problems

The post Measuring Progress on Hunger and Extreme Poverty appeared first on Bread for the World.

]]> Bread for the World’s mission is to build the political will to end hunger both in the United States and around the world. From 2000 to 2015, an essential part of fulfilling our mission at the global level was supporting the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)—the first-ever worldwide effort to make progress on human problems such as hunger, extreme poverty, and maternal/child mortality. The hunger target, part of MDG1, was to cut in half the proportion of people who are chronically hungry or malnourished.

The MDGs spurred unprecedented improvements. The goal of cutting the global hunger rate in half was nearly reached, and more than a billion people escaped from extreme poverty. Building on these successes, the United States and 192 other countries agreed to a new set of global development goals in September 2015, ahead of the MDG end date of December 31, 2015. Among the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are ending hunger and malnutrition in all its forms and ending extreme poverty. The SDG deadline is December 31, 2030.

The SDGs are universal—they apply to all countries in the belief that every country, regardless of its current level of development, can make progress. This report focuses on how the SDGs to end extreme poverty and hunger (goals 1 and 2) can be applied to the United States, and what existing measures and indicators could be used to assess progress. These are the SDGs most directly related to Bread’s mission. The MDGs applied only to developing countries, so in one sense, a U.S. plan to achieve global development goals is a new idea. On the other hand, the U.S. government, state and local governments, nonprofit groups, churches, community organizations, and individuals from all walks of life have a long history of initiatives to reduce hunger, poverty, and inequalities—and, of course, these efforts continue today. There are groups and individuals working on all 17 SDGs scattered throughout U.S. government and civil society. These initiatives aren’t (yet) considered actions toward meeting the SDGs, but that is what they are. The SDGs offer an opportunity to articulate a common vision and to tailor a framework for action to the work of the various stakeholders.

The SDGs are a renewed opportunity to make lasting progress against hunger and poverty by bringing together the world’s leaders and resources to tackle these multidimensional and interconnected problems. The United States is in a strong position to begin measuring progress toward the SDGs. The federal government already calculates some relevant indica-tors, and it collects additional data that could be used to mea-sure progress on other indicators. 

Although the United States has advanced capabilities in data collection, our data analysis does not consistently disaggregate data for all the subpopulations and geographic locations neces-sary to track progress for all people, as envisioned in the SDGs. There are also some communities and groups whose data is still not adequately collected, such as homeless people, undocu-mented immigrants, and people who identify as LGBTQ. In order to capture all their voices and their varied experiences, we must strengthen our national surveys and data collection methods. The federal government must lead the way in ensuring that we collect and evaluate all the data necessary to consistently capture the realities of U.S. hunger and poverty for everyone.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/remarks-by-bread-for-the-world-president-rev-david-beckmann-at-the-2016-democratic-national-convention/ Wed, 27 Jul 2016 13:15:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/remarks-by-bread-for-the-world-president-rev-david-beckmann-at-the-2016-democratic-national-convention/ Download remarks by Rev. David Beckmann to the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Bread for the World President Rev. David Beckmann spoke to faith activists and delegates at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. He called mass hunger in America a “moral scandal” and urged political leaders to make ending hunger a part of their

The post Remarks by Bread for the World President Rev. David Beckmann at the 2016 Democratic National Convention appeared first on Bread for the World.

]]> Download remarks by Rev. David Beckmann to the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

Bread for the World President Rev. David Beckmann spoke to faith activists and delegates at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. He called mass hunger in America a “moral scandal” and urged political leaders to make ending hunger a part of their agenda.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/recasting-lives/ Tue, 14 Jun 2016 12:00:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/recasting-lives/ Giving rise to a new life By Marc Hopkins On a Friday evening in spring, Catherine (last name held for privacy) and one of her “allies,” Linda  Berger, brewed herbal teas for postpartum mothers inside a two-story home in Lititz, a small town in Lancaster County, Pa. The pair meticulously labeled the brews and discussed

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]]> Giving rise to a new life

By Marc Hopkins

On a Friday evening in spring, Catherine (last name held for privacy) and one of her “allies,” Linda  Berger, brewed herbal teas for postpartum mothers inside a two-story home in Lititz, a small town in Lancaster County, Pa. The pair meticulously labeled the brews and discussed the finer points of networking to help Catherine establish her fledging brand as a doula (birthing assistant) paired with the healing techniques of aromatherapy and herbalism.

Their meeting was more than a bonding session where friends catch up and trade ideas for additional income. Catherine, 32, is a wife and mother of three girls – ages 3, 9, and 12. Her family has struggled with poverty for the last 10 years. Berger has chosen to act as an intentional friend to Catherine as she tries to make life better for herself and her family. Catherine hopes their preparation will pay dividends during the upcoming “Beyond the Bump” baby expo, where Berger will help Catherine market her services to expectant mothers.

The six-month relationship didn’t develop by happenstance. Rather, it’s a result of the Atlas Initiative, a program created in 2013 to help impoverished residents in Lancaster County improve their lives.

Addressing poverty

Atlas is an example of multiple efforts to address poverty in the region under the Community Action Program of Lancaster County (CAP). The nonprofit also oversees domestic violence shelters, Head Start, and the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program.

Statewide in Pennsylvania, 1 in 9 households struggles to put food on the table, compared to 1 in 7 nationwide, and nearly 1.7 million people live in poverty, according to Bread for the World Institute. The paradox of Lancaster County is that it’s known for its productive farmsteads owned and run by self-sufficient Amish families, yet hunger and poverty still exist among many residents.

When clients like Catherine come to Atlas, they are immersed in a six-month training program using the textbook “Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin’-By World” by Philip DeVol. The goal is to inspire analysis on how poverty affects them as individuals and its impact on the community at large. They are also tasked with assessing how their talents can help make them self-sufficient.

The Atlas staff was so impressed with Catherine’s grasp of the material that they picked her to share teaching responsibilities for a subsequent course. “I think one of the main reasons they let me teach is because I was so thorough going through the curriculum on my own,” Catherine said. “I did a lot of the research for the group so they knew they could count on me.”

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Coming together

For Catherine, one of the most meaningful experiences with Atlas has come through the pairing of “leaders,” people looking to get out of poverty, and “allies,” middle- to upper-class individuals such as lawyers, teachers, or retired professionals, who want to help others recast their financial picture.

“The allies help people troubleshoot,” said Michael McKenna, chief operations officer at CAP. “Often, people in poverty are driven by the crisis of the moment, which takes up all the bandwidth. Having a friend walk with you gives you perspective.”

Atlas operates from two locations: Lancaster City, where the poverty rate is 29 percent. The other site is in Lancaster County (Columbia Borough), which has a 19 percent poverty rate. Each time the program meets at either location, participants can always count on a free meal and childcare.

“We know that people in poverty usually struggle with those,” said Brittany Parsons, a coordinator for Atlas. “We realize that when kids are watched and bellies are full we can have honest conversations with adults about how they have been individually affected by poverty and how communities suffer when poverty exists,” she said.

The clients served by Atlas span from millennials to boomers, are mostly African-American and Latino, and are overwhelmingly female. Many are working on their GED.

Atlas helps just under 50 people a year. But there are limits on who is eligible for assistance. For example, people who are newly evicted or suffer from drug addiction aren’t considered good candidates. “Those basic levels of stability need to be in place before we can ask people to make long-term, abstract decisions to get out of poverty,” Parsons said.

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New beginnings

This is an exciting time for Catherine and her family. She’s enjoyed some early success in securing a client last year for her doula practice, and hopes the time and money she’s spending on the baby expo will give her the exposure she needs to grow her business.

Her ally, Berger, who works for a local funeral home, has confidence in her ability to succeed. “Today, I show up, and she’s got a checklist for everything that needs to be done for an event that’s one month away,” Berger said. “She’s a hard worker and detail-oriented. She’s got great ideas.”

Beyond the expo, Catherine and her husband, Efrain, 40, are at a crucial point in the fight to change their lives. They’re waiting to find out if they will receive a Habitat for Humanity house.  If they are chosen, Efrain is required to put in a number of hours in sweat equity on the home’s construction. If they aren’t selected, he will return to school for architectural technology.

Homeownership or additional job skills would shift this family’s financial outlook. They have been struggling since Efrain, who currently works in sales, lost his job as a graphic designer following a car accident in 2004. Catherine said after the birth of their second daughter, “everything began to tank.” Since then, he’s worked a series of odd jobs to keep things going.

Catherine is hopeful that her business will eventually take off and provide the family with much-needed income.

“I think the one benefit I got from Getting Ahead was motivation,” she said. “I learned to believe in myself more. Going back to school, that was a very big step. And now, starting my own business, that’s a huge step.”

Marc Hopkins is a writer living in Silver Spring, Md. 

1 in 9 households in Pennsylvania struggles to put food on the table and nearly 1.7 million people live in poverty.

Source: Bread for the World Institute

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Catherine is hopeful that her business will eventually take off and provide the family with much-needed income. “I think the one benefit I got from Getting Ahead was motivation,” she said. “I learned to believe in myself more.” Photo: Joseph Terranova for Bread for the World.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/briefing-paper-the-sustainable-development-goals-in-the-united-states/ Fri, 27 May 2016 14:00:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/briefing-paper-the-sustainable-development-goals-in-the-united-states/ In 2015, the United States and 192 other countries agreed to work toward a set of goals, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), by 2030. The SDGs build on the significant progress made during the 2000-2015 Millennium Development Goals effort. The SDGs apply to all countries and include ending hunger and extreme poverty. The SDGs are

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]]> In 2015, the United States and 192 other countries agreed to work toward a set of goals, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), by 2030. The SDGs build on the significant progress made during the 2000-2015 Millennium Development Goals effort. The SDGs apply to all countries and include ending hunger and extreme poverty.

The SDGs are an opportunity for advocates and organizations to work together to achieve maximum impact. Many are already engaged. For example, leaders of all major U.S. faith traditions, as well as five U.S. cities and one state (California), have committed to the SDGs.

 

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]]> https://www.bread.org/es/sierra-de-los-cuchumatanes-guatemala-alexander-y-sheili-superan-la-desnutricion-cronica/ Thu, 28 Apr 2016 12:45:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/es/sierra-de-los-cuchumatanes-guatemala-alexander-y-sheili-superan-la-desnutricion-cronica/ Catarina Pascual, madre de cuatro hijos, vive en la sierra de los Cuchumatanes, Guatemala. Ella no sólo nació dentro de una familia sumida en la extrema pobreza, sino que ha tenido que criar a sus cuatro hijos por sí misma &mash; Antonio de 17, Juana de 6 y, sus gemelos, Alexander y Sheili de 17

The post Sierra de los Cuchumatanes, GUATEMALA: Alexander y Sheili superan la desnutrición crónica appeared first on Bread for the World.

]]> Catarina Pascual, madre de cuatro hijos, vive en la sierra de los Cuchumatanes, Guatemala.

Ella no sólo nació dentro de una familia sumida en la extrema pobreza, sino que ha tenido que criar a sus cuatro hijos por sí misma &mash; Antonio de 17, Juana de 6 y, sus gemelos, Alexander y Sheili de 17 meses.

Los gemelos fueron recibidos al mundo por una madre fuerte y amorosa, pero el hambre, la desnutrición crónica y las enfermedades también los aguardaban.

Catarina vive de prestado para sobrevivir. La familia vive en una casa que le presta una vecina, donde una habitación hace las veces de cocina, dormitorio y más.

Vivir para sobrevivir

Catarina no posee animales ni tierra que pueda utilizar para cultivar sus propios alimentos. Para proveer a su familia, Catarina lava a mano pilas de ropa sucia, pero el trabajo es escaso en una aldea donde pocas personas pueden pagar ese servicio. 

Sus gemelos nacieron con muy bajo peso y ha sido una batalla dura para vencer el nivel de desnutrición que presentaron durante su primer año de vida. En ese tiempo, Catarina le pedía a Dios “la fuerza para alimentar a mis hijos y mantenerlos saludables”. Ella sintió que sus oraciones fueron respondidas cuando se enteró de un programa de ayuda alimentaria  disponible para niños menores de 2 años de la Agencia Internacional para el Desarrollo de Estados Unidos (USAID). 

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Para reducir la desnutrición crónica de sus gemelos

A través del programa, ella recibió mensualmente una ración de arroz, frijoles, harina de maíz/soya fortificada y aceite además de capacitación para reducir la desnutrición crónica de sus gemelos. Recibir estos productos básicos deja libre parte de su ingreso, que ahora puede utilizar para comprar frutas, vegetales, azúcar, sal, avena y otros productos que suplementan la dieta familiar, una opción que no tenía antes. Más importante aún, ahora puede alimentar a sus hijos tres veces al día, sin lugar a dudas un incremento nutricional para los gemelos, quienes exhibieron los efectos negativos de la mala nutrición que sufrieron a temprana edad.

Catarina pasó de “ver a mis hijos sufrir debido a la escasez de alimentos que experimentábamos” a comenzar su camino para dejar atrás el hambre y alcanzar la seguridad alimentaria. 

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Todavía hay 34.3 millones de personas en América Latina que no tienen suficiente para comer.

Fuente: UNICEF/OMS/Banco Mundial

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/campus-pantries/ Thu, 21 Apr 2016 19:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/campus-pantries/ Gaining Degrees in Hunger By Lacey Johnson When Kelli Moore visits her local community college, the trip is often two-fold: attend the classes she’s taking for her business degree and stock up on supplies at the campus food pantry. The stereotype of the starving college student is rarely taken seriously, but for people like Moore

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]]> Gaining Degrees in Hunger

By Lacey Johnson

When Kelli Moore visits her local community college, the trip is often two-fold: attend the classes she’s taking for her business degree and stock up on supplies at the campus food pantry.

The stereotype of the starving college student is rarely taken seriously, but for people like Moore — a 46-year-old mother of two who relies primarily on SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) to feed her family — hunger is all too real.

“The last five years for me have been extremely humbling,” said Moore, who lost her job, her marriage, and her home in the wake of the Great Recession.

She moved from Charlotte to Huntington, W.V., in 2014 to be closer to her ex-husband, but he became disabled a few months later, and Moore found herself caring for him and their two sons.

Student Deficits

“I noticed a lot of students were coming to see me because of a lack of basic resources like food, utilities, and funds to live day to day,” said Candace Layne, a mental health counselor at Mountwest Community and Technical College, where Moore attends. When Layne suggested opening an on-campus food pantry two years ago, she says her boss jumped at the idea.

Hundreds of universities and colleges like Mountwest have introduced campus food pantries in recent years. Nearly 300 schools belong to the College and University Food Bank Alliance, a national group that helps institutions set up food pantries, and that number has more than doubled since 2014. An increase in jobs requiring post-secondary education, coupled with booming tuition costs, means schools are seeing more cash-strapped students than ever.

“College isn’t a rich person’s opportunity anymore,” said Jane Jakubczak, a dietitian nutritionist at the University of Maryland in College Park, just outside Washington, D.C. Despite in-state tuition of roughly $10,000 a year, Jakubczak says she meets students almost weekly who are struggling to pay for basic necessities like food.

UMD opened its own food pantry for students and campus employees in 2014. Visitors can choose any 10 items, which range from canned foods to pastas to seasonal vegetables harvested from an on-campus farm. The pantry served 176 clients in the fall semester of 2015 — up from an average of 80 people per semester the previous year.

“I don’t know the last time I’ve actually bought groceries,” said Christine Janumala, a 21-year-old junior majoring in creative writing at Columbia University in New York. In order to limit her student loan debt, Janumala saves money by living in a cheap Brooklyn apartment, working part-time, and scavenging for free food available on campus. With an unemployed mother and a father earning minimum wage, asking her family for financial help is not an option.

“I want an Ivy League education. I want the academic rigor I’m getting at Columbia — even if it means I have to forage for food,” said Janumala. She also takes advantage of an “emergency meal” program launched by the school last year, which gives students in need six free meal tickets per semester to use in the dining halls. Columbia doesn’t have a food pantry yet, but a student group is petitioning to create one.

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What’s the universe of hunger at universities?

Limited research exists on food security among college students, but recent data gathered by researchers at California State University and the University of Wisconsin–Madison paints a grim picture.

Over 20 percent of students across CSU’s 23 campuses encountered food insecurity, and 10 percent faced unstable housing situations, according to a study released by the school in January.

The statistics are even worse at community colleges, where students are more likely to live off campus or have family members to support. A survey released in December by UW’s Wisconsin HOPE Lab found that over half of community college students reported food insecurity and 13 percent had experienced homelessness within the last year.

Food insecurity is a standard term in the anti-hunger community. The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines it as not having regular, reliable access to the foods needed for good health.

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Effects of hunger

Research also shows that students lacking proper nutrition have a harder time focusing and retaining knowledge, which are both crucial to doing well in college, says Jakubczak.

“I was a bit nervous and apprehensive to disclose some things,” said Jerome Sylvester, a 42-year-old Mountwest student who moved to West Virginia to help his sister care for her children after she was diagnosed with cancer. “We were living off one pack of chopped meat and Hamburger Helper and Ramen noodles, to be honest.”

When his academic counselor heard about his situation, she not only guided him to the food pantry, but also helped him get more financial aid to pay his overdue rent.

“They spoke to my landlord. It was amazing,” said Sylvester. “If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be able to have a roof over my head right now.”

Despite the growing number of students using food banks, there’s still a real stigma surrounding campus hunger, says Sarah Wilson, a Health and Wellness Coordinator at UMD.

“Do I pay for my books at the beginning of the semester, or am I paying for food? Those are the types of situations our students are dealing with on a regular basis,” said Wilson. “It’s difficult for somebody to walk into a campus pantry and express a need for help.”

Between a local food bank and the campus pantry, Moore says her family always has something to eat now. Kind gestures from Mountwest staff, like donating presents for her sons at Christmastime, have also helped her stay positive.

“I’m doing what I need to do to better my family and get back to where we were before,” she said. “I need to do this for me.”

Lacey Johnson is a freelance writer and photographer in Washington, D.C.

Photos, top to bottom:

• Student volunteers Sarah Oben, Jasmine Everett, and Jeanira Johnson stock shelves at the University of Maryland’s Campus Pantry. 
• Mental health counselor Candace Layne stocks shelves in the campus food pantry at Mountwest Community and Technical College in Huntington, W.V.
• Student volunteers gather for a meeting at the University of Maryland’s Campus Pantry. 
• Students Kelli Moore and Jerome Sylvester pose in front of Mountwest Community and Technical College in Huntington, W.V.

All photos by Lacey Johnson for Bread for the World.

“Do I pay for my books at the beginning of the semester, or am I paying for food?”

Sarah Wilson, a Health and Welnness Coordinator at Univ. of Maryland

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-applauds-senate-passage-of-global-food-security-act/ Thu, 21 Apr 2016 08:45:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-applauds-senate-passage-of-global-food-security-act/ Washington, D.C. – Bread for the World applauds the Senate’s passage of the Global Food Security Act of 2016 (S. 1252). The legislation will help alleviate hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. The House of Representatives passed its version of the bill last week. Bread urges the two chambers to quickly reconcile the minor differences between

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]]> Washington, D.C. – Bread for the World applauds the Senate’s passage of the Global Food Security Act of 2016 (S. 1252). The legislation will help alleviate hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. The House of Representatives passed its version of the bill last week. Bread urges the two chambers to quickly reconcile the minor differences between the bills and pass the final bill.                 

“We applaud the Senate leadership for passing this bipartisan legislation,” said Eric Mitchell, director of government relations at Bread for the World. “The bill calls for a global food security strategy, similar to the approach used by the Feed the Future initiative. It will affect many of the more than 795 million chronically malnourished people worldwide, including 159 million children.”                         

The bill was co-sponsored by U.S. Sens. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and endorsed by Bread and 68 organizations. Both the House and Senate bills promote food security and self-sufficiency by investing in agricultural production. They build on gains that have improved the lives of smallholder farmers and increased the capacity for long-term agricultural growth.

Both bills also leverage resources provided by organizations, private enterprises, and other countries. In addition, they would improve maternal and child nutrition, especially in the key 1,000 days between a woman’s pregnancy and her child’s second birthday. The Senate bill would also allow the U.S. to respond quickly to the food needs of communities affected by disaster.

“We are excited that both chambers passed their versions of the law with overwhelming bipartisan support. The two bills are nearly identical, reflecting a strong, bipartisan commitment to a vital program,” Mitchell said.

The passage of the Global Food Security Act is a major victory for Bread’s members and partners who have lobbied for it through Bread’s Offering of Letters campaign. They personally lobbied their members of Congress, and also communicated with them through thousands of letters, emails, and phone calls.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/es/pan-para-el-mundo-aplaude-aprobacion-de-ley-de-seguridad-alimentaria-global-en-la-camara-de-representantes/ Wed, 13 Apr 2016 09:45:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/es/pan-para-el-mundo-aplaude-aprobacion-de-ley-de-seguridad-alimentaria-global-en-la-camara-de-representantes/ Washington, D.C. – Con el apoyo de los congresistas hispanos Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL), Loretta Sánchez (D-CA), José Serrano (D-NY), y Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX), entre muchos otros, la Cámara de Representantes ayer aprobó la Ley de Seguridad Alimentaria Global de 2016 (H.R. 1567/S. 1252). Pan aplaude la aprobación de esta iniciativa bipartidista, la cual ayudará a

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]]> Washington, D.C. – Con el apoyo de los congresistas hispanos Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL), Loretta Sánchez (D-CA), José Serrano (D-NY), y Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX), entre muchos otros, la Cámara de Representantes ayer aprobó la Ley de Seguridad Alimentaria Global de 2016 (H.R. 1567/S. 1252). Pan aplaude la aprobación de esta iniciativa bipartidista, la cual ayudará a disminuir el hambre y la desnutrición en países en desarrollo, incluyendo varios de América Latina. Pan ahora exhorta al Senado a que apruebe su versión de la iniciativa.

“Aplaudimos a la Cámara de Representantes por actuar para aprobar esta legislación bipartidista”, dijo Eric Mitchell, director de relaciones gubernamentales de Pan para el Mundo. “La iniciativa exige la creación de una estrategia global para la seguridad alimentaria, similar a la iniciativa Feed the Future (Alimentando el Futuro). Asegura que podremos continuar los éxitos del programa en la lucha contra el hambre y la desnutrición, y fortalecer la producción agrícola”.

La iniciativa cuenta con apoyo amplio y bipartidista, incluyendo aquel de 28 de los 32 congresistas hispanos en la cámara baja. La iniciativa afectaría a muchas de las 795 millones de personas por todo el mundo que padecen desnutrición, incluyendo los 159 millones de niños. También mejoraría la nutrición materno infantil, especialmente en los 1000 días clave entre el embarazo de la madre y el segundo cumpleaños del niño.

La iniciativa establecería una estrategia para que el Gobierno estadounidense ayude a países con altas tasas de hambre a desarrollar fuertes programas agrícolas, y a asegurar que puedan sustentar por su cuenta a sus ciudadanos. El programa Feed the Future ha ayudado a 7 millones de pequeños agricultores en 19 países. Entre éstos están Guatemala y Honduras.

“El liderazgo de Estados Unidos es imprescindible en la lucha contra el hambre la desnutrición, y la pobreza extrema”, dijo Mitchell. “Este voto muestra que acabar con el hambre y la pobreza no es un asunto partidista. La iniciativa ayudará a fortalecer a comunidades y a desarrollar socios comerciales más fuertes para nuestro país, creando así un mundo más estable y seguro”.

Pan para el Mundo apoyó la ley junto con otras 68 organizaciones.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-applauds-house-passage-of-the-global-food-security-act/ Tue, 12 Apr 2016 09:45:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-applauds-house-passage-of-the-global-food-security-act/ Washington, D.C. – Bread for the World applauds the House of Representatives’ passage of the Global Food Security Act of 2016 (H.R. 1567/S. 1252). This bipartisan bill will help alleviate hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. Bread now urges the Senate to pass its version of the bill.  “We applaud the House of Representatives for

The post Bread for the World Applauds House Passage of the Global Food Security Act appeared first on Bread for the World.

]]> Washington, D.C. – Bread for the World applauds the House of Representatives’ passage of the Global Food Security Act of 2016 (H.R. 1567/S. 1252). This bipartisan bill will help alleviate hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. Bread now urges the Senate to pass its version of the bill. 

“We applaud the House of Representatives for acting to pass this bipartisan legislation,” said Eric Mitchell, director of government relations at Bread for the World. “The bill calls for a global food security strategy, similar to the approach used by the Feed the Future initiative. It ensures we are able to build upon the program’s success to fight hunger and malnutrition, and strengthen agricultural production.”                                                                                      

The bill has broad, bipartisan support, including nearly 130 co-sponsors. The bill will affect many of the more than 795 million chronically malnourished people, including 159 million children, across the world. It would also improve maternal and child nutrition, especially in the key 1,000 days between a woman’s pregnancy and her child’s second birthday.

The bill would put in place a strategy for the U.S. government to help hungry nations develop smart, long-term agriculture programs and ensure these nations can independently meet the nutrition needs of their people. Last year, Feed the Future helped nearly 7 million smallholder farmers and reached more than 12 million women and children with vital nutrition programs.

“U.S. leadership is vital in the fight against hunger, malnutrition, and extreme poverty,” Mitchell said. “This vote shows that ending hunger and poverty is not a partisan issue. The bill will help strengthen communities and develop stronger trading partners for our country, creating a more stable and secure world.”

Bread joined with 68 organizations to endorse the legislation.       

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]]> https://www.bread.org/es/pan-para-el-mundo-aplaude-aprobacion-de-la-ley-de-seguridad-alimentaria-por-comite-del-senado/ Thu, 10 Mar 2016 13:45:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/es/pan-para-el-mundo-aplaude-aprobacion-de-la-ley-de-seguridad-alimentaria-por-comite-del-senado/ Washington, D.C. – Pan para el Mundo aplaude la aprobación unánime de la Ley de Seguridad Alimentaria de 2016 (GFSA por sus siglas en inglés) por parte del Comité de Asuntos Exteriores del Senado de Estados Unidos. La legislación ayudará a disminuir el hambre y la desnutrición en los países en desarrollo. Pan ahora exhorta

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]]> Washington, D.C. – Pan para el Mundo aplaude la aprobación unánime de la Ley de Seguridad Alimentaria de 2016 (GFSA por sus siglas en inglés) por parte del Comité de Asuntos Exteriores del Senado de Estados Unidos. La legislación ayudará a disminuir el hambre y la desnutrición en los países en desarrollo. Pan ahora exhorta a todo el Senado a que apruebe esta ley bipartidista.

“Esta ley cuenta con un fuerte apoyo bipartidista. Esperamos que el liderazgo del Senado actúe rápidamente para asegurar su aprobación este año”, dijo Eric Mitchell, director de relaciones gubernamentales de Pan para el Mundo. “La ley expande la iniciativa de Feed the Future (Alimentando el Futuro). A nivel mundial, tendrá impacto en las vidas de más de 795 millones de personas que padecen desnutrición crónica, entre ellos 159 millones de niños”.

Los Senadores Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) y Bob Casey (D-Pa.) propusieron la ley, y fue endosado por Pan, junto con más de 65 organizaciones. La ley haría permanente el programa Feed the Future, la iniciativa global contra el hambre y la inseguridad alimentaria del Gobierno federal. La GFSA expande los logros que han mejorado las vidas de pequeños agricultores y aumentado la capacidad para crecimiento agrícola a largo plazo. Además, la GFSA facilitaría una reacción rápida por parte de EE. UU. a las necesidades alimentarias de comunidades afectadas por desastres.

La legislación contaría con recursos proporcionados por distintas organizaciones, empresas y otros países. También mejoraría la nutrición materno infantil, especialmente en los primeros 1 000 días entre el embarazo de la mujer y el segundo cumpleaños del niño.

“Esta legislación ayudará a Estados Unidos a realizar su meta de poner fin a las muertes infantiles prevenibles, de las cuales casi la mitad las causa la desnutrición”, dijo Mitchell. “Reforzaría el liderazgo estadounidense en enfrentar el hambre, la pobreza y la desnutrición globales. La ley ayudará a fortalecer comunidades y a desarrollar socios comerciales más fuertes”.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-applauds-senate-committees-passage-of-the-global-food-security-act/ Thu, 10 Mar 2016 13:00:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-applauds-senate-committees-passage-of-the-global-food-security-act/ Washington, D.C. – Bread for the World applauds the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s passage of the Global Food Security Act of 2016 (S. 1252). The legislation will help alleviate hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. Bread now urges the full Senate to pass the bipartisan bill.                   

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]]> Washington, D.C. – Bread for the World applauds the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s passage of the Global Food Security Act of 2016 (S. 1252). The legislation will help alleviate hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. Bread now urges the full Senate to pass the bipartisan bill.                                                                                       

“This bill has strong bipartisan support. We hope the Senate leadership will act quickly to ensure its passage this year,” said Eric Mitchell director of government relations at Bread for the World. “The bill builds off of the Feed the Future initiative. Globally, it will impact the lives of the more than 795 million chronically malnourished people, including 159 million children.”

The GFSA is sponsored by U.S. Sens. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and endorsed by Bread and more than 65 organizations. It would make permanent Feed the Future, the federal government’s global hunger and food security initiative.  The GFSA builds on gains that have improved the lives of smallholder farmers and increased the capacity for long-term agricultural growth. In addition, the GFSA would allow the U.S. to respond quickly to the food needs of communities affected by disaster.

The legislation leverages resources provided by organizations, private enterprises, and other countries. It would also improve maternal and child nutrition, especially in the key first 1,000 days between a woman’s pregnancy and her child’s second birthday.

“This legislation will help the U.S. achieve its goal of ending preventable child deaths. Almost half of which are caused by malnutrition,” Mitchell said. “It would bolster U.S. leadership by tackling global hunger, poverty, and malnutrition. The bill will help strengthen communities and develop stronger trading partners. This creates a more stable and secure world.” 

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-applauds-obamas-optimism-about-the-future/ Tue, 12 Jan 2016 23:00:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-applauds-obamas-optimism-about-the-future/ Washington, D.C. – Bread for the World applauds President Obama’s optimism about the future and his call to ensure everyone has a fair shot at opportunity and security. Bread for the World believes that with strong U.S. leadership, we can end hunger by 2030. “Tonight, President Obama used his last State of the Union address to

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]]> Washington, D.C. – Bread for the World applauds President Obama’s optimism about the future and his call to ensure everyone has a fair shot at opportunity and security. Bread for the World believes that with strong U.S. leadership, we can end hunger by 2030.

“Tonight, President Obama used his last State of the Union address to express his optimism about the future,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “Bread for the World shares this optimism. We are inspired by the vision of a world without hunger. The world has made great strides against hunger and poverty over the past few decades. With U.S. leadership, we can end hunger within a generation.”

Over the past seven years, Bread for the World has worked with the White House and Congress to achieve impressive victories for people living with hunger and in poverty. Domestically, these include expanding and making permanent the earned income tax credit, and fending off efforts to cut funding for poverty-reduction and nutrition programs.

Internationally, Bread for the World has worked with the administration on the Feed the Future program and the 1,000 Days partnership to scale up maternal and child nutrition – making the U.S. a world leader in fighting hunger and malnutrition. President Obama said, “Leadership depends on the power of our example.” That includes poverty-focused foreign assistance.

“Let’s hope that members of the 114th Congress use their remaining time to work together,” added Beckmann. “There are three pieces of legislation lawmakers can pass right now to help end hunger. These are the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act, a strong child nutrition bill, and the Global Food Security Act.”

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/statement-on-jeb-bushs-proposal-to-end-food-stamps/ Fri, 08 Jan 2016 16:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/statement-on-jeb-bushs-proposal-to-end-food-stamps/ Columbia, S.C.– In response to the proposal by presidential candidate Jeb Bush to eliminate the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps) and replace it with block grants to the states to pay for programs that assist lower-income residents, Bread for the World president Rev. David Beckmann released the following statement: “There

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]]> Columbia, S.C.– In response to the proposal by presidential candidate Jeb Bush to eliminate the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps) and replace it with block grants to the states to pay for programs that assist lower-income residents, Bread for the World president Rev. David Beckmann released the following statement:

“There are some good ideas in Governor Bush’s proposal, including expanding the earned income tax credit to childless workers and younger workers. But ending the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formally known as food stamps) and replacing it with block grants is not the way to go.

“Food stamps have been, and continue to be, a lifeline for millions of needy families facing tough times. The program does not just help people facing hardship, but it is also an investment in our future. Research shows that when kids receive food assistance, there are lifelong benefits in health, education, and earnings.

“When the needs increase – as occurred in dramatic fashion during the Great Recession – a block grant is likely to run out before everyone in need is served. The structure of block grants also makes nutrition assistance more vulnerable to funding cuts and to having its funding diverted to other purposes.”

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-welcomes-confirmation-of-new-usaid-chief/ Tue, 01 Dec 2015 09:00:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-welcomes-confirmation-of-new-usaid-chief/ Washington, D.C.– Bread for the World welcomes the confirmation today of Gayle Smith as the new administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). “We wholeheartedly welcome the Senate’s confirmation of Gayle Smith as the new administrator of USAID. This critical position has been vacant for much too long,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president

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]]> Washington, D.C.– Bread for the World welcomes the confirmation today of Gayle Smith as the new administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

“We wholeheartedly welcome the Senate’s confirmation of Gayle Smith as the new administrator of USAID. This critical position has been vacant for much too long,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “Though the world is making unprecedented progress against hunger and poverty, the humanitarian crises we continue to face demand a leader at USAID with the experience and abilities of Ms. Smith. She has been a champion for those impacted by poverty and hunger, and we are eager to continue to work with her to ensure American leadership to achieve an end to world hunger by 2030.”

Prior to her confirmation, Smith served as President Obama’s special assistant and senior director of the National Security Council. She brings a wealth of experience to USAID. She was a co-founder of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN), which works to make aid more effective and transparent.

Prior to joining the administration, Smith was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. She held senior positions in the Clinton administration. She also lived and worked in Africa for 20 years, where she was a journalist and worked for non-governmental relief and development organizations.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/anti-hunger-and-anti-poverty-programs-safe-for-now/ Mon, 09 Nov 2015 01:15:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/anti-hunger-and-anti-poverty-programs-safe-for-now/ Congress Passes Two-Year Budget Deal [Note: this article appears in Bread’s 2015 November-December newsletter] By Jennifer Gonzalez and Amelia Kegan After months of fiscal gridlock on Capitol Hill, with threats of a government shutdown or a U.S. default, Congress last month finally passed a two-year federal budget agreement. The deal was struck just days before

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]]> Congress Passes Two-Year Budget Deal

[Note: this article appears in Bread’s 2015 November-December newsletter]

By Jennifer Gonzalez and Amelia Kegan

After months of fiscal gridlock on Capitol Hill, with threats of a government shutdown or a U.S. default, Congress last month finally passed a two-year federal budget agreement.

The deal was struck just days before House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio turned over his gavel to Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.

A victory for Bread activists

This is a momentous victory for Bread for the World members, who spent all year pushing hard for a budget deal that would stop the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration. Sequestration was intended to be the “stick” that convinced Congress to reach a budget deal for 2013: indiscriminate, across-the-board cuts so drastic that both parties would make compromises to avoid them.

But those negotiations failed, and since then, Bread members have been working to limit sequestration’s damage to programs that help hungry and poor people. The budget agreement just reached will prevent about 75 percent of the cuts that would otherwise have been triggered by sequestration in 2016 and 2017 — about $80 billion in “relief” from sequestration.

The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, the agreement’s formal name, was the product of discussions between congressional leaders and the White House, but it was also a consequence of vocal advocacy from people across the country, demanding a better budget.

“Kudos to Speaker John Boehner for using the occasion of his retirement to get the nation’s work done. This deal is important to all of us, but especially to those who are struggling with hunger and poverty,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “The budget agreement recognizes that we cannot afford any more cuts to programs serving people who can least afford it. It also reduces uncertainty that could slow economic recovery and weaken the job market.”  

The budget deal holds true to all the principles Bread members supported: beyond cancelling $80 billion of the automatic cuts, it raises the federal borrowing limit — necessary to prevent the United States from defaulting on its debt, bringing far-reaching harmful economic consequences. It also maintains the “parity principle,” meaning that non-defense spending receives just as much protection from sequestration as defense spending. Congress paid for this legislation in a balanced manner, with responsible cuts and some revenues. Hunger programs were not cut in the process.

The Bipartisan Budget Act isn’t perfect, but it gives the federal government some breathing room from the budget brinksmanship and threats of default of the past couple of years. Critical nutrition and poverty programs are off the chopping block for now.

Next steps: Divvying up the pie

The next step is equally critical: now that the broader agreement has been enacted, Congress will allocate the funding among the various federal programs. How much funding is given to nutrition and other programs that serve vulnerable people will depend on the outcome of this process. It’s essential for Bread members to advocate vigorously for adequate funding for these efforts. The timeframe is short. Congress must pass a spending bill that divides up the funding before Dec. 11 to avoid the threat of another government shutdown.

“Agreement on the budget now allows Congress to focus on other legislative priorities that have serious implications for people struggling with hunger and poverty. First up is ensuring anti-hunger programs receive adequate funding under the new budget agreement. Additional priorities include reauthorizing the child nutrition programs, passing the Global Food Security Act, and making improvements in the earned income tax credit and child tax credit permanent, rather than allowing them to expire,” Beckmann said.

Jennifer Gonzalez is the associate online editor at Bread for the World. Amelia Kegan is Bread’s deputy director of government relations. 

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/domestic-resource-mobilization-for-development/ Wed, 28 Oct 2015 14:15:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/domestic-resource-mobilization-for-development/ At the Third Financing for Development Conference in July 2015, the United States pledged, through the Addis Tax Initiative, to significantly increase foreign assistance that supports countries in mobilizing their own domestic resources. Domestic resource mobilization (DRM) encompasses the ways in which countries access their own means of funding national priorities. A wide range of

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]]> At the Third Financing for Development Conference in July 2015, the United States pledged, through the Addis Tax Initiative, to significantly increase foreign assistance that supports countries in mobilizing their own domestic resources. Domestic resource mobilization (DRM) encompasses the ways in which countries access their own means of funding national priorities. A wide range of funding mechanisms and financial flows are part of DRM, among them tax revenues, natural resource revenues, remittances, funds from public-private partnerships, public bonds, and philanthropic gifts.

“Peaceful, inclusive, and well-governed societ[ies]” as described in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 are a necessary condition for countries seeking to end hunger and extreme poverty by 2030. States that build inclusive institutions are more likely to provide social safety nets and achieve the broadly-shared economic growth needed to lift people out of poverty. Low tax revenues, illicit financial flows out of the country, and corruption pose barriers to such institutional development.

While U.S. assistance in countries that are low-income, fragile, or both should aim to help them overcome any of these barriers to DRM, this paper focuses primarily on taxation. Effective tax systems can help strengthen institutions by encouraging citizens to monitor their governments and insist on social services. Yet many fragile and/or low-income countries need support for broader capacity building before they can benefit from tax reform.

Download Briefing Paper 29 using the link under Downloads below:

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-urges-quick-passage-of-two-year-budget-deal/ Tue, 27 Oct 2015 14:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-urges-quick-passage-of-two-year-budget-deal/ Washington, D.C. – Bread for the World urges lawmakers to quickly pass the two-year budget deal reached last night by congressional leaders and the White House.   “Kudos to Speaker John Boehner for using the occasion of his retirement to get the nation’s work done. This deal is important to all of us, but especially

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]]> Washington, D.C. – Bread for the World urges lawmakers to quickly pass the two-year budget deal reached last night by congressional leaders and the White House.  

“Kudos to Speaker John Boehner for using the occasion of his retirement to get the nation’s work done. This deal is important to all of us, but especially to those who are struggling with hunger and poverty,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “The budget agreement recognizes that we cannot afford any more cuts to programs serving people who can least afford it. It also reduces uncertainty that could slow economic recovery and weaken the job market.”   

The budget deal suspends harmful automatic spending cuts, or sequestration, and raises the federal borrowing limit. Congressional leaders and the White House worked on the budget agreement until late Monday evening.

“We’d like to thank the congressional and White House leaders who have been quietly negotiating this budget deal,” said Beckmann. “Now, we ask all members of Congress to pass the deal as soon as possible.”

Bread for the World has been calling on Congress to pass a responsible budget that addresses automatic cuts while also protecting funding for programs that serve people struggling with hunger in the U.S. and around the world.

“Agreement on the budget now allows Congress to focus on other legislative priorities that have serious implications for people struggling with hunger and poverty. These include reauthorizing the child nutrition programs, passing the Global Food Security Act, and making the expiring provisions of the earned income tax credit and child tax credit permanent,” Beckmann added.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/es/pan-para-el-mundo-exhorta-aprobacion-de-acuerdo-de-presupuesto-de-dos-anos/ Tue, 27 Oct 2015 14:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/es/pan-para-el-mundo-exhorta-aprobacion-de-acuerdo-de-presupuesto-de-dos-anos/ Washington, D.C. – Pan para el Mundo exhorta a los gobernantes a que no demoren en aprobar el acuerdo presupuestario de los próximos dos años realizado la noche del pasado lunes por líderes del Congreso y la Casa Blanca. “Felicito al líder de la Cámara de Representantes John Boehner por llevar a cabo los asuntos

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]]> Washington, D.C. – Pan para el Mundo exhorta a los gobernantes a que no demoren en aprobar el acuerdo presupuestario de los próximos dos años realizado la noche del pasado lunes por líderes del Congreso y la Casa Blanca.

“Felicito al líder de la Cámara de Representantes John Boehner por llevar a cabo los asuntos del país en este momento de su partida. Este acuerdo es importante para todos, pero especialmente para los que padecen pobreza y hambre” afirmó el reverendo David Beckmann, presidente de Pan para el Mundo. “El presupuesto reconoce que no podemos hacer más recortes en los programas que sirven a los que menos pueden. A la vez, reduce la incertidumbre que podría disminuir el crecimiento económico y debilitar el mercado laboral”.

El acuerdo de presupuesto suspende los fuertes recortes automáticos – conocidos como el secuestro fiscal – y aumenta el límite en préstamos federales. Los líderes del Congreso y la Casa Blanca trabajaron en el acuerdo hasta la noche del pasado lunes.

“Nos gustaría agradecer a los líderes del Congreso y de la Casa Blanca quienes discretamente negociaron este acuerdo”, dijo Beckmann. “Ahora, les pedimos a los miembros del Congreso que aprueben el acuerdo lo antes posible”.

Pan para el Mundo ha exhortado al Congreso a aprobar un presupuesto responsable que aborde los recortes automáticos y que a la vez proteja a aquellos que padecen hambre en los Estados Unidos y en todo el mundo.

“El acuerdo por un presupuesto ahora permite que el Congreso se enfoque en otras prioridades legislativas que tienen efectos considerables en los que padecen hambre y pobreza. Entre éstas están la reautorización de los programas de nutrición infantil, la aprobación de la Ley de Seguridad Alimentaria, y la prevención del vencimiento de los créditos tributarios por menores y por ingresos del trabajo”, añadió Beckmann.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-president-urges-food-aid-reforms-during-house-committee-hearing/ Wed, 07 Oct 2015 11:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-president-urges-food-aid-reforms-during-house-committee-hearing/ Washington, D.C., October 7, 2015 – Today, Bread for the World president Rev. David Beckmann reaffirmed the need for key reforms in the U.S.’s international food-aid system in testimony before the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.   “U.S. food aid is important to many of the world’s most desperate people. It saves many lives.

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]]> Washington, D.C., October 7, 2015 – Today, Bread for the World president Rev. David Beckmann reaffirmed the need for key reforms in the U.S.’s international food-aid system in testimony before the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.  

“U.S. food aid is important to many of the world’s most desperate people. It saves many lives. But there are several ways to make U.S. food aid more efficient and effective,” said Beckmann in his written testimony. “Food-aid reform offers the opportunity to provide more assistance with available dollars.”

Bread for the World believes that U.S. food-aid policies can be more efficient in helping people during times of crisis and in fostering long-term solutions to hunger. The U.S. is the largest provider of food aid, and American assistance is needed now more than ever. However, it is time to update the government’s programs so we can respond better in a 21st century, globalized world.

Smart reforms to food aid would allow the programs to benefit tens of millions more people each year — at no additional cost to U.S. taxpayers. These include allowing more food purchases in or near the country where it is needed, reducing restrictions on transportation and cost of transportation, and eliminating the ineffective practice of monetization of food aid.

“The world has been making unprecedented progress against hunger, poverty, and disease over the last few decades. Despite the current surge in humanitarian need, the global trend toward ending hunger still continues,” added Beckmann. “I’m a preacher, so I see this great liberation as an example of our loving God at work in the world and believe that God is calling on us to contribute to it…Reforming food aid is one way to fight hunger, and fighting hunger is sacred business.” 

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/federal-safety-net-programs-continue-to-keep-millions-out-of-poverty/ Wed, 16 Sep 2015 16:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/federal-safety-net-programs-continue-to-keep-millions-out-of-poverty/ Washington, D.C., September 16, 2015 – Today, despite relatively little change in U.S. poverty numbers, Bread for the World points to new U.S. Census Bureau data showing that federal safety-net programs continue to prevent millions of people from falling into poverty. The bureau announced that   14.8 percent of Americans lived in poverty in 2014, essentially

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]]> Washington, D.C., September 16, 2015 – Today, despite relatively little change in U.S. poverty numbers, Bread for the World points to new U.S. Census Bureau data showing that federal safety-net programs continue to prevent millions of people from falling into poverty. The bureau announced that   14.8 percent of Americans lived in poverty in 2014, essentially unchanged from 2013.

The official poverty rate does not account for most federal anti-poverty programs. Using the Supplemental Poverty Measure, which does account for safety-net programs and was also released today, the school lunch program reduced poverty by 0.4 percentage points. On September 30, the law governing child nutrition programs including school meals, summer feeding, and the WIC nutrition program expires unless Congress renews it.

“Congress needs to pass a child nutrition bill that protects child nutrition programs and connects more children with healthy meals – while not cutting other safety net programs,” said Eric Mitchell, director of government relations.

According to the new data, the poverty rate would have been 3.1 percentage points higher without the earned income tax credit (EITC) and child tax credit (CTC). These two credits have important improvements set to expire in 2017 without congressional action.

“Congress is in the midst of debating what temporary business tax benefits to make permanent, and it is essential lawmakers simultaneously make the 2009 EITC and CTC improvements permanent,” emphasized Mitchell. “Allowing these improvements to expire would push 16.4 million people, including 7.7 million children, into or deeper into poverty. The needs of working families struggling to make ends meet should be just as high a priority as tax benefits for businesses.”

Despite the new data showing federal safety-net programs keeping millions people out of poverty, many are at risk of cuts from sequestration.   

“As the budget battles heat up, Congress must negotiate a deal that addresses sequestration. If we are serious about ending hunger, we cannot make progress by putting key safety-net programs on the chopping block,” said Mitchell. “These policies matter to millions of Americans. Lawmakers must stop the brinkmanship, end sequestration, and make ending hunger a real priority for our country.”

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/development-works-short-essays-explaining-myths-and-realities-about-development-assistance/ Mon, 31 Aug 2015 14:00:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/development-works-short-essays-explaining-myths-and-realities-about-development-assistance/ Seven short essays make the case for effective international development assistance. Each short essay answer key questions from why development assistance is so important and what impact it has to whether the U.S. can afford it and where we should concentrate our efforts. The essays clear up common misconceptions about development assistance and tell stories

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]]> Seven short essays make the case for effective international development assistance.

Each short essay answer key questions from why development assistance is so important and what impact it has to whether the U.S. can afford it and where we should concentrate our efforts.

The essays clear up common misconceptions about development assistance and tell stories about people who are improving their lives with the help of U.S. development assistance.

Development Works is for Bread members and activists, Hunger Justice Leaders, adult Sunday school teachers, and others who need information about our international advocacy work.

This series helps people get a clearer picture of what is happening today in the struggle against global hunger and extreme poverty.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/eitc-and-ctc-missing-from-tax-break-conversation/ Tue, 04 Aug 2015 13:15:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/eitc-and-ctc-missing-from-tax-break-conversation/ By Amelia Kegan Nearly two hours. The Senate Finance Committee on July 21 spent nearly two hours talking about expired tax benefits. Many items came up during those two hours: biodiesel, conservation easements, stationary fuel cells, bonus depreciation, how much extending tax credits retroactively actually incentivizes behavior, and the need to make many of these

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]]> By Amelia Kegan

Nearly two hours. The Senate Finance Committee on July 21 spent nearly two hours talking about expired tax benefits. Many items came up during those two hours: biodiesel, conservation easements, stationary fuel cells, bonus depreciation, how much extending tax credits retroactively actually incentivizes behavior, and the need to make many of these tax credits permanent.

What didn’t come up? The two tax credits that prevent more people from falling into poverty than any other program in the United States, outside of Social Security. The only two tax credits that specifically benefit low-income working families. The two tax credits that have been proven to get more parents into the workforce, improve test scores among children, and help families move into the middle class.

What tax credits didn’t come up in those two hours? The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC).

Just like the other tax breaks discussed during the committee’s markup of a bill to extend certain expired tax provisions, Congress must act to prevent key provisions of the EITC and CTC from expiring. Just like some of the other tax breaks discussed during the markup, these credits — with their recent improvements — should be made permanent.

True, these improvements don’t expire until 2017, but senators repeatedly spoke up about how certain credits should become permanent. They talked eloquently about how businesses need certainty. But no one said a peep about making the current EITC and CTC benefits permanent. No one talked about certainty for low-income working families, struggling to put food on the table and making ends meet.

Unlike the other tax credits that were discussed, the EITC and CTC don’t affect foreign pensions. They don’t affect fisheries in the American Samoa. And they don’t reward companies for capital investment.

Many of the tax benefits in the markup bill are good.  But this is about priorities. And as long as we’re talking about prioritizing bonus depreciation for capital investment, then we also should prioritize preventing 16.4 million people, including 7.7 million children, from falling into or deeper into poverty. We should prioritize preventing 50 million Americans from losing some or all of their EITC or CTC. This is what will happen if Congress fails to continue the EITC and CTC improvements.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), a real EITC and CTC champion (and Bread for the World Lobby Day award recipient), got called away during the bill’s markup. He planned to introduce an amendment to make the 2009 EITC and CTC improvements permanent. But with his absence, no other senator raised the subject.

Are you outraged over the silence around the EITC and CTC? Then take a moment to email your senators.

Take Action on this Issue      Learn more

Amelia Kegan is deputy director of government relations at Bread for the World.

Photo: Heather Rude-Turner, reading to her son Isaac, depends on the Earned Income Tax Credit to help support her family. Laura Elizabeth Pohl/Bread for the World.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/tell-your-representative-to-feed-the-future/ Mon, 20 Jul 2015 15:15:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/tell-your-representative-to-feed-the-future/ By Eric Mitchell Thanks to your calls and emails, there is strong, bipartisan support for the Global Food Security Act of 2015 (H.R. 1567) in Congress. This act authorizes — makes permanent — the Feed the Future program. Since 2008, Feed the Future has helped over 12.5 million children gain access to nutritious foods, while

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]]> By Eric Mitchell

Thanks to your calls and emails, there is strong, bipartisan support for the Global Food Security Act of 2015 (H.R. 1567) in Congress.

This act authorizes — makes permanent — the Feed the Future program. Since 2008, Feed the Future has helped over 12.5 million children gain access to nutritious foods, while also assisting nearly seven million farmers and food producers in developing nations with newer, more updated agricultural methods. In making programs that are truly life-saving permanent, the world is one step closer to eradicating extreme poverty, creating sustainable agricultural-led growth in developing nations, and improving nutrition for women and children.

Your calls have generated over 50 cosponsors of the Global Food Security Act. But we need more in order for this bill to reach the House floor. We need 100 cosponsors before the House adjourns for its August recess.

Congress has only a few days of work left before its summer break. This makes passage of the Global Food Security Act even more critical. ACT NOW: Call (800/826-3688) or email your representative today. Urge them to cosponsor the Global Food Security Act of 2015 (H.R. 1567)!

One out of nine people — 795 million in all — grapple with hunger daily. Let Congress know that passage of the Global Food Security Act is vital in the long-term fight to end hunger, malnutrition, and extreme poverty.

Eric Mitchell is the director of government relations at Bread for the World.

Photo: In Ghana, Feed the Future, the U.S. global hunger and food security initiative, has provided agricultural development assistance to this woman and other members of a women’s rice processing group. Louis Stippel/USAID

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/schools-out-for-the-summer-but-hungers-not/ Thu, 16 Jul 2015 13:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/schools-out-for-the-summer-but-hungers-not/ The post School's out for the summer (but hunger's not) appeared first on Bread for the World.

]]> The post School's out for the summer (but hunger's not) appeared first on Bread for the World.

]]> https://www.bread.org/article/college-student-fights-hunger-on-multiple-fronts/ Thu, 09 Jul 2015 10:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/college-student-fights-hunger-on-multiple-fronts/ By Jennifer Gonzalez Nothing irks Maria Rose Belding more than hearing legislators say that food pantries can fill in the food gap when SNAP (formerly food stamps) benefits are cut. “No, no, no. That is not how the math works,” she says, fervently. Collectively, food banks and private charities account for only 6 percent of

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]]> By Jennifer Gonzalez

Nothing irks Maria Rose Belding more than hearing legislators say that food pantries can fill in the food gap when SNAP (formerly food stamps) benefits are cut.

“No, no, no. That is not how the math works,” she says, fervently.

Collectively, food banks and private charities account for only 6 percent of food aid. The rest is provided by the federal government through programs like SNAP, Belding says.

Recently, she took her knowledge about hunger to Capitol Hill as part of Bread for the World’s Lobby Day. She, along with Bread for the World members from Iowa, met with U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). Belding grew up in Iowa but lives as a college student in Washington, D.C.

Belding, 19, believes in the power of lobbying. One vote from a legislator has more influence than all the staffs of a food pantry put together, she says. “Their influence on hungry people is significant. I want them to know that and understand that.”

During her visit with Ernst, Belding spoke about the need for Congress to pass the Summer Meals Act. The bill would strengthen and expand access to summer meal programs for children. Accessing meals during summertime can be hard for children, especially for those living in rural areas. Lack of transportation and long distances make it difficult for them to get the meals they need to grow into healthy adults.

Belding knows Bread well. She interned last year with the Alliance to End Hunger, an affiliate of Bread. “Bread is such a cool Christian community,” she says. “It embraces the Gospel of hungry people. It’s nice to be in an environment that embraces the Gospel and acts on it.”

But lobbying on behalf of hungry people is not the only way she is helping to ensure people have access to food. Earlier this year, she launched the nonprofit MEANS Database, an online system that enables food pantries to communicate with each other and their donors to prevent waste.

The nonprofit has approximately 1,500 partners and agencies in 12 states. MEANS stands for Matching Excess And Need for Stability.

Belding got the idea for the nonprofit after a disheartening experience while volunteering at a church food pantry that ended up throwing out boxes of macaroni and cheese when they expired. She says another food pantry could have used the boxes before they expired if there had been an efficient way to communicate with them.

Belding, who is pursuing an undergraduate degree in public health at American University, hopes to continue to grow the nonprofit. As a food advocate, she is passionate about ensuring that everyone has access to food.

The nonprofit is her way of ensuring that food pantries run efficiently as possible and are able to provide food for the hungry.

Jennifer Gonzalez is the associate online editor at Bread for the World. 

Photo: Maria Rose Belding, seated far left, speaks with U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), wearing a blue jacket, during Bread for the World’s 2015 Lobby Day. John Jacks for Bread for the World.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/global-goals-were-getting-there/ Thu, 09 Jul 2015 10:15:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/global-goals-were-getting-there/ By Stefanie Casdorph At the beginning of the new millennium, world leaders gathered at the United Nations to shape a broad vision to fight poverty and its many causes and effects. This vision turned into the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight goals that pledged to the world to fight for the principles of human dignity,

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]]> By Stefanie Casdorph

At the beginning of the new millennium, world leaders gathered at the United Nations to shape a broad vision to fight poverty and its many causes and effects. This vision turned into the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight goals that pledged to the world to fight for the principles of human dignity, equality, equity, and to free the world from extreme poverty.

Bread for the World has long supported the MDGs as a way to help the world’s poor move out of a cycle of hunger and poverty.

The MDGs addressed the important issues of poverty, education, women’s empowerment, health, children’s well-being, and the environment.

The first MDG was to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. This goal had three objectives:

1. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day.
2. Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people.
3. Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

The United Nation’s MDG Report 2015 findings show that the world has made significant strides in fighting poverty and hunger under these goals. Although poverty is far from eradicated, here are some examples of progress that has been made in the last 25 years, according to the report:

• The number of people living in extreme poverty around the world has fallen by more than half, from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015.
• In developing regions, the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day fell from 47 percent in 1990 to 22 percent in 2010, five years ahead of schedule.
• The proportion of undernourished people in developing countries has fallen by almost half, from 23.3 percent in 1990 to 12.9 percent in 2015.
• The number of undernourished people in developing countries has fallen by 216 million since 1990.
• The proportion of children under five who are underweight has been cut almost in half between 1990 and 2015. One in four children under five worldwide have stunted growth, but stunting – defined as inadequate height for age – is declining.

These goals have helped the world achieve so much. Millions of people around the world are escaping hunger and poverty. However, even after making such great strides, there are still over 795 million people going hungry.

The world has the tools and the knowledge to eradicate hunger. Using the momentum and progress generated by the MDGs, the U.N. is working with governments, civil society, and other partners on an ambitious task in creating a long-term sustainable agenda – the Sustainable Development Goals.

These new goals will replace the MDGs this September with an end goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030.

Stefanie Casdorph is a summer intern in the communications department at Bread for the World.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/advocacy-101-making-a-difference-in-congress/ Mon, 06 Jul 2015 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/advocacy-101-making-a-difference-in-congress/ Advocacy 101 provides a largely secular explanation of how Bread for the World carries out its advocacy with Congress. It explains the legislative process at the federal level and how Bread activists, as constituents of their federal representatives, can engage at various points in the process. This resource answers the questions Why advocacy? Does advocacy work?

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]]> Advocacy 101 provides a largely secular explanation of how Bread for the World carries out its advocacy with Congress. It explains the legislative process at the federal level and how Bread activists, as constituents of their federal representatives, can engage at various points in the process.

This resource answers the questions Why advocacy? Does advocacy work? What can I do? and provides practical actions that people can take. A good companion to this piece is The Biblical Basis for Advocacy to End Hunger, which provides a more religious-focused justification for engaging in advocacy.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/strengthening-local-capacity-the-weak-link-in-sustainable-development/ Wed, 01 Jul 2015 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/strengthening-local-capacity-the-weak-link-in-sustainable-development/ Country ownership is critical to achieving development outcomes such as reducing hunger and extreme poverty. Well-functioning state and non-state institutions are necessary elements of an enabling environment — conditions that facilitate countries’ efforts to drive their own development. The post-2015 development agenda provides a tremendous opportunity for a renewed approach to country-led development. Such an

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]]> Country ownership is critical to achieving development outcomes such as reducing hunger and extreme poverty. Well-functioning state and non-state institutions are necessary elements of an enabling environment — conditions that facilitate countries’ efforts to drive their own development.

The post-2015 development agenda provides a tremendous opportunity for a renewed approach to country-led development. Such an approach should ask and answer fundamental questions to countryled development: What is lacking? And, perhaps most importantly, how do we ensure that efforts have an impact on communities?

Such efforts would be strengthened by a results-driven, systemic strategy whose goal would be to catalyze authentic local determination of development priorities, resources, and methods of implementation. A comprehensive understanding of the process of LCD will help identify which strategies would be most effective. The first step could be to develop a policy to break down barriers to change, such as programs that are isolated (“siloed”) and competing interests.

Development effectiveness should be measured by how well the results help achieve development goals. The policy should also examine to what extent development partners such as the United States  prioritize local system strengthening.

Greater emphasis should be placed on strong indicators to measure progress, support evidence-based policymaking and promote mutual transparency and accountability.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/closing-the-summer-hunger-gap/ Tue, 30 Jun 2015 10:45:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/closing-the-summer-hunger-gap/ By Jennifer Gonzalez A year ago, Lane Riley took a leap of faith. She moved from her home in South Carolina to operate a summer meals site for children in rural Shaw, Miss. One pastor helped secure a community center to serve as the site and she recruited another pastor to be the cook. She

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]]> By Jennifer Gonzalez

A year ago, Lane Riley took a leap of faith. She moved from her home in South Carolina to operate a summer meals site for children in rural Shaw, Miss.

One pastor helped secure a community center to serve as the site and she recruited another pastor to be the cook. She and that pastor worked together to make lunches for the children.

Last summer, roughly 30 children were fed lunch twice a week. This summer, Riley expanded the program, which is serving a lunch and snack daily to approximately 100 children. Children also participate in various activities at the site, including reading, Bible study, art, and recreation.

Because the site now serves almost three times the number of children compared to last summer, Riley needed help. So, she trained 12 high school students to be leaders for the different age groups.

“Teenagers in Shaw aren’t given a lot of opportunities for leadership development, and this is an amazing way of creating leadership skills and mentoring older kids,” Riley said.

Riley is a program director at Delta Hands for Hope, which runs the summer feeding site. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Mississippi (CBFMS) is the financial sponsor of the Summer Food Service program in Mississippi.

This summer there are now five additional summer feeding sites in Mississippi run by Delta Hands for Hope. The CBFMS uses reimbursement funds it receives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support the feeding sites. The six sites are projected to serve about 10,000 meals this summer, Riley said.

Summer feeding sites are crucial to the health of children, especially those who come from low-income families. During the academic year, those same kids receive either a free- or reduced-price lunch at school. But the summer is different.

Accessing meals during summertime can be hard for children, especially for those living in rural areas. Lack of transportation and long distances make it difficult for them to get the meals they need to grow into healthy adults.

The need for a summer feeding site in Shaw is great. The city is located in the Mississippi Delta, where poverty is high. In fact, about half of the adult population in Shaw lives below the poverty line ($23,624 for a family of four with two children).

And roughly 70 percent of Shaw’s children live below the poverty line, according to the U.S. Census.

“Having this feeding program takes the stress off parents,” said Riley, who studied sociology and Spanish at Lander University in South Carolina. “They’ll know that their kids will be getting a meal in the summer.”

Riley first visited Shaw several years ago as part of a volunteer trip with Wilton Baptist Church in Wilton, Conn. The church’s pastor, the Rev. Dr. K. Jason Coker, is originally from Shaw and would take teams of volunteers to the city during the summer to work with children.

Riley began to visit the church after moving from South Carolina to Connecticut to work as a nanny. When the idea to start a summer feeding site in his hometown of Shaw surfaced, Coker thought Riley would be a good candidate to spearhead the project.

“There are a lot of people who are needed to create generational and systemic change, and the people of Shaw are only a small handful of people who are trying to combat hunger and poverty,” Riley said. “But by working in Shaw, with CBFMS, and many other churches and organizations, we are noticing a difference, and creating a positive environment for the kids of Shaw.”

The United States is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, but nearly 16 million children are food-insecure. Act now! Call (800/826-3688) or email your U.S. representative and your U.S. senators to close the hunger gap today.

Jennifer Gonzalez is the associate online editor at Bread for the World.

Photo: Lane Riley, left, with cook and pastor, Joe Jackson. Lane Riley for Bread for the World.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/u-s-africa-trade-bill-passes-congress/ Fri, 26 Jun 2015 14:15:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/u-s-africa-trade-bill-passes-congress/ Bread for the World applauds the 10-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which passed yesterday in Congress. This is the first 10-year reauthorization of AGOA since it was first enacted in 2000. African leaders, U.S. businesses, and civil society all supported the extension. Bread for the World has consistently advocated for

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]]> Bread for the World applauds the 10-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which passed yesterday in Congress.

This is the first 10-year reauthorization of AGOA since it was first enacted in 2000. African leaders, U.S. businesses, and civil society all supported the extension. Bread for the World has consistently advocated for this bill since 1998.

“This helps to strengthen U.S.-Africa trade opportunities, and encourages job creation both in Africa and in the United States,” said David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World.

AGOA remains the most important legislation that defines trade relationships between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa. Since it went into effect in 2000, exports under AGOA increased more than 500 percent, from $8.15 billion in 2001 to $53.8 billion in 2011. However, 95 percent of the total goods traded under AGOA was in the form of oil, gas, and minerals over that decade.

“It is essential that our trade policies and agreements contribute to the efforts to reduce hunger and poverty”, Beckmann said.

In addition to the 10-year extension, the bill includes a provision that will strengthen the trade capacity of smallholder women farmers, giving them better access to markets. “Closing the gender gap and investing in small-scale farmers are crucial elements to reaching our goal of ending hunger around the world by 2030,” Beckmann added.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/a-land-of-prosperity-a-land-of-hunger/ Tue, 23 Jun 2015 11:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/a-land-of-prosperity-a-land-of-hunger/ By Shalom Khokhar Growing up, my family and I would go grocery shopping on Saturdays. My favorite place to go was Sam’s Club because they always had free samples. From snacks to desserts, it was always fun to run to each stall and grab a quick treat. Living in the United States has it perks,

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]]> By Shalom Khokhar

Growing up, my family and I would go grocery shopping on Saturdays. My favorite place to go was Sam’s Club because they always had free samples. From snacks to desserts, it was always fun to run to each stall and grab a quick treat.

Living in the United States has it perks, one of them being that food is readily available and conveniently located. So available and convenient, in fact, that we become unaware of the disturbing statistics that hit closer to home than we think.

A staggering 69 percent of people had to choose between food and utilities, and 57 percent had to choose between food and housing, according to the Hunger in America 2014 study by Feeding America. More recently, a fact sheet released by Bread for the World last month, reported that almost five million older Americans are food-insecure, representing almost 10 percent of the older population.

Case in point: Last month, Clarence Blackmon, an elderly gentleman from North Carolina, dialed 911 not because he was hurt, but because he was hungry! The 81-year-old returned home after several months in the hospital. With an empty refrigerator and no immediate help, he spoke with 911 operator Marilyn Hinson.

“He was hungry,” Hinson said. “I’ve been hungry. A lot of people can’t say that, but I can, and I can’t stand for anyone to be hungry.”

Support poured in for Blackmon, and people brought bags and bags of food to his home. A little awareness goes a long way.

Sometimes all it takes is a few questions to realize that hunger is a common occurrence even in today’s society. Last December, a family came to my church’s Christmas concert. It was a Hispanic family with two young boys and girls. Dad worked, and mom was pregnant.  

After talking with the family, we found out that dad was fresh out of prison and addicted to methamphetamines, and that mom was basically a single parent raising four malnourished kids. They had no home and had been living in their van for three months.

The church was able to donate $400 to the family and get in contact with a few local food pantries for some much-needed groceries. Their van needed some repairs, so the church  gave them a vehicle to use and paid for a motel room for one week. Mom eventually gave birth to a healthy baby, and a few people from the church went to visit her. The church  also connected the family with  a social worker who could help  make things a little better.

Yes, it’s sad to hear these stories, but don’t just hear them, act on what you have heard!

Jesus said in Matthew 25, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me…I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.”

One way we can all make a difference is to call or email Congress and ask them to protect and improve current nutrition programs, such as SNAP, WIC, and the child nutrition bill, and to continue to develop better ways of implementing laws to end hunger in America.

Ending hunger is a goal that can be reached in our lifetime, but only if we act now!

Shalom Khokhar is a summer intern in the communications department at Bread for the World.

Photo: Federal nutrition programs are finding ways to connect the people who rely on them with a healthy selection of foods. Jim Stipe for Bread for the World.

 

 

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/faith-leaders-meet-with-congressional-leaders-on-poverty-focused-programs/ Wed, 17 Jun 2015 14:15:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/faith-leaders-meet-with-congressional-leaders-on-poverty-focused-programs/ A diverse group of faith leaders from across the country is visiting Capitol Hill today to ask their congressional representatives to prioritize funding for global health, development assistance, humanitarian response, and peacebuilding-related programs in the federal government’s International Affairs budget. The faith leaders are also advocating for an end to sequestration cuts on successful humanitarian

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]]> A diverse group of faith leaders from across the country is visiting Capitol Hill today to ask their congressional representatives to prioritize funding for global health, development assistance, humanitarian response, and peacebuilding-related programs in the federal government’s International Affairs budget. The faith leaders are also advocating for an end to sequestration cuts on successful humanitarian and development programs that invest in children and families around the world.

“It is our faith that motivates and guides our actions here today,” said Eric Mitchell, director of government relations at Bread for the World. “As people of faith we recognize especially that these programs are vital lifelines for those in desperate need and promote the inviolable dignity of each person.” The leaders are from Christian, Jewish, and other faith traditions.

The parts of the budget that carry out development and humanitarian assistance are known as poverty-focused development assistance (PFDA) accounts. PFDA accounts provide both humanitarian relief and long-term, sustainable solutions to the problems of poverty and hunger. The work takes a wide variety of forms-agricultural development and nutrition, refugee assistance, immediate disaster assistance, global health, education, gender equality, water and sanitation, and more.

The House Appropriations Committee passed the fiscal year 2016 State and Foreign Operations bill last week funding the Global Health, Development Assistance, Migration and Refugee Assistance and International Disaster Assistance accounts at or above FY 2015 levels. Funding has not been restored for international and some multilateral organizations and programs.

The Senate is expected to pass its FY 2016 Senate Appropriations State and Foreign Operations bill in the next few weeks.

“As Congress looks to balance the budget we ask that they remember that the moral measure of any society is how it treats the most vulnerable. We must accelerate, not pull back, from the many gains made in recent years. We urge members of Congress to fund PFDA accounts at or greater than the FY 2015 level,” concluded Mitchell.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-activists-visit-capitol-hill-to-advocate-for-domestic-and-international-nutrition-programs/ Tue, 09 Jun 2015 14:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-activists-visit-capitol-hill-to-advocate-for-domestic-and-international-nutrition-programs/ Today, more than 250 people will take part in Bread for the World’s 2015 Lobby Day. Bread activists will advocate for hungry children in the United States and around the world by urging Congress to support the Summer Meals Act of 2015 and the Global Food Security Act of 2015. “Today, we are advocating for

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]]> Today, more than 250 people will take part in Bread for the World’s 2015 Lobby Day. Bread activists will advocate for hungry children in the United States and around the world by urging Congress to support the Summer Meals Act of 2015 and the Global Food Security Act of 2015.

“Today, we are advocating for legislation that will help us reach our goal of ending hunger by 2030,” said Eric Mitchell, director of government relations at Bread for the World. “You cannot end hunger as long as there are millions of children who are living in households that are struggling to put food on the table, and there are farmers in need of resources to grow food in their communities.”

In the U.S., only one out of every seven low-income children getting free lunch at school also receives meals during the summer. The Summer Meals Act would strengthen and expand access to nutritious meals for children during the summer months.

Feed the Future, which was created as a response to the 2008 food crisis, helps more than 7 million small-scale farmers increase crop production, and provides nutritious food to more than 12.5 million children around the world.

“Congress has an opportunity, this year, to pass legislation which directly impacts millions of children in the U.S. and abroad,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “We thank all of the congressional leaders who are working tirelessly to ensure that ending hunger is a top priority. We know that you have a difficult task, but the faith community is behind you.”

Later this evening, Bread for the World will honor Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.), Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.), Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.), and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) for their continued leadership on issues impacting hungry and poor people in the United States and around the world.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-applauds-g-7s-commitment-to-lift-500-million-out-of-hungerurges-congress-to-pass-the-global-food-security-act/ Tue, 09 Jun 2015 14:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-applauds-g-7s-commitment-to-lift-500-million-out-of-hungerurges-congress-to-pass-the-global-food-security-act/ Bread for the World applauds the commitment of the world’s richest countries to lift 500 million people out of hunger and malnutrition by 2030, and urged Congress to demonstrate the United States’ pledge to this goal by passing the Global Food Security Act. “We welcome the G-7’s decision to continue its focus on food security

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]]> Bread for the World applauds the commitment of the world’s richest countries to lift 500 million people out of hunger and malnutrition by 2030, and urged Congress to demonstrate the United States’ pledge to this goal by passing the Global Food Security Act.

“We welcome the G-7’s decision to continue its focus on food security by committing to lift 500 million people in developing countries out of hunger and malnutrition by 2030,” said Asma Lateef, director of the Bread for the World Institute. “It builds on previous G-7 commitments on hunger and nutrition, specifically the L’Aquila Food Security Initiative, and ensures these actions continue to empower women, smallholder and family farmers.”

The G-7 leaders made this commitment at the end of their annual summit in Schloss Elmau, Krun, Germany, June 7-8. The G-7 is composed of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In advance of the summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on all G-7 countries to end hunger and absolute poverty by 2030.

One of the ways the United States can support this commitment is through the passage of the Global Food Security Act. It authorizes and improves the government’s Feed the Future program. The program, which Bread for the World has supported, works hand-in-hand with partner countries to develop their agriculture sectors and break the cycles of hunger, poverty, and malnutrition.

“The United States’ leadership has been important in focusing global attention on hunger and malnutrition. Congress should demonstrate similar leadership by passing the Global Food Security Act,” said Eric Mitchell, director of government relations at Bread for the World. “This legislation has strong bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate, and we urge congressional leaders to move this legislation forward and support its passage.”

Last month, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization announced that world hunger had dropped by 167 million in the previous decade, to 795 million. This was due in part to programs like Feed the Future, which are investing in small farmers in developing countries, increasing their productivity and their incomes.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/millennium-development-goals-help-200-million-people-out-of-hunger/ Wed, 27 May 2015 17:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/millennium-development-goals-help-200-million-people-out-of-hunger/ Two hundred million people around the world have escaped hunger due in large part to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the United Nations reported Wednesday. Bread for the World has long supported the MDGs as a way to help the world’s poor move out of a cycle of hunger and poverty. The report shows that

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]]> Two hundred million people around the world have escaped hunger due in large part to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the United Nations reported Wednesday.

Bread for the World has long supported the MDGs as a way to help the world’s poor move out of a cycle of hunger and poverty.

The report shows that the number of hungry people has declined from about one billion in 1990 to about 795 million today, taking into account increased populations. Out of the 129 nations monitored by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 72 achieved the target of halving the percentages of hungry people outlined in the MDGs, according to the United Nations’ annual hunger report, published by the FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the World Food Program.

“Global leaders’ support of the MDGs, in order to help their brothers and sisters, is a testament of God’s love for us,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “The goals have focused global attention on hunger and extreme poverty, and we are seeing the results of increased investments in agriculture, food security, and nutrition.”

The MDGs are eight international development goals that were established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. The goals are to eradicate hunger and extreme poverty, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce infant mortality rate, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, and develop a global partnership for development.

“Countries in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean have made pronounced progress in eradicating hunger. It is time the United States got serious about hunger,” Beckmann said. “As a new set of goals are drafted, countries like the United States have to participate in their implementation in order to ensure that the post-2015 development agenda provides an opportunity to promote equity and equitable growth in a way that is truly universal.”

The MDGs will be replaced with a new set of goals, Sustainable Development Goals, this September with an end goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-applauds-introduction-of-global-food-security-act-in-senate/ Fri, 08 May 2015 14:45:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-applauds-introduction-of-global-food-security-act-in-senate/ Bread for the World applauds the introduction of the Global Food Security Act of 2015, S. 1252, last night in the Senate. This legislation seeks to improve the livelihoods of the more than 500 million small-scale farmers around the world, many of whom are women. “We are hopeful that the bill will generate strong bipartisan

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]]> Bread for the World applauds the introduction of the Global Food Security Act of 2015, S. 1252, last night in the Senate. This legislation seeks to improve the livelihoods of the more than 500 million small-scale farmers around the world, many of whom are women.

“We are hopeful that the bill will generate strong bipartisan support, as did its counterpart in the House, by building off of the effective Feed the Future initiative,” said Eric Mitchell director of government relations at Bread for the World. “This piece of legislation, if passed, will have significant impacts on the lives of the more than 805 million chronically undernourished people in our world, including in regions like sub-Saharan Africa, where one in four people are affected by food shortages.”

S.1252 would authorize and improve Feed the Future, the critical U.S. government program for global food and nutrition security. In 2014, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced that world hunger had dropped by over 100 million in the previous decade. This was due in part to programs like Feed the Future helping millions of small farmers in developing countries increase the amount of food they grew.

Up to 50 percent of the agricultural labor force is women in many developing countries, yet they tend to produce less food than men because they are less likely to own land, and women face higher barriers to hiring labor, accessing credit, and utilizing training and extension services. Programs like Feed the Future help to narrow this gap.

“This legislation’s efforts to address maternal and child nutrition will help the U.S. achieve its goal to end preventable child deaths, almost half of which are caused by malnutrition,” said Mitchell. “It would also further bolster U.S. leadership by leveraging a whole-of-government approach to tackling global hunger, poverty, and malnutrition.”

Efforts are currently underway to garner additional cosponsors of the Senate legislation. The House counterpart of the Global Food Security Act, H.R. 1567, unanimously passed out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee last month and awaits further consideration by the full House of Representatives.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-urges-senate-to-confirm-new-head-of-usaid/ Thu, 30 Apr 2015 14:45:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-urges-senate-to-confirm-new-head-of-usaid/ Bread for the World welcomes the nomination today of Gayle Smith as the new administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). It urges the Senate to confirm Smith’s appointment soon. “I expect the Senate to move quickly to approve Gayle Smith’s appointment. It’s important to the implementation of urgently needed aid programs, and

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]]> Bread for the World welcomes the nomination today of Gayle Smith as the new administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). It urges the Senate to confirm Smith’s appointment soon.

“I expect the Senate to move quickly to approve Gayle Smith’s appointment. It’s important to the implementation of urgently needed aid programs, and global poverty is an issue on which Congress and the president are on the same page,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World.

Prior to her nomination by President Obama, Smith served as his special assistant and senior director of the National Security Council. She brings a wealth of experience to USAID. She was a co-founder of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN), which works to make aid more effective and transparent.

“Though the world is making unprecedented progress against hunger and poverty, violence and natural disasters have created huge humanitarian needs in some countries. It’s important to our national security, as well as to our souls, both to help the victims and support the wonderful progress that is underway,” said Beckmann. “Gayle Smith has helped to shape the Obama administration’s international policies and strategies and will provide continuity in their implementation.”

Prior to joining the administration, Smith was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. She held senior positions in the Clinton administration. She also lived and worked in Africa for 20 years, where she was a journalist and worked for non-governmental relief and development organizations.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/global-food-security-act-advances-in-house/ Fri, 24 Apr 2015 12:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/global-food-security-act-advances-in-house/ The Global Food Security Act, H.R. 1567, unanimously passed out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday. It authorizes a comprehensive, whole-of-government strategy to address hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. “We are encouraged by the bipartisan nature of this legislation in the House, which builds upon the success of the U.S. government’s Feed the

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]]> The Global Food Security Act, H.R. 1567, unanimously passed out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday. It authorizes a comprehensive, whole-of-government strategy to address hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

“We are encouraged by the bipartisan nature of this legislation in the House, which builds upon the success of the U.S. government’s Feed the Future initiative,” said David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “Since its creation in 2010, Feed the Future has helped more than seven million small farmers in developing countries increase the amount of food they grow.”

H.R. 1567 also prioritizes country ownership and accountability, sustainable and equitable agriculture development, and improving nutrition for children, especially during the critical 1,000 days of life from pregnancy to age 2.

“Empowering women through this legislation is crucial to ending hunger, since women farmers produce well over half of all the food grown around the world. In sub-Saharan Africa, women produce up to 80 percent of the food,” said Beckmann. “Eliminating barriers for women farmers helps their long-term economic prosperity. It also improves their children’s nutrition, health, and lifelong potential.”

The bill now awaits further consideration by the full House of Representatives. The Senate is expected to introduce its version of the bill in the coming weeks.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/bread-joins-world-bank-other-faith-groups-in-call-to-end-hunger-poverty-by-2030/ Thu, 09 Apr 2015 12:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/bread-joins-world-bank-other-faith-groups-in-call-to-end-hunger-poverty-by-2030/ Bread for the World, the World Bank, and leaders of 30 faith groups and organizations issued today a call to end hunger and extreme poverty by 2030. “Now that it has become clear that it is feasible to end extreme poverty, faith communities are committing ourselves to ramp up our advocacy. We are building a

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]]> Bread for the World, the World Bank, and leaders of 30 faith groups and organizations issued today a call to end hunger and extreme poverty by 2030.

“Now that it has become clear that it is feasible to end extreme poverty, faith communities are committing ourselves to ramp up our advocacy. We are building a movement that will translate this possibility into political commitment,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World.

Since 1990, the number of people living in extreme poverty or on $1.25 a day has been halved to less than one billion. “This unprecedented progress in ending hunger and extreme poverty is an example of our loving God moving through time, transforming our world,” Beckmann said.

Research conducted by Bread for the World and the World Bank shows that ending hunger and extreme poverty is no longer a dream, but a possibility in 15 years.

“Poverty’s imprisonment of more than a billion men, women, and children must end. Now is the time to boldly act to free the next generation from extreme poverty’s grip,” the #faith2endpoverty partners said in a document, “Ending Extreme Poverty: A Moral and Spiritual Imperative.”

Many countries, like Bangladesh, Brazil, and the United Kingdom have made huge strides in cutting hunger and poverty. However, hunger and poverty has increased in the United States. Today, 49 million Americans, including 15 million children, live in households that struggle to put food on the table.

Still, powerful forces in the U.S. Congress have been pushing for deep cuts in anti-hunger and anti-poverty programs. The cuts to these programs have so far been minimal thanks in part to a coalition of faith groups working to ending hunger.

“Now is the time for the United States to step up to the plate and make ending hunger and poverty a priority,” Beckmann said. “As Christians, we believe the moral measure of a country is based on how the most poor and vulnerable people fare.”

The #faith2endpoverty partnership is a result of the first high-level meeting between faith leaders and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim. “Ending Extreme Poverty: A Moral and Spiritual Imperative” was released as part of the organization’s spring meeting.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-applauds-reintroduction-of-global-food-security-act-in-house/ Wed, 25 Mar 2015 12:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-applauds-reintroduction-of-global-food-security-act-in-house/ Washington, D.C. – Bread for the World welcomes yesterday’s reintroduction of H.R. 1567, the Global Food Security Act, in the House of Representatives and the ways it will help end hunger. The act builds upon the successes of the Feed the Future initiative. It develops a comprehensive strategy that will further advance food and nutrition

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]]> Washington, D.C. – Bread for the World welcomes yesterday’s reintroduction of H.R. 1567, the Global Food Security Act, in the House of Representatives and the ways it will help end hunger.

The act builds upon the successes of the Feed the Future initiative. It develops a comprehensive strategy that will further advance food and nutrition security in Feed the Future’s 19 focus countries.

“This bill demonstrates that ending hunger around the world is not a partisan issue. It is a priority that should be held by everyone,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World.

Since its creation in 2010, Feed the Future has helped more than seven million small farmers in developing countries increase the amount of food they grow. In 2013, the initiative provided nutritious foods to more than 12.5 million children.

The Global Food Security Act includes other provisions to address hunger. The act prioritizes country ownership, sustainable agriculture development, and nutrition for children during the critical 1,000 days of life from pregnancy to age 2. It includes important provisions related to women’s empowerment.

“Women farmers produce well over half of all the food grown in the world. This includes up to 80 percent in sub-Saharan Africa and 60 percent in Asia,” added Beckmann. “Eliminating barriers for women farmers helps their long-term economic prosperity. It also improves their children’s nutrition, health, and lifelong potential.”

“We thank our partners and advocates who have pressed the House to reintroduce this legislation,” said Beckmann. “We urge the House to consider the bill’s passage, and call on the Senate to introduce a similar version of the legislation as well. In doing so, we will ensure Feed the Future is made a permanent program that will help move us toward ending hunger around the world within our lifetime.”

The House’s Feed the Future Global Food Security Act of 2015 was introduced by Reps. Chris Smith (R-N.J.); Betty McCollum (D-Minn.); Ed Royce (R-Calif.); Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.); Jeff Fortenberry (R- Neb.); Karen Bass (D-Calif.); Dave Reichert (R-Wash.); Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.); Ander Crenshaw (R-Fla.); Adam Smith (D-WA); Erik Paulsen (R-MN); David Cicilline (D-RI); and James McGovern (D-MA).

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/new-congressional-budget-proposals-cut-220-meals-a-year-from-snap-participants/ Thu, 19 Mar 2015 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/new-congressional-budget-proposals-cut-220-meals-a-year-from-snap-participants/ Bread for the World today warned both the House and Senate not to enact harmful fiscal year 2016 budget cuts that would jeopardize the availability of healthy and nutritious meals for adults and children. Both budget proposals contain drastic cuts to effective anti-hunger programs. The Senate next week is expected to introduce amendments to its

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]]> Bread for the World today warned both the House and Senate not to enact harmful fiscal year 2016 budget cuts that would jeopardize the availability of healthy and nutritious meals for adults and children.

Both budget proposals contain drastic cuts to effective anti-hunger programs. The Senate next week is expected to introduce amendments to its budget resolution. These amendments may include efforts to reduce funding for both domestic and international hunger programs.

“Eliminating the deficit on the backs of the hungry and poor is unethical. It also lacks economic sense,” said Eric Mitchell, director of government relations for Bread for the World. “Harsh cuts could end up pushing millions of working families and their children further into hunger and poverty.”

The House budget proposes cutting $5.5 trillion, while the Senate budget proposes cutting $4.5 trillion. The proposed cuts would occur over 10 years.

The House budget proposes cutting $140 billion from SNAP (formerly called food stamps). The Senate budget proposes cutting Medicaid by $400 billion. Under these cuts, SNAP participants would lose 220 meals a year or 10 weeks’ worth of food.

SNAP is the largest child nutrition program in the country. It provides meals for 21 million children. Medicaid provides coverage for 28 million low-income children. Hungry children cannot learn, and unhealthy children will not reach their full potential.

Internationally, humanitarian and poverty-focused development assistance programs (PFDA) would face devastating reductions as well. The House proposal would result in a 16 percent overall cut to the International Affairs Budget, which provides funding for PFDA. The Senate proposal is better, but still results in a 1 percent decrease.

“Our federal budget outlines the priorities of our country. Clearly, feeding hungry children at home and abroad is not a priority,” Mitchell said. “Programs that help families place food on the table and keep their children healthy should not be first on the congressional chopping block.”

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-president-testifies-on-capitol-hill-on-development-aid/ Sun, 15 Mar 2015 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-president-testifies-on-capitol-hill-on-development-aid/ Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, testified today before the House Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, urging its members to fully fund poverty-focused development assistance in the fiscal year 2016 budget. “Extreme poverty around the world has been cut in half. 100 million people have escaped from hunger in

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]]> Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, testified today before the House Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, urging its members to fully fund poverty-focused development assistance in the fiscal year 2016 budget.

“Extreme poverty around the world has been cut in half. 100 million people have escaped from hunger in just the past decade alone. Annual deaths from preventable diseases have fallen remarkably. Fewer children are dying of pneumonia, diarrhea, and AIDS,” said Beckmann in his prepared remarks. “U.S. poverty-focused development assistance helps build secure, healthy, and productive nations.”

Both the House of Representatives and Senate are planning to finalize their budgets for FY 2016 this week. The House proposes cutting international poverty-focused development assistance by 16 percent overall. The Senate proposal is better, but still results in a one percent decrease. Bread considers this assistance a major part of the federal government’s overall work in fighting hunger.

“Further cuts would have a devastating impact on the 805 million people who do not have enough food to lead a healthy, active life and the 3.1 million children under 5 who die annually from the causes of poor nutrition,” said Beckmann.

He asked that the subcommittee encourages the Obama administration to ensure the programs’ effectiveness through its nutrition strategy. Malnutrition limits cognitive abilities, stunts growth, and increases susceptibility to diseases, especially among children.

International poverty-focused development assistance is essential to meet the urgent needs of the poorest countries. It also helps build sustainable trading partners for the United States.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/presidents-budget-proposes-investments-in-human-capital/ Tue, 03 Feb 2015 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/presidents-budget-proposes-investments-in-human-capital/ President Obama released his budget on Monday, which includes proposals for making the 2009 earned income tax credit (EITC) and child tax credit (CTC) improvements permanent, and reforming U.S. food aid to make it more flexible and reach millions more people. These are crucial government mechanisms for fighting hunger at home and abroad. The budget

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]]> President Obama released his budget on Monday, which includes proposals for making the 2009 earned income tax credit (EITC) and child tax credit (CTC) improvements permanent, and reforming U.S. food aid to make it more flexible and reach millions more people. These are crucial government mechanisms for fighting hunger at home and abroad. The budget also aims to end sequestration, which is scheduled to return in 2016.

“President Obama’s budget is concurrent with what our research has found: Investing in people is key to a sustained economic recovery,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “We are glad that the president’s budget includes strong support for safety-net programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and sets aside $67 million to support summer electronic benefit transfer (EBT) pilots to help reduce hunger among our nation’s kids during summer months. Investing in programs that give children access to nutritious food, families an opportunity to work and put food on the table, and people around the world the chance to provide for their families in their home countries is not just a moral imperative, but it makes practical economic sense.”

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 is up for reauthorization this year and serves low-income children through school lunch and breakfast programs, summer feeding programs, after-school and child care feeding programs, and The Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Out of every seven low-income children who receive a school lunch, only four also get breakfast, and only one also gets summer meals.

The presidential budget proposes making permanent the 2009 EITC and CTC improvements, which augment wages for low-income working families and keep 16 million people, including 8 million children, from being pushed into or falling deeper into poverty. Also included is a proposal to expand the EITC for workers without children and non-custodial parents, reducing poverty for 13.2 million low-income workers.

“The budget debate has a central moral dimension. As Christians, we believe the moral measure of the budget is based on how the most poor and vulnerable people fare,” said Beckmann. “The president’s budget is a step in the right direction as it provides a framework for working-class families, who tend to have little voice in politics, an opportunity to improve their economic situations.

Reforming how U.S. food aid and addressing the root causes of immigration in Central America are major components in the international area of the president’s budget. To promote an economically integrated Central America that provides greater economic opportunities to its people and ensures the safety of its citizens, the president has set aside $1 billion.

The House and Senate will soon begin working on their budgets. Bread for the World urges members of Congress to reach a bipartisan budget deal that stabilizes the economic gains of the past few years, responsibly ends sequestration, and protects programs that effectively address hunger and help people move out of poverty.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-launches-campaign-to-reauthorize-child-nutrition-programs/ Thu, 29 Jan 2015 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-launches-campaign-to-reauthorize-child-nutrition-programs/ Bread for the World launched its 2015 Offering of Letters: Feed Our Children campaign today, urging Congress to strengthen national child nutrition programs when the law governing them comes up for reauthorization this year. “One in five children in the United States lives at risk of hunger,” said Christine Melendez Ashley, senior domestic policy analyst

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]]> Bread for the World launched its 2015 Offering of Letters: Feed Our Children campaign today, urging Congress to strengthen national child nutrition programs when the law governing them comes up for reauthorization this year.

“One in five children in the United States lives at risk of hunger,” said Christine Melendez Ashley, senior domestic policy analyst at Bread for the World. “Child nutrition programs are vital because they ensure that our children get nutritious meals and have the energy to grow and learn.”

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 funds and sets policy for national child nutrition programs and must be reauthorized every five years. It includes school lunch and breakfast programs, summer feeding programs, after-school and child care feeding programs, and The Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Together these programs serve about 29 million low-income children annually.

Bread wants Congress to continue the strong investments in national child nutrition programs and to improve children’s access to feeding programs. For every seven low-income children getting a lunch at school, only four get breakfast, and only one receives meals during the summer, a time when children are most at risk of hunger. Improvements to these programs should not be paid for by cuts to other vital safety net programs.

“Both sides of the aisle agree that hungry children, especially in a wealthy country like ours, is unacceptable. The various child nutrition programs are testament to the bipartisan support that is still found in Congress, support that will hopefully continue to ensure that nutritious food for children is not a privilege,” said Ashley.

Thousands of churches representing nearly 50 diverse Christian denominations throughout the United States will participate in Bread for the World’s 2015 Offering of Letters campaign. As part of a worship service or mass, people of faith will write letters to their members of Congress urging the reauthorization of national child nutrition programs. They then offer these letters to God before they are delivered to their members of Congress.

For more than 40 years, Bread for the World members have written hundreds of thousands of letters to Congress every year. This annual campaign has consistently won lasting victories for children, men, and women who struggle to put food on their tables.

Bread for the World’s Offering of Letters materials are available here.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/president-obama-commits-to-investing-in-families/ Tue, 20 Jan 2015 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/president-obama-commits-to-investing-in-families/ In his penultimate state of the union address, President Obama stressed the importance of tax credits for working families, fair wages, eliminating the gender gap, and making childcare affordable. “The president’s focus on helping families feel secure in a time of change, and in ensuring everyone has an opportunity for success are keys to ending

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]]> In his penultimate state of the union address, President Obama stressed the importance of tax credits for working families, fair wages, eliminating the gender gap, and making childcare affordable.

“The president’s focus on helping families feel secure in a time of change, and in ensuring everyone has an opportunity for success are keys to ending hunger,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “President Obama said it best that childcare is ‘not a woman’s issue but an economic priority for all of us’.”

The 2015 state of the union address comes at a time when 49 million Americans are at risk of hunger. Communities of color continue to suffer disproportionately with 27.1 percent of African-Americans and 25.6 percent of Hispanics living in poverty.

“With 16 million children not knowing if they will go to bed hungry, our top priority with this new Congress is to ensure that our nation’s child nutrition programs are reauthorized,” said Beckmann. “Improvements to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) need to be made permanent. They reward work and supplement wages, and the 2009 improvements alone are preventing 8 million kids from falling into or deeper into poverty.”

Internationally, poverty-focused development assistance (PFDA) is going to be funded at a slightly higher level than in the FY 2015 budget, largely in part due to emergency funds to fight Ebola in West Africa. During this speech, President Obama stated that rolling back Ebola in West Africa is an opportunity to invest in development and eradicate extreme poverty.

“We know we can work together with the president and the new Congress to eliminate the gender gap, invest in our children, and ensure U.S. foreign assistance helps our brothers and sisters around the world,” said Beckmann. “We must take this opportunity of a new Congress and the improved state of the union to make ending hunger a national priority.”

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/congress-managed-to-help-poor-and-hungry-people-despite-brinksmanship/ Thu, 18 Dec 2014 12:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/congress-managed-to-help-poor-and-hungry-people-despite-brinksmanship/ Washington, D.C. – The 113th Congress concluded its term yesterday, a term that experienced hyper-partisanship and a government shutdown. Despite the political hurdles and low approval rating this Congress faced, crucial anti-hunger and anti-poverty legislation was passed. “There has been a strong appetite to cut funding for programs that help those who have little voice

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]]> Washington, D.C. – The 113th Congress concluded its term yesterday, a term that experienced hyper-partisanship and a government shutdown. Despite the political hurdles and low approval rating this Congress faced, crucial anti-hunger and anti-poverty legislation was passed.

“There has been a strong appetite to cut funding for programs that help those who have little voice in Congress,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “Despite this brinksmanship, this Congress did make significant progress towards ending hunger and poverty by ensuring that vital domestic and international programs are adequately funded next year.”

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) had been continuously under attack, culminating with a farm bill from the House that proposed nearly $40 billion in cuts and would have pushed at least 2 to 4 million people off the program. The final farm bill had less than $8 billion in cuts, ensuring no one was needlessly kicked off the program.

Last week Congress passed a major spending bill, funding most government programs through September 2015. This includes $6.23 billion in funding for WIC, $25 million for school equipment and breakfast expansion grants, and $2.8 million to expand the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), which ensures low-income seniors get adequate meals.

“We had a real David and Goliath triumph in ensuring that the Coast Guard Authorization legislation included absolutely no provisions negatively impacting food aid,” said Beckmann. “A few shipping companies wanted to line their pockets by stealing the food from the table of hungry families around the world. We went up against a multi-million dollar lobby undeterred and told Congress this was unacceptable, Congress agreed with us.”

Along with the Coast Guard Authorization legislation, Bread helped ensure $35 million in the 2014 budget to reduce the need to monetize food aid, or sell food aid commodities to fund development projects, and $80 million in the 2014 Farm Bill to purchase food locally where it is needed, as well as added flexibility to the food aid program

“This was accomplished while Congress was plagued with brinksmanship. I am hopeful that the next Congress will build on these victories and make ending hunger a priority,” concluded Beckmann.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/when-women-flourish-we-can-end-hunger-the-2015-hunger-report/ Mon, 24 Nov 2014 15:15:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/when-women-flourish-we-can-end-hunger-the-2015-hunger-report/ The Hunger Report identifies the empowerment of women and girls as essential in ending hunger, extreme poverty, and malnutrition around the world and in the United States. Women face barriers that limit their ability to engage fully in economic activity. Women are also more likely to earn less or work in low-wage jobs. The report

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]]> The Hunger Report identifies the empowerment of women and girls as essential in ending hunger, extreme poverty, and malnutrition around the world and in the United States. Women face barriers that limit their ability to engage fully in economic activity. Women are also more likely to earn less or work in low-wage jobs.

The report also shows that women’s willingness to share men’s breadwinning responsibilities has not been matched by men’s willingness to share unpaid household work or caregiving responsibilities. Though domestic work is a public good in the same way that education, clean water, clean air, and the food supply are, it is not recognized as such. Women constitute half the global population.

In many countries, women and girls are more likely to suffer from hunger and malnutrition than men and boys. Poverty and lack of education contribute to this disparity. However, giving women greater control of their income and assets would increase their bargaining power in the household and the market economy. Research has shown that this benefits their families and leads to widespread improvements in a country.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/ending-child-hunger-in-the-united-states/ Sat, 01 Nov 2014 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/ending-child-hunger-in-the-united-states/ In 2013, 15.8 million U.S. children were at risk of hunger. For children, even brief periods of hunger carry consequences that may last a lifetime. Many children suffer from nutritional deficiencies, sometimes referred to as “hidden hunger” since they can cause serious health problems in children who don’t “look hungry.” Nutrition affects mental health and

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]]> In 2013, 15.8 million U.S. children were at risk of hunger. For children, even brief periods of hunger carry consequences that may last a lifetime.

Many children suffer from nutritional deficiencies, sometimes referred to as “hidden hunger” since they can cause serious health problems in children who don’t “look hungry.” Nutrition affects mental health and academic achievement as well as physical health. But the damage caused by food insecurity is unnecessary and preventable. Federal nutrition programs help millions of children eat well; these programs must be maintained and strengthened to provide more eligible children with healthier food.

When Congress reauthorizes child nutrition programs in 2015, the emphasis must be on enabling programs to serve all eligible children well — from WIC for infants, to meals at daycare for preschoolers, to school lunch, breakfast, and summer food for elementary and secondary students. The United States simply cannot afford the consequences of allowing children to go without the nutritious food they need. Strong child nutrition programs must be a top national priority.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-applauds-senate-vote-on-emergency-unemployment/ Tue, 07 Jan 2014 16:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-applauds-senate-vote-on-emergency-unemployment/ Washington, D.C. – This morning the Senate took a major step in reinstating emergency unemployment benefits for 1.3 million unemployed workers. The Senate voted to consider S. 1845, the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act, by a vote of 60-37. Bread for the World urges the Senate and House to immediately pass this bill. According to data

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]]> Washington, D.C. – This morning the Senate took a major step in reinstating emergency unemployment benefits for 1.3 million unemployed workers. The Senate voted to consider S. 1845, the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act, by a vote of 60-37. Bread for the World urges the Senate and House to immediately pass this bill. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, federal unemployment insurance kept 1.7 million people out of poverty in 2012, including 446,000 children.

“Last month, 1.3 million Americans found themselves cut off from their unemployment benefits, right in the middle of the holidays. The unemployment rate remains 44 percent higher than it was at the start of the recession, and Congress refused to take action on the matter before leaving for their break,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “An additional 72,000 people are at risk of losing their benefits every additional week that Congress fails to act. The vote today shows that as a country, we cannot, in good faith, let these people suffer.”

The vote came almost a month after Congress passed the Bipartisan Budget Deal Act of 2013, which provides some relief from sequestration but did not address emergency unemployment benefits.

“Programs like Unemployment Insurance help people make ends meet until they are able to get back on their feet again,” said Beckmann. “Without unemployment insurance, the number of individuals living in poverty would have doubled between 2010 and 2011.”

The National Employment Law Project (NELP) estimates that if Congress fails to extend emergency unemployment benefits, it will cost the economy 238,000 jobs.

“In order to stabilize the economy, Congress has to focus on investing in human capital, job growth, and fair wages and not on slashing programs and leaving families out in the cold,” concluded Beckmann.”

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/learning-from-u-s-nutrition-investments-in-tanzania-progress-and-partnerships/ Wed, 01 Jan 2014 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/learning-from-u-s-nutrition-investments-in-tanzania-progress-and-partnerships/ A wide range of projects are currently being funded in Tanzania to improve nutrition outcomes, guided by the government’s National Nutrition Strategy. Steps are being taken to strengthen internal management and coordination of nutrition affairs through the Prime Minister’s office and with support from the global SUN Movement. A key change is that ministries are

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]]> A wide range of projects are currently being funded in Tanzania to improve nutrition outcomes, guided by the government’s National Nutrition Strategy. Steps are being taken to strengthen internal management and coordination of nutrition affairs through the Prime Minister’s office and with support from the global SUN Movement. A key change is that ministries are being asked to recognize and measure their nutritionsensitive programs in addition to their nutrition-specific interventions.

The United States has made significant investments in Tanzania’s National Nutrition Strategy through Feed the Future and other programs. Developing nutrition strategies for USAID and for the whole of U.S. government presents an opportunity to complement and reinforce existing efforts to improve nutrition outcomes and to help build the evidence base for actions, as called for in the Lancet series on maternal and child nutrition.

This paper looks at efforts to scale up nutrition in Tanzania, identifying successes and challenges in program implementation and coordination that deserve consideration as projects are planned in other Feed the Future countries and elsewhere.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/harmonizing-nutrition-monitoring-and-evaluation-across-u-s-government-agencies/ Wed, 01 Jan 2014 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/harmonizing-nutrition-monitoring-and-evaluation-across-u-s-government-agencies/ Addressing the high burden of undernutrition in developing countries through multisectoral, evidence-based approaches is increasingly recognised as a top global priority. 2013 resulted in the establishment of new global nutrition targets endorsed by governments and international stakeholders. The United States is a leading donor to nutrition efforts globally and is developing a new inter-agency Nutrition

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]]> Addressing the high burden of undernutrition in developing countries through multisectoral, evidence-based approaches is increasingly recognised as a top global priority. 2013 resulted in the establishment of new global nutrition targets endorsed by governments and international stakeholders. The United States is a leading donor to nutrition efforts globally and is developing a new inter-agency Nutrition Strategy.

Achieving global nutrition targets will demand that nutrition objectives and measures be more purposefully and consistently applied across all relevant U.S. government funded projects. Operational and technical guidance, as well as tools for integrating nutrition, exist that can be harmonized, adapted and applied. Internal nutrition technical capacity across government departments and agencies will need to be strengthened, at headquarters and in the field. Results from improved monitoring and evaluation will help show Congress that funding nutrition-related programs is a smart investment of appropriated funds.

An evidence base of improved outcomes will help sustain political momentum, and will enable the United States to continue being a leader in improving global nutrition through its development assistance efforts.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/ending-hunger-in-america-the-2014-hunger-report/ Mon, 25 Nov 2013 15:45:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/ending-hunger-in-america-the-2014-hunger-report/ The 2014 Hunger Report proposes bold steps to end hunger in the United States by 2030. Hunger remains a problem in this wealthy country. About one in seven American households is not always sure where their next meal is coming from. Among children, African-Americans, and Hispanics/Latinos, this figure is about one in four. Making jobs a

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]]> The 2014 Hunger Report proposes bold steps to end hunger in the United States by 2030. Hunger remains a problem in this wealthy country. About one in seven American households is not always sure where their next meal is coming from. Among children, African-Americans, and Hispanics/Latinos, this figure is about one in four.

Making jobs a priority would enable President Obama and Congress to reduce hunger in America by 25 percent by 2017.

In addition to investing in good jobs as a way of ending hunger, the Hunger Report calls for an end to the political brinkmanship that led to the sequester and other budget cuts. 

Other recommendations focus on investing in people, strengthening the safety net, and encouraging community anti-hunger partnerships.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/a-global-development-agenda-toward-2015-and-beyond/ Sun, 01 Sep 2013 22:00:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/a-global-development-agenda-toward-2015-and-beyond/ The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) endorsed by 189 countries in 2000 are an unprecedented global effort to achieve development goals that are identified collectively, achievable, and measurable. Progress can be effectively monitored since there are specific targets for reducing hunger, reducing child and maternal mortality, improving access to clean water, etc. Globally, substantial progress has

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]]> The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) endorsed by 189 countries in 2000 are an unprecedented global effort to achieve development goals that are identified collectively, achievable, and measurable. Progress can be effectively monitored since there are specific targets for reducing hunger, reducing child and maternal mortality, improving access to clean water, etc.

Globally, substantial progress has been made toward many MDG targets — including cutting in half the proportion of people living in poverty. Every major region of the world made progress. The targets for MDG 1 are to cut in half the proportion of people living with hunger and poverty by December 2015. The poverty target has been met. The hunger target has not, yet it is within reach if all countries are willing to do their part.

Progress against malnutrition has been too slow. Globally, one in four children is stunted. The United States should provide leadership and work within the global community to forge a universal set of global development goals to succeed the MDGs. These goals should include a stand-alone goal to end hunger and achieve food security and good nutrition, and they should advance women’s economic empowerment, community resilience, and effective institutions.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/inmigracion-hambre-y-oportunidad-pan-para-el-mundo-y-la-reforma-migratoria/ Fri, 01 Mar 2013 12:15:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/inmigracion-hambre-y-oportunidad-pan-para-el-mundo-y-la-reforma-migratoria/ Pan para el Mundo vé el progreso global contra la pobreza como un gran éxodo del hambre. Nosotros sabemos que la migración internacional frecuentemente es parte de este éxodo — en la medida en que las personas se mueven a través de las fronteras para escapar de la pobreza y mejorar su calidad de vida.

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]]> Pan para el Mundo vé el progreso global contra la pobreza como un gran éxodo del hambre.

Nosotros sabemos que la migración internacional frecuentemente es parte de este éxodo — en la medida en que las personas se mueven a través de las fronteras para escapar de la pobreza y mejorar su calidad de vida.

A pesar de que la reducción de la pobreza tal vez no es el propósito primordial de los esfuerzos contemporáneos para reformar las políticas migratorias, ciertamente ésta debe ser uno de sus objetivos explícitos.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/within-reach-global-development-goals-the-2013-hunger-report/ Mon, 26 Nov 2012 14:45:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/within-reach-global-development-goals-the-2013-hunger-report/ The 2013 Hunger Report focuses on the final push to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by their 2015 deadline, and  proposes a new set of global development goals to eliminate hunger and extreme poverty by 2030. The report shows how the MDGs have driven progress around the world against hunger and poverty. As a

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]]> The 2013 Hunger Report focuses on the final push to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by their 2015 deadline, and  proposes a new set of global development goals to eliminate hunger and extreme poverty by 2030.

The report shows how the MDGs have driven progress around the world against hunger and poverty. As a new set of goals is negotiated, the U.S. government and its civil society partners should exert all the influence they can bring to bear to ensure that a hunger goal remains at the top of the post-2015 agenda, and that the new set of development goals applies to all countries, not just the developing world.

With a new, stronger set of global goals informed by more rigorous data, the world can eradicate both extreme poverty and hunger by 2030.

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