At the same time, this day coincides with this month of Black August. Black August is a month-long observance that originated in California prisons in the 1970s. The observance primarily honors those who sacrificed their lives in the struggle for political liberation of People of African Descent and Africans. 

Both annual events are timely in this moment of geo-political shifting and a renewed focus on economic enterprise, trade, and a vision of transforming of the financial architecture as cited in the PACT for the Future adopted by the nations of the world at the United Nations General Assembly in 2024. 

While the substantive political gains of independence of African nations and policy reforms affecting People of African Descent mostly in the latter half of the last century have and are very significant, a systematic and systemic economic agenda that is not only aspirational but strategic and substantive with an equitable trade lens yielding renewed foundations for sustainable communities is needed. The aspirations goals of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement of the African Union, the Jubilee Year proclaimed by Pope Francis and continued by Pope Leo that seeks to turn the debt crisis to hope campaign, the reauthorization of The Africa Growth Opportunity Act/The African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program (AGOA/AWEP), strategic public-private partnerships, reparatory justice and investment with and in African nations, and People of African Descent are key to this vision.

Bread for the World has and actively engages in initiatives like these in its vision of ending hunger. At the same time, Bread also understands that while Africa possesses vast natural resources, including minerals, arable land, and diverse ecosystems therefore contributing to significant wealth, the continent still faces challenges in translating these resources into widespread prosperity, with issues like poverty, inequality, and resource management hindering equitable distribution. 

Further, People of African Descent in the United States, for example, in the latest data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances in 2024, shows the racial wealth gap in the U.S. increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2019 and 2022, median wealth increased by $51,800, but the racial wealth gap also increased by $49,950—adding up to a total difference of $240,120 in wealth between the median white household and the median Black household. 

This, in addition to the stubborn history of inequitable policies raised in our Lament and Hope Devotional guide, point out the ever present challenges related to accomplishing economic equity.  Still, the commemorative dates of August 31^st and Black August encourage us to push forward. 

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

The post The International Day of People of African Descent, Black August, and Economic Equity! appeared first on Bread for the World.

“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.

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.

Empezando el 15 de septiembre hasta el 15 de octubre se celebra en los Estados Unidos el Mes de la Herencia Hispana y Pan para el Mundo dedica esta serie de oraciones para tener en nuestros corazones y honrar a la comunidad hispana/latina en los Estados Unidos y las Américas. Como somos llamados a ser el cuerpo de Cristo, honrémonos unos a otros como honramos a Cristo – Dios con nosotros. 

En 2022, había 63.7 millones de hispanos viviendo en los Estados Unidos y durante la última década los latinos representaron más de la mitad de todo el crecimiento de la población en los EE.UU. Se calcula que la producción económica total de los hispanoamericanos supera con creces los 2 billones (trillion) de dólares La mayoría de los latinos de EE.UU. viven en cinco estados: California, Texas, Florida, Nueva York y Arizona, pero en todo el mundo los latinos están creciendo y provocando cambios para bien.

Los latinos aportan una gran diversidad junto con profundas raíces en las comunidades indígenas y africanas. Dios nos ha bendecido verdaderamente para que, en nuestra diversidad, mostremos el amor extravagante de Dios por todas las personas.

Oremos:

Santo Dios, tú hiciste todo lo que es y siempre será,

Y por tu Amor nos has conectado a cada uno de nosotros. 

Oramos ahora por tus hijos hispanos/latinos(a).

Oramos por las diversas lenguas, culturas y contribuciones de los hispanoamericanos.

Oh Dios, bendice a tu diversa familia humana

y fortalécenos para que caminemos juntos en tu gracia.

Toda la Gloria y el Honor son tuyos Dios.

Amén

Para unirse a Pan para el Mundo en la oración, suscríbase a Oraciones para acabar con el hambre o visite Bread.org.

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In 1993, Dr. Cain Hope Felder, a New Testament scholar of African descent, served as the editor of The Original African Heritage Study Bible: King James Version. The Rev. Dr. Renita Weems, a woman of African descent and a mentee of Dr. Cain Hope Felder, wrote the book Just a Sister Away, in which she focused on women of African descent relative to the Bible. People like Dr. Cain Hope Felder and Rev. Dr. Weems have understood Africa matters in the Bible.

May 25 is Africa Day—or Africa Liberation Day for some. It is a day when all of us have another opportunity to take a closer look at the importance of Africa and her diaspora in our lives. The Bible is a good place to start. African leaders, peoples, and places are identified throughout the Bible. Further, many of us are Africans or people of African descent—or live among people of African descent. Do you know your story as it relates to this and to your community?

May 25 also invites us to scrutinize the negative narratives and images of Africans and people of African descent. For example, while it is true that the data does show disproportionate numbers of Africans and people of African Descent affected by hunger and poverty, this data often does not show the counter narrative of faith, resilience, resolve, and financial contributions of Africans and the African diaspora. Did you know Africans in the diaspora are Africa’s largest financiers? Remittances from the diaspora to Africa grew from $37 billion in 2010 to $96 billion in 2021.

Further, the largest social movement in the United States was the continuing Black Lives Matter movement, according to the New York Times. Recently the vice president of the United States, the first woman of African descent in this role, visited African nations with priorities on democracy, economic development, and partnership. This, after the African Leaders Summit in December 2022 was hosted by the president of the U.S. Executive orders concerning a way forward with Africa and the African diaspora were signed.

A historic session of the UN Permanent Forum of People of African Descent was held in December 2022—around the same time as African leaders visited Washington, D.C. The second session is happening this year at the UN. Bread for the World invites you to a webinar about this forum on Africa Day, May 25, 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., EST. The theme is Africa Day: Pan Africanism, Liberation, and Restorative Justice. You can join the meeting on Zoom.

Recently, Bread for the World partnered with the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia—along with the Black Church Food Security network—for an Earth Day weekend, at which we celebrated the importance reinvesting in Black Farmers with the Farm Bill. Learn more about the Farm Bill, which supports Africa and the African Diaspora, and how you can help.

* New American Standard Version

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

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Forward-looking nations invest in infrastructure. It is a judicious use of resources because the investment pays for itself over time. But it often has immediate benefits as well, some of them less tangible and less likely to be touted at the time. New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie argues, for example, that President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal infrastructure investments in the 1930s paid instant dividends: they rescued democracy at a time when “it was not clear democracy would survive the long night of the Depression.”

As I discussed in a piece last month, infrastructure is not limited to bridges and roads. Every country needs to invest in its human infrastructure as well. Workers drive innovation and productivity. “Building” this infrastructure takes investments during childhood, including education, as well as supports that enable people to work productively as adults.

Accordingly, Bread for the World advocates that Congress and the administration prioritize investments in the 1,000 Days between pregnancy and a child’s second birthday. This is the most important period in setting the course of a person’s entire life, and supporting babies and toddlers has the highest “return on investment.” Of course, it will be many years before the infants and toddlers now in the 1,000 Days enter the workforce. It’s certainly an example of how “investing now” pays off later.

My earlier piece also mentioned the economist James Heckman, who developed the “Heckman curve” to illustrate the impact of investments at various life stages. (See the chart at top).

A 1,000 Days infrastructure includes WIC, Medicaid, child care, paid parental leave, and making permanent the recent one-year expansion of the Child Tax Credit. Here are some of the benefits a 1,000 Days infrastructure would bring, backed by evidence based on research:

Every dollar spent on pregnant women in WIC generates anywhere from $1.92 to $4.21 in Medicaid savings on the health care of newborns and their mothers. Medicaid covers nearly half of all births in the United States, and hospitalizations associated with pregnancy and childbirth are among Medicaid’s largest expenses.

Reducing the rate of low birthweight through WIC’s prenatal care programs is one source of these savings. The newborns of women who participate in WIC prenatal services have a 25 percent lower rate of low birthweight (weighing less than 5.5 pounds at birth). Even more strikingly, they have a 44 percent lower rate of very low birthweight (weighing less than 3 pounds, 5 ounces at birth). The cost of care for very low birthweight infants is 30 percent of all newborn healthcare costs.

Low-wage workers, who are more likely than others to qualify for WIC and Medicaid, are less likely to have access to paid family leave: fewer than one in 10 low-wage jobs offer it. New mothers whose jobs provide paid leave are able to stay with their newborns longer, and they are more likely to initiate, establish, and continue breastfeeding. An infant’s nutritional needs are best met with exclusive breastfeeding (no other food or water) for the first six months. In 2014, suboptimal breastfeeding in the United States was associated with nearly $20 billion in medical and nonmedical costs.

High-quality child care for low-income children generates an average of ​$7.30 for every dollar spent, as the children grow up healthier, do better in school, and earn more over the course of their working lives. Everyone in the country pays a price when parents can’t work because they cannot afford quality child care–particularly the higher fees for infant and toddler care. The cost to the U.S. economy is at least $57 billion annually in lost earnings, productivity, and revenue.

Similarly, estimates are that every dollar spent on expanding the Child Tax Credit will generate an average of $8 in benefits to the country as a whole. Child poverty costs the United States between $800 billion and $1.1 trillion a year. The temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit in the American Rescue Plan is projected to cut child poverty nearly in half—which is why Bread is calling for the expansion to be made permanent.

As an anti-hunger organization, Bread for the World generally focuses on nutrition during the 1,000 Days. Bread members have been working faithfully for years to draw the attention of policymakers to the importance of nutrition in the 1,000 Days. Mothers and children everywhere need sufficient food and good nutrition during the 1,000 Days. It’s true in Kenya, and it’s true in Kansas.

But as I argued in an earlier blog post, WIC alone cannot build a 1,000 Days infrastructure strong enough to meet the needs of our nation’s babies and toddlers—or the needs of our nation’s economy. Bread advocates’ efforts over several decades have helped make WIC a strong and effective program. But much of WIC’s success depends on the success of interrelated parts of a 1,000 Days infrastructure—the aforementioned Medicaid, paid parental leave, child care, and Child Tax Credit benefits. That is why Bread advocates for a complete 1,000 Days infrastructure package.

Todd Post is senior researcher, writer, and editor with Bread for the World Institute.

The post A smart use of government resources appeared first on Bread for the World.

As Bread for the World has long emphasized, the “1,000 Days” period from pregnancy to age 2 is the most important window for human nutrition. This unique, irreplaceable opportunity in every human life is therefore a top priority in our efforts to end hunger and malnutrition.

Virtually all parents want to make sure their children have everything they need, especially food and especially very young children. But for far too many parents, conflict, climate change, economic crisis, marginalization, and other factors that lead to extreme poverty make it impossible to meet all their children’s needs. Whether their children grow up healthy, even whether they survive, is beyond their control. National governments and the global community have a responsibility to act so that young children don’t miss their best chance to survive and grow into healthy, productive adults.

Evidence that the human nutrition window is open for about 1,000 days, closing around the second birthday, had been building for years. Yet it was not until 2008 that there was broad consensus on this data and a global shift toward prioritizing this period.

The factors that determine whether a child celebrating her second birthday is well-nourished, ready to learn and explore her world, are not always obvious. We all know that human life is complicated. Although researchers can’t completely account for the outcomes for each child, they continue to collect and analyze information that will lead to better unerstanding. I’ll discuss the findings in a little more detail so we can assess what they mean for us as anti-hunger advocates.

Other recent blog posts from Bread for the World Institute include a Father’s Day reflection on children whose fathers are incarcerated, details on some of the financial returns of investments in the 1,000 Days in the United States, an update on what the international financial institutions that receive U.S. support are doing to help people devastated by the impacts of the global pandemic, and a note on our new one-pager resources, which explore how hunger, climate change, and racial equity issues are interconnected.

It is urgent to restore global health and nutrition services that have not been available up to this stage of the pandemic. We know that pregnant women, babies, and toddlers—people in the 1,000 Days—cannot fully recover from malnutrition or childhood illnesses as older children and adults usually do. Researchers continue to uncover more evidence that a healthy pregnancy is critical to preventing stunting, which, as Bread emphasizes, carries lifelong consequences for those who survive.

Research findings indicate that a significant amount of the risk that a child will be stunted at age 2 comes from conditions that are in place before he is born. Both babies who are born prematurely, and those who are small for their gestational age, face a more difficult start in life. This is because a baby’s weight and length at birth are important determinants of her health in early childhood.

When a group of scholars compared the importance of prenatal and postnatal factors in stunting, their analysis, published in the medical journal BMJ Open in 2019, found that while both weight and length at birth are important factors, other conditions also contribute to outcomes. Some of these are determined before pregnancy and continue to influence the child as she grows up (e.g., mother’s level of education), and some are intergenerational (e.g., mother’s height).

The analysis found that nutrition actions we may be more familiar with, such as exclusive breastfeeding, supplementing vital micronutrients such as iron and zinc, or vaccination against childhood diseases, are essential as well. These interventions save lives every day. Rather than downplaying their significance, the analysis emphasizes that nutrition for pregnant women and for all who may become pregnant in the future is also important. Nutrition during pregnancy is rightfully part of the 1,000 Days.

The authors of this analysis point out that everyone who is concerned about children’s survival and health, whether they’re global humanitarian workers, officials in ministries of health and agriculutre, nutritionists, doctors, community health workers, or parents of young children, should act urgently based on what we know now rather than waiting for more research.

Continued data collection and analysis are also necessary. Research priorities include pinpointing more specific risk factors for stunting among the many variables that affect people in the 1,000 Days, whether these influences are environmental, socioeconomic, biological, or something else.

Also notable for people in the 1,000 Days is recent reporting on the global shortage of midwives, which has worsened since the beginning of the pandemic. A report by the U.N. Population Fund included analysis published in The Lancet and looked at data on the midwife profession in 194 countries. It concluded that the pandemic led to “… the health needs of women and newborns being overshadowed, midwifery services being disrupted, and midwives being deployed to other health services.” The current estimate is that the world needs an additional 900,000 trained midwives, which is about one-third of the total workforce.

I was startled by both the impacts of the midwife shortage and the potential gains from filling this gap by providing midwives with the resources and training they need. If these needs are met, by 2035 two-thirds of maternal deaths, and nearly as many stillbirths and newborn deaths, could be prevented. This could save an estimated 4.3 million lives every year.

One root of both problems— the large number of malnourished pregnant women and the midwife shortage—is an age-old human problem: gender bias. A world that did not devalue women as compared to men would prioritize, simply as a matter of course, the food and nutrition needs of pregnant women. Persistent advocacy for gender equity might not be quite as critical to ending hunger.

But this is not the world we live in. Activists’ work to promote gender equity is more important than ever. We cannot end hunger without ensuring that pregnant women and others of reproductive age have essential life-sustaining nutrients–and to do that, women and men must be treated as equally valuable members of society. We should be sure to use a “gender equity lens” as we advocate to end hunger.

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

The post Gender equity sustains the lives of babies and toddlers appeared first on Bread for the World.

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

The post Fact Sheet: Permanently expand the Child Tax Credit to reduce child hunger appeared first on Bread for the World.

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.

Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I Corinthians 5:8 (KJV)

Imagine a world where people are invited to share their differences of opinion, and others do not see these differences as threats to their own existence. Imagine a world where violence is not the answer. Imagine a world where groups of people historically marginalized from the dominate narratives are recognized and appreciated. Imagine a world where a person’s story is not judged but heard.

Thanksgiving is a time for gathering around a common table with family and friends to live in that equitable world of our imagination. It is a time when a spirit of feasting, celebration, and love can create a hospitable space for expressing differences within community. Webster defines feast as “a ritual of divine and social opportunity.” For people of faith this means celebrating the gifts that God has given to all of us. Luke 14:13 counsels that “when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind” (RSV).

In the United States, the vision of a holiday of giving thanks, began before and during the historic Thanksgiving feast of 1621, when differences met at a common table. The leadership for this came from the Wampanoag people. They taught the Plymouth colonists strategies for surviving in their new land. The Wampanoag people believed that a negotiated alliance with the Plymouth colonists was wise, so they shared their bounty with the food-insecure Plymouth colonists at an autumn harvest feast. Unfortunately, the Wampanoag people’s spirit of invitation and negotiation proved to be a grave miscalculation.

The successive years of engagements between colonists and indigenous communities, including enslaved African peoples, were marked by the colonial approach of dominance, bitterness, rancor, and violence. Today we are still left with the vestiges of this legacy—which has resulted in structural racism and the persistent, recalcitrant spirit of division, polarization, and hatred.

Thanksgiving is a time to invite our personal and communal truths to join us—in a spirit of love and sincerity—at a common feasting table. This will not be easy! Deep polarizations exist among family and friends and our wider communities. Safety precautions related to COVID-19 make gathering difficult, and health resources are not available for all people. But Bread believes that all of our voices and stories matter today, just as they did in the past. Hope and courage are still needed.

The good news is that Jesus the Christ has shown us the way to do this. The Thanksgiving Day of 1621 is a reminder that we, too, can follow the leadership of the Wampanoag people and extend a spirit of thanksgiving, sharing, and mutual empowerment for and among all.

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

The post Reimagining sincerity and truth in the Thanksgiving season appeared first on Bread for the World.

This week’s prayer is a preview of the devotional. The following words are excerpted from its Introduction.

“This devotional celebrates the hope, faith, and resilience of Latino communities, while also lamenting the evil of inequitable policies that, to this day, continue to oppress our people leading to hunger and poverty in the United States and south of the U.S.-Mexico border — even further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This bilingual Latino devotional invites you to reflect biblically on the interconnectedness of hunger, malnutrition, and climate change, issues that negatively impact Latino communities in the United States and drive migration abroad.”

The following is a prayer from Rev. Jeanette Salguero’s devotional on domestic hunger and malnutrition.

Join us in prayer:

We invite you to use this bilingual devotional with your community of faith to reflect, pray, and act.

The post Prayers to End Hunger: Hispanic Heritage Month appeared first on Bread for the World.

This story is part of the July 2020 issue of Institute Insights

The slaying of Black bodies is not new. The recent lynchings of Rayshard Brooks, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and so many more holds up a mirror to our nation’s original sin. But it also reinforces the reality that much has not changed—rather the forms they take on have only mildly shifted.

I have many words to say—more than what my lifetime’s worth or 400 years of racial oppression can fit onto a page. But nonetheless, I will attempt to start.

As a Black woman, I know firsthand that the racism I experience is different than the racism faced by other people of color. Unfortunately, this truth is no longer surprising to me. Looking at the history allows me to make sense of why this is the case and how this is still full-strength reality, functioning more than 600 years after Europeans first set foot on the continent of Africa to profit from the exclusive chattel slavery of Black bodies.

What I find surprising is that many white people and other people of color have not yet understood that this is the reality. That as a result of my Blackness, the racism I experience will also be different, and in many ways worse, than the racism that other communities of color encounter.

The reason for this is anti-Black racism.

Anti-Black racism is the name of the specific kind of racial prejudice directed towards Black people. Anti-Blackness devalues Blackness, while systematically marginalizing Black people, the issues that affect us, and the institutions created to support us. The first form of anti-Blackness is overt racism, which is upheld by covert structural and systemic racism that categorically predetermines the socioeconomic status of Blacks in this country. The second form of anti-Blackness is unethical disregard for Black people, as seen in the cases of police, or civilian, brutality against Black bodies.

Back in the 1400s when the Portuguese enslaved only Africans, they coined the term “Negro.” This word was translated as “Black” and used to describe the people living in Africa. At that time, people did not see themselves as belonging to the same race as all others in the sub-Saharan region. Of course, they also did not see themselves as belonging to an inferior social group. The Portuguese, however, described the people living on the continent as “uncivilized” and attempted to map this lie to the physical attributes of their Blackness. And while the term “white” was not formally named at that time, the Portuguese and other European colonizers later became identified under the umbrella of “white” and “civilized” by virtue of not being labeled “Black” and “uncivilized.” This justified the transatlantic slave trade of Black people, a history that is still with us today.

In short, Blackness is the antithesis of whiteness. The definition of “white” during the period of U.S. chattel slavery went so far as to specify that a white person did not have a drop of Black blood. So, it would make sense then that the direct opposite of whiteness is Blackness, and the policies designed to uphold white supremacy have also been the very policies that sought, and in many ways still seek, to harm Blackness. The suppression of Black people directly maintains the privilege, “purity,” and power of white people. This is one of the reasons that, on a spectrum of white to Black, people generally experience more power and privilege the closer in proximity to whiteness they are, and less power and privilege the closer in proximity to Blackness they are.

This is also seen in the construction of systemic racism, whereby policies were deliberately designed to oppress Black people while centering and upholding whiteness. This was the case with U.S. chattel slavery, sharecropping, Jim Crow policies, New Deal legislation, redlining, the separate but equal doctrine, over-policing and mass incarceration, employment discrimination, voter disenfranchisement, and many others. These policies were anti-Black, meaning that they were designed to target the Black community and center whiteness. And while they certainly negatively impacted all communities of color, it makes sense that the people hurt most by these policies are Black—at their core, these policies were anti-Black.

More than 400 years of unresolved anti-Black policies is the reason we see the Black community experiencing the highest levels of police brutality. Perhaps the most brutal form of anti-Black racism is the historical lynching. Lynching is defined as someone being put to death without court or legal sanction. As I sit here writing this, I acknowledge that my own body, a product of Blackness, is all too susceptible to this very same violence in this country today. According to the Equal Justice Initiative, lynchings were violent and public acts of torture that traumatized Black people throughout the country. Lynching took place in the United States well before the Emancipation Proclamation, but it increased sharply during the period 1880 to 1940 as African Americans sought freedom. It was largely tolerated by state and federal officials. Historically, police were complicit with lynching, whether by participating themselves or by allowing the violence to take place. In fact, as many as 75 percent of lynchings have had the direct or indirect assistance of law enforcement. And we see police involvement and complicity in killings today.

Perhaps the main difference today is that a fraction of these injustices has been filmed and posted on social media for millions to see. Per the definition of lynching, none of the killings were connected with a judicial proceeding or court order. They were examples of public acts of torture of Black bodies. This shows that anti-Blackness is not simply the racist actions of a white person, nor is it systemic racism alone. As scholar Nicholas Brady explains, it is also “the paradigm that binds Blackness and death” where “one cannot think of one without the other.”

What should be next…

What the recent protests and conversations have taught me is that many people and institutions don’t yet understand these realities. Many people, even those with good intentions, are perpetuating the same non-acknowledgement of anti-Blackness, which only reinforces the denial of my lived truth and my community’s historic reality.

1. We must center Blackness and Anti-Black Racism. Everyone must lift up anti-Blackness, because it is a specific type of racism that must be centered if racism is ever to be defeated.
2. Once we center Black people and the anti-Black racism they experience in our analysis and our decisions, then our goal for every policy and program will, by definition, require us to dismantle white supremacy and the policies, practices, and cultures that uphold it.
3. We can no longer afford to say only “racism.” Instead, we must specify “anti-Back racism,” to acknowledge the difference that holds Black people in oppression. We must say it, we must name it, and we must walk in boldness to address it.
4. We can no longer afford to say only “people of color,” which is too general and doesn’t center anti-Blackness. We must name Black people. One phrase that does this is “Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color.” This is the only way our orientation to racial justice can change.
5. Lastly, this commitment to Black lives and Black bodies cannot be just another fad. There has been a concerted effort to oppress Black people in this country for more than 400 years. There needs to be an equally concerted effort to redress this oppression of Black bodies—for the next 400 years if necessary. This will require a genuine commitment from everyone in every sector and at every level, if we are serious about Black lives and reversing the anti-Back racism that is experienced by those of us who proudly wear Black skin.

Marlysa D. Gamblin is senior policy advisor, racial and gender divides, with Bread for the World Institute.

The post A reflection on anti-Black racism appeared first on Bread for the World.

This story is part of the July 2020 issue of Institute Insights

At Bread for the World, we continue to advocate for lasting solutions to hunger and food insecurity, including jobs that pay enough to support a family. Of course, Bread is also calling for prompt and sufficient assistance for families struggling to meet their essential needs, whose numbers have exploded in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of structural racism, both parents who are low-wage workers and those who have lost their jobs are disproportionately people of color, particularly Black women. Black children are at far higher risk of living in food-insecure families than white children.

The economic and health inequities that Black families continue to suffer are compounded by institutionalized forms of direct violence, including police brutality and mass incarceration. The injustices seem so intractable that I wonder whether I am impossibly naïve to think that there could be meaningful change. Naïve or not, I have been on the lookout for genuine signs of hope, partly in the knowledge that becoming too discouraged to be an effective advocate won’t help anyone.

Perhaps one hopeful sign is the greater inclusiveness of the more recent public protests and national conversations about racism, particularly anti-Black racism, and what will be needed to end it.

This may reflect a more holistic understanding of the problem. For example, along with #sayhisname, activists are promoting the hashtag #sayhername to draw attention to the fact that, as social justice scholar Monique W. Morris put it, “Protests are often in the name of men and boys, and we forget that so many girls and young women …  are disproportionately impacted by the same state-sanctioned violence.”

People who are transgender are often marginalized within both the LGBTQ community and the Black community. That is why the Black Trans Lives Matter rally, held June 14 in New York and attracting at least 15,000 participants, was such a departure from the past. The demonstration was a first both because it was so large and because of the participation of many people who are neither LGBTQ nor Black. Systemic racism certainly plays a role in the fact that a disproportionate number of anti-LGBTQ hate crimes, particularly murder, are against transgender women of color, particularly Black women.

The Black Lives Matter movement and its allies are also identifying more specifically what racism may look like among different groups of people. For example, the racist and sexist idea that any type of violence against Black men can be justified by “defending the honor of white women” has led to white women, sometimes deliberately and sometimes through willful ignorance, playing the role of “damsel in distress.” Internalized racism in Black communities can carry real consequences as well—for example, the potential for Black police officers to feel that using violence will “prove” that they are different from the “criminals” who are also Black.

In a thoughtful piece entitled “Why Be a Model Minority When You Could Dismantle White Supremacy?” Dae Shik Kim Jr., whose heritage is both Korean and Black, looked at some of the many factors that may make it difficult for Asian Americans to overcome anti-Black racism. These range from the ideal in some Asian cultures that individuals should not speak out in disagreement with the larger group, to the fact that Asian immigrants may believe the popular American adage that anyone can succeed if they work hard. This may be, in part, because they have heard little about the historical, political, and other barriers that make it difficult for Black Americans to move forward. After all, these things are far less often mentioned than the American Dream version of U.S. history.

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

The post Can a more inclusive movement help create change? appeared first on Bread for the World.

This story is part of the July 2020 issue of Institute Insights

It is hard being Black in America right now. This is not new, but rather a reminder of the trauma threaded throughout the African American experience in the United States. While I’m following the advice of experts to remain home and keep social distance, it is frightening and devastating to see people who look like me dying from COVID-19 and police brutality at alarming rates. For many of us, it feels like a gut punch to see headlines and social media posts about the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and countless others.

Although COVID-19 and police brutality may seem unrelated, what connects them is structural racism, which plays a large part in the lived experiences of African Americans, from what our neighborhoods are like and what we eat, to the air we breathe and every other aspect of life.

Hearing George Floyd say, “I can’t breathe” was not the first time I heard those words. I have heard those words throughout my life.

As a Black child growing up in Washington, DC, I heard “I can’t breathe” frequently as a student in predominately Black public schools. Many of my classmates were asthmatic or had respiratory problems that required them to carry rescue inhalers or do breathing treatments. I recall moments in the fifth grade, sitting at my desk in Ms. Brown’s class, when out of nowhere, a classmate would raise her hand and ask to go to her locker to retrieve her inhaler, because suddenly she couldn’t breathe. Other times, a classmate in gym class would be gasping as he sat on the bleachers, waiting for his inhaler to help him catch his breath and saying, “I can’t breathe.” Asthma attacks were so frequent amongst my classmates that I thought asthma was as common as having seasonal allergies.

In general, African Americans are more likely to live in areas with high levels of smog, also called ozone pollution, which can cause breathing problems, increased risk of respiratory infections, and cardiovascular effects. The same respiratory illnesses put many African Americans at high risk of dying of COVID-19 if they contract the virus.

The people most likely to experience respiratory problems are the same people as those most likely to live with hunger and poverty in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. Poor African Americans are five times more likely to live in areas of concentrated poverty, which have 20 percent, 40 percent, or even more of their residents living below the poverty line, as poor white Americans.

Unless our country confronts and dismantles systemic racism, Black people and other people of color will continue to be the first and worst-affected by climate change and environmental crises. We must approach the work of climate change and hunger using an equity lens that measures not only the outcomes, but also changes in the root causes of racial inequities.

Karyn Bigelow is research associate with Bread for the World Institute.

The post Connecting Racism with Environmental Justice: I can’t breathe appeared first on Bread for the World.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” Romans 8:35

Separating ourselves from each other is hard. Yet social distancing is precisely what medical experts have told us to do during this season of the COVID-19 global pandemic—a season in which more than one million people are experiencing the disease and tens of thousands have died from it. The disease is strengthened by our lack of medical supplies or a cure. Fear is an understandable human response.

In the Pan African community, this fear is heightened. We are disproportionately affected by COVID-19 when compared to whites. A main factor has been mistrust of the medical system, which has practiced racial bias against African Americans, historically. In addition, many people in this community hold hourly, low-wage jobs. Dr. Lisa Cooper at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health says that “fear of lost wages or loss of employment may lead African Americans and other vulnerable Americans to try to work when they are ill, contributing to further spread of the disease within their communities.” Dr. Stephanie Miles-Richardson at Morehouse School of Medicine says that considerations like these “make Black people bigger targets for contracting and succumbing to the coronavirus.”

There are also other practical, cultural, and spiritual considerations. While the practice of social distancing can be lifesaving, this practice may be countercultural and impractical for many in the Pan African community. Working from home is not a viable option for many in Africa or in the African diaspora, given their jobs or the lack of an adequate safety net that would allow them to survive without working for a period. The choice is to stay home and not feed your family or to continue working with the risks.

Historically, Pan African communities have survived great moments of trial, in part, because they were able to gather. One of the greatest testimonies to this was immediately following the enslavement period when formerly enslaved African persons sought to gather their separated families. This led to a renewed model of the extended family over the smaller nuclear family.

The gathering at churches and places for education became centers of black life after enslavement. Churches have and still do serve as safe, inspirational, and educational places for Pan African communities. But social distancing has restricted this lifeline of survival and thriving.

There are, however, innovative models of gathering emerging, just like in this earlier history of Pan African communities. Churches are moving to online platforms and reorganizing their leadership. Joint advocacy—through targeted group phone calls and writing to our congressional leaders—is making a difference.

Thanks to those who have joined Bread in our advocacy agenda to make COVID-19 legislation better address the needs of people struggling with hunger and poverty. Romans 8:37-39 reminds us that through faith, we can still make a difference together in times like these. May this scripture be a source of encouragement in this COVID-19 season during Lent and Easter.

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

The post COVID-19, Separation, and the Pan African Community 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

The post U.S. Hunger and Poverty State Fact Sheets appeared first on Bread for the World.

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By Lacey Johnson

Seventy-five Pan African women of faith gathered in Washington, D.C., in November to advocate for global nutrition on Capitol Hill and empower one another to “re-right” the narrative of Pan-African people around the world.

The three-day summit, themed “African at Heart,” also observed the 400th anniversary of the arrival of enslaved African peoples to Jamestown, Virginia.

“It was timely to bring Pan African Women of Faith together to advocate for global nutrition and to remember the transatlantic slave trade in 1619 during out spiritual pilgrimage,” said Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith, senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church Engagement at Bread for the World.

She added: “They are disproportionately affected by global nutrition concerns and related intersectional issues linked to historic root causes. They are the children or kindred of the ancestors of the transatlantic slave trade in some way.”

The gathering kicked off with a spiritual pilgrimage beginning at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, followed by a visit to the home of Fredrick Douglass, who escaped slavery in 1838 to become a national leader of the abolitionist movement. The trip closed with prayers at the foot of the Martin Luther King Jr. monument.

“The pilgrimage was an eye-opener. It was really revealing and inspiring for me,” said Princess Sekyere, who founded a nonprofit that works to empower women and girls in her home country of Ghana. “I’m so excited to be in D.C. This city is very symbolic of the American story.”

Sekyere was among the numerous women who traveled internationally to be at the summit, which welcomed attendees from Angola, Congo, Brazil, Bahamas, Nigeria, Ghana, and cities all over the United States.

Paying homage to Pan-African women changemakers

The first day of the summit concluded with dinner, prayers, and presentations at Ebenezer United Methodist Church—an historic Washington landmark that has hosted African American icons like Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and W.E.B. Du Bois. The evening included a presentation paying homage to Pan African women changemakers from around the world, as well as prayers honoring ancestors that came before.

“Africans should take pride in their heritage and take charge of their lives,” said Ann Kioi, the programmes development and fundraising officer at All Africa Conference of Churches in Kenya, speaking from the pulpit. “This is what makes me feel that I am an African at heart. I share the same destiny, and I celebrate my diversity as an African.”

The summit was hosted by the Pan African Women of Faith of Bread for the World, Pan African Women’s Ecumenical Empowerment Network (PAWEEN) of the World Council of Churches, and the African Union in partnership with the All Africa Conference of Churches.

Women broke into groups to visit the offices of nearly a dozen House and Senate members on the second day of the summit. They urged lawmakers to support H.Res.189 and S.Res.260, which recognize the importance of continued United States leadership to accelerate global progress against maternal and child malnutrition.

They also chose to wear black as part of a “Thursdays in Black” campaign launched by the World Council of Churches to draw attention to the problem of gender-based violence.

“This issue is so important,” said Tiauna Webb, a first-time summit attendee from Chicago. “Not only are we trying to push for equitable treatment of women around the world, but we’re also embodying it here.”

A reception that evening featured a powerful speech by Rep. Jahanna Hayes (D-CT), as well as a surprise visit from Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC).

“At the point where I couldn’t stand on my own, I relied on WIC. I relied on food stamps. I relied on lunch for my kids,” said Hayes, who, in January, became the first African American woman from Connecticut to serve in Congress. “And I know, as a Christian, that now I have a responsibility to do the same thing for somebody else.”

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'Wanting a better world'

On the last day of the summit, attendees gathered at Bread’s headquarters for a special visit with Ertharin Cousin, a former United Nations ambassador who served as executive director of the World Food Programme from 2012 to 2017.

Cousin urged the women to use their collective voices to ensure people have access to nutritious food, whether it is in Sub-Saharan Africa or South Carolina.

“Embracing your theme, African at Heart, demands a shared vision of what is possible on both sides of the pond,” she said. “There is nothing shameful, unrealistic, or naïve about wanting a better world.”

Before departing, the women broke into groups to exchange ideas and formulate plans of action going forward. A range of recommendations inclusive of a faith-based advocacy agenda related to ending hunger and poverty emerged.

“We are one, no matter our differences,” said Kari Cooke, a deaf summit attendee and longtime advocate for disability rights. “Just sharing that with black women all over the world is very powerful and reminds us that we are not alone, and we will never be alone. We will continue to do this work.”

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

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Seventy-five Pan African women of faith gathered in Washington, D.C. to advocate for global nutrition and empower one another to “re-right” the narrative of Pan-African people. The three-day summit, themed “African at Heart,” also observed the 400th anniversary of the arrival of enslaved African peoples to Jamestown, Virginia. Photo: Howard Wilson for Bread for the World.

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The post African at Heart appeared first on Bread for the World.

Sin embargo, como grupo, los hispanos son más propensos que otras personas a vivir en la pobreza y a carecer de acceso regular y fiable a alimentos necesarios para la buena salud. Los hispanos también son más propensos a recibir sueldos por debajo del mínimo, y a trabajar y vivir en condiciones subestándar.

Las tasas elevadas de hambre y pobreza entre los hispanos son resultados directos de la discriminación de raza, género, y estado migratorio. Comparado con la tasa nacional de pobreza de 12.7 por ciento, el 19.4 por ciento de los latinos, 30 por ciento de familias encabezadas por una persona indocumentada, y un sorprendente 34.7 por ciento de familias latinas encabezadas por mujeres viven debajo de la línea de pobreza.

1 de cada 5 familias latinas tiene por lo menos un miembro padeciendo hambre en algún momento del año.

USDA Economic Research Service

The post El Hambre y la Pobreza en la Comunidad Hispana appeared first on Bread for the World.

Mass incarceration hurts a person’s ability to get, and keep, a good-paying job.

Jobs are critically important to earn an income and provide for a family. Unfortunately, 70 percent of people returning from jail or prison report having a difficult, or impossible, time securing employment.

Employers can still legally discriminate against people with a record, making it harder to get a job paying above poverty-level wages and put food on the table.

But this harsh reality need not continue. To learn more about the impact of mass incarceration on jobs and hunger and what you can do to help, read Mass Incarceration: A Major Cause of Hunger.

91% of people returning from jail and prison face hunger

The post Mass Incarceration's Impact on Jobs and Hunger appeared first on Bread for the World.

Younger generations have the most to lose if today’s leaders in government do not act more assertively to slow climate change.

This is the basis for an inspired climate advocacy campaign that is currently in progress, centered on a lawsuit filed against the U.S. government in federal court. The plaintiffs, 21 children and young people ranging in age from 10 to 22, allege that the government has knowingly violated their rights by failing to respond to climate change more forcefully and effectively.

Bill McKibben, pioneering climate activist and founder of the international environmental organization 350.org, describes the plaintiffs’ day in court as “the most important lawsuit on the planet right now.”

The case began on October 29, 2018, in the U.S. District Court in Eugene, Oregon. The plaintiffs want the federal government to implement a national Climate Recovery Plan consistent with the best available scientific analysis. The plan would prioritize reducing greenhouse gas emissions, primarily carbon dioxide (CO2). Bill McKibben’s organization is named after the number considered the maximum safe level of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere, 350 parts per million. The level today is 408 parts per million.

Nobel Laureate and economist Joseph Stiglitz will appear as an expert witness. He has been providing pro bono analytical support, which includes a 50-page expert’s report that argues that the U.S. government, through “insufficient action on climate change, [is] imposing and will continue to impose enormous costs on youth plaintiffs.”

The United Church of Christ (UCC) Council for Climate Justice is calling on the faith community to publicly support the children and youth who are bringing the case to court. Kiran Oommen, one of the plaintiffs, is the son of ordained UCC minister Melanie Oommen, and UCC was the first denomination to call for financial divestment from fossil fuels.  In addition to providing financial support for the legal team, the UCC is encouraging young leaders to show their solidarity with the 21 children and youth by delivering sermons on climate justice.

Our Children’s Trust, an environmental organization, is providing legal support to the plaintiffs. It has been supporting cases brought by youth in state courts since 2011 and describes its mission as “elevat[ing] the voice of youth—to secure the legal right to a healthy atmosphere and stable climate on behalf of all present and future generations.”

The federal lawsuit, Juliana v. United States, was filed in 2015, but the federal government has fought at every stage to block the case from coming to trial, and it continues to petition for it to be dismissed. The case has drawn national media attention, which has given several of the plaintiffs a platform to speak out. “You don’t have to call yourself an activist to act,” said lead plaintiff Kelsey Juliana in an interview with Bill Moyers on Moyers & Company. “I think that’s so important that people my age really get [that] into their heads. As a younger person, I have everything to gain from taking action and everything to lose from not … It’s important that youth are the ones who are standing up because of the fact that we do have so much to lose.”

Julia Olson, chief legal counsel for the plaintiffs, believes that whatever decision is reached by the District Court is likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court. The U.S. government is virtually certain to file an appeal if it loses the case or key elements of it. You can follow the latest news about the case at Our Children’s Trust.

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The Raise the Wage Act (S.150/H.R.582) was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and in the House of Representatives by Reps. Bobby Scott (D-Va.-03), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.-02), and Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.-07).

The bill would raise the federal minimum wage to $8.55 in 2019 and increase it over the next five years until it reaches $15 an hour in 2024.

After 2024, the minimum wage would adjust each year to keep pace with inflation. If passed, the bill would phase out the tipped minimum wage and sunset the ability of employers to pay workers with disabilities a subminimum wage. The bill would also phase out the subminimum wage for workers under the age of 20.

Background

In the United States, the preferred way of ending hunger is by ensuring that everyone who wants a job can get one and that it pays a sufficient wage. The bare minimum that defines a “decent” job is a living wage, which should provide families with the means to put food on the table. For those who are raising children, a decent job should allow them to balance their responsibilities as an employee and parent.

The work people do is a source of dignity in their lives, or at least that is how it should be. It is dehumanizing when wages are not sufficient to provide for basic living costs. Millions of working families have little left after paying for housing and transportation, health care, and child care. Food is the most flexible item in a household budget, which is why hunger is usually episodic.

We cannot end hunger in the United States without raising the minimum wage. We urge all members of Congress to co-sponsor the Raise the Wage Act of 2019.

“The laborer deserves to be paid”

— 1 Timothy 5:18

The post Bill Analysis: Raise the Wage Act (H.R.582 & S.150) appeared first on Bread for the World.

Gyude Moore was Liberia’s Minister of Public Works from 2015 to 2018, during the presidency of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. A decade earlier, he was an organizer with Bread for the World. A decade before that, he was an adolescent living in a refugee camp in Sierra Leone, one of the millions of Liberians forced to flee the country during a period of nearly 15 years that included two civil wars. Liberia reached a peace agreement in 2003.

Currently Moore is a visiting fellow at the Center for Global Development, where Hunger Report Senior Editor Todd Post met with him to talk about advocacy and foreign aid. As Minister of Public Works, his focus was entirely on infrastructure, he said, and since leaving the government, he finds it hard to let the subject go.

He told a story about being on a rural road in Liberia and coming to one of the many bridges that had been destroyed during the war years. “When we got to a bridge, we had to arrange planks to get the car across. Everyone got out except the driver, and we walked across after he safely piloted the vehicle over the planks.” It was a hair-raising experience. The Liberian countryside is littered with abandoned vehicles, half submerged under bridges, whose drivers had attempted similar crossings.

As they were negotiating the crossing, a motorcycle driver drove across as well. His passenger was a pregnant woman on her way to the health clinic. Liberia has one of the world’s highest rates of maternal mortality. Moore pointed out that many women don’t seek medical care because so many roads and bridges are badly damaged or simply impassable. Particularly where bridges have been destroyed, a clinic that might have been a two-hour journey in the prewar period could now take an entire day.

The woman on the motorcycle, a smallholder farmer, told Moore that the condition of the bridge was the reason she didn’t sell her products at a larger market where she could earn more. In another part of the country, where Moore oversaw a road improvement project, farmers did gain access to new markets, and as a result, their sales increased.

Infrastructure creates opportunities that people in poverty are eager to seize. Liberia is one of many African countries with a large youth population in search of work. Moore said that how successful the country is in repairing and developing its infrastructure will, to a large extent, determine how successful it is in unlocking the economic potential of its youth.

A crucial part of a country’s infrastructure is electricity. When President Johnson Sirleaf was sworn in, the country’s only source of electric power was diesel generators. Moore said that on game days, the average football stadium in the United States consumed more energy than was being produced in all of Liberia. Liberia signed a contract with the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) aimed at rebuilding its power infrastructure. MCC offers multi-year grants to countries that meet governance criteria such as combating corruption and investing in health and education. More than half of MCC’s financial support is used for infrastructure development. In Liberia’s equivalent of the State of the Union, Johnson Sirleaf explained to the public how her administration was tackling corruption and working to meet other MCC criteria. Moore noted that Bread was advocating for the creation and full funding of the MCC when he served as an organizer in 2003-2004.

Lately, Moore has been thinking about another infrastructure challenge that Liberia faces along with other low-income countries: weather forecasting. The World Bank is funding a project in sub-Saharan Africa to create a large, comprehensive network that could provide timely local weather forecasts. This is particularly important for countries and regions that are enduring the increasingly severe impact of climate change. Weather alerts would warn shepherds to move to higher ground. A storm that washes away fertilizer could be the difference between a farmer’s profitability and hunger, so it would be extremely helpful to know when to delay putting down fertilize for a day or two. People about to take their boats out to fish early on a sunny morning would know about a strong afternoon thunderstorm and return to shore in time.

When Moore reflects on the critical role of U.S. foreign aid in his country, he notes that the United States is the largest donor to the World Bank, and he praises Bread for the World and other civil society groups for making U.S. citizens aware of the progress against hunger and poverty that U.S. development assistance helps make possible in Liberia and in other developing countries.

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Estas causas de migración son a menudo referidas como “factores que empujan a la emigración”, porque muchos migrantes de Centroamérica están siendo “forzados” hacia Estados Unidos por las condiciones en sus hogares, en lugar de “jalados” por las oportunidades. Los factores principales que empujan la emigración son el hambre, la violencia y la pobreza extrema.

La inmigración indocumentada se trata menos de Estados Unidos y más sobre el hambre, la pobreza extrema y el conflicto en tres países del Triángulo Norte de Centroamérica—Guatemala, El Salvador, y Honduras. La guerra y la pobreza extrema han creado situaciones similares en Siria, Nigeria, Yemen y Myanmar. La emigración forzada está en aumento alrededor del mundo.

The post ¿Por qué las familias están abandonando Centroamérica? appeared first on Bread for the World.

From the earliest days of U.S. history, our country has welcomed people who are escaping persecution and poverty. People who make the decision to leave home and come to the United States, in recent years as in the past, generally have few other options. Factors beyond their control have made their circumstances too hungry and violent for them to remain.

These causes of migration are often called “push factors,” because many migrants from Central America are primarily being “pushed” to the United States by conditions at home, rather than “pulled” here by opportunities. The main push factors are hunger, violence, and extreme poverty.

Undocumented immigration is less about the United States and more about hunger, extreme poverty, and conflict in the three countries of Central America’s Northern Triangle—Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. War and extreme poverty have created similar situations from Syria and Nigeria to Yemen and Myanmar. Forced migration is on the rise worldwide.

The post Fact sheet: Why are families leaving Central America? appeared first on Bread for the World.

More than 5.5 million Indigenous people live in the United States from more than 560 Indian Nations. Many are part of federally or state recognized tribes.

They include Native Americans and Alaskan Natives. Indigenous communities live in pueblos, tribes, and communities, in rural reservations as well as cities, across 33 states, including Alaska.

Indigenous communities have some of the highest hunger rates in the United States. As a group, one in four Native Americans and Alaskan Natives are food insecure, defined as not having regular, reliable access to the foods needed for good health. 

Hunger among Indigenous communities is a direct result of poverty and of systemic inequities through racial and gender discrimination. While the United States has a poverty rate of 12.3 percent, Indigenous communities have a higher poverty rate–25.4 percent. The poverty rates are even higher among female-headed households (54 percent) and on some reservations (almost 40 percent).

Inequities that contribute to hunger and poverty in indigenous communities include:

• Unemployment and low wages
• Less access to education
• Poor health and limited access to health care
• Less access to credit
• Higher incarceration rates
• Impact of U.S. federal policies and Indian Nations sovereignty

The post Fact Sheet: Hunger and Poverty in the Indigenous Community appeared first on Bread for the World.

Consequently, an additional 56,0001 African Americans are still food insecure compared to 2015 numbers. While this is lower than the 187,000 additional African Americans who fell into hunger in 2016, targeted policies that prioritize racial and gender equity need to be implemented to reduce hunger at faster rates.

The higher rates of poverty and hunger among African Americans are direct results of systemic inequity through racial and gender discrimination. While the United States has an overall poverty rate of 12.3 percent, according to the U.S. Census, within the African American community, the poverty
rate is 21.2 percent. This rate is even higher in African American female-headed households at 30.3 percent.

African American leaders on the local, state, national, and international levels continue to do their part to fight hunger and poverty in their communities.

African Americans are two times as likely as whites to face very low food security

The post Fact Sheet: Hunger and Poverty in the African American Community appeared first on Bread for the World.

Returning citizens in Florida face many challenges upon completion of their sentence. People, including returning citizens themselves, are often surprised to learn about the collateral consequences. When a verdict is rendered (whether it be through a plea agreement or trial in front of judge and jury), the defendant typically assumes that their debt to society will be paid in full upon completion of their sentence. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case.

Many collateral consequences place devastating barriers to full integration into society, leaving some of Florida’s most disenfranchised a front row seat to a life of rejection and access denied, as these citizens are continually turned down and shunned on the doorstep of each job and housing opportunity they seek. Even food access is extremely limited for returning citizens. Florida is one of only four states that disenfranchises returning citizens from civic participation, unless they are granted clemency from the Office of Executive Clemency. The process has impacted the lives of over 1.6 million returning citizens, as well as their families and communities. Changing this policy would benefit all of Florida.

The economic impact alone of enfranchising Florida’s returning citizens would add approximately $365 million to Florida’s economy. Couple this with the knowledge that restoring civil rights lowers recidivism, and it makes sense why so many people see this solution as a no-brainer. With this in mind, the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, along with partner organizations (statewide and nationally), began working towards creating a Florida that operates from a space of restoration of returning citizens and their civil rights, versus everlasting punishment post-conviction.

Through these initiatives, the Say Yes to Second Chances Campaign was birthed, with the intent of restoring the voting rights of returning citizens in Florida. Subsequently, members collected over 1 million signatures in a matter of months to this end, proving voters in Florida believe in second chances. Once voters heard the stories of returning citizens and saw these were regular people with hopes, dreams, and true potential just like them, mindsets began to shift.

Through our work in communities organizing and building chapters across the state of Florida, we’ve found that there is no shortage of stories of citizens fully committed to their path of redemption. From veterans that served our country yet were denied safe housing and employment opportunities to support their families, to the youth that grew up in the system as a result of the school-to-prison pipeline—so many shoulders are burdened with the weight of the world, aspirations deferred and the American Dream denied.  

But there is hope. We see it every day. This hope is fueled by the passion and sacrifices made by a resilient group of returning citizens with the support of organizations, clergy, and community leaders who believe in second chances. We hope you will join the movement to restore the voting rights of returning citizens.

Devin D. Coleman is an executive board member of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition.

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The military community includes both people on active duty (more than 1.3 million) and veterans (20 million). There are also 800,000 reserve forces. The five branches of the U.S. military are the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard. U.S. military personnel come from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

About 23,000 active duty personnel received benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, previously food stamps) in 2013, the latest year for which statistics are available. This is a lower percentage than hunger rates for the average U.S. household (2 percent versus 12.3 percent). However, no one helping to defend our country should struggle to put food on the table.

Similarly, veterans experience hunger at just over half the national rate (7 percent v. 12.3 percent). Nearly 1.4 million veterans face food insecurity. Veterans are at higher risk of food insecurity if any of the following apply to them: they are younger, they left the military at a lower pay grade than is typical, they earn less at their post-military jobs, they are unmarried, or they live in households with more children than the typical veteran.

More than 1.25 million veterans live below the poverty line. Young veterans, veterans of color, and female veterans are the most vulnerable. 10 percent of young veterans are poor. Veterans of color are twice as likely to live in poverty as the overall veteran population (14 percent compared to 7 percent). 

Female veterans are much more likely to be poor than male veterans (10.3 percent compared to 6.5 percent). Veterans who fit into two or more of these groups are even more likely to live below the poverty line. For instance, young female veterans have a higher poverty rate than either female or young veterans as a whole—almost 14 percent. These disparities are primarily due to varying forms of racial and gender discrimination and inequities.

“About 23,000 active duty personnel received SNAP benefits in 2013, the latest year for which statistics are available”

The post Fact Sheet: Hunger and Poverty in the Military Community 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

The post Racial Wealth Gap Learning Simulation 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.

The post The Jobs Challenge: Working to End Hunger by 2030 appeared first on Bread for the World.

This paper explains how mass incarceration increases hunger. In a study by the National Institutes of Health, 91 percent of returning citizens reported being food insecure. Many face difficulty securing a place to work and live after being released. In addition, 75 percent of returning citizens report that it is “extremely difficult” or “impossible” to find a job post-incarceration. Even once formerly incarcerated people manage to find jobs, they suffer a permanent reduction in their lifetime earning potential, by nearly $180,000. This explains why 1 in 4 households headed by a returning citizen lives in deep poverty. In addition, incarceration frequently leads to hardships for their families. According to one study, almost 70 percent of households reported having difficulty meeting basic needs, such as food and housing, when a family member was incarcerated.

U.S. poverty would have dropped by 20 percent between 1980 and 2004 if not for mass incarceration.

Social Science Research Network

The post Mass Incarceration: A Major Cause of Hunger appeared first on Bread for the World.

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

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Overall, adults with very low food security are 40 percent more likely to have a chronic illness than adults in households with high food security.

On average, the number of chronic conditions for adults in households with low food security is 18 percent higher than for those in households with high food security. Even adults in households with marginal food security were nine percent less likely to report excellent health than those in households with high food security.

Chronic conditions are costly both in terms of human life and in financial terms. Chronic conditions often pose barriers to employment and other life activities and can also hasten death.

Key Terms:

• Very Low Food Security
  At times during the year, eating patterns of one or more household members were disrupted and food intake reduced because the household lacked money and other resources for food.
• High Food Security:
  Households had no problems or anxiety about consistently accessing adequate food.

“Food insecurity status is more strongly predictive of chronic illness in some cases even than income.”

USDA Economic Research Service

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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.

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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/from-hunger-to-hunger/ Wed, 06 Sep 2017 14:45:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/from-hunger-to-hunger/ By Marlysa Gamblin and Jordan Teague In recent years, Bread for the World’s work has led us to look at immigration, especially undocumented immigration, as a hunger issue — both here in the United States and in low-income home countries around the world. In our new background paper, From Hunger to Hunger: Undocumented Immigrants Face

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]]> By Marlysa Gamblin and Jordan Teague

In recent years, Bread for the World’s work has led us to look at immigration, especially undocumented immigration, as a hunger issue — both here in the United States and in low-income home countries around the world.

In our new background paper, From Hunger to Hunger: Undocumented Immigrants Face Hunger on Both Sides of the Border, we explain that many undocumented immigrants flee from hunger in their home countries due to extreme poverty only to face hunger once they arrive in the United States. Unfortunately, many remain at high risk of hunger and poverty even after years of living and working here.

As a Christian organization, Bread for the World is working to end hunger by 2030, a goal adopted by the United States and 194 other countries in 2015. To achieve this goal, we must understand what makes undocumented immigration a hunger issue and how improved U.S. policies could help. We must also develop longer-term solutions by responding to the root causes of undocumented immigration.

Our nation has the unique opportunity to practice love, the most important commandment of all (Mark 12) in the way we respond to undocumented immigration. To learn more about the biblical basis for our work on undocumented immigration, please read “The Bible and Immigration Reform.”

Did You Know?

• The proportion of immigrants to the United States who are fleeing their home countries rather than seeking more opportunities is increasing. Many immigrants are pushed from their home countries by factors beyond their control, such as extreme poverty, hunger, violence, and unsafe, insecure living conditions.
• Since 2014, there have been more undocumented immigrants from Central America apprehended at the southern U.S. border than from Mexico. In fact, in 2016 more than 90 percent of the families apprehended came from three countries — El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. These three countries are among the poorest in the world, with extremely high levels of hunger and malnutrition.
• Even immigrants from stable countries such as Mexico face problems that “push” them out of their home countries. While Mexico’s economy has grown, most of the wealth has not gone to the poorest; about half of Mexico’s population lives below the poverty line. The poorest 20 percent of people in Mexico have only 5 percent of the national income. They also live in “food poverty,” meaning that according to government statistics, their income is not enough to meet even basic food needs.

Did You Know?

• Deportation of undocumented immigrants puts 4.5 million U.S.-born children at risk of falling into deeper hunger, both immediately as children and later as adults. Removing a parent also removes his or her financial support from a struggling household. Children who have a parent in detention are three times as likely to develop mental health problems, speech delays, and troubled academic records, all factors that increase a child’s likelihood of remaining food insecure as an adult.
• Contrary to popular belief, undocumented immigrants are not eligible to receive safety net program benefits — this despite the $11.6 billion in taxes that undocumented immigrants contribute each year, and the fact that they are three times as likely as the “average” American to live below the poverty line.
• Mass deportations would reduce the nation’s GDP by $4.7 trillion over the next 10 years. On the other hand, comprehensive immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship could significantly increase the U.S. tax base and tax revenues.

In the effort to end hunger by 2030, we cannot examine policies in a vacuum. Bread for the World calls for comprehensive immigration policy that takes into account hunger and poverty as root causes of undocumented immigration and that provides better opportunities for immigrants living in hunger and poverty in the United States. We urge the U.S. government to strive for lasting solutions to hunger and poverty on both sides of the border as part of any immigration policy.

For more information, read Bread for the World Institute’s new background paper, From Hunger to Hunger: Undocumented Immigrants Face Hunger on Both Sides of the Border.

Marlysa Gamblin is a domestic advisor for policy and programs, specific populations at Bread for the World Institute. Jordan Teague is an international policy analyst for food security and nutrition at Bread for the World Institute.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/es/el-dream-act-de-2017-s-1615-h-r-3440/ Wed, 30 Aug 2017 17:45:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/es/el-dream-act-de-2017-s-1615-h-r-3440/ Estados Unidos es una nación de inmigrantes. A través de su historia gente de todas partes del mundo se han trasladado aquí y han contribuido en sus comunidades y a nuestra vida nacional. Hoy, al igual que en el pasado, los inmigrantes continúan creando prosperidad y enriquecimiento para esta nación.  Las personas indocumentadas que viven

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]]> Estados Unidos es una nación de inmigrantes. A través de su historia gente de todas partes del mundo se han trasladado aquí y han contribuido en sus comunidades y a nuestra vida nacional. Hoy, al igual que en el pasado, los inmigrantes continúan creando prosperidad y enriquecimiento para esta nación. 

Las personas indocumentadas que viven y trabajan aquí están entre las personas más vulnerables de nuestra nación. Tienen una mayor probabilidad de vivir en la pobreza y luchar para poder colocar comida en la mesa. La tasa nacional de pobreza es de 14.8 por ciento, mientras que para los inmigrantes como grupo es de 30 por ciento. Es muy posible que la tasa de pobreza para los hogares de indocumentados es más alta todavía. La tasa de inseguridad alimentaria para los inmigrantes indocumentados es el doble que el que la población total de los Estados Unidos.

El Proyecto de ley “Dream Act 2017” fue presentado en el Senado por los Senadores Richard Durbin (D- Ill.) y Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) con la designación S. 1615, y en la Cámara de Representantes por las Representantes: Lucille Roybal Allard (D-Calif.-40) y la Representante Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.-27) con la designación H.R. 3440. 

El Proyecto de ley “Dream Act 2017” ofrecería una vía hacia un estatus legal para millones de jóvenes inmigrantes indocumentados. La aprobación de este Proyecto de ley es decisivo dado el hecho de que el futuro de DACA es incierto. Recientemente 10 procuradores generales le enviaron al Procurador General de Estados Unidos, Jeff Sessions, una carta con la amenaza de demandar al gobierno del presidente Trump si el programa DACA no es eliminado al 5 de septiembre de 2017. 

Exhortamos a todos los miembros del Congreso a que copatrocinen el “Dream Act” de 2017 y que comuniquen un fuerte mensaje que la anulación de DACA tiene consecuencias morales y económicas que el Congreso no puede permitir.

 

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]]> https://www.bread.org/es/fact-sheet-el-impacto-del-presupuesto-2018-en-la-comunidad-latina/ Tue, 15 Aug 2017 16:15:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/es/fact-sheet-el-impacto-del-presupuesto-2018-en-la-comunidad-latina/ Para poner fin al hambre y la pobreza en Estados Unidos para el 2030, nuestro país necesita un presupuesto que mejore la vida de hombres, mujeres y niños. Desafortunadamente, el Gobierno del Presidente Trump y el Congreso están proponiendo recortes drásticos a programas que ofrecen oportunidades económicas o asistencia alimentaria a algunas de las familias

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]]> Para poner fin al hambre y la pobreza en Estados Unidos para el 2030, nuestro país necesita un presupuesto que mejore la vida de hombres, mujeres y niños. Desafortunadamente, el Gobierno del Presidente Trump y el Congreso están proponiendo recortes drásticos a programas que ofrecen oportunidades económicas o asistencia alimentaria a algunas de las familias más pobres en Estados Unidos.

Estos recortes presupuestarios afec-tarían particularmente a la comunidad latina, ya que los hogares latinos tienen hasta tres veces más probabilidades de experimentar hambre y pobreza.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/the-impacts-of-proposed-fiscal-year-2018-budget-cuts-on-the-latino-community/ Tue, 15 Aug 2017 16:15:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/the-impacts-of-proposed-fiscal-year-2018-budget-cuts-on-the-latino-community/ To end hunger and poverty in the United States by 2030, our country needs to support a budget that improves the lives of men, women, and children. 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

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]]> To end hunger and poverty in the United States by 2030, our country needs to support a budget that improves the lives of men, women, and children. 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 Latino community particularly hard since Latino households are up to three times more likely to experience hunger and poverty.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/the-dream-act-of-2017-s-1615-h-r-3440/ Tue, 15 Aug 2017 12:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/the-dream-act-of-2017-s-1615-h-r-3440/ Overview The United States is a nation of immigrants. Throughout its history, people have moved here from all over the world and have contributed to their communities and our national life. Today, as in the past, immigrants are also creating prosperity for this nation.  Despite their contributions, many immigrants face discrimination and barriers to opportunity.

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]]> Overview

The United States is a nation of immigrants. Throughout its history, people have moved here from all over the world and have contributed to their communities and our national life. Today, as in the past, immigrants are also creating prosperity for this nation. 

Despite their contributions, many immigrants face discrimination and barriers to opportunity. This increases their likelihood of struggling with hunger and poverty. The national rate of household food insecurity is 12.7 percent, while the rate for households with undocumented immigrants is 24 percent. Undocumented migrant and seasonal workers face food insecurity rates as high as 65 percent.

Background

In 2012, in response to our broken immigration system, President Obama announced a new Department of Homeland Security policy called The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. DACA provides temporary relief and protection from removal as well as work authorization to young undocumented students and veterans who grew up in the United States. Many findings indicate that DACA has significantly helped undocumented youth achieve higher paying jobs and education while increasing their contribution to the local economy.

About the Bill

The Dream Act of 2017 would offer a path to permanent legal status for millions of undocumented immigrant youths. The bill passage is crucial given the fact that DACA’s future is uncertain. Recently, 10 attorneys general sent the U.S Attorney General Jeff Sessions a letter threatening to sue the Trump administration if the DACA program was not terminated by Sept. 5, 2017.

A pathway to citizenship under the Dream Act would ensure that Dreamers can continue to contribute to their communities through work, service, and schooling. The proposed legislation would provide Conditional Permanent Residency and employment authorization for eight years. Afterward, Dreamers could apply for Legal Permanent Residency and begin the application process for citizenship.  

We urge all members of Congress to co-sponsor the Dream Act of 2017. Bread for the World will continue to support legislation, like the Dream Act, that strives for lasting solutions to our broken immigration system. To ultimately end hunger, achieving solutions that last is key.

Take Action on This Issue

Give “Dreamers” a Pathway to Citizenship. Urge your members of Congress to co-sponsor and support the bipartisan Dream Act of 2017

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/the-state-of-black-poverty-a-pan-african-millennial-perspective-on-ending-hunger-by-2030/ Mon, 10 Apr 2017 15:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/the-state-of-black-poverty-a-pan-african-millennial-perspective-on-ending-hunger-by-2030/ Over the past year and a half, about two-dozen young adults from the United States and countries in Africa and the Caribbean, have gathered virtually and in person to reflect on the effects of hunger and poverty in black communities. The working group has been considering socio-political and theological frameworks from which to achieve the

The post The State of Black Poverty: A Pan-African Millennial Perspective on Ending Hunger by 2030 appeared first on Bread for the World.

]]> Over the past year and a half, about two-dozen young adults from the United States and countries in Africa and the Caribbean, have gathered virtually and in person to reflect on the effects of hunger and poverty in black communities. The working group has been considering socio-political and theological frameworks from which to achieve the U.N. Sustainable Goal to end hunger by 2030.

Key Recommendations:

1. A strategy to end hunger and reduce poverty must be rooted in prayer and spiritual revival for and with all of God’s children.
2. Public policy has to be a priority for addressing the systemic issues of hunger and poverty. We must actively engage our government leaders and promote the global Sustainable Development Goals and a moral U.S. budget.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/ending-u-s-hunger-and-poverty-by-focusing-on-communities-where-its-most-likely/ Tue, 28 Mar 2017 15:15:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/ending-u-s-hunger-and-poverty-by-focusing-on-communities-where-its-most-likely/ By Marlysa D. Gamblin Some people in the United States are at least twice as likely as the general U.S. population to be hungry and/or experiencing poverty. They belong to some of the country’s major demographic groups: African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, households led by single women, undocumented immigrants, and people returning from prison. The

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]]> By Marlysa D. Gamblin

Some people in the United States are at least twice as likely as the general U.S. population to be hungry and/or experiencing poverty. They belong to some of the country’s major demographic groups: African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, households led by single women, undocumented immigrants, and people returning from prison.

The United States has made a new commitment to leaving no one behind as the country moves toward a goal of ending hunger and poverty by 2030. To reduce hunger and poverty among these communities, Congress and the administration should:

• Prioritize communities most affected by hunger and poverty
• Strengthen the U.S. safety net
• Support policies that protect workers and enable them to become financially secure
• Eliminate “concentrated poverty” by 2025

Unlike in decades past, the United States has the tools and knowledge to put an end to hunger, food insecurity, and poverty — and we can accomplish this rather quickly, by 2030. We need only the leadership and the determination to do it.

Marlysa D. Gamblin is domestic advisor for policy and programs, specific populations at Bread for the World Institute.

“Ending hunger in America is a goal that is literally within our grasp.”

Jeff Bridges, founder, End Hunger Network

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/despite-gains-african-americans-still-disproportionately-affected-by-hunger-and-poverty/ Wed, 15 Feb 2017 14:15:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/despite-gains-african-americans-still-disproportionately-affected-by-hunger-and-poverty/ Washington, D.C. – Over the past year, African-Americans have seen significant decreases in hunger and poverty levels, with a nearly 5 percentage point drop in hunger alone. Much of these declines are due to effective federal policy and strong community leadership. However, much more must be done. Bread for the World recently released a new graphic,

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]]> Washington, D.C. – Over the past year, African-Americans have seen significant decreases in hunger and poverty levels, with a nearly 5 percentage point drop in hunger alone. Much of these declines are due to effective federal policy and strong community leadership. However, much more must be done.

Bread for the World recently released a new graphic, I Still Rise, highlighting African-American contributions to ending hunger and poverty over the past century. “African-Americans have always been at the forefront of the struggle against hunger and poverty,” said Eric Mitchell, director of government relations at Bread for the World.

Despite the recent gains, and the contributions made historically, African-Americans are still more likely to suffer from hunger and poverty than other Americans, according to a new analysis by Bread for the World. Almost 50 percent of all black children younger than 6 live in poverty—more than three times the proportion of young white children. Unemployment and low wages, lack of access to healthy and affordable food, poor schools, and higher incarceration rates are just a few of the factors that contribute to this problem.

“Unemployment and a lack of good-paying jobs are primary causes,” Mitchell added. “But we must also address factors like mass incarceration, inadequate school funding, and poor health caused by a lack of access to nutritious foods if we want to solve the problem.”

While African-Americans make up only 13 percent of the U.S. population, they represent 22 percent of those experiencing poverty and hunger. The median income of African-American households is nearly $20,000 less than general households, which makes African-American households twice as likely to experience poverty. This number is even higher for female-headed households, who are almost three times as likely to live below the poverty line.

Mitchell concluded, “African-American leadership has been key to the progress we have made so far. Now, as much as ever, African-Americans must continue to play a leading role so that these gains are not lost.”  

 

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-statement-on-standing-rock-protest/ Fri, 28 Oct 2016 14:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-statement-on-standing-rock-protest/ Washington, D.C. – Bread for the World today released the following statement on the Standing Rock Tribe’s protest against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL):  “As an organization grounded in our Christian faith, Bread for the World believes it is important to listen to and support those on the frontlines confronting hunger and poverty.

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]]> Washington, D.C. – Bread for the World today released the following statement on the Standing Rock Tribe’s protest against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL): 

“As an organization grounded in our Christian faith, Bread for the World believes it is important to listen to and support those on the frontlines confronting hunger and poverty. Native American communities across the United States experience hunger at 2 to 3 times the national average. This is true for the Lakota and Dakota people of the Standing Rock Tribe. In 2014, the poverty rate on the reservation was more than 43 percent. 

“The Lakota and Dakota people of the Standing Rock Tribe and their supporters are taking a stand to protect the water, sacred and cultural sites, and their land. They are concerned that the pipeline will contaminate the reservation’s water supply, as well as the water supply of millions of people who live downstream. The tribe is also worried that pipeline construction will damage its sacred and cultural sites, including burial grounds.

“Last year global leaders, including the U.S., endorsed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The global goals commit 193 nations to reach 17 interconnected goals by 2030, including ending hunger and poverty, ensuring access to clean drinking water, and taking action on climate change.

“‘Water is life.’ And any negative impact the pipeline may have on the reservation’s water supply would certainly worsen the already dire conditions of hunger and poverty the tribe already faces.

“Bread for the World prays for a peaceful resolution of this conflict and that all involved are treated with dignity and respect.”  

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-calls-for-resolution-of-flint-water-crisis/ Wed, 24 Feb 2016 15:15:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/bread-for-the-world-calls-for-resolution-of-flint-water-crisis/ Washington, D.C. – Bread for the World joins other faith and advocacy organizations in calling for an immediate resolution to the ongoing water-contamination crisis in Flint, Mich. Bread urges elected officials to provide emergency funding to address the crisis, which includes medical, developmental, and educational consequences of drinking lead-contaminated water.             

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]]> Washington, D.C. – Bread for the World joins other faith and advocacy organizations in calling for an immediate resolution to the ongoing water-contamination crisis in Flint, Mich. Bread urges elected officials to provide emergency funding to address the crisis, which includes medical, developmental, and educational consequences of drinking lead-contaminated water.                                                       

“We join the growing number of pastors who point out that this is an issue of justice in addition to a hunger, health, and education crisis,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “Solving the water-contamination crisis means solving the underlying issues of hunger, poverty, and barriers to opportunity, especially in the African-American communities which are disproportionately affected by such realities.”

The African-American community in Flint suffers from many of the same problems facing other African-American communities in cities across the nation, including high rates of hunger and poverty. African-Americans account for nearly 6 out of every 10 residents living in Flint. Over 41 percent of households in Flint live in poverty.

According to Bread’s latest analysis, “Hunger and Poverty in the African-American Community,” the nationwide median income for African-Americans in 2014 (the most current data) was $35,398. This is $20,000 less than the median income for other households. Almost 50 percent of black children younger than 6 live in poverty.

In Flint, up to 12,000 children were exposed to contaminated drinking water. Doctors say they could experience a range of serious health and developmental problems well into adulthood. Daily life is also affected since residents cannot cook or bathe using contaminated water.

Faith and civic groups are joining Flint residents in lifting their voices for justice, not just charitable responses to the tragedy. Ending hunger and poverty and having clean water and sanitation for all is achievable. This explains, in part, why Flint has drawn attention from political candidates of both parties.                         

“Solving the water crisis must go hand-in-hand with solving the underlying causes of hunger and poverty,” said Beckmann. “We are calling for solving the tragedy of water contamination and asking candidates what they will do to end hunger and poverty and advance opportunity if elected.” 

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/new-orleans-lessons-of-faith-climate-change-and-poverty-after-the-storm/ Fri, 28 Aug 2015 13:15:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/new-orleans-lessons-of-faith-climate-change-and-poverty-after-the-storm/ By Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith   Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise… — Isaiah 54:11 (NIV)   (Jesus) got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples,

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]]> By Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith

 

Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise…
— Isaiah 54:11 (NIV)

 

(Jesus) got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’
— Mark 4:39-41 (NIV)

 

These Scriptures were shared at an interfaith prayer service at the Cathedral-Basilica of Saint Louis in New Orleans, La., earlier this week in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

These verses invite us to ask important questions. Is New Orleans beyond the affliction of Hurricane Katrina? Are the people of New Orleans comforted by signs of progress? What about the rebuilding of the city? What about the faith of the people? Leaders from many sectors in New Orleans and nationally agree that New Orleanians have been a resilient people, both before and after the storm.  

At a national forum in New Orleans this week, speakers pointed to the development of a regional economy that is more diverse and infused by an entrepreneurial spirit, confirmed by a recent report by The Data Center concerning New Orleans’ progress since the storm. There are other positive trends too, including better-quality public schools, the decline of incarceration rates by nearly half, and a surge in youth investments, according to those who spoke at the forum.

Still, racial disparities, poverty, and environmental trends continue to challenge the gains. The Data Center reports that poverty rates in New Orleans have risen to pre-Katrina levels at “a now crushingly high 27 percent.” The disparity in incomes between black and white households was 54 percent, compared to 40 percent nationally in 2013, with only 57 percent of black men employed in New Orleans.

But the most concerning issue that New Orleans faces is environmental in nature, specifically, coastal erosion and sea level rise. Since Katrina, four more hurricanes have hit New Orleans, causing extensive flooding and wind damage. “Since 1932, the New Orleans region has lost nearly 30 percent of the land that forms its protective buffer from hurricane storm surge, and saltwater is increasingly infiltrating groundwater within the levee walls,” according to a report by The Data Center.

While Hurricane Katrina occurred in a specific region, the lessons learned are for all of us today. Climate change is national and global. Our infrastructure, much of which was built 50 years ago, needs more systematic attention. Movements like Black Lives Matter point to the perpetual challenges of race, hunger, and poverty.

Nevertheless, New Orleanians have proven they are resilient. The 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is a rallying call to all of us to name the afflictions in our communities, comfort and encourage all of God’s people, identify and implement strategies of empowerment for all, and to be proactive about rebuilding our infrastructure to help protect our environment.

Doing this will require a spirit of resilience that leads us to step out in faith, engage our imagination, and thereby create new possibilities in the midst of challenges. New Orleanians are leading and teaching us anew about how to do this. May all of us find ways to do likewise.

Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith is Bread for the World’s national senior associate for African-American and African church engagement.

Photo: The Lower Ninth Ward sustained catastrophic flooding following Hurricane Katrina. Ten years later, the neighborhood has not fully recovered. In the background are houses being built in the area by actor Brad Pitt’s nonprofit foundation. Wikimedia Commons.

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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/the-bible-and-immigration-reform/ Thu, 16 Jul 2015 15:30:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/the-bible-and-immigration-reform/ A brief examination of the biblical approach to advocacy on immigration reform. Includes an introduction to the issue, a Scriptural reflection, practical actions you can take, and a prayer.

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]]> A brief examination of the biblical approach to advocacy on immigration reform.

Includes an introduction to the issue, a Scriptural reflection, practical actions you can take, and a prayer.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/rebuilding-haiti-making-aid-work-for-the-haitian-people/ Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:45:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/rebuilding-haiti-making-aid-work-for-the-haitian-people/ With unprecedented levels of goodwill, focus, and commitment to Haiti, there are still enormous hurdles in laying the groundwork for a country-led recovery. Haiti’s 10-year national reconstruction plan includes a multi-donor trust fund and an interim reconstruction authority to oversee rebuilding. These global mechanisms driving Haiti’s recovery must prioritize civil society participation, promote real transparency,

The post Rebuilding Haiti: Making Aid Work for the Haitian People appeared first on Bread for the World.

]]> With unprecedented levels of goodwill, focus, and commitment to Haiti, there are still enormous hurdles in laying the groundwork for a country-led recovery. Haiti’s 10-year national reconstruction plan includes a multi-donor trust fund and an interim reconstruction authority to oversee rebuilding. These global mechanisms driving Haiti’s recovery must prioritize civil society participation, promote real transparency, and not compromise broader goals for quick short-term results.

The U.S. strategy in Haiti must strengthen Haitian government capacity at each stage of the recovery process, focus on poverty reduction and sustainable economic growth, and make long-term development the primary objective. We need a strong development agency to carry out our objectives in supporting Haiti’s long-term reconstruction; USAID should be fully equipped to lead U.S. government efforts in Haiti. Our work in Haiti should ultimately result in concrete, measurable, and sustainable outcomes on the ground for Haitian people.

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]]> https://www.bread.org/article/the-millennium-development-goals-facing-down-challenges/ Thu, 01 May 2008 19:45:00 +0000 https://www.bread.org/article/the-millennium-development-goals-facing-down-challenges/ The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) represent an unprecedented partnership among nations to better the lives of hungry and poor people across the globe. As the 2015 target date approaches, many developing countries have already made extraordinary progress, improving the lives of millions of people. But not all countries or regions of the world are on

The post The Millennium Development Goals: Facing Down Challenges appeared first on Bread for the World.

]]> The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) represent an unprecedented partnership among nations to better the lives of hungry and poor people across the globe. As the 2015 target date approaches, many developing countries have already made extraordinary progress, improving the lives of millions of people. But not all countries or regions of the world are on track to meet the MDGs.

Developing nations face many barriers to achieving the MDGs, some unique and country-specific, others broadly shared. Common problems faced by fragile nations can be grouped into four areas: poor starting conditions; weak governance and institutions; conflict and instability; and environmental degradation.

To meet the MDGs and create a sustainable path to development, countries must adopt policies and programs to overcome these problems. Developed countries have a role to play in overcoming these barriers. Aid donors, particularly the United States, must ensure that development assistance is flexible enough to help countries address these challenges and meet the MDGs.

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]]>