As we have explored in this series, gender pay equity is necessary for the United States to end food insecurity and hunger. One among many indications of this is that the national poverty rate among single mothers and their children is higher than 30 percent, and single mothers of color and their children have poverty rates as high as 42.6 percent. The poverty line for one adult and two children in 2024 is just $25,820. Without pay equity, there is far less grocery money.

We also pointed out that although equal pay between women and men has been the law for more than 60 years, the gender pay gap is shrinking extremely slowly. If present trends continue, today’s 25-year-old workers will retire before the country achieves pay equity.

Can we follow in the footsteps of countries that are moving more quickly toward pay equity? 

Iceland is at the head of the class—it is currently the only country in the world to have reduced its gender pay gap to less than 10 percent. Iceland has made much faster progress because it has shifted the legal burden of proof. In the United States and most other countries, women must first discover and document that they are being paid less than a male counterpart, and second, prove in court that they are being paid less due to gender discrimination. 

In 2018, Iceland changed its approach to instead require employers of more than 25 workers to prove that they are paying women fairly. They must earn a certification from an external reviewer and can be fined for noncompliance. 

A writer reported in the Harvard Business Review that previous research, including a study of a voluntary pay equity compliance program in Canada, showed that “equal pay certification schemes are only effective when strongly enforced.” 

Provisions of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which as described earlier has been introduced in Congress but has not passed, would move U.S. law a little closer to the Icelandic system. These provisions, for example, prohibit companies from seeking applicants’ past salary histories and from retaliating against workers who file complaints. It seems doubtful, however, that the Icelandic approach as a whole, with its focus on regulations and enforcement of private sector compliance, would be accepted in the United States, with its much larger and more diverse population, severe degree of economic inequality, and, in some parts of the country, a leaning toward libertarianism. 

While gender pay equity is very important, the impact of pay discrimination may vary depending on a country’s social support system. While the United States has a social safety net, it is more limited than in many peer countries. Some programs have strict eligibility criteria and may have to function as a “block grant,” meaning that they have a limited amount of funding and their budget is not increased if the needs increase. The United States, unlike most other developed countries, does not require employers to offer paid leave. Moreover, there is a shortage of affordable, accessible childcare for families in most states. 

In countries with a stronger social support system, female workers have a more significant financial cushion against the impacts of gender pay discrimination. Two countries with developed economies that are peers of the U.S. offer publicly-funded social supports, particularly for parents and families. In Italy, the Universal Child Allowance (known as the AUU from its Italian acronym) is Italy’s new social welfare program, adopted in 2022. It is not dependent on parents’ income or employment status, but rather, is designed to offer support to all families with children up to age 21. Benefits are available beginning in the seventh month of pregnancy. The law, recognizing that some groups face greater difficulties, also provides for extra benefits for large families, mothers under the age of 21, and children with disabilities. Austria is another country that offers comprehensive child benefits designed to support families with minor children, whether biological, adopted, or fostered. Grandparents may also qualify. 

Bread for the World supports a permanent expansion of the Child Tax Credit, which cut the child poverty rate nearly in half for the few months in 2021 that it was in effect. This expansion offers some of the benefits of the child allowances offered by most industrialized nations.

Even without adopting an approach that requires employers to prove that they pay women and men equitably, and even without making major investments in its social safety net, the United States could make progress by strengthening our current laws and safety-net systems.  

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

The post Gender Pay Equity: Increasing Equity by Supporting Families appeared first on Bread for the World.

It can be difficult to pause when we are busy thinking about work or family facing disasters. We find it difficult to pause when we know that others cannot pause. We find it difficult to pause because we might be overwhelmed by heartbreak if we do. But pausing is important. Our scriptures urge us to the practice of weekly Sabbath. Taking time to slow down is good for our souls and our bodies.  

It can be difficult to give thanks in these moments when the world is facing what is increasingly being called a poly-crisis—a series of crises whose cumulative effect is greater than the sum of the individual crises. We can get bogged down in what is going wrong around the world, in our communities, in our lives. It is easy to be filled with gloom and cynicism and to forget that there is much to be grateful for. 

Some people keep gratitude journals or gratitude jars. The idea is that you write at least one thing that you’re grateful for every day in a journal or on a slip of paper that goes into a jar. That daily practice fosters gratitude. One thought leads to two thoughts, and two lead to four. Gradually, instead of writing one thing you’re grateful for, you start writing multiple things each day. Before you know it, your jar is full. Writing out what we’re grateful for trains our brains to be able to see good in the world. The repetition literally remaps our neuropathways. 

It can be difficult to connect with loved ones during the holidays. Some of us feel so much isolation that we struggle to reach out. Some of us have strained relationships with our families. Some of us are living in situations where it’s challenging to connect with other people. But gathering as a community, particularly in this time of poly-crisis, is important for our mental health. Connection is what we long for. 

For these reasons and more, Bread for the World hosted a vigil last month. We gathered to pause, connect as a community, and to pray for our world. (If you missed it, you can watch the recording here.) 

Bread has also created resources for connection during Advent. The Sunday after Thanksgiving, December 1, is the start of our new liturgical year. Our Advent devotional guide, Seeking Peace in this Advent Season, features reflections from Lisa Sharon Harper, founder of Freedom Road; Bread’s own Eddie Kaufholz, director of communications; Kimberly Mazyck from the Georgetown Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life; and Fr. Nicholas Anton of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. They invite us into spiritual practices to help us experience God’s peace in this season. 

Our hope is that connecting with God’s peace will be a balm for our souls. 

It can feel overwhelming when we see how many people in our country and around the world are struggling with hunger and vulnerability. It can lead us to question if our efforts are making a difference. 

I want to remind you that Bread advocacy for programs such as D-SNAP (Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) ensure people recovering from disaster in the U.S. have access to nutrition assistance during times of crisis. Bread advocacy for programs such as the Global Food Security Act help developing countries become more resilient so that there is more food available locally when war breaks out. Bead advocacy for food aid funding and programmatic efficiency ensures that there is food available in hunger hot spots such as Gaza or Sudan. 

Your advocacy makes a difference. Your gifts to Bread for the World make a difference. 

We now have a new Administration and Congress. Bread advocacy will not falter, and we will work with our elected leaders on both sides of the aisle to advocate for the anti-hunger policies and programs that we know will make a difference. Please consider taking action today on the Farm Bill at bread.org/act. 

I want to end this message with a scripture that has guided us at Bread for the World for the last several years, Psalm 46. As we pray for our nation and our neighbors, as we pray for peace and for those working for peace, let us remember the words of the Psalmist (using the NIV translation): 

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. 

The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. 

The post A Thanksgiving Message appeared first on Bread for the World.

The idea is straightforward: an expanded CTC would put more money in the pockets of working parents who are struggling to put food on the table.  

We have solid evidence that a permanent expansion of the CTC could significantly reduce the rate of childhood hunger in the United States. This evidence can be summed up as the results of a similar but temporary CTC expansion just three years ago. The American Rescue Plan of 2021 increased the amount of the CTC and made payments monthly rather than structuring the benefit as a lump sum paid as a federal tax refund. For six months, from July 2021 through December 2021, millions of additional families with children received monthly benefits of $250 for each of their children ages 6 to 17 and $300 for each child under 6. 

For our country’s lowest-income families, an even more important provision of the CTC expansion was that all families with children, including households whose taxable incomes had previously been too low to be eligible, could now qualify for the full CTC amounts. As recently as 2018 (latest data available), an estimated 27 million children lived in these households. 

The impact was immediate: a steep decline in parents reporting that their families did not have enough food. On August 16, 2021, 25 percent fewer parents reported food insecurity than on July 5, 2021. 

In addition to its essential role of enabling more families to meet their immediate needs, an expanded CTC has a second important long-term benefit: contributing to racial, gender, and class equity in our country. As Bread has discussed, equity requires making conditions fair for all. Policies that promote equity help to move everyone closer to a “starting point,” whether they started out or continued being “left behind” because of disability, poverty, racial or gender discrimination, or a combination of these and other factors. 

Most people realize that raising children is expensive. As a group, families with children are more likely to be food insecure than families without children. But the risks are even higher for some demographic groups and family structures, including Black families, Latino/a families, Native American families, and families with single mothers, among others. (Other families with higher rates of food insecurity include, for example, families with single fathers and families with parents living with a disability).  

When all families with children are eligible for the same CTC amounts, there is a greater benefit for families at higher risk of hunger, because these dollars make up a larger part of their total income. This is even more likely to be the case for families who belong to more than one marginalized group—perhaps a family whose single mother is Black or Native American or biracial. 

Researchers projected that children from groups with disproportionately high poverty rates would benefit most from the 2021 expansion. Poverty rates would be cut by 62 percent, 52 percent, and 45 percent among Native American children, Latino children, and Black children, respectively. The children of single mothers have very high poverty rates. At the height of the pandemic in 2021, for example, the national poverty rate for households with single mothers was 31.3 percent. Mothers of color and their children had even higher poverty rates: 37.4 percent of Black families, 35.9 percent of Hispanic/Latina families, and 42.6 percent of Native American families with single mothers.

We sometimes think or talk about the CTC as a program for low-income people, but this is not the case. Almost all families with children except the very poorest are eligible. The gap between the lowest-income families with children and other families with children will widen if all families except the poorest receive the CTC benefit. 

The CTC’s restrictions on high-income families–$200,000 for individuals and $400,000 for married couples—exclude just a small percentage of families. A single parent with an income of $200,000 is at the 95th percentile of individual income earners, so only the 5 percent whose incomes are higher than hers would be ineligible for the benefit. 

Bread is deeply disappointed that a bipartisan version of the CTC expansion stalled in the U.S. Senate. Passage of this expansion would make more grocery money available to millions of parents whose jobs do not pay enough to make ends meet. Even when Congress does not act, children still need to eat.

Yet, that proposed expansion would include not all low-income families with children, but, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, only those with incomes of about $16,000 or more per year. Such a policy excludes millions of families who work full-time but are paid less. For example, a family might be composed of a woman who lives with her two children in Georgia, Wyoming, or Tennessee. She works 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, at the federal minimum wage. Her annual income is $15,080 before taxes. 

Georgia, Wyoming, and Tennessee are three of the seven states whose minimum wage is the same as the federal minimum wage. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. It has been $7.25 an hour, with no adjustments for inflation, for 15 years now – since 2009. A CTC that does not exclude the lowest-wage workers would make a big difference in the lives of children whose parents belong to a group often referred to as “the working poor.”

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

The post Child Tax Credit Expansion: A Matter of 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.

Bread for the World’s new campaign Nourishing Our Future emphasizes preventing and ending hunger among children. It is extremely important to take action to minimize the harm that climate change is currently causing children because, as Bread has pointed out, climate change is a leading cause of global hunger among children and adults alike.

Nearly half of the world’s children live in countries that are at extremely high risk from climate change. Whether climate change takes the form of a sudden disaster (such as a hurricane) or a slow-onset climate shock (such as drought), it affects hundreds of millions of children. It is not difficult to see how, when climate impacts are combined with preexisting social and economic problems, the most vulnerable children can be pushed into deeper hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. 

Losing access to essential resources can easily create a cycle of vulnerability, because these are the things that enable children to build up their resilience and their capacity to adapt to difficult circumstances. As the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) points out, the climate crisis is a children’s rights crisis. UNICEF describes the multitudes of ways the climate crisis can impact children specifically and has created a Children’s Climate Index. Already, for example, the education of an estimated 40 million children is disrupted every year, whether from physical destruction of schools or impassible routes to walk there, or less directly from being forced to drop out of school to earn even minimal extra income to help their families survive because of the impact of climate change. 

The families most at risk of being forced to leave their homes in search of food are those who had the fewest material resources to begin with, especially those whose governments have little capacity to meet their emergency needs.  The quickening pace of climate-induced displacement and migration is because increasing numbers of people are caught in desperate situations with few options. 

Approximately 32 million people were internally displaced by disasters in 2022. In displacement contexts, children are at increased risk of family separation, trauma, loss of access to education, exploitation and abuse, and violence.

Acting to Protect Children

Bread recommends actions that the United States can take to help reduce the toll of climate change on children. Some are included here, while others will be discussed in future articles on child hunger and climate change.

As most people now understand, the U.S. and other top producers of greenhouse gas emissions must reduce them as quickly as possible, reaching net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest. The consequences of not doing so are, in one word, grim. Exactly how climate change will affect migration depends, of course, on the world’s success in reducing emissions, but the U.N. International Organization on Migration (IOM) reports that by 2050, as many as 216 million people could be forcibly displaced within their own countries.  

The U.S. can contribute to closing funding shortfalls for low-income countries. As Bread and many others have argued, the communities suffering the most from climate change are those who have contributed the least to greenhouse gas emissions. A good example is Madagascar, whose 2022 hunger crisis was caused largely by climate change, although its greenhouse gas emissions are less than 0.01 percent—that’s one in 10,000—of the world total.

One fund established recently is the Loss and Damage Fund (LDF). Countries that are eligible to receive resources from the LDF are developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.

But the needs far outweigh the projected funding available. Climate adaptation includes a wide range of actions taken to build resilience to climate change impacts—for example, using drought-resistant seeds or improving weather advisory systems. The cost estimate to build resilience sufficiently to protect the populations of low-income countries is more than $194 billion annually.

The United States could also facilitate debt relief for low-income countries that urgently need to take climate adaptation measures. Enabling governments to spend more on social safety systems would help build children’s resilience to climate shocks. According to UNICEF’s model, improved health and nutrition services could considerably reduce overall climate risk for 460 million children. 

Isabel Vander Molen is a climate-hunger fellow, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

The post Children Pay the Price of Climate Change  appeared first on Bread for the World.

The majority of people forced from their homes remain in their own countries—62.5 million, compared with 35.5 million who are refugees in other countries. An estimated 4.4 million people are “stateless,” meaning that no country recognizes them as citizens who have the right to remain in that country.

Beginning in August 2017, hundreds of thousands of members of the Rohingya minority ethnic group fled to Bangladesh, specifically the southern region of Cox’s Bazar, from neighboring Myanmar (formerly Burma). The Rohingya population in Myanmar has been terrorized and killed indiscriminately, and the majority of survivors have fled the country. They are stateless because the government of Myanmar does not recognize them as citizens. 

After an extensive investigation, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken declared on March 21, 2022, that members of the armed forces of Myanmar committed genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya– only the eighth such declaration since the Holocaust. 

The relative wealth of one host country versus another can make all the difference in a refugee crisis. Two situations may involve a similar number of people, and both groups may be fleeing conflict, but an emergency of severe hunger, malnutrition, and disease would likely arise in only the host country with few resources.   

Bangladesh has made significant economic and social progress in recent years, but it is still among the poorest countries in the world. About 20 percent of all refugees are hosted by countries, including Bangladesh, that are part of a group designated by the U.N. as having low incomes and “fac[ing] severe structural impediments to sustainable development.” 

Bangladesh is the most densely populated country in the world. It is as though half the U.S. population lived in Alabama. Its geography presents difficult and complex environmental problems. Some areas are less than seven feet above sea level, making flooding during the annual four-month monsoon season a serious problem. The saltwater left in the wake of floods can make it impossible for farmers to grow the staple crop, rice. Devastating cyclones are also a frequent occurrence.

Donor countries, including the United States, have contributed significant amounts of assistance to support those fleeing genocide and the host communities that have welcomed them. Between August 2017 and March 2022, for example, the United States contributed $1.7 billion to efforts to improve the humanitarian situation of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.

Nonetheless, as Bread for the World has discussed recently, budget shortfalls have forced the World Food Programme (WFP) and other humanitarian agencies to cut rations for people in need in every world region. The Rohingya refugee community suffered two successive ration cuts, in March and May 2023. Combined, the cuts reduced the food allowance from $12 a month per person to only $8.

At a June 2023 briefing hosted by Bread and InterAction, we heard from Ms. Yang Chen, NGO Platform Coordinator in Cox’s Bazar. She coordinates the efforts of more than 100 nongovernmental organizations working to help Rohingya refugees. Speaking remotely from Bangladesh, she described some of the impacts of inadequate food rations. Because refugees are not permitted to work, they have no means of making up the difference between the 9 cents per meal they receive now, following the two ration cuts, and the actual cost. Their energy and concentration are suffering.  Crime has also increased, with some younger men forming gangs. 

Three U.N. Special Rapporteurs—on the Right to Food; the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar; and Extreme Poverty and Human Rights—also commented on the devastating effects of the ration cuts, imploring the international community to make up the $56 million shortfall that necessitated the cuts as soon as possible. 

“In the span of three months, Rohingya refugees have seen their food rations cut by a third, further eroding the health and security of a population already suffering from severe trauma and deprivation,” the group wrote. 

A lasting resolution of the Rohingya refugee and hunger crisis will depend on the actions of the government of Myanmar. At this writing, the Rohingya refugees have been in Bangladesh for nearly six years, making theirs a “protracted” refugee situation. Observers agree that they cannot return home safely at this time.

The Rohingya hunger crisis is a product of war. In my next piece, I will discuss what it might tell us about the implications of the fighting in Sudan that erupted in April 2023. 

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

The post Hunger Hotspots: Refugees and Displaced People appeared first on Bread for the World.

When I was 7 years old, my father went to prison. He was sentenced to more than 20 years. Like many children with an incarcerated parent, I experienced feelings of shame, depression, and withdrawal. In my case, this lasted until I was a young adult and went to college.

Having a father in prison felt like I was being punished for something beyond my control. The concept of “indirect sentencing” has resonated with me and with others I’ve met who have an incarcerated family member. There is an understanding that Incarcerating one person has emotional and economic impacts beyond that person. Families face a number of problems as their relative goes from arrest, to conviction and sentencing, to incarceration.

My father’s absence caused a financial strain. My mother had to raise me as a single parent, leaving both of us more susceptible to living in poverty. We were fortunate to have a certain level of stability because of strong support on my mother’s side of the family, but not all children with an incarcerated parent are as fortunate. The rising rate of incarceration of women has made the problem worse. With one or especially both parents in prison, many children fall deeper into hunger and poverty. 

In the United States, one in 28 children have at least one parent incarcerated —approximately 2.7 million children at any given time. An estimated 10 million children have experienced parental incarceration at some point in their lives. Many are quite young—about half of all children with an incarcerated parent or parents are under the age of 10. The likelihood of confronting parental incarceration is very closely tied to race. Broken down by race, the statistics show that one in nine African American children (11.4 percent), one in 28 Latino/a children (3.5 percent), and one in 57 white children (1.8 percent) have an incarcerated parent. 

Bread’s fact sheet Hunger and Mass Incarceration reports that more than two-thirds of all incarcerated men had been employed at the time they were sentenced to prison, and more than half had been their children’s primary source of financial support. A study by the Pew Charitable Trust found that family incomes were on average 22 percent lower in the years the father was incarcerated than during the year preceding his being sent to prison, and they remained 15 percent lower the year following his release. Many household budgets were further strained by expenses associated with incarceration, such as collect phone calls, day trips to visit their relative, and prison commissary costs—in addition to lawyers’ fees and court fees.

Many incarcerated people work, but most are paid very little, between 23 cents an hour and $1.15 an hour. They struggle to afford their own basic necessities, such as soap and toothpaste, which are sold at prices that may be twice those of n neighborhood stores. They may also be required to make restitution payments. Thus, parents in prison are able to send very little money, if any at all, home to help support their children. 

All these factors help explain why children with an incarcerated parent are more susceptible to living with hunger and poverty. The United States does not have many nonprofit or government-funded programs  targeted specifically to families who have lost a wage earner to incarceration. Some may qualify for federal nutrition programs such as SNAP or other types of social protection. But overall, the assistance available is simply not enough to respond in a meaningful way to the needs of the several million children who are living with indirect sentencing.

Karyn Bigelow is a research analyst with Bread for the World Institute.

The post Hunger among children of incarcerated parents appeared first on Bread for the World.

2021 could see the largest public investment in U.S. infrastructure in more than half a century. We should be glad for that. Much of our nation’s physical infrastructure is badly in need of repair. A significant investment could also create millions of good jobs for people who have been unemployed or underemployed because of the economic fallout of COVID-19.  

I think there’s a natural tendency to think of infrastructure solely in terms of physical objects—highways, bridges, the electric grid, and other structures built with heavy machinery. That’s certainly one kind of infrastructure.

But there’s another sort of infrastructure in which the returns on investment are much higher. Here I’m talking about our nation’s human infrastructure—the skills and ingenuity of the workforce, which in turn depend on the health and education of our population.

The U.S. economist James Heckman won a Nobel Prize in 2000 for his pioneering work showing that investments in people during their early childhood yield lifelong returns: they ultimately are better educated and more productive on the job, and they are less likely to need government safety net programs. Talking about “investment” and “productivity” may sound as though we’re thinking of young children as commodities, but our use of these terms is quite limited; it is strictly in the context of comparing investments in human infrastructure and physical infrastructure.

The primary reason governments spend taxpayer money on infrastructure is to promote sustainable economic growth. In the 1950s, President Eisenhower didn’t call for massive investments in interstate highways so that Americans could appreciate the scenery as they drove by. His goals were to advance interstate commerce and improve national security.

The Biden-Harris administration’s plan for investing in human infrastructure through the American Jobs Act and the American Families Plan presents a unique opportunity to advance an infrastructure package for early childhood development. Let’s call it a 1,000 Days infrastructure plan.

Institute Insights readers probably recognize that I mean a specific 1,000 days—the “1,000 Days” that is the unique human nutrition window open between pregnancy and age 2. Readers may remember from Bread’s advocacy on global nutrition that the 1,000 Days is when good nutrition has greatest potential to improve the course of a person’s entire life. Bread has worked on issues around the 1,000 Days in other countries, but of course the United States also has many people in that window, and in this piece I’m talking specifically about a 1,000 Days infrastructure plan for the United States.

As an anti-hunger organization, Bread pays particular attention to nutrition. The U.S. nutrition program tailored to people in the 1,000 Days—it seems more natural to think of them as pregnant women, babies, and toddlers—is WIC. WIC does a pretty good job of reaching lower-income women and their babies with nutritional support, and it could be even better with a few specific policy changes. But the 1,000 Days infrastructure we need is much broader in scope than WIC.

Major weaknesses in other parts of the 1,000 Days infrastructure are not only causing the United States to miss out on much of the positive impact that could be made during this nutritional window of opportunity, but are also reducing the effectiveness of WIC.

WIC is associated with reduced rates of maternal and infant mortality. But U.S. maternal and infant death rates are higher than those of any other high-income country. Few health indicators speak to the need to center racial equity in the 1,000 Days infrastructure more starkly than those on maternal mortality. Black women are far more likely to die as a result of pregnancy and childbirth: their death rate is more than three times that of whites.

Health care is inseparable from all other parts of a 1,000 Days infrastructure. Without it, the entire edifice is weakened. Most families eligible for WIC are already receiving Medicaid. Better coordination between WIC and Medicaid would improve services in both. For example, both WIC and Medicaid provide support for breastfeeding, and they could coordinate more closely, drawing on WIC’s proven strength in culturally competent peer support.

The United States has much lower rates of breastfeeding than other high-income countries. This is one consequence of the fact that the United States is also the only high-income country that has no national paid leave policy.

Nearly one in four U.S. women return to their jobs within two weeks of giving birth, which makes it difficult or impossible to establish and continue breastfeeding. The Family and Medical Leave Act provides for 12 weeks of unpaid leave, but low-income women can ill afford to take time off without pay. Some employers voluntarily offer paid leave, but this almost always goes to higher-earning professionals rather than women who participate in WIC or Medicaid.

I hope you’re seeing how the pillars of a 1,000 Days infrastructure plan reinforce each other. This piece can only briefly mention a few components of a comprehensive 1,000 Days infrastructure plan. Suffice it to say there are many more.

In a recent blog post, I discussed the temporary expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) in the American Rescue Plan. This expansion is expected to cut child poverty nearly in half. Poverty and food insecurity occur at higher rates in families with young children. Critics of the expansion contend, without evidence, that it will discourage parents, particularly mothers, from working. Low-income parents simply cannot afford not to work. What prevents parents, mostly mothers, from working—more than anything else—is  lack of affordable, accessible child care.

Bread President Rev. Eugene Cho and Blythe Thomas, Director of 1,000 Days, explain what a 1,000 Days infrastructure would accomplish in an op-ed published in The Hill.

WIC, Medicaid, paid leave, child care, and CTC expansion are some of the essential elements of a 1,000 Days infrastructure. Individually, each is vital to positive outcomes during the 1,000 Days; together and aligned, they are a transformational investment in the nation’s human infrastructure—our next generation.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Major components of the CTC expansion:

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

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

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

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

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

Bread for the World Institute

Racial Wealth Gap Learning Simulation

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Key Facts About SNAP

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

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

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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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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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Famine has been declared in two counties of South Sudan, while other areas of South Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia, and Yemen are experiencing food security emergencies that could soon become famines. 20 million people are at risk of starvation in these countries, including 1.4 million children at “imminent risk of death” from starvation and malnutrition.

The risks associated with malnutrition are intensified by famine. When pregnant women and children younger than 2 live in famine conditions, they are at even greater risk of the short-term consequences (acute malnutrition and death) and the long-term consequences (stunting, disease, and poverty) of early childhood malnutrition than in less dire situations.

The post Fact Sheet: Nutrition During Famine appeared first on Bread for the World.

“Latinos are more likely to struggle to put food on the table and live in poverty than the general population,” said Bishop José García, director of church relations at Bread for the World. “We are also more likely to be paid sub-minimum wages and to endure sub-par working and living conditions. Although the situation is improving, it is still difficult for Latino families to make ends meet.”

While the hunger and poverty rates fell for every demographic group from the previous year, the rates for Latinos remained well above the national average. According to the data, 1 in 5 Latino households struggles to put food on the table – almost double the rate for white households. And Latino children are nearly twice as likely to lack access to nutritious food. In addition, 30 percent of households headed by an undocumented person and a startling 37 percent of female-headed Latino households live below the poverty line.

The higher rates of hunger and poverty among Latinos are direct results of racial and gender bias, and discrimination on the basis of immigration status. Contributing factors include low wages, less access to quality education, limited pathways to citizenship or legal status, higher healthcare costs, and higher levels of incarceration and deportation.

“Discrimination is still a substantial hurdle for many Latino families,” said García. “There are 55 million Latinos in the U.S. who are making significant contributions to our country. By passing comprehensive immigration reform, Congress would help to address some of these biases and give struggling families access to good-paying jobs, nutritious food, and better educational opportunities.”    

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Marvin es originario de Guatemala y ahora naturalizado mexicano. Es un hombre perseverante que está parcialmente ciego por cataratas. No puede abrir su ojo derecho porque es muy doloroso. Mantener a su familia de seis es especialmente difícil usando un solo ojo para trabajar.

Marvin ha superado muchos obstáculos en su vida, desde huir a México como refugiado guatemalteco hasta cruzar el desierto de Arizona. Y sigue parado en sus dos pies luchando por una vida mejor para su familia.  

Ha sido difícil alimentar a su familia, cuando huyeron a México no tenían nada, ni tierra, ni dinero, ni siquiera muchas esperanzas. Todavía recuerda cuando saltarse las comidas era una cosa de todos los días, para que sus hijas, Kari y Susi, pudieran comer. La historia no cambió drásticamente cuando su esposa Victoria tuvo a su hijo Chuy, en ese entonces proporcionar tres comidas a sus hijos fue un verdadero reto, ya que estaban alquilando tierras para cultivar frijoles y maíz, y no siempre con una buena cosecha. La situación de los García mejoró después de que Marvin emigró a Estados Unidos, y fue capaz de ahorrar suficiente dinero para construir una casa modesta, pero su salud se deterioró después de vivir en Estados Unidos durante algunos años. A su regreso a México, tuvo que luchar años para poseer un pedazo de tierra, que finalmente consiguió a través de un programa con Agros.

A pesar de que su situación económica es más estable, su ingreso no es suficiente para proporcionar una dieta nutritiva para su familia. Su hija Kari recientemente quedó embarazada de gemelos y debido a la falta de micronutrientes esenciales en su dieta, sus bebes nacieron con bajo peso y han estado luchando con enfermedades respiratorias.

Marvin no pierde la esperanza de que sus nietos “los gemelitos”, como les llama de cariño, crezcan saludables. No pierde la esperanza porque siempre le pide a Dios que lo ayude a salir adelante. Así, con la gracia de Dios, Marvin, Chuy, Susi, Karen y los gemelitos siguen para delante.

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The mention of April 15 evokes a range of emotions among Americans, many less than positive. But it means a welcome tax refund for working families who benefit from the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC). Congress passed legislation in December 2015 that makes recent improvements in the credits, which benefit low-income workers, permanent. Currently, low-income is defined as individual workers whose incomes are less than $15,000 a year, or couples who earn less than $20,000. These income levels are near the federal poverty line.  

Together, the EITC and the CTC prevent more people from living in poverty than any other federal program except Social Security. If Congress had not acted, the improvements would have expired in 2017. They include maintaining a $3,000 threshold for eligibility for the CTC, reducing the EITC marriage penalty, and raising the EITC for families with more than two children. In 2018, the improved benefits will lift an estimated16 million people – including up to 8 million children – closer to or above the poverty line. These working families will include, for example, about 1 million military and veteran families, 2.6 million rural families, and 6 million millennial workers ages 18-34. In all, up to 50 million Americans will benefit, including 25 million children.

Helping Workers Stretch Their Paychecks

The EITC and CTC encourage and reward work. As a worker’s earnings grow, so do her EITC credits, up to a ceiling that depends on family composition. For example, in tax year 2015, the maximum benefit for households with one child is $3,359.

A highly regarded study found that the EITC was the most significant factor behind the increase in employment among low-income single mothers following passage of the 1996 welfare law – more significant than either the strong economy at that time or the new law’s time limits and work requirements. That finding should not come as a surprise. People find value in work even if it is not well paid. Kathy Edin and Luke Shaefer, authors of $2 a Day, found that individuals living in extreme poverty identify themselves as workers much as others do, often making tremendous efforts to support their families through work and contribute to their communities in other ways.

Families most often use their EITC tax credits to pay for basic necessities, make home repairs, and maintain a vehicle to get to work. Additional education or training to boost workers’ employability and earning power are other popular investments. Much of the money, spent within a short time, also serves to boost the local economy.  

Because poverty damages people’s health and ability to focus on school and work, it is not surprising that claiming the EITC has been shown to improve the health of new mothers and reduce the number of infants with low birth weights. It also is linked to higher reading and math test scores of children. In addition, the tax credits have been shown help families save for the future. Low-wage workers are vulnerable – an unexpected car repair or medical bill can force them back into poverty. Building even a small cash reserve for emergencies is a step toward greater financial stability.

Increasing the Impact of the EITC and CTC

To meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of ending hunger and poverty by 2030, it’s essential to prevent even more families from falling below the poverty line. Polices that enable workers to save are one way to do this and the EITC and CTC can help.

To ensure the best outcomes of the EITC/CTC, we first need to make sure every eligible family receives the credits. Currently one in five families are not receiving the credits they qualify for. We need to reach these families.

Second, we need to focus on low-wage workers who don’t benefit from the EITC under current rules – for example, non-custodial parents and adults who don’t have children. Together, people who don’t qualify at all and people whose credits are not enough to offset their income and payroll taxes add up to more than 8 million low-wage workers. They are the only group in the United States that our federal tax system taxes into poverty or deeper into poverty.

There is bipartisan support for proposals that would reach people in this group – including lowering the minimum age for filing for the EITC from 25 to 21, raising the current benefit level from $500 to at least $1,000, and increasing the annual income limit from the current $15,000 per individual and $20,000 per couple. These changes could potentially be particularly helpful to younger people with less education who are struggling in the low-wage labor market.

Third, the EITC and CTC need to be complemented by an increased minimum wage. Far too many Americans are working full-time, year-round, but living in poverty. The minimum wage is much lower in real terms than it used to be, which means that minimum-wage workers and their families can afford to buy a lot less than they could in the past. Our country’s minimum wage workers are also falling further behind other workers – in economic terms, they are earning a lower percentage of the median worker’s wage than they used to.

There is a general consensus that people who work full time should not be forced to live in poverty. The EITC and CTC help, but so does paying taxes to support additional types of assistance, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). So we all can celebrate April 15 – both those who receive the EITC and the CTC and others who pay taxes to help meet our shared goals of providing everyone an equal opportunity.

Cynthia Woodside is a senior domestic policy analyst at Bread for the World Institute.

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Since then, the Zambian and U.S. governments, health institutions, and other organizations have worked together to gain some control over the disease.

However, HIV cases are still high in Zambia — 12.4 percent of adults (over age 15) were HIV-positive in 2014, according to the United Nations AIDS program. And in November 2015, UNICEF reported that AIDS is now the leading cause of death for African teenagers, which means that many teens dying of AIDS were most likely HIV positive as younger children. Zambia has its share.

Making progress on malnutrition and health is key to ending hunger.

Connecting Nutrition and Health

The connections between nutrition and health are becoming more understood in both developed countries like the U.S. and developing nations like Zambia. At St. Francis, a church-supported mission hospital in eastern Zambia, nutrition and treatment for HIV already go hand-in-hand.

By 7:30 every morning, one wing of the hospital is full of adults and children. They sit on ledges in the outdoor corridors, which serve as waiting areas for patients. A hospital staff person leads an informal workshop on eating well at home for the group that arrives first in the morning. In this way, the hospital provides extra nutrition education to patients with HIV and their caregivers while they are waiting to be seen by the staff.

Among those lined up one morning are Colins Mwale, a 6-year-old boy, and his mother, Felistas Miti Mwale. Colins is HIV-positive and has come to St. Francis’ out-patient clinic for a regular check-up and monthly supply of antiretroviral drugs. 

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Mothers and Children Surviving and Thriving

Colins and the other patients — the hospital sees as many as 150 daily — will have a series of visits to offices along the corridor where their medical history and current health status will be checked. Staff also speak to patients — Colins’ mother in this case — about what they eat at home during these check-ups. 

In one office, after asking about Colins’ diet, the nurse asks his mother what time he takes his medication every day. The nurse checks Colins’ height and weight and then asks Felistas about Colins’ mental development. “How is his speech? Does he play with his friends?” The nurse notes that Colins is underweight for his height. She advises his mother to give him foods high in protein, like peanuts, which are readily available to many rural Zambians, as a snack. 

For HIV-positive patients like Colins, the hospital is receiving assistance from the Thrive program of PATH, a U.S.-based nonprofit that specializes in health in developing countries. Thrive is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a major way our federal government carries out its response to hunger and poverty overseas. 

The last stop for Colins and his mother on their visit is the pharmacy at the end of the corridor. The HIV drugs are supplied by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, started in 2008, and another way the U.S. government provides assistance overseas. Some patients also receive high-protein dietary supplements, supplied by USAID, if they are determined to be malnourished during their visits. 

With the medicine and food Colins and his mother receive, the nurse believes he can have a good quality of life and live to be 45 or 50 years old. While no one can see that far into the future, he is being given a chance at surviving and thriving today.

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831,500 HIV-positive pregnant women received antiretroviral medications in 2015, resulting in 267,000 babies born HIV-free. Source: PEPFAR World Aids Day update

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It’s around 10:00 on a morning in October, and already the African sun is beating down, hinting at another hot and still day. In the shade in a clearing in the village of Chimudomba in eastern Zambia, a group of ten mothers and their babies and toddlers sit on mats. 

Margret Zimba is beginning her lesson with the women. As a warm-up and review of previous lessons, she started by singing a song with the women in their native language. “How many times should a child eat per day?” the song simultaneously asks and teaches. The women clap and dance while singing. It’s an easy way to get a simple but important message across to the mothers.

Zimba lives in the village and received training to be a volunteer nutrition leader from the Mawa program, run by U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services. Mawa operates with funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a major way our federal government carries out its response to hunger and poverty overseas. 

If a mother eats well, it’s easier to deliver her child … you find a difference even in the children

Margaret Zimba speaking in the village of Chimudomba in eastern Zambia

Mothers and Children Surviving and Thriving

With the help of leaders like Zimba, women are learning about good nutrition for their children from pregnancy until age 2. They are learning the importance of good nutrition in a child’s first 1,000 days.

Giving children enough food and nutrients early in life is a proven way to prevent problems such as stunted growth, learning problems, and poor health, which can affect people for a lifetime. 

Good nutrition is also important for pregnant mothers. Every year, thousands of women in developing countries die during childbirth. “If a mother eats well, it is easier to deliver a child, and they are not going to lose a lot of blood during delivery,” Zimba explains. “You find a difference even in the children when the mother eats well during her pregnancy.”

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Keeping People Alive and Healthy

What Mawa teaches is the business of keeping people alive and healthy. It’s critical in places like this village, where most families are subsistence farmers. During the “hunger season” in February and March — before new crops are harvested but after the previous year’s crops have run out — these families sometimes experience severe malnutrtion.

On this day, Zimba is giving the fifth lesson in a series of 12 in the village. Today’s lesson will include a cooking demonstration. She teaches that just as adults in the village usually eat a variety of foods, young children’s rapidly growing bodies need as balanced diet as well, but a baby can’t chew foods like peanuts, which are high in protein. Zimba demonstrates how to grind up peanuts and black-eyed peas to add to the corn-based porridge normally given to children so they can get nutrients from different types of food. Zimba will return with the mothers to the mats later as they feed the new porridge mixture to their children in amounts based on their age.

Through this hands-on learning, mothers and babies are on the road to a better, healthier life.

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

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

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Now is the time to strengthen U.S. leadership by systematizing nutrition within development assistance. The existing operational structure is fragmented and complex, while funding to scale up nutrition remains inadequate. Action on five fronts is needed: an overarching nutrition strategy with a transparent budget; a high-level nutrition focal point; increased capacity in Washington and the field; harmonized nutrition guidance; and strengthened monitoring.

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More than 100 country governments and civil society organizations have signed on to the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement, which supports efforts to expand effective nutrition programs to undernourished pregnant women and young children. Reducing maternal and child malnutrition is a key priority of the U.S. government’s Feed the Future and Global Health initiatives.

There are opportunities to reform food aid to better align it with the objectives of these two programs. The U.S. Government Accountability Office has reported on inefficiencies in U.S. food aid procurement and distribution, while Tufts University has released an important study of ways to improve the nutritional quality of food aid. With debate on the next farm bill beginning, now is the time to improve this essential program.

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The Obama administration’s initiative to fight hunger offers an opportunity to improve nutrition of mothers and children around the world. In addition to the focus on increasing agricultural productivity and raising rural incomes, the administration should scale up nutrition interventions and integrate nutrition into its development programming. It should use improvements in maternal and child nutrition as a key indicator of success. It should support country-led strategies, coordinate with other donors and ensure that U.S. actions and policies do not undermine nutrition objectives.

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Ending poverty and hunger will require a comprehensive framework of solutions, that recognizes the many factors that contribute to economic hardship, such as lack of employer-provided health insurance, poor schools, lack of affordable housing, little access to financial services, and a host of others. Goal setting is the critical first step, as it focuses the nation’s attention on outcomes and gives the public a way to hold the nation’s leaders accountable.

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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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