Birthday Bash Roundup: A Year of Changes

Between our blog's launch and our birthday, Bread for the City saw a number of major institutional changes which were covered on our blog. The biggest, of course, was our recent decision to temporarily move off of Fridays, have staff take a 10% pay cut, and managers take a 12% pay cut. Those changes went through this past April 1st.

But let's not forget the other monumental steps we've taken. Last year, Bread for the City started partnering with Claggett Farm to provide nutritious, fresh produce to the many people who come through our two food pantries. That partnership was so successful that it grew into a massive nutrition commitment on the part of our food staff. Starting September 1st, we vowed that we would provide fresh produce in every bag that went out our door. Working with a number of sources, we continue that commitment. Even more exciting, we're currently ramping up to start sending volunteers out to local farms to bring back whole tons of fresh produce. Also in the mix, a group of donors combined their efforts in March to buy us eggs every month that we distribute through both our pantries.

Maybe you've also heard of our upcoming expansion! Due to a generous grant from the DCPCA and the DC Government, Bread for the City is going to be doubling the size of our medical clinic!! Our groundbreaking was on March 25th, and we had a pretty great turnout.

Our Holiday Helpings program, through which we distributed a complete Thanksgiving meal to 12,214 families in need (our goal was 10,000, so we beat it by 20%!), was our most successful to date.

We also spoke with a number of our patrons, asking their opinions on certain issues, archiving their recollections of days past, and providing an insight into why we care so much about healthcare, teaching good nutrition, and a comprehensive approach to poverty issues.

Partner organizations helped us raise over $20,000 through the Help the Homeless Walk this past year--you can see some of those partners walking with us in our slideshow.

It's Our Blog's Birthday Tomorrow!

Beyond Bread is 1 year old!!

I can hardly believe it! Our little blog is one year old tomorrow! It’s strange to think how much we’ve grown over the course of a year, and how much news we’ve covered.

And yet, as I reflect on all the work we’ve put into Beyond Bread so far, I have to admit that there is much more to do. With all of our programs serving more people, the anticipation of DC’s budget cuts for critical programs like Local Rent Supplement and Housing First, and the economy still in urgent need of repair, there will be much more expected of us in our sophomore year—and much more we will expect of ourselves.

Thank you to the many readers, subscribers, and guest contributors who have helped us get to where we are today; especially to the army of volunteers who helped me learn HTML in a week, and the other army that met with me a year ago almost to the day to give me advice on how to structure content. We are truly a volunteer and reader supported endeavor, so this is your blog's birthday as much as it is ours. Please continue to send us your thoughts, suggestions, and impressions of how we can improve our blog. In the meantime, for the next couple of days, we’ll be running a retrospective of some of the many stories we’ve covered over the span of the year.

We’re at 367 posts and counting—thanks for reading!

DC Judiciary Committee votes to protect civil legal services

Some good news on the legal services front!

Yesterday, the DC Council Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to maintain funding for civil legal services for low income DC residents.

Under the approved budget, more than $3.5 million will be allocated for civil legal services (including loan repayment for eligible lawyers). This is essentially the same amount of funding that was allocated to legal services for the poor in the FY 2009 budget. Considering the fact that this funding stream is just barely older than the economic downturn, and given the scale of DC's current budget crisis, it is no small beans to see the funding maintained.

The need for civil legal services in low income communities has always been vast – 97% of defendants in landlord/tenant cases lack representation. With the foreclosure crisis and economic turmoil, that need is only intensifying. The Judiciary Committee clearly recognizes how vital these services are to our community: its vote is in support of programs like the Court Based Legal Services Program—in which Bread for the City, the Legal Aid Society, and the Neighborhood Legal Services Program place lawyers on site in court to meet with tenants on the critical first day of litigation—and like Project HELP, the subject of this great recent WaPo feature.

And yet, this victory is not yet certain: the recommended budget must be approved by City Council. (The full Council will consider the budget on May 12th.) You can help by express your thanks to Chair of the Committee, Phil Mendelson, and the other Committee members: Mary Cheh, Jack Evans, Murial Bowser, and Yvette Alexander. In fact, take any opportunity to tell any Councilmember how important it is to fund civil legal services, now even moreso than ever before.

In the meantime, many thanks to Sunil Mansukhani, Executive Director of the DC Access to Justice Commission, for his great work on this issue, along with Bread for the City Attorney Su Sie Ju, who also sits on the Commission. (See our previous coverage of the Access to Justice Commission here.)

In other news, we're excited for Patty Mullahy Fugere, Executive Director of Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, for winning the DC Bar's 2009 Brennan Award. Congratulations, Patty!

National Poverty News Roundup for 28 April

Here in the week following the signing of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act -- a piece of national legislation that, among other things, sets in motion a dramatic expansion of AmeriCorps and inaugurates a new "Summer of Service" program for middle and high school students -- it appears that the need for such service remains as high as ever. Food banks across the country continue to see increased demand and decreased supplies, while tent cities, sometimes populated by long-term residents, continue to be a feature of the contemporary US housing scene. And although we have both successful examples of and expert knowledge about particular policies that can address the problem of homelessness, funding remains a challenge, especially in these economic times.

The economic downturn is not only affecting poverty-reduction efforts in the United States, of course, but is also having an effect globally. US Treasury Secretary Geithner cautioned that international financial institutions needed to alter their practices in order not to give up global gains in fighting poverty, and focus more on "long-term development objectives." The Obama administration is seeking $100 billion in new aid money, and for the first time in its history the IMF has agreed to issue interest-bearing bonds to finance its programs. All this at the very same time that the World Bank has issued a report forecasting that Eastern Europe and Central Asia will see millions of people pushed into poverty over the next few years. In such circumstances, it's inspiring to see rallies and assemblies of concerned groups, raising consciousness and perhaps helping make solutions politically viable.

On another front, things continue to go poorly for the mortgage modification bill that continues to meet with industry opposition as it makes its way through Congress. The relief system at the moment is perverse to the point where, reportedly, some struggling homeowners are purposely skipping mortgage payments in order to qualify for some kind of payment modification from their lenders. This hardly seems like a recipe for a sustainable program of keeping people in their homes. Given other societal and global needs, is a bailout of homeowners with unsustainable mortgages ethically justifiable? Yes, argues Randy Cohen, because "a foolish financial decision need not be a moral failure or even unusual." Agree or disagree, the claim -- and the discussion it provoked -- is worth taking a closer look at.

Riding High

It's about time! We've just bought a shiny, burly new van for our food pantry. (Pictured here with shiny, burly Food Program Director Ted Pringle.)

Bread for the City's previous van was more than eight years old, and in the process of carrying tens of thousands of pounds of food a month across the District, it was breaking down several times a year. We certainly wouldn't have been able to use it for our new gleaning initiative slated for this summer.

But finally, we've been able to raise enough money to purchase a new one -- this one larger than the last, and perfect for bringing the large amounts of free fresh produce that we'll be pulling out of the region's farms soon enough.

In the meantime, we're still raising money for a new truck! Seriously: this thing--though rich in character--has a broken rear door, a faulty gas gauge, a leaking radiator, and no air conditioning. Summer is basically here; our drivers are anxious. You can help us help thousands of people by giving to the truck fund.

And while we wait for a new truck, there's time for us to induct the van into our family. We are henceforth accepting submissions for a name for this van. Have any ideas? Email us or leave a suggestion in the comments.

PS: Many thanks to our donors who helped us seal the deal on this new van, including Rachel Levinson and Ariel Waldman, Vaughn and Marion Simmons, the Rotary Foundation, the Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, and Counterpart International, and many others. Thanks to you, we are motorin'!

PPS: Ted tells us that the new van came along with cargo containers that we don't actually have a use for them. Do you, or someone you know? Take a look below, and make us an offer. They could be yours...

Beyond Bread: The Serve America Act Becomes Law

~USA Today is reporting that community health clinics that accept patients regardless of whether they have insurance are under great strain as unemployment rises. Since health insurance is tied to employers in this country, being laid off means more than losing just a paycheck. I would argue that, especially in DC, the health safety net was under strain for years before the economy fell off a cliff. Bread for the City has been operating at capacity for a number of years (in fact, the lack of healthcare in our community is the reason we’re expanding our center in Shaw). Still, our medical clinic has since its inception accepted patients regardless of whether they have health insurance, and I’m glad community clinics are getting into the public eye more.

~The DC Fiscal Policy Institute’s blog had a nice follow-up to the stories we’ve been running about the Bag Bill. Though DCFPI has not formally endorsed the bill, they do point out that in Seattle (where a similar bill was passed) 88% of respondents with incomes under $25,000 told pollsters they were willing to pay a little extra for bags. Hopefully some person or group will field a similar poll in DC and dismiss the misconception that low-income residents care less about cleaning up their community than their more affluent neighbors.

~President Obama signed the much-lauded Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act this week, expanding a number of AmeriCorps programs. Though your correspondent is more concerned about what was left out of this bill than what is in it, the act certainly comes at the right time. Recent college graduates are going to have a hard time finding work in non-profits right now, and AmeriCorps is a good way to get experience while providing a very necessary support to direct-service organizations.

~I’m happy to congratulate the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, a non-profit organization we work very closely with, on the fundraising equivalent of sinking a half-court shot. In only six weeks, a group of attorneys halved the organization’s deficit by soliciting donations from 330 attorneys in DC.

~Philanthropy Journal reports that newspaper foundations are putting a halt to their charitable giving.

Helping Other People Help People: Columbia Road Health Services

This week (our 5th installment of Helping Other People Help People, but who’s counting?) I’m pleased to introduce awesome community clinic Columbia Road Health Services. As with our Fit for Fun classes, Columbia Road Health Services believes that exercise and healthy living don't have to be boring and tedious.

After a year of project development, CRHS Mental Health Counselor Debra Vekstein is now working with the first pilot group of Hermanas en Salud (Sisters in Health), through which clinic patients manage their stress, relax, and eat healthy food together.

Debra tells us that the program is "to get people to start thinking about making broader changes in their lifestyle, which are beneficial to both their physical and mental well-being."

How can you help? Debra is seeking 12-15 yoga mats and pedometers for their bilingual yoga and exercise program. If you would like to donate, please contact Debra at debra.vekstein@crhs.org.

Special thanks to CRHS Development Assistant Colleen Hughes for the information- we are excited to help!

We Need You: Intern with Bread for the City

Seeking a Development and Communications Intern

Description: As an intern at Bread for the City, the successful candidate will help give shape to an innovative communications platform through which we will tell critical stories about the dynamics of poverty, social service, and Washington DC.

This is a great opportunity to learn about non-profit communications, new media, social justice advocacy, and a wide range of urban policy matters. We can assist with coordination of academic credit for students.

Responsibilities:

• Daily analysis of major and local newspapers, blogs, and select magazines.


• Work with BFC staff and volunteers to identify clients and community members with compelling stories to tell. Conduct interviews of BFC staff, clients and community members in an atmosphere of dignity and respect. Transcribe interviews and compose for publication.


• Write posts for Bread for the City’s “Beyond Bread” blog. Outreach to local blogs.


• Engage with nascent Bread for the City network on Facebook.
• Twitter, even.


• Other tasks as assigned by development staff.

Requirements: Strong interpersonal skills and an ability to communicate and work with a wide variety of people. Working knowledge of media, both mainstream and online. Helpful but not required: experience with photography and/or journalism, HTML-literacy, proficiency in Spanish, and an ear for stories. Willingness to take direction and also to work independently; confidence, flexibility, and, above all, a commitment to social justice.

Interested people should contact Greg Bloom at gbloom [AT] breadforthecity [dot] org with a cover letter, writing samples, and links to and comments about a couple of Beyond Bread posts that you really like.

National Poverty News Roundup for 21 April

The news roundup is back after a slight absence. Top of the list for this week, even though the report is a couple of weeks old by now, is the national March unemployment report, which puts the national unemployment rate at 8.5%. Although that's up 3.4% in the last twelve months, this is the kicker sentence in the report's summary: "Half of the increase in both the number of unemployed and the unemployment rate occurred in the last 4 months." Half. There may be isolated bright spots in the national economic picture, but overall, it looks like we're continuing to see the effects of earlier financial and housing collapses rippling through various sectors. Hawai'i can't build planned homeless shelters, and Minnesota's plans to end long-term homelessness are also threatened by budget cuts. Although the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development continues to award grants, it remains unclear whether these grants will be sufficient to replace the funds that localities and regions have lost in the current economic climate.

Layoffs continue to spread into new industries and sectors, affecting people who never thought they'd lose their jobs. One food bank manager reports that the demand for food is up 40% in his region; other food banks are turning to grow-your-own policies in an effort to supplement the other food that they distribute. Tax day, always a stressful time, was worse this year for many people unable to pay their bills; some tax preparers report a large increase in the number of people paying taxes with credit-cards. And mortgage lenders continue to resist the Obama administration's foreclosure-reduction plans that give bankruptcy judges the authority to change loan terms; that might signal even more foreclosures to come, now that the voluntary moratorium on foreclosures enacted by many of those lenders seems to have come to a close.

Stalemate? Amid the negative, some positive signs, not of economic recovery, but of ways that people are managing. Students and sports stars continue to engage in fundraising efforts. The Obama administration is in the process of unveiling a number of major policy initiatives, such as this plan for a national high-speed rail network; will this kind of infrastructure spending get the economy moving again? In the meantime, look for green jobs and maybe even the return of the barter economy, at least on a small scale. In the end, perhaps many of the solutions we seek can be best formulated and implemented regionally.

Bread & Butter Club Volunteer Day

Saturday was a fun day at Bread for the City. Volunteers--many of whom are members of our monthly giving program, "The Bread and Butter Club"--came to help out in our food pantry.

After receiving a tour of our center, the volunteers got to work packing bags of groceries that we will distribute this week. After the food pantry was stocked, we moved upstairs for lunch and our Development Director, Kristin Valentine, shared our expansion plans with the group.

Want to see the fun for yourself? Check out the pictures from the Bread & Butter Club Volunteer Day!

Many thanks to all who came, and please let us know if you would like to be invited to a similar event in the future. You can hang out with cool guys like Nicholas (pictured above)!

Rent Strike at Marbury Plaza

The April issue of East of the River magazine includes the following story about Marbury Plaza, a housing project with which Bread for the City's legal department has been deeply engaged.

Marbury Plaza Gains Support
Tenants Seek Abatement Assistance

Rats. Mold. Leaks. Fires. It might seem the list of problems at Marbury Plaza, 2300 Good Hope Road SE, couldn't get worse. But tenants also face financial and legal complications.

The Lightstone Group owns the 672-unit apartment complex as well as many commercial properties around the country. Recently, according to New York Times and Wall Street Journal reports, the company defaulted on several loans. At least four properties are now in receivership, and the future of others is in doubt.

Meanwhile, more than 50 Marbury Plaza tenants are participating in a rent strike. The strike was launched in October of 2008, after previous efforts failed to achieve needed repairs in rental units and common areas. Several individual tenants were sued for non-payment of rent, and the nonprofit Bread for the City is representing some of those sued. Vytas Vergeer, legal clinic director, says mediation will be the first goal at an upcoming status hearing.

Tenants can file counterclaims against landlords in such cases, Vergeer adds, but a change of ownership complicates matters. In the event of foreclosure, the bank would be responsible for bringing apartments and common areas up to code, he says, but foreclosure could limit tenants' ability to seek restitution from current owners.

In a separate effort, the District's attorney general, Peter Nickles, wrote last month to the owner/manager threatening suit unless “the property is maintained up to code as required by law.”

In addition, tenants are meeting with the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs officials and the District's Tenant Advocate to explore the possibility of assistance from the city's emergency abatement fund.

When asked if he'd like to add anything else to the story, Bread for the City's Vytas V. Vergeer said, "Yeah, my middle initial." And so it has been done.

Beyond Bread: Healthcare, Hate Crimes, and Housing

~A couple weeks ago we ran a story about Audra, a woman who lost her job and had her savings ravaged by the costs of medication when her employee-provided health insurance ran out. The National Women’s Law Center saw this story as a lightning rod for the healthcare debate, and with our permission used it as the foundation for a story that was picked up by the Huffington Post. The NWLC is a great policy organization, and they share a number of our values. One of our next steps in advocacy is TANF legislation, an issues that NWLC cares about a great deal.

~The Washington Post is reporting that Maryland is on the verge of adding “the homeless” to the groups protected by hate crimes legislation. Senator Mooney said he started taking the issue seriously when he saw a video clip of a group of homeless individuals beaten to death with baseball bats. Indeed, just a few months ago there was some media attention when a homeless man was beaten to death in Columbia Heights and no one stopped to help him. The DC Council is said to be considering similar hate crimes legislation.

~DCFPI’s blog reports that DC is cutting funding for affordable housing by a third for FY10, despite the rising demand (right now there are almost 26,000 people on the housing wait list).

~A big “hey, thanks!” to our friends at FART in DC, a group of young professionals dedicated to the art of faux athletics. All of the proceeds from their events are given to local charities, and recently they chose Bread for the City to be one of their beneficiaries. Their next conquest: blow up float racing!!

Expanding food stamp assistance in DC

Today the DC City Council will hear testimony on the Food Stamp Expansion Bill, of which we are very much in approval.

The Food Stamp bill raises the qualifying bar for food stamps from 130% to 200% of the Federal Poverty Line, by linking SNAP assistance with participation in TANF-funded programs. It removes the cap on assets, so that those low income families who do have savings won't have to spend those savings down before becoming eligible. And in a crafty move, the bill implements a "heat and eat" benefit: the city provides households with a nominal utility assistance benefit (through a program called Low-Income Heat and Energy Assistance, or LIHEAP), which in turn increases the amount of food stamps for which they qualify.

The expansions would happen just as President Obama's stimulus package gives a major boost to the amount of food stamps that participating families can receive through the SNAP program.

So take all these programs -- SNAP, LIHEAP, TANF -- and think of the X-Men. Individually, the X-Men and X-Women are all pretty rad. But it's when they all gang up that some bad guy heinie really starts getting kicked.

Altogether, it's estimated that this food stamp bill will bring an estimated 4600 to 4800 new families into the program, and $13 to 19 million of federal funding to hungry families in DC. (Moreover, DC Hunger Solutions claims that the administration of “Heat and Eat” will also streamline the in-take process and decrease error rates.)

When it comes to participation among people who are eligible for food stamps, our city already has one of the highest rates of participation in the country. In this way, DC is primed to make the most of the stimulus package - and on the long road to economic recovery, this will not just help hungry families, but indeed will benefit the entire city.

So big ups to all those who are really pushing this legislation, including DC Hunger Solutions and Councilmembers Michael Brown and Tommy Wells.

In the meantime, advocates can now look to the next opportunity to expand public support for the hungry. So, hey, advocates? This harried blogger probably won't scrape together the wherewithal needed to digest this 59 page government report about the range of food assistance policy options available to states, or this database of successful local nutrition-related policy initiatives. Who can tell us what the next-lowest-hanging fruit will be? The winner of this contest will be presented with a copy of the 2009 Food Stamp Expansion Bill signed by YOUR FAVORITE X-MAN!

DC Food Finder: the Webinars!

[I'm reposting this because there's another Food Finder seminar tomorrow at 11AM. RSVP with Jenny to attend.]

The DC Food Finder is a pretty simple tool, and its potential is pretty great. With Google Maps and a broad directory of food resources, we can help people find local sources of affordable food, and we can better understand the state of food access in our neighborhoods.

Along with the local Healthy Affordable Food for All (HAFA) coalition, we're working to spread the word and hear from the community how this site can help facilitate greater food access throughout Washington DC.

So HAFA is hosting half-hour Webinars to demonstrate how to use the English and Spanish versions of the Food Finder, and how to spread the word to the organizations and communities that could really use it.

We welcome all interested parties to join us on the webinar tomorrow:

Tuesday, April 21 @ 11:00 - 11:30 AM

The first half of the webinar will include a demonstration, and the second half will include instructions for how to spread the word about the Food Finder.

And, of course, we'd like to hear feedback from the community about how the Food Finder can be developed and utilized. Please share your thoughts!

Coalition for Community Investment supports the Equitable Income Tax Act

As part of the Coalition for Community Investment, Bread for the City has signed on to the following letter in support of the 2009 Equitable Income Tax Act, which would adopt revenue-raising measures without unduly burdening the most vulnerable DC residents in this time of economic crisis.

The Coalition for Community Investments supports the Equitable Income Tax Act of 2009, a bill that would set a new income tax bracket for households earning more than $500,000. This proposal, which closely follows one of the Coalition’s revenue-raising recommendations, would raise revenues to address DC’s serious budget shortfall and help preserve services that support DC families and neighborhoods. The Equitable Income Tax Act would raise revenues in a progressive way, with no effect on low-and moderate income households. It offers a good alternative to several revenue proposals in the FY 2010 budget that would fall most heavily on low-income residents.

A number of states have established a new income tax rate for higher-income households in recent years, including Maryland, California and New Jersey — and other states such as Delaware are considering doing so. The new tax rate of 8.9 % in the DC bill would increase taxes by just $400 for a family earning $600,000. It would leave the DC’s top income tax rate below the top rate in the Maryland suburbs — now 9.45 percent when both state and county income taxes are considered.

Leading economists endorse this approach to addressing state budget deficits. Peter Orzag (now head of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget) and Nobel Prize-winner Joseph Stiglitz have noted that “tax increases on higher-income families are the least damaging mechanism for closing state fiscal deficits in the short run.” They note that cuts in government programs can be damaging to local economies. Tax increases on higher-income families have a more limited effect because these families spend and invest much of their income outside of the local area and because modest tax increases are unlikely to affect their consumption.

The revenues that would be raised by the Equitable Income Tax Act could be used to restore funding to a number of programs that have been cut in recent years — such as affordable housing or pre-K education. These services are important to DC residents and to the DC economy.

The proposal to raise revenues through a new income tax bracket offers a good alternative to regressive revenue-raising provisions in the FY 2010 budget. The budget would eliminate cost-of-living adjustments to three tax benefits that are important to low-income families: the personal exemption, standard deduction, and property tax homestead deduction. And it would establish a new streetlight maintenance fee and increase the E911 fee, adding roughly $60 to annual utility bills for DC households. These would fall especially hard on low-income families who already struggle to pay utility bills and often face the threat of a utility shut-off.

In February 2009, the Coalition for Community Investment released recommendations for raising revenues or finding budget savings, including a recommendation to create a new bracket for families above a certain income level. The Coalition thus supports the Equitable Income Tax Act as one of several possible ways to raise revenues and preserve services, without adversely affecting low- and moderate-income families.

The Coalition for Community Investment represents over 160 diverse organizations and individuals committed to public investments that expand economic opportunity for our neighborhoods and families, and support a fair and transparent budget process. If you or your organization would like to join with us in the Coalition for Community Investment, please email signstatement[AT]some[DOT]org.

Helping SOME help people...

Spring is here! And also, this is our fourth installment of "Helping people help people!" While we've already featured SOME in this series, they have so much going on that we're going to highlight two more ways to help them out.

If you are amongst the ranks of starving artists, you would do well to enter the SOME Gobble Gobble Turkey Challenge. It's SOME's 40th Anniversary, and they are seeking a special 40th Anniversary turkey logo to help us mark this year's Thanksgiving Day Trot for Hunger. Says SOME:

We like our faithful turkey Bob, but we think that you might be able to design a new turkey logo that's even better. Join the event group on facebook and submit your design proposal right there.

You can also de-friend your competitors, and then re-friend them on May 1, when this contest ends.

Next: if volunteering with Bread for the City isn't enough for you, and you just can't get enough time in front of the computer, then you should help out with SOME’s very cool story collection project. It will be a great opportunity to hear firsthand about poverty in DC and ways that individuals have managed to overcome serious obstacles. Fifteen-minute video interviews will be filmed with 10 individuals, and SOME is seeking a volunteer to help transcribe these interviews. The project runs from April 20 - May 1, and this volunteer work can be done from any location.

As usual, there are great ways to come help at Bread for the City, too. We're excited to see you around the Center soon.

More on the Bag Bill

The mighty Anacostia.*

I've spoken with a number of people about the Bag Bill over the past couple of weeks. We support the bill, but there are some who have concerns that a fee on plastic bags will have an undue impact on the poor.

Two concerns were raised on multiple occasions that I think deserve an answer:

Why is a fee on plastic/paper bags needed now, of all times? DC is currently spending $50 million dollars annually to clean up the Anacostia river -- and that's not even working all that well. It's so bad that the EPA is about to start fining DC for the pollution. The cost for the EPA fines is a bit hard to calculate, but the Informer is throwing around figures of up to $32,500 a day for the trash in the Anacostia above the maximum daily load. That means, even by conservative estimates, that we’d be looking at fines of a few million dollars per year--even at a time when we're all struggling just to keep small, critical public programs alive. By spending more money on prevention, the city will avoid this fee and decrease the amount we have to spend long-term on litter pick-up, river scrubbings, etc.

What about the non-profit organizations in Wards 7 and 8? Small food pantries often receive their plastic bags as donations from constituents; there is concern that the bag fee would mean that fewer bags are donated to those organizations. Though my personal sense is that the effect of the fee on the supply of donated bags will be small, I also know that there are a number of ways that we non-profits can work together to ensure that there's no negative impact. Bread for the City, for example, buys bags in such bulk that they are just incredibly cheap--and in the past, we've worked with other food pantries to share the benefits of that scale.

But the point of all this is that we should have fewer disposable bags, right? And this bill will generate the funding to provide massive amounts of reusable bags to the public at large, with a specific emphasis on low-income neighborhoods. Bread for the City and a number of other non-profits (including non-profs in River East) have volunteered to be distribution sites for reusable bags, and we will be encouraging people to use those bags at both grocery stores and at our food pantry. We believe that this is a win-win for the community, though we do encourage any food pantry representatives or other public advocates to share any persistent concerns with us.

*picture used courtesy of TrailVoice.

Domestic Violence and TANF

[UPDATE: The Washington Post editorialized today on the Inspector General’s report on the Banita Jacks case. Their recommendation for “a system that would allow various parts of the social support network to share information” is a good addition to the ideas below. --ed]

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and sadly, domestic violence has been prominent in recent news. Unfortunately, these heartbreaking stories are just the tip of the iceberg.

Mayor Fenty had this to say: "There is really a need for more education and more involvement regarding the issue of domestic violence on the police level, the social service level and the community level." Indeed.

Domestic violence affects all communities and all kinds of people, but victims/survivors who have low incomes also have limited options. Financial resources can enable people to cut all ties to the abuser, removing themselves and their children from any locations—home, school, work, place of worship, etc.—where they could be stalked. Those without financial resources must rely on family, and if not family then the shelter system and other safety net programs; lack of housing options and inadequate income make it very difficult to escape a violent situation.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is a critical source of support for low-income mothers fleeing domestic violence. DC’s TANF intake process includes a screening for domestic violence, so that people at risk can be connected to domestic violence counseling. TANF work participation requirements can also be waived to give recipients enough time to go to court and counseling, and get a new job.

SOME and the DC Fiscal Policy Institute are in the process of publishing research that shows, unfortunately, that TANF recipients are not taking advantage of these opportunities. We know from a survey by the Urban Institute that 21 percent of DC TANF recipients reported experiencing threats or physical violence in the last year (and 42 percent in their lifetimes). Applied to current enrollment, this amounts to about 2,650 people. But only 81 people received domestic violence services in FY 2008, and only one TANF recipient was granted an exemption for work activities. Out of 2,650.

So, what can the city do?

• One problem is that people simply don’t know that the services exist. A stronger assessment and referral process would help connect people with the services that they need on the front end—substance abuse treatment, mental health counseling, domestic violence services, educational opportunities, etc.


• As Greg wrote last week, TANF recipients need sufficient income to be healthy and safe. Benefits should increase to keep pace with the cost of living.


• Housing is obviously a critical issue. A new nonprofit, the District Alliance for Safe Housing (DASH), has done some great research on housing for survivors and gotten city funding for programs to respond to the need.

In many ways we have a head start in DC: we have progressive programs and policies, and an attentive executive, agency, and Council. It will take all of us working together to make sure TANF recipients have the support and tools they need to stay on the path to safety.

American Medical Association honors Dr. Randi

Bread for the City's longtime medical clinic director, Dr. Randi Abramson, is on a roll: last year, she was honored as the DC Primary Care Association's "Caregiver of the Year," and this year the American Medical Association presented her with an "Excellence in Medicine" Award for her dedication to community health.

Thanks to the AMA, we can now share the video that was featured at the awards ceremony in March; the clip shares some insight into Randi's long history here at Bread for the City, and features some pretty adorable old-school pictures. Note the shot of her with a pregnant woman: back in the day when Bread for the City's clinic was in a basement without, like, actual doors! The distance from those humble beginnings to our in-the-works expanded medical center speaks to a great vision and commitment.



What's the Oscar for doctors? Whatever it is, one can safely assume she'll get that next. Though it should be noted that Dr. Randi was unaware that she'd been nominated for any of these awards, and really was only convinced to receive them because these were good opportunities for her to draw attention to the work of Bread for the City itself. Because who has time for awards ceremonies when there are patients to treat?

Volunteer Saturday Morning

Who: YOU! (and any friends you want to bring)

What: Spend two hours working in our food pantry, then enjoy lunch with Executive Director George Jones.

Where: Northwest Center (1525 7th Street)

When: Saturday, April 18th from 10am - 1pm

Why: Meet new people, learn more about our programs, enjoy a free and delicious lunch, and pick the brain of our executive director.

RSVP: 202.386.7611 or RSVP@BreadfortheCity.org


Space is limited. RSVP ASAP!

The Rise of the Reusable Bag

Bread for the City is giving out reusable bags!

Our readers are certainly aware by now that a mere two weeks ago Bread for the City came out in support of the "Bag Bill" that will place a 5 cent fee on bags at grocery stores. That money, in turn, will be directed toward cleaning up the Anacostia, which is currently in complete disrepair. If you're coming to this debate late, Greater Greater Washington, And Now, Anacostia, and Congress Heights on the Rise have also covered the bill.

Bread for the City is committed to doing our part. As the largest food pantry in DC, we use a lot a paper and plastic bags, and though that won't change overnight, we're on the path to being a more eco-friendly pantry. As you can see by the pictures above and below, Bread for the City is distributing reusable bags! These bags were provided by the DC Department of the Environment so that we can start giving them out before the fee actually takes effect. After the passage of the Bag Bill, a number of non-profs and agencies will be distributing reusable bags. The only difference is in color--the other bags will be blue. We're also putting information in the bags about the Bag Bill so that people will keep their bags, using them for both our food pantry and their local grocery store.

Beyond Bread: News on the Street

~The New York Times is reporting that newspapers created and sold by the homeless population are receiving wider circulation despite the recession. There are a number of newspapers all over the country--providing jobs for homeless residents either writing content or collecting cash as vendors. The skills learned from these positions are easily transferred to other areas, and the news stories often deal with the underbelly of homelessness that rarely makes its way into mainstream media sources. In fact, your author is an unabashed admirer of DC’s own newspaper for the homeless, Street Sense! On their blog, Street Sense is reporting that, like so many non-profits, their support from foundations is drying up even as demand for their service increases. They’ve been forced to limit their print edition to fewer pages, and use paper that is not as pleasant to the eye.

~DCist and Washington Grantmaker’s Daily both picked up the WaPo story earlier this week that DC has seen a 15% increase in homeless families over last year. As expected, the three major perpetrators appear to be unemployment, the high cost of housing, and foreclosures.

~According to the Examiner, The Treasury Department is reporting benefit payments from the unemployment trust fund totaled $44.6 billion so far this budget year, up from $19.4 billion last year.

~Hunger in America’s Greg Plotkin is writing about fixing our food system, and though he’s talking about California, his post could just as easily be about Greater Washington. We’ve got some ideas of our own, and food insecurity is something we’ll continue to talk about until healthy and affordable food is available to all DC residents.

Update on client story: the path back to solvency

Today we have an encouraging update on Mrs. A, a client whose story we first told on this blog a couple of months ago.

Mrs. A had worked all of her adult life, and never had to look for a job for more than a couple of weeks. But when her employer Fannie Mae pushed her in to "early retirement" in 2007, Mrs. A watched her severance package and life savings dwindle during the course of a job search that stretched well over a year.

When Mrs. A first came to us, her health insurance had expired, her diabetes medication had run out, and she had $33 to her name.

Since then, Mrs. A came to Bread for the City three more times in the last two months. She received diabetes medication, nutrition counseling and healthy groceries. During one visit, she even met with staff in our legal clinic.

"Without income, I'd fallen behind on my rent, and had received a summons. I needed to know what to do," explains Mrs. A. "The person I met with was very helpful and made me feel a little more stable – and helped me think about how to approach my landlord.”

In the meantime, we also referred Mrs. A to a program through which college students helped her buff up her resume. And Mrs. A kept herself busy: she took a class at H&R Block to learn more about tax filing, and she put this new knowledge to work by volunteering to help low income people with their taxes.

It was here that she bonded with a fellow volunteer who works for a subcontracting organization under the National Institute of Health. This new friend knew about a position open at her organization, and said she would recommend Mrs. A.

Weeks went by, and Mrs. A says she didn’t expect anything – but then she got a call.

“For a minute I thought I was being punked, because I didn’t make the connection.”

But it wasn’t a joke – and Mrs. A got the job. She starts today!

“It’s not permanent. My assignment is undetermined,” she says. “But there’s the possibility for full-time employment—and I get along well with others.”

Mrs. A is hopeful, and very relieved: "As of the first of May I’ll begin to pay my rent once more. I’ll be solvent again."

In the meantime, she's still insured by the DC Health Care Alliance, and hopes to continue visiting her doctor at Bread for the City.

The fact that Bread for the City was able to see me through…I wish I had the right words that would impress somebody. I can’t imagine – even in just these two months, what would have happened to me without medicine? When I came, I’d had three days of medication left, I thought maybe I’ll have to go to the emergency room, but that wouldn’t have gotten me through continuously. I can’t believe it, it felt like I was stuck in a third world country. I really don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t found Bread for the City. It’s a hard thing for a proud person, which I am, to ask for help. But the outcome was so positive, and I was treated so well, that I want to make sure people know about it.

[***UPDATE***: the Huffington Post picked up on this story, with a piece from the National Women's Law Center about women's stakes in health care reform.]

Sign on letter: No regressive taxes in the budget

It's Budget Season. With an $800 million deficit crisis, the city faces tough choices. Overall, Mayor Fenty’s budget proposal is encouraging: in particular, he has proposed to raise $120 million in new revenues. This will help preserve funding for many important public services.

But several of the proposed tax and fee increases (among them, the elimination of cost-of-living adjustments for certain tax credits) would fall most heavily on low-income residents.

The DC Fiscal Policy Institute is calling for action. The letter below urges Mayor Fenty and Chairman Gray to raise critical revenue in ways that don't disproportionately impact the poor. Bread for the City has co-signed; will you, or your organization, join us? (The deadline for signing on is Wednesday April 22; please email Ed Lazere to join.)

We are writing to express our concern over several tax and fee increases in the proposed FY 2010 budget that would fall most heavily on low-income residents, particularly on renters and the working poor. We urge the Council and Mayor to develop alternate ways to raise revenues that are progressive and do not adversely affect low-income residents.

We applaud the Mayor’s efforts to identify additional revenues to offset the city’s serious budget shortfall. The additional revenues help preserve funding for important public services in the FY 2010 budget. Many of the revenue proposals are sound, such as the proposal to close the “Delaware Holding Company” corporate tax shelter.

Some of the tax and fee increases, however, would be highly regressive, including the proposal to eliminate cost-of-living adjustments for the standard deduction, personal exemption, and property tax homestead deduction, as well as the proposals to create a new “streetlight maintenance” fee and to raise the E911 fee. Together, these regressive tax and fee changes total $26 million.

The standard deduction, personal exemption, and homestead deduction make DC’s tax system more progressive. The standard deduction is claimed by households that are not able to itemize deductions, including most renters and lower-income households. The personal exemption applies to all taxpayers and the homestead deduction applies to all homeowners. But because the value of these deductions is the same for all taxpayers, the deductions offset a larger share of income and home value for lower-income households.

Making annual cost-of-living adjustments to these tax benefits is important. Until recently, each of these deductions had remained frozen for 15 years or more and had lost significant ground to inflation. The deductions have been increased in recent years, and the DC Council adopted cost-of living adjustments in 2007 so that the deductions would not lose value in the future.

Eliminating cost-of-living adjustments to the standard deduction, personal exemption, and homestead deduction would result in higher taxes for DC residents than if current law were maintained. The impact of rising taxes would fall most heavily on lower-income residents, who benefit the most from these deductions. And the tax increases would grow each year, as these deductions fall further and further below the value they would reach if they were adjusted for inflation.

The proposals to create a new streetlight maintenance fee and to increase the E911 fee also are regressive and will adversely affect low-income residents. The streetlight maintenance fee would add $51 dollar to annual electricity bills, and the increased 911 fee would add roughly $10 a year to phone bills. While these fees may be manageable for middle and higher-income families, they would place a burden on low-income families, many of whom struggle to pay utility bills and face utility shut-offs as a result of non-payment.

For these reasons, we urge the Mayor and Council to maintain the cost-of-living adjustments for the standard deduction, personal exemption, and homestead deduction. We also recommend rejection of the streetlight maintenance fee and the E911 fee increase — unless steps can be taken to ensure that all low-income households can be exempted. We urge the Mayor and Council to find alternate revenue sources for the FY 2010 budget that would not adversely affect low-income residents.

For more about the budget, check out DCFPI's as-yet-unnamed new blog, and also their excellent and accessible Budget Toolkit. Many thanks to Ed Lazere and DCFPI for their vital work.

When it Comes to Healthy Food...

This guy means business.

It just occurred to me today that, though he posted yesterday, we never introduced one of our newest staff members—Jeffrey Wankel! This blog has covered one of Jeffrey’s jobs before: launching a new initiative through which we will send volunteers out to the fields of local farms and distribute that fresh produce for free to low-income residents through our two food pantries.

His official title, and a brand new one for BFC, is Health Education & Farm Outreach Coordinator. He is currently working with Sharon (our Nutrition Consultant), Ted (our Food & Clothing Director), and me (Volunteer Coordinator) to build relationships with local farms and coordinate volunteer groups that will go pick fresh produce at the farms. Right now we’re lining up dates with farms, and then we’ll start recruiting volunteers to join us on the days the farmers give us permission to come.

And because no one at Bread for the City has only one job, he’s also in charge of our new peer education program (which we posted about yesterday). When wearing his Health Educator hat, Jeffrey works in the Medical Clinic to promote one health topic each month (like heart health, stress reduction, and overcoming situational depression associated with job loss). He meets with patients of the medical clinic who express an interest in taking health education information out into their communities and trains them to be Peer Educators that can coach their own group on healthy living.

Jeff comes to us by way of an Americorps partnership with the DCPCA. Other things about Jeff: he’s 22 years old; originally from Bloomer, Wisconsin; he likes to stay active with sports, especially basketball; his favorite style of food is Italian; he just moved to Eckington; and he’s excited about working here. Both of these programs have a lot of moving parts, so we’ll be posting updates on the progress of both on your favorite blog—Beyond Bread!

Health care: it’s more than medication

by Jeffrey Wankel, Community Health and Farm Outreach Coordinator.

Jeffrey meeting with a patient in the Medical Clinic.

Bread for the City provides food for the hungry and medical care for the sick. Thousands of people depend on us for this, but what happens when they leave the building?

Health care doesn’t just happen in a medical clinic. If done right it happens every day, as part of a lifestyle. And while medicine can help our clients fight back illness, good habits (in things like diet and physical activity) will help keep them healthy in the first place.

As the new Community Health Coordinator, I’m working to make Bread for the City a center for health knowledge in addition to medical care. From patient visits, to group sessions, to informative literature placed around the clinic and posted on our walls, Bread for the City makes education a priority.

We work with our clients to achieve a broader understanding of how daily choices directly affect our long term health and wellness. This includes specifics like learning how to avoid foods that cause heart disease, or the negative mental and physical effects of alcohol and tobacco. Already this year, thousands have read the material and hundreds have taken information home to share with their friends and families.

One patient I’ve worked with recently found out that she has high blood pressure, and I shared some of our fact sheets about the matter. She requested more information, and then asked for multiple copies – and by the end of our meeting, she walked away with five different brochures. Her whole family was going to make some dietary changes, she said, because she did not want her children to also end up with high blood pressure.

These are the kinds of outcomes that happen here every day. And we are starting to do more. As part of a new community health initiative, we are identifying leaders among our client community, and training them to be volunteer peer educators. Peer educators will take this critical information into their own communities, where they can spread the word even further. In underserved areas that lack the resources to obtain adequate care, peer-to-peer health education is a great way to raise awareness of preventive health. We’re excited to be spreading word about healthy lifestyles beyond our doors and into the community.

Jeffrey comes to Bread for the City through a partnership between the DCPCA and AmeriCorps.

Beyond Bread: Supporting Reusable Bags

~Bread for the City recently came out in support of the Bag Bill, a measure that would put a five cent fee on plastic and paper bags at grocery stores. As we discussed, Councilmember Wells came to our Southeast Center to discuss the specifics of the legislation, and also take suggestions from our staff on how to implement the program in a way that didn't disproportionately affect low-income residents. A number of helpful measures were built into the bill, but on top of that reusable bags will be available for Bread for the City, public agencies, and other non-profits to distribute free of charge. Greater Greater Washington, And Now, Anacostia, The River East Idealist, and Congress Heights on the Rise have also come out in support of the measure which we believe will help drastically reduce contamination of the Anacostia River.

~The AFRO started a series to document what homelessness really means in the nation’s capital. The first article by Joseph Young follows Myra Diggs, a 43 year old woman whose bipolar disorder was misdiagnosed.

~TPM had a nice write-up about how Bread for the City is handling the weak economy, the Poverty & Policy Blog continued our discussion of how TANF needs to be given a cost of living adjustment (among other things), and renewshaw has a helpful, condensed list of all the changes (including Bread for the City’s expansion) that are slated to take place in Shaw.

Helping people help people: Help the Common Good City Farm

This week we have an update from former Bread for the City neighbors, the newly-renamed Common Good City Farm (nee 7th Street Garden). They will be screening a film called “Garden Cycles” and they need some help copying the DVDs. (Gardener Liz Falk tells us, “We'd pay for the DVD cost of course.”)

Is that something you can help them with? Also, um, do you have a big industrial fridge (for veggies) that you might want them to take off your hands? Email them directly.

In the meantime, while we have your attention on the garden: Common Good City Farm has a great program for local residents who are earning less than living wage, and their families. Through the Green Tomorrows program, people can work the field in exchange for bags of produce. It’s a great proposition: learn gardening and then enjoy the fruits of your labor! There’s a Green Tomorrows informational meeting on April 7th at 6:30 at the Florida Avenue Baptist Church. The meeting will have snacks and drinks and garden people on hand to answer questions about the program in more details.

To find out more about the garden, including programs, events and hours, visit their website or call 202-330-5945 and leave a message.

Groundbreaking photo roundup

A pictorial follow up to our great groundbreaking ceremony last week. Many thanks to those who came, especially our fantastic guest speakers.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Also, thanks to Katie Norwood for taking many of these pictures.

Looking for something to do this Saturday?

Emmaus Services for the Aging is looking for volunteers this weekend. Their new Volunteer Coordinator, John Byrne, sent the following call:

Emmaus Services for the Aging is need of "Easter Bunnies" to deliver pre-made Easter baskets to home bound seniors. Volunteers do not require transportation - only the desire to bring a little joy to the lives of our seniors. Call ahead to sign up at 202.745.1200

Date: Saturday April 4, 2009.
Time Start: 10:30am
Time End: 1:30pm

Location:
Emmaus Services for the Aging
1426 9th Street, NW
Washington, DC. 2001

Let's Pass the Bag Bill

The City held hearings yesterday for a proposed fee on plastic bags, as part of a concerted effort to clean up the Anacostia river.

Apparently, plastic bags comprise almost half of the trash in the Anacostia tributaries. The proposed fee is a nickel per bag (paper and plastic both), and a government-commissioned report estimates that this would reduce waste in the river by up to 68%. Furthermore, the city would save some of the many millions of dollars that it currently spends on trash cleanup, while the fee itself generates a new fund for the purpose of additional river revitalization efforts. (Not to mention, all this will enable DC to avoid the hefty fines about to be smacked down upon polluting cities by a newly-funtional EPA.)

It's a good policy, and it has broad support in City Council and the community.

And yet Councilmember Tommy Wells, one of the driving forces behind the bill, paid a special visit to Bread for the City on Monday, to make a few important reassurances to us about the proposed legislation. Councilmember Wells was well aware that while a five cent bag fee won't register on many District residents, that kind of change certainly adds up for those who have to make each dollar stretch.

Indeed, Bread for the City staff had previously discussed the fact that this seemingly win-win policy would actually be regressive for our clientele. A few weeks ago, emails were circulating that even considered public opposition to the bill. The Councilmember informed us that, in addition to emails, residents of low income communities had been receiving robocalls that tried to gin up opposition to the bill. All, apparently, part of a coordinated obstructionist effort by "Big Bag"! [UPDATE: Marc Fisher at the Post posted on this matter right around the time we did.]

In truth, the legislation is carefully designed to lessen the fee's impact on the poor even while generating more environmental returns. Councilmember Wells mentioned the supply of reusable bags that will be made available through stores, housing projects, public agencies and organizations like Bread for the City. We also shared some ideas with him about how to outreach to seniors and, most important of all, schools.

The bill's opponents imply that low income communities aren't themselves invested in their environment -- and, perhaps more cynically, that conservationist methods won't work just as well as heedless waste. We look forward to demonstrating otherwise.

Changes today at Bread for the City

Starting today, Bread for the City will close to client services on Fridays, and our salaries will take cuts (10% for staff, 12% for managers).

As our executive director George Jones said in his statement:

Bread for the City entered this recession in a position of relative strength: our sources of funding are as diversified as possible, thus affording critical insulation from economic turbulence. But we are not immune to the downturn. In particular, we struggle with the rising costs of operation: essentials like health care and food prices are placing great strains on our budget.

With great deliberation, our board and staff have decided upon a course of action that will minimize the short-term impact of this crisis, while positioning ourselves for long-term growth. To sustain our high levels of service, our staff and management will make sacrifices.

You can read the entire statement here, and the specific schedule changes for each of our programs here.

For our clients, this means there will be some additional time to visit our programs during Monday through Thursday, while Fridays are now closed.

For staff, it means our workweek is partially furloughed -- an organizational move that is increasingly common, and maybe not necessarily always such a bad thing, as the New York Times reported recently.

From our donors, clients, and the community at large, reaction to this plan has been broadly positive. Still, I heard George refer to the plan at one point as "a painful irony," since we have to make these changes even while ever more people in our community are coming to need these services.

But the most important thing to keep in mind is that we've calculated these moves so that our capacity to provide services during this time of scarcity can be maintained, even while we pave the way for major growth in the very near future. I'm not sure that the old "best defense is a good offense" line can neatly apply here, but it will suffice.

gchatting Food Stamps

Matt: Hey V! We got what I think is an interesting comment on our food stamps post from a couple days ago. A blog reader Imina was commenting on how this increase could be beneficial to some but could also encourage families who don't really need help to receive public benefits.

Valentine: That is an interesting comment. The public benefits system is really complicated...I think that makes it difficult for most people to "get" it.

Matt: Yeah. Made more complicated because each state and program has different requirements, right?

Valentine: Yes! There are lots of different requirements and different areas have vastly different costs of living, so it is difficult to set a blanket number to determine who needs help and who doesn't. Everything is calculated based on the "Federal Poverty Line" (FPL)...but very few people actually know what the FPL is.

Matt: What is the federal poverty line?

Valentine: The federal poverty line...which hasn't been recalculated since the early 80's...is now $10,830 for a single person or $22,050 for a family of 4. Generally speaking, you have to be within 130% of the FPL to be eligible for food stamps.

Matt: So a senior citizen could be ineligible for food stamps if their income is greater than $14,000 (including Social Security and all of that)!?

Valentine: Exactly.

Matt: And since the FPL doesn't take into consideration geographic region, a person living in DC with our cost of living is treated the same way as a person living in Peoria, Illinois with their cost of living?

Valentine: Right...that's why DC is proposing the important step to increase the eligibility for food stamps for District residents. So first, let's talk about what it means to be trying to live in DC within 200% of the FPL.

Matt: Yes.

Valentine: The average rent for a 1 bedroom apartment in the District is $1,050 per month...food prices are on the rise everywhere, and especially higher in urban areas...we both know it would be next to impossible to survive in this city on less than $1,000 per month without a whole lot of help!

Matt: So, DC is looking to raise food stamps to 200% of the FPL. On top of the income requirement, what are the other specific qualifications for the program?

Valentine: There are other qualifications, but they can be very complicated. There is an asset limit (a person can't have a certain amount of savings or other assets to fall back on), as well as a number of individual nuances. Moreover, a person still has to apply for food stamps and recertify every 6-12 months or whenever something changes (income, family structure, address, etc.).

Matt: That's what I thought. What about seniors? If someone worked and is now receiving social security, how much would they be making? Would they be in poverty?

Valentine: Unfortunately, while someone who is now living on social security is technically above the poverty line, they are just barely so. Here is a snapshot of February's Social Security payments. 34,876,000 seniors received social security payments nationwide (these are those who worked, are now retired, and don't receive any additional assistance due to disability). The average monthly benefit for this group is $1,156.00...or $13,872 per year...or 128% of the federal poverty line. And since the bill also discusses TANF, I'll mention that the maximum TANF benefit is only $428 per month (assuming a single parent of 2 kids).

Matt: Okay.

Valentine: And going back to the original comment about this change potentially allowing people who don't really need food stamps to receive them: with every law or adjustment there is the possibility that someone might abuse the system, but the numbers of people who are doing their best and need all the help they can get just to survive and raise their families far outweigh (and I mean dramatically outweigh) any potential people who are attempting to scam the system. Getting (and keeping) food stamps is no easy process...and asking for help is no easy feat. I think the District is contemplating a great step to help those who need it. That's the point and the Councilmembers who are working on this proposal should be supported.

Matt: Nice. Thanks for the info, V!

Valentine: Any time, friend! And don't forget, the hearing is on April 20th at 11 am in the Wilson Building. More info to come!

*Corrections have been issued to this post. Thanks to our legal & social service departments for lending their experience!