Look who started a blog!

Bread for the City is happy to welcome another one of our partner organizations to the blogosphere! We just got word yesterday that the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, a watchdog organization with an emphasis on issues that affect low- and moderate-income residents, launched a blog that will post weekly analysis of the budget. DCFPI has worked with Bread for the City on countless occasions, and this blog will allow DC residents to get the same briefings we do. DCFPI are experts on how budgets are constructed and executed, and they end up knowing before anyone else where money is going.  They are tireless and true advocates for our community; finding places where there is inefficient or wasteful spending and working to make sure those funds are redirected to more worthy projects.

Just in case you missed it before, another close partner of ours also started a blog recently--Martha’s Table! Running a host of different programs (from food delivery to clothing to children’s programs), Martha’s Table has an awful lot to report about. Tidbits from the Table is a place for you to see the good work this non-profit does firsthand since they have tons of videos and slideshows from inside the services they offer.

The Capital Area Food Bank put together a social media workshop for direct-service non-profits about a month ago.  One of the things I mentioned during my presentation was the need for more direct-service non-profits to break out into the blogosphere.  There is tremendous interest in the work that we're doing, equaled by a number of misconceptions about how that work is executed.  Especially in this economy, all of us are going to have to think creatively about how to show people the things that we're doing and why that work is important.  We can speak to the need in our community with a great deal more success if we work together.  

Expanding food stamps

Well something's about to go right: Councilmember Michael A. Brown has introduced legislation that will expand eligibility for food stamps for DC residents. All Councilmembers have signed on as co-sponsors, and several are pushing hard for it - we are told this bill is a "shoo-in."

DC Hunger Solutions has the details. Essentially the legislation does two separate things. One, it expands eligibility for the food stamps program from 130% of the Federal Poverty line to 200%. The other action taken by the legislation is fairly technical: it links food stamp eligibility to TANF funding, so that anyone participating in a TANF-funded program will themselves also be eligible for food stamps.

The legislation will bring an estimated 4600 to 4800 new families into the program within the first year, for a benefit of about $30-60 per household per month.

At the same time, President Obama’s stimulus plan will increase the SNAP food stamp benefit up to 18%, further leveraging the impact of Councilmember Brown's bill. As a result, his office estimates that an additional $15 to 20 million of federal funding will flow into the District in the form of food stamps. In stimulus terms, this is all gravy: food stamps are reportedly the most effective form of economic stimulus, generating $1.73 of economic activity for every $1 of food stamp. That's about $25 to $30 million of additional economic activity for DC.

This was low-hanging fruit, a no-brainer way to help those who need it the most while stimulating the city's economy all at little or no cost to the city itself. Here at Bread for the City, we thank Councilmember Michael Brown for his initiative, and applaud DC Hunger Solutions for their leading role as well. Now here's the tough question: what's next?

More Budget Bull Sessions

Following up on what has proven to be a popular post, here are some more opportunities for you to learn about the DC budget at sessions, put on in part by the DC Fiscal Policy Institute.

Department of Disability Services
March 30, 2009
4:00 PM – 5:30 PM
Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library: 901 G Street, NW, Room A-5
RSVP to advocacy@arcdc.net

Department of Healthcare Finance
April 1, 2009
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
825 North Capitol Street, NE, Suite 500

Child and Family Services Administration
April 1, 2009
2:30-4:30 PM
441-4th Street, NW, Room 1114
Register here.

Department of Housing and Community Development
April 2
2:00-4:30 PM
True Reformer Building, 1200 U Street NW
RSVP to Bettina Myers at bmyers@cnhed.org

Department of Health
April 6, 2009
10:00 AM-12:00 PM
825 North Capitol Street, NE
(Dr. Pierre Vigilance, DOH Director, to speak and facilitate.)
RSVP to reed@dcfpi.org by April 1st

Beyond Bread: the Groundbreaking Roundup

~Bread for the City had a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday!!! All of the specifics of the new, bigger facility are on this old internet here along with some of the remarks from our friends. DCist was kind enough to cover the event, as well as the Washington Post. Thank you to all of our readers who moseyed over, and especially those who flagged me down to say hello. It was nice to see so many people come out to support us. Michael Blue, a long-time patient of Dr. Randi, gave a speech about the need for a bigger clinic that is now up on this blog.

~Kathy Kretman, Director of Georgetown University’s Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership, praised our Executive Director George Jones in the Washington Post this week. Kathy says that, “George Jones and the Bread for the City staff set an example of how to handle this economic crisis with grace and dignity. They are true leaders.” Thank you, Kathy. That’s a really nice thing to say.

~MPNnow, the leading news source for suburban Rochester and the Finger Lakes, picked up a story about one of our volunteer groups!! The group, which was down from Rochester on a mission trip, came through the Youth Service Opportunities Project, a non-profit organization that warms my heart by linking us over 200 volunteers per year. Thank you to our friends in Rochester—you’re welcome back anytime!

~The number of homeless residents in DC jumped by 3 percent this past year to 6,228 residents. Of that, 2,294 people are in homeless families—a sharp 25% increase over last year.