As in any other playoff, candidate rhetoric let loose during the U.S. presidential race can be tough. We’ve held a front row seat to the 2012 showdown for over a year, with tensions still rising as the general election looms nearer. Some of the barbs launched along the campaign trail have been laughable: Newt Gingrich’s television ad incriminating Mitt Romney for his ability to speak French comes to mind. Others are not. The dialogue surrounding U.S. poverty and inequality, two issues that are hotter than ever during a deep recession that the nation has shown incapable of simply shaking off [...]
Hunger
Effects of a Welfare Program on Infant Health: State Earned Income Tax Credits and Birth Weight.
American Sociological Review This study seeks to answer two questions: Are there associations between prenatal poverty and lower birth weights, and how have recent expansions of a work-based welfare program affected maternal and infant health? In particular, the study estimates the effects of the pregnant woman’s poverty on the birth weight of her child,... »
Georgia’s No Kid Hungry campaign fights rising child hunger
The No Kid Hungry campaign has arrived in Athens, Ga. in response to the state’s shocking childhood hunger statistics: An estimated 27 percent of Georgia children don’t know where their next meal is coming from. No Kid Hungry helps children access pre-established aid and nutrition programs and raises awareness about food insecurity and its solutions. »
Pesty Asian carp finds new calling in Illinois hunger program
Illinois citizens face the dual threat of rising hunger in their communities and the insatiable Asian carp that could devastate the Great Lakes. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources hopes to alleviate both concerns by finding a new environment for the Asian carp: the shelves of Illinois’ food pantries. (Photo Credit: Nam Y. Huh,... »
Boston hospital treating more dangerously underweight children
Doctors at Boston Medical Center are seeing the most hungry and dangerously thin children since monitoring began a decade ago. Before 2007, some 13 percent of children in the hospital’s emergency center were underweight; now the number is 18 percent. The number of severely underweight infants has risen 58 percent. Early undernourishment can cause... »
Pests in NY, geese will be fed to the poor in Pennsylvania
New York City airports seek to solve their problem of geese overpopulation by slaughtering the birds and donating them to feed the poor in Pennsylvania, officials say. The dangers geese pose to planes prompted the extermination of hundreds of them last year, but the carcasses went to the landfill. New York lacks a program... »
Alabama storm victims face housing insecurity
Victims of the Alabama storms are facing homelessness and food insecurity. The federal government reports almost 18,000 households have applied for aid, and $2 million has been approved for temporary housing and home repairs. Emergency services have six disaster centers in Alabama and will dispense funds for rent and home repairs and use temporary... »
National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week at Washington and Lee University
In 2009, there were 3 million individuals who were homeless and approximately 15 million Americans who suffered from long term unemployment. National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness week took place November 14-20, and was co-sponsored by the National Coalition for the Homeless and National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness. Students at Washington and Lee... »