PEP, February 2007: City and labor join hands to feed the hungry

By JANE LaTOUR

W herever you go in New York City, you see displays of food. Delis dot the corners, and bakeries, bodegas, supermarkets and even drug stores fill their windows with tempting treats. Yet imagine what it’s like not to be able to fill your stomach — or feed your family — amidst the bounty piled high for those who can pay.

“It’s inconceivable that, amidst all of the city’s wealth, children go hungry every day,” said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Speaking at a press conference Dec. 19, Quinn and other members of the City Council announced a new alliance with the New York City Central Labor Council program to fight hunger.

The “Food Today, Health Tomorrow” initiative is aimed at registering eligible New Yorkers for the Federal programs that provide assistance — such as Food Stamps. Each year, the city loses more than one-half billion dollars in federal aid because of low Food Stamps participation. This money could be going to help hungry families who survive without Food Stamps by eating at soup kitchens, bringing home bags from food pantries and sometimes by scavenging other people’s garbage.

CLC Executive Director Ed Ott called the collaborative effort a labor anti-poverty program. “We are committed to this program and we will not walk away from it,” he promised. With more than 400 affiliates, the CLC is able to muster union members citywide to assist in the effort. Participants will receive training in identifying potential recipients within their communities.

Unnecessary obstacles
“Our members understand the difficulties and the barriers involved in the Food Stamp program,” said Dan Persons, special assistant to Eddie Rodriguez, president of Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1549. Speaking at the Dec. 19 event, Persons announced support for the new partnership from Local 1549, which represents the city Food Stamp employees and earlier designed its own program to address the shortfall in enrollees.

Last year, the Urban Justice Center issued areport pinpointing the barriers that block people from enrolling in the Food Stamps program.“A Better Recipe For New York City: Less Red Tape, More Food on the Table” identified significant obstacles that could be eliminated to increase enrollment.

Alvin Williams, chair of the Human Resources Administration/Social Services Chapter of Local 1549, represents members in city Food Stamp Centers. He is sympathetic to the need to increase enrollment but also mystified as to how greater numbers of enrollees will be accommodated.

“Our members — the poverty fighters on the front lines — do not have adequate equipment,” said Williams. “The offices are overcrowded. The employees don’t have ample space to do their jobs. In some locations, there’s only one phone per unit, and it’s on the supervisor’s desk.”

Another problem is understaffing, said Williams. “We’re very understaffed and the agency doesn’t want to hire anybody!” To accommodate an onslaught of new enrollees, the HRA will need to provide the resources to do the job.

Last winter, PEP highlighted the problem of hunger and the difficulties facing city Food Stamp workers. New York City is not atypical. Nationwide, 25 million people depend on emergency food aid.

“Hunger in America,” a study commissioned by America’s Second Harvest Network, was released in February 2006. It documented “the growing army of the poor and hungry,” including nearly 9 million children and 3 million seniors. The study showed that the overall number of those seeking assistance at the nation’s food pantries has grown by eight percent since 2001.

And among the 1 million-plus people — one out of six New Yorkers — who don’t get enough to eat are some public sector workers.

“Roughly 8,000 New York City employees — 3 percent of the municipal workforce — earn such abysmally low salaries that they are forced to get Food Stamps to feed their families,” the New York Daily News reported in December. Included in this category are some of the Food Stamp workers who put aside their own personal hardships as they assist other hard-put New Yorkers daily and who, through their union, will now be working to extend the benefit to other hungry families.