Foundation Journal

The annual point-in-time count of homeless people starts with a flurry of activity. A steadily rising number of men migrate into City Union Mission 's chapel, where the survey is conducted, leading to a room filled with 150 people. I fully expect my perceptions of homelessness to be reinforced; I expect to see and talk with hard-working, clear-eyed individuals down on their luck, without health care, without a good job or money to make ends meet...and alone. In one sense they are just like the people I work with every day, except they lack necessities like a home, a job, health care, transportation. Vickie Riddle, the survey coordinator with Homeless Services Coalition of Greater Kansas City , interviews one of the men to show us survey takers how it's done. After our last instructions we spread out across several tables to conduct interviews about health conditions and lifestyle behaviors in an open room with everyone in earshot listening to the most private information th

A report on Democracy Now! today aired portions of "State of Conflict: North Carolina," a Bill Moyers documentary, which focuses on the "Moral Monday" protests and actions in North Carolina. Moral Mondays have built a movement to oppose Republican-led policies, which have diminished a range of social programs for poor and working people in the state, including Medicaid expansion, cuts to food stamps (aka Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), education and unemployment benefits, changes to voting rights, as well as laws restricting abortion and support for the death penalty. These policies represent nothing short of an attack on poor people in that state. The Moral Monday movement is planning a massive march in Raleigh on February 8 to "fight back against these extreme policies."  While efforts in the Kansas City area and throughout Missouri don't match the impact of Moral Mondays, there is a groundswell led by Communities Creating Opportun

A collection of social workers and homeless advocates gathered recently in a meeting room at the reStart shelter just of east of Kansas City's downtown to train for the annual point-in-time count of homeless individuals. The count is used to identify the need towards matching individuals with services. I joined the evening training session, parking my car on a side street on the cold, windy night. As I walked around the corner of the large men's and women's homeless shelter, I passed one or two people leaning against the building for a cigarette, and noticed a few others scattered around outside. Inside reStart Executive Director Evie Craig invited people to pizza and lemonade while setting up the slide presentation. After people settled into their chairs we introduced ourselves. The meeting included several clinicians from area agencies and newly-employeed reStart social workers, including a trio of Street Outreach workers sitting in the back. I imagine the young work

The 16th Homelessness Marathon will originate from Brattleboro, Vermont on the night of Wednesday, February 19, 2014 from 6 p.m. to 12:00 midnight CST. This live national radio broadcast will air on dozens of community and public radio stations across the U.S. and Canada, as well as stream live on the Internet. The radio broadcast features the voices and stories of homeless people, and provides an opportunity for all concerned to call a toll-free number to join the conversation. The Homelessness Marathon beams an unfiltered discussion into America's homes. "I wish we could get their bodies inside too," comments Jeremy Weir Alderson, the broadcast's founder, "but we're doing the best thing we can, by showing America why this problem should be, can be and must be solved." The Homelessness Marathon originated from Hope Faith Ministries in Kansas City, Missouri in 2011 and was sponsored by KKFI 90.1 FM. Live video of the broadcast will be carried by

In a possible good development in poverty relief, the Guardian reports that Republicans may c ompromise on cuts to the SNAP (food stamps) program. Republican negotiators have reined in funding for Wall Street regulators as part of agreeing a $1.1tn federal budget, but dropped demands for further reductions in federal food stamp programmes that would have hit America's poorest families.

A coordinator of the government-sponsored The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) at Harvesters food bank in Kansas City was pleased to learn that the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) will be distributing a large quantity of produce. The USDA announced the distribution of $126 million of produce , including tart cherries, blueberries, raisins, fresh tomatoes, among other items. She indicated getting this food in the emergency assistance channel is welcome news, given the "feast or famine" nature of getting quality food to the 50-plus area agencies in Missouri participating in TEFAP throughout the year. What follows is background on TEFAP as an important public poverty relief program. TEFAP is administered through states and benefits unemployed and low-income people. People that receive the food are eligible for TEFAP based on income standards set by the states. The food is distributed in Missouri and Kansas at food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters, predomi

A warehouse worker at Harvesters was loading items for a semi-truckload delivery of food to Wetmore, Kansas, where 150 people are expected in this rural community west of Atchison, which initiated a conversation about rural poverty and hunger. Wetmore is located in Nemaha County, where per capita income is 10% less than the state average but poverty level is slightly better than state poverty. Hunger in the county as indicated by the 2012 Kansas Atlas  shows less food insecurity than the state average. Why would the town's people need emergency food assistance? Income levels have dropped in the county since the recession, the nearest food pantry is 14 miles away in Holton, and more people in rural areas receive SNAP benefits compared to poor people in urban areas  but the benefits only support so much of a family's needs. Gas prices in Kansas have doubled in 5 years , but the increases in health insurance and higher education may be the two most important factors in why