Foundation Journal

Many people perceive the information technology field as impervious to downturns in the economy or employment levels, but the current economic crisis has caused many long-time tech workers to lose their jobs along with other skilled workers. Through my work as an information technology manager at an area food bank I work with volunteers and part-time technology workers. I came to the food bank three years ago after getting laid off after working 15 years at an area technology firm serving a large trucking company that once employed 70,000 people, but downsized to 35,000 workers. To help these workers who are helping the food bank, I am interested in their job seeking experience. Here's a brief profile of an unemployed systems administrator who is volunteering with the food bank while looking for work. What type of computer or technology work do you do? Worked 18 years performing systems administration for Linux systems on blade servers with SAN-attached storage. Started wit

Why are full-time workers at McDonald's on 350 Highway in Raytown not paid for holidays or provided vacation pay?

Finally! The city of Lee's Summit, Missouri took a responsible approach to trash service by replacing an all-you-can-dump-with-no-free-recycling-option to a "volume-based" approach similar to the successful service used in Kansas City, Missouri. After the service is changed, then those residents who have paid $2.50 per month to trash companies like Deffenbaugh can rely on the new service for free recycling, plus get the satisfaction that waste will be reduced and recycling increased. ...the City Council directed city staff to issue the state-required two-year notice to all solid waste haulers providing services in the City that the City is considering implementation of a comprehensive, citywide, solid waste program.  The program currently proposed by city staff includes volume-based pricing for residential trash service with unlimited, curbside recycling at no additional fee .  Under this proposed program, residents would only pay for the amount of trash they discard ;

When did bowling alleys like this one on 350 Highway in Raytown start closing? (Laurel Lanes closed a couple months ago)

While enjoying a bluegrass/rockabilly musical performance with friends Saturday evening, I had a conversation with a friendly couple from Putnam County in north Missouri. It did not take long before the woman outlined how the federal government was responsible for the downturn in the US economy, as well as for over-regulating farming. In short, she blamed the federal government for all the ills of society. The outspoken woman described the couple's difficulty in maintaining a trucking business, mentioning the economic conditions and excessive government regulations as the cause of their troubles. They also discussed the economic conditions for residents in Unionville, Missouri, a rural town with a population of 3000. I shared how my wife's family had relied on income from a small diary farm and row crops, while both her parents worked full-time jobs in meat-packing and state mental health facilities. They quickly blamed the federal government for programs that prevented farme

A report highlighted on Huffington Post showed KC ranked #8 among "The U.S. Cities Hit Hardest By The Recession". The full report based on a study by the Brookings Institute and the London School of Economics focused on two key indicators -- employment gains and income growth -- of a cities health or resilience during the recession. The global financial crisis of the late 2000s precipitated an economic downturn of such magnitude and reach that many now refer to the period as the “Great Recession.” According to the International Monetary Fund, global economic output, which had grown at an annual rate of 3.2 percent from 1993 to 2007, actually shrank by 2 percent from 2008 to 2009. A precarious economic recovery is now underway. Kansas City's employment rate dropped 2.8% during the 2007-2009 recession and another 2.8% during the 2009-2010 period the authors describe as "recovery". The chart shows Kansas City ranked among cities around the world, but #8 a

What ever happened to the art of the sign like this one on 350 Highway in Raytown?

Votes on key amendments to the Food Safety Modernization Act (S510) continue today, November 30, 2010 in the Senate, as legislators take up measures on the Tester Amendment and the controversial earmarks amendment. Several groups advocating for small farmers have taken stands on the bill, like Food Democracy Now : Now Big Ag is trying to kill these provisions, which exempt farmers that have sales of less than $500,000 and sell within 275 miles of their farm, and others are hoping to kill the bill outright. We can't let that happen, tell your Senators to vote YES on the Manager's amendment and pass the food safety bill to protect family farmers and consumers. For a re-cap of the bill and update on the latest votes see this from Food Safety News , which mentions a final vote on the Senate vote should occur today, too. The Senate food safety bill, which has been inching towards passage the past few weeks, cleared a key procedural hurdle Monday, but Senate leaders put off t

Following the important food safety legislation (Senate S.510 bill) has been difficult because of the shifting positions by small food growers and multinational corporations. Amendments increased the complexity of the bill, such as the Tester Amendment. However, a key Senate vote appears likely on Monday, November 29 as reported by SFGate.com. Looking past dire warnings was not difficult, such as statements like how the bill "would outlaw gardening and saving seeds" and how "food safety is a Trojan horse for Monsanto" to dominate more of food production. A November 4 food safety roundtable on Grist.org clarified the positions of some: The Senate is expected to vote tomorrow [11/17/10] on the Food Safety Modernization Act -- and possibly pass it by this weekend. Yesterday, we posted our Food Fight participants' heated -- and lengthy -- debate over whether S. 510's provisions will harm small farms or producers. They also discussed whether the Tester-Ha

The USDA released it's annual report on food security on November 15, 2010. "The food security of U.S. households, when measured over the entire year, remained essentially unchanged from 2008 to 2009, with the prevalence of food insecurity at each level of severity remaining at the highest percentage observed since nationally representative food security surveys began in 1995."

One of the most shocking messages of the film "Waiting for Superman" is that poorly-performing schools cause poverty in inner-city neighborhoods, and not the other way around. This stands on end the idea promoted by most social service and government agencies that poverty in inner-city (and rural areas) leads to poor performance at schools. By extension, if  bad schools cause poverty, then "Waiting for Superman" suggests that bad schools are also the cause of high levels of violence, increased levels of hunger and homelessness, and sending jobs overseas. The film concludes that declining performance by students in math and science leads  firms like Microsoft to fill vacant jobs with overseas workers. In other words, US companies have no choice because there are not enough qualified candidates here. US firms apply to fill job openings here in the states through the H1B program. However, a much larger pool of non-US workers are employed through offshore service cont

The US Department of Agriculture will release a report on hunger on Monday, November 15. The report will feature statistics on 2009, a normal lag in reporting statistics, and will likely show an increase in food insecurity throughout the U.S. Last year's report covering 2008 showed 49 million people living at risk of hunger, a huge 11% increase from the previous reporting year. Chart on food insecurity from last year's USDA report.

Harvest of Loneliness: The Bracero Program was screened at the new Student Union at University of Missouri--Kansas City (UMKC) on Thursday, November 4. The film documents the history of the program through the personal stories of families that participated in the temporary farmworker effort between 1942 and 1964. If the program is remembered in US history it is portrayed as an innocuous employment campaign to fill jobs left by individuals that fought in World War II and Korean War. The film depicts the program using inhumane treatment of the workers, mainly recruited from Mexican rural areas. From the overcrowded staging areas to processing facilities, Mexican workers were scrutinized and fumigated before being assigned to work in produce farms in California and the Southwest. Then they were forced to work long hours without proper food, water, shelter, or medical care. The promise of receiving higher wages than paid in Mexico was largely unfilled. After the screening at UMKC,

Shanta Bailey, the new SNAP Outreach Coordinator with Harvesters food bank , presented to area food pantries on the benefits and elgibility of Food Stamps for area residents at a "Feeding More, Feeding Better" conference in downtown Kansas City. She will be working with food assistance agencies to increase applications for SNAP benefits, which was renamed to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program from Food Stamps in 2008 to reflect focus on nutrition. Shanta Bailey, new SNAP Outreach Coordinator with Harvesters food bank in Kansas City, Missouri. Shanta's energy and enthusiasm captivated the 50 food pantry representatives and volunteers in the audience, especially when she shared her passion for "empowering our clients" as the principle motivation for her work. She added, "this is about empowerment, this is about knowledge" after discussing myths of SNAP held by eligible residents. She provided an update to the newly emphasized effort led by

The Kansas City Food Policy coalition met today to discuss distribution and production policy as a committee of the group. As meeting facilitator Katherine Kelly with the KC Center for Urban Agriculture indicated in her email announcement, the meeting focused "on policy issues that affect the production, distribution, and access of healthy, local food...which will be taking the lead on figuring out what city/state/federal policy initiatives we could create or get involved in that would help strengthen the local farming and distribution community." As a newcomer to the group interested in their direction and progress, I noted there was a good collection of representatives from many different types of organizations: local growers, CSA distributors, government health educators, financial foundation sponsors, environmental groups, and university agriculture programs. Several individuals addressed jobs for urban core youth and economic development for the same area. The food

This article from the Techsoup.org group focuses on providing computer and Internet access capacity in public libraries and community centers.While part of the article focuses on serving the seasonal migration of Arizonans, it does highlight factors in a successful program to extend Internet-connected computers to low-income communities, namely, the importance of providing computer training and support. I don’t know how we’re going to support the patrons using them. We have asked for volunteers. We need computer-savvy volunteers that are not afraid to go in and help somebody set up an email and stuff like that. The article also references the results of another project to provide free broadband wireless access to elderly people in the San Francisco area. This lifeline connects people to community activities and family members. Moreover, "the One Economy program, which began in California through a partnership with Mercy Housing, will bring free Internet access to low-income h

Time and time again supporters of food assistance programs emphasize the contradiction between growing hunger in the US and vast financial wealth and food resources. Civic, government, and business leaders made comments about this disparity at the official opening of a large Harvesters food bank warehouse today in Topeka serving sixteen counties in eastern Kansas. “Here, in the breadbasket of the most affluent country in the world, we have a substantial number of people who are food insecure,” Kansas First Lady Stacy Parkinson said . “That is just unacceptable.” Civic leaders cut ribbon recognizing the official opening of Harvesters' second food warehouse in Topeka. Douglas Kinsinger with the Topeka Chamber of Commerce asked "What else can we do" to solve this problem but to support food banks and feeding programs. There's no shortage of ideas and action at a local level. One common approach to hunger relief is providing resources for neighbors in nee

Local, state, and federal agency representatives spoke about efforts to extend broadband connectivity to small businesses and individuals as a crucial stepping stone towards economic development and civic involvement. The speakers were part of a presentation during the "Broadband Technology Summit" held as part of the United Minority Media Association's Midwest/Southeast conference on October 15. Calvin Osborne, an attorney with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), underscored the urgency in improving broadband -- essentially fast Internet access -- to keep the US from lagging behind other nations. While the US is 24th worldwide in broadband adoption, the real gap is found in low-income urban households and rural areas in the US. He spoke about FCC's expansive efforts to increase "digital literacy" for both individuals and small businesses. (Photo caption -- from left: Bill Grace, WEB Dubois Center; LT Toombs, WEB Dubois Center; Kevin Williams, Will

Start-up information for the entire podcast series: A Paypal account – this is required for billing in support of your Liberated Syndication account. An Apple.com account, which is required to submit a podcast to the Apple iTunes Store, a popular podcast directory. Series title name: “Eco Radio KC” Series description – “A weekly public affairs program on KKFI-FM 90.1, Kansas City community radio” Image or logo of your program in JPEG 300x300 pixel size. Filename = Eco-Radio-FrogKKFI.jpg Tags or keywords to describe your show – community radio, public affairs, KKFI, environment, ecology, climate, health Podcast feed address - http://ecoradiokc.libsyn.com/rss Email address: ... Single podcast episode: Program title: “Urban Farmers Re-design Kansas City – KCCUA’s Annual Meeting – Death by Zoning” Program description – “Steve Mann welcomes Beth Low, the New Director of the Kansas City Food Policy Coalition, to talk about what happened at the Annual Urban Farmers meeting held

Lance Morgan , the keynote speaker on October 7, 2010 during Feeding America's Central Region food bank conference in Omaha, outlined the economic development success on the Winnebago reservation. He stressed how Ho-Chunk Inc. and other businesses on the reservation transformed a community with 65% unemployment and widespread alcoholism into a "rural economic miracle." Morgan described how Ho-Chunk and other enterprises have not only contributed significantly to tribal programs, but offer a different approach to economic development, such as through it's low loan rates for rez cars and houses. The low rates have driven out predatory lenders for cars, a loan policy which has devastated many low income workers. This approach provided borrowers with the means to maintain jobs and "changed the landscape and what's possible in our world," Morgan stated. "It changed the whole dynamic within our community. Lance Morgan, speaking at Feedin

Gary Rodkin, President and CEO of ConAgra, a leading US food manufacturer, gave a presentation labeled the "Politics of Food" at the Central Region Feeding America Conference on October 6 in Omaha, Nebraska. During the keynote address to attendees he acknowledged understanding "it's tough out there" for people seeking services and jobs, but also pointed out it's tough from a retail business standpoint. His talk focused on ConAgra's signficant contributions to food assistance organizations like Feeding America, but included some surprising comments that seemed at odds with the direction of US food banks. For background he explained ConAgra's roots going back to 1867, operating the largest flour milling operation. It's now a Fortune 200 company with 20,000 workers. It's products are found in 97% of US households.One-third of ConAgra's business is with commercial businesses, like milling for Pizza Hut. It's the largest potato produ

Radio host "keeping the fires lit" at media organization Rhonda LeValdo, host of “Native Spirit Radio” on KKFI 90.1 FM, was elected to serve as president of the Native American Journalists Association (NAJA) recently. Ms. LeValdo considered how “as a NAJA member who started off as a student, I know the importance of our organization in keeping the fires lit within our young people. Native journalists in NAJA lit this fire within myself.  It is this fire that I will continue to pass on to the next generation of storytellers and ask that all Native journalists commit themselves to keep NAJA strong.” Originally from New Mexico, she earned an associate's degree in media arts at Haskell and a bachelor's degree in journalism at KU in fall 2007. "I am Acoma Pueblo from Acoma, New Mexico. It is billed as the 'Oldest Continuously Inhabited City' in the United States. It is a beautiful place that still has no running water or electricity on our village. I recen

photo: Tammy Ljungblad / Kansas City Star In my quest to learn about the food cycle in the United States and here in the "bread basket" of the Midwest, I took a tour of the Kansas City Board of Trade (KBOT). The tour provided insights into the methods of commodity trading in one of the nation’s three large sites. A communications professional and former trader introduced herself, shared a “Voices of Vision” video, then led a group of personal investors to a viewing area above the trading floor. The video highlighted the success of the wheat growing capability of the US and the Midwest. The facilitator noted how problems with Russian wheat production, excess moisture in Europe, and dry climate in Argentina and Australia have elevated the price of wheat in recent months. This price increase is evident despite the highest volume in wheat production in the history of KBOT since 1856. In a seeming self-serving comment, the facilitator emphasized these were heady days for t

Noreen's Harvesters crew (left to right): Carlos, Maegan, James, Josh, Noreen, Doug, and Matt Harvesters employees took time out of their workday to learn about cooperative urban farms on Kansas City's east side. A light rain fell as Sasteh Mosley started the tour Wednesday, September 22 on the drive to the "Garden of Eden" farm just north of 27th and Prospect Avenue. Frequently we miss out on learning about alternative ventures like the farms on the tour because of our busy schedule working in the warehouse and offices at Harvesters. Today we got a good breakdown of the variety of urban farms on the tour. I'm amazed at all the connections Mosley's group East Meets West of Troost bringing youth to jobs on the urban farms, meeting with neighborhood associations, engaging government agencies, as well as larger nonprofits with organizational depth and funding. Mosley reflects on his family's connection and legacy to the neighborhood, adding that he

"Ghost Bird," the documentary screened at the Tivoli in Kansas City, focused on the controversy surrounding the questionable sighting of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker after a 60-year absence. A remarkable discovery that would give hope to those that see the extinction as a tragic cause of events, possibly contributed by an aggressive effort to stock ornithology collections in US universities and museums. The film was an entertaining and exhaustive expose' of the bird's demise. The film highlights the potential tourism benefits to Brinkley, Arkansas, a depressed area midway between Little Rock and Memphis. The swampy area is a likely habitat for the bird, where business owners and city officials hype the sighting in order to build bird-viewing tourism. After lengthy explanations on the research of the veracity of the sighting, the film reveals the central cause for the bird's extinction: the clearcutting of hundreds of square miles of old growth forest in a

The bold vision of East Meets West of Troost was on display during a five-stop urban farm tour on September 2. Sasteh Mosley, tour guide with many years of working in the urban agriculture field, provided a wide view of the effort of both East Meets West, as well as other groups. Sasteh's co-worker SahjKaya accompanied the tour. Left to right: Steve Mann with EcoRadio KC, Sasteh Mosley with East Meets West, and Desire' Hendricks at Garden of Eden urban farm near 27th and Prospect in Kansas City. East Meets West focuses on three key areas -- urban farming, recycling, and young artist support. The group's ambitious program to reclaim areas such as the tough neighborhood around 27th and Prospect is underscored by the replacement of crosses marking deaths at the intersection with large vegetable farms. These large garden plots may not always be visible during a drive through this area, but abundant gardens appear when we walk up to the plots, like at the first stop

Rhonda Perry (photo: Mo. Rural Crisis Center) One Montana newspaper described the rancher response to proposed USDA rules as a "David vs. Goliath movement on to take action for fair market prices against corporate concentration." Missouri Rural Crisis Center's own Rhonda Perry added that "Missouri lost 90 percent of hog farmers since 1985. They (corporations) came in and said this was the wave of the future...." Perry attributed the drastic decline in locally owned farms and ranches to corporate consolidation, adding that consumer prices have increased. In an unusual display of supporting the "little guy," twenty-one US senators, including Missouri's Claire McCaskill, have signed on to a letter advocating for changes to USDA livestock rules [PDF] that will be the "first step towards leveling the playing field between producers and the packers." The list of senators includes 19 Democrats, 1 Republican, and 1 independent, though ano