Poverty on The Huffington Post

Paul Raushenbush: Struggling For The Soul Of Religion: Why The Parliament Of The World's Religions Matters

2009-12-04T10:52:44Z

"World leaders are listening to us and waiting to see what we have to say." Such was the rallying cry of Dr. William Lesher, Chair of the Parliament of the World's Religions, as he welcomed thousands of religious people from around the world to the opening plenary of the Council's 2009 meeting in Melbourne, Australia last night.

World leaders are listening carefully to religious people, but not always to these religious people. While religion has re-emerged as a visible and potent force in domestic and international politics, it is often the extremists, the self serving, and shrillest individuals and groups that dominate the religious narrative. Rabbi David Saperstein, a mainstay in American politics and one of the three keynote speakers, told the crowd that this had to change. The Rabbi insisted that it is the people at this gathering, and others like them, who must be the authors of new approaches to the world's challenges that reflect the values of what Martin Luther King, Jr. described as 'the beloved community.'

Rescuing religion from the sole domain of reactionary politics and theologies while simultaneously insisting that religious voices need to be heard within the political conversation are two important undercurrents within the Parliament. The list of participants from the United States is a who's who of religious leaders functioning within the political sphere such as Rabbi Saperstein, Rev. Jim Wallis, Sister Joan Chitister and Imam Feisal Rauf. They are joined by counterparts from other countries around the world including Dr. Sakena Yacobi, founder of the Afghan Institute of Learning which provides educational opportunities for girls.

Dr. Yacobi reminded us that just to stay alive day after day is a struggle for the people of Afghanistan. In defense of Islam, Dr. Yacobi reminded us that it was her religion that helped her to to survive and equipped her with the compassion and determination to educate young girls to think critically, ask questions, stand up for themselves. Unfortunately, as Dr. Yacobi was speaking the audience couldn't help but be reminded that it is religious fundamentalists who are most opposed to her work and the young girls she is dedicated to helping. The great struggle of the 21st century is not between the religious and secular, it is among religious people themselves and how the power of religion will be harnessed in resolving conflicts and challenges around the world.

In addition to a celebration of religious pluralism, the Parliament is focused on areas of global concerns such as poverty, the environment, aboriginal peoples and peace and justice. There is no place for cynicism or nihilism in these halls. In an early panel on ending poverty it was repeatedly emphasized that for the first time in history the world has the ability to feed the entire population and to not do so does not indicate a technical failure but a moral one. The underlying assumption of the Parliament is that religion can be a positive force for moral suasion of individuals and society by providing a vision of a better world and promoting the necessary values of sacrifice, peace and compassion; and that the challenges that confront the world will not be solved without religious actors. In addition, the Parliament holds that no single religion is capable of solving global problems on their own and so cooperation among the traditions to solving common challenges is not only good, but crucial.

Outside the convention center stand the predictable four or five people with their "Jesus is the only way" sign; and beyond them are the tens of thousands of citizens who have no interest in the beliefs or concerns of the gathered community of the Parliament of the World's Religions. Yet for this week, the Parliament has convened adherents of many traditions who are eager to share their spiritual, artistic and moral riches with one another. As they gain a deeper appreciation for 'the other' and a renewed commitment to working across religious divides, they will hopefully have brief experiences of the 'beloved community' to take back to Jerusalem, Kabul, Washington D.C., or wherever they call home, to inspire them to do the hard work of making their positive religious voices heard in the effort to create a better world.

The Parliament of the World's Religions Website

Homeless, Celebrities Collide Heading Into South Africa World Cup

2009-12-04T04:40:57Z

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Homeless South Africans complained they were being forced from the streets of Cape Town to make way for a host of star-studded, glamorous events surrounding next year's World Cup tournament.

Isaac Lewis, 41, said Thursday that police have arrested him for loitering six times in the past month. Before that, Lewis said police mostly left him alone. He said he's been homeless for most of his life.

Jeffrey Sachs: There Hasn't Been Any 'Intelligent Discussion Regarding Living Standards In Afghanistan'

2009-12-03T18:12:49Z

Columbia University economist Jeffrey D. Sachs, one of the foremost experts on extreme poverty in underdeveloped nations, says it is past time for the United States to end its war in Afghanistan, the world's fifth poorest nation. In an interview with Nieman Watchdog in November, Sachs said the United States should reverse its priorities and fund major sustainable development programs, which would not only help reduce Afghanistan's overwhelming poverty but would be a surer way to help achieve greater U.S. security.

The Richest Counties In America (PHOTOS)

2009-12-03T07:59:00Z

By now it's become obvious that the wealthy aren't immune to the recession. In October, The Wall Street Journal reported foreclosures were growing in the upper echelons of the housing market. Earlier this month, the Mortgage Bankers Association said that a rising percentage of mortgages taken out by prime borrowers face foreclosure.

But this month, the Census Bureau disclosed its 2008 data on poverty and income levels in each of the more than 3,100 counties in the United States. South Dakota's Buffalo County was reported to be the poorest in the country, with a median household income of just $19,182. The county's population was small -- just over 2,000 -- but the overall disparity between the poorest and the richest counties across the country was considerable.

We took a look at the fifteen counties with the highest median household incomes -- all of which were above $89,000 -- to see where wealth may still be flourishing during the recession. Many of the communities achieved high median household incomes even in heavily-populated counties -- nearly two-thirds of the localities on this list have a quarter of a million people or more. And we noticed the emergence of some geographical patterns: among the fifteen most affluent communities, nearly half were located in Virginia and Maryland and were located in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Area, and almost a third encircled the urban core of New York City. But there were still a few outliers.

See if your county made the cut:

Project Feed Me Brings Thanksgiving To Harlem Locals

2009-12-02T16:47:56Z

On November 24, nearly 200 people were provided hot Thanksgiving meals in Harlem's Frederick Douglass Children's Center by Project Feed Me, a significant meal that was months in the making.

Patrick Alvarez, the founder of Project Feed Me, often dreamed of giving back through service because of his family background. A survivor of domestic abuse and nights spent sleeping on shelter floors, Project Feed Me represents moving past those hardships and was created to provide holiday meals to the needy with the mission, "In order to make changes globally, we must first make changes locally."

"I knew that I wanted to start a nonprofit, but it was people like Isaias Garcia [an early Project Feed Me volunteer] who said I could really do this," shares Alvarez.

"I was going through things like domestic violence in my house, where my dad was overly violent. Then my mom fled to a shelter. Then I started talking to Patrick, and we got a bit closer. Patrick will always be there with me to have conversations with me about opening up our own business," says Garcia.

The two grew up under similar circumstances and shared their dreams of one day 'taking over the world' together. Money from the Children's Aid Society, provided by the Neediest Cases Fund, the two have received money for dorm furnishings and other necessities.

"My mom always told me that she came to this country to provide for her children what she didn't have, and she wants me to be better than what she was. We're going to take over the world," the two declared.

WATCH Project Feed Me in action.

The organization is currently seeking corporate sponsors, volunteers, support from local leaders and media and donations (in-kind and monetary).

Learn more about The New York Times' Neediest Cases Fund, a campaign that officially began in in 1912.

Get HuffPost Impact On Facebook and Twitter!

Lisa Guest: Epilepsy: Holding A Volcano

2009-12-02T14:58:31Z

My chest was to his back. My right leg was thrown over his right hip. At first he made a smacking noise with his lips, as if a cow was chewing his cud beside me. I thought I heard him ask for something. I might have just been falling to sleep myself. But this mouth thing caught my attention. My arms tightened around him. He started to shake. I thought, "Is he having another one?"

"I'm right here with you baby." I held him even tighter. He'd told me to hold him tight if this ever happened when we were together.

Then the lip smacking became a gurgling. Was he throwing up the Buffalo Chicken foot-long Subway we'd just consumed an hour earlier. "Don't worry, baby. You aren't alone. I'm here. Breathe." For me, holding him as this great force overtook him was like trying to keep a hot air balloon on the ground as invisible tethers evaporated.

I was scared. Yet, I was fascinated as well. It's kind of like slowing down to see why all the flashing lights are on the other side of the freeway at night. It's dark. You can't really see anything but you know something big just happened. Only in this case, it was happening. I was in the car on the other side of the road. I wasn't the driver but I was holding the driver. Only my boy wasn't driving this vehicle that was now thrashing and flailing in my arms.

It seemed that minutes had already passed. I felt him struggling to get away from me. He's made of muscles, lifts fifty pound weights at home a couple times a week, is in great shape. I knew he wasn't conscious of what he was doing. Could he hurt me? I didn't smell any chicken. Suddenly he was spurting again, trying to catch his breath. There was much moisture in the air as he gasped and chortled. My friend Angel told me she was always afraid she'd swallow her tongue, even though she intellectually knew it was impossible.

I felt his right arm. It was hard as a rock. Shaking like a concoction in a lab's test tube, held over an open flame. "I'm here baby." I reached in the dark to touch more of his body. His heart was pounding as if he was running a 200 meter dash. Maybe it was a marathon but this wasn't the heart beat of a slow and steady jog. Sweat was all over him.

Then he tried to come towards me. In the dark it felt like he was trying to get up. He'd told me this morning that he kept trying to get up but couldn't get up. It's as if he was trying to reach above me to grab hold of something. "You're ok. You're safe."

I decided to turn on the bed side light. He was on all fours. He looked at me as if he was a lion trying to protect his cubs. He looked angry, but I knew he wasn't. "Lay down. I've got you." He collapsed. Suddenly he was breathing as if he couldn't get enough air in. I put my hand on his heart. This went on for at least another ten minutes.

Finally I heard him grumble or murmur, I'm not really sure what it was. "Sorry." I kept stroking his forehead. He seemed to be calming a bit. Like the run was over and he was just pacing not to lock up. But he still wasn't back.

Another five or ten minutes later he said, "What?"

"You had another seizure." I said still holding him tight in one arm while massaging one of his temples with my other hand.

"No. Don't say." I wondered if he knew what he was saying. He still wasn't himself. He opened his eyes. He stared at me. Then he looked away and seemed like he was about to cry. But he didn't cry, he was still gasping to catch his breath. His body was still taut, sweaty, shaking.

Ten or fifteen minutes after that, we started to talk about it. He said he'd heard me talking to him. He said he couldn't control it. I said, "Maybe you're not supposed to control it. Maybe you're just supposed to relax."

"I can't relax or not relax."

We talked for awhile. I massaged both temples and got him some Ibuprofen because his head was throbbing and his body was sore. I told him I was glad he'd released his bladder before he took his medicine and got in bed. I wasn't trying to be cute.

"Are you going to leave me?" he asked. "I'm sorry you had to see this."

We talked more about what he felt and how strong this one was compared to the one he experienced earlier this morning. Two epileptic seizures in one day after eight months without a single one. His dream of being able to drive again, to have his independence, to get his job back, and be "alive" again dashed like a boat against the shore with no lighthouse protecting him in the fog.

I put a cold pack over his forehead and massaged him till he fell asleep.

He's had epilepsy for over fifteen years. He lost his license and his job fifteen years ago. Medicare says he's not "disabled enough." He has no insurance because after rent he has three hundred dollars per month on which he keeps himself alive. He goes to the free clinic every three months to wait in line for four hours to see his doctor and get his meds.

This is how a man who was Varsity all three years, MVP'd often, who then drove heavy machinery fifteen years for a city he loved, fell through the cracks. He's not disabled enough to receive any help from our government. This is the land of the free and the brave? I don't think so.

FDIC: 25% Of U.S. Households Have Limited Access To Banks, Minorities Hit Hard By Disparity

2009-12-02T10:37:57Z

WASHINGTON — More than a million American households lost access to basic banking services like savings accounts last year, bank regulators say.

Those families are among 30 million households that have little or no access to such services, according to a survey released Wednesday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Poor, minority and immigrant families are especially hard-hit.

Yeardley Smith: Changing Lives With Spare Change: My Two Cents on Microfinance

2009-12-01T15:36:18Z

A couple of days ago I put on a coat I haven't worn in a long time and in the inside pocket I found $27. It was like an early Christmas present. I thought of all the things I could do with that money: take a friend to the movies, have a nice lunch at a place with table cloths, or turn it into a micro-loan that can change somebody's life forever.

On the same day that I found the money in my coat pocket, a friend asked me "What makes you happy?"

The list is long but at the very top is "helping people help themselves." More than anything, I believe people want to be self-sustaining, contributing members of society. The idea that you can give $27 to a woman in a developing country who lives in extreme poverty and teach her how to run a business, provide her with education and health care, and set her on the path to a better life is endlessly fascinating to me. I love the microfinance approach because instead of being a welfare model, it's a model that puts the recipient at the center of the solution. And in doing so, the victory is a thousand times sweeter.

I first heard about microfinance in 2006, after seeing Muhammad Yunus on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Professor Yunus had just won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work as the founder of the innovative and phenomenally successful Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. I've always quietly given money to charities, but after listening to Dr. Yunus' philosophy about giving tiny loans to the poorest of the poor, and the fact that he began this venture with a $27 loan out of his own pocket, I was inspired to contribute my time and energy, as well.

An internet search led me to US-based Grameen Foundation. They're not a microfinance institution (MFI) like the Grameen Bank. But they model themselves after Dr. Yunus' philosophy: help people help themselves. Grameen Foundation assists MFI's in the developing world become more effective and efficient by providing loans, human resources, research, technology and education.
I asked for a meeting with Grameen Foundation president, Alex Counts. I wanted him to know I was "all in."

A month after that meeting, Alex and I traveled to Haiti to see the result of a successful partnership between Grameen Foundation and an MFI called Fonkoze. It was a phenomenal trip. I had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. Indeed, it is like a forgotten country. After decades of political corruption, even its own government seems to have given up on its people. In Port-au-Prince, I was struck by the miserable living conditions all over the city. I was stunned by the vast number of people who clearly had no job to go to and sat or stood aimlessly by the side of the road waiting for something to change.

Fonkoze primarily reaches out to the rural poor who are especially isolated and disenfranchised, so we spent most of our trip visiting these borrowers in the Central Plateau. Ninety-nine percent of Fonkoze's borrowers are women and in order to best serve them, they have developed four tiers of assistance.

The first and newest tier doesn't even involve a monetary loan. It involves giving the borrower an asset such as a goat or chickens and teaching them how to raise them.

Adeline lived in a mud hut with her three children, the father of whom came and went, providing no measurable support. As a woman who lives in an especially isolated rural area and makes less than a dollar a day, Adeline was given a goat to begin her journey out of poverty. She was also enrolled in an 18-month program that includes basic education, bi-monthly visits from a Fonkoze staff member, health care, and home improvement.

While this intimate, hands-on approach is incredibly labor intensive for both Adeline and Fonkoze, I'm convinced it's the reason the program is so successful. Ninety-nine percent of its participants graduate to the next tier and receive their first micro-loan. I'm telling you, it's one of the most fantastic phenomenons I've ever had the privilege to witness.

Now, six months later, I doubt Adeline remembers me. But as I go about my daily life, she stays with me. She inspires me to work harder and be as successful as I possibly can. Having seen first hand how a little bit can go a very long way, I know exactly what I want to do with that $27 I found in my coat pocket.

'Coming Together As One' Campaign Encourages Youth To Fight Poverty

2009-12-01T11:57:30Z

Young stars Hayden Panettiere, John Cho, Corbin Bleu, Leighton Meester and others have joined ONE.org to encourage college students to join their campaign against poverty and preventable disease in the third world.

Co-founded by Bono, ONE has frequently targeted American youth as part of its movement, and the following PSA, featuring young performers from Nickelodeon, "Twilight" and "Gossip Girl" serves to further attract an audience that frequently ignores global issues.

Directed by Jesse Dylan, the PSA discusses global poverty and how young people can easily get involved in the fight.

"We take so much for granted. Like going to school, watching TV, seeing a movie, keeping warm at night. It's easy to forget that every day millions of people living in poverty are fighting for their lives."

"This is not about charity," the PSA says. "It's about justice."

WATCH:

Get HuffPost Impact On Facebook and Twitter!

Christine Schanes: Homelessness Myth #3: Unsheltered People Only Count At Night

2009-11-30T10:21:40Z

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Renewal (HUD) requires that every two years during the last seven days of January, Continuum of Care (CoC) systems (those agencies that HUD funds on a competitive basis) count the number of homeless people within their geographical areas.

HUD guidelines suggest that the best practice for counting homeless people is to count unsheltered homeless people on the same night as counting people staying in shelters or when the shelters are closed. Thus, while the counts of homeless people living in shelters take place during the day, the counts for unsheltered homeless people generally take place from midnight until 4:00 a.m., or from very early in the morning, often beginning before 4:00 a.m.

In 2007, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), the lead agency for Los Angeles CoC, counted 68,608 homeless people residing within the Los Angeles CoC. Not included within the Los Angeles CoC count were the cities of Glendale, Long Beach and Pasadena, which counted a total of 5,094 homeless people in their cities. Thus, in 2007, the total count of homeless people in Los Angeles County was 73,702.

On October 28 of this year, LAHSA released its January 27-29, 2009 count of homeless people that found that 42,694 homeless people reside within the Los Angeles CoC. Again, not included within the Los Angeles CoC count were the cities of Glendale, Long Beach and Pasadena, which counted a total of 5,359 homeless people in their cities. Thus, in 2009, the homeless population in Los Angeles County was counted as 48,053.

While 48,053 homeless people is an extremely large number, representing misery for thousands of men, women and children, this number is surprising to some service providers because it represents an unexpected 38% decrease in the number of homeless people counted in 2007.

In its press release, "New Census Reveals Decline in Greater Los Angeles Homelessness," LAHSA attributes this 38% decrease in the number of homeless people counted in Los Angeles County in 2009 to "progress in the City's and County's efforts at reducing homelessness."

Of particular interest are the statistics that LAHSA quotes in its press release stating that:

[t]he decline in the numbers for Los Angeles appears consistent with similar national decreases [in the number of homeless people counted] seen in areas like:

New York: 30% decrease
Indianapolis 22% decrease
Riverside County 22% decrease

I propose that counting all homeless people, whether sheltered or unsheltered, during the day would yield a more accurate number of the people who are homeless.

1. Finding unsheltered homeless people at night is problematic. In some cities, there is police activity to break up illegal public camping. However, on those nights at the end of January every two years, enumerators look forward to finding encampments so that they can find homeless people to count.

It would appear that the police and the enumerators are working at cross-purposes.

2. Would you like it if a team of enumerators came to your home in the middle of the night? Some homeless people know about the count process and may not want to be disturbed so perhaps they find more out-of-the-way places to stay on census nights.

3. Some unsheltered homeless people stay awake at night. Why? Because sleeping at night "outside" puts homeless people in a very vulnerable state. They often sit in well-lit areas or on buses, or they walk.

The unsheltered homeless people who do try to sleep at night often look for quiet, private places so they are protected from prying eyes, possible attacks and the elements.

4. I suggest that the enumerators bring non-perishable canned and packaged food with can openers to these hungry, poor people. This act of charity could make the counting experience something that homeless people might look forward to and for which they would make themselves more available.

5. Unsheltered homeless people can be more easily found during the day in public places, in food lines and at service providers' locations. Why not utilize the organizers and volunteers at these locations to help introduce the enumerators to their guests?

Finding unsheltered working homeless people can be accomplished by talking to the organizers, volunteers, service providers or friends who know these homeless people.

6. Concerned about double counting homeless people? Homeless people are knowable. Prior to the official counting dates, a team could just go out, meet homeless people and bring much-needed canned or packaged food. By knowing in advance many of the people they are counting, enumerators would know to avoid counting the same person twice.

Further, in the case of meeting a homeless person who enumerators have not previously met, the enumerators could simply ask the homeless person if he/she has been counted already. Once a trust or friendship has been established between any enumerator and any homeless person, this information will be more readily forth coming.

7. It would be helpful if each team of enumerators were accompanied by a trained mental health professional. Stress is a challenge for all of us and certainly homeless people experience a great deal of stress. Thus, by their mere calming presence, these mental health professionals would be providing a valuable service.

It is important for many reasons, including justifying the funding of homelessness services, that homeless people be counted. However, we must be as creative in our thinking about the ways to count them as homeless people are creative in the ways that they survive on the streets.

As fellow human beings, homeless people are entitled to our respect, need our help and deserve our compassion.

I look forward to your comments.

Thank you,
Christine

One In Eight Americans On Food Stamps

2009-11-29T08:38:26Z

With food stamp use at record highs and climbing every month, a program once scorned as a failed welfare scheme now helps feed one in eight Americans and one in four children.

10,000 Albinos In Hiding After Killings In East Africa

2009-11-29T05:08:44Z

NAIROBI, Kenya — The mistaken belief that albino body parts have magical powers has driven thousands of Africa's albinos into hiding, fearful of losing their lives and limbs to unscrupulous dealers who can make up to $75,000 selling a complete dismembered set.

Mary Owido, who lacks pigment that gives color to skin, eyes and hair, says she is only comfortable when at work or at home with her husband and children.

Rachel Sterne: Want to Help Others This Thanksgiving? Go Online

2009-11-26T10:34:06Z

Can't make it to a soup kitchen this Thanksgiving, but want to give back?

A fascinating experiment in digital philanthropy is brewing in the headquarters of the Robin Hood Foundation, a New York City charity that has raised more than $1 billion for poverty-focused nonprofits.

Over the past two months, a skunkworks team of young internet influencers has met, brainstormed, emailed and twittered -- all in the pursuit of feeding more than 100,000 of the city's hungry.

The challenge? Convince 15,000 people to donate $50 online, providing a holiday meal to 8 people. Contributions are processed by delivery grocer FreshDirect, and the campaign spans Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr.

Why would Robin Hood, which historically brings in gargantuan donations from the city's financial elite, try such a grassroots approach?

The Robin Hood Foundation is not your typical New York City charity. First, it's relatively young for its size, founded in 1988. Its board is comprised not of descendants of the country's oil and railroad magnates, but of self-made hedge fund managers and media moguls. Above all, it breaks tradition with an approach that's closer to an investment firm than a homeless shelter.

A pioneer in 'venture philanthropy,' a charity model that embraces free-market forces, the foundation looks at the nonprofits it funds as investments, emphasizes accountability, and regularly measures ROI. To those in the internet industry, it might resemble Y Combinator, a successful venture firm that incubates promising startups by providing advice and network connections.

What's more, it's working, with a record fundraising bounty of $72.7 million in one night at the 2009 spring gala. 100% of that will go directly to charities, because Robin Hood's board members cover all administrative costs.

So why rock the boat? It's their free-market approach to evolving charity that has led to Robin Hood's success, and they're looking to evolve further. [Disclosure: I am part of the digital outreach team].

Mark Bezos, Robin Hood's SVP of Development and Communications, said that now the organization is asking, "How does a model like ours, that is very labor-intensive and customized, exist in a Kiva.org world?"

He admitted that the "brave new world" of web-based philanthropy is "all very new to us." By looking to the group, which includes Rachel Sklar of Mediaite, Soraya Darabi of The New York Times, and Serena Torrey from New York Magazine, Bezos said, "we're trying to crowdsource an answer."

The bottom line, according to Bezos? The Robin Hood Foundation is "trying recruit more foot soldiers in the fight against poverty." So far, efforts have raised over $360,000, providing almost 58,000 meals--not bad for a web foray, but still a long way off from the 120,000-meal goal.

So if you can't volunteer at a soup kitchen this holiday season, try giving online.

You can feed 8 New Yorkers in need this winter by donating to the Robin Hood Foundation via FreshDirect.

Learn more about the campaign here. 100% of all donations will go directly to local charitable organizations

Read more HuffPost Thanksgiving coverage and commentary

GroundReport: Robin Hood Foundation Embraces the Web to Feed NYC's Hungry

2009-11-25T09:09:11Z

By Rachel Sterne, GroundReport CEO

Want to give back this Thanksgiving, but can't make it to a soup kitchen?

A fascinating experiment in digital philanthropy is brewing in the headquarters of the Robin Hood Foundation, a New York City charity that has raised more than $1 billion for poverty-focused nonprofits.

Over the past two months, a skunkworks team of young internet influencers has met, brainstormed, emailed and twittered -- all in the pursuit of feeding more than 100,000 of the city's hungry.

The challenge? Convince 15,000 people to donate $50 online, providing a holiday meal to 8 people. Contributions are processed by delivery grocer FreshDirect, and the campaign spans Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr.

Why would Robin Hood, which historically brings in gargantuan donations from the city's financial elite, try such a grassroots approach?

The Robin Hood Foundation is not your typical New York City charity. First, it's relatively young for its size, founded in 1988. Its board is comprised not of descendants of the country's oil and railroad magnates, but of self-made hedge fund managers and media moguls. Above all, it breaks tradition with an approach that's closer to an investment firm than a homeless shelter.

A pioneer in 'venture philanthropy,' a charity model that embraces free-market forces, the foundation looks at the nonprofits it funds as investments, emphasizes accountability, and regularly measures ROI. To those in the internet industry, it might resemble Y Combinator, a successful venture firm that incubates promising startups by providing advice and network connections.

What's more, it's working, with a record fundraising bounty of $72.7 million in one night at the 2009 spring gala. 100 percent of that will go directly to charities, because Robin Hood's board members cover all administrative costs.

So why rock the boat? It's their free-market approach to evolving charity that has led to Robin Hood's success, and they're looking to evolve further. [Disclosure: I am part of the digital outreach team].

Mark Bezos, Robin Hood's SVP of Development and Communications, said that now the organization is asking, "How does a model like ours, that is very labor-intensive and customized, exist in a Kiva.org world?"

He admitted that the "brave new world" of web-based philanthropy is "all very new to us." By looking to the group, which includes Rachel Sklar of Mediaite, Soraya Darabi of The New York Times, and Serena Torrey from New York Magazine, Bezos said, "we're trying to crowdsource an answer."

The bottom line, according to Bezos? The Robin Hood Foundation is "trying recruit more foot soldiers in the fight against poverty." So far, efforts have raised over $360,000, providing almost 58,000 meals--not bad for a web foray, but still a long way off from the 120,000-meal goal.

Want to help? $50 can feed 8 New Yorkers in need this winter through a donation to the Robin Hood Foundation via FreshDirect.

Learn more about the campaign here. 100% of all donations will go directly to local charitable organizations.

USDA: States struggle to administer food stamps

2009-11-24T21:22:44Z

WASHINGTON — With more Americans going hungry than ever before, the Agriculture Department is concerned that dozens of states aren't adequately administering food stamp programs designed to provide food to low-income Americans.

Several states have run the program in a way that is "problematic and resulted in a more complex and difficult enrollment process," the department said in a letter to state administrators dated Nov. 20 and obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. The letter, signed by Kevin Concannon, the department's undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, says practices in those states "have not served our clients or our taxpayers well."

Hard Rock's Hungerthon: Imagine There's No Hunger

2009-11-23T14:36:49Z

Yoko Ono and Hard Rock Cafe are teaming up to campaign against hunger with donations, music and merch. The "Imagine There's No Hunger: Hungerthon 2009" is drawing on customer generosity and celebrity punch to fight poverty and hunger through World Hunger Year (WHY).

There are almost too many ways to participate in this campaign, so we'll break it down for you: Several top musicians and bands, including O.A.R. Elvis Costello, Eric Hutchinson, Brett Dennen have donated rare, live or previously unreleased tracks for the campaign's digital album, "Serve4." The album can be downloaded via iTunes, Amazon or the Hard Rock Web site. If you decide to chow down at a Hard Rock Cafe near you, you can donate a dollar to the campaign and get an "Imagine" bracelet which you can sport along with celebrities like 50 Cent. Or, you can buy John Lennon inspired merchandise on the Hungerthon site.

No matter which way you chip in, 100 percent of the proceeds from Hungerthon donations will go to eight "on the ground" partner organizations of WHY, which advocates for innovative, community-based solutions to hunger and poverty.

Get HuffPost Impact On Facebook and Twitter!

Venison Donations To Food Banks Up As Demand Grows

2009-11-23T12:44:21Z

CINCINNATI — Hunters are donating more venison to strapped food banks as Ohio and other states offer financial aid aimed at managing high deer populations. It's a much-needed boost for pantries struggling to meet rising demand.

The national food bank association Feeding America has seen demand for help more than double at some food banks. The Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks says the number of people served by its member charities was up 37 percent in the fourth quarter ending June 30, compared with the previous fourth quarter.

Food Emergencies Up 21 Percent Over Last Year In New York

2009-11-23T12:40:22Z

ALBANY, N.Y. — The recession may be easing, but the urgent need to feed New York's hungry is still sharp.

The number of people seeking emergency food assistance in New York City is up 20.9 percent over last year, but agencies were better able to meet that demand despite the shaky economy, according to a report released Monday by the New York City Coalition Against Hunger.

Jonathan Kim: ReThink Interview: Philippe Diaz (part 1) -- The End of Poverty? and How It Started

2009-11-23T07:01:41Z

What causes global poverty? Why do the countries of the northern hemisphere enjoy so much wealth while over a billion people in the southern hemisphere live in slums where one person (usually a child under 5) dies of starvation every 3.6 seconds? Many politicians and pundits would say that these are questions too vast to be answered, like trying to figure out why bad things happen in the world. It could be lack of education, corruption, lack of infrastructure, disease, bad luck, war, or any number of possible factors in any number of combinations.

But if you watch the new documentary The End of Poverty?, the answer to what causes global poverty is pretty clear -- us. Not you or I specifically, but those of us who live in the northern hemisphere, which has greatly benefited from and now relies upon the exploitation of the southern hemisphere's land, labor and natural resources to fuel our economic growth and our unsustainable consumer lifestyles. Or, as one of the experts interviewed in the film bluntly states, "We are rich because they are poor," and it's been that way since Europe began its brutal global expansion in 1492. Like the film's tagline says: Poverty is Not an Accident.

The End of Poverty? has been invited to over two dozen film festivals (including Cannes) and is making its way across the country after a successful premiere in New York (click here to find when/where it's playing). Watch the trailer for The End of Poverty? below:

I had the opportunity to talk to Philippe Diaz, the writer/director/cinematographer of The End of Poverty?, at Cinema Libre Studio in Canoga Park, CA. Diaz founded Cinema Libre in 2003 to help develop, produce and distribute independent films. Below are excerpts from the interview.

Diaz gives a brief history of global poverty from 1492 through today and why our current economic system can only (briefly) be sustained by plunging even more people into poverty.

Why Diaz believes that poverty and the concept of "growth for the sake of growth" are a greater threat than climate change.

Why perhaps the most damaging legacy of colonialism was not slavery, but the introduction of the concept of private property.

Why the extreme wage slavery being faced by hundreds of millions of people today is as bad, or in some cases worse, than the slavery of the past.

Stay tuned for part two of my interview with Philippe Diaz.

For more ReThink Reviews, the only (therefore best) political movie reviews online, visit ReThinkReviews.net.

Jarrett Murphy: Bloomberg III Opens With Armory Battle

2009-11-19T09:33:49Z

"We have four more years," Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber told a City Council hearing on Tuesday. "I don't know what we'd do in the next four years that we haven't done already."

Lieber was addressing the Zoning & Franchises subcommittee, which is considering a Bloomberg administration plan to sell the historic Kingsbridge Armory to the developer Related Companies for the construction of a mall.

At Tuesday's hearing, powerful unions and connected pols counseled the Council to vote "no" on the plan unless Related agrees to require that the stores that occupy the mall pay living wages to their employees. Related is refusing to do that, saying it won't be able to lease the mall if it does. And Lieber was suggesting that the city tried as hard as it could to get this deal to pay living wages.

The city's efforts, however, were far from Herculean. The city gave Bronx community groups a seat at the table when it drafted the "request for proposals" for developers for the Armory. And the resulting document did say that the city's Economic Development Corporation would "look favorably" on proposals that included a living wage. But none of the developers who submitted bids offered such a wage, defined as $10 an hour with benefits or $11.50 an hour without. So the city selected Related, and is planning to sell the company a building that cost $30 million to repair for $5 million and throw in $17 million in other subsidies. The paper-thin commitment to a living wage articulated in the RFP was left for community groups, unions and Bronx elected officials to pick up.

At Tuesday's hearing, Lieber said the city is "not in favor of mandating a specific wage requirement within the retail leases. " Adding: "These barriers would inhibited the development of this and other projects, and thus the 1,200 permanent jobs and 1,000 construction jobs would go uncreated and the Armory would lie fallow."

Lieber's reference to "other projects" was telling. As City Limits reports this week, the fight over living wages at the Armory has become a linchpin for the living wage movement and an important test of the political landscape just two weeks after Bloomberg—whose developer-friendly policies have made him plenty of enemies—won re-election by a surprisingly thin margin.

But while Lieber is worried about the living wage debate affecting other projects beyond the armory—in other words, becoming a standard that all developers would have to contend with in the future— some of his allies at the hearing suggested that the Armory debate demonstrated the need for just such a standard.

Paul Fernandes, an officer of the Building and Construction Trades Council, said that, "A vote against this project will not create any jobs, but will kill the project and 1,000 union construction jobs." The split between the building trades and other unions over the Armory reflects the way current wage policies divide workers: Construction jobs on large public projects are frequently good-paying union gigs, making those unions backers of the projects, while the people who work in the completed buildings are often poorly paid. That divide, Fernandes said, "results from the lack of any standard policy on development projects." Chatting before the hearing, several Councilmembers discussed whether a citywide wage standard for publicly assisted projects—which dozens of cities have in place—isn't something they should start discussing.

Such a conversation would attack a fundamental idea at the heart of most urban development policies to date: that since any job is better than no job, cities must give millions in subsidies to companies offering any jobs. Lieber articulated this approach on Tuesday, saying, "We want to see these jobs get created here at the start, because the alternative of no job is worse."

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. rejected that idea. "These jobs must be created in the right way," he testified. "The old model, that any job is better than no job, is not acceptable." The idea is that with a property like the Armory, and a retail market like the Bronx, communities have more bargaining strength than the traditional approach to development suggests.

There was no vote on the issue Tuesday. But most of the questions were hostile to Related. One of the most pointed came from Manhattan Councilman Robert Jackson, who figured out that the $10-an-hour wage that Related and the city are so afraid to mandate works out to $20,800 a year for a full-time worker. For families of four with one income, that's below the poverty level. But the state minimum wage of $7.25 an hour leaves even more workers in poverty.

"You're basically saying the city is going to subsidize a project that is not even going to pay the minimum poverty level to survive in the United States of America!" Jackson barked.

Anushay Hossain: Climate Change Hits Women Harder, So Where Are the Feminist Voices?

2009-11-18T13:13:40Z

I grew up knowing my country was drowning. My childhood memories are full of flashing images of annual monsoon rains making rivers out of our roads, lakes out of our rice paddy fields, washing away farmers' harvests, pushing the rural population into our already overpopulated capital city. Of course the yearly floods alternated with even greater natural disasters -- cyclones, tornadoes -- you name it, growing up I saw it. The rumor in the playground was that in twenty years Bangladesh would be completely underwater.

Today that statement is no longer a rumor, but very much a reality. According to the UK's Guardian publication, Bangladesh makes up not even 10% of the land mass of South Asia , but over 90% of the region's water passes through it. Experts state that Bangladesh 's shifting and intensifying weather patterns are making a bad situation worse. The case of Bangladesh shows us that climate change is real, and is already impacting populations and ecosystems around the world.

But the case of Bangladesh shows us something more: That it's the world's poor who will feel the impact of this change the hardest. And who exactly are the poor? Women, who make up approximately 65% of the world's poorest populations.

Because of the traditional domestic responsibilities which fall on women and girls, experts state that climate change is having a disproportionate affect them. Women are the primary caretakers of families, primary managers of everything from food production to water management in their households. As UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) puts it, women are the ones who cook, clean, and farm for their families, in addition to providing health care and hygiene. Women are not only on the "front lines" of climate change, but their work and relationship with the environment is so intimate that their experience with it changing is often just as personal.

Let's look at the issue of water for example, a natural resource especially sensitive to climate change, and one that traditionally women are the managers of in their households. According to UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women), women and girls on average travel 10-15 kilometers, spending up to 8 hours a day gathering water for their families. Droughts caused by climate change are shrinking up and eliminating existing water supplies, making the distance to walk even longer. Because of the distances women and girls have to walk to fetch water for their families, millions of girls around the world are unable to go to school. Imagine that. The average person would never make the connection between accessing water and girls' education. Yet it exists.

As the gendered impact of climate change becomes increasingly palpable, my question is -- where are the feminist voices? Why are more women's rights advocates and activists not picking up and rallying around this issue vigorously? Everyday you see articles in the news, but where is the real action? More importantly, where is the outrage? Just yesterday I read an article in the LA Times talking about how the newest kind of refugee is not from war, but from of climate change. They are called "climate refugees" and the LA Times states that almost 10 million people around the world have been forced to leave their homes for "reasons ranging from rising (or falling) sea levels, lack of rain, and desertification."

Back home in Bangladesh , the list of innovative ideas to combat and more importantly, adapt to climate change is endless. International aid organizations are working with local NGOs to build "floating villages," clinics on boats, and help women educate their communities about securing flood and cyclone shelters.

But there has to be more. Women may be in the front lines of climate change, but they are not only its victims. Their personal and intimate experience of the harsh impacts of climate change means that within them lies very real solutions to combat it. If the voices from the women's rights movement don't pick up this issue, loudly, clearly and unanimously, climate change will not only drown out countries, but the agents of change, women, with it. And that is simply not an option.

It is the responsibility of the women's movement, both here in the US and abroad, to make the issue of our altering environment, our issue, otherwise everybody loses. Climate change is a human rights issue, but its very obvious gendered impacts make it a women's rights issue.

Cross posted from Anushay's Point.

49 Million Americans Going Hungry, Programs Initiating To Raise Food Security

2009-11-16T12:36:37Z

According to a new government report, the number of Americans who lack adequate, consistent access to food rose to a new high of 49 million last year. Especially discouraging is the number of children who live in households with low food security, which rose from 12 million to 17 million in just over a year.

The report gives a stark look at how the economy has impacted American families, despite news over the last months that consumer confidence is improving. President Obama promised during his campaign to eliminate childhood hunger in America by 2015.

As the report indicates, poverty and food insecurity don't necessarily go hand-in-hand. Many of the families who run out of food before they can afford to buy more earn above the poverty level.

Despite the bad news, organizations are promoting new images to help.

The Food Bank For New York City has initiated a new Adopt A Food Program, which pairs long-term volunteers with food banks and pantries where their skills will be best utilized.

Through the Adopt A Food Program, volunteers enter into three, six, or twelve-month commitments, and do more than just hand out food. Volunteers with special skills can host fundraising events, do grant writing, conduct outreach for programs, or even teach classes on computer literacy.

For more ideas, read Causecast's page on How To Feed Hungry Americans or Mazon's blog post with three ways to fight hunger with your Thanksgiving menu.

Get HuffPost Impact On Facebook and Twitter!

Wayne Trujillo: The End of Poverty at Home? Part I

2009-11-16T12:23:20Z

I recently blogged about Director Philippe Diaz' bold and often blistering documentary, The End of Poverty? The film premiered in theaters last Friday in New York City and opens in cities across the nation over the next few months (Denver's debut is slated for Dec. 30). An unflinching examination of today's global exploitation traced back to the European colonialists and conquistadors, The End of Poverty? is not without its critics, some of whom complain about the lopsided analysis and concentration on the sundry insults and outrages perpetuated on Third World nations by capitalism.

But the film's ambition is to inspire action rather than debate. By keeping the lens focused and mic trained on entrenched exploitation of impoverished populations by wealthy interests, Diaz attempts to explain and expose on film systemic mechanisms that grease the global economy. While the film's frames and narrative describe today's economic fiefdom as originating some 500 years ago with the exploits of Columbus and other European explorers, the imagery inspired in my mind reached past colonialists and conquistadors to Egyptian pharaohs and slaves. Metaphorical, mental flashbacks to college lectures on ancient history flashed across the screen as I watched The End of Poverty? As academicians shared the spotlight with impoverished natives, all attesting to capitalism's crimes, or at least testifying to its worst impulses, I envisioned ancient Egypt where the mighty were carried on the shoulders of the hapless and helpless whose sole purpose in life was to serve their masters. Sure, the economic domination the film describes is more sophisticated than ancient royalty kept afloat on litters. But the precept remains the same - the poor are still keeping the wealthy afloat.

Actually, there were many images and perceptions prompted by The End of Poverty? Closer to home, I was reminded of the economic principles and policies - demanding greater returns and less expenditures - that's created one of the most combustible controversies in American politics. The surge of immigrants residing and working in the United States without official documentation has engendered some of the most passionate responses by both their advocates and opponents since, well, the last immigration surge in the early 20th Century. But beyond the obvious social and immediate economic implications of this immigration upswing there is an underlying catalyst that is oft-ignored in the national uproar. Usually national discussions on illegal immigration bicker back and forth about these immigrants threatening American's safety, culture, tax revenues and jobs. Less often does the broad debate reflect on the economic impetus attracting people to abandon their homeland on a journey that is loaded with hostility, a word best describing the terrain many have to cross and much of the population they have to live among and work for in the age-old quest for a better paycheck and brighter opportunity.

Mentioned only intermittently are the businesses benefiting from these immigrants. Without legal papers or permission to work, these immigrants also lack legal recourse for workforce infringements and basic employee rights. The End of Poverty? documents capitalistic exploitation of impoverished workers in underdeveloped countries, but there is ample exploitation of this same class of people here. Does anyone really believe that a widespread concern and compassion motivated the immigration boom of the last decade-plus? Basically, economics spurred this tide of immigration, both legal and illegal. And the same motivation described in the film that spurs businesses to seek economic opportunity abroad is reflected at home. Whether exporting and outsourcing jobs or importing cheap labor, the bottom line is enhanced profit.

Even people who disagree on immigration reform (and nearly everything else) agree on the economic undercurrents. A few years ago, as editor of a Latino lifestyles magazine; in an attempt to report all opinions and angles, I interviewed Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minutemen Project. While we disagreed on almost everything, including a resolution to the immigration stalemate, there came a brief moment of mutual accord. I summarized my interpretation of the economic impulses and circumstances driving immigration and asked Gilchrist if he thought it fair to state the reason and responsibility behind the immigration explosion - whether one believes it to be good or bad - as stemming from and belonging to businesses seeking cheap and pliant labor. He paused, stammered a second and then stated, "Wayne, you took the words out of my mouth."

Other instances portrayed in The End of Poverty? hit home. Governor Dick Lamm's recent post on this site reminded me how, in our global economy, the message central to the film isn't strictly defined, balanced or bordered by the historical North/South axiom.

The population growth issue in America is a matter of immigration. With our natural birthrate we will stabilize the population of the U.S., with current levels of mass immigration we will double and double again. Sustainability requires us to confront the painful issues of immigration and consumption.

The assorted burdens created by global economic disparity and disproportionate consumption of resources have arrived home. While Governor Lamm largely discussed immigration and sustainability within America as opposed to the film's broader view, he and Diaz both noted the impossibility of the planet supporting worldwide consumption at the rate and level Americans enjoy at present. However, the broader consequences that The End of Poverty? addresses go beyond one issue or nation. Limiting or curtailing immigration to the United States isn't going to solve the economic circumstances that surround it. Nor will containing immigration replenish or sustain the world's limited and vanishing resources. Much like with global warming, we all share one earth; many of our current problems can't be checked at the border. Governor Lamm wrote, "We are living on the shoulders of some awesome geometric curves." Diaz would claim that we are living on the shoulders of the impoverished. Or, to reference my earlier metaphorical image, the shoulders of Egyptian slaves - different people but same story.

Regardless of personal opinions or politics, an immutable fact confronts us. The old paradigm of power and privilege can't immunize or isolate people and nations from global problems and poverty. While I wrote a generally enthusiastic review of The End of Poverty?, perhaps the best line to summarize our national predicament comes from Lauren Wissot's review (not entirely favorable) of the film. "The chickens always come home to roost..."

World Food Programme Asks Billion People For One Euro To Beat Hunger

2009-11-15T08:30:16Z

he World Food Programme, facing a major funding shortfall as donor governments are hit by the financial crisis, is appealing directly to one billion individuals to give small amounts of cash to beat hunger.

Josette Sheeran, head of the U.N. food aid body, said the aim of the Internet appeal, launched on Saturday, was to get people in wealthy nations to give just 1 euro ($1.50) a week, which would be enough to end hunger for another billion people in the developing world.

Medicare Paid $47 Billion In Suspect Claims, According To HHS

2009-11-15T00:20:56Z

WASHINGTON — The government paid more than $47 billion in questionable Medicare claims including medical treatment showing little relation to a patient's condition, wasting taxpayer dollars at a rate nearly three times the previous year.

Excerpts of a new federal report, obtained by The Associated Press, show a dramatic increase in improper payments in the $440 billion Medicare program that has been cited by government auditors as a high risk for fraud and waste for 20 years.