Archive for February, 2010

Posted by Katie | February 22nd, 2010

While food stamp participation has skyrocketed in D.C., there are still many people that are eligible for the program but not receiving it. One reason why they are missing out: They simply don’t know they are eligible.

The Food Stamp Benefit Estimator – a new tool created by D.C. Hunger Solutions, Bread for the City, and D.C. Legal Aid – can help advocates and providers determine whether someone is likely to be eligible for food stamps and what their possible food stamp monthly allotment may be. The benefit estimator provides an estimate of eligibility and benefits (not an official determination of eligibility or benefit). It comes as an Excel spread sheet and can be used in as little as five minutes.

On February 25th from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., D.C. Hunger Solutions and Bread for the City are hosting a phone tutorial on the estimator. The phone tutorial will include essential information about the food stamp program and eligibility guidelines, a how-to on the estimator, and information on upcoming modifications to the estimator.

To RSVP, contact Katie Vinopal at kvinopal@dchunger.org by Tuesday, February 23rd.

Posted by Stacy Braverman | February 22nd, 2010

Last week, Bread for the City attorney Stacy Braverman testified before the D.C. Council at its oversight hearing on the Department of Human Services (DHS). DHS provides many services to the District’s homeless population and also oversees public benefits programs including food stamps, TANF, Interim Disability Assistance, and medical insurance. Stacy spoke about the need for better training of DHS frontline staff, and about the importance of finally expanding the amount of DC families who are eligible for food stamps.

Taped testimony of all the witnesses is available on the D.C. Council website. Abbreviated verbal remarks follow:

Posted by Annabeth Roeschley | February 22nd, 2010

On last Monday’s rally in protest of Safeway’s upcoming closure on March 6, I heard much besides the volume of aggravated voices.

Amid shouts of “Save our Safeway!” I heard the cry to “make it better!” In between the chanting refrains were speeches about upcoming actions by local leaders and stories from local residents. The crowd standing outside on this cold President’s Day included some faithful patrons of the store who had fought hard to get it there in the first place, and kept fighting to keep it open when a Safeway closed ten years ago at Rhode Island and Florida Ave NE. Among the signs and banner were familiar faces, neighbors, hugs.

This neighborhood deserves better and knows it. Tambra Stevenson noted on this blog that the silver lining of this loss is an opportunity for something better. She visions a “true community center for wellness.” That sounds like a vision I can share – but I do not want to jump ahead so quickly that I miss what my neighbors are saying right now.

Posted by Liz Whitehurst | February 22nd, 2010

BIG thanks go out to Nathan Bynum for capturing the energy of Rooting DC 2010 on video. You can check out more of his work here.

Posted by Ed Bruske | February 22nd, 2010

D.C. Schools COO, Anthony Tata

By Ed Bruske
Contributing Editor

Anthony Tata, a former brigadier general and career Army officer in charge of procurement in Afghanistan, is the chief operating officer for D.C. Public Schools,  second in rank to chancellor Michelle Rhee. Tata was a close reader of our recent series of articles on the food served in D.C. schools–Tales from a D.C. School Kitchen–which questioned the highly processed and frequently sugary fare being served to children on a daily basis. Tata told The Washington Post that he is considering other options besides the school system’s current food provider, Chartwells. You  won’t find him disparaging Chartwells in this interview with The Slow Cook, except to say that school officials “are working with Chartwells to address concerns.”  Tata does say he is looking for ways to include more local produce in school meals and is considering a switch from highly-sweetened flavored milk. And there’s a new director of school food services on the scene who is particularly keen on school garden.

Posted by Xi Wang | February 19th, 2010

With shovels and forks, local food justice advocates will descend on the Historical Society of Washington tomorrow for Rooting DC, the District’s own urban agriculture forum. Workshops are organized around four themes–production, distribution, preparation and preservation–in order to explore how food finds its way from the field to our forks.

For the first time in it’s 3-year history, Rooting DC will feature cooking demonstrations.  Steve Seuser, who planned and coordinated the demonstrations, says that presenters will share how to prepare cooked, raw, and fermented foods, as well as canning basics. In particular, the demonstrations will feature recipes that are fast and affordable for families, as well as processes for gardeners who grow a lot and aren’t sure what to do with the overabundance.

Tracye McQuirter, a nutritionist with the UDC Center for Nutrition, Diet, and Health, will present during Workshop Session 2. We talked with Tracye about the importance of eating hea

Posted by Tamma Carleton | February 18th, 2010

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By geographically mapping indicators like “pounds of fruit/vegetables per capita” and “average monthly WIC participants,” the project enables policymakers and the general public to visualize the food environment, thereby helping to develop policy strategies that can improve food security and health in distressed areas across the country.

With such a tool, we can ask: where are the big gaps in service and access to healthy food, and how are those gaps affecting health? How are prices inhibiting the consumption of healthy food in many communities? Much of the map’s data focus on low-income communities, as does the First Lady’s entire childhood obesity project.

The Atlas summarizes a vast amount of data at the county, regional, and state levels. But in many ways, food security is a truly local issue – and at the moment, this tool is significantly limited in application at the local level. The smallest unit of measurement is the county – and this is especially problematic in DC, for example, where there is no distinction between sub-regions of the city. Therefore, if we’re looking at, say, the number of grocery stores per 1,000 people, we will get the same data point for all of DC – despite the fact that food environments vary widely throughout the District.

Posted by Ariela Summit | February 18th, 2010

At the Rooting DC conference this Saturday, activist, scholar, and consultant Joe Nasr will speak about how North American cities have been organizing for urban agriculture, and what the DC region can learn from that. Joe, who is based in Toronto, has worked on urban agriculture and food issues globally since the early 1990s. He has had longstanding ties to the DC region, discovering the subject by working with Jac Smit, “the father of urban agriculture.”

He is the co-ordinator for MetroAg – Alliance for Urban Agriculture, co-founded The Urban Agriculture Network and maintains several worldwide affiliations, including the Centre for Studies in Food Security at Ryerson University in Toronto . He received a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of Pennsylvania.

Joe brings hands on experience to his perspective at the conference. He has mentored a number of students interested in urban agriculture worldwide, including architecture students working with food- and agriculture-related design. Joe also co-curated the traveling exhibition: Carrot City – Designing for Urban Agriculture, which showed how the design of buildings and cities can enable the production of food in the city, and is now being turned into a book. Hopefully we’ll see the Carrot City exhibit in DC in the near future!