The smart folks at the Restaurant Opportunities Center picked Valentine’s Day to release their new report on conditions in dining establishments across the city. It’s fitting, since V-Day is the busiest day of the year for restaurants.
Here’s a video with great reporting from Karen Gray Houston at Fox 5:
Also Washington Post, WTOP, WAMU, We Love DC.
Posted in Access
Government officials, transportation leaders and agriculture leaders are invited to quantify examples of our collective journey towards equity and equal opportunity, honoring the legacy of Rosa Parks.
Monday, February 7, 2011
5:00 p.m. ~ 7:00 p.m.
Green Jobs, Good Jobs National Conference
Marriott Washington ~ Wardman Park Washington, D.C.
Virginia Room
For more information, contact Michael Harris, Rosa Parks Day Coordinator at (916) 997-2451 or michael@blackagriculture.com.a
Posted in EventsHouse party/barn dance/potluck to celebrate the first year of Beet Street Gardens and donate to raise a (small) barn for the garden at Bruce House, a program of Sasha Bruce Youthworks! The actual (quite small) barn raising (definition here) will be raised by volunteers in the spring, just before the planting season.
The party is Saturday, December 11th at 1412 Parkwood Pl NW. Potluck dinner at 7:00. Contra, two-step, square dancing, fire pit, and good company ’till late.
$10 suggested donation. No one turned away. All proceeds go to Beet Street.
There will be a fire pit on the porch, a keg of beer, and a pot of mulled wine. We will have Gabe Popkin calling dances and old timey tunes from local musicians.
All are welcome. RSVP here.
This blog post is part of a series on the importance of safety net programs and the need for a more progressive income tax, to pay for the investments our city needs. Find out more here.
When I think about money and my childhood, I remember my parents talking about their credit card debt and being told at McDonalds that our family could not afford Happy Meals. I knew we didn’t have money for the extras like weekly trips to eat out, but it was only as a young adult that I understood just how little my parents were working with.
When I took a few classes at the local public high school, my Mom sent me to the school office to ask about Free and Reduced Lunch. I brought home the income requirements and found out that we were well within the limits for Free Lunch. Then, when my parents became pregnant with my little brother, we signed up for the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) program.
Our family had just one income by choice — my father worked and my mother stayed home to raise and educate me and my siblings. Despite our economic situation, I have a lot of privilege — I have white skin, we were considered middle class because of my father’s job, and I received a fabulous education, among other things.
I’m deeply grateful for the food programs that helped stretch our budget. Thanks to the WIC program, Free Meals, and — as a recent college graduate — Food Stamps, I had a healthy, happy, parent-filled childhood, and the financial support to get started in a new city. It’s been four short years since I graduated from college and moved to DC, and I’m in a job that I love, doing good work and contributing to the tax base. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to share my privilege and help grow the investments that were made to get me where I am today.
Unfortunately, the support I received as a young adult is not guaranteed for all DC residents who need it. Funding has been cut for safety net programs like IMA Service Centers, where people apply for Food Stamps. At the same time, our income tax structure has stayed the same — the top tax bracket (8.5%) starts at $40,000/year. Save Our Safety Net and other groups are suggesting a better choice: the City Council should create a new tax bracket of 9.5% for income over $200,000. For less than the cost of a latte a day to most households in the top 5%, our city could bring in about $75 million in new revenue. If you agree that we need more investments in the safety net, take action by sending an email to Vince Gray today.
What kind of a safety net do you want to have, for yourself and your neighbors? What tax structure would help us make the public investments our city needs?
As a policy wonk, I really appreciate the Capital Area Food Bank. They are one of the best food banks in the country for addressing the root causes of hunger through policy change, education, and outreach for the federal nutrition programs. Of course, they also distribute 23 million pounds of food a year to [...]
I never expected to be in the middle of a movement. But you never know where an elementary school science project might lead.
Posted in AccessOur gift to you this holiday season is a better blog. We’re upgrading to a more user-friendly and less frustrating Wordpress site, and are going to take the week off for a smooth transition.
I hope your holidays are full of family, friends, laughs, and all the nutritious, delicious food you can eat!
Peace, Joni
Posted in AccessOne in eight District residents are struggling with food insecurity. It’s hard to believe, but some 32,000 households in our nation’s capital have a hard time putting food on their table from week to week.
The term “food insecurity” indicates a lot more than what we typically consider when we think of “hunger.” It’s not just that empty feeling in the stomach. It means that thousands of DC residents–senior citizens, school children, the unemployed and the underemployed–wake up every morning with limited or uncertain access to nutritious and safe food.
Food security, on the other hand, means making sure that everyone has an opportunity to participate in the life of our community as fully developed citizens. This entails more than just income. Food security is partly determined by the very urban environment we live in: Are there places to purchase fruits and vegetables and other nutritious food in your neighborhood? In many DC neighborhoods, there aren’t.
Food security is also a matter of who and what we know: Are our children learning the critical value of nutrition? Do we have opportunities to learn from each other about healthy cooking and eating habits?
When any of our neighbors don’t have the tools to get enough of the right kinds of food, our whole community suffers. Food insecure children are at higher risk of physical and mental health problems, developmental delays, difficulties in school and ultimately lower lifetime earnings. People who can’t afford to maintain a balanced diet are more likely to become obese and face a host of other diet-related health problems.
The good news is, people are working hard every day to improve our community’s food security. There is a movement afoot to make healthy food available to all. Small and large retailers, service providers, farmers, co-ops, and community gardens all have a role to play. The aim of this blog–a collaborative effort of social service providers, gardeners, policy analysts, and food writers–is to shine a light on those amazing efforts and the issues that drive them.
Stay tuned, and please share your ideas and feedback as we work to grow this community effort.
