"Homelessness Assistance and Its Alternatives" at the Cyberhood. No. 529.

In 1990, the American Library Association adopted Policy 61, Library Services for the Poor. This “Poor People’s Policy” was developed to ensure that libraries are accessible and useful to low-income citizens and to encourage a deeper understanding of poverty’s dimensions, its causes, and ways it can be ended.
In 1996, members of the Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) formed the Hunger, Homelessness & Poverty Task Force to promote and implement Policy 61 and to raise awareness of poverty issues. The article on "Homelessness Assistance and Its Alternatives" posted at the Cyberhood provides a new look at community connections.


The Cyberhood's mission is to encourage critical thinking about the plight of communities of color, conditions in the inner city, and the problems of low-wage white workers. The website's goal is to connect students, scholars, practitioners, and activists from across the racial and class divide in order to build meaningful relationships. The building of such connections, we believe, will strengthen the struggle to understand and transform inner cities and the metropolitan regions of which they are a part.

On Homelessness:
Colhane, Dennis P. and Stephen Metraux. 2008.
"Rearranging the Deck Chairs or Reallocating the Lifeboats?: Homelessness Assistance and Its Alternatives." Journal of The American Planning Association 74(1): 111-121. At the Cyberhood available in pdf:

HUNGER DOESN'T TAKE A SUMMER VACATION. No. 528.

In the past year, the cost of food for what the government considers a minimum nutritional diet has risen 7.2 percent nationwide.

The Food Stamp Program is the nation's most important food assistance program, especially for children. It provides more substantial nutrition assistance to low‑income children than all of the nation's child nutrition programs combined. More than half of all food stamp participants are children, and over 80 percent of food stamp benefits go to families with children. Furthermore, the Food Stamp Program is the only social program that creates a national benefit floor under nearly all categories of poor households, assisting low-income children and their families as well as low‑income elderly, disabled and unemployed individuals.


HUNGER DOESN'T TAKE A SUMMER VACATION
When schools close their doors for vacation next summer, over 12 million poor children, who qualify to receive a free or reduced price lunch during the academic year, will be deprived of this vital meal. The implications for these children's health and well-being are significant. For over two months, the vast majority of these children will not have access to nutritious meals like the ones they receive during the school year. We cannot accept this nutrition gap.



SUMMARY OF MAJOR FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICE PROGRAMS.

One Billion People Short of Food. No. 527.

HUNGER MAP

Food and Agriculture Organization.

Leaders Speak of Their Own Issues at a Conference
Addressing Food Shortages
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL and ANDREW MARTIN
Leaders from around the world spoke about economic issues
in their own countries and political priorities at a U.N.
conference on food shortages.