Published By Catholic Charities USA, Co-Sponsored by the Public Policy Education Network of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York & the Long Island Council of Churches

Campaign Goals:

This interfaith examination of conscience is a year-long campaign, beginning in September, 2007 through September, 2008, that will focus on specific causes of hunger and poverty on Long Island. The campaign will apply the Catholic Charities USA study, Poverty in America: A Threat to the Common Good to Long Island so that Long Island’s faith community and other community groups can:

1. Explore, from an interfaith perspective, religious mandates to serve poor people.



2. Educate Long Islanders about the extent of hunger which is rooted in the largely-hidden poverty of their region.



3. Elevate Long Island poverty to the attention of the general public, the media and local government officials.



4. Integrate concern and care for hungry, poor Long Islanders into the faith-life of religious congregations.



5. Establish federal, state and Long Island public-policy priorities to address the causes of both hunger and poverty and mobilize the faith community and other groups to advocate for these policies.



6. Engage Long Islanders in the Catholic Charities USA national Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America.

Campaign Format:

1. Monthly Educational Focuses: Each month of the campaign will focus on a specific aspect of Long Island hunger, with special attention on how poverty contributes to hunger. Educational materials for publication in congregational bulletins, agency newsletters and other publications will be developed that:
   
   
   • Use excerpts from the Poverty in America study to analyze the causes of hunger and poverty on Long Island.
   
   
   
   • Tell the stories of low-income Long Islanders who are struggling with hunger and poverty.
   
   
   
   • Provide statistical profiles of the extent of both hunger and poverty on Long Island, with a monthly focus on a specific cause of hunger and poverty.
   
   
   
   • Identify charitable and advocacy actions to alleviate hunger and poverty on Long Island.

2. Public-Policy Agenda: As the campaign unfolds, faith-based groups and community agencies will have opportunities to develop specific federal, state and Long Island public-policy priorities that reflect these themes in the Poverty in America study:
   
   
   • Creating good jobs and raising wages.
   
   
   • Investing in social programs for low-income people.
   
   
   • Protecting working families from economic risks.
   
   
   • Supporting policies that strengthen families and marriages.
   
   
   • Promoting life-long learning.
   
   
   • Promoting long-term economic security.

Proposed Campaign Calendar [Note: The public-policy advocacy priorities are suggestions that will be finalized as the campaign unfolds.]

June-August, 2007: Solicit stories of Long Islanders struggling with hunger and poverty from congregational outreach centers, food pantries, soup kitchens and other agencies that serve struggling Long Islanders.

September, 2007 - Campaign Launch

• September 22, 2007 - St. Vincent DePaul Society annual convocation with the Campaign framing the keynote address by Richard Koubek.



• Educational Theme for Publication - Hungry Long Islanders - How Can This Be?
  
  
  
  • The extent of hunger on Long Island: a statistical profile taken from studies by LI Cares, Adelphi, Catholic Charities, etc.
  
  
  
  • How to access Food Stamps and other food resources on Long Island.
    
    
• Interfaith Activity: Press Conference by Long Island religious and community leaders to launch the campaign.

October, 2007

• October 12, 2007: Keys to the Homeless Conference sponsored by the Nassau/Suffolk Coalition for the Homeless.



• October 26, 2007: Anti-Hunger Task Force Forum



• Educational Theme for Publication - What Did Welfare Reform Accomplish?
  
  
  
  • 60% of cases have closed but most former clients are working at poverty wages.
  
  
  
  • There are examples of some former welfare clients achieving self sufficiency.
  
  
  
  • Little attention has been paid to placing clients in education and training programs which could move them out of poverty.
  
  
  
  • Not-for-profit agencies are now a major source of support for former clients, especially regarding their food needs.
  
  
  
  • There is now greater pressure on local departments of social services since the new October, 2006 TANF regulations requiring 50% of TANF clients to be placed in work activities with restricted definitions of these activities.
  
  
• Interfaith Activities:
  
  
  • October 21, 2007: Children's Sabbath sponsored by the Children's Defense Fund, providing liturgical and educational materials for an interfaith focus on children without health insurance.
  
  
  
  • Ramadan/Sukkoth joint services focusing on fasting and the harvest.
  
  
  
• Possible Advocacy Issue: Ask Long Island's congressional and senatorial delegation to work to repeal or change the provisions of the federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 that mandated the 50% TANF work participation rate and new regulations tightening the definitions of acceptable work activities.

November, 2007

• November 10, 2007: Catholic Charities Annual Justice Convocation, Encountering Hunger and Poverty on Long Island - A Day of Reflection, Assessment and Renewal
  
  
  • Opening reflection (speaker to be determined) on the Scriptural call to feed the hungry and address the causes of hunger.
  
  
  
  • Breakout reflections on how we serve Long Island's poor, perhaps using the serial testimony format to discern:
    
    
    1. What have I done to find and serve poor people in my community?
    
    
    2. What more can I do to serve them?
    
    
    3. How do I draw strength from my faith to continue serving my poor neighbors?
    
    
  • Workshops by Long Island agencies that serve the poor: CCHD groups, food pantries, The INN, LI Cares, etc.

• Educational Theme for Publication: What Is The True Definition of Poverty on Long Island?
  
  
  
  • The flawed federal food basket definition of poverty (Federal Poverty Level or FPL) which is currently only $20,650 for a family of four.
  
  
  
  • The low FPL prevents many working poor people from accessing government supportive services, including Food Stamps.
  
  
  
  • The "true" Long Island definition of poverty: 200% of the FPL or about $40,000 for a family of four as per Adelphi University's 2006 Vital Signs study, the Self-Sufficiency Project and other academic sources.
  
  
  
• Interfaith Activities:
  
  
  • Food basket collections and distributions for Thanksgiving.
  
  
  • Interfaith Thanksgiving Prayer Services that focus on Long Island hunger and poverty.
  
  
  
• Possible Advocacy Issue: Meet with Long Island's congressional and senatorial delegation to educate them on the need to change the Federal Poverty Level definition.

December, 2007

• Educational Theme for Publication - Pay the Rent or Feed the Children - Tough Family Choices



• Long Island's lack of affordable housing - particularly rental housing.



• The choices working poor people make: pay the rent or purchase food?



• Interfaith Activities:
  
  
  • Advent/Chanukah reflection materials (and perhaps an interfaith prayer service) on Long Island hunger and poverty, with a focus on the lack of affordable housing.
  
  
  
  • Interfaith Clergy Workshop: Using the "Confessional Model" to Preach on Controversial Topics Like Affordable Housing
  
  
  
• Possible Advocacy Issue:
  
  
  • Support inclusionary/mixed-income/mixed-use zoning at the town/village levels of Long Island government.

January, 2008

• Educational Theme for Publication - Pay for Health Insurance or Feed the Children? - More Difficult Choices
  
  
  • Vital Signs report: when the cost of health care reaches 5% of a family's gross income, working poor people tend to forego health insurance.
  
  
  
  • The choices working poor people make: health insurance or food.
  
  
• Interfaith Activity:
  
  
  • January 13, 2008 Martin Luther King Interfaith Reflection sponsored by the Huntington Interfaith Coalition for Affordable Housing Now and co-sponsored by the Campaign. Focus: Using the Children's Defense fund interfaith prayer service to address the issue of children without health insurance.
  
  
  
• Possible Advocacy Issue:
  
  
  
  • Ask state and county legislators to increase funding for additional staffing at county departments of social services to facilitate enrollment in Medicaid, Child Health (CHIP) and Family Health Plus programs.

February, 2008

• Educational Theme for Publication - Pay the Child Care Provider or Feed the Children - Another Example of Difficult Choices



• Difficulties accessing subsidized child care, especially for the working poor.


• The choices working poor people make: child care or food?


• Negative impact that the Flexible Fund for Family Services (FFFS) may have had on state funding for child care.



• Interfaith Activity:
  
  
  • An Interfaith Conversation for the Common Good: What is the True Definition of Poverty on Long Island?
  
  
  
• Possible Advocacy Issue:
  
  
  • Ask state legislators to establish clear criteria and procedures to monitor how the Flexible Fund for Family Services is used at the county level, particularly regarding child care funding.

March, 2008

• Anti-Hunger Task Force Conference (tentatively scheduled to assess the state and federal budgets)



• March 11, 2008: New York State Catholic Conference Public Policy Day



• Educational Theme for Publication - Federal and State Budgets as Moral Documents



• Impact of the proposed 2008 federal budget on anti-hunger and anti-poverty programs.



• Impact of the proposed 2008 state budget on anti-hunger and anti-poverty programs.



• Interfaith Activity:
  
  
  • Lent/Passover reflection on community responsibilities to the poor as reflected in budget priorities.
  
  
  
• Suggested Advocacy Issues:
  
  
  • Federal budget advocacy, as needed
  
  
  • State budget advocacy, as needed

April/May, 2008 - Welfare Reform's Impact on County Social Services

• Educational Theme for Publication
  
  
  • Understaffing and under-funding of the departments of social services.
  
  
  
  • Assessment tools, policies and procedures for placement of clients in work and educational settings.
  
  
  
  • Impact of the October 2006 TANF regulations on local departments.
  
  
  
• Interfaith Activity:
  
  
  • May 10, 2008: Interfaith participation in the annual US Post Office Food Drive
  
  
  
  • May, 2008: An Interfaith Conversation for the Common Good: How Can Welfare Policies Move Poor People Out of Poverty?
  
  
  
• Possible Advocacy Issues:
  
  
  • Ask state legislators and county executives and legislators to increase funding for additional DSS staff to utilize the OTDA assessment tool for improved client screening.
  
  
  
  • Ask state legislators to support an increase in the public assistance grant. (The grant has not been increased since 1990.)

June/July 2008

• Educational Theme for Publication - Hunger Takes No Vacation on Long Island



• Impact of the lack of school Free Lunch/Reduced Price Lunch during the summer.



• Publication of sites for summer free lunch.


• Interfaith Activity:
  
  
  • Interfaith participation in Hunger Awareness Day.
  
  
  • Interfaith food collection for summer pantries.

September, 2008

• Educational Theme for Publication - Are the 2009 County Budgets Anti-Hunger, Anti-Poverty Tools?



• Assess county funding for homeless prevention, mental health and chemical dependence programs, education and training, child care, affordable housing, transportation and other programs that address the root causes of hunger on Long Island.



• Assess county funding for DSS staffing.



• Possible Advocacy issues:
  
  
  • County budget advocacy, as needed.

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