From FRAC: Grant Opportunities for Summer and Afterschool Meals in your Cities

Grant Opportunities for Summer and Afterschool Meals in your Cities
With a 1.5 million grant from the Walmart Foundation, the National League of Cities’ (NLC) Institute for Youth, Education and Families in partnership with the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) has launched the second phase of CHAMP (Cities Combating Hunger through Afterschool Meal Programs, which now also includes the summer nutrition programs).

Twenty city teams will be chosen to participate in one of two leadership academies that provide training on the Afterschool and Summer Meal Programs. The three person city teams can be comprised of a city official and other key stakeholders, such as anti-hunger advocates and school officials. Cities that participate in the leadership academies will have the opportunity to apply for a grant to increase access to the Afterschool and Summer Meal Programs.

The CHAMP initiative provides an excellent opportunity for anti-hunger advocates to engage with city leaders and encourage them to apply to participate in the leadership academies in order to make afterschool and summer meals for low-income children a priority in their cities.

How Your City Leaders Can Apply – Follow this link to more information about the CHAMP initiative on the NLC website. City leaders can also download the application to participate in one of the regional leadership academies. For more information, contact Denise Belser at (202) 626-3028 or belser@nlc.org or Imani Hope at (202) 626-3180 or ihope@nlc.org.

Your Weekly Action Alert from Northwest Harvest

Advocates Update Wednesday, February 27      IN THIS ISSUE Thank you! Preserving Our Safety Net Sequestration Update Hunger Action Day Photos See our pictures from HAD on our Facebook page andPicasa web album.  Be sure to like our partner, theWashington State Anti-Hunger and Nutrition Coalition's page on Facebookto see their pictures as well. Northwest Harvest PO Box 12272 Seattle, Washington 98102 800-722-6924 Your Weekly Action Alert:   Thanks for HAD - Take Action on Sequestration State Level:  Thank you! You made this year's Hunger Action Day our biggest and best yet!  READ MORE    Take Action Don't forget that we still have a long road ahead of us! Gov. Inslee and the Senate and the House are all expected to start releasing their budget proposals in March.  ACT NOW  Preserving Our Safety Net:  Can Washington cut its way back to balance the budget this year? Not without devastating results for low income and middle class families.READ MORE  Federal Level:   Automatic discretionary spending cuts called sequestration will start taking effect on March 1. Find out what the impact will be here in Washington and on the work of getting nutritious food to families in need. READ MORE Take Action Your call is needed now to get Congress to pass a deficit reduction plan that replaces sequestration with sensible spending cuts. The Senate will vote on Thursday on a Republican and on a Democrat plan. Either plan will take 60 votes in order to pass-that means that we need bipartisan support for a plan to be passed to replace sequestration cuts. ACT NOW  The mission of Northwest Harvest is to provide nutritious food to hungry people statewide in a manner that respects their dignity, while fighting to eliminate hunger.

Update & Action Alert from Anti-Hunger & Nutrition Coalition: Hunger Action Day was a huge success!

Update & Action Alert  Hunger Action Day was a huge success! Last Friday, more than 200 people came together in Olympia to learn more about what's happening right now in the legislative session, what's happening with our priorities, and how we can fight for a more fair, sustainable budget to protect all families in Washington. We had attendees from more than 2/3 of the state's legislative districts - a record turnout! We also had dozens and dozens of online messages from constituents who couldn't get to Olympia but wanted to speak up for hungry families. Between messages and orange scarves, AHNC made a big splash on a busy day in Olympia.   Sen. Ed Murray (43rd LD) kicked off the morning, followed up with great information from advocates from Statewide Poverty Action Network, Northwest Harvest, Food Lifeline, Children's Alliance and Washington Budget & Policy Center. Nancy Amidei and Jen Estroff helped people get ready for their afternoon visits to legislators' offices by guiding Advocacy 101 and Advocacy 201 trainings. We are so grateful to everyone who contributed to making the day informative, thought-provoking and inspiring - THANK YOU!   It was a tough day to get through to lawmakers, so we appreciate all your visits and your consistent voice for fairness for hungry families. We hope you're committed to keeping up that steady, strong voice throughout the coming budget choices. TAKE ACTION: Call or email your legislators to endorse our priorities by signing on to the letters of support being circulating by our legislative champions. There is a letter for State Food Assistance, for Emergency Food Assistance Program, and for Farm to School/ Small Farms Programs. If a legislator says yes to signing on, or wants more information, contact Christina Wong right away (ChristinaW@NorthwestHarvest.org  or (206) 306-5877).    Your organization can support EFAP funding by signing your organization to thiscommunity support letter (PDF to send to legislators). You can also visit WA Food Coalition's website below to sign onto to the letter there:   https://wfc.memberclicks.net/index.php?option=com_mc&view=mc&mcid=form_138015   Deadline to sign on is Friday, March 15.   TAKE ACTION: Tuesday afternoon there was a hearing Senate Ways & Means Committee regarding SJR 8205 (Roach), which would permanently enshrine Tim Eyman's 2/3 super majority requirement on taxes into the Washington State Constitution via formal Constitutional Amendment. Contact your state senator and ask them to vote no and refuse to change our state constitution by making permanent an undemocratic and unnecessary budget process now and for all future generations.   Federal Update: Congress must take action before March 1 to avoid devastating cuts to every part of the federal government through sequestration. The White House released this analysisthat provides an overview of some of the loss of jobs, program supports and economic impacts in Washington State.  TAKE ACTION: Call your members of Congress TODAY and tell them to come to agreement to prevent the harms of sequestration without harming low-income Americans. Follow us on

Action Alert from Food Lifeline: Looming Cuts to Federal Programs to Hurt Most Vulnerable

ACTION ALERT Is your community  ready for $1.1 Million in cuts to senior nutrition programs? Looming Cuts to Federal Programs to Hurt Most Vulnerable This Friday, March 1st, is the rapidly approaching deadline for sequestration. Without an agreement between lawmakers we'll see across the board cuts in programs, including many that help feed our country's most vulnerable citizens. Now is the time to speak out and let your lawmaker know that you oppose automatic spending cuts that harm our country's low income women, children and seniors. If no action is taken by Congress before Friday this means an 8-10% cut in programs like:  The Women, Infants and Children's program (WIC), which provides food assistance for low-income women, infants and children under five Senior nutrition & Meals on Wheels The Low Income Home and Energy Assistance Program Funds that help us safely store & distribute healthy food via The Emergency Food Assistance Program.   All this means that more people in our community will be faced with hard choices, like whether to buy medications or heat their homes or to buy food for their families.   Now is the time to take action and send a message to your lawmakers urging them to protect critical programs that feed vulnerable people in our community. Take Action Now Food Lifeline feeds hungry people. We stock the shelves and fill the tables of 275 food banks, meal programs and shelters throughout Western Washington. The 35 million pounds of nutritious food we secure from restaurants, grocery stores, farmers and manufacturers feeds 745,000 of our hungry neighbors every year. Find out how you can be a part of ending hunger in Western Washington at www.FoodLifeline.org. We value your input. Please share your thoughts and comments at advocacy@fll.org. Food Lifeline thanks MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, for supporting our advocacy program.