State Budgets and Hunger in Washington: Take Action!

Two Very Different Visions for Hunger in Washington

Washington's Senate and House of Representatives released their budgets this week. One budget includes new ideas for fair and sustainable revenue and restores and enhances our food safety net. The other puts low-income families at risk because it does not include priorities for food and nutrition programs and cuts cash assistance to help families with children pay for basic necessities (housing, hygiene products, utilities, etc.) while parents are working towards gainful employment. Read more

What You Can Do:  Now is the time to contact Senate and House budget negotiators and urge them to come to an agreement on a budget that makes the best investments for families: a budget that has sufficient, fair, sustainable revenue to make important investments in both basic education and basic needs.  Your calls and emails are important, especially if you are a constituent! Be sure to include personal stories about hunger to illustrate the need for restoring our food safety net and other basic need services. Find contact information and names of legislators to call below: House Leadership      Senate Leadership House Appropriations Senate Ways & Means

Tip for Our Partners:  Watch this video of Joe Gruber from the University District Food Bank do a fantastic job of providing testimony on EFAP and hunger issues at the Senate Ways & Means Committee hearing on the budget. A message from:

Take Actions for SNAP!

Budget committees in the House and Senate will be marking up proposals this week and the Food Research and Action Center anticipates floor votes will come next week. Please take a moment to join in the following three actions:

1.       Contact Senators Murray and Cantwell and your member of Congress and ask them to oppose any efforts to cut or alter the structure of SNAP. Be sure to let them know that the words “enhanced state flexibility” is code words for block granting SNAP.

2.       Please sign your organization (if you are allowed to do so) and yourself as an individual onto this petition opposing SNAP cuts: bit.ly/1FUaioE Please also share the link with your networks—on Twitter, tag @fractweets and use #SNAP.

3.       Please also participate and share the word about Rep. Jim McGovern’s virtual paper plate campaign. Write a message about what SNAP means to you and it will go on a paper plate on his website and he is reading messages in his weekly 5 minute #EndHungerNow speeches on the House floor. When you share information about the campaign, use #FillUpYourPlatehttp://mcgovern.house.gov/FillUpYourPlate

A message from Northwest Harvest 

Advocacy Action: Breakfast After the Bell!

Breakfast After the Bell

We are so close to making a real difference for hungry kids and improving their performance in school by making school breakfast a part of the school day. Please act now to tell your Senator to support SB 5437: Breakfast After the Bell. Read more

What You Can Do:  Take a minute to urge your Senator to vote for SB 5437: Breakfast After the Bell. The best way to do this is to make a phone call or send an email directly to your Senator and tell them the following: Breakfast is a proven and efficient way to help hungry students improve their academic achievements, yet Washington is failing when it comes to reaching kids with breakfast, ranking 43rd in the nation in school breakfast participation. SB 5437 will break down the biggest barriers to breakfast participation by making breakfast a part of the school day at high poverty schools, and providing those schools with start-up funds to cover program costs. It only makes sense to serve breakfast when kids are actually at school to eat it! Help feed hungry kids - vote YES on SB 5437.  Legislative Hotline: 1-800-562-6000  Find your Senator's email and office number. Another option is to use this form letter from the Children's Alliance. Be sure to add a quick sentence or two to personalize the letter before sending it.

Please, give a few minutes of your time on Thursday to protect EFAP!

A message from Northwest Harvest:

This Thursday, November 20th, Washington State's Senators, both newly elected and returning members, will be in Olympia. This is a GREAT opportunity for us to tell them why they must protect and strengthen the Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP) in the 2015-2017 budget.

We realize that anti-hunger agencies are crazy busy right now with the holidays fast approaching-we really do. It may even be busier than usual with the temporary cuts to food stamps that has affected so many of your clients. But if you can take just a minute or two on Thursday 11/20/2014, you really could make a big difference for hungry families and for your own program.

• Think of a client story which illustrates the need for increasing support for state funding for food banks and protecting the food safety net programs in our state. Perhaps someone who is employed and still struggling to make ends meet, or a senior who is going without enough nutritious food in order to have enough money left to pay for their prescriptions or medical care.

• Take a few minutes to call the State Legislative Hotline THIS THURSDAY 11/20/2014 (1-800-562-6000) Tell the operator you would like to leave a message for your State Senator. Tell them: your name and the program you represent, and say, "It is important to _________(first name of client) that you protect and strengthen the Emergency Food Assistance Program during the legislative session." Tell them your client's story in a sentence or two that explains who your client is and how the food bank is making a difference in his or her life. It's important to put a human face on the issue.

• Please, if you are able to make this crucial call, take a quick moment to email one of us and let us know that you've done so. This would help us in our continued effort to follow up with not only your legislators, but with those of you who are engaged in advocacy efforts. We'd also like to hear your client stories, either via email or phone. Contact Christina Wong at christinaw@northwestharvest.org or Paige Collins paigec@northwestharvest.org. 

Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to let our State Senators know that we need their help in the fight against hunger!

Hot Topics from WRAHC (Western Region Anti-Hunger Consortium)

 

Washington Food Coalition attended the Western Region Anti-Hunger Consortium meeting on October 16^th in Reno, Nevada at the Grand Sierra Resort. This is a fantastic opportunity for hunger advocates from a large region of the country to meet together regularly and collaborate on hunger issues. This type of effective, geographically widespread meeting is a unique and powerful forum.

There are several larger issues that were discussed at the meeting with close relevance to the work of Washington Food Coalition members. Examples of these include:

Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR)

The CNR bill is scheduled to be passed in 2015. There are many critical nutrition programs that this bill covers. One of these is the summer meals program, which many WFC members run. Senator Patty Murray from Washington State is leading a bill that offers an alternative to the traditional congregate meal site model of summer meals by providing a boost in SNAP funds on EBT cards for families with school children during the summer. There’s an additional bill coming forward that would change some of the structure for the current summer meals program.

National Hunger Commission

Cherie Jamason, President and CEO of the Food Bank of Northern Nevada is a member of WRAHC and also serving on the National Hunger Commission. Cherie shared with WRAHC members what’s been done so far and also solicited input on 30 hunger relief ideas that she could submit for the Commission to focus on.

She also shared the initial report from the Commission, titled Current and Prospective Scope of Hunger and Food Security in America: A Review of Current Research. 

The full report can be found here.

Other hot topics include developments in SNAP, Community Eligibility, and innovative approaches to fighting hunger being done in other states from the Western Region.

Senator Reichert Gets a Taste of Summer Meals in Entiat

On Tuesday August 19^th Senator Dave Reichert got a taste of what a summer meal program is like- literally! He spent his lunch time at Entiat Valley Community Services Food Bank joining parents, kids, volunteers, food bank staff and hunger advocates to talk about the importance of summer meals. Sen. Reichert arrived, and after introductions, was served one of the same lunches that the kids in attendance were getting that day. Everyone was sitting at a long table - including all of the kiddos at one end.

May Segle, the EVCSFB director, then told the story of their summer meal program. After attending a workshop about summer meals at a Washington Food Coalition annual conference, May felt inspired to start her own site. It was hard! Their first year only served 69 meals, and it was difficult to feel like they were making a difference. So May researched how other summer meal programs down the west coast, and even reaching as far as Texas, became successful. She focused on reaching out to rural programs. Entiat is a rural area, and they face issues that urban meal programs might not. Namely, transporting food to satellite sites to reach as many kids as possible, extreme weather conditions, and creating community awareness about the program. After May’s research she returned the next summer determined to feed a lot of hungry kids, and she did! The second year they served 340 meals, last year they served 890 meals and this year they have already surpassed that mark. Reichert exclaimed, “You’re an angel!” as May explained her hard work over the past 30 years that she has dedicated to fighting hunger and poverty in her community.  

May’s work will be made much easier if the Summer Meals Act of 2014 is enacted. This legislation would enable the program to reach more kids and provide meals more often. It would also have a transportation grant fund, which is essential for programs like May’s whose kids are spread out over a rural landscape. Lastly, it would allow for a seamless transition for a site to go from serving summer meals to afterschool snacks (at the moment it requires re-registration and a ton of paperwork!). We are currently only feeding 1 in 7 kids over the summer who are normally fed during the school year. This is unacceptable, and Senator Reichert agreed. Reichert shared his background in law-enforcement and his own tumultuous adolescence facing hunger as a runaway. He viewed May’s program as a crime prevention measure. He made the connection that kids who are not hungry and who spend time in constructive and supportive environments, like those provided by summer meal sites across the nation, have a chance at staying out of trouble with the law and leading fulfilling lives. With his support of the Summer Meals Act of 2014, Washington has a chance to break away from its current ranking of 39th in the nation for summer meals participation.

Entiat Valley Community Services Food Bank has an amazing array of services that they provide in addition to summer meals. To learn more please visit their website here! 

It's August Recess: Let's meet with our Legislators!

August means that members of congress are on recess, but they probably are not playing a big game of kickball. They are home in their districts and looking to connect with constituents! Now is the perfect time to reach out and invite them to visit your agency or program. By having a Member out to visit your site, they learn what matters to their constituents and are more apt to championing your mission and goals.  The visit can be tailored as a tour for the Member, or you can invite them to any August or September celebration events. 

General Resources:

If you are unsure about how to connect with a Member of Congress, ServiceNation has put together a resource page to help you start advocating for national service, and these guidelines can be reused to advocate for other issues as well.

ServiceNation’s Webinar Educating Members of Congress &Cultivating Service Champions

A Guide to Requesting a Meeting with Your Member of Congress(which includes sample invitation language)

A Guide to Writing Your Members of Congress

Make it an EFAP Visit:

An important state level legislative issue for hunger relief agencies is funding for the Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP). Talking about EFAP funding and its importance to your agency's function is a powerful topic that can make a big difference! On our Advocacy Page we have resources to help you begin and prepare for a visit like this. Click here to view the page.

We love to be part of site visits! We can help organize visits and provide informational resources for the legislator. For guidance and assistance organizing an EFAP focused site visit with your state legislator(s) please contact Danielle at danielle@wafoodcoalition.org. 

Your Action Needed: Support the America Gives More Act!

Before U.S. Senators recess for the November elections, it is imperative that they pass the America Gives More Act, a bill to promote giving to the work of charitable nonprofits in communities across the country. Simply put, Senators should address the pressing needs of our communities before they focus solely on their personal political careers and their re-election campaigns.

Act now to urge your Senators to pass the America Gives More Act in September. 

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the America Gives More Act in July by a strong, bi-partisan vote. The legislation promotes giving back to communities in several ways. It renews and makes permanent expired charitable giving incentives that promote donations of nutritious food to food banks, conservation of land, and contributions from individual retirement accounts directly to charitable nonprofits. The measure would simplify a foundation excise tax, thereby making more funds available for good works. The bill also would permit taxpayers to claim charitable deductions from the previous year up through  April 15. Go here for more background information on the America Gives More Act.

Senators are back home in August for the annual summer recess. When they return to DC.., there are barely a dozen legislative days left in September before Congress adjourns again for the November elections. This means that Senators must return to Washington in September committed to passing the America Gives More Act as quickly as possible. And they must make known to their Senate leaders their commitment to passing the bill that is important to their communities and constituents, before leaving D.C. again to campaign for re-election.

You can help by delivering this simple message:

Don’t leave Washington in September until the Senate passes the America Gives More Act (H.R.4719); Washington communities are counting on you.

You can deliver the message by:

Calling your Senators  

Sen. Patty Murray   866.481.9186 (toll free)

Sen. Maria Cantwell  202.224.3441

or Writing your Senators (see sample letter) 

       The nonprofit community helped moved this bill through the U.S. House of Representatives; working together, we can move it through the Senate too!

WASHINGTON NONPROFITS

Washington Nonprofits, Washington's state association for nonprofit organizations, is a membership-based organization that builds a strong, collaborative network of nonprofits serving Washington communities through education, advocacy, and capacity building.  It is a member of the National Council of Nonprofits.  Join us today!

120 State Avenue #303, Olympia, WA 98501

t: 253-330-8850 | e: info@washingtonnonprofits.org

AHNC Update: Sign On Letter for 2015 WIC Appropriations

AHNC Update - May 7, 2014 The National WIC Association is circulating a sign-on letter for FY2015 WIC Appropriations urging Congress to provide sufficient funding for the WIC program to ensure that no eligible applicants will be turned away, to maintain current and anticipated WIC participation levels, to assure adequate nutrition services and administration (NSA) funding, and to respond adequately to forecasts of food cost inflation.  Additionally, the letter urges Members of Congress to preserve and protect WIC's scientific integrity, opposing efforts to alter the landscape of foods available in the science-based WIC food package. To view the letter, go to:  https://s3.amazonaws.com/aws.upl/nwica.org/coalition-partner-letter-4-21-14.pdf. To sign the letter, go to:  https://nwica.wufoo.com/forms/sign-on-wic-funding-letter/. The deadline to sign on is COB Thursday, May 8th. Please feel free to forward this to other partners.
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Washington Nonprofits: March Policy Newsletter

Policy Newsletter                  March 2014

60-day Legislature Adjouns The session ended on time Thursday evening with a compromise operating budget but with few other accomplishments.  The budget passed on a bipartisan vote of 85-13 in the House and 48-1 in the Senate.  Many observers saw this session as a "calm before the storm" as the Legislature may have to deal with a signficant budget shortfall next session depending how it handles constitutional "basic education" requirements for K-12.   Budget Overview The one-year supplemental budget adds $155.1 million dollars to a $33.6 billion 2013-2015 budget. In other words, this budget adds a little more thanfour-tenths of one percent to the overall biennial budget. Of the $155.1 million, $89.2 million was spent to maintain current level services and a net $65.9 million was added as new programs or services.  Budget Increases The supplemental budget add $214 million in new funding.  K-12 Education programs received the bulk of the new appropriations but nonprofit related services in mental health and human services also received new funding.      Budget Cuts The budget also contains $148.1 million in cuts to programs.  Nonprofits are potentially affected through a number of these cuts.  Policy Bills Visit our Google+ page for information on bills affecting the nonprofit community.   Events Visit our calendar for a full listing of training opportunities and events.       WASHINGTON NONPROFITS Washington Nonprofits, Washington's state association for nonprofit organizations, is a membership-based organization that builds a strong, collaborative network of nonprofits serving Washington communities through education, advocacy, and capacity building.  It is a member of the National Council of Nonprofits.  Join us today!

WN Education WN Public Policy WN Membership

Washington Nonprofits 120 State Avenue #303, Olympia, WA 98501 t: 253-330-8850 | e: info@washingtonnonprofits.org

AHNC: 2014 Legislative Session Wrap-Up

2014 Legislative Session Wrap-Up Anti-Hunger and Nutrition Coalition   Legislative Session Update - March 14, 2014   Late last night, the 2014 legislative session adjourned.  This is the first time in several years that session has ended on time!  Below is a summary of how the Anti-Hunger and Nutrition Coalition priorities ended up. The House and Senate released their compromise budget yesterday afternoon and it passed both houses. Here's how the AHNC Priorities fared in this budget:     Program AHNC Request Amount Final Compromise Budget Amount Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP) $1 million $800,000 Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) $500,000 $200,000 State Food Assistance (SFA) $1.367 million $0 Breakfast After the Bell $101,000 (fiscal note for the bill) $0 While it is disappointing that not all of our funding requests were included, securing the additional dollars for the Emergency Food Assistance Program and the Farmers Market Nutrition Program were great wins.     Even though State Food Assistance didn't receive additional funding, there was a positive revision made to the budget language that creates a floor for the state funding for the program.  It now must be funded at no less than 75% of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit amount.  Congratulations to those who worked so hard on educating legislators about these programs! Unfortunately, the Breakfast After the Bell bill did not pass this session.  The bill had some really great hearings, got some media coverage, and there is definitely a lot of interest in this issue. The good news is that United Way King County is mobilizing funds to support demonstration projects across Washington State to keep the momentum going and continue to build interest around this successful approach to increasing school breakfast utilization.  Thank you all so much for being such great advocates throughout this legislative session; especially to those who came to Hunger Action Day!
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